AFSPA

Armed Forces Special Powers Ordinance was promulgated by the British in 1942 to suppress the quit India movement.

Modeled on these lines, four ordinances—the Bengal Disturbed Areas (Special Powers of Armed Forces) Ordinance; the Assam Disturbed Areas (Special Powers of Armed Forces)Ordinance; the East Bengal Disturbed Areas (Special Powers of Armed Forces) Ordinance; the United provinces Disturbed Areas(Special Powers of Armed Forces) Ordinance were invoked by the central government to deal with the internal security situation in the country in 1947 which arouse out of Partition of India.

Armed Forces Special Powers (Assam and Manipur) Act, 1958

In 1951, the Naga National Council(NNC) reported that it conducted a "free and fair plebiscite" in which about 99 per cent Nagas voted for a ‘Free Sovereign Naga Nation’.^[7] There was a boycott of first general election of 1952 which later, extended to boycott of government schools and officials.^[8] In order to deal with the situation, the Assam government imposed the Assam Maintenance of Public Order (Autonomous District) Act in the Naga Hills in 1953 and intensified police action against the rebels. When the situation worsened, Assam deployed the Assam Rifles in the Naga Hills and enacted the Assam Disturbed Areas Act of 1955, providing a legal framework for the paramilitary forces and the armed state police to combat insurgency in the region.But the Assam Rifles and the state armed police could not contain the Naga rebellion and the rebel Naga Nationalist Council(NNC) formed a parallel government "The Federal Government of Nagaland" on 23 March 1956.^[9] The Armed Forces (Assam and Manipur) Special Powers Ordinance 1958 was promulgated by the President Dr. Rajendra Prasad on 22 May 1958. It was replaced by Armed Forces (Assam and Manipur) special Powers Act, 1958 on 11 September 1958.

Armed Forces (Assam and Manipur) Special Powers (Amendment) Act, 1972

The Armed Forces (Assam and Manipur) Special Powers Act,1958 empowered only the Governors of the States and the Administrators of the Union Territories to declare areas in the concerned State or the Union Territory as 'disturbed'. The reason for conferring such a power as per "Objects and Reasons'" appended to the Bill was that, "Keeping inview the duty of the Union under Article 355 of the Constitution, inter alia, to protect every State against internal disturbance, it is considered desirable that the Central government should also have power to declare areas as 'disturbed', to enable its armed forces to exercise the special powers".^[10] The territorial scope of Act also expanded to the five states of the North-East, - Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Tripura and to the Union Territories Arunachal Pradesh andMizoram. 

In addition, the words, "The Armed Forces (Assam and Manipur) Special Powers Act, 1958" were substituted by "Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958", getting the acronym of AFSPA, 1958.

OBC Reservation

Article 340 of the Constitution provides for the appointment of a Commission to investigate the conditions of and the difficulties faced by the Socially and Educationally Backward Classes and to make appropriate recommendations .

The article reads as under :-
“ 340. Appointment of a Commission to investigate the conditions of backward classes –

1. The President may by order appoint a Commission consisting of such persons as he thinks fit to investigate the conditions of the socially and educationally backward classes within the territory of India and the difficulties under which they labour and to make recommendations as to the steps that should be taken by the Union or any State to remove such difficulties and to improve their condition and as to the grants that should be made for the purpose by the Union or any state and the conditions subject to which such grants should be made, and the order appointing such commission shall define the procedure to be followed by the Commission.
2. A Commission so appointed shall investigate the matters referred to them and present to the President a report setting out the facts as found by them and make such recommendations as they think proper.
3. The President shall cause a copy of the report so presented together with a memorandum explaining the action taken thereon to be laid before each house of Parliament. ”

Mandal Commission report formed the basis of OBC Reservation. There is 27% reservation for the Other Backward Classes. 

NCBC Act 1993 is the statutory law which provides for the constitution of National Commission for Backward Classes as mentioned in the Art. 340 of the Constitution.

What is Creamy Layer?

The Government of India has evolved the criteria for exclusion of certain socially advanced persons/sections from the benefits of reservation available to OBCs in civil posts and services under the Government of India and this is called the "Creamy Layer criteria".

Sons and daughters of persons having gross annual income of Rs. 6 lacs and above (as per 2013 circular) are included in the Creamy Layer. 

Sons and Daughters of directly recruited Group A or Group B Officers (both parents) and many such other conditions are there.

http://www.ncbc.nic.in/Writereaddata/dopteng.pdf

Yemen Crisis

Fight between the Houthi Rebels who are predominantly Shia and are supported overtly and covertly by Iran and the establishment or the legitimate govt. of President Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi.  

President Hadi fled to Riyadh the capital of Saudi Arabia and asked for their help. Saudi Arabia started bombing the capital city of Yemen, Sana'a.

Hauthi rebels are supported by the loyalists of the former president Ali Abdullah Saleh. The fight is turning into a Shia-Sunni fight wherein the Sunni groups are getting into a fight with the Houthi Rebels. 

Houthi group follows the Zaydi sect of Shia Islam. Al Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) is a Sunni group and is an affiliate of ISIS of Iraq. They bombed two Zaydi mosques in Sana'a recently wherein many people died. 

India and Yemen:-

In 1839, Aden became part of the British Empire and was administered by the Bombay Presidency as a sentinel to guard the southern entrance to the Red Sea. A garrison of 2000 Indian soldiers was established in Aden and the Indian Rupee was made the official currency.

The Aden administration was separated from India in April 1937 with the appointment of a Governor directly reporting to London. An Indian diplomatic mission at the level of Commissioner was set up in Aden in June 1950. The Indian Embassy in Sana’a was established in 1970.

A large number of Indian nationals, including Hindus, Muslims and Parsis, had lived in Aden since mid-1880s. One such prominent person was Cowasjee Shavaksha Dinshaw Adenwalla, who migrated from Surat to Aden in 1855. He was the founder of the Fire Temple in Aden. 

Dhirubhai Ambani, the founder of the now famous Reliance Group, also started his career as a trader in Aden. There were as many as ten temples in Aden during 1950s, including a Jain Temple, an Ayyappan Temple and a Parsi Temple, of which only one is currently functional.

When the British finally withdrew from Aden in 1967, it resulted in the hasty departure of many Indians either to India or some other country. But a large number belonging to the Bohra, Khoja and Kachchi communities decided to remain behind and gradually became Yemeni citizens. An estimated 100,000 people of Indian origin are concentrated in southern part around Aden, Mukalla, Shihr, Lahaj, Mokha and Hodeidah.

At the same time, thousands of people of Yemeni origin, mainly from Hadramaut, migrated to India and settled down mainly in the city of Hyderabad. These age-old ties between India and Yemen are reflected now by the presence of a strong Yemeni-origin Diaspora in India and a vibrant Indian-origin Diaspora in Yemen.

Indian Diaspora in Yemen:- 

The number of Indian nationals, which was estimated around 14000 in 2010, declined to an estimated 5000 by June 2011 following political instability and violence in the country. However, only around 3000 Indians are registered with the Embassy. 

Most of the Indians living in Yemen comprise of nurses, hospital staff, university professors, professionals, white collar workers, IT professionals, managerial and clerical staff in private sector, including oil companies, and skilled and semi-skilled workers. 

The paramedical personnel and hospital staff forms the dominant group and their number exceeds 2000. 

A vast majority of the Indians hail from Kerala but a few others belong to other states like Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Karnataka, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal.

Source:-

http://eoisanaa.org/indian-diaspora-in-yemen/