044-26265326/9884421666/9884472636€¦ · 11/11/2019 · Shrinkage in IIP recorded the Lowest in...

www. Vetriiias.com / www.iasgatewayy.com 044-26265326/9884421666/9884472636

1 | P a g e

Daily Current Affairs | Monthly Magazines | Online Tests www.iasgatewayy.com

Index 1. POLITY & GOVERNANCE

1. Pro-active Governance and Timely Implementation. (PRAGATI) 4

2. ICEDASH & ATITHI Initiatives 4

3. Shaala Darpan Portal 5

4. DIN System of CBIC 5

5. Bonded Labour System in India 7

6. “National Capital Region - 2041” 8

7. Merger of Assam Rifles and ITBP 9

8. Jal Jeevan Mission 10

9. Maharashtra Placed under President’s Rule 11

10. Social Audits of Major Rural Development Schemes 13

11. National Water Policy (NWP) 15

12. CJI’s Office Comes under ambit of RTI Act, SC says 16

13. Guardianship Act Prefers Father as Natural Guardian 18

14. National Agrochemicals Congress 18

2. SOCIAL ISSUES

1. Improvement in India’s Sex Ratio 19

2. Women, Peace and Democracy 20

3. FSSAI Proposes Ban on Sale of Junk Foods in School 22

4. Indian Lungs Under Extreme Stress 23

5. Maternal Death Rate Declining: Report 25

3. INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

1. India Refuses to ink RCEP Agreement 27

2. Dustlik 2019 29

3. U.S.A exits Paris Agreement 30

4. Exercise ‘Samudra Shakti’ 31

5. Samudra Shakthi 32

6. Kartarpur Corridor 32

7. Organisation of American States 33

8. HADR Exercise TIGER TRIUMPH 33

9. PM says, “Terror Batters World Economy” 34

http://www.iasgatewayy.com/



2 | P a g e


10. ICC Judges approve an investigation into crimes against Myanmar's Rohingya 36

11. China's Economy shows Further Signs of Strain 37

4. ECONOMY

1. Adjusted Gross Revenue (AGR) in Telecom Sector 38

2. Elephant Bonds 39

3. Khadi gets Separate Unique HS code 40

4. Alternative Investment Funds (AIFs) 40

5. Steel Scrap Recycling Policy 41

6. COCSSO 43

7. Shrinkage in IIP recorded the Lowest in 8 Years 44

8. India Internet 2019 45

9. e-NAM 47

10. FCRA 47

11. Base Year in GDP Calculations 48

12. CPI Inflation 49

13. International Seed Treaty 50

14. Moody downgrades India’s Rating 51

5. ENVIRONMENT

1. Most Mount Everest glaciers will disappear with Climate Change, Warns Study 53

2. Olive Ridley Turtles 54

3. (Environment Pollution Control Authority) EPCA 55

4. Brown Blotched Bengal Tree Frog 55

5. NGT Issues Ultimatum to Ban Certain RO systems 56

6. Fall Armyworm 57

7. Feni River 57

8. Odd-Even Rule in Delhi 2019 58

9. Very Severe Cyclonic Storm ‘Bulbul’ 59

10. Swachh – Nirmal Tat Abhiyaan 60

11. Species in News: Pliosaur 60

12. Sunderbans 61




3 | P a g e


13. Delhi’s Odd-even Scheme 62

14. Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure 62

6. SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

1. Spyware Pegasus 64

2. IndiGen Project 65

3. Gaofen-7 66

4. Dwarf Planets 67

5. Artillery Gun Dhanush 68

6. NASA’s Voyager 2 68

7. Waste land Atlas 69

8. China Proposes to Treat Alzheimer’s with New Drug 70

9. Vaccine Hesitancy 71

10. Cloud Seeding Technology 71

11. Pneumonia and Diarrhoea in India 73

12. Parliamentary Panel Expresses Concern Over Rising Number of Cancer Patients 74

13. NASA’s first electric plane - X-57 Maxwell 76

14. India is Home to 77 Million Diabetics 76

15. Arrokoth 77

16. K4 Missile 78

17. Japanese Spacecraft starts Year-Long Journey home from Asteroid 78

7. MISCELLANEOUS

1. National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT) 79

2. Danakil Depression 79

3. Pannai App 80

4. Kalapani 80

5. Guru Nanak Dev 81

6. Atal Tinkering Lab Marathon-2018 82

7. Global Cooling Prize 82



https://www.insightsonindia.com/2019/11/06/china-proposes-to-treat-alzheimers-with-new-drug/


4 | P a g e


1. POLITY & GOVERNANCE

1. Pro-active Governance and Timely Implementation. (PRAGATI)

Why in News?

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently chaired the 31st interaction through PRAGATI —

the ICT based multi-modal platform for Pro-Active Governance and Timely

Implementation.

About PRAGATI:

• It is a Multi-Purpose and Multi-Modal Platform that is aimed at addressing

common man’s grievances, and simultaneously monitoring and reviewing important

programmes and projects of the Government of India as well as projects flagged by State

Governments. Agencies Involved: It has been designed in-house by the PMO team with the

help of National Informatics Center (NIC).

Key Features:

• It is a three-tier system (involving PMO, Union Government Secretaries, and Chief

Secretaries of the States);

• PM will hold a monthly interaction with the Government of India Secretaries and Chief

Secretaries through Video-conferencing enabled by data and geo-informatics visuals;

• Issues to be raised before the PM are picked up from the available database regarding

Public Grievances, on-going Programs and pending Projects.

2. ICEDASH & ATITHI Initiatives

Why in News?

• Union Ministry of Finance and Corporate Affairs unveiled two new IT initiatives –

ICEDASH and ATITHI.

ICEDASH:

• ICEDASH is an Ease of Doing Business (EoDB) monitoring dashboard of the Indian

Customs helping public see the daily Customs clearance times of import cargo at various

ports and Airports.

• With ICEDASH, Indian Customs has taken a lead globally to provide an effective tool that

helps the businesses compare clearance times across ports and plan their logistics

accordingly.




5 | P a g e


• This dashboard has been developed by CBIC in collaboration with NIC. ICEDASH can be

accessed through the CBIC website.

ATITHI:

• With ATITHI mobile app, CBIC has introduced an easy to use mobile app for international

travellers to file the Customs declaration in advance. Passengers can use this app to file

declaration of dutiable items and currency with the Indian Customs even before boarding

the flight to India. ATITHI would in particular create a tech savvy image of India Customs

and would encourage tourism and business travel to India.

3. Shaala Darpan Portal

Why in News?

• Minister of State for Human Resource Development, launched Shaala Darpan portal, an E-

Governance school automation and management system for Navodaya Vidyalaya Samiti

(NVS) in New Delhi.

Shaala Darpan Portal:

• Shaala Darpan is an end to end e-Governance school automation and management system.

• It is a database management portal, where information about all government schools and

education offices is kept online and updated as a continuous process.

• In this portal, “live data” is compiled in connection with primary and secondary education

students, schools and academic and non-academic staff.

• It has been implemented at Navodaya Vidyalaya Samiti as the first major initiative to

enable automation of all activities of the country’s largest residential schooling system

through a single umbrella.

4. DIN System of CBIC

Why in News?

• The Documentation Identification Number (DIN) system of the Central Board of Indirect

Taxes (CBIC) will come into existence from 8th November 2019.

Documentation Identification Number (DIN) system:

• From now on, any CBIC communication will have to have a Documentation Identification

Number. The government has already executed the DIN system in the direct tax

administration.




6 | P a g e


• This step is to further the government’s objectives of bringing transparency and

accountability in the indirect tax administration also, through the widespread use of

information technology.

• To begin with, in the indirect tax administration, the DIN would be used for search

authorisation, summons, arrest memo, inspection notices and letters issued in the course

of any enquiry.

• From now onwards, any communication from GST or Custom or Central Excise

department without a computer-generated DIN, would be treated as invalid and shall be

non-est in law or deemed to be as if it has never been issued.

• It would also provide the taxpayer a digital facility to verify any communications.

• Now all such specified communications with DIN would be verifiable on the online portal

cbicddm.gov.in.

Central Board of Indirect Taxes (CBIC):

• The Central Board of Indirect Taxes (CBIC) is a part of the Department of Revenue under

the Ministry of Finance, Government of India.

• The CBIC is the apex body for administering the levy and collection of indirect taxes of the

Union of India.

• It deals with the tasks of formulation of policy concerning levy and collection of Customs,

Central Excise duties, Central Goods & Services Tax and IGST, prevention of smuggling

and administration of matters relating to Customs, Central Excise, Central Goods &

Services Tax, IGST and Narcotics to the extent under CBIC’s purview.

• It is the administrative authority for its subordinate organizations, including Custom

Houses, Central Excise and Central GST Commissionerate’s and the Central Revenues

Control Laboratory.

Functions of the CBIC:

1. Regulatory Functions include:

✓ Levy and collection of Customs and Central Excise duties, CGST & IGST

✓ Registration and monitoring of units manufacturing excisable goods and service providers

✓ Receipt and scrutiny of declarations and returns filed with the department

2. Service Functions include:

✓ Dissemination of information on law and procedures through electronic and print media

✓ Enabling filing of declarations, returns and claims through online services.

✓ Providing information on the status of processing of declarations, returns and claims




7 | P a g e


5. Bonded Labour System in India

Why in News?

• The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has conducted a seminar on “bonded

labour” recently.

About Bonded Labour:

• It is a practice in which employers give high-interest loans to workers who work at low

wages to pay off the debt.

• The Supreme Court of India has interpreted bonded labour as the payment of wages that

are below the prevailing market wages and legal minimum wages. The Constitution of

India prohibits forced labour under Article 23 (Fundamental Rights on Prohibition of

traffic in human beings and forced labour).

• Bonded labour was historically associated with rural economies where peasants from

economically disadvantaged communities were bound to work for the landlords.

• Bonded labour is found to exist in both rural and urban pockets in unorganized industries

such as brick kilns, stone quarries, coal mining, agricultural labour, domestic servitude,

circus, and sexual slavery.

• According to International Labour Organization (ILO) there are 1.17 crores bonded

labourers in India (2014).

Reasons for the Persistence of Bonded Labour:

• The lack of awareness among workers and employers

• Low conviction rates

• Social bias towards bonded labour

• Migratory nature of bonded labour

• Weaker implementation of Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act 1976.

Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act 1976:

• The Act extends to the whole of India but implemented by respective State Governments.

• It provides for an institutional mechanism at the district level in the form of Vigilance

Committees.

• Vigilance committees advise District Magistrate (DM) to ensure the provisions of this act

are properly implemented.




8 | P a g e


• The State Governments/UTs may confer, on an Executive Magistrate, the powers of a

Judicial Magistrate of the first class or second class for the trial of offences under this Act.

• Under the Central Sector Scheme for Rehabilitation of Bonded Labourers

(2016) financial assistance to the extent of Rs. Three lakhs is provided to the released

bonded labourers along with other non-cash assistance for their livelihood.

6. “National Capital Region - 2041”

Why in News?

• The Inaugural Conclave “NCR-2041” with the theme “Planning for Tomorrow’s Greatest

Capital Region” will be held in the national capital.

• The Regional Plan-2041 for NCR will be among the key instruments to address various

issues related to harmonious development of the largest metropolitan region of the world.

National Capital Region Planning Board (NCRPB):

• The National Capital Region (NCR) is a distinct federal setup having the National Capital

Territory of Delhi as its core. It is a unique example of inter-state regional planning and

development.

• The constituent areas of the National Capital Region are as under:

✓ Entire National Capital Territory of Delhi.

✓ Districts from Haryana sub-region.

✓ Districts from Rajasthan sub-region.

✓ Districts from Uttar Pradesh Sub-region.

• For the development of above, the National Capital Region Planning Board (NCRPB) was

constituted by the Act of Parliament in 1985, as a statutory body under the Ministry of

Housing & Urban Affairs.

• The NCRPB is tasked to evolve harmonized policies for the control of land-uses and

development of infrastructure in the region so as to avoid any haphazard development.

• The success rate of these experiments in inducing rains is about 60 to 70 per cent,

depending on local atmospheric conditions, the amount of moisture in the air and cloud

characteristics.

• Apart from IITM, some private companies also offer cloud-seeding services.

• It is these companies that have been engaged by Maharashtra and Karnataka in the last

few years. These also received mixed success.




9 | P a g e


7. Merger of Assam Rifles and ITBP

Why in News?

• The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has proposed that the Assam Rifles should be

merged with the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) and serve under the operational

control of the MHA.

About CAPF:

• The Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) refers to uniform nomenclature of security forces

in India under the authority of Ministry of Home Affairs.

• They are the, Border Security Force (BSF), Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), Central

Industrial Security Force (CISF), Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), Assam Rifles (AR),

National Security Guard (NSG) and Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB).

• At present, the Assam Rifles, a Central paramilitary force, is under the administrative

control of the MHA and under the operational control of the Army, i.e. the Ministry of

Defence.

BSF:

• The primary role of the Border Security Force is to guard the border of the India with

Pakistan and Bangladesh; it is deployed both on the International Border (IB) between

India and Pakistan and the Line of Control (LOC). The BSF also has active roles during

times of war.

CRPF:

• The Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) is India's largest Central Armed Police Force and

also considered to be World's largest Paramilitary Force.

• It functions under the authority of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) of the Government

of India. The CRPF's primary role lies in assisting the State/Union Territories in police

operations to maintain law and order and Counter Insurgency.

CISF:

• One of the largest industrial security forces in the world, the Central Industrial Security

Force provides security to various Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs) and other critical

infrastructure installations, major airports across the country and provides security during

elections and other internal security duties and VVIP protection.




10 | P a g e


ITBP:

• The Indo-Tibetan Border Police is deployed for guarding duties on the border with China

from Karakoram Pass in Ladakh to Diphu La in Arunachal Pradesh covering a

total distance of 3488 km.

Assam Rifles:

• The Assam Rifles is the oldest paramilitary force of India. The unit can trace its lineage

back to a paramilitary police force that was formed under the British in 1835 called Cachar

Levy. Since 2002 it has been guarding the Indo–Myanmar barrier as per the

government policy "one border one force".

NSG:

• The National Security Guard (NSG) is a counter terrorism unit under the Indian Ministry

of Home Affairs (MHA). It was raised in 15th October1984, following Operation Blue Star,

Akshardham Temple attack and the assassination of Indira Gandhi, "for combating

terrorist activities with a view to protect states against Internal Disturbances".

SSB:

• The objective of the Sashastra Seema Bal (English: Armed Border Force) is to guard the

Indo-Nepal and Indo-Bhutan Borders.

8. Jal Jeevan Mission

Why in News?

• The Union Minister for Water Resources reviewed the Jal Jeevan Mission in the southern

states.

Jal Jeevan Mission:

• The Mission was announced in August 2019.

• The chief objective of the Mission is to provide piped water supply (Har Ghar Jal) to all

rural and urban households by 2024. It also aims to create local infrastructure for

rainwater harvesting, groundwater recharge and management of household waste water

for reuse in agriculture. According to the data published in various reports, about half of

the country’s households don’t have access to piped water supply.

• It is an urgent requirement of water conservation in the country because of the decreasing

amount of groundwater level.




11 | P a g e


• Therefore, the Jal Jeevan Mission will focus on integrated demand and supply

management of water at the local level.

Benefits:

✓ Household pipeline water supply

✓ Clean and drinkable water

✓ Recharge of groundwater level

✓ Better local infrastructure

✓ Less water-borne diseases

✓ Less water wastage

9. Maharashtra Placed under President’s Rule

Why in News?

• President Ram Nath Kovind has approved a proclamation imposing President’s Rule in

Maharashtra, following a recommendation from the Governor of the State.

About:

• In India, president's rule is the suspension of state government and imposition of direct

central government rule in a state.

• Under Article 356 of the Constitution of India, if the state government is unable to function

according to constitutional provisions, the Central government can take direct control of

the state machinery.

• During president's rule, the Council of Ministers is dissolved, vacating the office of Chief

Minister. Furthermore, the legislative assembly is either prorogued or dissolved,

necessitating a new election.

• Following its landmark judgment in the 1994 S. R. Bommai vs. Union of India case, the

Supreme Court of India has restricted arbitrary impositions of president's rule.

• Chhattisgarh and Telangana are the only states where the president's rule has not been

imposed so far.

When President’s rule can be Imposed?

• In practice, president's rule has been imposed under any one of the following different

circumstances:

1. A state legislature is unable to elect a leader as chief minister for a time prescribed by the

Governor of that state, at the Will of Governor.




12 | P a g e


2. Breakdown of a coalition leading to the Chief Minister having minority support in the

house and the Chief Minister fails/will definitely fail to prove otherwise, within a time

prescribed by the Governor of that state.

3. Loss of majority in the assembly due to a vote of no-confidence in the house.

4. Elections postponed for unavoidable reasons like war, epidemic or natural disasters.

What happens if it is Imposed?

• If approved by both houses, president's rule can continue for 6 months.

• It can be extended for a maximum of 3 years with the approval of the Parliament done

every 6 months.

• If the Lok Sabha is dissolved during this time, the rule is valid for 30 days from the first

sitting of the Lok Sabha provided that this continuance has already been approved by

Rajya Sabha.

• The 44th Amendment Act of 1978 introduced a new provision to put a restraint on the

power of the Parliament to extend the president's rule in a state. According to this

provision, the president's rule can only be extended over a year every 6 months under the

following conditions:

1. There is already a national emergency throughout India, or in the whole or any part of the

state.

2. The Election Commission certifies that elections cannot be conducted in the concerned

state.

When it can be Revoked?

• President's rule can be revoked at any time by the president and does not need the

Parliament's approval. Until the mid-1990s, president's rule was often imposed in states

through abusing the authority of Governors who were in collision with the central

government.

• The Supreme Court of India in March 1994 instituted a rule by which such abuse has been

drastically reduced.

Can President Rule be imposed in Jammu & Kashmir?

• Prior to 2019, the constitution of the state of Jammu and Kashmir had a similar system of

governor's rule, under its Section 92.

• The state's governor issued a proclamation, after obtaining the consent of the President of

India. After the revocation of Article 370, lieutenant governor's rule applies to Jammu and

Kashmir.




13 | P a g e


10. Social Audits of Major Rural Development Schemes

Why in News?

• The Department of Rural Development decides to institutionalize social audits in major

schemes.

Highlights:

• The Department of Rural Development has decided to institutionalize social audits in

major schemes of rural development, starting with the National Social Assistance

Programme (NSAP) and the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana – Gramin (PMAY-G).

• In this backdrop, a two-day ‘National Seminar on Social Audit of Rural Development

Programmes’ is being organised in November 2019.

• It is being jointly conducted by the Department of Rural Development and the National

Institute of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj.

• The objective of the seminar is to understand the current status of social audits and Social

Audit Units (SAUs) and develop a plan for roll out of social audit in other programmes.

• The Seminar will take stock of the current status of Social Audits and SAUs in terms of

independency, funds, issues identified, actions taken, etc. and will provide a platform for

SAUs to share their experiences of conducting social audit.

• Models and best practices in social audit from across states in India and also from other

countries will be showcased.

• Participants will also develop an action plan for strengthening SAUs and roll out of social

audit in other rural development programmes especially NSAP and PMAY-G.

Social audit for Schemes:

• Social Audit is recognized by many, including the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG),

as a powerful tool to enforce transparency and accountability.

• Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) was the first

Act to mandate Social Audits by the Gram Sabha of all the projects taken up in the Gram

Panchayat.

• In addition to MGNREGA, a few states have taken up social audit of other schemes as well.

• Pradhan Mantri Aawas Yojana-Gramin (PMAY-G) audits are done in Uttar Pradesh,

Meghalaya and West Bengal.

• National Social Assistance Programme (NSAP) audits are done in Andhra Pradesh and

West Bengal.




14 | P a g e


• Meghalaya Legislature has enacted ‘The Meghalaya Community Participation and Public

Services Social Audit Act, 2017’ which mandates social audit in 26 different schemes in

Education, Health, Rural Development and other areas.

• Eight States have taken up Social Audit of 11 different schemes including Pradhan Mantri

Aawas Yojana-Gramin (PMAY-G), Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM), National Social

Assistance Programme (NSAP), Integrated Child Development Service (ICDS) and Mid-

Day Meals (MDM).

Pradhan Mantri Aawas Yojana-Gramin (PMAY-G):

• This scheme functions under the Ministry of Rural Development.

• The objective of the scheme is to help rural people below the poverty line (BPL) in

constructing dwelling units and upgrading the existing unserviceable kutcha houses by

providing assistance in the form of a full grant.

• Rural housing programme, as an independent programme, started with the Indira Awas

Yojana (IAY) in January 1996.

• To address certain gaps in the IAY, the government restructured it into the PMAY-G with a

commitment to provide “Housing for All’’ by the year 2022. Beneficiaries are chosen

according to data taken from the Socio-Economic Caste Census (SECC) of 2011.

National Social Assistance Programme (NSAP):

• NSAP was launched in 1995. This was introduced in accordance with the Directive

Principles of State Policy (DPSP) which directs the State to provide public assistance to its

citizens in case of unemployment, old age, sickness and disablement and in other cases of

undeserved want within the limit of its economic capacity and development.

• The NSAP aims at ensuring a minimum national standard for social assistance in addition

to the benefits that states are currently providing or might provide in the future.

• It is a social security and welfare programme to provide support to aged persons, widows,

disabled persons and bereaved families on the death of the primary breadwinner,

belonging to BPL households.

Currently, the NSAP comprises of Five Schemes:

✓ Indira Gandhi National Old Age Pension Scheme (IGNOAPS)

✓ Indira Gandhi National Widow Pension Scheme (IGNWPS)

✓ Indira Gandhi National Disability Pension Scheme (IGNDPS)

✓ National Family Benefit Scheme (NFBS)

✓ Annapurna Scheme




15 | P a g e


11. National Water Policy (NWP)

Why in News?

• The Union Water Resources Ministry has finalised a committee to draft a new National

Water Policy (NWP).

National Water Policy:

• National Water Policy is formulated by the Ministry of Water Resources of the

Government of India to govern the planning and development of water resources and their

optimum utilization.

• The first National Water Policy was adopted in September 1987. It was reviewed and

updated in 2002 and later in 2012.

• Among the major policy innovations in the 2012 policy was the concept of an Integrated

Water Resources Management approach that took the “river basin/ sub-basin” as a unit for

planning, development and management of water resources.

• A National Bureau of Water Use Efficiency is also on the cards.

Committee:

• It will be chaired by Mihir Shah, who is a former Planning Commission member and a

water expert. The committee has 10 principal members, including Shashi Shekhar, a

former secretary of Water Resources, and A.B. Pandya, former chairman of the Central

Ground Water Board. The committee is expected to produce a report within six months.

Focus on Minimum Levels:

• It also proposed that a portion of river flows ought to be kept aside to meet ecological

needs. Such an approach led to the government, in 2018, requiring minimum water levels

to be maintained in the Ganga all through the year and hydropower projects, therefore, to

refrain from hoarding water beyond a point.

• That policy also stressed for a minimum quantity of potable water for essential health and

hygiene to all its citizens to be made available within easy reach of households.

• Inter-basin transfers are not merely for increasing production but also for meeting basic

human need and achieving equity and social justice.

• Inter-basin transfers of water should be considered on the basis of merits of each case after

evaluating the environmental, economic and social impacts of such transfers.




16 | P a g e


12. CJI’s Office Comes under ambit of RTI Act, SC says

Why in News?

• The office of the Chief Justice of India is a public authority and falls under the ambit of

Right to Information Act, the Supreme Court ruled today.

Highlights:

• The five-judge bench of CJI Ranjan Gogoi, Justices N V Ramana, D Y Chandrachud,

Deepak Gupta and Sanjiv Khanna passed the judgment on an appeal filed by the Supreme

Court administration.

• The appeal challenged the 2010 order of the Delhi high court which held that the CJI’s

office comes under the ambit of the Right to Information Act.

• Oppositions to the plea had contended that courts had time and again given a slew of

directions to infuse transparency in the functioning of various institutions.

• The bench had agreed that there should be transparency, but added there was a need to do

balancing.

Who is a “Public Authority”?

• In 2011, the Punjab-Haryana High Court while deciding on 24 civil writ petitions against

the Central/State Information Commissioners had held that if any person, or body,

satisfies the following conditions then it would “squarely fall within the ambit and scope of

definition of ‘public authorities'” and would be “legally required to impart the indicated

information as envisaged under the RTI Act” –

• The institution cannot come into existence and function unless registered and regulated by

the provisions of a legislation; or the State Government has some degree of control over it

through the medium of Acts/Rules; or it is substantially financed by means of funds

provided directly, or indirectly, by the appropriate Government; or the mandate and

command of the provisions of the RTI Act along with its Preamble, aims, objects and

regime extends to their public dealing; or The larger public interest and totality of the

other facts and circumstances emanating from the records suggest that such information

may be disclosed.

The Delhi High Court order:

• In a landmark verdict on January 10, 2010, the Delhi High Court had held that the office of

the Chief Justice of India comes within the ambit of the RTI law.

• It said that the judicial independence was not a judge’s privilege, but a responsibility cast

upon him.




17 | P a g e


• The 88-page judgment was then seen as a personal setback to the then CJI, KG

Balakrishnan, who has been opposed to disclosure of information relating to judges under

the RTI Act.

• The apex court said that the right to privacy and confidentiality is an important aspect and

has to be balanced while taking a decision on giving out information from the CJI’s office.

• The CJI-led bench added that transparency cannot be allowed to run counter to right to

privacy. The bench said that the information commissioner must apply test of

proportionality while entertaining applications seeking information from the CJI’s office.

• However, it must keep in mind right to privacy and independence of judiciary.

Judicial Accountability:

• Judiciary accountability generally refers to the “answerability or responsibility” of the

judiciary to the various segments.

Relation between Judicial Accountability and Judicial Independence:

• The principal of judicial independence is not meant to benefit the Judges; it is meant to

guarantee a fair and impartial hearing and an unswerving obedience to the rule of law.

• It is also universally accepted that the judiciary has to be independent and impartial and to

be so it must also enjoy some degree of immunity.

• However, Accountability is necessary to prevent any judicial delinquency and ensuring the

efficient functioning of the judiciary.

• Thus, the Independence and Accountability are two sides of the same coin and they

complement each other.

Need for Judicial Accountability in India:

• Power and position in a democracy is depicted as attendant with responsibility, and every

incumbent of a public office must remain constantly accountable to the people.

• The People's Convention on Judicial Accountability and reform-2017, held in New Delhi

observed that the “The Judicial System of India, remains dysfunctional for the weak and

the poor when it comes to protecting their rights”

• Therefore, any accountability must be comprehensive to include not only the politicians,

but also the bureaucrats, judges and everyone invested with power.

Judicial Accountability in India:

• The Constitution has provided in Article 235, for the 'control' of the High Court over the

Subordinate Judiciary clearly indicating the provision of an effective mechanism to enforce

accountability.




18 | P a g e


• The Conference of Chief Justice held in 1996, resulted in a Code of Conduct being adopted.

• Full Court Meeting of the Supreme Court in 1997 adopted a resolution relating to the

declaration of assets by the judges. And the SC also adopted a resolution that the

allegations against a Judge would be examined by his peers and not by an outside agency

and thereby, the independence of the judiciary can be maintained. The Judges Inquiry Act,

1968, contains details regarding the impeachment process of the Judges.

13. Guardianship Act Prefers Father as Natural Guardian

Why in News?

• The Supreme Court sought the Centre’s response to a PIL which challenged the

constitutional validity of the Hindu Minority and Guardianship Act (HMGA), 1956. The

family laws lacked a child-centric approach based on the idea of shared parenting.

Issue in Contention:

• Sections 6(a) and 7 of the Hindu Minorities and Guardianship Act, 1956 have been

questioned on the grounds that they give primacy to the man and the secondary status to

the woman, violating the Right to Equality. This allows exclusive custody of children to one

parent (the father) after a marital separation. The PIL sought reforms to these laws and

raised concerns about children going without the benefits of shared parenting.

14. National Agrochemicals Congress

Why in News?

• The Union Agriculture Minister inaugurated the first-ever National Agrochemicals

Congress in New Delhi.

National Agrochemicals Congress:

• The Congress is conducted in view of the relevance chemical pesticides still continue to

play in pest management as more and more target specific and environment-friendly

products are being introduced. It is being held in New Delhi in November 2019.

• The benefits of pesticide use are high relative to their risks.

• New concepts in crops, human health, resource management, nanotechnology, smart

formulations and related sciences are likely to boost agricultural productivity.

• With this background, current status of agrochemicals on various fronts will be collated for

researchers and policymakers in order to ensure agriculture grow in a sustainable manner.




19 | P a g e


2. SOCIAL ISSUES

1. Improvement in India’s Sex Ratio

Why in News?

• According to the Central Bureau of Health Intelligence’s (CBHI) National Health Profile

(NHP) 2019, India has registered an improved sex ratio and a decline in birth and death

rates.

About CBHI:

• Central Bureau of Health Intelligence (CBHI), established in 1961, is the health intelligence

wing of the Directorate General of Health Services in the Union Ministry of Health &

Family Welfare with the vision to have “A strong Health Management Information System

in entire country”. This national institution is headed by a SAG level medical officer with

specialization in public health administration of Central health services (CHS), supported

by officers from Indian Statistical Services as well as CHS and through its six field survey

and training units.

Key Statistics:

• India has registered an improved sex ratio and a decline in birth and death rates

with non-communicable diseases dominating over communicable in the total disease

burden of the country.

• As per the NHP, sex ratio (number of females per 1,000 males) in the country has

improved from 933 in 2001 to 943 in 2011. In rural areas the sex ratio has

increased from 946 to 949.

• Kerala has recorded the highest sex ratio in respect of total population (1,084), rural

population (1,078) and urban (1,091).

• The lowest sex ratio in rural areas has been recorded in Chandigarh (690).

• The report also showed that the estimated birth rate, death rate and natural growth rate

are declining.

• The estimated birth rate reduced from 25.8 in 2000 to 20.4 in 2016 while the death rate

declined from 8.5 to 6.4 per 1,000 populations over the same period.

• The natural growth rate declined from 17.3 in 2000 to 14 in 2016 as per the latest available

information.

• As per the report, the total fertility rate (average number of children that will be born to a

woman during her lifetime) in 12 States has fallen below two children per woman and nine

States have reached replacement levels of 2.1 and above.




20 | P a g e


• Delhi, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal have the lowest fertility rate among other States.

2. Women, Peace and Democracy

Context:

• 19 years after UN Resolution 1325, WPS Index estimates the gender discourse is reaching

beyond traditional conflicts to embrace militarisation & Communal Hostilities.

About UN Resolution 1325:

• UNSCR 1325 is a landmark international legal framework that addresses the inordinate

impact of war on women + the pivotal role women play in conflict management +

sustainable peace.

• The experiences of men & women in war are different. Women offer a vital perspective in

the analysis of conflict. Resolution 1325 has 4 pillars – Participation, Protection,

Prevention, and Relief and Recovery. It is implemented through the development of

National Action Plans (NAP) or other national level strategies.

Women, Peace and Security (WPS) Index:

• The WPS Index is prepared by Georgetown University’s Institute for Women, Peace and

Security, and the Peace Research Institute of Oslo.

• It was first published in 2017 and it operationalises the main values of the WPS resolutions

to measure how women fare across three dimensions of peace and security: inclusion,

justice and security.

• The 2019 update finds that while individually, countries lag far behind on most measures,

“the world seems to be moving in the right direction”.




21 | P a g e


• Representation in government is one measure of inclusion, and the index finds that

across legislatures worldwide only 21.5% are women, so that it will take 52 years to

approach parity.

• The WPS Index reports that in 2018, 379 million women experienced intimate partner

violence in which this number exceeds the population of the US.

Statistics of India in WPS Index:

• India which ranks 133 out of 167 is ahead of Bangladesh, Myanmar and Pakistan.

• Kerala, Mizoram, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka top the table while J&K, Tripura, Rajasthan

and Manipur bring up the tail end.

• It is anomalous between the two ends—if Mizoram women are reaping the peace dividend

(economic benefit of a decrease in defence spending), the experience of Rajasthani women

illustrates how patriarchal cultures undermine it.

Interesting Facts of Jammu & Kashmir:

• Women attend school for 5.44 years on average. 60.30% of women have bank accounts;

29% do paid work outside the home and 54.20% have cell phones.

• Men tend to die, be wounded or disappeared disproportionately more, so women become

heads of households. J&K women are about 0.1% of the Indian Parliament but 84% of

them report that they participate in household decisions.

• Girls outnumber boys at birth, 9.4% of them experience intimate partner violence and they

live with an organised violence (“total number of battle deaths from state-based, non-state,

and one-sided conflicts per 100,000”) score of 175.93.

• Several civil society fact-finding teams have travelled to Kashmir since the announcement

of bifurcation of J&K into Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.

• They state that men and boys are more likely to be shot, tortured, or questioned; women

are then left to cope. After that they live with the constant threat (or reality) of sexual

violence as an act of control by all conflict parties including the side where they belong,

and lack of access to essential services (like emergency care) affect women whose mobility

is severely impaired.

What does NCRB says about Gender based Violence?

• The latest NCRB report shows that at least seven states have registered a below-10%

conviction rate for crimes against women.

• Odisha, with a 7.4% conviction rate, cuts a sorry figure, though there are some bigger

states like West Bengal, Karnataka and Gujarat that fare worse.




22 | P a g e


• But the eastern state has something to worry about. Of the 2,082 victims of rape, at least

62% are girls below 18 years of age.

• As the incidence of rape continues to show an upward trend, rising sexual assault against

minors is a disturbing trend.

• However, recent survey on the status of policing in the country showed that close to 40% of

police personnel who were part of the study believed gender-based violence complaints are

false and motivated.

• Interestingly, over 40% admitted to having received gender-sensitisation training in the

last two to three years, which apparently is having no impact.

• Now, it is important to talk about gender sensitisation of the police, which must be

accorded priority as it has a huge bearing on tackling crimes against women.

3. FSSAI Proposes Ban on Sale of Junk Foods in School

Why in News?

• Aimed at enabling children to eat and grow healthy, the Food Safety and Standards

Authority of India (FSSAI) has released draft regulations titled Food Safety and Standards

(Safe Food and healthy diets for School Children) Regulations, 2019.

Important Provisions of the Proposal:

• One of the important regulations proposed is that foods high in fat, salt and sugar (HFSS)

cannot be sold to children in school canteens/mess premises/hostel kitchens or within

50 m of the school campus.

• Schools should adopt a comprehensive programme for promoting healthy diets among

children.

• The school campus should be converted into ‘Eat Right School’ focussing on local and

seasonal food and no food waste as per the specified benchmarks.

• Nutritionists, dieticians may be engaged by the school to assist in the preparation of menu

periodically.

• Also, it has been proposed that there should be regular inspection of school premises

where safe, healthy and hygienic food should be served to students.

• (FSSAI) has prepared a draft regulation on availability of safe, wholesome and nutritious

food in schools and the same has been sent to the health ministry for approval.

• The FSSAI has invited suggestions and objections from various stakeholders.




23 | P a g e


Background:

• The High Court had ordered FSSAI to come out with regulation on healthy diets for school

children three years back. Childhood obesity is a burden in developed and developing

countries. Overweight and obesity are caused by numerous social and environmental

factors that influence people's food habit and physical activity.

• It has been estimated that worldwide over 22 million children under the age of 5 are obese,

and about 8% of schoolchildren are obese in India. FSSAI has also proposed that children

have to be encouraged to consume balanced diet in the school as per the guidelines issued

by the National Institute of Nutrition.

About FSSAI:

• Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) is an autonomous statutory body.

• Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Government of India is the Administrative Ministry

for the implementation of FSSAI.

• The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has been established under

Food Safety and Standards, 2006 which consolidates various acts & orders that have

hitherto handled food related issues in various Ministries and Departments.

• FSSAI has been created for laying down science-based standards for articles of food and to

regulate their manufacture, storage, distribution, sale and import to ensure availability of

safe and wholesome food for human consumption.

4. Indian Lungs Under Extreme Stress

Why in News?

• According to the National Health Profile (NHP)-2019, which was recently released by the

Union Health Ministry, “Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Uttar

Pradesh and West Bengal reported a large number of patients and fatalities due to Acute

Respiratory Infections (ARI)”.

About NHP:

• The NHP is prepared by the Central Bureau of Health Intelligence (CBHI) and covers

comprehensive information on demographic, socio-economic health status, health finance

indicators, health infrastructure and health of human resources in the country.

• The objective of the NHP is to create a versatile database of health information and making

it available to all stakeholders in the healthcare sector.




24 | P a g e


• The NHP highlights substantial health information under major indicators viz.

demographic indicators (population and vital statistics), socio-economic indicators

(education, employment, housing and amenities, drinking water and sanitation) and

health status indicators (incidence and prevalence of common communicable and non-

communicable diseases and RCH), etc.

• It was released for the first time in 2005. 2019 is the 14th year the NHP is being released. A

digital version of the report was also released.

Facts about ARI:

• Acute Respiratory Infections (ARI) accounted for 69.47% of morbidity last year which was

the highest in the communicable disease category leading to 27.21% mortality.

• According to World Health Organisation, acute respiratory infection is a serious ailment

that prevents normal breathing function and kills an estimated 2.6 million children

annually every year worldwide.

• Indians face the double burden of heavy air pollution in addition to the high rate of ARI

which hits children the hardest, said experts here.

• Doctors explained that the high level of air pollution would be an additional burden to the

already high rate of ARI that the country is facing.

Effects of ARI:

• When we breathe in polluted air, particles and pollutants penetrate and inflame the linings

of your bronchial tubes and lungs.

• This leads to respiratory illness such as Chronic Bronchitis, Emphysema, Heart Disease,

Asthma, Wheezing, Coughing and difficulty in Breathing.

Effects on Pregnant Women and Children:

• The current level of air pollution poses a high risk

to pregnant women and the baby.

• The foetus receives oxygen from the mother, and if

she is breathing polluted air, it can increase the

health risk of unborn babies.

• Pregnant women in the first trimester need to be

more careful as risk increases and pollution can

cause a medical condition called intrauterine inflammation.

• Prenatal exposure to pollutants increases risk of pre-term delivery and low birth weight,

factors that can lead to developmental disabilities later on.




25 | P a g e


• Children are particularly susceptible as they “breathe through their mouths, bypassing the

filtering effects of the nasal passages and allowing pollutants to travel deeper into the

lungs.”

• Children may ignore early symptoms of air pollution effects, such as an asthma

exacerbation, leading to attacks of increased severity. They seem to be most vulnerable to

the harmful effects of air pollution.

5. Maternal Death Rate Declining: Report

Why in News?

• The latest Sample Registration System (SRS) 2015-2017 bulletin for MMR which was

released recently has reported a sharp decline in the MMR rate of India.

Key Findings of the Report:

• India’s MMR has seen a decline from 130 in 2014-2016 to 122 in 2015-2017.

• As per the report, nearly 2,000 maternal deaths have been averted per year.

• The figure has declined from 167 in 2011-2013 to 130 in 2014-2016 and to 122 in 2015-17,

registering a 6.15 per cent reduction.

Categorisation of States:

• To understand the maternal mortality situation in the country better and to map the

changes, especially at the regional level, the government has categorised states into three

groups:

✓ Empowered action group (EAG),

✓ Southern States

✓ Other states.

Regional Statistics:

• Bihar, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Rajasthan, Uttar

Pradesh/Uttarakhand and Assam fall under the EAG and Andhra Pradesh, Telangana,

Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu are in the southern States group. “Others” comprise the

remaining States and Union Territories.

• Retaining its first position, Kerala has reduced its MMR from 46 in 2014-2016 to 42 in

2015-2017. Likewise, Maharashtra retained its second position with 55 (down from 61) and

Tamil Nadu its third position with 63 (down from 66).

• While Karnataka has shown the highest percentage decline in MMR, Uttar Pradesh and

Madhya Pradesh have shown an increase by 15 points each in MMR.




26 | P a g e


• The decline has been most significant in EAG States from 188 to 175.

• The ratio has reduced considerably from 77 to 72 among southern states and in the other

states from 93 to 90.

Government Interventions:

• Focus on quality and coverage of health services through public health initiatives under the

National Health Mission such as LaQshya, Poshan Abhiyan, Pradhan Mantri Surakshit

Matritva Abhiyan, Janani Shishu Suraksha Karyakram, Janani Suraksha Yojana and

Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana have contributed to this decline.

• India is now committed to ensuring that not a single mother or new-born dies due to a

preventable cause and move towards zero preventable maternal and new-born deaths

through the recently launched Surakshit Matritva Aashwasan Initiative (SUMAN).

India meeting the established Targets:

• Decline is important for India as 11 States have achieved the National Health Policy target

of MMR 100 per lakh live births well ahead of 2020.

• The WHO last year lauded India’s progress in reducing the MMR saying the progress puts

the country on track towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) target of

an MMR below 70 by 2030.

What is MMR?

• MMR is defined as the proportion of maternal deaths per 1,00,000 live births.

• Maternal mortality is defined as the death of a woman while pregnant or within 42 days of

termination of pregnancy.

• Complications during pregnancy and childbirth are a leading cause of death and disability

among women of reproductive age.

About SRS:

• Initiated on a pilot basis by the Office of the Registrar General, India in a few selected

states in 1964-65, it became fully operational during 1969-70.

• SRS aims to provide reliable estimates of birth and death rates for the states and also at all

India Level.

• At present, the SRS provides reliable annual data on fertility and mortality at the state and

national levels for rural and urban areas separately.




27 | P a g e


3. INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

1. India Refuses to ink RCEP Agreement

Why in News?

• India has decided to not join the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP)

agreement in the recently concluded 3rd RCEP Summit at Bangkok, Thailand. It is because

of the fact that India's concerns not being addressed in the final deal.

What is RCEP?

• RCEP is a proposed Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between ten ASEAN member states and

their six FTA partners namely India, Australia, China, Japan, New Zealand and South

Korea.

• RCEP negotiations were formally launched in November 2012 at the ASEAN Summit in

Cambodia.

Objective of RCEP:

• RCEP aims to boost goods trade by eliminating most tariff and non-tariff barriers — a

move that is expected to provide the region’s consumers greater choice of quality products

at affordable rates. It also seeks to liberalise investment norms and do away with services

trade restrictions.

Significance of RCEP:

• When inked, it would become the world’s biggest free trade pact. This is because the 16

nations account for a total GDP of about $50 trillion and house close to 3.5 billion people.

• India (GDP-PPP worth $9.5 trillion and population of 1.3 billion) and China (GDP-PPP of

$23.2 trillion and population of 1.4 billion) together comprise the RCEP’s biggest

component in terms of market size.

Advantages to India through RCEP:

• It presents a decisive platform for India which could enhance strategic and economic

status in the Asia-Pacific region and can complement its Act East Policy.

• It can augment India’s existing free trade agreements with the Association of South-East

Asian Nations (ASEAN).

• RCEP provides a chance for India to bring in historic trade reforms, which in itself will

cement India's position as a major global economy and make Indian industry competitive.

• It can boost India’s inward and outward foreign direct investment, particularly export-

oriented FDI.




28 | P a g e


• It would also facilitate India’s MSMEs to effectively integrate into the regional value and

supply chains.

• It can address challenges emanating from implementation concerns vis-à-vis overlapping

agreements of ASEAN.

• The RCEP would help India streamline the rules and regulations of doing trade, which will

reduce trade costs. India enjoys a comparative advantage in the services sector such as

information and communication technology, healthcare, and education services etc. Thus,

RCEP will create opportunities for Indian companies to access new markets.

• Some of the sectors that have been identified as potential sources of India’s export growth

impulses under RCEP to the tune of approximately $200 billion.

• If India is out of the RCEP, it would make its exports price uncompetitive with other RCEP

members’ exports in each RCEP market, and the ensuing export-losses contributing to

foreign exchange shortages and even subsequent extent of depreciation of the rupee.

Indian Concerns over signing RCEP:

• Widening Trade Deficit: NITI Aayog held that India’s trade deficit with the ASEAN,

Korea and Japan has widened post-FTAs. Thus, Tariff elimination due to RCEP could

worsen the trade deficit, at $105.2 billion in 2018-19.

• Impact on Agriculture: It threatens farm livelihoods, autonomy over seeds and also

endangers the country’s self-sufficient dairy sector.

• Services Sector: India has demanded that the ASEAN countries should open up their

services sector so that Indian professionals and workers can have easier entry into their

market.

• Flooding of Chinese Imports: Almost every sector registered its apprehension that

once the RCEP agreement was in place, China would harm the domestic market with its

cheap exports and would also dump its products. China already has a $70 billion (approx.)

trade surplus with India.

• Decline of Customs Revenue: Since import duties are also a source of revenue for

India, it could experience a disproportionate loss of customs revenue.

• Sensitive List: Most of the RCEP countries have very high tariffs on certain products

sensitive to them, such as rice, footwear, dairy products and honey, which they can

continue to shield through the sensitive lists.

• This shows that ASEAN countries are very sensitive about protecting this sector and have

not offered much liberalisation even within the bloc to each-other.




29 | P a g e


• So, in terms of enhanced market access, India would benefit relatively less from its RCEP

partners than the benefits given to them by it.

Way Forward:

• India's entry into RCEP will strengthen its strategic weight but it may act as a double-

edged sword for India.

• The RCEP can be a stepping stone to India’s Act East Policy, but at a time of growing

protectionism and the US-China trade war, opening our market to China (through RCEP)

can prove to be disastrous, given the structural issues in the Indian market.

• So India has to undergo second-generation reforms of its domestic economic policies,

including those that reform its factor markets, to make its trade more competitive and

export-oriented.

• These reforms will help India better access other markets and will mitigate some of the

repercussions arising from the RCEP.

• Hence, it is important that India focuses on resolving the structural issues in the domestic

market, before concluding the RCEP negotiations.

2. Dustlik 2019

Why in News?

• Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and his Uzbekistan counterpart Major General Bakhodir

Nizamovich Kurbanov presided over the Curtain Raiser of the first-ever India-Uzbekistan

joint military drill.

About the Exercise:

• Dustlik-2019-the first-ever India-Uzbekistan joint military exercise which began at

Chirchiq Training Area near Tashkent on November 4, 2019.

• The exercise will focus on counter-terrorism and continues till November 13.

• During the exercise, an Indian Army contingent will train along with Uzbekistan Army.

• The exercise will enable sharing of best practices and experiences between the Armed

Forces of the two countries and will lead to greater operational effectiveness.




30 | P a g e


3. U.S.A exits Paris Agreement

Why in News?

• Recently U.S.A has notified the United Nations of its withdrawal from the landmark

climate deal by initiating the process of leaving the Paris Agreement.

About Paris Agreement:

• The Paris Agreement of 2016 is an international accord that brings almost 200 countries

together in setting a common target to reduce global greenhouse emissions in an effort to

fight climate change.Parties to UNFCCC agreed to strive to limit the rise in global warming

to well under 2 degrees Celsius and to try and limit the temperature increase even further

to 1.5 degrees Celsius, over pre-industrial levels by 2100, under Paris Agreement.

• Nationally determined contributions (NDCs) were conceived at Paris summit which

require each Party to prepare, communicate and maintain successive nationally

determined contributions (NDCs) that it intends to achieve.

• Parties shall pursue domestic mitigation measures, with the aim of achieving the objectives

of such contributions.

• Paris Agreement replaced earlier agreement to deal with climate change, Kyoto Protocol.

Procedure to leave the Pact:

• A country can leave the pact through Article 28 of the Paris Agreement which allows

countries to leave the Paris Agreement. It also lays down the process for leaving the

agreement. A country can only give a notice for leaving at least three years after the Paris

Agreement came into force.

• The agreement has come into force on November 4, 2016. Therefore, the US was eligible to

move a notice for leaving on November 4 this year, which it did.

• The withdrawal is not immediate, however. It takes effect one year after the submission of

the notice. It means the United States will be out of Paris Agreement only on November 4

next year.

• After it leaves, the US will be the only country left out of the global protocol. Syria and

Nicaragua, the last remaining countries who were earlier holding out, also became

signatories in 2017.

Implications of the above move:

• The biggest impact of the exit of the United States from the Agreement might be on the

financial flows to enable climate actions.




31 | P a g e


• The United States plays a preeminent role in mobilising financial resources globally, and

its absence from the scene could seriously hamper that effort.

• The United States is the world’s second largest emitter of greenhouse gases. If it does not

reduce its emissions befitting its status as the second largest emitter, it could seriously

jeopardise the world’s objective of keeping the global temperature rise to within 2 degrees

Celsius from pre-industrial times.

• Under the Paris Agreement, developed countries are under obligation to mobilise at least

$100 billion every year from the year 2020 in climate finance meant for the developing

world.

• The exit of USA might hamper these efforts too.

• While exiting the Paris Agreement does not automatically mean the abandonment of this

target or of any future action by the United States on climate change, it would no longer be

committed to the targets recommended by Paris Agreement.

Can U.S.A re-join the pact at a Later Date?

• Yes. It can re-join the agreement whenever it wishes to do so. There is no bar on a country

re-joining the Paris Agreement.

• It is also possible that the United States does a rethink and actually never leaves the Paris

Agreement. It has one full year to reconsider its decision.

4. Exercise ‘Samudra Shakti’

Why in News?

• India Navy and Indonesian navy hold Joint Naval Exercise “Samudra Shakti” In Bay of

Bengal.

Ex. Samudra Shakti:

• It is a joint exercise between Indian Navy and the Indonesian Navy. The joint exercises

include manoeuvres, Surface Warfare exercises, Air Defence exercises, Weapon firing

drills, Helicopter Operations and Boarding Operations.

• The Harbour Phase included professional interactions in the form of Subject Matter Expert

Exchanges (SMEE), cross deck visits, simulator drills, planning conferences, sports

fixtures and social interactions.




32 | P a g e


5. Samudra Shakthi

Why in News?

• A joint bilateral maritime exercise between India and Indonesia was held recently.

About:

• It is a bilateral maritime exercise between India and Indonesia.

• The latest edition is being held in Bay of Bengal.

• The joint exercises include manoeuvres, surface warfare exercises, air defense exercises,

weapon firing drills, helicopter operations and boarding operations.

6. Kartarpur Corridor

Why in News?

• The Prime Minister of India will inaugurate the Integrated Check Post at Kartarpur

Corridor.

Highlights:

• India and Pakistan have signed an agreement to operationalise the Kartarpur corridor that

will facilitate pilgrims from India to visit the Gurdwara Kartarpur Sahib in Pakistan.

The Highlights of the Agreement are:

✓ Indian pilgrims of all faiths and persons of Indian origin can use the corridor;

✓ The travel will be Visa Free;

✓ Pilgrims need to carry only a valid passport;

✓ Persons of Indian Origin need to carry OCI card along with the passport of their

country;

✓ The Corridor is open from dawn to dusk. Pilgrims travelling in the morning will have to

return on the same day;

✓ The Corridor will be operational throughout the year;

✓ Pilgrims will have a choice to visit as individuals or in groups, and also to travel on foot;

✓ India will send the list of pilgrims to Pakistan 10 days ahead of travel date.

Confirmation will be sent to pilgrims 4 days before the travel date.




33 | P a g e


7. Organisation of American States

Why in News?

• The Organization of American States (OAS) has exhorted Bolivian lawmakers urgently to

resolve the crisis in its state.

About:

• Organization of American States (OAS) formed in 14th April, 1890 to promote economic,

military, and cultural cooperation among its members, which include almost all of the

independent states of the Western Hemisphere.

• The prime objective of the formation was to prevent any outside state’s intervention in the

Western Hemisphere and to maintain peace between the various states within the

hemisphere.

• The Governing Bodies of the Organization of American States (OAS) is consists of General

Secretariat, the Permanent Council, the Inter-American Council for Integral Development,

and a number of committees.

• General Secretariat: It is the supreme decision-making body and convenes once every year

in a regular session. The staffs of the General Secretariat are consists of personnel chosen

mainly from the member states, with consideration given to geographic representation.

Staff members are considered international civil servants.

• Permanent Council: It involves in implementing mandates from the General Assemblies,

designing and assessing activities to promote democracy and strengthen human rights,

considering requests from members, debating and approving resolutions on current

issues, and dealing with reports from subsidiary organs.

8. HADR Exercise TIGER TRIUMPH

Why in News?

• The maiden India – US joint tri-services Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief

(HADR) Exercise named ‘TIGER TRIUMPH’ is scheduled to be held in November 2019 for

9 days.

HADR Exercise TIGER TRIUMPH:

• TIGER TRIUMPH is the first joint Indo-US Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief

(HADR) exercise.

• It is aimed at developing interoperability for conducting HADR operations.

• Participating teams from India:




34 | P a g e


✓ Indian Naval ships Jalashwa, Airavat and Sandhayak

✓ Indian Army troops from 19 Madras and 7 Guards

✓ Indian Air Force MI-17 helicopters and Rapid Action Medical Team (RAMT)

• Participating teams from the USA:

✓ US Navy Ship Germantown

✓ Troops from US Third Marine Division

• It is an exercise carried out on the Eastern coast of India starting with the Harbour Phase

at Visakhapatnam. Personnel from both navies would participate in training visits, subject

matter expert exchanges, sports events and social interactions.

• After this phase, the ships, with troops embarked, would sail for the Sea Phase and

undertake maritime, amphibious and HADR operations.

• On reaching the HADR area at Kakinada, the landing of Relief Forces would be undertaken

to the Exercise scenario. At the HADR Exercise Area, a Joint Command and Control

Centre would be established jointly by the Indian Army and US Marines.

• The IAFRAMT and the US Navy Medical Team would establish a Medical Facility Camp for

providing medical aid to victims, who would have been previously evacuated by road and

air to the Camp.

9. PM says, “Terror Batters World Economy”

Why in News?

• The 11th annual BRICS Summit was held recently in Brasilia, Brazil.

About:

• BRICS is an acronym for the grouping of the world’s leading emerging economies, namely

Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa which is convened annually.

• The BRICS summit 2019 theme is 'Economic Growth for an Innovative Future'.

• BRICS does not exist in form of organization, but it is an annual summit between the

supreme leaders of five nations.

• The Chairmanship of the forum is rotated annually among the members, in accordance

with the acronym B-R-I-C-S.

• Together, BRICS accounts for about 40% of the world’s population and about 30% of the

GDP (Gross Domestic Product), making it a critical economic engine.

• It’s an emerging investment market and global power bloc.




35 | P a g e


Historical Background:

• The acronym "BRICS" was initially formulated in 2001 by economist Jim O'Neill, of

Goldman Sachs, in a report on growth prospects for the economies of Brazil, Russia, India

and China – which together represented a significant share of the world's production and

population. In 2006, the four countries initiated a regular informal diplomatic

coordination, with annual meetings of Foreign Ministers at the margins of the General

Debate of the UN General Assembly (UNGA).

• This successful interaction led to the decision that the dialogue was to be carried out at the

level of Heads of State and Government in annual Summits.

• The first BRIC Summit took place in 2009 in the Russian Federation and focused on issues

such as reform of the global financial architecture.

• South Africa was invited to join BRIC in December 2010, after which the group adopted

the acronym BRICS. South Africa subsequently attended the Third BRICS Summit in

Sanya, China, in March 2011.

New Development Bank:

• NDB is headquartered in Shanghai.

• At the Fourth BRICS Summit in New Delhi (2012) the possibility of setting up a new

Development Bank was considered to mobilize resources for infrastructure and sustainable

development projects in BRICS and other emerging economies, as well as in developing

countries.

• During the Sixth BRICS Summit in Fortaleza (2014) the leaders signed the Agreement

establishing the New Development Bank (NDB).

• Fortaleza Declaration stressed that the NDB will strengthen cooperation among BRICS

and will supplement the efforts of multilateral and regional financial institutions for global

development thus contributing to sustainable and balanced growth.

• NDB’s key areas of operation are clean energy, transport infrastructure, irrigation,

sustainable urban development and economic cooperation among the member countries.

• The NDB functions on a consultative mechanism among the BRICS members with all the

member countries possessing equal rights.

Contingent Reserve Arrangement:

• Considering the increasing instances of global financial crisis, BRICS nations signed

BRICS Contingent Reserve Arrangement (CRA) in 2014 as part of Fortaleza Declaration at

Sixth BRICS summit.




36 | P a g e


• The BRICS CRA aims to provide short-term liquidity support to the members through

currency swaps to help mitigating BOP crisis situation and further strengthen financial

stability. The initial total committed resources of the CRA shall be one hundred billion

dollars of the United States of America (USD 100 billion).

• It would also contribute to strengthening the global financial safety net and complement

existing International Arrangements (IMF).

Highlights of the Meeting:

• Our Honourable Prime Minister has addressed about the Terror that has emerged as the

biggest threat to peace and prosperity.

• He also added that the Economic Growth of developing nations has decreased by 1.5% due

to terrorism,” that the scourge had caused a $1 trillion loss to the world economy. In 10

years, terrorism had claimed the lives of 2.25 lakh people and destroyed societies, he said.

• He has proposed to hold the first meeting of BRICS Water Ministers in India as

Sustainable water management and sanitation were important challenges in urban areas.

• He also stated about ‘Fit India Movement’ to increase contacts and exchanges between the

BRICS countries in the field of fitness and health. He also called for special attention to

mutual trade and investment, saying intra-BRICS trade accounts for 15% of the world

trade, while its combined population is over 40% of the world’s population.

10. ICC Judges approve an investigation into crimes against Myanmar's Rohingya:

Why in News?

• International Criminal Court Judges have approved a request to open an investigation into

crimes committed against Myanmar's Rohingya Muslim minority.

• The Hague court said that it has jurisdiction over crimes partially committed in

Bangladesh, which is a member state of the court.

International Criminal Court:

• It is an Intergovernmental Organization and International Tribunal that sits in The Hague,

Netherlands.

• The ICC has Jurisdiction to prosecute individuals for the International Crimes of

Genocide, Crimes against Humanity, War Crimes, and Crimes of aggression.

• The ICC began functioning on 1 July 2002, the date that the Rome Statute entered into

force. As of March 2019, there are 122 ICC member states. 42 states are non-party, non-

signatory states.




37 | P a g e


• India has Not signed Rome Statute.

• The ICC has jurisdiction to prosecute individuals and is independent of United Nations

(UN). But it may also receive case referrals from UN Security Council and can initiate

prosecutions without UN action or referral.

11. China's Economy shows Further Signs of Strain:

Why in News?

• A sharp slowdown in consumer spending, factory production and poor investment growth

following the trade war with the US, showed signs of strain in Chinese economy.

Crisis face by China:

• Beijing is battling a tariffs row with the United States, as well as a weak global outlook.

And it is also trying to control a high level of debt at home.

• China was facing a "complex international economic situation" with downward pressure

on the domestic economy. Analysts also warned of more headwinds for the world's

number two economy.




38 | P a g e


4. ECONOMY

1. Adjusted Gross Revenue (AGR) in Telecom Sector

Why in News?

• In a strongly-worded order, the Supreme Court of India upheld the Department of

Telecom (DoT)’s interpretation of “adjusted gross revenue” (AGR).

• This came as a huge blow to telecom service providers.

• Following the order, the telcos are now staring at dues of an estimated ₹1.4 lakh crore,

which needs to be paid to the government within three months.

• Most industry players and analysts have argued that the payout of the huge amount could

be the final straw for the already distressed sector.

AGR:

• Adjusted Gross Revenue (AGR) is the usage and licensing fee that telecom operators are

charged by the Department of Telecommunications (DoT).

• It is divided into spectrum usage charges and licensing fees, pegged between 3-5 percent

and 8 percent respectively. The definition of AGR has been under litigation for 14 years.

• While telecom companies argued that it should comprise revenue from telecom services,

the DoT’s stand was that the AGR should include all revenue earned by an operator,

including that from non-core telecom operations.

• The AGR directly impacts the outgo from the pockets of telcos to the DoT as it is used to

calculate the levies payable by operators.

• Currently, telecom operators pay 8% of the AGR as licence fee, while spectrum usage

charges (SUC) vary between 3-5% of AGR.

Why do telcos need to pay out Large Amounts?

• Telecom companies now owe the government not just the shortfall in AGR for the past 14

years but also an interest on that amount along with penalty and interest on the penalty.

• While the exact amount telcos will need to shell out is not clear, as in a government

affidavit filed in the top court, the DoT had calculated the outstanding licence fee to be

over ₹92,000 crore.

• However, the actual payout can go up to ₹1.4 lakh crore as the government is likely to also

raise a demand for shortfall in SUC along with interest and penalty. Of the total amount, it

is estimated that the actual dues is about 25%, while the remaining amount is interest and

penalties.




39 | P a g e


Concerns:

• The telecom industry is reeling under a debt of over ₹4 lakh crore and has been seeking a

relief package from the government. Even the government has on various occasions

admitted that the sector is indeed undergoing stress and needs support.

• Giving a ray of hope to the telecom companies, the government recently announced setting

up of a Committee of Secretaries to examine the financial stress in the sector, and

recommend measures to mitigate it.

2. Elephant Bonds

Why in News?

• A High-Level Advisory Group on Trade Policy (HLAG) headed by Surjit S Bhalla has

recently suggested the government to issue ‘Elephant Bonds’ which would recover up to

$500 billion of black money that has been stashed overseas.

About:

• An Elephant Bond is a 25-year sovereign bond (a bond issued by a national government).

• This bond is issued to those people who declare their previously undisclosed income and

are then bound to invest 50% of that amount in these securities.

• The fund gathered by the issuance of these bonds is utilized to Finance Infrastructure

Projects only which was recommended by the HLAG.

• One of the key features of the proposed mechanism is that those disclosing their black

money will receive immunity from all local laws including those under foreign exchange,

black money laws, and taxation laws.

• This would enable people to bring their offshore undisclosed wealth into India without fear

of prosecution.

• Countries like Indonesia, Pakistan, Argentina, and the Philippines have already launched

their own tax amnesty schemes for persons who disclose undeclared income without the

risk of prosecution. Tax amnesty is a limited-time opportunity for a specified group of

taxpayers to pay a defined amount, in exchange for forgiveness of tax liability (including

interests and penalties).

• The move is also expected to bring down the real interest rate. It will also strengthen the

rupee. The HLAG was set up under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry in the year

2018.




40 | P a g e


3. Khadi gets Separate Unique HS code

Why in News?

• Khadi has once again come out of its customary veil, marking its presence in the exclusive

HS code bracket, issued by the central government to categorize its products in export.

Highlights:

• Khadi and Village Industries products are eco-friendly and natural and are in great

demand in the International Markets. Recognizing its potential to generate exports, the

Ministry of Commerce had taken various measures to boost the export of Khadi products.

• However, in the absence of separate HS code, the export of Khadi products was difficult to

categorize and calculate. Allocation of separate HS code for this signature fabric of India

will help in making the export of Khadi, exclusively categorized from the general league of

textile products.

• This move will help in keeping a constant eye on khadi export figures and also it will also

help in planning khadhi export strategies.

HS Code:

• HS Stands for Harmonized System and it is a six-digit identification code.

• It was developed by the WCO (World Customs Organization). Customs officers use HS

Code to clear every commodity that enters or crosses any International Border.

4. Alternative Investment Funds (AIFs)

Why in News?

• The Union Cabinet has recently approved the creation of an Alternative Investment Fund

(AIF) of Rs. 25,000 crores for the realty sector.

• This is to provide last-mile funding for stalled affordable and middle-income housing

projects across the country.

Key Features of the Decision:

• The fund size is of Rs. 25,000 crores with the government providing Rs. 10,000 crore and

the State Bank of India and the Life Insurance Corporation providing the balance.

• The fund was set up as Category-II Alternative Investment Fund registered with the SEBI

and will be managed by SBICAP Ventures Limited.

• The open-ended fund is expected to increase in time. The government is also in talks with

sovereign bonds and pension funds to put in money in this fund further.




41 | P a g e


• The Cabinet also approved the establishment of a ‘Special Window’ to provide priority debt

financing for completion of stalled housing projects in the affordable and middle-income

housing sector.

What is Alternative Investment Fund:

• AIFs refers to any privately pooled investment fund, (whether from Indian or foreign

sources), in the form of a trust or a company or a body corporate or a Limited Liability

Partnership (LLP).

• In India, AIFs are private funds which are otherwise not coming under the jurisdiction of

any regulatory agency in India, since it does not include funds covered under the SEBI

(Mutual Funds) Regulations, 1996, SEBI (Collective Investment Schemes) Regulations,

1999 or any other regulations of the Board to regulate fund management activities.

12. Steel Scrap Recycling Policy

Why in News?

• Ministry of Steel has issued the Steel Scrap Recycling Policy.

Background:

• Steel Ministry’s endeavor is to develop a globally competitive steel industry by adopting

state of the art environment friendly technologies.

• Ferrous Scrap being the primary raw material for electric arc furnace (EAF) and induction

furnace (IF) based steel production, the policy envisages a framework to facilitate and

promote establishment of metal scrapping centers in India. This will ensure scientific

processing & recycling of ferrous scrap generated from various sources and a variety of

products.

• The policy framework shall provide standard guidelines for collection, dismantling and

shredding activities in an organized, safe and environmentally sound manner.

• Steel is a material most conducive for circular economy as it can be used, reused and

recycled infinitely.

• While iron ore remains the primary source of steel making, used or re-used steel in the

form of Scrap is the secondary raw material for the steel industry.

• Indian steel industry is characterized by the presence of a large number of small steel

producers who utilize scrap with other inputs in EAF/IF for steel making.




42 | P a g e


Objectives:

• To promote circular economy in the steel sector.

• To promote a formal and scientific collection, dismantling and processing activities for end

of life products that are sources of recyclable (ferrous, non- ferrous and other non-

metallic) scraps which will lead to resource conservation and energy savings and setting up

of an environmentally sound management system for handling ferrous scrap.

• Processing and recycling of products in an organized, safe and environment friendly

manner. To evolve a responsive ecosystem by involving all stakeholders.

• To produce high quality ferrous scrap for quality steel production thus minimizing the

dependency on imports.

• To decongest the Indian cities from end-of-live vehicle (ELVs) and reuse of ferrous scrap.

• To create a mechanism for treating waste streams and residues produced from dismantling

and shredding facilities in compliance to Hazardous & Other Wastes (Management &

Trans boundary Movement) Rules, 2016 issued by MoEF & CC.

• To promote 6Rs principles of Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Recover, Redesign and

Remanufacture through scientific handling, processing and disposal of all types of

recyclable scraps including non-ferrous scraps, through authorized centers / facility.

Significance:

• The availability of scrap is a major issue in India and in 2017 the deficit was to the tune of 7

million Tons. This was imported at the cost of more than Rs. 24,500 crores (approx.) in

2017-18.

• The gap between demand and supply is can be reduced in the future and the country may

be self-sufficient by 2030.

• This is mainly because with the increase in consumption of steel in the recent past and

ELVs, the generation of scrap is likely to be increased considerably.

• This scrap has to be channelized so that the same can be utilized for steel production in an

environmentally friendly manner.

• The scrapping policy shall ensure that quality scrap is available for the steel industry.

National Steel Policy 2017:

• National Steel Policy 2017 (NSP-2017) aims to develop a globally competitive steel

industry by creating 300 Million TPA Steel production capacity by 2030 with a

contribution of 35-40% from EAF/IF route.




43 | P a g e


• The availability of raw materials at competitive rates is imperative for the growth of the

steel industry and to achieve NSP-2017 target.

• Thus, the availability of right quality of scrap, in adequate quantity is one of the critical

factors for the future growth for both EAF/IF sector & primary sector.

• Scrap based steel making technologies have been envisaged as one of the important

options to reduce GHG emission intensity.

• This shall feature as an important initiative of the steel sector to minimize Green House

Gas (GHG) emissions.

13. COCSSO

Why in News?

• Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) is organizing 27th

Conference of Central and State Statistical Organizations (COCSSO) in Kolkata.

Highlights:

• The Conference, a major national annual event, provides a platform for discussion and

improved coordination between the Central and State Statistical agencies for enhancing

the efficiency of the Indian Statistical System.

• The theme of this year’s Conference “Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)”.

• It has been chosen for intensive and focused discussions aimed at filling the data gaps and

improvement of timelines/quality in SDG monitoring.

• The next important step on SDGs is preparation of the State Indicator Framework (SIF) so

that monitoring of progress in respect of SDGs can take place at the State and sub-State

levels. 27th COCSSO assumes greater Significance for proposing the way forward for

evolving SIF through a wider consultation with State Governments/UTs and other

stakeholders.

National Indicator Framework (NIF):

• MoSPI, which is responsible for monitoring the progress of SDGs, has developed the

National Indicator Framework (NIF) for monitoring country’s progress on SDGs.

• NIF has been developed in consultations with Central Ministries and State/UT

Governments.

• MoSPI has also released the NIF Baseline Report 2015-16 setting the benchmark for

measuring SDGs progress up to 2030.




44 | P a g e


14. Shrinkage in IIP recorded the Lowest in 8 Years

Why in News?

• According to official data released recently, Industrial activity in September contracted

sharply by 4.3%, a historical low, driven by major slowdowns in the capital goods, mining,

and manufacturing sectors.

Historical Shrinkage:

• The contraction in the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) in September was compared

with the contraction of 1.1% in August. The Index had grown 4.3% in September of the

previous year.

• “This is the first time after November 2012 that all three broad-based sectors have

contracted and the lowest monthly growth in the 2011-12 base year series. “In the old

(2004-05) base, IIP in October 2011 contracted by 5%.”

Various Sectors Growth rate in September

(%)

Growth rate in August

(%)

Capital Goods Sector Decreased by 20.7 Decreased by 21

Mining Sector Decreased by 8.5 Increased by 0.1

Manufacturing Sector Decreased by 3.9 Decreased by 1.2

Electricity Sector Decreased by 2.6 Decreased by 0.9

Consumer Durables Sector Decreased by 9.9 Decreased by 9.1

Consumer Non-durables

Sector Decreased by 0.4 Increased by 4.1

• “The Indian economy is presently facing a structural growth slowdown originating from

declining household savings rate, and low agricultural growth”.

• “Low agricultural growth is feeding into low agricultural and non-agricultural wage growth

in rural areas, which is impacting rural demand adversely.”

About IIP:

• IIP is a composite indicator measuring changes in the volume of production of a basket of

industrial products over a period of time, with respect to a chosen base period.




45 | P a g e


• It is compiled and published on a monthly basis by the Central Statistics Office

(CSO) under the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation with a

time lag of six weeks from the reference month.

• Base year for IIP is 2011-2012 (Earlier 2004-05) i.e. it is calculated on the basis of their

share of GDP at factor cost during 2011-12.

• The revised IIP (2011-12) reflects the changes in industrial sector and also aligns it with

base year of other macroeconomic indicators like Wholesale Price Index (WPI) and Gross

Domestic Product (GDP).

• IIP covers 865 (Older series 682) items comprising:

1. Manufacturing (809 items, Older series 620 items) – 77.63%

2. Mining (55 items, Older Series 61 items) – 14.37%

3. Electricity (1 item) – 7.99%

• The eight Core Industries comprise nearly 40.27 % of the weight of items included in IIP.

They are:

1. Coal (10.33%)

2. Crude oil (8.98%)

3. Natural gas (6.88%)

4. Refinery products (28.04%)

5. Fertilizers (2.63%)

6. Steel (17.92%)

7. Cement (5.37%)

8. Electricity (19.85%)

15. India Internet 2019

Why in News?

• Internet And Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) has recently released the report “India

Internet 2019”.

About:

• According to the report, Internet penetration rate is highest in Delhi NCR (69%) followed

by Kerala (54%).

• The lowest penetration rate was in Odisha (25), Jharkhand (26) and Bihar (28).

• Internet penetration is defined as number of individuals aged above 12 per 100

populations who accessed the Internet during a particular period.




46 | P a g e


• It also noted that Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Delhi have the highest proportion of female

Internet users.

INTERNET PENETRATION, 2019

• In terms of Internet subscriptions per 100 populations, Delhi, Punjab and Himachal

Pradesh and Kerala topped the list.

• The lowest subscriptions are from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh.

• Kerala is among States with a huge gap between the number of rural and urban Internet

connections. This is also the case in Delhi and Himachal Pradesh.




47 | P a g e


16. e-NAM

Why in News?

• Centre has asked the states to dismantle APMC and move towards e-NAM. The electronic

National Agriculture Market.

About e-NAM:

• NAM is an online platform with a physical market or mandi at the backend. NAM is not a

parallel marketing structure but rather an instrument to create a national network of

physical mandis which can be accessed online.

It seeks to leverage the physical infrastructure of mandis through an online trading portal,

enabling buyers situated even outside the state to participate in trading at the local level.

• The launching of e-platform for marketing of agriculture products is being done with the

aim to provide more options to farmers to sell their produce.

• This initiative is part of implementation of the roadmap for doubling income of the

farmers by 2022.

17. FCRA

Why in News?

• The Home ministry had cancelled the license of 1,800 NGOs, educational institutions for

violating the various provisions of Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA).

About:

• Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA), 2010 seeks to regulate the foreign

contributions or donations to organizations and individuals in India and to curb those

contributions which might be detrimental to the national interest.

• Despite being a law related to financial regulation, this law does not fall within the purview

of the RBI but under the Home Ministry as it is internal security legislation.

• As per FCRA 2010, the following organisational individuals are debarred from receiving

foreign contribution. They are

1. Candidate for election

2. cartoonist, editor, publishers of registered newspaper

3. Judge, government servants or employee of any corporation

4. Member of any legislature

5. Political parties.




48 | P a g e


Salient features of FCRA 2010:

• A provision was made for the cancellation of registrations of NGOs if the Home Ministry

believes that the organisation is political and not neutral.

• The registration certificate granted to the NGOs under the 2010 act came with five-year

validity.

• A provision was inserted stating that the asset of the person who has become defunct

needs to be disposed of in a manner stated by the government.

• A separate account needs to be maintained by the organisations to deposit the Foreign

Contributions received and no other funds except for Foreign Contributions shall be

deposited in that account. Every bank would be obligated to report to the prescribed

authority, the amount of foreign remittances received and other related details such as the

source, manner of receipt etc.

18. Base Year in GDP Calculations

Why in News?

• At a time when India is facing an economic slowdown in GDP growth the Ministry of

Statistics and Programme Implementation announced that the new base year for the GDP

series will be decided in a few months.

Base Year:

• The base year of the national accounts is chosen to enable inter-year comparisons.

• It gives an idea about changes in purchasing power and allows calculation of inflation-

adjusted growth estimates.

• The last series has changed the base to 2011-12 from 2004-05.

• The base year is a benchmark with reference to which the national account figures such as

gross domestic product (GDP), gross domestic saving, gross capital formation are

calculated.

How is a Base Year Calculated?

• In India, the first estimates of national income were published by the Central Statistical

Organisation (CSO) in 1956 taking 1948-49 as the base year.

• With the gradual improvement in availability of data, the methodology was revised.

• Earlier, CSO depended on the population figures in the National Census to estimate the

workforce in the economy.




49 | P a g e


• Therefore, the base year always coincided with the census figures like 1970-71, 1980-81 etc.

• Subsequently, CSO decided that the National Sample Survey (NSS) figures on the

workforce size were more accurate and hence, the base year would change every five years

when the NSS conducted such survey. This system was started from 1999 when the base

year was revised from

1980-81 to 1993-94.

Need and Changes:

• The base year prices are termed as at constant prices. This reduces all the data to a

comparable benchmark, base year price.

• The base year is a representative year which must not experience any abnormal incidents

such as droughts, floods, earthquakes etc. It is a which is reasonably proximate to the year

for which the national accounts statistics are being calculated. The base year has to be

revised periodically in order to reflect the structural changes taking place within an

economy, such as increasing share of services in GDP. The more frequently the base year

can be updated, the more accurate the statistics will be.

19. CPI Inflation

Why in News?

• Retail inflation rose to a sixteen-month high of 4.62 per cent in October due to a spike in

food prices.

About:

• Inflation is defined as a situation where there is sustained, unchecked increase in the

general price level and a fall in the purchasing power of money. Thus, inflation is a

condition of price rise.

• The reason for price rise can be due to Increase in demand or Reduced supply.

• The Consumer Price Index (CPI) is a measure that examines the weighted average of

prices of a basket of consumer goods and services, such as transportation, food and

medical care.

• It is calculated by taking price changes for each item in the predetermined basket of goods

and averaging them. Inflation level in October has breached the 4% level. However it still

remains within the upper limit of 6%. This rise is due to the demand during the festive

season in October and partly due to the impact of scarcity of monsoon in few parts of the

country.




50 | P a g e


20. International Seed Treaty

Why in News?

• A session of the Governing Body of International Treaty of Plant Genetic Resources for

Food and Agriculture (ITPGRFA) better known as Seed Treaty is recently held.

Seed Treaty:

• ITPGRFA also known as Seed Treaty is a comprehensive international agreement for

ensuring food security through the conservation, exchange and sustainable use of the

world’s plant genetic resources.

• It aims for food and agriculture (PGRFA), as well as the fair and equitable benefit sharing

arising from its use. The governing body meets biennially and India is a signatory to the

treaty.

Objectives:

• Farmers’ Contribution: To recognize the contribution of farmers to the diversity of crops,

• Access and Benefit Sharing: Establish a global system to provide farmers, plant breeders

and scientists with access to plant genetic materials,

• Sustainability: To conserve and sustainably use plant genetic resources for food and

agriculture, and fair and equitable sharing of the benefits arising out of their use, in

harmony with the Convention on Biological Diversity.

• Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers’ Rights (PPV&FR) Act:

• The PPV&FR Act, 2001 was enacted to grant intellectual property rights to plant breeders,

researchers and farmers who have developed any new or extant plant varieties.

• The rights granted under this Act are exclusive right to produce, sell, market, distribute,

import and export the variety.

• According to the act, a farmer is entitled to save, use, sow, resow, exchange, share or sell

his farm produce including seed of a variety protected under the PPV&FR Act, 2001 except

the brand name. The Act is compliant to Article-9 of the Seed Treaty.

• A few months back in April 2019, PepsiCo sued Gujarati farmers by invoking the

provisions of the act.

• The PPV&FR Authority has registered about 3631 plant varieties out of which 1597 (44%)

belong to the farmers.




51 | P a g e


21. Moody downgrades India’s Rating

Why in News?

• Global ratings agency Moody's Investors Service has recently cut India's ratings outlook to

'negative' from 'stable' but affirmed the Baa2 foreign-currency and local-currency long-

term issuer ratings.

Reason behind Moody’s Rate Cut:

• A crunch that started out in the non-banking financial institutions (NBFIs) spreading to

retail businesses, car makers, home sales and heavy industries has made India’s growth

outlook deteriorated this year,

• Government’s policy ineffectiveness in addressing economic weakness has led to an

increase in debt burden which is already at high levels.

• A breach of the government’s target of 3.3 per cent, as slower growth and a surprise

corporate-tax cut affects revenue.

Impact:

• Reduction in outlook is the first step towards an investment downgrade, as India is now

just a notch above the investment grade country rating.

• An actual downgrade in country ratings can lead to massive foreign fund outflows.

• However, if the government is able to address fiscal deficit concerns through higher fund

raising from stake sales, the rating agencies tend to revise up their outlook.

About Moody’s Investor Service:

• Moody's Investors Service, often referred to as Moody's, is the bond credit rating business

of Moody's Corporation. They provide international financial research on bonds issued by

commercial and government entities.

• Moody's, along with Standard & Poor's and Fitch Group, is considered one of the Big Three

credit rating agencies.




52 | P a g e


Credit Rating Categories:

S.No CREDIT RATING DESCRIPTION

1. AAA Highest credit quality that denotes the lowest expectations of default risk.

2.

AA+/AA/AA-

Very high credit quality. ‘AA’ ratings denote expectations of very low

default risk. They indicate very strong capacity for payment of financial

commitments.

3. A+/A/A-

High credit quality that denotes expectations of low default risk. The

capacity for payment of financial commitments is considered strong,

however, vulnerability to adverse business or economic conditions exists.

4. BBB+/BBB/BBB-

Good credit quality that indicates that expectations of default risk are

currently low. The capacity for payment of financial commitments is

considered adequate, but adverse business or economic conditions are

more likely to impair this capacity.

5. BB+/BB/BB-

This rating indicates an elevated vulnerability to default risk, particularly

in the event of adverse changes in business or economic conditions over

time; however, business or financial flexibility exists that supports the

servicing of financial commitments.

6. B+/B/B-

This rating indicates that material default risk is present, but a limited

margin of safety remains. Financial commitments are currently being met;

however, capacity for continued payment is vulnerable to deterioration in

the business and economic environment.

7. CCC+/CCC/CCC- Substantial credit risk exists in this rating, where the default is a real

possibility.

8. CC

This rating shows a very high level of credit risk with a possibility of

defaults.

9. C This rating shows that a default or default-like process has begun, or the

issuer is in a standstill.

10. DDD/RD/SD/DD/D

This indicates that the issuer has entered into bankruptcy filings,

administration, receivership, liquidation or other formal winding-up

procedure or has ceased business.




53 | P a g e


5. ENVIRONMENT

1. Most Mount Everest glaciers will disappear with Climate Change, Warns Study

Why in News?

• A recent study has painted a bleak future for most glaciers in the Mount Everest region,

warning that they will either disappear or retreat as a result of temperature rise over the

next century.

• There are over 5,000 glaciers in the Hindu Kush-Himalayan (HKH) region, which is the

site of Mount Everest and other tall peaks.

• The study has been published in The Cryosphere, the journal of the European Geosciences

Union (EGU), a non-profit international association.

Highlights of the Study:

• According to the study, the volume of several glaciers may reduce by 70 per cent to 99 per

cent by 2100, which will have dire consequences on farming and hydroelectricity

generation.

• Researchers resorted to glacier mass balance and ice redistribution model to examine the

“sensitivity of glaciers in the Everest region of Nepal to climate change”.

• According to the study, high-elevation snow and ice cover play pivotal roles in the

Himalayan hydrologic system.

• In those Himalayan regions affected by monsoon, melt water from glaciers provides an

important source of stream flow during pre-and post-monsoon seasons.

• In view of this, changes in glacier area and volume are expected to affect water availability

during dry seasons, the study warns.

• This, in turn, will affect agriculture, hydropower generation and local water availability.

• The study was conducted in Dudh Koshi basin in central Nepal which has a total

glacierised area of over 400 sq km.

• The region contains some of the world’s highest mountain peaks, including Mount Everest,

Cho Oyu, Makalu, Lhotse and Nuptse.

• The Dudh Koshi river is a major contributor to the Koshi river, which contains nearly one-

quarter of Nepal’s exploitable hydroelectric potential.

The current status of glaciers varies across the HKH region. Most areas have seen glacier

retreat and down wasting in recent years, though areas such as the Karakoram and Pamir

ranges have experienced equilibrium or even slight mass gain, the paper says.




54 | P a g e


• The study concludes that lower level glaciers will melt faster because the freezing level—

the elevation where mean monthly temperatures are 0°C—will rise higher with rise in air

temperature.

• Available studies indicate that the mean annual temperatures have increased in the region,

and particularly at high elevations.

Effects of Glacial Melt:

• One serious consequence of glacier retreat in the Himalayas will be the formation of lakes,

which may pose a risk to communities living downstream.

• Also, farming and hydropower generation downstream is likely to be greatly affected. Over

a billion people in Asia depend on rivers fed by glaciers for their food and livelihood.

• While increased glacier melt initially increases the water flow, retreat leads to reduced

melt water from glaciers during the summer months.

• In the mountains of Asia, changes in glacier volumes will affect the timing and magnitude

of stream flows, particularly in the pre-monsoon period, the study says.

2. Olive Ridley Turtles

Why in News?

• The Odisha forest department has banned fishing between November 1, 2019-May 31,

2020, in the state’s Gahiramatha marine sanctuary to protect Olive Ridley turtles.

About Olive Ridley:

• It is best known for their unique mass nesting called Arribada, where thousands of

females come together on the same beach each year to lay eggs.

• It is included in Vulnerable category by the IUCN Red list because they nest in a very

small number of places, and thus, any disturbance to even one nest beach could have huge

repercussions on the entire population.

• They are found along both- eastern and western coasts of India.

• Two other major nesting sites in Odisha are - coast along Gahirmatha beach (the largest

mass nesting site) and the mouth of the Debi river.

• Trading in products of Olive Ridley is banned under CITES.

• The species is also a protected animal under Schedule 1 of India's Wildlife Protection Act,

1972.




55 | P a g e


3. (Environment Pollution Control Authority) EPCA

Why in News?

• Supreme court orders to end the stubble burning immediately.

About:

• EPCA is Supreme Court mandated body tasked with taking various measures to tackle air

pollution in the National Capital Region. It was notified in 1998 by Environment Ministry

under Environment Protection Act, 1986. Its mandate is to protect and improve quality of

environment and prevent and control environmental pollution in National Capital Region.

• It is also mandated to enforce Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) in NCR as per the

pollution levels. The Authority shall have the power Suo-moto or on the complaints made

by the individual, reprensentive body or any organization in the field of the Environment.

• It takes necessary steps for controlling vehicular pollution, ensuring complaints of fuel

standard monitoring and controlling action for traffic planning and Management.

4. Brown Blotched Bengal Tree Frog

Why in News?

• Recently, a new frog species, Polypedates bengalensis was discovered in a residential area

in West Bengal. The discovery points to the vulnerability of little-known species in non-

protected areas.

Brown Blotched Bengal Tree Frog:

• Brown Blotched Bengal Tree Frog or Polypedates bengalensis frog was found in two places

in West Bengal – Badu, North 24 Parganas District and Khordanahala, South 24 Parganas

District. Polypedates are found throughout South and Southeast Asia

• It belongs to the genus Polypedates. There are 25 other Polypedates species round the

world. Polypedates bengalensis is the 26th. The frog’s body colour is yellowish-brown to

greenish-brown.

5. NGT Issues Ultimatum to Ban Certain RO systems

Why in News?

• The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has given an ultimatum to the Union Environment

Ministry to issue notifications pertaining to prohibition on the use of RO (reverse osmosis)

systems, which result in wastage of almost 80% of water.




56 | P a g e


Background:

• The NGT has passed an order this year (May 2019) to Environment Ministry to issue

notifications pertaining to prohibition on the use of RO systems. But the ministry is not in

compliance of the above order till now. NGT has noted that delay in compliance of order is

causing harm to public health and environment in terms of an expert committee report to

which the environment ministry is also a party.

About NGT’s Order:

• The notification should be based on the following directions as issued by NGT:

1. Wherever RO is to be permitted, condition of recovery of water to the extent of more than

60% is required.

2. Prohibiting the use of RO where Total Dissolved Solids in water is less than 500 mg/l.

3. Use of RO reject water for purposes such as utensil washing, flushing, gardening, cleaning

of vehicles and mopping.

• NGT has also observed that, since issuing notification is a policy related matter which

comprises of features of multi-dimensional character, a region wise detailed consultation

should also be conducted before notification.

What is Reverse Osmosis (RO)?

• It is a water purification process that uses a partially permeable membrane to remove ions,

unwanted molecules and larger particles from drinking water. In reverse osmosis, an

applied pressure is used to overcome osmotic pressure, a colligative property, that is

driven by chemical potential differences of the solvent, a thermodynamic parameter.

Reverse osmosis can remove many types of dissolved and suspended chemical species as

well as biological ones (principally bacteria) from water, and is used in both industrial

processes and the production of potable water.

About NGT:

• The NGT was established in 2010 under the National Green Tribunal Act.

• It is a specialized environmental court that deals with cases relating to environmental

protection and the conservation of forests

• It has judicial powers that allow it to exclusively decide civil environmental matters.

• The tribunal is guided by principles of natural justice and is not bound by the mainstream

code of civil procedure.

• The NGT has five places of sittings, New Delhi is the Principal place of sitting and Bhopal,

Pune, Kolkata and Chennai are the other four.




57 | P a g e


6. Fall Armyworm

Why in News?

• Proper precaution and timely management by the state agriculture department of Odisha

and awareness among farmers have succeeded in thwarting an attack by the Fall

Armyworm (FAW) on maize crop in Odisha.

About Fall Armyworm:

• Also Known as Fall Armyworm, Spodoptera Frugiperda is an invasive and polyphagous

(feeding on many foods) pest. It can attack cereals and forage grasses.

• It is an insect native to tropical and subtropical regions of the Americas.

• In the African continent, it was first detected in Central and Western Africa in early 2016.

• In the larval stage, the insect causes damage to crops, feeding on more than 80 plant

species. FAW primarily affects maize, but also rice and sorghum as well as cotton and

some vegetables. The moth can fly up to 100 km per night.

• The female moth can lay up to a total of 1000 eggs in her lifetime.

7. Feni River

Why in News?

• Union Cabinet has given ex-post facto approval for

the MoU between

• India and Bangladesh on withdrawal of water from

Feni River by India for drinking water supply

scheme for Sabroom town in Tripura.

About Feni River:

• Feni River is a river in southeastern Bangladesh.

• It is a trans-boundary river with an ongoing dispute about water rights.

• The Feni River originates in South Tripura district and flows through

• Sabroom town and then enters Bangladesh.

• Muhuri River, also called Little Feni, from Noakhali District joins it near

• its mouth. The river is navigable by small boats as far as Ramgarh,

• about 80 kilometres upstream.

• The Feni is closed near the sea by the Feni dam.

• Between the dam and the Bay of Bengal the river is a tidal river.




58 | P a g e


8. Odd-Even Rule in Delhi 2019

Why in News?

• The odd-even scheme was launched by the Delhi Government on November 4 to combat

the hazardous smog that has enveloped the national capital.

• The scheme has been launched for 12 days from November 4-15, 2019.

Highlights:

• The first day of the odd-even rule reportedly resulted in a major dip in the air pollution

levels in Delhi.

• The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) data showed that the odd-even scheme

teamed up with high wind speed brought down the air pollution in Delhi by almost 82

percent.

• Both PM10 and PM2.5 levels fell drastically by 6 pm on November 4.

• Under the odd-even rule, only vehicles with odd last digit registration numbers will ply on

the roads on odd days and vehicles with even last digit registration numbers will be

allowed on the roads on the even days.

• The odd-even scheme will not be applicable on November 11 and November 12 to

commemorate the 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev.

• The odd-even scheme has been implemented in Delhi to fight air pollution after a gap of

almost three years. The National Capital has been reeling with ‘severe plus’ air quality level

since the past few days.

Exemptions:

• The odd-even rule will not apply for two-wheelers, women drivers alone or with a child

under the age of 12 years.

• The private vehicles transporting school children in uniform during school time and

vehicles of persons with physical disabilities will also be exempted from the odd-even rule.

• The odd-even exemption list also includes the vehicles of VVIPs/VIPs- the President, Vice

President, Prime Minister, Chief Justice of India, Lok Sabha Speaker, State Governors,

Union Ministers, Opposition Leaders in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, Chief Ministers of

states and UTS and Supreme Court Judges.




59 | P a g e


9. Very Severe Cyclonic Storm ‘Bulbul’

Why in News?

• A meeting of the National Crisis Management Committee (NCMC), chaired by the Cabinet

Secretary, was held to review the preparedness to deal with severe cyclone ‘Bulbul’ over the

Bay of Bengal that is likely to affect coastal districts of West Bengal and Odisha.

Highlights:

• Cyclone Bulbul is the seventh named storm of the unusually active 2019 North Indian

Ocean cyclone season.

• The season has seen Cyclone Pabuk (South China Sea-Andaman Sea), Cyclone Fani (Bay of

Bengal), Cyclone Vayu (Arabian Sea), Cyclone Hikka (Arabian Sea), Cyclone Kyarr

(Arabian Sea) and Cyclone Maha (Arabian Sea).

• Bulbul was named by Pakistan. Cyclone Bulbul comes around seven months after Cyclone

Fani struck Odisha. Cyclone Fani was the strongest storm to hit the state since the

devastating 1999 Super Cyclone that killed thousands of people.

National Disaster Response Force:

• The National Disaster Response Force or the NDRF is a specialized paramilitary force

formed under the Disaster Management Act of 2005 with the objective of having a

specialized response to an impending disaster situation or disaster.

• Its purpose is to direct and implement a specialized response to both man-made and

natural disasters.

• It was constituted in 2006 and is headed by a Director-General, who is a senior IPS officer.

The NDRF operates on the basis of ‘proactive availability’ and ‘pre-positioning’ to the

states. Its parent ministry is the Ministry of Home Affairs.

National Crisis Management Committee:

• A Standing National Crisis Management Committee, called the National Crisis

Management Committee (NCMC) was set up by the Government of India with Cabinet

Secretary as Chairman for effective implementation of relief measures in the wake of

natural calamities. At the national level, Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) and

National Crisis Management Committee (NCMC) are the key committees involved in the

top-level decision-making wart Disaster Management (DM).

• It oversees the Command, Control and Coordination of the disaster response and gives

direction to the Crisis Management Group (CMG) as deemed necessary.




60 | P a g e


10. Swachh – Nirmal Tat Abhiyaan

Why in News?

• A week-long intensive Beach Cleaning Drive in 50 identified beaches of India begins.

Swachh – Nirmal Tat Abhiyaan:

• The programme was launched by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change

to strive to make Indian beaches clean and create awareness amongst citizens about the

importance of coastal ecosystems.

• The identified beaches are in 10 coastal States/Union Territories (UTs) namely Gujarat,

Daman & Diu, Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, Andhra

Pradesh, and Odisha. The beaches have been identified after consultation with the

states/UTs. The cleaning drives in all beaches are being undertaken, involving

school/college students of eco-clubs, district administration, institutions, volunteers, local

communities and other stakeholders. State Nodal Agencies for the eco-clubs will be

facilitating the week-long intensive cleanliness drive in all 10 States/UTs.

• Environment Education Division of the Ministry of Environment and Society of Integrated

Coastal Management (SICOM) under the aegis of the Ministry of Environment will be

responsible for the overall coordination for the drive.

• On completion of the drive, the best three beaches will be suitably awarded.

11. Species in News: Pliosaur

Pliosaurs:

• Over 150 million years ago, enormous reptiles swam the Jurassic oceans.

• The largest aquatic carnivorous reptiles that have ever lived, they are often dubbed “sea

monsters”. Scientifically, they are placed in the suborder Pliosauroidea, whose members

are called pliosaurs.

• Interest in these giants has been revived with the recent discovery of their bones in a

cornfield in the Polish village of Krzyzanowice. Remains of pliosaurs are rare in Europe.

• They measured over 10 metres in length and could weigh up to several dozen tons.

• They had powerful, large skulls and massive jaws with large, sharp teeth.

• Their limbs were in the form of fins.

Swietokrzyskie Mountains:

• The Swietokrzyskie Mountains are a mountain range in central Poland.




61 | P a g e


• In the Jurassic era, the Swietokrzyskie Mountains area is believed to have been an

archipelago of islands, where there were warm lagoons and shallow sea reservoirs, home to

the marine reptiles discovered by the palaeontologists.

• The locality where the remains were discovered is considered to be rich in the fossils of

coastal reptiles. Researchers now hope to find more remains in the coming months.

12. Sunderbans

Why in News?

• Sunderbans mangrove forest has reduced the damage caused by the severe cyclone ‘Bulbul’

which has recently hit West Bengal and Bangladesh.

About:

• The Sunderbans mangrove forest, one of the largest such forests in the world, lies across

India and Bangladesh on the delta of the Ganges, Brahmaputra and Meghna rivers on the

Bay of Bengal.

• It is adjacent to the border of India’s Sunderbans World Heritage site inscribed in 1987.

• The Indian Sunderbans, considered to be an area south of the Dampier Hodges line, is

spread over 9,630 sq. km., of which the mangrove forests are spread over 4,263 sq. km.

• The site is intersected by a complex network of tidal waterways, mudflats and small islands

of salt-tolerant mangrove forests, and presents an excellent example of ongoing ecological

processes.

• The area is known for its wide range of fauna, including 260 bird species, the Bengal tiger

and other threatened species such as the estuarine crocodile and the Indian python.

• It is home to many rare and globally threatened wildlife species such as the estuarine

crocodile, Royal Bengal Tiger, Water monitor lizard, Gangetic dolphin, and olive ridley

turtles. It is also home to one of the noted tiger reserves in India.

• A satellite image from the Indian Space Research Organisation pointed to a loss of 3.71%

mangrove and non-mangrove forest cover along with massive erosion of the archipelago’s

landmass.

• The analysis, based on satellite data of February 2003 and February 2014, shows that

while a 9,990-hectare landmass has been eroded, there has been an accretion (addition) of

216-hectare landmass in the Sunderbans during the period.




62 | P a g e


13. Delhi’s Odd-even Scheme

Why in News?

• Delhi’s odd-even scheme has been resumed back after it was hold back on the occasion of

550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev.

About:

• The capital city Delhi is facing worst phase of pollution and it could lead to devastating

effect if it remains untreated or inadequately treated.

• To control the effects of pollution, Delhi government has initiated the car rationing scheme

which is also called as odd-even scheme.

• Private vehicles will be allowed to run across the city based on their registration numbers.

For example, if a vehicle’s registration number ends with an odd digit, it will be allowed on

the road on January 1, while that ending with an even number can be driven on the second,

and so on.

• This system was implemented in Beijing in 2008 just before the summer Olympics. While

the rule was initially said to be temporary, it turned out to be so effective the government

made it permanent. Similar road-rationing rules are imposed in many places around the

world like Paris, Mexico and Bogota to curb road jams and pollution.

14. Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure

Why in News?

• At the Leaders’ Dialogue with BRICS Business Council and New Development Bank

(NDB), the Prime Minister requests the BRICS countries and the NDB to join the Coalition

for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure.

Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI):

• In September 2019, PM Modi launched the CDRI at the UN Secretary-General’s Climate

Action Summit in New York, US.

• The fledgling partnership has a secretariat in Delhi, supported by the UN Office for

Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR), to enable knowledge exchange, technical support and

capacity building.

• CDRI’s mission is to rapidly expand the development of resilient infrastructure and retrofit

existing infrastructure for resilience, and to enable a measurable reduction in

infrastructure losses.




63 | P a g e


• The partnership will be working in the areas of governance and policy, emerging

technology, risk identification and estimation, recovery and reconstruction, resilience

standards and certification, finance, and capacity development.

• CDRI is bringing together developed and developing countries to build synergies to reach

the goal of disaster-resilient infrastructure.

• The World Bank and the Green Climate Fund (GCF) expressed support for CDRI and

committed to working closely with its secretariat in Delhi.

• The formation of the Coalition is the result of efforts by India and UNDRR.

Other Founding Members of CDRI:

✓ Australia

✓ Bhutan

✓ Fiji

✓ Indonesia

✓ Italy

✓ Japan

✓ Maldives

✓ Mexico

✓ Mongolia

✓ Rwanda

✓ Sri Lanka

✓ The UK

New Development Bank:

• The New Development Bank (NDB), formerly referred to as the BRICS Development Bank,

is a multilateral development bank operated by the BRICS states.

• It is based in Shanghai.

• The bank’s primary focus of lending will be infrastructure projects with authorized lending

of up to $34 billion annually.

• South Africa will be the African Headquarters of the Bank named the “New Development

Bank Africa Regional Centre”.




64 | P a g e


6. SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

1. Spyware Pegasus

Why in News?

• The popular messaging platform WhatsApp was used to spy on journalists and human

rights activists in India earlier this year.

• The surveillance was carried out using a spyware tool called Pegasus, which has been

developed by an Israeli firm, the NSO Group.

• WhatsApp sued the NSO Group in a federal court in US accusing it of using WhatsApp

servers in the United States and elsewhere to send malware to approximately 1,400 mobile

phones and devices.

Pegasus:

• All spyware do what the name suggests — they spy on people through their phones.

• Pegasus works by sending an exploit link, and if the target user clicks on the link, the

malware or the code that allows the surveillance is installed on the user’s phone.

• A presumably newer version of the malware does not even require a target user to click a

link.

• Once Pegasus is installed, the attacker has complete access to the target user’s phone. The

first reports on Pegasus’s spyware operations emerged in 2016, when Ahmed Mansoor, a

human rights activist in the UAE, was targeted with an SMS link on his iPhone 6.

Method of working:

• A Pegasus operator must convince a target to click on a specially crafted ‘exploit link’

which allows the operator to penetrate security features on the phone.

• This automatically installs Pegasus without the user’s knowledge or permission.

• Once the phone is exploited and Pegasus installed, it begins contacting the operator’s

command and control and send back the target’s private data, including passwords,

contact lists, events, text messages, and live voice calls from popular mobile messaging

apps.

• The operator can even turn on the phone’s camera and microphone to capture activity in

the phone’s vicinity.




65 | P a g e


2. IndiGen Project

Why in News?

• The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) has finished conducting “whole-

genome sequence” of a 1,008 Indians as part of a programme called “IndiGen”.

IndiGen Project:

• Programme funded by the Department of Biotechnology will sequence at least 10,000

Indian genomes.

• The CSIR’s “IndiGen” project, as it is called, selected the 1,000-odd from a pool of about

5,000 and sought to include representatives from every State and diverse ethnicities. Every

person whose genomes are sequenced would be given a report.

• The project is and is also seen as a precursor to a much larger exercise involving other

government departments to map a larger swathe of the population in the country.

• Anyone looking for a free mapping of their entire genome can sign up for “IndiGen”.

• Those who get their genes mapped will get a card and access to an app which will allow

them and doctors to access information on whether they harbour gene variants that are

reliably known to correlate with genomes with diseases.

• The driving motive of the project is to understand the extent of genetic variation in Indians

and learn why some genes — linked to certain diseases based on publications in

international literature — do not always translate into diseases. Once such knowledge is

established, the CSIR expects to tie up with several pathology laboratories who can offer

commercial gene testing services.

Genome:

• A genome is the DNA, or sequence of genes, in a cell.

• Most of the DNA is in the nucleus and intricately coiled into a structure called the

chromosome.

• The rest is in the mitochondria, the cell’s powerhouse. Every human cell contains a pair of

chromosomes, each of which has three billion base pairs or one of four molecules that pair

in precise ways.

• The order of base pairs and varying lengths of these sequences constitute the “genes”,

which are responsible for making amino acids, proteins and, thereby, everything that is

necessary for the body to function.

• It is when these genes are altered or mutated that proteins sometimes do not function as

intended, leading to disease.




66 | P a g e


Genome Sequencing:

• Sequencing a genome means deciphering the exact order of base pairs in an individual.

This “deciphering” or reading of the genome is what sequencing is all about.

• It has been known that the portion of the genes responsible for making proteins — called

the exome — occupies about 1% of the actual gene. Rather than sequence the whole gene,

many geneticists rely on “exome maps” (that is the order of exomes necessary to make

proteins). However, it has been established that the non-exome portions also affect the

functioning of the genes and that, ideally, to know which genes of a person’s DNA are

“mutated” the genome has to be mapped in its entirety.

India’s Effort:

• While India, led by the CSIR, first sequenced an Indian genome in 2009, it is only now that

the organisation’s laboratories have been able to scale up whole-genome sequencing and

offer them to the public. Globally, many countries have undertaken genome sequencing of

a sample of their citizens to determine unique genetic traits, susceptibility (and resilience)

to disease.

• This is the first time that such a large sample of Indians will be recruited for a detailed

study. Under “IndiGen”, the CSIR drafted about 1,000 youth from across India by

organising camps in several colleges and educating attendees on genomics and the role of

genes in disease. Some students and participants donated blood samples from where their

DNA sequences were collected.

3. Gaofen-7

Why in News?

• China has launched a new Earth observation satellite- Gaofen-7.

About:

• China launched a new high-resolution remote sensing satellite capable of providing

stereoscopic imagery marking another important step as Beijing seeks to reduce reliance

on foreign technology in topographic mapping.

• A rocket lifted off from the Taiyuan satellite launch centre in northern China at 11:22am

local time, carrying the Gaofen-7 high resolution satellite into its designated orbit. Gaofen-

7, a sub-metre resolution optical satellite, boasts the highest mapping accuracy among

domestic peers, and can map China and even the world’s lands stereoscopically with a

margin of error of less than a metre, according to CCTV.




67 | P a g e


• The satellite, which will be used for land surveys, urban planning and statistical

investigation, will help end China’s reliance on foreign imports in high-resolution stereo

mapping, CCTV added.

• The purpose of China’s satellite remote sensing project—the Gaofen series—is to help build

an all-weather, 24-hour, global Earth remote sensing system by 2020 capable of

monitoring the ground, atmosphere and oceans

4. Dwarf Planets

Why in News?

• As of today, there are officially five dwarf planets in our Solar System. Now, there is a

claimant for a sixth dwarf planet.

Hygiea: New dwarf in the Race:

• Using observations made through the European Space Organization’s SPHERE instrument

at the Very Large Telescope (VLT), astronomers have now found Hygiea may possibly be a

dwarf planet.

• The most famous is Pluto, downgraded from the status of a planet in 2006. The other four,

in order of size, are Eris, Make Haumea and Ceres.

• Called Hygiea, it has so far been taken to be an asteroid. It lies in the asteroid belt between

Mars and Jupiter.

• If it Qualifies, Hygiea will be the smallest dwarf planet in the Solar System.

What makes a Hygiea Dwarf?

• The International Astronomical Union sets four criteria for a dwarf planet, and Hygiea

already satisfies three — it orbits around the Sun, it is not a moon, and it has not cleared

the neighbourhood around its orbit.

• The fourth requirement is that it have enough mass that its own gravity pulls it into a

roughly spherical shape.

• According to the new study, VLT observations now show Hygiea satisfied that condition,

too. This is the first-time astronomers have observed Hygiea in high resolution to study its

surface and determine its shape and size.




68 | P a g e


5. Artillery Gun Dhanush

Context:

• The Indian Army has begun inducting the indigenously upgraded Dhanush artillery guns

recently and plans to have the first regiment in place by March 2020.

About:

• Dhanush is the first indigenous artillery gun with a calibre of 155mm x 45mm. It is the first

long range artillery gun to be produced in India, having a range of 38 km.

• Dhanush is the indigenously upgraded variant of the Swedish-Bofors gun imported in the

1980s. It has been developed by Ordnance Factory Board (OFB) Kolkata based on

requirements of Indian Army and manufactured by Jabalpur-based Gun Carriage Factory

(GCF) and 81 % of its components are indigenously sourced.

Features of Dhanush:

• It is equipped with a navigation- based sighting system, on board ballistic computation

and an advanced day and night direct firing system.

• It has six round magazines, instead of standard three round.

Significance of Dhanush Artillery Gun:

• Dhanush gun system has laid the foundations for India catapulting itself straight on to the

world stage, India will soon emerge as a leading Artillery Gun design and manufacturer in

the form of evolution of ATAGS, which would be the highly advanced version of Dhanush.

• Self-propulsion unit allows the gun to deploy itself in mountainous terrains with ease. It

will be deployed along the borders with Pakistan and China.

• Dhanush gun has emerged as a reliable and robust gun system at par with the latest in the

world and will increase the fire power of the Indian artillery manifold. It is truly Make in

India. In future, it will potentially take over guns in this category. Dhanush’s long-range,

light-weight and automation features will help it immensely.

6. NASA’s Voyager 2

Why in News?

• NASA’s Voyager 2 images have shown mysterious boundary where interstellar space

begins.

About Voyager 2:

• Voyager 2 is the only probe ever to study Neptune and Uranus during planetary flybys.




69 | P a g e


• It is the second man-made object to leave our planet.

• It is now 11 billion miles from Earth, following behind its sister spacecraft, Voyager 1,

which is 6 years ahead of it. The probe is estimated to be travelling at 34,000 mph.

• Voyager 2 is the only spacecraft to have visited all four gas giant planets — Jupiter, Saturn,

Uranus and Neptune — and discovered 16 moons, as well as phenomena like Neptune’s

mysteriously transient Great Dark Spot, the cracks in Europa’s ice shell, and ring features

at every planet.

Key Findings of Voyager 2:

• Few things that were confirmed by the two Voyager spacecraft was that the plasma inside

the heliosphere is significantly less dense and less cold than the plasma in local interstellar

space. Voyager 2 also sent out signals that hint that the plasma outside the heliosphere

could be compressed as it is slightly warmer, though it is unclear what is causing the

compression. The heliosphere is somewhat leaky, revealed Voyager’s particle instruments.

• Another surprising revelation was the magnetic field in the region just beyond the

heliopause is parallel to the magnetic field inside the heliosphere. This was more clearly

confirmed by Voyager 2 spacecraft.

• The Heliosphere is a bubble around the sun created by the outward flow of the solar wind

from the sun and the opposing inward flow of the interstellar wind.

• The Heliopause marks the end of the heliosphere and the beginning of interstellar space.

• Scientists use the heliopause to mark where Interstellar Space begins; although depending

on how you define our solar system it can stretch all the way to the Oort cloud, which

begins 1,000 times farther away from the sun than Earth’s orbit.

7. Waste land Atlas

Why in News?

• Fifth edition of waste land atlas was released Recently.

About:

• The Union Minister for Rural Development, Agriculture and Farmers Welfare &

Panchayati Raj released the Wastelands Atlas – 2019.

• The Department of Land Resources in collaboration with National Remote Sensing Centre

(NRSC), Department of Space has published Wastelands Atlases of India - 2000, 2005,

2010 & 2011 editions. The new wastelands mapping exercise, carried out by NRSC using

the Indian Remote Sensing Satellite.




70 | P a g e


• India with 2.4% of total land area of the World is supporting 18% of the World’s

population. This Wastelands Atlas-2019 provides district and state wise distribution of

different categories of wastelands area including mapping of about 12.08 Mha hitherto

unmapped area of Jammu & Kashmir.

• Majority of wastelands have been changed into categories of ‘croplands’, ‘forest-dense

‘forest plantation’ and ‘industrial area.

8. China Proposes to Treat Alzheimer’s with New Drug

Why in News?

• The recent announcement of China that a new drug meant to potentially treat Alzheimer’s

disease, will be available to Chinese patients shortly.

• The drug has been named as GV-971 or “Oligomannate”. It is a seaweed-based drug which

is administered orally.

About Alzheimer’s Disease:

• It is a progressive brain disorder that typically affects people older than 65. When it affects

younger individuals, it is considered early onset.

• The disease destroys brain cells and nerves, and disrupts the message-carrying

neurotransmitters. Eventually, a person with Alzheimer’s loses the ability to perform day-

to-day activities.

Alzheimer’s Versus Dementia:

• Dementia is an umbrella term for a range of conditions that involve a loss of cognitive

functioning. Alzheimer’s is the most common type of dementia. It involves plaques and

tangles forming in the brain. Symptoms start gradually and are most likely to include a

decline in cognitive function and language ability. Other types of dementia include

Huntington’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. People can have

more than one type of dementia.

• Symptoms:

• Reduced ability to take in and remember new information

• Impairments to reasoning, complex tasking, and exercising judgment

• Impaired visuospatial abilities that are not, for example, due to eye sight problems.

• Impaired speaking, reading and writing Changes in personality and behaviour.

• The progression of Alzheimer’s can be broken down into three Main Stages:

✓ Preclinical, before symptoms appear



https://www.insightsonindia.com/2019/11/06/china-proposes-to-treat-alzheimers-with-new-drug/


71 | P a g e


✓ Mild cognitive impairment, when symptoms are mild

✓ Dementia

Treatment:

• There is No Cure for Alzheimer’s, because its exact causes are not known. Most drugs

being developed try to slow down or stop the progression of the disease.

• There is a degree of consensus in the scientific community that Alzheimer’s involves two

proteins, called beta amyloids and tau. When levels of either protein reach abnormal

levels in the brain, it leads to the formation of plaque, which gets deposited between

neurons, damaging and disrupting nerve cells. Most existing drugs for Alzheimer’s try to

target these proteins to manage some of the symptoms of Alzheimer’s.

9. Vaccine Hesitancy

Why in News?

• The World Health Organization (WHO) recently declared vaccine hesitancy one of the ten

biggest threats to global health in 2019, along with air pollution and climate change.

About:

• It is defined by WHO as a “delay in acceptance or refusal of vaccines despite availability of

vaccination services”. Vaccine hesitancy threatens to reverse progress made in tackling.

• vaccine-preventable diseases. Measles, for example, has seen a 30% increase in cases

globally in 2018. Vaccination is one of the most cost-effective ways of avoiding disease – it

currently prevents 2-3 million deaths a year, and a further 1.5 million could be avoided if

global coverage of vaccinations improved.

Some of the Reasons why people choose not to Vaccinate are:

• Complacency, Inconvenience in accessing vaccines, and lack of confidence are key reasons

underlying hesitancy

10. Cloud Seeding Technology

Why in News?

• Haryana Dy. CM has written to PM Modi, requesting him to “undertake cloud seeding plan

to combat the air pollution engulfing Delhi and NCR”.

Cloud Seeding:

• Cloud seeding is a kind of weather modification technology to create artificial rainfall.




72 | P a g e


• It works only when there are enough pre-existing clouds in the atmosphere.

• Rain happens when moisture in the air reaches levels at which it can no longer be held,

and cloud seeding aims to facilitate and accelerate that process by making available

chemical ‘nuclei’ around which condensation can take place. These ‘seeds’ of rain can be

the iodides of silver or potassium, dry ice (solid carbon dioxide), or liquid propane. The

seeds can be delivered by plane or simply by spraying from the ground.

Existing Practices in World:

• Cloud seeding is not new to India and it has earlier been attempted in Karnataka, Andhra

Pradesh and Maharashtra to address drought. Similar experiments of cloud seeding had

earlier been tried in Australia, America, Spain and France. In United Arab Emirates, the

cloud seeding technique led to creation of 52 storms in Abu Dhabi. Till last year, IMD had

around 30 successful incidents of seeding. Also, such seeding is routine in Russia and

other cold countries where the technique is used to disperse fog at the airports.

IIT Kanpur study:

• The scientists at IIT Kanpur had prepared a project to induce artificial rain via cloud

seeding to clear smog in Delhi. Officials in the Environment Ministry had approved the

project. The project demanded an aircraft of National Remote Sensing Agency — an ISRO-

affiliated body — to fly into the clouds.

• It would inject silver iodide that would lead to the formation of ice crystals, making the

clouds denser and causing them to condense into rain and settle atmospheric dust and

clearing the sky. It was in 2018 when IIT Kanpur had got all the clearances from DGCA

and Defence and Home ministries for the project. But due to non-availability of the

aircraft, the project could not take off. In May 2019, Karnataka Cabinet approved a budget

of Rs 91 crore for cloud seeding for a period of two years. It involved two aircraft spraying

chemicals on moisture-laden clouds to induce rainfall.

• It was expected to begin by June end and continue for three months.

• Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) had also partnered with IIT Kanpur and agreed to

provide Dornier aircraft and their pilots to provide logistical support to the project.

How successful is the Cloud Seeding Technology?

• The Pune-based IIMT has been carrying out cloud seeding experiments for several years

now.

• These experiments have been done in areas around Nagpur, Solapur, Hyderabad,

Ahmedabad, Jodhpur, and recently Varanasi.




73 | P a g e


11. Pneumonia and Diarrhoea in India

Why in News?

• The International Vaccine Access Center (IVAC) has recently released ‘The Pneumonia and

Diarrhoea Progress Report 2018’ at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public

Health.

About the report:

• The report was the 10th edition and was released ahead of the 11th annual World

Pneumonia Day — observed on November 12.

• This report analyses how effectively countries are delivering 10 key interventions,

including breastfeeding, vaccination, access to care, use of antibiotics, ORS, and zinc

supplementation.

• It measures the countries via the Global Action Plan for the Prevention of Pneumonia and

Diarrhoea (GAPPD) score.

• The IVAC report does not reflect on the pneumonia vaccine introduced by India in 2017

under the universal immunisation programme.

Highlights of the Report:

• The 10th pneumonia and diarrhoea progress report card has found that health systems are

falling short of ensuring the world’s most vulnerable children access to prevention and

treatment services in the 23 countries that together account for 75% of global pneumonia

and diarrhoea deaths in children under five.

• India, which is home to a large population of under five children, accounts for a major

portion of these deaths. Rollout of rotavirus vaccines, beginning in 2016 and the

pneumococcal conjugate vaccine, beginning in 2017, helped to improve India’s scores.

• India’s exclusive breastfeeding rate, at 55%, is among the highest of the 23 countries.

• However, the proportion of children receiving important treatments, as with many other

countries, remains below targets.

• Half of the children with diarrhoea receive ORS (oral rehydration solution) and 20%

receive zinc supplementation — to help protect against, prevent and treat pneumonia and

diarrhoea”.

• Additional reports from organisations like Save the Children and UNICEF have noted that,

in 2017, the highest risk factors for child pneumonia death in India were: 53% caused by

child wasting, 27% by outdoor air pollution, and 22% caused by indoor air pollution from

solid fuels.




74 | P a g e


Implications of the Report:

• Globally, pneumonia and diarrhoea led to nearly one of every four deaths in children

under five years of age in 2017. The global community must increase investment and

support countries in developing smart, sustainable strategies that close gaps and accelerate

progress.

• The report also stated that newer vaccines which were not yet reaching most children in

these 23 countries should also be resolved.

12. Parliamentary Panel Expresses Concern Over Rising Number of Cancer Patients

Why in News?

• The committee was constituted to examine an expanded role for the Department of Atomic

Energy, through the Tata Memorial Centre (TMC), to address India’s rising cancer burden.

Findings of the Committee:

• The committee has identified that the “systematic failure” to address the needs of patients

contributes to a 20% higher mortality among Indian cancer patients, than in countries

with a high Human Development Index.

• The Committee in its report has expressed concern that over 68 per cent of cancer patients

are dying in the country.

• The committee urged the government to expand and upgrade cancer treatment

infrastructure for affordable and quality care by enlarging the network of the Mumbai-

based Tata Memorial Centre.




75 | P a g e


• It recommended a ‘Hub and Spoke Model’ proposed by the TMC to better reach out to

cancer patients nationally, which is already in practice in Punjab.

• The model has a network of centres, or hubs, capable of treating complex forms of cancer,

which would be connected to other centres (spokes) capable of treating the less complex

variants of cancers.

Cancer:

• Cancer is a complex group of diseases, in which abnormal cells divide without control and

can invade nearby tissues. Cancer cells can also spread to other parts of the body through

the blood and lymph systems. There are several types of cancer.

Causes of cancer:

• Cancer is caused by changes (mutations) to the DNA within cells.

• Internal factors, such as age, gender and inherited genetic defects.

• Environmental exposure, for instance to radiations and fine particulate matter.

• Occupational risk factors, like carcinogens such as chemicals, radioactive materials and

asbestos. Lifestyle-related factors.

Cancer in India:

• Around 16 lakh new cases are diagnosed annually in India.

• Cancer kills around 8 lakh people annually.

• Among women the incidence of breast cancer, cervical cancer and oral cancer are quite

high. Among men, the top three cancers with the highest incidence are those in the oral

cavity, cancer of the pharynx and those of the gastro-intestinal tract.

• The International Agency for Research on Cancer expects India’s cancer deaths to rise

from 8.8 lakh in 2018 to 13 lakhs in 2035.

• Two-thirds of India's cancer patients were treated in the private sector and this forced 6

crore Indians below the poverty line because of the increased healthcare expenditures.

• India’s National Cancer Grid is the bulwark of cancer treatment in the country, and it

treats over 7,00,000 new cancer cases annually.

The National Cancer Grid (NCG) of India:

• The National Cancer Grid is a network of major cancer centres, research institutes, patient

groups and charitable institutions across India.

• It was initiated in 2012 with a mandate of creating uniform standards of health care

across cancer institutions to reduce disparities in patient care across various geographic

regions. It is funded by the Department of Atomic Energy, Government of India.




76 | P a g e


13. NASA’s first electric plane - X-57 Maxwell

Why in News?

• NASA unveiled its first all-electric experimental aircraft X-57 Maxwell which was being

developed since 2015.

Maxwell:

• The Maxwell is the latest in a line of experimental aircraft the NASA.

• It has been developed over many decades for many purposes, including the bullet-shaped

Bell X-1 that first broke the sound barrier and the X-15 rocket plane flown by Neil

Armstrong before he joined the Apollo moon team.

• The two largest of 14 electric motors that will ultimately propel the plane are powered by

specially designed lithium ion batteries.

• The Maxwell will be the agency’s first crewed X-plane to be developed in two decades.

• The lift propellers will be activated for take-off and landings, but retract during the flight’s

cruise phase.

• Electric motor systems are more compact with fewer moving parts than internal-

combustion engines, they are simpler to maintain and weigh much less, requiring less

energy to fly. They also are quieter that conventional engines.

14. India is Home to 77 Million Diabetics

Why in News?

• The Ninth Edition of the International Diabetes Foundation (IDF) Diabetes Atlas was

released on the occasion of International Diabetes Day.

About IDF Diabetes Atlas:

• The IDF Diabetes Atlas is the authoritative

resource on the global burden of diabetes.

• First published in 2000, it is produced by IDF

biennially in collaboration with experts from

around the world and contains data on diabetes

cases, prevalence, mortality and expenditure on

the global, regional and national level.

• A full IDF Diabetes Atlas report is produced every

two years.




77 | P a g e


Highlights of the Report:

• India continues to be home to the second-largest number of adults with diabetes

worldwide, with 77 million adults with diabetes in the 20-79 years age group. This follows

China, which has 116 million adults with diabetes in the same age profile.

• The worldwide prevalence of diabetes was estimated at 463 million in this age group, or in

other words, one in 11 adults.

• India was the largest contributor to diabetes mortality with more than 1 million estimated

deaths attributable to diabetes and related complications, in the larger South East Asian

region.

• The number of people with diabetes is predicted to rise to 578 million by 2030 and to 700

million by 2045.

• 374 million adults have impaired glucose tolerance, placing them at high risk of developing

type 2 diabetes.

• Diabetes was responsible for an estimated $760 billion in health expenditure in 2019.

• Diabetes is among the top 10 causes of death, with people under the age of 60 accounting

for almost half the deaths.

• One in six live births is affected by hyperglycaemia in pregnancy.

15. Arrokoth

Why in News?

• The most distant space object ever seen up close has been recently named as ‘Arrokoth’.

• It was earlier nicknamed as Ultima Thule.

Arrokoth:

• The International Astronomical Union and Minor Planets Center, the global body for

naming Kuiper Belt objects have given this name.

• It was discovered in 2014 with the Hubble Space Telescope, which is operated by the Space

Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore.

• Nasa’s New Horizons spacecraft flew by the snowman figured ice mass in December 2018,

some 1.6 billion kilometres beyond Pluto.

• The New Horizons team of NASA proposed the name to the International Astronomical

Union and Minor Planets Center.

• For the New Horizons team it took some months to finalise this name. In the language of

the Powhatan tribe, Arrokoth means “sky”.




78 | P a g e


• The team got the approval from the elders of the Powhatan tribe to assign it to their new

found “Baby”.

New Horizons Mission:

• NASA launched the New Horizons mission in January 2006. After crossing by Pluto in

2015, in 2019 it flew by Arrokoth. This remains the “farthest flyby ever conducted.”

Kuiper Belt:

• The Kuiper Belt is a disk-shaped region found in the outer solar system, past the orbit of

Neptune. It is known as the third zone of the solar system, after the zone hosting the gas

planets in our solar system. It contains hundreds of millions of small icy bodies that are

thought to be left over material from the formation of the outer planets.

• At least three dwarf planets are located in the Kuiper belt: Pluto, Haumea and Make.

• Also, some of the solar system’s moons are thought to have originated there, such as

Neptune’s Triton and Saturn’s Phoebe.

16. K4 Missile

Why in News?

• India to test-fire 3,500 km range K-4 nuclear missile developed by DRDO for Arihant Class

Submarines.

K4 Missile:

• K4 is an Intermediate range Submarine Launched Ballistic Missile (SLBM).

• The series is named after former president and scientist A.P.J. Abdul Kalam.

• It is powered by solid rocket propellants and is considered to be highly accurate with a

strike range of 3500 km.

17. Japanese Spacecraft starts Year-Long Journey home from Asteroid

Why in News?

• Japan's Hayabusa2 spacecraft started its year-long journey home after successfully

completing its mission to bring back soil samples and data from the asteroid Ryugu.

Highlights:

• The asteroid Ryugu is about 300 million kilometres from Earth.

• The soil samples and data collected is believed to provide clues to the origins of the solar

system.




79 | P a g e


7. MISCELLANEOUS

1. National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT)

Why in News?

• Vice President addresses the Silver Jubilee celebrations of NIOT in Chennai; seeks

innovative solutions to conserve water and tackle climate change, pollution.

About NIOT:

• NIOT is an autonomous society under the Ministry of Earth Sciences, established in 1993.

• It has its main office at Chennai, Tamil Nadu.

• The chief objective of the institute is to develop reliable indigenous technologies to solve

the various engineering problems associated with the harvesting of non-living and living

resources in the Indian Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), which is about two-thirds of the

land area of India. The institute engages in developing technologies for sustainable

utilization of ocean resources. It also engages in providing solutions to organisations

working in the field.

2. Danakil Depression

Why in News?

• Microbes are known to survive almost anywhere. Scientists now believe that Danakil

depression in Ethiopia is an exception.

• New research has pointed out that bubbling pools of water and mounds of salt covering its

landscape — that is too daunting even for these microorganisms.

Danakil Depression:

• The Danakil Depression in northeastern Ethiopia is one of the world’s hottest places, as

well as one of its lowest, at 100 metres below sea level.

• At the northern end of the Great Rift Valley, and separated by live volcanoes from the Red

Sea, the plain was formed by the evaporation of an inland water body.

• All the water entering Danakil evaporates, and no streams flow out from its extreme

environment. It is covered with more than 10 lakh tonnes of salt.

• Now, a new study says that active and naturally occurring life cannot be sustained at

Danakil. It identifies two barriers: magnesium-dominated brines that cause cells to break

down; and an environment having simultaneously very low pH and high salt, a

combination that makes adaptation highly difficult.




80 | P a g e


3. Pannai App

Why in News?

• Pannai, a new mobile app for pest-disease warning, developed by the M.S. Swaminathan

Research Foundation (MSSRF).

About:

• Pest-disease Advance Notification and Need–based Agriculture Information (PANNAI).

• It provides advisories, market information and farm-specific weather advisories.

• It also uses information from the Uzhavan app of the State government.

• Funded by Oracle CSR and developed by the MSSRF, the PANNAI is useful for the farmers

involved in the Coastal Agriculture.

• The unique feature of this app is that all the Field Measure Boundary (FMB) level and

records have been digitized and specific land-wise advisories will be given, based on

automatic weather station installed by the MSSRF.

4. Kalapani

Why in News?

• The new political map of India, recently released by the government to account for the

bifurcation of Jammu and Kashmir, has triggered fresh protests over an old issue in Nepal.

About:

• Kalapani is a 372-sq km area mapped within Uttarakhand, bordering far-west Nepal and

Tibet.

• While the Nepal government and political parties have protested, India has said the new

map does not revise the existing boundary with Nepal and accurately depicts the sovereign

territory of India.

Timeline:

• Nepal’s western boundary with India was marked out in the Treaty of Sugauli between the

East India Company and Nepal in 1816.

• Nepali authorities claim that people living in the low-density area were included in the

Census of Nepal until 58 years ago.

• Nepal claims that the late King Mahendra had “handed over the territory to India” in the

wake of India-China War of 1962.




81 | P a g e


• The Prime Ministers of the two

countries discussed the issue in

2000, with Atal Bihari Vajpayee

assuring Nepal that India would not

occupy even an inch of Nepal.

• Five years ago, the matter was

referred to a new mechanism

comprising foreign secretaries of

both sides.

• Apart from Kalapani, another

unresolved issue involves a vast area along the Nepal-Uttar Pradesh border. During his

visit to Nepal in 2014, Prime Minister Modi had said that the Susta and Kalapani issues

would be sorted out.

5. Guru Nanak Dev

Why in News?

• Country has recently celebrated the 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev, the

founder of Sikhism.

About:

• Guru Nanak Dev Jayanti is observed to celebrate the birth of Guru Nanak Dev (1469-

1539), who is first of the 10 Sikh Gurus and the founder of Sikhism.

• He advocated the 'Nirguna' (devotion to and worship of formless divine) form of bhakti.

• He rejected sacrifices, ritual baths, image worship, austerities and the scriptures of both

Hindus and Muslims.

• He organised his followers into a community. He set up rules for congregational worship

(Sangat) involving collective recitation.

• The fifth preceptor, Guru Arjan Dev, compiled Guru Nanak Dev’s hymns along with

those of his four successors

and other religious poets like Baba Farid, Ravidas (also known as Raidas) and Kabir in the

Adi Granth Sahib.These hymns, called 'Gurbani', are composed in many languages.

• In the late seventeenth century, the tenth preceptor, Guru Gobind Singh, included the

compositions of the ninth guru, Guru Tegh Bahadur, and this scripture was called the

Guru Granth Sahib.




82 | P a g e


6. Atal Tinkering Lab Marathon-2018:

Why in News?

• A group of selected student innovators of the Atal Tinkering Lab Marathon-2018, called on

President Ram Nath Kovind.

About Atal Innovation Mission:

• Atal Innovation Mission (AIM) is aimed to promote a culture of innovation and

entrepreneurship in the country.

• AIM’s objective is to develop new programmes and policies for fostering innovation in

different sectors of the economy, provide platform and collaboration opportunities for

different stakeholders, create awareness

• AIM also strives to create an umbrella structure to oversee innovation ecosystem of the

country.

• Major initiatives of AIM: Atal Tinkering Labs, Atal Incubation Centres, Atal New India

Challenges, Mentor India Campaign, Atal Community Innovation Centre and Atal

Tinkering Lab Marathon.

7. Global Cooling Prize

Why in News?

• The Union Minister for Science & Technology, Earth Sciences and Health & Family

Welfare to announce the Global Cooling Prize.

Global Cooling Prize (GCP):

• In 2018, the Ministry of Science & Technology instituted a new prize for innovative cooling

technologies that could reduce the climate impact of Residential Air Conditioning (RAC) at

least by five times, called the Global Cooling Prize, under the Mission Innovation (MI)

programme.

• The award carries a total prize money of $3 million.

• The GCP was launched by the Department of Science & Technology (DST – Under the S&T

Ministry), in partnership with the Bureau of Energy Efficiency and the Ministry of

Environment, Forest and Climate Change, jointly with Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI).

• The RMI is an independent non-profit research institute and think tank founded in 1982 in

the US. GCP aims to spur development of a residential cooling solution that has at least

five times less climate impact than today’s standard products.




83 | P a g e


• India has proposed to support this innovation prize with a grant up to $2 million, which

would fund the India-based teams in developing working prototypes of their innovative

cooling technology designs including model energy efficient building.

• GCP received 139 applications from 31 countries around the globe from innovators, start-

ups, research institutes, universities, and key AC industry manufacturers, out of which the

maximum (45) are from India.

• Mission Innovation (MI) is a global initiative of 24 countries and the European Union to

accelerate global clean energy innovation.

• MI identified “Affordable Heating and Cooling of Building Innovation Challenge” as one of

the seven innovation challenges.



044-26265326/9884421666/9884472636€¦ · 11/11/2019 · Shrinkage in IIP recorded the Lowest in...

Documents

Transcript of 044-26265326/9884421666/9884472636€¦ · 11/11/2019 · Shrinkage in IIP recorded the Lowest in...