Hindu Notes from General Studies-01

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NASA tool predicts which cities will flood due to melting ice

News

• NASA has developed a new forecasting tool that can predict which cities will be affected as different portions of ice sheets melt due to global warming.

Importance of NASA tool

• The tool looks at the Earth’s spin and gravitational effects to predict how water will be “redistributed” globally.
• The tool provided a way for governments to work out which ice sheets they should be most worried about.
• It suggests that in London sea-level rise could be significantly affected by changes in the north-western part of the Greenland ice sheet.

For New York, the area of concern is the ice sheet’s entire northern and eastern portions, researchers said.

Beyond News

• Three key processes influenced “the sea-level fingerprint,” the pattern of sea-level change around the world, according to the study published in the journal Science Advances.

These include gravity, “push-pull influence” of ice, and the rotation of the planet itself.

Hindu Notes from General Studies-02

France wants to work with India in Indo-Pacific

News:

• Officials said that, France will like to deepen cooperation with India in the Indo-Pacific bilaterally and not as a part of a multilateral arrangement like the recently convened “quadrilateral” between India, U.S., Japan and Australia.

 Beyond News:

• This new cooperation would be discussed as part of the strategic partnership along with cooperation in counter-terrorism, defence hardware, nuclear energy, and space cooperation during the upcoming visit of Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian to India.
• France and India have a “special and specific” interest in the Indian Ocean, and would prefer to conduct their exchanges across the Indo-Pacific bilaterally.
• In addition, France is India’s oldest strategic partner, and has conducted India’s first international ‘Varuna’ joint naval exercises since 1983.

Hindu Notes from General Studies-03

BS-VI fuel in Delhi from 2018

News

• In a bid to deal with the critical pollution situation in the national capital, the Ministry of Petroleum has brought forward the date for the rollout of BS-VI fuel for Delhi to April 1, 2018 instead of the original deadline of April 1, 2020.

Beyond News

• The decision to advance the launch, prompted by the serious pollution levels in Delhi and adjoining areas,was taken in consultation with the Public Oil Marketing Companies.
• OMCs have also been asked to examine the possibility of BS-VI auto fuel introduction in the whole of the National Capital Region (NCR) area with effect from April 1, 2019.

LIMITATIONS:

• The step, though welcome, did not cover a large enough area. With the National Capital Region facing a smog crisis due to a combination of crop burning in Punjab and Haryana and high background pollution in Delhi last week, the need for region-wide action was once again highlighted.

Install rainwater harvesting system in two months, NGT tells Delhi schools, colleges

News:

• The National Green Tribunal (NGT) on Thursday directed all private and government schools and colleges in Delhi to install rainwater harvesting systems on the premises at their own costs. The institutions have been directed to install the systems within two months.

Beyond News:

• A bench, headed by NGT chairperson , said that Any institution which does not comply, has to pay an environmental compensation of Rs. 5 lakh.
• The Tribunal said the committee was required to carry out inspections of these institutions and issue a fitness certificate to make the rainwater harvesting systems operational.

 

Centre gives effect to GST rate changes

News

• The Centre notified the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council’s latest decisions, giving effect to the revised tax rates on goods from November 15.

Beyond News

• The government said all product prices must reflect the change.
• A consumer shall be charged the revised reduced rates of 18% on these items with effect from the 15th November, 2017. On 178 items the GST rate has been brought down from 28% to 18%.
• Accordingly, there would be a corresponding reduction in price/MRP on these goods. Consumers may take note of these reductions while making purchases.
• At its meeting last week, the GST Council had pared the number of items in the highest tax slab of 28% to 50. It had also cut the rate on restaurants except for those in hotels having a room tariff of Rs. 7,500 or more to 5% and removed their eligibility to claim input tax credits.

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