Hindu Notes from General Studies-02

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South China Sea drills underscore China’s sovereignty claims

News

• China has launched three days of naval drills near its South China Sea island province of Hainan, underscoring its growing capabilities in defending its maritime interests.

Beyond News

• Those exercises follow recent ones in the disputed waterway featuring China’s sole operating aircraft carrier that come amid deployments and drills by the rival U.S. Navy.
• China is building new vessels at a rapid pace to equip its navy, coast guard and maritime law enforcement agencies, including its first entirely domestically-built aircraft carrier.
• It claims virtually the entire resource-rich South China Sea, through which an estimated $5 trillion in global trade passes annually, and has constructed airstrips and other installations on artificial islands to enlarge its military footprint.

Centre to snuff out ‘toxic’ e-cigarettes

News

• The Centre has informed the Delhi High Court that it is in the process of issuing guidelines to ban the manufacture, import, sale and any kind of trade in e-cigarettes, dubbing it a “new emerging threat”.

Beyond News

• Terming e-cigarettes or Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems “addictive” and targeted at young smokers, the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said the decision has been taken in the larger interest of public health.
• It said the flavouring agent in e-cigarettes was intended towards attracting the youth to a “new nicotine delivery product”.
• The glamorising marketing techniques of ENDS as a less harmful product purely mimics the marketing techniques used by the cigarette industry for slim- or low-tar cigarettes and are youth-oriented.
• The Ministry submitted that the chief constituent of e-cigarettes was nicotine, which was addictive.
• It also has a high level of toxicity and can lead to development of cardiovascular diseases, lung diseases, have adverse effect on the immune and gastrointestinal systems, and raise the risk of miscarriage in pregnant women, the Ministry said.
• Though there are no specific guidelines to deal with e-cigarettes, several State governments and Union Territories have taken steps to prohibit it.

Formulate policy to check marine debris, Centre told

News

• A two-day national conference on marine debris here has called for the formulation of a policy by the Centre to combat the menace of growing marine debris in oceans, which the meet described as one of the biggest threats to the aquatic ecosystem.

Beyond News

• The conference, which concluded at the Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute (CMFRI), was organised by the Marine Biological Association of India.
• The plenary session of the conference stressed the need for a policy to protect the marine and estuarine ecosystem and fishery resources, said a release.
• Researchers had found the presence of micro-plastics in fish, indicating that they had entered the marine food chain.
• Stringent rules and regulations are the need of the hour to control the situation of accumulating plastic debris in the marine ecosystem, the conference said.
• The meet also recommended that regulatory councils be set up at the Central and State levels to coordinate activities to curb marine and estuarine debris, along with sub-centres at corporation, municipality and panchayat levels.
• Experts who spoke at the plenary session also called for coordinated efforts to strengthen e-waste management initiatives at various levels. A collaborative industry partnership was suggested to increase recovery and recycling of plastics and curb their accumulation in the water ecosystem.

Solutions

• A helpline should be established to report ‘ghost nets’ [abandoned nets].
• There should be concreted efforts to upscale successful models of waste management, plastic recycling, waste processing, and value-addition from waste.
• Considering the quantum of biomedical waste being generated, more biomedical waste treatment plants should be established along with conducting public awareness campaigns.

Hindu Notes from General Studies-03

Trade tensions hit India’s Mar. exports

News

• India’s merchandise exports fell for the first time in five months in March and the trade deficit widened amid concerns over global trade and U.S. moves to review a programme allowing duty-free imports of goods.

Beyond News

• The U.S. Trade Representative’s Office said that,it launched reviews over concerns that India and Indonesia were not complying with rules of the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) programme on market access.
• New Delhi is worried that its exports of engineering goods and services to the U.S. and China could be hit following a possible slowdown in global trade this year.
• India’s merchandise exports in March fell 0.7% year-on-year to $29.1 billion, and the trade deficit widened to $13.7 billion due to a surge in imports, government data showed. Imports rose 7.2% on year to $42.8 billion in March.
• For the year ending in March, goods exports rose 9.8% to $302.8 billion from a year ago, while imports rose 19.6% to $459.7 billion.
• Separately, India exported services worth $175.3 billion in first 11 months ending February compared with $105.7 billion imports of services, data from the central bank showed.
• The total export numbers bode well for India’s $2.5-trillion economy that is expected to grow over 7% in the fiscal year beginning April.
• However, the trade deficit for the year ending in March widened to $156.8 billion from $105.72 billion in the previous year, a growing concern for the central bank, the data showed.

Annual fishing ban begins on April 15

News

• The State Government has issued orders pertaining to the annual 61-day ban on the fishing activities in the seawater, in the territorial limits of Andhra Pradesh from from April 15 to June 14.

Beyond News

• In a bid to protect the fishery resources and biodiversity during the breeding season, the Government enforces the ban every year, restricting the fishing activities by all mechanised and motorised vessels fitted with inboard or outboard engines, excluding the non-motorised crafts, as per the under Section 4 (2) of the A.P. Marine Fishing Regulation Act, 1994.
• However, the fishermen have made an appeal to the government to enhance the cash compensation in lieu of the loss of income during the ban period.
• Frequent formation of systems in the Bay of Bengal and depleting catch due to ocean pollution caused by dumping of plastic material, discharge of industrial effluents and over exploitation have led to a distress situation forcing the fishermen to keep their boats idle most of the time during past one year.
• As many as 4,800 workers including the khalasis and drivers depend on the voyage of mechanised boats from the Vizag fishing harbour for their livelihood. The activity also provides indirect employment to 6,000 people who eke out a living by carrying fish and ice in cycle rickshaws and drying the fish.
• Joint Director of Fisheries said the Government has already sanctioned ₹6.25 crore for payment of compensation to the fishermen for loss of job during the ban period when compared to the last year’s ₹6.14 crore.

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