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Hindu Notes from General Studies-02

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Nepal caps expenditure of its citizens in India

News

  • Nepal  imposed a monthly limit on the amount of Indian currency its citizen can spend in India.
  • A visiting Nepali citizen would not be able to spend more than one lakh rupees every month while paying for goods and services in India and that the decision was taken to deal with the current account deficit of Nepal.

Beyond News

  • The announcement is a historic first as it is the first time that Kathmandu is enforcing such a limit on spending ability of individual Nepali citizens and businessmen in India. The policy applicable to prepaid, credit and debit cards of Nepali banks came into effect on Tuesday.
  • Decision was part of the policy adjustments that the economy was making to overcome economic crisis in multiple fronts.
  • The decision was taken to deal with the growing problem of current account deficit and the balance of payment crisis that our economy is dealing with.
  • The measure would however exempt payment in hospitals and pharmacies in India. He said the step was taken to control capital flight that emerged due to the spending trends of Nepali citizens in India.
  • Apart from impacting the spending trends of Nepali consumers and tourists in India, the measure is expected to influence trade in the India-Nepal border areas where Nepali businessmen usually pay in Indian currency. The decision to cap individual spending came two weeks after Nepal formally banned high denomination Indian currency notes.
  • Nepal has been dealing with a series of issues with the Indian currency since the government launched the process of demonetisation of high denomination Indian currency notes in November 2016. The recent steps indicate Nepal’s continued problem with the Indian currency that reportedly began after Nepal was left holding a large quantity of demonetised Indian notes.

TV services will not be affected, says TRAI

News

  • The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) clarified that customers will not face any disruption of their TV services due to implementation of its new regulatory framework for broadcasting and cable services.

Beyond News

  • The new framework, which comes into force from December 29, allows consumers to select and pay only for the channels they wish to view, and requires the TV broadcasters to disclose maximum retail price of channels individually as well as of bouquets.
  • Keeping in view the interest of the subscribers and to enable a smooth transition, the Authority is preparing a detailed Migration Plan for all the existing subscribers.
  • The migration plan will provide ample opportunity to each and every subscriber for making an informed choice. This will also enable service providers in carrying out the various activities as stipulated in the new regulatory framework in a time-bound manner.
  • The Authority maintained that the cost to consumers will not increase. Further, if a consumer carefully chooses channels of his choice for complete requirement of a family, the amount payable by him may be even less than the present payments being made per month. Some of the probable packs in different markets have been compiled by TRAI.
  • Further some broadcasters with wider presence have reduced the price of their channels recently. The published prices as declared by broadcasters are offered prices and not the final market determined prices. The Authority expects the market forces to stabilise the prices soon based on economic principles.
  • The TRAI, in its FAQs on the new norms, has reasoned that after digitization of cable TV networks in March 2017, there was an urgent need to improve transparency as many stakeholders were not providing choice to consumers. It said the consumer becomes the real decision-maker now.
  • Additionally, the framework stipulates a network capacity fee with upper ceiling of ₹130 for 100 channels. Network capacity fee for 100 channels includes Free to Air channels or Pay channel or combination thereof. Taking FTA channels is the choice of subscriber but not mandatory except the mandatory channels of MIB. If Subscriber chooses pay channels, applicable MRP is payable in addition to the network capacity fee.
  • Any subscriber who opts for more than 100 channels a rare choice of less than 10-15 % consumers, according to TRAI can choose additional channels in each slab of 25 channels with at a maximum price of ₹20 per slab.
  • The new framework stipulates that the subscribers will not be pushed with unwanted channels; rather she/ he will have freedom to choose only those TV channels that they want to see and pay accordingly, Trai said, adding that 80% subscriber as per the viewing pattern given by BARC, either view or flip 40 or less number of channels.

PM inaugurates India’s longest rail-cum-road bridge in Assam

News

  • Prime Minister inaugurated the country’s longest rail-cum-road bridge over Brahmaputra river at Bogibeel near Dibrugarh in Assam.
  • The strategically important bridge will remove communication bottlenecks to several districts in Assam and Arunachal Pradesh.

India to hold talks with RCEP nations

News

  • Indian officials will hold bilateral meetings with a few countries, including China and some ASEAN members, in the coming days to iron out issues hindering negotiations of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) trade deal.

Beyond News

  • After the bilateral meetings, the RCEP members will meet for the 25th round of negotiations in February in Indonesia.
  • The main issues that need resolution include number of goods on which import duties should be eliminated and norms to relax services trade.
  • RCEP members want India to eliminate or significantly cut customs duties on maximum number of goods that it traded on.

Hindu Notes from General Studies-03

Manufacturing posts strong sales growth in Q2: RBI

News

  • The manufacturing sector, particularly the textile, iron and steel segments, maintained the pace of sales growth in the second quarter of 2018-19 compared with the year-earlier period, the RBI said.

Beyond News

  • The manufacturing sector sales growth was mainly supported by robust demand conditions in chemical and chemical products, iron and steel, and petroleum products industries coupled with significant improvement recorded by textile industry.
  • Heavy moderation was seen in the sales growth of motor vehicles and other transport equipment, driven in part by a large adverse base effect, and pharmaceutical and medicine industries.
  • The information technology (IT) sector also recorded further improvement in sales growth over the year-ago period.
  • The manufacturing sector continued to record strong growth in net profit, which received support from other income.
  • On the expenditure front, manufacturing companies continued to face rising input cost (cost of raw materials, staff cost) pressures. In the case of the IT sector, staff costs accelerated in tandem with the improvement in sales growth.

Russia ‘successfully’ tests hypersonic missile

News

  • Russian President hailed final tests of a hypersonic missile, which he had earlier said would render existing missile systems obsolete.

Beyond News

  • It would be part of a new generation of “invincible” weaponry. The hypersonic missile could fly at 20 times the speed of sound and manoeuvre up and down, meaning that it could breach defence systems.
  • The final test comes after U.S. President Donald Trump announced plans to pull out of a key Cold War-era nuclear weapons pact, the three-decade-old Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF).
  • Russian President has laid out plans to develop missiles banned under the deal if the U.S. abandons it.

Check dams across Palar to help recharge groundwater

News

  • The long-pending demand of residents of Kancheepuram district in Tamil Nadu for a check dam across the Palar river may soon become a reality.
  • The Water Resources Department (WRD) is expected to begin work to build one at Esoor-Vallipuram. This will be the first of seven such structures in the district.

Beyond News

  • The Palar sees flow for just a month every year. However, the river has enormous potential for groundwater recharge. The Lower Palar sub-basin has an anicut, constructed in 1868 near Kaveripakkam, and a sub-surface dyke in Palur village to augment groundwater.
  • There is a great need for check dams across the river to conserve water. Such structures would help groundwater recharge and improve irrigation and sustain drinking water supply through wells during drought years.
  • These structures are expected to have a storage capacity of 5,000 million cubic feet and the potential to supply nearly 345 million litres a day (mld), the official added.
  • The check dam at Esoor-Vallipuram in Madurantakam taluk would be 694 m long and 1.50 m high.
  • The check dam, with a potential to store 740 million cubic feet of water, would sustain supply to a minimum of seven villages. It is expected to augment water supply by 30 mld. The ₹33.26 crore project would benefit 654 hectares of agricultural land.
  • The check dam on the tail-end of the Palar river would not only address seawater intrusion but also also augment Chennai’s water supply by 100 mld.
  •  

Banks under PCA sitting on cash pile

News

  • Commercial banks, under the prompt corrective action (PCA) framework of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), are sitting on a pile of cash as they don’t have too many options to lend, even as the banking system is scrambling for liquidity.

Beyond News

  • The 11 public sector banks under the PCA, enjoying 25% market share among commercial banks, are facing restrictions on lending while their deposit mobilisation has been healthy.
  • The average liquidity deficit in the banking system has been about ₹1 lakh crore since October with the shadow banks impacted the most as they are finding it difficult to raise funds following the IL&FS crisis. This, in turn, is affecting the loan market.
  • Though deposit mobilisation had picked up, there were restrictions on lending by the bank, the official explained. A senior official from another mid-sized public sector bank said the bank’s daily excess cash was about ₹40,000 crore.
  • As a result, the bank’s statutory liquidity ratio (SLR) was about 27-28%, much higher than the RBI mandated 19.5%. SLR is the minimum amount of liabilities that a bank must invest in government securities.
  • According to the latest RBI data, year-on-year deposit growth is 9.7% till the week ended December 7 compared with 2.7% a year ago.
  • In this context, the government’s decision to provide the banks under PCA with additional capital is a good move which will bring them out of the framewok gradually so that lending activity can get a boost.
  • Last week, the government had sought Parliament’s approval to provide ₹41,000 crore to PSBs in the current fiscal. The aim is to provide capital to the banks under PCA, which will help them come out of restrictions imposed.

Micro in size macro in impact

News

  • A lot of it ends up in the ocean. Some marine animals mistake plastic for food, while others consume them accidentally. Ingestion of plastic can cause obstruction in their digestive system or damage their internal organs, leading to their death. It has been estimated that plastic pollution affects at least 700 marine species and kills about 100 million every year.
  • Most plastic in the ocean break down into very small particles called microplastics and make their way into the system of marine animals. The particles get passed on along the food chain from smaller animals to bigger ones and finally to humans. Now, scientists have discovered a new carrier in this plastic food chain mosquitoes.

Findings

  • Microplastics are being increasingly detected in other aquatic environments. As waterdwellers, mosquito larvae ingest microplastics from the water and those plastic particles stick around as they transition into flying mosquitoes, scientists have found.
  • These adult insects provide tasty snacks for birds and bats. Once the plastic carrying mosquitoes have been eaten by birds and bats, the pollution can then make it further into other food chains and ecosystems. In essence, plastic gets transferred from water and marine creatures to land animals. It affects animals that would not normally be exposed to plastic.
  • Scientists call this process ontogenic transference the transfer that happens as the organism matures and moves habitat. Apart from mosquitoes, insects such as mayflies, dragonflies and midges also start life in ponds and puddles before making their way into the outside world, where they’re often eaten by bigger creatures.
  • Plastic debris that are less than five millimetre in length are called microplastics. Microplastics come from a variety of sources, They are of two types one that are manufactured (microbeads) and the other that are derived from the breakdown of larger plastic debris.
  • Besides water, microplastics have been found in soil and air. A 2017 study by researchers detected about 2,649 particles of microplastic within 10 samples of street dust in Tehran, Iran.
  • A microbead is a very tiny piece of manufactured polyethylene plastic with the largest dimension being only one millimetre. Microbeads can also be made of other petrochemical plastics such as polypropylene and polystyrene. They are added as exfoliants (which remove dead skin cells and impurities from the skin’s surface) to health and beauty products such as cleansers. These tiny particles easily pass through water filtration systems and end up in ocean and other aquatic environment.
  • A single cleansing product can contain as many as 3,60,000 microbeads. Natural, biodegradable alternatives include jojoba (a type of nut) beads, apricot kernels, ground nutshells and salt.. Some countries have also taken steps to ban microbeads. India’s microbead ban is expected to enter force in 2020.
  • Marine species also face the invisible threat of plastic derived chemicals. It was long held that plastics broke down only at very high temperatures and over hundreds of years. A study in 2009 showed that some plastics decompose rapidly in the ocean.
  • Researchers found that plastic breaks down at cooler temperatures than expected, and within a year of the trash hitting the water. The degrading plastics also leach potentially toxic chemicals such as bisphenol A into the seas, possibly threatening ocean animals, and humans, who ultimately consume some of these sea food.

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