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Hindu Notes from General Studies-01

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Deep corals not a refuge for fish fleeing from pollution

News

• Deep coral reefs in a “twilight zone” in the oceans differ sharply from those near the surface, dimming hopes that they can be a refuge for marine life fleeing threats such as climate change and pollution.

Findings

• A U.S.-led team of divers who studied little-known reefs in the West Atlantic and Pacific Oceans between 100 to 500 ft deep where sunlight fades, found most species of corals and fish were unlike those closer to the surface.
• Less than five percent of fish and corals were found in both shallow and deep waters against the scientists’ previous estimate of 60 to 75 %, based on historical records.
• The potential for deep reefs to act in a refuge capacity is far less than we have previously hoped.
• And, like shallow reefs, the deep reefs also faced threats including climate change, storms and pollution. Divers found, for instance, plastic fishing nets entangled on deep corals off the Philippines and deep corals harmed by warm waters off the Bahamas.
• Scientists were trying to place temperature sensors in the twilight zone to see how far deep reefs were exposed to rising ocean temperatures, which are most extreme at the surface.

Hindu Notes from General Studies-02

India extends $200 million credit lines to Rwanda; Modi holds talks with Kagame

News:

• India extended $200 million lines of credit to Rwanda as Prime Minister Narendra Modi held wide-ranging talks with President Paul Kagame and discussed measures to boost the bilateral strategic ties by strengthening cooperation in trade and agriculture sectors.

Beyond News:

• After the one-on-one talks with President Kagame, Mr. Modi, the first Indian Prime Minister to visit the East African country, announced that India will soon open its mission in Rwanda.
• The two countries signed agreements on leather and allied areas and agricultural research.
• India also extended two lines of credit one of $100 million for development of industrial parks and Kigali special economic zone (SEZ) in Rwanda and another one for $100 million for agriculture.
• Besides one-to-one meeting, the two leaders also participated in delegation level talks to strengthen partnership in trade and investment, capacity building, development partnership and people to people ties.
• His two-day state visit to Rwanda one of Africa’s fastest growing economies  assumes significance as it could boost India’s strategic ties with this country.

NCTE amendment Bill passed

News

• The Lok Sabha passed the National Council for Teacher Education (Amendment) Bill to grant retrospective recognition to Central/State institutions that are conducting teacher education courses without NCTE approval.
• This has been done as a one-time measure to ensure that the future of students studying in these institutions is not jeopardised.

Kerala trumps high-profile peers to top Public Affairs Index 2018

News

• As Kerala trumped high-profile peers such as Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Telangana to emerge on top of the Public Affairs Index 2018, celebrations in one place have been matched by excuses in others.

Beyond News

• Kerala, has emerged first overall among 30 States in the country, with a top ranking in four of the 10 parameters for big States. These include essential infrastructure, support to human development, women and child development and child-friendly approach. The ranking has not come without riders as the State has some ground to cover in areas such as protection of the environment and maintenance of law and order.
• The parameters chosen for the study have given an edge for Kerala, a State that has won acclaim for its high human development indices. PAI 2018 comprises 10 broad themes, 30 focus subjects and 100 indicators as well as a special chapter on the children of India.
• While the theme on essential infrastructure includes power, water, roads and communication and housing, that on support to human development covers education and health.

Hindu Notes from General Studies-03

World’s fastest man-made spinning object developed

News

• Scientists have developed the fastest man-made rotor in the world, which they believe will help them study quantum mechanics.

Beyond News

• At more than 60 billion revolutions per minute, this machine is more than 100,000 times faster than a high-speed dental drill.
• This study has many applications, including material science. We can study the extreme conditions different materials can survive in.
• The team synthesised a tiny dumbbell from silica and levitated it in high vacuum using a laser. The laser can work in a straight line or in a circle – when it is linear, the dumbbell vibrates, and when it is circular, the dumbbell spins. 
• A spinning dumbbell functions as a rotor, and a vibrating dumbbell functions like an instrument for measuring tiny forces and torques, known as a torsion balance.
• These devices were used to discover things like the gravitational constant and density of Earth, but Li hopes that as they become more advanced, they will be able to study things like quantum mechanics and the properties of vacuum.
• Quantum mechanics is a fundamental theory in physics which describes nature at the smallest scales of energy levels of atoms and subatomic particles.

Shatam lake set to fade into oblivion?

News:

• Shah Hatim Talab, popularly known as Shatam Cheruvu or Shatam Lake in Telangana, will be the next in line to disappear from the cityscape.

Beyond News:

• Cut off from inlet channels, covered heavily in algal bloom, and having lost a third of its spread to large-scale dumping of construction waste, this apology of a lake does not need more reasons to choke and die.
• The death is being gratuitously solemnised by the GHMC which is actively on the job of consolidating the debris surrounding the lake, in the name of removing it.
• As per information shared by the GHMC, a little more than 70,000 kg or 70 tonnes of construction & demolition waste has been removed from the lake.
• The C&D management wing of GHMC has been entrusted with getting the waste removed from the city lakes, and carrying them to various sites earmarked for its dumping, including those where the C&D waste processing units are to be set up.
• Emanating unbearable stench of sewage and pollution, the lake has also sacrificed a portion of its spread to the growth of water hyacinth. Labourers working at the lake site for removal of water hyacinth obstructing the surplus weirs vouch for the fact that a vehicle had been deployed on Friday and Saturday to level the debris.

Karnataka sees 300% jump in FDI inflows, T.N. rebounds

News

• Karnataka registered the biggest increase in Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) last year, as inflows from overseas jumped 300% in the 12 months ended March 2018.

Beyond News

• Tamil Nadu too saw a rebound reversing a slowdown in the preceding period, while Gujarat, Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh all saw a drop in FDI inflows, data from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) presented in Parliament show.
• While Karnataka received $8.58 billion in 2017/18, a sharp increase from the $2.13 billion in the previous fiscal, Tamil Nadu netted $3.47 billion, a 56% increase from the $2.22 billion in the prior period, as the State appeared to buck concerns about the investment climate.
• Other major States Maharashtra, Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh saw a dip in FDI inflows.
• Overall, sector-wise data show that computer software and hardware gained from a 68% jump in FDI last year to $6.15 billion.

Interestingly, the services sector, which comprises finance, banking, insurance and outsourcing among others, remained the top recipient of FDI despite seeing a 23% decline in inflows at $6.71 billion.

India drops three ranks in AT Kearney FDI Confidence Index

News

• India in 2018 has fallen out of the top 10 destinations for FDI in terms of its attractiveness, according to an AT Kearney report, which says this could be due to teething troubles in the implementation of the goods and services tax and the government’s demonetisation decision in 2016.

Beyond News

• India ranks 11 in the 2018 AT Kearney FDI Confidence Index, down from 8 in 2017 and 9 in 2016.
• That said, the report highlighted several of the reforms such as removing the Foreign Investment Promotion Board and liberalising FDI limits in key sectors  that have maintained India’s high rankings in terms of FDI attractiveness.
• Notable reforms include the elimination of the Foreign Investment Promotion Board, a government agency responsible for reviewing all potential foreign investment, and the liberalisation of foreign investment thresholds for the retail, aviation, and biomedical industries.
• The report, released added that potential investors are likely to be cautious as they are monitoring political risks such as China abolishing presidential term limits and the upcoming general election in India.

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