Hindu Notes from General Studies-01

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Earth’s water cycle needs to be updated to to include effects of human interference

News

• Representations of the Earth’s water cycle used in textbooks throughout the world need to be updated, say scientists who have drawn up a new set of diagrams to include effects of human interference.
• Leaving humans out of the picture contributes to a basic lack of awareness of how humans relate to water on Earth and a false sense of security about future availability of this essential and scarce resource, according to the study.

Beyond News

• The team has drawn up a new set of diagrams to promote better understanding of how our water cycle works in the 21st century.
• These new diagrams show human interference in nearly all parts of the cycle.
• In a sample of more than 450 water cycle diagrams in textbooks, scientific literature and online, 85% showed no human interaction at all with the water cycle, and only 2% of the images made any attempt to connect the cycle with climate change or water pollution.
• In addition, nearly all the examples studied depicted verdant landscapes, with mild climates and abundant freshwater usually with only a single river basin.
• The researchers argue there is an urgent need to challenge this misrepresentation and promote a more accurate and sophisticated understanding of the cycle and how it works in the 21st century.
• This is crucial if society is to be able to achieve global solutions to the world’s water crisis.
• The new diagrams drawn up by the team show a more complex picture that includes elements such as meltwater from glaciers, flood damage caused by land use changes, pollution and sea level rises.

Hindu Notes from General Studies-02

U.S. Embassy launches App for Indian students

News

• Indian students aspiring to enroll themselves in the U.S. universities can now get authentic information, with the American Embassy launching an App for this purpose.

Beyond News

• The Embassy has also planned a number of other measures for the benefit of the Indian students wanting to study in the U.S., whose economy has already been benefited to the tune of $7.5 billion from Indian students’ money.
• At present, the EducationUSA has seven student advising centres in India – Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Hyderabad, Bengaluru and Ahmedabad, Adam said.
• The Indian students have contributed $7.5 billion to the U.S.’ economy directly, according to the Embassy officials.
• As per the estimates, Indian students represent over 17 per cent of the total international student population in the U.S., the second largest community in U.S. followed by China.
• The Embassy officials said the U.S. has a million international students and one out of every 5 international students is an Indian.
• The number of Indian students enrolling with the universities in the U.S. has doubled in the last decade.
• In 2018, 1,96,000 students were enrolled in the higher education institutions in the U.S. from India. This was a significant increase from 1,82,000 in 2017.
• According to the officials at the embassy, the student visa approval rate is as high as 90 per cent.

US ready to help India’s defence but buying S-400 from Russia would limit cooperation: Trump admin

News

• The US is ready to help India’s defence needs with the latest technologies and equipment, but New Delhi purchasing long-range S-400 missile defence system from Russia would limit cooperation, the Trump administration has cautioned.

Beyond News

• The statement came weeks after an identical warning from a senior State Department official who had said that New Delhi’s deal to procure the lethal missile system from Moscow will have “serious implications” on India-US defence ties.
• The S-400 is known as Russia’s most advanced long-range surface-to-air missile defence system. China was the first foreign buyer to seal a government-to-government deal with Russia in 2014 for the system.
• India and Russia signed a $5 billion S-400 air defence system deal in October last year after wide-ranging talks between Indian Prime Minister and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Centre reduces contribution rate for ESI

News

• Starting July 1, both employers and employee’s contribution under the Employees’ State Insurance (ESI) Act, which gives insured workers medical benefits among other facilities, would be reduced, the Centre said.

Beyond News

• The total contribution towards ESI was reduced from 6.5% of an employee’s wages to 4%, with the employer’s share cut to 3.25%, from 4.75%, and the employee’s contribution lowered to 0.75% of wages, from 1.75%, the government announced.
• This would benefit 3.6 crore employees and 12.85 lakh employers.
• The reduced rate of contribution will bring about a substantial relief to workers under the ESI scheme and bring more and more workforce into the formal sector.
• The financial liability on employers would also be reduced, leading to improved viability of the establishments, increased ease of doing business and likely improved compliance with the Act, the government said, adding that the current rates had been in place since January 1, 1997.
• The number of people insured under the scheme increased to 3.6 crore in 2018-2019, from 2.1 crore in 2015-2016, with the total contribution received climbing to ₹22,279 crore, from ₹11,455 crore, government data show.

Hindu Notes from General Studies-03

India to impose retaliatory tariffs on 29 U.S. goods from

News

• India has decided to impose retaliatory tariffs on 29 goods imported from the U.S. from June 16 onwards, officials in the Commerce Ministry told .
• The decision comes a year after New Delhi initially decided to do so.

Beyond News

• The tariffs will place a burden of $220-290 million on the U.S., about the same amount imposed by Washington on India in 2018.
• The tariffs on the 29 goods including walnuts, apples, and some pulses were initially announced in June 2018 in retaliation to U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision in March that year to impose higher import tariffs on Indian aluminium and steel. India has repeatedly asked for exemption from these higher tariffs, but to no avail.
• However, negotiations continued for about a year, with India repeatedly extending the deadline for the imposition of retaliatory tariffs. These talks, as well as the ones surrounding granting India duty-free imports for certain items under the U.S.’ Generalised System of Preferences (GSP) seem to have fallen through.
• According to the Trade Promotion Council of India (TPCI), the impact of the retaliatory tariffs imposed by India on the U.S. would amount to about $290 million. While the Federation of Indian Export Organisations estimates the impact to be $220-240 million, the consensus view is that the impact is commensurate to the impact on India due to the U.S. tariffs on aluminium and steel imports.
• The imposition of increased import tariffs on agricultural commodities will help domestic farmers.

PM Modi hits out at trade protectionism

News

• Indian Prime Minister hit out at unilateralism and trade protectionism, and said there is a need for a rules-based, anti-discriminatory and all inclusive WTO-centred multilateral trading system.
• Indian Prime Minister’s remarks come amidst the raging trade war between the U.S. and China.

Beyond News

• Addressing the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summithere, Indian Prime Minister said unilateralism and protectionism have not benefited anyone.
• India is committed to ensuring a favourable environment for the economic cooperation between the SCO member countries, the Prime Minister said in the presence of Chinese President Xi Jinping.
• President Xi said India and China should uphold free trade, and multilateralism, without directly referring to the ongoing China-U.S. trade war.
• The SCO member states said the situation in global politics and economy remains turbulent and tense, and the process of economic globalisation is being hindered by the growing unilateral protectionist policies and other challenges in international trade.
• The declaration stressed the importance of further improving the architecture of global economic governance, and deepening cooperation to build a transparent, predictable and stable environment for the development of trade and investment cooperation.

India to have its own space station: ISRO

News

• India plans to have its own space station, and modalities for it will be worked out after the first manned mission, Gaganyaan, scheduled for August 2022.

Beyond News

• The proposed space station is envisaged to weigh 20 tonnes and serve as a facility where astronauts can stay for 15-20 days, and it would be placed in an orbit 400 km above earth. The time frame for launch is 5-7 years after Gaganyaan.
• The ISRO would also join the international space community for a manned mission to moon and beyond.
• A Gaganyaan National Advisory Council has been created with members from different institutions and industries to oversee and advise on the mission. Selection of 2-3 crew members for Gaganyaan would be done in six months, they would then undergo training for 1-1.5 years after that.
• The initial phase of training would be in India and the advanced stage would be done abroad as the requisite facilities did not exist here and the project was on a short timeline.
• The Gagayaan mission aims to send a 2-3 person crew to space for a period of seven days. The spacecraft would be placed in a low earth orbit of 300-400 km.
• ISRO had already signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Indian Air Force for selection and training of pilots for the manned mission.
• Talks were underway with the Navy and Coast Guard for the recovery of the crew module once it lands in water after re-entry into the earth’s atmosphere.
• After Chandrayaan-2, ISRO has set its sights on two interplanetary missions. Mission Aditya-L1 is scheduled for next year to study the Sun’s corona, which effects climate on earth, and another mission to study Venus in 2-3 years. 

Reserve Bank to pump in ₹12,500 crore on June 20

News

• The Reserve Bank of India said said it will infuse ₹12,500 crore into the financial system through bond purchases on June 20.

Beyond News

• The decision has taken based on a review of the evolving liquidity conditions and assessment of the durable liquidity needs going forward.
• The purchase of government securities under the open market operation (OMO) for ₹125 billion (₹12,500 crore) will be conducted on June 20, 2019.
• The government securities to be purchased in the auction would be communicated in due course.
• Earlier in the day, the Reserve Bank of India injected ₹15,000 crore into the system through bond purchases.
• The Reserve Bank uses open market operations (OMO) for injecting liquidity into the system through the purchase of government bonds (G-sec).

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