Hindu Notes from General Studies-01

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Rising temperature to cut living standards of 600 million Indians

News

• Six hundred million Indians could see a dip in living standards by 2050 if temperatures continue to rise at their current pace, according to an analysis by the World Bank.

Beyond News

• Seven of the 10 severest or most vulnerable ‘hotspots’ in India would be located in Maharashtra; the rest would be in Madhya Pradesh and Chattisgarh. In the absence of major climate mitigation, nearly 148 million Indians will be living in these severe hotspots in 2050, according to the report.
• States in the central, northern and northwestern parts of India emerge as the most vulnerable. Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh, which are predicted to experience a decline in living standards of more than 9%, are the top two ‘hotspot’ States in India, followed by Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, and Maharashtra.
• India’s average annual temperatures are expected to rise by 1°C to 2°C by 2050, even if preventive measures are taken along the lines of those recommended by the Paris climate change agreement of 2015. If no measures are taken, average temperatures in India are predicted to increase by 1.5°C to 3°C.
• Economists at the World Bank correlated these climate projections with household consumption data (a proxy for living standards) in Nepal, Afghanistan, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, and extrapolated it to 2050.
• Using publicly available climate models that project how rising temperatures will affect rainfall and seasons, the researchers conclude that if emissions continued at the current pace, India could see a 1.5% decline in its GDP by 2030.
• However, were some corrective actions to be taken like India concertedly implementing its National Action Plan on Climate Change and States are implementing their domestic climate change mitigation plans  this could be halted to 1.3%.

Hindu Notes from General Studies-02

‘Start home delivery of rations to curb starvation deaths’

News

• To avoid starvation deaths, the Centre has asked the States to begin providing doorstep delivery of foodgrains as part of the Public Distribution System (PDS).

Beyond News

• In a national consultation with State Food Ministers , Union Minister for Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution urged States to implement reforms to strengthen the subsidised foodgrain distribution system, and to work with the Centre to ensure the prices of essential commodities remain stable and inflation was contained.
• Union Minister said that, home delivery of foodgrains, especially to the disabled and elderly, should be done as a precautionary measure. They have issued guidelines to all the States to ensure that there are no starvation deaths because ration was not delivered,” he said.
• According to Right to Food activists, at least 12 starvation deaths have been reported in Jharkhand over the last 10 months.
• Government had made significant progress towards end-to-end computerisation of the targeted PDS and emphasised the need for Aadhaar seeding of beneficiaries and installation of e-PoS machines for ensuring targeted delivery.

US tells India, China to end oil imports from Iran by November 4

News

• The United States has told India and other countries to cut oil imports from Iran to “zero” by November 4 or face sanctions, making it clear that there would be no waivers to anyone.

Beyond News

• Iran is India’s third-largest oil supplier behind Iraq and Saudi Arabia. Iran supplied 18.4 million tonnes of crude oil during April 2017 and January 2018 (first 10 months of 2017-18 fiscal).
• Last month, President Donald Trump withdrew the United States from the landmark Iran nuclear deal, re-imposing US sanctions that had been suspended in return for curbs on Tehran’s nuclear programme.
• At the time, the Trump administration gave foreign companies either 90 or 180 days to wind down their business with Iranian counterparts, depending on the type of commercial activity.
• Now, Washington is stepping up pressure on all countries, including India and China, to completely stop buying oil from Iran.
• The US official said Indian and Chinese companies would be subject to the same sanctions as those in other countries.
• Given the huge energy needs, India and China are major importers of Iranian oil.
• The official said this is part of the Trump administration’s effort to isolate streams of Iranian funding and are looking to highlight the totality of Iran’s “malign behaviour” across the region.
• Iran’s oil import could emerge as a major topic of discussion between India and the US during the first 2+2 dialogue next week. External Affairs Minister and Defence Minister would be in the US next week for talks with their American counterparts Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Defence Secretary James Mattis.
• The State Department asserted that there would be no waivers under the new sanctions regime.
• Noting that America’s allies are aware of its concern, the official claimed these countries want to work with the US.
• In a recent report, the bipartisan Congressional Research Service (CRS) said as international sanctions on Iran increased in 2010-2013, India sought to preserve its longstanding ties with Iran while cooperating with the sanctions regime.
• In 2010, the Reserve Bank of India ceased using a Tehran-based regional body, the Asian Clearing Union, to handle transactions with Iran. In January 2012, Iran agreed to accept India’s local currency, the rupee, to settle nearly half of its sales to India.

Hindu Notes from General Studies-03

Money parked by Indians in Swiss banks rose over 50% to ₹7000 crore in 2017

News

• Money parked by Indians in Swiss banks rose over 50% to Swiss Francs (CHF) 1.01 billion (₹7,000 crore) in 2017, reversing a three-year downward trend amid India’s clampdown on suspected black money stashed there.

Beyond News

• In comparison, the total funds held by all foreign clients of Swiss banks rose about 3% to CHF1.46 trillion or about ₹100 lakh crore in 2017.
• The surge in Indian money held with Swiss banks comes as a surprise given India’s continuing clampdown on suspected black money stashed abroad, including in banks of Switzerland that used to be known for their famed secrecy walls for years.
• According to the SNB data, the total funds held by Indians directly with Swiss banks rose to CHF999 million Swiss franc (₹6,891 crore) in 2017, while the same held through fiduciaries or wealth managers increased to CHF16.2 million (₹112 crore).
• As per the latest data, the Indian money in Swiss banks included CHF464 million (₹3,200 crore) in the form of customer deposits, CHF152 million (₹1,050 crore) through other banks and CHF383 million (₹2,640 crore) as ‘other liabilities’ such as securities at the end of 2017.
• The funds under all three heads have risen sharply, as against a huge plunge across all categories in the previous year.
• The latest data from Zurich-based SNB comes months after a new framework having been put in place for automatic exchange of information between Switzerland and India to help check the black money menace.
• While Switzerland has already begun sharing foreign client details on evidence of wrongdoing provided by India and some other countries, it has agreed to further expand its cooperation on India’s fight against black money with a new pact for automatic information exchange.
• On directions of the Supreme Court, India had constituted a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe cases of alleged black money of Indians, including funds stashed abroad in places like Switzerland.
• A number of strategies were deployed by the government to combat the stash-funds menace, in both overseas and domestic domain, which included enactment of a new law, amendments in the Anti-Money Laundering Act and compliance windows for people to declare their hidden assets.
• The Income Tax department had detected suspected black money running into thousands of crores of rupees post investigations on global leaks about Indians stashing funds abroad and has launched prosecution against hundreds of them, including those with accounts in the Geneva branch of HSBC.

Mars may have hosted life before earth

News

• The crust that encases rocky planets and makes possible the emergence of life took shape on Mars earlier than thought and at least 100 million years sooner than on Earth, researchers said.

Beyond News

• Analysing grains of the mineral zircon extracted from a Martian meteorite known as Black Beauty, they determined that the Red Planet’s outer layer hardened 4.547 billion years ago, only 20 million years after the birth of the Sun.
• Water is considered to be an essential precursor for life, at least as we know it. Mars was once much more Earth-like, with a thick atmosphere, abundant water and global oceans.
• Up to now, mathematical models have suggested that the solidification of the Red Planet took up to 100 million years. The new study tackles the question by examining a chunk of Mars that streaked into the Saharan Desert and was discovered in 2011.
• The Black Beauty meteorite weighed 320g when found. The researchers secured 44g of the precious space rock, and crushed five enough to extract seven bits of zircon that could be used in experiments. By measuring the lead decaying from uranium that had been trapped in zircon as the young Mars’s molten magma hardened, the scientists were able to precisely date the crust from which the zircon formed.
• There are two main models for the formation of planets.
• In one, it occurs in stages, with small dust particles coalescing into “planetesimals” rock fragments ten to 100 km in diameter  that collide to form planetary embryos, and then planets, over a time scale of 50 to 100 million years.
• According to a more recent model, planetary growth unfolds more quickly and is fuelled by so-called “pebble accretion”, the layered accumulation of particles measured in centimetres and metres that are loosely bound with gases.
• The new timeline suggests that something similar may have happened on our planet, but only after Earth was “reset” by the giant impact that formed the Moon about 4.4 billion years ago.
• Mars is thought to have a dense metallic core with a radius of about 1,800 km, consisting primarily of iron, nickel and sulphur. The core is surrounded by a largely dormant mantle some 1,500 km thick  made mainly of silicon, oxygen, iron and magnesium.
• Finally, the crust averages about 50 km in depth, with a maximum of about 125 km. Earth’s crust averages 40 km, but is one-third the thickness of the Martian crust once planet size is taken into account.

Saturn’s moon could support life, says study

News

• Complex organic molecules have been discovered originating from one of Saturn’s moons, Enceladus, adding to its potential to support life, researchers said .

Beyond News

• The Cassini spacecraft first flew close to the ice-covered moon in 2005 as part of a mission to gather data on Saturn that will be analysed for years to come.
• A team said they had identified fragments of large organic molecules in ice grains that were ejected from geysers through cracks in the moon’s icy exterior.
• It is the first ever detection of complex organics coming from an extraterrestrial waterworld.
• The Enceladus findings come after data earlier this month showed organic compounds on the surface of Mars and seasonal fluctuations of atmospheric methane, marking some of the strongest evidence ever that the earth’s neighbour may have harboured life.
• Cassini has previously detected lightweight organic molecules at Enceladus but the newly found fragments are much larger. Such large molecules can only be created by complex chemical processes including those related to life.
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