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Hindu Notes from General Studies-01

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Ancient Maori village discovered

News

  • Scientists have discovered the peripheries of a 14th century Maori village in New Zealand, containing tools and food items that can shed more light on the lifestyle of the settlers.

Beyond News

  • Among the findings in the 2.5 metre-deep excavation were moa bones and other food items, fish hooks manufactured of moa bone and stone tools made of obsidian and chert.
  • The site was located on the edge of an old riverbed. The obsidian (volcanic glass) was used by early Maori settlers as simple cutting tools. The materials found are estimated to date back to the early 1300s.
  • The area has a significant history as the first landing place of waka (canoes) which carried Maori to the district; and the first contact between Maori and explorer James Cook taking place on the river in 1769.
  • Given the amount of material found at the site, the chances of finding a village within the vicinity are quite high.

Hindu Notes from General Studies-02

India’s rank marginally improves in peace index

News

  • India’s rank has marginally improved in “global peacefulness”, at a time when there is an overall decline of global peace owing to escalation of violence in West Asia and and North Africa.

Beyond News

  • Pakistan too has improved marginally, according to the Global Peace Index (GPI), released by Australia-based Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP).
  • The IEP, world’s leading think tank that develops metrics to analyse peace and quantify its economic value, released the 12th edition of the GPI, or measure of global peacefulness.
  • India’s GPI rank was 137 out of 163 countries in 2017, when the year 2016 was assessed. In 2018, when the year 2017 is assessed, India’s rank moved up to 136.
  • This is in line with the performance of some of the South Asian countries. Nepal moved up from 93 to 84, while Sri Lanka moved up too, from position 80 to 67. Pakistan moved from 152 to 151.
  • Best performer of South Asia, Bhutan, has slipped from 13 to 19, while Bangladesh’ peace index deteriorated sharply. Bangladesh moved from 84 to 93.
  • Syria remained the least peaceful country in the world, a position that it had held for the past five years.
  • Iceland continues to remain the most peaceful country in the world, a position it has held since 2008.

World Bank nod for ₹6,000 cr. groundwater recharge plan

ground water recharge WHO

News

  • To address concerns about depleting groundwater reserves in India, the government has joined hands with the World Bank to execute a ₹6,000-crore scheme called the Atal Bhujal Yojana (ABHY).

Beyond News

  • The scheme is to be implemented over a period of five years from 2018-19 to 2022-23, according to a statement from the Union water Ministry. It is yet to be cleared by the Cabinet.
  • The Atal Bhujal Yojana aims to improve ground water management in priority areas in the country through community participation, the statement said.
  • The priority areas identified under the scheme fall in Gujarat, Haryana, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh, which represent about 25% of the total number of over-exploited, critical and semi-critical blocks in terms of ground water in India.
  • India’s groundwater resources have been overexploited, as experts have been warning for some time now.
  • According to a sample assessment in 2011, groundwater in 19 of India’s 71 districts about 26%  were critical or exploited, meaning that nearly as much or more water was being pulled out than their reservoirs’ natural recharge ability. In another assessment in 2013, they included groundwater blocks in districts that had gone saline, and this percentage was up to 31%.

Hindu Notes from General Studies-03

RBI hikes repo rate by 25 basis points to 6.25%

News

  • The six-member monetary policy committee of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has unanimously decided to increase the key policy rate or the repo rate by 25 basis points to 6.25% as inflation outlook worsens due to a rise in crude oil prices.
  • This is the first rate hike by the central bankin almost four and a half years.

Beyond News

  • A major upside risk to the baseline inflation path in the April resolution has materialised, a 12% increase in the price of the Indian crude basket, which was sharper, earlier than expected and seems to be durable, said the central bank.
  • Crude oil prices have been volatile recently and this imparts considerable uncertainty to the inflation outlook both on the upside and the downside. 
  • Consumer price-index-based inflation or retail inflation rose sharply to 4.6% in April. RBI projected CPI inflation at 4.6% in H1 and 4.7% in H2.
  • RBI said inflation expectation is also on the rise as evident from the May 2018 round of the Reserve Bank’s survey of households which reported a significant rise in households’ inflation expectations of 90bps and 130bps, respectively, for  three-month and one-year ahead horizons.  
  • RBI has retained GDP growth for 2018-19 at 7.4% as projected in the April policy. GDP growth is projected in the range of 7.5-7.6% in H1 and 7.3-7.4% in H2,with risks evenly balanced, RBI said.

China’s ‘green’ issues boost India’s FY18 chemical exports

News

  • China’s decision to shutter several chemical manufacturing units to rein in air pollution and protect the environment has helped Indian chemical exports grow 31.94% to $15.91 billion in 2017-18, a top industry representative said.

Beyond News

  • Exports had increased both in volume and value terms, the trend was expected to continue for another 2-3 years.
  • Inorganic, organic and agro chemicals account for a bulk of these exports, growing to $10.66 billion in 2017-18 ($7.71 billion in 2016-17).

HCC bags contract at nuclear power project in Bangladesh

News

  • Infrastructure major, Hindustan Construction Company Ltd. (HCC), in a joint venture with Bangladesh construction firm MAX Group has been awarded a $110 million (₹737 crore) contract by Russia’s State Nuclear Company, JSC Atomstroyexport, for civil works of turbine island for Unit 1 of Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant.

Beyond News

  • The Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant, about 190 km northwest of Dhaka, would be built with Russian technology and equipped with two VVER Reactors of 1,200 MW each.
  • These reactors would be similar to the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant in Tamil Nadu. HCC holds 40% stake in the JV, worth about $44 million.
  • HCC has become the first Indian company to participate in the international civil nuclear market, said director and group CEO, HCC commenting on the order win.
  • Recently, India signed an agreement with Bangladesh for civil nuclear cooperation, under which India had extended expertise and project support for Dhaka’s first nuclear power plant.
  • India, not being a member of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), cannot participate directly in the construction of atomic power reactors.

Nitrogen emissions going up: study

Nitrogen emission going up

News

  • Nitrogen particles make up the largest fraction of PM2.5, the class of pollutants closely linked to cardiovascular and respiratory illness, says the first-ever quantitative assessment of nitrogen pollution in India.

Findings

  • While the burning of crop residue is said to be a key contributor to winter smog in many parts of North India, it contributes over 240 million kg of nitrogen oxides (NOx: a generic term for the nitrogen oxides that are most relevant for air pollution, namely nitric oxide and nitrogen dioxide) and about 7 million kg of nitrous oxide (N2O) per year.
  • The Indian Nitrogen Assessment assesses the sources, impacts, trends and future scenarios of reactive nitrogen in the Indian environment.
  • Though agriculture remains the largest contributor to nitrogen emissions, the non-agricultural emissions of nitrogen oxides and nitrous oxide are growing rapidly, with sewage and fossil-fuel burning for power, transport and industry  leading the trend.
  • Indian NOx emissions grew at 52% from 1991 to 2001 and 69% from 2001 to 2011.
  • Annual NOx emissions from coal, diesel and other fuel combustion sources are growing at 6.5% a year currently, the report says.
  • Agricultural soils contributed to over 70% of N2O emissions from India in 2010, followed by waste water (12%) and residential and commercial activities (6%). Since 2002, N2O has replaced methane as the second largest Greenhouse Gas (GHG) from Indian agriculture.
  • Chemical fertilizers (over 82% of it is urea) account for over 77% of all agricultural N2O emissions in India, while manure, compost and so on make up the rest.
  • India is globally the biggest source of ammonia emission, nearly double that of NOx emissions.
  • But at the current rate of growth, NOx emissions will exceed ammonia emissions and touch 8.8 tonnes by 2055, the report says.
  • The authors suggest that nutrient recovery/recycling from waste water for agriculture could cut down N2O emissions from sewage and waste water by up to 40%.

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