Hindu Notes from General Studies-01

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Child sex ratio declining in some districts: study

News

• The child sex ratio (CSR) in some of the districts in Tamil Nadu has been declining over the past three years. Tiruvannamalai and Dharmapuri are among districts that have low CSR, according to a preliminary study.
• The organisation had also conducted a sample survey among various stakeholders such as panchayat presidents, doctors in primary health centres, district child protection officers and pregnant women in the 10 districts.
• Nearly 57% of respondents revealed there were instances of female foeticide and 55% of them were not aware of village-level child protection committees. Moreover, 73% of respondents revealed that they preferred male children.

Hindu Notes from General Studies-02

Germany initiates move at EU to list Masood Azhar as global terrorist

News

• Germany has initiated a move at the European Union (EU) to designate Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) chief Masood Azhar as a global terrorist, days after China blocked a bid at the United Nations to designate him so.

Beyond News

• Germany was in touch with several EU member-nations in this regard.
• All the 28 member-countries of the EU will have to support the move as the bloc decides on such issues under the principle of consensus.
• France imposed financial sanctions on Azhar and stated that it would work with its European partners to put the JeM chief’s name on the EU list of persons and entities involved in terror acts.
• Paris’s decision came two days after China put a hold on a fresh move to designate Azhara global terrorist by the Sanctions Committee of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC).
• The proposal to designate Azhar under the 1267 al-Qaeda Sanctions Committee of the UNSC was moved by France, the United Kingdom and the United States following the Pulwama terror attack in which 40 CRPF personnel were killed. JeM had claimed responsibility for the attack.
• Fourteen out of the 15 members of the UNSC supported the proposal, but China alone did not go with the move.

H-1B changes due to kick in from April 1

News

• The S. administration will start accepting H-1B FY 2020 applications on April 1, 2020, United States Citizenship and Information Services (USCIS) announced via a statement.
• H-1B visas are a way for highly skilled migrants to work in the United States and they provide a path to a green card.

Beyond News

• The announcement also confirmed several other changes to the programme — a new data hub, a change in how the lottery is conducted for the general category and advanced degree holders and changes to the mechanism of premium processing.
• USCIS is launching a new tool the H1-B Employer Data Hub which will allow the public to search for H-1B petitioners by company name, fiscal year, an industry code, city, state or zip code. This will provide greater transparency to the programme by providing information on H-1B approval and denial rates and which companies are using the visa.
• The FY 2020 process will also reverse the order in which general and advanced degree applicants are selected. The final rule regarding this reversal of the selection process was announced where H-1B petitions will first be selected for all applicants and then, for advanced degree applicants alone, giving advanced degree holders two shots at the selection lottery.
• This increases the mathematical probability that a petitions are approved for advanced degree holders the USCIS had estimated that there would be a 16% ( 5,340 workers) increase in selection of those with a U.S. masters or higher degree, under the new process.
• Over 70% of H-1B visas went to Indians in fiscal year 2018 but it is unclear whether the overall impact on Indians will be positive or negative because of the aforementioned changes.
• As Indians take the vast majority of H1 visas every year, on the one hand this will help many Indian students as they [those with advanced degrees] will receive priority.
• But on the other hand, there is a steep drop in Indian students’ enrollment in the US universities in recent years given the Green Card backlogs which run to many years and even decades.

Hindu Notes from General Studies-03

Solar power used to create hydrogen fuel from seawater

News

• Scientists have devised a way to generate hydrogen fuel from seawater using solar power, an advance that may help pave the way for a novel sustainable source of energy.

Findings

• The findings demonstrate a new way of separating hydrogen and oxygen gas from salt water.
• The technology could also be used for purposes beyond generating energy. Since the process also produces breathable oxygen, divers or submarines could bring devices into the ocean and generate oxygen down below without having to surface for air.
• Existing water-splitting methods rely on highly purified water, which is a precious resource and costly to produce.
• Hydrogen is an appealing option for fuel because it does not emit carbon dioxide. Burning hydrogen produces only water and should ease worsening climate change problems.
• Researchers showed proof-of-concept with a demo, but the researchers will leave it up to manufacturers to scale and mass produce the design.

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