Hindu Notes from General Studies-01

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Network of lakes discovered beneath Antarctica

News

• Scientists have discovered a network of lakes beneath the largest glacier in East Antarctica, a finding that may be critical in predicting how the melting of polar ice will change the world’s oceans in the future.
• Researchers carried out seismic studies to trace bedrock or water under the ice.
• The flow of water in and out of these lakes has the potential to exert a powerful control on the rate that the ice flows into the oceans.

Hindu Notes from General Studies-02

Centre notifies new rules for drugs, clinical trials

News

• The Union Health Ministry has notified the Drugs and Clinical Trials Rules, 2019 with the government stating that the move is aimed at promoting clinical research in the country.
• The rules will apply to all new drugs, investigational new drugs for human use, clinical trials, bio-equivalence studies and ethics committees.

Beyond News

• The highlights of the notification includes reduction in time for approving applications, which has now come down to 30 days for drugs manufactured in India and 90 days for those developed outside the country.
• Also, in case of no communication from Drugs Controller General of India, the application will be deemed to have been approved.
• As per the new rule the requirement of a local clinical trial may be waived for approval of a new drug if it is approved and marketed in any of the countries (EU, UK, Australia, Japan and US) specified by the Drugs Controller General with the approval of the government.
• The new rules will ensure patient safety and an ethics committee will monitor the trials and decide on the amount of compensation in cases of adverse events.

Hindu Notes from General Studies-03

Narendra Modi announces success of Mission Shakti, India’s anti-satellite missile capability

News

• Prime Minister announced that India had demonstrated anti-satellite missile capability by shooting down a live satellite, describing it as a rare achievement that puts the country in an exclusive club of space super powers.

Beyond News

• Prime Minister said the action was not directed against any country and the satellite was a pre-determined target orbiting at an altitude of 300 km.
• The prime minister did not say who owned the satellite but added that India does not breach any international laws or treaties.
• Mission Shakti, which was led by the Defence Research and Development Organisation, was aimed at strengthening India’s overall security.
• India is only the fourth country to acquire such a specialised and modern capability after the US, Russia and China.

RBI receives aggressive bids, infuses ₹34,500 cr. liquidity

News

• The first dollar-rupee buy/sell swap auction by Reserve Bank of India (RBI), which was aimed at infusing primary liquidity, saw aggressive bidding by banks, data released by the central bank showed.

Beyond News

• The RBI received $16.31 billion in bids for the auction for a notified amount of $5 billion. In turn, RBI infused ₹34,561 crore rupee liquidity.
• Market participants said the auction was successful as RBI got bids three times more than what it had intended to purchase, adding that both domestic and foreign banks participated in the auction.
• There is expectation that RBI would conduct more such auctions as there is an appetite in the market, and reduce dependence on open market purchases of bonds.
• RBI has infused a significant amount of liquidity in the current fiscal through open market operations (OMOs).

India’s carbon dioxide emissions up 5%

News

• India emitted 2,299 million tonnes of carbon dioxide in 2018, a 4.8% rise from last year, according to a report by the International Energy Agency (IEA).
• India’s emissions growth this year was higher than that of the United States and China the two biggest emitters in the world and this was primarily due to a rise in coal consumption. China, the United States, and India together accounted for nearly 70% of the rise in energy demand.

Beyond News

• India’s per capita emissions were about 40% of the global average and contributed 7% to the global carbon dioxide burden. The United States, the largest emitter, was responsible for 14%.
• As per its commitments to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, India has promised to reduce the emissions intensity of its economy by 2030, compared to 2005 levels.
• It has also committed to having 40% of its energy from renewable sources by 2030 and, as part of this, install 100 GW of solar power by 2022.
• However the IEA report showed that India’s energy intensity improvement declined 3% from last year even as its renewable energy installations increased 10.6% from last year.
• Global energy consumption in 2018 increased at nearly twice the average rate of growth since 2010, driven by a robust global economy and higher heating and cooling needs in some parts of the world.
• Demand for all fuels increased, led by natural gas, even as solar and wind posted double digit growth. Higher electricity demand was responsible for over half of the growth in energy needs.
• Energy efficiency saw lacklustre improvement. As a result of higher energy consumption, carbon dioxide emissions rose 1.7% last year and hit a new record, the authors of the report said in a press statement.
• India says it will cost at least $2.5trillion (₹150 trillion approx.) to implement its climate pledge, around 71% of the combined required spending for all developing country pledges.

Many sharks closer to extinction: IUCN

News

• Human appetites are pushing makos and other iconic sharks to the brink of extinction, scientists warned in a new assessment of the apex predator’s conservation status.

Beyond News

• Seventeen of 58 species evaluated were classified as facing extinction, the Shark Specialist Group of the International Union for the Conservation (IUCN) said last week in an update of the Red List of threatened animals and plants.
• That category includes the shortfin mako, whose cruising speed of 40 km/h punctuated by bursts of more than 70 km/h makes it the fastest of all sharks.
• Along with its longfin cousin, the two makos are highly prized for their flesh and fins, considered a delicacy in Chinese and other Asian culinary traditions.
• In May, nations will vote on a proposal by Mexico to list the shortfin mako on Appendix II of CITES, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species.
• An Appendix II status would not ban fishing or trade, but would regulate it.
• Six of the species reviewed were listed as “critically endangered,” three for the first time: the whitefin swellshark, the Argentine angel shark, and the smoothback angel shark.
• Eleven others were classified as either “endangered” or “vulnerable” to extinction.
• The IUCN’s shark group is conducting a two-year review of more than 400 species of sharks.
• For land animals, conservation biologists focus on population size and geographic range in assessing extinction threat.
• For sharks and other marine animals they use another approach, looking instead at how quickly populations decline.

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