Hindu Notes from General Studies-01
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Women rights activists release list of demands
News
- Women rights activists released a manifesto and appealed to political parties to endorse it as well as ensure that at least 33% of party tickets are given to women during the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.
Beyond News
- Their 44-point list of demands include free sanitary napkins, free treatment for survivors of sexual assault and acid attack, criminalisation of marital rape, land deed in the joint names of wife and husband.
- The activists also urged the Election Commission to bring electoral reforms to encourage participation of women in politics.
- They have made at least four representations to the EC in the past five years. They also criticised the Central government for failing to introduce the Women’s Reservation Bill despite enjoying a majority in the Lok Sabha. The Bill was passed in Rajya Sabha in 2010 and needs to be passed in Lok Sabha before it can become a law.
Alien species drive global extinctions
News
- Alien species those not native to a specific location are the main driver of recent extinctions in both animals and plants worldwide, according to a study.
Findings
- Researchers found that since 1500 AD, alien species have been solely responsible for 126 extinctions, 13 per cent of the total number studied.
- The study used data from the 2017 International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List on the total numbers of species that are considered to have gone extinct globally since 1500 AD.
- In total, 261 out of 782 animal species (33.4 per cent) and 39 out of 153 plant species (25.5 per cent) listed aliens as one of their extinction drivers.
- Study provides a new line of evidence showing that the biogeographical origin of a species matters for its impacts.
- The invasion of an alien species is often enough to cause native species to go extinct, whereas we found no evidence for native species being the sole driver of extinction of other natives in any case.
Hindu Notes from General Studies-02
Cabinet okays ECHS facilities for veterans
News
- The Cabinet approved the grant of Ex-Servicemen Contributory Health Scheme (ECHS) facilities to World War-II veterans, Emergency Commissioned Officers, Short Service Commissioned Officers and premature retirees.
Beyond News
- This would benefit over 43,000 individuals who were so far not covered under the ECHS.
- The facility allows them to get cashless medical treatment through a network of over 425 ECHS polyclinics, 2,500 empanelled private hospitals and all government hospitalsthroughout the country, subject to certain conditions.
- Also, as a special dispensation, war-widows will be exempt from one-time contribution to join the ECHS.
- The facility provides quality medicare to 54 lakh ex-servicemen pensioners, their dependants and a few other categories.
U.K. offers all assistance to fight terror
News
- A week after the Indian Air Force targeted a Jaish-e-Mohammad training camp at Balakot in Pakistan, the K. has offered India “all assistance” in counter-terrorism and intelligence sharing
- . The offer was made during a telephone call between National Security Adviser Ajit Doval and his British counterpart, Mark Sedwill, their second conversation in the past week.
Beyond News
- The call by the British NSA follows a series of outreach by the Theresa May government over the tensions between India and Pakistan after the Pulwama attack.
- After the strikes, which led to an aerial attack by Pakistan in which both sides shot each other’s planes and an Indian pilot was captured (and released), British diplomats have been working “behind the scenes”, to ease the situation and focus on action against terror groups in Pakistan.
- On March 3, Ms. May spoke to Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan, commending him for releasing Wing Commander Abhinandan, and stressing the need for Pakistan to act against terror groups. The U.K. has joined France and the U.S. in proposing the listing request at the UN Security Council to designate JeM chief Masood Azhar as a terrorist. During a visit to Delhi and Mumbai on March 4, Mark Field, British Minister of State for Asia and the Pacific, was optimistic that the listing would go through despite being vetoed by China on the previous three occasions.
- The U.K.’s diplomacy is in line with a string of calls by other leaders and senior officials to New Delhi and Islamabad in the past week, including from the U.S., Russia, China, Saudi Arabia and the UAE, all aimed at easing tensions between the two countries.
- S. President Donald Trump said publicly last week that his government was negotiating between the two countries, though government sources denied that any leaders had offered to mediate.
Hindu Notes from General Studies-03
App managers, cybersecurity agencies grapple with data leak
News
- Indian cyber security agencies are tracking a massive leak of data from at least 16 online platforms websites as well as apps several of which are widely used by Indians.
- The national Computer Emergency Response Team, in collaboration with global cyber intelligence agencies, is trying to gauge the extent of the damage.
Beyond News
- The leak was first flagged by news websites that track cybersecurity and cybercrime, after they noticed that accounts of users of several online platforms were on sale on the dark web.
- Further investigation reportedly revealed that details of over 600 million accounts stolen from 16 portals were on sale, with payment being accepted in bitcoins.
- The database affected primarily stores all website users’ public profiles, login data, birthdays of admin accounts, and information about our password protection processes at the time.
- A lot of users connect to such portals using their email IDs and even the passwords that they use are recycled from old ones, making it easier for miscreants to compromise their accounts or devices.
- Other portals reportedly affected include MyFitnessPal, MyHeritage, ShareThis, HauteLook, Animoto, EyeEm, 8fit, Whitepages, Fotolog, 500px, BookMate, Artsy and DataCamp.
- Cyber security agencies have urged users to immediately update their passwords not only on the compromised portals but on every portal they use to prevent a further breach of information.
‘Iranian hackers stole data of about 200 companies’
News
- Iranian hackers working to penetrate systems, businesses and governments around the world have caused hundreds of millions of dollars in damages, a report said.
Beyond News
- Researchers for tech giant Microsoft said the attackers stole secrets and wiped data from computer networks after targeting thousands of people at some 200 companies over the past two years.
- Microsoft traced the attacks to Holmium, a group linked to Iran, and that some of the hacking was done for Holmium by another Iranian group known as APT33.
- The report said the hackers notably targeted oil-and-gas companies, heavy-machinery manufacturers and international conglomerates in Saudi Arabia, Germany, Britain, India and the United States.
- In 2017, the security firm FireEye blamed APT33 for destructive malware that targeted organisations in West Asia and elsewhere.
- The news comes with Iran, according to security experts, seeking to step up its cybercapabilities amid increasing efforts by the United States to isolate the Islamic regime.
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