Hindu Notes from General Studies-02

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Sri Lanka, Japan, India sign deal to develop East Container Terminal at Colombo Port

News

• Sri Lanka, Japan and India signed an agreement to jointly develop the East Container Terminal at the Colombo Port.

Beyond News

• The signing of the Memorandum of Cooperation (MoC) is significant, given that India and Sri Lanka were negotiating a potential partnership on the project, although with little success.
• New Delhi’s interest in partnering the project is well known. Over 70% of the transhipment business at the strategically located East Container Terminal is linked to India, according to official sources.
• However, India’s possible role in developing the terminal had become a major flashpoint within the government. President Maithripala Sirisena had opposed any Indian involvement in the project, as roping in foreign actors for developing “national assets” remains a politically sensitive call in the island.
• Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe had a heated argument on the matterduring a cabinet meeting last year, with the Sri Lankan PM apparently more inclined towards allowing an Indian role in the project.
• Negotiations seemed to have hit a roadblock until Japan stepped in more recently. The new dynamic altered the prospects for India, allowing it to play a part in upgrading the terminal.
• Japan has been a long-standing partner of Sri Lanka, and one of Sri Lanka’s biggest donors in the past decades. The terms of the agreement will soon be finalised at a joint working group meeting.

Cauvery Authority directs Karnataka to release 9.19 tmcft water to Tamil Nadu for June

News

• The Cauvery Water Management Authority (CWMA) ordered Karnataka to release 9.19 tmcft of water for the month of June from the Biligundlu reservoir to the Mettur Dam in Tamil Nadu.

Beyond News

• The monsoon is forecast to make landfall in Kerala on June 6 and the Central Water Commission’s records show that key reservoirs in southern India are at levels below their five-year average.
• The total live storage is 6.38 bcm (billion cubic metre) which is 12% of total live storage capacity.
• The storage during corresponding period of last year was also 12% and the average storage of the last 10 years during corresponding period was 15% of live storage capacity of these reservoirs.
• The quantum of water to be released is in line with the Supreme Court’s order on February 16 last year. While conferring authority to the CWMA to decide on releasing Cauvery water, the Supreme Court said Karnataka’s share of the water was 284 tmcft, Tamil Nadu’s 404 tmcft, Kerala 30 tmcft and Puducherry 7 tmcft.
• Besides this, the court reserved 10 tmcft for environmental purposes and four tmc ft for natural flow into the sea.

WHO recognises ‘burn-out’ as medical condition

News

• The World Health Organization has for the first time recognised “burn-out” in its International Classification of Diseases (ICD) which is widely used as a benchmark for diagnosis and health insurers.

Beyond News

• The decision, reached during the World Health Assembly in Geneva, could help put to rest decades of debate among experts over how to define burn-out, and whether it should be considered a medical condition.
• In the latest update of its catalogue of diseases and injuries around the world, WHO defines burn-out as “a syndrome conceptualised as resulting from chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed”.
• It said the syndrome was characterised by three dimensions; 1: feelings of energy depletion or exhaustion; 2: increased mental distance from one’s job, or feelings of negativism or cynicism related to one’s job; and 3: reduced professional efficacy”.
• Burn-out refers specifically to phenomena in the occupational context and should not be applied to describe experiences in other areas of life.
• The updated ICD list, dubbed ICD-11, was drafted last year following recommendations from health experts around the world, and was approved.
• The ICD-11, which is to take effect in January 2022, contains several other additions, including classification of “compulsive sexual behaviour” as a mental disorder, although it stops short of lumping the condition together with addictive behaviours.
• It does, however, for the first time recognise video gaming as an addiction, listing it alongside gambling and drugs like cocaine.
• The updated list removes transgenderism from its list of mental disorders meanwhile, listing it instead under the chapter on “conditions related to sexual health”.

Election Commission teams to appraise poll operations

News

• The Election Commission (EC) constituted eight working groups to thoroughly appraise specific areas, based on its experience during the conduct of the Lok Sabha polls.
• Among the issues to be examined are timely action in cases of Model Code of Conduct (MCC) violations and the legal aspects of enforcement of the code.

Beyond News

• The groups, which have to submit their recommendations to the EC, would be headed by senior Deputy Election Commissioners, Deputy Election Commissioners and Director-Generals.
• There would also be a coordination committee headed by a Senior Deputy Election Commissioner and comprising all the senior officials till the rank of Director-General, besides eight nodal Chief Electoral Officers (CEOs).
• The EC is set to hold a meeting with CEOs of all the States and Union Territories in this regard.
• One of the working groups on “electoral roll and polling stations” would study the health and fidelity of electoral rolls to make them error free.
• It would also look into issues pertaining to uniqueness and portability of Electoral Photo ID Card. Standardisation of addresses and rationalisation of polling stations would also be examined, apart from legal changes needed for improving electoral registrations.
• Another group on “election planning and management” would review matters related to simultaneous elections, scheduling of polls, deployment of armed forces, mapping of vulnerable pockets and law and order concerns.
• The issues pertaining to Electronic Voting Machines (EVM) and Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) would be looked into by another team, in terms of inventory management and counting of paper slips.
• A group on “Model Code of Conduct, Manifestos, Observers and Political Parties” would explore various ways for standardisation of protocol for timely and effective action in MCC matters and their database management. It would also review its various provisions, including those involving manifestos.
• “Election expenditure monitoring” and related areas like fixing accountability of political parties and contribution reports involving star campaigners would be appraised by another group.
• Another group would suggest steps for encouraging higher voter turnout and awareness, besides dealing with the issues involving social media and paid news.

Hindu Notes from General Studies-03

2 elusive giant exoplanets discovered

News

• Scientists have discovered two Jupiter-sized exoplanets about 150 light years away from the earth.

Beyond News

• Scientists believe planets like Jupiter have profoundly impacted the progression of life on earth.
• Understanding how many other stars have planets like Jupiter could be very important for learning about the habitability of planets in those systems.
• Along with liquid water oceans, astronomers believe such planets have the ability to act as ‘slingshots,’ pulling objects like meteors, comets, and asteroids out of their trajectories en route to impact with small, rocky planets.

Indo-Pak meet on Kar tarpur corridor

News

• Officials from Pakistan and India held a meeting to discuss the modalities for a corridor linking Dera Baba Nanak shrine in Punjab’s Gurdaspur district to Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Kartarpur across the border.

Beyond News

• The meeting lasted for about two hours and a host of issues pertaining to the building of the corridor were discussed.
• The meeting took place at the Kartarpur Zero Point.
• The group from the Indian side had officials from the Ministry of External Affairs, Ministry of Home Affairs, Land Ports Authority of India, National Highways Authority of India, among others, the official said.
• Earlier in April, technical experts and foreign office officials from both the sides had participated in the talks held at the same venue.

SEBI tightens disclosure norms for listed debt securities

News

• To further safeguard the interest of investors in listed debt securities, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has tightened the disclosure norms for entities that have issued such securities.

Beyond News

• In a circular issued, the capital market watchdog made it mandatory for such companies to disclose on their websites the schedule of interest and redemption obligations for the complete financial year.
• Further, the status of payments has to be updated within one day of the due date, which effectively means that any default or delay will be disclosed within a day of the due date.
• According to the SEBI, the enhanced disclosure norms have been issued to further secure the interests of investors in listed debt securities, enhance transparency and to enable Debenture Trustees (DTs) to perform their duties effectively and promptly.
• DTs shall display on their website, details of interest/ redemption due to the debenture holders in respect of all issues during a financial year within 5 working days of start of financial year, the debenture trustees will also have to update such details for any new issues handled during the financial year within five days of closure of the issue.
• DTs shall also update the status of payment,against such issuers not later than 1 day from the due date. In case the payment is made with a delay by the issuer, DTs shall update the calendar specifying the date of such payment, with a remark ‘delayed payment, said the circular.
• For privately-placed debt securities, SEBI has made it mandatory for the inclusion of a clause stating that at least 2% per annum interest would be paid over the coupon rate in case of a default in meeting the payment obligations. The additional interest would be payable by the company for the tenure of the defaulting period.

Post Balakot, Indian Air Force zeroes in on key vulnerability

News

• Drawing lessons from the Balakot air strike, the Indian Air Force (IAF) has identified a shortage of Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) aircraft to provide round-the-clock surveillance as a major deficiency, IAF officials said.

Beyond News

• The air strike and the aerial engagement that followed in February were discussed in detail at the recent Air Force Commanders’ conference.
• The biggest lesson of February 27 was the need to have a core of high-end fighters for short skirmishes, a senior IAF official said.
• For that, the IAF is banking on the soon-to-be-inducted Rafale fighters, the tender currently under way for a new fighter aircraft and the indigenous Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) MK-2 that is being developed, even as upgrades to the existing platforms make up for the shortages in the interim. “We also need to get better propaganda weapons,” the official said, without elaborating.
• While aircraft induction is a long-term measure, in the short term, the IAF has identified AWACS, Software Defined Radios (SDR) and close-in weapons systems as immediate requirements. The process for their procurement is already in advanced stages.
• Pakistan currently has an advantage as they have more AWACS. They have seven AWACS and could keep one on our side at all times.
• In contrast, the IAF operates three Israeli Phalcon AWACS and two indigenous Netra Airborne Early Warning and Control (AEW&C) system developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO). Also, the platforms are not available all the time.
• The IAF was now set to take the third Netra system (mounted on Embraer aircraft) from the DRDO, the official said.
• The source said IAF is now taking the third Netra from DRDO for their use. Separately, a proposal for two more Phalcon AWACS has been in the works for a long time. There was progress on it recently and the proposal is now “pending final approval of the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS).”
• A deal for SDRs has been signed with Elbit Systems of Israel and the process for close-in weapons is at the technical evaluating stage.

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