Hindu Notes from General Studies-02

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Chabahar port ready, next stage for India

News

• Iranian President Hassan Rouhani will inaugurate the first phase of the Chabahar port development project , with senior Afghan and Indian Ministers travelling for the event.

Beyond News

• Iran’s parliament recently ratified the trilateral trade agreement signed by Prime Minister Narenda Modi, President Rouhani and Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani in May 2016.
• The inauguration of the port on will effectively pave the way for India to carry forward the next phase of construction and development of two berths for its use, particularly for trade with Afghanistan.
• India has already completed the Zaranj-Delaram highway in Afghanistan, which would facilitate the trade to Kabul and eventually beyond to Central Asia.

At present, India is using the port’s existing commercial route to transport more than 1.1 million tonnes of wheat to Afghanistan, of which the first consignment of 15,000 tonnes from the Kandla port came to Zaranj, via Chabahar, on November 11.

India loses billions to air pollution: UN

News

• India had the highest share of welfare costs (or a loss of income from labour), of about $220 billion (about Rs. 1.4 trillion), in South and South-East Asia — of a combined total of $380 billion from mortality due to air pollution, according to a report by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).

Beyond News

• The global mortality costs from outdoor air pollution are projected to rise to about $25 trillion by 2060 in the absence of more stringent measures.
• At regional and national scale, China’s welfare costs from mortality were the highest at nearly $1 trillion followed by the Organization for Economic Corporation and Development (OECD) countries with a combined total of $730 billion, the report added quoting a 2016 projection by the OECD.
• To curb pollution in various forms, the UNEP called for strong high-level political commitment and engagement of the local government, civil society and other stakeholders.

Solutions

• To achieve high level political commitment in key economic sectors, there is a need to go beyond the environmental ministries and include other relevant ministries such as finance, agriculture, industry, urban, transport, energy and health.
• There is also a need to engage the local government, civil society organizations, business leaders, industries, trade unions and citizens at large.
• Reporting on the progress that comes from acting on pollution – whether through voluntary measures or formal laws – is a crucial step in this transition.

Hindu Notes from General Studies-03

State takes up project to link farmers with consumers through corporates

News

• Karnataka has now embarked on an initiative to link farmers with consumers by involving corporate firms on public-private partnership basis.

Beyond News

• This was unveiled in Bengaluru to insulate farmers from the problem of volatile markets that have increased the risk of them not earning profits despite reaping bumper harvests.
• Under the project titled Public-Private Partnership for Integrated Agriculture Development (PPP-IAD), around 50 farmers’ groups will be launched this year.

Important Steps of the Project

• The project envisages the formation of farmer’s producers’ organizations (FPOs), which will be assisted in integrated farming by a few chosen corporates.
• These firms, along with the Agriculture Department, will not only provide all the technological and scientific interventions to farmers but will also ensure availability of quality seeds and other agricultural inputs.
• The agreement to buy produce at farm gates at a pre-determined price, irrespective of any fluctuation in market rates, is expected to reduce the risks for farmers. The project promoters are hoping that the farmers’ procurement price levels will increase by 20-25% through this initiative.

India ranks 7th in target of web applications attack: Akamai report

News

• India is the seventh in the list of the top 10 countries that are the target of web applications attack globally, according to an Akamai State of the Internet Q3 2017 Security Report.

Beyond News

• The United States of America tops the list, followed by Brazil. Asian neighbour China occupies the ninth position.
• The report also places India seventh in the list of the top source countries for web applications attacks.
• Data sourced from The World Bank showed that India has 10,350 secured servers, which, when put against a user base of 462 million internet users, is a clear indication of the need for better infrastructure to be able to support the data surge.
• Indian Computer Emergency Response Team has handled around 50,000 cyber security incidents from April to October this year.
• This “is a clear indication of the significant need for companies to scale up investments to ensure application and infrastructure security in the immediate future.”

Telecom regulator backs Net neutrality

News

• The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) came out in strong support of Net neutrality in a series of recommendations following a long process of consultations.

Beyond News

• TRAI said that, the licensing terms should be amplified to provide explicit restrictions on any sort of discrimination in Internet access based on the content being accessed, the protocols being used or the user equipment being deployed.
• In a clear message to service providers, one of the recommendations reads, the service providers should be restricted from entering into any arrangement, agreement or contract, by whatever name called, with any person, natural or legal, that has the effect of discriminatory treatment based on content, sender or receiver, protocols or user equipment.

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