Hindu Notes from General Studies-01

Editorials are covered separately. HINDU NOTES are available free date wise| CLICK HERE

Alarming portents from global warming report

News

• Coastal nations and agricultural economies like India would be the worst affected.
• Decline in crop yields, unprecedented climate extremes and increased susceptibility could push poverty by several million by 2050, said the ‘Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5°C,’ commissioned by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) that saw as many as 91 authors and review-editors from 40 countries, convene in Incheon, South Korea and, over the last week, assess the scientific evidence, feasibility and benefits from countries striving to keep the average global temperature from rising above 1.5 C from pre-industrial times.

Beyond News

• Even at a little over 1.0°C warming, India is being battered by the worst climate extremes – it is clear that the situation at 1.5°C is going to worsen.
• The new report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has served us a final warning that we must get our act together now and quickly.
• Officials from the Union Environment Ministry, the Union Ministry of Earth Sciences and the Indian Institute of Human Settlements and the Tata Institute of Social Sciences were part of the Indian delegation at Incheon.
• One of them, who didn’t want to be identified, told that the report gave a more comprehensive assessment of the differences in a 1.5C world and 2C world and quantified the carbon dioxide that would need to be removed from the atmosphere to achieve this.
• India hadn’t made any scientific contribution in terms of modelling possible climate change-impact to its agriculture, monsoon, urban dwellings to this report but gave critical inputs to the scientific basis underlying these assessments.
• The next major climate discussions are scheduled in December in Katowice, Poland where countries are expected to discuss rules to implement the Paris agreement.

Hindu Notes from General Studies-03

BrahMos Aerospace engineer held for leaking info to Pakistan

News

• An engineer with theBrahMos Aerospace unit was arrested for allegedly leaking “technical information” to Pakistan, an official said.

Beyond News

• An engineer was nabbed in a joint operation by the Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squads (ATS) at BrahMos’ Wardha Road facility.
• BrahMos Aerospace was formed as a joint venture between India’s Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and the ‘Military Industrial Consortium’ ‘NPO Mashinostroyenia’ of Russia.
• The company was established in India through an inter-governmental agreement signed on February 12, 1998, between India and Russia.
• The name BrahMos represents the fury of the Brahmaputra and the grace of the Moskva rivers.

India to be the 11th wealthiest, says BCG

News

• India’s personal financial wealth, currently estimated to be about $3 trillion, is expected to grow to $5 trillion by 2022 making India the 11th wealthiest nation, according to a report from the Boston Consultancy Group (BCG).

Findings

• According to the report, India is currently the fifth largest Asian market in terms of number of affluent, high net worth and ultra high net worth individuals. The total number of such individuals was pegged at 4.13 lakh in 2017.
• While wealth in excess of $100 million was categorised as ultra high net worth, that in the range of $1 million and $100 million was put in the category of high net worth. Affluent referred to an individual with wealth between $2,50,000 and $1 million. Interestingly, almost 70% of India’s personal financial wealth was in liquid assets such as equities, currencies and bonds.
• According to BCG, it was the highest annual growth rate in the past five years and was largely driven by bull market environment in all major economies and significant strengthening of most major currencies against the dollar. Incidentally, the bull market led to the wealth in equities and investment funds showing the strongest growth.
• Further, in terms of asset classes, almost 60% or $121.6 trillion of the global wealth was in the form of investible assets such as equities, investment funds, currency, deposits and bonds with the remaining 40% or $80.3 trillion in low-liquidity assets such as life insurance, pension funds and equity in unlisted companies.
• The overall growth of global personal wealth continued its momentum in 2017. Residents of North America held over 40% of global personal wealth, followed by residents of western Europe with 22%. The strongest region of growth was Asia, which posted a 19% increase.

NASA probe to fly by most distant object ever visited by a spacecraft

News

• NASA’s New Horizons probe is on course to fly by the Kuiper Belt object nicknamed Ultima Thule, which is at a distance of 6.6 billion kilometers from Earth this New Year.
• This event will set the record for the most distant object ever visited by a spacecraft, scientists say.

Beyond News

• The spacecraft has successfully performed the three and half-minute manoeuvre on October 3 to home in on its location, NASA said in a statement.
• New Horizons itself was about 6.35 billion kilometres from home when it carried out trajectory correction maneuver (TCM), the farthest course-correction ever performed.
• This was the first Ultima targeting maneuver that used pictures taken by New Horizons itself to determine the spacecraft’s position relative to the Kuiper Belt object.
• The spacecraft is just 112 million kilometres from Ultima, closing in at 51,911 km/h. The team will eventually have to guide the spacecraft into an approximately 120 by 320-kilometre “box” and predict the flyby to within 140 seconds.

FATF team in Pakistan to examine steps taken against terror financing

News

• A team of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) is set to hold meetings with top Pakistani officials to discuss the measures taken by Pakistan so far to counter money laundering and terror financing.

Beyond News

• The nine-member delegation, comprising members of FATF’s Asia Pacific Group (APG), arrived on a 12-day visit to see the implementation of the action plan Pakistan had issued earlier this year.
• The team includes experts from British Scotland Yard, U.S. Department of Treasury, Financial Intelligence Unit of Maldives, Indonesian Ministry of Finance, Peoples’ Bank of China and Justice Department of Turkey.
• Pakistan was formally added to the ‘grey list’ of countries involved in providing monetary assistance to terrorism and related causes after a FATF meeting in Paris in June.
• The FATF is an inter-governmental body established in 1989 to combat money laundering, terrorist financing and other related threats to the integrity of the international financial system.
• Sources in the finance ministry said that “Pakistan has done its homework” and the delegation will be briefed about the measures to curb terror financing through money laundering and illegal remittances.
• The team will carry out on-site inspections in order to see the systems and mechanisms put in place while its three members will stay for longer period to review progress on the 10-point action plan agreed with Pakistan.
• Pakistan and FATF negotiated a 10-point action plan to be implemented by September 2019 to get out of the grey list.
• Already, a team of FATF visited in August to identify deficiencies in Pakistan’s anti-money laundering/counter-terror financing laws and mechanisms.
• They are also likely to meet officials of State Bank of Pakistan, Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan, National Counter-Terrorism Authority, Federal Investigation Agency, Federal Board of Revenue, National Accountability Bureau, Anti-Narcotics Force, Financial Monitoring Unit, Central Directorate of National Savings and provincial counter-terrorism departments.

Upgraded MiG-29 adds to air power

News

• The Indian Air Force’s beast MiG-29  has gained in strength and ferocity after an upgrade, giving the force, battling a shortage of fighter aircraft, a much-needed boost, according to officials.

Beyond News

• The Russian-origin aircraft, now capable of effecting mid-air refuelling, is compatible with latest missiles and can launch multi-dimensional attacks.
• Even in the previous ‘legacy version’, the aircraft played an important role as the IAF stamped its supremacy over the Pakistani force during the Kargil War of 1999.
• Last week, the upgraded MiG-29 showcased its combat capabilities at Admapur. The country will celebrate the Air Force Day on October 8.
• The strategically important Adampur Air Force Station, which is around 100 km from Pakistan and 250 km away from China borders, is now equipped with upgraded MiG-29.
• The IAF has three squadrons of MiG-29 fighter jets in operation, two of them at the Adampur Air Force Station. One squadron comprises 16-18 aircraft.

CLICK HERE TO SEE DATE WISE CURRENT AFFAIRS