IASTODAY DAILY CAPSULES -General Studies-01

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6% of the world’s languages are spoken in India

News

• The Pacific island nation of Papua New Guinea has the highest number of ‘living’ indigenous languages in the world (840), while India stands fourth with 453.

Beyond News: 2019 is the United Nations’ International Year of Indigenous Languages.

 Aim: To promote native tongues in five key areas, including creation of favourable conditions for knowledge-sharing and dissemination of good practices with regards to indigenous languages.

Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues

• In 2016, the UN’s Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues pointed out that “40% of the estimated 6,700 languages spoken around the world were in danger of disappearing”. Several languages are now “endangered” and in the case of languages like Tiniguan (Colombian origin), there is just a single native speaker left.
• Ethnologue, a directory of languages, lists 7,111 living languages worldwide(languages that are still being used and spoken by people).
• Chinese, Spanish, English, Hindi and Arabic are the most widely spoken languages worldwide when only first-languages are considered. These five languages account for what is spoken by over 40% of people worldwide.
• Comparable in number to Trans-New Guinea languages is the Indo-European family. This family, which has 445 languages including Spanish, English, German, Punjabi and Bengali, has the highest percentage of speakers -46.31%.
• Most Indian languages are derivatives of languages that are spoken in other parts of Asia.
• The Sino-Tibetan languages are spoken across Northeast India, China, Bhutan, Nepal and other South East Asian countries. One of the outliers to this trend is the Andamanese language family, which is confined to India alone.
• According to UNESCO’s ‘Atlas of the World’s Languages in Danger’, 228 languages have become extinct since 1950.
• About 10% of the languages are classified ‘vulnerable’, while another 10% are ‘critically endangered’.
• In India, five languages have become extinct since 1950, while 42 are critically endangered.

Source: Hindu

IASTODAY DAILY CAPSULES -General Studies-02

President declares abrogation of provisions of Article 370

News

• President Ram Nath Kovind declared the abrogation of the provisions of Article 370 of the Constitution, which gave special status to Jammu and Kashmir.
• The move came after both houses of Parliament passed a resolution in this regard.

Beyond news:

Northeastern states of India have expressed apprehension that having rendered Article 370 irrelevant, the government might unilaterally move to abrogate or modify Article 371.

More to know:  Article 371 of the Constitution
Article 371 of the Constitution includes “special provisions” for 11 states, including six states of the Northeast.
•Article 371: Maharashtra and Gujarat
•Article 371A : Nagaland
•Article 371B : Assam
•Article 371C : Manipur
•Article 371D : Telangana
•Article 371E : Andhra Pradesh
•Article 371F : Sikkim
•Article 371G : Mizoram
•Article 371H : Arunachal Pradesh
•Article 371 I : Goa
•Article 371J : Karnataka

Source: PIB india, Indian Express

India signs UNISA

News

• India signed a key UN convention on international settlement agreements, even as experts called for local laws to support the treaty’s implementation in business contracts.

United Nations Convention on International Settlement Agreements

• The UNISA was signed by India’s High Commissioner to Singapore , representing the Government of India.
• 46 countries signed the treaty named Singapore Convention on Mediation.

Source: The Hindu

Consumer Protection Bill

News

• The Rajya Sabha passed the Consumer Protection Bill, 2019 that provides for the establishment of authorities for the timely and effective administration and settlement of consumer disputes.

More to know:

Six consumer rights have been defined in the Bill, including the right to:
(i) be protected against marketing of goods and services which are hazardous to life and property; 
(ii) be informed of the quality, quantity, potency, purity, standard and price of goods or services;
(iii) be assured of access to a variety of goods or services at competitive prices; and 
(iv) seek redressal against unfair or restrictive trade practices.

Bill indirectly allows appointment of non-judicial members to the district/state and national commissions. Conflict of interest could arise when government nominees hear cases involving a government entity.

Source: PIB India

IASTODAY DAILY CAPSULES -General Studies-03

Currency manipulation:

News: US officially labels China a ‘currency manipulator

What is currency manipulation? Deliberate intervention by a country’s central bank to boost its exports and to decrease imports.

Eg: Exchange rates management -Market determined in USA,EU,India..etc and is Managed in china.

Rationale behind:

1. Repeated decrease in value of Yuan is major one.
2. Even IMF warned china for triggering “competitive currency devaluation” in asia.
3. Moreover, Yuan depletion is great in comparison with other 24 currencies in basket.

US criteria in determining currency manipulation:

If a US trade partner meets three assessment criteria, the US labels it a currency manipulator [unfair competitive advantage in international trade”]

1. The US Treasury has established thresholds for the three criteria. First, a significant bilateral trade surplus with the US is one that is at least $20 billion.
2. Second, a material current account surplus is one that is at least 3% of GDP.
3. Third, persistent, one-sided intervention reflected in repeated net purchases of foreign currency and total at least 2% of an economy’s GDP over a year

Nagarjunasagar Srisailam Tiger Reserve

News

• The annual economic flow benefits of the Nagarjunasagar Srisailam Tiger Reserve (NSTR) are worth a staggering ₹162.02 billion, says a report.
• The NSTR is one of the largest tiger reserves in the country and is spread over 3,800 sq.km.

Nagarjunasagar Srisailam Tiger Reserve

• The reserve is home to a rising population of tigers said a recent report of the NCTA. There are 48 adult tigers and many more cubs and sub-adults, according to its assessment.
• Apart from the flow benefits worth ₹106.02 billion, equivalent to ₹0.43 million per hectare, the stock benefits are worth ₹501.30 billion per year, other ecosystem services include provisioning of water ₹50.55 billion per year, carbon sequestration (₹20.50 billion per year), climate regulation (₹43.01 billion per year) and waste assimilation (₹3.25 billion per year).
• The annual tangible benefits and intangible benefits were found to be ₹0.76 billion and ₹662.54 billion respectively.
• In terms of human values and ecosystem assets framework, the annual worth of service categories were adequate resources (₹78.27 billion), protection from disease (₹0.24 billion), benign physical and chemical environment (₹78.27 billion), socio-cultural fulfilment (₹47.43 million) and ecosystem assets (₹533.45 billion).

Tourism zones

• Apart from being home to faunal species, tiger, panther, sloth bear, deer, the NSTR also offers a wholesome package of natural beauty, recreational activities, historical structures and religious hermitage adding to the value. It has three tourism zones.

Employment generation

• Besides, the reserve has employment generation capacity by providing jobs to locals as helpers at base camps, strike force personnel and anti-poaching squads.
• The reserve has about 1,514 tonnes of fish at an estimated value of ₹ 227.1 million per annum. The region also has timber worth ₹ 306.034 million and bamboo worth ₹ 4.32 million per year.

Further, the NSTR has a rich repository of genepool and biological information whose annual economic value of the service is ₹32.16 billion.

Source: The Hindu

Plan for coastal zone management

News

• The Environment Ministry has unveiled a draft plan that will dictate how prospective infrastructure projects situated along the coast ought to be assessed before they can apply for clearance.

Environmental and Social Management Framework

• The draft Environmental and Social Management Framework (ESMF) is part of a World Bank-funded project.
• The document lays out guidelines out for coastal States to adopt when they approve and regulate projects in coastal zones.
• The project seeks to assist the Government of India in enhancing coastal resource efficiency and resilience, by building collective capacity (including communities and decentralised governance) for adopting and implementing integrated coastal management approaches.
• Integrated coastal zone management (ICZM) has to be a continuous process rather than a “one-off” investment action.
• So far three coastal States, namely Gujarat, Odisha and West Bengal, have prepared Integrated Coastal Zone Management Plans with support from the World Bank.
• Such plans would be prepared for the selected coastal stretches in other States/UT.

Key activities

• The key activities proposed for coastal zone development that consist of investments by States include: mangrove afforestation/shelter beds, habitat conservation activities such as restoration of sea-grass meadows, eco-restoration of sacred groves, development of hatcheries, rearing/rescue centres for turtles and other marine animals, creation of infrastructure for tourism, restoration and recharge of water bodies, beach cleaning and development, and other small infrastructure facilities.
• Livelihood improvement projects include demonstration of climate resilient or salinity resistant agriculture, water harvesting and recharge/storage, creation of infrastructure and facilities to support eco-tourism, community-based small-scale mariculture, seaweed cultivation, aquaponics, and value addition to other livelihood activities.

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