IASTODAY DAILY CAPSULES -General Studies-01

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Explained: How warm was 2019, and why?

News

• 2019 was declared as the second warmest yearever by the European weather agency’s Copernicus climate change programme. Only 2016 has been measured to be warmer.

Warmest year 

• The India Meteorological Department (IMD) had said 2019 was the seventh warmest year on record for India.
• With Australia witnessing perhaps the worst spate of forest fires in its history, attributable to global warming, 2020 has started with a series of grim news on the climate change front.

Findings of the climate report on India

• The IMD, in its climate report for 2019, said India had warmed by 0.61°C in the last 100 years. The IMD maintains weather records since 1901. During last year, the annual mean surface air temperature averaged over the country was 0.36°C higher than the 1981-2010 average.
• For India too, 2016 has been the warmest ever, with temperatures 0.71°C above average. This is followed by 2009 (+0.541°C), 2017 (+0.539°C), 2010 (+0.54°C) and 2015 (+0.42°C).
• Annual temperatures have remained high despite the winters being one of the coldest in recent decades. The winter season extending from November 2018 to February 2019 was colder than average, globally.
• Meteorologists attributed it to be the effect of a phenomenon called the Arctic vortex. Generally, cold winds blow from west to east around the North Pole. But due to global warming, warming over the Poles happens at a faster rate than other regions on the globe. As a result, these cold westerly winds, which otherwise remain restricted to the North Pole, were disturbed and started blowing to southern latitudes of the northern hemisphere.
• During the last winter season, these winds even reached India in the form of cold blasts. All of north India recorded severe cold that triggered snow avalanche in higher reaches.
• According to Met officials, snow avalanches are common in the years when there is very severe snowfall leading to huge amounts of snow accumulation.
• Despite the cold winter, the annual average temperatures were way higher than normal, indicating the rest of the year was unusually warm.

India warmer in 2019

• Temperatures in India were in line with global trends in 2019. And though there could have been a variety of other local and regional reasons that contributed to the warming over India, scientists point out at least two that would have been responsible.
• One of these was an El Niño that prevailed for a particularly long time. The other factor was the timing of the monsoon.

EL NIÑO: El Nino, the abnormal warming of the equatorial Pacific Ocean, was a low-intensity one in 2019, but its prevalence till July could have contributed to the warming, scientists said.

Temperatures recorded during El Niño years and their subsequent years have usually been higher than normal. This has been noticed all along the El El Niño years during 1951-2019.

IASTODAY DAILY CAPSULES -General Studies-02

Explained: What are CRZ rules which the demolished Maradu flats violated?

Coastal Regulation Zone

• In India, the Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) Rules govern human and industrial activity close to the coastline, in order to protect the fragile ecosystems near the sea.
• They restrict certain kinds of activities like large constructions, setting up of new industries, storage or disposal of hazardous material, mining, reclamation and bunding within a certain distance from the coastline.
• After the passing of the Environment Protection Act in 1986, CRZ Rules were first framed in 1991. After these were found to be restrictive, the Centre notified new Rules in 2011, which also included exemptions for the construction of the Navi Mumbai airport and for projects of the Department of Atomic Energy.
• In 2018, fresh Rules were issued, which aimed to remove certain restrictions on building, streamlined the clearance process, and aimed to encourage tourism in coastal areas.
• In all Rules, the regulation zone has been defined as the area up to 500 m from the high-tide line. The restrictions depend on criteria such as the population of the area, the ecological sensitivity, the distance from the shore, and whether the area had been designated as a natural park or wildlife zone.
• The latest Rules have a no-development zone of 20 m for all islands close to the mainland coast, and for all backwater islands in the mainland.
• For the so-called CRZ-III (Rural) areas, two separate categories have been stipulated. In the densely populated rural areas (CRZ-IIIA) with a population density of 2,161 per sq km as per the 2011 Census, the no-development zone is 50 m from the high-tide level, as against the 200 m stipulated earlier.
• CRZ-IIIB category (rural areas with population density below 2,161 per sq km) areas continue to have a no-development zone extending up to 200 m from the high-tide line.
• While the CRZ Rules are made by the Union environment ministry, implementation is to be ensured by state governments through their Coastal Zone Management Authorities. In the current case, the Kerala Coastal Zone Management Authority (KCZMA) identified the CRZ violations.

Explained: What is the commissionerate system, recently implemented in Lucknow, Noida

News

• The Uttar Pradesh Cabinet approved the commissionerate system of policing for state capital Lucknow, and Noida.

Commissionerate system

• The system gives more responsibilities, including magisterial powers, to IPS officers of Inspector General of Police (IG) rank posted as commissioners. Depending on its success here, the policing system may gradually be implemented in other districts as well.
• Under the 7th Schedule of the Constitution, ‘Police’ is under the State list, meaning individual states typically legislate and exercise control over this subject.
• In the arrangement in force at the district level, a ‘dual system’ of control exists, in which the Superintendent of Police (SP) has to work with the District Magistrate (DM) for supervising police administration.
• At the metropolitan level, many states have replaced the dual system with the commissionerate system, as it is supposed to allow for faster decision-making to solve complex urban-centric issues.
• In the commissionerate system, the Commissioner of Police (CP) is the head of a unified police command structure, is responsible for the force in the city, and is accountable to the state government. The office also has magisterial powers, including those related to regulation, control, and licensing.
• The CP is drawn from the Deputy Inspector General rank or above, and is assisted by Special/Joint/Additional/Deputy Commissioners.
• Previously, only four cities had the system: Kolkata, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Chennai.
• However, with rapid urbanisation, states felt an increasing need to replicate the system in more places. The sixth National Police Commission report, which was released in 1983, recommended the introduction of a police commissionerate system in cities with a population of 5 lakh and above, as well as in places having special conditions.

In four years, Punjab rejected 61.1% ‘farm suicide’ cases as ineligible

News

• While Punjab government records show that just like the national trend farm suicides have come down in the state in the last four years, there is a glaring gap in the total number of farm suicides reported to the government and the cases finally accepted as bona fide by the state authorities.

Farm suicide

• Over a period of four years, Punjab has rejected 61.1 per cent ‘farm suicide’ cases reported in the state as ineligible.
• In every district, a district-level committee headed by senior officials investigates the reported farmer/farm labourers’ suicides based on a set of government rules.
• According to data sourced from Punjab Agriculture Department and Punjab Revenue Department, Punjab government received 2,528 cases of farmer suicides, including 1,630 farmer suicides and 898 sucides by farm labourers, in four years from 2015-16 to 2018-19.
• Out of these, only 783 cases (31 per cent of the total received) were accepted by the government under farmer/farm labourer suicide category due to farm debt, while 7.9 per cent (199 cases including 150 farmers and 49 of farm labourers) are pending for approval or rejection. Remaining 61.1 per cent were rejected as ineligible under the category.
• The year-wise data revealed that in 2015-16, total 674 cases of farmer and farm labourers’ suicides were received by Punjab government out of which 446 were rejected. In 2016-17, 288 were rejected out of 498 and in 2017-18, 504 cases were rejected out of 824. While in 2018-19, 532 cases were reported to the state government out of which 308 cases were rejected.
• The rejection rate in case of farm labourers was between 80 to 86 per cent, while in case of farmers, the rejection rate was between 20 per cent to 50 per cent. Out of the total accepted cases in four years, 687 were of farmers and just 96 were of farm labourers.
• In the current financial year, 2019-20, the cases received till mid-2019 were 100, including 87 of farmer suicide and 13 of suicide farm labourers. Out of this, 12 have been accepted, while 65 are pending and 23 have been rejected.
• In 2017-18, there was one farm suicide in every 33 hours or 22 suicides in a month in the state as total 262 suicides were accepted as licit. There was a sharp decreasing trend in 2018-19. While 111 cases are still pending from 2018-19, the year saw 113 cases of farmers’ and farm labourers’ suicide cases being held licit by authorities, which meant one suicide every 76 hours.
• Bhartiya Kisan Union (Ugrahan), which started keeping the record of farm suicides since 2016, says that there have been 1,650 farm suicides in Punjab till 2019. These include 1,000 farmer suicides and 650 farm labourer suicides since 2016. According to BKU, around 8 farmers and farm labourers are committing suicide every week in the state.

Day after Maradu demolitions, locals wrestle with dust pollution

News

• The controlled implosions of the four luxury residential complexes in the Maradu neighbourhood of Kochi over the weekend were marked by precision.
• Without causing any major collateral damage, authorities were able to knock down the highrises within the scheduled time-frame. But there has been one critical side-effect to the process: lots and lots of dust.

Dust pollution

• Locals residing close to the H20 Holy Faith apartment, which was demolished on Saturday morning, gate-crashed into the office of the local municipality chairperson demanding action to counter their woes of dust pollution.
• They complained that despite their persistent pleas, the officials had done little to prevent the spread of dust emanating from the debris.
• Following the implosion, the dust particles initially remained in the air for a few hours, gradually settling down over the roads, trees and homes of nearby residents.
• Several people complained of coughing, breathlessness, asthma attacks, and skin infections as a result of the all-pervading dust.

IASTODAY DAILY CAPSULES -General Studies-03

Retail inflation spikes to 7.35% in December, highest in over 5 years

News

• India’s retail inflation rate climbed to a 65-month high after it rose 7.35 per cent in the month of December 2019, the data released by the Ministry of Statistics & Programme Implementation (MoSPI) showed.

Retail inflation

• The inflation based on the Consumer Price Index (CPI) was 5.54 per cent in the month of November and 2.11 per cent in December 2018.
• The latest CPI data exceeded the Reserve Bank of India’s upper margin of 6 per cent. The government has mandated the central bank to keep inflation within the range of 4 per cent with a margin of 2 per cent on either side.
• The Consumer Food Price Index (CFPI) or the inflation in the food basket rose to 14.12 per cent in the month of December against 10.01 per cent in November. In December 2018, the CFPI saw a negative growth of (-)2.65 per cent, the MoSPI data showed.
• The inflation rose mainly due to a sharp rise in prices of vegetables that saw a 60.5 per cent on-year rise in December 2019. The pulses and products segment saw a rise of 15.44 per cent, while that of meat and fish rose 9.57 per cent and egg prices gained 8.79 per cent.

Improving Law Enforcement: ISRO’s NavIC to feature in mobiles, aid fight against crime

News

• A homegrown satellite navigation system developed by the Indian Space Research Organisation (or Isro) is set to find its way into mobile phone systems sold in India.
• This will facilitate the implementation of a key mandate from the Nirbhaya case verdict which required the installation of vehicle tracking systems and panic buttons in all commercial vehicles.

Satellite navigation system

• Isro’s satellite navigation system NavIC is set to become the backbone of a public vehicle tracking system in India since it offers flexibility to local law enforcement agencies to monitor vehicles unlike international systems like the GPS.
• In April 2019, the Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways made NavIC-based vehicle trackers mandatory for all commercial vehicles in the country in accordance with the Nirbhaya case verdict.
• Since the NavIC system became operational two years ago, Isro has helped the industry develop and certify receivers for the indigenous navigation system. There are now around 100 products from 35 agencies.
• The NavIC system has already been installed in over 2,000 trains in the country as part of a real-time information system for the Indian Railways on the movement of trains.
• The biggest presence for the indigenous NavIC system in everyday life in India is however expected to be through mobile phones with mobile phone makers, chip makers and network service providers making provisions for NavIC in their emerging systems.
• Isro and the chipmaker Qualcomm have developed and tested chipset platform across their portfolio which can support NavIC. The initiative will help accelerate the adoption of NavIC and enhance the geo-location capabilities of mobile, automotive and the Internet of Things (IoT) solutions in the region, according to Isro.

J&K admin to fell 21 lakh trees to ‘reclaim’ Wular Lake

News

• The Jammu and Kashmir administration has embarked on a project to cut over 20 lakh trees to “reclaim” the shrinking Wular Lake spread across north Kashmir’s Bandipore and Baramulla districts. With the cutting of 2 lakh trees already underway in the first phase, experts advise caution.

Reclaim’ Wular Lake

• • The Wular Conservation and Management Authority (WUCMA) has started cutting trees on the Ramsar wetland an area of international importance and once Asia’s largest freshwater lake.
  • The project was started on the basis of a 2007 report by Wetlands International South-Asia, an non-profit organisation that works to sustain and restore wetlands. Experts, however, call for a study on the ecological impact of cutting trees in such large numbers.
  • In its 2007 report, Wetlands International had suggested removing all trees from inside the lake boundary. Most trees to be cut, fall in Ningli forest range.
  • Ningli plantation, currently occupying 27.30 sq km, needs to be removed for enhancement of water holding capacity. The removal would help enhancement of water level by at least one meter, which is critical to restoration of biodiversity.

Bank credit growth hits 2-year low on weak demand in key sectors

News

• Festive season and the announcement on cut in corporate tax rates notwithstanding, the gross bank credit growth declined to a two-year low of 7.3 per cent in November 2019, driven by weak credit demand by the industrial and services sector.

Bank credit growth

• The weakness in economic activity this fiscal has, in fact, resulted in a contraction in credit outstanding for the industrial and services sector for the period between April and November 2019.
• Data released by the Reserve Bank of India shows that both these sectors have not witnessed any credit expansion in the last eight months.
• While the credit outstanding for the industry contracted 3.9 per cent from Rs 28.85 lakh crore in March 2019 to 27.72 lakh crore in November 2019, that for the services sector contracted by 2.2 per cent from Rs 24.15 lakh crore to Rs 23.62 lakh crore in the same period.
• Data shows that the bank credit outstanding for the eight months of FY20 expanded by just 1 per cent. Credit outstanding for the non-food sector too expanded by a meagre 0.5 per cent during the eight month period from Rs 86.33 lakh crore at the end of March 2019 to Rs 86.73 lakh crore in November 2019, primarily on account of weak industrial and services sector demand.
• While the year-on-year (y-o-y) credit growth for the non-food sector expanded by 7.2 per cent in November 2019, the two key sectors industry and services that account for nearly 60 per cent of the credit outstanding by banks saw their credit expand by 2.4 per cent (lowest in 14 months) and 4.8 per cent (28-month low), respectively.
• The personal loan segment, however, witnessed credit outstanding grow by 16.4 per cent y-o-y in November, and for the eight month period it expanded by 8.3 per cent from Rs 22.2 lakh crore in March 2019 to Rs 24.04 lakh crore in November 2019.
• The credit demand from the housing segment expanded 18.3 per cent y-o-y in November and for the eight month period, it expanded by 9.9 per cent.

This 17-year-old high school student discovered a planet for NASA

News

• NASA has announced that the data from the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) has evidence of a new planet and the person responsible for this new discovery is a 17-year-old NASA intern Wolf Cukier.

New planet

• The newly found planet is 1,300 light-years away from Earth and what makes this discovery even more amusing is the fact that it is the first-ever circumbinary planet captured by TESS. Scientists have named the planet as TOI 1338 b, where TOI stands for TESS Object of Interest.
• With its four cameras, TESS captures an image of a patch of sky every 30 minutes, enabling scientists to make graphs of changes in the brightness of stars. A decrease in the brightness of a single star indicates that a planet has crossed in front of it. The images captured by TESS are uploaded to Hunters TESS citizen science project and NASA invites volunteers to watch the online transmission for patterns in star brightness.
• The circumbinary planets are more difficult to detect than your planet that orbits only one star. Observations of binary systems are biased toward finding larger planets because the transits of smaller bodies don’t have as big an effect on the stars’ brightness.
• Circumbinary planets or the planets orbiting two stars are not rare but the TOI 1338 b is the first such planet discovered using TESS data. NASA’s Kepler and K2 missions previously discovered 12 circumbinary planets in 10 systems– all similar to TOI 1338 b.

The TOI 1338 system

• According to NASA, the newly discovered planet is about 6.9 times as large as Earth– between the sizes of Neptune and Saturn. Due to its positioning around the two stars it orbits, TOI 1338 b experiences regular solar eclipses and the space agency estimates that the orbit of the planet is stable for at least the next 10 million years.
• The planet orbits in almost exactly the same plane as the stars, so it experiences regular stellar eclipses. The two stars orbit each other every 15 days and the whole TOI 1338 system lies 1,300 light-years away in the constellation Pictor.
• As per the space agency, one of the stars in the TOI 1338 system is about 10 per cent more massive than our Sun, while the other is cooler, dimmer and only one-third the Sun’s mass.

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