IASTODAY DAILY CAPSULES -General Studies-01

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India records highest number of babies born globally on New Year’s Day: UNICEF

News

• India recorded the highest number of babies born worldwide on New Year’s Day with the world’s second most populous country registering an estimated 67,385 births out of the nearly 400,000 babies born globally on that day, the UN children’s agency said.

Highest number of babies born

• Nearly 400,000 babies were born around the world on New Year’s Day with India recording the highest number of these births worldwide at 67,385, the UN children’s agency said.
• Each January, UNICEF celebrates babies born on New Year’s Day, an auspicious day for child birth around the world. However, for millions of newborns around the world, the day of their birth is far less auspicious.
• In 2018, 2.5 million newborns died in just their first month of life; about a third of them on the first day of life. Among those children, most died from preventable causes such as premature birth, complications during delivery, and infections like sepsis. In addition, more than 2.5 million babies are born dead each year.
• UNICEF said over the past three decades, the world has seen remarkable progress in child survival, cutting the number of children worldwide who die before their fifth birthday by more than half. But there has been slower progress for newborns. Babies dying in the first month accounted for 47 per cent of all deaths among children under five in 2018, up from 40 per cent in 1990.
• UNICEF’s Every Child Alive campaign calls for immediate investment in health workers with the right training, who are equipped with the right medicines to ensure every mother and newborn is cared for by a safe pair of hands to prevent and treat complications during pregnancy, delivery and birth.

India is projected to surpass China as the world’s most populous country around 2027. According to UN estimates, India is expected to add nearly 273 million people between 2019 and 2050, while the population of Nigeria is projected to grow by 200 million. Together, these two countries could account for 23 per cent of the global population increase to 2050.

Northeast monsoon ends, country records 30 per cent surplus rain

News

• 2019 was a year of bountiful rain. The year’s Northeast monsoon ended on a high, with the season’s total rainfall recorded remaining 30 per cent surplus.

Surplus rain

• India Meteorological Department Department (IMD) recognizes October to December as the period for Northeast monsoon.
• During this period, where rainfall is experienced over southern states, mainly over Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh along with some parts of Telangana and Karnataka.
• As the Southwest monsoon adamantly lingered on from its withdrawal, there was a delay for the onset of the winter monsoon. Despite which, all sub-divisions in the southern peninsula received normal or above normal rainfall during the three months.
• Recording significantly large amounts of rain, it was an extremely wet season for Lakshdweep (172 per cent) and Karnataka (70 per cent) in particular while 27 per cent excess rainfall was recorded over Kerala and Mahe, till December end. IMD’s rainfall data for the season suggests that Tamil Nadu (1 per cent), Pudducherry (-17 per cent), Telangana and Andhra Pradesh (-8 per cent) received normal rainfall.
• The reservoir situation in all these too is appreciable, with 36 reservoirs here holding a collective stock amounting 40.37 Billion Cubic Metre (BCM), which was 76 per cent of the total capacity of all these dams, stated the Live Storage Status of Reservoirs issued by Central Water Commission dated December 26, 2019. Last year this time, the dams here stocked water equivalent to 46 per cent of the total capacity.

IASTODAY DAILY CAPSULES -General Studies-02

Nepal SC asks govt to furnish country’s historical map relating to Kalapani border issue

News

• Nepal’s Supreme Court has sought within 15 days the country’s original map exchanged with India during the signing of the Sugauli Treaty in 1816 after a petition seeking the apex court’s intervention to secure the Nepali territory.
• A single bench demanded the map from the Nepal government in response to the public interest litigation filed by a senior advocate who appealed to the Supreme Court to order the government to start political and diplomatic efforts to protect Nepali territories.

Nepali territory

• Nepal has raised objections after India released its new political map in November last year following the reorganisation of Jammu and Kashmir. Nepal claimed that Limpiyadhura, Lipulek, and Kalapani areas were shown under India’s territory even though they lie within the Nepalese territory.
• India has said the new map accurately depicts its sovereign territory and it has in no manner revised its boundary with Nepal.
• Nepalese territories including Darjeeling were handed to the British East India Company as concessions under the Sugauli treaty which was signed in 1816 on the conclusion of the Anglo-Nepalese War.
• Under the treaty, the Nepalese-controlled territory that was ceded included all areas that the king of Nepal had won in earlier wars such as the kingdom of Sikkim in the east and Kumaon and Garhwal in the west.
• The Supreme Court bench asked the government to furnish a written response along with a copy of the Sugauli Treaty-era map of Nepal within 15 days.
• The apex court has also asked the authorities to furnish other official maps either exchanged with various countries or with international organizations including the United Nations while applying for obtaining their membership.
• The government has also been directed to submit the original map exchanged while signing a Boundary Treaty with the Indian government in 1960, the map published by the East-India Company on February 1, 1827, and a separate map published by the British Government in 1847.

RBI launches app to help visually impaired identify notes

News

• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) launched the Mobile Aided Note Identifier (MANI), a mobile application for aiding visually impaired persons to identify the denomination of Indian banknotes.

Help visually impaired

• As per the RBI, Indian banknotes contain several features which enable the visually impaired (colour blind, partially sighted and blind people) to identify them, including intaglio printing and tactile mark, variable banknote size, large numerals, variable colour, monochromatic hues and patterns.
• As announced in the Statement on Developmental and Regulatory Policies of June 6, 2018, the bank has developed a mobile application, MANI, with features like capability of identifying the denominations of Mahatma Gandhi series and Mahatma Gandhi (new) series banknote by checking front or reverse side/part of the note including half-folded notes at various holding angles and broad range of light conditions, it said.

ComMin: Free trade agreement with Mauritius near finalisation

News

• India is close to finalising a proposed free trade agreement (FTA) with Mauritius, with several rounds of negotiations to improve market access between the two countries having been completed, the Ministry of Commerce and Industry said.

India-Mauritius Comprehensive Economic Cooperation and Partnership Agreement

• The proposed India-Mauritius Comprehensive Economic Cooperation and Partnership Agreement (CECPA) seeks to mutually benefit both countries in the areas of trade in goods and services.
• During these rounds, negotiations focussed on various aspects including trade in goods, trade in services, rules of origin, technical barriers to trade and sanitary and phyto-sanitary (SPS) measures, trade remedies and dispute settlement.
• Countries enter into FTAs to make it easier to exchange goods and services between them. This is usually done by reducing or eliminating trade barriers like tariffs and quotas that these countries would have imposed on these goods and services.
• India had a trade surplus of around $1.09 billion with Mauritius in 2018-19, which means that it had exported more goods to the island nation than it imported from it.
• Mauritius was the second top source of foreign direct investment (FDI) into India in 2018-19. India received $8 billion (about Rs 56,000 crore) foreign inflows from the country.
• India exports petroleum products, pharmaceuticals, cereals, cotton and electrical machinery, apparel and clothing accessories to Mauritius.
• The island nation’s exports to New Delhi include iron and steel, pearls, precious/semi-precious stones and optical, photographic and precision instruments.
• The government plans to promote India-Africa trade and economic relations through regular reviews of trade ties through institutional mechanisms like Joint Commission Meetings, Joint Trade Committees and Joint Working Groups, the Ministry’s release added.

IASTODAY DAILY CAPSULES -General Studies-03

Chandigarh: 0.30 hectares forest land diverted for non-forestry purpose in four years

News

• As much as 0.30 hectares of Chandigarh forest land was diverted for non-forestry purpose in the last four years in Chandigarh, said a detailed 2019 report of the Forest Survey of India (FSI).

Forest land

• The FSI report, states, the recorded Forest Area (RFA) in the Union Territory is 35 sq km of which 32 sq km is Reserved Forest and 3 sq km is Unclassed Forest. In Chandigarh, during the period January 1, 2015 to February 5, 2019, a total of 0.39 hectares of forest land was diverted for non-forestry purposes under the Forest Conservation Act, 1980.
• The FSI report further states that Chandigarh belongs to one Forest Type Group “Tropical Dry Deciduous Forest”, which is further divided into two Forest Types.
• The report concluded that the tree cover in Chandigarh increased by 15 sq km and forest cover increased by 0.47 sq km in 2019 from 2017.

Manipur bags Krishi Karman Award award for best-performing state in overall food-grain production

News

• Manipur Chief Minister received the Krishi Karman Award 2017-18 from Prime Minister during a ceremony held at the Government Pre-University College in Karnataka’s Tumakuru.

Krishi Karman Award

• Two farmers of Manipur also received the Krishi Karman Award for Progressive Farmers for highest production in rice and pulses during 2017-18, respectively.
• Manipur was selected for the prestigious award as the best-performing state in Overall Food-grain Production Category-III (production less than 1 million tonne) for the year 2017-18. The award carried a trophy, a citation and an amount of Rs. 5 crore.
• The state achieved the highest production of rice and pulses to the tune of 2570 kg/hectare and 960 kg/hectare against the national average of 2475 kg/hectare and 779 kg/hectare respectively, in the year 2017-18.
• The winners were selected by a committee headed by top officials of the government on the basis of their assessment of performance regarding production outcomes, implementation of crop production programmes, and innovative approaches adopted for effective service delivery.

India to launch GSAT-30 communication satellite

News

• The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is ready to launch its GSAT-30, a heavy communication satellite on January 17.

GSAT-30

• The launch will take place at the Kourou space centre in French Guiana. GSAT-30 will lunch on board an Ariane-5 rocket, which belongs to the European Space Agency (Arianespace).
• GSAT-30 is ISRO’s first satellite to launch in 2020. It will augment the capacity to provide communication links to state-run and private service providers.
• ISRO currently has plans to launch 25 satellites including the Aditya-L1 satellite, which will be inserted in a halo orbit around the Lagrangian point (L1), about 1.5 million km from the earth.
• The Aditya-L1 satellite will study the solar corona, which has more than a million degree Kelvin temperature. It will also study the Chromosphere and particle flux emanating from the sun.
• Other launches of the year include SSLV (Small Satellite Launch Vehicle), which will place smaller satellites in the earth’s lower orbit, GSLV, GSAT-20 satellite, NavIC, Indian Data Relay Satellite System and Xposat.

Telling Numbers: Projected drop in male tobacco use underlines shifting trends

News

• A recent report released by the World Health Organization projected what it calls “a powerful shift in the global tobacco epidemic”.

Decline in tobacco use

• • While male tobacco use rose by around 40 million, from 1.050 billion in 2000 to 1.093 billion in 2018, the report projected a decline in the number of males using tobacco. The number has stopped growing and is projected to decline by more than 1 million male users come 2020 (or 1.091 billion) compared to 2018 levels, and 5 million less by 2025 (1.087 billion).
  • Overall global tobacco use fell from 1.397 billion in 2000 to 1.337 billion in 2018 (around 60 million people). The fall was largely driven by reductions in the number of females using tobacco products with their numbers shrinking from 346 million in 2000 to 244 million in 2018, or more than 100 million users.
  • In India, which had a 44% prevalence of tobacco use (male and female combined) in 2000, this is expected to reduce almost by half to 22.3% by 2025. Globally, the prevalence was at 33.3% in 2000, and is projected to reach 20.9% in 2025.
  • Current tobacco use rates in India in 2018 for people aged 15 years and older were higher than global rates among both males and females. However, the rates of tobacco smoking were lower than global rates.
  • Among other key findings, the report found that approximately 43 million children (aged 13-15) over the world used tobacco in 2018 (14 million girls and 29 million boys.
  • Tobacco taxes not only help reduce tobacco consumption and health-care costs, but also represent a revenue stream for financing for development in many countries.

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