IASTODAY DAILY CAPSULES -General Studies-02

IASTODAY CAPSULES are available free -date wise => CLICK HERE

Ministers of 25 countries expected to attend Defence Expo in Lucknow

News

• The Uttar Pradesh government along with the Central government is leaving no stone unturned in a bid to make the 11th edition of the Defence Expo-2020 the biggest such event.

Defence Expo-2020

• Defence ministers of 25 countries have so far agreed to attend the expo, which will be held on 200 acres of land in Lucknow from February 5 to 9.
• While the main theme of the defence corridor is “India, The Emerging Defense Hub”, the focus will also be on “Digital Transformation of Defence”. Several countries are expected to showcase their state-of-the-art technologies.
• About 925 exhibitors have already booked spots; 150 of them are foreign exhibitors. Of the 925, as many as 755 are Indian companies. Of the total Indian companies, 223 belong to Micro, Small and Medium Industries (MSME). The Indian companies will be given a 50 per cent concession for purchase of land.
• The state government is also preparing a “tent city”, which is being developed at Vrindawan Development Scheme on the outskirts of Lucknow. The “tent city” is likely to have 1,000 super deluxe and deluxe tents for guests. The government is also preparing for different events on the banks of Gomti River.
• The state is expecting that countries such as America, Russia, France, South Korea, Israel, Sweden and Britain will showcase their latest technologies in the defence sector during the event.
• The expo will have several pavilions, while the one for the state will focus on the Uttar Pradesh defence corridor project among other things.
• The Uttar Pradesh Defence Industrial Corridor will pass through Lucknow, Kanpur, Agra, Aligarh, Jhansi and Chitrakoot. As per the latest progress report, work is going on to acquire about 3,000 hectares for the project, which will be developed along the Bundelkhand Expressway connecting Chitrakoot in Bundelkhand to Agra in western Uttar Pradesh.

IT Ministry to brief House panel on data Bill during Jan 14 meet

News

• The IT Ministry will brief the Joint Parliamentary Committee on the Personal Data Protection Bill during its first meeting, to be held on January 14.

Data Protection Bill

• In December, both Houses of Parliament had voted to bypass the Information Technology Standing Parliamentary Committee, and send the Personal Data Protection Bill to a Joint Select Committee (JSC).
• The Bill will be a first of its kind in the country, mandating certain types of data to be stored only in the country and giving some rights to users to control how their data is used.

Liquidation process: Secured creditor cannot sell assets to entities ineligible for insolvency plan

News

• A secured creditor cannot sell assets of a company undergoing liquidation process to any person barred from submitting an insolvency resolution plan, as per a new amendment made to the norms by the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (IBBI).

Amendment

• A secured creditor will have to contribute its share towards insolvency resolution and liquidation process costs and workmen’s dues within 90 days of the liquidation commencement date, an official release said.
• The Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) provides for time-bound and market-linked resolution process for stressed corporates. In case the resolution process does not materialise, then the entity goes for liquidation.
• IBBI has notified changes to the liquidation process regulations with effect from January 6. The amendment also provides a process for a stakeholder to seek withdrawal from the corporate liquidation account.
• The amendment clarifies that a person, who is not eligible under the code to submit a resolution plan for insolvency resolution of the corporate debtor, shall not be a party in any manner to a compromise or arrangement of the corporate debtor under section 230 of the Companies Act, 2013.
• Further, a secured creditor cannot sell or transfer an asset, which is subject to security interest, to any person who is not eligible under the code to submit a resolution plan for insolvency resolution of the corporate debtor.
• The amendment provides that a secured creditor, who proceeds to realise its security interest, shall contribute its share of the insolvency resolution process cost, liquidation process cost and workmen’s dues, within 90 days of the liquidation commencement date.
• The secured creditor has to pay excess of realised value of the asset, which is subject to security interest, over the amount of its claims admitted, within 180 days of the liquidation commencement date.
• Where the secured creditor fails to pay such amounts to the liquidator within 90 days or 180 days, as the case may be, the asset should become part of the Liquidation Estate.
• Among others, the amendment provides that a liquidator should deposit the amount of unclaimed dividends and undistributed proceeds in a liquidation process along with any income earned thereon into the corporate liquidation account before an application for dissolution is submitted.

NGT seeks information on solid waste management and air pollution in states, UTs

News

The National Green Tribunal directed the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) to obtain information from chief secretaries on solid waste management, restoration of polluted river stretches and air quality management in states and Union territories.

Beyond News:

A bench said the nature and extent of information submitted by the CPCB is not complete and available information with regard to sewage generation and treatment shows huge gap.

• On the issue of solid waste management, the tribunal said the information is required with regard to the quantity of municipal solid waste generated, segregated and treated and quantity of legacy waste.
• With regard to restoration of 351 polluted river stretches, the NGT said the states need to furnish information about the compliance of directions, including in-situ and ex-situ remediation by way of phytoremediation/artificial wetlands, bio-diversity parks to reduce load on rivers.
• Chief secretaries need to monitor and compile information on the subject of execution of action plans for containment of air pollution in 122 cities, where air quality is not within permissible limits, in terms of orders of this tribunal and furnish the quantifiable progress/achievement to the CPCB.
• Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) management is one of the most serious challenges to environment protection and although Solid Waste Management Rules have been framed in 2016, their implementation remains a problem.
• The NGT had earlier noted that as per CPCB data, there are more than 4,000 legacy waste dump sites which needs immediate remediation under the rules and orders of the NGT having regard to harmful impacts on environment and public health.
• Besides, this will unlock the land occupied by such waste sites which is urgently required for setting up of integrated waste management and processing facilities or for afforestation/green belts/bio-diversity parks/buffer zones in accordance with the environmental laws. If necessary, a part of the land could be monetised if so decided by the state governments concerned.

IASTODAY DAILY CAPSULES -General Studies-03

Explained: There’s hope for the rare Great Indian Bustard — here’s why

News

• Once the frontrunner to be named India’s national bird, the Great Indian Bustard has long been on the brink of extinction.

Great Indian Bustard

• The Great Indian Bustard (GIB), is one of the heaviest flying birds, and is found mainly in the Indian subcontinent.
• Barely 150 of these birds are estimated to be surviving now globally.
• A major conservation effort launched about four years ago is bringing a ray of hope.

Conservation

• Nine GIB eggs collected from the Desert National Park in Jaisalmer where a conservation centre has been set up, have hatched, and the chicks are reported to be doing well. This is the largest number of hatchings reported within a six-month frame by any GIB conservation programme in the world.
• Forest officials have identified seven females and one male among the GIB chicks; the sex of the ninth and youngest chick, which hatched a couple of months ago, is not yet known.
• The GIB is known to eat insects, harvested foodgrains, and fruit.
• The uncontrolled use of pesticides and insecticides in farms has badly hit their food habitat. Vanishing grasslands, and attacks by dogs and foxes have contributed to the threat to the GIB’s survival.
• The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, and the Wildlife Institute of India (WII), Dehradun, are working to save the GIB. The Ministry has allotted special funds to the tune of Rs 33 crore, a part of which was used to set up the incubation and chick-rearing centre in Jaisalmer.
• Extensive land surveys have been carried out to locate suitable habitats for the chicks.
• Officials have zeroed in on 14 spots, based rainfall, accessibility, proximity to wild source, habitat and topographic suitability, availability of water, temperature, etc., and identified Sorsan as the site most conducive for their rearing.
• The centre will be the birds’ home for a few years — a safe habitat would have to be readied before they can be released into the wild.

Challenges

• • Male birds reach sexual maturity between the ages of 4 and 5; females at age 3-4. Generally, the GIB lives up to age 15 or 16. A female lays an egg once in 1-2 years, and the chicks’ survival rate is 60%-70%. Being such long-lived and slow reproducing species, adult mortality remains high.
  • Once these birds mature and can produce offspring, there must be enough habitats to support their growth. Readying the necessary habitat will be key in the coming months and years.
  • Globally and in India, high voltage power lines are a major threat to the GIB, the WII report says. The bird has poor frontal vision, which restricts it from spotting power lines early.
  • About 15% of the population (dies) due to the power lines in Jaisalmer alone. This, in comparison to the natural cause of deaths contributed only 4% to 5% cases.

SpaceX launches third batch of 60 Starlink mini satellites

News

• SpaceX has launched its third batch of mini-satellites into orbit, consisting of 60 mini-satellites.
• The satellite cluster was launched on-board the Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral, Florida.

Starlink network

• This is a part of its plan to build a giant constellation of thousands of satellites that form a global broadband Internet system.
• The cluster separated from Falcon 9 above the ocean between Australia and Antarctica an hour after its launch. This brings the total number of satellites that are a part of SpaceX’s Starlink network to just under 180.
• The company has a final aim of putting a total of 42,000 satellites in the sky to complete its Starlink network, this would make the skies more crowded and has raised concerns among astronomers. Astronomers state that this will threaten our view of the cosmos. They say that the proliferation of the bright metallic satellites will seriously degrade the night view. However, SpaceX has said that it is taking steps to reduce the satellites’ reflectivity. It is also testing an experimental darkening treatment on one of the satellites.
• As of now, there are around 2,100 active satellites, which orbit Earth according to the Satellite Industry Association.
• Starlink network wants to control three to five per cent of the global Internet market, which is currently valued at $30 billion per year. SpaceX in a statement said that its satellite constellation will be operational for Canada and the northern US by next year.
• As of now, SpaceX has received US authorisation to launch 12,000 satellites in several different orbits. It has also applied to launch 30,000 more.
• One more thing people are sceptical about having so many satellites is that this will result in expensive collisions between satellites, which will create thousands of pieces of new space junk.
• To this SpaceX has responded saying that the Starlink satellites deploy at an altitude of 290 kilometres and then engage their ion thrusters to reach an orbit of 550 kilometres. When then life-time is almost up, they will use their propulsion systems to de-orbit over the course of a few months and if they fail they will burn up naturally in the atmosphere in under five years.

The first lunar eclipse of 2020

News

• The first eclipse of the year 2020 is going to be a lunar eclipse where the Moon passes directly behind Earth to enter its shadow.
• The celestial event will fall on January 10 and it will be visible even from India, which also happened to witness the final solar eclipse of the year 2019in December.

Penumbral eclipse

• The first lunar eclipse of 2020 will be a “penumbral eclipse” where the Moon moves through the faint, outer part of Earth’s shadow. A lunar eclipse is generally visible from everywhere on the night side of Earth.
• During a lunar eclipse, Earth blocks sunlight from reaching the Moon and this happens when the Moon is passing behind Earth.
• During a lunar eclipse, the Earth is between the Sun and the Moon and the three bodies are aligned– either perfectly or imperfectly.
• Based on the Earth’s shadow on the Moon, there are three types of lunar eclipses– (1) total lunar eclipse, (2) partial lunar eclipse, and (3) penumbral lunar eclipse.
• A total lunar eclipse happens when the Earth comes between the Sun and the Moon, “completely” covering the Moon with its shadow. This happens when the three celestial bodies are aligned to make a line.
• The Moon can also turn red during a total lunar eclipse, earning it the nickname of Blood Moon.
• A partial lunar eclipse takes place when the Earth comes between the Sun and the Moon, but covers only a part of Moon, leaving the other part visible. This happens when the three bodies are not precisely aligned.
• A penumbral lunar eclipse happens when the Earth comes between the Sun and the Moon, and the outer part of the planet casts a faint shadow on the Moon. This happens when the three bodies are imperfectly aligned and usually this eclipse is mistaken as a full moon.

CLICK HERE TO SEE DATE WISE CURRENT AFFAIRS