IASTODAY DAILY CAPSULES -General Studies-01

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Sumatran rhino is extinct in Malaysia as lone survivor dies

News

• The Sumatran rhinoceros has become extinct in Malaysia, after the last of the species in the country succumbed to cancer.

Sumatran rhino

• It came six months after the death of the country’s only male rhino in Sabah. Another female rhino also died in captivity in 2017 in the state.
• Efforts to breed them have been futile but Sabah authorities have harvested their cells for possible reproduction.
• The Sumatran rhino, the smallest of five rhinoceros species, once roamed across Asia as far as India, but its numbers have shrunk drastically due to deforestation and poaching.
• The WWF conservation group estimates that there are only about 80 left, mostly living in the wild in Sumatra and Borneo in Indonesia.
• The International Union for the Conservation of Nature identifies the Sumatran as well as the Black and Javan rhinoceros as being critically endangered. Both African and Sumatran rhinoceros have two horns, while the others have a single horn.
• Only about 24,500 rhinos survive in the wild with another 1,250 in captivity worldwide, the IUCN says. Of these, more than two-thirds are white rhinos.
• Rhinos are killed for their horns, which consist of keratin similar to human hair and nails and are used in traditional medicines in parts of Asia.

IASTODAY DAILY CAPSULES -General Studies-02

Bill to amend SPG Act introduced in Lok Sabha

News

• A bill to amend the Special Protection Group (SPG) Act was introduced in Lok Sabha  by Minister of State for Home Affairs G. Kishen Reddy.

Bill to amend SPG

• This comes days after the government withdrew the elite security cover provided to members of the Gandhi family.
• According to the proposed amendment, family members of former Prime Ministers would not be entitled to the coveted SPG security cover.
• Now elite SPG commandos will protect only the Prime Minister. They can also protect former Prime Ministers depending on the threat perception to them.

West Bengal govt to provide land possession to refugees, regularize their colonies: Mamata Banerjee

News

• West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee announced that all refugee colonies on Central government and private lands up to 3 acres will be regularised.
• The statement came in the backdrop of the Centre’s announcement that the National Register of Citizens (NRC) process would be carried out across the country.

Kovind gives asssent to Maharashtra Bill on protecting mediapersons

News

• President Ram Nath Kovind has given assent to a legislation passed by the Maharashtra Assembly in 2017 that makes violent attacks on mediapersons a non-bailable offence.

Maharashtra Media Persons and Media Institutions Act

• The Maharashtra Media Persons and Media Institutions (Prevention of Violence and Damage or Loss to Property) Act, 2017, also has a provision of imprisonment and a fine of ₹50,000. It was passed by the Assembly in 2017, but received the President’s assent in October after the Union Home Ministry scrutinised the legislation and consulted all concerned Ministries.
• The MHA had returned the Bill to the Maharashtra government last year to seek clarification.
• Maharashtra is the first State to pass such a legislation.
• The Bill has a provision that any offence against a media person will be investigated by a police officer above the rank of a Deputy Superintendent of Police.
• Maharashtra is the first State to pass such a legislation.
• In 2017, the MHA also issued an advisory to all States to ensure the “safety and security of journalists”. The advisory was issued days after Bengaluru-based journalist Gauri Lankesh was shot dead near her home.

Open defecation-free India: National Statistical Office survey debunks Swachh Bharat claims

News

• The latest National Statistical Office (NSO) survey on sanitation debunked the claims of an open defecation-free or ODF India made by the Centre’s flagship Swachh Bharat scheme, although it did record great progress in toilet access and use in rural areas.

Open defecation-free India

• The survey, released showed that about 71% of rural households had access to toilets at a time the Centre was claiming 95%. On October 2, 2019, Prime Minister declared that the whole country was ODF with complete access to toilets.
• According to the NSO, almost 42% of rural households in Jharkhand had no access to a toilet at that time. In Tamil Nadu, the gap was 37%, followed by 34% in Rajasthan. In Gujarat, which was one of the earliest States declared ODF, back in October 2017, almost a quarter of all rural households had no toilet access, the NSO data showed.
• The other major States listed also had significant gaps: Karnataka (30%), MP (29%), Andhra Pradesh (22%) and Maharashtra (22%).
• The 71% access to toilets was still a significant improvement over the situation during the last survey period in 2012, when only 40% of rural households had access to toilets.
• The NSO’s statistics on toilet usage are also encouraging. It said 95% of people with access to toilets in rural India used them regularly, indicating that the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan’s efforts to change behaviour have borne fruit.
• Only 3.5% of those with toilet access in rural India said that they never used them. This was aided by the fact that water was available around the toilet in more than 95% of cases.
• NSO data indicates that the next big challenge may lie in the disposal of waste.

Manipur, J&K record maximum number of cases under Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act

News

• More than 35% cases registered under the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) were recorded in Manipur, as per the National Crime Records Data (NCRB) provided by the Home Ministry in the Rajya Sabha last week.
• The State registered 330 cases in 2017 in which 352 persons were arrested.

Unlawful Activities

• With 156 cases, Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) recorded 17% of such cases, followed by Assam (133) which reported 14% of all cases registered under it in 2017 in the entire country. Uttar Pradesh (109 cases) recorded 12% and Bihar (52 cases) accounted for 5% of total cases.
• Under the UAPA, the investigating agency can file a chargesheet in maximum 180 days after the arrests and the duration can be extended further after intimating the court. The anti-terror act has death penalty and life imprisonment as maximum punishment.
• The data reveals that though U.P. has recorded only 12% cases, it topped the States in the number of arrests made under the Act. Of the 1,554 persons arrested across the country, nearly one-fourth 382 were made in it alone, followed by Assam-374, Manipur-352, J&K-35 and 57 in Jharkhand.
• Under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) (Recommendation and Sanction of Prosecution) Rules 2008, the competent authority in the Home Ministry or the State government has to give sanction to file a chargesheet in seven days after being approached by the investigating agency.
• In August, Parliament cleared the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Amendment Bill, 2019 to designate individuals as terrorists.
• The UAPA, enacted in 1967 was first amended in 2004, then 2008 and 2013. The 2004 amendment was to ban organisations for terrorist activities, under which 34 outfits were banned and the number has gradually increased to 42.

SC slams Punjab, Haryana for stubble burning despite its orders

News

• The Supreme Court slammed the Punjab and Haryana governments for increase in stubble burning despite its order prohibiting it and said people in Delhi can’t be left to die due to air pollution.

Stubble burning

• The court issued a notice to all States, seeking reports on air quality, drinking water and garbage disposal.
• It also sought a report from the Central Pollution Control Board and the States concerned about the steps taken to check pollution in rivers, including Ganga and Yamuna.
• The court termed as alarming the stubble burning situation and said not only the State machinery but farmers were also responsible for it.
• It asked the Centre and others to take a concrete decision within 10 days on having smog towers in Delhi-NCR to combat air pollution.
• The bench asked Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Delhi to explain why they should not be asked to compensate people affected by bad air quality.

Raids reveal rampant child trafficking in A.P.

News

• ‘Operation Muskaan’ in which officials have recently rescued 2,774 boys and girls has revealed the magnitude of the child trafficking menace in Andhra Pradesh.

Child trafficking

• Police, in association with Women Development and Child Welfare (WD&CW), Labour, Revenue, Child Welfare Committees (CWCs) and other departments conducted raids and rescued 2,774 children, including 400 girls, in the State.
• Minor boys and girls from Odisha, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Telangana, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and other States were rescued during the early morning crackdown. The children were working in hotels, mechanic sheds, shops, restaurants, cinema halls, industries and other establishments.
• According to a survey, about 40% of the trafficked children were forced into labour work, 20% sexually exploited, 10% engaged in bonded labour and five percent were engaged in begging. Some children were being used for anti-social activities such as ganja and drug smuggling and thefts.
• Surprisingly, more than half a dozen government departments such as WD&CW, Juvenile Welfare, Welfare of Street Children, Orphans and Destitutes, Revenue, Labour, Police, Education, Velugu and Sarva Siksha Abhiyan (SSA), Railways, State Commission for Protection of Child Rights (SCPCR), CWCs and about 1,000 NGOs are working for welfare of children and protection of child rights.

340 black spots in State’s road network

News

• Black spots account for 90% of the road accidents in the country and Kerala has 340 of them.

Black spots

• An analysis of the accident-prone stretches during 2016, 2017, and 2018 based on the districtwise Accident Severity Index (ASI) value of the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) revealed that 232 black spots fall in high-risk and 108 in medium-risk categories.
• Of the high risk ones, 157 are on the national highway (NH) stretches, 49 on State highways (SH) and 26 on other roads. In the medium risk category, 64 are on the NH corridors, 31 on SHs, and 13 on other roads.
• As per the ministry, a “road accident black spot” is a road corridor, about 500 m long, in which either five road accidents, involving fatalities and grievous injuries, were reported during the last three calendar years or 10 fatalities during the last three calendar years.
• Despite the short and long-term measures chalked out by the MoRTH to reduce road accidents, the number of black spots has gone up from 275 in 2018 to 340 in 2019 on the 1.41 lakh km of road network.

3.7% food samples found unsafe, 15.8% sub-standard, says regulator

News

• Data released by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) on enforcement of norms has noted that 3.7% of the samples collected and analysed were found unsafe, 15.8% sub-standard and 9% samples had labeling defects.

Food Safety 

• Releasing the data for 2018-19 where 1,06,459 samples were analysed, the food regulator said this was the first year the data had been compiled for unsafe, substandard and labelling defects separately.
• There has been a 7% increase in the number of samples analysed during 2018-19 compared to 2017-18. Compared to the previous year, 25% more samples were found non-conforming. This shows that there has been better targeting of enforcement efforts by States/UTs.
• There has been a 36% increase in civil cases launched and a 67% increase in the number of cases where penalties were imposed. The amount of penalty ₹32.58 crore imposed has increased by 23% during 2018-19 compared to the previous year.
• There has been 86% increase in criminal cases launched. Since the conclusion of criminal cases takes time, 5,198 cases were concluded during 2017-18 that included a backlog of previous years. During the year there have been 701 convictions in criminal cases so far.
• Ten States/UTs that have performed well include Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Bihar, Jammu & Kashmir, Delhi and Chandigarh.
• Ten States that have performed poorly include Chhattisgarh, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Assam, Jharkhand, Odisha, Rajasthan, West Bengal, Telangana, and Uttarakhand.
• Many of the poorly performing States have not been able to put in place full-time officers and do not have proper testing laboratories despite the food safety law coming into force over a decade ago.

IASTODAY DAILY CAPSULES -General Studies-03

Terror strike averted with arrest of 3 with IED in Assam: Delhi Police

News

• The Delhi Police Special Cell has averted a terror strike by arresting three persons with improvised explosive devices (IED) in Assam, a police officer said.

Terror strike

• The Delhi Police said they got inputs on the movement of several suspected persons of an IS module in the city. Their target was a religious congregation.
• The IEDs recovered from them were similar to the one used in the March 7, 2017 Bhopal-Ujjain passenger train blast that injured eight persons near the Jabdi station in Madhya Pradesh.
• Hours after the incident, three terror suspects each were arrested in Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh, and Saifullah, a suspect holed up in a building in Lucknow, was killed after an encounter that lasted several hours.

UK panel explores ‘rebrand’ of Pakistan away from terror

News

• A panel of academics and South Asia experts from around the world explored the prospect of a “rebrand” of Pakistan away from an ideology of jihad and terrorism, with the Pakistani diaspora playing some role in such a move.

‘Reimagining Pakistan: A Global Perspective’, organised by the Jammu Kashmir Study Centre UK think tank and the Indian National Students Association (INSA) UK in London on Saturday, highlighted that Pakistan’s so-called “jihad strategy” dates back to 1947 when it tried to “forcibly annex Kashmir”.

• The panelists were in general agreement that the country risks becoming increasingly isolated in the wake of its recent grey-listing by the global money laundering watchdog Financial Action Task Force (FATF) unless some urgent steps are taken and that China could act as a counter-weight, given its own economic interests in the region.

High-tech device to improve earthquake, tsunami forecast

News

• Scientists have successfully developed and tested a high-tech device that can detect the small movements and changes in the Earth’s seafloor often a precursor to deadly natural hazards, such as earthquakes, volcanoes and tsunamis.

Improve forecast

• The shallow water buoy was installed off Egmont Key in the Gulf of Mexico last year, and has been producing data on the three-dimensional motion of the sea floor.
• The system will be able to detect small changes in the stress and strain of the Earth’s crust, the researchers noted.
• The patent-pending seafloor geodesy system is an anchored spar buoy topped by high precision global positioning system (GPS).
• The buoy’ orientation is measured using a digital compass that provides heading, pitch, and roll information helping to capture the crucial side-to-side motion of the Earth that can be diagnostic of major tsunami-producing earthquakes.
• Shallow coastal waters, which are less than a few hundred metres in depth, are a more challenging environment but also an important one for many applications, including certain types of devastating earthquakes.
• Offshore strain accumulation and release processes are critical for understanding mega-thrust earthquakes and tsunamis.

Tamil Nadu to study socio-economic conditions of fishermen

News

• The Tamil Nadu government is set to carry out a comprehensive study on the socio economic status of fishermen in the State, aiming at identifying gaps that needs special focus by the government through policy interventions. The study will be undertaken at a cost of ₹50 lakh.

Socio economic status of fishermen

• The State government has found it necessary to study the quantum of livelihood and living standard improvements achieved through various schemes, and also to study the areas where further interventions of the government are required to ensure continuous development in improvement.
• Besides focusing on various schemes implemented in last 15 years and measuring the improvement achieved through these schemes, the study will also identify key areas of intervention and suggest specific schemes and infrastructure requirements for the future development of the community.
• The study is aimed at covering the infrastructure facilities developed over the past 10 years all along the Tamil Nadu coast, handling of catch and marketing of fish catch and the benefits enjoyed by fishermen through these infrastructure facilities.
• Tamil Nadu has a fishermen population of about 10.25 lakh, who significantly contribute towards economic development through the export of fish and fishery products. Tamil Nadu ranks fourth in total marine fish production in the country.
• Tamil Nadu’s estimated fish production was 6.75 lakh tons in 2018-19. The State exported 1.17 lakh tons of marine products and earned a foreign exchange of ₹5,420.30 crore in 2017-18.

Finance Minister introduces bill in Lok Sabha to cut corporate tax

News

• Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman introduced the Taxation Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2019, in the Lok Sabha to replace the Taxation Laws (Amendment) Ordinance, 2019, which was used to slash corporate tax rate to stimulate growth rate in a slowing economy.
• The bill will replace the ordinance promulgated on September 20, 2019, to cut the rate of base corporate tax to 22% from 30%.

Taxation Laws Bill, 2019

• • As per the Constitutional process, an ordinance promulgated under Article 123(1) has to be laid before both Houses of Parliament and shall cease to operate at the expiration of six weeks from reassembly of Parliament; or if before expiration of the above period, resolutions disapproving the ordinance are passed by both Houses.
  • Besides reduction in corporate tax rates for existing and new domestic companies, the ordinance also implemented the withdrawal of higher surcharge for non-corporates on certain capital market transactions announced earlier on August 24, 2019, and also provides relief from buyback tax for listed companies, with respect to buybacks which were publicly announced prior to the Budget announcement on July 5, 2019.
  • The Finance Minister also produced the International Financial Services Centres Authority Bill, 2019.
  • The bill provides for the establishment of the International Financial Services Centres Authority, which will consist of nine members appointed by the Central government. Members of the body will include four members to be nominated from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), the Securities Exchange Board of India (Sebi), the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (Irdai) and the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority besides a chairperson.
  • The Authority will regulate financial products, financial services and financial institutions in an IFSC which have been approved by any regulator (such as the RBI or Sebi), before the enactment of the Bill; regulate any other financial products, services or institutions in an IFSC, which may be notified by and recommend to the Central government, any other financial services, products or institutions which may be permitted in an IFSC.

Greenhouse gases surge to record in 2018, exceeding 10-yr average rate: U.N.

News

• Greenhouse gases in the atmosphere hit a new record in 2018, rising faster than the average rise of the last decade and cementing increasingly damaging weather patterns, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said.

Greenhouse gases 

• The concentration of carbon dioxide, a product of burning fossil fuels that is the biggest contributor to global warming, surged from 405.5 parts per million in 2017 to 407.8 ppm in 2018, exceeding the average rate of increase of 2.06 ppm in 2005-2015.
• Irrespective of future policy, carbon dioxide stays in the atmosphere for centuries, locking in warming trends.
• Levels of methane a much more potent greenhouse gas than CO2 and nitrous oxide also hit new records.

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