IASTODAY DAILY CAPSULES -General Studies-01

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Global warming alters rainfall rhythm, finds study

News

• Global warming has altered a key weather system and that may be whetting cyclones in the Bay of Bengal, decreasing winter rain in North India and altering global rainfall patterns, a study by a team of Indian and U.S. researchers has found.

Altering global rainfall patterns

• The Madden–Julian Oscillation (MJO), as it’s called, is a moving band of rain clouds that travels around the globe spanning 12,000–20,000 km across the tropical oceans. In its journey it interacts with surface waters of the Indo-Pacific ocean, the largest pool of warm water in the globe, and due to this the authors say the lifecycle of the MJO.
• The MJO clouds on average are spending only 15 days, instead of 19, over the Indian Ocean.
• Over the west Pacific, it increased by five days (from an average 16 days to 23 days).
• When the MJO appears in the Indian Ocean during the monsoon months of June-September, it can increase rains over India. This year, India was poised to receive below normal monsoon rainfall in April but ended up with excessive rains partly due to the MJO.
• To compute the reduction in the number of MJO days over the Indian Ocean, the researchers compared ocean temperatures from 1981-2018 to compute the changes. Global warming has been expanding the size of the warm pool on average by 2, 300 sq. km. annually from 1900-2018 and at an accelerated average rate of 4,000 sq. km. per year during 1981–2018.
• The changes in MJO behaviour have increased the rainfall over northern Australia, west Pacific, Amazon basin, southwest Africa and southeast Asia (Indonesia, Philippines and Papua New Guinea).
• At the same time these changes have brought a decline in rainfall over central Pacific, along the west and east coast of U.S. (e.g., California), north India, east Africa and the Yangtze basin in China.
• The frequent California fires, droughts in Africa and East Asian floods, cyclones in the Bay of Bengal may be linked to these changes in global weather, the study noted.

IASTODAY DAILY CAPSULES -General Studies-02

Andhra Pradesh to raise income limit for BPL category

News

• In a major decision which is likely to impact welfare schemes and programmes, the Andhra Pradesh Cabinet has decided to enhance the income limit for the Below Poverty Line (BPL) category.

Income limit

• A family with an annual income of ₹1.20 lakh in rural areas will now fall under the BPL category and in urban areas, the upper limit is ₹1.44 lakh per annum.
• The government will issue new ration cards in line with the new BPL criteria.
• Cabinet had decided to bifurcate the Andhra Pradesh Southern Power Distribution Company Limited (APSPDCL) into the Andhra Pradesh Southern Distribution Company Limited and the Andhra Pradesh Central Power Distribution Company Limited.
• The Cabinet also approved availing loans from banks through the Andhra Pradesh Power Finance Corporation.
• A proposal to constitute separate commissions for the Scheduled Castes and Tribes was approved. The AP State Commission for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Act would be amended, and a Bill in this regard would be tabled in the Assembly in the coming session.
• A proposal to roll out a new scheme YSR Kapu Nestam was approved. The scheme is aimed at providing financial assistance of ₹15,000 per annum for women in the 45-60 age group to improve living standards.
• The benefit would be extended to Kapu, Balija, Telaga, Vontari, and sub-communities. Each beneficiary would receive ₹ 75,000 in five years.

Amnesty says Foreigners’ Tribunals created havoc in Assam for last 15 years

News

• Amnesty International India said that the Supreme Court and the Gauhati High Court had enabled the Foreigners’ Tribunals (FTs) to create a statelessness crisis in Assam.

Statelessness crisis

• The global rights body made this observation in a briefing, ‘Designed to Exclude’, as it called for a review of the existing legislative regime governing the determination of nationality in India.
• Assam currently has 300 FTs, with 200 of these set up after the Central government approved the State’s proposal to set up 1,000 new tribunals primarily to try those excluded from the National Register of Citizens (NRC) that was published on August 31.
• People appearing before the FTs were not afforded the fair trial protections and human rights guarantees that flowed from Article 21 of the Indian Constitution, applicable to both citizens and foreigners. This lack of protection had been endorsed by the Gauhati High Court through its judgements in various cases, the rights body said.
• Amnesty said that along with the FTs, the High Court which most of the aggrieved approached in the absence of an appellate tribunal had failed to consider the vulnerabilities of the people who were demanded to prove their nationality. The stringent burden of proof on the person suspected of doubtful nationality was absolutely divorced from the reality of documentation in India, it stated.
• The FTs were created under the Foreigners’ Act of 1946 and the Foreigners (Tribunal) Order, 1964. The activities of these tribunals increased after 2005 when the Supreme Court scrapped the Illegal Migrants (Determination by Tribunals) Act of 1983, which was allegedly pro-foreigners by putting the burden of proof of a person’s citizenship on an accuser.
• The rights body said the FTs placed the burden of proving one’s Indian citizenship on the person suspected of doubtful nationality, without any procedure on how a reference could be made against a person to the tribunal while providing an “unreasonable” 10 days for people to produce their documents after receiving a notice.

Lok Sabha passes bill to merge Daman and Diu, Dadra and Nagar Haveli UTs

News

• A bill which seeks to merge the Union Territories of Daman and Diu, and Dadra and Nagar Haveli was passed by Lok Sabha.

Merge Union Territories

• The bill was passed by voice vote with the government stating that the merger will fast-track development of the two union territories.
• The measure will help in strengthening administrative efficiency services.
• Reservation provided to people in the two union territories will continue.
• The number of Lok Sabha seats will also remain unaltered and the jurisdiction of the Bombay High Court will continue over the two territories.
• Members who participated in the discussion demanded that the merged UT should have an assembly on the lines of Puducherry.
• Officers handling the services have to sit for few days in one UT and for few in other UT.
• Merging will also help in cutting down administrative cost adding it was the demand of the people to merge both the UTs.
• The move comes three months after Jammu and Kashmir was bifurcated into the UTs of Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh.
• The merged Union Territory will be named as Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu.
• The country currently has nine Union Territories after the creation of the UTs of Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh. However, with the merger of Daman and Diu, and Dadra and Nagar Haveli, the number of UTs will come down to eight.

After Rajya Sabha, Lok Sabha clears National Institute of Design Bill

News

• The Lok Sabha passed the National Institute of Design (Amendment) Bill, 2019, declaring the NIDs in Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Haryana and Assam as institutions of national importance.
• The Rajya Sabha had cleared the Bill during the previous session. Earlier, these institutes came under the Societies Registration Act and did not have the power to issue degrees or diplomas.

IASTODAY DAILY CAPSULES -General Studies-03

Cartosat-3 and 13 other nano satellites put into orbit by PSLV C-47

News

• The ‘sharpest eye in the sky’, India’s Cartosat-3, and 13 other nano satellites belonging to two companies in the U.S. lifted off successfully from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre SHAR, Sriharikota, offering only a very brief glimpse of the PSLV C-47 before vanishing into the low-hanging clouds.

Sharpest eye in the sky

• • The Cartosat-3 is a high resolution imaging satellite that will be used for addressing uses for largescale urban planning, infrastructure development, coastal land use, land cover among others. The satellite is also likely to have a military use since it provides highest-ever spatial resolution of about a foot.
  • The Cartosat-3 was separated about 18 minutes after lift-off and the customer satellites were injected into their planned orbits one by one and the mission was completed 27 minutes after launch.
  • The Cartosat-3 is the 9th satellite of the Cartosat series and ISRO’s fifth launch this year. One of its cameras offer a ground resolution of 25 cm, while the best ground resolution till now was 31 cm offered by WorldView-3, a satellite owned by U.S. company Maxar.
  • The commercial satellites carried on board in the mission were launched under a commercial arrangement with NewSpace India Ltd. (NSIL), the commercial arm of the ISRO.

Govt hikes authorized capital of FCI to ₹10,000 crore

News

• The government increased the authorized capital of Food Corporation of India (FCI) to ₹10,000 crore from ₹3,500 crore, paving the way for additional equity infusion in the state-owned firm.

Authorised capital increased

• The decision would also help the FCI, the government’s nodal agency for procurement and distribution of foodgrains, in reducing its debt and interest cost.
• The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA), chaired by Prime Minister has approved increasing the authorised capital of the FCI.
• This will reduce the borrowings of the FCI, save its interest cost and reduce food subsidy.
• The Centre is providing equity to the FCI for maintaining stocks. The present authorised equity capital of the Corporation is ₹3,500 crore and paid up equity capital as on March 31, 2019 is ₹3,447.58 crore.
• The FCI was constituted under the Food Corporations Act, 1964, to implement the food policy of the government.
• Its primary objective is to ensure Minimum Support Price (MSP) to farmers, maintain buffer stock of foodgrains besides distribution of foodgrains under National Food Security Act and other welfare schemes of the central government.

Cabinet extends term of 15th Finance Commission

News

• The Union Cabinet extended the term of 15th Finance Commission, which is to decide on division of tax and other resources between the Centre and the States, by one-year to October 30, 2020.

15th Finance Commission

• The Cabinet approved the 15th Finance Commission to submit first report for the first fiscal year 2020-21 and to extend the tenure of 15th Finance Commission to provide for the presentation of the final report covering FYs 2021-22 to 2025-26 by October 30, 2020.
• The term of the commission was originally set to end in October 2019, but was extended by one month to November 30.
• The extension of the term will enable the commission to examine various comparable estimates for financial projections in view of reforms and the new realities to finalise its recommendations for the period 2020-2026.
• The proposed increase in coverage of the period for which the commission’s recommendations are applicable, will help medium-term resource planning for the state governments and the central government.
• It is anticipated that the impact of the economic reforms initiated in the current FY would be manifested in the data by the end of First Quarter 2020-21.

Air pollution linked to higher risk of glaucoma: Study

News

• Exposure to polluted air is associated with an increased risk of glaucoma, a debilitating eye condition that can cause blindness, according to a study.

Polluted air

• The findings, show that people in neighborhoods with higher amounts of fine particulate matter pollution were at least 6% more likely to report having glaucoma than those in the least-polluted areas.
• Glaucoma, a neuro-degenerative disease, is the leading global cause of irreversible blindness and affects over 60 million people worldwide, the researchers noted.
• It most commonly results from a build-up of pressure from fluid in the eye, causing damage to the optic nerve that connects the eye to the brain.
• The team found that people in the most-polluted 25% of areas were at least 6% more likely to report having glaucoma than those in the least-polluted quartile.
• They were also significantly more likely to have a thinner retina, one of the changes typical of glaucoma progression, the researchers found.
• Eye pressure was not associated with air pollution, which the researchers said suggests that air pollution may affect glaucoma risk through a different mechanism.
• The researchers noted that air pollution has been implicated in elevated risk of pulmonary and cardiovascular disease as well as brain conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease and stroke.
• Particulate matter exposure is one of the strongest predictors of mortality among air pollutants.
• The latest study adds to previous evidence that people in urban areas are 50 % more likely to have glaucoma than those in rural areas, suggesting that air pollution may be a key contributor to that pattern.

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