IASTODAY DAILY CAPSULES -General Studies-01

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Warm winter likely this year: IMD

News

• Winter is likely to be warmer than average, with the India Meteorological Department (IMD) forecasting average minimum temperatures to be “warmer than average” over most of India.

Sign of global warming

• The December-January-February season will be hotter, except over “northern-most parts”. Minimum temperatures over most parts of central and peninsular India are likely to be warmer than normal by ≥1 degree Celsius.
• A trigger for the warm winters are the warm surface waters of the equatorial Pacific Ocean. The IMD’s weather models expect these surface waters to cool over the winter.
• Overall, winter temperatures have been on the rise. The IMD started issuing winter forecasts in 2016 and, except for 2017, had forecast warm winters for all years since then.
• Warm winters, are a sign of global warming. India on an average is 0.5 degree Celsius warmer than 50 years ago. Rising temperatures lead to warmer than average ground temperatures and consequently a rise in minimum temperatures.
• At current projections, the global temperature is expected to rise 3.2 degrees Celsius by the end of the century and intensify severe weather events.

Global climate tipping points may have been overshot already, scientists warn

News

• Ice sheets in the East Antarctic, the West Antarctic and Greenland may be dangerously close to the tipping point, if they have not already crossed them, according to the analysis.

Tipping point

• A study shows that the West Antarctic ice sheet could be set off on a route to collapse when the Amundsen Sea Embayment melts. This could raise the sea level by about 3 metres on a timescale of centuries to millennia. Models of the East Antarctic ice sheet suggest that it could add 3-4 metres to the sea level on timescales beyond a century.
• As for the Greenland ice sheet, the study reports that it could add 7 metres to the sea level over a thousand years, and that models pin the tipping point at 1.5 degrees Celsius. This could happen even by 2030.
• Biospheres under threat can cause serious damage to ecosystems and livelihoods. Not only this, they can trigger abrupt releases of CO2 into the atmosphere, thereby increasing the pace of climate change.
• Coral bleaching due to warming of the oceans have harmed nearly half the shallow water corals of the Great Barrier Reef. Such warming can imperil 99% of tropical corals, according to a projection. The Amazon rainforest a hotbed of diversity is another case in point.
• According to earlier estimates, the tipping point of deforestation ranges from 40% to 20% tree cover loss. The authors point out that about 17% has been lost since 1970 this is a rate that should set alarm bells ringing.
• Other factors such as thawing permafrost can release CO2 and methane into the atmosphere, exacerbating global warming, which it turn can worsen all of the above.
• These are heatwaves on the ocean.
• The bottom line is to strive not for stopping global warming at 3 degrees Celsius but to control it still further to less than 2 degrees.

IASTODAY DAILY CAPSULES -General Studies-02

Kerala is the most morbid State

News

• The findings of the 75th round of the National Sample Survey (NSO), released, lay bare the paradox that Kerala which is the most progressive State on the health front is also the sickest in the country.

National Sample Survey

• The survey, Household Social Consumption in India: Health, conducted by the NSO, Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation during the July 2017-June 2018 period has reported that the morbidity in Kerala is more than three times the national average.
• The percentage of persons that responded as ailing (PPRA) in a 15-day period across the country was 7.5 %. In Kerala, this was 24.5 %. In comparison, the PPRA in Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, and Maharashtra was between 6% and 9.9%.
• The ailments reported were mainly infections, endocrine or metabolic disorders, cardiovascular and respiratory ailments.
• The survey also assessed the proportion of persons treated as inpatients anytime during a 365-day period. If the number of cases of hospitalisation per 1,000 persons (excluding child birth) across India was 29, this was the highest in Kerala at 105. In most States, this figure hovers between 29 and 40.
• In Kerala, 47.5% of outpatient (OP) care was managed by government hospitals, while 31.4% was managed by private hospitals . When it came to inpatient care (excluding child birth), private hospitals managed 57.9 % cases, while the public sector managed 38.3 % cases.
• This would mean that while the public sector share of OP care has gone up, the public still depended on the private sector for efficient hospitalisation care.
• The average outpatient expenditure for treating a spell of ailment in Kerala has been estimated at ₹480, against ₹636 at the national level.
• The survey also estimated the average medical expenditure incurred for treatment, per case of hospitalisation, in Kerala at ₹4,469 for public sector hospitals, while this was ₹28,775 in private sector. At the national level, this was ₹4,452 for the public sector and ₹31,845 for private hospitals.

Bill to amend Arms Act introduced in LS

News

• A Bill that seeks to enhance punishment for illegally possessing and making prohibited arms the six-decade-old Arms Act was introduced in Lok Sabha.

The Arms Bill

• The Arms (Amendment) Bill makes provision that a person can have a maximum of two firearms, as against the present norm of three.
• Those who own more than two firearms will have to deposit the third one with authorities or authorised gun dealers within 90 days for de-licensing once the amendment is approved by Parliament, according to the bill.
• As per the bill, the government proposes to amend Section 25 (1AA) of the Arms Act, 1959, to give punishment from the usual life term of 14 years to “imprisonment for the remainder of that person’s life” for manufacturing, selling, repairing and possessing “prohibited” arms.
• The minimum punishment under this section will be 14 years.

IASTODAY DAILY CAPSULES -General Studies-03

Fiscal deficit hits 102% of Budget estimate

News

• The country’s fiscal deficit hit 102.4% of the 2019-20 Budget Estimate at ₹7.2 lakh crore at the end of October, government data showed.

Fiscal deficit

• The fiscal deficit, or the gap between expenditure and revenue, was at ₹7,20,445 crore as on October 31, 2019, according to the data released by the Controller General of Accounts.
• The deficit was at 103.9% of 2018-19 Budget Estimate (BE) in the corresponding month a year ago.
• The Centre has estimated the fiscal deficit for the current financial year at ₹7.03 lakh crore, aiming to restrict the deficit to 3.3% of the GDP.
• In September, the government decided to lower tax rate for corporates, a move that will have a ₹1.45 lakh crore impact on revenue mobilisation.
• Tax sops were intended to boost investment cycle in the face of slowing GDP growth, which had dipped to six-year low of 5 per cent in the first quarter ended June of this fiscal.
• GDP slipped further to over six-year low of 4.5 per cent in the second quarter ended September, as per the government data. Further, the CGA data showed that government’s revenue receipts during the April-October period of 2019-20 period rose to 46.2 per cent of the BE as compared to 45.7 per cent in the corresponding period last year.
• In absolute terms, revenue receipts stood at Rs 9.07 lakh crore at the end of October. For the entire 2019-20, the revenue receipts have been pegged at Rs 19.62 lakh crore.
• Capital expenditure stood at 59.5 per cent of the BE during April-October period as compared to 59 per cent in the year-ago period, the CGA data showed.
• Total expenditure during April-October stood at Rs 16.54 lakh crore, or 59.4 per cent of the BE. The government has pegged its total expenditure for 2019-20 at Rs 27.86 lakh crore. The fiscal deficit figure in monthly accounts during a financial year is not necessarily an indicator of fiscal deficit for the year, as per the CGA.

Govt to make hallmarking mandatory for gold jewelry

News

• The government will make hallmarking for gold jewellery and artifacts mandatory from January 15, 2021, to ensure quality, Union Consumer Affairs Minister said.

Hallmarking

• The department of consumer affairs will issue a notification by January 15, 2020, for making gold hallmarking mandatory.
• One year period will be provided for implementation of this decision to enable jewellers clear their existing stock.
• Gold hallmarking is a purity certification of the precious metal and is voluntary in nature at present. The BIS is already running a hallmarking scheme for gold jewellery since April 2000 and around 40 per cent of gold jewellery is being hallmarked currently.

GDP growth plunges to 4.5%, lowest since 2012

News

• Growth in the gross domestic product (GDP) in the July-September quarter hit a 25-quarter low of 4.5%, the government announced.
• The lowest GDP growth in six years and three months comes as Parliament has been holding day-long discussions on the economic slowdown, with Union Finance Minister assuring the Rajya Sabha that the country is not in a recession and may not ever be in one.

GVA dips to 4.3%

• • Growth in gross value added (GVA) also dipped to 4.3% in Q2 of 2019-20 from 4.9% in Q1, and 6.9% in the Q2 of last year.
  • According to the data released, the manufacturing sector contracted 1% in the second quarter of the current financial year, compared with a robust growth of 6.9% in the same quarter of the previous year.
  • The manufacturing sector saw an overall contraction of 0.2% in the first half (April to September) of the current financial year compared to a growth of 9.4% in the first half of last year.
  • The agriculture sector saw growth coming in at 2.1% in second quarter of this year compared with 4.9% in Q2 of last year. The sector grew just 2.1% over the first six months of the year compared with 5% in the first half of the previous year.
  • Among the services sectors measured, only the ‘Public Administration, Defence & Other Services’ category saw growth quicken in the second quarter of this year, to 11.6%, compared with 8.6% in the same quarter of the previous year.
  • The ‘Financial, Real Estate & Professional Services’ category saw growth slow to 5.8% in Q2 of 2019-20, compared with 7% in Q2 of the previous year.
  • Private final consumption expenditure, the closest proxy in the data to a measure of consumption demand, grew 5.06% in the second quarter of this financial year, compared with a growth of 3.14% in the first quarter.
  • Gross fixed capital formation, which is a measure of the level of investment in the country by both the government and the private sector, grew only 1.02% in the second quarter of this financial year, compared with a growth of 4.04% in the first quarter, and drastically lower than the growth of 11.8% seen in the Q2 of last year.

Fight against terror tops Modi-Gotabaya talks

News

• Cooperation in fighting terrorism was the highlight of the official meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa.

Special Line of Credit

• India announced a special Line of Credit of $50 million for strengthening Sri Lanka’s abilities to counter terror threats and another $400 million Line of Credit for infrastructure development in the island nation.
• Sri Lankan President also discussed his government’s willingness to cooperate with India in countering international terrorism. Sri Lankan President thanked India for inviting him soon after being elected to the office of President. External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar had flown to Colombo to congratulate the newly elected leader on November 19.
• India had built 46,000 houses for the Internally Displaced People.
• Sri Lankan President visit to India is being viewed as a significant step by him, especially since Sri Lanka intends to boost investment in the infrastructure sector in the coming days.

ISRO’s launch tally hits 5 main satellites this year

News

• The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) touched a tally of launching five main satellites so far in 2019 after sending up earth imaging satellite Cartosat-3.

India ranks fifth

• Globally as launches go, China is set to top the chart of space-faring nations for the second year in a row, notes a recent report.
• India ranks fifth along with newbie New Zealand. They each have 6% of the orbital launch pie.
• The space majors totally made 87 orbital launches as on November 27. China launched 28 satellites or 32% of them.

Press Information Bureau sets up unit to combat fake news related to government

News

• In a bid to combat fake news, the Press Information Bureau (PIB) has set up a fact-checking unit to verify news related to the government’s ministries, departments and schemes.

Bid to combat fake news

• The Information and Broadcast Ministry urged people to email snapshots of any “dubious material” they come across on any platform including social media and it will get it checked.
• Only material related with government ministries, departments and schemes will be fact-checked.

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