IASTODAY DAILY CAPSULES -General Studies-01

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World’s first female spacewalking team makes history

News

• The world’s first female spacewalking team made history high above Earth, floating out of the International Space Station to fix a broken part of the power network.

World’s first female spacewalking team

• As NASA astronauts Christina Koch and Jessica Meir emerged one by one, it marked the first time in a half-century of spacewalking that a woman floated out without a male crewmate.
• Meir, making her spacewalking debut, became the 228th person in the world to conduct a spacewalk and the 15th woman.
• It was the fourth spacewalk for Koch, who is seven months into an 11-month mission that will be the longest ever by a woman.

IASTODAY DAILY CAPSULES -General Studies-02

TB cases see decrease in India

News

• The tuberculosis incidence rate in India has decreased by almost 50,000 patients over the past one year, according to the World Health Organization (WHO)-2019 edition of the Global Tuberculosis (TB) Report released.

Tuberculosis incidence rate

• The report notes that in 2017, India had 27.4 lakh TB patients which came down to 26.9 lakh in 2018. Incidence per 1,00,000 population has decreased from 204 in 2017 to 199 in 2018.
• The number of patients being tested for rifampicin resistance has increased from 32% in 2017 to 46% in 2018. And the treatment success rate has increased to 81% for new and relapse cases (drug sensitive) in 2017, which was 69% in 2016.
• The report provides a comprehensive and up-to-date assessment of the TB epidemic and progress in the response at global, regional and country levels for India.
• The report features data on disease trends and the response to the epidemic in 202 countries and territories.
• TB remains the top infectious killer in the world claiming over 4,000 lives a day.
• This report presents progress towards targets set at the first-ever United Nations General Assembly high-level meeting on TB in 2018, that brought together heads of state, as well as the targets of the WHO End TB Strategy and Sustainable Development Goals.
• Meanwhile, the India TB-Report 2019 notes that India is closest ever to covering all TB cases through the online notification system (NIKSHAY).
• With the aim of universal access to free diagnostics and treatment services, state-of-the-art diagnostic tests and quality assured drugs have been extended to all patients seeking TB care.
• In India, of the estimated 2.69 million TB cases emerging in 2018, 2.15 million were reported to the Government of India leaving a gap of 5,40,000 patients who are going unreported.

Army gets precision ammunition

News

• After the Balakot air strikes, the Army fast-tracked procurement of 155-mm Excalibur precision-guided ammunition from the U.S., and it has recently been inducted.
• The ammunition gives the artillery guns extended range and the ability to hit targets with very high accuracy.

Ammunition

• The ammunition will be used in all 155-mm artillery guns with the Army, the sources said. The Excalibur projectile is developed by Raytheon and BAE Systems Bofors.
• The Excalibur provides accurate “first-round effects” at all ranges in all weather conditions and “extends the reach of .39-calibre artillery to 40 km and .52-calibre artillery to more than 50 km”.
• After a gap of three decades, the Army inducted its first modern artillery guns in November last year: M-777 Ultra-Light Howitzers (ULHs) from the U.S. and K9 Vajra-T self-propelled guns from South Korea.
• The Army has the older battle- proven Bofors 155-mm guns in service, and is inducting the 155-mm Dhanush towed gun.

37.7% of processed milk samples fail to meet quality norm: FSSAI study

News

• Processed milk, including of major brands, have failed to meet the prescribed quality norm in 37.7 per cent of the total samples tested, according to a Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) study.

Processed milk

• In safety parameters too, 10.4% of the processed milk samples were non-compliant, much higher than 4.8% in raw milk.
• Adulteration was found in only 12 of the total samples surveyed with maximum reported in Telangana, followed by Madhya Pradesh and Kerala, the study said.
• The FSSAI study collected a total 6,432 milk samples from 1,103 towns and cities between May and October 2018 in all states and union territories. About 40.5% of the total sample was processed milk, while the rest was raw milk.
• More than adulteration, contaminants was a serious problem as substances such as Aflatoxin-M1, antibiotics and pesticides were found more in the processed milk.
• As far as the safety parameter was concerned, about 10.4% of the total processed milk samples (of 2,607) failed to comply with the FSSAI norm as contaminants like aflatoxin-M1, antibiotics and pesticides were found.
• In case of raw milk, non-compliance was even at higher rate at 47% of the total samples of 3,825.
• The presence of fats and SNF (solids-not-fat) were not as per the standards specified by the FSSAI.
• A new scheme of ‘testing and inspection’ has been launched, which dairy units have to comply with in their entire value chain by January 1, 2020.

IASTODAY DAILY CAPSULES -General Studies-03

Terror funding watchdog puts Pakistan on notice

News

• The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) retained Pakistan on the “grey list” and gave a stern warning that it will be blacklisted if it does not fulfil the global standards criteria on combating terrorist financing by February 2020. 

Grey list

• The terror financing watchdog discussed Pakistan’s actions for countering terror financing and anti-money laundering at the International Co-operation Review Group (ICRG) plenary in Paris. 
• Pakistan has been under the enhanced monitoring process or grey list since June 2018 and has not made sufficient progress.
• Since Pakistan continues to be in the FATF ‘Grey List’ , it would be difficult for the country to get financial aid from the IMF, the World Bank, ADB and the European Union.
• According to a statement, the Task Force noted that Pakistan addressed only five out of the 27 tasks given to it in controlling funding to terror groups like the Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jaish-e-Mohammad and Hizbul Mujahideen, responsible for a series of attacks in India.
• Pakistan was placed on the grey list by the FATF in June last year and was given a plan of action to complete by October 2019, or face the risk of being placed on the black list with Iran and North Korea.
• Pakistan was previously placed on the FATF’s grey list in February 2012, and had been removed from the grey list in February 2015 after it passed a National Action Plan (NAP) to deal with terrorism after the Peshawar School massacre in December 2014. It was placed under severe restrictions in the years 2008-2012.
• The FATF is an inter-governmental body established in 1989 to combat money laundering, terrorist financing and other related threats to the integrity of the international financial system.

 ‘Individual wealth in India rises 10% to ₹430 lakh crore in FY19’

News

• Even as global wealth saw a decline in 2018-19, individual wealth in India rose almost 10% to ₹430 lakh crore primarily on account of higher domestic participation in capital markets, mutual funds and a rise in gold prices.

Individual wealth

• According to a study, individual investors continued moving their wealth from physical assets to financial assets as the proportion of financial assets rose from 57.25% to almost 61% in last five years with direct equity maintaining the top position among financial assets.
• Taking forward the acceleration of wealth growth over the last few years, individual wealth in India grew by 9.62% to reach ₹430 lakh crore in FY19.
• Direct equity continued to act as a major proponent of investor wealth as it moved up by 6.39%, retaining the top spot.
• Other notable assets which saw good growth include mutual funds, pension funds, alternative investments and international assets.
• While the individual wealth in financial assets witnessed an increase of 10.96% and grew to ₹262 lakh crore in FY19, compared with ₹236 lakh crore in FY18, the top five destinations for investment allocation were direct equity, fixed deposits, insurance, saving accounts and cash with a total of 72.33% contribution in overall financial assets.
• The individual wealth in physical assets rose 7.59% in FY18 with gold and real estate together covering 92.57% of this segment. Total wealth held by individuals in physical form stood at ₹167 lakh crore in FY19.
• The total individual wealth in India is estimated to have a healthy growth rate at a CAGR of 13.19% to reach almost ₹799 lakh crore by FY24. While allocation to financial assets is estimated to be 66.11%, allocation to physical assets will be 33.89%, as per the study.

RIL creates history, becomes first Indian company to hit ₹9 lakh crore m-cap mark

News

• Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) become the first Indian company to cross the ₹9 lakh crore of market capitalization, ahead of its results announcement.

First Indian company

• Shares of RIL were trading up 1.76% at ₹1,420.75 in a firm Mumbai market, valuing the firm at ₹9,00,666 crore, anticipating a double digit growth in profitability.
• RIL can become India’s first company to hit $200 billion market capitalization in the next 24 months on the back of its new commerce venture and fixed broadband business..
• Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) is India’s second most valued firm after RIL with market capitalization of ₹7,69,483 crore as its shares were trading up 1% at ₹2050.70.

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