IASTODAY DAILY CAPSULES -General Studies-01

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India is home to Asia’s oldest bamboo

News

• With over 49,000 plant species reported as of 2018, India holds about 11.5% of all flora in the world.
• Now, a new fossil record has shown that India is the birthplace of Asian bamboo, and they were formed about 25 million years ago in the north-eastern part of the country.

Ancient fossils

• An international team of researchers found two fossil compressions or impressions of bamboo culms (stems) and after further study noted them to be new species.
• They were named Bambusiculmus tirapensis and B. makumensis as they were found in the Tirap mine of Makum Coalfield in Assam. These belonged to the late Oligocene period of about 25 million years ago.
• They also found two impressions of bamboo leaves belonging to new species Bambusium deomarense, and B. arunachalense, named after the Doimara region of Arunachal Pradesh where it was discovered.
• These leaves were found in the late Miocene to Pliocene sediments, indicating that they were between 11 and three million years old.
• Yunnan Province in China now has the highest diversity of bamboo, but the oldest fossil in that region is less than 20 million years old, clearly indicating that Asian bamboo was born in India and then migrated there.
• This finding further strengthens the theory that bamboo came to Asia from India and not from Europe.
• The present climate in the region is cold with strong winter and summer conditions. Bamboo braved these climatic and geographical changes making it the fittest in the survival race.

IASTODAY DAILY CAPSULES -General Studies-02

 India, Bangladesh sign seven pacts

News

• Broad basing their ties, India and Bangladesh inked seven pacts and launched three projects after Indian Prime Minister held wide-ranging talks with his Bangladeshi counterpart Sheikh Hasina.

Seven pacts

• One of the projects included import of LPG (Liquefied Petroleum Gas) from Bangladesh for distribution in the North Eastern states.
• The pacts signed after Indian Prime Minister -Bangladeshi counterpart talks provided for deeper cooperation between the two countries in areas of water resources, youth affairs, culture, education and coastal surveillance.
• In the last one year, the two sides launched a total of 12 projects which reflected the intensity in ties between the two sides.
• The Bangladeshi prime minister arrived on a four-day visit and attended the World Economic Forum.
• This is her first visit to India since parliamentary elections were held in Bangladesh and India. Ties between the two countries have been on an upswing in the last few years.

Green crackers set to reduce pollution, says Harsh Vardan

News

• Ahead of Dasara and Deepavali, the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) said it had developed and brought to market “green crackers” that, by its own assessment, would reduce particulate matter pollution by 30%.

Green crackers

• The organisation has signed agreements with 230 companies to manufacture and make them available for sale.
• Petroleum and Explosives Safety Organisation (PESO) and had to be free Concerned about the pollution levels and the role firecrackers played in exacerbating it, the Supreme Court banned the sale, use and manufacture of crackers that weren’t ‘green’.
• This meant that these crackers couldn’t be loud beyond a certain limit, had to be approved by the of mercury, arsenic and barium. However, compliant crackers weren’t available in the market.
• Earlier this year, the Supreme Court allowed the bulk manufacture of green crackers from May after the CSIR said its labs had been able to make trial samples and had them approved by the PESO.
• The court also restricted the time that crackers could be burst on Deepavali and police officials were tasked with enforcement. In Delhi, these strictures were broken and air quality under the influence of poor weather and other pollutants nosedived to “very poor” levels.
• Only crackers that eschewed barium nitrate would be allowed and the boxes they are sold in bear a unique logo as well as sport a unique QR code (to trace their origin).
• On explosion, they reduce the dust and smoke typically associated with crackers by 30% and also decrease sulphur oxide and nitrous oxide emissions by 20%. 

India slams Turkey, Malaysia remarks on Jammu and Kashmir

News

• India expressed ‘deep regret’ over the comments from the Turkish and Malaysian leadership in recent weeks about the situation in Kashmir.

Remarks on Jammu and Kashmir

• The spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) described the comments as “biased and incorrect”.
• Kashmir has been in communication lockdown when India ended the special status of the State and bifurcated it into two union territories. Turkey was one of the first countries to protest the move alongside Pakistan.
• India and Malaysia have enjoyed “traditionally good and friendly ties” and asked the country to look at the facts of the Indian case on Jammu and Kashmir.

IASTODAY DAILY CAPSULES -General Studies-03

Defence Minister approves four-fold hike in monetary aid for battle casualties

News

• Defence Minister has approved a four-fold increase in monetary assistance for battle casualties – from ₹2 lakh to ₹8 lakh.
• The amount will be granted under the Army Battle Casualties Welfare Fund (ABCWF).

Four-fold increase

• Earlier, there was a provision of financial assistance of ₹2 lakh to the battle casualties which are fatal, 60% above disability, battle casualties invalided out due to disability and ₹1 lakh to disability less than 60%.
• It was in addition to the liberalised family pension, financial assistance from the Army group insurance, the Army Welfare Fund and ex-gratia amount.
• The ABCWF was set up in July 2017 under the Department of Ex-Servicemen Welfare (ESW) after a large number of people offered to provide monetary assistance to the families of battle casualties following an avalanche in February 2016 on the Siachen glacier in which 10 soldiers were buried.
• The ABCWF was implemented retrospectively with effect from April 2016, the Ministry stated.
• The fund was created under the Charitable Endowments Act, 1890 and a bank account was opened with Syndicate Bank in New Delhi for the public to deposit money.
• This fund is in addition to the various schemes for the welfare of NoK (next of kin) and children of battle casualties in the form of additional ex-gratia.
• In addition to the above assistance, the existing monetary grant includes ex-gratia (central) for various ranks ranging from ₹25 lakh to ₹45 lakh and Army group insurance, ranging from ₹40 lakh to ₹75 lakh.
• ₹60,000 under the death link insurance scheme, DLICS (JCO/Ors), ₹15,000 under the Army Wives Welfare Association (AWWA), full reimbursement of tuition fees for wards, up to 70% concession on railway tickets and marriage grant for daughters, widow remarriage and orphan son’s marriage of battle casualties (fatal) and physical casualties (fatal) are also among the immediate & long-term assistance provided by the Ministry.

RBI’s 25-bps rate cut leaves market disappointed

News

• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) delivered another rate cut the fifth in as many policy review meetings to boost a slowing economy.
• However, the move failed to cheer the market which was betting on a bigger rate reduction.

25-bps rate cut

• The six-member monetary policy committee decided to cut interest rates by 25 basis points (bps) to 5.1% with five members voting in favour of the quantum. [100 bps = 1 percentage point]
• The MPC also decided to continue with an accommodative stance as long as it is necessary to revive growth, while ensuring that inflation remains within the target.
• The central bank also revised its growth forecast for the current financial sharply, from 6.9% projected in the August policy, to 6.1%. Growth forecast for the first quarter of the next financial year was also trimmed to 7.2% from 7.4%.
• Inflation forecast for the second half of FY20 has been retained at 3.5-3.7%.
• The rate cut comes after GDP growth for the first quarter of the current financial year plunged to a 25-quarter low of 5%.
• Between February and now, the central bank has reduced the policy rate by 135 bps.
• The lowering of the GDP growth outlook to 6.1% for FY20 also reflects a realistic projection in view of the weak domestic demand, slowing global growth and the continuing trade tensions.
• Equated monthly instalments on retail loans, such as home and auto loans, as well as credit to micro, small and medium-sized enterprises will become cheaper as banks have linked those loans to the repo rate, following a regulatory order.

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