IASTODAY DAILY CAPSULES -General Studies-01

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Maradu flat owners to be served evacuation notices

News

• Residents of the Maradu apartments in Kerala will be served evacuation notices.

Beyond News:

• The court had asked the State government to complete the demolition of the four building complexes, which came up in violation of the Coastal Regulation Zone guidelines.

Tamil Nadu ranks lowest in coverage of iodised salt

News

• Tamil Nadu has the lowest consumption of iodized salt despite being the third biggest producer of salt in the country, according to a first-of-its-kind national survey to measure the coverage of iodized salt.

Consumption of iodized salt

• The study shows that 76.3% of Indian households consumed adequately iodised salt, which is salt with at least 15 parts per million of iodine.
• The five worst performers were Tamil Nadu (61.9%), Andhra Pradesh (63.9%), Rajasthan (65.5%), Odisha (65.8%) and Jharkhand (68.8%).
• The survey covered a total of 21,406 households in 29 States and 7 Union Territories in India.
• Gujarat produces 71% of salt in the country, followed by Rajasthan at 17% and Tamil Nadu at 11%. The rest of the country accounts for a mere 1% of salt produced.
• India made fortification of salt with iodine mandatory for direct human consumption in 1992.
• This was relaxed in 2000 and then reimposed in 2005. In 2011, the Supreme Court, too, mandated universal iodisation for the control of iodine deficiencies.

Iodine

• Iodine is a vital micro-nutrient for optimal mental and physical development of human beings.
• Deficiency of iodine can result in a range of disabilities and disorders such as goitre, hypothyroidism, cretinism, abortion, still births, mental retardation and psychomotor defects. Children born in iodine deficient areas may have up to 13.5 IQ points less than those born in iodine sufficient areas.

Key recommendation

• The key recommendation of the study is to sustain the momentum so that iodine coverage does not fall below current levels.
• It also recommends that the States and the Centre work together to address the current gaps and look into issues that vary from one State to another, leading to adequately iodised salt not being produced.

IASTODAY DAILY CAPSULES -General Studies-02

India, Nepal inaugurate Motihari-Amlekhganj oil pipeline

News

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Nepal counterpart K.P. Sharma Oli jointly inaugurated the Motihari-Amlekhganj energy pipeline, via video link.

Motihari-Amlekhganj energy pipeline

• 69-km Motihari-Amlekhganj pipeline, having a capacity of 2 million metric ton per annum will provide cleaner petroleum products at affordable costs to the people of Nepal.
• The pipeline had been in the planning stages for several years and was inked in 2015 by both sides.
• A test supply was carried out last month after which both sides agreed to operationalise the energy route, a first-time effort in South Asia.
• Such a pipeline will help Nepal ensure stable energy supply for its market. The project is being led by public sector giants Indian Oil Corporation and Nepal Oil Corporation which has built the necessary infrastructure in Amlekhganj for distribution of energy in the Himalayan country. 

India calls for reforms in peacekeeping

News

• India has told the UN Security Council that peacekeeping currently is in a “no-man’s land” and called for next generation of reforms in peacekeeping based on incentivisation, innovation and institutionalisation.

Reforms

• India’s Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador at a Security Council debate on UN peacekeeping operations said UN peacekeeping is a unique innovation of multilateralism to respond to threats to international peace and security.
• However, at the current stage, peacekeeping is in a “no-man’s land , between trying to keep the peace in fragile environments and trying to enforce the maintenance of peace, where there is none to keep.
• However, in practice, there is not effective improvement of the cooperation between TCCs, the Security Council and the Secretariat.
• Women peacekeepers constituted 6 per cent. There are 5,243 female peacekeepers, out of a total of 86,687 peacekeepers.
• Further, there is need for expansion of online initiatives to develop capacities of future commanders and managers so that they lead by example and raise awareness of UN standards of conduct among their personnel is another innovation that can be further promoted.

India asks China, Pakistan to end activities related to CPEC in PoK

News:

India asks China, Pakistan to end activities related to CPEC in PoK

Beyond News:

India rejected the reference to Jammu and Kashmir in the latest China-Pakistan joint statement and called on both countries to stop activities related to the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) in Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK).

India has consistently expressed concerns to both China and Pakistan on the projects in the so-called China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, which is in the territory of India that has been illegally occupied by Pakistan since 1947.

Railways to help recharge phones of passengers using plastic bottle crushers at stations

News

Railways will help recharge phones of passengers if they use plastic bottle crushing machines installed at stations in a bid to promote Prime Minister initiative to junk single use plastic.

Beyond News:

• Railways have issued directions that single-use plastic will not be used on its premises.
• Currently, 160 bottle-crushing machines are available at 128 stations.
• Instructions have been given to railway staff to collect all the used plastic bottles at railway stations and send them for recycling.

Rich Indians seek the safety of foreign shores

News

• The number of Indian high net worth individuals (HNIs, with wealth of $1 million) and ultra-high net worth individuals (UHNIs, with wealth of $50 million onwards), acquiring citizenship in foreign countries is growing year on year, according to people familiar with the trend.

Citizenship in foreign countries

• Indians mainly applied for residence to Greece, Portugal and Thailand (2019), and Canada, Portugal and Hong Kong (2018), while for citizenship, they mainly applied to Malta, Cyprus, Antigua and Barbuda, and Grenada (2018 and 2019).
• China, India, Turkey and the U.K. saw the biggest outflows of wealthy individuals in 2017. Safety, financial stability, high taxes and religious or political tensions are a few of the factors driving these wealthy citizens abroad.
• While the U.S., the U.K. and Canada have long been a favourite with rich Indians, countries like Portugal, Cyprus, Greece, Malta and other European Golden Visas are seen gaining a great deal of traction and interest in the past few years.
• There was a 33% increase till date in Indian nationals applying for residence programmes for 2019, when compared to the whole of 2018.
• India has about 3,43,000 HNIs and 3,400 UHNIs. The number of U.S. dollar millionaires in India grew nearly nine times to 343,000 from 39,000 in 2000. Total wealth in India increased five-fold between 2000 and 2018, reaching $6 trillion in 2018.
• India is viewed as one of the top 10 fastest growing high net worth countries, alongside Bangladesh, Vietnam, China and the Philippines.
• The strength of the passport plays a big role in Indians seeking alternative citizenship.
• In the recent Henley Passport Index, an annual ranking, the Indian passport ranked 86th, with visa-free/visa-on-arrival access to only 58 countries out of 227 possible travel destinations.

Registration of steel and iron imports, a must

News

• In a bid to clamp down on the dumping of iron and steel imports, and also the over-and under-invoicing of these products, the government has removed these items from the ‘free’ category and has made it mandatory for importers to apply in advance for a registration of their import.

Iron and steel imports

• The new system will come into effect from November 1.
• This comes at a time when India has been at the receiving end of large amounts of steel dumping due to the ongoing trade war between the U.S. and China.
• According to a notification issued by the Directorate General of Foreign Trade, the import of 284 item lines under the steel and iron category has been re-designated from ‘free’ to ‘free subject to compulsory registration under Steel Import Monitoring System’.
• This Steel Import Monitoring System (SIMS) will require the importer to submit advance information on an online portal for the import of the items mentioned in the notification and obtain an automatic registration number.
• This number can be obtained by paying a minimum fee of ₹500 and maximum of ₹1 lakh, depending on the value of the imports.
• The importer can apply for registration not earlier than 60 days before and not later than 15 days before the expected date of arrival of the import, and the registration number will remain valid for 75 days.
• The Indian steel and aluminium industries have raised concerns that the trade war between the U.S. and China was leading to the dumping of steel and aluminium products in India that were originally meant for the other two countries.

IASTODAY DAILY CAPSULES -General Studies-03

PM raises India’s target to restore degraded land to 26 million hectares

News

• Prime Minister announced that India would raise its target for restoring degraded land from 21 million hectare to 26 million hectare by 2030.

Restoring degraded land

• Speaking at the high level segment at the 14th session of the Conference of Parties (COP) to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), Prime Minister said between 2015 and 2017, India’s tree and forest cover increased by 0.8 million hectares.
• Addressing nearly 200 nations, 70 environment ministers and over 8,000 participants from across the globe, Prime Minister urged the world to stop using single-use plastic which was a menace for the land and environment.
• Climate change is also leading to land degradation of various kinds, ranging from a rise in sea levels and wave action, erratic rainfall and storms, and sand storms caused by hot temperatures.
• India takes pride in using remote sensing and space technology for multiple applications, including land restoration and it will be happy to help friendly countries develop land restoration strategies through cost effective satellite technology.
• The conference has nations brainstorming on ways to tackle land desertification with over 120 countries setting land degradation neutrality target for 2030.

Panel formed to apportion J&K assets and liabilities

News

• The Ministry of Home Affairs has formed a three-member committee to apportion the assets and the liabilities of Jammu and Kashmir between the two Union Territories of Ladakh and J&K.
• As per Section 85 of the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019, the Central government by an order establishes one or more Advisory Committees for the apportionment of the assets, rights and liabilities of the companies and corporations constituted for the existing State of J&K between UT of J&K and UT of Ladakh.

Japan will have to dump radioactive Fukushima water into Pacific, minister says

News

• Tokyo Electric Power will have to dump radioactive water from its destroyed Fukushima nuclear power plant directly into the Pacific Ocean, Japan’s environment minister said.

Radioactive water

• After the plant was crippled by an earthquake and tsunami in 2011, Tokyo Electric, or Tepco, has collected in tanks at the wrecked sites more than 1 million tons of contaminated water from the cooling pipes used to keep fuel cores from melting.
• The utility says it will run out of space by 2022.
• Any green light to dump the waste into the sea, however, could anger neighbours such as South Korea, which summoned a senior Japanese embassy official last month to explain how the country would deal with the Fukushima water.
• Coastal nuclear plants commonly dump into the ocean water that contains tritium, an isotope of hydrogen that is hard to separate and is considered to be relatively harmless.

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