IASTODAY DAILY CAPSULES -General Studies-01

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Rajnath Singh gives the nod for writing the history of India’s borders

News:

• Defence Minister Rajnath Singh has given approval for initiating the work of writing the history of the country’s borders.

Beyond News:

• It is proposed that the work will cover various aspects of borders, including tracing its making; making & unmaking and shifting of borders; role of security forces; role of borderland people encompassing their ethnicity, culture and socio-economic aspects of their lives
• The project is expected to be completed within two years.
• It is a first-of-its-kind project to make the people aware of the national borders and people living in the border regions, the Ministry added.
• India has long contentious borders with China and Pakistan and the Line of Actual Control with China has seen several standoffs and transgressions due to differing perceptions.
• Recently, several top Ministers in the government had claimed that India would get back Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.

IASTODAY DAILY CAPSULES -General Studies-02

Cabinet decides to ban e-cigarettes

News:

• The Union Cabinet has given the approval to ban e-cigarettes in the country, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said in New Delhi on Wednesday.

Beyond News:

• India has the second largest number of tobacco users (268 million ) in the world – of these, at least 12 lakh die every year from tobacco-related diseases.
• The production, manufacturing, import/export, transport, sale, distribution, storage and advertising related to e-cigarettes would be banned. The government would bring in an ordinance in this regard.
• As per the draft Bill, the offence will be punishable with a jail term of up to one year or a fine up to ₹1 lakh or both for the first-time offenders, and jail of up to three years and fine up to ₹5 lakh for repeat offenders. Storage of e-cigarettes shall also be punishable with imprisonment of up to six months or fine up to ₹50,000 or both.
• Sitharaman, who headed a Group of Ministers (GoM) on the issue, decided to ban e-cigarettes and similar products as they posed health risk to people, especially the youth.
• The Centre’s decision is based on a white paper released by ICMR on the potential hazard of e-cigarettes.

NIRVIK scheme

News:

•Export Credit Guarantee Corporation of India (ECGC) has introduced ‘NIRVIK’ scheme to ease the lending process and enhance loan availability for exporters.

Beyond News:

• Insurance cover guaranteed will cover up to 90 percent of the principal and interest.
  •It mandates inspection of bank documents and records by ECGC officials for losses exceeding Rs.10 crore as against the present Rs 1 crore
  •The banks shall pay a premium to ECGC monthly on the principal and interest as the cover is offered for both outstandings.
  •It will enhance accessibility and affordability of credit for exporters.(It will help make Indian exports competitive.)

At 17.5 million, Indian diaspora largest in the world: UN report

News:

India was the leading country of origin of international migrants in 2019 with a 17.5 million strong diaspora, according to new estimates released by the United Nations, which said the number of migrants globally reached an estimated 272 million.

Beyond News:

• The International Migrant Stock 2019, a dataset released by the Population Division of the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA) on September 18, provides the latest estimates of the number of international migrants by age, sex and origin for all countries and areas of the world.
• The estimates are based on official national statistics on the foreign-born or the foreign population obtained from population censuses, population registers or nationally representative surveys.
• The report said that the top 10 countries of origin account for one-third of all international migrants. In 2019, with 17.5 million persons living abroad, India was the leading country of origin of international migrants.
• Migrants from Mexico constituted the second largest diaspora (11.8 million), followed by China (10.7 million), Russia (10.5 million), Syria (8.2 million), Bangladesh (7.8 million), Pakistan (6.3 million), Ukraine (5.9 million), the Philippines (5.4 million) and Afghanistan (5.1 million).
• In India, the highest number of international migrants came from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Nepal.
• Facilitating orderly, safe, regular and responsible migration and mobility of people will contribute much to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.
• Turning to the gender composition, women comprise slightly less than half of all international migrants in 2019.
• The share of women and girls in the global number of international migrants fell slightly, from 49% in 2000 to 48% in 2019.
• The share of migrant women was highest in Northern America (52%) and Europe (51%), and lowest in sub-Saharan Africa (47%) and Northern Africa and Western Asia (36%).
• In terms of age, one out of every seven international migrants is below the age of 20 years.

IASTODAY DAILY CAPSULES -General Studies-03

Black holes

News:

Researchers have, for the first time, detected the gravitational waves from a newly born black hole and found that the ringing pattern of the waves predicts the cosmic body’s mass and spin.

Beyond News:

• This provides more evidence for Albert Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity.
• Einstein theorized that a black hole, born from the collisions of two massive black holes should itself “ring” in the aftermath, producing gravitational waves much like a struck bell reverberates sound waves.
• The latest study showed that when a black hole is birthed, it emits gravitational waves at characteristic tones just like a struck bell, it fades away as the hole settles.
• According to Einstein’s theory, a black hole should exhibit just three observable properties: mass, spin, and electric charge. All other characteristics would be swallowed up by the black hole itself. The black hole acts as a one-way trapdoor.
• Despite the name, is actually a great amount of matter packed into a very small area making its gravitational field so strong that nothing, not even light, can escape. And because no light can get out of black holes, people can’t see them.
• They are effectively invisible and scientists use special tools to infer their presence and observe them by the effects of their enormous gravitational fields on nearby matter.
• Most black holes are remnants of large stars that die in supernova explosions. There are four types of black holes: stellar, intermediate, supermassive, and miniature.
• Astronomers believe that supermassive black holes lie at the center of almost all large galaxies. The Milky Way hosts Sagittarius A*, which is more than four million times as massive as our sun, at its center.

New IAF ‘airport’ in Arunachal is alternative to walking 157 km

News:

• The Indian Air Force (IAF) has provided the remotest circle headquarters in Arunachal Pradesh an alternative to trekking 157 km to the nearest connected town.

Beyond News:

• This is the eighth ALG made operational by the IAF since a ₹720-crore project received impetus in 2013. The others are at Aalo, Mechuka, Pasighat, Tawang, Tuting, Walong and Ziro.
• Comprising 16 villages with 4,438 people, according to the 2011 census, Vijaynagar is dominated by former Assam Rifles personnel settled there since May 1961 for strategic reasons; the place is on the border with Myanmar. The local Lisu tribal people call the place Daudi.
• Vijaynagar used to have a makeshift landing strip serviced occasionally by military choppers, carrying up to one tonne of goods and 18 people at a time. People depended on these weather-dictated sorties or trekked 157 km to Miao, the nearest sub-divisional headquarters on the border with Assam.
• The ALG, would assist in effective management of the borders with Myanmar and facilitate launch of joint operations by the Army and the IAF for the defence of the geographically-challenged area.

Chicken for salt

• Connectivity issues have made the people of Vijaynagar pay a premium for essential commodities. The Changlang district administration’s site says locals have to buy salt or sugar at a minimum ₹200 a kg.
• This is because of “porter charge” added to the price of each commodity. A porter has to walk almost a week one way to bring the goods from Miao on their heads.
• While the “resourceful” people buy the expensive commodities from shops, poorer villagers rear chicken primarily to barter them for sugar, salt, pulses, or cooking oil.
• Arunachal Pradesh has had plans to build a road from Miao to Vijaynagar. The foundation stone for the Miao-Vijaynagar road worth ₹225-crore was laid in February 2013, but environmentalists have been opposing this project as it runs through the Namdapha Tiger Reserve.

HC gives BBMP 10 days to entrust study of lakes to NEERI

News:

• Observing that the State government has taken its own time to appoint CSIR-National Environmental Engineering Institute (NEERI) for an in-depth scientific study of lakes in the limits of Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP), the High Court of Karnataka set a 10-day deadline for the BBMP to pay the amount needed for the study and to execute the agreement with NEERI.

Beyond News:

• A Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Abhay Shreeniwas Oka and Justice Mohammad Nawaz issued the direction after noticing that NEERI was yet to be assigned with the task though the court had issued a direction in this regard in June.
• The Bench was hearing a PIL petition, filed in 2014 on the issue of lack of maintenance of stormwater drains (SWDs) and of lakes by preventing entry of sewage into SWDs, through which the court is monitoring actions of the civic bodies.
• It said that prima facie, permission granted to the BBMP by the authority constituted under the Karnataka Tank Conservation and Development Authority Act, 2014, was contrary to Section 12(2) of the Act which prohibits construction any structure on tank land, occupying of any tank land or part there of or causing any obstruction of the natural or normal course of inflow or outflow of water into, or from, the tanks.
• The authority had no power to grant such permission as structures being put up are neither bridges, roads, or similar construction for which permission can be granted.

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