IASTODAY DAILY CAPSULES -General Studies-02

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Why has India banned e-cigarettes?

News

• Union Cabinet approved the promulgation of the Prohibition of Electronic Cigarettes (production, manufacture, import, export, transport, sale, distribution, storage and advertisement) Ordinance, 2019 with immediate effect.
• As a result, anyone violating it will be imprisoned for up to one year or fined up to ₹1,00,000 or both for the first offence. Storage of electronic-cigarettes shall also be punishable.
• Besides health concerns, the government is concerned that e-cigarettes can “seriously undermine and derail the government’s efforts to reduce the prevalence of tobacco use”.

What are e-cigarettes and how do they work?

• Electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS) or non-combustible tobacco products are known by many names vapes, e-hookahs, electronic cigarettes and e-pipes.
• E-cigarettes may be manufactured to look like traditional cigarettes and are marketed as tobacco-free nicotine delivery devices. instead of burning tobacco leaves like in traditional cigarettes, an e-cigarette, which is a battery-operated device, produces aerosol by heating a solution containing nicotine among other things.
• The device contains nicotine and flavours in the form of liquid which is primarily composed of solvents such as glycerol and/or propylene glycol. The aerosol containing a suspension of fine particles and gases simulates cigarette smoke. Following a puff, the aerosol is delivered to the user’s mouth and lungs and the rest is exhaled.

Health effects

• Unlike smoking, the adverse health effects of e-cigarettes are not yet known. But like traditional cigarettes, e-cigarettes too deliver ultrafine particles and nicotine deep into the lungs, which is then absorbed by the blood.
• A 2018 study found the use of e-cigarette daily was associated with a 79% increase in heart attack risk after other variables were taken into account.
• Flavours such as diacetyl used in e-cigarettes are linked to serious lung disease. E-cigarettes also contain volatile organic compounds, heavy metals, such as nickel, tin and lead.
• In animals, aerosol exposure was found to increase “secretion of inflammatory markers, induced airway hyper-reactivity and caused lung tissue degradation in chronic exposure.”

Are e-cigarettes addictive?

• According to a National Youth Tobacco Survey, 2018 carried out by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), over 3.6 million kids in the U.S. are using e-cigarettes.
• High school students in the U.S. who used e-cigarettes at least once in 30 days increased from 11.7% in 2017 to 20.8% in 2018; the increase was 48% for middle school children.
• Flavours in e-cigarettes have been cited as one of the top three reasons for children to use them. The misconception that “e-cigarettes are less harmful than other forms of tobacco such as cigarettes” is another main reason.
• Youth who use e-cigarettes may be more likely to go on to smoke conventional cigarettes.

NRIs can now apply for Aadhaar on arrival without 182-day wait

News

• Non-resident Indians (NRIs) with valid Indian passport can apply for Aadhaar on arrival, without the 182-day waiting period, with the government issuing a notification in this regard.

Aadhaar

• The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) has also come out with a circular stating that NRI after his arrival in India, shall be entitled to obtain Aadhaar number.
• The modalities for application remain more or less unchanged, NRIs with Indian passport can now apply for biometric ID on arrival or by scheduling a prior appointment, thus doing away with the requirement for a mandatory 182-day waiting period.
• The UIDAI circular said valid Indian passport will be accepted as proof of identity, proof of address (PoA) and date of birth document.
• In case NRI’s passport does not have Indian address, he shall be allowed to submit any of the other UIDAI-approved PoA documents as proof of address.

 ‘Moment of truth’ at key UN climate summit

News

• Some 60 world leaders came together at the UN for a “climate emergency” summit aimed at reinvigorating the faltering Paris agreement, at a time when mankind is releasing more greenhouse gases into the atmosphere than at any time in history.

Climate emergency

• From heat waves to slow-crawling hurricanes to rapidly acidifying oceans, the impacts of global warming are being felt more than ever before, yet the gap between carbon reduction targets demanded by scientists to avert catastrophe and actions thus far taken is only widening.
• At present, only around 20 countries have incorporated the pledge into their national law or made concrete policy plans to implement it. The European Union hopes to achieve a consensus between its members by 2020.
• Like China, India is coal-addicted, but has also set itself highly ambitious renewable energy targets, particularly in solar.
• Ahead of the summit, 87 firms under the “We Mean Business” coalition pledged to slash their emissions.
• The UN published a report on the eve of the summit that said the five-year period ending 2019 was set to be the hottest ever, the latest grim reminder that climate change is already a reality.

 ‘Howdy Modi’: Dosti flag on lectern

News

• In a rare move reflective of India-U.S. friendship, the Trump administration replaced the presidential seal with an “India-U.S. dosti flag” emblem on the presidential lectern. This was a pleasant surprise to many at the ‘Howdy Modi’

Howdy Modi event

• As a matter of tradition, every lectern from where a US President speaks be it a joint press conference or an election speech or any speaking engagement either domestically or overseas carries a presidential emblem.
• For a change and to the pleasant surprise to many, the presidential lectern had a circular emblem with the national flags of both the US and India.
• Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Donald Trump addressed the mega ‘Howdy, Modi’ event with over 50,000 Indian-Americans present at the NRG stadium.
• The event has been organised by Indian-Americans in Texas for Prime Minister Modi.
• This is for the first time that the leaders of the two largest democracies of the world were addressing a joint mega rally in the U.S.

Delhi, Dhaka to boost maritime ties

News

• India will join Bangladesh to commemorate 100 years of ‘Bangabandhu’, the founding father Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, in 2020, and an International Fleet Review in 2021 to mark 50 years of the Liberation of Bangladesh.
• Navy chief is on a visit to Dhaka where these issues would be discussed along with other maritime and security issues.

Boost maritime ties

• Navy chief will be in Bangladesh till September 24 and the visit is intended to enhance the bilateral maritime relations, the Navy said in a statement.
• Top among the discussions would be the proposal to bring Bangladesh into India’s coastal radar chain network which several countries in the region have already joined.
• The issue of coastal radar chain network in Bangladesh will be discussed to fast-track it, defence and diplomatic sources confirmed. A Bharat Electronics Ltd. (BEL) team went there recently and a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed and if all goes well, it could be signed in the next high-level bilateral visit, sources added.
• As part of its foreign cooperation initiatives, the Navy already imparts extensive training to Bangladesh at all levels and also provides assistance in hydrography among others. As Dhaka looks to expand its domestic ship building industry, India has offered assistance in ship design.
• The Chittagong Dry Dock Limited is looking to build six frigates for which India has offered to build some under the $500-million Line of Credit to boost ‘Make in India’ efforts and also assist in building some locally.

Modi vows to more than double India’s non-fossil fuel target to 400 GW

News

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave a clarion call for a “global people’s movement” to bring about a behavioral change to deal with climate change as he made a path-breaking pledge to more than double India’s non-fossil fuel target to 400 gigawatts.

Highlights from Prime Minister speech

• World not doing enough to overcome serious challenge of climate change.
• Need a global people’s movement to bring about behavioural change
• India will spend $50 billion on water conservation in next few years: PM Modi.
• India will increase share of non-fossil fuel, will increase renewable energy capacity to beyond 175 GW by 2022 and take it to 400 GW
• India will inaugurate on Tuesday solar panels on the roof of the UN building, built at a cost of $1 million.
• 80 countries have joined the International Solar Alliance initiated by India
• Called for a people’s movement to end the use of single use plastic and hoped that it will create an awareness at a global level about the harmful effects of single use plastic.
• Need is a global people’s movement to bring about behavioural change
• India will spend $50 billion on his government’s ambitious ‘Jal Jeevan Mission’ for water conservation, rainwater harvesting and for the development of water resources
• India and China, which faced the highest burden of death from air pollution, will reap the biggest health benefits of a robust climate policy aimed at reducing carbon emissions.
• Calls for comprehensive approach which covers everything from education to values, and from lifestyle to developmental philosophy.

IASTODAY DAILY CAPSULES -General Studies-03

CBDT issues order to set-up National centre for I-T e-Assessment

News

• A National e-Assessment centre (NeAC) will be setup in the national capital as part of the government’s ambitious plan to launch faceless and nameless assessment for income tax payers from next month.

National e-Assessment centre

• The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), that frames policy for the Income-tax department, has issued an order for the creation of the Centre.
• The Centre will have 16 officials and will be headed by a Principal Chief Commissioner of Income-tax (PCCIT) as its chief.
• The NeAC will be an independent office looking after the exclusive work of e-assessment.
• The NeAC will serve notices to the assessees specifying the issues for selection of their case for assessment and after a response is received from them within 15 days, the centre will allocate the case to an assessing officer using an automated system.
• A person shall not be required to appear either personally or through authorised representative in connection with any proceedings under this scheme (e-assessment) before the income-tax authority at the National e-assessment Centre or Regional e-assessment Centre or any unit set up under this scheme.
• In case assessees or their authorised representatives want personal hearing to make their submissions or present their case before the income-tax authority, they will be allowed to do so “in any unit” and such hearings shall be conducted exclusively through video links or any other such facility.

Trade war spurs India-China digital embrace

News

• In tune with the 5G technology revolution, two emerging economies China and India are looking seriously at docking their hardware and software heft to expand their footprint across the globe, including the Global South.

Digital embrace

• Out of the five arenas earmarked for joint forays at the recently concluded India-China Strategic Economic Dialogue in New Delhi, the one on high-technology turned most heads.
• Far away from the Indian capital, and on the ground in Shanghai, China’s bustling commercial capital, hard-nosed tech disruptors from India and China, confidently elbowing their place into the cyber-universe, were already off the blocks.
• A new wave of Chinese upstarts is challenging, and sometimes outstripping, the U.S. in the race for 5G dominance, AI, and its downstream derivatives such as Smart Cities, Driverless cars, advanced healthcare and Financial Technology (Fintech) products.
• The awareness of the transformational impact of the 5G wireless technology was a key undercurrent that animated the evening in Shanghai. 5G networks can, without delay, channel copious amount of data, parked as Big Data on Internet clouds.
• That, in turn, can activate millions of AI applications to work simultaneously.

Demolition of unauthorised private structures on the banks of Krishna river begins

News

• For the first time after the demolition of ‘Praja Vedika’, an “unauthorised conference hall” built by the TDP government, three months ago, the Andhra Pradesh Capital Region Development Authority initiated action against other private properties that were built in the Krishna River’s flood plain area in Undavalli village of Guntur district.

Unauthorized private structures

• The demolition of the 17-meter long concrete ramp constructed unauthorisedly from the agriculture land has been initiated.
• At least, 10 meters of the ramp was protruding into the river with the support of pillars laid in the water. Workers engaged by the CRDA had to wear life jackets while demolishing the structure piece by piece with sledgehammers. There is also a small structure with roof adjoining the ramp.
• The CRDA has issued notices to owners of 29 unauthorised structures in the flood plain area months ago.

Chandrayaan 2’s Vikram lander, Pragyan rover fade into lunar sunset, their batteries likely dead

News

• Indian lunar craft Vikram soft-landed on moon as expected ,Vikram and its companion rover Pragyan would have completed taking a close look at moon’s unknown south by now.

Chandrayaan 2

• Chandrayaan 2 has been circling moon since August 20, its orbiter alone intact.
• After a perfect journey from earth, Vikram unexpectedly crashed on moon three minutes before its descent, without doing its job and also taking down the rover that was in it.
• Fourteen days on, the sun has set on the lunar side where the two Indian craft of Chandrayaan-2 mission lie. Their solar-powered batteries would have died out, putting them both to sleep forever on moon.
• Vikram, with its three payloads, was an important part of the Indian Chandrayaan-2 mission.
• The orbiter is working well and is set to complete Chandrayaan-1’s unfinished scientific work and confirm its findings about presence of water and minerals.

ISRO has not disclosed the early images of the lander’s crash site. It also reportedly waited for additional data from NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter for confirming Vikram’s position.

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