IASTODAY DAILY CAPSULES -General Studies-01

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4,300 quit tobacco a year after calling South India helpline

News

• Since its inception on September 11, 2018, the Union government’s tobacco Quitline, for counselling in south Indian languages, has received more than 5 lakh calls.
• It is monitored by National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (NIMHANS).

Quit tobacco

• The response came as a surprise to the team, who were able to attend to only 69,000 calls since there are only 18-20 dedicated counsellors on the line.
• Of the 69,000 callers the counsellors spoke to, 19,000 registered to quit tobacco within a targeted period. From all the southern states, Karnataka saw the maximum number of callers get through to a counsellor, at 29%.
• 11,000 of those who had committed to kicking the habit checked in with the helpline themselves or were followed up with by counsellors. 4,300 of these tobacco users have successfully quit to date.
• Nearly 99% of all callers were males, with an average age of 27. The data suggests that young working adults are more inclined to quit tobacco.
• Among the callers, 41% were smokers (cigarettes, cigars, beedis) of which 3% reported cannabis usage; 47% were addicted to smokeless tobacco products, such as gutka, and 12% reported both being addicted to smoke and smokeless forms of tobacco.
• As many as 96% of the callers reported that they learned about Quitline through tobacco packets.
• The helpline started by the Union Health Ministry is displayed on all tobacco products.
• All tobacco products today have message: ‘QUIT TODAY – CALL 1800-11-2356’. A user comfortable with Kannada, Malayalam, Telugu and Tamil, is diverted to the southern cell, runs by NIMHANS in Bengaluru.
• The Centre’s ‘mCessation’ Programme to quit tobacco is a text messaging programme for mobile phone users.

IASTODAY DAILY CAPSULES -General Studies-02

Brazil, Germany, India, Japan reiterate commitment to early UNSC reforms

News

• India and other members of the G4 bloc have reiterated their strong commitment to an early and comprehensive reform of the UN Security Council and called for result-oriented intergovernmental negotiations on it to make the top organ of the world body more effective in dealing with the complex global challenges on international peace and security.

Foreign Ministers of the G4 countries

• The Foreign Ministers of the G4 countries met during the 74th session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York.
• The G4 Ministers reiterated their strong commitment to an early and comprehensive reform of the Security Council, as envisaged by the Heads of State and Government in the 2005 World Summit.
• They highlighted the importance of efforts aimed at reforming the United Nations and updating its main decision-making bodies, in order to better reflect the contemporary realities.
• The G4 Ministers also emphasised that an expansion of the Security Council in both categories is indispensable to make this body more representative, legitimate and effective, enhancing therefore its capacity to deal with the complex challenges the world faces today on questions of international peace and security.
• The G4 Ministers reviewed the recent efforts undertaken in the Intergovernmental Negotiations (IGN) on the United Nations Security Council.
• The Ministers emphasised that the G4 will continue its engagement with other reform-minded countries and groups in order to make substantive progress by starting text-based negotiations.

Quad’s significance rises as Ministers meet

News

• In a significant development for the region, the Quadrilateral Strategic Dialogue (“the Quad”) between India, Australia, Japan and the U.S. held its first Minister-level meeting since it was revived in 2017.

Quadrilateral Strategic Dialogue

• The group, which met in New York, is seen as a regional counter-weight to China and has only met at the Joint or Assistant Secretary level since 2017.
• The high-level meeting demonstrates a shared commitment of our respective leadership to institutionalise this gathering of like-minded Indo-Pacific partners.
• India has been hesitant about the Quad, in part because it does not want to isolate China and because it has had a history of staying clear of security alliances.
• At the briefing, the State Department official went on to emphasise India’s role.
• The U.S., India and other Quad countries were “resolute” in their view of the centrality of ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) in South East Asia. The notion of ASEAN centrality broadly refers to the group of countries being at the centre of security and strategic frameworks for the Asia-Pacific region.
• Members of the Quad, barring Australia, are currently engaged in the annual Malabar exercises military exercises that started between India and the U.S. in 1994 and became trilateral (with Japan) in 2015.
• India has not permitted Australia to participate in these exercises, concerned about what message it would send to China, which is wary of the exercise.

Kashmir issue: Rescind action on Article 370, Organisation of Islamic Cooperation tells India

News

• Calling on India to “rescind” its actions revoking Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir,Saudi Arabia joined Pakistan, Azerbaijan, Turkey, Niger to issue a statement on behalf of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Kashmir contact group, criticising the government’s actions

Organisation of Islamic Cooperation

• The group asked the government to rescind its unilateral illegal actions and reiterate its commitment to abide by the relevant UN Security Council Resolutions, provide assurances that it will not change the occupied territory’s demographic composition and not allow non-Kashmiris to acquire property or residency in [J&K], halt its human rights violations, repeal its draconian emergency laws, and withdraw its heavy military presence.
• The statement from the contact group, which has issued statements against India on the J&K dispute in the past, is not the first from the group since India decided to attend the OIC earlier in 2019, and follows a statement by the OIC.
• Indian External Affairs Minister also pointed to the fact that several major Muslim community groups including the Jamaat ulema-e-Hind had backed the government’s moves in Kashmir.
• In fact, the OIC group’s statement is one of very few at the United Nations that have been critical of India’s actions, even though Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan and Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi made the situation in Kashmir their single talking point at dozens of bilateral and multilateral meetings.

Maradu flats: SC directs demolition to be completed in 138 days and payment of ₹25 lakh each as interim compensation

News

• The Supreme Court ordered the Kerala government to immediately pay an interim compensation of ₹25 lakh each to the residents of illegal high-rise Maradu apartment blocks facing demolition for violation of coastal zone regulations.

Illegal high-rise Maradu apartment 

• The court ordered the State to pay the money for payment of the interim compensation within four weeks and then recover it from the builders and promoters of the illegal apartments.
• Issuing notice to the builders and promoters, the Bench sought the details of their properties and assets of the directors and partners of the companies by afternoon.
• The court further asked the government to provide it with a panel of retired high court judges later in the day. The Bench would choose one of the judges shortlisted for setting up a committee to evaluate each of the flats facing demolition for further payment of compensation.
• A lawyer for a builder submitted that the flats were 2,300 sq ft valued at ṣ₹39 lakh.
• The committee would also look into fixing liability on authorities like the local panchayat body for permitting the construction of the flats in the fragile coastal area.

Andhra Pradesh bags top honour at National Tourism Awards

News

• Andhra Pradesh bagged the top honour at the National Tourism Awards 2017-18, which were presented by Vice President.

National Tourism Awards

• A total of 76 awards were given under various categories this year.
• Andhra Pradesh bagged the Best State award for overall growth in tourism category.
• Goa and Madhya Pradesh were the joint winners in the Adventure Tourism category and Uttarakhand won the award for the Best Film Promotion-Friendly State.
• Telangana won the award for the Best State for the innovative use of IT.

IASTODAY DAILY CAPSULES -General Studies-03

Oil spills reach more than 100 regions of Brazil’s coast

News

• Brazil’s main environmental agency Ibama said that it has detected 105 crude oil spills from an undetermined source polluting the waters of the country’s northeast coast this month.

Crude oil spills

• The spill spans over 1,500 kilometers of Brazil’s northeast coast, affecting wildlife and polluting some of the postcard beaches in one of the nation’s top touristic destinations.
• Some marine turtles were contaminated by the oil. They were rescued alive in the state of Rio Grande do Norte and sent to rehabilitation centers.
• Brazil’s environmental body urged beachgoers and fishermen to avoid the material. It said the situation is stable in the waters of the most affected state, Rio Grande do Norte.

Punjab sees an increase in farm fires

News

• There has been spike in agricultural fires a phenomenon that’s known to worsen air pollution in Punjab in September, and significantly more than fires in September last year.

Agricultural fires

• From September 24-26, there were 107 fires. In 2018 there were only 11 fires during the same period. However, in 2016 and 2017 there were 106 and 150 fires from September 27-30 respectively.
• Last year’s numbers were unusually low because paddy harvesting was delayed due to the persistence of the monsoon.
• This year, harvesting of basmati varieties of rice has already begun and so the apparent rise in September.
• Agricultural fires, in which farmers set fire to their fields after harvesting paddy, tend to begin around late September and peak around the last week of October by which time farmers have harvested most of their paddy.
• The Centre and the States had declared a “zero tolerance” policy on stubble burning by farmers last year.

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