IASTODAY DAILY CAPSULES -General Studies-01

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Climate change can reduce banana yield in India, says study

News

• Global warming in the last about 60 years had helped increase banana yield at annual rate of 0.024 tonnes per hectare translating to an average increase of 1.37 tonnes per hectare in 27 countries since the 1960s.
• But with continued warming, the yield gains could slow down or even reverse in some countries leading to a drop in yields 0.59-0.19 tonnes per hectare by 2050.

Global warming

• India, which is the world’s largest producer and consumer of banana, along with nine other countries such as Brazil will see a reduction in the yield.
• According to the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) with 29 million tonnes produced per year between 2010 and 2017, India is the world’s number one producer of banana.
• Over 29% of the world’s banana production is in India. The average yield of banana in India is around 60 tonnes per hectare, according to the FAO.
• During the same period (2010 and 2017), China, which is second largest producer globally, produced about one-third of India 11 million tonnes per year.

IASTODAY DAILY CAPSULES -General Studies-02

Govt hikes ethanol price to cut oil import bill by $1 billion

News

• The government raised the price of sugarcane-extracted ethanol used for blending in petrol by up to ₹1.84 per litre as it looked to cut oil import bill by $1 billion annually through its greater use in auto fuels.

Sugarcane-extracted ethanol

• State-owned oil marketing companies will buy ethanol from sugar mills, for mixing in petrol, at enhanced rates for ethanol from December 1.
• The price of ethanol from ‘C-heavy molasses’ has been raised by 29 paise per litre to ₹43.75 while the same from ‘B-heavy molasses’, also called as intermediary molasses, by ₹1.84 to ₹54.27 a litre.
• Ethanol is a by-product of molasses generated on crushing of sugarcane and the higher price is to encourage sugar mills to divert from sugar production.
• Cane-based ethanol can be produced by three different ways directly from cane juice, from B-grade and C-grade molasses.
• Price of ethanol was last revised in September last year when the CCEA had approved a 25 per cent hike in the price of ethanol produced directly from sugarcane juice to ₹59.13. Now it has been hiked to ₹59.48.
• At that time, the price of ethanol produced from B-heavy molasses was hiked from ₹47.13 to ₹52.43 but that from C-heavy molasses marginally reduced to ₹43.46 from ₹43.7.
• The world’s third largest oil consumer is dependent on imports to meet 83 per cent of its needs and substituting some of the fuel with biofuels will help cut import dependence.
• India spent $112 billion on import of 226 million tonnes of crude oil in 2018-19.
• Currently, petrol contains 6 per cent of ethanol.

Modi to be honoured by Gates Foundation for Swachch Bharat Abhiyan

News

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be honoured with the prestigious ‘Global Goalkeeper Award’ by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation for his leadership and commitment to the Swachch Bharat Abhiyaan,a nationwide initiative aimed to inspire the public to voluntarily clean public spaces as a service to the nation.

Swachch Bharat Abhiyaan Aim: accelerating the efforts to achieve universal sanitation coverage in the country by this year as a tribute to Mahatma Gandhi on his 150th birth anniversary.

• So far, 90 million toilets have been built to eliminate open defecation by October 2, 2019 and currently 98 per cent of India’s villages have rural sanitation coverage instead of 38 per cent four years ago.

Melinda Gates Foundation

• The Foundation will host the fourth annual Goalkeepers ‘Global Goals Awards’.
• The annual awards, in five categories, are presented to leaders and individuals for their efforts in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
• The categories are Progress, Changemaker, Campaign, Goalkeepers Voice and the Global Goalkeeper.
• These Awards tell the extraordinary stories of remarkable individuals taking action to bring the Global Goals to life and help achieve them by 2030.
• This year, Goalkeepers will focus on the challenge of fighting global inequality to ensure that no one is left behind.

Northeastern States step up vigil against those excluded from NRC

News

• Pressure groups in the northeastern States adjoining Assam have stepped up vigil to ensure “doubtful citizens” excluded from the updated National Register of Citizens (NRC) do not sneak into their areas.

Updated National Register of Citizens

• The Naga Students’ Federation (NSF) has demanded implementation of Inner-Line Permit (ILP) in Nagaland’s commercial hub Dimapur in view of the “sharp increase” in the “influx of non-locals” from Assam after the exclusion of more than 19 lakh from the NRC.
• Dimapur is the only place where visitors or workers do not need to possess an ILP as per the Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation (BEFR) 1873.
• The Central Nagaland Tribes Council has aired similar apprehension about people not making it to the final NRC trying to infiltrate into the State.

CEO launches Electors’ Verification Programme

News

• Voters in the Andhra Pradesh State can check their details on electoral rolls and make changes through the Electors’ Verification Programme (EVP), a first from the Election Commission of India.

Aim: to make electoral rolls error-free.

Electoral rolls

• A voter will be able to check his details and update them both online and offline. He/she can also verify and update the records of his family members. The EVP will continue till October 15.
• People can authenticate their elector’s details by producing a copy of one of the documents passport, driving licence, Aadhaar, ration card, ID card for government/semi-government officials, bank passbook, farmer’s ID card, PAN, smart card issued by RGI under NPR and latest water/electricity/ telephone/ gas connection bill.
• Various means are available to facilitate the authentication process.

India, Japan to hold 2+2 dialogue on Indo-Pacific cooperation

News

• India and Japan have decided to hold their first Foreign and Defence Ministerial Dialogue (2+2) ahead of the Japan-India annual summit this year for “advancing cooperation towards peace and prosperity of the Indo-Pacific region”.

First Foreign and Defence Ministerial Dialogue

• The Prime Ministers of Japan and India, in their vision statement in October 2018, had reiterated their commitment to working together towards a free and open Indo-Pacific.
• The Ministry said that the two Ministers shared their intention that Japanese Maritime Self Defence Force (JMSDF) and Indian Navy will make efforts towards participating in multilateral exercises including participation as observers.
• In this regard, the Ministers welcomed both the Japan-India-U.S. trilateral maritime exercise ‘Malabar 2019’, which would be held from late September to early October, and the second Japan-India-U.S. trilateral mine-countermeasures exercise (MINEX) that was held in July, and expressed their resolve “to continue the trilateral exercise in the same framework from next year onwards.”
• The Armies and Air Forces of India and Japan held their first bilateral exercises, ‘Dharma Guardian’ and ‘Shinyuu Maitri’, in 2018. Last year, Japan also joined the India-US Air Force exercise ‘Cope India’ as an observer for the first time.
• The two countries have made steady progress in Maritime Domain Awareness (MDA) based on implementing the arrangement for deeper cooperation between the two Navies, signed last year.
• The Ministers also noted the progress on the ongoing negotiations for the Acquisition and Cross-Servicing Agreement (ACSA), which commenced after the summit meeting in last year.

IASTODAY DAILY CAPSULES -General Studies-03

Chandrayaan 2 lander Vikram undergoes first of 2 ‘de-orbiting’ manoeuvres

News

• Chandrayaan 2’s lander Vikram underwent the first of two ‘de-orbiting’ manoeuvres.
• The operation performed from ISRO’s control centre slightly trimmed the lander’s orbit towards its destination.
• Vikram now goes around in a slightly shorter orbit at a distance of 104 km x 128 km from the Moon.

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