Daily notes can be located datewise by clicking here

IASTODAY DAILY CAPSULES -General Studies-02

China’s anti-India move at UN Security Council blocked by US, Germany

Source: LiveMint

News

• The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) has condemned in the strongest terms the “heinous and cowardly terrorist attack” that took place at Pakistan stock exchange building in Pakistan’s Karachi, killing 11 people. But the UNSC’s statement has come after much delay due to US and Germany’s reluctance to sign the draft press statement prepared by China.

Silent solidarity with India

• China introduced the statement but Germany stepped in to put a delay in issuing the statement at the last moment. Then, the US intervened also at the last moment.
• The move to delay the statement by US and Germany is being read as silent solidarity with India, after the Pakistan foreign minister and PM blamed India for the attack.
• The members of the Security Council reaffirmed that terrorism in all its forms and manifestations constitutes one of the most serious threats to international peace and security.

After banning Chinese apps, India raises Hong Kong at UN

Source: Indian Express

News

• For the first time since the Hong Kong protests broke out last year, India spoke out at the United Nations Human Rights Council and said the relevant parties should address the issues “properly, seriously and objectively”.

Retaliatory step

• This is being seen as a retaliatory step in terms of reputational cost to Beijing, after India inflicted economic cost to Beijing by banning Chinese mobile apps.
• The statement was delivered by India’s Permanent Representative to the UN in Geneva, Rajiv Kumar Chander, at the 44th session of the Human Rights Council being held between 30 June-21 July in Geneva.

Italian marines case: India entitled to compensation as per UN tribunal ruling, says MEA

Source: Indian Express

News

• An international tribunal has ruled that India is entitled to payment of compensation in connection with a case dating back to 2012 in which two Indian fishermen were killed by two Italian marines, the Ministry of External Affairs said.
• It also stated that the tribunal held that the actions of the Italian military officers and, consequently, Italy breached India’s freedom of navigation under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).

Compensation

• India accused the Italian marinesMassimiliano Latorre and Salvatore Girone—on board the MV Enrica Lexie, an Italian flagged oil tanker, of shooting dead two Indian fishermen at sea, approximately 20.5 nautical miles off Kerala in India’s Exclusive Economic Zone on February 15, 2012.
• Italy, however, claimed that as the Indian vessel St. Antony drew close, the marines assessed that it “was on a collision course with the MV Enrica Lexie and that this modus operandi was consistent with a pirate attack”.
• The core legal dispute stemmed from India exercising criminal jurisdiction over the two Italians by filing a murder case and arresting them. Italy claimed that the marines had been hired to protect the tanker from pirates, and they were only doing their job.
• They approached the Supreme Court, asking that all proceedings against them be declared violative of the principle of sovereign immunity and hence, illegal. The marines asked the court to hand them over to Italian authorities; a tribunal in Rome had, by then, begun criminal proceedings against them under Italian law.

On February 22, 2013, the Supreme Court allowed Latorre and Girone to visit Italy to vote in the February 24-25 elections. On March 11, however, Italy refused to send them back, triggering a crisis.

India-Israel project seeks to help farmers use water and energy more efficiently

Source: Indian Express

News

• In a bid to prevent depletion of the water table during agriculture, the governments of Israel and India, along with Pune-based BAIF Development and Research Foundation (BDRF) and other educational and research institutes, have started a project that will allow farmers to use water and energy more efficiently.

Aim; The project aims to replace inefficient pumps with energy-efficient pumps and sensors to measure actual water usage.

India-Israel project

• Subsidised electricity in the agricultural sector has often led to over utilisation of groundwater as farmers avoid metering their pumps.
• Over extraction of groundwater and subsequent depletion of the water table are often blamed on this unregulated use of electricity, and farmers often have no means to measure their water usage.
• The maximum efficiency of pumps in India is between 18 per cent and 25 per cent. Farmers have no way of knowing when and how much to irrigate and so, all measurements are taken by instinct.
• Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL) a government of India initiative will be replacing the inefficient pumps. Micro-irrigation at the field level will ensure efficient use of water by farmers, sources said.

Defence Ministry approves procurement of 21 MiG-29 and 12 Sukhoi fighter jets

Source: LiveMint

News

• The Defence Ministry gave its approval to the Indian Air Force to speedily procure 21 MiG-29 fighter jets besides 12 Sukhoi MK1 from Russia, a key development that comes in the middle of an almost two-month long military standoff with China.

Speedily procure

• The Defence Ministry’s Defence Acquisition Council also gave its nod for the upgradation of existing 59 MiG-29 aircrafts.
• The orders for the fighter jets and 248 beyond visual range ASTRA air to air missiles with the capacity to engage and destroy highly manoeuvring supersonic aircraft during night or day  besides long range land attack missile systems having a firing range of 1,000 kilometres are expected to come as a shot in the arm for India’s military especially the Indian Air Force whose squadron strength is now down to 30 from the sanctioned number of 42.
• MIG 29 procurement and upgradation from Russia is estimated to cost ₹7,418 crores, the Su-30 MKI will be procured from HAL at an estimated cost of ₹10,730 crore.

IASTODAY DAILY CAPSULES -General Studies-03

DAC approves capital acquisition of various platforms & equipment worth Rs 38,900 crore; Focus on indigenous design and development; acquisitions from Indian industry of Rs 31,130 crore
Source: PIB india

News

• In the current situation and the need to strengthen the Armed Forces for the defence of our borders and in line with Prime Minister clarion call for ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’, Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) in its meeting held under the chairmanship of Raksha Mantri accorded approval for capital acquisition of various platforms and equipment required by the Indian Armed Forces. Proposals for an approximate cost of Rs 38,900 crore were approved. 

Capital acquisition

• Focused on indigenous design and development these approvals include acquisitions from Indian industry of Rs 31,130 crore. The equipment are going to be manufactured in India involving Indian defence industry with participation of several MSMEs as prime tier vendors.
• The indigenous content in some of these projects is up to 80 per cent of the project cost. A large number of these projects have been made possible due to Transfer of Technology (ToT) by Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) to the indigenous industry.
• The cost of these design and development proposals is in the range of Rs 20,400 crore. 
• Acquisition of new/additional missile systems will add to the fire power of three Services.
• Acquisition of Pinaka missile systems will enable raising additional regiments over and above the ones already inducted, addition of Long Range Land Attack Missile Systems having a firing range of 1,000 kilometres to the existing arsenal will bolster the attack capabilities of the Navy and the Air Force.
• Similarly induction of Astra Missiles having Beyond Visual Range capability will serve as a force multiplier and immensely add to the strike capability of the Navy and Air Force. 

Unique Urban Forest inaugurated at the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India in New Delhi

Source: PIB india

News

• Over the years, the Air Quality Index (AQI) of Delhi has become an increasing cause of concern. The ITO crossing of New Delhi has recorded particularly high air pollution levels.  In response to these developments and keeping in view its community responsibilities, the office of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India which is located at Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg has taken steps to establish an Urban Forest in the Office Park.

 Afforestation

• Keeping in view the limited area, local material was adopted to enable intensive afforestation. 
• The forest is made up of trees which are native to the area and are three dimensional, multi-layered communities having 30 times the surface area of the greenery of single-layered lawns, and have more than 30 times the ability to protect against natural disasters and to conserve the environment.
• With minimal maintenance, including watering and de-weeding, the urban forest will be self-sustainable.  The Urban forest has an ecosystem which has the capacity to restore habitat for birds, bees, butterflies and microfauna. These are essential for pollination of crops and fruits and to help maintain a balanced ecosystem.
• A dense forest ecosystem has been created in an area that is little over 1 acre in size. The multi-layered forest has shrubs, small to medium-size trees and tall trees carefully arranged as peripheral and core plant communities.
• The urban forest sends out an action-oriented message of bringing back lost environmental protection forests. In-depth field surveys of potential natural vegetation, well planned native species’ propagation and restoration projects like these are the need of the hour.  

Union HRD Minister and Union Health Minister jointly launch the Drug Discovery Hackathon 2020 (DDH2020)

Source: PIB india

News

• Union Minister for Human Resource Development  and  Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare and Ministry of Science and Technology  launched Drug Discovery Hackathon through online platform.

 Drug Discovery Hackathon

• This Drug Discovery Hackathon is a joint initiative of MHRD, AICTE and CSIR and supported by partners like CDAC, MyGov, Schrodinger and ChemAxon.
• Hackathon is first of its kind national initiative for supporting drug discovery process.
• To attract international talent, the hackathon will be open to participation from across the globe from professionals, faculty, researchers and students from varied fields like computer science, chemistry, Pharmacy, medical sciences, basic sciences and biotechnology.

Background Information and Methodology of Hackathon

• The hackathon consists of challenges that are posted as problem statements and, are based on specific drug discovery topics which, are open to the participants to solve.
• My Gov portal is being used and any Indian student can participate.
• Professionals and researchers from anywhere in the world can participate.
• Two kinds of challenges problem statements (PS) are being offered and a total of 29 have been identified.
• Track 1 will primarily deal with drug design for anti-COVID-19 hit/lead generation: this is done using tools such as molecular modeling, pharmacophore optimization, molecular docking, hit/lead optimization, etc.
• Track 2 will deal with designing/optimizing new tools and algorithms which will have an immense impact on expediting the process of in silico drug discovery
• There is also a third track called “Moon shot “which allows for working on problems which are ‘out of the box’ nature.

India’s trade deficit with China reduces to $48.66 bn in FY20

Source: Financial Express

News

• India’s trade deficit with China fell to $ 48.66 billion in 2019-20 on account of decline in imports from the neighboring country, according to government data.

Trade deficit with China 

• Exports to China in the last financial year stood at $ 16.6 billion, while imports aggregated at $ 65.26 billion, the data showed.
• The trade deficit between the countries was at $ 53.56 billion in 2018-19 and $ 63 billion in 2017-18.
• The main imports from China include clocks and watches, musical instruments, toys, sports goods, furniture, mattresses, plastics, electrical machinery, electronic equipment, chemicals, iron and steel items, fertilisers, mineral fuel and metals.
• The government is taking steps such as framing technical regulations and quality norms for several products to cut dependence on China for imports.
• It has also imposed anti-dumping duties on several goods which are being dumped in the domestic market at below the average prices from China with a view to guard domestic players from cheap imports.
• As many as 371 products have been identified for technical regulations. Out of these, technical regulations have been formulated for 150 products worth about $ $ 47 billion of imports.
• Over 50 quality control orders (QCOs) and other technical regulations have been notified in the past one year including on electronic goods, toys, air conditioners, bicycle parts, chemicals, safety glass, pressure cooker, items of steel, electrical items such as cables.
• China accounts for about 14 per cent of India’s imports and is a major supplier for sectors like mobile phones, telecom, power, plastic toys, and critical pharma ingredients.
• Similarly, foreign direct investment (FDI) from China into India too has dipped to $ 163.78 million in 2019-20 from $ 229 million in the previous fiscal, according to the data.
• India had received $ 350.22 million FDI from the neighbouring country in 2017-18 and $ 277.25 million in 2016-17.
• During April 2000 and March 2020, New Delhi attracted FDI worth $ 2.38 billion from China.

Top sectors which saw maximum FDI from China during April 2000-March 2020, are automobile ($ 987.35 million), metallurgical ($ 199.28 million), electrical equipment ($ 185.33 million), services ($ 170.18 million), and electronics ($ 151.56 million).

A Black hole devours almost one Sun in a day

Source: Indian Express

News

• Scientists have found out that one of the largest known black holes in the Universe, which is around 34 billion times the mass of the Sun, devours almost one Sun’s worth of mass every day.
• This is also the fastest-growing black hole in the entire Universe as of now, due to which it has been classified as an ultramassive black hole.

Ultramassive black hole

• The black hole’s mass is also about 8,000 times bigger than the black hole in the centre of the Milky Way.
• This black hole was discovered back in 2018 and is located in the centre of a galaxy called SMSS J215728.21-360215.1 (J2157 for short), which is billions of light-years away from us.
• At the time when the black hole was discovered, it had a mass of around 20 billion solar masses and had an accretion rate of at least half a solar mass a day.
• Astronomers have taken new measurements and according to the revised numbers the J2157* black hole has a Schwarzschild radius of around 670 astronomical units (AU). It is over five times the size of our Solar System.
• J2157* black hole is not the largest black hole that has been discovered. It is beat by an ultramassive black hole with a size of around 40 billion solar masses located at the heart of the galaxy Holm 15A, around 700 million light-years away.

There is also an ultramassive black hole powering the quasar TON 618 at 66 billion solar masses, 10.4 billion light-years away.

Indian Railways claims 100 per cent punctuality record for ‘first time in history’

Source: Indian Express

News

• Indian Railways claimed it has achieved 100 per cent punctuality rate for the “first time in its history”. That means none of its passenger trains faced delays and their departures and arrivals were on time.

100 per cent punctuality rate

• All special trains 12 pairs running on the Rajdhani routes since May 12 and 100 pairs operating since June 1 are continuing even as the Railways has cancelled all regular trains till August 12.
• Last month, the railways had sent a missive to its zones to ensure 100 per cent punctuality in the running of 230 special trains, which is less than two per cent of the 13,000 trains that normally run on the railway network.
• Railways formally kickstarted its plans to allow private entities to operate passenger trains on its network by inviting request for qualifications (RFQ) for participation on 109 pairs of routes through 151 modern trains, the national transporter said.
• The project would entail a private sector investment of about Rs 30,000 crore, the national transporter said.
• This is the first initiative for private investment for running passenger trains on the Indian Railways network.

The Railways has ferried 60 lakh migrant workers home since May 1 through Shramik Special trains but managed to recover only 15 per cent of operational cost.

270 Indian fishermen, 54 civilians in Pak custody, say officials

Source: Indian Express

News

• Pakistan declared that there are 270 Indian fishermen and 54 civilians in its custody, while India said that 97 Pakistani fishermen and 265 civilians were being held captive in the country, after being arrested on varying charges.

Diplomatic channels

• India and Pakistan, simultaneously exchanged lists of prisoners through diplomatic channels.
• India handed over a list of 97 Pakistani fishermen and 265 civilian prisoners in India’s custody, while Pakistan handed over a list of 270 Indian fishermen and 54 civilian prisoners in Pakistan’s custody.
• Most of the fishermen in Pakistan’s custody are from Gujarat and the adjoining Union Territory of Diu, demanding that both countries should release these fishermen immediately.

PIPFPD is an NGO working for friendly relations between India and Pakistan. It has chapters in both the countries.

The now non-existent India-Pakistan Joint Judicial Committee, in all its reports, had recommended that both countries should release and repatriate the arrested fishermen.

90% militants gunned down in Valley this year were local youths

Source: Indian Express

News

• Over 90 per cent of militants gunned down in the Valley in the first half of 2020 were local youths, according to the J&K Police records.

Local youths militants

• Officials said 118 militants have been killed in the last six months, 11 of whom were foreigners and 107 were local youths.
• Among the militants killed in the Valley this year, 57 are from Hizbul, 24 from Lashkar-e-Taiba, 22 from Jaish-e-Mohammed, seven each from ISJK and AGH and one from Al-Badr.
• About militant recruitment in the last six months, police records show that 67 people have joined militant ranks this year.
• 129 people joined militancy in the first six months last year. This year, data shows there is a decline of 48 per cent.

The majority of those who joined militancy this year are from south Kashmir districts.