GEOGRAPHY                                                                                        

1. Scientists excavate ‘ancient river’ in Uttar Pradesh                             

2. What is Goldschmidtite ?                                                                  

POLITY AND GOVERNANCE                                                             

1. Electoral Bond Scheme 2018                                                            

2. Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare, inaugurated the ‘Arogya Manthan’                                                                                         

3. NITI Aayog releases School Education Quality Index (SEQI)              

ECONOMY                                                                                             

1. Sovereign Gold Bond Scheme 2019 -20                                            

2. How to read corporate tax cut                                                         

ENVIRONMENT AND ECOLOGY                                                     

1. Week-Long IPCC Meet on Climate Change begins in New Delhi       

2. Green energy target lacks deadline                                                 

GEOGRAPHY

Scientists excavate ‘ancient river’ in Uttar Pradesh

GS PAPER - 01 GEOGRAPHY - Important Geophysical phenomena such as earthquakes, Tsunami, Volcanic activity, cyclone etc.

Context :

• The Union Jal Shakti Ministry has excavated an old, dried-up river in the Prayagraj during geophysical survey covering the Prayagraj and Kaushambi region in Uttar Pradesh.

More in the news :

• An excavated river linked the Ganga and Yamuna rivers.

• The “Ancient Buried River” is around 4 km wide, 45 km long and consisted of a 15-meter-thick layer buried under the soil.

• The newly discovered river was a buried paleochannel that joins the Yamuna river at Durgapur village, about 26 km south of the current Ganga-Yamuna confluence at Prayagraj.

• The genesis of these buried rivers followed a Report on PaleoChannel on North-West India.

• The knowledge on subsurface connectivity between Ganga and Yamuna rivers will play a very crucial role in the planning of Ganga cleaning and protecting safe groundwater resources,

• A channel that is no longer part of an active river system and has ceased to be a conduit of water is commonly referred to as a palaeochannel.

• It occurs when rivers change their course either due to the movement of tectonic plates or severe floods and cut new ones.

• Some of the palaeochannels lie buried under younger sediments.

• Palaeochannels are commonly occurring landforms in alluvial landscapes, and have an economic significance because of their use in the exploration for freshwater resources, artificial recharge and storage of groundwater.
   

  • Additionally, they are of importance in the location and assessment of mineral deposits such as uraniferous ores, gold, silver and other placer deposits hosted in them.

Significance :

• According to officials at the National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG), the aim is to develop it as a potential groundwater recharge source.

  • NMCG is a body under the Union Jal Shakti Ministry that coordinates the cleaning of the Ganga.

• Knowledge on subsurface connectivity between Ganga and Yamuna rivers will play a very crucial role in planning of Ganga cleaning and protecting safe groundwater resources.

                                                                                                                       Source :- The Hindu

What is Goldschmidtite ?

GS PAPER - 01 GEOGRAPHY - geographical features

Context :

• A new mineral has been discovered inside a diamond unearthed from a mine in South Africa.

More in the News :

• The mineral has been found in Earth’s Mantle (A part of the Interior of the Earth) which covers 80% of earth’s volume.

• It has high concentrations of niobium, potassium and the rare earth elements lanthanum and cerium.

• The found single grain is dark green in colour and opaque.

• The mineral has been named after the Norwegian scientist Victor Moritz Goldschmidt who is considered as the founder of Modern Geochemist.

                                                                                                                 Source :- Indian Express

POLITY AND GOVERNANCE

Electoral Bond Scheme 2018

GS PAPER - 02 POLITY - Important aspects of governance, transparency and accountability, e-governance- applications, models, successes, limitations, and potential; citizens charters, transparency & accountability and institutional and other measures.

Context :

• Government of India has notified the Electoral Bond Scheme 2018

Electoral Bond Scheme :

• The Electoral bonds are instruments/securities which will be used henceforth to donate funds to the political parties.

• These bonds will be on the lines of bearer bonds or promissory notes wherein the issuer (bank) will be the custodian and will pay the one who holds the bonds (political party).

Key Features :

• These bonds will be issued by notified banks.

• The donor may approach these banks and purchase the bonds.

• The donor shall be permitted to buy the bonds through cheque/digital payment. Hence the identity of the donors will be protected (if the donors are identified, they may get caught up in political rivalry-especially if the donor is a businessman).

• The donor will donate these bonds to the political party.

• The political party has to encash it into the account which is registered with the Election Commission of India.

• The electoral bond, which will be a bearer instrument, will not carry the name of the payee and can be bought for any value, in multiples of Rs 1,000, Rs 10,000, Rs 1 lakh, Rs 10 lakh or Rs 1 crore.

Eligibility :

• As per provisions of the Scheme, electoral bonds may be purchased by a citizen of India, or entities incorporated or established in India.

• A person being an individual can buy electoral bonds, either singly or jointly with other individuals.

• Only the registered Political Parties which have secured not less than one per cent of the votes polled in the last Lok Sabha elections or the State Legislative Assembly are eligible to receive the Electoral Bonds.

                                                                                                                                                                    Source :- PIB

Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare, inaugurated the ‘Arogya Manthan’

GS PAPER - 02 GOVERNANCE - Welfare schemes for vulnerable sections of the population by the Centre and States and the performance of these schemes

Context :

• Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare, today inaugurated the ‘Arogya Manthan’.

  • A 2-day national workshop organised by National Health Authority (NHA) to mark the first year anniversary of Ayushman Bharat PMJAY

Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PMJAY)  :

• Ayushman Bharat - Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB-PMJAY) is a Centrally Sponsored Scheme having central sector component under Ayushman Bharat Mission anchored in the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW).

• It is an umbrella of two major health initiatives, namely Health and wellness Centres and National  Health Protection Scheme.

• PMJAY is government-sponsored health insurance scheme, that will provide free coverage of up to Rs 5 lakh per family per year in any government or empanelled private hospitals all over India.

• It will cover beneficiaries families identified on the basis of Socio Economic Caste Survey (SECC) 2011

• National Health Agency (NHA) is the apex body for implementing this scheme.

• States will be required to form State Health Agency (SHA) to implement scheme and at the district level also structure for its implementation will be set up.           

                                                                                                                                                                  Source :- PIB

NITI Aayog releases School Education Quality Index (SEQI)

GS PAPER  - 02 GOVERNANCE - Issues relating to development and management of Social Sector/Services relating to Health, Education, Human Resources.

Context :

•  NITI Aayog releases School Education Quality Index (SEQI), Kerala, Manipur and Chandigarh top in overall performance.

School Education Quality Index :

• School Education Quality Index (SEQI) was developed by NITI Aayog

  • to evaluate the performance of States and Union Territories (UTs) in the school education sector.

• The index aims to bring an ‘outcomes’ focus to education policy by providing States and UTs with a platform to identify their strengths and weaknesses and undertake requisite course corrections or policy interventions.

• Developed through a collaborative process, including key stakeholders such as Ministry of Human Resource and Development (MHRD), the World Bank and sector experts

• SEQI strives to facilitate the sharing of knowledge and best practices across States and UTs.

• The index consists of 30 critical indicators that assess the delivery of quality education.

• These indicators are categorized as below:

Category 1: Outcomes

1. Domain 1: Learning outcomes

2. Domain 2: Access outcomes

3. Domain 3: Infrastructure and facilities for outcomes

4. Domain 4: Equity outcomes

Category 2: Governance processes aiding outcomes

• To facilitate like-to-like comparisons, States and UTs have been grouped as Large States, Small States and Union Territories.
   

  • Within each of these groups, the indicator values have been appropriately scaled, normalized and weighted to generate an overall performance score and ranking for each State and UT.

• States and UTs were ranked on their overall performance in the reference year 2016-17, as well as on the change in their performance between the reference year and base year (2015-16).

Key Findings :

• Among 20 large States, Kerala was ranked first for overall performance on the quality of school education while Uttar Pradesh came in last.
   

  • However, Haryana, Assam and Uttar Pradesh showed the most improvement in their performance in 2016-17, in comparison to the base year of 2015-16.

• Among smaller States, Manipur emerged as the best performer, while Chandigarh topped the list of Union Territories.
   

  • It is to be noted that all seven UTs have shown an improvement in their performance.

• West Bengal refused to participate in the evaluation process and has not been included in the rankings.

Significance :

• The index recognises that school education is a subject on the Concurrent List and that State-level leadership is crucial for improving outcomes in a cost-effective manner.

• The index will serve as a regular and transparent review of the status of school education quality across the States and UTs.

• The index encourages States/UTs to improve their scores by showing progress across these aspects.

• In line with NITI Aayog’s mandate to foster the spirit of competitive and cooperative federalism, the index strives to facilitate the sharing of knowledge and best practices across States and UTs.

                                                                                                                                                              Source :- PIB

ECONOMY

Sovereign Gold Bond Scheme 2019 -20

GS PAPER - 03 ECONOMY - Government policies and interventions for development in various sectors and issues arising out of their design and implementation.

Context :

• Government of India, in consultation with the Reserve Bank of India, has decided to issue Sovereign Gold Bonds.

• The Bonds will be sold through Scheduled Commercial banks (except Small Finance Banks and Payment Banks), Stock Holding Corporation of India Limited (SHCIL), designated post offices, and recognised stock exchanges viz., National Stock Exchange of India Limited and Bombay Stock Exchange Limited.

Sovereign Gold Bond :

• Sovereign Gold Bonds are government securities denominated in grams of gold. They are substitutes for holding physical gold.

• The sovereign gold bond scheme was launched in November 2015 to reduce the demand for physical gold and shift a part of the domestic savings, used for the purchase of gold, into financial savings.

• Government introduced these bonds to help reduce India’s over dependence on gold imports.

Key Features :

                                                                                                                               Source :- PIB

How to read corporate tax cut

GS PAPER - 03 ECONOMY - Government policies and interventions for development in various sectors and issues arising out of their design and implementation.

Context :

• Recently, the Government has reduced the corporate tax rates in order to encourage manufacturing and boost private investment.

What has the government done?

• The central government has slashed corporate tax rates for domestic firms from 30% to 22% and for new manufacturing companies from 25% to 15% to boost economic growth.

• The new effective tax rate inclusive of surcharge and cess for domestic companies would be 25.17% and for new domestic manufacturing companies would be 17.01%.

• Also,the Minimum Alternate Tax(MAT) will not apply to such companies.

Why has the government cut tax rates?

• A corporate tax cut works a lot like an income tax cut for individuals.

• lower corporate tax rate means businesses have more money left with them; in other words, it increases their profits.

ENVIRONMENT AND ECOLOGY

Week-Long IPCC Meet on Climate Change begins in New Delhi

GS PAPER - 03 ENVIRONMENT AND ECOLOGY - Important International institutions, agencies and fora- their structure, mandate.

Context :

• India is hosting the Second Lead Author Meeting of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Working Group III Sixth Assessment Report at New Delhi.

More in the news:

• More than 200 experts/authors including 12 from India and others from around 65 countries are expected to participate in this week-long meeting.

• The Sixth Assessment Report (AR6) will examine topics such as the link between consumption and behaviour and greenhouse gas emissions, and the role of innovation and technology.

• The report will assess the connection between short to medium-term actions and their compatibility with the long-term temperature goal in the Paris Agreement.

• It will assess mitigation options in sectors such as energy, agriculture, forestry and land use, buildings, transport and industry.

IPCC :

• The IPCC is the UN body for assessing the science related to climate change.

• It was established by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) in 1988 to provide political leaders with periodic scientific assessments concerning climate change, its implications and risks, as well as to put forward adaptation and mitigation strategies.

• It has 195 member states.

• For the assessment reports, IPCC scientists volunteer their time to assess the thousands of scientific papers published each year to provide a comprehensive summary of what is known about the drivers of climate change, its impacts and future risks, and how adaptation and mitigation can reduce those risks.

• The IPCC has three working groups. They are:

  • Working Group I: Dealing with the physical science basis of climate change

  • Working Group II: Dealing with impacts, adaptation and vulnerability

  • Working Group III: Dealing with the mitigation of climate change

• It also has a Task Force on National Greenhouse Gas Inventories that develops methodologies for measuring emissions and removals.

                                                                                                                                                                 Source :- PIB

Green energy target lacks deadline

GS PAPER - 03 ENVIRONMENT AND ECOLOGY - Conservation, environmental pollution and degradation, environmental impact assessment

Context :

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the Climate Action Summit in New York announced India’s ambitious aim to increase its renewable energy target to 450 GW (gigawatts).

  •  A senior official in the Union Environment Ministry has pointed out that there is not yet a deadline for when this target would be achieved.

More in the news:

• India had previously set a target for increasing the non-fossil fuels to 175 GW in 2022.

• India’s plan for installing 175 GW of renewable energy capacity by 2022 was first announced in 2015 during then Finance Minister Arun Jaitley’s Budget speech.

  • It included 100 GW from solar, 60 GW from wind, 10 GW from bio-power and 5 GW from small hydro-power.

• Recent announcements highlight India’s aim to achieve 450 GW target, with no particular deadline.

Concern :

• The country right now has an installed renewable energy capacity of 80.47 GW, of which 29.55 GW is solar, 36.37 GW is wind, 9.81 GW is biomass and 4.6GW is small hydropower, achieving the 450 GW target, which is a more than 460 per cent jump from the current level, in 3-5 years is an extremely tough task. For the record, India’s renewable power capacity had jumped nearly 150 per cent in the past five years.

• The announcement comes at a time when commissioning of projects has slowed and states are raising red flags.

• Slow project allocation and financial stress have halted wind power projects.

• Solar projects have been facing land crunch and grid connectivity issues.

• As India expands it renewables portfolio, wind power seem to be losing steam. Leading domestic wind turbine manufacturers, with more than 80 per cent market share, are staring at a weak order pipeline, financial losses and regulatory niggles. Foreign companies, including some Chinese ones, are increasing footprint in India.

• Commissioning from wind power projects has slowed to historic lows.

• In solar, the challenge is the low capacity of domestic solar panels and increased influx of imports from China.

                                                                                                                               Source :- The Hindu

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