India, Pak. move towards release of civilian prisoners

GS PAPER - 02 INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS - India and its neighborhood- relations.

Context:

       ★ India and Pakistan on Tuesday (January 1) exchanged their lists of nuclear installations, civilian prisoners and fishermen in the countries' custodies.

India - Pakistan List of Nuclear installation:

      ★ The list of nuclear installations and facilities covered under the Agreement on the Prohibition of Attack Against Nuclear Installations between India and Pakistan exchanges it on January 1.

      ★ This was done under an agreement which was signed on Dec 31, 1988 and entered into force on Jan 27, 1991 .

      ★ Which states that the two countries inform each other of nuclear installations and facilities to be covered under the Agreement on the first of January of every calendar year.

      ★ This is the twenty eighth consecutive exchange of such list between the two countries, the first one having taken place on Jan 01 1992.

India - Pakistan list of  civilian prisoners and fishermen:

     ★ The exchange of list of prisoners and fishermen between India and Pakistan, too, takes place on the first day of the year, every year

     ★ This is in keeping with the provisions of the 2008 Agreement under which such lists are exchanged on 1st January and 1st July, every year

     ★ India handed over lists of 249 Pakistan civilian prisoners and 98 fishermen in its custody to Pakistan

     ★ Pakistan has shared lists of 54 civilian prisoners and 483 fishermen in its custody, who are Indians or believed-to-be-Indians

                                                                                                                                    Source:- The Hindu

Parliamentary committee irked by States’ insensitivity to Western Ghats

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

Context:

         ★ Parliamentary committee said, Over 56,000 kilometres of ecologically sensitive areas (ESA) in the Western Ghats could not be earmarked as ‘no-go’ zones due to State governments’ ‘insensitivity’.

         ★ The panel has urged the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change to constitute a committee to address the issues and grievances of local people.

         ★ The panel, which keeps track of assurances given by ministers on the floor of the Upper House, presented its latest report on Monday.

         ★ The panel had examined issues regarding the categorisation of the Western Ghats as ESA as per the recommendations of two committees led by Madhav Gadgil and K. Kasturirangan.

Gadgil Committee:

        ★ Environment Ministry set up the Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel under Gadgil.

        ★ The panel was asked to make an assessment of the ecology and biodiversity of the Western Ghats and suggest measures to conserve, protect and rejuvenate the entire range that stretches to over 1500 km along the coast, with its footprints in Gujarat, Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka, Kerala, and Tamil Nadu.

        ★ It defined the boundaries of the Western Ghats for the purposes of ecological management.

        ★ It proposed that this entire area be designated as ecologically sensitive area (ESA). Within this area, smaller regions were to be identified as ecologically sensitive zones (ESZ) I, II or III based on their existing condition and nature of threat.

        ★ It proposed to divide the area into about 2,200 grids, of which 75 per cent would fall under ESZ I or II or under already existing protected areas such as wildlife sanctuaries or natural parks.

        ★ The committee proposed a Western Ghats Ecology Authority to regulate these activities in the area.

Note:-None of the six concerned states agreed with the recommendations of the Gadgil Committee, which submitted its report in August 2011.

Kasturirangan Committee:

         ★ In August 2012, then Environment Minister constituted a High-Level Working Group on Western Ghats under Kasturirangan to “examine” the Gadgil Committee report in a “holistic and multidisciplinary fashion in the light of responses received” from states, central ministries and others.

         ★ Instead of the total area of Western Ghats, only 37% (i.e. 60,000 sq. km.) of the total area be brought under ESA under Kasturirangan report.

         ★ A complete ban on mining, quarrying and sand mining in ESA

         ★ Distinguished between cultural (58% occupied in the Western Ghats by it like human settlements, agricultural fields and plantations) and natural landscape (90% of it should come under ESA according to the committee).

         ★ Current mining areas in the ESA should be phased out within the next five years, or at the time of expiry of mining lease, whichever is earlier.

         ★ No thermal power be allowed and hydropower projects are allowed only after detailed study.

         ★ Red industries i.e. which are highly polluting be strictly banned in these areas.

         ★ Kasturirangan report on the Western Ghats has made several pro-farmer recommendations, including the exclusion of inhabited regions and plantations from the purview of ecologically sensitive areas (ESAs).

                                                                                                              Source:- The Hindu

Cinereous vulture seen in Jharkhand

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

Context:

       ★ Cinereous vulture was found with three other endangered species of vultures.

More about the news:

       ★ During the winter that a distinctly dark large bird – the Cinereous vulture, with a blacked-tipped pink beak – migrates from the mountainous regions of Europe and Asia to warmer places, including India.

       ★ While earlier records of this migratory bird have revealed that it comes to northern parts of India up to Rajasthan, bird watchers and researchers were baffled to find it in Hazaribagh, Jharkhand.

       ★ Interestingly, the Cinereous vulture (classified as Near Threatened under the IUCN Red List) was found with three other endangered species of vultures – the Himalyan Griffon, White-rumped vulture and the Long-billed vulture.

Cinereous vulture (Aegypius monachus):

        ★ The cinereous vulture is one of the heaviest and largest raptors in the world.

        ★ In many countries, this bird is called ‘monk vulture’, because of it’s upright standing neck feathers that resemble the hood of a monk.

        ★ In the last two hundred years, the cinereous vulture greatly decreased in numbers in most distribution areas, especially by poisoning, habitat destruction and reduction of food supply.

        ★ In many European countries (Portugal, France, Italy, Austria, Poland, Slovakia and Romania), the species became extinct.

                                                                                                             Source:- The Hindu

Boost to plain packaging  [Editorial / Opinion]

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

Context:

         ★ Thailand and Saudi Arabia will join a growing club of nations introducing plain packaging of tobacco products.

         ★ Both countries are the first in the Asian and Arab regions, respectively, to adopt the tough measure in order to curb tobacco consumption.

Plain packaging:

        ★ It is also known as generic, neutral, standardised or homogeneous packaging.

        ★ This requires that packaging has a uniform plain color and texture; mandates standard shape, size and materials of packs;

        ★ It prohibits any branding, logos or other promotional elements on, inside or attached to the packaging or on individual products.

        ★ World Trade Organisation (WTO), in June 2018, has recommended the plain packaging.

Significance of Plain packaging:

       ★ Plain packaging standardizes the appearance of tobacco products.

       ★ Other than brand and product names displayed in a standard color and font style, it prohibits the use of logos, colors, brand images or promotional information.

       ★ Besides increasing the effectiveness of health warnings, it reduces the attractiveness of tobacco products, with no scope for using packaging to advertise and promote consumption.

       ★ Along with higher taxes and large pictorial warnings, plain packaging can serve as a tool to deter new users and prompt existing users to quit

Plain packaging system- World:

       ★ In December 2012, Australia became the first country to introduce plain packaging following the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) guidelines

       ★ It has also been implemented in France and the United Kingdom (both 2016)

       ★ Norway and Ireland (both 2017) and New Zealand and Hungary (both 2018).

       ★ It will be implemented in Uruguay (2019) and Slovenia (2020). The move is under process or being considered in 14 more countries.

Impacts of Plain packaging:

       ★ Plain packaging along with other measures led to 0.55 percentage point reduction in smoking prevalence in Australia.

Packaging Standards in India:

       ★ In April 2016, India increased the size of graphic pictorial warnings, by 85%, on the packaging of tobacco products (both front and back).

       ★ According to the Global Adult Tobacco Survey 2016-2017, the percentage of users in India who thought of quitting because of such warning labels increased sharply to 62% (cigarette), 54% (bidi) and 46% (smokeless tobacco users). when compared with the survey results of 2009-2010.

        ★ Likewise, tobacco use among those aged 15-24 years showed a six-percentage point reduction (18.4% in 2009-10 to 12.4% in 2016-17).

        ★ The number of tobacco users dropped by eight million.

Conclusion:

        ★ In India, tobacco is the cause of about one million deaths annually. The higher taxes and large pictorial warnings, plain packaging can serve as a tool to deter new users and prompt existing users to quit.

                                                                                                                                   Source:- The Hindu

Signs of a turnaround: on RBI’s Financial Stability Report [Editorial /Opinion]

GS PAPER - 03 ECONOMY - Indian Economy and issues relating to planning, mobilization of resources, growth, development and employment

Context:

         ★ India’s financial system remains stable, and the banking sector shows signs of improvement, even though the global economic environment and the emerging trends in financial sector pose challenges

Highlights of the Report:

      ★ Credit growth of scheduled commercial banks (SCBs) has improved between March 2018 and September 2018, driven largely by private sector banks (PVBs).

      ★ The asset quality of banks showed an improvement with the gross non-performing assets (GNPA) ratio of SCBs declining from 11.5 per cent in March 2018 to 10.8 per cent in September 2018.

      ★ Under the baseline scenario, GNPA ratio may decline from 10.8 per cent in September 2018 to 10.3 per cent in March 2019.

      ★ Analysis of the financial network structure for the period September 2017 – September 2018 reveals a shrinking inter-bank market and increasing bank linkages with asset management companies-mutual funds (AMC-MFs) for raising funds and with NBFCs/Housing Finance Companies (HFCs) for lending.

      ★ RBI report said global growth outlook for 2018 and 2019 was "steady". 

            ☆ However, the central bank added that downside risks rose due to tightening of financial conditions in Advanced Economies, and increasing protectionist trade policies and global geopolitical tension.

Concerns Highlighted in the Report:

      ★ Data on banking frauds are cause for concern. Close to 95% of the frauds reported in the six months ended September were credit-related, with PSBs again bearing the brunt of mala fide intent on the part of borrowers.

                                                                                                              Source:- The Hindu

ISRO launches Samwad with Students on New Year Day

GS PAPER - 03 SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY - Science and Technology- developments and their applications and effects in everyday life Achievement of Indians in science & technology

Context:

        ★ As part of the enhanced outreach programme of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), a new platform named “Samwad with Students” (SwS) was launched in Bengaluru.

Aim:

      ★ ISRO aims to constantly engage youngsters across India in activities concerning space science to capture their scientific temperament.

      ★ The new conversation mission aims to inspire students cutting across schools and colleges.

      ★ SwS aims at drawing inspiration and motivation from young India.

                                                                                                                                                Source:- PIB

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------