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26th FEBRUARY 2019 DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS
Modi opens war memorial
Drought less probable this year: Skymet
‘Britain should hand over Chagos islands to Mauritius’
Banks may set repo rate as benchmark
Two crore jobs created in 16 months to December 2018: CSO
Global warming imperils clouds that deter hothouse Earth
Modi opens war memorial
GS PAPER - 02 GOVERNANCE - Government policies and interventions for development in various sectors and issues arising out of their design and implementation.
Context :
★ Nearly six decades after it was first proposed, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday inaugurated the National War Memorial, sprawled over 40 acres at the India Gate complex in the heart of the national capital.
National War Memorial :
★ The memorial has been built in remembrance of soldiers who sacrificed their lives while protecting the country, post-independence.
★ It also commemorates the soldiers who participated and made the sacrifice in Peace keeping Missions, and Counter Insurgency Operations.
★ The layout of the National War Memorial comprises four concentric circles:
★ Amar Chakra’ or Circle of Immortality,
★ Veerta Chakra’ or Circle of Bravery,
★ ‘Tyag Chakra’ or Circle of Sacrifice and
★ Rakshak Chakra’ or Circle of Protection.
★ The National War Memorial complex includes, central obelisk, an eternal flame, and six bronze murals depicting famous battles fought by Indian Army, Air Force and Navy. Busts of the 21 awardees of Param Veer Chakra have been installed at Param Yodha Sthal have also been installed.
Source :- The Hindu
Drought less probable this year: Skymet
GS PAPER - 03 DISASTER MANAGEMENT - Disaster and disaster management.
Context :
★ According to a forecast by private weather forecaster Skymet, There’s unlikely to be a drought in 2019 as the El Nino — a climate phenomenon linked to poor monsoon in India — is likely to peter out by the beginning of the season.
★ Recently, the U.S. National Climate Centre had issued a forecast that an El Nino had formed and would last up to spring 2019.
★ The India Meteorological Department (IMD) too concurred that a strong El Nino is unlikely but said it’s too early to rule out a drought.
Key findings :
★ There is very limited chance of drought and there is a very limited chance of excess. It is going to distribute itself between either below normal or normal.
★ There is a significant chance of below normal rainfall also
El Nino :★ El Nino refers to the large-scale ocean-atmosphere climate interaction linked to a periodic warming in sea surface temperatures across the central and east-central Equatorial Pacific.★ El Niños occur every three to five years but may come as frequently as every two years or as rarely as every seven years.★ Typically, El Niños occur more frequently than La Niñas.Effects of El Nino :★ The warmer waters in the central and eastern tropical Pacific Ocean have important effects on the world's weather.★ An El Niño creates stronger wind-shear and more-stable air over the Atlantic, which makes it harder for hurricanes to form.★ However, the warmer-than-average ocean temperatures boost eastern Pacific hurricanes, contributing to more-active tropical storm seasons.★ El Niño also affects precipitation in other areas★ A strong El Nino results in reduction and uneven distribution of rainfall across the Indian sub-continent. This is because the trade winds coming from South America which normally blow westward towards Asia during Southwest Monsoon gets weakened due to the warming of the Pacific Ocean. Therefore, moisture and heat content gets limited and this leads to poor rainfall in the region.★ Temperatures in Australia and Southeast Asia run hotter than average.★ El Niño-caused drought can be widespread, affecting southern Africa, India, Southeast Asia, Australia, the Pacific Islands and the Canadian prairies. |
Source :- The Hindu
‘Britain should hand over Chagos islands to Mauritius’
GS PAPER - 02 INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS - Effect of policies and politics of developed and developing countries on India's interests, Indian diaspora.
Context :
★ Britain should give 'colonised' Chagos Islands back to Mauritius, UN court says
Issue :
★ The British government ruled Mauritius from 1810 to 1968.
★ Britain evicted about 2,000 people from the Chagos islands in the 1960s and 1970s so the United States could build a large airbase on Diego Garcia, the largest of its atolls.
★ The United Kingdom paid the then-self governing colony of Mauritius £3 million for the Chagos islands in 1965. It combined them with three islands from the Seychelles to create British Indian Ocean territory, a new British Oversea Territory.
★ Three islands were subsequently returned to the Seychelles.
★ But, under an agreement struck in 1965, in return for compensation to Mauritius and fishing rights, Britain has maintained control of the Chagos islands.which had been chosen as the site of a major US navy and air base.
★ In 2016, after several judicial challenges, Britain extended Diego Garcia’s lease until 2036 and declared that the expelled islanders would not be allowed to go back.
★ In 2017, Mauritius successfully petitioned the United Nations to seek an ICJ advisory opinion on the legality of the separation.
ICJ Order :
★ The UK has been ordered to hand back the Chagos Islands to Mauritius “as rapidly as possible” after the United Nations’ highest court ruled that continued British occupation of the remote Indian Ocean archipelago is illegal.
★ The International Court of Justice found on Monday that although Mauritius' government agreed to the division when it gained independence in 1968, the "detachment was not based on the free and genuine expression of the will of the people concerned."
Way Forward :
★ While ICJ advisory opinions are not binding, the ramifications of the opinion will be highly significant; an opinion in favour of Mauritius may strengthen their position in any future negotiations, as well as putting significant international pressure on the UK over the status of the territory.
International Court of Justice :★ The International Court of Justice (ICJ) is the principal judicial organ of the United Nations (UN).★ It was established in June 1945 by the Charter of the United Nations and began work in April 1946.★ The seat of the Court is at the Peace Palace in The Hague (Netherlands).★ The Court’s role is to settle, in accordance with international law, legal disputes submitted to it by States and to give advisory opinions on legal questions referred to it by authorized United Nations organs and specialized agencies.★ The Court is composed of 15 judges, who are elected for terms of office of nine years by the United Nations General Assembly and the Security Council. |
Source :- The Hindu
Banks may set repo rate as benchmark
GS PAPER - 03 ECONOMY - Indian Economy and issues relating to planning, mobilization of resources, growth, development and employment. Inclusive growth and issues arising from it.
Context :
★ Most commercial banks in India are likely to select RBI’s repo rate as the external benchmark to decide their lending rates, from April 1.
★ The repo rate is the key policy rate of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).
Present scenario :
★ The marginal cost of fund based lending rate (MCLR) is currently the benchmark for all loan rates. Banks typically add a spread to the MCLR while pricing loans for homes and automobiles.
Why Repo ?
★ The RBI has mandated that the spread over the benchmark rate to be decided by banks at the inception of the loan should remain unchanged through the life of the loan.
★ It should remain unchanged unless the borrower’s credit assessment undergoes a substantial change and as agreed upon in the loan contract.
★ If the lending rates are linked to the repo rate, any change in the repo rate will immediately impact the home and auto loan rates, since RBI has mandated the spread to remain fixed over the life of the loan.
Benefits of setting Repo rate as benchmark for lending :
★ It will make the system more transparent since every borrower will know the fixed interest rate and the spread value decided by the bank.
★ It will help borrowers compare loans in a better way from different banks.
★ Under the new system, a bank is required to adopt a uniform external benchmark within a loan category so that there is transparency, standardisation and ease of understanding for the borrowers.
★ This would mean that same bank cannot adopt multiple benchmarks within a loan category.
Repo Rate :★ The repo rate or the repurchase rate is the rate at which RBI lends money to banks, when banks face shortage of funds.★ It is one of the main tools of RBI to keep inflation under control.★ When we borrow money from the bank, they charge an interest on the principal. Basically, it is cost of credit.★ Similarly, banks too can borrow money from RBI during cash crunch on which they must pay pay interest to the Central Bank. This interest rate is repo rate.MCLR :★ Marginal Cost of Funds based Lending Rate (MCLR) is the minimum interest rate, below which a bank is not permitted to lend. RBI can give authorization for the same in exceptional cases.★ MCLR replaced the earlier base rate system to determine the lending rates for commercial banks.★ RBI implemented it on 1 April 2016 to determine rates of interests for loans.★ It is an internal reference rate for banks to decide what interest they can levy on loans.★ For this, they take into account the additional or incremental cost of arranging additional rupee for a prospective buyer. |
Source :- The Hindu
Two crore jobs created in 16 months to December 2018: CSO
GS PAPER - 02 GOVERNANCE - Government policies and interventions for development in various sectors and issues arising out of their design and implementation.
Context :
★ According the payroll data of the Employees State Insurance Corporation (ESIC), nearly 2 crore jobs were created during the period from September 2017 and December 2018.
Key findings:
★ The ESIC data is one of the payroll numbers released by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) in its reports based on people joining various social security schemes run by Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) and Pension Fund Regulatory Development Authority (PFRDA).
★ The ESIC provides health insurance and medical services to its insured person, covering all those establishment which have 20 or more workers and all those employees whose monthly wages are up to Rs 21,000.
★ During the period from September 2017 and December 2018, as many as 1.96 crore new subscribers joined the scheme.
★ Similarly, the EPFO data showed that employment generation in the formal sector almost trebled to touch a 16-month high of 7.16 lakh in December 2018, compared to 2.37 lakh in the year-ago month.
★ It indicated that nearly 72.32 lakh new subscribers were added to social security schemes of the EPFO from September 2017 to December 2018.
★ The EPFO covers all those firms that have 20 or more employees. Workers, whose basic wages are up to 15,000 per month at the time of joining the job, are mandatorily covered under the scheme.
★ The estimated number of new NPS (National Pension Scheme) subscribers during the period — September 2017 to December 2018 — is 9,66,381. The NPS covers central and State government employees while others can voluntarily subscribes to it.
★ The report gives different perspectives on the levels of employment in the formal sector and does not measure employment at a holistic level, the report said.
Source :- The Hindu
Global warming imperils clouds that deter hothouse Earth
GS PAPER - 01 GEOGRAPHY - changes in critical geographical features (including water-bodies and ice-caps) and in flora and fauna and the effects of such changes.
Context :
★ According to a recent research published in the journal Nature Geoscience, Marine clouds that protect us from hothouse Earth conditions by reflecting sunlight back into space could break up and vanish if CO2 in the atmosphere triples.
Key Findings :
★ So-called stratocumulus clouds cover about 20 percent of subtropical oceans, mostly near western seaboards such as the coasts of California, Mexico and Peru.
★ When they disappear, could result in steep increase (by about 8 degree Celsius) in Earth’s temperature in addition to the global warming that comes from increased greenhouse concentrations.
★ A temperature increase of that magnitude would melt polar ice and lift sea levels tens of metres.
★ This would further lead to severe climate change resulting in worsen heat waves, droughts and flooding, increased cyclones and rise in sea level.
★ The last time the planet was that hot, some 50 million years ago during the Eocene Epoch, crocodiles roamed the Arctic.Even half that much warming would overwhelm humanity's capacity to adapt
stratocumulus clouds :★ Stratocumulus clouds are low-level clumps or patches of cloud varying in colour from bright white to dark grey.★ They are the most common clouds on earth recognised by their well-defined bases with some parts often darker than others. They usually have gaps between them, but they can also be joined together.★ Stratocumulus clouds usually form from a layer of stratus cloud breaking up. They are indicators of a change in the weather and are usually present near a warm, cold or occluded front.★ Stratocumulus clouds can be present in all types of weather conditions, from dry settled weather to more rainy conditions, but they themselves are often not the culprit.★ Stratocumulus are often mistaken for rain clouds, when in reality it is quite rare to get anything more than the lightest drizzle from them, if anything at all.★ Stratocumulus clouds act like a shade umbrella for the planet. The low clouds reflect some 30 to 60 percent of sunlight back into space. |
Source :- Times of India
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