U.S. ends waiver for India on Iran oil                                                                         

Earth Day: saving the planet may cost $100 billion per year                                   

Digital infra to play key role in reviving economy                                                     

Malawi rolls out ground-breaking malaria vaccine                                                   

Despite being 3rd largest, Indian startup ecosystem ranked even below Estonia, Ireland, Germany                                                                                                          

U.S. ends waiver for India on Iran oil

GS PAPER - 02 INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS- Effect of policies and politics of developed and developing countries on India's interests, Indian diaspora.

Context :

• The U.S. will not renew exemptions from its sanctions for importing oil from Iran, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced

Background :

• In November 2018,US had re-imposed sanctions on exports of Iranian oil after US had unilaterally pulled out of a 2015 nuclear accord between Iran and six world powers.

• However,the US had granted exemptions to China ,India ,Italy ,Greece ,Japan,South Korea ,Taiwan and Turkey from sanctions on Iran.

• The exemptions were granted last November for a 180-day period for India and seven other countries, and are due to expire on May 2.

More about the news:

• These countries were granted sanctions to give them time to find alternate energy sources but also to prevent a shock to global oil markets from the sudden removal of Iranian crude.

• Since November 2018,three of the eight which are Italy, Greece and Taiwan have stopped importing oil from Iran.However,the other five have not stopped and have lobbied for their waivers to be extended.

• The US has a campaign of maximum economic pressure on Iran and through sanctions,it eventually aims to halt Iranian oil exports and thereby choke its main source of revenue.

                                                                                                                                                           Source :- The Hindu

Earth Day: saving the planet may cost $100 billion per year

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

Context :

• On the occasion of Earth Day, scientists have proposed a policy to prevent another mass extinction event. It includes a new science policy proposal to reverse the global warming.

Key Highlights of the Proposal :

• Saving the diversity and abundance of life on the earth may cost $100 billion a year, say scientists who have proposed a policy to prevent another mass extinction event on the planet.

• There have been five mass extinctions in the history of the earth. Scientists now estimate that society must urgently come to grips this coming decade to stop the very first human-made biodiversity catastrophe.

• A bold new science policy proposal to reverse the tide, called “A Global Deal for Nature” (GDN) has been published. The policy’s mission is to save the diversity and abundance of life on the earth — for the price tag of $100 billion a year.

• Societal investment in the GDN plan would, for the first time, integrate and implement climate and nature deals on a global scale to avoid human upheaval and biodiversity loss.

• While the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement was the first major accord to take global action toward climate change policies, the international team of GDN scientists believe a similar companion pact is desperately needed to implement the very first global nature conservation plan to meet these challenges.

Global Deal for Nature :

• The Global Deal for Nature is a time-bound, science-based plan to save the diversity and abundance of life on Earth.

• The study outlines the guiding principles, milestones and targets needed to avoid the extinction threats of a two degrees Celsius warming forecast.

• “Achieving the milestones and targets of the Global Deal for Nature is the best gift we can offer to future generations—an environmental reset, a pathway to an Eden 2.0,” said Eric Dinerstein, of the U.S.-based non governmental organisation Resolve.

                                                                                                                                                           Source :- The Hindu

Digital infra to play key role in reviving economy

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

Context :

• According to Infosys Co-founder and architect of Aadhaar,Digital infrastructure would play a major role in reviving the Indian economy.  While addressing FICCI members at the National Executive Committee Meeting on ‘Digital India and its Impact on Economy and Industry’ in Bengaluru.

More about the news:

• The country has witnessed dramatic transformation through Aadhaar-based e-KYC and online payments, and India’s digital data architecture will set the tone for business revival.

• Once data becomes the basis for decision-making across businesses, the country will witness dramatic transformation and growth. Data, globally, is becoming central to individual citizens and governments.

• With Aadhaar, many elements of the digital infrastructure have been created. “[Aadhaar is] now critical for opening a bank account, to get a mobile connection or to buy a mutual fund.

• Earlier, KYC used to be a cumbersome process, and therefore, opening a bank account or getting a new phone connection used to be a tough affair. Also, with digital signature becoming a reality, identity verification and other credential checks are now being done real-time and as a result, banks are able to sanction loans in hours.

• The country already has over a billion bank accounts that are Aadhaar number linked.

• It makes transferring of funds easier and the country conducts over four billions financial transactions. In addition, Aadhaar based e-KYC have made LPG subsidies, MNREGA payments, farmer subsidies and pensions corruption-free and seamless.

• Aadhaar e-KYC has been revolutionary in making life simpler for people and India now has the infrastructure to deal with direct benefits transfers (DBT) in any segment,

                                                                                                                                            Source :- Business Standard

Malawi rolls out ground-breaking malaria vaccine

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

Context :

• A large-scale trial of the world’s most advanced experimental malaria vaccine, Mosquirix, to give partial protection to children has begun in Malawi, Africa.

• In the upcoming week, the vaccine would be rolled out in Kenya and Ghana.

Mosquirix :

• Mosquirix has been developed by British pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline in partnership with the PATH Malaria Vaccine Initiative. It was approved for the pilot programme in 2015.

• RTS,S, known by its trade name Mosquirix, uses antibodies to target proteins presented by sporozoites (such as the circumsporozoite protein of  falciparum)to enhance the immune system and help prevent the parasite from infecting the liver.

• Mosquirix is also engineered using a hepatitis B viral protein and a chemical adjuvant to further boost the immune response for enhanced effectiveness.

                                                                                                                                             Source :- Business Standard

Despite being 3rd largest, Indian startup ecosystem ranked even below Estonia, Ireland, Germany

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

Context :

• According to data released by StartupBlink, India moved up to 17th position in 2018 from 37th spot last year in the Startup Ecosystem Ranking for 2019.

• The report has taken the startup ecosystems of 1,000 cities and 100 countries into consideration.

How Ranking was carried out ?

• The ranking is carried out on the basis the impact startups have been able to make in the country.

• Further,it has also considered how many startups and support organisations are there such as accelerators, coworking spaces,startup events along with technology infrastructure,red tape,bureaucracy among others.

Key Highlights :

• The top three spots remained unchanged with the United States, United Kingdom and Canada taking the first, second and third rank respectively.

• While India India climbed 20 spots (rank 37) from the previous ranking, countries such as Estonia (13), Ireland (14), and Germany (9) were ranked ahead of India for their startup ecosystems

• China was ranked 27th.

India’s Stand :

• India ranks 17 globally among 100 countries, based on the strength of its startup ecosystem

• The cities with the most vibrant startup ecosystems in India are Bangalore, New Delhi and Mumbai

• In Startup Blink’s cities ranking, six Indian entries made it to top 100.

  • Bengaluru was  as the top startup city in India at 11th, while New Delhi followed in the 18th spot.

  • Mumbai stood at 29th rank, while Chennai, Hyderabad and Pune also made it to top 100.

• However,the major challenge before India will be improving the overall quality of startups and increasing the number of startups  that currently exist.

                                                                                                                                              Source :- Financial Express

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