Critically endangered Yangtze finless porpoise return to lost lake stretches after sand mining ban: Report

• Previous reports had shown the porpoise were pushed out of certain stretches of their habitat due to sand mining.
• The Chinese government announced a crackdown on illegal sand mining along the entire length of the river Yangtze.

Yangtze finless porpoise

• The Yangtze River, the longest river in Asia is home to these porpoises.
• Yangtze finless porpoise is known for its mischievous smile and has a level of intelligence comparable to that of a gorilla.
• These are very small compared to whales and slow-moving inhabitants
• These are good indicators of the health of their environment.
• Conservation status:
  • IUCN Red List: Critically Endangered

Sebi moots ASBA-like payment system for secondary market stock trade

• This process is developed by SEBI to apply for IPOs, Rights and Debts Issues, FPS and more.
• It entails that the amount to be paid for subscribing to the shares does not get debited from the investor’s account until the shares have been allotted by the company.
• Investors can apply for ASBA and have the bank block out the application money until the shares get allotted to the investor.
• This system will provide the authorization of the investor to subscribe only when the application is selected for the issue.
• This blocking is carried out by Self-Certified Syndicate Banks (SCSB).
• Upon the approval of the issue to the investor, the funds are paid accordingly.
• Self-Certified Syndicate Banks (SCSBs): These are SEBI-authorized banks that conform to the conditions laid by SEBI to accept the applications, verify and block the amount to the extent of what the application requires, upload the details to the web and stay updated with the process until the shares are allotted.
• If the issue gets withdrawn, or the investor has not been allotted the shares, then SCSBs refund the money back to the investor’s account.
• Subscribing to issues via ASBA is a mandatory option since 2016.
• If the money has been blocked in an interest-bearing ASBA account then the amount will continue to earn interest during the time it takes to get the allotment of the share. The investor needs to be an Indian resident to avail of ASBA.
• Significance: The reason for this process to come into effect was to eliminate the inconvenience of finding refunds or having shares not be allotted.

Straggler from Sedge Warbler family alights in Kannur

• The sedge warbler is a medium-sized warbler of marshes, reedbeds and wetlands that can be spotted singing from perches on reeds and willow bushes.
• The male sedge warbler introduces random phrases into its repertoire which is known for mimicking.
• The male warbler never sings the same song twice; he attracts more mates the more phrases his song has.
• These are insectivores in nature.
• Conservation status:
  • IUCN Red List: Least concern

DGFT simplifies composition fee for export obligation extension under advance authorization scheme

• An advance authorisation scheme allows duty-free import of inputs, which have to be mandatorily used in products that are required to be exported within a specified time.
• They are not allowed to sell the products in the domestic market.
• Advance Authorization is valid for 12 months from the date of issue of such Authorization.
• The revised composition fee formula is based on a specific rate for different levels of the ''CIF (cost, insurance, freight) value of authorisation.
• The fees levied under these 3 slabs; at ₹5,000 for a cost, insurance, freight (CIF) value of advance authorization license valued at up to ₹2 crores, ₹10,000 for a value between ₹2 crore and 10 crores, and ₹15,000 for value over ₹10 crores.
• The simplification of calculations for composition fees helps in automation and faster service delivery by making the process more efficient and easier to understand.

Indian star tortoise faces twin challenges of habitat loss and genetic diversity, finds study

• The research report said the species is facing twin challenges of a threat to its habitat at one level and loss of its genetic diversity at the other.
• It calls for a proper conservation strategy to combat the fragmented distribution and explicitly recommends intensive genetic screening of founder individuals or isolated adult colonies by implementing scientific breeding.

Indian star tortoise:

• Indian star tortoise is found in the central and Southern parts of India, in West Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
• Conservation status:
  • IUCN Status: Vulnerable
  • Convention on International Trade in Species (CITES): Appendix I
  • Wild Life Protection Act 1972: Schedule IV
• Threat: The highly fragmented habitat of the species, is greatly influenced by an increased level of urbanisation and agricultural practices throughout its range.
• Conservation Efforts:
• At the 18th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES CoP18) held in 2019, Indian Star Tortoise was up-listed to Appendix I from Appendix II owing to its over-exploitation.

ASER Report 2022 Updates: Rise in number of students taking private tuitions post Covid

ASER Survey:

• It is a citizen-led household survey that provides estimates of the enrolment status of children aged 3-16 and the basic reading and arithmetic levels of children aged 5-16 at the national, state and district level.
• ASER is published by NGO Pratham, and the survey has been conducted every year since 2005.
• The survey reaches children in the age group of 3-16 in almost all rural districts of India.
• It uses household rather than school-based sampling.

ASER 2022:

• In ASER 2022 Survey, 7 lakh candidates from 19,060 schools in 616 districts were surveyed to calculate the learning outcomes post-pandemic on school children.
• Enrollment has gone from 97.2 per cent in 2018 to 98.4 per cent in 2022.
• As many as 72.9 per cent of the surveyed students go to government schools.
• In only three states, the number of girls not going to school is above 10% – Madhya Pradesh (17%), Uttar Pradesh (15%), and Chhattisgarh (11.2%).
• Nationally, children’s basic reading ability has dropped to pre-2012 levels, reversing the slow improvement achieved in the intervening years.
• In both government and private schools, only 20.5% students of Class 3 can read, compared to 27.3% in 2018.
• The proportion of Class 5 students who can read has dropped to 42.8% in 2022, compared to 50.5% in 2018.

Rupee weakens amid thin volumes on FII outflow, greenback rebound

Greenback

• A greenback is a term for U.S. paper dollars.
• Greenback refers to the first paper money issued by the United States government in the 19th century.
• It was legal tender by law backed by the United States government.
• The issuance was primarily intended to cover up the expenses of the American Civil War.
• Why is it called Greenback? Since the backside of this paper money is inked in green color, it got the name greenback.
• Because they were not fully backed by gold, greenbacks lost value and caused inflation in the economy.
• Even though they were not minted after the nineteenth century, the terminology is now used in reference to the United States Dollar.

Greenback trading

• Traders in the foreign exchange market use the term greenback to refer to the United States Dollar.
• Hence it indicates the trading in the United States Dollar or U.S. dollar index.

Supreme Court reserves order on interim plea on purse seine fishing

• What is it? Territorial waters, under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), is that area of the sea immediately adjacent to the shores of a country and subject to the territorial jurisdiction of that country.
• Extend: The territorial sea extends to a limit of 12 nautical miles from the baseline of a country’s coast.
• Importance of Territorial waters:
  • Within its territorial waters,a country exercises full sovereignty over the air space above the sea and over the seabed and subsoil.
  • The government can legislate on matters concerning the safety of navigation, the preservation of the environment, and the prevention, reduction, and control of pollution within its territorial waters.
  • Resource use within the territorial sea is strictly reserved to the coastal nation.
  • All countries have the right of innocent passage (passage that is not prejudicial to the security of the coastal country) through the territorial sea of another country, although there is no right of innocent air space passage.
  • The right of innocent passage does not apply to submerged submarines nor does it include a right to fish.

United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS):

• The UNCLOS, also known as Law of the sea was adopted in 1982.
• It lays down a comprehensive regime of law and order in the world''s oceans and seas establishing rules governing all uses of the oceans and their resources.
• There are many provisions under UNCLOS which regulate and control the functioning and claims of nations on the world’s oceans and seas.
• The convention was ratified by 168 parties, which included 167 states and the European Union.
• India is a state party to the UNCLOS.
• UNCLOS, as the currently prevailing law of the sea, is ultimately binding.

Exclusive Economic Zone

• Exclusive economic zone (EEZ), as defined under the UNCLOS, is an area of the ocean extending up to 200 nautical miles (370 km) immediately offshore from a country’s land coast in which that country retains exclusive rights to the exploration and exploitation of natural resources.

Spot Bellied Eagle Owl was recently spotted in Seshachalam forest of Andhra Pradesh for the first time.

• Scientific name: Bubo nipalensis
• Spot Bellied Eagle Owl is also known as the forest eagle-owl.
• They are large, very powerful and bold predatory birds.
• It measures about 50 to 65 cm in length and weighs 1500 to 1700 grams.
• Distribution:
  • It is a forest-inhabiting species found in India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Myanmar, China, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam.
  • These species occur in altitudes from 300 to 3000 meters.
• Conservation:
  • IUCN Status: Least Concern
  • Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972: Schedule IV
  • CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora): Appendix II.

Seshachalam Hills:

• The Seshachalam Hills are a part of the Eastern Ghats in Andhra Pradesh.
• They are a group of seven hills namely, Seshadri, Neeladri, Garudadri, Anjanadri, Vrishabhadri, Narayanadri and Venkatadri.
• The ranges were formed during the Precambrian era (3.8 billion to 540 million years ago)
• The Seshachalam hills consist of sandstone and shale along with limestone.
• Tirupati which is considered as one of the major Hindu pilgrimage towns in India is located in the hills.
• The Srivenkateshwara National Park is also located in this mountain range.
• Seshachalam was designated as a Biosphere Reserve in the year 2010
• It has large reserves of red sandalwood.

Forest Advisory Committee (FAC) has recently asked the Arunachal Pradesh Government to review the Etalin hydropower project.

• The FAC has recently asked the Arunachal Pradesh government to file a fresh proposal for forest diversion and the construction of the Etalin hydroelectric project (EHEP) due to non-compliance to conditions stipulated by the FAC and the overwhelming pushback against the project in the region.

Etalin Hydroelectric Project (EHEP):

• It is a 3,097 MW hydropower project planned in the Dibang Valley of Arunachal Pradesh.
• It is one of the largest hydropower projects proposed in the country in terms of installed capacity.
• EHEP is proposed to be developed as a combination of two run-of-the-river schemes.
• The project involves the construction of concrete gravity dams on the Tangon and Dri riverswhich are tributaries of Dibang river.
• The project area falls under the “richest bio-geographical province of the Himalayan zone” and “one of the mega biodiversity hotspots of the world”.
• The project area is dominated by indigenous population belonging to Idu-Mishmi tribes.

Idu-Mishmi Tribe:

• They are the lone inhabitant tribe of Dibang Valley district, Arunachal Pradesh.
• The Idu-Mishmi is a major sub-tribe of the Mishmi group.
• They are of mongoloid race and have a distinctive dialect of Tibeto-Burman language.
• The Idu-Mishmi tribe can be distinctively identified by their typical hairstyle, distinctive customs and artistic pattern embedded on their clothes.
• Traditionally, Idu-Mishmis believe in animism.

Dibang River:

• It flows through Arunachal Pradesh and Assam states of India.
• It is an upstream tributary of Brahmaputra.
• Origin: The Dibang originates near Keya pass on the Indo-Chinese border in the Upper Dibang Valley district of Arunachal Pradesh.
• Tributaries:The Sisar, Mathun, Tangon, Dri, Ithun and Emra are the major tributaries of the Dibang.
• The Mishmi Hills is found along the upper courses of the Dibang River.

Forest Advisory Committee:

• FAC is a statutory body of the Ministry of Environment Forests and Climate Change (MoEFCC) formed under the Forest Conservation Act of 1980.
• It considers questions on the diversion of forest land for non-forest uses such as mining, industrial projects, townships and advises the government on the issue of granting forest clearances.