Latest News
24th May 2021
Cheetah to be reintroduced in India from Africa
Recently, the Madhya Pradesh state forest minister has announced that Cheetah is expected to be re-introduced into the country in November 2021 at the Kuno National Park in Madhya Pradesh.
Black Fungus
- In 2019, the Supreme Court gave the green signal to the Union Government for the relocation cheetahs from Africa to India.
- The expert committee set up by the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change has completed the assessment of the sites for relocation.
- The six sites, which had previously been assessed in 2010, have now been re-assessed by WII i.e.
- Mukundara Hills Tiger Reserve and Shergarh Wildlife Sanctuary in Rajasthan; and
- Gandhi Sagar Wildlife Sanctuary, Kuno National Park, Madhav National Park and Nauradehi Wildlife Sanctuary in Madhya Pradesh
- The expert committee has identified Kuno National Park as being ready for the relocation.
- It is the world’s fastest land animal which was declared extinct in India in 1952.
- India’s last spotted cheetah died in Chhattisgarh in 1947 and it was declared extinct in the country in 1952.
- It is considered vulnerable under the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) red list of threatened species.
- Historically, it ranged from Palestine and the Arabian Peninsula to Tajikistan and central India, as well as throughout the continent of Africa excluding the zones of tropical forest and central Sahara.
- The habitats that are favored by cheetahs include grasslands and deserts.
- It has been protected under Appendix I of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) since 1 July 1975.
- It is located in the Chambal region.
- It is spread over an area of over 750 sq km and has a conducive environment for the cheetah.
- It comprises a considerable population of four-horned antelopes, chinkara, nilgai, wild boar, spotted deer and sambar, has a good prey base for the cheetahs.
- It is like an ornament in the Vindhyan Hills of Central India.
- The COVID-19 pandemic has also forced countries all over the world to rethink climate change and the need for preservation of the environment.
- The fiscal reforms for managing the environment are important, and India has great potential for revenue generation in this aspect.
- The environmental tax reforms generally involve three complementary activities:
- Eliminating existing subsidies and taxes that have a harmful impact on the environment;
- Restructuring existing taxes in an environmentally supportive manner; and
- Initiating new environmental taxes
- The taxes can be designed either as revenue neutral or revenue augmenting.
- The additional revenue can either be targeted towards the provision of environmental public goods or directed towards the overall revenue pool.
- In India, eco taxes can target three main areas:
- Differential taxation on vehicles in the transport sector purely oriented towards fuel efficiency and GPS based congestion charges;
- In the energy sector by taxing fuels which feed into energy generation; and
- Waste generation and use of natural resources
- The success of an ecological tax in India would depend on its architecture, that is, how well it is planned and designed.
- The eco tax rate ought to be equal to the marginal social cost arising from the negative externalities associated with the production, consumption or disposal of goods and services.
- It requires an evaluation of the damage to the environment based on scientific assessments which would include the adverse impacts on the health of people, climate change, etc.
- The implementation of an environmental tax in India will have three broad benefits i.e. fiscal, environmental and poverty reduction.
- The environmental tax reforms can mobilise revenues to finance basic public services when raising revenue through other sources proves to be difficult or burdensome.
- The revenue from environmental tax reforms can also be used to reduce other distorting taxes such as fiscal dividend.
- The environmental tax reforms help internalize the externalities, and the said revenue can finance research and the development of new technologies.
- Recently, the cases of White Fungus were reported from Patna, Bihar, which was considered more dangerous than Black Fungus.
- It is a fungal infection where there is formation of whitish membranes or discharge caused by candida group of organisms.
- It is a fungal infection called candidiasis.
- It can be caused by the unsterile use of oxygen cylinders or the overuse of steroids.
- It attacks body parts such as lungs, skin, nail, brain, kidney, mouth etc.
- The symptoms are whitish patches in the oral cavity, white discharge, skin lesions and symptoms of pneumonia of cough, chest pain and low oxygen level.
- The Anti-fungal drugs can be used to treat patients infected with White Fungus.
- Candidiasis can be treated with fluconazole or itraconazole orally.
- The tropical applications will be required for infections in the oral cavity or genitourinary regions.
- It can be prevented by proper sanitisation of ventilators/oxygen cylinders and also, by taking accurate care of the medical types of equipment that are used on the patients.
- It is more likely to infect people with low immunity.
- It can also be caused if people come in contact with water or unsanitary environment containing the moulds.
- The disease isn’t contagious but a person is said to be vulnerable to the infection since these moulds can be easily inhaled by a patient.
- The fungus can further spread to vital organs and cause complications.
- The people with low immunity, commorbidities, diabetes, cancer or those using steroids regularly are at a higher risk of getting infected with the white fungus.
Black Fungus
- It is a rare but serious fungal infection known as mucormycosis.
- It is caused by a group of moulds known as mucormycetes present naturally in the environment.
- It mainly affects people who are on medication for health problems that reduces their ability to fight environmental pathogens.
- The sinuses or lungs of such individuals get affected after they inhale fungal spores from the air.
- It is treated with antifungals and mucormycosis may eventually require surgery.
- The doctors have said that it is of utmost importance to control diabetes, reduce steroid use, and discontinue immunomodulating drugs.
- The treatment includes infusion of normal saline (IV) before infusion of amphotericin B and antifungal therapy, for at least 4-6 weeks.
- The diabetic patients, COVID patients and people who are on steroids are at a higher risk of contracting the black fungal infection.
- The major risk factors for this disease include uncontrolled diabetes mellitus, immunosuppression by steroids, prolonged ICU stay, malignancy and voriconazole therapy.
- It is a biannual index which lists the top 40 countries by renewable energy investment and deployment attractiveness.
- It looks at individual categories such as solar PV, concentrated solar power, onshore wind, offshore wind, biomass, geothermal, and hydro.
- The 57th edition estimated that future development to achieve net zero will require a further investment of $5.2 trillion and highlighted the role of institutional investors in financing the energy transition.
- The United States remained the most attractive market, followed by China for overall renewables
- The re-acceptance of the Paris Accord, coupled with the recent announcement to cut GHG levels by 50-52% as early as 2030 and achieve 100% carbon-free power by 2035, will likely see increased investment interest in the U.S.
- China’s position was helped by the addition of 72.4 GW of new wind power in 2020.
- Australia ranked fourth, followed by Egypt and Israel.
- Egypt’s score was helped by the nation’s ambition to increase the supply of energy generated from renewable sources to 42% by 2035.
- The United Kingdom rose one place to rank fourth for renewables investment which was driven by close to 8 GW of new offshore wind capacity allotted for development.
- The East Asian markets Japan and South Korea (ranking the 8th and the 17th positions respectively) also made commitments toward net zero in the past year.
- The index has once again ranked India as the most attractive destination for solar PV investment and deployment.
- India scored 62.7 in solar attractiveness, with the sector expected to grow significantly and with generation from solar PV set to surpass coal before 2040.
- India rose one place to rank third in the overall renewables rankings.
- India’s position in the RECAI has fluctuated many times, including the slip from the 2nd position in 2017 to the 4th position in 2018.
- India moved up from the 7th to the 4th position in the 56th EY RECAI as a result of installed solar PV capacity skyrocketing, reaching more than 35GW.
- The SC has said is that mere approval of a resolution plan for a debt-laden company does not automatically discharge a promoter from their liability in lieu of the personal guarantee they had given to secure the funding for the company.
- The personal guarantees from promoters are a kind of assurance to lenders that the monies being borrowed will be returned.
- The apex court has said that under the contract of guarantee, the liability of the promoter will be over and above the liabilities of the company.
- A personal guarantee is most likely to be furnished by a promoter or promoter entity when the banks demand for collateral which equals the risk they are taking by lending to the firm, which may not be doing so well.
- It is different from the collateral that firms give to banks to take loans, as Indian corporate laws say that individuals such as promoters are different from businesses and the two are very separate entities.
- A personal guarantee is an assurance from the promoters or promoter group that if the lender allows them the fund, they will be able to turn around the loss-making unit and repay the said loan on time.
- Bad loans have been a major problem for banks and financial creditors over the past decade and the promoters had been able to secure funds from banks without the due diligence in most cases.
- The government had introduced the provision which gave banks the power to move application for initiation of insolvency against personal guarantors to corporate debtors.
- The finance ministry nudged banks to also pursue personal insolvency cases against promoters who had furnished personal guarantees for the loans taken by their firms.
- The method relies on delivering oxygen to the intestines from the anus.
- In vertebrates such as humans, meaning animals that have a spinal column, the intestines are connected with a large number of blood vessels that allow the absorption of digested food.
- The scientists believe that the same blood vessels could also be able to absorb oxygen, something which a fish called the weather loach actually does.
- Like most fish, the loaches use their gills to take in oxygen from water but these fishes can also bring their head above the surface to take in a gulp of air.
- Loaches do not have lungs, and the swallowed air travels through their intestines, where the oxygen they need gets absorbed.
- Like loaches, catfish and orb-weaver spiders also breathe through their gut when the supply of oxygen in their surrounding dips.
- The research shows that like loach fishes, mammals too can be made to absorb oxygen from their intestines, with some external help.
- In their experiments, the authors of the paper were able to successfully demonstrate their hypothesis on rats, mice and pigs, by supplying oxygen to the intestines from the rectum.
- Anaesthetized and oxygen-deprived mice had oxygen pumped up the anus through to their intestines, a technique that helped them survive longer.
- The layers of mucous that line mammalian rectums had to be removed to be able to provide the oxygen direct access to the intestinal wall.
- Instead of pumping in gas, the scientists have used perfluorocarbons i.e. liquids that can absorb large amounts of oxygen.
- Anaesthetized mice with their linings intact were now administered perfluorocarbons enemas and placed in oxygen-deprived surroundings.
- These mice were able to retain high levels of oxygen in their blood four times longer compared with animals that did not receive such a treatment.
- The tax officers can now access reports about vehicles that have passed the selected tolls without e-way bills in the past few minutes.
- The officers can also view details of vehicles carrying critical commodities specific to the state that have passed the selected toll.
- The tax authorities can view details of any suspicious vehicles and vehicles of e-way bills generated by suspicious taxpayer GST identification numbers (GSTINs).
- The Goods and Services Tax (GST) authorities will now be able to track real-time data of commercial vehicle (CV) movement on highways
- It will allow live vigilance for e-way bill compliances by businesses.
- It will help prevent revenue leakage by real-time identification of cases of recycling of e-way bills or non-generation of e-way bills.
- Under the indirect tax regime, e-way bills have been made mandatory for inter-state transportation of goods valued over Rs 50,000 from April 2018.
- The top five states which generated the maximum number of e-way bills for inter-state movement of goods are Gujarat, Maharashtra, Haryana, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.
- The top five sectors where maximum e-way bills were generated in the past three years are textiles, electrical machinery, machinery and mechanical appliances, iron and steel, and automobiles.
- E-way bill must be generated when there is a movement of goods of more than Rs 50,000 in value to or from a registered person.
- It is driven by sustained foreign direct investment (FDI) and foreign portfolio investor (FPI) inflow.
- The rise in the forex kitty was mainly on account of an increase in foreign currency assets (FCA) which is a major component of the overall reserves.
- The RBI released the data that the FCAs jumped by $377 billion to $546.87 billion in the reporting week.
- The foreign currency assets include the effect of appreciation or depreciation of non-US currencies like the euro, British pound and Japanese yen held in the foreign exchange reserves.
- The gold reserves recorded a rise of $174 million to $36.654 billion.
- The special drawing rights (SDRs) with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) posted a gain of $2 million to $1.506 billion.
- India’s reserve position with the IMF has increased by $10 million to $4.999 billion in the reporting week.
- The rising forex reserves could bring some comfort to the government as well as the Reserve Bank in managing the nation’s external and internal financial issues.
- It is a big cushion in the event of any crisis on the economic front and enough to cover India’s import bill for a year.
- An increase in the forex kitty could also help strengthen the rupee against the US dollar.
- It provides a level of confidence to markets that a country can meet its external obligations.
- It demonstrates the backing of domestic currency by external assets.
- It assists the government in meeting its foreign exchange needs and external debt obligations and maintains a reserve for national disasters or emergencies.
- The adequate forex reserves should provide room for the RBI to cut rates and support recovery.
- The Reserve Bank functions as the custodian and manager of forex reserves and operates within the overall policy framework.
- The RBI uses its forex kitty for the orderly movement of the rupee.
- The RBI sells the dollar when the rupee weakens and buys the dollar when the rupee strengthens.
- They are assets such as foreign currencies, gold reserves, treasury bills, etc. retained by a central bank that checks the balance payments and influences the foreign exchange rate of its currency.
- The International Monetary Fund defines reserves as external assets that are readily available to and controlled by monetary authorities for:
- Direct financing of external payments imbalances; and
- Indirectly regulating the magnitudes of such imbalances through intervention in exchange markets to affect the currency exchange rate, and/or for other purposes
- The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) acts as the custodian of foreign reserves, and manage reserves.
- It consists of cash, gold, bonds, bank deposits and financial assets denominated in foreign currencies.
- The most significant objective behind this is to ensure that RBI has backup funds if their national currency rapidly devalues or becomes altogether insolvent.
- If the value of the Rupee decreases due to an increase in demand of the foreign currency then RBI sells the dollar in the Indian money market so that depreciation of the Indian currency can be checked.
- A country with a good stock of forex has a good image at the international level because the trading countries can be sure about their payments.
- A good forex reserve helps in attracting foreign trade and earns a good reputation in trading partners.
- It is an initiative of a voluntary group of doctors and professionals from the diaspora in the US and from India.
- It is a unique initiative that will provide:
- Virtual time-sensitive information to healthcare workers in rural areas on treating COVID-19 patients; and
- Real-time details on hospital bed availability and counter vaccine misinformation
- It has been created with a mission that “proper education and training” of local healthcare workers and Registered Medical Practitioners (RMPs) will be “fundamental” in controlling COVID-19 spread in rural India.
- The Madad team is initially working with RMPs in rural Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.
- It will be scaled in other areas and assist healthcare workers to recognise COVID-19 symptoms, treat mild cases at homes and provide advice on vaccination.
- It is focused on educating and training RMPs, sharing information in local languages and procuring access to vaccines.
POSTED ON 24-05-2021 BY ADMIN
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General Studies
Political Science and International Relations
Some Reference Essays
List of previous year essay topics (1997-2019)
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