Contents |
Discovery of four new species of crab
- Discovered on the the Kerala coast.
- Crustacean: a member of the large group Crustacea, which comprises mainly aquatic arthropods such as crabs, lobsters, shrimps etc.
- Three of the species discovered were hermit crabs.
- The discovery was published in Zootaxa, the international journal of taxonomy.
- Hermit crabs are ubiquitous animals often not considered to be ‘true’ crabs as they lack an external shell on their soft abdomen which leaves them vulnerable to predators.
- To protect themselves, they live in abandoned gastropod (snail) shells and often select larger shells as they grow up.
Atal Innovation Mission
- Atal Innovation Mission is a Part of the proposed overhaul of the innovation ecosystem in the country.
- As a part of AIM, Prime Minister’s Office will take on the task of identifying and nurturing an idea with the potential to be an Indian enterprise equivalent of Google or GE.
- The organisation will identify critical path breaking innovations where it would actively pursue implementation in coordination with the NITI Aayog and the Prime Ministers office.
- The AIM will provide the framework to the government for encouraging and promoting self-employment.
Faults of the collegium
Read full article on NJAC and Collegium System here- It lacks transparency, is inherently secretive, and provides for no oversight (an unintentional failure to notice or do something), due to which there are no checks or balances on the judiciary.
- Choosing judges based on undisclosed criteria in largely unknown circumstances has led to an increasing democratic deficit.
- Under the informal “seniority” norm, in place since 1993, High Court Chief Justices are routinely elevated to the Supreme Court on the basis of seniority, rather than on merit or other objective qualifications.
Other issues
- Another unwritten rule — the minimum age for appointments to High Courts (45 years), and the Supreme Court (55 years) — has perpetuated the misconception that age and maturity are necessarily tied together (Compare this with Corporate world where people in 30s run MNCs effectively).
- The Law Commission of India’s 14th Report (1958) on judicial reforms observed that young judges would bring a freshness and vigour to constitutional courts.
- The appointment of older judges, particularly in the Supreme Court, comes with shorter tenures, which threatens the Court with institutional incoherence and consequent ineffectiveness (Significant reforms in judiciary are not possible in such short tenure).
- The different retirement ages of judges in High Courts (62 years) and the Supreme Court (65 years) encourages sycophancy (a servile flatterer; excessively willing to serve or please others; lavish compliments on, especially in order to further one's own interests).
- Many judges receive post-retirement appointments from the government (the largest litigant), thus incentivising sitting judges to curry favour with the government of the day (Present Kerala Governer is P Sathasivam, former CJI)(If NJAC is unconstitutional, then judges accepting post retirement appointment is also unconstitutional).
India-China
- Zam Hydropower Station (Zangmu Hydropower Project) built on Brahmaputra was commissioned recently.
- The river is known as Yarlung Zangbo river in Tibet.
- There are many such projects coming up on Yarlung Zangbo river which is a cause of concern to India.
- Some experts have coined the term ‘Water Bomb’ to express the gravity of Chinese strategy which can be unleashed during the time of crisis.
Public finances
- The three most important indicators of economic health are inflation, current account deficit and fiscal deficit.
- Macroeconomic conditions in India have improved since the second half of 2013
- Narrowly avoided a ratings downgrade to junk after the so-called “taper tantrum”(Fed Tapering and its effects on India. Visit mrunal.org).
- The current account deficit and inflation are now under control, and there has been a considerable improvement in the fiscal position.
- Standard & Poor’s, a rating agency, dismissed rating improvement citing the state of public finances as a key constraint for an upgrade.
State of public finances
- The coming Pay Commission recommendations will increase pressure on both central and state government finances.
- The government has accepted the One Rank One Pension scheme for the armed forces.
- Debt-laden state electricity boards will have to be rescued at some point in the near future, possibly by transferring part of the debt to the books of state governments.
- Further, the central government may have to infuse more equity in the public sector banks to help them deal with their bad loans, meet global regulatory requirements (Basel III norms) and enhance their lending capability.
- The government also has to push capital expenditure to revive economic growth in the absence of investment activity in the private sector.
- All these factors put together will make further fiscal consolidation (managing public finances) a tough task.
Fixes
- Rationalizing subsidies.
- Improving tax buoyancy (GST).
- Disinvestment at a faster rate to increase capital expenditure (to build infrastructure)
- Economic reforms for overall growth.
Intended Nationally Determined Contribution (INDCs)
- Announced in September 2015 by Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEFCC).
- Announcement come ahead of the 12th Climate Conference of Parties (COP) in Paris.
- MoEFCC made a commitment to create an additional forest cover (carbon sink) to hold 2.5 to 3 billion tonnes of CO2 by 2030.
- This is to be achieved through existing programmes and schemes such as the
- National Afforestation Programme (NAP),
- Joint Forest Management (JFM),
- the Green India Mission (GIM) and
- compensatory afforestation (CA).
Issues
- The survival rate of trees planted under various afforestation programmes in the country is only 10-20 per cent.
- The performance of numerous centrally sponsored plantation programmes such as the NAP, launched in 2002, had been negative.
- Though a total of Rs. 3044 crore had been spent and the total area under forest cover had declined by 367 sq km (Hatsoff to Indian Bureaucracy, Government and above all insensitive public).
- Energy projects like coal mining, nuclear power plans etc. would require the diversion of forest land under the Forest (Conservation) Act.
- EIAs have confirmed the diversion of thousands of hectares of forest land.
- Identification of No-Go or inviolate areas for coal mining have not helped forests either.
Full article on India-Africa Summit after the summit is over
0 comments:
Post a Comment