Daily News Analysis - by Jatin Verma 13Th January, 2020

Summary of Daily News Analysis - by Jatin Verma 13th January, 2020

https://www.jatinverma.org P a g e | 1

Important News Articles Polity & Governance related issues - G.S. Mains Paper-2 Page-1: Tripura HC says social media posting a fundamental right Page-1: SC rebuﬀs plea to implement CAA Page-1: U.P. govt. suspends Noida SSP over objectionable video Page-7: Nation: U.P. tops list in crimes against women Page-13: SBI to sell electoral bonds from January 13 [Transparency in Politics]

Important News Articles Economy & Internal Security related issues - G.S. Mains Paper-3 Page 15 : No ‘word play’ in health insurance policies: IRDAI Indian Express : Government plans to set up Credit Enhancement fund to boost infrastructure projects Indian Express : As Bharat Net flounders at last mile connectivity, DoT dials the private sector

Important News Articles

Environment & Ecology & Sci-Tech - G.S. Mains Paper-3

Page 12 : India to acquire 200 fighter jets for Air Force: Defence Secretary Page 9 : LCA Navy variant successfully lands on INS Vikramaditya Page 9 : New method better estimates melting of debris-covered Himalayan glaciers Page 13 : Species-rich forests offer stable carbon capture PIB Workshop-cum-exhibition on "Bamboo- A wonder grass" concludes in Jammu

Indian Economy G.S. Mains Paper-3 No ‘word play’ in health insurance policies: IRDAI

What is Curative petition? ● Health insurance policy clauses will soon be easier to comprehend. ● It will become more transparent and not vary across companies. ● The regulator IRDAI will soon set in motion the process towards bringing “uniformity” in wordings of the contracts. ● It is proposed to standardise some of the general clauses that are commonly incorporated in the health insurance policy contracts of indemnity-based health products. ● One of the key aspects under the proposed guidelines on ‘Standardisation of General Clauses in Health Insurance Policy Contracts’ will be insurers committing to a timeline in handling claims and in the event of failure to comply, pay interest to the policyholder. ● The policy shall be void and all premium paid thereon shall be forfeited to the company in the event of misrepresentation, mis-description or non-disclosure of any material fact. ● Uniformity in wordings have been proposed by IRDAI with regard to complete discharge, multiple policies, cancellation, renewal of policy, including the company not being bound to give any notice for renewal, as well as migration and portability. According to IRDAI’s annual report for 2018-19: ● The proposed guidelines assume significance in the backdrop of robust growth in the segment. ● Health insurance premium continues to grow over 20% year-on-year in the past four fiscal years. ● General and health insurance companies collected ₹44,873 crore as health insurance premium last fiscal or 21.2% higher compared to 2017-18. ● Share of group health insurance was the highest, in 2018-19, at 48%, followed by individual business at 39% and government business the remaining 13%. ● Both individual and group businesses (other than government schemes) have doubled during the last five year period. Issue with Health insurance policy: ● The importance of health insurance can’t be stressed enough. ● But with so much choice and with varying policy exclusions, it’s often difficult for customers to bring home a product she understands well. ● There is no standardising policy exclusions and also confusion with comparisons and understanding. ● Prelims Reckoner: Difference between Insurance Penetration and Insurance Density? ● insurance penetration measures the contribution of insurance premium to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of a country in percentage terms.

● Insurance density, on the other hand, is the ratio of insurance premium to the total population. ● It gives an indication of how much each of the people in a country spends on insurance in terms of premium. ● In other words, it is the per capita premium for the country, calculated by dividing the total insurance premium by the population.

Indian Express : Government plans to set up Credit Enhancement fund to boost infrastructure projects ● The government plans to set up a Credit Enhancement fund to support infrastructure projects that are rated below ‘AA’. ● Purpose: The fund will provide credit enhancement to such lower rated projects, enabling them to raise loans at better rates while improving their viability. ● The idea is to either set up a professionally managed credit enhancement fund or a well capitalised institution for the same purpose. ● Since institutional investors put in money only in top rated infrastructure projects, augmenting ratings of projects that are otherwise viable but do not have early cash flows, would help in attracting investors. ● Present status: ● Most of the infrastructure projects are rated below ‘AA’, which essentially means large institutions do not fund such projects. ● Through credit enhancement, a borrower or a bond issuer tries to improve its credit worthiness, which helps in lowering interest outgo. ● The collapse of Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services (IL&FS) has created a funding void in the infrastructure sector, with many projects facing uncertainties and rating downgrades. ● Apart from resulting in liquidity shortage last year and affecting NBFCs, the IL&FS fiasco has had a negative impact on funding availability for long duration infra projects. ● Significance: What difference would be created with the setting up of Credit enhancement Guarantee Fund? ● A Credit Enhancement fund provides partial guarantee against loan losses to the lenders, enabling the borrower to enhance its credit ratings. ● Such a facility can be provided to projects that have strong viability and visibility but the companies executing them presently have weak balance sheet or cash flows, which is usually the case for infra projects where revenues start accruing in later years. ● The Credit Enhancement fund will enable lower rated projects to raise loans at better rates while improving their viability. ● Since institutional investors put in money only in top-rated infrastructure projects, augmenting ratings of projects that are otherwise viable, but do not have early cash flows, would help in attracting investors.

Steps taken by government to augment the Infrastructure capacities: ● The agency providing the facility usually charges a fee for providing its services. ● A Finance Ministry panel that recently finalised the National Infrastructure Pipeline has also made the case for credit enhancement facility for infra projects, along with the need to channelise pension and insurance funds’ money into the infrastructure sector. ● The Finance Ministry, last month, unveiled Rs 102 lakh crore of infrastructure projects that will be implemented between fiscal year 2020 and 2025, with the central government contributing nearly 39 per cent towards these projects, states accounting for another 39 per cent and the private sector 22 per cent. ● Of the total project capital expenditure during fiscals 2020 to 2025, sectors such as energy (24 per cent), urban (16 per cent), railways (13 per cent) and roads (19 per cent) are estimated to account for more than 70 per cent of the projected infrastructure investments in India.

Indian Express As BharatNet flounders at last mile connectivity, DoT dials the private sector - About Bharatnet

● The central government’s flagship BharatNet scheme, which aims to provide last mile internet connectivity to all villages and gram panchayats (GP), has missed the targets set for phase one. ● With connectivity targets set for phase two of the project also likely to be missed owing to current delays, the government is now attempting to rope in the private sector to cover up for the failings of implementing agencies. ● As against the initial target for connecting all the 2.50 lakh GPs by end of March 2019, only 1.18 lakh had been connected till then. ● Of the 1.26 lakh GPs that have been made service ready so far, WiFi hotspots are functional only in 15,000. ● The plan to provide fibre to the home (FTTH) connectivity is operational only at 27,856 GPs till end-December. Challenges- ● “Affordability and fair pricing” is likely to change if the private players have their way. ● The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) — the nodal agency for implementation of the project — has blamed the network architecture, the connectivity to old BSNL fibre in part of the network operation and maintenance through BSNL as some of the reasons which had held back optimal utilisation of the network. ● The financial reconciliation of work done so far under phase one of BharatNet, is still pending due to the delay from the central PSU’s side.

● The handling of Right of Way (RoW) for enhanced architecture and newly created network, along with integration of phase one and two of BharatNet is also flagged as a challenge. Government’s plan- Privatisation:To overcome the failings of nodal agencies involved in the implementation of the project, the Centre now plans to rope in the private sector and complete the phase one as well as phase two part of BharatNet under the public-private-partnership (PPP) model. ● Under the model, private sector will be invited to bid circle-wise for the BharatNet project and the maximum contract duration of the project is likely to be 25 years. ● Criteria for selection of Private Service provider: ● The selection criteria for PSP will be their quote for viability gap funding, ● The bidders will be expected to provide “on demand” internet connectivity with minimum speeds of 50 Mbps to at least five development institution in the area. ● The private service partner (PSP) will have the flexibility to re-locate the equipment installed at the BSNL (Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited) exchanges and gram panchayats. ● It would also have the flexibility to create/upgrade the network. Involving private players could affect pricing ● The entry of private players for the completion of projects of BharatNet under the PPP model could mean an increase in prices of services being offered nearly free of cost by the government as of now. ● WiFi services under BharatNet are free till March 2020. If private players are allowed to complete projects, they are likely to look to recover their costs. ● It is yet to be seen if the upcoming projects will be completed on a sharing basis or the government would look to just facilitate the approvals while leaving infrastructure to the bidders.

JV’s Backgrounder-

Bharat Broadband Network

● BharatNet, also known as Bharat Broadband Network Limited, is a telecom

infrastructure provider, set up by the Government of India under the Department of Telecommunications. ● Bharat Net Phase-I:

● BharatNet Phase-I, across 13 states and UTs was completed in December 2017 with the Phase-I union government funding share of ₹110 billion (equivalent to ₹120 billion, US$1.6 billion or €1.5 billion in 2018). ● As of 31 December 2017, BSNL has laid 11,005 km optical fibre cable and completed the connection of out of all targeted 6,017 gram panchayats in Haryana. ● BharatNet Phase-II ● To be completed by 31 March 2019 (unofficial target date 31 Dec 2018), will connect the remaining nearly 145,000 gram panchayats covering 325,000 villages through additional 1 million km of optical fibre. ● Phase-II will double the total optical fibre network of the nation and will generate 100,000,000 mandays employment for the roll out.

● It was set up for the establishment, management, and operation of the National Optical Fibre Network to provide a minimum of 100 Mbit/s broadband connectivity to all 250,000 gram panchayats in the country, covering nearly 625,000 villages, to improve telecommunications in India and reach the campaign goal of Digital India. National Optical Fibre Network (NOFN)

● It is a project initiated in 2011 and funded by Universal Service Obligation Fund to provide broadband connectivity to over 200,000 gram panchayats of India.

● It aimed at using existing fibre optical network of Central utilities - BSNL,

RailTel and Power Grid - to provide internet connectivity to gram panchayats.

Polity & Governance related issues - G.S. Mains Paper-2

Page 1 :Tripura HC says social media posting a fundamental right ● In a landmark order, the High Court of Tripura ordered the police to refrain from prosecuting a man who was earlier arrested over a social media post. ● HC also barred the police from making any further arrest in connection with the case. ● The Chief Justice passed the order after lawyers moved his court against the arrest and harassment of a youth activist over his post on a social media platform. The Court said- ● The Chief Justice in his order broadly remarked that posting on social media was tantamount to a “fundamental right” applicable to all citizens, including government employees. ● In compliance with the court’s order, the police have now erased Sections 120(B)[Punishment of criminal conspiracy] and 153(A)[Promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc., and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony] of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) from the relevant First Information Report (FIR) to quash the case.

Page 6 : Odisha seeks simultaneous SECC, general census ● The Odisha government demanded that the Socio-Economic Caste Census (SECC) be conducted simultaneously with the general census in 2021. ● The State Cabinet chaired by Chief Minister here resolved to move the Centre with the plea to conduct a socio-economic caste enumeration along with the general census, either by inserting suitable columns in the census format or by prescribing a separate format. ● It also resolved to impress upon the Central government to ensure that the enumeration details are published without any delay. ● Benefits: (According to the State Government) ● This will enable the State government to accelerate the pace of development of these communities leading to inclusive growth with greater momentum. ● The Cabinet observed that no formal census, including the caste details of the population, has been done since 1931. ● The fact that in the proposed formats for 2021 census, there is no provision to capture the details of socially and educationally backward classes and other backward classes/castes despite having done such exercise in the SECC-2011, the full data of which is yet to be released. ● Unavailability of reliable and authentic data about the exact numbers of socially and educationally backward classes and other backward classes/castes, geographical areas of their spread and density has been a huge challenge in ensuring focused and outcome-specific planning.

JV’s Backgrounder-

Socio Economic and Caste Census (SECC)

● The Ministry of Rural Development Government of India, commenced the Socio Economic and Caste Census (SECC) 2011, in June 2011

● It was commenced through a comprehensive door to door enumeration across the country.

● This is the first time such a comprehensive exercise has been carried out for both rural and urban India. It is also expected to generate information on a large number of social and economic indicators relating to households across the country. The SECC, 2011 has the following three objectives:

● To enable households to be ranked based on their Socio- Economic status. State Governments can then prepare a list of families living below the poverty line ● To make available authentic information that will enable caste-wise population enumeration of the country. ● To make available authentic information regarding the socio economic condition, and education status of various castes and sections of the population.

Page 9 : India’s under-5 girls face high mortality ● India is among the few countries in the world where, in 2018, the mortality under-5 years of girls, exceeded that of boys, according to the ‘Levels and Trends in Child Mortality’ report by the United Nations (UN) inter-agency group for child mortality. ● The global report states that in 2018 fewer countries showed gender disparities in child mortality, and across the world, on average, boys are expected to have a higher probability of dying before reaching age-5 than girls. But this trend was not reflected in India. Key findings- ● In some countries, the risk of dying before age 5 for girls is significantly higher than what would be expected based on global patterns. These countries are primarily located in Southern Asia and Western Asia. ● According to India’s 2017 Sample Registration System (SRS) the States with the highest burden of neonatal mortality are: ● Madhya Pradesh → 32 per 1000 live births ● Odisha → 33 per 1000 live births ● Uttar Pradesh → 30 neonatal deaths per 1,000 live births. ● India’s neonatal mortality rate is 23 per 1,000 live births. According to the report, half of all under-5 deaths in 2018 occurred in five countries: ● India,

● Nigeria, ● Pakistan, ● the Democratic Republic of the Congo and ● Ethiopia. ● India and Nigeria alone account for about a third. ● Estimates indicate that the majority of child mortality cases in India are attributable to deaths during the neonatal period. ● The major causes of neonatal mortality are pre-term birth, intrapartum related events, and neonatal infection. ● In the post-neonatal period, the major direct causes of death are diarrhoea and pneumonia. ● The report adds that despite the tremendous progress in child survival that has been made over the past two decades, one child or young adolescent died every five seconds in 2018. ● Globally, 85% of deaths among children and young adolescents in 2018 occurred in the first five years of life, accounting for 5.3 million deaths, of which 2.5 million (47%) occurred in the first month of life, 1.5 million (29%) at age 1-11 months, and 1.3 million (25%) at age 1- 4 years. An additional 0.9 million deaths occurred among children aged 5-14 years. ● Also States and Union Territories, Jharkhand, Bihar and Uttarakhand showed the largest gender gaps in under-5 mortality. ● The burden of child mortality is determined both by the mortality rate (the proportion of children who die) and by the estimated population of any given State (total number of annual births). ● Uttar Pradesh is the State with the highest number of estimated newborn deaths in India, both because of the high neonatal mortality rate and because of the large cohort of births that occur every year in the State.

JV’s Backgrounder-

● The infant mortality rate (IMR) – is the number of deaths per 1,000 live births of children under one year of age. ● Neonatal mortality rate (NNMR) – is the number of deaths per 1,000 live births of children between 0 and 28 days of age. The neonatal mortality rate of India has dipped from 25 per 1,000 live births in 2016 to 24 in 2017. ● The under-five mortality rate (U5MR) – is the number of deaths per 1,000 live births of children under five years of age. It was 39 per 1,000 live births in 2017.

JV’s Analysis Government initiatives- ● Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana (PMMVY): The PMMVY is targeted only at women delivering their first child. A cash amount of ₹6,000 is transferred to the bank account of the beneficiary in three instalments upon meeting certain conditions including early registration of pregnancy, having at least one ante-natal check-up and registration of childbirth. ● Pradhan Mantri Surakshit Matritva Abhiyan: Health ministry launched an innovative scheme to provide free health check-ups to pregnant women at government health centres and hospitals by private doctors. ● “LaQshya” (Labour room Quality improvement Initiative): The Union Health Ministry recently announced the launch of LaQshya, a programme aimed at improving quality of care in labour room and maternity operation theatre. ● The National Health Mission is conceived as the primary tool to reach health targets: maternal mortality ratio (MMR) of less than 70 deaths per 100,000 live births, the neonatal mortality rate (NMR) of 12 deaths per 1,000 live births and under-five mortality rate (U5MR) of 25 deaths per 1,000 live births. ● The investment on ensuring holistic nutrition under the POSHAN campaign and national commitment to make India open defecation-free by 2019 are steps that will help in accelerating progress further.

Concerns- ● Malnutrition of Mothers: 58% of women who are breastfeeding are anaemic, compared with 50% of women who are pregnant and 52% who are neither pregnant nor breastfeeding. ● Prevalence of anaemia among women has seen little improvement in 10 years, witnessing a rather small decline from 55% in 2005-06 to 53% in 2015-16, acc. to the National Family Health Survey (NFHS-4). ● Poor vaccine compliance: According to the Health Ministry, the vaccination cover in India after several rounds of Intensified Mission Indradhanush (MI) and the original MI, now stands at 87%. 33 lakh children continue to miss out on some or all vaccinations every year. ● Lack of education in mothers: According to a UNICEF factsheet on child mortality in India, “Children born to mothers with at least 8 years of schooling have 32% lesser chances of dying in the neonatal period and 52% lesser chances in the post-neonatal period, as compared to the illiterate mothers.” Urgent need ● The report adds that it is urgently required to further accelerate progress in preventing child deaths. ● Current trends predict that close to 10 million 5- to 14-year-olds, and 52 million children under 5 years of age, will die between 2019 and 2030. ● Almost half of these under-5 deaths will be newborns whose deaths can be prevented by reaching high coverage of quality antenatal care, skilled care at birth, postnatal care for mother and baby, and care of small and sick newborns. Page 9 :Details on manual scavenging cases continue to be absent from NCRB reports ● The ‘Crime in India’ reports released by National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) for 2017 and 2018 continue to fail in providing data on cases filed under the Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation (PEMSR) Act of 2013. ● A separate column listing the number of cases filed for offences related to manual scavenging was available under the Special and Local Laws (SLL) section until 2015. ● In 2016, the NCRB said that it was clubbing data on manual scavenging and 10 more SLLs under the ‘Other SLL Cases’ column since only ‘very few cases’ are reported under these Acts. ● It is another issue that even the NCRB report of 2015 listed The Employment of Manual Scavengers and Construction of Dry Latrines (Prohibition) Act of 1993 instead of the PEMSR Act that came into force in 2013. ● In the 2017 and 2018 reports, the NCRB has partially gone back on its decision of 2016 and has reduced the clubbing of cases under ‘Other SLL cases.’ ● Owing to the detailed data collection proforma, the clubbing of crimes under ‘Other’ Indian Penal Code (IPC) and SLL have been reduced so as to have better visibility. The publication is more detailed as compared to previous years.

● Through this move, around 20 acts that were hitherto clubbed under ‘Other SLL Cases’ were listed separately in the 2017 and 2018 reports. These include acts like The Telegraph Wire Unlawful Possession Act of 1950 that had zero cases registered in 2018 and just 2 cases in 2017. 282 deaths in three years ● In a reply to the Lok Sabha in December 2019, the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment said that 282 deaths while cleaning sewers were reported in the country from 2016 till the first week of November 2019 as per data available with National Commission for Safai Karamcharis. Tamil Nadu topped the list with 40 deaths. ● The government must pro-actively provide data on such important issues instead of furnishing data under unnecessary crime heads. “If they really want to address the issues, making data available will only be of help

JV’s Analysis Facts & Figures ● The Socio-Economic Caste Census of 2011 counted over 1.82 lakh families that had at least one member employed in manual scavenging. Rights groups Safai Karamchari Andolan pegs the number of manual scavengers across India at over 7 lakh. ● Between 2016 and 2018, up to 123 manual scavengers have died on the job, data from the National Commission for Safai Karamcharis (NCSK). ● Since January 2019, more than 25 sewer workers have died of asphyxiation across the country, including in densely populated cities. Government initiatives ● In 1993, Parliament enacted The Employment of Manual Scavengers and Construction of Dry Latrines (Prohibition) Act, 1993 and employment of manual scavengers was declared unlawful. ● National Commission for Safai Karamcharis was constituted under the National Commission for Safai Karamcharis Act, 1993, to monitor and recommend specific programs. Steps take so far: ● In 2004-10, the erstwhile Planning Commission developed a national action plan for the total eradication of manual scavenging by 2007. ● Self-Employment Scheme for Rehabilitation of Manual Scavengers initiated to provide training, loans, and subsidies for alternate occupations in 2007. ● In 2013, Parliament passed the Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and Their Rehabilitation, Act, 2013. ● The Act recognizes the category of sewer workers and prohibits the employment of manual scavengers, the manual cleaning of sewers and septic tanks without protective equipment, and the construction of insanitary latrines. ● In 2014, the Supreme Court ruled in Safai Karamchari Andolan v. Union of India that “entering sewer lines without safety gears should be made a crime even in emergency situations,” and ordered for compensation in cases of death of the worker. ● The Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan (NBA) was replaced by Swachh Bharat Abhiyan (SBA) in 2014. ● SBA has been conceived with the following objectives: ● (i) Elimination of Open Defecation. ● (ii) Eradication of Manual Scavenging. ● (iii) Modern and Scientific Municipal Solid Waste Management. ● (iv) To effect behavioral change regarding healthy sanitation practices.

Page 9 : 34 lakh OCI cards issued: Centre ● The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has stated that more than 34 lakh Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) registrations had been done but declined to divulge information relating to the number of persons whose OCI cards had been cancelled, citing non availability in a “consolidated form.” ● Responding to a Right to Information (RTI) application filed by The Hindu, the ministry said that the information sought remained outside the “mandate and scope of the RTI Act, 2005.” ● In reply to the RTI on the number of OCI cards issued from January 1, 2000, to November 26, 2019, the ministry said, “As per data available, 34,21,337 OCI registration/OCI card have been issued.” ● To subsequent questions seeking year-wise data on the number of OCI cards issued or cancelled, the ministry said, “Information related to year-wise issuance of OCI registration or year-wise cancellation of grant of registration as OCI cardholder is not available in consolidated form. It may please be noted that the contents of these paras remain outside the mandate and scope of the RTI Act, 2005.” ● While responding to another question on major reasons for cancelling the OCI cards, the ministry replied, “Information sought is not available,” however, it “could be cancelled on grounds mentioned in section 7(D) of the Citizenship Act, 1955, which is available in the public domain.” ● Section 7(D) says that the OCI registration may be cancelled- ● if it was obtained by means of fraud, false representation or the concealment of any material fact; or ● if the overseas citizen of India has shown disaffection towards the Constitution of India, or ● unlawfully traded or communicated with an enemy (in case of a war) or has been sentenced to imprisonment for a term of not less than two years within five years after registration as an OCI, or if it is necessary so to do in the interest of the sovereignty and integrity of India.

JV’s Backgrounder

Overseas Citizenship of India ● It is an immigration status permitting a foreign citizen of Indian origin to live and work in the Republic of India indefinitely. The OCI was introduced in response to demands for dual citizenship by the Indian diaspora, particularly in developed countries.

● It was introduced by The Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2005 in August 2005. It

was launched during the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas convention held in Hyderabad in late 2005. ● The Constitution of India prevents Indian citizens from holding dual citizenship. As such the OCI is not actual citizenship of India according to Indian law as it has many limitations such as no right to vote, no right to hold constitutional offices, and no right to buy agricultural properties.

Difference between PIO Vs OCI (Prelims facts)

Environment & Ecology & Sci & Tech. - G.S. Mains Paper-3

India to acquire 200 fighter jets for Air Force: Defence Secretary ● The government is in the process of acquiring around 200 aircraft to cope with the depleting aerial inventories of the Indian Air Force. ● The contract for HAL-manufactured 83 LCA Tejas Mark 1 A advanced fighter jets are in the final stages. ● Apart from these, Expression of Interest (EOI) has been floated for another 110 aircraft, based on which Request for Proposal (RFP) will be floated. Roughly (for) 200 aircrafts, the acquisition is in process. ● The process of finalising the contract for 83 Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Mark 1 A, which are advanced fighters to meet the urgent needs of India is going on. ● With the design having been finalised, state-run aerospace behemoth Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) will be ramping up production of the LCA Mark 1 A jets from 8 to 16 per year. ● The Air Force has Sukhoi 30 MKIs, Mirage 2000s, Mig 29s and the ageing Jaguars and Mig 21 Bisons in its inventory of fighter jets at present. ● The last fleet of seven swing-wing MiG-27 fighters, which played an important role during the 1999 Kargil war, was decommissioned on December 27.

LCA Navy variant successfully lands on INS Vikramaditya ● The Naval variant of the indigenous Light Combat Aircraft (LCA)-Mk1 Tejas under development successfully completed the first arrested landing on board aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya. ● The Naval LCA recently successfully completed take-off and landing trials on the (Shore Based Test Facility)SBTF in Goa, which the Navy has said is a technology demonstrator. ● With this feat, the indigenously developed niche technologies specific to deck-based fighter operations have been proven, which will now pave the way to develop and manufacture the twin engine deck-based fighter for the Indian Navy. ● Navy Chief stated in December that the DRDO had offered to develop a new twin engine deck-based fighter for the Navy based on the experience of the Naval LCA and it should be ready by 2026. ● The Naval LCA-Mk1 made its maiden flight in April 2012 and two prototypes have been flying as part of the development. ● The SBTF, which replicates the flight deck of an aircraft carrier, was specifically built to train Naval pilots in the complex manoeuvres of landing on the short flight deck of an aircraft carrier before they move on to the actual carrier.

● Naval LCA is designed with stronger landing gears to absorb forces exerted by the ski jump ramp during take-off, to be airborne within 200 m and land within 100 m as against 1000 m required for normal runways. ● The Navy currently operates Russian Mig-29K fighters from INS Vikramaditya, which will also fly from the first Indigenous Aircraft Carrier (IAC) Vikrant once it enters service. The Navy is currently evaluating global tenders for 57 carrier-based twin engine fighter aircraft.

JV’s Backgrounder-

Tejas

● HAL Tejas is an Indian single-engine, delta wing, multirole light fighter designed by the Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA) and Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) for the Indian Air Force and Indian Navy.

● It came from the Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) programme, which began in the 1980s to replace India's ageing MiG-21 fighters. In 2003, the LCA was officially named "Tejas". ● As of 2016, the Tejas Mark 1 was in production for the Indian Air Force (IAF) and the naval version was undergoing flight tests for Indian Navy (IN). ● The Tejas is a single-engine multirole fighter which features a tailless, compound delta wing and is designed with "relaxed static stability" for enhanced

manoeuvrability.

● Originally intended to serve as an air superiority aircraft with a secondary ground- attack role, its flexibility permits a variety of guided air-to-surface and anti-shipping weapons to be integrated for multirole and multimission capabilities

New method better estimates melting of debris-covered Himalayan glaciers ● A study of the Satopanth glacier in order to model the melting of debris-covered glaciers has been carried out by a group of Indian researchers. ● Their new method gives a better estimate of the glacier’s melting than existing ones. Studying debris-laden Himalayan glaciers is important from the point of view of how climate change affects them. ● About 20% of Himalayan glaciers are debris-laden, and their dynamics are very different from the ones without debris cover. The study was published in Journal of Glaciology. Effect of debris ● In glaciers without a debris cover, the rate of melting increases as the elevation decreases. However, in glaciers covered with debris, the thick cover partially insulates the glacier from the warm exterior and thereby slows down the melting. ● The thickness of the debris cover, by and large, increases as the glacier flows down. This works against the general trend that the lower the elevation, the higher the rate of melting. Matters are further complicated because the thickness of the debris cover is not uniform but fluctuates randomly.

Satopanth glacier ● Satopanth glacier is located in Garhwal in Central Himalaya, in Uttarakhand. ● It is the origin of the river Alaknanda, one of the two main tributaries of the Ganga. ● The other tributary is Bhagirathi, which originates from the Gangotri glacier. ● These two rivers join at Devprayag, around 70 km upstream of Rishikesh. Downstream of Devprayag, the river is called Ganga. ● To study the melting, the team planted nearly 60 bamboo stakes in the Satopanth glacier, most of which were placed in ten transverse lines below 4,600 metres elevation. ● The initial depth of the bamboo stakes was noted down, and periodic measurements were made over the course of three years to assess how much ice had melted.

Better estimate ● The sub-debris melting of the glacier by interpolating the collected data as a function of thickness of the debris and averaging over debris thickness distribution over different parts of the glacier. This is to be contrasted with the conventional method where the collected data is interpolated as a function of elevation. ● The new method introduced by the group worked better at estimating the dynamics of the glacier than the conventional method. ● The estimation after leaving out several of the data points and restricting the data to about 25 stakes. This established a clear advantage of the new method. ● The estimates were seen to be more robust when a reduction in the number of stakes was applied. Using a more detailed measurement of the debris thickness variation would make the estimate more accurate, the authors write in the paper. Species-rich forests offer stable carbon capture ● Spending over six months conducting surveys inside Anamalai Tiger Reserve and using satellite data from multiple locations in the Western Ghats, an international team of researchers has shown that carbon storage was highest in species-rich evergreen forest. ● The paper published in Environmental Research Letters adds that the rate of carbon capture was more stable across years in forests than in plantations, and carbon capture by forests was more resilient to drought. Varied terrain ● The study was done in natural evergreen and deciduous forests, and in teak and eucalyptus plantations. ● The studied eucalyptus plantations had comparatively lower carbon storage, while teak plantations stored nearly as much carbon as deciduous forests. ● The team identified the trees, measured their girth and height in 250 square plots inside the Anamalai Tiger Reserve, and used the measurements to estimate carbon storage in different forests and plantation types. ● They then used satellite data from Parambikulam Tiger Reserve, Rajiv Gandhi Tiger Reserve, Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary and Bhadra Tiger Reserve, along with Anamalai to assess the rate of carbon capture and how they varied across years (2000-2018). ● All the study areas used to be exploited for timber and for raising plantations of commercially important trees in the past, but are now strictly protected as wildlife reserves. Annual rainfall and stressors like drought were all taken into consideration for the study. ● The results showed that the species-rich evergreen forests stored carbon at approximately 300 tons per hectare. ● The storage in teak and eucalyptus plantations was 43% and 55% less, respectively. The researchers also found that the rates of carbon capture remained nearly the same year after year in natural forests compared with plantations.

Long-term effects ● Findings suggest that protecting and regenerating natural forests comprising a diverse mix of native tree species is more reliable in the long term than raising monoculture or species-poor plantations as a strategy for mitigating climate change. ● Species-rich forests are beneficial for biodiversity as they also provide habitat to many other components — insects, birds, etc. ● Different trees have varying degrees of fire resistance depending on the thickness of the bark. Also, the ability to regenerate the seeds differ across species and so a multi-species forest would likely show greater resilience in case of a fire. ● Carbon capture involves trapping the carbon dioxide at its emission source, transporting it to a storage location (usually deep underground) and isolating it.

PIB

Workshop-cum-exhibition on "Bamboo- A wonder grass" concludes in Jammu ● The deliberations of the two-day workshop-cum-exhibition on Bamboo with the aim of creating opportunities for the sustainable development in Jammu and Kashmir concluded at Jammu. ● The workshop-cum-exhibition was organized by the Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region, North Eastern Council, Govt. of India and Govt. of Jammu and Kashmir through Cane and Bamboo Technology Center (CBTC), Guwahati, Assam and the Department of Social Forestry, Govt. of Jammu and Kashmir. ● Various recommendations made for the growth of Bamboo industry in J&K on the pattern of North Eastern Region- ● Identify and increase the coverage of appropriate species of bamboo in Jammu and Kashmir through tissue culture research and establish nursuries and distribute endlings. ● Formation and promotion of bamboo-related farmers and organisations and bamboo clusters throughout the bamboo producing areas of J&K with the involvement of PRIs. ● Capacity building of J&K farmers/artisans and bamboo enterpreneurs at CBTC Assam. ● Technical collaboration of CBTC with the J&K Government for setting up of Common Facility Centers and Bamboo Technology Parks. ● Promotion of the use of bamboo as construction material for eco-tourism, rural housing and community buildings in rural areas. ● Partnership between NEHHDC and J&K Government to assist the J&K artisans for the promotion and marketing of bamboo products and handicrafts. ● During the two-day workshop-cum-exhibition, various technical sessions were held on Bamboo Wood Making and its Products, Cane and Bamboo Handicraft experience of North Eastern region, Status and Scope of Bamboo Stick industry with special reference to Agarbatti making and Potential and Uses of Bamboo in Housing and Construction. ● The participants had a threadbare discussion on the topics they spoke about. They elaborated the contents of their presentations with respect to the relevant topics on Bamboo cultivation and its scope in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir. ● As a part of the workshop, several interactive sessions were held in every module to provide participants an opportunity to attain better understanding of various topics covered in the workshop-cum-exhibition. ● The artists also performed a live programme for the Bamboo promotion in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir. ● The workshop-cum-exhibition was held with an aim to promote Bamboo cultivation which will ensure greater opportunities for the sustainable development in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir.

Practice MCQ Which reference to Agni-IV Missile, which of the following statements is/are correct? (2014) 1. It is a surface-to-surface missile. 2. It is fuelled by liquid propellant only. 3. It can deliver one-tonne nuclear warheads about 7500 km away. Select the correct answer using the code given below. (a) 1 only (b) 2 and 3 only (c) 1 and 3 only (d) 1, 2 and 3

Practice MCQ Consider the following 1. Carbon dioxide 2. Oxides of Nitrogen 3. Oxides of Sulphur Which of the above is/are the emission/ emissions from coal combustion at thermal power plants? (a.) 1 only (b) 2 and 3 only (c.) 1 and 3 only (d.) 1, 2 and 3