Daily Current Affairs (CNC)- May 11-12 , 2018

NEWS

 

FUNGUS THAT ATTACKS FROGS ORIGINATED IN EAST ASIA

  • The chytrid fungus — which has caused amphibian declines worldwide and has been recorded in India too — possibly originated in east Asia, says a study.
  • The study also found that the disease is not many thousands of years old as previously thought, but expanded greatly between 50 and 120 years ago, coinciding with the rapid global expansion of intercontinental trade.
  • Thus, the movement of amphibians by humans — such as through the pet trade — has directly contributed to spreading the pathogen around the world.
  • The scientists therefore recommend a ban on trade in amphibians from Asia, due to the high risk associated with exporting previously unknown strains of chytrid out of this region.
  • The chytrid fungus has affected around 700 amphibian species worldwide and caused frog declines and even extinctions in many areas.
  • Though first reported in frogs in South America in 1997, the killer fungus has also been recorded from several frog species and populations in the Western Ghats.

Relevance : Prelims

 

TINY FOSSIL SHELLS GIVE CLUES TO CLIMATE ON ANCIENT EARTH

  • Scientists have discovered tiny fossil shells about 1mm long that unveil details about the Earth’s climate over half a billion years ago.
  • The research suggests that early animals diversified within a climate similar to that in which the dinosaurs lived.This interval in time is known for the ‘Cambrian explosion’, the time during which representatives of most of the major animal groups first appear in the fossil record.
  • Scientists have long thought that the early Cambrian Period was probably a greenhouse interval in the earth’s climate history, a time when there were no permanent polar ice sheets.
  • Until now, however, scientists have only had a sense of what the Cambrian climate was like because of the types of rock that were deposited at this time — while it has long been believed that the climate was warm, specific details have largely remained a mystery.
  • Data from the tiny fossil shells, and data from new climate model runs, show that high latitude (about 65 degree South) sea temperatures were in excess of 20 degrees Celsius. This seems very hot, but it is similar to more recent, better understood, greenhouse climates like that of the Late Cretaceous Period.

Relevance : Prelims

 

RAMAYAN CIRCUIT’ GETS A NEW BUS SERVICE

  • Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Nepalese counterpart K.P. Sharma Oli on Friday jointly inaugurated a direct bus service between Janakpur ( Nepal) and Ayodhya, the two sacred cities for Hindus, as part of a “Ramayan Circuit” to promote religious tourism in Nepal and India. “
  • The bus service connects Lord Rama’s birthplace Ayodhya with goddess Sita’s birthplace Janakpur.
  • Modi flagged off the bus after visiting the famed 20th century Janaki temple, dedicated to the Hindu goddess Sita, where he offered special prayers.
  • The government has identified 15 destinations in India for development under the Ramayana Circuit theme — Ayodhya, Nandigram, Shringverpur and Chitrakoot (Uttar Pradesh), Sitamarhi, Buxar and Darbhanga (Bihar), Chitrakoot (Madhya Pradesh), Mahendragiri (Odisha), Jagdalpur (Chhattisgarh), Nashik and Nagpur (Maharashtra), Bhadrachalam (Telangana), Hampi (Karnataka) and Rameswaram (Tamil Nadu).
  • Janakpur is known as the birth place of Sita, the wife of Lord Rama. Janaki temple was built in memory of Sita in 1910. The three-storey structure made entirely of stone and marble.

Relevance : Prelims, GS 2

 

RBI BARS DENA BANK FROM FRESH LENDING

  • The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has barred state-run lender Dena Bank from extending fresh credit in view of deteriorating financial health due to mounting non-performing assets (NPAs). This means the bank can disburse loans for the credit facilities already sanctioned, but cannot sanction fresh loans.
  • In May 2017, the RBI had placed the lender under the prompt corrective action (PCA) framework, which imposed restrictions including a ban on dividend payments.
  • Despite the earlier restrictions, the financial health of the bank had not shown any signs of improvement, prompting the banking regulator to freeze fresh lending. The latest action is also a part of the PCA framework.
  • Though several banks are under the PCA framework currently, Dena Bank is the first lender to face curbs on lending. RBI may decide to lift the restrictions in case the bank improves profitability and reduces the ratio of bad loans.

Relevance : Prelims

 

THAW IN MILITARY TIES AS INDIA SENDS WARSHIP TO MALDIVES

  • In an indication of a slight upswing in bilateral military ties after a distinct chill, India has dispatched a warship to Maldives to undertake joint surveillance and patrol of the archipelago’s sprawling exclusive economic zone.
  • India is also providing training to Maldives’ personnel in diving and tactics under the second asymmetric warfare training exercise called “Ekatha” from April 28 to May 15.
  • Bilateral ties between the two countries had soured after Maldivian President Abdulla Yameen on February 5 declared Emergency following an order by the country’s Supreme Court to release a group of opposition leaders convicted in widely criticised trials.
  • Maldives had subsequently declined India’s invitation to participate in its eight-day mega naval conclave called “Milan” at the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
  • Maldives had later also asked the India to take back one of its two Dhruv advanced light helicopters (ALHs) gifted to the archipelago.
  • With an eye on China, India has provided military aid, training, “capacity-building” and EEZ surveillance to Maldives over the last several years.

Relevance : Prelims, GS 2

 

20 YEARS AFTER POKHRAN-II, ICBMS ON WAY

  • India has kicked off the process to induct its first intercontinental ballistic missile Agni-V into the Strategic Forces Command (SFC), 20 years after the country conducted the five Pokhran-II underground nuclear tests under ‘Operation Shakti’.
  • Agni V is a 5,000-km-range missile, which brings the whole of China as well as parts of Europe and Africa under its strike range.
  • The tri-service SFC already has Prithvi-II (350-km), Agni-I (700-km), Agni-II (2,000-km) and Agni-III (3,000-km) missile units.
  • Agni-V, which carries a 1.5-tonne nuclear warhead, is more deadly than the earlier Agni variants because it’s a canister-launch missile to ensure swift transportation and firing.

Relevance : Prelims

 

FB SETS UP E-THREAT HOTLINE FOR NETAS

  • Facebook has introduced a “cyber threats crisis” email hotline for politicians and political parties in India.
  • Facebook also released a “cyber security guide” for political accounts. These include basic security practices such as setting up two-factor authentication and not clicking on dubious links.
  • This cyber security guide provides best practices for politicians and parties on how to keep your Facebook pages and accounts secure.
  • These efforts are part of Facebook’s broader Indian Election Integrity Initiative.
  • Facebook partnered with Indian fact-checking website Boom Live last month to flag pieces of misinformation on the website. Content reported as fake news is downranked on the social network to prevent it from going viral.

Relevance : Prelims, GS 3

 

INDIA TO COUNTER U.S. PLAINT ON FARM SUBSIDIES IN WTO

  • A complaint lodged by the U.S. at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) against India’s farm subsidies is baseless, according to Indian diplomatic sources.
  • The U.S. had filed a counter-notification at the WTO Committee on Agriculture alleging that “based on U.S. calculations, it appears that India has substantially under-reported its market price support (MPS) for wheat and rice”.
  • S. laid out its calculations of the value of India’s MPS programme for the four years between 2010-11 and 2013-14 using publicly available data. “India’s apparent MPS for wheat appears to have been over 60% of the value of production in each of the last four years for which India has notified data,” said the document.
  • According to India’s calculations , the MPS is well within the WTO’s permitted cut-off of 10%. However, according to the U.S. calculations, the value of India’s MPS for rice that year was more than ₹1.7 lakh crore, which would be 76.9% of the total value of production.
  • One of the issues raised by the U.S. is that India’s notification “only reflect the national minimum support prices and do not include all state bonuses or other incentives that further increase the MSP provided to farmers.”

Relevance : Prelims

 

GOOGLE AI CALLING VOICE TO IDENTIFY ITSELF TO HUMANS

  • In a bid to deliver transparency in technology and stay ahead of ethical pitfalls, Google has said that its Artificial Intelligence (AI) calling system “Duplex” would now identify itself while making appointments.
  • Following the launch of the “Duplex” system, which lets AI mimic a human voice to make appointments and book tables, among other functions, a widespread outcry over the ethical dilemmas were raised by tech critics.
  • Whenever Duplex gets involved in some type of verbal communication with a human at the other end, it would identify that the human is talking to an AI.

Relevance : Prelims

 

IMPORTANT FACTS IN NEWS

Siachen

President Kovind is the second President of India to visit Siachen. The previous visit was undertaken by President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam in  2004.

Namami Gange

Namami Gange an integrated Ganga Conservation Mission is an umbrella programme with the aim to integrate previous, currently ongoing and new projects planned as part of the programme at an indicative cost of Rs. 20,000 crore. The programme is to be implemented over a period of five years ending on December 2020. ‘Namami Gange’ approaches Ganga Rejuvenation by consolidating the existing and ongoing efforts and planning for a comprehensive action plan for future.

Manufacturing

Manufacturing contributes 78% of industrial output.

Oil

India meets 80% of its oil requirements from imports.

Relevance : Prelims

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