Source: The Hindu, Live Mint and Indian Express
U.S. ENDS WAIVER ON IRAN OIL
Context: U.S. said waivers to trade with Iran for China, India, Japan, South Korea and Turkey would expire in May, after which they could face US sanctions themselves.
This decision is intended to bring Iran’s oil exports to zero, denying the government its main source of revenue.
Essentials:
- S. reinstated the sanctions on Iran in November 2018 after abandoning a landmark 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and six world powers.
- However, six-month waivers from economic penalties were granted to the eight main buyers of Iranian crude – China, India, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Turkey, Italy and Greece – to give them time to find alternative sources and avoid causing a shock to global oil markets.
- Three of the eight buyers – Greece, Italy and Taiwan – have stopped importing Iranian oil. But the others had reportedly asked for their waivers to be extended.
Iran nuclear deal
- Also called Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.
- It was signed in 2015 between Iran and the P5+1 group of world powers – the US, UK, France, China, Russia and Germany.
Why this Nuclear deal?
- It came after years of tension over Iran’s alleged efforts to develop a nuclear weapon.
- Iran insisted that its nuclear programme was entirely peaceful, but the international community did not believe that.
What was agreed?
- Under the accord, Iran agreed to limit its sensitive nuclear activities and allow in international inspectors in return for the lifting of crippling economic sanctions.
Why did U.S. Pull Out of the Deal?
- S. recently pulled out of the Iran Nuclear Deal and reimposed sanctions on Iran’s energy, ship building, shipping, and banking sectors, which U.S. considers “the core areas” of its economy.
- S. hopes to compel Iran to negotiate a “new deal” that would cover not only its nuclear activities, but also its ballistic missile programme and what U.S. officials call its “malign behaviour” across the Middle East.
- The sanctions have led to a sharp downturn in Iran’s economy, pushing the value of its currency to record lows, quadrupling its annual inflation rate, driving away foreign investors, and triggering protests.
.If U.S. puts economic sanctions on Iran again, then the implications on India would be:
- Energy imports from Iran will become difficult and
- Fuel prices will go up (due to decrease in the availability of oil in the international market as Iran would not be able to sell it).
- The Reserve Bank of India might have to increase interest rates to contain inflation (inflation will increase as the cost of oil per barrel will increase) and step in to check the fall in the rupee’s value (rupee’s value will fall as India have to give more rupees to buy dollars).
Value Addition:
- Enriched uranium is not only used to make reactor fuel, but also nuclear weapons.
- Low-enriched uranium, which has a 3%-4% concentration of U-235, can be used to produce fuel for nuclear power plants.
- “Weapons-grade” uranium is 90% enriched.
- Radioisotopes produced during the process of enrichment are used in medicine, agriculture, industry and science.
2019 WORLD PRESS FREEDOM INDEX
- The 2019 World Press Freedom Index is compiled by Reporters Without Borders (RSF).
- As per the latest Index, the number of countries regarded as safe, where journalists can work in complete security, continues to decline, while authoritarian regimes continue to tighten their grip on the media.
- Higher ranks and scores indicate lower freedom of the press.
- Norway is ranked first in the 2019 Index for the third year running while Finland (up two places) has taken second place from the Netherlands (down one at 4th). An increase in cyber-harassment caused Sweden (third) to lose one place.
- The rankings of all BRICS nations slipped by a few places in 2019.
- In the West, the U.S. moved from the ‘satisfactory’ to the ‘problematic’ category.
India and the World Press Freedom Index 2019
- India’s position fell two spots to 140 out of 180 countries in the World Press Freedom Index of 2019.
- India’s overall score puts it in the ‘very serious’ category in terms of lack of press freedom.
- India’s rank has never gone below 105 in the past 15 years (approximately 180 countries are studied each year).
- India’s rank has consistently dropped in the past three years.
- India’s ‘abuse score’, a measure of the intensity of abuses and violence against journalists and the media, is much higher than the average.
- Some of the countries whose Press Freedom Index was lower than India are: Pakistan, Russia, Bangladesh, China, North Korea and Turkmenistan (the last one).
- South Africa (31) and Brazil (105) though were better performers than India.
Reporters Without Borders
- Reporters Without Borders, in French Reporters sans Frontières (RSF), is an international organization founded in France in 1985 to advocate for press freedom worldwide.
- It has received numerous awards for its work, including the European Parliament’s Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought in 2005.
- The organization is headquartered in Paris.
- With a presence on five continents, RSF defends:
- imprisoned or persecuted journalists and media personnel;
- exposes mistreatment and torture of journalists;
- provides financial aid for struggling media personnel or companies (as well as for the families of imprisoned journalists); and
- promotes journalists’ safety, particularly in war zones.
- After obtaining evidence of a transgression, RSF pressures governments through publicity campaigns and protest letters.
- Recount
- An election recount is a repeat tabulation of votes cast in an election in order to determine the accuracy of the initial count.
- Political parties and candidates sometimes demand a recount in close contests if they believe there has been an error in the counting of votes.
- In India, provisions relating to recount are contained in the Conduct of Election Rules, 1961. However, a recount is not possible if the election result has been declared and a candidate certified as the winner. In such cases, the only remedy is for an aggrieved candidate to challenge the election in court.
MAJOR MASS EXTINCTIONS ON EARTH
Context: Biologists suspect we’re living through the sixth major mass extinction. Earth has witnessed five, when more than 75% of species disappeared.
Essentials:
- End Ordovician, 444 million years ago, 86% of species lost.
- It was probably caused by a short, severe ice age that lowered sea levels, possibly triggered by the uplift of the Appalachians.
- The newly exposed silicate rock sucked CO2out of the atmosphere, chilling the planet.
- Late Devonian, 375 million years ago, 75% of species lost.
- The likely culprit was the newly evolved land plants during the Devonian period.
- They caused releasing nutrients into the ocean. This might have triggered algal blooms which sucked oxygen out of the water, suffocating bottom dwellers.
- End Permian, 251 million years ago, 96% of species lost.
- Known as “the great dying”, this was by far the worst extinction event ever seen; it nearly ended life on Earth.
- A large-scale and violent eruption near Siberia blasted CO2 into the atmosphere.
- Methanogenic bacteria responded by belching out methane, a potent greenhouse gas.
- Global temperatures surged while oceans acidified and stagnated, belching poisonous hydrogen sulphide.
- Rocks after this period record no coral reefs or coal deposits.
- End Triassic, 200 million years ago, 80% of species lost.
- No clear cause has been found.
- The Triassic extinction took place around 200 million years ago.
- The Triassic extinction led to the extinction of large crocodile-like reptiles and several marine invertebrates.
- The Triassic extinction led to the rise and age of dinosaurs.
- It was one of the largest mass extinctions of animal life on earth and volcanic activity had played a key role in it.
- End Cretaceous, 66 million years ago, 76% of all species lost.
- It brought an end to the dinosaurs.
- It was caused by a combination of volcanic activity and asteroid.
- Holocene extinction, 21st Century.
- In the 21st Century, with anthropogenic changes to the climate and landscape of the world, a sixth extinction event could be on the horizon.
A Global Deal for Nature (GDN)
- It is a bold new science policy proposal to reverse the biodiversity loss.
- The policy’s mission is to save the diversity and abundance of life on the earth — for the price tag of $100 billion a year.
- The Global Deal for Nature is a time-bound, science-based plan to save the diversity and abundance of life on Earth.
- The three overarching goals of the GDN are to:
- protect biodiversity by conserving at least 30% of the earth’s surface by 2030;
- mitigate climate change by conserving the earth’s natural carbon storehouses; and
- reduce major threats.
- The essence of implementing the plan is to set up protected areas of land as natural ecosystems.
Extinction Rebellion
- These are a group of protesters who took over the heart of the U.K. capital in a bid to focus global attention on rising temperatures and sea levels caused by greenhouse gas emissions.
- Their list of demands includes a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions to a net level of zero by 2025 and a halt to biodiversity loss.
- The group wants the government to “create and be led by the decisions of a Citizens’ Assembly on climate and ecological justice”.
