Daily News Analysis – May 9, 2019

Source: The Hindu, Live Mint and Indian Express


INDUS WATERS TREATY

Context: Union Minister Nitin Gadkari warned Pakistan that India will not hesitate to stop water of rivers flowing to that country if Islamabad does not end its support to terrorism.

Essentials

Indus Waters Treaty

  • It was brokered by the World Bank in 1960 between India and Pakistan.
  • It lays down that Pakistan will have “unrestricted use of all waters of the Western Rivers”, namely the Indus, Jhelum and Chenab and their tributaries, while giving India the same rights over the three Eastern rivers, the Ravi, Beas and Sutlej and their tributaries.

  • However, since Indus flows from India, the country is allowed to use 20 per cent of its water for irrigation, power generation and transport purposes
  • Under the Treaty, India may also use the waters of the Western rivers in “non-consumptive” ways. That includes “run of the river” hydel projects, which do not change the course of the river and do not deplete the water level downstream.
  • The Treaty provides arbitration mechanism to solve disputes amicably.
  • A Permanent Indus Commission was set up as a bilateral commission to implement and manage the Treaty. The Commission solves disputes arising over water sharing.
  • Though Indus originates from Tibet, China has been kept out of the Treaty. If China decides to stop or change the flow of the river, it will affect both India and Pakistan.

WHAT ARE FATS?

Context: WHO for eliminating industrially produced trans fats by 2023.

Essentials

  • Fat is a nutrient. It is crucial for normal body function, and without it, we could not live.
  • Fats, which consist of a wide group of compounds, are usually soluble in organic solvents and insoluble in water.
  • All types of fats, regardless of whether they are liquid or solid are called
  • Not only does fat supply us with energy, it also makes it possible for other nutrients to do their jobs.
  • It helps to absorb some vitamins and minerals.
  • Fat is needed to build cell membranes, the vital exterior of each cell, and the sheaths surrounding nerves.
  • Fats also play an important role in the regulation of body temperature, the reduction of inflammation, muscle movement, blood clotting and brain development.
  • Protein, carbohydrates and fats are the three essential nutrients that provide the body with caloric energy.
  • Although carbohydrates are the main source of energy for the body, fats are the most energy dense of these nutrients.
  • Containing 9 kcal per gram, fats provide roughly twice as much energy and calories as proteins and carbohydrates which only provide 4 kcal per gram.
  • Any calories that are not immediately metabolized for energy are stored in the body as fat for future use.
  • Fat is stored throughout the body in fat cells known as
  • However, fat cells can increase and decrease in size depending on the amount of fat that the body is storing.

Types

  • All fats have a similar chemical structure: a chain of carbon atoms bonded to hydrogen atoms.
  • What makes one fat different from another is the length and shape of the carbon chain and the number of hydrogen atoms connected to the carbon atoms.
  • Seemingly slight differences in structure translate into crucial differences in form and function.

 Saturated fats

  • Saturated fats are solid at room temperature.
  • They are totally saturated, meaning that each molecule of fat is covered in hydrogen atoms.
  • A large intake of saturated fats may eventually raise cholesterol levels, which increases the risk of cardiovascular disease and stroke.
  • A healthy diet includes less than 10 percent of its calories from saturated fats.
  • It is mostly found in meat and milk products.
  • However, unprocessed saturated fats are an important part of a healthy diet and can be regularly consumed.
  • An important and beneficial saturated fat is coconut oil, which has scientifically demonstrated health benefits.

Unsaturated fats

  • Unsaturated fats, which include monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats, are liquid at room temperature.
  • They are mostly derived from plant oils and are classed as “good” fats:

Monounsaturated fats

  • Monounsaturated fat molecules are not saturated with hydrogen atoms – each fat molecule has only the space for one hydrogen atom.
  • Monounsaturated fats may lower LDL (low-density lipoprotein – bad) cholesterol, and keep HDL (high-density lipoprotein – good) cholesterol at higher levels.
  • For instance, the Mediterranean diet, a well-researched and chronic disease-risk lowering diet, is full of monounsaturated fats.

Polyunsaturated fats

  • In polyunsaturated fats, there are a number of spaces around each polyunsaturated fat molecule – they are not saturated with hydrogen atoms.
  • Polyunsaturated fats are essential fats. That means they’re required for normal body functions but your body can’t make them. So you must get them from food.
  • Polyunsaturated fats are used to build cell membranes and the covering of nerves. They are needed for blood clotting, muscle movement, and inflammation.
  • Monounsaturated fats are relatively stable, but they’re not quite as stable as saturated fats.
  • Polyunsaturated fats are the least stable fats as polyunsaturated fats have multiple binding sites exposed, making them particularly open to oxidation.
  • It’s important to note that just because a fat is unstable doesn’t mean it’s bad for us.
  • We should just handle less stable fats more carefully to make sure they don’t oxidize or spoil.
  • That means avoiding ones that are heavily processed or exposed to high heat.

 Omega 6 and Omega 3

  • A polyunsaturated fat has two or more double bonds in its carbon chain.
  • There are two main types of polyunsaturated fats: omega-3 fatty acids and omega-6 fatty acids.
  • The numbers refer to the distance between the beginning of the carbon chain and the first double bond. Both types offer health benefits.
  • As they are polyunsaturated, our body can’t produce omega 3s and omega 6s on its own; we get them from food. 
  • Polyunsaturated fats are good for our health, especially those from fish, known as omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids.
  • Omega-3 fatty acids protect against heart disease by lowering blood cholesterol levels and possibly inflammation.
  • Omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids may also help reduce the symptoms experienced by people who suffer from arthritis, joint problems in general, and some skin diseases.
  • Vegetable sources of omega 3s include cauliflower, walnuts and flaxseeds.
  • Omega-6 fatty acids are mostly found in vegetable oils.
  • An excessive intake of omega-6’s may lead to increased inflammation.

 What are trans fats?

  • The worst type of dietary fat is the kind known as trans fat.
  • It is a by-product of a process called hydrogenation that is used to turn healthy oils into solids and to prevent them from becoming rancid.
  • Trans fats have no known health benefits and that there is no safe level of consumption.
  • There are two broad types of trans fats found in foods: naturally-occurring and artificial trans
  • Naturally-occurring trans fats are produced in the gut of some animals and foods made from these animals (e.g., milk and meat products).
  • Artificial transfats are created in an industrial process that adds hydrogen to liquid vegetable oils. They are also known as partially hydrogenated oils.

Why do some companies use trans fats?

  • Transfats are easy to use, inexpensive to produce and last a long time (give longer shelf-life to the items prepared by them). 
  • Transfats give foods a desirable taste and texture.
  • Many restaurants and fast-food outlets use transfats to deep-fry foods because oils with trans fats can be used many times in commercial fryers.

 How do trans fats affect health?

  • Trans fats raise bad (LDL) cholesterol levels and lower good (HDL) cholesterol levels.
  • Trans fats create inflammation, which is linked to heart disease, stroke, diabetes, and other chronic conditions.
  • They contribute to insulin resistance, which increases the risk of developing type 2 diabetes. Even small amounts of trans fats can harm health.

 Cholesterol

  • Cholesterol travels through the blood on proteins called “lipoproteins.”
  • Two types of lipoproteins carry cholesterol throughout the body:
  • LDL (low-density lipoprotein), sometimes called “bad” cholesterol, makes up most of our body’s cholesterol.
  • High levels of LDL cholesterol raise our risk for heart disease and stroke.
  • HDL (high-density lipoprotein), or “good” cholesterol, absorbs cholesterol and carries it back to the liver. The liver then flushes it from the body.
  • High levels of HDL cholesterol can lower our risk for heart disease and stroke.

Conclusion: Avoid the trans fats, limit the saturated fats, and replace with essential polyunsaturated fats. 

https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/the-truth-about-fats-bad-and-good


PIT VIPERS OF INDIA

Context: India’s newest pit viper found in Arunachal Pradesh – Arunachal pit viper (Trimeresurus arunachalensis).

Essentials

  • The new species makes Arunachal Pradesh the only Indian state to have a pit viper named after it.
  • India had four brown pit vipers before the Arunachal Pradesh discovery.
  • The other four — Malabar (Least Concern), horseshoe (Least Concern), hump-nosed and Himalayan — were discovered 70 years ago.

SECTION 56-D OF THE CONDUCT OF ELECTION RULES

Context: The Supreme Court dismissed a plea of 21

Opposition parties to review its judgment rejecting the

request for 50% matching of VVPATs with EVM

counting, but increasing the physical counting of slips

from one to five randomly selected EVMs in each

Assembly segment or constituency.

Essentials

  • In case a candidate or election agent disputes the announced results of any polling station(s), they can seek scrutiny of VVPAT slips under Section 56-D.
  • The provision states that after the entries made in the result sheet are announced, any candidate, or in his absence, his election agent or any of his counting agents may apply in writing to the returning officer to count the printed paper slips in the drop box of the printer in respect of any polling station or polling stations.
  • On such application being made, the returning officer shall, subject to such general or special guidelines, as may be issued by the Election Commission, decide the matter and may allow the application in whole or in part or may reject in whole, if it appears to him to be frivolous or unreasonable.
  • The returning officer’s decision has to be in writing and must contain the reasons for accepting or rejecting the request.
  • If any discrepancy between the votes displayed on the control unit and the counting of the paper slips is detected, the slip count prevails and accordingly, the results are amended and announced after following the set procedures.
  • There have been 16 such instances of slip counting since 2017. In all cases, it was a 100% match of EVM results and VVPAT slips.

 VVPATs

  • VVPAT device functions like a printer to be attached to the ballot unit (EVM).
  • It allows the voter to verify if their vote has indeed gone to the intended candidate or not.
  • When the voter presses the button against the name of the candidate of his choice on the Ballot Unit, the VVPAT unit generates a paper slip, called Ballot Slip. 
  • This paper slip contains the name, serial number and symbol of the chosen candidate.
  • The voter can see this slip through a screened window where it stays for seven seconds, and then it automatically gets cut and falls down into a sealed drop box.
  • In this process, the slip will not go into the hands of the voter nor will others be able to see it.
  • For the first time Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) with Electronic Voting Machines was used for the Noksen Assembly seat in Tuensang district of Nagaland in September, 2013.

 Supreme Court Verdict

  • Recently, The Supreme Court ordered mandatory verification of printed VVPATpaper slips of 5 randomly selected polling stations of
  • (a) Assembly Constituency in case of election to State Legislative Assembly and
  • (b) each Assembly Segment in case of election to the House of the People.

COASTAL REGULATION ZONE

Context: The Supreme Court ordered the demolition of five apartments in Ernakulam’s Maradu municipality for violation of Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) rules.

 Essentials

  • The coastal regulation zone, or CRZ refers to regions in the proximity of India’s 7000-km-long shoreline where buildings, tourism facilities, industrial projects, residential facilities etc are highly regulated.
  • In most cases it begins from the high tide line (HTL) to about 500 metres towards the landward side.
  • The zone is subdivided into regions, with varying leeway for infrastructure development, depending on population and ecological sensitivity.
  • (CRZ-1): It includes the most ecologically sensitive areas and according to current laws is off-limits for tourism activities and infrastructure development except for defence, strategic and rare public utilities projects.
  • (CRZ -II):The area that have already been developed up to the shoreline.
  • (CRZ -III): Areas that are relatively undisturbed and those which do not belong to either Category I or II.
  • (CRZ-IV): Coastal stretches in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Lakshadweep and small islands, except those designated as CRZ I, CRZ II and CRZ III.  

 The salient features of the draft CRZ Notification, 2018:

  • According to the new CRZ, 2018 notification “..nature trails and eco-tourism activities..” may be permitted in CRZ-1 regions provided they conform to state-approved coastal zone management plans.
  • The Hazard Line, which was demarcated by the Survey of India (SOI), has been delinked from the CRZ regulatory regime and shall be used only as a tool for Disaster Management and planning of adaptive and mitigation measures.
  • The new rules have mandated that for tidal influenced water bodies, CRZ will be between the High Tide Line to 50 metres (or width of the creek, whichever is less), instead of the earlier 100 metres.
  • According to the new rules, mangroves in private land will not require a buffer zone.
  • The norms also prevent the disposal of plastic into the coastal waters.
  • The new rules mandate the compensatory plantation of three times the mangrove area destroyed (unlike the earlier norm which mandated only three times the trees cut) for development works.
  • A No Development Zone (NDZ) of 20 meters has been proposed to be stipulated for all Islands close to the main land coast and for all Backwater Islands in the main land. 
  • Temporary tourism facilities are also proposed to be permissible in the No Development Zone (NDZ) of the CRZ-III areas.
  • The draft makes the National Centre for Sustainable Coastal Management (NCSCM) the final authority to lay down standards for High Tide Line (HTL).
  • Only those projects located in CRZ-I (environmentally most critical) and CRZ-IV (water and seabed areas) shall require MoEF clearance. All other projects shall be considered by Coastal Zone Management Authorities (CZMAs) in the states and union territories.

TERMS IN NEWS

GDP Vs GVA

  • Gross domestic product (GDP) is the monetary value of all the finished goods and services produced within a country’s borders in a specific time period. 
  • GVA provides the rupee value for the amount of goods and services produced in an economy after deducting the cost of inputs and raw materials that have gone into the production of those goods and services.
  • It also gives sector-specific picture like what is the growth in an area, industry or sector of an economy. 
  • At the macro level, it is the sum of a country’s GDP and net of subsidies and taxes in the economy.
  • While GVA gives a picture of the state of economic activity from the producers’ side or supply side, the GDP model gives the picture from the consumers’ side or demand perspective.
  • Gross value added = GDP + subsidies on products – taxes on products.
  • The Reserve Bank has recently switched back to the gross domestic product (GDP)-based measure to offer its growth estimates from the gross value added (GVA) methodology, citing global best practices.
  • The government had started analysing growth estimates using GVA methodology from January 2015 and had also changed the base year to 2018 from January.
  • Globally, the performance of most economies is gauged in terms of gross domestic product (GDP).
  • This is also the approach followed by multilateral institutions, international analysts and investors, and primarily they all stick to this norms because it facilitates easy cross-country comparisons.
  • However, it is not gross domestic product (GDP) but the gross value added (GVA) methodology that helps in the supply side measure of economic activity.
  • The share of various sectors in Gross Value Added (GVA) during last three years in descending order: Services > Industry > Agriculture, forestry & fishing > Manufacturing

MCA21

  • MCA21 is an e-Governance initiative of Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA), that enables an easy and secure access of the MCA services to the corporate entities, professionals and citizens of India.

 Objective

  • The MCA21 application is designed to fully automate all processes related to the proactive enforcement and compliance of the legal requirements under the Companies Act, 1956, New Companies Act, 2013 and Limited Liability Partnership Act, 2008.
  • This will help the business community to meet their statutory obligations.

 Benefits

  • The MCA21 application offers the following.
  • Enables the business community to register a company and file statutory documents quickly and easily.
  • Provides easy access of public documents
  • Helps faster and effective resolution of public grievances
  • Helps registration and verification of charges easily
  • Ensures proactive and effective compliance with relevant laws and corporate governance
  • Enables the MCA employees to deliver best of breed services

 Services offered

  • Obtain Digital Signature Certificate The Information Technology Act, 2000 has provisions for use of Digital Signatures on the documents submitted in electronic form in order to ensure the security and authenticity of the documents filed electronically.
  • As such, all filings done by the companies/LLPs under MCA21 e-Governance programme are required to be filed using Digital Signatures by the person authorised to sign the documents.
  • Apply for Director Identification Number (DIN)
  • View master details of any company/LLP registered with Registrar of Companies
  • e-Filing for Limited liability partnership (LLP)

Model Code of Conduct (MCC) 

  • Article 324 of the Constitution mandates the Commission to hold free and fair elections to the Parliament and the State Legislatures.
  • The MCC is a set of guidelines issued by the Election Commission to regulate political parties and candidates prior to elections, to ensure free and fair elections.
  • The MCC is operational from the date that the election schedule is announced till the date that results are announced.
  • A form of the MCC was first introduced in the state assembly elections in Kerala in 1960. 
  • In the 1962 general elections to the Lok Sabha, the MCC was circulated to recognised parties.
  • The MCC contains eight provisions dealing with general conduct, meetings, processions, polling day, polling booths, observers, party in power, and election manifestos.
  • The MCC is not enforceable by law. However, certain provisions of the MCC may be enforced through invoking corresponding provisions in other statutes such as the Indian Penal Code, 1860, Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, and Representation of the People Act, 1951.
  • The MCC is not a part of the Representation of the People Act, 1951.

Thrissur Pooram

  • The much popular and revered festival known as Thrissur Pooram is one of the most sought after festivals of Kerala.
  • Celebrated in the Malayalam month of Medom (April-May) this celebrated festival consists of processions of richly caparisoned elephants from various neighbouring temples to the Vadakumnathan temple at Thrissur.
  • Thrissur Pooram festival was recently in news for cruelty towards elephants.

 

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