Essential Facts for Prelims – CSE 2019. Daily Compilation of Important Factual Information from Relevant News Sources for Civil Services Prelims Exam (UPSC)
Desalination plants
- Desalination plants harm environment.
- Desalination plants worldwide produce bigger-than-expected flows of highly salty waste water and toxic chemicals that are damaging the environment.
- About 55% of the brine is produced in desalination plants processing seawater in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar.
- The hyper-salty water is mostly pumped into the sea.
- Brine is water comprising about 5% salt. By contrast, global sea water is about 3.5% salt
- Brine often includes toxins such as chlorine and copper used in desalination.
- Brine can cut levels of oxygen in seawater near desalination plants with profound impacts on shellfish, crabs and other creatures on the seabed.
PCA
- Restrictions under prompt corrective action are imposed when a bank breaches certain risk thresholds with respect to
- capital adequacy ratio,
- net non-performing asset ratio,
- return of assets and
- leverage ratio.
- Under the PCA framework, there are 11 public sector banks which have a 20% share in the loan market.
- Government wants at least a few banks to come out of curbs so that lending can get a boost.
BFS
- The Board for Financial Supervision (BFS) comes under Reserve Bank of India (RBI).
- It has been entrusted by the central bank board to review the performance of the banks under PCA.
- BFS is chaired by the RBI Governor and includes the four deputy governors and a few other board members.
Vienna convention
- The Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations was established in196.
- It is an international treaty that defines a framework for diplomatic relations between independent countries.
- It specifies the privileges of a diplomatic mission that enable diplomats to perform their function without fear of coercion or harassment by the host country.
- This forms the legal basis for diplomatic immunity.
- Its articles are considered a cornerstone of modern international relations.
Global Housing Technology Challenge
- To solve housing crunch, govt kicks off int’l challenge New Delhi: The Centre on Monday kicked off a global challenge for builders and research organisations to come out with new technologies to reduce construction period of houses from years to months.
- The primary aim is to select the most cost-effective technology to speed up construction of affordable housing to meet the target of building nearly 1.2 crore houses by 2022.
Global economy
- India will likely be a larger economy than the US by 2030, while China will top the list.
- Seven of the top 10 economies in the world by 2030 are likely to be from current emerging markets based on purchasing power parity (PPP) exchange rates and nominal GDP.
- Most multilateral agencies see growth in India accelerating as China moderates..
- The combined US, Japan and euro-area GDP share of world GDP (based on market exchange rates) fell to 46% in 2018 from 51% in 2010, and is expected to slide further to 40% by 2030.
Assam Accord
- It was formulated in 1985.
- It fixed the cut-off date for migrants from Bangladesh to March 24,1971.
Retail inflation
Retail inflation is measured by the consumer price index.
