Chandrayaan-2 nears Moon
Category: Sc/tech
- Chandrayaan-2 narrowed its distance from the Moon after a manoeuvre.
- A total of five manoeuvres are planned to gradually make the lunar craft’s oval orbit circular.
- It now goes around the Moon in a 179 km x 1,412 km orbit – shifting about 3,000 km closer to its target at the far end of the oval.
- It is due to reach the desired circular orbit after two more orbit reducing operations — on August 30 and September 1
- Launched on July 22 from Sriharikota, Chandrayaan-2 has been in lunar orbits since August 20. It is due to land on Moon in the early hours of September 7.
Forex gains, OMOs aid RBI’s record surplus
Category: Economy
- Large scale open market operations (OMO) conducted by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and higher earnings from foreign exchange operations helped boost the central bank’s surplus to record levels in 2018-19.
- The RBI posted a surplus of ₹1.23 lakh crore in 2018-19 compared to ₹50,004 crore in 2017-18 and ₹30,663 crore in 2016-17.
- The central bank approved the transfer of ₹1.76 lakh crore to the government, which includes the surplus of ₹1.23 lakh crore and excess provisions of ₹52,637 crore identified as per the revised Economic Capital Framework.
- The RBI infused massive liquidity by buying back government securities. Holding cash does not yield any return but when invested in securities, interest income is earned.
Star tortoise, otters get higher protection at CITES
Category: Environment
- India’s proposal to upgrade the protection of star tortoises (Geochelone elegans), the smooth-coated otter (Lutrogale perspicillata) and small-clawed otters (Anoyx cinereus) in CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species on Wild Fauna and Flora) have been approved.
- These species have been listed under Appendix I of CITES and will now enjoy the highest degree of protection as there will be a complete international ban enforced on their trade.
- The upgradation was approved at the Conference of the Parties (COP18) held at Geneva.
- Appendix I of CITES lists species that are the most endangered among CITES-listed animals and plants. They are threatened with extinction and CITES prohibits international trade in specimens of these species except when the purpose of the import is not commercial, for instance for scientific research.
- TRAFFIC is an international wildlife trade monitoring network.
- 90% of trade of star tortoises occurs as part of the international pet market. The species is categorized as ‘vulnerable’ by the International Union of Conservation of Nature and a decline greater than 30% was predicted by 2025 if the exploitation continued or expanded.
- In case of the small-clawed otter and smooth-coated otter, which are traded for their fur in the international market, numbers are also declining due to habitat loss.
Starhopper
Category: Sc/tech
- SpaceX test-launched an early prototype of the company’s Mars rocket.
- The prototype is dubbed Starhopper.
GI tag for T.N.’s Dindigul lock, Kandangi saree
Category: Art & culture
- Two iconic, but dying products from Tamil Nadu — the Dindigul lock and the Kandangi saree — were given the Geographical Indication tag.
- Both these products were losing their sheen in the market, and the GI tag would help them get some recognition.
- Kandangi saree is manually made using a winding machine, loom, shuttle and bobbin.
- The famous Dindigul locks are known throughout the world for their superior quality and durability.
₹47,436 crore released for afforestation
Category: Environment
- The Union Environment Ministry transferred ₹47,436 crore to 27 States for afforestation.
- These are long-pending dues part of the Compensatory Afforestation Fund (CAF), a ₹54,000 crore tranche that has been collected for nearly a decade as environmental compensation from industry, which has razed forest land for its business plans.
- The amount to be paid by industry depends on the economic value of the goods and services that the razed forest would have provided. These include timber, bamboo, firewood, carbon sequestration, soil conservation, water recharge, and seed dispersal.
- Industrialists pay this money and this is eventually transferred to the States concerned to carry out afforestation.
- Only a fraction of this corpus had actually been disbursed to States, due to the lack of a legal framework and instances of States using it for non-forestry purposes.
- The CAF Act 2016, which came into being more than a decade since it was devised, established an independent authority — the Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority — to execute the fund. However, it was not until last August that the rules governing the management of the fund were finalised.
- Odisha, the top recipient of funds, got nearly ₹6,000 crore followed by Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh with ₹5,791 crore and ₹5,196 crore respectively. Kerala got the least with ₹81.59 crore.
Digital media firms say FDI norms are ‘restrictive’
Category: Economy
- Companies operating news portals expressed disappointment with the government’s new Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) policy capping the investment in digital media at 26%.
- Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal announced that the Cabinet had cleared FDI up to 26% under the “government route” for digital media companies that upload or stream news and current affairs.
- This is a departure from the existing policy, as until now only the print media and news broadcast television companies in India have had FDI caps of 26% and 49%, respectively.
UN warns of rising seas, storm surges
Category: Environment
- The same oceans that nourished human evolution are poised to unleash misery on a global scale unless the carbon pollution destabilising Earth’s marine environment is brought to heel, warns a draft UN report obtained by AFP.
- Destructive changes already set in motion could see a steady decline in fish stocks, a hundred-fold or more increase in the damages caused by superstorms, and hundreds of millions of people displaced by rising seas, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) “special report” on oceans and Earth’s frozen zones, known as the cryosphere.
- The scientific assessment is the fourth such tome from the UN in less than a year, with others focused on a 1.5-Celsius cap on global warming, the state of biodiversity, and how to manage forests and the global food system.
How the RBI ended 2018-19 with an over ₹1.23 lakh-crore surplus
Category: Economy
- Ever since the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) announced a jaw-dropping surplus of ₹1,23,414 crore for 2018-19 (July-June accounting year), the question that has been uppermost on everyone’s mind is: how did the central bank post such a massive surplus?
- In the immediate two preceding years, 2017-18 and 2016-17, the surpluses were only ₹50,004 crore and ₹30,663 crore respectively.
- The RBI Annual Report for 2018-19provides the answers. There are two basic reasons for the impressive surge.
- First, a huge ₹28,998 crore gain from foreign exchange transactions thanks mainly to a change in accounting policy. Until last year, when the RBI sold dollars in the market (to support the rupee), the gain or loss was calculated based on the previous Friday’s market value of the dollar. This policy was changed this year to reflect the historical acquisition cost of the dollar.
- The second reason for the higher surplus is a leap in interest income which was higher by ₹32,966 crore compared to 2017-18. The RBI conducted several rounds of open market operations (OMO) last year to infuse liquidity leading to a 57% jump in its holding of government bonds.
Skull found in Ethiopia yields clues on how humans evolved
Category: Sc/tech
- Scientists have announced the landmark discovery in Ethiopia of a nearly complete skull of an early human ancestor that lived 3.8 million years ago, a species boasting an intriguing mixture of ape-like and human-like characteristics.
- The fossil dubbed MRD, which provides insight into a pivotal period for the evolutionary lineage that eventually led to modern humans, belongs to the species Australopithecus anamensis, which first appeared roughly 4.2 million years ago.
- This species is considered the direct ancestor of Australopithecus afarensis, the species best known from the famous partial skeleton nicknamed ‘Lucy’ unearthed in 1974, about 56 km from the site in the Afar region of Ethiopia where the MRD skull was found in 2016. Lucy dates from about 3.2 million years ago.
- MRD and Lucy together stand as watershed fossils for illuminating early human ancestors.
- Until now, the only Australopithecus anamensis cranial remains were isolated jaw fragments and teeth, making it difficult to fully understand the species. The skull is critical for learning about a species’ diet, brain size and facial appearance.
- MRD’s species, which was bipedal but may also have been able to move around in trees, was much smaller than modern humans.
