Colistin banned in animal food industry
Sc/tech
- The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has issued an order prohibiting the manufacture, sale and distribution of colistin and its formulations for food-producing animals, poultry, aqua farming and animal feed supplements.
- Colistin is a valuable, last-resort antibiotic that saves lives in critical care units and in recent years, medical professionals have been alarmed by the number of patients who have exhibited resistance to the drug.
- Therefore, any move to ensure that arbitrary use of colistin in the food industry, particularly as growth supplements used in animals, poultry, aqua farms, would likely reduce the antimicrobial resistance within the country.
- The bulk of colistin (nearly 95%) is imported from China.
M.P. yet to form tiger protection force
Ecology
- Having resolved to constitute a Special Tiger Protection Force (STPF) more than seven years ago, Madhya Pradesh is yet to constitute the battalion, even as the State has registered the most number of tiger deaths due to poaching since 2012.
- Famous as the ‘Tiger State’ at least until 2006 when it boasted the most number of tigers with an estimated 300 in its six reserves, Madhya Pradesh lost out to Karnataka in 2010 and fell behind Uttarakhand too in 2014.
- The main obstruction to tiger corridors and natural habitats is caused by big landlords whose encroachments in the form of resorts and farmhouses have been altering the lives of tigers.
- In Gujarat model of wildlife conservation, locals have been roped in and mortalities have been successfully brought down.
Govt. in talks with foreign lenders for loans to SMEs
Economy
- The government is in talks with foreign lenders to provide $14.5 billion in credit to millions of small firms.
- The government plans to source up to ₹1 lakh crore of loans from foreign institutions because Indian banks were not in a position to provide enough capital for the small business sector, which is seen as critical to job creation.
- The push for foreign loans comes on the heels of the government’s announcement earlier this month that it was planning to borrow about ₹700 billion by issuing overseas sovereign bonds.
- India’s 63 million firms in the micro, small and medium firm sector are responsible for more than a quarter of the country’s manufacturing and services output, and must be re-energised for the government to kick-start the economy.
- Credit availability for SMEs, which also account for about 45% of the country’s exports, has worsened due to a liquidity crisis in the non-banking financial companies (NBFC) sector.
- State-owned banks have not been able to drive increased lending because they are burdened with more than $145 billion in bad loans.
- Last month, a study by an RBI panel said the overall deficit in credit for the MSME sector is estimated at about ₹20-25 lakh crore.
LIGO
Sc/tech
- The acronym LIGO stands for Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory.
- LIGO consists of a pair of huge interferometers, each having two arms which are 4 km long.
- Remarkable precision is needed to detect a signal as faint as a gravitational wave, and the two LIGO detectors work as one unit to ensure this.
- Naturally, this requires weeding out noise very carefully, for when such a faint signal is being detected, even a slight human presence near the detector could derail the experiment by drowning out the signal.
- LIGO, unlike usual telescopes, does not “see” the incoming ripples in spacetime. It does not even need to, because gravitational waves are not a part of electromagnetic spectrum or light. They are not light waves but a different phenomenon altogether — a stretching of spacetime due to immense gravity.
- A single LIGO detector cannot confidently detect this disturbance on its own. At least two detectors are needed. This is because the signal is so weak that even a random noise could give out a signal that can mislead one into thinking a genuine gravitational wave has been detected.
- What is the need to have another detector in India?
- Right now, with just three detectors, there is huge uncertainty in determining where in the sky the disturbance came from.
- Observations from a new detector in a far-off position will help locate the source of the gravitational waves more accurately.
- What are the possible sources of gravitational waves?
- Mergers of black holes or neutron stars, rapidly rotating neutron stars, supernova explosions and the remnants of the disturbance caused by the formation of the universe, the Big Bang itself, are the strongest sources.
- There can be many other sources, but these are likely to be too weak to detect.
- Why does one study gravitational waves?
- It offers a new way to map out the universe, using gravitational-wave astronomy.
- LIGO India will come up in Maharashtra, near Aundha in Hingoli district.
Odisha renews effort to revive gharial population
Ecology
- Odisha has renewed its effort to revive the population of gharials, a “critically endangered” species of crocodile, in their natural habitat by releasing five reptiles into the Satkosia gorge of Mahanadi — the southernmost limit of gharials’ home range in India.
- Gharials, the large reptiles which were abundant in the main rivers and tributaries of the Indus, Ganga, Brahmaputra and Mahanadi-Brahmani, are now limited to only 14 widely spaced and restricted locations in India and Nepal.
- Furthermore, Odisha is the only State in India having all three species — gharial, mugger and saltwater crocodile..
Opposition says Bill dilutes RTI Act
Polity
- The Lok Sabha passed the Right to Information (Amendment) Bill, 2019.
- It seeks to amend the landmark transparency law and bring in changes involving the salaries and tenures of Information Commissioners (ICs) at the States and the Centre.
- As per the amendment, the ICs — who currently have five-year tenures — will have “terms as may be prescribed by the Central government” and salaries, instead of being on a par with those of Election Commissioners, will be decided by the Centre.
- The Bill states that the functions being carried out by the Election Commission and the Central and State Information Commissions are totally different.
- The Election Commission is a Constitutional body. On the other hand, the Central Information Commission and the State Information Commissions are statutory bodies established under the Right to Information Act, 2005.
Human Rights Bill cleared
Polity
- The Protection of Human Rights (Amendment) Bill, 2019 amends the Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993 to include the provision that apart from a former CJI, a former judge of the Supreme Court can be the Chairperson of the NHRC.
- Under the Act, only a person who had been the CJI could be made the NHRC chairperson.
- The Bill says that if a Chief Justice of India is not available for the post, then there is an option to appoint a Supreme Court judge. But there is no clarity that if there is an existing Chief Justice, will he be overlooked and a certain hand-picked judge be appointed chairman.
Speaker breaks House convention
Polity
- Breaking away from the tradition of adjourning the House for the entire day if a sitting member dies, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla adjourned the Lok Sabha until 2 p.m. at the death of Lok Janashakti Party (LJP) member Ramchandra Paswan.
- The convention is to adjourn for the day after paying homage to the departed leader on the floor of the House.
- But this is not the only change that the new Speaker has brought to the functioning of the Lok Sabha. He has started a new practice of allowing members to seek clarifications after Union Ministers reply to a debate on subjects that their respective Ministries handle..
- While it is a norm for Rajya Sabha members to seek clarification from a Minister after a debate, a Minister has to agree for an MP to seek a clarification. But now, Mr. Birla has made it a norm for Ministers to reply to clarifications sought by the members.
- Another change that the Speaker has brought about is to allow as many MPs as possible to raise matters during the Zero Hour, a time slot reserved for MPs to raises issues of importance related to their constituencies or their State. On July 18, Lok Sabha proceedings went on close to midnight as 162 members were allowed to raise issues under Zero Hour mentions after the Finance Bill was passed.
Perfect launch for Chandrayaan-2
Sc/tech
- The spacecraft was injected into orbit at a perigee of 169.7km and apogee of 45,475 km, the apogee more than what was targeted.
- In fact, the orbit is 6,000 km more than what was intended. The satellite will have more life, more fuel and more time to play with the manoeuvres.
60.14% turnout of service voters
Polity
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- Having sent postal ballots to service voters electronically for the first time in the latest Lok Sabha election, the Election Commission said the one-way electronic transmission had enabled 60.14% turnout of such voters.
- In comparison, an EC statement noted, the service voter turnout in the 2014 election was just 4%.
- While the service voters still had to post their ballots back, an online registration system was set up and the ballots were sent to them electronically for the first time.
- Service voters are those working in Central forces and government officials deployed at embassies around the world.
- Of the total service electors, 10,16,245 were from the Defence Ministry; 7,82,595 from the Central Armed Police Forces; 3,539 of the External Affairs Ministry and 267 of the State police.
