Who-Trans Fat
Category: International
- Trans fat, also called the worst form of fat in food, is responsible for over 5,00,000 deaths globally from coronary heart disease each year.
- It could be eliminated from the industrially produced global food supply by 2023 if the World Health Organization (WHO) has its way.
- The WHO has partnered with the International Food and Beverage Alliance (IFBA) to achieve this target.
- The aim is that the amount of industrial trans fat in the products does not exceed two grams per 100 grams fat/oil globally by 2023.
India’s Newest Pit Viper
Category: Environment
- India now has a fifth brown pit viper , found in Arunachal Pradesh.
- Pit viper is a venomous snake with a unique heat-sensing system.
- It has been named Arunachal pit viper (Trimeresurus arunachalensis).
- The new species makes Arunachal Pradesh the only Indian state to have a pit viper named after it.
- The other four brown pit vipers — Malabar, horseshoe, hump-nosed and Himalayan — were discovered 70 years ago.
Bank Credit
Category: Economy
- Bank credit grew by 13.2% in financial year 2018-19 as compared to 10.3% in the previous financial year.
- This growth was mainly aided by loans to services and retail sector.
- Deposit growth also gained momentum, growing by 10% as compared to 6.7% a year ago.
- Banks typically tend to push for more loan disbursement and also try to get more deposits ahead of the end of a financial year to shore up their balance sheet and meet year-end targets.
- Credit growth in services sector was the highest.
- Banks have benefited from the liquidity crunch that non-banking financial companies are facing following the IL&FS crisis.
- NBFCs have slowed down their loan growth since their cost of funds increased substantially after September-October. This is particularly true for retail loans, where NBFCs are a major player.
- Banks have been pushing loans to the corporate sector at a slower pace after sharp rise in bad loans, mostly in sectors like infrastructure.
Class Action
Category: Economy
- The Corporate Affairs Ministry has notified the thresholds for filing class action.
- Class action is a provision aimed at providing a redressal mechanism for small and minority investors.
- An application for class action can be filed by a member or members, representing 5% of the total members of a company. It can also be done by 100 members of a company, whichever is less.
Barn Owls
Category: Environment
- With a thriving rat population playing havoc with its coconut yield, the union territory of Lakshadweep is turning to barn owls for help.
- It has ‘recruited’ three pairs of barn owls from Kerala to fight against the rodents.
- After a lengthy bureaucratic process that began in 2017, the winged hunters have now reached Kavaratti by ship. For the time being, the three males and three females are getting acclimatised in specially built cages.
- So, why barn owls? Why not other accomplished rat hunters like cats or rat snakes? The reason is that the rats in the Lakshadweep Islands practically live on the treetops.
Chilli Meal
Category: Economy
- India inks protocol for export of its chilli meal with China
- This is the eighth agricultural product since 2003 for which India and China have signed a protocol for trade.
- China is India’s largest trade partner.
- There has been a slight reduction in the trade imbalance between the two in the last two fiscal years, there still remains a significant trade deficit.
- India has imported $65.23 billion worth of goods from China between April 2018 and February 2019, while it has only exported $15.07 billion worth of goods to the country.
- In 2017-18, India’s exports to China were around $13.30 billion, while its imports were higher at around $76.40 billion.
