Daily Prelims Notes 17 July 2023

Daily Prelims Notes

17 July 2023

Table Of Contents

1. US sees India as an indispensable ally in friendshoring: Yellen
2. India to push G­20 to raise taxes on MNCs making ‘excess profit’
3. EU may be offered tariff sops on some ICT products
4. New Panel to review ‘NSO data’
5. Nod for multi-role chopper by early 2024; Safran, HAL to set up firm in Bengaluru
6. PSLV-C56 to lift off with seven satellites
7. Oppenheimer : Father of Atom Bombs
8. China and Russia to kick off air, navy drills in East Sea
9. Panel wants Kuno cheetahs to undergo medical review
10. Coral Bleaching
11. India eyes 5000 km eastern regional waterways grid
12. PSBs to step up one-time settlement in written-off loans
13. China event raises concern over India’s only ape
14. Commonly-found cicada species sheds its foreign tag to embrace an Indian identity
15. How gaps in cloud system configuration can expose user data
16. Lightning not a natural disaster
17. Blaze ‘out of control’ as more people flee Spain’s La Palma
18. 90 days of Sudan strife: Country saw decade’s displacement in just 10 weeks

1. US sees India as an indispensable ally in friendshoring: Yellen

Subject: Economy

Section: External Sector

Concept:

Terming India the biggest trading partner, U.S. Treasury Secretary pitched for advancing an approach called “friendshoring” to bolster the resilience of supply chains.

Friendshoring

• Friendshoring is a strategy where a country sources the raw materials, components and even manufactured goods from countries that share its values.
• The dependence on the countries considered a “threat” to the stability of the supply chains is slowly reduced.
• It is also called “allyshoring”.
• For the US, Russia has long presented itself as a reliable energy partner, but in the Ukraine war, it has weaponized the gas against the people of Europe.
• It’s an example of how malicious actors can use their market positions to try to gain geopolitical leverage or disrupt trade for their own gain.
• Friend-shoring or ally-shoring has become a means for the US to influence firms to move their sourcing and manufacturing sites to friendly shores—often back to the same shores in the case of the US.
• The purpose of Frienshoring is to insulate countries’ supply chains from less like-minded nations, such as China in case of the US.

2. India to push G­20 to raise taxes on MNCs making ‘excess profit’

Subject :Economy

Section:

Context: India will push its Group of 20 partners at a meeting it is hosting to support its proposal to raise the share of taxes multinational companies pay to countries where they earn “excess profits”

Key Points:

• OECD countries led by the US agreed to implement a minimum tax of 15% on big businesses under the Pillar 2 of OECD Global Anti-Base Erosion Model Rules (GloBE). 136 nations have agreed to the model rules.
• OECD was hoping to secure signatures to the Pillar-2 of the GloBE Rules during the G20 summit. But India is reiterating its demand of commensurate share of profits for countries where the MNCs earn their profits.
• India’s proposal is being seen as likely to hinder chances of adoption of the OECD proposal during the G20 summit by OECD countries like Japan and Australia.
• Several countries have concerns over the allocation of taxing rights among countries.

OECD Proposal:

• Under the agreement, global corporations with annual revenues over 20 billion euros ($22 billion) are considered to be making excess profits if the profits exceed 10% annual growth. The 25% surcharge on these excess profits is to be divided among countries.
• More than 140 countries were supposed to start implementing next year a 2021 deal overhauling decades-old rules on how governments tax multinationals. The present rules are widely considered outdated as digital giants like Apple or Amazon can book profits in low-tax countries.
• The proposed solution consists of two components- Pillar One which is about reallocation of additional share of profit to the market jurisdictions and Pillar Two consisting of minimum tax and subject to tax rules.

India’s view 

•  India is fighting for a higher share of taxes for markets where firms do business as it is set to be the world’s most populous country and set to become one of the biggest consumer markets.
• India wants the agreement to ensure greater share of profits for the markets giving due consideration to the demand side factors in profit allocation.
• India wants taxation to be de-linked from the excess profit tax principle. The rules now say countries offset their share of taxes with the withholding tax they collect.
• Withholding tax is collected by companies while making payments to vendors and employees, and remitted to tax authorities.
• India wants the two pillars of GloBE to be adopted as a package deal.

3. EU may be offered tariff sops on some ICT products

Subject: Economy

Section: External Sector

Context: The World Trade Organization’s Dispute Settlement Body (DSB), in a special session on Wednesday, will consider a joint request made by India and the EU for more time to sort out their dispute related to import tariffs imposed by India on select ICT products, including mobile phones.

Both members, in a submission to the DSB, requested that it should put off adoption of the WTO panel’s report, which ruled against India’s tariffs, till September 19, 2023.

The DSB already allowed more time to Chinese Taipei and India to sort out the matter in the dispute on the same issue. So, it is expected that it will agree to do so in the case of EU as well.

But this is mostly unprecedented as the DSB usually sticks to its 60-day time period for adoption of dispute panel reports. It is within this time frame that appeals against the judgment can be filed at the Appellate Body by the members involved failing which the report gets adopted

Background:

• Japan and Chinese Taipei had set up a dispute settlement panel at the World Trade Organization (WTO) against New Delhi’s customs duties on imports of certain information and communications technology (ICT) products.
• On April 17, the dispute settlement panel of the WTO, in three separate disputes filed by the EU, Japan and Chinese Taipei against India’s import duties on certain ICT products, had ruled that the tariffs violated its commitment under multilateral trade rules and needed to be corrected.

What now?

India has a 60-day time period to appeal against the judgment, failing which the report was to be adopted. The 60-day period is to end this week.

India has already appealed to the WTO Appellate Body against the judgement in its dispute with Japan. In case of the dispute with Chinese Taipei, both sides have bought more time. If the DSB agrees to do the same with the EU, then the adoption of the panel reports in all three cases would not happen this week

What is Information Technology Agreement (ITA)?

ITA

• The Information Technology Agreement (ITA) was concluded by 29 participants at the Singapore Ministerial Conference in December 1996.
• Since then, the number of participants has grown to 82, representing about 97 per cent of world trade in IT products.
• The ITA covers a large number of high technology products, including computers, telecommunication equipment, semiconductors, semiconductor manufacturing and testing equipment, software, scientific instruments, as well as most of the parts and accessories of these products.
• The participants are committed to completely eliminating tariffs on IT products covered by the Agreement.

ITA2

• In June 2012, the ITA-2 negotiation was launched in order to both expand the coverage of ICT products and address classification issues.
• At the Nairobi Ministerial Conference in December 2015, over 50 members concluded the expansion of the Agreement, which now covers an additional 201 products valued at over $1.3 trillion per year.

4. New Panel to review ‘NSO data’

Subject : Economy

Section: National Income

Concept :

• The Ministry of Statistics is going to replace the existing Standing Committee on Economic Statistics (SCES) by a ‘Standing Committee on Statistics (SCoS)’ which has a broader mandate to review the framework and results of all surveys conducted under the aegis of the National Statistical Office (NSO).

Background:

• The government constituted a new internal oversight mechanism for official data via forming a Standing Committee on Economic Statistics (SCES) set up in late 2019.

About the new Committee:

• As per the update, a new committee ‘SCoS’ will have 10 official members, and four non-official members who are eminent academics.
• The panel can have up to 16 members.
• Need for a new committee: The last round of household surveys on consumption expenditure and employment citied ‘data quality issues’.

Significance:

• The ‘SCoS’ terms of reference include the identification of data gaps that need to be filled by official statistics, along with an appropriate strategy to plug those gaps.
• It has also been mandated to explore the use of administrative statistics to improve data outcomes.
• Present scenario:
• The Standing Committee on Economic Statistics (SCES), which had 28 members, included 10 non-official members.
• The panel was mandated to review the framework for economic indicators pertaining to the industrial sector, the services sector and the labour force statistics.
• This meant that their purview was limited to datasets like the Periodic Labour Force Survey, the Annual Survey of Industries, the Index of Industrial Production and the Economic Census.

National Statistical Office (NSO):

• National Statistical Office (NSO) was formed through the merger of the NSSO and CSO under the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI).
• The National Sample Survey Office (NSSO), formerly called the National Sample Survey Organisation was the largest organization in India conducting periodic socio-economic surveys.
• Earlier known as the Central Statistics Organisation of India, CSO is responsible for the coordination of statistical activities in India, and evolving and maintaining statistical standards.

The major functions of CSO are as under: –

• Acts as the nodal agency for planned development of the statistical system in the country, lays down and maintains norms and standards in the field of statistics, involving concepts and definitions, methodology of data collection, processing of data and dissemination of results.
• Coordinates the statistical work in respect of the Ministries/Departments of the Government of India and State Statistical Bureaus (SSBs), advises the Ministries/ Departments of the Government of India on statistical methodology and on statistical analysis of data.
• Compiles and releases the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) every month in the form of ‘quick estimates’; conducts the Annual Survey of Industries (ASI); and provides statistical information to assess and evaluate the changes in the growth, composition and structure of the organised manufacturing sector.
• Organizes and conducts periodic all-India Economic Censuses and follow-up enterprise surveys, provides an in-house facility to process the data collected through various socio economic surveys and follow-up enterprise surveys of Economic Censuses.
• Examines the survey reports from the technical angle and evaluates the sampling design including survey feasibility studies in respect of surveys conducted by the National Sample Survey Organisations and other Central Ministries and Departments.
• Dissemination of statistical information on various aspects through a number of publications distributed to Government, semi-Government, or private data users/ agencies; and disseminates data, on request, to the United Nations agencies like the UNSD, the ESCAP, the ILO and other international agencies.
• Maintains liaison with international statistical organizations, such as, the United Nations Statistical Division (UNSD), the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), the Statistical Institute for Asia and the Pacific (SIAP), the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the Food and Agriculture Organizations (FAO), the International Labour Organizations (ILO), etc.
• Prepares national accounts as well as publishes annual estimates of national product, government and private consumption expenditure, capital formation, savings, estimates of capital stock and consumption of fixed capital, as also the state level gross capital formation of supra-regional sectors and prepares comparable estimates of State Domestic Product (SDP) at current prices.
• Conducts large scale all-India sample surveys for creating the database needed for studying the impact of specific problems for the benefit of different population groups in diverse socio-economic areas, such as employment, consumer expenditure, housing conditions and environment, literacy levels, health, nutrition, family welfare, etc.
• Releases grants-in-aid to registered Non-Governmental Organizations and research institutions of repute for undertaking special studies or surveys, printing of statistical reports, and financing seminars, workshops and conferences relating to different subject areas of official statistics. The Collection of Statistics Act, 2008 and coordination of follow-up on the implementation of recommendations of NSC recommendations. The administrative work relating to Indian Statistical Institute (ISI) is also looked after by CAP Division.

5. Nod for multi-role chopper by early 2024; Safran, HAL to set up firm in Bengaluru

Subject : Science and technology

Section: Defence

Concept :

• the project sanction for the Indian Multi-Role Helicopter (IMRH), being developed by Hindustan Aeronautics (HAL), is expected within this financial year, defence sources said.
• Meanwhile, Safran Helicopter Engines and HAL have decided to set up their new joint venture company in Bengaluru, which will be dedicated to the “design, development, production, sales and support of helicopter engines” with the focus first on the IMRH, the French company announced.
• The IMRH, expected to be ready by the end of this decade, is meant to replace the Mi-17s in service and will also have a naval version, the Deck Based Multi-Role Helicopter (DBMRH).

About Indian Multi Role Helicopters

• The Indian Multi Role Helicopter (IMRH) is a medium-lift helicopter currently under development by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) for Indian Armed forces for air assault, air-attack, anti-submarine, anti-surface, military transport and VIP transport roles.
• IMRH is aimed to replace all the current Mil Mi-17 and Mil Mi-8 helicopters across the Indian armed forces.
• The planned rotorcraft is expected to have a maximum takeoff weight of 13 tonnes with a five bladed main rotor and 4 bladed rotor on tail.
• The navalised version further will have longer range and higher payload capacity. HAL estimates requirement of over 314 rotocraft of same class across Indian Armed Forces replace existing Mil Mi-17 helicopters in service in India.

6. PSLV-C56 to lift off with seven satellites

Subject: Science and technology

Section: Space technology

Concept :

• After Friday’s spectacular start to the Chandrayaan-3 moon mission, scientists at the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) will be back in Sriharikota for another important launch later this month.
• The Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle — C56 (PSLV-C56) mission is expected to lift off from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre towards July-end — July 26 as per the latest updates.

Core Alone Variant

• ISRO will be using a ‘core alone’ variant of the PSLV for this mission.
• PSLV-Core Alone (PSLV-CA) variant does not use solid rocket strap-on motors in its first stage for added thrust. Other variants use up to six strap-ons.

Flexible launch vehicle

• The PSLV variants are used depending on the mission requirements. The PSLV is a flexible launch vehicle which can be rigged with two, four or six strap-ons depending on the need.

Payloads

• A commercial mission, the PSLV-C56 will have seven payloads in all including the 351.9 kg earth observation satellite DS-SAR (short for Synthetic Aperture Radar) from Singapore.
• The others are Arcade (23.58 kg), Velox-AM (23 kg) and Orb-12 Strider (12.8 kg). The remaining three are nanosatellites weighing less than 10 kg each.
• They are the Galassia-2 (3.84 kg), SCOOB-II (4.1 kg) and NuLIon (3.05 kg), according to a list provided by the VSSC. These satellites will be placed in a Low Earth Orbit (LEO).

For further notes on PSLV and Launch Vehicles, refer – https://optimizeias.com/isros-next-gen-lv-may-assume-pslvs-role/

7. Oppenheimer : Father of Atom Bombs

Subject : History

Section:

Concept :

• Christopher Nolan’s new film on the American physicist who built the most destructive weapon known to man, then advocated against nuclear weapons, and was punished for it, opens on July 21.
• As Director of the Los Alamos Laboratory in New Mexico, Oppenheimer led the so-called ‘Manhattan Project’ — and the team of scientists who worked to harness 20th-century advances in nuclear physics for the purposes of war.
• However, after witnessing firsthand the devastating potential of nuclear weapons, Oppenheimer became one of the strongest voices against their proliferation and the growing nuclear arms race between the United States and the (erstwhile) Soviet Union.
• This is the story of how the so-called ‘Father of the Atomic Bomb’ became one of the most vocal advocates for nuclear non-proliferation.

The dawn of the Atomic Age – US Trinity Test

• Trinity was the code name of the first detonation of a nuclear device.
• on July 16, 1945, the world’s first super bomb loaded with about 13 pounds of plutonium at its core exploded in a desert in New Mexico.
• The super bomb, nicknamed ‘Gadget’, was built by a team of scientists at a top-secret site in Los Alamos.
• It destroyed everything in its vicinity and melted vast swathes of sand into sea-green glass.
• It was developed as part of the US-led Manhattan Project.

Oppenheimer and the Gita

• Robert Oppenheimer always had doubts about “bestowing humanity the possible means for its own annihilation”.
• After witnessing the Trinity Test, his reservations were amplified manifold. And like so many others, he sought the meaning of his actions in the philosophy of the Bhagavad Gita.
• In 1965, speaking on the first-ever detonation of an atomic bomb, he quoted the Gita. “Vishnu (Krishna) is trying to persuade the Prince (Arjuna) that he should do his duty, and to impress him [He] takes on his multi-armed form and says, ‘Now, I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds’,” Oppenheimer said.
• Oppenheimer’s “I am become Death” quote has become inextricably tied to the nuclear age, an apt description of the terrifying and awesome destructive potential of nuclear weapons.

8. China and Russia to kick off air, navy drills in East Sea

Subject : International Relations

Section: Places in news

Concept :

• A Chinese naval flotilla recently set off to join Russian naval and air forces in the Sea of Japan to participate in the “Northern/Interaction-2023” military drills.

About Northern/Interaction-2023:

• Northern/Interaction-2023 military drills is organized by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army Northern Theatre Command in the central Sea of Japan.
• The event marks Russia’s second time participating in the PLA annual strategic drills, and also a first that Russia has dispatched both naval and air forces to participate in similar events.
• The drills are themed “safeguarding the safety of strategic maritime routes“.
• In August 2021, Russia participated in the “Western/Interaction-2021” exercise held at Northwest China’s Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, which marked the first time that China invited foreign forces to participate in its annual strategic exercises in its territory.
• “Northern/Interaction-2023” drills are organized by the PLA Northern Theatre Command, while PLA forces participating in the previous “Western/Interaction-2021” exercise were mainly composed of forces from the Western Theatre Command.

Key facts about Sea of Japan:

• Sea of Japan (East Sea) is a marginal sea of the western Pacific Ocean.
• It is located in Eastern Asia that is bounded by Japan and Sakhalin Island to the east and by Russia and Korea on the Asian mainland to the west.
• Its area is 377,600 square miles(978,000 square km).
• The sea itself lies in a deep basin, separated from the East China Sea to the south by the Tsushima and Korea straits and from the Sea of Okhotsk to the north by the La Perouse (or Sōya) and Tatar straits.
• To the east it is also connected with the Inland Sea of Japan by the Kanmon Strait and to the Pacific by the Tsugaru Strait.
• It influences the climate of Japan because of its relatively warm waters.

9. Panel wants Kuno cheetahs to undergo medical review

Subject : Environment

Section: Species in news

Connect :

• Following the deaths of two cheetahs over the last week, the expert advisory committee overseeing the implementation of Project Cheetah has recommended that all the animals undergo a thorough, physical medical review.
• This will involve recalling even the animals which have been released into the wild and investigating if the radio-collars dangling from their necks may be indirectly abetting infections.
• Looking ahead, a Cheetah Research Centre — with facilities for rescue and rehabilitation as well — will be established.
• Other measures on the cards include bringing additional forest area under the administrative control of Kuno National Park; adding additional frontline forces; and establishing a second home for the animal in the Gandhi Sagar sanctuary, the Ministry statement noted.

Cheetah Reintroduction Project

• The cheetah reintroduction project is the world’s first inter-continental cheetah translocation project.
• Totally 20 Cheetahs are scheduled to arrive in
• The main goal of the cheetah programme is to establish a viable cheetah metapopulation in India that allows the cheetah to perform its functional role as a top predator and provides space for the expansion of the cheetah within its historical range, thereby contributing to its global conservation effort.

Kuno National Park

• Situated between the Aravallis and the Madhav National Park, Kuno serves as an important wildlife corridor
• It was notified as a sanctuary in 1981 and then upgraded to a national park in 2018.
• Spread over 750 kilometres of pristine wilderness, it is rich in floral diversity with more than 120 species of trees.
• The tropical dry deciduous forest mainly consists of Anogeissus pendula (Kardhai), Senegalia catechu (Khair) Boswellia serrata (Salai) and associated flora.

Why Kuno Palpur NP ?

• There is no dearth of water in Kuno and there is abundant prey.
• Kuno also has ample natural habitat for the cheetah in the form of grasslands, savannah, and open woodland with evergreen riverine ravines.
• Sheopur district, where Kuno is located, has rainfall levels, temperatures, altitude and conditions similar to that of South Africa and Namibia.

10. Coral Bleaching

Subject : Environment

Section: Ecosystem

Concept :

• The water off South Florida is over 90 degrees Fahrenheit (32 Celsius) in mid-July, and scientists are already seeing signs of coral bleaching off Central and South America.
• If the extreme heat persists, it could have dire consequences for coral reefs.
• Just like humans, corals can handle some degree of stress, but the longer it lasts, the more harm it can do.
• Corals can’t move to cooler areas when water temperatures rise to dangerous levels. They are stuck in it.
• For those that are particularly sensitive to temperature stress, that can be devastating.

Why coral reefs matter to everyone ?

• Coral reefs are hot spots of biodiversity. They are often referred to as the rainforests of the sea because they are home to the highest concentrations of species in the ocean.
• Healthy reefs are vibrant ecosystems that support fish and fisheries, which in turn support economies and food for millions of people.
• Additionally, they provide billions of dollars in economic activity every year through tourism, particularly in places like the Florida Keys, where people go to scuba dive, snorkel, fish and experience the natural beauty of coral reefs.
• If that isn’t enough, reefs also protect shorelines, beaches and billions of dollars in coastal infrastructure by buffering wave energy, particularly during storms and hurricanes.

What goes into a coral reef?

• But corals are quite sensitive to warming water. They host a microscopic symbiotic algae called zooxanthella that photosynthesizes just like plants, providing food to the coral. When the surrounding waters get too warm for too long, the zooxanthellae leave the coral, and the coral can turn pale or white – a process known as bleaching.
• If corals stay bleached, they can become energetically compromised and ultimately die.
• When corals die or their growth slows, these beautiful, complex reef habitats start disappearing and can eventually erode to sand.

What is Coral Bleaching?

• When corals face stress by changes in conditions such as temperature, light, or nutrients, they expel the symbiotic algae zooxanthellae living in their tissues, causing them to turn completely white. This phenomenon is called coral bleaching.
• The pale white colour is of the translucent tissues of calcium carbonate which are visible due to the loss of pigment producing zooxanthellae.
• Bleached corals can survive depending on the levels of bleaching and the recovery of sea temperatures to normal levels.
• If heat-pollutions subside in time, over a few weeks, the zooxanthellae can come back to the corals and restart the partnership but severe bleaching and prolonged stress in the external environment can lead to coral death.
• Over the last couple of decades, climate change and increased global warming owing to rising carbon emissions and other greenhouse gases have made seas warmer than usual.
• Coral bleaching has occurred in the Caribbean, Indian, and Pacific oceans on a regular basis.

Mass Coral Bleaching:

• First Mass Bleaching: It occurred in 1998 when the El Niño weather pattern caused sea surfaces in the Pacific Ocean to heat up; this event caused 8% of the world’s coral to die.
• Second Mass Bleaching: This event took place in 2002. In the past decade, however, mass bleaching occurrences have become more closely spaced in time, with the longest and most damaging bleaching event taking place from 2014 to 2017.
• Third Mass Bleaching: The event that took place between 2014-17 affected reefs in Guam in the Western Pacific region, the North, South-Pacific, and the Indian Ocean.

Initiatives to Protect Corals

• A number of global initiatives are being taken to address the issues, like:
• International Coral Reef Initiative
• Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network (GCRMN)
• Global Coral Reef Alliance (GCRA)
• The Global Coral Reef R&D Accelerator Platform
• Similarly, the Ministry of Environment and Forests and Climate Change (MoEF&CC), India has included the studies on coral reefs under the Coastal Zone Studies (CZS).
• In India, the Zoological Survey of India (ZSI), with help from Gujarat’s forest department, is attempting a process to restore coral reefs using “biorock” or mineral accretion technology.
• National Coastal Mission Programme, to protect and sustain coral reefs in the country.

11. India eyes 5000 km eastern regional waterways grid

Subject : International Relations

Section: Places in news

Concept :

• Eyeing a greater presence along the South East Asian trade route, and countering China’s dominance in the region, India is engaging with its two key neighbours, Myanmar and Bangladesh, pushing for better port and waterways connectivity across a 5,000 km – odd grid.

Eastern Waterways Grid

• It aims to provide seamless connectivity between National Waterway-1 (NW-1) and NW-2 through the Indo-Bangladesh Protocol (IBP) routes.
• The Eastern Waterways Grid will link the rivers of Bangladesh, Bhutan, India and Nepal.
• This grid will interlinking their rivers and connect them with roads and rail to reach the last mile.
• Eastern Waterways Grid is a project undertaken by the Union Government under its ‘Act East Policy‘.
• This grid will also develop an economic corridor of 4,200 km of waterways and coastal shipping for Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal and the North-Eastern States.
• The Grid builds upon the existing network of Indo-Bangladesh Protocol Routes (IBP) – a series of waterways which both countries can use as transit routes or to trade with each other.

What is IBP route?

• The Protocol on Inland Water Transit and Trade (PIWTT) between India and Bangladesh allows mutually beneficial arrangements for the use of their waterways for movement of goods between the two countries by vessels of both countries. This Protocol was first signed in 1972 and last renewed in 2015.
• Under this Protocol, Inland vessels / cruises of one country can ply on the designated waterway routes of another country.
• Under this protocol in India: North Eastern States are connected with eastern part of India through river Brahmaputra (NW-2) and river Barak (NW-16) North Eastern States are connected with Ganga-Bhagirathi-Hooghli river system (NW-1) via Sundarbans (NW-97) .
• IBP routes are navigable routes for movement of shipping vessels that have been earmarked under the PIWTT.
• The IBP route extends from Kolkata (India) on NW-1 to Silghat (Assam) on NW-2 (River Brahmaputra) and Karimganj (Assam) on NW-16 (River Barak).

12. PSBs to step up one-time settlement in written-off loans

Subject : Economy

Section: Monetary Policy

Key Points:

• Public sector banks (PSBs) are expected to step up one-time settlement (OTS) in written-off loans as the Finance Ministry and the Reserve Bank of India have emphasised on the importance of improving recovery from these accounts.
• Since legal action can be drawn out, the state-owned lenders are seen actively pursuing OTS to meet the Finance Ministry-set target of making about 40 per cent recovery from written-off loan accounts.
• PSBs could recover only 14 per cent (or ₹1.03-lakh crore) from written-off loans aggregating ₹7.34-lakh crore in the last five years ended March 2022.

What are written off assets:

• Banks can remove non-performing loans, including those in respect of which full provisioning has been made, on completion of four years from their balance-sheet by way of write-off to improve the key metric relating to asset quality – gross non-performing assets ratio.
• Although the Banks can undertake legal channels to initiate legal recovery proceedings against delinquent borrowers, these methods suffer from delays and low recovery. The possible avenues include four channels – the National Company Law Tribunal, the Debt Recovery Tribunal, SARFAESI (Securitisation and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Security Interest) Act, 2002, and Lok Adalats.

Compromise settlement:

• Compromise settlement refers to a negotiated settlement where a borrower offers to pay and the bank agrees to accept in full and final settlement of its dues an amount less than the total amount due to them under the loan contract. This settlement invariably involves a certain sacrifice (haircut) by way of write off and/or waiver of a portion of the lender’s dues on a one-time basis.
• RBI has also directed banks to fix a minimum cooling period of at least 12 months before making fresh exposures to borrowers who had undergone compromise settlements.
• Banks can now undertake compromise settlements or technical write-offs in respect of accounts categorised as wilful defaulters or fraud without prejudice to the criminal proceeding underway against such debtors, as per the RBI June 2023 circular.
• The central bank has virtually reversed its earlier policy of keeping wilful defaulters out of compromise settlement. It is noteworthy that ‘Prudential Framework for Resolution of Stressed Assets’, still makes wilful defaulters ineligible for restructuring.

13. China event raises concern over India’s only ape

Subject :Environment

Section: Species in new

Context:

• The conservation status of India’s only ape was a cause for concern at a global event on gibbons held a week ago in China.
• The Global Gibbon Network (GGN) had its first meeting at Haikou in China’s Hainan province from July 7-9.

Hoolock Gibbon:

• Gibbons, the smallest and fastest of all apes, live in tropical and subtropical forests.
• The tailless Hoolock Gibbon is the only ape found in India.
• The primate is native to eastern Bangladesh, Northeast India and Southwest China.
• The estimated population of hoolock gibbons is 12,000.
• Like all apes, they are extremely intelligent, with distinct personalities and strong family bonds.
• The hoolock gibbon faces threat primarily from the felling of trees for infrastructure projects.
• The Hoolock Gibbon is categorized into two types:
• Western hoolock gibbon:
  • It inhabits all the states of the north-east, restricted between the south of the Brahmaputra river and east of the Dibang river. And outside India, it is found in eastern Bangladesh and north-west Myanmar.
  • It is listed as Endangered under the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List.
• Eastern hoolock gibbon:
  • It inhabits specific pockets of Arunachal Pradesh and Assam in India, and in southern China and north-east Myanmar outside India.
  • It is listed as Vulnerable under the IUCN Redlist.
  • In India, both the species are listed on Schedule 1 of the Indian (Wildlife) Protection Act 1972.

One species, not two:

• A study led by Hyderabad-based Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB) in 2021 proved through genetic analysis that there is only one species of ape in India.
• It debunked earlier research that the eastern hoolock gibbon was a separate species based on the colour of its coat.
• The two populations of the western hoolock gibbon and the assumed eastern hoolock gibbon split 1.48 million years ago. It also estimated that the gibbon divergence from a common ancestor occurred 8.38 million years ago.
• However, the Red List maintained by the International Union for Conservation of Nature categorises the western hoolock gibbon as endangered and the eastern hoolock gibbon as vulnerable.

About the Global Gibbon Network (GGN):

• During the International Gibbon Day 2020 event, representatives from 20 gibbon conservation organizations came together for the first time to discuss gibbon conservation.
• During the event, Eco Foundation Global, the Hainan Institute of National Park, the IUCN Species Survival Commission Section on Small Apes (IUCN SSA), the Zoological Society of London and other organizations jointly launched the Global Gibbon Conservation Network Initiative that has been published on the IUCN website since  17 December 2020, calling on the world to join forces to establish a Global Gibbon Network (GGN).
• The GGN was founded with a vision to safeguard and conserve a key element of Asia’s unique natural heritage — the singing gibbon and their habitats, by promoting participatory conservation policies, legislations, and actions.

14. Commonly-found cicada species sheds its foreign tag to embrace an Indian identity

Subject :Environment

Section: Species in new

Context:

• A ‘foreign’cicada that is commonly found in several parts of South India has assumed an Indian identity.

Details:

• The insect species that has now been christened Purana cheeveeda (after its Malayalam name Cheeveedu) used to be mistaken for Purana tigrina, a species that was first described in Malaysia in 1850.
• In view of the differences in their morphological characteristics, the Association for Advancement in Entomology has corrected the longstanding error in taxonomic identification and has excluded the Malaysian species from the South Indian cicada fauna.

Basic account

• The taxonomic studies conducted after 1850 treated the cicada seen in the region as the Malaysian species on account of superficial similarities.
• The distribution of P. cheeveeda could extend across the tropical evergreen forests ranging from Goa to Kanyakumari.
• The researchers point out the study strengthened the possibility of cicadas being geographically and attitudinally restricted in distribution, implying a high degree of endemism.

About Cicadas:

• The cicadas are a superfamily, the Cicadoidea, of insects in the order Hemiptera (true bugs).
• The superfamily is divided into two families, theTettigarctidae, with two species in Australia, and the Cicadidae, with more than 3,000 species described from around the world; many species remain undescribed.
• Cicadas have prominent eyes set wide apart, short antennae, and membranous front wings. They have an exceptionally loud song, produced in most species by the rapid buckling and unbuckling of drumlike tymbals.
• They typically live in trees,feeding on watery sap from xylem tissue, and laying their eggs in a slit in the bark.
• Most cicadas are cryptic. The vast majority of species are active during the day as adults, with some calling at dawn or dusk. Only a rare few species are known to be nocturnal.

15. How gaps in cloud system configuration can expose user data

Subject :Science and technology

Section: Awareness in computers

Context:

• 68% of businesses in India, and 75% globally, say that more than 40% of data stored in the cloud is classified as sensitive. And 35% of organisations in India note that their data was breached in a cloud environment last year.

What is cloud storage and why do companies use it?

• Cloud storage is a method in which digital data, including files, business data, videos, or images, are stored on servers in off-site locations.
• Companies use cloud storage to store, access and maintain data so they do not need to invest in operating and maintaining data centres.
• These servers may be maintained by the companies themselves or by third-party providers responsible for hosting, managing, and securing stored data.
• These servers can be accessed either by the public or through private internet connections, depending on the nature of the data.
• An added advantage of cloud storage is its scalability; organisations can expand or reduce their data footprint depending on need.
• Most cloud providers offer security features like physical security at data centres, in addition to zero-trust architecture, identity and access management, and encryption to ensure the security of data on their servers.

Risks associated with cloud storage:

• The risks arise from deployment of incompatible legacy IT systems and third-party data storage architecture.
• The use of weak authentication practices and easily guessable passwords can allow unauthorised individuals to access sensitive data.
• There is the risk of exposure due to:
  • Insecure APIs,
  • Poorly designed or inadequate security controls,
  • Internal threats due to human error and
  • Inadequate encryption during transfer or storage.

How legacy systems weaken cloud storage setup?

• Legacy IT security may have known vulnerabilities that are yet to be fixed.
• Legacy systems may not be capable of supporting more advanced encryption techniques such as secure boot methods or hardware-based encryption.
• Updating and auditing legacy systems when used in tandem cloud infrastructure is therefore important.

Data breaches and Data exposure in the cloud:

• While in a data breach, confidential or protected information is exposed to unauthorised individuals, data exposure is often depicted as the unintentional disclosure or accidental disclosure of data, resulting from misconfiguration or human error.

What are system misconfigurations and how do they happen?

• A system misconfiguration arises when there is a lack of thorough security configurations on the devices accessing the cloud data, the servers, or a weakness in the software used. Misconfigurations can either expose user data, making it accessible to unauthorised individuals, compromising security.

Who is liable for data protection in the cloud?

• The onus of ensuring data security lies with the companies even though they grant access to data to vendors and partners. This includes checking cloud compliances like ensuring passwords have two-factor authentication, monitoring access to the database, ensuring it is encrypted, and ensuring all firewall rules are set so that only access through certain places and certain departments is allowed.

Data encryption:

• Data encryption is seen as one of the most effective approaches for securing sensitive information in the cloud.
• However, it comes with its own set of challenges which include:
  • Encryption before data is stored,
  • Ensuring the security of encryption keys, and
  • Changing the encryption keys periodically to ensure continued safety.

What are the risks of data migration in the cloud?

• There is risk involved when switching between vendors for cloud storage or when systems are upgraded.
• Without a proper migration plan and process based on thorough assessment of the cloud provider, data could get exposed.

How can users keep their data safe?

• When users get to know of possible data breaches, they are recommended to change passwords, two-factor authentication setup, push security question answers, and monitor accounts for unauthorised transactions and SMSs for suspicious activity.

16. Lightning not a natural disaster

Subject :Geography

Section: Physical geography

Context:

• The Union government is not in favor of declaring lightning a natural disaster as deaths caused by it can be avoided through education and awareness.

Details:

• India is among the only five countries in the world with an early warning system for lightning and the forecast is available from five days to up to 3 hours.
• If declared a natural disaster, the victims will be entitled to compensation from the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) once this is notified.
• As much as 75% of funds to SDRF are contributed by the Centre.

Natural disasters:

• A natural disaster is the highly harmful impact on a society or community following a natural hazard event.
• According to present norms, cyclone, drought, earthquake, fire, flood, tsunami, hailstorm, landslide, avalanche, cloudburst, pest attack, frost and cold waves are considered disasters that are covered under the SDRF.
• The frequency of lightning was maximum in northeast States and in West Bengal, Sikkim, Jharkhand, Odisha and Bihar but the number of deaths is higher in central Indian States of Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh and Odisha.

What is Lightning?

• About:

• • It is the natural process of “an electrical discharge of very little duration and high voltage between a cloud and the ground or within a cloud,” accompanied by a bright flash, a loud sound, and occasionally thunderstorms.
  • Cloud-to-ground (CG) lightning is dangerous because it can electrocute people due to its high electric voltage and current. Inter- or intra-cloud lightning is visible and safe.

• Process of Lightning:

• • Lightning is caused by a difference in electrical charge between the top and bottom of a cloud, which generates a huge current of electricity.
  • Water vapour in the cloud condenses and rises, generating heat and pushing water molecules further up until they become ice crystals. Collisions between the ice crystals trigger the release of electrons, leading to a chain reaction that results in a positively charged top layer and negatively charged middle layer in the cloud.
  • When the difference in charge becomes large enough, a huge current of electricity flows between the layers, producing heat that causes the air column to expand and produce shock waves that create thunder sounds.

• Lightning and the Climate Change:

• • In a 2015 study from California University, the university cautioned that a rise in one degree Celsius would result in a 12% increase in the frequency of lightning strikes.
  • Another study that was released in Geophysical Research Letters in March 2021 found connections between climate change and an increase in lightning strikes in the Arctic.

• Lightning Strikes in India:

• • According to a newly published yearly report on lightning from the Lightning Resilient India Campaign (LRIC), India may have seen up to 18.5 million lightning strikes between April 2020 and March 2021.
  • Each year, lightning claims the lives of more than 2,500 Indians.
  • According to a study by the Delhi-based RMSI, a global leader in geospatial and engineering solutions, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, West Bengal, and Jharkhand have witnessed the maximum lightning strikes in recent years.
  • According to government statistics, more than 100,000 individuals have died in the nation as a result of lightning strikes between 1967 and 2019. This represents more than a third of the deaths brought on by natural disasters throughout this time.

17. Blaze ‘out of control’ as more people flee Spain’s La Palma

Subject :IR

Section: Places in news

Context:

• At least 4,000 people have been evacuated as a wildfire rages “out of control” on the Spanish Canary Island of La Palma while Europe struggles to cope with a heatwave.

Details:

• The forest fire is the first natural crisis on the island since a volcanic eruption in September 2021.
• The forest fire in La Palma started in the early hours of Saturday in El Pinar, a wooded area in the northern part of the island.
• In Tenerife, another of the eight Canary Islands, a forest fire also broke out.

About La Palma:

• La Palma is the most north-westerly island of the Canary Islands, Spain.
  • Its geography is a result of a volcanic formation and has an area of 708 square kilometres making it the fifth largest of the eight main Canary Islands.
  • Its highest mountain is the Roque de los Muchachos, at 2,423 metres being second among the peaks of the Canaries only to the peaks of the Teide massif on Tenerife.

• The Canary Islands are a group of ocean island volcanoes located off the coast of western Africa that have been formed by volcanic activity since around 20 million years ago. It comprises the Spanish provinces of Las Palmas and Santa Cruz de Tenerife.

Location of Canary Islands:

• The Canary archipelago(group of islands) is located in the Atlantic Ocean, about 1300 km South from mainland Spain and 115 km West from the African coast (Morocco).
•  It includes 7 islands belonging to Spain, among which La Palma (in the North-West of the archipelago), Tenerife and Gran Canaria (central).
• Despite its distance from Europe, Canaries are an important tourist attraction, served by many connections.

18. 90 days of Sudan strife: Country saw decade’s displacement in just 10 weeks

Subject :IR

Section: Places in news

Context:

• Some 2,231,523 internal displacements have been recorded in Sudan (as of June 28, 2023), since conflict erupted in one of Africa’s biggest countries on April 15, 2023, according to the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC), an international Geneva-based non-profit.

National rather than ethnic:

Modern Sudanese history has been replete with inter-ethnic conflicts.

In 2022, displacements were on in Blue Nile state due to conflicts between the Hausa and the Funj tribes.

There were displacements in West Darfur state, linked to disputes over land and resources between Arab and non-Arab ethnic groups.

In contrast, the conflict since April 2023 is national in scope. The fighting between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in multiple locations across Sudan has resulted in millions of internal and cross-border displacements.

Fighting initially took place in cities across Northern and Khartoum states, later spreading across the Darfur and Kordofan states.

The current conflict has reignited ethnic disputes in West Darfur.

The Darfur region, comprising West Darfur, South Darfur, Central Darfur and North Darfur, lies in the west of Sudan and has been in a state of permanent humanitarian emergency since February 2003.

The state’s capital, El Geneina, has seen the most severe level of conflict and violence outside of Khartoum.

Darfur Region:

• Darfur is a region of western Sudan. Darfur covers an area of 493,180 square kilometers, approximately the size of mainland Spain.
• Most of the region consists of a semi-arid plain and thus appears unsuitable for developing a large and complex civilization.
• The White and Blue Niles merge at Khartoum, the capital of Sudan.
• Sudan’s relationship with Ethiopia in particular has been strained over disputed farmland along their border, over conflict in the Tigray region that drove tens of thousands of refugees into Sudan, and the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam.

Division of Sudan:

• The Sudanese conflict in South Kordofan and Blue Nile in the early 2010s between the Army of Sudan and the Sudan Revolutionary Front started as a dispute over the oil-rich region of Abyei in the months leading up to South Sudanese independence in 2011.
• South Sudan became an independent state on 9 July 2011, following 98.83% support for independence in a January 2011 referendum.

Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC):

• The IDMC is the world’s leading source of data and analysis on internal displacement.
• Since its establishment in 1998 as part of the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), they have offered a rigorous, independent and trusted service to the international community.
• Mission:
  • To provide high-quality data, analysis and expertise on internal displacement with the aim of informing policy and operational decisions that can reduce the risk of future displacement and improve the lives of internally displaced people (IDP) worldwide.