Daily Updates - 6th & 7th December, 2014

Events of National and International Importance

Kenyan Amos Meindi wins 29th Pune International full Marathon

1.       Kenyan Amos Meindi won the 29th Pune International full Marathon by clocking 2 hours 18 minutes and 36 seconds.

2.       African runners continued to imprint their stealth and stamina on the 42.175 Km annual marathon event.

3.       Ethiopian Regassa Bezida was the runner up and compatriot Teresse stood third. 

More US troops than planned to stay in Afghanistan

1.       The United States will keep about 1,000 more troops in Afghanistan than planned early next year to fill a temporary NATO troop gap in the new mission to train and advise Afghan security forces.

2.       The U.S. decided to keep additional forces in the country temporarily because planned troop commitments by U.S. allies for a NATO train-and-assist mission starting in January have been slow to materialize.

3.       The Taliban, which had ruled Afghanistan since 1996, were forced from power in late 2001 just weeks after a U.S.—led invasion prompted by the Sept. 11 attacks.

4.       But they recovered gradually after the U.S. shifted its military focus to Iraq in 2003, and by 2008 the U.S. was conceding that the war in Afghanistan was stalemated.

Saudi Arabia opposes gender equality in climate change policy

1.       The Saudi Arabia delegation made a strong pitch to exclude the recognition of gender equality in the recommendations for the draft agreement for Paris in 2015 which is under discussion in Lima.

2.       A delegate who was part of the meeting of the Subsidiary Body for Implementation (SBI).

3.       It was only Mexico which fought till the end to retain gender as being paramount in the implementation of climate change policy.

4.       The SBI is one of the two permanent subsidiary bodies to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

5.       It provides recommendations for the Conference of Parties through assessment and review of the effective implementation of the UNFCCC and the Kyoto Protocol.

6.       In protest Climate Action Network (CAN), a network of 900 non-governmental organisations gave the EU and Saudi Arabia the “fossil of the day” award which is given every day during the talks to countries judged to have done their ‘best’ to block progress in the negotiations.

Philippine typhoon weakens after landfall

1.       Typhoon Hagupit knocked out power in entire coastal provinces, mowed down trees and sent more than 650,000 people into shelters.

2.       But no major damage or casualties have been reported as the storm weakened on Sunday.

3.       Traumatized by Typhoon Haiyan’s massive death and destruction last year in the central region that’s being partly whipped by Hagupit (pronounced HA’-goo-pit).

4.       Nearly a dozen countries led by the United States and the European Union have pledged to help in case of a major disaster.

Somali Prime Minister voted out

1.       Members of parliament voted Somalia's prime minister out of office on Saturday for the second time in a year.

2.       A move Western donor warned would threaten the war-torn nation's fragile recovery.

3.       Prime Minister Abdiweli Sheikh Ahmed had been embroiled in a row over a Cabinet reshuffle with President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, who had overruled the changes.

4.       Western donors, who have poured in billions of dollars to help rebuild Somalia after two decades of conflict.

5.       They are worry the removal of a second Prime Minister in such a short space of time will weaken a government struggling to defeat Islamist rebels.

6.       Al Shabaab, which has been driven out of major strongholds in an offensive this year by African and Somali troops, has continued to stage deadly hit-and-run attacks.

Snowden film 'CitizenFour' wins top documentary award

1.       CitizenFour, filmmaker Laura Poitras's documentary about National Security Agency whistleblower Edward Snowden, was given the top award for best feature by the International Documentary Association.

2.       The IDA award for CitizenFour follows the film's best documentary win at the New York Film Critics Circle Awards this week. 

3.       Cable network Showtime's Time of Death was named best limited series, while best short documentary went to HBO Films' Tashi and the Monk, about a Buddhist monk and his 5-year-old charge Tashi.

Economic Development 

Power firms to increase focus on supercritical plants, green capacity

1.       The government is planning to announce tougher carbon emission targets

2.       But Indian power companies are already ramping up installing high-efficiency supercritical machines apart from boosting green energy generation capacities.

3.       The move comes as the govt is likely to announce tougher carbon emission targets by January 2015 when US President Barack Obama visits the country.

4.       Enhanced targets could push the goal post further. The Indian government is likely to announce new, bigger and more effective climate change targets by January 2015.

5.       The announcement is likely to include an “aspirational “peaking year for India's greenhouse gas emissions and stricter emission intensity targets.

6.       India’s total carbon dioxide emissions stand at 1,745 million tonne annually with per capita carbon dioxide emission at 1.5 mt, much lower than the world average of 4.5 mt.

7.       At 38 per cent, electricity sector is the largest contributor to India's total carbon emissions followed by agriculture sector (17.5 per cent); transport sector (7.4 per cent), residential sector (7.2 per cent) and cement sector (6.8 per cent).

8.       India has a current installed power generation capacity of 253,000 Mw. Supercritical plants account for less than 30 per cent of total coal-based capacity. 

9.       The country plans to ramp up supercritical machines' share in total coal-based capacity to 50 per cent by the end of the current Plan period and 90 per cent in the 13th Plan ending in 2022.

10.   Data show India may not have succeeded in curbing carbon emissions as expected, at least in the power sector.

Karnataka becomes first state to have green growth strategy

1.       Karnataka became the first state in the country today to get a green growth strategy.

2.       It offers details on what can be done in adapting to the change in climate and how the state can play its part in reducing carbon emissions.

3.       A consortium of institutions led by the Bangalore Climate Change Initiative - Karnataka (BCCI-K) in partnership with Seoul-based Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI) has conducted the study.

4.       This is a first comprehensive effort at developing a state-level green growth strategy in India, using sophisticated analytical tools and models.

5.       The strategy was born out of recognition of the need for policies and measures to combat growing environmental concerns while maintaining, if not accelerating, the pace of social progress and economic growth.

6.       The Green Growth Strategy aims at meeting both the short-term and long-term objectives of economic growth and environmental sustainability

Four schemes for growth of technical textiles launched

1.       Government has launched four schemes, including a technology mission, for promotion and growth of technical textiles.

2.       Technical textiles are materials manufactured primarily for their technical performance and functional properties rather than aesthetic and decorative purpose.

3.       The ministry has approved setting up of integrated textiles parks under which it provides assistance for creation of infrastructure in the parks to the extent of 40 per cent limited to Rs 40 crore.

Centre asks Air India to slash expenses by 10%

1.       Facing a cash crunch, Air India was on Saturday had asked by the central government to slash expenditure on operational heads by ten per cent.

2.       The direction came after top airline officials including CMDRohit Nandan made a presentation on Air India's performance parameters at a meeting with Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju and his Minister of State Mahesh Sharma.

3.       The officials said Air India, burdened by losses of about Rs 5,400 crore in 2013-14.

India’s Forex reserves up $1.43 billion

1.       India’s foreign exchange (Forex) reserves grew by $1.43 billion to $316.31 billion for the week ended Nov 28, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) data showed.

2.       The reserves had fallen by $672.4 million to $314.87 billion in the week ended Nov 21.

3.       According to the RBI’s weekly statistical supplement, foreign currency assets, the biggest component of the Forex reserves, rose $1.42 billion at $290.82 billion in the week under review.

4.       The foreign currency assets had declined $664.3 million at $289.39 billion in the previous week (Nov 21).

5.       The RBI said the foreign currency assets, expressed in U.S. dollar terms, include the effect of appreciation or depreciation of non-US currencies such as the pound sterling, euro and yen held in reserve.

SEBI clamps down over two-dozen companies within a month for illicit money pooling schemes

1.       Weeding out illicit money pooling schemes, Securities and Exchange Board of India,SEBI, has within a month clamped down on over two-dozen companies.

2.       The firms had risen close to one thousand crore rupees from over four lakh investors. 

3.       According to an analysis of orders passed by SEBI, action was taken against a total of 26 companies since November. 

4.       The market regulator has barred all these firms from mobilising further funds from investors. 

5.       The companies and their directors have also been restrained from accessing the securities market. 

6.       Through a new Securities Laws Amendment Act, the government has enhanced powers of SEBI to take action against illegal money-pooling activities involving one hundred crore rupees or more.

Science & Technology

NASA tests Orion—the spacecraft that might carry people to Mars

1.       In what is another feat for NASA, the international space agency has launched its Orion spacecraft on Friday

2.       The spaceship that was launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida, aims to send man to Mars someday.

3.       Orion orbited the Earth twice on the inaugural flight and the entire mission lasted for just 4.5 hours, culminating with a splashdown in the Pacific, to be collected by the US Navy.

4.       The first Orion-SLS combo will fly around 2018, again without a crew. Astronauts are expected to climb aboard in 2021.

5.       NASA has been developing Orion since 2004 to carry astronauts to an asteroid, the moon, and even Mars. 

6.       Orion most closely resembles the Apollo spacecraft used for missions to the moon in the 1960s and 1970s has some upgrades.

7.       It is not only 50 per cent larger by volume but contains much more sophisticated computer systems.

India's GSAT-16 launched

1.       India’s communications satellite GSAT-16 was on Sunday, put on a Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit (GTO) by the European launcher Ariane 5 VA221, from the Kourou space port in French Guiana.

2.       GSAT-16's 48 transponders - 12 in the C band, 12 in the extended C and 24 in the Ku band - cover the entire country and the Andaman & Nicobar Islands.

3.       The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) briefly said the 3,181 kg GSAT-16 was put in orbit.

4.       It was delivered on an Ariane 5 rocket along with US broadcast satellite DIRECTV-14, launch company Arianespace said.

5.       GSAT-16 will be used by television, telephone, Internet, public and private operators. It replaces the INSAT-3E — which expired in April this year — at 55 degrees East longitude.

6.       The cost of the satellite, built by ISRO in Bengaluru, and Arianespace's launch fee are put at around Rs. 880 crore.

Public health

Silent epidemic: Superbugs killing India’s newborns

1.       Thousands of newborns in India are dying because antibiotics no longer work on the diseases they suffer from. 

2.       According to a recent study that published in the Lancet, these infants are born with bacterial infections that are resistant to antibiotics, more than 58,000 died in 2013 as a result.

3.       According to a 2014 WHO report, antibiotic resistance is now a major threat to public health and is no longer a prediction for future. 

4.       It is happening right now in every region of the world and has the potential to affect anyone of any age in any country.

5.       The WHO report observes that resistance is occurring across many different infectious agents.

6.       The report focuses on antibiotic resistance in seven different bacteria responsible for common, serious diseases such as bloodstream infections (sepsis), diarrhoea, pneumonia, urinary tract infections and gonorrhoea. 

7.       Newborns are particularly vulnerable because their immune systems are fragile, leaving little time for doctors to find a drug that works. But everyone is at risk.

8.       Each time we use antibiotics, we allow the few superbugs—bacteria that are able to survive the antibiotic—to thrive.

9.       Over time, the entire population of bacteria is made up only of these superbugs and our antibiotics no longer work.

Over 1 lakh crore rupees economic burden due to tobacco related diseases in 2011: Report

1.       Diseases caused by tobacco consumption put an economic burden of over one lakh crore rupees in 2011 to the country.

2.       According to a report by Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. In reply to an RTI query, the Health Ministry said.

3.       The Health Secretary had written to the Cabinet Secretary to set up an inter-ministerial committee to coordinate between Ministries over WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) and issues related to control of tobacco.

Biodiversity and Climate change

Development is top priority, says India at climate summit in Lima

1.       The Indian delegation at COP20 in Lima spoke at length with civil society bodies and journalists on Friday to clarify India’s stand in the ongoing climate negotiations.

2.       It also said the country’s priorities in the run up to the crucial summit in Paris in 2015.

3.       India’s position at the conference is based on its obligation to address basic development needs such as food security, access to energy, providing water and sanitation, education and health, among others. 

4.       India remains committed to reducing the vulnerabilities of its communities to extreme weather events and fighting climate change.

5.       These challenges have to be balanced with the urgent and immediate development and adaptation needs of the country. 

6.       The Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs) are an outline of the actions countries propose to take in the global fight against climate change and will form a critical part of the 2015 Paris agreement.

7.       The INDCs will be crucial in determining if the world will be on a low carbon pathway to a climate-resilient future or not.

Ecology and Environment

UNEP report points to huge gaps in funding and technology

1.       The first Adaptation Gap Report by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) released on Friday.

2.       It says that even with emissions cuts, climate change adaptation costs are likely to hit two to three times the current estimates of of $70-100 Billion per year by 2050.

3.       The report says that failure to cut emissions will dramatically increase costs and new finance is required to avoid a significant funding shortfall after 2020.

4.       The Green Climate Fund could play a central role in bridging the future adaptation funding gap.

5.       The report comes at a time when countries in Lima are demanding an increasing focus on adaptation and funding and calling for an adaptation goal globally.

6.       The report finds that, despite adaptation funding by public sources reaching $23-26 billion in 2012-2013, there will be a significant funding gap after 2020 unless new and additional finance for adaptation becomes available. 

7.       The fifth assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel On Climate Change (IPCC) says that existing global estimates of the costs of adaptation in developing countries range between $ 70 billion and $ 100 billion a year globally by 2050.  

8.       On the positive side the report notes that the amount of public finance committed to activities with explicit adaptation objectives ranged between USD 23 to USD 26 billion in 2012-13 of which 90 per cent was invested in developed countries. 

Editorial -
High cost of debt a barrier to India's renewable energy goals: David Nelson, Climate Policy Initiative
Should we make in India or in Bharat?
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