National Current Affairs – UPSC/IAS Exams- 23rd August 2019

Amazon Rainforest

Topic: Environment and Ecology

In News: Amazon, the world’s largest rainforest and a bulwark against climate change, has been ravaged by thousands of fires in the last one week.

More on the Topic:

• The Amazon rainforest, covering much of northwestern Brazil and extending into Colombia, Peru and other South American countries, is the world’s largest tropical rainforest, famed for its biodiversity.
• There have been 72843 fires in Brazil this year, with more than half in the Amazon region- an 80% increase from the same period last year.
• Experts blame the fires on illegal loggers who have been burning newly cleared land for cattle ranching and agricultural use.
• Brazil has seen massive deforestation since Jair Bolsonaro, the country’s far right president assumed office early this year.

What will be the Consequences:

• Plumes of smoke from the fires have spread across the Amazon region and beyond.
• According to the European Union’s Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (Cams), the smoke has been travelling as far as the Atlantic coast. It has even caused skies to darken.
• The fires have been releasing a large amount of carbon dioxide, the equivalent of 228 megatonnes so far this year, according to Cams, the highest since 2010.
• They are also emitting carbon monoxide – a gas released when wood is burned and does not have much access to oxygen.
• The Amazon basin – home to about three million species of plants and animals, and one million indigenous people – is crucial to regulating global warming, with its forests absorbing millions of tonnes of carbon emissions every year.
• But when trees are cut or burned, the carbon they are storing is released into the atmosphere and the rainforest’s capacity to absorb carbon emissions is reduced.
• The destruction of rainforest makes the land more exposed to sunlight. This land absorbs energy from sunlight and cause an increase in the temperature. The consumption of carbon dioxide for photosynthesis also decreases resulting in accumulation of more CO2 in atmosphere pacing up the global warming.
• The Amazonian rainforests have unparalleled biodiversity. One in ten known species in the world lives in the Amazon rainforest. The severity of the wild fire will directly impact the existence of the species survival.

Source: Hindu and BBC

Russia sends its first humanoid robot Fedor into space

Topic: Science and Technology

In News: Russia launched an unmanned rocket carrying a life-size humanoid robot that will spend 10 days learning to assist astronauts on the International Space Station.

More on the Topic:

• Named Fedor, short for Final Experimental Demonstration Object Research, copies human movements, a key skill that allows it to remotely help astronauts or even people on Earth to carry out tasks while the humans are strapped into an exoskeleton. Such robots will eventually carry out dangerous operations such as space walks.
• The robot is potentially useful on Earth for working in high radiation environments, demining and tricky rescue missions.
• Fedor is not the first robot to go into space.In 2011, NASA sent up Robonaut 2 and In 2013, Japan sent up a small robot called Kirobo.

Source: Hindu, Wikipedia

Technology and Disaster Management

Topic: Science and Technology/Disaster management

In News: A new report of UN mentioned that Technological innovations  from unique digital identities for drought-hit farmers to use of data from drones and social media  can better predict increasingly complex disasters in the Asia-Pacific region and limit their impact on vulnerable people.

More on the Topic:

• Rising global temperatures have increased the frequency and intensity of floods, cyclones and droughts in the region, making it harder to accurately forecast and monitor them, but Big data innovations using the large data sets from mobile phone tracking to satellite platforms – reveal patterns, trends, and associations of complex disaster risks.

Relevance of Technology in Disaster Management:

• Big data refers to the analysis of very large data sets to reveal patterns, trends and associations. The data can come from a range of sources, including satellite imagery, drone videos, simulations, crowd sourcing, social media and global positioning systems.
• The substantial reductions in mortalities and economic losses due to typhoons in north and east Asia over the last three decades can be attributed to big data applications.
• Similarly, India’s digital ID system has helped deliver targeted benefits to millions of small and marginal farmers affected by drought. The system assigns a unique identity number to Indian citizens, linked to their biometric data, and has been used to help reduce fraud and improve efficiency in getting government benefits to those in need.
• Such technological advances are expected to become more important as warming temperatures cause a rise in the number and duration of heat waves and droughts, particularly in semi-arid and arid areas in north and central Asia.
• Flood and cyclone forecasting now relies on computer simulations, with machine learning helping predict the location and severity of floods.
• Sensor webs and the Internet of Things have enabled efficient earthquake early-warning systems, while remote sensing via satellites and drones provide quick assessments of damage and people affected, and help prioritise relief efforts.

What is big data? Comment on its uses in disaster management.

Source: Hindu

Sabka Vishwas (Legacy Dispute Resolution) Scheme

Topic: Government Schemes/ Economy

In News: The government has announced a new scheme Sabka Vishwas (Legacy Dispute Resolution) Scheme aimed at eliminating the bulk of pending tax dispute cases besides providing partial amnesty to those having tax dues.

More on the Topic:

• The government expects the scheme to be availed of by a large number of taxpayers for closing their pending disputes relating to legacy service tax and central excise cases that are now subsumed under GST (Goods and Services Tax) so that they can focus on GST.
• The Scheme is especially tailored to free the large number of small taxpayers of their pending disputes with the tax administration.

Highlights of the scheme:

• For all the cases pending in adjudication or appeal – in any forum – this Scheme offers a relief of 70% from the duty demand if it is Rs.50 lakhs or less and 50% if it is more than Rs. 50 lakhs.
• The same relief is available for cases under investigation and audit where the duty involved is quantified and communicated to the party or admitted by him in a statement on or before 30th June, 2019.
• Further, in cases of confirmed duty demand, where there is no appeal pending, the relief offered is 60% of the confirmed duty amount if the same is Rs. 50 lakhs or less and it is 40%, if the confirmed duty amount is more than Rs. 50 lakhs.
• Finally, in cases of voluntary disclosure, the person availing the Scheme will have to pay only the full amount of disclosed duty.

Components of the Scheme:

• The two main components of the scheme are dispute resolution and amnesty.
• The dispute resolution component is aimed at liquidating the legacy cases of central excise and service tax that are subsumed in GST and are pending in litigation at various forums.
• The amnesty component of the scheme offers taxpayers the opportunity to pay any outstanding tax and be free of any other consequence under the
• The most attractive aspect of the Scheme is that it provides substantial relief in the tax dues for all categories of cases as well as full waiver of interest, fine, penalty,
• In all these cases, there would be no other liability of interest, fine or penalty. There is also a complete amnesty from prosecution.

Source: Money Control

Financial Action Task Force

Topic: International Affairs

In News: After being grey listed at the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) plenary, Pakistan now faces being put on the “blacklist” of the FATF’s Asia affiliate, the Asia-Pacific Group (APG), that will conclude its meetings in Canberra, Australia.

More on the Topic:

• While the two processes are separate, the APG blacklisting, or ‘Enhanced Expedited Follow Up’ status would definitely impair Pakistan’s chances at extricating itself from the FATF greylist that deals with countering terror-financing and money-laundering.
• The Asia Pacific Group meeting evaluated Pakistan’s actions over the past five years on building anti-money-laundering and countering financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) safeguards, and found them wholly inadequate.

Financial Action Task Force:

• The Financial Action Task Force (on Money Laundering) (FATF), is an intergovernmental organization founded in 1989 on the initiative of the G7 to develop policies to combat money laundering.
• In 2001 its mandate expanded to include terrorism financing. It monitors progress in implementing the FATF Recommendations through “peer reviews” (“mutual evaluations”) of member countries. The FATF Secretariat is housed at the OECD headquarters in Paris.
• The FATF is an independent inter-governmental body that develops and promotes policies to protect the global financial system against anti-money laundering standards and counter-terror funding.
• However, the FATF is not in a position to give any advice regarding the credentials or work of associations. Now the FATF has started dealing with the Virtual currency.
• The FATF is an international policy-making body. It does not have any role in law enforcement matters, investigations or prosecution.

FATF has 2 types of lists;

• Black List: Only those countries are included in this list that FATF considers as unco-operative tax havens. These countries are known as Non-Cooperative Countries or Territories (NCCTs). In other words; countries which are not supporting terror funding and money laundering activities are listed in the Black list. The FATF blacklist or OECD blacklist has been issued by the Financial Action Task Force since 2000 and lists countries which it judges to be non-cooperative in the global fight against money laundering and terror funding. The FATF updates the blacklist regularly, adding or deleting entries.
• Grey List: Those countries which are considered as the safe heaven for supporting terror funding and money laundering; included in this list. Now Grey list is a warning given to the country that it might come in Black list (Just like a yellow card in a football match). If a country is unable to curb mushrooming of terror funding and money laundering; it is shifted from black list to grey list by the FATF.

When a country comes in the Grey list, it faces many problems like;

• Economic sanctions from international institutions (IMF, World Bank, ADB etc.) and countries
• Problem in getting loans from international institutions (IMF, World Bank, ADB etc.) and countries
• Overall Reduction in its international trade
• International boycott

Source: Hindu

Henley Passport Index

Topic: Important Indexes in News

In News: The latest edition of Henley Passport Index has been released. The Index ranks India at 86, down five places from 81 in 2018.

More on the Topic:

• The Henley Passport Index (HPI) is a global ranking of countries according to the travel freedom for their citizens.
• The index gathers data from the International Air Transport Association (IATA) that manages inter-airline cooperation globally.
• The Henley Passport Index is updated in real time according to countries’ visa policy changes.
• The HPI consists of a ranking of passports according to how many other territories can be reached ‘visa-free’.

What does this Mean:

• Passport rankings point towards the strength of diplomatic relations between countries.
• India has a score of 58. That is the number of destinations an Indian passport holder can travel to today, without pre-departure government approval. That is the same as a citizen of any country, on an average, could travel to 13 years ago.
• In 2006, a citizen, on an average, could travel to 58 destinations without needing a visa from the host nation; by 2018, this number had nearly doubled to 107.
• India ranks below other BRICS countries, with which are at a similar stage in their economic development.

Source: Hindu

Baltic Nations

Topic: World Geography

In News: The Vice President concluded his tri-nation tour to the Baltic Nations-Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia.

More on the Topic:

• It is a geopolitical term, typically used to group the three sovereign states in Northern Europe on the eastern coast of the Baltic Sea: Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania.
• All three countries are members of the European Union, NATO, the eurozone and the OECD.
• All three are classified as high-income economies by the World Bank and maintain a very high Human Development Index.

Source : PIB