National Current Affairs – UPSC/IAS Exams- 8th October 2019

National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF)

Topic: Disaster Management

In News: Centre approved additional financial assistance from National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF) to the State of Karnataka and Bihar.

More on the Topic:

• NDRF is defined in Section 46 of the Disaster Management Act, 2005 (DM Act).
• It is a fund managed by the Central Government for meeting the expenses for emergency response, relief and rehabilitation due to any threatening disaster situation or disaster.
• It is constituted to supplement the funds of the State Disaster Response Funds (SDRF) of the states to facilitate immediate relief in case of calamities of a severe nature and financed through the levy of a cess on certain items, chargeable to excise and customs duty, and approved annually through the Finance Bill.
• The requirement for funds beyond what is available under the NDRF is met through general budgetary resources.
• Currently, a National Calamity Contingency Duty (NCCD) is levied to finance the NDRF and additional budgetary support is provided as and when necessary.
• A provision also exists in the DM Act to encourage any person or institution to make a contribution to the NDRF.

Concerned Ministry:

• Department of Agriculture and Cooperation under Ministry of Agriculture (MoA) monitors relief activities for calamities associated with drought, hailstorms, pest attacks and cold wave /frost while rest of the natural calamities are monitored by Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA).

Mains Question: Disaster preparedness is the first step in any disaster management process. Explain how hazard zonation mapping will help disaster mitigation in the case of landslides.    

Source: Hindu

Indian Council of World Affairs (ICWA)

Topic: Important institutions in News

In News: The Vice President of India, M. Venkaiah Naidu addressed the 18th meeting of the Governing Body of Indian Council of World Affairs (ICWA) recently.

More on the Topic:

• Established in 1943 by a group of Indian intellectuals as a think tank.
• By an Act of Parliament in 2001, the ICWA was declared an institution of national importance.
• The Vice President of India is the ex-officio President of ICWA.
• It is devoted exclusively for the study of international relations and foreign affairs.
• The founder-president of the Council was Sir Tej Bahadur Sapru. (Sir Tej Bahadur Sapru was a prominent Indian freedom fighter, lawyer and politician. He was a key figure in India’s struggle for independence, helping draft the Indian Constitution. He was the leader of the Liberal party in British-ruled India.)
• ICWA conducted ‘Asian Relations Conference’ in 1947 under the leadership of freedom fighter Sarojini Naidu and ‘United Nations and the New World Order’ in 1994.

Source: The Hindu

India is the birthplace of Asian bamboo

Topic: Environment and Ecology

In News: A new fossil record has shown that India is the birthplace of Asian bamboo.

More on the Topic:

• Bamboo fossils are not very common in India as they are known only from the Siwalik sediments.
• The new fossils were found in Makum coalfield in Assam, belonged to the late Oligocene period of about 25 million years ago.
• Yunnan Province in China now has the highest diversity of bamboo, but the oldest fossil in that region is less than 20 million years old.
• It clearly indicates that Asian bamboo was born in India and then migrated there.
• This finding further strengthens the theory that bamboo came to Asia from India and not from Europe.
• The collision of Indian Plate with the Eurasian Plate was not completed until 23 million years, restricting migration of plants and animals.
• Bamboo braved the climatic and geographical changes making it the fittest in the survival rate.

Source: Hindu

Internal Ombudsman

Topic: Economy

In News: The RBI has mandated the creation of an internal ombudsman by non-bank issuers of prepaid payments wallets.

More on the Topic:

• Only issuers with more than 10 million (1 crore) prepaid payments instruments outstanding will be covered by this directive.
• The RBI’s objective is to create swift and cost-effective mechanism for grievance redressal and create an additional tier for resolving complaints.
• Internal Ombudsman is the authority placed at the highest level of an entity’s grievance redressal mechanism.
• He/She will examine customer complaints which are a deficiency in service that is partly or wholly rejected by the entity.

Source: Hindu

RBI Consumer Confidence Survey

Topic: Economy

In News: According to RBI Consumer Confidence Survey, the consumer confidence dipped to a six-year low.

More on the Topic:

• The survey seeks qualitative responses from households, regarding their sentiments on general economic conditions, overall price situation, employment, income, spending scenario
• The survey was conducted in some major cities.

Highlights of the Survey:

• Current Situation Index fell to 89.4 whereas it was recorded as 95.7 in July. Previously the index hit its low in 2013, when it reached 88.
• The survey also revealed that sentiment for the overall economy and employment also declined and people were less optimistic about their income over the year ahead.
• While sentiment for overall spending, primarily on essentials remains strong, sentiment for discretionary spending weakened in the recent round of the survey.
• Around 47.9% of participants opined that the economic situation of the country has worsened.

Additional Information:

• India’s economy grew at its slowest pace in over six years in April-June, expanding 5%, largely because of a slowdown in consumption demand.
• RBI lowered its repo rate the rate at which banks borrow from it by 25 basis points to 5.15%. With this cut, the policy rates have come off by as much as 135 basis points so far this year to a nine-year low.

Significance of the Survey:

• Barometer of governance: It reflects the measurement of how happy people are with the government’s management of the economy.
• Boost to Indian Economy: In economies such as India and the US, where personal consumption accounts for more than 60% and 70% of GDP respectively, consumer confidence has a particularly significant impact on the economy. Measuring it can provide critical insight into the economy’s growth prospects. Consumer sentiment indices are essential tools used by global investors and will be an immense aid to individual and institutional investors in India.
• Monetary policy formulation: The results of this survey will provide useful information, data and statistics for monetary policy formulation in accordance with the market expectations and push and pull factors.

Source: Live Mint

Geo-tail

Topic: Science and Technology

In News: The Indian Space Research Organisation informed that an instrument on Chandrayaan-2, CLASS, designed to detect signatures of elements in the Moon’s soil, had detected charged particles during the mission. This happened during the orbiter’s passage through the “geotail”.

More on the Topic:

• The geotail is a region in space that allows the best observations. The region exists as a result of the interactions between the Sun and Earth.
• The Sun emits the solar wind, which is a continuous stream of charged particles. These particles are embedded in the extended magnetic field of the Sun.
• Since the Earth has a magnetic field, it obstructs the solar wind plasma. This interaction results in the formation of a magnetic envelope around Earth.
• On the Earth side facing the Sun, the envelope is compressed into a region that is approximately three to four times the Earth radius.
• On the opposite side, the envelope is stretched into a long tail, which extends beyond the orbit of the Moon. It is this tail that is called the geo-tail.
• For the CLASS instrument seeking to detect element signatures, the lunar soil can be best observed when a solar flare provides a rich source of X-rays to illuminate the surface.
• Secondary X-ray emission resulting from this can be detected by CLASS to directly detect the presence of key elements like Na, Ca, Al, Si, Ti and Fe.

Source: Indian Express

Nomadic Elephant

Topic: International Relations

In News: The 14th edition of India-Mongolia joint military exercise was held at Himachal Pradesh.

More on the Topic:

• It aimed at training troops in counter insurgency & counter terrorism operations under United Nations mandate.
• The joint exercise will enhance defence co-operation and military relations between the two nations. It is an ideal platform for the armies of both the nations to share their experiences & best practices and gain mutually during the joint training.

Source: Hindu