National Current Affairs – UPSC/KAS Exams – 10th October 2018

IMF projects India’s growth at 7.3% in 2018 & at 7.4% in 2019

Topic: Indian Economy

IN NEWS: India’s growth is expected to increase to 7.3 percent in 2018 and to 7.4 percent in 2019 (slightly lower than in the April 2018 World Economic Outlook [WEO] for 2019, given the recent increase in oil prices and the tightening of global financial conditions), up from 6.7 percent in 2017,” the IMF said in its latest World Economic Outlook report.

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• This acceleration, the world body said, reflected a rebound from transitory shocks (the currency exchange initiative and implementation of the national Goods and Services Tax), with strengthening investment and robust private consumption.
• If projections are true, then India would regain the tag of fastest growing major economies of the world, crossing China with more than 0.7 percentage point in 2018 and an impressive 1.2 percentage point growth lead in 2019.
• Over the medium term, growth is expected to gradually slow to 5.6 percent as the economy continues to make the transition to a more sustainable growth path with continued financial de-risking and environmental controls.
• In India, important reforms have been implemented in the recent years, including the Goods and Services Tax, the inflation-targeting framework, the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, and steps to liberalise foreign investment and make it easier to do business.

What More To Do

• Looking ahead, renewed impetus to reform labour and land markets, along with further improvements to the business climate, are also crucial.
• According to the World Economic Outlook, in India, reform priorities include reviving bank credit and enhancing the efficiency of credit provision by accelerating the cleanup of bank and corporate balance sheets and improving the governance of public sector banks.
• In India, a high interest burden and risks from rising yields require continued focus on debt reduction to establish policy credibility and build buffers.
• These efforts should be supported by further reductions in subsidies and enhanced compliance with the Goods and Services Tax .
• It also said inflation in India is on the rise, estimated at 3.6 per cent in fiscal year 2017/18 and projected at 4.7 per cent in fiscal year 2018/19, compared with 4.5 per cent in fiscal year 2016/17, amid accelerating demand and rising fuel price.

International Monetary Fund:

• The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is an international organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., consisting of “189 countries working to foster global monetary cooperation, secure financial stability, facilitate international trade, promote high employment and sustainable economic growth, and reduce poverty around the world.
• Formed in 1945 at the Bretton Woods Conference it came into formal existence in 1944 with 29 member countries and the goal of reconstructing the international payment system.
• It now plays a central role in the management of balance of payments difficulties and international financial crises.
• Countries contribute funds to a pool through a quota system from which countries experiencing balance of payments problems can borrow money.
• Through the fund, and other activities such as the gathering of statistics and analysis, surveillance of its members’ economies and the demand for particular policies, the IMF works to improve the economies of its member countries.
• The organisation’s objectives stated in the Articles of Agreement are:to promote international monetary co-operation, international trade, high employment, exchange-rate stability, sustainable economic growth, and making resources available to member countries in financial difficulty.
• IMF conditionality is a set of policies or conditions that the IMF requires in exchange for financial resources.
• The IMF does require collateral from countries for loans but also requires the government seeking assistance to correct its macroeconomic imbalances in the form of policy reform. If the conditions are not met, the funds are withheld.
• Conditionality is associated with economic theory as well as an enforcement mechanism for repayment. The theoretical underpinning of conditionality was the “monetary approach to the balance of payments”.

Source:The Hindu

Titli’ puts coastal Odisha on high alert

Topic: Environment and Ecology

In news: Several coastal districts of Odisha have been put on high alert as the cyclonic storm ‘Titli’ is expected to intensify into a severe cyclonic storm in the next 24 hours.

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• The latest bulletin by the India Meteorological Department said the cyclonic storm was centred at 510 km from Gopalpur. This severe cyclonic storm is expected to move west-northward and make landfall between Gopalpur in south Odisha and Kalingapatnam in Andhra Pradesh
• During the landfall, this severe cyclonic storm is expected to have a wind speed of 100 to 110 km/hr with gusts of up to 125 km/hr.

Cyclone:

• In meteorology, a cyclone is a large scale air mass that rotates around a strong center of low atmospheric pressure.
• Cyclones are characterized by inward spiraling winds that rotate about a zone of low pressure.
• The largest low-pressure systems are polar vortices and extratropical cyclones of the largest scale (the synoptic scale). Warm-core cyclones such as tropical cyclones and subtropical cyclones also lie within the synoptic scale.
• Mesocyclones, tornadoes and dust devils lie within the smaller mesoscale.Upper level cyclones can exist without the presence of a surface low, and can pinch off from the base of the tropical upper tropospheric trough during the summer months in the Northern Hemisphere.
• Cyclones have also been seen on extraterrestrial planets, such as Mars and Neptune.
• Cyclogenesis is the process of cyclone formation and intensification.Extratropical cyclones begin as waves in large regions of enhanced mid-latitude temperature contrasts called baroclinic zones.
• These zones contract and form weather fronts as the cyclonic circulation closes and intensifies. Later in their life cycle, extratropical cyclones occlude as cold air masses undercut the warmer air and become cold core systems. A cyclone’s track is guided over the course of its 2 to 6 day life cycle by the steering flow of the subtropical jet stream.
• Weather fronts mark the boundary between two masses of air of different temperature, humidity, and densities, and are associated with the most prominent meteorological phenomena.
• Strong cold fronts typically feature narrow bands of thunderstorms and severe weather, and may on occasion be preceded by squall lines or dry lines. Such fronts form west of the circulation center and generally move from west to east; warm fronts form east of the cyclone center and are usually preceded by stratiform precipitation and fog.
• Warm fronts move poleward ahead of the cyclone path. Occluded fronts form late in the cyclone life cycle near the center of the cyclone and often wrap around the storm center.

Source:The Hindu

Ancient Mayan society produced, stored, traded salt: Study

Topic: Art and Culture

In news: Anthropologists have discovered remnants of an ancient salt works that provide clues on how the Mayan society more than 1,000 years ago produced, stored and traded the mineral.

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• Analyses of stone tools found at the site, called the Paynes Creek Salt Works in Belize in Central America, revealed that the ancient Mayans made salt in large quantities.
• They were also salting fish and meat to meet dietary needs and produced a commodity that could be stored and traded.
• The site Paynes Creek Salt Works is a 3-square-mile area surrounded by mangrove forest that had been buried beneath a saltwater lagoon due to sea level rise. No remnants of fish or animal bones were found.
• The team mapped and excavated the underwater sites and discovered more than 4,000 wooden posts that outline a series of buildings used as salt kitchens where brine was boiled in pots over fires to make salt.
• The pottery is also used in modern and historic salt-making and is called briquetage.
• The salt was hardened in pots to form salt cakes and used to salt fish and meat, which were storable commodities that could be transported to marketplaces by canoe within the region.
• The Classic Mayan from AD 300-900 may have travelled by boat along the coast and up rivers to cities about 15 miles inland to trade and barter.
• “These discoveries substantiate the model of regional production and distribution of salt to meet the biological needs of the Classic Mayan.

Maya Civilisation

• The Maya civilization was a Mesoamerican civilization developed by the Maya peoples, and noted for its hieroglyphic script the only known fully developed writing system of the pre-Columbian Americas as well as for its art, architecture, mathematics, calendar, and astronomical system.
• The Maya civilization developed in an area that encompasses southeastern Mexico, all of Guatemala and Belize, and the western portions of Honduras and El Salvador.
• Maya cities tended to expand haphazardly, and the city centre would be occupied by ceremonial and administrative complexes, surrounded by an irregular sprawl of residential districts.
• Different parts of a city would often be linked by causeways. The principal architecture of the city consisted of palaces, pyramid-temples, ceremonial ballcourts, and structures aligned for astronomical observation.
• The Maya elite were literate, and developed a complex system of hieroglyphic writing that was the most advanced in the pre-Columbian Americas. The Maya recorded their history and ritual knowledge in screenfold books, of which only three uncontested examples remain, the rest having been destroyed by the Spanish.
• There are also a great many examples of Maya text found on stelae and ceramics. The Maya developed a highly complex series of interlocking ritual calendars, and employed mathematics that included one of the earliest instances of the explicit zero in the world.

Source:The Hindu

Mobile Health app for citizens of India Launched by IAF on Air Force Day

Topic: Government Schemes

In news: On the occasion of 86th anniversary, the Indian Air Force has launched an innovative mobile health App named ‘MedWatch’ in keeping with vision of ‘Digital India, Ayushman Bharat and Mission Indradhanush’.

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• The app is conceived by the doctors of IAF and developed in house by Directorate of Information Technology (DIT) with ZERO financial outlay.
• ‘MedWatch’ will provide correct, Scientific and authentic health information to airwarriors and all citizens of India.
• The app is available on www.apps.mgov.gov.in and comprises of host of features like information on basic First Aid, Health topics and Nutritional Facts; reminders for timely Medical Review, Vaccination and utility tools like Health Record Card, BMI calculator, helpline numbers and web links.‘MedWatch’ is the first mobile health app in the three Armed Services.

Ayushman Bharath

• Ayushman Bharat Yojana or National Health Protection Scheme is a program which aims to provide a service to create a healthy, capable and content new India.
• It has two goals, one, creating a network of health and wellness infrastructure across the nation to deliver comprehensive primary healthcare services, and another is to provide insurance cover to at least 40 per cent of India’s population which is majorly deprived of secondary and tertiary care services.

Source:Pib

Tiny device helps nerve growth

Topic: Science and Technology

 In news: Scientists say they have developed the first bioelectronic medicine an implantable, biodegradable wireless device that speeds nerve regeneration and improves the healing of a damaged nerve.

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• Researchers at the Washington University in the U.S. developed a device that delivers regular pulses of electricity to damaged peripheral nerves in rats after a surgical repair process, accelerating the regrowth of nerves in their legs.
• About the size of a small coin, the wireless device operates for two weeks before getting absorbing into the body.

Source:The Hindu

INS Rana at South Korea to Participate in IFR

Topic: India and its neighbourhood- relations.

 In news: INS Rana  which is currently on Operational Deployment to the North West Pacific region in the pursuance of India’s Act East Policy, arrived Jeju, Repubic of Korea to participate in the International Fleet Review (IFR).

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• During the visit, the ship will be actively participating the engagements related to IFR. A Naval Contingent will be part of the opening ceremony. The ship will also be a part of the various other sport, cultural events and will host reception onboard as per the IFR schedule.
• A fleet review is a gathering of naval ships for observation by a reigning monarch/democratic leader or their representative.

Act East Policy

• India’s Act East Policy focusses on the extended neighbourhood in the Asia-Pacific region.
• The policy which was originally conceived as an economic initiative, has gained political, strategic and cultural dimensions including establishment of institutional mechanisms for dialogue and cooperation.
• India has upgraded its relations to strategic partnership with Indonesia, Vietnam, Malaysia, Japan, Republic of Korea (ROK), Australia, Singapore and Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and forged close ties with all countries in the Asia-Pacific region.
• Further, apart from ASEAN, ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) and East Asia Summit (EAS), India has also been actively engaged in regional fora such as Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC), Asia Cooperation Dialogue (ACD), Mekong Ganga Cooperation (MGC) and Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA).
• Act East Policy has placed emphasis on India-ASEAN cooperation in our domestic agenda on infrastructure, manufacturing, trade, skills, urban renewal, smart cities, Make in India and other initiatives. Connectivity projects, cooperation in space, S&T and people-to-people exchanges could become a springboard for regional integration and prosperity.

The Objective of ”Act East Policy”

• The Objective of ”Act East Policy” is to promote economic cooperation, cultural ties and develop strategic relationship with countries in the Asia-Pacific region through continuous engagement at bilateral, regional and multilateral levels thereby providing enhanced connectivity to the States of North Eastern Region including Arunanchal Pradesh with other countries in our neighbourhood.
• The North East of India has been a priority in our Act East Policy (AEP). AEP provides an interface between North East India including the state of Arunachal Pradesh and the ASEAN region.
• Various plans at bilateral and regional levels include steady efforts to develop and strengthen connectivity of Northeast with the ASEAN region through trade, culture, people-to-people contacts and physical infrastructure (road, airport, telecommunication, power, etc.).
• Some of the major projects include Kaladan Multi-modal Transit Transport Project, the India-Myanmar-Thailand Trilateral Highway Project, Rhi-Tiddim Road Project, Border Haats, etc.

Source:PIB