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Monthly DNA
25 Jun, 2020
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GS-Paper-2 International issue AFRICA
Sudan has warned against escalation and urged further negotiations with Egypt and Ethiopia over the construction of a controversial dam on the Blue Nile river by Addis Ababa.
Important points
Egypt and Ethiopia have once again locked horns over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) on the Blue Nile.
On Feb. 26, Ethiopia temporarily suspended its participation in the U.S.-mediated negotiations over the filling and operation of the GERD, requesting more time to deliberate on the draft agreement.
With the dam 70 per cent complete and its reservoir expected to start being filled in July, the time for reaching an agreement is ticking away.
While the parties have sought international mediation from the U.S. and South Africa, that is no substitute for regional cooperation among the parties.
About Nile River:
About Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD):
Uganda President calls for urgent African summit on GERD:
Uganda's President said that African presidents must hold frank discussions regarding the Nile River dilemma during this summit, and stressed the importance of ensuring equitable and sustainable usage of the river’s waters.
Kenyan president emphasized the importance of properly utilizing natural resources and sustainably addressing the needs of increasing populations.
Meanwhile, the Egyptian community in New York and New Jersey is gearing up to organize demonstrations in front of the White House, pressuring the US administration to protect Egypt’s water rights and support the negotiations.
The challenges for the fair utilisation of waters among the riparian states have only been compounded by the pressures of population growth and the effects of global warming.
Challenges Ahead that need to address:
Conclusion:
Ethiopia and Egypt should be ready to make significant concessions to avoid a catastrophic escalation in this seemingly intractable dispute.
An agreement involving Egypt, Ethiopia and other river basin countries for equitable sharing of water.
Sustainable use of river water given the ever-increasing problem of pollution and climate change.
Consistent with the principles set out in the declaration of principles, in particular the principles of not causing significant harm to downstream countries, final testing and filling should not take place without an agreement.
These countries can take inspiration from Indus Water Treaty signed between India and Pakistan and brokered by World Bank in 1960. The treaty has been functioning smoothly and has endured three wars over nearly six decades.
Read more about NILE RIVER: https://www.treehugger.com/nile-river-facts-4868689
Source: IE
Coal sector reforms
GS-PAPER-2 Governance and Energy PT-MAINS-I.V
India, being a developing country, coal remains one of the most important indigenous energy resources and the dominant fuel for power generation and many industrial applications.
Presently, despite being the world's fourth-largest producer, India is the second-largest importer of the dry-fuel. Therefore, in line with the vision to build an ‘Atma Nirbhar Bharat’, a slew of reforms to promote commercial mining of coal in India, has been announced.
Unlocking coal mining for private players is a step forward to attain self-reliance in the coal sector. However, for sustainable utilization of coal, there is a need to look into these reforms from a multidimensional viewpoint.
Announced Reforms In Coal Sector
Intended Benefits
Plugging Supply Gap: The nationalisation of coal in 1973 meant that domestic coal could be mined only by public sector companies.
Boost Economy and Employment: Allowing commercial mining may help to address India’s coal production needs, provide investment opportunities and save precious foreign exchange.
Win-Win Situation: The government has introduced a more equitable system of sharing of revenues, moving away from fixed rates to a revenue-sharing model.
Challenges
Dominance of Coal India: While reforms are aimed at ending the monopoly of Coal India Ltd., that’s unlikely to happen in the near future.
Issue with Non-washing of Coal: Doing away with the regulation requiring power plants to use “washed” coal will have huge environmental and economic costs.
PT:
External Challenges: In the era of intense competition from renewables, the rising NPAs of thermal power plants (TPPs) and a massive global withdrawal from fossil fuel for climate and environmental reasons poses a challenge of viability for commercialising coal.
Conclusion
Source: TH
Anti Defection Law
Part of: GS-II- Polity (PT-MAINS-PERSONALITY TEST)
Recently, some of the sitting MLAs in the Manipur government defected to the opposition creating instability in the state's polity. This politics of defection in Manipur is not unique, there have been some other recent examples of defection in Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand.
For a very long time, the Indian political system was impacted by political defections by members of the legislature. This situation brought about greater instability and chaos in the political system.
Thus, in 1985, to curb the evil of political defections, the 52nd constitution amendment act on anti-defection was passed and the 10th Schedule was added in the Indian Constitution.
However, the recent examples of defection in the Indian polity show that the law needs a relook in order to plug the loopholes and achieve a balance between the rights of legislators and interests of legislative stability.
Issues
Subversion of electoral mandates: Defection is the subversion of electoral mandates by legislators who get elected on the ticket of one party but then find it convenient to shift to another, due to the lure of ministerial berths or financial gains.
91st Constitution Amendment Act-2003
Kihota Hollohon vs. Zachilhu (1992)
Challenges
Against the true spirit of representative democracy: The anti-defection law seeks to provide a stable government by ensuring the legislators do not switch sides. However, this law also enforces a restriction on legislators from voting in line with their conscience, judgement and interests of his electorate.
In short, if legislators are not able to vote on laws independently, they would not act as an effective check on the government.
The Anti-Defection Law, in effect, dilutes the separation of powers between the Executive and the Legislature – and centralises power in the hands of the executives.
However, there are many instances when presiding officers play a part with the vested interests of a political party/government in power.
Also, the law does not specify a time period for the Presiding Officer to decide on a disqualification plea.
The decision thus is sometimes based on the whims and fancies of the presiding officer.
What to do?
Conclusion
Though due to anti-defection law, political instability caused by the frequent and unholy change of allegiance on the part of the legislators of our country has been contained to a very great extent, yet there is a need for a more rationalised version of anti-defection laws which will help establish a truly representative democracy.
Source: TH
The annual Ambubachi Mela at the historic Kamakhya temple in Guwahati began. This year, however, the fair is being observed without devotees as only rituals will be performed in the temple till June 25. Kamakhya temple located atop of Nilachal Hills is one of 51 Shakti Peeths in the country.
The Ambubachi Mela, an annual fair held at Kamakhya temple, is the celebration of the annual menstruation course of goddess Maa Kamakhya. The meal usually started on June 22 every year at Kamakhya temple. This year, however, the temple management authorities decided not to include devotees, and sadhus in the fair in view of the novel coronavirus pandemic. All entrances to the historic temple have been closed.
Source: TH
Asian Development Outlook (ADO) is a report released by Asian Development Bank. The ADO analyses economic and development issues in developing countries in Asia. This includes forecasting the inflation and growth rates of countries throughout the region, including China and India.
Highlights of the recent report are as follows
Source: IE
Source: Web
Recently, China has announced tariff exemption for 97% of exports from Bangladesh. Bangladesh had requested China to exempt its export items from tariffs in the background of the economic hardship triggered by the Covid-19 pandemic.
China considered Bangladesh's request and has granted the tariff exemption to Bangladesh on account of its Least Developed Countries (LDCs) status. The move will help Bangladesh to remove the economic impact of the pandemic and also emerge as a possible beneficiary alongside Vietnam and Chile of the U.S.-China trade war.
The supply chain disruption caused by the U.S.-China trade war is likely to be filled by a boost in the export of tariff-exempted goods from Bangladesh. It will also help Bangladesh to reduce its trade deficit with China. As a result of the latest announcement, a total of 8256 goods from Bangladesh will be exempted from Chinese tariffs. Earlier, Bangladesh used to receive tariff exemption for 3095 items under the Asia Pacific Trade Agreement (APTA).
Asia Pacific Trade Agreement
Least Developed Countries
Source: TH
NGO-DARPAN
Source: PIB
The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) is a multilateral development bank with a mission to improve social and economic outcomes in Asia. Its HQ is in Beijing, China.
It is established by a multilateral treaty - AIIB Articles of Agreement. India joined AIIB in 2016 as a regional member of the Bank. Further, 14 of the G-20 nations are AIIB members including France, Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom.
China is the largest shareholder in AIIB with a 26.06% voting power, followed by India with a 7.62% voting power. Recently, the AIIB approved a $750 million loan to India to strengthen the country’s battle against the adverse impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on poor and vulnerable households. The loan is co-financed by the AIIB and the Asian Development Bank.
It aims to ensure economic resilience to prevent long-term damage to productive capacity, including human capital.
Source: TH
GS- Paper-1 Geography / Geography Optional (PT-Mains-I.V)
Outlined below are the many steps involved in a star’s evolution, from its formation in a nebula, to its death as a white dwarf or a neutron star.
Nebula
Protostar
T- Tauri star
Main sequence stars
Red dwarf
Red giant
Degenerate matter
Red Supergiant
Planetary Nebula
White dwarf
Nova
Supernova
Supernovae can be triggered in one of two ways:
Type I supernova or Type I-a supernova (read as one-a)
The difference between Nova and Type I supernova
Nova |
Type I supernova |
In a nova, the system can shine up to a million times brighter than normal. |
A supernova is a violent stellar explosion that can shine as brightly as an entire galaxy of billions of normal stars. |
As long as it continues to take gas from its companion star, the white dwarf can produce nova outbursts at regular intervals. |
If enough gas piles up on the surface of the white dwarf, a runaway thermonuclear explosion blasts the star to bits. |
Type II supernova
Importance of supernova: Creating and dispersing new elements
Black dwarf
Brown Dwarfs
Neutron stars
Black holes
Galaxy
From the billions of galaxies, two basic types have been identified:
Regular Galaxies
Spiral Galaxies: The Milky Way is an example of disc-shaped spiral galaxy which has a greater concentration of stars near its centre. They consist of populations of old stars in the centre, and the youngest stars located in the arms. Spiral galaxies are well supplied with the interstellar gas in which new bright, young stars form.
Elliptical Galaxies: Star distribution is nonuniform. Most of their member stars are very old and no new star formation in them. Smaller and less bright. The brightest galaxies in the universe are elliptical.
Irregular Galaxies
Our Galaxy (the Milky Way)
Source: Web
Sustainable Developmental Goals Index 2019 GS-Paper-3 Environment SDG PT-MAINS The SDG India Index (NITI AAYOG) dashboard displays overall & detailed info on the progress made by States & UTs on Global Goals of the United Nations including their incremental progress from 2018, using in
ULV sprayer through drones To overcome the limitation of importing equipment, the Department of Agriculture, Cooperation & Farmers’ Welfare (DAC&FW), under the Make in India initiative, has taken up the challenge to indigenously develop a vehicle-mounted ULV sprayer for locust contr
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Information about the Country of Origin by the sellers made mandatory on GeM to promote Make in India and Aatmanirbhar Bharat Government e-Marketplace (GeM), a Special Purpose Vehicle under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, has made it mandatory for sellers to enter the Country of Origin
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Foldscope could be a better alternative to the clinical microscope Foldscope is an affordable origami-based microscopy device composed of a series of paper clippings. (Origami is the Japanese art of folding paper into decorative shapes and figures) Upon assembly, the device can hold a spe
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Sharavathi Monkey Park The Karnataka government has decided to develop a monkey park in the Shivamogga district. The monkey park will be established on the uninhabited islands in the Sharavathi backwaters region. The park will be the first such in the state and will be set up on 100 acres of land
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