📝 Water quality index set to be announced soon
Note4students:
The news card has details on Water Quality Index, a new step in the field of environment pollution control.
Few takeaways:
🔘 Prelims Level: The three models being considered and parameters involved, find out about the present classification
🔘 Mains Level: Nothing as of yet. Let’s hope we have an op-ed coming out soon
Keep tab of this news development.
🔴 Context:
It is being planned to introduce a certain and easy way to find out pollution levels in water.
🔴 Who proposed this?
It is based on the proposal of the Telangana State Pollution Control Board (TSPCB).
🔘 The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) is working on coming up with a Water Quality Index, on the lines of Air Quality Index (AQI).
🔴 5+ states involved:
A committee has been formed with senior environment scientists from Telangana, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh and other States to formulate models to assess the water quality
🔴 Three models proposed & why?
The members felt that the present classification was not rational.
🔘 The committee has closely studied similar models existing in Australia and Canada
Taking four perimeters into consideration, the committee has developed three different models
Parameters involved.
🔘 The parameters are limited to only four
Since developing an index for water quality is complex than air quality, it is decided to have three different models for lakes and rivers, ground water and coastal waters.
🔘 The committee members also want to classify the lakes, groundwater and the coastal waters across the country based on the Water Quality Index.
👉 Back2basics:
🔴 Central Pollution Control Board
🔘 What: The CPCB of India is a statutory organisation under the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC)
🔘 When: It was established in 1974. It was established under the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974. CPCB is also entrusted with the powers and functions under the Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981. It serves as a field formation and also provides technical services to the Ministry of Environment and Forests under the provisions of the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986. It co-ordinates the activities of the State Pollution Control Boards by providing technical assistance and guidance and also resolves disputes among them. It is the apex organisation in country in the field of pollution control, as a technical wing of MoEF.
The board is led by its chairman, who is nominated by the Central Government.
CPCB has its head office in New Delhi, with seven zonal offices and 5 laboratories.
🔘 Functions of CPCB
The board conducts environmental assessments and research.
It is responsible for maintaining national standards under a variety of environmental laws, in consultation with zonal offices, tribal, and local governments.
It has responsibilities to conduct monitoring of water and air quality, and maintains monitoring data.
The agency also works with industries and all levels of government in a wide variety of voluntary pollution prevention programs and energy conservation efforts.
It advises the central government to prevent and control water and air pollution.
It also advises the Governments of Union Territories on industrial and other sources of water and air pollution.
#GS3 #Prelims #Environment #Pollution
@UPSC_2018
Note4students:
The news card has details on Water Quality Index, a new step in the field of environment pollution control.
Few takeaways:
🔘 Prelims Level: The three models being considered and parameters involved, find out about the present classification
🔘 Mains Level: Nothing as of yet. Let’s hope we have an op-ed coming out soon
Keep tab of this news development.
🔴 Context:
It is being planned to introduce a certain and easy way to find out pollution levels in water.
🔴 Who proposed this?
It is based on the proposal of the Telangana State Pollution Control Board (TSPCB).
🔘 The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) is working on coming up with a Water Quality Index, on the lines of Air Quality Index (AQI).
🔴 5+ states involved:
A committee has been formed with senior environment scientists from Telangana, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh and other States to formulate models to assess the water quality
🔴 Three models proposed & why?
The members felt that the present classification was not rational.
🔘 The committee has closely studied similar models existing in Australia and Canada
Taking four perimeters into consideration, the committee has developed three different models
Parameters involved.
🔘 The parameters are limited to only four
Since developing an index for water quality is complex than air quality, it is decided to have three different models for lakes and rivers, ground water and coastal waters.
🔘 The committee members also want to classify the lakes, groundwater and the coastal waters across the country based on the Water Quality Index.
👉 Back2basics:
🔴 Central Pollution Control Board
🔘 What: The CPCB of India is a statutory organisation under the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC)
🔘 When: It was established in 1974. It was established under the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974. CPCB is also entrusted with the powers and functions under the Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981. It serves as a field formation and also provides technical services to the Ministry of Environment and Forests under the provisions of the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986. It co-ordinates the activities of the State Pollution Control Boards by providing technical assistance and guidance and also resolves disputes among them. It is the apex organisation in country in the field of pollution control, as a technical wing of MoEF.
The board is led by its chairman, who is nominated by the Central Government.
CPCB has its head office in New Delhi, with seven zonal offices and 5 laboratories.
🔘 Functions of CPCB
The board conducts environmental assessments and research.
It is responsible for maintaining national standards under a variety of environmental laws, in consultation with zonal offices, tribal, and local governments.
It has responsibilities to conduct monitoring of water and air quality, and maintains monitoring data.
The agency also works with industries and all levels of government in a wide variety of voluntary pollution prevention programs and energy conservation efforts.
It advises the central government to prevent and control water and air pollution.
It also advises the Governments of Union Territories on industrial and other sources of water and air pollution.
#GS3 #Prelims #Environment #Pollution
@UPSC_2018
Karpathuias.blogspot.in
📝 CPI inflation slows to lowest since 2012
👉 Note4Students:
While inflation trend has been on lower side since a year but recent farmer protests in various states signify that there is a huge mismatch between government data and actual situation as the actual benefits of this slowdown have not trickled down to producers. A comprehensive policy in this regard is need of the hour.
From UPSC perspective, following things are important:
🔘 Prelims level:
CPI, IIP, their base years, factors affecting them.
🔘 Mains level:
Policy measures required by various stakeholders in order to provide benefits of lower inflation to everyone, from producers to consumers.
🔴 News:
Retail inflation at 2.18% in May, eased to its lowest level since the Centre began measuring it on a nationwide basis in 2012.
🔘 Separate data showed industrial output expanded by 3.1% in April.
🔴 Reasons behind this trend:
🔘 Slowdown in CPI inflation was driven in large part by cooling food prices.
🔘 Growth in the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) was spurred by the manufacturing sector within which the tobacco and the pharmaceuticals sectors grew the fastest.
🔴 Looming farmer crisis and desired RBI measures:
🔘 It reflects the crisis the farmers are facing because food prices have crashed as a result of bumper crops.
🔘 This does provide stronger grounds for the RBI to revise its interest rates downwards in its next review.
🔴 Upside risks to inflation:
It can be due to three factors-
🔘 Increase in the house rent component in CPI
Implementation of GST, and Announcement of large farm loan waivers and higher deficits of states.
👉 Back2Basics:
Know everything about inflation here.(Prelims worthy)
#GS3 #Economy
@UPSC_2018
📝 CPI inflation slows to lowest since 2012
👉 Note4Students:
While inflation trend has been on lower side since a year but recent farmer protests in various states signify that there is a huge mismatch between government data and actual situation as the actual benefits of this slowdown have not trickled down to producers. A comprehensive policy in this regard is need of the hour.
From UPSC perspective, following things are important:
🔘 Prelims level:
CPI, IIP, their base years, factors affecting them.
🔘 Mains level:
Policy measures required by various stakeholders in order to provide benefits of lower inflation to everyone, from producers to consumers.
🔴 News:
Retail inflation at 2.18% in May, eased to its lowest level since the Centre began measuring it on a nationwide basis in 2012.
🔘 Separate data showed industrial output expanded by 3.1% in April.
🔴 Reasons behind this trend:
🔘 Slowdown in CPI inflation was driven in large part by cooling food prices.
🔘 Growth in the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) was spurred by the manufacturing sector within which the tobacco and the pharmaceuticals sectors grew the fastest.
🔴 Looming farmer crisis and desired RBI measures:
🔘 It reflects the crisis the farmers are facing because food prices have crashed as a result of bumper crops.
🔘 This does provide stronger grounds for the RBI to revise its interest rates downwards in its next review.
🔴 Upside risks to inflation:
It can be due to three factors-
🔘 Increase in the house rent component in CPI
Implementation of GST, and Announcement of large farm loan waivers and higher deficits of states.
👉 Back2Basics:
Know everything about inflation here.(Prelims worthy)
#GS3 #Economy
@UPSC_2018
Karpathuias.blogspot.in
📝 What is Inflation?
Inflation is defined as a sustained increase in the general level of prices for goods and services in a county, and is measured as an annual percentage change. Under conditions of inflation, the prices of things rise over time. Put differently, as inflation rises, every dollar you own buys a smaller percentage of a good or service. When prices rise, and alternatively when the value of money falls you have inflation.
The value of a dollar (or any unit of money) is expressed in terms of its purchasing power, which is the amount of real, tangible goods or actual services that money can buy at a moment in time. When inflation goes up, there is a decline in the purchasing power of money.
👉 For example
If the inflation rate is 2% annually, then theoretically a $1 pack of gum will cost $1.02 in a year. After inflation, your dollar does not go as far as it did in the past. This why a pack of gum cost just $0.05 in the 1940’s – the price has risen, or from a different perspective, the value of the dollar has declined.
#Prelims #GS3 #Economy
@UPSC_2018
📝 What is Inflation?
Inflation is defined as a sustained increase in the general level of prices for goods and services in a county, and is measured as an annual percentage change. Under conditions of inflation, the prices of things rise over time. Put differently, as inflation rises, every dollar you own buys a smaller percentage of a good or service. When prices rise, and alternatively when the value of money falls you have inflation.
The value of a dollar (or any unit of money) is expressed in terms of its purchasing power, which is the amount of real, tangible goods or actual services that money can buy at a moment in time. When inflation goes up, there is a decline in the purchasing power of money.
👉 For example
If the inflation rate is 2% annually, then theoretically a $1 pack of gum will cost $1.02 in a year. After inflation, your dollar does not go as far as it did in the past. This why a pack of gum cost just $0.05 in the 1940’s – the price has risen, or from a different perspective, the value of the dollar has declined.
#Prelims #GS3 #Economy
@UPSC_2018
What ails Indian navigation constellation?
#KarpathuIAS
Karpathuias.blogspot.in
👉 Note4Students:
The prime objective of ISRO is to develop space technology and its application to various national tasks.
🔘 NavIC was one such attempt to make India self reliant in GPS systems as during kargil war USA had denied access to its GPS system to India which led to development of NavIC.
Important news card as it contains major details regarding NavIC.
From UPSC perspective, following things are important:
🔘 Prelims level:
NavIC, GPS, Rubidium and cesium clocks. (Also look at properties of these elements, position in periodic table etc.)
🔘 Mains level:
NavIC and various other missions of ISRO. (There was a question in Mains 2016 on this topic)
🔴 News:
The clocks on the first satellite, IRNSS-1A had failed in June 2016, affecting the accuracy of the “GPS”.
ISRO is trying to rectify this problem.
🔴 What is NavIC?
🔘 Navigation Indian Constellation (NavIC) is an independent Indian satellite-based positioning system for critical national applications.
🔘 NavIC consists of a constellation of seven satellites, three of which are in a geostationary orbit and four in a geosynchronous.
🔘 Its purpose is to provide ‘reliable position, navigation and timing services over India and neighbourhood’.
🔴 According to ISRO, the applications of IRNSS are:
🔘 terrestrial, aerial and marine navigation, vehicle tracking and fleet management, terrestrial navigation for hikers and travellers, disaster management, integration with mobile phones, mapping and geodetic data capture and visual and voice navigation for drivers.
🔴 What’s the problem?
🔘 NavIC relies on rubidium clocks as navigation requires the most accurate clocks.
🔘 This January, the ISRO confirmed that the clocks on the first satellite, IRNSS-1A had failed in June 2016.
🔘 Though six of the satellites are working fine, the one faulty one means the “GPS” isn’t working as accurately as it ought to be.
🔴 How’s it being fixed?
🔘 ISRO was trying to revive the clocks on 1A.
🔘 It is also readying one of the two back-up navigation satellites to replace it in space in the second half of this year.
🔴 Future prospects:
🔘 Rubidium clocks were the previous standard in accurate clocks and most organisations, that need precise time estimates, need cesium clocks.
🔘 Future clocks on such satellites, each with a lifespan of 10 years, will host such clocks.
@UPSC_2018
#Prelims #Main #GS3 #Science #Space #ISRO
#KarpathuIAS
Karpathuias.blogspot.in
👉 Note4Students:
The prime objective of ISRO is to develop space technology and its application to various national tasks.
🔘 NavIC was one such attempt to make India self reliant in GPS systems as during kargil war USA had denied access to its GPS system to India which led to development of NavIC.
Important news card as it contains major details regarding NavIC.
From UPSC perspective, following things are important:
🔘 Prelims level:
NavIC, GPS, Rubidium and cesium clocks. (Also look at properties of these elements, position in periodic table etc.)
🔘 Mains level:
NavIC and various other missions of ISRO. (There was a question in Mains 2016 on this topic)
🔴 News:
The clocks on the first satellite, IRNSS-1A had failed in June 2016, affecting the accuracy of the “GPS”.
ISRO is trying to rectify this problem.
🔴 What is NavIC?
🔘 Navigation Indian Constellation (NavIC) is an independent Indian satellite-based positioning system for critical national applications.
🔘 NavIC consists of a constellation of seven satellites, three of which are in a geostationary orbit and four in a geosynchronous.
🔘 Its purpose is to provide ‘reliable position, navigation and timing services over India and neighbourhood’.
🔴 According to ISRO, the applications of IRNSS are:
🔘 terrestrial, aerial and marine navigation, vehicle tracking and fleet management, terrestrial navigation for hikers and travellers, disaster management, integration with mobile phones, mapping and geodetic data capture and visual and voice navigation for drivers.
🔴 What’s the problem?
🔘 NavIC relies on rubidium clocks as navigation requires the most accurate clocks.
🔘 This January, the ISRO confirmed that the clocks on the first satellite, IRNSS-1A had failed in June 2016.
🔘 Though six of the satellites are working fine, the one faulty one means the “GPS” isn’t working as accurately as it ought to be.
🔴 How’s it being fixed?
🔘 ISRO was trying to revive the clocks on 1A.
🔘 It is also readying one of the two back-up navigation satellites to replace it in space in the second half of this year.
🔴 Future prospects:
🔘 Rubidium clocks were the previous standard in accurate clocks and most organisations, that need precise time estimates, need cesium clocks.
🔘 Future clocks on such satellites, each with a lifespan of 10 years, will host such clocks.
@UPSC_2018
#Prelims #Main #GS3 #Science #Space #ISRO
#KarpathuIAS
📝 India gets direct access to swiss accounts
🔴 What has Switzerland ratified?
Switzerland Friday ratified automatic exchange of financial account information (AEOI) with India and 40 other jurisdictions to facilitate immediate sharing of details about suspected black money, even as it sought strict adherence to confidentiality and data security.
🔘 Adopting the dispatch on introduction of the AEOI, a global convention for automatic information exchange on tax matters, the Swiss Federal Council said the implementation is planned for 2018 and the first set of data should be exchanged in 2019.
🔘 The council, which is the top governing body of the European nation, will soon notify the Indian government about the exact date from which the automatic exchange would begin.
As per the draft notification approved by the council in its meeting on Friday, the decision is not subject to any referendum — which means there should be no further procedural delay in its implementation.
🔘 The council said the proposal to introduce AEOI with India and others “met with widespread approval from the interested parties who voiced their opinions in the consultations“.
🔘 “In concrete terms, the AEOI will be activated with each individual state or territory by means of a specific federal decree within the framework of this dispatch,” it added.
🔘 The exchange of information itself will be carried out based on the Multilateral Competent Authority Agreement (MCAA) on the Automatic Exchange of Financial Account Information, which in turn is based on the international standard for the exchange of information developed by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).
The council said it will prepare a situation report before the first exchange of data, which is planned for autumn 2019.
🔴 Why is Switzerland forced to share information?
For decades, Switzerland was the place where money went to hide. Cash sent to its mountain sanctuaries was protected by some of the strictest secrecy laws in the world.
🔘 But the euro crisis of 2011 saw Switzerland's strict banking secrecy come under assault from countries such as Germany and Britain as never before.
🔘 The council that serves as Switzerland's executive branch had to start looking into steps toward banking transparency after having been threatened with painful isolation if it did not agree to reforms.
🔘 There have also been continuous global efforts to crackdown on illicit fund flows in the system and do away with banking secrecy practices.
#GS3 #Economy
@UPSC_2018
📝 India gets direct access to swiss accounts
🔴 What has Switzerland ratified?
Switzerland Friday ratified automatic exchange of financial account information (AEOI) with India and 40 other jurisdictions to facilitate immediate sharing of details about suspected black money, even as it sought strict adherence to confidentiality and data security.
🔘 Adopting the dispatch on introduction of the AEOI, a global convention for automatic information exchange on tax matters, the Swiss Federal Council said the implementation is planned for 2018 and the first set of data should be exchanged in 2019.
🔘 The council, which is the top governing body of the European nation, will soon notify the Indian government about the exact date from which the automatic exchange would begin.
As per the draft notification approved by the council in its meeting on Friday, the decision is not subject to any referendum — which means there should be no further procedural delay in its implementation.
🔘 The council said the proposal to introduce AEOI with India and others “met with widespread approval from the interested parties who voiced their opinions in the consultations“.
🔘 “In concrete terms, the AEOI will be activated with each individual state or territory by means of a specific federal decree within the framework of this dispatch,” it added.
🔘 The exchange of information itself will be carried out based on the Multilateral Competent Authority Agreement (MCAA) on the Automatic Exchange of Financial Account Information, which in turn is based on the international standard for the exchange of information developed by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).
The council said it will prepare a situation report before the first exchange of data, which is planned for autumn 2019.
🔴 Why is Switzerland forced to share information?
For decades, Switzerland was the place where money went to hide. Cash sent to its mountain sanctuaries was protected by some of the strictest secrecy laws in the world.
🔘 But the euro crisis of 2011 saw Switzerland's strict banking secrecy come under assault from countries such as Germany and Britain as never before.
🔘 The council that serves as Switzerland's executive branch had to start looking into steps toward banking transparency after having been threatened with painful isolation if it did not agree to reforms.
🔘 There have also been continuous global efforts to crackdown on illicit fund flows in the system and do away with banking secrecy practices.
#GS3 #Economy
@UPSC_2018