About: 

• It was the first commercial hunt since 1988, when Japan switched to what it called research whaling after commercial whaling was banned by the International Whaling Commission (IWC). Japan gave six months’ notice that it was withdrawing from the IWC, a move that took effect recently. 
  
  
• The Fisheries Agency said the hunts will stay within the country’s exclusive economic zone, and the catch quota for the rest of this year will be 227 whales. 
  
  

About: 

• The National Defense Authorisation Act (NDAA) for the fiscal year 2020 was passed by the United States Senate recently. 
  
  
• This legislative provision of United States give India NATO ally-like status; it brings India at par with America's NATO allies and countries like Israel and South Korea for increasing defence cooperation. 
  
  
• The amendment provides for increased US-India defence cooperation in the Indian Ocean in areas of humanitarian assistance, counter-terrorism, counter-piracy and maritime security. 
  
  
• Way ahead: The bill would be signed into law after both chambers of the US Congress pass it. The House is expected to take up its version of the NDAA this month. 
  
  

About: 

• The recommendation is part of the Aayog’s push for the adoption of electric mobility in the country. 
  
  
• It recently proposal that only electric (lithium-ion or other advanced battery chemistry only) three-wheelers would be sold in the country after March 31, 2023, and all new sales of two-wheelers below 150cc would be electric post March 31, 2025. 
  
  
• Arguments for Lithium-Ion Giga Factories: The lack of domestic capability will result in massive imports from China for its electric vehicles as is the case in electronics. 
  
  
• Industry opposition: The two-wheeler industry had strongly opposed the Aayog’s proposal to stop selling ICE (internal combustion engine) 150cc two-wheelers, cautioning that the move would disrupt the industry that was already reeling under stress. 
  
  

About: 

• Objective: The Trade Fair is aimed at promoting cooperative to cooperative trade within India and abroad leading to enhanced rural and farm prosperity. 
  
  
• Venue: Pragati Maidan, New Delhi. 
  
  
• When? It will be held from 11th till 13th October, 2019. 
  
  
• Bodies involved: Steered by National Cooperative Development Corporation (NCDC), the Fair is being conducted with the support of one international organization (NEDAC), three Ministries, four State Governments and several apex level Indian cooperative organizations. 
  
  

Other key developments in Indian Railways: 

• Vande Bharat Express: Indian Railways introduced the first self-propelled semi high speed train Vande Bharat Express between New Delhi and Varanasi on 14.02.2019. This resulted in the reduction of travel time between New Delhi and Varanasi by about 40%.
  
  
• Speeding up of trains: As part of Mission Raftaar, 261 trains have been speeded up (by upto 110 minutes) over different Zonal Railways thereby providing a faster transit to the passengers.
  
  
• Replacement of conventional Passenger trains with MEMU/DEMU: The short distance passenger trains especially having reversal enroute are being replaced by Mainline Electric Multiple Units (MEMUs) & Diesel Electric Multiple Units (DEMUs). 
  
  
• Conversion of ICF rakes into LHB rakes: The Linke Hofmann Busch (LHB) coaches provide more comfortable and safe journey. To improve the travel experience, a total of 411 pairs of important long distance trains are presently running with LHB coaches by utilizing 465 rakes. 
  
  

About: 

• Name of the report: Working on a Warmer Planet - The Impact of Heat Stress on Labour Productivity and Decent Work. 
  
  
• Released by: The International Labour Organization. 
  
  
• Methodology: Projections are based on a global temperature rise of 1.5 degree Celsius by the end of the twenty-first century, and labour force trends. Heat stress is defined as generally above 35 degrees Celsius, in places with high humidity. 
  
  

Key Highlights of the Report: 

• India will be the most affected country. because of its large population. 
  
  
• India is projected to lose 5.8 per cent of working hours in 2030 due to global warming, particularly impacting agriculture and construction sectors. 
  
  
• In absolute terms, India is expected to lose the equivalent of 34 million full-time jobs in 2030 in productivity. 
  
  
• Working hours will be lost because it is too hot to work or because workers work at a slower pace.
  
  
• The report noted that Ahmedabad incorporated a cool roofs initiative into its 2017 Heat Action Plan, notably by providing access to affordable cool roofs for the city's slum residents and urban poor. 
  
  

About:

• Background: The home ministry had started to rank police stations following a direction from Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the DGP conference in Kutch, Gujarat, in 2015. A scheme was accordingly formulated to identify and recognise the 10 best police stations in the country.
  
  
• Methodology:
  • The 2018 survey evaluated police stations on the basis of how they dealt with crime against women, crime against SC/ST and property offences. The score were calculated depending on the number of FIRs chargesheeted within 60 days.
    
    
  • Around 20% weightage was also given to the police station’s infrastructure and citizen feedback on performance of the police personnel.
    
    
  
  
  
• Top 3 police stations in India (2018): Kalu police station in Rajasthan’s Bikaner district has been ranked the best. The No 2 rank goes to Campbell Bay police station in Nicobar district of Andaman & Nicobar Islands. Third is Farakka police station in Murshidabad, West Bengal. 
  
  

Recent Decisions wrt Tur Dal:

• Minister for Consumer Affairs informed Lok Sabha that Government has decided to enhance the import limit on Tur Dal from two 2 metric tonne to 4 lakh metric tonne for the year 2019 - 20.
  
  
• Government has also decided to release 2 lakh metric tonne of Tur Dal, available in the buffer stock of pulses to States and Union Territories under the Price Stabilization Fund.
  
  
• Centre had signed an MoU with Mozambique, in July 2016 to improve domestic availability and facilitate price stability of Tur and other pulses.
  
  

About:

• The turnover ratio of the Indian stock market had fallen from 143 in 2008 to 58 in 2018 i.e. a fall of nearly 60% between 2008 and 2018.
  
  
• The fall had been the highest among most leading markets of the world, barring the U.S. and the European Union.
  
  
• The turnover ratio of China dipped less than 6% in the last 10 years, while Brazil and Korea registered a dip of 12.85% and 31.12%, respectively. Japan and Hong Kong saw the ratio dip between 40-50% between 2008 and 2018. 
  
  

About: 

• The Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) is a region 4 km wide and 240 km long, dividing the Korean Peninsula into the North Korea and South Korea. 
  
  
• The DMZ was created after the 1953 Korean War Armistice Agreement, which ended the Korean War. 
  
  
• The site where the Armistice was signed is called the Joint Security Area (JSA), located 53 km to the north of Seoul. It continues to be the venue where successive peace discussions concerning the region are conducted, including the recent meeting between Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un. 
  
  

About: 

• What is it? Jal Shakti Abhiyan is a campaign for water conservation and water security.
  
  
• Focus: The focus of the campaign will be on water stressed districts and blocks.
  
  
• Timeline:
  • The campaign will run through citizen participation during the monsoon season, from 1st July, 2019 to 15th September, 2019.
    
    
  • An additional Phase 2 will be run from 1st October, 2019 to 30th November, 2019 for States receiving the North East retreating monsoons.
    
    
  
  
  
• Bodies involved: The campaign is a collaborative effort of various Ministries of the Government of India and State Governments, being coordinated by the Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation (DDWS).
  
  
• Primary Strategy: Government will implement the following five important water conservation interventions in water stressed blocks –
  • water conservation and rainwater harvesting,
    
    
  • renovation of traditional and other water bodies/tanks, 
    
    
  • reuse of water and recharging of structures,
    
    
  • watershed development and
    
    
  • intensive afforestation.  
    
    
  
  
  
• Other initiatives: The conservation efforts will be supplemented by initiatives like developing block and district water conservation plans and 'krishi vigyan kendra melas' to promote efficient water use for irrigation and better crop choices.
  
  

About: 

• Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has said that the country has exceeded the 300-kilogramme limit on its enriched uranium reserves set by the 2015 nuclear deal.  This was confirmed by the International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors. 
  
  
• Iran also announced that it is planning to suspend other commitments under the deal in 10 days unless European powers took steps to implement their new mechanism – Instex – for facilitating trade. 
  
  

Background:

• Under the nuclear deal, Iran had agreed to limit its sensitive nuclear activities and allow in international inspectors in return for the lifting of sanctions. 
  
  
• Iran can stockpile no more than 300kg of low-enriched uranium. It is only permitted (until 2031) to produce low-enriched uranium, which has a 3-4 per cent concentration of U-235, and can fuel a power plant.  
  
  
• Enriched uranium  is widely used for peaceful purposes, such as medical research and producing electricity. But, if it is highly purified it can also be used to make a nuclear bomb.
  
  

About: 

• The Electronics and Information Technology Ministry has agreed to give technical support to the AYUSH Ministry for planning and development of AYUSH GRID Project. 
  
  
• In pursuance to the National Health Policy 2017, the project aims to digitize the entire AYUSH, leading to transformation in the field of health care delivery at all levels, along with greater research, education, delivery of various health care programmes and better drug regulations. 
  
  

About: 

• Scheme objective: To strengthen research culture and innovation in colleges and Universities.
  
  
• Bhushan Patwardhan committee: An advisory Committee has been set up by the UGC under the chairmanship of Prof Bhushan Patwardhan, Vice Chairman to oversee the entire scheme.
  
  
• STRIDE components:
  • Component-1: It will endeavour to identify the motivated young talents with research and innovation aptitude in universities and colleges. This component is open to all disciplines for grant upto 1 crore.
    
    
  • Component-2: It will encourage collaborations between universities, government, voluntary organizations and industries. This component is open to all disciplines for grant upto 50 lakh – 1 crore.
    
    
  • Component-3: It will fund high impact research projects in humanities through national network of eminent scientists from leading institutions. Grant available for this component is upto 1 crore for one HEI and upto 5 crores for multi institutional network.
    
    
  
  
  

About: 

• Convenor: Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis is the Convenor of the committee.
  
  
• Members: CMs of Karnataka, Haryana, Arunachal Pradesh, Gujarat, UP, MP & Union Minister of Agriculture, RD & Panchayati Raj to be the Members. 
  
  
• Member Secretary: Member , NITI Aayog Ramesh Chand to be the Member Secretary
  
  
• The Committee will be serviced by NITI Aayog.
  
  
• Timeline: The committee will submit its report within two months of the date of notification of the Committee.
  
  
• The terms of Reference (ToR) of the Committee:
  • To discuss measures for transformation of agriculture and raising farmers’ income.
    
    
  • To suggest modalities for adoption and time bound implementation of agriculture sector reforms by States/UTs.
    
    
  • To suggest changes in the Essential Commodity Act (ECA), 1955 to attract private investments in agricultural marketing and infrastructure.
    
    
  • To suggest mechanism for linking of market reforms with e-NAM, GRAM and other relevant Centrally Sponsored Schemes.
    
    
  
  
  

About: 

• Professor Jeet Singh Mann of National Law University, Delhi (NLUD) has released a research report titled ‘Quality of Legal Representation: An Empirical Analysis of Free Legal Aid Services in India’. 
  
  
• His research project was funded by Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR), Ministry of Human Resource Development. 
  
  

Key findings: 

• In this first-of-its-kind pan-India research he has found that people don’t have faith over the services of legal aid counsel (LAC) under the free legal aid services due to a variety of factors. 
  
  
• Although the services offer by LAC are absolutely free, around 16 % of beneficiaries claimed their LAC often demand money before or after every court hearing. 
  
  
• Majority of judicial officers (52% ) rated the overall skill set of a private legal practitioner as of fairly good quality and that of LAC as of moderately low quality. 
  
  

About: 

• Scientific name: Cirrochroa thais.
  
  
• Common name: Tamil yeoman or the ‘Tamizh Maravan’.
  
  
• What is it? It is a species of nymphalid butterfly.
  
  
• Distribution: It is found in found in the Western Ghats of India and Sri Lanka.
  
  

State Butterflies in India:

• With the recent decision, Tamil Nadu has become the fifth state in the country to declare its state butterfly
  
  
• Maharashtra was the first to declare Blue Mormon as its state butterfly, followed by Uttarakhand (Common peacock), Karnataka (Southern bird wings) and Kerala (Malabar banded peacock).
  
  

Key findings of the data:

• Total amount: The total money held in Swiss banks by foreign clients from across the world fell by about 4 % to CHF 1.4 trillion (about Rs 99 lakh crore) in 2018.
  
  
• Top 5: Among the top-ranked jurisdictions, the UK is followed by the US, West Indies, France and Hong Kong in the top five. These countries alone account for more than 50 % of the aggregate foreign funds parked with the Swiss banks.
  
  
• Indian scenario: India has moved down one place to 74th rank in terms of money parked by its citizens and enterprises with Swiss banks at the end of 2018. The funds officially held by Indians with banks in Switzerland now accounts for only 0.07 % of the total funds kept by all foreign clients.
  
  
• BRICS: Among the five-nation BRICS block of emerging economies, India is ranked the lowest while Russia is ranked the highest at 20th place, followed by China at 22nd, South Africa at 60th and Brazil at 65th place.
  
  
• South Asia: Several of India’s neighbouring nations are ranked lower, with Pakistan ranking 82nd, Bangladesh 89th, Nepal 109th, Sri Lanka 141st, Myanmar 187th and Bhutan 193rd.
  
  

About: 

• Background: These were launched in response to an estimate that by 2035 the world will face a shortage of nearly 13 million healthcare workers. 
  
  
• Meaning of self-care (by WHO): It is the “the ability of individuals, families and communities to promote health, prevent disease, maintain health, and cope with illness and disability with or without the support of a health-care provider”. 
  
  
• Key highlights of guidelines: 
  • In its first volume, the guidelines focus on sexual and reproductive health and rights. 
    
    
  • Some of the interventions include self-sampling for HPV and sexually transmitted infections, self-injectable contraceptives, home-based ovulation predictor kits, HIV self-testing and self-management of medical abortion. 
    
    
  
  
  
• Way ahead: The guidelines will be expanded to include other self-care interventions, including for prevention and treatment of non-communicable diseases. 
  
  

About: 

• Nagaland Home Commissioner R. Ramakrishnan has issued a notification for the setting up of the Register of Indigenous Inhabitants of Nagaland (RIIN). 
  
  
• Objective: It is aimed at preparing a master list of all indigenous peoples and checking the issuance of fake Indigenous Inhabitant Certificate (IIC) to ineligible persons. 
  
  
• Methodology: 
  • It will be prepared after an extensive survey with the help of a village-wise and ward-wise list of indigenous inhabitants based on official records. 
    
    
  • The survey will take into account whether an indigenous inhabitant is residing in his/her permanent residence or has moved elsewhere. Aadhar numbers, wherever applicable, will be also recorded. 
    
    
  
  
  
• Timeline: Designated teams will fan out to each village and urban ward from July 10, 2019. The drive for collecting information on locals and non-locals has a 60-day deadline. 
  
  
• Bodies involved: To be monitored by the Home Commissioner, it will be prepared under the supervision of each district administration. 
  
  

About: 

• The MGIT-BP was jointly inaugurated by Ambassador of India and Vice President of Cote d’Ivoire in Grand-Bassam, Cote d’Ivoire on 27 June 2019. 
  
  
• The MGIT-BP is being built with India’s assistance through EXIM Bank Lines of Credit of US$ 20 million.
  
  
• MGIT-BP is a dedicated Free Trade Zone (FTZ) for IT & Biotechnology. 
  
  
• The MGIT-BP project consists of two parts:
  • Firstly, architectural concept and design for the buildings of FTZ and construction of main building to host IT enterprises.
    
    
  • Secondly, supply and commissioning of equipment which included, Computer Assembly Plant, VSAT with Satellite Earth Station, Networking Lab, Human DNA Lab, Data Storage Area Network, an Audio-Visual Lab and a power generator.
    
    
  
  
  

Further reforms in current fiscal (2019-20): 

• New return system:
  • Introduction of New Return System on trial basis from 01.07.2019 and on mandatory basis from 01.10.2019.
    
    
  • SAHAJ & SUGAM Returns for small taxpayers are proposed.
    
    
  
  
  
• Single Cash Ledger: Rationalisation of Cash Ledger in such a manner that earlier 20 heads are merged into 5 major heads. There is only one Cash Ledger for Tax , interest, penalty, fee & others .
  
  
• Single Refund Disbursing: The Central or State Government which sanctions refund disburses all four major heads of refunds namely CGST, SGST, IGST and Cess.
  
  
• Threshold limit for goods: Threshold Limit of Rs 40 Lacs is offered of suppliers of goods as per the choice of States.
  
  
• Composition Scheme for Services: Composition Scheme for small service providers up to annual turnover of Rs 50 lacs with a tax rate of 6%
  
  
• E-invoicing system: Electronic invoicing system in a phase-wise manner for B2B transactions is proposed to be introduced.
  
  
• GSTAT: GST Appellate Tribunals are being established at various State Headquarters and area benches also.
  
  

About: 

• The campaign will run from 1st to 31st July. 
  
  
• Under this state-wide campaign, teams will go door to door in every village of the 75 districts of the state to create awareness about the communicable diseases as well as Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (AES) and Japanese Encephalitis (JE).
  
  
• Similar campaign launched last year also has improved the health conditions and the government claimed that fatality rate due to AES and JE dripped.
  
  

About:

• Implementing Ministry: National Film Archive of India (NFAI), Pune under the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.
  
  
• Objective: Preservation, Conservation, Digitization and Restoration of Indian films.
  
  
• Strategy of NFHM are:
  • Condition assessment of film reels to ascertain the remaining life of the film,
    
    
  • 2K/4K picture and sound restoration of landmark films of Indian and recording of new picture and sound inter-negatives of each film,
    
    
  • Digitization of films,
    
    
  • Construction of archival and preservation facilities called vaults,
    
    
  • Trainings and workshops for in-house capacity building, and
    
    
  • Web-based end to end IT solution.
    
    
  
  
  
• Present status: The assessment part of the project is now over, conservation part will start soon and after that Digitisation work will start. After the restoration work is over, Indian Films can be made available to Film Lovers all over the world with the help of Information Technology.
  
  

About:

• Name: Mount Denali was once called Mount McKinley. It was officially named Denali after protests by the native Koyukon Athabascan people who call the mountain Denali, which is usually translated as "The Great One."
  
  
• Location: It is located in south-central Alaska.
  
  
• Height: The mountain's peak is 20,310 feet (6,190 meters) above sea level, thus making it the –
  • tallest mountain in North America and
    
    
  • third highest mountain of the Seven Summits — the highest mountains on each of the seven continents — following Mount Everest in Nepal and Aconcagua in Argentina.
    
    
  
  
  

About: 

• What is it? It is an armed force that protects India's maritime interests and enforces maritime law, with jurisdiction over the territorial waters of India, including its contiguous zone and exclusive economic zone. 
  
  
• History: it was formally established in 1978 by the Coast Guard Act, 1978 as an independent Armed force of India. 
  
  
• Parent ministry: It operates under the Ministry of Defence. 
  
  
• Administration: The organization is headed by the Director General Indian Coast Guard (DGICG). 
  
  
• HQ: Coast Guard Headquarters (CGHQ) is located at New Delhi.