Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 18 October 2017

::National::

Annual Cauvery Theerthodbhava

• Amidst a blanket of thick fog, thousands witnessed the Cauvery Theerthodbhava at Talacauvery in Kodagu district.

• Devotees from across the State and its neighbours thronged the hill temple from the early hours  for the divine occurrence, which took place at around 12.33 p.m.

• As the holy water ( theertha ) sprang up from Brahmakundike (a small pond), considered to be the source of the Cauvery, devotees rushed to the main pond to witness the event. Priests sprinkled the water on devotees, who jostled to take a holy dip and collect water from the pond.

• Prior to the event, a series of rituals took place at the shrine, which was decorated with flowers.

• The turnout of devotees to Talacauvery this year was much more when compared to previous years, the locals said.

• The Kodagu district administration had made elaborate arrangements in anticipation of the heavy rush and the police had deployed personnel for security around the hill temple, with barricades put up at various points.

Steps to start more AYUSH hospitals in three years

• The government is working towards setting up an Ayurveda hospital in each district, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said  and asserted that time had come for a “health revolution” under the aegis of the traditional medicine system.

• Addressing a gathering after dedicating the first All India Institute of Ayurveda to the nation in New Delhi, the Prime Minister pitched for affordable and accessible healthcare for the poor on Ayurveda Day.

• The day was also celebrated as Dhanwantari Jayanti (Dhanteras) across India. “It is very necessary for the expansion of Ayurveda that there is a good hospital with all facilities ... in every district of the country. The AYUSH Ministry is working swiftly in this direction, and in more than three years, more than 65 AYUSH hospitals have been developed,” Mr. Modi said.

• Ayurveda as India’s strength and urged those working in the sector to revive it. He also asked experts from the field to find medicines which could, like allopathy, give immediate relief to people but without side-effects.

• The Prime Minister urged private players to use part of their corporate social responsibility funds to help strengthen Ayurveda. “We have seen the IT revolution in last 30 years. Now, time has come for a health revolution under the aegis of Ayurveda. Let’s pledge to strengthen, revive Ayurveda.”

• Mr. Modi suggested a re-look at the Ayurveda syllabus and underlined the requirement for standard guidelines and treatment in the medicine system so it was not overpowered by allopathy. He said efforts were made to destroy “India’s strengths” and its traditions such as Yoga and Ayurveda were belittled.

Toy train services to resume

• Services of the heritage Darjeeling Himalayan Railway (DHR), popularly known as ‘toy train’, is all set to resume in the hills from October 25, after its suspension for 125 days due to the strike called by the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM).
• The indefinite strike in the Darjeeling hillswas lifted after 104 days ahead of Durga Puja.
• But the train service was restarted partially up to Sukna from October 15.
• As the service remained suspended for 125 days, repairs and maintenance jobs are required to be done, he told PTI over phone from Guwahati. The work will be completed soon, he said.

::International::

Rohingya crisis is more serious than Syrian crisis, says UN

• The Rohingya refugee crisis is worse than the exodus from Syria, William Lacy Swing, Director-General of the UN’s International Organisation for Migration (IOM), says.

• The Rohingya exodus from southwest Myanmar to southeast Bangladesh is “man-made” and “needs a political solution”, Mr. Swing said.

• He said the international community should treat the refugee influx as “a top priority” so that the problem was resolved quickly and refugees were able to go back to their country.

• Mr. Swing, a career diplomat from the U.S., visited the Tamru border in Bandarban district in southeast Bangladesh, where thousands of Rohingya are stranded on no man’s land between Bangladesh and Myanmar.

• He said: “This [Rohingya exodus] clearly is the one that has seen faster pace than any other. In terms of numbers of people — I don’t think that anytime recently we have that many people crossing the border in a small period of time between four to five weeks,” the IOM chief said, in reply to a question if the exodus was growing at a rate faster than it was in Syria in 2013.

• According to the Bangladesh government, between August 25 and October 11, a total of 5,36,000 Rohingya Muslims from Rakhine State in southwest Myanmar crossed over to southeast Bangladesh.

• Many of them told this correspondent that their family members were killed and houses set on fire “by the Myanmar Army, local police and the ethnic community of Rakhine”.

• International humanitarian agencies, such as the IOM, vetted the recent refugee figure of the Bangladesh government’s Refugee, Relief and Repatriation Commission.

• “It [building pressure on Myanmar] has to be given top priority so that there [remains] a possibility of [the refugees] resuming their lives and returning to their livelihood and homes, which they have lost,” Mr. Swing said. But, meanwhile, humanitarian relief should continue, he added.

• The fund that the humanitarian agencies need to deal with the crisis is to the tune of $450 million till March 2018.

Raqqa set free from IS control

• U.S.-backed forces took full control of Raqqa from the Islamic State group, defeating the last jihadist holdouts in the de facto Syrian capital of their now-shattered ‘caliphate.’

• The victory caps a battle of more than four months for Raqqa, and hammers another nail in the coffin of the jihadist group’s experiment in statehood, which has collapsed in the face of offensives in Syria and Iraq.

• Inside Raqqa, joyous fighters from the Kurdish-Arab Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) celebrated and raised their yellow flag in the city’s Al-Naim traffic circle, which became known as ‘Hell Roundabout’ after it was used for gruesome public executions.

• “Hell Roundabout is now Al-Naim Roundabout again,” the fighters cheered, surrounded by crushed buildings and charred cars damaged in the ferocious battle for the city.

• The SDF broke into Raqqa in June, after months of fighting to surround the city, and on Tuesday flushed the last few hundred IS fighters from their remaining positions in the main hospital and the municipal stadium.

• “The military operations in Raqqa have finished, but there are clearing operations now under way to uncover any sleeper cells there might be and remove mines,” he said.

• The announcement came just days after the SDF said it was launching the final phase of its operation to retake the city.

Iran accuses U.S. for plotting against it

• Accusing the U.S. of trying to ensure that India reduced oil imports from his country, Iranian Ambassador Gholamreza Ansari said that even so, U.S. President Donald Trump’s policy shift would not affect the India-Iran relationship, and the development of the Chabahar port project remained on track.

• The U.S. wants to deprive Iran of the Indian energy market and is working to ensure that India reduce its oil trade with Iran.

• “I don’t think the U.S.’s statement [on Iran] will have any immediate impact on the India-Iran relationship. Our relationship and payment details have been ironed out,” Mr. Ansari said.

• He was referring to a meeting between Indian and Iranian Finance Ministers on the sidelines of a meeting of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in Washington where they had discussed routing payments for India’s imports.

• India has cut its oil imports from Iran by approximately 20% in 2017, though its global imports have risen by 5.4%. Some companies such as Essar oil have dropped imports from Iran in August by as much as 75%, according to oil industry estimates.

• The Petroleum Ministry says India has been trying to “diversify” its imports so as to get more competitive rates.

• One major development is India’s decision to import its first shipment of crude oil from the U.S., with an order of 8.45 million barrels, giving rise to speculation that New Delhi’s new policy will come at the cost of imports from Iran.

• The Iranian Ambassador pointed to the development of the Chabahar port as a sign of India’s continued commitment in Iran.

• “The India-Afghanistan-Iran trilateral agreement for Chabahar should be ratified by the Iranian parliament in the next few months,” Mr. Ansari said, indicating that the Iranian government would want to discuss a possible bid for the management of the port with India as well.

• After Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Tehran in June 2016, India committed to invest $500 million, including $85 million in developing two container berths and three multi-cargo berths at the Chabahar port, as well as about $1.6 billion to build the Chabahar-Zahedan railway line, which will facilitate trade to Afghanistan.

• After a year of relatively slow progress, Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari travelled to Iran in August 2017, promising to complete the project in 2018.

• His Iranian counterpart, Abbas Akhoundi, is expected to visit New Delhi soon in order to take the discussions on the Chabahar port forward, while the next meeting of the Economic Joint Commission is also due, to work on long-standing differences over Indian banks being used for bilateral trade, officials said.

• Mr. Ansari said he hoped that India would join in the reconstruction effort in Syria and Iraq after the fall of the Islamic State, which is imminent.

Consolidating authority-China

• Chinese President Xi Jinping’s status as a theoretician, in the same league as the country’s tallest leaders Mao Zedong and DengXiaoping, is likely to be debated during the 19th Party Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) which begins its once-in-five-years session.

• The Congress will review the work of its predecessor, and newly elected leadership will provide strategic direction for the future.

• During a media conference  at the Great Hall of the People, the spokesman for the Congress, TuoZhen, did not spell out whether an amendment by the outgoing Central Committee of the Party — technically the most powerful body when the Congress in not in session — had recommended that Mr. Xi’s doctrinal contributions be bracketed at par with the theories proposed by Mao and Deng.

• “The CPC will amend its Constitution at the upcoming National Congress to represent new governance concepts, thoughts and strategies proposed by the CPC Central Committee with Xi Jinping at its core,” Mr. Tuo said.

• The session is expected to begin with the presentation of a “work report” on the outgoing 18th Party Congress. It will be debated by the nearly-2,300 delegates participating in the Congress.

• The 19th Party Congress will also separately discuss the work report of the 18th Central Commission for Discipline and Inspection (CCDI) — the Party’s powerful anti-corruption wing. Besides, the delegates, through secret ballot will elect a new Central Committee.

• In turn, the Central Committee will elect a 25-member Politburo, as well an apex seven-member Standing Committee of the Politburo.

• The General Secretary of the CPC, the highest ranking official of the party — a position currently occupied by Mr. Xi — would be picked from the Politburo Standing Committee’s ranks.

• “A new central leadership will be elected at the first plenary session of the 19th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC), after the conclusion of the 19th CPC National Congress,” Mr. Tuo observed.

• Analysts say that Mr. Xi’s position as the Party General Secretary, the President as well the Chairman of the Central Military Commission stands confirmed. But there is considerable speculation regarding the remaining six members.

• In the last few days, a view has been gaining ground that Wang Qishan, Mr. Xi’s top ally in the war against corruption, instead of retiring due to age, may assume a key leadership role in the new line-up.

• Mr. Xi has been the architect of “four comprehensives”, which provide the theoretical foundation for achieving China’s two strategic goals. The first is to build a “moderately prosperous society” by 2021 — the centenary of the CPC

• The second is to build an advanced socialist society by 2049 when the People’s Republic of China (PRC) completes 100 years of its formation.

• Mr. Tuo underscored that the 19th Party Congress is of “vital importance as it is being held when China is striving to clinch final victory in building a society of moderate prosperity in all respects and the development of socialism with Chinese characteristics had entered a crucial period”.

• Mr. Xi is not the first Chinese leader to make a numerically elaborated doctrinal contribution for advancing Chinese society. Zhou Enlai, the first Prime Minister of the People’s Republic of China is credited for theorising on ‘four modernisations’ — a blueprint which was later elaborated by DengXiaoping.

• Mr. Tuo said that the 19th Party Congress would recognise theoretical contributions made by some of the previous leaders. He made a special reference to the theory of ‘Scientific Outlook on Development’, framed by former President Hu Jintao and ‘Three Represents’ by Jiang Zemin which, at the turn of the century, made a successful case for “opening up” the CPC to other members, including representatives of the business elite.

::Environment::

Northeast Monsoon

• As the Southwest monsoon recedes, attention is focussed on the potential of the Northeast monsoon to make up for the deficit this year in some parts of the peninsular States, particularly Tamil Nadu. The winter monsoon is likely to have a delayed onset, around the last week of October.

• The Northeast monsoon brings significant rainfall to coastal Andhra Pradesh, Rayalaseema, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry.

• A well-marked low pressure area lying over central and adjoining south Bay of Bengal is likely to intensify into a depression. This is expected to be the last weather system of the season, as the Southwest monsoon withdraws. Once it moves towards north Andhra Pradesh and south Odisha coast, the stage would be set for the arrival of the Northeast.

• Tamil Nadu receives nearly 44 cm of rain during the Northeast monsoon.

• Bloggers also point out that the delta and north coastal districts may end up with 80 % of rainfall of the usual quota during Northeast monsoon. A few districts like Karaikal, Nagapattinam and Nilgiris may fail to reach their average annual rainfall.

Sawfish under threat

• The sawfish, included in Schedule I of the Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act 1972 enacted to save them from exploitation, have been sighted off the Indian coast less than 10 times in over a decade and they appear to be more threatened than tigers and elephants, say marine scientists as the world observed the first Sawfish Day.

• A statement issued by the Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute  said the sawfish may be the most endangered fish species in India. Anecdotal evidence suggested they were once common along the Indian coast. However, an experienced fisherman from Mumbai, Seshnath Koli, was cited as saying that sawfish, considered “sacred”, were rarely seen over the last few decades, the statement said.

• There are only five species of the sawfish ever identified — dwarf sawfish, knifetooth sawfish, smalltooth sawfish, largetooth sawfish and green sawfish.

• Sawfish are elasmobranchs, meaning their skeleton is made of cartilage. They are closely related to sharks and have shark-shaped bodies and, hence, are also called flat sharks.

• The CMFRI statement said: “The sawfish family has been assessed either ‘Endangered’ or ‘Critically Endangered’ in the International Union for Conservation of Nature Global Red List, considering their threatened status, high extinction risk and observed population decline.”

::BUSINESS AND ECONOMY::

Formalising  gold trade

• The Centre is taking steps for greater formalisation of the gold trade with an eye on the future, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said.

• Unveiling the country’s first commodity options trading in the precious metal on the Multi Commodity Exchange (MCX), on Dhanteras, Mr. Jaitley said, “This marks a very important evolution in the trading of the yellow metal itself. It [options] hedges all risks for those dealing in gold.”

• Given that Indians were big buyers of gold, Mr. Jaitley said he expected the new product would be extremely successful, adding that it would, with appropriate policy measures, help formalise the gold trade.

• “The more it formalises, the better it is for consumers, jewellers and traders,” he said. “That is in consonance with the business environment for the future that we see.” he added.

• “The European-styled gold options are hedger-friendly and physically settled, which means on exercise at expiration, the options position develops into corresponding underlying MCX one kilogram gold futures position at the strike price of the exercised options,” the MCX said in a statement.

• “Gold option contract, with gold (1 kg) futures as underlying, expiring on November 28, 2017, and January 29, 2018, are made available for trading from today,” the exchange said.

• The “options give buyers the right to buy or sell the underlying asset but no obligation, at a specified price at the expiry. Thus, for buyers, the risk is limited only to the premium paid to the option seller (that is, option writer),” the MCX explained.

• “By hedging risk of rise in gold prices using ‘Gold Call Options Contract,’ a jeweller would not only be protected against price rise, but also would benefit from fall in gold prices... (Similarly).. by hedging risk of fall in gold prices using a ‘Gold Put Options Contract’, a jeweller would not only be protected against price fall, but would benefit from rise in gold prices, ” it added.

• Gold is the first product for options trading that SEBI had permitted after modern commodity derivatives trading started 14 years ago.

• The Finance Ministry had set up a committee for suggesting measures to transform India’s gold market, said MCX Chairman Saurabh Chandra.

• “There has been a very conscious effort by the government and SEBI to develop and integrate commodity markets in a phased manner... The introduction of options gives a strong impetus towards systematic development and transformation of commodity derivatives market in India, ushering in a new era in price risk management in response to stakeholder expectations,” he said.

• To further strengthen the market, a panel had been constituted in NITI Aayog to integrate spot and derivative markets, he added.

• Describing the gold option as “an extremely low-cost product,” MCX managing director and CEO MrugankParanjape said, “As an introductory measure, we are not charging any transaction fee on this product till December.”

• From the MCX’s point of view, that time period would be good enough to develop the market, he added.

RIL-BP investing satellite fields

• Reliance Industries and its partner BP Plc will invest about $1.5 billion to bring to production six satellite gas discoveries in the flagging KG-D6 block by 2022.

• The RIL-BP combine had, submitted to the Directorate General of Hydrocarbons a field development plan for what are known as satellite and other satellite fields, sources with direct knowledge of development said.

• They plan to develop four deep sea satellite gas finds, named D-2, 6, 19 and 22, together with two other nearby finds, D-29 and D-30, in the Krishna Godavari basin block.

• In all, 5-6 gas producing wells will be drilled and tied to production facilities, they said, adding peak output may be in the range of 10-12 million standard cubic metres per day.

• The four satellites and the two other satellite finds (D29 and D30), R-Series and MJ gas discoveries, are the ones for which RIL and BP had, in mid-June, announced an investment of Rs. 40,000 crore to reserve the flagging production from the KG-D6 block.

• Sources said development of the six satellite finds are being taken up together while D-34 or R-Series and D-55 (MJ) would have separate development plans. The government had, in 2012, approved a $1.529 billion plan to produce 10.36 million standard cubic meters per day of gas from four satellite fields of block KG-DWN-98/3 (KG-D6) by 2016-17. The four fields have 617 billion cubic feet of reserves and can produce gas for eight years.

• However, the firms did not begin the investment citing uncertainty over gas pricing. Now that the Centre has allowed a higher gas price of $6.3 per million British thermal unit for yet-to-be-developed gas finds in difficult areas like the deepsea, RIL and BP have decided to take up their development.

• This rate is comparable with $2.89 per mmBtu for currently producing fields.

• Sources said these four finds are now being clubbed with D29 and D30 discoveries, which had been held up over conformity tests.

• The RIL-BP combine does not plan to alter the $3.18 billion investment plan for the D-34 or R-Series gas field in the same block, which was approved in August 2013.

• About 12.9 mmscmd of gas for 13 years can be produced from D-34, estimated to hold recoverable reserves of 1.4 trillion cubic feet. A separate development plan for the MJ find would be submitted by mid-2018, the sources said.

::SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY::

AI system can spot breast lesions with cancer risk

• Scientists, including one of Indian origin, have developed an artificial intellince (AI) system that can identify which breast lesions are likely to become cancerous — potentially reducing unnecessary surgeries.

• High-risk breast lesions are biopsy-diagnosed ones that carry an increased risk of developing into cancer. Due to that risk, surgical removal is often the preferred treatment option.

• However, many high-risk lesions do not pose an immediate threat to the patient’s life and can be safely monitored with follow-up imaging, sparing patients the costs and complications associated with surgery.

• “For other types of high-risk lesions, the risk of upgrade varies quite a bit in the literature, and patient management, including the decision about whether to remove or survey the lesion, varies across practices,” Ms. Bahl said.

• Researchers studied the use of a machine learning tool to identify high-risk lesions that are at low risk for upgrade to cancer.

• “Because diagnostic tools are inexact, there is an understandable tendency for doctors to over-screen for breast cancer,” said Regina Barzilay, professor at MIT.

• “When there’s this much uncertainty in data, machine learning is exactly the tool that we need to improve detection and prevent overtreatment,” said Mr. Barzilay.

Zoom out from Earth

• Google Maps has introduced a new feature that allows you to ‘zoom out’ from Earth and explore other planets and moons in the solar system.

• Some of the newer added bodies include the moons of Saturn, like Enceladus, Titan, and Mimas.

• “Explore the icy plains of Enceladus, where Cassini discovered water beneath the moon’s crust, suggesting signs of life. Peer beneath the thick clouds of Titan to see methane lakes,” Stafford Marquardt, Product Manager at Google, wrote in a blogpost.

• “You can visit these places — along with many other planets and moons — in Google Maps right from your computer. For extra fun, try zooming out from the Earth until you are in space!” Mr. Marquardt said.

• Google has also added Pluto, Venus, and several other moons for a total of 12 new worlds for users to explore.

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