0484-3190310 9446331522 9446331522 TPS 18 DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS Date: 01-12-2017 Geography Cyclones in Bay of Bengal and Arabian Sea... 1 Why more frequent cyclones in Bay of Bengal compared to the Arabian sea?... 1 How tropical cyclones are named?... 2 Indirasagar (Polavaram) Project... 2 Defense Air to air refuelling... 3 More about refuelling... 3 About Netra... 3 Economy The monthly Index of Eight Core Industries... 3 Revenue Neutral Rate (RNR)...4 International Tourism Mart...4 Fiscal Deficit Status...4 Small Farmers Agri-Business Consortium (SFAC)...4 Strategy on Resource Efficiency Document...4 Culture Kathakar Festival... 5 Aadi Mahotsav... 6 Udvada Festival... 6 GEOGRAPHY 1. CYCLONES IN BAY OF BENGAL AND ARABIAN SEA What is in News? At least nine people were killed in Tamil Nadu and Kerala on Thursday as heavy rain and strong winds lashed the southern parts of the two States after a depression in the Bay of Bengal turned into a cyclonic storm Cyclone Ockhi. It originated from Bay of Bengal. WHY MORE FREQUENT CYCLONES IN BAY OF BENGAL COMPARED TO THE ARABIAN SEA? Tropical cyclones are formed due to intense low pressure created in the ocean. For intense low pressure, high temperature is required. But the Arabian Sea is relatively colder than Bay of Bengal and hence inhibits the formation and intensification of the system. Remnants of typhoons over Northwest Pacific which move across South China Sea to Bay of Bengal. Since the frequency of typhoons over Northwest Pacific is quite high (about NEO IAS 0484-3190310, 9446331522, 9446334122 9446331522 Page 1
35% of the global annual average), the Bay of Bengal also gets its increased quota. HOW TROPICAL CYCLONES ARE NAMED? In general, tropical cyclones are named according to the rules at a regional level and is done under the aegis of the World Meteorological Organization. For Northern Indian Ocean Region, The Regional Specialised Meteorological Centre (RSMC) Tropical Cyclones of Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) is responsible to name the cyclones of according to the pre-decided list of cyclones. For the Indian Ocean region, eight countries in the region - Bangladesh, India, Maldives, Myanmar, Oman, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Thailand - contributed a set of names which are assigned sequentially whenever a cyclonic storm develops. Ockhi is a name contributed by Bangladesh. Earlier Cyclones of this year Maarutha is contributed by Sri Lanka and Mora by Thailand. Should a named tropical cyclone move into the basin from the Western Pacific, then it will retain its original name. A tropical cyclone is assigned a name when it is judged to have reached cyclonic storm intensity with winds of 62 km/h (40 mph). Tropical cyclones/hurricanes are named neither after any particular person, nor with any preference in alphabetical sequence. The tropical cyclone/hurricane names selected are those that are familiar to the people in each region which will facilitate tropical cyclone/hurricane disaster risk awareness. The only time that there is a change in the list is if a storm is so deadly or costly that the future use of its name on a different storm would be inappropriate for reasons of sensitivity 2. INDIRASAGAR (POLAVARAM) PROJECT Why in news? Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister said that the Polavaram Project in the state is facing several constraints and challenges and offers to entrust the project to the Centre. Polavaram Project Polavaram is a multi-purpose project which is under construction and located on river Godavari in the Polavaram Mandal of West Godavari district in Andhra Pradesh. The project envisages transfer of 80TMC of surplus Godavari water to river Krishna which will be shared between AP, Karnataka and Maharashtra. If executed well, this project can make the state drought-free forever. The project is aimed at the development of Irrigation, Hydropower and drinking water facilities to East Godavari, Vishakhapatnam, West Godavari and Krishna districts of Andhra Pradesh. The project implements Godavari-Krishna link under Interlinking of rivers project. (In this project's case, the Godavari river basin is considered as a surplus one, while the Krishna River basin is considered to be a deficit one.) NEO IAS 0484-3190310, 9446331522, 9446334122 9446331522 Page 2
DEFENSE 1. AIR TO AIR REFUELLING For the first time, an IL 78 re-fueller aircraft of the Indian Air Force carried out air to air refuelling of the Embraer transport aircraft that has the indigenous Airborne Early Warning and Control (AEW&C) system Netra mounted on it. MORE ABOUT REFUELLING Air to air refuelling allows the aircraft to stay airborne much beyond their limits, allowing better exploitation of capabilities. IAF used the Probe and Drogue air to air refuelling method which requires exceptional flying skills as the receiving aircraft has to accurately insert the receptacle probe into the basket shaped drogue trailing the tanker aircraft. ABOUT NETRA Netra is the first indigenously developed airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) system, mounted on a Brazilian Embraer-145 jet by the Indian Air Force. The Netra AEW&C system has been developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) It has a range of around 200 km. The AEW&C also called eye in the sky is capable of long range surveillance and a force multiplier. ECONOMY 1. THE MONTHLY INDEX OF EIGHT CORE INDUSTRIES Why in news? As per the October s monthly Index of Eight Core Industries (ICI), Eight core sectors grew at a slower pace of 4.7% in October, chiefly due to subdued performance of cement, steel and refinery segments. More about the index The monthly Index of Eight Core Industries (ICI) is a production volume index. The objective of the ICI is to provide an advance indication on production performance of industries of core nature before the release of Index of Industrial Production (IIP) by Central Statistics Office. The Index is compiled and released by Office of the Economic Adviser (OEA), Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion (DIPP), Ministry of Commerce & Industry. These industries are likely to impact on general economic activities as well as industrial activities. The eight core industries constitute 40.27% of weight of items in the index of industrial production (IIP). These industries are: 1. Coal NEO IAS 0484-3190310, 9446331522, 9446334122 9446331522 Page 3
2. crude oil 3. natural gas 4. refinery products (Weightage of ~28 per cent, highest weightage) 5. fertilisers (Weightage of 18 per cent, third highest) 6. steel 7. cement 8. electricity (Weightage of ~19 per cent, second highest) 2. REVENUE NEUTRAL RATE (RNR) Former Finance Minister criticized the present government on fixing higher GST rates whereas the Chief Economic Advisor had earlier recommended a revenue neutral rate (RNR) of 15% to 15.5%. What is it? The term revenue neutral rate (RNR) will refer to that single rate, which preserves revenue at desired (current) levels. In practice, there will be a structure of rates, but for the sake of analytical clarity and precision it is appropriate to think of the RNR as a single rate. The RNR should be distinguished from the standard rate defined as that rate in a GST regime which is applied to all goods and services whose taxation is not explicitly specified. 3. INTERNATIONAL TOURISM MART The Ministry of Tourism in association with the North Eastern States is organising the International Tourism Mart (ITM) in Guwahati, Assam from 5-7 December, 2017. The 6th International Tourism Mart, will put the spotlight on India s Act East Policy, blossoming ties with ASEAN and the larger East Asia region, home to the world s rapidly growing economies and India s emerging tourism markets. 4. FISCAL DEFICIT STATUS Why important? Have a glance through these figures so that you could keep a vague idea about country s fiscal trends on which UPSC has asked questions in the past years. Trends in fiscal deficit India s fiscal deficit at the end of October hit 96.1% of the budget estimate for 2017 18, mainly due to lower revenue realisation and rise in expenditure. In absolute terms, the fiscal deficit was Rs. 5.25 lakh crore during April October of 2017 18, according to data of the Controller General of Accounts (CGA). During the same period of 2016 17, the deficit stood at 79.3% of the target. For 2017 18, the government aims to bring down the fiscal deficit to 3.2% of GDP. Last fiscal, it had met the 3.5% target. 5. SMALL FARMERS AGRI-BUSINESS CONSORTIUM (SFAC) NEO IAS 0484-3190310, 9446331522, 9446334122 9446331522 Page 4
Union Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Minister, Shri Radha Mohan Singh today chaired the 22nd meeting of Board of Mangement (BOM) of Small Farmers Agri-Business Consortium (SFAC) in, New Delhi, today. Shri Singh was briefed about the activities under SFAC More about the organization Small Farmers Agribusiness Consortium (SFAC) is an Autonomous Society promoted by Ministry of Agriculture, Cooperation and Farmers Welfare. It was registered under Societies Registration Act XXI of 1860. The Society is also registered as Non-Banking Financial Institution by Reserve Bank of India. The Society is governed by Board of Management which is chaired, ex-officio, by Union Minister for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare as the President. Society is pioneer in organising small and marginal farmers as Farmers Interest Groups, Farmers Producers Organisation and Farmers Producers Company. Recently the Society has been entrusted with the task of implementation of the critically important Delhi Kisan Mandi and National Agriculture Market Scheme on e-platform. 6. STRATEGY ON RESOURCE EFFICIENCY DOCUMENT What is in news? NITI Aayog in collaboration with the European Union delegation to India have released the Strategy on Resource Efficiency at a function in the capital. The report included in action plan for promoting resource efficiency in India. More about the document The document is developed with the recommendations from the Indian Resource Efficiency Programme (IREP), launched by the Indian Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEFCC) and Indian Resource Panel (InRP) in April 2017. The work on Resource Efficiency Strategy and proposed plan of action (core and medium term) will be supported for its implementation by the European Union (EU) funded Resource Efficiency Initiative (EU-REI) led by GIZ in the consortium with TERI, CII and Adelphi. NITI Aayog has provided key support in positioning this document for public consultation, and charting the way forward. CULTURE 1. KATHAKAR FESTIVAL The Minister of State for Home Affairs Shri Kiren Rijiju is to inaugurate 7 th edition of three day Kathakar: International Storytellers Festival at the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA), New Delhi. NEO IAS 0484-3190310, 9446331522, 9446334122 9446331522 Page 5
More about the festival. Kathakar is the only oral storytelling festival in India and it aims to promote the oral storytelling tradition which has existed across the world. Kathakar is a special initiative within the bigger festival, Ghummakkad Narain- the Travelling Literature Festival which was started under the aegis of UNESCO in 2010. Though performance storytelling has seen a revival in Europe, in India only few efforts have been made to contemporize the art form. The festival this year will be hosted in the cities of Delhi, Gurugram, Noida and Mumbai. The partners for this year s festival are the IGNCA of Union Ministry of Culture in Delhi, Heritage Transport Museum in Gurugram and the NCPA in Mumbai. 2. AADI MAHOTSAV Aadi Mahotsav is a fortnight long Tribal Festival with the theme of A Celebration of the Spirit of Tribal Culture, Cuisine and Commerce. It is organized by Ministry of Tribal Affairs. It is recently concluded in New Delhi. 3. UDVADA FESTIVAL The pre eminent fire temple for Parsi Zoroastrians - Udvada Atash Behram- is perking up to celebrate the Iranshah Udvada Utsav. The event is being held for the second time after in 2015. It got a huge positive response from Parsis, but a small section of the tiny community are unhappy about the fun and frolic at a holy place About the Atash Bahram, Udvada The Atash Bahram, meaning "Victorious Fire", is one of the oldest fire temples in India, dated to the eight century. The temple attracts Zoroastrian pilgrims from all parts of India, Pakistan and from around the world. NEO IAS 0484-3190310, 9446331522, 9446334122 9446331522 Page 6