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GS Paper: GS3

  • Climate change causing a shift in Earth’s axis, finds new study

    About the study

    • A study is published in Geophysical Research Letters of the American Geophysical Union (AGU).
    • The study has added yet another impact of climate change on the earth – marked shifts in the axis along which the Earth rotates.
    • It says that due to the significant melting of glaciers because of global temperature rise, our planet’s axis of rotation has been moving more than usual since the 1990s.

    How the earth’s axis shifts

    • The Earth’s axis of rotation is the line along which it spins around itself as it revolves around the Sun.
    • The points on which the axis intersects the planet’s surface are the geographical north and south poles.
    • The location of the poles is not fixed, however, as the axis moves due to changes in how the Earth’s mass is distributed around the planet.
    • Thus, the poles move when the axis moves, and the movement is called “polar motion”.
    • Generally, polar motion is caused by changes in the hydrosphere, atmosphere, oceans, or solid Earth.
    • But now, climate change is adding to the degree with which the poles wander.

    What the study says

    • As per the study, the north pole has shifted in a new eastward direction since the 1990s, because of changes in the hydrosphere (meaning the way in which water is stored on Earth).
    • From 1995 to 2020, the average speed of drift was 17 times faster than from 1981 to 1995.
    • The faster ice melting under global warming was the most likely cause of the directional change of the polar drift in the 1990s, the study says.
    • The other possible causes are terrestrial water storage change in non‐glacial regions due to climate change and unsustainable consumption of groundwater.

  • RBI to strengthen risk-based supervision (RBS) of banks, NBFCs

    About RBS model

    • The RBI uses the Risk-Based Supervision (RBS) model, including both qualitative and quantitative elements, to supervise banks, urban cooperatives banks, non-banking financial companies and all India financial institutions.

    Decision to review the model

    • The Reserve Bank has decided to review and strengthen the Risk-Based Supervision (RBS) of the banking sector with a view to enable financial sector players to address the emerging challenges.
    • The review process will help make the extant RBS model more robust and capable of addressing emerging challenges, while removing inconsistencies if any.
    •  Annual financial inspection of UCBs and NBFCs is largely based on CAMELS model (Capital Adequacy, Asset Quality, Management, Earnings, Liquidity, and Systems & Control).
    • It is intended to review the existing supervisory rating models under CAMELS approach for improved risk capture in a forward-looking manner and for harmonising the supervisory approach across all Supervised Entities.

    Source:

    https://www.financialexpress.com/industry/banking-finance/rbi-to-strengthen-risk-based-supervision-of-banks-nbfcs/2244259/

  • Melting of Glaciers

    Glaciers shrinking faster than before

    • A new study by ETH Zurich and University of Toulouse researchers finds that the world’s glaciers are shrinking at a faster rate than before.
    •  If the trend continues this will put the densely-populated parts of Asia at risk of flood and water shortages.
    • The study found the world’s ice fields lost 298 gigatons of ice per year from 2015 to 2019, a 30% increase in the rate of retreat compared with the previous five years.
    • Glaciers in Alaska, the Alps and Iceland are among those disappearing at the fastest pace.
    • The scientists used images from a special camera aboard NASA’s Terra satellite, which has circled the Earth every 100 minutes since its launch in 1999.

    Impact

    • The situation in the Himalayas is particularly worrying.
    • Swathes of India and Bangladesh could face water stress during dry periods when major rivers like the Ganges and Indus are mainly fed by glacial runoff.
    • Glaciers typically accumulate ice in the winter, but a warming climate means summer melting has outstripped those gains and caused a net loss of ice in mountain regions.
    • The melting in turn contributes to global warming and indirectly accelerates sea level rise, raising the risk of flooding faced by coastal communities.

  • Rare white-bellied heron spotted in Arunachal Pradesh

    About the bird

    • The white-bellied heron is categorised as ‘critically endangered’ in International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red Data Book.
    • It is listed in Schedule IV in the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972.
    • It is one of the rarest birds in the world and is found only in Bhutan, Myanmar and the Namdapha Tiger Reserve in Arunachal Pradesh.
    • It had also been recorded in the adjacent Kamlang Tiger Reserve in Lohit district in camera trap images.

    Significance of recent sighting

    • The recent sighting at a height of 1,200 metres above sea level is a first at such a higher elevation in India.
    • The presence of nesting sites within this area is a positive sign for the future habitat as the breeding season of the white-bellied heron starts in February and lasts till June.
    • It is great news that the critically endangered bird is establishing new habitat beyond its traditional range.

  • Delhi’s air quality deteriorates, again

    Air quality to oscillate between poor to very poor

    • Delhi’s air quality deteriorated from ‘moderate’ to ‘poor’ and ‘very poor’ on April 29.
    • It will be oscillating between ‘poor’ and ‘very poor’ for the next three days, according to the SAFAR-System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting and Research.
    • Delhi’s air typically worsens in October-November and improves by March-April.

    What is the cause

    • Current weather conditions are not unfavourable, unlike in winter.
    • Hence, apart from local emissions, the deterioration in air quality is being attributed to an increase in fire counts, mostly due to burning of wheat crop stubble in northern India.
    • Deteriorating air quality is worrying amid an increasing number of novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) and deaths.

    Quality classification

    • An AQI between 0-50 is considered ‘good.
    • An AQI between 51-100 is considered satisfactory.
    • An AQI between 101-200 is considered moderate.
    • An AQI between 201-300 is considered poor.
    • An AQI between 301-400 is considered very poor.
    • An AQI between 401-500 is considered severe.
    • Above 500 is the ‘severe-plus’ or ‘emergency’ category.

  • Hottest planet in the known universe discovered

    About the plane

    • TOI-1431b, also known as MASCARA-5b, was found 490 light-years from Earth and could be the hottest planet in the known universe.
    • Researchers at the University of Southern Queensland’s Centre for Astrophysics in Toowoomba led the global team that made the discovery.
    • NASA’s Training Exoplanet Survey Satellite first flagged TOI-1431b as a possible planet in late 2019.
    • Dayside temperature reaches approximately 2700 degrees celcius and nightside temperature approaches approximately 2300 degrees celcius – no life could survive in its atmosphere.
    • This temperature is significantly greater than the melting point of most metals, many of which will turn to liquid at under 2000 degrees celcius.
    • Titanium melts at 1670 degrees, platinum at 1770 degrees, and stainless steel at between 1375 and 1530 degrees.

    Planet with a retrograde orbit

    • These types of planets, known as ultra-hot Jupiters, are rarely discovered but this particular one is even more unusual due to its retrograde orbit.
    • In our Solar System, all the planets orbit in the same direction that the Sun rotates and they’re all along the same plane.
    • This new planet’s orbit is tilted so much that it is actually going in the opposite direction to the rotation of its host star.

  • [pib] Seven Indian Navy Ships Deployed for Op Samudra Setu II

    Operation Samudra Setu II

    • In support of the nation’s fight against Covid-19 and as part of operation ‘Samudra Setu II’,  seven Indian Naval ships have been deployed for shipment of liquid medical oxygen-filled cryogenic containers and associated medical equipment from various countries.
    • Indian Navy also has the surge capability, to deploy more ships when the need arises to further nation’s fight against COVID-19.
    • It is pertinent that the ships are combat ready and capable of meeting any contingency in keeping with the attributes of versatility of sea power.

    Operation Samudra Setu I

    • It may be recalled that Operation Samudra Setu was launched last year by the Navy and around 4000 Indian citizens stranded in neighbouring countries, amidst COVID 19 outbreak, were successfully repatriated back to India.

  • No mass nesting of Olive Ridley turtles at Rushikulya in Odisha this year

    No mass nesting this year

    • The annual spectacle of the mass nesting of millions of Olive Ridley sea turtles near the Rushikulya river mouth in Odisha is likely to be missed this year, as the time for it is almost over.
    • It’s been around one month since the mass nesting of last year.
    • If they do skip the beach, this won’t be the first time.
    • In 2002, 2007, 2016 and 2019, the turtles had not shown up at Rushikulya.
    • The Rushikulya river mouth is considered the second-biggest rookery in India after Gahirmatha.
    • Mass nesting in the Gahirmatha marine sanctuary occurred from March 9-23, 2021 and over 349,000 eggs were laid during this period.

    What could explain the miss in mass nesting

    • It is a natural phenomenon. During some years, they did not turn up for mass nesting even though a huge number had congregated in the sea.
    • Beach erosion might be one of the causes for the turtles staying away this year.

  • Don’t worry about the deficit

    The devastation caused by the second wave calls for the government to shed its worry over the fiscal deficit. The article deals with this issue.

    Role of fiscal policy to support economy through second wave

    • As India battles to contain the surge in COVID-19 cases, several states have already imposed severe restrictions at the local level.
    • The services sector has been hit the most as a consequence of these lockdowns and it would be difficult for India to deliver on this optimistic growth projection.
    • Against this background, the role fiscal policy can play to support the economy needs consideration.
    • The monetary policy is already accommodative and may not have enough room to further boost the economy.
    • With headline as well as core inflation inching up in recent months, the RBI may not be in a position to further cut the policy rate.
    •  As per the latest Union Budget, the fiscal deficit is estimated to moderate from 9.5 per cent of GDP in FY21 to 6.8 per cent of GDP in FY22.
    • This expected decline in fiscal deficit is not on account of lower fiscal spending but because of expectations of sharper revenue growth.
    • The revenue receipts are estimated to grow by 15 per cent and fiscal spending by 1 per cent this financial year.
    • With the debt to GDP ratio already more than 90 per cent, additional fiscal expansion will not be an easy choice for the government.

    Government need to create fiscal space

    • Extraordinary times call for extraordinary measures and the government will have to find ways to create fiscal space.
    • This has become especially important as the economy is yet to shrug off the impact of the previous lockdown.
    • Under these difficult circumstances, immediate measures must aim at providing the requisite social safety net to the poor and the vulnerable.
    • The central government has already announced it will distribute an additional five kg of grain to the 800 million beneficiaries of the National Food Security Act, which is welcome.
    • However, given the unprecedented uncertainty brought about by this COVID wave, the ration support under the PDS should be raised further.
    • The government should also consider transferring cash to the bank accounts of the poor, just as it did last time.
    • This becomes important as MGNREGA  may not provide the safety cushion that it is indeed to as long as lockdown measures remain in place.
    • The best stimulus perhaps would be to provide free vaccinations to the population as the benefits of faster and wider vaccine coverage more than outweighs its monetary cost.
    •  Immunisation is a public good. As we get over this crisis, the government must increase its outlay on physical and human health infrastructure.

    How to finance additional cost?

    •  Part of this additional cost may be financed by reducing non-essential government expenditures and use it for COVID-related expenditure.
    • The government may need to resort to additional borrowings from the market than budgeted earlier.
    • The RBI may allow inflation above the upper bound of 6 per cent only in the short run.
    • The plausible rise in interest rates may also be crucial to prevent capital outflows, given the global “economic outlook” when the US economy adopts an easy monetary policy combined with a huge fiscal stimulus.

    Conclusion

    The government should not be deterred by a worsening fiscal deficit in the short run as the additional growth that it generates may make debt consolidation easier when things normalise.

  • [pib] DRDO conducts maiden trial of Python-5 Air to Air Missile

    Tejas adds Python-5 in its capacity

    • Tejas, India’s indigenous Light Combat Aircraft, added the 5th generation Python-5 Air-to-Air Missile (AAM) in its air-to-air weapons capability on April 27, 2021.
    • Trials were also aimed to validate enhanced capability of already integrated Derby Beyond Visual Range (BVR) AAM on Tejas.
    • The test firing at Goa completed a series of missile trials to validate its performance under extremely challenging scenarios.
    • The trials met all their planned objectives.
    • The missiles were fired from Tejas aircraft of Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA) flown by Indian Air Force (IAF) Test pilots.
    • The successful conduct was made possible with years of hard work by the team of scientists, engineers and technicians from ADA and HAL-ARDC along with admirable support from CEMILAC, DG-AQA, IAF PMT, NPO (LCA Navy) and INS HANSA.