Prashant Mavani, is an expert in current affairs analysis and holds a MSc in Management from University of Surrey (U.K.). Above all he is a passionate teacher.

• Snow leopard has lost its endangered status in the Red List of the IUCN

• International Union for Conservation of Nature: conserving both flora and fauna from last 50 years

• Downgrade to vulnerable status from endangered.

• Technicality:2,500 number plus means vulnerable not endangered

• It is causing worry among wildlife biologists: this sends out the wrong signal to those working to protect it.

• Remote habitat

• India is a major range country.

• 1.3 lakh sq. km• J&K

• Himachal Pradesh

• Uttarakhand

• Sikkim

• Arunachal Pradesh

• There is also an upcoming international collaborative effort, the Global Snow Leopard and Ecosystem Protection Program, involving the countries that make up the range of this graceful animal.

• This momentum should not be lost

• Big challenges: 1) trafficking in live animals in Central Asia

2) hostility from communities coz of attacks on livestock

• India handled the problem of the cat preying on goats, sheep, donkeys and other animals by roping in communities in conservation, and compensating them for any losses.

• An insurance programme in which residents of a part of Spiti Valley in Himachal Pradesh participated also worked well.

• Insulate the owners from losses

• Fortunately, research models indicate that there are considerable stretches of steppes in High Asia that could withstand climate-related changes in the greater Himalayan region, creating refuge lands for snow leopards.

• For decades the lack of consistent political direction has affected the Railways.

• The country lacks civilian expertise on railway matters.• only a few politicians are interested in the railways

• Results are determined by the Ministry-Railway Board relationship

• Some lucrative decisions revolves around pursuing immediate goals1. haphazard introduction of trains

2. subsidising passenger fares by overcharging freight

3. investment in unwanted new facilities

4. modernisation and induction of new technologies without a plan

Safety Concerns

• Utkal Express derailment: shows that the numbers of trains have now reached a level where field staff are unable to carry out maintenance without cutting corners.

• Safety is not something that can be separated from the normal functioning of the Railways and is a window that reveals the underlying health of the system.

• The situation is the outcome of pursuing 3 inconsistent goals at the organisational level.

1. moving more people by continuously adding trains even when sections are saturated

2. focussing on increasing speed and punctuality

3. diverting freight earnings to subsidise passenger fares

• The problem is further exacerbated by a lack of money to replace old assets or purchase spares.

• Maintenance should be done even if we have to delay the trains.

• Strong health and safety culture

• There is also a need to restore the well-established practice of field inspections at all levels to grasp what is happening in the field.

• September 29: marks 1 year of surgical strikes

• Both neighbours have limited their interactions to firing across the borders in Jammu and Kashmir and calling each other names in global forums.

• Futureof the foremost regional forum SAARC, remains unclear after 2016.

• Regional security situation remains embattled• Confused American policies in South Asia

• Continuing turmoil in Afghanistan

• Heightening India-China rivalry

• India-Pakistan hostility

• Surgical strikes have called Pakistan’s nuclear bluff.

• But such higher-level stability seems to have come with heightened lower-level instability and that is the bad news.

• 2 sets of challenges are more apparent today• The recurrent, and almost daily, occurrence of border battles between the two militaries have a

potential for escalation to higher levels.• Preventive strikes in hyper-nationalist bilateral settings could defy our expectations and go out

of control, with disastrous implications.

Strategy of punishment has worked?• A strategy of punishment requires consistency and commitment.• Pakistan’s responses continued without much reaction from New Delhi.• Launch pads and terrorist camps have increased since last year. • Credible media reports show that 110 militants, and 38 army personnel were killed between

January and September 2016• Since the surgical strikes, at least 178 militants and 69 Army personnel have been killed.

• Surgical strikes, then, may have been a tactical victory for New Delhi, but its strategic value is far from settled.

• For a country that has traditionally been the regional stabiliser, New Delhi seems to be quickly embracing the virtues of geopolitical revisionism.

• The second goal of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals says: “End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition, and promote sustainable agriculture.”

• The world’s population is booming. • According to estimates, the global population is likely to exceed 9 billion by 2050, with

5 billion people in Asia alone.

• The capacity to produce enough quality food is falling behind human numbers.

• Research is the key.

• India’s fivefold increase in grain production over the past 50 years is largely the result of strong scientific research.

• However, India continues to face challenges such as food insecurity and malnutrition, particularly in rural areas.

• Integration: Agricultural production, Nutrition, Health

• Home gardens could provide households with up to 135 kg of legumes, vegetables, tubers, leafy greens, and gourds per year — more than double the amount of vegetables they were buying in local markets.• These crops add value to existing farming systems by providing an additional source of

income and/or more nutritious food for the family.

• Food Security Act of 2013: Inclusion of millets in the PDS.• millets are superior to common grains in many ways

• climate-resilient

• Bio-fortification is also important in overcoming hidden hunger caused by micronutrient deficiencies such as iron, iodine, zinc, vitamin A, and vitamin B12.

Empowering women

• Studies show that women make up nearly half of agricultural labourers, yet they carry out approximately 70% of all farm work.

• Women are among the most disadvantaged because they are typically employed as marginal workers, occupying low-skilled jobs such as sowing and weeding.

• Our research shows that empowering women is one of the best ways to improve nutrition.

• Research needs to continue focussing on the needs of women farmers to ensure that they are the direct recipients of development impacts, such as access to markets and income, to improve theirs and their children’s access to adequate and diversified diets.

PM launches ‘Saubhagya’ plan for household electrification

• Named: 'Pradhan Mantri Sahaj Bijli Har Ghar Yojana aka 'Saubhagya’

• Aims:• To provide electricity to un-electrified households by March 2019.

• To provide subsidy on equipment like transformers, meters and wires.

• Budget: Rs 16000 crore

• No price will be charged for the poor to get an electricity connection.

• Thomas Alva Edison invented the bulb and said: ‘We will make electricity so cheap that only the rich will burn candles’.

• 4 crore people of the country are yet to get electricity.

• India which used to face power shortage, is now a power surplus country.

• Mr Modi said, the installed power capacity has increased by 12 per cent during last three years and 60 thousand Mega Watt power has been added.

Economic panel to be revived

• With the economy hitting a rough patch in recent months, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has decided to reconstitute the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister

Bibek Debroy, Chairman

Ratan Watal

Surjit Bhalla

Rathin Roy

Ashima Goyal

India counters Pakistani narrative

• India on Monday fielded a junior diplomat at its permanent mission at the United Nations to rebut Pakistan’s Permanent Representative Maleeha Lodhi’sallegations.

• “The Permanent Representative (PR) of Pakistan misled this Assembly by displaying this picture to spread falsehoods about India. A fake picture to push a completely false narrative,” Indian diplomat Paulomi Tripathi told the UNGA, in response.

Jim Mattis likely to push for Indian troops in Afghanistan

• U.S. Defence Secretary Jim Mattis landed in India on Monday for his maiden three-day visit, the first by a Cabinet member of the Trump administration.

• Focus• deepening the defence partnership

• expanding the high-technology cooperation

• Afghanistan

• Mattis could be expected to push for Indian troops in Afghanistan.

• Major Defence Partner (MDP) status.

• They will also review high-technology cooperation under the Defence Technology and Trade Initiative (DTTI).

• Communications Compatibility and Security Agreement (COMCASA)

Putin to send special representative

• Russia is sending President Putin’s special representative for Afghanistan, Zamir Kabulov to Delhi in October.

• Mr. Kabulov’s visit, when he is also expected to discuss Moscow’s new position on talks with Taliban, will come amid growing concerns in India over Russia’s ties with Pakistan.

• Moscow has already criticised the U.S. plan as a “dead-end policy”, and warned against “putting pressure” on Pakistan.

• Russian and Pakistani special forces began military exercises in the Mineralnye Vody region.

Japanese PM Abe calls snap election

• Japanese Prime Minister ShinzoAbe on Monday called a snap election, seeking a fresh term.

• “I will dissolve the House of Representatives on the 28th” of September, Mr. Abe told reporters, a precursor to a general election.

• He did not give a date for the vote but it is widely expected to be October 22.AFP

Database soon of savings schemes linked with Aadhaar• The Cabinet Secretariat is keen on a

central database of government and private sector employees who have subscribed to the general provident fund (GPF), public provident fund (PPF) and employees’ provident fund (EPF) with Aadhaar as the primary identifier.

• It has directed the various departments monitoring such savings schemes to ensure that 100% Aadhaar seeding of all salaried accounts takes place by December 31.

• EPF is the savings scheme for private sector employees, the GPF is meant for government employees and PPF can be subscribed to by all workers.

Questions

1. The CEA's primary responsibilities, among others, include authoring the mid-year analysis and the ___________________________.

2. 6 states under Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC) project are?

3. Which famous personality has recently launched Bharat Yatra Campaign? What is/are the main motive/s behind it?

4. A unique adaptation technique is adopted by ________________ butterfly. It migrats from Western Ghat to Eastern Ghat depending on the rainfall season.

The End

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