Table of Contents
Parched or polluted
• Composite Water Management Index: 70% of the water resources are identified as polluted.
• If the water accessible to millions is contaminated, the problem is infinitely worse than that of availability.
• System of ratings for States is based on their performance
augmenting water resources and watersheds
investing in infrastructure
providing rural and urban drinking water
encouraging efficient agricultural use
• It presumes that this ‘hall of fame’ approach will foster “competitive and cooperative federalism”
• Committee on Restructuring the Central Water Commission and the Central Ground Water Board chaired by Mihir Shah.
• User-centric approach to water management, especially in agriculture.
• It advocates decentralisation of irrigation commands, offering higher financial flows to well-performing States through a National Irrigation Management Fund.
• Clearly, awarding an index rank should help advance such schemes, making States feel the need to be competitive.
• Groundwater extraction patterns need to be better understood through robust data collection; less than 5% of about 12 million wells are now under study.
• A legal mandate will work better than just competition and cooperation; it would make governments accountable.
Online incivility
• When Michelin-starred restaurateur Atul Kochhar sent out a tweet more than a week ago, little would he have imagined that he would get booted out of his restaurant for it.
• Three days later, JW Mariott Marquis terminated their relationship with Mr. Kochhar.
• Outrage and punishments for social media offences can sometimes be disproportionate.
• First, there is a tendency to lower the bar on political correctness when it comes to online discourse.
• Had Mr. Kochhar said this to his friends, they probably would have had the context to understand whether this was a casual, throwaway remark or Islamophobia.
• Third, while the laws provide for freedom of expression, often the terms of employment do not.
• Corporates consider the projection of the values of their organisation more important than their employees’ opinions on politics and religion.
• Companies’ policies on social media use are usually strictly worded and provide enough ground to terminate employment, especially if employees encourage violence, make threats or get abusive.
• Still, more people get away than get caught. Mr. Kochhar got caught.
A life-affirming journey
• It requires herculean emotional resolve for the staff of a newspaper to bring out the next day’s edition after their editor has been shot dead in front of their office.
• The elimination of voices is the most gruesome form of censorship.
• They should read the entry for the word ‘journalist’ by Denis Diderot in 1765 in Encyclopédie Ou Dictionnaire Raisonné Des Sciences, Des Arts Et Des Metiers: “He [journalist] would have at heart the progress of the human mind; he would love the truth, and would link everything to these two objectives.”
• The proliferation of social media platforms, where slander and intimidation have been normalised as opinions, is constantly lowering the standards of public discourse.
• The goal of these attacks is not always to block users, content or themes, but to attack democratic discourse, weaken trust in institutions like the media, other governments, the opposition, and civil society.
Change in Mexico?
• Mexico’s ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), which has dominated its politics for the better part of a century, seems at risk of a defeat in the July 1 election.
• Brisk economic growth, low inflation and a sharp fall in unemployment have not contained the steady political slide under the corruptiontainted rule of President Enrique Peña Nieto.
• The threat of Washington quitting the North American Free Trade Agreement has loomed large over the latter part of Mr. Peña Nieto’s rule.
Important News
• PM renews call for debate on simultaneous polls
• At NITI Aayog meet, Modi favours a uniform voter list
• The meeting was attended by the Chief Ministers of 23 States, the Lieutenant-Governor of the Andaman & Nicobar Islands and senior Union Ministers.
• “The Prime Minister called for widespread debate and consultations on simultaneous elections to the Lok Sabha and the Vidhan Sabhas, keeping in view aspects such as the resulting financial savings and better utilisation of resources,” an official statement said.
• Briefing the media after the meeting, NITI Aayog ViceChairman Rajiv Kumar said as a result of being in a “perpetual election” mode, the focus on development was
diluted.
• To Russia with love, on a cycle
• Clifin Francis, 28, a mathematics teacher at a coaching centre in Ernakulam, commenced his cycling voyage from Iran on March 13
• Ceasefire ends, ops against J&K militants to resume
• Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh said on Sunday that the government has decided not to
extend the suspension of operations (SoO) in Jammu and Kashmir and that operations
against terrorists would resume.
• Sulphuric acid leak detected at Sterlite
• A sulphuric acid leak, described by officials as “minor,” was detected in one of the storage units of the sealed Sterlite copper plant, a Vedanta group company, in on Sunday
• Nirav has 6 passports, fresh FIR likely soon
• Agencies investigating the alleged $2-billion Punjab National Bank fraud have detected that the absconding diamond merchant Nirav Modi possessed at least six Indian passports. They are planning to file a fresh FIR for this offence, officials said on Sunday.
• Sushma leaves for Europe
• External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Sunday left for a seven-day tour of Italy, France, Luxembourg and Belgium, which is aimed at deepening India’s strategic engagement and trade ties with the four European countries.
• New health scheme flawed: IMA
• The Indian Medical Association (IMA) has demanded a review of the Centre’s ambitious National Health Protection Scheme (NHPS), saying it has “conceptual deficits and operational flaws”.
• Warns that low rates for procedures will compromise patient safety
• MCLR, base rate merger proves elusive
Answers-
1. With reference to respiration consider the following statements
1. To break down glucose all the organisms require Oxygen.
2. In aquatic animals rate of breathing is faster than terrestrial
animals
Choose the correct option
A. Only 1
B. Only 2
C. Both 1 and 2
D. Neither 1 nor 2
2. Indian scientists have discovered a large super-cluster that is 600 million light years across. What is the name given to it?
1. Ganga
2. Saraswati
3. Yamuna
4. Godavari
Questions-
1. With reference to induced Pluripotent Stem Cells (iPSC) consider the
below given statements
1. The pioneer of iPSC technology is Shinya Yamanaka
2. In the field of regenerative medicine pluripotent stem cells hold
promise.
Choose the correct option
A. Only 1
B. Only 2
C. Both 1 and 2
D. Neither 1 nor 2
2. From the below given list identify the term ‘nosocomial infections’ refer
as
1. Any chronic ailment that occurs because of work or occupation.
2. An infection that is acquired in a health care facility or hospital.
3. Due to indoor air pollution acquire an infection.
4. Due to mercury contaminated water acquire an infection.
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