Newspaper Notes | 25 April 2024 | UPSC CSE

(Important Topics Notes - Shashank Sajwan)

My website: www.shashanksajwan.com

1. SC stays construction of 4 dams in Kalesar Wildlife Sanctuary

• The Supreme Court stayed the construction of four proposed dams inside
Kalesar Wildlife Sanctuary in Haryana’s Yamuna Nagar district.
• The court noted that the dams will not only be detrimental to wildlife and
population there but also to the ecosystem and even the purpose for which
the dams are proposed would not be achieved.

Static takeaway: Kalesar Wildlife Sanctuary is located in the eastern

part of Yamunanagar district in Haryana. Covering an area of 11,000
acres, it is situated in the Shivalik foothills of the Himalayas. The
sanctuary derives its name from the Kalesar Forest, which is a part of
the reserve.

2. The Indian Seafarer deserves better in choppy high seas

• India submitted three papers to the 111th session of the International

Maritime Organisation’s legal committee amid rising safety concerns among
Indian seafarers following the recent attacks on commercial ships in sensitive
geographical areas like Red Sea and the Strait of Hormuz.
• India has stressed the need for a comprehensive approach to maritime
security and advocated improved contractual conditions for seafarers.
• India has called for broader international cooperation to tackle various
maritime threats including piracy and armed robbery.
• Since 2020 over 200 cases of seafarer exploitation have been reported to
the Indian Maritime Administration.
• India has 9.35% of Global Seafarers and ranks third globally.

Static takeaway: International Maritime Organisation is a specialized

agency of the United Nations which is responsible for measures to
improve the safety and security of international shipping and to
prevent pollution from ships. It was established as the Inter-
Governmental Maritime Consultative Organization (IMCO) in 1948,
became a specialized agency of the United Nations in 1959 and was
renamed International Maritime Organization in 1982.

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3. On the national clean air programme

• When the government launched the national clean air programme in 2019 it
was to cut the concentration of atmospheric particulate matter by 20 to 30
per cent by 2024 from the 2017 levels. This was later revised to 40% by 2026.
• In the National clean air programme, cities continuously violating annual PM
levels in India need to prepare and implement annual clean air action plans.
• On average only 60% of the allocated funds have been used so far according
to the ministry with 27% of cities spending less than 30% of their designated
budgets.
• There is also a lack of standard operating procedures for the implementation
process.
• Implementation delays hinder the success of the programme, particularly the
delays in approvals from the competent authorities.

Static takeaway: NCAP was launched by the Ministry of Environment,

Forests and Climate Change (MoEFCC) in January 2019.
It is the first-ever effort in the country to frame a national framework
for air quality management with a time-bound reduction target.

4. RBI tells ARCs to maintain rs 300 crore in net owned fund by financial year 2026

• The Reserve Bank of India released a master direction for asset

reconstruction companies (ARCs) mandating them to maintain a minimum
net owned fund of rs 300 crore in a phased manner by financial year 2026.
• An asset reconstruction company shall undertake only securitisation and
asset reconstruction activities and functions provided under section 10 of the
act.

Static takeaway: The NOF is the difference between an NBFC's paid-

up capital, free reserves, and other surplus funds, and its intangible
assets, accumulated losses, and deferred revenue expenditure. The
Net Owned Fund is like an NBFC's “net worth”

5. IT sector staring at second straight year of muted revenue growth

• The Indian IT services sector is staring at a second consecutive year of

muted revenue growth due to modest increase in tech spends in Europe and
the US.
• Crisil ratings said that it expects the sector to grow at 5 to 7% in financial
year 2025 after a growth of 6% estimated to have been achieved in financial
year 2024.
• The overall industry size is pegged at 250 billion dollars and it creates more
than 50 lakh direct jobs.

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 Static takeaway: The information technology (IT) industry in India has
been a major contributor to the country’s GDP and public welfare. In
FY22, the IT industry accounted for 7.4% of India’s GDP, and it is
expected to contribute 10% to India’s GDP by 2025.

6. REITs, InvITs mobilised ₹1.3 lakh cr. over the last 4 years, RBI data shows

• Investment vehicles for realty and infrastructure sectors – REITs, InvITs, have
garnered rs 1.3 lakh crore in the past four years and are expected to
facilitate more pooled funds.
• Experts and stakeholders are of view that with India growing at a fast pace,
these are emerging as alternative investment instruments especially for high
net worth individuals.

Static takeaway: REITs is a company that owns, operates, or finances

income-generating real estate. Most of them are publicly traded like
stocks, which makes them highly liquid (unlike physical real estate
investments). InvITs are mutual fund-like institutions that enable
investments into the infrastructure sector by pooling small sums of
money from a multitude of individual investors for directly investing in
infrastructure.

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