Daily News Simplified - DNS

31 12 19 Notes

SL. NO. TOPICS

THE HINDU PAGE NO.

1 RBI buys Rs. 10,000 crore worth government securities via OMO 15

2 Kerala leads race for UN development goals 01

3 Overall green cover rises, but northeast records a dip 09

4 Carbon tax waiver for coal mooted 15

Dated: 31-Dec-2019 DNS Notes Title 1. RBI buys Rs. 10,000 crore worth government securities via OMO (The Hindu – Pg. 15)

Syllabus Prelims: Economy GS III: Economy

Theme RBI buys Rs. 10,000 crore worth government securities via OMO

Highlights Context • RBI conducted the 2nd round of open market operation under its version of

Operation Twist. • In the second round RBI has bought Rs. 10,000 crore of long-term government

securities (10-year bonds-GS 2029) and sold Rs. 8,500 crore of three short-term bonds (1-year bonds –GS-2020).

Operation Twist What is it?

• Operation Twist is a monetary policy tool employed to influence the yields (interest rates) which results in ‘twist’ in the yield curve and hence the name.

• Generally Open Market Operations involve buying or selling of government securities in order to manage the liquidity in the economy. (OMO-Medium term)

How does it work? • Operation Twist involves simultaneous buying and selling of long-term and short-

term government securities to influence the interest rate of the government securities.

• In the Operation Twist undertaken, RBI is buying long-term government securities (10-year bond) worth Rs.10000 Cr and selling 4 short-term securities (1-year bond) worth the same amount.

• The simultaneous buying and selling of long-term and short-term security respectively is done in order to moderate the interest rates of long-term securities and bring it closer to repo rate.

Personal Notes

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Dated: 31-Dec-2019 DNS Notes Title 2. Kerala leads race for UN development goals (The Hindu Pg. No. 01) Syllabus Prelims: Social Issues

Mains: GS Paper II – Social Issues Theme NITI Aayog release 2nd Edition of Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) India Index Highlights

Context: NITI Aayog today released the second edition of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) India Index, which comprehensively documents the progress made by India’s States and Union Territories towards achieving the 2030 SDG targets. The world is now in the fifth year of the SDG era. India’s National Development Agenda is mirrored in the SDGs. India’s progress in the global Goals is crucial for the world as the country is home to about one-sixth of the world’s population The SDG India Index—which has been developed in collaboration with the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI), United Nations in India, and Global Green Growth Institute India’s composite score has improved from 57 in 2018 to 60 in 2019, thereby showing noticeable progress. Highlights

• The maximum gains been made in Goals 6 (clean water and sanitation), 9 (industry, innovation, and infrastructure) and 7 (affordable and clean energy).

• All three states that were in the ‘Aspirant’ category (with score/s in the range of 0–

49)—Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Assam—have graduated to the ‘Performer’ category (50–64).

• Five states—Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka, Goa, and Sikkim—moved up

from the ‘Performer’ category to the ‘Front Runner’ category (65–99).

• Kerala achieved the first rank in the composite SDG Index with a score of 70, followed by Himachal Pradesh at 69.

• Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, and Tamil Nadu ranked at the third position with the

score of 67. The biggest improvers since 2018 are UP (which has moved from the 29th position to the 23rd), Orissa (23rd to 15th), and Sikkim (15th to 7th).

• While Bihar improved its score from 48 in 2018 to 50 in 2019, it still has a long way

to go in achieving the targets. About the Index

• The SDG India Index 2019 is more robust than the first edition on account of wider coverage of goals, targets, and indicators with greater alignment with the NIF.

• The Index spans 16 out of 17 SDGs with a qualitative assessment on Goal 17. This

marks an improvement over the 2018 Index, which covered only 13 goals.

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• Additionally, this year, the SDG India Index report has a new section on profiles of

all 37 States and UTs, which will be very useful to analyse their performance on all goals in a lucid manner.

• A composite score was computed in the range of 0–100 for each State/UT based on

its aggregate performance across 16 SDGs, indicating the average performance of every State/UT towards achieving 16 SDGs and their respective targets.

• If a State/UT achieves a score of 100, it signifies it has achieved the 2030 national

targets.

• The higher the score of a State/UT, the closer it is towards achieving the targets. Classification criteria based on SDG India Index score is as follows: ▪ Aspirant: 0–49 ▪ Performer: 50–64 ▪ Front Runner: 65–99 ▪ Achiever: 100 Importance of the Index

• NITI Aayog has the twin mandate to oversee the implementation of SDGs in the country and promote competitive and cooperative federalism among States and UTs.

• The SDG India Index2019 is available on an online dashboard, which has cross-

sectoral relevance across policy, civil society, business and academia.

• The Index is designed to function as a tool for focused policy dialogue, formulation and implementation, and moving towards development action pegged to globally recognisable metrics.

• The Index also supplements NITI Aayog’s continuous efforts to encourage

evidence-based policymaking by supporting States/UTs to benchmark their progress, identifying priority areas and sharing best practices.

• The SDG India Index 2019will also help highlight crucial gaps related to monitoring

SDGs and the need for improving statistical systems at the National/State/UT levels.

• Further, the Index highlights the need for improvements in data collection, reporting and methodology.

NITI Aayog is also exploring partnerships for disaggregating data and developing capacity for real-time monitoring and measuring incremental progress.

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Personal Notes

Dated: 31-Dec-2019 DNS Notes Title 3. Overall green cover rises, but northeast records a dip (Page number 09) Syllabus Prelims: Environment

Mains: GS III - Environment Theme Forest survey of India report Highlights

What is IFSR • Forest Survey of India (FSI) presents findings of its mapping and forest resource

assessment activities at the national level, biennially, by publishing India State of Forest Report (ISFR).

• The ISFR 2019 is the 16th report in the series, the first being the report of 1987. • The report provides information on forest cover, tree cover, mangrove cover,

growing stock inside and outside the forest areas, carbon stock in India’s forests, Forest Types and Biodiversity, Forest Fire monitoring and forest cover in different slopes & altitudes.

• Special thematic information on forest cover such as hill, tribal districts, and north eastern region has also been given separately in the report.

What is its importance?

• Since it is a time series of biennial reports, monitoring of forest resource by comparing different parameters with the previous assessment as change, is a natural outcome.

• ISFR meets the vital information needs of the forestry sector of the country and is widely used for policy formulation, planning and management of forests at the national level as well as by the States & UTs.

• Data presented in the ISFR are also used for various internationally mandated communications to the organisations such as FAO, UNFCCC, CBD etc.

o This information provides inputs for various global level inventories, reports such as GHG Inventory, Growing Stock, Carbon Stock, Forest Reference Level (FRL) and international reporting to UNFCCC, targets under CCD, Global Forest Resource Assessment (GFRA) done by FAO for planning and scientific management of forests.

How is it conducted?

• It is based on the regular nationwide mapping of forest cover, sample plots based national forest inventory and the specific studies conducted at the national level, the information presented in the ISFR 2019 is primary information on different parameters of the forest resources of the country.

METHODOLOGY

• ISFR 2019 is the 16th report in the series. In tune with the Government of India’s vision of Digital India, FSI’s assessment is largely based on digital data whether it is satellite data, vector boundaries of districts or data processing of field measurements.

• The latest available satellite data suitable for nation-wide wall-to-wall forest cover mapping are procured from the National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC) under the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).

• The biennial assessment of forest cover of the country using mid-resolution Satellite data is based on interpretation of LISS-III data from Indian Remote Sensing satellite data (Resourcesat-II) with a spatial resolution of 23.5 meters with the

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scale of interpretation 1:50,000 to monitor forest cover and forest cover changes at District, State and National level.

• Satellite data for the entire country was procured from NRSC for the period October, 2017 – February, 2018. The satellite data interpretation is followed by rigorous ground truthing. Information from other collateral sources are also used to improve the accuracy of the interpreted image.

FSI, in a first ever attempt has carried out a rapid assessment of biodiversity for all the States and UTs (except two) and for all the sixteen Forest Type Groups as per Champion & Seth Classification (1968). Apart from the number of tree, shrub and herb species as observed in the survey, ShanonWienner Index which gives species richness along with the relative abundance, has also been calculated for each forest type groups in each State & UT. FSI has carried out mapping of forest types of India as per the Champion & Seth Classification (1968), for the first time in the year 2011 based on the base line forest cover data of 2005. A new exercise for refining and updating the forest type maps as per the latest baseline forest cover was initiated in the year 2016 and has been completed in 2019.

Forest Cover and Recorded Forest Area (RFA) Forest Cover and Recorded Forest Area (RFA) are the two most commonly used terms to describe extent of forest. Though apparently similar terms, forest cover and RFA denote extent of forests with different meanings.

• Forest cover on one hand gives information about the forest canopy area covered on the ground irrespective of the legal status of land, whereas RFA gives extent of forest in terms of legal status or definition of land as ‘forest’ irrespective of actual forest canopy cover on the ground.

• ‘Forest cover’ term used by FSI includes all tree patches which have canopy density more than 10% and area of 1 ha or more in size, irrespective of their legal status and species composition. On the contrary, the term ‘Recorded Forest Area’ is used for all such lands which have been notified as forest under any Government Act or Rules or recorded as ‘forest’ in the Government records. Recorded forest area may or may not have forest cover.

• Thus forest cover & recorded forest area overlap with each other but they are not coterminous with each other.

• FSI obtains boundaries of recorded forest areas from the State Forest Departments (SFD) as the SFDs are the custodians of the RFAs. The boundaries of RFAs from all the States have not been made available to FSI. The following table gives extent of RFA under different categories for each State, as received from the respective States/UTs.

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Are there any categorizations within forest types?

What is NATIONAL FOREST INVENTORY (NFI)

• National Forest Inventory is another major forest resource assessment activity carried out by FSI.

• The primary objective of the forest inventory is to assess growing stock of trees, number of trees, bamboo, soil carbon, occurrence of NTFP and invasive species and several other parameters depicting growth & health of forest.

SPECIAL FEATURES IN ISFR 2019

• Quantified estimation of dependence of people living in the forest fringe villages on forests for fuelwood, fodder, small timber and bamboo.

• Extent of Trees outside Forest in the country • Assessment of plant biodiversity in forests

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• Refined Forest Type Map of India • Mapping of Fire Prone Forest Areas • Wetlands in Forest Areas • Forest Cover on Slopes • Major Invasive Species

What is the condition of forest cover in other countries?

How do Forests correlate with SDGs?

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Are There Any limitations of the forest cover mapping ? Every remote sensing based mapping exercise has certain limitations. The inherent limitations affect the accuracy of the Forest Cover Mapping which is assessed and reported through an independent accuracy assessment exercise.

• Since the resolution of the LISS III sensor data is 23.5 m, land cover features having a geometric dimension less than 23.5 m on the ground are not discernible

• Considerable ground details may sometimes be obscured due to clouds and shadows. Such areas can be discerned to a certain extent with the help of collateral data and image processing techniques, but not always

• Non-availability of appropriate season data sometimes puts constraints on the interpretation of the features owing to poor reflectance of data and phenological changes in forests

• Occurrence of weeds like lantana in forest areas and agricultural crops like sugarcane, cotton, etc adjacent to forests, causes mixing of spectral signatures and often make precise forest cover delineation difficult

• Young plantations and tree species with less chlorophyll or inadequate foliage, many a times are not discernible on satellite images due to inadequate reflectance

• Haze and other atmospheric distortions pose difficulty in interpretation, especially in the coastal areas

Lets now look at the status of forest in India (Speak: this is not an image in visible spectrum but an image compiled after satellite

data in Radio frequency, Infra-red, Ultraviolet and visible range)

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Speak: Try to identify various geographical entities based on green colour

• Dark green à Very dense forests à NE, Western Ghats, MH, CH, MP trijunction • Rajasthan and Gujarat have orange colour (Scrub)

Key Findings of ISFR 2019

• as compared to the assessment of 2017, there is an increase of 5,188 sq. km in the total forest and tree cover of the country.

o Out of this, the increase in the forest cover has been observed as 3,976 sq

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km and that in tree cover is 1,212 sq. km; • States ranking (Area-wise):

o Madhya Pradesh has the largest forest cover in the country followed by Arunachal Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Odisha and Maharashtra.

• States ranking (Forest cover as percentage of total geographical area): o the top five States are Mizoram (85.41%), Arunachal Pradesh (79.63%),

Meghalaya (76.33%), Manipur (75.46%) and Nagaland (75.31%).

• Status of various kinds of forests

• Mangrove

o The Mangrove ecosystems are unique & rich in biodiversity and they provide numerous ecological services.

o Mangrove cover has been separately reported in the ISFR 2019 and the total mangrove cover in the country is 4,975 sq km.

o An increase of 54 sq Km in mangrove cover has been observed as compared to the previous assessment of 2017.

o Top three states showing mangrove cover increase are Gujarat (37 sq km)

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followed by Maharashtra (16 sq km) and Odisha (8 sq km). • Total growing stock

o Volume of all living trees in a given area of forest or wooded land that have more than a certain diameter at breast height. It is usually measured in solid cubic metres (m3).

o The total growing stock of India’s forest and TOF is estimated 5,915.76 million cum of which 4,273.47 million cum is inside the forests and 1,642.29 million cum outside.

o There is an increase of 93.38 million cum of total growing stock, as compared to the previous assessment.

o Out of this the increase in growing stock, there is an increase of 55.08 million cum inside the forests and 38.30 million cum outside the forest areas.

• Bamboo o The extent of bamboo bearing area of the country has been estimated

16.00 million hectare. o There is an increase of 0.32 million hectare in bamboo bearing area as

compared to the last assessment of ISFR 2017. The total estimated green weight of bamboo culms is 278 million tonnes, slowly an increase of 88 million tonnes as compared to ISFR 2017.

• Carbon stock o Under the current assessment the total carbon stock in country’s forest is

estimated 7,124.6 million tonnes and there an increase of 42.6 million tonnes in the carbon stock of country as compared to the last assessment of 2017.

o The annual increase in the carbon stock is 21.3 million tonnes, which is 78.2 million tonnes CO2 eq.

• Wetlands within forests o Wetlands within forest areas form important ecosystems and add richness

to the biodiversity in forest areas, both of faunal and floral species. o Due to importance of wetlands, FSI has carried out an exercise at the

national level to identify wetlands of more than 1 ha within RFA.

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Dated: 31-Dec-2019 DNS Notes Title 4. Carbon tax waiver for coal mooted (The Hindu Page 15)

Syllabus Prelims: Economy GS III: Economy

Theme Carbon Tax Waiver

Highlights Context: Prime Minister’s Office has proposed waiving a tax on coal to help finance pollution-curbing equipment. PMO has proposed waiving the carbon tax of ₹400 per tonne that was levied on the production and import of coal, according to the documents reviewed by Reuters.

• As per the document, savings earned would improve the financial health of utilities and distribution companies, and help power producers to install pollution-curbing equipment.

• The proposal is a big win for India’s coal industry, which has lobbied for government help, citing high debt levels and burgeoning payment dues from government-owned power distribution companies.

• Distribution companies owed power producers more than $11 billion in dues as of October, according to government data.

Personal Notes