22 April 2024, The Indian EXPRESS
Resistance forces now control over half of Myanmar’s territory
Page no- the world section
GS2-India and its Neighborhood- Relations
- Fighting raged at Myanmar’s eastern frontier with Thailand on Saturday, both governments said, forcing 3,000 civilians to flee as rebels fought to flush out Myanmar junta troops holed up for days at a bridge border crossing.
- Resistance fighters and ethnic minority rebels seized the key trading town of Myawaddy on the Myanmar side of the frontier on April 11, a blow to a well-equipped military struggling to govern and facing a test of battlefield credibility.
Peru-based top potato research centre to set up India wing
Page no-1
GS3- Science and Technology- Developments and their Applications and Effects in Everyday Life
- Seven years after China got a regional centre of Peru-based International Potato Center (CIP), the premier research-for-development organisation with focus on potato and sweetpotato, India is set to get a similar centre.
- The CIP-South Asia Regional Centre (CIP-SARC) is expected to come up in Agra.
- The centre will serve farmers not only in potato-belt states of India such as Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal but also in other South Asian countries.
Arabia and Persia matter
Page no-8
GS2- Effect of Policies and Politics of Developed and Developing Countries on India’s interests
- The direct strikes and counter strikes over the last few days between Israel and Iran may have just done enough to signal political resolve and demonstrate the military capability to attack each other while carefully avoiding the escalation of the conflict — bilateral as well as regional across the Middle East.
- Both sides took enough precautions to avoid major civilian targets, and communication through various channels may have given enough early warning for effective defences against the strikes.
- Israel’s prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, might have liked to escalate the war with Iran and draw the US into the firefight against Tehran.
- But the Biden Administration’s refusal to support that plan and Washington’s pressure to avoid retaliation against Iran’s attack did not stop Tel Aviv but appear to have tempered the nature of the Israeli response.
- Iran, comfortable in its proxy war against Israel, has no desire to be drawn into a costly confrontation with the US with unpredictable political consequences.
- A wider conflagration in the Middle East has been staved off, at least for now.
Check the sugar
Page no-8
GS2- Issues Relating to Development and Management of Social Sector/Services relating to Health
- A study incriminating the multinational food company Nestle for adding unhealty amounts of sugar to its baby products has generated concerns in the country.
- Last week, the International Baby Food Action Network (IBFAN) and the Switzerland-based investigating agency, Public Eye, alleged that the company added 2.7 g of sugar per serving to its baby food brand, Cerelac, destined for developing countries, including India.
- Nestle has defended itself and said that it has reduced added sugar in its baby food products in India by over 30 per cent over the past five years.
- The ball is now in the court of the country’s food business regulator, the FSSAI. The agency has begun investigations into the findings of the IBFAN and Public Eye study.
The story of indelible ink, a lasting symbol of election
Page no-12
GS2- Salient Features of the Representation of People’s Act.
- With the first phase of voting for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections beginning on April 19, the classic symbol of Indian polls is visible everywhere – a left hand with only its index finger extended, marked by a purple-black indelible ink.
- Mysore Paints & Varnish Ltd., a Karnataka Government Undertaking which is the sole manufacturer of the ink in India, told DD News that around 26.5 lakh phials or small bottles (with a capacity of 10 ml each) will be made for this election cycle.
Fourth global mass coral bleaching event triggered: What does it mean?
Page no-12
GS1- geographical features and their location-changes in critical geographical features (including water-bodies and ice-caps) and in flora and fauna and the effects of such changes
- The fourth global mass coral bleaching event has been triggered by extraordinary ocean temperatures, the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) said on Monday (April 15).
- This could have serious consequences for ocean life and millions of people who rely on reefs for food, jobs, and coastal defence.
- Since mid-March 2023, the average sea surface temperature (SST) has been abnormally high.
- In March this year, it reached a record monthly high of 21.07 degree Celsius, according to the EU Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S).
- The primary reason behind the soaring temperatures is the rising emissions of heat-trapping greenhouse gases (GHGs) such as carbon dioxide and methane in the atmosphere.
- Nearly 90% of the extra heat trapped by GHGs has been absorbed by the oceans — that is why they have become so warm.
Direct tax collections up 18% in FY24, top revised budget estimate
Page no-13
GS3- Indian Economy and issues relating to Planning, Mobilization of Resources, Growth, Development
- Government’s net direct tax collections, after adjusting for refunds, grew 17.7 per cent year-on-year to Rs 19.58 lakh crore in financial year 2023-24, exceeding the revised estimate of Rs 19.45 lakh crore by 0.67 per cent, as per the provisional estimates released by the Ministry of Finance on Sunday.
- Net direct tax collections had stood at Rs 16.64 lakh crore in the preceding financial year 2022-23. Refunds stood at Rs 3.79 lakh crore in FY24, an increase of 22.74 per cent over the refunds of Rs 3.09 lakh crore issued in FY23, the ministry said.
