9 August 2024, The Indian EXPRESS
Ashoka, Chandragupt & Kalpataru: Three Indian Ocean structures named
Page no- 8
Prelims Syllabus- Current Affairs
- Three underwater geographical structures located in the Indian Ocean have been awarded names proposed by India.
- Named after the rulers of the Mauryan dynasty are the Ashoka seamount and the Chandragupt ridge. Kalpataru ridge is the third structure for which the International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) and UNESCO’s Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) have recently awarded names originally proposed by India.
Before a cut
Page no- 14
GS3- Indian Economy and issues relating to planning, mobilization, of resources, growth, development and employment
- Wrestler Vinesh Phogat was disqualified after the official weigh-in on Wednesday morning, ahead of her scheduled gold medal bout in the evening.
- While she had cleared the weigh-in on Tuesday, Vinesh was found to be “a few grams over 50 kg” on Wednesday morning’s weigh-in.
- The Indian Express reported that she was reportedly 2 kilos overweight on Tuesday night — weight she tried her best to shed overnight but couldn’t.
Focus more on deposit mobilization vis innovative products: Das to banks
Page no- 17
GS3- Indian Economy and issues relating to planning, mobilization, of resources, growth, development and employment
- Amid concerns over the shift of household savings from banks to alternative investment avenues, resulting in slower deposit growth compared to credit, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Shaktikanta Das on Thursday asked lenders to garner deposits through innovative product offerings and use their wide branch network.
- Das also expressed worries over banks and non-banking finance companies (NBFCs) not following regulatory norms while offering top-up loans on other collaterlaised loans such as home and gold loans.
- While announcing the monetary policy, the Governor said that it is observed that alternative investment avenues are becoming more attractive to retail customers and banks are facing challenges on the funding front with bank deposits trailing loan growth.
- As of July 12, while deposits grew by 11.7 per cent, loan growth increased by 15.5 per cent.
Proposed changes to Waqf law
Page no- 19
GS2- Governance
- The government on Thursday referred the Waqf (Amendment) Bill, 2024, to a Joint Committee of Parliament.
- The tabling of the Bill by Union Minister of Minority Affairs Kiren Rijiju was met with strong criticism from the Opposition parties who said the proposed law was “unconstitutional”, “anti-minority”, and “divisive”.
- The Bill seeks to amend the 1995 Waqf Act, and proposes sweeping changes to how Waqfs are governed and regulated. What is the law on Waqf? What amendments has the Bill proposed, and why are these changes significant?
What’s causing Antarctica’s deep-winter heatwave, what could be its fallout?
Page no- 19
GS1- Salient features of world’s physical geography; Important Geophysical phenomena
- For the second time in two years, a record-breaking heatwave is sweeping through Antarctica at the height of its winter season.
- Ground temperatures have been 10 degrees Celsius higher than normal on average since mid-July, and up to 28 degrees higher on certain days.
- In parts of East Antarctica, the relatively higher-elevation swathe that makes up two-thirds of the world’s coldest continent, temperatures are currently in the range of minus 25 degrees to minus 30 degrees Celsius.
- Deep-winter temperatures here usually vary between minus 50 degrees and minus 60 degrees Celsius.
