Financial Action Task Force (FATF)

Highlights:

• Currently placed on the FATF’s ‘grey list’, Pakistan has been scrambling in recent months to avoid being added to a list of countries deemed non-compliant with anti-money laundering and terrorist financing regulations by the Paris-based FATF, a measure that officials here fear could further hurt its economy.
• Pakistan Finance Minister Asad Umar asked FATF to appoint any other member country besides India as co-chair of the Asia-Pacific Joint Group “to ensure that (the) FATF review process is fair, unbiased and objective”.
• The Joint Group is a sub-body of the FATF’s International Cooperation Review Group (ICRG) of the Asia Pacific Group.
• Pakistan is a member of the APG and its case is being presented before the FATF by the APG. India’s Financial Intelligence Unit’s (FIU) director general is the co-chair of the Joint Group.
• India’s animosity towards Pakistan was well known and the recent violation of Pakistan’s airspace and dropping of bombs inside Pakistani territory was another manifestation of India’s hostile attitude.
• During the February 18-22 plenary and review meetings, the FATF had noted “limited progress” by Pakistan on targets set for January 2019, and urged the country “to swiftly complete its action plan, particularly those with timelines of May 2019.”
• It had expressed dissatisfaction over Pakistan’s action and said the country did “not demonstrate a proper understanding of the terror financing risks posed by Daesh (ISIS), Al Qaeda, Jamaat-ud-Dawa(Jud), Falah-i-Insaniat Foundation (FIF), Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) Haqqani network (HQN), and persons affiliated with the Taliban”.

Grey List:

• In February 2018 plenary session of FATF, US, UK, Germany and France had pushed for putting Pakistan on grey list for its ineffectiveness to deal Islamist terrorists especially Haqqani Network and its facilitators.
• FATF had decided to put Pakistan back on “grey list,” subjecting it to direct monitoring and intense scrutiny by the International Co-operation Review Group (ICRG) on terror financing, pending further review in June 2018.
• The FATF decision was by consensus, after days of closed-door discussions within the 37-member group.

Impact:

• It will endanger Pakistan’s handful of remaining banking links to t outside world, causing real financial pain to the economy. It will squeeze Pakistan's economy and make it harder to meet its mounting foreign financing needs, including potential future borrowings from International Monetary Fund (IMF)
• It will lead to downgrading of Pakistan’s debt ratings by international banking and credit rating agencies, making it more difficult to tap funds from international bond markets. It will also suspend international funds and aid to Pakistan such as Coalition Support Funds (CSF), money which US owes to Pakistan for military operations.

About Financial Action Task Force:

• The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) is an inter-governmental body established in 1989 by the Ministers of its Member jurisdictions. 
• The objectives of the FATF are to set standards and promote effective implementation of legal, regulatory and operational measures for combating money laundering, terrorist financing and other related threats to the integrity of the international financial system. 
• The FATF is therefore a “policy-making body” which works to generate the necessary political will to bring about national legislative and regulatory reforms in these areas.
• The FATF has developed a series of Recommendations that are recognised as the international standard for combating of money laundering and the financing of terrorism and proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. 
• They form the basis for a co-ordinated response to these threats to the integrity of the financial system and help ensure a level playing field. 
• First issued in 1990, the FATF Recommendations were revised in 1996, 2001, 2003 and most recently in 2012 to ensure that they remain up to date and relevant, and they are intended to be of universal application.
• The FATF monitors the progress of its members in implementing necessary measures, reviews money laundering and terrorist financing techniques and counter-measures, and promotes the adoption and implementation of appropriate measures globally. 
• In collaboration with other international stakeholders, the FATF works to identify national-level vulnerabilities with the aim of protecting the international financial system from misuse.
• The FATF completely revised the Forty Recommendations in 1996 and 2003. The 2003 Forty Recommendations require states, among other things, to:

Implement relevant international conventions

• Criminalise money laundering and enable authorities to confiscate the proceeds of money laundering
• Implement customer due diligence (e.g., identity verification), record keeping and suspicious transaction reporting
• requirements for financial institutions and designated non-financial businesses and professions
• Establish a financial intelligence unit to receive and disseminate suspicious transaction reports, and
• Cooperate internationally in investigating and prosecuting money laundering.

National Technical Research Organisation

• The National Technical Research Organisation (NTRO) is a technical intelligence Agency under the National Security Advisor in the Prime Minister's Office, India.
• It was set up in 2004. It also includes National Institute of Cryptology Research and Development (NICRD), which is first of its kind in Asia.
• NTRO has the same “norms of conduct” as the Intelligence Bureau (IB) and the Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW).

Historical Background:

• The National Technical Research Organisation (NTRO), originally known as the National Technical Facilities Organisation (NTFO), is a highly specialised technical intelligence gathering agency.
• While the agency does not affect the working of technical wings of various intelligence agencies, including those of the Indian Armed Forces, it acts as a super-feeder agency for providing technical intelligence to other agencies on internal and external security.
• The agency is under the control of India's external intelligence agency, Research and Analysis Wing, although it remains autonomous to some degree. The Group of Ministers (GOM) headed by then Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani had recommended the constitution of the NTFO as a state-of-the-art technical wing of intelligence gathering.
• Due to security concerns, the recommendation along with such other matters were not made public when the GOM report was published.
• The organisation does hi-tech surveillance jobs, including satellite monitoring, terrestrial monitoring, internet monitoring, considered vital for the national security apparatus.

Pulse Polio Programme

About Universal Immunization Programme:

• Universal Immunization Programme is a vaccination program launched by the Government of India in 1985. It became a part of Child Survival and Safe Motherhood Programme in 1992 and is currently one of the key areas under National Rural Health Mission(NRHM) since 2005.
• The program consists of vaccination for ten diseases- tuberculosis, diphtheria, pertussis (whooping cough), tetanus, poliomyelitis, measles, Hepatitis B, Diarrhoea, Japanese Encephalitis and Pneumonia.
• Hepatitis B was added to the UIP in 2007.
• In 2014 it was announced that four vaccines will be added to the program, namely rotavirus, rubella and Japanese encephalitis, as well as the injectable polio vaccine.

About Mission Indhradhanush:

• Mission Indradhanush was launched by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India on December 25, 2014.
• Between 2009-2013 immunization coverage has increased from 61% to 65%, indicating only 1% increase in coverage every year.
• To accelerate the process of immunization by covering 5% and more children every year, Indradhanush mission has been adopted to achieve target of full coverage by 2020.

Objective:

• The Mission Indradhanush aims to cover all those children by 2020 who are either unvaccinated, or are partially vaccinated against vaccine preventable diseases.
• India’s Universal Immunisation Programme (UIP) provide free vaccines against 12 life threatening diseases, to 26 million children annually. 
• The Universal Immunization Programme provides life-saving vaccines to all children across the country free of cost to protect them against Tuberculosis, Diphtheria, Pertussis, Tetanus, Polio, Hepatitis B, Pneumonia and Meningitis due to Haemophilus Influenzae type b (Hib), Measles, Rubella, Japanese Encephalitis (JE) and Rotavirus diarrhoea. (Rubella, JE and Rotavirus vaccine in select states and districts).

India Cooling Action Plan (ICAP)

Highlights:

• ICAP aims at reducing cooling and refrigerant demand across sectors by 20-25 per cent by 2037-38. The ministry said ICAP will provide thermal comfort for all, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, double farmers’ income as with better cold chain infrastructure, a grower will get better value of produce.
• Aim is not merely to address the air conditioning issue by bringing better cooling gases, but provide larger thermal comfort to citizens.
• The overarching goal of ICAP is to provide sustainable cooling and thermal comfort for all while securing environmental and socio-economic benefits. This will also help in reducing both direct and indirect emissions.
• Plan provides an integrated vision towards cooling across sectors encompassing inter alia reduction of cooling demand, refrigerant transition, enhancing energy efficiency and better technology options with a 20 year time horizon.

Key benefits of ICAP:

The thrust of the India Cooling Action Plan (ICAP) is to look for synergies in actions for securing both environmental and socio-economic benefits. "The overarching goal of ICAP is to provide sustainable cooling and thermal comfort for all while securing environmental and socio-economic benefits for the society.

This will also help in reducing both direct and indirect emissions

The India Cooling Action seeks to

(i) reduce cooling demand across sectors by 20% to 25% by 2037-38

(ii) reduce refrigerant demand by 25% to 30% by 2037-38

(iii) Reduce cooling energy requirements by 25% to 40% by 2037-38

(iv) recognize "cooling and related areas" as a thrust area of research under the national S&T Programme

(v) training and certification of 100,000 servicing sector technicians by 2022-23, synergizing with Skill India Mission.

These actions will have significant climate benefits.

TRAFFIC

Background:

• With over 2000 Greater One-horned Rhinoceros and over 100 Royal Bengal Tigers among several other endangered wild species in Kaziranga Tiger Reserve as well as in other wildlife areas of the state, Assam is undoubtedly a bright spot of biodiversity not just in the country but also at the global level.
• However, due to these extremely rich bio-resources, the State also remains a prime target of wildlife poachers, smugglers and traders who have now extended their nefarious activities on cyberspace as well.

The purpose behind the workshop

• Illegal wildlife trade is one of the most significant threats to wildlife and has now grown to spread its wings across cyberspace.
• This has been a major concern in wildlife law enforcement in the country considering that the internet users are increasing every day resulting in a growing expanse of a network of poachers, traders, and consumers on this platform.
• To deal with this, TRAFFIC in collaboration with WWF-India, NTCA and PRTS had launched a new programme titled 'CyberCLAW' through which specialized trainings are conducted for the forest officials for combatting wildlife crime on cyber space.
• The workshop in Kaziranga was the second in the series with the first one having been organized on 26-27 December 2018, at Corbett Tiger Reserve for the forest officials of Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand.
• The training workshop in Kaziranga Tiger Reserve was carried on by experts in the field of monitoring cybercrime through sessions on intelligence, investigation, and search and seizure techniques; communication device investigation; cybercrime scene management; digital intelligence collection; wildlife forensics; telecom surveillance and Call Detail Record (CDR) analysis and IPDR - (CDR of IP address) analysis.

About TRAFFIC

• TRAFFIC, the wildlife trade monitoring network, is a leading non-governmental organisation working globally on trade in wild animals and plants in the context of both biodiversity conservation and sustainable development. TRAFFIC works closely with its founding organisations, IUCN and WWF. TRAFFIC in India operates as a programme division of WWF-India, the largest conservation organisation in India.
• TRAFFIC, the wildlife trade monitoring network, is a joint program of WWF and IUCN – the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
• TRAFFIC works to ensure that trade in wild plants and animals is not a threat to the conservation of nature. TRAFFIC has gained its greatest reputation from supporting CITES, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species.
• Since TRAFFIC was created in 1976 it has helped with the evolution of this international wildlife trade treaty.
• TRAFFIC North America (NA) works through its offices in the United States, Canada and Mexico, and with its programs in Central America and the Caribbean.
• TRAFFIC focuses on leveraging resources, expertise and awareness of the latest globally urgent species trade issues such as tiger parts, elephant ivory and rhino horn.
• Large scale commercial trade in commodities like timber and fisheries products are also addressed and linked to work on developing rapid results and policy improvements.

Orang National Park

About

• The Orang National Park also known as Rajiv Gandhi Orang National Park which is located on the north bank of the Brahmaputra River in the Darrang and Sonitpur districts of Assam, India.
• It was established as a sanctuary in 1985 and declared a national park on 13 April 1999.
• The park has a rich flora and fauna, including great Indian one-horned rhinoceros, pygmy hog, elephants, wild buffalo and tigers.
• It is the only stronghold of rhinoceros on the north bank of the Brahmaputra river.

Key Differences Between Wildlife Sanctuary and National Park

1. Wildlife sanctuary can be understood as the regions where wildlife and their habitat is protected from any disturbance. Conversely, a National park is the area of countryside, which is specifically designated for wildlife, where they can live freely and use the natural resources.
2. Wildlife Sanctuaries are famous for the conservation of wildlife, which includes animals, insects, microorganisms, birds, etc. of different genes and species. On the other hand, National Parks are highly known preserving the flora, fauna, landscape and historical objects.
3. Wildlife Sanctuaries aims at ensuring that a substantial population of the wildlife and their habitats are maintained. As against, National Parks safeguards the environmental, scenic and cultural heritage of the region.
4. When it comes to restrictions, national parks are highly restricted areas, which are not open to all the people, whereas wildlife sanctuaries have lesser restrictions than national parks.
5. To visit national parks, official permission is to be taken from the requisite authorities. In contrast, no official permission is to be taken to visit a wildlife sanctuary.
6. Boundaries of wildlife sanctuaries are not sacrosanct. However, the national parks have clearly marked boundaries.
7. Human activities are allowed to a limited extent in the wildlife sanctuaries, but in case of national parks, they are strictly prohibited by the authorities.

Cloud Seeding

What is cloud seeding?

Cloud seeding or weather modification is an artificial way to induce moisture in the clouds so as to cause a rainfall. In this process, either silver iodide or dry ice is dumped onto the clouds by using an aircraft or an artillery gun which leads to a rain shower. After some research, hygroscopic materials like table salt  are being increasingly used. Water managers are also seeing cloud seeding as one way of increasing winter snowfall.

Who started it?

While researching aircraft icing, General Electric (GE)'s Vincent Schaefer and Nobel prize winner Irving Langmuir confirmed the theory. Schaefer finally discovered the invaluable principle of cloud seeding in July 1946 through a series of events. The first attempt to change natural clouds in the field through "cloud seeding" began during a New York flight on 13 November 1946

There are three cloud seeding methods: static, dynamic and hygroscopic.

1. Static cloud seeding involves spreading a chemical like silver iodide into clouds. The silver iodide provides a crystal around which moisture can condense. The moisture is already present in the clouds, but silver iodide essentially makes rain clouds more effective at dispensing their water.
2. Dynamic cloud seeding aims to boost vertical air currents, which encourages more water to pass through the clouds, translating into more rain [source: Cotton]. Up to 100 times more ice crystals are used in dynamic cloud seeding than in the static method. The process is considered more complex than static clouding seeding because it depends on a sequence of events working properly. Dr. William R. Cotton, a professor of atmospheric science at Colorado State University, and other researchers break down dynamic cloud seeding into 11 separate stages. An unexpected outcome in one stage could ruin the entire process, making the technique less dependable than static cloud seeding.
3. Hygroscopic cloud seeding disperses salts through flares or explosives in the lower portions of clouds. The salts grow in size as water joins with them. In his report on cloud seeding, Cotton says that hygroscopic cloud seeding holds much promise, but requires further research.