Daily News Compilation (HINDU) for 6th June

300 new species found in Greater Mekong

Some facts:

1. A series of high-flying creatures, including giant flying frogs and squirrels and a parachute gecko, are among the hundreds of exotic new species recently discovered in the greater Mekong region in south-east Asia.
2. A new eyeless spider and a fish that mates head-to-head are also highlighted in a report from World Wildlife Fund on the extraordinary biodiversity in the forests surrounding the Mekong river, which runs through Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam and China, and is also home to about 325 million people.

High extinction rates:

1. Human activities such as the destruction of habitats, hunting and the pollution of land and water have driven extinction rates to 1000 times faster than the natural rate.
2. Among the 21 new amphibian species discovered is Helen’s flying frog, discovered less than 62 miles from Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam. The huge green frog managed to evade biologists until recently by using its large, webbed hands and feet to glide between treetops and only coming down to breed in rain pools. It was found in a patch of forest surrounded by farmland, highlighting the urgent need for conservation.
3. Also discovered in Vietnam was a tiny new fish with a very complex anatomy which includes having its sex organs just behind its mouth. As a result, it mates head-to-head.

Modi-Obama talks in September

PM has accepted US invitation to hold a bilateral summit. The invitation itself is a departure from US protocols for a second year in Row. U.S. officials “went out of the way” to suggest dates around the UNGA but the exact date of the meeting is still being worked out.

For years, the U.S. officials have discouraged bilateral visits by world leaders dove-tailed with the U.N. General Assembly session in September. Last year they made a rare exception for Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who had hoped to meet Mr. Obama in his last visit to the U.S. as PM.

This year, a very different circumstance has necessitated the U.S. exception being repeated for Prime Minister Mr. Modi. The last year has seen a low in Indo-U.S relations that rivals cold-war era ties over the Khobragade affair.

Also, decisions are pending on several deals, including on FDI in retail, nuclear business, and defence purchases, while India's push for H1B visas, and outsourcing contracts have been rebuffed in the past years. Washington is the hoping that that under a reform-friendly Modi administration reform in sectors such as insurance, banking will be quicker than it used to be.

Thimphu will be first stop for Modi

Keeping his focus on neighbours, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has decided to make his first trip abroad to India’s closest ally, Bhutan.
With this decision, Mr. Modi is making it clear that the neighbourhood is his immediate priority. He began his tenure in office by inviting all SAARC leaders to his swearing-in and will travel to Kathmandu for the SAARC summit slated for November.
Bhutan’s Prime Minister Tshering Tobgay will host Mr. Modi. He will also meet with King Jigme Wangchuck.

Colombo rejects Jayalalithaa’s allegations

Sri Lanka has lashed out at Tamil Nadu CM for her “wild allegations” of “a pogrom and genocide” against the island nation in a memorandum to Prime Minister Narendra Modi earlier this week. They hoped that the Prime Minister will stand by the right side [Sri Lanka’s side].

Devolution risky
In another development, the Sri Lankan government has told India that it would be risky for it to devolve police powers as per the 13th Amendment to its Constitution, which followed the Indo-Lanka Accord of 1987.
President Rajapaksa had clearly expressed the view that devolution of police powers to the provincial councils would result in “undesirable repercussions.”

Prime Minister Modi urged President Rajapaksa — at the bilateral meeting held in New Delhi after Mr Modi’s swearing-in — to deliver on his promises to devolve wide powers to the provincial councils, including those with a majority of Tamils.

ECB hurls cash at euro zone economy, says not done yet

The European Central Bank cut interest rates to record lows on Thursday, launched a series of measures to pump money into the sluggish euro zone economy, and pledged to do more if needed to fight off the risk of Japan-like deflation.

What are the Measures?

• Interest rates have been slashed to a record low and will stay low for a prolonged period.
• For the first time, the ECB will charge banks for parking funds at the central bank overnight in an attempt to force them to lend to small- and medium-sized businesses.
• ECB extended the duration of unlimited cheap liquidity for euro zone banks, injecting about 170 billion.
• These measures would ease pressure on the strong euro, which is threatening economic recovery and importing disinflation.
• The bank stopped short of full-fledged quantitative easing (QE) - printing money to buy assets - but ECB President Mario Draghi said more action would come if necessary. 

Why these measures?
Euro zone is still plagued by low inflation, a weak recovery and weak monetary and credit dynamics.
Inflation has been stuck in "the danger zone" below 1% since October, mainly because of weaker commodity and food prices, but also because of wage and other adjustments in euro zone crisis countries.
If required, ECB can further ease the monetary policy and may use unconventional instruments to further address risks of too prolonged a period of low inflation.

France happy, Germany silent
French President Francois Hollande, who has been calling for months for ECB action to weaken the euro's exchange rate, which Paris argues is holding back economic recovery, welcomed the central bank's decision.
The International Monetary Fund, which has also pressed the ECB to take robust action, welcomed Thursday's announcements a "very proactive stance".
German Chancellor Angela Merkel declined comment, noting that the ECB took its decisions independently of governments. Her finance minister said low interest rates were not a long-term solution.
“Low rates are unpopular in Germany, Europe's biggest economy, because they are seen as penalising savers.”

Lack of real time data to impact policy making

The Statistics Ministry has been left out of the “high-priority” economic policy group that includes the Finance and Infrastructure Ministries.

The exclusion of the Statistics Ministry from the economic policy group assumes significance in view of the challenges lack of reliable data pose to economic policy-making. The importance of such data is greater given the Government’s focus on the economy’s revival.

The Statistics Ministry oversees the major sources for economic data such as the Central Statistics Office (CSO) and the National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO).

Unreliable data on employment
India does not have reliable data on jobs. Unlike in developed countries such as the United States where joblessness data comes in every month, the NSSO conducts surveys on employment only once every five years. For the intervening years, economic policy makers use the same old data.

Long lags
Problems with economic data include long lags in making baskets truly representative such as in the case of the wholesale price index (WPI), which does not include services even though the rises in the cost of health services and education are among the biggest components on household budgets.

Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had appointed several committees for recommendations on economy data. A committee headed by EAC chairman C. Rangarajan is expected to submit a report soon on issues pertaining to poverty estimates.

Economic data has to be reliably sourced, accurate and as close to real time as possible for policy responses to be meaningful and then for validation of outcomes of the policy decisions taken. The Modi government will find it worthwhile to invest in upgrading the data machinery.

Sumitra Mahajan to be elected Speaker today

Veteran BJP parliamentarian Sumitra Mahajan is all set to be elected the Lok Sabha Speaker unopposed on Friday as no other candidate is in the fray.

From the BJP benches, PM and two senior Cabinet colleagues filed motions proposing Ms. Mahajan’s name. Leaders of 16 non-BJP parties filed similar motions in her favour. Any member can propose a motion to  in writing to the chair

The linguistic diversity of India was in full flow with most members preferring to take oath in their mother tongue. A sizeable number of members, beginning with Ms. Swaraj, opted for Sanskrit, though some were caught fumbling.

Leader of Opposition

While the Speaker will decide whether there should be an official Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, following posts are conventionally left for the Opposition:

• Deputy Speaker of Lok Sabha
• Chairman of Public Accounts Committee (PAC)
• Chairman of the Standing Committee on Finance

Sources indicated that the BJP would distribute these posts among the prominent Opposition parties, including the Congress, AIADMK, TMC and BJD.

Election Of Speaker 
Any member may give notice in writing, addressed to the Secretary-General, of a motion that another member be chosen as the Speaker of the House, and the notice shall be seconded by a third member and shall be accompanied by a statement by the member whose name is proposed in the notice that he is willing to serve as Speaker, if elected. Provided that a member shall not propose his own name, or second a motion proposing his own name, or propose or second more than one motion.

Nomination of Panel of Chairmen 
The Speaker shall nominate from amongst the members a panel of not more than ten Chairmen, anyone of whom may preside over the House in the absence of the Speaker and the Deputy Speaker when so requested by the Speaker or, in his absence, by the Deputy Speaker.  

Power of Deputy Speaker or other member presiding 
The Deputy Speaker or any other member competent to preside over a sitting of the House under the Constitution or these rules shall, when so presiding, have the same powers as the Speaker when so presiding.

Monsoon to make landfall anytime now

The India Meteorological Department said the conditions were favourable for the onset of the monsoon. By Friday, it will hit Kerala, the Maldives-Comorin area, some parts of Tamil Nadu and some more parts of Bay of Bengal.

As on Thursday, the northern limit of the flow of the monsoon was passing over a point some 300 km to the south of the tip of the peninsula and curving in the northeast direction across the Bay of Bengal. 

The Andaman territory had come under the spell of the monsoon as early as May 18. The cross-equatorial southwest flow of rain-heavy winds had been slower than usual in spreading northwards this time.

The IMD charts predicted the possibility of the first major weather system of the season evolving over southeast Arabian Sea within four days.

Beginning as a cyclonic circulation over the Kerala-Lakshadweep area by June 8, it may develop into a low-pressure system over southeast Arabian Sea and intensify over the next days and move north. This system may work as a pulley lifting the northern limit of the monsoon up north. Much of the heavy rainfall associated with this system is forecast to happen in the seas off the west coast, but the entire west coast may get rain.

A feeble offshore trough continued to persist from the Karnataka to Kerala coasts at mean sea level on Thursday and the IMD said it would continue to persist during the next two days, promising widespread rainfall along the Kerala-Karnataka coast.

States have been alerted to be prepared with contingency plans for kharif (paddy) sowing. To review the situation, the Cabinet Secretary has convened a meeting of the Committee of Secretaries on Saturday.

In its first forecast, the IMD had said rain in 2014 was expected to be 95 per cent of the long-period average (LPA, an average of 50 years) — 89 cm. Rainfall between 96 and 104 per cent of LPA is considered normal.

It had said there was a 60 per cent chance of the El Nino weather phenomenon, which causes low rain, to impact monsoon during August-September.

New edible films to preserve bread longer

New edible films containing oils from clove and oregano can preserve bread longer than commercial additives. The search for new ways to keep packaged food from spoiling has led some scientists to essential oils, which can keep bacteria and mould at bay.

Essential oils have boomed in popularity as more people seek out alternatives to replace their synthetic cleaning products, anti-mosquito sprays and medicines. Now scientists are tapping them as candidates to preserve food in a more consumer-friendly way.

Bread is a common staple around the world and is often kept fresh with calcium propionate. Though naturally occurring, some research suggesting negative side effects have tarnished its popularity.

Essential Oils:
Essential oils are natural aromatic compounds found in the seeds, bark, stems, roots, flowers, and other parts of plants. An oil is "essential" in the sense that it carries a distinctive scent, or essence, of the plant. Essential oils do not form a distinctive category for any medical, pharmacological, or culinary purpose and they are not essential for health.

Forget life on Mars, we cannot relocate

(Submitting as it was printed, not much relevant for mains but good points for Essay, nevertheless, an interesting read)
If they found on Mars a single blade of grass there would be ecstasy at mission control, unleashing visions of humanity spreading out across the cosmos. But does the obsession with finding life on other, potentially habitable planets somehow excuse and blind us to the trashing of this one? News of the discovery of yet another Earth-like planet fuels the fantasy that if we scorch our own, we can always relocate. From Richard Branson to Stephen Hawking, there’s a hypnotic fascination with the possibility of escape which somehow relieves the pressure to look after our own, extraordinary planetary home.
As we tremble with anticipation at the prospect of finding a single microbe on another planet, under our feet we’re willfully executing a mass extinction event. Once a fashionable cause, threats to our forests, cradles to the diversity of life, have been largely forgotten. But this century we’ve been losing them at the astonishing rate of 50 football pitches per minute. That’s an area the size of Greenland since the turn of the millennium.
All attempts to reconcile the industrial-scale exploitation of the biosphere by staying the right side of key environmental thresholds are failing. Forest-certification schemes, for example, have done nothing to slow their degradation. Why do we treat the abundance of life on our doorstep with such disrespect, when it throws up glories like the Namibian fog-basking beetle, which taught us how to build greenhouses in the desert? Or the bark beetle, which can detect a forest fire 10km away and is showing how to make better fire extinguishers? Even worse, the very people who put their lives on the line to protect land and the environment are being killed at an accelerating pace.