What's the NEWS

• The warships from the United States, France, Japan and Australia conducted their first-ever combined naval exercise in Asia.
• The new show of force by the US and its allies in the Bay of Bengal comes as the trade war picks up pace between the United States and China. The move could be aimed at undermining China's growing power in the region.

Know! more about the drill

• The United States was represented by its guided-missile destroyer, USS William P Lawrence, while France was represented by its aircraft carrier, FS Charles de Gaulle and its escorts.
• The two naval ships were joined by four other naval vessels including a helicopter carrier from Japan and a submarine from Australia.

Know! the Significance of this drill

• The United States and Japan have been looking to strengthen their defence ties with other nations in the Asia-Pacific region and nations like France and Britain to counter China's increasing influence in the Indo-Pacific region.
• The South China Sea is strategically extremely significant for the region, as it facilitates the flow of a third of the world's maritime trade.
• Recently, two US warships sailed near the islands in the South China Sea, prompting a protest from China that claims almost all of the South China Sea.
• China's claim to the sea is opposed by other nations in the region including Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan, Vietnam and Brunei, which have competing claims to parts of the sea.

Environment Conservation
MoU Signed for Rudraksh Plantation in Ganga Basin
Relevance IN - Prelims ( about the MoU and about Rudraksh ) + Mains ( GS III environment conservation)

What's the NEWS

• A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between National Mission for Clean Ganga, HCL Foundation and INTACH for taking up a project of ‘Plantation of Rudraksh Trees in Uttarakhand' as a part of CSR initiative under the ‘Namami Gange' Programme.
• The project aims at planting 10,000 Rudraksh trees in the catchment area of river Ganga in Uttarakhand in association with local community and other stakeholders
• It will also help in generating income for people residing in those areas.
• Namami Gange Mission aims at providing comprehensive and sustainable solutions for a cleaner ecosystem along the stretch of 97 towns and 4,465 villages on the Ganga stem and a public-private partnership will provide the initiative a much-needed impetus.

Know! about Rudraksh Tree

• Elaeocarpus ganitrus or Rudraksh Tree is a large evergreen tree. It has broad-leaves whose seed is traditionally used for prayer beads in Hinduism and Buddhism.
• Seeds of this tree are known as Rudraksh. It can be produced by several species of Elaeocarpus. But E. Ganitrus is most popular species which is used in the making of organic jewellery or mala.
• Rudraksh tree develops the fruit in three to four years. It is mainly found in Gangetic plain, foothills of Himalyas, Nepal, Indonesia etc.

Know! about Namami Gange Mission

• Namami Gange, is an Integrated Conservation Mission, approved as ‘Flagship Programme' by the Union Government in June 2014 with budget outlay of Rs.20,000 Crore to accomplish the twin objectives of effective abatement of pollution, conservation and rejuvenation of National River Ganga.

Focus areas of Namani Gange Programme are:

• Sewerage Treatment Infrastructure
• River-Surface Cleaning
• Afforestation
• Industrial Effluent Monitoring
• River-Front Development
• Bio-Diversity
• Public Awareness
• Ganga Gram

International Organisations
Nuclear test ban body offers India 'observer' status
Relevance IN - Prelims ( about CTBT ) + Mains ( GS II bilateral , regional and global grouping)

What's the NEWS

• The Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organisation (CTBTO) has offered India an "Observer" status and access to International Monitoring System (IMS) data.
• The executive secretary of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO), has invited India to be an observer in the CTBT.

What would be the benefits

• India will get rights to data from the International Monitoring System - IMS, also to a network that includes 337 facilities (321 monitoring stations and 16 radionuclide labs) located in 89 countries.
• This is an advance system that can be detected even small nuclear explosions using seismology, hydro-acoustics, infrasound and radionuclide technology.
• India will be able to access information of its neighbouring countries and their nuclear initiatives.

Know! about CTBT

• The Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) is an international treaty that is banning all nuclear explosions - everywhere, by everyone.
• The Treaty was negotiated at the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva and adopted by the United Nations General Assembly. It opened for signature on 24 September 1996. Since then 182 countries have signed the Treaty.
• Last country to do so was Trinidad and Tobago on 8 October 2009 which also ratified the Treaty on 26 May 2010.
• Total 154 countries have ratified the Treaty - most recently Ghana on 14 June 2011.

Know! more about the treaty

• It curbs the development of new nuclear weapons and the improvement of existing nuclear weapon designs.
• When the Treaty enters into force it provides a legally binding norm against nuclear testing. The Treaty also helps prevent human suffering and environmental damages caused by nuclear testing.
• However, the treaty has yet to come into force as it is considered "discriminatory" by several countries including India.
• India has not signed the treaty yet as it favours five nuclear weapon states -- China, US, Russia, France and UK. India wants the treaty to have a clause on complete nuclear disarmament.
• Although US and China have signed the treaty but they are yet to ratify it. Pakistan has also not signed the treaty as yet.

Economic Development
RBI releases 'Vision 2021' for e-payment system
Relevance IN - Prelims ( about Vision 2021 ) + Mains ( GS III economic development )

What's the NEWS

• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on May 15, 2019 released 'Payment and Settlement Systems in India: Vision 2019 - 2021', a vision document for safe, secure, quick and affordable e-payment system.
• The document was released after considering that the number of digital transactions are expected to increase over four times to 8707 crore by December 2021.

Theme

• The core theme of the vision document is ‘Empowering Exceptional (E)payment Experience', that stresses on empowering every Indian to access a bunch of e-payment options safely and conveniently.

Know! the highlights of Payment Systems Vision 2021

• The Payment Systems Vision 2021 states 36 specific action points and 12 specific outcomes.
• The document deliberates on boosting customer awareness, setting up a 24X7 helpline and self-regulatory organisation for e-payment service providers.
• The main agenda of the vision document is the 'no-compromise' approach towards safety and security of payment systems.

Know! the Objective
The vision document aims to achieve "a ‘highly digital' and ‘cash-lite' society through Goal Posts (4Cs):

• Competition
• Cost effectiveness
• Convenience
• Confidence

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