Relevance IN - Prelims (about FSDC - aim and objectives) + Mains (GS III Economic development)
What's the NEWS

• The Union Minister for Finance & Corporate Affairs chaired the 22nd Meeting of the Financial Stability and Development Council (FSDC)
• The meeting reviewed the current global and domestic macro-economic situation, financial stability and vulnerabilities issues, major issues likely to be faced by banks and other financial institutions as also regulatory and policy responses, Liquidity / Solvency of NBFCs/HFCs/MFIs and other related issues.

• Financial Stability and Development Council (FSDC) is an apex-level body (non- statutory body) constituted by the government of India.
• The idea to create such a super regulatory body was first mooted by the Raghuram Rajan Committee in 2008.
• It was constituted in December, 2010.
• No funds are separately allocated to the council for undertaking its activities.

• Governor Reserve Bank of India (RBl),
• Finance Secretary and/ or Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs (DEA),
• Secretary, Department of Financial Services (DFS),
• Secretary, Ministry of Corporate Affairs,
• Secretary, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology,
• Chief Economic Advisor, Ministry of Finance,
• Chairman, Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI),
• Chairman, Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA),
• Chairman, Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA),
• Chairman, Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (IBBI)
• Additional Secretary, Ministry of Finance, DEA, will be the Secretary of the Council
• The Chairperson may invite any person whose presence is deemed necessary for any of its meeting(s).

• The ministry of electronics and information technology (MeitY) secretary has also been included in the FSDC in view of the increased focus of the government on digital economy.

• Financial Stability
• Financial Sector Development
• Inter-Regulatory Coordination (regulators i.e. RBI,IRDA,SEBI,PFRDA)
• Financial Literacy
• Financial Inclusion
• Macro prudential supervision of the economy including the functioning of large financial conglomerates
• Coordinating India's international interface with financial sector bodies like the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), Financial Stability Board (FSB)and any such body as may be decided by the Finance Minister from time to time.

Relevance IN - Prelims ( about invasive species + role of ballast water) + Mains ( GS III Environment conservation)
What's the NEWS

• An invasive mussel native to the South and Central American coasts is spreading quickly in the backwaters of Kerala, elbowing out other mussel and clam species and threatening the livelihoods of fishermen engaged in molluscan fisheries.
• The rapid spread of the Charru mussel (Mytella strigata) may have been triggered by Cyclone Ockhi which struck the region in 2017
• In all probability, the mussel reached the Indian shores attached to ship hulls or as larval forms in ballast water discharges.
• Cyclone Ockhi may have simply sped up their invasion of inland waters.

• Cruise ships, large tankers, and bulk cargo carriers use a huge amount of ballast water, which is often taken on in the coastal waters in one region after ships discharge wastewater or unload cargo, and discharged at the next port of call, wherever more cargo is loaded.
• Ballast water discharge typically contains a variety of biological materials, including plants, animals, viruses, and bacteria.
• These materials often include non-native, nuisance, exotic species that can cause extensive ecological and economic damage to aquatic ecosystems, along with serious human health issues including death.

• An invasive species can be any kind of living organism-an amphibian (like the cane toad), plant, insect, fish, fungus, bacteria, or even an organism's seeds or eggs-that is not native to an ecosystem and causes harm.
• They can harm the environment, the economy, or even human health. Species that grow and reproduce quickly, and spread aggressively, with potential to cause harm, are given the label "invasive."

Relevance IN - Prelims ( about ANITA + Askaryan effect + Neutrinos)
What's the NEWS

• A team of researchers have succeeded in finding "a fountain of high-energy particles erupting from the ice" in Antarctica which according to the researchers could be proof of a parallel universe.

• ANITA succeeded in detecting the 'fountain' of high-energy particles in 2006 and 2014 but the researchers initially thought them as background noise or glitches.
• ANITA succeeded in detecting the 'fountain' of high-energy particles in 2006 and 2014 but the researchers initially thought them as background noise or glitches.

• Designed by world's premier space agency NASA, the ANITA instrument is a radio telescope which is used to detect ultra-high energy cosmic-ray neutrinos from a scientific balloon flying over Antarctica.
• ANITA is the first NASA observatory for neutrinos of any kind.
• The neutrinos have energies on the order of 1018 eV and they are capable of producing radio pulses in the ice because of the Askaryan effect.
• ANITA instrument detects these ultra-high energy neutrinos by use of the Askaryan effect.
• ANITA can help in explaining the origin of these cosmic rays.
• ANITA has made four flights of Antarctica continent and managed to detect numerous cosmic rays coming from the sky within the field of view of the experiment (four major cosmic ray detections)
• These radio waves are created by cosmic ray air showers and they are reflected off the ice before they reach ANITA.
• However, two of these detections have proofs that they are generated from the ice below.

• A phenomenon where a particle travelling at a velocity faster than light in a dense electric medium (such as salt, ice or the lunar regolith),produces shower of secondary charged particles.
• It predicts the production of a coherent radio emission from the cascade of particles produced in a high-energy particle interaction

• They are subatomic particles with no electric charge and with a very small mass.
• They are considered to be the second most abundant particle in the universe after photons or light particles.

• India officially acceded to the Antarctic Treaty System on 1st August 1983.
• On 12 September 1983, India became the fifteenth Consultative Member of the Antarctic Treaty.
• The Indian Antarctic program is bound by the rules of the Antarctic Treaty System,

• Under the environmental protocol of the Antarctic Treaty (1959), India has set up three research stations up till now.

• The first Indian scientific research base

• Maitri is the gateway for Indian scientists to venture into interior Antarctic mountains

• It was established in 2015 (newest base commissioned )
• Bharati made India an elite member of the club of 9 nations that have multiple stations in the region
• In line with the Antarctic Treaty System, Bharati can be completely disassembled and removed without leaving even a brick behind

• It is India's premier R&D institution responsible for the country's research activities in the polar and Southern Ocean realms.
• It was established as an autonomous Research and Development Institution of the Ministry of Earth Sciences (formerly Department of Ocean Development), Government of India on the 25th May 1998.
• It is responsible for the country's research activities in the Polar and Southern Ocean realms.
• It is responsible for administering the Indian Antarctic Programme and maintains the Indian government's Antarctic research stations, Bharati and Maitri and the Indian Arctic base "Himadri".

• storing ice core samples, from Antarctica and the Himalayas.
• operating the Himadri and IndARC Arctic research stations in Svalbard, Norway.
• managing the oceanic research vessel ORV Sagar Kanya, the flagship of India's fleet of oceanographic study vessels.

Relevance IN - Prelims ( about cheetah and its different subspecies) + Mains ( GS III Environment conservation)
What's the NEWS

• Naturalists in Algeria have filmed a Saharan cheetah, a subspecies listed as critically endangered on the IUCN Red List, for the first time in a decade

• The Northwest African cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus hecki), also known as the Saharan cheetah, is a cheetah subspecies native to the Sahara and the Sahel.
• It is listed as Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List.
• The most elusive wild cat in the world - the Sahara cheetah - was spotted after a decade in Algeria.
• The Saharan cheetah's range is now limited to isolated pockets across the Sahara and Sahel from Mali in the west to the Central African Republic in the east.
• The main countries where it is found include Algeria, Chad, Mali, Benin, Burkina Faso and Niger. However, it is now extinct from most of the countries in wild.
• In 2012, the International Union for Conservation of Nature estimated the remaining population in Algeria at just 37 individuals.

• The cheetah, Acinonyx jubatus, is one of the oldest of the big cat species, with ancestors that can be traced back more than five million years to the Miocene era.
• It is a large cat native to Africa and central Iran.
• The cheetah is also the world's fastest land mammal, an icon of nature. With great speed and dexterity, the cheetah is known for being an excellent hunter, its kills feeding many other animals in its ecosystem-ensuring that multiple species survive.
• In 2016, the global cheetah population was estimated at around 7,100 individuals in the wild; it is listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List.

• Northwest African cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus hecki) is a subspecies of Cheetah endemic to Sahara and the Sahel regions of Africa.
• IUCN Status - Vulnerable
• Today, the cheetah is found only in the arid regions of eastern Iran in Asia and in Botswana, Namibia and South Africa.
• Saharan Cheetah is different from other Cheetah species in Africa because of shorter coat and nearly white colour. Its face has few or no spots and tear stripes are almost absent.

• The Asiatic cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus venaticus), also known as Iranian or Persian cheetah
• This subspecies is confined to central Iran, and is the only surviving cheetah population in Asia.
• As of 2016, only 43 individuals were estimated to survive in three subpopulations scattered in Iran's central plateau.
• It is listed as Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List.

• The Supreme Court allowed the introduction of African Cheetahs to a suitable habitat in India.
• The National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) told a bench of the Supreme Court that African cheetahs would be translocated in India from Namibia and would be kept at Nauradehi wildlife sanctuary in Madhya Pradesh.
• India's last spotted cheetah died in 1947 and the animal was declared extinct in the country in 1952.

• African Cheetah - IUCN Status - Vulnerable
• Asian Cheetah - IUCN Status - Critically Endangered
• Saharan Cheetah - IUCN Status - Critically Endangered

• Union Minister of Finance & Corporate Affairs Nirmala Sitharaman attended the Special Board of Governors meeting of the New Development Bank (NDB) through video-conference

• The agenda included the election of next President of NDB, appointment of Vice-President and Chief Risk Officer and membership expansion.
• Finance Minister congratulated newly-elected President Mr. Marcos Troyjo from Brazil and newly-appointed Vice President and CRO, Mr Anil Kishora from India.
• Brazil's Marcos Troyjo succeeded India's KV Kamath as president of the New Development Bank (NDB).
• Since its establishment in 2014, the NDB has approved an amount of $16.6 billion for 55 projects.
• The idea for setting up the bank was proposed by India to the BRICS nations at the 6th BRICS Summit in Fortaleza, Brazil in 2014 and formally came into existence in 2015 with headquarters in Shanghai.

Know! about NDB

• The New Development Bank (NDB), is a multilateral development bank established by the BRICS states (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa).
• The Bank supports public or private projects through loans, guarantees, equity participation and other financial instruments.
• The NDB cooperates with international organizations and other financial entities, and provide technical assistance for projects to be supported by the Bank.
• The initial authorized capital of the bank is $100 billion
• The initial subscribed capital of the NDB is $50 billion divided into paid-in shares ($10 billion) and callable shares ($40 billion).
• The initial subscribed capital of the bank was equally distributed among the founding members.
• The voting power of each member will be equal to the number of its subscribed shares in the capital stock of the bank.

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