Relevance In - Prelims ( about D-SIBs) + Mains ( GS III economic development)

What's the NEWS
• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has announced that SBI, ICICI and HDFC Banks would continue as Domestic Systemically Important Banks (D-SIBs) for 2018.

• Inclusion in the list gives additional comfort to investors that these banks won't be allowed to fail and therefore, borrowing costs of these banks from the markets are cheaper than their peers

Know! about D -SIBs
• Domestic Systemically Important Banks (D-SIBs) recognition implies that banks are too big to fail.

• This creates an expectation of government support for them in times of financial distress.
• As per the norms, these banks will have to set aside more capital for their continued operation.

• RBI comes with the list every year since 2015. Inclusion in D-SIB indicates that failure of any of these banks would have a cascading effect on Indian financial system.

• As a result, banks enjoy certain advantages in funding markets. Inclusion in the list gives additional comfort to investors that these banks won't be allowed to fail and therefore, borrowing costs of these banks from the markets are cheaper than their peers.

• Inclusion in D-SIB also implies that the failure of any of these banks would have a cascading effect on the Indian financial system.

Disaster Management
3rd Indo-Japan Workshop on Disaster Risk Reduction held in New Delhi
Relevance IN - Mains ( GS III disaster management)

What's the NEWS
• The 3rd Indo-Japan Workshop on Disaster Risk Reduction was held recently

• The workshop was attended by about 140 delegates from Japan and India including experts from both the governments, top premium research institutes, city administrators, specialized Disaster Management agencies and private sector.

Know! more about the workshop
• The Government of India and the Government of Japan had signed a Memorandum of Cooperation (MoC) in the field of Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) in September 2017.

• The 3rd Indo-Japan workshop is the follow-up of the deliberations held during the 1st Indo-Japan Workshop on DRR held on March 18-19, 2018 in New Delhi as well as during the 2nd Indo-Japan workshop on DRR held on October 13-15, 2018 in Tokyo, Japan.

• The 3rd workshop was organized with an objective of enhancing collaboration between research institutes, cities and the private sector in the field of Disaster Risk Reduction.

• The significance of three themes set for this workshop as collaboration amongst research institutes, among cities and among private companies, from the point of view that Disaster Risk Reduction should involve various stakeholders, and expressed Japan's continuous support to India's challenges towards DRR in every possible way.

International Workshop on Disaster Resilient Infrastructure

What's the NEWS
• An International Workshop on Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (IWDRI) inaugurated today

• The two-day workshop is being organised by the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) in collaboration with United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR), and in partnership with the Global Commission on Adaptation, United Nations Development Programme and the World Bank.

Know! all about the workshop
The workshop aims to
i) identify good practices of disaster risk management in key infrastructure sectors

ii) identify specific areas and pathways for collaborative research on DRI (Transport, Energy, Telecom and Water)
iii) discuss and co-create the broad contours of the Coalition for Disaster Resilient
Infrastructure (CDRI) as well as a notional roll-out plan for the next three years, and

iv) build a forum for members to work on areas of common interest and make specific commitments.

• It will bring together countries from different parts of the world, multilateral development banks, UN agencies, academia and research institutions, the private sector, academics and policy think tanks to discuss and collaborate on promoting policies and practices towards achieving disaster resilience of large infrastructure systems (transport, telecom, energy, water).

• This will also be a great opportunity to learn from the unique experiences of different countries.

Know! about the various international agreements

• Various international agreements have also reiterated the importance and long-term benefits of investing in resilient infrastructure.

• The Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction (SFDRR), 2015-2030, which is the first major agreement of the post-2015 development agenda, identifies investing in Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) for resilience and to build back better in reconstruction as priorities for action towards reducing disaster risk.

• Similarly, Goal 9 of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) recognizes disaster resilient infrastructure as a crucial driver of economic growth and development.

• The first International Workshop on Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (IWDRI 2018) was held in January 2018.
• This workshop will further build upon some of the ideas generated at the IWDRI 2018 as a crucial milestone towards the establishment of the Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI).

• The CDRI is envisaged as a knowledge exchange and capacity development partnership. India announced the creation of a CDRI soon after the Asian Ministerial Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction, which was held in New Delhi in 2016.

Defence

Theatre Level Readiness and Operational Exercise (TROPEX)
Relevance IN - Prelims( about TROPEX)

What's the NEWS
• Chief of Naval Staff Admiral Sunil Lanba arrived in Kochi for a debriefing of the recently concluded annual Theatre Level Readiness and Operational Exercise (TROPEX) held earlier this year in the Arabian Sea and north Indian Ocean.

• The day-long review of TROPEX 2019 was undertaken to examine the conduct of the exercise and to assess the operational readiness of the Indian Navy.

Know! about the Exercise
• The exercise that began in January graduated smoothly into providing the Navy a high operational readiness posture post the Pulwama attack on February 14.

• Around 60 Naval ships, 12 ships of Indian Coast Guard and 60 aircraft, participated in TROPEX 19.

• The exercise also included a Tri-services Amphibious Exercise that saw the participation of the Army and the Air Force.

• Commanders-in-Chief of all the three naval commands along with a number of senior operational commanders and representatives from the Indian Army, Air Force, and the Indian Coast Guard participated in the discussions held at Naval Base, Kochi.

Know! more about TROPEX
• The Annual Integrated Theatre Level Operational Readiness Exercise - in short TROPEX - the largest maritime exercise of the Indian Navy was conducted in the month of February in the Arabian Sea and North Indian Ocean.

• TROPEX 2019 was thus far the largest in terms of geographical extent covering the IOR, and also with regard to number of units participating.

• The exercise was conducted from 07 Jan 19 and graduated smoothly into providing the IN a high operational readiness posture post the Pulwama attack on 14 Feb 19.

• About 60 ships of Indian Navy, 12 ships of Indian Coast Guard and 60 aircraft participated in TROPEX 19.
• The exercise also included a Tri-services Amphibious Exercise that saw the participation of Army and Air Force personnel and assets.

• As a prelude to TROPEX, the largest coastal defence exercise over codenamed ‘Sea Vigil', was conducted on 22 and 23 Jan 19 with participation of all coastal states and union territories along with all maritime stake holders.

Opening ceremony: Africa-India Field Training Exercise-2019

What's the NEWS
• The inaugural Africa-India Field Training Exercise-2019 for India and African nations called AFINDEX-19 scheduled from 18 March to 27 March 2019 started with a grand opening ceremony on 18 March 2019 at Aundh Military Station, Pune.

Know! more about AFINDEX -19
• Contingents of the 17 African Nations i.e. Benin, Botswana, Egypt, Ghana, Kenya, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe came together for the opening ceremony alongwith a contingent of Maratha Light Infantry representing India.

• The aim of the exercise is to practice the participating nations in planning and conduct of Humanitarian Mine Assistance and Peace Keeping Operations under Chapter VII of United Nations Peace Keeping Operations.

• The exercise will focus on exchange of best practices between the participating nations, team building and tactical level operations in conduct of United Nations mandated tasks to include establishment of a new mission, siting of a United Nations Headquarters for Peace Keeping operations, siting of Military Observer sites during the peace keeping missions, protection of civilians, nuances of standing combat deployment, convoy protection, patrolling aspects and aspects related to Humanitarian Mine Assistance.

Geophysical Phenomena
Tropical Cyclone Idai

Relevance IN - Prelims ( about Idai cyclone) + Mains - GS I Important geophysical phenomena

What's the NEWS
• Flooding caused by the Tropical Cyclone Idai weather system since early March had affected more than 1 million people

• Idai has caused huge deaths and economic losses in Mozambique, Malawi, Zimbabwe, and South Africa.

• Cyclone Idai made landfall on Mozambique and later moved in a westerly direction.

• Idai is the deadliest Tropical cyclone witnessed in 2019.Idai originated from a tropical depression that formed off the eastern coast of Mozambique and made landfall in Mozambique.

Know! about Tropical Cyclone
• A tropical cyclone is a rapidly rotating storm system characterized by a low-pressure center, a closed low-level atmospheric circulation, strong winds, and a spiral arrangement of thunderstorms that produce heavy rain.

• Depending on its location and strength, a tropical cyclone is referred to by different names, including hurricane typhoon ,tropical storm, cyclonic storm, tropical depression, and simply cyclone.

• A hurricane is a tropical cyclone that occurs in the Atlantic Ocean and northeastern Pacific Ocean, and a typhoon occurs in the northwestern Pacific Ocean; in the south Pacific or Indian Ocean, comparable storms are referred to simply as "tropical cyclones" or "severe cyclonic storms

• Tropical Cyclone is an intense low-pressure area or a whirl in the atmosphere over tropical or sub-tropical waters, with organised convection, circulating either anti-clockwise (in the northern hemisphere) or clockwise (in the southern hemisphere).

Conditions which favour Tropical Cyclone Formation
• A source of warm, moist air derived from tropical oceans with sea surface temperature normally near to or in excess of 27 °C

• Winds near the ocean surface blowing from different directions converging and causing air to rise and storm clouds to form
• Winds which do not vary greatly with height known as low wind shear. This allows the storm clouds to rise vertically to high levels.
• Coriolis force/spin induced by the rotation of the Earth. The formation mechanisms vary across the world, but once a cluster of storm clouds starts to rotate, it becomes a tropical depression.

• If it continues to develop it becomes a tropical storm, and later a cyclone/ super cyclone. Pressure increases outwards from the centre of a cyclonic storm.

• The amount of the pressure drop in the centre and the rate at which it increases outwards gives the intensity of the cyclones and the strength of winds.

Steps taken by India
• The Indian Navy had launched a Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR) operation in coordination with local officials to evacuate about 5,000 people stranded at Buzi near Port Beira in Mozambique

Prelims Practise Question

Consider the following statements

1. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has announced that SBI, ICICI and HDFC Banks would continue as Domestic Systemically Important Banks (D-SIBs) for 2018.

2. Cyclone Idai made landfall on Mozambique and later moved in a westerly direction is the deadliest Tropical cyclone originated from a tropical depression that formed off the eastern coast of Mozambique and made landfall in Mozambique.

Find the correct statement from the option given below

a. 1 only
b. 2 only
c. Both
d. None

KEEP Learning KEEP Evolving
TEAM CL IAS