Air pollution from stubble burning costing India $30 bn annually: Study

Current Affairs

Air pollution due to crop residue burning in northern India is a leading risk factor of acute respiratory infections and causes an estimated economic loss of $30 billion annually, according to a study unveiled Monday.

Researchers from the US-based International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) and partner institutes found that living in districts with air pollution from intense crop residue burning (CRB) is a leading risk factor for acute respiratory infection (ARI), especially among children less than five years.

The study that estimates -- for the first time -- the health and economic costs of CRB in northern India also found that CRB leads to an estimated economic loss of over $30 billion annually.

"Poor air quality is a recognised global public health epidemic, with levels of airborne particulate matter in Delhi spiking to 20 times the World Health Organization's safety threshold during certain days," said Samuel Scott, IFPRI Research Fellow and co-author of the study.

"Among other factors, smoke from the burning of agricultural crop residue by farmers in Haryana and Punjab especially contributes to Delhi's poor air, increasing the risk of ARI three-fold for those living in districts with intense crop burning," Scott said in a statement.

The study also estimated the economic cost of exposure to air pollution from crop residue burning at $30 billion or nearly Rs 2 trillion annually for the three north Indian states of Punjab, Haryana and Delhi, researchers said.


 To be published in the upcoming edition of the International Journal of Epidemiology, the study analysed health data from more than 250,000 individuals of all ages residing in rural and urban areas in India...Read More

IAF hit the target in Balakot; we don't count kills: Air Chief BS Dhanoa

Current Affairs

Speaking on air strikes carried out by Indian Air Force (IAF) across the Line of Control (LoC) in Pakistan, Air Chief Marshal Birender Singh Dhanoa on Monday said that the IAF had hit the target in Balakot, otherwise why would Pakistan Prime Minister have responded.

"If we dropped bombs in the jungles, then why would he respond?", said Dhanoa.

He further added saying, "Death toll depends on the number of people present in the target, IAF doesn't count the number of dead", said the IAF chief.

"IAF is not in a position to clarify the number of casualties. The government will clarify that. We don't count human casualties, we count what targets we have hit or not", clarified Dhanoa.

Air Chief Marshal Dhanoa said that MiG21 used in shooting down Pakistan F-16 is an upgraded aircraft with advanced weapons system and the casualty figure in air strike on Balakot camp will be given by the government.

When asked when IAF Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman will be back his fighter jet cockpit, IAF chief Dhanoa said, "Whether he (Wing Commander Abhinandan) flies or not depends on his medical fitness.

That's why post-ejection, he has undergone a medical check. Whatever treatment required, will be given. Once we get his medical fitness, he will get into fighter cockpit," he said.All required treatment will be given to Wing Commander Abhinandan, Dhanoa said.


 The Air Force, Dhanoa said, has to get its act together and find out what caused the mid-air clash ahead of the opening of the Bengaluru air show on February 19 and helicopter crash in Kashmir last week.

Smaller nations are the world's healthiest, Canada tops list

Current Affairs

There’s more to life than money, and economists know it. As new assessments of global living standards proliferate, attempting to gauge how healthy, happy and successful humans are depending on where they live, a pattern is slowly emerging.

While slight variations in data can throw up different winners, smaller countries are increasingly dominating the top of the lists while big countries with booming economies fall behind.

A new analysis, the Global Wellness Index published by investment firm LetterOne, ranks Canada as the best country out of the 151 nations evaluated. The US trails far behind, coming in at 37. In a tighter ranking of G-20 nations combined with the 20 most populous countries on the planet, South Africa comes in dead last, below Ukraine, Egypt and Iraq.

Based on a basket of metrics ranging from government healthcare spending to rates of depression, alcohol use, smoking, happiness and exercise, the new index is the latest attempt by economists to evaluate the world beyond economic growth. Last month, Bloomberg’s own research named Spain the world’s healthiest country.

A common thread in both surveys, and others like them, is that the top ranks are increasingly filled with smaller countries. This may be tied to researchers developing new metrics for the modern world, measures that don’t necessarily correlate economic health with actual health—let alone wellness—at the expense of other, more nuanced barometers.


 “The old concerns about growth—that it does not include every country, or every person in growing countries—are ever present,” said Richard Davies, a former Bank of England and UK Treasury economist who compiled the Global Wellness Index...Read More

BS Best B-school Project Awards: Solving problems using cutting-edge tools

Current Affairs

Projects on efficient distribution of citywide electric vehicle charging stations, a budgetary tool for C-level executives, and a method for bringing about efficiency in network equipment logistics in telecom industry that resulted in crores of savings were among the winners of the Business Standard Best B-School Project Award 2018.

The top prize went to Nimesh Shah from the School of Petroleum Management, Pandit Deendayal Petroleum University (PDPU), Gandhinagar, for his project on mapping out charging availability for electric vehicles in Bengaluru for Sun Mobility.

The project came about after the Karnataka government announced a policy for 5,000 new e-autos within the city. His project looked at population density, and existing fuel outlets, among the factors for the analysis. The model which evolved can be used as a template across major cities for planning future e-auto transport ecosystems.

The first runner-up was Harshil Shah of the KJ Somaiya Institute of Management Studies and Research. His internship project with consulting firm GEP Worldwide resulted in increased efficiency through a strategy dossier as well as the creation of a budgeting tool for CXOs. This was adopted by a key client of the firm, and resulted in similar tools being requested for regions including South America, Europe, West Asia, and Africa.

Shailesh Mahajan from the National Institute of Industrial Engineering (NITIE) was the second runner-up. He worked on improving reverse logistics involved in the movement of network equipment for Bharti Airtel. Packaging changes and standardisation resulted in a Rs 17-crore savings during the course of the project itself.


 The eleventh edition of the awards saw a power-packed jury select the winners based on presentations made by five shortlisted candidates.

'Made in Amethi' AK-203 rifles to help troops fight terror, says PM Modi

Current Affairs

Laying the foundation stone of a Kalashnikov manufacturing unit in Amethi, the Lok Sabha constituency of Congress President Rahul Gandhi, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday said the guns produced in the new facility would be used to fight terrorists and the Naxals , and that the project was the best example of his government’s ‘Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas (together with all, development for all)’ motto.

The prime minister — who landed in Amethi after addressing the pre-poll Sankalp rally in Patna where he slammed the Opposition for doubting the IAF’s strike on a terror camp in Pakistan — accused the Congress-led UPA government of not only delaying the AK-203 rifles’ manufacturing project but also sabotaging the Rafale deal.

Thanking Russian President Vladimir Putin for expediting the project, Modi said it would give a new identity to Amethi. The assault rifles would be manufactured at Korwa Ordinance Factory.
“The assault rifles manufactured here would help our forces against terrorists and Naxal. In due course, these would also be exported, while generating a large number of jobs for local youth and paving the way for economic development,” he said. “Those who voted for us and those who did not, all are ours...This is the mantra of ‘Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas." This was Modi’s first visit to Amethi as PM.


 In Patna, he criticised opposition leaders for their scepticism over the surgical strike by the Army post the Uri terror attack, and the air strikes in Balakot after the Pulwama suicide bombing. “Is it appropriate for these parties to speak in a language that suits Pakistan? Leaders of the neighbouring country are using it as a shield to protect themselves against the charge of promoting terrorism. They are clapping gleefully,” the prime minister said...Read More

India and Pakistan are both losing in the current confrontation

Current Affairs

Every aspect of the current confrontation between India and Pakistan -- which, I fear, may not be over yet -- was avoidable. The initial attack on Indian paramilitary soldiers, in which 40 of them died, was claimed by Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed, a terrorist group which has been allowed to thrive by that country’s military establishment. The attack itself required sophisticated organisation and hundreds of kilograms of explosives. Not preventing it was an Indian intelligence failure for which nobody has yet been held accountable.

After the attack, some form of retaliation was always on the cards, but the Indian government made the particularly risky choice of ordering airstrikes on a target within Pakistan proper. Although it claimed the strikes were a failure, Pakistan nevertheless chose to retaliate in turn. When it did, its front-line fighters had to be engaged by Indian warplanes that included the MiG-21, which many Indian aviation experts worry is too outdated for such duties. In the process, an Indian pilot was shot down and taken prisoner. While the pilot is being sent home, we in South Asia now live in a region in which two nuclear-armed adversaries send planes to bomb each other’s territory. This is a profoundly disturbing turn of events.


 Pakistan is busy congratulating itself on how things have turned out so far. This is unwise and premature. Premature because there is no reason to suppose that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi -- who on Thursday called the airstrikes a “pilot project,” implying they would be scaled up in the future -- will be satisfied with anything other than the total rhetorical victory his camp followers in the Indian media have already promised voters. And it is unwise because the world’s reaction to the Indian airstrikes, unprecedented though they were, was notably unfriendly to Pakistan. Pakistani leaders -- or, more precisely, the generals in Rawalpindi that really run the country -- have few friends left. Even the People’s Republic of China urged only that “sovereignty should be respected” -- criticism, in its way, of both sides and not just India.grouping to rescind the invitation to Swaraj...Read More

Terrorism due to distortion of religion, misguided belief: Swaraj tells OIC

Current Affairs

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Friday raised the issue of terrorism at the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) meeting and said the menace is caused by "distortion of religion" and "misguided belief".

Swaraj, who attended the inaugural plenary of the two-day meeting here as the guest of honour, said the fight against terrorism is not a confrontation against any religion.

"It cannot be," she said.

Swaraj's did not name Pakistan in the address.

"Just as Islam literally means peace, none of the 99 names of Allah mean violence. Similarly, every religion in the world stands for peace, compassion and brotherhood," Swaraj told the 57-member powerful grouping.

Her remarks came amid heighteneed tensions between India and Pakistan following the February 14 terror attack on Pulwama by Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed that left 40 CRPF personnel dead.
It is for the first time that India has been invited to a meeting of the OIC, an influential grouping of 57 Islamic countries, as the guest of honour.

Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi did not attend the meeting over the failure of the grouping to rescind the invitation to Swaraj.


 "Terrorism and extremism bear different names and labels. It uses diverse causes. But in each case, it is driven by distortion of religion, and a misguided belief in its power to succeed," she told the leaders of the major Muslim countries...Read More