TIMES IAS ACADEMY

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Sep 4th
Index

1. N. Korea tests hydrogen bomb, sparks outrage

2. No separate labour rights for transgenders
3. Mahabali debuts at shadow puppetry on Thiruvonam Day
4. Air pollution throws shade on India's solar success
5. TRAPPIST-1 planets likely to have water
6. BRICS represents 42% of world's population

GENERAL STUDIES-II
Effect of policies and politics of developed and developing countries
1. N. Korea tests hydrogen bomb, sparks outrage

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 North Korea tested a hydrogen bomb which it can mount on a missile, declaring
its biggest-ever nuclear detonation a perfect success. This sparked a strong
rebuke from U.S. President Donald Trump who slammed the act dangerous.

Impacts

China rebuked its ally and began emergency monitoring for radiation at its border
with the North.
U.S. monitors measured a 6.3-magnitude tremor near the Norths main testing site.

Source: The Hindu

GENERAL STUDIES-II
Government policies and interventions for development in various sectors and
issues arising out of their design and implementation.
2. No separate labour rights for transgenders

The NDA government has dropped plans to recognise transgender persons as

the third gender in the countrys labour law framework.
In 2014, the Supreme Court had for the first time recognised transgender persons
as the third gender and asked the Centre and the States to give them equal
opportunities in education and employment.
But now this reform, part of the Labour Ministrys draft law to codify wages and
aimed at protecting transgender workers from discrimination, has been shelved
following reservations expressed by the Law Ministry.

Defined as persons

Proposal to insert clauses for recognising the rights of transgender workers in all the
four labour codes. However, the Law Ministry objected, citing the General
Clauses Act of 1897, according to which transgenders fall within the
definition of person.
The Wages Code Bill was drafted under an exercise to rationalise the countrys
44 labour laws into four codes covering all the regulations pertaining to wages,
industrial relations, social security and safety, and health and working
conditions.
The draft Labour Code on Wages Bill prepared by the Labour Ministry in 2015 had
provisions prohibiting discrimination against transgender persons in the payment of
wages.

Source: The Hindu

GENERAL STUDIES-I
Indian culture will cover the salient aspects of Art Forms, Literature and
Architecture from ancient to modern times.
3. Mahabali debuts at shadow puppetry on Thiruvonam Day

Taking a major deviation from their age-old practice of adapting from Kamba
Ramayana, performers of the shadow puppetry form Tholpavakkoothu are now

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 spreading the egalitarian concept of Onam by making Asura king Mahabali the
central character of their latest series of performances.

Background

Evolved from Koonathara village near Shoranur here, the 2,000-year-old art form
has appreciators across the globe though it gets very little patronage in its homeland.

35 puppets

Shadow puppetry was engaging with an Asura king for the first time.
Thirty-five leather-based puppets would be used for the show in which the shadows
recreate art forms like Kaikottikkali, Vallamkali, and Pulikali.

Source: The Hindu

GENERAL STUDIES-III
Infrastructure: Energy, Ports, Roads, Airports, Railways etc.
4. Air pollution throws shade on India's solar success

Air pollution is diminishing India's capacity to harness power from the sun,
undermining billions being invested in renewables as the energy-hungry giant
emerges as a solar superpower.
New research has found the smog and dust that sickens millions across India every
year is also sapping solar power generation by more than 25 percent, far beyond
levels previously thought.

What is it?

In the first study of its kind, U.S. and Indian scientists measured how man-made
particles floating in the air and deposited as grime on solar panels combined to
seriously impair sunlight from converting to energy.
This interference causes steep drops in power generation. At present levels in
India, it could amount to roughly 3,900 MW of lost energy six times the
capacity of its largest solar farm, a gigantic field of 2.5 million panels.

Source: The Hindu

GENERAL STUDIES-III
Awareness in the fields of IT, Space, Computers, robotics, nano-technology,
bio-technology and issues relating to intellectual property rights.

5. TRAPPIST-1 planets likely to have water

The Earth-sized planets orbiting the ultracool TRAPPIST-1 dwarf star 40

light-years away may have substantial amounts of water and could be habitable.
An international team of astronomers used the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope
to estimate whether there might be water on the seven planets orbiting in the
nearby TRAPPIST-1 planetary.
The results suggest that the outer planets of the system might still harbour
substantial amounts of water.
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 This includes the three planets within the habitable zone of the star, lending further
weight to the possibility that they may indeed be habitable.

Background

In February this year, astronomers had announced the discovery of seven

Earth-sized planets orbiting the ultracool dwarf star TRAPPIST-1, 40 light-years
away.
Following up on the discovery, scientists used the Space Telescope Imaging
Spectrograph (STIS) on the Hubble telescope to study the amount of ultraviolet
radiation received by the individual planets of the system.

Source: The Hindu

GENERAL STUDIES-II
Important International institutions, agencies and fora- their structure, mandate

6. BRICS represents 42% of world's population

What is BRICS?

The term "BRIC" was coined by Goldman Sachs Group's chief economist Jim O'Neill
in 2001 when he identified Brazil, Russia, India and China as the top emerging
markets where investors could put their money.
A report published later in 2003 by the finance company stated that if things went in
the right direction, this group would in the future be the largest financial bloc
beating the dominance of western economies.
In 2010, when China, while holding the chair, invited South Africa to join the group,
it became BRICS.
Within a decade of the coining of the word, the rosy picture started crumbling and in
a 2015 interview, O' Neill said that he would no longer group the BRIC countries
together.

Is BRICS a grouping like G7?

The G7 was formed after 1973 oil crisis. In 1975, six industrialised economies
France, West Germany, Italy, Japan, UK, and US-formed a forum to discuss
economic issues.
The group was joined by Canada and became the G7, later called the G8 of that
inclusion of Russia for a brief period. The European Union is also represented at the
G7 by president of European Commission and by leader of the country that holds EU
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 presidency. EU, however, does not take part in political discussions. While BRICS is
a group of emerging economies, the G7 is seen as a club of rich nations.

What is the G20?

The G20 is a forum of governments and central bank governors of industrialised as

well as developing economies that gather to discuss key issues of the global economy
Along with G7 and BRICS members, it also has Argentina, Australia, Indonesia,
South Korea, Mexico, Saudi Arabia and Turkey along with the EU as its members.
The group was formed after the 1997 Asian financial crisis that threatened a
widespread financial meltdown and it was felt that a forum where G7 nations could
discuss the status of the global economy with emerging countries was needed. The
group had its first meeting in 1999.

How big are these groups?

Macroeconomic data shows the G7 indeed is a rich man's club as the group accounts
for 10% of the world's population but 46% of global GDP. Naturally, its per capita
income of $45,453 is the highest among the three groups. BRICS, on the other hand,
represents 42% of the world's population and accounts for 22% of GDP . The G20 is
biggest of the three in terms of population and GDP but lies between BRICS and G7
in terms of per capita income.

Source: TOI

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