Daily Current Affairs July 3rd

On eve of PM’s tour, Palestine hopes to keep India ties firm

• India’s relations with Israel should not come at the “expense of ties” with Palestine, but the Palestinian Authority (PA) understands the need for India to de-hyphenate ties with both, says the Palestinian President’s diplomatic adviser ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Israel.
• “Our interest is [for Palestine] to deepen our relationship, and we hope that stronger ties with Israel will not come at the expense of this relationship. 
• We understand that India has to manage its own balance in the region, and we would like to make [a] separation between these ties as well,” 
• Mr. Modi will travel to Tel Aviv and Jerusalem from July 4, and will be the first Indian Prime Minister to visit Israel. 
• However, unlike President Mukherjee, and three External Affairs Ministers Jaswant Singh (2000), S.M. Krishna (2012) and Sushma Swaraj (2016), Mr. Modi will not pay a visit to the Palestinian side.  
• Instead, the government had hosted Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Delhi in May this year, separately signing several agreements on development assistance, and backing Palestine’s claim to a “twostate solution".
• “Our President spoke to Prime Minister Modi at length about the need to bring a resumption of Israel-Palestine dialogue and an acceptance of Palestine’s just demand for a two-state solution along the 1967-lines, with East Jerusalem as a capital,”

Palestine accepts India’s balancing act

• Palestine said that with his “vision and stature”, Mr. Modi could speak to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu convincingly on the issue
• Significantly, he said there would have been no opportunity for Mr. Modi to have visited Palestine during his trip this week, as Mr. Abbas is travelling abroad for a week of hectic diplomacy himself
• India's stance -Asked if Mr. Modi’s visit to Israel but not to Palestine was an indicator of shifting equations with the two states,the Indian Ambassdor denied it .
• We have reached that sense of political confidence in our relations with both the Israelis and the Palestinians where we feel we can work with them independent of each other, and [the PM’s visit] is a reflection of that
• While Mr. Modi is expected to discuss the current situation in the IsraelPalestine process with Mr. Netanyahu during the visit, as well as the U.S.’s new push to forge a solution, officials say it is unlikely India would take a more mediatory role in the conflict.

Pakistan denies consular access to Jadhav yet again

• Pakistan on Sunday again rejected India’s request for consular access to Kulbhushan Jadhav, a former Indian naval officer who was sentenced to death for espionage and terrorism by a Pakistani military court in April this year.
• His mercy petition is pending with Pakistani Army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa
• Pakistan has turned down at least five Indian requests for consular access to Jadhav since his arrest in Balochistan province last year. India’s External Affairs Ministry on Saturday again requested for consular access to Jadhav when both countries exchanged lists of prisoners under a 2008 agreement.
• In response to yet another Indian request, Pakistani Foreign Office spokesman Nafees Zakariya said India’s attempt to equate the Jadhav case with those of civilian prisoners and fishermen was a travesty of logic. “Jadhav is a serving Indian naval officer and sent to Pakistan by the RAW for espionage, terrorism and subversive activities that resulted in the loss of many innocent lives and damage to property,” he said in a statement in Islamabad. 
• ‘Deliberate delay’ -He said Pakistan ensured effective implementation of the consular access agreement with India. But he blamed India for deliberately delaying release of civilian Pakistani prisoners.

Aerosols ‘shrinking’ India’s monsoon

While greenhouse gases, or GHGs, are causing concern about the long-term fate of the Indian monsoon, researchers now think 

1)aerosols from vehicular exhaust 

2) half-burnt crop residue

3)dust and chemical effluents may be weakening the life-giving rainy season even more than GHGs

It has been found that a mix of GHGs, aerosols and changes in forest and agricultural cover was affecting the strength of the monsoon, which was known to be weakening over the last 50 years. The relative contribution of the individual factors, however, was not clear then.

New modelling

The scientist and his team used an upgraded forecasting model that was used this year by the India Meteorological Department for forecasts. The model will help prepare India’s first home-grown forecast of climate change from global warming, and be part of Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change reports.  

Nine more bird, biodiversity areas in Kerala

• The bird and biodiversityrich areas in Kerala are drawing global attention with nine more locations being identified as Important Bird and Biodiversity Areas (IBAs).
• With the latest addition, Kerala now has 33 IBAs. 
• The new list was released by the Bombay Natural History Society, a partner of BirdLife International, in its recent publication, Important Bird and Biodiversity Areas in India Priority sites for conservation.

What are IBAs

• The IBAs are “places of international significance for the conservation of birds and other biodiversity” and are “distinct areas amenable to practical conservation action,” according to BirdLife International.
• Studies have identified the presence of five endangered, 13 vulnerable, and 32 nearthreatened bird species in the Kerala IBAs

• Kerala IBAs are home to three critically endangered species — 

               Whiterumped Vulture

                Indian Vulture 

                and Red-headed Vulture.

• Listing out the conservation threats faced by the IBAs, the report pointed out that anthropogenic pressure on the forests was very intense.The “birds of the low altitude evergreen forests seem to have suffered the most in Kerala, mainly due to human interventions. Species such as Malabar Pied Hornbill, a near-threatened species, has declined, along with Orangebreasted Green-pigeon ” 
• Habitat fragmentation in high altitude areas, according to conservationists, was a major cause for concern as many “species have nowhere to go. 
• These ‘sky islands’ are now surrounded by tea estates or plantations, leaving very limited habitat for species such as -----

White-bellied Blue Robin  

Nilgiri Blue Robin  

            and 

Black and-Orange Flycatcher,” 

GST positive for India’s credit profile: Moody’s

• According to global ratings agency Moody’s The Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime will be positive for India’s credit profile as it will contribute to 

1. productivity gains  
2. higher GDP growth  
3. support higher government revenue generation through improved tax compliance, 

•  Over the medium term, Moody's expect that the GST will contribute to productivity gains and higher GDP growth by improving the ease of doing business, unifying the national market and enhancing India’s attractiveness as a foreign investment destination. 
• It will also support higher government revenue generation through improved tax compliance and administration  
• Both would be positive for India’s credit profile, which is constrained by a relatively low revenue base.
• Moody's expect improved tax compliance to be driven by: 

                    [i] Incentivisation of tax credits in a GST system;
                    [ii]Greater ease of compliance through usage of a common, shared IT infrastructure                                  between the central government and the states; and a reduction in the overall cost of                            compliance from simplified tax rates, uniform across the country.  

Written-of in the hinterland