A team from the University of Colorado is working on making a device which could create artificial gravity in space
Artificialgravityis a force that simulates the effect of gravity in a spaceship.
It is not caused by the attraction to the Earth but is instead caused by acceleration or centrifugal force.
Artificial gravity or rotational gravity is thus the appearance of a centrifugal force in a rotating frame of reference.
The research centrifuge is called as ‘Human Eccentric Rotator Device’ (HERD) and the device is compact enough to fit into a small room.
A rotating circular space station can create artificial gravity.
The rate of rotation is necessary to duplicate the Earth's gravity depends on the radius of the circle.
Future astronauts heading into an artificial-gravity room to spend time on a small revolving system.
It is built with the aim of counteracting the negative effects of weightlessness.
Economic Survey
It is the flagship document of the finance ministry which provides detailed statistical data covering all aspects of the economy.
It is a technocrat’s advice to the government.
It is a review of the developments in the Indian economy over the previous 12 months.
It also sketches out short and medium-term prospects of the economy and it suggests problems that the economy is facing and possible solutions for them
It is prepared by the Economic Division ofthe Department of Economic Affairs along with the Chief Economic Adviser in the finance ministry.
It is tabled in the Parliament a day before the Union budget.
It is nowhere mentioned in the constitution, but now it becomes a practice of Government to present it every year before the budget.
In the past few years, the Budget was advanced by a month and the Economic Survey was split into two parts.
The first volume focussed on research and analysis about the challenges of the Indian economy.
The second volume provided the data and more descriptive review of the fiscal year.
It is also used to convey some key idea, like the colour of the 2018 Survey’s cover was ‘Pink’.
It was chosen as a symbol of support for the growing movement to end violence against women and to stress special emphasis on gender issues.
It also paints a variety of future scenarios, highlighting likely challenges and pointing to possible solutions.
Financial Stability Report:
The Reserve Bank of India released the 19th issue of the ‘Financial Stability Report’(FSR). It is a biannual publication.
It analyses the overall state of the various segments and it highlights the risk-related issues which can cause potential challenges.
It also discusses issues relating to the development and regulation of the financial sector.
According to the report NPAs peaked out in March 2018, are now set to steadily diminish.
The state of the banking system as the Gross NPA ratio is 9.3% for all banks as of March 2019 and is likely to come down to 9 % by March 2020.
The report points out that the problem areas in terms of NPAs still remain metals, mining and engineering where the ratios are above 25%
The RBI has also indicated that the recovery rate for the cases under the IBC is around 40-45 % (prior to IBC it was <20 %)
Recent developments in the NBFCs sector have brought the sector under greater market discipline as the better-performing companies continued to raise funds.
The report further stated that Public Sector Banks showed a noticeable improvement with recapitalisation and hence the efforts to improve the balance sheets of banks should therefore continue.
The number of banks having very high NPA ratio (more than 20%) came down in March 2019 as compared to September 2018
The Provision Coverage Ratio (PCR) of all banks rose sharply to 60.6% in March 2019 from 52.4% in September 2018, increasing “the resilience of the banking sector”.
The credit growth of commercial banks picked up, with PSU banks registering near-double-digit growth.
The report cautioned that CAR (capital adequacy ratio ) for 55 banks is projected to fall from 14% in March 2019 to 12.9% in March 2020.
In short, the system is fairly stable but the risks need to be recognised and worked upon to ensure smooth progress.
Japan Resumes Commercial Whaling
Japan resumes commercial whaling after three decades as it withdrew from the International Whaling Commission (IWC) last year.
Whale hunting was banned in 1986 by the IWC due to dwindling whale populations, with a worldwide moratorium placed on the practice to allow the species to rebound.
But Japan then began what it called scientific whaling.
Japan has been whaling in their own waters every year, despite the moratorium on whaling in 1986.
Whaling is deeply ingrained in Japanese culinary culture and the Whale meat also served as critical sources of protein in the post-war period as the nation grappled with poverty.
The Japanese government was trying hard to persuade the IWC to allow its commercial whaling operations.
IWC refused to budge and rejected the proposal which made Japan to move out of IWC.
The World Wide Fund for Nature estimates nearly 32,000 whales have been killed by whaling since the moratorium was imposed.
Iceland and Norway are the only other nations which allow commercial whaling.
Whales are directly affected by climate change, plastic pollution, oil exploration, industrial fishing and habitat loss.
International Whaling Commission (IWC)
The IWC is the global body charged with the conservation of whales and the management of whaling.
The IWC was set up under the International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling which was signed in 1946.
In 1986, IWC adopted a moratorium on commercial whaling to protect the world’s last remaining whales.
In addition to regulation of whaling, today's IWC works to address a wide range of conservation issues including bycatch and entanglement, ocean noise, pollution and debris.
