Current Affair 1:

Tamil Nadu’s First Biodiversity Heritage Site

 

{State Biodiversity Boards (SBB)}

This is 35th site. You can look for other sites on this link (http://nbaindia.org/content/106/29/1/bhs.html).

 

Current Affair 2:

Economic Advisory Council to PM (EAC-PM) Report

 

Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister (EAC-PM) is a non-constitutional, non-permanent and independent body constituted to give advice on economic and related issues to the Government of India, specifically to the Prime Minister.

Term of Reference of the EAC-PM

1. Analyse any issue, economic or otherwise, referred to it by the Prime Minister and advising him thereon.
2. Addressing issues of macroeconomic importance and presenting views thereon to the Prime Minister. This could be either suo-motu or on reference from the Prime Minister or anyone else.
3. Attending to any other task as may be desired by the Prime Minister from time to time.

Also see history:

The PMEAC has been constituted several times since the independence of India.

In the latest occurrence, Prime minister Modi revived the body on 25 September 2017. Currently PMEAC chairman post is held by Bibek Debroy.

The previous Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council (PMEAC) Chairman Chakravarthi Rangarajan resigned on 19 May 2014. He sent his resignation to the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. He resigned following the defeat of the Congress-led UPA in the general elections 2014.

Since the term of the PMEAC was parallel to that of the Prime Minister, with the resignation of the PM Manmohan Singh on 17 May 2014, the PMEAC also needed to resign.

Before this, PMEAC which was constituted on 29 December 2004, headed by Suresh Tendulkar resigned upon the completion of the then Union government's term on 21 May 2009.

Current Affair 3:

Purple tomato is a win for GM foods: Importance of anthocyanins

 

News:

The first genetically modified (GM) food ever made commercially available to the public was a tomato, invented in the US in 1994. Since then, a number of different genetically modified foods have been created, including corn, cotton, potatoes and pink pineapple.

Making a purple tomato

For the last 14 years, team from England have been working on developing the purple tomato. Their aim was to engineer a tomato that contained higher levels of anthocyanins – which can be used alongside unmodified tomatoes to study the benefits of anthocyanins. The team chose to modify a tomato because the fruits are delicious and widely consumed.

Anthocyanins occur naturally in many fruits and vegetables that have a red, purple or blue flesh or peel – such as blueberries, strawberries, aubergines and red cabbages. In order to produce a purple tomato, the team incorporated genes from snapdragons into the DNA of tomatoes.

The end result of these experiments was a unique fruit – and not just because of its colour. They also succeeded in engineering tomatoes that contained high levels of anthocyanins – comparable to the amount found in blueberries – which is beneficial for a number of reasons.

The higher levels of anthocyanins in purple tomatoes actually work to double their shelf life compared to red tomatoes. This is because anthocyanins help to delay over-ripening and reduce the fruit’s susceptibility to fungus attack post-harvest.

Another benefit of high levels of anthocyanins is that they attract pollinators and animals to disperse seeds, which increases reproductive success of the plants and their yield.

Anthocyanins also protect plants from UV damage and protect them from pathogens, which maximises their survival.

Anthocyanins may also be good for your health. Studies on other foods containing them have linked them to lower inflammation, lower risk of type 2 diabetes and cancer. They may also protect the brain against disease, such as dementia.

Conclusion: You can use in Mains:

Genetic modification can offer many benefits. Not only might it help us tackle the challenges of climate change by developing more resilient crops, breeding plants with higher levels of certain vitamins and minerals may potentially allow us to improve health and lower the burden of many common diseases. And, GM crops may help us ensure that everyone, regardless of where they live, has access to high-quality fresh produce that’s good for them and the environment.

GM foods are also tightly regulated in many countries, which means that any products which are approved for consumption are safe for human, plant and animal health.

 

Current Affair 4:

PSBs saw year-on-year rise of nearly 50% in net profit in July-Sept quarter

 

Public sector banks (PSBs) have reported a stellar performance in the July-September quarter. The asset quality of PSBs has improved, their profits have been robust and they have recorded an impressive pace of credit growth in the July-September quarter.

:

Reasons

Rise in profits came on the back of a broad-based rise in loans including housing and corporate loans. Interest income, which includes interest on advances and interest on investment has seen a sharp growth. While banks have been able to pass on higher rates to borrowers, their deposit costs have risen only marginally. This has boosted the net interest margins of banks.

Better asset quality

While banks took advantage of the rising interest rates to bolster their interest income, regulatory efforts to reduce stressed assets have resulted in improvement in asset quality and lower provisions for losses. Asset quality measured as Gross Non-Performing Assets as a percentage of total advances (GNPA ratio) has seen a sustained improvement. As an example, Canara Bank’s GNPA ratio has fallen from 7.80 per cent in December, 2021, to 6.37 per cent in September, 2022. Union Bank of India’s GNPA ratio has declined from 11.6 per cent in December, 2021, to 8.45 per cent in September, 2022.

Reduction in GNPAs can be explained by better recoveries. Borrowers who availed the Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme (ECLGS) — a scheme to help borrowers tide over the challenges posed by the pandemic by providing 100 per cent guarantee to lenders — have exhibited good repayment behaviour.

As the stock of non-performing assets shrink, and fresh slippages from standard to non-performing assets are curtailed, banks do not need to set aside as much funds as they used to set aside in the previous quarters. With a continued improvement in asset quality, provisions have seen a decline. This will further boost profitability of banks.

Going forward

To sustain higher credit growth, banks have started offering higher interest rates on deposits. With interest rates on fixed deposits rising, the share of low-cost deposits — current account and savings account (CASA) — has seen a dip. This will likely have a bearing on the margins of banks.

Banks will also have to compete with other high-yielding instruments such as mutual funds. The pace of credit and deposit growth will determine the trajectory of income and profits of banks in the coming quarters.

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