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• July 2015, when Cecil, a 13-year-old black-maned male lion

• The unfortunate lion happened to be a study animal collared and

tracked by Oxford University, and beloved of tourists on account of his

readiness to provide easy photo-ops.

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*Cecil’s death soon catalysed an international slanging match where animal

rights activists and celebrities traded insults with hunters and their supporters.

*U.S. Endangered Species Act, making it difficult for American citizens to

trophy hunt.

*Lifting of import bans for elephants is expected to ease the entry of trophy

imports from countries such as Zimbabwe and Zambia.

*But several questions remain unanswered:

*Is trophy hunting good for conservation or does it contribute to population

declines?

*Is hunting ethical, and by whose standards? Should hunting be banned, and who

decides?

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*Kenya and India

*South Africa and Namibia where wildlife has been commoditised (trophy

hunting, wildlife tourism, commercial meat production as well as local

consumption) and managed for the benefit of local communities,

populations seem to be doing better.

*WildCRU’s own report states that “the most fundamental benefit of

trophy hunting to lion conservation is that it provides a financial

incentive to maintain lion habitat that might otherwise be converted to

non-wildlife land uses.”

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*An undue focus on issues such as trophy hunting can take away from real

problems such as conflict as well as widespread habitat loss and

degradation.

*massive land grabs perpetrated by multinational companies

*‘Scramble for Africa’

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Crouching leopard, gun-toting MinisterMaharashtra Irrigation Minister goes looking for leopard, armed with a pistol

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“The imposing tower of misery which today rests

on the heart of India has its sole foundation in the

absence of education.”

This is as true today as it was nearly 90 years back.

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*While India highlights its ever-improving literacy levels,

*Educationally it is a terrible under-performer,

*Too embarrassed to participate in the OECD’s Programme for

International Student Assessment

*tests covering reading and computational skills for 15-year-olds.

*Data from the Ministry of Human Resource Development show that only

half of all students who enter primary school make it to the upper

primary level.

*We have around a million primary schools and only half that number at

the upper primary level.

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*The number of secondary schools is less than 150,000 for a country of 1.3

billion, and even this comes down to just 100,000 at the higher

secondary level.

*While there are around five million primary school teachers, at the

secondary level the number is just 1.5 million.

*Right to Education Act

*It is government schools that should be the drivers of change by

becoming the first, not the last, choice of parents to send their children

to.

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*Teacher training

*View school education as a critical strategic investment

*Finland:

*If only India had begun revamping school education at the start of

economic liberalisation, it would by now have had the world’s largest

pool of well-educated and highly trained workers.

*By ensuring they get a world-class education over the next few decades,

India will be well on its way towards becoming a developed nation sooner

than expected.

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*There were serious reservations about the High Court’s observations to

the effect that a woman’s marriage requires the involvement of her

parents and that even if she had attained the age of majority she

was still at a “vulnerable age”.

*It is doubtful if similar remarks would have been made if the convert was

a man.

*Supreme Court has also made it clear that the National Investigation

Agency can continue its ongoing probe.

*Any probe into this phenomenon need not be at the cost of individual

liberty.

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*Populism dominates the ideological positions of the major parties and

the politics of patronage has governed their engagement with the

people.

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Creating entrepreneurs Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Ivanka Trump, daughter and

adviser of U.S. President Donald Trump, with a robot at the inauguration of the Global

Entrepreneurship Summit in Hyderabad on Tuesday.

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Invest in India, PM tells entrepreneurs

*Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday said his government understoodthat an environment of transparent policies and the rule of law providing a level playing field were necessary for entrepreneurship to flourish.

*“come, make in India, invest in India, for India and for the world”

*The three-day GES, co-hosted by the U.S. and Indian governments, is the first in an annual series to be travelling to South Asia, and has ‘Women first, Prosperity for all’ as the theme. More than 50% of the delegates are women.

*Ms. Trump underscored the importance of education and technology for women entrepreneurs to make a mark in their chosen field.

*Closing Gender Gap can Add $150b to Indian GDP: Ivanka

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Telecom regulator backs Net neutrality

*Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) on Tuesday came out in strong support of Net neutrality

*Warning against any “discriminatory treatment” including blocking, degrading, slowing down or granting preferential speeds to any content

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Don’t comment on Padmavati: SC

*The Supreme Court on Tuesday asked people holding public office to desist from commenting on the Bollywood flick Padmavati, saying such statements violated the rule of law and could prejudice the censor board’s decision.

*Politicians, including some Chief Ministers, have made public remarks, mostly against the film based on the saga of the historic 13th centurybattle between Maharaja Ratan Singh and his army of Mewar and Sultan Alauddin Khilji of Delhi.

*“When a matter is pending before the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC), how can persons in public authority comment on whether it should issue certificate or not? It will prejudice the decision of the CBFC,” a Bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra said.

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Chabahar port ready, next stage for India

*Iranian President Hassan Rouhani will inaugurate the first phase of the

Chabahar port development project on Sunday, with senior Afghan and

Indian Ministers travelling for the event

*Iranian media quoted President Rouhani as saying that the port “will

enhance trade in the region”, with a final aim to connect not just to

Afghanistan via rail but also to the 7,200-km International North-South

Transport Corridor to Russia.

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India, Russia update pact on security

*India and Russia have concluded a comprehensive agreement on security

and reviewed the implementation of the Agreement on Information

Security signed in October 2016 during the just-concluded visit of Home

Minister Rajnath Singh.

*Mr. Singh, who paid a three-day visit to Russia, met his counterpart,

Nikolai Patrushev, and signed deals on disaster management and

narcotics smuggling. “An updated and more comprehensive agreement

on Cooperation on Security between Ministry of Home Affairs of India and

the Ministry of Interior of the Russian Federation was signed,” said the

Indian Embassy in Moscow.

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India seeing increasing formalisation: Jaitley

*The country is witnessing a new chapter in history being written where every day is seeing a new initiative that further expands the formalisation of the economy, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said on Tuesday.

*Finance minister Arun Jaitley vigorously rejected a “rumour” about bank loan waivers to “capitalists,” accusing the previous Congress-led UPA government of being responsible for the profligacy that has burdened the sector with non-performing assets.

*In a signed article released on Tuesday entitled ‘The Fiction of Loan Waiver to Capitalists’, Jaitley categorically denied any move to let big defaulters off the hook, pointing to the action that’s being taken against them under the insolvency law.

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Answers1. The systematic organisation of Mughal empire into SUBAS was first done by

A. Babur

B. Akbar

C. Humayun

D. Jahangir

2. Copenhagen is an example of _______ type of port

A. Naval

B. Packet Station

C. Entreport

D. Inland

3. All species of Lemur are endemic to which of the following places?

A. Seychelles

B. Galapagos

C. New Caledonia

D. Madagascar

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Questions

1. An aquatic plant introduced from America to check pollution turned out to

be a troublesome weed in Indian water bodies. The name of this plant is

a) Opuntia

b) Aegilops

c) Richhornia

d) Pistia

2. The word Ecosystem was coined by

a) Charles Darwin

b) Robert Whittaker

c) Arthur Tansley

d) Ernst Haeckel

3. Name the Chairman of National Anti-Profiteering Authority?

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