Important News to be read from “The Hindu 05-11-2019”

Saying RCEP will hurt farmers, India walks out

• India pulled out of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) at the last minute on the ground that it would hurt farmers, business, workers and consumers.
• The RCEP brings together the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Including India), China, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand, Except India, everyone else is ready to sign it.

Why India Worried?

• The deal required the gradual elimination of tariffs which may flood Indian markets with Chinese goods and agricultural produce from Oceania, harming local producers.

End stubble burning immediately, orders SC

• In a bid to save Delhi from air pollution, the Supreme Court on Monday said it would hold the entire State administrative and police mechanisms of Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh – from the Chief Secretary to the local policeman – responsible if even one instance of stubble burning occurred in the future.
• “Who is responsible for stubble burning? State governments are responsible! They are only interested in electioneering. They have to be made liable in tort. We are making a mockery of everything,” a visibly anguished Justice Arun Mishra said.

Bengal’s cities yield new species of tree frog

• It took six herpetologists working across States and countries to determine that a tree frog found commonly in urban habitats of West Bengal was a brand-new species.
• “Specimens were not discovered from deep jungles but from residential areas in two districts of West Bengal,” Guwahati­ based herpetologist Jayaditya Purkayastha, who runs Help Earth, an NGO, told The Hindu.

Cyclone may hit Odisha, Andhra

• Amid fears that another cyclone could approach the Odisha coast by the weekend, the Bhubaneswar Meteorological Centre of IMD on Monday said a low-pressure area has formed over north Andaman Sea and is likely to become a well-marked low-pressure area over the next 12 hours.

‘Cyclone Maha may weaken before landfall

• Cyclone Maha is expected to weaken as a cyclonic storm before its landfall on the Gujarat coast between Devbhumi­Dwarka district and Union Territory of Diu in the early hours of Thursday, India Meteorological Department (IMD) officials said on Monday.
• The State government has requisitioned 15 additional teams of the National Disaster Response Force while Naval units have been put on standby. Chief Minister Vijay Rupani on Monday held a review meeting of preparations, while the Union Cabinet Secretary took stock of administrative preparedness through a video conferencing, the IMD officials said.

SC questions Delhi’s odd-­even scheme

• The Supreme Court on Monday questioned the “logic” behind the Delhi government’s odd­even scheme, saying what is the point of banning cars with certain registered numbers to reduce pollution when “third­rate” auto rickshaws and taxis ply the roads.
• A Bench of Justices Arun Mishra and Deepak Gupta ordered the Delhi government to produce data and records of the previous years, by Friday, to show the effectiveness of the scheme launched by the Arvind Kejriwal­led AAP government in Delhi.