IAS PANTI

Salween River is a major river of Southeast Asia and the longest river of Myanmar.

Rising in the mountains of the Tibetan Plateau, the river flows generally south for about 2400 Km through Yunnan province of China and eastern Myanmar.

In its lower course, Salween River forms the frontier between Myanmar and Thailand for about 130 km, thereafter emptying into the Gulf of Martaban of the Andaman Sea.

Points to note from News Articles in THE HINDU (28-29 SEP-2020):

🔎 Violent clashes have erupted between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region, which may escalate into full-scale conflict.

Why Armenia and Azerbaijan are fighting over Nagorno-Karabakh region?

🔎 What is Sandalwood Spike Disease (SSD) which has resurfaced in Karnataka, threatening India's sandalwood forests?

SSD is caused by phytoplasma- bacterial parasites of plant tissues which are transmitted by insect vectors.

There is no cure of SSD as of now. Only option is to cut down and remove the infected tree. If its spread is not prevented, it could wipe out the entire natural population of sandalwood.

🔎 Benefits of carbon tax - how to price carbon ?
1) price carbon content of domestic production and imports to cut effluents
1) through emission trading
2) putting a carbon tax on economic activities, for e.g., use of fossil fuels like coal

🔎 Industrial Relations Code, 2020 has introduced a new Reskilling Fund to be created to give monetary benefit equal to 15 days of wages.

🔎 Offset Clause has been removed for Inter-Governmental Agreements (IGA) in the new Defence Acquisition Procedure (DAP), 2020.

DAP, 2020 has also introduced leasing option for military equipment. It will be useful for military equipment not used in actual warfare like transport fleets, trainers, simulators etc.

What is offset clause in defence deals? Why it has been removed from govt-to-govt, single vendor and IGAs in defence acquisition in DAP, 2020?

Offset clause - foreign companies are required to invest part of the deal value in technology transfer meant to improve India's domestic defence manufacturing.

Rafale deal of ₹60,000 crore has a 50% offset clause to be executed by French company Dassault aviation and by other vendors part of the deal, but technology transfer to DRDO under offset clause has not been done till now.

Lake Tonle Sap is located in Cambodia.

Chao Phraya is the principal river of Thailand.

Lake Tonle Sap (Cambodia)

It is the largest freshwater lake in Southeast Asia.

It contains an exceptionally large variety of interconnected eco-regions with a high degree of biodiversity. Therefore, it is a biodiversity hotspot.

It was designated a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve in 1997.

Chao Phraya Drainage System

Chao Phraya is the principal river of Thailand, with its low alluvial plain forming the centre of the country.

It flows through Bangkok and then into the Gulf of Thailand.

Johor Strait

Johor Strait is an international strait in Southeast Asia, between Singapore and Peninsular Malaysia.

Kinta valley of Malaysia, having karst topography with limestones between granite hills, is perhaps the largest known alluvial deposit in the world.

Almost the whole valley floor is covered by thick alluvium, most of which contains cassiterite (tin ore), representing one-fifth of the world’s known tin reserves.

Question 1

Borneo is the only island in the world to be politically administered by three countries at a time.

It is politically divided among three countries: Malaysia and Brunei in the north and Indonesia to the south.

Approximately 73% of the island is Indonesian territory.

In the north, the East Malaysian states of Sabah and Sarawak make up about 26% of the island.

The sovereign state of Brunei, located on the north coast, comprises about 1% of Borneo's land area.

Borneo is home to one of the oldest rainforests in the world.

Mount Kinabalu in Malaysian Borneo, is the highest mountain of the Malay Archipelago as well as Malaysia.

Malaysia is made up of two major land areas:

1) Peninsular Malaysia
2) Malaysian Borneo

Peninsular Malaysia, as its name suggests, is located on a peninsula of the Asian mainland.

Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia is located in Peninsular Malaysia.

The other land area is Malaysian Borneo or East Malaysia, which takes up about one third of the island of Borneo.

Malaysian Borneo or East Malaysia consists of two states Sabah and Sarawak + Labuan (a federal territory of Malaysia)