Important Facts for Prelims (27 August 2018)

• 27 Aug 2018

World Hindi Conference

• The 11th World Hindi Conference was recently organized in Mauritius in 2018, whose theme was ““Hindi World and Indian Culture”.
• The World Hindi Conference is organized with the purpose of expanding the reach of the Hindi language at a global level.
• World Hindi Conference was started to make the Hindi language a medium of service and knowledge and enable it to move forward with the time.
• Since then, Hindi has made remarkable progress and it has become one of the prominent languages of the world.
• World Hindi conference is organized by Ministry of External Affairs.
• The concept of World Hindi Conference was mooted by the Rashtrabhasha Prachar Samiti, Wardha in 1973.
• First World Hindi Conference held in Nagpur, India 1975.
• The 10th World Hindi Conference was organized in Bhopal, India in 2015.
• Apart from India and Mauritius, World Hindi Conference has been organized in countries like Trinidad and Tobago, United Kingdom, Suriname, South Africa and United States of America.

Share Buyback

• Prominent companies such as Infosys, TCS and L&T having gone for a share buyback mechanism.
• A share buyback is a mechanism through which a listed company buys back shares from the market.
• A buyback can be done through:
  • Open market purchases - the company buys back the shares from the secondary market.
  • Tender offer route - shareholders can tender their shares during the buyback offer.
• Historically, most companies had preferred the open market route.
• When a company has a significant cash reserve and feels that the shares are not fairly valued at the current market price, it goes for share buyback mechanism.
• For this mechanism, a special resolution needs to be passed at a general meeting and a company can use a maximum of 25% of the aggregate of its free reserves and paid-up capital for a buyback.
• The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has recently revised the buy back regulations that stipulate 15% reservation for retail shareholders in a buyback offer which gives retail investors a fair share in the offer.

Benefits

• Since the bought back shares are extinguished, the earnings per share (EPS) rise by default.
• Shareholders get an attractive exit option, especially when the shares are thinly traded as the buyback is usually done at a higher price than the prevailing market price.
• It is also more tax-efficient than dividends as a way to reward shareholders.

Shortcomings

• There are time-bound limitations on further share issuances like preferential allotment or bonus issue post a buyback.
• A company cannot do a second buyback offer within one year from the date of the closure of the last buyback.

Revival of Cheetah Reintroduction Project

• The Madhya Pradesh forest department has written to the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) to revive the plan to reintroduce cheetahs in the State’s Nauradehi sanctuary.
• The proposal was to put the felines in the enclosure with huge boundary walls before being released in the wild.
• Also, around 20 cheetahs were to be translocated to Nauradehi from Namibia in Africa.
• The project, conceived in 2009, had hit a roadblock because of lack of funds.

Cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus)

• Cheetah is found only in the arid regions of eastern Iran in Asia, and in Africa.
• It is found in isolated populations in grasslands, shrublands and open forests across the continent, especially in the countries of Botswana, Namibia and South Africa.
• It is listed as  Vulnerable in IUCN Red list.
• It is under Schedule I of Wildlife Protection Act ,1972.
• The country’s last spotted feline died in Chhattisgarh in 1947. Later, the cheetah, was declared extinct in India in 1952.

Nauradehi Wildlife Sanctuary

• Nauradehi sanctuary is located in Madhya Pradesh’s Sagar district.
• Nauradehi was found to be the most suitable area for the cheetahs as its forests are not very dense to restrict the fast movement of the fastest land animal. And  the prey base for cheetahs is also in abundance at the sanctuary.
• This is the largest wildlife sanctuary of Madhya Pradesh in terms of area covered.
• It is located in the centre of the state covering parts of Sagar, Damoh, Narsinghpur, and Raisin Districts.  
• The protected area sits astride two major river basins of India, namely the Narmada and Ganges.
• Three-fourths of the wildlife sanctuary falls in the basin of Ganges tributary, the Yamuna River, and one fourth of the sanctuary falls in the Narmada basin.

National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA)

• NTCA, a statutory body under the Union Environment  Forests and Climate Change Ministry .
• It was established in December, 2005 following the recommendations of Tiger Task Force.
• It was constituted under enabling provisions of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, and  amended in 2006, for strengthening tiger conservation, as per powers and functions assigned to it .

Bombay Natural History Society Opens its First Regional Centre

• BNHS will open its first regional centre at Wetland Research and Training Centre of Chilka Development Authority (CDA) near Chilka Lake, Odisha.
• The centre will help document species-wise population of birds at major congregation sites in the lake.
• The regional unit of BNHS will impart training to CDA and wildlife staff along with volunteers on bird migration and water bird counting techniques.
• The centre will carry out research on avian disease by collecting samples and will monitor the Nalabana Bird Sanctuary.

Bombay Natural History Society

• Established in 1883.
• Based in Mumbai.
• BNHS is a pioneer non-government organisation working on conservation based on scientific research throughout the country.

Chilika Lake

• Chilika is Asia's largest and world's second largest lagoon
• It lies on the east coast of India in the state of Odisha, separated from the mighty Bay of Bengal by a small strip of sand.
• It spreads over Puri, Khurda and Ganjam districts of Odisha on the east coast of India, at the mouth of the Daya River, flowing into the Bay of Bengal, covering an area of over 1,100 square kilometeres.
• It is the largest wintering ground for migratory birds on the Indian sub-continent and is home to a number of threatened species of plants and animals.
• In 1981, Chilika Lake was designated the first Indian wetland of international importance under the Ramsar Convention.
• Major attraction at Chilika is Irrawady dolphins which are often spotted off Satpada Island. Satpada, bounded by the lagoon on three sides,
• The large Nalabana Island (Forest of Reeds) covering about 16 sq km in the lagoon area was declared a bird sanctuary in 1987.
• Kalijai Temple - Located on an island in the Chilika Lake.

Shanghai Cooperation Organization Peace Mission 2018

• Indian Army recently participated in Exercise Shanghai Cooperation Organization Peace Mission 2018 in Chebarkul, Russia.
• The SCO Peace Mission Exercise is one of the major defense cooperation initiatives amongst SCO nations.
• The focus of exercise was to provide opportunity to the armed forces of SCO nations to train in counter terrorism operations in urban scenario in a multinational and joint environment.  
• The scope of the exercise includes professional interaction, mutual understanding of drills & procedures, establishment of joint command and control structures and elimination of terrorist threat in urban counter terrorist scenario.
• For the first time, India and Pakistan armies participated in a joint anti-terror exercise.

Shanghai Cooperation Organization

• SCO is an intergovernmental organization founded in 2001. Currently, it has 8 members.
• Headquarters of SCO: Beijing, China.
• SCO has its origin in Shanghai Five Grouping founded on 26 April 1996 consisting of China, Kazakhstan, Russia, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan.
• In 2001, Uzbekistan joined Shanghai Five and it was rechristened as Shanghai Cooperation Organization. In 2017, India and Pakistan joined SCO as full time members.