INDIAN POLITY, GOVERNANCE AND SOCIAL JUSTICE

1. HELPLINE FOR SENIOR CITIZENS

THE CONTEXT: The Government of India has taken a monumental step towards addressing the challenges and problems they face, through the country’s first Pan-India toll-free helpline – 14567 — called ‘Elder Line’, which provides free information and guidance on pension issues, legal issues, extends emotional support, and even intervenes on the field in cases of abuse, and rescues homeless elderly.

ANALYSIS:

• The intent of ‘Elder Line’ is to provide all senior citizens, or their well-wishers, with ONE platform across the country to connect and share their concerns, get information and guidance on problems that they face on a day-to-day basis, without having to struggle for it.
• Elder Line is a culmination of the initiative of Tata Trusts, India’s oldest philanthropy, which took through its partner, Vijayavahini Charitable Foundation, in 2017, in collaboration with the Government of Telangana in Hyderabad, to help the elderlies in the city.
• Tata Trusts has been and continues to be engaged in strategic philanthropy, to create an impact that is deep, wide and irreversible in millions of lives in the communities that we serve, distinguished by our scale and depth of interventions on issues of national significance.

SOURCE: PIB

ENVIRONMENT, GEOGRAPHY AND AGRICULTURE

2. CROP VARIETIES WITH SPECIAL TRAITS

THE CONTEXT: The Prime Minister dedicated to the Nation 35 crop varieties with special traits. The Prime Minister also dedicated to the nation the newly constructed campus of the National Institute of Biotic Stress Management Raipur.

ANALYSIS:

• The crop varieties with special traits have been developed by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) to address the twin challenges of climate change and malnutrition.
• Thirty-five such crop varieties with special traits like climate resilience and higher nutrient content have been developed in the year 2021.
• These include a drought-tolerant variety of chickpea, wilt and sterility mosaic resistant pigeon pea, early maturing variety of soybean, disease-resistant varieties of rice and biofortified varieties of wheat, pearl millet, maize and chickpea, quinoa, buckwheat, winged bean and faba bean.
• These special traits crop varieties also include those that address the anti-nutritional factors found in some crops that adversely affect human and animal health.
• Examples of such varieties include Pusa Double Zero Mustard 33, the first Canola quality hybrid RCH 1 with <2% erucic acid and <30 ppm glucosinolates and a soybean variety free from two anti-nutritional factors namely Kunitz trypsin inhibitor and lipoxygenase.
• Other varieties with special traits have been developed in soybean, sorghum, and baby corn, among others.

ABOUT NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF BIOTIC STRESS MANAGEMENT

• The National Institute of Biotic Stress Management at Raipur has been established to take up the basic and strategic research in biotic stresses, develop human resources and provide policy support. The institute has started PG courses from the academic session 2020-21.

SOURCE: PIB

3. LOCKDOWNS SLOWED GREEN ENERGY PUSH

THE CONTEXT: The lockdowns slowed renewable energy installations in India and the pace of such installation is lagging India’s 2022 target, according to a report by the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEE- FA), a research think tank.

ANALYSIS:

• As part of its commitment to reducing greenhouse gas emissions, India has said that it would install 175 gigawatts (GW) of green energy by 2022 and 450 GW by 2030 but only 7 GW of such capacity was added in the financial year 2020-21.

SOURCE: TH

INDIAN ECONOMY

4. ZOJILA TUNNEL

THE CONTEXT: Road works totalling Rs. 1.5 lakh crore is being undertaken in the Union Territories of J & K and Ladakh. Minister for Road Transport and Highways reviewed the construction work at the Zojila tunnel, likely to be ready by September 2026.

ANALYSIS:

• The 13.5 km tunnel will be Asia’s longest bi-directional tunnel and will allow all-weather connectivity between Ladakh and Srinagar, which is disrupted during the winter months.
• It is located at 11,578 feet above sea level.
• It takes 3.5 hours to travel between Srinagar and Ladakh. The tunnel will reduce the travel time to 15 minutes.
• The Z-Morh tunnel — being developed at Sonmarg — will provide it all-weather connectivity with Srinagar allowing it to remain open to tourists all year round.
• It is likely to be ready by December 2023 and is being developed at a cost of Rs 2,378 crores.

Mountain passes in India:

SOURCE: TH

INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

5. 4TH INDO-US HEALTH DIALOGUE 2021

THE CONTEXT: The two-day Dialogue leveraged as a platform to deliberate upon multiple ongoing collaborations in the health sector between the two countries.

ANALYSIS:

• The issues related to areas of concern pertaining to strengthening of epidemiological research and surveillance, vaccine development, One Health, zoonotic and vector-borne diseases, health systems and health policies etc. were discussed during the two-day dialogue.
• MoU signed India and USA for cooperation in Health and Biomedical Sciences
• MoU also signed between Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) & NIAID (NIH) for cooperation on International Centre for Excellence in Research (ICER)

SOURCE: PIB

PRELIMS PRACTICE QUESTIONS

Q.Which of the following pairs is/are incorrectly matched?

1. Nathu La – Sikkim
2. Lipulekh pass – Himachal Pradesh
3. Jelep La – Arunachal Pradesh

Select the correct answer using the code given below:

a) 1 only

b) 1 and 2 only

c) 2 and 3 only

d) 1, 2 and 3

ANSWER FOR SEPTEMBER 28, 2021 PRELIMS PRACTICE QUESTIONS (REFER TO RELEVANT ARTICLE)

ANSWER: C)

Explanation:

• Statement 1 is correct: The mission will include a health ID for every citizen that will also be used as their health account. Personal health records can be linked to this account and viewed with the help of a mobile application
• Statement 2 is correct: A Healthcare Professionals Registry (HPR) and Healthcare Facilities Registries (HFR) will act as a repository of all healthcare providers across both modern and traditional systems of medicine.

INDIAN POLITY, GOVERNANCE AND SOCIAL JUSTICE

1. AYUSHMAN BHARAT DIGITAL MISSION

THE CONTEXT: Prime Minister of India launched countrywide Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission.

ABOUT AYUSHMAN BHARAT DIGITAL MISSION

• Prime Minister announced the Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission from the ramparts of Red Fort on August 15 last year. The mission is currently being implemented in the pilot phase in six Union Territories.
• The mission will include a health ID for every citizen that will also be used as their health account. Personal health records can be linked to this account and viewed with the help of a mobile application.
• This health account will contain details of every test, every disease, the doctors visited for check-ups, the medicines taken and the diagnosis.
• A Healthcare Professionals Registry (HPR) and Healthcare Facilities Registries (HFR) will act as a repository of all healthcare providers across both modern and traditional systems of medicine.
• This will ensure ease of doing business for doctors and hospitals and healthcare service providers.

SOURCE: PIB

2. CONVERGENCE BETWEEN DAY-NULM AND PMFME

THE CONTEXT: Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs (MoHUA) has organised the launch event of the Convergence between PM Formalisation of Micro-food processing Enterprises (PMFME)&Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana-National Urban Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NULM) scheme.

ANALYSIS:

• Ministry of Food Processing Industries (MoFPI) launched the PMFME scheme as a part of “Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan” to enhance the competitiveness of individual micro-enterprises in the unorganized segment & promote formalization of this sector.
• Financial assistance in the form of Seed Capital, Credit linked subsidy for Capital investment and creation of Common Infrastructure are available to the micro-food processing industries, including those run by SHGs.
• MoHUA is implementing a flagship Scheme named DAY-NULM, which has mobilised over 61 lakhs urban poor women into SHGs and their federations. Out of these, approximately 32,000 SHGs have been identified by States/ UTs to be involved in Food Processing activities.
• Both the Schemes have been converged to benefit members from these SHGs.
• Guidelines have already been issued by MoHUA to States/ UTs.The online IT module developed on DAY-NULM MIS has also been launched today to help in the effective implementation of this convergence.
• This module uses verification and authentication features like Aadhaar Authentication and e-KYC, Mobile Number Validation through OTP and on-spot photography of beneficiaries.
• It ensures a seamless workflow from ULB to the State Nodal Agency (SNA) of PMFME and also enables online approval of eligible applications.
• This module sends SMS on the registered mobile of the beneficiary to update the application status.

SOURCE: PIB

ENVIRONMENT, GEOGRAPHY AND AGRICULTURE

3. SUNDARBANS IS EVALUATED AS ENDANGERED

THE CONTEXT: The Sundarbans mangrove ecosystem in India is evaluated as ‘endangered’ by a global team of researchers using the IUCN’s Red List of Ecosystems framework.

ANALYSIS:

• A global team of researchers has evaluated the Indian Sundarbans ecosystem to be endangered driven by historical clearing of mangroves and diminishing fish populations.
• The analysis uses the Red List of Ecosystems (RLE) framework developed by the IUCN. It is analogous to the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.
• The assessment calls for ‘cautious optimism because of the slowdown in historically high rates of mangrove clearing, and recently stabilising tiger populations.
• However, ongoing threats such as reduced freshwater and sediment supply must be effectively monitored and managed.

SOURCE: MONGABAY

INDIAN ECONOMY

4. INDIA EMERGES AS DUBAI’S SECOND-BIGGEST TRADE PARTNER

THE CONTEXT: India has emerged as Dubai’s second-biggest trading partner.

ANALYSIS:

• Dubai had a trading volume of 86.7 billion dirhams with China in H1 (first half) of 2021. It is followed by India and the U.S.
• Trade with India has increased by 74.5% year-on-year to 67.1 billion dirhams in 2021 from 38.5 billion dirhams in H1 of the year 2020.
• China recorded a growth of 30.7% growth year-on-year. It is having a total trade of 66.3 billion dirhams with Dubai in H1 2021.
• In H1 2021, the US traded 32 billion dirhams with Dubai. This amount has increased by 1% year-on-year from 31.7 billion dirhams in 2020.
• Saudi Arabia was placed at fourth position with a trade value of 30.5 billion dirhams. It has increased by 26% as compared to the H1 quarter of 2020.

SOURCE: TOI

INDIAN SECURITY

5. AKASH PRIME MISSILE

THE CONTEXT: A new version of the Akash Missile – ‘Akash Prime’ has been successfully flight tested from Integrated Test Range (ITR), Chandipur.

ANALYSIS:

• The missile intercepted and destroyed an unmanned aerial target mimicking enemy aircraft, in its maiden flight test after improvements.
• In comparison to the existing Akash System, Akash Prime is equipped with an indigenous active Radio Frequency (RF) seeker for improved accuracy.
• Other improvements also ensure more reliable performance under low-temperature environments at higher altitudes.
• A modified ground system of the existing Akash weapon system has been used for the current flight test.
• The range stations of ITR comprising Radars, Electro-Optical Tracking System (EOTS) and Telemetry stations monitored the missile trajectory and flight parameters.

SOURCE: PIB

PRELIMS PRACTICE QUESTIONS

Q. Consider the following statements about Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission

1. A health ID for every citizen will be used as their health account.
2. A Healthcare Professionals Registry (HPR) and Healthcare Facilities Registries (HFR) will act as a repository of all healthcare providers.

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

a) 1 only                                                   b) 2 only

c) Both 1 and 2                                      d) Neither 1 nor 2

ANSWER FOR SEPTEMBER 27, 2021 PRELIMS PRACTICE QUESTIONS (REFER TO RELEVANT ARTICLE)

Answer: C

Explanation:

• Statement 1 is incorrect: CDM is a market mechanism developed under Kyoto Protocol.
• Statement 2 is correct: It helps developed countries to compensate for excess emission of Greenhouse gases by acquiring carbon credits generated by green projects in developing countries like India.
• Statement 3 is correct: It is an example of carbon offsetting as overall carbon emissions are not reduced rather they are offset to other locations.

ART AND CULTURE

US HANDS OVER 157 ANTIQUES TO INDIA

THE CONTEXT: As many as 157 artefacts and antiquities were handed over by the United States during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the country.

ANALYSIS:

• The list has a diverse set of items — a 1.5-metre bas-relief panel of Revanta in sandstone made in the 10th century, an 8.5 cm tall bronze Nataraj figure from the 12th century, 56 terracotta pieces, several bronze figurines and copper objects, among others.
• The items, which were stolen or smuggled out of India over a period of time, mostly belong to the period between the 11th and 14th centuries. The returned antiquities include an 18th-century sword in its sheath, with the inscription mentioning Guru Hargobind Singh in Persian.
• There are several historic antiquities as well, including a copper anthropomorphic object from 2000 BC and a terracotta vase from the 2nd century.
• While 71 artefacts are cultural, the others comprise figurines relating to Hinduism (60), Buddhism (16) and Jainism (9).
• Their make spreads across metal, stone and terracotta.
• One of the works is a paper painting depicting Rasikapriya by an anonymous painter, possibly influenced by the famed works of Rasikapriya composed by 16th-century poet Keshava Das. T
• During the meeting between Modi and US President Joe Biden, the two leaders also committed to strengthening efforts to combat theft, illicit trade and trafficking of cultural objects.

SOURCE: IE

INDIAN POLITY, GOVERNANCE AND SOCIAL JUSTICE

 SAUBHAGYA COMPLETES FOUR YEARS

THE CONTEXT: Saubhagya completes four years of successful implementation 2.82 crore households have been electrified since the launch of Saubhagya.

ABOUT SAUBHAGYA

• SAUBHAGYA is one of the largest household electrification drives in the world. SAUBHAGYA was announced by the Prime Minister on 25th September 2017.
• The objective of the scheme was to achieve Universal Household Electrification in the country, through last-mile connectivity and providing access to electricity to all un-electrified households in rural areas and poor households in urban areas.
• The journey started with Deendayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana (DDUGJY) which envisaged the creation of basic electricity infrastructure in villages. The focus of the scheme was on strengthening & augmentation the existing infrastructure and metering of existing feeders/distribution transformers to improve the quality and reliability of power supply in rural areas.
• While the set objectives of the scheme have been achieved, team SAUBHAGYA has continued its work of providing 24×7 quality power supply to all. All states have been requested to launch special campaigns in their respective states to identify any left out un-electrified households and subsequently provide electricity connections to them. A dedicated toll-free helpline has also been launched for that purpose.

SOURCE: PIB

ENVIRONMENT, GEOGRAPHY AND AGRICULTURE

CYCLONE GULAB

THE CONTEXT: The India Meteorological Department (IMD) said that Cyclone Gulab has weakened into a deep depression and moved westwards with a speed of 6 kmph during last the last few hours. Odisha evacuated about 40,000 people in six southern districts ahead of the storm.

NAMING OF TROPICAL CYCLONES IN NORTH INDIAN OCEAN

• Cyclone Gulab was named by Pakistan.
• In 2000, a group of nations called WMO/ESCAP (World Meteorological Organisation/United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific), which comprised Bangladesh, India, the Maldives, Myanmar, Oman, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Thailand, decided to start naming cyclones in the region.
• After each country sent in suggestions, the WMO/ESCAP Panel on Tropical Cyclones (PTC) finalised the list.
• The WMO/ESCAP expanded to include five more countries in 2018 – Iran, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Yemen.
• The list of 169 cyclone names released by IMD, in April 2020, were provided by these countries – 13 suggestions from each of the 13 countries

SOURCE:IE

DELHI METRO EARNED 19.5 CRORE RUPEES FROM THE SALE OF CARBON CREDITS

THE CONTEXT: The Delhi Metro said it has earned Rs19.5 crores from sale of 3.55 million carbon credits collected over a period of six years from 2012 to 2018, in its bid towards gaining greater energy efficiency.

Analysis:

• In 2007, Delhi Metro became the first Metro or Railway project in the world to be registered by the United Nations under the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), which enabled it to claim carbon credits for its Regenerative Braking Project

About Clean Development Mechanism (CDM)

• The CDM is a project-based Green House Gas (GHG) offset mechanism under the Kyoto Protocol allowing the public and private sector in high-income nations the opportunity to purchase carbon credits from greenhouse gas emissions-reducing projects in low or middle-income nations as part of their efforts to meet international emissions targets under the Kyoto protocol.
• CDM projects generate emissions credits called Certified Emission Reductions (CERs), which are then bought and traded.
• One CER is equal to one ton of CO2(eq) emission reduced.

Source: PIB

INDIAN ECONOMY

COIR INDUSTRY IN INDIA

THE CONTEXT: Coir industry was concentrated in the State of Kerala, which has now been proliferated to other parts of the country also, with the efforts taken by the Board.

ABOUT COIR BOARD

• Coir Board was set up under the Coir Industry Act, 1953 by the Government of India for the overall sustainable development of coir industry in the Country.
• The functions of the Board as laid down under the Act include undertaking, assisting and encouraging scientific, technological and economic research, modernization, quality improvement, human resource development, market promotion and welfare of all those who are engaged in this industry.
• The Head Quarters of the Board is located at Coir House, M.G. Road, Kochi, Kerala and is running 48 establishments including 29 marketing outlets across the country.
• The functions mandated under the Coir Industry Act are carried out by Coir Board under the various Schemes/Programmes, including research and development activities, training programmes, extending financial support for setting up of coir units, domestic as well as export market development, welfare measures to the workers etc.

COIR INDUSTRY IN INDIA

1. The coir industry sustains more than 7 lakhs of coir workers, predominantly women, in different states of the country.
2. It is estimated that around 80% of the workforce in the industry are women and it plays a vital role in rural women empowerment of many coastal districts of the country.
3. There are 1570 registered coir exporters in the country.
4. The export of Coir and Coir products from India during the year 2020-21 registered an all-time high record of Rs.3778.98 crores with an increase of over Rs.1021 crores from the previous year.
5. Under PMEGP(Prime Minister’s Employment Generation Programme), Coir Units have been started in different states of the country
6. Coir Products are eco-friendly in nature and gained “Eco Mark” certification by the Ministry of Environment and Forests, Govt. Of India.
7. Coir products save the environment and help to reverse Global Warming.

• • “Coir pith” used to save water
  • “Coir Geotextiles” used to save soil
  • “Coir Wood” used to save trees and forest

8. The Board’s Research Institutes are undertaking new R&D projects in coir with various CSIR units and Universities, in the field of spinning and product diversification.

SOURCE:PIB

INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

PM MODI’S ADDRESS AT UNGA

THE CONTEXT: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed the 76th session of the United Nations General Assembly on September 25 with a powerful speech. During his address, PM Modi highlighted India’s progress and innovation in science, technology, healthcare, as well as the situation in Afghanistan, at the global stage.

MAJOR HIGHLIGHTS FROM MODI’S SPEECH AT UNGA

• COVID-19: PM Modi began his speech by giving tribute to those who lost their lives due to Coronavirus (COVID-19). PM Modi mentioned that India has developed the world’s first DNA vaccine for Covid which can be administered to everyone above the age of 12. He also asked the Covid vaccine makers to come and invest in India and stated that India understands the responsibility of exporting vaccines. Modi also said that Indian scientists are also developing a nasal vaccine for Covid-19.
• Terrorism: PM Modi said that the dangers of “regressive” thinking and extremism are increasing in the world. In a veiled warning to Pakistan, he said the current delicate situation of Afghanistan, saying that the world has to ensure that Afghanistan isn’t used to “spread terrorism or launch terror attacks”.
• Democracy: PM Modi hailed the strength of India’s diverse and vibrant democracy during his address. India is a great example of a vibrant democracy. Our democracy is recognised for its diversity. Democracy has been India’s great tradition for thousands of years.
• Science and Tech: PM Modi hailed India’s scalable and “cost-effective” tech solutions. The science and technology-based innovations taking place in India can make a big contribution to the world. The scalability of our tech solutions and their cost-effectiveness are both unparalleled. Over 3.5 billion transactions are taking place every month in India through the unified payment interface (UPI.
• Climate: PM Modi said that India is ensuring a balance between economy and ecology, and the world can take pride in India’s efforts to combat climate change.
• Clean water: PM Modi reiterated that India has embarked on a journey to provide clean and potable water. In India, we are carrying out a very big campaign to ensure that piped, clean water reaches over 170 million homes.
• Healthcare: By giving over 500 million people the facility of free treatment in hospitals, India has given them access to quality health services. By building 30 million proper homes, India has made homeless families homeowners.
• Maritime security: PM Modi said that the world must protect the oceans from the race for “expansion and exclusion” as he urged the international community to speak in one voice to strengthen the rules-based world order.
• Banking: During the last seven years, India has brought over 430 million people who were previously unbanked into the banking system. Today, over 360 million people, who earlier could not even imagine this was possible, have insurance coverage as security.
• Indians in the world: Modi said that every sixth person in the world is Indian and when Indians make progress, it also gives an impetus to the development of the world. When India grows, the world grows. When India reforms, the world transforms.

SOURCE: WIONEWS

QUAD LEADERS’ SUMMIT

THE CONTEXT: On September 24, President Biden hosted Prime Minister Scott Morrison of Australia, Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India, and Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga of Japan at the White House for the first-ever in-person Leaders’ Summit of the Quad.

ANALYSIS:

• The leaders have put forth ambitious initiatives that deepen our ties and advance practical cooperation on 21st-century challenges: ending the COVID-19 pandemic, including by increasing production and access to safe and effective vaccines; promoting high-standards infrastructure; combatting the climate crisis; partnering on emerging technologies, space, and cybersecurity; and cultivating next-generation talent in all of our countries.
• The Quad will help Vaccinate the World: As Quad countries, we have pledged to donate more than 1.2 billion vaccine doses globally, in addition to the doses we have financed through COVAX
• The Quad will launch the Quad Infrastructure Coordination Group: Building on existing leadership from Quad partners on high-standards infrastructure, a senior Quad infrastructure coordination group will meet regularly to share assessments of regional infrastructure needs and coordinate respective approaches to deliver transparent, high-standards infrastructure.
• The Quad will Form a Green-Shipping Network: Quad countries represent major maritime shipping hubs with some of the largest ports in the world. As a result, Quad countries are uniquely situated to deploy green-port infrastructure and clean-bunkering fuels at scale.
• Establish a Clean-Hydrogen Partnership: The Quad will announce a clean-hydrogen partnership to strengthen and reduce costs across all elements of the clean-hydrogen value chain, leveraging existing bilateral and multilateral hydrogen initiatives in other fora.
• The Quad countries will convene a Climate & Information Services Task Force and build a new technical facility through the Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure that will provide technical assistance in small island developing states.
• The Quad will launch the Quad Fellowship: The Fellowship will sponsor 100 students per year—25 from each Quad country—to pursue masters and doctoral degrees at leading STEM graduate universities in the United States.
• The Quad will publish a Quad Statement of Principles: After months of collaboration, the Quad will launch a statement of principles on technology design, development, governance, and use that we hope will guide not only the region but the world towards responsible, open, high-standards innovation.
• Establish Technical Standards Contact Groups: The Quad will establish contact groups on Advanced Communications and Artificial Intelligence focusing on standards-development activities as well as foundational pre-standardization research.
• Launch a Semiconductor Supply Chain Initiative: Quad partners will launch a joint initiative to map capacity, identify vulnerabilities, and bolster supply-chain security for semiconductors and their vital components. This initiative will help ensure Quad partners support a diverse and competitive market that produces the secure critical technologies essential for digital economies globally.
• Support 5G Deployment and Diversification: To support the critical role of Quad governments in fostering and promoting a diverse, resilient, and secure telecommunications ecosystem, the Quad has launched a Track 1.5 industry dialogue on Open RAN deployment and adoption, coordinated by the Open RAN Policy Coalition. Quad partners will jointly facilitate enabling environments for 5G diversification, including efforts related to testing and test facilities.
• Monitor Biotechnology Scanning: The Quad will monitor trends in critical and emerging technologies, starting with advanced biotechnologies, including synthetic biology, genome sequencing, and biomanufacturing. In the process, we will identify related opportunities for cooperation.
• The Quad will launch a Quad Senior Cyber Group: Leader-level experts will meet regularly to advance work between government and industry on driving continuous improvements in areas including adoption and implementation of shared cyber standards; development of secure software; building workforce and talent; and promoting the scalability and cybersecurity of secure and trustworthy digital infrastructure.
• The Quad will share Satellite Data to Protect the Earth and its Waters: Our four countries will start discussions to exchange Earth observation satellite data and analysis on climate-change risks and the sustainable use of oceans and marine resources.

SOURCE: PIB

U.S.-INDIA JOINT LEADERS’ STATEMENT: A PARTNERSHIP FOR GLOBAL GOOD

THE CONTEXT: President Joseph R. Biden welcomed Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the White House today for their first in-person Leaders’ engagement, renewing their close relationship and charting a new course to advance the partnership between the world’s largest democracies.

ANALYSIS:

• The Leaders affirmed a clear vision that will guide the U.S.-India relationship forward: building a strategic partnership and working together with regional groupings, including ASEAN and Quad members, to promote shared interests in the Indo-Pacific region and beyond; developing a trade and investment partnership that increases prosperity for working families in both countries; finishing the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic and other health challenges; galvanizing global efforts to scale up climate action; strengthening democratic values and institutions in support of our respective peoples; and enhancing people-to-people ties that have made both countries stronger.
• Prime Minister Modi welcomed President Biden’s initiative to convene the Global COVID-19 Summit on Ending the Pandemic and Building Back Better to Prepare for the Next, given our shared commitment to combating the Covid-19 pandemic.
• Through the two main tracks of the Strategic Clean Energy Partnership (SCEP) and the Climate Action and Finance Mobilization Dialogue (CAFMD) under the U.S.-India Climate and Clean Energy Agenda 2030 Partnership, the United States and India will accelerate clean energy development and deployment of critical technologies to advance a clean energy transition. India welcomed the United States to join the Leadership Group for Industry Transition (LeadIT).
• President Biden reaffirmed the strength of the defence relationship between the United States and India and the unwavering commitment to India as a Major Defense Partner through close defence engagements in information sharing, sharing of logistics and military-to-military interactions, strengthening cooperation in advanced military technologies, and expanding engagements in a multilateral framework including with regional partners.
• The Leaders reaffirmed that the United States and India stand together in a shared fight against global terrorism, will take concerted action against all terrorist groups, including groups proscribed by the UNSCR 1267 Sanctions Committee, condemned cross-border terrorism, and called for the perpetrators of the 26/11 Mumbai attacks to be brought to justice.
• They looked forward to reconvening the India-U.S. Trade Policy Forum before the end of 2021, to enhance the bilateral trade relationship by addressing trade concerns, identifying specific areas for increased engagement and developing an ambitious, shared vision for the future of the trade relationship. Forum.
• Reflecting shared values and principles, and growing strategic convergence, President Biden and Prime Minister Modi resolved to advance the U.S.-India Comprehensive Global Strategic Partnership and look forward to what the United States and India will achieve together.

SOURCE: PIB

PRELIMS PRACTICE QUESTIONS

Consider the following statements about Clean Development Mechanism (CDM):

1. It is a market mechanism developed under the Paris agreement.
2. It helps developed countries to compensate for excess emission of Greenhouse gases by acquiring carbon credits.
3. It is an example of carbon offsetting.

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

a) 1 only

b) 1 and 2 only

c) 2 and 3 only

d) 1, 2 and 3

ANSWER FOR SEPTEMBER 25, 2021 PRELIMS PRACTICE QUESTIONS (REFER TO RELEVANT ARTICLE)

Q1 Answer: c)

Explanation:

• • NHPC’s 510 MW Teesta-V Power Station located in Sikkim has been conferred with the prestigious Blue Planet Prize by International Hydropower Association (IHA), a London based non-profit membership association.
  • The award had been conferred to Teesta-V Power Station based on its sustainability assessment undertaken by a team of accredited lead assessors of IHA in 2019 using the Operation Stage tool of the Hydropower Sustainability Assessment Protocol (HSAP) of IHA.
  • The IHA membership includes leading hydropower owners and operators, developers designers, suppliers and consultants.
  • The IHA Blue Planet Prize is awarded to hydropower projects that demonstrate excellence in sustainable development.
  • The Hydropower Sustainability Assessment Protocol (HSAP) is the leading international tool for measuring the sustainability of hydropower projects.

Q2Answer: c)

Explanation:

Characteristics of cryptocurrencies:

• • The absence of any centralised authority and is maintained through distributed networks.
  • Funds transfer between two parties happens without the need for a third party like banks.
  • Cryptocurrencies typically use decentralized control. It works through distributed ledger technology, typically a blockchain.

The term “cryptocurrency in itself is derived from the encryption techniques used to secure the network. Therefore, safe and secure transactions or payments.

[WpProQuiz 55]

INDIAN POLITY, GOVERNANCE AND SOCIAL JUSTICE

INDIA’S AIRSPACE MAP FOR DRONE OPERATIONS

THE CONTEXT: Ministry of Civil Aviation releases India’s airspace map for drone operations. The map is available on DGCA’s digital sky platform at https://digitalsky.dgca.gov.in/home.

WHY ARE DRONES IMPORTANT?

• Drones offer tremendous benefits to almost all sectors of the economy.  These include – agriculture, mining, infrastructure, surveillance, emergency response, transportation, geo-spatial mapping, defence, and law enforcement to name a few.
• Drones can be significant creators of employment and economic growth due to their reach, versatility, and ease of use, especially in India’s remote and inaccessible areas.
• Given its traditional strengths in innovation, information technology, frugal engineering and its huge domestic demand, India has the potential of becoming a global drone hubby 2030.

WHAT’S THE LIKELY IMPACT OF THESE DRONE INITIATIVES?

• Thanks to the new rules, the drone PLI scheme and the freely accessible drone airspace maps, the drones and drone components manufacturing industry may see an investment of over INR 5,000 crore over the next three years.
• The annual sales turnover of the drone manufacturing industry may grow from INR 60 crore in 2020-21 fold to over INR 900 crore in FY 2023-24.  The drone manufacturing industry is expected to generate over 10,000 direct jobs over the next three years.
• The drone services industry (operations, mapping, surveillance, agri-spraying, logistics, data analytics, software development etc.) will grow to an even larger scale.  It is expected to grow to over INR 30,000 crore in the next three years.
• The drone services industry is expected to generate over five lakh jobs in three years.

TOP 10 FEATURES OF THE DRONE AIRSPACE MAPS

1. 1. The drone airspace map is an interactive map of India that demarcates the yellow and red zones across the country.
   2. Green zone is the airspace up to 400 feet that have not been designated as a red or yellow zone; and up to 200 feet above the area located between 8-12 km from the perimeter of an operational airport.
   3. In green zones, no permission whatsoever is required for operating drones with an all-up weight upto500 kg.
   4. The yellow zone is the airspace above 400 feet in a designated green zone; above 200 feet in the area located between 8-12 km from the perimeter of an operational airport and above ground in the area located between 5-8 km from the perimeter of an operational airport.
   5. Drone operations in the yellow zone require permission from the concerned air traffic control authority– AAI, IAF, Navy, HAL etc. as the case may be.
   6. The yellow zone has been reduced from 45 km earlier to 12 km from the airport perimeter.
   7. The red zone is the ‘no-drone zone’ within which drones can be operated only after permission from the Central Government.
   8. The airspace map may be modified by authorised entities from time to time.
   9. Anyone planning to operate a drone should mandatorily check the latest airspace map for any changes in zone boundaries.
   10. The drone airspace map is freely available on the digital sky platform to all without any login requirements.

TOP 15 FEATURES OF DRONE RULES, 2021 (NOTIFIED ON 25 AUG 2021)

1. 1. Based on a premise of trust, self-certification and non-intrusive monitoring.
   2. Several permissions and approvals were abolished.  The number of forms was reduced from 25 to 5.  Types of fees reduced from 72 to 4.
   3. Digital sky platform is being developed as a user-friendly online single-window system.
   4. Interactive drone airspace map with red and yellow zones to be released by 24 September 2021.
   5. No permission is required for operating drones in green zones.
   6. The yellow zone, where ATC permission is required, has been reduced from 45 km to 12 km from the airport perimeter.
   7. No remote pilot licence is required for micro drones (for non-commercial use) and drones.
   8. No security clearance is required before the issuance of any registration or licence.
   9. Coverage of drones under drone rules, 2021 increased from 300 kg to 500 kg.  This will cover drone taxis
   10. No restriction on foreign ownership in Indian drone companies.
   11. No requirement of import clearance from DGCA.
   12. Remote pilot licence to be issued by DGCA within 15 days of the pilot receiving the remote pilot certificate from an authorised drone school.
   13. The maximum penalty for violations is reduced to INR 1 lakh.  Was several lakhs earlier.
   14. Drone corridors will be developed for cargo deliveries.
   15. Drone promotion council to be set up by the government with participation from academia, startups and other stakeholders.

TOP 15 FEATURES OF THE PLI SCHEME FOR DRONES (APPROVED ON 15 SEP 2021)

1. 1. The total amount allocated for the PLI scheme for drones and drone components is INR 120 crore spread over three financial years.  This amount is nearly double the combined turnover of all domestic drone manufacturers in FY 2020-21.
   2. The incentive for a manufacturer of drones and drone components shall be as high as 20% of the value addition made by her.
   3. The value addition shall be calculated as the annual sales revenue from drones and drone components (net of GST) minus the purchase cost (net of GST) of drone and drone components.
   4. The Government has agreed to keep the PLI rate constant at 20%for all three years, an exceptional treatment given only to the drone industry.  In PLI schemes for other sectors, the PLI rate reduces every year.
   5. The proposed tenure of the PLI scheme is three years starting in FY 2021-22.  The PLI scheme will be extended or redrafted after studying its impact in consultation with the industry.
   6. The Government has agreed to fix the minimum value addition norm at 40% of net sales for drones and drone components instead of 50%, another exceptional treatment given to the drone industry.  This will allow widening the number of beneficiaries.
   7. The PLI scheme covers a wide variety of drone components:
      • • Airframe, propulsion systems(engine and electric), power systems, batteries and associated components, launch and recovery systems;
        • Inertial Measurement Unit, Inertial Navigation System, flight control module, ground control station and associated components;
        • Communications systems (radiofrequency, transponders, satellite-based etc.)
        • Cameras, sensors, spraying systems and related payload etc.;
        • ‘Detect and Avoid’ system, emergency recovery system, trackers etc. and other components critical for safety and security.
   8. The list of eligible components may be expanded by the Government from time to time, as drone technology evolves.
   9. The Government has agreed to widen the coverage of the incentive scheme to include developers of drone-related IT products
   10. The Government has kept the eligibility norm for MSME and startups in terms of annual sales turnover at a nominal level – INR 2 cr (for drones) and INR 50 lakhs (for drone components).  This will allow widening the number of beneficiaries.
   11. The eligibility norm for non-MSME companies in terms of annual sales turnover has been kept at INR 4 crore (for drones) and INR 1 crore (for drone components).
   12. The incentive payable to a manufacturer of drones and drone components shall be simply one-fifth of her value addition.
   13. PLI for a manufacturer shall be capped at 25% of the total annual outlay. This will allow widening the number of beneficiaries.
   14. In case a manufacturer fails to meet the threshold for the eligible value addition for a particular financial year, she will be allowed to claim the lost incentive in the subsequent year if she makes up the shortfall in the subsequent year.

SOURCE: PIB

ENVIRONMENT, GEOGRAPHY AND AGRICULTURE

TEESTA-V POWER STATION CONFERRED WITH BLUE PLANET PRIZE

THE CONTEXT: NHPC’s 510 MW Teesta-V Power Station located in Sikkim has been conferred with the prestigious Blue Planet Prize by International Hydropower Association (IHA), a London based non-profit membership association.

ANALYSIS:

• The award had been conferred to Teesta-V Power Station based on its sustainability assessment undertaken by a team of accredited lead assessors of IHA in 2019 using the Operation Stage tool of the Hydropower Sustainability Assessment Protocol (HSAP) of IHA.
• The IHA membership includes leading hydropower owners and operators, developers, designers, suppliers and consultants.
• The IHA Blue Planet Prize is awarded to hydropower projects that demonstrate excellence in sustainable development.
• The Hydropower Sustainability Assessment Protocol (HSAP) is the leading international tool for measuring the sustainability of hydropower projects.
• It offers a way to benchmark the performance of a hydropower project against a comprehensive range of environmental, social, technical and governance criteria.
• Assessments are based on objective evidence and the results are presented in a standardized report.
• Indigenous people, local communities, civil society and governments will be involved in the projects.

SOURCE:  PIB

INDIAN ECONOMY

PROMOTION OF MEDICAL DEVICE PARKS

THE CONTEXT: Recognizing the need for higher levels of investments for the creation of proper infrastructure in the sector, the Department of Pharmaceuticals has notified the Scheme for “Promotion of Medical Device Parks”.

OBJECTIVES OF SCHEME

• Easy access to standard testing and infrastructure facilities through the creation of world-class common infrastructure facilities for increased competitiveness will result in a significant reduction of the cost of production of medical devices leading to better availability and affordability of medical devices in the domestic market.
• Reaping the benefits arising due to optimization of resources and economies of scale.

ANALYSIS: 

• Himachal Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh has given “in-principle” approval to set up Medical Device Parks under the scheme
• The scheme reflects the spirit of cooperative federalism where the Central Government and State Governments will partner to develop the Medial Device parks for better performance of the sector.

SOURCE: PIB

BANKS CAN NOW SELL FRAUD LOANS TO ARCS

THE CONTEXT: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) allowed banks to sell fraud loan exposures to asset reconstruction companies (ARCs). Banks will now be able to transfer to ARCs loan exposures classified as a fraud as on the date of transfer, provided that the responsibilities of the bank with respect to continuous reporting, monitoring, filing of complaints with law enforcement agencies and proceedings related to such complaints shall also be transferred to the ARC.

ANALYSIS:

• The guidelines said lenders must put in place a comprehensive board-approved policy for transfer and acquisition of all loan exposures.
• The board-approved policies of every lender on transfer or acquisition of stressed loans shall cover the norms and procedure for transfer, the valuation methodology to be followed, a delegation of powers to various functionaries for taking decisions on the transfer of loans stated objectives for acquiring stressed assets and the risk premium to be applied.
• When negotiated on a bilateral basis, the negotiations must necessarily be followed by an auction through the Swiss challenge method if the aggregate exposure of lenders to the relevant borrower is `100 crore or more.
• In all other cases, the bilateral negotiations shall be subject to the price discovery and value maximisation approaches adopted by the transferor as part of the board-approved policy.

SOURCE: IE

CHINA’S EVERGRANDE CRISIS

THE CONTEXT: Chinese real estate conglomerate Evergrande Group has been in the news recently over its inability to pay interest on its huge debt obligations. The company recently defaulted on interest payment and is set to miss more deadlines. Many fear that the company is insolvent, and its share price has dropped over 80% in the last year and hit a 10-year low.

WHAT IS THE TROUBLE AT EVERGRANDE?

• The Evergrande Group is China’s second-largest real estate company in terms of total sales and employs over 200,000 employees.
• Its core business deals with buying large amounts of land, developing them into houses, restaurants and so on and selling them to interested buyers.
• The company uses large amounts of debt from banks and investors as well as short-term loans extended by suppliers and property buyers to fund its business.
• It has total liabilities worth over $300 billion and has to pay around $37 billion in interest and maturing debt over the next year.
• The company’s bonds have been downgraded by rating agencies such as Fitch and S&P and have traded well below 50 cents on the dollar, given the company’s precarious financial position.
• The company has also taken money in advance from over 1.5 million property buyers, promising to deliver developed properties to them in the future and is yet to pay many suppliers.
• The company’s wealth management team has collected over $6 billion from its own employees promising high returns.
• It has defaulted on these products and has offered to give away parking spaces and other real estates in lieu of these loans, leading to public outcry.

WHY IS THE COMPANY IN TROUBLE?

• The most immediate trigger of the current crisis, analysts believe, is the Chinese government’s new rules for property developers. In August 2020, the Chinese government came up with rules (also called the ‘three red lines’) stating how much a property developer can borrow given its financial position as measured by three debt metrics.
• The new rules practically cut off Evergrande from taking on any more debt on its balance sheet. This was a big hit to Evergrande’s business as it engaged in heavy borrowing to run its business.
• The company was thus forced to sell its land and other properties at steep discounts to meet its debt obligations. This fire sale of assets, it is said, eventually led to Evergrande’s insolvency.
• Some see the Chinese government’s new rules as a bid to puncture the country’s property bubble and bring about a ‘soft landing’ of the economy.
• Chinese authorities have traditionally encouraged businesses to take on huge amounts of debt through the heavily state-controlled financial sector to develop new properties. This led to the indiscriminate development of properties, so much so that almost a third of the Chinese GDP is made up of the property sector. Millions of properties with very little demand from buyers have been seen in Chinese ‘ghost cities.
• Other analysts, however, believe that the current crisis was a long time coming. They argue that the company’s business model has been unsustainable for a long time.

WHAT LIES AHEAD?

• Some believe that, apart from the roughly $300 billion in debt on its balance sheet, the company may have additional debt in the form of various off-balance sheet obligations.
• Other analysts, however, argue that this is not a cause for worry since the Chinese financial system is state-owned and does not operate to maximise profits. The Chinese state, they believe, will always be ready to bail out entities if necessary. Any such bailout, however, analysts point out, will have costs as it will require the creation of a fresh supply of money, which in turn will debase the value of the Chinese currency.
• Markets are concerned about the effect the crisis in China’s property sector will have on other countries.
• Other critics of China, such as U.S. billionaire investor George Soros, have warned investors to refrain from investing in China, pointing to the absence of the rule of law.
• The Chinese government’s crackdown on the ed-tech sector and businessmen such as Alibaba founder Jack Ma has not gone well with foreign investors.

SOURCE: TH

CHINA’S CENTRAL BANK DECLARES ALL CRYPTOCURRENCY TRANSACTIONS ILLEGAL

THE CONTEXT: China’s central bank said all financial transactions involving cryptocurrencies are illegal, sounding the death knell for the digital trade in China after a crackdown on the volatile currencies.

ANALYSIS:

• The global values of cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin have massively fluctuated over the past year partly due to Chinese regulations, which have sought to prevent speculation and money laundering.
• The crypto crackdown also opens the gates for China to introduce its own digital currency, already in the pipeline, allowing the central government to monitor transactions.

Source: TH

INTERNAL SECURITY

ARJUN MARK-1A

THE CONTEXT: The Ministry of Defence (MoD) placed an order worth over Rs 7,500 crore to Heavy Vehicles Factory (HVF), Chennai for the supply of 118 units of Main Battle Tank (MBT) Arjun’s Mark-1A variant for the Indian Army.

ANALYSIS:

• The Mark-1A has more indigenous content from the Mark-1 variant, thus reducing the dependence on foreign vendors for key components.
• The new variant is also said to have added some comfort features for the four-member crew, which operates in the toughest possible conditions when deployed and also has a better transmission system.
• Some of the features also prepare the tank better for network-centric warfare, which denotes effective use of information technology and computer networking of various force elements.
• The acquisition of 118 tanks — that would come at the cost of Rs 7523 crore — would equip three armoured regiments of the tank.
• This acquisition holds significance in the light of the latest acquisition by the Pakistan army of two tanks — VT-4 and Al-Khalid tanks. Both these tanks, which have Chinese origin, are comparable to the Russian origin T-90 tanks, which are in use by the Indian Army.
• MBT Arjun Mark-1A is ideally suited for the desert terrain and even more effective and lethal compared to the earlier variant due to the new additions.

SOURCE: IE

INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

MODI-BIDEN BILATERAL TALKS

THE CONTEXT: Prime Minister Narendra Modi met US President Joe Biden for their first bilateral meeting at the Oval Office in the White House. Both leaders discussed a wide range of priority issues, including combating Covid-19, climate change, and economic cooperation.

ANALYSIS:

• US President Joe Biden said that the relationship between India and the US- the largest democracies in the world- is destined to be stronger, closer and tighter.
• PM Modi said there is much to be done in trade. Trade will be an important factor in India-USA ties in the coming decade.

SOURCE: IE

MEETING BETWEEN MODI AND KAMALA HARRIS

THE CONTEXT: Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi met Her Excellency Kamala Harris, Vice President of the United States of America, in Washington DC on 23 September 2021, during his visit to the USA.

ANALYSIS:

• They expressed happiness at their first in-person meeting. They warmly recalled their telephone conversation earlier in June 2021.
• They exchanged views on recent global developments, including in Afghanistan and reaffirmed their commitment towards a free, open and inclusive Indo-Pacific region.
• The two leaders discussed the COVID-19 situation in their respective countries, including ongoing efforts to contain the pandemic through expedited vaccination efforts, and ensuring supply of critical medicines, therapeutics and healthcare equipment.
• Both sides acknowledged the importance of collaborative action on climate change.
• Prime Minister spoke about India’s push for increasing renewable energy and the recently launched National Hydrogen Mission. He also emphasized the importance of lifestyle changes to promote environmental sustainability.
• They also discussed areas of future collaboration, including space cooperation, Information Technology, especially emerging and critical technologies, as well as the cooperation in the healthcare sector. Both leaders acknowledged the vibrant people-to-people linkages as the bedrock of the mutually beneficial education linkages and the flow of knowledge, innovation and talent between our two countries.
• Prime Minister Modi invited Vice-President Kamala Harris and Second Gentleman Douglas Emhoff to visit India soon.

SOURCE: PIB

PRELIMS PRACTICE QUESTIONS

1.“Blue Planet Prize” is conferred by?

a) World Bank

b) International Seabed Authority

c) International Hydropower Association

d) UN-Water

2. Which of the following is not the characteristic of cryptocurrency?

a) Absence of any centralised authority.

b) No third party was involved in the transaction.

c) Centralised ledger systems generally using blockchain technology.

d) Safe and secure payments.

ANSWER FOR SEPTEMBER 24, 2021 PRELIMS PRACTICE QUESTIONS (REFER TO RELEVANT ARTICLE)

ANSWER: A

Explanation:

• Statement 1 is correct: Cham dance is a traditional monastic dance form of Lamas in the Ladakh region.
• Statement 2 is correct: The costumes and masks are an integral part of the dance.
• Statement 3 is incorrect: Vajrayana form of Buddhism practised in Tibet has incorporated Cham dance.

ART AND CULTURE

CHAM DANCE

THE CONTEXT: The filmmaker and art historian recently gave a talk on the cham dance form at an online event organised by India Habitat Centre.

ABOUT CHAM DANCE

• The Yogachara school of Buddhism was founded in Kashmir in the fourth century by Asanga and Vasubandhu. This developed into the sophisticated Vajrayana form of Buddhism, which incorporated the Cham dance.
• From Ladakh to Mongolia, the Cham is the deepest form of meditation for the Lamas.
• The purpose of this meditation is for the Lama (priest) to be able to free himself entirely from his own ephemeral personality.
• The Lamas celebrate the victory of good over evil with two days of the monastic dance.
• The costumes and masks are an integral part of the dance.
• All sounds in Cham are sacred mantras. The drum is a reminder of the deep sound that resounded at the beginning of creation and at the moment of the Buddha’s enlightenment.
• Once popularly practised in Ladakh, Lahaul, Spiti, Kinnaur, Tibet, Southern China and Mongolia, today Cham has been kept alive mainly at annual celebrations in parts of Ladakh and Spiti.

SOURCE: TH

INDIAN POLITY, GOVERNANCE AND SOCIAL JUSTICE

JABS TO BE GIVEN AT HOME FOR DISABLED

THE CONTEXT: Persons with restricted mobility, disabilities and those with special needs can avail of COVID vaccination at-home facility while following all safety protocols.

ANALYSIS:

• India had already achieved the milestone of vaccinating 66% of its adult population with one dose of the vaccine.
• A detailed SOP had been issued for States and Union Territories for the upcoming festival season, with the direction that relaxations and restrictions be imposed based on weekly case positivity

SOURCE:  TH

SC INTRODUCESFASTER SYSTEM

THE CONTEXT: The Supreme Court has introduced the “Fast and Secured Transmission of Electronic Records” (FASTER) system.

ANALYSIS:

• The system is meant to ensure that undertrials are not made to wait for days on end behind bars to be released because the certified hard copies of their bail orders were late to reach the prison.
• The system would also prevent unnecessary arrests and custody of people even after the court has already granted them its protection. It may even communicate a stay on an execution ordered by the final court on time.
• It is proposed that the e-authenticated copies of the record of proceedings/orders, digitally signed by the authorised officer may be transmitted through the FASTER [Fast and Secured Transmission of Electronic Records] system to the duty-holders of the justice system.

SOURCE:  TH

PM CARES NOT GOVERNMENT FUND

THE CONTEXT: The Central government has informed the Delhi High Court that the PM CARES Fund is not a fund of the Government of India and the amount does not go in the Consolidated Fund of India.

ANALYSIS:

• The affidavit filed by an Under Secretary at Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) said the PM CARES Fund is a charitable trust not created by or under the Constitution of India or by any law made by the Parliament or by any State legislature.
• Under Secretary said despite being an officer of the Central government, he was permitted to discharge his functions in PM CARES Trust on an honorary basis.
• Under Secretary said the PM CARES functions with transparency and its funds are audited by an auditor who is a Chartered Accountant drawn from the panel prepared by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India.
• It said irrespective of whether the trust is a ‘State’ or other authority within the meaning of Article 12 of the Constitution or whether it is a ‘public authority’ within the meaning of provisions of the Right to Information Act (RTI), it is not permissible to disclose third party information.
• The plea had argued that if the court concluded that the PM CARES Fund is not a ‘State’ under the Constitution, usage of the domain name ‘gov’, the Prime Minister’s photograph, State emblem, among others, has to stop. A Bench of Chief Justice D. N. Patel and Justice Amit Bansal will hear the case on September 27.

SOURCE: TH

ENVIRONMENT, GEOGRAPHY AND AGRICULTURE

PHILANTHROPISTS ANNOUNCE $5 BILLION FOR BIODIVERSITY RESTORATION

THE CONTEXT: An amount of $5 billion of funding was announced for the restoration of global biodiversity at a high-level event on the margins of the UN General Assembly on September 22, 2021.

ANALYSIS:

• The $5 billion pledged will be used over the next 10 years to ensure that 30 per cent of the planet is protected and preserved in the most important places for biodiversity by 2030, according to a statement by the World Wide Fund for Nature.
• The fund will be used to create, monitor, expand and manage protected and conserved areas on land, in freshwater and in the sea.
• Indigenous people, local communities, civil society and governments will be involved in the projects.
• Some 75 financial institutions from around the globe also committed to ending investments harmful to nature at the event. These institutions are worth 12 trillion euros in assets.
• Recent research from WWF has revealed that 39 million jobs could be created if governments reallocated the $500 billion governments spent on harmful subsidies every year to employment which is nature-positive.
• The Green Climate Fund is seeking to expand its investments to restore ecosystems while creating jobs across developing countries.

SOURCE:   DTE

INDIAN ECONOMY

GEM BAGS PRESTIGIOUS CIPS AWARD

THE CONTEXT: Government e-Marketplace (GeM) was announced as the winner in the “Best Use of Digital Technology” category at the CIPS Excellence in Procurement Awards 2021 (CIPS Awards).

ANALYSIS: 

• GeM emerged the winner in this category after competing with some of the biggest and best names in procurement across the public and private sector globally, including GEP, Jaguar Land Rover, Royal Dutch Shell, Vendigital and Shell.
• The CIPS Awards are one of the leading recognitions around procurement globally, which is conducted under the aegis of The Chartered Institute of Procurement & Supply (CIPS), London.
• CIPS is a global not-for-profit organisation and professional body dedicated to promoting good practices in procurement and supply management, with a community across 150 countries.
• GeM has brought its technology-driven innovations and strategic business processes in pursuit of three fundamental goals: driving transparency, efficiency and inclusiveness in public procurement.

ABOUT THE GEM PLATFORM

• Government e-Marketplace is a 100% Government owned Section 8 Company set up under the aegis of the Department of Commerce, Ministry of Commerce and Industry for procurement of goods and services by Central and State Government organizations.
• The design and development of the GeM platform- its digital features and functionalities, key business processes as well as ancillary offline activities like outreach and training of stakeholders-is guided by these three goals.
• The use of forward-looking technologies has helped GeM to broadly achieve these goals and more, over the past five years.
• GeM offers a cashless, contactless, and paperless experience for sellers and buyers, and serves as an end-to-end solution for procurement of common use goods and services by Government buyers. GeM has completely replaced a previously fragmented public procurement ecosystem by a unified and easy-to-use e-marketplace helping to leverage competitiveness, accessibility, and economies of scale of a diverse, open and transparent procurement system.

SOURCE: PIB

ADB CUTS INDIA’S GROWTH FORECAST TO 10%

THE CONTEXT: The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has lowered India’s growth projections for the current financial year by a percentage point to 10 per cent, mainly due to disruptions in economic activity caused by the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.

ANALYSIS:

• In April, ADB had projected a growth rate of 11% in 2021-22 for India.
• It also trimmed the growth forecast for Asia as a region from 7.3 per cent to 7.1 per cent for 2021, though it retained the growth projections for China at 8.1 per cent.
• Meanwhile, RBI also trimmed the country’s growth projection by a similar margin to 9.5% in June this year.

SOURCE:THEPRINT

PRELIMS PRACTICE QUESTIONS

Consider the following statements about Cham Dance:

1. It is a traditional monastic dance form of Lamas in the Ladakh region.
2. The costumes and masks are an integral part of the dance.
3. The Theravada form of Buddhism practised in Tibet has incorporated Cham dance.

Which of the statements given is/are correct?

a) 1 and 2 only

b) 2 and 3 only

c) 3 only

d) 1, 2 and 3

ANSWER FOR SEPTEMBER 23, 2021 PRELIMS PRACTICE QUESTIONS (REFER TO RELEVANT ARTICLE)

Q1 Answer: c)

Explanation:

• Three species of rhino—black, Javan, and Sumatran—are critically endangered.
• White rhino- Near threatened
• One-horned rhino- Vulnerable

INDIAN POLITY, GOVERNANCE AND SOCIAL JUSTICE

50,000 RUPEES FOR EACH COVID-19 DEATH

THE CONTEXT: The Ministry of Home Affairs informed the Supreme Court that the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) has recommended the payment of 50,000 Rupees each as ex gratia assistance to the next kin of those who died of COVID-19, including those who succumbed to the virus while involved in relief operations and preparedness activities.

SOURCE:  TH

ENVIRONMENT, GEOGRAPHY AND AGRICULTURE

WORLD RHINO DAY

THE CONTEXT: The “world’s largest stockpile” of rhino horns was consigned to flames in eastern Assam’s Bokakhat, the headquarters of the Kaziranga National Park and Tiger Reserve, amid Vedic rituals. The event timed with World Rhino Day was aimed at dispelling myths that have driven the illegal horn trade and the poaching of the animal.

ANALYSIS:

• • Wildlife officials said 2,479 of the 2,623 horns stored in 12 district treasuries since 1979 were burnt in six large iron pyres placed at a stadium in Bokakhat, about 240 km east of Guwahati. These were lit remotely through drones.

INDIAN RHINO VISION 2020 (IRV 2020)

• • Launched in 2005.
  • The initiative was led by the Forest Department, Government of Assam, in partnership with WWF India, International Rhino Foundation.
  • The goal of IRV2020 was to increase the rhino population in Assam to 3,000 by establishing populations in new areas.
  • Rhinos are now found in four Protected Areas in Assam: Pabitora Wildlife Reserve, Rajiv Gandhi Orang National Park, Kaziranga National Park, and Manas National Park.

ONE-HORNED RHINOS

• • Only the Great One-Horned Rhino is found in India.
  • Also known as the Indian rhino, it is the largest of the rhino species.
  • It is identified by a single black horn and grey-brown hide with skin folds.
  • They primarily graze, with a diet consisting almost entirely of grasses as well as leaves, branches of shrubs and trees, fruit, and aquatic plants.
  • Conservation status:
  • IUCN Red List: Vulnerable.
  • CITES Appendix I
  • Wildlife Protection Act, 1972: Schedule I.

SOURCE:   TH

WHO TIGHTENS GLOBAL AIR QUALITY NORMS

THE CONTEXT: The World Health Organisation (WHO), in its first-ever update since 2005, has tightened global air pollution standards.

ANALYSIS:

• The move does not have an immediate effect in India as the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) do not meet the WHO’s existing standards.
• The government has a dedicated National Clean Air Programme (launched in 2019) that aims for a 20% to 30% reduction in particulate matter concentrations by 2024 in 122 cities, keeping 2017 as the base year for the comparison of concentration.
• These are cities that do not meet the NAAQS when calculated from 2011 to 2015.
• Every year, exposure to air pollution is estimated to cause 7 million premature deaths.

NATIONAL CLEAN AIR PROGRAMME (NCAP)

• The initiatives under NCAP are:
  • The National Air Quality Monitoring Network will be augmented.
  • Air Quality Management Plan for the cities chosen.
  • Indoor Air Pollution Monitoring & Management.
  • National Emission Inventory – this is an inventory of the quantity of pollutants discharged into the air.
  • Network of Technical Institutions
  • Technology Assessment Cell
  • International cooperation including the sharing of best practices with respect to the abatement of air pollution.

SOURCE: TH

POSSIBLY EXTINCT

THE CONTEXT: A number of animals and plants have been listed as ‘possibly extinct in the latest edition of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN)’s Red List of Threatened Species. The latest edition of the Red List was released at the recently-concluded World Conservation Congress organised by the IUCN at Marseille, France.

ANALYSIS: 

• Among animals, there is the coconut crab, the largest terrestrial arthropod in the world. There are also fish species such as bovany barb, native to the Cauvery river system.
• Other fish that have been declared as possibly extinct include the Deolali minnow, the Deccan barb and the Nilgiri mystus, all of which are found in the Deccan.
• Birds include the Pink-headed duck, which has been feared to be extinct since the 1950s, the Siberian crane, which once famously drew crowds to Keoladeo National Park as well as the Buffy fish-owl or Malay owl.
• The Tentacled butterfly ray, a type of ray and the Dwarf sawfish are two other animal species that are feared to be possibly extinct.
• The Millepora boschmaior fire coral is also possibly extinct.
• There are also species that have been marked as ‘Extinct Post-1500’. The term is taken as a marker to estimate after when the presence/population of the species has declined. Species marked thus have been last assessed in the 1900s post which their presence and updates to their population has not been found.

SOURCE: DTE

INDIAN ECONOMY

INCREASED FDI INFLOWS

THE CONTEXT: FDI Inflows grow 62% during the first four months of the current Financial Year over the corresponding period last year.

ANALYSIS: 

• India has attracted a total FDI inflow of US$ 27.37 billion during the first four months of F.Y. 2021-22 which is 62% higher as compared to the corresponding period of F.Y. 2020-21 (US$ 16.92 billion).
• FDI equity inflow grew by 112% in the first four months of F.Y. 2021-22 (US$ 20.42 billion) compared to the year-ago period (US$ 9.61 billion).
• ‘Automobile Industry’ has emerged as the top sector during the first four months of F.Y. 2021-22 with 23% share of the total FDI Equity inflow followed by Computer Software & Hardware (18%) and Services Sector (10%) respectively.
• Under the sector `Automobile Industry’, the majority of FDI Equity inflow (87%) was reported in the state of Karnataka during the first four months of the current financial year (2021-22).
• Karnataka is the top recipient state during the F.Y. 2021-22 (up to July 2021) with a 45% share of the total FDI equity inflows followed by Maharashtra (23%) and Delhi (12%).

SOURCE: PIB

INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

MISSION DEPLOYED

THE CONTEXT: Towards enhancing military cooperation with friendly nations, Indian Naval Ship INS Tabar was mission-deployed in international waters for over three months from 13 June 21.

ANALYSIS:

• During the deployment, she made 11 port calls in nine countries of Europe and Africa, traversing nearly 20,000 nautical miles. In all ports, the ship received a warm reception from local officials and was visited by several local dignitaries.
• The ship’s port visits saw various social and professional interactions conducted with the host countries.
• The ship also undertook twelve maritime partnership exercises with foreign navies at sea. These also included prominent bilateral exercises such as Exercise Konkan 21 with the Royal Navy and Exercise Indra-Navy 21 with the Russian Navy.
• These exercises involved wide-ranging and multi-dimensional evolutions covering a diverse range of naval operations. The exercises are deemed to have enhanced interoperability among participating navies and increased the ease with which they can operate together to address shared maritime concerns and threats if required.
• A few of these exercises were maiden engagements, such as that with the Royal Norwegian Navy, the Algerian Navy and the Sudanese Navy.

SOURCE: PIB

COVISHIELD FINE, BUT NOT INDIAN CERTIFICATION: U.K.

THE CONTEXT: In an unexpected move, the United Kingdom added Indian-made Covishield to its list of recognised vaccines, but refused to recognise vaccine certificates given to those administered the vaccine in India.

ANALYSIS:

• The decision, which means Indian travellers to the U.K. will still be subject to 10-day quarantine rules, is expected to further fuel the rift between both countries over what India has called a “discriminatory practice”, and had threatened reciprocal measures against.

SOURCE: TH

THE SAARC MEETING CANCELLED

THE CONTEXT:A meeting of foreign ministers from the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) countries, which was set to be held in New York, has been cancelled. The member states were unable to agree upon the participation of Afghanistan, with Pakistan and India in particular at loggerheads over the issue.

ANALYSIS:

• After Pakistan objected to the participation of any official from the previous Ghani administration, SAARC members reportedly agreed to keep an “empty chair” as a symbolic representation of Afghanistan.
• However, Islamabad later insisted that the Taliban be allowed to send its representative to the summit, a notion that all of the other member states rejected.
• After no consensus could be formed, Nepal, the ‘host’ of the summit, officially cancelled the meeting.

SOURCE: TH

PRELIMS PRACTICE QUESTIONS

 Which of the following species of rhino are critically endangered?

1. Javan rhino
2. Sumatran rhino
3. One-horned rhino
4. Black rhino
5. White rhino

Select the correct answer using the code given below:

a) 1 and 2 only

b) 1, 2 and 3 only

c) 1, 2 and 4 only

d)1, 4 and 5 only

ANSWER FOR SEPTEMBER 22, 2021 PRELIMS PRACTICE QUESTIONS (REFER RELEVANT TO ARTICLE)

ANSWER: C

Explanation:

The reproduction number, or R, refers to how many persons an infected person infects on average. In other words, it shows how ‘efficiently’ a virus is spreading

[WpProQuiz 53]

INDIAN POLITY, GOVERNANCE AND SOCIAL JUSTICE

e-SANJEEVANI

THE CONTEXT: eSanjeevani, Government of India’s National Telemedicine Service, has completed 1.2 crores (120 lakh) consultations rapidly shaping into the country’s most popular and the largest telemedicine service.

ANALYSIS: 

• Currently, the National Telemedicine Service is serving daily around 90,000 patients across the country signalling wide adoption by patients as well as doctors, and specialists across the country.
• Ministry of Health & Family Welfare’s National Telemedicine Service eSanjeevani is operational through two modes viz. – eSanjeevani AB-HWC (doctor to doctor telemedicine platform)  that is based on a hub and spoke model and eSanjeevaniOPD – (patient to doctor telemedicine platform) which provides outpatient services to the citizens in the confines of their homes.
• Andhra Pradesh was the first state to roll out eSanjeevaniAB-HWC services.

ABOUT e-SANJEEVANI

• of India’s eSanjeevani – National Telemedicine Service is plugging the digital health divide that exists in urban and rural India.
• It is addressing the shortage of doctors and specialists at the ground level while reducing the burden on secondary and tertiary level hospitals.
• In line with the National Digital Health Mission, this digital initiative is also boosting the digital health ecosystem in the country.
• It is an indigenous telemedicine technology developed by the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC) in Mohali. The C-DAC team in Mohali is providing end to end services.

SOURCE:  PIB

FERTILITY RATES OF HINDUS AND MUSLIMS CONVERGING

THE CONTEXT: According to a new study published by the Pew Research Center, the religious composition of India’s population since Partition has remained largely stable, with both Hindus and Muslims, the two largest religious groups, showing not only a marked decline but also a convergence in fertility rates.

ANALYSIS:

• From 1992 to 2015, the total fertility rates of Muslims declined from 4.4 to 2.6, while that of Hindus declined from 3.3 to 2.1, indicating that the gaps in childbearing between India’s religious groups are much smaller than they used to be.
• The average fertility rate in India today was 2.2, which was higher than the rates in economically advanced countries such as the U.S. (1.6), but much lower than what it was in 1992 (3.4) or 1951 (5.9).
• In terms of absolute numbers, every major religion in India saw its numbers rise. The sole exception to this trend are Parsis, whose number halved between 1951 and 2011, from 110,000 to 60,000.
• More than 99% of people who live in India were also born in India, and migrants leaving India outnumber immigrants three-to-one.
• Religious conversion has also had a negligible impact on India’s overall composition, with 98% of Indian adults still identifying with the religion in which they were raised.

SOURCE:   TH

KASTURIRANGAN TO LEAD SYLLABUS PANEL

THE CONTEXT: The Centre has started the process to revise school textbooks by appointing former Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) Chairman K. Kasturirangan as the head of a 12-member steering committee responsible for developing a new National Curriculum Framework (NCF).

ANALYSIS:

• Kasturirangan also chaired the drafting committee for the National Education Policy, 2020 which recommended the development of a new NCF.
• The steering committee has been given tenure of three years to complete its task.
• The last such framework was developed in 2005. It is meant to be a guiding document for the development of textbooks, syllabi and teaching practices in schools across the country.
• The subsequent revision of textbooks by the National Council of Educational Research and Training will draw from the new NCF.
• The steering committee will develop four such frameworks, one each to guide the curriculum of school education, teacher education, early childhood education and adult education.

SOURCE:   TH

R-VALUE DROPPED BELOW ONE IN MID-SEPTEMBER

THE CONTEXT: According to experts, the R-value, dropped to 0.92 by mid-September after spiralling over one in August-end.

ANALYSIS:

• However, the R-values in certain major cities — Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai and Bengaluru — remained over one. The R-value in Delhi and Pune were below one.
• According to the data, the R-value of Mumbai stood at 1.09, Chennai was 1.11, Kolkata was 1.04, and Bengaluru was 1.06.
• The R-values in Maharashtra and Kerala were below one, giving much-needed relief to these two states with the highest number of active cases.
• The R-value was 1.17 at the end of August. It had declined to 1.11 between September 4 and 7. Since then, it has remained under one.
• The reproduction number or R refers to how many persons an infected person infects on average. In other words, it shows how ‘efficiently’ a virus is spreading.
• According to the Health Ministry, the recovery rate currently stood at 97.75%. The weekly positivity rate (2.08%) had been less than 3% for the last 88 days.

SOURCE: TH

ENVIRONMENT, GEOGRAPHY AND AGRICULTURE

22% RISE IN EXPORT OF AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS

THE CONTEXT: According to the Quick Estimates released by the Directorate General of Commercial Intelligence and Statistics (DGCI&S), the overall export of Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) products has witnessed 21.8 per cent growth in terms of USD during April-August 2021 over the same period of the previous year.

ANALYSIS:

• The huge jump in exports of agricultural and processed food products during the first five months of the current fiscal is in continuation of growth in exports witnessed in the financial year 2020-21.
• According to WTO’s trade map, with the total agri-exports of USD 37 billion in the year 2019, India is ranked at 9th position in the world ranking.
• The export of rice, which recorded a positive growth of 13.7 per cent, increased from USD 3359 million in April-August 2020 to USD 3820 million in April-August 2021.
• As per the Quick Estimates, the exports of fresh fruits & vegetables registered a 6.1 per cent growth in terms of USD, while shipment of processed food products like cereals preparations and miscellaneous processed items reported a growth of 41.9 per cent.
• In April-August 2020-21, fresh fruits and vegetables were exported to the tune of USD 1013 million which rose to USD 1075 million in April-August 2021-22.
• India reported a significant 142.1 per cent jump in the export of other cereals while the export of meat, dairy & poultry products witnessed an increase of 31.1 per cent in the first five months of the current fiscal (2021-22).
• The export of other cereals increased from USD 157 million in April-August 2020 to USD 379 million in April-August 2021 and the export of meat, dairy and poultry products increased from USD 1185 million in April-August 2020 to USD 1554 million in April-August 2021.
• The cashew export witnessed a growth of 28.5 per cent in April-August 2021 as the export of cashew rose from USD 144 million in April-August 2020 to USD 185 million in April-August 2021.
• The rise in export of agricultural and processed food products is because of APEDA’s various initiatives taken for the export promotion of agricultural and processed food products.

SOURCE:  PIB

INDIA NOW HAS 10 BLUE FLAG BEACHES

THE CONTEXT: The coveted International eco-label “Blue Flag”, has accorded the Blue Flag Certification for 2 new beaches–Kovalam in Tamil Nadu and Eden in Puducherry beaches.

ABOUT BLUE FLAG CERTIFICATION

• The Blue Flag is one of the world’s most recognised voluntary eco-labels awarded to beaches, marinas, and sustainable boating tourism operators.
• In order to qualify for the Blue Flag, a series of stringent environmental, educational, safety, and accessibility criteria must be met and maintained.
• The Blue Flag Programme for beaches and marinas is run by the international, non-governmental, non-profit organisation FEE (the Foundation for Environmental Education).
• FEE (the Foundation for Environmental Education) was established in France in 1985.
• On the lines of Blue Flag certification, India has also launched its own eco-label BEAMS.

ABOUT BEAMS

• The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change in its pursuit of “Sustainable Development” of the coastal regions of India embarked upon a highly acclaimed & flagship program Beach Environment & Aesthetics Management Services (BEAMS) which is one of the initiatives under the ICZM approach that the MoEF&CC has undertaken for the sustainable development of coastal regions of India,  with a  prime objective to protect and conserve the pristine coastal and marine ecosystems through holistic management of the resources.
• This was aimed at achieving the globally recognized and coveted International eco-label “Blue Flag”, accorded by the International Jury comprising of members from IUCN, UNWTO, UNEP, UNESCO etc.
• FEE Denmark conducts regular monitoring & audits for strict compliance with the 33 criteria at all times. A waving “Blue Flag” is an indication of 100% compliance to these 33 stringent criteria and sound health of the beach.
• The objective of the BEAMS program is to abate pollution in coastal waters, promote sustainable development of beach facilities, protect & conserve coastal ecosystems & natural resources, and seriously challenge local authorities & stakeholders to strive and maintain high standards of cleanliness, hygiene & safety for beachgoers in accordance with coastal environment & regulations.

SOURCE: PIB

SUPER-HYDROPHOBIC COTTON FOR OIL-SPILL CLEANUP

THE CONTEXT: Researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Guwahati, have developed a new class of super-hydrophobic cotton composite with Metal-Organic Framework (MOF) that promise marine oil-spill clean-up in near future.

ANALYSIS: 

• This is a novel, highly porous and water-repellent super-hydrophobic cotton composite material containing MOF, which can absorb oil selectively from an oil-water mixture.
• The MOF composite has great capability for selective separation of the oils from oil/water mixtures and the separation efficiency lies between 95 per cent and 98 per cent, irrespective of the chemical composition and density of the oils.
• Besides, the MOF composite is also able to absorb large volumes of oils and can be reused a minimum of 10 times so that the sorbents can provide more recovery of the spilt oil.
• The practical applications of this research include cleaning the spilt oil from environmental water (river, sea or ocean water) during oil transportation with high efficiency and large absorption capacity, thus reducing environmental water pollution.
• Both heavy and light oils can be effectively absorbed by the material, which is easy to prepare, cost-effective and recyclable.
• MOFs are a class of compounds containing metal ions coordinated to organic ligands to form 3D structures, with the special feature that they are often highly porous materials that act like a sponge.

SOURCE: DTE

SUPER-HYDROPHOBIC COTTON FOR OIL-SPILL CLEANUP

THE CONTEXT: Researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Guwahati, have developed a new class of super-hydrophobic cotton composite with Metal-Organic Framework (MOF) that promise marine oil-spill clean-up in near future.

ANALYSIS: 

• This is a novel, highly porous and water-repellent super-hydrophobic cotton composite material containing MOF, which can absorb oil selectively from an oil-water mixture.
• The MOF composite has great capability for selective separation of the oils from oil/water mixtures and the separation efficiency lies between 95 per cent and 98 per cent, irrespective of the chemical composition and density of the oils.
• Besides, the MOF composite is also able to absorb large volumes of oils and can be reused a minimum of 10 times so that the sorbents can provide more recovery of the spilt oil.
• The practical applications of this research include cleaning the spilt oil from environmental water (river, sea or ocean water) during oil transportation with high efficiency and large absorption capacity, thus reducing environmental water pollution.
• Both heavy and light oils can be effectively absorbed by the material, which is easy to prepare, cost-effective and recyclable.
• MOFs are a class of compounds containing metal ions coordinated to organic ligands to form 3D structures, with the special feature that they are often highly porous materials that act like a sponge.

SOURCE: DTE

INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

INDIA CONSIDERS RECIPROCAL STEPS TO U.K.’S QUARANTINE RULES

THE CONTEXT: India could impose “reciprocal measures” on the United Kingdom if London maintained the current quarantine policy that subjected Indian travellers “irrespective of vaccination status” to a quarantine period lasting 10 days.

ANALYSIS:

• The U.K.’s policy to impose 10 days’ quarantine on people vaccinated with Covishield revealed a gap in that country’s policy regarding vaccines made in India.
• The basic issue is that there is a vaccine, Covishield, which is a licensed product of a U.K. company, manufactured in India.
• The U.K moved India to the ‘Amber list’, taking it away from the ‘Red list’. This opened the British “Visit visas” to Indian travellers “irrespective of vaccination status”.
• However, India has kept tourist visas suspended, which is preventing vaccinated British tourists from entering India.

SOURCE: TH

PRELIMS PRACTICE QUESTIONS

In the terminology related to the COVID-19 pandemic, which of the following best explains the ‘R’ value?

a) How many infected persons have recovered in one-day

b) How many persons are re-infected by the COVID-19 virus on average

c) How many persons an infected person infects on average.

d) How many persons are vaccinated in one day

ANSWER FOR SEPTEMBER 21, 2021 PRELIMS PRACTICE QUESTIONS (REFER

RELEVANT ARTICLE)

Answer: C

Explanation:

COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access, abbreviated as COVAX, is a worldwide initiative aimed at equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines directed by Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance (Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization, or GAVI), the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), and the World Health Organization (WHO).

INDIAN POLITY, GOVERNANCE AND SOCIAL JUSTICE

PROJECT FULWARI

THE CONTEXT: Project Fulwari under Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav to Strengthen Northern Coalfields’ Limited (NCL)fight against Malnutrition in kids.

ANALYSIS: 

• Considering the facts found during the National Family Health Survey (NFHS-4) regarding malnutrition in Singrauli district, NCL has signed an MoU with the District Administration, to start Project Fulwari.
• The mission aims to address the problem of malnutrition and associated physical and mental development issues of infants.
• At Fulwari Centers, the identified malnourished children are getting special attention to ensure that their weight, physical and mental progress meets the normal standards.
• This initiative will give impetus to the Centre’s fight against malnutrition and its commitment towards Sustainable Social Development.

 SOURCE:  PIB

MOU SIGNED BETWEEN TRIFED AND BIG BASKET

THE CONTEXT: TRIBES INDIA VAN DHAN to expand Online marketing in a big way by tying up with Big Basket, MoU Signed between TRIFED and Big Basket.

ANALYSIS:

• The MoU between TRIFED and Big Basket was signed for promotion and sale of Organics, natural Van Dhan products and TRIFOOD products.
• MoU between TRIFED and Purty Agrotech was signed in order to promote the art of growing pearls among other tribal entrepreneurs.
• TRIFED is continuing to forge partnerships with different organisations to create synergies together, as a part of its ongoing efforts to improve the lives and livelihoods of the tribals and tribal empowerment.

SOURCE:   PIB

ENVIRONMENT, GEOGRAPHY AND AGRICULTURE

WESTERN GHATS OFFER MAJOR ADDITIONS TO NEW FLORA

THE CONTEXT: The Botanical Survey of India, in its new publication Plant Discoveries 2020 has added 267 new taxa/species to the country’s flora.

ANALYSIS:

• In 2020, 202 new plant species were discovered across the country and 65 new records were added.
• Among the new discoveries this year, nine new species of balsam (Impatiens) and one species of wild banana (Musa pradhanii) were discovered from Darjeeling and one species each of wild Jamun (Syzygium anamalaianum) from Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu.
• An assessment of the geographical distribution of these newly discovered plants reveals that 22% of the discoveries were made from the Western Ghats followed by the Western Himalayas (15%), the Eastern Himalayas (14%) and the Northeast ranges (12%).

SOURCE:  TH

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

GLOBAL INNOVATION INDEX 2021

THE CONTEXT: India scores 46th rank in the Global Innovation Index 2021.

ANALYSIS: 

• India has climbed 2 spots and has been ranked 46th by the World Intellectual Property Organization in the Global Innovation Index 2021 rankings.
• India has been on a rising trajectory, over the past several years in the Global Innovation Index (GII), from a rank of 81 in 2015 to46in 2021.
• The NITI Aayog has been working tirelessly to ensure the optimization of the national efforts for bringing policy led innovation in different areas such as electric vehicles, biotechnology, nanotechnology, space, alternative energy sources, etc.
• The GII is the fulcrum for the governments – across the world – to assess the social and economic changes in their respective countries.
• Over the years, the GII has established itself as a policy tool for various governments and helped them to reflect upon the existing status quo.
• The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) has also been leading from the front as a torchbearer of India’s journey towards an innovation-driven economy.
• This year, the NITI Aayog, in partnership with the CII and the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO), is hosting, virtually, the India Launch of the GII and the Global Innovation Conclave during September 21-22,2021.

SOURCE: PIB

INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

INDIA TO RESUME COVID-19 VACCINE EXPORTS NEXT MONTH

THE CONTEXT: India will resume the export of COVID-19 vaccines under its ‘Vaccine Maitri’programme to fulfil the commitment towards COVAX (COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access).

ABOUT COVAX:

• COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access, abbreviated as COVAX, is a worldwide initiative aimed at equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines directed by Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance (Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization, or GAVI), the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), and the World Health Organization (WHO).
• It is one of the three pillars of ’Access to COVID-19 Tools Accelerator’, an initiative begun in April 2020 by the WHO, the European Commission, and government of France as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

SOURCE: TH

SAMUDRA SHAKTI

THE CONTEXT: Indian navy and Indonesian navy participate in exercise ‘Samudra shakti’.

ANALYSIS:

• Indian Naval Ships Shivalik and Kadmatt arrived at Jakarta, Indonesia on 18 Sep 21 to participate in the 3rd edition of Bilateral Exercise ‘Samudra Shakti’ with the Indonesian Navy scheduled off the approaches to Sunda Strait from 20 Sep to 22 Sep 21.
• The exercise aims to strengthen the bilateral relationship, enhance mutual understanding and interoperability in maritime operations between the two navies.
• The exercise will also provide an appropriate platform to share best practices and develop a common understanding of Maritime Security Operations.
• In pursuance of India’s Act East Policy, Exercise ‘Samudra Shakti’ was conceived in 2018 as a bilateral IN-IDN exercise.

SOURCE: PIB

SURYA KIRAN

THE CONTEXT: The 15th India-Nepal combined battalion-level military training exercise ‘SURYA KIRAN’ commenced at Pithoragarh (UK).

ANALYSIS:

• During the exercise, an Infantry Battalion each from the Indian Army and the Nepali Army will be training together to develop interoperability and share their experience of counter-terrorism operations and disaster relief operations.

SOURCE: PIB

PEACEFUL MISSION – 2021

THE CONTEXT: 6th edition of SCO exercise “peaceful mission – 2021” commences at Orenburg, Russia.

ANALYSIS:

• The aim of the exercise is to foster close relations between the SCO Member States and to enhance the abilities of the military leaders to command multinational military contingents.
• An Indian military contingent comprising of an all arms combined force of 200 personnel from the Indian Army and Indian Air force is participating in the exercise.
• The Exercise Peaceful Mission: 2021 is based on joint counter-terrorism operations at operational and tactical levels in an urban environment in which Armies and Air Forces of all SCO member states are participating.
• Over the next few days, troops will train, share and rehearse tactical drills which will culminate in a final validation exercise, where-in troops from all Armies and Air Forces will jointly undertake operations in a controlled and simulated environment.

SOURCE: PIB

PRELIMS PRACTICE QUESTIONS

 COVAX initiative is started for equitable access of COVID-19 vaccines to all countries. This initiative is led by which of the following?

1. GAVI
2. World Bank
3. CEPI
4. WHO

Select the correct answer using the code given below:

a) 1 and 4 only

b) 1, 2 and 4 only

c) 1, 3 and 4 only

d) All of them

ANSWER FOR SEPTEMBER 20, 2021 PRELIMS PRACTICE QUESTIONS (REFER TO RELEVANT ARTICLE)

Answer: A)

Explanation:

A variant of HELINA (Helicopter based NAG) Weapon System called DHRUVASTRA is being inducted into the Indian Air Force (IAF).

INDIAN POLITY, GOVERNANCE AND SOCIAL JUSTICE

1.2 LAKH PEOPLE DIED IN ROAD ACCIDENTS IN 2020: NCRB

THE CONTEXT: As many as 3.92 lakh lives have been lost in three years in deaths due to negligence related to road accidents, the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) revealed in its annual ‘Crime India’ report for 2020.

ANALYSIS:

• While 1.2 lakh deaths were recorded in 2020, the figures stood at 1.36 lakh in 2019 and 1.35 lakh in 2018.
• Meanwhile, 52 cases of deaths due to negligence related to rail accidents were recorded across the country in 2020; 55 such cases in 2019 and 35 in 2018.
• During 2020, India also logged 133 cases of “deaths due to medical negligence;” 201 such cases in 2019 and 218 in 2018.
• There were 51 cases of “deaths due to negligence of civic bodies” in 2020, while there were 147 cases in 2019 and 40 in 2018, according to the report.
• Another 6,367 cases of “deaths due to other negligence” were reported across the country in 2020; 7,912 cases in 2019 and 8,687 in 2018, it showed.

SOURCE:  TH

RAJASTHAN PASSES BILL TO REGISTER CHILD MARRIAGES

THE CONTEXT: The Rajasthan Compulsory Registration of Marriages (Amendment) Bill, 2021 was passed in the state assembly. The bill has a provision that requires child marriages to be registered within 30 days.

ANALYSIS:

• The legislation would now allow registration to be done at the level of District Marriage Registration Officer as well as Additional District Marriage Registration Officer and Block Marriage Registration Officer level.
• The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) said the commission would examine and do the needful to protect the interest of children.
• Child marriages surged by 50 per cent in 2020 compared to the previous year, according to the most recent NCRB data.
• According to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data of 2020, a total of 785 cases were registered under the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act.
• The numbers of cases registered were the highest in Karnataka at 184, followed by Assam at 138, West Bengal at 98, Tamil Nadu at 77 and Telangana at 62.

SOURCE:   INDIATODAY

DELHI-MUMBAI EXPRESSWAY

THE CONTEXT: World’s longest expressway between Delhi and Mumbai to open in March 2023. Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways concluded the two-day review of the work progress on the 1380-km eight-lane Delhi-Mumbai Expressway, which will reduce travel time between certain cities to 12-12.5 hours from 24 hours.

WHAT IS THE DELHI-MUMBAI EXPRESSWAY?

• Cost: Rs 98,000 crore
• Length: 1,380 km
• Completion schedule: The first phase from Delhi-Jaipur (Dausa)-Lalsot and Vadodara-Ankleshwar is expected to be open to traffic by March 2022. The expressway is expected to be completed by March 2023.
• The project was kickstarted in 2018 with the foundation stone being laid on March 9, 2019.
• The expressway will feature a spur to Jewar Airport and Jawaharlal Nehru Port to Mumbai through a spur in Mumbai.
• The expressway will improve connectivity to economic hubs like Jaipur, Kishangarh, Ajmer, Kota, Chittorgarh, Udaipur, Bhopal, Ujjain, Indore, Ahmedabad, Vadodara and Surat.
• Out of the 1,380 km, contracts have been awarded for more than 1,200 km where work is under progress.
• Over 15,000 hectares of land has been acquired across states for the construction of the Delhi-Mumbai expressway.

KEY FEATURES OF DELHI-MUMBAI EXPRESSWAY

• The eight-lane access-controlled expressway can be expanded to a 12-lane expressway depending on the volume of traffic.
• The expressway will have wayside amenities – resorts, restaurants, food courts, fuel stations, facilities for truckers, logistics parks.
• A helicopter ambulance service for accident victims and a heliport, which will use drone services for business as well.
• Over two million trees and shrubs are planned to be planted along the highway.
• The expressway is the first in Asia and only the second in the world to feature animal overpasses to facilitate unrestricted movement of wildlife.
• The expressway will also include two iconic 8-lane tunnels, one tunnelling through Mukundra sanctuary without disturbing the endangered fauna in the region for 4 km and the second 4 km eight-lane tunnel will pass through the Matheran eco-sensitive zone.
• The expressway will result in annual fuel savings of more than 320 million litres and reduce CO2 emissions by 850 million kg which is equivalent to the planting of 40 million trees.
• More than 12 lakh tonnes of steel will be consumed in the construction of the expressway, which is equivalent to building 50 Howrah bridges.
• 80 lakh tonnes of cement will be consumed for the project, which is approximately 2% of India’s annual cement production capacity.
• The project has also created employment for thousands of trained civil engineers and more than 50 lakh man-days of work.

SOURCE: IE

ENVIRONMENT, GEOGRAPHY AND AGRICULTURE

CENTRE TO SIMPLIFY COFFEE ACT

THE CONTEXT: Centre to Simplify Coffee Act and promote ease of doing business.

ANALYSIS:

• The present Coffee Act was enacted in 1942 and it has many provisions which have become redundant and are impediments to the coffee trade.
• Therefore, it was decided to completely relook at the provisions of the Act and to remove the provisions which are restrictive and regulatory in nature so as to bring out a simple Act that suits the present needs of the coffee sector and facilitates its growth.
• ICAR to do research on Coffee, Tea and Spices.
• ICAR to suggest solutions to deal with Coffee White Stem Borer pest.
• Centre to make efforts to bring suitable provisions in SARFAESI act to resolve problems faced by Plant growers.

SOURCE:  PIB

WHY IS IT DIFFICULT FOR INDIA TO GET TO NET-ZERO?

THE CONTEXT: On his recent visit to India ahead of the U.N. Climate Change conference in Glasgow, U.S. Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry said he had not received any assurance that India was working to raise its ambition to cut carbon dioxide emissions.

 ANALYSIS:

• India, as the country with the third-largest emissions, is under pressure to come up with a higher ambition of cutting CO2 emissions.
• The net-zero concepts, according to the United Nations, has appealed to 130 countries that have either committed themselves to carbon neutrality by 2050 or are considering that target.

WHAT IS INDIA DOING TO LOWER EMISSIONS?

• India is working to reduce its emissions, aligned with the goal of less than 2°C global temperature rise, seen in its headline pledge to cut the emissions intensity of GDP by 33%-35% by 2030over the 2005 level. But it has not favoured a binding commitment towards carbon neutrality.
• It is also not aligned with the more ambitious goal of a 1.5°C temperature rise. Among the contentious issues it faces is heavy reliance on coal. According to the International Energy Agency’s India Energy Outlook 2021, coal accounts for close to 70% of electricity generation.
• Cutting greenhouse gases that heat the atmosphere and contribute to climate change involves shifting power production away from coal, greater adoption of renewables, and transforming mobility through electric vehicles. India is praised by some for its renewables target: scaling up power from renewables such as solar and wind to 450 GW by 2030.
• The U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) provides for common, but differentiated, responsibilities of nations, favouring countries like India.
• Some politicians support a net-zero target as it can put India on a green development trajectory, attracting investment in innovative technologies.

HOW ARE OTHER BIG COUNTRIES PURSUING NET-ZERO?

• As the largest emitter of GHGs, China told the U.N. in 2020 that it would move to net-zero by 2060. Its pledge to peak CO2 emissions before 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality three decades later is among the most high-profile commitments.
• The U.S., as the second biggest emitter with large historical emissions, returned to the Paris Agreement under President Joe Biden with an ambitious 2050 net-zero plan.
• The European Union (EU) member-states have committed themselves to reduce emissions by at least 55% by 2030 over 1990 levels.
• In July, the EU published a climate law that binds the bloc to its 2030 emissions target and carbon neutrality by 2050.

WHY DO SOME ANALYSTS SEE NET-ZERO AS CONTROVERSIAL?

• Although a global coalition has coalesced around the concept, an increasingly vocal group views it as a distraction, useful only to score political points.
• Carbon neutrality looks to nascent technology to suck out CO2 from the atmosphere.
• Youth movements and some scientists call this procrastination since it enables the fossil fuel industry to continue expanding. Many fossil fuel companies support net-zero goals.

WHAT ARE INDIA’S CHOICES?

• Getting a stronger economic dividend for the same volume of CO2 emitted by reforming energy, industry and buildings, and achieving higher energy efficiency in all sectors can slow emissions.
• State governments must be part of such a climate plan, and climate governance institutions must be set up at the national and state levels.

SOURCE: TH

INDIAN ECONOMY

WHAT IS THE NEED FOR A ‘BAD BANK’?

THE CONTEXT: The Union Cabinet approved a 30,600-crore rupees backstop facility for guaranteeing securities to be issued by the National Asset Reconstruction Company Ltd. (NARCL), the so-called ‘bad bank’ that is being set up to help aggregate and consolidate lenders’ non-performing assets (NPAs) or bad loans.

WHAT IS A ‘BAD BANK’, AND SPECIFICALLY THE NARCL?

• A ‘bad bank’ is a financial entity set up to acquire NPAs from banks and resolve them.
• The bank, which sells the stressed assets to the bad bank, is now relieved of the burden of the bad loans and can focus instead on growing its business by advancing fresh loans to borrowers requiring a credit. The cleaner balance sheet also makes it relatively easier for the lender to raise fresh capital, if required.
• The NARCL, which is being set up by lenders and will be 51% owned by public sector banks, proposes to take over the fully provisioned stressed assets of about ₹90,000 crores in the first phase.
• The minimum size of each NPA to be acquired will be ₹500 crores as the focus is on resolving big-ticket bad loans. The longer-term goal for the NARCL is to help resolve NPAs worth ₹2 lakh crore, with the remaining assets with lower provisions expected to be transferred in a second phase.

HOW WILL THE NARCL OPERATE?

• The ‘bad bank’ will acquire assets by making an offer to the lead bank of a group of lenders of an NPA. The NARCL would make a 15% cash payment to the banks based on a valuation and the rest would be given as security receipts.
• These receipts, in turn, would be guaranteed by the government’s ₹30,600-crore backstop facility.
• To assist the NARCL, public and private banks together would set up an India Debt Resolution Company Ltd. (IDRCL) that would manage the acquired assets and try to improve their value for final resolution. And on completion of the resolution, the balance of 85% of value, being held as security receipts, would be given to the banks.

WHY IS THE CENTRE PROVIDING A BACKSTOP?

• Given the large volume and individual sizes of these NPAs, a backstop from the government helps lend credibility to the resolution process and provides for contingency buffers.
• The guarantee, which will be valid for five years, would be invoked either at the time of resolution or liquidation to cover the shortfall (if any) between the face value of the security receipts and the actual realisation.
• The Union government’s guarantee will also enhance the liquidity of these receipts, which are tradable. Also, given that there would be a pool of assets, it is likely that the realisation of value in many cases would exceed the acquisition cost, obviating the need to draw down on the guarantee.

WHAT LIES AHEAD FOR THE BANKING INDUSTRY?

• The government expects that the setting up of the twin entities, the NARCL and the IDRCL, with adequate capital and its guarantee, will incentivise quicker action on resolving stressed assets, thereby helping in better value realisation.
• As the holders of these stressed assets and security receipts, banks stand to receive the gains accruing from a successful resolution process.
• In a bid to disincentivise delay in resolution, the government has also proposed that the NARCL pay a guarantee fee to the Centre, which would increase with the passage of time.
• Critics of the bad bank concept, however, contend that the government’s role in guaranteeing some part of the NPAs could lead to laxity on the part of bankers in assessing risk and thus creating fresh dodgy loans.
• Separately, a January 2020 Bank for International Settlements working paper on ‘Bad bank resolutions and bank lending’, in fact, found that bad bank segregations are effective in cleaning up balance sheets and promoting bank lending only if they combine recapitalisation with asset segregation.

SOURCE: PIB

INTERNAL SECURITY

HELINA MISSILE SYSTEM

THE CONTEXT: The helicopter-launched Nag Anti-Tank Guided Missile (ATGM), HELINA (Helicopter based NAG), being developed indigenously, has completed all trials and the process for issuing of acceptance of necessity (AoN) by the Army.

ANALYSIS:

• A variant of HELINA Weapon System called DHRUVASTRA is also being inducted into the Indian Air Force (IAF).
• Helina is a third-generation fire-and-forget class ATGM mounted on an indigenous Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH) and has a minimum range of 500 metres and a maximum range of 7 kilometres.
• The system has all-weather day and night capability and can defeat battle tanks with conventional armour as well as explosive reactive armour.
• The HELINA missile can engage targets in both indirect hit mode as well as top attack mode.
• NAG missile has a land-attack version called “Prospina”.
• NAG was one of the first five strategic missiles planned to be developed under the Integrated Missile Development Programme initiated in the 1980s. The other missiles developed under the project include Agni, Prithvi and Akash, and all three have been successfully developed and inducted into the armed forces.

SOURCE:TH

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

SUBSTITUTE FOR SINGLE-USE PLASTICS

THE CONTEXT: Researchers from the Department of Material Engineering, Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru (IISc) have found a way to make a substitute for single-use plastic.

ANALYSIS:

• By combining non-edible oils and cellulose extracted from agricultural stubble, the researchers made biodegradable, multiuse polymer sheets.
• In order to obtain sheets with properties like flexibility suitable for making different articles, the researchers played with the proportions of cellulose to non-edible oil.

SOURCE: TH

PRELIMS PRACTICE QUESTIONS

1. Which of the following is the Helicopter based NAG variant being inducted into Indian Airforce?

a) DHRUVASTRA

b) PROSPINA

c) NAMICA

d) MPATGM

ANSWER FOR SEPTEMBER 18, 2021 PRELIMS PRACTICE QUESTIONS (REFER TO RELEVANT ARTICLE)

Q1.Answer: c)

Explanation:

• Statement 1 is correct: Methane gas is a more potent GHG than CO2 (80 times more potent than carbon dioxide).
• Statement 1 is correct: Its lifetime in the atmosphere is much shorter than CO2.
• Statement 1 is correct: Methane is the main constituent of natural gas.

INDIAN POLITY, GOVERNANCE AND SOCIAL JUSTICE

SEVA SAMARPAN ABHIYAAN

THE CONTEXT: Union Minister Dr Jitendra Singh launches countrywide free Telemedicine facility to mark “Seva Samarpan Abhiyaan” on the occasion of the birthday of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi

ANALYSIS:

• A countrywide free telemedicine facility will overcome the problems of Accessibility, Availability and Affordability.
• All three obstacles like the quality of services, doctors and assistance, distance travelling, and cost of consultation/treatment are targeted and solved efficiently through this facility.
• Telemedicine services like SAATH and E-Sanjeevani add a meta-layer to the primary health sector, thus helping upgrade India’s entire health care system.
• “JIGYASA”, a student-scientist connect programme will be completed in schools in over 700 districts of India within one year.

SOURCE:  PIB

MAHUA NUTRA BEVERAGE

THE CONTEXT: TRIFED, FITT and Rusicaa Beverages have entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to work together to enhance the income of tribals of Jharkhand through the commercial production and sale of Mahua Nutra beverage, a value-added product made out of Mahua flowers in the state.

ANALYSIS:

• Mahua Nutra beverage is a value-added product made out of Mahua flowers in the state
• TRIFED in association with Foundation for Innovation And Technology Transfer (FIIT) has developed this value-added product Mahua Nutra.
• Now the technology is being licensed to M/sRrusicaa Beverages Private Ltd of Jharkhand for commercialization of this Mahua Nutra Beverage in Jharkhand.
• The Mahua Nutra beverage in its improvised form is blended with pomegranate fruit juice.
• This is the first of its kind of initiative in the State of Jharkhand and the country by TRIFED. This opens up opportunities for partner entrepreneurs in other States looking for starting up Nutra beverage units as well for benefit of tribal communities across the country.
• In its improvised form, the Mahua Nutra beverage is blended with Pomegranate fruit juice, which enhances the nutritional value and masks the flavour of Mahua beverage by improving its aroma and texture.

SOURCE:   PIB

RAILWAYS PLANNING MAJOR RESTRUCTURING

THE CONTEXT: The Indian Railways is heading for a major restructuring plan that could lead to the closure of major establishments, the merger of decades-old organisations and private participation in the running of its schools and hospitals.

ANALYSIS:

• The recommendations of the Principal Economic Adviser Sanjeev Sanyal for Rationalisation of Government Bodies and Proposal for the Ministry of Railways calls for winding up the Central Organisation for Railway Electrification (CORE), the Central Organisation for Modernisation Of Workshops (COFMOW), Centre for Railway Information Systems (CRIS) and Indian Railways Organisation for Alternative Fuel (already closed on September 7, 2021).
• Winding up of the CRIS, an autonomous society that develops software capacity in the railways that includes passenger ticketing, freight invoicing, passenger train operations, management of train crew and management of fixed/rolling assets, and handing over all its work to the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC).
• RailTel, one of the largest telecom infrastructure providers in the country that focuses on modernising operations and safety systems through optic fibre networks that exist along railway tracks, would be merged with the IRCTC.
• Rail India Technical and Economic Service (RITES) that exports rolling stock to take over Braithwaite & Co Ltd., (BCL) which turned sick in 1992, the sources said.
• The merger of the Rail Vikas Nigam Ltd. (RVNL), which implements projects relating to the creation and augmentation of the railway infrastructure, with the Indian Railway Construction Limited (IRCON), a specialised infrastructure construction organisation.
• The merger of railway schools with Kendriya Vidyalayas or handing them over to the respective State governments.
• Establish Central Public Sector Enterprises to bring eight production units under its fold.
• The merger of the Central Training Institutes with the National Rail and Transportation Institute after upgrading the latter into a Central University and an Institute of National Importance.

SOURCE: TH             

SC COLLEGIUM ON MISSION MODE TO FILL VACANCIES

THE CONTEXT: The Supreme Court Collegium, led by Chief Justice of India (CJI) N.V. Ramana, is proceeding with staggering speed to fill the vacancies and strengthen the judiciary as seen in the latest slew of recommendations, which include eight new Chief Justices to High Courts, the transfer of five High Court Chief Justices and the shuffling of 28 High Court judges across the country.

SOURCE: TH

ENVIRONMENT, GEOGRAPHY AND AGRICULTURE

GLOBAL METHANE PLEDGE

THE CONTEXT: U.S. President Joe Biden announced the Global Methane Pledge, a U.S. – EU led effort to cut methane emissions by a third by the end of this decade.

ABOUT METHANE GAS

• It is an odourless, colourless, tasteless gas that is lighter than air.
• Methane is the main constituent of natural gas.
• When methane burns in the air it has a blue flame due to complete combustion.
• Methane is the most important greenhouse gas after carbon dioxide.
• It is a more potent GHG than CO2 (80 times more potent than carbon dioxide).
• Its lifetime in the atmosphere is much shorter than CO2.
• It helps in the formation of ground-level ozone (a secondary air pollutant).
• Natural sources (40%)- wetlands, oceans, digestive processes of termites.
• Manmade sources (60% of total)- Rice cultivation & livestock (40%), Fossil fuels (35%), Waste (20%), Wastewater treatment.

SOURCE:  TH

INDIAN ECONOMY

RECOMMENDATIONS OF 45TH GST COUNCIL MEETING

THE CONTEXT: The GST Council’s 45^th meeting was held in Lucknow under the chairmanship of the Union Finance & Corporate Affairs Minister Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman.

RECOMMENDATIONS

• Life-saving drugs Zolgensma and Viltepso used in the treatment of Spinal-Muscular Atrophy exempted from GST when imported for personal use
• Extension of existing concessional GST rates on certain COVID-19 treatment drugs up to 31^stDecember 2021
• GST rates on 7 other medicines recommended by the Department of Pharmaceuticals reduced from 12% to 5% till 31^stDecember 2021
• GST rate on Keytruda medicine for the treatment of cancer reduced from 12% to 5%
• GST rates on Retro fitment kits for vehicles used by persons with special abilities reduced to 5%
• GST rates on Fortified Rice kernels for schemes like ICDS reduced from 18% to 5%
• Council also recommends major changes in GST rates and scope of exemption on Services
• Recommends several clarifications in relation to GST rates on Goods and Services
• Council recommends several measures relating to GST law and procedure
• Council decides to set up 2 GoMs to examine the issue of correction of inverted duty structure for major sectors and for using technology to further improve compliance, including monitoring

SOURCE: PIB

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

PLANETARIUM INNOVATION CHALLENGE

THE CONTEXT: MyGov India, under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), has launched the Planetarium Innovation Challenge for Indian start-ups and tech entrepreneurs.

ANALYSIS:

• The challenge aims to bring together the tech firms and Startups (based out of India) with the potential to build an indigenous planetariums system software using the latest technologies including Augmented Reality (A.R.), Virtual Reality (V.R.) and Merged Reality (M.R.).
• Inspired by the Chandrayaan launches, the Indian Space Research Organization conducted the ISRO Quiz competition 2019 in collaboration with MyGov where several schools, parents and enthusiastic mentors made it memorable through their active participation.

SOURCE: PIB

INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

JAISHANKAR CALLS FOR EARLY RESOLUTION OF LAC ISSUES

THE CONTEXT: According to the MEA, Mr Jaishankar once again stressed that peace and tranquillity along the LAC, which depended on resolving all the remaining issues of the 17-month-long stand-off.

ANALYSIS:

• China must not view India through the lens of its ties with other countries, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar told his Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi, as they met on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in Dushanbe, capital of Tajikistan.
• They agreed to more talks by military and diplomatic officials to resolve the remaining issues on disengagement.
• Jaishankar said that “Asian solidarity” depended on the example set by India-China relations.

SOURCE:  TH

MODI: POLITICAL CHANGE IN AFGHANISTAN NOT INCLUSIVE

THE CONTEXT: “The first issue is that the change of authority in Afghanistan was not inclusive and this happened without negotiation. This raises questions on the prospects of recognition of the new system. Representation of all sections of Afghans, including women and the minorities, is important,” Mr Modi said in a speech at the Afghanistan-themed outreach summit between the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) and the Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO).

ANALYSIS:

• He expressed India’s support for the “central role” of the United Nations in the global deliberation regarding the current system in Afghanistan.
• The Taliban has declared an “interim government” in Kabul but India has not yet recognised that set-up.
• He highlighted that a “large number of advanced weapons” were left behind by western powers in Afghanistan, and cautioned that the country could emerge as the source of uncontrolled flow of drugs, illegal weapons and human trafficking.
• To deal with the fallout of the volatile situation in Afghanistan, he urged the SCO member countries to frame a “code of conduct” to stop terror financing and cross-border terrorism.
• The Prime Minister stressed the importance of moderate Islam in Central Asia and urged the member- countries to counter religious extremism and radicalisation.

ABOUT SCO:

• Prior to the creation of SCO in 2001, Kazakhstan, China, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Tajikistan were members of the Shanghai Five.
• Shanghai Five (1996) emerged from a series of border demarcation and demilitarization talks that the four former Soviet republics held with China to ensure stability along the borders.
• Following the accession of Uzbekistan to the organisation in 2001, the Shanghai Five was renamed the SCO.
• The eurasian political, economic and military organization aims to maintain peace, security and stability in the region.
• India and Pakistan became members in 2017.
• 8 members: Kazakhstan, China, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, India, Pakistan
• Secretariat: Beijing
• Official languages: Russian and Chinese.

ABOUT CSTO

• The Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) is a Russia-led military alliance of seven former Soviet states that was created in 2002.
• The CSTO’s purpose is to ensure the collective defence of any member that faces external aggression.
• It has been described by political scientists as the Eurasian counterpart of NATO, which has 29 member states, while the CSTO has just six.
• Current CSTO members are Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russian Federation and Tajikistan.
• Afghanistan and Serbia hold observer status in the CSTO. Uzbekistan again became a CSTO member in 2006 but then withdrew its membership in 2012.
• The organization uses a rotating presidency system in which the state leading the CSTO changes every year.
• Collective Security Council (CSC) is the highest body of CSTO and comprises the heads of member states.

SOURCE: TH

PRELIMS PRACTICE QUESTIONS:

Q1. Consider the following statements about methane gas:

1. It is a more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide.
2. It has more lifespan in the atmosphere as compared to carbon dioxide.
3. It is the main constituent of natural gas.

Which of the given statements are correct?

a) 1 and 2 only

b) 2 and 3 only

c) 1 and 3 only

d) 1, 2 and 3

ANSWER FOR SEPTEMBER 15, 2021 PRELIMS PRACTICE QUESTIONS (REFER TO RELEVANT ARTICLE)

Q1. Answer: c)

Explanation:

• Ministry of Labour & Employment has developed an e-SHRAM portal for creating a National Database of Unorganized Workers (NDUW), which will be seeded with Aadhaar.

Who can register in the e-Shram (NDUW) Portal?

Any individual satisfying the following conditions can register on the portal:

1. An unorganised worker (UW).
2. Age should be between 16-59 years.

Not a member of EPFO/ESIC or NPS (Govt. funded)

INDIAN POLITY, GOVERNANCE AND SOCIAL JUSTICE

REPORT ON REFORMS IN URBAN PLANNING CAPACITY IN INDIA

THE CONTEXT: The report, titled ‘Reforms in Urban Planning Capacity in India’, was released by NITI Aayog.

REFORMS IN URBAN PLANNING CAPACITY: SUMMARY

India is home to 11% of the total global urban population. By 2027, India will surpass China as the most populous country in the world. Unplanned urbanization, however, exerts great strain on our cities. In fact, the Covid-19 pandemic has revealed the dire need for the planning and management of our cities.

Urban planning is the foundation for the integrated development of cities, citizens, and the environment. Unfortunately, it has received due attention so far. The existing urban planning and governance framework is complex, which often leads to ambiguity and a lack of accountability.

The report makes several recommendations that can unblock bottlenecks in the value chain of urban planning capacity in India. Some of them are:

• Programmatic Intervention for Planning of Healthy Cities: Every city must aspire to become a ‘Healthy City for All’ by 2030. The report recommends a Central Sector Scheme ‘500 Healthy Cities Programme’, for a period of 5 years, wherein priority cities and towns would be selected jointly by the states and local bodies.
• Programmatic Intervention for Optimum Utilization of Urban Land: All the cities and towns under the proposed ‘Healthy Cities Programme’ should strengthen development control regulations based on scientific evidence to maximize the efficiency of urban land (or planning area). The report recommends a sub-scheme ‘Preparation/Revision of Development Control Regulations for this purpose.
• Ramping Up of Human Resources: To combat the shortage of urban planners in the public sector, the report recommends that the states/UTs may need to a) expedite the filling up of vacant positions of town planners, and b) additionally sanction 8268 town planners’ posts as lateral entry positions for a minimum period of 3 years and a maximum of 5 years to meet the gaps.
• Ensuring Qualified Professionals for Undertaking Urban Planning: State town and country planning departments face an acute shortage of town planners. This is compounded by the fact that in several states, ironically, a qualification in town planning is not even an essential criterion for such jobs. States may need to undertake requisite amendments in their recruitment rules to ensure the entry of qualified candidates into town-planning positions.
• Re-engineering of Urban Governance: There is a need to bring in more institutional clarity and also multi-disciplinary expertise to solve urban challenges. The report recommends the constitution of a high-powered committee to re-engineer the present urban-planning governance structure. The key aspects that would need to be addressed in this effort are i) clear division of the roles and responsibilities of various authorities, appropriate revision of rules and regulations, etc., ii) creation of a more dynamic organizational structure, standardisation of the job descriptions of town planners and other experts, and iii) extensive adoption of technology for enabling public participation and inter-agency coordination.
• Revision of Town and Country Planning Acts: Most States have enacted the Town and Country Planning Acts, that enable them to prepare and notify master plans for implementation. However, many need to be reviewed and upgraded. Therefore, the formation of an apex committee at the state level is recommended to undertake a regular review of planning legislation (including town and country planning or urban and regional development acts or other relevant acts).
• Demystifying Planning and Involving Citizens: While it is important to maintain the master plans’ technical rigour, it is equally important to demystify them for enabling citizens’ participation at relevant stages. Therefore, the committee strongly recommends a ‘Citizen Outreach Campaign’ for demystifying urban planning.
• Steps for Enhancing the Role of the Private Sector: The report recommends that concerted measures must be taken at multiple levels to strengthen the role of the private sector to improve the overall planning capacity in the country. These include the adoption of fair processes for procuring technical consultancy services, strengthening project structuring and management skills in the public sector, and empanelment of private sector consultancies.
• Steps for Strengthening Urban Planning Education System

1. 1. The Central universities and technical institutions in all the other States/UTs are encouraged to offer postgraduate degree programmes (MTech Planning) to cater to the requirement of planners in the country in a phased manner.
   2. The committee also recommends that all such institutions may synergize with the Ministry of Rural Development, the Ministry of Panchayati Raj and respective state rural development departments/directorates and develop demand-driven short-term programmes on rural area planning.
   3. ‘Planning’ as an umbrella term, including all its specializations such as environment, housing, transportation, infrastructure, logistics, rural area, regional, etc., or any other nomenclature approved by AICTE, should be included as a discipline under the National Institute Ranking Framework (NIRF) of MoE to encourage healthy competition among the institutions.
   4. The committee recommends that AICTE may retain the names of specializations based on industry requirements while limiting them to an appropriate number, as 25 nomenclatures seem too high for market acknowledgement and absorption.
   5. Faculty shortage in educational institutions conducting degree and PhD programmes in planning need to be resolved in a time-bound manner by 2022.

• Measures for Strengthening Human Resource and Match Demand–Supply: The report recommends the constitution of a ‘National Council of Town and Country Planners’ as a statutory body of the Government of India. Also, a ‘National Digital Platform of Town and Country Planners’ is suggested to be created within the National Urban Innovation Stack of MoHUA. This portal will enable the self-registration of all planners and evolve as a marketplace for potential employers and urban planners.

SOURCE:  PIB

AIM IN PARTNERSHIP WITH DASSAULT SYSTÈMES

THE CONTEXT: Atal Innovation Mission (AIM) NITI Aayog in partnership with Dassault Systèmes’ is all set to rave up the innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem across the country.

ANALYSIS:

• With an aim to promote innovation and entrepreneurship amongst aspiring entrepreneurs, this program will act as a catalyst for an open innovation collaboration to accelerate disruptive innovation in the community.
• There are six aspects of engagement between Dassault and AIM, NITI Aayog. These include access to Dassault Systèmes’ 3DEXPERIENCE Lab start-up acceleration program to selected AIM start-ups; mentorship to  selected AIM start-ups for  capability building of their products; 3DEXPERIENCE Lab related global community access to selected AIM start-ups; industry connect for selected AIM start-ups with Dassault Systèmes’ worldwide customers, partners and technology collaborators as and when applicable; participation of selected AIM start-ups in Dassault Systèmes national and global events; and organization and participation in joint events, hackathons, challenges with AIM and NITI Aayog

SOURCE:   PIB

ENVIRONMENT, GEOGRAPHY AND AGRICULTURE

GLOBAL OZONE DAY

THE CONTEXT: India observes the 27th Global Ozone Day.

ANALYSIS:

• World Ozone Day is celebrated on 16th September each year to commemorate the signing of the Montreal Protocol, an international environmental treaty for phasing out of production and consumption of Ozone Depleting Substances, that came into force on this day in 1987.
• The Day is celebrated every year to spread awareness among people about the depletion of the Ozone Layer and the measures taken/ to be taken to preserve it.
• The Ozone Cell, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC), Government of India has been celebrating World Ozone Day since 1995 at the National and State levels.
• The theme of World Ozone Day 2021 is “Montreal Protocol – Keeping us, our food and vaccines cool”.
• Action Plan Released for implementing the recommendations of the India Cooling Action Plan (ICAP) for the thematic Area Space Cooling in Buildings.
• The India cooling action plan (ICAP), the first of its kind in the world to be developed by the MoEF&CC, addresses cooling requirements across sectors and lists out actions that can help reduce the cooling demand through synergies in actions for securing both environmental and socio-economic benefits. The ICAP aims to reduce both direct and indirect emissions.

SOURCE:   PIB

INDIAN ECONOMY

E-SHRAM PORTAL

THE CONTEXT: Ministry of Labour & Employment has developed an e-SHRAM portal for creating a National Database of Unorganized Workers (NDUW), which will be seeded with Aadhaar.

ANALYSIS:

• It will have details of name, occupation, address, educational qualification, skill types and family details etc. for the optimum realization of their employability and extend benefits of social security schemes to them.
• It is the first-ever national database of unorganised workers including migrant workers, construction workers, gig and platform workers, etc.

WHO CAN REGISTER IN E-SHRAM (NDUW) PORTAL?

Any individual satisfying the following conditions can register on the portal:

1. 1. An unorganised worker (UW).
   2. Age should be between 16-59 years.
   3. Not a member of EPFO/ESIC or NPS (Govt. funded)

WHO IS AN UNORGANISED WORKER?

• Any worker who is a home based-worker, self-employed worker or a wage worker in the unorganised sector including a worker in the organised sector who is not a member of ESIC or EPFO or not a Govt. employee is called an Unorganised Worker.

WHAT IS REQUIRED FOR REGISTRATION?

1. 1. Aadhar Number
   2. The mobile number is linked with Aadhaar.
   3. Savings Bank Account Number with IFSC code

SOURCE: TH

GOVERNMENT SETS UP BAD BANK

THE CONTEXT: Paving the way for a major clean-up of bad loans in the banking system, the Cabinet cleared a ₹30,600 crore guarantee programme for securities to be issued by the newly incorporated ‘bad bank’ for taking over and resolving non-performing assets (NPAs) amounting to ₹2 lakh crore.

ANALYSIS:

• The Reserve Bank of India is in the process of granting a license for the National Asset Reconstruction Company Limited (NARCL), following which toxic assets worth ₹90,000 crores that banks have already fully provided for will move to the NARCL.
• Finance Minister said the Cabinet’s decision, to extend a five-year guarantee for NARCL-issued security receipts to banks, completed the entire cycle of cleaning up India’s banking system that began with the recognition of the extent of bad loans in 2015.
• Under the mechanism, the NARCL will acquire assets by making an offer to the lead bank. Private sector asset reconstruction firms (ARCs) may also be allowed to outbid the NARCL.
• Separately, public and private lenders would combine forces to set up an India Debt Resolution Company (IDRC) that would manage these as- sets and try to raise their value for final resolution.
• The upfront cash payment by the NARCL will immediately be accretive for the profitability and capital of the banks, however, the ability of the NARCL to resolve these assets in a time-bound manner will be critical for future provision writeback by banks.

SOURCE:  TH PIB

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

CONVERTING THE KERATIN WASTE TO FOOD

THE CONTEXT: Indian scientists have developed a new sustainable and affordable solution for converting keratin waste such as human hair, wool, and poultry feathers to fertilizers, pet, and animal feeds.

ANALYSIS:

• India generates a huge amount of human hair, poultry feather waste, and wool waste each year. These wastes are inexpensive sources of amino acids and protein, underlining their potential to be used as animal feed and fertilizer.
• Professor A. B. Pandit, Vice-Chancellor, Institute of Chemical Technology Mumbai, along with his students, has developed a technology to covert the keratin waste to food for pets and fertilizers for plants.
• This novel technology is patented, easily scalable, environment-friendly, energy-efficient, and it will make amino acid-rich liquid fertilizers more economical as compared to currently marketed products.
• They used advanced oxidation for the conversion of the waste to marketable fertilizers and animal feed. The key technology behind this involves pre-treatment followed by hydrolysis of keratin using a technique called Hydrodynamic Cavitation, which involves vaporization, bubble generation, and bubble implosion in a flowing liquid.

SOURCE: PIB

EXPLORING FORMATION AND EVOLUTION OF STARS

THE CONTEXT: Resolution of scientific challenge in calculating chemical abundance in stars can help explore their history better.

ANALYSIS:

• The probe of astronomers into the history of formation and evolution of stars through the chemical constitution of the stars has long been hampered by an intriguing ‘carbon problem’—a mismatch between predicted and observed values of an abundance of elements that prevented the scientists from correctly calculating the abundances of the various elements particularly on the surface of certain Hydrogen-deficient stars called R Corona Borealis stars.
• They have now found a resolution to this with a new method to analyze the abundances and have revised the existing values available in the literature. This method will allow astronomers to calculate the elemental abundances in RCB stars more accurately and better explore their formation and evolution.
• Astronomers use the spectral lines of various elements to determine their abundances in stars. Different kinds of stars can have very different abundances of these elements on their surface. One such class of stars, called R Coronae Borealis stars (RCB), have very little hydrogen, comparable to the abundance of elements heavier than helium, one of them being carbon. This is in stark contrast to the majority of stars whose atmospheres are dominated by hydrogen.
• These are supergiant stars, with surface temperatures of 5000K to 7000K. The surface abundances of hydrogen poor stars are measured relative to helium (He), the most abundant element in their atmospheres.
• The abundance of an element is measured from its absorption line spectra. The extent of this absorption is calculated as a fraction of the underlying continuum absorption. The continuum absorption is due to Hydrogen for Sun-like stars.
• However, it is due to Carbon for RCB stars. Hence astronomers have been able to measure the abundances of heavier elements as a function of Carbon in RCB stars rather than as a function of hydrogen. This implies that the actual abundances can be calculated only if we know the ratio for Carbon relative to Helium.
• However, spectroscopic determination of carbon to helium ratio (C/He) is not possible from the observed optical spectra of RCBs. Therefore, for constructing the model atmosphere to derive the surface abundances of RCBs, a C/He of 1% was assumed. But, the predicted strengths of the neutral carbon lines are stronger than what is observed. This mismatch is called the “carbon problem”.

SOURCE:   PIB

LOW CARBON BRICKS

THE CONTEXT: Researchers have developed a technology to produce energy-efficient walling materials using construction and demolition (C&D) waste and alkali-activated binders. These are called low-C bricks, do not require high-temperature firing, and avoid the use of high-energy materials such as Portland cement.

ANALYSIS:

• Conventionally, building envelopes consist of masonry walls built with burnt clay bricks, concrete blocks, hollow clay blocks, fly ash bricks, lightweight blocks, and so on. The envelopes spend energy during their production, thus incurring carbon emission (i.e., possess embodied carbon) consume mined raw material resources which lead to unsustainable constructions.
• Scientists of the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) developed a technology for producing alkali-activated bricks/blocks by utilising fly ash and furnace slag. The team of researchers developed low embodied carbon bricks from CDW waste through an alkali activation process using fly ash and ground slag and characterising the thermal, structural, and durability characteristics of Low-C bricks and their masonry.
• After ascertaining the Physico-chemical and compaction characteristics of the CDW, the optimum mix ratios of the materials were obtained, and then the production process was evolved to produce low-C bricks. Based on the optimum binder proportions, the compressed bricks were manufactured. The bricks were examined for engineering characteristics.

SOURCE:  PIB

INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

AUKUS SEEKS TO RESHAPE INDO-PACIFIC TIES

THE CONTEXT: Australia, the U.K. and the U.S. (AUKUS) have announced their forming a new security alliance that will help equip Australia with nuclear-powered submarines.

WHAT DOES IT MEAN FOR DIFFERENT STAKEHOLDER COUNTRIES?

• The US.: Under President Joe Biden, the U.S. has now withdrawn its troops from Afghanistan while finding that tensions with China have only grown. In the Pacific, the U.S. and others have been concerned about China’s actions in the South China Sea and its antipathy toward Japan, Taiwan and Australia.
• Britain: The U.S. had previously only shared the nuclear propulsion technology with Britain. Leaving the EU under Brexit has left Britain seeking to reassert its global position. Part of that has been an increased focus – or tilt – towards the Indo-Pacific.
• Australia: Under the arrangement, Australia will build at least eight nuclear-powered submarines using U.S. expertise, while dumping a contract with France for diesel-electric submarines. Experts say the nuclear submarines will allow Australia to conduct longer patrols and give the alliance a stronger military presence in the region. Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said he had called the leaders of Japan and India to explain the new alliance.
• France: Australia told France it would end its contract with state majority-owned DCNS to build 12 of the world’s largest conventional submarines. France is furious, demanding explanations from all sides.
• New Zealand: Left out of the new alliance is Australia’s neighbour New Zealand. It has a long-standing nuclear-free policy that includes a ban on nuclear-powered ships entering its ports. That stance has sometimes been a sticking point in otherwise close relations with the U.S.

SOURCE:  TH

PRELIMS PRACTICE QUESTIONS:

Q1. E-Shram portal registers workers satisfying certain conditions. Which of the following are correct conditions among them?

1. 1. An unorganised worker.
   2. Age should be between 19-59 years.
   3. Not a member of EPFO/ESIC or NPS.

Select the correct answer using the code given below

a) 1 only

b) 1 and 2 only

c) 1 and 3 only

d) 1, 2 and 3

ANSWER FOR SEPTEMBER 15, 2021 PRELIMS PRACTICE QUESTIONS (REFER TO RELEVANT ARTICLE)

Q1. ANSWER: B)

Explanation:

• A new trilateral security partnership for the Indo-Pacific between Australia, the U.K. and the U.S. (AUKUS).
• A central feature of the partnership would involve a tri-lateral 18-month effort to help Australia acquire nuclear-powered submarines which are quieter, more capable (than their conventional counterparts) and can be deployed for longer periods, needing to surface less frequently.

Q2. ANSWER: B)

• NITI Aayog, with RMI and RMI India’s support, today launched Shoonya—an initiative to promote zero-pollution delivery vehicles by working with consumers and industry.
• The campaign aims to accelerate the adoption of electric vehicles (EVs) in the urban deliveries segment and create consumer awareness about the benefits of zero-pollution delivery.

[WpProQuiz 49]

INDIAN POLITY, GOVERNANCE AND SOCIAL JUSTICE

SANSAD TV

THE CONTEXT: Sansad TV, a news channel combining Lok Sabha TV and Rajya Sabha TV, was launched by the PM.

ANALYSIS:

• A single channel for Parliament had become a reality after careful consideration of the recommendations of a committee set up in November 2019.
• The LSTV, which was the brainchild of former Speaker Somnath Chatterjee, has been functioning for 15 years and the RSTV for 10 years.
• When Parliament is in session, both channels will continue to operate as before bringing in the live telecast. But when it is in recess, only Sansad TV will be telecast.

ABOUT LOK SABHA TV

• Lok Sabha TV is the first parliamentary channel of India launched in July 2006.
• It is dedicated to the Lower House of the Parliament.
• It is owned and operated by Lok Sabha Secretariat.
• It has a mandate to telecast uninterrupted live proceedings of the Lok Sabha.

ABOUT RAJYA SABHA TV

• It was started in 2011.
• Rajya Sabha TV is owned and operated by the upper house of Indian Parliament.
• Apart from telecasting live coverage of Rajya Sabha proceedings, RSTV also brings incisive analysis of parliamentary affairs.

SOURCE: TH

SHOONYA CAMPAIGN

THE CONTEXT: NITI Aayog, with RMI and RMI India’s support, launched Shoonya—an initiative to promote zero-pollution delivery vehicles by working with consumers and industry. The campaign aims to accelerate the adoption of electric vehicles (EVs) in the urban deliveries segment and create consumer awareness about the benefits of zero-pollution delivery.

ANALYSIS:

• Over 30 e-commerce, OEMs, fleet aggregators, charging infrastructure companies join hands to deliver green as part of the campaign to clean up final-mile deliveries.
• As part of the campaign, a corporate branding and certification programme is being launched to recognise and promote the industry’s efforts towards transitioning to EVs for final-mile deliveries.
• An online tracking platform will share the campaign’s impact through data such as vehicle kilometres electrified, carbon savings, criteria pollutant savings and other benefits from clean delivery vehicles.
• Urban freight vehicles account for 10 per cent of freight transportation-related CO2 emissions in India, and these emissions are expected to grow by 114 per cent by 2030. EVs emit no tailpipe emissions, which can contribute immensely to improved air quality.
• Even when accounting for their manufacture, they emit 15-40 per cent less CO2 compared to their internal combustion engine counterparts and have lower operational costs.
• The central and the state governments have introduced policies to provide upfront incentives for EVs, which will lower the capital cost by a high margin.

SOURCE:  PIB

ENVIRONMENT, GEOGRAPHY AND AGRICULTURE

ASSAM WETLAND NEIGHBOURS OPPOSE RAILWAY TRACK REALIGNMENT

THE CONTEXT: Villagers living near Deepar Beel (Assam), a Ramsar Site wetland and Important Bird Area under stress, have opposed the proposed realignment of a railway track skirting its southern edge.

ANALYSIS:

• The project would be catastrophic for the ecology of the Rani-Garbhanga Reserve Forest, affect a prime elephant corridor and uproot the indigenous people, they say.
• The issue of the garbage dumping ground on the edge of Deepar Beel was also taken up. Seepages from the dump and sewers from Guwahati have made the Deepar Beel toxic, threatening aquatic life and waterfowls.
• On August 25, 2021, the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change notified the ecosensitive zone of Deepar Beel Wildlife Sanctuary on the southwestern edge of Guwahati.
• Deepar Beel is one of the largest freshwater lakes in Assam and the State’s only Ramsar Site (declared in 2002), besides being an Important Bird Area.

SOURCE:  TH

INDIAN ECONOMY

INDIA EXPECTED TO GROW AT 7.2% IN 2021: UN REPORT

THE CONTEXT: India is expected to grow at 7.2 per cent in 2021 but economic growth could decelerate next year, according to a United Nations report which said the recovery in the country is constrained by the ongoing human and economic cost of the COVID-19 pandemic and the negative impact of food price inflation on private consumption.

ANALYSIS:

• The UNCTAD Trade and Development Report 2021, released here on Wednesday, sounded a cautiously optimistic note to say that the global economy is set for a strong recovery in 2021, albeit with a good deal of uncertainty clouding the details at the regional and country levels over the second half of the year.
• After a 3.5 per cent fall in 2020, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) expects world output to grow 5.3 per cent this year, partially recovering the ground lost in 2020.
• The report said that India “suffered a contraction” of 7 per cent in 2020 and is expected to grow 7.2 per cent in 2021.
• The report projects that India will clock an economic growth of 6.7 per cent in 2022, slower than the country’s expected 2021 growth rate.
• However, even with a slower growth rate of 6.7 per cent, India will still be the fastest-growing major economy in the world next year.

SOURCE: TH

CABINET APPROVES MAJOR REFORMS IN TELECOM SECTOR

THE CONTEXT: The Union Cabinet approved a number of structural and process reforms in the Telecom sector. These are expected to protect and generate employment opportunities, promote healthy competition, protect the interests of consumers, infuse liquidity, encourage investment and reduce the regulatory burden on Telecom Service Providers (TSPs).

ANALYSIS:

STRUCTURAL REFORMS

• Rationalization of Adjusted Gross Revenue:  Non-telecom revenue will be excluded on a prospective basis from the definition of AGR.
• Bank Guarantees (BGs) rationalized: Huge reduction in BG requirements (80%) against License Fee (LF) and other similar Levies. No requirements for multiple BGs in different Licenced Service Areas (LSAs) regions in the country. Instead, One BG will be enough.
• Interest rates rationalized/ Penalties removed: From 1st October 2021, Delayed payments of License Fee (LF)/Spectrum Usage Charge (SUC) will attract an interest rate of SBI’s MCLR plus 2% instead of MCLR plus 4%; interest compounded annually instead of monthly; penalty and interest on penalty removed.
• For Auctions held henceforth, no BGs will be required to secure instalment payments. The industry has matured and the past practice of BG is no longer required.
• Spectrum Tenure: In future Auctions, the tenure of spectrum increased from 20 to 30 years.
• Surrender of the spectrum will be permitted after 10 years for spectrum acquired in future auctions.
• No Spectrum Usage Charge (SUC) for spectrum acquired in future spectrum auctions.
• Spectrum sharing encouraged- additional SUC of 0.5% for spectrum sharing removed.
• To encourage investment, 100% Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) under automatic route permitted in Telecom Sector. All safeguards will apply.

PROCEDURAL REFORMS

• Auction calendar fixed – Spectrum auctions are to be normally held in the last quarter of every financial year.
• Ease of doing business promoted – a cumbersome requirement of licenses under 1953 Customs Notification for wireless equipment removed. Replaced with self-declaration.
• Know Your Customers (KYC) reforms: Self-KYC (App based) permitted. E-KYC rate revised to only One Rupee. Shifting from Prepaid to Post-paid and vice-versa will not require fresh KYC.
• Paper Customer Acquisition Forms (CAF) will be replaced by digital storage of data. Nearly 300-400 crore paper CAFs lying in various warehouses of TSPs will not be required. Warehouse audit of CAF will not be required.
• SACFA clearance for telecom towers eased. DOT will accept data on a portal based on a self-declaration basis. Portals of other Agencies (such as Civil Aviation) will be linked with DOT Portal.

ADDRESSING LIQUIDITY REQUIREMENTS OF TELECOM SERVICE PROVIDERS

• Moratorium/Deferment of up to four years in annual payments of dues arising out of the AGR judgement, with, however, by protecting the Net Present Value (NPV) of the due amounts being protected.
• Moratorium/Deferment on due payments of spectrum purchased in past auctions (excluding the auction of 2021) for up to four years with NPV protected at the interest rate stipulated in the respective auctions.
• Option to the TSPs to pay the interest amount arising due to the said deferment of payment by way of equity.
• At the option of the Government, to convert the due amount pertaining to the said deferred payment by way of equity at the end of the Moratorium/Deferment period, guidelines for which will be finalized by the Ministry of Finance.
• The above will be applicable for all TSPs and will provide relief by easing liquidity and cash flow. This will also help various banks having substantial exposure to the Telecom sector.

SOURCE:  TH PIB

GOVERNMENT APPROVES PLI SCHEME FOR DRONES AND DRONE COMPONENTS

THE CONTEXT: The Central Government has approved the Production-Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme for drones and drone components.

SALIENT FEATURES OF THE PLI SCHEME FOR DRONES

• The total amount allocated for the PLI scheme for drones and drone components is INR 120 crore spread over three financial years.  This amount is nearly double the combined turnover of all domestic drone manufacturers in FY 2020-21.
• The incentive for a manufacturer of drones and drone components shall be as high as 20% of the value addition made by her.
• The value addition shall be calculated as the annual sales revenue from drones and drone components (net of GST) minus the purchase cost (net of GST) of drone and drone components.
• The Government has agreed to keep the PLI rate constant at 20%for all three years, an exceptional treatment given only to the drone industry.  In PLI schemes for other sectors, the PLI rate reduces every year.
• The proposed tenure of the PLI scheme is three years starting in FY 2021-22.  The PLI scheme will be extended or redrafted after studying its impact in consultation with the industry.
• The Government has agreed to fix the minimum value addition norm at 40% of net sales for drones and drone components instead of 50%, another exceptional treatment given to the drone industry.  This will allow widening the number of beneficiaries.
• The PLI scheme covers a wide variety of drone components:

1. 1. Airframe, propulsion systems (engine and electric), power systems, batteries and associated components, launch and recovery systems;
   2. Inertial Measurement Unit, Inertial Navigation System, flight control module, ground control station and associated components;
   3. Communications systems (radiofrequency, transponders, satellite-based etc.)
   4. Cameras, sensors, spraying systems and related payload etc.;
   5. ‘Detect and Avoid’ system, emergency recovery system, trackers etc. and other components critical for safety and security.

• The list of eligible components may be expanded by the Government from time to time, as drone technology evolves.
• The Government has agreed to widen the coverage of the incentive scheme to include developers of drone-related IT products
• The Government has kept the eligibility norm for MSME and startups in terms of annual sales turnover at a nominal level – INR 2 cr (for drones) and INR 50 lakhs (for drone components).  This will allow widening the number of beneficiaries.
• The eligibility norm for non-MSME companies in terms of annual sales turnover has been kept at INR 4 crore (for drones) and INR 1 crore (for drone components).
• The incentive payable to a manufacturer of drones and drone components shall be simply one-fifth of her value addition.
• PLI for a manufacturer shall be capped at 25% of the total annual outlay. This will allow widening the number of beneficiaries.
• In case a manufacturer fails to meet the threshold for the eligible value addition for a particular financial year, she will be allowed to claim the lost incentive in the subsequent year if she makes up the shortfall in the subsequent year.

SOURCE : PIB

INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

U.S., U.K. AND AUSTRALIA FORM NEW PARTNERSHIP

THE CONTEXT: A week before a meeting of Quad leaders in Washington DC, the Biden administration, announced a new trilateral security partnership for the Indo-Pacific between Australia, the U.K. and the U.S. (AUKUS).

ANALYSIS:

• A trilateral grouping that was security-focused, suggesting it was different from — but complementary to — arrangements such as the Quad.
• A central feature of the partnership would involve a tri-lateral 18-month effort to help Australia acquire nuclear-powered submarines which are quieter, more capable (than their conventional counterparts) and can be deployed for longer periods, needing to surface less frequently.

SOURCE:  TH

PRELIMS PRACTICE QUESTIONS:

Q1. A new trilateral security partnership ‘AUKUS’ has been recently announced between which of the following three countries?

a) Argentina, U.K. and U.S.

b) Australia, U.K. and U.S.

c) Australia, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the U.S.

d) Australia, South Korea and the U.S.

Q2.  “Shoonya Campaign” launched by Niti Aayog is related to:

a) Improving learning abilities among primary school students.

b) Electric vehicles

c) Women empowerment

d) Culture and history

ANSWER FOR SEPTEMBER 15, 2021 PRELIMS PRACTICE QUESTIONS (REFER TO RELEVANT ARTICLE)

Answer: D

Explanation:

• • Statement 1 is incorrect: WPI is compiled by the Office of economic adviser, ministry of commerce & industry.
  • Statement 2 is incorrect: It calculates the changes in prices of only goods (not services) at the producer level.

[WpProQuiz 48]