TOP 5 TAKKAR NEWS OF THE DAY (17th JUNE 2023)

1. TRANSGENIC CROPS

TAG: GS 3: ENVIRONMENT

THE CONTEXT: Three States, Gujarat, Maharashtra and Telangana, have deferred a proposal, approved by the Centre’s Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC), to test a new kind of transgenic cotton seed that contains a gene, Cry2Ai, that purportedly makes cotton resistant to pink bollworm, a major pest. The conflict shows that a broad acceptance of genetically modified crops continues to be elusive.

EXPLANATION:

What is the status of transgenic crops in India?

There is wide variety of crops as brinjal, tomato, maize, chickpea in various stages of trials that employ transgenic technology. However, cotton remains the only transgenic crop that is being commercially cultivated in India.
After a long wait, the GEAC, the apex technical body charged with evaluating proposals for testing genetically modified (GM) seeds, approved the environmental release of Mustard hybrid DMH-11 and its parental lines in 2022 for seed production and testing.
In 2010, the GEAC had approved GM Brinjal, but this was put on an “indefinite moratorium” by the United Progressive Alliance government.

What is the process of regulating transgenic crops in India?

The process of developing transgenic crops is an elaborate one as inserting transgenic genes into plants to elicit a sustained, protective response is a mix of both science and chance.
There are multiple safety assessments done by committees before they are cleared for further tests in open plots of land which are located at either agricultural universities or plots controlled by the Indian Council for Agricultural Research (ICAR).
A transgenic plant can apply for commercial clearance, only after it has proven to be demonstrably better than comparable non-GM variants on claimed parameters (for instance, drought tolerance or insect resistance) without posing ecological harm to other species that may be being cultivated in the vicinity.
Open field trials often take place over multiple crop seasons and types of geographical conditions, to assess its suitability across different States.

What is the issue?

The cotton seed has been developed by the Hyderabad-based Bioseed Research India with Cry2Ai which makes it resistant to pink bollworm.
The first generations of transgenic cotton had been developed to inure cotton against a more widespread pest called the American bollworm.
The Cry2Ai seed has passed preliminary, confined trials and was recommended by the GEAC to be tested in farmer’s fields at Telangana, Maharashtra, Gujarat and Haryana.
This was after the GEAC in October 2022 sent letters to all States to communicate their views within two months on the proposal. States responded that the proposal was unacceptable to them.

Are there changes in the offing in process of regulation of GM crops?

The GEAC consists of a panel of plant biotechnologists and is headed by a senior official of the Environment Ministry and co-chaired by the scientist of the DBT
To resolve the issue of States not according to approvals on testing, because of differing attitudes to GM crops, the GEAC is considering a proposal by the DBT to declare some regions across India as ‘notified testing sites.

Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC)

It functions in the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change(MoEF&CC).
As per Rules, 1989, it is responsible for appraisal of activities involving large scale use of hazardous microorganisms and recombinants in research and industrial production from the environmental angle.
The committee is also responsible for appraisal of proposals relating to release of genetically engineered (GE) organisms and products into the enviornment including experimental field trials.
GEAC is chaired by the Special Secretary/Additional Secretary of MoEF&CC and co-chaired by a representative from the Department of Biotechnology (DBT).
Presently, it has 24 members and meets every month to review the applications in the areas indicated above.

2. NON-COMMUNICABLE DISEASES

TAG: GS 2: HEALTH ISSUES

THE CONTEXT: The new national estimates for diabetes and other non-communicable diseases (NCD) shows that 31 million more Indians became diabetic in four years (2019-2021).

EXPLANATION:

What were the findings?

In 2021, a study found that India has 101 million people with diabetes and 136 million people with prediabetes.
Additionally, 315 million people had high blood pressure; 254 million had generalised obesity, and 351 million had abdominal obesity.
213 million people had hypercholesterolaemia (wherein fat collects in arteries and puts individuals at greater risk of heart attack and strokes) and 185 million had high low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol.
The decade-long nationwide study was funded by the Indian Council of Medical Research and Department of Health Research, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and co-ordinated by the Madras Diabetes Research Foundation. The results of the study are to be published in The Lancet Diabetes and Endocrinology journal.

What is the significance of the study?

The study is the first comprehensive epidemiological research paper which includes participants from 31 States and some Union Territories. There are two big trend indicators in the study.
First, diabetes and other metabolic non-communicable diseases, such as hypertension, obesity and dyslipidemia are much more common than estimated previously in India.
Second, while currently urban regions had higher rates of all metabolic NCDs than rural areas, with the exception of prediabetes, rural India will see a diabetes explosion in the next five years if left unregulated.
While the diabetes epidemic is stabilising in the more developed States of the country, it is still increasing in most of the other States. Thus, there are serious implications for the nation, warranting urgent State-specific policies and interventions to arrest the rapidly rising epidemic of metabolic NCDs in India.

Status of Non communicable disease:

India is experiencing a rapid health transition with a rising burden of Non-Communicable Diseases (NCD) surpassing the burden of Communicable diseases like water-borne or vector borne diseases, TB, HIV, etc.
The four major NCDs are cardiovascular diseases (CVDs), cancers, chronic respiratory diseases (CRDs) and diabetes which share four behavioural risk factors – unhealthy diet, lack of physical activity, and use of tobacco and alcohol.
Meanwhile, a study ‘India: Health of the Nation’s States – The India State-Level Disease Burden Initiative in 2017’ by Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) estimated that the proportion of deaths due to NCDs in India have increased from 37.9% in 1990 to 61.8% in 2016.
Non-Communicable Diseases like Cardiovascular diseases, Cancer, Chronic Respiratory Diseases, Diabetes, etc. are estimated to account for around 60% of all deaths. NCDs cause considerable loss in potentially productive years of life. Losses due to premature deaths related to heart diseases, stroke and Diabetes are also projected to increase over the years.

National Programme for Prevention & Control of Non-Communicable Diseases (NP-NCD)

The existing National Programme for Prevention and Control of Cancer, Diabetes, Cardiovascular Diseases and Stroke (NPCDCS) programme has been renamed National Programme for Prevention & Control of Non-Communicable Diseases (NP-NCD) amid widening coverage and expansion.
Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) has decided to rename the portal which enables population enumeration, risk assessment, and screening for five common NCDs, including hypertension, diabetes, and oral, breast and cervical cancers of the population aged above 30 years.
Now Schemes subsume all types of NCDs with an addition of diseases to the National Programme for Prevention and Control of Cancer, Diabetes, Cardiovascular Diseases and Stroke (NPCDCS), such as non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, chronic kidney disease etc.
NP-NCD is being implemented under the National Health Mission (NHM) across the country.
Under NP-NCD, NCD Cells are being established at National, State and District levels for programme management, and NCD Clinics are being set up at District and CHC levels, to provide services for early diagnosis, treatment and follow-up for common NCDs.

Objectives of NP-NCD

Health promotion through behaviour change with involvement of community, civil society, community based organizations, media etc.
To prevent and control chronic non-Communicable diseases, especially Cancer, Diabetes, CVDs and Stroke.
To support for diagnosis and cost-effective treatment at primary, secondary and tertiary levels of health care.
To support for development of database of NCDs through Surveillance System and to monitor NCD morbidity and mortality and risk factors.

3. TRANSCRANIAL MAGNETIC STIMULATION (TMS)

TAG: GS 3: SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

THE CONTEXT: Recently, a study by Stanford University researchers reported some evidence that in people without depression, a part of the brain called the anterior insula sends signals to another part called the anterior cingulate cortex, whereas in people with depression, the signal goes the other way. According to the researchers, TMS may be alleviating depression by reversing the signal to go the right way.

EXPLANATION:

The technique is used to non-invasively modulate the cortical activity of the brain.
Magnetic pulses applied non-invasively to the scalp can stimulate the brain, to reverse brain changes, and to bring about rapid relief to severely depressed patients for whom standard treatments may have failed. This non-invasive brain stimulation modality is called repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS).
rTMS is based on the phenomenon of electromagnetic mutual induction, first reported by Michael Faraday in 1831.
rTMS generates brief electromagnetic pulses via an insulated coil placed over the scalp. These magnetic pulses non-invasively modulate the cortical activity of the brain.
Daily rTMS stimulation for several weeks has also been shown to be effective in reducing the symptoms of a range of neuropsychiatric disorders.
In 2008, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved TMS as a treatment for clinical depression.
The neuropsychological effects of TMS are particularly likely when a current is delivered in repetitive trains rather than as single pulses. If the stimulation occurs more quickly than once per second (1 Hz), it is called fast rTMS.
It’s quite different from electroconvulsive therapy (ECT). Unlike ECT, rTMS does not involve producing a seizure, and does not require the person to be asleep or under anaesthetic

Why does TMS work?

rTMS stimulation, over the course of a few weeks, increases neuronal activity in the area under the coil. It also changes the strength of connections between different areas of the brain. There is some reason to believe this restores the normal interaction between brain regions, although such hypotheses require further testing and replication.
By briefly passing a current through a coil of wires, a strong and rapidly fluctuating magnetic field can be formed. This generates electrical currents in the underlying brain tissue. This also affects the membrane potential of nearby brain cells.
rTMS can stimulate specific brain regions, such as the sensory or motor areas, to evoke corresponding sensory or motor responses. It can also interfere with ongoing brain activity and act as a brief virtual lesion.

What are the clinical applications?

TMS has been used for many years in clinical neurophysiology to explore the integrity of the motor cortex of the brain after a stroke.
Clinically, rTMS has been used to relieve depressive states. In the treatment of depression, 40 pulses of stimulation are delivered over four seconds, followed by a gap of 26 seconds before the next 40 pulses. A brain area called the left prefrontal cortex, which is in the front part of the brain, is targeted in this process.
Research studies have also examined whether active and sham (dummy) TMS produce the same clinical response in depression. These studies concluded that greater response was observed in patients who received active treatment.
rTMS has also been used to treat refractory obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD). Although the FDA has approved the use of rTMS for refractory OCD, more evidence and refinement in protocols are needed at this time. At present, it remains an add-on treatment.
There is also preliminary evidence that rTMS relieves post-traumatic stress disorder (or PTSD).

Does TMS have adverse effects?

Rarely, rTMS may induce seizures in at-risk patients, for example those with a family history of epilepsy. This is more likely with fast rTMS than with slow rTMS. However, current safety protocols have also greatly reduced the likelihood of seizures.
Minor side-effects are more common, including muscle tension headaches. To prevent short-term changes in hearing threshold as a result of the noise generated by the equipment, earplugs are recommended during the session.

4. ALLIGATOR GAR FISH

TAG: GS 3: ENVIRONMENT

THE CONTEXT: Recently, a non-native alligator gar fish, known for its crocodile-like head and razor-sharp teeth, was found in one of Kashmir’s idyllic lakes, raising apprehensions about its impact on the native fish species.

EXPLANATION:

The rare, carnivorous fish was caught by the Jammu and Kashmir Lake Conservation and Management Authority (LCMA) during the routine deweeding process near Sher-e-Kashmir International Convention Centre (SKICC), the main venue for the Group of Twenty (G20) tourism meeting in Srinagar, the summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir.
The finding sent alarm bells ringing among the scientists; they fear that the presence of non-native fish species will spell doom for the eco-fragile flora and fauna of the waterbody.
It would kill all fingerlings of fish species already present in the waterbody and has a tendency to destroy natural aquatic life of Dal Lake.
Central Inland Fisheries Research Institute Barrackpore, said alligator gar fish is not an Indian species and normally found in northern and central America and also in Mexico. “But in recent years it was also found in some parts of India like Bhopal, Kerala and from the waterbodies of Maharashtra and Kolkata.

Alligator gar:

The alligator gar is a close relative of the bowfin species. It is a ray-finned euryhaline fish and is one of the biggest freshwater fish in North America and the largest species in the ‘gar’ family.
It is a predator fish and a carnivore, it can eat all types of fishes and therefore poses a threat to native species and to the overall ecosystem. For example, gar fish grows rapidly and has a life span of 20-30 years.

Alligator gars feed on other fish and are thrown in Indian waterbodies knowingly or unknowingly. Gar fishes are euryhaline and can grow up to eight feet. They can be dangerous for indigenous fish species. During winter, they can even sustain in the cold waters of Dal because the temperature they mostly live in is 11-23 degrees Celsius.
The Indian Biological Diversity Act 2002 prohibits the presence of any kind of invasive fish species that can be hazardous to natural fish fauna.
Alligator gars are undoubtedly a serious threat to local biodiversity but only if they become adaptive in a particular environment.

5. PREDATOR UAV

TAG: PRELIMS PERSPECTIVE

THE CONTEXT: Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) approved the procurement of armed Predator Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) from General Atomics Aeronautical Systems (GA-ASI), an aeronautics company based in the United States. The procurement is now awaiting the final nod from the Cabinet Committee on Security.

EXPLANATION:

As per GA-ASI, the MQ-9 UAV has an endurance of over 27 hours, speeds of 240 KTAS, can operate up to 50,000 feet, and has a 3,850 pound (1,746 kilograms) payload capacity that includes 3,000 pounds (1,361 kilograms) of external stores.
The maritime variant of the MQ-9 UAV, known as Sea Guardian, has an endurance of over 30 hours.

Once delivered and employed, these High-Altitude Long Endurance drones can carry out and boost the Indian Armed Forces’ Intelligence-Surveillance-Reconnaissance (ISR) capabilities.
Armed with payloads, the weaponized UAV will be able to strike strategic targets in mountains and the maritime domain during long-endurance missions.
As per the USAF, MQ-9 UAV is employed primarily as an intelligence-collection asset and secondarily against dynamic execution targets.
It can also undertake close air support, combat search and rescue, precision strike, buddy-lase, convoy and raid overwatch, route clearance, target development, and terminal air guidance, according to the USAF.
As per GA-ASI, the MQ-9 UAV has been acquired by the US Air Force, the US Department of Homeland Security, NASA, the Royal Air Force, the Italian Air Force, the French Air Force and the Spanish Air Force.

Defence Acquisition Council (DAC):

DAC is the highest decision-making body of the defence Ministry on procurement to ensure expeditious procurement of the approved requirements of the armed forces.
The apex body is responsible for clearing all capital acquisitions for the Indian Armed Forces.
The DAC will perform the following functions:

(a) Give ‘in principle’ approval to Capital acquisitions in the Long Term Perspective Plan (LTPP) covering a 15-year time span at the beginning of a Five Year Plan period.

(b) Give ‘in principle’ acceptance of necessity to each Capital acquisition project for incorporation in the forthcoming Five Year Plan, at least nine months before the commencement of the first year of that plan. The approval will involve the identification of Either – ‘Buy’ Projects (outright purchase) Or – ‘Buy and Make’ projects (purchase followed by licensed production/ indigenous development) Or – ‘Make’ Projects (indigenous production and R&D)

The DAC will meet as required. The approval in principle should be seen as first step in the process of ‘acceptance of necessity’ by the concerned Administrative Wing in MoD in consultation with Defence(Finance) and as a recommendation for eventual consideration of FM/CCS (as required).
The decision of Defence Minister based on DAC deliberations will flow down from implementation to Defence Procurement Board, Defence Production Board and Defence R&D Board.

TOP 5 TAKKAR NEWS OF THE DAY (9th JUNE 2023)

1. CYCLONE AND ITS IMPACT ON MONSOON

TAG: GS 1: GEOGRAPHY

THE CONTEXT: A cyclonic storm, named Biparjoy, has developed in the Arabian Sea. The cyclone is predicted to gain its strength and develop into a very severe cyclonic storm by June 13. Biparjoy’ was suggested by Bangladesh and the word means ‘disaster’ or ‘calamity’ in Bengali. The naming of cyclones is done by countries on a rotational basis, following certain existing guidelines. The impact of global warming on the monsoon are manifest in the onset, withdrawal, its seasonal total rainfall, and its extremes. Global warming also affects the cyclones over the Indian Ocean and the typhoons over the northwestern Pacific Ocean.

EXPLANATION:

According to an Indian Meteorological Department (IMD), the cyclone would affect along the coastline of Karnataka, Goa and Maharashtra.

How did Cyclone Biparjoy get its name and how are cyclones named?

The naming of cyclones is done by countries on a rotational basis, following certain existing guidelines.
There are six regional specialised meteorological centres (RSMCs) and five regional Tropical Cyclone Warning Centres (TCWCs) mandated for issuing advisories and naming of tropical cyclones.
IMD is one of the six RSMCs to provide tropical cyclone and storm surge advisories to 13 member countries under the WMO/Economic and Social Commission for Asia-Pacific (ESCAP) Panel including Bangladesh, India, Iran, Maldives, Myanmar, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sri Lanka, Thailand, United Arab Emirates and Yemen.
RSMC, New Delhi is also mandated to name the Tropical Cyclones developing over the north Indian Ocean (NIO), including the Bay of Bengal (BoB) and the Arabian Sea (AS).
The WMO/ESCAP Panel on Tropical Cyclones in 2000 agreed in principle to assign names to the tropical cyclones in these seas.
After deliberations, the naming began in September 2004. This list contained names proposed by then eight member countries of WMO/ESCAP PTC, viz., Bangladesh, India, Maldives, Myanmar, Oman, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Thailand. It was 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 2020 was provided by these countries — 13 suggestions from each of the 13 countries.

Some rules are to be followed while naming cyclones, such as:

*The proposed name should be neutral to (a) politics and political figures (b) religious believes, (c) cultures and (d) gender

*Name should be chosen in such a way that it does not hurt the sentiments of any group of population over the globe

*It should not be very rude and cruel in nature

*It should be short, easy to pronounce and should not be offensive to any member

*The maximum length of the name will be eight letters

Is it not rare for cyclones to develop in the Arabian sea?

There are fewer number of cyclones in the Arabian Sea than the Bay of Bengal, but it is not uncommon. In fact, June is one of the favourable months for the formation of cyclones in the Arabian Sea.
A cyclone is a low-pressure system that forms over warm waters. Usually, a high temperature anywhere means the existence of low-pressure air, and a low temperature means high-pressure wind. In fact, that is one of the main reasons why we see greater number of cyclones in the Bay of Bengal compared to Arabian Sea.
Bay of Bengal is slightly warmer. Because of climate change, the Arabian Sea side is also getting warmer, and as a result, the number of cyclones in the Arabian Sea is showing an increasing trend in the recent trend.

Cyclone formation:

As air warms over hotter regions, it ascends, leading to low pressure at the surface it is covering. When air cools in colder areas it descends, leading to high pressure at the surface.
In a depression or low-pressure situation, the air is rising and blows in an anticlockwise direction around the low in the northern hemisphere and in a clockwise direction in the southern hemisphere. This is because of the Coriolis effect, a result of the earth’s rotation on its axis.
As warm air rises and cools, water vapour condenses to form clouds and this can lead to rains.
Weather systems formed over the Bay of Bengal in the peak of summer in May are among the strongest in the North Indian Ocean region.
Warm seas present ripe conditions for the development and strengthening of cyclones and fuel these systems over the water.

How does a cyclone affect the monsoon’s onset?

The impact of global warming on the monsoons are manifest in the onset, withdrawal, its seasonal total rainfall, and its extremes. Global warming also affects the cyclones over the Indian Ocean and the typhoons over the northwestern Pacific Ocean.
There is cyclone formations in the pre-monsoon cyclone season, closer to the monsoon onset, arguably due to the influence of a warmer Arctic Ocean on winds over the Arabian Sea.
The monsoon is also affected by the three tropical oceans – Indian, Atlantic, and Pacific; the ‘atmospheric bridge’ from the Arctic; and the oceanic tunnel as well as the atmospheric bridge from the Southern Ocean (a.k.a. the Antarctic Ocean)
A ‘bridge’ refers to two faraway regions interacting in the atmosphere while a ‘tunnel’ refers to two remote oceanic regions connecting within the ocean.

Mawar, Biparjoy, and Guchol

Cyclone Biparjoy is not interacting much with the monsoon trough at this time. However, its late birth as well as the late onset of the monsoon are both closely related to typhoons in the northwestern Pacific Ocean.
On May 19, Typhoon Mawar was born and dissipated away by June 3. Mawar qualified as a ‘super typhoon’ and is thus far the strongest typhoon to have taken shape in May. It is also the strongest cyclone of 2023 so far.
Tropical storm Guchol is now active just to the east of the Philippines and is likely to continue northwest before veering off to the northeast. These powerful typhoons are thirsty beasts and demand moisture from far and wide.

2. MOON MISSIONS

TAG: GS 3: SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

THE CONTEXT: Space is the newest frontier where the United States of America and China are competing. While China has set 2030 as its deadline to land on the moon, US’ Artemis mission is set to put its crew on the moon in 2025.

EXPLANATION:

China sent its first civilian into space through the Shenzhou 16 spacecraft. The three-member crew will complete a five-month mission at the space station.
With the successful landing of a second manned crew aboard its space station, the Chinese Manned Space Agency aims to land astronauts on the moon before 2030.
On the other hand, the US plans to send a manned crew to the moon by 2025 under the Artemis programme.

Artemis programme?

Succeeding the Apollo missions which sent seven manned crews to the moon and back between 1969 and 1972, the Artemis programme aims to land on the moon, set up a long-term base and then send the first astronauts to Mars.
Led by the US, the programme is a joint venture of several countries, including Australia, Canada, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, Ukraine, South Korea, New Zealand, Brazil, Poland, Mexico, Israel, Romania, Bahrain, Singapore, Colombia, France, Saudi Arabia, Rwanda, Nigeria, Czech Republic, and Spain. These countries are signatories of an open treaty called the ‘Artemis accords’ which aims to put humans back on the moon.

Artemis-I

For Artemis I, NASA built a super heavy-lift launch vehicle called the ‘Space Launch System’ (SLS) to carry its spacecraft , astronauts, and cargo directly to the moon on a single mission.
NASA also built a human spacecraft named ‘Orion’ for deep-space missions to travel to the moon and Mars. It can also carry a human crew to space, provide emergency abort capability, sustain astronauts during their missions and provide safe re-entry from deep space. Orion spacecraft returned to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on after completing its 1.4-million-mile journey from Earth to the moon and back.

Artemis-II

Under Artemis-II, NASA plans to launch a crew of four astronauts onboard the SLS, perform multiple manoeuvres on an expanding orbit around the Earth on the Orion, do a lunar flyby and return back to Earth. The ten-day mission is slated for 2024.

Artemis-III

Artemis-III will mark the return of humans to the moon in 2025. Similar to Artemis-I and II, the crew onboard the Orion will be launched to the moon. After the ICPS pushes the Orion towards the lunar orbit, the Orion will perform two engine burns to set itself on a Near-Rectilinear Halo Orbit (NRHO) in the moon’s gravitational orbit. The NHRO will help to establish a landing site on the moon.
NASA has selected SpaceX to provide the lunar lander which will transport the crew from Orion to the surface of the moon and back again.

Artemis IV and onwards

In Artemis IV, NASA aims to land a second crew on the moon in 2028 and establish a Lunar Gateway station whose components will be launched prior to the Artemis IV mission to the NHRO. The aim is to set up a permanent base on the lunar surface and then proceed to send astronauts to Mars from the moon.

China’s Moon mission

Chang’ e 1 to 5

Dubbed as the Chang’e mission, the Chinese Lunar Exploration Program has already launched two lunar orbiters (Chang’ e 1 & 2) and two lunar rovers (Chang’e 3 & 4) one on the unexplored south pole of the far side of the moon.
The Chinese launched Chang’e 5 in, 2020, onboard its Long March 5 rocket. The spacecraft entered the lunar orbit, and its descender slowly soft-landed in the Mons Rumker region of Oceanus Procellarum on the south pole of the moon

Chang’ e 6,7 & 8

China aims to continue its research of the moon’s south pole, sending two missions Chang’e 6 and Chang’e 7 — in 2024 and 2026 to bring back samples. Chang’ e 7 comprises an orbiter, a relay satellite, a lander, and a mini-flying probe and will explore the lunar south pole for resources. It will also aim to detect water ice in the permanently shadowed area.
China further plans to build a permanent science base on the moon. Towards this end, Chang’ e 8 will carry a lander, a rover, and a flying detector along with a 3D-printing module to test the construction of a lunar base.

International Lunar Research Station

Constructing a lunar base is a joint venture between China and Russia. The two nation’s space agencies China National Space Administration and Russia’s State Space Corporation (Roscosmos) issued a joint statement that they will collaborate in the construction of an International Lunar Research Station (ILRS) for the peaceful exploration and use of the Moon.
The station will be equipped with energy supplies, communications and navigation, space shuffling, lunar research and ground support services and a command centre. Apart from Russia, Pakistan, Argentina and international organizations including the Asia Pacific Space Cooperation Organization have agreed to participate in the project, while at least ten other countries are considering it.

3. MINIMUM SUPPORT PRICE (MSP)

TAG: GS 3: ECONOMY

THE CONTEXT: Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA), chaired by Prime Minister on approved raising minimum support prices (MSP) of kharif crops for the 2023-24 marketing season. Centre has set the Minimum Support Price (MSP) for paddy sown in the kharif or monsoon season at ₹2,183 per quintal, a hike of ₹143 per quintal in comparison to last year. The 2023-24 MSPs for 17 kharif crops and variants were approved at a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA), chaired by Prime Minister.

EXPLANATION:

Food Minister told after the CCEA meeting that farmers will benefit from the increase in the MSP at a time when the retail inflation is declining.
In agriculture, MSP is being fixed from time to time based on the recommendations of Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP). The increase in MSP of the kharif crops for this year is highest compared to the previous years.

Minimum Support Price (MSP) :

Minimum Support Price (MSP) is a form of market intervention by the Government of India to insure agricultural producers against any sharp fall in farm prices.
The minimum support prices are announced by the Government of India at the beginning of the sowing season for certain crops on the basis of the recommendations of the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP).
MSP is price fixed by Government of India to protect the producer – farmers – against excessive fall in price during bumper production years. The minimum support prices are a guarantee price for their produce from the Government.
In formulating the recommendations in respect of the level of minimum support prices and other non-price measures, the Commission takes into account, apart from a comprehensive view of the entire structure of the economy of a particular commodity or group of commodities, the following factors:-

Cost of production
Changes in input prices
Input-output price parity
Trends in market prices
Demand and supply
Inter-crop price parity
Effect on industrial cost structure
Effect on cost of living
Effect on general price level
International price situation
Parity between prices paid and prices received by the farmers.
Effect on issue prices and implications for subsidy

Government announces minimum support prices (MSPs) for 22 mandated crops and fair and remunerative price (FRP) for sugarcane.
The mandated crops are 14 crops of the kharif season, 6 rabi crops and two other commercial crops. In addition, the MSPs of toria and de-husked coconut are fixed on the basis of the MSPs of rapeseed/mustard and copra, respectively.
The list of crops are as follows.

Cereals (7) – paddy, wheat, barley, jowar, bajra, maize and ragi
Pulses (5) – gram, arhar/tur, moong, urad and lentil
Oilseeds (8) – groundnut, rapeseed/mustard, toria, soyabean, sunflower seed, sesamum, safflower seed and nigerseed
Raw cotton
Raw jute
Copra
De-husked coconut
Sugarcane (Fair and remunerative price)
Virginia flu cured (VFC) tobacco

4. VADNAGAR

TAG: GS-1: ART AND CULTURE

THE CONTEXT: In December2022, northern Gujarat’s Vadnagar city and the Sun Temple of Modhera, both part of the Mehsana district, made it to the Tentative list of the UNESCO World heritage sites. There are new plans for PM’s school in his hometown Vadnagar lets have a look on archeological significance of the city.

EXPLANATION:

The Ministry of Culture has now announced the redevelopment of a primary school here attended by Prime Minister in Vadnagar. Children from across the country will spend a week at the Prerna school to learn “how to live a very evolved life”, as part of a joint initiative by the central and state governments.
Vadnagar has been known by names like Anartapura, Anandapur, Chamatkarpur and so on, during different periods of its history, and has often been compared to Varanasi in terms of both claiming to be “living cities”.

Archaeological excavations at Vadnagar:

Vadnagar was first excavated in 1953, mainly to understand its “ceramic sequence” which revealed a flourishing conch shell trade industry, with bangles and other wares also found here.
Five periods of continuous settlement have been identified at the site from its formative period. An unbroken sequence of seven successive cultures going back to 750 BCE was found and divided into seven periods: pre-rampart phase (in 2nd century BCE), Rampart phase (2nd century BCE – 1st century CE), Kshatrapa phase (1st – 4th century CE), post-Kshatrapa phase (5th – 9th/10th century CE), Solanki phase (10th – 13th century CE), Sultanate-Mughal phase (14th – 17th century CE) and Gaekwad phase (17th/18th – 19th century CE.
Most of the excavations found – like the fortification, a Buddhist monastery, votive stupas, house-complexes, lanes/streets and industrial hearth – are from pre-2nd century BCE to the Gaekwad period (18th – 19th century CE).

Vadnagar as a ‘living city’:

These structures showcase the architectural influence of various cultural periods. Extensive water management system in and around the town also played a role in its continuity.
The town represents a continuously evolving historic urban landscape/area which played a major role in the hinterland trade network of Western India. The continuity of the historic town proves its resilience and outstanding universal value unlike the sites like Harappa and Kalibangan, (Rajasthan) which were abandoned eventually states the description of Vadnagar in UNESCO’s Tentative List.
Vadnagar was an important centre of Sammitya Buddhists, a sect which Chinese traveller Hieun Tsang also supported.
It was located at the intersection of two major trade routes – Central India to Sindh and northwest, and Gujarat to Rajasthan and north India, Vadnagar was also known as one of the important land ports (Sthal Pattan) of Gujarat.
A mound here rises gently and the highest point in the middle of the settlement is 25 metres high, called Darbargadh. Such types of a mound on which Vadnagar is built are not available in other parts of India.
Human habitation existed here from mid-8th century BCE till date, as per ASI findings. “These findings uncovered a unique aspect of the town: an uninterrupted extensive human habitation and cross-cultural evolution that sustained itself and continues till date. Such a long period of human habitation is exceptional in the Indian scenario with very few sites claiming similar uninterrupted continuity.

Evidence of Buddhism

Hieun Tsang or Xuanzang visited Vadnagar around 641 CE and called it o-nan-to-pu-lo (Anandpur) who recorded that ‘there are more than 1000 monks of the Sammitiya School or Little Vehicle in 10 monasteries’. He also records Vadnagar as a capital city which has no king.
The first evidence of Vadnagar’s Buddhist association is in the form of a red sandstone image of a Bodhisattva or a deity-like revered figure in Buddhism. An inscription on the pedestal of the image records that it was brought for the Chaitya of Sammatiya. The image is an example of Mathura art and seems to have been brought from there.
Abul Fazl’s Ain-e-Akbari from the 16th century makes a note of Vadnagar or Barnagar, as a “large and ancient city containing 3,000 pagodas, near each of which is a tank” and “chiefly inhabited by Brahmans.”
The ASI, in its submission to the UNESCO, claims a “Roman connection” in the finding of an intaglio in clay – a coin mould of Greco-Indian king Apollodotus II (80-65 BC) – and a sealing with impression of a Roman coin belonging to Valentinian-I (364-367 CE). Careful analysis and study of non-indigenous pottery such as torpedo jars and Glazed ware establish the site’s contacts with the Sassanid region and West Asia.

The current town

Vadnagar is an L-shaped town spread across 85 hectares, with the Sharmishtha Lake located on its north eastern edge.
It is surrounded by the remains of a fortification wall, punctured by a series of gates that mark the entry and exit points of the town. There are primary entry and exit points to the town in all cardinal directions, along with gateways that are elaborate single storey stone structures.
While most gates are mediaeval, the Ghanskol and Pithori gates are of the 11th- 12th century CE. Other prominent gates are Nadiol Gate, Amtol Gate, Amarthol Gate and Arjun Bari Gate (protected by the ASI).
The Ambaji Mata Temple dates back to 10th-11th century CE, while other important Hindu and Jain temples within the town are from the 17th century onwards.
While the Hatkeshwar temple is located outside Nadiol gate, the two identical glory gates outside the fortification wall to the north of the town are the Kirti Torans, built in yellow sandstone without mortar or any other cementing material.

5. BONN MEETING: TAKING STOCK OF CLIMATE ACTION

TAG: GS 3: ENVIRONMENT

THE CONTEXT: The climate meeting in Bonn has seen old demands raised and old faultlines come up. In different ways, countries have been taking measures to respond to climate change since at least the mid-1990s, though it is only in the last decade or so that these actions have become significant enough for any meaningful impact. But the global response has never kept pace with the worsening of the climate crisis, whose seriousness has increased rapidly in the last few years.

EXPLANATION:

Negotiators from around the world meeting in the German city of Bonn to discuss ways to strengthen their collective response to climate change. This meeting in Bonn, at the headquarters of the UN Climate Change, happens every year. The work done and decisions taken here feed into the year- ending annual climate change conferences.
One of the most important tasks to be accomplished at this year’s Bonn meeting is what is known as Global Stocktake, or GST, a term that is expected to come up frequently in climate change conversations this year.

Global Stocktake or GST:

Mandated by the 2015 Paris Agreement, GST is an exercise aimed at assessing the progress being made in the fight against climate change, and deciding ways and means to enhance the global effort to bridge the adequacy gap.
This stocktake exercise is expected to result in a significant increase in the global response to climate change, not just in terms of reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, but also in terms of adaptation, provision for finance and availability of technology.
The current stocktake it has been going on for more than a year now and is supposed to conclude this year is the first such exercise and is mandated by the Paris Agreement to happen every five years hereafter.

Highlights of the meeting:

There is a wealth of scientific evidence that shows that the current set of actions being taken by the world is woefully inadequate to limit the global temperature rise within 1.5 degree Celsius from pre-industrial times.
The most notable of these is the sixth assessment report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), published over the last four years.
The world needs to cut its emissions by almost half by 2030 from the 2019 levels if it has to retain any realistic chances of achieving the 1.5 degree target. At current levels of climate action, the world is headed to a nearly 3 degree Celsius warmer world by 2100.
The United States said bridging the gap was not the sole responsibility of the developed countries, and it would not accept any attempt to include such suggestions in the GST decisions, either explicitly or through references to phrases such as “closing of pre-2020 gaps”.

Climate actions in the pre-2020 period were directed by the Kyoto Protocol, the predecessor to the Paris Agreement. A set of about 40 developed countries, including the United States, had specifically allocated emissions reduction targets, besides other obligations, to be met by 2020.
India reacted strongly to the US suggestion and said it would not accept any “prescriptive messages” from GST on what the content of a country’s climate action plan, called Nationally Determined Contributions. India said it retained its “sovereign right” to determine its climate targets in pursuit of its national goals. It also said that it did not accept the suggestions that NDCs must necessarily be economy-wide, covering all sectors or all greenhouse gases (like methane). It aligned itself with other developing countries in reiterating the demand for the closing of pre-2020 gaps.
The most forceful argument on pre-2020 gaps came from China, which said it was disappointed to see that the repeated demands of 134 developing countries had not been captured adequately in GST discussions so far. It said the pre-2020 gaps were an integral part of the global efforts towards fulfilling the Paris Agreement targets, and pointed out that there was now irrefutable scientific evidence to show that a bulk of the carbon dioxide emissions from 1850 to 2018 had been generated before 1990.
Several other points of discussion under GST as finance, adaptation, technology transfer are also heavily contested. Negotiators are expected to finish the technical discussions on GST in Bonn.
Its findings would be presented at the annual year-ending climate conference, this time happening in Dubai. The Dubai meeting will, hopefully, take the final decisions on the GST.

TOP 5 TAKKAR NEWS OF THE DAY (8th JUNE 2023)

1. NYAYA VIKAS PORTAL

TAG: GS 2: JUDICIARY

THE CONTEXT: Ministry of Law and Justice bringing some new significant changes along with improvising many schemes for the Judicial services. It has also facilitated justice to common man through a plethora of initiatives like nyaya vikas portal.

EXPLANATION:

Nyaya Vikas Portal:

This portal has been created for monitoring the implementation of this Nyaya Vikas Scheme.
This portal provides stakeholders with convenient access to information regarding funding, documentation, project monitoring, and approval.
Nyaya Vikas Portal created for monitoring the implementation of Centrally Sponsored Schemes for Development of Infrastructure for Judiciary.
Nyaya Vikas Portal allows four efficient ways of logging into the portal, thereby empowering stakeholders with seamless access to information pertaining to funding, documentation, project monitoring and approval.

About Nyaya Vikas Scheme:

The Department of Justice has been implementing the Centrally Sponsored Scheme (CSS) for Development of Infrastructure Facilities for Districts and Subordinate Judiciary since 1993-94.
Under the Scheme, central assistance is provided to the State Government / UT Administrations for construction of court halls and residential units for Judicial Officers / Judges of District and Subordinate Courts.
With further extension of the scheme beyond 31.03.2021, some new features like Lawyers Hall, Toilet complexes and Digital computer rooms have been added to the scheme for the convenience of lawyers and litigants, besides court halls and residential units.
The funds sharing pattern under the Scheme for Center and State is 60:40 in respect of States other than North Eastern and Himalayan States.
The funds sharing pattern is 90:10 in respect of North Eastern and Himalayan States; and 100% in respect of Union Territories.
The Nyaya Vikas Program adopts a multi-faceted approach to achieve its objectives. Some of the strategies employed include targeted welfare schemes tailored to the needs of marginalized communities, capacity building through training and support, leveraging technology and digital connectivity to bridge the digital divide, and forging partnerships and collaborations with non-governmental organizations, private sector entities, and civil society.

2. DRAFT PANDEMIC TREATY AND ANTIMICROBIAL RESISTANCE

TAG: GS 2: HEALTH ISSUES

THE CONTEXT: Since the beginning of negotiations on the Pandemic Instrument, there have been calls from civil society and leading experts to include antimicrobial resistance. In the latest version of the draft Pandemic Instrument, also referred to as the “pandemic treaty,” was shared with Member States at the World Health Assembly. The text was made available online via Health Policy Watch and it quickly became apparent that all mentions of addressing antimicrobial resistance in the Pandemic Instrument were at risk of removal.

EXPLANATION:

Zero Draft of the Pandemic Treaty:

Work on the Pandemic Instrument began in December 2021 after the World Health Assembly agreed to a global process to draft and negotiate an international instrument under the Constitution of the World Health Organization (WHO) to protect nations and communities from future pandemic emergencies.
Zero Draft of the treaty, known as the Zero Draft of WHO CA+, was published on 1 February 2023, and discussed at the Intergovernmental Negotiating Body’s fourth meeting between 27 February 2023 and 3 March 2023.
Because the Zero Draft is the starting point for negotiations, the substantive provisions and content of the treaty could change. But the general structure and broad issues the treaty is likely to address are more likely to remain.
The main goal of this treaty would be to foster an all of government and all of society approach, strengthening national, regional and global capacities and resilience to future pandemics. This includes greatly enhancing international co-operation to improve, for example, alert systems, data-sharing, research and local, regional and global production and distribution of medical and public health counter-measures such as vaccines, medicines, diagnostics and personal protective equipment.
Currently, the parties are negotiating on issues such as:
The definition, means, and procedure for declaring a pandemic, and what this actually means in practice for states.
How the treaty would work alongside the International Health Regulations.
Key international principles that will guide the treaty, such as human rights, sovereignty, equity, solidarity, transparency, accountability and more.
How to achieve equity in the global supply chain for pandemic-related products, and access to relevant technologies.
Strengthening the resilience and responsiveness of health systems.
How states and the WHO should be coordinating and cooperating in pandemic preparedness and response.
How to finance pandemic preparedness and response initiatives.
Setting up a new Governing Body for the treaty – a COP or Conference of the Parties.
Other general legal issues relating to the treaty, such as amendments, withdrawal, and dispute settlement.

Anti Microbial Resistance:

Since the beginning of negotiations on the Pandemic Instrument, there have been calls to include the so-called “silent” pandemic of antimicrobial resistance in the instrument as not all pandemics in the past have been caused by viruses and not all pandemics in the future will be caused by viruses. Devastating past pandemics of bacterial diseases have included plague and cholera. The next pandemic could be caused by bacteria or other microbes.
Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is the process by which infections caused by microbes become resistant to the medicines developed to treat them. Microbes include bacteria, fungi, viruses and parasites. Bacterial infections alone cause one in eight deaths globally.
AMR is fueling the rise of drug-resistant infections, including drug-resistant tuberculosis, drug-resistant pneumonia and drug-resistant Staph infections such as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA).
Even if the world faces another viral pandemic, secondary bacterial infections will be a serious issue. During the COVID-19 pandemic for instance, large percentages of those hospitalized with COVID-19 required treatment for secondary bacterial infections.
The exclusion of these measures would hinder efforts to protect people from future pandemics, and appears to be part of a broader shift to water-down the language in the Pandemic Instrument, making it easier for countries to opt-out of taking recommended actions to prevent future pandemics.

3. FOURTEEN FIXED-DOSE COMBINATION (FDC) MEDICINES

TAG: GS 2: HEALTH ISSUES

THE CONTEXT: Fourteen fixed-dose combination (FDC) medicines found to lack therapeutic relevance have been banned by the Central Government through a gazette notification. While industry experts claim that some of these combinations aren’t available in the market currently, the banned combinations include medicines used for cough, fever and infections, and are sold over the counter.

EXPLANATION:

These banned drugs included those used for treating common infections, cough and fever combinations such as: Nimesulide Paracetamol dispersible tablets, Chlopheniramine Maleate Codeine Syrup, Pholcodine Promethazine, Amoxicillin Bromhexine and Bromhexine Dextromethorphan Ammonium Chloride Menthol, Paracetamol Bromhexine Phenylephrine Chlorpheniramine Guaiphenesin and Salbutamol Bromhexine.
The expert committee said that there is “no therapeutic justification for this FDC (fixed dose combination) and the FDC may involve risk to human beings.
Hence, in the larger public interest, it is necessary to prohibit the manufacture, sale or distribution of this FDC under section 26 A of the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940.

Fixed-Dose Combination (FDC) medicines:

According to the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO), FDCs refer to products containing one or more active ingredients used for a particular indication(s).
FDCs can be divided into the following groups and data required for approval for marketing is described below:
The first group of FDCs includes those in which one or more of the active ingredients is a new drug. For such FDCs to be approved for marketing data to be submitted will be similar to data required for any new drug (including clinical trials).
The second group FDCs includes those in which active ingredients already approved/marketed individually are combined for the first time, for a particular claim and where the ingredients are likely to have significant interaction of a pharmacodynamic or pharmacokinetic nature.
The third group of FDCs includes those which are already marketed, but in which it is proposed either to change the ratio of active ingredients or to make a new therapeutic claim. For such FDCs, the appropriate rationale including published reports should be submitted to obtain marketing permission. Permission will be granted depending upon the nature of the claim and data submitted.
The fourth group of FDC includes those whose individual active ingredients (or drugs from the same class) have been widely used in a particular indication(s) for years, their concomitant use is often necessary and no claim is proposed to be made other than convenience. It will have to be demonstrated that the proposed dosage form is stable and the ingredients are unlikely to have significant interaction of a pharmacodynamic or pharmacokinetic nature. No additional animal or human data are generally required for these FDCs, and marketing permission may be granted if the FDC has an acceptable rationale.

Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO):

It is under Directorate General of Health Services,Ministry of Health & Family Welfare,Government of India.
Its headquarter is located at FDA Bhawan, Kotla Road, New Delhi and also has six zonal offices,four sub zonal offices,thirteen Port offices and seven laboratories spread across the country.
The Drugs & Cosmetics Act,1940 and rules 1945 have entrusted various responsibilities to central & state regulators for regulation of drugs & cosmetics.
It envisages uniform implementation of the provisions of the Act & Rules made there under for ensuring the safety, rights and well being of the patients by regulating the drugs and cosmetics.
Under the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, CDSCO is responsible for approval of Drugs, Conduct of Clinical Trials, laying down the standards for Drugs, control over the quality of imported Drugs in the country and coordination of the activities of State Drug Control Organizations by providing expert advice with a view of bring about the uniformity in the enforcement of the Drugs and Cosmetics Act.
Further CDSCO along with state regulators, is jointly responsible for grant of licenses of certain specialized categories of critical Drugs such as blood and blood products, I. V. Fluids, Vaccine and Sera.
The Central Drugs Standard Control Organization (CDSCO) is the primary regulatory body for medical devices in India. It is responsible for overseeing the import, manufacture, sale, and distribution of medical devices in the country.

4. THE DECADE-LONG SEARCH FOR A RARE HIGGS BOSON DECAY

TAG: GS 3: SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

THE CONTEXT: Recently, physicists working with the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) particle-smasher at CERN, in Europe, reported that they had detected a Higgs boson decaying into a Z boson particle and a photon. This is a very rare decay process that tells us important things about the Higgs boson as well as about our universe.

EXPLANATION:

The Higgs boson is a type of boson, a force-carrying subatomic particle.
It carries the force that a particle experiences when it moves through an energy field, called the Higgs field, that is believed to be present throughout the universe.
For example, when an electron interacts with the Higgs field, the effects it experiences are said to be due to its interaction with Higgs bosons
The stronger a particle’s interaction with the Higgs boson, the more mass it has. This is why electrons have a certain mass, protons have more of it, and neutrons have just a little bit more than protons, and so on.
A Higgs boson can also interact with another Higgs boson: this is how we know that its mass is greater than that of protons or neutrons.
Photons, the particles of light, have no mass because they don’t interact with Higgs bosons

How did a Higgs boson decay to a Z boson and a photon if it doesn’t interact with photons and what are virtual particles?

According to quantum field theory, which is the theory physicists use to study these interactions, space at the subatomic level is not empty. It is filled with virtual particles, which are particles that quickly pop in and out of existence. They can’t be detected directly, but according to physicists their effects sometimes linger.
The LHC creates a Higgs boson by accelerating billions of highly energetic protons into a head-on collision, releasing a tremendous amount of energy that condenses into different particles.
When a Higgs boson is created in this hot soup, it has a fleeting interaction with virtual particles that creates a Z boson and a photon.

What is the new result?

Higgs boson is an unstable particle because it is so heavy, that decays into lighter particles.
For example, this theory, called the Standard Model, says that a Higgs boson will decay to a Z boson and a photon 0.1% of the time. This means the LHC needed to have created at least 1,000 Higgs bosons to have been able to spot one of them decaying to a Z boson and a photon.
As it happens, the Z boson is also unstable. Z bosons decay to two muons some 3% of the time. If the detectors at the LHC were looking for a pair of muons plus a photon created at the same time, the LHC would have had to create at least 30,000 Higgs bosons to observe the decay just once.
The two detectors that announced the new measurement, called ATLAS and CMS, had in fact looked for and found the decay before as well (in 2018 and 2020). On this occasion, however, the two teams combined their data, collected “between 2015 and 2018”, and as a result “significantly increased the statistical precision and reach of their searches,” according to a CERN statement.

What is the Standard Model?

The Standard Model has made many accurate predictions but it can’t explain what dark matter is or, in fact, why the Higgs boson is so heavy. Testing its predictions as precisely as possible is a way for physicists to find whether there are any cracks in the Model – cracks through which they can validate new theories of physics.
Standard Model predicts that the Higgs boson will take this path 0.1% of the time if its mass is 125 billion eV/c2 (a unit of mass used for subatomic particles).

5. THE ENERGY PROGRESS REPORT 2023

TAG: PRELIMS PERSPECTIVE

THE CONTEXT: According to the energy progress report 2023, World still off-track from achieving universal energy access to all i.e SDG 7. High inflation, debt distress, policy inactions and lagging financial flows slowing access to electricity, clean cooking in developing economies

EXPLANATION:

Finding of the report:

SDG 7 includes reaching universal access to electricity and clean cooking, doubling historic levels of efficiency improvements, and substantially increasing the share of renewables in the global energy mix.
Several major economic factors are impeding the realisation of SDG 7 globally, like uncertain macroeconomic outlook, high levels of inflation, currency fluctuations, debt distress in many countries, lack of financing, supply chain bottlenecks, tighter fiscal circumstances and soaring prices for materials.
The rate of improvement in energy efficiency (target 7.3) is not on track to double by 2030, with the current trend of 1.8 per cent falling short of the targeted increase of 2.6 per cent each year between 2010-2030.
Globally, access to electricity grew by an annual average of 0.7 percentage points between 2010 and 2021, rising from 84 per cent of the world’s population to 91 per cent.
With the ongoing impact of COVID-19 and soaring energy prices, the IEA estimates show 100 million people who recently transitioned to clean cooking may revert to using traditional biomass, the report added.
In 2020, the share of renewable energy in total final energy consumption stood at just 19.1 per cent (or 12.5 per cent if traditional use of biomass is excluded), not much more than the 16 per cent a decade earlier.

Sustainable Development Goal:

Sustainable Development Goals are the blueprint to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all.
They address the global challenges we face, including those related to poverty, inequality, climate change, environmental degradation, peace and justice.
The 17 Goals are all interconnected, and in order to leave no one behind, it is important that we achieve them all by 2030.

Energy Progress Report:

IRENA produces the report jointly with the SDG 7 co-custodian agencies: the International Energy Agency (IEA), the United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD), the World Bank, and the World Health Organization (WHO).
The Energy Progress Report provides the international community with a global dashboard to register progress on the targets of Sustainable Development Goal 7 (SDG7): ensuring universal energy access, doubling progress on energy efficiency and substantially increasing the share of renewable energy.
It also registers progress towards enhanced international cooperation to facilitate access to clean and renewable energy by 2030, as well as on the expansion of infrastructure and technology upgrade for supplying modern and sustainable energy services for all in developing countries.
It assesses the progress made by each country on these targets and provides a snapshot of how far we are from achieving SDG7. The 2022 release is the eight edition of this report, which was formerly known as the Global Tracking Framework (GTF).

International Energy Agency:

It is an international energy forum comprised of 29 industrialized countries under the Organization for Economic Development and Cooperation (OECD).
The IEA was established in 1974, in the wake of the 1973-1974 oil crisis, to help its members respond to major oil supply disruptions, a role it continues to fulfill today.
IEA’s mandate has expanded over time to include tracking and analyzing global key energy trends, promoting sound energy policy, and fostering multinational energy technology cooperation.

International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA):

It is an intergovernmental organisation that supports countries in their transition to a sustainable energy future, and serves as the principal platform for international cooperation, a centre of excellence, and a repository of policy, technology, resource and financial knowledge on renewable energy.
IRENA promotes the widespread adoption and sustainable use of all forms of renewable energy, including bioenergy, geothermal, hydropower, ocean, solar and wind energy in the pursuit of sustainable development, energy access, energy security and low-carbon economic growth and prosperity.

TOP 5 TAKKAR NEWS OF THE DAY (7th JUNE 2023)

1. DEPOSIT INSURANCE COVER FOR PREPAID PAYMENT INSTRUMENT (PPIs)

TAG: GS 3: ECONOMY

THE CONTEXT: An RBI-appointed committee has recommended that the central bank should examine the extension of Deposit Insurance and Credit Guarantee Corporation (DICGC) cover to PPIs, which, at present, is available only to bank deposits.

EXPLANATION:

The committee said the RBI has authorised a number of banks and non-banks entities to issue PPIs in the country recently. The money kept in wallets is in the nature of deposits. However, currently, the DICGC cover extends only to bank deposits.
Prepaid Payment Instrument (PPI) holders may soon get protection for their money against any fraud or unauthorised payment transactions.

What are PPIs?

PPIs are instruments that facilitate the purchase of goods and services, conduct of financial services and enable remittance facilities, among others, against the money stored in them. PPIs can be issued as cards or wallets.
There are two types of PPIs – small PPIs and full-KYC (know your customer) PPIs. Further, small PPIs are categorized as – PPIs up to Rs 10,000 (with cash loading facility) and PPIs up to Rs 10,000 (with no cash loading facility).
PPIs can be loaded/reloaded by cash, debit to a bank account, or credit and debit cards. The cash loading of PPIs is limited to Rs 50,000 per month subject to the overall limit of the PPI.

Who can issue PPI instruments?

PPIs can be issued by banks and non-banks after obtaining approval from the RBI. As in November, 2022, over 58 banks including Airtel Payments Bank, Axis Bank, Bank of Baroda, Jio Payments Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Standard Chartered Bank, UCO Bank and Union Bank have been permitted to issue and operate prepaid payment instruments.
There are 33 non-bank PPI issuers. Some of the non-bank PPI issuers are Amazon Pay (India), Bajaj Finance, Delhi Metro Rail Corporation Ltd, Manappuram Finance Ltd, Ola Financial Services, Razorpay Technologies and Sodexo SVC India Pvt.

What is Deposit Insurance and Credit Guarantee Corporation (DICGC)?

DICGC is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the RBI and provides deposit insurance. The deposit insurance system plays an important role in maintaining the stability of the financial system, particularly by assuring the small depositors of the protection of their deposits in the event of a bank failure.
The deposit insurance extended by DICGC covers all commercial banks including local area banks (LABs), payments banks (PBs), small finance banks (SFBs), regional rural banks (RRBs) and co-operative banks, that are licensed by the RBI.

What does the DICGC insure?

DICGC insures all deposits such as savings, fixed, current and recurring including accrued interest. Each depositor in a bank is insured up to a maximum of Rs 5 lakh for both principal and interest amount held by them as on the date of liquidation or failure of a bank.
The earlier insurance cover provided by DICGC was Rs one lakh. However, the limit of insurance cover for depositors in insured banks was raised to Rs 5 lakh in 2020.

2. SMART BANDAGE

TAG: GS 3: SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

THE CONTEXT: A wearable, wireless, flexible “smart bandage” as big as a finger can deliver drugs while monitoring the healing status of wounds and transmitting data to a smartphone.

EXPLANATION:

A normal bandage heals by slowly closing wound as the body repaired it, restoring the skin to nearly its initial condition. It consists of various stages in which different skin cells participate.
Sometimes, complications from conditions like diabetes, insufficient blood supply, nerve damage, and immune system dysfunction can impair wound healing, resulting in chronic wounds.
In March 2023, a study was published in Science Advances that offered to help accelerate healing in such cases using a wearable, wireless, mechanically flexible “smart bandage” as big as a finger.

What is a smart bandage and how it works?

This device is built in Dr. Gao’s lab, is assembled on a soft, stretchable polymer that helps the bandage maintain contact with and stick to the skin. The bioelectronic system consists of biosensors that monitor biomarkers in the wound exudate. (Exudates are the fluids exiting the wound.)
Data collected by the bandage is passed to a flexible printed circuit board, which relays it wirelessly to a smartphone or tablet for review by a physician. A pair of electrodes control drug release from a hydrogel layer as well as stimulate the wound to encourage tissue regrowth.
In the new design, the researchers enclosed the sensors in a porous membrane, protecting their parts and increasing their operational stability.
Biosensors determine the wound status by tracking the chemical composition of the exudates, which changes as the wound heals. Additional sensors monitor the pH and temperature for real-time information about the infection and inflammation.
The wireless nature of the device sidesteps the problems of existing electrical stimulation devices, which usually require bulky equipment and wired connections, limiting their clinical use.
The researchers tested the properties of their bandage in vitro. They loaded an antimicrobial substance onto the hydrogel platform, and found it – using the bandage’s features – to be effective against a variety of bacteria commonly associated with chronic wounds. Investigations using skin cells showed that the bandage’s electrical stimulation did enhance tissue regeneration.
It doesn’t have to be removed frequently to monitor the status and apply antibiotics.

3. COMMISSION OF RAILWAY SAFETY (CRS)

TAG: PRELIMS PERSPECTIVE

THE CONTEXT: Investigation into the recent tragic train accident in Odisha, the deadliest train crash in India in over two decades, is being conducted by the Commissioner of Railway Safety for the south-eastern circle. Rail safety commissioners are part of the Commission of Railway Safety (CRS), a government body that acts as the railway safety authority in the country.

EXPLANATION:

Commission of Railway Safety:

CRS deals with matters related to safety of rail travel and operations, among some other statutory functions – inspectorial, investigatory, and advisory – as laid down in the Railways Act, 1989.
Investigating serious train accidents is one of the key responsibilities of the CRS, which is headquartered in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh.
However, CRS does not report to the Ministry of Railways of the Railway Board. It is, in fact, under the administrative control of the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA). The reason or principle behind this, put simply, is to keep the CRS insulated from the influence of the country’s railway establishment and prevent conflicts of interest.

Early days of railways in India and safety oversight:

The first railways in India came into being in the 1800s and were constructed and operated by private companies.
At the time, the British Indian government appointed ‘consulting engineers’ for effective control and oversight of the developing railway network and operations. Their job was to ensure efficiency, economy, and safety in railway operations in India.
Later, when the British Indian government undertook construction of railways in the country, the consulting engineers were re-designated as ‘government inspectors’, and in 1883, their position was recognised statutorily.
In the first decade of the twentieth century, the Railway Inspectorate was placed under the Railway Board, which was established in 1905.
As per the Indian Railway Board Act, 1905, and a notification by the then Department of Commerce and Industry, the Railway Board was entrusted with powers and functions of the government under various sections of the Railway Act and was also authorised to make rules for railway operations in India. This effectively made the Railway Board the safety controlling authority for railways in India.

Separation of safety supervision function and Railway Board:

The Government of India Act, 1935 said that functions for securing the safety of railway operations, both for the travelling public and personnel operating the railways, should be performed by an authority independent of the federal railway authority or the Railway Board. These functions included conducting railway accident probes. But due to the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939, the idea did not take off and the Railway Inspectorate continued to function under the control of the Railway Board.
In 1939, a panel headed by the then chief inspecting officer of the British Railways, A.H.L. Mount, suggested that the separation of the Railway Inspectorate from the Railway Board.

Transfer of Railway Inspectorate from Railway Board’s control

In 1940, the Central Legislature endorsed the idea and principle of separation of the Railway Inspectorate from the Railway Board, and recommended that the senior government inspectors of the railways should be placed under the administrative control of a different authority under the government.
Consequently, in May 1941, the Railway Inspectorate was separated from the Railway Board and put under the administrative control of the then Department of Posts and Air.
Since then, the Inspectorate, which was re-designated as the CRS in 1961, has been under the control of the central ministry exercising control over civil aviation in India.

4. UNIFIED PORTAL FOR ‘GOBARdhan’

TAG: PRELIMS PERSPECTIVE

THE CONTEXT: The union minister for Jal Shakti launched the unified registration portal for ‘GOBARdhan’ which will act as a one stop repository to assess investment and participation in biogas or compressed biogas (CBG) sector at pan-India level and streamline the process of setting up biogas plants in India.

EXPLANATION:

Any government, cooperative or private entity operating or intending to setup a biogas, CBG or Bio CNG plant in India can obtain a registration number by enrolling in the unified registration portal.
The registration number will enable availing of multitude of benefits and support from the ministries and departments of government of India.
States have been advised to get their CBG/Biogas plant operators registered on the portal on priority to avail existing and upcoming support from the Centre.
It is an example of cooperative federalism as the stakeholder central ministries, all line departments of centre and states have come together in development and deployment of the portal.

Galvanizing Organic Bio-Agro Resources Dhan (GOBARdhan)

It is a Jan Andolan on Safe Management of Cattle and other Biodegradable Waste in Rural India.
It is a umbrella initiative of government of India, based on the whole of government approach and aims to convert waste to wealth towards promoting circular economy.
Centre intends to build a robust ecosystem for setting up Biogas/Compressed Biogas (CBG)/ Bio-Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) plants to drive sustainable economic growth.
GOBARdhan scheme is being pursued as a national programme priority under Swachh Bharat Mission Grameen-Phase II.
Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation is working with Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying, Department of Agriculture, Cooperation and Farmers Welfare, Department of Agricultural Research and Education, Department of Rural Development, state governments, public and private sector institutions and village communities to give this a shape of “Jan Andolan” so that community collective action on GOBARdhan is achieved. I

Objectives of GOBARdhan:

To support villages safely manage their cattle and agricultural waste, and make the villages clean
To support communities in converting cattle and organic waste into wealth using treatment systems.
To convert organic waste, especially cattle waste, to biogas and organic manure for use in rural areas
To promote environmental sanitation and curb vector-borne diseases through effective
disposal of waste in rural areas
To promote rural employment and income generation opportunities by involving entrepreneurs, SHGs and youth groups in seƫting up, operating and managing GOBARdhan units

Benefits:

Manages waste: Helps manage the major solid waste in villages, i.e, cattle dung, and promotes environmental sanitation
Generates organic manure: Helps generate organic manure, which boosts agriculture and farm
productivity
Increases employment: Promotes employment and income generation opportunities for SHGs/
farmers groups
Improves savings: Promotes household income and savings as the use of biogas as fuel will
cut down the LPG cost
Protects health: Substantially reduces the incidence of vector-borne diseases and promotes
public health

5. KERALA FIBRE OPTICAL NETWORK (KFON)

TAG: PRELIMS PERSPECTIVE

THE CONTEXT: The Kerala government officially launched the Kerala Fibre Optical Network (KFON), one of its flagship projects to ensure high speed broadband internet access to all houses and government offices.

EXPLANATION:

Through KFON, Kerala, which was the first state to declare the right to internet as a basic right, aims to reduce the digital divide by ensuring high speed broadband internet access to all houses and government offices.
It is also intended to give a fillip to e-governance and accelerate Kerala’s journey towards being a knowledge-based economy.

What is KFON?

KFON will act as an infrastructure provider. It is an optical fibre cable network of 30,000 kms, with 375 Points-of-Presence across Kerala.
The KFON infrastructure will be shared with all service providers, including cable operators. While KFON will do the cable work for government offices, individual beneficiaries will have to depend on private, local internet service providers.
The KFON infrastructure would also benefit private service providers, as they can use its cable network. Internet connectivity to the households would be provided by local ISP/TSP/cable TV providers.
KFON promises an internet speed from 10 mbps to 10 Gbps.

Beneficiaries:

In the first phase, it was aimed to provide Internet connections to 14,000 BPL families, with 100 each from the State’s 140 assembly constituencies.
The panchayats and the urban local bodies were given the responsibility of choosing the beneficiaries.
Each household will get 1.5 GB of data per day at 15 Mbps speed.

Who are the stakeholders?

The KFON project is a joint venture of Kerala State Electricity Board and Kerala State IIT Infrastructure Limited.
The project implementation was taken up by a consortium led by Central PSU Bharat Electronics Limited. PriceWaterhouseCoopers is the consultant of the project.
While KSITIL would be responsible for the operations and maintenance of the project, the infrastructure asset shall be owned by KSEBL.
BEL is the system integrator for the KFON project. BEL has taken the tasks of rolling Optical fibre cable network, setting up network point of presence locations and providing connectivity to government institutions.
BEL would be in charge of operation and maintenance of the project for seven years. The project is fully funded by Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board (KIIFB), the state government agency for funding infrastructure projects.

What services will it provide?

The aim of the KFON is to create a core network infrastructure (information highway) with non-discriminatory access to all service providers, and to ensure a reliable, secure and scalable intranet connecting all government of offices and educational institutions.
Its major services are connectivity to government offices, leasing of dark fibre, internet leased line, fibre to the home, wifi hotspots, colocation of assets under network operating centres and Point-of-Presences, internet protocol television, OTT, and cloud hosting.
The Union Department of Telecommunications had provided Infrastructure Provider (category one) licence as well as the Internet Service Provider licence (category B) to the KFON.
The IP licence allowed the KFON to obtain fibre optic lines (dark fibre), towers, duct space, network and other related infrastructure facilities for establishing an optic fibre network.

TOP 5 TAKKAR NEWS OF THE DAY (6th JUNE 2023)

1. THE ORGANIZATION OF THE PETROLEUM EXPORTING PLUS COUNTRIES

TAG: GS 2: INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

THE CONTEXT: The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies including Russia, a group known as OPEC+ which pumps around 40% of the world’s crude, agreed on a new oil output deal.

EXPLANATION:

Saudi Arabia, the group’s biggest producer, will make a deep cut to its output in July on top of a broader OPEC+ deal to limit supply into 2024 as the group faces flagging oil prices.
A surprise announcement by OPEC+ in April to deepen production cuts helped to raise prices by about $9 a barrel to above $87 per barrel in the days followed.
The changes, however, included lowered targets for Russia, Nigeria and Angola simply to bring them into line with current production levels.

Reasons why OPEC+ cut output:

Concerns about weak global demand as data from China has aroused fears that the economic recovery after coronavirus lockdowns by world’s second-largest oil consumer is losing steam.
Fears of another banking crisis in recent months have led investors to sell out of riskier assets.
A global recession could lead to lower oil prices.
Punishing speculators as the planned cuts will also punish oil short sellers betting on oil price declines.

Reactions:

The United States is considering passing legislation known as NOPEC, which would allow the seizure of OPEC’s assets on U.S. territory if market collusion is proven.
OPEC+ has criticised the International Energy Agency, the West’s energy watchdog for which the United States is the biggest financial donor, for advocating oil stocks releases last year.

Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC)

It refers to a group of 13 of the world’s major oil-exporting nations.
OPEC was founded in 1960 to coordinate the petroleum policies of its members and to provide member states with technical and economic aid.
Members Countries of OPEC include Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and Venezuela (the five founders), plus Algeria, Angola, Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Libya, Nigeria, and the United Arab Emirates.

Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) Plus:

Opec+ is a group of 23 oil-exporting countries which meets regularly to decide how much crude oil to sell on the world market.
These nations came to an accord towards the end of 2016 “to institutionalize a framework for cooperation between OPEC and non-OPEC producing countries on a regular and sustainable basis.” These nations aim to work together on adjusting crude oil production to bring stability to the oil market.
The list of non-OPEC nations includes Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Brunei, Equatorial Guinea, Kazakhstan, Russia, Mexico, Malaysia, South Sudan, Sudan and Oman.

2. PLASTIC POLLUTION AND WORLD ENVIRONMENT DAY

TAG: GS 3: ENVIRONMENT

THE CONTEXT: Since the early 20th century, plastics have become a ubiquitous part of human life, despite their many adverse impacts on the environment. This year’s World Environment Day (June 5) has the theme of #BeatPlasticPollution, calling for global solutions to combat the pandemic of plastic pollution.

EXPLANATION:

50th anniversary of the World Environment Day:

The World Environment Day, led by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), has been held annually on June 5, since 1973.
The date was chosen by the UN General Assembly during the historic 1972 Stockholm Conference on the Human Environment considered to be the first world conference to make the environment a major issue.

#BeatPlasticPollution

Hosted by Côte d’Ivoire and supported by the Netherlands, this year’s World Environment Day campaign is aimed towards discussing and implementing solutions to the problem of plastic pollution.
According to UN data, more than 400 million tonnes of plastic is produced every year worldwide, half of which is designed to be used only once. Of that, less than 10 per cent is recycled. Consequently, an estimated 19-23 million tonnes end up in lakes, rivers and seas annually.

What is Plastic?

The word plastic is derived from the Greek word plastikos, meaning “capable of being shaped or moulded.”
It refers to a wide range of synthetic or semi-synthetic materials that use polymers as a main ingredient with their defining quality being their plasticity the ability of a solid material to undergo permanent deformation in response to applied forces. This makes them extremely adaptable, capable of being shaped as per requirement.
Broadly speaking, single-use is a term which can refer to any plastic items which are either designed to be used for one time by the consumer before they are thrown away or recycled, or likely to be used in this way
Most modern plastics are derived from fossil fuel-based chemicals like natural gas or petroleum. However, recently, variants made from renewable materials, such as corn or cotton derivatives have also emerged.
Around 70 per cent of global plastic production is concentrated in six major polymer types – referred collectively as commodity plastics. These include: Polyethylene terephthalate or PET, High-density polyethylene or HDPE, Polyvinyl chloride or PVC, Low-density polyethylene or LDPE, Polypropylene or PP, and Polystyrene or PS. Each of these have different properties and can be identified by their Resin Identification Code (RIC) denoted by symbols found on plastic products.
Resin identification coding system

Microplastics:

Plastic doesnot decompose but do crumble into smaller particles called as microplastics.
It is officially defined as plastics less than five millimetres in diameter.
There are two categories of microplastics. Primary microplastics are tiny particles designed for commercial use, such as in cosmetics or textiles. On the other hand, secondary microplastics are particles that are a product of the breakdown of larger plastic items due to exposure to environmental factors such as sun’s radiation or ocean’s waves.
The problem with microplastics, like all plastics, is that they do not break down easily into more harmless particles. Instead, they find their way across the planet, from the depths of the Pacific Ocean to the heights of the Himalayas.
According to the most recent global estimates, an average human consumes at least 50,000 microplastic particles annually due to contamination of the food chain, potable water, and air.
Notably, microplastics contain a number of toxic chemicals which pose severe risks to human health. The biggest health risk associated is with the chemical BPA or Bisphenol A , which is used to harden the plastic.
BPA contaminates food and drinks, causing alterations in liver function, insulin resistance, foetal development in pregnant women, the reproductive system and brain function.

Great Pacific Garbage Patch:

The largest collection of plastics and microplastics in the ocean is in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch – a collection of marine debris in the North Pacific Ocean. Also known as the trash vortex, it is located between California and Japan, and formed due to converging ocean currents.
As per estimates, the GPGP covers a surface area of 1.6 million sq km– roughly half the size of India There are other, smaller such garbage patches in other oceans.
The GPGP comprises majorly of single-use plastics.

3. GENOME SEQUENCING AND BLACK DEATH

TAG: GS 3: SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

THE CONTEXT: The ‘Black Death’ causing bacteria’s prehistoric trail has been traced by scientists by advanced gene-sequencing techniques.

EXPLANATION:

What is the black death?

The ‘black death’, or the Great Plague was one of the deadliest epidemics in human history that happened in 14th century.
The ‘black death’ is believed to have killed more than 25 million people in Europe and possibly up to 40-50% of the population in some of the continent’s major cities
It was caused by a bacterium called Yersinia pestis, which infects mammals. This bacteria’s discovery has been attributed separately to Alexandre Yersin, a Swiss-French physician, and Kitasato Shibasaburō, a Japanese physician and microbiologist during the plague outbreak in Hong Kong in 1894.
Humans typically get infected through fleas or through close handling/contact with an infected human or animal.
One possible reason for the humongous proportions of the ‘black death’ outbreak is the human-to-human transmission of the bacteria.

Plague outbreak in India:

India has experienced plague epidemics of varying intensities from as early as 1896 in Bombay to outbreaks in Karnataka (1966) and Surat (1994) and to a more recent isolated outbreak (2004) in a village in Uttarakhand.
India also prominently figures in the history of the plague. The plague vaccine was developed by Waldemar Haffkine in 1897 during the outbreaks in Bombay.

History of plague:

Historical archives suggest the Plague of Justinian in the sixth century A.D. was possibly the first to be documented.
The evidence also suggests that plague outbreaks were possibly common in Asia and Europe as early as the Late Neolithic-Early Bronze Age (LBNA), as implied by genetic material isolated from a Swedish tomb dated to 3000 BC.
The LBNA period is estimated to have lasted 5,000-2,500 years before present. This era was also characterised by human contact, exchange across Europe, and a consequent social, economic, and cultural transformation of human society.

Genome-sequencing technologies:

The advent of genome-sequencing technologies has allowed scientists to trace the trail of infectious diseases that ailed people in prehistoric times.
This is possible in particular due to deep-sequencing of genetic material isolated from well-preserved human remains, with the help of advanced computational analysis.
Deep-sequencing involves sequencing the genomic material multiple times to retrieve even small amounts of DNA, since the material is likely to degrade over time.

What has deep-sequencing revealed?

Scientists have also traced the prehistoric trail providing an unparalleled view of the evolution and adaptation of human pathogens.
They found that the reconstructed genomes lacked the gene to create a molecule called yapC, short for ‘yersinia autotransporter C’, associated with the bacteria’s ability to bind to mammalian cells and form biofilms and thus important for causing infections.
However, they also found the presence of a functional urease D gene, which could make them toxic to fleas.
The genome sequences from the latter also lacked the yapC and ymt genes, reinforcing the previous findings that the plague in that period was possibly not transmitted through fleas.
The ambit of such technologies is also expanding to include studies of animal and plant diseases, along with human diseases, contributing to the unified understanding of our well-being called ‘One Health.

4. GDP ESTIMATES

TAG: GS 3: ECONOMY

THE CONTEXT: Recently, government released the so-called Provisional Estimates (PE) of India’s national income for the financial year 2022-23 (or FY23). According to the PEs, the size of India’s economy calculated by the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) or the market value of all final goods and services produced within the country grew by 7.2 per cent in FY23. This means, India’s GDP was 7.2% more than what it was in the previous financial year (2021-22).

EXPLANATION:

About GDP growth estimates:

For any financial year, the GDP estimates go through several rounds of revisions.
Each year in January, the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) releases the First Advance Estimates (FAEs) for that financial year.
In February end, after incorporating the data from Q3 (third quarter, which includes October, November and December), come the Second Advance Estimates (SAEs).
By May-end come the Provisional Estimates (PEs) after incorporating the Q4 (Jan to March) data.
Then with each passing year, the PEs are revised to give the First Revised Estimates, the Second Revised Estimates and the Third Revised Estimates before settling on the “Actuals”. Each revision benefits from more data, making the GDP estimates more accurate and robust.

Private Final Consumption Expenditure (PFCE):

However, there is a fly in the (GDP data) ointment. It is called the Private Final Consumption Expenditure (PFCE).
As is evident, the PFCE is the biggest engine of growth. Typically, if it is growing robustly then one would presume that the second biggest engine of GDP growth — expenditures towards investments — will follow suit. For a big economy such as India, together, these two components can create a virtuous cycle.

Typically, GDP is calculated by adding up all expenditures in the economy. These expenditures are broadly categorised in four groups:

All the money Indians spend in their personal capacity from buying an ice cream to watching a movie to buying a TV or car. This is called the PFCE. Such expenditures account for 55%-60% of India’s annual GDP.
All the money the governments spend on their daily uses paying salaries etc. This is called Government Final Consumption Expenditure (GFCE) and this accounts for 10% of India’s GDP.
All the money spent by private companies and governments towards building productive capacities in the economy. Say a firm buying desktops for its employees or the government spending money on building a road. This is called the Gross Fixed Capital Formation (GFCF) and this accounts for 30%-32% of the GDP.
Net exports or the net of all the money that Indians received by exporting goods and services and minus all the money they spent on importing goods and services. More often than not, India’s imports are more than its exports. As such the Net Exports component is negative and drags down overall GDP.

5. INTERLOCKING SYSTEM

TAG: PRELIMS PERSPECTIVE

THE CONTEXT: Minister for Railways said that a change in the “configuration” of the track had led to the Coromandel Express smashing into the stationary goods train from behind, triggering the three-way train accident in Odisha in which 275 people have died so far.

EXPLANATION:

The electric “point machine” is a vital device for railway signalling for quick operation and “locking” of point switches. It plays the key role in the safe running of trains.
Failure of these machines will severely affect train movement, and any deficiencies created or left unaddressed at the time of installation of the system can result in unsafe conditions.

How the system works:

Interlocking in railway signalling systems is a crucial safety mechanism used in the operation of train movements on railway tracks.
It ensures that train movements continue without any conflicts with each other, preventing accidents.
There are three main components that comprise an interlocking system: the point, the track occupancy sensing devices, and the signal. The Interlocking system coordinates the functions of these three components to control train movements.

What is the function of each of these three main components?

Points allow trains to change tracks: The points (also called ‘switch rails’) are movable rails that guide the wheels of a train towards either a straight or a diverging track. They are typically placed at the point of divergence of two tracks going to different directions. Once a direction of a train is determined, the point gets locked at a particular position. This means that once a direction is set, the point cannot budge until the train has passed.
Track circuits are electrical circuits (also known as track-occupancy sensing devices) that detect the presence of trains.
Signals (which are lights of green, red, and yellow colour) are installed along the tracks to indicate the status of the track ahead.

And how do the points work?

The digital interface of this system is a computer screen (or multiple screens) that shows the full view of the station layout and the live (real-time) movement of trains on tracks, the signals, and the position of the points.
This is the configuration that runs all trains everywhere. This computer interface is called a data logger.

How does the system sense whether a track is occupied?

There are various kinds of track-occupancy sensing devices. Generally, sensors are installed on the tracks that detect the passage of wheels on the rails.
These are also called axle counters. They count how many sets of wheels or axles have passed over them in order to determine whether the entire train has passed through.

Who operates and monitors the interlocking signalling system?

The interlocking system is usually operated and monitored by trained personnel from the signalling and telecommunications department in Railways, often known as ‘signallers’ or signal operators. They are responsible for setting the signals, monitoring track circuits, and ensuring the safe movement of trains.

TOP 5 TAKKAR NEWS OF THE DAY (5th JUNE 2023)

1. KAVACH: AUTOMATIC TRAIN PROTECTION (ATP) SYSTEM

TAG: PRELIMS PERSPECTIVE

CONTEXT: The death of over 288 passengers in the ghastly train accident on June 2 at Bahanaga Bazaar railway station in the Balasore district of Odisha has brought into sharp focus the safety mechanisms needed to prevent such tragedies.

EXPLANATION:

What is Kavach?

Kavach is an indigenously developed Automatic Train Protection (ATP) system by the Research Design and Standards Organisation (RDSO) under Indian Railway (IR) in collaboration with Medha Servo Drives Pvt Ltd, HBL Power Systems Ltd and Kernex Microsystems.
The railways has been developing its own automatic protection system since 2012 as Train Collision Avoidance System (TCAS), which got rechristened Kavach or ‘armour’.
The trials were facilitated by the South Central Railway to achieve safety in train operations across Indian Railways.
It is a state-of-the-art electronic system with Safety Integrity Level-4 (SIL-4) standards. It is meant to provide protection by preventing trains to pass the signal at Red (which marks danger) and avoid collision.
‘Kavach’ is one of the cheapest, SIL-4 certified technologies where the probability of error is 1 in 10,000 years.

Features of Kavach system:

Kavach works on the principle of continuous update of Movement authority.
It actively uses the SOS to prevent any kind of mishap and accidents.
As part of the new system, railway tracks, signalling systems on railway tracks and the engines of trains are installed with radio frequency devices that continuously send signals back and forth on a real-time basis to indicate that the track on which the train is operating has no obstacles.
The devices also continuously relay the signals ahead to the locomotive, making it useful for loco pilots in low visibility. Kavach also controls the speed of the train by an automatic application of brakes in case the loco pilot fails to do so. It helps the loco pilot in running the train during inclement weather conditions such as dense fog.
Further operational improvement of Kavach is in the works, including change over from Ultra High Frequency (UHF) communication to LTE-4G communication.
At the moment, Kavach uses ultra-high frequency radio waves but the Indian Railways is working to make it compatible with 4G Long Term Evolution (LTE) technology and develop the product for global markets.
Kavach uses a network of devices mounted on trains to avoid collisions. The devices use radio technology and GPS to precisely assess the location of two trains and automatically initiate the braking system if they are at risk of colliding.

How it works?

This Traffic collision avoidance system (TCAS), with the help of equipment on board the locomotive and transmission towers at stations connected with Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tags, helps in two-way communication between the station master and loco-pilot to convey any emergency message.
The instrument panel inside the cabin helps the loco-pilot know about the signal in advance without visual sighting, and the permissible speeds to be maintained.
If a red signal is jumped and two trains come face to face on the same line, the technology automatically takes over and applies sudden brakes.
Additionally, the hooter activates by itself when approaching a level crossing which serves as a big boon to loco-pilots during fog conditions when visibility is low.
It activates the train’s braking system automatically if the driver fails to control the train as per speed restrictions.
In addition, it prevents the collision between two locomotives equipped with functional Kavach systems.
The system also relays SoS messages during emergency situations.
An added feature is the centralised live monitoring of train movements through the Network Monitor System.

Where has Kavach been implemented?

The trial of the Kavach working system implemented between Gullaguda-Chitgidda Railway stations on Lingampalli-Vikarabad section in the Secunderabad Division of South Central Railway.
The South Central Railway (SCR) Zone is a pioneer in the implementation of the KAVACH – (TACS). The Kavach system has been deployed over 1,465 kms in the SCR limits in 77 locomotives and 135 stations till March this year.
Additionally, the Secunderabad-based Indian Railways Institute of Signal Engineering & Telecommunications (IRISET) hosts the ‘Centre of Excellence’ for Kavach. IRISET has been mandated by the Railway Board to train the inservice railway staff on Kavach.

Earlier system:

The Indian Railways has since 2002 been using an anti-collision device (ACD) developed by Konkan Railways, which was dubbed ‘Raksha Kavach’.
The ACD system was invented by the former head of Konkan Railways Rajaram Bojji.
While the older system is still in use in most trains operated by Indian Railways at the moment, the new system will be introduced across all trains in the next five years.
The new Kavach system covers everything from railway stations, signalling systems and even types of trains, while the older ACD or the auxiliary warning system only works on individual trains and locomotives.
The new system is also a lot more accurate in sending signals to trains and is faster as it works on a real-time basis while implementing safety measures as well.

2. ADVERSE POSSESSION

TAG: GS 2: POLITY

CONTEXT: 22nd Law Commission has said in its 280th report that there is no justification for introducing any change in the law relating to adverse possession. The Law Commission, headed by former Chief Justice of Karnataka High Court Ritu Raj Awasthi and comprising retired Kerala High Court judge KT Sankaran, said in its 280th report that there is no reason for increasing the period of limitation. However, two of its ex officio members filed a dissent note stating that the law does not stand judicial scrutiny and “promotes false claims under the colour of adverse possession”.

EXPLANATION:

What is adverse possession?

The concept of adverse possession stems from the idea that land must not be left vacant but instead, be put to judicious use.
Essentially, adverse possession refers to the hostile possession of property, which must be “continuous, uninterrupted, and peaceful.”
According to the Law Commission’s report, the rationale behind this comes from considerations that the “title to land should not long be in doubt”, “society will benefit from someone making use of land the owner leaves idle,” and “persons who come to regard the occupant as owner may be protected.”
The maxim that the law does not help those who sleep over their rights is invoked in support of adverse possession. Simply put, “the original title holder who neglected to enforce his rights over the land cannot be permitted to re-enter the land after a long passage of time.
While the concept originally dates back to 2000 BC, finding its roots in the Hammurabi Code, the historical basis of “title by adverse possession” is the development of the statutes of limitation on actions for recovery of land in England.
The first such statute was the Statute of Westminster, 1275. However, it was the Property Limitation Act, 1874, that set the period of limitation at twelve years from when the cause of action first arose, which laid the groundwork for the limitations model inherited by colonial India.
The first attempt to bring the law of limitation to domestic shores was the “Act XIV of 1859”, which regulated the limitation of civil suits in British India. After the passage of the Limitation Act in 1963, the law on adverse possession underwent significant changes.

What provisions did the Limitation Act, 1963 bring with it?

The 1963 Act fortified the position of the true owner of the land, as he now had to merely prove his title, while the burden of proof of adverse possession shifted to the person claiming it.
Under the Limitation Act, 1963, any person in possession of private land for over 12 years or government land for over 30 years can become the owner of that property, as laid down in Articles 64, 65, 111, or 112 of the 1963 Act, relating to suits for possession of immovable property.
According to Article 65 of Schedule I of the 1963 Act, a person in adverse possession of immovable property acquires title to that property.
However, the possession must be open, continuous, and “in defiance of the title of the real owner for twelve years.”
Similarly, Article 64 governs suits for possession based on previous possession and not on title.
Meanwhile, Article 112, which applies to government property, mandates a requirement of 30 years for granting a title by adverse position.
Further, Article 111 says that the limitation period for the State will be 30 years from the date of dispossession for land belonging to a private person where any public street or road or any part of it has been dispossessed and no suit has been moved for its possession “by or on behalf of any local authority”.

Why did the SC suggest changes to the law on adverse possession?

A two-judge SC bench, in its 2008 ruling in Hemaji Waghaji Jat v. Bhikhabhai Khengarbhai Harijan and Others, while dealing with Article 65 of the Schedule of the Limitation Act, 1963, observed that the law of adverse possession “ousts an owner on the basis of inaction within limitation” and is “irrational, illogical, and wholly disproportionate”.
“The law as it exists is extremely harsh for the true owner and a windfall for a dishonest person who has illegally taken possession of the property,” the court said. Adding that the law should not benefit the illegal action of a “rank trespasser” who had wrongfully taken possession of the true owner’s property, the court said that it also “places a premium on dishonesty”.
Emphasising the “urgent need” for “a fresh look regarding the law on adverse possession”, the court recommended the government “to seriously consider and make suitable changes in the law of adverse possession”.
Consequently, the 19th Law Commission prepared a “consultation paper-cum-questionnaire”. After receiving responses, the Commission concluded that the present provisions afforded sufficient protection to the land’s true owner and there was no need to amend the law. However, the Commission failed to file a final report on the subject.
Owing to the importance of the subject, coupled with the fact that the reference had been pending since 2008, the present Law Commission found it “expedient to deliberate afresh over the subject.”
While the Commission’s opinion was that the law on adverse possession should stay the same, two of its ex officio members, filed a dissent note saying that the law promotes false claims.

3. LARGE LANGUAGE MODELS (LLMS)

TAG: GS 3: SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

CONTEXT: With more people getting on the generative AI bandwagon for work and play, context and cross-verification are the tools we need to guard against misinformation. In this regard, there is need to take a look on large language models and associated terminologies.

EXPLANATION:

Large Language Models (LLMs) are foundational machine learning models that use deep learning algorithms to process and understand natural language.
These models are trained on massive amounts of text data to learn patterns and entity relationships in the language.
LLMs can perform many types of language tasks, such as translating languages, analyzing sentiments, chatbot conversations, and more.
They can understand complex textual data, identify entities and relationships between them, and generate new text that is coherent and grammatically accurate.
A large-scale transformer model known as a “large language model” is typically too massive to run on a single computer and is, therefore, provided as a service over an API or web interface.

General Architecture

The architecture of Large Language Models primarily consists of multiple layers of neural networks, like recurrent layers, feedforward layers, embedding layers, and attention layers. These layers work together to process the input text and generate output predictions.
The embedding layer converts each word in the input text into a high-dimensional vector representation. These embeddings capture semantic and syntactic information about the words and help the model to understand the context.
The feedforward layers of Large Language Models have multiple fully connected layers that apply nonlinear transformations to the input embeddings. These layers help the model learn higher-level abstractions from the input text.
The recurrent layers of LLMs are designed to interpret information from the input text in sequence. These layers maintain a hidden state that is updated at each time step, allowing the model to capture the dependencies between words in a sentence.
The attention mechanism is another important part of LLMs, which allowsthe model to focus selectively on different parts of the input text. This mechanism helps the model attend to the input text’s most relevant parts and generate more accurate predictions.

Few examples of large language models:

GPT-3 (Generative Pre-trained Transformer 3) – This is one of the largest Large Language Models developed by OpenAI. It has 175 billion parameters and can perform many tasks, including text generation, translation, and summarization.
BERT (Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers) – Developed by Google, BERT is another popular LLM that has been trained on a massive corpus of text data. It can understand the context of a sentence and generate meaningful responses to questions.
XLNet – This LLM developed by Carnegie Mellon University and Google uses a novel approach to language modeling called “permutation language modeling.” It has achieved state-of-the-art performance on language tasks, including language generation and question answering.
T5 (Text-to-Text Transfer Transformer) – T5, developed by Google, is trained on a variety of language tasks and can perform text-to-text transformations, like translating text to another language, creating a summary, and question answering.

RoBERTa (Robustly Optimized BERT Pretraining Approach) – Developed by Facebook AI Research, RoBERTa is an improved BERT version that performs better on several language tasks.

Few terminologies that take on new meaning with artificial intelligence

Chatbot: A program that runs within websites and apps, and interacts directly with users to help them with tasks.
Hallucination: When generative AI or a chatbot gives an answer that is factually incorrect or irrelevant because of limitations in its training data and architecture.
Deep learning: A function of artificial intelligence that imitates the human brain by learning from the way data is structured, rather than from an algorithm that’s programmed to do one specific thing.
Neural network: A method in artificial intelligence that teaches computers to process data in a way inspired by the human brain.
Bias: A type of error that can occur in a large language model if its output is skewed by the model’s training data.
Jailbreak: This is a way of breaching the ethical safeguards of a device. Every AI has content moderation guidelines to ensure it doesn’t commit crimes, or display graphic content. With the help of specific prompts, these guidelines can be bypassed.
DAN (Do Anything Now): DAN is a prompt wherein ChatGPT is freed from the typical confines of AI. The bot can pretend to browse the Internet, access current information (even if made up), use swear words, display information that is unverified; basically, do everything that the original ChatGPT cannot.
Abduction: A form of reasoning where baseless assumptions are made to explain observations, in contrast to deductive reasoning, where conclusions are based on perceivable facts and configurations.
Prompt injection: This involves inserting malicious prompts that override an AI’s original instructions, to get it to manipulate and deceive users. As a result, hijackers can force an AI model to perform actions out of its purview. This is similar to a jailbreak, but more malicious.

4. CREDIT INFORMATION COMPANY AND CIBIL SCORE

TAG: GS 3: ECONOMY

CONTEXT: Kerala High Court said last week that a student’s credit score cannot be a factor in rejecting an education loan application. Calling students the “nation builders of tomorrow”, a Bench of Justice PV Kunhikrishnan added that the student’s education loan application should not have been rejected simply because he had a low CIBIL or credit score.

EXPLANATION:

What is the Issue?

In a major move to ensure smooth process for the disbursement of loan from the financial Institutions, the The Kerala High Court ruled that application for education loan from the students should not be rejected by the banks simply because the CIBIL score of a student was low.
The petitioner, who is a student, had availed two loans, of which one was overdue for and the other loan was written off by the Bank. The CIBIL score of the petitioner was low due to these reasons.
The counsels placed reliance upon the decision and held that the unsatisfactory credit score of the parents of a student could not be a ground for rejecting an educational loan, since the repayment capacity of the student after his education ought to be the deciding factor as per the scheme.
The counsels in this case averred that the petitioner had received a job offer from a Multi National Company and would thus be able to clear the entire loan amount. On the other hand, the counsels for the respondents argued that granting an interim order in this case, in accordance with the reliefs sought for by the petitioner, would be against the scheme framed by the Indian Banks Association as directed by the Reserve Bank of India.
It was further submitted that the Credit Information Companies Act, 2005, the Credit Information Companies Rules, 2006 and the Circulars issued by the State Bank of India prohibits disbursement of loan in situations as that of the present petitioner.

What did the RBI circular say?

On April 28, 2001, the RBI issued a circular in which it mentioned a comprehensive “model educational loan scheme” prepared by the Indian Banks Association (IBA) “for adoption by all banks”.
The scheme aimed to provide financial support from the banking system to deserving or meritorious students pursuing higher education in India and abroad. Additionally, it was announced in the Union Budget for 2001–2002. While this scheme provided broad guidelines for banks to operationalise education loans, its implementation by banks varied.
Following this, on June 24, 2019, the RBI advised all scheduled commercial banks to adopt the educational loan scheme formulated by IBA in 2001.

What is CIBIL score?

A Credit Information Bureau (India) Limited (CIBIL) score is a three-digit numerical summary of one’s credit history, which involves an individual’s credit payment history across loan types and credit institutions over a period of time.

Credit Information Companies:

A Credit Information Company (CIC) is an organization which collects and analyses credit and loan related data about individuals and companies and generates its products and services on the basis of this data.
This data is provided to CICs by their member banks and other financial institutions. Credit Information Companies are also known as Credit Bureaus in India.
A Credit Information Company needs to be a company that was formed and registered under the Companies Act, 1956 and is granted a Certificate of registration under sub-section (2) of Section 5, of CIC Act, 2005.
They were licensed to work in the country under the Credit Information Companies (Regulation) Act, 2005 by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).
RBI reserves the right to determine the number of Credit Information Companies that can be granted with the Certificates of Registration to carry out the business of Credit Information, by taking into consideration various factors like the available business of Credit Information, the scope of expansion of existing CICs etc.
Furthermore, RBI has the right to cancel the Certificate of Registration of any CIC as per the conditions laid out in Section 6, of CIC Act 2005.
Currently there are 4 authorized Credit Information Companies in India.

Credit Information Bureau (India) Limited – CIBIL
Equifax Credit Information Services Private Limited
Experian Credit Information Company of India Private Limited
CRIF High Mark Credit Information Services Private Limited

As per Section 2 of CIC Act , ‘Credit Information’ refers to any information relating to

Amounts and nature of the loans or advances, amounts outstanding under credit cards and other credit facilities granted (or to be granted) by a Credit institution i.e. banks or financial institutions to any borrower.
The type and nature of the security taken (or proposed to be taken) by the credit institutions from the borrower in relation to the credit facilities being provided.
The guarantee furnished by a credit institution to its borrowers.
The creditworthiness of any borrower
Any other information which the RBI may consider it to be necessary to be included in the Credit Information.

5. BIMA VAHAK

TAG: SCHEMES IN NEWS

CONTEXT: IRDAI’s plan to improve insurance awareness and penetration in the hinterland is all set to gain momentum with the insurance regulator issuing draft guidelines for Bima Vahak, a dedicated distribution channel to reach out to every Gram Panchayat. Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) issued draft guidelines for Bima Vahaks.

EXPLANATION:

Bima Vahak Scheme:

It is a core component of IRDAI ‘Insurance for all by 2047’ goal.
It will be the crucial last-mile connect for insurers in the form of a field force comprising corporate as well individual regardless of their geographical locations.
From the collection of proposal information, KYC documents and submissions to coordination and support in policy and claims-related servicing, the scope of activities of Bima Vahak will be wide and aimed at improving accessibility and availability of insurance in every nook and corner of the country.
However, the insurer will remain responsible for ensuring KYC and AML compliance with respect to the policies sourced through the Bima Vahaks.

Draft guidelines:

The primary objectives of the Bima Vahak guidelines are to establish a dedicated distribution channel focused on enhancing insurance inclusion and creating awareness in every Gram Panchayat (village council).
A Bima Vahak will be permitted to sell and service the Bima Vistaar product approved by the Authority and work with only one life insurer, one general insurer and one health insurer and, where permitted, with the Agriculture Insurance Company of India Ltd.
The Bima Vahak scheme will be closely aligned with the Lead Insurers that IRDAI had mooted in every State and Union Territory. Such Lead Insurers will coordinate deployment of resources to ensure maximum coverage of Gram Panchayats.
With the Bima Vahaks engaging with the diverse needs and aspirations in every Gram Panchayat, insurers can adapt their offerings to provide comprehensive coverage and address emerging financial protection needs.
The guidelines emphasize the identification and development of local resources within each Gram Panchayat, with a special focus on encouraging the onboarding of women as Bima Vahaks to gain the trust of the locals.
The guidelines define two types of Bima Vahaks: Corporate Bima Vahaks and Individual Bima Vahaks. Corporate Bima Vahaks refer to legal entities registered under Indian laws and engaged by insurers. On the other hand, Individual Bima Vahaks can be either appointed by an insurer or appointed by a Corporate Bima Vahak.
The guidelines outline several key requirements and policies that insurers must adhere to.
These include norms for the appointment and engagement of Bima Vahaks, territorial allocation, educational qualifications and training standards, code of conduct, operational workflows and standards, use of electronic handheld devices, setting up of retail outlets, deployment of technology, the confidentiality of policyholder data, payment of a commission, operational and compliance requirements, and database management of policies solicited through Bima Vahaks.

Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI):

It is a statutory body formed under an Act of Parliament, i.e., Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority Act, 1999 (IRDAI Act 1999) for overall supervision and development of the Insurance sector in India.
The powers and functions of the Authority are laid down in the IRDAI Act, 1999 and Insurance Act, 1938.
Its head office is located in Hyderabad and Regional offices at New Delhi and Mumbai. The Regional Office, New Delhi focuses on spreading consumer awareness and handling of Insurance grievances besides providing required support for inspection of Insurance companies and other regulated entities located in the Northern Region. This office is functionally responsible for licensing of Surveyors and Loss Assessors. Regional Office at Mumbai handles similar activities, as in Regional Office Delhi, pertaining to Western Region.
The key objectives of the IRDAI include promotion of competition so as to enhance customer satisfaction through increased consumer choice and fair premiums, while ensuring the financial security of the Insurance market.
The Insurance Act, 1938 is the principal Act governing the Insurance sector in India.
It provides the powers to IRDAI to frame regulations which lay down the regulatory framework for supervision of the entities operating in the sector.
Further, there are certain other Acts which govern specific lines of Insurance business and functions such as Marine Insurance Act, 1963 and Public Liability Insurance Act, 1991.
Composition of IRDAI:

As per Sec. 4 of IRDAI Act, 1999, the composition of the Authority is:

a) Chairman;
b) Five whole-time members;
c) Four part-time members,

(appointed by the Government of India)

‘Insurance for all by 2047’:

IRDAI is working on three-pronged approach — availability, accessibility and affordability — to ensure ‘Insurance for All by 2047’.
India will attain 100 years of independence by 2047 and Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) has taken several steps in the last 10-12 months to enhance penetration and density of life cover plan.
A conceptual framework has been contemplated that this is being proposed through the Bhima trinity – Bhima Sugam, Bhima Vistar, and the woman-centric Bhima Vahak.
IRDAI is moving from a rule-based approach to a principal-based approach, that the opportunity to invest in the insurance sector is immense given the size of the market, and low insurance penetration.
To enhance penetration, attempts being made to reach the last mile through state level insurance plans in line with State-Level Bankers’ Committee (SLBC) on the banking side.
There will be enhanced role of Insurance Information Bureau of India (IIB) in supporting data and tech-driven insurance solutions.
Additionally, the need for risk based capital and solvency, convergence to Ind-AS, rationalizing expenses of management, developing talent pool, updating investment norms and sustainable growth of industry were also deliberated.
It was also proposed to revamp the role and functioning of the life insurance and general insurance councils, to make them more vibrant bodies.

TOP 5 TAKKAR NEWS OF THE DAY (1st JUNE 2023)

1. AHMEDNAGAR RENAMED AS AHILYANAGAR

TAGS: GS 1: HISTORY; ART AND CULTURE

CONTEXT: Marking the 298th birth anniversary of Maratha queen Ahilyabai Holkar on May 31, 2023, Maharashtra Chief Minister announced that his government would rename Ahmednagar after her. The Western Maharashtrian city will now be known as Ahilyanagar.

EXPLANATION:

How did the city of Ahmednagar first get its name?

Located in the Western region of Maharashtra, Ahmednagar has been a part of some prominent kingdoms, starting from 240 BC, when the vicinity is mentioned in the reference to the Mauryan Emperor Ashok.
In the Medieval period, the region was ruled over by the Rashtrakuta Dynasty, the Western Chalukyas, and then the Delhi
In the last case, the rule was not direct, and a revolt by Afghan soldier Alladin Hasan Gangu led to the establishment of the Bahmani kingdom in the Deccan. In the following years, Ahmednagar, then known as Nizamshahi, became one of the five independent kingdoms to emerge from that empire.
In 1486, Malik Ahmad Nizam Shah assumed the position of the Bahmani Sultanate’s prime minister. He successfully defeated the king of the Bahmani kingdom, who tried to dislodge him from power, in 1490.
Four years later, he laid the foundation of a city close to where he had defeated the army, on the left bank of Sina river. This city was named after him: Ahmednagar.
Nizam Shah also later captured the fort of Daulatabad and stationed his army there. By his kindness, peaceful demeanour & efficiency, he could win the loyalty of the local and foreign Muslims and also of the Maratha peasants and worriers. Since his origin was Hindu, he found no difficulty in winning over the confidence of Brahmins, who were highly regarded by the Hindus.
Jawaharlal Nehru, in his book A Discovery of India (1946), wrote of him, “Ahmad Nizam Shah, the founder of Ahmadnagar in 1490, was the son of Nizam-ul-Mulk Bhairi, a minister of the Bahmani kings. This Nizam-ul-Mulk was the son of a Brahmin accountant named Bhairu. Thus the Ahmednagar dynasty was of indigenous origin.”

Ahilyabai holkar:

Ahilyabai was born in Chondi village of Ahmednagar to the village head Mankoji Shinde, who ensured that his daughter received an education, which was quite rare at that time.
It is believed that Malhar Rao Holkar, the army commander to Peshwa Bajirao, spotted eight-year-old Ahilyabai at a temple service in Chondi. Impressed by her devotion and character, he decided to get his son, Khande Rao, married to her.
After her husband’s death in the Battle of Kumbher against the king of Bharatpur in 1754, Ahilyabai took control of Malwa.

Role in administration and temple-building

She excelled at administrative and military strategies under the guidance of her father-in-law, who believed she should lead her people, and not die by Sati after Khande Rao passed away. After the death of her father-in-law and son a few years later, she petitioned the Peshwa to become the ruler, backed by the support of her army.
In his book, Nehru said Holkar’s rule, which lasted for thirty years (1765-1795), was “almost legendary as a period during which perfect order and good government prevailed and the people prospered.
She was a very able ruler and organizer, highly respected during her lifetime.
Notably, her role in the restoration of Hindu temples is often talked about for instance ancient Somnath, the temple built by Holkar in 1783.

2. COMBINED MARITIME FORCES

TAGS: PRELIMS PERSPECTIVE

CONTEXT: The United Arab Emirates has withdrawn from a U.S.-led maritime coalition tasked with securing tense Gulf waterways that are vital to the global oil trade. The UAE “withdrew its participation” in the 38-nation Combined Maritime Forces two months ago, a Foreign Ministry statement said, without giving reasons for the move.

EXPLANATION:

The Combined Maritime Forces (CMF) is a multinational maritime partnership, which exists to uphold the Rules-Based International Order (RBIO) by countering illicit non-state actors on the high seas and promoting security, stability, and prosperity across approximately 3.2 million square miles of international waters, which encompass some of the world’s most important shipping lanes.
The Bahrain-headquartered CMF was established in 2001, initially as a partnership between 12 nations.
It is active in crucial but troubled Gulf waters where tankers have been seized and attacked in recent months.
CMF is commanded by a U.S. Navy Vice Admiral, who also serves as Commander US Naval Forces Central Command (NAVCENT) and US Navy Fifth Fleet. All four commands are co-located at US Naval Support Activity Bahrain.
CMF’s Deputy Commander is a United Kingdom Royal Navy Commodore. Other senior staff roles at CMF’s headquarters are filled by personnel from member nations.

CMF’s main focus areas:

CMF’s main focus areas are counter-narcotics, counter-smuggling, suppressing piracy, encouraging regional cooperation, and engaging with regional and other partners to strengthen relevant capabilities in order to improve overall security and stability, and promoting a safe maritime environment free from illicit non-state actors.
When requested, CMF assets at sea will also respond to environmental and humanitarian incidents.

CMF has four Combined Task Forces:

CTF 150 (Maritime Security Operations outside the Arabian Gulf)
CTF 151 (Counter-Piracy)
CTF 152 (Maritime Security Operations inside the Arabian Gulf)
CTF 153 (Red Sea Maritime Security)
CTF 154 (Maritime Security Training)

CMF has 37 member nations (Earlier 38 members including UAE)

Australia, Bahrain, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, Djibouti, Egypt, France, Germany, Greece, India, Iraq, Italy, Japan, Jordan, Kenya, Republic of Korea, Kuwait, Malaysia, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Oman, Pakistan, the Philippines, Portugal, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Seychelles, Singapore, Spain, Thailand, Türkiye, United Kingdom, United States, and Yemen.

How CMF works?

CMF nations are united in their desire to uphold the IRBO by protecting the free flow of commerce, improving maritime security, and deterring illicit activity by non-state actors in the CMF Area of Operations.
CMF is a coalition of the willing and does not proscribe a specific level of participation from any member nation. The contribution from each country, therefore, varies depending on its ability to contribute assets and the availability of those assets at any given time.
The 37 nations that comprise CMF are not bound by either a fixed political or military mandate.
CMF is a flexible organisation. Contributions can vary from the provision of a liaison officer at CMF HQ in Bahrain to the deployment of warships or maritime reconnaissance aircraft.
Participation is purely voluntary. No nation is asked to carry out any duty that it is unwilling to conduct. The contribution from each country varies depending on its ability to contribute assets and the availability of those assets at any given time.
The 34 nations that comprise CMF are not bound by either a political or military mandate.

3. NEURALINK

TAGS: GS 3: SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

CONTEXT: Since its founding in 2016, Elon Musk’s neurotechnology company Neuralink has had the ambitious mission to build a next-generation brain implant with at least 100-times more brain connections than devices currently approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

The company has now reached a significant milestone, having received FDA approval to begin human trials.

EXPLANATION:

Neuralink is making a Class III medical device known as a brain-computer interface (BCI).
The device connects the brain to an external computer via a Bluetooth signal, enabling continuous communication back and forth.
The device itself is a coin-sized unit called a Link. It’s implanted within a small disk-shaped cutout in the skull using a precision surgical robot. The robot splices a thousand tiny threads from the Link to certain neurons in the brain.
Each thread is about a quarter the diameter of a human hair.

Potential benefits

The company says the device could enable precise control of prosthetic limbs, giving amputees natural motor skills.
It could revolutionise treatment for conditions such as Parkinson’s disease, epilepsy, and spinal cord injuries.
It also shows some promise for potential treatment of obesity, autism, depression, schizophrenia and tinnitus.
It can be used to help older people train their motor and cognitive abilities to moderate the worst effects of ageing.

What were the FDA’s concerns?

The FDA had quite a list of issues that needed to be resolved before human trials could commence, as was reported in a Reuters investigation, which claimed to have spoken to several Neuralink sources.
A precision robot known as Implant/r1 performs the surgical procedure to implant the Neuralink BCI. This robot surgeon had to be put through its paces to gather evidence that it could reliably and safely implant and remove the Neuralink BCI without damaging surrounding brain tissue, or creating the risk of infection, bleeding, inflammation.
In particular, overheating lithium-ion batteries can pose great risk to users. When defective, such batteries have historically been known to overheat. They can even explode if the insulation between the cathode and anode (the metal electrode components) breaks down, resulting in a short circuit.
Then there is the risk of wire migration. The Link consists of a disk-shaped chip with very thin wire electrodes that connect to neurons in the brain.
Another challenge Neuralink faced was that of safe implant removal. The FDA wanted to know how easy or difficult it would be to remove the device from the brain if this became necessary.

U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA):

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is responsible for protecting the public health by assuring the safety, efficacy, and security of human and veterinary drugs, biological products, medical devices, our nation’s food supply, cosmetics, and products that emit radiation.
The FDA also provides accurate, science-based health information to the public.
FDA is also responsible for advancing the public health by accelerating innovations to make medicines more effective and providing the public with accurate, science-based information on medicines and food to improve their health.
FDA plays a significant role in addressing the Nation’s counterterrorism capability and ensuring the security of the food supply.

4. CITY INVESTMENTS TO INNOVATE, INTEGRATE AND SUSTAIN (CITIIS) PROJECT

TAGS: PRELIMS PERSPECTIVE

CONTEXT: The government approved the second phase of the City Investments to Innovate, Integrate and Sustain (CITIIS) project, a programme under the ambit of the Smart Cities Mission, which aims to promote integrated waste management and climate-oriented reform actions.

EXPLANATION:

The CITIIS 2.0 will be implemented in 18 cities which would be selected based on a competition.
The programme, aims to support competitively selected projects promoting circular economy with a focus on integrated waste management at the city level, climate-oriented reform actions at the state level, and institutional strengthening and knowledge dissemination at the national level.
It would span over a period of four years from 2023-2027 and has been conceived and would be implemented in partnership with the French Development Agency (AFD), Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau (KfW), the European Union (EU), and National Institute of Urban Affairs (NIUA).
The funding for CITIIS 2.0 would include a loan of Rs 1760 crore from AFD and KfW, split equally, and a technical assistance grant of Rs 106 crore from the European Union.
The CITIIS 2.0 has three major components which are financial and technical support for developing projects focused on building climate resilience, adaptation and mitigation in up to 18 smart cities, support to all states and Union Territories on a demand basis and interventions at all centre, state and city levels to further climate governance in urban India through institutional strengthening, knowledge dissemination and capacity building.
The design framework for CITIIS 2.0 is being conceptualized by AFD in consultation with SCM and MoHUA.

CITIIS(City Investments to Innovate, Integrate and Sustain)

It is a sub-component of the Government of India’s Smart Cities Mission.
The CITIIS program was launched on July 9, 2018.
It is a joint program of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, Agence Francaise de Development (AFD), the European Union (EU), and the National Institute of Urban Affairs (NIUA).
It was launched with projects in 12 cities namely Agartala, Amaravati, Amritsar, Bhubaneshwar, Chennai, Dehradun, Hubbali-Dharwad, Kochi, Puducherry, Surat, Ujjain and Visakhapatnam.
Each city receives financial assistance through a grant as well as technicalassistance from an international mentor and a domestic expert, besidesaccess to a pool of transversal experts.
CITIIS (Cities Investments to Innovate Integrate and Sustain) Challenge was launched in partnership with Agence Française de Développement (AFD) and European Union, to extend a loan of EUR 100 million for implementation of upto 15 innovative projects selected through an All-India Challenge in four sectors- sustainable mobility, public open spaces, urban governance & ICT and social and organizational innovation in low-income settlements.
The entire set of activities including organisation of preparatory Workshop, handholding of cities to enable submission of proposals by them, evaluation of proposals by the jury leading up to selection of 12 projects and signing of tripartite agreements with the concerned cities and States was completed in record time.
The selected projects will improve sustainable mobility, increase the amountof public open spaces, implement ICT measures to improve e-governance andintroduce social and organisational innovation in low-income settlements.

5. WORLD HEALTH ASSEMBLY APPROVES DRAFT RESOLUTION ON HEALTH ACTION PLAN FOR INDIGENOUS PEOPLE

TAGS: GS 2: INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

CONTEXT: Member states of the World Health Organization accepted a draft resolution that proposed developing a Global Plan of Action for the Health of Indigenous People during the World Health Assembly hosted on May 29, 2023. The plan will be up for consideration at the 79th World Health Assembly in 2026.

EXPLANATION:

The document stated that the global plan should be done in consultation with member states along “strategic lines of action for the improvement of the health of Indigenous Peoples in the development of the 14th World Health Organization General Programme of Work”.
The draft resolution was proposed by Australia, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Cuba, Ecuador, the European Union and its Member States, Guatemala, Mexico, New Zealand, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, the United States of America and Vanuatu.
This should be executed in consultation with indigenous peoples, with their free, prior and informed consent.
The resolution that was proposed noted that the “indigenous peoples are disproportionately subject to poverty, poor housing, cultural barriers, violence, including gender-based violence, racism, experiencing disability, pollution and lack of access to education, economic opportunities, social protection, water, and sanitation, as well as appropriate resilience planning for climate change and natural and other emergencies”.
The resolution put forward that the global plan be formulated “with a particular emphasis on the reproductive, maternal and adolescent health and with a specific focus on those in vulnerable situations, and bearing in mind local context”.
WHO’s 194 member states were urged to develop a collection of ethical data to identify specific requirements of indigenous people and fill in the gaps. They were also urged to have an intersectional approach to their politics that overcomes geographical barriers, digital connectivity, information availability, remoteness and disability.
Another approach proposed was to use evidence-based traditional medicine, along with medical services offered at the primary healthcare level, which also includes mental health and wellness serives.

Status of Indigenous people:

According to the United Nations, The world presently has 476 million indigenous people across the world in about 90 countries.
They speak 7,000 languages and come from 500 different cultures.
They are marginalised individuals without access to basic infrastructure and oftentimes cannot claim titles over their land and surrounding natural resources.
The life expectancy of indigenous people is 20 years lower than that of an average person.

United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues

The United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues established in 2000.
The Permanent Forum is an advisory body to the Economic and Social Council established by resolution 2000/22 on 28 July 2000.
The Forum has the mandate to discuss indigenous issues related to economic and social development, culture, the environment, education, health and human rights.

World Health Assembly:

The World Health Assembly is the decision-making body of WHO.
It is attended by delegations from all WHO Member States and focuses on a specific health agenda prepared by the Executive Board.
The main functions of the World Health Assembly are to determine the policies of the Organization, appoint the Director-General, supervise financial policies, and review and approve the proposed programme budget.
The Health Assembly is held annually in Geneva, Switzerland.

TOP 5 TAKKAR NEWS OF THE DAY (29th MAY 2023)

1. OVERTURNING CIRCULATION

TAG: GS 1: GEOGRAPHY

CONTEXT: Antarctica sets the stage for the world’s greatest waterfall. The action takes place beneath the surface of the ocean. Here, trillions of tonnes of cold, dense, oxygen-rich water cascade off the continental shelf and sink to great depths. This Antarctic “bottom water” then spreads north along the sea floor in deep ocean currents, before slowly rising, thousands of kilometres away. Antarctica drives a global network of ocean currents called the “overturning circulation” that redistributes heat, carbon and nutrients around the globe.

EXPLANATION:

What is Overturning circulation?

The ocean’s water is constantly circulated by currents.
Tidal currents occur close to shore and are influenced by the sun and moon. Surface currents are influenced by the wind. However, other, much slower currents that occur from the surface to the seafloor are driven by changes in the saltiness and ocean temperature.
The overturning is crucial to keep the earth’s climate stable.
It is also the main way oxygen reaches the deep ocean.

Effects of overturning circulation:

Melting of Antarctic ice is disrupting the formation of Antarctic bottom water. As the flow of bottom water slows, the supply of oxygen to the deep ocean declines. The shrinking oxygen-rich bottom water layer is then replaced by warmer waters that are lower in oxygen, further reducing oxygen levels.
Ocean animals, large and small, respond to even small changes in oxygen. Deep-ocean animals are adapted to low oxygen conditions but still have to breathe. Losses of oxygen may cause them to seek refuge in other regions or adapt their behaviour.
Slowdown of the overturning may also intensify global warming. The overturning circulation carries carbon dioxide and heat to the deep ocean, where it is stored and hidden from the atmosphere. As the ocean storage capacity is reduced, more carbon dioxide and heat are left in the atmosphere. This feedback accelerates global warming.
Reductions in the amount of Antarctic bottom water reaching the ocean floor also increases sea levels because the warmer water that replaces it takes up more space (thermal expansion).

How is this happening?

Overturning circulation has slowed by almost a third (30%) and deep ocean oxygen levels are declining.
This slowdown has the potential to disrupt the connection between the Antarctic coasts and the deep ocean.
Melting of Antarctic ice is disrupting the formation of Antarctic bottom water. The meltwater makes Antarctic surface waters fresher, less dense, and therefore less likely to sink. This puts the brakes on the overturning circulation.

How was it measured?

The full-depth measurements collected by ships provide snapshots of ocean density but are usually repeated about once a decade.
Moored instruments, on the other hand, provide continuous measurements of density and speed, but only for a limited time at a particular location.
A new approach that combines ship data, mooring records, and a high resolution numerical simulation to calculate the strength of Antarctic bottom water flow and how much oxygen it transports to the deep ocean.

Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC):

The AMOC circulates water from north to south and back in a long cycle within the Atlantic Ocean. This circulation brings warmth to various parts of the globe and also carries nutrients necessary to sustain ocean life.
The circulation process begins as warm water near the surface moves toward the poles (such as the Gulf Stream in the North Atlantic), where it cools and forms sea ice. As this ice forms, salt is left behind in the ocean water.
Due to the large amount of salt in the water, it becomes denser, sinks down, and is carried southwards in the depths below. Eventually, the water gets pulled back up towards the surface and warms up in a process called upwelling, completing the cycle.
The entire circulation cycle of the AMOC, and the global conveyor belt, is quite slow. It takes an estimated 1,000 years for a parcel (any given cubic meter) of water to complete its journey along the belt.
Even though the whole process is slow on its own, there is some evidence that the AMOC is slowing down further. NOAA funds research to better understand this potential slowing, as well as to investigate the AMOC’s role in coastal sea level changes and its relationship to extreme events.

2. CHEETAH

TAG: GS 3: ENVIRONMENT AND ECOLOGY

CONTEXT: Almost 70 years after the Asiatic cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus venaticus) went extinct in India, eight cheetahs from Namibia and 12 from South Africa were introduced into the Kuno National Park in Madhya Pradesh in September 2022 and February 2023, respectively. The intent was to establish a free-ranging population of cheetahs belonging to the subspecies, Acinonyx jubatus. Recent Study states that Cheetahs introduced without considering spatial ecology. Ideally, just one cheetah is present in 100 sq. km. of an unfenced area, whereas the density of Cheetahs in the Kuno national park stands at three per 100 sq. km.

EXPLANATION:

Cheetahs fulfil a unique ecological role within the carnivore hierarchy and their restoration is expected to enhance ecosystem health in India.
As a charismatic species, the cheetah can also benefit India’s broader conservation goals by improving general protection and ecotourism in areas that have been previously neglected.

Project Cheetah:

The Union environment ministry’s National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) implements Project Cheetah.
The project hopes to benefit global cheetah conservation efforts by providing up to 100 000 km2 of habitat in legally protected areas and an additional 600 000 km2 of habitable landscape for the species.

Body characteristics:

The cheetah is a sexually dimorphic species though it is difficult to identify cheetahs’ sex by appearance alone. Male cheetahs are slightly bigger than females and they have larger heads, but they do not display the same degree of physical difference between the sexes of other big cat species like lions.
Cheetahs have a thin frame with a narrow waist and deep chest. They have large nostrils that allow for increased oxygen intake. Cheetahs have a large lungs and hearts connected to a circulatory system with strong arteries and adrenals that work in tandem to circulate oxygen through their blood very efficiently.
With its long legs and very slender body, the cheetah is quite different from all other cats and is the only member of its genus, Acinonyx. The cheetah’s unique morphology and physiology allow it to attain the extreme speeds for which it’s famous.
The gestation (pregnancy) period for the cheetah is 93 days, and litters range in size from one or two up to six cubs (the occasional litter of eight cubs has been recorded, but it is rare).
Cheetahs prey includes: gazelles (especially Thomson’s gazelles), impalas and other small to medium-sized antelopes, hares, birds, and rodents. Cheetahs will also prey on the calves of larger herd animals.

Species of Cheetah:

Widely regarded as the fastest animal on land, cheetahs are divided into four subspecies; the Southeast African cheetah, the Northeast African cheetah, the Northwest African cheetah, and the rare Asiatic cheetah.

Asiatic and African cheetah:

The Asiatic cheetah is slightly smaller and slender than the African cheetah. The neck is much smaller and longer.
The Asiatic cheetah has a buff to light fawn color bordering on pale yellow skin, and it has more fur on the body, especially under the belly and the back of the neck. The African cheetah has a light brown to golden brown fur color that is thicker than the Asiatic ones. The spots are more pronounced on the face and are more densely distributed on the body compared to Asiatic cheetahs.

African cheetah Asiatic cheetah

Asiatic Cheetahs are only found in a small region between Iran and Pakistan. Asiatic cheetahs once roamed the whole expanse of the central Asian continent from India to Afghanistan and Pakistan, but with their numbers reduced, it is hard for them to be sighted outside Iran. On the other hand, The African cheetah is spread out across Africa from Northwest Africa, East Africa, and Southern Africa. With a bigger territory, the African cheetahs have the highest populations compared to their Asiatic counterparts.
Asiatic cheetah has been listed as Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red while African cheetahs are listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List.

Most of the reasons for the cheetah’s endangerment can be grouped into three overarching categories:

human-wildlife conflict,
loss of habitat and loss of prey,
poaching and illegal wildlife trafficking, with cubs being taken from the Horn of Africa and smuggled into the exotic pet trade, primarily in the Gulf States.

3. GRAVITATIONAL WAVES

TAGS: GS 3: SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

CONTEXT: Since time immemorial, humans have looked up at the universe and pondered its secrets. In the past few centuries, many of these secrets have started to unravel. One such mystery we began to pry apart very recently is the gravitational wave. Gravitational waves are ripples in space-time produced by some of the most intense phenomena in our universe.

EXPLANATION:

A century ago, Albert Einstein hypothesized the existence of gravitational waves, small ripples in space-time that dash across the universe at the speed of light.
But scientists have been able to find only indirect evidence of their existence.
Recently, a news conference called by the U.S. National Science Foundation, researchers announced at long last direct observations of the elusive waves.
The discovery would represent a scientific landmark, opening the door to an entirely new way to observe the cosmos and unlock secrets about the early universe and mysterious objects like black holes and neutron stars.

What are gravitational waves?

Gravitational waves are small ripples in space-time that are believed to travel across the universe at the speed of light.
These waves contain information about the events that emitted them, so studying them can give scientists a glimpse of distant cosmic affairs.

What does Einstein say about gravity?

In 1915, Albert Einstein’s theory of relativity predicted the existence of gravitational waves.
According to this theory, celestial objects such as black holes and neutron stars could send gravitational energy thrumming through the fabric of space-time in every direction, moving off at the speed of light.
While Sir Isaac Newton visualised gravitational force as a pulling force between objects, Albert Einstein opined it to be a pushing force due to the curvature of four dimensional spacetime fabric.

How are these waves detected?

Scientists have been trying to detect them using two large laser instruments in the United States, known together as the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO), as well as another in Italy.
The twin LIGO installations are located roughly 3,000 km apart in Livingston, Louisiana, and Hanford, Washington. Having two detectors is a way to sift out terrestrial rumblings, such as traffic and earthquakes, from the faint ripples of space itself.
The LIGO work is funded by the National Science Foundation, an independent agency of the U.S. government.

What is Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatories (LIGO)?

The Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory is a large-scale physics experiment aiming to directly detect gravitational waves.
They directly observed gravitational waves for the first time in 2015, proving Einstein’s theory.
LIGO operates two gravitational wave observatories in unison: the LIGO Livingston Observatory in Livingston, Louisiana, and the LIGO Hanford Observatory, on the DOE Hanford Site, located near Richland, Washington.
These sites are separated by 3,002 kilometers. Since gravitational waves are expected to travel at the speed of light, this distance corresponds to a difference in gravitational wave arrival times of up to ten milliseconds. A third LIGO will be built in India this decade.

Why is the study important?

Discovery of gravitational waves would represent a scientific landmark, opening the door to an entirely new way to observe the cosmos and unlock secrets about the early universe and mysterious objects like black holes and neutron stars.

4. GENETICALLY MODIFIED CROPS

TAG: GS 3: ENVIRONMENT; GS 3: SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

CONTEXT: Genetically modified crops remains controversial, especially in Europe, but for some experts it is the best science-based method for a sustainable global food system amidst biodiversity loss and a rising population. According to the online scientific publication Our World in Data, agriculture is responsible for a quarter of the carbon emissions in the atmosphere and the vast majority of world’s biodiversity losses.

EXPLANATION:

Genetically modified organisms (GMOs)

Genetically modified organisms (GMOs) can be defined as organisms i.e. plants, animals or microorganisms in which the genetic material (DNA) has been altered in a way that does not occur naturally by mating and/or natural recombination.
The technology is often called “modern biotechnology” or “gene technology”, sometimes also “recombinant DNA technology” or “genetic engineering”.
It allows selected individual genes to be transferred from one organism into another, also between nonrelated species.
GMOs were first introduced in the US in 1994, with modified tomato plants that ripened more slowly to prolong their shelf life. Since then, a wide range of crops, such as soybeans, wheat and rice have been approved for agricultural use, along with GM bacteria grown to produce large amounts of protein.
Scientists in India have also developed strains of Sub-1 rice, which are much more resistant to flooding. Flooding is a major issue in rice-growing regions of northern India and Bangladesh, set to become worse as the climate crises develops, and now 6 million farmers in the region are using Sub-1 rice to safeguard their crops against inundation.
Golden rice, on the other hand, is a GM strain modified to contain vitamin A, designed to combat the shortage of dietary vitamin A in parts of Asia and Africa.

GM Crops:

Crops produced from or using GM organisms are often referred to as GM crops.
Genetically modified crops can improve yield, build resistances to pests, frost or drought, or add nutrients.
Crops can also be modified to reduce carbon emissions and boost the sustainability of food production.
While widespread, GM crop productionuses only about 10% of the land non-GM crop production uses.

Benefits:

GM crops are developed and marketed because there is some perceived advantage either to the producer or consumer of these foods. This is meant to translate into a product with a lower price, greater benefit (in terms of durability or nutritional value) or both.
One of the objectives for developing plants based on GM organisms is to improve crop protection. The GM crops currently on the market are mainly aimed at an increased level of crop protection through the introduction of resistance against plant diseases caused by insects or viruses or through increased tolerance towards herbicides.
Resistance against insects is achieved by incorporating into the food plant the gene for toxin production from the bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt). This toxin is currently used as a conventional insecticide in agriculture and is safe for human consumption.
Herbicide tolerance is achieved through the introduction of a gene from a bacterium conveying resistance to some herbicides. In situations where weed pressure is high, the use of such crops has resulted in a reduction in the quantity of the herbicides used.

What are the main issues of concern for human health?

Allergenicity: As a matter of principle, the transfer of genes from commonly allergenic organisms to non-allergic organisms is discouraged unless it can be demonstrated that the protein product of the transferred gene is not allergenic.
Gene transfer: Gene transfer from GM foods to cells of the body or to bacteria in the gastrointestinal tract would cause concern if the transferred genetic material adversely affects human health.
Outcrossing: The migration of genes from GM plants into conventional crops or related species in the wild (referred to as “outcrossing”), as well as the mixing of crops derived from conventional seeds with GM crops, may have an indirect effect on food safety and food security.

5. IRON FORTIFICATION: HEALTH RISKS OF EXCESSIVE IRON INTAKE

TAG: PRELIMS PERSPECTIVE

CONTEXT: Iron is an essential mineral required for many bodily functions, including the formation of hemoglobin, but can be harmful when taken in excess. The net effect of iron provision through fortification on haemoglobin formation is likely to be lower than thought.

EXPLANATION:

It is used for the treatment of iron deficiency or anemia.
Typically, a chosen food staple like wheat or rice or even salt is fortified to provide up to two thirds (10 mg/day) of the iron requirement of adult women, and almost the entire daily requirement of men.

How excess consumption occurs:

Excess consumption of iron can occur if one habitually consumes a balanced quality diet to begin with or exceeds limits for consumption of the fortified food as can occur with staples like rice or wheat or if two fortified foods are simultaneously consumed.
When combined with additional iron supplemental interventions like weekly iron folic acid supplements (such as in the National Iron Plus Initiative programme), this can lead to an excess of iron intake for women. There is a defined level of iron intake beyond which the risk of adverse events begins to increase. This is called the ‘tolerable upper limit’ of intake, and is set at 40 mg/day.
Once iron is absorbed, it is thought that its excretion is steady and very small, except when bleeding takes place, as with menstrual bleeding. Thus, women can ‘excrete’ iron from the body, but men cannot, unless they have some form of pathological or abnormal bleeding. This makes men particularly vulnerable to excess iron intake.

Negative consequences of excess iron:

Unabsorbed iron can lead to inflammation in the gastrointestinal lining and disrupt the colonic microbiota with long term consequences.
This irritation of the lining may present itself clinically as abdominal cramps, constipation, or diarrhoea.
The irritation of mucosa can also lead to gastrointestinal blood loss.
An excess of iron in the gastrointestinal tract can impair absorption of other minerals such as zinc and copper, which are also essential for the body and lead to other deficiencies.
Excess iron has been closely linked to many chronic comorbidities like diabetes.

It can be especially deleterious for populations who have iron overload states like patients with thalassemia and other hemolytic anemias, hemochromatosis, and chronic liver disease, which have impaired iron excretion mechanisms.

TOP 5 TAKKAR NEWS OF THE DAY (27th MAY 2023)

1. INDEPENDENCE OF JUDICIARY

TAGS: GS 2: JUDICIARY

THE CONTEXT: The Supreme Court has held that the independence of district judiciary is part of the basic structure of the Constitution and judicial independence from the executive and the legislature requires the judiciary to have a say in matters of finances.

EXPLANATION:

In India, there is a parliamentary form of government which do not make a clear demarcation between legislature and executive but maintain a clear distinction between them and the judiciary.
The Indian Constitution specifically directs the state to separate the judiciary from the executive in the public services of the State.
As such Indian constitution does not explicitly states the independence of the judiciary but in keshavanada Bharti’s case this is considered a part of the Basic Structure of the Indian constitution.
Rule of law and independence of the judiciary is the basic feature of the constitution, and one cannot separate them even not through a constitutional amendment.

Cases where the principle of independence of the judiciary is laid down:

In the case of Supreme court Advocate on Record Association and other vs Union of India

(1993), the court observe that the independence of the judiciary is important to have efficient democracy and could able to function in a good way. And stated that the powers and rights of the legislature and executive should not hamper the functioning of the judiciary.

In the case of SP Gupta vs Union of India (1982), the court held the judges who are sitting to uphold the law must be working in a fearless way which is the basic feature of the independence of the judiciary.

The Supreme Court

The Supreme Court of India comprises the chief justice and thirty other judges.
These judges are appointed by the President of India after consultation with judges of the supreme court and of the high courts of the state.
For the appointment of judges, the chief justice is the person who is consulted.
The retirement period for judges starts after 65 years of age. They can be removed earlier also the process of removal can be possible on the grounds of misconduct or incapacity of the Judge by the order of the president with a special majority in the Parliament.
Administrative expenses of the court such as salaries and pensions of the judges and other staff are taken from the consolidated fund of India and can be altered by the Parliament.

The High courts

The constitution provides for a High Court for each State, though Parliament is also authorized to establish a common High Court for two or more States or two or more States and a Union Territory.
High court judges are appointed by President after consultation with the chief justice of India, the governor of the state and the chief justice of the high court.
The high court judges can function till the age of 62. They hold this tenure on basis of good behaviour and can be removed in the same manner in which the Supreme Court Judge can be removed.
The salaries and pensions of high court judges are mentioned in the Constitution and can be altered by Parliament. High court judges may be transferred from one high court to another.
The high court has original and appellate jurisdiction and can issue writs if fundamental rights are violated. Same to the Supreme Court.
The administrative expenses like salaries, and pensions of judges of the high court are taken from the consolidated fund of the Indian state.

District Court:

The Governor of the state in consultation with the high court appoints District Court Judge.
Only a person who is either already in the legal service of the Union or of the State or has been an advocate for at least seven years and is recommended by the High Court can be appointed a district judge.
These courts dispense justice at the district level. These courts are under the control of high courts present in the states.
Decision by District Court is subject to appeal and the appeal went to the high court. The control of the District Court and courts below it, like the position and promotion of judges vested in the hands of the high court. The Governor of a State may apply these provisions even to the magistrates in that State.[18]
Article 233[19] of the constitution deals with the appointment of district judges.

Basic Structure of Constitution:

In 1973, a 13-judge Constitution Bench ruled in Kesavananda Bharati v. State of Kerala that Article 368 of the Constitution does not enable Parliament to amend the basic framework of the document.
The historic ruling came to be known as the “basic structure” doctrine a judicial principle that the Constitution has certain basic features that cannot be altered or destroyed by amendments by Parliament.
Over the years, various facets of the basic structure doctrine have evolved, forming the basis for judicial review of Constitutional amendments.

Kesavananda judgement listed some basic structures of the constitution as:

Supremacy of the Constitution
Unity and sovereignty of India
Democratic and republican form of government
Federal character of the Constitution
Secular character of the Constitution
Separation of power
Individual freedom

Over time, many other features have also been added to this list of basic structural features. Some of them are:

Rule of law
Judicial review
Parliamentary system
Rule of equality
Harmony and balance between the Fundamental Rights and DPSP
Free and fair elections
Limited power of the parliament to amend the Constitution
Power of the Supreme Court of India under Articles 32, 136, 142 and 147
Power of the High Court under Articles 226 and 227

2. X-RAY POLARIMETER SATELLITE (XPoSat) MISSION

TAGS: GS 3: SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

THE CONTEXT: The Indian Space Research Organisation is collaborating with the Raman Research Institute (RRI), Bengaluru, an autonomous research institute, to build the X-Ray Polarimeter Satellite (XPoSat)

EXPLANATION:

What is the XPoSat mission?

It is India’s first, and only the world’s second polarimetry mission that is meant to study various dynamics of bright astronomical X-ray sources in extreme conditions.
By measuring the polarisation of these X-rays, it can be studied where the light came from and understand the geometry and inner workings of the light source.

XPoSat’s payloads:

The spacecraft will carry two scientific payloads in a low earth orbit.
POLIX (Polarimeter Instrument in X-rays)
It is primary payload and it will measure the polarimetry parameters i.e degree and angle of polarization in medium X-ray energy range of 8-30 keV photons of astronomical origin.
The payload is being developed by RRI in collaboration with ISRO’s U R Rao Satellite Centre (URSC) in Bengaluru.
POLIX is expected to observe about 40 bright astronomical sources of different categories during the planned lifetime of XPoSat mission of about 5 years. This is the first payload in the medium X-ray energy band dedicated for polarimetry measurements.
XSPECT (X-ray Spectroscopy and Timing) payload
It is secondary payload and it will give spectroscopic information on how light is absorbed and emitted by objects) in the energy range of 0.8-15 keV.
It would observe several types of sources, such as X-ray pulsars, blackhole binaries, low-magnetic field neutron star, etc.

Aims of the mission:

The emission mechanism from various astronomical sources such as blackhole, neutron stars, active galactic nuclei, pulsar wind nebulae etc. originates from complex physical processes and are challenging to understand.
While the spectroscopic and timing information by various space based observatories provide a wealth of information, the exact nature of the emission from such sources still poses deeper challenges to astronomers.
The polarimetry measurements add two more dimension to our understanding, the degree of polarization and the angle of polarization and thus is an excellent diagnostic tool to understand the emission processes from astronomical sources.
The polarimetric observations along with spectroscopic measurements are expected to break the degeneracy of various theoretical models of astronomical emission processes. This would be the major direction of research from XPoSat by Indian science community.

NASA’s Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE):

The other such major mission is NASA’s Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) that was launched in 2021.
IXPE carries three state-of-the-art space telescopes. Each of the three identical telescopes hosts one light-weight X-ray mirror and one detector unit.
These will help observe polarized X-rays from neutron stars and supermassive black holes.

How are X-Rays witnessed in space?

X-rays have much higher energy and much shorter wavelengths, between 0.03 and 3 nanometers, so small that some x-rays are no bigger than a single atom of many elements.
The physical temperature of an object determines the wavelength of the radiation it emits.
The hotter the object, the shorter the wavelength of peak emission.
X-rays come from objects that are millions of degrees Celsius such as pulsars, galactic supernova remnants, and black holes.
Like all forms of light, X-rays consist of moving electric and magnetic waves.
Usually, peaks and valleys of these waves move in random directions. Polarised light is more organised with two types of waves vibrating in the same direction. It adds that fishermen use polarised lenses to reduce glare from sunlight when they are near water.
The field of polarimetry studies the measurement of the angle of rotation of the plane of polarised light that is, a beam of light in which the vibrations of the electromagnetic waves are confined to one plane that results upon its passage through certain transparent materials.

3. ORGANIC PRODUCT CERTIFICATION IN INDIA

TAGS: PRELIMS PERSPECTIVE

THE CONTEXT: A European Union (EU) audit has found “many weaknesses” in the certification of Indian organic products for exports to the EU, including farmers who are part of organic producer groups (PGs) knowing nothing about organic farming. An audit, carried out by the EU’s DG Health and Food Safety during November 14-25 in 2022, found the weaknesses in the supervision and implementation of the controls at various levels.

EXPLANATION:

Two types of organic certifications systems have been developed for quality assurance of organic products in country:

Third Party Certification by Accredited Certification Agency under National Programme for Organic Production (NPOP) under Ministry of Commerce and Industry for development of export market.
Participatory Guarantee System (PGS-India) under Ministry of Agriculture and farmers Welfare for meeting the demand of domestic market.

National Programme for Organic Production (NPOP):

NPOP was launched during 2001 by the Government of India under Ministry of Commerce and Industry.
The Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA), under Ministry of Commerce & Industries, Government of India is implementing the National Programme for Organic Production (NPOP).
The programme involves the accreditation of Certification Bodies, standards for organic production, promotion of organic farming and marketing etc.
NPOP is third party certification programme where the production and handling of activities at all stages such as production, processing, trading and export requirements for organic products is covered. Also, the system for grading and quality control of organic products is equivalent to conventional products.
It also ensures that the system effectively works and is monitored on regular basis.
The NPOP standards for production and accreditation system have been recognized by European Commission and Switzerland for unprocessed plant products as equivalent to their country standards.
With these recognitions, Indian organic products duly certified by the accredited certification bodies of India are accepted by the importing countries.

PGS-India programme

Under PGS-India programme, Government is implementing Participatory Guarantee System of India (PGS-India) as a quality assurance initiative for certification of organic produce that is locally relevant, emphasizing the participation of stakeholders, including producers or farmers and consumers and operate outside the frame of third-party certification.
In the operation of PGS-India, stakeholders including farmers or producers are involved in decision making and essential decisions about the operation of the PGS-India certification itself by assessing, inspecting and verifying the production practices of each other and collectively declare produce as organic.
Food Safety Regulation has made it mandatory for organic products to be certified under NPOP or PGS for being sold in the domestic market under Jaivik Bharat logo.
To ensure end-to-end traceability as per the requirements of regulatory framework under Food Safety Standard (FSS [Organic Foods] Regulation 2017, PGS-India programme also provides uninterrupted chain of custody, starting from producer groups till the products are processed and finally packed into retail packs.

4. GLOBAL ALLIANCE OF NATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS INSTITUTIONS (GANHRI)

TAGS: PRELIMS PERSPECTIVE

THE CONTEXT: For the second time in a decade, the U.N.-recognised Global Alliance of National Human Rights Institutions (GANHRI) deferred the accreditation of National Human Rights Commission, India (NHRC-India) citing objections like political interference in appointments, involving the police in probes into human rights violations, and poor cooperation with civil society.

EXPLANATION:

As reported, GANHRI’s letter to the NHRC cited lack of diversity in staff and leadership, and insufficient action to protect marginalised groups, as reasons for the deferment of the accreditation.
This came two months after seven human rights watchers/institutions wrote to GANHRI objecting to NHRC India’s ‘A’ rank.
They also raised concerns regarding the commission’s lack of independence, pluralism, diversity and accountability that are contrary to the U.N.’s principles on the status of national institutions the ‘Paris Principles’.

Paris Principles:

The United Nations Paris Principles, adopted in 1993 by the U.N. General Assembly, provide the international benchmarks against which National Human Rights Institutions (NHRI) can be accredited.
The Paris Principles set out six main criteria that NHRIs are required to meet. These are: mandate and competence; autonomy from government; independence guaranteed by a statute or Constitution; pluralism; adequate resources; and adequate powers of investigation.

Global Alliance of National Human Rights Institutions (GANHRI)

At the International Conference held in Tunis in 1993, NHRIs established the International Coordinating Committee of NHRIs (ICC) with the aim to coordinate the activities of the NHRI network. In 2016, the ICC changed its name into Global Alliance of National Human Rights Institutions (GANHRI).
It is a representative body of national human rights institutions from all parts of the globe.
The organisation is incorporated as a non-profit organisation under Swiss law. Its Statute, adopted in March 2009, sets out its objectives and how it operates.
Its aim is to assist in establishing and strengthening independent and effective NHRIs, which meet the international standards set out in the Paris Principles.
The positions of GANHRI Chairperson and Secretary are served on a rotational basis by representatives nominated by the four regional coordinating committees: Europe, Africa, the Americas and the Asia Pacific.
The National Institutions and Regional Mechanisms Unit of OHCHR acts as GANHRI secretariat.
GANHRI has a permanent representative in Geneva to support and facilitate the participation of NHRIs in the UN Human Rights Council and its human rights mechanisms.
GANHRI encourages joint activities and cooperation among NHRIs; organises international conferences; liaises with the United Nations and other international organisations; assists NHRIs under threat; and, where requested, assists governments to establish NHRIs.
The operations of GANHRI are managed by its Bureau, which is comprised of representatives from each of the four regional groupings: Africa, Americas, Europe and the Asia Pacific.
Each regional grouping is represented by elected representatives from four ‘A status’ NHRIs.
A key role of the Bureau is to assess applications for membership of the ICC. It also reviews and determines the accreditation status of NHRIs, following a recommendation from the Sub-Committee on Accreditation.
In addition, the Bureau collaborates with the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), in particular the National Institutions and Regional Mechanisms Unit, to facilitate the participation of NHRIs in the United Nations Human Rights Council.
Bureau meetings are usually held twice a year; the first in conjunction with the first quarter session of the UN Human Rights Council and the second in conjunction with one of the NHRI regional network’s meetings.
The GANHRI consists of sixteen, ‘A’ status NHRIs, four from each region, namely, the Americas, Europe, Africa, and the Asia-Pacific. ‘A’ status accreditation also grants participation in the work and decision-making of the GANHRI, as well as the work of the Human Rights Council and other U.N. mechanisms.
The NHRC-India has been set up under the Protection of Human Rights Act passed by Parliament in 1993. It has been accredited as an ‘A’ Status NHRI since the beginning of the accreditation process for NHRIs in 1999, which it retained in 2006, 2011, and in 2017 also after a deferment.
NHRC-India said that the GANHRI, through the Sub-Committee on Accreditation (SCA) is responsible for reviewing and accrediting NHRIs in compliance with the Paris Principles every five years. As part of this process, the review of the NHRC-India was due in March 2023 for its reaccreditation, which has been deferred for a year, meaning thereby no final decision has been taken as yet.

National Human Rights Commission:

National Human Rights Commission is a public body which is constituted in 1993 after a thorough assessment of needs for establishing such bodies in order to address the human rights related issues and by keeping in consideration the ways and measures to apply for their protection.
It was given complete statutory basis by The Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993 (TPHRA).

Composition of NHRC:

A Chairperson who is a retired Chief Justice of India
One Member who is or has been a Judge of the Supreme Court
One Member who is or has been the Chief Justice of a High Court
Two persons having knowledge or practical experience in matters relating to Human Rights.
The President appoints the chairperson and the members of National Human Rights Commission, for which a committee nominates the names. This committee consists of Chairperson, the Prime Minister and the members including Home Minister, Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha, Leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha, Speaker and the Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman.
Further in addition to this, the Chairperson of the National Commission for Minorities, the National Commission for the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes and the National Commission for Women are deemed to be members of the National Human Rights Commission for the discharge of specific functions laid down.

Functions of NHRC:

Inquire, on its own initiative or on a petition presented to it by a victim or any person on his behalf, into complaint of Violation of human rights or abetment or negligence in the prevention of such violation, by a public servant
Intervene in any proceeding involving any allegation of violation of human rights pending before a court with the approval of such court
Review the safeguards by or under the Constitution or any law for the time being in force for the protection of human rights and recommend measures for their effective implementation
Review the factors, including acts of terrorism that inhibit the enjoyment of human rights and further recommend appropriate remedial measures on the same
Study treaties and other international instruments on human rights and make recommendations for their effective implementation
Spread human rights literacy among various sections of society and promote awareness of the safeguards available for the protection of these rights through publications, the media, seminars and other available means
Encourage the efforts of non – Governmental organizations and institutions working in the field of human rights
Undertake and promote research in the field of human rights
Other functions considered necessary for promotion of human rights

5. OPEN RADIO ACCESS NETWORKS

TAGS: PRELIMS PERSPECTIVE

THE CONTEXT: The Quad leaders, at their Summit in Hiroshima made a significant announcement to strengthen security architecture for open Radio Access Networks or RAN beginning with Palau in the Pacific Region.

EXPLANATION:

Open Radio Access Networks (RAN) is a new approach to building mobile networks that are needed to connect smartphones and devices to the internet and other users.
An Open Radio Access Network (ORAN) is a nonproprietary version of the Radio Access Network (RAN) system that allows interoperation between cellular network equipment provided by different vendors.

How is it better than RAN?

In the traditional set-up, Radio Access Network is provided as an integrated platform of both hardware and software. Therefore, it is difficult to mix vendors for the radio and baseband unit, and in most cases, they come from the same supplier.
The idea of Open RAN is to change this and enable operators to mix and match components. It goes a step further by opening the interfaces inside the base station. The Open RAN architecture allows for the separation or disaggregation between hardware and software with open interfaces.
RAN has been based on proprietary technologies of original equipment makers such as Ericsson, Nokia, etc. With Open RAN, telecom players would have the flexibility to use in-house solutions or solutions from multiple vendors for RAN services.
This would allow telecom operators to look beyond traditional vendors, thus creating opportunities for lesser-known vendors from abroad as well as from home to be part of the growing 5G ecosystem, based on their innovation competence.
Network flexibility is another advantage of the Open RAN architecture. Being software-centric, it is scalable, agile and best of networks with improved network performance using artificial intelligence and machine learning.

How it works?

Open Radio Access Network or Open RAN is a key part of a mobile network system that uses cellular radio connections to link individual devices to other parts of a network.
It comprises antennae which transmits and receives signals to and from our smartphones or other compatible devices.
The signal is then digitised in the RAN-base station and connected to the network.

Issues:

Latency issues
operations and maintenance
servicing and maintaining a multi-vendor architecture

TOP 5 TAKKAR NEWS OF THE DAY (25th MAY 2023)

1. ‘SENGOL’ TO BE INSTALLED IN THE NEW PARLIAMENT

TAGS: GS 1: ART AND CULTURE

THE CONTEXT: Prime Minister will install the ‘Sengol’, a historical sceptre from Tamil Nadu, in the new Parliament building which is scheduled to be inaugurated in May, 2023. The ‘Sengol’ was received by Independent India’s first Prime Minister from Lord Mountbatten to symbolically represent the transfer of power from the British and was later kept in a museum in Allahabad.

EXPLANATION:

Background:

Rajagopalachari suggested that Ceremony that should be followed to symbolise the transfer of power from British to Indian hands should follow Chola model where the transfer of power from one king to another was sanctified and blessed by a high ruler.
The symbol used was the handover of ‘sengol’ or sceptre from one king to his successor.
It was the head of ancient Shaivite math Thiruvavaduthurai Aadeenam math that presented the Sengol to Indian Prime Minister in 1947.
A golden sceptre was crafted by Vummidi Bangaru Chetty, a famous jeweller in the Madras Presidency.

Highlights of inauguration of new Parliament building:

A group of musicians playing Tamil Nadu’s traditional instrument, the Nadaswaram, would lead the procession.
Additionally, “Adheenams,” or priests from Shaivite mutts in Tamil Nadu, will be present in the Lok Sabha’s Well.
The “Oduvars,” or Tamil temple singers, will lyrically recite the “Kolaru Padhigam” in the background as the Nadaswaram musicians enchant with their soulful music.
The Sengol will be presented to the prime minister after this revered ceremony and placed in a glass case next to the Speaker’s seat in the House.

Sengol and its significance:

It is derived from the Tamil word “Semmai”, meaning “Righteousness”.
The sceptre measures five feet in length and has a ‘Nandi’ bull on top, symbolising justice.
“Tamil kings had this sengol (a Tamil word for sceptre), which is a symbol of justice and good governance.
The two great epics Silapathikaram and Manimekalai records the significance of a sengo

Oduvars or Tamil temple singers:

The tradition of Oduvars is over 1,000 years old and the King Raja Raja Chola I set up grants for their services at temples.
Rituals in Saivaite temples are considered incomplete without their singing Thirumuraigal: Thevaram and Thiruvachagam.

Nadaswaram

Nadaswaram, sometimes known as nagaswaram, nadhaswaram, or nathaswaram is a prominent South Indian classical musical instrument resembling the western oboe.
The Nadaswaram’s body is traditionally constructed of aacha tree, although bamboo, sandalwood, copper, bronze, ebony, and ivory are also used nowadays.
It is played at practically all Hindu weddings and temples in the South Indian tradition and is regarded as particularly auspiciou

2. FORUM FOR INDIA-PACIFIC ISLANDS COOPERATION (FIPIC)

TAGS: GS 2: INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

THE CONTEXT: Indian PM landed in the capital city of Port Moresby for his first visit to the country, and also is the first by any Indian prime minister, for the Forum for India-Pacific Islands Cooperation (FIPIC) summit, 2023.

EXPLANATION:

Forum for India-Pacific Islands Cooperation (FIPIC):

FIPIC was launched by Indian Minsitry in Fiji in November 2014.
FIPIC includes 14 island countries – Cook Islands, Fiji, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru, Niue, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu, and Vanuatu – that are located in the Pacific Ocean, to the northeast of Australia.

Idea behind FIPIC:

Despite their relatively small size and considerable distance from India, many of these islands have large exclusive economic zones (EEZs).
India’s larger focus is on the Indian Ocean where it has sought to play a major role and protect its strategic and commercial interests.
FIPIC initiative then marks a serious effort to expand India’s engagement in the Pacific region as well.

Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZs) is the distance up to which a coastal nation has jurisdiction over the ocean, including both living and non-living resources. It generally goes to 200 nautical miles or 230 miles (around 370 km) beyond a nation’s territorial sea.

1^st FIPIC Summit:

FIPIC-I took place in 2014 at Suva, Fiji’s capital city.
India announced various development assistance initiatives and other cooperation projects in areas of climate change, trade, economy, telemedicine and teleeducation, IT, grants for community development projects, etc.

2^nd FIPIC Summit:

FIPIC-II took place in 2015 at Jaipur City, India.
India approached the event from a large diplomatic perspective, calling for a “dedicated seat for Small Island Developing States in an expanded and reformed UN Security Council in both categories”.
Seek for concrete and effective outcome on climate change conference at COP 21 in Paris t

India-Pacific Small Island Developing States (PSIDS) Leaders’ Meeting:

It was held in 2019 comprising delegations of 12 out of the 14 Pacific Islands countries in New York on the sidelines of the 74th UN General Assembly.
The Indian government then announced an allocation of $12 million grant ($1 million to each PSIDS) towards implementation of high-impact developmental projects in the area of their choice.

Initiatives by India at 3^rd FIPIC summit 2023:

Establishment of a super-specialty cardiology hospital in Fiji.
Sea ambulances will be provided to all the 14 Pacific island countries.
Similar to Jaipur Foot Camp, 2022 which was conducted in Fiji where prosthetic limbs were provided free of cost to people , similar camp will be set up in Papua New guinea this year and starting from 2024, two such camps will be organised every year in the Pacific island countries.

Small Island Developing States:

Small Island Developing States (SIDS) are a distinct group of 37 UN Member States and 20 Non-UN Members/Associate Members of United Nations regional commissions that face unique social, economic and environmental vulnerabilities.
The three geographical regions in which SIDS are located are: the Caribbean, the Pacific, and the Atlantic, Indian Ocean and South China Sea (AIS).
SIDS were recognized as a special case both for their environment and development at the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
The aggregate population of all the SIDS is 65 million, slightly less than 1% of the world’s population, yet this group faces unique social, economic, and environmental challenges.

3. NEW TAX RULES FOR ONLINE GAMING

TAGS: GS 3: ECONOMY

THE CONTEXT: The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has come out with guidelines for Tax Deducted at Source (TDS) for online gaming platforms, defining a threshold of Rs 100 for deducting tax for winnings from online gaming. Bonus, referral bonus, and incentives will also be counted towards the taxable winnings on an online gaming platform.

EXPLANATION:

New guidelines for TDS for online gaming:

Online gaming platforms will not be required to deduct tax at the source for a player if the net winning does not exceed Rs 100.
CBDT circular also said that bonus, referral bonus, incentives etc are given by the online gaming company to the intermediate user and they are to be considered as taxable deposit under Rule 133 of the Income-tax Act.
CBDTsaid that in order to remove the difficulty in deducting tax at source under section 194BA of the Act for “insignificant withdrawal”, it is clarified that tax may not be deducted on withdrawal on the satisfaction of all of the following conditions:

net winnings comprised in the amount withdrawn does not exceed Rs 100 in a month
tax not deducted on account of this concession is deducted at a time when the net winnings comprised in withdrawal exceeds Rs 100 in the same month or subsequent month or if there is no such withdrawal, at the end of the financial year
the deductor undertakes the responsibility of paying the difference if the balance in the user account at the time of tax deduction under section 194BA of the Act is not sufficient to discharge the tax deduction liability calculated in accordance with Rule 133

Online gaming regulations:

The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MEITY) notified as nodal ministry for all matters pertaining to online gaming industry and e-sports
MEITY notified amendment to the Existing IT Rules 2021 i.e. the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Amendment Rules, 2023 (“Amended Rules”) with aim to regulate online gaming.
Key Highlights of the Amended Rules are as follows:

self-regulatory structure for the online gaming industry
introduction of new definitions like ‘online games’, ‘online real money games’, ‘permissible online games’, and ‘permissible online real money games’
Introduced the concept of “Intermediaries”e. entities that store or transmit data on behalf of other persons and include telecom and internet service providers, online marketplaces, search engines and social media sites
With an aim to track such transactions, the government had inserted a new section 194BA in the Income-tax Act, 1961 through Finance Act 2023, which mandated online gaming platforms to deduct income-tax on the net winnings in the person’s user account.
Tax is required to be deducted at the time of withdrawal as well as at the end of the financial year. As per section 194BA, TDS will be applicable at the rate of 30 per cent on the net winnings from any online gaming.

Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Amendment Rules, 2023:

Social media intermediaries, with registered users in India above a notified threshold, have been classified as significant social media intermediaries (SSMIs). SSMIs are required to observe certain additional due diligence such as appointing certain personnel for compliance, enabling identification of the first originator of the information on its platform under certain conditions, and deploying technology-based measures on a best-effort basis to identify certain types of content.
The Rules prescribe a framework for the regulation of content by online publishers of news and current affairs content, and curated audio-visual content.
All intermediaries are required to provide a grievance redressal mechanism for resolving complaints from users or victims. A three-tier grievance redressal mechanism with varying levels of self-regulation has been prescribed for publishers.

Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT)

The Central Board of Direct Taxes is a statutory authority functioning under the Central Board of Revenue Act, 1963.
It comes under Department of Revenue under the Ministry of Finance.
The officials of the Board in their ex-officio capacity also function as a Division of the Ministry dealing with matters relating to levy and collection of direct taxes.
The Central Board of Direct Taxes consists of a Chairman and following six Members:

Chairman
Member (Income Tax & Revenue)
Member (Legislation & Systems)
Member (Administration & Faceless Scheme)
Member (Investigation)
Member (Tax Payer Services)
Member (Audit & Judicial)

4. CARBON BORDER ADJUSTMENT MECHANISM (CBAM)

TAGS: GS 3: ENVIRONMENT

THE CONTEXT: Co-legislators at the European Commission signed the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM).

EXPLANATION:

Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM):

EU’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) is landmark tool to put a fair price on the carbon emitted during the production of carbon intensive goods that are entering the EU, and to encourage cleaner industrial production in non-EU countries.
The gradual introduction of the CBAM is aligned with the phase-out of the allocation of free allowances under the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS) to support the decarbonisation of EU industry.
CBAM will ensure the carbon price of imports is equivalent to the carbon price of domestic production by confirming that a price has been paid for the embedded carbon emissions generated in the production of certain goods imported into the EU.
The CBAM is designed to be compatible with WTO-rules.

Key Features:

Its primary objective is to avert ‘carbon leakage’ by subjecting the import of certain groups of products from 3rd (non-EU and non-EFTA) countries to a carbon levy linked to the carbon price payable under the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS) when the same goods are produced within the EU alongside encouraging producers in non-EU countries to green their manufacturing processes.
It refers to a phenomenon where a EU manufacturer moves carbon-intensive production to countries outside the region with less stringent climate policies.
It replace EU-manufactured products with more carbon-intensive imports.
The CBAM will initially apply to imports of certain goods and selected precursors whose production is carbon intensive and at most significant risk of carbon leakage: cement, iron and steel, aluminium, fertilisers, electricity and hydrogen.
Further scope extensions to include additional products (such as chemicals and polymers) are to be determined by 2026, and the full inclusion of all EU ETS products is planned by 2030.
CBAM will enter into force in its transitional phase as of 1 October 2023 during which EU importers must submit quarterly CBAM-reports, stating their imports of the CBAM products, as well as the emissions ‘embedded’ in their imported products. Such emissions are proposed to include direct and indirect emissions occurring during the production process of the imported goods.
Once the permanent system enters into force on 1 January 2026, importers will need to declare each year the quantity of goods imported into the EU in the preceding year and their embedded GHG.
They will then surrender the corresponding number of CBAM certificates. The price of the certificates will be calculated depending on the weekly average auction price of EU ETS allowances expressed in €/tonne of CO2 emitted. The phasing-out of free allocation under the EU ETS will take place in parallel with the phasing-in of CBAM in the period 2026-2034.
Moreover, it will ensure a level playing field between imports and EU products.
This would also form part of the continent’s broader European Green Deal which endeavours to achieve 55% reduction in carbon emissions compared to 1990 levels by 2030 and become a climate neutral continent by 205

EU Emissions Trading System (ETS):

It also aimed at supporting the decarbonisation of the region’s industries.
The ETS had set a cap on the amount of greenhouse gas emissions that can be released from industrial installations in certain sectors.
Allowances were to be bought on the open decentralised ETS trading market, however, certain allowances were given out for free to prevent carbon leakage.
Though effective in addressing the issue of leakage, EU concluded it dampened the incentive to invest in greener production at home and abroad because of the tendency to rely on free allowances to meet operational requirements and obligations.

5. SUPER COMPUTER

TAGS: GS-3: SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

THE CONTEXT: Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES) stated that India is set to dramatically scale up its super-computing prowess and install an 18-petaflop system over the course of the year 2023.

EXPLANATION:

What is Supercomputer?

Supercomputer is any of a class of extremely powerful computers. The term is commonly applied to the fastest high-performance systems available at any given time.
Such computers have been used primarily for scientific and engineering work requiring exceedingly high-speed computations.
Common applications for supercomputers include testing mathematical models for complex physical phenomena or designs, such as climate and weather, evolution of the cosmos, nuclear weapons and reactors, new chemical compounds (especially for pharmaceutical purposes), and cryptology.

Supercomputers in India:

Currently India’s hosts most powerful, civilian supercomputers Pratyush and Mihir with a combined capacity of 6.8 petaflops are housed at the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM), Pune, and the National Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasting (NCMRWF), Noida, respectively.
They were made operational in 2018 at an investment of ₹438 crore. Both these organisations are affiliated to the Ministry of Earth Sciences(MoES).
Pratyush is the fourth fastest supercomputer in the world dedicated for weather and climate research, and follows machines in Japan, USA and the United Kingdom.

Features of Upcoming Supercomputers:

The new supercomputers, yet to be named, are imported from French corporation, ATOS an information technology service and consulting company.
The new supercomputers too will be housed at the IITM and NCMRWF.
It aims to accelerate processing power to such a degree that greatly eases complex mathematical calculations required, for among other things, and forecasting weather over the next few days.
The goal is eventually to be able to represent an area by 1 km-square grids and that can be used to warn of cloudburst and such rapidly evolving weather systems.

Supercomputer around world:

The fastest high-performance computing system in the world is currently the Frontier-Cray system at Oakridge National Laboratory, United States. This has a peak speed of 1 exa-flop (or about 1,000 petaflops). The top 10 other systems, based on speed, range from about 400 petaflops to 60 petaflops.

FLOPS (Floating-Point Operations Per Second)

Floating-point according to IBM is a method of encoding real numbers within the limits of finite precision available on computers.
Using floating-point encoding, extremely long numbers can be handled relatively easily.
Flops (floating point operations per second) are an indicator of computers processing speed and a petaflop refers to a 1,000 trillion flops.

TOP 5 TAKKAR NEWS OF THE DAY (24th MAY 2023)

1. GLOBAL WARMING WILL LIKELY SOON CROSS 1.5º C

TAGS: GS 3: ENVIRONMENT

THE CONTEXT: The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) has predicted that there is a greater than 66% probability that at least one of the years from 2023 to 2027 will witness a global mean surface temperature rise of 1.5 o C above the average in the years 1850-1900.

EXPLANATION:

Models are less skilled at forecasting precipitation than at forecasting temperatures. The forecasted rainfall for 2022 has wider error margins than those for the temperatures, including over India.

What are atmospheric models?

Specialists forecast the weather the fast changes in the order of hours to days using atmospheric models that work with the sea surface temperature fixed.
Atmospheric modeling is an important method to generate physical and numerical measurements of climate parameters, quantify the spatiotemporal changes of atmospheric phenomena over space and time, and predict their occurrences.
With simulated data sets from atmospheric models, scientists are able to examine the driving forces of atmospheric phenomena and perform advanced analysis.
Weather forecasts also need the atmosphere to be ‘initialised’ to be able to make predictions.To ‘initialise’ means to have the best estimates of temperature, humidity, winds, and so on at each point of the computer model, using data from weather balloons, satellites, radiosondes, and such.

What are ocean-atmosphere models?

The weather model becomes chaotic after a few days since fast-moving air, with its low heat capacity, tends to shed the memory of the initial conditions.
Climate, on the other hand, is largely driven by the slow changes in the ocean temperature and its heat content.
As a result, the climate forecasts, such as for the El Niño and the monsoons, are made with ocean-atmosphere models.
This model is at the core of numerical climate models. There is an extraordinarily broad class of coupled atmosphere-ocean models ranging from sets of equations that can be solved analytically to highly detailed representations of Nature requiring the most advanced computers for execution.
The models are applied to subjects including the conceptual understanding of Earth’s climate, predictions that support human activities in a variable climate, and projections aimed to prepare society for climate change.
The ocean is initialised using data from satellites, ships, moorings in the ocean, and so on.
Some climate modes, such as those for the El Niño, can be predicted six to nine months in advance.
A land model is also always included at all timescales, going from weather to climate to climate change.
Weather and climate prediction models do not worry about changes in the concentrations of greenhouse gases since they integrate their inputs just for a few days to a few seasons.
IPCC projections for the forthcoming decades are ocean-atmosphere models, initialised typically starting from the concentrations of greenhouse gases from the pre-industrial era and integrated forward, into the 21st century and beyond.
These models need to account for changes in the concentrations of greenhouse gases as well as sunspot changes and volcanic eruptions, along with land use changes. These integrations capture the global mean temperatures very well, since they are mostly driven by greenhouse gases.

Short term prediction models:

Only in 2017, the WMO recognised the need for shorter term predictions to fill a gap between seasonal forecasts and climate projections.
A number of modelling centres around the world were entrained to issue decadal forecasts, which are initialised similar to the seasonal climate forecast models.
They also accommodate the evolution of greenhouse gases and solar radiative forcing (i.e., changes in solar radiation that affect our climate).

Global Warming:

Global warming is the gradual increase in the average temperature of the planet over a long period of time.
As our population has grown, so has our reliance on fossil fuels such as coal, oil, and natural gas. These fuels emit greenhouse gasses such as carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide, which trap heat from the sun in the Earth’s atmosphere. This creates what is known as the greenhouse effect.

World Meteorological Organization (WMO):

It is a specialized agency of the United Nations, with a membership of 193 Member States and Territories.
It originated from the International Meteorological Organization (IMO), the roots of which were planted at the 1873 Vienna International Meteorological Congress.
It is dedicated to international cooperation and coordination on the state and behaviour of the Earth’s atmosphere, its interaction with the land and oceans, the weather and climate it produces, and the resulting distribution of water resources.

WMO facilitates and promotes:

the establishment of an integrated Earth System observation networkto provide weather, climate and water-related data
the establishment and maintenance of data management centres and telecommunication systemsfor the provision and rapid exchange of weather, climate and water-related data
the creation of standards for observation and monitoringin order to ensure adequate uniformity in the practices and procedures employed worldwide and, thereby, ascertain the homogeneity of data and statistics
the provision of weather, climate and water-related services- through the application of science and technology in operational meteorology and hydrology – to reduce disaster risks and contribute to climate change adaptation, as well as for sectors such as transport (aviation, maritime and land-based), water resource management, agriculture, health, energy and other areas
activities in operational hydrology as well as closer cooperation between National Meteorological and Hydrological Services in states and territories where they are separate
the coordination of researchand training in meteorology and related fields.

2. REUSABLE LAUNCH VEHICLES

TAGS: GS 3: SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

THE CONTEXT: Inching closer to a fully reusable launch vehicle, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) successfully carried out the landing experiment of the Reusable Launch Vehicle-Technology Demonstration (RLV-TD) programme.

EXPLANATION:

ISRO executed the landing experiment at the Aeronautical Test Range in Challakere, C The RLV was dropped by an Indian Air Force (IAF) Chinook helicopter from an altitude of 4.5 km.
The vehicle performed approach and landing manoeuvres on the runway autonomously, under the conditions in which a re-entry vehicle from space might return at high speed and without human inputs to achieve a stable landing.
ISRO’s mission to develop a fully reusable launch vehicle is a part of its vision to enable low-cost access to space.
Currently, ISRO has three active launch vehicles: the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV), the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV), and the Launch Vehicle Mark-III (LVM3). The PSLV has four stages while the GSLVs have three stages each. Each stage has a different fuel, and is jettisoned when the fuel is expended as the rocket ascends.

Reusable Launch Vehicle:

Primarily, launch vehicles comprise three or four stages apart from the payload, which needs to be launched into a polar or a geosynchronous orbit, depending on a mission’s requirements.
In ISRO’s three-stage rockets,
first or lowermost stage has a motor fuelled by solid fuel (in the GSLV, this can also be augmented by up to four liquid strap-on boosters)
second stage has the Vikas engine powered by liquid fuel
third and uppermost stage has a cryogenic engine which uses liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen.
In the four-stage PSLV
first stage has a motor using solid fuel (augmentable with up to six solid-fuel strap-on boosters)
second stage has a Vikas engine
third stage again has a solid-fuel motor
fourth stage has two liquid engines.
The RLV that ISRO is building has only two stages to propel the vehicle into orbit. Once the fuel in the first stage has been expended, the vehicle will shed it, and carry on with the second stage.
Once it has been shed, the first stage will re-enter the atmosphere and land in an autonomous fashion at a pre-determined location. After some maintenance, it will be available for reuse.

Have RLVs been used in the past?

Since the 1960s, experts have conceived reusable rockets as a way to lower the cost of space missions. In the most idealised version, they imagined a single-stage-to-orbit rocket that could take off and land vertically.
The American aerospace manufacturing company McDonnell Douglas realised this dream in 1993, building the Delta Clipper (DC-X) to demonstrate lift-off, maintain altitude, and a landing on its tail. The project was later transferred to NASA’s Reusable Launch Vehicle program after the cost of each test flight proved to be too expensive. In its twelfth flight in 1996, the DC-X crashed and burned on landing, extensively damaging its exterior chassis.
NASA later shelved the project due to budgetary constraints, bringing this chapter of the single-stage to-orbit launch vehicle to an end.

What reusable technologies are currently in play in spaceflight?

It is currently being used by Blue Origin and SpaceX who are developing rockets with reusable parts, especially the first stage, rather than the whole vehicle being reusable.
It was also used in Falcon 9 in 2010, a 54-metre-tall two-stage rocket with nine engines, capable of transporting cargo and crew to the International Space Station (ISS). Instead of using parachutes to recover the first stage, the Falcon 9 was equipped with retrograde thrusters, using which the first stage could come back down to a designated spot using its engines themselves.
In addition to these companies, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), the United Launch Alliance (ULA), the European Space Agency (ESA), and ISRO have also been undertaking R&D on other aspects of reusable launch systems.

What is ISRO working on?

In 2010, ISRO began developing a winged reusable rocket, taking the first step towards realising a two-stage-to-orbit (TSTO) launch vehicle that could be fully reusable. In 2016, the winged vehicle successfully flew at hypersonic speed. It also withstood fiery re-entry temperatures as it re-entered, qualifying its thermal protection systems, before it touched down at a pre-determined site 425 km east of Sriharikota, in the Bay of Bengal.
While several other related technologies have been tested through the years, ISRO’s RLV’s autonomous landing was only tested successfully on April 2, 2023.
Currently, ISRO is working on the ‘Orbital Re-entry Experiment’ (ORE), which will be taken to orbit by a modified launch vehicle comprising existing GSLV and PSLV stages. The vehicle will stay in orbit for a stipulated period, re-enter, and finally land autonomously on a runway, with landing gear.

3. HUMAN PANGENOME MAP

TAGS: GS 3: SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

THE CONTEXT: A new study published in issue of the Nature journal describes a pangenome reference map, built using genomes from 47 anonymous individuals (19 men and 28 women), mainly from Africa but also from the Caribbean, Americas, East Asia, and Europe.

EXPLANATION:

What is a genome?

The genome is the blueprint of life, a collection of all the genes and the regions between the genes contained in our 23 pairs of chromosomes.
Each chromosome is a contiguous stretch of DNA string. Our genome consists of 23 different strings, each composed of millions of individual building blocks called nucleotides or bases.
The four types of building blocks (A, T, G and C) are arranged and repeated millions of times in different combinations to make all of our 23 chromosomes.
Genome sequencing is the method used to determine the precise order of the four letters and how they are arranged in chromosomes.
Sequencing individual genomes helps us understand human diversity at the genetic level and how prone we are to certain diseases.

What is a reference genome?

When genomes are newly sequenced, they are compared to a reference map called a reference genome.
This helps us to understand the regions of differences between the newly sequenced genome and the reference genome.
First reference genome was made in 2001 and it helped scientists discover thousands of genes linked to various diseases; better understand diseases like cancer at the genetic level; and design novel diagnostic tests.
Although a remarkable feat, the reference genome of 2001 was 92% complete and contained many gaps and errors. Additionally, it was not representative of all human beings as it was built using mostly the genome of a single individual of mixed African and European ancestry.
Since then, the reference genome map has been refined and improved to have complete end-to-end sequences of all the 23 human chromosomes.

What is a pangenome map?

Unlike the earlier reference genome, which is a linear sequence, the pangenome is a graph.
The graph of each chromosome is like a bamboo stem with nodes where a stretch of sequences of all 47 individuals converge, and with internodes of varying lengths representing genetic variations among those individuals from different ancestries.
To create complete and contiguous chromosome maps in the pangenome project, the researchers used long-read DNA sequencing technologies, which produce strings of contiguous DNA strands of tens of thousands of nucleotides long.
Using longer reads helps assemble the sequences with minimum errors and read through the repetitive regions of the chromosomes which are hard to sequence with short-read technologies used earlier.

Why is a pangenome map important?

Although any two humans are more than 99% similar in their DNA, there is still about a 0.4% difference between any two individuals.
This may be a small percentage, but considering that the human genome consists of 3.2 billion individual nucleotides, the difference between any two individuals is a whopping 12.8 million nucleotides.
A complete and error-free human pangenome map will help us understand those differences and explain human diversity better.
It will also help us understand genetic variants in some populations, which result in underlying health conditions.
The pangenome reference map has added nearly 119 million new letters to the existing genome map and has already aided the discovery of 150 new genes linked to autism.
Although the project is a leap forward, genomes from many populations are still not a part of it. For example, genomes from more people from Africa, the Indian sub-continent, indigenous groups in Asia and Oceania, and West Asian regions are not represented in the current version of the pangenome map.

4. INDIAN-SPACE-POLICY 2023

TAGS: GS 3: SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

THE CONTEXT: Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) released the Indian Space Policy 2023 which has been received positively by industry. However, it needs to be followed up with suitable legislation, accompanied by clear rules and regulations.

EXPLANATION:

Background:

Until the early 1990s, India’s space industry and space economy were defined by ISRO.
Private sector involvement was limited to building to ISRO designs and specifications.
The Second Space Age began with the licensing of private TV channels, the explosive growth of the Internet, mobile telephony, and the emergence of the smartphone.
Broadband, OTT and 5G promise a double-digit annual growth in satellite-based services. It is estimated that with an enabling environment, the Indian space industry could grow to $60 billion by 2030, directly creating more than two lakh jobs.
To streamline matters, a draft Space Activities Bill was brought out in 2017, which went through a long consultative process. It lapsed in 2019 with the outgoing Lok Sabha. The government was expected to introduce a new Bill by 2021, but it appears to have contented itself with the new policy statement.

Reasons for the policy:

The first satellite communication policy was introduced in 1997, with guidelines for foreign direct investment (FDI) in the satellite industry that were further liberalised but never generated much enthusiasm.
A remote sensing data policy was introduced in 2001, which was amended in 2011; in 2016, it was replaced by a National Geospatial Policy that has been further liberalised in 2022. Yet, Indian users including the security and defence agencies spend nearly a billion dollars annually to procure earth observation data and imagery from foreign sources.

Indian Space Policy 2023:

It is qualitatively different from previous efforts. It is a short 11-page document, which includes three pages devoted to definitions and abbreviations.
The ‘Vision’ is to “enable, encourage and develop a flourishing commercial presence in space” that suggests an acceptance that the private sector is a critical stakeholder in the entire value chain of the space economy.
It makes five key points which defines its role in India’s “socio-economic development and security, protection of environment and lives, pursuing peaceful exploration of outer space, stimulation of public awareness and scientific quest”.
First, The focus for security purposes is on civilian and peaceful applications. Considering that space-based intelligence, reconnaissance, surveillance, communication, positioning and navigation capabilities are increasingly seen as mission critical by the defence services.
Second, the policy lays out a strategy and roles of the Department of Space, ISRO, the Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre (IN-SPACe) and the NewSpace India Limited (NSIL) under the Department of Space as the commercial arm of ISRO to replace the now defunct Antrix.
Thirdly, ISRO will transition out of the existing practice of being present in the manufacturing of operational space systems. ISRO shall focus on R&D in advanced technology, proving newer systems and realisation of space objects for meeting national prerogatives. ISRO aims to “share technologies, products, processes and best practices with NGEs (non-government entities) and/or Government companies”.
Fourth, the NGEs are allowed to undertake end-to-end activities in the space sector through establishment and operation of space objects, ground-based assets and related services, such as communication, remote sensing, navigation, etc.
Finally, IN-SPACe is expected to create a stable and predictable regulatory framework that will ensure a level playing field for the NGEs. It will act as a promoter by setting up industry clusters and as the regulator, issue guidelines on liability issues.

Gaps in the policy:

The policy sets out an ambitious role for IN-SPACe but provides no time frame for the necessary steps ahead.
There is no indicative timeline for ISRO’s transitioning out of its current practices nor is there a schedule for IN-SPACe to create the regulatory framework.
The policy framework envisaged will need clear rules and regulations pertaining to FDI and licensing, government procurement to sustain the new space start-ups, liability in case of violations and an appellate framework for dispute settlement.
A regulatory body needs legislative authority. The Reserve Bank of India was set up by the 1934 RBI Act, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) by the 1992 SEBI Act, and the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) by the 1997 TRAI Act. IN-SPACe is expected to authorise space activities for all, both government and non-government entities. Currently, its position is ambiguous as it functions under the purview of the Department of Space. The Secretary (Space) is also Chairman of ISRO, the government entity to be regulated by IN-SPACe.

5. NATIONAL MEDICAL DEVICES POLICY, 2023

TAGS: GS 2: HEALTH ISSUES

THE CONTEXT: Union Cabinet approved the National Medical Devices Policy, 2023. The policy endeavours to facilitate an orderly growth of the sector and in turn, achieve the public health objectives of access, affordability, quality and innovation.

EXPLANATION:

It is expected to help the domestic medical devices sector market grow from $11 billion to $50 billion by 2030 alongside achieving a 10-12% global market share over the next 25 years.
The aim is to provide the required support and direction, and help the sector become “competitive, self-reliant, resilient and innovative” to cater not only to domestic but global needs.

Features:

The policy will help boost manufacturing, help traders and importers to start investing in factories and end the import dependency forced upon.
The policy endeavours to facilitate an orderly growth of the sector and in turn, achieve public health objectives of access, affordability, quality and innovation.
The most significant of the introduced measures entail regulatory streamlining.
The policy enhances the role of the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) along with designing a coherent pricing regulation.
Pricing regulation is particularly important for addressing a broader challenge in the domestic device manufacturing sector as some private hospitals give higher priced products instead of available low-cost options.
It aims to monitor MRP of imports and compared with imports’ landed prices and steps taken to control when found irrationally excessive.
Streamlining endeavour will also create a single window clearance system for licensing of medical devices, combining relevant departments like the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB), MeitY and the Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying (DAHD).
This would complement the Department’s proposed National Policy on Research and Development alongside innovation in the pharma-MedTech sector in India.
The policy also seeks to establish and strengthen large medical device parks and clusters with quality infrastructure facilities close to economic zones with requisite logistics connectivity.
This is expected to be a collaborative venture with the State governments and industry, resulting in better convergence and backward integration with the industry.
Ensuring an ecosystem to encourage private investments, series of funding from venture capitalists and potential public-private partnerships (PPP) is a key component of this endeavour.
This will also be supplemented intervention programs such as Make in India, Ayushman Bharat, Heal-in-India and Start-up mission.

Export Promotion Council:

As per the Indian Brand Equity Foundation (IBEF), a huge gap still exists in the current demand and supply of medical devices from U.S., China and Germany; India has an overall 70-80% import dependency on medical devices.
The policy envisages the creation of a dedicated Export Promotion Council for the sector under the Department of Health.
This would be a forum to deal with varied market access issues, while also combining and sharing stakeholders’s knowledge and expertise.

Current status of domestic market:

The domestic industry comprises a combination of large multinationals, small and mid-sized companies.
As per the IBEF, India is the fourth largest Asian medical market after Japan, China and South Korea and is among the top 20 globally.
It is estimated to grow at a CAGR of 15% two-and-half times the global growth rate.
Exports of medical devices stood at $2.90 billion in FY 2022 and this is estimated to scale to $10 billion by FY 2025. Key export countries include U.S., France, Singapore, China, Turkey, Brazil, the Netherlands, Iran and Belgium.
India’s major medical clusters are Gujarat, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Haryana, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. Their manufacturing expertise varies from pharmaceuticals, medical electronics, stents and implants to low-end medical consumables.

TOP 5 TAKKAR NEWS OF THE DAY (22nd MAY 2023)

1. RBI WITHDRAW 2000 NOTES FROM CIRCULATION

TAGS: GS 3: ECONOMY

THE CONTEXT: Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has decided to withdraw the Rs 2000 denomination banknotes from circulation, but existing notes will continue to be legal tender.

EXPLANATION:

The Rs 2000 note was introduced in November 2016 under Section 24(1) of The RBI Act, 1934, primarily with the objective of meeting the currency requirement of the economy expeditiously after the legal tender status of Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes was withdrawn.
With the fulfilment of that objective, and once notes of other denominations were available in adequate quantities, the printing of Rs 2000 notes was stopped in 2018-19.
This denomination is no longer commonly used for transactions besides, there is adequate stock of banknotes in other denominations to meet currency requirements.
In pursuance of the ‘Clean Note Policy’ of the Reserve Bank of India, it has been decided to withdraw the Rs 2000 denomination banknotes from circulation.

Clean Note Policy:

Clean Note Policy seeks to give the public good-quality currency notes and coins with better security features, while soiled notes are withdrawn out of circulation.
The RBI had earlier decided to withdraw from circulation all banknotes issued prior to 2005 as they have fewer security features as compared to banknotes printed after 2005.
However, the notes issued before 2005 continue to be legal tender. They have only been withdrawn from circulation in conformity with the standard international practice of not having notes of multiple series in circulation at the same time.

What is Legal tender?

Legal tender refers to a form of currency that can be in the form of a coin or a banknote that is recognised by law as an acceptable means for settling debts or obligations.
The Government of India issues coins under Section 6 of The Coinage Act, 2011, which are considered legal tender for making payments or settling accounts, provided that the coins are undamaged and meet the prescribed weight requirements.
Similarly, banknotes issued by the Reserve Bank of India, such as Rs 2, Rs 5, Rs 10, Rs 20, Rs 50, Rs 100, Rs 200, Rs 500, and Rs 2000, are legal tender throughout India and can be used for making payments or settling accounts based on the amount stated on the banknote.
These banknotes are guaranteed by the Central Government, as per the provisions outlined in sub-section (2) of Section 26 of the RBI Act, 1934. Additionally, Rs 1 notes issued by the Government of India are also recognized as legal tender.

Legal Tender status of Rs 2000:

Rs 2000 banknote will continue to maintain its legal tender status.
Members of the public can continue to use Rs 2000 banknotes for their transactions and also receive them in payment.

Reserve bank of India:

The Reserve Bank of India was established in the year 1935 in accordance with the Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934. The Reserve Bank of India is the central Bank of India entrusted with the multidimensional role.
It performs important monetary functions from issue of currency note to maintenance of monetary stability in the country.

Some Important Functions of Reserve bank of India:

Banker to Government: The Reserve Bank of India accepts and makes payment on behalf of Central Government. It carries out its exchange, remittance, management of public debt and other banking functions of the Central Government. The Central Government entrusts its money, remittance, exchange and banking transactions in India with the Reserve Bank of India. It deals in repo or reverse repo.
Right to Issue Bank note: The Reserve Bank of India has the sole right to issue bank notes in India. The banknotes are legal tender guaranteed by the Central Government. The issue of bank note is conducted by a separate department called issue department. The Central Government on the recommendation of Central Board specifies denomination of bank notes including discontinuance of bank notes. The Central Government approves design, form and material of Bank notes on consideration of recommendations of the Central Board.
Formulates Banking policy: The Reserve is empowered to formulate banking policy in the interest of the public or depositors banking policy in relation to advances and provide direction on the purpose of the advances, margins to be maintained in a secured advances, the maximum amount of advance may be made, the rate of interest, terms and conditions for advances or guarantees may be given.
Licensing Authority: The Reserve Bank of India is empowered to grant license to commence banking business in India, including the power to cancel a license granted to a banking company.
Banker’s Bank: The banks listed in second schedule and non schedule banks shall maintain a cash reserve ratio with the Reserve bank of India with a view to securing the monetary stability in the country. It provides loans and advances in foreign currency to scheduled Banks and to other financial institution. It purchases, sells or discount any bill of exchange or promissory note or makes a loan or advances to schedule bank.

2. RADIOMETRIC DATING

TAGS: GS 3: SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

THE CONTEXT: New study shows a way to use calcium-41 the same way carbon-14 has been used in carbon-dating, but with several advantages.

EXPLANATION:

Since its invention in 1947, carbon dating has revolutionised many fields of science by allowing scientists to estimate the age of an organic material based on how much carbon-14 it contains.
However, carbon-14 has a half-life of 5,700 years, so the technique can’t determine the age of objects older than around 50,000 years.
In 1979, scientists suggested using calcium-41, with a half-life of 99,400 years.
It’s produced when cosmic rays from space smash into calcium atoms in the soil, and is found in the earth’s crust, opening the door to dating fossilised bones and rock.

What is Radiometric Dating?

When an organic entity is alive, its body keeps absorbing and losing carbon-14 atoms. When it dies, this process stops and the extant carbon-14 starts to decay away.
Using the difference between the relative abundance of these atoms in the body and the number that should’ve been there, researchers can estimate when the entity died.
A significant early issue with carbon dating was to detect carbon-14 atoms, which occur once in around 10 to 12 carbon atoms. Calcium-41 is rarer, occurring once in around 10 to 15 calcium atoms.
In a new study, Scientist pitched a technique called Atom-Trap Trace Analysis (ATTA) as a solution.
ATTA is sensitive enough to spot these atoms; specific enough to not confuse them for other similar atoms; and fits on a tabletop.

How does Atom-Trap Trace Analysis (ATTA) work?

A sample is vaporised in an oven and the atoms in the vapour are laser-cooled and loaded into a cage made of light and magnetic fields.
As it is known that atom, an electron in one orbital can transition to the next if it’s given a specific amount of energy; then it jumps back by releasing that energy.
In ATTA, a laser’s frequency is tuned such that it imparts the same energy as required for an electron transition in calcium-41. The electrons absorb and release this energy, revealing the presence of their atoms.
ATTA’s success is due to innovations with lasers as laser power is a lot higher, and laser frequency control is better.
ATTA also avoids potassium-41 atoms, which are similar to calcium-41 atoms but lack the same electron transition.
It can also be modified to study isotopes of some noble gases that have defied techniques developed for carbon-14, such as argon-39, krypton-81, and krypton-85.

What are the applications of ATTA + calcium-41?

The successful application of ATTA to a calcium isotope now opens the possibility of extension to other metal isotopes.
It can be used in an earth-science application. In warmer climate, glaciers retreat and allow rock below to accumulate calcium-41. In colder climate, glaciers advance and block the calcium-41 from reaching the rock. Here, ATTA can be used to study how long some rock has been covered by ice.

3. ROW OVER POWER OF THE DELHI LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR UNDER ARTICLE 239AA

TAGS: GS 2: GOVERNANCE

THE CONTEXT: The Centre promulgated an ordinance extending powers to the Delhi Lieutenant Governor over services in the administration of the national capital, which essentially involves the power to transfer and appoint bureaucrats posted to Delhi. Also, Central government moved the Supreme Court filing a review petition against the Court’s judgment that gave control over the subject of administrative services to the Delhi government.

EXPLANATION:

Central government promulgated an ordinance to create a National Capital Civil Service Authority, empowered to recommend transfers, postings and disciplinary actions relating to all Group A and DANICS officers (Delhi, Andaman & Nicobar, Lakshadweep, Daman and Diu and Dadra and Nagar Haveli civil services).
The Ordinance is aimed at nullifying the effect of the Constitution Bench’s verdict, which gave the Delhi government power over administrative services in the capital.

Article 239AA of the Constitution:

It was inserted into the Constitution by the 69th Amendment Act, 1991.
It conferred special status on Delhi following the recommendations of the S Balakrishnan Committee that was set up in 1987 to look into Delhi’s demands for statehood.
According to this provision, the NCT of Delhi will have an administrator and a Legislative Assembly.
Legislative Assembly, “shall have the power to make laws for the whole or any part of the NCT with respect to any of the matters in the State List or Concurrent List in so far as any such matter is applicable to Union territories,” except on the subjects of police, public order, and land.

Supreme Court about Article 239AA:

SC interpreted Article 239AA, the provision that deals with the governance structure of Delhi, that underlines principles of federalism, participatory democracy, and collective responsibility.
Two Constitution Benches of the Supreme Court, in July 2018 and May 2023, have dealt with the issue of the powers of the Delhi government. Both of these judgments involve the interpretation of Article 239AA of the Constitution, which deals with the governance structure of the national capital.
In the majority ruling in 2018, the Constitution bench held that although Delhi could not be accorded the status of a state, the concept of federalism would still apply to it.
The 2018 ruling said that with the introduction of Article 239AA in the Constitution, Parliament envisaged a “representative form of Government” for Delhi while seeking to provide a directly elected Legislative Assembly with legislative powers over matters within the State List and the Concurrent List. It also sought to mandate the Lieutenant Governor to act on the aid and advice of the Council of Ministers, except when he decides to refer the matter to the President for a final decision.
The dispute over whether the Lieutenant Governor or the Chief Minister would have powers over these administrative services in Delhi went to the Supreme Court and a judgment was delivered recently.
The ruling on May 5 places three constitutional principles – representative democracy, federalism and accountability – to an elected government within the interpretation of Article 239AA.
The Bench in 2023 held that NCTD (Delhi), just like other states, represents the representative form of government”. However, it outlined that “the involvement of the Union of India in the administration of NCTD is limited by constitutional provisions, and any further expansion would be contrary to the constitutional scheme of governance.

Review petition:

Constitution, under Article 137, gives the Supreme Court the power to review any of its judgments or orders.
The court has the power to review its rulings to correct a “patent error” and not “minor mistakes of inconsequential import”.
It is not necessary that only parties to a case can seek a review of the judgment on it. As per the Civil Procedure Code and the Supreme Court Rules, any person aggrieved by a ruling can seek a review.
As per 1996 rules framed by the Supreme Court, a review petition must be filed within 30 days of the date of judgment or order.

In a 2013 ruling, the Supreme Court itself laid down three grounds for seeking a review of a verdict it has delivered:

The discovery of new and important matter or evidence which, after the exercise of due diligence, was not within the knowledge of the petitioner or could not be produced by him
Mistake or error apparent on the face of the record
Any other sufficient reason. In subsequent rulings, the court specified that “any sufficient reason” means a reason that is comparable to the other two grounds.

4. STARS PROGRAM

TAGS: PRELIMS PERSPECTIVE

THE CONTEXT: Ministry of Education and World Bank organized a one of its kind workshop on School-to-Work Transition under the STARS Program.

EXPLANATION:

Strengthening Teaching-Learning and Results for States (STARS) Project

It was approved in October 2020 and it became effective on 23rd February 2021 for a period of five years i.e. up to FY 2024-25.
It builds on the partnership between India and the World Bank for strengthening public school education and to support the country’s goal of providing ‘Education for All’.
STARS project would be implemented as a new Centrally Sponsored Scheme under Department of School Education and Literacy, Ministry of Education.
The STARS Project is being implemented in six identified States viz. Himachal Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Kerala.
The STARS Program is carved out of Samagra Shiksha, with a focus on those elements of the scheme that will most directly support school education enhancement.

Aims:

It seeks to support the states in developing, implementing, evaluating and improving interventions with direct linkages to improved education outcomes and school to work transition strategies for improved labour market outcomes.
The overall focus and components of the STARS project are aligned with the objectives of National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 of Quality Based Learning Outcomes.
The Project envisions improving the overall monitoring and measurement activities in the Indian School Education System through interventions in selected states.
The project shifts focus from the provision of inputs and maintaining of outputs to actual outcomes by linking the receipt and disbursement of funds to these outcomes.
The STARS project also aims to focus on initiatives of PM e-Vidya, Foundational Literacy and Numeracy Mission and National Curricular and Pedagogical Framework for Early Childhood Care and Education as part of the Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan.

The STARS Project has two major components:

At the national level, the project envisages the following interventions which will benefit all states and UTs:

To strengthen MOE’s national data systems to capture robust and authentic data on retention, transition and completion rates of students.
To support MOE in improving states PGI scores by incentivizing states governance reform agenda through SIG (State Incentive Grants).
To support the strengthening of learning assessment systems.
To support MOE’s efforts to establish a National Assessment Center (PARAKH). Among the tasks of such a center would be to leverage the experiences of states selected for the operation by collecting, curating and sharing these experiences with other states through online portals (e.g. Shagun and DIKSHA), social and other media engagement, technical workshops, state visits and conferences.

At the State level, the project envisages:

Strengthening Early Childhood Education and Foundational Learning
Improving Learning Assessment Systems
Strengthening classroom instruction and remediation through teacher development and school leadership
Governance and Decentralized Management for Improved Service Delivery.
Strengthening Vocational education in schools through mainstreaming, career guidance and counselling, internships and coverage of out of school children

Some of the measurable outcomes of the project:

Increase in students achieving minimum proficiency in grade 3 language in selected states
Improvement in secondary school completion rate
Improvement in governance index scores
Strengthened learning assessment systems
Partnerships developed to facilitate cross-learning between states
Strengthened school management by training of Head Teachers and Principals for improved education service delivery.

Samagra Shiksha

It is a Centrally Sponsored Scheme launched in 2018 under Ministry of Education.
It is an overarching programme for the school education sector extending from pre-school to class 12 has been, therefore, prepared with the broader goal of improving school effectiveness measured in terms of equal opportunities for schooling and equitable learning outcomes.
It subsumes the three erstwhile Schemes of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA), Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA) and Teacher Education (TE).
The major objectives of the Scheme:

provision of quality education and enhancing learning outcomes of students
Bridging Social and Gender Gaps in School Education
Ensuring equity and inclusion at all levels of school education; Ensuring minimum standards in schooling provisions
Promoting Vocationalisation of education; Support States in implementation of Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act, 2009
Strengthening and up-gradation of SCERTs/State Institutes of Education and DIET as a nodal agencies for teacher training.

5. ELECTION AND AIRWAVES

TAGS: GS 2: ELECTIONS

THE CONTEXT: In the recently-concluded Karnataka Assembly elections, political parties were provided free airtime on public broadcasters, All India Radio (Akashvani) and Doordarshan during elections.

EXPLANATION:

The allotment was available to six recognised national parties Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Indian National Congress (INC), the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), the National People’s Party (NPP), the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and one recognised State party, the Janata Dal (Secular).
The parties were allocated a base time of 45 minutes and additional slots based on performance in previous polls.

What is the rationale of the scheme?

It is available to both national and recognised State parties.
The facility to provide free airtime for political parties during elections was given statutory basis through the 2003 amendment to the Representation of People Act, 1951.
The Supreme Court, in its famed judgment (The Secretary, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting vs Cricket Association of Bengal and ANR, 1995), held that airwaves are public property, and its use should serve the greater public good.

Working of the scheme:

Time vouchers are distributed by a lottery system by the Election Commission in a transparent process to obviate any preferential treatment in getting primetime slots.
The transcripts of political parties are vetted to ensure that they adhere to relevant codes.
These codes proscribe any content which are inter alia critical of other countries, attack religions or other communities or incites violence and personal attacks.
In case of any disagreements over the content of the script as vetted by the public broadcaster, it is referred to an Apex Committee comprising members from Akashvani and DD whose decision is final.
The guidelines by the Election Commission of India (ECI) also require that a maximum of two panel discussions are also aired by Akashvani and DD.

Background:

Since 1998, national and state parties have been getting a minimum of 45 minutes’ airtime each on DD and AIR channels that cover the area where elections are due, and additional time according to their performance in the preceding poll.
This is spread out in a maximum of 15-minute slots per session and continues for the period between the last day of filing nominations and the end of the campaign. This is paid for by the public exchequer. The time given to parties was doubled before the Assembly polls last year to promote virtual campaigning.
The regulations on party broadcasts on public frequencies disallow

a) Criticism of other countries
b) Attack on religions or communities
c) Anything obscene or defamatory
d) Incitement of violence
e) Anything amounting to contempt of court
f) Aspersion against the integrity of the President and Judiciary
g) Anything affecting the unity, sovereignty and integrity of the Nation
h) Any criticism by name of any person.

Comparison around the World:

Elections being the lifeblood of a democracy, the misuse or abuse of airwaves to gain unfair electoral advantage is a key regulatory apprehension of governments around the world.
In the U.S., the Federal Communications Commission, which regulates the electronic media in the country, devised the fairness doctrine to keep electioneering on the airwaves equitable. The now defunct fairness doctrine placed a positive obligation on broadcasters who carry political content of one candidate on its programme to extend the same to another candidate in the electoral fray.
In the U.K., political parties are allocated designated slots by Parliament, called the party political broadcasts (PPBs) to convey important political information to the people. The British Communication watchdog, Ofcom, is responsible for ensuring that PPBs are included in every licensed public service television channel and commercial radio services.

TOP 5 TAKKAR NEWS OF THE DAY (20th MAY 2023)

1. SUPREME COURT RULING ON JALLIKATTU

TAGS: PRELIMS PERSPECTIVE
THE CONTEXT: A five-judge Bench of the Supreme Court upheld the amendments made by the legislatures of Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, and Karnataka to The Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (PCA) Act, 1960, allowing bull-taming sports like jallikattu, kambala, and bullock-cart races.
EXPLANATION:

Background:

2014 ruling of Supreme Court:

Animal Welfare Board of India, which is a statutory body under the Centre, and animal rights groups like People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), provided documentary evidence to the court suggesting that the jallikattu animals were physically and mentally tortured.
In 2014 SC ruling has then held that “bovine sports” were contrary to the provisions of Sections 3, 11(1)(a) and (m) of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960 which relate to the “duties of persons having charge of animals” and define animal cruelty respectively.

Notification by Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change:

On January 7, 2016, a notification was issued by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change prohibiting the “exhibition or training of bulls as performing animals”.
However, an exception was carved in the notification, which specified that bulls might still be trained as performing animals at events such as Jallikattu in Tamil Nadu, according to the customs and culture of different communities.
It was also specified that this exception is subject to conditions such as reducing the pain and suffering of bulls utilised in such sports.

Amendment by States:

Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, and Karnataka had in 2017 passed amendments to the central law against cruelty to animals in order to allow traditional sports such as the taming of bulls during Pongal.
Following this, a SC Bench comprising then Chief Justice of India (CJI) Dipak Misra and Justice Rohinton Nariman opined that the jallikattu issue involved substantial questions of interpretation of the Constitution, and referred the matter to the Constitution Bench.
The Bench was tasked with deciding whether Tamil Nadu could preserve jallikattu as its cultural right under Article 29(1) of the Constitution, which states that “any section of the citizens residing in the territory of India or any part thereof having a distinct language, script or culture of its own shall have the right to conserve the same”.

Recent judgement:

Five-judge Bench overruled the view taken by a two-judge Bench of the court in its 2014 ruling in ‘Welfare Board of India v. A. Nagaraja’, banning such sports including jallikattu.
Bench led by Justice KM Joseph ruled that the amendments, made in 2017 were “valid legislations”, it said that the jallikattu issue was “debatable”, and must ultimately be decided by the House of the People (Lok Sabha).
Adding that the 2017 amendment “minimises cruelty to animals in the concerned sports”, the court held that once it’s implemented and read with the rules, the sports will not come under the definition of cruelty defined in the 1960 Act.
Jallikattu” as bovine sports have to be isolated from the manner in which they were earlier practised and organising the sports itself would be permissible, in terms of the Tamil Nadu Rules.
The court also said that the 2017 amendment does not violate Articles 51-A (g) and 51-A (h), which impose duties on Indian citizens to protect the environment and develop a scientific temper, humanism, spirit of inquiry, and reform, respectively. Further, it also held that the amendment didn’t violate Articles 14 (Right to Equality) and 21 (Right to Life) of the Constitution.

What is Jallikattu?

Jallikattu, also known as eruthazhuvuthal, is a bull-taming sport traditionally played in Tamil Nadu as part of the Pongal harvest festival.
The festival is a celebration of nature, and thanksgiving for a bountiful harvest, of which cattle-worship is part.
However, the practice of jallikattu has long been contested, with animal rights groups and the courts expressing concern over cruelty to animals and the bloody and dangerous nature of the sport that sometimes causes death and injuries to both the bulls and human participants.

Stand of Other states

Karnataka cabinet in January 2017 decided to amend the PCA Act, 1960, to pave the way for kambala, a sport involving a pair of buffaloes tied to the plough and anchored by one person. The buffaloes are made to run in parallel muddy tracks in a competition in which the fastest team wins.
Maharashtra passed an amendment to the PCA Act, 1960, allowing “bullock cart races” involving bulls to conduct a race, “whether tied to cart with the help of wooden yoke or not (by whatever name called), with or without a cartman with a view to follow tradition and culture on such days”.

Animal Welfare Board of India

Animal Welfare Board of India is a statutory advisory body on Animal Welfare Laws and promotes animal welfare in the country.
It is established in 1962 under Section 4 of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960.
The Board consists of 28 Members including 6 Members of Parliament (2 Members of Parliament from Rajya Sabha and 4 Members of Parliament from Lok Sabha).The term of office of Members is for a period of 3 years.

Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (PCA) Act, 1960

The Prevention of Cruelty to Animal Act, 1960 is one of the most comprehensive laws on the subject of animal welfare in India. It is an Act of the Parliament passed on 26 December 1960 with a vision to prevent cruelties on animals.

The main objective of the Act is:

The Act prevents unnecessary pain or suffering on animals.
The Act enshrines provisions for establishing the Animal Welfare Board of India, its powers, functions, constitution, and term of the office of members of the Board.
The Act enshrines the guidelines regarding the experimentation on animals for scientific purposes and empowers a committee to make rules with regards to such experiments.
The Act restricts the exhibition and training of performing animals. Both the terms ‘exhibit’ and ‘train’ are separately defined under Section 21 of the Act.

2. OPEN NETWORK FOR DIGITAL COMMERCE (ONDC)

TAGS: GS 3: ECONOMY; GS 3: SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
THE CONTEXT: After the revolution brought in the realm of digital payments by the Unified Payments Interface (UPI), the Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) is set to break new ground in the country’s digital commerce ecosystem.
EXPLANATION:

What is ONDC, and how does it work?

ONDC is an interoperable network based on the BeckN protocol that anyone can piggyback on. It seeks to break down silos in digital commerce by enabling platforms of varying configurations (big or small) to connect and operate seamlessly on it.
It comprises different entities called ‘Network Participants’, including Buyer Applications, Seller Applications, and Gateways that perform the search and discovery function.

Features of ONDC:

It employs cutting-edge digital infrastructure, seeking to democratise digital commerce in India and make it more accessible and inclusive.
ONDC with its network-centric approach and inclusive governance framework, will transform the digital commerce landscape in India and serve as an important reference point for a forward-looking Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) governance framework.
By moving the exchange of goods and services from a platform-centric approach to a network-centric approach, ONDC eliminates the need for buyers and sellers to use the same application, and promotes the discoverability of local digital stores across industries.
From the buyer’s perspective, ONDC offers greater freedom of choice, reducing the overwhelming reliance on a single platform.
Sellers also stand to benefit greatly: the network-centric approach of ONDC reduces the skewed bargaining power in favour of the platforms, which often results in higher entry barriers and lower margins for selle
ONDC’s network-centric approach levels the playing field by making goods and services equitably accessible to all and benefiting all participants in the ecosystem.

ONDC’s inclusive governance approach:

ONDC entity, a not-for-profit company incorporated under Section 8 of the Companies Act 2013, manages and operates the ONDC Network.
It is responsible for building and maintaining the underlying infrastructure (common registries and protocols) as well as defining the rules of engagement and code of conduct for the Network Participants through the ONDC Network Policy and the ONDC Network Participant Agreement.
Moving a step forward from previous Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) governance models such as those of Aadhar and UPI, ONDC takes a more representative and multistakeholder approach to the governance that prioritises the evolving needs of its users.

How will the system be funded?

The ONDC entity was initially promoted by the Quality Council of India and has since raised from multiple investors including private and public sector banks, depositories, development banks, and other financial institutions.
While initial funding was obtained through share allotments, the ONDC entity aims to develop a self-sustaining financial model in the future.
One potential revenue stream could include charging a small fee from platforms to fund ongoing and expansion-related activities independently.

Involvement of Government in ONDC:

ONDC has been endorsed by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) under the Union Ministry of Commerce and Industry. DPIIT is not involved in ONDC’s funding, but is at the forefront of its evangelisation through light-touch governmental oversight.
To ensure a market+community driven approach to decision-making, the board includes representatives from banks, the government, and independent industry and civil society members.
It will establish a User Council, comprising representatives from Network Participants and civil society. The User Council will provide regular guidance on various aspects of the network’s functioning and governance, serving as a liaison between Network Participants, Consumers, and the network.

3. THE ISSUE OF DOTTED LAND

TAGS: GS 3: ECONOMY
THE CONTEXT: The Andhra Pradesh government has started removing “dotted lands” in the state from the prohibited list, restoring full rights of selling or pledging these lands to the farmers who own them. Over 2 lakh acres of these British-era dotted lands have been identified for permanent denotification.
EXPLANATION:

What kind of lands are dotted lands?

Dotted lands are disputed lands for which there are no clear ownership documents.
Typically, one or more individuals as well as the government’s Revenue Department lay claim over the land.
These lands were also noted as disputed lands in the resettlement register or land records register. The dots on the land documents indicated their disputed status.

Background:

These lands came to be known as “dotted lands’’ because when, during the British era, land ownership surveys and resettlement of land records were taken up, local revenue officials who were tasked with identifying government-owned and privately-owned lands put dots in the ownership column if more than one person claimed ownership, or if ownership could not be clearly established.
In urban areas, dotted lands have been illegally sold and houses have been constructed, which cannot be taxed. With lakhs of acres under dispute, the government also loses on stamp duty revenue.

How did these ownership disputes arise?

If landowners did not leave clear wills passing on land to their heirs or children, and if a dispute arose because more than one heir lay claim over the land.
Some of the land records in question are more than 100 years old, and had been locked up in the prohibited list in and registers.
During subsequent surveys, government officials left the ownership column blank indicating their disputed status as per Section 22A of the Registration Act.

How will this step benefit landowners/farmers?

Government introduced a Bill in march, 2023 to amend the Revenue Act to grant titles to farmers who have been cultivating dotted lands for more than 12 years.
The dots, and entries in land registers, will be removed and these farmers will be given clear land ownership documents.
As financial institutions do not recognise dotted land documents as clear ownership documents. Those farmers who were using the land, they could not procure loans from banks and financial institutions by putting up the land as collateral.
With the lands now being taken off the prohibited list, landowners/farmers will get full rights over the lands, and enjoy all usual rights as land owners.
They can apply for financial assistance for crop support, purchase seeds and fertilisers, and procure farm equipment. The landowners/farmers can also sell the lands or gift to kin or relatives.

4. RBI REGULATION OF GREEN DEPOSITS

TAGS: GS 3: ECONOMY
THE CONTEXT: Reserve Bank of India (RBI) came up with a regulatory framework for banks to accept green deposits from customers. Under the new framework, banks that accept green deposits will have to disclose more information on how they invest these deposits.
EXPLANATION:

What are green deposits?

Green deposits are not very different from the regular deposits that banks accept from their customers. The only major difference is that banks promise to earmark the money that they receive as green deposits towards environment-friendly projects.
Deposit raised under this banner should be deployed towards projects earmarked for green financing. Green financing is lending to or investing in projects which contribute towards climate risk mitigation, climate adaptation and resilience, and other climate-related or environmental objectives including biodiversity management and nature-based solutions.
For example, a bank may promise that green deposits will be used towards financing renewable energy projects that fight climate change.
This apart, all the rules applicable to normal deposits will be applicable to green deposits.
A green deposit is just one product in a wide array of other financial products such as green bonds that help investors put money into environmentally sustainable projects.

RBI’s regulatory framework:

The RBI’s framework for the acceptance of green deposits lays down certain conditions that banks must fulfill to accept green deposits from customers.
Firstly, banks will have to come up with a set of rules or policies approved by their respective Boards that need to be followed while investing green deposits from customers.
These rules need to be made public on the banks’ websites and banks will have to disclose regular information about the amount of green deposits received, how these deposits were allocated towards various green projects, and the impact of such investments on the environment.
A third-party will have to verify the claims made by banks regarding the projects in which the banks invest their green deposits as well as the sustainability credentials of these business projects.
The registered entities shall issue green deposits as cumulative or non-cumulative deposits.
On maturity, the green deposits would be renewed or withdrawn at the option of the depositor. The green deposits shall be denominated in Indian Rupees only. The tenor, size, interest rate and other terms and conditions are defined in the Master Direction of the Reserve Bank.

Eligiblity norms:

The framework is applicable to Scheduled Commercial Banks including Small Finance Banks excluding Regional Rural Banks, Local Area Banks and Payments Banks and all deposit-taking Non-Banking Financial Companies (NBFCs), including Housing Finance Companies.
The RBI has come up with a list of sectors that can be classified as sustainable and thus eligible to receive green deposits.
These include renewable energy, clean transportation including electric vehicles, climate change adaption, sustainable water and waste management, pollution control terrestrial and aquatic biodiversity conservation, energy efficiency, and afforestation and so on.
Banks will be barred from investing green deposits in business projects involving fossil fuels, nuclear power, tobacco, etc.

Aims:

It aims to satisfy depositors who care about the environment by investing their money in environmentally sustainable investment products.
It is aimed at preventing greenwashing, which refers to making misleading claims about the positive environmental impact of an activity.
The idea is to foster and develop a green finance ecosystem in the country.
The framework is intended to “encourage regulated entities (REs) to offer green deposits to customers, protect interest of the depositors, aid customers to achieve their sustainability agenda, and help augment the flow of credit to green activities/projects.

5. LIBERALISED REMITTANCE SCHEME (LRS)

TAGS: GS 3: ECONOMY
THE CONTEXT: The government sought to clarify its decision to bring overseas credit card spends under the Liberalised Remittance Scheme (LRS) for forex outgo.
EXPLANATION:

Issue:

Earlier debit card spends were covered under the LRS, but international credit card were not under purview and data collected from top money remitters under the scheme revealed that international credit cards were being issued with limits in excess of the norm.
Finance Ministry announced that international credit card payments will come under the RBI’s liberalised remittance scheme, or LRS. This means any remittance over $2.5 lakh or its equivalent in a foreign currency will need the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) approval.
Ministry assured that the scheme will not cover bona fide business visits overseas by employees and said the imposition of 20% tax collection on source or TCS for foreign remittances will primarily impact tour travel packages, gifts to non-residents and domestic high net-worth individuals investing in assets such as real estate, bonds, stocks outside India.
The main impact will only be on investment in assets such as real estate, bonds and stocks outside India by high net worth people using their credit cards; tour and travel packages, and expensive gifts to non-residents.

The Liberalised Remittance Scheme (LRS):

It is part of the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) 1999 which lays down the guidelines for outward remittance from India.
The Scheme was introduced on February 4, 2004, with a limit of USD 25,000. The LRS limit has been revised in stages consistent with prevailing macro and micro economic conditions.
Under LRS, all resident individuals, including minors, are allowed to freely remit up to USD250,000 per financial year (April – March). In case of remitter being a minor, the LRS declaration form must be countersigned by the minor’s natural guardian.
This can be for any permissible current or capital account transaction, or a combination of both.
Authorised dealers, such as banks, enable such transactions between residents and their overseas dependents, using only your PAN card for verification.
Besides remittances, LRS can also offer foreign exchange services to Indian citizens for medical expenses or travelling.
However, corporates, partnership firms, Hindu Undivided Family and charitable trusts are not eligible to use the LRS.

Prohibited items under the Scheme:

Remittance for any purpose specifically prohibited under Schedule-I (like purchase of lottery tickets/sweep stakes, proscribed magazines, etc.) or any item restricted under Schedule II of Foreign Exchange Management (Current Account Transactions) Rules, 2000.
Remittance from India for margins or margin calls to overseas exchanges / overseas counterparty.
Remittances for purchase of FCCBs issued by Indian companies in the overseas secondary market.
Remittance for trading in foreign exchange abroad.
Capital account remittances, directly or indirectly, to countries identified by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) as “non- cooperative countries and territories”, from time to time.
Remittances directly or indirectly to those individuals and entities identified as posing significant risk of committing acts of terrorism as advised separately by the Reserve Bank to the banks.
Gifting by a resident to another resident, in foreign currency, for the credit of the latter’s foreign currency account held abroad under LRS.

Individuals can avail of foreign exchange facility for the following purposes within the LRS limit of USD 2,50,000 on financial year basis:

Private visits to any country (except Nepal and Bhutan)
Gift or donation
Going abroad for employment
Emigration
Maintenance of close relatives abroad
Travel for business, or attending a conference or specialised training or for meeting expenses for meeting medical expenses, or check-up abroad, or for accompanying as attendant to a patient going abroad for medical treatment/ check-up
Expenses in connection with medical treatment abroad
Studies abroad
Any other current account transaction which is not covered under the definition of current account in FEMA 1999.

TOP 5 TAKKAR NEWS OF THE DAY (18th MAY 2023)

1. SEXUAL HARASSMENT OF WOMEN AT WORKPLACE (PREVENTION, PROHIBITION AND REDRESSAL) ACT, 2013 (POSH)

TAGS: GS 1: SOCIETY

THE CONTEXT: Ten years after the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013 (PoSH) came into force, the Supreme Court Bench of India has said there are “serious lapses” and “uncertainty” regarding its implementation, issuing directions to the Union, States, and Union Territories to verify if all government bodies had formed Internal Complaint Committees and to ensure that the composition of such panels is in strict adherence with the Act.

EXPLANATION:

How was the PoSH Act formed?

Supreme Court noting the absence of any law “enacted to provide for effective enforcement of the basic human right of gender equality” guarantee against “sexual harassment at workplaces”, laid down a set of guidelines in 1997, christened the Vishakha Guidelines, to fill the statutory vacuum till a law could be enacted.
These were to be “strictly observed in all workplaces” and were binding and enforceable in law.
The Court drew its strength from several provisions of the Constitution including Article 15 (against discrimination on grounds only of religion, race, caste, sex, and place of birth), also drawing from relevant International Conventions and norms such as the General Recommendations of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), which India ratified in 1993.
National Commission for Women submitted drafts of a Code of Conduct for the Workplace in 2000, 2003, 2004, 2006 and 2010.
After this, the Protection of Women against Sexual Harassment at Workplace Bill was introduced by then Women and Child Development Minister in 2007. The amended Bill came into force on December 9, 2013, as the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) or PoSh Act.

How are sexual harassment, the workplace, and an employee defined under the PoSh Act?

The PoSH Act defines sexual harassment to include unwelcome acts such as physical contact and sexual advances, a demand or request for sexual favours, making sexually coloured remarks, showing pornography, and any other unwelcome physical, verbal, or non-verbal conduct of a sexual nature.
It also lists down five circumstances that would constitute sexual harassment if they are connected to the above-mentioned acts- (i) Implied or explicit promise of preferential treatment in employment (ii) Implied or explicit threat of detrimental treatment in employment (iii) Implied or explicit threat about present or future employment status (iv) Interference with work or creating an intimidating or offensive or hostile work environment and (v) Humiliating treatment likely to affect health or safety.
Under the Act, an employee is defined not just in accordance with the company law. All women employees, whether employed regularly, temporarily, contractually, on an ad hoc or daily wage basis, as apprentices or interns or even employed without the knowledge of the principal employer, can seek redressal to sexual harassment in the workplace.
The law expands the definition of ‘workplace’ beyond traditional offices to include all kinds of organisations across sectors, even non-traditional workplaces (for example those that involve telecommuting) and places visited by employees for work. It applies to all public and private sector organisations throughout India.

Internal Complaints Committee (ICC):

The law requires any employer with more than 10 employees to form an Internal Complaints Committee (ICC) which can be approached by any woman employee to file a formal sexual harassment complaint.
It has to be headed by a woman, have at least two women employees, another employee, and, to pre-empt any undue pressure from senior levels, to include a third party such as an NGO worker with five years of experience, familiar with the challenges of sexual harassment.
Besides, the Act mandates every district in the country to create a local committee (LC) to receive complaints from women working in firms with less than 10 employees and from the informal sector, including domestic workers, home-based workers, voluntary government social workers and so on.
These two bodies have to conduct inquiries in line with the POSH Act and comply with the “principles of natural justice” stated in the Rules of the Act.
A woman can file a written complaint either to the internal or local complaints committee within three to six months of the sexual harassment incident.
There are two ways to resolve the issue by the committee- “through conciliation” between the complainant and the respondent (which cannot be a financial settlement), or committees could initiate an inquiry, taking appropriate action based on what it finds.
The employer has to file an annual audit report with the district officer about the number of sexual harassment complaints filed and actions taken at the end of the year. It also makes the employer duty-bound to organise regular workshops and awareness programmes to educate employees about the Act, and conduct orientation and programmes for ICC members. If the employer fails to constitute an ICC or does not abide by any other provision, they must pay a fine of up to ₹50,000, which increases for a repeat offence.

2. INDO-PACIFIC ECONOMIC FRAMEWORK FOR PROSPERITY (IPEF)

TAGS: GS 2: INTERNATIONAL RELATION

THE CONTEXT: In November 2019, India walked out from the trade pact called the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP). Fast forward to 2023, and now India along with many of the same countries, but with China replaced by the United States, is getting into the U.S.-driven Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity (IPEF).

EXPLANATION:

Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity (IPEF):

It is launched by United States in May 2022.
IPEF is about developing a strategic-economic bloc an integrated economic system centered on the U.S., and, as importantly, excluding China.
Members: India, USA, Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Fiji, Indonesia, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.
This framework will offer tangible benefits that fuel economic activity and investment, promote sustainable and inclusive economic growth, and benefit workers and consumers across the region.
The 14 IPEF partners represent 40 percent of global GDP and 28 percent of global goods and services trade.
The IPEF is designed to be flexible, meaning that IPEF partners are not required to join all four pillars.
Aim: Its purpose is to “advance resilience, sustainability, inclusiveness, economic growth, fairness, and competitiveness for our economies. Through this initiative, we aim to contribute to cooperation, stability, prosperity, development, and peace within the region”.

What is different in IPEF from other trade deals?

Traditionally, trade deals used to be mostly about tariffs. The U.S.’s IPEF completely removes the tariff element of typical trade deals.
IPEF is not a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) like the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) and Comprehensive and Progressive Transpacific Partnership (CPTPP).
IPEF as “a 21st century economic arrangement designed to tackle 21st century economic challenges, ranging from setting the rules of the road for the digital economy; to ensuring secure and resilient supply chains; to helping make the kind of major investments necessary in clean energy infrastructure and the clean energy transition; to raising standards for transparency, fair taxation, and anti-corruption”.
It also seeks commitments to labour and environmental standards, which are highly unpopular in the region.
Unlike other regional FTAs such as the RCEP or CPTPP, the IPEF does not offer increased market access (especially to the US market) through tariff liberalisation and non-tariff concessions.

The IPEF consists of the following four negotiating pillars:

Trade: The IPEF seeks to build “high-standard, inclusive, free, and fair trade commitments and develop new and creative approaches in trade and technology policy that advance a broad set of objectives that fuels economic activity and investment, promotes sustainable and inclusive economic growth, and benefits workers and consumers”.
Supply Chains:The IPEF will seek “first-of-their-kind supply chain commitments that better anticipate and prevent disruptions in supply chains to create a more resilient economy”. It also intends to establish an early warning system and coordinate crisis response actions.
Clean Energy, Decarbonisation, and Infrastructure: The framework will seek first-of-their-kind commitments on clean energy, decarbonisation, and infrastructure that promote good-paying jobs.
Tax and Anti-Corruption:The IPEF will seek new commitments to enact and enforce effective and robust tax, anti-money laundering, and anti-bribery regimes in line with existing multilateral obligations, standards, and agreements to curb tax evasion and corruption in the Indo-Pacific region.

India’s Stand:

India has joined the other three pillars of supply chains, clean economy, and fair economy but not trade. But there is great pressure on it to join trade too. Joining the trade pillar is the worst, but the other pillars too contribute to developing hard new economic architectures and structures that are not tariff-based.

The rise of the ‘Indo-Pacific’:

With the shift of the centre of gravity from the Atlantic to Asia, the new concept of the ‘Indo-Pacific’ has entered the geopolitical discourse, replacing the hitherto dominant ‘Asia-Pacific’ construct, even though its geographic boundaries are not well defined.
Based on maritime geography, the Indo-Pacific refers to a contiguous zone encompassing the Pacific and Indian Oceans. The geographic boundaries of the Indo-Pacific could stretch from East Africa to the west coast of the US and encompass a large number of countries at varying stages of development, with distinct policy agendas and divergent interests.
Bringing together highly heterogeneous countries with high-standard commitments on the digital economy, green infrastructure, clean energy, and social and environmental standards under the rubric of IPEF is a herculean effort.
In the economic realm, the Indo-Pacific is one of the world’s most dynamic regions. The region accounts for more than 60% of the global GDP, and almost 50% of the global merchandise trade passes through its waters.
The region includes the world’s four big economies: the USA, China, Japan, and India. With the engine of global economic growth shifting eastwards, the Indo-Pacific region will gain greater importance in coming years.

3. ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AND FACIAL RECOGNITION POWERED SOLUTION FOR TELECOM SIM SUBSCRIBER VERIFICATION (ASTR)

TAGS: GS 3: SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

THE CONTEXT: The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has developed an artificial-intelligence-based facial recognition tool that it claims has the capability of running checks on subscriber databases of telecom operators to deduce whether it contains multiple connections associated with the same person.

EXPLANATION:

Origin of ASTR:

In 2012, DoT had issued an order to all telecom operators that they would have to share their subscriber database including users’ pictures with the department.
These images constitute the core database on which authorities are running their facial recognition algorithm using ASTR.
The ASTR project was conceptualised and designed between April 2021 and July 2021 by the DoT’s unit in Haryana.

How ASTR works:

Human faces in subscribers’ images are encoded using convolutional neural network (CNN) models in order to account for the tilt and angle of the face, opaqueness and dark colour of the images.
After that, a face comparison is carried out for each face against all faces in the database, and similar faces are grouped under one directory. Two faces are concluded to be identical by ASTR if they match to the extent of at least 97.5 per cent.
Once the faces are matched, ASTR’s algorithm uses what it describes as “fuzzy logic” to find similarity or approximate matches for the subscriber names.

Benefits of ASTR:

It can potentially bring down cyber frauds by detecting and blocking possible fraudulent mobile connections.
ASTR is capable of detecting all SIMs against a suspected face in less than 10 seconds from a database of 1 crore images.
It also accounts for any typographical errors that might have occurred while the subscriber acquisition form was being filled.

Convolutional neural network (CNN) model:

It is a type of Deep Learning neural network architecture commonly used in Computer Vision. Computer vision is a field of Artificial Intelligence that enables a computer to understand and interpret the image or visual data.

In a regular Neural Network there are three types of layers:

Input Layers: It’s the layer in which we give input to our model. The number of neurons in this layer is equal to the total number of features in our data (number of pixels in the case of an image).
Hidden Layer: The input from the Input layer is then feed into the hidden layer. There can be many hidden layers depending upon our model and data size.
Output Layer: The output from the hidden layer is then fed into a logistic function like sigmoid or softmax which converts the output of each class into the probability score of each class.

Artificial Intelligence (AI):

Artificial Intelligence(AI) is a vast subset of computer science revolving around the development of smart machines that can perform tasks that typically need some semblance of human intelligence.
It is a multi-faceted, interdisciplinary science, but modern advancements in deep learning and machine learning are bringing it into nearly every area of the tech industry.

Facial recognition:

Facial recognition is a category of biometricsoftware that maps an individual’s facial features mathematically and stores the data as a faceprint. The software uses deep learning algorithms to compare a live capture or digital image to the stored faceprint in order to verify an individual’s identity.

AI face recognition software has the following advantages:

Real-time identification
Anti-spoofing measures
Lessened racial or gender bias due to model training across millions of faces
Can be used across multiple cameras.

4. 4^th POSITIVE INDIGENISATION LIST

TAGS: GS 3: SECURITY

THE CONTEXT: Defence Ministry Releases Fourth Positive Indigenisation List under make in India to reduce dependence on foreign weapon suppliers.

EXPLANATION:

Positive Indigenisation List:

In pursuit of atmanirbhartain defence, the Ministry of Defence has approved a “positive-indigenisation list” (PIL) of 928 items which will reduce imports worth Rs 715 crore.
The list ranges from line replacement units (LRUs) and subsystems to components, high-end materials, and spares.
The aim of the move is in sync with the government’s overall aim to promote ‘Aatmanirbharta’ (self-reliance) in defence production and to minimise imports by the defence public sector undertakings (DPSUs).
Gaining self-sufficiency in Defence production would not only guarantee long-term security of our country but also give significant boost to the domestic industry engaged in design, development and manufacturing of weapons and platforms.
This will also augment the design capabilities of the domestic defence industry by involving academia and research institutions.

4th Positive Indigenisation List:

It is the fourth such “positive indigenisation list (PIL)” comprising line replacement units, sub-systems and components used for various military platforms, equipment and weapons.
4th Positive Indigenisation List released during Def Expo 2022 and This list is in continuation to the three similar PILs that were brought out in December 2021, March 2022 and August 2022.
101 more Defence Items will now be procured from indigenous sources. Highly complex systems, sensors, weapons and ammunitions have been included in this list.
As per preliminary estimates, more than 1,75,000 Cr worth orders would be placed on Indian Industry in the next 5-10 years.
This would further stimulate the potential of Domestic Research & Development by attracting fresh investment into technology and manufacturing capabilities.
The items which were already indigenised comprised 262 from the first PIL, 11 from the second list and 37 from the third PIL.
The ministry said DPSUs will soon initiate procurement action for these notified items.

How will this take place?

The defence ministry has set specific timelines for import ban of the items, spanning the period from December 2023 to December 2028.
The DPSUs will undertake indigenisation of these items through different routes under ‘Make’ category and in-house development through the capabilities of MSMEs and private Indian industry, thereby providing impetus to the growth in economy, enhanced investment in defence and reduction in import dependence of DPSUs.
In addition, this will augment the design capabilities of the domestic defence industry by involving academia and research institutions.
These lists contain 2,500 items which are already indigenised and 1,238 (351+107+780) items which will be indigenised within the given timelines.

Reasons for the move:

India is one of the largest importers of arms globally.
According to estimates, Indian armed forces are projected to spend around USD 130 billion in capital procurement over the next five years.
This will reduce dependence on imported military platforms and has decided to support domestic defence manufacturing.

5. DATA GOVERNANCE QUALITY INDEX (DGQI)

TAGS: PRELIMS PERSPECTIVE

THE CONTEXT: The Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways (MoPSW) has been ranked second among 66 ministries in the Data Governance Quality Index (DGQI) assessment for the December quarter (Q3) of FY23.

EXPLANATION:

It is conducted by the Development Monitoring and Evaluation Office (DMEO), NITI Aayog
It aims to measure the maturity level of administrative data systems and their use in decision-making of various ministries and departments on the implementation of central sector schemes and centrally-sponsored schemes.
It also identifies reforms to reach the frontier of seamless data exchange and its synergistic use within the ministry, while defining clear pathways to achieve these goals.

Under the realm of the overall approach, six key themes have been identified under data systems pillar covered by the Data Governance Quality Index:

Data Generation: Data generation measures the ability of the respective ministries/departments to efficiently generate useful data in the course of their programme implementation. It covers areas related to the level of digitization, frequency and granularity of data generation. It also assesses if mobile phones, location tracking and GIS mapping is used to authenticate the generated data.
Data Quality:Data Quality covers processes of scientifically and statistically evaluating data in order to determine whether they meet quality benchmarks. The key areas covered under this theme relate to profiling of data, data quality assessment processes (for e.g. data pipeline design, well defined data schema etc.), data cleaning, use of latest technologies and mobile phones in the process.
Use of Technology:This theme assesses if emerging technologies are being utilized to improve data robustness. It assesses if MIS of ministries/departments have linkages with PFMS for ensuring transparency and Jan-Dhan, Aadhar and Mobile [JAM-trinity (if applicable)] for delivering last mile services. It also measures if emerging technologies like block chain, big data analytics, machine learning, artificial intelligence, IoT are being used to collect data or to draw analytical insights from it.
Data Analysis, Use and Dissemination:One of the core themes, it covers if the collected data is being analyzed and used for evidence creation and decision making. It gauges whether ministries/departments are undertaking basic cross-sectional analyses only or regression and predictive analysis as well.
Data Security and HR Capacity:While data security requires an in-depth analysis in itself, the same is briefly captured in the index also to reflect its importance. These were identified to be the minimum requirements expected to be met and are not meant to be exhaustive in nature.

Several existing data maturity models were studied to develop DGQI’s methodology. Three key steps of data preparedness were identified:

(a)Data Strategy to lay down systemic guidelines

(b) Data Systems to ensure smooth processes of data generation, management and its use

The objectives are as follows:

To enable review and assessment of data preparedness of the data/ MIS systems of the Ministries/Departments on objective parameters of a standardized framework.
To prepare a self-assessment diagnostic tool that will enable the M/Ds to internally contemplate the need for improving data systems.
To enable the commissioning agencies to conduct a comparative assessment of data preparedness and source best practices in IT systems which can enable improved cross-learning between the participating agencies.
It iwill help in laying the foundation of more integrated monitoring systems, for e.g., a single, online, API-integrable ‘Overarching Dashboard’ kind of monitoring system of all the CS/ CSS schemes of all M/Ds, ultimately leading to a state-of-the-art data-driven decision making.

TOP 5 TAKKAR NEWS OF THE DAY (17th MAY 2023)

1. EXPECTED CREDIT LOSS (ECL)-BASED LOAN LOSS PROVISIONING FRAMEWORK

TAGS: GS 3: ECONOMY

THE CONTEXT: Banks have sought a one-year extension from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for implementation of the Expected Credit Loss (ECL)-based loan loss provisioning framework.

EXPLANATION:

In January 2023 the RBI came out with a draft guidelines proposing adoption of expected credit loss approach for credit impairment and gave banks one year period after the final guidelines are released for implementation of expected credit loss approach for loss provisioning.

Present framework of incurred loss method:

At present, banks set aside money after an asset turns bad, and once the new system is put in place, it is widely expected to have an one time impact on bank profit.
Credit risk losses are bifurcated into two types: expected loss and unexpected loss. Expected loss refers to the amount of loss anticipated on a loan or portfolio of loans and is mitigated using policies, risk pricing and provisions. Unexpected loss is addressed through regulatory capital.
Currently, banks in India follow the incurred loss approach IRAC norms as prescribed by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in accounting for losses on loans and other financial assets. This approach, however, is not aligned with IFRS 9 and Ind AS 109.
Incurred loss approach is based on the principle that losses are uncertain and difficult to predict, and that they should be recognised when they are certain to have occurred. Accordingly, even if a loan has a high risk of default and expected to result in a loss, the loss will not be recognised until the borrower actually defaults and the loss is incurred.

What is EXPECTED CREDIT LOSS (ECL)-BASED LOAN LOSS PROVISIONING FRAMEWORK

ECL is a method of accounting for credit risk that is based on the loss that is likely to occur on a loan or portfolio of loans. It is used to estimate potential future losses on financial assets and to recognise those losses in financial statements. It represents the probability weighted estimate of the present value of all cash shortfalls from an instrument.
In simple terms, ECL is calculated by estimating the forward-looking probability of default for each loan, and then multiplying that probability by the likely loss given default, which is the percentage loss that is expected to occur if the borrower defaults. The resulting value multiplied by the likely exposure at default is the expected loss for each loan, and the sum of these values is the expected loss for the entire portfolio.
It recognises losses on loans as soon as they are expected to occur, regardless of whether the borrower has actually defaulted.
The other key differentiator in the computation of provision for credit loss is that ECL factors in the historical credit quality of the lender, while incurred loss approach does not consider the same.
The ECL models adopted by banks will be subject to rigorous validation as well as process-based checks, and to prudential regulatory floors.

Draft Guidelines:

The RBI has proposed that banks will be allowed to design own credit loss models and spread the higher provisions over a five-year period under a newer system of setting aside money for lending.
The banks will also have to make provisions for delays made by borrowers in their repayments under the proposed framework, in addition to existing provisioning requirement.
This may lead to increased provisioning as the lenders will have to calculate estimated loss of interest income and provide for them.
Under the ECL norms, banks will be required to classify financial assets (primarily loans, including irrevocable loan commitments, and investments classified as held-to-maturity or available-for-sale) into one of the three categories – Stage 1, Stage 2, and Stage 3, depending upon the assessed credit losses on them, at the time of initial recognition as well as on each subsequent reporting date and make necessary provisions.
The RBI also proposed to introduce a transitional arrangement for introduction of ECL norms in order to avoid a capital shock.

Applicability of norms

The measures will be applicable to banks’ loans and advances, including sanctioned limits under revolving credit facilities, lease receivables, financial guarantee contracts and investments in the debt and equity markets and investments classified as held-to-maturity or available-for-sale.

2. APPOINTMENT OF UNION PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION (UPSC) CHAIRMAN

TAGS: PRELIMS PERSPECTIVE

THE CONTEXT: Manoj Soni, a former Vice-Chancellor of two universities in Gujarat, was on May 16, 2023 sworn in as the Chairman of the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC). He was already serving as the Chairman in charge since April 2022. He had joined the UPSC as a member in June 2017.

EXPLANATION:

ABOUT UNION PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION (UPSC)

Article-315 to Article 323 provides for elaborate provisions of constitutional body of Public Service Commission for the Union and a Public Service Commission for each State.
The Union Public Service Commission is headed by a chairman, and it can have a maximum of 10 members.
It shall be the duty of the Union and the State Public Service Commissions to conduct examinations for appointments to the services of the Union and the services of the State respectively.
It shall also be the duty of the Union Public Service Commission, if requested by any two or more States so to do, to assist those States in framing and operating schemes of joint recruitment for any services for which candidates possessing special qualifications are required.
The expenses of the Union or a State Public Service Commission, including any salaries, allowances and pensions payable to or in respect of the members or staff of the Commission, shall be charged on the Consolidated Fund of India or, as the case may be, the Consolidated Fund of the State

Appointment and term of office of members:

Article-316 provides for appointment and term of office of members.
The Chairman and other members shall be appointed by President and in the case of a State Commission by the Governor of the State.
It is provided that as nearly as may be one-half of the members of every Public Service Commission shall be persons who have held office for at least ten years either under the Government of India or under the Government of a State.
The terms and conditions of service of chairman and members of the Commission are governed by the Union Public Service Commission (Members) Regulations, 1969.
Every member holds office for a term of six years or until he attains the age of sixty-five years, whichever is earlier.

Removal of Members

A member of a Public Service Commission may be removed from his office in the manner provided in clause (1) or clause (3) of article 317.
The chairman and any other member of the Commission can submit his resignation at any time to the President of India.
He may be removed from his office by the President of India on the ground of misbehaviour (only if an inquiry of such misbehavior is made and upheld by Supreme Court) or if he is adjudged insolvent, or engages during his term of office in any paid employment outside the duties of his office, or in the opinion of the President unfit to continue in office by reason of infirmity of mind or body.

Further reappointment:

Chairman of the Union Public Service Commission shall be ineligible for further employment either under the Government of India or under the Government of a State.
Chairman of a State Public Service Commission shall be eligible for appointment as the Chairman or any other member of the Union Public Service Commission or as the Chairman of any other State Public Service Commission, but not for any other employment either under the Government of India or under the Government of a State.
A person who holds office as a member of a Public Service Commission shall, on the expiration of his term of office, be ineligible for reappointment to that office.
Member other than the Chairman of the Union Public Service Commission shall be eligible for appointment as the Chairman of the Union Public Service Commission or as the Chairman of a State Public Service Commission, but not for any other employment either under the Government of India or under the Government of a State.
Member other than the Chairman of a State Public Service Commission shall be eligible for appointment as the Chairman or any other member of the Union Public Service Commission or as the Chairman of that or any other State Public Service Commission, but not for any other employment either under the Government of India or under the Government of a State.

Functions of UPSC

It shall be consulted on all matters relating to methods of recruitment to civil services and for civil posts.
It shall be consulted on the principles to be followed in making appointments to civil services and posts and in making promotions and transfers from one service to another and on the suitability of candidates for such appointments, promotions or transfers.
It shall be consulted on all disciplinary matters affecting a person serving under the Government of India or the Government of a State in a civil capacity, including memorials or petitions relating to such matters.
It shall be consulted on any claim by or in respect of a person who is serving or has served under the Government of India or the Government of a State or under the Crown in India or under the Government of an Indian State, in a civil capacity, that any costs incurred by him in defending legal proceedings instituted against him in respect of acts done or purporting to be done in the execution of his duty should be paid out of the Consolidated Fund of India, or, as the case may be, out of the Consolidated Fund of the State.
It shall be consulted on any claim for the award of a pension in respect of injuries sustained by a person while serving under the Government of India or the Government of a State or under the Crown in India or under the Government of an Indian State, in a civil capacity, and any question as to the amount of any such award.

3. LAUNCH OF NVS-01 SATELLITE

TAGS: GS 3: SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

THE CONTEXT: The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) will fly NVS-01 to augment the seven-satellite navigation constellation NavIC on May 29, 2023.

EXPLANATION:

Five years after launching the last navigation satellite in 2018, ISRO is gearing up to launch a new one from Sriharikota to replace an old satellite.
The aim is to maintain a constellation of functional seven satellites needed to keep its navigation system operational and running.

NVS-01 satellite:

ISRO is likely to launch NVS-01, a navigation satellite on-board from the Geosynchronous Launch Vehicle or GSLV Mk-II.
This will be a return flight mission for the GSLV launch vehicle, which will carry the next generation NavIC satellite.
The NVS-01 satellite will replace the navigational capabilities of another satellite IRNSS-1G in the constellation that was launched in 2016 and has a mission life of 12 years.
IRNSS-1G was the seventh navigation satellite of the seven satellites constituting the IRNSS space segment. Its predecessors—IRNSS-1A, 1B, 1C, 1D, 1E and 1F—were launched by PSLV-C22, PSLV-C24, PSLV-C26, PSLV-C27, PSLV-C31 and PSLV-C32
It will retain its communication and messaging capabilities.

Navigation with Indian Constellation (NavIC):

At present, there are four major global navigation system the US global positioning system, the Russian GLONASS, the European Galileo, and the Chinese Beidou. There are two regional navigational systems in the world Japan’s Quasi-Zenith system and India’s Navic.
It is a regional navigation satellite system and was established by ISRO which was earlier known as Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS).
It aims to meet the “positioning, navigation and timing” requirement of the nation.
NavIC is designed with a constellation of seven satellites and a network of ground stations operating 24×7. Three satellites of the constellation are placed in geostationary orbit and four satellites are placed in inclined geosynchronous orbit.
The ground network consists of a control centre, precise timing facility, range and integrity monitoring stations, two-way ranging stations, etc.
NavIC offers two services–standard position service (SPS) for civilian users and Restricted Service (RS) for strategic users. These two services are provided in both L5 (1176.45 MHz) and S band (2498.028 MHz).
NavIC coverage area includes India and a region up to 1,500km beyond Indian boundary.
NavIC signals are designed to provide user position accuracy better than 20m and timing accuracy better than 50ns(nano second).
NavIC SPS signals are interoperable with the other global navigation satellite system (GNSS) signals of GPS (US), Glonass (Russia), Galileo (Europe) and BeiDou.
Two frequencies, the L5 and S bands, are used by the seven satellites in the NavIC constellation so far to provide positioning information. These satellites’ replacements, the new NVS-01 satellites and later, will also have L1 frequency. Even less sophisticated, consumer-grade gadgets like smartwatches can pick up the L1 signal, which is the oldest and most reliable GPS signal. The use of NavIC in devices for civilian use can therefore increase with this band.
NavIC is better than GPS in some aspects. While GPS can get you within 20 metres of your target, NaVIC is more accurate and can get you even closer within 5 metres. However, unlike GPS, which can be used anywhere in the world, NaVIC is regional and can only be used within India and up to 1,500 km from its borders.

4. NEW GOODS AND SERVICES TAX (GST) COMPLIANCE MEASURES

TAGS: GS 3: ECONOMY

THE CONTEXT: In two significant measures to curb tax evasion and increase compliance under the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime, the government has decided to lower the threshold for businesses to generate e-invoice for business-to-business (B2B) transactions, from Rs 10 crore to Rs 5 crore, and has rolled out the automated return scrutiny module for GST returns in a backend application for central tax officers.

EXPLANATION:

Amid rising instances of GST frauds and cases of fake invoices, these changes are expected to broaden the compliance mandate for more businesses, especially small and medium enterprises and help boost the GST revenue collections.

Recent changes:

->Automated return scrutiny module:

Finance Minister in a review of the Central Board of Indirect Taxes & Customs (CBIC), had given directions to roll out an automated return scrutiny module for GST returns at the earliest.
This will enable the officers to scrutinize GST returns of centre-administered taxpayers selected on the basis of data analytics and risks identified by the system.
This will display discrepancies on account of risks associated with a return to the tax officers. They will interact with the taxpayers through the GSTN common portal for communication of discrepancies noticed in returns and subsequent action in form of either issuance of an order of acceptance of reply or issuance of show cause notice or initiation of audit/ investigation.

->Changes for e-invoicing:

The government has also lowered the threshold for businesses to generate e-invoice for business-to-business (B2B) transactions to Rs 5 crore from Rs 10 crore under GST. The changes will come into effect from August 1. 2023.
At present, businesses with turnover of Rs 10 crore and above are required to generate e-invoice for all B2B transactions.

->What is e-invoicing?

The GST Council in its 37th meeting in September 2019 had approved the standard of e-invoice with the primary objective to enable interoperability across the entire GST ecosystem.
Under this, a phased implementation was proposed to ensure a common standard for all invoices, that is, an e-invoice generated by one software should be capable of being read by any other software and through machine readability, an invoice can then be uniformly interpreted.
With a uniform invoicing system, the tax authorities are able to pre-populate the return and reduce the reconciliation issues.
With a high number of cases involving fake invoices and fraud availment of input tax credit, GST authorities have pushed for implementation of this e-invoicing system to help to curb the actions of tax evaders and reduce the number of frauds as the tax authorities will have access to data in real-time.
E-invoicing was initially implemented for large companies with turnover of over Rs 500 crore, and within three years the threshold has now been lowered to Rs 5 crore.
E-invoicing for B2B transactions was made mandatory for businesses with turnover of over Rs 500 crore from October 1, 2020. Then it was extended to businesses with turnover of over Rs 100 crore from January 1, 2021, after which it was extended to businesses with turnover of over Rs 50 crore from April 1, 2021, and then the threshold was lowered to Rs 20 crore from April 1, 2022. It was further reduced to Rs 10 crore from October 1, 2022.
Reduction in the e-invoicing threshold is seen as an important factor for boosting GST revenue collections and checking frauds, it will also increase compliance requirements for smaller businesses.

GOODS AND SERVICES TAX (GST) COUNCIL:

It has been provided in the Constitution (One Hundred and First Amendment) Act, 2016 that the GST Council, in discharge of various functions, shall be guided by the need for a harmonized structure of GST and for the development of a harmonized national market for goods and services.
As per Article 279A, the Council will make recommendations to the Union and the States on important issues related to GST, like the goods and services that may be subjected or exempted from GST, model GST Laws, principles that govern Place of Supply, threshold limits, GST rates including the floor rates with bands, special rates for raising additional resources during natural calamities/disasters, special provisions for certain States, etc

GST Council which will be a joint forum of the Centre and the States, shall consist of the following members: –

a) Union Finance Minister – Chairperson
b) The Union Minister of State, in-charge of Revenue of finance – Member
c) The Minister In-charge of finance or taxation or any other Minister nominated by each State Government – Members

Working of council:-

The Constitution (One Hundred and First Amendment) Act, 2016 provides that every decision of the GST Council shall be taken at its meeting by a majority of not less than 3/4th of the weighted votes of the Members present and voting. The vote of the Central Government shall have a weightage of 1/3rd of the votes cast and the votes of all the State Governments taken together shall have a weightage of 2/3rd of the total votes cast in that meeting. One half of the total number of members of the GST Council shall constitute the quorum at its meeting.

The Council is empowered to make recommendations to the Union and the States on the following:-
(a) the taxes, cesses and surcharges levied by the Union, the States and the local bodies which may be subsumed in the goods and services tax
(b) the goods and services that may be subjected to, or exempted from the goods and services tax
(c) model Goods and Services Tax Laws, principles of levy, apportionment of Integrated Goods and Services Tax and the principles that govern the place of supply
(d) the threshold limit of turnover below which goods and services may be exempted from goods and services tax
(e) the rates including floor rates with bands of goods and services tax
(f) any special rate or rates for a specified period, to raise additional resources during any natural calamity or disaster
(g) special provision with respect to the States of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Jammu and Kashmir, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim, Tripura, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand

(h) the date on which GST shall be levied on petroleum crude, high speed diesel, motor spirit (petrol), natural gas and aviation turbine fuel
(i) any other matter relating to the goods and services tax, as the Council may decide.

5. THAWING PERMAFROST

TAGS: GS 3: ENVIRONMENT

THE CONTEXT: With rising global temperatures, thawing permafrost is likely to destabilise thousands of industrial sites and linked contaminated areas in the Arctic, which could result in the spread of toxic substances across the region, according to a new study. The study, ‘Thawing permafrost poses environmental threat to thousands of sites with legacy industrial contamination’, was published in the journal Nature Communications.

EXPLANATION:

What is Permafrost?

Permafrost is essentially any ground that stays frozen 0 degree Celsius or lower for at least two years straight.
Permafrost can be found both on land and beneath the ocean’s surface. It can be found in locations where the temperature rarely rises above freezing. This indicates that permafrost is common in Arctic locations such as Greenland, Alaska, Russia, China, and Eastern Europe.
According to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), permafrost is composed of “a combination of soil, rocks and sand that are held together by ice. The soil and ice in permafrost stay frozen all year long.” However, although the ground remains perennially frozen, permafrost regions aren’t always covered with snow.
As Earth’s climate warms, the permafrost is thawing. That means the ice inside the permafrost melts, leaving behind water and soil. Thawing permafrost can have dramatic impacts on our planet and the things living on it.

Findings of the study:

Because of the characteristics of permafrost, countries and corporations began building infrastructure on the Arctic’s permafrost. The region witnessed a further expansion of industrial and economic development during the Cold War, it became a centre for resource extraction and military activities. This led to the accumulation of industrial and toxic waste on or in permafrost which was never removed.
The known industrial waste types in the region include drilling and mining wastes, toxic substances like drilling muds and fluids, mine waste heaps, heavy metals, spilled fuels, and radioactive waste.
But as the Arctic is getting warmer nearly four times as fast as the rest of the planet due to climate change, permafrost is thawing rapidly, which could destabilise not only the industrial sites but also the contaminated areas.
And once the destabilisation takes place, toxic substances would be unleashed across the region, threatening numerous species living there and the health of people who depend on them.
According to the report, current models predict that “a pulse of carbon released” from permafrost to the atmosphere will occur within the next hundred years, if not sooner. It is unknown how much carbon will be released from permafrost in the coming years.

Other consequences of thawing permafrost:

One of its most dangerous consequences is the release of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. A 2022 report by NASA said, “Arctic permafrost alone holds an estimated 1,700 billion metric tons of carbon, including methane and carbon dioxide. That’s roughly 51 times the amount of carbon the world released as fossil fuel emissions in 2019.”
A 2022 study by Columbia University observed that thawing permafrost would unleash thousands of dormant viruses and bacteria. Some of these “could be new viruses or ancient ones for which humans lack immunity and cures, or diseases that society has eliminated, such as smallpox or Bubonic plague.
Furthermore, Plant matter frozen in permafrost does not decay, however, when permafrost thaws, microbes within the dead plant material begin to break down the matter, releasing carbon into the atmosphere.

TOP 5 TAKKAR NEWS OF THE DAY (16th MAY 2023)

1. MITOCHONDRIAL DONATION TREATMENT

TAGS: GS 3: SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

CONTEXT: Recently, a baby born using three persons’ DNA in the United Kingdom. The baby has three parents, technically, deriving the mitochondria from a donor apart from genetic material (DNA) from biological parents. Pioneering technology was used to facilitate this, in order to prevent the child from inheriting the mother’s mitochondrial disease.

EXPLANATION:

Process of the treatment:

Three-parent baby, human offspring produced from the genetic material of one man and two women through the use of assisted reproductive technologies, specifically Mitochondrial Replacement Therapy (MRT) and three-person In Vitro Fertilization (IVF).
Baby carries most of its DNA from its parents, and a minor per cent from the donor, whose mitochondria have been used while fertilising the egg.
The errant mitochondrial DNA may be removed either before or after In-Vitro Fertilisation.
In the first case, the nuclear DNA of the donor egg is removed and replaced by that of the egg from the woman whose mitochondrial DNA needs to be replaced. After that, this egg is fertilised as usual and implanted into the womb.
In the second option, following in-vitro fertilisation, the fertilised nuclear DNA is transferred to a donor egg from which the nuclear DNA has already been removed. This leaves the errant mitochondrial DNA out as the fertilised nuclear DNA now has the donor mitochondrial DNA for company.

What are Mitochondria?

One of the primary organelles in each cell is the nucleus, which contains our DNA, or genetic information.
Mitochondria are another type of double-membraned cellular organelle, which are crucial for generating energy. They are commonly known as the powerhouse of the cell and they divide independently of the cell.
They have a very small genome of their own, which in many ways resemble that of more primitive life forms.
The mitochondrial DNA controls its functions much like the rest of the DNA of any living form and decides what the organism would look and act like.

How do Mitochondria get affected?

Mitochondrial DNA makes up less than 0.0005% of our entire DNA, but since the child receives it only from the mother, any aberrations in her mitochondrial DNA that may cause diseases are passed on completely to the child.
Similar to nuclear DNA, mitochondrial DNA serves an important purpose, namely providing the genetic blueprint for molecular machines called proteins that carry out cellular functions. However, this capacity of mitochondria to carry DNA also makes them a genetic liability of sorts.
Specifically, just like nuclear DNA, mitochondrial DNA is susceptible to mutations in the DNA code that can cause disease. If these DNA mutations lead to the production of damaged mitochondrial proteins, they can cause a class of diseases termed mitochondrial disorders.

What is the need?

Certain defects might occur impacting the way the mitochondria produce energy for the cells (especially in the ‘energy-hungry’ tissues of the brain, nerves, muscles, kidneys, heart, liver), and thereby impacting cell function.
The diseases that arise out of such mitochondrial mutations are called mitochondrial diseases.
When the mitochondria are impaired and do not produce sufficient energy, that affects how the organs function, leading to a broad assortment of symptoms across the body, including brain damage, organ failure and muscle wastage.

Possible risks:

The procedure is not without risks. Recent research has found that in some cases, the tiny number of abnormal mitochondria that are inevitably carried over from the mother’s egg to the donor egg can multiply when the baby is in the womb. So-called reversion or reversal could lead to a disease in the child.

2. CENTRE FOR PROCESSING ACCELERATED CORPORATE EXIT (C-PACE)

TAGS: PRELIMS PERSPECTIVE

CONTEXT: The Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) has set up the Centre for Processing Accelerated Corporate Exit (C-PACE) to centralise the process of striking off companies from the MCA Register.

EXPLANATION:

Establishment of C-PACE:

It was announced in the Union Budget 2022-23. C-PACE came into effect on April 1, 2023.
The establishment of C-PACE is part of the MCA’s efforts towards ease of doing business and ease of exit for companies.
The C-PACE institution, established under sub-section (1) of section 396, of the Companies Act, 1956 will be operational through the Registrar of Companies (RoC) for the purpose of processing and disposal of applications.

Operation of C-PACE:

It is located at the Indian Institute of Corporate Affairs in Gurgaon.
It will be in operation through the Registrar of Companies (RoC) for the purposes of exercising functional jurisdiction of processing and disposal of applications
It will work under the supervision of the Director General of Corporate Affairs.

Objectives of C-PACE:

It will reduce the burden on the registry and provide stakeholders with hassle-free filing, timely and process-bound striking off of their company’s names from the register.
It will help keep the registry clean and provide stakeholders with more meaningful data.
As per new rules issued by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, from May 1, applications for removal of the name of a company under Section 248 of the Companies Act would be made to the registrar, C-PACE.
It is expected that the process of voluntary winding up of companies would now be completed in six months as against the earlier timeline of two years.
Section 248 of the Companies Act, 2013 provides for the removal of the name of the company from the RoC if it is not carrying on any business or operation for a period of two immediately preceding financial years and has not made any application within the said period for obtaining the status of a dormant company under Section 455.

Reasons for establishment:

Setting up of the C-PACE is part of the several measures taken by the MCAin the recent past towards ease of doing business and ease of exit for the companies.
Earlier, several IT-based systems have been established for accelerated registration of new companies.
Despite the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 (IBC) significantly changing the insolvency scenario in the country, the timelines for admission and resolution of such cases have fallen woefully short of expectations.
This has led to the need for a detailed statutory mechanism for resolving cross-border insolvency that would aid in the resolution of complex cases that involve cases of groups having multiple jurisdictions and would maximise value for all stakeholders.
Centre for Processing Accelerated Corporate Exit (C-PACE) with process re-engineering will facilitate and speed up the voluntary winding-up of these companies from the currently required two years to less than six months.

3. SANTINIKETAN FOR INCLUSION IN UNESCO’S WORLD HERITAGE LIST

TAGS: PRELIMS PERSPECTIVE

CONTEXT: Santiniketan, the home of Nobel laureate Rabindra Nath Tagore has been recommended for inclusion in UNESCO’s World Heritage List. The recommendation was made by the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS), which is the advisory body to the UNESCO World Heritage Centre, based on a file moved by the Indian government.

EXPLANATION:

Santiniketan, if selected would be the second cultural symbol from West Bengal, to make it to the UNESCO list. In 2021, UNESCO included ‘Durga Puja in Kolkata’ in its list of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.
However, it would be India’s 41st world heritage site and going to be the third site in Bengal; the other two are Darjeeling Himalayan Railways and Sundarbans National Park.

Selection criteria for UNESCO’s World Heritage List:

To be included on the World Heritage List, sites must be of outstanding universal value and meet at least one out of ten selection criteria mentioned in the UNESCO list.

(i)to represent a masterpiece of human creative genius

(ii)to exhibit an important interchange of human values, over a span of time or within a cultural area of the world, on developments in architecture or technology, monumental arts, town-planning or landscape design

(iii)to bear a unique or at least exceptional testimony to a cultural tradition or to a civilization which is living or which has disappeared

(iv)to be an outstanding example of a type of building, architectural or technological ensemble or landscape which illustrates (a) significant stage(s) in human history

(v)to be an outstanding example of a traditional human settlement, land-use, or sea-use which is representative of a culture (or cultures), or human interaction with the environment especially when it has become vulnerable under the impact of irreversible change

(vi)to be directly or tangibly associated with events or living traditions, with ideas, or with beliefs, with artistic and literary works of outstanding universal significance. (The Committee considers that this criterion should preferably be used in conjunction with other criteria)

(vii)to contain superlative natural phenomena or areas of exceptional natural beauty and aesthetic importance

(viii)to be outstanding examples representing major stages of earth’s history, including the record of life, significant on-going geological processes in the development of landforms, or significant geomorphic or physiographic features

(ix)to be outstanding examples representing significant on-going ecological and biological processes in the evolution and development of terrestrial, fresh water, coastal and marine ecosystems and communities of plants and animals

(x)to contain the most important and significant natural habitats for in-situ conservation of biological diversity, including those containing threatened species of outstanding universal value from the point of view of science or conservation.

UNESCO World Heritage Sites in India:

There are 32 cultural sites, 7 natural sites and 1 mixed as recognised by UNESCO. Here is the list of 40 UNESCO World Heritage Sites in India:

Shantiniketan

It is the place where the Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore resided and set up the esteemed Visva-Bharati University.
In the early 20th century, India was under the yoke of colonialism, and Santiniketan heralded a break from colonial revivalist architecture to forge a new modernity, which was not looking to the West but inwards, exploring indigenous materials and techniques, delving into India’s rich past and absorbing influences from the East to create a pan-Asian modernity.
Santiniketan was a bold attempt to revive indigenous construction techniques to create a contextual, regional modernism”.

International Council on Monuments and Sites

ICOMOS, a France-based international culture body, comprises professionals, experts, and representatives from local authorities, companies and heritage organizations.
It is dedicated to the conservation and enhancement of global architectural and landscape heritage.

4. LONDON INTERBANK OFFERED RATE (LIBOR)

TAGS: GS 3: ECONOMY

CONTEXT: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) told banks and other regulated entities to ensure a complete transition away from the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) from July 1, 2023.

EXPLANATION:

What is LIBOR?

LIBOR is the benchmark interest rate at which major global banks lend to one another.
It is administered by the Intercontinental Exchange or ICE., which asks major global banks how much they would charge other banks for short-term loans.
The rate is calculated using the Waterfall Methodology, a standardized, transaction-based, data-driven, layered method.
It is computed for five currencies with seven different maturities ranging from overnight to a year. The five currencies for which LIBOR is computed are the Swiss franc, euro, pound sterling, Japanese yen and US dollar. ICE benchmark administration consists of 11 to 18 banks that contribute to each currency.

How LIBOR is used?

It is the global reference rate for unsecured short-term borrowing in the interbank market.
It acts as a benchmark for short-term interest rates.
It is used for pricing interest rate swaps, currency rate swaps as well as mortgages.
It is an indicator of the health of the financial system and provides an idea of the trajectory of impending policy rates of central banks.
Banks and private companies were using LIBOR as the benchmark rate for raising funds abroad.
It was a key benchmark for setting the interest rates charged on adjustable-rate loans, mortgages and corporate debt.

What was wrong with LIBOR?

In 2012, it came to light that many global banks had colluded to manipulate the LIBOR. The LIBOR also had a role to play in escalating the 2008 financial crisis. As a result, many central banks and regulatory authorities decided to move away from the benchmark.
LIBOR is being replaced by the Secured Overnight Financing Rate (SOFR) on June 30, 2023, with a phase-out of its use beginning after 2021.

New Guidelines by RBI:

The RBI has told banks to ensure that no new transaction undertaken by them or their customers relies on or is priced using the USD LIBOR or the Mumbai Interbank Forward Outright Rate (MIFOR).
In India, the RBI advised banks to stop entering into LIBOR-linked contracts latest by December 31, 2021. Major banks like SBI and ICICI Bank soon announced a transition to new benchmark rates. The latest move is likely to have some transitory impact on banks.
On May 12, RBI asked banks and RBI-regulated entities to take steps to ensure a complete transition away from the LIBOR from July 01, 2023. Banks and Financial Institutions (FI) were advised to ensure that no new transaction undertaken by them or their customers relies on or is priced using the USD LIBOR or the MIFOR.

What will replace LIBOR?

The RBI has offered options like the SOFR (Secured Overnight Financing Rate), which is linked to US treasury market transactions, and the Modified Mumbai Interbank Forward Outright Rate (MMIFOR). SOFR is considered a more accurate and more secure pricing benchmark.

What exactly is SOFR?

SOFR is a broad measure of the cost of borrowing cash overnight, collateralised by (US) treasury securities in the repo market. It is based on the actual market activity and is not dependent on a few firms to set the rates.

What will be the impact of the LIBOR transition on banks and companies?

Banks use benchmark rates like LIBOR to price international transactions while issuing financial instruments. Banks will have to work on updating their systems and agreements.
Since LIBOR has been used for a long time, the transition will be a complex exercise for banks. The same is true for large companies that are looking at international borrowings or bond issues.

5. DIGITAL PUBLIC INFRASTRUCTURE (DPI)

TAGS: GS 3: SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

CONTEXT: Member countries of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan have agreed on adopting India’s model of building and deploying Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI).

EXPLANATION:

Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI):

DPI is a set of interoperable and networked technologies that facilitate information flow with robust governance and inclusive participation of actors in the ecosystem, providing new flows and benefits that are accessible to everyone.
DPI’s benefits span all 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), with early evidence indicating that countries with DPI are much more resilient in the face of crises.
India’s digital public infrastructure, which includes the Aadhar, Unified Payments Interface (UPI) — in other words, digital payments and Digi locker (an online storage platform), collectively come under the ‘India Stack’.

Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) aims:

The DPI aims to deploy digital technology among member states and ensure digitally inclusive growth. The SCO recognizes the need for interoperability and setting common standards for digital systems.
It will put in place a common structure that will ensure interoperability between the different technologies they deploy,
It aims to establish common standards for the interoperability of digital systems within the SCO. In line with its responsibilities as the G20 Presidency, the Indian government is reaching out to multiple countries, offering them its technology stack without any fees.
DPI furthers peoples’ access to public services and economic opportunities. It accelerates and scales functions that lie at the heart of social and economic activity, such as identification and authentication or making and receiving payments. This initiative is expected to benefit Indian startups and system integrators.
DPI can address common challenges that the global community is facing, from advancing gender equality to restoring our natural world.
For many countries, such uses of digital technology hold great potential to expand access to basic resources and services, strengthen healthcare and education systems and raise overall living standards.
They enable online, paperless, cashless, and privacy-respecting digital access to a variety of public and private services, the paper noted.
It can support the formalisation of the Indian economy, where a large section of the population works in the informal sector, the paper added.

Unified Payments Interface

Unified Payments Interface (UPI) is a system that powers multiple bank accounts into a single mobile application (of any participating bank), merging several banking features, seamless fund routing & merchant payments into one hood.
It also caters to the “Peer to Peer” collection request which can be scheduled and paid as per requirement and convenience.

DigiLocker

DigiLocker is a flagship initiative of the Ministry of Electronics & IT (MeitY) under the Digital India programme.
DigiLocker aims at the ‘Digital Empowerment’ of citizens by providing access to authentic digital documents to citizens’ digital document wallets.
DigiLocker is a secure cloud-based platform for the storage, sharing and verification of documents & certificates.

TOP 5 TAKKAR NEWS OF THE DAY (13th MAY 2023)

1. SWACHH BHARAT MISSION GRAMIN

TAGS: PRELIMS PERSPECTIVE

CONTEXT: The country has achieved yet another major milestone under the Swachh Bharat Mission Gramin (SBM-G) with half of the total villages in the country i.e., 50% villages achieving ODF Plus status under phase II of the Mission. The top performing states in terms of percentage of ODF Plus villages are – Telangana (100%), Karnataka (99.5%), Tamil Nadu (97.8%) & Uttar Pradesh (95.2%) among the big states and Goa (95.3%) and Sikkim (69.2%) among small states, are the top performer. Among UTs – Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Dadra Nagar Havelli & Daman Diu and Lakshadweep have 100% ODF Plus Model villages.

EXPLANATION:

SWACHH BHARAT MISSION

It is a massive mass movement that seeks to create a Clean India by 2019. It was launched on October 2, 2014, keeping the vision of father of our nation Mahatma Gandhi who always puts the emphasis on swachhta as swachhta leads to healthy and prosperous life.
The mission aims to cover all rural and urban areas. The urban component of the mission will be implemented by the Ministry of Urban Development, and the rural component by the Ministry of Jal Shakti.

SWACHH BHARAT MISSION URBAN:

The programme aims elimination of open defecation, conversion of unsanitary toilets to pour flush toilets, eradication of manual scavenging, municipal solid waste management and bringing about a behavioural change in people regarding healthy sanitation practices.

SWACHH BHARAT MISSION URBAN 2.0

It envisions to make all cities ‘Garbage Free’ and ensure grey and black water management in all cities other than those covered under AMRUT, make all urban local bodies as ODF+ and those with a population of less than 1 lakh as ODF++, thereby achieving the vision of safe sanitation in urban areas. It will focus on source segregation of solid waste, utilizing the principles of 3Rs (reduce, reuse, recycle), scientific processing of all types of municipal solid waste and remediation of legacy dumpsites for effective solid waste management.

This will be a continuation of the Swachh Bharat Mission (Urban), with the following components for funding and implementation across all statutory towns, viz.

Sustainable sanitation (construction of toilets)
Wastewater treatment, including fecal sludge management in all ULBs with less than 1 lakh population (this is a new component added to SBM-U 2.0)
Solid Waste Management
Information, Education and Communication, and
Capacity building.

At the end of the Mission, the following outcomes are expected to be achieved:

All statutory towns will become ODF+ certified
All statutory towns with less than 1 lakh population will become ODF++ certified
50% of all statutory towns with less than 1 lakh population will become Water+ certified
All statutory towns will be at least 3-star Garbage Free rated as per MoHUA’s Star Rating Protocol for Garbage Free cities
Bio-remediation of all legacy dumpsites.

SWACHH BHARAT MISSION GRAMIN:

The Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan has been restructured into the Swachh Bharat Mission (Gramin). The SBM(G) was launched on 2nd October 2014 to ensure cleanliness in India and make it Open Defecation Free (ODF) in Five Years.
It seeks to improve the levels of cleanliness in rural areas through Solid and Liquid Waste Management activities and making Gram Panchayats Open Defecation Free (ODF), clean and sanitised.
It has been instrumental in improving the health and well-being of millions of people across the country. Several reports in the past few years have exhibited the ground impact of SBM-G programme.
Under the mission, all villages, Gram Panchayats, Districts, States and Union Territories in India declared themselves “open-defecation free” (ODF) by 2 October 2019, the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, by constructing over 100 million toilets in rural India.

SWACHH BHARAT MISSION GRAMIN 2.0

To ensure that the open defecation free behaviours are sustained, no one is left behind, and that solid and liquid waste management facilities are accessible, next Phase II of SBMG i.e ODF-Plus was launched. ODF Plus activities under Phase II of Swachh Bharat Mission (Grameen) will reinforce ODF behaviours and focus on providing interventions for the safe management of solid and liquid waste in villages.
The programme will be implemented in mission mode from 2020-21 to 2024-25.

Major Components Of Phase-II Of SBM (G)

Sustaining Open Defecation
Free Status (ODF-S) Plastic Waste Management
Solid (Bio-degradable) Waste Management
Liquid Waste Management I
nformation Education and Communication/Behavior Change
GOBARdhan
Faecal Sludge Management Capacity Building

An ODF Plus village is one which has sustained its Open Defecation Free (ODF) status along with implementing either solid or liquid waste management systems. ODF Plus Model village is one which is sustaining its ODF status and has arrangements for both Solid Waste Management and Liquid Waste Management; observes visual cleanliness, i.e., minimal litter, minimal stagnant wastewater, no plastic waste dump in public places; and displays ODF Plus Information, Education & Communication (IEC) messages.

GOBARdhan, which stands for Galvanising Organic Bio-Agro Resources-dhan, is an initiative to support biodegradable waste recovery, conversion of waste into resources and for creating clean & green village. It is a ‘waste to wealth’ initiative wherein waste generated in villages is used to generate bio-gas/CBG as well as bio-slurry/bio-fertilizer and is in tune with the circular economy and Mission LiFE initiatives of GoI.

2. CARBON DATING

TAGS: GS 3: SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

CONTEXT: The Allahabad High Court ordered a scientific survey, including carbon dating, of a “Shivling” said to have been found at the Gyanvapi mosque complex in Varanasi after setting aside a lower court order on the issue.

EXPLANATION:

Carbon dating:

Carbon dating is a widely-used method to establish the age of organic materials, things that were once living as living things have carbon in them in various forms.
The dating method is based on the fact that Carbon-14 (C-14), an isotope of carbon with an atomic mass of 14 is radioactive and decays at a well known rate.
Though extremely effective, carbon dating cannot be applied in all circumstances. It cannot be used to determine the age of non-living things like rocks.
Also, the age of things that are more than 40,000-50,000 years old cannot be arrived at through carbon dating. This is because after 8-10 cycles of half-lives, the amount of C-14 becomes almost very small and is almost undetectable.

How Carbon Dating Works?

The most abundant isotope of carbon in the atmosphere is C-12. A very small amount of C-14 is also present. The ratio of C-12 to C-14 in the atmosphere is almost static and is known.
Plants get their carbon through photosynthesis; animals get it mainly through food. Because plants and animals get their carbon from the atmosphere, they too acquire C-12 and C-14 in roughly the same proportion as is available in the atmosphere. When they die, their interactions with the atmosphere stops.
While C-12 is stable, the radioactive C-14 reduces to one half of itself in about 5,730 years known as its ‘half-life’. The changing ratio of C-12 to C-14 in the remains of a plant or animal after it dies can be measured and can be used to deduce the approximate time when the organism died.

Other methods to calculate the age of inanimate things:

Radiometric dating methods: Instead of carbon, decays of other radioactive elements that might be present in the material become the basis for this dating method.
Potassium-argon dating: This method is used for dating rocks. The radioactive isotope of potassium decays into argon, and their ratios can give a clue about the age of rocks.
Uranium-thorium-lead dating: This method is used for dating rocks .Uranium and thorium have several radioactive isotopes, and all of them decay into the stable lead atom. The ratios of these elements present in the material can be measured and used to make estimates about age.
Cosmogenic nuclide dating: This method is used to determine how long an object has remained exposed to sunlight. It is regularly applied to study the age of ice cores in polar regions.

3. PREVENTION OF MONEY LAUNDERING ACT (PMLA), 2002

TAGS: PRELIMS PERSPECTIVE

CONTEXT: Finance Ministry has brought changes to the Prevention of Money Laundering Act and brought practicing chartered accountants, company secretaries, and cost and works accountants carrying out financial transactions on behalf of their clients into the ambit of the money laundering law. Lawyers and legal professionals, however, seem to have been kept out in the new definition of entities covered under the PMLA.

EXPLANATION:

It is an act to prevent money-laundering and to provide for confiscation of property derived from, or involved in, money-laundering and for matters connected therewith. It was enacted in January, 2003 and act along with the Rules framed thereunder have come into force with effect from 1st July, 2005.
3 of PMLA defines offence of money laundering as whosoever directly or indirectly attempts to indulge or knowingly assists or knowingly is a party or is actually involved in any process or activity connected with the proceeds of crime and projecting it as untainted property shall be guilty of offence of money-laundering.
It prescribes obligation of banking companies, financial institutions and intermediaries for verification and maintenance of records of the identity of all its clients and also of all transactions and for furnishing information of such transactions in prescribed form to the Financial Intelligence Unit-India (FIU-IND).

Objectives of the Act:

The PML Act seeks to combat money laundering in India and has three main objectives:

To prevent and control money laundering
To confiscate and seize the property obtained from the laundered money
To deal with any other issue connected with money laundering in India

Salient features of the act include:

Special Courts have been set-up in a number of States / UTs by the Central Government to conduct the trial of the offences of money laundering. The authorities under the Act like the Director, Adjudicating Authority and the Appellate Tribunal have been constituted to carry out the proceedings related to attachment and confiscation of any property derived from money laundering.
In order to enlarge the scope of this Act and to achieve the desired objectives, the Act provides for bilateral agreements between countries to cooperate with each other and curb the menace of money laundering.
In certain cases the Central Government may seek/ provide assistance from/to a contracting State for any investigation or forwarding of evidence collected during the course of such investigation.
The Act provides for reciprocal arrangements for processes/assistance with regard to accused persons.

Institutional Framework

Enforcement Directorate:

The Directorate of Enforcement was established in the year 1956 with its Headquarters at New Delhi.
It is responsible for enforcement of the Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999 (FEMA) and certain provisions under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act and work relating to investigation and prosecution of cases under the PML has been entrusted to Enforcement Directorate.
The Directorate is under the administrative control of Department of Revenue for operational purposes; the policy aspects of the FEMA, its legislation and its amendments are within the purview of the Department of Economic Affairs.

Financial Intelligence Unit- India (FIU-IND):

Financial Intelligence Unit – India was set by the Government of India as the central national agency responsible for receiving, processing, analyzing and disseminating information relating to suspect financial transactions.
FIU-IND is also responsible for coordinating and strengthening efforts of national and international intelligence, investigation and enforcement agencies in pursuing the global efforts against money laundering and related crimes.
FIU-IND is an independent body reporting directly to the Economic Intelligence Council (EIC) headed by the finance minister.

Adjudicating Authority:

In terms of sub-section (1) of section 6 of Preventions of Money Laundering Act, 2002, an Adjudicating Authority under PMLA has been constituted to exercise jurisdiction, powers and authority conferred by or under the said Act.
The Authority comprises three Members, one each from the fields of ‘Law’, ‘Administration’ and ‘Finance or accountancy’. Further, one of the Members is appointed as Chairperson of the Adjudicating Authority. It functions within the Department of Revenue; M/o Finance of the Central Government with its headquarter at New Delhi.
Adjudicating Authority exercise jurisdiction, powers and authority conferred by or under the PMLA. Where the Adjudicating Authority decides that any property is involved in money-laundering, Adjudicating Authority shall, by an order in writing confirm the attachment of the property made or retention of property or record seized.

Appellate Tribunal:

Under Section 25 of the Prevention of Money-laundering Act, 2002, the Central Government has established an Appellate Tribunal. Section 28(4) of the PMLA provides that “the Chairperson or a Member holding a post as such in any other Tribunal, established under any law for the time being in force, in addition to his being the Chairperson or a member of that Tribunal, may be appointed as the Chairperson or a Member, as the case may be, of the Appellate Tribunal under this Act.
The Tribunal consists of a Chairperson and two other Members. The Chairman and one Member of ATFP holds additional charge of the post of Chairman and Member of Tribunal under PMLA.
Adjudicating Authority exercise jurisdiction, powers and authority conferred by or under the PMLA. Where the Adjudicating Authority decides that any property is involved in money-laundering, Adjudicating Authority shall, by an order in writing confirm the attachment of the property made or retention of property or record seized (as under sec. 5 of PMLA).

4. LASER INTERFEROMETER GRAVITATIONAL-WAVE OBSERVATORY (LIGO)-INDIA

TAGS: GS 3: SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

CONTEXT: Seven years after the “in-principle” approval, Prime Minister finally kick started the Rs 2,600 core LIGO India programme as he laid the foundation stone to set up the world’s final gravitational wave observatory in Maharashtra for capturing the elusive cosmic waves whose existence was predicted by Albert Einstein more than a century ago.

EXPLANATION:

Background:

LIGO-India was one of the mega-science projects proposed by the Planning Commission in 2011. A year later, the National Science Board in the USA gave its nod for shifting one of the US gravitational wave detectors to an Indian site.
The green signal from NSB came after the National Science Foundation, which funds the US detectors, asked the board to look at the Indian proposal.
At the Indian end, however, the project gathered dust for several years till the news of the first detection of the gravitational wave took the world by storm, following which the Centre gave an “in-principle” approval in 2016

Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO):

LIGO is a network of laboratories, spread around the world, designed to detect gravitational waves. These waves are incredibly weak, making their detection very challenging.
The LIGO detectors are sensitive to distance changes that are several orders of magnitude smaller than the length of a proton.
Currently, there are three operational gravitational wave observatories around the world – two in the United States (Hanford and Livingston), one in Italy (Virgo), and one in Japan (Kagra).
It is the world’s most powerful observatory that exploits the physical properties of light and of space itself to detect and understand the origins of gravitational waves.

Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO) -India

The LIGO-India project is an initiative aimed at detecting gravitational waves from the universe waves traveling in the vastness of space from some of the most violent and energetic processes in the Universe and hitting Earth.
It involves the construction of two vacuum chambers that are perpendicular to each other and 4 kilometres long each, making them the most sensitive interferometers in the world.
The project is to commence scientific runs from 2030 and will be located in the Hingoli district of Maharashtra, approximately 450 km east of Mumbai.
The LIGO-India project will be built by the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) and the Department of Science and Technology (DST), Government of India, with a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the National Science Foundation (NSF), USA, along with several national and international research and academic institutions.
The LIGO-India project is significant as it will be the fifth node of the planned network, thereby bringing India into a prestigious international scientific experiment.
It has the potential to provide unprecedented insights into the mysteries of the universe, including the nature of black holes, neutron stars, and other celestial phenomena.

Gravitational waves

Albert Einstein predicted the existence of gravitational waves in 1916 in his general theory of relativity. He said that when two massive objects collide they create a ripple in space and time in such a way that “waves of undulating space-time would propagate in all directions away from the source.”
Gravitational waves are ‘ripples’ in space-time caused by some of the most violent and energetic processes in the Universe. These cosmic ripples would travel at the speed of light, carrying with them information about their origins, as well as clues to the nature of gravity itself.
The strongest gravitational waves are produced by cataclysmic events such as colliding black holes, supernovae (massive stars exploding at the end of their lifetimes), and colliding neutron stars. Other gravitational waves are predicted to be caused by the rotation of neutron stars that are not perfect spheres, and possibly even the remnants of gravitational radiation created by the Big Bang.

5. 25^th ANNIVERSARY POKHRAN-II

TAGS: PRELIMS PERSPECTIVE

CONTEXT: India conducted five nuclear tests of advanced weapon designs between May 11 and 13 at Rajasthan’s Pokhran desert that propelled the country into a select group of nations having capabilities to develop nuclear weapons. These tests displayed India’s capability to build fission and thermonuclear weapons with yields up to 200 kilotons, helping India enter the highly guarded club of countries with capability to deploy nuclear weapons.

EXPLANATION:

Background of India’s nuclear programme:

India’s nuclear programme can be traced to the work of physicist Homi J Bhaba.
Tata Institute of Fundamental Research: In 1945, after Bhaba’s successful lobbying of India’s biggest industrial family, the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research was opened in Bombay. TIFR was India’s first research institution dedicated to the study of nuclear physics.
Department of Atomic Energy (DAE): Post independence, Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) was founded, with Bhabha as director to allocate resources for its development.
Physicist Raja Ramanna expanded and supervised scientific research on nuclear weapons and was the first directing officer of a small team of scientists that supervised and carried out the tests.
A team of 75 scientists and engineers, led by Raja Ramanna, PK Iyengar, Rajagopala Chidambaram and others had worked on it from 1967 to 1974.

Reason:

A pivotal moment in India’s nuclear journey came after it suffered a crushing defeat in the 1962 Sino-Indian Warand China’s subsequent nuclear bomb test at Lop Nor in 1964.
Concerned about India’s sovereignty and the looming might of an unfriendly China, the mood in the political establishment towards nuclear weapons was slowly shifting.

Pokhran I

On May 18, 1974, India carried out its first nuclear test at the Pokhran test site. Pokhran-I, codenamed Operation Smiling Buddha, would be billed as a “peaceful nuclear explosion”, with “few military implications”. The name was chosen because the test was conducted on Buddha Purnima that year.
There was near-universal condemnation and countries like the US and Canada imposed significant international sanctions on India. These sanctions was major setback for India’s nuclear journey, and majorly decelerate its progress.
It was the first confirmed nuclear test by a nation that was not a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC).
With the Smiling Buddha, India became the world’s sixth nuclear power after the United States, Soviet Union, Britain, France and China to successfully test out a nuclear bomb.

Pokhran II

On May 11, 1998, Pokhran-II which is codenamed Operation Shakti(literally, “strength”) conducted three nuclear bomb test explosions at the Indian Army’s Pokhran Test Range
These tests displayed India’s capability to build fission and thermonuclear weapons with yields up to 200 kilotons, helping India enter the highly guarded club of countries with capability to deploy nuclear weapons.
While the tests in 1998 also invited sanctions from some countries (like the US), the condemnation was far from universal like in 1974. In context of India’s fast-growing economy and market potential, India was able to stand its ground and thus cement its status as a dominant nation state.
In March 1998, Pakistan launched the Ghauri missile built with assistance from China. Two months later, India responded with Operation Shakti. While the 1974 tests were ostensibly done for peaceful purposes, the 1998 tests were the culmination of India’s nuclear weaponisation process. Consequently, the Indian Government declared itself as a state possessing nuclear weapons following Pokhran-II.

Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT)

In 1968, the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) came into existence. The treaty defines nuclear-weapon states as those that have built and tested a nuclear explosive device before January 1, 1967 – the US, Russia (formerly USSR), the UK, France and China – and effectively disallows any other state from acquiring nuclear weapons.
While the treaty has been signed by almost every country in the world, India is one of the few non-signatories.

TOP 5 TAKKAR NEWS OF THE DAY (9th MAY 2023)

1. LITHIUM RESERVE IN RAJASTHAN

TAGS: GS-3: SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

CONTEXT: Months after India found its first ever lithium reserve in Jammu and Kashmir, another reserve of the crucial mineral has been found in Rajasthan’s Degana (Nagaur) by India’s Geological Survey. The new lithium reserve is much bigger than the one found in Jammu and Kashmir.

EXPLANATION:

Findings: GSI and mining officials have claimed that the amount of Lithium present in these reserves can satisfy 80 percent of India’s total demand. The discovery of these reserves may help in reducing the dependency of India on imports.
A World Bank study suggests that the demand for critical metals such as lithium (Li) and cobalt is expected to rise by nearly 500% by 2050. While “the global electric vehicle market is projected to reach $823.75 billion by 2030, registering a Compounded Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 18.2% from 2021 to 2030,”
India’s market is projected to register a CAGR of 23.76% by 2028. India is seeking to secure its critical mineral supplies and build self-sufficiency in this sector.
Lithium is a non-ferrous metal, which is also the softest and lightest metal in the world. Soft enough to be cut with a vegetable knife and light enough to float when put in water. It stores chemical energy and converts it into electrical energy.
Use of Lithium: Lithium is present in every chargeable electronic and battery-powered gadget in the house today. For this reason, there is a tremendous demand for Lithium around the world. Due to the global demand, it is also called White Gold. Lithium-ion batteries are used in wind turbines, solar panels, and electric vehicles, all of which are crucial in a green economy.
Lithium Reserve in World: Lithium reserves are concentrated in the lithium triangle in South America i.e Argentina, Bolivia & Chile, with 50% of the deposits concentrated in these regions. Bolivia has highest lithium reserves. China, meanwhile, has the lead over other countries and China controls 75% of Lithium refining.
India currently imports all of its Li from Australia and Argentina and 70% of its Li-ion cell requirement from China and Hong Kong, the lithium reserves in J&K could boost the domestic battery-manufacturing industry.
Environmental impacts of Lithium mining: Open-pit-mining, refining, and waste disposal from these processes substantially degrades the environment, including depletes and contaminates waterways and groundwater, diminishes biodiversity, and releases considerable air pollution.

2. ARAB LEAGUE REINSTATED THE MEMBERSHIP OF SYRIA

TAGS: GS-2: INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS; PRELIMS PERSPECTIVE

CONTEXT: The Arab League voted to reinstate Syria’s membership after its suspension more than 10 years ago, underlining the thawing relations between Damascus and other Arab countries. The decision was taken at a closed-door meeting, attended by foreign ministers from 13 out of 22 member states of the organisation, held in Cairo, Egypt.

EXPLANATION:

Background: Syria was ousted from the Arab League in 2011 following President Bashar al-Assad’s brutal crackdown on pro-democracy protests, which led to the ongoing civil war in the country. The conflict has since killed around half of a million people and displaced about 23 million.
Reasons for reinstatement: Experts believe these countries have realised they need to end Damascus’ isolation for the stability of West Asia. Moreover, they want some sort of repatriation of refugees back into Syria and a curb on the trade of captagon, a highly addictive amphetamine produced in the country. Another catalyst in Syria’s rehabilitation is the China-brokered re-establishment of diplomatic relations between regional powerhouse Saudi Arabia and its archenemy, Iran.

About Arab League:

The Arab League, formally known as the League of Arab States, was established in 1945 with initially just six nations: Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, and Syria. Currently, it has 22 member states in Northern Africa and on the Arabian Peninsula, which belongs geographically to Asia, who have pledged to cooperate on economic and military affairs, among other issues.
22 member states are: Algeria, Bahrain, Comoros, Djibouti, Egypt, Iraq, Jordon, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Oman, Palestinian Authority, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates and Yemen.
All member countries together cover an area of 13.15 million km² (8.7% of the world’s inhabitable area). Significant parts are desert regions such as the Sahara and the Rub al-Chali sand desert. With about 456.52 million inhabitants, the area is home to about 5.8 percent of the world population.
All member states are also members of the OIC, the Organisation for Islamic Cooperation.
Foundation: The origins of the Arab League go back to the Second World War. Large parts of the founding members belonged to the Ottoman Empire. At the end of the war, the region was to be stabilized and its independence secured. On October 7, 1944, a “Protocol of Alexandria” was signed as a loose union. After elaborating on the ideas, the Arab League was founded the following year on 11 May 1945. The first member states were the kingdoms of Egypt, Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Yemen, as well as Lebanon, Syria and the then Emirate of Transjordan.
Aim: The aims of the Arab League were very similar to those of NATO and the Warsaw Pact. The aims of the league in 1945 were to strengthen and coordinate the political, cultural, economic, and social programs of its members and to mediate disputes among them or between them and third parties.
Administration: The chairmanship is elected every five years, but the seat of the Arab League has been in Cairo (Egypt) since the beginning. Other sub-organizations are:
the Arab Monetary Fund (AMF)
Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development (AFESD)
Arab Economic Development Bank (BADEA)
Arab Air Carriers Organization

3. FIVE MORE CHEETAH TO BE INTRODUCED IN KUNO NATIONAL PARK

TAGS: GS 3: ENVIRONMENT; PRELIMS PERSPECTIVE

CONTEXT: Five more cheetahs, three females and two males will be released from acclimatisation camps into free-ranging conditions at Madhya Pradesh’s Kuno National Park (KNP) before the onset of the monsoon in June 2023.

EXPLANATION:

Background: Eight cheetahs from Namibia and 12 from South Africa were transported to India between September 2022 and February 2023 as part of an initiative to reintroduce the species to India, where it had gone extinct in the early 1950s. eight African cheetahs were brought to India today from Namibia as a part of Project Cheetah, the world’s first inter-continental large wild carnivore translocation project

About Cheetah:

Being a top carnivore, the cheetahis a major evolutionary force that shapes ecosystem functions and enhances species diversity. Their prey base includes ungulates like chital, Sambar deer, nilgai, four-horned antelope, chinkara, blackbuck and wild boar.
Cheetah is found only in arid region of eastern Iran in Asia and in Africa. It is found in isolated population in grassland and open forest areas.
African Cheetah and Asiatic Cheetah:

African Cheetah

African Cheetahs are much larger in population and listed as Vulnerable in the (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species

The African cheetah is spread out across Africa from Northwest Africa, East Africa, and Southern Africa. With a bigger territory, the African cheetahs have the highest populations compared to their Asiatic counterparts

African cheetahs, on the other hand, have a slightly bigger build with sturdier legs and necks. Their heads are also bigger compared side by side with the Asiatic cheetahs. An adult African cheetah can reach 84 inches in length and can weigh up to 159 pounds

Asiatic Cheetah

Asiatic Cheetahs have a very small population base and are listed as critically endangered species in the (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species.

On the other hand, Asiatic Cheetahs are only found in a small region between Iran and Pakistan. Asiatic cheetahs once roamed the whole expanse of the central Asian continent from India to Afghanistan and Pakistan, but with their numbers reduced, it is hard for them to be sighted outside Iran

The Asiatic cheetah is slightly smaller and slender than the African cheetah. The neck is much smaller and longer. Their legs are also slender, which has led many to believe that they could be much faster than their African cousins. However, no data is available to confirm. An Asiatic cheetah adult grows to about 53 inches in length with a 33-inch tail and can weigh up to 119 pounds

Why Cheetahs Got Extinct in India?

The species was declared extinct in India in 1952 primarily due to hunting and habitat loss. In 1947, the last three recorded cheetahs in India were killed by Maharaja Ramanuj Pratap Singh Deo of Korea in Madhya Pradesh.
Cheetahs were frequently used by the hunters to course blackbuck. They were relatively easy to tame and trained for sport-hunting.
Under British rule, to develop settlements and agricultural fields, forests were cleared and it resulted in losing the habitats for the species. Moreover, there is evidence to prove that Britishers considered the animals ‘vermins’ (harmful to crops, farm animals, or game, or which carry disease) and they started distributing monetary rewards for killing them from 1871 onwards.

Project Cheetah:

India then committed to returning cheetahs in several locations including Madhya Pradesh’s Kuno National Park where the staff have been trained, several dogs have been made specialised, facilities have been upgraded and large predators have been moved away.
In July 2020, India and Namibia signed an MoU (Memorandum of Understanding) stating Namibia’s agreement to donate eight individuals to India as an initial part to launch the programme.

Kuno-Palpur National Park:

Kuno Palpur National Park is located in Madhya Pradesh, Sheopur and Morena Districts, first established in 1981 as a wildlife sanctuary, and later in 2018 as a national park, is a part of the Khathiar-Gir dry deciduous forests ecoregion.
Kuno’s geography consists of vast grasslands, open forest patches and hills, perfect for the big cat.
Some of the main fauna of the park are the Indian leopard, sloth bear, jungle cat, Indian wolf, striped hyena, Bengal fox and many more. Some of the birds found here are Honey badger, ruddy mongoose, Indian grey mongoose, Indian hare etc.
In 2009, it became a possible site to reintroduce cheetah in Madhya Pradesh. Kuno National Park is selected for the new home for the eight cheetahs as geographically it is located very close to the Sal forests of Koriya, where the native cheetahs were last spotted about seven decades ago.

4. RIVER CITIES ALLIANCE

TAGS: GS 3: ENVIRONMENT

CONTEXT: National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) in association with the National Institute of Urban Affairs (NIUA) organized the ‘River-Cities Alliance (RCA) Global Seminar: Partnership for Building International River-Sensitive Cities’. The purpose of the RCA Global Seminar was to provide a platform for officials of member cities and international stakeholders to discuss and learn good practices for managing urban rivers.

EXPLANATION:

Background: The Government of India is working extensively to rejuvenate the twenty river basins in the country. In 2014-15, the Namami Gange Mission was launched as a Flagship Initiative for the protection, conservation and rejuvenation of the Ganga River Basin. Guided by a holistic river basin centric approach, the focus is on the riverine ecosystem, including components such as pollution abatement, solid and liquid waste management, biodiversity, afforestation, wetland conservation, groundwater management, etc.
Namami Gange Mission recognizes that integrated river basin management needs to be interwoven with economic growth and urban transformations. Efforts are being made to engage city governments in this collective responsibility of river rejuvenation and economical gains with the stretch of river flowing through or near their boundaries. This is in alignment with the Hon’ble Prime Minister of India’s clarion call for “need for new thinking for river cities. Cities should be responsible for rejuvenating their rivers. It has to be done not just with the regulatory mind set but also with developmental and faciliatory outlook.”

The River Cities Alliance (RCA):

It is a joint initiative of the Department of Water Resources, River Development & Ganga Rejuvenation under the Ministry of Jal Shakti (MoJS) & the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA), with a vision to connect river cities and focus on sustainable river centric development.
Beginning with 30 member cities in November 2021, the Alliance has expanded to 109 river cities across India and one international member city from Denmark.
River Cities Alliance (RCA) was launched as a dedicated platform for river cities in India to ideate, discuss and exchange information for sustainable management of urban rivers.
NMCG, National Institute of Urban Affairs (NIUA) and key partners provide dedicated technical and handholding support to the 107 member cities of the RCA, as they implement interventions for river-sensitive development.
Mechanism of RCA: The Governance Mechanism of the RCA has been envisaged as a city-led movement for promulgating river-sensitive planning and development. Hence, the agenda and operations for RCA are determined by the member cities. The activities being undertaken are in three broad areas:
Networking: Organizing annual river summit; facilitating exchange of official visits for member cities; and publishing a bi-monthly newsletter
B. Capacity Building: Conducting certification training programmes for officials of member cities; annual calendar of events; and organizing webinars and expert talk.
C. Technical Support: River-sensitive urban planning and interventions; Innovations in urban river management; river linked economy and rejuvenation of urban water bodies.

RCA- DHARA 2023(Driving Holistic Action for Urban Rivers)

DHARA 2023 featured key sessions on international best practices and examples for urban river management.
DHARA 2023 was aimed to inspire members of the RCA to engage in progressive actions for urban river management in their cities.
It will help helped in developing a compendium of technological solutions that cities may adopt for enhancing the management of their local rivers.

5. ISSUE OF DRUG RECALL

TAGS: GS 2: HEALTH ISSUE

CONTEXT: In a rare occurrence, Abbot, a multinational pharmaceutical company, published a public notice in newspapers alerting people about a mislabelled batch of medicine that it had inadvertently shipped to the market. While such recalls take place regularly in the U.S., including by Indian companies, it has never been witnessed that domestic or foreign pharmaceutical companies recall substandard or mislabelled drugs in India.

EXPLANATION:

A drug recall occurs when a prescription or over-the-counter medicine is removed from the market because it is found to be either defective or potentially harmful.

Background:

In 2012, after a scathing report by the Department Related Parliamentary Standing Committee on Health & Family Welfare raised the issue of recalls, among other issues, the CDSCO proposed a set of draft recall guidelines except the national regulator lacks the power to convert guidelines into a binding law.
Only the Ministry of Health or, more importantly, the Drug Regulation Section of the Ministry, can initiate the process to make binding rules or legislation. The then Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) had announced that the guidelines would become binding law in a few months, but that never happened. In any event, the guidelines were not very thorough.
The issue of recalls resurfaced in 2016 at meetings of the DCC and at another committee, called the Drugs Technical Advisory Board (DTAB). Nothing changed on the ground. The same issue came up again in 2018 and 2019 at the meetings of the DCC, but India still lacks a recall law, 46 years on.

Reasons for lack of effective recall mechanism:

Drug Regulation Section of the Union health ministry is simply not up to the task of tackling complex drug regulatory issues due to a combination of different factors including apathy, lack of expertise in the area, and a greater interest in enabling the growth of the pharmaceutical industry than protecting public health.
The second possible factor is India’s highly fragmented regulatory structure, with each state having its own drug regulator. But despite the fragmentation, drugs manufactured in one state can seamlessly cross borders to be sold in all states around the country.
The third possible factor is that India’s drug regulators are aware of the fact that a mandatory drug recall system, which necessarily has to be centred on a system of wide publicity, will bring to public attention to the rotten state of affairs in India’s pharmaceutical industry.

Drug Regulation in India:

The Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO)under Directorate General of Health Services, Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Government of India is the National Regulatory Authority (NRA) of India.
Its headquarter is located at New Delhi and also has six zonal offices,four sub zonal offices, thirteen Port offices and seven laboratories spread across the country.
The Drugs & Cosmetics Act,1940 and rules 1945 have entrusted various responsibilities to central & state regulators for regulation of drugs & cosmetics. It envisages uniform implementation of the provisions of the Act & Rules made there under for ensuring the safety, rights and well being of the patients by regulating the drugs and cosmetics.
CDSCO is constantly thriving upon to bring out transparency, accountability and uniformity in its services in order to ensure safety, efficacy and quality of the medical product manufactured, imported and distributed in the country.
Under the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, CDSCO is responsible for approval of Drugs, Conduct of Clinical Trials, laying down the standards for Drugs, control over the quality of imported Drugs in the country and coordination of the activities of State Drug Control Organizations by providing expert advice with a view of bring about the uniformity in the enforcement of the Drugs and Cosmetics Act.
The government has notified the DPCO 2013 under the Essential Commodities Act, 1955, which gives power to the NPPA (National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA )to regulate prices of 348 essential drugs along with their specified strengths and dosages under National List of Essential Medicines . As per the DPCO 2013, “Scheduled formulation” means any formulation, included in the First Schedule whether referred to by generic versions or brand name. “Nonscheduled formulation” has been defined as a formulation, the dosage and strengths of which are not specified in the First Schedule.

TOP 5 TAKKAR NEWS OF THE DAY (8th MAY 2023)

1. INDIA’S FIRST NATIONAL WATER BODY CENSUS

TAGS: GS-3: ENVIRONMENT

CONTEXT: Ministry of Jal Shakti has released the report of India’s first water bodies census, a comprehensive data base of ponds, tanks, lakes, and reservoirs in the country.

EXPLANATION:

Definition of Water Bodies: First Census Report considers “all natural or man-made units bounded on all sides with some or no masonry work used for storing water for irrigation or other purposes (e.g. industrial, pisciculture, domestic/ drinking, recreation, religious, ground water recharge etc.)” as water bodies.
Objective: The census’s objective was to develop a national database with information on the size, purpose, ownership, status, and conditions of water bodies. It covered all natural and human-made units bounded on all sides for storing water, irrespective of condition or use.
Findings: As per the report, West Bengal’s South 24 Pargana has been ranked as the district having the highest (3.55 lakh) number of water bodies across the country. The district is followed by Andhra Pradesh’s Ananthapur (50,537) and West Bengal’s Howrah (37,301).
Exclusion of Seven specific types of water bodies from the count. They were: 1) oceans and lagoons; 2) rivers, streams, springs, waterfalls, canals, etc. which are free flowing, without any bounded storage of water; 3) swimming pools; 4) covered water tanks created for a specific purpose by a family or household for their own consumption; 5) a water tank constructed by a factory owner for consumption of water as raw material or consumable; 6) temporary water bodies created by digging for mining, brick kilns, and construction activities, which may get filled during the rainy season; and 7) pucca open water tanks created only for cattle to drink water.
Methodology to collect census data: According to the report, “traditional methodology, i.e., paper-based schedules, were canvassed both for rural and urban areas. A “village schedule”, “urban schedule” and “water body schedule” were canvassed, and a smart phone was used to “capture latitude, longitude and photo of water bodies”.

https://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/energy-and-environment/water-census-ministry-jal-shakti-findings-analysis/article66822865.ece

2. CYCLONE MOCHA BUILDING OVER BAY OF BENGAL

TAGS: GS1: PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY
CONTEXT: The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) has said that a cyclonic or low-pressure area is developing in the Bay of Bengal and can lead to high rainfall in the next few days in the region, from May 8 to May 12. It also said that the weather system was likely to form a depression over the southeast Bay of Bengal around May 9, and then intensify into a cyclonic storm.

EXPLANATION:

A cyclone is a low-pressure system that forms over warm waters. Usually, a high temperature anywhere means the existence of low-pressure air, and a low temperature means high-pressure wind.
Formation of cyclones: When warm and humid air rises and cools, the water in the air turns into clouds. As ocean heat and water evaporate from the surface of the ocean, the entire system of clouds and winds rotates and rises. As the air system spins at increasing speed, an eye forms in the middle. The center of the storm is very calm and clear. The difference in temperature between the warm and rising atmosphere causes the air to rise up and become more energetic.
Naming of cyclones: Cyclones that form in every ocean basin across the world are named by the Regional Specialised Meteorological Centres (RSMCs) and Tropical Cyclone Warning Centres (TCWCs). There are six RSMCs in the world, including the India Meteorological Department (IMD), and five Cyclone Mocha’s name is suggested by Yemen and the name originates from the city of Mocha in Yemen, which is located on the Red Sea coast.
Local names of cyclones:
Typhoons – South China Sea and Western Pacific Ocean
Tropical Cyclones – Indian Ocean
Hurricanes -Caribbean Sea
Wily Willies – Western Australia
Baguio- Philippines
Taifu- Japan
Cyclone warning system in India: The Meteorological Department of India is the nodal agency in India responsible for weather monitoring, weather forecasting, and seismology. The Cyclone Warning Center (ACWC) predicts a storm area in the Bay of Bengal and the Cyclone Warning Center (CWC) in the Arabian Sea. The ACWC and CWC sent their reports to the coordinating center, National Cyclone Warning Center (NCWC).

https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/explained-climate/imd-cyclone-mocha-formation-details-explained-859653

3. ISRO’S SPACE SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY AWARENESS TRAINING (START)

TAGS: GS 3: SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
CONTEXT: The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has announced a new introductory-level online training programme called Space Science and Technology Awareness Training (START).

EXPLANATION:

The START programme is part of the ISRO’s efforts to enable Indian students to become professionals in Space Science and Technology, as the organisation’s Space Science exploration programme continues to expand into new domains.
The programme is intended to provide students with an introductory-level training in Space Science and Technology, giving them an overview of different facets of the field, research opportunities, and career options.
Aim: START is aimed at postgraduate and final-year undergraduate students of Physical Sciences and Technology. The programme will cover various domains of Space Science, including Astronomy and Astrophysics, Heliophysics and Sun-Earth interaction, Instrumentation, and Aeronomy. It will be delivered by scientists from Indian academia and ISRO centres.
The training will also emphasise the cross-disciplinary nature of Space Science, giving students insights into how the individual aptitudes can be applied to the field.
The START programme is part of ISRO’s efforts to enable Indian students to become professionals in space science and technology, as the organization’s space science exploration program continues to expand into new domains. The programme is expected to help build a human capacity that will lead space science and research in the future.

https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/karnataka/isro-to-start-online-training-programme-for-pg-and-and-final-year-ug-students/article66823617.ece

4. MANIPUR VIOLENCE

TAGS: GS 2: EMERGENCY PROVISIONS, ST STATUS, SPECIAL STATUS OF MANIPUR
CONTEXT: Violent protests have erupted in Manipur over the Indian state’s decision to grant a Scheduled Tribe (ST) tag to the Meitei community. Stoking historic tensions, the move has been met with suspicion by Nagas and Kukis, who dominate the state’s population and live in rural areas surrounding the fertile Imphal Valley, home to around 53% of the population. The controversial eviction of local farmers from reserved forests triggered initial opposition, while residents’ frustration mounted at a growing sense of dislocation from the state’s political decisions.

EXPLANATION:

Issue of the violence: The escalation in violence in Manipur has its roots in an over 10-year-old demand by the Meitei community for a Scheduled Tribe tag. The immediate reason for this violence, however, is a Manipur High Court order directing the state government to recommend to the Union Tribal Affairs Ministry by May 29, an ST tag for the community. The petitioners have argued that this community had once enjoyed the ST tag prior to the merger of Manipur with the Indian Union and have sought the restoration of this status.
On May 4, as the violence escalated, the Centre invoked Article 355 of the Constitution, which is a part of emergency provisions. It empowers the Centre to take necessary steps to protect a State against external aggression or internal disturbances.

Scheduled Tribe status:

According to the modalities for inclusion first framed in 1999, the proposal for inclusion must originate from the respective State or Union Territory government.
Following this, the proposal is sent to the Union Tribal Affairs Ministry, which sends it to the Office of the Registrar General of India (ORGI). If the ORGI approves the inclusion, the proposal is forwarded to the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes.
Only after the concurrence of these institutions, will the proposal go forward to the Cabinet to bring in the appropriate amendment to the Constitution (Scheduled Tribes) Order, 1950.

Article 371:

It was added in the constitution by 27^th Amendment Act of 1971.
Under this, the President is authorised to provide for the creation of a committee of the Manipur Legislative Assembly consisting of members elected from the Hill Areas of the State. The expression ‘Hill Areas’ means such areas as the President may, by order, declare to be Hill Areas.
Governor shall annually, or whenever so required by the President, make a report to the President regarding the administration of the Hill Areas in the State of Manipur and the executive power of the Union shall extend to the giving of directions to the State as to the administration of the said areas.

Emergency provisions:

It is a part of emergency provisions contained in Part XVIII of the Constitution of India, from Article 352 to 360.
Article 355 is found in part XVIII of the Indian constitution which contains emergency provisions that are meant to be used in extremely rare circumstances.
Article 355 States that it shall be the duty of the Union to protect every State against external aggression and internal disturbance and to ensure that the Government of every State is carried on in accordance with the provisions of this Constitution.
This section of the constitution empowers the Union government to declare a state of emergency (through Article 352) or, in other cases, President’s Rule in a particular state of the Union (through Article 356).

https://indianexpress.com/article/political-pulse/why-manipur-violence-is-different-northeast-history-8595766/

5. WOMEN IN THE DEFENCE FORCES OF INDIA

Tags: GS 1: SOCIETY
Context: Continuing the policies of recent years that have been aimed at improving the availability of opportunities for women in the defence forces of India, the Union Ministry of Defence is planning to further increase the participation of women in next year’s Republic Day parade.

EXPLANATION:

An office memorandum issued stated the Republic Day Parade 2024 will have “only women participants” in contingents marching and band tableaux and other performances during the parade at Kartavya Path.
In 2015, For the first time in the country’s history, an all-women contingent from the three forces Army, Air Force and Navy marched down the path between India Gate and Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi.

Women in the Indian Army:

The Indian Army began inducting women in 1992. They were commissioned for a period of five years in certain chosen streams such as Army Education Corps, Corps of Signals, Intelligence Corps and Corps of Engineers.
Combat role in the Indian Army has for long been an exclusive domain for men. Supreme Court judgment has finally accepted gender parity in the Armed by allowing women officers in command positions.
The Army is yet to open core combat arms like infantry, mechanised infantry, and armoured corps for women, even as it has recently inducted five women officers in the Regiment of Artillery, which is a combat support arm.
Consequent to grant of Permanent Commission to Women Officers (WOs), a gender neutral Career Progression policy covering employment and promotional aspects was promulgated on 23.11.2021, providing equal opportunities to women officers in the Arms/Services where they are commissioned.

Women in the Indian Air Force:

Women officers are inducted in all branches and streams of Indian Air Force. Gender neutral approach is facilitating the employment of women officers of Indian Air Force in all combat roles without any restrictions. They are flying fighter aircraft and operating from the length and breadth of the country in all branches of the IAF with pride.
At present, women are serving in Officer’s cadre only in the Indian Air Force (IAF). The strength of women officers, as on March 01, 2023, in the IAF (excluding Medical and Dental branches) is 1,636.
Women officers are empowered to tenate key appointments including Commanding Officers in Combat Units of various field units. The rules in this regard are gender neutral and provide them equal opportunities. Their medical fitness and medical conditions are also factored prior to their effective utilization.

Women in the Indian Navy:

As on date, women are employed in the Indian Navy in the officer’s rank. The strength of women officers in the Indian Navy, as on March 09, 2023, is 748 including Medical and Dental officers.
Permanent Commission to Women Officers: SSC women officers in the Indian Navy are eligible for consideration towards grant of Permanent Commission. As on date, 59 women officers (excluding Medical and Dental officers) have been granted PC.
Entry of Women into NDA: Entry of women candidates into NDA has been permitted from 2022 wherein women officers are being inducted as PC officers. Three vacancies per batch have been allocated at NDA for women candidates of Navy and the first batch has joined in July 2022.

https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/women-india-republic-day-parade-explained-8596861/