Important Definitions-Jun

Official language in High Courts

Lawyers have challenged in the Supreme Court a law which makes Hindi the official language in courts in Haryana.

What’s the issue?

The petition contends that the Haryana Official Language (Amendment) Act of 2020 has unconstitutionally and arbitrarily imposed Hindi as the sole official language to be used in lower courts across the State.

 What’s the concern?

• The lawyers have argued that English is widely used by advocates and the subordinate judiciary in lower courts in justice administration work.
• The imposition of Hindi as the sole language would result in an unreasonable classification between lawyers who are fluent in Hindi and those who are not.
• They say the amendment was a violation of the fundamental right to equality, freedom to practice a profession of choice, dignity and livelihood.

What the Constitution says?

Article 348 (1) of the Constitution of India provides that all proceedings in the Supreme Court and in every High court shall be in English Language until Parliament by law otherwise provides.

• Under Article 348 (2), the Governor of the State may, with the previous consent of the President, authorize the use of the Hindi language or any other language used for any official purpose of the State, in the proceedings of the High Court having its principal seat in that State provided that decrees, judgments or orders passed by such High Courts shall be in English.

Section 7 of the Official Languages Act, 1963, provides that the use of Hindi or official language of a State in addition to the English language may be authorized, with the consent of the President of India, by the Governor of the State for purpose of judgments etc. made by the High Court for that State.

The provision of optional use of Hindi in proceedings has already been made in the High Courts of Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Bihar.

 PM CARES Fund Not A ‘Public Authority’ Under RTI Act

Stating that PM CARES FUNDS is not a ‘public authority’ under Section 2(h) of the Right to Information Act, 2005, the Prime Minister’s Office(PMO) has refused to divulge information sought in an application filed under the RTI Act.

What is ‘public authority’ under RTI?

As per Section 2(h) of the RTI Act, “public authority” is means any authority or body or institution of self-government established or constituted:

1. by or under the Constitution;
2. by any other law made by Parliament;
3. by any other law made by State Legislature;
4. by notification issued or order made by the appropriate Government.

The definition of ‘public authority’ also includes bodies owned, controlled or substantially financed by the government and non-governmental organizations substantially financed, directly or indirectly by funds provided by the appropriate Government.

Implications of this move:

• For a trust which is created and run by 4 cabinet ministers in their ex-officio capacities, denying the status of ‘public authority’ is a big blow to transparency and not to mention our democratic values.
• The name, composition of the trust, control, usage of emblem, government domain name everything signifies that it is a public authority. By simply ruling that it’s not a public authority and denying the application of RTI Act, the Government has constructed walls of secrecy around it. 

What is PM CARES fund?

The PM CARES Fund was created on 28 March 2020, “with the primary objective of dealing with any kind of emergency or distress situation, like posed by the COVID-19 pandemic”.

It is a “public charitable trust”.

Who administers the fund?

Prime Minister is the ex-officio Chairman of the PM CARES Fund and Minister of Defence, Minister of Home Affairs and Minister of Finance, Government of India are ex-officio Trustees of the Fund.

Why it should be monitored?

Reports suggest that PM CARES has already received contributions in excess of Rs. 10,000 crores. It amassed a staggering Rs. 6,500 crores in its very first week with donations from large corporate houses and celebrities.

What’s government‘s argument?

The argument against conferring PM CARES the status of a “public account” seems to be that it is a fund based on voluntary contributions of individuals and organisations, and as such, beyond the full-fledged scrutiny of the CAG.

Need of the hour:

The very purpose of having a separate public account of India under Article 266(2), as against the Consolidated Fund of India [Article 266(1)] and the Contingency Fund of India (Article 267), is to cover receipts that do not fall in either of these two funds.

Similarly, since PM CARES conforms to being a “public account” and as vast sums of money have been collected manifestly at the behest of the government of India, allowing the CAG to audit it will be a step in the direction of transparency and instil public confidence in the Fund.

What the Constitution of India says?

Under Article 266(2) of the Constitution, “public moneys received by or on behalf of the Government of India”, which is not on account of revenue from taxes, duties, repayment of loans and the like should be credited to the Public Account of India.

23 additional MFP items included in MSP list

Ministry of Tribal Affairs has announced inclusion of 23 additional Minor Forest Produce (MFP) items in Minimum Support Price (MSP) list.

They include Van Tulsi seeds, Van Jeera, Mushroom, Black Rice and Johar Rice among others.

Significance:

This enhances the coverage from 50 to 73 items. This comes in view of the COVID-19 pandemic so that much needed support could be provided to the tribal MFP gatherers.

What is this scheme all about?

The Union Cabinet, in 2013, approved a Centrally Sponsored Scheme for marketing of non-nationalized / non monopolized Minor Forest Produce (MFP) and development of a value chain for MFP through Minimum Support Price (MSP).

This was a measure towards social safety for MFP gatherers, who are primarily members of the Scheduled Tribes (STs) most of them in Left Wing Extremism (LWE) areas.

Objectives of the scheme:

• Ensure that the tribal population gets a remunerative price for the produce they collect from the forest and provide alternative employment avenues to them.
• Establish a system to ensure fair monetary returns for forest dweller’s efforts in collection, primary processing, storage, packaging, transportation etc, while ensuring sustainability of the resource base.
• Get them a share of revenue from the sales proceeds with costs deducted.

Implementation:

1. The responsibility of purchasing MFP on MSP will be with State designated agencies.
2. To ascertain market price, services of market correspondents would be availed by the designated agencies particularly for major markets trading in MFP.
3. The scheme supports primary value addition as well as provides for supply chain infrastructure like cold storage, warehouses etc.
4. The Ministry of Tribal Affairs will be the nodal Ministry for implementation and monitoring of the scheme. The Minimum Support Price would be determined by the Ministry with technical help of TRIFED.

What is MFP?

Section 2(i) of the Forest Rights Act defines a Minor Forest Produce (MFP) as all non-timber forest produce of plant origin and includes bamboo, brushwood, stumps, canes, cocoon, honey, waxes, Lac, tendu/kendu leaves, medicinal plants etc.

The definition of “minor forest produce” includes bamboo and cane, thereby changing the categorization of bamboo and cane as “trees” under the Indian Forest Act 1927. 

Locust control

As India struggles to contain the Covid-19 pandemic, it faces a new challenge. Several parts of the country have experienced heavy infestations of locusts – an insect that devours crops and foliage, often leaving devastation in its wake.

It is said to be the worst attack in 26 years. The species attacking are desert locusts.

 What is the attack all about? What are ‘desert locusts’?

Desert locusts (Schistocerca gregaria), which belong to the family of grasshoppers, normally live and breed in semi-arid or desert regions. For laying eggs, they require bare ground, which is rarely found in areas with dense vegetation.

 How they form swarms?

As individuals, or in small isolated groups, locusts are not very dangerous. But when they grow into large populations their behaviour changes, they transform from ‘solitary phase’ into ‘gregarious phase’, and start forming ‘swarms’. A single swarm can contain 40 to 80 million adults in one square km, and these can travel up to 150 km a day.

Large-scale breeding happens only when conditions turn very favourable in their natural habitat, desert or semi-arid regions. Good rains can sometimes generate just enough green vegetation that is conducive to egg-laying as well as hopper development.

If left uncontrolled, a single swarm can increase 20 times of its original population in the first generation itself, and then multiply exponentially in subsequent generations.

What factors led to their sudden and early growth this year?

These locusts usually breed in the dry areas around Ethiopia, Somalia, Eritrea along the eastern coast of Africa, a region known as the Horn of Africa. Other breeding grounds are the adjoining Asian regions in Yemen, Oman, southern Iran, and in Pakistan’s Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces.

1. Many of these areas received unusually good rains in March and April, and that resulted in large-scale breeding and hopper development. These locusts started arriving in Rajasthan around the first fortnight of April, much ahead of the normal July-October normal.
2. Cyclonic storms Mekunu and Luban had struck Oman and Yemen respectively that year. Heavy rains had transformed uninhabited desert tracts into large lake where the locust swarms breed.
3. Apart from the search for food, their movement has been aided by westerly winds that were, this time, further strengthened by the low-pressure area created by Cyclone Amphan in the Bay of Bengal. Locusts are known to be passive flyers, and generally follow the wind. But they do not take off in very strong windy conditions.

Why worry about them?

The danger is when they start breeding. A single gregarious female locust can lay 60-80 eggs three times during its average life cycle of 90 days. If their breeding is coterminous with that of the kharif crop, we could well have a situation similar to what maize, sorghum and wheat farmers of Kenya, Ethiopia and Somalia experienced in March-April.

The origins of locust control:

In the nineteenth century, India experienced serious locust outbreaks in 1812, 1821, 1843-’44, 1863, 1869, 1878, 1889-’92, and 1896-’97. Several efforts were made to combat the swarms.

The first of these measures was to systematically collect and record data regarding locust occurrences.

The colonial system employed an interesting mix of local reliance and global cooperation in collecting data. It rested on the exchange of knowledge and techniques between various provinces of India as well as with other countries similarly ravaged by the pestilence.

Genesis of LWO:

Only after the 1927-’29 outbreak that ravaged the central and western parts of India was the need felt for a centralised organisation to gather information about locusts and control them. This resulted in the formation of the Standing Locust Committee in 1929 and the Central Locust Bureau in 1930. This culminated in 1939 in the establishment of the present-day Locust Warning Organisation. 

Popular method:

• Currently, the most commonly used control is insecticide. Sprayed from land or aerial vehicles, whole swarms can be targeted in relatively short periods of time.
• Swarms of locusts are being scared away by the district administration in Panna using police sirens. 
• Farmers in Budhni and Nasrullaganj areas of Madhya Pradesh’s Sehore district have been beating utensils in a bid to drive away locusts.

Non-chemical measures:

Experts have expressed disappointment over the fact that despite the known side-effects of aerial spraying of pesticides, governments’ locust control policies are focussed only on chemical spray.

Few non-chemical measures to consider:

1. Destroy the breeding grounds and locust larvae before they could fly.
2. Use of oil-tarred screens to kill locusts (also known as Cyprus screen).
3. Net system and the dhotar method. The net system involved holding a “capricious” bag and swinging it around fields, trapping young locusts in the process. The dhotar method involved using a blanket to trip locusts resting on bushes.
4. Devise an insect-control technique that involved ploughing the fallow lands where locusts are resting: the escaping insects became an easy target for birds.
5. Natural predators such as wasps, birds and reptiles may prove effective at keeping small swarms at bay.
6. Emphasise inter-state and international cooperation, along with coordinated efforts of the state.

Conclusion:

Insecticides may give temporary relief during an infestation, but they might also endanger the birds that act as natural predators of locusts. The way ahead lies in state-supported protection of birds. This should include a conscious effort to bring back species like house sparrows that have been disappearing rapidly.

What is the ELISA-based Antibody Test?

The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has advised the States to conduct sero-surveys to measure the coronavirus exposure in the population using IgG ELISA Test.

Significance:

As per the direction of the council, the coronavirus (COVID-19) exposure in the general population as well as in high-risk populations would be measured and the outcome will help “decide the future course of action against the pandemic”.

What is an ELISA-based test?

The Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assays (ELISAs) based test is used for the detection of antibodies that are produced by the body to fight against antigens or foreign substances.

How is it carried out?

ELISA-based tests are blood-based tests, which have high sensitivity and specificity.

1. The test involves drawing the blood of the person.
2. The sample is then placed inside the small wells of an ELISA plate.
3. These plates are coated with the antigen or the inactivated form of the virus.
4. If the blood contains antibodies, it binds to the antigen and a substrate solution is added to the well.
5. The reaction usually produces a colour change, thus detecting antibodies.

What is IgG?

Immunoglobulin G (IgG) is an antibody.

The body produces Immunoglobulin M (IgM) and IgG antibodies to fight against a pathogen.

1. The IgM antibodies are produced in four-seven days after pathogens enter the body.
2. The IgG antibodies are produced between 10-14 days of the pathogen’s appearance. If the IgG antibody is detected, it can be concluded that the person was exposed to SARS-CoV-2.

How is it different from rapid antibody kits and RT-PCR tests?

ELISA is also a form of a rapid test. However, other rapid antibody test kits are point-of-care and use a finger-prick method to draw blood. They take much lesser time and do not need a laboratory process to detect antibodies.

Both, ELISA-based tests and point-of-care tests are not used for confirming Covid-19 infection and are only used for surveillance purpose.

Those who test positive using these tests are usually tested with RT-PCR tests.

• RT-PCR tests are considered as the gold standard for confirming the presence of SARS-CoV-2.
• RT-PCR is a time consuming, lab-based test and involves the collection of throat and nasal swabs and is not a blood-based test.

Kerala govt. issues data security guidelines

 Kerala government issues guidelines on COVID-19 data collection, processing. This is in the wake of the Sprinklr controversy.

What’s the issue?

The government had engaged the U.S.-based data analytics firm in collecting data. It ran into a controversy.

• The government had said it had contracted Sprinklr as an emergency measure to crunch the health data of citizens to understand how the pandemic would behave in Kerala.
• However, the Opposition had dragged the government to the High Court, accusing it of having used the outbreak as a cover to allow the U.S.-based firm to “harvest and monetise” the medical information of the State’s population.

Key guidelines:

1. Consent: If any sensitive personal data is breached, explicit consent should be obtained from the data principal.
2. Anonymity: Officials should ensure that all the data collected and collated from Kerala on COVID-19 containment activities should be anonymised so that unique identification of the data principal is not possible.
3. Access to third party: Every citizen who has provided data will be informed that it is likely to be accessed by third party service providers.
4. Format: Specific consent has to be obtained in the requisite format. The privacy policy illustrating the compliance in Malayalam and English forms will be included. The privacy policy will also be explicitly specifying the purpose for which data is collected and the data should be used only for the purpose for which it has been collected.
5. Storage of data: The data collected will be stored in encrypted form. If data is stored in Cloud, the Cloud service provider will be approved by the Central Government and the guidelines issued for procurement of cloud by government departments should be strictly followed.
6. If data is collected from a data principal involuntarily using an automated device like GPS and Bluetooth, it will be done on prior explicit consent of the data principal.
7. Security audit: Any software or application to be hosted in the SDC will be subjected to security audit before hosting it.

What’s the reason behind bringing of these guidelines?

Recently, Kerala High Court had expressed its concern over the confidentiality of information gathered from COVID-19 patients.

The Court asked the state government to anonymize all data collected from citizens before allowing access to US company Sprinklr Inc.

The Court had also asked the state government to explore the Central Government’s submission that it’s the Ministry of Information and Technology that is capable of providing a service similar to Sprinklr which later saw them informing that it will be done through State Data Centre (SDC).

Disaster Management Act

In the 68 days since the nationwide lockdown was imposed to combat the COVID-19 pandemic, the Union Home Ministry on an average, issued 1.3 orders a day.

The orders were issued under the Disaster Management Act, 2005, invoked for the first time in the country since the legislation was drafted after the tsunami in 2004.

Relevance of DM Act in this pandemic:

COVID-19 is the first pan India biological disaster being handled by the legal and constitutional institutions of the country.

The current lockdown has been imposed under the Disaster Management Act, 2005 (DM Act).

Under the Act, the States and district authorities can frame their own rules on the basis of broad guidelines issued by the Ministry.

• The legal basis of the DM Act, is Entry 23, Concurrent List of the Constitution “Social security and social insurance”.
• Entry 29, Concurrent List “Prevention of the extension from one State to another of infectious or contagious diseases or pests affecting men, animals or plants,” can also be used for specific law making.

 A notified disaster:

Central government has included the Covid-19 outbreak as “Notified Disaster” as a “critical medical condition or pandemic situation”.

About the Disaster Management Act, 2005:

The stated object and purpose of the DM Act is to manage disasters, including preparation of mitigation strategies, capacity-building and more.

It came into force in India in January 2006.

The Act provides for “the effective management of disasters and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto.”

The Act calls for the establishment of National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), with the Prime Minister of India as chairperson.

The Act enjoins the Central Government to Constitute a National Executive Committee (NEC) to assist the National Authority.

All State Governments are mandated to establish a State Disaster Management Authority (SDMA).

Powers given to the Centre:

• Power bestowed by DM Act on Central Government and NDMA are extensive.
• The Central Government, irrespective of any law in force (including over-riding powers) can issue any directions to any authority anywhere in India to facilitate or assist in the disaster management.
• Importantly, any such directions issued by Central Government and NDMA must necessarily be followed the Union Ministries, State Governments and State Disaster Management Authorities.
• In order to achieve all these, the prime minister can exercise all powers of NDMA (S 6(3)). This ensures that there is adequate political and constitutional heft behind the decisions made.

Congo declares new Ebola epidemic

Democratic Republic of Congo has declared a new Ebola epidemic in the western city of Mbandaka.

The announcement comes as a long, difficult and complex Ebola outbreak in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo is in its final phase, while the country also battles COVID-19 and the world’s largest measles outbreak.

Concerns:

This is the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s 11th outbreak of Ebola since the virus was first discovered in the country in 1976. The city of Mbandaka and its surrounding area were the site of Democratic Republic of the Congo’s 9th Ebola outbreak, which took place from May to July 2018.

What you need to know about Ebola?

Ebola virus disease (EVD), formerly known as Ebola haemorrhagic fever, is a severe, often fatal illness in humans.

Transmission: The virus is transmitted to people from wild animals and spreads in the human population through human-to-human transmission.

The average EVD case fatality rate is around 50%. Case fatality rates have varied from 25% to 90% in past outbreaks.

Prevention: Community engagement is key to successfully controlling outbreaks. Good outbreak control relies on case management, surveillance and contact tracing, a good laboratory service and social mobilisation.

Treatment: Early supportive care with rehydration, symptomatic treatment improves survival. There is yet no licensed treatment proven to neutralise the virus but a range of blood, immunological and drug therapies are under development.

Vaccines:

An experimental Ebola vaccine, called rVSV-ZEBOV proved highly protective against EVD in a major trial in Guinea in 2015.

• The rVSV-ZEBOV vaccine is being used in the ongoing 2018-2019 Ebola outbreak in DRC. Pregnant and breastfeeding women should have access to the vaccine under the same conditions as for the general population.
• The public mistrust and militia attacks have prevented health workers from reaching some hard-hit areas for administering the vaccines.

Why China is opposing THAAD defence systems in South Korea?

What is THAAD Defence system?

THAAD is an acronym for Terminal High Altitude Area Defense.

It is a transportable, ground-based missile defense system.

This anti-ballistic missile defense system has been designed and manufactured by the US company Lockheed Martin.

How it operates?

THAAD is coupled with space-based and ground-based surveillance stations, which transfer data about the incoming missile and informs the THAAD interceptor missile of the threat type classification. THAAD is alarmed about incoming missiles by space-based satellites with infrared sensors.

Where all it has been deployed?

South Korea, the UAE, Guam, Israel and Romania.

What is this South Korea-China controversy over THAAD about?

• US has a base in South Korea. So, the US operates THAAD missile defense system in this base.
• The US had previously announced that the deployment of this missile defense system was a countermeasure against potential attacks by North Korea, particularly after the country had engaged in testing ballistic missiles.
• This was felt necessary for the US because, in 2017, matters escalated in the Korean Peninsula after North Korea test fired a few missiles in the direction of US bases in Japan. 
• These moves by the US and by extension, South Korea, particularly angered China.

China’s concerns are based on the following:

The system has inbuilt advanced radar systems that could track China’s actions.

The US having a presence in the region particularly through its many military bases in Japan and South Korea is particularly worrying for China.

The US exerts influence over South Korea and Japan and may interfere with Beijing’s long-term military, diplomatic and economic interests in the region.

How this controversy has affected South Korea?

The impact of the controversy was not limited to a diplomatic level, but had far-reaching consequences.

1. When the controversy first arose in 2017, China had hit South Korea economically. South Korean businesses, including large conglomerates found their diversified operations hampered.
2. Post this development in 2017, tourism from China to South Korea fell drastically.
3. South Korea’s entertainment industry witnessed concerts, shows and other commercial ventures in China by K-pop stars being forced to cancel as a result of this controversy.
4. South Korean cosmetics and beauty products that are extremely popular in China also witnessed their sales being impacted, due to calls on social media to boycott South Korean products.

What next?

Following the deployment of replacement missiles now, China has issued a statement urging the US not to harm bilateral relations between Beijing and Seoul.

The US and South Korea have consistently maintained that these missiles are only to counter potential threats by North Korea.

Group of Seven (G-7) club 

Calling the existing Group of Seven (G-7) club a “very outdated group of countries”, US President Donald Trump has said that he wanted to include India, Russia, South Korea, and Australia in the group.

What is G7?

The G7, originally G8, was set up in 1975 as an informal forum bringing together the leaders of the world’s leading industrial nations.

The summit gathers leaders from the European Union (EU) and the following countries: Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States.

How did G7 become G8?

• Russia was formally inducted as a member in the group in 1998, which led G7 to become G8.
• However, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s condemnable act of moving Russian troops into eastern Ukraine and conquering Crimea in 2014 drew heavy criticism from the other G8 nations.
• The other nations of the group decided to suspend Russia from the G8 as a consequence of its actions and the group became G7 again in 2014.

How the G-7 summit works?

The G-7 nations meet at annual summits that are presided over by leaders of member countries on a rotational basis.

The summit is an informal gathering that lasts two days, in which leaders of member countries discuss a wide range of global issues.

The groundwork for the summit, including matters to be discussed and follow-up meetings, is done by the “sherpas”, who are generally personal representatives or members of diplomatic staff such as ambassadors.

Significance:

G7 is capable of setting the global agenda because decisions taken by these major economic powers have a real impact. Thus, decisions taken at the G7 are not legally binding, but exert strong political influence.

What criticisms have been made of the G7?

1. G7 gatherings tend to attract thousands of protesters. Many protesters claim the G7 – which has no representative from any African, Russian or Middle Eastern nation – is completely outdated.
2. Protest groups also use the worldwide platform as a stage to lobby and campaign on issues that are important to them.
3. G7 leaders are creating a wide gap between the ‘haves’ and the ‘have-nots’ both in their countries as well as across the globe, according to a new report published by non-profit Oxfam International. As a result, they are making the fight against alleviating poverty more difficult, claimed the report.

How can it be made more effective?

1. Work towards implementing tax models for the rich individuals and corporations to pay their fair share of tax.
2. Consider how new and existing wealth taxes could be used as a tool to fight poverty and inequality.
3. Invest in healthcare and education and provide aid to developing countries.
4. Work towards limiting greenhouse gas emissions down to zero well before mid-century.

Why Moody’s downgraded India’s rating?

 Moody’s Investors Service (“Moody’s”) has downgraded the Government of India’s foreign-currency and local-currency long-term issuer ratings to “Baa3” from “Baa2”. It stated that the outlook remained “negative”.

Implications:

The latest downgrade reduces India to the lowest investment grade of ratings and brings Moody’s ratings for the country in line with the other two main rating agencies in the world — Standard & Poor’s (S&P) and Fitch.

A rating downgrade means that bonds issued by the Indian governments are now “riskier” than before, because weaker economic growth and worsening fiscal health undermine a government’s ability to pay back.

When India’s sovereign rating is downgraded, it becomes costlier for the Indian government as well as all Indian companies to raise funds because now the world sees such debt as a riskier proposition.

There are four main reasons why Moody’s has taken the decision:

1. Weak implementation of economic reforms since 2017.
2. Relatively low economic growth over a sustained period.
3. A significant deterioration in the fiscal position of governments (central and state).
4. And the rising stress in India’s financial sector.

What does “negative” outlook mean?

“The negative outlook reflects dominant, mutually-reinforcing, downside risks from deeper stresses in the economy and financial system that could lead to a more severe and prolonged erosion in fiscal strength than Moody’s currently projects”.

In particular, Moody’s has highlighted persistent structural challenges to fast economic growth such as “weak infrastructure, rigidities in labor, land and product markets, and rising financial sector risks”.

In other words, a “negative” implies India could be rated down further.

What is Moody’s outlook on economic growth, jobs and per capita income?

Moody’s expects India’s real GDP to contract by 4.0% in the current financial year. Thereafter it expects a sharp recovery in 2021-22. But over the longer term, it states “growth rates are likely to be materially lower than in the past”.

Key observations made by Moody’s:

More than two years ago, in November 2017, Moody’s had upgraded India’s rating to “Baa2” with a “stable” outlook. At that time, it expected that “effective implementation of key reforms would strengthen the sovereign’s credit profile” through a gradual but persistent improvement in economic, institutional and fiscal strength.

But those hopes were belied. Since that upgrade in 2017, implementation of reforms has been “relatively weak and has not resulted in material credit improvements, indicating limited policy effectiveness,” according to Moody’s.

The low effectiveness of policy and the resulting loss of growth momentum is evidenced in:

• The sharp deceleration in India’s GDP growth rates- provisional estimates for 2019-20 were pegged at 4.2% — the lowest annual growth in a decade.
• Worsening government (both Centre and state-level) finances.
• Each year, the central government has failed to meet its fiscal deficit (essentially the total borrowings from the market) target. This has led to a steady accretion of total government debt.

Social stock exchanges

A working group constituted by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) on social stock exchanges has submitted its recommendations.

Terms of reference of the panel:

The panel was set up by Sebi in September 2019 under the Chairmanship of Ishaat Hussain, Director at SBI Foundation and former Finance Director at Tata Sons, to suggest possible structures and regulations for creating SSE to facilitate listing and fund-raising by social enterprises as well as voluntary organisations.

Background:

The idea of a social stock exchange (SSE) for listing of social enterprise and voluntary organisations was mooted by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman while presenting the Union Budget 2019-20.

Key recommendations:

1. Allow direct listing of non-profit organisations through the issuance of bonds and a range of funding mechanisms.
2. Funding mechanisms suggested include some of the existing mechanisms such as Social Venture Funds (SVFs) under the Alternative Investment Funds.
3. A new minimum reporting standard has also been proposed for organisations which would raise funds under social stock exchanges (SSE).
4. Profit social enterprises can also list on SSE with enhanced reporting requirement. To encourage, giving culture some tax incentives have also been suggested.

What is social stock exchange (SSE)?

It a novel concept in India and such a bourse is meant to serve private and non-profit sector providers by channelling greater capital to them.

As per the proposal, SSE can be housed within the existing stock exchange such as the BSE and/or National Stock Exchange (NSE).

This will help the SSE leverage the existing infrastructure and client relationships of the exchanges to onboard investors, donors, and social enterprises (for-profit and non-profit).

Significance:

With this, Social welfare enterprises and non-profits could soon get to raise so-called social capital on a transparent electronic platform, aiding the process of rebuilding livelihoods ravaged by the coronavirus pandemic.

These recommendations, if implemented as a package, can result in a vibrant and supportive ecosystem, enabling the non-profit sector to realise its full potential for creating social impact.

Need for social capital:

India will need a significant amount of patient capital to repair and rebuild those livelihoods, which are the bedrock of her economy. Conventional capital that prioritises financial returns will not be able to carry such a burden all by itself.

Social capital, on the other hand, is more suited for this role. It is not only patient but its goal is precisely to support and fortify social structures that are in danger of collapsing because of COVID-19.

What is a social enterprise?

A social enterprise is a revenue-generating business. Its primary objective is to achieve a social objective, for example, providing healthcare or clean energy.

This in no way means that a social enterprise can’t be highly profitable. In fact, most social enterprises look and operate like traditional businesses. The only catch is that the profit these entities generate is not necessarily used for payouts to stakeholders, but reinvested into their social programmes.

Global examples:

UK: The Social Stock Exchange in London functions more as a directory connecting social enterprises and potential investors.

Kenya: The Kenya Social Investment Exchange, connects vetted social enterprises with impact investors, both foreign and domestic.

Canada: Backed by the Ontario government, the SVX is an online platform that allows investments in Canadian companies and funds that have “a positive social or environmental impact”.

Singapore: The Impact Investment Exchange runs a social stock exchange in partnership with the Stock Exchange of Mauritius, which is open to limited accredited investors who want to invest.

NPCI denies breach of BHIM app data

What happened?

A recent report by security researchers alleged leak of personal data of millions of users of the BHIM payment application due to a website breach.

As per the report, 409-gigabyte of data, comprising 7.26 million records, were leaked, and the trove included personal identifiable information such as Aadhaar details, residence proof, bank records and complete profiles.

However, the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) has denied the claim, asking “everyone to not fall prey to such speculation”.

What is BHIM?

Bharat Interface for Money (BHIM) is a UPI based payment interface.

Developed by National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI).

Allows real time fund transfer.

Launched in December, 2016.

The BHIM apps has three levels of authentication:

1. For one, the app binds with a device’s ID and mobile number.
2. Second a user needs to sync whichever bank account (UPI or non-UPI enabled) in order to the conduct transaction.
3. Third, when a user sets up the app they are asked to create a pin which is needed to log into the app. The UPI pin, which a user creates with their bank account is needed to go through with the transaction.

About NPCI:

NPCI is an umbrella organisation for operating retail payments and settlement systems in India.

It is an initiative of Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and Indian Banks’ Association (IBA) under the provisions of the Payment and Settlement Systems Act, 2007, for creating a robust Payment and Settlement Infrastructure in India.

It has been incorporated as a not for profit company.

The Company is focused on bringing innovations in the retail payment systems through the use of technology for achieving greater efficiency in operations and widening the reach of payment systems.

Initial promoters:

The ten core promoter banks are State Bank of India, Punjab National Bank, Canara Bank, Bank of Baroda, Union Bank of India, Bank of India, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, Citibank N. A. and HSBC. In 2016 the shareholding was broad-based to 56 member banks to include more banks representing all sectors.

What does the NPCI offer?

NFS: National Financial Switch (NFS) ATM network with 37 member banks and connecting 50,000 ATMs was taken to NPCI’s authority from the Institute for Development and Research in Banking Technology (IDRBT) on 14 December 2009. After taking over, NFS ATM network has grown many folds.

IMPS: Immediate Payment Service (IMPS).

AePS: Aadhaar-enabled Payment Service (AePS).

CTS: Cheque Truncation System (CTS) facilitates extended cut-off time to accept customer cheques by banks and reduces timelines for clearing.

RuPay: RuPay is a new card payment system launched to satisfy RBI’s vision to offer a domestic, open-loop, and the multilateral system.

NACH: National Automated Clearing House (NACH) is a web-based solution that facilitates interbank, high volume electronic transactions that are repetitive in nature.

APBS: Aadhaar Payment Bridge (APB) System is used by the government and government agencies to make direct benefit transfers with respect to various Central and state-sponsored schemes.

*99#: is a USSD-based mobile banking service of NPCI launched in November 2012.

UPI: Unified Payments Interface (UPI) is a system that makes multiple bank accounts to be accessed from a single mobile application.

Bharat BillPay:  is a system conceptualised by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and driven by NPCI.

NETC: National Electronic Toll Collection (NETC) is a nation-wide programme designed to meet the electronic tolling requirements in India.

BHIM:  Bharat Interface for Money (BHIM) was launched to make payments simpler and easier. Instant bank-to-bank payments can be made using a mobile number or virtual payment address (UPI ID).

BharatQR: Basically, a QR code is a series of black squares arranged in a square grid that can be read by a camera.

Cyclonic Storm ‘NISARGA’

Cyclonic Storm formed over East central Arabian Sea has been named Nisarga. The name in the new list was suggested by Bangladesh.

The cyclone track — issued by India Meteorological Department (IMD) authorities — show that Nisarga will cross very close to the Mumbai coast while entering the land. Maharashtra and Gujarat are on pre-cyclone alert as very heavy to extremely heavy rainfall is expected in parts of the states.

What’s next?

Conditions are favourable for intensification of the cyclone because the sea surface temperature is about 30 to 32 degrees Celsius, as compared to a normal of 28 degrees Celsius during this season. It is very likely to intensify into a Severe Cyclonic Storm during next 12 hours.

What is a cyclone?

Tropical Cyclone is any large system of winds that circulates about a center of low atmospheric pressure in a counter-clockwise direction north of the Equator and in a clockwise direction to the south. 

Cyclone formation:

1. Cyclone is the formation of very low-pressure system with very high-speed winds revolving around it.
2. Factors like wind speed, wind direction, temperature and humidity contribute to the development of cyclones.
3. Before cloud formation, water takes up heat from the atmosphere to change into vapour. When water vapour changes back to liquid form as raindrops, this heat is released to the atmosphere.
4. The heat released to the atmosphere warms the air around. The air tends to rise and causes a drop in pressure. More air rushes to the centre of the storm. This cycle is repeated.

Additional facts:

• Cyclones around the world are named by Regional Specialised Meteorological Centres and Tropical Cyclone Warning Centres. There are a total of six RSMCs and five TCWCs, including the India Meteorological Department.
• The Indian weather bureau has been mandated with the duty to name cyclones that develop over the North Indian ocean, including Arabian Sea and Bay of Bengal, by following a standard procedure.
• IMD released a list of cyclone names in April 2020 as suggested by the 13 countries.
• The next few cyclones will be named Gati (named by India), Nivar (Iran), Burevi (Maldives), Tauktae (Myanmar) and Yaas (Oman).

Sun’s Corona

Scientists have recently discovered tiny flashes of radio light emanating from all over the Sun, which they say could help in explaining the long-pending coronal heating problem.

The data was collected with the help of the Murchison Widefield Array (MWA) radio telescope.

 What is it?

The radio lights or signals under study result from beams of electrons accelerated in the aftermath of a magnetic explosion on the Sun.

These observations are the strongest evidence till date that the tiny magnetic explosions, originally referred to as ‘nanoflares’ by eminent American solar astrophysicist Eugene Parker.

Researchers believe that these explosions could indeed be heating up the corona.

What Is the Sun’s Corona?

The Sun’s corona is the outermost part of the Sun’s atmosphere. The corona is usually hidden by the bright light of the Sun’s surface. That makes it difficult to see without using special instruments. However, the corona can be viewed during a total solar eclipse.

Features:

The corona is about 10 million times less dense than the Sun’s surface. This low density makes the corona much less bright than the surface of the Sun.

Why is the corona so hot?

The corona’s high temperatures are a bit of a mystery. Astronomers have been trying to solve this mystery for a long time. The corona is in the outer layer of the Sun’s atmosphere—far from its surface. Yet the corona is hundreds of times hotter than the Sun’s surface.

How does the corona cause solar winds?

The corona extends far out into space. From it comes the solar wind that travels through our solar system. The corona’s temperature causes its particles to move at very high speeds. These speeds are so high that the particles can escape the Sun’s gravity.

About Widefield Array (MWA) radio telescope:

• It is a joint project between an international consortium of organisations to construct and operate a low-frequency radio array.
• Operating in the frequency range 70–300 MHz, the main scientific goals of the MWA are to detect neutral atomic Hydrogen emission from the cosmological Epoch of Reionization (EoR), to study the sun, the heliosphere, the Earth’s ionosphere, and radio transient phenomena, as well as map the extragalactic radio sky.

One Nation-One Ration Card scheme

Context: Three more States included in One Nation One Card scheme- Odisha, Sikkim and Mizoram. The facility so far is enabled in 17 States/UTs.

About the scheme:

One Nation One Ration Card (RC) will ensure all beneficiaries especially migrants can access PDS across the nation from any PDS shop of their own choice.

Benefits: no poor person is deprived of getting subsidised foodgrains under the food security scheme when they shift from one place to another. It also aims to remove the chance of anyone holding more than one ration card to avail benefits from different states.

Significance: This will provide freedom to the beneficiaries as they will not be tied to any one PDS shop and reduce their dependence on shop owners and curtail instances of corruption.

Standard format of ‘one nation, one ration card’:

A standard format for ration card has been prepared after taking into account the format used by different states.

• For national portability, the state governments have been asked to issue the ration card in bi-lingual format, wherein besides the local langauge, the other language could be Hindi or English.
• The states have also been told to have a 10-digit standard ration card number, wherein first two digits will be state code and the next two digits will be running ration card numbers.
• Besides this, a set of another two digits will be appended with ration card number to create unique member IDs for each member of the household in a ration card.

Challenges:

Prone to corruption: Every state has its own rules for Public Distribution System (PDS). If ‘One Nation, One Ration Card’ is implemented, it will further boost corruption in an already corrupted Public Distribution System.

The scheme will increase the woes of the common man and, the middlemen and corrupt PDS shop owners will exploit them.

Tamil Nadu has opposed the proposal of the Centre, saying it would result in undesirable consequences and is against federalism.

Electronics incentive schemes launched

The government has launched three incentive schemes with a total outlay of about ₹48,000 crore to boost large-scale manufacturing of electronics in the country.

The schemes are:

1. Production Linked Incentive:

Targeted at mobile phone manufacturing and specified electronic components. The government initially plans to incentivise 10 firms — five global and five local.

This Scheme shall extend an incentive of 4% to 6% on incremental sales (over base year) of goods manufactured in India and covered under the target segments, to eligible companies, for a period of five years subsequent to the base year.

2. Scheme for Promotion of Manufacturing of Electronic Components and Semiconductors (SPECS):

It shall provide financial incentive of 25% on capital expenditure for the identified list of electronic goods, i.e., electronic components, semiconductor/ display fabrication units, Assembly, Test, Marking and Packaging (ATMP) units, specialized sub-assemblies and capital goods for manufacture of aforesaid goods.

3. Modified Electronics Manufacturing Clusters (EMC 2.0) Scheme:

It shall provide support for creation of world class infrastructure along with common facilities and amenities, including Ready Built Factory (RBF) sheds / Plug and Play facilities for attracting major global electronics manufacturers, along with their supply chains.

Significance:

With the three new schemes, the government aims to manufacture electronics worth ₹8 lakh crore, while generating employment for about 10 lakh people in the next five years.

Potential:

India has been able to achieve “modest success” in electronics manufacturing. India has emerged as the second largest mobile manufacturer of the world.

In 2014-15, the value of mobiles produced was ₹18,992 crore with six crore units. This increased to ₹1.7 lakh crore in value and 30 crore in terms of units in 2018-19.

Conclusion:

This is a step towards self-reliant India. A self-reliant India is not an India of isolation. It is not an inward looking India. It is one which enhances its capacity and develops an ecosystem as an asset to the global economy.

China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC)

China under the multi-billion-dollar CPEC will set up a 1,124-megawatt power project- Kohala Hydropower Project- in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir despite India’s objection to it.

A tripartite agreement has been finalised among China’s Three Gorges Corporation, the authorities in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) and the PPIB to implement the 1,124-megawatt Kohala hydroelectric power project under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) framework. 

Details:

• The project will be built on the Jhelum River and aims at annually providing more than five billion units of clean and low-cost electricity for consumers in Pakistan.
• This marks one of the largest investments of USD 2.4 billion in an independent power producer (IPP) in the region. 

About CPEC:

The CPEC is the flagship project of the multi-billion-dollar Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), a pet project of Chinese President Xi Jinping, aimed at enhancing Beijing’s influence around the world through China-funded infrastructure projects.

The 3,000 km-long China–Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) consists of highways, railways, and pipelines.

CPEC eventually aims at linking the city of Gwadar in South Western Pakistan to China’s North Western region Xinjiang through a vast network of highways and railways.

The proposed project will be financed by heavily-subsidised loans, that will be disbursed to the Government of Pakistan by Chinese banks.

But, why is India concerned?

It passes through PoK.

CPEC rests on a Chinese plan to secure and shorten its supply lines through Gwadar with an enhanced presence in the Indian Ocean. Hence, it is widely believed that upon CPEC’s fruition, an extensive Chinese presence will undermine India’s influence in the Indian Ocean.

It is also being contended that if CPEC were to successfully transform the Pakistan economy that could be a “red rag” for India which will remain at the receiving end of a wealthier and stronger Pakistan.

Besides, India shares a great deal of trust deficit with China and Pakistan and has a history of conflict with both. As a result, even though suggestions to re-approach the project pragmatically have been made, no advocate has overruled the principle strands of contention that continue to mar India’s equations with China and Pakistan.

Minimum Support Prices (MSPs)

CCEA has approved the increase in the Minimum Support Prices (MSPs) for all mandated Kharif crops for marketing season 2020-21.

This is to ensure remunerative prices to the growers for their produce. The highest increase in MSP is proposed for nigerseed (Rs 755 per quintal) followed by sesamum (Rs 370 per quintal), urad (Rs 300 per quintal) and cotton (long staple) (Rs 275 per quintal). The differential remuneration is aimed at encouraging crop diversification.

About MSP:

What is it?

In theory, an MSP is the minimum price set by the Government at which farmers can expect to sell their produce for the season. When market prices fall below the announced MSPs, procurement agencies step in to procure the crop and ‘support’ the prices.

Who announces?

The Cabinet Committee of Economic Affairs announces MSP for various crops at the beginning of each sowing season based on the recommendations of the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP). The CACP takes into account demand and supply, the cost of production and price trends in the market among other things when fixing MSPs.

Why is it important?

Price volatility makes life difficult for farmers. Though prices of agri commodities may soar while in short supply, during years of bumper production, prices of the very same commodities plummet. MSPs ensure that farmers get a minimum price for their produce in adverse markets. MSPs have also been used as a tool by the Government to incentivise farmers to grow crops that are in short supply.

Factors taken into consideration for fixing MSP include:

1. Demand and supply;
2. Cost of production;
3. Price trends in the market, both domestic and international;
4. Inter-crop price parity;
5. Terms of trade between agriculture and non-agriculture;
6. A minimum of 50% as the margin over cost of production; and
7. Likely implications of MSP on consumers of that product.

What is OTT (over-the-top) streaming?

Majority producers in the Malayalam film industry declared that they do not prefer online release for their movies amid COVID-19 outbreak.

What’s the issue?

As the theatres remain closed amid the pandemic, the release of many movies were postponed for over three months. Following this, a few producers announced OTT release for their movies. The announcement irked theatre owners and they declared that they will boycott movies of the producer and actor if they go with the online release.

WHAT IS OTT?

An “over-the-top” media service is any online content provider that offers streaming media as a standalone product. The term is commonly applied to video-on-demand platforms, but also refers to audio streaming, messaging services, or internet-based voice calling solutions.

OTT services circumvent traditional media distribution channels such as telecommunications networks or cable television providers.

As long as you have access to an internet connection — either locally or through a mobile network — you can access the complete service at your leisure.

WHY USE OTT?

1. High-value content at low cost.
2. Original content like Netflix and Amazon prime.
3. Compatibility with multiple devices.

Petition on nation’s name

The Supreme Court has ordered that a plea to change India’s name exclusively to ‘Bharat’ be converted into a representation and forwarded to the Union government for an appropriate decision.

The Court said, “Bharat and India are both names given in the Constitution. India is already called ‘Bharat’ in the Constitution”.

What’s the issue?

A petition was filed which said, ‘India’ is a name of foreign origin. The name can be traced back to the Greek term ‘Indica’.

The petition seeks an amendment to Article 1 of the Constitution, which says “India, that is Bharat, shall be a Union of States”.

It wants ‘India’ to be struck off from the Article. This is to ensure citizens of this country to get over the colonial past and instil a sense of pride in our nationality.

And it will also justify the hard fought freedom by our freedom fighters.

How constituent assembly dealt with this?

The constituent assembly debated Article 1 of the then draft constitution prepared under the chairmanship of BR Ambedkar.

It was a heated debate that saw sharp exchanges among the members on November 18, 1949 – just eight days before the Constitution was adopted by “We, the people”.

HV Kamath objected to the Ambedkar committee’s draft that had two names – India and Bharat.

• He proposed amendments to Article 1 putting Bharat or alternatively Hind as the primary name for the country and pronouncing India only as the name in the English language.

Seth Govind Das said, “India, that is, Bharat” are not beautiful words for the name of a country. We should have put the words “Bharat known as India also in foreign countries.”

• Das cited the Vedas, the Mahabharat, couple of Puranas and the writings of Chinese traveller Hiuen-Tsang to say that Bharat was the original name of the country, hence India should not be put as the primary name in the constitution post-independence.
• He also invoked Mahatma Gandhi saying that the country fought the battle of freedom raising the slogan of “Bharat Mata Ki Jai” asserting that Bharat could be the only plausible name for the country.

Among others who supported India being named only as Bharat included KV Rao from Andhra Pradesh.

MA Ayyangar of Madras province proposed names of Bharat, Bharat Varsha and Hindustan as substitutes for India in Article 1.

At the end, when Rajendra Prasad put the amendments to vote, all fell. Article 1 remained intact as “India, that is Bharat”. However, the debate has continued.

What the constitution says?

As per Article 1 in the Constitution, the territory of India shall consist of: The territories of the states, The Union territories and Any territory that may be acquired.

The names of the States and the Unions have been described in the First Schedule. This schedule also held that there were four Categories of State and territories – Part A, Part B, Part C and Part D.

In the seventh amendment of the Constitution in 1956 the distinction between the Part A and Part B states was abolished. Subsequently states were reorganized on linguistic basis.

Amendments to the Essential Commodities Act

Cabinet has approved historic amendment to the Essential Commodities Act.

Under the proposed amendments, essentials like cereals, pulses, oilseeds, edible oils, onion and potatoes have been excluded from the Essential Commodities Act.

Benefits:

• This will remove fears of private investors of excessive regulatory interference in their business operations.
• The freedom to produce, hold, move, distribute and supply will lead to harnessing of economies of scale and attract private sector/foreign direct investment into agriculture sector.
• It will help drive up investment in cold storages and modernization of food supply chain.

What is Essential Commodities Act?

Enacted in 1955.

Used by the Government to regulate the production, supply and distribution of a whole host of commodities it declares ‘essential’ in order to make them available to consumers at fair prices.

The list of items under the Act include drugs, fertilisers, petroleum and petroleum products.

The Centre can include new commodities as and when the need arises, and take them off the list once the situation improves.

Under the Act, the government can also fix the maximum retail price (MRP) of any packaged product that it declares an “essential commodity”.

How it works?

1. If the Centre finds that a certain commodity is in short supply and its price is spiking, it can notify stock-holding limits on it for a specified period.
2. The States act on this notification to specify limits and take steps to ensure that these are adhered to.
3. Anybody trading or dealing in a commodity, be it wholesalers, retailers or even importers are prevented from stockpiling it beyond a certain quantity.
4. A State can, however, choose not to impose any restrictions. But once it does, traders have to immediately sell into the market any stocks held beyond the mandated quantity.

But, why the recent Economic Survey said that this act is outdated and must go?

Case study:

In September 2019, the Centre invoked the ECA Act’s provisions to impose stock limits on onions after heavy rains wiped out a quarter of the kharif crop and led to a sustained spike in prices.

• Although the restrictions on both retail and wholesale traders were meant to prevent hoarding and enhance supply in the market, the Survey showed that there was actually an increase in price volatility and a widening wedge between wholesale and retail prices.
• This is due to the fact that ECA act fails to differentiate between hoarding and Storage.
• Thus in the long term, the Act disincentivises development of storage infrastructure, thereby leading to increased volatility in prices following production/ consumption shocks — the opposite of what it is intended for.

The report finds that the ECA has been enacted in the year 1955, when the economy was ravaged by famine and food shortages. The government should note that today’s scenario is much more different.

Why is it important?

• The ECA gives consumers protection against irrational spikes in prices of essential commodities.
• The Government has invoked the Act umpteen times to ensure adequate supplies.
• It cracks down on hoarders and black-marketeers of such commodities.
• State agencies conduct raids to get everyone to toe the line and the errant are punished.

Conclusion:

Without the ECA the common man would be at the mercy of opportunistic traders and shopkeepers. It empowers the government to control prices directly too.

Govt. to boost infrastructure in areas along China border

The government has approved new guidelines to boost infrastructure in areas along China border.

These include:

1. Spend 10% funds of a Centrally sponsored scheme only on projects in Ladakh, Arunachal Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Sikkim.
2. The Border Area Development Programme (BADP) has been allocated ₹784 crore in the 2020-21 fiscal and the money is distributed to the border States and Union Territories depending on various criteria such as the length of the international border and population.
3. Projects for developing strategically important villages and towns in border areas that have been identified by the border guarding forces will be given priority.
4. Construction of roads, bridges, culverts, primary schools, health infrastructure, playfields, irrigation works, mini-stadiums, indoor courts for basketball, badminton and table tennis can be undertaken within 10 km of the border.

Need for:

The ongoing border tension with China at multiple points along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) is more serious than past incidents, indicating China’s planning and the likelihood of a protracted stand-off.

Therefore, the creation of infrastructure “would help integrate these areas with the hinterland, create a positive perception of care by the country and encourage people to stay on in the border areas leading to safe and secure borders”.

India- China Border:

India and China share a 3,488 km long boundary. Unfortunately, the entire boundary is disputed. The line, which delineates the boundary between the two countries, is popularly called the McMahon line, after its author Sir Henry McMahon.

In 1913, the British-India government had called a tripartite conference, in which the boundary between India and Tibet was formalized after a discussion between the Indian and the Tibetans. A Convention was adopted, which resulted in the delimitation of the Indo-Tibetan boundary. This boundary is, however, disputed by China which terms it as illegal.

In 1957, China occupied Aksai Chin and built a road through it. This episode was followed by intermittent clashes along the border, which finally culminated in the border war of 1962. The boundary, which came into existence after the war, came to be known as Line of Actual Control (LAC). It is a military held line.

Attempts to resolve the issue:

1. The rapprochement between the two countries in 1976 enabled India and China to initiate High Level border talks in 1981 to find a solution to the vexed problem. After eight rounds, the talks broke down in 1987.
2. In 1988, following Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi’s visit to China, the Joint Working Group (JWG) was set up to look into the border problem.
3. In 1993, the Agreement on the Maintenance of Peace and Tranquility along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) was signed and the India-China Expert Group of Diplomatic and Military Officers was set up to assist the JWG.
4. In 1996, the Agreement on Confidence Building Measures (CBMs) in the Military Field along the LAC was signed.
5. In 2003, two special representatives (one each from India and China) were appointed to find a political solution to the border dispute.
6. Till 2009, these two special representatives had held 17 rounds of talks, but it seems they have not made much headway.

Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA)

The government of Philippines has suspended plans to cancel the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA), a deal that is important to Washington’s moves to counter Beijing’s rising regional power.

Background:

On February 11, the Philippines officially sent a notice terminating the VFA to the United States through its embassy in Manila.

Political analysts interpreted the reversal as a sign that China’s neighbours are worried about its growing military assertiveness. The Philippines, Vietnam and Malaysia all have disputes with China about its territorial claims in the South China Sea.

What is it?

A visiting forces agreement (VFA) is an agreement between a country and a foreign nation having military forces visiting in that country.

VFA spells out the rules, guidelines and legal status of the U.S. military when operating in the Philippines.

The VFA also affirms the 1951 Mutual Defense Treaty as well as the 2014 Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement — agreements that enable the U.S. military to conduct joint exercises and operations in the Philippines.

The Philippine Senate ratified the VFA in 1999. 

Implications for the US:

Terminating the VFA would leave the U.S. military without any legal or operational standing in the Philippines — and that’s a problem for the alliance. Without a VFA, the U.S. military would not be able to support any defense agreements.

Implications for the Philippines:

The U.S. alliance and the VFA remain important to Philippine national security.

In contrast to high degrees of trust and support for the United States, Filipinos hold much more negative attitudes toward China and remain wary of Beijing’s actions in the South China Sea.

The Philippine public has also soured on Chinese foreign investment. The U.S.-Philippine alliance and the VFA therefore act as an insurance policy against Chinese threats.

The Farming Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Ordinance, 2020

Aims and objectives of the ordinance:

The ordinance basically aims at creating additional trading opportunities outside the APMC market yards to help farmers get remunerative prices due to additional competition.

• This will supplement the existing MSP procurement system which is providing stable income to farmers.
• It will certainly pave the way for creating One India, One Agriculture Market and will lay the foundation for ensuring golden harvests for our hard working farmers.

Overview of the ordinance:

1. The Ordinance will create an ecosystem where the farmers and traders will enjoy freedom of choice of sale and purchase of agri-produce.
2. It will also promote barrier-free inter-state and intra-state trade and commerce outside the physical premises of markets notified under State Agricultural Produce Marketing legislations.
3. It also proposes an electronic trading in transaction platform for ensuring a seamless trade electronically.
4. The farmers will not be charged any cess or levy for sale of their produce under this Act.
5. There will also be a separate dispute resolution mechanism for the farmers.

Significance:

• This is a historic-step in unlocking the vastly regulated agriculture markets in the country.
• It will open more choices for the farmer, reduce marketing costs for the farmers and help them in getting better prices.
• It will also help farmers of regions with surplus produce to get better prices and consumers of regions with shortages, lower prices.

Need for- present challenges:

• Farmers in India today suffer from various restrictions in marketing their produce.
• There are restrictions for farmers in selling agri-produce outside the notified APMC market yards. The farmers are also restricted to sell the produce only to registered licensees of the State Governments.
• Barriers exist in free flow of agriculture produce between various States owing to the prevalence of various APMC legislations enacted by the State Governments.

Mahindra Logistics launches queer inclusion policy

To foster the inclusion of LGBTQAI+ employees, Mahindra Logistics Ltd. (MLL) has unveiled a five-year plan which aims at hiring queer people and extending benefits to same-sex partners.

Key provisions:

• The policy includes adoption leave for queer workers.
• Same-sex partners shall be eligible for 12-week adoption leave, starting from the date of the adoption.
• Benefits under the existing medical insurance shall be extended to same-sex partners on declaration of their partner’s details.
• The company’s definition of compassionate leave — which can be availed for four days by an employee in case of death of an immediate family member — will be extended to same-sex partners.
• To make the workplace inclusive for queer employees, MLL will offer LGBTQAI+ staff counselling services on request, for them and three immediate family members, which includes their partner.
• There will be equal opportunity and non-discrimination in various processes, including recruitment, transfer, relocation, training and development, and promotion.
• Any incident of sexual harassment reported by a queer employee shall be investigated by the internal complaints committee.
• The company also seeks to bridge the gender diversity gap by hiring more women, and aims to hire more persons with disabilities.

Disqualification shadow on 7 Nagaland MLAs

Gauhati High Court has directed Nagaland Assembly Speaker Sharingain Longkumer to conclude the disqualification proceedings against seven lawmakers of the Opposition Naga People’s Front (NPF) and pass appropriate orders within six weeks from June 2.

What’s the issue?

On April 24, 2019, the NPF filed disqualification petitions against its seven suspended MLAs for “wilfully” defying its collective decision to support the Congress candidate in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

NPF claimed the seven MLAs had willfully given up their party membership, thereby attracting provisions under the 10th Schedule (anti-defection law) of the Constitution.

These MLAs, however, said as the NPF’s decision to support the Congress candidate was “against the principle of regionalism”, they said they had backed the other candidate. The NPF had not contested the polls.

What is the anti-defection law?

The Tenth Schedule was inserted in the Constitution in 1985 by the 52nd Amendment Act.

1. It lays down the process by which legislators may be disqualified on grounds of defection by the Presiding Officer of a legislature based on a petition by any other member of the House.
2. The decision on question as to disqualification on ground of defection is referred to the Chairman or the Speaker of such House, and his decision is final.

The law applies to both Parliament and state assemblies.

Disqualification:

If a member of a house belonging to a political party:

1. Voluntarily gives up the membership of his political party, or
2. Votes, or does not vote in the legislature, contrary to the directions of his political party. However, if the member has taken prior permission, or is condoned by the party within 15 days from such voting or abstention, the member shall not be disqualified.
3. If an independent candidate joins a political party after the election.
4. If a nominated member joins a party six months after he becomes a member of the legislature.

Exceptions under the law:

Legislators may change their party without the risk of disqualification in certain circumstances.

• The law allows a party to merge with or into another party provided that at least two-thirds of its legislators are in favour of the merger.
• In such a scenario, neither the members who decide to merge, nor the ones who stay with the original party will face disqualification.

Decision of the Presiding Officer is subject to judicial review:

The law initially stated that the decision of the Presiding Officer is not subject to judicial review. This condition was struck down by the Supreme Court in 1992, thereby allowing appeals against the Presiding Officer’s decision in the High Court and Supreme Court. However, it held that there may not be any judicial intervention until the Presiding Officer gives his order.

Advantages of anti-defection law:

1. Provides stability to the government by preventing shifts of party allegiance.
2. Ensures that candidates remain loyal to the party as well the citizens voting for him.
3. Promotes party discipline.
4. Facilitates merger of political parties without attracting the provisions of Anti-defection
5. Expected to reduce corruption at the political level.
6. Provides for punitive measures against a member who defects from one party to another.

Various Recommendations to overcome the challenges posed by the law:

1. Dinesh Goswami Committee on electoral reforms: Disqualification should be limited to following cases:

A member voluntarily gives up the membership of his political party

A member abstains from voting, or votes contrary to the party whip in a motion of vote of confidence or motion of no-confidence. Political parties could issue whips only when the government was in danger.

2. Law Commission (170th Report):

Provisions which exempt splits and mergers from disqualification to be deleted.

Pre-poll electoral fronts should be treated as political parties under anti-defection.

Political parties should limit issuance of whips to instances only when the government is in danger.

3. Election Commission:

Decisions under the Tenth Schedule should be made by the President/ Governor on the binding advice of the Election Commission.

Law against mob lynching

A pan-Northeast legal group has sought a law to deal specifically with mob lynching.

This follows the killing of two people in Assam within a week in May.

How are these cases handled?

There is “no separate” definition for such incidents under the existing IPC. Lynching incidents can be dealt with under Section 300 and 302 of IPC.

Section 302 provides that whoever commits murder shall be punished with death or imprisonment for life and shall also be liable to fine. Offence of murder is a cognisable, non- bailable and non-compoundable offence.

What is meant by Lynching?

Any act or series of acts of violence or aiding, abetting (encouraging) such act/acts thereof, whether spontaneous or planned, by a mob on the grounds of religion, race, caste, sex, place of birth, language, dietary practices, sexual orientation, political affiliation, ethnicity or any other related grounds.

SC guidelines:

1. There shall be a “separate offence” for lynching and the trial courts must ordinarily award maximum sentence upon conviction of the accused person to set a stern example in cases of mob violence.
2. The state governments will have to designate a senior police officer in each district for taking measures to prevent incidents of mob violence and lynching.
3. The state governments need to identify districts, sub-divisions and villageswhere instances of lynching and mob violence have been reported in the recent past.
4. The nodal officers shall bring to the notice of the DGP about any inter-district co-ordination issues for devising a strategy to tackle lynching and mob violence related issues.
5. Every police officer shall ensure to disperse the mob that has a tendency to cause violence in the disguise of vigilantism or otherwise.
6. Central and the state governments shall broadcast on radio, television and other media platforms about the serious consequences of mob lynching and mob violence.
7. Despite the measures taken by the State Police, if it comes to the notice of the local police that an incident of lynching or mob violence has taken place, the jurisdictional police station shall immediately lodge an FIR.
8. The State Governments shall prepare a lynching/mob violence victim compensation scheme in the light of the provisions of Section 357A of CrPC within one month from the date of this judgment.
9. If a police officer or an officer of the district administration fails to fulfill his duty, it will be considered an act of deliberate negligence.

Need of the hour:

Every time there is a case of honor killing, hate crimes, witch hunting or mob lynching we raise demands for special legislation to deal with these crimes. But, the fact is that these crimes are nothing but murders and the existing provisions under IPC and CrPC are sufficient to deal with such crimes. Coupled with the guidelines laid down in Poonawala’s case, we are sufficiently equipped to deal with mob lynching. However, what we lack is due enforcement of the existing laws and accountability of the enforcement agencies.

 Attempts by various states in this regard:

Manipur government came up first with its Bill against lynching in 2018, incorporating some logical and relevant clauses.

Rajasthan government passed a bill against lynching in August 2019.

West Bengal too came up with a more stringent Bill against lynching.

What the Centre can do?

1. While adopting the guidelines, the Centre would do well to incorporate sections in the law for penal action against doctors who stand accused of dereliction of duty, for delay in attending to victims of lynching, or submitting false reports without carrying out a proper and thorough medical examination of the victims, either under coercion by the police or due to their own prejudice against the community or religion of the victims.
2. Under the compensation scheme for the victims, the amount to be paid to the victims should be recovered from the perpetrators of the crime or collective fines be imposed on the villagers where the lynching takes place.
3. While framing the laws, the Centre could even provide for punitive action against political leaders found guilty of inciting mobs.
4. Punitive action to be taken against police officers accused of dereliction of duty, as incorporated in the law enacted by Manipur government, could be replicated in the Central law too as it would deter police officials acting in a partisan manner in favour of the lynch mob.

TULIP – Urban Learning Internship Program

TULIP – Urban Learning Internship Program for providing opportunities to fresh Graduates in all ULBs & Smart Cities launched.

TULIP has been conceived pursuant to the Budget 2020-21 announcement by the Finance Minister Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman under the theme ‘Aspirational India’.

Key features:

1. TULIP is a program for providing fresh graduates experiential learning opportunities in the urban sector.
2. It would help enhance the value-to-market of India’s graduates and help create a potential talent pool in diverse fields like urban planning, transport engineering, environment, municipal finance etc.
3. It will lead to infusion of fresh ideas and energy with engagement of youth in co-creation of solutions for solving India’s urban challenges.
4. This launch is also an important stepping stone for fulfilment of MHRD and AICTE’s goal of 1 crore successful internships by the year 2025.

Need for and Significance of the program:

Such a program will help reap the benefits of India’s demographic dividend as it is poised to have the largest working-age population in the world in the coming years.

• India has a substantial pool of technical graduates for whom exposure to real world project implementation and planning is essential for professional development.
• General education may not reflect the depth of productive knowledge present in society. Instead of approaching education as ‘doing by learning,’ our societies need to reimagine education as ‘learning by doing.’

Thus TULIP would help fulfil twin goals of providing interns with hands-on learning experience as well as infusing fresh energy and ideas in the functioning of India’s ULBs and Smart Cities.

SWADES: Skill Mapping Exercise for Returning Citizens

The initiative, undertaken as part of the Vande Bharat Mission, aims at empowering the returning citizens with relevant employment opportunities.

Key features:

1. It is a joint initiative of the Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship, the Ministry of Civil Aviation and the Ministry of External Affairs.
2. The National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC)is supporting the implementation of the project.
3. It aims to create a database of qualified citizens based on their skill sets and experience to tap into and fulfil demand of Indian and foreign companies.
4. The collected information will be shared with the companies for suitable placement opportunities in the country.

Implementation:

The returning citizens are required to fill up an online SWADES Skills Card.
The card will facilitate a strategic framework to provide the returning citizens with suitable employment opportunities through discussions with key stakeholders including state governments, industry associations and employers.

Need for and significance:

The spread of COVID-19 across the globe has had a significant economic impact with thousands of workers losing their jobs and hundreds of companies shutting down globally. Many of Indian citizens returning to the country through the Vande Bharat Mission of the Government of India may be facing uncertainty regarding their future employment opportunities.

So, this initiative will help in deployment of returning Indian workforce matching their skill sets.

Global Vaccine Summit

Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi recently addressed the virtual Global Vaccine Summit hosted by UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson in which over 50 countries – business leaders, UN agencies, civil society, government ministers, Heads of State and country leaders participated.

Overall the summit raised almost £7bn to Gavi, the international vaccine alliance. India pledged 15 Million US Dollars.

Background:

The virtual summit this week comes against the backdrop of the University of Oxford’s fast-track trials for a potential vaccine to protect against coronavirus. However, it has a wider remit as the UK hopes it would help raise the funds required for Gavi to vaccinate over 300 million children against infectious diseases in the world’s poorest countries over the next five years.

What is GAVI?

Created in 2000, Gavi is an international organisation – a global Vaccine Alliance, bringing together public and private sectors with the shared goal of creating equal access to new and underused vaccines for children living in the world’s poorest countries.

Members: Gavi brings together developing country and donor governments, the World Health Organization, UNICEF, the World Bank, the vaccine industry in both industrialised and developing countries, research and technical agencies, civil society, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and other private philanthropists.

Main activities:

1. GAVI’s strategy supports its mission to save children’s lives and protect people’s health by increasing access to immunisation in poor countries.
2. It contributes to achieving the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals by focusing on performance, outcomes and results.
3. Its partners provide funding for vaccines and intellectual resources for care advancement.
4. They contribute, also, to strengthening the capacity of the health system to deliver immunisation and other health services in a sustainable manner.

Mutual Logistics Support Agreement (MLSA)

India and Australia have signed a historic agreement, called ‘Mutual Logistics Support Agreement (MLSA)’, to allow access to military bases for logistics support.

This was agreed upon at the first-ever virtual bilateral summit between India Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Australian counterpart Scott Morrison.

What is MLSA?

• The agreement will facilitate reciprocal access to military logistics facilities, allow more complex joint military exercise and improve interoperability between the security forces of the two nations.
• It allows reciprocal access to military facilities in terms of logistics support which generally include food, water, petroleum (fuel), spare parts and other components.
• The agreement will be useful during joint military exercises, peacekeeping operations, Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief operations, scheduled deployments of military platforms, and any other exigent situations that may arise.
• It will help in improving interoperability between the involved parties.

Significance:

• The MLSA assumes greater importance in light of India and Australia’s limited naval capabilities.
• Normally, a scarcity of resources puts severe limitations on a country’s ability to project power in the distant waters, leaving its far-off assets at the mercy of other actors.
• Therefore, countries avoid dispersion of their resources and concentrate on their near waters.
• In the case of India and Australia, such a limitation does not match their ambitions in the region; it also puts them at a disadvantage vis-à-vis a belligerent China.

For this reason, the MLSA holds considerable significance.

Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS)

What is PLFS?

PLFS is India’s first computer-based survey which gives estimates of key employment and unemployment indicators like the labour force participation rate, worker population ratio, proportion unemployed and unemployment rate in rural households annually and on a quarterly basis for the urban households.

• The PLFS also gives the distribution of educated and unemployed people, which in turn can be used as a basis for skilling of youth to make them more employable by industry.
• The survey was launched in 2017 and the first annual report was released (July 2017-June 2018), covering both rural and urban areas, in May 2019.

Definitions:

Labour Force Participation Rate: It is the percentage of people in the labour force (those who are working or seeking or available for work) in the population.

Worker Population Ratio is the percentage of employed people.

Unemployment rate shows the percentage of people unemployed among the labour force.

Unemployed: A person who is unable to get work for even an hour in the last seven days despite seeking employment is considered unemployed.

Key findings:

1. India’s unemployment rate fell between July 2018 and June 2019 to 5.8% from 6.1% during the same period of 2017-18, even as the labour force participation rate rose to 37.5% from 36.9%.
2. The worker population ratio also increased, to 35.3% as against 34.7% in the 2017-18.
3. Urban unemployment rate reduced to 7.7% in 2018-19 from 7.8% and in rural India to 5% from 5.3%.
4. Female participation rate improved in both urban and rural India during the period under review, going up to 18.6% in 2018-19 from 17.5% the year before.

 Challenges ahead:

To retain the falling trend in unemployment rate in 2019-20, which has witnessed a long nationwide lockdown between March and June to prevent the spread of Covid-19, resulting in job losses across sectors.

According to monthly data from the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy, unemployment rate in India shot up significantly from 7.87% in June 2019 to 23.48% in May 2020. 

What are Social Bubbles?

Why in News?

Many countries have started gradually lifting restrictions even as the number of cases of the infection continues to rise. 

One of the ways of effective social distancing strategies to keep the Covid-19 curve flat suggested by experts include the idea of social bubbles.

What are social bubbles?

The idea is based on New Zealand’s model of household “bubbles”, an exclusive social group that is allowed to meet with each other amid the pandemic.

A bubble is referred to as an individual’s household or the people that one lives with. People may be allowed to extend their bubbles slightly to include caregivers or children who might be in shared care.

These people don’t need to live in the same household but must be local.

New Zealand followed this approach during the lockdown and allowed the expansion of the bubbles as transmission slowed and restrictions eased.

Benefits of these bubbles:

In case a member of the bubble develops symptoms, the entire bubble quarantines itself, preventing further spread of the infection.

Bubbles allow those who are isolated to come into more social contact and to reduce the most harmful effects of the current social restrictions, while continuing to limit the risk of chains of transmission.

Have they been effective?

Studies have shown that the concept of social bubbles proved effective for New Zealand since it allowed people who were isolated, vulnerable or struggling to receive the care and support they needed.

Such a policy can be an effective policy for other countries to encourage compliance with social distancing regulations while meeting care and support needs.

Relevance of social bubbles at workplaces:

Social bubbles can also be applied by employers to create departmental or work unit bubbles of employees. For instance, for hospitals and essential workers, the risk of transmission can be minimised by introducing shifts with a similar composition of employees. This could mean clubbing together employees based on their residential proximity.

Cooperative security in Persian Gulf littoral

What is Persian Gulf region and why is it so significant?

The lands around the Persian Gulf are shared by eight countries- Bahrain, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates.

• These countries are major producers of crude oil and natural gas, and thereby contribute critically to the global economy and to their own prosperity. 
• The area has approximately two-thirds of the world’s estimated proven oil reserves and one-third of the world’s estimated proven natural gas reserves.
• This factor has added to their geopolitical significance. 
• A considerable amount of sea trade passes through the gulf, leading to heavy traffic in the region.

Given its significance, the framework for stability and security in the region should have the following:

1. conditions of peace and stability in individual littoral states;
2. freedom to all states of the Gulf littoral to exploit their hydrocarbon and other natural resources and export them;
3. freedom of commercial shipping in international waters of the Persian Gulf;
4. freedom of access to, and outlet from, Gulf waters through the Strait of Hormuz;
5. prevention of conflict that may impinge on the freedom of trade and shipping
6. prevention of emergence of conditions that may impinge on any of these considerations.

Why this is important for India too?

• The Gulf is an integral part of India’s ‘extended neighbourhood’, both by way of geographical proximity and as an area of expanded interests and growing Indian influence.
• India is dependent on the six Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states for 42 per cent of its overall oil imports; three of the top five oil suppliers to India are Gulf states.
• Indians make up the Gulf states’ largest expatriate community, with an estimated 7.6 million Indian nationals living and working in the region; especially in Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
• The GCC is India’s largest regional-bloc trading partner, which accounted for $104 billion of trade in 2017–18, nearly a 7 per cent increase from $97 billion the previous year. This is higher than both India–ASEAN trade ($81 billion) and India–EU trade ($102 billion) in 2017-18.

China issues white paper on COVID-19 fight

China has issued a white paper on the country’s battle against COVID-19. The document is titled “Fighting COVID-19: China in Action.”

The paper explains:

China’s prevention, control and treatment efforts in the battle against the virus, as well as the efforts made at a global level in international cooperation.

Highlights:

• From early outbreak to an all-out nationwide effort to save as many lives as possible, the Chinese Government has taken the most comprehensive, the strictest and the most thorough prevention and control measures to combat the coronavirus outbreak.
• China has made full use of the weapon to win the battle against COVID-19.
• It has vowed to continue advocating globalization and multilateralism amid the coronavirus pandemic and in its aftermath.
• It has released information on COVID-19 in an open and transparent manner as required by law.

What’s the issue?

US president Donald Trump and leaders of several countries have accused China of not being transparent in reporting the deadly disease, leading to huge human casualties and economic crisis across the world.

Recently, the World Health Assembly (WHA), the decision-making body of Geneva-based World Health Organisation (WHO), passed a unanimous resolution to probe the origin of the virus. China also backed the resolution.

Impact:

The coronavirus has infected over 68,00,000 people and killed nearly 4,00,000 across the world.

The US is the worst affected country with over 1.9 million cases and more than 1,09,000 deaths, while the total number of cases in China stand at 84,177.

The global economy, which was in a sluggish recovery even before the coronavirus outbreak, is now bound to suffer a “severe recession” in 2020.

Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code

Context: The government promulgated an ordinance to amend the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) whereby fresh insolvency proceedings will not be initiated for at least six months starting from March 25 amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Default on repayments from March 25, the day when the nationwide lockdown began to curb COVID-19 infections, would not be considered for initiating insolvency the proceedings for at least six months. Insolvency proceedings would not be initiated for “any default arising on or after March 25, 2020 for a period of six months or such further period, not exceeding one year from such date, as may be notified in this behalf”. ”No application shall ever be filed for initiation of corporate insolvency resolution process of a corporate debtor for the said default occurring during the said period,”

The ordinance suspends sections 7, 9 and 10 on grounds that:

1. the pandemic has created uncertainty and stress for business for reasons beyond their control
2. the nationwide lockdown has added to disruption of normal business operations
3. in such circumstances it would be difficult to find adequate number of resolution applicants for a distressed/defaulting business

The suspension will also curb operational creditors, such as vendors and suppliers, from filing insolvency proceedings against corporate debtors. It will also block corporate debtors from self-filing in order to restructure debt.

Background:

Section 7, 9 and 10 of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 allow for insolvency filings by financial creditors, operational creditors and the corporate debtor itself.

Implications:

While the ordinance is intended to provide respite to the corporate debtor, taking away recourse under IBC will only mean ballooning of the liabilities without resolution. Certain provisions in the amendment can spring unwarranted consequences and open up the possibility of gross misuse of the leeway by wilful defaulters and fraudulent promoters. Suspending Section 10 of the Code will also hurt businesses stuck in the vicious cycle of debt and wanting to exit.

What is insolvency and bankruptcy?

Insolvency is a situation where individuals or companies are unable to repay their outstanding debt.

Bankruptcy, on the other hand, is a situation whereby a court of competent jurisdiction has declared a person or other entity insolvent, having passed appropriate orders to resolve it and protect the rights of the creditors. It is a legal declaration of one’s inability to pay off debts.

About the IBC:

The IBC was enacted in 2016, replacing a host of laws, with the aim to streamline and speed up the resolution process of failed businesses.

The Code also consolidates provisions of the current legislative framework to form a common forum for debtors and creditors of all classes to resolve insolvency.

The code stipulates that the resolution process of a stressed company will have to be completed in a maximum of 270 days.

 When does the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) apply?
In March this year, the government raised the threshold for invoking insolvency under the IBC to Rs 1 crore from Rs 1 lakh with a view to prevent triggering of such proceedings against small and medium enterprises that are facing currently the heat of coronavirus pandemic.

The Code creates various institutions to facilitate resolution of insolvency. These are as follows:

Insolvency Professionals: A specialised cadre of licensed professionals is proposed to be created. These professionals will administer the resolution process, manage the assets of the debtor, and provide information for creditors to assist them in decision making.

Insolvency Professional Agencies: The insolvency professionals will be registered with insolvency professional agencies. The agencies conduct examinations to certify the insolvency professionals and enforce a code of conduct for their performance.

Information Utilities: Creditors will report financial information of the debt owed to them by the debtor. Such information will include records of debt, liabilities and defaults.

Adjudicating authorities: The proceedings of the resolution process will be adjudicated by the National Companies Law Tribunal (NCLT), for companies; and the Debt Recovery Tribunal (DRT), for individuals. The duties of the authorities will include approval to initiate the resolution process, appoint the insolvency professional, and approve the final decision of creditors.

Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board: The Board will regulate insolvency professionals, insolvency professional agencies and information utilities set up under the Code.  The Board will consist of representatives of Reserve Bank of India, and the Ministries of Finance, Corporate Affairs and Law.

Environmental performance index

12th edition of the biennial Environment Performance Index (EPI Index 2020) has been released.

About the index:

The index ranks 180 countries on 32 performance indicators across 11 categories covering environmental health and ecosystem vitality.

The index is a method of quantifying and numerically marking the environmental performance of a state’s policies.

This index was developed from the Pilot Environmental Performance Index, first published in 2002, and designed to supplement the environmental targets set forth in the United Nations Millennium Development Goals.

The EPI was preceded by the Environmental Sustainability Index (ESI), published between 1999 and 2005. Both indices were developed by Yale University (Yale Center for Environmental Law and Policy) and Columbia University (Center for International Earth Science Information Network) in collaboration with the World Economic Forum and the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission.

Performance of India and neighbours:

India secured 168^th rank. The country scored 27.6 out of 100 in the 2020 index.

• India’s rank was 177 (with a score of 27.6 out of 100) in 2018.
• India scored below the regional average score on all five key parameters on environmental health, including air quality, sanitation and drinking water, heavy metals and waste management.
• It has also scored below the regional average on parameters related to biodiversity and ecosystem services too.
• Among South Asian countries, India was at second position (rank 106) after Pakistan on ‘climate change’.
• The 11 countries lagging behind India were — Burundi, Haiti, Chad, Soloman Islands, Madagascar, Guinea, Côte d’Ivoir, Sierra Leone, Afghanistan, Myanmar and Liberia.
• All South Asian countries, except Afghanistan, were ahead of India in the ranking.  

Suggestions for India:

• India needs to re-double national sustainability efforts on all fronts.
• The country needs to focus on a wide spectrum of sustainability issues, with a high-priority to critical issues such as air and water quality, biodiversity and climate change.

Global performance:

• Denmark came in first place, followed by Luxembourg and Switzerland. The United Kingdom ranked fourth.
• The US is far behind other industrialized nations on environmental performance and now ranks 24th in the world.

Sixth mass extinction

The ongoing sixth mass extinction may be one of the most serious environmental threats to the persistence of civilisation, according to new research. The research was published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS).

What is the mass extinction of species?

Mass extinction refers to a substantial increase in the degree of extinction or when the Earth loses more than three-quarters of its species in a geologically short period of time.

So far, during the entire history of the Earth, there have been five mass extinctions. 

Reasons and impacts:

The five mass extinctions that took place in the last 450 million years have led to the destruction of 70-95 per cent of the species of plants, animals and microorganisms that existed earlier.

These extinctions were caused by “catastrophic alterations” to the environment, such as massive volcanic eruptions, depletion of oceanic oxygen or collision with an asteroid.

After each of these extinctions, it took millions of years to regain species comparable to those that existed before the event.

What is the sixth mass extinction?

The sixth, which is ongoing, is referred to as the Anthropocene extinction.

Researchers have described it as the “most serious environmental problem” since the loss of species will be permanent.

Why it is attributable to humans?

One of the reasons that humanity is an “unprecedented threat” to many living organisms is because of their growing numbers.

The loss of species has been occurring since human ancestors developed agriculture over 11,000 years ago. Since then, the human population has increased from about 1 million to 7.7 billion.

Changes occurred and occurring:

More than 400 vertebrate species went extinct in the last century, extinctions that would have taken over 10,000 years in the normal course of evolution.

In a sample of 177 species of large mammals, most lost more than 80 per cent of their geographic range in the last 100 years, and 32 per cent of over 27,000 vertebrate species have declining populations.

Many of the species currently endangered or on the brink of extinction are being decimated by legal and illegal wildlife trade.

Several species of mammals that were relatively safe one or two decades ago are now endangered, including cheetahs, lions and giraffes. There are as few as 20,000 lions left in the wild, less than 7,000 cheetahs, 500 to 1,000 giant pandas, and about 250 Sumatran rhinoceros.

Vulnerable regions:

Tropical regions have seen the highest number of declining species. In South and Southeast Asia, large-bodied species of mammals have lost more than four-fifths of their historical ranges.

While fewer species are disappearing in temperate zones, the percentage is just as high or higher. As many as half of the number of animals that once shared our planet are no longer here, a loss described as “a massive erosion of the greatest biological diversity in the history of Earth”.

What happens when species go extinct?

Impact can be tangible such as in the form of a loss in crop pollination and water purification.

If a species has a specific function in an ecosystem, the loss can lead to consequences for other species by impacting the food chain.

Effects of extinction will worsen in the coming decades as the resulting genetic and cultural variability will change entire ecosystems.

• When the number of individuals in a population or species drops too low, its contributions to ecosystem functions and services become unimportant, its genetic variability and resilience is reduced, and its contribution to human welfare may be lost.

Assam gas leak

What happened?

Since the morning of May 27, natural gas has been continuously flowing out of a gas well in Assam following a blowout — or a sudden, uncontrolled release of gas/oil.

This happened after the blowout at the Oil India Limited’s (OIL) Baghjan gas well in Assam’s Tinsukia district.

• People from surrounding villages have been evacuated, while a variety of fish and an endangered Gangetic dolphin have died.

Leakage:

The current discharge is at 90,000 SCMD at a pressure of 4,200 PSI, far higher than the normal producing pressure of around 2,700 PSI.

Why do blowouts happen?

The pressure balance in a well may be disturbed leading to ‘kicks’ or changes in pressure. If these are not controlled in time, the ‘kicks’ can turn into a sudden blowout.

There are many possible reasons behind blowouts, “from simple lack of attention, poor workmanship, bad maintenance, old age, sabotage to morpho-tectonic factors”.

Why is it so difficult to control?

The control of a blowout depends on two things: the size of the reservoir and the pressure at which the gas/oil is flowing out.

This reservoir was particularly difficult to control since it was a gas well and ran the risk of catching fire at any point.

What is being done?

While many blowouts automatically collapse on their own, it can take up to months. To control a blowout, the first step is to pump in water, so that the gas does not catch fire.

How serious is the impact to the neighbourhood?

As many as 1,610 families with 2,500-3,000 people have been evacuated to relief camps. There are reports of deaths of a river dolphin, and a variety of fish. While the administration has kept an ambulance with paramedical staff on standby, locals have complained of symptoms such as burning of eyes, headache etc.

Also close is the Maguri-Motapung wetland —an Important Bird Area notified by the Bombay Natural History Society.

Impact on the Dibru-Saikhowa National Park:

It is at an aerial distance of 900 metres from the Dibru-Saikhowa National Park.

The national park houses some of the rare and endangered species of flora and fauna – around 36 species of mammals and nearly 400 species of birds.

About Natural Gas:

Natural gas is the cleanest fossil fuels among the available fossil fuels.

It is used as a feedstock in the manufacture of fertilizers, plastics and other commercially important organic chemicals as well as used as a fuel for electricity generation, heating purpose in industrial and commercial units.

Natural gas is also used for cooking in domestic households and a transportation fuel for vehicles.

Why the Telangana HC compared Covid-19 to a Trojan horse?

 Last week, the Telangana High Court pulled up the state government over its low rate of coronavirus testing.

It also said, not testing in large numbers is almost like inviting the Trojan horse. 

What it means?

Used as a metaphor, the term “Trojan horse” refers to any person or thing that deceives or misleads a target in order to attack it from the inside.

It is derived from the ancient Greek story of the Trojan War — an epic that has for centuries influenced western poetry, art and literature.

About Trojan War:

Fought after the ancient Greek state of Sparta invaded Troy, a kingdom located on the western shores of modern-day Turkey, after the Spartan queen Helen eloped with the Trojan prince Paris. According to some versions, Helen was abducted by the Trojans.

• Distraught, Helen’s husband, the Spartan king Menelaus marched with his brother Agamemnon, the King of Mycenae (another Greek state), to rescue Helen. The Greek side was supported by other powerful allies, and included the fabled warriors Achilles, Odysseus, Nestor, and Ajax. The Greeks crossed the Aegean Sea and laid siege to Troy demanding Helen’s return.
• A bloody battle raged for more than 10 years, after which the Greeks made a show of retreating from their positions, while leaving a large wooden horse inside which some of their soldiers hid at the gates of Troy. 
• The unsuspecting Trojan people decided to haul the wooden horse that they ostensibly took to be a gift, into their city. At nighttime, the Greek soldiers led by Odysseusemerged from the horse and opened the city gates from inside, through which a larger force entered, leaving Troy to ruin.
• As per Homerian classic Odyssey, Helen returned to Sparta with Menelaus.

What HC’s reference to Trojan horse means?

The High Court was comparing asymptomatic coronavirus carriers to the Trojan horse.

Similar to the story of Troy, we could be interacting with asymptomatic carriers, talking to them, inviting them over, while suspecting nothing, and before we know it, the virus would have transmitted to us.

Since a person has no symptoms, it is not possible to know if they are coronavirus carriers unless they are tested.

Facts for Prelims:

In 1998, UNESCO designated the Trojan remains at Hisarlik in Turkey as a World Heritage Site.

India is all set to be UNSC’s non-permanent member

India is all set to become a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council for the eighth time.

Background:

Elections will be held on June 17 by the UN General Assembly to elect five of the ten nonpermanent members.

India is the single candidate in the Asia-Pacific group and would return to the council after a decade starting January 2021.

How are non- permanent members elected?

Each year, the General Assembly elects five non-permanent members out of a total of 10, for a two-year term.

Distribution of seats: These 10 seats are distributed among the regions thus: five for African and Asian countries; one for Eastern European countries; two for Latin American and Caribbean countries; two for Western European and other countries.

Of the five seats for Africa and Asia, three are for Africa and two for Asia; there is an informal understanding between the two groups to reserve one for an Arab country. The Africa and Asia Pacific group takes turns every two years to put up an Arab candidate.

Elections:

Elections for terms beginning in even-numbered years select two African members, and one each within Eastern Europe, Asia-Pacific, and Latin America and the Caribbean. Terms beginning in odd-numbered years consist of two Western European and Other members, and one each from Asia-Pacific, Africa, and Latin America and the Caribbean.

Votes:

Irrespective of whether a country is a “clean slate” candidate and has been endorsed by its group, it needs to secure the votes of two-thirds of the members present and voting at the General Assembly session (a minimum of 129 votes if all 193 member states participate).

When contested, the elections for non-permanent seats can be fraught and can go on for several rounds, In 1975, there was a contest between India and Pakistan, which went to eight rounds. Pakistan won the seat that year. In 1996, India lost a contest to Japan.

About UNSC:

What is it?

The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) is one of the organs of the United Nations and is charged with the maintenance of international peace and security.

Its powers include the establishment of peacekeeping operations, the establishment of international sanctions, and the authorization of military action through Security Council resolutions; it is the only UN body with the authority to issue binding resolutions to member states.

Permanent Members: The Security Council consists of fifteen members. Russia, the United Kingdom, France, China, and the United States—serve as the body’s five permanent members. These permanent members can veto any substantive Security Council resolution, including those on the admission of new member states or candidates for Secretary-General.

Proposed reforms:

Reform of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) encompasses five key issues:

1. categories of membership.
2. the question of the veto held by the five permanent members.
3. regional representation.
4. the size of an enlarged Council and its working methods.
5. the Security Council-General Assembly relationship.

Direct Seeding of Rice (DSR)?

The Punjab government has decided to deploy direct seeding of rice (DSR) technique instead of the traditional transplantation of paddy this year due to the shortfall of agricultural labourers triggered by reverse migration in the wake of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic.

What is Direct Seeding of Rice (DSR)?

Here, the pre-germinated seeds are directly drilled into the field by a tractor-powered machine.

There is no nursery preparation or transplantation involved in this method. Farmers have to only level their land and give one pre-sowing irrigation.

How is it different from conventional method?

In transplanting paddy, farmers prepare nurseries where the paddy seeds are first sown and raised into young plants.

The nursery seed bed is 5-10% of the area to be transplanted. These seedlings are then uprooted and replanted 25-35 days later in the puddled field.

 Advantage of DSR:

Water savings. The first irrigation (apart from the pre-sowing rauni) under DSR is necessary only 21 days after sowing. This is unlike in transplanted paddy, where watering has to be done practically daily to ensure submerged/flooded conditions in the first three weeks.

Less Labour. About three labourers are required to transplant one acre of paddy at almost Rs 2,400 per acre.

The cost of herbicides under DSR will not exceed Rs 2,000 per acre.

Reduce methane emissions due to a shorter flooding period and decreased soil disturbance compared to transplanting rice seedlings.

Limitations:

• Non-availability of herbicides.
• The seed requirement for DSR is also high,8-10 kg/acre, compared to 4-5 kg/acre in transplanting.
• Further, laser land levelling is compulsory in DSR. This is not so in transplanting.
• The sowing needs to be done timely so that the plants have come out properly before the monsoon rains arrive.

Shapes of economic recovery

 Most economists are unanimous that in the current financial year, India’s economy will contract.

• The difference of opinion is only about the extent of this contraction.
• The range varies between minus 4% to minus 14%.

Many economists are of the opinion that after hitting rock bottom this year, the economy will start its recovery in the next financial year (2021-22).

What should be the ideal shape of the economic recovery for India?

Given the weakness of the economy going into the Covid crisis as well as the less than adequate fiscal stimulus, India is likely to end up with an “elongated U-shape” recovery.

Shapes:

The Z-shaped recovery is the most-optimistic scenario in which the economy quickly rises like a phoenix after a crash. It more than makes up for lost ground (think revenge-buying after the lockdowns are lifted) before settling back to the normal trend-line, thus forming a Z-shaped chart.

In V-shaped recovery the economy quickly recoups lost ground and gets back to the normal growth trend-line.

A U-shaped recovery is a scenario in which the economy, after falling, struggles and muddles around a low growth rate for some time, before rising gradually to usual levels.

A W-shaped recovery is a dangerous creature — growth falls and rises, but falls again before recovering yet again, thus forming a W-like chart.

The L-shaped recovery is the worst-case scenario, in which growth after falling, stagnates at low levels and does not recover for a long, long time.

The J-shaped recovery is a somewhat unrealistic scenario, in which growth rises sharply from the lows much higher than the trend-line and stays there.

Other shapes:

1. There is also the Swoosh shaped recovery, similar to the Nike logo — in between the V-shape and the U-shape. Here, after falling, growth starts recovering quickly but then, slowed down by obstacles, moves gradually back to the trend-line.
2. There is also the Inverted square root shaped recovery. Financier George Soros, who coined this term years ago, explained that while there could a rebound from the bottom, the growth slows and settles a step down.

Factors responsible:

The shape of economic recovery is determined by both the speed and direction of GDP prints. This depends on multiple factors including fiscal and monetary measures, consumer incomes and sentiment.

Rising forex reserves and its importance

Amid pandemic, India’s foreign exchange reserves are rising and are slated to hit the $500 billion mark soon.

In the month of May, forex reserves jumped by $12.4 billion to an all-time high of $493.48 billion (around Rs 37.30 lakh crore) for the week ended May 29.

Important fact for Prelims:

The level of foreign exchange reserves has steadily increased by 8,400 per cent from $5.8 billion as of March 1991 to the current level.

What are forex reserves?

Forex reserves are external assets in the form of gold, SDRs (special drawing rights of the IMF) and foreign currency assets (capital inflows to the capital markets, FDI and external commercial borrowings) accumulated by India and controlled by the Reserve Bank of India. 

Why they are important?

1. Official foreign exchange reserves are held in support of a range of objectives like supporting and maintaining confidence in the policies for monetary and exchange rate management including the capacity to intervene in support of the national or union currency.
2. It will also limit external vulnerability by maintaining foreign currency liquidity to absorb shocks during times of crisis or when access to borrowing is curtailed.

Why are forex reserves rising despite the slowdown in the economy?

Rise in investment in foreign portfolio investors in Indian stocks and foreign direct investments (FDIs).

Fall in crude oil prices has brought down the oil import bill, saving the precious foreign exchange.

Overseas remittances and foreign travels have fallen steeply – down 61 per cent in April from $12.87 billion.

What’s the significance of rising forex reserves?

The rising forex reserves give a lot of comfort to the government and the Reserve Bank of India in managing India’s external and internal financial issues at a time when the economic growth is set to contract by 1.5 per cent in 2020-21.

It’s a big cushion in the event of any crisis on the economic front and enough to cover the import bill of the country for a year.

The rising reserves have also helped the rupee to strengthen against the dollar.

Reserves will provide a level of confidence to markets that a country can meet its external obligations, demonstrate the backing of domestic currency by external assets, assist the government in meeting its foreign exchange needs and external debt obligations and maintain a reserve for national disasters or emergencies.

Where are India’s forex reserves kept?

The RBI Act, 1934 provides the overarching legal framework for deployment of reserves in different foreign currency assets and gold within the broad parameters of currencies, instruments, issuers and counterparties.

As much as 64 per cent of the foreign currency reserves is held in the securities like Treasury bills of foreign countries, mainly the US.

28 per cent is deposited in foreign central banks.

7.4 per cent is also deposited in commercial banks abroad.

India also held 653.01 tonnes of gold as of March 2020, with 360.71 tonnes being held overseas in safe custody with the Bank of England and the Bank for International Settlements, while the remaining gold is held domestically.

Delhi’s decision to limit health services

Delhi Lt Governor Anil Baijal has issued two orders that struck down key announcements made by the Delhi government in the past week. These include:

1. To reserve beds in private and Delhi government hospitals for residents of Delhi.
2. To limit the scope of Covid-19 testing.

What’s the issue?

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has announced to restrict COVID-19 treatment in Delhi’s private hospitals and those run by the government of NCT only to those with proof of residence in the city.

Besides, the Director General of Health Services Delhi (DGHS), had ruled out testing of asymptomatic contacts of confirmed patients.

Why Lieutenant-Governor of Delhi overruled this decision?

1. Right to Health’ is an integral part of ‘Right to Life’ under Article 21 of the Constitution. While health care is far from being universal in India, positively denying that to someone on the grounds of residency is insensitive and irresponsible.
2. The NCT is functionally contiguous with Gurugram in Haryana and NOIDA in Uttar Pradesh. Thousands cross these borders for work and other needs including health care. People contribute to tax revenues in three different jurisdictions. And hence there cannot be restrictions.
3. In his second order, the L-G, pointing out “deviation” from guidelines of the Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR), directed the Delhi government to test asymptomatic direct and high-risk contacts of confirmed cases as well. It is because deviation in the ICMR guidelines can result in inadequate contact tracing of affected individuals and can result in further spread of COVID-19 in NCT of Delhi.

What has been the government’s argument and the rationale behind this move?

Situation in Delhi is already worsening. 5.5 lakh COVID-19 cases are expected by July-end for which 80,000 beds could be needed.

Powers of Lt. Governor to issue such orders:

He is empowered to issue such orders in his capacity as chairperson of the Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA).

These powers have been conferred under Section 18(3) read with Section 18(2)(d) of the Disaster Management Act, 2005.

What was the problem with Delhi Government’s order?

If this order was implemented, it would have largely had two effects:

1. It would have denied healthcare to scores of patients from other states who come to Delhi for specialised treatment that is unavailable to them in their hometowns.
2. It would have led to denial of medical care to even those living and working in Delhi as they don’t have identity proofs of residency in Delhi.

Krishna and Godavari water utilisation

The Union government is going to take stock of water utilisation from the Krishna and Godavari rivers following Telangana and Andhra Pradesh filing complaints against each other.

In this regard, the Union Ministry of Jal Sakthi has asked the Chairpersons of the Krishna and Godavari River Management Boards to procure the details of the irrigation projects in Maharashtra and Karnataka, too, and submit them to the Centre in a month.

Need for:

The main objective of the exercise appears to be to assess whether surplus water will be available for the new projects in the light of the disputes.

What’s the issue?

The two States- AP ans Telangana- share stretches of the Krishna and the Godavari and own their tributaries.

They have embarked on several new projects without getting clearance from the river boards, the Central Water Commission and the apex council comprising the Union Water Resources Minister and the Chief Ministers, as mandated by the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014. 

But, Telangana government last year filed a complaint against AP government for taking up projects across Krishna river.

The Krishna:

It is an east-flowing river.

Originates at Mahabaleshwar in Maharashtra and merges with the Bay of Bengal, flowing through Maharashtra, Karnataka, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.

Tributaries: Tungabhadra, Mallaprabha, Koyna, Bhima, Ghataprabha, Yerla, Warna, Dindi, Musi and Dudhganga.

Godavari River:

Rises from Trimbakeshwar near Nasik in Maharashtra and flows for a length of about 1465 km before outfalling into the Bay of Bengal.

Basin: The Godavari basin extends over states of Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Odisha in addition to smaller parts in Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka and Union territory of Puducherry.

Tributaries: Pravara, Purna, Manjra, Penganga, Wardha, Wainganga, Pranhita (combined flow of Wainganga, Penganga, Wardha), Indravati, Maner and the Sabri.

2021 QS World University rankings

17th edition of the QS World University rankings has been released.

What is QS World University rankings?

It is an annual publication of University rankings by Quacquarelli Symonds (QS)- A british company specialising in the analysis of higher education institutions around the world.

Previously, it was called Times Higher Education – QS world University rankings. The name changed since 2010.

It is the only international ranking to have received the approval of International Ranking Expert Group (IREG).

It rates the worlds top 1000 universities.

How are universities ranked?

To rank institutions, QS uses six indicators:

1. Academic reputation.
2. Employer reputation.
3. Faculty/student ratio.
4. Citations per faculty.
5. International faculty ratio.
6. International student ratio.

Top 20 institutions this year:

Performance of Indian Institutions:

1. Top three from India featured in top 200 and their rankings: Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay (172), followed closely by Indian Institute of Science (IISc) Bangalore (185), and IIT Delhi (193). However, all three have dropped in their rankings compared to the last year.
2. In total, 21 Indian higher education institutions have found their place among the world’s top 1,000 (It was 24 last year). Of these 21, 14 have fallen in rank over the past 12 months, while four have improved their position.
3. Indian higher education institutions perform strongly in research quality, even though they fail to increase their academic standing, teaching capacity, and levels of internationalisation at the same rate as their global competitors.

Reasons for poor performance of Indian institutions:

Indian institutions got zero score on ratio of international faculty and students. India also scored poorly on faculty- student ratio.

This is because India counts only full-time faculty, whereas American universities include even PhD students who are teaching or research assistants.

What should India do now?

The government has already formed a committee on how we can improve the perception of the premier Indian institutes abroad.

The government should now launch a campaign similar to incredible India to change the perception.

Does using UV ray mechanism on food items kill the coronavirus?

 Context: Many sweet shop owners across India have started using the UV light mechanism to disinfect food items and killing the virus.

How is it being used?

UV radiations are normally used to kill microorganisms.

Particularly, UV-C, also known as Ultraviolet germicidal irradiation (UVGI) is a disinfection method that uses short-wavelength ultraviolet light to kill or inactivate microorganisms by destroying their nucleic acids and disrupting their DNA, leaving them unable to perform vital cellular functions and stops their replication.

• UVGI is used in a variety of applications, such as food, air, and water disinfection.
• Few research studies have found that UVC radiation is also effective in killing coronaviruses on various surfaces, but efficiency is variable for different kinds of surfaces depending on their texture.

What is UV radiation?

UV radiation is the portion of the Electro Magnetic spectrum between X-rays and visible light.

The most common form of UV radiation is sunlight, which produces three main types of UV rays:

1. UVA
2. UVB
3. UVC

Key features:

• UVA rays have the longest wavelengths, followed by UVB, and UVC rays which have the shortest wavelengths.
• While UVA and UVB rays are transmitted through the atmosphere, all UVC and some UVB rays are absorbed by the Earth’s ozone layer. So, most of the UV rays you come in contact with are UVA with a small amount of UVB.

Democrats unveil police reform bill

Top US congressional Democrats have unveiled a bill- the Justice in Policing Act- to overhaul police practices as Americans gather daily to protest excessive use of force and systemic racism.

The legislation would make sweeping changes designed both to deter police use of force and hold officers more accountable for abuses. 

The legislation now needs support from Republicans.

Background:

This comes two weeks after the death of George Floyd, the black, unarmed man who died after a Minneapolis police officer knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes.

The incident sparked nationwide furor over sustained brutality against black Americans.

The bill proposes to:

1. Reform “qualified immunity” for officers, making it easier for people whose constitutional rights were violated to recover damages
2. Change the federal standard of criminal police behavior from “willful” to acting “knowingly or with reckless disregard,” to address the difficulty of prosecuting officers
3. Start a federal registry of police misconduct and require states to report use of force to the U.S. Justice Department
4. Ban police use of chokeholds and carotid holds, and condition funding for state and local departments on barring the practices
5. Stop the use of “no-knock” search warrants in drug cases in the U.S., while also making state and local money contingent on stopping use of the warrants
6. Give the Justice Department subpoena power to carry out “pattern and practice” investigations into police department conduct
7. Provide state attorneys general with grants to carry out pattern and practice probes and create a process for independent investigations into uses of force
8. Require training on racial bias and implicit bias at the federal level, and condition state and local funding on offering training
9. Curb transfers of military-grade weapons to state and local police
10. Classify lynching as a federal hate crime

Racism in the USA:

Despite the civil war over slavery, and the civil rights movement for dignity and equality, systemic discrimination and violence against blacks persists. Racism continues unabated.

What is Racism?

Racism is a systematic ideology, a complex set of beliefs and practices that, on the presumed basis of biology, divides humanity into the ‘higher’ us and a lower ‘them’.

What can it lead to?

It not only sustains a permanent group hierarchy but deeply stigmatises those designated as inferior. This sense of hierarchy provides a motive for say, whites to treat blacks in ways that would be viewed as cruel or unjust if applied to members of their own group. For instance, contact with them is often regarded as contaminating, polluting.

It should therefore be avoided or kept to a minimum.

Racism naturalises a person’s belief, character and culture. For example, being uneducated is seen not as socio-economic deprivation but a sign of inherited low IQ; blacks are predatory and are also seen to have an innate streak of savagery, which unless kept down by brute force from time to time, might explode and destroy civilisation.

Need of the hour:

Only a peaceful movement to end institutionalised racism, with both blacks and white participants, quite like the recent protests after Floyd’s murder, can break the back of this evil.

Coronavirus lockdown | Migrant workers should not be prosecuted, says Supreme Court

The court passed the order on migrant workers after suo motu taking cognisance of the migrant workers’ exodus.

 Power of High Courts to take up such matters:

High Courts, as constitutional courts, were well within their jurisdiction to take cognisance of violation of fundamental rights of migrant workers and we have no doubt that those proceedings shall proceed.

 What has the Court said?

Migrant workers should not be prosecuted for trying to reach home amid the national lockdown.

States/Union Territories should withdraw all complaints under Section 51 of the Disaster Management Act and other related offences lodged against migrant labourers who are alleged to have violated lockdown measures by moving on roads.

Railways should provide the States with 171 more Shramik Special trains within the next 24 hours to transport migrant workers.

What’s the issue?

Society as a whole is moved by the miseries and difficulties being faced by migrant workers.

They had set out on foot from big cities for their native villages to escape starvation, unemployment and disease during the pandemic.

But, they are often stopped by the police at various check posts and prevented from entering into their states or villages. This has left them shelterless and made more vulnerable.

A migrant worker who walked home would have faced a year in prison or been fined or suffered both if found guilty of obstructing the law under Section 51 of the Act.

What next?

Migrant labourers are forced to proceed to their native place after cessation of their employment. They are already suffering. They have to dealt by the police and other authorities in a humane manner.

So, once they are brought back to their homes, the states need to attend the needs of the migrant labourers. These include source of employment, provision of food and ration for them.

Counselling centres should be set up to reach out to them and explain the various schemes framed for their rehabilitation and employment. The centres should freely provide information and even “extend helping hand” to those workers who want to return to their places of past employment.

What is Finance Commission Grants & Other Transfers?

The Finance Ministry has released Rs 6,195.08 crore revenue deficit grant to 14 states as the third equated monthly instalment to enhance their resources during Covid-19 crisis.

The government on May 11, 2020 had released Rs 6,195.08 crore to 14 states as the second equated monthly instalment of the Post Devolution Revenue Deficit Grant as recommended by the 15th Finance Commission. This would provide them additional resources during the Corona crisis.

The 15th Finance Commission used the following criteria while determining the share of states:

• 45% for the income distance.
• 15% for the population in 2011
• 15% for the area
• 10% for forest and ecology
• 12.5% for demographic performance, and
• 2.5% for tax effort.

For 2020-21, the Commission has recommended a total devolution of Rs 8,55,176 crore to the states, which is 41% of the divisible pool of taxes. This is 1% lower than the percentage recommended by the 14th Finance Commission.

What are the various grants recommended by the 15th Finance Commission?

The Terms of Reference of the Finance Commission require it to recommend grants-in-aid to the States.

These grants include: (i) revenue deficit grants, (ii) grants to local bodies, and (iii) disaster management grants.

What is the Finance Commission?

The Finance Commission is constituted by the President under article 280 of the Constitution, mainly to give its recommendations on distribution of tax revenues between the Union and the States and amongst the States themselves.

Two distinctive features of the Commission’s work involve redressing the vertical imbalances between the taxation powers and expenditure responsibilities of the centre and the States respectively and equalization of all public services across the States.

It is the duty of the Commission to make recommendations to the President as to:

1. the distribution between the Union and the States of the net proceeds of taxes which are to be, or may be, divided between them and the allocation between the States of the respective shares of such proceeds;
2. the principles which should govern the grants-in-aid of the revenues of the States out of the Consolidated Fund of India;
3. the measures needed to augment the Consolidated Fund of a State to supplement the resources of the Panchayats and Municipalities in the State on the basis of the recommendations made by the Finance Commission of the State;
4. any other matter referred to the Commission by the President in the interests of sound finance.

Composition:

As per the provisions contained in the Finance Commission [Miscellaneous Provisions] Act, 1951 and The Finance Commission (Salaries & Allowances) Rules, 1951, the Chairman of the Commission is selected from among persons who have had experience in public affairs, and the four other members are selected from among persons who:

• are, or have been, or are qualified to be appointed as Judges of a High Court; or
• have special knowledge of the finances and accounts of Government; or
• have had wide experience in financial matters and in administration; or
• have special knowledge of economics.

International Religious Freedom (IRF) Report

The U.S. State Department has released its annual International Religious Freedom (IRF) Report.

What is it?

The annual Report to Congress on International Religious Freedom, also known as the International Religious Freedom Report, describes the status of religious freedom, government policies violating religious belief and practices of groups, religious denominations and individuals, and U.S. policies promoting religious freedom. The report is a survey of the state of religious freedom across the world.

Observations made on Religious freedom in India:

1. The report takes note of the change in the status of Jammu and Kashmir, the Citizenship (Amendment) Act(CAA) and the National Register of Citizens (NRC).
2. It discusses in detail mob lynchings and anti-conversion laws and related issues.
3. Lawmakers failed: The report notes, Issues of religiously inspired mob violence, lynching and communal violence were sometimes denied or ignored by lawmakers.
4. It details incidents of “cow vigilantism” and other types of mob violence.
5. The report also takes note of the Babri Masjid decision by the Supreme Court and the challenges to the 2018 reversal of a ban on some women entering the Sabarimala temple.

Impact and implications:

The report outlines the U.S. engagement with India on the issues.

USCIRF had, in April, recommended to Secretary of State that the State Department downgrade India’s religious freedom to the lowest grade — ‘Country of Particular Concern (CPC)’. The Secretary of State is not obliged to accept the recommendation.

It recommended that the Trump administration “impose targeted sanctions on Indian government agencies and officials responsible for severe violations of religious freedom by freezing those individuals’ assets and/ or barring their entry into the United States citing specific religious freedom violations”.

India’s response:

India has said the USCIRF’s “biased and tendentious” comments against the country were “not new”, but that, on this occasion, “its misrepresentation has reached new levels”.

Sikkim- Tibet Convention of 1890

The skirmishes and the standoff between Indian and Chinese troops at Naku La in Sikkim last month, in an area of the Line of Actual Control (LAC) has brought back the focus onto the historical Sikkim-Tibet Convention of 1890.

Experts say, as per this convention, Naku la belongs to India. Besides, Prior to Sikkim’s merger with India in 1975, China has officially accepted this demarcation.

What is the 1890 convention?

The treaty was formalised between Britain and Chinese kingdom. 

It was signed at Calcutta Convention in 1890. Of the eight Articles mentioned in the treaty, Article 1 is of critical significance.

As per Article (1), it was agreed that the boundary of Sikkim and Tibet shall be the crest of the mountain range separating the waters flowing into the Sikkim Teesta and its affluents, from the waters flowing into the Tibetan Mochu and northwards into other rivers of Tibet.

The line commences at Mount Gipmochi, on the Bhutan frontier, and follows the above-mentioned water-parting to the point where it meets Nepal territory. However, Tibet refused to recognise the validity of Convention of 1890 and further refused to carry into effect the provisions of the said Convention.

In 1904, a treaty known as a Convention between Great Britain and Tibet was signed at Lhasa.

As per the Convention, Tibet agreed to respect the Convention of 1890 and to recognise the frontier between Sikkim and Tibet, as defined in Article (1) of the said Convention.

On April 27, 1906, a treaty was signed between Great Britain and China at Peking, which confirmed the Convention of 1904 between Great Britain and Tibet.

What is a rights issue?

Why in News?

Many companies including Reliance Industries Limited, Mahindra finance, Tata Power, Shriram Transport Finance among others plan to raise funds (aggregating to over Rs 10,000 crore) through rights issue amidst the Covid-19 pandemic.

What is rights issue?

It is an offering of shares made to existing shareholders in proportion to their existing shareholding.

• Companies often offer shares in a rights issue at a discount on the market price.
• Rights issues are used by companies seeking to raise capital without increasing debt.
• Shareholders are not obliged to purchase shares offered in a rights issue.

Why are companies going for rights issue in current times?

For a rights issue, there is no requirement of shareholders’ meeting and an approval from the board of directors is sufficient and adequate. Therefore, the turnaround time for raising this capital is short and is much suited for the current situation unlike other forms that require shareholders’ approval and may take some time to fructify.

Thus the rights issue are a more efficient mechanism of raising capital.

What were the temporary relaxations provided in the wake of Covid-19 by SEBI?

Sebi reduced the eligibility requirement of average market capitalisation of public shareholding from Rs 250 crore to Rs 100 crore for a fast track rights issuance.

It also reduced the minimum subscription requirement from 90 per cent to 75 per cent of the issue size.

Also, listed entities raising funds upto Rs 25 crores (erstwhile limit was Rs 10 crores) through a rights issue are now not required to file draft offer document with SEBI.

RBI proposes comprehensive framework for sale of loans

RBI has released draft Framework for ‘Sale of Loan Exposures’.

The move is aimed at building a robust secondary market for bank loans that could ensure proper price discovery and can be used as an indicator for impending stress.

What are loan sales?

Loan sales may be resorted to by lenders for any reasons ranging from strategic sales to rebalance their exposures or as a means to achieve resolution of stressed assets by extinguishing the exposures.

Highlights of the draft:

1. Standard assets would be allowed to be sold by lenders through assignment, novation or a loan participation contract (either funded participation or risk participation).
2. Stressed assets would be allowed to be sold only through assignment or novation only. They may be sold to any entity that is permitted to take on loan exposures by its statutory or regulatory framework.
3. The draft lays down norms for sale of NPAs to Asset Reconstruction Companies (ARCs) also buy back of NPAs in case the ARCs manage to turn them into standard assets.
4. The draft also proposes to do away with the requirement of Minimum Retention Requirement (MRR) for sale of loans by lenders.

Relevance:

• These guidelines will be applicable to commercial banks, all financial institutions, non-banking finance companies and small finance banks.
• The directions will be applicable to all loan sales, including sale of loans to special purpose entities for the purpose of securitisation.

Significance of these guidelines:

A dynamic secondary market for bank loans will ensure proper discovery of credit risk pricing associated with each exposure, and will be useful as a leading indicator for impending stress, if any, provided that the volumes are sufficiently large.

GM seeds: the debate, and a sowing agitation

In the current kharif season, farmers would undertake mass sowing of GM seeds for maize, soyabean, mustard brinjal and herbicide tolerant (Ht) cotton, although these are not approved.

So, in this regard, Shetkari Sanghatana — a farmers’ union— has announced fresh plans in its agitation for use of genetically modified seeds.

What is the movement about?

• The Sanghatana has announced that this year they are going to undertake large-scale sowing of unapproved GM crops like maize, Ht Bt cotton, soyabean and brinjal across Maharashtra.
• Farmers who plant such variants will put up boards on their fields proclaiming the GM nature of their crop.
• This action will draw attention to the need for introduction of the latest technology in the fields.

What are genetically modified seeds?

Genetic engineering aims to transcend the genus barrier by introducing an alien gene in the seeds to get the desired effects. The alien gene could be from a plant, an animal or even a soil bacterium.

For example:

1. Bt cotton, the only GM crop that is allowed in India, has two alien genes from the soil bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) that allows the crop to develop a protein toxic to the common pest pink bollworm.
2. Ht Bt cotton is derived with the insertion of an additional gene, from another soil bacterium, which allows the plant to resist the common herbicide glyphosate.
3. In Bt brinjal, a gene allows the plant to resist attacks of fruit and shoot borer.
4. In DMH-11 mustard, genetic modification allows cross-pollination in a crop that self-pollinates in nature.

What is the legal position of genetically modified crops in India?

In India, the Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC) is the apex body that allows for commercial release of GM crops.

Penalty: Use of the unapproved GM variant can attract a jail term of 5 years and fine of Rs 1 lakh under the Environmental Protection Act ,1986.

Why are farmers rooting for GM crops?

Reduced costs: Cost of weeding goes down considerably if farmers grow Ht Bt cotton and use glyphosate against weeds. In case of Bt brinjal, the cost reduces as the cost of production is reduced by cutting down on the use of pesticides.

Concerns:

Environmentalists argue that the long-lasting effect of GM crops is yet to be studied and thus they should not be released commercially. Genetic modification, they say, brings about changes that can be harmful to humans in the long run.

A declared foreigner and foreigners’ tribunal

Siddeque Ali has become the last declared foreigner to be released from the only detention centre in Barak Valley in Assam as the beneficiary of a Supreme Court order.

What has the Court said?

In April this year, amid the coronavirus pandemic, the Supreme Court had directed the release of those detainees who were declared foreigners and have been lodged in the detention centres of Assam for two years or more.

The Court had also lowered the personal bond amount from Rs 1 lakh to Rs 5,000.

So far, 339 DFs have been released from the detention centres since April 13.

Who is a declared foreigner?

A declared foreigner, or DF, is a person marked by any of the 100 Foreigners’ Tribunals (FTs) in Assam for allegedly failing to prove their citizenship after the State police’s Border wing marks him or her as an illegal immigrant.

Why such measures are necessary?

• There are a total of 802 declared foreigners in various detention centres of Assam.
• Some people are declared foreigners on account of poor documentation or poor legal assistance and lack of resources. They have not been able to prove they are Indian citizens.
• Some are either too poor to pursue their cases in higher courts or have their appeals turned down.
• 29 declared foreigners have died in detention due to various ailments since 2016, with ten of them having died between March 1, 2019 and February 20 this year.

As human beings, they also have at least the basic human right to live and not to die of COVID-19 in the precincts of a prison, which has despicable living conditions.

What is a Foreigners tribunal?

In 1964, the govt brought in the Foreigners (Tribunals) Order.

Composition: Advocates not below the age of 35 years of age with at least 7 years of practice (or) Retired Judicial Officers from the Assam Judicial Service (or) Retired IAS of ACS Officers (not below the rank of Secretary/Addl. Secretary) having experience in quasi-judicial works.

Who can setup these tribunals?

The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has amended the Foreigners (Tribunals) Order, 1964, and has empowered district magistrates in all States and Union Territories to set up tribunals (quasi-judicial bodies) to decide whether a person staying illegally in India is a foreigner or not.

Earlier, the powers to constitute tribunals were vested only with the Centre.

Typically, the tribunals there have seen two kinds of cases: those concerning persons against whom a reference has been made by the border police and those whose names in the electoral roll has a “D”, or “doubtful”, marked against them.

Who can approach?

The amended order (Foreigners (Tribunal) Order, 2019) also empowers individuals to approach the Tribunals. Earlier, only the State administration could move the Tribunal against a suspect.

International Criminal Court (ICC) 

U.S. President Donald Trump has issued an executive order authorising sanctions against individuals involved in an International Criminal Court (ICC) investigation into whether U.S. forces committed war crimes in Afghanistan.

• The order authorises Secretary of State to block assets in the U.S. of ICC employees involved in the probe
• It also authorises to block entry into the U.S. of these individuals.

What’s the case?

ICC prosecutor Fatou Bensouda wants to investigate possible crimes committed between 2003 and 2014, including alleged mass killings of civilians by the Taliban, as well as the alleged torture of prisoners by Afghan authorities and, to a lesser extent, by U.S. forces and the CIA.

The ICC decided to investigate after prosecutors’ preliminary examination in 2017 found reasonable grounds to believe war crimes were committed in Afghanistan and that the ICC has jurisdiction.

 Why the US is opposing?

Mr. Trump has repeatedly attacked The Hague-based ICC set-up to prosecute war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity. He says, the Court has jurisdiction only if a member state is unable or unwilling to prosecute atrocities itself.

Besides, the U.S. government has never been a member of the court.

About ICC:

The International Criminal Court (ICC), located in The Hague, is the court of last resort for prosecution of genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity.

It is the first permanent, treaty based, international criminal court established to help end impunity for the perpetrators of the most serious crimes of concern to the international community.

Its founding treaty, the Rome Statute, entered into force on July 1, 2002.

Funding: Although the Court’s expenses are funded primarily by States Parties, it also receives voluntary contributions from governments, international organisations, individuals, corporations and other entities.

Composition and voting power:

The Court’s management oversight and legislative body, the Assembly of States Parties, consists of one representative from each state party.

• Each state party has one vote and “every effort” has to be made to reach decisions by consensus. If consensus cannot be reached, decisions are made by vote.
• The Assembly is presided over by a president and two vice-presidents, who are elected by the members to three-year terms.

Criticisms:

• It does not have the capacity to arrest suspects and depends on member states for their cooperation.
• Critics of the Court argue that there are insufficient checks and balances on the authority of the ICC prosecutor and judges and insufficient protection against politicized prosecutions or other abuses.
• The ICC has been accused of bias and as being a tool of Western imperialism,only punishing leaders from small, weak states while ignoring crimes committed by richer and more powerful states.
• ICC cannot mount successful cases without state cooperationis problematic for several reasons. It means that the ICC acts inconsistently in its selection of cases, is prevented from taking on hard cases and loses legitimacy.

Nature Index 2020

Nature Index ratings for the year 2020 have been released.

What is the Nature Index?

The Nature Index is a database of author affiliations and institutional relationships. The index tracks contributions to research articles published in 82 high-quality natural science journals, chosen by an independent group of researchers.

• The database is compiled by Nature Research, a division of the international scientific publishing company Springer Nature that publishes academic journals.
• The Index provides a close to real-time proxy of high-quality research output and collaboration at the institutional, national and regional level.
• The Index is updated monthly and also releases annual tables of country.
• It serves as an indicator of high-quality research in the Natural and Physical Sciences.

 Nature Index metrics:

The Index provides several metrics to track research output and collaboration.

These include article count, fractional count, and multilateral and bilateral collaboration scores.

 Performance of Indian institutions:

• Three of the autonomous institutions of the Department of Science & Technology, Government of India have found their place among top 30 Indian Institutions.
• These are the Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science (IACS), Kolkata at 7th position, Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research (JNCASR), Bangalore at 14th position and S. N. Bose National Centre for Basic Sciences, Kolkata at 30th position.
• Globally the top-rated Indian institutions in this list are Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), a group of 39 institutions at the 160th position and Indian Institute of Science (IISc) Bangalore at the 184th position.

Global Institutions:

The top five positions have gone to the United States of America, China, Germany, United Kingdom and Japan.

New guidelines for import of exotic species

Union Government has issued advisory to streamline the process for import and possession of exotic live species in India.

The move comes as the outbreak of coronavirus (COVID-19) has raised global concern about illegal wildlife trade and zoonotic diseases.

What are exotic live species?

Exotic live species are animal or plant species moved from their original range to a new one most often by people.

Some of the most sought after exotic species in India are Ball python, Scarlet Macaw, sea turtles, sugar glider (Petaurus breviceps), marmoset and grey African parrots.

What it includes? What it does not?

According to the advisory, the phrase “exotic live species” includes “animals named under the Appendices I, II and III of the Convention of International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora” and “does not include species from the Schedules of the Wildlife (Protection) Act 1972”. 

Need for regulation:

While import of live exotic animals is covered under Customs Act in India, wildlife experts have long been asking for stringent laws and guidelines to document and regulate numbers of exotic species being kept as pets by individuals and breeders in India.

• Many citizens have kept CITES (Convention of International Trade in Endangered Species) enlisted exotic animal species in their possession.
• However, there is no unified information system available of such stock of species at the State or Central level.
• Besides, often these species are illegally trafficked into the country to avoid lengthy documentation and scrutiny. 

As per the recently released guidelines:

1. Environment Ministry will collect stock information from the holders of such species through voluntary disclosure in next six months.
2. The registration will be done for the stock of animals, new progeny, as well as for import and exchange.
3. The declarer would not be required to produce any documentation in relation to the exotic live species if the same has been declared within six months of the date of issue of the advisory.
4. For any declaration made after six months, the declarer shall be required to comply with the documentation requirement under the extant laws and regulations.
5. Further, a person trying to import a live exotic animal will have to submit an application for grant of a licence to the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT), under the provisions of the advisory.
6. The importer will also have to attach a No Objection Certificate (NOC) of the chief wildlife warden of the state concerned along with the application.

Implications and significance of this move:

This will help in better management of the species and guide the holders about proper veterinary care, housing and other aspects of well-being of the species.

The database of exotic animals will also help in control and management of zoonotic diseases on which guidance would be available from time to time to ensure safety of animals and humans.

What is missing?

Experts said the advisory did not provide answers to all problems.

• Matters such as spread of invasive species as well as zoonotic diseases had not been taken care of in the advisory.
• Limiting the scope of the latest advisory to only those species covered under CITES drastically limits the scope of the advisory itself.
• There is also a growing domestic trade in exotic species of wildlife that is unfortunately not listed under the various appendices of CITES (such as sugar gliders, corn snakes).
• There is no mention of the welfare standards of such captive facilities that could lead to ‘legal’ backyard breeding of wildlife with poor to no welfare concern of the wild animals involved.

Census of Asiatic Lion

Census of Asiatic lion was recently conducted by the Gujarat government and the details have been released.

About the lion census:

The census is conducted once every five years. This year it was delayed due to lockdowns.

The first Lion Census was conducted by the Nawab of Junagadh in 1936; since 1965, the Forest Department has been regularly conducting the Lion Census every five years.

The 6th, 8th and 11th Censuses were each delayed by a year, for various reasons.

Key figures this year:

28% rise in population of Lions: Total estimated Lions in Gir region is 674. It was 523 in 2015.

36% Expanse in distribution: Today, Asiatic lions are present in Protected Areas and agro-pastoral landscapes of Saurashtra covering nine districts, over an expanse of about 30,000 sq. km. It was 22,000 sq. km in 2015.

Factors responsible for steady rise in population:

Over the last several years, the lion population in Gujarat has been steadily rising.

This is powered by:

1. community participation
2. emphasis on technology
3. wildlife healthcare
4. proper habitat management
5. steps to minimise human-lion conflict

How was the census carried out this year? How is it different from previous census?

Reduced participation: Every year, the state Forest Department invites NGOs, experts and wildlife enthusiasts to join the Census for transparency and augmenting manpower. But this time, it was not advisable to send so many people inside the forest as the Bronx Zoo in New York had reported a case of transmission of novel coronavirus from a human to a tigress.

So, this year, the count was estimated not from a Census, but from a population “observation” exercise called Poonam Avlokan.

How it was carried out?

• Poonam Avlokan (developed in 2014) is a monthly in-house exercise carried out every full moon.
• Field staff and officers spend 24 hours assessing the number of lions and their locations in their respective jurisdictions.
• Unlike previous census, which had nearly 2000 participants, this census had around 1400 staff and a few experts.
• These staff kept moving in their respective territories and made their estimates based on inputs provided by lion trackers and on chance sightings.

What is Block counting method?

India uses this method to estimate the numbers.

In this method, census enumerators remain stationed at water points in a given block and estimate abundance of lions in that block, based on direct sighting of lions who need to drink water at least once in 24 hours during the summer.

There are inherent issues with this method. So, newer methods should be adopted- such as camera trapping and identifying lions based on permanent marks on their body, and statistical estimates based on the animals’ predatory patterns and numbers of their prey base.

Concerns over the estimates:

Few experts are doubtful about the estimated numbers. They say it could be an overestimation. It is because:

1. 12 lions were killed in a flash flood in Amreli just a month after the 2015 census.
2. More than two dozen lions in an outbreak of canine distemper virus (CDV) and babesiosis in 2018.
3. A babesiosis outbreak was reported this summer too, and around two dozen lions are reported killed.

Why we need to relocate the lions to other regions?

Presently, Asiatic lions are confined only to Gujarat. A single epidemic could wipe the entire population and the species might become extinct. Hence, introduction of species to new areas and states might be a good idea.

Border Adjustment tax

A NITI Aayog member has favoured imposing a border adjustment tax (BAT) on imports to provide a level-playing field to domestic industries.

This suggestion comes in the backdrop of the USA-China trade tensions (trade war) which are expected to rise even further post-Covid-19.

What is BAT?

BAT is a duty that is proposed to be imposed on imported goods in addition to the customs levy that gets charged at the port of entry.

BAT is a fiscal measure that imposes a charge on goods or services in accordance with the destination principle of taxation.

Generally, BAT seeks to promote “equal conditions of competition” for foreign and domestic companies supplying products or services within a taxing jurisdiction.

Need for:

The Indian industry has been complaining to the government about domestic taxes like electricity duty, duties on fuel, clean energy cess, mandi tax, royalties, biodiversity fees that get charged on domestically produced goods as these duties get embedded into the product.

But many imported goods do not get loaded with such levies in their respective country of origin and this gives such products price advantage in the Indian market. 

NIRF Ranking 2020 released

What is NIRF?

National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) was started in 2015. It is used for ranking institutions of higher education in different categories and domains of knowledge.

Parameters used for ranking institutions:

1. Teaching, Learning and Resources.
2. Research and Professional Practices.
3. Graduation Outcomes.
4. Outreach and Inclusivity.
5. Peer Perception.

Why is NIRF used?

1. It encourages institutes to compete against each other and simultaneously work towards their growth.
2. These rankings also attract foreign students, providing a solid base for the ‘Study in India’ programme for the growth of higher education in India.
3. It is also one of the criteria for private institutions assessment for the Institutions of Eminence (IoE) Scheme.

What changes have been made in this edition?

This is the fifth consecutive edition of these rankings.

This year ‘Dental’ category has been introduced for the first time bringing the total tally to 10 categories/subject domains.

Why Indian institutions do not fare well in International rankings like QS World university rankings?

In international rankings, Indian institutions struggle on the “internationalisation” parameter in global rankings. It is due to the high weightage given to the perception which is a subjective parameter.

Whereas, in NIRF, 90% of the parameters are completely objective and fact-based, while only 10% is based on the subjective parameter of perception by academic peers and employers.

Performance of various institutions:

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Universal Basic Income

Context: National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has informed the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) that the recommended implementation of a universal basic income was “under examination and active consideration” of the Centre.

Why its needed now?

• In order to deal with the Covid-19 pandemic, the governments across the world have imposed measures like lockdown and social distancing.
• However, these measures have caused collateral damage to almost every sector of the economy, so much so that the International Monetary Fund held the current economic crisis could be the worst ever since the Great depression 1929.
• With almost 90% of India’s workforce in the informal sector without minimum wages or social security, micro-level circumstances in India are worse than anywhere else.

Therefore, regular payments through Universal Basic Income (UBI) can ensure the sustenance of the workers engaged in the informal sector, at least till the economy normalises.

What is Universal Basic Income?

It is a programme for providing all citizens of a country or other geographic area/state with a given sum of money, regardless of their income, resources or employment status.

The main idea behind UBI is to prevent or reduce poverty and increase equality among citizens. The essential principle behind Universal basic income is the idea that all citizens are entitled to a livable income, irrespective of the circumstances they’re born in.

UBI has the following important components:

1. universality (all citizens included)
2. unconditionality (no prior condition)
3. Periodic (Payments at periodic regular intervals)
4. Payments in cash (not food vouchers or service coupons)

Benefits of Universal Basic Income (UBI):

1. Provide secured income to individuals.
2. Reduce poverty and income inequality in society.
3. Increase the purchasing power of every poor which will further increase aggregate demand.
4. Easy to implement because no identification of the beneficiary is involved.
5. Reduce the wastage of government money because its implementation is very simple.

Supporters of the idea:

The Economic Survey of India 2016-17 has advocated the concept of Universal Basic Income (UBI) as an alternative to the various social welfare schemes in an effort to reduce poverty.

Other Supporters of the UBI programme include Economics Nobel Laureates Peter Diamond and Christopher Pissarides, and tech leaders Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk.

Challenges in Implementing Universal Basic Income in India:

High cost involved in implementing UBI is a major factor contributing towards lack of political will in working towards the universal basic income in India.

It would reduce the motivation for work and might encourage people to live off assured cash transfers and it is simply unaffordable.

Sahakar Mitra scheme launched

Key facts about the scheme:

• It is an initiative by National Cooperative Development Corporation (NCDC)
• It would also provide an opportunity to professionals from academic institutions to develop leadership and entrepreneurial roles through cooperatives as Farmers Producers Organizations (FPO).
• Under the programme, each intern will get financial support over a 4 months internship period.

Eligibility:

• Professional graduates in disciplines such as Agriculture and allied areas,IT etc. will be eligible for internship.
• Professionals who are pursuing or have completed their MBA degrees in Agri-business, Cooperation, Finance, International Trade, Forestry, Rural Development, Project Managementetc. will also be eligible.

Significance and expected impacts of the scheme:

Assist cooperative institutions access new and innovative ideas of young professionals.

The interns gain experience of working in the field giving confidence to be self-reliant.

It is expected to be a win-win situation both for cooperatives as well as for the young professionals.

Additional information:

• National Cooperative Development Corporation (NCDC) was established by an Act of Parliament in 1963 under Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare. It has many regional centres to provide the financial assistance to Cooperatives/Societies/Federations.
• FPO is a Producer Organisation (PO) where the members are farmers.Small Farmers’ Agribusiness Consortium (SFAC)is providing support for the promotion of FPOs.

Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana

 Annual allotment of Rs. 4000 crore made to State Governments under ‘Per Drop More Crop’ component of Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana (PMKSY- PDMC) for the year 2020-21.

About ”Per Drop More Crop” component of Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana (PMKSY-PDMC):

The Department of Agriculture Cooperation and Farmers’ Welfare is implementing the ”Per Drop More Crop” component of PMKSY-PDMC.

It is operational in the country from 2015-16.

It focuses on enhancing water efficiency at farm level through micro irrigation technologies such as ”drip and sprinkler” irrigation.

Funding:

Micro Irrigation Fund corpus of Rs. 5000 crore has been created with NABARD.

The objective of the fund is to facilitate the states in mobilizing the resources for expanding coverage of Micro Irrigation by taking up special and innovative projects and also for incentivising micro irrigation beyond the provisions available under PMKSY-PDMC to encourage farmers to install micro irrigation systems.

Assistance:

The Government provides financial assistance @ 55% for small and marginal farmers and @ 45% for other farmers for installation of Drip and Sprinkler Irrigation systems. In addition, some States provide additional incentives/top up subsidy for encouraging farmers to adopt Micro Irrigation.

IFLOWS-Mumbai

What is it?

It is an Integrated Flood Warning System and is a joint initiative between the Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES) and Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC).

• Mumbai is only the second city in the country after Chennai to get this system.

How it works?

The warning system will be able to relay alerts of possible flood-prone areas anywhere between six to 72 hours in advance.

• The system can provide all information regarding possible flood-prone areas, likely height the floodwater could attain, location-wise problem areas across all 24 wards and calculate the vulnerability and risk of elements exposed to flood.
• The primary source for the system is the amount of rainfall, but with Mumbai being a coastal city, the system also factors in tidal waves and storm tides for its flood assessments.

Why was this system needed in Mumbai?

Mumbai, the financial capital of India, has been experiencing floods with increased periodicity.

• The recent flood on 29 August 2017 had brought the city to a standstill.
• Last year, post-monsoon and unseasonal rainfall as late as October, two tropical cyclones in the Arabian Sea had caught authorities off guard and left a trail of destruction.
• The flood during 26th July 2005, when the city received a rainfall of 94 cm, a 100 year high in a span of 24 hours had paralyzed the city completely.

Significance of this system:

Urban flooding is common in the city from June to September, resulting in the crippling of traffic, railways and airlines. As a preparedness for floods before they occur, the system will help in warning the citizens so that they can be prepared in advance for flooding conditions.

Raja Parba festival of Odisha

The festival is being celebrated in Odisha.

Why and when is it celebrated?

This is a three-day-long festival dedicated to Mother Earth (Bhuma Devi) and womanhood at large.

The festivities begin a day before Mithuna Sankranti and conclude two days after that.

How is it celebrated?

The first day of the festival is called Pahili Raja, the second is Mithuna Sankranti and the third Bhu daha or Basi Raja.

The preparation begins one day before Pahili Raja, and it is called Sajabaja. Primarily, it is a time for the unmarried girls to prepare for their matrimony.

They follow various customs related to the festival by consuming nutritious food like Podapitha, not walking barefoot, taking a bath on the first day, and merrily swinging on ropes attached to a tree.

During the Parba, Odia people do no undertake any construction works or tilling that requires the earth to be dug. And by not doing such activities, they pay ode to the Mother Earth who needs a break from routine work.

The festival concludes with a custom called Vasumati Snana or the bathing of Bhuma Devi. Women worship a stone that symbolises the Mother Earth. They give her a bath with turmeric paste and offer her flowers and smear her with Sindoor.

Association with Agriculture:

This festival is also associated with the end of the summer season and the arrival of the monsoon. And therefore, it is also associated with agriculture and cultivation related communities and activities.

Amoebiasis or amoebic dysentery

A team of researchers from the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) has developed new drug molecules against the protozoa that causes amoebiasis.

What is Amoebiasis or amoebic dysentery?

It is a parasitic infection of the colon with the amoeba Entamoeba histolytica.

According to WHO, Entamoeba histolytica is the third-leading cause of morbidity and mortality due to parasitic disease in humans.

This protozoan is anaerobic or micro-aerophilic in nature such that it cannot survive high concentrations of oxygen.

However, during infection, it faces a high surge of oxygen inside the human body. The organism synthesizes large amounts of cysteine to counter oxidative stress.

Spread of the disease:

It spreads through drinking or eating uncooked food, such as fruit, that may have been washed in contaminated local water.

Symptoms:

1. Pain areas: in the abdomen
2. Gastrointestinal: blood in stool, diarrhoea, or flatulence
3. Whole body: fatigue, fever, or loss of appetite
4. Also common: weight loss

Treatment:

Treatment consists of self care and antiparasitics.

Scrapping of Article 370 and LAC tensions

An influential Chinese think-tank- China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations (CICIR)- has linked the current tensions along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) to India’s move last year to abrogate Article 370 and change the status of Jammu and Kashmir.

What has the CICIR said on this?

It described the move as a joint challenge to China and Pakistan, saying the move had “posed a challenge to the sovereignty of Pakistan and China”
 and “made India-Pakistan relations and China-India relations more complex.”

What happened?

Last year, India released a new map following the changes in Article 370.

China alleges that India opened up new territory on the map, incorporated part of the areas under the local jurisdiction of Xinjiang and Tibet into its Ladakh union territory.

And this forced China into the Kashmir dispute, stimulated China and Pakistan to take counter-actions on the Kashmir issue, and dramatically increased the difficulty in resolving the border issue between China and India.

Background:

Recently, there has been an increased tension in the India-China relations, due to the Chinese transgressions into Indian territory, across the disputed Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Ladakh. Talks are on at various levels to diffuse the situation.

Naval liaisons at RMIFC and EMASOH

India is looking to post Navy Liaison Officers at the Regional Maritime Information Fusion Centre (RMIFC) in Madagascar and also at the European maritime surveillance initiative in the Strait of Hormuz for improved Maritime Domain Awareness (MDA).

About Regional Maritime Information Fusion Centre (RMIFC):

The RMFIC functions under the aegis of the Indian Ocean Commission (IOC) of which India became an Observer in March 2020 along with Japan and the United Nations.

It is based in Madagascar. It is designed to deepen maritime domain awareness by monitoring maritime activities and promoting information sharing and exchange.

About the European maritime surveillance initiative in the Strait of Hormuz:

The EMASOH headquarters is composed of Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands and French officers and based at the French naval base in Abu Dhabi.

The aim is “to monitor maritime activity and guarantee freedom of navigation in the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz.”

It was started by France in February 2020.

How this will help India?

This will be in the overall realm of improving linkages of the Navy’s Information Fusion Centre for Indian Ocean Region (IFC-IOR) in Gurugram with other IFCs and become the repository for all maritime data in the IOR.

Additional information:

About Indian Ocean Commission:

Founded in 1982, the IOC is an intergovernmental organisation comprising five small-island states in the Western Indian Ocean: the Comoros, Madagascar, Mauritius, Réunion (a French department), and Seychelles.

It was institutionalized in 1984 by the Victoria Agreement in Seychelles. 

Following a request from New Delhi, the IOC granted observer status to India on March 6 at the Commission’s 34th Council of Ministers. 

In 2012, the IOC was one of the four regional organisations to launch the MASE Programme — the European Union-funded programme to promote Maritime Security in Eastern and Southern Africa and Indian Ocean.

The Commission has a Secretariat which is located in Mauritius.

About the Information Fusion Centre for Indian Ocean Region (IFC-IOR):

The Navy set up the IFC-IOR in December 2018 within the premises of the Information Management and Analysis Centre (IMAC) in Gurugram to track maritime movements in the region.

France became the first country to deploy a Liaison Officer at the IFC-IOR followed by the U.S. and several other countries including Australia, Japan and the United Kingdom have announced their intention to post LOs.

Draft Electricity (Amendment) Bill, 2020

Why in News now?

Few states have voiced their concerns against the proposed bill. These include-West Bengal, Punjab, Puducherry, Kerala, Rajasthan, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra, Delhi, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.

They called the draft Bill a violation of “the spirit of co-operative federalism” and accused the Centre of failure to consult the States on the Bill since electricity is on the Concurrent List.

Contentious clauses in the Bill:

The Bill seeks to end subsidies. All consumers, including farmers, will have to pay the tariff, and the subsidy will be sent to them through direct benefit transfer.

States are worried about this clause because:

• This would mean people would have to pay a huge sum towards electricity charges, while receiving support through direct benefit transfer later.
• This would result in defaults leading to penalties and disconnection.

The draft also “divests” the States of their power to fix tariff and hands over the task to a Central government-appointed authority.

• This is discriminatory, since the tariff can be tweaked according to the whims and fancies of the Central government.

Another provision makes it compulsory for the State power companies to buy a minimum percentage of renewable energy fixed by the Centre.

• This would be detrimental to the cash- strapped power firms.

Additional information:

The Electricity Act, 2003 has governed the laws regarding the generation, distribution, transmission, trading and use of electricity so far.

But, experts around the country have opined that some of the provisions of the Act have become dated and archaic, needing an update.

In order to address some recurring issues, and to promote further commercial incentive for private players to enter the market, the Electricity (Amendment) Bill, 2020 was introduced in April this year.

Highlights of the Bill:

Policy Amendments:

Renewable Energy: It delegates the Central Government with the power to prepare and notify a National Renewable Energy Policy “for promotion of generation of electricity from renewable sources”, in consultation with State Governments.

Cross Border Trade: The Central Government has been delegated with the power to prescribe rules and guidelines to allow and facilitate cross border trade of electricity.

Creation of Electricity Contract Enforcement Authority: It has been proposed to be given sole jurisdiction to adjudicate upon matters on performance of obligations under a contract regarding sale, purchase and transmission of electricity, which exclusion of this specialized authority’s jurisdiction on determination of tariff or any other dispute regarding tariff.

Functional Amendments:

Payment Security: It proposes a mechanism wherein “no electricity shall be scheduled or despatched under such contract unless adequate security of payment as agreed upon by the parties to the contract, has been provided”.

Constitution of selection committee to recommend members for commissions/ authorities: There is a slew of provisions for the constitution of a Selection Committee for making recommendations of members to the Appellate Tribunal and the Chairperson and Members of Central Commission, Electricity Contract Enforcement Authority, State Commissions and Joint Commissions.

Grant of Subsidy mandated: The benefit of subsidy to be granted directly to the consumer and the licensee shall charge the consumers as per the tariff determined by the Appropriate Commission. The determination of tariffs shall be fixed by the commission without accounting for subsidies. Further, basis the tariff policies, surcharges and cross subsidies shall be progressively reduced.

Inclusion of Distribution Sub-licensee and Franchisee: To ease the burden of distribution licensees and in order to promote some form of demographic specialization, the distribution licensees, can appoint another entity for distribution of electricity on its behalf, within its area of supply.

Enhancement of the powers of the Appellate Tribunal of Electricity: APTEL is proposed to have the powers of a High Court to deal with wilful disobedience of persons and entities under the Contempt of Courts Act, 1971. Additionally, any person can appeal the decisions of the Authority which is introduced by this Amendment in front of the APTEL. The numbers of members at the APTEL have also been proposed to be increased by the Amendment.

Applicable to the whole of India: It is needless to mention, that in addition to the above mentioned broad themes that the Amendment seeks to cover, the Act shall now be applicable to the territory which was erstwhile exempted from the State of Jammu and Kashmir.

Composition and powers of Electricity Contract Enforcement Authority:

1. The Authority will be headed by a retired Judge of the High Court.
2. It is proposed to be set-up with powers of the Civil Court.
3. It will enforce performance of contracts related to purchase or sale or transmission of power between a generating, distribution or transmission companies.

Talamaddale

The traditional art of ‘talamaddale’, a variant of Yakshagana theatre, has gone virtual in times of COVID-19. A performance was streamed live on social media on June 13.

About Talamaddale:

It is an ancient form of performance dialogue or debate performance in Southern India in the Karavali and Malnad regions of Karnataka and Kerala.

The plot and content of the conversation is drawn from popular mythology but the performance mainly consists of an impromptu debate between characters involving sarcasm, puns, philosophy positions and humour.

 How is it different from Yakshagana?

Unlike the Yakshagana performance, in the conventional ‘talamaddale,’ the artists sit across in a place without any costumes and engage in testing their oratory skills based on the episode chosen.

If music is common for both Yakshagana performance and ‘talamaddale’, the latter has only spoken word without any dance or costumes.

Hence it is an art form minus dance, costumes and stage conventions.

Concerns over suspension of PCPNDT rules

Why in News?

The Supreme Court has asked the government to explain its decision to suspend crucial rules of a parliamentary law against pre-natal sex determination and sex selection till June end, amid the COVID-19 national lockdown. However, the Court has refused to put on hold the notification.

What has happened?

On April 4, a notification was issued by the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare which put on hold the implementation of certain rules of the Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (Prohibition of Sex-Selection Rules) of 1996 till June 30, 2020.

The government’s notification suspends rules 8, 9(8), and 18A(6) of the PCPNDT Act.

• This move was widely criticised for its future consequences and possibility of spike in sex-selective abortions in the country.
• In the absence of the rules, many fear that it could lead to undocumented misuse by clinic owners as well as parents.

Clause 9:

The suspension of Clause 9(8) is of particular concern.

The Rule reads: “Rule 9(8): Every Genetic Counselling Centre, Genetic Laboratory, Genetic Clinic, Ultrasound Clinic and Imaging Centre shall send a complete report in respect of all pre-conception or pregnancy related procedures/techniques/tests conducted by them in respect of each month by 5th day of the following month to the concerned Appropriate Authority.”

Concern: Since the medical facilities come under essential services and thus are exempted from the lockdown, if the clinic is open and conducting tests it should be duty-bound to keep a register of such tests and suspension of the rule could lead to illegal procedures.

About PCPNDT Act:

It was enacted in response to the decline in Sex ratio in India, which deteriorated from 972 in 1901 to 927 in 1991.

The main purpose of enacting the act is to ban the use of sex selection techniques before or after conception and prevent the misuse of prenatal diagnostic technique for sex selective abortion.

Offences under this act include conducting or helping in the conduct of prenatal diagnostic technique in the unregistered units, sex selection on a man or woman, conducting PND test for any purpose other than the one mentioned in the act, sale, distribution, supply, renting etc. of any ultra sound machine or any other equipment capable of detecting sex of the foetus.

The Act mandates compulsory registration of all diagnostic laboratories, all genetic counselling centres, genetic laboratories, genetic clinics and ultrasound clinics.

Amendments:

1. The act was amended in 2003 to improve the regulation of the technology used in sex selection.
2. The Act was amended to bring the technique of pre conception sex selection and ultrasound technique within the ambit of the act.
3. The amendment also empowered the central supervisory board and state level supervisory board was constituted.

Why strict implementation of this law is necessary?

The number of girls missing at birth due to the practice of gender biased sex selection in India has been estimated at 0.46 million girls per year for the period 2001-12 (which is 5.52 million girl children, missing at birth for the 12-year period).

The Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (PCPNDT) Act and the Rules thereunder, are aimed at remedying this social evil.

Assistance to Disabled persons for purchasing/fitting of aids/appliances (ADIP) scheme

Why in News?

First ever distribution of assistive aids & devices to divyangjan through virtual platform under ADIP Scheme of M/O Social Justice & Empowerment in Firozpur, Punjab.

This is the first camp being organized by the ALIMCO under DEPwD after opening of lockdown with the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) approved by the Government of India.

About the ADIP Scheme- the Assistance to Disabled persons for purchasing/fitting of aids/appliances (ADIP) scheme:

Being implemented by the Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment.

Objective: to assist the needy disabled persons in procuring durable, sophisticated and scientifically manufactured, modern, standard aids and appliances that can promote their physical, social and psychological rehabilitation, by reducing the effects of disabilities and enhance their economic potential.

Implementation: The scheme is implemented through implementing agencies such as NGOs, National Institutes under the Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment and ALIMCO (a PSU that manufactures artificial limbs).

Eligibility:

A person satisfying all the following conditions are eligible:

1. Indian citizen of any age
2. Has 40% disability or more (must have the requisite certificate)
3. Monthly income, not more than Rs.20000.
4. In the case of dependents, income of parents/guardians should not exceed Rs.20000 per month.
5. Must not have received assistance during the last 3 years for the same purpose from any source. However, for children below 12years of age, this limit would be one year.

SIPRI report on India China Nuclear weapons

A new yearbook released by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).

The yearbook “assesses the current state of armaments, disarmament and international security”.

What is SIPRI?

Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) established in 1966 is an independent international institute dedicated to research into conflict, armaments, arms control and disarmament.

Based in Stockholm the Institute provides data, analysis and recommendations, based on open sources, to policymakers, researchers, media and the interested public.

What has it said in its latest report?

India and its neighbours:

1. All nations that have nuclear weapons continue to modernise their nuclear arsenals, while India and China increased their nuclear warheads in the last one year.
2. China is in the middle of a significant modernisation of its nuclear arsenal. China’s nuclear arsenal had gone up from 290 warheads in 2019 to 320 in 2020.
3. China is developing a so-called nuclear triad for the first time, made up of new land and sea-based missiles and nuclear-capable aircraft.
4. India’s nuclear arsenal went up from 130-140 in 2019 to 150 in 2020.
5. Pakistan, too, is slowly increasing the size and diversity of the nuclear forces. It has reached 160 in 2020.
6. Both China and Pakistan continue to have larger nuclear arsenals than India.

Global scenario:

1. Together the nine nuclear-armed states — the U.S., Russia, the United Kingdom, France, China, India, Pakistan, Israel and North Korea — possessed an estimated 13,400 nuclear weapons at the start of 2020, which marked a decrease from an estimated 13,865 nuclear weapons at the beginning of 2019.
2. The decrease in the overall numbers was largely due to the dismantlement of old nuclear weapons by Russia and the U.S., which together possess over 90% of the global nuclear weapons.

Need of the hour:

The U.S. and Russia have reduced their nuclear arsenals under the 2010 New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) but it will lapse in February 2021 unless both parties agree to prolong it.

Therefore, efforts should be made to extend the New START or negotiate a new treaty.

The deadlock over the New START and the collapse of the 1987 Soviet–U.S. Treaty on the Elimination of Intermediate-Range and Shorter-Range Missiles (INF Treaty) in 2019 suggest that the era of bilateral nuclear arms control agreements between Russia and the U.S. might be coming to an end.

Global Partnership on Artificial Intelligence (GPAI)

India joins Global Partnership on Artificial Intelligence (GPAI) as a founding member to support the responsible and human-centric development and use of AI.

What is GPAI?

It is an international and multi-stakeholder initiative to guide the responsible development and use of AI, grounded in human rights, inclusion, diversity, innovation, and economic growth.

This is also a first initiative of its type.

GPAI will be supported by a Secretariat, to be hosted by Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in Paris, as well as by two Centers of Expertise- one each in Montreal and Paris.

Founding members:

Australia, Canada, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, the Republic of Korea, Singapore, Slovenia, the United Kingdom, the United States of America, and the European Union.

How this initiative works?

1. It will bridge the gap between theory and practice on AI by supporting cutting-edge research and applied activities on AI-related priorities.
2. In collaboration with partners and international organizations, GPAI will bring together leading experts from industry, civil society, governments, and academia to collaborate to promote responsible evolution of AI.
3. It will also evolve methodologies to show how AI can be leveraged to better respond to the present global crisis around COVID-19.

How this helps for India?

By joining GPAI as a founding member, India will actively participate in the global development of Artificial Intelligence, leveraging upon its experience around use of digital technologies for inclusive growth.

What is AI?

Artificial intelligence is the branch of computer science concerned with making computers behave like humans. AI refers to the ability of machines to perform cognitive tasks like thinking, perceiving, learning, problem solving and decision making.

Indian Gas Exchange launched in e-ceremony

What is it?

Indian Gas Exchange (IGX) is the first nationwide online delivery-based gas trading platform.

• IGX will be a delivery-based trading platform for delivery of natural Gas.
• Incorporated as a wholly owned subsidiary of the IEX – India’s energy market platform.
• The platform is fully automated with web-based interface to provide seamless trading experience to the customers.

How will this exchange work?

The IGX is a digital trading platform that will allow buyers and sellers of natural gas to trade both in the spot market and in the forward market for imported natural gas across three hubs —Dahej and Hazira in Gujarat, and Kakinada in Andhra Pradesh.

Imported Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) will be re-gassified and sold to buyers through the exchange, removing the requirement for buyers and sellers to find each other.

The exchange also allows much shorter contracts – for delivery on the next day, and up to a month – while ordinarily contracts for natural gas supply are as long as six months to a year.

Will domestically produced natural gas also be bought and sold on the exchange?

No. The price of domestically produced natural gas is decided by the government. It will not be sold on the gas exchange.

Why this was necessary?

Domestic production of gas has been falling over the past two fiscals as current sources of natural gas have become less productive.

Domestically produced natural gas currently accounts for less than half the country’s natural gas consumption; imported LNG accounts for the other half.

LNG imports are set to become a larger proportion of domestic gas consumption as India moves to increase the proportion of natural gas in the energy basket from 6.2% in 2018 to 15% by 2030.

Benefits:

This will help the nation move towards free market pricing of natural gas.

The exchange is expected to facilitate transparent price discovery in natural gas, and facilitate the growth of the share of natural gas in India’s energy basket.

About Natural Gas:

It is the cleanest fossil fuels among the available fossil fuels.

It is used as a feedstock in the manufacture of fertilizers, plastics and other commercially important organic chemicals as well as used as a fuel for electricity generation, heating purpose in industrial and commercial units.

It is also used for cooking in domestic households and a transportation fuel for vehicles.

Fifth State of Matter

NASA scientists on Earth have collaborated with astronauts on the International Space Station (ISS) to corral the first ever Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC)- the fifth state of matter- outside of Earth’s gravity.

The matter has been created in one of the coldest places in the universe- the Cold Atom Laboratory– a device on board the International Space Station (ISS).

Basics- What is a matter, an atom and molecule?

Matter is the “stuff” that makes up the universe — everything that takes up space and has mass is matter. 

All matter is made up of atoms, which are in turn made up of protons, neutrons and electrons. 

Atoms come together to form molecules, which are the building blocks for all types of matter.

Both atoms and molecules are held together by a form of potential energy called chemical energy.

Five states of matter:

There are four natural states of matter: Solids, liquids, gases and plasma.

The fifth state is the man-made Bose-Einstein condensates.

About Bose-Einstein condensate:

A Bose-Einstein condensate is so named because its existence was posited almost a century ago by Albert Einstein and Indian mathematician Satyendra Nath Bose.

This exotic material only exists when atoms of certain elements are cooled to temperatures near absolute zero.

At that point, clusters of atoms begin functioning as a single quantum object with both wave and particle properties.

When was it first created?

BEC was created by scientists in 1995. Using a combination of lasers and magnets, scientists cooled a sample of rubidium to within a few degrees of absolute zero.

At this extremely low temperature, molecular motion comes very close to stopping.

Since there is almost no kinetic energy being transferred from one atom to another, the atoms begin to clump together. There are no longer thousands of separate atoms, just one “super atom.”

 Why study BEC?

A BEC is used to study quantum mechanics on a macroscopic level. Light appears to slow down as it passes through a BEC, allowing scientists to study the particle/wave paradox.

A BEC also has many of the properties of a superfluid, or a fluid that flows without friction.

BECs are also used to simulate conditions that might exist in black holes.

Why is it easy to create BEC in space?

BECs have been produced in a variety of experiments on Earth since 1995, but these are hindered by gravity, which collapses the clouds in a split second.

To make a BEC, scientists must first corral and then supercool atoms.

• In the near-zero gravity in space, they can mix the ingredients in a much smaller catchment “trap.” On Earth’s surface, the atoms begin to repel each other and fly apart almost instantaneously.
• On Earth, laboratories can only maintain Bose-Einstein condensates for a matter of milliseconds. However, research aboard the ISS has created a Bose-Einstein condensate that persisted for more than a second.

World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought: 17 June

Theme for 2020:

Food. Feed.Fibre. – the links between consumption and land.

Why June 17?

This day was proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly resolution in 1995, after the day when United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification was drafted.

What is Desertification?

• Desertification is the degradation of land in arid, semi-arid and dry sub-humid areas. It is caused primarily by human activities and climatic variations. Desertification does not refer to the expansion of existing deserts.
• It occurs because dryland ecosystems, which cover over one third of the world‘s land area, are extremely vulnerable to overexploitation and inappropriate land use. Poverty, political instability, deforestation, overgrazing and bad irrigation practices can all undermine the productivity of the land.

About UNCCD:

Established in 1994.

It is the sole legally binding international agreement linking environment and development to sustainable land management.

• It is the only convention stemming from a direct recommendation of the Rio Conference’s Agenda 21.
• To help publicise the Convention, 2006 was declared “International Year of Deserts and Desertification”.
• Focus areas: The Convention addresses specifically the arid, semi-arid and dry sub-humid areas, known as the drylands, where some of the most vulnerable ecosystems and peoples can be found.
• Aim: Its 197 Parties aim, through partnerships, to implement the Convention and achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. The end goal is to protect land from over-use and drought, so it can continue to provide food, water and energy.
• The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change is the nodal Ministry for this Convention.

Concerns for India:

India has witnessed increase in the level of desertification in 26 of 29 states between 2003-05 and 2011-13, according to the State of India’s Environment (SoE) 2019 in Figures.

More than 80 per cent of the country’s degraded land lies in just nine states: Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Jammu and Kashmir, Karnataka, Jharkhand, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh and Telangana.

Top three districts with highest area under desertification or land degradation are Jaisalmer, Rajasthan (92.96 per cent during 2011-13 and 98.13 per cent during 2003-05), Lahaul and Spiti, Himachal Pradesh (80.54 per cent during 2011-13 and 80.57 per cent during 2003-05) and Kargil, Jammu and Kashmir (78.23 per cent during 2011-13 and 78.22 per cent during 2003-05).

Main reasons that cause desertification in India are:

1. Water erosion (10.98 per cent).
2. Wind erosion (5.55 per cent).
3. Human-made/settlements (0.69 per cent).
4. Vegetation degradation (8.91 per cent).
5. Salinity (1.12 per cent).
6. Others (2.07 per cent).

Rapid antigen test

The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has recommended the use of Standard Q COVID-19 Ag antigen detection test in containment zones and healthcare settings in combination with the RT-PCR test.

The is to be used in specified settings, and kits from only one manufacturer have got approval– the South Korean company S D Biosensor.

What are antigens?

Antigens are foreign substances that induce an immune response in the body.

What is the rapid antigen detection test for Covid-19?

It is a test on swabbed nasal samples that detects antigens that are found on or within the SARS-CoV-2 virus.

It is a point-of-care test, performed outside the conventional laboratory setting, and is used to quickly obtain a diagnostic result.

How is rapid antigen detection test different from RT-PCR test?

Like RT-PCR, the rapid antigen detection test too seeks to detect the virus rather than the antibodies produced by the body.

The most significant difference between the two is time.

• RT-PCR test takes a minimum of 2-5 hours including the time taken for sample transportation.
• In a rapid antigen detection test, the maximum duration for interpreting a positive or negative test is 30 minutes.

What are the limitations of an antigen test’s results?

1. These tests are very specific for the virus, but are not as sensitive as molecular PCR tests. This means that positive results from antigen tests are highly accurate, but there is a higher chance of false negatives, so negative results do not rule out infection.
2. Negative results from an antigen test may need to be confirmed with a PCR test prior to making treatment decisions or to prevent the possible spread of the virus due to a false negative.
3. Once the sample is collected in the extraction buffer, it is stable only for one hour. Therefore, the antigen test needs to be conducted at the site of sample collection in the healthcare setting.

What is Vaccine Nationalism?

The Context:

The United States has now twice indicated that it would like to secure priority access to doses of COVID-19 vaccine. Other countries, including India and Russia, have taken similar stances. This prioritisation of domestic markets has become known as vaccine nationalism.

How it works?

Vaccine nationalism occurs when a country manages to secure doses of vaccine for its own citizens or residents before they are made available in other countries.

This is done through pre-purchase agreements between a government and a vaccine manufacturer.

How was it used in the past?

Vaccine nationalism is not new. During the early stages of the 2009 H1N1 flu pandemic, some of the wealthiest countries entered into pre-purchase agreements with several pharmaceutical companies working on H1N1 vaccines.

• At that time, it was estimated that, in the best-case scenario, the maximum number of vaccine doses that could be produced globally was two billion.
• The US alone negotiated and obtained the right to buy 600,000 doses. All the countries that negotiated pre-purchase orders were developed economies.

Why its not good? What are the associated concerns?

• Vaccine nationalism is harmful for equitable access to vaccines.
• It further disadvantages countries with fewer resources and bargaining power.
• It deprives populations in the Global South from timely access to vital public health goods.
• Taken to its extreme, it allocates vaccines to moderately at-risk populations in wealthy countries over populations at higher risk in developing economies.

What needs to be done?

• International institutions — including the WHO — should coordinate negotiations ahead of the next pandemic to produce a framework for equitable access to vaccines during public health crises.
• Equity entails both, affordability of vaccines and access opportunities for populations across the world, irrespective of geography and geopolitics.

Housing Finance Companies

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has proposed stringent norms for housing finance companies.

Proposed norms include:

1. At least 50% of net assets should be in the nature of ‘qualifying assets’ for HFCs, of which at least 75% should be towards individual housing loans.
2. Such HFCs which do not fulfil the criteria will be treated as NBFC – Investment and Credit Companies (NBFC-ICCs) and will be required to approach the RBI for conversion of their Certificate of Registration from HFC to NBFC-ICC.
3. The NBFC-ICCs which want to continue as HFCs would have to follow a roadmap to make 75% of their assets individual housing loans.
4. The target has been set at 60% by March 31, 2022, 70% by March 31, 2023, and 75% by March 31, 2024.
5. It has also proposed a minimum net-owned fund (NOF) of ₹20 crore as compared to ₹10 crore now. Existing HFCs would have to reach ₹15 crore within a year and ₹20 crore within two years.

What are qualifying assets?

The RBI defined ‘qualifying assets’ as loans to individuals or a group of individuals, including co-operative societies, for construction/purchase of new dwelling units, loans to individuals for renovation of existing dwelling units, lending to builders for construction of residential dwelling units.

Regulatory oversight:

• A housing finance company is considered a non-banking financial company (NBFC) under the RBI’s regulations.
• A company is treated as an NBFC if its financial assets are more than 50% of its total assets and income from financial assets is more than 50% of the gross income.

NASA’s Gateway Lunar Orbit outpost

Context:

NASA recently finalised the contract for the initial crew module of the agency’s Gateway lunar orbiting outpost.

The contract, which is worth $187 million has been awarded to Orbital Science Corporation of Dulles, Virginia, which is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Northrop Grumman Space.

What is the contract for?

NASA has issued this contract to design the habitation and logistics (HALO) support for the Gateway, which is a part of NASA’s Artemis program that aims to send the first woman and the next man to the Moon by 2024.

The HALO refers to the pressurised living quarters where astronauts will spend their time while visiting the Gateway.

These quarters will be about the size of a small apartment and will provide augmented life support in tandem with NASA’s Orion spacecraft.

What is NASA’s Gateway Lunar Orbit outpost?

The Gateway is a small spaceship that will orbit the Moon, meant for astronaut missions to the Moon and later, for expeditions to Mars.

It will act as a temporary office and living quarters for astronauts, distanced at about 250,000 miles from Earth.

The spaceship will have living quarters, laboratories for science and research and docking ports for visiting spacecraft.

Compared to the ISS, the Gateway is much smaller.

How long will it take to build the Gateway?

As of now, NASA has targeted the completion of the Gateway for 2026, while work on the spaceship is already underway.

By 2022, NASA plans to ready the power and propulsion for the spaceship, which will be launched on a partner-provided commercial rocket.

What is Artemis?

Artemis– Acceleration, Reconnection, Turbulence and Electrodynamics of Moon’s Interaction with the Sun. It is NASA’s next mission to the Moon.

Objective: To measure what happens when the Sun’s radiation hits our rocky moon, where there is no magnetic field to protect it. Artemis was the twin sister of Apollo and goddess of the Moon in Greek mythology. 

World Crocodile Day

Observed on June 17^th every year.

It is a global awareness campaign to highlight the plight of endangered crocodiles and alligators around the world. 

India is home to three crocodilian species:

1. The mugger or marsh crocodile (Crocodylus palustris)
2. The estuarine or saltwater crocodile (Crocodylus porosus)
3. The gharial (Gavialis gangeticus)

Details:

Mugger:

• The mugger crocodile, also called the Indian crocodile, or marsh crocodile, is found throughout the Indian subcontinent.
• It is listed as vulnerable by IUCN.
• The mugger is mainly a freshwater species, and found in lakes, rivers and marshes.

Gharial:

• The Gharial or fish eating crocodile is native to the Indian subcontinent.
• It is listed as a Critically Endangered by IUCN.
• Small released populations are present and increasing in the rivers of the National Chambal Sanctuary, Katarniaghat Wildlife Sanctuary, Son River Sanctuary and the rainforest biome of Mahanadi in Satkosia Gorge Sanctuary, Orissa.

Saltwater Crocodile:

It is the largest of all living reptiles. It listed as least concern by IUCN. It is found throughout the east coast of India.

Crocodile conservation programmes in India:

The Gharial and Saltwater crocodile conservation programme was first implemented in Odisha in early 1975 and subsequently the Mugger conservation programme was initiated, since Odisha is having distinction for existence of all the three species of Indian crocodilians. The funds and technical support for the project came from UNDP/ FAO through the Government of India.

‘BAULA’ PROJECT AT DANGAMAL: ‘Baula’ is the Oriya term for Saltwater Crocodile. Dangmal is in Bhitarkanika sanctuary.

MUGGER PROJECT AT RAMATIRTHA: The Ramatirtha center, in Odisha, is meant for Mugger crocodiles.

GHARIAL PROJECT AT TIKARPADA, Odisha.

CAPTIVE BREEDING OF CROCODILES AT NANDANKANAN, Odisha.

India China Galwan Valley standoff

Context:

• Even as India and China are engaged in military-level talks and in controlled engagement, there has been a violent face-off between the army troops of both sides.
• Recently, China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) and the Indian Army clashed and used stones, knives, and machetes to attack each other and this resulted in fatalities on both sides.

This incident happened at Galwan Valley in Eastern Ladakh region.

Background:

India and China share a border that is more than 3,440km (2,100 miles) long and have overlapping territorial claims.

From past one month, Indian and Chinese armies have been locked in a tense stand-off at three points along the Line of Actual Control — the Galwan River Valley, Hot Springs area and the Pangong Lake — since early May.

The strategic importance of Galwan River Valley (GRV):

The Galwan river is the highest ridgeline and it allows the Chinese to dominate the Shyok route passes, which is close to the river.

It lies along the western sector of the LAC and close to Aksai Chin, a disputed area claimed by India but controlled by China.

Why tensions are suddenly on rise in this area?

India is trying to construct a feeder road emanating from Darbuk-Shyok Village – Daulat Beg Oldi road (DS-DBO road).

This road runs along the Shyok River and is the most critical line of communications close to LAC.

Hence, Chinese are keen on controlling this area as they fear that the Indian side could end up threatening their position on the Aksai Chin plateau by using the river valley.

Way ahead for India:

That China is becoming more belligerent across strategic theatres, challenging the status quo, is supported by multiple examples from the South China Sea.

For the Government of India, this is a moment to guard against complacency, fostered by decades of nimble diplomacy that led to equilibrium, however precarious, on the border issue with China.

Civil Services Board

The Punjab government, last week, constituted a three-member civil services board to decide on IAS transfers and postings in the state.

Opposition to this move:

This notification providing for fixed tenure of IAS officers has left some leaders in the state upset.

• It is because they feel appointment and transfer of IAS officers are a prerogative of the state.
• They say, If their term is fixed, it will not only create functional and administrative problems, but also overstep the authority and jurisdiction of the state government.
• With the fixed tenure rule and Chief Secretary’s board having all power to examine a recommendation for a transfer, the leaders feel their influence has been reduced to a naught and all power handed to the CS.

What is the government’s argument in its favour?

• It says if the officials have a fixed tenure they will be able to provide better administration.
• They will also feel safe and try to stick to the rules instead of pleasing political bosses.
• It says every official requires 3-6 months to get into the groove at his new place of posting. If he stays there for two years, it would mean better delivery and stable tenure to people.

What is a Civil Services Board? What are its functions?

To insulate the bureaucracy from political interference and to put an end to frequent transfers of civil servants by political bosses, the Supreme Court had in 2013 directed the Centre and the states to set up a civil services board to consider transfers and postings of bureaucrats among others.

As per rules, all states should have a civil services board to decide on transfers and postings of the bureaucrats.

Functions:

• The board is mandated to decide on the transfer of a civil servant before completion of his or her fixed tenure.
• The rules mandate the civil services board to submit an annual report on January 1 to the central government about the date of the meetings held by them.

Composition:

The civil services board is headed by chief secretary of a state.

• It has senior most additional chief secretary or chairman, Board of Revenue, Financial Commissioner or an officer of equivalent rank and status as member.
• In addition, it will have Principal Secretary or Secretary, Department of Personnel in the state government as member secretary.

Why banning trade with China will hurt India more?

The Indian government has tried to respond to the border dispute with China by training its guns on trade. The idea resonating in Indian streets is that Indians should boycott Chinese goods and thus “teach China a lesson”.

• But, given China’s centrality and India’s insignificant share in global trade, banning trade will barely hurt China while adversely impacting Indian consumers and businesses.

Boycotting China is not as easy as data from key sectors show:

1. Smartphones: Market size: Rs 2 lakh Cr. Share of Chinese products: 72%.
2. Telecom Equipment: Market size: Rs 12,000 Cr; Share of Chinese products: 25%.
3. Auto Components: Market size: 43.1 lakh Cr.; Share of Chinese products: 26%.
4. Internet Apps: Market size: 45.0 Crore smartphone users; Share of Chinese products: 66% of people use at least one Chinese app on their smartphones.
5. Solar Power: Market size: 37,916 MW; Share of Chinese products: 90%
6. Steel: Share of Chinese products: 18-20%.
7. Pharma/API: Market size: 1.5 Lakh Crore; Share of Chinese products: 60%.

When is “Boycott China” possible?

When the economical gap between India and China is narrowed, the country, prompted by emotions of nationalism amid the standoff between the two countries, can boycott Chinese products and carve out a path for ‘Atma Nirbhar Bharat.’ 

Why is China cheaper?

1. Provision of cheap labour is one of the factors that contribute to cheaper Chinese products.
2. Raw materials are cheaper. They are a significant part of the total cost of the product. Since the Chinese firms invest in bulk purchases for bulk production, it saves the tremendous cost of production.
3. Efficient business ecosystem comprising of a network of suppliers, component manufacturers, distributors, government agencies, and customers. All have key-roles to play in ironing out the production process.
4. Business loans are easily accessible, especially for bigger industries which provides a greater financial cushion to businesses in the manufacturing segment.
5. The Chinese factories have been criticized for their lower compliance with health and safety regulations and environmental protection laws.
6. China follows a Value Added Tax (VAT) system. A tax which is charged only on the “value-added” to a product, material or service at every stage of its further manufacture or distribution. Exported goods are subject to zero per cent VAT. In simpler terms, they enjoy a VAT exemption or rebate policy.

Why ‘Boycott Chinese Products’ Movement is difficult in India?

Trade deficit: In 2018-19, India’s exports to China were mere $16.7 billion, while imports were $70.3 billion, leaving a trade deficit of $53.6 billion.

Private Indian companies with Chinese investment: Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) from China stood at a total of $1.8 billion between 2015 and 2019. Chinese tech investors have put an estimated $4 billion into Indian start-ups. Over a period of five years ending March 2020, 18 of India’s 30 unicorns are now Chinese-funded.

China’s dominance in the Indian digital market: Apps with Chinese investments constituted a substantial 50% of top app downloads (both iOS and G Play combined) which includes web browsers, data sharing and social media apps as per the Gateway house report.

A blanket ban on Chinese imports will hurt all small businesses at a time when they are already struggling to survive, apart from hitting India’s ability to produce finished goods.

What can be done?

Estimates indicate that a third of the Chinese imports constitute low-tech goods that were either made earlier by Indians, or are still being made but in smaller quantities.

• These can surely be discouraged, and re-replaced by local products and brands.
• In addition, such attempts will prove to be a fillip for the hundreds of small and medium firms, which have languished due to the lack of demand.
• If the MSME segment kicks off, the overall manufacturing sector will get a boost, which will benefit the ‘Make in India’ scheme.
• As local sales grow, Indians will become competitive. They can emerge as exporters of these products, and battle globally with China.

Russia-India-China grouping

Why in News?

India will participate in the virtual meeting of the Russia-India-China grouping on June 23.

The Indian decision to go ahead with the ministerial level exchange has created an opening for de-escalation of tension along the Line of Actual Control with the Russian diplomatic sources indicating that they support “constructive dialogue” over the tension in eastern Ladakh.

What is RIC?

Conceived by the then Russian foreign minister Yevgeny Primakov in 1998.

The group was founded on the basis of “ending its subservient foreign policy guided by the U.S.,” and “renewing old ties with India and fostering the newly discovered friendship with China.”

Significance and potential of the grouping:

Together, the RIC countries occupy over 19 percent of the global landmass and contribute to over 33 percent of global GDP.

All three are nuclear powers and two, Russia and China, are permanent members of the UN Security Council, while India aspires to be one.

The trio could also contribute to creating a new economic structure for the world.

They could work together on disaster relief and humanitarian assistance.

Importance of RIC for India:

• It forms the core of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO).
• India is in a geostrategic sweet spot today.
• It is important for India as an aspiring power to be able to thwart China’s aspirations of being a hegemon in both the maritime and continental spheres.

U.S. Uighur rights Bill

U.S. President Donald Trump has signed legislation calling for sanctions over the repression of China’s Uighur Muslims.

Details:

• The Bill calls for sanctions against those responsible for repression of Uighurs and other Muslim groups in China’s Xinjiang province, where the United Nations estimates that more than a million Muslims have been detained in camps.
• It singles out the region’s Communist Party secretary, Chen Quanguo, as responsible for “gross human rights violations” against them.
• The Bill also calls on U.S. firms operating in Xinjiang region to ensure their products do not include parts using forced labour.

Background:

The United Nations estimates that more than a million Muslims have been detained in camps in the Xinjiang region. The U.S. State Department has accused Chinese officials of subjecting Muslims to torture, abuse “and trying to basically erase their culture and their religion.”

Who are Uighurs?

Uighurs are a Muslim minority community concentrated in the country’s northwestern Xinjiang province. 

They claim closer ethnic ties to Turkey and other central Asian countries than to China, by brute — and brutal — force.

Why is China targeting the Uighurs?

Xinjiang is technically an autonomous region within China — its largest region, rich in minerals, and sharing borders with eight countries, including India, Pakistan, Russia and Afghanistan.

• Over the past few decades, as economic prosperity has come to Xinjiang, it has brought with it in large numbers the majority Han Chinese,who have cornered the better jobs, and left the Uighurs feeling their livelihoods and identity were under threat.
• This led to sporadic violence, in 2009 culminating in a riot that killed 200 people, mostly Han Chinese, in the region’s capital Urumqi. And many other violent incidents have taken place since then.
• Beijing also says Uighur groups want to establish an independent state and, because of the Uighurs’ cultural ties to their neighbours, leaders fear that elements in places like Pakistan may back a separatist movement in Xinjiang.
• Therefore, the Chinese policy seems to have been one of treating the entire community as suspect, and launching a systematic project to chip away at every marker of a distinct Uighur identity.

 Keeladi excavations

Skeletal remains of a child excavated as part of Keeladi’s 6th phase excavation. The skeleton was found buried between two terracotta urns.

All about Keeladi excavations:

1. Excavations in Keeladi prove that an urban civilisation existed in Tamil Nadu in the Sangam era on the banks of the river Vaigai. 
2. Many antiquities have been unearthed that provide crucial evidence to understanding the missing links of the Iron Age [12th century BCE to 6th century BCE] to the Early Historic Period [6th century BCE to 4th century BCE] and subsequent cultural developments.
3. Literate society: Tamil Brahmi letters found were inscribed when the pot was wet or after the pot became dry. This clearly suggests literacy levels in the 6th century BC.
4. Agrarian society that reared cattle: Skeletal fragments of cow/ox, buffalo, sheep, goat, nilgai, blackbuck, wild boar and peacock were found.
5. High standard of living: Long walls, Well-laid floors along with roof tiles in a collapsed state, iron nails fastened to the poles and rafters prove a high standard of living during the Sangam age.
6. Items found: Brick structures, terracotta ring wells, fallen roofing with tiles, golden ornaments, broken parts of copper objects, iron implements, terracotta chess pieces, ear ornaments, spindle whorls, figurines, black and redware, rouletted ware and a few pieces of Arretine ware, besides beads made of glass, terracotta and semi-precious stones.
7. Graffiti marks are found in earthenware, caves and rocks in or near the excavation sites.

Rule of Law index

Why in News?

A petition was filed in the Supreme Court asking the Court to direct the government to setup expert panels to boost India’s prospects in the Rule of Law Index.

What has the petitioner demanded?

A direction to the government to constitute expert committees to examine the best practices of the countries ranked among top 20 in Rule of Law Index-2020 and accordingly take steps to improve the “pathetic ranking” of India.

 And why these demands have been made?

On March 11, the World Justice Project announced the Rule of Law Index and ranked India in the 69th position.

• India has never been ranked even among top 50 in the Index, but successive governments did nothing to improve international ranking of India.
• The nation’s ranking in the Index “confirms poor performance in eight sectors, constraints on government powers, absence of corruption, open government, fundamental rights, public order and security, regulatory enforcement and civil and criminal justice”.
• Besides, poor rule of law has a devastating effect on right to life, liberty, economic justice, fraternity, individual dignity and national integration.
• It also offends rights guaranteed under Articles 14 and 21.

What has the Court said?

This was not an “appropriate case” for the court and a representation to this effect can be made to the government for taking action.

This petition may be treated as representation by the respondents for such appropriate actions as may be found appropriate, which may be decided within a period of six months.

Additional information:

What is Rule of Law index?

Released by the World Justice Project- an independent organisation.

It is a quantitative assessment tool designed to offer a detailed and comprehensive picture of the extent to which countries adhere to the rule of law in practice.

The index covers 128 countries.

How are countries ranked?

It measures countries’ rule of law performance across eight factors:

(1) Constraints on Government Powers, (2) Absence of Corruption, (3) Open Government, (4) Fundamental Rights, (5) Order and Security, (6) Regulatory Enforcement, (7) Civil Justice, and (8) Criminal Justice.

How is rule of law defined?

The World Justice Project defines the rule of law system as one in which the following four universal principles are upheld:

1. The government and its officials and agents are accountable under the law.
2. The laws are clear, publicized, stable and fair, and protect fundamental rights, including the security of persons and property.
3. The process by which the laws are enacted, administered, and enforced is accessible, efficient, and fair.
4. Justice is delivered by competent, ethical, and independent representatives and neutrals who are of sufficient number, have adequate resources and reflect the makeup of the communities they serve.

What is GAFA tax?

Why in News?

The United States has reportedly pulled out of talks aimed at overhauling the global tax system for digital giants.

With this, France has now confirmed an “impasse” on the so-called GAFA tax.

 What’s the concern now?

France as well as U.K., Spain, Italy and others have imposed taxes on the largest digital firms.

U.S. officials have slammed the moves as discriminating against American firms, and say any new levies should come only as part of a broader overhaul of international tax rules.

• Now, the US withdrawal from talks risks reigniting a transatlantic trade spat.

Background:

In January, 137 countries agreed to negotiate a deal on how to tax tech multinationals by 2020-end, under the auspices of the OECD.

France, Britain, Italy and Spain have already sent a reply expressing their desire to agree on “a fair digital tax at the level of the OECD as quickly as possible.

Additional information:

What is GAFA tax?

GAFA tax—named after Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon—is a proposed digital tax to be levied on large technology and internet companies. France has decided to introduce the tax (3% tax on revenues from digital activities).

The rationale for having separate taxation on digital firms:

1. Existing tax norms that are framed envisaging brick and mortar business models are not suitable to regulate online services.
2. The technology companies differ from traditional businesses as a result of user participation in creating value, which, in turn, translates into revenue.
3. The often complex corporate structures set up by several companies that derive huge revenues from major European economies but allow them slash their tax bills by shifting profits to low-tax jurisdictions. (Base Erosion and Profit Sharing issue)

European countries in particular say the so-called GAFA — Google, Apple, Facebook and Amazon — are unfairly exploiting tax rules that let them declare profits in low-tax havens, depriving them of a fair share of their fiscal payments.

Digital tax in India:

India has the second-largest online users in the world, with over 560 million internet users, and hence, from the viewpoint of its tax revenue base, digital businesses could not be overlooked. However, as is the case in other jurisdictions, Indian tax laws were suited for conventional business models such as brick and mortar stores and thus in dire need of an overhaul.

Recent Amendments:

To ensure that value created digitally is appropriately taxed; two significant amendments were introduced in Indian taxation laws in the recent past –

1. The “Equalization Levy” –

A tax aimed at foreign digital companies has been in place since 2016 and levied a 6% tax payable on gross revenues from online advertising services, which raked over Rs. 550 crores in fiscal year 2017-2018.

• The new amendment, effective from April 1, 2020, essentially expands the equalization levy from online advertising to nearly all online commerce activitiesdone in India by businesses that do not have taxable presence in India through applicability of 2% on its revenues.
• Specifically, it is levied on consideration receivable by the e-commerce operator for supply or services or facilitation of supply or service to – Person resident in India, Non-resident under specified circumstances such as through sale of data collected from a person resident in India, and Person who buys goods or services through an IP address located in India.

2. The concept of “Significant Economic Presence” (SEP):

Introduced for the purposes of corporate income tax, which expanded to include the following:

• Advertisement which targets a customer residing in India or who accesses advertisement through internet protocol (IP) address located in India.
• Sale of data collected from a person residing in India or who uses an IP address located in India.
• Sale of goods/services using data collected from a person residing in India or who uses IP address located in India.

Global Initiative on Sharing All Influenza Data (GISAID)

Why in News?

China has released genome sequencing data for the coronavirus responsible for a recent outbreak in Beijing. It has shared this data with WHO and GISAID.

What the data suggest?

1. At least one of the strains tied to the Chinese capital’s largest wholesale food market had reportedly shown similarities to a strain found in Europe.
2. Local confirmed infections had been recorded for five consecutive days in two areas, apparently referencing Beijing and the neighbouring province of Hebei.

Background:

Beijing has seen 183 confirmed cases since the outbreak last week at the Xinfadi market and the situation for prevention remains very grave.

What is genomic sequencing?

Genomic sequencing is a technique that allows us to read and interpret genetic information found within DNA or RNA.

Why is it important to understand the genomic sequence of COVID-19?

The SARS-CoV2 genome, as it is formally known, has about 30,000 base pairs, somewhat like a long string with 30,000 places where each one of these occupy one of four chemicals called nucleotides.

• This long string, with its unique combination of nucleotides, is what uniquely identifies the virus and is called its genomic sequence.
• A look at virus genome sequences from patient samples that test positive for COVID-19 helps researchers to understand how the virus is evolving as it spreads. So far, there are over 1,000 COVID-19 genomes that have been published worldwide.

Therefore, sequencing is necessary because:

1. It helps track the transmission route of the virus globally.
2. It can determine how quickly the virus is adapting as it spreads.
3. It identifies targets to therapies.
4. It is required to understand the role of co-infection.

What is GISAID?

The GISAID platform was launched on the occasion of the Sixty-first World Health Assembly in May 2008.

GISAID is a global science initiative and primary source for genomic data of influenza viruses and and the novel coronavirus responsible for COVID-19.

• In 2010the Federal Republic of Germany became the official host of the GISAID platform and EpiFlu™ database providing sustainability of the platform and stability through its public-private-partnership with the GISAID Initiative to this day.
• In 2013 the European Commission recognized GISAID as a research organization and partner in the PREDEMICS consortium, a project on the Preparedness, Prediction and the Prevention of Emerging Zoonotic Viruses with Pandemic Potential using multidisciplinary approaches.

Key role:

The Initiative ensures that open access to data in GISAID is provided free-of-charge to all individuals that agreed to identify themselves and agreed to uphold the GISAID sharing mechanism governed through its Database Access Agreement.

Individual contributions to NDRF get green light from Finance Ministry

The Finance Ministry has given approval to a proposal to allow individuals and institutions to contribute directly to the National Disaster Relief Fund (NDRF).

Significance and implications of this move:

This is a significant development at a time when many have expressed concerns about donations sent to the PM CARES Fund or the Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund, as both claim they are not public authorities subject to questions under the Right to Information Act.

About NDRF:

The NDRF was set up in accordance with Section 46 of the Disaster Management Act, 2005.

It is meant to “meet the expenses for emergency response, relief and rehabilitation” for any threatening disaster situation.

It is a fund managed by the Central Government for meeting the expenses for emergency response, relief and rehabilitation due to any threatening disaster situation or disaster.

Constituted to supplement the funds of the State Disaster Response Funds (SDRF) of the states to facilitate immediate relief in case of calamities of a severe nature.

• Although Section 46 includes a clause regarding grants made by any person or institution, provisions for such donations had not been made.

Located in the “Public Accounts” of Government of India under “Reserve Funds not bearing interest“.

What is PMNRF? When was it setup?

In pursuance of an appeal by the then Prime Minister, Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru in January, 1948, the Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund (PMNRF) was established with public contributions to assist displaced persons from Pakistan.

• The resources of the PMNRF are now utilized primarily to render immediate relief to families of those killed in natural calamities like floods, cyclones and earthquakes, etc. and to the victims of the major accidents and riots.
• Assistance from PMNRF is also rendered, to partially defray the expenses for medical treatment like heart surgeries, kidney transplantation, cancer treatment, etc.

Secrecy of ballot

Supreme Court has delivered its judgment on Secrecy of Ballot.

• The judgment came on an appeal against the Allahabad High Court decision setting aside the voting of a no-confidence motion in a zila panchayat in Uttar Pradesh in 2018.
• The High Court had found that some of the panchayat members had violated the rule of secrecy of ballot. It relied on CCTV footage to conclude that they had either displayed the ballot papers or by their conduct revealed the manner in which they had voted.

What has the Supreme Court said on Secrecy of Ballot?

• Secrecy of ballot is the cornerstone of free and fair elections. The choice of a voter should be free and the secret ballot system in a democracy ensures it.
• It is the policy of law to protect the right of voters to secrecy of the ballot.
• Even a remote or distinct possibility that a voter can be forced to disclose for whom she has voted would act as a positive constraint and a check on the freedom to exercise of franchise.
• The principle of secrecy of ballots is an important postulate of constitutional democracy.
• However, a voter can also voluntarily waive the privilege of non-disclosure. No one can prevent a voter from doing. Nor can a complaint be entertained from any, including the person who wants to keep the voter’s mouth sealed as to why she disclosed for whom she voted.

What the RPA says?

Section 94 of the Representation of People Act upholds the privilege of the voter to maintain confidentiality about her choice of vote.

What next?

The apex court ordered a re-vote of the motion within the next two months. It ordered the Allahabad District Judge or his nominee to act as the presiding officer. The vote should be conducted by the secret ballot system.

Madhesis oppose new Nepal rule

Why in News?

Nepali opposition party leaders have opposed the planned changes in the existing citizenship rules that will most notably affect the families in Nepal’s plains also known as the Madhes region where cross-border kinship with India is common.

However, the government defends its move by citing India’s citizenship rules to justify the amendments the Nepalese govt has brought.

Proposed changes:

• The Bill seeks to amend the country’s Citizenship Act that would require a foreign woman married to a Nepali national to wait seven years for naturalised citizenship.
• It includes seven rights that a foreign woman married to a Nepali national can exercise till she acquires citizenship certificates.
• Lack of a citizenship certificate will not bar them from running any businesses and earn, use and sell any fixed and movable assets, make profits through businesses and get involved in transaction of property of any kind.

Who are Madheshi? Why they are concerned about these changes?

• The Madheshi are residents of Terai region in the south of Nepal at the foothill of the Himalayas on the border with India in Bihar.
• The Madhesis have castes and ethnicity similar to Bihar and eastern UP, with frequent inter-marriages between families on either side of the border.
• They believe these changes will introduce uncertainty and tension in the society and families.
• Critics have termed the changes as racially motivated.

Changing ties between India and Nepal:

The move to amend the citizenship act comes days after the Nepal government completed the process of redrawing the country’s political map through a Constitutional amendment, incorporating three strategically important Indian areas, a move that could severely jolt relations with New Delhi.

These include- Kalapani, Limpiyadhura and Lipulekh.

Eurasian Group on Combating Money Laundering and Financing of Terrorism (EAG)

India attended the virtual 32nd special Eurasian Group on Combating Money Laundering and Financing of Terrorism (EAG) plenary meeting, under the aegis of the Financial Action Task Force.

What is EAG?

The EAG is a regional body comprising nine countries: India, Russia, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Belarus.

Established in 2004, it is an associate member of the FATF.

• The founding conference was held in Moscow on October 6, 2004 and was attended by six founding countries:Belarus, Kazakhstan, China, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Tajikistan.
• In 2005 and 2010 the group was expanded to include Uzbekistan (2005), Turkmenistan (2010) and India (2010).
• The Agreement on the Eurasian Group on Combating Money Laundering and Financing of Terrorism was signed in Moscow in June 2011, granting the EAG the status of a regional intergovernmental organization.

The main tasks of the EAG:

1. Assisting member-states in implementing the 40 FATF anti-money laundering Recommendations and the 9 Special FATF Recommendations on combating terrorist financing (FATF 40+9 Recommendations).
2. Developing and conducting joint activities aimed at combating money laundering and terrorist financing.
3. Implementing a program of mutual evaluations of member-states based on the FATF 40+9 Recommendations, including assessment of the effectiveness of legislative and other measures adopted in the sphere of AML/CFT efforts.
4. Coordinating international cooperation and technical assistance programs with specialized international organizations, bodies, and interested states.
5. Analyzing money laundering and terrorist financing trends (typologies) and exchanging best practices of combating such crimes taking into account regional specifics.

Intercropping

Kerala government is planning to modify specific laws that govern the plantation sector to allow the management to intercrop food crops with cash crops such as tea, coffee, cardamom and rubber.

Laws that need modification include the Kerala Land Reforms Act, Kerala Grants and Leases (Modification of Rights) Act and Kerala Land Utilisation Order.

Need for:

To break its dependency on food imports from neighbouring States.

To guard against possible food protectionism by large-scale producers by opening up plantations for farming edibles.

Implications:

Plantations encompassed 8 lakh hectares in Kerala. An amendment of the law would free up an estimated 2 lakh hectares for inter-cropping.

• The proposed modification would also permit plantations to diversify into dairy and poultry farming.
• It would spur investment in precision farming characterised by high yield food crops, reduced use of toxic pesticides, chemical fertilisers and water.

Proposed plan:

The Kerala Agriculture University had zoned Kerala into 23 agro-climatic sectors.

• It had suggested that oranges, apples, avocados, grapefruit and winter vegetables as ideal intercrop for high altitude tea plantations in regions such as Munnar.
• In rubber growing regions, the cultivation of rambutan, mangosteen and other tropical fruits in small plots interspersed among the trees has been suggested.
• It had also suggested jack fruit as shade trees in tea, coffee and cardamom plantations.

What is intercropping?

It is the cultivation of two or more crops simultaneously on the same field.

The main goal is to produce a greater yield on a given piece of land by making use of resources of ecological processes that would otherwise not be utilised by a single crop.

There are different approaches to intercropping such as:

1. Mixed intercropping – two or more crops are planted in a mix without a distinct row arrangement.
2. Row intercropping – two or more crops are planted in distinct rows.
3. Relay intercropping – two or more crops are grown at the same time as part of the life cycle of each i.e. a second crop is sown after the first crop has been well established but before it reaches its harvesting stage.
4. Strip intercropping – growing two or more crops at the same time in separate strips wide enough apart for independent cultivation.

Advantages of intercropping:

More efficient use of light, water and other nutrient resources compared to single crops.

It allows for effective management of cover crops because crop mixtures have lower pest densities.

Potential increased crop yields per unit area.

Improved soil fertility by leguminous intercrops e.g. nitrogen fixing.

Reduced soil erosion.

Lowered soil surface evaporation.

Some cons of intercropping:

• Intercropping is not always suited to a mechanised farming system.
• Time consuming: It requires more attention and thus increased intensive, expert management.
• There is reduced efficiency in planting, weeding and harvesting which may add to the labour costs of these operations.
• The biggest challenge to adopting intercropping systems is the advance planning of planting, cultivation, fertilisation, spraying and harvesting of more than one crop in the same field. 

What is a Solar Eclipse?

Country witnessed an annular solar eclipse on 21th June, 2020.

This eclipse is a rare annular eclipse that occurs once in every one or two years, and coincides with the northern hemisphere’s longest day of the year, called the summer solstice.

What is a Solar Eclipse?

It is a natural event that takes place on Earth when the Moon moves in its orbit between Earth and the Sun (this is also known as an occultation).

It happens at New Moon, when the Sun and Moon are in conjunction with each other.

During an eclipse, the Moon’s shadow (which is divided into two parts: the dark umbra and the lighter penumbra) moves across Earth’s surface.

Then, why isn’t there a solar eclipse every month?

If the Moon was only slightly closer to Earth, and orbited in the same plane and its orbit was circular, we would see eclipses each month. The lunar orbit is elliptical and tilted with respect to Earth’s orbit, so we can only see up to 5 eclipses per year. Depending on the geometry of the Sun, Moon and Earth, the Sun can be totally blocked, or it can be partially blocked.

Solar Eclipse Types:

1. Total Solar Eclipse:

It occurs when the Moon completely blocks the solar disk. In a total solar eclipse, the narrowest part of the path (where the Sun is completely blocked and the Moon casts its darkest shadow (called the umbra)) is called the “zone of totality”.

A phenomenon called “Bailey’s Beads” often appears as sunlight shines out through valleys on the lunar surface.

2. Annular Solar Eclipse:

When the Moon is farther away in its orbit than usual, it appears too small to completely cover the Sun’s disk. During such an event, a bright ring of sunlight shines around the Moon. This type of eclipse is a called an “annular” eclipse.

3. Partial Solar Eclipse:

It occurs when Earth moves through the lunar penumbra (the lighter part of the Moon’s shadow) as the Moon moves between Earth and the Sun. The Moon does not block the entire solar disk, as seen from Earth. Depending on your location during a partial eclipse, you might see anything from a small sliver of the Sun being blotted out to a nearly total eclipse.

Why do earthquakes happen in Mizoram?

A medium intensity earthquake of 5.1 magnitude rocked Mizoram, Meghalaya, Manipur and the other northeastern States on 21^st June.

Why Mizoram and Tripura are more vulnerable?

As per the seismic hazard map of India, both the states of Mizoram and Tripura lie entirely in Zone V. 

• Also, in Mizoram, lie the southern most end of the Purvanchal Himalayan range. Their folded structure is a synclinorium consisting of broad synclines and tight-faulted anticlines.
• Therefore, earthquakes in this region are generally shallow, though a few quakes of intermediate depth have occurred. Most deeper earthquakes occur along and across the international border, in Myanmar’s Chin Division. Earthquake activity in Tripura is mainly shallow. The Dauki Fault which follows the international border of India and Bangladesh in Meghalaya passes though northern sections of Tripura.
• The other major threat is from the Madhupur Fault in Bangladesh.

India-China border dispute: Importance of Pangong Tso

Why in News?

Amid military talks, reports of Chinese build-up at Pangong.

Why there is a dispute here?

The Line of Actual Control (LAC) – the line that separates Indian and Chinese troops since 1962 – generally runs along the land except for the width of Pangong Tso.

Here it runs through water. Both sides have marked their areas announcing which side belongs to which country.

India controls about 45 km stretch of the Pangong Tso and China the rest.

The current site of confrontation is spurs jutting out of Chang Chenmo, an eastern extension of the Karakoram Range. These spurs are called fingers.

Who controls what?

There are eight of them in contention here. India and China have different understanding of where the LAC passes through.

• India has maintained that the LAC passes through Finger 8, which has been the site of the final military post of China.
• India has been patrolling the area – mostly on foot because of the nature of the terrain – up to Finger 8. But Indian forces have not had active control beyond Finger 4.
• China, on the other hand, says the LAC passes through Finger 2. It has been patrolling up to Finger 4- mostly in light vehicles, and at times up to Finger 2.

 What is happening now?

• The current impulses of China seem to be guided by 255 km Daulat Beg Oldie-Darbuk-Shayok road. It extends up to the base of the Karakoram pass, which is the last military post. Daulat Beg Oldie is the highest airfield in the world. This road, when complete, will reduce the travel time from Leh to Daulat Beg Oldie from two days to six hours.
• The latest Chinese move is also part of its long-term strategy to gain greater control of the area. It was under this design, China had built road up to 5 km on the Indian side of the LAC in 1999, during the Kargil war with Pakistan.

Why China wants to encroach areas alongside Pangong Tso?

• Pangong Tso is strategically crucial as it is very close to Chusul Valley, which was one of the battlefronts between India and China during the 1962 war.
• China appears to keep India constricted in the region by taking strategic advantage of looking over the Chusul Valley, which it can do if it advances along Pangong Tso.
• China also does not want India to boost its infrastructure anywhere near the LAC. China fears it threatens its occupation of Aksai Chin and Lhasa-Kashgar highway.
• Any threat to this highway also puts Chinese rather imperialist plans in Pakistan-occupied territories in Ladakh and Jammu and Kashmir, and beyond in Pakistan.

About Pangong Tso:

Pangong Tso literally translates into a “conclave lake”. Pangong means conclave in Ladakhi and Tso means a lake in Tibetan language.

Situated at over 14,000 feet, Pangong Tso or Pangong Lake is about 135 km long.

It is formed from Tethys geosyncline.

It is a salt water lake.

Japan to rename islands disputed with China

A local council- assembly of Ishigaki city- in southern Japan has voted to rename an area, including islands disputed with China and Taiwan, a move Beijing denounced as illegal and a “serious provocation”.

What’s approved?

It has approved a plan to change the name of the area covering the Tokyo-controlled Senkaku Islands — known by Taiwan and China as the Diaoyus — from “Tonoshiro” to “Tonoshiro Senkaku”.

What’s the issue now?

The uninhabited islands are at the centre of a festering row between Tokyo and Beijing.

Besides, Taiwan says the islands are part of its territory, and also protested the move.

About Senkaku Islands:

The Senkaku Islands are located in the East China Sea between Japan, the People’s Republic of China, and the Republic of China (Taiwan). The archipelago contains five uninhabited islands and three barren rocks, ranging in size from 800 m2 to 4.32 km2.

What are the grounds for Japan’s territorial sovereignty over the Senkaku Islands?

The Senkaku Islands were not included in the territory which Japan renounced under Article 2 of the San Francisco Peace Treaty of 1951 that legally defined the territory of Japan after World War II.

Under Article 3 of the treaty, the islands were placed under the administration of the United States as part of the Nansei Shoto Islands. The Senkaku Islands are included in the areas whose administrative rights were reverted to Japan in accordance with the Agreement between Japan and the United States of America Concerning the Ryukyu Islands and the Daito Islands that entered into force in 1972.

What is China’s claim?

China says that the islands have been part of its territory since ancient times, serving as important fishing grounds administered by the province of Taiwan.

Taiwan was ceded to Japan in the Treaty of Shimonoseki in 1895, after the Sino-Japanese war.

When Taiwan was returned in the Treaty of San Francisco, China says the islands should have been returned too.

What next?

The Senkaku/Diaoyu issue highlights the more robust attitude China has been taking to its territorial claims in both the East China Sea, the South China Sea and also on the Indian side.

Other border disputes of China:

It has island and maritime border disputes with Taiwan, Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines and Vietnam in the South China Sea and its extension.

The disputes include islands, reefs, banks and other features in the South China Sea including Spratly Islands (with Vietnam, Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei, Taiwan), Paracel Islands (Vietnam), Scarborough Shoal (Philippines), and Gulf of Tonkin (Vietnam).

China to join UN arms trade treaty

National People’s Congress, China’s top legislative body, has voted to join the global treaty to regulate conventional arms sales at a time when the country has been cornered over its handling of pandemic and curbing of Hong Kong’s autonomy.

This comes after US President Donald Trump announced plans last year to pull the United States out of the agreement — which entered into force in 2014.

What does the Arms Trade Treaty seek to do?
It has the ambitious aim of responding to international concern that the $70 billion a year trade in conventional weapons leaves a trail of atrocities in its wake.

The treaty calls for the international sale of weapons to be linked to the human rights records of buyers.

It requires countries to establish regulations for selling conventional weapons.

• It calls for potential arms deals to be evaluated in order to determine whether they might enable buyers to carry out genocide, crimes against humanity, or war crimes.
• The treaty also seeks to prevent conventional military weapons from falling into the hands of terrorists or organized criminal groups, and to stop deals that would violate UN arms embargos.

What types of conventional weapons deals does the Arms Trade Treaty seek to regulate?
Conventional weapons covered by the UN Arms Trade Treaty include tanks and other armored combat vehicles, artillery, attack helicopters, naval warships, missiles and missile launchers, and small arms.
It also establishes common international standards for the regulation of the international trade in ammunition, weapons parts, and arms components.
The treaty does not regulate the domestic sale or use of weapons in any country. It also recognizes the legitimacy of the arms trade to enable states to provide for their own security.

Detection of fluorine in hot Extreme Helium Stars

A study by the Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA) an autonomous institute of Department of Science and Technology has detected the presence of singly ionised fluorine for the first time in the atmospheres of hot Extreme Helium Stars.

This discovery makes a strong case that the main formation of these objects involves a merger of a carbon-oxygen (CO) and a Helium (He) white dwarf.

Significance of the latest findings:

The origin and evolution of these Hydrogen deficient objects have been shrouded in mystery.

Their severe chemical peculiarities challenge the theory of well-accepted stellar evolution as the observed chemical composition of these stars do not match with that predicted for low mass evolved stars.

What is an Extreme Helium Star?

An extreme helium star or EHe is a low-mass supergiant that is almost devoid of hydrogen, the most common chemical element of the universe.

There are 21 of them detected so far in our galaxy.

What is a White Dwarf?

1. A white dwarf is what stars like the Sun become after they have exhausted their nuclear fuel.
2. Near the end of its nuclear burning stage, this type of star expels most of its outer material, creating a planetary nebula. Only the hot core of the star remains
3. This core becomes a very hot white dwarf, with a temperature exceeding 100,000 Kelvin.
4. Unless it is accreting matter from a nearby star (see Cataclysmic Variables), the white dwarf cools down over the next billion years or so.
5. A typical white dwarf is half as massive as the Sun, yet only slightly bigger than Earth.

The lone wolf threat

The term “lone wolf” is used by US law enforcement agencies and the media to refer to individuals undertaking violent acts of terrorism outside a command structure.

A lone actor, lone-actor terrorist, or lone wolf is someone who prepares and commits violent acts alone, outside of any command structure and without material assistance from any group. They may be influenced or motivated by the ideology and beliefs of an external group and may act in support of such a group.

Why in News now?

Because of the recent knife attack at a park in Reading, a town west of London, which killed three people and injured three others.

This incident is yet another reminder of the threat of lone wolf attacks the U.K. is facing.

Since November 2019, the country has seen three such major incidents.

Why its hard to prevent such attacks?

Terrorist organisations embrace this tactic to spread violence in countries where coordinated big attacks are impossible.

In coordinated terror attacks, the chances of competent intelligence agencies detecting the perpetrators are much higher. But, in Lone wolf attacks, extremist individuals translate their beliefs into violent actions, and therefore are hard to detect and prevent.

Need of the hour:

The government and the security agencies need to adopt a multi-pronged approach towards radicalisation, which is anchored in human intelligence, strong ties with communities and community leaders and deradicalisation programmes.

Country of Origin in GeM platform

Government e-Marketplace (GeM) has brought in certain changes to promote ‘Make in India’ and ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat’.

These include:

1. It is now mandatory for sellers to enter the Country of Origin while registering all new products on GeM.
2. Sellers, who had already uploaded their products before the introduction of this new feature on GeM, have to regularly update the Country of Origin.
3. There shall be a provision for indication of the percentage of local content in products.
4. ‘Make in India’ filter has now been enabled on the portal. Buyers can choose to buy only those products that meet the minimum 50% local content criteria.

About GeM:

What is it? GeM is a state-of-the-art national public procurement platform of Ministry of Commerce and Industries, that has used technology to remove entry barriers for bonafide sellers and has created a vibrant e-marketplace with a wide range of goods and services.

Aim: GeM aims to enhance transparency, efficiency and speed in public procurement.

GeM facilities:

1. Listing of products for individual, prescribed categories of Goods/ Services of common use.
2. Look, estimate, compare and buying facility on dynamic pricing basis.
3. Market place buying of majority of common User Items.
4. Buying Goods and Services online, as and when required.
5. Transparency and ease of buying.
6. Useful for low value buying and also for bulk buying at competitive price using Reverse Auction/ e-bidding.
7. Continuous vendor rating system.
8. Return policy.

Benefits of GeM:

1. Enhances transparency.
2. Increased efficiency.
3. Secure and safe.
4. Savings to the government.

International Comparison Program

The World Bank has released new Purchasing Power Parities (PPPs) for reference year 2017, under International Comparison Program (ICP), that adjust for differences in the cost of living across economies of the World.

Globally 176 economies participated in 2017 cycle of ICP.

What is ICP?

International Comparison Program (ICP) is the largest worldwide data-collection initiative, under the guidance of UN Statistical Commission (UNSC).

• The goal is of producing Purchasing Power Parities (PPPs) which are vital for converting measures of economic activities to be comparable across economies.
• Along with the PPPs, the ICP also produces Price Level Indices (PLI) and other regionally comparable aggregates of GDP expenditure.
• The next ICP comparison will be conducted for reference year 2021.

India and the ICP:

• India has participated in almost all ICP rounds since its inception in 1970.
• The Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation is National Implementing Agency (NIA) for India, which has the responsibility of planning, coordinating and implementing national ICP activities.
• India has also been a co-Chair of the ICP Governing Board along with Statistics Austria for the ICP 2017 cycle.

Worldwide status:

• Purchasing Power Parities (PPPs) of Indian Rupee per US$ at Gross Domestic Product (GDP) level is now 20.65 in 2017 from 15.55 in 2011.
• Exchange Rate of US Dollar to Indian Rupee is now 65.12 from 46.67 during same period.
• Price Level Index (PLI)— the ratio of a PPP to its corresponding market exchange rate—is used to compare the price levels of economies, of India is 47.55 in 2017 from 42.99 in 2011.

India’s position:

1. In 2017, India retained and consolidated its global position, as the third largest economy, accounted for 6.7 percent ($8,051 billion out of World total of $119,547 billion) of global Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in terms of PPPs.
2. China (16.4%) and United States (16.3%), respectively.
3. India is also third largest economy in terms of its PPP-based share in global Actual Individual Consumption and Global Gross Capital Formation.

REGIONAL STATUS: ASIA-PACIFIC REGION:

1. In 2017, India retained its regional position, as the second largest economy, accounted for 20.83 % of Regional Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in terms of PPPs.
2. China was at 50.76% (first) and Indonesia at 7.49% (third).
3. India is also second largest economy in terms of its PPP-based share in regional Actual Individual Consumption and regional Gross Capital Formation.
4. Among 22 participating economies in Asia-Pacific region, the Purchasing Power Parities (PPPs) of Indian Rupee per Hong Kong Dollar(HK$) at Gross Domestic Product (GDP) level is now at 3.43 in 2017 from 2.97 in 2011.
5. The Exchange Rate of Hong Kong Dollar to Indian Rupee is now at 8.36 from 6.00 during same period.

What is PPP?
The rate at which the currency of one country would have to be converted into that of another country to buy the same amount of goods and services in each country.

Sec 309 IPC

India has the highest suicide rate in the South-East Asian region, according to the World Health Organization report released last year.

• India’s suicide rate is at 5 suicides per 100,000 people.
• India also had the third-highest female suicide rate (14.7) in the world.

Suicide was decriminalised in India in 2017, but Section 309 of the Indian Penal Code still stays. 

Who can be booked under Section 309 IPC? What punishment does it carry?

Anyone who survives an attempted suicide can be booked under Section 309 IPC, which deals with “Attempt to commit suicide”.

The law, brought in by the British in the 19th century, reflected the thinking of the time, when killing or attempting to kill oneself was considered a crime against the state, as well as against religion.

Was it repealed?

No. The section continues to remain in the IPC.

What has happened though, is that The Mental Healthcare Act (MHCA), 2017, which came into force in July 2018, has significantly reduced the scope for the use of Section 309 IPC — and made the attempt to commit suicide punishable only as an exception.

1. Section 115(1) of The MHCA says: “Notwithstanding anything contained in section 309 of the Indian Penal Code any person who attempts to commit suicide shall be presumed, unless proved otherwise, to have severe stress and shall not be tried and punished under the said Code.”

Role and responsibility of the government:

Section 115(2) says that “The appropriate Government shall have a duty to provide care, treatment and rehabilitation to a person, having severe stress and who attempted to commit suicide, to reduce the risk of recurrence of attempt to commit suicide.”

Concerns and issues associated with this section:

1. Use of this Section can potentially deprive a victim of treatment in the golden hour, as hospitals wait for a go-ahead from police in what would be seen as a “medico-legal case”.
2. It is possible that unscrupulous hospital authorities may misuse this situation and charge extra to “hush up” the case by not informing the police; similar extortion is possible on the part of corrupt police personnel as well.
3. All of this is in addition to the trauma and harassment that an already severely distressed individual and people around him/her would likely be going through.

Arguments in favour of Section 309: why it should be retained?

There are occasions when people show up at government offices and threaten to kill themselves if their demands are not met. It is in these cases, where police suspect that the person does not intend to commit suicide but is using the threat as a way to unfairly pressure or blackmail the system. And during such instances this section need to be used.

If 309 is repealed, there will be no provision to take action against those who intend to create trouble of this sort.

Need of the hour:

Section 309 IPC can be redefined in such a manner where it can still be leveraged in law and order situations, and not be used against those who are suffering from genuine mental health issues.

Observations made by the Supreme Court and Law Commissions:

In ‘Gian Kaur vs State of Punjab’, 1996, a Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court upheld the constitutional validity of Section 309.

In 1971, the Law Commission in its 42nd Report recommended the repeal of Section 309 IPC. The IPC (Amendment) Bill, 1978, was even passed by Rajya Sabha, but before it could be passed by Lok Sabha, Parliament was dissolved, and the Bill lapsed.

In 2008, the Law Commission in its 210th Report, said that an attempt to suicide needed medical and psychiatric care, and not punishment.

In March 2011, the Supreme Court too recommended to Parliament that it should consider the feasibility of deleting the section.

Quote:

Sociologist Emile Durkheim had famously hypothesised that ‘suicides are a result of not just psychological or emotional factors but social factors as well’.

What is victory day?

Russia, on June 24^th, celebrated 75^th Victory Day, with a military parade that was meant to be held on 9 May (Postponed because of COVID pandemic).

What is Victory Day?

Victory Day marks the end of World War II and the victory of the Allied Forces in 1945.

Adolf Hitler had shot himself on April 30. On May 7, German troops surrendered, which was formally accepted the next day, and came into effect on May 9.

In most European countries, it is celebrated on May 8, and is called the Victory in Europe Day.

Why does Russia not celebrate Victory Day on the same date?

This is because the instrument of surrender signed on May 7 stipulated that all hostilities would cease at 23:01 Berlin Time on May 8 and, as time in Moscow was an hour ahead, this would push the ceasefire into May 9.

1. An initial document was signed in Reims, France on May 7.
2. But, Russia argued that some German troops considered the Reims instrument a surrender to the Western allies only and that fighting continued in eastern Europe, especially in Prague.
3. Therefore, Soviet Union demanded another signing.
4. A second surrender ceremony then took place in a manor on the outskirts of Berlin late on May 8, when it was already May 9 in Moscow.
5. Both texts stipulated that forces under German control were to cease operations at 11:01pm Berlin Time.

Therefore, in the eyes of the Soviet Union, the head of Germany’s armed forces surrendered personally to Joseph Stalin’s representative on May 9 and the instrument of surrender was signed in the early hours of that day.

Is the June 24 date particularly significant?

The celebrations this year were pushed to June because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Nevertheless, June 24^th is also significant for Russia.

• After winning the war and having its own Victory Day on May 9, Stalin wanted to commemorate the victory with a military parade On June 24, 1945 in commemoration of the victory over Germany in the Great Patriotic War.
• Hence the first Victory Day Parade took place on June 24 in Moscow.
• However, since then, the Victory Day Parades have taken place on May 9.

Who was Chaolung Sukapha?

Why in News?

Assam Chief Minister has ordered the arrest of a Kolkata-based political commentator, Garga Chatterjee, who had described Chaolung Sukapha as a “Chinese invader”.

About Sukapha:

• He was a 13th-century ruler who founded the Ahom kingdom that ruled Assam for six centuries. Contemporary scholars trace his roots to Burma.
• He is widely referred to as the architect of “Bor Asom” or “greater Assam”.
• Sukapha is said to have left a place called Maulung in AD 1215 with eight nobles and 9,000 men, women and children — mostly men.
• It was in Charaideo that Sukapha established his first small principality, sowing the seeds of further expansion of the Ahom kingdom.
• The founders of the Ahom kingdom had their own language and followed their own religion. Over the centuries, the Ahoms accepted the Hindu religion and the Assamese language.
• To commemorate Sukapha and his rule, Assam celebrates “Asom Divas” on December 2 every year.

Commission to Examine Sub Categorization of other Backward Classes

Cabinet approves Extension of term of the commission constituted under Article 340 of the constitution to examine the issue of Sub-categorization within other Backward Classes in the Central List.

What is Article 340?

Article 340 of the Indian Constitution lays down conditions for the appointment of a Commission to investigate the conditions of the backward classes. The President may by order appoint a Commission consisting of such persons as he thinks fit to investigate the conditions of socially and educationally backward classes within the territory of India.

Constitutional basis:

Article 14 of the Constitution guarantees equality before the law. That means un-equals cannot be treated equally. Measures are required to be taken for the upliftment of un-equals to bring them on par with the advanced classes.

Article 16 (4) provides that the State can make any provision for the reservation of appointments or posts in favour of any backward class of citizens who, in the opinion of the state, are not adequately represented in the services under the State.

Sub- categorisation:

National Commission for Backward Classes (NCBC) proposed the sub-categorisation of Other Backward Classes (OBCs) back in 2015.

In October 2017, President Ram Nath Kovind, in exercise of the powers conferred by Article 340 of the Constitution, appointed a commission to examine the issue of sub-categorisation of OBCs, chaired by retired Justice G. Rohini, to ensure social justice in an efficient manner by prioritising the Extremely Backward Classes (EBCs).

Need for sub- categorization:

Sub categorization of the OBCs will ensure that the more backward among the OBC communities can also access the benefits of reservation for educational institutions and government jobs.

At present, there is no sub-categorisation and 27% reservation is a monolithic entity.

Analysis:

This decision speaks to the long years of failure in effectively preventing large sections of the creamy layer from taking advantage of the quota system to the detriment of the poorer sections among their own caste groups.

In effect, the Union government is now seeking to ensure a more equitable distribution of reservation benefits by further differentiating caste groups coming under backward classes on the basis of their levels of social and economic backwardness.

Pakistan to remain on FATF grey list

Pakistan is likely to remain on the grey list of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) for failing to comply with the global terrorist financing watchdog’s deadline to prosecute and penalise terrorist financing in the country.

What’s the issue?

At an FATF meeting in February, Islamabad had been told that ‘all deadlines’ had expired and if they didn’t prosecute and penalise terrorist financing by June, the watchdog would take action.

At the Paris plenary too, the FATF had expressed serious concerns over Pakistan’s failure to complete its 27-point action plan in line with the agreed timelines – which ended in September 2019.

Implications:

• With Pakistan’s continuation in the ‘Grey List’, it will be difficult for the country to get financial aid from the IMF, the World Bank, the ADB and the European Union.
• This will further enhance problems for the nation which is in a precarious economic situation.
• Also, there is every possibility that the global body may put the country in the ‘Black List’.

About FATF:

It is an inter- governmental body established in 1989 on the initiative of the G7.

Its Secretariat is located at the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) headquarters in Paris.

Member Countries: There are 39 member of FATF, representing most financial centres around the world. This includes 2 regional organisations- GCC and EC. The FATF Plenary is the decision making body of the FATF. It meets three times per year.

What is blacklist and grey list?

Black List: Countries known as Non-Cooperative Countries or Territories (NCCTs) are put in the blacklist. These countries support terror funding and money laundering activities. The FATF revises the blacklist regularly, adding or deleting entries.

Grey List: Countries that are considered safe haven for supporting terror funding and money laundering are put in the FATF grey list. This inclusion serves as a warning to the country that it may enter the blacklist.

Trump suspends H-1B visas till year-end

USA has decided to extend the 60-day ban on immigrant and non-immigrant worker visas till the end of 2020.

The ban is effective immediately so the processing of all new H-1B, H-2B, J and L visa categories stands suspended.

• H-1B, H-2B, J and L visa holders, and their spouses or children already present in the US shall not be impacted by the new worker visa ban.

What are H-1B, H-2B, L and other work visas?

In order to fill a vacuum of highly-skilled low-cost employees in IT and other related domains, the US administration issues a certain number of visas each year which allows companies from outside the US to send employees to work on client sites.

1. H-1B:Person is Specialty Occupation: To work in a specialty occupation. Requires a higher education degree of its equivalent.
2. L1 visas allows companies to transfer highly skilled workers to US for a period of up to seven years.
3. H-2B visas allow food and agricultural workers to seek employment in the US.
4. J-1 Visas: It is for students on work-study summer programmes.

Why this order was issued?

To protect American jobs during the ongoing pandemic. The entry of additional workers through the H-1B, H-2B, J, and L non-immigrant visa programmes presents a significant threat to employment opportunities for domestic workers by undercutting their jobs.

How does it impact Indian IT companies?

Indian IT companies are amongst the biggest beneficiaries of the US H-1B visa regime, and have since the 1990s cornered a lion’s share of the total number of visas issued each year.

• Indians had applied for as many as 1.84 lakh or 67 per cent of the total H-1B work visas for the current financial year ending March 2021.

The executive order has also made sweeping changes to the H-1B work visa norms, which will no longer be decided by the currently prevalent lottery system.

• The new norms will now favour highly-skilled workers who are paid the highest wages by their respective companies.
• This could result in a significant impact on margins and worker wages of Indian IT companies which send thousands of low-cost employees to work on client sites in the US.

Criticisms and concerns:

This order has been criticised by the tech industry as well as politicians on both sides of the aisle as damaging to the U.S. economy.

• Critics say, this order has the potential to do permanent damage to the USA’s reputation of attracting the best and the brightest.
• The ban on issuing visas will harm employers, families, universities, hospitals, communities and delay America’s economic recovery.
• Without highly skilled immigrants, the industry will slow down and the economy will worsen affecting the timeline for a treatment and cure of Covid-19 as well.

Indian National Space Promotion and Authorization Centre

Overview:

• Created to provide private players to use Indian space infrastructure.
• Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) will remain the basic body that decides what missions are to be undertaken but this new body will help fill the gaps.
• With this, Private companies will be provided level playing field in satellites, launches and space-based services.
• Future projects for planetary exploration, outer space travel will be open for the private sector.

Significance and expected outcomes:

India is among a handful of countries with advanced capabilities in the space sector.

• With these reforms, the sector will receive new energy and dynamism, to help the country leapfrog to the next stages of space activities.
• This will not only result in an accelerated growth of this sector but will enable Indian Industry to be an important player in global space economy.
• With this, there is an opportunity for large-scale employment in the technology sector and India becoming a Global technology powerhouse.
• Allow ISRO to focus more on research and development activities, new technologies, exploration missions and human spaceflight programme.

Pune NGO aims to revive spirit of ‘Lal-Bal-Pal’

In a bid to revive the Independence-era spirit of the ‘Lal-Bal-Pal’, named after nationalists Lala Lajpat Rai, ‘Lokmanya’ Bal Gangadhar Tilak and Bipin Chandra Pal, and to mark the death centenary of Tilak, Pune-based non-governmental organisation (NGO) ‘Sarhad’ will launch a series of literary and cultural programmes to strengthen connections between Maharashtra and West Bengal.

Rationale behind the event:

Punjab, Bengal and Maharashtra have played significant roles during the struggle for Indian Independence. The historical association and cultural bonds among the three States was solidified in the modern era by the trinity of ‘Lal-Bal-Pal’.

After Independence, while the socio-cultural bonds between Maharashtra and Punjab have grown stronger, Maharashtra’s ties with Bengal have somewhat weakened, despite a rich pedigree of literary and cultural affinity in the past.

Highlights:

• It will be a two-year-long event and is named ‘Maharashtra-Bengal friendship chapter’.
• It is envisioned as a people’s cultural revivalist movement in these two States.
• It will commence on Tilak’s death centenary (August 1, 1920-August 1, 2020) and will go on till August 15, 2022 to mark the 150th birth anniversary of the great philosopher, Sri Aurobindo Ghosh.

Brief overview of contributions made by Lal- Bal- Pal:

• The triumvirate had played a stellar role in the second phase of the Swadeshi movement which gathered momentum after the partition of Bengal by Lord Curzon in 1905, and which called for the boycott of all imported items and the use of Indian-made goods.
• Lal-Bal-Pal mobilized Indians across the country against the Bengal partition, and the demonstrations, strikes and boycotts of British goods that began in Bengal soon spread to other regions in a broader protest against the Raj.
• The nationalist movement gradually faded with the arrest of its main leader Bal Gangadhar Tilakand retirement of Bipin Chandra Pal and Aurobindo Ghosh from active politics.

Some facts:

1. In 1895, Lal started the Punjab National Bank—the first Indian bank to begin solely with Indian capital, and that continues to function till date.
2. In 1917, Lal founded the Indian Home Rule League of America there.
3. In 1884, Tilak founded the Deccan Education Society in Pune, and under the banner, opened the New English School for primary studies and Fergusson College for higher education.
4. Bipin Chandra Pal was of a strong opinion that a mass reliance on Swadeshi goods would help people get rid of their poverty.

Kala Azar

The only drug available against leishmaniasis, miltefosine, is rapidly losing its effectiveness because of emerging resistance to this drug due to a decrease in its accumulation inside the parasite, which is necessary for the drug to kill the parasite.

• So, a team of researchers had been exploring ways to tackle miltefosine resistance. This team has now shown allosteric modulation of transporter proteins of Leishmania using computationally-designed synthetic peptides.
• These promising research outcomes indicate that this approach could prove useful in the long run to develop novel therapeutics against drug-resistant Leishmania parasites.

Kala-azar:

What is it? Visceral leishmaniasis (VL), also known as kala-azar, black fever, and Dumdum fever, is the most severe form of leishmaniasis and, without proper diagnosis and treatment, is associated with high fatality.

Spread: Caused by protozoan parasites of the Leishmania genus, migrates to the internal organs such as the liver, spleen (hence “visceral”), and bone marrow.

Signs and symptoms include fever, weight loss, fatigue, anemia, and substantial swelling of the liver and spleen.

Additional facts:

Leishmaniasis is a neglected tropical disease affecting almost 100 countries including India.

It is caused by a parasite called Leishmania, which is transmitted through the bite of sand flies.

There are three main forms of leishmaniasis – visceral, which affects multiple organs and is the most serious form of the disease, cutaneous, which causes skin sores and is the most common form); and mucocutaneous, which causes skin and mucosal lesion).

International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking 2020

Observed on 26 June.

Theme: “Better Knowledge for Better Care”.

Why June 26^th?

The date June 26 is to commemorate Lin Zexu’s dismantling of the opium trade in Humen, Guangdong, ending in June 25 1839, just before the First Opium War in China.

On this occasion, UNODC World Drug Report 2020 was also released.

Highlights:

• Around 269 million people used drugs worldwide in 2018, which is 30 per cent more than in 2009.
• Over 35 million people suffer from drug use disorders.
• Rising unemployment and reduced opportunities caused by the pandemic are also likely to disproportionately affect the poorest, making them more vulnerable to drug use and also to drug trafficking and cultivation in order to earn money.
• Most used substance in 2018: Cannabis. Cannabis also remains the main drug that brings people into contact with the criminal justice system.
• Most harmful: Opioids.
• Who use them? Adolescents and young adults account for the largest share of those using drugs, while young people are also the most vulnerable to the effects of drugs because they use the most and their brains are still developing.
• Low-income countries still suffer a critical shortage of pharmaceutical opioids for pain management and palliative care.

Indian Government has taken several policy and other initiatives to deal with drug trafficking problem:

• It constituted Narco-Coordination Centre (NCORD) in November, 2016 and revived the scheme of “Financial Assistance to States for Narcotics Control”.
• In 2017, the government approved new Reward Guidelines with increased quantum of reward for interdiction or seizure of different illicit drugs.
• Narcotics Control Bureau has been provided funds for developing a new software i.e. Seizure Information Management System (SIMS)which will create a complete online database of drug offences and offenders.
• The government has constituted a fund called “National Fund for Control of Drug Abuse” to meet the expenditure incurred in connection with combating illicit traffic in Narcotic Drugs; rehabilitating addicts, and educating public against drug abuse, etc.
• The government is also conducting National Drug Abuse Survey to measure trends of drug abuse in India through Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment with the help of National Drug Dependence Treatment Centre of AIIMS.

Urban, multi-State cooperative banks to come under RBI supervision

To ensure that depositors are protected, the Centre has decided to bring all urban and multi-State cooperative banks under the direct supervision of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). The Union Cabinet has approved an ordinance to this effect.

How were these banks regulated so far?

Currently, these banks come under dual regulation of the RBI and the Registrar of Co-operative Societies. 

• The role of registrar of cooperative societies includes incorporation, registration, management, audit, supersession of board and liquidation.
• RBI is responsible for regulatory functions such maintaining cash reserve and capital adequacy, among others.

Co-operative banks are registered under the States Cooperative Societies Act. They come under the regulatory ambit of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) under two laws, namely, the Banking Regulations Act, 1949, and the Banking Laws (Co-operative Societies) Act, 1955.

What necessitated this?

This comes after several instances of fraud and serious financial irregularities, including the major scam at the Punjab and Maharashtra Co-operative (PMC) Bank last year.

In September, the RBI was forced to supercede the PMC Bank’s board and impose strict restrictions.

Implications of the latest move:

Empower the RBI to regulate all urban and multi-state co-operative banks on the lines of commercial banks. 

It will also provide more security to depositors.

• There are 1482 urban co-operatives banks and 58 multi-state co-operative banks.
• These banks have a depositor base of 8.6 crores, who have saved a huge amount of Rs. 4.84 lakh crore with these banks.

Decarbonizing Transport Project

NITI Aayog and the International Transport Forum (ITF) of OECD jointly launched the ‘Decarbonizing Transport in Emerging Economies’ (DTEE) project in India on 24June.

About the project:

The ambitious five-year project will help India develop a pathway towards a low-carbon transport system through the development of modelling tools and policy scenarios.

• The project will design a tailor-made transport emissions assessment framework for India.
• The India project is carried out in the wider context of the International Transport Forum’s Decarbonizing Transport initiative.

Decarbonising Transport in Emerging Economies (DTEE):

It supports transport decarbonisation across different world regions.

Current participants: India, Argentina, Azerbaijan, and Morocco.

Implementation: The DTEE is collaboration between the International Transport Forum (ITF) and the Wuppertal Institute, supported by the International Climate Initiative (IKI) of the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety.

How this will help India?

The transport sector of India is the third most greenhouse gas (GHG) emitting sector, where the major contribution comes from the road transport sector.

Out of the total carbon dioxide emissions in India, 13% come from the transport sector. These emissions have more than tripled since 1990.

In India, CO2 emitted per inhabitant was just about a twentieth of that of an average OECD country, yet, India’s transport CO2 emissions are likely to increase by almost 6% annually to 2030.

This project will provide the government with a detailed understanding of current and future transport activity and the related CO2 emissions as a basis for their decision-making.

International Transport Forum (ITF):

It was created in 2006 by ministers from 43 countries.

It is an intergovernmental organisation within the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) with 60 member countries.

It acts as a think tank for transport policy and organises the Annual Summit of transport ministers.

ITF is the only global body that covers all transport modes.

The ITF is administratively integrated with the OECD, yet politically autonomous.

It is headquartered in Paris, France.

Ozone pollution spiked in several cities during lockdown

According to an analysis by the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), while particulate matter and nitrous oxide levels fell during the lockdown, ozone — also a harmful pollutant — increased in several cities.

Factors responsible for tropospheric ozone pollution:

Ozone is primarily a sunny weather problem in India that otherwise remains highly variable during the year.

The surge is because of few characteristics of summer pollution. These include: high winds, intermittent rains and thunderstorms, and high temperature and heat waves.

What is Ozone?

Ozone (O3) is a colourless, reactive oxidant gas that is a major constituent of atmospheric smog.

How Tropospheric, or ground level ozone is formed?

Ozone is not directly emitted by any source but is formed by photochemical reactions between oxides of nitrogen (NOx) and other volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and gases in the air under the influence of sunlight and heat.

This happens when pollutants emitted by cars, power plants, industrial boilers, refineries, chemical plants, and other sources chemically react in the presence of sunlight.

Concerns:

Ozone at ground level is a harmful air pollutant, because of its effects on people and the environment, and it is the main ingredient in “smog.”

Elevated ground-level ozone exposures affect agricultural crops and trees, especially slow growing crops and long-lived trees.

The pandemic imposes a steep learning curve

Context:

Across the world, education has been drastically affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

• Most instruction has moved online.
• Higher education has gone digital where possible.

Efforts by Indian government:

Online higher education using MOOCs, or massive open online classrooms, has been encouraged by the Ministry of Human Resource Development for some time now via the National Programme on Technology Enhanced Learning (NPTEL) and SWAYAM platforms. 

But in India’s case, educationists and policy makers advise caution on Online education. Why?

• Because of contrast in rural versus urban infrastructure, the variable quality of staff, and the diverse types of subjects that are taught.
• Courses that traditionally need a laboratory or practical component are an obvious example where online classes cannot offer an alternative.
• The adoption or integration of technology in education also depends on the specific institution and its location: there is a huge digital divide in the country in terms of bandwidth and reliable connectivity, as well as very unequal access to funding.
• There can been a serious impact on academic research in all disciplines. There is need for close personal interaction and discussion in research supervision.
• Not all students have equal access to the Internet, and more than half in any class in any institution are simply not able to attend lectures in real time for want of the required combination of hardware and electrical connectivity in their homes.
• Many online classes are poorly executed video versions of regular classroom lectures. Across the board, teachers recognise this as unsatisfactory.

How can it be improved?

• This is a chance to re-imagine higher education in India. For long this has been elitist and exclusionary; education has been less about learning and more about acquiring degrees. The pandemic can change that if we let it. Some ways include:
• Gandhiji’s “Nai Talim” put a high premium on self study and experiential learning, for instance.
• Digital tools such as artificial intelligence (AI) can be adapted to deliver personalised instruction based on the learning needs for each student.
• Pedagogic material must be made available in our other national languages; this will extend access, and can help overcome staff shortages that plague remote institutions.
• The state will have to bear much of the responsibility, both to improve digital infrastructure and to ensure that every needy student has access to a laptop or smartphone.

U.N.-75 declaration delayed

What’s the issue?

Commemorative declaration marking the 75th anniversary of the signing of the U.N. Charter has been delayed.

Why?

Member states could not reach an agreement on phraseology. They have objected to the use of a phrase “shared vision of a common future”.

Because, the phrase, “community with a shared future for mankind” is closely associated with the Chinese Communist Party (CPC) and especially Chinese President Xi Jinping as an articulation of the country’s vision for the world.

Who is opposing?

The Five Eyes — the U.S., the U.K., Australia, New Zealand and Canada — along with India, have objected.

The current impasse comes at a time when China’s relationships with a number of democracies, including India, Australia and the U.S., are strained.

Silence process:

With this objection, the ‘silence’ process (a procedure by which a resolution passes if no formal objections are raised within a stipulated time) has been broken.

However, China, on behalf of itself and Russia, Syria and Pakistan raised objections to the silence being broken.

What the countries demand?

The objecting countries wanted the resolution to read, “We will work together with partners to strengthen coordination and global governance for the common good of present and future generations and to realize our shared vision for a better future as envisaged in the preamble of the UN Charter.”

75^th anniversary of the signing of the UN Charter:

The Charter was signed in San Francisco on June 26, 1945 and came into force on October 24, 1945.

It is the foundational treaty of the United Nations.

Objectives: Conceived above all as a means to save future generations from the scourge of war, the Charter calls for the organization to maintain international peace and security; promote social progress and better standards of life; strengthen international law; and promote human rights.

As a charter, it is a constituent treaty, and all members are bound by its articles. Article 103 of the Charter states that obligations to the United Nations prevail over all other treaty obligations.

What is Five Eyes?

It is an intelligence alliance comprising Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States. These countries are parties to the multilateral UKUSA Agreement, a treaty for joint cooperation in signals intelligence.

Origins: It began in 1946 when the United States and the United Kingdom agreed to an open exchange of intelligence on the communications of foreign nations. It was expanded when Canada joined the alliance in 1948, followed by Australia and New Zealand in 1956.

ASEAN states warn of U.S. China Sea tensions

What’s the issue?

China has been pushing its presence in the Exclusive Economic Zones of other countries while claimants are preoccupied tackling the COVID-19 pandemic, prompting the United States to call on China to stop its “bullying behaviour” there.

• In April, Beijing unilaterally declared the creation of new administrative districts on islands in the troubled waterways to which Vietnam and the Philippines also have competing claims.
• In early April, Vietnam said one of its fishing boats was sunk by a Chinese maritime surveillance vessel.
• In January, Chinese boat trespassed into Indonesia’s exclusive economic zoneoff the coast of the northern islands of Natuna.

Because of these incidents, Vietnam and the Philippines have warned of growing insecurity in Southeast Asia.

Besides, the oft mentioned Nine-Dash line that China uses as a basis for its claims in the waters is once again at odds with Indonesia’s claim that the line lacks an international legal basis.

Main Concern now:

One of the fundamental principles of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has been to resolve regional disputes by peaceful means. But over the years, the position of ASEAN on the South China Sea disputes has weakened its image internationally and failing to resolve this issue would lead to questions being raised about its credibility as an effective regional organization.

About the dispute:

It is a dispute over territory and sovereignty over ocean areas, and the Paracels and the Spratlys – two island chains claimed in whole or in part by a number of countries.

Alongside the fully fledged islands, there are dozens of rocky outcrops, atolls, sandbanks and reefs, such as the Scarborough Shoal.

Who Claims What?

1. China:

claims by far the largest portion of territory – an area defined by the “nine-dash line” which stretches hundreds of miles south and east from its most southerly province of Hainan.

2. Vietnam:

hotly disputes China’s historical account, saying China had never claimed sovereignty over the islands before the 1940s. Vietnam says it has actively ruled over both the Paracels and the Spratlys since the 17th Century – and has the documents to prove it.

3. Philippines:

both the Philippines and China lay claim to the Scarborough Shoal (known as Huangyan Island in China) – a little more than 100 miles (160km) from the Philippines and 500 miles from China.

4. Malaysia and Brunei:

They lay claim to territory in the South China Sea that they say falls within their economic exclusion zones, as defined by UNCLOS – the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. Brunei does not claim any of the disputed islands, but Malaysia claims a small number of islands in the Spratlys

Draft EIA notification

Why in News?

Student unions from several universities and colleges from across India have petitioned Union Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar to put the draft of the proposed Environment Impact Assessment Notification 2020 on hold.

Background:

Environment Impact Assessment in India is statutorily backed by the Environment Protection Act, 1986 which contains various provisions on EIA methodology and process.

The draft notification is issued under the powers vested in the central government under the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 to take all such measures for “protecting and improving the quality of the environment.

The key points of dispute with the proposed draft are that:

1. It shortens the period of public consultation hearings to a maximum of 40 days.
2. It reduces from 30 to 20 days the time provided for the public to submit their responses during a public hearing for any application seeking environmental clearance.
3. It also allows the declaration of some areas as “economically sensitive areas” without a public hearing or environmental clearance, and several “red” and “orange”-classified toxic industries could now operate as close as 0-5 km from a Protected Area in “callous disregard” for forests.
4. The increased validity of the environment clearances for mining projects (50 years versus 30 years currently) and river valley projects (15 years versus 10 years currently) raises the risk of irreversible environmental, social and health consequences on account of the project remaining unnoticed for long.

What is EIA?

EIA is an important process for evaluating the likely environmental impact of a proposed project. It is a process whereby people’s views are taken into consideration for granting final approval to any developmental project or activity. It is basically, a decision-making tool to decide whether the project should be approved or not.

The EIA process involves:

Screening: this stage decides which projects need a full or partial assessment study.

Scoping: this stage decides which impacts are necessary to be assessed. This is done based on legal requirements, international conventions, expert knowledge and public engagement. This stage also finds out alternate solutions.

Assessment & evaluation of impacts and development of alternatives: this stage predicts and identifies the environmental impacts of the proposed project and also elaborates on the alternatives.

EIA Report: in this reporting stage, an environmental management plan (EMP) and also a non-technical summary of the project’s impact is prepared for the general public. This report is also called the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS).

Decision making: the decision on whether the project is to be given approval or not and if it is to be given, under what conditions.

Monitoring, compliance, enforcement and environmental auditing: monitoring whether the predicted impacts and the mitigation efforts happen as per the EMP.

Getting out of the ‘guns, germs and steel’ crisis

India is said to be going through the ‘guns, germs and steel’ crisis.

(The name is borrowed from the title of Jared Diamond’s classic book on the evolution of societies and nations, Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies).

What it represents?

1. Chinese “guns” on the borders.
2. Coronavirus “germs” in our bodies.
3. “Steel” makers and other businesses on the verge of bankruptcy.

Why this is worrisome for India?

This is the gravest confluence of military, health and economic crises threatening our nation in more than a generation.

Each of these would qualify as an independent, large crisis by itself, warranting a specific resolution.

1. The Chinese military threat calls for immediate and strategic action by our defence and foreign affairs establishments.
2. The COVID-19 health epidemic is here to stay and needs constant monitoring by the Health Ministry and local administration.
3. The economic collapse is an enormous challenge that needs to be overcome with prudent policy.

Need of the hour:

The common thread across these is that its resolution requires significant financial resources.

Standing up to a military threat by a superpower neighbour will pose an inevitable drain on the finances of the government (Kargil war has proven this).

To face the COVID-19 epidemic, the central government will need additional funds of the equivalent of at least one percentage point of GDP to continue the fight against COVID-19.

The lockdown has affected all the four major drivers of our economy- people’s spending on consumption, government spending, investment and external trade.

What needs to be done now?

The government needs to spend an additional eight percentage points of GDP while revenues will be lower by two percentage points of GDP, a combined gap of 10% of GDP.

Potential new sources of revenue such as a wealth tax or a large capital gains tax are ideas worth exploring for the medium term but will not be of much immediate help.

This will pose a new challenge- junk crisis:

To fulfil its obligation, the government needs is to borrow copiously.

This will lead to a fourth dimension to the “guns, germs and steel crisis”; a “junk” crisis. 

With rising debt levels, international ratings agencies will likely downgrade India’s investment rating to “junk”, which will then trigger panic among foreign investors.

Conclusion:

India thus faces a tough “Dasharatha” dilemma — save the country’s borders, citizens and economy or prevent a “junk” rating.

The government’s choices are either to be bold and embark on a rescue mission, or do nothing and hope the situation resolves itself.

On balance, it seems that the best course of action is to borrow unabashedly to pull India out of the “guns, germs and steel” crisis and deal with the consequences of a potential “junk” nation label.

WMO findings on lightning strikes

Highlights:

1. Brazil recorded a lightning strike that travelled a distance of 709 kilometres in 2018.
2. The previous record for the longest detected distance for a single lightning flash was for 321 km on June 20, 2007, across the US state of Oklahoma.
3. Brazil has the highest incidence of lightning in the world — an average of 77.8 million strikes per year.
4. Argentina recorded a strike that lasted for 16.73 seconds in 2019.
5. The previous record was a single lightning flash that lasted continuously for 7.74 seconds on August 30, 2012 over Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur, France.
6. The lightning flashes that have now entered the record books are known as ‘Megaflashes’ in scientific parlance.

Lightning strikes in India:

1. Bihar is second after Uttar Pradesh with the maximum number of deaths due to lightning.
2. At least 170 people died in Bihar due to lightning in 2019 between April 1 and July 31.
3. The number of lightning days across India have been increasing significantly every month.
4. Lightning strikes kill more people in India than any other extreme weather event.

What is lightning?

It is a very rapid — and massive — discharge of electricity in the atmosphere, some of which is directed towards the Earth’s surface.

These discharges are generated in giant moisture-bearing clouds that are 10-12 km tall.

How does it strike?

1. The base of these clouds typically lies within 1-2 km of the Earth’s surface, while their top is 12-13 km away. Temperatures towards the top of these clouds are in the range of minus 35 to minus 45 degrees Celsius.
2. As water vapour moves upward in the cloud, the falling temperature causes it to condense.Heat is generated in the process, which pushes the molecules of water further up.
3. As they move to temperatures below zero degrees celsius, the water droplets change into small ice crystals. They continue to move up, gathering mass — until they are so heavy that they start to fall to Earth.
4. This leads to a system in which, simultaneously, smaller ice crystals are moving up and bigger crystals are coming down.
5. Collisions follow, and trigger the release of electrons — a process that is very similar to the generation of sparks of electricity. As the moving free electrons cause more collisions and more electrons, a chain reaction ensues.
6. This process results in a situation in which the top layer of the cloud gets positively charged, while the middle layer is negatively charged. The electrical potential difference between the two layers is huge — of the order of a billion to 10 billion volts. In very little time, a massive current, of the order of 100,000 to a million amperes, starts to flow between the layers.
7. An enormous amount of heat is produced, and this leads to the heating of the air column between the two layers of the cloud. This heat gives the air column a reddish appearance during lightning. As the heated air column expands, it produces shock waves that result in thunder.

How does this current reach the Earth from the cloud?

1. While the Earth is a good conductor of electricity,it is electrically neutral. However, in comparison to the middle layer of the cloud, it becomes positively charged. As a result, about 15%-20% of the current gets directed towards the Earth as well. It is this flow of current that results in damage to life and property on Earth.
2. There is a greater probability of lightning striking tall objectssuch as trees, towers or buildings. Once it is about 80-100 m from the surface, lightning tends to change course towards these taller objects. This happens because air is a poor conductor of electricity, and electrons that are travelling through air seek both a better conductor and the shortest route to the relatively positively charged Earth’s surface.

In border claims, reimagining South Asia’s boundaries

(Before understanding this article, you need to know the following:

• State-centrism has given the state structure the propriety to be the sole arbiter of disputes, if any, among communities and regions falling within the territorial limits of nation states.
• As per this principle, it is the state that articulates, defines, and represents “national” interests in negotiations with other states.

Now, What’s the issue?

Border disputes, such as Kalapani dispute, are “handled” rather than “addressed” within the given dispensation of South Asian statecraft.

The main problem here is that the decisions flow from within a state-centric paradigm.

• People living in the disputed regions and their emotions are not taken into account.
• Often, territorial boundaries are valued more than lives, livelihoods and the well-being of the people located at the edges of nation states.

What we forget is countries here not only share cultural and civilisational backgrounds but also an “officially” recognised porous border.

Need of the hour:

South Asia is perhaps the most natural regional grouping of states around the world. And, at the same time, it is also the most difficult and contested grouping.

South Asia needs to be rethought, not as a region of states, but as a region of regions.

It is a land where contact zones should exist beyond the limits of territorial boundaries shared by the member-states.

There is a need to go beyond the popular debates revolving around such “troubling” questions such as: how much area has been “encroached” upon by which state and on what basis. 

It is because such questions seem to be troubling to those who are to maintain their lifeworld at those zones.

• In a certain sense, the people living at the edges of nation states within South Asia do not actually belong to any of the two nation states.
• Or in other words, they belong to both the states at the same time.

Plurality, differences and inclusivity bring coherence to borderland ontology; they defy the logic of singular, unifying, exclusive identities that the nation states privilege.

Way ahead:

Both India and Nepal, and for that matter, other South Asian countries need to rethink South Asia as a region of regions before they submit to the enticements of a new language of “regional cooperation” — one that is ontologically empty but materially more rewarding.

Region and regional identity are not just issues of “realpolitik” in South Asia; rather, the need is to “officially” accommodate this rather naturally drafted way of doing politics, if we are genuinely concerned about South Asian geopolitics.

Statistics day

Celebrated on 29^th June every year.

Observed in recognition of the notable contributions made by Late Professor Prasanta Chandra Mahalanobis in the fields of statistics, statistical system and economic planning.

Theme:

This year’s Theme is “SDG- 3 (Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages) & SDG- 5 (Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls)”.

Contribution of PC Mahalanonobis to Statistics (1893 –1972):

1. He is referred to as the chief architect of Indian statistical system as well as father of statistical science in India.
2. He established the Indian Statistical Institute (ISI) in 1931 in Kolkata.
3. The institute founded the journal Sankhya, along the lines of Karl Pearson’s Biometrika.
4. In 1959 it was made an autonomous body of Ministry of Statistics & Programme Implementation.
5. He also helped in the establishment of Central Statistical Organisation (CSO), the National Sample Survey (NSS) and the Annual Survey of Industries (ASI).
   He introduced three key concepts to the theory and practice of sample surveys which are: Pilot surveys, Optimum survey design and Inter Penetrating Network of sub-samples technique (IPNS).
   He also served as the Chairman of the United Nations Sub-Commission on Statistical Sampling.
6. In 1936 he introduced a statistical measure named the Mahalanobis distance.It is widely used in cluster analysis and classification techniques.
   The Mahalanobis model, was employed in the Second Five Year Plan, which worked towards the rapid industrialisation of India.

What is Anthropause?

Also called as the “Great Pause”, it is a term coined by the researchers in the UK.

It refers to the coronavirus-induced lockdown period and its impact on other species.

How curbs imposed during this period led to unusual animal behaviour?

There were pumas sighted in Chile’s Santiago, jackals in the parks of Tel Aviv in Israel, dolphins in the waters of Italy and even a monkey fight on the streets of Thailand.

Why study this period?

As a result of the lockdown, nature appears to have changed, especially in urban environments, since not only are there now more animals, but also some “unexpected visitors.”

On the other hand, there are some animals for whom the lockdown may have made things more challenging.

• For instance, for various urban-dwelling animals, such as rats, gulls and monkeys who depend on food provided or discarded by humans, the lockdown would have made life more difficult.

The researchers believe studying this period will provide valuable insights into the relationship between human-wildlife interactions in the 21st century. 

It might also be useful in preserving global biodiversity, maintaining the integrity of ecosystems and predicting global zoonoses and environmental changes.