Daily Current Affairs - Civil Services - 20-02-2021

Useful compilation of Civil Services oriented - Daily Current Affairs - Civil Services - 20-02-2021

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• SECTION 1 - TEN NEWS HEADLINES

1. World Politics - Facebook mellows down in Australia - The Australian PM Scott Morrison said that Facebook had "tentatively friended us again" and is back at the negotiating table. Earlier, Facebook blocked news on its site in Australia over a proposed law which would require tech giants to pay for news content. However, senior Facebook Asia-Pacific executive Simon Milner apologised for blocking access to health and emergency services pages. FB and Goole are in regulatory crosshairs globally for their business practices, that includes using others' media content without sharing revenue. Indian government is also being urged by media houses to crack down on these Big Tech firms in this particular matter.
2. Science and Technology - First black hole ever detected 50% more massive than thought - Scientists have reported that the black hole in the Cygnus X-1 system, the first black hole ever detected, is 50% more massive than estimated earliaer. They observed the black hole for six days using the Very Long Baseline Array, a network of 10 radio telescopes sited across the US. It is over 20 times the mass of our Sun. The Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA) is a system of ten radio telescopes which are operated remotely from their Array Operations Center located in Socorro, New Mexico, as a part of the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO). A black hole is a place in space where gravity pulls so much that even light can not get out. The gravity is so strong because matter has been squeezed into a tiny space. This can happen when a star is dying. Because no light can get out, people can't see black holes.
3. Defence and Military - Made-in-India HELINA anti-tank missiles launched - The indigenously developed HELINA anti-tank missiles were successfully launched from Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH) Dhruv helicopter in Rajasthan sector during user trials on Friday. DRDO, the missile's developer, has shared a video of the missiles being test-fired from the helicopter. It also stated that the missile system is ready for induction. The HELINA (Helicopter based NAG) is a third generation fire and forget class anti-tank guided missile (ATGM) system mounted on the Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH). A variant of HELINA Weapon System called DHRUVASTRA is being inducted into the Indian Air Force (IAF).
4. Social Issues - Pandemic will force 1.8 cr Indians to switch occupation by 2030 - As many as 1.8 crore Indian workers will be forced to switch to a new occupation by 2030 owing to the lasting impact of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, a report claimed. The long-term effects of the virus may cut low-wage jobs available, which previously served as a safety net for displaced workers, as per the McKinsey Global Institute report. Worldwide, willions of jobs that have been shortchanged or wiped out entirely by the coronavirus pandemic are unlikely to ever come back, economists warn, setting up a massive need for career changes and retraining in the US and elsewhere. The coronavirus pandemic has triggered permanent shifts in how and where people work. Businesses are planning for a future where more people are working from home, traveling less for business, or replacing workers with robots. All of these modifications mean many workers will not be able to do the same job they did before the pandemic, even after much of the U.S. population gets vaccinated against the deadly virus.
5. Governance and Institutions - PM inaugurates key power projects in Kerala - PM Modi inaugurated and laid the foundation stone of major projects of power and urban sector in Kerala. He virtually inaugurated and laid the foundation stones, with the Chief Minister of Kerala Pinarayi Vijayan along with the Union Ministers of the State for Housing and Urban Affairs, and Power and New and Renewable energy also present. He addressed the convocation ceremony of Visva-Bharati through video conferencing. The event was attended by the Union Minister of Education Ramesh Pokhriyal and the Governor of West Bengal and the Rector of Visva Bharati Jagdeep Dhankar. Visva-Bharati is a central research university and an Institution of National Importance located in Santiniketan, West Bengal. It was founded by Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore who called it Visva-Bharati, which means the communion of the world with India. After independence, the institution was given the status of a central university in 1951 by an act of the Parliament.
6. Indian Economy - PM to chair Sixth Governing Council meeting of NITI Aayog - The PM on February 20, 2021 chaired the 6th Governing Council meeting of the NITI Aayog. The meeting included deliberations on agriculture, infrastructure, manufacturing, service delivery, human resource development and health and nutrition. The NITI Aayog is a policy think tank of the Government, established with the aim to achieve sustainable development goals with cooperative federalism. Though it claimed to involve everyone, not all states have been pleased with its working especially in issues of cooperative federalism. The Governing Council of NITI Aayog (National Institution for Transforming India) was constituted on 1 January, 2015, to serve as the think tank of the Government of India, with a Cabinet resolution. NITI is neither a constitutional body nor a statutory body.
7. Environment and Ecology - Hyderabad first as Tree City of the World 2020 - Hyderabad has been recognised as the Tree City of the World 2020 by the Arbor Day Foundation and the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation- FAO. Hyderabad is the first and only Indian city to be acknowledged with this recognition for maintaining and growing the urban forest. To be recognised as a Tree City, a community must meet five core standards that illustrate a commitment to caring for its trees and forest. Our goal is to connect cities around the world in a new network dedicated to sharing and adopting the most successful approaches to managing community trees and forests. These 5 are - (i) STANDARD 1: Establish Responsibility - The city has a written statement by city leaders delegating responsibility for the care of trees within the municipal boundary to a staff member, a city department, or a group of citizens—called a Tree Board; (ii) STANDARD 2: Set the Rules - The city has in place a law or an official policy that governs the management of forests and trees. These rules describe how work must be performed—often citing best practices or industry standards for tree care and worker safety—where and when they apply, and penalties for noncompliance; (iii) STANDARD 3: Know What You Have - The city has an updated inventory or assessment of the local tree resource so that an effective long-term plan for planting, care, and removal of city trees can be established; (iv) STANDARD 4: Allocate the Resources - The city has a dedicated annual budget for the routine implementation of the tree management plan; (v) STANDARD 5: Celebrate Achievements - The city holds an annual celebration of trees to raise awareness among residents and to acknowledge citizens and staff members who carry out the city tree programme.
8. Science and Technology - NASA's Perseverance rover lands on Mars - The Perseverance rover of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) on February 18, 2021 landed successfully at Jezero Crater of Mars, nearly seven months after its takeoff. The Perseverance rover is the fifth rover of NASA to touch down on Mars. The other four rovers are Sojourner, Spirit, Opportunity and Curiosity. During its primary mission, Perseverance will read the geologic history of Jezero and look for any clues about past alien inhabitants. It will also select and cache rock samples that a future rover will fetch and return to Earth sometime within the next decade. Perseverance is a powerful mission, but the small car-sized rover can only carry so many instruments and so much equipment to Mars. Perseverance thus demonstrates why it's important to keep going back to Mars, because part of its mission design is to set the most promising samples aside.
9. Indian Politics - BJP leader caught with drugs - BJP's youth leader Pamela Goswami, who was arrested along with a friend for allegedly possessing 100 grams of cocaine, was a model and has also done small roles in Bengali television serials. She has also reportedly been an air stewardess. She is an observer for Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM) Hooghly district apart from being General Secretary of BJYM Bengal. As per Goswami's social media posts, it is evident that she has been active on the ground recently visiting tribal families and holding/participating in meetings for party members. She attacked many farmers and activists recently, going on to say that "Mia khalifa is hired ISI agent to spoil image of Global leader Narendra Modi Ji. They are not farmers they are terrorists who are trying to divide India, so that China can take over our vulnerable broken nation and make it a Chinese colony".
10. World Economy - Musk and Crypto - Elon Musk has again said that "Having some Bitcoin, which is simply a less dumb form of liquidity than cash, is adventurous enough for an S&P500 company." "When fiat currency has negative real interest, only a fool wouldn't look elsewhere," he added. He was responding to Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao, who said he was surprised Musk is a fan of Dogecoin. Musk, the founder of Tesla and the world’s richest man, has tweeted multiple times about the Shiba Inu-themed cryptocurrency started as a joke in 2013. And Binance has recently added Dogecoin futures on its platform to satisfy new liquidity demand. The optimism over institutional interest, among other factors, has helped Bitcoin surge more than 400% over the past year. Binance exchange is raking in new users at its fastest pace ever as Bitcoin tops $50,000.

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• SECTION 2 - DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS

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• 1. ECONOMY (Prelims, GS Paper 3, Essay paper)

India’s crypto exchanges - The Unocoin case-study 

1. The journey: In 2017, bitcoin (BTC) prices rose sharply, jumping from around $1,000 to nearly $20,000 by the end of the year and Unocoin became India’s second-largest exchange, after Zebpay. Sadly, a series of regulatory measures ended this extraordinary boom. Unocoin is a cryptocurrency exchange that was India’s second-largest player in 2017 and is no stranger to legal The RBI ban on crypto-related payments in 2018 was challenged by it.
2. Crypto ATM not illegal: Other petitioners included the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IMAI). They successfully persuaded the Supreme Court of India to invalidate the RBI ban for infringing on their right to practice their business. They also fought and won a case in the Karnataka High Court for quashing an FIR lodged for opening a ‘crypto ATM’ in a mall in September 2018 while the RBI ban was in effect. The High Court quashed the FIR after a more than two year legal battle.
3. Years of growth: The years 2014-2016 saw steady growth for Unocoin with the company raising two rounds of funding - $250,000 from a cryptocurrency player in 2014 and $1.5 million in 2016 from Blume Ventures and others. The exchange also managed to sign up businesses in India who would accept bitcoin. In 2017 the price of bitcoin exploded and Unocoin's userbase rose from 55,000-60,000 to hit a million and it scaled up its team. Then came regulations!
4. End of one-way boom: RBI advisories stating that bitcoin is not legal tender were followed by Income Tax surveys and finally an RBI ban on crypto-related payments in early 2018. Unocoin stopped processing payments in rupees, restricting itself to crypto-to-crypto transactions. Volumes fell to the equivalent of just ?10-15 lakh per day and the co-founders turned their energy towards overturning the ban in court.
5. SC to the rescue: In March 2020, the pendulum once again swung their way with the Supreme Court quashing the RBI payments ban. Unocoin saw its volumes and users rebound along with other crypto exchanges. The price of bitcoin also rose sharply after dipping in March-April 2020 to cross its previous peak of $20,000 and reach a level of $50,000. The new wave was accompanied by growing acceptance in the West. Paypal enabled users to hold cryptocurrency in their wallets and Tesla announced a $1.5 billion investment in the virtual currency. In August 2020, Unocoin managed to raise another round of funding from Draper Associates for an undisclosed amount. The rest of 2020 was a dream run for BTC.
6. The end is near: But a government bill listed in the Budget 2021 session threatens to outlaw all ‘private cryptocurrencies’ in India. This is far more serious than an RBI circular! The case might go on for months and years. The crypto industry has set up a website (Indiawantsbitcoin.org) to get ordinary crypto investors to write to their MPs supporting the bill, but success looks difficult on an issue that few politicians seem to understand in depth. Most exchanges may simply move to some other jurisdictions.
7. RBI's own digital currency: The government seems on track to launch India's own digital currency. It is hurrying as the pace that China's e-yuan is gathering can create troubles later. So, wait and watch!

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• 2. ENVIRONMENT AND ECOLOGY (Prelims, GS Paper 3, Essay paper

Hyderabad only city recognised as 2020 Tree City of the World

1. A great feat: Hyderabad has been chosen as Tree City of the World for its commitment towards maintaining and growing the urban forest. The Arbor Day Foundation and the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation- FAO has recognised Hyderabad as the 2020 Tree City of the World. The capital of Telangana is the only city of India to be recognised as the Tree City.
2. Urban forests: Hyderabad has been chosen for this recognition for its commitment towards maintaining and growing the urban forest. As per the Telangana Government, with this recognition, Hyderabad has joined a network of like-minded cities, who recognize the significance of trees in building resilient, healthy, and happy cities. The Municipal Administration and Urban Development Department applied for this recognition through an online submission on January 31, 2021.
3. Hyderabad: Tree City of the world: It earned the recognition of the Tree City of the World in the second year of the programme of Arbor Day Foundation. The city has been recognised along with 51 cities of the world (during 2020 and cumulative 120 cities from 63 countries). But Hyderabad is the only city from India to get this recognition so far. The other cities recognised as the Tree City were from the countries- Canada, UK, US, Australia, etc.
4. Global recognition: While congratulating Hyderabad on earning recognition along with 120 cities from 63 countries, the President of Arbor Day Foundation, Dan Lambe mentioned that Hyderabad is a part of a significant global network that leads the way in the community and urban forestry. To celebrate this distinction, Hyderabad will be recognised in a global press release on March 1, 2021.
5. Five standards: To be recognised as a Tree City, a community must meet five core standards that illustrate a commitment to caring for its trees and forest. These 5 are - (i) STANDARD 1: Establish Responsibility - The city has a written statement by city leaders delegating responsibility for the care of trees within the municipal boundary to a staff member, a city department, or a group of citizens—called a Tree Board; (ii) STANDARD 2: Set the Rules - The city has in place a law or an official policy that governs the management of forests and trees. These rules describe how work must be performed—often citing best practices or industry standards for tree care and worker safety—where and when they apply, and penalties for noncompliance; (iii) STANDARD 3: Know What You Have - The city has an updated inventory or assessment of the local tree resource so that an effective long-term plan for planting, care, and removal of city trees can be established; (iv) STANDARD 4: Allocate the Resources - The city has a dedicated annual budget for the routine implementation of the tree management plan; (v) STANDARD 5: Celebrate Achievements - The city holds an annual celebration of trees to raise awareness among residents and to acknowledge citizens and staff members who carry out the city tree programme.

 

Bad air killed 1.2 lakh across 6 Indian cities, cost the $17.7bn

1. Bad numbers: An estimated 1.2 lakh deaths attributed to air pollution have been reported across six big Indian cities in 2020, with the national capital leading the table followed by Mumbai and Bengaluru. Bad air is also estimated to have cost $17.7 billion in economic terms. These are findings in the Greenpeace Southeast Asia analysis of IQAir (a Swiss air quality technology company) data from a live Cost Estimator.
2. Willingness-to-pay: To show the impact of air pollution related deaths on the economy, the approach used by Greenpeace is called “willingness-to-pay”, a lost life year or a year lived with disability is converted to money by the amount that people are willing to pay in order to avoid this negative outcome. Despite a temporary reprieve in air quality owing to the lockdown, the latest figures from the report underscore the need to act immediately. The need of the hour, Greenpeace said, is to rapidly scale up renewable energy, bring an end to fossil fuel emissions and boost sustainable and accessible transport systems.
3. Citywise: Of the 1.19 lakh deaths attributed to air pollution, 54,000 were in Delhi, followed by 25,000 in Mumbai. Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Chennai and Lucknow together lost 40,700 people to bad air. In economic terms too, Delhi topped the table having lost an estimated $8.1 billion, followed by Mumbai and Bengaluru, which lost $3.7 billion and $1.7 billion, respectively. When humans choose fossil fuel over clean energy, human health is put at stake and that polluted air increases likelihood of deaths due to cancer and stroke, spike in asthma attacks and worsens severity of Covid-19 symptoms.
4. The way out: It must be ensured that the growth demand is fueled by sustainable and cleaner sources of energy and cities should promote low cost, active and carbon-neutral transport options that prioritises walking, cycling, and public transport. increased use of clean energy and clean transport will not only improve the public health but it will also strengthen the economy and public money.
5. Knowledge centre: Greenpeace is a global network of independent national and regional Greenpeace organisations (NROs) and Greenpeace International as a coordinating organisation. It uses non-violent creative action to pave the way towards a greener, more peaceful world, and to confront the systems that threaten our environment. For nearly 50 years, Greenpeace has been sailing the world's oceans protecting our planet and fighting for environmental justice.

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• 3. FOREIGN AFFAIRS (Prelims, GS Paper 3, Essay paper)

Maldives-Mauritius: Indian Foreign Minister expands outreach in IOR 

1. IOR and India: Just a few days after hosting the Indian Ocean Region Defence Ministers meet in Bangalore, India's External affairs Minister Dr. S. Jaishankar will undertake visits to Maldives and Mauritius as part of India’s sustained outreach in the Indian Ocean Region notwithstanding pandemic. While Maldives has emerged as a close neighbour in South Asia, Mauritius is an old strategic partner.
2. Agenda: During his visit to the Maldives, Jaishankar will call-on President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih and have substantive discussions with the Ministers for Foreign Affairs, Defence, Finance, Economic Development and Planning & Infrastructure. During his visit to Mauritius, the Minister call on President Pritivirajsing Roopun and Prime Minister Pravind Jagnauth.
3. Partners: Both Maldives and Mauritius are India’s key maritime neighbors in the Indian Ocean Region and occupy a special place in Prime Minister’s vision of ‘SAGAR’ (Security and Growth for All in the Region). The last visit of an Indian Foreign Minister to Mauritius was in August 2018 when then Minister Sushma Swaraj visited Mauritius for the 11th World Hindi Conference.
4. Mauritius case: India is the largest development cooperation partner of Mauritius with focus on people oriented projects. A Special economic package of $353 mn was extended to Mauritius in 2016 as grant assistance for five key infra-projects including the Metro Express project, Social Housing project, Supreme Court Building, ENT Hospital and the E-Tablet project. A GoI supported Line of Credit of USD 500 mn has also been extended to Mauritius in 2017 for various infrastructure projects.
5. Infrastructure projects: In July 2020, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Prime Minister of Mauritius, Mr Pravind Jugnauth jointly e-inaugurated the new Supreme Court building in Mauritius built with India grant assistance. In October 2019, both Prime Ministers had jointly inaugurated the Phase 1 of the landmark Metro Express project. This is the largest infrastructure project being executed by India in Mauritius. Since its inauguration, metro ridership has already crossed more than 3.1 million in last one year (population is only 1.3 million).
6. Defence: India is a partner of preference for Mauritius in meeting its defence requirements and a regular supplier of defence equipment, vessels, aircraft etc. to Mauritius. Mauritius was amongst the largest beneficiaries of India’s Covid related assistance. Under the Mission SAGAR, India supplied 13 tonnes of essential medicines, 5 lakh HCQ tablets and 10 tonnes of Ayurvedic medicines to Mauritius in April-May 2020. A special Medical Assistance Team was also sent to Mauritius to supplement local government’s efforts against Covid-19 pandemic.
7. Oil crisis: In August 2020, as a response to the request of the Government of Mauritius (GoM) for assistance in dealing with the environmental crisis due to oil spill on its south-east Coast, Government of India provided over 30 tonnes of technical equipment and material on board an IAF Aircraft to Mauritius to supplement its ongoing oil spill containment and salvage operations following the grounding of bulk carrier MV Wakashio. A Technical Response Team, consisting of Indian Coast Guard (ICG) personnel specially trained for dealing with oil spill containment measures, was also deployed to Mauritius.
8. Covid response: Under the India’s VaccineMaitri, Mauritius also received 1,00,000 doses of the Covishield vaccine from India on January 22. The PM of Mauritius was personally present at the airport along with his Cabinet Ministers to receive the vaccines. Mass vaccination commenced on 26 January in Mauritius as a symbolic move coinciding with India’s 72nd Republic Day.
9. Policy: ‘India First’ has been the underlying foreign policy approach of the Government of Maldives. President Solih, ever since he assumed office in November 2018, has taken concerted initiatives on this front. This has been in congruence with India’s ‘Neighbourhood First’ policy. India supported the implementation of Greater Male Connectivity Project, the largest civilian infrastructure project in Maldives, connecting Male with three neighbouring islands.

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• 4. GOVERNMENT SCHEMES (Prelims, GS Paper 2, Essay paper)

Texas freeze and collapse of free market mechanism 

• The story of Texas: As the US state of Texas grew, the cult of the free market took control of the state’s government. Electricity is the ultimate standard product, so went the theory. Texas had a self-enclosed grid, cut off from interstate commerce and hence exempt from federal regulations. This was the place to prove the virtues of a competitive, deregulated system. But 2021's cold wave led to the crash of the grid in a horrifying manner.
• How it worked: Under New Deal-style regulations, electric utilities got a rate-of-return on their investment, governed by a utility commission that set and stabilized prices. It was (in principle) enough to cover construction and maintenance and a fair profit, not so much as to amount to monopoly profits; utilities were a stable but dull business.

1. Soon, economists feared that over-investment to extract more could happen, and hence let generating companies compete to deliver power to the consumer through the common electrical grid.
2. Freely chosen contracts would govern the terms and the price. Competition would assure lean-and-mean efficiency and low prices most of the time.
3. The role of the state would be minimal, just to manage the common grid, through which power flows from the producer to the consumer.
4. In times of shortage, prices might rise, but then the market would decide; those who did not wish to pay could always flip their switches off.

• Theory and practice: It was a perfect textbook setup, with supply on one side, demand on the other, and a neutral manager in between. But there were problems. One was that demand for electricity is inelastic - it doesn’t respond much to price, but it does respond to changes in the weather, and at such times, of heat or cold, the demand becomes even more inelastic. Another was that in an ordinary market, there can be some play in the relationship between supply and demand. If even a fishmonger does not sell his catch, he can, at the end of the day, cut his price – or even freeze the haddock for the following day. Electricity isn’t like that. Supply has to exactly equal demand every single minute of every single day. If it doesn’t, the entire system can fail.

• Three problems: This system had three vulnerabilities.

1. First, it created an incentive for cut-throat competition, to provide power in the cheapest possible way, which meant with machinery, wells, meters, pipes, and also windmills that were not insulated against extreme cold (Texas never had cold waves!)
2. Second, it left prices free to fluctuate.
3. Third, it assured that when prices rose the most, that would be at exactly those moments when the demand for power was the greatest.

• The 2011 warning: Texas’s leaders knew as of 2011, when the state went through a short, severe freeze, that the system was radically unstable in extreme weather. But they did nothing, as to do something, they would have had to regulate the system. And they didn’t want to. Providers were campaign funders, after all.
• 2021 shocker: Then came the deep freeze of 2021. Demand shot up, and supply went down. Natural gas froze up at the wells, in the pipes, and at the generating plants. "Unweatherized windmills" also went off-line, a small part of the energy story. Since Texas is disconnected from the rest of USA, no reserves could be imported, and given the cold everywhere, there would have been none available anyway. Soon, demand so outstripped supply that the entire Texas grid came within minutes of a huge collapse.
• Collapse of price mechanis: The price mechanism failed completely. Wholesale prices rose a hundred-fold – but retail prices, under contract, did not, except for the unlucky customers of one provider, who got hit with bills for thousands of dollars each day. ERCOT (the regulator) was therefore forced to cut power, which might have been tolerable, had it happened on a rolling basis across neighborhoods throughout the state. But this was impossible: you can’t cut power to hospitals, fire stations, and other critical facilities, or for that matter to high-rise downtown apartments reliant on elevators. So lights stayed on in some areas, and they stayed off – for days on end – in others.
• Trouble: When lights go off and the heat goes down, water freezes and that was the next phase of the calamity. For when water freezes, pipes burst, and when pipes burst the water supply cannot keep up with the demand. Hospitals without water cannot generate steam, and therefore heat; and some of them are being evacuated.
• What next: In the aftermath of this debacle, Texas will have to return to New Deal-style municipal socialism. Socialism is government, in technical matters, by engineers and others who know their stuff and not by ideologues who do not. In the USSR, despite all its other flaws and the Russian cold, the power and the heat did stay on. Even in the worst of the post-Soviet free-market collapse the Moscow metro had never stopped.

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• 5. POLITY AND CONSTITUTION (Prelims, GS Paper 2, GS Paper 3)

Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order (Amendment) Bill 2021 - Devendrakula Velalar issue 

1. A new law: The Government of India tabled the Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order (Amendment) Bill 2021. It groups seven SC sub-sects under one name (Devendrakula Velalar).
2. Details: The Tamil Nadu government proposed certain modifications to the list of the Scheduled Castes. It groups seven Scheduled Caste sub-sects in Tamil Nadu under the heritage name ‘Devendrakula Velalar’ (DKV). These castes existed as separate entries. Any change in the lists of the Scheduled Castes and Tribes requires a constitutional amendment. The Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order (Amendment) Bill 2021 would give effect to the change. The grouping of the castes is a long-standing political demand in Tamil Nadu. But the Bill does not address the other demand of some community leaders - removal of their castes from the Scheduled Caste list.
3. How influential are these sub-sects: These have a predominant presence in south Tamil Nadu, which is a communally sensitive region. As per Census 2011, the seven subsects constitute about 17.07% of the Scheduled Castes. In the southern districts, the concentration of their population in many constituencies would be far greater.
4. Rationale for grouping: Caste-based political parties and organisations feel that shedding individual Dalit caste tags would help in the social advancement of the community. Their argument is that existing caste names were being used more in a derogatory sense to belittle the community. It is said that the DKVs were prosperous wetland owners, and not oppressed sections, socially or economically. Besides, these seven Scheduled Caste subsects share similarities, culturally.
5. How did the demand evolve: The demand for such grouping has its genesis in latter day British India. Back then these subsects were included under the Scheduled Castes on the basis of their economic conditions. But the voices remained feeble for long, only gaining traction in the 1990s with the emergence of influential community leaders. There were caste clashes between the Mukkulathors, an Other Backward Classes (OBC) community, and the Pallars, in the latter half of 1990s. This was over the naming of districts and transport corporations after community leaders. The clash led to a community consolidation of the subsects. In the 2000s, the community leaders placed an unusual additional demand. This was the delisting of the seven subsects from the Scheduled Castes category. They argued that being in the Schedule, instead of being a facilitator, served as a detriment to social advancement. Notably, this was at a time when some OBC communities were vociferous in wanting to be socially devalued and included among the Most Backward Classes.
6. Concerns and challenges: Delisting and shuffling of castes from one reserved social class to another is fraught with political and administrative risks. It could disturb the internal sharing of the communal reservation quota pool by existing castes. It could invite objections from other communities or spur political demands for similar reclassification.
7. Dalit concerns: Among the Dalits too, opinion is divided on the grouping of subsects under a common title. There are apprehensions that over time, this could trigger arguments as to which of the larger groups is numerically stronger. This, in turn, might cloud the larger Dalit cause. They argue that Dalits as such cannot be treated as a homogeneous group. There are differences within the entities in terms of social status and geographical identity.
8. Broader message: The outcome of the current move is yet to be seen. But it is unique for a community to have placed social advancement as priority to be delisted from the Scheduled Castes forgoing the concessions it offers. Also, this would be a precedent for using anthropological study for social grouping in Tamil Nadu. Politically, though, this is a challenging move, the implications of which are uncertain.

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• 6. SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY (Prelims, Various GS Papers)

India's next Mars Mission may be an Orbiter 

• US touches base: 'Perseverance', the biggest and the most advanced rover ever sent by NASA, made its landing at Jezero Crater in Feb 2021. As it landed on Mars to look for signs of past life, ISRO chief K Sivan said India's next mission to the Red Planet is likely to be an orbiter.
• Magalyaan-2: He did not provide an exact time frame for the mission, Mangalyaan-2. The second mission to Mars will be undertaken only after the launch of Chandrayaan-3. The third mission to the Moon or Chandrayaan-3, under which ISRO aims to land a rover on the satellite, has been delayed due to the coronavirus-induced pandemic and is now likely to lift off in 2022.
• Action plan: After its first Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) was successful, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) called for 'Announcement of Opportunities' on MOM-2. Sivan said Mangalyaan-1 is "still working good" and sending data. The space agency had asked the scientific community for suggestions on possible experiments and it is in the process of receiving these. The Space Commission is the highest body that takes policy decisions on activities related to space.
• History: Mangalyaan-1 was launched in November 2013 and entered the Martian orbit in September 2014. Designed to work for six months, the mission is in its seventh year now! It was India's first endeavour to successfully reach another planet. The launch vehicle, spacecraft and ground segment cost ? 450 crore, one of the cheapest missions to Mars so far. The Mars orbiter has sent thousands of pictures totalling more than two terabytes.

• Knowledge centre:

1. ISRO - The Indian Space Research Organisation evolved from INCOSPAR, and was formally established in 1969. Space research activities were initiated in India during the early 1960s, when applications using satellites were in experimental stages even in the United States. With the live transmission of Tokyo Olympic Games across the Pacific by the American Satellite ‘Syncom-3’ demonstrating the power of communication satellites, Dr. Vikram Sarabhai, the founding father of Indian space programme, quickly recognized the benefits of space technologies for India.
2. Chandrayaan 1 - It was the first Indian lunar probe under the Chandrayaan program, launched by the ISRO in October 2008, and operated until August 2009. The mission included a lunar orbiter and an impactor. The Chandrayaan-1 was successful in achieving at least 95 per cent of its objectives. It was able to find traces of water on the Moon, a path-breaking achievement in international space science.
3. Chandrayaan 2 - It was the second lunar exploration mission developed by the ISRO, after Chandrayaan-1. It consisted of a lunar orbiter, and also included the Vikram lander, and the Pragyan lunar rover, all of which were developed in India. ISRO had designed Chandrayaan 2 to soft-land the probe but the Vikram Lander lost control 500m short of the lunar surface and crashed. Vikram likely diad after having gone through a cold lunar night during which its instruments would have frozen out of operation.
4. Mars planet - Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun – a dusty, cold, desert world with a very thin atmosphere. Mars is also a dynamic planet with seasons, polar ice caps, canyons, extinct volcanoes, and evidence that it was even more active in the past. Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and the second-smallest planet. It is called the 'red planet' after the Roman God of war.

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• 7. SOCIAL ISSUES (Prelims, GS Paper 2)

Falling numbers of SC & ST students in IITs 

• Striking development: Data collected from a series of Right to Information (RTI) applications pertaining to five older Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), has indicated that the acceptance rate is skewed against students from the Scheduled Caste (SC), Scheduled Tribe (ST), and Other Backward Classes (OBC) communities. The SC and ST applicants are half as likely to get selected for a Ph.D. programme at IITs as aspirants from the General Category (GC) are.

• Key points:

1. Acceptance Rate - It refers to the number of students selected for every 100 students who applied. It stood at 4% for students from General Category (GC), and fell to 2.7% for OBC students and further down to just 2.16% for SCs and 2.2% for STs. This finding comes against the backdrop of the Education Ministry’s data submitted to Parliament in 2020 showing the failure of the IITs to fill Ph.D. seats as per reservation. The government’s reservation policy mandates allocation of 15% seats for students from the SCs, 7.5% from STs and 27% from OBCs.
2. Significance - The IITs have often cited the lack of applicants from the marginalised communities for the situation. However, the RTI data reveals quite the opposite. The percentage of GC students among those admitted was always higher than their percentage among those applied. However, the converse was true for SC, ST and OBC candidates.
3. Education Ministry's Data - Of the total admissions made by all IITs from 2015 to 2019, only 9.1% went to SC and 2.1% to ST. Only 23.2% seats went to applicants from the OBCs. Remaining 65.6%, or roughly two-thirds of all the seats, went to General Category applicants.
4. Reasons for Falling Rate - Some institutions could not even fill all the seats in the general category since they did not get enough eligible candidates. Students of the required calibre tend to take up industry jobs rather than join for a PhD which has extra uncertainties and lower income levels during PhD and in some areas even post PhD. It is possible that the family background and economic level may have an impact on such candidates applying for a PhD.
5. Argument of 'Merit' - There has been long-standing opposition among IIT administrators and faculty to reservations, which they see as a form of unjust government intervention in their meritocratic institutions. A report of an Education Ministry-constituted committee recommended the abolition of reservation in faculty recruitment. It based the recommendations primarily on arguments claiming the need for IITs to maintain their academic excellence and the lack of candidates from the reserved categories who fulfil the qualification criteria. But the real problem is also of practice and access to quality school education, leading to poor base.

• Advantages of following the Reservation Policy: The IITs are and should continue to be institutions of national importance. But they also have social functions. They should set an example to other institutions by creating opportunities for and encourage the underprivileged communities to excel in research and innovation. Affirmative action and caste-based reservation can help bridge inequalities in society, enable the underprivileged to have access to quality education, promote diversity, and, more importantly, remove obstacles to equality and correct the past wrongs.
• Way forward: Policy intervention has to begin sooner, in the early school years, to attempt to equalise opportunities in education. In addition, negative attitudes, perceptions and stereotypes about the ability of students belonging to the SC/ST groups are a major hurdle. Policy should recognise how such perceptions hold back individuals and groups, and seriously attempt to think of ways to alter these. Diversity issues can also be addressed through outreach campaigns.

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• 8. MISCELLANEOUS (Prelims, GS Paper 1, GS Paper 2)

US officially re-joined Paris Climate Deal

1. Change of track: The United States has officially re-joined the Paris climate accord on February 19, 2020. It has joined the deal again after 107 days it left. With this, the Biden administration has fulfilled an election promise. President Biden signed the executive order to reversed the withdrawal ordered by former President Donald Trump.
2. Key points: With the rejoining, world leaders expect that US will prove its seriousness on climate issues. Countries are also waiting for the announcement on the US’s goal to cut emissions of greenhouse gases by 2030.
3. Background: In 2019, the Trump administration had announced its withdrawal from the Paris accord. This order came into effect on November 4, 2020.
4. Paris Climate Agreement: It is an agreement under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), signed in 2016 and deals with the climate change mitigation, adaptation, and finance. It was negotiated by the representatives of 196 states, and signed at the 21st Conference of the Parties of the UNFCCC in France. It was later adopted by consensus in December 2015. Currently, 190 members of the UNFCCC are parties under the agreement. Countries like Turkey, Iran, and Iraq are not parties to it.
5. Goals under Paris Agreement: Under it, there is a long-term goal of keeping the average temperature to well below 2 °C above the pre-industrial levels. It also seeks to put efforts in order to limit the increase to 1.5 °C. This will help in reducing the risks and impacts of climate change. The agreement further aims to increase the ability of parties so as to adapt with the adverse impacts of climate change. It also seeks to make the flow of finance towards low greenhouse gas emissions and climate-resilient development.

Intensified Mission Indradhanush 3.0 launched

1. The launch: Union Health Minister, Dr Harsh Vardhan, launched the Intensified Mission Indradhanush (IMI) 3.0, to provide immunization to the pregnant women and children free of cost in India.
2. Key points: The mission will be conducted in two rounds, with the first round from February 22, 2021 while the second phase will start from March 22, 2021. It will run across 250 districts or urban areas across the 29 States or Union Territories. The Minister also launched the IMI 3.0 portal and released Operational Guidelines for it.
3. Intensified Mission Indradhanush (IMI) 3.0: The scheme will strengthen and re-energize immunization programme and help in achieve full immunization coverage for children and pregnant women rapidly. It aims to reach the unreached population. It will reach to them with all the available vaccines under the Universal Immunisation Programme (UIP).
4. Mission Indradhanush: This Mission was launched in December 2014 with the aim of fully immunizing unvaccinated or partially vaccinated children under UIP. It targets children aged under 2 years and pregnant women for immunization. It had incorporated immunization programme against 12 Vaccine-Preventable Diseases (VPD) namely, Whooping cough, diphtheria, polio, tetanus, meningitis, tuberculosis, hepatitis B, pneumonia, Haemophilus influenzae type B infections, rotavirus vaccine, Japanese encephalitis (JE), measles-rubella (MR) and pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV). The rate of immunization coverage under the initiative has increased to 6.7% per year through the first two phases of ‘Mission Indradhanush’.
5. Intensified Mission Indradhanush: This mission was launched in 2017 to reach child aged under two years and pregnant women who were left uncovered under the routine immunisation programme. Under this mission, greater focus was given on urban areas which was left under the Mission Indradhanush.

Agri Ministry to use drones to support PMFBY

1. What it is: The agriculture ministry was allowed to use drones for the purpose of remote sensing data collection under Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY).
2. Key points: The conditional permission was granted to use the Remotely Piloted Aircraft System (RPAS) by the Ministry of Civil Aviation and Directorate General of Civil Aviation. The RPAS will be used by the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare (MoAFW) for remote sensing data collection in the agricultural areas of 100 districts. It will be used at the gram panchayat level yield estimation. This conditional exemption will be valid for one year after the date of issue or until the operationalisation of the Digital Sky Platform. The use of the drones will still require to obtain necessary clearances from the local administration.
3. Uses of drones in agriculture: Drones collect the raw data and translate it into useful information. Thus, they can be used to monitor following parameters in agriculture - (a) crop health such as damage due to pests and change in the colour of crops because of pest infection, (b) vegetation indices such as anomaly detection, leaf area, yield, treatment efficacy and phenology, (c) plant height and density, (d) water-stressed parts of the field or the orchard that needs watering, (e) soil analysis and nutrient availability for a better plant nutrient management.
4. Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV): UAV is what drones are (or a Remotely Piloted Aircraft System (RPAS)). It is an aircraft which runs without any human pilot on board. It is a component of the unmanned aircraft system (UAS). The flight of UAV is operated either under remote control by human operator or by onboard computers autonomously.
5. Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY): This was launched in February 2016, as an insurance service for farmers to secure their yields. It replaced the two schemes namely the National Agricultural Insurance Scheme (NAIS) and Modified National Agricultural Insurance Scheme (MNAIS). The scheme was launched with the aim of reducing premium burden on farmers. It also seeks to ensure early settlement of crop assurance claim.

Coronil received AYUSH certification

• Baba Ramdev on a roll: The Divya Coronil medicine by Patanjali has received the certification from AYUSH Ministry in accordance with the WHO certification norms.
• Key points: Medicine Coronil has now been certified as a drug which can be used as supporting measure to fight Covid-19 and as an immunity-booster. The drug has received the Certificate of Pharmaceutical Product (CoPP) from the Ayush section of the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation. Patanjali has also released a booklet with nine peer-reviewed papers that certifies the efficacy of Coronil.
• Background: Patanjali had launched the Coronil tablets in June 2020. It was developed at Haridwar-based Divya Prakashan Patanjali Research Institute. The Patanjali group had claimed that the drug cures the Covid-19 in seven days. But, AYUSH Ministry then put a ban on Patanjali from selling it as a “cure”. The Rajasthan government also sent a notice to NIMS Hospital in Jaipur where the trials were conducted on Covid patients.
• Implications of certification: As per the Certificate of Pharmaceutical Products (CoPP) certification, the drug can be exported to 158 countries. It also allows the World Health Organisation to inspect manufacturer at intervals. Most of the competent authorities from the importing countries require that the CPP should be issued by country of origin.

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• SECTION 3 - MCQs (Multiple Choice Questions)

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