Daily Current Affairs - Civil Services - 23-02-2021

Useful compilation of Civil Services oriented - Daily Current Affairs - Civil Services - 23-02-2021

• [message]
• SECTION 1 - TEN NEWS HEADLINES

1. Science and Technology - US FAA closes probe into SpaceX's Starship SN9 crash - US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has closed its investigation into Elon Musk-led SpaceX's Starship SN9 prototype launch which had ended in a crash. "Its unsuccessful landing and explosion did not endanger the public or property," said the FAA. Reacting to a picture of Starship SN10, Elon Musk tweeted, "Good chance of flying this week!" The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is the agency of the United States Department of Transportation responsible for the regulation and oversight of civil aviation within the U.S., as well as operation and development of the National Airspace System. Its primary mission is to ensure safety of civil aviation.
2. World Politics - General strike against coup in Myanmar - A general strike against the military coup shut businesses across Myanmar on 22-02-2021, while lakhs protested in the streets despite a threat from authorities that it was prepared to use lethal force. "Nothing's going to happen if my salary is cut but if we stay under a military dictatorship we'll be slaves," was the sentiment. The 2021 Myanmar protests are domestic civil resistance efforts in Myanmar in opposition to the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, which was staged by Min Aung Hlaing, the Commander-in-Chief of the Tatmadaw on 1 February 2021. India is taking a cautious pro-democracy stand, while the US has taken a strong one.
3. World Economy -  Bitcoin sharply falls after Musk's tweet - World's leading cryptocurrency Bitcoin (BTC) fell sharply below the $50,000-mark on 22-02-2021, hitting its lowest level since mid-February '21. The drop in value came as a result of investors' worries that the cryptocurrency, which crossed $58,000-mark to record new high, may have gotten too high, too fast. Elon Musk, whole BTC investments had pulled the asset high, had also recently said that he felt it might be too high. That melted sentiment across the board, and both BTC and Ethereum saw a drastic fall in just 24 hours. This lends credence to the crypto-sceptics who claim that any "currency" that gyrates so wildly is not a practical solution for anything at all.
4. World Politics - 54% of national elections held globally in 2020 were violent - Fifty-four percent of national elections that were held globally in 2020 had some form of violence, as per a report by Election Violence Monitor said. Year 2020 also saw the highest election-related violence than any other year since 1975. Of the 42 national elections scheduled for 2021, conflict analysts behind the report have claimed that roughly 40% are at high risk of violence. Every country with a national vote slated for some time in 2021 has some risk of election-related violence. In 16 nations, including Norway, Mexico and Japan, the risk is between 3% and 20%. Laos, Russia and Syria – along with six other nations – have between 21% and 49% chance of election violence. In Djibouti, Congo and Côte d'Ivoire, there is a 50% to 75% chance. In eight nations, including Nepal, Chile and Haiti, the chance of election violence is 76% to 90%. And in Ethiopia, there is a more than 90% chance.
5. Governance and Intitutions - MP Government to rename Hoshangabad city - The Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh informed on February 19, 2021, that Hoshangabad city in the state will be renamed Narmadapuram. The announcement was made by the CM during the Narmada Jayanti Programme in Hoshangabad. The proposal to change the name will be sent to the Centre. The opposition Congress Party termed the announcement as a ploy to divert people from important issues. The name was taken after Hoshang Shah Gori, the first formally appointed Islamic ruler of the Malwa region of Central India. He ruled Malwa for 27 years. Hoshangabad district was part of the Nerbudda (Narmada) Division of the Central Provinces and Berar, which became the state of Madhya Bharat (later Madhya Pradesh) after India's independence in 1947.
6. Governance and Institutions - UP's paperless budget - Uttar Pradesh became India’s first state to table a paperless budget for FY22. The first paperless budget of the state was presented in the assembly on February 22, 2021. iPads were provided to all the members of the State Legislature to view the budget highlights, which were also shown on two big screens put up in the house. An app named ‘Uttar Pradesh Sarkar ka Budget' has also been made available on the Google play store. The size of Budget was Rs.5.5 lakh crore, with a focus on the agriculture sector. The fiscal deficit will be Rs.90729 crore (4.17 % of Gross State Domestic Product), and State’s debt liability will be 28.1% of Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP).
7. Healthcare and Medicine - Drug for Epilepsy developed - Epilepsy is the fourth most common neurological disease, affecting people of all ages. A major pharmaceutical manufacturer has now developed the final dosage form of Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (API) and Brivanext for epilepsy. This is a central nervous system (neurological) disease in which brain activity becomes abnormal, causing seizures or a period of abnormal behavior, sensation, and sometimes even loss of consciousness. Epilepsy is the fourth most common neurological disease, affecting people of all ages. Anyone can develop epilepsy, but it is more common in young children and the older adults. This incidence of men is slightly higher than that of women.
8. Indian Economy - Reliance's new big plan - Reliance Industries Limited, owned by the riches Indian Mukesh Ambani, has initiated the process to demerge oil-to-chemicals arm with $25 bn loan. It will carve out its oil-to-chemicals (O2C) operation into an independent subsidiary with a $25 billion loan from the parent. It added that it expects National Company Law Tribunal's approval by second quarter of 2021-22. Reliance had planned to hive off O2C business for a proposed 20% stake sale to Saudi Aramco. Ambani is rapidly building a new type of conglomerate to dominate emerging verticals in India.
9. Social Issues - US lost more people than 3 wars combined - In a shocking milestone, the US' death toll from COVID-19, the highest globally, has surpassed the number of fatalities the country suffered in World War One, World War Two and the Vietnam War combined. Johns Hopkins University tracker showed that coronavirus had killed 5,00,236 people so far, as compared to 4,99,000 in the three wars. President Joe Biden said it was a "heartbreaking milestone". Former President Trump is blamed for taking it easy in the initial phases of the pandemic in 2020, leading to an uncontrolled situation later. Top infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci said political divisiveness contributed significantly to COVID-19 death toll.
10. Social Issues - China is indeed committing 'genocide' - Canada's Parliament has voted to declare China's treatment of its Uighur minority population a genocide. The motion, introduced by opposition Conservatives, passed by a vote of 266-0 in the House of Commons, with Canadian PM Justin Trudeau and nearly his entire cabinet abstaining to vote. It makes Canada just the second country after US to recognise China's actions as genocide. China has forcefully rejected any such claims over the past decade, while continuting to incarcerate, torture and stifle Uighur people.

• [message]
• SECTION 2 - DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS

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

India's key challenges is just one - Good Jobs 

• Jobs and growth: India has a massive unemployment problem, which can no longer be brushed under the carpet claiming that higher GDP growth will automatically take care of it. Clearly, it has not, and even growth is now struggling.
• Recent situation: Prior to the Covid crisis at the end of 2019-20 financial year, the CMIE claimed India had around 403.5 million employed people and around 35 million (or 3.5 crore) openly unemployed people in the country. To this existing pool, each year India adds roughly 10 million (or 1 crore) new job seekers. The year 2020 saw many more millions lose their jobs. So by January 2021, India had only about 400 million employed. At one level this is good news because far more had lost jobs and many seem to have regained employment as the economy has started recovering. But at another level, the 400 million number also underscores the stagnancy in India’s employment levels.
• Is it coming down: If CMIE data is trusted, then the total number of employed people in India has been steadily coming down. It was 407.3 million in 2016-17 and then fell to 405.9 million in 2017-18, and to 400.9 million at the end of 2018-19.

1. So even with India’s economy growing (at a decelerating pace) before the Covid crisis, the employment situation was getting worse.
2. The total number of openly unemployed people became 35 million (3.5 cr).
3. If over 2020, the total number of employed people has fallen then the total number of unemployed people will be anywhere between 40 to 45 million today.
4. Each unemployed person is part of a larger family, so millions of families are suffering from the lack of employment opportunities.
5. This 45 million estimate captures the openly unemployed people, those who are seeking work and not finding it. The actual problem of unemployment is even bigger.

• The larger picture: Each year in India there are close to 20 million (or 2 crore) people who enter the working-age population of 15 to 59 years. But not everyone seeks a job. If law and order is poor or if cultural mores so dictate, young women may not feel empowered to seek work. It is possible that several men give up looking for work after repeated failed attempts. If more and more of India’s youth decides to sit out, India’s labour force participation rate (LFPR) falls. Data suggests this has happened. 
• LFPR of India: India has an LFPR of just about 40%. So, in India, just 40% of the 20 million joining the working-age group each year actually come forward looking for a job. For women, this ratio is even lower. In most developed countries, it is around 60%. If 60% of all joining the working-age group looked for a job then, under the circumstances, India would have added almost 15 million each year to the pool of openly unemployed people.
• Why growth is not helping: Fast economic growth usually takes care of unemployment worries. Not so in India, because even when India’s GDP has grown rapidly, the no. of well-paying jobs produced was always low. In the ten years from 1999-2000 to 209-10, India’s total workforce increased by 63 million. Of these 44 million joined the unorganised sector, 22 million became informal workers in the organised sector, and the number of formal workers in the organised sector fell by 3 million. At one level, the government can feel rather happy because in the coming financial year India’s GDP growth will show a sharp rebound — thanks to a massive base effect. But none of that changes the lop-sided manner in which India grows. The GDP can continue to go up as more and more companies become more productive by replacing labour with capital (machinery) but that will only deepen India’s unemployment problem.
• Worsening: The Union Budget for 2021-22 is a clear indication that government will not be the prime mover in the economy. The mantra of “minimum government” now means no role in creating new jobs. The timing is questionable. The Indian economy is quite weak and the private sector has already shown its preference by choosing to cut jobs and boost its profits.
• Summary: Indian goverments must focus on jobs generation in formal sector as top priority, before things spiral out of control. Richer companies and poorer people makes little sense, if India values it demographic dividend at all.

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

India and the London climate talks 

• Worldwide crisis: Climate change is manifesting itself across the world, whether through unprecedented wildfires in Australia, droughts in Sub-Saharan Africa, or winter freezes in Texas. By some counts, India is among the countries most threatened by climate change. It’s in our interest to listen to our climate activists and press for global action.
• One and all: No country alone can make a big difference on its own, but change is possible through cooperative global action. With the Biden administration in US prepared to recommit the US to do its bit, there’s hope for significant movement in the climate talks in London later in 2021. As a leader among emerging markets, India should go with a serious proposal likely to move the needle and also fair to the industrialising world.
• Tax the carbon: Economists agree that a good way to reduce carbon emissions is to tax them. But the changes those taxes bring about will be disruptive in the short run. That means any discussion of imposing a carbon tax will face either the free-rider or the fairness problems.

1. Industrialised countries such as the US are concerned that developing countries will free-ride and keep pumping out emissions.
2. Indians believe there’s profound inequity in asking India, which has a per capita emission of 1.8 tons of CO2 in 2017, to bear the same burden as the US (16 tons per person), or Saudi Arabia (19 tons).

• Similar incentives: But the least costly way of reducing global emissions would be to give everyone similar incentives – India should not build many more dirty coal plants as it grows, and Europe should close down the plants it already has. So how do we balance these concerns while saving the one world we live in?
• Solution: The economic solution is quite simple: A per-ton carbon levy called the global carbon reduction incentive (GCRI). Every country that emits more than the per capita world average (5 tons) would pay into a global incentive fund. This annual payment would be calculated by multiplying excess emissions per capita by their population and the GCRI. If we started the GCRI at $10 per ton, the US would pay around $36 billion while Saudi Arabia would pay $4.6 billion. Countries below the global per capita average would receive a commensurate payout – Uganda would receive around $2.1 billion, while populous but low-emitting India would get $41.6 billion. Every country faces a loss of $10 for every ton by which they increase per capita emissions, whether they are at a high, low, or average level today. So India has the same incentives to economise on emissions as the US.
• Equity issue: This addresses the equity problem. Low emitters, often the poorest countries and most endangered by climatic changes they didn’t cause, get a payment. Indeed, if the GCRI is raised over time, the collective sums paid out will approach the $100 billion per year that poor countries were promised by rich ones in 2009 for climate adjustment. GCRI also assigns responsibility for payments in a rational way: Fortunately, the big emitters typically have the ability to pay. Each country, including recipients, would decentralise GCRI through a domestic carbon tax, which may be set at a higher level. For example, the Baker-Shultz plan in the US proposes to tax carbon at a rate of $43 per ton, and rebate the sums collected to every American family via a carbon dividend. That would help the tax attract broad political support by keeping average personal income unchanged while curbing emissions. Excluding the richest taxpayers from receiving the dividend would allow the US to use some of the money raised to pay its contribution to the global fund. India, too, would have an incentive to impose a carbon tax at least as high as the GCRI.
• Results: The tax would set developing countries on the right emission path, rewarding their investment in renewables, while discouraging coal. Furthermore, the very poorest countries could use their payments from the global fund to help their people adapt to climate change and reduce incentives for outward migration. They could also buy insurance against climatic disruptions.
• Adjustments: Some adjustments to the GCRI may be necessary. For instance, what’s consumed is as important as how it’s produced, so we should ensure some portion of the emissions embedded in imported goods are added to the importing country’s emissions tally, and subtracted from the exporting country’s tally. The GCRI proposal also ignores past responsibility for building up carbon in the atmosphere. Dealing with that liability will be controversial and shouldn’t impede efforts to address the immediate challenge of climate change. The GCRI proposal offers a fresh, rational and equitable approach to account for, and change, present emission behaviour – all the more necessary after COP25’s failure in Madrid.
• Summary: Despite their past promises, is it optimistic to expect rich emitters to pay? Perhaps they will. Youth in rich nations must push their leaders to accept more equitable burden sharing.

• Knowledge centre:

• Carbon tax - A carbon tax is a fee imposed on the burning of carbon-based fuels (coal, oil, gas). It is the core policy for reducing and eventually eliminating the use of fossil fuels whose combustion is destabilizing and destroying our climate.
• Climate justice and equity - Fossil fuel pollution and climate change hit low-income families and emerging economies the hardest. Those least responsible for climate change are often the most vulnerable to changes in weather patterns, sea level rise, and other impacts, further exacerbating existing inequities. The rich world must step up to help others more, rather than expect equal contributions.

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

US and China - What lies ahead now 

• Candidate Biden and President Biden: That China posed a major threat to the US was not a notion promoted by Biden as a candidate, but as US President Joe Biden is now preparing the country for a long-term competition with China. He pitched Congress an economic recovery package that includes huge investments in infrastructure, job creation, and manufacturing as a bulwark against Chinese advances in transportation and technology.
• The real question: Greater investment in the US's economic foundation is long overdue and would likely strengthen the middle class—one of Biden’s top campaign pledges. But it’s not clear that it will produce the winning ticket in a strategic competition with China, which drives top-down industrial policy across a broad array of sectors through state-managed firms. Washington’s battle with Beijing is not one of investment or even innovation — it is one of conviction and values.
• Allies wanted: Biden has sought to enlist U.S. allies in Europe and Asia to the competition, pledging to renew the United States’ “enduring advantages” over China. Chief among them: revitalizing the United States’ alliances and recommitting to its democratic values at home while defending them abroad. Those values had, for many decades, helped make the United States a uniquely powerful nation.
• History: US emerged from World War II with military and economic dominance but turned that overwhelming might into a largely benevolent international order. Instead of occupying its enemies, as the Soviet Union did, the United States rebuilt its wartime foes in its own image. US pushed ideals like the commitment to freedom, democracy, and the rule of law. Today, in 2021, the U.S. Constitution, rule of law, and the very idea of free elections are under assault by its fellow citizens!
• What's happening globally: Public satisfaction in those democratic values is wavering globally. Free societies are being challenged by populist forces on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean; the U.S. Capitol itself was violently assaulted by a mob incited by former President Donald Trump in a bid to overturn Biden’s election victory. The US commitment to racial equality has faltered, and capitalism is losing its appeal. Unlike the Cold War, today’s great-power competition isn’t a contest of competing ideologies. Leaders like Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin are not exporting communism or values of any kind; they have a nationalist vision, greased by corruption and coercion, to fuel their hegemonic ambitions. China does systematic theft of intellectual property, and uses state subsidies to undercut competition. This is economic abuse and coercion.
• The future: To compete with China, what the US needs to do is shore up those foundations. China’s explosive growth in low-cost manufacturing ultimately did so much to undermine U.S. industrial competitiveness and fueled an anti-globalization backlash that helped drive Trump-based populism. When countries like China took advantage of lax labor standards and negligible environmental oversight, the US essentially exported jobs and imported workers’ misery. So now, if the US mandates that products made abroad used a more sustainable supply chain, then U.S.-made products would become more competitive.
• Innovation engine: Similarly, when it comes to innovation, the United States can and should rediscover the openness that defined its entrepreneurial past. Instead of shunning foreign students, as Trump did, US could welcome them, and then let them stay after they complete their studies. Take China’s Belt and Road initiative, an ambitious effort to export its excess manufacturing capacity to boost its economic and political influence through checkbook diplomacy in Asia, Africa, and Europe. U.S. is rightly concerned about Chinese “debt-trap diplomacy,” where Beijing uses big debts to extract bigger political concessions. To battle it, a new development model must be proposed.
• New technologies: Same is true for 5G mobile telephones like artificial intelligence, cyber technologies, or biotech. Secretary of State Antony Blinken sees the world as a battle between “techno-democracies” and “techno-autocracies.” He and the President now want a “league of democracies” to shape the norms of behavior in cyberspace, artificial intelligence, and biotechnology. Biden wants technology to be “used to lift people up, not used to pin them down.”
• Summary: President Biden had said that US should “lead not merely by the example of our power but by the power of our example.” Time to see if it happens or not. For emerging economies like India, many choices lie ahead, given its own political transformation currently underway.

 

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

Go on, make those maps

1. Liberalisation goes geo-spatial: In Feb 2021, India's Ministry of Science and Technology released new guidelines for the Geo-spatial sector in India. These deregulate the existing protocol and liberalise the sector to a more competitive field.
2. Geo-spatial data: This is data about objects, events, or phenomena that have a location on the surface of the earth. The location may be static in the short-term, like the location of a road, an earthquake event, malnutrition among children, etc. It could also be dynamic like a moving vehicle or pedestrian, the spread of an infectious disease and the like. It combines location information, attribute information (the characteristics of the object, event, or phenomena concerned), and often also temporal information or the time at which the location and attributes exist. Recent years saw an increase in the use of geo-spatial data in daily life with various apps such as for food delivery, e-commerce and even weather apps.
3. Present policy: Govt. has imposed strict restrictions on the collection, storage, use, sale, and dissemination of geo-spatial data and mapping under the current regime. The outdated policy was not renewed in decades and has been driven by internal as well as external security concerns. The sector so far was  dominated by the Indian government as well as government-run agencies such as the Survey of India. Private companies needed mulitple permissions to be able to collect, create or disseminate geo-spatial data, including permissions from different government departments (depending on the kind of data to be created) as well as the defence and Home Ministries.
4. Why regulations: Geo-spatial data was initially conceptualised as a matter solely concerned with security, the prerogative of the defence forces and the government. The Kargil war highlighted the dependence on foreign data and the need for indigenous sources of data. With this, GIS mapping was also rudimentary, and the government invested heavily in it after the war.
5. Why open up now: The system of acquiring licenses or permission, and the red tape involved, can take months, delaying projects, especially those that are in mission mode, for both Indian companies as well as government agencies. The deregulation would eliminate the requirement of permissions as well as scrutiny, even for security concerns. Indian companies can now self-attest, conforming to government guidelines without actually having to be monitored by a government agency. Some restrictions will remain: spatial accuracy of 1m for horizontal or planimetry and 3m for vertical or elevation — and sensitive and restricted areas will be regulated.
6. Sectors impacted: Agriculture, environment protection, power, water, transportation, communication, health (tracking of diseases, patients, hospitals etc) rely heavily on geo-spatial data. For mapping the entire country with high accuracy, the Indian government alone could take decades. So more private players will help. Also, as large amounts of geo-spatial data are also available on global platforms, there's no point in restricting anymore.
7. Impact: This liberalisation will help bring more players in the field, raise competitiveness of Indian companies in the global market, bring more accurate data for both the government (to formulate plans and administer) and individual Indians, help e-commerce sector, hopefully increase employment, help develop indigenous apps (an Indian version of Google maps), and so on.
8. ISRO boss: Isro chairman K Sivan, who was also part of the discussions, applauded this and felt that coupled with remote-sensing data, Indian private sector stands to gain.
9. Summary: If all these changes ultimately help create more employment, it would be an end well served.

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

Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation (Amendment) Bill, 2021 reaches Lok Sabha 

1. New law: A bill to replace an ordinance to merge the Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) cadre of civil services officers with the Arunachal Pradesh, Goa, Mizoram Union Territory (AGMUT) cadre was introduced in the Lok Sabha. Introducing 'The Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation (Amendment) Bill, 2021', Minister of State for Home Affairs G Kishan Reddy said the government was working to take Jammu and Kashmir on the path to development.
2. Central laws: Government now says that around 170 central laws were implemented in Jammu and Kashmir after abrogation of Article 370 of the Constitution that gave a special status to the erstwhile state. The government was implementing different development projects and schemes in Jammu and Kashmir.
3. Opposition objects: Raising objections to the bill, Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury questioned the need to bring an ordinance for the same. He found regular promulgation of ordinances not good for a parliamentary democracy. He further reminded that after abrogating Article 370, the government had shown a "dream" to the people that they would "make heaven" in Jammu and Kashmir and create jobs there. So, introduction of this bill reflects that the government took the step of abrogating Article 370 without any preparation.
4. Sensitive state: MPs said that Jammu and Kashmir being a sensitive state, the cadre should be local and officers having ground knowledge should be appointed there. As militancy was still prevalent in the UT, people were living in an atmosphere of fear. There was unemployment, restriction, lost avenues and total confusion. MPs demanded that the government should restore the position of Jammu and Kashmir to that prior to August 5, 2019.
5. Government stand: The government was firm in its approach, stating that the fruits of development must reach the masses quickly.

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

Novel Open Reading Frames (nORF)

1. What it is: Scientists at the University of Cambridge set out to find whether new genes emerge in the genome of living organisms and if they do, how they do so. They have now catalogued 1,94,000 novel regions.
2. ORF: In molecular biology, an open reading frame (ORF) is a nucleic acid sequence that does not contain a stop codon in a given reading frame, and can thus potentially be translated into a functional protein product.
3. Novel genomic regions: The ‘novel’ genomic regions cannot be defined by our current ‘definition’ of a gene. Researchers call these novel regions – novel Open Reading Frames or as nORFs. They found that the mutations in nORFs do have physiological consequences and a majority of mutations that are often annotated as benign have to be re-interpreted.
4. Findings: The nORF regions were uniquely present in the cancer tissues and not present in the control tissue. Some nORF disruptions strongly correlated with the survival of patients. The nORFs proteins can form structures, can undergo biochemical regulation like known proteins and be targeted by drugs in case they are disrupted in diseases. Some were also in nORFs in Plasmodium falciparum, the parasite which causes the deadliest form of malaria. These regions are also broadly involved in diseases. The nORFs were seen as dysregulated in 22 cancer types. Dysregulated is a term which means that they could either be mutated, upregulated, or downregulated, or they could be uniquely present.

• Knowledge centre:

1. Human Genome Project - It was an international research project that sequenced all of the genes found in humans. This ambitious project began in 1990 and concluded in 2003. One goal of the project was to accurately sequence the 3 billion nucleotide base pairs in the human genome. All human genes together are known as the "genome."
2. Genomics - It is the study of whole genomes of organisms, and incorporates elements from genetics. Genomics uses a combination of recombinant DNA, DNA sequencing methods, and bioinformatics to sequence, assemble, and analyse the structure and function of genomes.

 

New Geo Spatial Data Policy

1. What it is: The Ministry of Science and Technology released new guidelines for the Geo Spatial Data in India. To realise India’s vision of Atmanirbhar Bharat and the goal of a 5 trillion-dollar economy, the regulations that apply to geospatial data and maps henceforth stand radically liberalised. The Department of Science and Technology is announcing sweeping changes to India’s mapping policy, specifically for Indian companies.
2. Geo Spatial Data Policy: Prior approvals for surveying, mapping and building applications will be eliminated. For Indian entities, there will be complete deregulation in terms of (a) Prior approvals, (b) Security clearances, and (c) Clearances for acquisition and production of geo spatial data & services.
3. Benefits: Increased private investments, more specific data-based applications, new businesses to emerge, more competition, hopefully more new jobs, etc.
4. Geo Spatial data: Any data that has a geographic component in it, is 'geospatial data'. It could be static like the location of a road, an earthquake event, or dynamic like a moving vehicle or pedestrian, the spread of an infectious disease. It includes temporal information or the time at which the location and attributes exist.
5. ISRO and private firm: In an attempt to compete with Google Maps, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and a private company 'MapmyIndia' have now announced a collaboration to launch an indigenous mapping portal and geospatial service. The collaboration will enable them to jointly identify and build a holistic geospatial portal utilising earth observation datasets, 'NavIC', Web Services and APIs. ISRO said that the geospatial portals will be called 'Bhuvan', 'VEDAS' and 'MOSDAC'.
6. NavIC, Bhuvan, VEDAS, MOSDAC: The Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System also known as NavIC (Navigation with Indian Constellation), is an indigenous navigation system, developed by ISRO. Bhuvan is the national geo-portal developed and hosted by ISRO comprising geospatial data, services, and tools for analysis. VEDAS (Visualisation of Earth observation Data and Archival System) is an online geoprocessing platform that uses optical, microwave, thermal, and hyperspectral EO data covering applications particularly meant for academia, research and problem solving. MOSDAC (Meteorological and Oceanographic Satellite Data Archival Centre) is a data repository for all the meteorological missions of ISRO and deals with weather-related information, oceanography, and tropical water cycles.

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

Problems with the NEP (New Education Policy)

• NEP arrives: The new education policy (NEP) was announced by Govt of India in 2020, to replace the 1986 policy when the TSR Subramanian Committee submitted its report to the Union Govt. In June 2017, the Govt of India constituted the K. Kasturiranjan Committee that submitted its draft NEP in 2019 based on the inputs in the Subramanian Committee.
• Changes: The final NEP intends to bring sweeping changes to the existing education system in India through number of new measures. There is an emphasis on foundational literacy and numeracy in a mission mode through National Mission on Foundational Literacy and Numeracy to be attained by 2025.

• Some problems:

1. School Education - The NEP highlights integrating the Indian education system with global standards through doing away with rote learning. It lays emphasis on universal access to schools for all children by 2030, and stresses increasing the Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) to stop the spiraling drop out rate in India. The NEP talks of bringing back almost 2 crore (20 million) children back to mainstream education through developing infrastructure, innovative teaching centers and appointing trained teachers and counselors to achieve this goal. It proposes to replace the 10+2 education system with 5+3+3+4 curriculum including three years of pre schooling in anganbari centers for children by 3-8 years followed by 12 years of formal schooling. The inclusion of early childhood education was a long-standing demand of the CSOs working with on the issue. The early childhood education will be a collaborative effort between the Ministries of Education, Women and Child Development, Health and Family Welfare and Tribal Affairs. The NEP talks of introducing new subjects like coding from Class VI onwards while students will have greater flexibility in choosing subjects as rigid demarcation between Arts and Science, curricular and extra curricular subjects or vocational and academic streams will cease to exist. It also proposes board exams in modular form in Grades III, V, VIII, X and XII redesigned to test conceptual understanding of the students. Another noteworthy proposed change is that education up to Class V –VIII will be imparted in the mother tongue of the students. The policy adds breakfast to the existing Mid Day Meal program in the government schools. But the final policy removes the proposal from the 2019 draft to extend the Right to Education (RTE) to all children between the ages of 3-18 years and it just states that efforts will be made to ensure universal access and opportunity to all children to obtain holistic education. It also removes the draft proposal that the recent amendments to the RTE Act on continuous and comprehensive evaluation and the no detention policy be reviewed. The RTI, its problems and solutions are just ignored in the NEP. The disproportionate focus on vocationalisation of education at an early age will simply go against the claims of holistic learning. It is not clear how the government plans to implement teaching in mother tongue especially in diverse country like India. NEP talks of universalization of school education from 3-18 years without making it a legal right. There is no mandatory mechanism for the union and state government to make it a reality. The emphasis on digital education, private public partnership for philanthropic schools can lead to further segregation and commercialization of education leading to increasing inequalities. The policy talks about rationalization of school complexes which will be resource centers for students and teachers but past trends show that this has led to school closures in states like Bihar, Orissa and Jharkhand. Increased distances to schools have often been the reason behind girls dropping out of schools or not enrolling altogether.
2. Gender Sensitive Provisions - The NEP talks of providing transportation and accommodation so that girls continue their education. The focus on girls’ education in special education zones will address the poor enrolment and retention of girls from socially disadvantaged backgrounds. It talks about Gender Inclusion Fund to provide equitable quality education for all girls as well as transgender students. This fund will be provided to the states to support and scale effective community based interventions to address local context specific barriers to girls. The policy has mentioned the upgradation of Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya (KGBV) meant for girls up to Class XII. The policy also talks of making available all scholarships and schemes through a single agency and website to ensure that all students are aware of and may apply in a simplified manner as per eligibility will benefit girls in getting funds for pursuing their education. The policy talks about giving special emphasis to socially and economically disadvantaged groups (SEDs) including gender, socio-cultural and geographical identities and disabilities through the creation of Special Education Zones. But the policy is not clear how girls will over come the multiple barriers to get the equitable education. The policy speaks of alternative modes of learning like open schools, PPP mode of schools etc. which will make the girls invisible by limiting them to their households. The girls will miss out on receiving govt benefits like mid day meals and school health program.
3. Teachers Training - The NEP propose to set up common national professional standards for Teachers (NPST) which will be developed by National Council for Teachers Education by 2022 in consultation with NCERT, SCERT, experts and teachers organizations. The policy talks of ensuring merit in hiring and promotions that is not defined concretely in the NEP.
4. Public Investment in Education - The NEP endorses a substantial increase in the public investment in the education both by the Central government and state governments. The policy states that center and the states will work together to increase the public investment in education sector to reach 6% of GDP at the earliest. This has been stated goal since 1960s since the Kothari Commission’s report but is yet to be achieved. In 2012-13 education expenditure was 3.1% of GDP. It fell in 2014-15 to 2.8% and registered a further drop to 2.4%. While speaking of 6% funding it is not clear whether Union Govt will release the funds from it own resources or generate from private enterprises. The draft policy sought to double public investment in education from the current 10% of public expenditure (center and states) to 20% of public expenditure over the next 10 years with an increase of 1% every year. This has been omitted from the final NEP.

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

India & Mauritius signs Limited Trade Pact agreement

1. What it is: India and Mauritius have signed a Comprehensive Economic Cooperation and Partnership Agreement (CECPA). This was first ever trade agreement with any African country. It was signed in the presence of Prime Minister of Mauritius, Pravind Jugnauth and the external affairs minister of India, S Jaishankar.  CECPA was approved by the Indian Cabinet on February 17, 2021. It will come into effect from March, 2021.
2. Comprehensive Economic Cooperation and Partnership Agreement (CECPA): As per this limited agreement, India will be given preferential access to the markets in Mauritius and vice versa. India will get access to 310 products on the other hand, Mauritius will get access to 615 products. India will also get access to 115 sub-sectors in the 11 broad services sectors. It will get access to goods like food & beverages, farm products, textiles & garments etc while Mauritius will get access to frozen fish, biscuits, speciality sugar, fresh fruits, juices. These include financial services, software, and telecommunications.
3. Importance: This is the first trade agreement that India signed after it launched “Atma-Nirbhar Bharat Initiative”. Also, this was the first ever agreement that India signed with any African Nation where China has its economic dominance. Thus, this pact becomes significant as a counter to China. Further, the pact will set stage for more such pacts with other African Nations. Bilateral trade between India and Mauritius have increased from $207 million in 2005-06 to $690 million in the Financial Year 2020 (a 233% increase).

IIT Council sets up panels for autonomy

1. What it is: The IIT Council, which is the apex decision-making body of IITs. has set up four panels for autonomy on February 22, 2021. The panel will look after several issues ranging from funding to graded autonomy in the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs).
2. Key points: The panel has also decided to do the rationalisation of staff from current standard to a lower number. IIT Council was headed by education minister Ramesh Pokhriyal. The council will also look after the issues including mobility of faculties in between the classroom & industries, wider use of technology in education operations & dissemination, rationalisation of staff, grooming faculties to become directors.
3. Four committees: They were constituted on understated issues in accordance with the National Education Policy-2020: (i) Group-1: Graded Autonomy, Empowered & accountable BoG and Director; (ii) Group-2: Grooming distinguished academics for directorship of IITs; (iii) Group-3: Reform and restructuring of Academic Senate; and (iv) Group-4: Innovative funding mechanisms.
4. IIT Council: The Council of Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT Council) is the governing body. This body is  responsible and accountable for all the Indian Institutes of Technology in India.  In this council, Chairman happens to be the minister-in-charge of the technical education in the Union Government. The council also comprises of three Members of Parliament, Joint Council Secretary of Ministry of Human Resource and Development, Chairman of all IITs, Directors of all IITs, Chairman of University Grants Commission, three appointees from the Union Government, AICTE, Chairman of IISc and Director of IISc.

NASA releases the sound of Mars!

1. What it is: The United States space agency, NASA, released the first audio from Mars on February 22, 2021. It was a faint crackling recording of the wind that was captured by Perseverance rover.
2. Key points: The NASA rover is on a mission to search if there is any sign of past life on the MARS (RED Planet). It sent a high-definition video clip of about three minutes and 25 seconds. The video shows deployment of a red-and-white parachute having 70.5-foot-wide canopy. It further reveals the heat shield is dropping away after protecting Perseverance while it was entering into the MARS’ atmosphere. It reveals the rover touched-down the MARS surface in a cloud of dust in its Jezero Crater which lies to the north of MARS’ equator.
3. Story: NASA had launched the Perseverance rover on July 30, 2020. The mission landed on MARS on February 18, 2021. The earlier rover - Curiosity - is still functioning that was launched eight years back on Mars.
4. Perseverance: This rover equals the size of an SUV and it weighs a ton. It comprises 19 cameras, 2 microphones and a suite of cutting-edge instruments. The mission was launched with the objective of collecting 30 rocks and soil samples in a sealed tube that will be sent back to Earth in the 2030s for lab analysis. It will determine whether Mars was actually inhabited in the past.

First-ever National Toy Fair

1. What it is: The first-ever National Toy Fair will be starting from the February 27th, 2021. The festival will conclude on March 2, 2021. It will be organized in the virtual format.
2. Key points: During the event, the Centre for Creative Learning (CCL), which is based in IIT Gandhinagar, will showcase its 75 toy creations in the fair. IIT Gandhinagar is the only IIT in the country which is running this centre for creative learning. The CCL helps in developing the scientific temperament in the students and teachers by developing various scientific and educational toys.
3. About toy fair: It is being organised by the Ministry of Textiles. The Ministry of Education and ministry of commerce & industry has also associated to organise the fair. This virtual toy fair will be organised with the aim to provide a joyful learning for the children. It will engage the children in teaching, learning and promoting indigenous toy industry. Some of the toys that CCL will showcase include Robot made using a DC motor, Hydraulic JCB controlled using syringes, Periscope to look beyond the wall, explaining textbook trigonometry through a sine wave car etc.

9.1 Today's best editorials to read

• We offer you 7 excellent editorials from across 10 newspapers we have scanned. 

CLICK HERE TO OPEN AND READ!

• [message]
• SECTION 3 - MCQs (Multiple Choice Questions)

Solve the online quiz given, right now. Check scores, and relative performance!

---