Daily Current Affairs - Civil Services - 04-02-2021

Useful compilation of Civil Services oriented - Daily Current Affairs - Civil Services - 04-02-2021

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• SECTION 1 - TEN NEWS HEADLINES

1. Science and Technology - Prototype of SpaceX's Starship rocket explodes after crash-landing - A prototype of SpaceX’s Starship rocket exploded during a landing attempt minutes after a high-altitude experimental launch on 02-02-2021. The Starship SN9 that blew up on its final descent was a test model of the heavy-lift rocket being developed to carry humans on future missions to Moon and Mars. Starship prototype Serial Number 9, or SN9, aimed to fly as high as 10 kilometers, or about 32,800 feet altitude. The flight was similar to the one SpaceX conducted in December, when it launched prototype SN8 on the highest and longest flight to date. While the rocket flew successfully, it hit the ground explosively on its return, just as the SN8 flight did in December 2020. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) of US said it would investigate the mishap.
2. People and Personalities - World's second richest person Jeff Bezos to resign as Amazon CEO - The world's second-richest person Jeff Bezos announced that he would step down as the CEO of Amazon, the e-commerce and cloud services giant he founded 27 years ago. The 57-year-old will be replaced by Amazon Web Services CEO Andy Jassy in the July-September 2021 quarter. Bezos will become the Executive Chairman, where he will focus on "new products and early initiatives". This change will not impact Amazon's India plans, where it has committed billions of dollars, and is in a high-profile fight with Reliance Industries and Future Group, over RIL-Future deal that Amazon says is legally wrong as it was committed to Future much earlier.
3. Governance and Institutions - Govt releases fourteenth instalment of GST compensation to states - The Centre has released the 14th weekly instalment of ₹6,000 crore to the states on Wednesday in order to meet the GST compensation shortfall. While ₹483 crore was paid to the three UTs, 23 states received ₹5,517 crore. So far ₹84,000 crore has been borrowed by the Centre at a rate of 4.7%. The central government borrows the funds under a special window and passes it on to states in back-to-back loan arrangement. The interest rate for the latest loan installment was 4.61 % while the average rate for the entire borrowing so far is at 4.74%. The remaining five states - Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland and Sikkim - do not have a gap in revenue on account of GST implementation.
4. Governance and Institutions - No road tax, registration fee on electric vehicles in Telangana - The Telangana government has exempted road tax and registration fee on the purchase of various kinds of electric vehicles. As per the official order issued, 100% road tax and registration fee exemption will be given for first 2 lakh electric two-wheelers, first 20,000 electric 3-wheelers, first 10,000 electric light carriers, first 5,000 private cars and 5,000 electric 4-wheelers. India has been slow in EV adoption so far, despite FAME I (launched 2015) and FAME II programmes of the union government (FAME - Faster Adoption and Manufacutring of Electric Vehicles in India). Under the second phase of the Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Electric Vehicles in India (FAME-II) scheme, 10 lakh registered electric two-wheelers with a maximum ex-factory price will be eligible to avail incentive of Rs 20,000 each.
5. World Politics - Myanmar police files charges against Suu Kyi over illegal walkie-talkies - After the military coup in Myanmar, police has filed charges against ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi for illegally importing communications equipment and she will be detained until February 15 for investigations, according to a police document. Police said walkie-talkie radios, which were imported illegally and used without permission, had been found in a search of her home. Myanmar's military Tatmadaw has taken over the government in a coup in February 2021, after being beaten in national elections in Nov. 2020.
6. Agriculture - Greta Thunberg tweets about farmers' protest, says 'We stand in solidarity' - Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg took to Twitter to share an article on the internet shutdown at Delhi borders amid the farmers' protest. "We stand in solidarity with the farmers' protest in India," the 18-year-old tweeted. Earlier, American pop singer Rihanna shared the same article and tweeted, "Why aren't we talking about this?" That led to a storm in India, with the government actively attacking this Twitter activism via a MEA release, calling it interference in India's internal matters. Later, tens of Indian celebrities from Bollywood and Cricket hit back with standard hashtags and similarly-worded tweets, calling the foreign intereference unwanted.
7. Defence and Military - Govt formally seals ₹48,000 cr deal to procure 83 Tejas LCA from HAL - The government of India has awarded a ₹48,000 crore contract to Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) to supply 83 Tejas Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) to the Indian Air Force. The contract was handed over by the Defence Ministry to HAL at the inauguration of Aero India 2021. "It's probably the biggest Make in India defence contract till date," Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said. The HAL Tejas is an Indian single-engine, fourth-generation, multirole light fighter designed by the Aeronautical Development Agency in collaboration with Aircraft Research and Design Centre of Hindustan Aeronautics Limited for the Indian Air Force and Indian Navy.
8. Governance and Institutions - PM-CARES contributed ₹2,200 cr for phase 1 vaccine drive: Centre - The PM-CARES fund contributed over ₹2,200 crore for the first phase of the COVID-19 vaccination drive, Expenditure Secretary TV Somanathan said. The exact amount of voluntary contributions made by individuals, corporates to the fund remains unknown. The PM-CARES fund was set up in March 2020 to provide relief during the coronavirus pandemic. The trust is headed by the Prime Minister, and is not covered under any CAG audit rules nor are accounts visible to the public. Logic given is that since it is a public charitable trust with voluntary donations and does not receive any government support, no CAG audit is required.
9. Energy - Reliance receives world's first carbon-neutral oil from US - India's richest man Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries has sourced the world's first consignment of carbon-neutral oil from Oxy Low Carbon Ventures (OLCV), a division of US oil firm Occidental. "This is the energy industry's first major petroleum shipment for which greenhouse gas emissions associated with the entire crude lifecycle, well head through the combustion of end products, have been offset," OLCV said. What is carbon netural oil? The firm Oxy Low Carbon Ventures and Macquarie will offset carbon dioxide equivalent to that associated with the production, delivery and refining of the crude oil and the use of the resulting product through the retirement of carbon offset credits. This will make the oil 'carbon-neutral'.
10. Environment and Ecology - Punjab saw 44.5% rise in stubble burning - Stubble burning incidents in Punjab rose by 44.5% last year despite the state getting 46% of Centre's total funds for managing crop residue, the government of Indi informed the Supreme Court. Punjab reported 76,590 stubble burning incidents in 2020 against 52,991 instances in the previous year. Of the ₹1,726.67 crore fund allocated by the Centre, Punjab got the highest, ₹793.18 crore. Stubble burning is done by farmers due to the cost and time involved in removing the stubbles from the farm fields, after the rice crop (paddy) is harvested. Burning across thousands of farms in north India leads to intense pollution in NCR skies, due to peculiar combination of geography, climate and physical features in winters.

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• SECTION 2 - DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS

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

Budget 2021: Government’s focus on supply-side to kick-start economic growth

 

1. Union Budget 2021: With BSE Sensex skyrocketing 2050 points and investor’s wealth seeing a jump post the Union budget 2021-22, it seems that the Government's focus on growth revival has been noted. The emphasis on infrastructure and healthcare may give the needed boost to the economy and push GDP growth upwards.
2. Six pillars of FM: In light of the pandemic and Pillar 1 as mentioned by the FM being Health & Wellbeing, the Government’s proposal of increasing its spend on healthcare by 135% is a right step. The formula is “Jaan Bhi, Jahaan Bhi”. Increasing the FDI cap from 49% to 74% for the insurance industry will help revive the economy, mobilise resources for infrastructure development, encourage competition in the insurance sector leading to advantage consumer and improve quality of human capital. 
3. Power sector: Many suggested to make power distribution network a competitive industry, but it could not be done so far. Now the Government is willing to create a competitive environment and provide consumers the choice to choose their preferred Discom!
4. Pillar 2: It is dedicated to the infrastructure push and focuses on capital expenditure and asset monetisation. The proposed outlay of Rs. 5.54 lakh crore aims to drive projects under the National Infrastructure Pipeline (NIP) and spend on Production Linked Incentive schemes (PLIS) announced in 2020, alongwith making Indian textiles competitive globally. Higher spend on building of roads, highways, expressways etc. will support other sectors such as cement, steel etc. The affordable housing push will have a multiplier effect on all other related sectors and give the boost to the real estate industry.
5. Asset monetisation: It will unlock value of unutilized or underutilized public assets which can be used for commercial purposes and will drive employment opportunities along with balanced regional development. It is about mobilizing revenue through non-tax means. Increased employment may lead to increased income and higher demand.
6. Atmanirbhar disinvestment package: The Government announced the policy on disinvestment that there would be a maximum of four PSU in strategic sectors while all state owned firms in non-strategic sectors would be privatized. Now, the announcement of disinvesting in two public sector banks and one insurance company is a step forward. Asset monetization, disinvestment and privatisation will help garner resources for infrastructure development, creating value and bridging of the fiscal deficit gap. Opposition to it stems from the fact that reserved jobs will come to an end in such firms, over time. Govt. has to find some solution to that.
7. Macro economy: The fiscal deficit for 2020-21 is around 9.5% of GDP but Government expenditure cannot be curtailed. The FRBM targets are now meaningless. A new future path for achieving fiscal consolidation by FY26 of 4.5% of GDP has arrived. But a higher fiscal deficit could have a likely impact on interest rates and external commercial borrowings and ratings.
8. Game changed in agriculture: A higher allocation was expected, but the three new laws have changed the game! In the Budget announcement, the focus was on showcasing procurement of record foodgrains-may be in the background the on-going agitation.
9. Taxes and bank deposits: The announcement of setting out of policy measures for easy and time bound access to deposits of stressed banks will help many aggrieved depositors. By reducing the reopening of assessment period from 6 years to 3 years except in cases of serious tax evasion and further driving faceless income tax assessment and pre-filing of returns will help ease of filing. This may trigger a widening of tax base.
10. Summary: The budget has proposed innovative ideas for revenue generation, research, human capital etc. It is primarily focused on the supply side aiming to kick-start growth in the economy, with the assumption that jobs will be created, thereby boosting the demand cycle.

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

India and Climate Action

 

• First, the monsoon: The Indian subcontinent is in the middle of the South-west monsoons that plays a crucial role in the lives and livelihoods. Economic activities are heavily dependent on this season, main being agriculture. It is predominantly rain-fed and any change in weather patterns will have devasting impacts on a large portion of the Indian population. Around 49% of the country is dependent on agriculture for their primary source of income.
• Change is coming: Recent reports by the Ministry of Earth Sciences provides evidence of changing climate over the country and its potential impacts. It states that there has been a noted 0.7℃ rise in average temperature that has been observed over India for the period from 1971-2018. In parallel, came the Covid-19 pandemic, forcing India to take drastic measures to halt the spread of the disease. With the onset of the cyclone and monsoon season, the country has the added challenge to deal with a pandemic and extreme weather events. The issue of 'compounding risks' has now been brought to the forefront. For instance, maintaining social distancing norms in cyclone shelters when Cyclone Amphan made landfall in West Bengal was a challenge.
• NDCs: The year 2020 was crucial in the global discourse on climate change due to several reasons - (i) countries to submit revised NDCs to reflect enhanced ambition; (ii) decisions on market mechanisms under the Paris Agreement, etc. With important conferences - COP26 and the meetings of the Subsidiary Bodies being pushed to 2021, there is a risk that it upsets processes like the Global stoctake which is to begin in 2023. This has complicated the global response to climate change.
• Indian case: India is on its way to overachieve 2 out of 3 quantifiable targets set forth in the NDC by 2030 - reducing emissions intensity of GDP by 33-35% from 2005 levels and 40% non-fossil fuel electric installed capacity in 2030. The third quantifiable target involving carbon sinks (additional 2.5-3GtCO2e carbon sinks) is still in progress.
• Road ahead: With the ongoing threat of a pandemic and the urgency of the climate threat, India should emphasize upon following 3 agenda items:

1. Adaptation and Loss & Damage - Addressing climate-induced risks require conscious and serious efforts. The Paris Agreement also aims to strengthen the Warsaw International Mechanism on loss and damage. As highlighted by the Global Commission on Adaptation report in 2019, it is in the interest (environmental and economic) of the world to invest in resilient infrastructure.
2. Enhancing mitigation efforts - The world is still far behind on emissions reductions. The aggregate emissions pathway consistent with the goal of limiting warming to well-below 2C is well known, as is the aggregate gap with current emissions pathways. The need of the hour is to assess structural changes in high emitting sectors. India can follow a 1.5-degree path at a low cost by adopting a set of measures consistent with low carbon development while meeting the objective of inclusive economic growth, energy security and clean air.
3. Global stocktake (GST) - Article 14 of the Paris Agreement requires the CMA to periodically take stock of the implementation of the Paris Agreement and to assess collective progress towards achieving the purpose of the Agreement and its long-term goals. The first GST will take place in 2023 and every five years thereafter. The ongoing pandemic has complicated the international climate discourse further. The

• Summary: The UNFCC has launched the first phase of an important transparency process on countries' pre-2020 climate action. This first phase consists of questions and answers period and follows on from expert analysis of the reported information by countries earlier in the year. And forms part of the Multilateral Assessment (MA) and the Facilitative Sharing of Views (FSV) processes that are the foundation of the enhanced transparency framework under the PA. These interactive processes play a crucial role in building trust among countries. India has been leading in efforts to bring countries together as in the case of International Solar Alliance. A constructive role in the transparency framework is required of India.
• Conclusion: A problem as complex, multifaceted and long-term as climate change can be solved only through a process of rapid social, technological and policy actions. India's stance has always been clear on the global stage that climate change must be addressed in the country while being conscious of the country's developmental agenda. The development pathway of India is marked by the dependence on climate-sensitive sectors- agriculture, water, health, infrastructure, natural ecosystems and forestry and energy.

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

Xinjiang’s camps and sexual violence

1. Damaging revelations: The BBC has released a series of accounts from witnesses of systematic rape inside the carceral system in Xinjiang, where more than 10 lakh Uighurs and other Muslim ethnic minorities are imprisoned. These accounts track with the scale of the camps, recorded both through satellite data and on Chinese government websites.
2. What exactly is happening: It is unclear whether officials use rape as a deliberate weapon of genocide or whether it reflects systemic abuse and contempt. One witness describes Han Chinese men paying for access to imprisoned women in Xinjiang. That could be a sanctioned policy—or it could be the kind of ground-level corruption and abuse that pervades authoritarian systems.
3. An unholy approach: The Chinese government has a long history of sexualizing Uighur women in official texts. In a discourse familiar from Orientalism elsewhere, Uighur men are portrayed as primitive, while the women are portrayed as hidden beauties that Han Chinese men can save. The government actually prohibited intermarriage in Xinjiang until 1979, leading to a pervasive myth that marrying Uighur women was still forbidden.
4. Change in stance: Now authorities promote intermarriage, including coerced unions. The Big Brother program, in which over 1 million Han Chinese have been assigned to Uighur homes to monitor everyday life, is also reportedly an opportunity for sexual assault and abuse, especially in households where the Uighur men have been imprisoned. Forcible sterilization has also been widely deployed to reduce the Uighur birth rate.
5. West under pressure: The new revelations will likely stir further demands for action in the West. British politicians have already demanded further inquiry into China’s “genocidal” actions in Xinjiang—a step that could, under new laws, scupper any potential trade agreement between the countries.

The Climate skirmish

1. Heated words on climate: U.S. politicians have seen climate change as an area of potential cooperation with China—one critics feared could cause the Biden administration to soften its stance in the hope of agreements. An exchange last week spoiled both ideas. U.S. climate envoy John Kerry stated outright that the issue wouldn’t affect policy elsewhere, and the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs responded that climate couldn’t be separated from the overall relationship.
2. Both need to cooperate: If China refuses to participate in climate talks unless the United States remains silent over Xinjiang, that could be self-defeating move in the long run. In fact, self-interest seems like the biggest motivator for climate action for both sides as the immediate costs of the climate crisis begin to play out. 

Nuclear warnings

1. Two powers closer: A prominent U.S. admiral has warned of growing cooperation between Russia and China, which he says threatens the international order and risks nuclear war. These warnings don’t offer anything new: Beijing and Moscow’s shared interest in destabilizing the U.S.-led global order has been obvious for a decade. But there is disagreement in the United States over how to handle the Russian side.
2. History: The interesting point in the article in Atlantic Council was the case for peeling off Moscow. But US has somewhat covertly hoped for that for some time. Shared enmity toward the United States will keep China and Russia together for the foreseeable future, but the truth is that their lack of deep mutual trust or shared ambitions will keep the relationship from ever turning into a real alliance. 

Coronavirus

1. Coronavirus probe: Amid fears of new coronavirus outbreaks in China, one new method of COVID-19 testing has received particular public attention: the anal swab. The new tests, which authorities promise are “painless,” have caused some consternation online. So far, they are mostly being rolled out for foreign visitors, who authorities fear might reinfect a vulnerable Chinese public.
2. Economic pressure: China’s coronavirus lockdowns, meanwhile, are straining the infrastructure of some northern cities such as Tonghua—in part because recent economic recession in the region has left graying cities with elderly populations who need more help. 

Cyber attacks

1. Big data theft: Russia wasn’t the only one exploiting the bug in SolarWinds products, it now is clear. Chinese hackers used the exploit in 2020 to break into the U.S. National Finance Center (NFC), which handles payroll for over 600,000 federal employees, including the FBI and the State Department. In a bit of weird bureaucratic architecture, the NFC falls under the Department of Agriculture.
2. Why a concern: The loss of payroll data is concerning, especially given the extent to which the Chinese were able to use a previous Office of Personnel Management hack to identify U.S. covert agents. Financial information is also traditionally used by intelligence agencies to spot potential subjects for bribery or recruitment.

African swine fever is back

1. Covid and earlier: Before the coronavirus pandemic, the biggest disease concern in China was African swine fever, which devastated the pork industry in 2019. Chinese herds recovered in 2020, thanks to major purchases from overseas—but the winter in 2020-21 has seen a strong resurgence of the disease, putting that recovery at serious risk.
2. A bad omen: The disease concerns both consumers and the government PR machine: Food inflation is a major issue, and the Lunar New Year will cause a spike in pork demand once again.

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

Farmers' agitation: Motivated campaigns against India will not succeed

 

1. Rihanna rattles everyone: A tweet by US star Rihanna extending support to protesting farmers triggered a wave of support for them by a number of global celebrities, activists and politicians.
2. MEA in action: "Motivated campaigns targeting India will never succeed", External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said. His ministry hit out at singer Rihanna and climate activist Greta Thunberg for their support to farmers agitating against the new agricultural laws. The Delhi Police later registered an FIR against Greta Thunberg, in arguably the first action of its kind!
3. Battle of Hastags: Jaishankar tweeted with hastags #IndiaTogether and #IndiaAgainstPropaganda. These were used by scores of Indian celebrities too, in tweets that were copy-paste of each other. Even Lata Mangeshkar joined in! The Ministry of External Affairs earlier said the "temptation" of sensationalist social media hashtags and comments is "neither accurate, nor responsible".
4. Who all: Besides Rihanna, Swedish teen climate activist Greta Thunberg, Meena Harris, an American lawyer and niece of US Vice President Kamala Harris, actress Amanda Cerni, singers Jay Sean, Dr Zeus and former adult star Mia Khalifa too voiced their support to the protesting farmers. Rihanna became the first global name to voice her support.
5. MEA says: "Before rushing to comment on such matters, we would urge that the facts be ascertained, and a proper understanding of the issues at hand be undertaken," the MEA said. Tens of thousands of farmers have been protesting at three border points on the outskirts of Delhi demanding a complete repeal of the three farm laws. 

Budget provides broad support; fiscal consolidation weak: Moody's

1. Higher than government: Rating agency Moody's expects India's nominal GDP growth to rise close to 17 per cent in fiscal 2021, higher than 14.4 per cent pegged in the Union Budget 2021. This is a surprisingly high figure.
2. What Budget did: The Union Budget 2021 focuses on higher capital expenditure, financial sector reforms and asset sales, which will help to stimulate growth and supply broad-based credit support, says global rating agency Moody's. The agency cautioned that the government's weak fiscal position is likely to remain a key credit challenge in medium term.
3. Deficit level: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in her Budget speech said the fiscal deficit will touch 9.5 per cent of GDP in the current fiscal, much higher than the budgeted estimate of 3.5 per cent. The government projected a deficit of 6.5 per cent for the next fiscal, adding that it would reach 4.5 per cent only by FY26.
4. Details: The widening of the fiscal deficit in fiscal 2020 was driven almost entirely by expenditure to support Indian households and the economy from the COVID-19 pandemic crisis. The government increased total spending to about 17.7 per cent of GDP in fiscal 2020 from 13.2 per cent in fiscal 2019. The agency expects budget expenditure to decline to 15.6 per cent of GDP in fiscal 2021, which should be achievable as the economy gains strength and temporary coronavirus relief measures unwind. Of overall spending, subsidy spending increased the most, rising to 3.1 per cent of GDP in fiscal 2020 compared with 1.1 per cent in fiscal 2019. This was driven mainly by a sharp rise in food subsidy spending to 2.2 per cent of GDP from only 0.5 per cent in fiscal 2019.
5. Capex: On Budget's projection of capital expenditure, Moody's said that it is accelerating further to 2.5 per cent of GDP, reflecting year-on-year growth of around 26 per cent. This would be the highest capital spending ratio since fiscal 2007 and would contribute to potential GDP growth over the medium term through the development of physical infrastructure.

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

Sixth Schedule Areas - Explained

 

• What these are: The Sixth Schedule in the Indian Constitution established Autonomous District Councils (ADC) in four northeastern states, namely Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram. These ADCs envisage protecting and preserving tribal culture.
• Logic: The rationale behind the creation of ADCs was that relationship to the land is the basis of tribal or indigenous identity. The culture and identity of indigenous people can be preserved by ensuring their control over land and natural resources, as these factors to a large extent determine the lifestyle and culture of the indigenous people. A central authority cannot do it.
• Conflicts: But this arrangement resulted in conflicts between different groups, for instance, tribal vs. non-tribal. It also undermined social harmony, stability and economic development of the state and the region.
• Special Status of Sixth Schedule Areas: The Sixth Schedule was originally intended for the predominantly tribal areas (tribal population over 90%) of undivided Assam, which was categorised as “excluded areas” under the Government of India Act, 1935 and was under the direct control of the Governor. It provided for the administration of tribal areas in Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram to safeguard the rights of the tribal population in these states. This special provision is provided under Article 244(2) and Article 275(1) of the Constitution.
• Autonomy: It provides for autonomy in the administration of these areas through Autonomous District Councils (ADCs). These councils are empowered to make laws in respect of areas under their jurisdiction, which cover the land, forest, cultivation, inheritance, indigenous customs and traditions of tribals, etc. and also to collect land revenues and certain other taxes. The ADCs are like miniature states having specific powers and responsibilities in respect of all the three arms of governance: Legislature, executive and judiciary.

• Some tricky issues:

1. Undermining of constitutional principles: The Sixth Schedule discriminates against the non-tribal residents in various ways and infringes upon their fundamental rights, like the right to equality before the law (Article 14), right against discrimination (Article 15), and the right to settle anywhere in India (Article 19). This has resulted in repeated bouts of riots between tribals and non-tribals, driving many non-tribals out.
2. Multiple centres of power: It has created multiple power centres instead of bringing in a genuine process of autonomy in the region. There are frequent conflict of interest cases between the District Councils and the State Legislatures. In Meghalaya, despite the formation of the state, the whole of the state continues to be under the sixth schedule causing frequent conflict with the state government.
3. Conflict with Act-East policy: The restrictions under the sixth schedule act as a roadblock for the success of Act East Policy, for which seamless connectivity and exchange within the Northeastern states are essential. Similarly, Inner Line Permit (ILP) deters investors and tourists and thereby hampers economic development in the region.

• Summary: Some sSpecial constitutional protections are needed for marginalised sections to ensure that historical wrongs done to them are reversed and not repeated, but it has denied justice to the non-tribals, who have lived in ADCs for generations but ended up marginalised. The government needs to win the confidence of the tribals and non-tribals within the region and bring a sense of security and belongingness among them to deal with this sensitive issue.

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

Supermassive Black Hole and life on earth

 

1.  Black holes: In 1939, Albert Einstein published a paper in Annals of Mathematics, arguing that black holes do not exist in nature. A quarter of a century later, Maarten Schmidt discovered quasars as powerful sources of light at cosmological distances. These enigmatic point-like sources were explained in the mid-1960s by Yakov Zel’dovich in the East and Ed Salpeter in the West as supermassive black holes that are fed with gas from their host galaxies. When gas flows towards the black hole, it swirls like water going down the drain. As the gas approaches a fraction of the speed of light at the innermost stable circular orbit (ISCO) around the black hole, it heats-up by rubbing against itself through turbulent viscosity.
2. What happens next: The accretion disk glows brightly, radiating away about a tenth of its rest mass and exceeding by orders of magnitude the total luminosity from stars in its host galaxy. High feeding rates make quasars visible all the way out to the edge of the visible Universe. Decades later, astronomers found that almost every galaxy hosts a supermassive black hole at its center, which is starved most of the time but bursts sporadically for merely tens of millions of years during each burst. The quasars resemble a baby that tends to remove food off the dining table as soon as it is fed by virtue of becoming too energetic.
3. 2021: The Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to Andrea Ghez and Reinhard Genzel for providing conclusive evidence that a black hole, albeit starved at the present time, lurks also at the center of our own Milky Way galaxy. This monster, weighing four million Suns, is dormant right now, glowing as the feeble radio source Sagittarius A* (abbreviated SgrA*), which is a billion times fainter than it would have been if it was fed as generously as a quasar.
4. Present situation: Even though SgrA* is dim right now, we have clues that it must have experienced episodes of vigorous feeding in the past. This is not a surprise, given that a gas cloud approaching the Galactic center or a star passing within ten times the horizon scale of SgrA* (which translates to roughly the Earth-Sun separation), would get spaghettified by the strong gravitational tide there and turn into a stream of gas that triggers a quasar-like flare.
5. Evidence: The “smoking gun” evidence for recent feeding episodes of SgrA* by massive quantities of gas is that young stars around SgrA* orbit in preferred planes. So these stars formed out of planar gas disks, just like the planets in the Solar system plane or the stars in the Milky Way disk. Since the age of the stars near SgrA* is less than a percent of the age of the Milky Way galaxy, major accretion episodes from disruption of gas clouds must have occurred at least a hundred of times around SgrA*, based on the Copernican principle that the present time is not special.
6. Life on Earth: Would the resulting flares of SgrA* have any implications for life on Earth? In principle, they could, since they carry damaging X-ray and Ultraviolet (XUV) radiation. In collaboration with my former postdoc, John Forbes, we showed in 2018 that the XUV radiation emitted during such flares has the capacity to evaporate the atmospheres of Mars or Earth if the Solar system had only been ten times closer to the center of the Milky Way. But even at larger distances, the XUV radiation could suppress the growth of complex life, creating an effect similar to stepping on a lawn so frequently that you inhibit its growth.
7. Sun and life: At the current location of the Sun, terrestrial life is safe from XUV flares of SgrA*. However, recent studies indicate that the birthplace of the Sun may have been significantly closer to the Galactic center and that the Sun migrated to its current location through gravitational kicks. The exposure to past XUV flares from SgrA* at closer distances, could have harmed complex life during the early evolution of the Earth. This might explain why the oxygen level in the Earth’s atmosphere rose to its currently high level only after two billion years, perhaps only after the Earth was sufficiently far away from SgrA*. In collaboration with Manasvi Lingam, I am currently exploring this possible connection between terrestrial life and the migration of the Sun away from the Galactic center.
8. Summary: Traditionally, the Sun was thought to be the only astronomical source of light that affected life on Earth. But it is also possible that the black hole, SgrA* played an important role in shaping the history of terrestrial life. A surprising realization of this sort is similar to figuring out that a stranger might have impacted your family history before you were born. If a link between SgrA* and terrestrial life can be established, then this supermassive black hole might trigger a second Nobel Prize.

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

India ranks 131 on Human Development Index 2020 (HDI)

 

1. Status: Out of 189 countries, India has ranked 131 on the Human Development Index 2020 prepared by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). With an HDI value of 0.645, the country fell in the medium human development category. It has been there for quite some time now.
2. Change: The UNDP has revised and updated the underlying data and adjusted the goalpost, making it difficult to accurately compare India’s ranking this year and in 2019. But the country report gave some statistics tracing India’s journey in human development between 1990 and 2019.
3. Journey of India’s Human Development Index: The report stated that since 1990, the HDI value of India has increased to 0.645 from 0.429, registering an increase of over 50%. During the same period, the life expectancy at birth in India rose by nearly 12 years, while mean years of schooling witnessed an increase of 3.5 years. During this while, the expected years of schooling also rose by 4.5 years. The GNI per capita of India also increased by nearly 274%.
4. India’s HDI trends compared to others: The UNDP compared India’s value in the HDI with other countries in South Asia, viz, Bangladesh and Pakistan. As against India’s rank at 131, Bangladesh ranked at the 133rd position, while Pakistan stood at 154th place. In the South Asian region, India’s HDI is more than the region’s average which stands at .641, while India is also above the average value of 0.631 among the medium HDI category countries. However, if adjusted for inequality in the distribution of human development across all the people of India, which HDI recognises as a shortcoming of the actual HDI value.
5. IHI: So the HDI report also gives an Inequality-adjusted HDI or the IHDI. After this adjustment, the HDI value for India fell by 26.4%, causing the value to reach 0.475. This adjustment also caused Bangladesh’s value to fall by 24.4%, surpassing India’s IHDI value and standing at 0.478. Meanwhile, Pakistan’s IHDI value fell to 0.384, decreasing by 31.1%. While the IHDI value for India was at par with the average IHDI value of the South Asian region, the medium HDI countries’ IHDI value stood at 0.465.
6. Gender development: The UNDP also calculates the Gender Development Index (GDI). As per the HDR 2020, the GDI value of India is 0.820, with the GDI value for females standing at 0.573 and that for males at 0.699, showcasing a wide contrast. In this measure, India is behind Bangladesh, with a GDI value of 0.904, while it stayed ahead of Pakistan (0.745). The average GDI for the South Asian region stood at 0.824, while that for medium HDI countries was 0.835, with India’s value being lower than both. As for life expectancy at birth, females in India had a value of 71.0 years, while that for males was 68.5 years.
7. Education: For education, the index takes into account expected years of schooling for children, and mean years of schooling for adults. The expected years of schooling for males in India was valued at 11.7 years, while that for females was 12.6 years. On the other hand, mean years of schooling for males was 8.7 years and for females was 5.4 years. To calculate the economic resources, the report takes into consideration the estimated GNI per capita for males and females. For females, this value was $2,331, while for males, it was at $10,702.
8. GII: The report also calculates Gender Inequality Index (GII) to highlight gender-based inequalities in the countries, taken on three measures – economic activity, reproductive health and empowerment. The GII value of the country was 0.488, which made it rank at the 123rd place out of the 162 nations. Economic activity is measured by the labour market participation, which stood for Indian males at 76.1% and for females at 20.5%.

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

India’s first ‘Amputee Clinic’ launched in Chandigarh

1. Launch: The PGIMER, Chandigarh has launched its ‘PGI Amputee Clinic’ which is also the first such clinic in India.
2. Highlights: The launch of the clinic is a collective effort of various experts and departments of the institute who seeks to provide social, mental and physical support to the patients. The clinic was set up to improve the amputation patient care by providing them a host of services under one roof and with significant coordination. The amputee will be sent as a near normal functional human being to society. The Amputee Clinic would also attempt to unify all the diverse sections in PGIMER, with some upgradations where needed.
3. What was the need: There is a need of such clinics in order to assess the recovery and co-morbidities of patients who undergo amputation. This is done with a team of occupational therapists and a psychologist who gets involved in patient care immediately. With this clinic, the patient will not be forced to fall out of the rehabilitation process because of stress and anxiety.
4. Significance: The clinic involves the development of a comprehensive database. This would provide a platform for future research and give the essential information about the burden, long-term complications and rehabilitation issues of the amputees. These clinics would also offer a forum for these patients where they can bring their problems and discuss with the team.
5. What is amputation: It is the removal of a limb by trauma, medical illness, or surgery. It is used to control the pain or a disease process in the affected limb. Sometimes, it is carried out on individuals as a preventive surgery. In countries like United States and Iran amputation is currently used to punish people who committed crime.

NASA finds the ‘Lost Galaxy’

1. HST: Recently, the Hubble Space Telescope of NASA captured the images of the NGC 4535 which is also known as the “Lost Galaxy”.  The image highlights that the young and hot stars that hang out are the bright blue spots. On the other hand, older and cooler stars are highlighted by the bright shades nearer to the center.
2. Background: An amateur astronomer Leland S. Copeland fixed his telescope lens on a distant galaxy in the Virgo constellation first in 1950s. He then withnessed an eerie spiral that was shrouded in dust. He named the spiral as “The Lost Galaxy”.
3. The Lost Galaxy: It is also known as NGC 4535. The galaxy is one of the largest of some 2,000 galaxies in the Virgo Cluster. The galaxy is located about 50 million light-years from Earth. It is a barred spiral galaxy that means a vast swirl of stars having a distinct bar structure at its center. The galaxy gives the yellowish glow at its central bulge. The yellowish glow suggests the way to the oldest and coldest retinue of stars in the Lost Galaxy. The Galaxy was discovered in 1785 by William Herschel who found the planet Uranus. The galaxy was termed as the Lost Galaxy by Copeland because then he had a glimpse of NGC 4535 using his small yard lenses.
4. Spiral galaxy: The concept of the Spiral Galaxy was first described by Edwin Hubble in 1936 The Spiral galaxy is the most common type of galaxy in universe. It has a spiral shape because of long arm full of stars. The galaxy extends from the center into the galactic disc. The galaxy comprises of a flat, rotating disk containing the stars, gas and dust, and a central concentration of stars called as bulge. It is surrounded by a much fainter halo of stars.

Mega Investment Textiles Parks (MITRA) scheme launched

 

1. MITRA: The Finance Minister, Nirmala Sitharaman, announced during the Union Budget 2021 presentation that the Government has proposed a “Mega Investment Textiles Parks (MITRA) scheme”.
2. Highlights: The scheme will enable the textile industry to become globally competitive. It will help the industries to attract large investments and boost employment generation besides boosting the exports. The scheme will help in creating a world class infrastructure with plug and play facilities. This in turn will create global champions in exports. MITRA scheme will be launched in addition to the Production Linked Incentive Scheme (PLI).
3. Production Linked Incentive (PLI) Scheme: It is a Central Sector scheme. The scheme was notified in April 2020 for the Large-Scale Electronics Manufacturing. This was notified with the objective of providing the financial incentives for domestic manufacturing of goods. The scheme also seeks to attract large investments. It was initially launched for the domestic manufacturing of Mobile Phones and Specified Electronic Components. In the later phase, it was rolled out for the pharmaceutical ingredients and medical devices.
4. Incentive offered under PLI Scheme: This scheme provides 4% to 6% incentive on incremental to the eligible companies who are manufacturing goods for 5 years period. The companies that are registered in India and involved in the manufacturing of goods are covered under the Target Segments of the scheme. These companies are eligible for the incentives under the scheme.
5. Textile Industry in India: Textile and apparel industry is the earliest industries in India. It has an inherent and unique strength of incomparable employment potential. This sector is the biggest employer after agriculture. It directly provides employment to 4.5 crore people and 6 crores employments in the allied sectors. India is the second-largest manufacturer of textiles and clothing across the world. It is also the second-largest exporter of textiles and apparel. It has a share of 5% in the global trade.

NCPCR statement to fight child labour and begging

 

1. Child labour: Recently, the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) has identified 50 religious places to carry the interventions in order to ensure zero tolerance towards child labour.
2. Highlights: Shri Ram Janmabhoomi and Taj Mahal have also been included in the list of 50 religious places. The NCPCR will took up the intervention to eliminate the child labour at these 50 identified religious places. The interventions will be undertaken in a collaborative manner. NCPCR stated that multi-stakeholders including the anti-human trafficking unit, representatives from NGOs/CSOs, child welfare police officers and religious trust & groups shall work in collaboration to undertake the interventions.
3. Other place: Bodh Gaya, Taj Mahal, Kumbh Mela, Haji Ali Dargah, Puri Jagannath Temple, Khajuraho, Rishikesh etc. The commission notes that, several instances of child labour, child begging etc. have been found at these religious places.
4. How NCPCR will undertake the situation: NCPCR will undertake the preventive Measures such as linking vulnerable and deprived families with the different centre and state government schemes. This will help in the sustainable rehabilitation of the child. It will undertake curative Measures such as penal action against the perpetrators including the organized nexus who involves the children in begging, labour, and trafficking, etc.
5. Child labourers in India: The International Labour Organisation (ILO) estimates that there are around 12.9 million Indian children aged 7 to 17 years old who are engaged in work.  The children are often doing unpaid work. Because of this, they are less likely to attend school or they attend the school only intermittingly. This in turn is trapping these children in the poverty cycle.
6. National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR): It is the apex body operating under the Ministry of Women and Child Development. The body works for protecting the child rights in India. It was established in the year 2007. The headquarter of the NCPCR is in Delhi.

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• SECTION 3 - MCQs (Multiple Choice Questions)

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