Daily Current Affairs - Civil Services - 10-05-2021

Useful compilation of Civil Services oriented - Daily Current Affairs - Civil Services - 10-05-2021

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• SECTION 1 - TEN NEWS HEADLINES

1. World Politics - Chinese scientists & weaponising coronaviruses - A document written by Chinese military scientists and health officials before the COVID-19 pandemic in 2015 stated that SARS coronaviruses were a "new era of genetic weapons". This was expoed in a report in an Australian newspaper. The leaked document said that the viruses could be "artificially manipulated into an emerging human disease virus, then weaponised and unleashed", The Australian newspaper claimed. Bioweapons have been stuff of science fiction and horror movies so far, and no nation has actually unleashed any such weapon on a global scale. Speculations and allegations have been rife since January 2020 about China's labs artificially making the SARS-CoV-2 virus and unleashing it everywhere, but most credible experts (globally) have rejected this hypothesis.
2. Indian Economy - India's forex rises $3.9 bn to reach $588 bn - The country's foreign exchange reserves rose by $3.91 billion to reach $588.02 billion in the week ended April 30, 2021, as per RBI data. Foreign currency assets (FCAs) witnessed a rise of $4.41 billion to reach $546.05 billion. India's forex reserve had touched a record high of $590.18 billion in the week ended January 29, 2021. The RBI has been slowly amassing more gold in its reserves, to try and diversify away from too much of dollar holdings, given the massive dollar-printing going on in the US (as part of their Covid stimulus) and potential depreciation and capital loss in RBI's dollar holdings eventually. India's forex reserves are now healthy enough to generate enough confidence in markets, that India can serve its foreign debt easily, as well as 15 months of import cover too (more than 15 months). India's forex are now fourth largest in the world, and gold holdings the tenth largest.
3. Science and Technology - WHO scientist explaine what led to India's second wave - WHO's chief scientist Soumya Swaminathan said in May 2021 that "a more rapidly" spreading variant was a key reason behind COVID-19 explosion in India. She said that another reason behind the explosion was India letting its guard down with "huge social mixing and large gatherings." In May, India started reporting approx. more than 4 lakh daily new cases, and 4000 daily deaths, a huge tally by global standards. Ms. Swaminathan, an Indian paediatrician and clinical scientist, said the B.1.617 variant of Covid-19, which was first detected in India last October, was clearly a contributing factor to the catastrophe unfolding. The WHO recently listed B.1.617 -- which counts several sub-lineages with slightly different mutations and characteristics -- as a "variant of interest". But so far it has stopped short of adding it to its short list of "variant of concern" -- a label indicating it is more dangerous than the original version of the virus by being more transmissible, deadly or able to get past vaccine protections. Several national health authorities, including in the United States and Britain, have meanwhile said they consider B.1.617 a variant of concern, and Swaminathan said she expected the WHO to soon follow suit. WHO She said that the huge number of infections increases the chances of new and more dangerous variants emerging. “The more the virus is replicating and spreading and transmitting, the more chances are that… mutations will develop and adapt.” Worryingly, she said that once variants “accumulate a lot of mutations [they] may ultimately become resistant to current vaccines.”
4. Polity and Constitution - Section 142 of the Social Security Code 2020 - The Section 142 of the Social Security Code, 2020 was notified by Ministry of Labour & Employment covering applicability of Aaadhar. The notification of section will enable the Ministry to collect Aaadhar details for the database of beneficiaries under various social security schemes. National Database for unorganised workers (NDUW) is at an advanced stage of development by National Informatics Centre. The portal is aimed at collection of data for unorganised workers including migrant workers for the purpose of giving benefits of the various schemes of the Government. An inter-state migrant worker can register himself on the portal on the basis of submission of Aaadhar alone. The Code on Occupational Health, Safety and Working Conditions enables the provision for maintaining a database of migrant workers to help in targeting, skill mapping and utilising government schemes effectively. The Code ensures that migrant workers get journey allowance once a year from employers to visit their home towns.
5. Healthcare and Medicine - EXO-CD24 - A new coronavirus treatment being developed in Israel's Tel Aviv’s Ichilov Medical Center has successfully completed phase one trials and appears to have helped numerous moderate-to-serious cases of COVID-19 quickly recover from the disease. Hailing the treatment as a huge breakthrough, the hospital has said that the EXO-CD24 substance had been administered to 30 patients whose conditions were moderate or worse. It added that all 30 recovered with 29 of them getting well within just three to five days. The medicine is reported to fight the cytokine storm, which is a potentially lethal immune overreaction to the coronavirus infection that is believed to be responsible for much of the deaths associated with the disease.
6. Science and Technology - STARSHIP SN15 - SpaceX achieved the first successful touchdown of its prototype Starship rocket during the latest test flight of the next-generation launch vehicle in south Texas, after four previous landing attempts ended in explosions. The feat marked a key milestone for the private rocket company of Elon Musk in its development of a resusable heavy-lift launch vehicle to eventually carry astronauts and large cargo payloads to the moon and Mars. The Starship SN15 blasted off from the SpaceX launch site in Boca Chica, Texas, along the Gulf Coast. Maneuvering itself back into vertical position under rocket thrust as it approached the ground, the 16-story, three-engine vehicle descended to a gentle touchdown on its landing gear. The flight came on the 60th anniversary of the first spaceflight by an American astronaut Alan Shepard's launch on a 15-minute suborbital mission atop NASA's Mercury-Redstone rocket from Cape Canaveral, Florida. Meanwhile, on May 9, 2021, it was announced that SpaceX would launch an unusual mission to the moon – DOGE-1 – the first mission ever paid entirely with the cryptocurrency Doge. The mission from Canada’s Geometric Energy Corporation (GEC) will see a 40-kilogram cubesat launch on a rideshare Falcon 9 rocket to the Moon in Q1 2022. That will transform the way the world looks at crytocurrencies.
7. World Politics - Arctic Science Ministerial (ASM3) - India participated in the Thirf Arctic Science Ministerial (ASM3), a global platform for discussing research and cooperation in the Arctic region (8-9 May, 2021). The first two meetings—ASM1 and ASM2—were held in the USA in 2016 and Germany in 2018, respectively. ASM3, jointly organised by Iceland and Japan, is the first Ministerial meeting being held in Asia. It is designed to provide opportunities to various stakeholders to enhance collective understanding of the Arctic region, emphasize and engage in constant monitoring, and strengthen observations. The theme for this year is ‘Knowledge for a Sustainable Arctic’.
8. Defence and Military - 'Christchurch Call to Action' to eliminate extremism - The US joins the "Christchurch Call to Action to Eliminate Terrorist and Violent Extremist Content Online", a New Zealand-led global campaign to stamp out violent extremism online. The Christchurch Call is named after the New Zealand city in which 51 people from the Muslim community were killed in terrorist attacks broadcast live on the Internet on 15 March 2019. The Christchurch Call is an action plan that commits governments, international organizations and Internet players to take a series of measures, in particular: developing tools to prevent the downloading of terrorist and violent extremist content; combating the causes of violent extremism; improving transparency in the detection and removal of content; and ensuring that the algorithms designed and used by businesses do not direct users towards violent extremist content, so as to reduce their viral nature.
9. Healthcare and Medicne - 2-DEOXY-D-GLUCOSE (2-DG) - The Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) approved an anti-COVID drug developed by DRDO for emergency use. An anti-COVID-19 therapeutic application of the drug 2-deoxy-D-glucose (2-DG) has been developed by Institute of Nuclear Medicine and Allied Sciences (INMAS), a lab of DRDO, in collaboration with Dr Reddy’s Laboratories (DRL), Hyderabad. Clinical trial showed this molecule helps in faster recovery of hospitalised patients and reduces supplemental oxygen dependence. Higher proportion of patients treated with 2-DG showed RT-PCR negative conversion in COVID patients. The drug will be of immense benefit to the people suffering from COVID-19. The drug comes in powder form in sachet, which is taken orally by dissolving it in water. It accumulates in the virus infected cells and prevents virus growth by stopping viral synthesis and energy production. Its selective accumulation in virally infected cells makes this drug unique.
10. Indian Politics - Covid update - The virus continued hurtling through India unmitigated.Three top global experts have given their estimates of the actual number of deaths, compared to official figures. Dr Ashish Jha estimates that the actual deaths are around six times more, while Bhramar Mukherjee puts thinks it's two to five times the official figure. Murad Banaji calculates the actual deaths to be three to eight times the official numbers. And 1,496,460 is the number of Covid dead that the University of Washington-based Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) has estimated India will add to its tally by September 2021, given current projections. At worst, it can be over 1.74 million, it estimates. The crematorium in Delhi run by the army has increased the number of pyres five times and the team operating it can barely get some rest at night. In Delhi’s crematoriums, the punishing pace of work has had an impact on the caste-based division of labour which is very much a part of funerals even if no one likes to talk about it. Meanwhile, on 10th of May, the daily number of coronavirus cases in India dipped to 3,66,161 after the country reported more than four lakh cases for four consecutive days. The total number of cases in the country has now risen to 2,26,62,575. Further, India reported 3,754 coronavirus deaths in the last 24 hours, taking the total coronavirus death toll to 2,46,116. Various states have imposed lockdowns in India now. NUMBERS - INDIA - Total cases: 22,662,410; New cases: 366,499; Total deaths: 246,146; New deaths: 3,748; Total recovered: 18,665,266; Active cases: 3,750,998

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• SECTION 2 - DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS

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

RBI bond buying for 2021-22 may be Rs.3-4 trillion

• The story: The Indian bond market requires close to ₹3-4 trillion of intervention by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to be able to manage the government borrowing programme. The RBI will have to ensure that liquidity is in surplus and monetary policy is accommodative, given that fiscal year 2022 is likely to be an uncertain year.

• A question of yields: Experts think RBI will require close to ₹3-4 trillion of intervention, to be able to manage the borrowing programme without creating substantial pressure on the yields. That is 20-25% of the borrowing programme (approx Rs.15 trillion). This can change depending on how the year progresses and what the outlook on inflation and interest rates are. Besides G-SAP (government securities acquisition programme), RBI would also continue to do open market operations and Operation Twists.

• April policy: In the last April 2021 policy, RBI had announced a G-SAP, wherein it is to buy government bonds worth Rs.1 trillion from the secondary market in the first quarter of 2021-22. The first purchase of Rs.25,000 crore took place on 15 April and the next Rs.35,000 crore on 20 May.

1. While G-SAP has helped bring the yields under control, economic recovery could be hit in the current fiscal.
2. This is still the early stage of the financial year and India is hit by a major second wave.
3. Most projections of GDP growth have been downgraded for this quarter and the full year. Most are leaning towards 9-10% for FY21. Depending upon how extensive lockdowns become, there could be further downgrades. All that affects yields.

• Corporate bonds: Experts do not foresee large fundraising through corporate bonds this year as most corporates are sitting on surplus cash. In 2020, many of the corporates and non-banking finance companies benefited from RBI’s targeted long-term repo operations (TLTRO) that provided liquidity support to different sectors. This window allowed banks to borrow one-three years of funds from RBI at the repo rate by providing government securities as collateral. So there will be more normalcy in corporate fundraising from the bond market. There may be a lesser amount of issuance this year because last year much of the uplift was from TLTRO money.

Fears of lockdown are hitting the Rupee

•  The story: The Indian rupee’s recent gains could be short-lived as pressure grows on central govt to announce a nationwide lockdown to curb a deadly wave of coronavirus infections.  The prospect of stricter curbs is reviving memories of 2020 when similar measures dragged India’s economy into its worst contraction in four decades. It’s also threatening to weaken the rupee, which is among Asia’s top three performers in May, due to heavy foreign inflows for initial public offerings (IPOs), a dovish Federal Reserve and a glut of dollars at state-run banks.

• Rupee's movement: The recovery in the rupee in recent weeks reflects the softer dollar and weaker import demand as restrictions were imposed. If a nationwide lockdown were to be implemented, there may be some near-term weakness in the rupee.

1. A technical gauge is signaling that the rupee’s advance may be losing momentum. The dollar-rupee’s slow stochastics, a momentum indicator, shows that the currency pair is in oversold territory. The rupee rose 0.8% recently to 73.51 per dollar.
2. Forecasts are that rupee may fall to 76 per dollar in the second quarter but further declines may be limited by a reduction in imports.

• Lock it down: PM Modi’s political allies, top business leaders and even U.S. President Joe Biden’s chief medical adviser have said lockdowns could be the only way to stem the world’s worst virus outbreak. Analysts have trimmed India’s growth forecasts as individual states tightened restrictions, but a nationwide curb could deal a much larger blow to the economy. The Reserve Bank of India stepped in to provide loan relief and pledged to inject 500 billion rupees ($6.8 billion) of liquidity to support growth.

• Inflation data: Consumer prices are forecast to have climbed 4.1% in April from a year earlier, the slowest pace since January, to stay within the RBI’s 2%-6% target range, which would provide room for more support measures. But signs of more quantitative easing would be bad news for the rupee. The currency could remain supported as expectations of a surge in IPOs this year keeps inflows coming, although its near-term trend points to a downside as virus cases show no sign of slowing.

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

The fish issue in Peru

• The great food game: In the great Bay of Paracas, seabirds, flamingos, pelicans all take advantage of a food chain centred on great shoals of anchoveta (Pacific anchovies), which in turn feed on the nutrient-rich plankton provided by the upwelling of the cold Humboldt current along much of Peru’s coastline of 2,500 km. These riches have given the country one of the world’s great fisheries, the third-biggest after China and Indonesia. Exports of fishmeal, oil and frozen and canned fish are worth around $3bn a year. All told, the fishing industry supports around 700,000 jobs. And fresh fish and seafood are at the heart of Peruvian cuisine, one of the world’s tastiest.

• Today's problems: Peru has many problems at the moment. The pandemic has hit it hard. It is suffering political instability that a presidential run-off election next month is unlikely to resolve. But sustainably managing the country’s marine resources is a vital medium-term task. It is also a matter of current dispute.

1. Recently, the government of Francisco Sagasti, the president, published a draft decree to establish a marine reserve, known as the Nazca Ridge.
2. It would cover an area of the Pacific about the size of Latvia 100 km offshore that contains a submerged mountain range up to 4kms down.
3. This undersea massif is a refuge for endangered species, such as the loggerhead turtle, sharks, orcas and the blue whale, as well as yellowfin tuna and swordfish.
4. Environmentalists have pushed for this for years. Peru has been a pioneer in managing the anchoveta fishery. In 2009 it introduced a transferable quota system. But Peru was a laggard in creating marine protected areas.
5. Under the international Convention on Biological Diversity, it signed up to a target of protecting 10% of its seas by 2020. But so far it has only designated four small coastal reserves (Paracas, the first, dates from 1975). That contrasts with a regional average in Latin America of almost a quarter.

• Devil lies in details: The Nazca Ridge covers 7.3% of Peruvian waters. Both environmentalists and the fishing industry back it in principle. But a big row has broken out over the details. Article 5 of the draft decree separates the reserve vertically into two zones. It would allow commercial fishing for the first kilometre below the surface and ban it below that, with one exception: a single family with six boats would be allowed to continue deep-sea long-lining for Patagonian toothfish, as that family has done for a dozen years. The fishing industry has pushed for Article 5.
• Article 5: For some environmentalists Article 5 pre-empts a scientific discussion about the management of the reserve. For others it undermines the whole point of it. International experience shows that banning all fishing in an area leads stocks to regenerate and quickly increases catches nearby. And enforcement is easier if all boats are prohibited. The problem is that Peruvian law recognises prior rights, even in protected areas. Officials are worried that a total ban would be legally unenforceable. “You have to allow a very small amount of activity to protect a very large area,” says a senior official.
• Summary: An imperfect reserve may be the most it can manage before it leaves office on July 28th. Yet the issues at stake will surely recur. According to some scientists, climate change is likely to lead to fewer anchoveta. Peru should find a way to organise watertight reserves. Private property rights cannot be as absolute over the fish in the sea as they are on land.

Germany’s climate policy & latest court ruling

•  Courts and the Executive: Germany’s Federal Constitutional Court, and its eight judges, have been irritants for politicians. On April 29th, 2021, when the court’s first senate declared Germany’s climate-change law partly unconstitutional, ministers in the ruling coalition hailed the judges’ wisdom in rejecting an act they had passed 18 months earlier.

• Germany's first climate law: Passed in 2019, Germany’s first climate law decreed that by 2030 carbon emissions must be cut by 55% from the level of 1990, and laid out annual quotas for different sources of emissions.

1. It also stated that Germany, like EU, would aim to emit no net greenhouse gases by 2050.(The previous target for 2020 of a 40% cut was narrowly met, thanks to the pandemic.)
2. Critics said the law was hopelessly unambitious. Angela Merkel, Chancellor, had then said that politics was what was possible.
3. But now the constitutional court has redefined the limits of the possible. The judges said the law risked forcing future generations to “engage in radical abstinence” by leaving too much of the burden to the years after 2030.

• Deep impact: Young activists cheered the court’s novel approach to intergenerational justice. Legal theorists were struck by its discovery in Germany’s constitution of an obligation to cut emissions, given life by Germany’s commitments under the Paris climate deal of 2015.  The verdict will loom over every climate-policy deliberation of future German governments. It could also influence dozens of other climate lawsuits around the world, especially those brought by children. As governments enshrine climate commitments into law, courts are learning how to enforce them by watching each other. Litigants are emulating legal tactics that have worked elsewhere.
• Cautious: Unwilling to tread on political toes, the judges did not demand a change to the goal for 2030. Instead, Germany’s government was given until the end of 2022 to specify binding targets for the years after 2030. Soon, Mrs Merkel’s coalition leapt into action, drawing up legislation that far exceeds the court’s instructions. The government now wants to lift the 2030 reduction target to 65%, and to bring forward the net carbon-neutral date to 2045. Among other things, this may mean accelerating the phase-out of coal and increasing the new carbon price on heating and transport.
• Summary: As Covid fades, the parties will place different bets on what will drive voters in September 2021. Armin Laschet, the conservative aspirant to replace Mrs Merkel, hopes a mildly green-tinged economic pitch will appeal to Germans worried about debt and growth. The Greens think voters mean it when they tell pollsters climate is their biggest concern.

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

China resists the Xinjiang narrative

• Attacking the critics: Before the Beijing Olympics of 2008, the Chinese government had carried out a vicious crackdown on demonstrations in Tibet. Foreign media drew attention to it, and people outside China held protests. Then, a Chinese academic popularised the idea of “three afflictions”: two that China had faced in the past (“being beaten” by foreign powers and “being starved” by poverty) and a third that it faces now: “being scolded” by the rest of the world.
• Jinping used that idea: Later, President Xi Jinping adopted the concept, arguing that China faces a “fight for international discourse”.
• Xinjiang horrors: China has been scolded on Xinjiang strongly, where it has interned some 1 million Uyghurs, a mostly Muslim ethnic group, for such things as being too pious or talking to relatives overseas. The Communist Party is now pushing back against western media's reporting of it, in an effort to break what it calls the “discourse hegemony” of the West. To treat the “third affliction” it has marshalled vast resources.
• Attack, attack, attack: A feature of recent propaganda about Xinjiang is the relentless attack on China’s critics. In March the government imposed sanctions, such as bans on visiting or doing business with China, on elected officials, researchers and think-tanks in Europe and North America that had caused offence. Chinese officials also stirred up online nationalist boycotts of Western firms that had acknowledged the possibility of Uyghur forced labour in Xinjiang’s cotton industry. Authorities forced Uyghurs in China make videos begging their dissident relatives overseas to shut up.
• Personalised attacks: In the past, when the party was accused of specific abuses, its propagandists would issue general denials. They would also try to recast repressive policies as examples of the party’s wisdom and munificence, producing what a vice-president of Xinhua once called “fairy tales”. And they have long tried to change the subject by playing up human-rights abuses in America. Now, at almost any critical mention of Xinjiang, China pushes back hard. Western experts say this verbal ferocity is partly aimed at a nationalist audience within China, which likes to hear the motherland robustly defended (as does Mr Xi). That helps explain a blustery performance by Yang Jiechi, China’s top diplomat, at a summit in Alaska in March 2021 with America’s secretary of state, Antony Blinken. After Mr Blinken raised the subject of Xinjiang, among other concerns, Mr Yang unleashed an 18-minute tirade about the virtues of “Chinese-style democracy” and the effrontery of those who try to “smear” it.
• Summary: The propaganda push does not appear to have won hearts and minds in rich democracies. But bullying critics leads to future silence. Many firms were quiet in the wake of the online boycott in China. The Better Cotton Initiative, a global apparel-industry consortium, took down an online statement of concern about Xinjiang cotton. In 2019, after an executive of a National Basketball Association team tweeted in support of protests in Hong Kong, China’s main broadcaster stopped showing NBA games. Since then, players and executives have been almost completely silent on China.

France and the released terrorists

•  A new challenge: France is grappling with an unfamiliar challenge: how to handle those let out after serving jail time for terrorist-related offences. Of the 500 or so such detainees now behind bars, 58 are due for release this year, and a total of some 100 by 2023. Most were convicted for joining jihadist groups in Syria or Iraq, or helping others to do so. They were often sentenced to terms of only five to six years. Far stiffer sentences, including life, were handed down last December to accomplices in the terrorist attacks in Paris in 2015.

• What happens now: Current law enables such prisoners, after a risk assessment, to be put under surveillance and their movements limited for up to a year after their release. A new anti-terrorism bill, which entrenches and extends measures introduced in 2017 to end a state of emergency, would increase this to two years. It would enable courts to compel freed offenders to check in with probation officers and other authorities, and to enrol in training schemes, work or psychological support, for up to five years.

• Fundamental freedoms: France’s Constitutional Council last year rejected a previous version of some of these measures as a breach of fundamental freedoms, and told legislators to revise the bill. A reworked version is now going through parliament. Critics nonetheless worry about the mixed evidence of recidivism among released jihadists. A Belgian study, cited by Marc Hecker in a report for the French Institute of International Relations, suggested that just 2% of the 557 individuals convicted of jihadist terrorism between 1990 and 2019 re-offended.

1. In France, however, out of a sample of 137 individuals sentenced for cases related to jihadism between 2004 and 2017, at least 22 re-offended, left for jihad, attempted to kill a prison warden or breached the law against justifying terrorism.
2. One of those released, Chérif Kouachi, took advantage of his freedom to help shoot and kill 12 people in 2015 at Charlie Hebdo, a magazine that had published cartoons satirising the Prophet Muhammad.

• Summary: France is giving itself extra means, as well as legal powers, to fight terrorism. Since 2017 it has recruited an extra 1,900 intelligence officers and increased their budget. It has a new post of national counter-terrorism and intelligence co-ordinator. Fully 36 attacks have been foiled. The security services worry that there is nonetheless a pool of potential recruits to jihad on French soil who are increasingly difficult to detect. Each of the past eight terrorist attacks in France has been carried out by an individual who was previously unknown to the services. Terrorism, according to a poll, is now a greater worry for the French than unemployment.

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

Centre advisory on Mucormycosis fungal infection

• A new trouble: Mucormycosis, a fungal infection being found in COVID-19 patients with uncontrolled diabetes and prolonged intensive care unit (ICU) stay, may turn fatal if uncared for, as per Central Government advisory. It said the fungal infection mainly affects people who are on medication that reduces their ability to fight environmental pathogens.

• Warning symptoms: These include pain and redness around eyes and nose, fever, headache, coughing, shortness of breath, bloody vomits and altered mental status. The advisory for screening, diagnosis and management of the disease was released by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and the Union health ministry.

1. Mucormycosis, if uncared for, may turn fatal. Sinuses or lungs of such individuals get affected after fungal spores are inhaled from the air
2. Warning symptoms include pain and redness around eyes and nose, fever, headache, coughing, shortness of breath, bloody vomits and altered mental status
3. In COVID-19 patients with diabetes and immuno-suppressed individuals, one must suspect of mucormycosis if there is sinusitis, one-side facial pain or numbness, blackish discoloration over the bridge of the nose or palate, toothache, blurred or double vision with pain, skin lesion, thrombosis, chest pain and worsening respiratory symptoms

• Risk factors: Major risk factors for this disease include uncontrolled diabetes mellitus, immunosuppression by steroids, prolonged ICU stay, malignancy and voriconazole therapy. To prevent the disease, blood glucose level should be monitored post-COVID discharge and also in diabetic patients; steroids should be used judiciously in correct timing, dose and duration; clean sterile water should be used in humidifiers during oxygen therapy; and antibiotics and antifungal medicines should be used correctly.

• Management: The disease can be managed by controlling diabetes, discontinuing immunomodulating drugs, reducing steroids and extensive surgical debridement- to remove all necrotic materials. Medical treatment includes installing peripherally inserted central catheter, maintaining adequate systemic hydration, infusion of normal saline intravenously before Amphotericin B infusion and anti-fungal therapy for at least six weeks besides monitoring the patient clinically with radio imaging for response and to detect disease progression.

Waiving IP protection for Covid-19 Vaccines

• US with India: The United States has announced the support for waiving Intellectual Property (IP) protection for Covid-19 vaccines. It was a breakthrough in India and South Africa's attempts to get World Trade Organisation (WTO) member countries to agree to such a waiver to fight the pandemic equitably.

• Points to note: The 1995 agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) requires ratifying countries to adopt a minimum standard of intellectual property rights to protect creators and promote innovation. India and South Africa proposed a waiver from the implementation and application of certain provisions of the TRIPS Agreement (waiving IP rights like patents, copyright, and trademarks) for prevention, containment or treatment of Covid-19.

1. If the waiver is granted, WTO member countries will not be under an obligation, for a temporary period, to either grant or enforce patents and other IP-related rights to Covid-19 drugs, vaccines, and other treatments.
2. This will immunise the measures adopted by countries to vaccinate their populations from claims of illegality under WTO law.

• Need to waive protection: Today, only drug companies which own patents are authorised to manufacture Covid vaccines. A lifting of patents will allow the formula to be shared with other companies. Once the formula is shared, any company which possesses the required technology and infrastructure can produce vaccines. This will lead to cheaper and more generic versions of Covid vaccines and will be a big step in overcoming vaccine shortage.

1. Today, we see an inequitable distribution of vaccines. This has opened up a glaring gap between developing and wealthier countries now. The countries having surplus doses of vaccines have already vaccinated a considerable percentage of their population and are returning to normalcy. Poorer nations continue to face shortages, have overburdened healthcare systems and hundreds dying daily.
2. The longer Covid circulates in developing nations, there is a greater chance of more vaccine-resistant, deadly mutations of the virus emerging.

•  Significance for India: The bulk of the vaccine doses produced in India are taken up by foreign countries which could pay more for the doses. This move can help scale up production to meet demand besides making the vaccines more affordable for everyone. Indian authorities have stated that the third wave of the pandemic is inevitable. Once the number of cases and deaths plateau, addressing shortages and making more affordable vaccines readily accessible could be the best way to prepare for the surge once again.
• Those who oppose: Pharma firms say that the vaccine quality and safety may get compromised. It would also disincentive pharmaceutical companies. They claim that eliminating those protections would undermine the global response to the pandemic, including ongoing effort to tackle new variants. It will create confusion that could potentially undermine public confidence in vaccine safety, and create a barrier to information sharing.
• Summary: Waiving IP protections alone isn't enough to make vaccines available around the world. The countries must work with each other to expand manufacturing capabilities and support international vaccines.

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

India's system of administration needs rebooting

• Adar in London: India's biggest vaccine-maker SII's boss Adar Poonawalla suddenly left for London. After his statements to the British media, on 3 May India’s government issued a media release stating that it had placed new orders for 110 million doses of Covishield and 50 million doses of Covaxin from Serum Institute of India and Bharat Biotech, to be delivered over the next three months.
• How many ordered: Refuting allegations that fresh orders had not been placed, the government revealed that these purchases had been paid for in advance in the last week of April. The release also noted the government’s previous order of 100 million and 20 million doses of the two respective vaccines, of which 87% and 44% had been fulfilled as on that date. The earliest order was perhaps placed in January, after vaccines received regulatory approval and before India’s vaccination programme started in the middle of that month.
• Comparatively speaking: The British government ordered 90 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine as early as May 2020, enough to cover 67% of its population. The same month, the US government ordered 300 million doses, adequate for 46% of its population. By September 2020, Japan, the EU, Australia, Canada, Germany and Brazil had all placed significant orders. All these countries placed orders for a vaccine that didn’t exist back then. These were not purchases, but bets. They reduced their risks as more money raises the likelihood of the development of a successful vaccine.
• India's purchasig system: Can India purchase things that do not yet exist? Yes it can. Both the Constitution and extant rules can be interpreted or changed for it to do what it wants. The practical question is this: Which public official, minister or civil servant would want to sign off on such a purchase? In case the purchased non-existent vaccine fails to materialize, not only would careers come to a premature end, jail terms would beckon. Indeed, there is nothing to prevent an ambitious government auditor or opportunistic politician from raking up a ‘scam’ years later, long after people have forgotten the context. Perhaps this is whay India ordered its first vaccines in January 2021, after they came into existence.
• Limitations: If we are to secure better governance outcomes, we must understand the limitations of our administrative structures and decision-making culture. It is a myth that enacting a legislation, securing a Supreme Court verdict or electing different leaders will change outcomes. Unless India reforms how India is governed, the structures, processes and culture of government, it will continue to be disappointed by what the system actually delivers.
• What works, what does not: In India, if a system works, it is because the outcomes of the actions of its good people outweigh those of the bad ones. If those good people do not have the power, authority and incentives to act, then the system does not deliver. All officials should be able to exercise judgement within their scope of duties and act in the public interest. The pandemic highlights the need for a fundamental rethink of India's administrative goals, structures and processes. From national defence to public health, India has been let down by the inability of our government to act early, take necessary risks and procure what’s needed.

Deadly second wave puts a full stop on major Surveys

• The story: The Union government has now suspended work on four key surveys on (i) migrants, (ii) domestic workers, (iii) jobs created by the transport sector and (iv) professionals, because of the deadly second wave of the pandemic, possibly delaying a national employment policy based on these surveys.
• Why suspended: With lockdowns and curfews being imposed across the country, surveyors will find it difficult to visit families, offices and worksites. The management of the pandemic has become a top priority now, and the surveys will restart once the situation improves. The nationwide surveys, designed and executed by the labour bureau in consultation with an expert committee, may also be reworked as the explosive surge in infections this year has changed the ground realities since the surveys were conceived.

• Delay's problem: The delay may have an adverse impact on the proposed national employment policy that the government was mulling. The four labour codes already passed by Parliament, and the national jobs and social economic survey results were expected to be the base of such a policy. According to the Union labour ministry, the migrants’ survey will be the first such study of “the socioeconomic and working conditions of migrant workers" and shall “also assess the impact of covid-19 on migrant workers".

1. The survey of domestic workers expects to capture the socio-economic condition, the job preference and impact of the pandemic on their economic status.
2. While the transport sector survey was supposed to capture the jobs created by the industry, including by taxi aggregators, the one on professionals was supposed to capture the employment generation and potential of tens of thousands of professionals, including advocates, doctors and chartered accountants.
3. The surveys were supposed to be released by November. On 31 March, labour minister Santosh Gangwar said that the surveys will “generate highly useful data for effective policymaking in the field of labour and employment".

• Deep insights: The study of the labour market, including gig workers, will help the government formulate a comprehensive employment policy for both formal and informal segments and design social security and welfare measures. Besides, there has been a growing demand for a national policy on employment to formalize the large informal sector, implement social security for unorganized workers, and formulate welfare schemes for low-income households.
• Hopeful: The labour bureau was hopeful of restarting the process in a couple of months once the situation improves, allowing them to resume fieldwork. The surveys are crucial as they could provide a holistic picture of the employment market and the socioeconomic condition of migrants and other informal workers, who have drawn global attention following the massive reverse migration and job losses they faced after the national lockdown of 2020.
• Summary: The first wave of the covid-19 pandemic pushed an estimated 230 million Indians to poverty, according to a survey by Azim Premji University. The survey suggested authorities focus on rural jobs and direct cash transfer to the poor. The second wave has, however, further strained the labour market. According to the Centre for Monitoring India Economy, at least 7.35 million jobs were lost in April, including some 2.84 million salaried jobs in rural India.

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

Venus - a mesmerising planet

• The story: Scientists have obtained new data about Venus by bouncing radio waves off the planet. Scientists transmitted radio waves toward Venus 21 times from 2006 to 2020 from NASA's Goldstone Antenna in the Mojave Desert of California and studied the radio echo, which provided information on certain planetary traits.
• Learnings: A single Venusian rotation takes 243.0226 Earth days. This means a day lasts longer than a year on Venus, which makes a complete orbit around the sun in 225 Earth days. The Venusian planetary core has a diameter of about 7,000 km, comparable to Earth’s core which is 6,970 km. The Venusian tilt is at about 2.64 degrees. Earth’s is about 23.5 degrees.
• Previous findings: Presence of phosphine was detected in the atmosphere of Venus.This indicated the possibility of the presence of lifeforms on Venus. According to a study published in Nature Geoscience, Venus is still geologically active. The study identified 37 active volcanoes, in the form of ring-like structures known as coronae, on the surface of Venus.

• The planet: Venus, the second planet from the sun, is similar in structure but slightly smaller than Earth (Earth’s Twin). It has a thick and toxic atmosphere that consists primarily of carbon dioxide, with clouds of sulfuric acid droplets. With a runaway greenhouse effect, its surface temperatures reach 471 degrees Celsius, hot enough to melt lead.

1. (a) The phenomenon, called the ‘runaway greenhouse’ effect, occurs when a planet absorbs more energy from the sun than it can radiate back to space. Under these circumstances, the hotter the surface temperature gets, the faster it warms up.
2. (b) Venus is one of just two planets that rotate from east to west. Only Venus and Uranus have this “backwards” rotation. Venus has no moons and no rings. On Venus, one day-night cycle takes 117 Earth days because Venus rotates in the direction opposite of its orbital revolution around the Sun.

• Various Venus missions: (a) ISRO Shukrayaan: The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is planning a mission to Venus, tentatively called Shukrayaan, (b) Akatsuki (Japanese 2015), (c) Venus Express (European Space Agency 2005), and (d) NASA’s Magellan (1989).

5G trials in India

• The story: The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has given permissions to Telecom Service Providers (TSPs) for conducting trials for use and applications of 5G technology. This formally leaves out Chinese companies like Huawei and ZTE from the 5G race in India.

• Points to note: In the initial phase, these trials will be for 6 months, including a 2 month period for procurement and setting up of the equipment. The TSPs will be required to test their set up in urban areas, semi-urban areas as well as rural areas. They will be provided with experimental spectrum in various bands, such as the mid-band of 3.2 GHz to 3.67 GHz, the millimeter wave band of 24.25 GHz to 28.5 GHz, and others.

1. Applications such as tele-medicine, tele-education, augmented/ virtual reality, drone-based agricultural monitoring, etc. will be tested. The data generated during the trials will be stored in India.
2. The TSPs are encouraged to conduct trials using 5Gi technology in addition to the already known 5G Technology. The 5Gi technology was advocated by India and it is approved by International Telecommunications Union (ITU) - the United Nations specialized agency for information and communication technologies – ICTs. The 5Gi technology has been developed by IIT Madras, Centre of Excellence in Wireless Technology (CEWiT) and IIT Hyderabad. It facilitates much larger reach of the 5G towers and Radio networks.

• Need for 5G trial: The telecom market in India is left with only three private telcos, with the rest having surrendered to the low returns on investments over the years. The two state-run companies, MTNL and Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) have survived but are making losses. In order to increase their average revenue per user, it is pertinent for telcos to start offering the new 5G technology as soon as possible.
• Chinese Telecom Companies in India: India's telecom ministry has left out Chinese equipment makers Huawei and ZTE from its 5G trials, becoming the latest country to lock the firms out. The US says Huawei could be used by China for spying, via its 5G equipment and its Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has even ordered certain US telecommunications companies to remove Huawei equipment from their network. India is yet to implement any type of official ban on the Chinese companies, which currently supply a significant amount of equipment to India's mobile providers. In December 2020, the government said it would identify "trusted" sources of telecoms gear its carriers can use in their networks as part of the new security directive for the sector.

• 5G technology: The 5G tech mainly work in three bands, viz., low, mid and high frequency spectrum — all of which have their own uses as well as limitations.

1. Low band spectrum: It has shown great promise in terms of coverage and speed of internet and data exchange however the maximum speed is limited to 100 Mbps (Megabits per second).
2. Mid-band spectrum: It offers higher speeds compared to the low band, but has limitations in terms of coverage area and penetration of signals.
3. High-band spectrum: It has the highest speed of all the three bands, but has extremely limited coverage and signal penetration strength.
4. Upgraded LTE: 5G is the latest upgrade in the long-term evolution (LTE) mobile broadband networks.
5. Internet speed and efficiency: In the high-band spectrum of 5G, internet speeds have been tested to be as high as 20 Gbps (gigabits per second) as compared to the maximum internet data speed in 4G recorded at 1 Gbps. 5G will provide up to three times greater spectrum efficiency and ultra low latency. Latency is the amount of time data takes to travel between its source and destination.

• 5G applications: It will trigger the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Combined with IoT, cloud, big data, AI, and edge computing, 5G could be a critical enabler of the fourth industrial revolution. A primary applications of 5G will be implementation of sensor-embedded networks that will allow real time relay of information across fields such as manufacturing, consumer durables and agriculture. 5G can also help make transport infrastructure more efficient by making it smart. 5G will enable vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-infrastructure communication, making driverless cars, among other things, a reality. 5G networks could improve the accessibility of services such as mobile banking and healthcare. It will stimulate the local Research and Development (R&D) ecosystem to develop innovative applications tailored to commercial needs. 5G is expected to create a cumulative economic impact of USD1 trillion in India by 2035, according to a report by a government-appointed panel (2018).
• Evolution: 1G was launched in the 1980s and worked on analog radio signals and supported only voice calls. 2G was launched in the 1990s which uses digital radio signals and supported both voice and data transmission with a bandwidth of 64 Kbps. 3G was launched in the 2000s with a speed of 1 Mbps to 2 Mbps and it has the ability to transmit telephone signals including digitised voice, video calls and conferencing. 4G was launched in 2009 with a peak speed of 100 Mbps to 1 Gbps and it also enables 3D virtual reality.

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

Attacking fake violence posts in West Bengal

• The story: West Bengal police got more than 500 fake posts deleted from social media of “post-poll violence in Bengal” and “Hindu genocide in Bengal” in the month of May. The vast numbers are just one indicator of the enormity of the problem. Among images sought to be passed off as “Bengal violence images” are old photos from Brazil, Venezuela and Bangladesh.
• Sourcing worldwide: The Bengal CID tweeted a video link where a verified user — Chaudhary Amit Singh — claimed a man was beaten and assaulted with sticks and stones. The video had originated from Brazil, and is at least three years old. In parallel, a 2018 video from Venezuela had been shared on social media as a political worker being lynched in Bengal in post-poll violence by “TMC goons”. Kolkata police has flagged a Bangladeshi video that was being passed off as an attack on a polling agent in Bengal. After this, half a dozen videos have surfaced with morphed images from incidents which took place in Bangladesh.
• Massive scale: The police say that since May 5, after the election results were declared, the number of fake videos under surveillance was in the hundreds. The CID contacted social media platforms like Facebook, YouTube and Twitter and have taken down close to 300 posts and accounts. The Kolkata police claimed it had flagged and removed 200 others.
• Some focus points: Investigators say there has been special emphasis on a few districts, from where the volumes are higher. The state police have lodged five FIRs in Cooch Behar alone. CID sources said most of the rehashed old incidents are those that were reported from UP, Bihar and Odisha.
• Summary: This is a disturbing trend in India, where people (including verified profiles) are easily posting inflammatory material on social media platforms to gain political or material advantage. This has the potential to destabilise social peace, and even cause a loss of life. But just one state attacking the fake posts is not enough; India needs a national "Anti Hate and Anti Fake Post Law" now. The union government, under the dynamic leadership of PM Narendra Modi must take the initiative and legislate the law to end the menace of fake posts.

Covid impact on India's poor

• The story: A May report by 'Hunger Watch' claimed that Covid-19 has left the urban poor in India poorer, more hungry and with less nutrition than their rural counterparts. 'Hunger Watch' is a collection of social groups and movements. A study from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) had found that an additional 207 million people could be pushed into extreme poverty by 2030 due to the severe long-term impact of the coronavirus pandemic.

• Pew research: A new research conducted by Pew Research Center has found that the Covid-19 has pushed about 32 million Indians out of the middle class and increased poverty in the country. That is a dangerous rise in destitution, with a potential to destabilise chunks of economy.

• The dimensions of impact:

1. Economic - The food insecurity has prompted more people to enter the labour force (55% increase in the labour force among the respondents). It also noted a silent rise in child labour as well. The economic crisis was deepening as people who lost their jobs were yet to find replacements and little had been accomplished after the lockdown for the revival of livelihoods in the informal sector.
2. Public Distribution System and Schemes - A large section of rural residents could cushion the blow of pandemic-driven economic disruption due to foodgrain via the Public Distribution System (PDS). The urban poor’s access to such ration, however, was minimal. The social security schemes also had relatively better coverage among the rural poor as rural areas had better access to PDS rations.
3. Nutrition and hunger - A decline in nutritional quality and quantity was more among the urban respondents as was the need to borrow money for buying food.The levels of hunger and food insecurity remained high, with little hope of the situation improving without measures specifically aimed at providing employment opportunities as well as food support. Even when India had a record food grain production at 296.65 million tonnes in the 2019-20 crop year (July-June), beating the target of 291.1 million tonnes and 4% higher than 2018-19, the net of hunger became more widespread as more people had to start skipping some meals in a day.
4. National Family Health Survey (NFHS) data - The figures in the Hunger Watch report are alarming, especially when seen in conjunction with the recent rounds of NFHS data. The NFHS data has shown either a worsening or stagnation in malnutrition outcomes such as prevalence of stunting and wasting among children and high levels of anaemia among women and children.

• Government initiatives: Many schemes were launched, including (i) Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana, (ii) Reserve Bank of India’s Covid-19 Economic Relief Package, and (iii) Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan (self-reliant India).

• Summary: Since the majority of the poor already had low incomes to begin with, a further reduction in household income is akin to taking a bullet train to hunger. This calls for special attention on social protection measures including schemes for provision of subsidised food and employment guarantee in urban areas.

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

Elon Musk open up on 'SNL'

• The story: Maverick tech entrepreneur Elon Musk appeared on “Saturday Night Live" show, hosting it the first time. He said he was the first person with Asperger’s syndrome to host the show.
• Arrogant or genuius: The chief executive of Tesla Inc. and Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) said "To anyone I’ve offended, I just want to say, I reinvented electric cars, and I’m sending people to Mars in a rocket ship." “Did you think I was also going to be a chill, normal dude?"
• Moving the market: He expounded on the merits of the cryptocurrency using jargon, and then was asked “What is dogecoin?" Musk eventually said, “Yeah, it’s a hustle." The price of dogecoin, created in 2013 as a joke, surged as high as 74 cents early 08th May in advance of Mr. Musk’s SNL appearance, spurring hope among investors that it would cross $1 for the first time. The price wobbled between 49 cents and 69 cents for most of the broadcast.
• Dogecoin: When the show ended, dogecoin was trading around 52 cents, putting its market value at about $72 billion. The stir created around the show since Mr. Musk was named as host last month suggests that “SNL" may see a spike in TV ratings. The show has drawn an average 9.2 million total viewers in its 46th season. The last host to send viewership soaring in a big way was Eddie Murphy, whose return to “SNL" in late 2019 after 35 years attracted 16.3 million total viewers.
• Mother's Day: His mother Maye Musk made an appearance in keeping with a show tradition of bringing on cast members’ mothers on the eve of Mother’s Day. She said that she hoped her gift wouldn’t be the dogecoin her son has often tweeted about. Musk said it was. In one segment, Musk, who longs to colonize Mars, issued commands to a Mars mission that relied on a slacker character played by Pete Davidson. In his opening monologue, Mr. Musk made light of the name of his youngest child, X Æ A-Xii. He said that it's pronounced cat running across the keyboard.

Warning sign from the world’s most vaccinated country

• The story: As the Seychelles began to offer free coronavirus vaccinations early in 2021, President Wavel Ramkalawan thought the country was about to reach herd immunity within weeks. It was an ambitious target for a small, geographically isolated island nation in the Indian Ocean. But with its economy heavily reliant on tourism, the country called in favors to attain a vaccine supply from regional allies, including India and the United Arab Emirates.
• From success to failure: The effort initially seemed to be a success. The Seychelles stands as the most vaccinated nation on Earth, with more than 60 percent of its population fully vaccinated, more than other vaccine giants such as Israel and Britain, and almost twice the United States’ rate of vaccination. But that success was undermined in May 2021 as the Seychelles found itself with the world’s largest number of new coronavirus cases per capita and was forced to reinstate some restrictions.
• Many cases: Though the number of new cases is relatively low — peaking at an average of just under 150 new cases a day — they are a big deal in a country with a population of less than 100,000. On a per capita basis, the Seychelles outbreak is worse than India’s raging surge. In a small country, even a small number of cases can be overwhelming.
• Global worry: The Seychelles situation is being watched all over the world. It is providing a critical case to consider the effectiveness of some vaccines and what range we have to reach to meet herd immunity. Other nations that had vaccinated large proportions of their populations, including Israel and Britain, had seen significant drops in new daily cases. Vaccines are very effective at preventing serious illness and death; they are less good at preventing infection.
• Which vaccines: Roughly 60 percent of the doses administered in Seychelles are vaccines made by the Chinese company Sinopharm that were donated to the Seychelles by the United Arab Emirates. The remaining doses are of the vaccine developed by AstraZeneca and produced by the Serum Institute of India. In many ways, Seychelles government negotiations for vaccine supplies were savvy and speedy. But the country has ended up using two vaccines that appear to be less effective against symptomatic covid-19. The World Health Organization recently estimated the efficacy of the Sinopharm vaccine at just over 78 percent for adults under 60, with little data on its success with older patients. The UAE has asked some who received the Sinopharm vaccine to return for third doses, citing low immune responses, though officials said only a “very small number” need to do so. Meanwhile, U.S. trials of AstraZeneca have found that the vaccine is 79 percent effective overall. Both vaccines are considerably lower in effectiveness than the vaccines developed by Pfizer and Moderna, which use mRNA technology and have reported effectiveness rates of around 95 percent.

Space debris guidelines of UN

• The story: The Chinese rocket "Long March 5B" fell into the Indian Ocean near Maldives, in May 2021. The track of the falling rocket couldn’t be predicted for many days, causing worries. The European Space Agency announced that the rocket might fall anywhere between 41.5 degree north and 41.5 degrees south latitude. This put several highly populated cities at risk. The Chinese Aircraft was the size of a ten-storey building. It was the core module for its space station.
• NASA: The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) of US recently attacked China saying the spacecraft did not abide by the international standards on space debris and also on safety.

• United Nations on Space Debris: In 2007, the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Use of Outer Space endorsed a resolution on “Space Debris Mitigation Guidelines”. The 'Space Debris Mitigation Guidelines' are

1. To limit debris released during the orbital or spacecraft stages
2. To minimise the breakups during operational phases
3. To reduce the probability of accidental collisions in the orbit
4. To prevent international distraction and other harmful activities
5. To minimise the potential for post mission breakups caused due to stored energy
6. To reduce long term presence of launch vehicles, orbital stages and space crafts in the low earth orbit

• What happened: The rockets carry their payload into the space. After the payload is dropped in its orbit, the booster stages of the rocket that reach the orbit fire the engine to drop the rockets back to the earth. This will prevent the rocket from remaining in the orbit and thereby reduce space debris, and also prevent them from causing potential threats to hit other rockets. But China chose not to do this for its Long March rocket. This led to the crashing of its rocket. Space stations make sure such parts fall in the middle of the ocean or in uninhabited areas.

Himanta Biswa Sarma: 15th Assam CM

• The story: Himanta Biswa Sarma was sworn in as the Chief Minister of Assam on May 10, 2021. He replaced Sarbananda Sonowal. Both the candidates are from BJP.

• Chief Minister of the state: The Chief Minister is appointed by the Governor. Only Members of the Legislative Assembly or Members of the Parliament are elected by the people. The Chief Minister and the Prime Minister are appointed by the Governor and President respectively.

1. After the election, the party that secures majority in the house elects its leader. The leader’s name is then communicated to the Governor, who appoints the CM and then asks the CM to appoint his council of ministers. The Governor can ask the single largest party to form the government when no party gets majority in the state.
2. The State Assembly can remove him from power by passing a Vote of No Confidence against him/her. The Governor shall dismiss him if he loses his majority support.
3. A person not belonging to the Legislative Assembly or to the Legislative Council may also be appointed as the Chief Minister. However, he or she should be elected to either of the houses within six months of his or her tenure. A recent example is that of Mamata Banerjee, sworn in as the Chief Minister of West Bengal, even though she lost the Assembly elections in Nandigram to Suvendu Adhikari by a margin of 1956 votes.

• Constitutional provisions:

1. Article 163: The Chief Minister and the Council of Ministers advise the Governor
2. Article 164: Governor appoints the Chief Minister. The Governor then appoints the ministers based on the recommendation of the Chief Minister.
3. Article 166: Conduct of Business of the State Government
4. Article 167: Duties of Chief Minister

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• SECTION 3 - MCQs (Multiple Choice Questions)

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

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