Daily Current Affairs - Civil Services - 14-05-2021

Useful compilation of Civil Services oriented - Daily Current Affairs - Civil Services - 14-05-2021

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• SECTION 1 - TEN NEWS HEADLINES

1. Environment and Ecology - High-intensity cyclone may hit Gujarat - The India Meteorological Department (IMD) warned that a high-intensity cyclone, brewing in the Arabian Sea, was headed towards south Gujarat and Pakistan and may reach their coasts around May 18, 2021. "We're expecting very rapid intensification of the system within a short time," Sunitha S Devi, senior IMD scientist said. If realised, it will acquire the name 'Tauktae'. The National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) has earmarked 53 teams to tackle possible after-effects of Cyclone Tauktae. Out of the 53 teams, he said, 24 have been pre-deployed or stationed on the ground while the rest are on stand-by. Any tropical cyclone that develops within the North Indian Ocean between 100°E and 45°E is monitored by the India Meteorological Department (IMD). The official classification used is - Super Cyclonic Storm (≥221 km/h), Extremely Severe Cyclonic Storm (166–220 km/h), Very Severe Cyclonic Storm (118–165 km/h), Severe Cyclonic Storm (89–117 km/h), Cyclonic Storm (63–88 km/h), Deep Depression (51–62 km/h), and Depression (31–50 km/h).
2. Social Issues - India to be the world’s most populous country by 2027 - Chinese demographers say India will become the world's most populous country earlier than the United Nations' projection of 2027, surpassing China where a steady drop in the birth rate exists. India may add 27 crore more people between now and 2050, a UN report had said in 2019. India will remain the most populated country through the end of the current century. In 2019, India had an estimated population of 1.37 billion and China 1.43 billion. The once-in-a-decade census released by China in May 2021 said China's population grew at its slowest pace to reach 1.41178 billion, making China the world's most populous country. China faces the risk of falling into the trap of low fertility, as it recorded 12 million births in 2020, marking a drop for the fourth consecutive year. China's total fertility rate of women of childbearing age was 1.3, a relatively low level, while India's is at 2.1, which is the replacement fertility level. The global fertility rate was 2.5 in 2019, as per the UN's World Fertility and Family Planning, 2020, report.
3. Environment and Ecology - TIFR’s Carbon dioxide Conversion process - The Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR) scientists have found a cheap carbon dioxide conversion process. This magnesium-assisted process mixes carbon dioxide, water and magnesium, at room temperature and pressure to get methane, methanol, formic acid and some hydrogen. Magnesium carbonate is the by-product. It is used in the production of green cement and in the pharma industry. With this process, one can make methane (a rocket fuel) on Mars. This is so because Mars’s atmosphere is almost entirely made of carbon dioxide. Mars has water in the form of ice, and its soil contains an abundance of magnesium.
4. Healthcare and Medicine - Ivermectin in Covid-19 treatment - The World Health Organisation (WHO) has recommended against the use of ‘Ivermectin’ drug for COVID-19 except within clinical trials. Ivermectin is used for the treatment and eradication of two life-threatening illnesses - Onchocerciasis and filariasis. Orally-administered Ivermectin is still listed in India’s revised national COVID-19 treatment protocol as a possible treatment option for mild COVID-19 patients under home isolation. Indian physicians who continue to use this drug state that it is an approved anti-parasitic agent. They say that it has shown, in laboratory settings, to inhibit SARSCOV2 replication. They say that it is effective in reducing the multiplication of certain RNA viruses such as SARS and COVID RNA, as it binds to the spike protein site of the RNA virus and reduces the multiplication and attachment of the virus to the ACE receptor in the nose, Ivermectin prevents attachment of virus to the nasal epithelium.
5. Constitution and Law - Patents Act, 1970 - In light of the patent waivers demanded by India regarding Covid-19 prevention technologies, the relevant India law came into focus, i.e. The Indian Patents Act, 1970. It is the legislation that till date governs patents in India, and first came into force in 1972. This Act is implemented by the Office of the Controller General of Patents, Designs and Trade Marks (CGPDTM). The Controller General supervises the Act’s administration and also offers advice to the government on related matters. The Patents Act has been amended in 1999, 2002, 2005, 2006 to make the Act TRIPS compliant. The major amendment in the Patent Act was in 2005, when product patents were extended to all fields of technology like food, drugs, chemicals and microorganisms. Product patents are very 'tight controls' that benefit the innovators, but can harm developing countries that seek to provide cheaper generic medicines to their populations, especially during medical emergencies.
6. Indian Economy - Sovereign Gold Bond Scheme 2021-22 - The Central Government in consultation with the RBI (Reserve Bank of India) has decided to issue Sovereign Gold Bonds once again. They will be issued in six tranches from 17th May to September 2021. The Bonds will be sold through Scheduled Commercial banks (except Small Finance Banks and Payment Banks), Stock Holding Corporation of India Limited (SHCIL), designated post offices, and recognised stock exchanges viz., National Stock Exchange of India Limited and Bombay Stock Exchange Limited. The minimum permissible investment will be one gram of gold. Investors will be compensated at a fixed rate of 2.50 percent per annum payable semi-annually on the nominal value. The Bonds will be restricted for sale to resident individuals, Hindu Undivided Families, Trusts, Universities and Charitable Institutions. The tenor of the Bond will be for a period of 8 years with exit option after 5th year to be exercised on the next interest payment dates. In the year 2015, to reduce the demand for physical gold in India, the PM of India had launched three gold-related schemes –namely, the Gold Sovereign Bond Scheme, Gold Monetisation Scheme (GMS), and the India Gold Coin Scheme.
7. Healthcare and Medicine - Covishield dose gap - The COVID Working Group chaired by Dr NK Arora recommended extension of the gap between the first and second doses of COVISHIELD vaccine to 12-16 weeks. The present gap between the two doses of COVISHIELD vaccine is 6-8 weeks. Based on the available real-life evidences, particularly from UK, the COVID-19 Working Group agreed for increasing the dosing interval to 12-16 weeks between two doses. No change in interval of COVAXIN vaccine doses was recommended. Dr Arora is the Director, INCLEN Trust. The recommendation of the COVID Working Group was accepted by the National Expert Group on Vaccine Administration for Covid-19 (NEGVAC), headed by Dr VK Paul, Member (Health) Niti Aayog, on 12th May 2021. India is struggling with a huge shortage of vaccines, and the ambitious vaccination plan has gone awry for the time being.
8. Defence and Military - Iron Dome Air Defence System of Israel - Israel has used its Iron Dome air defence system in the May 2021 violent clashes over Jerusalem. This is a short-range, ground-to-air, air defence system that includes a radar and Tamir interceptor missiles that track and neutralise any rockets or missiles aimed at Israeli targets. It is used for countering rockets, artillery & mortars as well as aircraft, helicopters and Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV). It is capable of being used in all weather conditions, including during the day and night. Developed by the state-run Rafael Advanced Defense Systems and Israel Aerospace Industries and deployed in 2011, it claims a success rate of over 90%, with more than 2,000 interceptions. It can protect deployed and manoeuvring forces, as well as the Forward Operating Base (FOB) and urban areas, against a wide range of indirect and aerial threats.
9. Social Issues - Increased child marriages in lockdown - Activists and organisations of Karnataka have raised the issue of increased child marriages in lockdown, in their interaction with the Ministry of Women and Child Development. A report in December 2020 by ChildLine India said the pandemic and the subsequent lockdown have proved to be new drivers of child marriages in rural Madhya Pradesh. It is defined as a marriage of a girl or boy before the age of 18 and refers to both formal marriages and informal unions in which children under the age of 18 live with a partner as if married. United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) estimates suggest that each year, at least 1.5 million girls under 18 get married in India, which makes it home to the largest number of child brides in the world - accounting for a third of the global total. Recent study by The Lancet shows that up to 2.5 million more girls (below the age of 18) around the world are at risk of marriage in the next 5 years because of the Covid-19 pandemic.
10. Indian Politics - Covid Update - As many as 4,000 coronavirus deaths were reported in India in 24 hours, taking the death toll to 2,62,317. This is the third straight day that India reported 4,000 or more deaths. India's daily cases declined with 3,43,144 cases recorded on Friday (3,62,727 cases on Thursday). The Telangana High Court stayed the state government's order to allow ambulances with patients coming from neighbouring states only if they have prior tie-up with hospitals. The Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren launcheed a free vaccination drive for people aged 18-44 yrs. Goa reported having lost 75 Covid-19 patients in a single government hospital, due to oxygen supply problems. The Delhi Police crime branch began probing Indian Youth Congress president Srinivas BV, who in recent weeks helped hundreds of people seeking medicines and oxygen. Australia resumed repatriation flights from India for stranded citizens amidst disastrous virus spread. NUMBERS - INDIA - Total cases: 24,046,120; New cases: 343,288; Total deaths: 262,350; New deaths: 3,999; Total recovered: 20,073,367; Active cases: 3,710,403.

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• SECTION 2 - DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS

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

Relief for India Inc. via social security bodies

• The story: The Union government has initiated steps to offer relief and liquidity boost to Indian companies, through its social security organizations, in the middle of a raging second wave of the pandemic. The pandemic has forced businesses shut in many states due to strict lockdowns.

• Details: The labour ministry will offer flexibility to industries to submit Employees State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) deductions and contributions for April by mid-June, giving them a liquidity boost of Rs.1,400 crore. The ministry is considering a similar measure via the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO), which would be a liquidity boost of Rs.12,500 crore to companies. These are facing a severe dent in demand, and any additional liquidity is welcome.

1. The ESIC and EPFO put together will offer a liquidity of at least ₹14,000 crore, for one month
2. Currently, each month, industrial employers contribute 3.25% of their basic salaries and employees contribute 0.75% for ESIC statutory deductions. The ESIC subscribers and their families receive healthcare benefits from primary to tertiary care at ESIC hospitals and dispensaries across India, and it also offers unemployment benefits to the subscribers. ESIC receives around ₹16,745 crore a year on account of this statutory deduction.

• Provident Fund: The EPFO collects almost ₹12,500 crore from subscribers via statutory deductions every month. While an employee pays 12% of his or her basic salary, the employer offers a matching contribution. Companies who are enrolled with ESIC and EPFO are required to submit the deductions within 15 days once a month ends. An extension of the submission deadline would give more short-term liquidity in the hands of employers. The extended window will benefit employers.
• In 2020: Last year, the government had granted relief for at least three months. The general economic environment is not that bad like last year, but some segments have started demanding relief and hand holding. The MSME sector is seeking support of the government as the second wave has impacted their production, supply chain and general demand. The pandemic has impacted consumption, retail, auto and consumer durables, and even the wholesale markets.
• Manufacturing sector: Manufacturers across sectors are idling production as lockdowns to curb the pandemic have decimated sales, and diversion of industrial oxygen to hospitals has crimped production of raw materials such as steel,Mint reported on 11 May. Several automakers such as Maruti Suzuki India Ltd, Hero MotoCorp Ltd, Hyundai Motor India Ltd and India Yamaha Motor, have either suspended production at their factories or sharply cut output.

G7 meeting and relevance of West

• Liberal, secular West: The Group of Seven (G7) countries represents the best that Western civilisation stands for, at least theoretically. It held its ministerial meeting in London in May 2021. The West needs to rebuild its unity and strength, against the perception of "a declining west".
• Declining West: The notion of a declining West has been around for some time now, but its recent credibility is rooted in the dramatic rise of China and its presumed capacity to overturn prolonged western dominance of the international system. The America that got China into the WTO - world trading system, in 2002 - is seen in decline. China's rapid economic growth, massive military modernisation, impressive lead in new technologies such as Artificial Intelligence, spectacular Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) that has only now run into some trouble, growing capacity to shape international institutions, enhanced political influence across the world, and deepening strategic partnership with Russia has changed the narrative.
• Trump's damage: Reinforcing this notion was the chaotic period of the four years of Donald Trump presidency. Trump trashed US alliances, abandoned America’s global leadership, walked out of global institutions, and tore up agreements signed by his predecessor.
• Arrival of Joe Biden: US President Joe Biden has brought order and purpose to governance at home and the economy is roaring back on the strength of a huge economic stimulus and mass vaccination. Biden brought a new vigour to American foreign policy as well, by revitalising old US alliances in Europe and Asia and building new global coalitions. Promising “extreme competition” with China, Biden has signalled that America is not willing to go gently in that front.
• The Indian situation: Britain invited India, along with Australia, South Korea and South Africa, to join the G-7 ministerial meeting and the summit thereafter. This is rooted in the conviction that Delhi must be an integral part of a powerful coalition of democracies to shape the global order in the 21st century. India seemed well poised to seize the new strategic opportunities coming its way, but the disastrous handling of the second wave of the coronavirus has set back hopes for an early rebound of the Indian economy. In fact, questions are raised on the basic capacity of the Indian state to take on a larger international role. Seen together with global dismay at Delhi’s democratic backsliding in recent years, India’s international prospects are dull.
• Summary: India’s society is resilient enough to recover and redeem its global possibilities. The West has to help it, as much as it has to help itself.

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

China’s Greenhouse Gas Emissions are the highest

• The story: As the climate change threat draws ever closer, countries around the world have been committing to ambitious measures to cut greenhouse gas emissions. Research shows they have further to go than they thought.

• China's case: A research by the Rhodium Group released May 2021 showed that China, the world’s largest emitter, saw its 2019 emission levels exceed those of all developed countries combined, to reach 14 gigatons of carbon dioxide equivalent. That’s about 27% of the global total, a huge figure.

1. Over the past three decades, China’s emissions have more than tripled, Rhodium estimated. At the same time, global emissions reached 52 gigatons of CO2 equivalent in 2019, an 11.4% increase over the past decade. The estimate measures six greenhouse gases, including CO2 and methane.
2. Those increases put the world further off track from meeting the goals of the Paris Agreement, which aims for carbon neutrality by 2050.

• Shifting sands: The changing dynamics of global emissions, with China surpassing the developed world for the first time, means that meeting the Paris goals will require significant and rapid action from all countries. The United States followed China as the world’s second-largest emitter, with 11% of the global total. India beat out the European Union for third, with 6.6% of total emissions.

1. Researchers calculated the per capita emissions also, to find that China now registered just below average levels across the bloc of countries that make up the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).
2. China’s per capita emissions still remain well below those of the United States, which has the world’s highest rate, at 17.6 tons per person.
3. China’s per capita emissions have grown largely as a result of higher standards of living, comparatively fossil-intensive electric power, and its role as the manufacturer of goods consumed around the world. That growth carries implications for how emissions in other developing countries could accelerate if they follow a similar pathway.

• What China says: During a virtual climate summit in April, China reiterated its pledge to peak emissions before 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality by 2060, a decade later than other major economies. It also said it would peak coal use in 2025 and start to phase it out the following year. In May, Chinese President Xi Jinping said high-emissions projects that don’t meet environmental standards would be halted.

1. (a) But Beijing continues to finance fossil fuel projects overseas and is continuing to build out coal-fired power plants at home. It is both the world’s largest producer of renewable energy and its largest coal consumer.
2. (b) The big test is whether these plans together suffice to peak emissions and reach the rapid rate of emissions reductions needed to meet the long-term goal of carbon neutrality before 2060.

• Summary: A preliminary estimate of China’s 2020 emissions showed that while all other major economies saw emissions drop significantly during the coronavirus pandemic, China’s emissions are estimated to have increased by 1.7%, due in part to industry-driven economic growth and an uptick in natural gas use.

• Knowledge centre:

1. Arctic ice melting - As water and air temperatures rise each summer near the Poles, some sea ice melts. Differences in geography and climate cause Antarctic sea ice to melt more completely in the summer than Arctic sea ice. For ice to thicken, the ocean must lose heat to the atmosphere. But the ice also insulates the ocean like a blanket. If all the ice covering Antarctica , Greenland, and in mountain glaciers around the world were to melt, sea level would rise about 70 meters (230 feet). The ocean would cover all the coastal cities. And land area would shrink significantly. Rising seas endanger coastal cities and small island nations by exacerbating coastal flooding and storm surge, making dangerous weather events even more so. Glacial melt of the Greenland ice sheet is a major predictor of future sea level rise.
2. Sea level rise - The causes of global sea level rise can be roughly split into three categories: (1) thermal expansion of sea water as it warms up, (2) melting of land ice and (3) changes in the amount of water stored on land. It is the increase in the level of the world's oceans due to the effects of global warming. Land-based ice, such as glaciers and ice sheets, is greatly affected by global warming, as well. These reserves of ice are located in places like Greenland and Antarctica. Burning fossil fuels is one of the causes of global warming because it releases carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping gasses into the atmosphere. This increases water volume and melts ice sheets and glaciers, contributing to sea level rise.

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

Chinese firm Meituan’s meeting the same fate as Alibaba

• The story: The giant Chinese firm Alibaba saw its fortunes tumble, ever since the Communist Party started targeting it since Nov 2020, once its CEO Jack Ma had taken potshots at banking regulators of China. Now, the same fate seems to be in store for Meituan as well.

• Latest: Chinese delivery giant Meituan’s shares fell sharply after its founder and chief executive officer (CEO) Wang Xing posted an ancient Chinese poem from the Tang dynasty era on social media in May 2021. Wang posted a poem that was written during the Tang dynasty about the burning of books by Chinese emperor Qin Shi Huang that usually interpreted as an anti-establishment clarion call.

1. The poem, entitled "The Book Burning Pit", was penned by a Chinese poet Zhang Jie, over 1,100 years ago to satirise Qin Shi Huang, who proclaimed himself the first "emperor" of a unified China in 221 BC.
2. The official historical records in China suggested that Qin quashed dissent by digging pits and burning books, which were not approved by him, as well as burying scholars to discourage people from criticising his rule. Some parts of the poem read: "It's just wishful thinking that Qin Shi Huang expects to rely on force to maintain his and his descendants' rule on China forever". "The ashes in the pits haven't turned cold yet. But there are already riots in Shandong" — it refers to a major seat of power at that time.

• Hundred years of Communism: Experts say that anything related to the Cultural Revolution or book burning is particularly sensitive in 2021 because it will soon be the the Communist Party’s centennial celebration. Anything which doesn’t openly praise the party can be taken to mean different things. Hence, the original post by Wang on the Chinese microblogging website Fanfou has since been deleted.
• Making the corporates pay the price: Wang’s company, one of China's biggest takeaway food delivery and lifestyle services platforms, is currently under investigation for possible breaches of China’s antitrust laws. Meituan, which is also backed by technology giant Tencent, could be on the hook for as much as $700 million in fines. Some Chinese social media users suggested that Wang may have posted the poem as a veiled shot at Xi Jinping’s government, which is trying to take control over some of the country's biggest tech giants like Alibaba. Other users compared Wang’s post to a speech given by Jack Ma, co-founder of Alibaba, in 2020 — in which he criticised the country’s conventional, state-controlled banks for having a "pawn shop" like mentality and financial regulators for using backdated methods.
• 5. What next: Meituan, in April, raised $10 billion to fund its investment plans for deliveries using drones and self-driving vehicles, the shares of the company plunged some 14 per cent since the market opened on 10 May. The CEO was forced to say finally that the poem was a reference to his company's competitors, not to the government. Wang said that Alibaba has focused on JD.com all these years, but in the end, it was Pinduoduo — the largest agriculture-focused technology platform in China — that suddenly turned up, “with its number of users surpassing [Alibaba-owned] Taobao's in one fell swoop. While providing further clarification in the second post, the CEO noted that his own industry, food delivery, may face disruption from companies or business models "that we haven't paid attention to". Meituan became the second-ever major domestic technology company after Alibaba to face an antitrust probe by the Chinese regulator in April this year.

 Foreign affairs update

• Azerbaijan’s incursion: Armenia’s Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan accused Azerbaijan of an act of “subversive infiltration” in May, saying that Azerbaijan’s army had advanced two miles into Armenia’s southern territory. The encroachment was repelled, Armenia’s defense ministry reported, but has again raised tensions following a six-week war between the two countries in the enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh late last year. U.S. State Department spokesman Ned Price “urged restraint” from both parties, while French President Emmanuel Macron has called for an “immediate” withdrawal of Azerbaijani troops from Armenian territory.
• Russian-based ransomware: U.S. President Joe Biden said that the hackers responsible for the shutdown of a crucial fuel pipeline are likely based in Russia, and said he would discuss the issue with Russian President Vladimir Putin. While making clear that he did not hold the Russian government responsible for the attack, Biden said his administration has been “in direct communication with Moscow about the imperative for responsible countries to take decisive action against these ransomware networks.”
• Chile’s constitution writers: Chileans went to the polls to choose who will sit on a 155-member constituent assembly charged with drawing up a new constitution. It will mark “the first time in Chile’s history that it has had the opportunity to draft a constitution through a fully democratic, participatory process.” The ballot follows a referendum in October of last year, when 78 percent of Chileans voted to replace the constitution established during Augusto Pinochet’s dictatorship.
• Chip shortages: A global shortage of computer chips could last for another two years, the president of technology giant IBM said. A combination of factory closures during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic and surging demand for electronic devices has helped drive scarcity. The shortage is expected to damage the global car industry, with the sector forecast to miss out on $110 billion in revenue in this year alone.
• No more cash: Sydney’s only two casinos are removing a key aspect of the gambling experience — cash — in order to convince Australian government regulators of their commitment to a clampdown on money laundering. Crown Resorts, which operates one of the casinos, came under fire after a government inquiry found that the company facilitated money laundering and pursued commercial relationships with organized crime groups. The move to go cashless is part of a bid to secure a gaming license for Crown’s Sydney casino, which has only operated as a hotel since the $1.7 billion dollar facility opened in December 2020.

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

Blockchain records and herd immunity

• Birth of the term "herd immunity": In 1917, the US Bureau of Animal Industry was worried about a mysterious cattle infection killing unborn calves. It realized that a cow that had an abortion was highly likely to become immune to it, calves born and raised in such an affected herd had tolerance of the disease, and so the phrase ‘herd immunity’ took birth.
• Covid 2020: As the covid pandemic engulfs the world in wave after tsunamic wave of sickness and death, the only light at the end of this tunnel seems to be humans achieving vaccine-induced herd immunity. The rapid development of covid vaccines has been the biggest triumph of science in recent times. A combination of fundamental research in mRNA, the marvel of gene sequencing and the instant availability of data off the internet gave the world a new kind of vaccine within a year of the disease’s global outbreak.
• How to do it really fast: Even as the world strives for elusive immunity, the question of how to vaccinate almost 8 billion people as rapidly as possible has not yet been answered. There are multiple obstacles to vaccinating the proportion of our population needed to achieve herd immunity: the production of enough doses, their logistics and transportation, and affordability. Good protocols on who needs to be immunized earlier and systems to track the vaccinated need to be created. Privacy issues around health records and demographic identity need to be addressed. Often, social and religion-based resistance needs to be overcome, and people need an incentive to be vaccinated. Viruses mutate rapidly and cross oceans with remarkable ease.
• Structure missing: A lot is being done, though in a haphazard manner. The much-hyped CoWin app in India often has glitches. In the US, paper-based records are being used. Many countries are not even bothering with a mechanism. For those who are, the mechanisms are centralized, and while this has its benefits, the virus behaves in a distributed and decentralized manner. Central command-and-control has constrained our ability to react to the pandemic in a timely manner and held back the creation of local and flexible systems.

• Time for a Covid blockchain: This crisis is an opportunity to build a decentralized, robust and scalable track-and-trace backbone for this pandemic and those that will inevitably follow. It is possible to combine digitization, decentralization, data localization and data privacy to build an agile and responsible health management ecosystem that is inclusive of institutions and citizens. A technology that could aid this is blockchain.

1. It will be a digital, secure and public record book of transactions, a universal ledger in the cloud with strong cryptological protections distributed among various parties, and updated by the consensus of a majority of participants.
2. A blockchain enables a high-trust environment through transparency, security and immutability, and also decentralization through distributed ownership and a consensus mechanism for decision-making. It can impact every industry, but healthcare could benefit the most.

• Use case strong: It can improve how companies track vaccines and medicines, and also provide people with a secure and private digital health record. This backbone can also enable counterfeit-resistant ‘vaccination passports’ in a more transparent, safe and open manner, without compromising personal data.
• Summary: A blockchain-based backbone can provide for bullet-proof safety of data, so that personal health records belong only to the person concerned and can be shared only with her explicit consent. It will be virtually non-hackable. A private-public consensus mechanism could prevent the misuse of data by any central authority. Blockchain can be a life-changing technology, though it’s sometimes like a hammer looking for a nail. If this technology can nail our vaccination and vaccine passport problem and help us achieve herd immunity, it would indeed change the world.

PM KISAN Scheme : Next instalment released

• Cash doles for farmers: India's PM Modi on 14th May released the eighth instalment of minimum financial benefit under the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN) scheme. More than Rs.19,000 crore was disbursed to more than 9.5 crore farmer families. This was the first instalment of PM Kisan Samman Nidhi for the financial year 2021-22.

• Details: After releasing the fund, PM interacted with farmer-beneficiaries.

1. PM-Kisan is a central sector scheme with 100 per cent funding from the Government of India. The scheme was launched in December 2018.
2. Under the scheme, income support of Rs.6,000 per year in three equal installments of Rs.2000 is provided to small and marginal farmers having a combined land holding of up to two hectares.
3. The state governments and Union Territory administration identify the farmers who are eligible for the scheme and share the list with the Centre. The central government then directly transfers the fund to the bank accounts of the beneficiaries. So far, over Rs.1.15 lakh crores has been transferred to farmers under the scheme.

• Earlier record: The 7th instalment was disbursed in December 2020. On December 25, the prime minister released the 7th instalment of PM-Kisan. After transferring the fund, the prime minister had interacted with farmers from Arunachal Pradesh, Odisha, Haryana, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, and Madhya Pradesh. In the 7th instalment, Rs.18000 crore had been deposited in the bank account of 9 crore farmer families.

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

New Chief Justice of India - Road ahead

• Introduction: Justice is the concept of making decisions based on moral rightness, rationality, equity and fairness. The responsibility for delivering timely justice to the citizens of a country lies majorly on the shoulders of the supreme judge of the country. In India, this role is played by the Chief Justice of India (CJI); the ‘Paterfamilias’ of the Judiciary and the ‘Master of the Roster’.
• New CJI: Justice Nuthalapati Venkata Ramana (NV Ramana), the most senior judge of the Supreme Court after former CJI, Justice S A Bobde, took his oath as the 48th CJI. Designated as CJI at such a time when India is going through a major crisis due to Covid-19 pandemic, a lot of potential challenges stand in the path of fulfilling his oath of delivering timely justice to all.

• Current issues: The Supreme Court has faced many issues in recent years, with some remaining unresolved.

1. Inefficiency - The SC has seemingly stopped being the protector of the fundamental and other constitutional rights, and not been able to act as the guardian of the rule of law. In the context of politically sensitive cases involving citizens, opposition parties, and activists, the Court has virtually deferred to the executive instead of stepping in to restore constitutional rights and values in letter and spirit.
2. Appointments - The recently retired 47th CJI was perhaps the only Chief Justice to have not made a single recommendation of a judge to be appointed to the Supreme Court.
3. Low Judge to Population ratio - The judge-population ratio in the country stands at only 20 judges per million people. For many other countries, the ratio is about 50-70 judges per million people. The numbers both in respect of pendency of cases and vacancies in the High Courts are quite concerning — a backlog of over 57 lakh cases, and a vacancy level of 40%. The Madras High Court has 5.8 lakh cases against a relatively low level of vacancy at 7%. As many as 44% of the posts in the Calcutta High Court are vacant, but the cases in arrears stand at 2.7 lakh.
4. Recruitment delays - The posts in the judiciary are not filled up as expeditiously as required. For a country as populous as 135 million, the total strength of judges is only around 25000. Almost 400 posts are vacant in the high courts. Around 35% of the posts are lying vacant in the lower judiciary.
5. Inadequate representation - The SC currently has only one woman as judge despite the fact that virtually half the population comprises women, and gender sensitive cases have also seen a sharp rise. The Supreme Court has only one Muslim judge and no Sikh, Buddhist, Jain or a person from tribal community as a judge.

• Challenges: For the new CJI, here is a list of challenges -

1. Keeping the court functioning during the present unprecedented crisis due to the Covid-19 Pandemic
2. Revamping the administrative machinery of the apex court and streamlining the functioning of the collegium
3. Strengthening the judicial infrastructure and clearing the massive backlog of cases

• Pandemic challenge: The Supreme Court will have around 13 vacancies during Justice Ramana’s tenure as many judges are due to retire by the end of 2021. The biggest challenge will be to streamline the appointment process in the Supreme Court as well as in the High Courts which have been struggling with the pendency of a huge number of cases due to a lack of judges. The possibility of courts reopening for physical hearing, at such a time, looks bleak now, given the massive spike in Covid-19 infections in the Capital. The hearings of courts will have to be digitised which is further criticised by lawyers on multiple instances due to technical faults.
• Expectations: A country of 138 crores needs its highest court to stand for the people as the power of the judiciary, just like the legislature and the executive, comes from the people of the country. The SC is expected to seek strict accountability from the legislature and executive and any infraction of the Constitution and laws must be corrected. The Supreme Court collegium of the five senior-most judges should act more transparently and be made more accountable in order to inspire confidence and trust in the judiciary. The new Chief Justice must stringently introspect and review the actions of his immediate predecessors, free himself of the bias in constituting benches and allocating cases and take concrete steps to revitalise the administration of justice. Only then will the rule of law be restored and the Constitution served. Women and the minority communities deserve a fair representation in the Apex Court. The collegium is duty-bound to diversify the Bench to give adequate representation to all sections of society so that public trust, which is the greatest strength of the judiciary, could be restored.
• Summary: The CJI is the Paterfamilias of the judicial fraternity and is duty-bound to deliver undelayed and unbiased justice to its citizens in order to restore and maintain the faith of the people in the judicial system of India. A sound judicial system is one based on an objective enquiry, practical and unbiased analysis of evidence and delivery of timely and even-handed justice to all citizens.

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

Old EV cars - not to be wasted!

• Pandemic effect: Car sales have slowed during the coronavirus epidemic. But one bright spot was the Electric vehicles (EVs) that grew in popularity. Almost 2.5m battery - electric and plug-in-hybrid cars - were sold around the world in 2020, and the number may grow by 70% this year. By 2030 some 8% of the 1.4 bn cars on the road will be electric, rising to more than 30% by 2040. There will also be electric lorries, buses, motorbikes, bicycles, scooters, ships and maybe even aircraft. And, when all of these machines come to the ends of their useful lives, they will need to be recycled.
• Recycling requirement: This coming flood of e-waste will be hard to deal with. When a petrol or diesel car is dismantled and crushed, as much as 95% of it is likely to be used again. Ways to do that are well-developed and helped by the fact that, on average, almost 70% of such a vehicle consists of readily recyclable ferrous metals. EVs, by contrast, contain a far greater variety of materials. Separating and sorting these is tricky, as many of them are locked up inside complex electrical components.
• Good business proposition: There is good business to be had here, as EVs contain lots of valuable stuff. The magnets in their motors are full of rare-earth metals, and their batteries of lithium and cobalt. As the number of electric vehicles being made rises, lithium prices will triple by the end of the decade. Cobalt, meanwhile, comes mainly from Congo, a country that is often war-torn and has a dreadful human-rights record.

• Details: Generally, electrical waste is shredded in bulk before it is sorted and reprocessed. But lithium-ion batteries, the type used in EVs, are inflammable, so need careful handling. They are shredded separately in special machines filled with liquids or gases that suppress combustion. The result, called “black mass”, is then processed to extract its valuable components.

1. There are two ways of doing so. The more common is pyrometallurgy. This treats black mass as an ore, by smelting it in a furnace to liberate a metallic mixture from which pure metals, particularly the cobalt, can be separated. That requires a lot of energy. It also destroys valuable non-metallic components such as the graphite in batteries’ anodes. And it fails to liberate the lithium, which ends up in compounds in the slag that is generated alongside the liquid metal, and must then be extracted separately.
2. The other approach is hydrometallurgy, which leaches metals, lithium included, out of the shredded material by dissolving them in acids or other solvents. That requires less energy and also permits the recovery of non-metallic materials such as graphite. Hydrometallurgy is more complex than pyrometallurgy, and comes with the added expense of treating the waste water it generates, to prevent pollution. Li-Cycle, a Canadian company founded in 2016 that is already the biggest recycler of lithium-ion batteries in North America, is one outfit betting on hydrometallurgy.

• Chinese step in: The biggest battery-recycling operations of all, though, are not Western, but Chinese. China is the world’s largest market for EVs, and the government has been promoting the recycling of lithium-ion batteries for some time. Brunp Reycling, the world’s biggest EV-battery-maker, has half-a-dozen hydrometallurgical recycling operations around China, and can recycle 120,000 tonnes of old batteries a year, which it claims represents about half of China’s current annual battery-recycling capacity. Tesla itself also has trans-Pacific ambitions. It is setting up a battery-recycling facility at its EV factory in Shanghai, to complement one it is developing at its battery factory in Nevada.
• Design: Designing recyclability in from the beginning will, in the long run, be crucial to the effective recycling of electric vehicles—and especially their batteries. Shredding lots of different types of e-waste at the same time inevitably results in contamination. Separating components before doing so would yield greater levels of purity. Some components, such as cathodes, might even be reused in their entirety.

New fuel for jets and missiles

• Boron goes hypersonic: The hot topic in aerospace now is “hypersonic”. Speed and surprise have always been essential to warfare, and an aircraft or missile travelling at Mach 5 is the best way to surprise an enemy!
• American Navy project: A notice posted by America’s navy, soliciting proposals for a new research project, wants to “determine a form of boron or a boron-based chemical pathway that leads to implementation of boron in energetic compounds, especially fuels (solid and liquid)”. The navy’s engineers are trying to revive an idea that might make hypersonic flight easier to achieve, but which was abandoned decades ago.
• Boron's story: Boron, atomic number five on the periodic table, is chemically a “metalloid”, meaning that it inhabits the lands between the empires of the metals on the table’s left-hand side, and the non-metals on its right. Compounds of boron feature in washing powders and cleaning products (“borax”), antiseptics and water softeners, and also as additives in fibreglass, but such roles are humdrum. Boron does, though, burn like billy-o, generating a bright, green flame and releasing about 40% more energy per kilogram than conventional aviation fuel.
• USSR verus USA: In light of this, and of reports by spies of green flames emerging from the exhaust of an experimental Soviet rocket, America’s air force experimented in the 1950s with stuff nicknamed zip fuel, which was laced with compounds of boron called boranes. The project was abandoned in 1959, for two good reasons. First, boranes proved extremely dangerous. They are toxic, meaning those working with them need special gas masks. They also ignite spontaneously in air, and may even explode. At least eight people involved in the zip-fuel project died in borane-related accidents. The second reason for zip fuel’s abandonment was that the stuff itself proved disappointing. In jets, instead of burning completely, it produced a sticky residue which clung to turbine blades. Boron additives in rocket fuels also failed.
• Boron is back: Perhaps scientists now think that new physical forms of the element, known as allotropes, may offer ways around both the partial-combustion and the toxicity problems. Allotropes of an element can have very different properties from each other (graphite and diamond, for example, are both allotropes of carbon). A novel boron allotrope, perhaps interlaced at the molecular level with a suitable oxidising agent, might yield a completely combustible, non-toxic fuel, and they are asking the country’s chemists to bring them one. Whether such allotropes exist remains to be seen.

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

China’s census 2021 and population facts

• China's population attracts attention: Census data doen not attract too much attention usually, unless the country counting its people is both the world’s largest and on the brink of decline. The results of China’s seventh census, conducted in 2020 and released on May 11th, 2021 were big news.
• First input: China's population reached 1.41 bn in 2020, up by 5.4% from a decade ago. There were reports in media earlier suspecting a drop in numbers, which would have marked the first decline in six decades.

1. China's National Bureau of Statistics had originally promised to publish the figures in the first half of April 2021
2. Taken at face value, the population increase in 2020 when compared with annual birth figures suggested that, miraculously, no one died last year.

• Understanding the data: The controversies can be explained away. It is misleading to compare China’s annually reported population figures, extrapolations based on tiny samples, with its once-a-decade census, in which everyone in the country is considered. Demographers said the covid-19 pandemic, during which tens of millions of migrant workers returned to their rural homes, caused delays to the count. And upward revisions to past population data help resolve the death-free miracle (millions did in fact pass away last year).

• Trends: Beyond the controversies, the census shone a light on the demographic trends reshaping China.

1. The country is ageing rapidly. The number of people aged 60 and older hit 264 m in 2020, up by more than 80 m over the past decade. Longer lifespans are a marker of development success.
2. More worrying, though, is the plunge in fertility. Births last year fell to 12 m, down by nearly 20% from 2019.
3. When China ended its one-child policy in 2015, the government expected a baby boom. Instead, soaring housing and education costs and other realities of modern life led more women to choose not to marry. China’s fertility rate of 1.3 children per woman is about the same as Japan’s, and well below the 2.1 needed to keep a population stable. (India's total fertility rate touched 2.1 in 2020)
4. China's population is still growing but will peak in the next few years, nearly a decade earlier than expected.

• Rapid ageing: This will change the state’s role in society and add to fiscal pressures. For decades, benefiting from a bulge of young workers, officials could focus their spending on infrastructure. Now they will have to spend more on health and social care, and threadbare pension plans. All this raises questions about whether China will grow old before it grows rich.
• Powerful youth: The census also showed how demographic changes are making China a more potent economic force. In 2020 it was home to 218 m university graduates, nearly double the number in 2010. Even if the working-age population is declining, the dramatic increase in skills makes for a more formidable workforce. Moreover, migration from farms to cities, long a driver of economic growth, has continued. Nearly 64% of the population lived in urban areas last year, up from less than 50% in 2010.
• Summary: As people move in search of opportunities, they are redrawing China’s map. The rust-belt provinces in the north-east lost millions of younger residents over the past decade, while prosperous coastal areas, notably Guangdong and Zhejiang, gained millions. As a whole, China is getting older, more educated and more urban. But that change is not evenly spread. The outside world is understandably focused on the question of when China’s population will peak. Within China, the widening gap between haves and have-nots is just as pressing a concern.

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

Over 200 crore Covid vaccine doses arriving

• The story: As various states in India struggled to continue the vaccination drive against coronavirus, the Centre assured citizens that 216 crore vaccine doses will be made available in the country in five months. It said that between August and December 2021, two billion doses will be available for Indian citizens, "enough to vaccinate the entire population".
• NITI's genius: Niti Ayog Member V K Paul said that by the first quarter of the next year, the number is likely to be three billion. He estimated that 75 crore doses of Covishield are expected between August to December and 55 cores doses of Covaxin in the same period. Biological E is expected to produce 30 crore doses, Zydus Cadila five crore doses, Serum Institute of India 20 crore doses of Novavax, and Bharat Biotech 10 crore doses of its nasal vaccine, Gennova will make available 6 crore doses, and Sputnik V 15.6 crore doses of the Covid-19 vaccine by this year.
• Sputnik: Paul also revealed that the Sputnik vaccine has arrived in India, and "hopefully" it will be available in the market from 20th May. He said the production of Sputnik is scheduled to begin in India by July 2021. He informed that the Department of Biotechnology, along with other concerned departments and the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has been in touch with Pfizer, Moderna, Johnson, and Johnson from the initial days of vaccine production.
• 4. Record so far: As per Paul, nearly 18 crore doses of the COVID-19 vaccine have been administered in India. But that is not even 5% of India's adult population fully vaccinated.

Ocean Rewilding

• The idea: "Ocean Rewilding" is expected to come up in the COP26, as a network of 68 European organisations works together to find ways to reinvigorate the marine life of the earth.
• What it is: Rewilding is restoring to its natural uncultivated state. This is done by introducing animal or plant species that have been exterminated (destroyed completely) or driven out in a region. Ocean rewilding is introducing plant and animal life in the oceans and allowing them to grow without human interferences.
• Why important: The oceans have lost their capabilities to store blue carbon. Blue carbon is the term for carbon captured by the coastal systems and oceans. It is higher than that captured by the land. The annual carbon sequestration rate for mangrove forests is four times greater than that of a tropical forest!
• Bio Restore project: It is an Ocean Rewilding project that was started by France in 2012. It aims to restore the coastal fish population. Under the programme, more than eighty five species of fishes have been reintroduced in the French Mediterranean region. The Sea Grass Restoration Project was launched by the UK in 2020, and is also a Ocean Rewilding project. Under the project eight different sea grasses are to be planted across the south coast of England.
• COP26: The United Nations is to host the COP26 (Conference of Parties no. 26) in Glasgow, bringing together parties to accelerate goals of Paris Agreement and United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.

Punjab Prison Rules, 2021

• The story: The Punjab Cabinet approved the Punjab Prison Rules, 2021, under the Prison Act, 1894.
• Why changed: The Punjab Jail Manual of 1996 had become archaic, and there was a need to update it in the changed scenario of modernisation.

• Punjab Prison Rules, 2021: New security parameters such as effective surveillance and safe custody have been introduced in the new rules. The other new rules introduced are as follows:

1. Prisons within Prisons - These are to be used for lodging high risk prisoners such as drug offenders, gangsters, radicals, terrorists.
2. Jail employees - The Jail Employees are to get adequate provisions. This includes welfare funds, legal assistance, meal for employees during their shift, financial assistance, etc.
3. After care assistance - An “After Care Assistance” has been incorporated in the Punjab Prison Rules to ensure successful rehabilitation and social reintegration of released convict prisoners. This cover renting a house, assistance in employment, medical treatment, etc.
4. Modern technologies - The rules include use of modern security and surveillance gadgets. This includes Artificial Intelligence enabled CCTVs, mobile jammers, motion sensors, alarm systems, siren, X-ray baggage scanner, body scanner, touch screen kiosks, etc. On the software side, the provisions such as E-wallet, E-procurement, Integrated Criminal Justice System are to be included.

• Other provisions:

1. To ensure confinement of mentally ill prisoners under the Mental Health Care Act.
2. To provide better mental health care facilities such as psychotherapy.
3. To establish a Grievance Redressal System in every prison. Under this system, a compliant box will be installed at different locations in the prison.
4. Video Conferencing provisions have been included so that the inmates can talk to their families and friends and legal counsel face to face.
5. Prisoners Panchayat and Maha Panchayat to plan and execute daily recreational programmes.

IIT develops moveable, electric cremation system

• The story: Thousands of Indians found it tough to cremate their dead, due to lack of space in crematoria, or lack of money to buy wood. Now, the Indian Institute of Technology, Ropar has developed an eco-friendly cremation cart, fitted with stainless steel insulation for ensuring no heat loss and less wood consumption. The cart has been developed in collaboration with a company Cheema Boilers Limited.
• What technology: The technology behind it is based on the wick stove, in which wick after lighting glows yellow and this is converted into smokeless blue flame after installing the combustion air system over these wicks. The stainless steel trays on both sides of the cart are for easy ash removal. The cart is equipped with combustion air for primary and secondary hot air systems.

1. The disposal is completed within 12 hours including cooling as against 48 hours
2. The cremation system or incinerator heats up at 1,044 degree Celsius which ensures complete sterilization
3. Usually wood costs about Rs.2,500 for disposing one body and poor families sometimes try to get by with much less and end up having to dispose of partially burnt bodies, or even whole corpses, in rivers
4. The cart has wheels and it can be transported anywhere without much effort

9.1 Today's best editorials to read

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

CLICK HERE TO OPEN AND READ!

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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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