Daily Current Affairs - Civil Services - 21-05-2021

Useful compilation of Civil Services oriented - Daily Current Affairs - Civil Services - 21-05-2021

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• SECTION 1 - TEN NEWS HEADLINES

1. World Economy - US proposes 15% global minimum tax on corporate profits - The US Treasury Department has proposed a global minimum corporate tax of at least 15%, less than the 21% rate it has proposed for US multinational firms. It said 15% is a floor and discussions should continue to "push that rate higher". Earlier, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen had said she wanted to end a "race to the bottom" on corporate taxes. The problem being faced by sovereign nations is the tax evasion by large firms, using the friendly tax jurisdictions where they shift their revenue booking. US now has a massive infrastructure spending plan in place, and wants to raise revenues quickly to fund it.
2. People and Personalities - Jagannath Pahadia and Sunderlal Bahuga passs away - (a) The former Chief Minister of Rajasthan Jagannath Pahadia passed away on May 19, 2021, due to COVID-19. He was the first Dalit to become the Chief Minister of the state in 1980-81. Pahadia was also a former Governor of Bihar and Haryana. PM Modi and Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot expressed their condolences on his demise. (b) Noted environmentalist and Padma Vibhushan Sunderlal Bahuguna, being treated for Covid-19 at AIIMS Rishikesh, died on 21st May. The 94-year-old Chipko Movement pioneer was a life-long environmentalist and was credited for founding the Chipko Andolan - the grassroots movement that swept through the Garhwal region in the 1970s with villagers hugging trees to stop them from being axed. Later in 1990s, he spearheaded the Anti-Tehri Dam movement and even went to jail for it in 1995.
3. Governance and Institutions - Government asks WhatsApp to withdraw privacy policy - The Union Government has asked WhatsApp to withdraw its updated privacy policy and has sent a notice in this regard. As per the government, the privacy policy of WhatsApp undermines the values of data security and informational privacy. Terming WhatsApp’s move to introduce changes to its privacy policy, effective from May 15, as harmful to the “interests of Indian citizens,” the ministry of electronics and IT (MeitY) said, “Changes to the privacy policy and the manner of introducing these changes, including in frequently asked questions (FAQs), undermines the sacrosanct values of informational privacy, data security and user choice for Indian users, and harms the rights and interests of Indian citizens". WhatsApp claimed it had officially deferred its new privacy policy beyond May 15. However, deferral of the policy alone does not absolve WhatsApp from respecting the law. The government told the Delhi High Court, which is hearing a series of petitions challenging the WhatsApp privacy policy, that the new norms are in counter to India’s IT laws.
4. World Economy - China’s crackdown on Cryptocurrencies - Chinese regulators have suddenly tightened restrictions that ban financial institutions and payment companies from providing services related to cryptocurrencies. They tightened the previous ban issued in 2017. The new ban, which was posted by the People’s Bank of China (PBOC), greatly expanded the scope of prohibited services, and said that “virtual currencies are not supported by any real value”. It made clear that institutions must not accept virtual currencies, or use them as a means of payment and settlement. Institutions cannot provide exchange services between cryptocurrencies and the yuan or foreign currencies. Institutions were prohibited from providing cryptocurrency saving, trust or pledging services and issuing crypto-related financial products. Virtual currencies must not be used as investment targets by trust and fund products. The immediate impact was felt in the collapsing prices of various crypto coins.
5. Science and Technology - FakeBuster by IITs - It is a ‘Deepfake’ detection tool developed by the Indian Institute of Technology, Ropar and Monash University (Australia). ‘Deepfakes’ are real time mimicked visuals (videos) in the video-calling platforms through spoofing tools based on transfer of facial expressions that are manipulated using artificial intelligence. They can even be used during online examinations and job interviews. FakeBuster can identify imposters attending a virtual conference without anybody’s knowledge. It enables the organizer to detect if another person's video is manipulated or spoofed during a video conferencing. It can also find out faces manipulated on social media to defame or make a joke of someone. The tool works in both online and offline modes. It is independent of video conferencing solutions like Zoom, Skype, etc.
6. Science and Technology - Tlatolophus galorum - A 72 million year old specimen of a dinosaur species called Tlatolophus galorum has been identified in Mexican state of Coahuila. The name Tlatolophus is derived from tlahtolli, meaning ‘word’ in the indigenous Nahuatl language and lophus, meaning crest in Greek. This dinosaur species is believed to have been "very communicative" and used low-frequency sounds like elephants to talk to each other. These low-frequency sounds travel several kilometres and are imperceptible to humans. These "peaceful, but talkative" dinosaurs could also have had the ability to emit loud sounds to scare off predators. These dinosaurs, like modern birds, saw in colour and so these structures like the crest were possibly brightly colored. Dinosaurs were a diverse group of reptiles and the dominant form of terrestrial life form on Earth during the Mesozoic Era, about 245 million years ago. Dinosaurs went into decline near the end of the Cretaceous Period, about 66 million years ago.
7. Healthcare and Medicine - Epidemic of Mucormycosis - The Union government has asked the States to declare mucormycosis, the fungal infection being reported in COVID-19 patients, an epidemic under Epidemic Diseases Act 1897. Declaring the black fungus infection seen in COVID-19 patients an epidemic would lead to health facilities screening for it and reporting all such cases to the government. Rajasthan, Telangana and Tamil Nadu have declared it an epidemic. Mucormycosis or black fungus is a complication caused by fungal infection. People catch mucormycosis by coming in contact with the fungal spores in the environment. The disease is being detected among patients who are recovering or have recovered from covid-19. Various reasons are responsible, including high blood glucose levels (due to diabetes or excessive steroid use in Covid treatment), improper water used in ventilators and oxygen supplies in ICUs (not distilled), and other co-morbidities. Patients are facing huge problems in procuring medicines and supplies for the same.
8. Healthcare and Medicine - Covid-19 virus airborne transmission - In a new advisory, the Union government has warned that the SARS-CoV-2 virus can be transported through air as well in the form of aerosols, and infect people up to 10 metres away. The warning, included in an updated general advisory on Covid-19 issued by the office of the Principal Scientific Advisor, is in line with the latest evidence that suggests that airborne transmission of the virus, especially in enclosed spaces, cannot be ruled out. It was initially suggested that the virus spreads predominantly through large droplets that come out when a person is talking, sneezing or coughing. These droplets, because of their large size, were supposed to travel only short distances before falling on the ground. A person 6 feet (2 metres) away was considered safe from infection. Over the months, however, scientists have been finding increasing evidence of the virus travelling through aerosols as well. Aerosols are small solid particles suspended in the air. Relatively light, aerosols can carry the virus to much larger distances. Also, they can remain suspended in the air for several minutes, or even hours, thereby greatly increasing the chance of the infecting a nearby person.
9. World Politics - Paracel Islands - China has alleged that the USS Curtis Wilbur, a US warship had illegally entered its territorial waters near the Paracel islands in the South China Sea, an assertion the US denied. The Paracel Islands archipelago is a collection of 130 islands and coral reefs and is located in the South China Sea, almost equidistant from China and Vietnam. Since 2012, China, Taiwan and Vietnam have attempted to reinforce their claims on the territory by engaging in construction of government administrative buildings, tourism, land reclamation initiatives and by establishing and expanding military presence on the archipelago. The South China Sea is an important body of water in a geopolitical sense. It is the second most used sea lane in the world, while in terms of world annual merchant fleet tonnage, over 50% passes through the Strait of Malacca, the Sunda Strait, and the Lombok Strait. China's claim in the region is via the so-called "Nine Dash Line", which endangers the sovereignty of multiple states with exclusive economic zones in the south China sea.
10. Indian Politics - Covid Update - India reported another dip in new COVID-19 cases as 2,59,551 fresh cases were reported in the last 24 hours, while the daily death toll again crossed the 4,000 mark with 4,209 more casualties, according to the government. With this, the total number of cases has reached 2,60,31,991, while the total death toll has surged to 2,91,331. The Prime Minister reviewed the working of various Covid hospitals in Varanasi including Pandit Rajan Mishra Covid Hospital, which was recently started through the joint efforts of DRDO and the Indian Army. The PM got very emotional during the interaction. He urged Indians to get vaccinated when the turn comes, as it would be the safety jacket. Overall more than 5500 black fungus cases have been reported in India, and medicines are in short supply. Meanwhile, Twitter labelled as "manipulated media" a tweet of BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra on the alleged toolkit prepared by the Congress to target the Modi government. Twitter said it "may label Tweets that include media (videos, audio, and images) that have been deceptively altered or fabricated." NUMBERS - INDIA - Total cases: 25,771,405; New cases: 276,261; Total deaths: 287,156; New deaths: 3,880; Total recovered: 22,348,683; Active cases: 3,135,566.

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• SECTION 2 - DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS

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

Indian stock indices rise, as general economy slumps

 

• The story: In 2020, starting April, the Indian stock indices started rising and created history. But then, when the second Covid wave struck, it was assumed that stocks will crack. On the contrary, they've stayed firm, and are rising. The benchmark indices of Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE Sensex) and National Stock Exchange (NSE Nifty) have withered the storm so far.
• Reasons for market not cracking: The strong fourth quarter performance (Q4, 2020-21) by a number of listed companies provided strength to the market, which saw the earnings growth as a positive. Investors feel that the pain on account of second wave of Covid will be limited to another four to six more weeks and Covid cases would decline further. Investors were also relieved to see no national lockdown in 2021. The opening up of vaccination for all adults and the decline in cases over the last few days has also boosted hopes to the industrial sector. It's a moot point if these plans are working on ground or not (vaccine shortages, for example), but the signals sent to markets turned sentiment.
• Large gorillas versus Small monkeys: A clear trend emerging now is that large listed companies are benefitting at the cost of relatively smaller ones. The second wave has impacted rural India much more than it did in its first phase in 2020. It has impacted smaller firms in the unorganised sector that are yet to come out of hardships faced in the first wave. This is leading to a rise in their share prices and market valuations thereby resulting into growth in Sensex and other leading indices. Large companies who were better positioned to weather out the Covid stress, have ended up garnering market share and business in their respective sectors.
• K-shape recovery: There was a debate in 2020 about the shape of recovery - U, V, W or K. Today, it is clear that many firms are sinking, while a handful in each sector are running ahead. The market is breaking into two parts clearly.

• Markets and infections: On February 15, 2021 the Sensex closed at its al time high of 52,154. When the cases started rising in March and grew exponentially with all time high of over 4.1 lakh cases, the market weakened but it did not collapse. On April, it registered a fall of 4,450 points or 8.5 per cent -the lowest closing over the last three months. As the cases rose, the foreign portfolio investors reduced their inflow into Indian equities in March and pulled out a net of Rs 9,659 crore in April and a net of Rs 8,909 crore in May (till date).

1. As FPIs weakened their participation, the domestic institutions (DIIs) pulled up and invested a net of Rs 11,088 crore in April and a net of Rs 2,839 crore in May (till date).
2. With the fourth quarter results, no announcement of a nationwide lockdown and opening up of vaccination for all adults, the market sentiments got lifted.
3. Then came an official dip in daily cases starting 15th May, raising hopes that the second wave is on decline.

• Summary: The government's decision to allow more vaccines to be administered in the Indian market has further raised hopes of a faster vaccination over the next 3-4 months hoping a unhindered economic activity. But to directly assume that the state of the stock markets is akin to the state of the economy would be wrong. There is a large-scale stress and joblessness in the economy, which may lead to huge social problems soon. Crises of lives, livelihoods, and hunger are converging. The government ought to be cautious now.

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

Sunderlal Bahuguna and the Chipko Andolan

 

• Death of a legend: Veteran environmentalist and architect of the Chipko Movement Sundarlal Bahuguna died May 21, 2021. He was being treated at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in Rishikesh Uttarakhand for COVID-19.
• The personality: Shri Bahuguna was one of the leaders of the Chipko movement, fighting for the preservation of forests in the Himalayas. Chipko means ‘embrace’ or ‘tree huggers’ and this vast movement was a decentralised one with many leaders usually being village women. Often, they would chain themselves to trees so that loggers could not cut down forests. These actions slowed down the destruction, but more importantly they brought deforestation to the public’s attention.
• What he did: From 1981-1983, Sundarlal Bahuguna led a 5,000-kilometre march across the Himalayas, ending with a meeting with late Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, who then passed legislation to protect some areas of the Himalayan forests from tree-felling. Sundarlal Bahuguna was also a leader in the movement to oppose the Tehri dam project and in defending India’s rivers. He also worked for women’s rights and the rights of the poor. His methods were Gandhian, through peaceful resistance and other nonviolent methods. The Chipko Movement received the 1987 Right Livelihood Award, also referred to as the Alternative Nobel Prize, “...for its dedication to the conservation, restoration and ecologically-sound use of India's natural resources.”
• Developmental pressure: With the conclusion of the Sino-Indian border conflict in 1963, the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh experienced a growth in development, especially in the rural Himalayan regions. The interior roads built for the conflict attracted many foreign-based logging companies that sought access to the region’s vast forest resources. The villagers depended heavily on the forests for subsistence — both directly, for food and fuel, and indirectly, for services such as water purification and soil stabilization — government policy prevented the villagers from managing the lands and denied them access to the lumber. Many of the commercial firms mismanaged the freedom, and the clearcut forests led to lower agricultural yields, erosion, depleted water resources, and increased flooding throughout much of the surrounding areas.

• The movement starts: In 1964, environmentalist and Gandhian social activist Chandi Prasad Bhatt founded a cooperative organization, Dasholi Gram Swarajya Sangh (later renamed Dasholi Gram Swarajya Mandal [DGSM]), to foster small industries for rural villagers, using local resources. When industrial logging was linked to the severe monsoon floods that killed more than 200 people in the region in 1970, DGSM became a force of opposition against the large-scale industry. The first Chipko protest occurred near the village of Mandal in the upper Alaknanda valley in April 1973. The villagers, having been denied access to a small number of trees with which to build agricultural tools, were outraged when the government allotted a much larger plot to a sporting goods manufacturer. When their appeals were denied, Chandi Prasad Bhatt led villagers into the forest and embraced the trees to prevent logging. After many days of those protests, the government canceled the company’s logging permit and granted the original allotment requested by DGSM.

1. With the success in Mandal, DGSM workers and Sunderlal Bahuguna, a local environmentalist, began to share Chipko’s tactics with people in other villages throughout the region.
2. One of the next major protests occurred in 1974 near the village of Reni, where more than 2,000 trees were scheduled to be felled. Following a large student-led demonstration, the government summoned the men of the surrounding villages to a nearby city for compensation, to allow the loggers to proceed without confrontation.
3. They were met with the women of the village, led by Gaura Devi, who refused to move out of the forest and eventually forced the loggers to withdraw. The action in Reni prompted the state government to establish a committee to investigate deforestation in the Alaknanda valley and ultimately led to a 10-year ban on commercial logging in the area.

• Decentralised: The Chipko movement thus began to emerge as a peasant and women’s movement for forest rights, though the various protests were largely decentralized and autonomous. In addition to the characteristic “tree hugging,” Chipko protesters utilized a number of other techniques grounded in Mahatma Gandhi’s concept of satyagraha (nonviolent resistance).

1. Shri Bahuguna famously fasted for two weeks in 1974 to protest forest policy. In 1978, in the Advani forest in the Tehri Garhwal district, Chipko activist Dhoom Singh Negi fasted to protest the auctioning of the forest, while local women tied sacred threads around the trees and read from the Bhagavadgita.
2. In other areas, chir pines (Pinus roxburghii) that had been tapped for resin were bandaged to protest their exploitation. In Pulna village in the Bhyundar valley in 1978, the women confiscated the loggers’ tools and left receipts for them to be claimed if they withdrew from the forest. It is estimated that between 1972 and 1979, more than 150 villages were involved with the Chipko movement, resulting in 12 major protests and many minor confrontations in Uttarakhand.
3. The movement’s major success came in 1980, when an appeal from Bahuguna to Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi resulted in a 15-year ban on commercial felling in the Uttarakhand Himalayas. Similar bans were enacted in Himachal Pradesh and the former Uttaranchal.

• Summary: As the movement continued, protests became more project-oriented and expanded to include the entire ecology of the region, ultimately becoming the “Save Himalaya” movement. Between 1981 and 1983, Bahuguna marched 5,000 km across the Himalayas to bring the movement to prominence. Throughout the 1980s many protests were focused on the Tehri dam on the Bhagirathi River and various mining operations, resulting in the closure of at least one limestone quarry. Similarly, a massive reforestation effort led to the planting of more than one million trees in the region. In 2004 Chipko protests resumed in response to the lifting of the logging ban in Himachal Pradesh but were unsuccessful in its reenactment.

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

Israeli-Palestinian conflict - A new format now 

 

 

• End of latest round of deaths: After the shooting war over Gaza wound down early on 21st May 2021, it seemed that the Israelis and Palestinians may be poised to return to their fragile status quo. Israel is claiming that military objectives were met after two weeks of relentless bombardment of the blockaded Gaza Strip. After firing more than 4,000 rockets into Israeli territory, the Islamist group Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip, may also declare a victory. It is likely to emerge from the fighting as it has after previous rounds, battered but unbowed, and perhaps boosted in the eyes of some of its brethren for not surrendering.

• Same no more: But the intensity of this latest round of violence took both the Israeli government and the Biden administration by surprise. It should not have. The fire was stoked far from Gaza, by the provocations of Israeli police and emboldened Jewish far-right vigilantes marching through Jerusalem. Palestinian protests against planned evictions in the contested holy city and the clashes that ensued all came to a head when Israeli security forces decided to storm al-Aqsa Mosque.

1. Hamas then saw an opportunity to don the mantle of the defender of the third-holiest site in Islam as well as broader Palestinian claims to Jerusalem, and launched its attacks.
2. The resulting war sprawled across the land between the river and the sea, with clashes in the West Bank as well as between Arab and Jewish Israelis in cities inside Israel’s 1967 borders.

• What the "war" showed: It exposed the internal dysfunctions among both the Israeli and Palestinian political camps. For Israel, more than two years of ceaseless electioneering and the failure to form a stable ruling coalition either with or without PM Benjamin Netanyahu weakened governance and has brought far-right groups into the political mainstream. For the latter, a crisis of legitimacy facing the beleaguered Palestinian Authority and its aging President Mahmoud Abbas has intensified. Hamas’s renewed militancy followed a decision by Abbas to scrap the first planned Palestinian elections after more than a decade and a half.

• What happens next: There is no meaningful dialogue between an unpopular, enfeebled PA and a right-wing Israeli government where many politicians now openly reject the idea of an independent Palestinian state. Israel’s entrenched system of control over the Palestinian territories and its creeping annexation of Palestinian lands, unchecked for years by United States, may only provoke more angry resistance.

1. Security coordination between Israel and the PA will not be enough to contain the rising flames. And given the rhetoric around annexation, no right-wing Israeli government will be willing or able to renew a political process.
2. This was a long time coming. Many experts now view the two-state solution as an impossibility.
3. The population of Jewish settlers in the West Bank and East Jerusalem — where a Palestinian state is supposed to emerge — has grown sevenfold since the 1990s. Once on the fringes of Israeli politics, the settler movement now makes up the vanguard of the Israeli right. And, like its U.S. allies in the Republican Party, the Israeli right has no interest in pursuing the two-state goals enshrined by the Oslo accords in 1993.

• Key ideas: The official Israeli abandonment of negotiated compromise, alongside continued settlement expansion and the forcible relocation of Palestinian families in East Jerusalem and communities in the West Bank, made a new crisis inevitable. Tzipi Livni, a former Israeli foreign minister, hoped “pragmatic moderates” on both sides could revive the peace process. In current circumstances, that seems more a wish than a solution. Daniel Kurtzer, a former U.S. ambassador to Israel, insisted that the two-state solution remained the only policy goal worth striving for — preferable to a single binational state, or an Israeli-Palestinian confederation where Jerusalem is shared, or other mooted arrangements. That is because alternatives to a two-state solution will never work.
• Summary: For years, Israelis have made peace with the notion that they can manage, however brutally, their relationship with Palestinians instead of resolving it, aided by a process of walling off the ugliness of their rule: Gaza, caged and besieged, might as well have been on a different planet; Israelis could drive throughout the West Bank practically uninterrupted by the sight of Palestinians; Palestinian citizens of Israel have largely been relegated to neglected, concentrated areas.

 Foreign Affairs updates

 

• Hope in Afghanistan: The Taliban returned to the battlefield in May 2021 after a three-day truce for Eid al-Fitr, but signaled their readiness to return to peace negotiations with the Afghan government. The Taliban met with government negotiators in Doha on May 14. But Kabul and Islamabad have encountered diplomatic turbulence, after Pakistani Army Chief Gen. Qamar Javed Bajwa visited Kabul, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani accused Pakistan of overseeing an “organized system of support” for the Taliban insurgency. That prompted an angry rebuttal from Pakistan’s foreign office. Fresh tensions between Afghanistan and Pakistan, which has close ties to the Taliban, could negatively affect the peace process.
• Bangladesh cracks down on media: Ms. Rozina Islam, a reporter for Bangladeshi newspaper Prothom Alo, was arrested and charged with stealing documents from the country’s health ministry under the colonial-era Official Secrets Act. Ms. Islam investigated government corruption and published coverage critical of Dhaka’s pandemic response. She was confined to a room by health ministry officials for five hours before being turned over to police. She reportedly fainted during her detention. In 2020, authorities arrested Mushtaq Ahmed, a writer who alleged corruption in Dhaka’s pandemic response in a Facebook post under Bangladesh’s Digital Security Act. He died in jail in February.
• Arctic Council meet: The Arctic Council met in Reykjavik as the eight Arctic nations of Canada, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Russia, Sweden, and the US convened alongside delegates from Indigenous groups to discuss areas of coordination in the Arctic. The Russian and American representatives at the meeting, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, met in person, and spoke for longer than expected—almost two hours—covering myriad issues including humanitarian access in Syria, the detention of U.S. citizens Paul Whelan and Trevor Reed, and cooperation on Afghanistan, Iran, and North Korea policy, according to a State Department readout.
• Coronavirus in South Asia: India and Nepal remained two of the world’s pandemic hot spots, and although India’s new cases fell for the second week in a row, the crisis is expanding in its rural areas, where health care infrastructure is even weaker than in cities. In Nepal, positivity rates are approaching 50 percent, and the number of new cases has topped 9,000. The presence of the highly infectious Indian variant is likely driving Nepal’s crisis. Experts point to recent surges of Nepalese laborers returning home after lockdowns in India prevented them from working there. As many as 4,00,000 people could return to Nepal in the next few weeks.
• Russia and Syria: Eastern promises. Media stories pointed out that Russian President Vladimir Putin didn’t plan a military intervention in Syria to prop up the Bashar al-Assad regime out of the kindness of his own heart. A network of little-known Russian companies were behind deals with Assad’s government for offshore oil and gas exploration. It was less about the fuel and more about Russia securing a foothold in the Eastern Mediterranean.
• China moves on cryptocurrencies: The price of Bitcoin plunged 30 percent before recovering, after the Chinese financial regulator banned banks and other payment firms from offering services related to cryptocurrencies. In explaining the move, the regulator blamed the asset’s volatile pricing, adding that it was “seriously infringing on the safety of people’s property and disrupting the normal economic and financial order,” the Chinese regulator said. The move comes as Beijing moves forward with its plan for its own digital currency.

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

Self-use Covid-19 testing kits

 

• The story: Finally, you can test yourself for Covid at home. In what can be a paradigm shift in the way Indians test themselves for Covid-19, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has approved a self-use rapid antigen test (RAT) kit developed by Pune-based Mylab Discovery Solutions.

• Details: CoviSelf would be the country’s first self-use kit for testing at home that will give results in 15 minutes and would cost Rs 250.

1. The company aims to make 40-60 million kits per month and cover 95 per cent of India’s pincodes (through pharmacies) soon.
2. The ICMR has issued an advisory on the use of these self-test kits. A mobile application (CoviSelf) has to be downloaded by each user, and users are advised to click a picture of the test strip after completing the test procedure with the same mobile phone, which has been used for downloading the app and user registration.
3. The data in the app of mobile phone will be centrally captured in a secure server, which is connected with the ICMR Covid-19 testing portal, where all data will be eventually stored. Patient confidentiality will be fully maintained. All individuals who test positive may be considered as true positives and no repeat testing is required.
4. The strip (it looks like a typical home pregnancy test) is coated with a combination of antibodies specific to the Sars-CoV-2 antigen. Presence of the antigen (a type of protein) will react with the antibodies on the strip and produce a change of colour.
5. One has to take a nasal swab, then mix it in the pre-filled extraction tube before pouring the sample on the test strip. Either a single line or two lines will appear on the test strip within 15 minutes indicating if the sample has the presence of the Sars-CoV-2 antigen or not.

• What changeS: The RT-PCR tests, considered the gold standard in Covid testing, test for the gene sequence of the Sars-CoV-2 virus. Most RT-PCR kits make copies of the DNA (amplify it) to be able to detect the virus. RATs do not have this option of amplifying the presence of any genetic material in the swab sample. There is a high specificity of these tests (a positive test report does not need to be re-confirmed through other tests), but a slightly lower sensitivity (about 20-30 per cent of the tests can come as false negatives).

1. This would give citizens an option and access to early detection as compared to laboratory testing at a time when there was a huge burden on the diagnostic laboratories.
2. Mylab aims to cover 95 per cent of the pincodes in India within the next few days and also plans to build in a traceability option. The firm expects sales of the CoviSelf kit may affect the sales of their RT-PCR test kits as demand for laboratory testing is likely to go down. The firm claims it invested ‘millions of dollars' and five to six months to develop this self-use test kit.

• What labs say: Diagnostic laboratories, however, do not feel it would impact the demand for RT-PCR tests. Demand for RATs would fall significantly. However, there will be an issue of compliance. There was so much pressure on private laboratories to report test results within a stipulated time, etc.
• Summary: These new tests would come for one-third the cost of a lab test, and within the convenience of one’s home. Now turnaround time for lab tests is high (not less than 72 hours). So at least a 25-30 per cent reduction in demand for RT-PCR may happen.

• Knowledge centre:

1. RT-PCR - The Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) test is the most recommended one for tracing infection in individuals suffering from influenza-like symptoms. It has a specificity rate – it can identify individuals without disease of nearly 100 percent and a sensitivity rate – the ability to identify those with COVID-19 by 67 percent. If the sample is not collected properly by a professionally trained lab technician, the result can give a false negative. RT-PCR test uses Real-Time Reverse Transcriptase (RT)-PCR Diagnostic Panels for detecting the presence of viral RNA and is quite accurate. The swab samples are analyzed for reagents to identify the presence of the virus. This test can detect the virus even before the emergence of symptoms and aid in isolation, preventing the further spread of infection. If the test turns out positive, the patient is required to follow all COVID-19 protocols, including self-isolation, taking recommended medications, eating healthy, checking for vitals including oxygen saturation.
2. Antigen test - The rapid antigen test comes in handy only while detecting patients who are quite symptomatic. It is done by collecting samples from the nose or throat with a swab. Though the results can be revealed within 30 minutes, this test is not accurate, as it may not read into vital proteins that are part of Coronavirus at the initial stages. Even if your rapid antigen test turns negative, the doctors recommend you wait for a couple of days, before confirming the presence of infection. If you happen to notice the symptoms of COVID-19, go for an RT-PCR test for better results. The rapid antigen test needs to be backed by RT-PCR to completely rule out the possibility of infection.

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

Arrests that are not warranted

 

 

• The story: The arrest of an MP from Andhra Pradesh on charges of sedition became a cause of concern due to the misuse of the provision.
• Sedition issue: It is an offence defined in Section 124A IPC which is often used by the police against the critics of the establishment and prominent dissenters. This section is invoked only if there is an imminent threat to public order or there is actual incitement to violence or against the person who excites disaffection against the government. It is a colonial-era provision which is used to imprison people for political writings in support of Indian independence which still remains in the statute book.
• The MP's arrest: He was an vocal criticizer of the A.P. Chief Minister and was arrested for the political vendetta. The prosecution has claimed that his speeches has caused hatred against communities -MP referred to alleged rampant conversion activities in the state- by invoking Section 153-A or Section 505 of IPC. The Section 153A of IPC deals with the offence of promoting disharmony, enmity or feelings of hatred between different groups. This is on the grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc and acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony. The Section 505 of IPC  aims to check and punish the spreading of false and mischievous news intended to upset the public tranquility.
• Justifiable or not: The arrest was unwarranted as the MP was accused only for speech-based offences and the offences under this section attracts a prison term of only three years. In  the "Arnesh Kumar case (2014)", the Supreme Court ruled that there is no need to arrest a person for an offence that invites a prison term of seven years and less. Further, even sedition, which allows a maximum sentence of life imprisonment, also prescribes an alternative jail term of three years.
• Learning: While the legal process will take its course, it is once again the time to reflect on the need and relevance of this offence to remain on the statute book. State governments and various police departments are known for the casual resort to prosecution under this section. In most cases, this section is used despite the necessary conditions to invoke this section is absent. This shows a poor understanding of the law among civil servants everywhere. The terms are vaguely and broadly defined (disaffection includes disloyalty and feelings of enmity). This calls for a total reconsideration  of this section and recently the Supreme Court decided to revisit its  constitutionality.

Kerala: Pinarayi Vijayan sworn in as CM for the second time

• The story: Kerala Governor Arif Mohammed Khan administered the oath of office to a 21-member Council of Ministers, including three women, led by Pinarayi Vijayan as Chief Minister. This marked the start of a second consecutive term in government for the Left Democratic Government that Vijayan has led to power in the State. In Kerala, this is new as power usually shifts every five years.
• Opposition: The Opposition Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) leaders kept away from the function citing unabated Covid-19 spread and the ongoing triple lockdown in Thiruvananthapuram district. Senior Congress leader Ramesh Chennithala had conveyed his wishes to the Chief Minister and his team.

• New faces: The new Council of Ministers comprising new faces, even new entrants into the Assembly, includes three members who have made their mark as Members of Parliament – KN Balagopal, P Rajeeve and MB Rajesh – all CPI(M) members. Balagopal was given the crucial Finance portfolio and will succeed Thomas Isaac in the first Pinarayi Vijayan ministry. Unlike Isaac, who has held the view that GST as a destination-based tax is advantageous for a consumer State such as Kerala, Balagopal has begged to differ.

1. P Rajeeve was feted for his exemplary performance in the Rajya Sabha by late Arun Jaitley in a farewell accorded at the time of ending his term, and will now be in charge of Industry and Law. He has been elected from Kalamassery near Ernakulam, a hub of industrial activity in the State.
2. Replacement for Shailaja - Veena George, a second-time MLA is the Minister of Health and Social Welfare, a ministry made famous by her illustrious predecessor KK Shailaja. The LDF had made a big surprise by replacing Shailaja citing need for ‘a generational change.’
3. MB Rajesh will be the Speaker of the new House.
4. Only two from the previous Pinarayi Vijayan ministry have been retained and both belong to minor constituent parties of the LDF.

• Summary: There are major changes, and the CM has justified it as "no reliance on individual persoalities" in the communist party.

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

China's Mars leap - A long march

 

 

• The story: On May 14th, 2021, the Tianwen-1, a Chinese mission orbiting Mars since February 10th, made a subtle adjustment to its trajectory—one that put it on course to hit the planet’s surface six hours later. After three hours, it broke itself in two. One part readjusted its path so as to skim past the planet and stay in orbit. The other, a sealed shell with a heatshield on the outside and a precious cargo within, plummeted on towards the surface at 17,000 km an hour.

• The other part: It entered the atmosphere about 125 km above the ground, blazing like a meteor. Once friction with the air had bled off most of its kinetic energy it deployed a parachute.

1. Falling - The shell broke open, revealing a landing platform with four legs, a rocket engine and a six-wheeled rover fastened to its top. The engine ignited. When the platform had just 100 metres left to go it paused briefly, hovering as its sensors looked for obstacles that would impede a safe landing. Then it set itself down in a cloud of red dust on Utopia Planitia, one of the great flat plains of Mars’s northern hemisphere.
2. Touch down - Entry, descent and landing (EDL) is historically the riskiest part of any mission to the Martian surface. Every engineering system has to work perfectly. It all has to happen entirely on the basis of onboard data processing and programming, unsupervised by any human being. Mars is currently 320 million kilometres from Earth, meaning radio signals between the planets take 18 minutes to travel each way. By the time the engineers at the Beijing Aerospace Control Centre would know for sure, it'd be all done and dusted!

• A triumph: As news of its arrival reached mission control, Chinese media announced the triumph. The announcement stressed not just the landing itself, but the complete success of the mission it capped. By orbiting and landing on a planet China had never previously visited, Tianwen-1 had become the most successful first mission to Mars in human history. America did not land on Mars until five years after first orbiting it.
• From 1970s to 2020s: Both America’s first orbiter and its subsequent Viking landers made their trips in the 1970s. The Soviet Union managed a landing then, too. But the European Space Agency (ESA) has twice failed at the task, in 2003 and 2016, the second of those attempts a partnership with the Russian space agency, Roscosmos. Getting it right first time definitely ranks as an achievement. In January 2019 China became the first country to put a rover on the far side of the Moon. And in April 2021 it launched the first part of a new space station. A second part is due up shortly.
• Zhurong versus Perseverance: China has some way to go, as the capabilities of Perseverance, the one-tonne lander which America’s NASA deposited at a precisely chosen location in Jezero crater on February 18th, 2021, far outstrip those of the Chinese rover, Zhurong, which is a quarter of the size. Perseverance has the benefit of established orbital infrastructure in the form of the Mars Relay Network, five satellites (three American, two European) that can send high-bandwidth data back to Earth. A reason for Zhurong’s failure to send back pictures until May 19th was that the Tianwen-1 orbiter had to refine its orbit yet again in order to pass on messages.

• Finding ice on Mars: When Zhurong does trundle off its platform and on to the plain, attention will focus on data from its ground-penetrating radar, which is designed to be able to detect ice at depths of up to 100 metres. The distribution of ice is of consuming interest to those who study Mars, defining as it does the limits of the planet’s potential habitability both in its less-arid past and, perhaps, its human-settled future.

1. The Mars Subsurface Water Ice Mapping project (SWIM), an attempt to synthesise results from many different approaches to the question, suggests that when Viking-2 scraped the surface at its landing site in another part of Utopia Planitia in the 1970s, its robotic arm may have been within centimetres of permafrost.
2. But that was at 48°N. Zhurong’s landing site, at 25°N, is within the Martian tropics, where underground ice is much less likely to persist close to the surface. Unlikelihood, though, is not impossibility—and it would make any icy discovery even more exciting.

• Wild rovers: How far Zhurong will be able to go in search of ice is hard to say. It is similar in size and design to Spirit and Opportunity, two rovers America landed in 2004, and like them it has an official life expectancy of 90 sols (a sol is a Martian day, 40 minutes longer than an Earthly one). Spirit ended up lasting six years, Opportunity 14, over which it travelled 45km. If Chinese engineering is of a similar calibre and its operation teams similarly canny, Zhurong may still have quite a journey ahead of it.
• Summary: China is reported to be planning a sample-return mission, too, for launch around the end of the decade. The space race is definitely on!

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

Education Minister talks with Directors of IITs, NITs, IISER and IISCs

 

 

• The story: The Union Education Minister Ramesh Pokriyal held a virtual meeting with directors of IITs, NITs, IISER & IISCs, to review Covid-19 management, online learning and latest status of implementation of the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020.
• Key decisions pending: No call on the conduct or cancellation of Class 12 Board exam was taken at the meeting even as a section of students and parents have been demanding cancellation of exams in view of the COVID-19 pandemic situation.
• Topics for discussion: Broadband connection and better online infrastructure in schools were discussed in the meeting where around 50 education bureaucrats including principal secretaries from various states participated. The minister listened to suggestion on how to improve the school education during pandemic and how online and TVs can be used more for mainstream education during the current phase.
• Summary: In April 2021, the Centre announced the postponement of CBSE Class 12 board exams and had cancelled the Class 10 exams after a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The ministry has also postponed all exams of higher education scheduled in May 2021. The government needs to have a strong action plan from here on, to help millions of school students recover from a significant loss of studies over the past 15 months.

• Knowledge centre:

1. NEP 2020 - The NEP 2020 proposes sweeping changes including opening up of Indian higher education to foreign universities, dismantling of the UGC and the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), introduction of a four-year multidisciplinary undergraduate programme with multiple exit options, and discontinuation of the M Phil programme. In school education, the policy focuses on overhauling the curriculum, “easier” Board exams, a reduction in the syllabus to retain “core essentials” and thrust on “experiential learning and critical thinking”. In a shift from the 1986 policy, which pushed for a 10+2 structure of school education, the new NEP pitches for a “5+3+3+4” design corresponding to the age groups 3-8 years (foundational stage), 8-11 (preparatory), 11-14 (middle), and 14-18 (secondary). This brings early childhood education (also known as pre-school education for children of ages 3 to 5) under the ambit of formal schooling. The mid-day meal programme will be extended to pre-school children. The NEP says students until Class 5 should be taught in their mother tongue or regional language. The policy proposes phasing out of all institutions offering single streams and that all universities and colleges must aim to become multidisciplinary by 2040.

Social Security Code 2020

• The story: Many experts have questioned the effectiveness of the Social Security Code (SS Code) 2020 in helping the informal workforce. With SS Code 2020, two other codes were passed - Code on Occupational Safety, Health & Working Conditions Code, 2020 and Industrial Relations Code, 2020.

• Details: The new SS Code 2020 subsumes nine regulations relating to social security, retirement and employee benefits.

1. Enhanced coverage - The Code apparently has widened coverage by including the unorganised sector, fixed term employees and gig workers, platform workers, inter-state migrant workers etc.
2. National Database - With the aim of making a national database for unorganised sector workers, registration of all these workers would be done on an online portal and this registration would be done on the basis of Self certification through a simple procedure. All records and returns have to be maintained electronically.
3. Social Security Fund - It will be created on the financial side in order to implement social security schemes.
4. Uniform definitions - There is uniformity in determining wages for the purpose of social security benefits. It has provided a wide definition for wage.
5. Specific exclusions with ceilings have been provided for discouraging inappropriate structuring of salaries to minimise social security benefits.
6. Consultative Approach - It has brought in a facilitating approach by the authorities. Unlike the existing role of inspectors, the Code provides for an enhanced role of inspector-cum-facilitator whereby employers can look for support and advice to enhance compliances.
7. Penalties - Any failure to deposit employees’ contributions not only attracts a penalty of Rs. 1,00,000, but also imprisonment of one to three years. In case of repeat offence, the penalties and prosecution is severe, and no compounding is permitted for repeated offences.

• Various problems: Workers have pointed out to various concerns.

1. Online Registration process - The responsibility lies on informal workers registering as beneficiaries, further they do not have digital literacy and connectivity. There is a lack of awareness among informal workers regarding social security schemes.
2. Lack of inter-state cooperation - Unorganised workers are spread across the length and breadth of India. Implications of this code would be too varied across States to be administered.
3. Complexities - Providing holistic social security cover for the unorganised workforce in a simple and effective manner is lost in the Centre-State procedural complications and jurisdictional or institutional overlap.
4. Maternity benefit - Women engaged in the unorganised sector remain outside the purview of maternity benefit.
5. EPF - For informal sector workers, access to employees’ provident fund remains unfulfilled too in the new code.

• Summary: The SS Code 2020 merges existing social security laws and attempts to include informal workers in the ambit of social security administration. However, an examination of the code reveals that universalisation of social security remains an unfulfilled aspiration. At a time when India chairs a BRICS meeting that is focused on issues of labour, especially informality, it fails to even recognise that India is ageing without social security, and the demographic dividend of the young workforce that could support the ageing ends in 15 years. The provision of social security could be used to formalise the workforce to a certain extent. Employers should be made to own up to the responsibility of providing social security to their workers. As the state has a responsibility but the primary responsibility still lies with employers since they are taking advantage of workers’ productivity.

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

China-Russia begin biggest nuclear power project

 

 

• The story: On May 19, 2021, China and Russia began the biggest Nuclear Power Project. The Russian President Vladimir Putin and the Chinese President Xi Jing Ping attended the ceremony that began the construction of the project on May 19, 2021.

• Details: In 2018, Russia and China signed an agreement on Nuclear Energy Cooperation Project. Under the agreement, the countries agreed to build Unit three and Unit Four of the Xudapu Nuclear Power Plant and Unit 7 and Unit 8 of the Tianwan Nuclear Power Plant.

1. The construction of the four units is the major cooperation outcome of science and technology innovation and high-end equipment manufacturing between the countries.
2. The contract value of the project is USD 20 billion. The nuclear reactors to be used in the project are third generation VVER-1200 reactors. After completion, the reactors will generate 37.6 billion kilo watt hours of electricity. Also, they will reduce 30.68 million tonnes of carbon dioxide and will also reduce the use of fossil fuels.

• Deepening strategic relationship: The project is a standing evidence that Russia and China are increasing their close ties after facing huge pressure from European Union and United States on several issues including human rights violations. China has been speeding up its nuclear development to reduce its reliance on coal fired plants. This is being done to achieve its target of becoming carbon neutral by 2060.
• China’s Nuclear Power: As of April 2021, there are forty-nine nuclear power plants in China. This puts the country in the third position amongst the nuclear powers. On the other hand, China is also pushing its third-generation nuclear technology Hualong Two. The Chinese have set a target of achieving 200 GW of Nuclear capacity by 2035.

New Customs Rules - Import of Goods at Concessional Rate of Duty Amendment Rules, 2021

 

 

• The story: The Government of India has brought changes to the Customs (Imports of Goods at Concessional Rate of Duty) rules, IGCR 2017 to boost trade facilitation. This was done through the Customs (Import of Goods at Concessional Rate of Duty) Amendment Rules, 2021.

• What changes: The new rules aim at removing constrains on Indian industries, especially, the MSMEs. It mainly affected those that did not have in-house manufacturing facility.

1. Earlier, the concessional customs duty on imports was not provided to those who did not have an in-house manufacturing facility.
2. Under the new rules they can now import goods at concessional rates, get the job done in other manufacturing units. However, this has still not been extended to certain sectors such as gold, diamond, precious metals.

• New rules: The new rules will now allow import of capital goods at concessional customs duty. Capital goods are physical assets used by a company to manufacture products and services for later use. They are not finished goods. But are used to make finished goods. Tools, machinery, building, equipment are capital goods. These lay down procedure and manner in which an importer can avail benefit of concessional customs duty on import of goods for domestic production. IGCR rules, 2017.
• For whom: These rules are for the importers who can avail the benefit of exemption notification issued under Section 25 of Customs Act, 1962.  The act empowers the Union Government of India to grant exemptions from payment of customs duties.

Atlas V Rocket launched for US Space Force

• The story: On May 19, 2021, the United Launch Alliance launched the Atlas V Rocket from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida, US. The Atlas V rocket carried SBRIS Geo-5 Missile Warning Satellite, for the USSF.
• SBRIS Geo-5 Missile Warning Satellite: The satellite will provide key capabilities in missile warning, battle space, missile defence. It weighs 4,850 kilograms. As of 2018, ten SBRIS satellites had been launched.
• Atlas V: It is a two-stage rocket, fueled with rocket grade kerosene and liquid oxygen in its first stage and hydrogen and liquid oxygen in the second stage. The rocket put SBRIS at a height of 35,753 kilo metres.
• SBRIS: It stands for 'Space Based Infrared System', and is designed for missile warning, missile battlespace and defence characterization. SBRIS is basically a Space Tracking and Surveillance System. SBRIS was designed to meet the Infrared Space Surveillance of United States Space Force System. In 2020 alone, the SBRIS satellites detected more than thousand missiles.
• United States Space Force: The USSF is a branch of US Armed Forces, and the first independent space force. It is the only space force in the world, today, and is operated by Department of Air Force which is one of the three civilian led military departments in Department of Defence.
• United Launch Alliance: It is an American Spacecraft company that manufactures and operates number of rocket vehicles. It also provides launch services. The Atlas V rockets are operated by the company. Vulcan Centaur is the successor to Atlas V and is under design. In future, ULA is to launch Boeing Starliner Crew Capsule to the International Space Station. The mission is called OFT-2, that is, Orbital Flight Test. In 2019, it failed to reach the space station due to software issue.

India’s first Agriculture Export Facilitation Centre

 

 

• The story: The Maharashtra Chamber of Commerce Industries and Agriculture and NABARD (National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development) launched the first Agricultural Export Facilitation Centre.
• Details: The Centre will aid in boosting the agricultural and food exports of the state of Maharashtra, and will act as a one-stop shop to export agricultural food productions. It is open to anyone who is involved in agricultural exports and will provide guidance in areas such as Minimum residue level, orchard management, branding and marketing, country-wise protocols, special export treatments and government export schemes. The centre will organise awareness programmes, workshops and training programmes.
• Why important: In 2018, India launched Agri Export Policy. The policy aims to double the agricultural exports, that is, to increase the agricultural exports to 60 billion USD by 2022. The Agricultura Export Facilitation Centre will help India achieve this target.
• Why in Maharashtra: It is one of the leading agricultural state in India, and one of the largest producer of onions. Today, it is emerging as an important horticultural state too. The soil and agro climatic conditions are diverse in the state. This allows the state to produce variety of crops such as rice, wheat, tur, gram, bajra, jowar; fruits such as banana, mango, grapes, orange, cashew nut. The state is the leading producer in pulses, the second largest coarse cereals producer, the second largest producer of soya bean, sugarcane and cotton, and the third largest produce of sunflower.

9.1 Today's best editorials to read

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

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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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