Daily Current Affairs - Civil Services - 31-05-2021

Useful compilation of Civil Services oriented - Daily Current Affairs - Civil Services - 31-05-2021

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• SECTION 1 - TEN NEWS HEADLINES

1. Science and Technology - Cargo spacecraft Tianzhou-2 - China took a step towards completing the construction of its first space station by the end of 2022 following the launch and docking of a cargo spacecraft. The Tianzhou-2, described as “the delivery guy for China’s space station”, was launched on a Long March-7 rocket from the island of Hainan, and docked eight hours later with the space station’s first core module called Tianhe, or “heavenly harmony”. It carried a range of supplies, as per the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA). It will be followed by the launch of another cargo spacecraft, Tianzhou-3, and two manned missions, Shenzhou-12 and Shenzhou-13, each carrying three astronauts who will spend several months in orbit. A space station is a spacecraft capable of supporting a human crew in orbit for long periods of time. It does not have its own propulsion or landing systems and has to be supplied with replenishments, by rockets from Earth. There have been two space stations in space viz., the Tiangong 2 and the International Space Station (ISS). The Tiangong-2 was launched on 15 September 2016, and deorbited as planned on 19 July 2019.
2. Indian Economy - MSMEs get new ECLGS support - Government decided to widen the scope of the Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme (ECLGS), due to the havoc caused by second Covid wave. Now, in the ECLGS 4.0, govt. will give a 100% guarantee cover to loans up to Rs.2 crore to hospitals/ nursing homes/ clinics/ medical colleges for setting up on-site oxygen generation plants, and interest rate will be capped at 7.5%; Additional ECLGS assistance of upto 10% of the outstanding as on February 29, 2020 to borrowers covered under ECLGS 1.0, in tandem with restructuring as per RBI guidelines of May 05, 2021. The current ceiling of Rs. 500 crore of loan outstanding for eligibility under ECLGS 3.0 to be removed, subject to maximum additional ECLGS assistance to each borrower being limited to 40% or Rs.200 crore, whichever is lower. The civil aviation sector is now eligible under ECLGS 3.0. Validity of ECLGS extended to 30.09.2021 or till guarantees for an amount of Rs.3 lakh crore are issued. Disbursement under the scheme permitted up to 31.12.2021. Detailed operational guidelines to be issued by the National Credit Guarantee Trustee Company (NCGTC).
3. Science and Technology - Animals being sent to ISS - On June 3, NASA planned to send 128 glow-in-the-dark baby squids and some 5,000 tardigrades (water bears) to the International Space Station (ISS) for research purposes. The water animals, to be launched aboard SpaceX’s 22nd cargo resupply mission to the ISS, were part of experiments to help scientists design improved protective measures for astronauts going on long-duration space travel. One of these studies involves looking at how the water bears – tiny animals (around 1 mm long) that can adapt to extreme conditions on Earth, including high pressure, temperature and radiation – would behave in a spaceflight environment. Scientists want to look at how microgravity conditions affect the relationship between the bobtail squid – which are also tiny (3 mm long) – and beneficial microbes, as part of a study called UMAMI, short for Understanding of Microgravity on Animal-Microbe Interactions. Mankind's plans to go to Mars are now necessitating new experiments, to work out feasible plans of staying in space for long durations.
4. Defence and Military - Doval and maritime security - The National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval commissioned the Indian Coast Guard (ICG) Offshore Patrol Vessel (OPV) Sajag and dedicated it to the nation for safeguarding the maritime interests on May 29, 2021. OPV Sajag is constructed by M/s Goa Shipyard Limited. The concept of forming the ICG came into being post 1971 war, when it was assessed that maritime borders are equally vital as land borders. The blueprint for a multi-dimension Coast Guard was conceived by the visionary Rustamji Committee even as the United Nations Convention of the Laws of the Sea (UNCLOS) was being negotiated and India’s assets off Mumbai high were growing. The ICG was created through an Act of Parliament in 1978. The Indian Coast Guard is a multi-mission organization, conducting round-the-​year real-life operations at sea. It is a maritime law enforcement and search and rescue agency of India with jurisdiction over its territorial waters including its contiguous zone and exclusive economic zone.
5. Social Issues - Killing for dowry continues; SC gives new guidelines - The scope of Section 304-B of IPC in dowry deaths was widened by Supreme Court (SC). Dowry deaths accounted for 40% to 50% homicides in the country for almost a decade from 1999 to 2018. In 2019 alone, 7,115 cases of dowry death were registered under Section 304-B, but courts have often opted for a strict and narrow reading of the Section 304-B, which was one of the many legal initiatives introduced against dowry. The Supreme Court has now said that courts should instead interpret Section 304-B liberally while keeping in mind the law’s intention to punish dowry and bride-burning. Section 304-B says that to make out a case of dowry death, a woman should have died of burns or other bodily injuries or “otherwise than under normal circumstances” within seven years of her marriage. She should have suffered cruelty or harassment from her husband or in-laws “soon before her death” in connection with demand for dowry. Courts had interpreted the phrase 'soon before' in Section 304-B as 'immediately before', which would mean getting harassed moments before the woman's death. SC said that such “absurd” interpretations should be avoided, and the prosecution needed to show only a “proximate and live link” between the harassment and her death. The court further said the phrase “otherwise than under normal circumstances” in the Section also calls for a liberal interpretation.
6. Indian Economy - Registration of Unorganised Workers - The Supreme Court of India (SC) directed the Central and State Governments to complete the registration process of unorganized workers so they could avail the welfare benefits given under various government schemes. It asked states and Union territories to keep a record of the returning migrant labourers, including details about their skills, place of their earlier employment, etc so that the administration can extend necessary help to them. Common National Database: There should be a common national database for all organised workers situated in different states. The process initiated by the Ministry of Labour and Employment for creating a National Database for Unorganised Workers should be completed with collaboration and coordination of the States. It may serve registration for extending different schemes by the States and Center. There should be a suitable mechanism to monitor and supervise whether the benefits of the welfare schemes reach the beneficiaries which may be from grassroot levels to higher authorities with names and places of beneficiaries. Dry Ration to Stranded Workers: The stranded migrant workers throughout the country should be provided dry ration under the AtmaNirbhar Bharat Scheme or any other scheme found suitable by the Centre and the states.
7. Environment and Ecology - India cuts cyclone deaths significantly - Since the 1999 super cyclone in Odisha that claimed over 10,000 lives, to Cyclone Yaas (casualties 6 lives), India has made a remarkable progress in disaster risk reduction (DRR). Factors limiting casualties to negligible numbers are (a) Cooperation of both the Centre and states, (b) Large-scale rescue and relief operation by the state, (c) National Crisis Management Committee, (d) National Disaster Response Force and State Disaster Response Force, Army, Navy, etc. A significant increase in the funding for DRR activities - up from an average $3-4 billion over 5 years in the last decade to $4 billion a year for the last 2 consecutive years, has worked magic. The most modern satellites and early warning systems predicting the course of cyclones a week in advance, giving authorities’ time to prepare, help. This is a result of a rigorous exercise and strengthening of the DRR mechanism over the last few years. This demonstration of “Zero Casualty” approach of India towards every calamity has been celebrated at global forums with the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR).
8. Art Culture Entertainment - World’s largest museum in France got its first female President. The Louvre, the world’s largest museum in France has got its first female President in 228 years in Laurence des Cars, an art historian. She has been appointed for the position and is currently heading a landmark museum in Paris. Her appointment was made by the French President. In the 16th and 17th centuries, the Louvre served as the royal palace for French kings. It became an art museum when the French king Louis XVI moved his residence to Versailles. During the French Revolution, the Louvre became a public museum. The most famous painting in the Louvre is Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa.
9. Science and Technology - Various updates - (a) The NERSC has deployed the "Perlmutter" supercomputer, claiming it's one of the fastest supercomputers in world. The "Perlmutter" will be tasked with a number of projects, including assembling the largest 3D map of visible universe to date. In order to do so, it'll process data from DESI, which can capture images of up to 5,000 galaxies in a single exposure. (b) ARK Invest's CEO Cathie Wood has said that central banks in the emerging markets could add cryptocurrencies to their balance sheets to protect against the effects of deflation. (c) US soldiers stationed in Europe may have accidentally leaked information about nuclear weapons stockpile. Soldiers used study apps like Chegg, Quizlet and Cram to memorise codes, jargon and status of nuclear vaults, but appeared to have forgotten to set the settings for the apps to "private", allowing nuclear information to be connected to them. (d) Bharti Global and the UK government-owned OneWeb has launched its seventh batch of 36 satellites by Arianespace from the Vostochny Cosmodrome in Russia. These will form part of OneWeb's 648 LEO satellite fleet that will deliver high-speed, low-latency global connectivity. OneWeb needs another launch to enable its connectivity solution to reach all regions north of 50° latitude by June 2021.
10. Indian Politics - Covid Update - (a) India reported 1.52 lakh COVID-19 cases, lowest in 50 days; and deaths dropped to 3,128. With this, the total number of cases has reached 2,80,47,534, while the death toll has surged to 3,29,100. (b) Complete shutdown in Lakshadweep was extended by seven more days, considering the rising number of COVID-19 cases. (c) AP chief minister said that COVID-19 vaccine would be administered to students wanting to go abroad to pursue education, and to those who want to go abroad for jobs. Vaccination certificate to be issued to the aforementioned. (d) Retirement fund body EPFO has allowed its over five crore subscribers to avail the second COVID-19 advance in view of the second wave. Earlier in 2020, the Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) allowed its members to withdraw COVID-19 advance to meet exigencies due to the pandemic. (e) Highlighting the technical difficulties faced by people in rural areas, the Supreme Court on Monday questioned Centre on mandatory registration on the CoWIN app in order to get vaccinated. It added that there is digital divide in the country and that policy makers should pay attention to the realities on ground. (f) NUMBERS - INDIA - Total cases: 28,046,957; New cases: 153,485; Total deaths: 329,127; New deaths: 3,129; Total recovered: 25,684,529; Active cases: 2,033,301.

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• SECTION 2 - DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS

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

Government starts monetising defence lands

• The story: With thousands of acres of unused land at its disposal, The Ministry of Defence (MoD) has started the process to commercially exploit (monetise) these surplus lands.
• The process: A letter sent to all three armed forces, the DRDO, Coast Guard, Ordnance Factory Board, among others to identify what all land is needed by them over the two decades and what all projects are coming up has started the process. The remaining surplus may be compiled and reconciled with the Director General Defence Estates (DGDE) within three months, says a letter of the MoD sent out on May 6, 2021.
• Vintage landS: Some of these surplus lands are old British time camping ground used when long campaigns had to be sustained, old unused airfields set up in War World II (1939-1945), or even lands which are now within civic areas and serve little military purpose. Some surplus lands could be with Ordnance factories – there are 41 such factories of varying vintage.
• Two types: The MoD is looking at identifying two categories of vacant lands — ‘Class A-2 and ‘Class B-4’. The Cantonment Land Administration Rules, 1937, have bench-marked all lands as per their intended use of the land, its location and future expansions. The Class A-2 land is not actually used or occupied by the Military Authorities but is used temporarily. The Class ‘B-4’ land is the one which is not included in any other class of lands.
• Sumit Bose Committee: The letter flows from the MoD decision to accept the recommendations of Sumit Bose Committee constituted for study on optimum use of defence land and to regulate its commercial exploitation. Bose (ex Revenue Secretary) had submitted a report with 131 recommendations in December 2017.
• 6. Summary: For the first time in independent India, fiscal pressures are forcing the government to commercially tackle even the most sacred of cows, the defence services.

Cryptos versus Governments - Battle Royale

• The story: Cryptocurrencies did very well through the 2020 and early part of 2021. Then came a sharp slide, by more than 40%, in the value of leading cryptos. Bitcoin went from its all-time high of $64,863, to just $30,682. Then it started rising. Two factors contributed to this wild swing - first was the sudden love Elon Musk found for planet Earth's green concerns in light of Bitcoin's emissions, and second was China's utterances about protecting its mainstream financial system from cryptos!
• Why cryptos made it: Various "coins" came up ever since Bitcoin's debut in 2009, by the anonymous Satoshi Nakamato. Now, since cryptos have a fixed supply so their value is high, as supply cannot go up suddenly. Governments meanwhile are printing seemingly limitless amounts. Also, cryptos allow individuals to make payments directly between payer and payee, giving a sense of power. And cryptos are famously anonymous, and users cannot really be tracked easily.
• The downside: It is true that individuals cryptos may control their supply, but new creators of cryptos can always arrive! A new cryptocurrency can be launched just like that. Critics say that cryptos lack intrinsic value and have zero external backing. So why should they have any value at all? As for the government's fiat money, at least there's the sovereign power of taxation working behind it.
• Mainstream banking: Cryptos are forced to use the mainstream banking system too. It will be a long time before cryptocurrencies establish their own trust, due to many reasons. It was not a surprise when Elon Musk's statements led to a rise and fall in crypto's value.
• Can it become currency: Many feel that cryptos will act like money one day, when a large number of retailers will accept these as a standard form of payment. But the fact also is that just 100 or so individual accounts hold a substantial part of bitcoins ever issued!

• Sovereign powers unhappy: The sovereigns (i.e. the governments) will not allow electronic private money whose creators control large blocks of the currency, to run the monetary system. Some stablecoins will have privileged access to customer data or payments systems and that too is unaccetable. The sovereigns are bound to strike back and end this dream run.

1. Governments through central banks have the exclusive right to create money (by printing it or issuing it digitally). The world’s biggest governments are now planning to issue their own government digital coins, to counter private or decentralised cryptos.
2. Anonymity is disliked by governments, too. They get scared with the prospect of money laundering, terrorism financing, tax evasion and the circumvention of capital controls.

• Taxes: All governments want taxes only in their own currency, thereby imparting value to it. No crypto can carry that kind of weight.
• Summary: Overall, governments of the world will work towards controlling, regulating and maybe even crushing the cryptocurrency dream. The coming decade will be decisive.

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

The Yellowstone Park warming massively

• The story: Summers in the US's first and oldest national park are rapidly heating up. For the last two decades, Yellowstone National Park has been warming at its most intense rates in at least 1,250 years. The summer of 2016 was the hottest in the nation’s first and oldest national park since 770.
• New research: The new study, published in Geophysical Research Letters, used data from tree rings to reconstruct more than a millennium of summer temperatures in the Yellowstone region. Tree rings can provide a variety of information about the climate and weather conditions a tree has experienced over the course of its lifetime.

1. Researchers collected samples from both living and fossilized Engelmann spruce trees in northwest Wyoming, including trees inside Yellowstone National Park and in nearby Shoshone National Forest. Some samples were more than a thousand years old.
2. The samples helped scientists construct a timeline of the Yellowstone climate, focusing on August temperatures — the hottest time of the year.
3. They used a special kind of analysis known as “blue intensity,” a relatively new method that measures the amount of blue light reflected from tree rings. This method helps scientists determine the density of the tree rings, a characteristic that’s closely correlated with the summer temperatures the tree experienced while it was alive.
4. It’s one of the few tree-ring records in North America dating back so far, the scientists say. Most others extend back only a few hundred years.

• History: Yellowstone has had its ups and downs over the past millennium, including periods of both warming and cooling. But recent human-caused climate change has taken an unprecedented toll. The region’s most intense warming has occurred since 2000.
• Lessons from the past: There are lessons to be learned from the past. The other significant warm periods in Yellowstone’s history have coincided with serious climate-related disasters. 1988, for instance, was the fourth-warmest year in the record. It was also unusually dry. That year, a series of catastrophic wildfires swept through the park, burning nearly 8,00,000 acres of land. The fifth-warmest period in the record, stretching from 1931 to 1940, coincides with the extreme drought of the Dust Bowl era.
• Final result: Scientists have warned that continued climate change in the Yellowstone region, and across the western United States more broadly, could increase the likelihood of severe droughts and the risk of large wildfires. The current rate of warming raises concerns that the park might already be on track for dramatic changes in the coming decades, the researchers note.
• Summary: The rate of warmth over a relatively short period of time is alarming and has important implications for ecosystem health and function. The story seems to be repeating worldwide.

Coastlines of the world help battle climate change

• The story: Researchers off the southern coast of Australia tried an experiment: they threw 50,000 bags of sand into the ocean. Their goal is to restore about two dozen acres of seagrass on the ocean floor that will suck carbon out of the atmosphere. The move is part of an intensified push to slow warming temperatures on the planet by not only preserving or restoring trees, which also absorb carbon, but also by mending habitats along the world’s coastlines.
• Blue carbon areas: These “blue carbon" areas, which aside from meadows of underwater seagrass also include mangroves and tidal marshes, often store more carbon per acre than forests and hold it for a long time. From Australia to Colombia to the U.S., these coastal zones are becoming a priority for conservation and restoration as researchers and policy makers start to appreciate their potential to take carbon out of the atmosphere. Carbon released into the atmosphere from man-made sources such as fossil-fuel-burning power plants and cars is contributing to a warming climate, which is why researchers are seeking ways to capture and store it.
• Forest and the waters: Like forests on land, such coastal habitats store carbon in the plants themselves. But areas such as the seagrass field that Australian researchers are aiming to regrow store even more carbon in the soil below. That is because the ground in coastlands that contain seagrass, mangroves and marshes is routinely covered with water and sediment, lowering oxygen levels. This slows decomposition, which normally releases carbon back into the atmosphere.

• Worldwide scene: There are blue-carbon ecosystems around the world, but Australia is a hot spot for them—it has as much as 32% of the world’s seagrass, mangroves and tidal marshes. That has prompted the Australian government to take a leading role in investigating the ability of coastal ecosystems to store carbon. There is growing interest in revitalizing these areas because it is a natural solution that can slow climate change. New technology, such as machines that take carbon out of the air, is expensive on a large scale.

1. Scientists in the US have restored a different type of seagrass on the east coast of Virginia near the Chesapeake Bay, and some lawmakers have pushed to investigate further blue-carbon opportunities. In Pakistan, local authorities and private investors are seeking to replant more than 800 square miles of mangroves.
2. In Colombia, a project to protect mangroves and marshes was approved by Verra, a U.S.-based nonprofit that oversees a carbon-credit program, as its first blue-carbon conservation project. That means the project can issue Verra-certified carbon credits, which represent carbon that has been reduced or removed from the atmosphere. Companies can finance a project to earn carbon credits or buy the credits as a way to offset their own emissions.

• Australian government's commitment: It said that it would invest more than $20 million in blue-carbon projects, part of a roughly $75 million initiative aimed at protecting the ocean, though center-right Prime Minister Scott Morrison has been criticized by environmental groups for not moving fast enough to reduce emissions. Australian regulators are also working with scientists to develop their own carbon credit specifically for blue-carbon initiatives.
• Summary: Storing carbon in coastal areas alone isn’t expected to fully mitigate climate change. Blue-carbon ecosystems are much smaller in extent than land-based forests, so preserving and restoring coastal habitats would make up only a small amount of the carbon reduction needed to meet climate targets. Still, failing to protect existing seagrass, mangroves and tidal marshes could allow climate change to accelerate.

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

Israel and Palestine - One solution for Two enemies

• The story: The 11 day long battle between the rockets of Hamas, fired from Gaza strip, and the missiles coming from Israel, ended in May, with hundreds dead. It gave the world another chance to think about what went wrong with the Oslo accords that were signed in 1993 with so much hope.
• Historical slippage: For 50 years now, various attempts to bring peace to historical Palestine have tried working on a two-state solution as the only way forward. Today, many analysts wonder if that was the wrong idea. It may also have been providing Israel the immunity to continue its 'ethnic cleansing' of the Palestinians.
• Britishers, here too: The idea of partitioning Palestine was offered by the new British occupiers of Palestine in 1937, a time when the Zionist movement was hardly 50 years old. The Zionist goal ten was to turn historical Palestine into a comprhensively Jewish state, and a chunk of the Palestinian homeland was proposed as a future state. This preposterous idea was naturally rejected by the Palestinians!
• Tragic event: The international community in 1940s insisted that the Palestinians should give half of their homeland to the settler movement of Zionism. This is a rare event in history where a whole community is being asked to be philanthropic for someone else's cause. The Palestinians kept reiterating that the settler movement of Zionism would not be content with just half of the country, and they may be wiped out. Truly, in less than a year, under the guise of UN support, the new Jewish state took over nearly 80% of historical Palestine. They cleansed almost a million Palestinians (more than half of Palestine’s population), and demolished half of Palestine’s villages and most of its towns in 9 months in 1948. The Nakba had happened. (Nakba = the catastrophe)

• Israel’s occupation: In 1967, Israel occupied the rest of historical Palestine, expelling another 3,00,000 Palestinians. It was not possible after 1948 to repeat a massive ethnic cleansing, and it was substituted by incremental cleansing. The last stage in this process was one of the root causes that ignited the cycle of violence in 2021. The proposed eviction of Palestinians from Sheikh Jarrah, an East Jerusalem neighbourhood, started it.

1. This eviction is part of an overall blatant attempt to Judaise East Jerusalem. Imposing military rule in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip after they were occupied was another means. This enclaved the people there without basic human and civil rights.
2. It is nothing but an apartheid regime imposed on the Palestinian minority in Israel.
3. There was constant refusal to allow the 1948 refugees to return. This completed the matrix of power that allowed Israel to retain the land.

• Two-state solution: The two-state solution proposes establishing two states - (i) Israel for the Jewish people and (ii) Palestine for the Palestinian people. The solution was offered for the first time by liberal Zionists and the United States in the 1980s. The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) was willing to give it a go in 1993, by signing the Oslo Accords. The Palestinian position has had no impact in the current balance of power. Israel’s interpretation is what matters more now, and no global power would challenge its interpretation.

• Israel’s thoughts: The two-state solution is another means of having the territories of West Bank and Gaza Strip, without incorporating most of the people living there. So Israel partitioned the West Bank (20% of historical Palestine) into a Jewish and an Arab part, in the second phase of the Oslo Accords, known as the Oslo II agreement of 1995. The Palestinians were forced to accept it under American and Egyptian pressure.

1. One area, called area C (consists of 60% of the West Bank) was directly ruled from 1995 until today by Israel. After 2009, under Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel is in the process of officially annexing this area, while ethnically cleansing the Palestinians living in it.
2. The remaining 40% of the West Bank, areas A and B under Oslo II, were put under the Palestinian Authority. The Authority optimistically calls itself the state of Palestine. But it has no power whatsoever, except that given to it, and withdrawn from it, by Israel.

• Bantustanisation attempt: The white-dominated government of South Africa classified the country’s Black Africans as Bantu. A Bantustan was a territory that the National Party administration of South Africa set aside for black inhabitants of South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia), as part of its policy of apartheid. In Israel, the Gaza Strip was divided too, with the hope that another Bantustan, like the one in areas A and B, would be established there under the Palestinian Authority’s rule and under the same conditions. But arrival of Hamas, and its ally, the Islamic Jihad, resisted this offer. Israel laid a siege and blockade on the Gaza Strip. To complete the partition of the West Bank, and the siege of Gaza, Israel passed a citizenship law in 2018, known as the nationality law. It made Palestinian citizens in essence to be the “Africans” of a new Israeli Jewish apartheid state.
• Summary: The two-state solution is based on the assumption of parity, approaching the conflict as one fought between two national movements, and that's not how it is. The presence of more than 6,00,000 Jewish settlers, with a very high rate of natural growth, means that Israel will never consider moving them out. Even a soft version of a two-state solution is impossible. The only alternative is to decolonise historical Palestine and build a new State - a State for all its citizens all over the country. Settlers and natives should together build a new state that is democratic, part of the Arab world and not against it.

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

India's negative defence imports list grows

• The story: The government of PM Modi has insisted on indigenisation of defence manufacturing. As part of that, India expanded its negative list for defence imports to include new age weapons such as loitering munitions, counter drone systems and a range of small arms and ammunition. The first list, drawn in December 2020, is set to be expanded as part of an exercise to bring more business to the Indian industry and cut down reliance on foreign suppliers.
• Details: Major platforms that are likely to make it to the list include all light single engine helicopters, next generation corvettes for the Indian Navy and armoured recovery and reconnaissance vehicles. Each system will be designated a particular deadline for indigenous procurement.
• First list: While the original list included major platforms such as towed artillery guns, conventional submarines and attack helicopters, the expanded one is to also have a range of small arms including 5.56 mm carbines and anti-material rifles. Besides, a large set of ammunition, ranging from 40 mm grenades, 80 mm warhead rockets, limpet mines and armoured piercing incendiary bullets are likely to be reserved only for Indian manufacturers, both from the private and public sectors.
• Make in India: The government is serious about helping local defence industry, in view of the huge import spends over the decades. Time will tell if the quality standards and speed of delivery remain as per expectations.

Indian banks warn crypto users

• The story: Leading banks of India are now warning their customers to not use their services to deal in cryptocurrency trading or investing. Names like HDFC Bank and State Bank of India are being discussed, as those sending notices to customers warning them of curbs, including permanent closure of accounts.
• Relying on RBI notice: Major banks are citing an old Reserve Bank of India notifications from 2018 – the now-scrapped November 2018 circular that banned banking entities from dealing or facilitating crypto transactions. This circular was struck down by the Supreme Court in February 2020 after a petition by Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) and crypto exchanges against the RBI move. Other banks, including ICICI Bank, Yes Bank and IndusInd Bank, have also pulled the plug on the business accounts of crypto exchanges, instructed payment gateways to not work with exchanges and blocked exchanges' ability to accept rupee deposits.
• Why the entusiasm: In the absence of any explicit order by the RBI, these lenders are possibly opting to tread on the side of caution. Trading in cryptocurrency is not illegal as per existing Indian laws, but individual institutions can enforce their terms based on their risk assessment. On sensitive matters, banks look for guidance from the RBI, and for sure, RBI has not permitted banks to allow such transactions.
• Contempt of court: But banks may be treading on slippery ice here, as this may be construed as contempt of court. The original judgment applies to RBI and not the banks, but it is, as their regulator, morally obligated to intervene. Banks cannot technically quote the 2018 regulation to issue these notices to customers as banking is an essential service that should not be denied to anyone but for a good and proportionate reason. In case of such a notification, exchanges and customers can actually approach the court to intervene and issue interim orders against such unilateral initiatives by the banks or even RBI till a formal law is passed banning crypto currencies.
• Legal angle: The Supreme Court in its 2020 judgement had held that the RBI had a responsibility to safeguard the "public interest, interests of depositors and interests of the banking policy". Crypto platforms and exchanges are helping customers respond to such notifications by providing them documents like the Supreme Court verdict, Right to Information reply, and a copy of the RBI annual report that says that the circular has been set aside. The Blockchain and Crypto Assets Council also sent representation to various government stakeholders to put forward the industry’s case for banking access.
• Summary: The monetary system of India may slowly strangulate the crypto markets, forcing players to move to other parts of the world, and continue trading and investing.

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

Justice (R) Srikrishna criticises govt. on new IT rules

• The story: Justice Srikrishna, who chaired the committee that drafted the Personal Data Protection (PDP) Bill submitted to the government in July 2018 yet to be turned into law, is unhappy with recent events in India. He has criticised the Indian governments move to clamp down on social media firms, using the new IT rules.
• Undeclared emergency: Justice Srikrishna described the face-off between the central government and global social media platforms over the new IT rules as well as other attempts to gag voices speaking against the government as an 'undeclared emergency'. He said he was quite doubtful about India's status as a free country now! He said that by mandating social media apps like WhatsApp to enable traceability of the originator of messages under the new Intermediary Guidelines the centre is “trying to make inroads into the fundamental right of privacy.” The demand is not legal unless it is backed by legislation passed by the Parliament.

• Questioning the government: Justice Srikrishna questioned the government’s actions including demand for traceability from WhatsApp, the Delhi Police team’s visit to the Twitter office when the company failed to remove tags on specific tweets by ruling party politicians as well as FIRs filed against people for criticising the government on social media.

1. He said that, “Everything I say on social media does not make me a traitor or a person who hates my country. If I criticise the government on oxygen shortage, does it make (one) anti-national or a criminal.”
2. He pointed to the lack of a robust privacy policy that is leading to "scattered" policies by the government. If the PDP Bill was in place, it would clearly lay down the privacy requirements for companies, user rights, mechanisms for government surveillance and establish a regulator for concerns. It is the same mess the govt. created with Aadhar Act.
3. Since there was a lack of necessary safeguards under the current IT rules, requirements such as traceability can open up unregulated access to the private messages of people. Only a law passed by the Parliament, which specifies the strict “circumstances under which the right of privacy will be subject to restrictions” and its applicability on social media or OTT platform is the right way to approach the issue.
4. All developed countries, be it Australia or the EU have privacy policies which empower them to get companies like Google to agree to certain demands from the State. India is simply shooting in the dark. There is no focused data protection or data privacy policy.

• Free speech: As far as the government's demand for viewing content for national security reasons is concerned, he said that “I am entitled to say anything, this is freedom of speech. But if I talk about some terrorist activity, that is actionable. That is the only thing for which they can have access. In order to have that there must be tangible evidence before you can access my telephone. We should have a law which controls it.”
• Summary: Clearly, the government ought to think carefully about the approach it is taking, and not let purely perception requirements guide policy actions.

 China wants more kids - relaxes two-child policy too

• The story: China will allow each couple to have three children in a major policy overhaul to address the challenges of its ageing population. The decision was taken at the level of President Xi Jinping.

• Steps needed: The government said major steps were needed to address the deepening problem of the ageing population. In October 2015, China replaced its one-child policy with a two-child policy, but some researchers suggested that the change would have only a marginal effect on the greying of the population if no other action were taken.

1. Other measures suggested include postponing the retirement age, and targeting marriage and family values education campaigns at youth. Improvements would be made on child care service, maternity leave and child birth insurance.
2. The decision comes just weeks after the release of a summary of census data pointing to further decline in the number of births in the country.
3. The National Bureau of Statistics said it was compiling and analysing the detailed data and would share the results at a later date. So clearly, the data is pretty scary.

• Data: According to the national census conducted at the end of 2020, China’s overall population rose to 1.412 billion in 2020, from 1.4 billion in 2019. The NBS said Chinese mothers gave birth to 12 million babies in 2020, down from 14.65 million in 2019, marking an 18 per cent decline year on year and continuing the descent to a near six-decade low.

1. China’s fertility rate was 1.3 children per woman, which is below the replacement level of 2.1 needed for a stable population. The average number of children that a Chinese woman was willing to have in 2020 was 1.8.
2. Many Chinese are clear that the policy change would encourage couples to have more children, given steep real estate prices, long working hours and the intense competition and high prices for education in China.

• Government policy and its repercussions: For over three decades from the 1980s, Beijing enforced the one-child policy in an attempt to control a fast growing population. Due to a cultural preference for boys, the policy led to men outnumbering women by 34.9 million in 2020. The fewer number of women was one of the main reasons for the slump in the birth rate. The number of women of childbearing-age peaked in 2011 and has been falling since.
• Growing old faster: China has been ageing much faster than other low- and middle-income countries, with the proportion of the population aged at least 60 years projected to rise to 28 per cent in 2040, according to the WHO.
• Summary: The threat of over-population is now giving way to the real danger of de-population, across the world.

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

France joins 'Square Kilometre Array'

• The story: France officially joined the international consortium to build the Square Kilometre Array Observatory (SKAO), proposed to be the world’s largest radio telescope. French President Emmanuel Macron announced this, during his official state visit to South Africa, one of SKA’s co-hosting countries along with Australia.
• Members: France has now become the first non-founding country to join the SKA consortium. The founding member-nations are Australia, South Africa, the United Kingdom, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal and China. The French scientists have extensive expertise in radio astronomy, processing and technology. They have engaged positively in key aspects of the design and SKAO-relevant science.
• SKAO: Headquartered in the United Kingdom, SKAO is an array of antennas that will be built across Australia and South Africa with the scientific goal of studying the evolution of galaxies, fundamental physics in extreme environments and the origins of life. France participated in 11 engineering designing projects of the SKA telescope and had made contributions for development of dishes, low-frequency antennas, receivers and signal processing. This work was mainly performed under the Maison SKA-France consortium, which includes research organisations and universities led by the French National Centre for Scientific Research or CNRS.
• Indian case: India, through the Department of Atomic Energy, is also one of the participating members of SKA, but is yet to become a SKAO member. The proposal in this regard is presently under review, after which India will announce its share of funding grant for SKA and officially join the consortium. A decision is expected by the end of 2021. Some of the other participating countries are Canada, Germany, Japan, South Korea, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland.
• Scale: For the project, there will be 197 dishes, each measuring 15 metres in diameter, placed in South Africa’s Karoo region. The telescope in Australia will have 1,31,072 antennas and will be installed on the campus of the Murchison Radio-astronomy Observatory operated by the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation.

5 lakh orders for Starlink space internet already

• The story: Elon Musk, the founder of Starlink, said that SpaceX received more than 5,00,000 preorders for its Starlink satellite internet service and anticipates no technical problems meeting the demand. The only limitation will be high density of users in urban areas.
• The cost: Musk has said that the $99 deposits SpaceX took for the service were fully refundable and did not guarantee service. SpaceX has not set a date for Starlink’s service launch, but commercial service would not likely be offered anytime soon as previously planned. The company plans to eventually deploy 12,000 satellites in total and has said the Starlink constellation will cost it roughly $10 billion.
• Rich men's world: Building and sending rockets to outer space is a capital-intensive business, but two of the world’s richest men, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and Musk, who is also the chief of automaker Tesla Inc, have invested billions of dollars over the years to make inroads in this market.
• A public battle: Musk and Bezos have sparred publicly over the competing satellite plans.The US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) last month approved SpaceX’s plan to deploy some Starlink satellites at a lower earth orbit than planned but included a number of conditions to ensure the plan’s safety. SpaceX agreed to accept that their satellites may encounter interference from satellites deployed under Amazon’s Kuiper Systems satellite project.

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

World Neglected Tropical Diseases Day

• The story: The 74th World Health Assembly declared 30th January as ‘World Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTD) Day. The proposal was floated by the United Arab Emirates, and adopted unanimously by the delegates. The first World NTD Day was celebrated informally in 2020. The World Health Assembly is the decision-making body of World Health Organization (WHO).

• Points to note:

1. Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTD) - These are a group of infections that are most common among marginalised communities in the developing regions of Africa, Asia and the Americas. They are caused by a variety of pathogens such as viruses, bacteria, protozoa and parasitic worms. NTDs are especially common in tropical areas where people do not have access to clean water or safe ways to dispose of human waste. These receive less funding for research and treatment than malaises like tuberculosis, HIV-AIDS and malaria. Examples - snakebite envenomation, scabies, yaws, trachoma, Leishmaniasis and Chagas disease etc.
2. London Declaration on NTDs - It was adopted on 30th January, 2012 to recognise the global burden of NTDs. Officials from the World Health Organization (WHO), the World Bank, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, representatives from leading global pharmaceutical companies as well as representatives of several national governments met at London’s Royal College of physicians to pledge to end the diseases.
3. WHO’s New Roadmap for 2021–2030 - From measuring process to measuring impact. From disease-specific planning and programming to collaborative work across sectors. From externally driven agendas reliant to programmes that are country-owned and country-financed.

• NTD Scenario: The NTDs affect more than a billion people globally, but are preventable and treatable. However, these diseases - and their intricate interrelationships with poverty and ecological systems - continue to cause devastating health, social and economic consequences. There are 20 NTDs that impact over 1.7 billion people worldwide. India carries the largest burden of at least 11 of these diseases, with parasitic illnesses like kala-azar and lymphatic filariasis affecting millions of people throughout the country – often the poorest and most vulnerable.
• Indian initiatives to eliminate NTDs: The Accelerated Plan for Elimination of Lymphatic Filariasis (APELF) was launched in 2018, as part of intensifying efforts towards the elimination of NTDs. A WHO-supported regional alliance established by the governments of India, Bangladesh, and Nepal in 2005 to expedite early diagnosis and treatment of the most vulnerable populations and improve disease surveillance and control of sandfly populations (Kala-azar). India has already eliminated several other NTDs, including guinea worm, trachoma, and yaws.

Reading Covid-19 data properly

• The story: India's second surge in the Covid pandemic was shocking. The number of positive cases rose across urban and rural areas, since the middle of March 2021. A good thing was that the numbers started declining in the three metros that first faced the surge, Delhi, Mumbai and Pune, and possibly in some states too. Questions arose if the decline was real, or just a statistical jugglery?
• The data game: The pandemic of 2020-21 has become the most data-rich global health crises in human history. For every district and for all major cities in India, information about three quantities was available: (i) daily numbers of tests, (ii) identified positives, and (iii) deaths. With these, two meaningful quantities can be created - the ratio between the identified positives and tests, which is called “test positivity”; and the ratio between deaths and identified positives, called Case Fatality Rate (CFR). The deaths on any day are from positives identified over a fortnight or so before that day, which have to be considered in obtaining the CFR.
• How many to test: In a standard Test-Trace-Treat strategy, the approach is - Let one individual, let’s say Mr A, test positive (Test stage). Next, health workers will speak to Mr A and find out everyone he has been in contact with (Trace stage). Suppose Mr A has come in contact with 20 people. He spent a lot of time with 5 of them (high risk) and briefly met the others (low risk). All these 20 contacts should be tested, but constraints of time, money, people and equipment come in the way. If only high-risk contacts are tested, many are likely to be positive and therefore the test positivity is likely to be very high. If more and more contacts are tested, the likelihood that many contacts are positive decreases (since low-risk contacts may not get infected). Since identified positive persons cannot infect others because they are isolated, a low test positivity indicates that the epidemic is likely to be contained effectively.
• Test positivity indicator: Test positivity is a good benchmark at the earliest stages of the epidemic. Once the infection has spread sufficiently through the population, the chain of infection is no longer clear. Then if Mr A went to a seminar and caught the infection from someone or passed it to someone, the test positivity may not reduce even when the number of tests is increased. This is a bad situation since it is indicative of widespread infection, with many asymptomatic cases.
• Decline measurement: Test positivity can be also used as an indicator to mark the decline of the epidemic. As the epidemic ends, the number of tests being done will decline and the test positivity is likely to stay constant or decline as well. However, as the number of tests decline, if an increase of test positivity is observed, then the reduction in the number of tests should be taken as a matter of concern. It is then necessary to increase the number of tests.
• Making improvements: Test positivity by itself does not give enough information to understand the epidemic's progress at all stages. There can be many infected people who are asymptomatic and who remain undetected. Such people can infect others, and it is necessary to estimate their number. Here the Case Fatality Rate (CFR) us useful.

1. The Infection Fatality Rate (IFR) is needed now. While CFR tells how many of the identified positive persons have died, but there will be many unidentified positive persons as well.
2. The IFR is the ratio of deaths to the total number of infected persons, identified or unidentified. IFR is usually much lower than CFR — because of the large number of unidentified positive persons — and can be considered a constant for a disease for a given age group. There are ways to estimate the total number of positive persons in a locality (Pune’s serological survey did this in certain electoral wards). If the IFR for Covid-19 is 0.3%, it means out of every 1,000 infected people, 3 are likely to die. If the CFR is 1%, out of 300 identified infections, 3 people have died. So around 700 Covid-19 positive people have not been identified. If CFR were 2%, 6 people would have died, which would require an underlying population of 1,400 infected but undetected people. The higher the CFR, the greater the number of unidentified infections.

• Summary: High test positivity and high CFR would mean testing needs to be ramped up and door-to-door surveys may be necessary to identify infections before the disease turns rampant. High test positivity and low CFR would mean the infection has spread through the population, but the health system is responding well, keeping deaths low. The number of unidentified positives is not high. But this could also imply under-reporting of deaths, which needs to be investigated. Low test positivity and low CFR would mean the epidemic is likely under control. Low test positivity and high CFR would mean contradictory information, and may point to attempts at keeping the test positivity artificially low. 

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

Goa's solar-based electrification programme

• The story: The CM of Goa launched the solar-based electrification programme for rural households of state, on the occasion of Goa statehood Day (May 30).
• Details: This will bring electricity using renewable energy to rural areas in Goa where grid connectivity is not feasible. It was launched with focus on delivering clean, reliable and affordable energy to all.  Solar PV-based home lighting systems was inaugurated two days after agreement was signed between Convergence Energy Services Ltd (CESL) and Goa Energy Development Agency (GEDA).
• New approach: The electrification project is first off-grid electricity engagement by CESL which will install and maintain the solar PV systems for five years under Remote Village Electrification (RVE) programme. CESL will undertake programme across villages and hamlets in coordination with Gram panchayats.
• CESL and EESL: The CESL is a 100 percent owned subsidiary of EESL. It is a new energy company which focuses on delivering clean, affordable, and reliable energy. It focuses on energy solutions which can be generated with the confluence of renewable energy, electric mobility, and climate change.
• Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL). The EESL, world’s largest public energy service company (ESCO), is owned 100 percent by of Government of India. It is a joint venture of state-owned NTPC Limited, Power Finance Corporation and POWERGRID. It was established under Ministry of Power to facilitate energy efficiency projects.

Orphans on radar - PM-CARES for Children Scheme

• The story: India's PM launched a PM-CARES for Children scheme for children orphaned due to COVID-19. As per data, about 577 children have lost their parents till date. (the real number may be much higher)
• Points to note: Measures under the scheme include free education, creation of Rs 10 lakh corpus for each child- to be given to them at the age of 23. Prime Minister emphasized, children represent future of the country and India will do everything to support and protect them.
• Details: Children who lost either parents or surviving parents or legal guardians or adoptive parents due to COVID-19 disease, will be supported through PM-CARES fund. Under the PM-CARES scheme, contribution will be made through PM CARES Fund till they attain age of 18 years. Contribution will help in creating a corpus of Rs 10 lakh for them They will be given a monthly stipend for five years starting from 18 years till 23 years to fulfil their personal requirements. After they will attain 23 years of age, they will be given full amount of Rs 10 lakh to use it professionally or personally. Scheme will ensure free education for such kids by giving them admissions in nearest Kendriya Vidyalayas or private schools fees for which will be given from PM CARES fund. Provisions for educating kids between 11 to 18 years in residential schools like Sainik Schools and Navodaya Vidyalayas.
• Summary: Students going for higher education will be given education loans for which PM CARES will pay interest and scholarships. They will also be enrolled under Ayushman Bharat Scheme to provide them health insurance cover of Rs 5 lakh till 18 years. Premium will be made by PM CARES Fund

Aspergillosis Fungal Infection

• The story: Amid the country’s battle against covid-19 pandemic and increasing cases of mucormycosis, Doctors in Ghaziabad, Mumbai and Gujarat have reported cases of new disease called ‘aspergillosis’.
• Aspergillosis: It is a fungal infection, fungal growth or allergic reaction caused due to Aspergillus fungus. The fungus is found indoors as well as outdoors. It lives on decaying vegetation or dead leaves. This fungal infection is not as deadly as black fungus but it can turn fatal too.
• Where from: People can come in contact with the fungus by breathing in microscopic “aspergillus spores” from environment. Though people come in contact with the fungus daily but never contracts illness. Because, aspergillosis infects people suffering from lung disease or weak immune system. It causes infections in organs and other allergic reactions.
• Types: There are five types of aspergillosis namely, allergic bronchopulmonary aspergillosis, aspergilloma (fungus ball), allergic Aspergillus sinusitis, chronic pulmonary aspergillosis and invasive aspergillosis. But, COVID-19 patients are being diagnosed with rare sinus pulmonary aspergillosis.
• The symptoms of pulmonary aspergillosis are weight loss, cough, coughing up blood, shortness of breath, and fatigue are some of its symptom.

Three astronauts to reach Chinese Space Station

• The story: China informed that a three-man crew of astronauts will be sent for three-month mission on new space station of China in June 2021.
• Details: Plans for station’s first crew were confirmed to state after an automated spacecraft was launched with fuel and supplies for Tianhe station. Tianhe, or Heavenly Harmony is third and largest space station launched by China. Core module of the station was launched on April 29, 2021 into the orbit highlighting increasingly ambitious space program of China.
• Process: The Shenzhou 12 capsule will carry the crew. Capsule will be launched from Jiuquan base in northwest China. The space crew will be sent to station to practice spacewalks and conduct repairs, maintenance and conduct scientific operations.
• China’s manned missions: In 2003, China sent 11 astronauts which included two women, into space beginning. First female astronaut was Liu Yang in 2012. The Tianzhou is a Chinese automated cargo spacecraft which was developed by China’s first space station Tiangong-1. It is used to resupply modular space station. Spacecraft was launched on Long March 7 rocket from Wenchang in 2017. This was the first version of spacecraft and has a mass of 12,910 kg.

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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