Daily Current Affairs - Civil Services - 04-06-2021

Useful compilation of Civil Services oriented - Daily Current Affairs - Civil Services - 04-06-2021

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• SECTION 1 - TEN NEWS HEADLINES

1. World Politics - Israel political update - (a) Former labour leader Issac Herzog became the 11th President of Israel, in a secret ballot in the Knesset (Parliament of Israel). He was elected for the position with the support of an overwhelming 87 lawmakers in 120 member house. The 60-year old will be the first President of Israel who is the son of a former president, Chaim Herzog, who served as Israel’s head of state between 1983 and 1993. (b) The opponents of Binyamin Netanyahu reached an agreement that would end his 12-year stretch as prime minister of Israel. Under the deal, Naftali Bennett, the leader of a nationalist party, would become prime minister, serving for two years before handing over to Yair Lapid, a centrist and secularist. The Knesset still must pass a vote of confidence in the new coalition, which includes an Arab-Israeli party. That leaves time for Mr Netanyahu to try to pick off its right-wing supporters.
2. Governance and Institutions - SDG India Index 2021 (SDGII) - The third edition of the Sustainable Development Goal Index (SDGI) and a dashboard was released by NITI Aayog on June 3, 2021. The index which measures the progress of the states and UTs has ranked Kerala as the top-performing state with a 75 score while Bihar as the worst performing state with a 52 score. The first edition of the SDG India Index was launched in December 2018, using 62 indicators from 39 targets across 13 SDGs; Goals 12, 13, 14, and 17 had to be left out owing to the lack of indicators for which State-wise data was available. The second edition of the Index covering all the 17 Goals and 54 targets, launched in December 2019, was more broad in coverage with 100 indicators: 68 completely aligned with the National Indicator Framework (NIF), 20 refined, and 12 from other official government sources. Index 3.0 is based on the framework of 17 SDGs and 169 targets. The Index estimation is based on data on indicators for the first 16 goals while a qualitative assessment has been made for Goal 17. It is constructed using 115 indicators which cover 70 targets from 16 Goals.The third and current edition (Index 3.0) marks an improvement with a wider coverage of targets. The Index offers insights into social, economic, and environmental status of India and the States/UTs in their march towards achieving the SDGs. [For SDGII 3.0, the composite score ranges from 0 to 100 and denotes the overall achievement in achieving the targets under SDGs. SDGII 3.0 scores for States have ranged from 52 to 75; and for UTs from 62 to 79, a notable improvement from 2019-20, when they varied between 50 and 70 for States and 59 and 70 for the UTs]
3. Indian Economy - Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme (ECLGS) 4.0 - Government has increased the scope of the Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme (ECLGS) for three more months. It was extended to help businesses across sectors affected by the second wave of COVID 19. A 100% guarantee cover to be provided on loans, in hospitals/nursing clinics/medical colleges/homes, up to Rs.2 crore. Loan can be utilized to set up on-site oxygen generation plants. Additional ECLGS assistance up to 10% of outstanding as on February 2020 to borrowers who are covered under ECLGS 1.0. Ceiling of Rs.500 crore of loan outstanding is removed. Assistance will be limited to 40% or Rs.200 crore, whichever is lower. Civil Aviation sector will be eligible under ECLGS 3.0.  Validity of ECLGS extended to Sept 30 2021 or till guarantees for ₹3 trillion are issues. ECLGS 4.0 will enhance the utility and impact of ECLGS by providing additional support to MSMEs.  It will safeguard livelihoods. It will help in the resumption of business activity.  It will facilitate flow of institutional credit at reasonable terms.
4. World Politics - China’s red tourism - As the Chinese Communist Party celebrates its 100th anniversary in 2021, the popularity of ‘red tourism’ has grown, and is bringing in huge revenues for China. Launched in 2004, 'Red Tourism' involves visiting places that are of historical and cultural importance to the Communist Party’s history, while also providing an impetus to tourism and local businesses. It reminds people of the 'sacrifices' made by the leaders of the Communist party to forge a modern China. Some of the famous sites covered are: Shaoshan - Birthplace of Mao; Yan’an - Mao Zedong’s revolutionary base area where the Red Army arrived after the Long March; Jinggangshan where leading members of the Communist Party of China established their first rural base for the revolution in 1927; Nanchang (Capital city of Jiangxi Province) which witnessed a significant Uprising in 1927 led  by Zhou Enlai and He Long; Nanhu Lake in China’s Zhejiang, where the First National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party was held on a boat in 1921. President Xi Jinping has significantly enhanced his own profile, and is now tutoring officials in his philosophy, not Deng Xiaoping's, and not definitely Mao's. Xi Jinping's father Xi Zhongxun was was among the first generation of Chinese communist leadership, was a moderate, and imprisoned many times. Xi Jinping himself was treated harshly by Mao's regime in 1960s and 70s.
5. Science and Technology - China’s artificial sun ‘EAST’ - China’s “artificial sun” Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak (EAST) set a new record after it ran at 216 million degrees Fahrenheit (120 million degrees Celsius) for 101 seconds. For another 20 seconds, it achieved a peak temperature of 288 million degrees Fahrenheit (160 million degrees Celsius), ten times hotter than the sun’s core (15 million degrees Celsius). China’s EAST reactor is an advanced nuclear fusion experimental research device located at the Institute of Plasma Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (ASIPP) in Hefei, China.  It is one of three major domestic tokamaks presently operated China, the other two being HL-2A reactor and J-TEXT. The EAST project, operational since 2006, is part of the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) facility. The EAST Tokamak device is designed to mimic the energy generation process of the sun. It replicates the process of nuclear fusion process carried out by the sun and stars.  Also, in 2020, South Korea’s KSTAR reactor set a record by maintaining a plasma temperature of 100 million degrees C for 20 seconds.  [A tokamak is a toroidal apparatus for producing controlled fusion reactions in hot plasma]
6. Indian Econommy - Bicycles of India - Nearly 45%, or 111 million households (11.1 crore) in India, owned bicycles as per the 2011 census. The percentage share of ownership during the decade 2001 to 2011 increased by about 3%. In contrast, the corresponding growth of two-wheelers and cars increased by more than 10%. The Indian bicycle industry is largely located in the mega cluster of Ludhiana (in Punjab), comprising 4000 MSMEs and employing a workforce of 10 lakh in the entire value chain, including sales and repair shops, and producing more than 2 crore bicycles per annum. In 2018–19, the estimated bicycle production in India was around 2.2 crore (second largest after China). The bicycle ownership per 1000 persons in India is a meagre 90 as against 1100 of the Netherlands and 360 of China. June 3 is annually celebrated by the United Nations General Assembly as World Bicycle Day.
7. Science and Technology - NASA's Venus missions - NASA is going to planet Venus, with two missions: DAVINCI+ and VERITAS, to be launched between 2028-2030. (a) DAVINCI+ is short for ‘Deep Atmosphere Venus Investigation of Noble gases, Chemistry, and Imaging’ and is the first US-led mission to the planet’s atmosphere since 1978. It will try to understand Venus’ composition to see how the planet formed and evolved, and has a descent sphere that will pass through the planet’s thick atmosphere to measure noble gases and other elements. It may photograph Venus's “tesserae” (comparable to Earth’s continents), whose presence suggests that Venus has tectonic plates like Earth. (b) The second mission called VERITAS is short for ‘Venus Emissivity, Radio Science, InSAR, Topography, and Spectroscopy’ and will map the planet’s surface to determine its geologic history and understand the reasons why it developed so differently from Earth.NASA has selected two missions to the planet Venus, Earth’s nearest neighbour.
8. World Politics - Various updates - (a) Kharg, Iran’s largest warship, caught fire and later sank in the Gulf of Oman near the Strait of Hormuz, a strait between the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman. The warship Kharg was named after the island that serves as the main oil terminal for Iran. (b) The OECD forecast that the world economy will grow by 5.8% in 2021, a sharp upward revision from its previous estimate. The success of vaccine roll-outs in much of the rich world and the huge stimulus programme in the United States have helped improve global prospects. (c) Brazil’s official statistics office said that the country’s economy returned to pre-pandemic size in the first quarter, when GDP grew by 1.2% over the previous quarter, a faster pace than many economists were expecting. India’s economy was also on the road to recovery in the first quarter, boosted by manufacturing and government spending, but that was before an escalation of covid-19 infections that plagued the country in April and May. (d) The euro zone’s annual rate of inflation leapt to 2% in May, passing the European Central Bank’s target of “below, but close to 2%”, for the first time in more than two years. In Germany it hit 2.4% (up from 1.6% at the start of the year). The ECB, along with the Federal Reserve, insists that surging prices are temporary and will eventually ease. Rising energy costs are a big factor driving inflationary pressures.
9. Governance and Institutions - PM-CARES for Children scheme - The Central government announced the “PM-CARES for Children” scheme for all those children orphaned due to Covid-19. The Supreme Court ordered the district authorities to upload the details of children in need of care and protection on NCPCR (National Commission for Protection of Child Rights) portal Bal Swaraj. A corpus of Rs. 10 lakh will be allocated to each of these children from the PM CARES fund. It will provide monthly stipend from 18 years of age. On attaining 23 years, he/she will get the corpus amount. Education to the Children (under 10 years) to be given by ensuring admission to Kendriya Vidyalayas/ private schools. PM CARES will pay for the uniform text books and notebooks. If the child is admitted in a private school the fees as per the RTE norms will be provided. Education to children (11-18 years) will be given via admission in any Central Government Residential School. In case the child is to be continued under the care of guardian, he/she will be given admission in the nearest Kendriya Vidyalaya/private school. For higher education, a provision of either a scholarship equivalent to the tuition fees/ educational loans. Interest on the loan will be paid by the PM-CARES fund. For health insurance, all children to be enrolled as a beneficiary under Ayushman Bharat Scheme. The premium amount will be paid by PM-CARES till a child turns 18.
10. Indian Politics - Covid update - (a) India reported 2,713 COVID-19 deaths in lowest 1-day rise in 41 days. The daily number of coronavirus cases in the country dipped to 1,32,364 as compared to 1,34,154 cases recorded on Thursday. India's daily positivity rate stands at 6.38%. (b) As per Dr Amartya Sen, India's "confused" government focused on taking credit for its actions, rather than working to restrict the spread of Covid-19, resulting in schizophrenia that led to massive troubles. He said India was better placed to fight the pandemic because of its pharma manufacturing prowess and also higher immunity levels, but blew it all up. (c) With the second virus surge easing in Indian cities, the pandemic is ravaging the vast poverty-stricken rural hinterland. But ignorance and fear rule here. Many don't want to take the vaccine, as they fear that they will die if they take it. (d) Biological E’s recombinant protein Covid-19 vaccine, Corbevax, could well emerge as the most affordable of vaccines in the Indian market once it gets emergency use approval (EUA). Corbevax may come at a sub-Rs 500 pricing, for both the doses. (e) NUMBERS - INDIA - Total cases: 28,693,835; New cases: 132,364; Total deaths: 344,101; New deaths: 2713; Total recovered: 26,588,808; Active cases: 1,642,832.

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• SECTION 2 - DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS

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

India "Stock Market Cap to GDP ratio" at 115%

• The story: Surprised observers saw the rise and rise of Indian stock markets since April 2020. That has continued unabated ever since. Strangely, the nations macroeconomic fundamentals speak a different story.
• Widely apart: Indian economy recorded its worst performance in 70 years in 2020-21, but the market capitalisation of listed equities grew to an all-time high. So India’s "market cap to gross domestic product (GDP) ratio" touched a 13-year high of 115 per cent. This was the highest since December 2008, when it reached a record high of 150 per cent. In March 2020, it had hit an 11-year low of 56.8 per cent.
• Data: The combined market cap of all listed companies has doubled since last March from Rs 113.5 trillion to Rs 226.5 trillion. In contrast, India’s GDP at current prices shrank by three per cent in FY21 to around Rs 197 trillion from around Rs 203 trillion a year ago. In constant prices, the shrinkage was 7.3%. In the last 15 years, the ratio was around 79 per cent on average with 150 per cent being the highest, in December 2008, and 52.4 per cent being the lowest point, in March 2005.

• Costly shares: It is not easy to directly correlate the market cap of listed securities to India’s GDP, but the markets are surely expensive and look overheated at current levels. Traditional valuation parameters such as price-to-earnings (P/E) multiple and price-to-book value ratio also say the same thing.

1. The recent rise in the market cap was driven by the rally in mid- and small-cap stocks, rather than large-caps. The BSE MidCap index has risen about 25 per cent since the beginning of 2021, while BSE SmallCap index is up 33 per cent year-to-date. In contrast, the benchmark BSE Sensex is up 9.4 per cent.
2. Many dismiss the ratio outright, and say that there is no direct link between the market cap or stock prices and a country’s GDP. They say that market capitalisation or asset prices depend on the level of money supply rather than the GDP. Since money supply across the world grew sharply, led by developed markets, it fuelled a rally in asset prices, including equities. The markey cap may race ahead of GDP till money supply remains benign and inflation low.
3. While India’s GDP and corporate revenues declined in FY21, corporate profits reached an all-time high thanks to the macroeconomic changes brought about by the pandemic. Gains from lower commodity prices and sharp decline in interest rate helped the corporate profit to GDP ratio hit a decadal high in FY21 of around 2.7 per cent. So as profits grew, market rewarded firms with higher share prices.

• Globally: India has the highest market cap to GDP ratio among the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) countries with the exception of South Africa. The ratio is 81 per cent in China, 73 per cent in Brazil and 52 per cent in Russia. In Indonesia, a country with per capita income similar to India’s, the ratio is around 47 per cent. The ratio is much higher in relatively smaller economies such as Saudi Arabia (368 per cent), Taiwan (316 per cent), South Africa (165 per cent), South Korea (142 per cent), and Malaysia (124 per cent).
• Summary: For the rich world, the ratio usually is over 100 per cent - Switzerland (290 per cent), the United States (231 per cent), Canada (196 per cent), United Kingdom (138 per cent), Japan (135 per cent), Australia (135 per cent), and France (131 per cent). But Germany, Italy, and Spain are the exceptions with ratios below 100 per cent. The rich world has undergone huge "financialization", and has experienced increasing importance of finance, financial markets, and financial institutions to the workings of the economy.

What is the nature of India's recovery exactly

• The story: In June 2021, the provisional estimate of 2020-21's gross domestic product (GDP) was being discussed. Although the contraction figure at 7.3% was smaller than expected, it is not adequately representing the real crisis in the economy. The reason is that official numbers do not capture the performance of informal sector that employs most Indians, and is badly hit by Covid curbs, and also miss the broader decline in demand.

• Problem with official estimates: There are methodological weaknesses. And they fail to correctly depict the true scale of India’s crisis.

1. Indian economy was slowing down since 2018 itself, with GDP growth decelerating to an unimpressive 4% in 2019-20, the pre-pandemic year.
2. In the last three quarters of 2019-20, manufacturing output declined 3%, 3% and 4.2%, respectively.
3. So the better manufacturing growth in the last three quarters of 2020-21 was a statistical mirage, and not reflection of any real revival in the sector. (d) The reimposition of various local lockdowns at the start of 2021-22 financial year must have worsened the situation already. Given the severity of the second wave, India’s economic recovery will be even slower.

• Nature of growth matters: The national accounts data sets do not tell us the nature of growth, but only its level. Figures on employment, income and profits do that work for us.

1. When the economy was contracting sharply, the stock market saw its fastest rise with its key indices almost doubling in the past year.
2. This shows a rapid rise in corporate profits even as the economy tanked. The corporate tax cuts announced in September 2019 cushioned the finances of large firms, but didn’t help revive investment or private consumption demand as the corproates didn't invest as much.

• Informal sector hit hard: Even as corporate profitability shot up, a decline in real wages for a majority of casual-wage workers was apace. With India’s unemployment rate back to the level seen during the strict lockdown period of April-May 2020, a majority of those at the bottom of the income pyramid have suffered the twin blows of job losses and wage losses. Some of the corporate profit rise, thus, can be traced to the misery of workers left jobless.
• Support from govt: Unlike the corporate sector that got huge tax subsidies and other incentives (easier access to domestic and international capital), there was little support for those at the bottom of the income pyramid. The government’s reluctance to increase income transfers or its allocation for crucial social security schemes, despite the second wave proving far more severe, will make matters worse.
• Food support: Government granaries have more than 100 million tonnes of foodgrain in stock. The additional foodgrain allocation has been limited to just the two months of May and June 2021. Since the second wave is deep into rural areas now, interventions such as the rural jobs guarantee scheme have seen 20% lower employment generation compared to 2020.
• Bharat versus India: It is this stark divergence between India’s two populations, that is worrisome. Any economic recovery has to start with bridging this inequality divide. With rural areas hit hard by the second wave of infections, the growing divergence also risks worsening already weak demand in the economy. Then, rising inflation threatens to erode the real incomes of most wage workers. Ultimately, the big factories will be hurt as the bottom of the pyramid won't have purchasing power left! The GDP "growth" from here on is one where (i) there's a widening divergence between labour and capital, (ii) the earnings of wage workers and those of corporations is widely different, and (iii) rural and urban areas are running in different directions.
• Summary: This clearly is a K-shape recovery. But the word "recovery" itself is wrong! 

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

Dangerous pesticides killing soils

• The story: The variety and scale of life in soils of Earth are mind-boggling indeed. In every few grams of soil, there are more organisms than there are people on Eath. But pesticides are now causing significant harm to earthworms, beetles, ground-nesting bees and thousands of other vital subterranean species.
• What soil organisms do: Tens of thousands of subterranean species of invertebrates, nematodes, bacteria and fungi are constantly filtering our water, recycling nutrients and helping to regulate the earth’s temperature. But beneath such farm fields covered in tightly knit rows of corn, soybeans, wheat and other monoculture crops, a toxic soup of insecticides, herbicides and fungicides is wreaking havoc. A new study has shown the extent of damage being done, and should trigger substantive changes to laws made by US and its regulatory agencies (like the EPA), on the nearly 850 pesticide ingredients approved for use. [The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is an independent executive agency of the US tasked with environmental protection matters, established on July 9, 1970]

• Present approach: Currently, US regulators completely ignore pesticides’ harm to earthworms, springtails, beetles and thousands of other subterranean species. The new study shows that must change.

1. Nearly 400 published studies were assessed, that together conducted over 2,800 experiments on how pesticides affect soil organisms. The review encompassed 275 unique species or types of soil organisms and 284 different pesticides or pesticide mixtures.
2. In over 70 percent of those experiments, pesticides were found to harm organisms that are critical to maintaining healthy soils—harms that currently are never considered in the EPA’s safety reviews.
3. The ongoing escalation of pesticide-intensive agriculture and pollution are major driving factors in the precipitous decline of many soil organisms, like ground beetles and ground-nesting bees. They have been identified as the most significant driver of soil biodiversity loss in the last decade.

• What EPA says: The EPA, responsible for pesticide oversight in the U.S., acknowledges that somewhere between 50 percent to 100 percent of all agriculturally applied pesticides end up on the soil. Yet to assess pesticides’ harms to soil species, the agency still uses a single test species — the European honeybee. But that species literally may never touch soil in its entire life! So the U.S. pesticide regulatory system is actually broken, from the eyes of the soils of this planet.
• Changing attitude: As principles of regenerative agriculture and soil health gain popularity around the world, pesticide companies have jumped on the bandwagon to "greenwash" their products. Every major pesticide company has Web materials touting its role in promoting soil health, often advocating for (i) reducing tilling and (ii) planting cover crops. As general principles, both of these practices are indeed good for soil health and, if adopted responsibly, are great steps to take.

1. But pesticide firms know that these practices are often accompanied by increased pesticide use. When fields aren’t tilled, pesticides are often used to kill weeds, and cover crops are often killed by pesticides before crop planting.
2. This “one step forward, one step back” approach is preventing meaningful progress to protect our soils. Pesticide companies have so far been successful in coopting “healthy soil” messaging because regulators have demonstrated no desire to protect soil organisms from pesticides.

• Summary: The long-term environmental cost of that failure can no longer be ignored, as soils are some of the most complex and biodiverse ecosystems on the planet, containing nearly a quarter of the planet’s diversity. Protecting them should be a priority, not an afterthought. The main focus has to be on reducing the world’s growing and unsustainable addiction to pesticide-intensive agriculture.

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

EAM S. Jaishankar's May US visit

• The story: India's Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar’s went on a five-day trip to the US, the first such visit by a top Indian minister since Joe Biden became US President. He spent a large part of the official trip in New York, and not Washington. So the UN has been accorded importance. India at present is a rotating member of the Security Council. In Washington DC, he met top US officials, but did not get a chance to meet the US President or the Vice President Kamala Harris (the first Indian-American to occupy that post).
• Outcomes: EAM Jaishankar couldn’t get any public assurance from Pfizer, Moderna or Johnson & Johnson for setting up vaccine manufacturing joint ventures in India. There was no concrete promise from the Biden administration about the 80 million excess vaccines being given to India. In fact, new USAID administrator Samantha Power told the Senate Appropriations Committee last week that “75% of the doses we share will likely be shared through COVAX. Twenty-five percent of whatever our excess supply is, that we are donating, will be reserved to be able to deploy bilaterally.” India can, at best, hope to get 20 million doses, but that too looks unlikely as dozens of countries including Pakistan, Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka have also petitioned the US for Covid-19 vaccines.
• COVAX hope: India can also get some vaccines from COVAX, whose allocations are based on national population. COVAX, led by the vaccine alliance Gavi, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations and the WHO, is a global initiative to procure and distribute vaccines to more than 92 low and lower middle-income countries, including India. Adar Poonawala’s Serum Institute of India, which makes Covishield, is the single biggest vaccine supplier to COVAX, having received advance payments and confirmed contracts. Due to the Indian government’s unofficial export ban, imposed when the second wave overwhelmed India’s mishandled response, COVAX has a projected shortfall of 190 million doses by end-June.
• Secretary of State: The tweet from the US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, after his meeting with Jaishankar, said that the two discussed the “India-China border situation, and our support for Afghanistan”. Blinken chose to mention the India-China border situation explicitly in his tweet, but not the Quad or the Indo-Pacific. At the same time, Indian Army Chief General MM Naravane gave media interviews to emphasise that things were going well with China on the Ladakh border. (Various media reports indicate that the Chinese have refused to discuss, or vacate, their ingress from the remaining “friction points” in Ladakh.)
• Social media clash: The Indian government was in a tiff with with American social media giants Twitter and WhatsApp, when Jaishankar was in the US. Nothing was heard on the subject officially from the Americans, but it was unlikely that the matter didn’t find any mention during the various meetings held by the foreign minister. In May 2021, the State department had flagged India as a country of concern in its 2020 Report on International Religious Freedom, based on the USCIRF report’s recommendation.
• Summary: The external affairs minister is trying hard to build bridges. That must continue.

Foreign affairs update 

• Xi rebrands Chinese diplomacy: A recent speech by President Xi Jinping may be a signal that a pivot away from so-called 'wolf warrior diplomacy' is being built. The aggressive online stance by China’s representatives is perhaps now being nudged toward a more conciliatory model. Top leadership has attempted to rein in diplomatic comments that invite blowback for some time. But some observers say that the particular speec by Xi may be the exact opposite too! Any attempt to soften China’s image may be undercut by the country’s own actions, such as its recent incursion into Malaysian airspace, which prompted an unusually strong response from Kuala Lumpur. The two countries have no serious military or territorial disputes. Chinese maritime incursions have prompted neighboring Indonesia to triple the size of its submarine fleet.
• Tiananmen vigil extinguished in Hong Kong: The Chinese authorities have now effectively declared Hong Kong’s Tiananmen massacre commemorations, held every June 4 since 1990, illegal for the second year in a row. The move falls under the cover of pandemic laws against public gatherings, but the crackdown is clearly politically motivated. The city’s June 4th Museum has also been forced to close for a licensing investigation. The annual protests were long a litmus test of Hong Kong’s continuing freedoms, as well as a thorn in Beijing’s side. Under the draconian national security law enacted a year ago, that era has come to an end.
• Chinese economy: The month of May 2021 saw more layoffs than job gains in China, especially in the services sector. Despite a recovery from the initial impact of the pandemic, pervasive uncertainty still haunts the Chinese market. That mood has accelerated a long-standing trend: young people moving away from the private sector and toward the safe embrace of government jobs. While public service isn’t well paid, it comes with numerous benefits, as well as protections from layoffs and the frequent abuses of the private sector. Meanwhile, China’s central bank is trying to curb the yuan’s rise against the U.S. dollar through cooling measures, chiefly a hike in required reserves from 5 to 7 percent. The value of the yuan increased by 11 percent over the last year after hitting a 12-year low, and it was expected to climb further. Beijing is cautious of an overly strong yuan, in part because it sees the depreciation of the dollar against the yen as part of the 1985 Plaza Accord as having undermined Tokyo’s growth.
• Holland's port automation: Rowboats may soon be joined by robots on Amsterdam’s famous canals as the city begins trials of self-driving electric boats. Authorities said the technology was “very relevant in highly complex port operations, where you have a lot of vessels and a lot of ships and a lot of quays and piers.” The vessels have the potential for use as trash collectors and transporting passengers. One would not want to be in a hurry, however, as the boats chug along at a relaxed 4 miles per hour.
• US to treat ransomware as terrorism: The US Department of Justice will investigate ransomware attacks at the same level as terrorism, in the wake of high-profile hacks of Colonial Pipeline and global meatpacking giant JBS. The move means local U.S. Attorneys must coordinate with a central Justice Department task force in Washington. The decision was taken to ensure the department "can make necessary connections across national and global cases and investigations, and to allow us to develop a comprehensive picture of the national and economic security threats we face."

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

Retired government servants restricted from writing openly 

• The story: The Centre has amended pension rules for civil servants, with a notification dated May 31, 2021. It has now put new restrictions on officials of intelligence and security organisations after retirement.
• The new norms: The government has amended the CCS Pension Rules-1972.

1. Under amended Rule-8(3)(a), officials retired from certain intelligence and security establishments will not be allowed to write anything about their organisation without permission.
2. It says: “No government servant, who, having worked in any intelligence or security-related organisation included in the Second Schedule of the RTI Act, shall, without prior clearance from the Head of the Organisation, make any publication after retirement, of any material relating to and including: (i) domain of the organisation, including any reference or information about any personnel and his designation, and experience or knowledge gained by virtue of working in that organisation; (ii) sensitive information, the disclosure of which would prejudicially affect the sovereignty and integrity of India, the security, strategic, scientific or economic interests of the state, or relation with a foreign state or which would lead to incitement of an offence.”
3. The Second Schedule of the RTI Act covers 26 organisations including the Intelligence Bureau, R&AW, Directorate of Revenue Intelligence, CBI, NCB, BSF, CRPF, ITBP and CISF.

• Existing provisions: The pension of government servants is already subject to their conduct after retirement. Rule 8 of the CCS Pension Rules say: “Future good conduct shall be an implied condition of every grant of pension and its continuance… The appointing authority may, by order in writing, withhold or withdraw a pension or a part thereof, whether permanently or for a specified period, if the pensioner is convicted of a serious crime or is found guilty of grave misconduct… The expression ‘grave misconduct’ includes the communication or disclosure of any secret official code or password or any sketch, plan, model, article, note, document or information… which was obtained while holding office under the Government so as to prejudicially affect the interests of the general public or the security of the state.”
• Why the need to further restrictions: This may have been in process for around four years after the Committee of Secretaries recommended it. It was approved recently and notified on May 31. The move was prompted by concerns arising out of the fact that some high-profile retired officers had written books on their tenure, and some of these had revealed information.
• Restrictions while in service: Rule 7 of the CCS Conduct Rules restricts government servants from resorting to or abetting any form of strike or coercion. Rule 8 restricts them, except with government sanction, from owning or participating in the editing or management of any newspaper or other periodical publication or electronic media. If they publish a book or participate in public media, they “shall at all times make it clear that the views expressed by him are his own and not that of Government”. Rule 9 restricts a government servant from making statements of fact or opinion in writing or in a telecast or a broadcast “which has the effect of an adverse criticism of any current or recent policy or action of the Central Government or a State Government” Rule 9 of the CCS Pension Rules says that if any government official has committed any misconduct and retires, he or she may face departmental proceedings only until four years of the date of committing that misconduct.
• Retired government servants and new jobs: The Rule 26, Death-cum-Retirement Benefits Rules, restricts a pensioner from any commercial employment for one year after retirement, except with previous sanction of the central government. Non-compliance can lead the central government declaring that the employee “shall not be entitled to the whole or such part of the pension and for such period as may be specified”. This cooling-off period was two years until 2007, when an amendment reduced it to one year.
• Political activity: The Conduct Rules bars government servants from being associated with any political party or organisation, and from taking part or assisting any political activity. An amendment on November 27, 2014 added a few clauses to Rule 3(1), one of which said, “Every government employee shall at all times maintain political neutrality” and “commit himself to and uphold the supremacy of the Constitution and democratic values”. Incidentally, the RSS is among the “political” organisations listed by the Centre from time to time.
• Politics after retirement: No rule stops government servants from joining politics after their retirement. In 2013, the Election Commission had written to the DoPT and Law Ministry, suggesting a cooling-off period for bureaucrats joining politics after retirement, but it was rejected. The Legislative Department of the Ministry of Law advised “that any such restriction (against officials joining politics or contesting polls)… may not stand the test of valid classification under Article 14 of the Constitution of India”. And the DoPT told the EC that its suggestions “may not be appropriate and feasible.”
• Summary: The government is tighetening what its officers say, while with it, and later too.

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

Sedition cases in India

• Quashing a sedition case: The Supreme Court of India (S.C.) in June 2021 quashed the case filed against senior editor Vinod Dua, in Himachal Pradesh, for criticising PM Modi, by referring to migrant crisis 2020. The SC referred to the "Kedar Nath Singh v. Union of India (1962)" case in quashing the 2020 case.
• Dua case: A BJP leader filed the case of sedition, under Section 124A of the IPC, against Dua, for criticising PM Modi for the 2020 migrant workers crisis. Such a case can lead to 3 years jail, or life imprisonment. The HP govt. engaged India's Solicitor General (Tushar Mehta) who argued that Dua caused panic in public by talking of food riots.

• What SC said: The 2-judge bench quashed the entire case (J UU Lalit and J Vineet Saran), holding that Dua was criticising the govt. and not being seditious.

1. Dua asked the SC that journalists with 10 years or more of standing should never face an FIR of this nature, unless a State level committee (with one sitting Justice of HC) clears it. The misuse of sedition law must be stopped.
2. The SC didn't grant the request, considering it encroachment in legislature's domain (though for doctors and domestic violence cases such screening committees exist)
3. SC clarified that all journalists are entitled to full protection of "Kedar Nath Singh", as prosecution u/S 124A and 505 of IPC must be in full conformity with that verdict.

• Kedar Nath Singh guidelines: The SC had upheld the sedition law, but restricted its scope for misuse.

1. Unless a call for violence and incitement is made, mere criticism of government is not sedition
2. Section 124A of IPC states: "Whoever by words or signs or otherwise brings into hatred or contempt or excites disaffection towards the Government established by law shall be punished, etc."
3. Seven principles given by S.C. -  (language may look similar but there are legal, technical differences)
4. "Government established by law" is not the same as the persons running the administration for the time being. "Govt estd. by law" is the visible State.
5. Actual violence or incitement to violence must happen, if Section 124-A is to be invoked.
6. Any words, howsoever acerbic and critical, cannot be seditious unless public disorder via violence is caused.
7. A citizen can write anything against the govt. or its policies, and as long as it doesn't incite people to violence, there's nothing wrong.
8. Only those actions that disturb public peace by resotring to violence will fall in the ambit of this section.
9. Law can step in only when clear proof exists of such words, written or otherwise, creating public disorder.
10. The law may be used only for such activities that involve incitement to violence, or intention or tendency to create public disorder, or disturbance of public peace.

• Summary: Multiple cases filed against journalists across India, with some kept inside jail for long, has led to the present verdict. Perhaps the time is near when the S.C. may strike off the sedition law if the right petition reaches it.

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

Juicy watermelons - where did they come from

• The story: Many crops used by mankind today have clearly known roots. For example, maize derives from a wild grass growing in the Balsas river valley, in what is now Mexico. Rice descends from another grass, native to the Yangzi basin. Potatoes hail from the border between Peru and Bolivia. Apples trace back to the woodlands of southern Kazakhstan. But some crops’ beginnings are lost in the mists of time, like that of the watermelon.

• African story: It is well-known that watermelons’ ancestors were African.

1. Archaeological evidence from Libya and Egypt suggests they were cultivated there thousands of years ago, and the continent is home to seven species and numerous subspecies of plants classified in the same genus, Citrullus, as the cultivated crop.
2. Only now has a likely candidate been nailed down. An examination of available genetic data about members of Citrullus, has led researchers to conclude that watermelons were domesticated from a subspecies called the Sudanese Kordofan melon, which grows in Darfur, the western part of Sudan.

• Bland, not bitter: This is one of the few wild members of Citrullus that is bland, rather than excruciatingly bitter to the human palate. That ties in with a reinterpretation by the two researchers of a 4,450-year-old Egyptian tomb painting also. The previous assumption had been that early cultivated watermelons were too bitter to eat raw, and would thus need to be cooked and sweetened for consumption. This painting, though, showed what appeared to be a stripped watermelon being served raw at a table decorated by lotus flowers.
• Indian watermelons:  Wild watermelon thrives in India's northwestern plains, as well as south and central regions. India grows approximately 25 commercial varieties, few of them with interesting names like “New Hampshire midget,” “Madhuri 64,” “black magic,” and “sugar baby”. Rosy red watermelon slices beckoning thirsty onlookers may not be au naturale, as some sellers have a habit of injecting the fruits with red dye to enhance their appearance. Worse yet, the offending dye often used is “Sudan red,” a toxic, category 3 carcinogen banned by several countries.
• Summary: Modern science helps uncover food secrets too!

Homo sapiens and Neanderthals - the connection explored

• The story: ‘Modern’ humans have populated the earth from long before the Iron Age, for some 3,00,000 years, cohabiting Mother Earth along with other pre-human hominins. But who were these other people?
• Neanderthals: Bones of one of these ‘others’ were first discovered in the Neander valley, just east of Dusseldorf in Germany, and hence they were called ‘Neanderthals’. This hominin arose about 4,30,000 years ago and did not evolve in Africa, as Homo sapiens did. Early humans first encountered them when they migrated out of Africa.
• The science of DNA: The choice between homo cousins was clear - compete or co-operate. Studies on the genetics of populations from Asia and Europe in places where migration brought the two species face to face, have slowly started to expose the truth. The techniques for these analyses are also advancing rapidly, and all that's needed is a bone fragment or a tooth – these are drilled to remove a few milligrams of powder, from which DNA is extracted and sequenced. At times, dwelling places like caves have extractable DNA in their sediments. The driving forces behind all these technical and intellectual advances in this field include the Swedish geneticist Svante Pääbo and the biochemist Johannes Krause.

• Interbreeding: ‘Modern’ humans definitely interbred with the locals in these new regions. A recent genetic analysis of samples from the region showed that Neanderthals came to the Bacho Kiro cave in Bulgaria first, more than 50,000 years ago and left their stone tools. Next came modern humans in two or more waves, and littered the cave with beads and stones about 45,000, and then 36,000 years ago.

1. Genome-wide data of three human males who lived in this cave 45,000 years ago show that all three had Neanderthals in their family lineage, from just a few generations ago.
2. This showed that the modern human population in that region had interbred with the ‘locals’ and produced a cross-bred group of people – modern with Neanderthals. This cross-bred group had 3.4%–3.8% Neanderthal ancestry (in modern non-Africans it is about 2%).
3. The inheritance was in the form of long chunks of chromosomal segments, which grew shorter with each generation. By measuring the size of these chunks, it is estimated that these three residents had a Neanderthal ancestor 6–7 generations ago. In another study, a nearly intact feminine skull from the Zlatý kůň hill in the Czech Republic, roughly as old as the Bachi Kiro gentlemen, was found to have Neanderthal ancestors going back about 70 generations (2,000 years).

• Modern Europeans: Tracing the genetic lineages of individuals, it is surprising that no traces are found among today’s Europeans. However, they are connected to present-day East Asians and Native Americans. The descendants of these Eurasian cave dwellers appear to have packed up and moved eastward, enduring the hardship of crossing an ice-age Bering Strait, and the luxury of visa-free travel, into the Americas.
• Immunity: Studies on the genomes of the Neanderthals themselves allow a comparison with those of modern humans and give a glimpse of the genetic changes in the DNA sequences of the two. The chunks inherited from Neanderthals were whittled down to 2%, but what advantages did these newly acquired genes confer on humans? Having adapted to colder regions for 4,00,000 years, the Neanderthals gave modern out-of-Africa humans some variations in skin and hair colour better suited to the cold, as well as adaptive variants for metabolism and immunity. That must have helped fight microbes much better.
• Summary: All of modern humanity is a result of massive interbreeding and mixing between homo species over lakhs of years, and more recently, various groups of humans across the world over past 10000 years. DNA science is unravelling all the past linkages. (Two good books recommended - "Early Indians" by Tony Joseph, and "Sapiens" by Yuval Noah Harari)

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

Sociological insights into China's population policies

• The story: For 40 odd years, China’s government had ensured that “one child is enough” for married couples. That had some consequences, most striking being that a whole generation grew up with no immediate siblings.
• China's economic growth story: Deng Hsiaoping launched the mega economic reforms in 1979, bringing crores of rural labourers into the factories that were gradually opened up in cities, starting with coastal SEZs. Over the decades, China turned into a manufacturing juggernaut, fuelled by cheap rural labour (who never made the headlines!). The steady supply of young people was a key part of its success story.
• Social change: Encouraged by decades of governmental indoctrination, Chinese parents often feel that a family’s resources are best devoted to one child. The high cost of housing and education, the burden of caring for elderly parents, as well as crushingly long work hours also deter young couples from having more babies, or from reproducing at all. As more women pursue careers, many are delaying marriage and motherhood. These are strong social changes.
• Demographic trouble: By 2010, it was clear that there were far fewer kids being born, than were needed in the labour supply. So in 2016, the government allowed parents to have a second kid. Then in May 2021, the ruling Politburo declared that a further relaxation of birth-control regulations would help China to achieve its goal of “coping” with a rapidly ageing population, a pressing task. It called for a three-child policy. Very few parents will be happy with this new idea.
• Fertility rate: China's fears of rising population growth are all over now. Today's fertility rate - the number of children an average woman is likely to have during her lifetime - is just 1.3, among the lowest in the world. Latest census data released in May 2021 showed that only 12m babies were born in 2020, a drop of almost 20% from 2019. It was China’s lowest population growth since the 1960s, when the country was reeling from a famine. The population now looks likely to peak in the next few years—almost a decade sooner than thought earlier.
• Young don't want more kids: The new policy will not end young people’s growing disdain for baby-making. Online reactions are proof - “Do they not yet know that most young people are exhausted just supporting themselves?” said one netizen on Weibo, a Twitter-like site. “This policy is totally out of touch with the people,” wrote another. Netizens gave a new twist to a common idiom, "minbuliaosheng", which means “people have no means of livelihood”.

• Some would like it: For parents who do wish to have a third child, the change of policy will be a relief. Illicit births can incur a large fine or, in the case of civil servants, result in dismissal. But now the government is moving very decisively to a pro-fertility policy, and all limits may soon be scrapped altogether.

1. That would be a blessing for those who crave large families. But any impact on the overall birth rate is unlikely to be a lasting one.
2. When China loosened its one-child policy, it hoped for a baby boom. After a brief initial uptick, however, births drifted downwards again.
3. The fertility rate edged up slightly and the new three-child policy could boost the fertility rate to about 1.4. That is well below the level of 2.1 which is required for a population to replace itself.

• Summary: Despite the Politburo promising it would provide better child-care facilities, improve state-funded provisions for looking after the elderly, expand maternity benefits and lower the cost of education, the social reality of China now preclude any baby boom. China's decline may have set in, firmly and finally, at least on the one metric that's clearly visible - its numbers!

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

Indian Navy's only nuclear attack submarine back to Russia

• The story: India’s single nuclear powered attack submarine, the INS Chakra, has now gone back to Russia as the lease agreement came to an end. The INS Chakra's successor will come five years from now.
• INS Arihant: The INS Chakra rarely sailed in the past two years as age related issues have plagued it but Indian crew are being trained on the INS Arihant, the indigenously developed nuclear armed submarine. Another indigenous programme to manufacture six nuclear powered attack submarines is now approved. It will be a multi-year programme.
• Help from Russia: Over the past few decades, India leased nuclear powered attack submarines from Russia to train its crew for a line of home developed boats. This started from 1988 when the original INS Chakra was taken on a three-year lease. The second – also Chakra - was inducted in 2012 after a prolonged refit that saw a time delay.
• Latest dea: In March 2019, India signed a $3 billion deal with Russia to lease another nuclear attack submarine that will be customised and fitted with indigenous communications systems and sensors. The deal for the Akula class submarine – dubbed Chakra III after the first two similar vessels India obtained from Russia – was the biggest signed with Moscow since the $5.5 billion contract for the S 400 air defence systems. The boat is likely to be ready for induction within five years after an extensive rebuild on a mothballed hull.
• Summary: Operating a nuclear attack submarine or SSN (SS - submarine, N - nuclear power, SSN - armed with conventional weapons) gives India significant strike capability in the region. These vessels can remain underwater for months, making them almost impossible to detect and are a big deterrence for enemy vessels in the region.

Triumf - Russia assures on-time delivery of S-400s

• The story: Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov assured India that there was no change in the implementation of contracts for supplying the sophisticated S-400 surface-to-air missile system to India. Russian state arms exporter Rosoboronexport’s CEO Alexander Mikheyev said that India would receive the first batch of S-400s in October-December 2021.
• India confirmed: The Indian authorities too have confirmed their adherence to the agreements. In October 2018, India had signed a $5 billion deal with Russia to buy five units of the S-400 air defence missile systems, notwithstanding warnings from the then Trump administration about US sanctions under CAATSA. In 2019, India made the first tranche of payment of around $800 million to Russia for the missile systems.
• Triumf system: The S-400 is known as Russia's most advanced long-range surface-to-air missile defence system. The 'Triumf' interceptor-based missile system can destroy incoming hostile aircraft, missiles and even drones at ranges of up to 400 km. India's contract is for the S-400 Triumf 'SA-21Growler', which is long-range surface-to-air missile (SAM) systems. India will get five Triumf regimental kits from Russia. The delivery is expected to be staggered and is expected to be completed ahead of 2025.

Three caves found in Buddhist Caves Complex, Nasik

• The story: The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) has found three caves in Buddhist Caves Complex in Nasik, Maharashtra.
• Details: The newly discovered caves are being discovered about two centuries after the British military officer documented Tri-Rashmi Buddhist caves, which is also called as Pandav Leni, on a hill in Nashik. The antiquity of caves is yet to be established. They may have been dwellings of Buddhist monks. These could be older than Trirashmi caves.
• More information: These were discovered on the opposite side of the current complex, and are about 70-80 feet above the existing complex and have been carved out of a steep hill. They look like monks’ dwellings and older than the current complex. Two have shared dwellings while third was perhaps occupied by one monk. All these comprise of verandahs and characteristic square stone platform for monks. They have special arrangements for monks to meditate. Caves also have images of Buddha & Bodhisattvas and sculptures with designs of Indo-Greek architecture.
• History: The Buddhist sculptures and caves are a significant example of “Indian rock-cut architecture” which represent Hinayana tradition of Buddhism. The Pandavleni caves were earlier called as ‘Trirashmi caves’. These caves are a group of 25 caves, carved out of Tri-Rashmi Hill between 2nd century BC and 6th century AD. Vihara and the Chaitya are the main caves among 25 caves. Complex of the cave was documented in 1823 by Captain James Delamaine. It is an ASI protected site and a famous tourist destination.

IIT-Hyderabad develops nano-fibre based Amphotericin B oral tablets

• The story: The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Hyderabad has developed nano-fibre based oral tablets of Amphotericin B, called as AmB. Researchers decided to keep this technology free of intellectual property rights and is ready for technology transfer so that tablet can be produced on mass level. This medicine is reportedly cheaper, higher AmB absorption and less Nephrotoxicity. AmB was earlier available in injectable form only.
• What are Amphotericin B tablets: These are nano-fibre based oral medicine that can be used to treat fungal infections which is currently spreading in India post COVID treatment.
• Technical details: Researchers from the Department of Chemical Engineering were studying two years ago about oral nanofibrous AmB and found it effective for Kala Azar. This was the first attempt to fabricate nanofibrous oral tablets of Amphotericin B to cure Kala Azar.
• Amphotericin B: It is an antifungal medication used in serious fungal infections and leishmaniasis. It is used to treat mucormycosis, aspergillosis, candidiasis, blastomycosis, cryptococcosis etc.  It is typically given through injection into vein. Common side effects of medication include fever, chills, and headaches besides kidney problems. It is safe in pregnancy as well.
• Mucormycosis: The black fungus infection is a serious disease, affecting people with reduced immunity and inability to fight infections. Symptoms of infection depends on site of the infection in body. It commonly infects sinuses and brain causing runny nose, one-sided facial swelling, pain, headache and fever. India experienced its full pain in the second Covid wave.

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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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