Daily Current Affairs - Civil Services - 23-06-2021

Useful compilation of Civil Services oriented - Daily Current Affairs - Civil Services - 23-06-2021

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• SECTION 1 - TEN NEWS HEADLINES

1. Agriculture - Nutrient loss in wheat and rice - Researchers from various institutes under the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) and Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya found depleting trends in grain density of zinc and iron in rice and wheat cultivated in India. Zinc and iron deficiency affects billions of people globally and the countries with this deficiency have diets composed mainly of rice, wheat, corn, and barley. Findings of the study  - Zinc Concentrations in Rice and Wheat: For rice:Zinc concentrations in grains of rice cultivars depleted to 20.6 mg/kg (2000s) from 27.1 mg/kg (1960s) For wheat: The concentrations of zinc dropped to 23.5 mg/kg during the 2010s from 33.3 mg/kg (1960s). Iron Concentrations in Rice and Wheat: For rice: Iron concentrations in grains of rice cultivars depleted to  43.1 mg/kg within the 2000s from 59.8 mg/kg (1960s). For wheat: The concentrations of iron dropped to 46.4 mg/kg (2010s) from 57.6 mg/kg (1960s). A cultivar is a plant variety that has been produced in cultivation by selective breeding. Reason - the ‘Dilution effect’ which is caused by decreased nutrient concentration in response to higher grain yield. So the rate of yield increase is not compensated by the rate of nutrient take-up by the plants. The soils supporting plants could be low in plant-available nutrients, too.
2. Agriculture - Biotech-KISAN programme for North East region - The Department of Biotechnology (DBT) issued a Special Call for North East Region as a part of its Mission Programme “Biotech-Krishi Innovation Science Application Network (Biotech-KISAN)”. The goal is to understand the local problems of the NER farmers and provide scientific solutions to those problems. Reason for the special call is that the present call specifically focuses on the North East Region as it is predominantly agrarian with 70% of its workforce engaged in agriculture and allied sector for livelihood. The region produces merely 1.5% of India’s foodgrain output and is a net importer of foodgrains even for its domestic consumption. The NE region has untapped potential to enhance the income of the farming population by promotion of location specific crops, horticultural and plantation crops, fisheries and livestock production.
3. Energy - Integrated Power Development Scheme (IPDS) - A 50 kWp Solar rooftop was inaugurated in Solan, Himachal Pradesh under the IPDS of Ministry of Power, Government of India. The ceremony was part of the ‘Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav’ celebrations, marking 75 years of India’s independence. The IPDS was launched in the year 2014 by the Ministry of Power, and all Discoms will be eligible for financial assistance under the scheme. Components of IPDS include (i) strengthening of sub-transmission and distribution networks in the urban areas, (ii) metering of distribution transformers in the urban areas, (iii) IT enablement of the distribution sector and strengthening of distribution network, (iv) schemes for Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) and IT enablement of balance urban towns, (v) underground cabling to include additional demand of States and (vi) smart metering solution for performing UDAY States and Solar panels on Govt. buildings with net-metering are also permissible under the scheme. [Solar electricity systems are rated in kilowatts peak (kWp), the rate at which it generates energy at peak performance (for example at noon on a sunny day). The total amount of electricity the system actually generates in a year is measured in kilowatt hours (kWh). A typical domestic system is between 1.5 to 3kWp. Each kWp should generate around 800 to 850kWh per year if unshaded and perfectly south facing with a tilt of around 30-50°.]
4. Governance and Institutions - Amendment to Food security (Assistance to State Government Rules) 2015 - The Department of Food & Public Distribution has notified amendments in the said rules. This is to ensure right quantity to beneficiaries in distribution of subsidized foodgrains as per their entitlement under the National Food Security Act (NFSA), 2013. This will incentivise States operating their ePoS devices in a judicious manner and are generating savings from the additional margin of Rs.17.00 per quintal provided to them. Distribution through ePoS devices ensures that subsidised foodgrains are provided to the rightful beneficiary through biometric authentication. Any savings accrued by State/UT fro m the additional margin provided towards the cost of purchase, operation and maintenance of the ePOS can be utilised for purchase, operations and maintenance of electronic weighing scales and their integration with the ePOS devices. Integration of ePoS devices with electronic weighing scales would ensures fairness in distribution. The food security Rules 2015 provides for additional margin to Fair Price Shop (FPS) Dealers for sale through ePoS devices as an incentive to ensure transparent recording of transactions at all levels.
5. Polity and Constitution - Delimitation in Jammu and Kashmir - The Union government has invited political leaders from Jammu and Kashmir for a meeting with the Prime Minister in Delhi. This may be related to the delimitation process that needs to be held in J&K. Delimitation is the act of redrawing boundaries of an Assembly or Lok Sabha seat to represent changes in population over time. This exercise is carried out by a Delimitation Commission, whose orders has the force of law and cannot be questioned before any court. The objective is to redraw boundaries (based on the data of the last Census) in a way so that the population of all seats be the same throughout the State. Aside from changing the limits of a constituency, the process may result in change in the number of seats in a state. Delimitation exercises in J&K in the past have been slightly different from those in the rest of the country because of the region’s special status, scrapped by the Centre in 2019. In March 2020, the government set up the Delimitation Commission, headed by retired Supreme Court judge Ranjana Prakash Desai. As per the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Bill, the number of Assembly seats in J&K would increase from 107 to 114, which is expected to benefit the Jammu region.
6. Science and Technology - T478K - An analysis of more than one million SARS-CoV-2 genome sequences has led to the identification of a new variant that, over the past weeks, has been spreading mostly in Mexico but has also been found in Europe. The scientific name of new variant is T478K. Like other strains, this presents a mutation in the spike protein. This variant has been increasingly spreading among people in North America, particularly in Mexico. Viruses mutate all the time. Variants are declared as ‘variants of concern’ when there is real world evidence that there is an increase in transmissibility and there is a measurable reduction in neutralising antibodies. This T478K isn't a VOC yet. However, researchers are also contemplating whether the rapid vaccination drives will put an end to the virus's "fitness evolution" quickly.
7. Environment and Ecology - Tiger corridors in Vidharba - In a first-of-its-kind project, radio telemetry has been deployed to identify corridors used by tigers in the Vidarbha landscape, tracking their actual movement. The study indicates that the animals are moving in a much wider swathe of area outside the protected areas than previously known. The investigators belonged the Maharashtra Forest Department and Wildlife Institute of India (WII), Vidarbha has 331 tigers in a forest area of around 26,775 sq km, dissected by 84,202 km of roads, apart from irrigation canals and other projects. There have been growing instances of man-tiger conflict in the region. The project, carried out between 2017 and 2020 using radio signals, identified 37,067 sq km, in all, of tiger corridors. They tracked the epic journey of Walker (as the tiger was dubbed) over 3,000 km from Tipeshwar Sanctuary in Yavatmal district to Dnyanganga Sanctuary in Buldhana district.
8. History - Juneteenth - US President Joe Biden will sign a law making June 19, or “Juneteenth”, a national holiday recognised by the federal government, commemorating the end of slavery after the American Civil War (1861-65). Juneteenth is the portmanteau of June and nineteenth and is recognised as a state holiday in 47 US states. The day is the oldest nationally celebrated commemoration of the ending of slavery in the US and is observed on June 19. It is also known as Emancipation Day or Juneteenth Independence Day. Juneteenth will be the first new federal holiday created in almost four decades, and will now enjoy the same status as the 10 existing annual holidays, which include Memorial Day, Veterans Day and Thanksgiving. The last such holiday – Martin Luther King Jr. Day – was created in 1983, in honour of the civil rights hero.  [On June 19, 1865, Union Army Maj. Gen. Gordon Granger stepped onto a balcony in Galveston, Tex. — two months after the Civil War had ended — and announced that more than 2,50,000 enslaved black people in Texas were free. President Abraham Lincoln had freed them two and a half years earlier in his Emancipation Proclamation, but since Texas never fell to Union troops in battle, they’d remained in bondage.]
9. Indian Politics - Covid Update - (a) India reported a higher 50,848 new COVID-19 cases and 1,358 deaths in 24 hours, taking the total number of COVID-19 cases to 3,00,28,709, while the death toll surged to 3,90,660. This comes after India reported 42,640 cases and 1,167 deaths on Tuesday. The country's active cases have dropped to 6,43,194, the lowest in the last 82 days. (b) Yoga proponent Ramdev moves SC seeking stay of proceedings in multiple FIRs lodged against him in various states for his alleged remarks against allopathy terming it to be ineffective against Covid. He seeks stay of proceedings in FIRs lodged by Indian Medical Associations Patna and Raipur branches and transfer the FIRs to Delhi. (c) Madhya Pradesh, which administered an all-time high of 16.9 lakh vaccine doses on 21-June, managed not even 5,000 (barely 0.3% of the peak) on 22 June, an indication of it having used up almost all its stocks on the big day. The state’s numbers for the three days preceding June 21 also were in thousands or even hundreds. Haryana, another state in the top 5 on the record-breaking, saw vaccination levels drop by almost 85% from the peak of nearly 5 lakh to just about 76,000.

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• SECTION 2 - DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS

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

Indian workforce profile to change drastically - Gartner

• The story: There was a set rhythm to how people worked, and then came Covid-19. Now, "Work from home (WFH)" may be here to stay, for the medium term. Research firm Gartner found that India will produce one of the largest number of remote workers with one-third employees working remotely by 2022.
• Details: It said that by the end of 2021, 51% of all knowledge workers worldwide may be working remotely, up from 27% in 2019. It estimated that remote workers will represent 32% of all employees worldwide by the end of 2021 (up from 17% in 2019).

1. Knowledge workers are involved in knowledge-intensive professions such as writers, accountants and engineers.
2. A remote worker is an employee working away from his/her company, government, or customer site at least one full day a week (hybrid workers) or who works fully from home (fully remote workers).
3. India and China will produce some of the largest numbers of remote workers, but overall penetration rates will remain relatively low with 30% of workers in India being remote (by 2022) and 28% of workers in China working remote. It will depend on IT adoption, culture, and mix of industries.

• US the leader: The US will lead in remote workers in 2022, accounting for 53% of the US workforce. Across Europe and UK remote workers will represent 52% while in Germany and France they will be around 37% and 33%, respectively. A hybrid workforce is the future of work, with both remote and on-site part of the same solution to optimise employers’ workforce needs.
• Digital transformation: Through 2024, organisations will be forced to bring forward digital business transformation plans by at least five years. Those plans will have to adapt to a post-Covid-19 world that involves permanently higher adoption of remote work and digital touch points. A hybrid workforce will continue to increase the demand for PCs and tablets. In 2021, PC and tablet shipments will exceed 500 million units for the first time in history, highlighting the demand across both business and consumer markets.
• ZTNA: By 2024, at least 40% of all remote access usage will be served predominantly by zero trust network access (ZTNA), up from less than 5% at the end of 2020. While most of these organisations will not completely retire all their client-facing VPN services, ZTNA will become the primary replacement technology. "Zero trust" is a security framework that requires all users — inside or outside an organisation’s network — to be authenticated, authorised and validated for providing access to applications and data.

How Ambani managed extremely low tax rates

• The story: Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries managed a 35 per cent growth in profits (Rs.53,739 crore) for 2020-21 in a pandemic year. The bottomline growth is largely attributable not so much to excellent business performance but to unprecedented tax relief. Experts remember the 1980s/90s when RIL paid zero tax.
• Very low tax: On a pre-tax profit (after exceptional items) of Rs.55,461 crore, RIL paid just Rs.1,722 crore as tax. This is 87.5 per cent lower than the Rs.13,726 crore provided for tax in FY20. RIL’s effective tax rate (ETR) is a very low 3.10 per cent in FY21 compared to 23.65 per cent in FY20. The ETR is an entity’s tax expense as a percentage of profit-before-tax.
• Ambani magic: RIL’s balance-sheet shows the tax shelters and some indicative analysis by experts of Hindu Businessline found that -
1. Tax shelter from US buy - A Rs.14,882-crore allowance net of MAT credit, Rs.8,517-crore incremental deferred tax assets, and Rs.4,261 crore of carried forward losses are the three key items that enabled RIL reduce its tax liability.
2. The deferred tax asset is possibly linked to RIL’s rejig of its US shale gas assets. The Rs.8,517-crore incremental deferred tax assets mostly arise from RIL acquiring Reliance Holdings USA (RHUSA). As RIL has recognised a Rs.33,217-crore loss on the acquisition, RHUSA must have been loss-making. However, RIL’s motivation to acquire RHUSA is not clear. Information on losses and unabsorbed depreciation are not disclosed.
3. SEZ allowance - The story behind the Rs.14,882-crore allowance net of MAT credit is more interesting. It is likely linked to a November 2020 judgment of the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal’s Mumbai Bench in an RIL case. One issue before the Tribunal was if a deduction under Section 10AA of the Income Tax Act should be based on profits as computed under the Act (after deductions for depreciation, investment allowance, etc.) or based on commercial profits calculated before such deductions. Section 10 AA relates to tax holiday for profits earned by units located in Special Economic Zones. RIL operates a 7,04,000 barrels per day SEZ refinery at Jamnagar. The Tribunal ruled in favour of RIL holding that the tax deduction ought to be on commercial profits and not on profit post deductions. So not only is the entire commercial profits from the SEZ refinery tax-free but RIL also gets the benefit of depreciation and investment allowance for the SEZ refinery in its P&L account. That, in effect, is a double deduction benefit. FY21 is not the first year RIL got this benefit; in FY20, it had set off Rs.10,455 crore similarly even as it awaited the Tribunal’s judgment.
4. Then comes the benefit from the shift by group entities to the lower corporate tax regime as offered under the Income Tax Act. Reliance explains
• RIL’s ETR compared with peers: BusinessLine experts benchmarked RIL’s ETR with those of oil marketing companies, Bharti Airtel, and D-Mart. The rationale is that RIL’s ETR is likely to be a blended rate of the peers in its key businesses over a 5-year period. Contrary to this logic and unsurprisingly, RIL’s ETR has been the lowest among peers. RIL consistently achieving low effective tax rates raises concerns regarding the quality and transparency of its disclosures.
• Summary: Experts say that India’s biggest company is vying to be among world’s best and has attracted investors like Facebook and Google but it owes a great deal more clarity in its financial statements. The company provides consolidated accounts of every diverse business with highly differing tax treatments of the income stream. When the final tax position is at variance with the past and the industry average, any investor would want more details than in other cases. One hopes the company will issue a clarification that sets high standards of transparency.

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

American shade - Trees missing in low-income neighborhoods

• The story: Research showed most U.S. cities have tree-planting programmes, but not all urban tree canopies are created equal. More tree cover would lower disproportionately high levels of heat and pollution but that's not happening. Today the United States needs to plant more than a half-billion new trees to achieve an equitable urban canopy across nearly 500 metropolitan areas and 1,50,000 local communities.
• Details: The new findings are based on the "Tree Equity Score" data tool that allows users to see where urban trees exist, and where they don't. Researchers identified 20 large U.S. cities that are lagging in urban forest canopies that would protect their most vulnerable populations from hotter temperatures.

1. The findings confirmed a disturbing pattern of inequitable distribution of trees that deprived many 'communities of colour' of the health and other benefits that sufficient tree cover can deliver (research was by American Forests)
2. For example, communities of colour have 33% less tree canopy on average than majority white communities, and neighborhoods with 90% or more of their residents living in poverty have 41% less tree canopy than communities with only 10% or less of the population in poverty.

• Tree equity: The scale and pace at which trees are planted or naturally regenerate must increase if trees are to continue to make people healthier or slow effects of climate change. Achieving "tree equity" nationally (in USA) would require planting 522 million trees in places with populations of 50,000 or greater. As those trees mature, they would mitigate 56,613 tons of particulate pollution and absorb 9.3 million tons of carbon dioxide — the equivalent of taking 92 million cars off the roads.
• Who will benefit: Several cities that would benefit from more equitable tree cover include the five most populated cities in the United States — New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston and Phoenix — and a handful of smaller cities such as Fresno, Calif.; Jacksonville, Fla.; and Oklahoma City.
• Why trees: Tree canopies are particularly good at reducing health stress associated with urban heat islands. These areas often are much hotter than surrounding neighborhoods — a condition caused by a lack of trees and the absorption of heat by buildings, streets and parking lots. Scientists say urban heat islands can cause temperatures to be 5 to 7 degrees warmer during the day and as much as 22 degrees warmer at night. This creates a dangerous health risk. Under current climate warming trajectories, heat-related deaths from 2031 to 2050 could be 57% higher than from 1971 to 2000.
• Summary: Since more than 70% of the people in US live in cities or suburbs, so it's a place-based problem with a place-based solution. The need is for local, state and federal lawmakers and nonprofits to fund the protection of existing trees and plant new ones.
  

Hybrid energy production

• What are hybrid power systems: These combine two or more formats of energy generation, like solar arrays with battery storage, and these could help the world fight climate change and meet rising demands for electricity. However, making the pieces fit together is never easy.
• Integration: Such integrated power systems are increasingly being lauded as key to unlocking maximum efficiency and cost savings in future decarbonized grids. But there are challenges in evaluating the benefits of hybrids with the tools used to help plan those future grids. A focus on single-technology power plants has "siloed" past research in energy. The risk is that engineers could overlook the potential benefits of a hybrid approach.
• Value to the grid: Researchers and engineers have to determine the value that the hybrids provide to the grid — in the form of energy, capacity and ancillary services — particularly relative to deploying each technology separately. In some cases, the coupling of solar power (which has no fuel cost) with storage batteries would allow more solar energy to be collected. Energy also could be shifted to periods where electricity prices are higher. Otherwise, power plants would have to buy electricity from the power grid, which would be more expensive and might not be renewable.
• With time: As solar energy grows, the possibility of combining it with battery systems will be increasingly important to understand the impact of design parameters on economic performance. The economics of other renewable energy hybrid combinations should be explored for future use. One would be a power plant that combines solar and wind farms to deliver power over longer periods.
• More options: Another option would be to meld nuclear power with an electrolysis system. The plant could use nuclear electricity in periods of low demand to split hydrogen from water. It then could store the hydrogen to make electricity for periods when electricity is more expensive, rather than buying it from the grid.
• The Indian case: India’s ministry of new and renewable energy (MNRE) released a solar-wind hybrid policy in 2018, to promote grid-connected hybrid energy through set-ups that would use land and transmission infrastructure optimally and manage the variability of renewable resources to some extent. In India, solar output is maximum between 11 am and 3 pm, while wind output is highest in late evening and early morning. Peak demand for power is reached in the evening hours of 6-9 pm, which cannot be catered to by either wind or solar. A combined “hybrid” system can produce round-the-clock clean energy in response to varying levels of demand through the day. The storage can take many forms, such as batteries, pumped hydro or mechanical storage through flywheels.
• Summary: Experience in countries which have achieved renewable energy penetration of over 15 percent indicates that some flexible energy resources which can rapidly ramp up or down are needed. These could include hydro or gas-based power, or energy storage solutions.

 

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

Myanmar unrest not ending, putting many in trouble

• The story: Myanmar entered its fifth month after the 2021 military coup, with resistance to the coup being resilient. No coup led by the Commander-in-Chief (General Min Aung Hlaing) himself has met with such popular dissent and wide-scale opposition. But this coup was strange, as the military was voluntarily sharing power with the elected National League for Democracy (NLD) led by Aung San Suu Kyi in a unique hybrid system.
• What the military wants: General Hlaing’s solution is to change the electoral system from first-past-the-post to one that ensures the military-backed USDP wins a majority. That will require tweaking the military-drafted Constitution and encouraging the entry of additional political parties. Suu Kyi neither encouraged second-rung leadership, which she kept overcentralised, nor tapped provincial talent. The military is not able to quickly change things as the resistance has remained very strong.
• Protests: While protests have visibly declined, use of explosive devices and fighting in the border regions with Kachins, Karens and Chin has risen exponentially. Detained protestors are being tortured by the Office of Military Security which has raised a vigilante group called Pyuisawhti — a Burmese warrior prince — for urban surveillance. According to the UN Human Rights Office, 893 civilians have been killed and nearly 6,000 protestors detained.
• I am for ever: General Hlaing has given himself an indefinite extension of service beyond July when he was to retire. He is saying elections will be held (not in one or two years) but when peace and stability are restored. The economy has collapsed (down to 3 per cent and poverty risen from 24 to 27 per cent), replaced with underground trade and business by criminal networks. The suspicion that Beijing was behind the coup has boosted anti-China sentiments, prompting Chinese Ambassador Chen Hai to say his country is playing a constructive role in bringing peace and stability.
• Thailand model: General Hlaing’s plans for regime change roughly follow the Thailand model. General Hlaing reached out to former General and now Prime Minister Prayuth Chan o’cha through the effervescent and pro-military Foreign Minister Wunna Maung Lwin. In 2014, General Chan o’cha had reached out to General Hlaing when he staged a coup, but recently he was disinclined to be publicly associated with Hlaing. That was the reason he skipped the Jakarta ASEAN meet in April. Burmese Generals are inward looking and consider themselves as guardians of society, religion and moral values. The military is the backbone of state administration and functional order.
• Indian situation: India’s support for restoration of democracy may not align with the Hlaing model. Its Act East policy has been jolted due to unrest on the Indian and Thai borders as insurgency has been revived. India drew flak when it ordered states bordering Myanmar to prevent refugees from entering overland into Mizoram, Manipur and Nagaland. India has not signed the 1951 UN Refugee Convention and its 1967 Protocol. Despite bar orders from New Delhi, Mizoram and Manipur have permitted 17,000 refugees, including the Chief Minister of Chin state, fleeing fighting, to enter their states. Unless India along with Japan, creates a niche position for itself in the ASEAN peace plan, its support for the junta will hurt its democratic credentials. June's UNGA resolution condemning the coup and urging an arms embargo, passed with 119 out of 193 votes, was only the fourth resolution after Haiti (1991), Burundi (1993) and Honduras (2009). India is among 36 abstentions and it must step up support for democratic resistance for an inclusive Myanmar.

Iran-U.S. nuclear talks

• The story: Both US and Iran are keen on reigniting the now-defunct nuclear deal - the JCPOA - but new trouble has erupted.
• Details: Deepening mistrust is hurting both sides, worsened by the June 2021 election of Ebrahim Raisi, a hard-liner with a murderous history who is to replace moderate Hassan Rouhani as Iran’s president in August. Raisi has said he wants to return to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), but he and the Iranian regime are now making tough demands. They insist on a guarantee that no future U.S. administration will withdraw from the deal as Biden’s predecessor, Donald Trump, did.

1. Another reason for new skepticism is things have changed so much on the ground for both sides. Biden is unwilling to roll back all the sanctions imposed by Trump. And Tehran is so far advanced in its technical development, especially its new, much faster IR-9 centrifuge—which it is now testing—that its “breakout” timeline for a bomb has shrunk considerably, possibly already rendering the JCPOA moot.
2. Both sides now see that restoring the status quo ante is not entirely possible. Iran is not likely to get the same amount of sanctions relief as it had in 2015 and 2016, and the U.S. is not likely to be able to roll back all of Iran’s nuclear enhancements since Trump left the deal in 2018.

• Supreme Leader's desire: The Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is believed to want a deal signed before Rouhani leaves office, so any public backlash from a compromise deal hurts the former president and not Raisi, Khamenei’s likely anointed heir as supreme leader. Otherwise the pact may never be revived. Advanced centrifuges allow Iran to enrich more uranium to greater purity in less time.
• Regional influence: Iran has a strong missile programme and regional network of violent proxies, such as Hezbollah, Hamas, and anti-U.S. militias in Iraq. Raisi insists Iran’s ballistic missiles and regional activities are “not negotiable.” The extended inspection period negotiated by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), under which Iran will maintain U.N. nuclear inspection data, expired on June 24, and it is not clear IAEA Director-General Rafael Grossi will be able to negotiate another one. That could also doom the JCPOA.
• Economic issues: Iran wants the release of tens of billions of dollars  of frozen assets. Trump had imposed hundreds of additional sanctions—including ruinous levies on the Central Bank of Iran, the National Iranian Oil Company, and the National Iranian Tanker Company—allegedly for financing state-sponsored terrorism.
• Israel's new boss: Another new wild card is the installation of a new hard-line administration in Israel, Iran’s No. 1 enemy. Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett—who, like his predecessor, Benjamin Netanyahu, abhors the 2015 deal—sent his military chief of staff, Aviv Kochavi, to Washington to warn the United States and European powers to “wake up” to the dangers of any new compromise since Raisi’s election.
• Summary: For both sides, a return to some form of the 2015 deal is far more desirable than a continued stalemate. Iran’s economy cannot continue to endure U.S. sanctions without more political turmoil, and Washington knows any kind of pact is more a restraint on Tehran than nothing at all.

 

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

Printing cash or not - the eternal question

• The story: The pandemic has had a serious effect on the Indian economy, affecting the poor and middle classes the most. Many industry leaders have asked the government to issue a large fiscal support package to help citizens directly.
• What CII said: According to the Confederation of Indian Industries, the government should spend an additional Rs 3 lakh crore. It should be spent on these fronts:

1. to provide direct cash transfers to families with Jan Dhan bank accounts,
2. to increase MGNREGA allocation and provide more job guarantees in rural India,
3. to cut the Goods and Services Tax rates, and thus boosting demand, and
4. to extend the Atmanirbhar Bharat Rozgar Yojana, under which the government subsidises the provident fund contributions by employees as well as employers for two years.

• One more request: Apart from this direct spending of Rs 3 lakh crore, CII has also demanded that the government extends the Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme (ECLGS), aimed at supporting businesses through this tough phase, to Rs 5 lakh crore. The CII has actually realised that without all this, economic recovery in India will be too slow.
• Why slow recovery: Data clearly show that in the wake of the second Covid wave, a significant majority of corporate respondents to Surveys reported infections among staff or their family. By May 2021, all sectors tracked by CII were showing considerable moderation. The CII was also concerned about people losing jobs in the aftermath of the second Covid wave and how this loss of livelihood and income could be bringing down the overall demand.
• Net summary: In sum, both production (or supply) and consumption (or demand) of goods and services are likely to be depressed in the coming period unless the government transfers money, one way or another, into the hands of the people. While it is true that India’s GDP will grow in the coming years, CII suspects the GDP growth rate could vary widely between 5% per year and 9% per year (the chart below) depending on several factors such as fresh stimulus, new reforms, and the state of the global economy. So, where will the additional Rs 3 lakh crore come from?
• Government finances: The fiscal deficit (the borrowings government does to meet the gap between its spending and revenues) is more than twice the prudential norms set by the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Act. So the CII has urged the Government to ask the RBI to “expand its balance-sheet in order to accommodate the increased stimulus so that lending costs remain contained”. The CII wants the government to simply ask the RBI to print Rs.3 lakh crore worth of new cash and give it to the government to spend.
• A new development: Corporate India has always viewed additional spending of this nature as fiscally irresponsible, wasteful and spending on such “doles” (providing cash transfers and/or subsidised foodgrains) as tantamount to raising the cost of borrowing for the companies. So corporates would always say  that instead of such “wasteful” expenditure, the government better focus on improving the ease of doing business for the private sector. Many have regularly criticised even the rural job guarantee legislation (MGNREGA) as a big impediments to India’s growth story (it disincentivise the migration of cheap labour to cities and big industries). The fact is, if this additional spending is funded via fresh money being printed, it will keep the interest rates, which the companies pay when they borrow money from the market, low.
• So why ask for printing of notes: Corporates realise that if, instead of printing fresh currency, the government were to spend this money by borrowing Rs 3 lakh crore from the market, then the resulting competition (for investible funds) between the government and the private sector firms will drive up the interest rates that the companies will have to pay. But printing fresh money can lead to inflation, and India already has high inflation (which hits the poor the hardest). Evidence is clear that India is now in a “K-shaped” recovery where listed firms (blue-chip companies) registered upwards of 20% profits in the FY 21 while most of the small and medium firms, unlisted ones, have shut down or are struggling to stay afloat. A key reason for high unemployment over the past year was that big firms fired employees to cut costs and, in the process, raised profits even in a year when widespread lockdown resulted in a sharp decline in production and sales.
• Summary: Wealth inequalities have now skyrocketed in India. Even as millions of middle class are being pushed into poverty, those already below the poverty line are pushed further down. But India has also become the country with the third-highest number of billionaires in the world. Forbes estimates suggest that the five richest Indians are now worth an estimated Rs 14 lakh crore ($191 billion).

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

Supreme Court not to entertain challenges to CBSE Class 12 scoring scheme

• The story: India's Supreme Court on 22nd June dismissed petitions challenging the formula to evaluate Class 12 students of the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) and the Council for Indian School Certificate Examination (CISCE). It said it was fair, reasonable and in the larger interest of students. The court also dismissed a separate challenge by students seeking cancellation of the examinations to be conducted for private or compartment students of CBSE.
• Details: In June, the Court accepted the formula after the school-leaving examinations were cancelled this year due to the Covid-19 outbreak. The court had said it did not want to create uncertainty for students whose careers will be held up in the event they are unable to take the optional examination.

1. A plea by the Uttar Pradesh Parents Association demanding that the choice of taking an optional exam should be provided at the outset too was rejected by the court. It felt that doing so will restrict the choice of students.
2. Under the scheme, they will still be able to take the improvement exam if they feel dissatisfied with their scores as per the assessment scheme of CBSE and ICSE.
3. The CBSE plans to conduct the optional exam between August 15 and September 15 and CISCE before September 1, subject to the Covid-19 situation.

• Do not worry about college admissions: Attorney General KK Venugopal, appearing for the Centre said, “The UGC (University Grants Commission) will give instructions to all colleges and professional institutes not to begin admissions till results (of optional exams that may be conducted) are declared.” A petition filed by a teacher had argued that if students can appear in professional exams why should they not be allowed to take Class 12 exams physically.
• Nature of exam: The court said that it was not possible for it to adopt a second-guess approach, and that in such matters one could not go by individual perceptions when it involves the lives of two million students. The CBSE exam is a qualifying and not competitive exam. The court rejected an application filed by three private/compartment candidates seeking cancellation of examinations being held between August 15 and September 15.
• Fairness of assessment: Government submitted that the results committees in the schools will have two senior teachers from neighbouring schools. In addition, schools will moderate marks based on their performances over the last three years. According to Centre, marks of Class 10, 11 and 12 internal assessments are recorded in registers. Possibility of manipulation will arise if schools commit forgery. 

CCI starts probe into Google's business practices

• The story: India's Competition Commission of India (CCI) has prima facie found Google to be in violation of competition laws relating to abuse of dominance in the smart TV operating system (OS) market. It has ordered its investigative arm, the Director General, to conduct a probe into Google’s market practices including for anti-competitive agreements.
• What is the problem: CCI said Google contravened competition laws by making the pre-installation of its proprietary apps, like the Play Store, conditional upon signing the Android Compatibility Commitment agreement for all android devices manufactured or distributed by a firm.
1. It said “Google has reduced the ability and incentive of device manufacturers to develop and sell devices operating on alternative versions of Android i.e. Android forks, and thereby limited technical or scientific development relating to goods or services to the prejudice of consumers”
2. The Television App Distribution Agreement, which mandates pre-installation of ‘must have’ Google apps, leverages its dominance in Play Store to protect markets such as online video hosting services offered by YouTube
3. These agreements imposed anticompetitive obligations on manufacturers such as “All devices based on Android that Company manufactures, distributes, or markets will be Android Compatible Devices” and “All Android-based software that Company develops, distributes, or markets will be designed to run on Android Compatible Devices”
• Google's defence: It said that the emerging smart TV sector in India is thriving, due in part to Google’s free licensing model and Android TV competes with numerous well-established TV OSs such as FireOS, Tizen, and WebOS. It claimed its smart TV licensing practices were in compliance with all applicable competition laws.
• Summary: The case was filed in June 2020 by two antitrust advocates Kshitiz Arya and Purushottam Anand. While initially against Google, smart TV manufacturers Xiaomi India and TCL India were made party to the case in October, but the probe order does not mention the latter two. The CCI order comes at a time when its antitrust probe against two other internet giants, Amazon and Flipkart, was stuck in litigation in various courts.

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

Covaxin efficacy over 77% efficacy in phase 3 trials

• The story: Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin, India’s first indigenous vaccine against Covid-19, showed a 77.6 per cent efficacy in the final analysis of phase 3 clinical trials. This was a long awaited result, that had turned controversial over time.
• Details: The vaccine showed an efficacy rate of 93 per cent against severe disease and 60 per cent against asymptomatic Covid-19. The Hyderabad-based vaccine manufacturer sought a full marketing authorisation for Covaxin after the final analysis of phase 3 data before the Subject Expert Committee (SEC), which advised the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI).
1. More data on safety was sought from the company before a full authorisation can be granted
2. Now that the data from phase 3 trials has been reviewed by the drug regulator of the country of origin, the firm can present it before the World Health Organization (WHO)
3. Bharat Biotech is set to present the data before the WHO as it seeks to be part of the WHO-Emergency Use List (EUL)
• Worries mitigated: Once Covaxin features in the WHO-EUL, it would address concerns around those vaccinated with this jab travelling abroad as most countries are allowing travelers who are vaccinated by one of the doses that feature in the list. Bharat Biotech indicated that it was engaging with the WHO and presenting data from the analysis of trials from time to time. The company has said it expects a WHO nod between July and September.

Are the aliens already on planet Earth

• The story: The project SETI is a modern astronomical endeavour, dating to 1959 (first paper) and 1960 (first observation). Modern UFO sightings date to the late 1940s. SETI usually requires a graduate degree in astronomy, and its scientists disdain UFOers for requiring nothing more than a camera that takes blurry photos! Both are trying to find Extraterrestial Life (ET).
• What happens: The SETI observes stars for artificial signals, a communication strategy that has severe drawbacks from ET’s point of view. In order for it to succeed, ET would have to target each of potentially millions of promising nearby stars (including humans') continuously, and do so over potentially billions of years. It would need also to maintain a dedicated receiver for each target star to be certain not to miss a return message if and when it arrives. The cost of this strategy in time, energy and materials would be immeasurable. And then there's the question of language being used to communicate.
• Robotic probes: This led some experts to think that aliens would be better served by sending robotic probes. Relatively simple flyby probes might intermittently surveil nascent solar systems, for example, at 200-million-year intervals. Star systems with biogenic planets might be surveilled more often. Highly capable probes might be placed permanently in the vicinity of planets that have achieved multicellularity as indicated by their oxygen-rich atmospheres or other biosignatures. Once a permanently placed probe had detected artificial electromagnetic leakage, indicating that one multicellular species had become technologically intelligent, it would attempt to decode the species.
1. The local probe might need to send data back to its home base for deeper analysis and/or instructions on how to proceed.
2. If the probe began transmitting data to its home in 1950 after its detection of early television signals, and if that home base were located at the modest distance of 150 light-years, then the earliest year in which the probe might receive instructions to make contact with Earth would be 2250.
3. The ensuing dialogue will take place in near real time, as opposed to the painfully slow dialogue between ourselves and an alien civilization transmitting from a star at hundreds or thousands of light years distance. An alien probe need not reveal the location of its home base, obviating any danger to the progenitor civilization. A fully autonomous probe would be able to communicate with humans even if its progenitor civilization is long extinct.
• Smarter way to communicate: Provided that a probe does belong to an existing civilization or network of civilizations, there remains the problem of how it might communicate with them. To do so directly would require an enormous transmitter. A better solution would be to string communication nodes at close proximity to one another, perhaps one in orbit around every star, and perhaps located at a sufficient distance from the star to enable the use of it as a gravity lens, per Einstein’s theory of general relativity. For the sun, that focal point begins at 550 Earth-sun distances (AU) at which point the node would achieve signal gain of approximately a billion.  
1. Large numbers of ET civilization might contribute to this nodal system, and the store of information would only grow with time regardless of whether the contributing civilizations persist or have gone extinct.
2. Humans might contribute Aristotle, Shakespeare, etc. to this Encyclopedia Galactica. ET may wish to recruit humans into the galactic club so that we might manufacture probes and nodes, and otherwise take responsibility for the maintenance of the interstellar communication system within our immediate stellar neighborhood. That would be our bargaining chip.
• Limitations of SETI: SETI's stellar observations presume a very faint signal that would require Earth’s most powerful telescopes to detect. However, highly sensitive telescopes have very small fields of view. Detecting a local robotic probe requires the opposite strategy. Because of a probe’s close proximity to Earth, its signal would be much brighter than an interstellar beacon. So SETI’s best strategy would be to sacrifice great sensitivity in favour of a wide a field of view or, better yet, all-sky-all-the-time observing. Such systems are being built now or planned.
• Summary: So are we now expecting some of those UFO picture to be real glimpses of such probes? Who knows.

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

Indian adults are much poorer due to Covid-10

• The story: Covid-19 pandemic has left Indian adults poorer by 6.1 per cent in 2020, as per the Credit Suisse Global Wealth Report 2021. The report has been compiled from data on the wealth holdings of 5.2 billion adults across 200 countries.
• Details: The wealth per Indian adult in 2020 dropped to $14,252 by 2020-end compared to pre-pandemic levels. On a cumulative basis, the drop in the wealth of Indian adults was $594 billion.

1. In real terms, the average wealth level in India in 2020 was at a level seen in the United States 70 years ago. In the next five years, wealth per Indian adult will surge past $20,000, a rise of over 40 per cent.
2. The drop in the wealth of Indian adults in 2020 was amplified by exchange rate depreciation: at fixed exchange rates, the loss would have been 2.1 per cent. Latin America was the worst performing region, with total wealth dropping by 11.4 per cent or $1.2 trillion.

• Inequality: Wealth inequality in India has risen at a slower pace than in China, but was already very high in 2000. The Gini coefficient – an index used to measure wealth inequality – increased from 74.7 in 2000 to 82.0 in 2019, and reached 82.3 at the end of 2020.

1. The wealth share of the top 1 per cent went up from 33.5 per cent in 2000 to 39.5 per cent in 2019, and rose further to 40.5 per cent by the end of 2020
2. Aggregate global wealth worldwide rose by $28.7 trillion to reach $418.3 trillion at the end of 2020 despite the pandemic.
3. In terms of current US dollars, total wealth grew by 7.4 per cent and wealth per adult was up 6.0 per cent. However, widespread depreciation of the US dollar accounted for 3.3 percentage points of the growth. If exchange rates had remained the same as in 2019, total wealth would have grown by 4.1 per cent and wealth per adult by 2.7 per cent.

• North versus South: Developed regions were better off in 2020. Total wealth rose by $12.4 trillion in North America and by $9.2 trillion in Europe. Total debt, on the other hand, rose markedly in China and Europe, but declined in Africa and in Latin America, even after allowance was made for exchange rate depreciation. These two regions accounted for the bulk of the wealth gains in 2020, with China adding another $4.2 trillion and the Asia-Pacific region.
• Summary: Global wealth may rise by 39 per cent over the next five years, reaching $583 trillion by 2025. Low and middle-income countries are responsible for 42 per cent of the growth, although they account for just 33 per cent of current wealth. 

India's "high population fears" can be put to rest

• The standard belief: Most Indians believe that population control is crucial for making India a prosperous nation. China, currently the world’s second largest economy and a one-party state since 1949, enforced a one-child norm in the 1980s. Four decades later, China is now encouraging couples to have three children!
• Religious polarisation: The population control debate is especially tricky in India due to the religious polarisation around it. Demographic experts say that the logic of uncontrolled population explosion is used (directly or indirectly) to politically target Muslims, the largest religious minority group in the country. In June 2021, the Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma asked the minority community for effective population control measures. Following Assam, now UP is talking about introducing a two-child norm for entitlement to government benefits.
• What are the facts: The numerical and statistical facts are very different from whatever the politicians may want you to believe.
1. India’s population growth peaked long time ago. India will overtake China as the most populous country by 2025 or perhaps sooner. But this does not mean that India is undergoing a population explosion. Statistics show that India’s population growth peaked decades ago and it is already on a downward trajectory.
2. According to the United Nation’s population projections, India’s population will increase by a multiple of 1.09 between 2021 and 2031. This number was 1.25 between 1981 and 1991. From 2060 onwards, India’s population will start falling, which happens when fertility rate falls below replacement levels. By 2100, which is as far as UN population projections go to, India’s population will be 1.45 billion after having peaked at 1.65 billion in 2059.
3. A high population is not necessarily a bad thing for the economy. A low population, i.e. fewer workers, also means a scarcity of productive hands in the economy. This generates headwinds, rather than tailwinds for economic growth. An increasing share of older people in its popualtion, thanks to its one-child policy, is what has forced China to abandon the old policy and encourage couple to have more children.
4. India needs to focus on exploiting its demographic dividend rather than worry about it. India is poised at a unique moment in history, where it can exploit its demographic advantage to realise its economic goals. According to the government’s population projections, 53.6% of India’s population in 2021 is under the age of 29. More than a quarter of India’s population is 14 years or younger. This young cohort can become extremely productive or unproductive depending on the skill sets it acquires.
5. Muslims do have higher fertility rates, but they are a minority when it comes to total families with more than two children. There is an element of truth to the assertion that Muslims tend to have higher fertility rates in India. While some of this can be explained by their relative socio-economic backwardness, an analysis using NFHS data had found that Muslims have a higher share of married women with more than two children than Hindus, even in same education and wealth cohorts.
6. What the proponents of such "exclusionary politics" are not realising is that in case the government were to formulate any policies which exclude families with more than two-children, 83% of the affected families would be Hindus! Not only is such a policy regressive (it will hurt the ‘have-nots’ more than the ‘haves’) it will also fail to achieve its communal design as more Hindus will suffer than Muslims.
• Summary: Data from successive rounds of NFHS clearly show that TFR for Hindus and Muslims was 3.3 and 4.41 in the first round of NFHS in 1992-93. It was down to 2.13 and 2.62 respectively in the fourth round in 2015-16. This means that TFR has fallen by 40.6% for Muslims during this period, more than 35.5% decline for Hindus. Even the ratio of Muslim-Hindu TFR has come down from 1.34 in 1992-93 to 1.23 in 2015-16.

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

Airtel's Mittal wants more competition in Indian telecom

• The story: Bharti Airtel Chairman Sunil Mittal has said a large country like India needed at least three mobile players. He finds the present "duopoly" tragic.
• Details: He pointed out that in India, from 12 operators it was down to nearly two and a half. India is a very large country and it deserves to have three private sector telecom players. Vodafone Idea came under a lot of stress after the Supreme Court in September 2020 directed the company to pay its adjusted gross revenue (AGR) dues to the Department of Telecommunications (DoT). Later, the court allowed the companies to clear their AGR dues in 10 years and start making an upfront payment of 10 per cent of the dues.
• AGR dues: DoT estimates that Vodafone Idea owes Rs 58,400 crore as AGR dues. Of those, it has paid Rs 7,854 crore. It needs to pay the balance in 10 annual instalments ending March 31, 2031. Bharti Airtel owes Rs 43,980 crore as AGR dues against the telco’s calculation of Rs 13,004 crore. The company has paid Rs 18,000 crore. The DoT had raised the AGR dues to telecom companies after the court crystallised the definition of AGR; similarly, it can be done on dues from bankrupt firms.
• Airtel's position: Mittal clarified that the digital acceleration has forced the hands of almost every major corporate entity in the world. More and more digital tools and mediums are being used to do things and how best to serve customers in a more efficient and faster way. Airtel's One Web initiative was firing on all cylinders, connecting more homes on fibre so that shifts from office to home are well served and we are doing well on that.

Delta Plus spreading in India

• The story: The Union Health Ministry informed that the Delta Plus strain detected in Maharashtra, Kerala and Madhya Pradesh was indeed a Variant of Concern (VOC). It asked the States to take up immediate containment measures, enhanced testing, tracking and vaccination in districts and clusters where the latest variant is found.
• Details: The Ministry asked that adequate samples of positive persons be promptly sent to the designated laboratories of INSACOG so that clinical epidemiological correlations can be made. INSACOG  is the Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genomics Consortium.
• Effect of vaccines: While the Delta variant is a variant of concern and is found in 80 countries, Delta Plus is present in 9 countries – US, UK, Portugal, Japan, Poland, China, Russia, Nepal and India. Both the vaccines – Covishield and Covaxin – are effective against the Delta variant and the Ministry will detail it soon. But nothing can be said about Sputnik as it was new in the country.
• Cases update: India reported less than 50,000 Covid cases at 42,640 on 22nd June after three months, with daily casualties at 1,167 aggregating to 3,89,302 deaths so far. Cumulatively, India reported 2,99,77,861 cases, of which, the active caseload stood at 6,62,521 and recovery cases were at 2,89,26,038, according to the Health Ministry data. 81,839 patients recovered in the last 24 hours till 22nd June morning. The daily recoveries continued to outnumber the daily fresh cases for 40 consecutive days, and the recovery rate further went up to 96.49 per cent.

Gujarat launches Agricultural Diversification Scheme

• The story: The CM of Gujarat, Vijay Rupani, e-launched Agricultural Diversification Scheme-2021 which will benefit vanbandhu- farmers in tribal areas. It seeks to make agriculture sustainable and profitable in tribal areas.
• Details: The scheme will benefit some 1.26 lakh farmers from 14 tribal districts of the state. Tribal farmers will be provided fertilizer-seed assistance of Rs. 31 crores. About 45 kg of urea, 50 kg of NPK and 50 kg of ammonium sulphate will be provided to these farmers. Seeds of crops such as maize, millet, tomato, Bitter Melon (karela), Calabash (dudhi) etc. will be provided under this scheme.
• Providing water: State government has also undertaken works to deliver irrigation water at high altitudes through several lift irrigation schemes in hilly areas of tribal districts. These schemes would enable tribal farmers to cultivate on their own.
• Tribal districts: Scheduled areas or Tribal areas of Gujarat are distributed across Tapi district, Bharuch district, Dangs district & taluka, Valsad district, Panchmahal district, Vadodara district, Saurashtra region, Sabarkantha district and Surat District. As per census 2011, population of Gujarat was 60,439,692 out of which 8,917,174 persons are Scheduled Tribes (STs). They constitute about 14.75 percent of total population of Gujarat.

WHO Report: Suicide worldwide in 2019

• The story: The "Suicides worldwide in 2019" report was published by World Health Organization (WHO).
• Major learnings: The suicide mortality rate is an indicator of target 3.4 of the Sustainable Development Goals: by 2030, to reduce by one third premature mortality from noncommunicable diseases through prevention and treatment, and promote mental health and well-being. More than 700 000 people die due to suicide every year. For every suicide there are many more people who attempt suicide. A prior suicide attempt is the single most important risk factor for suicide in the general population. Suicide is the fourth leading cause of death in 15-19-year-olds. 77% of global suicides occur in low- and middle-income countries. Ingestion of pesticide, hanging and firearms are among the most common methods of suicide globally. Suicides in India
• Links: While the link between suicide and mental disorders (in particular, depression and alcohol use disorders) is well established in high-income countries, many suicides happen impulsively in moments of crisis with a breakdown in the ability to deal with life stresses, such as financial problems, relationship break-up or chronic pain and illness.
• Prevention: Suicides are preventable. There are a number of measures that can be taken at population, sub-population and individual levels to prevent suicide and suicide attempts. LIVE LIFE, WHO’s approach to suicide prevention, recommends the following key effective evidence-based interventions:

 

9.1 Today's best editorials to 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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