Daily Current Affairs - Civil Services - 24-06-2021

Useful compilation of Civil Services oriented - Daily Current Affairs - Civil Services - 24-06-2021

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• SECTION 1 - TEN NEWS HEADLINES

1. Defence and Military - Krivak Stealth Frigates - The Vice-Chief of the Naval Staff inaugurated the construction of the second frigate of the Krivak or Talwar class. The construction of the first ship was started in January, 2021, and would be delivered in 2026 (and the second ship after six months). The Krivak class stealth ships are being built with technology transfer from Russia by Goa Shipyard Ltd. (GSL) under ‘Make in India’. Engines for the ships are supplied by Ukraine. In October 2016, India and Russia signed an Inter-Governmental Agreement (IGA) for four Krivak or Talwar stealth frigates. The first two frigates will be built in Yantar Shipyard, in Kaliningrad, Russia, and the following two will be built in GSL. The new Krivak frigates will have the same engines and armament configuration as Yantar’s last three frigates – INS Teg, Tarkash and Trikand. These will be armed with BrahMos anti-ship and land attack missiles. Accomplish a wide variety of naval missions such as finding and eliminating enemy submarines and large surface ships.
2. Governance and Institutions - Electronic weighing machines at FPS - The Central Government has asked the States to buy electronic weighing machines for ration shops from electronic Point of Sale devices (ePoS) savings. The Ministry of Consumer Affairs has amended the Food Security (Assistance To State Government Rules) 2015 to encourage the states to generate savings through judicious use of e-PoS devices. The integration of ePoS devices with electronic weighing scales will ensure the right quantity to beneficiaries being covered under the National Food Security Act (NFSA), 2013. It will ensure greater transparency in the Public distribution system (PDS) regime, and reduce food grain leakages. Ther National Food Security Act (NFSA), 2013 was enacted to provide for food and nutritional security in the human life cycle approach, by ensuring access to adequate quantities of quality food at affordable prices. Nearly 75% of the rural population and upto 50% of the urban population for receiving subsidized foodgrains under Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS).
3. Science and Technology - Delta variant of coronavirus - The supercontagious Delta variant of the coronavirus is responsible for about 1 in 5 COVID-19 cases in the US. While Delta may account for an increasing percentage of cases, it is not yet clear whether it will drive the total number of cases higher. Delta is one of the “Variants of Concern” (VoC), as designated by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization. First identified in India, Delta was later reported in 80 countries. It is now the most common variant in India and Britain. Delta variant, formerly known as B.1.617.2, is believed to be the most transmissible variant yet, spreading more easily than both the original strain of the virus and the Alpha variant first identified in Britain. People infected by the Delta variant were roughly twice more likely to be hospitalized than those infected with Alpha. The variant may partially evade the antibodies made by the body after a coronavirus infection or vaccination. It may render certain monoclonal antibody treatments less effective. Impact of Vaccine - The Delta variant is unlikely to pose much risk to people who have been fully vaccinated. However, the protection offered by a single dose appears low, and if a person is not at all vaccinated, they are at high risk.
4. Education - National Institute for Open Schooling - Minister of State for Education Shri Sanjay Dhotre launched NIOS Diploma course in Yogic Science on the occasion of International Day of Yoga. The National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS) was formerly known as National Open School. What is it? It is the National board of education under the Government of India that administers examinations for Secondary and Senior Secondary examinations similar to the CBSE and the CISCE. It also offers vocational courses after the high school. NIOS is an autonomous institute under Union Ministry of HRD. It operates through a network of five Departments, Regional Centres and Accredited Institutions (Study Centres) in India and abroad. It has a current enrolment of about 2.71 million students at Secondary, Senior Secondary & Vocational levels which makes it the largest open schooling system in the world.
5. World Economy - EU acting more like the Federal Reserve - The European Union (EU) conducted the first funding operation for its Next Generation EU programme, raising €20bn ($24.2bn) through the sale of a ten-year bond, the largest amount the EU has raised in a single transaction. The bloc wants to tap €800bn in capital markets by the end of 2026 to finance the recovery fund. By acting as one, the EU is ensuring that the euro is taken far more seriously than otherwise.
6. World Economy - Tax claims via Saint Vincent and the Grenadines - The Union Cabinet approved an Agreement between India and Saint Vincent and The Grenadines for the Exchange of Information and to provide assistance to each other in collection of tax claims. This is a new agreement and there was no such agreement in the past. It also contains tax examination abroad provisions which provide that a country may allow the representatives of the other country to enter its territory to interview individuals and examine records for tax purposes. St. Vincent and the Grenadines is a southern Caribbean nation comprising a main island, St. Vincent, and a chain of smaller islands. The main island is home to the capital, Kingstown. The northern two-thirds of the chain, including about 32 islands and cays, are part of the country of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. The southern third of the chain belongs to the country of Grenada.
7. Indian Economy - DoT liberalises norms for OSPs - The Department of Telecommunication (DoT) has further liberalized the guidelines for Other Service Providers (OSPs). These are business process outsourcing (BPO) organisations giving voice based services, in India and abroad. The guidelines further liberalized the special dispensation given to OSPs in addition to the major measures already announced and implemented in November, 2020. The main features of the liberalised guidelines are: (i) Distinction between Domestic and International OSPs has been removed. A BPO centre with common Telecom resources will now be able to serve customers located worldwide including in India, (ii) The EPABX (Electronic Private Automatic Branch Exchange) of the OSP can be located anywhere in the world. OSPs apart from utilising EPABX services of the Telecom Service Providers can also locate their EPABX at third Party Data Centres in India. With this, the interconnectivity between all types of OSP centres is now permitted. The Remote Agents of OSP can now connect directly with the Centralised EPABX/ EPABX of the OSP/ EPABX of the customer using any technology including Broadband over wireline/ wireless.
8. People and Personalities - Lina Khan has arrived - Big tech companies are to face a formidable foe at the Federal Trade Commission, where Lina Khan has been appointed chairwoman. Just 32 years old, Ms Khan is a professor at Columbia University Law School and has written extensively on reforming antitrust law. She was a counsel to the congressional committee that drafted a report forming the basis of the bills in the House. Meanwhile, five bills were introduced in America’s House of Representatives that aim to curb the power of big tech companies by prohibiting a dominant platform from promoting its products over others and barring the use of takeovers to smother competition. The most ambitious overhaul of antitrust law in decades would affect all firms, but is directed at Apple, Amazon, Facebook and Google. The bills face a long journey through Congress.
9. Indian Economy - Tax Inspectors Without Borders (TIWB) - The Tax Inspectors Without Borders (TIWB), a joint initiative of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), launched its programme in Bhutan. India was chosen as the Partner Jurisdiction and has provided the Tax Expert for this programme. It is expected to be of about 24 months’ duration through which India in collaboration with the UNDP and the TIWB Secretariat aims to aid Bhutan in strengthening its tax administration by transferring technical know-how and skills to its tax auditors, and through sharing of best audit practices. The focus of the programme will be in the area of International Taxation and Transfer Pricing.
10. Indian Politics - Covid Update - (a) India reported 54,069 new COVID-19 cases and 1,321 deaths in past 24 hours. This is the second straight day when the country witnessed a rise in the number of cases. India reported 50,848 COVID-19 cases and 1,358 deaths on Wednesday. With this, the total number of cases reached 3,00,82,778 and the death toll surged to 3,91,981. (b) All the state boards except that of Andhra Pradesh agree to cancel the board examination in view of pandemic. They told SC they will formulate separate scheme for evaluation of students. Supreme Court directed all State Boards to notify the scheme for assessment within 10 days from today and declare the internal assessment results by July 31, like the timeline specified by it for CBSE and ICSE. (c) An analysis by Public Health England (PHE), where the Delta variant is more widespread, found that both the Pfizer/BioNTech and AstraZeneca vaccines provide more than 90% protection against hospitalization from the Delta variant.

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• SECTION 2 - DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS

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

Reliance Industries rated higher than the Sovereign Republic of India

• The story: On June 24, 2021, Fitch Ratings upgraded Reliance Industries Ltd's (RIL) rating to 'BBB', a notch above India's sovereign rating, as the company benefits from cash flow generation across diversified business segments and continuation of deleveraging. This is quite unprecedented, as a sovereign state ought to be the safest investment in a nation, far above any private firm!
• What Fitch said: It has upgraded RIL's long-term foreign-currency issuer default rating (IDR) to 'BBB', from 'BBB-', with a negative outlook. It has affirmed RIL's long-term local-currency IDR at 'BBB ' with a stable outlook. RIL's local-currency IDR reflects the company's strong business profile, with market-leading positions and diversified cash flow from a mix of oil-to-chemical (O2C) and consumer businesses, as well as lower net leverage. The firm has cut its foreign-currency borrowings outside India by 36 per cent following pre-payments of USD 7.8 billion in the financial year ending March 2021 (FY21).
• RIL financials: Fitch expected RIL's EBITDA to increase to around Rs.1.1 lakh crore in FY22, supported by a recovery in petrochemical spreads, transportation fuel cracks, higher refining throughput and a continued rise in digital services EBITDA. The company had an EBITDA of around Rs.76,000 crore in FY21, 12 per cent lower year-on-year. Overall EBITDA generation was also supported by a 55 per cent surge in digital-services segment EBITDA, which defied the pandemic-related economic slowdown. The FY21 drop in EBITDA was largely driven by the O2C segment, which saw a 31 per cent fall due to lower demand.

1. "RIL's ratings benefit from cash flow generation across diversified business segments with unrelated industry drivers. This was reflected in FY21 when strong cash flow from telecom mitigated the impact on overall cash generation from the pandemic-affected O2C segment.
2. Consumer businesses, including digital services and retail, contributed around half of the overall EBITDA generation in FY21 and we expect this to be the case over the medium term, even as O2C and upstream EBITDA rises.
3. Capex is likely to fall, averaging at Rs.55,000 crore a year in FY22-FY25 (FY21: Rs.1.1 lakh crore), as most planned capex has been completed.
4. Investment in new energy and materials, including renewable energy, carbon capture and the hydrogen economy, will drive future capex, as RIL aims to be net carbon zero by 2035.

• Summary: Fitch said its rating case does not consider RIL's proposed acquisition of Future Group's retail businesses due to uncertainty about the timing and associated litigation. The (rating) upgrade was driven by expectation that RIL's hard-currency external debt-service ratio will remain at above 1.0x over the next 12 months. Fitch's non-financial corporates exceeding the country ceiling rating criteria states that a company with a ratio of above 1.0x over at least 12 months can be rated one-notch above the country ceiling.
• India below RIL: India's country ceiling is 'BBB-'. The negative outlook reflects the outlook on India's sovereign rating (BBB-/Negative); should the sovereign IDRs be downgraded, the country ceiling may be revised down in tandem. This would constrain RIL's foreign-currency IDR to one notch above the country ceiling.

Finally - public banks recover Rs.9,371 cr in Nirav Modi, Mallya cases

• The story: Since 2010, a series of scams, frauds and business failures had robbed the Indian public sector banks of their rightful dues. Now, after a long time, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has transferred a portion of the assets valued at Rs.8,441 crore it had seized in connection with cases related to the three fugitive economic offenders — Vijay Mallya, Nirav Modi, and Mehul Choksi — to state-run banks.
• Details: With this, the total transfer of the attached assets stands at Rs.9,371 crore, or 40 per cent of the banks’ losses. As per the ED, the State Bank of India (SBI)-led consortium recovered Rs.5,824 crore in the Mallya case by selling some United Breweries (UB) shares through the Dispute Resolution Tribunal (DRT) as directed by the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court.

1. In the Mallya case, the ED recently transferred Rs 6,600 crore worth of assets, while in the Nirav matter, it transferred Rs 1,060 crore to Punjab National Bank.
2. The SBI consortium is also in the process of recovering Rs 800 crore by liquidating some more UB shares, taking the total recovery to Rs 7,981 crore. This includes the earlier recovered amount of Rs 1,357 crore by banks in the case.
3. The banks will be realising a total amount of Rs 7,981.5 crore this week through a sale of a part of the assets attached/seized by the ED under the provisions of PMLA.

• Attached assets: The three offenders have defrauded the public sector banks (PSBs) of Rs 22,586 crore, of which 80 per cent (or Rs 18,170 crore) has been attached/seized by the ED. These include the recent attachment of assets worth Rs 329 crore, the agency further said. The agency was in the process of attaching further assets worth Rs 4,000 crore to cover the total amount defrauded. This may include foreign assets as well. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that fugitives and economic offenders will be actively pursued; their properties attached and dues recovered.
• How it was found: The ED claims it unearthed the money trail by exposing a web of domestic and international transactions and unearthing assets stashed abroad. The investigation revealed that the three accused used dummy entities controlled by them for rotation and siphoning off the funds provided by the banks. The extradition requests were sent to countries where the three accused are holed up. Mallya and Nirav live in London, while Choksi fled to Antigua.
• Welcome to India: Mallya has been denied permission to file an appeal in the UK Supreme Court, which has made his extradition to India almost final. Nirav’s extradition to India is in its final leg. Choksi has been contesting a legal battle in Antigua against his extradition process.

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

Great Barrier Reef in danger, or not?

• The story: When the UNESCO World Heritage Committee recommended that Australia’s Great Barrier Reef be added to a list of “in danger” World Heritage Sites (WHS), Australia did not like the idea. It was selected as a World Heritage Site in 1981.
• Details: When a WHS is placed on the 'in-danger list', it is not considered a sanction. Some nations have their sites added to gain international attention and help to save them, in fact.

1. Why this suggestion - It was done to add to the list because of the impact of climate change. Despite the "Reef 2050" plan, the coral reef ecosystem has suffered three major bleaching events since 2015 due to severe marine heatwaves.
2. The Reef 2050 Long-Term Sustainability Plan - It is the Australian and Queensland Government’s overarching framework for protecting and managing the Great Barrier Reef by 2050.
3. When corals face stress by changes in conditions such as temperature, light, or nutrients, they expel the symbiotic algae zooxanthellae living in their tissues, causing them to turn completely white. This phenomenon is called coral bleaching.
4. Marine heatwave is an event of anomalous warm sea surface temperatures (SST​) from several days to years.

• The fallout: This new recommendation prompted environmental groups to take aim at the Australian government's reluctance to take stronger climate action. Australia, one of the world's largest carbon emitters per capita, was always unwilling to commit to stronger climate action and has cited jobs as a major reason to back the country's fossil fuel industries. It has not updated its climate goals since 2015.
• The Great Barrier Reef: It is the world’s most extensive and spectacular coral reef ecosystem composed of over 2,900 individual reefs and 900 islands. It is located in the Coral Sea (North-East Coast), off the coast of Queensland, Australia, and can be seen from outer space and is the world’s biggest single structure made by living organisms. This reef structure is composed of and built by billions of tiny organisms, known as coral polyps, made up of genetically identical organisms called polyps, which are tiny, soft-bodied organisms. At their base is a hard, protective limestone skeleton called a calicle, which forms the structure of coral reefs. These polyps have microscopic algae called zooxanthellae living within their tissues. The corals and algae have a mutualistic (symbiotic) relationship.
• Corals protection initiative: A number of global initiatives are being taken to address the issues, like (i) International Coral Reef Initiative, (ii) Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network (GCRMN), (iii) Global Coral Reef Alliance (GCRA), (iv) The Global Coral Reef R&D Accelerator Platform, etc. The Ministry of Environment and Forests and Climate Change (MoEF&CC), India has included the studies on coral reefs under the Coastal Zone Studies (CZS). Mangrove forests play a crucial role in helping the coral reef system by acting as filters and providing protection from cyclones, storms and tsunamis.

1. In India, the Zoological Survey of India (ZSI), with help from Gujarat’s forest department, is attempting a process to restore coral reefs using “biorock” or mineral accretion technology.
2. The National Coastal Mission Programme, to protect and sustain coral reefs in the country.

• Coral reef: Indonesia has the largest coral reef area in the world. India, Maldives, Sri Lanka and Chagos have the maximum coral reefs in South Asia. The Great Barrier Reef of the Queensland coast of Australia is the largest aggregation of coral reefs.

1. India has four coral reef areas: Gulf of Mannar, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Lakshadweep islands and the Gulf of Kutch. These protect humanity from natural calamities, provide revenue and employment through tourism and recreation, and provide habitats for fishes, starfish and sea anemones.
2. They are used in jewellery, and coral blocks are used for buildings and road construction. The lime supplied by corals is used in cement industries.

• Threats: Due to anthropogenic activities such as coastal development, destructive fishing methods and pollution from domestic and industrial sewage. Due to increased sedimentation, over-exploitation and recurring cyclones. Coral diseases such as black band and white band due to infectious microorganisms introduced by the human population that live on the coastal regions.

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

Foreign affairs updates

• Afghanistan situation: The U.S. intelligence community downgraded its assessment of the Afghan government’s resiliency following the withdrawal of U.S. troops. The Kabul government may collapse within six months of US withdrawal. The Taliban's forces have made rapid gains in the north of the country, capturing towns previously held by government forces and surrounding major cities. The Afghan President Ashraf Ghani recently visited the White House.
• Tigray carnage: At least 51 people were killed in an apparent airstrike on a village market in Tigray on 23rd June, and Ethiopian soldiers had blocked ambulances from reaching the scene of the bombing. More than 100 others were wounded in the attack, according to Tigray’s health authorities. The European Union condemned the attack, saying it was the latest in a “horrific series” of abuses in Tigray and called for an immediate cease-fire. It’s not yet known whether Ethiopian or Eritrean forces were responsible for the strike.
• Black Sea tensions: Russia complained on 23rd June of a “blatant British provocation” in the Black Sea, as a British Navy vessel sailed near the Crimean peninsula on its way to port in Georgia. Both sides contest the facts of the incident: The Russian Defense Ministry said it fired warning shots near the British ship and dropped four bombs in its way, while the British Defense Ministry said no such obstruction occurred. Those aboard the British ship said they heard shots “out of range,” and that Russian military planes shadowed the vessel. Tensions in the area are expected to remain high as NATO conducts military exercises in the Black Sea.
• Hong Kong's voices crushed: Hong Kong’s Apple Daily newspaper made its final print run — one million copies — as the pro-democracy outlet became the latest victim of Hong Kong’s national security laws. The decision to close the newspaper came after 500 police officers raided its offices last week, arresting five executives, as assets of companies related to the paper were frozen. The paper’s owner, Jimmy Lai, has been detained since December on three national security-related charges, including allegedly colluding with a foreign country. Clearly, self-censorship will become the norm across other sectors like academia and entertainment.
• Terror in Mozambique: The 16-country Southern African Development Community (SADC) agreed to deploy troops to Mozambique in a bid to quell violence in the north of the country. The move comes as a group known as al-Shabab (a separate organization from the Somali group) have terrorized the Cabo Delgado province since 2017, in a conflict that has killed nearly 3,000 people and displaced close to 800,000. Although the SADC agreed to establish a “standby force,” the number or troops and the timing of their deployment has not been disclosed.
• UK High Court rejects Nirav's extradition plea: Wanted diamond merchant Nirav Modi, whose extradition to India was ordered in April by UK Home Secretary Priti Patel in the estimated USD 2-billion Punjab National Bank (PNB) scam case, has lost the first stage of his extradition appeal in the High Court. This leaves the 50-year-old jeweller with a chance to make his case at a brief oral hearing in the High Court with a renewed “leave to appeal” application for a judge to determine if it can proceed to a full appeal hearing. Nirav Modi as an appellant has five business days to apply for such an oral consideration, giving him time until next week, and if a renewal application is made, it will be listed before a High Court judge for a hearing. It is understood that Nirav Modi plans to make such an application. Nirav Modi remains behind bars at Wandsworth Prison in south-west London since his arrest over two years ago on 19 March 2019. The court accepted that while Nirav Modi's mental health had deteriorated due to the lengthy incarceration in a London prison, exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, his risk of suicide did not meet the high threshold to conclude that it would be "unjust or oppressive" to extradite him. Nirav Modi is the subject of two sets of criminal proceedings, with the CBI case relating to a large-scale fraud upon PNB through the fraudulent obtaining of letters of undertaking (LoUs) or loan agreements, and the ED case relating to the laundering of the proceeds of that fraud.

62nd anniversary of the Antarctic Treaty

• The story: The 62nd anniversary of the Antarctic Treaty fell on 01st July, 2021. The Antarctic treaty remains the only example of a single treaty that governs a whole continent, and is the foundation of a rules-based international order for a continent without a permanent population. In 2021, an enormous iceberg 'A-76' has calved from the western side of the Ronne Ice Shelf, lying in the Weddell Sea, in Antarctica.
• Points to note: The Treaty was signed between 12 countries in Washington on 1st December 1959 for making the Antarctic Continent a demilitarized zone to be preserved for scientific research only. The twelve original signatories are Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Chile, France, Japan, New Zealand, Norway, South Africa, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, the UK and the US. It entered into force in 1961 and has since been acceded by many other nations. Antarctica is defined as all of the land and ice shelves south of 60°S latitude.
• Details: Currently the Treaty has 54 parties. India became a member of this treaty in 1983. Its HQ is in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

1. Major provisions -
1. Promoting the freedom of scientific research
2. Countries can use the continent only for peaceful purposes
3. Prohibition of military activities, nuclear tests and the disposal of radioactive waste
4. Neutralising territorial sovereignty, this means a limit was placed on making any new claim or enlargement of an existing claim
2. It put a freeze on any disputes between claimants over their territories on the continent.
3. Disputes resolution - There have been tensions from time to time. Argentina and the UK, for instance, have overlapping claims to territory on the continent. But a key reason why the treaty has been able to survive has been its ability to evolve through a number of additional conventions and other legal protocols. These dealt with the conservation of marine living resources, prohibitions on mining, and the adoption of comprehensive environmental protection mechanisms. As disputes arose over the years, many have been addressed through the expansion of the treaty framework with these agreements. This framework is now referred to as the Antarctic Treaty System.

• Antarctic Treaty System: It is the whole complex of arrangements made for the purpose of regulating relations among states in the Antarctic. The purpose is to ensure in the interests of all mankind that Antarctica shall continue forever to be used exclusively for peaceful purposes and shall not become the scene or object of international discord. It is a global achievement and has been a hallmark of international cooperation for more than 50 years. These are legally binding and purpose-built for the unique geographical, environmental and political characteristics of the Antarctic and form a robust international governance framework for the region.
• Major international agreements of the Treaty System: These are - (i) The 1959 Antarctic Treaty, (ii) The 1972 Convention for the Conservation of Antarctic Seals, (iii) The 1980 Convention on the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources, and (iv) The 1991 Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty.
• Indian Antarctic Programme: It is a scientific research and exploration program under the National Centre for Antarctic and Ocean Research (NCPOR). It started in 1981 when the first Indian expedition to Antarctica was made. The NCPOR is the nodal agency for planning, promotion, coordination and execution of the entire gamut of polar and southern ocean scientific research in the country as well as for the associated logistics activities. It was established in 1998.

1. Dakshin Gangotri - It was the first Indian scientific research base station established in Antarctica, as a part of the Indian Antarctic Program. It has weakened and become just a supply base.
2. Maitri - It is India’s second permanent research station in Antarctica. It was built and finished in 1989, and is situated on the rocky mountainous region called Schirmacher Oasis. India also built a freshwater lake around Maitri known as Lake Priyadarshini.
3. Bharti - It is India’s latest research station operation since 2012, constructed to help researchers work in safety despite the harsh weather.
4. Other facilities - Sagar Nidhi: In 2008, India commissioned the Sagar Nidhi, for research. An ice-class vessel, it can cut through the thin ice of 40 cm depth and is the first Indian vessel to navigate Antarctic waters.

• Way forward: While the Antarctic Treaty has been able to successfully respond to a range of challenges, circumstances are radically different in the 2020s compared to the 1950s. Antarctica is much more accessible, partly due to technology but also climate change. More countries now have substantive interests in the continent than the original 12. Some global resources are becoming scarce, especially oil. There is speculation as to China’s interests in Antarctic resources, especially fisheries and minerals, and whether China may seek to exploit weaknesses in the treaty system to secure access to those resources.

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

India's road construction statistics show impressive growth

• The story: Road construction in India has seen a 60 per cent year-on-year jump in the first two months of financial year 2021-22 (FY22), despite restrictions being imposed in the wake of the second wave of Covid-19. Around 1,470 km of roads were constructed during the first two months of the current fiscal, as against 847 km in the corresponding period in 2020.
• Statistics: Total highway construction in FY21 was around 13,298 km, as against around 10,240 km in FY20. Total length of roads awarded in April-May 2021 was 663 km, as against 747 km awarded in April-May 2020. These projects are a mix of EPC (engineering-procurement-construction) contracts, hybrid-annuity and BOT (build-operate-transfer) contracts. The pace of construction has seen a steady growth with 3,380 km constructed in FY19, but witnessed a decline in FY21 due to the nationwide lockdown.
• Bharatmala Pariyojana: The government's ambitious highway development programme – Bharatmala Pariyojana – includes development of about 65,000 km national highways. Under Phase-I of the programme, the government has approved implementation of 34,800 km of national highways projects with a very stiff deadline of five years and an outlay of Rs 5.35 trillion. Of this, NHAI has mandated development of about 27,500 km. The NHAI has taken a slew of measures to accelerate the pace of highway construction, which include reviving stalled projects, streamlining land acquisition, and acquiring a major portion of land before invitation bids. Other measures were also introduced like awarding projects after adequate clearances, disposal of cases in respect of Change of Scope (CoS) and Extension of Time (EoT) in a time-bound manner, and close coordination with other ministries and state governments.
• More budget, higher ambitions Official estimates state that the length of national highways has gone up by 50 per cent from 91,287 km (as of April 2014) to 1,37,625 km (as on March 20, 2021). Total budgetary outlay increased by 5.5 times, from Rs 33,414 crore in FY15 to Rs 1.83 trillion for FY22.

Crores of Indian students not online, missing education

• The story: Pandemic has been bad for the crores of Indian students who do not have access to digital devices and the internet.
• States report horrifying figures: Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh reported over 0.55 m children who are out of school each while Rajasthan has identified over 1.8 lakh such children. Bihar counted 14 million children without access to digital devices. Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Jammu & Kashmir reported that nearly 70% children have no access to devices while Jharkhand and Karnataka has over 3 million children without device access. This data was shared by the Union education ministry with the Parliamentary standing committee on Education, Women & Children, Youth & Sports.
• Out of school: Equally worrying is the number of children who are out of school. Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh have reported over 0.55 m children who are out of school each while Rajasthan has identified over 1.8 lakh such children. The data was shared as part of the ministry’s response on efforts at “bridging the learning gap caused due to the school lockdown”.
• Second running year: The data on the digital divide and school drop out rate comes amid a second consecutive academic session that had to be started via the online mode across states and schools. While all states are yet to submit their final data for Covid-19 documentation being done by the Union education ministry, the picture so far has been deeply worrying. Assam, Jharkhand and Karnataka have identified that 31 lakh, 32.5 lakh and 31.3 lakh students, respectively, have no access to devices. The figure is a staggering 1.4 crore for Bihar. Odisha has counted 15 lakh such students while Haryana has identified 10 lakh students without devices.
• More data: In terms of aspirational districts, Wayanad in Kerala (Rahul Gandhi’s constituency) has the highest percentage of access to digital devices at 100% followed by Kadapa (99%) district in Andhra Pradesh. Rayagada (47%) district of Odisha has the lowest percentage of students who access any mode of digital education. On the other end of the spectrum are Kerala and Rajasthan –– in both states all students have access to a device.
• Summary: There is a silent crisis brewing in India, as young school children (in crores) are missing out on education, nutrition and a nurturing environment. There is an urgent need for governmental interventions of a very high magnitude, if the long-lasting demographic disadvantages that will flow from this, are to be contained.

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

EU citizens in post-Brexit Britain

• The story: Britain got the Brexit it wanted. Now comes the ironing out of policies on immigration and trade. The European Union citizens will now be given a formal 28-day notice if they fail to apply for settled status in Britain, as part of a post-Brexit immigration system. Some say it is too difficult to navigate.
• New immigration system: Since completing its exit from the EU late in 2020, Britain is bringing in a new immigration system, ending the priority for citizens from the EU bloc over people from elsewhere. That was the promise made during the 2016 Brexit referendum.

1. Around 5.6 million EU citizens applied for residency rights in Britain before the June 30 deadline, but firm figures on exact no. of nationals from the EU bloc being not available, some may fail to apply.
2. The UK claims its approach is generous, as the EU settlement scheme was open for more than two years. Many EU countries have an application window of 12 months or less; France's is currently open for less than nine months.
3. The government repeatedly said it will look to grant status, rather than look for reasons to refuse it to EU citizens, and added that the 28-day notice should not be seen as a point when individuals are liable to be removed from Britain.

• Just prove this: Under the scheme, EU citizens who can prove they were living in Britain before Dec. 31 will retain the right to work, study and access benefits. But if EU citizens have not applied within the 28-day notice, they will not be eligible for work, benefits and will lose the right to services such as free non-urgent healthcare.
• Summary: Lawyers estimate there may be lakhs of EU citizens who now risk missing the deadline, some of whom would be victims of red-tapism.

How judges "recuse" themselves from hearing cases

• The story: When two Supreme Court (SC) judges 'recused' themselves from hearing cases relating to West Bengal, it made news. But it is nothing new, as some cases keep happening regularly.
• Recusal: When an official refuses to carry out his/her duty due to problematic situation, he can "recuse" himself. Formally, it is the act of abstaining from participation in an official action (such as a legal proceeding) due to a conflict of interest of the presiding court official or administrative officer.
• Reasons: When there is a conflict of interest, a judge can withdraw from hearing a case to prevent creating a perception that he carried a bias while deciding the case. The conflict of interest can be in many ways such as:

1. Having a prior or personal association with a party involved in the case
2. Appeared for one of the parties involved in a case
3. Ex parte communications with lawyers or non-lawyers
4. An appeal is filed in the SC against a judgement of a High Court (HC) that may have been delivered by the SC judge when he was in the HC
5. In a matter of a company in which he holds shares unless he has disclosed his interest and there is no objection to it

• Origin: The cardinal principle of 'due process of law' states that nobody can be a judge in her own case. Any interest or conflict of interest would be a ground to withdraw from a case since a judge has a duty to act fair.
• Process of recusal: The decision to recuse generally comes from the judge himself as it rests on the conscience and discretion of the judge to disclose any potential conflict of interest. Sometimes, the lawyers may request the same too. Some judges orally convey to the lawyers involved in the case their reasons for recusal, many do not. Some explain the reasons in their order. When lawyers or parties in the case bring it up before the judge, the decision to recuse or not rests with the judge.

1. While there are some instances where judges have recused even if they do not see a conflict but only because such an apprehension was cast, there have also been several cases where judges have refused to withdraw from a case.
2. If a judge recuses, the case is listed before the Chief Justice for allotment to a fresh Bench.

• Rules: There are unfortunately no formal rules governing recusals. In "Ranjit Thakur v Union of India (1987)", the SC held that the test of the likelihood of bias is the reasonableness of the apprehension in the mind of the party. The judge needs to look at the mind of the party before him, and decide that he is biased or not.
• Concerns: Some say that this process allows litigants to cherry-pick a bench of their choice, which impairs judicial fairness. The purpose of recusal in these cases undermines both independence and impartiality of the judges. As there are no rules to determine when the judges could recuse themselves in these cases, there are different interpretations of the same situation. Some requests for recusal are made with the intent to intimidate the court or to get better of an 'inconvenient' judge or to obfuscate the issues or to cause obstruction and delay the proceedings.
• Summary: Recusals should not be used as a tool to manoeuvre justice, as a means to pick benches of a party’s choice, and as an instrument to evade judicial work. Judicial officers must resist all manner of pressure. Precise rules are now needed. 

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

Detecting underground enemies

• Tunnel digging an art of war: Throughout history, armies that could dig the right tunnels at the right time, got a huge advantage over the adversaries. Many examples exist: the collapsing of city walls during medieval sieges, the laying of giant mines filled with explosives under enemy trenches during the first world war, the supply networks of the Ho Chi Minh trail during the war in Vietnam, the Tora Bora cave complex used first by the Mujahideen to oppose the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and then by the Taliban to oppose the American invasion, etc.
• Modern times: These days, secret tunnels are used to move weapons and people between Gaza and Egypt, and by Kurdish militia operating on the frontier between Syria and Turkey. What happens underground is hard for the enemy to observe. Digging for victory is therefore often a good idea.
• New tech will end all this: Real-time Subsurface Event Assessment and Detection (RESEAD), a project at Sandia National Laboratories in New Mexico, uses novel sensors to make accurate maps of what is happening underground. This will have many civilian applications but it is the military matters that are more compelling.
• Where it came from: The RESEAD grew out of work that was looking at ways of monitoring earth tremors by means of sensor networks. The researchers involved found that the analytical techniques they had developed to handle data so collected were fast enough to process those data more or less in real time. They could detect movement underground in a way that would be militarily useful.

1. Networked sensors used in RESEAD are embedded in the collars connecting sections of borehole casings, and communicate with the surface via wires.
2. This makes them easy to deploy and use. The sensors themselves are a mixture of accelerometers, which pick up vibrations, current detectors, which measure the electrical-resistance of rocks and soil, and subsurface radar.

• Data analysis: The real secret is the way it handles the incoming data. First, these are pre-crunched by powerful hardware built into the sensors themselves. This is a form of parallel processing, greatly reducing the time required by the central receiving computer to finish the job. Second, the mathematical technique employed, a species of finite-element analysis, divides the volume represented by the incoming data not merely into blocks, as is normal in this approach, but into blocks the faces and edges of which can have different properties. This means a block can straddle, say, the interface between a metal pipe and the rock surrounding it. That considerably reduces the number of blocks needed, and further simplifies the calculation.
• Testing on oil fields: In Bakersfield, California, a dense network of oil-related infrastructure exists. The square kilometre picked for testing contained more than a hundred wells, many underground storage tanks and tens of kilometres of steel pipeline. RESEAD produced an accurate map of the area in just ten minutes!
• Summary: How RESEAD sensors would be used in a zone of active conflict remains to be seen. America also has a problem with tunnels under its border with Mexico being used to smuggle drugs and migrants into the country. RESEAD would be able to detect existing tunnels and nip new ones in the bud.

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

Pandemic help - free foodgrain by govt. to poor

• The story: The government has again extended the free foodgrain offer to vulnerable sections. It may cost over Rs.67,266 crore to the exchequer.
• Details: The plan is to extend free foodgrain supply to the poor till November 2021. Free grains, under PM Garib Kalyan Ann Yojana (PMGKAY), was introduced in 2020 during the first wave of the pandemic and was then resumed for two months -- May and June 2021. Govt. announced that this will be extended till Diwali.
• Beneficiaries: Free foodgrain supply will benefit a maximum of 81.3 crore individuals covered under the targeted public distribution system (TPDS). Each individual will receive five kilogram of food grain for five months. The cost would entirely be on the central government. Including transportation cost of Rs.3,234.85 crore, the total cost for the five-month extension of food grain supply will be Rs.67,266.44 crore.

1. This supply is over and above the monthly entitlement of subsidised food grain under the food security law. It covers up to three-fourth of the rural population and half of the urban population.
2. Priority has been to get the allocated budgetary funds to be spent in the initial part of the year to support economic revival.

• Economic revival: The RBI has offered liquidity boosting and loan recast measures. While the Centre has extended the free food grain scheme in view of the second wave of the coronavirus pandemic, businesses are demanding further steps to help micro, small and medium enterprises to tackle its economic impact. Businesses are now emphasising on possible measures that will boost consumption.

2021 Ebola outbreak contained

• The story: The World Health Organisation (WHO) declared that the Ebola outbreak, that started in February 2021 in Guinea, was finally over. In its first deadly wave in 2013-2016, the Ebola outbreak killed 11,300 people, mostly in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia. The WHO in its list of “Ten threats to global health in 2019” also included Ebola.
• Points to note: The Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) was known as the Ebola haemorrhagic fever. It is transmitted to people from wild animals and spreads in the human population through human to human transmission. Ebola virus was first discovered in 1976 near the Ebola River in what is now the Democratic Republic of Congo. Fruit bats of the Pteropodidae family are natural Ebola virus hosts. Ebola is introduced into the human population through close contact with the blood, secretions, organs or other bodily fluids of infected animals such as fruit bats, chimpanzees, gorillas, monkeys, forest antelope or porcupines found ill or dead or in the rainforest.
• Human-to-Human transmission: Ebola spreads via direct contact (through broken skin or mucous membranes) with (a) Blood or body fluids of a person who is sick with or has died from Ebola, or (b) Objects that have been contaminated with such body fluids (like blood, feces, vomit).
• Symptoms: These can be sudden and include: Fever, Fatigue, Muscle pain, Headache, Sore throat, Vomiting, Diarrhoea, Symptoms of impaired kidney and liver function, in some cases, both internal and external bleeding.
• Diagnosis: It can be difficult to clinically distinguish Ebola from other infectious diseases such as malaria, typhoid fever, and meningitis but confirmation that symptoms are caused by Ebola virus infection are made using the following diagnostic methods: (a) ELISA (antibody-capture enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay), or (b) Reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) assay, etc.
• Vaccines: The Ervebo vaccine has been shown to be effective in protecting people from the species Zaire ebolavirus. In May 2020, the European Medicines Agency recommended granting marketing authorization for a 2-component vaccine called Zabdeno-and-Mvabea for individuals 1 year and older. Two monoclonal antibodies (Inmazeb and Ebanga) have been approved for the treatment of Zaire ebolavirus infection in adults and children by the US.

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

United Nations Public Service Day 2021

• The story: The United Nations Public Service Day is observed on June 23, to recognise value and virtue of public service to community.
• Points to note: It emphasizes on the importance of public service in advancement phase, and recognises work of public servants & encourages young people to undertake careers in public sector.
• History: The Day is celebrated on June 23 every year, and was designated by United Nations General Assembly’s resolution to “celebrate the value and virtue of public service to community”. The United Nations Economic & Social Council established the United Nations Public Service Awards in 2003. This award programme was updated in 2016 to accord with 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
• Importance: The day marks anniversary of date when International Labour Organization adopted the Convention on Labour Relations (Public Service), 1978 (ILO convention no. 151). This Convention determines the working conditions of all civil servants worldwide. This day was observed under the theme “Innovating the Future Public Service: New Government Models for a New Era to Reach Sustainable Development Goals” in 2021. 

India's CoWIN technology for other countries

• The story: India has decided to make CoWIN platform an open source for other countries in order to enable them to use this technology to run their own vaccination drives.
• Which countries to join: Countries including Vietnam, Iraq, Peru, Mexico, Dominican Republic, Panama, Nigeria, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates and Uganda have expressed their interest in learning about CoWIN technology to run their vaccination programmes.
• Co-WIN App: The Co-WIN is a digital platform that helped in implementation of nationwide COVID-19 vaccination programme in India. It is also called as Covid Vaccine Intelligence Network. This cloud-based IT platform is supposed to handle minute details with respect to India’s Covid-19 immunisation programme. It provides for registration of beneficiaries, allocation of vaccination centres, sending text messages with name of their vaccinator and live monitoring of vials stored in cold storage.
• Who developed: The platform is owned by Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.  Earlier, this platform was used to conduct Pulse Polio and other crucial. immunisation programmes in India. Ministry of Electronics & IT and National Informatics Centre are backend supporters.

CEOS COAST: ISRO- NOAA Project endorsed by UN Body

• The story: The UN body has endorsed a multinational project called “Committee on Earth Observation Satellites Coastal Observations, Applications, Services, and Tools (CEOS COAST)”.
• What it is: The CEOS COAST programme is co-led by ISRO and NOAA from US, and aims to improve accuracy of coastal data on the basis of satellite and land-based observations. It seeks to foster trust and collaboration among scientists. This pilot projects are uniquely capable of using Earth Observation technologies to meet 17 UN-designated sustainable development goals for Ocean Decade initiative. Themes of these projects are disaster risk reduction & coastal resilience among continental shorelines & small island nations.
• National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA): It is an American scientific agency working under the United States Department of Commerce, that focuses on conditions of oceans, major waterways, and atmosphere. It warns about the dangerous weather, charts seas and guides on use & protection of ocean & coastal resources. It also conducts research to provide understanding and improve stewardship of environment.

Total FDI inflows increase 38% YoY to $6.24 billion in April 21

• The story: India attracted a total foreign direct investments (FDI) inflow of $6.24 billion in April, up by 38 per cent year-on-year (Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) data).
• Details: Total FDI includes equity capital of unincorporated bodies, reinvest earnings and other capital. FDI equity inflow grew 60 per cent to $4.44 billion in April. Mauritius was the top investing country with 24 per cent of the equity inflows in April. This is followed by Singapore that continues to remain one of the top sources of FDI for India with inflows at 21 per cent and Japan at 11 per cent, respectively.
• States: Karnataka was the top recipient state during April, 2021 with 31 per cent share of the total FDI Equity inflows, followed by Maharashtra at 19 per cent and Delhi at 15 per cent.
• Sectors: Again, ‘Computer Software & Hardware’ emerged as the top sector during April, with around 24 per cent share of the total FDI equity inflow. This was followed by the services sector at 23 per cent and education sector 8 per cent, respectively. India attracted the highest ever total FDI inflow of $81.72 billion in the entire financial year 2020-21, despite the disruption caused by the outbreak of the pandemic last year. Total FDI inflow was $74.39 billion in 2019-20.
• Summary: A United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) report stated that India was the fifth largest recipient of FDI inflows in the world in the financial year 2020-21.

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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