Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission
Mains level: Features of the ABDM
The PM has launched the Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission to provide a digital Health ID to people which will contain their health records.
Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission
- The pilot project of the National Digital Health Mission was announced by PM Modi during his Independence Day speech from the Red Fort on August 15, 2020.
- The mission will enable access and exchange of longitudinal health records of citizens with their consent.
- This will ensure ease of doing business for doctors and hospitals and healthcare service providers.
The key components of the project include
- Health ID for every citizen that will also work as their health account, to which personal health records can be linked and viewed with the help of a mobile application,
- Healthcare Professionals Registry (HPR)
- Healthcare Facilities Registries (HFR) that will act as a repository of all healthcare providers across both modern and traditional systems of medicine
What makes this special?
- The mission will create integration within the digital health ecosystem, similar to the role played by the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) in revolutionising payments.
- Citizens will only be a click-away from accessing healthcare facilities.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Tropical cyclones
Mains level: Frequent cyclonic activities in India
As a very rare occasion during monsoons, Cyclone Gulab has been developed in the Bay of Bengal and later made landfall close in Andhra Pradesh.
Tauktae, Amphan, Fani, Titli, Bulbul, Gaja… And now Gulab. As and when cyclones with intriguing names approach the Indian coasts, a common question comes to our minds: Who names these storms?
This time it is Pakistan, not India, who proposed this name Gulaab!
About Tropical Cyclones
- A tropical cyclone is a rapidly rotating storm system characterized by a low-pressure centre, a closed low-level atmospheric circulation, strong winds, and a spiral arrangement of thunderstorms that produce heavy rains.
- Depending on its location and strength, a tropical cyclone is referred to by different names, including hurricane, typhoon, tropical storm, cyclonic storm, tropical depression, or simply cyclone.
- A hurricane is a tropical cyclone that occurs in the Atlantic Ocean and the northeastern Pacific Ocean, and a typhoon occurs in the north-western Pacific Ocean.
- In the south Pacific or the Indian Ocean, comparable storms are referred to simply as “tropical cyclones” or “severe cyclonic storms”.
Cyclone Gulab
- Three factors —in-sync phase of Madden Julian Oscillation (MJO), warm sea surface temperatures over the Bay of Bengal, and the formation of a low-pressure system.
- The system’s intensification phases between low pressure – well-marked low pressure – depression – deep depression and to finally becoming Cyclone Gulab was rather rapid, even as the system moved closer to the south Odisha – north Andhra Pradesh coast, where it also made landfall.
What makes Gulab special?
- India has a bi-annual cyclone season that occurs between March to May and October to December. But on rare occasions, cyclones do occur in June and September months.
- Cyclones are less common during the June to September monsoon season, as there are limited or almost no favourable conditions for cyclogenesis due to strong monsoon currents.
- This is also the period when the wind shear — that is, the difference between wind speeds at lower and upper atmospheric levels — is very high.
- As a result, clouds do not grow vertically and monsoon depressions often fail to intensify into cyclones.
- So it can be stated that this year, the cyclone season commenced earlier than usual. The last time a cyclone developed in the Bay of Bengal in September was Cyclone Day in 2018.
Also read
[Burning Issue] Tropical Cyclones and India
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Crop Varieties with Special Traits
Mains level: GM Crops
In an endeavor to create mass awareness for adoption of climate resilient technologies, PM will dedicate 35 crop varieties with special traits to the Nation.
About Crop Varieties with Special Traits
- The crop varieties with special traits have been developed by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) to address the twin challenges of climate change and malnutrition.
- Thirty-five such crop varieties with special traits like climate resilience and higher nutrient content have been developed in the year 2021.
- These special traits crop varieties also include those that address the anti-nutritional factors found in some crops that adversely affect human and animal health.
Which are these varieties?
- Drought tolerant variety of chickpea
- Wilt and sterility mosaic resistant pigeonpea
- Early maturing variety of soybean
- Disease resistant varieties of rice
- Biofortified varieties of wheat, pearl millet, maize and chickpea, quinoa, buckwheat, winged bean and faba bean
- Pusa Double Zero Mustard 33
- Canola quality hybrid RCH 1 with <2% erucic acid and <30 ppm glucosinolates and
- Soybean variety free from two anti-nutritional factors namely Kunitz trypsin inhibitor and lipoxygenase.
Try answering the PYQ:
The Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee is constituted under the:
(a) Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006
(b) Geographical Indications of Goods (Registration and Protection) Act, 1999
(c) Environment (Protection) Act, 1986
(d) Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972
Post your answers here.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Akash Missile
Mains level: NA
The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has successfully tested a new version of Akash Surface to Air missile Akash Prime from the Integrated Test Range at Chandipur, Odisha.
About Akash Missile System
- Akash is a medium-range mobile surface-to-air missile (SAM) system.
- It is developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and produced by Bharat Dynamics Limited (BDL).
- It can target aircraft up to 50–80 km away, at altitudes up to 18,000 m.
- It has the capability to neutralise aerial targets like fighter jets, cruise missiles and air-to-surface missiles as well as ballistic missiles.
- It is in operational service with the Indian Army and the Indian Air Force.
Upgrade in Akash Prime
- In comparison to the existing Akash System, Akash Prime is equipped with an indigenous active Radio Frequency (RF) seeker for improved accuracy.
- Other improvements also ensure more reliable performance under low temperature environment at higher altitudes.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: MSP
Mains level: Paper 3- Doubling farmers' income
Context
The recently released data for 2018-19 Situation Assessment Survey (SAS) of agricultural households paints a bleak picture for doubling farmers’ income.
Background
- Prime Minister Narendra Modi set out an ambitious target to double farmers’ incomes by 2022-23.
- The Ashok Dalwai Committee made it clear that the target of doubling farmers’ incomes was in real terms.
- Required rate: The committee clearly stated that a growth rate of 10.4 per cent per annum would be required to double farmers’ real income by 2022-23.
- The goal was to be achieved over seven years with the base year of 2015-16.
- According to an estimate of farmers’ income for 2015-16 by NABARD in 2016-17, the average monthly income of farmers for 2015-16 was Rs 8,931.
- However, unless a similar survey is conducted in 2022-23, we won’t really know what happened to the target of doubling farmers’ real income.
Determining the growth rate of farmers income
- As per Situation Assessment Survey (SAS) of agricultural households for 2018-19, an average agricultural household earned a monthly income of Rs 10,218 in 2018-19 (July-June) in nominal terms.
- We have a similar SAS for 2012-13, when the nominal income was Rs 6,426.
- In nominal terms, the compound annual growth rate (CAGR) turns out to be 8 per cent between 2012-13 to 2018-19.
- Choice of deflator: If one deflates nominal incomes by using CPI-AL (consumer price index for agricultural labour), which should be the logical choice, then the CAGR turns out to be just 3 per cent.
- If one uses WPI (wholesale price index of all commodities), the CAGR in real incomes turns out to be 6.1 per cent.
- This vast difference is just due to the choice of deflator.
- However, there is another SAS that the NSO conducted for 2002-03.
- When one compares CAGR in farmers’ real income (deflated by CPI-AL) over 2002-03 to 2018-19, it turns out to be 3.4 per cent (and 5.3 per cent if deflated by WPI).
- A better method would have been to look at average annual growth rates (AAGR), if yearly data was available.
- The AAGR for agri-GDP is available and at an all-India level, between 2002-03 to 2018-19, it turns out to be 3.3 per cent.
Policy message about farmers income from SASs
- One, the share of income from rearing animals (this includes fish) has gone up dramatically from 4.3 per cent in 2002-03 to 15.7 per cent.
- Two, the share of income from the cultivation of crops has decreased from 45.8 per cent to 37.7 per cent.
- Three, the share of wages and salaries has gone up from 38.7 per cent to 40.3 per cent.
- Four, the share of income coming from non-farm business has come down from 11.2 per cent to 6.4 per cent.
Way forward
- Survey results indicates that the scope for augmenting farmers’ incomes is going to be more and from rearing animals (including fisheries).
- There is no minimum support price (MSP) for products of animal husbandry or fisheries and no procurement by the government.
- It is demand-driven, and much of its marketing takes place outside APMC mandis.
- This is the trend that will get reinforced in the years to come as incomes rise and diets diversify.
- Those who advocate raising the MSP of grains and government procurement, irrespective of increasing grain stocks to more than double the buffer stocking norms, are living in the past — and advocating a very expensive food system.
- That will fail sooner or later.
- Wisdom lies in investing more in animal husbandry (including fisheries) and fruits and vegetables, which are more nutritious.
- The best way to invest is to incentivise the private sector to build efficient value chains based on a cluster approach.
Consider the question “Why the role of MSP in increasing the farmers’ income has been repeatedly questioned? What are the alternatives to achieve the doubling of farmers’ income?”
Conclusion
Too much focus on increasing MSP to increase farmers’ income is not helping the cause. What we need is an investment in animal husbandry (including fisheries) and fruits and vegetables.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Rivers mentioned
Mains level: Floods in Bihar
Over the years, many of Bihar’s districts have been facing serious challenges with recurrent and massive flooding. It is the right time to look at some of the key aspects of India-Nepal flood management.
Simultaneous floods in Bihar and Nepal
- Some of Nepal’s biggest river systems originate in the Himalayan glaciers which then flow into India through Bihar.
- During the monsoons, these river systems flood causing many problems for Bihar.
- It is a necessity that there is process-driven coordination between the Centre and the Government of Bihar to handle the flooding in Nepal’s Terai and North Bihar (largely the Mithilanchal region).
Which are those flooding rivers?
- Nepal’s three biggest river systems—Kosi, Gandaki and Karnali—originate in the high mountain glaciers, flow through the country and then enter India through the state of Bihar.
- During the monsoon season, these river systems often get flooded due to heavy rains/landslides in Nepal which create floods in India’s most flood prone state—Bihar.
Bihar’s vulnerability
- The history of floods in Bihar from 1998 to 2012 reveals how strong discharges of water due to heavy rains in the catchment areas of Nepal have created a strong pressure on the river embankments in India.
- About 76 per cent of the population living in northern Bihar live under threat of floods due to these river systems and a total of 73.06 per cent of the total geographical area of Bihar is flood affected (mostly during the monsoon).
Measures: Joint flood management program
- As part of the long-term measures to address the problem of massive and recurrent floods in Bihar, the Joint Project Office (JPO), Biratnagar, was established in Nepal in August 2004.
- It aimed to prepare a detailed project report to construct a high dam on the Nepal side (on the Kosi, Kamla and Bagmati rivers).
Flaws: Yet to get effect
- Despite the best efforts made by the Government of Bihar, the task remains unaccomplished even after 17 years.
- The Government of Bihar has raised the matter at regular intervals for this.
Who is the obstructionist? : Fault lies with Nepal
- The Central Water Commission (CWC) has convened several meetings with Nepali Authorities.
- However, what is evident is Nepal’s lack of prompt reciprocation.
- India has long-standing water sharing issues with Nepal.
What has been done so far?
- As in the figures shared by Bihar, a total of four new flood protection works in the Gandak basin area were proposed before the floods of 2020.
- There were proposed Barrage structures located in the border districts.
Nepal’s reluctance
- However, Nepal argues that many of the bund area falls into no man’s land along the open international border.
- This is notwithstanding the fact that the embankment was built by India 30 years ago and there has not been any dispute regarding its maintenance all these years.
What does this signify?
- There is a need for India-Nepal collaboration for an efficiently operated barrage.
- It is evident that Nepal’s attitude towards mutual issues (water sharing, flood control, etc.) has been short of collaboration, unlike in the past.
Way forward
- In the best spirit of friendship, Nepal and India should restart the water dialogue and come up with policies to safeguard the interests of all those who have been affected on both sides of the border.
- It is time the two friendly countries come together and assess the factors that are causing unimaginable losses through flooding every year.
- Optimisation of the infrastructure will be decisive in finding an alternative paradigm of flood management.
- By controlling the flooding and using the water resources for common developmental uses such as hydroelectricity, irrigation and waterways, India-Nepal relations can be strengthened even further.
- Moreover, it is also linked to how the Himalayan glaciers and the green cover are managed.
Conclusion
- Water resources are priceless assets.
- Water cooperation should drive the next big India-Nepal dialogue, and despite the challenges, wisdom should prevail to turn the crisis into an opportunity, for the sake of development and environmental protection.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Cartel, Cartelization
Mains level: Free market and its limitations
Last week, the Competition Commission of India (CCI) has slapped a penalty on a cartel of beer companies for hiking the prices.
What is a Cartel?
- According to CCI, a “Cartel includes an association of producers, sellers, distributors, traders or service providers who, by agreement amongst themselves, limit, control or attempt to control the production, distribution, sale or price of, or, trade in goods or provision of services”.
- The International Competition Network, which is a global body dedicated to enforcing competition law, has a simpler definition.
- The three common components of a cartel are:
- an agreement
- between competitors
- to restrict competition
What is Cartelization?
- Cartelization is when enterprises collude to fix prices, indulge in bid rigging, or share customers, etc.
- But when prices are controlled by the government under a law, that is not cartelization.
- The Competition Act contains strong provisions against cartels.
- It also has the leniency provision to incentivise a party to a cartel to break away and report to the Commission, and thereby expect total or partial leniency.
- This has proved a highly effective tool against cartels worldwide.
- Cartels almost invariably involve secret conspiracies.
How do they work?
- According to ICN, four categories of conduct are commonly identified across jurisdictions (countries). These are:
- price-fixing
- output restrictions
- market allocation and
- bid-rigging
- In sum, participants in hard-core cartels agree to insulate themselves from the rigours of a competitive marketplace, substituting cooperation for competition.
How do cartels hurt?
- While it may be difficult to accurately quantify the ill-effects of cartels, they not only directly hurt the consumers but also, indirectly, undermine overall economic efficiency and innovations.
- A successful cartel raises the price above the competitive level and reduces output.
- Consumers choose either not to pay the higher price for some or all of the cartelised product that they desire, thus forgoing the product, or they pay the cartel price and thereby unknowingly transfer wealth to the cartel operators.
In other words, by artificially holding back the supply or raising prices in a coordinated manner, companies either force some consumers out of the market by making the commodity (say, beer) more scarce or by earning profits that free competition would not have allowed.
Are there provisions in the Competition Act against monopolistic prices?
- There are provisions in the Competition Act against abuse of dominance.
- One of the abuses is when a dominant enterprise “directly or indirectly imposes unfair or discriminatory prices” in purchase or sale of goods or services.
- Thus, excessive pricing by a dominant enterprise could, in certain conditions, be regarded as an abuse and, therefore, subject to investigation by the Competition Commission if it were fully functional.
- However, it should be understood that where pricing is a result of normal supply and demand, the Competition Commission may have no role.
How might cartels be worse than monopolies?
- It is generally well understood that monopolies are bad for both individual consumer interest as well as the society at large.
- That’s because a monopolist completely dominates the concerned market and, more often than not, abuses this dominance either in the form of charging higher than warranted prices or by providing lower than the warranted quality of the good or service in question.
How to stop the spread of cartelisation?
- Cartels are not easy to detect and identify.
- As such, experts often suggest providing a strong deterrence to those cartels that are found guilty of being one.
- Typically this takes the form of a monetary penalty that exceeds the gains amassed by the cartel.
- However, it must also be pointed out that it is not always easy to ascertain the exact gains from cartelisation.
- In fact, the threat of stringent penalties can be used in conjunction with providing leniency — as was done in the beer case.
Try this PYQ:
One of the implications of equality in society is the absence of:
(a) Privileges
(b) Restraints
(c) Competition
(d) Ideology
Post your answers here.
Back2Basics: Competition Commission of India (CCI)
- The CCI is the chief national competition regulator in India.
- It is a statutory body within the Ministry of Corporate Affairs.
- It is responsible for enforcing The Competition Act, 2002 in order to promote competition and prevent activities that have an appreciable adverse effect on competition in India.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: National Mission on Cultural Mapping
Mains level: Read the attached story
Having made little progress since its launch in 2017, the National Mission on Cultural Mapping has now been handed over to the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA).
About the National Mission on Cultural Mapping
- The NMCM is a mission mode project of the Ministry of Culture. It was incepted in 2015.
- It is aimed to address the necessity of preserving the threads of rich Indian Art and Cultural Heritage, convert vast and widespread cultural canvas of India into an objective Cultural Mapping while creating a strong “Cultural Vibrancy” throughout the nation.
- It will identify, collect and record cultural assets and resources. It correlates this to planning and strategizing.
- A portal and a database listing organisations, spaces, facilities, festivals and events will be created.
- This database can be used to preserve culture and provide or ameliorate livelihoods.
Objectives of the Mission
Under this Mission, at broad-level, there are three important objectives as follows:
- National Cultural Awareness Abhiyan: Hamari Sanskriti Hamari Pahchan Abhiyan (Our Culture Our Identity)
- Nationwide Artist Talent Hunt/Scouting Programme: Sanskritik Pratibha Khoj Abhiyan
- National Cultural Workplace: Centralised Transactional Web Portal with database and demography of cultural assets and resources including all art forms and artists.
Significance of the mission
- Revival and safeguarding of oral traditions
- Fostering Cultural Awareness
- Cultural Preservation
- Sustainable Employment to creative industries
- Optimal Resource Allocation and Utilization:
- Creation of objective Database for inclusive growth of cultural heritage
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Dark Energy, Dark Energy
Mains level: Theory of expansion of the universe
Last week, an international team of researchers has made the first direct detection of dark energy.
About the Project
- The XENON1T experiment is the world’s most sensitive dark matter experiment and was operated deep underground at the INFN Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso in Italy.
- The finding also suggests that experiments like XENON1T, which are designed to detect dark matter, could also be used to detect dark energy.
What is Dark Energy?
- Dark energy is an unknown form of energy that affects the universe on the largest scales.
- The first observational evidence for its existence came from measurements of supernovae, which showed that the universe does not expand at a constant rate; rather, the expansion of the universe is accelerating.
- Prior to these observations, it was thought that all forms of matter and energy in the universe would only cause the expansion to slow down over time.
- Measurements of the cosmic microwave background suggest the universe began in a hot Big Bang, from which general relativity explains its evolution and the subsequent large-scale motion.
- Without introducing a new form of energy, there was no way to explain how an accelerating universe could be measured.
Does it exist?
- Since the 1990s, dark energy has been the most accepted premise to account for the accelerated expansion.
- As of 2021, there are active areas of cosmology research aimed at understanding the fundamental nature of dark energy.
Dark energy Vs Dark matter
- Everything we see – the planets, moons, massive galaxies, you, me, this website – makes up less than 5% of the universe.
- About 27% is dark matter and 68% is dark energy.
- While dark matter attracts and holds galaxies together, dark energy repels and causes the expansion of our universe.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Cashew Feni, other GI tags in news
Mains level: NA
The Goa government’s Feni Policy 2021 has paved the way to take the state’s ‘heritage drink’ forward.
Sounds strange but an alcoholic beverage has been GI tagged!
Goa Cashew Feni
- Feni is a spirit produced in Goa, India.
- The two most popular types of feni are cashew feni and toddy palm feni, depending on the original ingredient; however, many other varieties are sold.
- Feni distilleries are usually family-run affairs, and the history of the drink goes back to at least 1585.
- The feni consumed in South Goa is generally of higher alcohol content (43-45% abv) as compared to the feni produced in North Goa.
- Commercially packaged feni is available at 42.8% abv.
- Cashew feni was awarded Geographical Indication registration in 2009 as a speciality alcoholic beverage from Goa.
- It has been described as a colourless, clear liquid that when matured in wooden barrels develops golden brown tint.
Must read
GI Tags in News
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: One-time Programmable Memory
Mains level: NA
IIT Bombay researchers have developed a “memory technology” that can, in principle, revolutionise Indian industry and the many applications that need semiconductor chips, such as in the defence sector, automobiles and future aspirations in cell phone manufacturing.
One-time Programmable Memory
- Hard disks, flash memory, etc, are examples of memory technology.
- There is also another form of memory called the one-time programmable memory (OTP) where the memory is written once, stored for a lifetime, and retrieved and used many times.
- This finds varied uses, one of which is in correcting faulty chips that have been mass produced for specific applications.
Its utility
- For instance, think of a chip that helps read off the temperature.
- Due to a manufacturing defect, the chip may read 100 degree Celsius as 101 degree Celsius.
- This “offset” of 1 degree may be corrected by storing the error correction parameter in the OTP memory.
- This is done uniquely for each chip and once stored, the memory corrects the chip’s output for its lifetime.
- OTP memories are also used for other purposes, mainly three: chip identity, secure information storage and chip calibration for error correction.
How does it work?
- To store the correction value, the researchers used eight memory cells, each of which would store one “bit” (that is a value of zero or one).
- Each of the memory cells consist of an ultrathin silicon dioxide layer which is 10-15 atomic layers thick.
- This is deposited uniformly over a dinner plate–sized eight-inch silicon wafer to form millions of nanoscale capacitors.
- The pristine silicon dioxide layer is insulating, passing a very low current [which in digital electronics is read as a “0”].
- A nanoscale lightning is generated of 3.3 volts to blow the capacitor, leading to a short circuit that produced high current [this is a “1”].
- Thus, the OTP memory remembers either the “0” state or “1” state through its lifetime.
Benefits offered
- The group has successfully demonstrated CMOS 180-nanometre–based, production-ready, eight-bit memory technology.
- These include successful operation between minus 40 degrees C to 125 degrees C and reliability to ensure excess of 95% yield on eight-bit memories.
Significance
- A large fraction of manufactured chips may need to be discarded for faults that can be corrected using this technology.
- This technology is the first indigenous semiconductor memory technology adoption to manufacturing at 180-nanometre node.
- Thus, this is a major national milestone for semiconductor innovation.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: UPI
Mains level: Paper 3- Bubble in tech start-ups
Context
Investment firms with a reputation for tracking and hunting unicorns — startups with billion-dollar-plus valuations are shifting their attention to India from China. While this cannot be good for China, the question remains over whether or not it is good for India either.
China’s crackdown on tech industry
- Beijing has decided to crack down on the tech industry, wiping out $1.5 trillion in market value.
- The crackdown began with the abrupt suspension of the much-anticipated initial public offering (IPO) of Ant Group last November.
- China’s regulators stopped the ride-hailing company, Didi Chuxing, from accepting new users, as soon as it went public on the New York Stock Exchange.
- There have been sweeping industry-wide changes, from anti-monopoly legislation to new rules governing data collection and use.
- All of this has investors spooked.
How India can benefit from China’s crackdown on the tech industry?
- Due to China’s crackdown, for the first time since 2013, the value of venture deals in India surpassed that of China.
- Converging factors in India: If this keeps up, India will experience a veritable blessing of unicorns, thanks not only to the fact that the money fleeing China needs refuge, but to many converging forces within India itself.
- India is the world’s second largest digital market.
- The use of the United Payment Interface has made digital payments easier in a society that was — and still is — so tied to cash.
- The pandemic lockdowns have driven an unusually large proportion of that digital population to spend an unusually large amount of time and spend money online.
- This means that in a very short time, the need to serve this digital population has exploded.
- The Chinese crackdown could not have come at a more opportune time.
- Many startups are in a hurry to capitalise on the boom with many investors looking to capitalise them.
Concern: the risk of tech-bubble
- When investors rush in to seek refuge because they are fleeing risk elsewhere, even if the refuge looks promising, they can contribute to a self-reinforcing cycle that ends up destroying the refuge.
- Eager to get a piece of the action, each investor may over-value a company, far exceeding what is justifiable based on market fundamentals.
- The stampede builds and soon you have the makings of a tech bubble.
Way forward for investors
- Instead of reflexively chasing the next shiny startup in India, investors ought to ask a few questions.
- Do the startups and the markets they serve have the capacity to scale up and do they justify sticking with them for a long period?
- Has the Indian initial public offerings market really proven itself?
- Are there enough large corporations that might buy these startups?
- Can the under-investment in essentials, such as education, health and job market readiness, clog the talent pipeline?
- Can the Indian government be trusted not to borrow a page from the government it would like to emulate — the Chinese state — and attempt a crackdown of its own?
Consider the question “Indian tech start-ups are dealing with the gush of capital owing to the convergence of certain factors. Examine these factors and also the concerns with such influx of capital.”
Conclusion
India desperately needs patient capital, skilled talent and appropriate technology to solve the country’s numerous fundamental problems laid bare by the pandemic. The last thing India can afford is a bubble that bursts and for all three to take flight and seek refuge in yet another country because no one wants to pick up the pieces of a popped bubble.
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Back2Basics: IPO
- An initial public offering (IPO) refers to the process of offering shares of a private corporation to the public in a new stock issuance.
- An IPO allows a company to raise capital from public investors.
- The transition from a private to a public company can be an important time for private investors to fully realize gains from their investment as it typically includes a share premium for current private investors.
- Meanwhile, it also allows public investors to participate in the offering.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Caste Census, Census of India
Mains level: Alternatives to Caste Census
These days, many states are urging the Centre to include a caste-wise census in the Census of India to have substantial data for reservations of certain dominant caste groups.
Background
Caste census of Backward Classes difficult: Centre
Reaction by the Centre
- In this backdrop, the Union government’s assertion in the Supreme Court that a census of the backward castes is “administratively difficult and cumbersome” may evoke varying responses.
- There are two components to the Government’s stand:
- Jeopardizing the Census: It asserts that it is a policy decision not to have caste as part of the regular census and that, administratively, the enumeration would be rendered so complex that it may jeopardise the decennial census itself.
- Adding more vagueness: It cites the difficulties and complexities inherent in getting an accurate count of castes, given the mind-boggling numbers of castes and sub-castes, with phonetic variations and similarities.
This is the reason that the data from the 2011 SECC were not acted upon because of “several infirmities” that rendered them unusable.
Why is caste census not feasible?
- Hurdle to casteless society: The idea of a national caste census is abhorrent when the stated policy is to strive for a casteless society.
- Political polarization: Political parties with their base in particular social groups may find a caste enumeration useful, if their favoured groups are established as dominant in specific geographies.
- Electoral impact: Politicians may find the outcome inconvenient, if the precise count turns out to be lower and has a negative bearing on perceptions about their electoral importance.
Limitations of SECC, 2011
- Completeness and Accuracy: Even in the Censuses up to 1931, when caste details were collected, they were wanting in completeness and accuracy.
- Lakhs of Caste: Further, the data contained 46 lakh different caste names, and if subcastes were considered, the ultimate number may be exponentially high.
Need for such census
- Quantifiable data: It may also be a legal imperative, considering that courts want ‘quantifiable data’ to support the existing levels of reservation.
- Basis for Affirmative actions: It will be useful to establish statistical justification for preserving caste-based affirmative action programmes.
These points do merit consideration, and even those clamouring for a caste census cannot easily brush them aside.
Way forward
- A caste census need not necessarily mean caste in the census.
- It may be an independent exercise, but one that needs adequate thought and preparation, if its ultimate goal is not for political or electoral purposes, but for equity in distribution of opportunities.
- A preliminary socio-anthropological study can be done at the State and district levels to establish all sects and sub-castes present in the population.
- These can be tabulated under caste names that have wider recognition based on synonymity and equivalence among the appellations that people use to denote themselves.
- Thereafter, it may be possible to do a field enumeration that can mark any group under castes found in the available OBC/BC lists.
Conclusion
- A caste census may not sit well with the goal of a casteless society, but it may serve, in the interim, as a useful, even if not entirely flawless, means of addressing inequities in society.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Various Naga tribes
Mains level: Naga Peace Process
Tamil Nadu Governor has resigned as interlocutor for the Naga peace talks.
What is the Naga Peace Process?
(A) Issue
- It refers to ongoing talks between the Indian government and Naga insurgent groups, in particular the NSCN(IM), since 1997 with the aim to sign a Naga Peace Accord.
- The Naga insurgency, rooted in Naga nationalism, is one of the oldest insurgencies in the country.
- The Naga-inhabited areas of the Northeast never considered themselves part of British India, and on August 14, 1947, the Naga National Council (NNC) declared independence for Nagaland.
- It formed an underground Government (NFG) and an Army in 1952, in response to which the Centre sent in the Army and enacted the Armed Forces (Special) Powers Act, or AFSPA.
(B) Shillong Agreement
- After years of talks, the Shillong Accord was signed in 1976 with underground groups of Nagaland.
- But it was rejected by many top NNC leaders on the ground that it did not address the issue of Naga sovereignty and forced Nagas to accept the Indian Constitution.
- Since then the Naga groups have split into various factions.
(C) The Peace Accord
- There have been nearly 100 rounds of talks.
- In August 2015, the group signed a framework agreement with the Indian government for the Naga Peace Accord.
How did things go wrong?
- Sources say even the various competencies of the accord had been agreed upon, although a few bones of contention remained.
- The groups were insistent on a Naga constitution and were pushing for a Greater Nagalim stretching beyond the boundaries of the present Nagaland state.
- The state panel rejected the demand for a separate flag and constitution outright, and warned that “any misadventure to disintegrate this great nation shall not be tolerated”.
Amid all this, what are the real issues?
- The enthusiasm with which the framework agreement was announced led to unreasonable expectations of an imminent Accord.
- There is no way the government would accept a separate constitution for Nagaland. This was never under discussion.
- There was, indeed, an opinion that the flag could be given.
- But that went off the table after August 5, 2019 when the Kashmiri flag was taken away.
Best way forward
- It is important to understand that there cannot be an accord without the militant factions.
- Some demands that need ironing out include one for a bicameral Assembly with at least 40 nominated members representing different tribes; absorption of cadres as local armed forces or in the Indian paramilitary.
- There is a need for setting up of autonomous councils in Naga-dominated areas of neighbouring states; and the use of the Naga flag for at least customary events.
Must read:
[Burning Issue] Naga Peace Talks
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Battle of Chamkaur
Mains level: NA
The new Punjab CM represents the Assembly constituency of Chamkaur Sahib, which is of significance in Sikh history.
For such history-related topics, one must not forget to note the contemporaries of a particular period.
The Battle of Chamkaur
- The coalition forces of Mughals and hill rajas led by Wazir Khan, the Nawab of Sirhind, had laid siege to Anandpur Sahib in the hope of capturing Guru Gobind Singh in May 1704.
- After seven months of fighting and heavy losses, the coalition forces offered a safe passage to the Guru and his followers.
- The heads of the coalition pledged they would not harm the Guru, his family, or his soldiers.
- The peace treaty was sent in the name of Emperor Aurangzeb himself.
- But when Gobind Singh and his followers stepped out of the Anandpur Sahib fort on the night of December 20, they were attacked.
- Historically, this was where that Guru Gobind Singh lost two of his elder sons in a battle with the coalition forces of Mughals and the hill rajas.
What happened at Chamkaur Sahib?
- The Guru, accompanied by panj piaras (the five Sikhs he had initially baptised), his elder sons and around 40 soldiers, regrouped in a fortress-like two-storey house, with high compound walls made of mud.
- They were surrounded by an army commandeered by Wazir Khan and Sher Mohammed Khan, the younger brother of Malerkotla’s chieftain.
- The Guru sent out soldiers in small squads for hand-to-hand combat. Two such attacks were led by his sons, both of whom died fighting.
- Three of the panj piaras — Mohkam Singh, Himmat Singh and Sahib Singh — too died fighting.
How did the battle conclude?
- When very few soldiers were left, they decided the Guru should leave so that he could carry on his mission.
- It was at the Chamkaur fort that panj piaras issued an edict (hukumnama) ordering the Guru to leave.
- This was the first edict issued by panj piaras after the formation of the Khalsa on April 13, 1699.
- Before leaving, the Guru gave his attire and distinguishing kalgi to Sangat Singh, a Mazhabi Sikh who resembled him.
- Three other soldiers too left the fort, and went in separate directions. The following day, the enemy forced their way inside to find only two soldiers who fought till their last breath.
- Five days later, Guru Gobind Singh’s two younger sons, aged nine and seven, were bricked alive for refusing to convert.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Chang'e 5 Mission
Mains level: NA
The Europlanet Society has released details from the samples brought back by China’s Chang’e-5 Lunar Mission in December 2020.
Chang’e-5 Lunar Mission
- The Chang’e-5 lunar mission delivered to Earth nearly 2 kg of rocky fragments and dust from the Moon.
- It had landed on an area of the Moon (the ‘far side’) not sampled by the American or Soviet missions nearly 50 years ago.
- It thus retrieved fragments of the youngest lunar rocks ever brought back for analysis in laboratories on Earth.
- The rocks are also different from those returned decades ago.
Key findings
- 90% of the materials collected by Chang’e-5 likely derive from the landing site and its immediate surroundings, which are of a type termed ‘mare basalts’.
- These volcanic rocks are visible to us as the darker grey areas that spilled over much of the nearside of the Moon as ancient eruptions of lava.
- Yet 10% percent of the fragments have distinctly different, ‘exotic’ chemical compositions.
What are the exotic compositions?
- The distinct 10% fragments may preserve records of other parts of the lunar surface as well as hints of the types of space rocks that have impacted the Moon’s surface.
- Researchers have looked at the potential sources of beads of rapidly cooled glassy material.
- They have traced these glassy droplets to extinct volcanic vents known as ‘Rima Mairan’ and ‘Rima Sharp’.
- These fragments could give insights into past episodes of energetic, fountain-like volcanic activity on the Moon.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Polynya
Mains level: Glaciers retreat at the Poles
Temperatures in the Arctic, for example, have been rising much faster than the rest of the planet. Experts, for the longest time, have attributed the crisis to how clouds interact with sea ice, essentially frozen seawater.
Role of Polynya
- Decades of research have pointed that the losses in Arctic Sea ice cover allow for the formation of more clouds near the ocean’s surface.
- New research by NASA has now shown that more heat and moisture is released through a large hole in sea ice called a polynya, which fuels the formation of more clouds.
- This traps heat in the atmosphere and hinders the refreezing of new sea ice.
What is Polynya?
- A polynya is an area of open water surrounded by sea ice.
- It is now used as a geographical term for an area of unfrozen seawater within otherwise contiguous pack ice or fast ice.
- It refers to a natural ice hole and was adopted in the 19th century by polar explorers to describe navigable portions of the sea.
- There are two main types of polynyas:
- Coastal polynyas, which can be found year-round near the Antarctic and Arctic coasts and are mainly created by strong winds pushing the ice away from the coast, and
- Mid-sea or open-ocean polynyas, which may be found more sporadically in the middle of an ice pack in certain locations, especially around Antarctica.
What is the new research about?
- The research stated that low clouds over the polynya emitted more energy or heat than clouds in adjacent areas covered by sea ice.
- The polynya did refreeze, but only after the increased cloud cover and heat under the clouds persisted for about a week.
- The extra clouds and increased cloud radiative effect to the surface remained for some time after the polynya froze.
- The sea ice acts like a cap or a barrier between the relatively warm ocean surface and the cold and dry atmosphere above, so more heat and moisture from the ocean into the atmosphere.
- This warming slows down the growth of the sea ice.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: PM-SAUBHAGYA Scheme
Mains level: Rural and Urban Electrification
The Pradhan Mantri Sahaj Bijli Har Ghar Yojana – SAUBHAGYA Scheme has successfully completed four years of its implementation.
Progress till date
- 82 crore households have been electrified since the launch of SAUBHAGYA till 31st March, 2021.
About SAUBHAGYA Scheme
- The Saubhagya is a scheme to ensure electrification of all willing households in the country in rural as well as urban areas.
- It was launched in September 2017.
- The Rural Electrification Corporation Limited (REC) is the nodal agency for the operationalization of the scheme throughout the country.
Objective
- To provide energy access to all by last mile connectivity and electricity connections to all remaining un-electrified households in rural as well as urban areas
- To achieve universal household electrification in the country
Beneficiaries of the project
- The beneficiaries for free electricity connections would be identified using Socio-Economic and Caste Census (SECC) 2011 data.
- However, un-electrified households not covered under the SECC data would also be provided electricity connections under the scheme on payment of Rs. 500 which shall be recovered by DISCOMs in 10 installments through electricity bill.
- The solar power packs of 200 to 300 Wp with battery bank for un-electrified households located in remote and inaccessible areas, comprises Five LED lights, One DC fan, One DC power plug.
- It also includes Repair and Maintenance (R&M) for 5 years.
Implementation process
- For the easy and accelerated implementation of the Scheme, modern technology shall be used for household surveys by using Mobile App.
- Beneficiaries shall be identified and their application for electricity connection along with applicant photograph and identity proof shall be registered on spot.
- The Gram Panchayat/Public institutions in the rural areas may be authorised to collect application forms along with complete documentation, distribute bills and collect revenue in consultation with the Panchayat Raj Institutions and Urban Local Bodies.
Expected outcomes of the scheme
The expected outcome of the Scheme is as follows:
- Environmental upgradation by substitution of Kerosene for lighting purposes
- Improvement education services
- Better health services
- Enhanced connectivity through radio, television, mobiles, etc.
- Increased economic activities and jobs
- Improved quality of life especially for women
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Integrated disease surveillance project
Mains level: Paper 2- Disease surveillance
Context
A well-functioning system can reduce the impact of diseases and outbreaks.
Importance of disease surveillance system
- Successful tackling of cholera in 1854 in London by use of the health statistics and death registration data from the General Registrar Office (GRO) started the beginning of a new era in epidemiology.
- Importance of data: The application of principles of epidemiology is possible through systematic collection and timely analysis, and dissemination of data on the diseases.
- This is to initiate action to either prevent or stop further spread, a process termed as disease surveillance.
- Subsequently, the high-income countries invested in disease surveillance systems but low- and middle-income countries used limited resources for medical care.
- Then, in the second half of the Twentieth century, as part of the global efforts for smallpox eradication and then to tackle many emerging and re-emerging diseases, many countries recognised the importance and started to invest in and strengthen the diseases surveillance system.
- These efforts received a further boost with the emergence of Avian flu in 1997 and the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) outbreak in 2002-04.
Surveillance in India
- The Government of India launched the National Surveillance Programme for Communicable Diseases in 1997.
- However, this initiative remained rudimentary.
- In wake of the SARS outbreak, in 2004, India launched the Integrated Disease Surveillance Project (IDSP).
- The focus under the IDSP was to increase government funding for disease surveillance, strengthen laboratory capacity, train the health workforce and have at least one trained epidemiologist in every district of India.
Issues with surveillance: Interstate variation
- Variation among states: The disease surveillance system and health data recording and reporting systems are key tools in epidemiology.
- In the fourth round of serosurvey, Kerala and Maharashtra States could identify one in every six and 12 infections, respectively; while in States such as Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, only one in every 100 COVID-19 infections could be detected.
- This points towards a weak disease surveillance system.
- In a well-functioning disease surveillance system, an increase in cases of any illness would be identified very quickly.
- While Kerala is picking the maximum COVID-19 cases; it could pick the first case of the Nipah virus in early September 2021.
- On the contrary, cases of dengue, malaria, leptospirosis and scrub typhus received attention only when more than three dozen deaths were reported and health facilities in multiple districts of Uttar Pradesh, began to be overwhelmed.
Way forward
- A review of the IDSP in 2015, conducted jointly by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, the Government of India and World Health Organization India had made a few concrete recommendations to strengthen disease surveillance systems.
- These included increasing financial resource allocation, ensuring an adequate number of trained human resources, strengthening laboratories, and zoonosis, influenza and vaccine-preventable diseases surveillance.
- Increase allocation: The government resources allocated to preventive and promotive health services and disease surveillance need to be increased by the Union and State governments.
- Trained workforce: The workforce in the primary healthcare system in both rural and urban areas needs to be retrained in disease surveillance and public health actions.
- The vacancies of surveillance staff at all levels need to be urgently filled in.
- Capacity increase: The laboratory capacity for COVID-19 needs to be planned and repurposed to increase the ability to conduct testing for other public health challenges and infections.
- The interconnectedness of human and animal health: The emerging outbreaks of zoonotic diseases, be it the Nipah virus in Kerala or avian flu in other States as well as scrub typhus in Uttar Pradesh, are a reminder of the interconnectedness of human and animal health.
- The ‘One Health’ approach has to be promoted beyond policy discourses and made functional on the ground.
- Strengthening registration system: There has to be a dedicated focus on strengthening the civil registration and vital statistics (CRVS) systems and medical certification of cause of death (MCCD).
- Coordination: It is also time to ensure coordinated actions between the State government and municipal corporation to develop joint action plans and assume responsibility for public health and disease surveillance.
- The allocation made by the 15th Finance Commission to corporations for health should be used to activate this process.
Consider the question “Examine the measure for disease surveillance in India? How it can help reduce the impact of the diseases?”
Conclusion
We cannot prevent every single outbreak but with a well-functioning disease surveillance system and with the application of principles of epidemiology, we can reduce their impact.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: COP 26, Paris Agreement
Mains level: India's committment for Paris Agreement
A recent report by the Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES) reveals that India has warmed up 0.7° C during 1901-2018.
What was the report?
Title: Assessment of Climate Change over the Indian Region (by MoES)
(a) Climate severity
- The 2010-2019 decade was the hottest with a mean temperature of 0.36° C higher than average.
- Heatwaves continued to increase with no signs of diminishing greenhouse gas emissions despite lower activity since the novel coronavirus pandemic.
- India may experience a 4.4° C rise by the end of this century.
- Within 2050, rainfall is expected to rise by 6% and temperature by 1.6° C.
- India’s Deccan plateau has seen eight out of 17 severe droughts since 1876 in the 21st century (2000-2003; 2015-2018).
(b) Land degradation
- To make things worse, India lost about 235 square kilometres to coastal erosion due to climate change-induced sea-level rise, land erosion and natural disasters such as tropical cyclones between 1990-2016.
(c) Rising Internal Displacement
- According to the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre, India’s Internally Displaced Populations (IDPs) are rising due to damaging climate events.
- Uttarakhand residents began deserting their homes after the Kedarnath floods in 2013 due to heavy precipitation that increases every year.
- Recent figures are more alarming with 3.9 million displaced in 2020 alone, mostly due to Cyclone Amphan.
India’s commitment to Climate Mitigation
- India held the top 10 position for the second year in a row in 2020’s Climate Change Performance Index (CCPI).
- The country received credit under all of the CCPI’s performance fields except renewable energy where India performed medium.
- India vowed to work with COP21 by signing the Paris Agreement to limit global warming and submitted the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs).
- It set a goal of reducing emissions intensity of GDP by 33%-35% and increasing green energy resources (non-fossil-oil based) to 40% of installed electric power capacity by 2030.
- India cofounded with France at COP21, in 2015, the International Solar Alliance (ISA).
Core concern
(a) Good policies, weak practices
- The question is, are these global alliances and world-leading policies being practised or are merely big promises with little implementation?
- Despite leading ISA, India performed the least in renewable energy according to the CCPI’s performance of India.
(b) Low compliance
- India is not fully compliant with the Paris Agreement’s long-term temperature goal of the NDCs and there are still risks of falling short of the 2° C goal.
- According to India’s carbon emission trajectory, the country is en route to achieve barely half of the pledged carbon sink by 2030.
- To achieve the Paris Agreement’s NDC target, India needs to produce 25 million-30 million hectares of forest cover by 2030 — a third of current Indian forestation and trees.
- Going by the facts, it seems India has overpromised on policies and goals as it becomes difficult to deliver on the same.
Why COP26 matters
- The Glasgow COP26 offers India a great opportunity to reflect on the years since the Paris Agreement and update NDCs to successfully meet the set targets.
- India is expected to be the most populated country by 2027, overtaking China, contributing significantly to the global climate through its consumption pattern.
- India is in a rather unique position to have a significant influence on global climate impact in the new decade.
Conclusion
- India believes that climate actions must be nationally determined.
- However, the Paris Agreement for developing countries should be at the core of decision-making.
- India has the ability to improve its global positioning by leading a favourable climate goal aspiration for the world to follow.
- The country has the opportunity to not only save itself from further climate disasters but also be a leader in the path to climate change prevention.
Back2Basics: COP26, Glasgow
- The 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference, also known as COP26, is the 26th United Nations Climate Change conference.
- It is scheduled to be held in the city of Glasgow, Scotland between 31 October and 12 November 2021, under the presidency of the United Kingdom.
- This conference is the first time that Parties are expected to commit to enhanced ambition since COP21.
- Parties are required to carry out every five years, as outlined in the Paris Agreement, a process colloquially known as the ‘ratchet mechanism’.
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