Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Act
Mains level: Not Much
Argentina has legalized abortions up to the 14th week of pregnancy, in what was a ground-breaking decision in a country that has some of the worldâs most restrictive abortion laws.
In 2009 the Supreme Court of India gave a landmark judgement in Suchita Srivastava vs Chandigarh Administration case where it was held that right to reproductive autonomy is an integral part of Right to Life under Article 21 of Constitution of India.
The Apex Court stressed that a medical procedure of abortion cannot be carried out on a woman if she has not consented to it.
Hence, the right to reproductive autonomy was held as a Fundamental Right.
About the ban
- Prior, abortions were only permitted in cases of rape or when the womanâs health was at serious risk.
- Activists have been campaigning for years, calling for an overturning of this law that has been in existence since 1921.
- The bill calls for greater autonomy for women over their own bodies and control of their reproductive rights, and also provides better healthcare for pregnant women and young mothers.
Why is it a landmark move?
- Prior to this, girls and women were forced to turn to illegal and unsafe procedures because abortion was against the law in Argentina.
- For girls and women from socio-economically disadvantaged backgrounds, the scope of access to safe medical procedures for abortion was even narrower.
- According to Human Rights Watch, unsafe abortion was the leading cause of maternal mortality in the country.
- The Catholic Church and the evangelical community wield immense power and influence in Argentina and had strongly opposed the passing of this bill.
- In fact, for several decades, following the beliefs of the Catholic Church, even the sale of contraceptives was prohibited in the country.
Debate over abortions
- There are differing opinions with regard to allowing abortions.
- One opinion is that terminating a pregnancy is the choice of the pregnant woman and a part of her reproductive rights.
- The other is that the state has an obligation to protect life, and hence should provide for the protection of the foetus.
- Religiosity of the issue (as in case of Catholics) is another aspect.
What impact will this have in Latin America?
- Activists are hopeful that the passage of this law will have an impact in other countries in Latin America.
- At present, abortions are illegal in Nicaragua, El Salvador and the Dominican Republic.
- In Uruguay, Cuba, Guyana, and in some parts of Mexico, women can request for an abortion, but only in specific cases, and each country has its own laws on the number of weeks.
- The countries also have varying degrees of punishment and penalties meted out to girls and women, including jail.
Welcome move
- Womenâs rights activists have acknowledged that despite the new law in Argentina, the fight is far from over in the region.
- Anti-abortion groups and their religious and political backers have attempted to stall any progress in the process.
Back2Basics: Abortion in India
The Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Act, 1971 has governed womenâs right to access abortion and their reproductive autonomy.
- The 2020 amendment bill provides for legal abortion procedure.
- The Act regulates the conditions under which a pregnancy may be aborted. The Bill increases the time period within which abortion may be carried out.
- Currently, abortion requires the opinion of one doctor if it is done within 12 weeks of conception and two doctors if it is done between 12 and 20 weeks.
- The Bill allows abortion to be done on the advice of one doctor up to 20 weeks, and two doctors in the case of certain categories of women between 20 and 24 weeks.
- The Bill sets up state-level Medical Boards to decide if pregnancy may be terminated after 24 weeks in cases of substantial foetal abnormalities.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Anaemia
Mains level: Anaemia
Indian women and children are overwhelmingly anaemic, according to the National Family Health Survey (NFHS) 2019-20 released this month, and the condition is the most prevalent in the Himalayan cold desert.
Anaemia is the condition of having a lower-than-normal number of red blood cells or a quantity of haemoglobin. How widespread is it in India?
What is Anaemia?
- The condition of having a lower-than-normal number of red blood cells or a quantity of haemoglobin. It can make one feel tired, cold, dizzy, and irritable, and short of breath, among other symptoms.
- A diet that does not contain enough iron, folic acid, or vitamin B12 is a common cause of anaemia.
- Some other conditions that may lead to anaemia include pregnancy, heavy periods, blood disorders or cancer, inherited disorders, and infectious diseases.
How widespread is anaemia in our country?
- In Phase I of the NHFS, result factsheets have been released for 22 states and UTs.
- In a majority of these states and UTs, more than half the children and women were found to be anaemic.
- In 15 of these 22 states and UTs, more than half the children are anaemic. Similarly, more than 50 percent of women are anaemic in 14 of these states and UTs.
- The proportion of anaemic children and women is comparatively lower in Lakshadweep, Kerala, Meghalaya, Manipur, Mizoram, and Nagaland.
- However, it is higher in Ladakh, Gujarat, J&K, and West Bengal, among others.
- Anaemia among men was less than 30 percent in a majority of these states and UTs.
What was the methodology used?
- NFHS used the capillary blood of the respondents for the estimation of anaemia. For children, haemoglobin of fewer than 11 grams per decilitre (g/dl) indicated anaemia.
- For non-pregnant and pregnant women, it was less than 12 g/dl and 11g/dl respectively, and for men, it was less than 13 g/dl.
- Among children, the prevalence was adjusted for altitude and among adults, it was adjusted for altitude and smoking status.
Why is anaemia so high in the country?
- Iron-deficiency and vitamin B12-deficiency anaemia are the two common types of anaemia in India.
- Among women, iron deficiency prevalence is higher than men due to menstrual iron losses and the high iron demands of a growing foetus during pregnancies.
- Lack of millets in the diet due to overdependence on rice and wheat, insufficient consumption of green and leafy vegetables could be the reasons behind the high prevalence of anaemia in India.
What about the cold desert region of the western Himalaya?
- In the union territory of Ladakh, a whopping 92.5 per cent children, 92.8 per cent women, and around 76 per cent men are anaemic in the given age groups, as per the survey.
- The high prevalence in this region could be due to the short supply of fresh vegetables and fruits during the long winter each year.
- Crops here are generally only grown in summer and during winter; residents fail to get a regular supply of green vegetables and fresh produce from outside, due to restricted connectivity in harsh weather.
- However, there could be other factors as well and the causes of anaemia here are yet to be scientifically ascertained.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not Much
Mains level: Internet usage in India and the digital divide
The recent National Family Health Survey (NFHS-5) survey helps us gain an idea about the spread of awareness regarding the internet among people.
This newscard provides a picture of gendered as well as regional differentiation of internet usage in India.
Statewise Internet Usage
(1) Gendered data
- A very high differential is also seen among the female and male population who have ever used the internet. In every state, it is seen that the percentage of male users exceeds the number of females.
- The states and Union territories with the highest percentage of internet users among men are Goa (82.9 %), Lakshadweep (80.3 %), and Mizoram (79.7 %).
- Also, states like Sikkim (76.7 %), Goa (73.7 %) and Mizoram (67.6 %) have the highest percentage of female internet users. The lowest internet usage among men is seen in Meghalaya (42.1 %), Assam (42.3 %) and Bihar (43.6 %).
- In some states like Bihar, Tripura, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, there is almost double the number of male internet users than female ones. Among women, it is seen in Bihar (20.6 %), Andhra Pradesh (21 %) and Tripura (22.9 %).
(2) Urban-Rural divide
- Except for West Bengal, there is no other state which shows a lower percentage of urban male internet users compared to rural ones.
- States like Goa, Kerala and Lakshadweep donât show a huge variation in internet accessibility in the urban and rural areas.
- But in every other state, there is an approximate difference of 10-15 % between the two regions, with urban areas staying ahead.
Why it matters?
- The internet today has a very huge range and a big impact on the lifestyle and empowerment of people.
- Female empowerment and gender equality have been one of the UN-mandated Sustainable Development Goals that our country is trying to achieve.
- Good and affordable internet availability to women will be a big step towards fulfilling this goal.
Significance of the data
- Gender differentiation that is seen in the offline world also affects the variations that we have seen in the online world, which includes differences in education, employment and income.
- Sexual harassment and trolling are other reasons why people prefer to keep their female relatives away from the internet.
- Just like phone ownership was used as an indicator to understand the women empowerment situation in the country, this too can be an indicator for the same.
Conclusion
- The results from the NFHS-5 survey are still partial, but they have shown a great variation in the access to the internet among the states, between men and women and also between the rural and urban regions of each state.
- When we look at the differentials in the usage of the internet by women across the rural and urban regions, a huge gap is seen between the urban and rural womenâs use of the internet.
- The variations are very high, with the percentage of women users of the internet in rural areas being just half of that in urban areas. These disparities paint a sad picture.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Dibru-Saikhowa National Park
Mains level: Not Much
PC: Gmaps
Assam has asked the Stateâs Forest and Revenue departments to permanently rehabilitate the indigenous forest dwellers of the Dibru-Saikhowa National Park.
Try this PYQ from CSP 2019:
Q. Which of the following are in Agasthyamalai Biosphere Reserve?
(a) Neyyar, Peppara and Shendurney Wildlife Sanctuaries; and Kalakad Mundanthurai Tiger Reserve
(b) Mudumalai, Sathyamangalam and Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuaries; and Silent Valley National Park
(c) Kaundinya, Gundla Brahme-swaram and Papikonda Wildlife Sanctuaries; and Mukurthi National Park
(d) Kawal and Sri Venkateswara Wildlife Sanctuaries; and Nagarjunasagar-Srisailam Tiger Reserve
Dibru-Saikhowa National Park
- DSNP is a national park in Assam located in Dibrugarh and Tinsukia districts.
- It was designated a Biosphere Reserve in July 1997 with an area of 765 sq. km.
- The park is bounded by the Brahmaputra and Lohit Rivers in the north and the Dibru river in the south.
- It mainly consists of moist mixed semi-evergreen forests, moist mixed deciduous forests, canebrakes, and grasslands.
- It is the largest Salix swamp forest in north-eastern India, with a tropical monsoon climate with a hot and wet summer and cool and usually dry winter.
 Why in news?
- Rehabilitation of some 10,000 people has been hanging fire since 1999 when the Dibru-Saikhowa Wildlife Sanctuary was upgraded to a national park.
- The park, home to a few wild horses, had been in focus since May when a blowout at an Oil India Limited gas well in the vicinity posed an ecological threat.
What is the issue?
- The affected people belong to the Missing community.
- The forest dwellers of the 425-sq. km. Dibru-Saikhowa National Park has been denied access to government schemes since 1986 through a notification.
- It allowed them to continue staying until their shifting to a suitable place.
- The organization said the villagersâ problems started when 765 sq. km. around their habitations was declared a biosphere reserve in 1997, limiting the access of the forest to the community.
- The hardship compounded in 1999 when the national park came into existence.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Electoral Bond Scheme, RTI
Mains level: Paper 2- Issues in Electoral Bond Scheme
A recent order passed by CIC in an appeal against the State Bank of India (SBI) has once again highlighted the issues with the Electoral Bond Scheme. The article deals with this issue.
Issues with the scheme
- The scheme creates banking instruments for a donation of funds to political parties facilitated by the SBI.
- It conceals the identity of the donors and donees as well as the amount of donation.
- In effect, the scheme is not transparent, promotes arbitrariness, and is therefore illegal.
- The scheme facilitates undisclosed quid pro quo arrangements between donors, who are likely to be corporates, and political parties.
- The Supreme Court held that the freedom of speech and expression also contained the fundamental right of a voter to secure information about the candidates.
- When the voter is permitted to know if an electoral candidate is facing any cases, she should be equally entitled to know who is financing the expenses of the party and its candidate.
CIC order and RTI Act
- The CIC, in an earlier order, deemed political parties to be public authorities under the RTI Act.
- In the present order, the CICÂ has upheld the contention of the SBI that it is not required to furnish the details of donors, donees, and donations, under the RTI Act.
- In doing so, SBI has relied on two grounds provided under Section 8 of the RTI Act.
- Section 8 exempts disclosure of information if it has been held in a fiduciary capacity and that there was no public interest involved in the application.
- However, any exemption provided under Section 8 should be read-only in a very narrow sense.
- Section 8(2) directs that when public interest outweighs any harm to protected interests, the information sought may be accessed.
- Therefore, it overrides the grounds erroneously relied upon by the CIC.
- The public interest in the present matter is indisputable.
Consider the question “What are the various provisions in the Electoral Bond Scheme? How some of its provisions could come in conflict with the RTI Act.”
Conclusion
By suppressing knowledge of political financing, we are breaking the basic bonds of democracy holding the country together. An unsettled law is as dangerous as bad law. The Court must conclusively settle the questions around the constitutionality of electoral bonds.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Paris Agreement
Mains level: Paper 3- Climate change policies and issues with them
The article highlights the issues with the current climate policies which are centred on the inequality.
Inequality and climate change
- Inequity is built into the climate treaty, which considers total emissions, size, and population, making India the fourth largest emitter.
- According to the United Nations, the richest 1% of the global population emits more than two times the emissions of the bottom 50%.
- .China, with four times the population of the U.S., accounts for 12% of cumulative emissions.
- India, with a population close to that of Chinaâs, for just 3% of cumulative emissions that lead to global warming.
- In an urbanized world, two-thirds of emissions arise from the demand of the middle class for infrastructure, mobility, buildings, and diet.
- Well-being in the urbanized world is reflected in saturation levels of infrastructure.
- Growth in the developed countries is consumption-driven not production driven.
- The vaguely worded âcarbon neutralityâ, balancing emitting carbon with absorbing carbon from the atmosphere in forests is a triple whammy for latecomers like India.
- Such countries already have less energy-intensive pathways that will not encroach on othersâ ecological space, a young population, and are growing fast to reach comparable levels of well-being with those already urbanized and in the middle class.
What changes are required in the policies
- At present, the focus is on physical quantities which indicates effects on nature.
- The solutions require analysis of drivers, trends, and patterns of resource use.Â
- This anomaly explains why the link between well-being, energy use, and emissions is not on the global agenda.
- Modifying unsustainable patterns of natural resource use and ensuring comparable levels of well-being are societal transformations.
- New thinking must enable politics to acknowledge transformational social goals and the material boundaries of economic activity.
India’s unique national circumstances
- India must highlight its unique national circumstances.
- For example, the meat industry, especially beef, contributes to one-third of global emissions.
- Indians eat just 4 kg of meat a year compared to those in the European Union who eat about 65 kg.
- Also to be noted is the fact that the average American household wastes nearly one-third of its food.
- Transport emissions account for a quarter of global emissions.
- Transport emissions are the symbol of Western civilization and are not on the global agenda.
- Rising Asia uses three-quarters of coal drives industry and supports the renewable energy push into cities.
- India, with abundant reserves and per capita electricity use that is one-tenth that of the U.S., is under pressure to stop using coal.
Way forward
- India has the credibility and legitimacy to push an alternate 2050 goal for countries currently with per capita emissions below the global average.
- These goals should include well-being within ecological limits, the frame of the Sustainable Development Goals, as well as multilateral technological knowledge cooperation around electric vehicles, energy efficiency, building insulation, and a less wasteful diet.
Conclusion
Emissions are the symptom, not the cause of the problem. India, in the UN Security Council, must push new ideas based on its civilizational and long-standing alternate values for the transition to sustainability.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Atmanirbhar Bharat
Mains level: Paper 3- Importance of resilient supply chains
What does supply chain resilience mean?Â
- When assembly lines are heavily dependent on supplies from one country, the impact on importing nations could be crippling if that source stops production intentionally (economic sanction) or unintentionally (natural disaster)
- Example: Japan imported $169 billion worth from China, accounting for 24% of its total imports. Japanâs imports from China fell by half in February 2020 that impacted Japanâs economic activity.
- In the context of international trade, supply chain resilience is an approach that helps a country to ensure that it has diversified its supply risk across a clutch of supplying nations instead of being dependent on just one or a few
Recent incidents that led to supply chain disruption
- Disruptions in supply chains can be natural or man-made.
- When the novel coronavirus pandemic broke out, it had an immediate and telling effect on supply chains emanating from China.
- In Japanâs case, a nuclear disaster (Fukushima Daiichi) caused a sharp drop in Japanese automobile exports to the United States.
- Terrorist drone attacks on oil refineries in Saudi Arabia in September 2019 resulted in a drop of 5.7 million barrels of oil per day.
- That attack triggered a steep plunge in Saudi Arabiaâs stock market and a sharp spike in global oil prices.
- Tensions with China led the United States government to impose restrictions on the export of microchips to Chinaâs biggest semiconductor manufacturer SMIC.
Supply Chain Resilience Initiative (SCRI)
- Geo-politics and geo-economics can never be truly separated.
- Also, there is a growing trend of weaponization of trade and technology.
- China had imposed sanctions on its key exports of grain, beef, wine, coal, etc to Australia for demanding an inquiry into the origins of the coronavirus and advocating a robust Indo-Pacific vision.
- It is against this backdrop that India, Japan, and Australia initiated the Supply Chain Resilience Initiative (SCRI).
- It focuses on automobiles and parts, petroleum, steel, textiles, financial services, and IT sectors.
- The SCRI may be strengthened by the future involvement of France.
- Kingdom has also shown interest in the SCRI.
“China plus one” strategy
- For many Japanese companies, global performance and profits are linked to manufacturing facilities and supply chains in China.
- Yet, they have shown an early capacity for risk mitigation through the âChina Plus Oneâ business strategy.
- The “China plus one” strategy aims at diversification of investments to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), India, and Bangladesh.
- Japan announced a 2.2 billion Relocation Package.
- Of the companies that availed this package, 57 relocated to Japan, 30 to Southeast Asia, and two to India.
India’s vulnerability to supply chain disruptions
- India can ill-afford the shocks of disruption in supply chains.
- For instance, the pandemic caused a breakdown in global supply chains in the automotive sector.
- For India, which imports 27% of its requirement of automotive parts from China, this quandary was a wake-up call.
- It is t is noteworthy is that despite being the fourth largest market in Asia for medical devices, India has an import dependency of 80%.Â
- Given the renewed thrust in the health-care sector, this is the right time to fill gaps through local manufacturing.
India increasing its presence in global supply chains
1) Electronic industry
- Indiaâs electronics industry was worth $120 billion in 2018-2019 and is forecast to grow to $400 billion by 2025.
- India is enhancing its presence in the global supply chains by attracting investments in the semiconductor components and packaging industry.
- The Indian electronics sector is gradually shifting away from completely knocked down (CKD) assembly to high-value addition.
2) Defence sector
- Defence is among the key pillars of the âAtmanirbhar Bharatâ policy.
- The government is providing a big boost to defence manufacturing under the âMake in Indiaâ program.
- It has identified a negative import list of 101 items.
- There is a tremendous opportunity for foreign companies to enter into tie-ups with reputed Indian defence manufacturers to tap into the growing defence market in India.
Consider the question “Pandemic has demonstrated the damage vulnerable supply chains can cause. It also underscored the importance of resilient supply chains. In light of this, examine the importance of diversification of supply chains.”
Conclusion
India has the capacity and the potential to become one of the worldâs largest destinations for investments, and one of the worldâs largest manufacturing hubs, in the aftermath of the pandemic.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Dedicated freight corridor
Mains level: Dedicated freight corridor
Prime Minister has inaugurated a 351-km section between Khurja and Bhaupur in Uttar Pradesh for commercial operations of the Dedicated Freight Corridor (DFC).
There is another concept named Dedicated Passenger Corridors (DPCs). Can you guess the idea behind?
Background of DFCs
- The concept of Dedicated Freight Corridor (DFC) was mooted in 2006 to generate substantial capacity for freight traffic by developing separate tracks on identified routes.
- The Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India Ltd (DFCCIL) was incorporated as a separate company under the Ministry of Railways.
What is the DFC?
- Under the Eleventh Five Year Plan (2007â12), Railways started constructing a new DFC in two long routes, namely the Eastern and Western freight corridors.
- The section recently launched is part of the 1,839-km Eastern DFC that starts at Sohnewal (Ludhiana) in Punjab and ends at Dankuni in West Bengal.
- The other arm is the around 1,500-km Western DFC from Dadri in Uttar Pradesh to JNPT in Mumbai, touching all major ports along the way.
- There is also a section under construction between Dadri and Khurja to connect the Eastern and Western arms.
Why is it important?
- Around 70% of the freight trains currently running on the Indian Railway network are slated to shift to the freight corridors, leaving the paths open for more passenger trains.
- Tracks on DFC are designed to carry heavier loads than most of the Indian Railways.
- DFC will get track access charge from the parent Indian Railways, and also generate its own freight business.
What trains will use the new section?
- Freight trains plying on this section from now on will help decongest the existing Kanpur-Delhi main line of Indian Railways, which currently handles trains at 150% of its line capacity.
- The new section means on the Indian Railway mainline, more passenger trains can be pumped in and those trains can, in turn, achieve better punctuality.
- Foodgrain and fertilizers from the northern region are transported to the eastern and Northeast regions.
- From East and Northeast, coal, iron ore, jute, and petroleum products are transported North and West.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: GAVI
Mains level: Global collaboration against COVID
Union Health Minister has been nominated by the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation (GAVI) as a member of the GAVI Board.
Q.The Covid-19 pandemic has exposed the limitations of global cooperation. Critically analyse.
GAVI
- GAVI is a public-private global health partnership with the goal of increasing access to immunization in poor countries.
- GAVI has observer status at the World Health Assembly.
- GAVI has been praised for being innovative, effective, and less bureaucratic than multilateral government institutions like the WHO.
- Members: the WHO, UNICEF, the World Bank, the vaccine industry in both industrialized and developing countries, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation among others.
- GAVI programs can often produce quantified, politically appealing, easy-to-explain results within an election cycle, which is appealing to parties locked in an election cycle.
Its function
- It currently supports the immunization of almost half the world’s children, giving it the power to negotiate better prices for the world’s poorest countries and remove the commercial risks of manufacturers.
- It also provides funding to strengthen health systems and train health workers across the developing world.
Significance of Indiaâs membership
- The GAVI Board is responsible for the strategic direction and policymaking oversees the operations of the Vaccine Alliance and monitors program implementation.
- With membership drawn from a range of partner organizations, as well as experts from the private sector, the Board provides a forum for balanced strategic decision making, innovation, and partner collaboration.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Digital Ocean platform
Mains level: India's deep ocean mission
The Ministry of Earth Sciences has inaugurated the web-based application âDigital Oceanâ developed by INCOIS.
Digital Ocean
- Digital Ocean is a first of its kind digital platform for Ocean Data Management.
- The platform will be promoted as a platform for capacity building on Ocean Data Management for all Indian Ocean Rim countries.
- It would help share ocean knowledge about the ocean with a wide range of users including research institutions, operational agencies, strategic users, the academic community, and the maritime industry and policymakers.
- It also provides free access to information to the general public and the common man.
- It will play a central role in the sustainable management of our oceans and expanding âBlue Economyâ initiatives.
Itsâ features
- It includes a set of applications developed to organize and present heterogeneous oceanographic data by adopting rapid advancements in geospatial technology.
- It facilitates:
- Online interactive web-based environment for data integration,
- 3D and 4D (3D in space with time animation) data visualization,
- Data analysis to assess the evolution of oceanographic features,
- Data fusion and multi-format download of disparate data from multiple sources viz., in-situ, remote sensing, and model data, all of which is rendered on a georeferenced 3D Ocean.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Sea of Galilee
Mains level: Not Much
The Sea of Galilee, well-known in Jewish, Christian, and Islamic lore, has swelled up due to recent rains, according to reports in the Israeli media.
Do you know?
The Sea of Galilee Lake Tiberias, Kinneret or Kinnereth is a freshwater lake in Israel. It is the lowest freshwater lake on Earth and the second-lowest lake in the world (after the Dead Sea, a saltwater lake).
Sea of Galilee
- The lake lies in northern Israel, between the occupied Golan Heights and the Galilee region. It is fed by underground springs but its major source is the Jordan River.
- The lake has risen to 209.905 meters below sea level due to heavy rainfall in the surrounding areas.
- The Jordan flows into the lake and then exits it before ending in the Dead Sea, the saltiest and the lowest point on the planet.
- Water is not extracted from the Sea of Galilee. But it is considered to be an important barometer of the water situation in Israel.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: TiHAN
Mains level: Not Much
Union Minister of Education laid the foundation stone of âTiHAN-IIT Hyderabadâ, Indiaâs first Testbed for Autonomous Navigation Systems (Terrestrial and Aerial).
Must read:
https://www.civilsdaily.com/news/regulations-for-flying-of-drones/
TiHAN
- TiHAN is an acronym for Technology Innovation Hub on Autonomous Navigation and Data Acquisition Systems (UAVs, RoVs, etc.).
- It is a multi-departmental initiative, including researchers from Electrical, Computer Science, Mechanical and Aerospace, Civil, Mathematics, and Design at IIT Hyderabad.
- It would focus on addressing various challenges hindering the real-time adoption of unmanned autonomous vehicles for both terrestrial and aerial applications.
Why need TiHAN?
- One major requirement to make unmanned and connected vehicles more acceptable to the consumer society is to demonstrate its performance in real-life scenarios.
- However, it may become dangerous. Especially in terms of safety, to directly use the operational roadway facilities as experimental test tracks for unmanned and connected vehicles.
- In general, both UAV and UGV testing may include crashes and collisions with obstacles, resulting in damage to costly sensors and other components.
- Hence, it is important to test new technologies developed in a safe, controlled environment before deployment.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: AAAN
Mains level: Agenda for Atmanirbhar Bharat
The Health Ministry has released the report Action Agenda for an AtmaNirbhar Bharat (AAAN) prepared by Technology Information, Forecasting and Assessment Council (TIFAC).
Q.âDoubling Farmerâs Incomeâ and âUSD 5 trillion economyâ seems more like slogans today in wake of COVID pandemic. Comment on the statement with keeping in view the Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan of the government.
AAAN Report
- The report AAAN is a consequential follow-up of the TIFACâs White Paper on Focused Interventions for âMake in Indiaâ: post-COVID -19 which was released earlier this year.
- The White Paper highlighted five thrust sectors namely, Healthcare, Machinery, ICT, Agriculture, Manufacturing, and Electronics that would be critical for Indiaâs economic growth post-COVID.
- This AAAN action plan has been structured with reference to timeline, highlighting short/medium and long term interventions in various identified sectors.
Why need such an agenda?
- The World is experiencing unprecedented health and economic crisis. A widespread deep global recession has been bolstered, undermining global cooperation and multilateralism.
- The most outward global economies have turned inwards and are designing enhanced measures for rebooting and resilience of the economy.
- The document also specifically defines overarching policy recommendations with reference to technological inputs, focusing towards Local to Global.
- It would thereby revive the Indian economy, in identified domains of Innovation and Technology Development, Technology Adoption/Diffusion, Boosting up Manufacturing and Productivity, Trade and Globalization etc.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: IOT, 5G technology
Mains level: Paper 3- Chinese 5G technology and threats associated with it
The article examines the threat posed by the Chinese 5G technology to the world and India.
Implications of Chinese 5G technology for Nepal
- The launch of 5G in Nepal would mean that Nepalâs business interests could pass into Chinese control.
- Real-time information on weather, routes, map, etc could be based on Chinese 5G, thus making locals or visitors to Nepal dependent on it.
- A related development of infrastructure along the borders, where most mountaineering sites are, could make Nepalâs borders vulnerable and damage its tourism industry.
- With lower incomes, the tourism industry might get lured into Chinese cheap loans, leading to a strategic debt trap.
- Such development would have several ramifications for India.
Implications of Chinese 5G technology for the world
- 2020 has been no ordinary year âMilitaries have been pushed to the borders, treaties, and agreements are being signed, and a record number of military deals have happened.
- This year has witnessed the most unprecedented intensification of global military conflicts since the Gulf War.
- AI applications have been at display in warfare, with drone killing machines being advertised.
- There is no option left but to get the 5G technology now.
- Huge Chinese investments across the world to spread a 5G network will encompass the planet â a âdigital encirclement of the worldâ.
- Combined with the BRI (Belt and Road Initiative), this encirclement would be complete.
- Intrinsic to the BRI is the fact that Chinese companies will build digital infrastructure.
- Militaries who allow Chinese 5G, could then become hostage to Chinese technology, as seen during the pandemic.
Indian 5G technology: Advantages and challenges ahead
- Â India is likely to survive the Chinese 5G invasion if it accelerates the launch of the Indian 5G.
- India is working on technologies that would enable it to launch Indigenous 5G that would run IoT platforms for civilians as well as military applications.
- The banning of Chinese apps and blocking of hardware supply chains would be the correct counteroffensive to protect the business and security interests of the country.
- The problem is India being poor in âimplementationâ.
- Where India starts losing out is in slow adoption, getting entangled in policy processes and the crosshairs of the bureaucracy.Â
Consider the question “What are the concerns with the adoption of Chinese 5G technology? How indigenous 5G technology help India and what are the challenges in developing it?”Â
Conclusion
India must get its timing right. The implementation of 5G, though a bit delayed, can make India a good alternative to China. But agreements like RCEP and Chinaâs other debt strategies will remain a larger threat to the world.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Provisions in the act
Mains level: Paper 3- Provisions in the new farm laws and their purpose
Some provisions of the new farm laws are opposed by the farmers. The article explains the utility of these provisions.
Major objections to farm laws
- The first objection is that the Agricultural Produce Market Committees (APMC) will be eventually closed,
- The second objection is that Minimum Support Prices (MSP) will be stopped,
- The third fear is that corporates will take over the agriculture trade, and farmersâ land will be taken over by powerful corporates.
Why reforms were needed
- The gap between the agri-income of a farmer and that of a non-agriculture worker increased from âš25,398 in 1993â94 to âš1.42 lakh in 2011-12.
- Aggregate food demand has fallen short of domestic production necessitating the export of a large quantity to prevent domestic prices from falling very low.
- India is sitting on an excess stock of 60 lakh tons of sugar and nearly 72 million tons of extra buffer stock of wheat and rice which is causing a huge drain on fiscal resources.
- Indiaâs agri-exports are facing difficulty, imports are turning attractive as domestic prices are turning much higher.
- Rural youth are looking for jobs outside agriculture and there is a serious problem of unemployment in the countryside.
- There are numerous instances of market failure to the detriment of producers and consumers.
- This is turning farmers to look at the government for remunerative prices through MSP for most agricultural products.
- The growth rate in agriculture is driven by heavy support through various kinds of subsidies and output price support.
- These costs and losses and subsidies will take away most of the tax revenue of the central government.
3 Provisions and their utility
1) Relation between MSP and APMC
- APMC has nothing to do with the payment of the MSP.
- The necessary and sufficient conditions for the MSP are procurement by the government, with or without the APMC.
- Experience shows that even after fruits and vegetables were de-notified from the APMC, they continued to arrive at APMC mandis in large quantities while farmers got additional options.
- The protesting farmers have raised concerns to keep the level-playing field for the APMC and private players, and the government has shown agreement to address this fully.
2) Criteria for traders
- Protesting farmers are also opposing the provision of the simple requirement of a PAN card for a trader.
- After having a PAN card, even a farmer can go for trading, his son can do agri-business and other rural youth can undertake purchases of farm commodities for direct sale to a consumer or other agribusiness firms.
- If stringent criteria such as bank guarantee, etc. are included in the registration, then the spirit of the new law to facilitate farmers and rural youth to become agribusiness entrepreneurs will be lost.
3) Mistaking contract farming with corporate farming
- Critics and protesting farmers are mixing contract farming with corporate farming.
- The new Act intends to insulate interested farmers (especially small farmers), against market and price risks.
- The Act is voluntary and either party is free to leave it after the expiry of the agreement.
- It prohibits the transfer, sale, lease, mortgage of the land or premises of the farmer.
- The Act will promote diversification, quality production for a premium price, export, and direct sale of produce, with desired attributes to interested consumers.
- It will also bring new capital and knowledge into agriculture and pave the way for farmersâ participation in the value chain.
Conclusion
The policy reforms undertaken by the central government through these Acts are in keeping with the changing times and requirements of farmers and farming. If they are implemented in the right spirit, they will take Indian agriculture to new heights and usher in the transformation of the rural economy.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: NCMC
Mains level: Common Mobility
Prime Minister has launched the ambitious National Common Mobility Card (NCMC) service for the Delhi Metroâs Airport Express Line.
Q.What is the National Common Mobility Card (NCMC)? How it a step moving towards a one nation one card system? (150W)
National Common Mobility Card
- The idea of NCMC was floated by the Nandan Nilekani committee set up by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).
- The committee had suggested that NCMC should contain two instruments â a regular debit card which can be used at an ATM and a local wallet.
- Banks mandated by the department of financial services have been asked to make their debit cards NCMC compliant, to ensure availability of service.
- The committee has also proposed a host of measures, including all payments by the government to citizens through the digital mode, to reduce the number of cash transactions in the country.
Features of the NCMC
- NCMC will allow passengers with RuPay debit cards, issued in the last 18 months by 23 banks, including SBI, UCO Bank, Canara Bank, Punjab National Bank, etc, to be swiped for Metro travel.
- It can be used at all transit locations making all new metro and transit payments interoperable via one card.
- NCMC is an automatic fare collection system. It will turn smartphones into an inter-operable transport card that commuters can use eventually to pay for Metro, bus, and suburban railways services.
- NCMC service is slated to cover the entire 400km stretch of Delhi Metro.
- It will allow entry and exit from Metro stations with the help of a smartphone, known as the automatic fare collection (AFC) system.
- To make AFC compliant indigenous gates for metro stations, the government has engaged Bharat Electronics Limited. Eventually, all Metro stations will be fitted with AFC gates.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Proxima Centauri
Mains level: Not Much
Astronomers running the worldâs largest initiative to look for alien life have recently picked up an âintriguingâ radio wave emission from the direction of Proxima Centauri, the closest star to our Sun.
Proxima Centauri
- Proxima Centauri is 4.2 light-years away from the Sun â considered a close distance in cosmic terms.
- Its mass is about an eighth of the Sunâs, and it is too dim to be seen with the naked eye from Earth.
- Proxima b, one of the two planets that revolve around the star, is the subject of significant curiosity.
- Sized 1.2 times larger than Earth, and orbits its star every 11 days, Proxima b lies in Proxima Centauriâs âGoldilocks zoneâ.
Goldilocks zone is the area around a star where it is not too hot and not too cold for liquid water to exist on the surface of surrounding planets. To give an example, the Earth is in the Sunâs Goldilocks zone.
The mystery of radio signals
- Astronomers at the Breakthrough Listen project, started by the legendary physicist Stephen Hawking, regularly spot blasts of radio waves using two powerful telescopes.
- They are Parkes Observatory in Australia or the Green Bank Observatory in the US.
- All of their findings so far, though, have been attributed either to natural sources or interference caused by humans.
- This raises the possibility that the emission could be an alien âtechno-signatureâ, meaning something which provides evidence of alien technology.
- There are also reasons to believe that the signal might not mean âaliensâ.
- Another possibility could be that the signal could have been caused by something behind Proxima Centauri or by a natural phenomenon whose existence we so far do not know of.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Zero-Coupon Bonds
Mains level: Banks recapitalization measures
The government has used financial innovation to recapitalize a bank by issuing the lender Rs 5,500-crore worth of non-interest bearing bonds called Zero-Coupon Bonds.
Try this PYQ:
Q.Which of the following is issued by registered foreign portfolio investors to overseas investors who want to be part of the Indian stock market without registering themselves directly?
(a) Certificate of Deposit
(b) Commercial Paper
(c) Promissory Note
(d) Participatory Note
Zero-Coupon Bonds
- These are non-interest bearing, non-transferable special GOI securities that have a maturity of 10-15 years and are issued specifically to Punjab & Sind Bank.
- These bonds are not tradable; the lender has kept them in the held-to-maturity (HTM) investments bucket, not requiring it to book any mark-to-market gains or losses from these bonds.
- This will earn no interest for the subscriber; market participants term it both a âfinancial illusionâ and âgreat innovationâ by the government.
How do they differ from bonds issued by private firms?
- There is a difference between zero-coupon bonds issued by other corporates and these.
- Zero-coupon bonds by private companies are normally issued at discount, but since these special bonds are not tradable these can be issued at par.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Indian architecture
Mains level: Indian architecture and foreign influence
A controversy has been playing out over the last several days over a decision by the IIM Ahmedabad to bring down 18 dormitories built by legendary American architect Louis Kahn on the old campus.
This newscard is full of facts. But one must note the features of present-day Indian Architecture and the western influence on it.
Kahn, in fact, is one among several foreign architects whose work defines several Indian cities. Take a glimpse of all important architects and their works:
Antonin Raymond & George Nakashima
- Golconde, one of Indiaâs first modernist buildings, was conceptualized in Puducherry by the founders of the experimental township of Auroville.
- Tokyo-based Czech architect Antonin Raymond was invited to design this space as a universal commune, and Japanese-American woodworker George Nakashima would complete it after Raymond left India.
- It is possibly Indiaâs first reinforced concrete buildings, built between 1937 and 1945.
- Its façade creates the impression that one could open or shut these concrete blinds, without compromising on privacy, while the ascetic interiors helped provide a meditative atmosphere.
Otto Koenigsberger
- Berlin-bred Koenigsberger was already working for the Maharaja of Mysore in the late 1930s when he was commissioned by Tata & Sons to develop the industrial township of Jamshedpur in the early 1940s.
- He would later design the masterplan for Bhubhaneswar (1948) and Faridabad (1949).
- Having seen children and women walk large distances to reach schools and workplaces, he planned for schools and bazaars in the city center and for a network of neighborhoods.
- His friends Albert Mayer and Mathew Nowicki would go on to design Chandigarh.
- However, much before Koenigsberger, there was the Scottish biologist and geographer Patrick Geddes, who wrote town planning reports, from 1915 to 1919, for 18 Indian cities, including Bombay and Indore.
Frank Lloyd Wright
- Though the legendary American architect never built a structure in India, his influence was unmistakable.
- Two of his students, Gautam and Gira Sarabhai, founders of the National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad, requested him to design the administration building for Sarabhai Calico Mills in 1946.
- It would possibly have been the cityâs first high-rise with terraces and a podium.
- Padma Vibhushan Charles Correa, one of Indiaâs finest architects and urban planners, was hugely influenced by Wright.
Le Corbusier
- Before Swiss-French painter-writer-architect Corbusier came on the scene in Chandigarh, there was Polish architect Mathew Nowicki, an admirer of Frank Lloyd Wright and American developer Albert Mayer.
- Nowickiâs death in a plane crash ended the commission, and Corbusier came on board.
- With English architect Maxwell Fry and his wife Jane Drew, Corbusier with his cousin Pierre Jeanneret would design many of Chandigarhâs civic buildings, from courts to housing.
- Corbusierâs modernist approach, without decoration, gave India its brutalist, bare concrete buildings.
- He won favour with the Sarabhai’s of Ahmedabad and built the Sarabhai House, Shodhan House, Mill Ownerâs Association Building and Sankar Kendra. He is often called the âfather of modern Indian architectureâ.
Joseph Allen Stein
- He was invited by Vijayalakshmi Pandit in 1952 to come to India and establish the Department of Architecture and Planning at the West Bengal Engineering College.
- Though he also practiced briefly in Orissa and West Bengal, itâs in New Delhi where Stein left the deepest imprint.
- From the Triveni Kala Sangam, the High Commissionerâs Residence and Chancery for Australia, where his polygon-shaped masonry with local stone made its first appearance to âSteinabadâ.
Louis Kahn
- The importance of being Kahn is never more real than now, as the American architectâs only project in India faces bulldozers.
- The design for IIM Ahmedabad (1962-1974) carried the essence of learning in the humility of its material, and the way spaces were managed.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Blue Flag Beaches
Mains level: Coastal conservation
The Environment Minister has virtually hoisted the international blue flags in 8 beaches across the country.
Try this PYQ:
Q. At one of the places in India, if you stand on the seashore and watch the sea, you will find that the seawater recedes from the shoreline a few kilometers and comes back to the shore, twice a day, and you can actually walk on the seafloor when the water recedes. This unique phenomenon is seen at:
(a) Bhavnagar
(b) Bheemunipatnam
(c) Chandipur
(d) Nagapattinam
About Blue Flag Certification
- This Certification is accorded by an international agency âFoundation for Environment Education, Denmarkâ based on 33 stringent criteria in four major heads i.e.
- Environmental Education and Information,
- Bathing Water Quality,
- Environment Management and Conservation and
- Safety and Services on the beaches.
- It started in France in 1985 and has been implemented in Europe since 1987, and in areas outside Europe since 2001 when South Africa joined.
- Japan and South Korea are the only countries in South and southeastern Asia to have Blue Flag beaches.
- Spain tops the list with 566 such beaches; Greece and France follow with 515 and 395, respectively.
Which are the 8 beaches?
The beaches where the International Blue Flags were hoisted are:
- Kappad (Kerala)
- Shivrajpur (Gujarat)
- Ghoghla (Diu)
- Kasarkod and
- Padubidri (Karnataka)
- Rushikonda (Andhra Pradesh)
- Golden (Odisha) and
- Radhanagar (Andaman & Nicobar Islands)
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