Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Antrix
Mains level: Read the attached story
A Canadian court has ordered the seizure of more than $30 million worth of Airport Authority of India’s assets.
Background
- In 2005, Devas Multimedia signed an agreement with Antrix —a commercial arm of the IISRO —to provide multimedia services to mobile users using the leased S-band satellite spectrum to be provided by Antrix.
- In 2011, the UPA-2 government canceled this agreement on the ground that it needed the S-band satellite spectrum for national security and other social purposes.
- This led to arbitration between Antrix and Devas at the International Chambers of Commerce (ICC) and two bilateral investment treaty (BIT) arbitrations. India lost all three disputes.
India’s non-compliance
- AAI and Air India are being targeted because they are Indian public sector entities with overseas assets and serve as a proxy for the government of India.
- The Canada court can do so through the concept of restrictive immunity.
- In the meanwhile, the National Company Law Tribunal (India) ordered the liquidation of Devas Multimedia on the ground that the affairs of the company were being carried on fraudulently.
Why did India cancel the deal?
- The scandal first came to light when in 2011, the news reported that there were some irregularities in the agreement between Antrix and Devas.
- They reported the findings of a draft audit report and pointed out discrepancies including financial mismanagement, conflict of interest, non-compliance of rules, and favoritism.
- This revelation came at the heel of the 2G spectrum scam which was condemned for the high level of corruption.
How can a Canadian court order the attachment of Indian assets?
- State immunity — a well-established principle of international law — shields a state and its property against legal proceedings in the courts of other countries.
- This covers immunity from both jurisdiction and execution.
- However, there is no international legal instrument in force dealing with state immunity in the municipal legal systems of different countries, which has created an international void.
- Consequently, countries have filled this void through their national legislations and domestic judicial practices on state immunity.
- Typically, prominent jurisdictions such as Canada follow the concept of restrictive immunity (a foreign State is immune only for sovereign functions) and not absolute immunity.
How can assets of AAI be seized when the claim is against India?
- In execution proceedings, assets of an entity can be seized if that entity is an alter ego of the State that fails to comply with the arbitral award.
- In other words, if the foreign sovereign exercises such extensive control over the entity, then the presumption that the entity has a separate corporate character is set aside.
- Thus, the Canadian court must have concluded that the Indian government extensively controls AAI.
What options does India have?
- The first option is to comply with the two adverse BIT awards. However, it is highly unlikely that India would do so.
- The second option is to challenge this decision in an appellate court in Canada as per Canadian law where India can try proving that the ‘extensive control requirement’ is not met in the case of AAI.
- However, state immunity from execution is purely a procedural hurdle to the enforcement of the BIT award.
- It cannot justify India’s breach of its international law obligations enshrined in the two BITs and the continued failure to comply with the arbitral awards.
Back2Basics: New Space India Limited (NSIL)
- It functions under the administrative control of the Department of Space (DOS).
- It aims to commercially exploit the research and development work of ISRO Centres and constituent units of DOS.
- The NSIL would enable Indian Industries to scale up high-technology manufacturing and production base for meeting the growing needs of the Indian space program.
- It would further spur the growth of Indian Industries in the space sector.
ANTRIX
- Antrix Corporation Limited (ACL), Bengaluru is a wholly-owned Government of India Company under the administrative control of the Department of Space.
- It is as a marketing arm of ISRO for promotion and commercial exploitation of space products, technical consultancy services and transfer of technologies developed by ISRO.
- Antrix is engaged in providing Space products and services to international customers worldwide.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Article 348
Mains level: Official language of Judiciary
A Division Bench of the Gujarat High Court has asked a convict to speak only in English as that was the language in the higher judiciary referring to Article 348 of the Constitution which mandates that the language of the High Court would be English.
What is Article 348?
- It provides for languages to be used in the Supreme Court and in the High Courts and for Acts, Bills, etc
- Article 348 (1) provides that all proceedings in the Supreme Court and in every High court shall be in English Language until Parliament by law otherwise provides.
- Under Article 348 (2), the Governor of the State may, with the previous consent of the President, authorize the use of the Hindi language or any other language used for any official purpose of the State.
- It states that in the proceedings of the High Court having its principal seat in that State provided that decrees, judgments or orders passed by such High Courts shall be in English.
When is use of other languages permitted?
- Section 7 of the Official Languages Act, 1963, provides that the use of Hindi or official language of a State in addition to the English language may be authorized.
- This has to be done with the consent of the President of India, by the Governor of the State for purpose of judgments etc. made by the High Court for that State.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Takhts in Sikhism
Mains level: Not Much
The Delhi Assembly has passed an amendment Bill to the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Act, 1971, recognizing Takht Damdama Sahib as the fifth Takht of Sikhs.
What is a Sikh Takht?
- A Takht, which means a throne, is a seat of temporal authority for Sikhs.
- There are five Sikh Takhts, three in Punjab and one each in Maharashtra and Bihar.
(1) Akal Takht
- Located in Amritsar, it is the oldest of the Takhts, and considered supreme among the five.
- It was set up in 1606 by Guru Hargobind, whose succession as the sixth Guru after the execution of his father, Guru Arjan Dev, is considered a turning point in Sikh history.
- The Akal Takht, a raised platform that he built in front of the causeway leading to the sanctum sanctorum of the Harmandir Sahib (Golden Temple).
- It symbolised the coming together of the temporal authority and the political sovereignty of the Sikh community (miri) with the spiritual authority (piri).
- It is seen as the first marker of Sikh nationalism.
The other four Takhts are linked to Guru Gobind Singh, the tenth Sikh Guru.
(2) Takht Keshgarh Sahib
- Located in Anandpur Sahib in Punjab. It was here that Guru Gobind Singh raised Khalsa, the initiated Sikh warriors, in 1699.
(3) Takht Patna Sahib
- Guru Gobind Singh was born here in 1666.
(4) Takht Hazur Sahib
- In Nanded, where Guru Gobin Singh spent time and where he was cremated in 1708.
(5) Takht Damdama Sahib
- In Talwandi Sabo of Bathinda. Guru Gobind Singh spent several months here.
What does the amendment to the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Act mean?
- Simply put, it adds one more ex officio member in the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Managament Committee (DSGMC) house.
- Earlier, there were four ex officio members in the house — the chiefs (jathedars) of the other four Sikh Takhts.
Is it the first time it has been recognised as the fifth Takht?
- It was back in 1999 that Takht Damdama Sahib was recognised as the fifth Sikh Takht by the Union Home Ministry.
- It included it as such in the Sikh Gurdwaras Act, 1925 (Punjab Act VIII of 1925) with a notification dated April 23, 1999.
- Before that, an SGPC sub-committee had declared it the fifth Takht of Sikhs back in November 1966 after Punjab was carved out as a separate state through the Punjab Reorganisation Act, 1966.
How politically significant is the move?
- It comes ahead of the Punjab Assembly elections, where the, Delhi’s ruling party, has high stakes.
What is the role of the Sikh Takhts?
- The Takhts are known to issue hukumnamas (morality orders) from time to time on issues that concern the Sikh community.
- Akal Takht is supreme among them because it is the oldest and was created by a Sikh Guru himself, say Sikh scholars.
- Any edict or order concerning the entire community is issued only from Akal Takht.
- It is from Akal Takht that Sikhs found to be violating the Sikh doctrine and code of conduct are awarded religious punishment (declared tankhaiya).
Who appoints the jathedars of the Takhts?
- The three Takhts in Punjab are directly controlled by the SGPC, which appoints the jathedars.
- The SGPC is dominated by SAD members.
- It is widely understood that SAD puts the final seal on the appointment of these three jathedars.
- The two Takhts outside Punjab have their own trusts and boards.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Types of vaccines
Mains level: Effectiveness of various vaccines against COVID
Vaccines like Biological E’s Corbevax and Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin that are made by traditional methods are “just as effective” as the latest mRNA technology-based vaccines a/c to US scientists.
What are Vaccines?
- A vaccine is a biological preparation that provides active acquired immunity to a particular infectious disease.
- It typically contains an agent that resembles a disease-causing microorganism and is often made from weakened or killed forms of the microbe, its toxins, or one of its surface proteins.
Types of Vaccines
There are several types of vaccines, including:
- Inactivated vaccines
- Live-attenuated vaccines
- Messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccines
- Subunit, recombinant, polysaccharide, and conjugate vaccines
- Viral vector vaccines
[1] Inactivated vaccines
- Inactivated vaccines use the killed version of the germ that causes a disease.
- Inactivated vaccines usually don’t provide immunity (protection) that’s as strong as live vaccines.
- So you may need several doses over time (booster shots) in order to get ongoing immunity against diseases.
- Inactivated vaccines are used to protect against: Hepatitis A, Flu (shot only), Polio (shot only), Rabies etc.
[2] Live-attenuated vaccines
- Live vaccines use a weakened (or attenuated) form of the germ that causes a disease.
- Because these vaccines are so similar to natural infection that they help prevent, they create a strong and long-lasting immune response.
- Just 1 or 2 doses of most live vaccines can give you a lifetime of protection against a germ and the disease it causes.
- They need to be kept cool in refrigerated conditions.
- Live vaccines are used to protect against Measles, mumps, rubella (MMR), Rotavirus, Smallpox, Chickenpox, Yellow fever
[3] Messenger RNA vaccines
- Researchers have been studying and working with mRNA vaccines for decades and this technology was used to make some of the COVID-19 vaccines.
- mRNA vaccines make proteins in order to trigger an immune response.
- mRNA vaccines have several benefits compared to other types of vaccines, including shorter manufacturing times and, because they do not contain a live virus, no risk of causing disease in the person getting vaccinated.
How does mRNA vaccine work?
- The mRNA vaccines function differently from traditional vaccines.
- Traditional vaccines stimulate an antibody response by injecting a human with antigens.
- mRNA vaccines inject a fragment of the RNA sequence of a virus directly into the cells, which then stimulate an adaptive immune response mRNA fragment is a specific piece of the virus that carries instructions to build the antigen of the virus.
- An advantage of RNA vaccines is that they stimulate cellular immunity.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Western Disturbances
Mains level: Not Much
Under the influence of two consecutive western disturbances, New Delhi is in for a wet spell.
Western Disturbances
- A western disturbance is an extratropical storm originating in the Mediterranean region that brings sudden winter rain to the northwestern parts of the Indian subcontinent.
- It is a non-monsoonal precipitation pattern driven by the westerlies.
- The moisture in these storms usually originates over the Mediterranean Sea, the Caspian Sea and the Black Sea.
- Extratropical storms are global phenomena with moisture usually carried in the upper atmosphere, unlike their tropical counterparts where the moisture is carried in the lower atmosphere.
- In the case of the Indian subcontinent, moisture is sometimes shed as rain when the storm system encounters the Himalayas.
- Western disturbances are more frequent and strong in the winter season.
Impact: Winter Rainfall and Extreme Cold
- Western disturbances, specifically the ones in winter, bring moderate to heavy rain in low-lying areas and heavy snow to mountainous areas of the Indian Subcontinent.
- They are the cause of most winter and pre-monsoon season rainfall across northwest India.
- An average of four to five western disturbances forms during the winter season.
Its significance
- Precipitation during the winter season has great importance in agriculture, particularly for the rabi crops.
- Wheat among them is one of the most important crops, which helps to meet India’s food security.
Try this PYQ:
Q. Consider the following statements:
- The winds which blow between 30°N and 60°S latitudes throughout the year are known as westerlies.
- The moist air masses that cause winter rains in the North-Western region of India are part of westerlies.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
(a) Only 1
(b) Only 2
(c) Both 1 and 2
(d) Neither 1 nor 2
Post your answers here.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: MAC, NATGRID
Mains level: Counter-terrorism ops and security agencies
The Union government has asked the States to share more intelligence inputs through the Multi Agency Centre (MAC), a common counter-terrorism grid under the Intelligence Bureau (IB).
Why in news?
- States are often reluctant to share information on the platform.
- There are several gaps in sharing critical information at the right time.
- Plans are afoot for more than a decade to link the system up to the district level.
About MAC
- The Multi-Agency Centre (MAC) was formed in December 2001 following the Kargil intrusion and the subsequent overhaul of the Indian national security apparatus suggested by the Kargil Review Committee report.
- Accordingly, the Intelligence Bureau (IB) was authorized to create a multi-agency centre (MAC) in New Delhi.
- Now functioning 24×7 as the nodal body for sharing intelligence inputs, MAC coordinates with representatives from numerous agencies, different ministries, both central and state.
- Various security agencies share real-time intelligence inputs on the MAC.
- The state offices have been designated as subsidiary MACs (SMACs).
- As many as 28 organisations, including the Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW), armed forces and State police, are part of the platform.
Back2Basics: NATGRID
- NATGRID is an intelligence-sharing network that collates data from the standalone databases of the various agencies and ministries of the Indian government.
- It collects and collates a host of information from government databases including tax and bank account details, credit/debit card transactions, visa and immigration records and itineraries of rail and air travel.
- It came into existence after the 2008 Mumbai attacks.
- It is accessible to only authorized people from 10 security agencies on a case-to-case basis for investigations into suspected cases of terrorism.
- It will also have access to the Crime and Criminal Tracking Network and Systems, a database that links crime information, including First Information Reports, across 14,000 police stations in India.
Note: NATGRID data will be made available to 11 central agencies, which are: Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW), Intelligence Bureau (IB), National Investigation Agency (NIA), Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), Enforcement Directorate (ED), Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC), Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) and Directorate General of GST Intelligence.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: IC15 Crypto Index
Mains level: Cryptocurrencies market in India
Superapp CryptoWire recently launched India’s first cryptocurrency index, IC15, which will measure the performance of the 15 most widely traded cryptocurrencies listed on leading crypto exchanges by market capitalization.
What is IC15?
- CryptoWire constituted an Index Committee of domain experts, industry practitioners, and academicians that will select cryptocurrencies from the top 400 coins in terms of market capitalization.
- The eligible cryptocurrency should have traded on at least 90% of the days during the review period and be among the 100 most liquid cryptocurrencies in terms of trading value.
- Also, the cryptocurrency should be in the top 50 in terms of the circulating market capitalization.
- The committee will then select the top 15 cryptocurrencies. The index will be reviewed quarterly.
What is its significance?
- IC15 can be replicated for creating index-linked products such as index funds or exchange-traded funds (ETFs).
- Usually, the performance of a mutual fund scheme is assessed with reference to a benchmark, which could be a total return index of the Nifty or the Sensex.
- IC15 is the first index in India that can act as a benchmark of the underlying cryptocurrency market and the performance benchmark for fund managers.
- Moreover, robo-advisors, which provide financial advice with moderate to minimal human intervention, can use this index to create investment products at lower costs.
How does IC15 correlate with other market indicators?
- IC15’s base value as on 1 April 2018 was 10,000.
- It would mean that the index has gained 615% in absolute terms to 71,475.48 till 31 December 2021.
Can index-based crypto investment reduce risks?
- Index investing can be an effective way to diversify against risks as a fund invests in a basket of assets against a few limited coins.
- However, index-based investing may not fully remove risks associated with investing in crypto assets.
- Case in point: IC15 saw a 50% plunge in 2018, whereas other asset classes have seen a maximum drop in the range of 3-4%.
- Further, bitcoin and ethereum have a combined weightage of 77% in the index, making it highly vulnerable to any volatility in these two coins.
Can crypto funds be launched in India?
- SEBI has recently asked mutual fund houses not to launch crypto-based funds until the Centre comes out with clear regulations.
- This means asset management companies for now won’t be able to launch crypto funds based on IC15.
- However, in the absence of any regulations, crypto platforms can offer products based on the index.
- Global crypto investment platform Mudrex last year launched Coin Sets—crypto funds based on themes such as decentralized finance or market cap.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Nai Talim
Mains level: Not Much
The Vice President of India has said that the New Education Policy follows the ‘Nai Talim’ of Mahatma Gandhi by giving importance to the mother tongue as the medium of instruction at the school level.
What is Nai Talim?
- The phrase Nai Talim is a combination of two words- Nai Means ‘New’ and Talim – a Urdu word-means ‘Education’.
- In 1937, Gandhiji introduced the concept of Nai Talim in India. It aimed to achieve Gram Swaraj (liberation of villages).
- In short, Gandhiji dreamed to make all villages independent; and self-reliant.
- It is an approach to the total personality development of body, mind and spirit and was based on four principles namely:
- Education or learning in mother tongue along with handicraft work,
- Work should be linked with most useful vocational needs of the locality,
- Learning should be linked with vocational work, and
- Work should be socially useful and productive needed for living.
Gandhiji and Education
- Gandhi’s first experiments in education began at the Tolstoy Farm ashram in South Africa.
- It was much later, while living at Sevagram (Wardha) and in the heat of the Independence struggle, that Gandhi wrote his influential article in Harijan about education.
- In it, he mapped out the basic pedagogy (or teaching) with focus on:
- Lifelong character of education,
- Social character and
- A holistic process
- Thus, for Gandhi, education is ‘the moral development of the person’, a process that is by definition ‘lifelong’.
- He believed the importance of role of teacher in the learning process.
Try this PYQ from CSP 2020:
Q. One common agreement between Gandhism and Marxism is
(a) The final goal of a stateless society
(b) Class struggle
(c) Abolition of private property
(d) Economic determinism
Post your answers here:
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Gaganyaan Mission
Mains level: Indian Human Spaceflight Programme (IHSP)
After a rather muted 2021 in terms of satellite launches, Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) is gearing up for a number of missions in 2022 including the launch of the first unmanned mission of Gaganyaan.
Gaganyaan Mission
- Gaganyaan is crewed orbital spacecraft intended to be the formative spacecraft of the Indian Human Spaceflight Programme (IHSP).
- The IHSP was initiated in 2007 by ISRO to develop the technology needed to launch crewed orbital spacecraft into low Earth orbit.
- The first uncrewed flight, named Gaganyaan 1, is scheduled to launch no earlier than June 2022 on a GSLV Mark III rocket.
- ISRO had been working on related technologies and it performed a Crew Module Atmospheric Re-entry Experiment and a Pad Abort Test for the mission.
- If completed in meantime, India will become the fourth nation to conduct independent human spaceflight after the Russia, US and China.
Details of the project
- The spacecraft is being designed to carry three people, and a planned upgraded version will be equipped with rendezvous and docking capability.
- In its maiden crewed mission, this capsule will orbit the Earth at 400 km altitude for up to seven days with a two or three-person crew on board.
- This Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) manufactured crew module had its first un-crewed experimental flight in 2014.
- DRDO will provide support for critical human-centric systems and technologies like space-grade food, crew healthcare, radiation measurement and protection, parachutes for the safe recovery of the crew module and fire suppression system.
Other missions this year
- Earth Observation Satellites: EOS-4 and EOS-6
- Flights for Crew Escape System of Gaganyaan
- Chandrayaan-03
- Aditya Ll
- XpoSat
New projects
- Venus mission
- DISHA –a twin aeronomy satellite mission
- TRISHNA, an ISRO-CNES [Centre national d’études spatiales] mission
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Offline E-payments
Mains level: Not Much
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has come out with the framework for facilitating small-value digital payments in offline mode, a move that would promote digital payments in semi-urban and rural areas.
Offline E-payments
- Offline digital payment does not require Internet or telecom connectivity.
- Such payments can be carried out face-to-face (proximity mode) using any channel or instrument like cards, wallets and mobile devices.
- Such transactions would not require an Additional Factor of Authentication.
- Since the transactions are offline, alerts (by way of SMS and/or e-mail) will be received by the customer after a time lag.
- There is a limit of ₹200 per transaction and an overall limit of ₹2,000 until the balance in the account is replenished.
Conditions applied
- Payment instruments shall be enabled for offline transactions only after the explicit consent of the customer.
- That apart, these transactions using cards will be allowed without a requirement to turn on the contactless transaction channel.
- The customers shall have recourse to the Reserve Bank – Integrated Ombudsman Scheme, as applicable, for grievance redressal.
- RBI retains the right to stop or modify the operations of any such payment solution that enables small value digital payments in offline mode.
Answer this PYQ in the comment box:
Q. With reference to digital payments, consider the following statements:
- BHIM app allows the user to transfer money to anyone with a UPI-enabled bank account.
- While a chip-pin debit card has four factors of authentication, BHIM app has only two factors of authentication.
Which of the statements given above is/ are correct? (CSP 2018)
(a) 1 only
(b) 2 only
(c) Both 1 and 2
(d) Neither 1 nor 2
Post your answers here.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Velu Nachiyar
Mains level: Not Much
The Prime Minister has paid tributes to Rani Velu Nachiyar on her birth anniversary.
Velu Nachiyar (1730-1796)
- Rani Velu Nachiyar was a queen of Sivaganga estate from c. 1780–1790.
- She was the first Indian queen to wage war with the East India Company in India.
- She is widely known as Veeramangai (“brave woman”).
Her legend
[A] Early life
- Velu Nachiyar was the princess of Ramanathapuram and the only child of King Chellamuthu Vijayaragunatha Sethupathy and Queen Sakandhimuthathal of the Ramnad kingdom.
- Nachiyar was trained in many methods of combat, including war match weapons usage, martial arts like Valari, Silambam, horse riding, and archery.
- She was a scholar in many languages and was proficient in languages like French, English and Urdu.
[B] Battles fought
- During this period, she formed an army and sought an alliance with Hyder Ali with the aim of launching a campaign against the East India Company in 1780.
- When her husband, Muthu Vaduganatha Periyavudaya Thevar was killed in a battle with EIC soldiers, she was drawn into the conflict.
- When Velu Nachiyar found the place where the EIC stored some of their ammunition, she arranged a suicide attack on the location, blowing it up.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Non-Nuclear Aggression Agreement
Mains level: Nuclear Non-Proliferation
India and Pakistan has exchanged a list of their nuclear installations that cannot be attacked in case of an escalation in hostilities, as part of an annual ritual that has been in practice between the two neighbours for more than three decades.
Non-Nuclear Aggression Agreement
- The Non-nuclear aggression agreement is a bilateral and nuclear weapons control treaty between India and Pakistan, on the reduction (or limitation) of nuclear arms.
- Both pledged not to attack or assist foreign powers to attack on each others nuclear installations and facilities.
- The treaty was drafted in 1988, and signed by the PM Rajiv Gandhi and his counterpart Benazir Bhutto on 21 December 1988; it entered into force on January 1991.
- The treaty barred its signatories to carry out a surprise attack (or to assist foreign power to attack) on each other’s nuclear installations and facilities.
- Starting in January 1992, India and Pakistan have annually exchanged lists of their respective military and civilian nuclear-related facilities.
Need for the treaty
- In 1986-87, the massive exercise, ‘Brasstacks’ was carried out by the Indian Army, raising the fears of an Indian attack on Pakistan’s nuclear facilities.
- Since then, the Foreign ministries of both countries had been negotiating to reach an understanding towards the control of nuclear weapons.
Significance of the agreement
- The treaty barred its signatories to carry out a surprise attack (or to assist foreign power to attack) on each other’s nuclear installations and facilities.
- The treaty provides a confidence-building security measure environment.
Other: Sharing of Prisoners information
- Both nations do simultaneously share the list of prisoners in each others’ custody.
- These lists are exchanged under the provisions of the Agreement on Consular Access signed in May 2008.
- Under this pact, the two countries should exchange comprehensive lists on January 1 and July 1 every year (i.e. twice a year).
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Semiconductor, Rare earth elements
Mains level: Electronic industry
Worldwide carmakers have slashed production due to an abrupt and cascading shortage of semiconductors.
Semiconductor Chips
- Semiconductors — also known as integrated circuits (ICs), or microchips — are most often made of silicon or germanium, or a compound like gallium arsenide.
- It’s the thing that makes electronic items smart and faster.
- Made from a material, usually silicon, that “semi-conducts” electricity, the chip performs a variety of functions.
- Memory chips, which store data, are relatively simple and are traded like commodities.
- Logic chips, which run programs and act as the brains of a device, are more complex and expensive.
Reasons for shortages
- Stay-at-home shift: This pushed chip demand beyond levels projected before the pandemic. Lockdowns spurred growth in sales of smartphones, laptops etc to the highest in a decade
- Fluctuating forecasts: Automakers that cut back drastically early in the pandemic underestimated how quickly car sales would rebound.
- Stockpiling: Chinese smartphone industry dominates the global market for 5G networking gear — began building up inventory to ensure it could survive US sanctions.
How is the chip crisis playing out in geopolitics?
- The global chip crisis and geopolitical tensions with China have shifted focus back on semiconductors.
- The US, which was once a leader in chip manufacturing, wants the crown back.
- The protectionist US is looking to bring manufacturing back to America and reduce its dependency on a handful of chipmakers mostly concentrated in Taiwan and South Korea.
- China’s renewed aggression on Taiwan is also being seen in light of the chip crisis.
Impact of semiconductor shortages
- Chip shortages are expected to wipe out $210 billion of sales for carmakers this year, with the production of 7.7 million vehicles lost.
- Broadband providers were facing delays of more than a year when ordering internet routers.
Why is it so hard to compete?
- Manufacturing advanced logic chips requires extraordinary precision, along with huge long-term bets in a field subject to rapid change.
- Plants cost billions of dollars to build and equip, and they have to run flat-out 24/7 to recoup the investment.
- A factory also consumes up enormous amounts of water and electricity and is vulnerable to even the tiniest disruptions, whether from dust particles or distant earthquakes.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: INSACOG
Mains level: Not Much
The Indian SARS-CoV-2 Consortium on Genomics (INSACOG) has sequenced about 1,00,000 samples.
What is INSACOG?
- INSACOG is a consortium of 10 labs and 18 satellite labs across India tasked with scanning COVID samples from patients and finding the variants that has led to spike in transmission.
- The institutes involved include the laboratories of the Department of Biotechnology, Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, Indian Council of Medical Research, and the Health Ministry.
- Its work began in January 2020, by sequencing all samples with a history of travel from the U.K. and a proportion of positive samples in the community.
Tasks of INSACOG
- The NCDC is tasked with coordinating collections of samples from the States as well as correlating disease with certain mutations.
- It is mainly involved in genomic sequencing which is done by isolating the genetic material of the coronavirus samples.
- It is also tasked with tracking certain combinations of mutations that become more widespread in India.
What has it found so far?
- The INSACOG sequenced about 1,00,000 samples as of early December 2021 when this data was last made publicly available.
- The bulk of its effort has been focussed on identifying international ‘variants of concern’ (VoC) that are marked out by the WHO as being particularly infectious or pathogenic.
- International travellers who arrive in India and test positive are the ones whose samples usually get sent to INSACOG for determining the genomic variant.
Why is genome sequencing useful?
- Understanding mutations: The purpose of genome sequencing is to understand the role of certain mutations in increasing the virus’s infectivity.
- Immune response: Some mutations have also been linked to immune escape, or the virus’s ability to evade antibodies, and this has consequences for vaccines.
- Effectiveness of vaccines: Labs across the world, including many in India, have been studying if the vaccines developed so far are effective against such mutant strains of the virus.
- Evolution of viruses: Studies such as this have shown that Omicron, for instance, has evolved to evade antibodies much better than the Alpha or Delta variant. This prompted the push towards booster doses.
How is it done?
- Genomic sequencing is done by isolating the genetic material (RNA) of the coronavirus samples.
- RNA consists of millions of nucleotide bases and genomic sequencing is about identifying and comparing the sequence in a given sample to a reference sample.
- Changes in the sequence are clues to mutations that show that the virus may have undergone distinct changes at some key locations.
- There are several approaches to genome sequencing — whole genome sequencing, next-generation sequencing — that have different advantages.
- It has now evolved to a stage where large sequencers can process even thousands of samples simultaneously.
Various challenges that INSACOG faces
- Geographical variations: Given that COVID-19 is spreading, mutating and showing geographical variations, the original aim of the group was to sequence at least 5% of COVID-19 samples.
- Shortage of funds: But only 1% has been achieved yet, primarily due to a shortage of funds, insufficient reagents and tools necessary to rapidly scale up.
- Red-tapism: The INSACOG, in spite of being peopled by expert scientists, is ultimately within the Central government’s communication structure.
- Infrastructure lacunae: Not all INSACOG labs have the same quality of equipment and manpower and therefore a surge or spike in some cities can mean difficulties in processing.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Solid-state lithium ion battery
Mains level: Battery Technology for e-Vehicles boost
After Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal, now another Indian origin is in the headline is Jagdeep Singh, CEO and founder of a US battery startup. The reason for his recent buzz for his breakthrough battery technology.
About QuantumScape
- QuantumScape Corp is a battery startup backed by Volkswagen AG.
- Its solid-state battery — lithium metal with a solid electrolyte separating the two electrodes — is seen as an exceptionally bright prospect in E-Vehicle industry.
What are Solid-state batteries?
- A solid-state battery is a battery technology that uses solid electrodes and a solid electrolyte, instead of the liquid or polymer gel electrolytes found in lithium-ion or lithium polymer batteries.
- Such batteries can provide potential solutions for many problems of liquid Li-ion battery, such as flammability, limited voltage, unstable solid-electrolyte interphase formation, poor cycling performance and strength.
What are Li-ion Batteries?
- Lithium-ion batteries use aqueous electrolyte solutions, where ions transfer to and fro between the anode (negative electrode generally made of graphite) and cathode (positive electrode made of lithium), triggering the recharge and discharge of electrons.
- The energy density of lithium-ion cells used in today’s mobile phones and electric vehicles is nearly four times higher than that of older-generation nickel-cadmium batteries.
Its limitations
- Low energy density: Despite improvements in technology over the last decade, issues such as long charging times and weak energy density persist.
- Small appliances: While lithium-ion batteries are seen as sufficiently efficient for phones and laptops, they still lack the range that would make EVs a viable alternative.
- Extreme reactivity: One major problem is that lithium metal is extremely reactive.
- Corrosion of cells: The main form of lithium corrosion is dendrites (branched lithium structures) that grow out from the electrode and can potentially pierce the separator short-circuiting the cell.
- Fire hazard: In current lithium-ion batteries, in which the electrolyte is a flammable liquid, dendrite formation can trigger a fire.
What is the breakthrough?
- QuantumScape claims to prevent dendrites formation.
- It uses a solid-state separator technology that eliminates the side reaction between the liquid electrolyte and the carbon/graphite in the anode of conventional lithium-ion cells.
- The replacement of the separator enables the use of a lithium-metal anode in place of the traditional
- The lithium metal anode is more energy-dense than conventional anodes, which allows the battery to store more energy in the same volume, according to the company.
Key advantages of QuantumScape Battery
- The advantages of the solid-state battery technology include higher cell energy density (by eliminating the carbon anode), lower charge time (by eliminating the need to have lithium diffuse into the carbon particles in conventional lithium-ion cells).
- It has the ability to undertake more charging cycles and thereby a longer life, and improved safety.
- Lower cost could be a game-changer, given that at 30 per cent of the total cost, battery expenses are a key driver of the vehicle costs.
India’s battery push
- The centre is working on a blueprint for a project of around 4,000 MWh of grid-scale battery storage system at the regional load dispatch centres that control the country’s power grid, primarily to balance the vagaries of renewable generation.
- Reliance Industries Ltd has announced plans to set up an Energy Storage Giga factory; state-owned NTPC Ltd has floated a global tender for a grid-scale battery storage project.
- The Ministry of Heavy Industries issued a request for proposal for setting up manufacturing facilities for Advanced Chemistry Cell (ACC) battery storage in India.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Consumer Disputes Redressal mechanism
Mains level: Consumer protection
The Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food, and Public Distribution has notified monetary jurisdiction for various Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (CDRC) under the Consumer Protection Act, 2019.
What are the new changes?
- The Centre has notified new rules to revise pecuniary jurisdiction for entertaining consumer complaints at district, state and national level commissions, a move aimed at fast disposal of cases.
- The NCDRC will now have jurisdiction to entertain consumers’ complaints where the value of the goods or services exceeds Rs 2 crore as against the earlier limit of over Rs 10 crore.
- The state commissions will have jurisdiction to similar complaints with value of goods or services between Rs 50 lakh and Rs 2 crore, and the National Commission over Rs 2 crore.
- District commissions have jurisdiction to entertain complaints where value of goods or services paid as consideration does not exceed Rs 1 crore.
Legal basis of these changes
- The Act provides a “three-tier quasi-judicial mechanism” for redress of consumer disputes: district commissions, state commissions, and the national commission.
- The law also provides pecuniary jurisdiction of each tier of consumer commission.
Benefits of the move
- Fast-track disposal of cases: Reduction of limit of pecuniary jurisdiction of district and state commissions will reduce workload at these two tiers of dispute resolution system, and thereby reduce pendency at these two levels.
- Easy litigation: Besides, with E-Dakhil in place, consumers can take their complaints to a state or national commission without visiting the commission physically.
Back2Basics: Features of the Consumer Protection Act, 2019
[1] Definition of consumer
- A consumer is defined as a person who buys any good or avails a service for a consideration.
- It does not include a person who obtains a good for resale or a good or service for commercial purpose.
- It covers transactions through all modes including offline, and online through electronic means, teleshopping, multi-level marketing or direct selling.
[2] Rights of consumers
Six consumer rights have been defined in the Bill, including the right to:
- be protected against marketing of goods and services which are hazardous to life and property
- be informed of the quality, quantity, potency, purity, standard and price of goods or services
- be assured of access to a variety of goods or services at competitive prices and
- seek redressal against unfair or restrictive trade practices
[3] Central Consumer Protection Authority
- The central government will set up a Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) to promote, protect and enforce the rights of consumers.
- It will regulate matters related to violation of consumer rights, unfair trade practices, and misleading advertisements.
- The CCPA will have an investigation wing, headed by a Director-General, which may conduct inquiry or investigation into such violations.
[4] Penalties for misleading advertisement
- The CCPA may impose a penalty on a manufacturer or an endorser of up to Rs 10 lakh and imprisonment for up to two years for a false or misleading advertisement.
- In case of a subsequent offence, the fine may extend to Rs 50 lakh and imprisonment of up to five years.
- CCPA can also prohibit the endorser of a misleading advertisement from endorsing that particular product or service for a period of up to one year.
[5] Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission
- CDRCs will be set up at the district, state, and national levels.
- A consumer can file a complaint with CDRCs in relation to: (i) unfair or restrictive trade practices; (ii) defective goods or services; (iii) overcharging or deceptive charging; and (iv) the offering of goods or services for sale which may be hazardous to life and safety.
- Complaints against an unfair contract can be filed with only the State and National Appeals from a District CDRC will be heard by the State CDRC.
- Appeals from the State CDRC will be heard by the National CDRC.
- Final appeal will lie before the Supreme Court.
[6] Jurisdiction of CDRCs
- The District CDRC will entertain complaints where value of goods and services does not exceed Rs one crore.
- The State CDRC will entertain complaints when the value is more than Rs one crore but does not exceed Rs 10 crore.
- Complaints with value of goods and services over Rs 10 crore will be entertained by the National CDRC.
[7] Product liability
- Product liability means the liability of a product manufacturer, service provider or seller to compensate a consumer for any harm or injury caused by a defective good or deficient service.
- To claim compensation, a consumer has to prove any one of the conditions for defect or deficiency, as given in the Bill.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Mutual funds, Blockchain funds
Mains level: Not Much
The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has ruled that Indian mutual funds (MFs) cannot invest in crypto-related products until government regulations on are clear.
What are Blockchain Funds?
- Blockchain is a digital ledger system that facilitates the process of recording transactions and tracking assets in a network.
- It is possible to have blockchain without crypto, but in practice the two are highly interlinked.
- Cryptocurrency tends to power the resources needed for a public blockchain network.
- Unlike specific crypto-based investments, blockchain funds invest in multiple companies that are driving sustainable earnings from blockchain businesses.
- Some key companies in this ecosystem are US-based Coinbase Global Inc and Advanced Micro Devices Inc, and Japan’s GMO internet Inc.
Why has SEBI blocked Blockchain funds?
- Absence of regulations: SEBI concerns stem from unclear regulations around cryptocurrencies in India.
- Unclear future: While investing, trading and holding crypto assets are allowed in India as of now, the laws are still not clear as to how they are regulated and taxed.
- Possible ban: There is a possibility that the government may ban trading in crypto altogether or come up with stringent thresholds for investors to delve into this new asset.
- Taxing the gains: For taxation purposes, short-term capital gains from individual crypto investing are taxed at personal taxation rates, however, there are no clear guidelines for fund investing.
Are blockchain funds good investments?
- The technology is creating value by revolutionizing the way assets and digital records are managed and transferred.
- Many companies, particularly in financial services, are investing millions of dollars in researching and building Blockchain infrastructure.
- Although the technology is still in the nascent phase in India, its potential across the board is huge.
Back2Basics: Mutual Funds
- A mutual fund is a company that pools money from many investors and invests the money in securities such as stocks, bonds, and short-term debt.
- The combined holdings of the mutual fund are known as its portfolio. Investors buy shares in mutual funds.
- Each share represents an investor’s part ownership in the fund and the income it generates.
Mutual funds are a popular choice among investors because they generally offer the following features:
- Professional Management. The fund managers do the research for you. They select the securities and monitor the performance.
- Diversification or “Don’t put all your eggs in one basket.” Mutual funds typically invest in a range of companies and industries. This helps to lower your risk if one company fails.
- Affordability. Most mutual funds set a relatively low dollar amount for initial investment and subsequent purchases.
- Liquidity. Mutual fund investors can easily redeem their shares at any time, for the current net asset value (NAV) plus any redemption fees.
Risks with MFs
- With mutual funds, one may lose some or all of the money invested because the securities held by a fund can go down in value.
- Dividends or interest payments may also change as market conditions change.
- The more volatile the fund, the higher the investment risk.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Regression Theorem
Mains level: Not Much
This newscard is an excerpt from the original article published in the TH e-paper edition.
Regression Theorem
- The regression theorem refers to a theory of the origin of money.
- It states that money must have originated as a commodity with intrinsic value in the marketplace.
- The idea was first proposed by Austrian economist Carl Menger in his 1892 work “On the Origins of Money.”
- This theory is offered as an alternative to the state theory of money which states that money (fiat money) can come into existence only when it is backed by the government.
Evolution of Money
- The regression theory argues that money comes into existence through a gradual process of evolution in the marketplace, without the need for any government sanction.
- Economists who try to explain the regression theory generally start with the question of why money, particularly fiat money which is simply just a piece of paper, has any value at all in the marketplace.
- The most common answer to this question is that fiat money can be used to buy other useful goods such as houses, cars etc.
- But this answer is insufficient —it tries to tackle the question of why fiat money can buy other useful goods by simply saying that it can buy other useful goods.
Why is fiat money, which has little intrinsic value, considered valuable?
- In real life, people accept money in exchange for goods in the present because they are aware that money was accepted as a medium in exchange for other goods in the past.
- For example, people accept wages in the US dollar today because they are aware that the dollar was used to buy cars, groceries and other goods in the market yesterday.
- This gives them confidence in the value of their money.
What made people accept money in exchange for other useful goods in the past?
Ans. Intrinsic Value
- Economists who advocate the regression theory of money argue that money must have originated as a useful commodity like gold or silver or the barter system.
- This is the only way, they argue, it could have possibly been accepted by people in exchange for other useful goods at some point in the past.
- If a thing did not possess any intrinsic value, it is unlikely that people in the marketplace would have accepted it in exchange for other goods and services.
- So, commodities like gold and silver must have been traded in exchange for other goods and services at some point in history purely because they offered some kind of personal utility to people.
- For example, these precious metals could have been used to make ornaments, to fill teeth, etc., which gives them intrinsic value.
- They maintain value over time because their supply cannot be easily ramped up as mining gold involves significant production costs.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Indus valley civilization and its decline
Mains level: Aryan Invasion Theory
The 2022 calendar of the IIT, Kharagpur on the theme of “evidence” for “rebutting the Aryan invasion myth” has caused controversy.
What is the Aryan Invasion Theory?
- It has always been understood that the Aryans migration from the Steppe happened after 2000 BCE.
- In 1953 Mortimer Wheeler proposed that the invasion of an Indo-European tribe from Central Asia, the “Aryans”, caused the decline of the Indus Civilization.
- As evidence, he cited a group of 37 skeletons found in various parts of Mohenjo-daro, and passages in the Vedas referring to battles and forts.
- However, scholars soon started to reject Wheeler’s theory, since the skeletons belonged to a period after the city’s abandonment and none were found near the citadel.
Basis of this theory
- This was first propounded when linguistic similarities between Sanskrit and the major European languages were discovered by European scholars during the colonial era.
- This tool was used by the colonizers to legitimize their rule in India.
- The theory hypothesizes that during 2000BC Aryans from Europe invaded or migrated into the Asian subcontinent.
- It states these ‘invaders’ killed the original Dravidians and set up the Aryan race in the South-Asian subcontinent.
- The Aryan Invasion Theory claimed that these ‘invaders’ were the root of modern Indian civilization, not the Harappan civilization.
Its rebuttal
- Recent studies have debunked the theory after DNA samples from 5000-year old Harappan remains were proven to be similar to modern Indians’ DNA as part of the Rakhigarhi Project.
Who were the Harappans then?
- The Harappans who created the agricultural revolution in northwestern India and then built the Harappan civilization were a mix of First Indians and Iranians who spoke a pre-Arya language.
- The Arya were central Asian Steppe pastoralists who arrived in India between roughly 2000 BCE and 1500 BCE, and brought Indo-European languages to the subcontinent.
- The new study says the Iranians arrived in India before agriculture or even herding had begun anywhere in the world.
- In other words, these migrants were likely to have been hunter-gatherers, which means they did not bring a knowledge of agriculture.
Try this PYQ:
Q With reference to the difference between the culture of Rigvedic Aryans and Indus Valley people, which of the following statements correct?
- Rigvedic Aryans used the coat of mail and helmet in warfare whereas the people of Indus Valley Civilization did not leave any evidence of using them.
- Rigvedic Aryans knew gold, silver and copper whereas Indus Valley people knew only copper and iron.
- Rigvedic Aryans had domesticated the horse whereas there is no evidence of Indus Valley people having been aware of this animal.
Select the correct answer using the code given below:
(a) Only 1
(c) 1 and 3 only
(b) 2 and 3 only
(d) 1, 2 and 3
Post your answers here.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: IPO
Mains level: Not Much
The Securities & Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has approved amendments to a slew of regulations to tighten the Initial Public Offering (IPO) process and norms governing the utilization of IPO proceeds by promoters.
What is an IPO?
- Every company needs money to grow and expand.
- They do this by borrowing or by issuing shares.
- If the company decides to opt for the second route of issuing shares, it must invite public investors to buy its shares.
- This is its first public invitation in the stock market and is called the Initial Public Offering (IPO).
What does it mean for investors to buy shares?
- When one buys such shares, he/she makes an IPO investment.
- He/she gets ownership in the company, proportionate to the value of your shares.
- These shares then get listed on the stock exchange.
- The stock exchange is where you can sell your existing shares in the company or buy more.
How does an IPO work?
- The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) regulates the entire process of investment via an IPO in India.
- A company intending to issue shares through IPOs first registers with SEBI.
- SEBI scrutinizes the documents submitted, and only then approves them.
Who can hold IPOs?
- It could be a new, young company or an old company that decides to be listed on an exchange and hence goes public.
What are the recent regulations?
- In its board meeting, SEBI approved conditions for sale of shares by significant shareholders in the Offer-For-Sale (OFS) process via an IPO and has extended the lock-in period for anchor investors to 90 days.
- Shares offered for sale by shareholders with more than 20% of pre-issue shareholding of the issuer, should not exceed 50% of their holding.
- If they hold less than 20%, then the offer for sale should not exceed 10% of their holding of the issue.
- These changes are as per proposals recommended by SEBI’s Primary Market Advisory Committee.
Also read:
[Sansad TV] The IPO Boom
Try this question from CSP 2019:
Q.In India, which of the following review the independent regulators in sectors like telecommunications, insurance, electricity, etc.?
- Ad Hoc Committees set up by the Parliament
- Parliamentary Department Related Standing Committees
- Finance Commission
- Financial Sector Legislative Reforms Commission
- NITI Aayog
Select the correct answer using the code given below:
(a) 1 and 2
(b) 1, 3 and 4
(c) 3, 4 and 5
(d) 2 and 5
Post your answers here.
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