March 16 To 31 Final PDF

{FORMERLY TIMES IAS ACADEMY}
16th MAR to 31st MAR
C-40, 2nd Floor, 2nd Avenue, Anna Nagar west, Chennai -40.
Email – info@aramiasacademy.com Mob: 8939696868/69. Page 1
1. History and Culture
1.1 HC Wants ASI Archaeologist Transferred Back To Keezhadi
1.2 Quieter, Greener Homage To Belur Saint
1.3 Punjab: District Admin, Memorial Trust Differ On Number Of Victims
Of Jallianwala Bagh Massacre
1.4 Dalai Lama’s Assertion That His Successor Could Be Found In India
2. Social Issues
2.1 North India’s latent ‘demographic dividend’
2.2 India has highest number of poor despite 27 crore moving out of
poverty in 10 years
3. Governance
3.1 An Independent Institutions Bill
3.2 Ease of Doing Litigation
3.3 FSSAI commits to stricter labelling norms
3.4 Defence Procurement in India
3.5 Courts Should Stay Out Of Governance, Says Supreme Court
3.6 National Health Policy- Hurdles and Challenges
3.7 Forest Rights Act and disempowering gram Sabhas
3.8 Right To Self-Defence Extends To Protection Of Another Person’s Life
And Property, Says Supreme Court
3.9 Code of Ethics for social media in Election
3.10 Telecast Exit Polls Only After Last Phase: EC
3.11 Govt. To seize properties of terror financiers
3.12 Challenges in Aadhaar Payment Bridge System
3.13 Anti-defection law in India
3.14 A blow against Article 370
3.15 Electoral Bonds Hit Transparency In Political Funding, Says Election
Commission
4. Schemes
4.1 Beneficiaries Of EWS Quota In Limbo
5. International relations
5.1 India’s Export Regime: Impact of US’s GSP
5.2 United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA)
5.3 Italy Takes A Shine To China's New Silk Road
5.4 Golan Heights
5.5 China's 'Silk Road urbanism'
6. Indian Economy
6.1 Technology Innovation in Doubling Farmers Income
6.2 Resolution of Stressed Assets – Revised Framework
6.3 New Hydro Policy To Help Meet Renewables Target
6.4 How Joblessness Eats Into Household Savings
6.5 Management Information System (MIS)
6.6 Status of India’s Patent Filling
6.7 Tariff rate quotas
6.8 Fall Armyworm attack: Deadliest pest epidemic grips India
6.9 Dollar-Rupee swap facility
6.10 India One Of World's Fastest Growing Large Economies: IMF
6.11 Emerging Economy of digital labour
6.12 New S&DT rules in WTO law- Impact on India
6.13 Farm Subsidies: India Must Keep A Vigil
6.14 India needs a watch-dog for fiscal discipline
6.15 A Second Life For Digital Debris
7. Environment
7.1 Sewage cess: An idea whose time has come
7.2 Cost of poorly enforced environment laws
7.3 Climate Launchpad Contest Launched
7.4 Cyclone IDAI
7.5 Protecting the Sundarban Wetlands
7.6 Urban Areas Cooler Than Non-Urban Regions During Heat Waves
7.7 Plastic Harms Galapagos Wildlife
7.8 Rushikulya waits for Olive Ridleys
7.9 India’s carbon dioxide emissions up 5%
7.10 Carbon Neutral cities
7.11 Low soil moisture: A threat to River Basins
7.12 The hump-backed mahseer is now 'critically endangered’
7.13 On Average, Mercury is Earth's Closest Neighbour
7.14 Arctic Warming Is Slowly Creating a Prolonged Drought
7.15 Poisoned Cattle Carcass Kills 37 Vultures
8. Science and Technology

8.1 Astronauts on Soyuz Craft Successfully Reach ISS
8.2 Low Conviction Hinders Fight Against Spurious Drugs
8.3 Solar Tsunami Can Trigger The Sunspot Cycle
8.4 West Nile Virus; an unfamiliar disease, newly in focus in India
8.5 Hayabusa2: asteroid mission exploring a 'rubble pile’
8.6 International moratorium on Gene-edited babies
8.7 ISRO to launch electronic intelligence satellite 'Emisat'.
8.8 Young Scientist Programme (YUVIKA)
8.9 Sharp rise in H1N1 cases
8.10 Mission Shakti — ASAT
8.11 Smuggling of Human Embryos
8.12 Applications of Blockchain Technology beyond Cryptocurrency
8.13 WHO Calls For Tighter Monitoring Of Marketing Of Unhealthy Foods
To Children
8.14 Debris From Anti-Satellite Test To Disintegrate In 45 Days
8.15 IIT Madras Converts Petroleum Waste Toluene Into Useful Product
8.16 Erode’s Unique Turmeric Gets A GI Tag
8.17 PSLV To Launch Military’s Eye In The Sky
9. Internal Security
9.1 India, Myanmar Conduct Coordinated Operation Against Insurgents
Posing Threat To Kaladan Project
9.2 AFINDEX-19
9.3 3rd Indo-Japan Workshop On Disaster Risk Reduction
9.4 Data localization- India's Policy Framework
9.5 Exercise Al Nagah – III 2019
9.6 INS Kadmatt At Langkawi, Malaysia To Participate In Lima-19
10. Also in News

10.1 E-Comm Players, Online Brands Launch Trade Association TECI
10.2 I Help Initiative
10.3 NITI Aayog to organise FinTech Conclave 2019
10.4 Nuclear, Biological, Chemical Training Facility – ABHEDYA
10.5 Dhanbad Scores Over Delhi In 4g Network Availability
10.6 India's 'Last Electrified Village' Leisang Still Fighting Darkness
1. History and Culture
1.1 HC Wants ASI Archaeologist Transferred Back To Keezhadi
 The Madras High Court impressed on the Centre the need to show greater vigour
and interest in proceeding with the excavations that had led to promising
discovery of an ancient
civilisation having thrived on
the banks of river Vaigai at
Keezhadi village in Sivaganga
district.
 The judges granted two
weeks’ time to the counsel
for ASI to get the official
transferred back.
 In 2013-14, the
Archaeological Survey of
India (ASI) carried out
explorations in 293 sites
along the Vaigai river valley
in Theni, Dindigul, Madurai,
Sivaganga and
Ramanathapuram districts.
 Keezhadi in Sivaganga
district was chosen for
excavation and artefacts unearthed by the ASI in the second phase of the
excavation at Pallichanthai Thidal of Keezhadi pointed to an ancient civilisation
that thrived on the banks of the Vaigai.
 Carbon dating of charcoal found at the Keezhadi site in February 2017
established that the settlement there belonged to 200 BC. The excavations thus
proved that urban civilisation had existed in Tamil Nadu since the Sangam age.
 The Union Ministry of Culture has announced that the third phase of excavation
will begin in this month and go on for three years and Rs.40 lakh has been
sanctioned.
 Meanwhile, the transfer of K. Amarnath Ramakrishna, Superintending
Archaeologist, Excavations Branch (Bangalore), ASI, who has been overseeing the
excavation work in Keezhadi, at a crucial juncture kicked up a storm recently.
 For several years, experts had surmised that the archaeological site at Keezhadi in
Sivaganga district of Tamil Nadu dates back to the Sangam era.
 Now, carbon dating has confirmed that two samples sent from the site are indeed
nearly 2,200 years old. Radio Carbon dating suggests that the samples go back to
2,160+30 years and 2,200+30 years.
1.2 Quieter, Greener Homage To Belur Saint
 In a bid to conserve environment, the Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna
Mission will break an age-old tradition this year and do away with the practice of
having a fireworks display as part of the birth-anniversary celebrations of Sri
Ramakrishna.
 In the interest of environment protection, it has been decided to do way with the
fireworks display this year.
 The birth anniversary programme of the 19th century saint RamakrishnaDev is
marked by a pre-dawn arati, Vedic-chanting and a homa (invocation of gods with
offerings before a fire). Traditionally, it culminates with a public event on a
Sunday with a fireworks display in the evening on the adjacent banks of the
Hooghly river.
 Spread over 40 acres on the west bank of the river, the Math complex, with its
architecturally distinct temples and landscaped gardens, attracts devotees and
tourists alike from all over the country and beyond, as well as the residents of
Howrah, a congested industrial district across Kolkata.
 For the first time this year, the anniversary celebrations included folk theatre or
jatra and a performance of chhau — a masked dance form from West Bengal’s
Purulia district.
Chhau dance
 Chhau dance is a tradition from eastern India that enacts episodes from epics
including the Mahabharata and Ramayana, local folklore and abstract themes.
 Its three distinct styles hail from the regions of Seraikella (Jharkand), Purulia
(West Bengal) and Mayurbhanj (Odisha), the first two using masks.
 Chhau dance is intimately connected to regional festivals, notably the spring
festival Chaitra Parva. Its origin is traceable to indigenous forms of dance and
martial practices.
 Its vocabulary of movement includes mock combat techniques, stylized gaits of
birds and animals and movements modelled on the chores of village housewives.
 Chhau is taught to male dancers from families of traditional artists or from local
communities. The dance is performed at night in an open space to traditional and
folk melodies, played on the reed pipes mohuri and shehnai.
 The reverberating drumbeats of a variety of drums dominate the accompanying
music ensemble.
 Chhau is an integral part of the culture of these communities. It binds together
people from different social strata and ethnic background with diverse social
practices, beliefs, professions and languages.
 In 2010, under the effect of UNESCO’s programs to preserve cultural diversity,
institutions were set up to teach and spread this native dance form. The Chaitra
Parva festival has since been financed by the state government to celebrate the
uniqueness of this dance. Several local people along with the students of the
institutions, aided by their teachers, take part in the festival. One such institution
is the Sangeet Natak Akademi.
1.3 Punjab: District Admin, Memorial Trust Differ On Number Of Victims Of
Jallianwala Bagh Massacre
 While the country is going to observe 100th anniversary of Jallianwala Bagh
massacre next month (April 2019), Amritsar district administration is not sure
whether it has any original record related to the incident.
 District administration and Jallianwala Bagh National Memorial Trust are also not
on the same page over the number of people killed during the massacre.
 According to secretary of the trust, Sukumar Mukherjee, and an information
board inside the bagh, as many as 379 people had died in the its premises on 13
April, 1919 when Colonel Reginald Edward Harry Dyer ordered the firing on a
peaceful assembly.
 However, a memorial installed by Punjab government just outside Bagh, on the
heritage walk street leading to the Golden Temple, suggests that 501 people were
killed.
 In a list with the district administration, out of the 501 names, 473 are available
and some serial numbers are left blank.
 British government had also given compensation to the victim families after the
dust around the incident was settled. Compensation was also given to the injured
in the incident. History suggest that there was lengthy official written
communication between different offices. However, Amritsar administration is not
confident if any paper of that record is with them.
 Most important thing is that sanctity and dignity of martyrs should be
maintained. So it doesn’t look nice at this moment that we should make any
speculation about the list.
 The 1919 Amritsar massacre, known alternatively as the Jallianwala Bagh
massacre after the Jallianwala Bagh (Garden) in the northern Indian city of
Amritsar, was ordered by General R.E.H. Dyer. On Sunday April 13, 1919, which
happened to be 'Baisakhi', one of Punjab's largest religious festivals, fifty British
Indian Army soldiers, commanded by Brigadier-General Reginald Dyer, began
shooting at an unarmed gathering of men, women, and children without warning.
 Dyer marched his fifty riflemen to a raised bank and ordered them to kneel and
fire. Dyer ordered soldiers to reload their rifles several times and they were
ordered to shoot to kill.
 On April 13, the holiday of Baisakhi, thousands of Hindus, Sikhs and Muslims
gathered in the Jallianwala Bagh (garden) near the Harmandir Sahib in Amritsar.
Baisakhi is a Sikh festival, commemorating the day that Guru Gobind Singh
founded the Khalsa Panth in 1699, and also known as the 'Birth of Khalsa.'
During this time people celebrate by congregating in religious and community
fairs, and there may have been a large number who were unaware of the political
meeting.
 Apart from the many deaths directly from the shooting, a number of people died in
stampedes at the narrow gates or by jumping into the solitary well on the
compound to escape the shooting. A plaque in the monument at the site, set up
after independence, says that 120 bodies were pulled out of the well.
 The Hunter Commission did not award any penal nor disciplinary action because
Dyer's actions were condoned by various superiors (later upheld by the Army
Council). However, he was finally found guilty of a mistaken notion of duty and
relieved of his command.
1.4 Dalai Lama’s Assertion That His Successor Could Be Found In India
 China rejected the assertion by the Dalai Lama that his successor could be found
in India — a move that could undermine the legitimacy of the next in line chosen
by Beijing.
 The 14th Dalai Lama has been living in India in exile since 1959.
 China has labeled him a “dangerous secessionist,” who undermines the “one-
China” principle, which implies that Tibet, Taiwan and Xinjiang are integral parts
of China.
 The Dalai Lama said that China is worried about the legitimacy of his successor.
He opined “In future, in case you see two Dalai Lamas come, one from here, in a
free country, one is chosen by Chinese, and then nobody will trust, nobody will
respect (the one chosen by China). So that’s an additional problem for the
Chinese. It’s possible, it can happen”.
 The Chinese have told back the reincarnation of Dalai Lama should pursue
Chinese laws, regulations as well as established religious principles. The
reincarnation system has been there for hundreds of years. The 14th Dalai also
was recognised in the religious rituals and was approved by the Central
government. So the reincarnation of Dalai Lama should be following the national
laws and regulations and the religious rituals.
 Reincarnation is the unique way of Tibetan Buddhism. It has fixed rituals and
systems. The Chinese government has a policy of freedom of religious beliefs.
 China has insisted that it reserved the right to appoint the Dalai Lama’s
successor, pursuing the long established tradition set by Chinese emperors.
 Tibetans hold the belief that the soul of the Dalai Lama will reincarnate in the
body of a child after his death, who has then to be identified as his successor
following a set of rituals.
 The 14th Dalai Lama was born in 1935, and lives in exile in India, along with
around 100,000 Tibetans.
Tibetan Buddhism
 Tibetan Buddhism is a religion in exile, forced from its homeland when Tibet was
conquered by the Chinese. At one time it was thought that 1 in 6 Tibetan men
were Buddhist monks.
 The best known face of Tibetan Buddhism is the Dalai Lama, who has lived in
exile in India since he fled Chinese occupation of his country in 1959.
 Tibetan Buddhism combines the essential teachings of Mahayana Buddhism with
Tantric and Shamanic, and material from an ancient Tibetan religion called Bon.
 Although Tibetan Buddhism is often thought to be identical with Vajrayana
Buddhism, they are not identical - Vajrayana is taught in Tibetan Buddhism
together with the other vehicles.
 Buddhism became a major presence in Tibet towards the end of the 8th century
CE. It was brought from India at the invitation of the Tibetan king, Trisong
Detsen, who invited two Buddhist masters to Tibet and had important Buddhist
texts translated into Tibetan.
 First to come was Shantarakshita, abbot of Nalanda in India, who built the first
monastery in Tibet. He was followed by Padmasambhava, who came to use his
wisdom and power to overcome "spiritual" forces that were stopping work on the
new monastery.
2. Social Issues
2.1 North India’s latent ‘demographic dividend’
 The demographic divergence between regions within the country must be seen as
an opportunity for growth.
Demographic divergence between north-central and south-western regions
 One is a young hinterland with vast labour
force and the other ones are ageing with UNFPA is formally named the
decreasing working age population. United Nations Population Fund.
 Most of the current and future The organization was created in
demographic potential is locked in the 1969.
north-central States, and largely located in UNFPA is the United Nations
Bihar, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, sexual and reproductive health
Rajasthan, and Uttar Pradesh. agency.
 As per population projections by UNFPA,
these five States will account for more UNFPA calls for the realization of
than half of the growth in the labour force reproductive rights for all and
in India. supports access to a wide range of
 Those who are under 15 years of age today sexual and reproductive health
will become India’s working population in services – including voluntary
coming decades. Almost every second family planning, maternal health
person in this age group resides in these care and comprehensive sexuality
five States. education.
 The accompanying figure shows that there
is a gap of almost 20 years between the northern hinterland and southern States
in terms of the peak of the working age ratios in these regions.
 When the total as well as percentage of working population will be declining in the
advanced demographic transition States, it will still be increasing in north-central
States.
 Of the 628 million population growth during 2001-2061, 400 million (two-third of
the total addition) will be only in six north-central States.
 In the advanced demographic transition States, the total workforce size is
projected to increase from 200 million in 2011 to 227 million in 2031 and then it
will start decreasing to reach 183 million in 2061; 17 million less in 2061 than
2011.
 During the same period, the working age population in the late demographic stage
States like Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh etc. will increase
from 297 million in 2011 to 446 million in 2031 to reach a maximum of 526
million in 2051 and 515 million in 2061; with a net increase of 218 million.
 In terms of proportion of the total national working age population, their share
will keep on increasing from today to 2061; from 40 per cent in 2011 to 53 per
cent in 2061.
 The share of the advanced demographic stage States, on the other hand, will keep
on decreasing; from 27 per cent in 2011 to approximately 18 per cent in 2061.
Policy implications of this demographic divergence.

 The north-central region is and will be the hub of labour force in the country. If
India wants to become a developed nation, the key lies in these very States.
 These States could become major contributors to the socio-economic development
in the country if the right policies and commensurate attention and resources are
allotted to realize the full potential of their large young population.
 The greying south-western region will require workers for keeping institutions
running, taking care of the elderly and maintaining the economic productivity
while the north-central region will have high and possibly surplus young working
age population.
 This will lead to increased migration and urbanization.
 Already, the migration trends are evident, with established flows of young people
from north-central States to other parts in the country. Demographic divergence
will render further impetus to migration.
 The large young and working population in the years to come will migrate to
urban areas within their own and other States, leading to rapid and large-scale
increase in urban population.
Intended policy measures

 Migration could be a big game changer and a win-win situation for individuals,
families, States (both sending and receiving) and the nation if collaborative
planning is done by migration origin and destination States with the national
government acting as a facilitator for such collaborations.
 There is a need to gain deeper understanding of migration flows, so that
estimations and projections can be made regarding changing needs for housing
and infrastructure, healthcare and utilities, education and skills.
 States need to work together to provide portability of identity proof and
entitlements, as well as build support systems for families left behind.
 India urgently needs to take cognizance of the divergent demographic transition
trends. Timely strategic action can develop human capacities to cater to future
needs and build rights-based policies that work for migrants as well as locals.
 There has to be increased focus on urbanization. How these migrating people can
have access to basic amenities, health and social services in urban areas need to
be the focus of urban policy planning.
2.2 India has highest number of poor despite 27 crore moving out of poverty
in 10 years
 India has reduced its poverty rate drastically Multidimensional poverty
from 55% to 28% in 10 years, with 271 million index
people moving out of poverty between 2005-06  The report measures MPI, or
and 2015-16, according to the Global MPI multidimensional poverty
2018 Report prepared by the United Nations index, which it says can be
Development Programme (UNDP) and the broken down to show “who is
Oxford Poverty and Human Development poor” and “how they are
Initiative. poor”.
Findings from the report  This factors in two measures,
 The report, covering 105 countries, dedicates a poverty rate as a percentage
chapter to India because of this remarkable of the population, and
progress. However, India still had 364 intensity as the average
million poor in 2015-16, the largest for any share of deprivations that
country, although it is down from 635 million poor people experience.
in 2005-06.  The product of these two is
 In India, poverty reduction among children, MPI.
the poorest states, Scheduled Tribes, and  If someone is deprived in a
Muslims was fastest, the report says. third or more of 10 weighted
 Of the 364 million people who were MPI poor indicators, the global index
in 2015-16, 156 million (34.6%) were children. identifies them as “MPI poor”.
 In 2005-06 there were 292 million poor
children in India, so the latest figures represent a 47% decrease or 136 million
fewer children growing
up in multidimensional
poverty.
 Although Muslims and
STs reduced poverty
the most over the 10
years, these two groups
still had the highest
rates of poverty.
 While 80% of ST
members had been
poor in 2005-06, 50%
of them were still poor
in 2015-16.
 While 60% of Muslims
had been poor in 2005-
06, 31% of them were
still poor in 2015-16.
 Bihar was the poorest
state in 2015-16, with
more than half its population in poverty.
 The four poorest states —Bihar, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh, and Madhya Pradesh
— were still home to 196 million MPI poor people, which was over half of all the
MPI poor people in India.
 Jharkhand had the greatest improvement, followed by Arunachal Pradesh, Bihar,
Chhattisgarh, and Nagaland.
 At the other end, Kerala, one of the least poor regions in 2006, reduced its MPI by
around 92%.
Global findings
 Worldwide, the report found, 1.3 billion people live in multidimensional poverty in
the 105 developing countries it covered.
 This represents 23%, or nearly a quarter, of the population of these countries.
 These people are deprived in at least one-third of overlapping indicators in health,
education, and living standards, it says.
 While the study found multidimensional poverty in all developing regions of the
world, it was seen to be particularly acute in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.
 These two regions account together for 83% (more than 1.1 billion) of all
multidimensional poor people in the world.
 Additionally, two-thirds of all multidimensional poor people live in middle-income
countries, with 889 million people in these countries experiencing deprivations in
nutrition, schooling, and sanitation, just like those in low-income countries.
 The report describes the level of global child poverty as staggering, with children
accounting for virtually half (49.9%) of the world’s poor. Worldwide, over 665
million children live in multidimensional poverty.
 In 35 countries, at least half of all children are MPI poor. In South Sudan and
Niger, some 93% of all children are MPI poor.
3. Governance
3.1 An Independent Institutions Bill
 The independence and credibility of our state institutions have never been so
thoroughly in doubt since the Emergency. Characterized as the fourth branch of
the state — because of their distinctiveness from the executive, legislature and
judiciary — these institutions are tasked with the protection of key constitutional
values such as democracy, legality, impartiality, probity, human rights and price
stability. However, an Independent Institutions Bill remains a long-unrealized
constitutional aspiration.
Fourth branch of the state
 In the Indian context, institutions of the fourth branch include the Election
Commission, Lokpal, Central Bureau of Investigation, Reserve Bank, National
Statistics Commission, National Human Rights Commission, Information
Commission, commissions for various marginalised groups, Central Vigilance
Commission, Comptroller & Auditor General, Attorney General, Public Service
Commission, University Grants Commission, Finance Commission, Niti Aayog,
media regulators and many others.
 Some of these institutions are constitutional; others have quasi-constitutional
status.
Implicit protection under constitution
 While Chapter Nine of the South African Constitution explicitly guarantees
independence to the fourth branch of the state, the Indian Constitution does so
implicitly by expecting Parliament to enact a law prescribing detailed
mechanisms for appointments to and functioning of such institutions — for
example, through Articles 280(2) and 324(2).
 However, an Independent Institutions Bill remains a long-unrealised
constitutional aspiration.
An Independent Institutions Bill
 An Independent Institutions Bill should seek the following objectives:
 Multi-partisan appointments,
 Operational independence and impartiality,
 Accountability to the legislature rather than the executive.
 Key to achieving these purposes is to put multi-partisan legislative committees —
called Independent Institutions Committees (IICs) — in the driving seat.
Independent Institutions Committees (IICs)
 Parliamentary IICs could include two nominees of the ruling party/alliance
(including any party providing support from the outside) and a nominee each from
the three largest Opposition parties in each House.
 The vidhan sabha IICs could have one governmental nominee and one each from
the two largest Opposition parties. These details can be fine-tuned, but a united
Opposition should be able to defeat the government, forcing it to compromise with
at least one key Opposition party.
 Thus designed, the IICs will include the voice of the powerful regional parties of
the day, and not just the two national parties.
 The IICs should be guaranteed adequate staff and resources to permit the proper
discharge their functions.
Multi-partisan appointments
 The Rajya Sabha’s IIC should issue a public advertisement at least three months
before a post in an institution is due to become vacant.
 Based on applications and consultations with relevant stakeholders, the IIC
should draw up a shortlist of at least two — and no more than five — names to fill
up the posts.
 From this shortlist, the final selection should be made by the Lok Sabha’s IIC for
central institutions, and the relevant vidhan sabha’s IIC for state institutions.
 Apart from fourth-branch institutions, parliamentary IICs could also deal with the
appointments of governors while the state-level mechanism (involving the Rajya
Sabha and vidhan sabha IICs) could be used to appoint police chiefs.
 All shortlisting and decisions on appointments must be made by a single-
transferable vote. Appointment decisions should ideally be made before the post
falls vacant — responsibility should be fixed for the failure to do so within three
months of the vacancy arising.
Operational independence and impartiality
 Judicial independence demands that judges stay out of politically-salient
appointments completely.
 The appointments should be for a fixed term. Removal from office should require
at least four votes in the Rajya Sabha IIC, after a specially-instituted independent
inquiry finds a breach of a statutorily specified offence.
 All institutional decisions should be made by a governing committee rather than
the chief officer acting on her own. Except promotions within the institution,
appointees should not be eligible for any public office after stepping down.
 Salaries, perks and staff provisions should be statutorily protected. Transfers and
interim appointments may be made only by a majority vote in the Rajya Sabha
IIC.
 A robust guarantee of non-interference by the executive should be anxiously
policed by the courts.
Accountability to the legislature
 The Bill should require fourth branch institutions to regularly publish reports
about their functioning. Based on these public reports, the Lok Sabha or vidhan
sabha IIC, as the case may be, should question their senior staff in annual,
televised, hearings.
 The Rajya Sabha IIC may, by a majority vote, decide to summon them at any time
for questioning on particular matters.
3.2 Ease of Doing Litigation
 As litigation continues to grow and becomes more expensive, there is an emerging
debate in India on third party funding of dispute resolution, at least in cases
where stakes were high. The Boom in litigation costs has led to emergence of
Third Party Litigation Funding (hereinafter referred as “TPLF”) by the affluent
businessmen, who view these expenses as an investment opportunity. Third Party
Litigation Funding involves the funding of litigation activities by entities other
than the parties themselves, their counsel, or other entities with a pre-existing
contractual relationship with one of the parties, such as an indemnitor or a
liability insurer in exchange for a portion of settlement or judgment proceeds from
the case
Third-Party Funding (TPF) Litigation in India
 TPF involves a third party to a dispute financing some, or all, of the litigant’s legal
fees and expenses incurred in a dispute, in exchange for a share of the damages.
 It is a simple financing arrangement where the funder agrees to pay the client’s
costs in bringing a claim, be it litigation or arbitration. The funder—a specialist
funding company –is entitled to return on the investment usually through
recovered damages, if the litigation is successful.
 Unlike many other jurisdictions where such TPF arrangements have become a
standard part of the litigation and arbitration landscape and despite there being
an express recognition of TPF under the Code of Civil Procedure it is only recently
that TPF is finding its feet in India through the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code
(IBC) route.
 The Supreme Court in Bar Council of India v. AK Balaji (2015), has clarified the
legal permissibility of TPF in litigation and observed that “There appears to be no
restriction on third parties (non-lawyers) funding the litigation and getting repaid
after the outcome of the litigation.”
 TPF may extend to all dispute resolution mechanisms – courts, tribunals,
arbitration and mediation. TPF can cover legal counsel’s fee, court/tribunal’s fee,
and cost of expert witnesses, pre-deposit, adverse costs order, and other dispute-
related expenses.
 TPF enables the creation of a financial level playing field between disputing
parties, and in this, improves the structural infrastructure for access to justice.
 Drawing on litigation financing allows parties to leverage capital to enforce their
rights. This non-recourse finance with zero cost of capital results in increased
operating profit and market value without any impact on EBITDA.
 From a litigant’s perspective, it equips him or her with greater risk management
opportunities and promotes access to justice.
 From an investor point of view, it provides third-party funders with a new pool of
potential investments and opportunities with higher returns.
TPF in Other Countries
 In England and Wales, for instance, a code of conduct is administered for
litigation funders requiring the funders, among other things, to ‘act reasonably’,
resist from withdrawing such funding except under certain specific
circumstances, maintain confidentiality, and not take control of the litigation or
settlement negotiations
 Similar regulations governing conduct and qualification of third party funders
have also been introduced in popular arbitration jurisdictions like Singapore and
Hong Kong.
 Most recently, Singapore introduced the amended Civil Law Act and the Civil Law
(Third-Party Funding) Regulations, 2017 making third-party funding in
international arbitration and related proceedings legal.
 On the same lines, Hong Kong enacted and amended its legislative framework to
enable third-party funding in arbitration and mediation. Both Hong Kong and
Singapore have witnessed rapid changes.
Need for TPF regulatory framework in India
 While the growth of TPF in India is still at an embryonic stage and is poised to
grow, in its interplay with existing regulations, it poses unique challenges that call
for clarity on various aspects.
 It also necessitates putting in place an adequate TPF regulatory framework to
effectively tackle such challenges.
 First, and foremost, is the requirement of disclosure by a party of any such TPF
arrangement and the details of the funder.
 Unlike jurisdictions like Singapore and Hong Kong where there are legislations in
place expressly requiring parties to disclose such TPF arrangements, no such
express stipulation of law finds place in India. However, failure of a party to make
such a disclosure can still fall foul of the provisions of certain existing legislation.
 The 1996 Arbitration Act, for instance, would warrant such disclosure for the
purposes of ascertaining the absence of any conflicting relationship between the
arbitrator and the funder.
 Such an omission could present an opportunity for the other side to block the
arbitration and could also, subsequently, constitute a ground for challenging the
validity of any award passed.
 Another aspect of TPF that requires regulation is the qualification and conduct of
such third-party funder’s vis-à-vis the party receiving the funding, as well as the
adjudication process.
3.3 FSSAI commits to stricter labelling norms
 At a day-long National Conclave on Food organized by Centre for Science and
Environment (CSE), the New Delhi-based research and advocacy think tank,
about 50 experts from across the country deliberated upon pressing issues
related to the way food is produced and promoted in the country and its
linkages with the growing burden of diseases.
Major deliberations of the conclave
 Experts recognised linkages between India’s growing burden of diseases and the
food produced intensively using chemicals as well as ‘bad food’ — ultra-processed
foods high in fats, sugar or salt (HFSS), marketed rampantly.
 Strong pesticide management bill needed. Class I pesticides, extremely hazardous
and toxic, must be phased out.
 Regulations needed to reduce misuse of antibiotics in food animals and to contain
AMR (antimicrobial resistance) – operationalize the National Action Plan on AMR
and develop State Action Plans.
 Make organic farming a mass movement.
 FSSAI must notify labelling regulations and ban bad food in schools. Robust
regulatory framework for advertisement of bad foods essential.
 A panel discussion around ‘regulating bad food’ addressed the draft food
labelling regulation which will soon be released for public comments.
Misleading food labels
 A soup brand claims it is healthy, because it is low of fat. What it does not say is
how high it is on sodium.
 Health drinks brands claim that pediatricians recommend them for development
of children. What really happens is that children become hyper-active after
drinking them as they are high on sugar. Once the effect wears off, they become a
bit dull. This cyclical reaction gives the mothers an illusion that the product is
effective.
 At present, mandatory elements on a label are: energy (in Kcal), along with
protein, carbohydrate (with sugar), and fat. Information is mentioned as per 100 g
or 100 ml. Salt or sodium information is not mandatory, despite the knowledge
that a high, unreasonable amount is a risk factor for cardiovascular disease.
 In addition, there are gaps of ultra-processed food, exemption of small packs from
labelling, and the presentation of an unhealthy food as healthy through methods
like fortification.
 There is context of India’s obesity epidemic and the cradle-to-grave tactics that
food companies use to capture children’s minds. This begins from in-app
advertising in games for infants, setting unhealthy habits from the very start of
life. Children are not expected to take more than 2 grams of sodium [a day], and
just one soup has 3,977 mg (almost 4 g) of sodium.
Probable remedial measures
 Labelling of High fat/sugar/salt (HFSS) content needs to mandatory as opposed to
the current practice of labelling only when a claim is made.
 For fat, clear labels detailing trans-fat, mono unsaturated fatty acid (MUFA) and
poly unsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) are required.
 There should be standardization of per-serving size, mandatory labelling of
salt/sodium, added sugar, fats and trans fat, and products with genetically
modified organisms.
 Front-of-the-pack (FOP) labelling should be developed, including HFSS warning.
 The definition of the category of packaged foods should based on the World Health
Organization guidelines, with fat (including trans and saturated fats), sodium, and
sugar over a certain limit getting a red marking.
 The government is considering amending the Consumer Protection Act to provide
for five-year jail term or a penalty of `50 lakh to hold celebrities responsible for
false and misleading claims. There is need to expedite this process.
3.4 Defence Procurement in India
 The stain of the Bofors scandal that was unearthed in 1987 has diseased India’s
defence procurement ever since. Be it the purchase of howitzers or
AgustaWestland choppers or indeed the Rafale aircraft, every Indian defence
procurement initiative invites severe political challenge. This has reached such a
stage that defence procurement in India has become well-nigh impossible and as
a country we are imperilling our security at a time when the world is geo
politically unstable.
Flaws in Defence Procurement
 India is one of the world largest importer of defence equipment and hardware. At
present over 70% of all Indian defence equipment are imported and the volumes of
imports are likely to remain significant over the next decade at the very least.
 Hence it is incumbent upon us that we put in place processes that enhance the
level of transparency and ensure a level playing field for all players;
 We are today seven times the size of Pakistan’s GDP but the armies and military
equipment are much more comparable.
 A Defence Ministry report has revealed that India's weapons procurement process
has been severely affected due to various reasons.
 There has been at least seven major defence scams in India since independence,
leading to the fall of government and ministers.
 The major one being Bofors scam in the 1980s that led to the fall of Rajiv Gandhi
government over charges that the Swedish gun manufacturer paid bribes to
supply howitzer.
 The scam generated so much heat and scare among bureaucrats that India did
have howitzers for 20 long years despite being hemmed in by Pakistan and China.
 The flaws have also turned out be a major obstacle for the "Make in India"
initiative for the defence sector, launched in 2014.
 The 27-point internal report says: Of 144 deals in the last three financial years,
"only 8%-10% fructified within the stipulated time period,"
 The report also says that the Army, Air Force, Navy and Coast Guard do not work
as a system, which "puts greater strain on the limited defence budget."
 After the weapons purchase enters the Request for Proposal (RFP) stage, the
average time taken to clear files is 120 weeks - six times more than rules laid
down by the ministry in 2016. "The fastest RFP clearance was accorded in 17
weeks while the slowest took a monumental 422 weeks (over eight years)," the
report said.
 The classic example of how India’s defence procurement works is the 18-year-old
process to replace its ageing MiG 21s with medium multi-role combat aircraft.
 In 2000, the Indian Air Force sounded its interest in fighter jets to replace the
ageing MiG 21s. Six years later, the Indian government issued tender for 126
aircraft, which saw Boeing and Lockheed Martin, Dassault, and Saab among
others enter into a dogfight in the Indian sky for a share of the lucrative pie.
 Though in 2012, India zeroed in on Dassault after it came up with the lowest bid,
the deal was put on hold in 2014 for cash crunch though the parties spent years
negotiating the deal.
 In 2015, the government ordered 36 “ready-to-fly” Rafale jets in a government-to-
government deal. But even that deal is mired in allegations of rip-off.
 The other flaws in weapon procurement are : multiple and diffused structures
with no single point accountability, multiple decision-heads, duplication of
processes, delayed comments, delayed execution, no real-time monitoring, no
project-based approach and a tendency to fault-find rather than to facilitate.
Ways for Effective Procurement
 We should agree to a certain minimum defence equipment purchase budget as a
percentage of our annual budget. The Parliament should be informed each year
whether the allocated amount was spent on defence equipment.
 We need to create a new institutional mechanism for defence purchase. This
mechanism needs to both de-risk the officials involved in defence procurement,
provide robust oversight and yet be conducted in a time-bound manner.
 We need to ensure equipment gets purchased in a time-bound manner and a
certain amount of the annual budget is allocated to defence equipment and that
an interparty group approves the final purchases.
 Defence procurement should be subject to transparent processes that ensure that
Indian companies, big and small, compete on a level playing field.
 While the procurement policy recognizes the need for domestic private
partnership, it does not mandate a fair and diverse procurement process for
offsets.
 Given the large contract values involved, this makes it likely that foreign suppliers
will partner with just one or two large industrial groups to discharge their offset
obligations. This flaw needs to be looked after by government
 More importantly, transparency is essential in procurement contracts.
3.5 Courts Should Stay Out Of Governance, Says Supreme Court
 It is the sole prerogative of the government to frame schemes, courts should stay
out of governance, the Supreme Court has said in a judgment.
 A Bench led by Justice A.M. Sapre criticised the Uttarakhand High Court for
framing a scheme to regularise hundreds of casual workers engaged by the Border
Roads Organisation (BRO) under the Ministry of Defence in the construction of
roads for going to pilgrimage of Char Dham Yatra.
 All the High Court, in exercise of its extraordinary power under Article226 of the
Constitution, can do is to direct the government to consider for framing an
appropriate scheme.
 Such directions to the government to “consider” framing a scheme should be with
regard to the facts and circumstances of each case. It is only in exceptional cases
when the court considers it proper to issue appropriate mandatory directions.
 Instead, in the present, a Single Judge of the High Court framed “a scheme itself
to regularise the services of the casual paid labourers and granted them the
benefits similar to those of the regular employees under the labour law.”
Article 226
 Article 226, empowers the high courts to issue, to any person or authority,
including the government (in appropriate cases), directions, orders or writs,
including writs in the nature of habeas corpus, mandamus, prohibition, quo
warranto, certiorari or any of them.
Doctrine of Separation of Powers
 The doctrine of separation of powers implies that each pillar of democracy – the
executive, legislature and the judiciary – perform separate functions and act as
separate entities. The executive is vested with the power to make policy decisions
and implement laws. The legislature is empowered to issue enactments. The
judiciary is responsible for adjudicating disputes.
 The doctrine is a part of the basic structure of the Indian Constitution even
though it is not specifically mentioned in its text.
 There have been some cases where the courts have issued laws and policy related
orders through their judgements. These include
 The Vishakha case where guidelines on sexual harassment were issued by the
Supreme Court.
 The order of the Court directing the Centre to distribute food grains (2010)
and
 The appointment of the Special Investigation Team to replace the High Level
Committee established by the Centre for investigating black money deposits in
Swiss Banks.
 In 1983 when Justice Bhagwati introduced public interest litigation in India,
Justice Pathak in the same judgement warned against the “temptation of
crossing into territory which properly pertains to the Legislature or to the
Executive Government”.
 Hence the above judgement is in a view to see that judicial activism does not
become judicial adventurism, the courts must act with caution and proper
restraint.
 It needs to be remembered that courts cannot run the government. The judiciary
should act only as an alarm bell; it should ensure that the executive has become
alive to perform its duties.”
3.6 National Health Policy- Hurdles and Challenges
 The ambitious National Health Policy, 2017 (NHP), which aims to achieve
universal health coverage and deliver quality healthcare services to all at
affordable costs, has a rough road ahead with its implementation on ground. It
has several challenges such as lack of infrastructure and amalgamation of various
streams of the healthcare sector, which will have to be addressed if it has to be a
success story.
Highlights of Policy
 The main objective of the National Health Policy 2017 is to achieve the highest
possible level of good health and well-being, through a preventive and promotive
health care orientation in all developmental policies, and to achieve universal
access to good quality health care services without anyone having to face financial
hardship as a consequence.
 In order to provide access and financial protection at secondary and tertiary care
levels, the policy proposes free drugs, free diagnostics and free emergency care
services in all public hospitals.
 The policy envisages strategic purchase of secondary and tertiary care services as
a short term measure to supplement and fill critical gaps in the health system.
 The Policy recommends prioritizing the role of the Government in shaping health
systems in all its dimensions.
 The roadmap of this new policy is predicated on public spending and provisioning
of a public healthcare system that is comprehensive, integrated and accessible to
all.
 The policy proposes raising public health expenditure to 2.5% of the GDP in a
time bound manner.
 Policy envisages providing larger package of assured comprehensive primary
health care through the Health and Wellness Centres'.
 The policy assigns specific quantitative targets aimed at reduction of disease
prevalence/incidence, for health status and programme impact, health system
performance and system strengthening.
 Towards mainstreaming the potential of AYUSH the policy envisages better access
to AYUSH remedies through co-location in public facilities. Yoga would also be
introduced much more widely in school and work places as part of promotion of
good health.
 The policy advocates extensive deployment of digital tools for improving the
efficiency and outcome of the healthcare system and proposes establishment of
National Digital Health Authority (NDHA) to regulate, develop and deploy digital
health across the continuum of care.
Challenges for National Health Policy
 One major cause for concern is limited use of the health management information
system as a proactive management tool in government health programmes.
 There is also inadequate linkage between research institutions and the
implementation wing. The HIV/AIDS programme seems to be losing steam due to
shortage of resources and dwindling political commitment.
 Challenges of inadequate facilities, infrastructure, coverage, access and quality
continue to plague the health system.
 Over 95% of facilities function with less than five workers, and only 195 hospitals
in the entire nation operate with quality certifications. Essential diagnostics, such
as mammograms have scant coverage of only 1%.
 In recent years, efforts have been made to mainstream Indian systems of
medicine, but integration remains incomplete due to the absence of healthy
interdisciplinary dialogue between AYUSH and allopathic systems.
 Although there is a plethora of health research institutions in India, there is little
synergy between them. There is also limited role of these institutions in
formulation of major health policies and programmes.
 An area of major concern is environmental degradation, with the pollution levels
in most major cities reaching alarming proportions, even as India wakes up to a
major health threat.
3.7 Forest Rights Act and disempowering gram Sabhas
 Since 1980, through the Forest Conservation Act (FCA), the Ministry of
Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF) has “diverted for non-forest
use” over 1.5 million hectares of forest. Diverting these forests has yielded
thousands of crores of rupees for corporations to which a bulk of these forestlands
were diverted, and for forest departments via compensatory funds.
 But it sabotaged the forest rights of the original inhabitants of these forests,
already among the most marginalised, and coped with the loss of homes and
livelihoods.
Forest Rights Act
 The Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest
Rights) Act, 2006, was enacted to recognize the pre-existing rights of forest-
dwellers.
 Recognising them as “integral to the survival and sustainability of the forest
ecosystem,” the FRA gives their gram sabhas “the responsibilities and authority
for sustainable use, conservation of biodiversity and maintenance of ecological
balance.”
 A key 2009 regulation actualized gram sabha powers by mandating that all forest
diversion proposals and compensatory and ameliorative schemes be presented in
detail to the relevant gram sabhas to award or withhold its free, prior, informed
consent, and also be preceded by the
settlement of all rights under the FRA.
Rights under the Act:
 This long overdue move created for the first
time a space for forest communities to Title rights – Ownership to land
participate in decision-making around that is being farmed by tribals or
diversion proposals, making forest forest dwellers subject to a
governance more accountable, ecologically maximum of 4 hectares;
informed and resource just. ownership is only for land that is
Subverting the Forest Rights Act actually being cultivated by the
 A decade on, the state and corporations are concerned family, meaning that
shredding this reform to bits. no new lands are granted.
 In 2016, for instance, a proposal whereby the
Use rights – to minor forest
Odisha Mining Corporation (OMC) sought
produce (also including
1,400 acres of forestland across seven Adivasi
ownership), to grazing areas, to
villages of Keonjhar in the ecologically
pastoralist routes, etc.
sensitive Gandhamardan mountains, for an
iron ore mine. The diversion proposal sent by Relief and development rights
the OMC and the Odisha government to the – to rehabilitation in case of
MoEF included seven copycat gram sabha illegal eviction or forced
resolutions, supposedly representing the displacement; and to basic
seven villages. amenities, subject to restrictions
 But later a report found that the gram sabha for forest protection.
resolutions were allegedly fake, despite letters
by villages about the forgery and pending Forest management rights – to
FRA claims, the MoEF issued permission to protect forests and wildlife.
the OMC to destroy this stretch of forest.
 The MoEF tried to formalize this travesty by
writing to all States that FRA compliance is not needed for ‘in-principle’
approval for diversions. Violating the FRA, this damaging move eliminates gram
sabhas from decision-making, and makes diversion a violent fait accompli for
forest-dwellers.
 The Union Ministry of Tribal Affairs, the nodal ministry for implementing FRA,
released a status report. Of the 2.9 million claims settled under FRA, only 1.6 per
cent (46,156) gave community rights and most of these did not include rights
over Minor forest produce.
 Thus sabotaging the right to manage these resources meant subverting the
economic liberation of forest dwellers.
 The amendments to the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act,
the Compensatory Afforestation Fund Act and a host of amendments to the Rules
to the FRA also undermine the FRA.
 Also, there is the deliberate freeze of the actual implementation of the FRA.
Neither individual pattas nor pattas for community forest resources are being
given.
 But communities are increasingly rejecting such disempowerment, evident from
protests like a 30-km march days ago by villagers in Chhattisgarh’s Hasdeo Arand
against the MoEF’s recent decision to divert over 2,000 acres of forest to a mine,
despite gram sabha forgery complaints.
3.8 Right To Self-Defence Extends To Protection Of Another Person’s Life And
Property, Says Supreme Court
 The right to self-defence extends not only to one’s own body but to protecting the
person and property of another, the Supreme Court has interpreted the provisions
of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
 The court observed that the right of private defence extends not only to “the
defence of one’s own body against any offence affecting the human body but also
to defend the body of any other person.
 The right also embraces the protection of property, whether one’s own or another
person’s, against certain specified offences, namely, theft, robbery, mischief and
criminal trespass”.
 The court explained that the right does not arise if there is time to have recourse
to the protection of the public authorities. Nor does it extend to the infliction of
more harm than is necessary.
 When death is caused, the person exercising the right of self-defence must be
under “reasonable apprehension of death, or grievous hurt, to himself or to those
whom he is protecting”.
3.9 Code of Ethics for social media in Election
 The Election Commission of India recently met representatives of social media
platforms and the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) regarding the
use of social media ahead of the Lok Sabha Elections and agreed to draft a code of
ethics which social media outfits will follow
during the Lok Sabha elections. Internet and Mobile
Impact of Social Media in Election Association of India
 According to IAMAI, the Internet base has  It is a young and vibrant
more than doubled to almost half a billion association with ambitions
users since the time of the last elections. of representing the entire
 Ever since the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, new gamut of digital businesses
media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook in India.
and WhatsApp, have become political  It was established in 2004
battlegrounds. by the leading online
 The Election Commission began publishers.
conversations about social media in 2013,  The association is registered
but the scale and reach of public engagement under the Societies Act and
on Internet-based platforms has increased is a recognized charitable
enormously since then. institution in Maharashtra.
 Political parties have made a significant  It is the only professional
advertisement push online. According to industry body representing
Facebook’s advertisement portal, Indians the online and mobile Value
spent almost Rs 10 crore between February added services industry in
24 and March 9 this year on political ads on India.
the platform.
 Both the BJP and Congress have expanded their social media volunteers and
office-bearer groups massively. Digital marketers, such as the Congress’s
Silverpush, have entered the picture.
 Most significantly, Facebook’s Cambridge Analytica controversy made election
integrity and social media a topic of discussion in India.
 Cambridge Analytica’s Indian partner Ovleno Business Intelligence (OBI) named
the BJP, Congress, and JD (U) as clients on its website, but all the parties denied
working with the data firm
 These spaces of electioneering have, however, remained unregulated because the
Representation of People Act (RPA), 1951, does not cover social media.
Code of Conduct for Social Media
 In January this year, a 14-member EC committee chaired by Deputy Election
Commissioner Umesh Sinha suggested changes to Section 126 of The
Representation of the People (RP) Act, which prohibits campaigning in the last two
days before voting.
 The panel studied the impact of social and new media during this “silence period”
and recommended appropriate changes to the MCC. New media and social media
are currently not covered under Section 126.
 It suggested all the intermediaries to open a special grievance redressal channel
for EC and appoint dedicated teams during the elections to take quick action on
receipt of a complaint.
 It also added that objectionable content should be removed or disabled
immediately, within an outer limit of three hours
 On March 9, the EC said parties and candidates can’t use photos of defence
personnel and defence functions for election purposes. Subsequently, Facebook
was asked to remove political posters bearing Wg Cdr Abhinandan’s pictures,
shared by BJP leaders.
 Two weeks ago, the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) — which is
representing Facebook, Twitter, Google, WhatsApp and Share Chat in working
with the poll panel to draw up a ‘Code of Ethics’ agreed to “priority channels for
the ECI within their grievance redressal mechanisms” and other election-related
educational programs on these platforms.
 Under the Code, the companies are committed to “acknowledge and/or process”
within three hours all “valid legal orders” to take down content violating the
election model code of conduct.
 The companies also committed to a mechanism in which advertisers can upload
their certification from the EC’s Media Certification and Monitoring Committee
(MCMC).
 Upon notification from the poll panel, the companies will “process/action” against
paid political advertisements that are not certified, the Code states.
 However, The Code does not include any commitment by the companies to pre-
monitor content.
 The Code’s purpose is “to identify measures that Participants can put in place to
increase confidence in the electoral process.”
 The notification system for Google is a Google webform; for Twitter, a legal
submissions portal page; and for ShareChat and Facebook an email address.
3.10 Telecast Exit Polls Only After Last Phase: EC
 Exit polls can only be telecast on the evening of May 19 after the last phase of
Lok Sabha election gets over, the Election Commission said on Saturday as it
issued an advisory to the media in which websites and social media platforms
were included for the first time.
 The Commission said that TV, radio channels, cable networks, websites and social
media platforms should ensure that the contents of programmes
telecast/broadcast/displayed by them during the 48-hour period before the end of
polls in each phase “do not contain any material, including views or appeals by
participants that may be construed as promoting or prejudicing the prospect” of
any particular party or candidate.
 The elections in seven phases will begin on April 11 and end on May 19. Votes will
be counted on May 23.
 The advisory is also applicable for Andhra Pradesh, Sikkim, Odisha and
Arunachal Pradesh where Assembly elections are being held simultaneously.
Exit Polls
 An election exit poll is a poll of voters taken immediately after they have exited the
polling stations. Unlike an opinion poll, which asks for whom the voter plans to
vote, or some similar formulation, an exit poll asks for whom the voter actually
voted.
 A similar poll conducted before actual voters have voted is called an entrance poll.
Pollsters – usually private companies working for newspapers or broadcasters –
conduct exit polls to gain an early indication as to how an election has turned out,
as in many elections the actual result may take hours or even days to count.
3.11 Govt. To seize properties of terror financiers
 The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said it has initiated the process to seize
properties belonging to terror financiers.
 So far 13 persons and their properties have been identified by the National
Investigation Agency (NIA) and the Enforcement Directorate (ED). Ongoing
investigations over the past two years have determined and quantified assets
valued at more than Rs. 7 crore as proceeds of terror-funding crimes.
 Funds obtained through these channels were being used by major secessionist
outfits, particularly the All Party Hurriyat Conference (APHC).
 These funds are used for maintaining top APHC leadership and also the massive
propaganda machinery being used to arouse disaffection among the people of J&K
against the Government of India. It is also being utilised to sustain the spreading
of false information through media contacts, newspapers and social media,” the
official said.
 The official said Zahoor Watali, a Kashmiri businessman arrested in 2017 by the
NIA, was the main conduit for channelling terror finances in India.
 Documents seized by the ED clearly indicate that he has been receiving money
from Hafiz Saeed, Syed Salahuddin, ISI and the Pakistan High Commission at
New Delhi directly.
The Directorate of Enforcement
 The Directorate of Enforcement is mainly concerned with the enforcement of the
provisions of the Foreign Exchange Management Act and Rules and Regulation
issued there under to serve the objectives of the Act.
 The officers of the Directorate perform adjudication function so as to impose
penalty on persons for contravention of the Act.
3.12 Challenges in Aadhaar Payment Bridge System
 Over Rs 167.7 crore LPG subsidy of 37.21 lakh consumers has been deposited in
Airtel Payments Bank accounts without taking the "informed consent" of users in
2017.Those affected, fortunately, included millions of middle-class Airtel
customers who protested when the goof-up emerged. The subsidy money was
returned, Airtel was fined by the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI),
and the world moved on.
Diverted Payments
 Diverted payments refers to bank payments being redirected to a wrong account,
without the recipient’s consent or knowledge.
 This instances have become a widespread problem in recent years, not so much
for the middle class as for powerless people such as old-age pensioners and
Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA)
workers.
 The main culprit is the Aadhaar Payment Bridge System (APBS).
Aadhaar Payment Bridge System (APBS)
 The basic idea of the APBS, an offspring of the National Payments Corporation of
India (NPCI), is that a person’s Aadhaar number becomes her financial address.
 Instead of having to provide multiple account details (say, her name, bank
account number and IFSC code) to receive a bank transfer, she only has to
provide her Aadhaar number.
 Induction of a bank account into APBS involves two distinct steps, both of which
are meant to be based on informed consent.
 First, the account must be “seeded” with the customer’s Aadhaar number.
 Second, it must be connected to the NPCI mapper — a step known as “mapping”.
In cases of multiple accounts for the same person, the APBS automatically sends
money to the latest-mapped account.
Dangers in Payment Bridge
 In 2014, when the Jan Dhan Yojana (JDY) was launched, millions of bank
accounts were opened and seeded with Aadhaar in a haphazard manner, under
relentless pressure from the Central government.
 Some JDY accounts certainly served a purpose, but many others were
superfluous and created a confusing multiplicity of accounts.
 More importantly Aadhaar numbers were seeded into these accounts without
proper verification.
 Haphazard seeding continued well beyond 2014 because the government wanted
to bring all direct benefit transfer (DBT) payments — pensions, scholarships,
subsidies, MGNREGA wages, and so on — under the Aadhaar payments umbrella.
 Meeting the seeding targets was given the top priority by the Government
departments but the due verification have been ignored
 Compulsory e-KYC also became a nightmare for poor people, for a number of
reasons: some did not know what they were supposed to do, others had problems
of biometric authentication, and others still struggled with inconsistencies
between the Aadhaar database and the bank database.
 Among the worst victims were old-age pensioners. To this day, in Jharkhand,
many pensioners are struggling to understand why their pension was
discontinued after e-KYC was made compulsory.
 The result of this premature and coercive imposition of the APBS is that diverted
payments have become a serious problem in Jharkhand.
Other issues in APBS
 First, diverted payments are not the only problem associated with the APBS.
There are others, discussed elsewhere, such as rejected payments another
nightmare for powerless DBT recipients.
 Second, these problems are magnified by a pervasive lack of accountability. The
ABPS is a very opaque payment system and few people have a clear
understanding of it.
 When people have problems of diverted or rejected payments, they have no
recourse. More often than not, they are sent from one office to another.
 Guidelines for resolving payment problems are conspicuous by their absence.
Some cases of diverted payments we have personally dealt with took days to
understand and weeks to resolve.
 Third, none of this seems to perturb the agencies that are promoting the APBS
and related financial technologies.
3.13 Anti-defection law in India
 Recently, Two MLA’s of Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party in Goa joined the BJP
and merged the party’s legislative wing with the saffron party, which now has 14
legislators in the 36-member state assembly. As two out of the three MLAs have
merged the legislative wing, they are saved from inviting the anti-defection law.
What is the anti-defection law?
 The anti-defection law, added to the Constitution as the Tenth Schedule by the
52nd amendment during Rajiv Gandhi’s tenure as the Prime Minister in 1985.
 The anti-defection law sought to prevent such political defections which may be
due to reward of office or other similar considerations. It lays down the process by
which legislators may be disqualified on grounds of defection by the Presiding
Officer of a legislature based on a petition by any other member of the House.
 This implies that a legislator defying (abstaining or voting against) the party whip
on any issue can lose his membership of the House. The law applies to both
Parliament and state assemblies.
 A legislator can be disqualified under the anti-defection law if he either voluntarily
gives up the membership of his party or disobeys the directives of the party
leadership on a vote. He is then disqualified.
 The law initially stated that the decision of the Presiding Officer is not subject to
judicial review. This condition was struck down by the Supreme Court in 1992,
thereby allowing appeals against the Presiding Officer’s decision in the High Court
and Supreme Court.
 However, it held that there may not be any judicial intervention until the Presiding
Officer gives his order.
 The law does not specify a time-period for the Presiding Officer to decide on a
disqualification plea. Given that courts can intervene only after the Presiding
Officer has decided on the matter, the petitioner seeking disqualification has no
option but to wait for this decision to be made.
 There have been several cases where the Courts have expressed concern about
the unnecessary delay in deciding such petitions.
Exceptions under the law
 Legislators may change their party without the risk of disqualification in certain
circumstances.
 The law allows a party to merge with or into another party provided that at least
two-thirds of its legislators are in favour of the merger.
 In such a scenario, neither the members who decide to merge, nor the ones who
stay with the original party will face disqualification.
 Previously, paragraph 3 of the Tenth Schedule recognised a ‘split’ if at least one-
third members of the legislature party decided to form or join another political
party. However, this provision was done away with by the 91st amendment to the
Constitution in 2003.
 The amendment, which came into force in January 2004, does not recognise a
‘split’ in a legislature party and instead, it recognises a ‘merger’.
Does the anti-defection law affect the ability of legislators to make decisions?
 The anti-defection law seeks to provide a stable government by ensuring the
legislators do not switch sides.
 However, this law also restricts a legislator from voting in line with his conscience,
judgement and interests of his electorate.
 Such a situation impedes the oversight function of the legislature over the
government, by ensuring that members vote based on the decisions taken by the
party leadership, and not what their constituents would like them to vote for.
 Political parties issue a direction to MPs on how to vote on most issues,
irrespective of the nature of the issue. Several experts have suggested that the law
should be valid only for those votes that determine the stability of the government.
3.14 A blow against Article 370
 On March 1, 2019, the 77th and 103rd constitutional amendments were extended
to Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) by a presidential order, with the concurrence of the
J&K Governor. These relate to reservations in promotions for Scheduled Castes
and Scheduled Tribes in the State services and special provisions for the
advancement of economically weaker sections, respectively. However, on March
18, this was challenged before the J&K High Court.
J&K’s special status
 As in Article 370, the provisions of the Indian Constitution do not automatically
apply to J&K.
 To extend constitutional provisions and amendments to the State, a presidential
order to that effect has to be passed.
 This order requires the concurrence of the State government, where the
subject matter does not relate to the subjects specified in the Instrument of
Accession (defence, external affairs, and communications). For other cases, only
consultation is required.
 Accordingly, a 1954 presidential order extended various provisions of the Indian
Constitution to J&K.
 This order was made with the concurrence of the State government and also
ratified by the State Constituent Assembly. After the J&K Constitution came into
effect in 1957, the State Constituent Assembly was dissolved.
 Since then, more than 40 such orders have been made, through which most
constitutional provisions have been extended to the State.
 The sheer number of such orders, as well as the circumstances under which they
were made, have considerably eroded J&K’s special status under Article 370.
Circumstances of Presidential orders
 From the 1950s there has been a gradual dilution of the procedural norms
followed by these presidential orders. In passing the 1954 order, procedural
propriety was followed in the fullest possible sense as the requisite concurrence
was obtained not only from an elected State government but also the State
Constituent Assembly.
 The Presidential orders made after the dissolution of the State Constituent
Assembly — except a 1986 order extending Article 249 (Power of parliament to
legislate on state list for National interest), and the present 2019 order — can be
seen as the first level of dilution.
 This is so because for all these orders, while the concurrence of an elected State
government was obtained, the State Constituent Assembly did not exist and,
therefore, could not give its ratification.
 Although the Supreme Court upheld this practice in the Sampat Prakash case
(1968), it has been criticised as being beyond the scope of Article 370.
 The 1986 order represents a second level of dilution. This is because it was made
when J&K was under Governor’s rule as per Section 92 of the J&K
Constitution.
 In the absence of an elected council of ministers, the Governor could not have
validly given the requisite concurrence to the presidential order.
 Even if the Governor acting without a popularly elected government can be
considered as a “state government” for the purposes of concurrence, the Governor
must at least have had some nexus with the State and some independence from
the Centre.
 However, this is not the case in practice, since the Governor is not only an
unelected nominee of the Central Government but also holds office during the
latter’s pleasure. Not surprisingly, the 1986 order was challenged in the J&K High
Court; it is still pending.
2019 order under president rule
 In December 2018, the President assumed all the functions of the State
government and the Governor through a proclamation under Article 356.
 In an order passed on the same day, the President directed that all powers
assumed by him would be exercisable by the Governor as well, “subject to the
superintendence, direction, and control of the President”.
 This is the main point of distinction between the 1986 and 2019 orders. During
Governor’s rule, as was the case in 1986, the Governor is at least on paper
expected to act independently.
 However, in the present case involving
President’s rule, the Governor is reduced to President Rule in J&K
a mere delegate of the Centre and is  Since the state has a
expected to act as per the aid and advice of separate Constitution, in
the Central Government. such cases, six months of
 A presidential order made through obtaining Governor's Rule is
such a Governor’s concurrence is compulsory under Article
tantamount to the Centre talking into a 92 of the Jammu and
mirror and makes a mockery of Article 370. Kashmir Constitution, under
Could erode J&K’s special status which, all the legislative
 The manner in which the 2019 order was powers are vested with the
made also goes against the spirit of governor.
federalism, which is a salient constitutional  The governor has to dissolve
principle. the Legislative Assembly after
 President’s rule is an exception to the six months. The state then
general Constitutional scheme that directly comes under
envisages representative government at the President's rule for another
State level to accommodate regional six months after which
aspirations. elections have to be held in
 Extending constitutional provisions to the the state.
State during this exceptional state of affairs  In case the elections are not
is suspicious. If the Centre had legitimate declared, President's Rule
intentions, it should have waited until the can be extended by another
formation of an elected government in J&K. six months.
 In the absence of popular will backing it, the
2019 order clearly falls foul of the principles of constitutional and political
morality.
 Commenting on the 1986 order, the Sarkaria Commission had observed that
“every action which is legally permissible may not be necessarily prudent or
proper from the political stand-point”.
 Not only is the recent presidential order against federalism generally and the spirit
of Article 370 in particular but it also violates the letter of the Constitution.
3.15 Electoral Bonds Hit Transparency In Political Funding, Says Election
Commission
 The Election Commission of India (ECI) has told the Supreme Court that electoral
bonds, contrary to government claims, wreck transparency in political funding.
 Coupled with the removal of cap on foreign funding, they invite foreign corporate
powers to impact Indian politics.
 ECI noted certain amendments done recently would pump in black money for
political funding through shell companies and allow “unchecked foreign funding of
political parties in India which could lead to Indian politics being influenced by
foreign companies.”
 The Election Commission of India has time and again voiced the importance of
declaration of donations received by political parties and also about the manner in
which those funds are expended by them for better transparency and
accountability in the election process.
 The amendment to the Representation of People Act allows political parties to skip
recording donations received by them through electoral bonds in their
contribution reports to the ECI. The ECI has no way to ascertain whether the
donations were received illegally by the political party from government companies
or foreign sources.
 The amendment introduced by the government in the Income Tax Act allows
anonymous donations. Donors to political parties need not provide their names,
address or PAN if they have contributed less than Rs. 20,000. Now, “many
political parties have been reporting a major portion of the donations received as
being less than the prescribed limit of Rs. 20,000.”
Electoral Bond
What is it?
 An electoral bond is designed to be a bearer instrument like a Promissory Note —
in effect, it will be similar to a bank note that is payable to the bearer on demand
and free of interest. It can be purchased by any citizen of India or a body
incorporated in India.
How do you use it?
 The bonds will be issued in multiples of Rs.1,000, Rs.10,000, Rs.1 lakh, Rs.10
lakh and Rs.1 crore and will be available at specified branches of State Bank of
India. They can be bought by the donor with a KYC-compliant account. Donors
can donate the bonds to their party of choice which can then be cashed in via the
party's verified account within 15 days.
What are the other conditions?
 Every party that is registered under section 29A of the Representation of the
Peoples Act, 1951 (43 of 1951) and has secured at least one per cent of the votes
polled in the most recent Lok Sabha or State election will be allotted a verified
account by the Election Commission of India. Electoral bond transactions can be
made only via this account.
 The bonds will be available for purchase for a period of 10 days each in the
beginning of every quarter, i.e. in January, April, July and October as specified by
the Central Government. An additional period of 30 days shall be specified by the
Central Government in the year of Lok Sabha elections.
 The electoral bonds will not bear the name of the donor. In essence, the donor and
the party details will be available with the bank, but the political party might not
be aware of who the donor is. The intention is to ensure that all the donations
made to a party will be accounted for in the balance sheets without exposing the
donor details to the public.
4. Schemes
4.1 Beneficiaries Of EWS Quota In Limbo
 After the Central government decided to provide 10% reservation to the
Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) in education and employment opportunities,
aspirants in Telangana are finding it difficult to obtain the necessary certificate to
avail themselves of the
quota in the absence of
any norms for issuing
the same.
 Candidates who are
applying for thousands of
jobs in various
departments of the
Central government are
running from pillar to
post to obtain the
certificate, only to be told
by the authorities that
they are yet to receive
instructions from the
government on the
methods to be followed to
judge the eligibility of the candidates.
 The Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) that recently released its
notification for civil services has asked the students to obtain the EWS certificate
by August 1 this year since candidates are yet to get a hang of the facility.
 Whereas the Tehsildar office and the Collectorate are yet to receive the
instructions from the Centre.
 The Rajasthan government recently issued orders for income and asset certificates
to be issued through e-governance centres of the State and Central governments.
 The Central government has introduced 10% EWS quota for general candidates
whose family income should be below Rs.8 lakh per annum.
 Moreover, their family should not possess more than five acres of agriculture land
and also should not own any residential property of more than 1,000 sq. ft. Their
family should not own a residential plot of 100 sq. yards and above in notified
municipalities or residential plot of 200 sq. yards in areas other than the notified
municipalities.
5. International relations
5.1 India’s Export Regime: Impact of US’s GSP
 The recent decision of the US to give notice of its intention to rescind India’s
export privileges under the Generalised System of Preferences (GSP) has refocused
attention on the state of Indian exports. Under the GSP programme, the US
provides duty-free access to 4,800 different goods from 129 designated countries.
The immediate loss for India is preferential access at zero or minimal tariffs to the
US market for around 1,900 products, which is over half of all Indian products.
Effect of GSP withdrawal on India’s Exporter
 The Ministry of commerce has reacted to the news by asserting that the losses
from the GSP withdrawal are going to be minimal.
 This assertion is based on the fact that the actual tariff advantage that India was
getting from the programme was a meagre USD 190 million, which is just 0.4 per
cent of the USD 50 billion over all Indian exports to the US.
 The government’s argument, unfortunately, misses the point that India is
competing for market share in the US with a host of other low-income countries,
including Mexico.
 In industries where margins are small, a very small increase in the market price
can cause a large fall in the quantity exported. A potential fall in quantity
exported will, of course, imply a much larger cost of losing GSP access.
 If exporters absorb the tariff increase, then their profit margins will fall,
potentially inducing some of them to exit this market completely.
 The tariff benefit that India currently enjoys is low simply because average tariffs
in the US are low. It cannot be used as an indicator of the potential cost to India
of losing its GSP privilege.
India’s Export growth in comparison with China.
 The GSP development, though, provides a good opportunity for India to introspect
on the general state of Indian exports. The raw fact of the matter is that India’s
share of world exports has been stuck at around 2 per cent for some time now.
 Essentially, our exports have been growing at the same rate as the rest of the
world. For a country that has consistently been one of the fastest growing
economies in the world, India’s exports should be growing much faster.
 This is what one saw with China and the other East Asian economies over the last
30 years, and with Japan earlier. It clearly shows that India is not using its
potential Export opportunity effectively
 Service Export: Despite the overwhelming attention that Indian service sector
exports receive, around 63 per cent of total Indian exports are still of goods. It is
true that the Indian service sector’s share of world services exports rose sharply
from 0.5 per cent in 1990 to 3.7 per cent in 2017.
 But this performance is hardly earth-shattering. The much less discussed Chinese
service sector’s share of world service sector exports more than tripled from 0.9
per cent in 1992 to 3.8 per cent in 2017.
 Goods Export: The big disparity between China and India is goods exports.
 India’s share of world goods exports rose from 0.5 per cent in 1990 to 1.7 per cent
in 2017 while China’s rose from 1.8 per cent to 12.8 per cent during the same
period. Indeed, this has been one of the key vehicles for the rapid Chinese growth
take-off.
 Rapid growth of the large-scale, low-tech, labour intensive merchandise goods
export sector created a simultaneous increase in demand for relatively unskilled
Chinese labour as well as an increase in demand for the rapid infrastructure
rollout that China invested in.
 The labour demand soaked up the labour being released from agriculture while
the infrastructure demand implied that the infrastructure investment was cost-
effective.
Problems in India’s Merchandise exports
 The Indian export portrait, however, looks very different from the Chinese export
landscape.
 Merchandise exports in India are concentrated in eight industries which
collectively account for 85 per cent of India’s merchandise exports.
 Amongst these top-8 industries are textiles, chemicals, machinery, vehicles and
parts etc. Factories in these industries are mostly small, employing 100 or fewer
workers. The productivity levels in these manufacturing establishments are also
low.
 Though exporters tend to be larger and more productive than non-exporters, these
are low by international standards. The problem with the Indian export sector
appears to be two-fold.
 The first is the general malaise afflicting the manufacturing sector. Existing
labour and land laws make growing in scale a difficult proposition for firms.
 In addition, the infrastructure support that is needed to sustain production and
distribution at scale is often missing. These include transport connectivity and
reliable power supply.
 Firms find it optimal to stay small and operate with old technologies. Fixing this
requires concerted action on multiple fronts. Addressing just a subset of these
constraints is unlikely to work.
 The second important issue is the trade regime. India has to send out
unequivocal signals that it is a reliable trade partner that wants to become part of
the global supply chain.
 To achieve this, India has to avoid falling back on discredited policies such as
raising import tariffs under various guises like furthering the Make in India
initiative or addressing current account imbalances.
 The withdrawal of GPS by the US is partly a response to these kinds of
protectionist moves that have begun to again rear their heads over the last few
years.
 Bad ideas, like bad smells, tend to hang around long enough to drive away
customers. They need to be strenuously kept away from the policy levers.
5.2 United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA)
 On 11 -15 March 2019, the fourth session of the United Nations Environment
Assembly (UNEA-4) took place at UN Environment headquarters in Nairobi,
Kenya, under the overarching theme of Innovative solutions for environmental
challenges and sustainable consumption and production. After five days of
talks at the UN Environment Assembly in Nairobi, a non-binding resolution was
made over throwaway items like plastic bags.
UN Environment meet
 The Assembly, which represents the world’s highest-level decision-making body
on the environment, will address the following three focus areas: (a)
environmental challenges related to poverty and natural resources management,
including sustainable food systems, food security and halting biodiversity loss; (b)
life-cycle approaches to resource efficiency, energy, chemicals and waste
management; and (c) innovative sustainable business development at a time of
rapid technological change.
 The UN wants individual countries to sign up to "significantly" reduce plastic
production, including a phasing out of single-use plastics by 2030.
 A series of other commitments were also signed, including ones to reduce food
wastage and to consult with indigenous populations over the development of new
regulations.
 However, an ambitious resolution piloted by India to phase out single-use plastics
by 2025, was watered down at the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA).
India’s target
 At the World Environment Day summit on June 5, 2018 here, Union Environment
Minister, had pledged to eliminate single-use plastics from India by 2022.
 This pushed several States — notably Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Himachal
Pradesh — to enforce previous commitments to ban plastic bags and similar
disposables.
 Ahead of the UNEA, the UN secretariat had invited inputs from member states to
forge a common declaration regarding addressing a host of environmental
challenges.
 India’s inputs on the February 16 read: India will decisively address the damage
to our ecosystems caused by the unsustainable use and disposal of single-use
plastic products, including by phasing-out most problematic single-use plastic
products as early as 2025, and India will encourage the private sector to find
affordable and eco-friendly alternatives.
Diluted Resolution
 The final declaration on March 15 removed UN Report
the firm timelines and edited out the
 A landmark report rammed
“decisively” and only committed to a
home the warning of the threat
“reduction by 2030.”
to ecosystems from rampant
 An initial proposal to phase out single-use plastic and chemical waste.
plastic by 2025 was opposed by several
 The world currently produces
nations including the US.
more than 300 million tonnes
 Large oil firms in the US are investing of plastics annually, and there
billions of dollars in petrochemical are at least five trillion plastic
production over the next decade, pieces floating in our oceans,
particularly shale gas. scientists have estimated.
 Others have criticized countries like the  Micro plastics have been found
United States, Cuba and Saudi Arabia for in the deepest sea trenches
blocking attempts to pledge an earlier date and high up Earth's tallest
for cutting their use of plastics. peaks, and plastic
 Countries most affected by plastic pollution consumption is growing year-
including the Philippines, Malaysia and on-year.
Senegal were against the resolution being  The UN also warned that the
watered down. global scale of chemical
 The UNEA, however, lauded India for production was likely to
playing a key role in advocating a time- double between now and 2030.
bound ban on single use plastic.  A study it commissioned found
Nitrogen pollution that worldwide chemical
 Along with plastic, India also piloted a production capacity stands at
resolution on curbing nitrogen pollution 2.3 billion tonnes.
(Nitrogen emissions such as ammonia,
nitrogen oxide and nitrous oxides contribute
to particulate matter and acid rain. These cause respiratory problems and cancers
for people and damage to forests and building).
 The global nitrogen-use efficiency is low, resulting in pollution by reactive nitrogen
which threatens human health, ecosystem services, contributes to climate change
and stratospheric ozone depletion.
5.3 Italy Takes A Shine To China's New Silk Road
 Xi Jinping's project is a New Silk Road which, just like the ancient trade route,
aims to link China to Europe.
 The upside for Italy is a
potential flood of investment
and greater access to
Chinese markets and raw
materials.
 But amid China's growing
influence and questions over
its intentions, Italy's Western
allies in the European Union
and United States have
concerns.
 The New Silk Road has
another name - the Belt and
Road Initiative (BRI) - and it
involves a wave of Chinese
funding for major infrastructure projects around the world, in a bid to speed
Chinese goods to markets further afield. Critics see it as also representing a bold
bid for geo-political and strategic influence.
 It has already funded trains, roads, and ports, with Chinese construction firms
given lucrative contracts to connect ports and cities - funded by loans from
Chinese banks.
 The levels of debt owed by African and South Asian nations to China have raised
concerns in the West and among citizens - but roads and railways have been built
that would not exist otherwise:
 In Uganda, Chinese millions built a 50km (30 mile) road to the international
airport
 In Tanzania, a small coastal town may become the continent's largest port
 In Europe too, Chinese firms managed to buy 51% of the port authority in
Piraeus port near Athens in 2016, after years of economic crisis in Greece
 Italy, however, will be the first top-tier global power - a member of the G7 - to take
the money offered by China.
 It is one of the world's top 10 largest economies - yet Rome finds itself in a curious
situation.
 The country slipped into recession at the end of 2018, and its national debt
levels are among the highest in the eurozone. Italy's populist government came to
power in June 2018 with high-spending plans but had to peg them back after a
stand-off with the EU.
 It is in this context that China's deal is being offered - funding that could
rejuvenate Italy's grand old port cities along the Maritime Silk Road.
5.4 Golan Heights
 President Donald Trump said recently that the United States should back Israeli
sovereignty over the Golan Heights, seized from Syria in 1967. The dramatic shift
mirrors Trump’s decision in December 2017 to recognise Jerusalem as the capital
of Israel and to move the US Embassy to the city, which delighted Israel but
infuriated Palestinians and many Arab political and religious leaders.
 The Golan announcement is likely to further complicate Trump’s long-awaited
plan to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
 The Golan Heights were part of Syria until 1967, when Israel captured most of the
area in the Six Day War, occupying it and annexing it in 1981. That unilateral
annexation was not recognised internationally, and Syria demands the return of
the territory.
 Syria tried to regain the Heights in the 1973 Middle East war, but was thwarted.
Israel and Syria signed an armistice in 1974 and the Golan had been relatively
quiet since.
 In 2000, Israel and Syria held their highest-level talks over a possible return of
the Golan and a peace agreement. But the negotiations collapsed and subsequent
talks also failed.
 More than 40,000 people live on the Israeli-occupied Golan, more than half of
them Druze residents.
 The Druze are an Arab minority who practice an offshoot of Islam and many of its
adherents in Syria have long been loyal to the Assad regime.
 After annexing the Golan, Israel gave the Druze the option of citizenship, but most
rejected it and still identify as Syrian. About another 20,000 Israeli settlers also
live there, many of them working in farming and tourism.
 There is one crossing point between the Israeli and Syrian sides, which until the
Syrian civil war broke out in 2011 was used mainly by United Nations forces, a
limited number of Druze civilians and for the transportation of agricultural
produce.
5.5 China's 'Silk Road urbanism'
 A massive redevelopment of the old Royal Albert Dock in East London is
transforming the derelict waterfront to a gleaming business district. Then, in
2018, authorities in Kampala, Uganda celebrated as a ferry on Lake Victoria was
unloaded with goods from the Indian Ocean, onto a rail service into the city. This
transport hub was the final part of the Central Corridor project, aimed at
connecting landlocked Uganda to Dares Salaam and the Indian Ocean.
 Both of these huge projects are part of the US$1 trillion global infrastructure
investment that is China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). China’s ambition to
reshape the world economy has sparked massive infrastructure projects spanning
all the way from Western Europe to East Africa, and beyond.
Silk Road urbanism
 It is reimagining the historic transcontinental trade route as a global project, to
bring the cities of South Asia, East Africa, Europe and South America into the
orbit of the Chinese economy.
 The initiative has kicked off a new development race between the US and China,
to connect the planet by financing large-scale infrastructure projects.
 Amid this geopolitical competition, Silk Road urbanism will exert significant
influence over how cities develop into the 21st century.
 By forging infrastructure within and between key cities, China is changing the
everyday lives of millions across the world.
 As the transcontinental trade established by the ancient Silk Road once led to the
rise of cities such as Herat (in modern-day Afghanistan) and Samarkand
(Uzbekistan), so the BRI will bring new investment, technology, infrastructure and
trade relations to certain cities around the globe.
Impact it will have on the urban landscape
 The BRI is still in its early stages – and much remains to be understood about the
impact it will have on the urban landscape. What is known, however, is that the
project will transform the world system of cities on a scale not witnessed since the
end of the Cold War.
 Silk Road urbanism is highly selective in its deployment across urban space. It
prioritizes the far over the near and is orientated toward global trade and the
connections and circulations of finance, materials, goods and knowledge. Because
of this, the BRI should not only be considered in terms of its investment in
infrastructure.
 It will also have significance for city dwellers – and urban authorities must
recognize the challenges of the BRI and navigate the need to secure investment for
infrastructure while ensuring that citizens maintain their right to the city, and
their power to shape their own future.
Concerns in London project
 In London, Chinese developer Advanced Business Park is rebuilding Royal Albert
Dock – now named the Asian Business Port – on a site it acquired for £1 billion in
2013 in a much-criticised deal by former London mayor Boris Johnson.
 The development is projected to be worth £6 billion to the city’s economy by
completion.
 But the development stands in sharp contrast with the surrounding East London
communities, which still suffer poverty and deprivation.
Kampala’s corridor
 The Ugandan capital Kampala is part of the Central Corridor project to improve
transport and infrastructure links across five countries including Burundi, the
Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda. The
project is financed through the government of Tanzania via a US$7.6 billion loan
from the Chinese bank Exim.
 The growth of the new transport and cargo hub at Port Bell, on the outskirts of
Kampala, with standardised technologies and facilities for international trade, is
the crucial underlying component for Uganda’s Vision2040.
 But during fieldwork for ongoing research into Silk Road urbanism in 2017, It was
witnessed the demolition of hundreds of informal homes and businesses in the
popular Namuwongo district, as a zone was cleared 30 metres either side of a
rehabilitated railway track for the Central Corridor required.
Debts mount for countries

 Pakistan cancelled the Rahim Yar Khan power project, which was part of China’s
ambitious Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). With the move, Pakistan joins the
growing trend of Asian economies rejecting BRI projects.
 Chinese funding for BRI projects is at an interest rate that is significantly higher
than soft loans from developmental organisations like the World Bank and IMF,
and comes with a risk of losing ownership over ports or significant areas, as in the
case of Hambantota in Sri Lanka.
 In 2018, Mathir Mohamma, the Prime Minister of Malaysia, axed two oil and gas
pipelines in mainland Malaysia that cost approximately $1bn each, and a $795mn
pipeline linking Malacca and Johor. The $20 bn rail link connecting Malaysia’s
east coast was also dropped.
 Myanmar in 2018 announced that it wished to scale down the Kyaukpyu port
project from the planned $7.3bn to $1.3bn, citing debt concerns. The project was
set up with the aim of supporting existing energy pipelines stretching from
Rakhine in Myanmar to Yunan in China.
Other concerns
 There is another growing concern over the fact that China is pushing for coal-fired
power plants on the global front while going green within its own borders.
 Further, the promise of trade and employment seems to have taken a hit,
considering the discontent amongst partner countries regarding Beijing’s move of
using Chinese workers over locals for the BRI projects.
6. Indian Economy
6.1 Technology Innovation in Doubling Farmers Income
 As the economy opened up post Liberalization (1991), globalization promoted
other sectors into generating more employment and economic growth. But, despite
the reduction to 18 per cent in agriculture’s contribution to the GDP, agriculture
and allied activities still employ the vast majority of the population. Hence, India’s
policy focus recently changed from increasing farmers’ output to their incomes.
Doubling of Farmers Income
 India’s agrarian sector has undergone various reforms since independence:
increase productivity to meet the demands of a rising population, make farming
inclusive, reform land tenures, ensure more benefits to farmers, end exploitation,
encourage better water management practices and so on.
 The National Commission for Farmers, established in 2004 made comprehensive
recommendations covering land reforms, soil testing, augmenting water
availability, agriculture productivity, credit and insurance, food security and
farmers competitiveness.
 But all these broad sectoral strategies and policy initiatives failed to substantially
increase the farmer’s income.
 Low level of absolute income as well
as large and deteriorating disparity Key Recommendations of Ashok
between income of a farmer and non- Dalwai Committee
agricultural worker constitute an  Placing agricultural marketing in
important reason for the emergence of the Concurrent list
agrarian distress in the country  Greater private sector participation
during 1990s, which turned quite in agri-marketing and logistics.
serious in some years.  Farmer producer and village
 The country also witnessed a sharp producer organisations (FPO/VPO)
increase in the number of farmers could play a critical role
suicides during 1995 to 2004 - losses inintegrating small and marginal
from farming, shocks in farm income farmers into the agricultural
and low farm income are identified as market system.
the important factors for this.
 Union Agriculture Ministry to roll
 The low and highly fluctuating farm out theModel Agricultural Produce
income is causing detrimental effect and Livestock Marketing(APLM)
on the interest in farming and farm Rules
investments, and is also forcing more  Market reforms and investment in
and more cultivators, particularly
infrastructure for cold-chain
younger age group, to leave farming. integration to reduce wastages
This can cause serious adverse effect
 The committee strongly
on the future of agriculture in the
recommends stepping up of
country.
institutional credit on a large scale.
 So recently, Doubling Farmers’
 Key aspect of doubling farmers’
Income (DFI) Committee under the
income is to focus on export. The
chairmanship of Ashok Dalwai was
aim should be to raise agricultural
constituted which wants to do more
export by a minimum of three times
to increase the farmer’s income. It
by 2022-23.
places farmers’ income at the core of
India’s mandate.
Role of Technology in Agriculture
 Science, technology and new knowledge can play crucial roles in supporting
livelihoods for the vulnerable. Identifying the right kind of tech support is crucial
to development progress, even more so in the context of agriculture.
 Augmenting water availability and efficiency, agriculture productivity, risk
mitigation strategies and innovations on new models may be the ways to step up
progress further.
 Climate has always played havoc with the lives of farmers, and it has increasingly
become more unpredictable.
 The country faces increasingly extreme weather conditions such as severe
droughts and floods. This is hampering farmers’ production capacity, and
impacting their livelihoods.
 A vivid example of technology disrupting and improving old methods is found in
the crop insurance sector.
 To ensure they can endure extreme weather events, hundreds of Indian farmers
have been provided insurance services through an index-based flood insurance
(IBFI) system initiated by the International Water Management Institute (IWMI),
through WLE and CCAFS research programmes.
 This tool combines satellite images with hydrological modelling to predetermine
flood thresholds, which has led to quicker compensation pay-outs to farmers in
times of crop failure. This is especially helpful to low-income, flood-prone
communities in the struggle against climate impacts.
 Another promising tech fix has been solar powered irrigation. Many see it as a
panacea to India’s water access and availability problems, offering farmers
cheaper, more accessible technology that cuts carbon emissions.
 Solar powered pumps are now deployed to bring groundwater to millions of farmer
fields. And to ensure farmers don’t deplete groundwater resources through over-
pumping, the IWMI-Tata Programme supports farmer cooperatives, allowing users
to pool their surplus solar-generated electricity and sell it back to the grid.
 Hence, what was once just an irrigation solution has become a way to harvest the
sun as a ‘cash crop,’ giving communities another source of income, and
generating clean power.
6.2 Resolution of Stressed Assets – Revised Framework
 The Reserve Bank of India has issued various instructions aimed at resolution of
stressed assets in the economy, including introduction of certain specific schemes
at different points of time. In view of the enactment of the Insolvency and
Bankruptcy Code, 2016 (IBC), it has been decided to substitute the existing
guidelines with a harmonised and simplified generic framework for resolution of
stressed assets.
The new framework for resolution of stressed assets
 RBI has withdrawn the earlier simplified framework for resolution of stressed
assets and issued a Revised Framework for the Resolution of Stressed Assets on
12th of February 2018.
 As part of the new framework, four earlier stressed asset resolution
schemes/guidelines -S4A, JLF (Joint Lenders Forum), CDR (Corporate Debt
Restructuring) and SDR (Strategic Debt Restructuring) were withdrawn.
 Notable feature of the new framework is that most of the requirements for
resolution has become more stringent.
1. Early identification and reporting of stress:
 For the identification of early stress, the RBI designed the Special Mention
Account (SMA) categories. The SMA status for early stress are expressed in term
of number of days before an asset reaching NPA status. The SMA classification is
given below.
Basis for classification –
Principal or interest payment
SMA Sub-categories
or any other amount wholly
or partly overdue between
SMA-0 1-30 days
SMA-1 31-60 days
SMA-2 61-90 days
 In the case of borrower entities whose exposure is more than Rs 50 million, the
lenders shall report credit information about SMA to the Central Repository of
Information on Large Credits (CRILC).
2. Implementation of Resolution Plan (RP) by the lenders
 Under the framework, all lenders must create Board-approved policies for
resolution of stressed assets. It also includes the timelines for resolution.
 As soon as there is a default by the borrower with any lender, all lenders –
individually or jointly – shall initiate steps to cure the default. The Resolution Plan
shall be clearly documented by all the lenders.
3. Implementation Conditions for Resolution Plan
 The new framework brings stricter conditions for the implementation of RP. Here,
a resolution plan will be implemented by the lender if:
 The borrower entity is no longer in default with any of the lenders; and in case of
restructuring, all documentation of agreements between the lenders and borrower
should be completed.
4. Timelines for Large Accounts to be Referred under IBC
 For accounts with total exposure of the lenders at Rs 20 billion and above, on or
after March 1, RP shall be implemented as per the following timelines:
 If in default as on the reference date, then 180 days from the reference date.
 If in default after the reference date, then 180 days from the date of first such
default
5. Supervision: provisioning and penalties for concealing stressed assets
 The RBI brings penalty and higher provisions if banks tries to conceal stressed
assets.
 Any failure on the part of lenders in meeting the prescribed timelines or any
actions by lenders trying to conceal stressed assets or to evergreen the stressed
accounts, will be subjected to stringent supervisory and enforcement actions by
the RBI, including, higher provisioning on such accounts and monetary penalties.
6. Disclosure about resolution
 Banks in their financial statements should make disclosures about resolution
plans implemented by them.
Effects of New Framework
 India’s new policy regime for defaults — IBC plus RFRSA — ensures a time-bound
exploration of all business, capital and ownership restructuring options before
liquidation
 The bad loans went from 2.4 per cent in 2007 to 11.6 per cent in 2018 but may
now be down to 10.2 per cent.
 And the direct impact of RFRSA lies in annualised reduction in bad loans for
recent quarters being the highest in recent years with a huge acceleration in two-
way mobility between standard and non-standard loan classifications.
 Of the 82 accounts resolved by the IBC, the average realisation by financial
creditors was 48 per cent and average time taken for resolution was 310 days
(versus World Bank estimates of 27 per cent and 1,580 days).
 RFRSA fixed birth defects of past RBI interventions like SDR, S4A, JLF, CAP, etc
by various stringent measures under new framework
6.3 New Hydro Policy To Help Meet Renewables Target
 While the government’s decision to re-classify large hydroelectric projects as
renewable energy will
certainly help the sector,
the move will also go a
long way in meeting the
targets set by it for the
sector.
 The Union Cabinet
approved a new
hydroelectricity policy
that, among other things,
included large hydro
projects within the ambit
of renewable energy.
 Prior to the policy, only
small hydro projects of a
capacity of less than 25 MW were treated as renewable energy. Large hydro
projects were treated as a separate source of energy.
 India’s renewable energy sector had an installed capacity of 75,055.92 MW as of
February 2019, according to data with the Central Electricity Authority. This
made up about 21.4% of the overall energy mix, with the rest coming from
thermal, nuclear and large hydro sources.
 With the inclusion of large hydro in renewable energy, the energy mix changes
drastically.
 It must be noted that this is a purely cosmetic change. No additional resources
have been created through this policy. It is a reclassification of existing capacity.
 The policy has meant a drastic change in the renewable energy mix as well.
Whereas earlier, wind energy contributed nearly 50% of all renewable energy
capacity, it will now make up only 29.3%. Similarly, solar energy’s share will fall
from 34.68% to 21.61%. The hydro sector, however, will see its share grow from
just over 6% to over 41%.
 There has been a huge imbalance in the thermal-hydro mix for the last few years
because of a sharp growth in thermal and complete stagnation in hydro.
 The basic idea is to ramp up hydro because it provides grid stability which a
renewable source like wind and solar do not. The key reasoning seems to be
providing grid stability and a better energy mix.
6.4 How Joblessness Eats Into Household Savings
 In India, savings have become less and less of
a private virtue, with consumption rates
rising and savings rate of households falling.
What’s more, while getting access to reliable
jobs data has become increasingly difficult,
economists point out that high
unemployment rates are also to be blamed for
the drop in financial savings rates.
 There could be further erosion in the
country’s savings to gross domestic product
(GDP) ratio if the unemployment problem is
not addressed.
 The strong correlation between savings ratios
and employment growth is not just a
phenomenon that holds true with respect to
India, but in fact can be seen in the context of
other emerging markets as well.
 It is analysed whether the decline in overall
savings rate is due to some combination of (a)
continued high consumption by households,
(b) low job creation in general and (c) increase in financial liabilities of households
to support short-term consumption.
 This is not a healthy trend and also, not sustainable.
 From a long-term perspective, this might mean India will have to increase its
foreign borrowings if it wants to sustain investment above the domestic savings
rate.
 The analysis also shows that one of the problems with respect to India is to do
with skill mismatch between what the employer wants and what the employee can
offer.
 Creating jobs will only solve the supply side problem but on the demand side,
skills of workforce have to be further enhanced. In Asia, Malaysia, the Philippines
and Indonesia do comparatively better on skills development. India and Thailand
lag, as do countries in Sub-Saharan Africa.
 It has often been pointed out that government spending on education in India is
inadequate. Unless there is a meaningful increase in the outlay on education and
development of skills, the problem will not disappear in a hurry.
 States in India characterized by a high youth unemployment ratio and higher
crime rates show that if employment rates are not raised, then social unrest will
become a big problem in India over the next five years.
 Consumption has increased at a faster pace compared with growth in household
income. It is possible that households feel more confident about the future and
are thus willing to save less.
6.5 Management Information System (MIS)
 MIS is an organised approach of collecting, processing, storing and disseminating
data to carry out management functions and acts as a means to monitor progress
and assess and revise targets, i.e., a tool for evidence-based programme
management
 It produces information that supports the management functions of an
organisation and facilitates the decision-making process.
 The MIS can play a critical role in the implementation of a programme in terms of
monitoring periodic progress.
 A well designed MIS facilitates the flow of information among various levels and
enables setting up of a feedback mechanism for planning and management of a
programme, project or a policy.
 The MIS is used for regular updating of both the progress and output indicators in
order to comprehend the relation between outputs and objectives.
 In other words, the generic MIS communicates the involved relationship between
budgets, activities, and outputs; and enables monitoring of the process of
programme implementation.
MIS Portal in Implementation of government Schemes
 In the past 15 years, India has developed an enthusiasm to monitor schemes
through hundreds of Management Information System (MIS) portals.
 In fact, in the past two years, the national Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) Mission
at the Cabinet Secretariat reports the development of 400 MISs for schemes to
report payment progress on its national DBT portal. This is more than most
middle-income countries.
 The vision is that these systems will enable citizens, government officials, and
politicians to gain access to all the information that they need to play their
individual roles in a democratic society and enable the necessary exchange of
knowledge for effective program implementation.
 Those managing food subsidies can monitor the movement of grains via geo-
tagged trucks, while the MGNREGS MIS informs administrators of payment
delays, and citizens use online grievance portals to register complaints.
 Such information has the potential to be extremely valuable. One reason why
these investments are happening now is that the cost of collecting and sharing
information has gone down enormously over the last decades because of the IT
revolution.
Information: Itself Not an Insights
 It is not enough to generate information someone has to process and translate
data into something useable, and the more information you generate the harder
that necessarily becomes the more to sort through and discard.
 And if you have no guidance on how to do that sorting, then more information
may actually hurt. Consistent with this, process evaluations suggest that in the
wake of the MIS expansion, the local bureaucracy at the district and state levels is
drowning in MIS data, with neither the capacity nor the inclination to process it.
 With the growing complexity and sophistication of India’s social protection
systems and schemes, building the capability of the local state to learn and reflect
on information is critical.
 To build a genuine learning state a state where everyone, citizens, bureaucrats
and politicians use the information they need to generate insight and hold each
other accountable, we need three building blocks.
 First, we need to curate the information that gets highlighted. That does not
mean censorship citizens should be able to access any information that they could
reasonably need but some filters have to go into choosing what to give prominence
and why, based on a clear theory of how the information would be used, by whom
and why that would matter enough to deserve the priority.
 Second, we need to have clear designation of how the information will be used to
provide incentives to actors within the system — if the news is bad, responsibility
for it has to be clear.
 For instance, The MLA report cards developed by Satark Nagarik Sangathan and
published in various newspapers before state elections, are a good example of
prioritisation (a small set of numbers, prominently displayed) and clear
designation
 Research shows that this intervention changes how the voters vote, rewarding the
best performers according to the report card, and hurting the worst.
 This example also makes clear that whenever we prioritise information there are
hard choices to be made. The report cards, to be effective, left many things out
and an MLA could potentially complain that this was unfair to her achievements.
 Third, it is important to test whether the information is doing its job, whether it is
being used to provide the required intelligence and insight. Even if the information
collected is salient, it may lead to no change in behaviour or local action.
 For example, the government of Karnataka built an ambitious MIS to biometrically
track real-time attendance of nurses at health centres. The pilot hoped to hold
front line staff accountable by making their attendance transparent.
 However, the reform made limited long-run impact as state officials, local-level
bureaucrats, and locally elected bodies were reluctant to use the better-quality
attendance data for enforcement due to a fear of generating discord among the
staff.
6.6 Status of India’s Patent Filling
 India filed 2,013 international patent applications in 2018 with the World
Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), registering the highest growth of 27%
among countries. With the surge in patent filling, India has joined the race and
has strengthened its participation in the international patent system.
High lights of the report
 The number of patents granted by India shot up by 50% in 2017, keeping up a
trend of steep increases. The patents granted by India increased from 8,248 in
2016 to 12,387 last year.
 Of the patents granted last year, 1,712 went to entities and individuals based in
India, and 10,675 to foreigners.
 While India ranked 10th in the number of patents given last year, no Indian
company or university figures in last year’s global list of the top 50 patent
applicants.
 WIPO’s complex system of registering international patents involves multiple
categories. In the main category the Patent Cooperation Treaty, the US led the way
with 56,142 applications, followed China (53,345) and Japan (49,702).
 Germany and South Korea came in a distant fourth and fifth,with fewer than
20,000 applications each.
 More than half of all international patent applications filed last year came from
Asia, a further sign of innovation shifting “from west to east”.
 Significant growth from China, India and the Republic of Korea has ensured that
Asia-based innovators filed more than half of all international patent applications
via the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) last year.
About WIPO
 The World Intellectual Property
Organisation or WIPO is a UN Patent
specialised agency created in 1967 to  A patent is an exclusive right
promote intellectual property (IP) granted for an invention, which is
protection and encourage creative a product or a process that
activity all over the world. provides, in general, a new way of
 WIPO is basically a global forum for IP doing something, or offers a new
policy, services, information and technical solution to a problem.
cooperation. Currently, it has 191  To get a patent, technical
member states. information about the invention
 The governing bodies and rules are set must be disclosed to the public in
down in the WIPO Convention of 1967. a patent application.
It is at present headed by Francis  In principle, the patent owner has
Gurry, who is its Director General. the exclusive right to prevent or
WIPO is headquartered in Geneva, stop others from commercially
Switzerland. exploiting the patented invention.
 WIPO has its origins in the United  In other words, patent protection
International Bureaux for the means that the invention cannot
Protection of Intellectual Property be commercially made, used,
which was established in 1893. distributed, imported or sold by
WIPO’s Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) others without the patent owner's
 The PCT is an international treaty, consent.
administered by the World Intellectual  Patents are territorial rights. In
Property Organization (WIPO), between general, the exclusive rights are
more than 140 Paris Convention only applicable in the country or
countries. region in which a patent has been
 The PCT makes it possible to seek filed and granted, in accordance
patent protection for an invention with the law of that country or
simultaneously in each of a large region.
number of countries by filing a single  The protection is granted for a
“international” patent application limited period, generally 20 years
instead of filing several separate from the filing date of the
national or regional patent application.
applications.
 The granting of patents remains under the control of the national or regional
patent Offices in what is called the “national phase”.
 PCT applicants generally pay three types of fees when they file their international
applications:
1. International filing fee of approximately 1,450 US dollars (depending on the
applicable exchange rate),
2. Search fee, which can vary from approximately 410 to 2,400 US dollars,
depending on the International Searching Authority chosen, and a
3. Small transmittal fee which varies depending on the receiving Office.
4. A 90% reduction on the international filing fee, the supplementary search fee
and the handling fee applies to nationals of LDCs and residing in an LDC. If
there are several applicants, each must satisfy those criteria.
6.7 Tariff rate quotas
 A TRQ is a mechanism that allows a set quantity of specific products to be
imported at a low or zero rate of duty. In other words, TRQ is a limit on the
quantity eligible for lower or zero duty.
 Essentially, a TRQ is a two-tiered tariff instrument. Imports entering within the
quota portion of a TRQ are subject to a lower tariff rate called the tariff quota rate
or TRQ rate.
 The later imports that are unable to make it to the quota’s quantitative threshold
face a much higher tariff rate, which is normally the MFN tariff.
 The quota component works together with a specified tariff level to provide the
desired degree of import protection.
 TRQs are established under trade agreements between countries. They do not
function as an absolute limit on the quantity of product that may be imported.
 The “TRQ commitment” does not apply any limits on the quantity per se of import
of a product, but applies a higher rate of duty for that specific product once
imports up to the “TRQ commitment” have been reached.
 For example, the US cotton tariff quota protects US cotton growers while allowing
textiles manufactures to import some cheaper cotton also.
 The use of this instrument is globally quite prevalent. It is estimated that as many
as 1,200 TRQs are operated each year by WTO members including EU, Japan,
Canada and the US.
 Tariff quotas are used on a wide range of products. Most are in the agriculture
sector: cereals, meat, fruit and vegetables, and dairy products are the most
common. Sugar is protected in most producing countries with tariff quotas.
 This ensures that limited volumes of these sensitive products can enter their
market at a low tariff, whereas the tariff outside the TRQ quantity is kept high to
offer a degree of protection to the domestic producers.
Significance of TRQs
 TRQs protect domestic producers from having to face competition from large
quantities of imports.
 They also allow consumers and producers in the importing country to get enjoy a
benefit, albeit a limited one, of lower priced products.
 TRQs have now become a way of reaching a consensus with trading partners. The
EU-Japan bilateral deal was finally unblocked with a TRQ for cheeses including
mozzarella, Brie, Camembert and feta.
 As for the proposed EU-Mercosur deal, EU TRQs for beef and ethanol are the main
event as far as Brazil and Argentina are concerned, though they represent a
fraction of total EU consumption.
 TRQs help overcome traditional domestic opposition to trade deals — they are a
trade-off between the broader interests of consumers and the degree of protection
afforded to the competing domestic producers.
The challenge lies in TRQs
 Trade liberalisation proponents argue that while TRQs allow imports, they do so in
an inefficient manner.
 The challenge also lies in addressing the concerns of domestic industry. If duties
are zero, “who will make in India? Does a reasonable duty wall bring in
investments?” such questions remain unanswered.
6.8 Fall Armyworm attack: Deadliest pest epidemic grips India
 In just nine months since Fall Armyworm was spotted in India in Karnataka in
last year, it has invaded crops in more than 10 states. Fall Armyworm infestation
has spread from Karnataka to all southern states, then to western Maharashtra
and Gujarat and now to the eastern Indian
states. Other than fast advancement, the
Fall armyworm Vs oriental
pest is also attacking new crops. Though it
army worm
is being detected mostly in maize crops — a
preliminary calculation estimates that it has  Unlike oriental armyworm
affected nearly 1,70,000 hectares of maize which is native pest strike
crops — there have also been reports from once every 10-12 years, FAW
states where it has infested paddy, isn’t a cyclical pest that
sugarcane and sweet corn. comes intermittently.
Instead, it is a continuous
Fall army worm- Food security threat
pest that is nearly always
 Fall armyworm (FAW, scientifically known present and can build
as Spodoptera frugiperda), had never been permanent populations.
found in India. Native to the Americas, FAW
 Both oriental armyworm and
has, since 2016, been aggressively moving
FAW are polyphagous; their
eastwards, infesting Africa and making
larvae feed on a range of host
landfall in India last summer — the scientist
crop plants. The former,
duo at UAHS detected it in July 2018 —
though, does not spread very
before spreading to Sri Lanka, Bangladesh,
fast, which is why the
Myanmar, Thailand and China’s Yunnan
damage from it in 2017 and
Province.
even 2018 was largely
 A rapid breeder, the insect is known to eat confined to Karnataka.
300 species of plants, most of which are
 The adult FAW moth, in
major food crops.
contrast, can fly up to 100
 It has diversified its diet and can survive
km distance every night,
harsh conditions by migrating to different allowing it to invade new
places or hiding, to spring back when
geographies very quickly.
conditions are favourable.
 Besides, an adult female can
 The lifecycle of the worm can range from 30 lay 1,500-2,000 eggs during
to 45 days. In winter, the cycle can extend her entire life cycle of 45
up to even 90 days. With continuous days, as against 100-200
overlapping generations the worm can be
eggs by the oriental
seen in all stages at the same time. This armyworm.
makes it difficult to manage the pest.
 The Government’s reported move to allow
five lakh tonnes of duty-free maize imports has been attributed mainly to a lower
2018-19 crop from a combination of drought and FAW infestation in major
producing states.
 With maize seed production being a major crop in Godavari district, it can have
serious economic consequences. Being a
major ingredient for the poultry and cattle Pheromones are natural
feed, production losses in maize could compounds emitted by female
cripple meat and milk production. FAW moths to attract males for
Immediate steps to mitigate pest challenge mating. Pheromone traps
 The problem has to be nipped in the bud, basically use synthetic versions
through constant vigilance on the part of of these compounds to attract
farmers, right from day one of vegetative and catch male moths, which
growth. can, then, be counted to detect
 A mass awareness campaign is necessary to any significant FAW presence.
build awareness among farmers and
extension workers, on how to recognize the various stages of the insect and
manage/control it with the right IPM (Integrated pest Management) interventions.
 This could be done through traditional means (pamphlets, posters, radio and TV
broadcasts) as well use of mobile SMS and social media.
 Surveillance systems by the public/private extension machinery, including
through setting up traps (usually pheromone-based), can help effectively
monitor the movement of the pest populations within the targeted geographical
locations.
 The experiences and lessons learnt so far from Africa may be valuable to India:
What they basically highlight is that there is no single solution for sustainable
management of the pest.
 An effective IPM strategy would need to incorporate host plant resistance
(through breeding), biological and cultural control, and use of environmentally-
safer chemical and bio-pesticides for crop protection.
 Cultural control practices can work, especially when the FAW problem is still
localized to particular geographies/crops. The eggs laid by the moths are
discernible to the naked eye. Farmers can be trained to recognize and destroy the
egg masses, so as to prevent the caterpillars from emerging.
 Biological control would, likewise, be an important component of an IPM strategy
against any major crop pest. Quick identification and validation of biological
agents, such as parasitoids, predators and entomopathogens against FAW,
and release of well-validated bio-pesticides should be taken up on a priority basis.
 And finally, breeding: The Indian Council of Agricultural Research and
institutions such as CIMMYT and ICRISAT (International Crops Research Institute
for the Semi-Arid Tropics) have a vast array of germplasm in their gene banks and
also varieties, which could be tested for native genetic resistance to FAW.
 This is a medium — to long-term strategy and requires effective coordination and
resource commitments from the Indian Government, donors, and the private
sector.
6.9 Dollar-Rupee swap facility
 The Reserve Bank of India’s recently decided to resort to a dollar-rupee swap,
instead of the traditional open-market purchase of bonds, to infuse liquidity into
the economy marks a significant shift in the central bank’s liquidity management
policy.
 Under the three-year currency swap scheme, which is scheduled to open on
Tuesday next week, the RBI will purchase $5 billion from banks in exchange for
rupees.
 The central bank will infuse as much as Rs. 35,000 crore into the system in one
shot at a time when liquidity generally tends to be squeezed.
 For the banks, it is a way to earn some interest out of the forex reserves lying idle
in their kitty.
 Apart from injecting fresh liquidity into the economy, the move will have
implications for the currency market even as it helps shore up the RBI’s dollar
reserves.
 While traditional open market operations distort the bond market, the new forex
swap scheme will introduce new distortions in the currency market.
 Overall, the dollar-rupee swap is a useful addition to the RBI’s policy toolkit as it
offers the central bank a chance to directly influence both the value of the rupee
and the amount of liquidity in the economy at the same time using a single tool.
 In the aftermath of the liquidity crisis in the non-banking financial sector, it can
be an effective way to lower private borrowing costs as well.
 The way banks respond after receiving fresh liquidity from the RBI, however, will
determine the success of the new liquidity scheme to a large extent.
 Businesses could benefit from the greater availability of liquidity, but only if
banks aggressively pass on the benefit of lower rates to their borrowers.
 The last time the currency swap route was used was in late 2013, when the
objective was mainly to shore up the foreign exchange reserves and support the
Rupee after it had depreciated sharply against the USD in a short span of time.
6.10 India One Of World's Fastest Growing Large Economies: IMF
 India has been one of the fastest growing large economies in the world, the
International Monetary Fund (IMF) has said, asserting that the country has
carried out several key reforms in the last five years, but more needs to be done.
 India has of course been one of the world's fastest growing large economies of late,
with growth averaging about seven per cent over the past five years.
 Important reforms have been implemented and IMF feel more reforms are needed
to sustain this high growth, including to harness the demographic dividend
opportunity, which India has.
 Demographic dividend refers to the growth in an economy that is the resultant
effect of a change in the age structure of a country's population. The change in
age structure is typically brought on by a decline in fertility and mortality rates.
 India has the biggest advantage of demographic dividend (proportion of working
population out of total population is high), which will be a key driver for future
growth. While 15 million youngsters will enter the workforce annually for the next
five years, over 75 per cent of them will not be jobs ready.
 Skill development and introduction of GST will accelerate the shift of employment
from informal to formal economy across all sectors. There is an opportunity for
investment in manufacturing and services sector that can utilise the skilled
workforce.
6.11 Emerging Economy of digital labour
 In the last few years there has been a virtual arms race among the tech companies
in machine intelligence and learning. The new technology change is also bringing
the dramatic transformation in Labour markets where standard employment is
increasingly supplemented or substituted by temporary work mediated by online
platforms. Yet the scale and scope of these changes is hard to assess, because
conventional labour market statistics and economic indicators are ill-suited to
measuring this “online gig work”
Growth of Digital Economy
 The digital economy reflects the move from the third industrial revolution to the
fourth industrial revolution which builds on the digital revolution as technologies
today continue to bridge the physical and cyber worlds.
 These mega firms have been developing AI projects such as Google Brain,
Facebook Learner Flow, Microsoft Cognitive Services, Amazon Lex, and IBM
Watson.
 Powered by this surge in AI capabilities new age technology solutions are
changing how we live and do business. They are especially going to change the
nature of services traded in the economy in a big way.
 AI has given the critical power to digital voice assistants like Alexa, Siri and
Google Assistants, which have now made their place in a large number of modern
homes across the world.
 Besides this growth in AI there is an emergence of new tech platforms that are
creeping on to the digital economy.
 There is a proliferation of service e-marketplaces such as Fiverr, Up Work, and
Mechanical Turk offering an impressive range of services.
 Fiverr for example, lists services ranging from animation, data entry,
programming and tech to spiritual healing, astrology and celebrity impersonators
for as little as $5. These platforms help workers transcend their local markets and
tap markets in other countries.
Online gig economy
 As per research by the Oxford Internet Institute most demand comes from the
global North and low-income countries carry out most of the work – India and
Philippines, in particular.
 A 2015 World Bank Study suggests this online gig economy is set to grow to
around $25 billion by 2020.
 Parallel to them in the corporate work segment there is an advent of teleworking
using online collaboration platforms like Slack, Trello, Basecamp, Teamwork and
more. Wikipedia currently has a list of 167 such collaboration platforms.
 The growth of such platforms has opened up the option of cross-country
collaborations.
 As per the McKinsey ‘Globalization in Transition’ report, services trade is
already growing at a rate 60% faster than trade in goods. At the same time the
basket of services traded would also transform.
 Dialogue driven processes with AI engines might replace outsourcing of back-
office jobs to countries like India.
Steps India must take to leverage its human talent
 With a population so big, digital labour exchanges can have a significant
developmental potential for India. So the labour market should prepare the skills
that will be in demand tomorrow.
 Countries like Malaysia and Nigeria have already started programmes for such
platforms, aiming at the bottom layer of income earners.
 Given a skilled labour force, countries like India would benefit sizably from the
services trade. However, there is a need to look at digital data rules, taxation and
payment systems to make it convenient for SMEs and entrepreneurs to engage
fully.
 Also, these digital platforms would need to be regulated against monopoly power
to ensure suitable bargaining power at buyers’ and sellers’ ends.
 To frame evidence based policies of the future, it is important to have a full view of
services, import or export, and their geographical source and destination.
 At present, India reports services trade statistics using the RBI’s FETERS system
whose codes are not granular enough to capture the types of services traded.
 A helpful exercise would be to expand on the reporting nomenclature to provide a
better view of the types of services traded.
6.12 New S&DT rules in WTO law- Impact on India
 India is facing a grave crisis in global trade as the US attempts to change the
rulebook of the World Trade Organization. According to trade envoys who spoke
on condition of anonymity, the US has made it almost clear that it will effect far-
reaching changes in the WTO rules so as to ensure that India and other
developing countries are denied ‘policy space’ to address their specific trade
needs.
US Attempt of changing Rules
 Soon after terminating benefits worth billions of dollars accruing to Indian
exporters under the generalized system of preferences (GSP) scheme the USTR (US
Trade Representative) had embarked on proposals that would deny India and
other developing countries flexibilities accorded under global trade rules.
 The US, for example, declared that India and other developing countries such as
South Africa cannot avail of special and differential treatment (S&DT) in any
current or future trade agreements on grounds that they are members of the G20
which was created by Washington following the 2008 financial crisis.
 USTR said, “many members self-declare themselves to be developing countries
even though they are among, in many cases, the richest in the world" to avail of
special and differential treatment.
Special and Differential Treatment (S&DT)
 It refers to a category of legal provisions in existing WTO agreements that give
developing countries greater flexibility with regards to the application of
commitments and use of policy instruments and developed countries the right to
treat developing countries more favourably.
 In the Doha Declaration, member governments agreed that all special and
differential treatment provisions are an integral part of the WTO agreements.
 More specifically, the declaration mandates the Committee on Trade and
Development (CTD) to identify which of those special and differential treatment
provisions are mandatory, and to consider the legal and practical implications of
making mandatory those which are currently non-binding.
 The Bali Ministerial Conference in December 2013 established a mechanism to
review and analyse the implementation of special and differential treatment
provisions
 S&DT provisions are usually grouped into four categories:
1. Longer time periods for implementing agreements and commitments,
2. Measures to increase trading opportunities for these countries,
3. Provisions requiring all WTO members to safeguard the trade interests of
developing countries,
4. Support to help developing countries build the infrastructure for WTO work,
handle disputes, and implement technical standards.
 In addition to S&DT for all developing countries, some WTO agreements also
contain special provisions for least developed countries (LDC)
 These special conditions for LDC include longer timeframes or exemptions (partial
of full) for commitments.
 With S&DT, WTO members recognize the different economic situations of
developing countries and their needs in implementing the obligations of WTO
agreements.
Significance of S&DT
 S&DT enables developing countries like India to take commensurate trade
commitments based on their economic capacity.
 It allows developing members like India to formulate “their domestic trade policy,
in a way that helps them to reduce poverty, generate employment and integrate
meaningfully into the global trading system.
6.13 Farm Subsidies: India Must Keep A Vigil
 Agriculture is a widely subsidised sector in several countries. Amidst the
escalating trade war between the US and China, the WTO gave a notable ruling in
February 2019, in a challenge involving certain agricultural policies of China.
 This ruling is on one of the two disputes filed by the US against China’s farm
subsidies on grains.
 China – Agricultural Producers related to China’s compliance with its domestic
support commitments under the WTO Agreement of Agriculture (AoA). China
not being an original WTO member, but a member that acceded much later,
received a certain unique treatment. China undertook obligations not to provide
domestic support in excess of the deminimis level of 8.5 per cent of the total
value of agriculture production.
 Although China received treatment as a developing country, it did not receive the
cushion of 10 per cent de minimis limit which other developing countries received.
 In this dispute, the allegation was that China exceeded the de minimis for
Indicarice, Japonicarice, wheat and corn for the years 2012 to 2015.
 The calculation of domestic subsidies in agriculture is particularly complex and is
captured in the concept ‘aggregate measurement of support’ (AMS). Most
governments provide agriculture subsidies in the nature of market price support.
 Under the programme, government purchases of agricultural products occur only
when market prices fall below the established MPP level. Such market price
support programmes should be included in the calculation of AMS.
 India too provides certain minimum support price (MSP) for agricultural products,
which is akin to the applied administered price.
 The determination of AMS significantly depends on the quantity of production
eligible to receive the applied administered price. There is lack of clarity in the AoA
as to whether “eligible quantity of production” refers to the total production of the
concerned product or the amount actually procured by a WTO member.
 China applied a number of criteria to limit the quantity of eligible production,
such as: the geographical scope (MPP programmes limited to certain provinces),
temporal scope (time period in which purchases were made), activation and de-
activation (procurement only in cases where price drops below certain levels),
minimum grain quality requirement, and consumption of grains in small-scale
farms.
 The WTO panel examined these factors and concluded that the quantity of
production eligible to receive the market price support to be the entire volume of
production in the relevant specified provinces. China successfully convinced the
panel on the geographical scope and the grain quality requirement but failed to do
so with the rest of the criteria. Pursuant to AMS calculations, the panel concluded
that China had breached its de minimis level and acted inconsistently with the
AoA.
 This decision has significance for a number of developing countries, including
India. Most developing countries do not set targets for procurement of foodgrains
in their market price support programmes. A possible consequence could be that
some of the agriculture support programmes could come under WTO dispute
scrutiny.
 The Ministerial Decision in Bali on Public Stockholding for Food Security
Purposes gives reasonable comfort to developing countries to provide agricultural
support for food security purposes. However, countries will have to fulfil certain
conditions such as notification and transparency requirements.
Agreement on Agriculture (AoA)
 The WTO Agriculture Agreement provides a framework for the long-term reform of
agricultural trade and domestic policies, with the aim of leading to fairer
competition and a less distorted sector.
 The Agreement covers:
 Market access — the use of trade restrictions, such as tariffs on imports
 Domestic support — the use of subsidies and other support programmes
that directly stimulate production and distort trade
 Export competition — the use of export subsidies and other government
support programmes that subsidize exports.
Aggregate Measure of Support (AMS)
 Aggregate measurement of support (AMS) is the indicator on which the domestic
support discipline for the Uruguay Round Agreement on Agriculture is based. It is
determined by calculating a market price support estimate for each commodity
receiving such support, plus non-exempt direct payments or any other subsidy
not exempted from reduction commitments, less specific agricultural levies or fees
paid by producers.
De Minimus Support
 All domestic support measures in favour of agricultural producers that do not fit
into any of the above exempt categories are subject to reduction commitments.
This domestic support category captures policies, such as market price support
measures, direct production subsidies or input subsidies.
 However, under the de minimis provisions of the Agreement there is no
requirement to reduce such trade-distorting domestic support in any year in
which the aggregate value of the product-specific support does not exceed 5 per
cent of the total value of production of the agricultural product in question. In
addition, non-product specific support which is less than 5 per cent of the value
of total agricultural production is also exempt from reduction. The 5 per cent
threshold applies to developed countries whereas in the case of developing
countries the de minimis ceiling is 10 per cent.
6.14 India needs a watch-dog for fiscal discipline
 The Chairman of the Fifteenth Finance Commission Chairman N K Singh has
rightly pitched for a fiscal council to enforce fiscal rules and better manage public
debt.“The rules of the game should be same for both (states and Centre). For state
government liabilities, Article 293 (3) provides a constitutional check over
borrowings. But there are no such restriction on the Centre. I feel that it is time
we have an alternative institutional mechanism like Fiscal Council to enforce
fiscal rules and keep a check on Centre’s
fiscal consolidation,” Singh said at the The Fiscal Responsibility and
launch of the book ‘Indian Fiscal Budget Management Act, 2003
Federalism’ authored by former RBI (FRBMA) is an Act of the
Governor Y V Reddy. Parliament of India to
Need for Independent fiscal council institutionalize financial
 It will bring in transparency, instill discipline.
confidence among domestic and foreign  It led to the framing of FRBM
investors and improve policy outcomes. Rules in 2004.
 Historically, interim budgets in India have  Rules - It essentially sets
consistently overestimated revenue growth targets for the Central
and underestimated expenditure growth government to ensure fiscal
 It would prevent practices such discipline.
accounting jugglery to show the Centre’s  The FRBM rules set a target:
finances in a better shape, undermining  for reduction of fiscal deficit
the sanctity of the budget numbers. to 3% of the GDP by 2008-09
 The Comptroller and Auditor General of (with annual reduction target
India had also underscored the need for of 0.3% of GDP)
proper disclosures, saying that budgets  for complete elimination of
often understate fiscal deficits by misusing revenue deficit by 2008-09
accounting loopholes. (with annual reduction target
 The recommendation to set up an of 0.5% of the GDP)
autonomous council featured prominently  Amendments - The target of
in the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget 3% was achieved only once,
Management Review Committee, chaired in 2007-08.
earlier by NK Singh.  It was thus first postponed
 The 13th and 14th finance commissions and later suspended in 2009,
too had favoured the setting up of a following the global financial
Council to keep tabs on budget forecasts crisis.
and their veracity. But successive  In May 2016, the government
governments failed to act on the set up the NK Singh
recommendations for reasons best known committee to review the
to them. FRBM Act.
 India must act now, emulating many countries across the world that have set up
such councils for better oversight and to build public opinion that veers towards
to greater fiscal discipline.
 In a globalized world of enormous capital flows, market volatility across the world
and especially in emerging markets, in response to monetary policy changes in
major economies, and geopolitical tensions that ebb and flow, causing currencies
and commodity prices to swing, countries like India need macroeconomic
management as an active function round the year.
 It cannot be left entirely to monetary policy, as regular monetary policy statements
themselves testify, with their articulation of how contingent their decisions are on
what the government does. Monetary policy has received wider public attention,
after the setting up of the Monetary Policy Committee.
 A fiscal council could do the same for fiscal policy, with regular meetings that
produce assessments. Further, the working of a fiscal council would help
harmonise fiscal policy with monetary policy.
What should be its role?
 Our debt-to-GDP ratio of the states and the Centre combined is also way too high
at 70%. Reviewing fiscal discipline rules should aim at lowering the level to 60% of
GDP by 2023.
 The Council’s role, according the FRBM panel, should include preparing multi-
year fiscal forecasts, recommending changes to fiscal strategy, improving the
quality of fiscal data and advising the government if conditions exist to deviate
from the fiscal target and advising the government to take corrective action for
non-compliance with the Bill.
6.15 A Second Life For Digital Debris
 A recent global report on electronic waste suggests the need for a circular
economy for electronics. But is something like this possible in India where the
informal sector is still deeply involved in the handling of e-waste?
 A circular economy is an alternative to a traditional linear economy (make,
use, dispose) in which we keep resources in use for as long as possible, extract
the maximum value from them whilst in use, then recover and regenerate
products and materials at the end of each service life.
 A typical mobile phone is made up of industrial thermoplastics, ceramics, metals
and other chemical compounds. Dismantling any electronic item means coming in
direct contact with all these elements. Most of the workers in Seelampur do this
with their bare hands.
 This is how most of the informal e-waste sector in India goes about its business.
The e-waste management rules of the Union ministry of environment, forest and
climate change (MoEF) mandate that e-waste handlers should maintain a record
of the e-waste collected, dismantled and sent to the recycler.
 But workers in this market seem oblivious to this. Most of the shops are in a
shabby state, with little or no space to store the electronic items; much of it lies in
the open. On one side of the road, two workers are loading used monitors on to a
creaky rickshaw, while others are offloading underground transmission cables
from a truck. All these items will either be taken apart here or sent on to scrap
dealers.
 The entire e-waste market in the old Seelampur area is concentrated in three-four
alleys located parallel to the open drain.
 According to a report titled Global E-waste Monitor 2017, a collaborative effort of
the United Nations University, the International Telecommunication Union and
the International Solid Waste Association, the total e-waste generated in Asia in
2016 was 18.2 million tonnes (mt).
 India’s share of this was around 2 mt. The report adds that India generates a
tremendous amount of e-waste and even imports it from developed countries.
 The Monitor says over “one million poor people in India are involved in manual
recycling operations".
 Assocham-EY report on urban
waste management solutions in
India states that according to the
Central Pollution Control Board,
India has 214 authorized
recyclers/dismantlers. In 2016-
17, the recyclers treated only
0.036 mt of India’s 2 mt of e–
waste, the report adds.
 Multiple studies and reports
have estimated that almost 90%
of the electronic waste in India is
collected and processed by the
informal sector.
 Despite global rules seeking to
regulate the export and import of
e-waste, a new World Economic
Forum, or WEF, report suggests
that large amounts are still
shipped illegally. For instance, e-
waste generated in Western
Europe makes its way to China
and India, among other
countries.
 India has become one of the
biggest dumping grounds. The
report adds that in total, 1.3 mt
of undocumented discarded
electronic products are exported annually from the European Union.
 E-waste dumped in landfills produces contaminated leachates—the liquid that
drains or leaches from a landfill—which eventually pollute the groundwater. When
incinerated, e-waste can produce toxic fumes that are damaging to both the
human respiratory system and air quality.
 Even if the e-waste reaches the recycling stage, improper methods of recovery and
recycling have a significant impact on the environment. Circuit boards are often
burnt in the open to extract metals such as copper, but this also releases
potentially hazardous elements such as lead and chromium into the
surroundings.
 Workers have been known to suffer health issues ranging from respiratory
ailments to skin disorders. Some e-waste compounds are also considered
carcinogenic.
 Electronic waste is now the fastest-growing waste stream globally. Worldwide, the
Global E-waste Monitor 2017 report pegs generation at 44.7 mt. By 2021,
projections estimate it at around 52 mt. This number is expected to reach 120 mt
by 2050. The UN has termed it a “tsunami of e-waste”.
 The WEF report suggests that a circular economy model in the electronics sector
could not only increase the longevity of the products but also create better and
safe jobs for informal workers.
 A circular economy, as opposed to today’s linear economy, would be a system
where all materials, components are kept at their highest value, i.e. in good shape
and working condition, at all times and in use for as long as possible. The report
adds that to build a circular economy for electronics, products need to be
designed for reuse, durability and safe recycling.
 The E-Waste (Management and Handling) Rules, 2011, were the first such
regulations in India. Earlier, electronic waste was covered under the Hazardous
Waste Management (HWM) Rules, 1989.
 The 2011 rules, which came into effect in May 2012, introduced the concept of
EPR, or extended producer responsibility, making the producer or manufacturer
responsible for the life cycle of the product. In other words, producers would be
accountable for the collection of used goods, their recycling and final disposal.
7. Environment
7.1 Sewage cess: An idea whose time has come
 As the recent Mihir Shah Committee report (‘21st Century Institutional
Architecture for India’s Water Reforms: Restructuring the CWC and CGWB’)
pointed out, cities in India produce nearly 40,000 million litres of sewage every
day and barely 20% of it is treated. Delhi chief
secretary Vijay Dev has called for a Yamuna Few Most Polluted Rivers in
cess on all households in the Capital, which the World in 2019
clearly needs to be promptly followed through. 1. Ganges River: In India, it
is the sacred river with a
Need for Sewage cess: consumption base of over
 Immediate need is to allocate resources for one billion people.
urban sewage treatment, and not just to take 2. Citarum River: Flowing
action over rising pollution in our rivers but through a West Java,
also for gainful reuse of treated water. Indonesia.
 The grim reality is that only 2% of our urban 3. Yellow River: Known as
areas have both sewerage systems and sewage the ‘cradle of civilisation’ of
treatment plants. China, is the mighty yellow
 Hence the pressing need to levy reasonable river, which is the third
user charges on all households, to shore up longest in Asia and the
much-needed investments in such plants. sixth longest in the world.
 The Sewerage Master Plan for Delhi, 2031, does 4. Sarno River in Italy is
mention that treatment capacity is about 50% probably the Europe’s most
of the sewage produced, but adds that several polluted river.
plants are decades old and which has led to 5. Buringanga River: Biggest
loss of treatment efficiency. river in Bangladesh.
 The Capital’s trunk sewers lines, constructed
as early as in the 1930s, have mostly silted up
and require revamp and de-silting.
 Back in 2015, the National Green Tribunal had ruled that every household in
Delhi should pay at least Rs. 100 per month as environmental compensation.
Unfortunately, not a single rupee has been collected.
Managing the sludge
 Current technology—using water to flush down excreta and carry it away—was
not sustainable.
 The solution was on-site faecal sludge management using modern septic tanks
and other technologies so that the excreta does not contaminate water bodies.
 The current piped sewerage systems do not treat sewage but merely transport it
away. They are toxic and extremely polluting for the rivers and lakes where they
are dumped.
7.2 Cost of poorly enforced environment laws
 The sixth edition of the Global Environment Outlook (GEO) from the UN
Environment Programme has come as another stark warning: the world is
unsustainably extracting resources and
producing unmanageable quantities of The Global Environment
waste. The linear model of economic growth Outlook (GEO) is often referred
depends on the extraction of ever-higher to as UN Environment’s flagship
quantities of materials, leading to chemicals environmental assessment. The
flowing into air, water and land which may first publication was in 1997.
lead to adverse health effects. There is no regular time interval
Health effects: for its publication.
 Adverse environment causes ill-health and It is a consultative and
premature mortality, and affects the quality participatory process to prepare
of life, particularly for those unable to an independent assessment of
insulate themselves from these effects. The the state of the environment, the
UN report, GEO-6, on the theme “Healthy effectiveness of the policy
Planet, Healthy People,” has some sharp response to address these
pointers for India. environmental challenges and
 It notes that East and South Asia have the the possible pathways to be
highest number of deaths due to air achieve various internationally
pollution; by one estimate, it killed about agreed environmental goals.
1.24 million in India in 2017.
 As India’s population grows, it must worry
that agricultural yields are coming under stress due to increase in average
temperature and erratic monsoons.
 The implications of these forecasts for food security and health are all too evident,
more so for the 148 million people living in severe weather ‘hotspots’.
Intended Actions:
 The task before India is to recognize the human cost of poorly enforced
environment laws and demonstrate the political will necessary to end business-as-
usual policies. That would mean curbing the use of fossil fuels and toxic
chemicals across the spectrum of economic activity.
 There are some targeted interventions that only require the resolve to reduce air
and water pollution, and which in turn promise early population-level benefits.
Aggressive monitoring of air quality in cities through scaled-up facilities would
bring about a consensus on cutting emissions of greenhouse gases, and provide
the impetus to shift to cleaner sources of energy.
 It is significant that GEO-6 estimates that the top 10% of populations globally, in
terms of wealth, are responsible for 45% of GHG emissions, and the bottom 50%
for only 13%. Pollution impacts are, however, borne more by the poorer citizens.
Taxing the rich on environmental basis can be a viable option to provide equitable
resources.
 Combating air pollution require all older coal-based power plants in India to
conform to emission norms at the earliest, or to be shut down in favour of
renewable energy sources.
 Transport emissions are a growing source of urban pollution, and a quick
transition to green mobility is needed.
 In the case of water, the imperative is to stop the contamination of surface
supplies by chemicals, sewage and municipal waste. As the leading extractor of
groundwater in the world, India needs to make water part of a circular economy in
which it is treated as a resource that is recovered, treated and reused. But water
protection gets low priority, and State governments show no urgency in
augmenting rainwater harvesting.
 New storage areas act as a supply source when monsoons fail, and help manage
floods when there is excess rainfall.
7.3 Climate Launchpad Contest Launched
 The Kerala chapter of Climate Launchpad, one of the world’s largest green
business ideas competition in which 62 countries are participating, has been
launched.
 Innovators from Kerala can now submit their ideas – that can help tackle climate
change using renewable energy among others – online for the competition that
scales up to the global level.
 This is the first time that the competition is being launched in Kerala, where it is
hosted by the Sustera Foundation, Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and
Environment’s Community Environmental Resource Centre (ATREE-CERC) and
Climate Studio along with Climate Launchpad (a Europe-based knowledge and
innovation community).
 Innovations in renewable energy, energy efficiency, food and agriculture, water,
transportation, and industrial technology are eligible for qualification.
 The competition serves as a platform for tech innovations.
 Climate Launchpad is part of the Entrepreneurship offerings of EIT Climate-KIC, a
European knowledge and innovation community working to accelerate the
transition to a zero-carbon economy.
Zero Carbon
 For stabilization of climate and ocean acidification it (should) means that all
industrial sources of CO2 have to be converted to run on zero carbon emitting
energies.
 As in the 2014 Climate Action network International's June 2014 Position
Statement it means the end of the fossil fuel energy era, by all fossil fuel energy
being replaced 100% by non polluting renewable energy.
 Zero carbon refers to zero carbon dioxide emissions, and can be applied to CO2
equivalent emissions, that takes in the other GHG emissions
 It is a not an agreed scientific term but it is a scientific reality for climate change
mitigation.
 If any industrial pollution CO2 is added to the atmosphere stabilization of
atmospheric CO2 cannot happen - that is the scientific reality. Nor can
stabilization of ocean acidification
 In fact there had been an addition of some carbon to the atmosphere (CO2 and
methane CH4) since agricultural civilizations developed. With the industrial
revolution that additional carbon started to increase and soon was increasing at
an exponential rate.
 It is impossible for us, with our current knowledge, to stop all CO2 emissions from
human activities.
 For example we have no way at present to stop all CO2 emissions from
agriculture. Zero carbon therefore today means virtual zero carbon (at least a 90%
reduction of carbon emissions.
 We can make major reductions in agricultural carbon emissions because today's
agriculture is so carbon intensive and carbon emitting.
 Research shows that organic farming methods are the best for carbon balance.
 There is no reason to think that if large resources are applied for research into
converting all our carbon sources to zero carbon services and technologies we
could not redevelop for a true zero carbon world. This is a possibility for the future
that we must work towards.
 The best that we can achieve with today's knowledge is what the scientists call
'virtual zero' carbon emissions - at least a 90% reduction. Low carbon or net zero
carbon could also mean this.
7.4 Cyclone IDAI
 The Indian Navy had launched a Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief
(HADR) operation in coordination with local officials to evacuate about 5,000
people stranded at Buzi near Port Beira in Mozambique.
 The region has been hit by widespread flooding and devastation affecting
Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Malawi.
 According to United Nations officials, cyclone Idai, a category 4 tropical storm,
which hit southern Africa, is likely the worst weather-related disaster to hit the
southern hemisphere with over 1.7 million people affected in Mozambique alone.
 Large fishing boats provided by Mozambique acted as anchor midway across the
channel. Rigid-Hulled Inflatable Boat (RHIB) and Gemini boats on our ships will
transport personnel from shore to the fishing boats to be transported to the Beira
side.
 The smaller RHIB and Gemini boats were employed as the Navy ships and local
fishing boats could not enter the channel due to depth restrictions. Helicopter
operations were also planned to assist the rescue efforts.
 The helicopter on INS Shardul is operating from the local airport for recce and
search and rescue.
 The Navy has made HADR assistance a major tool of its foreign cooperation
initiative in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR) which has a high incidence of natural
disasters.
7.5 Protecting the Sundarban Wetlands
 On January 30, the Indian Sundarban was accorded the status of ‘Wetland of
International Importance’ under the Ramsar
Convention. It is the 27th Ramsar Site in India, Ramsar Convention
and with an area of 4, 23,000 hectares is now  The Convention on Wetlands
the largest protected wetland in the country. of International Importance,
Importance of Wetlands better known as the Ramsar
 Traditionally viewed as a wasteland or breeding Convention.
ground of disease, wetlands actually provide  It is an international
freshwater and food, and serve as nature’s agreement promoting the
shock absorber. conservation and wise use of
 Wetlands, critical for biodiversity, are wetlands. It is the only global
disappearing rapidly, with recent estimates treaty to focus on a single
showing that 64% or more of the world’s ecosystem.
wetlands have vanished since 1900.  The convention was adopted
 Major changes in land use for agriculture and in the Iranian city of Ramsar
grazing, water diversion for dams and canals in 1971 and came into force
and infrastructure development are considered in 1975.
to be some of the main causes of loss and
degradation of wetlands.
Significance of Sundarban
 The Sundarban wetland is located within the largest mangrove forest in the
world that encompasses hundreds of islands and a maze of rivers, rivulets and
creeks, in the delta of the Rivers Ganges and Brahmaputra on the Bay of Bengal
in India and Bangladesh.
 The Indian Sundarban, covering the south-westernmost part of the delta,
constitutes over 60% of the country’s total mangrove forest area and includes 90%
of Indian mangrove species.
 The mangrove forests protect the hinterland from storms, cyclones, tidal surges,
and the seepage and intrusion of saltwater inland and into waterways.
 They serve as nurseries to shellfish and finfish and sustain the fisheries of the
entire eastern coast.
 The Indian Sundarban, also a UNESCO world heritage site, is home to the Royal
Bengal Tiger
 The Sundarban Tiger Reserve is situated within the Site and part of it has been
declared a “critical tiger habitat” under national law and also a “Tiger
Conservation Landscape” of global importance.
 The Sundarbans are the only mangrove habitat which supports a significant
population of tigers, and they have unique aquatic hunting skills.
 The Site is also home to a large number of rare and globally threatened species
such as the critically endangered northern river terrapin (Batagur baska), the
endangered Irrawaddy dolphin (Orcaella brevirostris), and the vulnerable fishing
cat (Prionailurus viverrinus).
 Two of the world’s four horseshoe crab species, and eight of India’s 12 species of
kingfisher are also found here. The uniqueness of the habitat and its biodiversity,
and the many tangible and intangible, local, regional and global services they
provide, makes the Site’s protection and management a conservation priority.
Threats faced by Sundarban Wetland
 While the Indian Sundarban is a bio diverse preserve, over four million people live
on its northern and northwestern periphery, putting pressure on the ecosystem.
 Concerns have been raised about natural ecosystems being changed for
cultivation of shrimp, crab, molluscs and fish.
 The Ramsar Information Sheet lists fishing and harvesting of aquatic resources as
a “high impact” actual threat to the wetland.
 The other threats are from dredging, oil and gas drilling, logging and wood
harvesting, hunting and collecting terrestrial animals.
 Salinity has been categorized as a medium and tourism as a low impact actual
threat in the region.
 Experts believe that while the Ramsar status may bring in international
recognition to the Indian Sundarban, the wetland, which along with
anthropogenic pressures, is also vulnerable to climate change and requires better
management and conservation practice
Qualification criteria for Ramsar site
 The Indian Sundarban met four of the nine criteria required for the status of
‘Wetland of International Importance’
1. Presence of rare species and threatened ecological communities,
2. Biological diversity
3. Significant and representative fish and fish spawning ground
4. Migration path.
7.6 Urban Areas Cooler Than Non-Urban Regions During Heat Waves
 A study of 89 urban areas in India has found that though there is an absolute
increase in temperature during heat waves in both urban and non-urban areas,
the urban areas are relatively cooler than the surrounding non-urban areas.
 At 1.94°C, the absolute increase in temperature during the day in non-urban
areas during a heat wave was significantly higher than in urban areas (0.14°C).
 According to the analysis, urban areas were found to be relatively cooler than
the surrounding non-urban areas during heat waves. At 44.5°C, the non-urban
areas were warmer than urban areas (43.7°C). However, during the night, all
urban areas were hotter than the surrounding non-urban areas.
 The study was published in the journal Environmental Research
Communications.
 The urban areas witness less temperature increase during heat waves compared
with non-urban areas due to significantly higher tree cover and more number of
water bodies.
 In contrast, a majority of non-urban areas are located in agriculture-dominated
regions. In non-urban areas, the vegetation cover in the form of crops and soil
moisture from cropland irrigation decline sharply after crops are harvested and
well before the onset of heat waves during summer.
 The urban areas, on the other hand, have perennial vegetation in the form of tree
cover and lawns, and more number of water bodies, which help in keeping the
urban areas relatively cooler than non-urban areas.
 The land surface temperature was estimated by analysing satellite data collected
between 2003 and 2016. Between 1951 and 2016, a majority of urban areas
experienced about five hot days and nights per year.
 About 44% of urban areas showed an increase in frequency of hot days while 34%
showed a significant decline in frequency of hot days.
 Between 1951 and 1980, the frequency of hot days in urban areas located in the
Indo-Gangetic plain region was more than in urban areas lying outside this
region.
 But post-1980, the urban areas in the Indo-Gangetic plain region witnessed a
decline in the frequency of hot days and hot nights. The decline in the
frequency is due to intensive irrigation in the Indo-Gangetic plain.
7.7 Plastic Harms Galapagos Wildlife
 Armed only with gloves and large sacks, park rangers and volunteers are battling
the scourge of plastic waste blighting the idyllic Galapagos Islands and their
unique creatures.
 Tonnes of plastic waste wash up on the shores of the Galapagos islands where
microparticles end up in the stomachs of species found only in the Pacific
archipelago 1,000 km west of mainland Ecuador.
 Those microparticles, often from waste discarded in big cities from other countries
and even continents, are perhaps one of the greatest threats to the iguanas,
tortoises, birds and fish of the Galapagos.
 The tiny plastic pieces become part of the food chain “that we may later feed on.
Sun rays and the ocean’s saltwater break down bottles, bags, lids, containers and
fishing nets.
 More than 90 percent of the waste gathered doesn’t come from Galapagos
activities, but rather from South America, Central America and even a great
deal of waste with Asian branding.
The Galápagos Islands
 The Galápagos Islands part of the Republic of Ecuador, are an archipelago of
volcanic islands distributed on either side of the equator in the Pacific Ocean
surrounding the centre of the Western Hemisphere, 906 km (563 mi) west of
continental Ecuador.
 The islands are known for their large number of endemic species and were studied
by Charles Darwin during the second voyage of HMS Beagle.
 His observations and collections contributed to the inception of Darwin's theory of
evolution by means of natural selection.
 The Galápagos Islands and their surrounding waters form the Galápagos Province
of Ecuador, the Galápagos National Park, and the Galápagos Marine Reserve.
 The principal language on the islands is Spanish. The islands have a population of
slightly over 25,000.
7.8 Rushikulya waits for Olive Ridleys
 Even after waiting for almost a month, Olive Ridley turtles have not yet arrived for
mass nesting at Odisha’s Rushikulya rookery and Devi river mouth. The reasons
are not fully understood yet.
 Mass nesting has already occurred at the Gahirmatha coast of the State.
 Although it is held that climatic parameters as well as beach conditions decide
mass nesting at a coast, we are still not sure how these parameters affect their
decision-making.
 This year, the Forest Department also prepared a three-km-long coast near the
Bahuda river mouth, from Sunapur to Anantpur, as an alternative mass nesting
site, about 20 km to the south of Rushikulya. However, except for few occurrences
of sporadic nesting, mass nesting has yet not occurred at this new beach.
Olive Ridley Turtle
 Olive Ridley turtle is the smallest and most abundant of all sea turtle found in the
world.
 It is classified as Vulnerable in IUCN Red List and is listed in Appendix I of
CITES.
 In India, it is protected under Wildlife (Protection) Act.
 Habitat — warm and tropical waters of primarily in the Pacific, Indian Ocean and
Atlantic Ocean.
 They are best known for their behaviour of synchronized nesting in mass
numbers-Arribadas
 Members of the Yanadi tribe are directly involved in the conservation bid.
 Operation Olivia — Olive Ridely Turtle protection program undertaken by Indian
Coast Guard
 mating and breeding season — winter
 mostly carnivorous, feeding on such creatures as jellyfish, snails, crabs, and
shrimp. They will occasionally eat algae and seaweed.
 Nesting sites in India: Hope Island of Coringa Wildlife Sanctuary (Andhra
Pradesh), Gahirmatha beach (Odisha), Astaranga coast(Odisha), Beach of
Rushikulya River, Devi River mouth.
7.9 India’s carbon dioxide emissions up 5%
 India emitted 2,299 million tonnes of carbon dioxide in 2018, a 4.8% rise from
last year, according to a report by the International Energy Agency (IEA).
 India’s emissions growth this year was higher than that of the United States
and China — the two
biggest emitters in the
world — and this was
primarily due to a rise in
coal consumption.
 China, the United
States, and India
together accounted for
nearly 70% of the rise
in energy demand.
 India’s per capita
emissions were about 40% of the global average and contributed 7% to the global
carbon dioxide burden.
 The United States, the largest emitter, was responsible for 14%.
 As per its commitments to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate
Change, India has promised to reduce the emissions intensity of its economy
by 2030, compared to 2005 levels.
 It has also committed to having 40% of its energy from renewable sources by 2030
and, as part of this, install 100 GW of solar power by 2022.
 However the IEA report, made public, showed that India’s energy intensity
improvement declined 3% from last year even as its renewable energy installations
increased 10.6% from last year.
 Global energy consumption in 2018 increased at nearly twice the average rate of
growth since 2010, driven by a robust global
economy and higher heating and cooling
COP 24-Katowice Summit
needs in some parts of the world.
 The 2018 United Nations
 Demand for all fuels increased, led by
Climate Change Conference
natural gas, even as solar and wind posted
that took place between 2 and
double digit growth.
15 December 2018 in
 Higher electricity demand was responsible Katowice, Poland
for over half of the growth in energy needs.
 It is the 24th Conference of the
 Energy efficiency saw lacklustre Parties to the United Nations
improvement. Framework Convention on
 As a result of higher energy consumption, Climate Change (COP24)....
carbon dioxide emissions rose 1.7% last year  It is also referred to as the
and hit a new record. Katowice Climate Change
 The United States had the largest increase Conference or Katowice
in oil and gas demand worldwide. Gas Climate Talks.
consumption jumped 10% from the previous  The most important outcome of
year, the fastest increase since the beginning
COP24 was that the countries
of IEA records in 1971. have agreed on rules for the
 India says it will cost at least $2.5trillion implementation of the 2015
(Rs. 150 trillion approx.) to implement its Paris Agreement.
climate pledge, around 71% of the combined  The rules are regarding how
required spending for all developing country the member nations will
pledges. measure the carbon-emissions
7.10 Carbon Neutral cities and report on their emissions-
 Last year, in the UNFCCC’s summit at cutting efforts
Katowice, 18 climate scientists released a  The members of the conference
report targeted at urban policymakers. The did not agree to “welcome” the
30-page document was a follow-up to the Intergovernmental Panel on
IPCC’s seminal report, which had stressed Climate Change (IPCC) report
on the urgency of keeping global warming to on 1.5°C.
less than 1.5ºC above pre-industrial levels.  The US, Saudi Arabia, Russia
Recently, Copenhagen became the first city and Kuwait refused to
to present a plan to cancel out its carbon “welcome” the IPCC report.
footprint by 2025.
Importance of decarbonising the Cities
 As the world’s population becomes increasingly more urbanised, with the share of
people living in cities amounting to 55% today and expected to increase to 68% by
2050
 Hence, decarbonising the cities of the world will be instrumental in fighting
climate change.
 Residents of just 100 cities account for 20% of humanity’s overall carbon
footprint,
 Roughly one third of an urban city-dwellers’ carbon footprint is determined by
that city’s public transportation options and building infrastructure.
Nordic Capital: Lessons to the world
 The Nordic capitals have all set ambitious targets to reduce their carbon footprint
and decouple their growth from the use of fossil fuels, increase the use of public
and light traffic and become more energy efficient.
 Helsinki, Finland capital strives to become carbon neutral by 2035. In practice,
Helsinki strives to reduce greenhouse gas emissions produced within the city
borders by 80% and to offset the remaining 20% by reducing emissions elsewhere.
 Stockholm aims to be fossil-fuel free by 2040. This is to be achieved through
sustainable energy use, renewables-powered transport and resource-efficient
natural cycles.
 The most ambitious targets for carbon reduction are found in Oslo and
Copenhagen
 Oslo's CO2 emissions by 50% by 2020 and by 95% by 2030, compared to the
1990 level.
 Oslo’s Climate and Energy Strategy is made up of 16 initiatives, covering both
traffic, energy production and efficiency, a climate budget for the city as well as
waste management and recycling.
 Since 61% of the emissions in Oslo derive from traffic, Oslo has an ambitious plan
to reduce all car traffic by one third by 2030, to increase the amount of daily
travels by bike by 25% by 2025 and make its public transportation fleet run
entirely on renewables by 2020.
 Copenhagen wants to be the world’s first carbon neutral capital in 2025.
 The Danish capital has already reduced its GHG emissions by more than 40 per
cent compared to 2005. Nearly 45 per cent of people who live in and around
Copenhagen use bicycles to commute.
 The city also has specially-designated roads for cyclists and uses waste to
generate electricity.
 For every unit of fossil fuel it consumes, Copenhagen plans to sell commensurate
amounts of renewable energy. By the end of this year, everyone living in the
Danish capital will be half-a-mile from a subway station.
 Solar panels will also become a ubiquitous sight on roofs all over Stockholm, Oslo,
Helsinki and Copenhagen.
Katowice summit: Recommendations for Carbon neutral cities
 The report of the climate scientists, released before the Katowice summit,
recommends the use of “information and communication technologies to optimise
public transportation efficiency, and enable vehicle sharing”.
 It also advocates the use of “energy-efficient buildings and infrastructure that
have low or near zero-emissions”.
 Well-connected and pedestrian-friendly cities have a relatively low carbon
footprint.
7.11 Low soil moisture: A threat to River Basins
 IIT Indore and IIT Guwahati researchers prepared an index based on the data of
temperature, rainfall and soil moisture for 29 years from 1982 to 2010 to
understand the effect of climate on vegetation. A study of these factors has shown
that forest and croplands in two-thirds of river basins across India do not have
the potential to cope with extreme climatic events such as drought.
Role of soil moisture
 Soil moisture is a key variable in terrestrial water cycle, playing a key role in the
exchange of water and energy in the land-atmosphere interface.
 Soil moisture is suggested to be one of the most important parameters between
land and atmosphere, and it is also the key link of the terrestrial water and energy
cycles
 Soil moisture partitions the surface net radiation into latent heat and sensible
heat, where the former is consumed in the evaporation process and the latter is
used for warming the atmosphere
 It regulates the water and energy exchanges between land and atmosphere,
through which soil moisture exerts important influences on the climate and the
weather processes.
 Improved understanding of the interactions between soil moisture and
atmosphere can improve the ability of meteorological forecast and also seasonal
predictions of climate extremes, such as floods and drought and heat waves
 Studying soil moisture is also important for the assessment of water resources
security under the condition of climate change.
Issue of low soil moisture
 The study was undertaken in all 24 major river basins and all 10 major
vegetation/land cover types for detailed analysis. The 10 vegetation cover regions
includes grassland, agricultural land and natural vegetation.
 At least half of forests and croplands in 16 out of 24 river basins are prone to
drying due to low soil moisture levels.
 Ganga basin is most vulnerable as 25 per cent of its area is highly drought-prone.
 Area wise, most badly affected river basin was Ganga, since 25 per cent of its area
is susceptible to droughts, according to the study.
 River basins in north western regions are most threatened as vegetation in more
than 80 per cent area in Mahi, Luni and Sabarmati river basins showed “very high
chances of drying.”
 In the south, in south, Pennar river basin is likely to suffer from vegetation
droughts due to deterioration in soil moisture levels and 50 percent of Krishna,
Cauvery and Tapi basins are sensitive to drought.
Vegetation drought in India
 Depletion of green cover due changing temperatures, precipitation and low soil
moisture content are reasons for vegetation drought.
 The result of study indicate a possible emergence of a very alarming situation as
more than 50 per cent of every forest in India is highly vulnerable to climate
change.
 The study suggests that forests and croplands in at least one-third area of 18 out
of 24 river basins may not sustain changes. It means drying in these regions may
last longer than usual.
 Most importantly, two-third of country’s total croplands face similar threat, which
is of paramount concern for country’s food security.
 The evergreen forests, which are found in high precipitation zones such as north-
east and Western Ghats remain green throughout the year.
 However the study found that evergreen needle leaf and evergreen broad leaf
forests were unable to recover from driest conditions and 50 to 60 per cent of
these forest types showed non-resilience.
 Deciduous forests that mostly depend on monsoon are most widespread in
country. It was found that a possible dry condition is capable of altering more
than 65 per cent of deciduous vegetation.
 Irrespective of its type, more than half of every vegetation cover was found to be
poorly capable of fighting water shortage.
7.12 The hump-backed mahseer is now 'critically endangered’
 The hump-backed mahseer—a large freshwater fish also called the tiger of the
water and found only in the Cauvery river basin (including Kerala’s Pambar,
Kabini and Bhavani rivers)—is now “Critically Endangered”.
 It is now more threatened than the tiger is, as per the International Union for
Conservation of Nature’s Red List of Threatened Species.
 The fish is one of the 229 species added to the Red List recently; the recent update
also reveals that the threat status of 12 other Indian species, including great
hornbills, has increased.
 The inclusion of the mahseer in the Red List, an inventory of the conservation
status of the world’s species, was possible only once the fish got its scientific
name June 2018—Torremadevii.
 Now, securing the future of the hump-backed mahseer would depend on the
strong willingness and
cooperation of a range of
stakeholders in three
states—Kerala,
TamilNadu and
Karnataka—in the
Cauvery, one of India’s
most contested rivers.
 Restricted to the Cauvery
basin, the fish’s prominent
feature by which it can be
distinguished is the hump
present on its back.
 Five other species have
also made it to threatened categories: two wild orchids, the Arabian scad (a
marine fish) and two wild coffee species found only in a few localities in the
Western Ghats.
 The greathornbill (found in India and southeast Asia) was earlier categorised as
“NearThreatened”. It is now “Vulnerable” due to high hunting pressure coupled
with habitat loss and deforestation, while the wreathedhornbill has moved from
“Least Concern” to “Vulnerable”.
 The huge carp that is known to grow up to 1.5 metres in length and weighing
about 55 kg is also known as “TigersoftheWater”.
7.13 On Average, Mercury is Earth's Closest Neighbour
 Point-circlemethod (PCM) is a technique that averages the distance between
every point on a planet’s orbit and every point on the second planet’s orbit. Using
this, the researchers found that Venus is on average is 1.14 astronomical units
(AU) away from Earth and Mercury is 1.04 AU away.
 The researchers figured that for any two bodies in the same plane and moving in
concentric orbits, the average distance between the two bodies is directly
proportional to the radius of the inner orbit.
 To validate this corollary, they plotted the planets in their actual elliptical orbits in
3D and ran a simulation for 10,000 years. The simulation recorded the distances
between each pair of planets every 24 simulation hours.
 The average measured distances deviated from the results from PCM by less than
1% – so their calculation was right. On average, Mercury is Earth’s closest
neighbour.
 The researchers’ finding doesn’t change how astronomers and spaceflight
planners work. In fact, it could even be a case of ‘datatorture’: analysing a large
dataset in multiple ways and finding one interesting result – the statistical
equivalent of a broken clock being right twice a day.
7.14 Arctic Warming Is Slowly Creating a Prolonged Drought
 In the globe, there lies a great temperature difference between the poles and the
tropical areas. But, as the globe warms, this temperature difference begins to
diminish due to warming of the polar region. Now researchers say that this would
adversely affect the global climate, especially by creating a prolonged drought-like
situation.
Arctic Warming: Highlights of the research
 The Nature paper takes a global approach and relates the history of severe dry
periods of temperature changes. The research contributed to assess how dry
conditions have been in the past 10,000 years.
 The Holocene temperature analysis taken up in the research included 236 records
from 219 sites.
 The research included three water bodies in Wyoming (A state in U.S)—Lake of
the Woods, little windy hill pond and rainbow lake. Lakes are these natural
recorders of wet and dry conditions. When lakes rise or lower, it leaves geological
evidence behind.
 The researchers analysed the dynamics of tropic-to-pole temperature difference
from three time periods—100 years ago, 2000 years ago and 10000 years ago.
 The analysis was facilitated by many atmospheric records for the past 100 years,
but getting records for the past 2000 and 10000 years, was a difficult task.
 The study encompassed the data from tree rings, lake deposits, cave deposits and
glacier ice to study the temperature and precipitation prior to 2000 years.
 Currently, the warming rate of the northern high latitude is almost double the
global average.
 According to the paper, this phenomenon could decrease the temperature
difference between equator and pole to a level that was prevalent during early to
middle Holocene Period, which is when the Arctic warmed 10,000 years ago after
the ice age.
 The temperature difference between the arctic and the tropics influences global
climate in many important ways.
 When the temperature gradient is maintained, the result is more precipitation,
more robust wind flow etc. Moreover, the warming arctic would also cause the jet
streams to become weaker.
 Wyoming had several thousand years where a number of lakes dried up, and sand
dunes were active where they now have vegetation. Expanding to the East Coast,
it is a wet landscape today. But 10,000 years ago, the East Coast was nearly as
dry as the Great Plains.
7.15 Poisoned Cattle Carcass Kills 37 Vultures
 At least 37 vultures belonging to three endangered species died in eastern
Assam’s Sivasagar district after feeding on pesticide-laced cattle carcass.
 Forest officials and a wildlife rescue team from the Vulture Conservation
Breeding Centre (VCBC) rescued an equal number of vultures in a critical
condition.
 The incident happened at Bam Rajabari village, where 20 vultures died of carcass-
poisoning in April 2018.
 Most of the 37 vultures that died are Himalayan griffon. A few are oriental white-
backed and slender-billed vultures.
 It was a clear case of poisoning the carcass of a cow by the villagers, meant to kill
feral dogs. But, as is often the case, the vultures died.
 A study by the Bombay Natural History Society and other organisations in the
1990s found that the population of the Gyps group — Himalayan griffon, white-
backed and slender-billed are among its members — in India and Nepal declined
from about 40 million by 99.9% in just two decades.
Vulture Background
 India has nine species of vultures in the wild.
Status of Vulture
 The population of three species i.e. White-backed Vulture, Slender billed Vulture
and Long billed Vulture in the wild has declined drastically over the past decade.
The decline of Gyps genus in India has been put at 97% by 2005.
 Because of the evidence of widespread and rapid population decline, all three
vulture species were listed by IUCN, the World Conservation Union, in 2000 as
‘Critically Endangered’, which is the highest category of endangerment.
Conservation
 India also moved IUCN motion in 2004 for vulture conservation, which was
accepted in the form of the IUCN resolution which “called upon Gyps vulture
Range countries to begin action to prevent all uses of diclofenac in
veterinary applications that allow diclofenac to be present in carcasses of
domestic livestock available as food for vultures.
 Establishment of IUCN South Asian Task Force under the auspices of the IUCN.
 Range countries to develop and implement national vulture recovery plans,
including conservation breeding and release.
Vulture-Significance for Human Well-Being
 The ecological, social and cultural significance of vultures in India may be
summed up as: scavenging on animal carcasses of animals and thereby helping
keep the environment clean; and the disposal of dead bodies as per the religious
practices of the Parsi community.
 Vultures are the primary removers of carrion in India and Africa. Removal of a
major scavenger from the ecosystem will affect the equilibrium between
populations of other scavenging species and/or result in increase in putrefying
carcasses.
 In the absence of carcass disposing mechanisms, vulture declines may lead to an
increase in the number of putrefying animal carcasses in the country side.
 In some areas the population of feral dogs, being the main scavenging species in
the absence of vultures, has been observed to have increased. Both increases in
putrefying carcasses and changes in the scavenger populations have associated
disease risks for wildlife, livestock and humans.
 In the absence of any alternative mode of disposal of animal carcasses, they
continue to be disposed off in the open, and with increasing numbers of feral
dogs, there is increased risk of spread of rabies, and livestock borne diseases like
anthrax.
 The decline in vultures has also affected the traditional custom of the Parsis of
placing their dead in the ‘Towers of Silence’ for vultures to feed upon.
8. Science and Technology
8.1 Astronauts on Soyuz Craft Successfully Reach ISS
 A Russian cosmonaut and two US astronauts arrived at the International Space
Station aboard a Russian Soyuz spacecraft, five months after the failed launch of
a rocket carrying two of the passengers.
 The liftoff was closely watched after the two men’s space journey was cut short in
October when a technical problem with their Soyuz rocket triggered a launch
abort two minutes into the flight. Both men escaped unharmed.
 It was the first such accident in Russia’s post-Soviet history and a major setback
for its once proud space industry.
 SpaceX’s successful test launch to the ISS of its Dragon vehicle has challenged an
eight-year monopoly on travel to the space station enjoyed by Russia ever since
NASA stopped launches of the Space Shuttle.
International Space Station (ISS)
 The International Space Station (ISS) is a multi-nation construction project that is
the largest single structure humans ever put into space. Its main construction
was completed between 1998 and 2011, although the station continually evolves
to include new missions and experiments. It has been continuously occupied
since Nov. 2, 2000.
 NASA (United States), Roscosmos (Russia) and the European Space Agency are
the major partners of the space station who contribute most of the funding; the
other partners are the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency and the Canadian
Space Agency.
 The space station flies at an average altitude of 248 miles (400 kilometers) above
Earth. It circles the globe every 90 minutes at a speed of about 17,500 mph
(28,000 km/h). In one day, the station travels about the distance it would take to
go from Earth to the moon and back.
8.2 Low Conviction Hinders Fight Against Spurious Drugs
 Spurious drugs can have harmful side-effects and can even kill. Yet India has
been able to decide only 35 cases of the 606 prosecutions launched against the
manufacture, sale and distribution of spurious or adulterated drugs from 2015 to
2018, according to figures provided by the Drug Controller.
 The 54th Parliamentary Standing Committee on Chemicals and Fertilizers noted
that “considering the size of the country and the huge quantum of medicines
being distributed and sold in the country, this sample size is not adequate to
measure the actual problem of spurious and non-standard quality drugs in the
country.
 It is dismayed to note that the decision is pending in most cases. There is an
urgent need for time-bound decisions on prosecutions launched against
manufacture, sale and distribution of spurious and non-standard quality drugs.
Special courts should be opened in all states/UT and these courts may also
impressed upon the need for timely disposal of cases.
 Under the Drugs and Cosmetics (Amendment) Act 2008, any drug is deemed to
be adulterated or spurious when used by any person for or in the diagnosis,
treatment, mitigation or prevention of any disease or disorder is likely to cause his
death or is likely to cause such harm on his body.
 The Parliamentary Committee has strongly recommended that the government
take adequate measures to considerably increase the number of samples of drugs
to be tested so as to instil fear in those who indulges in sale/distribution of
spurious/non-standard quality drugs.
8.3 Solar Tsunami Can Trigger The Sunspot Cycle
 It is believed that the “solardynamo” — a naturally occurring generator which
produces electric and magnetic fields in the sun — is linked to the production of
sunspots. What kick-starts the 11-year sunspot cycle is not known. Now, a group
of solar physicists suggests that a “solar tsunami” is at work that triggers the new
sunspot cycle, after the old one ends.
 The extreme temperature and pressure conditions that prevail some 20,000 km
below the sun’s surface cause its material to form a plasma consisting primarily of
hydrogen and helium in a highly ionised state. The plasma is confined with huge
magnetic fields inside the sun.
 The [sun’s] toroidal magnetic field, from which sunspots get generated, wraps
around the sun in the east-west direction.
 These magnetic fields behave like rubber bands on a polished sphere. They tend
to slip towards the poles. Holding these fields in their place requires that there is
extra mass (plasma mass) pushing at the bands from higher latitudes.
 Thus, a magnetic dam is formed which is storing a big mass of plasma. At the end
of a solar cycle, this magnetic dam can break, releasing huge amounts of plasma
cascading like a tsunami towards the poles.
 These tsunami waves travel at high speeds of about 1,000 km per hour carrying
excess plasma to the mid-latitudes. There they give rise to magnetic flux
eruptions. These are seen as the bright patches that signal the start of the next
cycle of sunspots.
 The tsunami waves can traverse the required distance in a few weeks, unlike in
earlier models.
 The solar cycle and sunspot activity are intimately connected with space weather.
The model provides a sound physical mechanism supporting why we should
expect the next sunspot cycle 25 to begin in the year 2020, followed by a strong
increase in space weather shortly after the trigger of a series of new sunspots in
that year.
8.4 West Nile Virus; an unfamiliar disease, newly in focus in India
 A six-year-old boy from Kerala, who died after contracting the West Nile Virus
(WNV), could be the first casualty of the disease reported from the country, say
experts in the Union ministry of health and family welfare.
West Nile Virus (WNV)
 West Nile Virus (WNV) is a member of the flavivirus genus and belongs to the
Japanese encephalitis antigenic complex of the family Flaviviridae.
 According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, WNV is the
leading cause of mosquito-borne diseases in the continental United States.
 It has so far been detected in almost all kinds of mosquitoes, not just the common
three — Anopheles, Culex and Aedes — but also in lesser-known types such as
Culiseta, Mansonia and Psorophora.
 It occurs during the summer months in the US, unlike other mosquito-borne
diseases such as dengue, malaria and chikungunya, which occur all year round
in India.
Cause & effect
 The bite of an infected mosquito is the commonest mode of human infection. WNV
can also spread through blood transfusion, from an infected mother to her
child, or through exposure to the virus in laboratories.
 It is not known to spread by contact with infected humans or animals, or even
when the infected animal is ingested, provided it has been adequately cooked.
 Unlike other mosquito-borne diseases, WNV does not cause symptoms in
everybody that contracts the virus.
 One in five people develops symptoms and requires medication. One in 150 people
may go on to develop serious illness, or even die.
 However, WNV is dreaded because of the effects, often irreversible, that it has on
the brain.
 Ordinarily, the symptoms are the same as in any other viral fever — and include
fever, headache, weakness, etc.
 But WNV can also cause nervous system symptoms such as stupor,
disorientation, convulsion, tremors and loss of vision.
 Older people are more vulnerable, as are those with existing chronic conditions
such as diabetes, hypertension, cancer, or those who have recently undergone
organ transplants.
Where it is common
 The virus is commonly found in Africa, Europe, the Middle East, North America
and West Asia.
 The World Health Organization (WHO) documents that it was first isolated in a
woman in the West Nile district of Uganda in 1937.
 It was identified in birds (crows and columbiformes like doves and pigeons) in the
Nile delta region in 1953.
 Before 1997, WNV was not considered pathogenic for birds — but then, a more
virulent strain caused the death in Israel of different bird species, presenting signs
of encephalitis and paralysis.
 The largest outbreaks occurred in Greece, Israel, Romania, Russia and USA.
Outbreak sites are on major birds migratory routes. Since its introduction in 1999
into USA, the virus has spread and is now widely established from Canada to
Venezuela.
Cases in India
 Over the years, cases have been sporadic, and have occurred mostly in the
Northeast.
 In the last three years, 12 cases have been
The National Vector Borne
reported outside the Northeast.
Disease Control Programme
 In 2016, 15 cases were reported from the region; (NVBDCP) is an umbrella
in 2017, 22 cases from Assam, Manipur, programme for prevention
Tripura and Nagaland; in 2018, 22 cases from and control of Vector borne
the entire region. diseases.
 The path the virus took en route to Earlier the Vector Borne
Malappuram, where the six-year-old victim is Diseases were managed
originally from, may be of academic interest, but under separate National
has little relevance from a public health Health Programmes, but
perspective. now NVBDCP covers all 6
 The fact that the numbers of WNV are far lower Vector borne diseases
than those of the other better known mosquito- namely:
borne diseases like dengue etc. 1. Malaria 2. Dengue 3.
Directions to deal with West Nile Virus Chikungunya 4. Japanese
 The Health Ministry advised the Kerala Encephalitis 5. Kala-Azar 6.
Government to follow the National Vector Filaria (Lymphatic Filariasis)
Borne Disease Control Program (NVBDCP)
guidelines of personal protective measures to prevent mosquito bites.
 The Ministry also recommended vector surveillance and control to be carried out
in the state in coordination with NVBDCP.
 All cases of Japanese Encephalitis (JE), Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (AES) need
to be investigated as per guidelines of JE/AES and these cases need to be tested
for West Nile Virus.
 The state government shall sensitize the community on use of personal protective
measures to prevent mosquito bites as per NVBDCP Guidelines through
Information, Education & Communication (IEC) campaigns.
8.5 Hayabusa2: asteroid mission exploring a 'rubble pile’
 The discovery means that asteroid Ryugu has a parent body out there somewhere,
and scientists already have two candidates.
 They have also found a chemical signature across the asteroid that can indicate
the presence of water, but this needs confirmation.
 Ryugu's unusual shape is also a sign that it must have been spinning much faster
in the past.
 Scientists from the Japanese Space Agency (Jaxa) mission and from Nasa's Osiris-
Rex spacecraft, which is exploring a different asteroid called Bennu, have been
presenting their latest findings at the 50th Lunar and Planetary Science
Conference (LPSC) in The Woodlands, Texas.
 The team behind the Osiris-Rex mission have made the first close-up observations
of particle plumes erupting from an asteroid's surface.
 Bennu and Ryugu have many similarities. They are comparable in size, rich in
carbon and shaped like spinning tops. Both missions aim to deliver samples from
these objects to Earth.
 Both asteroids are primitive objects, made of the same basic material that went
into building rocky planets like Earth. Studying samples in laboratories could
shed light on how our own world came to be.
 The identification of Ryugu as a rubble pile asteroid comes from measurement of
its density. Project scientist Sei-ichiro Watanabe said the asteroid's porosity - a
measure of the voids, or spaces, present in the object - was 50%.
 The large number of rough boulders on Ryugu's surface support this idea, he
added. These boulders are probably fragments that joined up after the disruption
of its parent body.
 The size of Ryugu is very small - 800 or 900m across. It's too small to survive the
entire Solar System evolution of 4.6 billion years. Ryugu must have been born
from a much older and larger parent body in relatively recent times - several
hundred million years.
 Analysis of the reflected sunlight from Ryugu shows it is a close match to two
larger asteroids, known as Polana and Eulalia. These are good potential
candidates for the asteroid's parent body.
 Ryugu is surprisingly dark, much darker than any carbonaceous chondrite
meteorites, which could partly be due to exposure of the rocks to the space
environment.
 The surface of Ryugu is extremely dark.Data from the near-infrared spectrometer
instrument (NIRS3) aboard Hayabusa2 has also revealed the presence of minerals
with hydroxyl groups (OH), which can indicate the presence of water.
 There is evidence for water on Ryugu, but we do not have any strong evidence yet
for the presence of molecular water, H2O.Hayabusa2 has just finished a
touchdown operation to collect a sample of rock and cache it for return to Earth.
8.6 International moratorium on Gene-edited babies
 Four months have gone by since the first gene-edited twin babies were given birth.
He Jiankui, the Chinese scientist, who carried out the experiments by using the
CRISPR gene editing technique, claimed that the gene-edited babies would be
resistant to HIV infections, and this will go on for future generations as well. But
the news has shaken the scientific community, and heated debates across the
world have erupted.
 Now scientists and bioethicists from seven countries have come out with an
appeal for a global moratorium on gene-editing experiments designed to alter
heritable traits in human babies.
Genome editing and CRISPR-Cas9
 Genome editing (also called gene editing) is a group of technologies that give
scientists the ability to change an organism's DNA. These technologies allow
genetic material to be added, removed, or altered at particular locations in the
genome.
 Several approaches to genome editing have been developed. A recent one is
known as CRISPR-Cas9, which is short for clustered regularly interspaced short
palindromic repeats and CRISPR-associated protein 9.
 CRISPR-Cas9 was adapted from a naturally occurring genome editing system in
bacteria.
 The CRISPR-Cas9 system works similarly in the lab. Researchers create a small
piece of RNA with a short “guide" sequence that attaches (binds) to a specific
target sequence of DNA in a genome.
 The RNA also binds to the Cas9 enzyme. As in bacteria, the modified RNA is used
to recognize the DNA sequence, and the Cas9 enzyme cuts the DNA at the
targeted location.
 Although Cas9 is the enzyme that is
Naturally occurring genome
used most often, other enzymes (for
editing system in bacteria
example Cpf1) can also be used. Once
 The bacteria capture snippets of
the DNA is cut, researchers use the cell's
DNA from invading viruses and
own DNA repair machinery to add or
use them to create DNA
delete pieces of genetic material, or to
segments known as CRISPR
make changes to the DNA by replacing
arrays.
an existing segment with a customized
 The CRISPR arrays allow the
DNA sequence.
bacteria to "remember" the
 The CRISPR-Cas9 system has generated
viruses (or closely related ones).
a lot of excitement in the scientific
 If the viruses attack again, the
community because it is faster,
bacteria produce RNA segments
cheaper, more accurate, and more
from the CRISPR arrays to target
efficient than other existing genome
the viruses' DNA.
editing methods.
 The bacteria then use Cas9 or a
Global moratorium on gene-editing experiments
similar enzyme to cut the DNA
 The appellants of the moratorium
apart, which disables the virus.
include two of the primary inventors of
the CRISPR technology—Feng Zhang of
MIT, US and Emmanuelle Charpentier of Max Planck Institute for Science of
Pathogens, Berlin.
 Apart from calling for the moratorium, the authors also propose setting up of an
international governing body that would oversee the use of the technology.
 It does not call for a permanent ban on gene editing on human subjects. What it
has called for is a temporary stop on gene editing done on germline cells—the
sperm and egg cells, that can result in pregnancy.
 The moratorium is not intended to cover researches that don’t contain gene
editing on non-germline cells—the somatic cells—as gene editing on these cells
would not be heritable.
 They are proposing a moratorium that spans at least five years within which the
international framework could be set up. They strongly endorse the involvement of
non-scientific perspectives like that of religious groups and people with disabilities
in the discussion that would be made open by governments of the countries that
have the gene editing researches on human subjects.
Concerns over gene editing
 Most of the ethical discussions related to genome editing center around human
germline editing. This is because changes made in the germline would be passed
down to future generations.
 The utmost concern regarding genome editing is that of safety. The possibility of
off-target effects – editing got in wrong places and mosaicism—where some cells
carry the edit while others don’t, is very much high in the gene editing
experiments. The risks involved cannot be justified by mere mentioning of
potential benefits of the process.
 Many researchers even believe that the genome editing in embryos will never be
able to offer any kinds of benefit than the existing technologies like that of
preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) and the in vitro fertilization (IVF).
 From the point of view of justice and equity, there is also the concern that
genome editing will be accessible to a small wealthy section and that in turn will
only increase the existing disparities in health care and other inventions. In its
extreme, germ line editing could create some classes of individuals bearing the
signatures of their engineered genome.
8.7 ISRO to launch electronic intelligence satellite 'Emisat'.

 ISRO will launch an electronic intelligence satellite 'Emisat' for the Defence
Research Development Organisation (DRDO) along with 28 third party
satellites.ISRO, for the first time, will also demonstrate its new technologies like
three different orbits with a new variant of the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle
(PSLV) rocket. Emisat is a satellite based on ISRO's Indian Mini Satellite -2 (IMS-
2) bus platform. The satellite is intended for electromagnetic spectrum
measurement.
New variant of the PSLV rocket
 The new variant of the PSLV rocket will first put the 436 kg Emisat into a 749 km
orbit. After that, the rocket will be brought down to put the 28 satellites into orbit,
at an altitude of 504 km.
 This will be followed by bringing the rocket down further to 485 km when the
fourth stage/engine will turn into a payload platform carrying three experimental
payloads:
 Automatic Identification System (AIS) from ISRO - for maritime satellite
applications capturing messages transmitted from ships.
 Automatic Packet Repeating System (APRS) from AMSAT (Radio Amateur Satellite
Corporation), India - to assist amateur radio operators in tracking and monitoring
position data.
 Advanced Retarding Potential Analyser for Ionospheric Studies (ARIS) from Indian
Institute of Space Science and Technology (IIST) - for the structural and
compositional studies of the ionosphere.
 The 28 international customer satellites (24 from US, 2 from Lithuania and one
each from Spain and Switzerland) include 25 3U type, two 6U type, and one 2U
type nano satellites and will weigh about 220 kg.
About PSLV
 Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) is the third generation launch vehicle of
India. It is the first Indian launch vehicle to be equipped with liquid stages.
 After its first successful launch in October 1994, PSLV emerged as the reliable
and versatile workhorse launch vehicle of India with 39 consecutively successful
missions by June 2017.
 Launch of PSLV-C39/IRNSS-1H, Scheduled on Aug 31, 2017 from Satish Dhawan
Space Centre, SHAR, Sriharikota was unsuccessful.
 Besides, the vehicle successfully launched two spacecraft – Chandrayaan-1 in
2008 and Mars Orbiter Spacecraft in 2013 – that later traveled to Moon and Mars
respectively.
Technical Specifications
 PSLV has a four-stage system comprising a combination of solid and liquid-
fuelled rocket stages. The first stage at the very bottom is solid fuelled having six
strap-on solid rocket boosters wrapped around it. Second stage is liquid fuelled
whereas the third stage has a solid fuelled rocket motor. At the fourth stage, the
launcher uses a liquid propellant to boost in the outer space.
 It measures 44.4 m tall, with a lift off weight of 320 tonnes & known as the
Workhorse of ISRO
 Payload to SSPO: 1,750 kg: PSLV earned its title 'the Workhorse of ISRO'
through consistently delivering various satellites to Low Earth Orbits, particularly
the IRS series of satellites. It can take up to 1,750 kg of payload to Sun-
Synchronous Polar Orbits of 600 km altitude.
 Payload to Sub GTO: 1,425 kg: Due to its unmatched reliability, PSLV has also
been used to launch various satellites into Geosynchronous and Geostationary
orbits, like satellites from the IRNSS constellation.
 In its normal configuration, the rocket will have six strap-on motors hugging the
rocket's first stage.Apart from the regular version, PSLV is used in its Core Alone
configuration and an XL Version. Core Alone version is launched without six
strap-on boosters and less propellant in its upper stage – a configuration
specifically used in the missions featuring small payloads.
 The XL version is launched with extra propellant in the strap-on solid rocket
boosters for increasing the payload capacity.
8.8 Young Scientist Programme (YUVIKA)
 The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has launched a special
programme for School Children called “Young Scientist Programme” “YUva
VIgyani KAryakram” from this year.
 The Program is primarily aimed at imparting basic knowledge on Space
Technology, Space Science and Space Applications to the younger ones with the
intent of arousing their interest in the emerging areas of Space activities.
 The program is thus aimed at creating awareness amongst the youngsters who
are the future building blocks of our Nation.
 This will further help them to appreciate what they are being taught in the school
and its real application in Space Science & Technology.
 ISRO has chalked out this programme to “Catch them young”.
 The residential training programme will be of around two weeks duration during
summer holidays and it is proposed to select 3 students each from each State/
Union Territory to participate in this programme covering state, CBSE, and ICSE
syllabus.
 Those who have just finished 9th standard (in the academic year 2018-19) and
waiting to join 10th standard (or those who have started 10th Std just now) will be
eligible for the programme.
 The selection will be based on the 8th Standard marks. The selection is based on
the academic performance and extracurricular activities.
 Students belonging to the rural area have been given special weightage in the
selection criteria.
 The programme is planned at 4 centres of ISRO. The selected students will be
accommodated in ISRO guest houses/hostels.
 Expenditure towards the travel of student (II AC fare by train from nearest Rly
Station to the reporting centre and back), course material, lodging and boarding
etc., during the entire course will be borne by ISRO. II AC fare will also be
provided to one guardian/parent for drop and pick up of student from the
reporting centre.
8.9 Sharp rise in H1N1 cases
 In a matter of three weeks, the number of influenza A (H1N1) cases and deaths in
India has risen sharply by about 6,200 and over 225, respectively.
 From 14,803 cases and 448 deaths till February 24 this year, the number of cases
and deaths till March 17 has touched 20,977 and 677, respectively.
 The figures have been collated by the Integrated Disease Surveillance
Programme, NCDC, Delhi, based on data from the States.
 The number of cases reported till March 17 this year is far more than what was
reported in the whole of 2018 (14,992).
 Rajasthan continues to report the most number of cases and deaths, followed
by Gujarat.
 In Rajasthan, the number of cases has increased from 3,964 (February 24) to
4,720 (March 17), while in Gujarat the increase has been from 2,726 to 4,296.
 Deaths from H1N1 in Rajasthan have increased from 137 to 178, while in Gujarat
the increase as been from 88 to 125.
 Delhi has the third most number of cases; the number increased from 2,738 to
3,484. However, the number of H1N1 deaths in Delhi has remained constant at
seven.
 The number of cases in Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra and Karnataka has nearly
doubled in three weeks. Uttar Pradesh had 905 cases and nine deaths till
February 24 but the numbers increased to 1,680 and 21, respectively.
 In Maharashtra, the increase in the number of cases has been from 423 to 849.
The number of deaths in the State has increased from 27 to 61. In Karnataka, the
number of cases has increased from 554 to 959; the number of deaths has
increased from zero till February 24 to 14 till March 17.
8.10 Mission Shakti — ASAT
 Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed the nation to declare the success of
Mission Shakti, India’s test of an anti-satellite weapon from the Odisha’s APJ
Abdul Kalam Island (earlier, known as Wheeler Island) launch complex. With this
technological mission conducted by the DRDO, India becomes the fourth country,
after US, China and Russia, with the capability to destroy a low-orbit satellite.
Anti-satellite missile test
 Called ASAT in short, it is the technological capability to hit and destroy satellites
in space through missiles launched from the ground.
 Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) launched a missile from
the Dr A P J Abdul Kalam Island launch complex near Balasore in Odisha that
struck a predetermined target: a redundant Indian satellite that was orbiting at a
distance of 300 km from the Earth’s surface.
 The technology is aimed at destroying, if necessary, satellites owned by enemy
countries. The test, however, can be carried out only on one’s own satellite.
 There are a large number of satellites currently in space, many of which have
outlived their utility and orbiting aimlessly. One such satellite was chosen for the
test.
 India did not identify the satellite it had chosen to hit for the test. But official
sources said the satellite that had been knocked out was Microsat R, a micro-
satellite launched by ISRO on January 24 this year. The satellite was
manufactured by DRDO.
Significance of ASAT
 Satellites are extremely critical infrastructure of any country these days. A large
number of crucial applications are now satellite-based.
 These include navigation systems, communication networks, broadcasting,
banking systems, stock markets, weather forecasting, disaster management, land
and ocean mapping and monitoring tools, and military applications.
 Destroying a satellite would render these applications useless. It can cripple
enemy infrastructure, and bring it down on knees, without causing any threat to
human lives.
 It requires very advanced capabilities in both space and missile technologies that
not many countries possess.
To maintain peace rather than warmongering
 India has assured the world that it did not violate any international treaty or
understanding with the anti-satellite missile testing.
 But more than that, destroying space infrastructure like satellites is also taboo in
the international community — at least till now — just like the use of a nuclear
weapon.
 Almost every country agrees that space must not be used for wars and has spoken
against weaponisation of space.
 There are international treaties governing the use of space, which mandate that
outer space, and celestial bodies like the Moon, must only be exploited for
peaceful purposes.
 There is an Outer Space Treaty of 1967, to which India is a signatory, that
prohibits countries from placing into orbit around the Earth “any objects carrying
nuclear weapons or any other kinds of weapons of mass destruction and shall be
used by all state parties to the treaty exclusively for peaceful purposes,” it says.
 There are at least four more multilateral treaties that deal with specific
concepts agreed to in the Outer Space Treaty. None of these, however,
prohibits the kind of test that India carried out.
The problem of space debris
 Anything launched into the space remains in space, almost forever, unless it is
specifically brought down or slowly disintegrate over decades or centuries.
Satellites that are past their life and are no longer required also remain in space,
orbiting aimlessly in some orbit.
 According to the September 2018 issue of Orbital Debris Quarterly News,
published by NASA, there were 19,137 man-made objects in space that were
large enough to be tracked.
 Besides these, there are estimated to be millions of other smaller objects that have
disintegrated from these and keep floating around in space.
 According to the European Space Agency, there were an estimated 7,50,000
objects of size one cm or above in space and space debris is one of the
principal threats to satellites.
 When China carried out its first anti-satellite missile test in 2007, destroying
its Fengyun-1C weather satellite, it created more than 2,300 large pieces of space
debris, and an estimated 1.5 lakh pieces of objects that were larger than 1 cm in
size. Each of them could render a satellite useless on collision.
Didn’t Indian test add to the debris?
 Indian test was done in the lower atmosphere to ensure that there was no space
debris. Whatever debris that is generated will decay and fall back on to the earth
within weeks.
 The satellite hit during the Indian test was orbiting at 300 km from Earth’s
surface. Several analysis of the Chinese test of 2007, which had targeted the
satellite placed at more than 800 km from Earth’s surface, that the debris created
in that test would remain in space for several decades, possibly centuries.
Signal the test send to the world
 While the government has conceded that India has long had ASAT capabilities,
this is the country’s first demonstration to the world. It has shown that it is
capable of bringing down a satellite, and disrupting communication.
 The first anti-satellite test (ASAT) was carried out by the US military way back in
1959. The then Soviet Union followed a year later. Thereafter, the two countries
carried out a series of such tests up till early 1980s.
 After that there was a lull, broken only by the Chinese test in 2007. A year later,
US brought down a non-functional spy satellite. Other countries which could have
the capability, like Israel, have not shown an intention to test.
 As is mandatory for any missile test, India did issue a Notice to Airmen (NOTAM)
to airline authorities across the world informing them about an impending missile
test.
 This notice does not have to specify the kind of missile being tested, only the flight
path and the region affected, so that airborne systems are able to avoid it.
Other technological capabilities

 In the last few years, countries have explored alternative options of making enemy
satellites dysfunctional, options which do not involve direct destruction of the
target or creation of the debris.
 For example, technologies have been developed to jam the communication from
the satellites by interfering with its radio signals. This can be attempted during
the uplink or the downlink.
 Another option that has been explored is the possibility of sending satellites that
could just approach a target close enough to deviate it from its selected orbit,
without destroying it.
 Several countries and organisations including China, Japan, Russia and the
European Space Agency are said to be working on developing these ‘close
proximity’ anti-satellite technologies.
 The third option is the possible use of ground-based lasers to ‘dazzle’ the sensors
of the satellites and make them at least “partially blind” so that they are unable to
work efficiently.
8.11 Smuggling of Human Embryos
 An investigation that involved the arrest of a Malaysian national and the “mock
delivery” of a canister led the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) to conduct
a search at a well-known in-vitro fertilization (IVF) clinic in Mumbai run by a top
embryologist, who is now being probed in connection with the alleged smuggling
of human embryos.
Embryofreezing Banks
 In medical terms, the unborn offspring is an embryo from the day of
fertilisation until the eighth week (3 months) of pregnancy. After that point in
time, an embryo is called a foetus.
 Following in vitro fertilisation, some couples choose to freeze embryos that are left
over.
 This would allow patients to conceive at a later time. Embryos are frozen from the
second day of fertilisation, using techniques to halt physiological or biological
development.
 The embryo is stored in liquid nitrogen or nitrogen vapour at a temperature below
-190°C.
 In 2017, a 24-year-old frozen embryo made headlines after it was used to give
birth in the US.
 Until five years ago, facilities for embryo freezing were limited in India.
 Several couples stored embryos abroad and imported them when they wanted to
conceive.
 Today, India has many embryo freezing banks at par with those in the West.
Embryo Smuggling
 India offers cheaper IVF procedures, at costs one-half to one-third of those in the
US. Hence, embryos or gametes were getting routed to surrogacy clinics, ART
clinics and IVF clinics.
 In 2017, a Thai national was arrested for smuggling six tubes of semen stored in
liquid nitrogen to Laos for surrogacy.
 In the latest case, experts suspect it is also possible that a Malaysian couple had
commissioned illegal surrogacy in India as Malaysia also does not allow
surrogacy.
 According to DRI officials, this is the first instance of the agency investigating a
case related to the alleged smuggling of
human embryos In vitro fertilizationor IVF
 DRI officials alleged that the arrested  It is the most common and
Malaysian national, Partheban Durai, had effective type of assisted
smuggled embryos at least eight times to reproductive technology to
Mumbai, after declaring these as stem cells. help women become
 One possible reason for importing embryos pregnant.
could be to meet demands from Indian  It involves fertilizing an egg
couples for a baby with “non-Indian looks outside the body, in a
 It is to be noted that in India, the Surrogacy laboratory dish, and then
(Regulation) Bill, 2016, passed by Lok Sabha implanting it in a woman's
in 2018, bans commercial surrogacy but uterus.
permits altruistic surrogacy.  IVF has been used since the
late 1970s.
Indian laws regarding Embryo trade  On 25 July 1978, the first
 In October 2015, the Director General of "test-tube baby," Louise
Foreign Trade moved the import of human Brown, was born.
embryos from the ‘restricted’ to the  Robert Edwards and Patrick
‘prohibited’ category, except for research Steptoe, who collaborated
purposes. on the procedure, are
 Later, Ministry of Home Affairs also banned considered to be the
commercial surrogacy for foreign nationals in pioneers of IVF.
India.  In 2010, Robert Edwards
 Since then, the Indian Council of Medical received the 2010 Nobel
Research (ICMR) has stopped giving no- Prize in Physiology or
objection-certificates for import of embryos or Medicine "for the
gametes. development of in-vitro
fertilization."
 Export is allowed on a case basis for couples
who froze their embryos or gametes in India
before the surrogacy ban was enforced, and wish to continue IVF in another
country.
 An Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) guideline to permit regulated
import is under consideration by the Union government.
Genuine Concerns of Indians
 There are lots of Indian couples who froze their eggs or embryos abroad while
living there and when they have migrated to India, they wish to continue IVF.
 Alternatively, those with terminal illness may travel abroad for treatment and
preserve their healthy gametes before initiating radiation or chemotherapy. Once
treatment is over, they may wish to bring it back to India.
8.12 Applications of Blockchain Technology beyond Cryptocurrency
 While Blockchain was hailed as the technology of the future, especially after
digital currencies started coming into fashion, the interest around the technology
may be peaking. Although funding for blockchain related start-ups has
increased—as per Statista this increased to $1.032 billion in 2017 against $93
million in 2013—the number of searches related to technology has decreased from
its peak in 2017. Blockchain may have been the technology of the future, but
scalability and limited application were
hindering its progress.  Blockchain Technology was
Blockchain Technology invented by Satoshi
 Blockchain is a distributed ledger Nakamoto in 2008 for use
technology which allows all members to in the cryptocurrency
record transactions in a decentralized data bitcoin, as its public
log maintained on a network of computers, transaction ledger.
rather than a physical ledger or a single  Satoshi Nakamoto’s aim in
database. The transactions must be approved creating the decentralized
through consensus, and everything is secured Bitcoin ledger—the
through cryptography. blockchain—was to allow
 The technology works in the form of a users to control their own
spreadsheet that may be accessible to all, but money so that no third
not editable for everyone, with each piece of party, not even the
information protected by a code. government, would be able
 This may have been beneficial for the system to access or monitor it.
for cross-checking of data and in terms of  The invention of the
security, but with limited users, it can prove blockchain for bitcoin made
to be a costly affair. it the first digital currency
 While the technology is majorly used in the to solve the double
banking and finance sector, the other sectors spending problem without
is also exploring ways to use blockchain to the need of a trusted central
achieve better transparency and security. authority or central server.
Blockchain & Internet-of-Things (IoT)
 According to a report by IEEE, Blockchain can also be used to protect Internet-of-
Things (IoT) applications.
 IoT may have been the buzzword for a few years now but, with increased hacking
attempts, there have been concerns about its implementation.
 With the present infrastructure, IoT systems are so vulnerable that if a hacker
were to get access to even one of the devices, she could bring down the whole
network.
 Blockchain can eliminate this uncertainty with regards to IoT devices. As each
block is protected by a separate code, even if the hacker gets access to one block,
the other mechanisms remain secure as the system prevents her from accessing
any further information.
 Thus, the chain is protected. This may be a boon not just for IoT systems but for
blockchain as well, as the technology can ensure that systems across businesses
and homes stay secure.
Blockchain & E-Marketplace for Coffee Sellers
 The Ministry of Commerce and Industry launched a blockchain-based online
marketplace for coffee in New Delhi on March 28.
 The initiative is aimed at helping integrate the farmers with markets in a
transparent manner. It will also reduce farmer’s dependency on the
intermediaries.
 The removal of intermediaries and settlement on distributed ledgers allows for
dramatically increased transaction speeds compared to a wide range of existing
systems.
 Data entered on the blockchain is immutable, preventing against fraud through
manipulating transactions and the history of data. Transactions entered on the
blockchain provide a clear trail to the very start of the blockchain allowing any
transaction to be easily investigated and audited.
Agritech community
 Ahmedabad-based agritech startup MyCrop is currently piloting the use of
blockchain in the seed supply chain to track its entire supply movement — from
seed aggregators, distributors, retailers to farmers.
 According to the company, this move will help bring transparency, authenticity
and stop spurious and low-quality seeds from entering the market.
Other sectors
 A replication of this can also ensure a fast digitalisation of the healthcare
industry. Similarly, blockchain can ensure that health systems are not vulnerable
to hacking attempts. So, instances like hacking of healthcare institutions can be
stopped.
 In this case, blockchain can ensure that hacking attempts don’t go beyond one
system or machine, thereby preventing a shutdown of the whole system.
 More important, with agencies like UK’s National Health Service talking about
digitization on a mass scale, blockchain can limit the extent of hacking. This can
be, and has also been, implemented in public utilities, where smart grids can be
protected by blockchain applications, ensuring that public services are not
affected.
8.13 WHO Calls For Tighter Monitoring Of Marketing Of Unhealthy Foods To
Children
 The World Health Organisation (WHO) has called for tighter monitoring of digital
marketing of unhealthy food products, especially those high in salt, sugar and fat,
and alcohol and tobacco.
 In a report titled ‘Monitoring and restricting the digital marketing of unhealthy
products to children and adolescents’, WHO/Europe observes that while data on
the digital lives of children are scarce, the time children spend online, including
on social media, has grown steadily. There is therefore an increased risk of
children’s exposure to digital marketing.
 Set against the backdrop of “the advertising industry’s continued efforts to target
children and adolescents on social media and difficult-to-track mobile devices”,
WHO has urged countries worldwide to expedite the development and
implementation of a set of tools for monitoring children’s exposure to digital
marketing.
 Monitoring the online advertising of unhealthy products to children is critical
since heart disease, cancer, obesity and chronic respiratory disease are linked to
smoking, alcohol abuse and the consumption of unhealthy food products.
 Observing that childhood obesity was on the rise in India, aggressive marketing
strategies such as celebrity endorsements, use of cartoon characters, catchy
slogans, and inclusion of free gifts were being adopted by companies to attract
children and create brand consciousness should be noted.
 Just like the other public health interventions which successfully targeted
reducing health risk behaviours such as tobacco and alcohol consumption, by
focussing on changing the environment through policy and regulation, similar
measures are needed for digital food marketing. Labelling of food can also help in
regulating food.
8.14 Debris From Anti-Satellite Test To Disintegrate In 45 Days
 The satellite targeted with an Anti-Satellite (ASAT) missile under Mission Shakti
has broken up into at least 270 pieces, most of which are expected to disintegrate
within 45 days.
 The satellite has disintegrated into at least 270 pieces which has also been
confirmed by the North American Aerospace Defence Command (NORAD).
 Being in the Low Earth Orbit, the debris would fall towards earth and burn up as
soon as they enter the atmosphere.
 The targeted satellite as Microsat-R, an imaging satellite that was launched by the
Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on January 24 using a Polar Satellite
Launch Vehicle. The satellite, weighing 740 kg, was placed in an orbit of 274 km
above earth.
 The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) shot down
Microsat-R with a modified exo-atmospheric missile of the ballistic missile defence
at an altitude of 300 km.
 The ASAT test was tracked by sensors of various agencies. Upon impact, data
transmission from the satellite stopped and electro-optic systems confirmed an
explosion.
 U.S. officials in Washington have confirmed the test and the debris generated.
 U.S. confirms that the
270 pieces don’t pose
threat to International
Space Station.
 Debris pose significant
risk to satellites and
other systems launched
into orbit as they last for
a long time especially in
higher orbits. For
instance, China’s 2007
ASAT test in an orbit of
around 800 km created
around 3,000 pieces of
debris, of which 616
have decayed. The rest are still in orbit.
8.15 IIT Madras Converts Petroleum Waste Toluene Into Useful Product
 Using platinum nano catalyst, a two-member team at the Indian Institute of
Technology (IIT) Madras has successfully converted petroleum waste-product
toluene into benzoic acid.
 Benzoic acid is used as a food preservative (E210) and medicine for
fungal/bacterial infection. Toluene is converted into benzoic acid through selective
and controlled oxidation in the presence of a catalyst — binaphthyl-stabilised
platinum nanoparticles (Pt-BNP).
 Generally, organic reactions are carried out using organic solvents, which makes
it expensive and also generates toxic waste.
 So in a departure from current practice, the team has used water as solvent to
make it environment-friendly. Also, a green oxidant (70% aqueous tert-butyl
hydroperoxide or TBHP) is used for converting toluene into benzoic acid.
 When toluene is oxidised, it gives four products. But when we use the catalyst
that we developed, only benzoic acid is produced.
 The yield of benzoic acid varied from 68-96% depending on whether the toluene
used is electron-deficient or electron-rich.
 Central to the work is the novelcatalysts that the team developed. Generally,
platinum nanoparticles are not stable in nature as they tend to agglomerate and
become macroparticles.
 The catalytic activity is reduced once it becomes macroparticles. The binaphthyl
that is bound to platinum nanoparticles acts as a stabiliser and prevents
nanoparticle agglomeration.
 Binaphthyl bound to platinum nanoparticles makes the catalyst easy to handle
and stable. It is the stability of the catalyst to remain as nanoparticles that allows
us to recover it and reuse the catalyst up to five times.
 There was no change in the size of the catalyst even after being reused five times.
 When used alone, a large quantity (four parts of TBHP to 1 part of toluene) of
TBHP would be required for the conversion, which will not be economically
favourable. In order to reduce the amount of TBHP used, the researchers also
used molecular oxygen.
 In the presence of molecular oxygen, only two parts of TBHP are needed for the
conversion. So molecular oxygen behaves as a co-oxidiser.
 Molecular oxygen is cheap, so using it along with TBHP helps in reducing the
cost. The use of TBHP along with molecular oxygen also increased the yield of
benzoic acid.
8.16 Erode’s Unique Turmeric Gets A GI Tag
 India is the world’s largest producer of turmeric (Curcuma longa), a perennial
herbaceous plant of the ginger family.
 The plant’s underground stems or rhizomes have been used as spice, dye,
medicine and religious maker since antiquity.
 Tamil Nadu is the third largest grower of turmeric in the country (behind
Telangana and Maharashtra), with 132.4 tonnes produced in 2015-16.
 The spice’s colour comes mainly from curcumin, a bright yellow phenolic
compound that has been in the news for its ostensible potential to fight cancer. As
a result, the demand for turmeric with high curcumin content has risen, with
pharmaceutical companies willing to pay up to Rs.20,000 per quintal for such
varieties (up from Rs.7,000 earlier).
 India grows nearly 50 types of turmeric.
 Erode manjal is smaller and more slender. It has a high curcumin content of
around 3.9%. The loamy red and black soil of the area is believed to be the reason
behind the distinctive brilliant yellow colour, as well as its characteristic sweet
taste and aroma, making it the preferred choice of commercial curry powder
manufacturers in India and abroad.
 Once harvested, the turmeric fingers are separated from the rhizome and boiled
for 15-20 minutes either in water or in specialised steamers until they get the
right texture. The boiling influences the colour and aroma of the final product.
The fingers are then dried in the sun for at least a fortnight before being polished
mechanically to remove impurities and then brought to the market.
 The Erode turmeric is pest resistant for up to 100 days after boiling.
 The GI tag is a stamp of approval for our turmeric, and a potential means for
farmers and traders to add value to the local variety.
 According to the documents that were first submitted in 2011, the GI tag may be
applied to any turmeric that’s grown in the entire Erode district, as well as to the
crop grown in Annur and Thondamuthur taluks of Coimbatore district and
Kangeyam taluk of Tirupur district.
8.17 PSLV To Launch Military’s Eye In The Sky
 PSLV mission carrying EMISAT — the country's first satellite for gathering
electronic intelligence (ELINT) to locate hostile radars for the military — will
also be the longest flight for the Indian polar launch vehicle.
 The mission is numbered C-45 and carries 28 small, foreign customer satellites
from four countries. The satellites together weigh 220 kg.
 It will last 180 minutes from take-off at the Sriharikota launch pad until the PSLV
rocket’s last stage (called the PS4) is put into its orbit.
 The previous longest mission, of PSLV-C40, was in January 2018 and lasted 2
hours and 21 minutes.
 The 436-kg EMISAT will be released 17 minutes into launch in its designated orbit
749 km away from earth. The 28 small foreign customer satellites will be released
almost an hour later at a lower orbit of 504 km.
 All of them will be out within five minutes, according to pre-launch information
put out by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO.) Later PS4 will be fired
thrice and eventually put into an orbit at 485 km.
 This is the third consecutive PSLV mission in which ISRO will re-use its fourth
stage as a space testbed. Earlier, the stages wasted away as floating debris once
they released the satellites.
 ISRO is doing a three-orbit mission for the first time. It earlier did two-orbit
launches. Such a multi-orbit capability is beneficial when there are different
launch customers who need to put their satellites in different orbits.
 With this capability, ISRO need to use just one launcher for different customers.
 In this mission, PS4 will carry three minor payloads or experiments.
9. Internal Security
9.1 India, Myanmar Conduct Coordinated Operation Against Insurgents
Posing Threat To Kaladan Project
 The armies of India and Myanmar conducted a "coordinated operation" against
insurgents in Myanmarese territory to avert a possible threat to the Kaladan
multi-modal transit transport project.
 However, the Indian Army did not cross the border during the operation.
 The focus of the operation was to crack down on the members of the Arakan
Army, an insurgent group
in Myanmar.
 During the operation, the
Indian Army beefed up
the security along the
border from Nagaland and
Manipur to ensure that
the insurgents do not
cross over to the Indian
side.
 The AssamRifles has the
responsibility to guard the
international border with
Myanmar.
 The Kaladan multi-modal
transit transport project is being viewed as India's gateway to the Southeast Asia.
 India entered into a framework agreement with Myanmar in April 2008 to
facilitate implementation of the project. On completion, the project will help
connect Mizoram with the Sittwe Port in Rakhine State of Myanmar.
9.2 AFINDEX-19
 The inaugural Africa-India Field Training Exercise-2019 for India and African
nations called AFINDEX-19 scheduled to start with a grand opening ceremony at
Pune.
 Contingents of the 17 African Nations i.e. Benin, Botswana, Egypt, Ghana,
Kenya, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa,
Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe came together for the opening
ceremony along with a contingent of Maratha Light Infantry representing India.
 A fly past by a set of Advanced Light Helicopters and Cheetah Helicopter of the
Indian Army carrying the flags of United Nations, India and the AFINDEX was the
highlight of the opening ceremony.
 The Chief Guest and Defence Attaches from various nations interacted with the
contingents after the completion of the parade.
 The aim of the exercise is to practice the participating nations in planning and
conduct of Humanitarian Mine Assistance and Peace Keeping Operations under
Chapter VII of United Nations Peace Keeping Operations.
 The exercise will focus on exchange of best practices between the participating
nations, team building and tactical level operations in conduct of United Nations
mandated tasks to include establishment of a new mission, siting of a United
Nations Headquarters for Peace Keeping operations, siting of Military Observer
sites during the peace keeping missions, protection of civilians, nuances of
standing combat deployment, convoy protection, patrolling aspects and aspects
related to Humanitarian Mine Assistance.
9.3 3rd Indo-Japan Workshop On Disaster Risk Reduction
 The 3rd Indo-Japan Workshop on Disaster Risk Reduction was held here in New
Delhi. The workshop was attended by about 140 delegates from Japan and India
including experts from both the governments, top premium research institutes,
city administrators, specialized Disaster Management agencies and private sector.
 The Government of India and the Government of Japan had signed a
Memorandum of Cooperation (MoC) in the field of Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR)
in September 2017.
 The 3rd Indo-Japan workshop is the follow-up of the deliberations held during the
1st Indo-Japan Workshop on DRR held on March 2018 in New Delhi as well as
during the 2nd Indo-Japan workshop on DRR held on October 2018 in Tokyo,
Japan.
 The 3rd workshop was organized with an objective of enhancing collaboration
between research institutes, cities and the private sector in the field of
Disaster Risk Reduction.
 The collaboration between cities, research institutions and private sector will also
result in mutual benefit and long-term Disaster Risk Reduction.
 The world is changing very fast and evolving targets of Sendai Framework for
Disaster Risk Reduction (SFDRR) need to be supported by solid research.
 The collaboration between India and Japan will be strengthened in the areas of
Early Warning Systems, build-back-better, capacity development, Science &
Technology application and institution strengthening.
 The workshop has been held once every six months and reiterates the significance
of three themes set for this workshop as collaboration amongst research
institutes, among cities and among private companies, from the point of view that
Disaster Risk Reduction should involve various stakeholders, and it expresses
Japan’s continuous support to India’s challenges towards DRR in every possible
way.
Sendai Framework
 The Sendai Framework is a 15-year, voluntary, non-binding agreement which
recognizes that the State has the primary role to reduce disaster risk but that
responsibility should be shared with other stakeholders including local
government, the private sector and other stakeholders. It aims for the following
outcome:
 The substantial reduction of disaster risk and losses in lives, livelihoods and
health and in the economic, physical, social, cultural and environmental assets of
persons, businesses, communities and countries.
 The Sendai Framework is the successor instrument to the Hyogo Framework for
Action (HFA) 2005-2015: Building the Resilience of Nations and Communities to
Disasters.
 It is the outcome of stakeholder consultations initiated in March 2012 and inter-
governmental negotiations held from July 2014 to March 2015, which were
supported by the UNISDR upon the request of the UN General Assembly.
 UNISDR has been tasked to support the implementation, follow-up and review of
the Sendai Framework.
9.4 Data localization- India's Policy Framework
 The draft national e-commerce policy argues that the personal data of Indians
should be treated as a “national asset”. It pushes for government access to the
source code and algorithms used by foreign companies. Additionally, the data
protection Bill includes a mandate to force all public and private entities that
process Indians’ data — including foreign companies — to store a copy of all
personal data in the country.
Data localization
 Data localization is a concept that the personal data of a country’s residents
should be processed and stored in that country. Some directives may restrict flow
entirely, while others more leniently allow for conditional data sharing or data
mirroring – in which only a copy has to be stored in the country.
Need for Data localization
 An individual owns data, but doesn’t have
the capacity to monetarily benefit from it. EU- Lead in Data protection
Companies, on the other hand, don’t own  The EU’s General Data
data but gain much monetary value because Protection Regulation was
of the computing capabilities they possess. formulated in 2016 and
 Data localization requirement is an enforced in 2018.
intervention by GoI to ensure that benefits of  Under this law, the
data accrue to its citizens. Establishment of consumer is the sole owner
data centres within the domestic territory of the data and the
will lead to the creation of more jobs, companies collecting data
income, and revenue for the government. have the onus of informing
 Thus, though there are no direct benefits to the consumer about how the
individuals through data localization, they data is going to be used after
indeed are benefited indirectly through suitable
‘trickle-down’ effects. pseudonymization/anonymiz
 Privacy concern is another issue pertaining ation and whether they share
to data localization. it with a third party.
 No doubt privacy violation by both  The consumer has the right
government and companies is bad news. to revoke any rights given to
However, if the choice is between risking the company collecting the
privacy violation by an outsider (tech giants) data and a right to data
or by an insider (government), the latter is portability.
probably better as the government is answerable to not only the courts for
any unlawful activity but also to the electing people. Foreign entities may not
obey directions given by authorities, Twitter being a case in point.
 Localization of servers may also be required from a dispute-resolution
perspective.
 Any dispute pertaining to data/server will be subject to the rules of the territory
where the data/server is located. So, if a country’s data is stored in servers
located outside its territory, it will be subjected to the jurisprudence of that
country where the server is located.
Concerns over Data localization
 The data is a personal asset and not a national asset. But on a parallel track,
the government has also sought to expand the state’s surveillance powers by
issuing a notice at the end of last year empowering 10 government agencies to
monitor, intercept, and collect data from any computer.
 In this scenario, Data localization can become a strategic protectionist tool.
 Other pitfall of data localization is that it may result in higher costs to
businesses, particularly small and medium enterprises (SMEs), as it is cheaper to
host data on foreign servers than on domestic servers — though this additional
cost may not be a very significant share of their total operating costs.
 Data localization policy can create a data monopoly by a few domestic firms. In
such a scenario, there would be no change for citizens except to replace a foreign
monopoly with a domestic monopoly.
 As we formulate our e-commerce policy and our norms around data, we must
ensure that the core principles guiding regulation regarding data must be
centered around the following:
 Notice: Data collectors should disclose their use and disclosure practices before
they collect personal information from consumers.
 Choice: Consumers must be given options as to whether and how the personal
information collected may be used for other than the original purpose for the data
collection. Consumers should have data portability and should be allowed to take
their personal data to another platform.
 Access: Consumers should be able to view and contest the accuracy and
completeness of the data collected about them.
 Security: Data collectors should take reasonable steps to ensure information
collected from consumers is accurate and secure from unauthorized use.
 Enforcement: There must be an efficient mechanism to enforce all the above.
9.5 Exercise Al Nagah – III 2019
 The third edition of joint military training exercise between Indian Army and Royal
Oman Army, Exercise AL NAGAH 2019 concluded at Jabel AI Akhdar training
camp, Oman on 25 March 2019.
 Indian side was represented by HE Mr Munu Mahawar, Indian Ambassador to
Oman and Major General A K Samantara. Royal Oman Army was represented by
Major General Matar Bin Salim Bin Rashid Al Balushi and many senior officials.
 Contingent commanders of both the contingent briefed the delegation on the
progress of the exercise.
 The two-week long exercise had commenced on 12 March 2019. 60 Soldiers of
Indian Army took part in the exercise along with similar strength of pers from
Royal Army of Oman.
 Both sides jointly planned and executed a series of well-developed tactical
operations based on scenarios that are likely to be encountered in semi-urban
and mountainous terrain.
 Commanders at various levels from both sides were exercised to work in close
coordination to receive and collate information, jointly plan operations and issue
suitable order to respective components.
 Subject experts from both the contingents also held in-depth discussions on
various facets of counter insurgency and counter terrorist operations.
 Exercise AL NAGAH will go a long way in further cementing relationship between
the nations and will act as a catalyst in bringing synergy and cooperation while
undertaking such operations under the United Nations mandate.
9.6 INS Kadmatt At Langkawi, Malaysia To Participate In Lima-19
 Indian Navy’s frontline ASW corvette, INS Kadmatt arrived at Langkawi, Malaysia
on a seven days official visit on Monday 25 Mar 19.
 The ship is scheduled to participate in the 15th edition of Langkawi
International Maritime and Aerospace Exhibition, LIMA-19 during the visit.
 The ship would be participating in numerous activities planned as part of LIMA 19
during the seven days at Langkawi, including the International Fleet Review (IFR)
by the Prime Minister of Malaysia, maritime and air demonstration, Sea Exercises
with 29 other participating navies, cultural exchange programmes, cross visits to
ships, sporting events. Numerous seminars and interactions are also planned on
the side lines of the main event.
 INS Kadmatt (P 29) is an indigenous stealth anti-submarine warfare corvette
and was commissioned into the Indian Navy in January 2016.
 The ship is fitted with state of the art weapons, sensors and machinery and is also
designed to embark the Seaking anti-submarine helicopter.
 Malaysia and India are maritime neighbours and the two navies continue to
interact closely on issues related to training and exchange best practices during
visits by ships from both sides.
 As part of such friendly engagements, Royal Malaysian Navy (RMN) Ship
KD Jebat, a frigate underwent the Operational Sea Training by Flag Officer Sea
Training FOST at Kochi in October 2018 and RMN KD Lekir had participated in
the IFR held off Visakhapatnam in February 2016.
10. Also in News
10.1 E-Comm Players, Online Brands Launch Trade Association TECI
 E-commerce companies such as Snapdeal, ShopClues, UrbanClap, Shop101,
Flyrobe, Fynd and scores of others have come together to establish a trade
association, The E-Commerce Council of India (TECI).
 E-commerce sector in India is an increasingly important part of the economy,
unlocking tremendous value for buyers and sellers.
 It is catalysing growth opportunities for allied businesses, and MSMEs and has
the potential to create large scale employment across the country.
 TECI’s vision is to help and guide the growth of the e-commerce ecosystem in
India. It also seeks to engage closely with private and public stakeholders with the
aim to help develop a robust digital commerce sector.
 TECI will provide a neutral and objective platform for discussion and debate on
non-competitive issues relating to the development of the e-commerce sector in
India. Moreover, it also expects to provide thought leadership for the e-commerce
sector and articulate the voice of the sector in the media. It will work in
collaboration with trade bodies in India and outside to further the objectives of the
association.
 TECI members account for more than 7.5 lakh online sellers and service
providers. Every month, more than 100 million users interact with the online
businesses operated by members of TECI.
 The fast growth of the digital commerce sector, fueled by global investments and
evolving consumer habits makes it one of the leading contemporary influences
and is expected to have a significant impact on social and economic landscapes in
countries around the world.
 Policy makers in various countries, including in India, are engaged in discussion
and debate to determine optimal policy frameworks for the sector, which will
enable fast growth, while balancing the interests of all stakeholders. TECI expects
to collate, crystallise and share the e-commerce industry’s viewpoint in this
regard, working collaboratively with other stakeholders.
10.2 I Help Initiative
 The ‘i-help’ initiative to promote digital electoral literacy in Assam has been
launched in view of the forthcoming Lok Sabha poll.
 The ‘i-help’ is a joint initiative of the office of the Chief Electoral Officer(CEO) and
Common Service Centres (CSC).
 Acknowledging the experience of transition period to the digital world and to make
the transition smoother for the general public, CSC can play a vital role to educate
the people on the usage of IT-enabled services related to election.
 The Common Service Centres, are internet-enabled access points spread
throughout the country delivering various government and non-government digital
services (e-services) to the citizens. Through its vast network, particularly in rural
areas, CSC is uniquely positioned to significantly extend the awareness and
outreach activities.
 This initiative will fill the digital-divide and fulfill the objective of turning the
General Election more inclusive and participatory.
 The presence of the CSCs at the grassroots level can be utilized to educate the
voters on ECI’s IT-enabled services like c-Vigil, voter helpline no.
 It will be a win-win situation if the objective of voter awareness is fulfilled and it
will also help the CSCs to build lasting relationship with the people.
 CSCs will have dedicated help desks to facilitate Person with Disability (PwD)
voters for online registration, transport facility, wheel chairs etc at polling booths.
Under i-help, there will be dedicated ambassadors named Divyang Sarothi who
will work with CSCs to spread the message of electoral participation among fellow
PwDs.
10.3 NITI Aayog to organise FinTech Conclave 2019
 NITI Aayog is organising a day-long FinTech Conclave at Dr. Ambedkar
International Center, New Delhi on 25th March, 2019.
 The objective is to shape India’s continued ascendancy in FinTech, build the
narrative for future strategy and policy efforts, and to deliberate steps for
comprehensive financial inclusion.
 The Conclave will be inaugurated by Governor, RBI and will be attended by
senior government officials. It will host more than 300 representatives from the
leading Financial Institutions.
 Government of India’s efforts focused on Digital India and developing India Stack
including Voluntary Aadhaar for financial inclusion have evoked significant
interest from various stakeholders in the area of Financial Technology (FinTech).
Background:
 India is one of the fastest growing FinTech markets globally and industry research
has projected that USD 1 Trillion or 60% of retail and SME credit, will be digitally
disbursed by 2029.
 The Indian FinTech ecosystem is the third largest in the globe, attracting nearly
USD 6 billion in investments since 2014.
 The Indian FinTech industry is creating cutting edge intellectual property assets
in advanced risk management and artificial intelligence that will propel India
forward in the global digital economy while simultaneously enabling paperless
access to finance for every Indian.
10.4 Nuclear, Biological, Chemical Training Facility – ABHEDYA
 Chief of the Naval Staff commissioned a state of the art “Nuclear, Biological,
Chemical Training Facility - ABHEDYA", at INS Shivaji, Lonavla near Pune.
 Abhedya meaning ‘impenetrable’, symbolising the protective cover that is provided
on naval ships which are fitted with nuclear, biological and chemical detection
and protection systems.
 This unique facility will assist Indian Navy in providing realistic simulation of
Nuclear, Chemical & Biological warfare to its personnel during their NBC damage
control training, which till now was limited to theoretical training largely.
 The timely completion of this Project is a reflection of the superior technical design
and execution abilities of the Indian Navy and Goa Shipyard Limited.
 INS Shivaji is celebrating its platinum jubilee year in 2019-20
 During the event, Admiral Lanba launched the INS Shivaji’s website on the Indian
Navy portal and also released the platinum jubilee logo, with the theme "Propelling
the Indian Navy since 1945", for the premier technical training establishment.
10.5 Dhanbad Scores Over Delhi In 4g Network Availability
 Dhanbad, the city with the best 4G network availability in India. Dhanbad, in
Jharkhand, is the “hottest city" for 4G availability, according to a report released
by Opensignal, a London-based company specializing in wireless coverage
mapping.
 The city scored 95.3% in Opensignal’s measurements, followed by neighbouring
Ranchi, which scored 95%. Out of 50 cities covered, no other city crossed the 95%
mark.
 Srinagar, with a 4G availability score of 94.9%, grabbed the third spot, while
Raipur in Chhattisgarh came fourth with a score of 94.8%. Patna was fifth with
94.5%.
 Top metros scored low, with Delhi and Mumbai at the 39th and 40th spots,
respectively, with scores below 90%, the report said. The two metros also trailed
Ahmedabad (92.7%), Bengaluru (92.3%) and Hyderabad (90.5%).
 To be sure, Opensignal’s 4G availability metric does not look at coverage or
geographic spread of a network, but measures the proportion of time someone
with a 4G device and subscription can get a network connection in the places they
most commonly visit. If an operator has a 4G availability score of 90%, it means
users on that network were connected to 4G 90% of the time.
10.6 India's 'Last Electrified Village' Leisang Still Fighting Darkness
 The tiny village of Leisang in the north-eastern state of Manipur made global news
last year when it became the "last Indian village to be electrified”.
 For decades, political parties have been promising bijli (electricity) - along with
sadak and pani (road and water) - in their election manifestos.
 So in April 2018, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted saying "Leisang
had been powered and empowered", it seemed that the government had addressed
at least one of these three issues.
 But in reality the power supply erratic and the villagers neither "powered" nor
“empowered".
 Home to 13 families - or 70 members - of the Kuki hill tribe, Leisang is just over
80km (50 miles) from Imphal, the capital of Manipur.
 There's no school or health facility in Leisang and though residents here have
voter ID cards, they are too few to carry any political heft.
 It's been a year since that day and the villagers claim that on a good day, they get
power for five to six hours. A fault, however small, takes a minimum of three days
to attend to and last year, on one occasion, Leisang was plunged back into
darkness for three whole months.
 Power came to Leising as part of NDA’s government in August 2015 to electrify
every single village within 1,000 days.
 A village is deemed electrified if 10% of its households, and shared facilities like
the school, health centre and community hall, are connected to the grid. By that
definition, officials claim that India is fully electrified.
 For instance, in India's most populous state of Uttar Pradesh, the rural
population gets power for less than 12 hours a day even though some of the
villages were connected to the grid more than two decades back. The situation in
some southern states and the eastern states of West Bengal and Orissa is better,
but the heart of India - Uttar Pradesh and Bihar - remains largely in darkness.

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{FORMERLY TIMES IAS ACADEMY}

16th MAR to 31st MAR

8. Science and Technology

10. Also in News

Policy implications of this demographic divergence.

Intended policy measures

Debts mount for countries

8.7 ISRO to launch electronic intelligence satellite 'Emisat'.

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