Daily Current Affairs 22 January 2020

Current Affairs Of  Today Are

1) India wants to shift out the proposed site Thirty Metre Telescope

India, a partner in the construction of one of the largest telescopes in the world, has said it wants the project to be moved out of the proposed site at Mauna Kea, a dormant volcano in Hawaii. 

What is a Dormant Volcano?

A dormant volcano is an active volcano that is not erupting but supposed to erupt again. An extinct volcano has not had an eruption for at least 10,000 years and is not expected to erupt again in a comparable time scale of the future.

Background

• The TMT or Thirty Metre Telescope, as it is called, is a joint venture ( JV) involving five countries, but the $2 billion projects have been marred by protests for over a decade. The proposed site is considered sacred to indigenous Hawaiians, and also has too many observatories for one more such massive establishment to come up, say groups that have contested the site
• The difficulty is that even if construction [in Mauna Kea] were to go ahead, there could be future agitations
• Protests at the site last year saw scientists unable to access other telescope facilities in Mauna Kea. The project has been delayed by nearly five years and should have begun operations by 2025. India has committed $200 million, which is about a tenth of the proposed cost. The telescope needs 492 precisely polished mirrors and India is to contribute 83 of them. The project delay has meant that these manufacturing contracts have also been delayed. 

2) Indian Navy Signs MoU for offshore Data with Geological Survey of India

• Indian Navy has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Geological Survey of India (GSI) for ‘Sharing of seabed sediments data, products and expertise for Naval Application in Meteorology and Oceanography’
• GSI’s Marine and Coastal survey Division based at Mangaluru has mapped most of India’s 2.1 Million km2  Exclusive Economic Zone and has a vast repository of offshore data. This data collected using GSI’s state-of-the-art oceanic research vessels Samudra Manthan, Samudra Kaustubh, Samudra Shaudhikama, and Samudra Ratnakar, will now be used by Indian Navy’s rapidly growing blue water fleet for reliable and accurate oceanographic modeling to support their expansive maritime operations in the Indian Ocean region

3) Vigyan Samagam

• The inauguration of India’s first global Mega Science Exhibition “Vigyan Samagam” at National Science Centre
• During the exhibition, Science & Technology enthusiasts will witness the world-renowned Mega Science projects and listen to eminent scientists at the National Science Centre Delhi. Projects are being showcased by CERN, FAIR, INO, ITER, LIGO, MACE, SKA, and TMT. Under the aegis of Department of Atomic Energy (DAE), Department of Science and Technology (DST) and the National Council of Science Museums (NCSM), this prestigious science exhibition Vigyan Samagam is being jointly organized. These three organizations will be hosting some of the world’s biggest science projects under one roof. The capital will be marking the completion of this caravan event. The exhibition will be open to the public till 20th March 2020.
• The Exhibition is expected to ignite the minds of students, academia, and industry to look for opportunities to pursue fundamental science and research as a strong career option. These projects will help our scientists to work and contribute to international collaborations on fundamental science and research. The Exhibition has themed galleries consisting of infographics, working models and exhibits, informative audio-visual content, electronic displays and interactive kiosks for each of the Mega Science Projects. A one-day scientific event comprising of invited talks and lectures by eminent speakers from the field of science, technology, and Industry has been held at the NSC. As part of project awareness activities, each participating project will be carrying out week-long activities consisting of popular talks, science demonstrations, interactive quiz programs, etc.

4) UNAIDS (The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS)

• The Union Minister of State for Shipping (I/C) and Chemical & Fertilizers Shri Mansukh Mandaviya participated in the High-level roundtable of UNAIDS (The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS) on the theme Access for all: Leveraging Innovations, Investments, and Partnerships for Health at World Economic Forum at Davos, Switzerland.
• Mansukh Mandaviya in the High-level roundtable discussed what the Government of India has done for Health Access.  He mentioned various schemes initiated by the Government of India for ‘Creating a Healthy India’ like the Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (Ayushman Bharat) - the largest healthcare program in the world and Pradhan Mantri Bhartiya Jan Aushadhi Pariyojana – to provide affordable quality medicines for all.

About UNAIDS

UNAIDS provides the strategic direction, advocacy, coordination and technical support needed to catalyze and connect leadership from governments, the private sector, and communities to deliver life-saving HIV services. UNAIDS is leading the global effort to end AIDS as a public health threat by 2030 as part of the Sustainable Development Goals.

5)  Novel Coronavirus (nCoV)

• The death toll from the virus in China climbed to six on Tuesday as new cases surged beyond 300. Thailand has reported two cases and South Korea, all involving Chinese travelers from Wuhan. Japan and Taiwan also confirmed one case each.
• Coronaviruses (CoV) are a large family of viruses that cause illnesses ranging from the common cold to more severe diseases such as the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome. A Novel Coronavirus (nCoV) is a new strain that has not been previously identified in humans. 
• An animal source seems the most likely primary source of this outbreak, with limited human­to­human transmission occurring between close contacts. WHO’s guidance to countries and individuals includes the possibility of the disease spreading through contact with animals, contaminated food, and/or person to person

Steps were taken by India to defend the virus

Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) has directed for all logistics support and arrangements to be made immediately about the thermal screening of passengers arriving in India from China including Hong Kong at the identified airports i.e. Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, and Cochin apart from three airports at Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata identified earlier. This is in continuation to the Advisory from Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and National Centre for Disease Control, Directorate General of Health Services, under Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Government of India regarding the threat of ‘Novel Corona Virus Disease (nCoV) in Wuhan, Hubei province of China.

MoCA has called for immediate implementation of the action plan and strict adherence by identified airports and all concerned airlines. The action plan among others includes the following

• To facilitate early isolation, In-flight announcements to be made by the airlines (which are directly coming from any airport in China including Hong Kong) requesting passengers with a history of fever and cough and history of travel to Wuhan City in last 14 days to self-declare at the port of arrival or to State Health Authorities.
• Airlines staff to guide the passengers in filling up the self-reporting forms before disembarkation so that the filled up format can be checked by APHO staff on arrival.
• Airport signage to be displayed boldly at the strategic locations of these seven identified airports
• Health Screening at Airports: Thermal Screening of passengers to be undertaken. Provision of space at the pre-immigration area with logistics to install the thermal cameras to be made at these airports. Airlines staff to bring the passengers to the Health counters before the immigration check.
• Operational procedures recommended by the International Air Transport Association (IATA) about managing the suspected communicable disease on board an aircraft.
• All passengers and crew who are otherwise healthy should be allowed to continue their onward journey. If the ill passenger or crew member is confirmed as a probable case of Wuhan Corona Virus, public health authorities should be notified about the contacts using the Passenger Locator Form.

6) National Agriculture Market

Punjab Mandi Board (PMB) had recently organized awareness camps, training programs and seminars on the National Agriculture Market (e-NAM) across mandis in the state.

About e-NAM

• E-NAM (National Agriculture Market) is an online trading platform for agriculture produce aiming to help farmers, traders, and buyers with online trading and getting a better price by smooth marketing.
• It was launched by the Centre in 2015 and the government had to extend it in a phased manner across the 585 mandis of the country by December 31, 2019.

NAM has the following advantages

• For the farmers, NAM promises more options for sale. It would increase his access to markets through warehouse based sales and thus obviate the need to transport his produce to the mandi.
• For the local trader in the mandi/market, NAM offers the opportunity to access a larger national market for secondary trading.
• Bulk buyers, processors, exporters, etc. benefit from being able to participate directly in trading at the local mandi/market level through the NAM platform, thereby reducing their intermediation costs.
• The gradual integration of all the major mandis in the States into NAM will ensure common procedures for the issue of licenses, levy of fee and movement of produce.
• The NAM will also facilitate the emergence of value chains in major agricultural commodities across the country and help to promote scientific storage and movement of Agri goods.

Need for

• Fragmentation of state into multiple market areas.
• Poor quality of infrastructure and low use of technology.
• In the traditional mandi system, farmers generally procured very little price for their crops as they had to pass through various intermediaries in the physical marketplace. This not only adds costs but also handling costs.
• Also, the farmer has to face obstacles in the form of multiple tax levies and licenses and weak logistics and infrastructure in India.

7)  Railway projects require a public-private partnership (PPP)

• Even with an annual capital expenditure of about ₹1.6 lakh crore for the Railways which is the highest-­ever it will take decades to complete the sanctioned projects, the Ministry of Railways told a parliamentary panel public-private partnership (PPP) is the only way out.
• The Ministry told the Standing Committee on Railways headed by former Union Minister and BJP leader Radha Mohan Singh that the transporter needs ₹50 lakh crores to complete the sanctioned projects till 2030
• Given that the capital expenditure outlays are around ₹1.5­-1.6 lakh crore per annum, completing even all sanctioned projects would take decades. The Ministry said the only way out is using private investment.
• As per the Ministry, ongoing projects as on August 1, 2019, include 188 new lines, 55 gauge conversion and 255 doublings of existing lines. The length under the 188 new lines is 21,295 km, of which the Railways has so far only commissioned 2,622 km at ₹85,536 crores as on March 31, 2019.
• Similarly, in gauge conversion, 7,274 km work has been sanctioned out of which only 3,573 km has been commissioned so far costing ₹19,640 crores. In case of doubling of existing lines, 20,500 km work has been sanctioned while only 2,800 km was commissioned till March 31, 2019, at an expenditure of ₹48,342 crores. Apart from this, the government has set a target of 100% electrification of broad gauge lines by 2023.

8) UAE has been declared ‘reciprocating territory’ by India

• Last week, the Ministry of Law and Justice issued an Extraordinary Gazette Notification, declaring the United Arab Emirates to be a “reciprocating territory” under Section 44A of the Civil Procedure Code, 1908.
• The notification also declared a list of courts in the UAE to be “superior Courts” under the same section.
• Apart from UAE, the other countries declared to be “reciprocating territories” are United Kingdom, Singapore, Bangladesh, Malaysia, Trinidad & Tobago, New Zealand, the Cook Islands (including Niue) and the Trust Territories of Western Samoa, Hong Kong, Papua New Guinea, Fiji, Aden.

What is a ‘reciprocating territory’ and what are superior courts

• Reciprocating Territory means any country or territory outside India which the Central Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, declare to be a reciprocating territory; and “superior Courts”, concerning any such territory, means such Courts as may be specified in the said notification.
• Essentially, orders passed by certain designated courts from a ‘reciprocating territory’ can be implemented in India, by filing a copy of the decree concerned in a District Court here.
• The courts so designated are called ‘superior Courts’.

Limitations

• The scope of the Section is restricted to decrees for the payment of money, not being sums payable “in respect of taxes or other charges of a like nature or in respect of fine or other penalties”.
• It also cannot be based on an arbitration award, even if such an award is enforceable as a decree or judgment.

Why is the move significant?

• The decision is believed to help bring down the time required for executing decrees between the two countries.
• Indian expatriates in the UAE would no longer be able to seek safe haven in their home country if they are convicted in a civil case in the UAE.

9) Global social mobility report

World Economic Forum has come out with its first-ever Global Social Mobility Report.

Performance of India

• The report has ranked India a lowly 76 out of the 82 countries profiled.
• It lists India among the five countries that stand to gain the most from a better social mobility score.
• It ranks 41st in lifelong learning and 53rd in working conditions.
• The Areas of improvement for India include social protection (76th) and fair wage distribution (79th).

Global performance

• The Nordic nations hold the top five spots, led by Denmark in the first place (scoring 85 points), followed by Norway, Finland and Sweden (all above 83 points) and Iceland (82 points).
• Among the G7 economies, Germany is the most socially mobile, ranking 11th with 78 points.

What is social mobility?

It can be understood as the movement in personal circumstances either “upwards” or “downwards” of an individual about those of their parents.

• In absolute terms, a child can experience a better life than their parents.
• On the other hand, relative social mobility is an assessment of the impact of socio-economic background on an individual’s outcomes in life. 
• It can be measured against several outcomes ranging from health to educational achievement and income.

Why does social mobility matter?

Research has shown that in high-income countries, since the 1990s, there is stagnation at both the bottom and the top end of the income distribution—a phenomenon that social mobility experts describe as ‘sticky floors’ and ‘sticky ceilings’.

• In other words, how far an individual can move up in society determines a lot whether one is closer to the income “floor” (or poor) or “ceiling” (or rich).
• Social mobility levels, then, can help us understand both the speed – that is, how long it takes for individuals at the bottom of the scale to catch up with those at the top – and the intensity – that is, how many steps it takes for an individual to move up the ladder in a given period – of social mobility.

Why the need for a new index?

• Social mobility has become the pressing issue of modern life, and as the index highlights, while major improvements have been made in some areas, notably extreme poverty, in others, the situation is deteriorating.
• Globalization and technology are frequently blamed for this, but as the report highlights, there are a plethora of reasons – not least of which is poor policy-making – and it is the responsibility of a range of stakeholders to redress these.

What does it do that other indices don’t?

The index considers what a country can do holistically to foster relative social mobility for all citizens, which is markedly different from other methodologies.

• The Global Social Mobility Index focuses on drivers of relative social mobility instead of outcomes. It looks at policies, practices, and institutions. This allows it to enable effective comparisons throughout regions and generations.
• It uses 10 pillars, which in turn are broken down into five determinants of social mobility – health, education, technology access, work opportunities, working conditions and fair wages and finally, social protection and inclusive institutions.

Key findings:

• The Global Social Mobility Index reveals that there are only a handful of nations with the right conditions to foster social mobility.
• Most countries underperform in four areas: fair wages, social protection, working conditions, and lifelong learning.
• The index also reveals that achieving higher levels of social mobility needs to be perceived as an important element of a wider move towards a stakeholder-based model of capitalism.
• Looking at all economies and average income levels, those children who are born into less affluent families typically experience greater barriers to success than their more affluently born counterparts.
• Furthermore, inequalities are rising even in countries that have experienced rapid growth.
• In most countries, individuals from certain groups have become historically disadvantaged and poor social mobility perpetuates and exacerbates such inequalities. In turn, these types of inequalities can undermine the cohesiveness of economies and societies.

Way ahead- suggestions:

• Creating a new financing model for social mobility: improving tax progressivity on personal income, policies that address wealth concentration and broadly re-balancing the sources of taxation can support the social mobility agenda. Most importantly though, the mix of public spending and policy incentives must change to put greater emphasis on the factors of social spending.
• More support for education and lifelong learning: targeted at improvements in the availability, quality, and distribution of education programs as well as a new agenda for promoting skills development throughout an individual’s working life. This includes a new approach to jointly financing such efforts between the public and private sectors.
• Developing a new social protection contract: this would offer holistic protection to all workers irrespective of their employment status, particularly in the context of technological change and industry transitions, requiring greater support for job transitions in the coming decade.