Daily Current Affairs 24 March 2020 | UPSC Current Affairs 2020

Current Affairs Of Today Are

1) National Supercomputing Mission

2020-21 is an important year for India’s National Supercomputing Mission (NSM). The mission was set up to provide the country with supercomputing infrastructure to meet the increased computational demands of academia, researchers, MSMEs, and startups by creating the capability design, manufacturing, of supercomputers indigenously in India.
A first of its kind attempt to boost the country’s computing power, the National Super Computing Mission is steered jointly by the Ministry of Electronics and IT (MeitY) and Department of Science and Technology (DST) and implemented by the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC), Pune and the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru.
The target of the mission was set to establish a network of supercomputers ranging from a few Tera Flops (TF) to Hundreds of Tera Flops (TF) and three systems with greater than or equal to 3 Peta Flops (PF) in academic and research institutions of National importance across the country by 2022. This network of Supercomputers envisaging a total of 15-20 PF was approved in 2015 and was later revised to a total of 45 PF (45000 TFs), a jump of 6 times more compute power within the same cost and capable of solving large and complex computational problems.
With the revised plan in place, the first supercomputer assembled indigenously, called Param Shivay, was installed in IIT (BHU) and was inaugurated by the Prime Minister. Similar systems Param Shakti and Param Brahma were installed at IIT-Kharagpur and IISER, Pune. They are equipped with applications from domains like Weather and Climate, Computational Fluid Dynamics, Bioinformatics, and Material science.
Plans are afoot to install three more supercomputers by April 2020, one each at IIT-Kanpur, JN Centre for Advanced Scientific Research, Bengaluru, and IIT-Hyderabad. This will ramp up the supercomputing facility to 6 PF.
11 new systems are likely to be set up in different IITs, NITs, National Labs, and IISERs across India by December this year, which will have many sub-systems manufactured and microprocessors designed in India which will bring in a cumulative capacity of 10.4 petaflops.
Spreading out the reach to the North-East region of the country, 8 systems with a total Compute Power of 16 PF are being commissioned. 5 indigenously designed systems with three 3 PF computing power will be installed at IIT-Mumbai, IIT-Chennai and Inter-University Accelerator Centre (IUAC) at Delhi with NKN as its backbone. It also includes an indigenously build 20 PF system at C-DAC, Pune, and a 100 PF Artificial Intelligence supercomputing system. One midlevel 650 TFs system is also to be installed at C-DAC Bengaluru to provide consultancy to Start-ups, SSIs & MSMEs.
Geared to provide Supercomputing facility to about 60-70 institutions Nation-wide and more than thousands of active Researchers, Academicians, and so on, NSM has gathered momentum and is moving fast not only towards creating a computer infrastructure for the country but also to build the capacity of the country to develop the next generation of supercomputer experts.

Source: PIB

2) Worldwide Closure of Educational Institutions due to COVID-19

According to the estimates of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the COVID-19 outbreak has pulled almost half (49.22%) the world’s student population out of schools and universities.
UNESCO has also observed that 107 countries have announced a temporary closure of educational institutions, impacting 86.17 crore children and youth.

COVID-19

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has named the new coronavirus disease as ‘COVID-19’.
The new name is taken from the words "corona", "virus" and "disease", with 2019 representing the year when it emerged (the outbreak was reported to the WHO on 31st December 2019).
The word coronavirus refers to the group of viruses it belongs to, rather than the latest strain. The latest strain has been designated ‘Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2)’ by the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has also declared COVID-19 as a pandemic.
According to the WHO, a pandemic is declared when a new disease for which people do not have immunity spreads around the world beyond expectations.

Key Points

Non-Pharmaceutical Interventions :

The World Health Organisation (WHO) recommends school closure (including preschool and higher education) as one of the “Non-Pharmaceutical Interventions (NPIs)” for mitigating influenza pandemics.
Nonpharmaceutical Interventions (NPIs) are actions, apart from getting vaccinated and taking medicine, that people and communities can take to help slow the spread of illnesses like pandemic influenza (flu).

Reasons:

The main reason for keeping educational institutions closed is that children and young people can be vectors of transmission.
There are also high contact rates in schools which could result in the spread of the virus.
The school closures during a pandemic are expected to break the chains of transmission of COVID-19, in turn, it will reduce the number of confirmed cases, avoiding stressing healthcare systems.
It will also help to delay possible transmission and will also allow more time to develop a vaccine.

Economic Costs Involved:

The closure of educational institutions not only disrupts learning but also has a direct economic cost.
Because when schools close, families would have to find childcare.
While some may manage to look after children without missing work, many parents will end up skipping work. Those lost work hours are a cost to the economy.
A study published in the BMC Public Health journal in April 2008 suggested that a 12-week closure of schools in the UK during an influenza pandemic could cost about 0.2-1% of the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

Disadvantages:

Loss of Nutrition: When schools close, children’s nutrition is compromised. This is already evident in India, where the closure of schools has disrupted the supply of midday meals.
Access to the Internet: As schools and universities move towards learning online to make up for lost time, students from low-income families risk falling behind as they don’t have access to technology or stable Internet connections.
Issues with Distance Learning: The parents of first-generation learners in schools are often unprepared for distance learning and home-schooling.

Measures:

Countries are adopting distance learning solutions to ensure continuity of education.
The UNESCO has set up a COVID-19 task force to advise countries in regular virtual meetings with Education Ministers.

Indian Scenario

In India, the closure of schools started towards the end of the academic year. Hence, as of now, it hasn’t caused any significant learning loss.
The Ministry of Human Resource Development has decided to encourage schools and universities to make full use of existing e-learning portals.
These e-learning portals include the Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs), platform SWAYAM, and the free DTH channel Swayam Prabha, which telecasts educational videos prepared by the NCERT.

Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) is a free Web-based distance learning program that is designed for the participation of large numbers of geographically dispersed students.
SWAYAM platform is indigenously developed by the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) and All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) with the help of Microsoft. It is designed to achieve the three cardinal principles of Education Policy viz.access, equity, and quality.

UNESCO

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) was founded in 1945 to develop the “intellectual and moral solidarity of mankind” as a means of building lasting peace.
It is located in Paris (France).
It develops educational tools to help people live as global citizens free of hate and intolerance.
It also aims to promote cultural heritage and the equal dignity of all cultures with strengthening bonds among nations.

Source: Indian Express

3) Technology Development Board

Technology Development Board under DST invites technology proposals for fighting COVID 19.
The proposal may include technologically innovative solutions like low-cost masks, cost-effective scanning devices, technologies for sanitization of large areas as well as for contactless entry, rapid diagnostic kits and oxygenators, and ventilators.

About the Technology Development Board:

It is a statutory body established by the Technology Development Board Act, 1995.
Objective: To promote the development and commercialization of indigenous technology and adaptation of imported technology for much wider application.

Roles and functions of the board:

Encourage enterprises to take up technology-oriented products.
Provide equity capital or loans to industrial concerns and financial assistance to research and development institutions.

Global Innovation & Technology Alliance (GITA):

To stimulate the private sector’s investment in R&D, TDB has established the Global Innovation & Technology Alliance (GITA).
It is a joint venture between the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and TDB with an equity contribution of 51:49 respectively.
The GITA will assist the Department of Science & Technology (DST) in implementing industrial research and development programs with different countries under bilateral and multilateral science and technology cooperation agreements.

Source: PIB

4) COVID-19 and Work from Home in India

The rising wave of the COVID-19 outbreak in India has forced the corporate world in the country to opt for ‘work from home’ widely.
Currently, the work from home is the only viable option to continue and sustain economic activities in the country to contain the spread of COVID-19.

Key Points

Legal Provisions:

India’s labor laws and proposed Labour Codes do not recognize work from home as a viable work arrangement.
An organization is also required to maintain statutory records under various acts such as Shops and Establishment Act, Minimum Wages Act, Payment of Wages Act, Equal Remuneration Act, Payment of Bonus Act, Factories Act, and Contract Labour Regulation and Abolition Act.
These laws regulate hours of work, payment of wages, leaves, holidays, terms of service and other conditions of work of persons employed.
However, the above provisions assume that an employee has fixed geography of work and does not account for an employee working from a remote location.

Current Scenario:

Most organizations in India do not have well-documented policies and guidelines to support extended work from home arrangements.
Also, most of the managerial staff are not trained and equipped to manage remote teams.

Applicability and Computation Challenges

Labour - a Subject on the Concurrent List:

Under the Constitution of India, Labour is a subject in the Concurrent List where both the Central & State Governments are competent to enact legislation subject to certain matters being reserved for the Centre.
There are 416 Labour Laws and Rules between Centre, States and Union Territories leading to 278 different filings and approximately 1,000 different formats of Registers.
Thus, if an employee works remotely and is based in a different state, the applicable labor laws will change leading to different compliance obligations.
States have implemented labor laws with different applicability criteria, registration and documentation requirements.

Minimum Wages Act:

The Minimum Wages Act 1948 is an Act of Parliament concerning Indian labor law that sets the minimum wages that must be paid to skilled and unskilled laborers.
The different states have different minimum wages based on schedule, skill level and zone. As an example, just the state of Karnataka has over 800 different minimum wages.
In the event of employees working remotely from different states, the complexity of wage computation will increase sharply.
Minimum wage requirements for different states will have to be satisfied to stay compliant.

Overtime Wage Calculations:

An employer has to compute the wage of an employee based on the days and hours of work and maintain statutory registers as evidence.
Overtime work hours have different slabs and statutory payment requirements.
In a remote work arrangement, organizations will need to manage these records such that they are admissible by the Labour Department.

Professional Tax:

Professional tax is a tax on all kinds of professions, trades, and employment and levied based on the income of such profession, trade, and employment.
Professional Tax implementation varies between states inapplicability, computation and filing requirements.

Labour Welfare Fund

Labour Welfare Fund is a statutory contribution managed by individual state authorities.
In case an employee telecommutes from a different state, implications are leading to additional registration and filings leading to higher complexity and cost of managing compliance.

Pros and Cons of Work from Home

Pros

Development of virtual collaboration without political as well as geographical boundaries.
Easy balance of Professional and Personal life.
It helps to avoid congestion problems majorly in metro cities.
This leads away towards the conservation of resources like fossil fuels, water, electricity, etc.

Cons

Reduction in productivity.
Lack of creativity.
Risk of isolation.
Lack of accountability.

Way Forward

The world economies have become increasingly connected and interdependent. Greater flexibility, adaptability, and resilience will be key to the next-generation workforce.
The implementation of technology advancements in office productivity tools, collaboration tools, digital documents, flexible workflows, cheaper broadband connectivity will continue to make work from home easier.
The proposed labor codes in India are expected to acknowledge gig, informal and unorganized labor in addition to work from home as a legal option.
The government is also expected to make a regulatory framework to enable teleworking, organizations should understand the implications of work from home during the ongoing crisis and ensure that they inadvertently do not miss critical compliances.

5) Schemes Approved to Promote Drug Manufacturing

Recently, the Union Cabinet has approved two schemes, namely the scheme on Promotion of Bulk Drug Parks and Production Linked Incentive (PLI) Scheme to promote domestic manufacturing of critical Key Starting Materials/Drug Intermediates and Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients in the country.

Key Points

Promotion of Bulk Drug Parks Scheme

Number of Parks: The government aims to develop 3 mega Bulk Drug parks in India in partnership with States.
Funding: The government of India will give Grants-in-Aid to States with a maximum limit of Rs. 1000 Crore per Bulk Drug Park.

A sum of Rs. 3,000 crore has been approved for this scheme for the next 5 years.

Facilities: Parks will have common facilities such as solvent recovery plant, distillation plant, power & steam units, common effluent treatment plant, etc.
The need for the Scheme: Despite being 3rd largest in the world by volume the Indian pharmaceutical industry is significantly dependent on the import of basic raw materials, viz., Bulk Drugs that are used to produce medicines. In some specific bulk drugs, the import dependence is 80 to 100%.
Objectives: The scheme is expected to reduce the manufacturing cost of bulk drugs in the country and dependency on other countries for bulk drugs.

The scheme will also help in providing a continuous supply of drugs and ensure the delivery of affordable healthcare to the citizens.

Implementation: The scheme will be implemented by State Implementing Agencies (SIA) to be set up by the respective State Governments.

Production Linked Incentive (PLI) Scheme

Aim: The PLI scheme aims to promote domestic manufacturing of critical Key Starting Materials (KSM)/Drug Intermediates and Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs) in the country.
Funding: Under the scheme financial incentive will be given to eligible manufacturers of identified 53 critical bulk drugs on their incremental sales over the base year (2019-20) for 6 years.
Impact: PLI scheme will reduce India's import dependence on other countries for critical KSMs/Drug Intermediates and APIs.

This will lead to expected incremental sales of Rs.46,400 crore and significant additional employment generation over 8 years.

Implementation: The scheme will be implemented through a Project Management Agency (PMA) to be nominated by the Department of Pharmaceuticals.

Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs)

APIs also called bulk drugs, are significant ingredients in the manufacture of drugs. The Hubei province of China is the hub of the API manufacturing industry.
India is heavily import-dependent for APIs from China. India’s API imports stand at around $3.5 billion per year, and around 70%, or $2.5 billion, come from China.

Source: PIB

6) Modernization of Defence Industry

The following steps have been taken by the government which would help in bringing in critical technologies and modernize the Defence Industry in the country:-

Defense Procurement Procedure (DPP) has been revised in 2016 wherein specific provisions have been introduced such as ‘Buy Indian Designed Developed and Manufactured (IDDM)’ for stimulating the growth of the domestic defense industry.
Government has notified the ‘Strategic Partnership (SP)’ Model which envisages the establishment of long-term strategic partnerships with Indian entities through a transparent and competitive process, wherein they would tie-up with global Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) to seek technology transfers to set up domestic manufacturing infrastructure and supply chains.
‘Buy & Make (Indian)’ category of procurement under DPP-2016 provides for initial procurement of equipment in Fully Formed (FF) state in quantities as considered necessary from an Indian vendor engaged in a tie-up with a foreign OEM, followed by indigenous production in a phased manner involving Transfer of Technology (ToT) of critical technologies.
‘Buy & Make’ category of procurement under DPP-2016 provides for initial procurement of equipment in Fully Formed (FF) state from a foreign vendor, in quantities as considered necessary, followed by indigenous production through an Indian Production Agency (PA), in a phased manner involving Transfer of Technology (ToT) of critical technologies.
Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) Policy has been revised and under the revised policy, FDI is allowed under automatic route up to 49% and beyond 49% through Government route wherever it is likely to result in access to modern technology or for other reasons to be recorded.

In addition to above, following initiatives and schemes have been initiated to contribute toward modernization of Defence Industry:-

Mission Raksha Gyanshakti: Mission Raksha Gyanshakti was launched in 2018-19, to create greater Intellectual Property in the Defence Production Ecosystem.
Artificial Intelligence in Defence: Creation of Defence Artificial Intelligence Project Agency(DAIPA) was done in March 2019 for greater thrust on Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Defence, formulation of an AI roadmap for each Defence PSU and OFB to develop AI-enable products and insertion of 3 percent points in MoU with Defence PSUs for AI products being developed.
Innovations for Defence Excellence (iDEX): The objective of iDEX is to bring startups to innovate, develop technology and solve problems related to defense and aerospace. The initiative is being implemented by the Defence Innovation Organization (DIO), a Section 8 company founded by BEL and HAL. DIO has initiated activities in 2018/ 2019, running Defence India Startup Challenges (DISCs), and outreach activities to activate the Indian startup ecosystem for defense.

In May 2001, the Defence Industry Sector, which was hitherto reserved for the public sector, was opened up to 100% for Indian private sector participation, with Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) up to 26% both subject to Licensing. Further, the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade, Ministry of Commerce & Industry has allowed FDI under automatic route up to 49% and above 49% through Government route wherever it is likely to result in access to modern technology or for other reasons to be recorded. To date, 43 FDI proposals/ Joint ventures have been approved for the manufacture of various defense equipment, both in public and private sectors. Till February 2020, Government has issued 464 licenses to Indian Companies for the manufacturing of a wide range of defense items.

Source: PIB

7) Extradition Treaty between India and Belgium

Cabinet approves signing and ratifying of the Extradition Treaty between India and Belgium.

Salient features:

Obligation to Extradite: Each Party agrees to extradite to the other any person found in its territory, who is accused or convicted of an extraditable offense in the territory of the other Party.
Extraditable Offences: An extraditable offense means an offense punishable under the laws of both the Parties with imprisonment for one year or more severe punishment.
Duration of the sentence: Where extradition is sought in respect of a convicted person, the duration of the sentence remaining to be served must be at least six months at the time of making the request.
Offenses relating to taxation, or revenue or is one of a fiscal character also fall within the scope of this Treaty.
Extradition of Nationals is discretionary. The nationality will be determined at the time the offense was committed.

Under the Treaty, extradition shall be refused if:

The offense involved is political. However, the Treaty specifies certain offenses, which will not be considered as political offenses.
The offense for which extradition is requested is military
The request for prosecution has been made to prosecute or punish the person on account of his race, sex, religion, nationality or political opinion.
The prosecution of the enforcement of sentences has become time-barred.

What is Extradition?

As defined by Hon’ble Supreme Court of India, ‘Extradition is the delivery on the part of one State to another of those whom it is desired to deal with for crimes of which they have been accused or convicted and are justifiable in the Courts of the other State’.

When can it be initiated?

An Extradition request for an accused can be initiated in the case of under-investigation, under-trial, and convicted criminals. In cases under investigation, abundant precautions have to be exercised by the law enforcement agency to ensure that it has prima facie evidence to sustain the allegation before the Courts of Law in the Foreign State.

What is the Legislative Basis for Extradition in India?

The Extradition Act of 1962 provides India’s legislative basis for extradition. It consolidated the law relating to the extradition of a criminal fugitive from India to foreign states. The Indian Extradition Act, 1962 was substantially modified in 1993 by Act 66 of 1993.

Who is the nodal authority for Extradition in India?

CPV Division, Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India is the Central/Nodal Authority that administers the Extradition Act and it processes incoming and outgoing Extradition Requests.

Source: PIB

8) Olive Ridley Turtle

Recently, mass nesting of Olive Ridley Turtles started at Odisha’s Rushikulya rookery coast.

The Rushikulya rookery on the coast of Odisha in India is the largest mass nesting site for the Olive-ridley, followed by the coasts of Mexico and Costa Rica.

Key Points

Features: The Olive ridley turtles are the smallest and most abundant of all sea turtles found in the world.

These turtles are carnivores and get their name from their olive-colored carapace.

Habitat: They are found in warm waters of the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian oceans.
Migration: They migrate thousands of kilometers between feeding and mating grounds in a year.
Arribada (Mass Nesting): They are best known for their unique mass nesting called Arribada, where thousands of females come together on the same beach to lay eggs.

They lay their eggs over five to seven days in conical nests about one and a half feet deep which they dig with their hind flippers.

Threats: They are extensively poached for their meat, shell and leather, and their eggs. However, the most severe threat they face is the accidental killing through entanglement in trawl nets and gill nets due to uncontrolled fishing during their mating season around nesting beaches.
Protection Status and Steps Taken: The species is recognized as Vulnerable by the IUCN Red list, they are also protected under CITES Appendix I. They are also listed on Schedule – I of the Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972.

To reduce the accidental killing in India, the Orissa government has made it mandatory for trawls to use Turtle Excluder Devices (TEDs), a net specially designed with an exit cover that allows the turtles to escape while retaining the catch.

Source: The Hindu

9) Teesta River

The Border Roads Organisation (BRO) has opened a 360 feet long bailey suspension bridge over the Teesta river in Munshithang, Sikkim.
The construction was commenced in October 2019 under Project Swastik.
The bridge will help the state tourism in growing and facilitate the movement of logistics for the Armed Forces deployed in the state.

Key Points

Teesta river is a tributary of the Brahmaputra (known as Jamuna in Bangladesh), flowing through India and Bangladesh.
It originates in the Himalayas near Chunthang, Sikkim and flows to the south through West Bengal before entering Bangladesh.
Originally, the river continued southward to empty directly into the Padma River (main channel of Ganga in Bangladesh) but around 1787 the river changed its course to flow eastward to join the Jamuna river.
The Teesta Barrage dam helps to provide irrigation for the plains between the upper Padma and the Jamuna.
Teesta river water conflict is one of the most contentious issues between India and Bangladesh.

Border Roads Organization

It was conceived and raised in 1960 by Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru for coordinating the speedy development of a network of roads in the North and the North-Eastern border regions of the country.
It works under the administrative control of the Ministry of Defence.
BRO is regarded as a symbol of nation-building, national integration and an inseparable component in maintaining the security and integrity of the country.
The executive arm of the BRO, the General Reserve Engineer Force (GREF), is a combined force consisting of members of the Army and GREF.
It has diversified into a large spectrum of construction and development works comprising airfields, building projects, defense works, and tunneling and has endeared itself to the people.

10) Lockdown hits NREGA workers hard

The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) scheme has been officially shut down in at least seven States, while it is effectively closed in many more, as COVID-19 lockdown comes into effect across the country.
Workers’ collectives are demanding relief in the form of wages during the shutdown, payment of pending dues, and extension of the scheme in the next financial year to accommodate more workers and additional days of work. This is critical as thousands of migrant workers stream back to their villages, leaving the cities following the lockdown.
Civil society groups have written to the Prime Minister, Finance Minister and senior State officials, demanding an emergency relief package of ₹7,000 a month for all poor households for April and May.
MGNREGA workers are often employed in construction-related projects. As their employer, the government must pay a 1% cess on their behalf, so that they can benefit from the welfare schemes
The letter, appealing for a ₹3.75 lakh crore emergency package, was sent to State and Central government representatives on Monday. It demanded that MGNREGA be expanded beyond 100 days of guaranteed work in 2020-21, with full wages being paid during the lockdown. Pending wage and material payments, amounting to ₹8,396 crores must be paid immediately

MGNREGA

Mahatma Gandhi Employment Guarantee Act 2005 (or, NREGA No 42, later renamed as the "Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act", MGNREGA), is Indian labor law and social security measure that aims to guarantee the 'right to work'. This act was passed in September 2005.
It aims to enhance livelihood security in rural areas by providing at least 100 days of wage employment in a financial year to every household whose adult members volunteer to do unskilled manual work.
The act was first proposed in 1991 by P.V. Narasimha Rao. It was finally accepted in the parliament and commenced implementation in 625 districts of India. Based on this pilot experience, NREGA was scoped up to cover all the districts of India from 1 April 2008. The statute is hailed by the government as "the largest and most ambitious social security and public works program in the world". In its World Development Report 2014, the World Bank termed it a "stellar example of rural development".
The MGNREGA was initiated with the objective of "enhancing livelihood security in rural areas by providing at least 100 days of guaranteed wage employment in a financial year, to every household whose adult members volunteer to do unskilled manual work". Another aim of MGNREGA is to create durable assets (such as roads, canals, ponds, and wells). Employment is to be provided within 5 km of an applicant's residence, and minimum wages are to be paid. If work is not provided within 15 days of applying, applicants are entitled to an unemployment allowance. That is, if the government fails to provide employment, it has to provide certain unemployment allowances to those people. Thus, employment under MGNREGA is a legal entitlement.
MGNREGA is to be implemented mainly by gram panchayats (GPs). The involvement of contractors is banned.
Apart from providing economic security and creating rural assets, NREGA can help in protecting the environment, empowering rural women, reducing rural-urban migration and fostering social equity, among others.
The law provides many safeguards to promote effective management and implementation. The act explicitly mentions the principles and agencies for implementation, list of allowed works, financing pattern, monitoring and evaluation, and most importantly the detailed measures to ensure transparency and accountability

Source: The Hindu