Daily Current Affairs 7 April 2020 | UPSC Current Affairs 2020

Current Affairs Of Today Are

1) NHAI achieves highest ever Construction of National Highways in FY 2019-20

NHAI has accomplished the construction of 3,979 km of national highways in the financial Year 2019-20. This is the highest ever highway construction achieved in a financial year by NHAI. The construction pace as noticed in last years has seen steady growth with 3,380 Km construction in the FY 2018-19. Continuing the same trend with the development of 3,979 km of national highways during FY 2019-20, NHAI has achieved an all-time high construction since its inception in 1995.
The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has envisaged an ambitious highway development program Bharatmala Pariyojana which includes the development of about 65,000 km of national highways. Under Phase-I of Bharatmala Pariyojana, the Ministry has approved the implementation of 34,800 km of national highways in 5 years with an outlay of Rs 5,35,000 crore. NHAI has been mandated the development of about 27,500 km of national highways under Bharatmal Pariyojna Phase-I.
To accelerate the pace of construction, large no. of initiatives have been taken to revive the stalled projects and expedite completion of new projects :

Streamlining of land acquisition and acquisition of a major portion of land before the invitation of bids.
Award of projects after adequate project preparation in terms of land acquisition, clearances, etc.
Disposal of cases in respect of Change of Scope (CoS) and Extension of Time (EoT) in a time-bound manner
Procedure for approval of General Arrangement Drawing for ROBs simplified and made online.
Close coordination with other Ministries and State Governments
One time fund infusion
Regular review at various levels and identification/ removal of bottlenecks in project execution
Proposed exit for Equity Investors
Securitization of road sector loans
Disputes Resolution mechanism revamped to avoid delays in the completion of projects.

Source: PIB

2) Cabinet approves Non-operation of MPLADS for two years (2020-21 and 2021-22) for managing COVID 19

The Union Cabinet on Monday approved a 30% cut in the salaries of all Members of Parliament and a twoyear suspension of the MP Local Area Development (MPLAD) scheme so that the amount saved can go to the Consolidated Fund of India to fight COVID-19, Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar said
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, approved an ordinance to amend the Salaries, Allowances, and Pension of Members of Parliament Act, 1954, to cut the salaries of MPs by 30%.
All MPs, including the Prime Minister and his Council of Ministers, would take the salary cut for the financial year 2020-2021. Also, the Cabinet had decided to suspend the MPLAD funds for 2020-2021 and
2021-2022. Many MPs had already pledged to use their MPLAD funds, ₹5 crores a year, for efforts to combat the coronavirus pandemic.

Members of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme

Members of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme (MPLADS) is a scheme formulated by the Government of India on 23 December 1993 that enables the members of parliaments (MP) to recommend developmental work in their constituencies with an emphasis on creating durable community assets based on locally felt needs.
Initially, this scheme was administered by the Ministry of Rural Development. Later, in October 1994, the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MOSPI) has been looking into its working. Elected Members of Rajya Sabha representing the whole of the State as they do, may select works for implementation in one or more district(s) as they may choose. Nominated Members of the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha may also select works for implementation in one or more districts, anywhere in the country. MPs can also recommend work of up to Rs. 25 lakhs per year outside their constituency or state of election to promote national unity, harmony and fraternity. MPs can recommend work of upto 25 lakh for Natural Calamity in the state and up to Rs. 1 crore in the country in case of Calamity of Severe Nature (e.g. Tsunami, major cyclones, and earthquakes). A State level nodal department is chosen, which is responsible for supervision and monitoring and maintaining coordination with line departments. District authorities (DAs) sanction the work recommended by MPs; sanction funds; identify implementation agency and user agency, implement the work on the ground, transfer assets to user agency, and report back to the ministry about the status of MPLADS in the district.
Each MP is allocated Rs. 5 crore per year since 2011-12 which has been increased from Rs. 5 lakh in 1993-94 and Rs. 2 crores in 1998-99. MoSPI disburses funds to district authorities, not directly to MPs. This annual entitlement is released conditionally in two installments of Rs. 2.5 crore each. Funds are non-lapsable in nature i.e. in case of non-release of the fund in a particular year it is carried forward to the next year. MPs need to recommend work worth at least 15% and 7.5% of their funds to create assets in areas inhabited by Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs) respectively. Funds for MPLADS can be converged with Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) for creating more durable assets and with the National Program for Development of Sports (Khelo India).
Infrastructure development on land belonging to registered societies/ trusts is permissible, provided the society/trust is engaged in social welfare activity and is in existence for three years. No more than Rs. 50 lakh for one or more works in the lifetime of the society/trust can be spent. MPLADS funding is not permissible for those societies where the concerned MP and his/ her family members are office-bearers. For societies or charitable homes which look after deprived segments of the society, the relaxed grant is Rs. 1 crore.
"As on 2nd July 2018, 47572.75 crores have been released by G.O.I. since 1993 of which 94.99% have been utilized under the scheme. Presently close to 4,000 crores are disbursed annually for MPLADS scheme"
Top-5 states with the highest utilization-to-released fund ratio are Telangana (101.42%), Sikkim (100.89%), Chhattisgarh (99.6%), Kerala (99.3%) and West Bengal (98.65%). The Bottom-5 states are Uttarakhand (87.22%), Tripura (88.46%), Jharkhand (88.93%), Rajasthan (90.16%) and Odisha (90.54%). Top Union Territories (UT) with the highest utilization-to -released fund ratios are Lakshadweep (111.68%), Andaman & Nicobar Islands (105.68%) and Delhi (104.1%).
For the current year 2017-2018, the majority spending of MPLADS funds happened in two sectors: ‘railways, roads, pathways and bridges’ (43%) and ‘Other public activities’ (23%). Education, health, water and sanitation sectors received less funding.

Pension of Members of Parliament Act, 1954

“Under article 106 of the Constitution Members of Parliament are entitled to receive such salaries and allowances, as may from time to time be determined by Parliament by law and, until provision in that respect, is so made. allowances at such rates and upon such conditions as were immediately before the commencement of the Constitution applicable in the case of Members of the Constituent Assembly.
Parliament has not enacted any law so far with the result that Members have continued to receive allowances at rates that applied to the Members of the Constituent Assembly despite certain changes that have since occurred in the classification of accommodation on railways. This bill seeks to establish the basis on which salary and allowances should be drawn by Members of Parliament.”-Gaz. of Ind., 1954,dt. 8-5-1954, Pt. II, section 2. Extra., p. 287.

Source: The Hindu

3) Ionospheric based monitoring of large earthquakes

Scientists of the Indian Institute of Geomagnetism (IIG) an autonomous institution of the Department of Science and Technology have extensively studied the signatures of recent large earthquakes into the ionosphere with an ambitious aim to derive the seismic source characteristics from the ionosphere.
Scientists at IIG noticed that the spatial distribution of near field co-seismic ionospheric perturbations (CIP) associated with this event could reflect well the ground deformation pattern evolved around the epicenter. This CIP was derived using the Global Positioning System (GPS) measured Total Electron Content (TEC). The CIP distribution was estimated at the ionospheric piercing point (IPP) altitude.
So, the characteristics of CIP could always be directly associated with the tectonic forcing? Mostly yes, provided the effects of non-tectonic forcing mechanisms that are operative at ionospheric altitudes are favorable. The spatial/azimuthal distribution of near field CIP associated with Mw 7.8 Nepal earthquake, which could successfully be linked to the co-seismic crustal deformation, is explained as the combined effect of tectonic forcing manifestations and non-tectonic forcing mechanism of geomagnetic field-acoustic wave coupling
As part of the interdisciplinary program ‘Coupled Lithosphere-Atmosphere- Ionosphere-Magnetosphere System (CLAIMs)’ of Indian Institute of Geomagnetism funded by DST the research focused on energy transfer to the atmosphere during solid Earth processes such as earthquakes as well as tsunamis
In general, the Earth's crust uplift during an earthquake produces compressional (i.e. pressure) waves in the overlying atmosphere. These waves propagate upward in the region of exponentially decreasing atmospheric neutral density, and thus, its amplitudes increase with atmospheric heights. On arrival at ionospheric heights, the waves redistribute ionospheric electron density and produce electron density perturbations known as co-seismic ionospheric perturbations (CIP). The thrust earthquakes induce significant crustal uplift, while the strike-slip event mostly deforms the crust horizontally. Various ionospheric sounding techniques can be used to study the CIP characteristics. However, the TEC derived from Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) gives large spatial and temporal coverage over seismic source region,” the scientists explained.
“Evolution of seismic/tectonically induced ionospheric perturbation is highly controlled by the non-tectonic forcing mechanisms of satellite geometry, geomagnetic field-acoustic wave coupling and the ambient ionization density of the ionosphere. The effects of these non-tectonic forcing mechanisms at ionospheric altitudes are quantified based on the in-house developed acoustic ray-tracing model,” they added.
The scientists also successfully associated the observed ionospheric disturbances during a seismic event exclusively to the event by studying the ionospheric variation during the Indian Ocean doublet earthquake on 11 April 2012, a largest ever recorded strike-slip event (Mw. 8.6) that followed by a powerful aftershock of Mw 8.2, the highest ever recorded aftershock. These two earthquakes occurred in the same geographic region (epicenters apart by ~176 km) within a time delay of ~2 hours.
Analyzing the ionospheric perturbations during another Nepal earthquake which occurred on 12 May 2015 (Mw 7.3), the researcher further demonstrated that how the non-tectonic forcing mechanisms influence the amplitude and horizontal propagation of CIPat IPP altitudes. They noticed that the evolution of near field CIP related to the Mw 7.3 Nepal earthquake was highly affected by the non-tectonic forcing mechanism of moving satellite geometry and as a result, the CIP could not evolve by ground deformation pattern.
Moving a bit ahead from this, they attempted to observe the seismic source characteristic from the ionosphere during the massive Mw 7.8 Kaikoura earthquake 2016 which occurred in the complex multisegmented fault system between the Australia-Pacific plate boundary with a combination of vertical and differently oriented horizontal crust movements. Interestingly, the characteristics of CIP based on tectonic and non-tectonic forcing mechanisms revealed that the two distinct thrust zones over the rupture area resulted from the uplift with reinforcement of rotating horizontal motion from the epicenter acted as key tectonic sources for the peculiar distribution of CIP around the Kaikoura epicenter.
Thereby, by investigating the response of the ionosphere to recent major earthquake events, the scientists at IIG have tried to derive the earthquake source parameters using seismic induced ionospheric perturbations by taking into consideration the non-tectonic forcing mechanisms.
The ionosphere is a highly dynamic region and the origin of any perturbations in ionospheric electron density can be traced to various origins either from above (e.g. solar, geomagnetic, etc) or below (e.g. lower atmospheric, seismic, etc) the ionosphere. This probes a major challenge while identifying the co-seismic ionospheric perturbations. Further, the manifestation of co-seismic ionospheric perturbations has to be seen in the light of the prevailing non-tectonic forcing mechanisms. In this line, it is believed that the present extensive study may assist while designing a tool for the ionospheric based seismic source characterization.

Source: PIB

4) JNCASR develops versatile coating to stop the spread of viruses like influenza and COVID 19

An antimicrobial coating, developed by Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research (JNCASR), Bangalore, an autonomous institute under Department of Science & Technology (DST), has shown excellent results in tackling the spread of deadly influenza virus, the root cause of severe respiratory infections, by inactivating large loads of influenza virus. The Science and Engineering Research Board, a unit of the DST is supporting the further development of this coating for the country’s war against COVID-19.
The proven efficiency of the coating in 100% destruction of the influenza virus (an enveloped virus) shows that the coating may be effective in destroying COVID 19 – another enveloped virus upon contact. The technology which is simple and hence does not require skilled personnel for its development is already set to be tested against COVD 19. If found to be active, several PPEs, such as masks, gowns, gloves, face shields, used by doctors and nurses can be coated with it, imparting enhanced protection and safety to them. This will aid them to fight the battle against COVID 19 more effectively.
During the research, the coated surfaces also completely killed different drug-resistant bacteria and fungi such as methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) and fluconazole-resistant C. Albicans spp, respectively, most of them with 30 to 45 minutes, thus displaying rapid microbicidal activity. The cotton sheets coated with the compound showed the complete killing of more than a million bacterial cells.
Molecules have been designed to achieve optimum solubility in a wide range of solvents using a cost-effective three to four-step synthetic approach with easy purification and high yield. Besides, the coating can be fabricated on a variety of surfaces with ease and simplicity of the technology eliminates the necessity of skilled personnel for its development.

Source: PIB

5) Command centers turn into war rooms

Municipalities implementing the Smart Cities Mission have started using their Integrated Command and Control Centres (ICCCs) as “war rooms” for COVID19 response, including carrying out CCTV surveillance of public spaces, using heat maps to set up virus containment zones and realtime tracking of ambulances.
Senior officials of the Union Housing and Urban Affairs Ministry, which oversees the Smart Cities
Mission, have been coordinating the efforts of the cities, an official said. Of the 100 municipalities in the Smart Cities Mission, the ICCCs of 45 cities are “online” or operational
The ICCCs set up under the Mission are meant to coordinate traffic management, surveillance, utilities, and grievance redressal. Now, they are being used as a part of the government’s response to the coronavirus pandemic
As COVID-19 war rooms, the ICCCs are implementing initiatives such as CCTV surveillance of public places, GIS mapping of COVIDpositive cases, GPS tracking of healthcare workers, predictive analytics (heat maps) for virus containment across different zones of the city, virtual training to doctors and healthcare professionals, realtime tracking of ambulances and disinfection services and medical services through videoconferencing, telecounselling and telemedicine

Source: The Hindu

6) Cytokine storm

Of all the possible compounding effects of COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, the cytokine storm is one of the most feared

How do our immune systems generally work?

The immune systems in our bodies protect us from bacteria, viruses, and parasites by removing them from our systems.
The immune system gets activated by things that the body does not recognize as its own. These things are called antigens and include bacteria, fungi, and viruses.
An effective immune system response involves inflammation, an important and indispensable part of the process.
Inflammation has an important protective function. The release of inflammatory mediators increases the blood flow to the area, which allows larger numbers of immune system cells to be carried to the injured tissue, thereby aiding the repairing process.

If this inflammatory response is not regulated, a ‘cytokine storm’ can be triggered.

So, what is a cytokine storm?

A cytokine storm is an overproduction of immune cells and their activating compounds (cytokines), which, in a flu infection, is often associated with a surge of activated immune cells into the lungs. The resulting lung inflammation and fluid buildup can lead to respiratory distress and can be contaminated by secondary bacterial pneumonia — often enhancing the mortality in patients.

Occurrence:

A cytokine storm can occur due to an infection, auto-immune condition, or other diseases. Signs and symptoms include high fever, inflammation (redness and swelling), severe fatigue, and nausea. Cytokine storms are not exclusive to coronavirus patients. It is an immune reaction that can occur during other infectious and non-infectious diseases as well.

What then, is the role of cytokines in the immune system?

Cytokines are signaling proteins that are released by cells at local high concentrations — a cytokine storm or CSS is characterized by the overproduction of immune cells and the cytokines themselves because of a dysregulation in the process. A severe immune reaction, leading to the secretion of too many cytokines in the bloodstream, can be harmful since an excess of immune cells can attack healthy tissue as well.

How does CSS impact a COVID-19 patient?

In the case of any flu infection, a cytokine storm is associated with a surge of activated immune cells into the lungs, which, instead of fighting off the antigen, leads to lung inflammation and fluid build-up, and respiratory distress.

Previous instances:

It is seen as a likely major cause of mortality in the 1918-20 “Spanish flu” — which killed more than 50 million people worldwide — and the H1N1 “swine flu” and H5N1 “bird flu” of recent years. In these epidemics, the patients most likely to die were relatively young adults with apparently strong immune reactions to the infection — whereas ordinary seasonal flu epidemics disproportionately affect the very young and the elderly.

Source: Indian Express

7) 1930s Great Depression

With the novel coronavirus pandemic severely affecting the global economy, some experts have begun comparing the current crisis with the Great Depression — the devastating economic decline of the 1930s that went on to shape countless world events.

What was the Great Depression?

The Great Depression was a major economic crisis that began in the United States in 1929 and went to have a worldwide impact until 1939. It began on October 24, 1929, a day that is referred to as “Black Thursday”, when a monumental crash occurred at the New York Stock Exchange as stock prices fell by 25 percent.

How it began?

While the Wall Street crash was triggered by minor events, the extent of the decline was due to more deep-rooted factors such as a fall in aggregate demand, misplaced monetary policies, and an unintended rise in inventory levels.

Impacts:

In the United States, prices and real output fell dramatically. Industrial production fell by 47 percent, the wholesale price index by 33 percent, and real GDP by 30 percent.
The havoc caused in the US spread to other countries mainly due to the gold standard, which linked most of the world’s currencies by fixed exchange rates.
In almost every country of the world, there were massive job losses, deflation, and a drastic contraction in output.
Unemployment in the US increased from 3.2 percent to 24.9 percent between 1929 and 1933. In the UK, it rose from 7.2 percent to 15.4 percent between 1929 and 1932.
The Depression caused extreme human suffering, and many political upheavals took place around the world.
In Europe, economic stagnation that the Depression caused is believed to be the principal reason behind the rise of fascism, and consequently the Second World War.
It had a profound impact on institutions and policymaking globally and led to the gold standard being abandoned.

How did the Great Depression impact India?

Due to the global crisis, there was a drastic fall in agricultural prices, the mainstay of India’s economy, and a severe credit contraction that occurred as colonial policymakers refused to devalue the rupee.
The decline of agricultural prices, which was aggravated by British financial policy in India, made substantial sections of the peasantry rise in protest and this protest was articulated by members of the National Congress.
The effects of the Depression became visible around the harvest season in 1930, soon after Mahatma Gandhi had launched the Civil Disobedience movement in April the same year.
There were “No Rent” campaigns in many parts of the country, and radical Kisan Sabhas were started in Bihar and eastern UP.
Agrarian unrest provided a groundswell of support to the Congress, whose reach was yet to extend into rural India.
The endorsement by farming classes is believed to be among the reasons that enabled the party to achieve its landslide victory in the 1936-37 provincial elections held under the Government of India Act, 1935– which significantly increased the party’s political might for years to come.

Source: Indian Express

8) Artemis Program

NASA unveils plan for Artemis ‘base camp’ on the moon beyond 2024.

Artemis Base camp:

Artemis Base Camp is meant to be a long-term foothold for lunar exploration, perhaps in Shackleton Crater at the moon’s south pole.
The Camp itself would be a lunar foundation surface habitat that could host four astronauts at the south pole for visits or perhaps a week.
In the long term, the facility would also require infrastructure for power, waste disposal, and communications, as well as radiation shielding and a landing pad.
The base could also be a site for testing new techniques for dealing with pesky lunar dust and the long, cold lunar nights, turning local materials into resources like water, and developing new power and construction technologies.

What is Artemis?

Artemis– Acceleration, Reconnection, Turbulence, and Electrodynamics of Moon’s Interaction with the Sun. It is NASA’s next mission to the Moon. Objective: To measure what happens when the Sun’s radiation hits our rocky moon, where there is no magnetic field to protect it. Artemis was the twin sister of Apollo and the goddess of the Moon in Greek mythology.

Significance of the mission:

With the Artemis program, NASA will land the first woman and next man on the Moon by 2024.

Mission details:

NASA’s powerful new rocket, the Space Launch System (SLS), will send astronauts aboard the Orion spacecraft nearly a quarter-million miles from Earth to lunar orbit.
Astronauts will dock Orion at the Gateway and transfer to a human landing system for expeditions to the surface of the Moon.
They will return to the orbital outpost to board Orion again before returning safely to Earth.

Background- Artemis 1, 2:

The agency will fly two missions around the Moon to test its deep space exploration systems. NASA is working toward launching Artemis I, an uncrewed flight to test the SLS and Orion spacecraft together, followed by the Artemis II mission, the first SLS and Orion test flight with the crew. NASA will land astronauts on the Moon by 2024 on the Artemis III mission and about once a year thereafter.

Scientific objectives:

Find and use water and other critical resources needed for long-term exploration.
Investigate the Moon’s mysteries and learn more about our home planet and the universe.
Learn how to live and operate on the surface of another celestial body where astronauts are just three days from home.
Prove the technologies we need before sending astronauts on missions to Mars, which can take up to three years roundtrip.

Source: NASA

9) SC Order on Highway Dispute between Karnataka and Kerala

The Supreme Court (SC) has asked the governments of Kerala and Karnataka to amicably settle the dispute over the closure of roads linking Kasaragod district (Kerala) to Mangaluru (Karnataka).

The SC bench took up via video conferencing an appeal against the Kerala High Court order directing the opening of roads so that patients from Kasaragod can access emergency medical care facilities in Mangaluru.
In its appeal before the Supreme Court, Karnataka contended that the opening of the roads would lead to law and order issues as local residents are wary of people from Kasaragod crossing over given that the district has the largest number of COVID-19 cases in the country.

Highlights of the Judgement

On Kerala High Court’s Order: The bench did not stay the Kerala High Court order but asked the states not to precipitate matters.
Centre Mediation: The Supreme Court asked the Centre to discuss the matter with the states and formulate parameters for the passage of patients for urgent medical treatment.

Kerala High Court’s Order

Order

The Kerala High Court had directed the Centre to ensure that blockades put up by Karnataka on national highways connecting it to Kerala are removed forthwith to facilitate free movement of vehicles carrying people for urgent medical treatment between the two states.
The Kerala HC asked the Union government to intervene as the arterial roads that connect Mangalore to Kasaragod are part of the national highway network. Hence, the central government must ensure that roads are blockade- free.
Denial of health services amounts to infringement of the right to life under Article 21 and also affects the right to freedom of movement under Article 19(1) (d) of the Constitution.
Court’s Territorial Jurisdiction

Before the High Court, Karnataka contended that the court would be exceeding its territorial jurisdiction if it issues any direction.
But the court rejected this and said that when a High Court of a state finds and declares the actions of the government of another State to be illegal and unconstitutional, the said state government would be obliged to defer to the said declaration of law by a Constitutional Court of this country, notwithstanding that the said court is situated beyond the territorial limits of the said state.
The Court held that the Karnataka government cannot, therefore, be heard to contend that it is not obliged to respect the fundamental right of a citizen who resides outside its territorial limits.

Basis of the Order:

The High Court ruling came in the wake of the death of seven patients from Kasaragod who regularly availed hospital facilities in Mangaluru. The relatives of the deceased alleged that they could not cross the border due to the blockade imposed by Karnataka.

Background:

Even since lockdown was announced on March 25 to arrest the spread of coronavirus, most states sealed off their inter-state borders to restrict the movement of people. While essential services and goods vehicles were allowed to cross borders, as per the guidelines, some villages along the Karnataka side of the border with Kerala created a blockade, completely restricting the movement of even essential services.
Many roads connecting Kerala to Karnataka, particularly the roads from Dakshina Kannada and Kodagu districts of Karnataka linking Kasaragod in Kerala, have been blocked.

Source: Indian Express

10) Grounding of Aircraft Affects Weather Forecasting

Beginning mid-March, India began restricting incoming international flights into the country and by March 24 had imposed a total shutdown on domestic air travel as well to contain the spread of COVID-19.
The grounding of India’s civilian aircraft has strangled a key source of weather data that the India Meteorological Department (IMD) uses for its forecasts.
Officials from the IMD, however, have clarified that India’s annual monsoon forecast system is on track, with the first forecast scheduled to be issued in mid-April.
A major factor for gauging the performance of the monsoon is the El Nino, a warming of the ocean waters in the equatorial Pacific Ocean. This data is measured by observational data buoys located in the sea and relayed via satellite. This data is not impacted so far.

Key Points

Aviation and Weather Data:

Aircraft relay data about temperature and wind speed in the upper atmosphere to meteorological agencies the world over and this is used in the dynamical models.
Input from aircraft is important for the dynamical models as it determines the initial conditions for these models.
Aviation-generated data is also helpful to warn of developing thunderstorms or swings in temperatures that often begin at the heights aircraft traverse.

Dynamical model:

Dynamic models are generally models that contain or depend upon an element of time, especially allowing for interactions between variables over time.
These stimulate the state of the atmosphere and oceans at a particular time and then extrapolate into the future using standard laws of physics.
These models are run on supercomputers and are relied on to give weather forecasts three days, or even two weeks ahead.

IMD will move to traditional weather forecasting system:

This year, the IMD will likely rely on its traditional statistical forecast system, the one developed based on historical data.
However, even this will be difficult due to the shortage of manpower in the Department owing to COVID-19.
The IMD issues its first forecast for the June-September monsoon in April and updates it in June.

India and Weather Forecasting Model

Traditional Model:

Until 2010, the IMD used only statistical models to forecast the monsoon.
These involved identifying climate parameters linked to the performance of the monsoon. For example, the sea surface temperature gradient between the North Atlantic and North Pacific, the volume of warm water in the equatorial Pacific, the Eurasian snow cover.
Their values in February and March are correlated to values of actual rainfall over a hundred years and then, using statistical techniques, extrapolated to forecast a particular year’s monsoon.
This has, however, proved wrong and the IMD missed its mark on forecasting major droughts and rain-deficits particularly 2002, 2004 and 2006.
The IMD responded by finding new parameters but keeping the technique the same.

Dynamic Model: IMD started testing a dynamic system around 2015.

This simulates the weather at a chosen set of locations on a given day — the land and ocean temperature, moisture, wind speeds at various heights, etc — and powerful computers calculate how these weather variables will change over days, weeks, months.
It's able to do this by solving physics equations that show how each of these weather variables is related to each other.
The IMD and several private weather agencies are increasingly relying on more sophisticated and high-resolution computer models to give localized forecasts or warn farmers of changes in weather 10-15 days ahead.

Rather than long-range forecasts that only give a broad tenuous picture of the likely performance of the monsoon, the shorter forecasts are far more reliable and help farmers make decisions about sowing.

These models are also useful for anticipating heat-wave or cold-wave and therefore useful to urban planners and government.
Though meteorological agencies around the world are shifting to such techniques, they still aren’t considered entirely reliable for forecasting the monsoon.
Further, India’s dynamical model is still not as adept as meteorologists want them to be, for warning of drought or extreme changes in monsoon rainfall.

India Meteorological Department

IMD was established in 1875.
It is an agency of the Ministry of Earth Sciences of the Government of India.
It is the principal agency responsible for meteorological observations, weather forecasting, and seismology.

Source: Indian Express

11) Complete Export Ban on Hydroxychloroquine

India has banned all exports of hydroxychloroquine - an anti-malaria drug that is being used in the treatment of COVID-19.
This implies that the exceptions (export obligation and humanitarian grounds) mentioned in the previous order have come to an end.
The Directorate-General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) had prohibited the export of the drug on 25th March 2020. But it left the option of export open to fulfill “export obligation” and on “humanitarian grounds”.
The Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) organization is an attached office of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry. This Directorate, with headquarters at New Delhi, is responsible for formulating and implementing the Foreign Trade Policy with the main objective of promoting India’s exports.

Key Points

The export of hydroxychloroquine and formulations made from hydroxychloroquine is not even allowed from Special Economic Zones/ Export -Oriented Units (SEZs/EOUs) or against Advance Authorisation (AA) or against full advance payment.

SEZs are treated as a foreign territory in terms of customs laws. Normally, export ban or restrictions imposed by the government does not apply to these zones as well as EOUs, which are specially meant to promote outbound shipments from the country.
Under the Advance Authorisation (AA) scheme, firms are allowed to import raw material at zero duty but with the condition of export obligation within a certified time frame.

Reasons

India has banned exports of a host of medical devices, including sanitizer, all types of ventilators and surgical masks.
The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has recommended the use of hydroxychloroquine for treating healthcare workers handling suspected or confirmed coronavirus cases and also the asymptomatic household contacts (showing no symptoms) of the lab-confirmed cases. It needs to be noted that the drug is yet to be proven as a cure for the novel coronavirus.
All this has been done to deal with the number of rising cases in the country.

USA’s Request

India is considering the request by the USA to release the ordered amount of hydroxychloroquine drugs.

USA has been using the drug along with a combination of other drugs to treat COVID-19 patients. It is being said that the drug is yielding positive results.

This can be viewed as an opportunity for India’s pharmaceutical industry to gain access to the USA markets, but a call should be taken only after considering domestic requirements.
This may provide India and the US with an opportunity to sort out issues related to India’s capping of prices of drugs and medical equipment like stents that have figured prominently in trade disputes between the two countries.
This can also be seen as India, despite a complete ban on exports, may give priority to the USA's request. This highlights the importance of the India-US relationship.

Source: The Hindu

12) COVID 19 and Economic Challenges Ahead

Recently, India has rolled-out various policy measures to deal with COVID-19, India also has to brace for multiple impacts over an uncertain timeline that could last a year.

Key Points

Welfare Measures: The government has taken various welfare measures (encompassing both food and money) to help the most vulnerable and also to partially meet the cost of retaining workers in smaller enterprises, for the next few months.
Test and Cost: For the size of India’s population, the quantum of tests conducted so far seems to be too few and the government should bear the entire cost for testing.
Compared to Developed Countries: Emerging Market Economies (EME) like India, can hardly match what developed countries like the US, UK, and Germany have announced.

These countries have basically set out to offset, through generous direct government entitlements to large sections of the population and extraordinary central bank activism, the adverse demand shock following the primary negative supply shock of the pandemic.

Challenges Ahead for India

Fiscal deficit: India’s national fiscal deficit is perpetually high, and it is about to get larger even without an increase in outlays.

Due to this first, revenues will decline sharply; and, secondly, state governments who are the first responders of the health emergency will be hard-pressed.

Foreign Investment: Foreign portfolio investment in Indian equity and bonds is about US$ 300 billion. In March US$ 15 billion exited. India’s equity performance during March in dollar terms was low compared to other emerging market economies.

Over the past year, India relaxed prudential norms related to external flows management, opening up yet more the possibilities of surges and sudden stops of foreign capital.

Trade barrier: India also imposed trade barriers to imports through higher custom duties.

It is well-founded that high import barriers ultimately undermine national competitiveness and it is mostly export earnings that will have to service external liabilities.

Banking Sector: Non-Performing Assets (NPAs) will spike in virtually all economies in the coming months. India’s NPA ratio is over 9 percent highest, among the important economies.

Recent developments including that of private banks include widely reported delays in resolution and the ad-hoc dilutions in regulations, which have not helped.
Neither has poor disclosure — late last year ten banks disclosed that for the previous financial year their NPAs was Rupees 26,500 crores higher than previously reported.
All this contributed to an increase in the banking sector’s risk premium.

International investors: international investors will begin to sharply distinguish between countries along with the principal measure of how successfully the health challenge is being met, which will determine how quickly and durably individual economies will get back on their feet.

Way Forward

Higher customs duties on imports must be checked, which will increase India’s competitiveness and remove trade barriers.
Issues related to the banking sector like NPAs must be dealt with carefully.
If the fiscal and monetary responses are strengthened, the likelihood of serious consequences for macroeconomic stability increases.

Source: Indian Express