Daily Current Affairs 2 May 2020 | UPSC Current Affairs 2020

Current Affairs Of Today Are

1) Kisan Sabha App

• Kisan Sabha App developed by CSIR-Central Road Research Institute (CSIR-CRRI), New Delhi to connect farmers to supply chain and freight transportation management system was remotely launched
• This portal acts as a one-stop solution for farmers, transporters, and other entities engaged in the agriculture Industry and offered that ICAR can work together with CSIR and use the Krishi Vigyan Kendra’s (KVK) networks for implementation.
• The overall agriculture market is not well organized and a lot of produce gets wasted or is being sold at very low rates, a detailed primary study was undertaken wherein 500+ farmers, were interviewed and 6-day long survey with dealers, transporters and farmers were conducted in Asia’s biggest AzadpurMandi to understand the various issues and gaps in the current environment. Based on this study and the current prevailing situation, the Kisan Sabha App was developed.
• The portal connects the farmers, transporters, Service providers (like pesticides/ fertilizer/ dealers, cold store and warehouse owner), mandi dealers, customers (like big retail outlets, online stores, institutional buyers), and other related entities for a timely and effective solution.
• The portal acts as a single stop for every entity related to agriculture, be they a farmer who needs better price for the crops or mandi dealer who wants to connect to more farmers or truckers who invariably go empty from the mandis.
• KisanSabha also works for people in the agriculture services sector such as dealers of fertilizers/ pesticides, who can reach out to more farmers for their services.
• It would also prove to be useful for those associated with cold store(s) or godown(s). KisanSabha also provides a platform for people who want to buy directly from the farmers.
• Kisan Sabha has 6 major modules taking care of Farmers/Mandi Dealers/Transporters/Mandi Board Members/ Service Providers/Consumers.
• Kisan Sabha aims to provide the most economical and timely logistics support to the farmers and increase their profit margins by minimizing the interference of middlemen and directly connecting with the institutional buyers. It will also help in providing the best market rates of crops by comparing the nearest mandis, booking of freight vehicles at the cheapest cost thereby giving maximum benefit to the farmers.

Source: PIB

2) Common Service Centres

In its bid to ensure a free flow of essential goods amid lockdown in rural areas, the government has decided to work with nearly 2,000 Common Service Centres. Over 3.8 Lakh CSCs across the country reach over 60 Cr people.

How it works?

Customers can now go online and order supplies through an app that has been provided to village-level entrepreneurs (VLEs) or those given the charge of retail and other CSC activities. The VLEs then make arrangements to transport the goods within a few hours. VLEs have also been allowed to take offline orders.

What are CSCs?

• Common Services Centers (CSCs) are a strategic cornerstone of the Digital India program. They are the access points for the delivery of various electronic services to villages in India, thereby contributing to a digitally and financially inclusive society.
• They are a multiple-services-single-point model for providing facilities for multiple transactions at a single geographical location.
• They are the access points for the delivery of essential public utility services, social welfare schemes, healthcare, financial, education, and agriculture services, apart from a host of B2C services to citizens in rural and remote areas of the country.
• CSCs enable the three vision areas of the Digital India program:
• Digital infrastructure as a core utility to every citizen.
• Governance and services on demand.
• Digital empowerment of citizens.

Significance of CSCs:

• CSCs are more than service delivery points in rural India. They are positioned as change agents, promoting rural entrepreneurship, and building rural capacities and livelihoods. They are enablers of community participation and collective action for engendering social change through a bottom-up approach with a key focus on the rural citizen.

Background:

• The CSC project, which forms a strategic component of the National eGovernance Plan was approved by the Government in May 2006, as part of its commitment in the National Common Minimum Programme to introduce e-governance on a massive scale.
• It is also one of the approved projects under the Integrated Mission Mode Projects of the National eGovernance Plan.

Source: PIB

3) Open budget survey

The report of an Open budget survey, conducted by the International Budget Partnership (IBP), has been released.

• The Open Budget Survey is part of the International Budget Partnership’s Open Budget Initiative, global research, and advocacy program to promote public access to budget information and the adoption of accountable budget systems.

How are the countries ranked?

• The open budget survey has been covering 117 countries. It rates the level of transparency in budget across nations on a scale of 0-100.
• The rating of the countries by the survey is based on various normative and internationally comparable indicators.
• The survey evaluates each country based on the availability of eight key budget documents of the Central or Federal government. The survey assesses whether these documents are made public and whether they provide comprehensive information or not.

Highlights of the survey:

• India is placed at 53rd position among 117 nations in terms of budget accountability and transparency.
• IBP has provided a transparency score of 49 out of 100 to India’s Union budget process. The provided score to India is higher than the global average score of 45.
• As per the survey, India has performed well in timely publishing and providing relevant information in the audit reports and in year reports. It has scored well and higher than in many other countries.
• Other developing countries, with an exception to China, have scored much higher transparency scores in comparison to India.

Suggestions made by IBP survey for India:

• Provide adequate space for public participation in budgets.
• Before the annual budget is presented, the Union government should publish a pre-budget statement that can be scrutinized by the legislatures as well as by the public.

What is Budget Transparency?

• Budget transparency refers to the extent and ease with which citizens can access information about and provide feedback on government revenues, allocations, and expenditures. Budgets are key documents since they layout a government’s priorities in terms of policies and programs. Opening up budgets is a first step toward democratizing the budget process and giving citizens a say in policy formulation and resource allocation.

Source: Business Standard

4) e-NAM platform for marketing of Agricultural produce

• The Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Shri Narendra Singh Tomar has stated that by May 2020 there will be around one thousand Mandis joining the e-NAM platform for marketing of Agricultural produce.
• To reach the last mile farmer & transform the way they sell their agri produce, e-NAM has gained more strength today by reaching out to more farmers & traders of these new mandis. Already 585 mandis in 16 States and 02 Union Territories have been integrated and are working.

National Agriculture Market (e-NAM)

• National Agriculture Market or eNAM is an online trading platform for agricultural commodities in India. The market facilitates farmers, traders, and buyers with online trading in commodities. The market is helping in better price discovery and provide facilities for smooth marketing of their produce. The market transactions stood at ₹36,200 crores by January 2018, mostly intra-market. Over 90 commodities including staple food grains, vegetables, and fruits are currently listed in its list of commodities available for trade. The eNAM markets are proving popular as the crops are weighed immediately and the stock is lifted on the same day and the payments are cleared online. In February 2018, some attractive features like the MIS dashboard, BHIM, and other mobile payments, enhanced features on the mobile app such as gate entry, and payment through mobile phones and farmer's database is helping adoption even more. The present trading is done mostly for intra-market, but in phases, it will be rolled out to trade in inter-market, inter-state, creating a unified national market for agricultural commodities.

Objectives

• A national e-market platform for transparent sale transactions and price discovery initially in regulated markets. Willing States to accordingly enact suitable provisions in their APMC Act for promotion of e-trading by their State Agricultural Marketing Board/APMC.
• Liberal licensing of traders/buyers and commission agents by State authorities without any pre-condition of physical presence or possession of shop /premises in the market yard.
• One license for a trader valid across all markets in the State.
• Harmonization of quality standards of agricultural produce and provision for assaying (quality testing) infrastructure in every market to enable informed bidding by buyers. Common tradable parameters have so far been developed for 25 commodities.
• Single point levy of market fees, i.e. on the first wholesale purchase from the farmer.
• Provision of Soil Testing Laboratories in/ or near the selected mandi to facilitate visiting farmers to access this facility in the mandi itself. M/s. Nagarjuna Fertilizers and Chemicals Ltd. is the Strategic Partner (SP) who is responsible for the development, operation, and maintenance of the platform. The broad role of the Strategic Partner is comprehensive and includes the writing of the software, customizing it to meet the specific requirements of the mandis in the States willing to integrate with NAM and running the platform

Advantages for various stakeholders

• Farmers: They can sell products without the interference of any brokers or middlemen thereby making competitive returns out of their investment.
• Traders: Traders will be able to do secondary trading from one APMC to another one anywhere in India. Local traders can get access to the larger national market for secondary trading.
• Buyers, Processors & Exporters
• Buyers like large retailers, processors, or exporters will be able to source commodities from any mandi in India thereby reducing the inter-mediation cost. Their physical presence and dependence on intermediaries will not be needed.
• Consumers
• NAM will increase the number of traders and the competition among them increases. This translates into stable prices and availability to the consumers.
• Mandis
• There will be a reduction in bookkeeping and reporting system as it will be generated automatically. Monitoring and regulation of traders and commission agents become easy. Transparency in the process eliminates the scope of manipulation of the tendering/auctioning process. Market allocation fee will increase due to an accounting of all transactions taking place in the market. It will reduce the manpower requirements as the tendering/auctioning process is carried out electronically. For instance, the system declares the winner of lots within a few seconds. It eliminates information asymmetry as all the activities of an APMC can be known directly from the website.
• Others
• NAM aims to improve the marketing aspect of the agriculture sector. With one license for the entire state and single point levy, an entire state becomes a market, and the market fragmentation within the same state gets abolished. It will improve the supply chain of commodities and reduces wastages.

Also, the Ministry launched two major modules in e-NAM last month to deal with the COVID-19 situation so that farmers can sell their produce without bringing them to the mandi. These modules are: FPO module helping farmer members of FPO to trade from their collection center and other being warehouse module whereby farmers can sell their stored produce in WDRA registered warehouses, declared as deemed mandi by States. Also, Ministry has launched recently the “Kisan Rath” mobile App which is helping farmers in finding suitable transport vehicles/tractor to carry their produce to nearby mandi and warehouse, etc.

Farmer Producer Organisations

• A group of farmers who are actually involved in agricultural production and have a common interest in pursuing agribusiness activities can form a group in a village or a cluster of villages and apply for registration of a Farmer Producer Company under the relevant Companies Act.

What Benefits farmers will get by forming FPO

• As a cohesive group, farmers as members of the FPO will have better bargaining power which can be leveraged to buy or sell commodities at competitive prices.
• Aggregation of agricultural produce for better marketing opportunities. Trading in bulk saves farmers on associated expenditures like processing, storage, transportation, etc.
• FPOs may take up activities for value addition like sorting/grading, packaging, basic processing, etc. which fetch a higher price for the farmers' produce.
• FPO formation facilitates the utilization of pre and post-harvest infrastructure like greenhouses, mechanized farming, cold storage, agri-processing, etc.
• FPO can expand its business activities by the opening of input stores, custom centers, etc. through which its member farmers can get subsidized inputs and services.

Source: PIB

4) Janaushadhi Sugam Mobile App

Due to the nationwide lockdown because of the Covid-19 crisis, people are using Janaushadhi Sugam Mobile App to locate their nearest Pradhan Mantri Bhartiya Janaushadhi Kendra (PMBJK) and availability of affordable generic medicine with its price.

Key Points

• Janaushadhi Sugam App has been developed by the Bureau of Pharma PSUs of India (BPPI) under the Department of Pharmaceuticals, Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers.
• It helps people to
• Locate nearby Janaushadhi kendras(through Google Maps).
• Search Janaushadhi generic medicine.
• Analyze product comparison of generic v/s branded medicines in the form of MRP & overall savings etc.

Janaushadhi kendras

• Pradhan Mantri Bhartiya Janaushadhi Kendras (PMBJK) are set up across the country under Pradhan Mantri Bhartiya Jan Aushadhi Pariyojana (PMBJP) to provide generic medicines.
• Generic drugs are marketed under a non-proprietary or approved name rather than the brand name. These are equally effective and inexpensive compared to their counterparts.
• By taking generic medicines patients can reduce his/her expenditure on medicines drastically.
• Generic medicines are sold at 50% to 90% lesser prices as compared to the market prices of branded medicines.
• The Bureau of Pharma PSUs of India (BPPI) is the implementing agency for PMBJP.
• All drugs procured under this scheme are tested for quality assurance at NABL (National Accreditation Board Laboratories) accredited laboratories and are compliant with WHO GMP (World Health Organisation’s Good Manufacturing Practices) benchmarks.
• Government grants of up to 2.5 lakhs are provided for setting up of PMBJKs.
• They can be set up by doctors, pharmacists, entrepreneurs, Self Help Groups, NGOs, Charitable Societies, etc. at any suitable place or outside the hospital premises.

Source: PIB

5) J&K and Article 54

Recently, in a reply to a Right to Information (RTI) query “if the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir will be part of the Electoral College for the election of the President of India”, the Election Commission of India (ECI) has asked to refer to Article 54 of the Constitution of India.

Key Points

• Article 54 specifically mentions NCT of Delhi and Puducherry as eligible to be part of the Electoral College. There is no word about the newly-formed UT of Jammu & Kashmir (J&K).
• Under Article 54, the President is elected by an Electoral College, which consists of the elected members of both Houses of Parliament and the elected members of the Legislative Assemblies of all the States and also of NCT of Delhi and the Union Territory of Puducherry.
• Also, the J&K Reorganisation Act, which came into existence from August 2019, does not specify anything about whether the legislature of J&K would be able to vote in the election for a President.
• The inclusion of new members in the Electoral College in Article 54 would require a Constitutional Amendment to be carried out through two-thirds majority in Parliament and ratification by over 50% of the States.
• Delhi and Puducherry were included as Electoral College members under Article 54 through the 70th Constitution Amendment Act of 1992.
• Before that, Article 54 consisted of only the elected Members of Parliament as well as the Legislative Assemblies of the States.
• However, according to some experts, a Union territory of J&K would be able to participate in the President’s elections even without any Constitutional amendment.
• According to Section 13 of the J&K Reorganisation Act, 2019, the provisions contained in article 239A, which apply to “Union territory of Puducherry”, shall also apply to the “Union territory of Jammu & Kashmir”.

Election of the President of India

• The President is elected indirectly by members of an electoral college consisting of:
• the elected members of both the Houses of Parliament;
• the elected members of the legislative assemblies of the states;
• the elected members of the legislative assemblies of the Union Territories of Delhi and Puducherry.
• The election is held by the system of proportional representation using the single transferable vote. The secret ballot is used in voting.
• In the proportional representation system, each voter will have only one vote but a voter can indicate his preference for as many contesting candidates as he likes in order of his/her preference or choice.
• The President’s tenure is for five years and he is eligible for immediate re-election and can serve any number of terms.
• There is a uniformity in the scale of representation of different states as well as parity between the states as a whole and the Union at the election of the President.
• All doubts and disputes in connection with the election are inquired into and decided by the Supreme Court whose decision is final.
• If the election of a person as President is declared void by the Supreme Court, acts done by him before the date of such declaration of the Supreme Court are not invalidated and continue to remain in force.
• Article 324 of the Constitution provides that the power of superintendence, direction and control of elections to parliament, state legislatures, the office of president of India and the office of vice-president of India shall be vested in the election commission.

Source: The Hindu

6) Permanent Mission to the UN

India has appointed T S Tirumurti as its Permanent Representative to the United Nations (UN).

Key Points

• Permanent Mission to the United Nations
• It is the diplomatic mission that every member state deputies to the UN.
• It is headed by a Permanent Representative who is also referred to as the UN ambassador.
• According to Article 1(7) of the Vienna Convention on the Representation of States in their Relations with International Organizations of a Universal Character, 1975 it is a mission of permanent character, representing the State, sent by a State member of an international organization to the organization.
• Other important Vienna Conventions are the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, 1961 and the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations of 1963.
• According to the UN General Assembly resolution 257(III) of 3rd December 1948, permanent missions assist in the realization of the purposes and principles of the UN.
• They keep the necessary liaison between the Member States and the Secretariat in periods between sessions of the different organs of the UN.
• UN Permanent Representatives are assigned to the UN headquarters in New York City, and at other offices in Geneva, Vienna and Nairobi as well.
• Indian Permanent Mission at the United Nations
• There are currently eight Indians in senior leadership positions at the UN at the levels of the Under-Secretary-General and Assistant Secretary-General.
• The first Indian delegates at the UN included statesman Arcot Ramasamy Mudaliar and freedom fighters Hansa Mehta, Lakshmi N. Menon, and Vijayalakshmi Pandit
• Mehta and Pandit were among the 15 women members of the Indian Constituent Assembly.
• India was among the select members of the UN that signed the United Nations Declaration at Washington on 1st January 1942.
• India also participated in the historic UN Conference of International Organization at San Francisco from 25th April to 26th June 1945.
• As a founding member of the United Nations, India strongly supports the purposes and principles of the UN and has made significant contributions to implementing the goals of the Charter, and the evolution of the UN’s specialized programs and agencies.

Arcot Ramasamy Mudaliar (1887-1976)

• One of the prominent lawyers of his time and joined the Justice Party in 1917.
• Took part in Joint Parliamentary Committee on Constitutional Reforms in India and the Round Table Conferences.
• He was India’s delegate to the San Francisco Conference.
• In 1946 he was elected the first President of the United Nations’ Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC).
• He also served as the chair of the executive boards of the World Health Organisation (WHO) and United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

Hansa Mehta (1897-1995)

• After studying Journalism and Sociology from England, she returned to India and served as the President of the Bhagini Samaj and played a crucial role during the campaign against the Simon Commission.
• She was the first woman to be elected to the Bombay Legislative Council in 1931.
• She represented India on the Nuclear Sub-Committee on the status of women in 1946.
• As the Indian delegate on the UN Human Rights Commission (now known as the UN Human Rights Council) in 1947–48, she was responsible for changing the language Justice Party of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights from “all men are created equal” to “all human beings”, highlighting the need for gender equality.

Lakshmi Menon (1899-1994)

• She was one of the founder members of the All India Women’s Conference.
• She was India’s delegate to the Third Committee in 1948 and argued forcefully in favor of non-discrimination based on sex and “the equal rights of men and women” in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
• In 1949-1950, she headed the UN Section on the Status of Women and Children.

Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit (1900-1990)

• She led the Indian delegation to the UN (1946-48 and 1952-53).
• In 1953, she became the first woman to be elected president of the UN General Assembly.
• In 1978, she was appointed the Indian representative to the UN Human Rights Commission.

Source: Indian Express

7) Global Energy Review 2020: IEA

• Recently, the International Energy Agency (IEA) has released a report namely, Global Energy Review:2020 which also includes the impact of the Covid-19 crisis on global energy demand and CO2 emissions.
• The imposition of lockdown in several countries has largely restricted transportation such as road and air travel. In turn, the drastic reduction in global energy demands has been observed.

Global Energy Demands

• The countries in full lockdown are experiencing an average decline of 25% in energy demand per week, while in those with a partial lockdown, the fall in energy demand is about 18% per week.
• Global energy demand declined by 3.8% in the first quarter of 2020 compared to the first quarter of 2019.
• Further, it is expected that the impact of Covid‑19 on energy demand in 2020 would be more than seven times larger than the impact of the 2008 financial crisis on global energy demand.
• Considering the above scenario the global demand of various energy sources can be analyzed as given below:
• Coal Demand:
• It has been declined by 8% compared with the first quarter of 2019.
• The reasons for such decline include, China – a coal-based economy – was the country hardest hit by Covid‑19 in the first quarter and cheap gas, and continued growth in renewables elsewhere challenged coal.
• Oil Demand:
• It has declined by 5% in the first quarter, majorly due to curtailment in mobility and aviation, which account for nearly 60% of global oil demand.
• The report also estimates that the global demand for oil could further drop by 9% on average in 2020, which will return oil consumption to 2012 levels.
• Gas Demand:
• The impact of the pandemic on gas demand has been moderate, at around 2%, as gas-based economies were not strongly affected in the first quarter of 2020.
• Renewables Energy Resources Demand:
• It is the only source that has registered a growth in demand, driven by larger installed capacity.
• Further, the demand for renewables is expected to rise by 1% by 2020 because of low operating costs and preferential access for many power systems.
• Electricity Demand:
• It has been declined by 20% during periods of full lockdown in several countries.
• However, residential demand is outweighed by reductions in commercial and industrial operations.

Covid-19 and CO2 Emissions

• Overall, the emissions decline in 2020 could be 8% lower than in 2019, which would be the lowest level of emissions since 2010.
• It is also the largest level of emission reduction — six times larger than witnessed during the 2009 financial crisis, and twice as large as the combined total of all reductions witnessed since World War II.
• In the first quarter of 2020, the decline in CO2 emissions is more than the fall in global energy demand.

India’s Energy Demands

• India, which is one of the IEA association countries, has experienced a reduction in its energy demands by 30% as a result of the nation-wide lockdown.
• Moreover, in India, where economic growth and power production are slowing significantly, the demand for coal is expected to decline steeply.
• China and India are the largest and third-largest electricity users in the world respectively, and coal use is dominant in both these countries shaping the global demand for this fuel.

International Energy Agency

• The International Energy Agency (IEA) is an autonomous organization which works to ensure reliable, affordable, and clean energy.
• It was established in the wake of 1973 (set up in 1974) oil crisis after the OPEC cartel had shocked the world with a steep increase in oil prices.
• It is headquartered in Paris, France.
• The World Energy Outlook report is released by IEA annually.
• India became an associate member of the International Energy Agency in 2017.
• Mexico officially became the International Energy Agency’s 30th member country in February 2018, and its first member in Latin America.

Source: Indian Express