Daily Current Affairs 17 June 2020 | UPSC Current Affairs 2020

Current Affairs Of Today Are

1) Dexamethasone: Cheap drug shows results in COVID patients

• Indian doctors have said the reported success of dexamethasone — an inexpensive steroid that retails for less than ₹10 for 10 ml and is made by several Indian manufacturers — in saving the lives of COVID­19 patients on ventilators is good news for the country.
• Scientists administering the WHO­administered RECOVERY trial, the largest global clinical trial that is checking the ability of several repurposed drugs to treat COVID-­19 reported that dexamethasone reduced deaths by one­third in ventilated patients and by one-­fifth in other patients receiving oxygen only. There was no benefit among those patients who did not require respiratory support.
• It is a cheaper option than tocilizumab
• Based on these results, one death would be prevented by treatment of around eight ventilated patients or around 25 patients requiring oxygen alone, scientists said. 
• A scientific study with details on how the study was conducted and evaluations made isn’t yet available and the preliminary results were communicated via a press statement.
• Dexamethasone is the first drug to be shown to improve survival in COVID­19. This is an extremely welcome result. The survival benefit is clear and large in those patients who are sick enough to require oxygen treatment, so dexamethasone should now become the standard of care in these patients. Dexamethasone is inexpensive, on the shelf, and can be used immediately to save lives worldwide
• Tocilizumab is also being tested as part of the RECOVERY trial and is an injectible. Dexamethasone and tocilizumab are not anti­virals but work to modulate the immune response of the body when confronted by a viral infection such as COVID­-19
• the Indian Council for Medical Research revised the protocol for clinical management of COVID­19 and allowed the use of remdesivir, tocilizumab, and convalescent plasma therapy (CPT) on certain groups of patients. 
• Remdesivir, a patented drug by U.S.­based Gilead Life Sciences, reduced hospital stays for very sick COVID patients but has not been shown to improve recovery itself

Source: The Hindu

2) Lonar lake color-changing reason by NASA expert

• The Nagpur Bench of Bombay High Court has sought reports on the environmental impact assessment of Lonar lake from the National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI) and the Geological Survey of India.
• Advocate, appearing for the petitioner, told the court that an expert team which is probing the color change could also examine findings submitted by NASA expert Dr. Shawn Wright.
• As per Dr. Wright’s findings, there is a glass formation over the surface of the bedrock of the Lonar crater, which is basalt rock. This is a new feature not found anywhere else on the Earth and only on the beds of craters existing on the moon
• The State forest department also informed the Bench that since the area is an eco­sensitive zone, the construction of Lonar­Kinhi road would be a problem, as there is a large quantity of a unique material called ejecta blanket, which contains is a substance found on the moon.
• The court accepted this argument and directed the Buldhana district collector to take immediate steps to protect the material from possible theft and pilferage. It also prohibited the construction of the Lonar­Kinhi Road until further orders and posted the matter for hearing on June 29
• More Info About Lonar Lake Click Here

Source: The Hindu

3) Climate report predicts hotter, rainier days

• India’s first-ever national forecast on the impact of global warming on the subcontinent in the coming century, expects annual rainfall to increase, along with more severe cyclones and paradoxically more droughts. 
• These projections, based on a climate forecasting model developed at the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM), Pune, will be part of the next report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), expected to be ready in 2022
• From 1986-­2015, the hottest day and coldest night have warmed 0.63°C and 0.4°C, respectively. By the end of the 21st century, the report says, these temperatures are projected to rise by approximately 4.7°C and 5.5°C, respectively, relative to the corresponding temperatures in 1976­2005. This under a hypothetical scenario where no steps are taken to curb global greenhouse gas emissions or the RCP8.5 as it is called. 
• Currently, countries have signed an agreement to reduce emissions to restrict global temperature rise by the end of the century to less than 2°C.
• The frequencies of future warm days and warm nights are projected to increase by 55% and 70%, respectively, relative to the reference period of 1976­2005. Summer heatwaves over India are projected to be three to four times higher by the end of the 21st century.
• The projected rapid changes in India’s climate will place increasing stress on the country’s natural ecosystems, agricultural output, and freshwater resources, the report says.
• An observed change of 0.7°C in average temperatures over India, had already registered a spike in extreme weather events over the region

Source: The Hindu

4) Guwahati redefining the concept of the urban jungle

• What is common to the Chinese pangolin, Nepal cricket frog, Bengal monitor lizard, Assamese cat snake, Eurasian moorhen, Asian elephant, Terai cricket frog, and Ganges river dolphin? 
• They share space with an estimated one million humans in Guwahati, Assam’s principal city, and the largest in the northeast, along with 326 other species of fauna recorded so far. Very few of them are caged in the Assam State zoo that occupies 30 hectares of the 620­hectare Hengerabari Reserve Forest referred to as the city’s lungs.
• Guwahati redefines the term “urban jungle” with 334 and counting free-ranging faunal species living in the green spaces within concrete structures.  The 328­sq km city and its outskirts have 18 hills, eight reserve forests, two wildlife sanctuaries, and a Ramsar site (Deepor Beel) besides the Brahmaputra flowing past its northern edge. This stretch of the river has a few Ganges river dolphin, which has the status of ‘city animal’
• Wildlife specialists are worried that Guwahati has been following the global trend, which projects the urban area on earth to triple before 2030. 
  

Ramsar Convention

• It was signed in 1971 in the Iranian city of Ramsar and is one of the oldest inter-governmental accords for preserving the ecological character of wetlands.
• It is also known as the Convention on Wetlands.
• Its aim is to develop and maintain an international network of wetlands which are important for the conservation of global biological diversity and for sustaining human life through the maintenance of their ecosystem components, processes, and benefits.
• Wetlands declared as Ramsar sites are protected under strict guidelines of the convention.

Montreux Record

• Montreux Record under the Ramsar Convention is a register of wetland sites on the List of Wetlands of International Importance where changes in ecological character have occurred, are occurring, or are likely to occur as a result of technological developments, pollution or other human interference.
• It is maintained as part of the Ramsar List.
• Currently, two wetlands of India are in Montreux record: Keoladeo National Park (Rajasthan) and Loktak Lake (Manipur).
• Chilika Lake (Odisha) was placed in the record but was later removed from it.

Source: The Hindu

5) Talamaddale

• The traditional art of ‘talamaddale’, a variant of Yakshagana theatre, has gone virtual in times of COVID-19. A performance was streamed live on social media on June 13.

About Talamaddale:

• It is an ancient form of performance dialogue or debate performance in Southern India in the Karavali and Malnad regions of Karnataka and Kerala.
• The plot and content of the conversation are drawn from popular mythology but the performance mainly consists of an impromptu debate between characters involving sarcasm, puns, philosophy positions, and humor.

How is it different from Yakshagana?

• Unlike the Yakshagana performance, in the conventional ‘talamaddale,’ the artists sit across in a place without any costumes and engage in testing their oratory skills based on the episode chosen.
• If music is common for both Yakshagana performance and ‘talamaddale’, the latter has only spoken word without any dance or costumes.
• Hence it is an art form minus dance, costumes, and stage conventions.

Source: The Hindu

6) Concerns over the suspension of PCPNDT rules

• The Supreme Court has asked the government to explain its decision to suspend crucial rules of a parliamentary law against pre-natal sex determination and sex selection till June end, amid the COVID-19 national lockdown. However, the Court has refused to put on hold the notification.

What has happened?

• On April 4, a notification was issued by the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare which put on hold the implementation of certain rules of the Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (Prohibition of Sex-Selection Rules) of 1996 till June 30, 2020.
• The government’s notification suspends rules 8, 9(8), and 18A(6) of the PCPNDT Act.
• This move was widely criticized for its future consequences and the possibility of a spike in sex-selective abortions in the country.
• In the absence of the rules, many fear that it could lead to undocumented misuse by clinic owners as well as parents.

Clause 9:

• The suspension of Clause 9(8) is of particular concern.
• The Rule reads: “Rule 9(8): Every Genetic Counselling Centre, Genetic Laboratory, Genetic Clinic, Ultrasound Clinic, and Imaging Centre shall send a complete report in respect of all pre-conception or pregnancy-related procedures/techniques/tests conducted by them in respect of each month by 5th day of the following month to the concerned Appropriate Authority.”
• Concern: Since the medical facilities come under essential services and thus are exempted from the lockdown if the clinic is open and conducting tests it should be duty-bound to keep a register of such tests and suspension of the rule could lead to illegal procedures.

About the PCPNDT Act:

• It was enacted in response to the decline in Sex ratio in India, which deteriorated from 972 in 1901 to 927 in 1991.
• The main purpose of enacting the act is to ban the use of sex selection techniques before or after conception and prevent the misuse of prenatal diagnostic techniques for sex-selective abortion.
• Offenses under this act include conducting or helping in the conduct of prenatal diagnostic technique in the unregistered units, sex selection on a man or woman, conducting PND test for any purpose other than the one mentioned in the act, sale, distribution, supply, renting, etc. of an ultrasound machine or any other equipment capable of detecting sex of the fetus.
• The Act mandates compulsory registration of all diagnostic laboratories, all genetic counseling centers, genetic laboratories, genetic clinics, and ultrasound clinics.
• Amendments:
• The act was amended in 2003 to improve the regulation of the technology used in sex selection.
• The Act was amended to bring the technique of preconception sex selection and ultrasound technique within the ambit of the act.
• The amendment also empowered the central supervisory board and state level supervisory board was constituted.

Why strict implementation of this law is necessary?

• The number of girls missing at birth due to the practice of gender-biased sex selection in India has been estimated at 0.46 million girls per year for the period 2001-12 (which is 5.52 million girl children, missing at birth for the 12 years).
• The Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (PCPNDT) Act and the Rules thereunder are aimed at remedying this social evil.

Source: The Hindu

7) Indian Gas Exchange launched in e-ceremony

• Indian Gas Exchange (IGX) is the first nationwide online delivery-based gas trading platform.
• IGX will be a delivery-based trading platform for the delivery of Natural Gas.
• Incorporated as a wholly-owned subsidiary of the IEX – India’s energy market platform.
• The platform is fully automated with a web-based interface to provide a seamless trading experience to the customers.

How will this exchange work?

• The IGX is a digital trading platform that will allow buyers and sellers of natural gas to trade both in the spot market and in the forward market for imported natural gas across three hubs —Dahej and Hazira in Gujarat, and Kakinada in Andhra Pradesh.
• Imported Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) will be re-gasified and sold to buyers through the exchange, removing the requirement for buyers and sellers to find each other.
• The exchange also allows much shorter contracts – for delivery on the next day, and up to a month – while ordinarily contracts for natural gas supply are as long as six months to a year.
• Will domestically produced natural gas also be bought and sold on the exchange?
• No. The price of domestically produced natural gas is decided by the government. It will not be sold on the gas exchange.

Why this was necessary?

• Domestic production of gas has been falling over the past two fiscals as current sources of natural gas have become less productive.
• Domestically produced natural gas currently accounts for less than half the country’s natural gas consumption; imported LNG accounts for the other half.
• LNG imports are set to become a larger proportion of domestic gas consumption as India moves to increase the proportion of natural gas in the energy basket from 6.2% in 2018 to 15% by 2030.

Benefits:

• This will help the nation move towards the free-market pricing of natural gas.
• The exchange is expected to facilitate transparent price discovery in natural gas, and facilitate the growth of the share of natural gas in India’s energy basket.

About Natural Gas:

• It is the cleanest fossil fuel among the available fossil fuels.
• It is used as a feedstock in the manufacture of fertilizers, plastics, and other commercially important organic chemicals as well as used as a fuel for electricity generation, heating purpose in industrial and commercial units.
• It is also used for cooking in domestic households and a transportation fuel for vehicles.

Source: PIB

8) Gateway Lunar Orbiting Outpost

• Recently, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has finalized the contract to design the Habitation and Logistics Outpost (HALO) for its Gateway Lunar Orbiting Outpost.
• The Habitation and Logistics (HALO) support for the Gateway, is a part of NASA’s Artemis program that aims to send the first woman and the next man to the Moon by 2024.

Key Points

• Habitation and Logistics (HALO)
• It refers to the pressurized living quarters where astronauts will spend their time while visiting the Gateway.
• These quarters will be about the size of a small apartment and will provide augmented life support together with Orion spacecraft.
• The Gateway:
• NASA has targeted the completion of the Gateway for 2026, while work on the spaceship is already underway.
• The Gateway can be used at least once per year and astronauts can not stay around the year like they do on the International Space Station (ISS).
• Once docked to the Gateway, astronauts will be able to stay there for three months at a time.
• Compared to the ISS, the Gateway is much smaller.
• Significance:
• It will act as an airport, where spacecraft bound for the lunar surface of Mars can refuel or replace parts and resupply things like food and oxygen, allowing astronauts to take multiple trips to the Lunar surface and exploration of new locations across the Moon.
• By studying the geology of the Earth, the Moon, and Mars – the three planetary bodies and how they are similar and different from each other, it would give a sight about how planets and planetary systems form.
• Significantly, Gateway would work as a science platform to look back at the Earth, observe the Sun, and get unobstructed views of the vast universe.

Gateway Lunar Orbit Outpost

• The Gateway is a small spaceship that will orbit the Moon, meant for astronaut missions to the Moon and later, for expeditions to Mars.
• It will act as a temporary office and living quarters for astronauts distanced at about 250,000 miles from Earth.
• The spaceship will have living quarters, laboratories for science and research, and docking ports for visiting spacecraft.
• One of the most unique features of the Gateway is that it can be moved to other orbits around the Moon to conduct more research.
• It is expected to play a major role in NASA's Artemis program, after 2024.
• While the project is led by NASA, the Gateway is meant to be developed, serviced, and utilized in collaboration with commercial and international partners: Canada (Canadian Space Agency), Europe (European Space Agency), and Japan (JAXA).

The Artemis

• It is a crewed spaceflight program of NASA that has the goal of landing "the first woman and the next man" on the Moon, specifically at the lunar south pole region by 2024.
• It is a key step towards the long-term goal of establishing a sustainable presence on the Moon, laying the foundation for private companies to build a lunar economy, and eventually sending humans to Mars.

Orion Spacecraft

• It is being developed by NASA.
• It is a powerful, advanced launch vehicle for a new era of human exploration beyond Earth’s orbit.
• It is designed to take astronauts to deep space destinations such as the Moon and Mars.

Way Forward

• As NASA sets its sights on returning to the Moon and preparing for Mars, it is developing new opportunities in lunar orbit to provide the foundation for human exploration deeper into the solar system.
• It would also support the technology maturation and development of operating concepts needed for missions beyond the Earth and Moon system.
• Building the Gateway with commercial and international partners is a critical component of sustainable lunar exploration and the Artemis program.
• So, the partnership would give a strategic presence of humans in space.

Source: Indian Express

9) Iran Blocking Sites Access: IAEA

• In two unreleased reports, the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has expressed serious concerns after Iran has been blocking inspections of two suspect locations for more than four months.

Key Points

• Although IAEA did not publicly name these sites, it held that Iran's enriched uranium stockpile has exceeded the agreed limit.
• According to the IAEA, Iran may have used the sites for processing and converting uranium ore in 2003.
• Iran denied the reports and hinted that queries were based on fabricated information from intelligence services.
• Iran has always denied that it has ever sought to develop a nuclear weapon, insisting that its programs have been peaceful.
• It comes amid rising tensions between Iran and the USA, which pulled out of the 2015 international agreement.

Iran Nuclear Program and JCPOA

• In 2015, Iran with the P5+1 group of world powers - the USA, UK, France, China, Russia, and Germany agreed on a long-term deal on its nuclear program.
• The deal was named as Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) and in common parlance as Iran Nuclear Deal.
• Under the deal, Iran agreed to curb its nuclear activity in return for the lifting of sanctions and access to global trade.
• The agreement allowed Iran to accumulate small amounts of uranium for research but it banned the enrichment of uranium, which is used to make reactor fuel and nuclear weapons.
• Iran was also required to redesign a heavy-water reactor being built, whose spent fuel would contain plutonium suitable for a bomb and to allow international inspections.
• In May 2018, the USA abandoned the deal criticizing it as flawed and reinstated and tightened its sanctions.
• The USA held that it would attempt to force all countries to stop buying Iranian oil and put pressure on Iran to negotiate a new nuclear accord.
• The top Iranian general Qassem Soleimani (the commander of the Al-Quds Force of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, IRGC) was assassinated by the USA during his visit to Iraq. This escalated tensions in the international arena.
• Amid rising tensions, Britain, France, and Germany declared that Iran was violating the 2015 pact and launched a dispute mechanism that could eventually see the matter referred back to the Security Council and the reimposition of UN sanctions.
• Since sanctions were tightened, Iran has been steadily breaking some of its commitments to pressure the remaining signatories to find a way to provide sanctions relief.

Way Forward

• All countries part of the 2015 deal should engage constructively and resolve all issues peacefully and through dialogue.
• Both the USA and Iran must act with strategic restraint as any crisis in West Asia will not only affect the region as a whole but will have a detrimental impact on global affairs as well.

Source: The Hindu

10) The rise in Net Financial Assets

• According to the Reserve Bank of India's recent Quarterly Estimates of Households’ Financial Assets and Liabilities, net financial assets of Indian households rose to 7.7% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the Financial Year (FY) 2019-20.

Key Points

• Net Financial Assets:
• Net Financial Assets are the difference between Gross Financial Assets (GFA) (deposits and investments) and Financial Liabilities (borrowings).
• The net financial assets jumped from Rs. 13.73 lakh crore in FY 2018-19 (7.2 % of GDP) to Rs. 15.62 lakh crore (7.7% of the GDP) in FY 2019-20.
• The GFA rose marginally from Rs. 21.23 lakh crore in FY 2018-19 to Rs. 21.63 lakh crore in FY 2019-20.
• The financial liabilities witnessed a sharp decline from Rs. 7.5 lakh crore to Rs. 6.01 lakh crore in the same period, thereby contributing to the rise in net financial assets.
• In the first quarter of FY 2020-21, RBI also expects a spike in net financial assets of households on account of a sharp drop in lockdown induced consumption.
• Studies show households tend to save more during a slowdown and income uncertainty.
• The decline in Borrowing:
• The rise in net financial assets was accompanied by a decline in bank borrowings by households.
• The decline in bank borrowing by households is a reflection of the slowdown in the economy and risk aversion of banks.
• The economic slowdown may be because income levels of individuals are either going down or not increasing.
• Savings:
• In value terms, GFA has increased marginally from Rs. 21.23 lakh crore in FY 2018-19 to Rs 21.63 lakh crore FY 2019-20.
• The overall savings have not grown in proportion. However, the household savings in bank deposits as a percent of GDP declined to 3.4% in FY 2019-20 compared to FY 2018-19 where it stood at 3.8%.
• The decline in household savings is because banks reduced their interest rates following a sharp cut in repo rate by the RBI over the last 18-months.
• A repo rate is a rate at which RBI lends to commercial banks.
• Between January 2019 and March 2020, RBI cut the repo rate by 210 basis points from 6.5% to 4.4%. In May 2020 RBI reduced it further to 4%.
• Small saving instruments that continued to offer higher rates than bank deposits witnessed a higher deployment of household savings as their share as a percent of GDP increased from 1.1% to 1.3% in the same period.
• Savings into life insurance funds and mutual funds as a percent of GDP also declined from 2.2% in FY 2018-19 to 1.9% in FY 2019-20.
• Issues Involved:
• There is a possibility that households may use their savings due to lags in the pickup of economic activity post-Covid-19 lockdown.
• This may cause the financial surplus (savings) of households to decrease in the coming days.
• This may decrease the investment, which may further add to the economic slowdown.

Way Forward

• The government must remove the issues that emerged post Covid-19 lockdown, which will lead to an increase in economic activity.
• The government can also consider providing cash in hand to the public to increase the demand, which will lead to an increase in production.

Source: Indian Express