Daily Current Affairs 24 July 2020 | UPSC Current Affairs 2020

Current Affairs Of Today Are

1) G20 Digital Economy Ministers Meeting

• Recently, a virtual meeting of G20 Digital Economy Ministers was hosted by Saudi Arabia in which Indian Union Minister for Electronics and Information Technology represented India.
• Saudi Arabia is holding the presidency of G20 currently.

Few major initiatives taken by India to tackle Covid-19 were highlighted:

• Early lockdowns which helped in curbing the spread of the virus as well as preparing for the upcoming challenges effectively.
• Digital innovations for managing Covid-19:
• Initiatives like Aarogya Setu mobile app, Covid-19 Quarantine Alert System (geofencing system for monitoring quarantined patients), and Covid-19 Savdhan (bulk messaging systems).
• Digital innovations for helping people in general:
• Direct Benefit Transfers and digital payments ensured that even the weakest in the society was provided various financial relief during the lockdown.

India Emphasised Upon:

• Emerging technologies like Artificial Intelligence should be leveraged for inclusive growth and development especially in healthcare and education.
• In the wake of a pandemic like Covid-19, there is a need for building a resilient global supply chain.
• India’s potential as an attractive destination for investment closely integrated with global supply chains was also brought into focus.
• All digital platforms need to be accountable and sensitive towards concerns related to defense and data privacy of citizens of sovereign countries.
• The comments follow the Indian government’s move to ban 59 Chinese applications citing a threat to national security and sovereignty.

India’s Step for Data Protection:

• India is soon going to put in place a robust personal data protection law (Personal Data Protection Bill 2019) which will not only address the data privacy-related concerns of citizens but also ensure the availability of data for innovation and economic development.

Way Forward

• The digital economy must go hand in hand with the data economy because data is an important component to accelerate the digital economy.
• There is a need to acknowledge who has sovereignty over data. Data must belong to the sovereign nation concerned, to protect the privacy of its people, to protect digital concerns for its people.
• Digital platforms having a presence in many countries must become trustworthy, safe, and secure.
• Digital platforms anywhere in the world should be responsive and accountable towards the sovereign concerns of countries including defense, privacy, and security of citizens.

Source: PIB

2) Largest Solar Power Plant of Navy Commissioned

• Southern Naval Command commissioned a 3 MW Solar Power Plant at Indian Naval Academy, Ezhimala on 22 July 2020. This is in line with the Govt of India initiative of ‘National Solar Mission’ to achieve 100GW of solar power by 2022.
• The solar plant is the largest in the Indian Navy and has an estimated life of 25 years. All components have been indigenously sourced, including 9180 highly efficient monocrystalline solar panels employing the latest technology. The project has been executed by Kerala State Electronics Development Corporation Ltd (KELTRON).
• The Solar Power Plant project will help Naval Station Ezhimala in reducing the carbon footprint and is one of the many initiatives undertaken by INA towards a clean and green environment. Surplus power generated will also feed the KSEB electricity grid.

Source: PIB

3) Restrictions on Public Procurement from certain countries

• The Government of India today amended the General Financial Rules 2017 to enable the imposition of restrictions on bidders from countries that share a land border with India on grounds of defense of India, or matters directly or indirectly related thereto including national security. The Department of Expenditure has, under the said Rules, issued a detailed Order on public procurement to strengthen the defense of India and national security.
• As per the Order, any bidder from such countries sharing a land border with India (focusing on China) will be eligible to bid in any procurement whether of goods, services (including consultancy services and non-consultancy services) or works (including turnkey projects) only if the bidder is registered with the Competent Authority. The Competent Authority for registration will be the Registration Committee constituted by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT). Political and security clearance from the Ministries of External and Home Affairs respectively will be mandatory.
• The Order takes into its ambit public sector banks and financial institutions, Autonomous Bodies, Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSEs), and Public-Private Partnership projects receiving financial support from the Government or its undertakings.
• State Governments play a vital role in national security and defense of India. The Government of India has written to the Chief Secretaries of the State Governments invoking the provisions of Article 257(1) of the Constitution of India for the implementation of this Order in procurement by State Governments and state undertakings etc. For State Government procurement, the Competent Authority will be constituted by the states but political and security clearance will remain necessary.
• Relaxation has been provided in certain limited cases, including for the procurement of medical supplies for containment of COVID-19 global pandemic till 31st December 2020. By a separate Order, countries to which Government of India extends lines of credit or provides development assistance have been exempted from the requirement of prior registration
• The new provisions will apply to all new tenders. In respect of tenders already invited, if the first stage of evaluation of qualifications has not been completed, bidders who are not registered under the new Order will be treated as not qualified. If this stage has been crossed, ordinarily the tenders will be canceled and the process started de novo. The Order will also apply to other forms of public procurement. It does not apply to procurement by the private sector.

Public procurement

• Public procurement refers to the purchase by governments and state-owned enterprises of goods, services, and works. according to OECD

Source: PIB

4) Display of ‘Country of Origin’ Must for e-Commerce Site

• Recently, the Central government has told (via an affidavit) the Delhi High Court that all e-commerce entities have to ensure the mandatory declaration of ‘country of origin’ of imported products sold on their site.
• The Consumer Protection Act 2019 also mandates to display the ‘country of origin’ by the e-commerce entities.
• The affidavit came in response to a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) seeking directions to the Centre to ensure that the name of the manufacturing country is displayed on products being sold on e-commerce sites.
• The petitioner has sought implementation of the Legal Metrology Act, 2009 and the Legal Metrology (Packaged Commodities) Rules, 2011, which mandate that country of origin be displayed on products being sold on e-commerce sites.
• Enforcement of the provisions of the said Act and Rules rests with the States and Union Territories governments.
• The petitioner has contended that enforcement of the mandate is in sync with the recent ‘Vocal for Local’ and ‘Atma Nirbhar’ Bharat push by the government of India.
• Earlier, the Central government has also mandated for all sellers on the Government e-Marketplace (GeM) to list the Country of Origin while registering new products.
• The GeM is a platform for public procurement.
• Most of the e-commerce sites function as a ‘marketplace-based’ e-commerce model in which they only act as an ‘intermediary’ i.e they merely provide their information technology platform to connect third-party sellers with their potential consumers.
• The other form of e-commerce model is ‘Inventory-based,’ where the entities offer services or goods for sale from their own inventory.
• The e-commerce entities say that they have ensured that a data field about ‘country of origin’ is available on their system, which may be filled in by a seller when creating a new product listing.
• However, they have not made it mandatory, because the law does not mandate a disclosure of the ‘country of origin/manufacture/assembly’, in the case of India-manufactured goods.
• In many cases, finished goods sourced from different countries are packed together or assembled in a third country, before their shipment into India.
• Therefore, it could not be presumed that the rules intended that the last country of export alone be declared as the ‘country of origin,’ unless the law is amended or clarified to expressly state so.

Source: The Hindu

5) Stubble Burning and Pollution

• According to a recent study, Delhi’s meteorology and the quantity of chaff (crop residue or stubble) burnt in Punjab and Haryana play a more important role in worsening air quality than the time chosen by farmers to start stubble burning.

Crop Burning:

• It is a traditional practice in Punjab and Haryana to clean off the rice chaff to prepare the fields for winter sowing.
• It begins around October and peaks in November, coinciding with the withdrawal of southwest monsoon.
• The pollutants and the particulate matter (PM) from the chaff, along with other sources of pollution in Delhi, get stuck in the lower atmosphere worsening the winter pollution.

Reasons:

• Subsidies and assured procurement of rice have led to a rise in the rice acreage.
• Increased and modernized farm mechanization extract the rice grains only and leave large quantities of rice stubble behind.
• Punjab Preservation of Subsoil Water Act 2009:
• This mandated farmers to delay sowing of paddy to late June to discourage groundwater extraction.
• This led to a delay of an average of 10 days compared to 2002-2008 and now due to the delayed harvesting, rice chaff burning coincides perfectly with the withdrawal of southwest monsoon.

Findings of the Study:

• Crop burning contributed nearly 40% of the near-surface PM 2.5 in Delhi in 2016, which saw one of Delhi’s severest pollution episodes.
• The study largely relies on mathematical modeling.
• Data on the number of crop burning episodes and levels of PM were plugged into a mathematical model.
• In results, it emerged that crop residue contribution to PM over Delhi in 2016, increased only marginally (1%) when compared to a hypothetical scenario of crops being burned 10 days earlier.
• Early burning while reducing PM burning by 20g/m3, did not reduce the number of days of significant PM exposure in Delhi, which hovered around 55 days.
• However, the study showed that delaying rice burning 10 days beyond what is currently practiced could be harmful leading to an increase in peak PM emissions as well as increase the number of pollution days.
• Stopping crop residue burning will aid the National Clean Air Programme (NCAP), which aims to reduce pollution by 20-30% in annual PM concentration by 2024.

Source: The Hindu

6) Women officers can now get permanent commission in Army

• The Ministry of Defence has issued the formal Government Sanction Letter for grant of permanent commission (PC) to women officers in the Army
• The order specifies the grant of permanent commission to SSC ( Short Service Commissioned) women officers in all the 10 streams in which they presently serve Army Air Defence, Signals, Engineers, Army Aviation, Electronics, and Mechanical Engineers, Army Service Corps, Army Ordnance Corps, and Intelligence Corps, in addition to the existing streams of Judge and Advocate-General and Army Educational Corps
• The order follows a Supreme Court verdict in February that directed the government that women officers be granted PC and command postings in all services other than combat.
• Army chief Gen. Manoj Naravane said it was an enabling one and gave a lot of clarity on how to move forward. He stated that the same procedure for male SSC officers would be followed for women to give a permanent commission.

Background

• Under the Short Service Commission (SSC) scheme, women were commissioned into the Army for a period of 10 years, extendable up to 14 years.
• Women were, however, restricted to roles in specified streams such as Army Education Corps, Corps of Signals, Intelligence Corps, and Corps of Engineers. These specified streams excluded combat arms such as infantry and armored corps.
• While male SSC officers could opt for permanent commission at the end of 10 years of service, this option was not available to women officers. Women officers were, thus, kept out of any command appointment, and could not qualify for a government pension, which starts only after 20 years of service as an officer.
• However, in the February 2019 policy statement, the Government endorsed the permanent commission for SSC women officers in 10 streams of the ‘Combat Support Arms’ and ‘Services’ sections. But it was said that the women officers would not be offered any command appointments, and would serve only in staff posts.

Highlights Of February Judgment 

All Serving Women Officers will be eligible for the Permanent Commission (PC)

• The court dismissed the government's stand that only women officers with less than 14 years of service ought to be considered for permanent commission, and those with over 20 years of service should be pensioned immediately.
• The court has done away with all discrimination based on years of service for grant of PC in 10 streams of combat support arms and services, bringing them on a par with male officers.

Eligible for Command Posts

• The court held that women officers will also be eligible for command posts in non-combat areas since “an absolute bar on women seeking criteria or command appointments would not go with the guarantee of equality under Article 14”.
• The court held that since command appointments were not automatic for men officers, so would it be for women. It was left to the Army to take a call on a case to case basis.

SC’s stand on Combat Role

• The exclusion of women from combat operations was not examined by the court as it was not contested in the appeal.

Criticized the Government’s Note

• Reflects Poorly on Women: The note had shown women officers in a poor light, saying isolation and hardships would eat into their resolve and that they would have to heed to the call of pregnancy, childbirth, and family. The note had mentioned that women ran the risk of capture by the enemy and taken prisoner of war.
• Patriarchal Notion: The court held that the note reflected the age-old patriarchal notion that domestic obligations rested only with women.
• Sex Stereotype: The court also dismissed the point that women are physiologically weaker than men as a “sex stereotype”.
• Offense to the dignity of Indian Army: The court noted that challenging abilities of women on the ground of gender are an offense not only to their dignity as women but to the dignity of the members of the Indian Army – men and women – who serve as equal citizens in a common mission.

Appreciated the Government’s February 2019 Decision

• The court noted that the policy decision of the Union government is a recognition of the right of women officers to equality of opportunity.

Source: The Hindu

7) Conservation of Lonar Lake

• The development of Lonar lake, which recently turned pink, also includes conservation and preservation of the water body, the Nagpur Bench of the Bombay High Court has said, emphasizing the need to “appreciate its biology, geology and aesthetic value”. 

Reasons Behind Pink Water of Lonar Lake

• According to the Agharkar Research Institute, the color of Lonar lake water in Maharashtra’s Buldhana district turned pink due to a large presence of the salt-loving ‘Haloarchaea’ microbes.
• The water samples have been tested by the Nagpur-based National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI) and the Agharkar Research Institute in Pune.
• It has been assumed that the absence of rain, less human interference (owing to lockdown), and high temperature resulted in the evaporation of water which increased its salinity and pH.
• pH is a measure of how acidic/basic water is.
• The increased salinity and pH facilitated the growth of halophilic microbes, mainly Haloarchaea.
• Halophiles are a group of microorganisms that can grow and often thrive in areas of high salt (NaCl) concentration.
• Haloarchaea or halophilic archaea is a bacteria culture that produces pink pigment and is found in water saturated with salt.
• Because of the biomass of Haloarchaea microbes, the surface of the water turned red or pink. As the biomass subsides, the color will disappear.
• The color of the lake is now returning to original as the rainy season has kicked in, allowing dilution of the water. The salinity and pH/alkalinity levels have also come down and green algae have started growing in the water body.
• Further, it was noted that Haloarchaea microbes were ingested by Flamingos.
• These microbes acted as carotenoid (pigment) rich food for the birds.
• Flamingos get their red-pink color from special coloring chemicals called pigments found in the algae and invertebrates they eat.

Lonar Lake

• Lonar Lake, also known as Lonar crater, is a saline and alkaline lake located at Lonar in Buldhana district, Maharashtra.
• It is situated inside the Deccan Plateau—a massive plain of volcanic basalt rock created by eruptions.
• It is oval-shaped and has a mean diameter of 1.2 km. It is a popular tourist hub.
• It is a notified National Geo-heritage Monument.
• Geo-heritage refers to the geological features which are inherently or culturally significant offering insight to earth’s evolution or history to earth science or that can be utilized for education.
• Geological Survey of India (GSI) is the parent body that is making efforts towards the identification and protection of geo-heritage sites.
• It is believed to have been created over 52,000 years ago when a meteorite hit the Earth.

Source: The Hindu

8) No direct monetization plan yet

• THE GOVERNMENTdoesnothave any plan to pursue direct monetization of its debt with the central
• bank at the moment, but plans to extend production linked incentives to more sectors to boost local manufacturing, Department of EconomicAffairsSecretary Tarun Bajaj said
• He said government revenues have started picking up with additional levies on petrol and diesel helping to raise tax mop-up.
• Whiledatafromvariousagencies, including World Bank and IMFsuggestGDPcontractionthis year, the economy is expected to recover sharply next year, indicating aV-shaped recovery, he said
• Monetization simply means that the RBI directly funds the central government’s deficit. Until 1997, the government used to sell securities— ad-hoc Treasury-Bills directly to the RBI, and not to financial market participants. This allowed the government to technically print equivalent amount of currency to meet its budget deficit. Amid falling revenues and a likely contraction in growth, the government has already increased its borrowing target by over 50 percent from Rs7.8lakh crore to Rs12 lakh crore may
• To boost domestic manufacturing, production-linked incentives announced for mobile and medical gear and pharma will be extendedto4-6more sunrise sectors with a lot of export potential. The Centre expects growth to come back from next year, while agriculture sector has been doing well even this year with good rabi crop production and expectations of a good Kharif crop as well. The government will soon decide on the privatization of two sets of six Indian airports, including those in Amritsar, Indore, Ranchi, Trichy, Bhubaneswar, and Raipur, he said

About Direct Monetisation 

• Monetization means Govt will borrow from RBI and will issue bonds to RBI directly (in the primary market) and RBI will print currency and give it to Govt. This practice was done until 1997 but then stopped. Stopped because in this mechanism govt can force RBI to give any amount of money at any interest rate leading to unaccountability and higher debt/fiscal deficit and inflation. Now, govt borrows from the market at the market interest rate and if govt will borrow more then the interest rate may move up and govt will have to pay more. And also, it cannot borrow for an indefinite period. As per the FRBM Act 2003, Govt can borrow directly from RBI (direct monetization) only in case of exceptional circumstances
• Indonesian Central bank has announced that it is going to do direct monetization.... it will print and give money to Indonesian govt.    Indian govt. is saying it is also open for such monetization in India.
• Direct monetization will lead to increase in fiscal deficit and rating agencies may degrade India's Sovereign Rating but there is a counterview also that if govt's higher spending will boost growth then it can have a positive impact
• Amidst rising debt level and falling revenue of govt, direct monetization could be a way to support govt spending but it can have implications on inflation, exchange rate, and rating

Key Points

• Right now govt don't have any plan for direct monetization and it wants to wait for 3/4 months to check the economic data whether it would be required or not
• The budgeted Fiscal Deficit for the year 2020-21 was around Rs. 7.9 lakh crore but now it has been increased to Rs. 12 lakh crore
• Production Linked Incentive Scheme (PLIS): Govt has already launched this scheme for mobile and medical gears AND govt is planning to extend this scheme for a few more sunrise (which has growth potential) sectors which have export potential. 
• PLIS is implemented in a complex way and no need to go in detail in this scheme. BUT let me give you an example of how it has been implemented for mobile phones.  If a company's sales of goods manufactured in India increases from a particular year (considered as the base year) then the Company will get an incentive of 4% to 6% on incremental/additional sales. For example, earlier a company was selling goods worth Rs. 1 lakh in a year and now its sales increased to Rs. 1.2 lakh. Then the company will get an incentive of 4% of Rs. 20,000 = Rs. 800 (No detail available that in which form this incentive will be given and no need to know). There is a condition of additional investment in plant and machinery also under this scheme.
• V - Shape Bounce Back (Recovery): Recession/Recovery shapes are used by economists to describe informally different types of recessions/recovery. The most commonly used terms are V-shaped, U-shaped, W-shaped, and L-shaped recessions. The shapes take their names from the approximate shape economic data make in graphs during recessions. The letters can also be applied referring to the recoveries (for example, a "V-shaped recovery"). No need to go in detail in all this. I am posting an image of various kinds of recession/recoveries. Just have a look.

Source: Indian Express