Daily Current Affairs 27 August 2020 | UPSC Current Affairs 2020

 Current Affairs Of Today Are

1) NITI Aayog releases report on Export Preparedness Index (EPI) 2020

• NITI Aayog in partnership with the Institute of Competitiveness released the Export Preparedness Index (EPI) 2020. The first report to examine export preparedness and performance of Indian states, EPI intends to identify challenges and opportunities; enhance the effectiveness of government policies; and encourage a facilitative regulatory framework.
• The structure of the EPI includes 4 pillars –Policy; Business Ecosystem; Export Ecosystem; Export Performance – and 11 sub-pillars –Export Promotion Policy; Institutional Framework; Business Environment; Infrastructure; Transport Connectivity; Access to Finance; Export Infrastructure; Trade Support; R&D Infrastructure; Export Diversification; and Growth Orientation.
• The Export Preparedness Index is a data-driven effort to identify the core areas crucial for export promotion at the sub-national level. All the states and union territories have been assessed on crucial parameters that are critical for any typical economic unit to achieve sustainable export growth. The Index would be a helpful guide for the state governments to benchmark regional performance concerning export promotion and thus deliver key policy insights on how to improve and enhance the same.
• What this edition of the EPI has shown is that most Indian states performed well on average across the sub-pillars of Exports Diversification, Transport Connectivity, and Infrastructure. The average score of Indian states in these three sub-pillars was above 50%. Also, given the low standard deviation in Export Diversification and Transport Connectivity, the averages are not skewed to the higher side by a few over-achievers. However, Indian states should also focus on other key components to improve export competitiveness.
• Overall, most of the Coastal States are the best performers. Gujarat, Maharashtra, and Tamil Nadu occupy the top three ranks, respectively. Six of eight coastal states feature in the top ten rankings, indicating the presence of strong enabling and facilitating factors to promote exports. In the landlocked states, Rajasthan has performed the best, followed by Telangana and Haryana. Among the Himalayan states, Uttarakhand is the highest, followed by Tripura and Himachal Pradesh. Across the Union Territories, Delhi has performed the best, followed by Goa and Chandigarh.
• The report also highlights that export orientation and preparedness are not just restricted to prosperous states. Even emerging states can undertake dynamic export policy measures, have functioning promotional councils, and synchronize with national logistical plans to grow their exports. Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand are two landlocked states that had initiated several measures to promote exports. Other states facing similar socio-economic challenges can look at the measures taken by Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand and try to implement them to grow their exports.
• Many northeastern states under the Growth Orientation sub-pillar were able to export more by focusing on their indigenous product baskets. This shows that a focused development of such baskets (like spices) can drive exports on one hand and also improve farmer incomes on the other in these states.
• Based on the findings of the report, export promotion in India faces three fundamental challenges: intra- and inter-regional disparities in export infrastructure; poor trade support and growth orientation among states; and poor R&D infrastructure to promote complex and unique exports.
• There is a need to emphasize on key strategies to address these challenges: joint development of export infrastructure; strengthening industry-academia linkages and creating state-level engagements for economic diplomacy. These strategies could be supported by revamped designs and standards for local products and by harnessing the innovating tendencies to provide new use cases for such products, with adequate support from the Centre.
• To achieve the target of making India a developed economy by focusing on ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’, there is a need to increase exports from all the states and union territories. The EPI provides invaluable insights into how states can attain this goal.
• The final framework of the EPI was based on essential feedback from states, UTs, and organizations like EXIM Bank, IIFT, and DGCIS. The data has been primarily provided by state governments. For some of the indicators, RBI, DGCIS, and Central ministries were consulted.

The 4 pillars and the rationale behind the selection of each of them are given below:

• Policy: A comprehensive trade policy provides a strategic direction for exports and imports.
• Business Ecosystem:  An efficient business ecosystem can help states attract investments and create an enabling infrastructure for individuals to initiate start-ups.
• Export Ecosystem: This pillar aims to assess the business environment, which is specific to exports.
• Export Performance:  This is the only output-based pillar and examines the reach of export footprints of States and Union Territories.

Source: PIB

2) Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC)–Transport Initiative for Asia(TIA) India Component

• NITI Aayog will virtually launch the India Component of the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC)–Transport Initiative for Asia (TIA)
• The event will inform the transport, energy, and climate stakeholders in India about planned project activities for the upcoming year. It will also offer the opportunity to provide input about India’s transport challenges and how they relate to CO2 reduction ambitions. The discussion will help focus the program further on India’s specific needs and circumstances.
• To promote a comprehensive approach to decarbonize transport in India, Vietnam, and China, NDC–TIA is a joint program, supported by the International Climate Initiative (IKI) of the German Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU) and implemented by a consortium of seven organizations, namely:
• Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH
• International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT)
• World Resources Institute (WRI)
• International Transport Forum (ITF)
• Agora Verkehrswende (AGORA)
• Partnership on Sustainable, Low Carbon Transport (SLoCaT) Foundation
• Renewable Energy Policy Network for the 21st Century e.V. (REN21)
• The India Component is implemented by six consortium organizations, all except SLoCaT. On behalf of the Government of India, NITI Aayog, the country’s premier policy think tank, will be the implementing partner.
• The NDC-TIA program has a duration of 4 years and will allow India and other partner countries to achieve accountable long-term targets by making a sectoral contribution through various interventions, coordinated with a large number of stakeholders in the domain. This will contribute towards achieving their NDCs and increasing their ambition in the transport sector of 2025 NDCs.
• India has a massive and diverse transport sector that caters to the needs of billions of people. It has the world’s second-largest road network, which contributes to maximum greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions through all means of transportation. With increasing urbanization, the fleet size i.e. the number of sales of vehicles is increasing rapidly. It is projected that the total number of vehicles will be doubled by 2030.
• The NDC–TIA India Component will focus on establishing a multi-stakeholder dialogue platform for decarbonizing transport in India, strengthening GHG and transport modeling capacities, providing technical support on GHG emission reduction measures, financing climate actions in transport, offering policy recommendations on electric vehicle (EV) demand and supply policies, evaluating business models through cost-benefit analyses and so forth. 
• A significant focus will be given on electric mobility, which would require coupling of transport and energy sectors and receiving cross-sectoral expertise from ministries, international development agencies, think tanks, public and private organizations. Ultimately, the program intends to support the development of policies and regulations to promote electric vehicle charging infrastructure uptake and smooth widescale adoption of EVs in India. 
• The NDC–TIA program team will work in close cooperation and coordination with India’s government agencies, local decision-makers, researchers, industry experts, think tanks, and civil society organizations. The program aims at high ambition in the transport sector directly supporting the country’s NDC targets. Successful implementation of these activities requires the political will and interest of political partners and relevant stakeholders in the target countries. Interaction of consortium members with relevant stakeholders in the course of existing programs and discussions conducted during the scoping mission indicate a high commitment to program objectives.

Source: PIB

3) RBI’s Annual Report: 2020

Recently, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has released its annual report for 2019-2020.

Financial Health of Banks:

• Moratoriums on loan instalments, deferment of interest payments and restructuring may have implications for the financial health of banks, unless they are closely monitored and judiciously used.
• These regulatory initiatives were taken by RBI to reduce the economic impact of Covid-19 pandemic. These measures have averted a big spike in Non Performing Assets (NPAs) till now.
• RBI in its July 2020 Financial Stability Report had warned that the NPAs of all Scheduled Commercial Banks (SCBs) may increase from 8.5% in March 2020 to 12.5% by March 2021. In the severe pandemic situation, the NPAs may also worsen to as high as 14.7%.

Risk Aversion by Banks:

• Indian banks need to shed high risk aversion which is impeding the credit growth to productive sectors.
• Banks have become extremely careful while giving fresh loans to borrowers due to the fear that loans could turn bad in future.
• Bank credit growth has slowed significantly in 2020 despite the RBI’s efforts to infuse a significant amount of liquidity into the banking system.
• Since March 2020, the RBI has infused around Rs. 8-9 lakh crore through various schemes into the banking system including multiple rounds of long-term repo operations.
• The RBI also cut the repo rate or the key lending rate by a total 115 basis points since March 2020.

Bank Fraud:

• Frauds reported by banks of Rs.1,00,000 and above value have more than doubled in FY 2019-20. The number of such frauds have increased by 28% in volume.
• While there were 6,799 frauds involving Rs. 71,543 crore as of March 2019, the number of frauds jumped to 8,707 involving a whopping Rs 1,85,644 crore.
• Majority of these frauds are in loan portfolios of banks, both in terms of number and value. The public sector banks accounted for most of these frauds (80%).
• However the average lag in detection of frauds remains long.
• Weak implementation of Early Warning Signals (EWS) by banks, non-cooperation of borrowers during forensic audits, inconclusive audit reports and lack of decision making in joint lenders' meetings account for delay in detection of frauds.

Slow Economic Recovery:

• The economic contraction triggered by pandemic will take longer time to regain the pre-Covid momentum, as the shock to consumption is severe.
• The discretionary elements in private consumption has significantly reduced, particularly in transport services, hospitality, recreation and cultural activities.
• The discretionary spending includes spending on vacation and entertainment.
• Urban consumption demand has suffered significant loss, passenger vehicle sales and supply of consumer durables in the first quarter of 2020-21 have dropped to 1/5th and 1/3rd, respectively, of their level a year ago. Air passenger traffic has also ground to a halt.
• Citing the data of e-way bills for the month of July 2020, RBI said that the consumer confidence fell to an all time low, because of pessimism relating to the general economic situation, employment, inflation and income.
• e-way bills are an indicator of domestic trading activity.
• However, the rural demand fared better, tractor sales picked up by 38.5% in July 2020, spurred by the robust pace of kharif sowing. There was also an increase in motorcycle sales in July.
• The pandemic has also exposed new kinds of inequalities e.g white collar employees can work from home while essential workers have to work on site, exposed to the risk of getting infected.
• In some areas of work such as hospitality, hotels and restaurants, airlines and tourism, employment losses are more severe than in other areas.
• The sharp cut in corporate tax rate announced by the government in 2019 did not help in restarting the investment cycle as was intended. Instead it has been used by companies to reduce debt and build up cash balances.

Inflation:

• Headline inflation may remain elevated in the second quarter of 2020-21 but may moderate during the second half of 2020- 21.
• Retail inflation was at 6.93% in July, above the upper tolerance limit of 6%.

Suggestions Made by RBI

• Targeted public investment funded by asset monetisation and privatisation of major ports is a viable way to revive the economy.
• Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council type of apex authorities can be set up in respect of land, labour and power to drive structural reforms and speedier implementation of infra projects.
• Recapitalisation of public sector banks, this assumes significance as the minimum capital requirements, which are calibrated on the basis of historical loss events, may no longer suffice to absorb post-pandemic losses.

Source: Indian Express

4) National Clean Air Programme

The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has directed the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) to modify the National Clean Air Programme (NCAP) which proposes 20-30% reduction of air pollution by 2024.

NCAP:

• It was launched by the MoEFCC in January 2019.
• It is the first-ever effort in the country to frame a national framework for air quality management with a time-bound reduction target.
• It seeks to cut the concentration of coarse (particulate matter of diameter 10 micrometer or less, or PM10) and fine particles (particulate matter of diameter 2.5 micrometer or less, or PM2.5) by at least 20% in the next five years, with 2017 as the base year for comparison.
• The plan includes 102 non-attainment cities, across 23 states and Union territories, which were identified by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) on the basis of their ambient air quality data between 2011 and 2015.
• Non-attainment cities: These are those that have fallen short of the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) for over five years.

NGT’s View:

• The enforcement of the ‘Sustainable Development’ principle and ‘Public Trust Doctrine’ require stern measures to be adopted to give effect to the mandate of international obligations related to environmental quality, for which the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 was enacted.
• Public Trust Doctrine: It states that the sovereign, or state, holds the trust of people to manage the designated resources for the benefit of the people.
• The Right to Clean Air stood recognized as part of Right to Life and failure to address air pollution is a denial of Right to Life under Article 21.

NGT’s Directions:

• The timeline to reduce air pollution by 20-30% by 2024 needs to be reduced.
• The target of reduction needs to be increased.
• It suggested the Ministry to review and action in terms of shift to e-vehicles and CNG vehicles, intensifying public transport system, mechanical cleaning of roads, enhancement of public parking facilities, improvement in fuel quality, and traffic management.
• It directed the state pollution control boards to ensure the assessment and installation of the requisite number of real-time online continuous Ambient Air Quality Monitoring Systems within six months.
• It also directed an expert team of the Central Pollution Control Board to design a model for source apportionment and carrying capacity assessment within two months which may be replicated for all the non-attainment cities.
• Source Apportionment: It is the practice of deriving information about pollution sources and the amount they contribute to ambient air pollution levels.
• Carrying Capacity: The concept of “carrying capacity” addresses the question as to how many people can be permitted into any area without the risk of degrading the environment there.

National Green Tribunal

• It is a specialised body set up under the National Green Tribunal Act, 2010 for effective and expeditious disposal of cases relating to environmental protection and conservation of forests and other natural resources.
• It draws inspiration from India’s constitutional provision of Article 21, which assures the citizens of India the right to a healthy environment.
• Original Jurisdiction: It is related to matters of “substantial question relating to the environment” and “damage to the environment due to specific activity”.
• It follows principles of Natural Justice.
• NGT is mandated to make disposal of applications or appeals finally within 6 months of filing the same.
• The NGT has five places of sittings, New Delhi is the Principal place of sitting and Bhopal, Pune, Kolkata and Chennai are the other four.

Source: The Hindu

5) INS Viraat

• Indian Naval Ship (INS) Viraat will be scrapped at a ship breaking yard at Alang in Gujarat soon.
• The decision to scrap INS Viraat was taken in 2019.
• INS Viraat holds the Guinness World Record for being the longest serving warship of the world.
• Viraat, a Centaur class aircraft carrier weighing 27,800 tonnes, served in the British Navy as HMS Hermes for 25 years from November 1959 to April 1984. It was commissioned into the Indian Navy in May 1987 after refurbishment.
• The Centaur class of aircraft carriers of the Royal Navy was the last of the light fleet carrier designs started during the closing years of World War II (1939-45).
• Viraat played a major role in Operation Jupiter in 1989 during the Sri Lankan Peacekeeping operation. It also saw action during Op Parakram in 2001-2002, post the terrorist attack on Parliament.
• The indigenous Advance Light Helicopters ‘Dhruv’ and the Russian twin rotor Kamov-31 have also operated from the ship.
• It was decommissioned in March 2017, and the Navy had been incurring expenditure since then on its upkeep, such as the provision of electricity and water, and repairs. It was also taking up space in the crowded Naval dockyard.
• There had been demands from various quarters to not let Viraat go the way of Vikrant, India’s first carrier that was eventually scrapped.
• In 2014, INS Vikrant, which played a role in the 1971 war with Pakistan was broken down in Mumbai.
• However, several attempts by the Navy to preserve the carrier, by converting it into a museum or by other means, failed.
• The vessel could not be handed over to any state government because of lack of “self-sustaining financially complete” proposal to preserve it. The state governments of Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh had planned to preserve the aircraft carrier (in the form of a museum).
• India is currently doing with only the 44,500-tonne INS Vikramaditya, the refurbished Admiral Gorshkov inducted from Russia in November 2013.
• The trials of the first indigenous aircraft carrier (IAC-I, to be named as INS Vikrant) being built at the Cochin Shipyard have been derailed by the pandemic.
• The government’s approvals for a third carrier, the 65,000-tonne IAC-II (tentatively christened INS Vishal) has been pending since May 2015.
• India needs aircraft carriers to secure the seas of the Indo-Pacific, to maintain peace, secure trade routes, and provide security to the region.

Source: The Hindu

6) China Launches Warship for Pakistan

• Recently, China has launched first of the four advanced naval warships it is building for Pakistan.
• This is the first ship of Type-054 class frigate.
• The Type-054A is roughly the same size as the Indian Navy's existing Talwar class of frigates, purchased from Russia

Comparing with Talwar Class:

• Size and Dimensions: The Type-054A and Talwar class displace approximately 4,000 tonnes and have a length of around 130 metres.
• Stealth Level: Both classes, designed the 1990s, have features to reduce their radar and infra-red signatures.
• Missile System:
• The Type-054A uses a surface-to-air missile system called the HQ-16, which experts claim is derived from the Russian Shtil missile, already in service on the Talwar class frigates.
• Type-054A has an advantage over the existing Talwar class ships as the former uses a vertical launch system (VLS).
• The vertical launch system allows the launch of multiple missiles simultaneously.
• Talwar class frigates use an older 'single-arm' launcher that can fire only one missile at a time.
• The Talwar class ships use the supersonic Klub and Brahmos missiles, and are regarded to have better anti-ship capabilities than the Type-054A class.
• Radar: The HQ-16, which relies on 'passive' radar to detect targets, is considered inferior to the new Indo-Israeli Barak-8 missile.

The relatively small size of the Type-054AP frigates means there is little scope to mount heavier radars and longer-range anti-aircraft or anti-ship weapons.

While the new Type-054AP frigates will be the most capable ships in the Pakistan Navy, they are not expected to significantly alter the balance of power in the region, given Pakistan's limitations in airborne anti-submarine capabilities.

Source: The Hindu

7) India-Vietnam Meeting

• Recently, the 17th meeting of India-Vietnam Joint Commission on Trade, Economic, Scientific and Technological Cooperation was held.
• Both sides reviewed the recent developments in India-Vietnam Comprehensive Strategic Partnership (since 2016) and discussed the future trajectory of their wide-ranging engagement.

Indo-Pacific Region:

• India and Vietnam agreed to enhance their bilateral cooperation in line with India’s Indo-Pacific Oceans Initiative (IPOI) and the ASEAN’s Outlook on Indo-Pacific to achieve shared security, prosperity and growth for all in the region.
• This has come in the backdrop of China’s aggression in the Indo-Pacific region including South China Sea region and its actions along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) with India.
• China claims sovereignty over most of the South China Sea, which is seen as having huge reserves of hydrocarbons and minerals. However, several ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) member countries, including Vietnam, Philippines and Brunei, dispute the Chinese claims.

Indo-Pacific Oceans Initiative

• IPOI was launched by the Prime Minister of India at the East Asia Summit in November 2019.
• It focuses on seven central pillars conceived around Maritime Security, Maritime Ecology, Maritime Resources, Capacity Building and Resource Sharing, Disaster Risk Reduction and Management, Science, Technology and Academic Cooperation, and Trade Connectivity and Maritime Transport.

Cooperation at Multilateral and Regional Forums:

• Both sides agreed to coordinate closely at multilateral forums, including at the UN Security Council, where both India and Vietnam will serve concurrently as non-permanent members in 2021.
• They also agreed to step up cooperation and coordination at important regional forums under the ASEAN framework.
• India and Vietnam closely cooperate in various regional forums such as East Asia Summit, Mekong Ganga Cooperation, Asia Europe Meeting (ASEM).
• India appreciated the positive leadership provided by Vietnam to ASEAN in 2020 when the world is faced with the Covid -19 pandemic.
• Vietnam is the chair of ASEAN for 2020.

Economic Engagement:

• They agreed to explore closer cooperation in emerging areas such as civil nuclear energy, space, marine sciences and new technologies.
• India invited Vietnam to take advantage of India’s new economic capacities and demands.
• India underlined its vision of Atmanirbhar Bharat for enhancing resilience through self-reliance and human-centric globalisation as the basis for its economic revival.
• India reaffirmed its development and capacity building assistance to Vietnam through initiatives such as Quick Impact Projects (QIP), Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation (ITEC) and e-ITEC initiatives, PhD fellowships, as well as projects in water resource management in Vietnam’s Mekong Delta region, SDGs, digital connectivity and heritage conservation.

Way Forward

• Vietnam is a key pillar of India’s Act East policy and there is a scope for further cooperation between the countries.
• The close relationship between the two countries is significant for the maintenance of strategic balance in South East Asia which is witnessing aggressive Chinese activities.

Source: Indian Express

8) Prime Minister's Awards for Excellence in PubAd 2020

• Recently, 702 Districts have registered and participated in the Prime Minister's Awards for Excellence in Public Administration for 2020.
• The government had launched PM’s Awards portal in July 2020 to register and participate for the Award.
• The Award will be conferred by the Prime Minister on Rashtriya Ekta Diwas -31st October 2020 at the Statue of Unity, Gujarat.

PM’s Awards for Excellence in Public Administration:

• It was constituted in 2006 by the Government of India to acknowledge, recognize and reward the extraordinary and innovative work done by districts and organizations of the Central and State Governments.
• The award consists of a trophy, scroll and an incentive of Rs. 10 lakh to the awarded district or organization to be utilized for implementation of project/ programme or bridging resource gaps in any area of public welfare.

Restructuring:

• The award programme was restructured in 2014 for recognizing the performance of District Collectors in Priority Programs, Innovations and Aspirational Districts.
• It has been restructured again in 2020, to recognize the contribution of civil servants in strengthening of:
• Inclusive Development through Credit Flow to the Priority Sector.
• Promoting people’s movements through Swachh Bharat Mission in the District.
• Improving Service Delivery and Redressal of Public Grievances.
• The restructuring also seeks to recognize the efforts of District level officials in the Namami Gange Program and to recognize the performance of District Collectors towards economic development of the District.
• The award for the Aspirational Districts Program has been revamped to reward the District having the best overall progress under the Scheme following 2 years of implementation.
• Through restructuring, the scope of the awards has been expanded to identify areas of overall outcome-oriented performance in the districts across sectors.

Source: PIB