Daily Current Affairs 15 September 2020 | UPSC Current Affairs 2020

 Current Affairs Of Today Are


    1) A Gross Additional Expenditure of ₹2.35 lakh crore

    • The center has sought additional expenditure of Rs. 2.35 lakh crore in which the net cash outgo/expenditure will be only Rs. 1.67 lakh crore. 
    • So, basically Rs. 0.68 lakh crore (Rs. 2.35 lakh cr - 1.67 lakh cr) of some other ministry/department expenditure has been reduced and Rs. 1.67 lakh cr will additionally be required so that in total, govt can spend Rs. 2.35 lakh crore for some ministry/department which was originally not approved in the Budget 2020-21.
    • Out of this Rs. 2.35 lakh crore, Rs. 40,000 crore will be required additionally for MGNREGA, making the total MGNREGA budget for this year to around Rs. 1 lakh core which is the highest ever MGNREGA budget till now.
    • And Rs. 20,000 crore will be used for "Recapitalization of Public Sector Banks". This is a quite technical process, which cant be explained here on chat and will try to release a video.

    Post Devolution Revenue Deficit Grants

    • Central govt every year gives some percentage of its taxes to States as recommended by FC. The XFC has recommended a total of 41% vertical devolution to States for 2020-21. And then this 41% (whatever absolute value comes) is distributed among states (horizontal devolution). 
    • So, whatever States get from the Centre, for States its revenue receipts.  So, state revenues increase once they get money from the center. BUT, even after receiving this money (post-devolution), certain states have REVENUE DEFICIT in their budget.  So, every year FC also grants "Post Devolution Revenue Deficit Grants" which means grants given to states who have revenue deficit even after receiving money from the center under the devolution process of taxes.  

    Difference between "Supplementary Demand for Grants" and "Demand for Excess Grants"

    • If the amount authorized to be expended for a particular service for the current financial year is found to be insufficient for the purpose of that year or when a need has arisen during the current financial year for supplementary or additional expenditure upon some ‘new service’ not contemplated in the Budget for that year, the President causes to be laid before both the Houses of Parliament another statement showing the estimated amount of that expenditure which is called "Supplementary Demand for Grants".
    • If any money has been spent on any service during a financial year over the amount granted for the service for that year, the President causes to be presented to Lok Sabha a demand for such excess (which is called "Demand for Excess Grants"). All cases involving such excesses are brought to the notice of Parliament by the Comptroller and Auditor General through a report on the Appropriation Accounts. The excesses are then examined by the Public Accounts Committee which makes recommendations regarding their regularisation in its report to the House.
    • The "Supplementary Demands for Grants" are presented to and passed by the House before the end of the financial year while the "Demands for Excess Grants" are made after the expenditure has actually been incurred and after the financial year to which it relates has expired
    Source: The Hindu

    2) Bangladesh economy shows early signs of recovery, GDP to grow at 6.8% for FY 2021: ADB

    • Asian Development Bank (ADB) in its latest report Asian Development Outlook 2020 said that Bangladesh's economy has started recovering from the pandemic.
    • The Bangladesh economy is showing early signs of recovery with Gross Domestic Product (GDP) expected to grow at 6.8 percent in the fiscal year 2021. 
    • Inflation is expected to moderate to 5.5 percent and the current account deficit is likely to narrow to 1.1 percent of GDP in FY 2021.

    Details

    • It pointed out that prudent macroeconomic management and speedy implementation of the government stimulus measures are key imperatives to ensure the projected recovery.
    • The report cautioned that the main risk to this growth projection is a prolonged pandemic in Bangladesh or its export destinations.
    • The recent economic performance in exports and remittances and the government’s macroeconomic management including securing foreign funds for economic stimulus and social protection measures have made this recovery feasible. 
    • The crisis provides an opportunity for Bangladesh to undertake further reforms in resource mobilization, export diversification, employment generation, skills development, as well as social protection.
    • ADB has provided initial assistance of USD 600 million in loans and USD 4.4 million in grants for managing the socio-economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and supporting quick recovery. It has programmed USD 5.9 billion firm and USD 5.2 billion standby assistance for Bangladesh in 2021-2023.

    3) Life harboring gas on Venus

    • The atmosphere of Venus contains traces of phosphine gas — which on Earth is associated with living organisms — scientists said, in fresh insight into conditions on our nearest planetary neighbor. 
    • Conditions on Venus are often described as hellish with daytime temperatures hot enough to melt lead and an atmosphere comprised almost entirely of carbon dioxide. 
    • A team of experts used telescopes in Hawaii and Chile’s Atacama Desert to observe Venus’ upper cloud deck, around 60 km from the surface
    • They detected traces of phosphine, a flammable gas that on Earth occurs from the breakdown of organic matter.
    • Writing in Nature Astronomy, the team stressed that the presence of phosphine alone did not prove the presence of life on Venus.
    Source: The Hindu

    4) Initiatives are taken by the government to ensure quality education in Rural Areas

    • The Government of India has launched SamagraShiksha - an Integrated Scheme for school education, w.e.f. 2018-19, which is an overarching program for the school education sector extending from pre-school to class XII and aims to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education at all levels of school education.  It envisages the ‘school’ as a continuum from pre-school, primary, upper primary, secondary to senior secondary levels and subsumes the three erstwhile centrally sponsored schemes i.e. Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA), RashtriyaMadhyamikShikshaAbhiyan (RMSA), and Teacher Education (TE).
    • Bridging gender and social category gaps at all levels of school education is one of the major objectives of the scheme. The scheme reaches out to girls and children belonging to Scheduled Caste (SC), Scheduled Tribe (ST), minority communities, and transgender. The scheme also gives attention to urban deprived children, children affected by periodic migration, and children living in remote and scattered habitations. Under the scheme, provision has been made for giving preference to Special Focus Districts (SFDs), Educationally Backward Blocks (EEBs), LWE affected districts, and aspirational districts while planning interventions like setting up of primary schools, upper primary schools, construction of additional classrooms, toilets, Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya (KGBVs).

    PM eVIDYA

    • A comprehensive initiative called PM eVIDYA has been initiated which unifies all efforts related to digital/online/on-air education to enable multi-mode access to education. This will benefit nearly 27crore school-going children across the country. The initiative includes, where work is in progress.
      • DIKSHA the nation’s digital infrastructure for providing quality e-content for school education in states/UTs:  and QR coded Energized Textbooks for all grades (one nation, one digital platform)
      • One earmarked TV channel in SWAYAM PRABHA per class from 1 to 12 (one class, one channel)
      • SWAYAM Portal, E-PATHASHALA, extensive use of Radio, Community radio, and CBSE Podcast- ShikshaVani
      • Special e-content for visually and hearing impaired developed on Digitally Accessible Information System (DAISY) and in sign language on NIOS website/ YouTube
    Source: PIB

    5) Promotion of Buddhist Sites

    The Ministry of Tourism has undertaken the development of tourism-related infrastructure and facilities at various Buddhist sites in the country under its flagship schemes of Swadesh Darshan & PRASHAD.

    Steps Taken to Promote Buddhist Sites:

    • Swadesh Darshan Scheme: It has included a Buddhist circuit and Spiritual circuit along with its 13 thematic circuits under which Buddhist sites are being promoted.
    • PRASHAD Scheme: 30 projects for the development of infrastructure have also been undertaken under the PRASHAD Scheme.
    • Iconic Tourist Sites: Buddhist Sites at Bodhgaya, Ajanta & Ellora have been identified to be developed as Iconic Tourist Sites (aimed at enhancing India’s soft power).
    • Buddhist Conclave: Buddhist Conclave is organized every alternate year to promote India as a Buddhist Destination and major markets around the globe.
    • Diversity of Languages: Signages have been installed in the Chinese language at Buddhist monuments in Uttar Pradesh and in the Sinhala language (the official language of Sri Lanka) at Sanchi monuments in Madhya Pradesh.

    PRASHAD Scheme:

    • The ‘National Mission on Pilgrimage Rejuvenation and Spiritual Augmentation Drive’ (PRASAD) was launched by the Ministry of Tourism in the year 2014-15 with the objective of holistic development of identified pilgrimage destinations.
    • The name of the scheme was changed from PRASAD to “National Mission on Pilgrimage Rejuvenation and Spiritual, Heritage Augmentation Drive (PRASHAD)” in October 2017.
    • After the discontinuation of the HRIDAY scheme of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development, the development of Heritage destinations was included in the PRASAD Scheme, changing it to PRASHAD.
    • Implementation Agency: The projects identified under this scheme shall be implemented through the identified agencies by the respective State/ Union Territory Government.
    • Objective:
      • Rejuvenation and spiritual augmentation of important national/ global pilgrimage and heritage sites.
      • Follow community-based development and create awareness among the local communities.
      • Integrated tourism development of heritage city, local arts, culture, handicrafts, cuisine, etc., to generate livelihood.
      • Strengthen the mechanism for bridging the infrastructural gaps.

    Swadesh Darshan Scheme

    • Swadesh Darshan, a Central Sector Scheme, was launched in 2014 -15 for the integrated development of theme-based tourist circuits in the country.
    • Under the scheme, the Ministry of Tourism provides Central Financial Assistance (CFA) to State Governments/Union Territory Administrations for infrastructure development of circuits.
    • This scheme is envisioned to synergize with other schemes like Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, Skill India, Make in India, etc. with the idea of positioning the tourism sector as a major engine for job creation, driving force for economic growth, building synergy with various sectors to enable tourism to realize its potential.
    Source: PIB

    6) US Sanctions against ICC Officials

    The USA announced sanctions, including asset freezes and visa bans, against two officials of the International Criminal Court (ICC) for their investigation into alleged war crimes by the USA forces and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in Afghanistan since 2003.

    The USA’s Stand

    • Not only sanctions against officials, earlier the USA criticized the ICC.
    • The USA has considered the ICC a threat to USA sovereignty and announced the strict punitive measures that are generally reserved for use against terror groups and those accused of abusing human rights.
    • USA had never ratified the “Rome Statute”, which created the ICC in 1998, and thus is not subject to its rulings.
    • The USA administration also called ICC a thoroughly broken and corrupt institution.

    ICC’s Stand on USA Sanctions

    • An unacceptable attempt to interfere with the rule of law and the Court’s judicial proceedings.
    • It stands firmly by its staff and officials and remains unwavering in its commitment to discharging, independently and impartially, the mandate laid down in its founding treaty, the Rome Statute.

    Criticism of the USA’ Sanctions:

    • The USA decision has been criticized by the United Nations, the European Union, 10 members of the UN Security Council, including the UK and France, as well as several international human rights agencies, all of which have called for the sanctions to be reversed.
    • The international NGO Human Rights Watch has observed that by penalizing war crimes investigators, the USA is openly siding with those who commit and cover up human rights abuses.
    • The USA action is a setback to the international rules-based multilateral order.
    • The decision to sanction anybody assisting the ICC will deter victims of violence in Afghanistan from speaking out.
    • The USA’s unilateral sanctions would encourage other regimes accused of war crimes to flout the ICC’s rulings.

    International Criminal Court

    • The International Criminal Court (ICC) is an intergovernmental organization and international tribunal that sits in The Hague in the Netherlands.
    • It was set up after the ad hoc tribunals to deal with Rwanda war crimes proved ineffective. ICC is a criminal court.
    • The ICC has the jurisdiction to prosecute individuals for the international crimes of genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes.
    • ICC is based on the principle of complementarity. ICC was not created to supplant the authority of national courts. However, when a state’s legal system collapses or when a government is a perpetrator of heinous crimes, the ICC can exercise jurisdiction. ICC is a court of last resort.
    • The ICC began functioning on 1st July 2002, the date that the Rome Statute entered into force.
    • The Rome Statute is a multilateral treaty that serves as the ICC's foundational and governing document.
    • States which become a party to the Rome Statute, for example by ratifying it, become member states of the ICC.
    • The Rome Statute has been signed by 139 countries, and 123 have ratified it through their Parliaments and internal process.
    • The USA and the ICC: Although the USA was part of the founding movement to build the ICC to try cases of genocide and a war crime, especially after the courts in Rwanda failed, it decided not to ratify the Statute in 2002.
    • USA opposed the ICC due to apprehensions that it will be used politically against its nationals.
    • Countries like Russia, China, and India were never in favor of the Rome Statute or the ICC and never signed on.

    India and ICC

    • India is not a party to ICC.
    • For India, the decision was based on several principles. The major objections of India to the Rome Statute are:
      • The ICC is a criminal court, unlike the International Court of Justice (which adjudicates on civil matters), and arrogates to itself the right to prosecute matters against countries that aren’t even signatories.
      • Since ICC is subordinate to the UN Security Council (UNSC), permanent members are vested with unbridled powers.
      • India also objected to the omission of cross-border terror, the use of nuclear arms, and weapons of mass destruction from the areas the ICC would institute its investigations.
    Source: The Hindu

    7) Steel Industry in India

    According to recent information shared by the Union Minister for Steel in Lok Sabha, Indian steel companies including the public sector steel companies have consistently enhanced their capacities, production, and sales including exports over the years.

    Improvements:

    • India was a net exporter of steel in 2019-20 and during the period of April-August, 2020, steel exports from India have increased by more than 153% in comparison to the same period in 2019-20.
    • Capacity for domestic crude steel production has been expanded from 109.85 Million Tonnes Per Annum (MTPA) in 2014-15 to 142.29 MTPA in 2019-20.
    • Crude steel production has gone up from 88.98 MTPA in 2014-15 to 109.14 MTPA in 2019-20.
    • These improvements can be attributed to the continuous efforts of skill training and government initiatives in the country.

    Skill Training:

    • By Skill Training Centres under the Ministry of Steel. For example, the National Institute of Secondary Steel Technology (Punjab), Institute for Steel Development and Growth (Kolkata), etc.
    • By Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSEs) like Steel Authority of India Ltd. (SAIL) and Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Ltd. (RINL).
    • Both CPSEs have been making continuous efforts towards reducing operational costs through technology induction, enhanced productivity, and streamlining procurement.

    Challenges:

    • Capital: Iron and steel industry requires large capital investment which is difficult for a developing country like India to afford. Many of the public sectors integrated steel plants have been established with the help of foreign aid.
    • Low Productivity: The per capita labor productivity in the country is at 90-100 tonnes for the very low steel industry. It is 600-700 tonnes per person in Korea, Japan, and other steel producing nations.
    • Low Potential Utilisation: Durgapur steel plant makes use of approximately 50% of its potential which is caused by factors like strikes, shortage of raw materials, energy crisis, incompetent administration, etc.
    • Huge Demand: Huge chunks of steel are to be imported to meet the demands. To save invaluable foreign exchange, productivity needs to be increased.
    • Inferior Quality of Products: The weak infrastructure, capital inputs, and other facilities eventually lead to a steel making process which is more time-taking, expensive and produces an inferior variety of steel products.

    Government Initiatives for Steel Industry

    • National Steel Policy (NSP) 2017: It seeks to create a technologically advanced and globally competitive steel industry that promotes economic growth.
    • Steel Scrap Recycling Policy: It was launched to utilize steel scrap emanating from vehicles and white goods (that have reached their end of life) for quality steel production.
    • The introduction of Quick Response (QR) code based traceable tags where quality and genealogy can be tracked, wireless hand-held terminal to reduce retention time, and improved identification and handling of the material and steel ladle management system are few other initiatives.
    • Optimization of coke, pellet, and sinter quality to improve the yield and throughput of the Blast Furnaces and modeling of iron making process inside a blast furnace to reduce coke consumption and enhance the yield.
    • Adoption of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (Industry 4.0): It will improve manufacturing processes, material usage, energy efficiency, plant and worker productivity, supply chain, and product life-cycle.
    • Steel Research and Technology Mission of India: It provides for the grant of financial assistance to various institutions including the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) laboratories and academic institutions for carrying out research in the iron and steel sector including environmental issues like utilization of wastes, improvement in energy efficiency and reduction in greenhouse gases (GHG) emission.
    • Draft Framework Policy: It is aimed at facilitating the setting up of greenfield steel clusters along with the development and expansion of existing steel clusters.
    • The steel clusters will help the country become Atmanirbhar (self-reliant) in value-added steel and capital goods and also generate employment, especially in the eastern part of the country covering the states of Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Odisha, and Andhra Pradesh as part of the Purvodaya initiative of the Ministry of Steel.
    Source: PIB

    8) Graphene Mask Inactivates Coronaviruses

    Recently, the researchers from the City University of Hong Kong have produced a laser-induced form of graphene masks that inactivate the coronavirus species.

    Graphene Mask and Coronaviruses:

    • Initial tests deactivated two coronavirus species. The researchers are also planning to test this mask on the Covid-19 (SARS-Cov-2) virus.
    • Coronaviruses are a large family of viruses that are known to cause illness ranging from the common cold to more severe diseases such as Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS).
    • The researchers also tested it on E Coli (bacteria), which showed an antibacterial efficiency of around 80%. The efficiency can be raised to almost 100% with exposure to sunlight for 10 minutes.
    • Graphene is known for its antibacterial properties.
    • Production: All carbon-containing materials, such as cellulose or paper, can be converted into graphene. The researchers described the production of laser-induced graphene as a "green technique."
    • Benefits: It is reusable. Can also be produced at a low cost. It also resolves the problems of sourcing raw materials and disposing of non-biodegradable masks.

    Graphene

    • It is a single layer (monolayer) of carbon atoms. It is one atom thick. It is the building-block of Graphite.
    • Properties: It is harder than diamond yet more elastic than rubber; tougher than steel yet lighter than aluminum. Graphene is the strongest known material.
    • Other Properties of Graphene are:
    • The lowest resistivity substance is known at room temperature.
    • High thermal stability.
    • High elasticity.
    • High electrical conductivity.
    • Electron mobility is high at room temperature.
    • Graphene oxide (GO) membranes can be used to filter common salt from seawater.
    • Uses: Its thin composition and high conductivity mean it can be used in applications ranging from miniaturized electronics to biomedical devices like computers, solar panels, batteries, sensors, and other devices.
    • Carbon Allotropes: Diamond, graphite, and fullerenes (substances that include nanotubes and buckminsterfullerene) are the important allotropes of pure carbon.
    • Allotropy is the property of some chemical elements to exist in two or more different forms, in the same physical state.
    Source: Indian Express

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