Daily Current Affairs 4 September 2020 | UPSC Current Affairs 2020

 Current Affairs Of Today Are

1) Development of "Healthy Air"

• Defense Institute of Advanced Technology, a Deemed to be a University, Pune has now developed an herbal-based immunity-boosting room freshener product named “Healthy Air” to contain the spread of COVID-19.
• The product Healthy Air has been developed by the Deptt of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering with various extracts of herbal oils like Neem, Neelgiri, Camphor, Daalcheeni, Tulsi, Lemon, Turmeric, Laung, Ajwain, Lavender, Elaichi, Turmeric, Natural Vetiveru, Raimuniya, and Pine Oil. The product consists of a blended solution of the natural herbal oils, which instinctively acts as an immunity booster for the body, and exhibits Anti-cancerous, Anti-microbial, Anti-viral and Anti-fungal properties. It is herbal-based product is non-carcinogenic, non-toxic, non-mutagenic, and purifies the air, and makes it breathable.
• The product also experiments in Aerodynamic state of the art Laser-Based Visualisation Lab for understanding the flow profile, formation of primary aerosol particles, aerosol breakdown thresholds as a function of particle size, particle density, etc. It resulted that the formation of secondary particles is not noticed which results in poor dispersion of primary particles.
• The product has resulted in removing the toxic fumes, cleanses the air, and does not contain any synthetic solvent/surfactant in its formulation. Further, it possesses the stress and anxiety-reducing capabilities upon breathing and helps in treating respiratory illness. Considering the blend of herbal extracts, the developed product acts as a natural insecticide, with no toxicity for the human body, and in addition, acts as a room freshener.
• Healthy Air does not contain any synthetic chemicals nor secondary solvents. Whereas the commercial room fresheners mostly contain synthetic adsorbents, surfactants, disinfectants, oxidizers, allergens, and chemical air sanitizers in the main formulation could affect the respiratory system & brain neural sensing, do not contain any immunity-boosting agents, and does not possess the anti-bacterial properties.
• Healthy Air supports respiratory condition in a healthy way, does not affect brain neural sensing, and useful for people suffering from allergic reactions, breathing problems related to asthma, headache, nasal irritation, or soreness in the throat as the product is mainly made of natural herbal extracts which work as an immunity booster.
• The product can be used in any kind of room, conference halls, at public places, hospitals, malls, cinema halls, waiting for lounges/rooms of Airports / Railway Stn, etc. This product is packed in a container with a wick also will be loaded in a dispenser.
• The technology transfer of this product freely available for Indian technology start-ups, and companies in its fight against the current pandemic situation.

Source: PIB

2) UNSC Rejects to Designate Indians as Terrorists

• The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) has rejected all Pakistan’s requests to list four Indians as designated terrorists under its 1267 Committee for Counterterrorism Sanctions.
• The USA, UK, France, Germany, and Belgium blocked Pakistan's requests due to a lack of evidence.
• While the USA, UK, and France are permanent members of the UNSC, Germany, and Belgium are non-permanent members.
• In September 2019, Pakistan had alleged that four Indians working in Afghanistan, formed an Afghanistan-based “Indian terror syndicate” that was organizing the banned terror groups Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and Jamaat-Ul-Ahrar (JuA) to carry out attacks in Pakistan.
• Pakistan and China also moved the joint proposal to declare one of these four, as a sanctioned terrorist with links to TTP and JuA.
• This proposal received a veto from the USA in UNSC.
• Pakistan later claimed it had made a statement at an Open Debate of the Security Council on the Report of the Secretary-General on the Threats to International Peace and Security posed by Terrorism Actions, accusing India of terrorism.
• However, the UNSC President had refused to take cognizance of the statement, as Pakistan is not a member of the UNSC.
• India formally protested against this calling this a false claim.
• In July 2020, Pakistan moved the 1267 Resolution Sanctions Committee to designate the four Indians as global terrorists.

Reasons for Pakistan’s Actions :

• The tension between India and Pakistan has escalated after the abrogation of special status to Jammu and Kashmir under Article 370 in August 2019, which was heavily objected by Pakistan.
• Pakistan released a new political map that included all of Jammu & Kashmir, Ladakh, Sir Creek, and Junagadh on the completion of one year of abrogation of Article 370.
• After repeated attempts (in 2009, 2016, and 2017) to list Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad chief as “global terrorist”, India finally succeeded in getting him listed in 2019. This move was not received well by Pakistan as it tainted its international image as a terrorism-supporter.
• Pakistan also received another extension on the greylist of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) until October 2020.
• It also faced setbacks on other fronts like the United States slamming its record on terrorism, including its failure to act against groups like the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT).
• Pakistan also opposed India’s leadership in dealing with the Covid-19 crisis in the SAARC region which was criticized by India.
• Pakistan’s requests to get Indians listed in the 1267 sanctions are also being seen as attempts to target India ahead of January 2021, when India will join as a non-permanent member for a two-year term at the UNSC.

UNSC Resolution 1267 Sanctions Committee

• This committee oversees the implementation of sanctions pursuant to UNSC resolutions 1267 (1999) 1989 (2011) and 2253 (2015).
• It was adopted unanimously on 15th October 1999.
• It is one of the most important and active UN subsidiary bodies working on efforts to combat terrorism, particularly in relation to Al Qaeda, Taliban, and the Islamic State group. It prepares a consolidated list of people associated with these organizations.
• It discusses UN efforts to limit the movement of terrorists, especially those related to travel bans, the freezing of assets, and arms embargoes for terrorism.

Source: The Hindu

3) Sub-categorisation of OBCs

• A commission headed by Justice (Retd.) G Rohini has been examining the sub-categorization of Other Backward Classes (OBC) for almost three years now.
• The issue of the sub-categorization of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes for reservations is also in the highlights after the Supreme Court (SC) has referred it to a larger Bench.

Sub-categorisation of OBCs:

• OBCs are granted 27% reservation in jobs and education under the central government but only a few affluent communities among the over 2,600 included in the Central List of OBCs have secured a major part of this.
• Sub-categorisation or creating categories within OBCs for reservation would ensure “equitable distribution” of representation among all OBC communities.
• However, sub-categorization can be used to appease one vote-bank or the other within the category and thus a cause of social justice would end up being politicized.
• The commission requested for an appropriate budget provision for a proposed all-India survey for an estimate of the caste-wise population of OBCs.
• The reason given was the absence of data for the population of various communities to compare with their representation in jobs and admissions as the data of the Socio-Economic Caste Census (SECC) were not considered reliable.
• In August 2018, it was announced that the data of OBCs will also be collected in Census 2021 but there have been no other announcements after that.

Commission:

• It took charge in October 2017 with a tenure of 12 weeks ending in January 2018. In June 2020, the Cabinet approved a six-month extension to the commission up to 31st January 2021.
• Progress: It is ready with the draft report and would have huge political consequences and is likely to face a judicial review as well.
• Budget: Until November 2019, the government has spent over Rs. 1.70 crores on the Commission including salary and other expenses.
• The budget is being drawn from the National Commission for Backward Classes (NCBC) which was given constitutional status by the government in 2018.

Commission’s Terms of References:

• To examine the uneven distribution of reservation benefits among different castes in the central OBC list.
• To work out the mechanism, criteria, norms, and parameters in a scientific approach for sub-categorization within such OBCs.
• To take up the exercise of identifying the respective castes/communities/sub-castes/synonyms for comprehensive data coverage.
• To study and recommend the correction of any repetitions, ambiguities, inconsistencies, and errors of spelling or transcription.

Findings So Far:

• According to the 2018 data analysis of 1.3 lakh central jobs and admissions to central higher education institutions given under OBC quota:
• 24.95% of these jobs and seats have gone to just 10 OBC communities.
• 97% of all jobs and educational seats have gone to just 25% of all sub-castes classified as OBCs.
• 983 OBC communities, 37% of the total, have zero representation in jobs and educational institutions.
• 994 OBC sub-castes have a total representation of only 2.68% in recruitment and admissions.
• According to the 2018-19 annual report of the Department of Personnel and Training, OBC recruitment in central jobs is considerably low.
• For example, there was not a single professor and associate professor appointed under the OBC quota in central universities.
• Posts reserved for them were being filled by people of general category as OBC candidates were declared ‘None Found Suitable’ (NFS).

Source: Indian Express

4) Question Hour and Zero Hour

• Recently, the Central government has decided to suspend the Question Hour and curtail Zero Hour for Monsoon Session. This has been done in view of the Covid-19 pandemic.
• In the past too, the Question Hour has been suspended. However, they were suspended during national emergencies. The current suspension has been done during a regular session.

Question Hour:

• Definition: The first hour of every parliamentary sitting is slotted for the Question Hour. However, in 2014 the Question Hour was shifted in the Rajya Sabha from 11 am to 12 noon.
• During this one hour, Members of Parliament (MPs) ask questions to ministers and hold them accountable for the functioning of their ministries.
• The questions can also be asked to the private members (MPs who are not ministers).
• Regulation: It is regulated according to parliamentary rules.
• The presiding officers of both Houses (Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha) are the final authority with respect to the conduct of Question Hour.
• Kinds of Questions: There are three types of questions asked.
• Starred question (distinguished by an asterisk)- this requires an oral answer and hence supplementary questions can follow.
• Unstarred question- this requires a written answer and hence, supplementary questions cannot follow.
• A short notice question is one that is asked by giving a notice of fewer than ten days. It is answered orally.
• Frequency: Question Hour in both Houses is held on all days of the session. But there are two days when an exception is made.
• When the President addresses MPs from both Houses.
• The President’s speech takes place at the beginning of a new Lok Sabha and on the first day of a new Parliament year.
• On the day the Finance Minister presents the Budget.

Zero Hour:

• Zero Hour is an Indian parliamentary innovation. It is not mentioned in the parliamentary rules book.
• Under this, MPs can raise matters without any prior notice.
• The zero hour starts immediately after the question hour and lasts until the agenda for the day (i.e. regular business of the House) is taken up.
• In other words, the time gap between the question hour and the agenda is known as zero hours.

Impact:

• Over the last 70 years, MPs have successfully used the parliamentary device of ‘Question Hour’ to shine a light on government functioning. Their questions have exposed financial irregularities and brought data and information regarding government functioning to the public domain.
• Suspension of the Question Hour would mean that the Opposition would lose the right to question the government. Also, the Ministers are not liable to reply to the issues raised during the Zero Hour.
• This would mean that the MPs would not be able to hold the government accountable for its action. This will go against the spirit of parliamentary democracy.

Source: Indian Express

5) Jammu and Kashmir Official Languages Bill 2020

• Recently, the Union Cabinet has approved the Jammu and Kashmir Official Languages Bill 2020 to be introduced in the monsoon session of Parliament.
• The Bill will include Kashmiri, Dogri, and Hindi as official languages in the newly-created Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir.
• Only English and Urdu were official languages in the former State, which was bifurcated on 5th August 2019, with Ladakh becoming a separate Union Territory.
• Dogri along with Bodo, Maithili, and Santhali was added to the scheduled languages under the Eighth Schedule by the 92nd Amendment Act of 2003, which consists of the following 22 languages:
• Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Kashmiri, Konkani, Malayalam, Manipuri, Marathi, Nepali, Oriya, Punjabi, Sanskrit, Sindhi, Tamil, Telugu, Urdu, Bodo, Santhali, Maithili and Dogri.
• Of these languages, 14 were initially included in the Constitution.
• The Sindhi language was added by the 21st Amendment Act of 1967.
• Konkani, Manipuri, and Nepali were included by the 71st Amendment Act of 1992.
• The Bill not only fulfills a long-pending public demand of the region but also keeps with the spirit of equality.

Constitutional Provisions

• Part XVII of the Indian Constitution deals with the official languages in Articles 343 to 351.
• Article 345: Official language or languages of a State subject to the provisions of Article 346 and 347.
• The Constitutional provisions related to the Eighth Schedule are:
• Article 344: Article 344(1) provides for the constitution of a Commission by the President on the expiration of five years from the commencement of the Constitution and thereafter at the expiration of ten years from such commencement, which shall consist of a Chairman and such other members representing the different languages specified in the Eighth Schedule to make recommendations to the President for the progressive use of Hindi for official purposes of the Union.
• Article 351: It provides for the spread of the Hindi language to develop it so that it may serve as a medium of expression for all the elements of the composite culture of India.

Source: The Hindu

6) Covid-19 Detection Using Mass Spectrometer

• Researchers from the Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology (IGIB) and the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) have developed a technique that uses mass spectrometry to detect novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2).
• IGIB is a premier institute of Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), engaged in research of national importance in the areas of genomics, molecular medicine, bioinformatics, etc. It is based in New Delhi.
• NCDC is under the administrative control of the Directorate General of Health Services in the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

Mass Spectrometry (MS):

• It is an analytical technique used for determining the elemental composition of samples, quantifying the mass of particles and molecules, and elucidating their chemical structure.
• MS is based on ionization and fragmentation of sample molecules in the gaseous phase.
• The instruments used in this technique are called mass spectrometers and mass spectrographs, and they operate on the principle that moving ions may be deflected by electric and magnetic fields.
• Clinical laboratories use the MS technology for disease screening, diagnosis of disease and metabolic disorders, monitoring of drug therapy, identifying drug toxicity and poisoning, and discovering new biomarkers.
• The biomarker is short for the biological marker and is used as an indication that a biological process in the body has happened or is ongoing.

New Technique Covid-19 Detection:

• The new technique based on mass spectrometry relies on detecting the presence of two peptides that are unique to the SARS-CoV-2 virus and not seen in any other coronavirus or other viruses.
• Peptides are building blocks of the viral protein.
• Only two peptides are used for quick virus detection, though seven peptides were found to be unique to SARS-CoV-2. One of the peptides is the spike protein and the other is a replicase protein.
• The unique peptides were seen in over 54,000 genomic sequences of the SARS-CoV-2 virus deposited in a public database (GISAID) as on 1st July 2020.
• The GISAID Initiative promotes the rapid sharing of data from all influenza viruses and the coronavirus causing Covid-19. It was launched on the occasion of the 61st World Health Assembly in May 2008.

New Technique vs RT-PCR:

• No Amplification of RNA:
• The new method can directly detect the virus without amplifying the RNA for detection, as is the case with the Reverse transcription-polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) test, which is considered the gold standard of testing for the infection.
• Scientists could detect the peptides of the SARS-CoV-2 virus even in patients who have recovered from the symptoms and have tested negative for the virus by RT-PCR. The peptides were present even after 14 days of initial infection.
• Sensitivity and Specificity: With the new technique, scientists have been able to detect novel coronavirus with 95% sensitivity and 100% specificity with respect to RT-PCR. This is much better than the alternative rapid antigen kits, currently, in use in India for scaling up testing, that can throw up 20 to 50% false negatives.
• Sensitivity measures how often a test correctly generates a positive result for people who have the condition that’s being tested for (also known as ‘true positive’ rate).
• Specificity measures a test’s ability to correctly generate a negative result for people who don’t have the condition that is being tested for (also known as the ‘true negative’ rate).
• Detection Time: Detection of the virus takes less than three minutes; time from sample preparation to detection takes less than 30 minutes.
• The RT-PCR takes a minimum of 2-5 hours including time taken for sample transportation.
• Cost: The mass spectrometer is expensive but it would cost only about Rs.100 per test, and so cheaper than RT-PCR. Further, many research labs have mass spectrometers.
• Pooled Testing: The method also allows for the effective pooling of samples.
• Pooled testing is when samples from more than one person are mixed together and tested. And, if one of the batches comes back positive, the samples from only that batch are retested individually to detect the person who has the infection. This method helps save costs and scale-up testing.
• Considering its benefits, it can either complement RT-PCR or be used as an alternative to RT-PCR.

Different Types of Test for Detecting Covid-19

• RT-PCR Tests
• Rapid Antigen Detection Tests
• RTnPCR Tests
• Feluda Tests
• ELISA Antibody Tests
• SalivaDirect Test

Source: The Hindu

7) Postal Voting in the USA

Many states in the USA are making postal voting options more easily accessible, as the USA presidential election is set to take place in November 2020 amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

The election in the USA:

• In the USA, all elections–federal, state, and local– are directly organized by the governments of individual states.
• Unlike India, there is no Election Commission independent of the government in the USA to conduct elections at the national (federal) level.
• The USA Constitution and laws grant the states wide latitude in how they administer elections, this has resulted in varying rules across the country.

Postal Voting in the USA:

• Every single state allows postal voting, but they have different rules for this.
• In some states, voters are provided absentee ballots if they provide an excuse as to why they cannot be present in person on election day.
• Absentee voting allows a person to vote by mail.
• However, in some states, there is “no-excuse absentee voting”, where voters can get an absentee ballot without providing justification.
• Some states also have “vote-by-mail” facilities, where every registered voter is sent a ballot without a request.
• In 2016 around 24% of voting happened through postal ballots. In 2020, the proportion is expected to surge significantly.

Issues involved:

• Mr. Trump and his supporters allege that the expansion of postal voting in the November 2020 elections will lead to malpractices. However, Democrats and a section of the Republicans disagree with Mr. Trump, saying he is deliberately disrupting the postal voting.

Postal Voting in India

• Ballot papers are distributed electronically to electors and are returned to the election officers via post.
• Currently, only the following voters are allowed to cast their votes through postal ballot:
• Service voters (armed forces, the armed police force of a state and government servants posted abroad),
• Voters on election duty.
• Voters above 80 years of age or Persons with Disabilities (PwD).
• Voters under preventive detention.
• The exception to the above-mentioned category of voters is provided under Section 60 of the Representation of the People Act, 1951.

Source: The Hindu

8) Capping of MEIS Scheme Benefits

The government has taken a decision to cap export incentives under the Merchandise Exports from India Scheme (MEIS) at Rs. 2 crores per exporter on outbound shipments made during September-December, 2020.

About the Decision:

• The ceiling would be subject to a downward revision to ensure that the total claim doesn’t exceed the allocated Rs. 5,000 crore for the period.
• The new Import Export Code (IEC) obtained on or after 1st September will be ineligible to submit any MEIS claim for exports.
• Import Export Code: It is issued by the DGFT (Director General of Foreign Trade - Ministry of Commerce and Industry). IEC is a 10-digit code that has lifetime validity. Predominantly importers cannot import goods without the Import Export Code and similarly, the exporter merchant cannot avail benefits from DGFT for the export scheme, etc. without IEC.

Reasons for Government Decision:

• MEIS is not the World Trade Organisation (WTO) compliant and rolling back of the MEIS scheme will pave the way for a new scheme in place. The Indian government has announced a new WTO-compliant scheme called Remission of Duties or Taxes On Export Product (RoDTEP) which will replace MEIS starting 1st January 2021.

Merchandise Exports from India Scheme (MEIS):

• The Merchandise Exports from India Scheme (MEIS) was introduced in the Foreign Trade Policy (FTP) 2015-20 w.e.f. 1st April 2015 with the objective to offset infrastructural inefficiencies and associated costs involved in exporting goods/products which are produced /manufactured in India including products produced/manufactured by MSME Sector.
• Under MEIS, the government provides duty benefits depending on the product and country.
• Rewards under the scheme are payable as a percentage of the realised free-on-board value (of 2%, 3%, and 5%) and MEIS duty credit scrip can be transferred or used for payment of a number of duties including the basic customs duty.

Remission of Duties or Taxes On Export Product (RoDTEP):

• The new scheme will be implemented from 1st January 2020 and create a fully automated route for Input Tax Credit (ITC) in the GST to help increase exports in India.
• It will reimburse all the taxes/duties/levies being charged at the Central/State/Local level which are not currently refunded under any of the existing schemes but are incurred at the manufacturing and distribution process.
• The Ministry of Finance has set up a committee under the chairmanship of former commerce and home secretary GK Pillai to finalize the rates under RoDTEP that will allow reimbursement of all embedded taxes including local levies paid on inputs by exporters.

Concerns:

• Lack of data for new schemes to replace MEIS: The RoDTEP committee has started the work, but the industry is facing challenges in providing the data due to frequent local lockdowns, non-availability of transport, and non-functioning of auditors.
• The Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) is of the view that exports during September-December are based on orders that had been negotiated earlier after factoring in the existing Merchant Export from India Scheme (MEIS) benefit.
• These benefits are part of the export competitiveness and therefore the sudden change will affect exporters financially as buyers are not going to revise their prices upwards.

Federation of Indian Export Organisations

• The Federation of Indian Export Organisations represents the Indian entrepreneur's spirit of enterprise in the global market. It was set up in 1965.
• It is an Apex body of the export promotion councils, community boards, and development authorities in India.
• It provides the crucial interface between the international trading community of India & the Central and State Governments, financial institutions, ports, railways, and all engaged in export trade facilitation.

Source: The Hindu