Daily Current Affairs 13 October 2020 | UPSC Current Affairs 2020

 Current Affairs Of Today Are

• 1) Measures to Boost Consumption Demand and Capex
• 2) Human Cost of Disasters 2000-2019: UNDRR
• 3) India in BRICS Ministers’ Meeting
• 4) Anti-pollution Campaign: Delhi
• 5) Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences
• 6) Mount Kilimanjaro
• 7) Completion of Largest Arctic Expedition
• 8) Kerala & Digital Education

1) Measures to Boost Consumption Demand and Capex

• Recently, the government has announced a twin set of measures to boost consumption demand and capital expenditure (Capex), which are estimated to result in quick spending of more than Rs. 1 lakh crore by March 2021.
• These measures are the Leave Travel Concession (LTC) voucher scheme and a festival advance scheme. Also, measures have been announced to step up Capex by the Centre and the states.

Aim:

• Supply constraints in the economy have eased over recent months, but consumer demand remained affected and these measures aim at advancing consumer spending and Capex.
• Capex steps are “directly linked to an increase in economic output given their high multiplier effect”.
• The earlier announced Atmanirbhar Bharat package addressed the requirement of essential goods for needy sections of the society and now these measures aim at promoting consumption of high-value items by those employees whose salaries and jobs have not been affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.
• With the participation of the private sector, these will stimulate growth in the economy by advancing the consumption of non-essential, relatively high-value goods and services in the economy.

Leave Travel Concession Voucher Scheme:

• Leave Travel Concession:
• Central government employees get LTC in a block of four years, one each to a destination of choice and home town or two for home town.
• Under this, the air or rail fare is reimbursed as per pay scale/entitlement. Also, leave encashment of ten days (pay+dearness allowance) is paid.
• However, employees will not be able to avail the LTC in the 2018-21 year block due to the ongoing pandemic and this is where the LTC will benefit government employees.
• Instead of one LTC during 2018-21, employees will receive a cash payment. There will be full payment on leave encashment and fare will be paid as per three slabs depending upon the class of entitlement. Further, there will be no tax on fare payment.
• An employee opting for this scheme will have to buy goods and services worth three times the fare and one time leave encashment, and do so before 31st March 2021.
• The money is to be spent on goods attracting Goods and Services Tax (GST) of 12% or more and only digital payments will be allowed. Also, employees will have to provide the GST invoice.
• If the amount is not spent then the employee will have to pay tax as per the marginal tax rate on the LTC component.
• The same benefits will be available to private-sector employees if the employers decide to offer the scheme to their employees and they decide to avail it.
• Benefits to Economy:
• The government expects a demand generation of Rs. 28,000 crore (Rs. 19,000 crore from central government employees and the rest from states) in the economy.
• While GST collections have been severely impacted in the first half of the fiscal due to the Covid-19 pandemic, a consumption boost will lift GST collections in the second half of the year as the scheme calls for expenditure to be done till 31st March 2021.
• If private-sector employees also participate, it may lead to a significant jump in overall consumption and a rise in GST collections.
• Since most employees have not been able to travel after the pandemic, the shifting of the LTC benefit is expected to generate demand elsewhere.

Festival Advance:

• Festival advance, which was abolished in line with recommendations of the 7th Pay Commission, has been restored for one time till 31st March 2021.
• All central government employees will get an interest-free advance of Rs. 10,000 that will be recovered in 10 installments. It will be given in the form of a pre-loaded RuPay card of the advance value.
• The government expects to disburse Rs. 4,000 crore under the scheme by 31st March 2021 and if all states provide similar advances, another Rs. 8,000 crore is likely to be disbursed.
• This is expected to generate consumer demand ahead of festivals like Diwali.

Other Measures to Boost Capital Expenditure:

• An additional budget of Rs 25,000 crore for Capex on roads, defense infrastructure, water supply, urban development, and domestically produced capital equipment. This is expected to come through the re-allocation of resources.
• Special assistance will be provided to states in the form of interest-free 50-year loans of Rs. 12,000 crore, which can be used only for Capex purposes, with certain conditions.

Concerns:

• Too Many Restrictions: Provisions like buying goods and services worth three times the fare, only in goods attracting GST of 12% or more through digital mode before 31st March, etc. end the freedom of the consumer in decision making.
• Smaller Size: Capex amounts are too small to have any meaningful impact on economic growth.
• With the previous rounds of budgetary fiscal support of around 1% of GDP, current measures take total fiscal support to about 1.2% of GDP, which is small compared with the size of the growth hit and reflects India’s weak fiscal starting position.
• Limited Impact: As the measures are aimed at encouraging spending for government employees rather than private/vulnerable sections (where job losses/income losses have been significant), the overall impact will be limited.
• On Tourism: LTC Voucher Scheme may impact the travel and tourism industry negatively if consumers choose to spend through the scheme. Demand in travel and tourism has already fallen significantly after the Covid-19 induced lockdowns and closed borders.

Way Forward

• The government seeks to coincide the schemes with the upcoming festive period to spur overall consumption and is also spending less to not put an additional burden on the exchequer, in the midst of a notable shortfall in tax and divestment revenues.
• The strategic intent behind the schemes is to direct spending towards items for which demand had slumped during the period of lockdowns but this may defeat the larger purpose of reviving demand. Consumption-led growth can arguably lead to a slackening of future growth if it entails growing imbalances due to limits to capacity creation, and rising debt burdens, particularly for households.

Source: Indian Express

2) Human Cost of Disasters 2000-2019: UNDRR

• In a new report “The Human Cost of Disasters 2000-2019”, the United Nations pointed out that climate change is largely to blame for a near doubling of natural disasters in the past 20 years.
• The report is published by the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR). The report did not touch on biological hazards and disease-related disasters like the coronavirus pandemic.
• International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction is observed on the 13th of October every year.

Findings:

• 7,348 major disaster events had occurred between 2000 and 2019, affecting 4.2 billion people and costing the global economy some USD 2.97 trillion.
• The figure is far more than the 4,212 major natural disasters recorded between 1980 and 1999.
• 6,681 climate-linked disasters had been recorded in the period 2000-19, up from 3,656 during the previous 20-year-period.
• Climate-related disasters include disasters categorized as meteorological, climatological, or hydrological.
• There had also been an increase in geophysical events like earthquakes and tsunamis that are not related to climate but are particularly deadly.
• Major floods had more than doubled to 3,254, there had been 2,034 major storms up from 1,457 in 20 years.
• India is the 2nd most affected country by floods after China.
• Extreme heat is proving especially deadly. Heatwaves of 2015 in India resulted in 2,248 deaths.
• The deadliest single disaster in the past 20 years was the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, with 2,26,400 deaths, followed by the Haiti earthquake in 2010, which claimed some 2,22,000 lives.
• The data showed that Asia has suffered the highest number of disasters in the past 20 years with 3,068 such events, followed by the Americas with 1,756 and Africa with 1,192.
• In terms of affected countries, China topped the list with 577 events followed by the United States with 467 and India (321 events).

Concern:

• Governments are not doing enough to prevent climate hazards.
• A temperature increase of 3°C of the global climate is estimated to increase the frequency of potentially high impact natural hazard events across the world. This could render current national and local strategies for disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation obsolete in many countries.
• Shifting rainfall patterns and greater variability in precipitation poses a risk to the 70% of global agriculture that is rain-fed and the 1.3 billion people dependent on degrading agricultural land.

Recommendations:

• The concentrated impact due to a single disaster in some countries provides an opportunity for a more focused approach to disaster risk reduction. However, Covid-19 demonstrates the need for a systemic, multi-hazard approach in an increasingly globalized and interconnected world.
• There is a requirement for strengthening disaster risk governance to manage disaster risk with a clear vision, competence, plans, guidelines, funding, and coordination across sectors and in a manner, which takes account of the increasingly systemic nature of disaster risk.
• Public and private investment in disaster risk prevention and reduction through structural and non-structural measures needs to be stepped up to create disaster-resilient societies.

United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction

• The UNDRR was established in 1999 as a dedicated secretariat to facilitate the implementation of the International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (ISDR).
• It is headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland.
• It is mandated to serve as the focal point in the United Nations system for the coordination of disaster reduction and to ensure synergies among the disaster reduction activities.
• It is an organizational unit of the UN Secretariat and is led by the UN Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Disaster Risk Reduction (SRSG).
• UNDRR’s Strategic Framework 2016-2021 has a vision to substantially reduce disaster risk and losses for a sustainable future with the mandate to act as the custodian of the Sendai Framework (India is a signatory).

Indian Scenario

• The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) is the apex statutory body for disaster management in India.
• The NDMA was formally constituted in 2006, by the Disaster Management Act, 2005 with the Prime Minister as its Chairperson.
• National Disaster Management Plan (NDMP) defines the roles and responsibilities of various stakeholders including Central Ministries/ Departments, State Governments, UT Administrations, District Authorities, and local self Governments.
• The primary responsibility of disaster management rests with the States.
• The Central Government conducts regular mock drills, community training, and awareness programs to prepare the civilian populations for disasters.

Source: The Hindu

3) India in BRICS Ministers’ Meeting

• Recently, the BRICS Labour and Employment Ministers’ Virtual Meeting was held under the Russian Presidency.
• It aimed to discuss various issues including approaches to creating a safe work culture in BRICS countries.

Emphasis on Health of Workers:

• It was highlighted that health, welfare, and improved working conditions are essential for the well-being of the workers. A healthy workforce in the country would be more productive and contribute to economic growth.
• The aspects of occupational safety and health measures to mitigate the impact of Covid-19 have also acquired significance.

India’s Stand:

• India called for suitable global action especially by BRICS towards effecting a balance between labor and employer which will generate growth and create more jobs and greater labor welfare.
• India also highlighted the importance of digitization and technological advancements like artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics in reshaping lives and work, with a direct or indirect effect on the labor market.
• Digitization also offers the opportunity for governments, individuals, and businesses to cope with the changing scenarios after the pandemic.
• India underscored that the digital economy is changing the world of work, hence regular studies by the BRICS Network Research Institutes will facilitate a better understanding of the aspects of the future of work and supplement policymaking.
• India is committed to eradicate poverty and promote prosperity in a changing world and hence adopted a multi-dimensional strategy to eliminate poverty by covering most of the basic services and fulfill the Sustainable Development Goals of No Poverty (SDG-1).

Initiatives Highlighted by India

Occupational Safety, Health, and Working Conditions Code Bill, 2020:

• Provides a dynamic and effective framework of occupational safety and health at the workplace and covers legal provisions of all sectors.
• Envisages safety standards for different sectors, focusing on the health and working conditions of workers, hours of work, leaves, etc.

Social Security Code Bill, 2020:

• Universalises social security coverage to those working in the unorganized sector, such as migrant workers, gig workers, and platform workers.
• Recognizes emerging forms of work by defining terms like an aggregator, gig worker, and platform worker, and extends social protection to such workers through a separate Social Security Fund wherein the contribution from aggregators would be deposited.
• Provisions of social security will also be extended to agricultural workers.

Industrial Relations Code Bill, 2020:

• Sets up Grievance Redressal Committees for resolution of disputes arising out of employees’ grievances.
• Also sets up a reskilling fund to help skill retrenched workers.

Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi:

• Provides direct income support to farmers for easing their liquidity needs to facilitate timely access to inputs.
• Aiding modernization and makes farmers competitive.

Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyaan:

• Protects the economy from the adverse impact of the Covid-19 crisis.
• Measures include opening a credit line for micro, small and medium enterprises to meet their operational expenses, subsidizing the social security contributions of workers, extending unemployment benefits to workers, financial assistance to construction workers, collateral-free working capital loan to approximately 5 million street vendors, etc.

Other Related Schemes:

• National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme.
• National Livelihood Mission

Source: PIB

4) Anti-pollution Campaign: Delhi

• The Delhi Government has recently launched a major anti-pollution campaign, Yuddh Pradushan Ke Viruddh, which includes a tree transplantation policy, construction of a smog tower at Connaught Place (Delhi), promoting Electric vehicles, and preventing of stubble burning.
• This will help in combating the poor air quality of Delhi which deteriorates even more in the winter season.

Tree Transplantation Policy

• Tree transplantation refers to uprooting a tree from a particular spot, lifting it, and planting it at another spot,
• Under this policy, a minimum of 80% of trees affected by any developmental project, will be transplanted. Also, a minimum of 80% of the transplanted trees should survive and ensuring this would be the responsibility of the agencies that will take permission from the government.
• This transplantation will be in addition to the existing compensatory afforestation of planting of 10 saplings for every tree that is cut.
• A panel of the agencies that excel in the task of transplantation and a dedicated Tree Transplantation Cell will also be formed by the government.
• Benefits:
• Planting a new sampling as a substitute for an existing fully grown tree does not adequately counter the adverse environmental effect of cutting the existing tree. Transplantation will ensure the conservation of old trees.
• Also, many old trees have a symbolic or heritage value which needs to be preserved.
• Limitations:
• Low Success Rate: Transplantation is a complicated process with a success rate of around 50%. The survival rate of a transplanted tree depends on soil type as a tree growing on the Delhi ridge is unlikely to survive in the Yamuna floodplain.
• Expensive: It costs around Rs 1 lakh to transplant an average-sized tree.

Smog Tower:

• A smog tower, which will act as a mega air purifier, will also be installed in Delhi to counter the persistent issue of smog in Delhi as per the November 2019 order of the Supreme Court to the Delhi government and the Central Pollution Control Board.
• The towers to be installed in Delhi will be the result of a collaboration between the IITs at Mumbai and Delhi, and the University of Minnesota.
• Smog towers have been experimented with in recent years in cities in the Netherlands, China, South Korea, and Poland. The first such tower was erected in 2015, in Rotterdam, Netherlands, created by Dutch artist Daan Roosegaarde.
• The world’s largest air-purifying tower is in Xi’an, China.
• The Tower will suck the polluted air from above and release clean air from the bottom.
• Limitations:
• Many experts have claimed that due to the large volume of air outdoors, smog towers are not efficient in cleaning the air per se.
• Even in the case of China, there is insufficient data to support the effectiveness of its smog towers.
• An expert panel has estimated that Delhi will need a total of 213 smog towers to battle the pollution crisis which will be very expensive as each tower will cost around 20 crore rupees.

Electric Vehicles (EVs)

• The government aims to make EVs account for a quarter of the new vehicles registered in the capital by 2024.
• EVs will gain from purchase incentives, scrappage benefits on older vehicles, loans at favorable interest, and a waiver of road taxes.
• Recently, the Delhi government notified the Electric Vehicles Policy 2020 which lays the maximum emphasis on the replacement of two-wheelers, public transport, and shared vehicles and goods-carriers instead of private four-wheelers, with EVs.
• Apart from these steps, the campaign also focuses on cutting the deadly smoke from thermal plants and brick kilns in Delhi as well as on the chemical treatment of stubble burning from nearby States.

Air Pollution in Delhi

• According to air quality data compiled by the World Health Organisation (WHO), Delhi is among the world’s most polluted cities.
• Particulate matter, PM2.5, and PM10 in Delhi exceed national standards and the more stringent World Health Organization limits.
• Delhi needs a 65% reduction to meet the national standards for PM2.5.
• Delhi’s toxic air also contains high doses of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide.
• The lack of wind worsens the pollutant concentration.
• The Ministry of Earth Sciences published a research paper in October 2018 attributing almost 41% to vehicular emissions, 21.5% to dust, and 18% to industries.
• Emission testing of vehicles is only 25%.
• According to the WHO, India has the world's highest death rate from chronic respiratory diseases and asthma. Air pollution also impacts the environment through reduced visibility, acid rain, and formation of ozone at the tropospheric level.
• Reasons for Deteriorating Air Quality of Delhi
• Stubble Burning
• Vehicular Emission
• Weather
• High Population Density
• Lack of Infrastructure
• Construction Activities and Open waste burning
• Thermal Power Plant and Industries
• Firecrackers
• Diesel generators
• Dust Storm from Gulf countries

Source: The Hindu

5) Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences awarded Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences, 2020 to Paul Milgrom and Robert Wilson (both from the USA) for their work on commercial auctions.

About:

• Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences, 2020 is given in memory of Alfred Nobel and is popularly (but incorrectly) known as Nobel Prize for Economics.
• As it is not one of the five Nobel prizes that Alfred Nobel established in his will in 1895, it is not a Nobel Prize.
• It was created in 1968 by a donation from Sweden's central bank Sveriges Riksbank to the Nobel Foundation to commemorate the bank's 300th anniversary and includes a 10 million Swedish kronor award money — roughly Rs 8.33 crore.
• It is officially titled the "Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel”.

The 2020 Edition:

• Milgrom and Wilson improved the auction theory and invented new auction formats for auctioning off many interrelated objects simultaneously, on behalf of a seller motivated by broad societal benefit rather than maximal revenue.
• Their work will benefit sellers, buyers, and taxpayers around the world. It will help in auctioning goods and services, such as radio frequencies, which are difficult to sell in traditional ways.
• Wilson developed the theory for auctions of objects with a common value — a value which is uncertain beforehand but, in the end, is the same for everyone. Examples include the future value of radio frequencies or the volume of minerals in a particular area.
• Wilson’s work showed why rational bidders tend to bid under their own estimate of the worth due to worries over the “winner’s curse”.
• The winner's curse is a tendency for the winning bid in an auction to exceed the intrinsic value or true worth of an item.
• Milgrom came up with a more general theory of auctions, by analyzing bidding strategies in different auction forms.

Auction Theory

• Auction theory studies how auctions are designed, what rules govern them, how bidders behave, and what outcomes are achieved.
• The oldest form of auction is the auction of a bankrupt person’s property to pay off his creditors. This simple design of such an auction is the highest open bidder getting the property (or the commodity in question).
• Over time, the format of auctions has widened to include other commodities such as spectrum for radio or telecom use, carbon dioxide emission credits, electricity or the right to collect the local garbage, etc.
• Different auction models are needed for depending upon the commodities, purpose of the auction, and the entities conducting the auction.
• For e.g. Maximizing the profit may be the motive of a private auction while making a service affordable can be the purpose of auctioning a service by the government. Wrong auction design can lead to a second-hand market where companies trade among themselves with little revenue accruing to the government or little benefit to the public.
• How an auction is designed, has a tremendous impact not just on the buyers and the sellers but also on the broader society.
• Three key variables need to be understood while designing an auction.
• Rules of Auction i.e. closed/sealed bids, single bids versus multiple bids.
• Commodity or service being put up for auction i.e. how does each bidder value an item.
• Uncertainty regarding which bidder has what information about the object, or even the value another bidder associates with the object.

Source: The Hindu

6) Mount Kilimanjaro

• Recently, a fire that has broken out on the slopes of Mount Kilimanjaro, the highest peak in Africa.
• The cause of the fire is not clear but strong winds and dry weather have caused it to spread fast.
• Located in Tanzania, Mount Kilimanjaro is Africa’s tallest mountain at about 5,895 meters.
• It is also the largest free-standing mountain rise in the world, meaning it is not part of a mountain range.
• Kilimanjaro is a stratovolcano or composite volcano (a term for a very large volcano made of layers of ash, lava, and rock) and is made up of three cones: Kibo, Mawenzi, and Shira.
• Kibo is the summit of the mountain and the tallest of the three volcanic formations. While Mawenzi and Shira are extinct, Kibo is dormant and could possibly erupt again.
• Scientists estimate that the last time it erupted was 3,60,000 years ago.
• The mountain is also known for its snow-capped peak which might disappear within the next 20 years or so as per the warnings by the scientists.
• In 1973, the mountain and its six surrounding forest corridors were named Kilimanjaro National Park to protect its unique environment.
• The park was named a United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) World Heritage site in 1987.
• It is a popular tourist destination and tens of thousands of people climb it every year.

Volcano

• A volcano is an opening on the surface of a planet that allows material warmer than its surroundings to escape from its interior.
• When this material escapes, it causes an eruption. An eruption can be explosive, sending material high into the sky. Or it can be calmer, with gentle flows of material.
• On Earth, the erupted material can be liquid rock ("lava" when it's on the surface and "magma" when it's underground), ash, cinders, and/or gas.

7) Completion of Largest Arctic Expedition

• The year-long MOSAiC Expedition began from Norway and concluded at the port of Bremerhaven, Germany.
• It was a $150 million project organized by the Alfred Wegener Institute, Germany.
• The Multidisciplinary Drifting Observatory for the Study of Arctic Climate (MOSAiC) is an international research expedition to study the physical, chemical, and biological processes that coupled the Arctic atmosphere, sea ice, ocean, and ecosystem.
• MOSAiC is the first year-round expedition into the central Arctic exploring the Arctic climate system.
• During the year-round operation of research, the distributed regional network of observational sites was set up on the sea ice surrounding the ship icebreaker RV Polarstern.
• The icebreaker RV Polarstern is a German Research Vessel which is mainly used for research in the Arctic and Antarctica.
• The results of MOSAiC will contribute to enhance understanding of the regional and global consequences of Arctic climate change and sea-ice loss and improve weather and climate predictions.
• Significance:
• The region’s sea ice has been steadily shrinking in recent decades, and summer ice coverage this year was the second-lowest since satellite measurements began in 1979.
• Warming has also caused sharp declines in older and thicker ice.
• The information is collected about the ocean, ice, clouds, storms, and ecosystems of the Arctic would prove invaluable in helping scientists understand the region, which is warming faster than any other part of the planet.

8) Kerala & Digital Education

• Kerala has become the first state in the country to have high-tech classrooms or high-tech labs in all government-run and aided schools
• As part of this flagship project of the government, high-tech labs have been set up in primary and upper primary schools and 40,000 classrooms in high school and higher secondary schools have been converted into smart classrooms.
• High-speed broadband internet has been ensured in 12,678 schools.
• The high-tech classroom project was implemented by Kerala Infrastructure and Technology for Education (KITE), the nodal agency for ICT education in schools.
• The Kerala government has also started digital classrooms known as ‘First bell’ to impart education to 41 lakh students in the state after schools shut due to the lockdown
• The Kerala State government is also carrying out a unique program called “Namath Basai” of teaching tribal children in their mother tongue.
• The program is being implemented by the Samagra Shiksha Kerala (SSK).
• Recently, the Central government has proposed long-term measures to address social inequities in online education, as highlighted by the Covid-19 pandemic.
• However, digital education in India still faces many challenges like lack of internet penetration, economic inequality, lack of trained teachers, etc.

Source: Indian Express