Daily Current Affairs 2 October 2020 | UPSC Current Affairs 2020

 Current Affairs Of Today Are

1) Government slashes domestic natural gas prices 

• Govt. of India (Petroleum Planning & Analysis Cell (PPAC) under Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas) determines the price of "Natural Gas" depending on some international benchmark prices (there is a formula for it). This price is the price that producers like ONGC or others get at pithead i.e. where they extract/produce.
• This Gas price applies to all the Gas blocks which were given to PSUs till 1991 through allocation (no bidding) basis. It is also applicable to all the Gas blocks which were awarded to PSUs/Private Companies through the auction method under New Exploration Licensing Policy (NELP)   (post-1991) till 2016. Under NELP, gas blocks were awarded to PSUs/Private companies on profit sharing basis (who quoted the maximum profit share to govt got the block) and not on the price of gas.  The prices are announced for six months period.
• (There can be few exceptions to the price what govt. determines in cases where there is a separate contract for pricing.)
• Post-2016, a new policy came into replacing the NELP which is called Hydrocarbon Exploration Licensing Policy (HELP) under which the bidders have the freedom to decide the prices.
• As there is some fixed cost involved in the extraction of Gas, so whenever prices come down due to lack of demand or surplus production then it hurts new investments in this sector

Source: Financial Express 

2) External Debt Declines 

• 10 days back "Dept. of Economic Affairs" had released A status report on India's External Debt ending March 31, 2020, and I had analyzed the news in detail explaining everything.
• The news is about India's debt situation as of 30th June 2020 and as u can see nothing has changed much and India's External Debt is around $ 555 billion. This is a very important macro parameter and last year there was a question on it also. So, certain important facts/ratios related to it are given below and all figures are in approx. Because UPSC will never ask u the exact figure rather approx. percentage and ratios are more important:
• (Nominal) GDP = $ 2700 Billion ($2.7 T)
• External Debt   =  $ 555 Billion
• External Debt/ GDP = 20%
• Sovereign (External) Debt = $100 Billion
• % of Sovereign Debt in External Debt = $100 billion/ $555 billion = 18%
• Sovereign Debt as % of GDP = $100 billion/ $2700 billion = 3.7%
• The news says that External Debt has decreased but the External Debt to GDP ratio increased, This is because GDP has decreased (some actual decrease and rest is rupee depreciation effect)
• For example, As on 18th Sept 2020, India's Forex Reserves were $545 Billion. (And External Debt is $ 555 billion) This means that "The country's Forex Reserves almost covers our External Debt". The meaning of the word "cover" is, As we will have to make payment of the external debt in foreign currency, so we require forex (foreign currency) to pay for it. And since we have enough $ 545 billion, so, with this $ 545 billion we will be able to pay our most of the external debt which is $ 555 billion.  (This was not the situation in 1991, because of which we faced the crisis)

Source: The Hindu

3) Sutures with nanofiber yarns 

• A team of researchers at IIT Madras is ready with a prototype of suture thread made of nanofiber yarns that are bio­-absorbable and can deliver a higher load of antibiotics and/or therapeutics at the site itself.
• The suture material uses nanofibers woven as yarn using certain specific techniques, and the strength can be varied depending on the target tissue (skin, muscle, cartilage). Each strand has good tensile strength, besides degrading rapidly and mimics the collagen fibrils of body tissues
• Several innovations globally in suture material have advanced infection control and achieved in some cases, better recovery among patients, even as other options such as staples, glues, and strips have become available.
• Nanofiber yarns are thread­like structures formed by twisting together hundreds of nanofibers. The way the nanofibers mimicked the collagen fibril sparked the idea in a lab that primarily works on scaffold-based tissue engineering to create thread-like structures by twisting nanofibers together using custom­made machinery  
• Several experiments were done to prove its compatibility, mechanical strength, stem cell interaction, immune responses, and antibacterial property, and they were compatible with prescribed norms in a surgical procedure

Source: The Hindu

4) Flight Testing of DRDO’s Laser-Guided ATGM

• The indigenously developed Laser-Guided Anti Tank Guided Missile (ATGM) was successfully test-fired on 1st Oct 2020 defeating a target located at a longer range. The test was conducted from MBT Arjun at KK ranges (ACC&S) Ahmednagar in continuation of a successful trial done on 22nd Sep 2020.
• The ATGM employs a tandem HEAT warhead to defeat Explosive Reactive Armour (ERA) protected armored vehicles in ranges from 1.5 to 5 km. It has been developed with multiple-platform launch capability and is currently undergoing technical evaluation trials from a 120 mm rifled gun of MBT Arjun.
• This Laser Guided Missile has been developed by Armament R&D Establishment (ARDE), Pune in association with High Energy Materials Research Laboratory (HEMRL), Pune, and Instruments Research & Development Establishment (IRDE), Dehradun.

Source: PIB

5) Army Static Switched Communication Network (ASCON)

• To meet the long pending demand of the Indian Army, the Cabinet Committee on Security has approved the proposal for the establishment of Army Static Switched Communication Network (ASCON) Phase IV Network to be implemented by M/s ITI, a Public Sector Undertaking, at an estimated cost of Rs. 7796.39 crore with an implementation schedule of 36 months from the date of signing of the contract. The contract has been signed with M/s ITI Ltd. on 01.10.2020. The project is a strategic and theatre area communication network that will upgrade the existing Asynchronous Transfer Mode Technology to Internet Protocol (IP) / Multi-Protocol Label Switching (MPLS) Technology.  Optical Fibre Cable (OFC), Microwave Radio, and Satellite will be used as communication media. 
• The project will provide better survivability, responsiveness, and high bandwidth in any operational scenario and enhance the communication coverage of the network closer to IB/LC/LAC. The network will extend the high bandwidth communication to the remote operational areas in Central and Eastern Sectors and enhance communication reach to the forward locations in the Western border too.  Thus, the project would augment the communication network of the Indian Army in the sensitive forward operational areas which in turn will provide a major boost to the operational preparedness of the Indian Army especially keeping in view the current operational situation at LAC. 
• Further, with approximately 80% indigenous content, the project will provide a boost to the Indian Industry.   The project involves the execution of civil works, laying of OFC, tower construction, etc.and with the utilization of local resources, hiring of manpower, it would generate employment opportunities especially to the people in remote border areas, support and boost the rural economy, assist in the upliftment of the local economies, provide skill development during the prolonged period of execution and maintenance of the network. 
• The project is also a big opportunity for the public sector to showcase its capability and provide an impetus to the Indian economy and will be a step in the direction of achieving the goal of Atmanirbhar Bharat.

Source: PIB

6) RAISE 2020

Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) and NITI Aayog are organizing a Global Virtual Summit on Artificial Intelligence (AI), RAISE 2020- ‘Responsible AI for Social Empowerment 2020,’ from October 5-9, 2020.

About RAISE 2020:

• RAISE 2020 is a first-of-its-kind, a global meeting of minds on Artificial Intelligence to drive India's vision and roadmap for social transformation, inclusion, and empowerment through responsible AI. Organized by the Government of India along with the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology and NITI Aayog, the event will witness robust participation from global industry leaders, key opinion makers, Government representatives, and academia.
• Industry analysts predict that AI could add up to USD 957 billion to India’s economy by 2035.
• From agriculture to fin-tech and healthcare to infrastructure, artificial intelligence can be a truly transformative force. India is uniquely positioned to become the AI laboratory of the world and contribute to inclusive development and growth through empowerment. The RAISE 2020 Summit will serve as a platform for discussion and consensus-building to help create a data-rich environment, which is a stepping stone to eventually transform lives globally.
• Home to the world’s third-largest startup ecosystem, elite science and technology institutions like the IITs, robust and ubiquitous digital infrastructure, and millions of newly-minted STEM graduates every year, India is well-positioned to become a global leader in the development of artificial intelligence.

Source: PIB

7) Scientists uncover clue of how first extreme-UV light appeared

• Scientists have uncovered an important clue on how the dark ages of the Universe ended and how the first extreme-UV light appeared.
• India's first multi-wavelength satellite, AstroSat, has detected extreme-UV (EUV) light from a galaxy, called AUDFs01, 9.3 billion light-years away from Earth. At the time, our universe was forming stars at its peak rate. Such EUV radiation has enough energy to ionize a hydrogen atom by liberating its electron from the nucleus's influence. The EUV photons emitted by galaxies like AUDFs01 could play a crucial role in reionizing the early universe soon after the Cosmic Dark Age and emitting the first light.
• A collaboration of researchers from different countries under the project CEFIPRA funded by the Indo-French Centre for the Promotion of Advanced Research (CEFIPRA) a bilateral organization set up by the Department of Science & Technology, Government of India and the Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs, Government of France delved into how galaxies like AUDFs01 grow their stellar mass when the first stars and galaxies became visible.
• India connected by CEFIPRA estimated the recent star-formation rate and mass of the gas reservoir in the galaxy. Star formation rate provides a quantitative measure of the stellar mass growth in galaxies. The typical star formation rate (or gas consumption rate) in those first galaxies is not known. By studying galaxies like AUDFs01 and many more, we could get an idea of how star formation rate, gas consumption rate, and growth of stellar mass in those primitive galaxies. Their work has been recently published in the journal ‘Nature Astronomy’.
• The multi-wavelength satellite AstroSat, which was launched on September 28, 2015, by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has five unique X-ray and ultraviolet telescopes working in tandem and has onboard the UltraViolet Imaging Telescope (UVIT).
• the redshift gap from 0.4 to 2.5 remained barren until the wide-field UltraViolet Imaging Telescope (UVIT) onboard AstroSat made its first discovery of AUDFs01 at redshift 1.42. The galaxy is not only bridging the gap between the low and high redshift regime at present, but it is also the beginning of a whole new exploration of star-forming galaxies at EUV wavelength. This extreme UV wavelength regime is crucial to understand models of the stellar population, especially the massive, hot stars in early galaxies.
• AUDFs01 is the first example of a leaking galaxy with clumpy morphology. This galaxy has four clumps and, perhaps, typical of star-forming galaxies in this redshift range. The current version of the AUDF-south (AUDFs) can be used to detect several such EUV galaxies from redshift 1 and 2 when the cosmic star-formation rate had its peak, and thus, AstroSat may allow further to refine the scenario of cosmic reionization.

Source: PIB

8) Mass of Black Hole

• A new study has suggested a formula that can help probe black holes. Black holes (BH) cannot be observed directly, but their presence can be detected by the huge amount of energy that is liberated through the temporary accumulation of matter outside the BH, before it dives into the BH, a process called accretion.
• Scientists have found the formula that can assess the spectrum emitted from the accretion discs around black holes. Spectra of accretion discs can help estimate the mass of the black hole. 
• Accretion flow around BH is composed of ionized plasma, which is a soup of bare electrons and protons. Since electrons are more prone to radiative losses than the protons, it is expected that around a BH, electrons and protons would settle down into two separate temperature distributions. Therefore, the two-temperature equations are generally solved to obtain the emitted spectrum from the electron temperature distribution. This is known as two-temperature modeling of accretion flows.
• Scientists from Aryabhatta Research Institute of Observational Sciences (ARIES), an autonomous institute under the Department of Science and Technology (DST), Govt. of India, investigated the nature of these two-temperature flows.
• The research led by Shilpa Sarkar and Indranil Chattopadhyay from ARIES along with Philippe Laurent from IRFU / Service d’ Astrophysique and Laboratoire Astroparticule et Cosmologie, which has been recently accepted for publication in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics (A&A), found that the number of unknown variables in the two-temperature regime exceeds the number of equations present. Hence, we get multiple solutions for the same set of constants of motion, like total energy or mass-inflow rate.
• Looking for a unique solution, scientists have developed a new formula called the Sarkar & Chattopadhyay form of entropy formula that can only be applied near the horizon where gravity overpowers any other interactions like energy exchange terms between ions and electrons. This novel approach helped in selecting a unique solution out of the multiple solutions of accretion disc spectrum emission around a BH. Entropy is the measure of randomness in any system. In two temperature solutions, the formula for a measure of entropy does not exist. This new formula allows measuring the entropy of the flow close to the black hole horizon. According to the second law of thermodynamics, nature selects or prefers those processes which maximize entropy. ARIES team showed that there exists one solution for which the entropy is maximum and thereby broke the multiplicity of solutions.
• Using this formula, they found that with the increase of the mass supply to the central BH, the accretion disc becomes brighter and more high energy photons are emitted. With the increase of mass of the BH, luminosity increases, and the bandwidth of the emitted spectrum, both in the high energy and low energy range, increases, but the spectral shape does not change. In other words, matter around a massive BH will produce a lot of photons in the low energy and high energy band, but around a smaller BH, it will emit predominantly in the X-rays.
• According to the ARIES team, this is the first time any approach of removing degeneracy from two-temperature theory has been proposed. It is necessary to obtain a correct solution, and hence a correct spectrum for any accretion flow around BH as an arbitrary choice of solution would give us the wrong picture of the system. The results could contribute to the understanding of physical processes around extreme objects like BHs.

Source: PIB

9) Global climate events over the last 3200: A recent study by WIHG

• Global climatic events like the Roman Warm Period, Medieval Climate Anomaly, and the Little Ice Age may have had significant impacts on India’s landscape, vegetation, and socio-economic growth, with abrupt shifts in the Indian Summer Monsoon (ISM) coinciding with these climatic events. 
• A new study by the Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology (WIHG), an autonomous institute of the Department of Science & Technology (DST), Government of India, shows wet monsoon conditions in the North-Western Himalaya between 1200 and 550 BCE. This condition prevailed till 450 AD, coinciding with the Roman Warm Period (RWP). It was followed by reduced precipitation and a weak ISM till 950 AD and then strengthened during the Medieval Climate Anomaly (MCA) between 950 and 1350 AD. During the Little Ice Age, there was a pronounced reduction in monsoon precipitation
• The study carried out with lake sediments from Rewalsar Lake, a freshwater lake from Mandi district of Himachal Pradesh could resolve the long debate among scientists about whether such events were local or global.  Sediments from this lake preserve signature that can be used as proxies to understand monsoon variability in the past.
• In the recent study published in the journal ‘Quaternary International’, researchers obtained grain size data, stable isotope ratios of carbon and nitrogen, total organic carbon (TOC), and total nitrogen data from the sediments of the lake. They retrieved a sediment core of 15-meter length from the center of the lake at a water depth of about 6.5 meters using piston corer, which was used as a sample. The chronology of Rewalsar Lake sediment was then established based on the Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (a form of mass spectrometry to separate a rare isotope from an abundant neighboring mass) (AMS) 14C radiocarbon dates of fourteen samples and the age ranges from approximately 2950 years to 200 years ago.
• Calculation of Total organic carbon TOC, Total Nitrogen TN, and depleted Carbon isotope ratio values during the interval 1200 to 550 BCE indicated wet monsoon conditions in the North-Western Himalaya. This condition prevailed till 450 AD, coinciding with the Roman Warm Period (RWP). This was followed by reduced precipitation and a weak ISM till 950 AD. The ISM became comparatively stronger during the Medieval Climate Anomaly (MCA) between 950 to 1350 AD. During the Little Ice Age, there was a pronounced reduction in ISM precipitation, as indicated by relatively low C/N ratio and decreased TOC content. The findings pointed out to revival of wet climatic conditions with a strong ISM around 1600 AD following the Little Ice Age, which prevails in present times. The variability of ISM in the historical past needs to be ascertained to understand the present, and future behavior of ISM as climate shifts and water supply has dictated the flourish and demise of ancient civilizations.

Source: PIB

10) More Facts 

• GST collections were Rs. 95,000 crore in Sept 2020, which is the highest in this FY (Generally average monthly collection last year was Rs. 1.00 lakh cr)
• Auto sales picked up in Sept 2020
• Manufacturing PMI highest in Sept. 2020 since Jan 2012 
• PMI is an indicator of business activity and the index is calculated separately for Manufacturing and Services. It is released every month by 'IHS Markit', which is a global information provider private firm.
• The PMI is derived from a series of qualitative questions. Executives from hundreds of firms are asked whether key indicators such as output, new orders, business expectations, and employment were stronger than the month before and are asked to rate them.  50 is the base level of the index and a figure above 50 denotes expansion in business activity and anything below 50 denotes contraction.
• The PMI is usually released at the start of the month for the previous month, much before most of the official data on industrial output, manufacturing, and GDP growth becomes available. It is, therefore, considered a good leading indicator of economic activity. Economists consider the manufacturing growth measured by the PMI as a good indicator of industrial output, for which official statistics are released later. Central banks of many countries also use the index to help make decisions on interest rates.
• Exports increased by 5.27% in Sept 2020, the first time in this FY

11) Ambedkar Social Innovation and Incubation Mission

• The Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment has launched the ‘Ambedkar Social Innovation and Incubation Mission (ASIIM)’ under Venture Capital Fund for Scheduled Castes (SCs) with a view to promoting innovation and enterprise among SC students studying in higher educational institutions.

Major Objectives of the Mission:

• To promote entrepreneurship among the SC Youth with special preference to Divyangs.
• To support (1,000) innovative ideas until 2024 through a synergetic work with the Technology Business Incubators (TBIs) set up by the Department of Science and Technology.

Implemented By: 

• Venture Capital Fund for SCs (VCF-SCs) which was set up in 2015-16 with the Fund size of Rs. 500 Crore. Under this fund, 117 companies promoted by SC entrepreneurs have been sanctioned financial assistance to set up business ventures.

Features:

• 1,000 SC youth would be identified in the next 4 years with start-up ideas through the Technology Business Incubators (TBIs) in various higher educational institutions.
• They will be funded @ Rs. 30 lakhs in 3 years as equity (investment) funding so that they can translate their start-up ideas into commercial ventures.
• Successful ventures would further qualify for venture capital funding of up to Rs. 5 Crore from the VCF-SCs.
• Venture capital is a form of private equity and a type of financing that investors provide to startup companies and small businesses that are believed to have long-term growth potential.

Eligibility:

• Youth who have been identified by the TBIs.
• Students who have been awarded under the Smart India Hackathon or Smart India Hardware Hackathon being conducted by the Ministry of Education.
• Innovative ideas focusing on the socio-economic development of the society identified in the TBIs.
• Start-ups nominated and supported by corporates through Corporate Social responsibility (CSR) funds.

Significance:

• ASIIM under VCF-SC will promote innovation in the SC youth and would help them to become job-givers from job-seekers.
• It would further give a fillip to the ‘Stand Up India’ initiative of the Prime Minister.

Source: PIB