9 PM Daily Current Affairs Brief – June 30th, 2022

Current Affairs Compilations for UPSC IAS Prelims 2022

Mains Oriented Articles

GS Paper 2

• The anti-defection law — political facts, legal fiction
• The significance of PM Modi’s visit to the UAE
• The Indian challenge in Afghanistan
• India’s health disorder

GS Paper 3

• Full privatization of PSBs: Our bank privatization agenda demands clarity
• Goods and Services Tax at five: The new regime’s journey so far
• A direct approach to conservation
• Phased ban on plastics is welcome. Challenge will lie in enforcement, bringing in viable substitutes
• Semiconductors: Heroes Of The New Digital World

Prelims Oriented Articles (Factly)

• Speeding major cause of death: Lancet Study
• NIUA’s C-Cube and WRI India launch the India Forum for Nature-Based Solutions
• Nigeria’s latest lithium find: some key questions answered
• Cabinet approves Computerization of Primary Agriculture Credit Societies(PACS)
• Explained: Amarnath Yatra, the legend and the pilgrimage
• Explained: What is CAPSTONE, NASA’s new satellite?
• Commonwealth adopts ‘Living Lands Charter’ for future generations
• NITI Aayog and TIFAC Launch Report on Future Penetration of Electric Two-Wheelers in the Indian Market

Mains Oriented Articles

GS Paper 2

The anti-defection law — political facts, legal fiction

News: Recently, The Supreme Court granted time to dissident legislators in the Maharashtra Assembly to reply to the Deputy Speaker’s notice under the anti-defection law. The political crisis in Maharashtra, and many others before it, remind what the Tenth Schedule can and cannot do.

What is anti-defection law?

Paragraph 4 of the Tenth Schedule creates an exception for mergers between political parties by introducing three crucial concepts — that of the “original political party”, the “legislature party”, and “deemed merger”.

A “legislature party” means the group consisting of all elected members of a House for the time being belonging to one political party.

An “original political party” means the political party to which a member belongs (this can refer to the party generally, outside of the House).

A party shall be “deemed” to have merged with another party if, and only if, not less than two-thirds of the members of the legislature party concerned have agreed to such merger.

What are the challenges associated with Paragraph 4 of the Tenth Schedule?

Firstly, Paragraph 4 does not clarify whether the original political party refers to the party at the national level or the regional level.

Note: The Election Commission of India recognises political parties based on the national and regional levels.

Secondly, In most cases, there is no factual merger of original political parties at the national (or even regional) level. A legislature party can be deemed to be a merger of political parties, even if there is no actual merger of the original political party with another party.

Hence, the deemed merger seems to be creating a “legal fiction.”

Thirdly, Defection gets easier in smaller legislative assemblies, where even a sole member can account for two-thirds of the legislature party’s strength to cross the floor without attracting disqualification.

What should be done?

Deletion of Paragraph 4 from the Tenth Schedule: Both the Law Commission in 1999 and the National Commission to Review the Working of the Constitution ((NCRWC) in 2002 made this recommendation.

An academic revisiting of the Tenth Schedule by the Supreme Court, to guide future use of the anti-defection law should happen sooner.

The significance of PM Modi’s visit to the UAE

News: Indian Prime Minister recently visited the UAE for the fourth time. India is engaging with the UAE well beyond the confines of diplomatic protocols. This highlighted India’s engagement with the UAE.

What are the recent developments in India and UAE relationships?

-During the virtual summit in February 2022, both sides signed a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA). The deal was negotiated and finalised in just 88 days and promises to increase bilateral trade from $60 billion to $100 billion in five years. It came into force on May 1 and has already ushered in preferential market access for 97% of tariff lines accounting for 99% of Indian exports to the UAE.

-Indian PM Modi has bestowed the Order of Zayed, the UAE’s highest civilian award.

-Recently, India and UAE also issued a Joint Vision Statement titled, “Advancing the India and UAE Comprehensive Strategic Partnership: New Frontiers, New Milestones”.

– Dubai-based DP World and India’s National Skills Development Council signed an agreement to set up a Skill India Centre in Varanasi. The Centre aims to train local youth in logistics, port operations and allied areas so that they can pursue overseas employment.

What are the regional factors responsible for increased India – UAE ties?

Normalisation of ties between the UAE and Israel: Ever since the signing of the Abraham Accords, the UAE and Israel entered into new avenues of trilateral and multilateral cooperation.

Initiatives from the US: For instance, The US has announced that US President forthcoming visit to West Asia will see a virtual India, Israel, US, UAE are I2U2 Summit.

India should take a sustained public diplomacy to improve its ties with India and the UAE.

The Indian challenge in Afghanistan

News: Recently, a massive earthquake hit Afghanistan. Consequently, the Indian Air Force was moved in with tonnes of relief material, making India a ‘first responder’.

About the quake

The massive earthquake was centered around the Afghanistan- Pakistan border. It was measured 5.9 on the Richter Scale.

Relief Measures

(A) Overall

Due to proximity, Pakistan was able to send relief aid quickly, declaring that the aid was from “the people of Pakistan”. In addition, Iran also sent relief material by air.

Taiwan has offered $1 million despite not being a member of the world body due to Beijing’s objections.

Japan, South Korea, and the UAE have also responded to the UN’s appeal for aid to Afghanistan.

The United States Agency for International Development also announced aid without making any specific commitment.

The UN Security Council allowed sanctions exemption for the delivery of humanitarian aid.

(B) Indian Specific Relief Measures

India announced plans to send a technical team to “closely monitor and coordinate the efforts of various stakeholders” for the effective delivery of humanitarian assistance.

However, India probably asked for aid to flow through the Iranian route, instead of Pakistan. It was because India’s aid in Afghanistan was being diverted to Pakistan.

Afghanistan’s Response to Indian Relief Measures

Afghan officials have welcomed not only aid, but called for the restarting of small projects across the country.

What are the challenges in providing relief aid?

There are difficulties involved given the broken Afghan banking and financial systems and lack of infrastructure.

The U.S. instructions mandate that all aid should be in cash, since no banks will do business or accept letters of credit to the Afghan central bank (DAB). Although Cash transfers to the DAB are possible, its own reach to the furthest parts of the country is doubtful.

The UN organizations also provide cash, and aid agencies have long had to use reliable local hawala networks for transfers. India will not agree to large-scale Indian aid being spent in this manner.

What are the challenges to the reconstruction of Afghanistan?

It will be difficult to transport the requirements for reconstruction, through territory other than Pakistan.

Afghanistan’s domestic industries have been side-lined by Pakistan, Turkish or Chinese ones. For example, Pakistan’s cement companies such as Lucky Cement.

Most of the UN activity for Afghanistan is done through Pakistan. For example, that major UN agencies and the International Organisation for Migration are present in Pakistan.

Security issues: There is a presence of the Islamic State Khorasan (IS-K) in many parts of Afghanistan. In recent times, it has become strongly anti-India, along with al-Qaeda. For example, it carried out a recent attack on a gurdwara in Kabul.

Difficulties in the implementation of Indian projects are more likely to arise from intra-Afghan tensions rather than any hostility to India.

What should be done?

India should encourage Afghan cement plants and related industries, and ensure optimal use of coal, which is now being exported to Pakistan at cheap prices.

Furthermore, India has around 400 projects in all the 34 provinces of Afghanistan. Thus, India can ask for the protection from Taliban for them.

It is also important to remember that the Taliban have never actively been anti-India.

India’s health disorder

News: India has witnessed substantial divergence between the numbers of Covid-related deaths reported by Indian official sources and numbers cited by the World Health Organization. Therefore, due to such deviations, there is a need to look into the status of India’s health care system.

Adequacy in health care in India

A number of studies have documented notable healthcare success in India. For example, the case of polio eradication.

Shortcomings in health care in India.

Healthcare Facilities

India has failed to create adequate public and private health facilities across the country.

The private health care services are non-affordable to less affluent sections of society. For example, it is difficult for a privately employed, earning around Rs 30,000 a month.

In publicly-owned medical facilities, hospitalization is a time taking process, except for emergencies that arise due to road or other accidents. For instance, the waiting period for a hysterectomy operation in a government hospital is usually eight to nine months.

In the Indian private hospitals, there is a lack of sufficiently professional diagnoses. In fact, experts’ advice is largely driven by profit-making. For example, where a blockage in one of the heart arteries has been found in routine diagnosis, the cardiologist generally advises angioplasty, including installing one or more stents in addition to statin and blood thinner medication. However, as per a 2020 study by the US National Institute of Health, “there is no need for invasive procedures (read stents) in patients without symptoms”. It is safe to begin treating the problem with medication and lifestyle change. If symptoms persist, then invasive treatment options can be discussed.

Health Insurances

The health insurance coverages provided in India are highly restrictive in nature. For instances,

(1) any pre-existing ailments would be covered only after a waiting period of three years,

(2) There is a two-year exclusion period for cataracts, hernia, hysterectomy, joint replacement, pregnancy, dental treatment, and external aids.

(3) Further, congenital diseases and non-allopathic treatment are not covered at all.

(4) Ayurvedic treatment, which is low-cost in nature, is found to be excluded.

It is surprising that the Indian insurance regulator allows so many exceptions under private health insurance.

Others problems

There are issues of inadequate numbers of doctors-nurses in government hospitals.

GS Paper 3

Full privatization of PSBs: Our bank privatization agenda demands clarity

News: According to media reports, investment banks and other likely investors have recently asked the government to fully withdraw the Centre’s share from PSBs for facilitating a better disinvestment process and value discovery. This raised debate on the privatization of state-owned banks once again.

What are the advantages of full privatization of PSBs?

1) Improve capital allocation efficiency and overall productivity by an order of magnitude, 2) Will take care of PSB networks, outdated systems and stifling bureaucracy, 3) Might avoid poor decision-making by providing better incentives.

Other benefits of privatization of PSBs include reduction of public sector dominance of the banking sector and promotion of allocative efficiency.

What is the legal challenge to the full privatization of PSBs?

But that faces a legislative challenge. Because Section 3(2B)(c) of The Banking Companies (Acquisition and Transfer of Undertakings) Act of 1970 requires the government to hold at least 51% of a PSB’s paid-up capital at all times. The government will have to amend this Act if it wants to sell all its equity.

Other challenges: Formalization of credit, financial inclusion and providing the Centre and states with transaction processing platforms for the delivery of direct benefits to underserved Indians will take a huge hit.

What should be done?

End dual governance: The government has to end its twin-track governance model for PSBs, with the regulator always second-guessing the dominant shareholder’s next move.

For example, while the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) must approve the appointment of private bank CEOs, the government’s choice of chief executives is binding on RBI.

Improve governance: The Centre’s tussle with PSB boards gives rise to various forms of rent-seeking and thereby creating a problem of bad loans. The government should focus on improving PSBs standards of governance, rather than simply trying to offload them via bulk stake sales.

These will foster a viable financial sector with both PSBs and Private sector banks to support the Indian economy.

Goods and Services Tax at five: The new regime’s journey so far

News: The Goods and Services Tax (GST) has completed its 5th year since its inception on 1 July 2017. Recently, The 47th meeting of the GST Council has also taken place.

What is the reason for introducing GST?

Firstly, The GST replaced 17 central and state taxes and 13 cesses, eliminating the cascading impact of indirect taxation and laying the foundation for a common national market.

Secondly, Indirect tax regime was based on origin and was inefficient. This resulted in high costs accruing to the economy.

Thirdly, Many industries were uncompetitive under the old tax regime, and it altered choices of factory or warehouse location that should be determined by purely business considerations.

Fourthly, As per an estimate by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (Ficci), the overall tax burden on goods ranged between 25% and 30% prior to GST.

What is the reason for multiple tax slabs under GST?

GST Council considered two essential factors before arriving at a 5-tier rate structure.

1) Principle of equivalence: All items have been fit into rate slots nearest to the prevailing aggregate duty rates of all indirect taxes, 2) Safeguard the poor from inflationary pressure: Items with 60% weight in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) were exempted from GST, while another 15% were subject to just a 5% levy.

What is the status of GST in past five years?

-The proportion of the taxable value of goods and services covered under the lowest bracket of the ‘nil’ tax rate has gone up from 9% in 2017-18 to nearly 17% in 2019-20.

-Further, things that are in the highest GST bracket of 28% are estimated to have been brought down from 12% to 7.6% in 2019-20. Consequently, the effective GST rate had come down from 14.4% at inception to 11.6% in 2019.

-The GST-to-GDP ratio went up from 5.8% in 2020-21 to 6.4% in 2021-22, reflecting improved compliance (but not at the expected level).

-To promote MSMEs, the government has enhanced threshold exemptions from GST registration, quarterly filing of GST returns for taxpayers with an annual turnover of ₹5 crore, and a composition levy scheme, among others.

-Overall, in the five years (2017-18 to 2021-22) since the introduction of GST, the overall resource growth for states was 14.8% per annum, versus an annual average growth rate of 9% between 2012 and 2015.

What are the things in progress for GST Regime?

Firstly, A vast number of exemptions for products means that there is no input tax credit to claim by many taxpayers; it also means a smaller tax base, forcing a few items to bear the burden of offsetting the exemptions given to a large number.

Secondly, the GST system has been grappling with structural issues, such as multiplicity of rates and difficulty in enforcing compliance.

Thirdly, Rate rationalisation is important as the current overall rate is not revenue neutral compared to the taxes subsumed in the GST, which has been one of the biggest reasons for revenue underperformance.

Fourthly, The government has already extended the collection of compensation cess. If extended further, the Council would have to decide the growth rate at which the states will be compensated.

What are the updates on the recommendations of the four working groups?

The GST Council had constituted four groups of ministers to look into different issues.

a) The Council accepted the report submitted by the group of ministers (GoM) headed by the Karnataka Chief Minister on exemptions and correction of the inverted duty structure.

b) The Council also accepted the recommendations of the GoM headed by the Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister on strengthening the GST system. The group, among other things, advocated better tracking of high-risk taxpayers.

c) The GoM headed by Meghalaya Chief Minister, which looked into areas such as online gaming, casinos, and horse racing has been asked to reconsider the concerns raised by some states.

What is the future of the GST Regime?

Utilise the data collected: GST regime has rich data. This can offer very useful and penetrating insights into the health of the economy and trends in economic activity from a cyclical perspective.

Revenue-neutral rate: Moving to the revenue-neutral rate with fewer slabs would help boost revenue for both Centre and states.

Thus, GST would make an ongoing contribution to sound public finances, but also sound policymaking by the Union and state governments,

A direct approach to conservation

News: It has been found that India has not been able to mobilise private and public finance through Payments for Ecosystem Services (PES). This could have helped India achieve the 2030 agenda for sustainable development and the Paris Agreement on climate change.

What are the biodiversity finance measures that can enable biodiversity protection and sustainable use?

There are incentives like biodiversity-relevant taxes, fees, levies, tradeable permits, and Payments for Ecosystem Services (PES).

There has been governmental support and political will to mobilize finance through pesticide levies, admission fees to natural parks, hunting and fishing permit fees, and the trade-in energy-saving certificates.

About the PES

It works through the establishment of performance contracts. People who can help provide the desired ecosystem service are rewarded based on their actions, or the quantity and quality of the services themselves.

It incentivizes local people to manage threatened ecosystems. It helps in the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals through conservation as well as poverty alleviation

What are the issues in biodiversity financing in India?

The government has not been able to promote monetisation of environmental benefits or the Payments for Ecosystem Services (PES). PES is a pivotal economic instrument that can be used for conservation and increasing ecosystem services.

The PES has not achieved much attention either in the research or policy mandate in the Indian subcontinent.

However, it has seen successful implementation in Latin American and African countries. For example,

(1) In the Western Cape, South Africa, the Cape Nature Stewardship Program protects biodiversity on private lands.

(2) Kenya’s Wildlife Conservation Lease Programme, maintains open areas for wildlife and grazing on personal grounds.

(3) In terms of raising money, PES programs such as Costa Rica’s Pago Por Servicios and Ecuador’s Socio Bosque were among the few to mobilize significant finances.

Why have such economic incentives for ecological restoration not received academic, research, and policy prioritisation?

There is an absence of a solid institutional mechanism that ensures simultaneous transfer of funds from buyers to suppliers, investment in local capacity building, cost efficiency, the scope for development benefits, and maintaining the sustainability of funds.

However, the PES mechanism is yet to be implemented or even tested for efficacy.

What should be done?

A local monitoring mechanism is key to successfully implementing a PES program. For example, there have been successful local institutional mechanisms for PES implementation in the Kodagu district of Karnataka, where native trees were restored in the coffee plantations.

The OECD highlighted that the studies should be conducted to the evaluation of the impact of the PES Programs as the financial instruments for biodiversity conservation.

The TEEB India Initiative can play a role in highlighting the economic consequences of the loss of biological diversity. Thus, would help prioritize ecosystem restoration financing through a direct approach.

The environmental economist or stakeholders should build a successful PES program. It will automatically overcome the impediments to implementation.

Phased ban on plastics is welcome. Challenge will lie in enforcement, bringing in viable substitutes

News: The government has introduced rules to ban plastic in India in a phased manner. Now, the ban on the manufacture and use of several common use-and-throw plastic products will come into effect from 01 July 2022.

New Plastic Ban rules (To be banned in a phased manner)

At present, the banning would apply to relatively low utility items. Like, plastic cutlery items, ice cream, and balloon sticks, sweet boxes, invitation cards, cigarette packs, PVC banners measuring under 100 microns, and earbuds are some of the items that will no longer be available.

Further, the prohibition will be extended to polythene bags under 120 microns in December 2022.

Some Success achieved by the state in a plastic ban so far

Some food vendors, takeaway restaurants, and grocery outfits have begun using biodegradable cutlery and cloth or paper bags.

The government claims that many plastic units are making the switch to using packaging alternatives such as cotton, jute, paper, and crop stubble waste.

What are the reasons for poor implementation?

Although, in the past five years, more than 20 states have put in place some form of regulation on plastic use. But their implementation has been patchy at best.

But the state pollution control boards and the municipalities which are mandated to enforce the plastic ban\ are poorly-staffed, feebly empowered, and cash-strapped.

What should be done?

Enforcement

The Environmental Ministry will set up the control rooms to monitor the ban on plastic items.

The government should raise awareness amongst people and take all stakeholders into confidence. For example, the success of Sikkim and Himachal Pradesh testifies to this.

Plastic Substitution

The innovations should be made to develop the alternatives sector, which can produce at a scale that will enable businesses all over the country to make the environment-friendly transition.

The 22,000 plastic manufacturing units in the country can work towards the alternative segment so that the environmental footprint of the packaging sector can be reduced to a considerable extent.

Industry experts say that the prices of a lot of the current plastic substitutes burden the retailer and the consumer.

The government should provide hand-hold to businesses, especially small outfits already strained by the economic fallout of the pandemic.

In the long run, it must join hands with industry bodies to facilitate R&D in viable plastic substitutes.

Semiconductors: Heroes Of The New Digital World

News: The government has launched the Semicon India program to secure a semiconductor manufacturing ecosystem in India. It will make India self-reliant on key items such as semiconductors.

About the government initiative

It provides attractive fiscal and non-fiscal incentives for companies to set up production across the value chain.

Decoding chips:

A chip essentially comprises electronic circuits which are layered over a substrate made up of silicon.

All chips have a basic mandate, either to store, transmit or process data at optimal speeds. In addition, they can also be used to accommodate the requirements of the devices they fit into.

What are the processes in the making of Semiconductors Device?

The making involves a series of intense and complex processes. The making demands extreme precision and large capital investments.

Fabless Phases (only design)

Semiconductor chips are first designed in R&D centres using specialized software-based Electronic Design and Automation tools.

Foundry Phase (only fabrication)

The Graphic Design System files containing the design are then transferred to a fab/foundry to initiate the manufacturing process.

It involves the manufacturing of electronic circuits in a very specialized and highly controlled environment, possibly the cleanest places on earth.

Specific operations are performed on the silicon wafer over the course of 2-3 months.

Outsourced Semiconductor Assembly and Test (OSAT) Phase

At a later stage, the products are subjected to testing, packaging, and assembly through Outsourced Semiconductor Assembly and Test (OSAT) companies. It is labor-intensive and a less capital-intensive process in manufacturing.

Why is it important for India to become self-reliant in semiconductors?

These are used in memory chips, communication chips, logic chips, and sensor chips in the today’s digitally interconnected world,

It enabled schools, offices, and businesses to operate and remain functional, during the Covid pandemic when the whole world came to a standstill and the only way forward was digital.

It also powered the supercomputers which enabled the rapid development of the Covid vaccine. Therefore, it has played an important role in the resumption of economic and social activities globally.

It is the core of future technologies like AI, blockchain, 5G technologies, Yuval Noah Harari’s Homo Deus– a mix of flesh and silicon – in the near future.

India imported $54 billion of electronic goods in 2020. Most of the import was from China. The large-scale import dependence has a negative impact on India’s balance of payments, forex, and strategic interests.

It forms the bedrock of all ICT equipment. The indigenisation of the supply chain has positive implications across sectors like telecom, defense, space, internet surveillance, power, automobile, etc.

In addition, there is a large indigenous market for semiconductors. For example, India’s semiconductor consumption was $20 billion in 2020, and it is growing at a CAGR of 15%.

The Way Forward

The success of Semicon India is fundamental to Make in India and Digital India. It is key for India’s integration into the global value chain.

Prelims Oriented Articles (Factly)

Speeding major cause of death: Lancet Study

Source: The post is based on the article “Speeding major cause of death: Lancet Study” published in The Hindu on 30th June 2022

What is the News?

According to a Lancet study, steps taken to check vehicle speed on Indian roads could save 20,554 lives annually.

What are the key takeaways from the Lancet Study on Road Accidents?

Road Accidents

Road traffic injuries(RTIs) are the eighth leading cause of death globally for all ages and the first cause in the 5-29 years age group. 

Close to 14 lakh people die each year and up to 5 crore are injured by RTIs.

The four main risk factors (ie, drink-driving, helmet use, speeding, and seat belt use) consistently increase the risk for road injuries and deaths worldwide. 

Addressing these risks could avert between 25% and 40% of the 14 lakh deaths occurring every year.

Road Accidents in India

According to the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways 2020 report, there were a total of 1,31,714 deaths due to road accidents, where speeding accounted for 69.3% of deaths followed by non-wearing of helmets and non-use of seatbelts.

Globally, India accounts for almost 10% of all crash-related deaths while accounting for only 1% of the world’s vehicles.

What steps should India take to reduce Road Accidents?

According to the study, steps taken to check vehicle speed on roads in India could alone have the biggest impact on ensuring road safety by saving 20,554 lives annually.

Further, promotion of crash helmets could save 5,683 lives and encouraging the use of seatbelts can also save 3,204 lives in the country. 

Note: In August 2020, the UN General Assembly adopted resolution “Improving global road safety” proclaiming the Decade of Action for Road Safety 2021-2030 with the ambitious target of preventing at least 50% of road traffic deaths and injuries by 2030.

NIUA’s C-Cube and WRI India launch the India Forum for Nature-Based Solutions

Source: The post is based on the article “NIUA’s C-Cube and WRI India launch the India Forum for Nature-Based Solutions” published in PIB on 29th June 2022

What is the News?

National Institute of Urban Affairs’ (NIUA) Climate Centre for Cities (NIUA C-Cube), World Resources Institute India(WRI India) and their partners has launched India Forum for Nature-Based Solutions.

What is the India Forum for Nature-Based Solutions?

It is India’s first national coalition platform for urban nature-based solutions(NbS).

Aim: To create a collective of NbS entrepreneurs, government entities and like-minded organizations to help scale urban nature-based solutions by: 

-Defining a shared language and by communicating benefits that inform actions at the local level including scaling up of existing NbS interventions.

-Driving investment and strengthening delivery mechanisms through multi-stakeholder coordination.

-Mainstreaming urban ecosystem-based services and nature-based solutions in India through informing policy, plans and project interventions.

Led by: National Institute of Urban Affairs’ Climate Centre for Cities(NIUA C-Cube) and anchored by World Resources Institute India (WRI Indija) under the Cities4Forests initiative. 

Supported by: Caterpillar Foundation, Department of Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (DEFRA), Govt. of the United Kingdom and Norway’s International Climate and Forest Initiative (NICFI).

What is Cities4Forests Initiative?

Cities4Forests is a voluntary coalition of more than 60 cities from around the world involving mayors’ offices and other city agencies such as public water utilities and offices of sustainability.

Aim: To support cities around the world to recognize their interdependence with the world’s forests, and use their own political, economic, and cultural power to ensure forest health and vitality.

Nigeria’s latest lithium find: some key questions answered

Source: The post is based on the article “Nigeria’s latest lithium find: some key questions answered” published in Down To Earth on 27th June 2022

What is the News?

Recently, High-grade Lithium has been discovered in Nigeria.

What is Lithium?

Click Here to read about it

What is High-Grade Lithium?

The Geological Agency described lithium as high grade because it is found with 1-13% oxide content. Normally exploration begins at levels as low as 0.4%.

Note: Grade (in %) is a measure of the concentration of lithium in the minerals and or rocks that contain it. Therefore, the higher the grade the more the economic viability. Higher grades are very rare for metals like lithium.

Largest Lithium Mine: Greenbushes mine in Western Australia is the largest hard-rock Lithium mine in the world.

Largest Importers of Lithium: The largest importers of lithium are South Korea, China, Japan, US and Belgium.

What are the uses of Lithium?

Rechargeable Batteries: Lithium is used in rechargeable batteries for mobile phones, laptops, digital cameras and electric vehicles. The different types of batteries are:

– Lithium-cobalt oxide battery: It is used in consumer electronics and is being applied in electric vehicles. It is relatively cheap.

– Lithium-nickel-manganese-cobalt: It is a newer, higher-performing range of battery chemistry. It is mainly developed for the electronic vehicle market but is finding a wider use because of its increasing cost-effectiveness.

– Lithium iron phosphate: It is the safest technology with relatively high performance but is relatively expensive. It is very popular in China.

– Lithium-nickel-cobalt-aluminium oxide: It is developed to reduce cobalt consumption and is known as a solid performer and of reasonable cost. It is also becoming popular outside China.

Alloy making: Lithium metal is made into alloys with aluminium and magnesium, improving their strength and making them lighter. A magnesium-lithium alloy is used for armour plating. Aluminium-lithium alloys are used in aircraft, bicycle frames and high-speed trains.

Other uses: Lithium oxide is used in special glasses and glass ceramics. Lithium chloride is also one of the most hygroscopic materials known, and is used in air conditioning and industrial drying systems (as is lithium bromide).

Cabinet approves Computerization of Primary Agriculture Credit Societies(PACS)

Source: The post is based on the article “Cabinet approves Computerization of Primary Agriculture Credit Societies(PACS)” published in PIB on 29th June 2022

What is the News?

Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs has approved the Computerization of Primary Agricultural Credit Societies (PACS).

The objective behind this is to increase the efficiency of PACS, bring transparency and accountability to their operations; facilitate PACS to diversify their business and undertake multiple activities/services.

What are Primary Agricultural Credit Societies (PACS)?

Primary Agricultural Cooperative credit societies (PACS) constitute the lowest tier of the three-tier Short-term cooperative credit(STCC) in the country.

Note: The other two tiers are: State Cooperative Banks(StCBs) and District Central Cooperative Banks (DCCBs).

Controlled by: At present, PACS fall within the jurisdiction of state governments. 

Currently, there are 63,000 PACS in the country and the Centre has a target to scale them up to 3 lakh by 2025.

Importance of PACs: PACs comprises approximately 13 Cr. farmers as its members.PACS also account for 41 % of the Kisan Credit Card(KCC) loans given by all entities in the Country and 95% of these KCC loans (2.95 Cr. farmers) through PACS are to the Small and Marginal farmers. 

Why are PACs computerized?

PACS are still functioning manually resulting in inefficiency and trust deficit. In some of the states, stand-alone and partial computerization of PACS has been done.

There is also no uniformity in the software being used by them and they are not interconnected with the DCCBs and StCBs.

Hence, the computerisation of all the PACS is being done.

Note: The other two tiers viz.StCBs and DCCBs have already been automated by the NABARD and brought on Common Banking Software (CBS).

What are the benefits of the computerisation of PACs?

Firstly, it will help in bringing PACs on a common platform at the National level and have a Common Accounting System(CAS) for their day-to-day business.

Secondly, it will also help in improving the outreach of the PACS as outlets for banking activities as well as non-Banking activities apart from improving digitalisation in rural areas.

Explained: Amarnath Yatra, the legend and the pilgrimage

Source: The post is based on the article “Explained: Amarnath Yatra, the legend and the pilgrimage” published in Indian Express on 30th June 2022

What is the News?

After being suspended for two years due to the coronavirus pandemic, the Amarnath Yatra in the Himalayas of South Kashmir will begin on June 30 this year.

What is Amarnath Yatra?

Amarnath Yatra is an annual pilgrimage visit to the Amarnath cave shrine of Lord Shiva high up in the Himalayas.

Importance of Cave: According to legend, when Lord Shiva decided to tell Parvati the secret of his immortality (Amar Katha), he chose the Amarnath cave deep in the Himalayas in South Kashmir. 

Location: The cave is located at an altitude of 3,888 meters above sea level and is only accessible by foot or on a pony through a steep path in Sonmarg in Kashmir.

Who discovered the cave? According to lore, the cave was discovered by a Muslim shepherd named Buta Malik in 1850. He also discovered the famous ice lingam at the cave.

How does Ice lingam form in the cave? The ice lingam, representing Lord Shiva is formed by a trickle of water from a cleft in the roof of the cave. The water freezes as it drips, forming over time, a tall, smooth ice stalagmite. The Shiva lingam gets its full shape in May every year after which it begins to melt. By August, it is just a few feet in height.

On the left of the Shiva lingam are two smaller ice stalagmites, representing Parvati and Lord Ganesh.

Security threats: The geographic location of the cave being in South Kashmir makes it vulnerable to terror attacks from the Pakistan side.

Explained: What is CAPSTONE, NASA’s new satellite?

Source: The post is based on the article “Explained: What is CAPSTONE, NASA’s new satellite?” published in Indian Express on 30th June 2022

What is the News?

NASA has launched CAPSTONE, a microwave oven-sized CubeSat weighing just 55 pounds(25 kg). 

What is CAPSTONE?

Full Form: Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System Technology Operations and Navigation Experiment(CAPSTONE)

Aim: To help reduce risk for future spacecraft by validating innovative navigation technologies and by verifying the dynamics of the halo-shaped orbit.

Which orbit will CAPSTONE study?

For the Artemis Mission, NASA has decided to include Gateway, a small space station around the moon. That would make it easier for astronauts to reach more parts of the moon. This outpost is to be placed in what is known as a Near-Rectilinear Halo Orbit(NRHO).

Halo orbits are those influenced by the gravity of two bodies — in this case, the Earth and the moon. The influence of these two bodies helps make the orbit highly stable, minimizing the amount of propellant needed to keep a spacecraft circling the moon.

How will the CAPSTONE spacecraft work?

At the Moon, CAPSTONE will enter NRHO, where it will fly within 1,600 km of the Moon’s North Pole on its near pass and 70,000 km from the South Pole at its farthest. 

The spacecraft will repeat the cycle every six-and-a-half days and maintain this orbit for at least six months to study dynamics.

Commonwealth adopts ‘Living Lands Charter’ for future generations

Source: The post is based on the article “Commonwealth adopts ‘Living Lands Charter’ for future generations” published in Down To Earth on 27th June 2022

What is the News?

The Commonwealth leaders have adopted the Living Lands Charter at the 2022 Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting in Kigali, Rwanda.

What is the Living Lands Charter?

It is a non-binding agreement adopted by the Commonwealth member countries.

Purpose: The charter mandates member countries to safeguard global land resources and arrest land degradation while acting against climate change, biodiversity loss and towards sustainable management. 

On Climate Change, the charter will help to hold the global average temperature increase to 1.5 degrees Celsius. It will do this through a mixture of policy influence, financing, technical assistance, governance and sharing of knowledge across nations.

The charter also recognises the vulnerabilities of ecosystems owing to land degradation, biodiversity loss, and climate change. The agreement hence seeks to strengthen synergies and coordinated action at national, regional, and global levels of relevant actions under the three Rio Conventions – namely UNFCCC, UNCBD and UNCCD.

Moreover, the commonwealth members have also agreed to voluntarily dedicate ‘living land’ in their respective countries to future generations, in line with the strategy set for the United Nations Decade on Ecosystem Restoration.

What is the Commonwealth of Nations?

Click Here to read about it

NITI Aayog and TIFAC Launch Report on Future Penetration of Electric Two-Wheelers in the Indian Market

Source: The post is based on the article “NITI Aayog and TIFAC Launch Report on Future Penetration of Electric Two-Wheelers in the Indian Market” published in PIB on 29th June 2022

What is the News?

NITI Aayog and Technology Information, Forecasting and Assessment Council (TIFAC) have released a report titled ‘Forecasting Penetration of Electric Two-Wheelers in India’.

Note: TIFAC is an autonomous organization set up in 1988 under the Department of Science & Technology to look ahead in the technology domain, assess the technology trajectories and support innovation.

What are the key findings of the report?

Eight Scenarios: The report has predicted eight scenarios for analyzing the future penetration of electric two-wheelers in the country. These are Performance Driven, Low Battery Cost, Technology Driven, Incentive Driven, and Optimistic among others.

– In an optimistic scenario, the report forecasts 100% penetration of electric two-wheelers in the Indian market by FY 2026–27. 

– In technology-driven scenarios, where current incentives are withdrawn by 2024, the report predicts 72% penetration by 2031.

Constraints: The report has also identified four broad constraints for the eight scenarios in terms of installed vehicle manufacturing capacity and available charging infrastructure: (1) full constraint (where both vehicle production and charging infrastructure are constraints), (2) production constraint (where only vehicle production is a constraint), (3) charge constraint (where only the charging infrastructure is a constraint) and (4) no constraint.

Other observations made by the report: The recent petrol hike and ‘positive mindset’ about EVs could also play a pivotal role in the switch to EVs. 

– However, higher battery costs and higher dependency on exports for EV components and subsystems may affect domestic manufacturing capabilities and other policy-related measures.

— Further, the report has also called on the stakeholders to increase the penetration of charging points across the country and said that the safety of EVs will be an important issue for the widespread adoption of EVs.