Daily CURRENT AFFAIRS

NEWS

As per Green Peace India report, Bengaluru City’s air pollution exceeds WHO guidelines

 DETAILS

• Timeline considered - November 2020 to November 2021
• The COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent restrictions on economic activity had little impact on improving the air quality of Bengaluru.
• Bengaluru, along with Mangaluru, saw annual PM2.5 levels exceed World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines of 5μg/m3 by six to seven times
• PM10 levels –
  • WHO specification -  15 μg/m3
  • Visakhapatnam and Hyderabad exceeded the prescribed by six to seven times.
  • Bengaluru recorded PM10 levels that exceeded the limit by three to four times
• Report analysed Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) data from 10 cities in South India: Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Chennai, Amaravati, Visakhapatnam, Kochi, Mangaluru, Puducherry, Coimbatore, and Mysuru.
• Annual average values of PM2.5 and PM10 exceeded WHO revised standards by many fold, showing that rising air pollution levels is not just a health hazard in cities in north India.
• In Bengaluru, air quality data was recorded from 10 monitoring stations set up by the CPCB and the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB) in commercial and industrial areas.

NEWS

Abdul Khader Nadakattin, a serial grassroots innovator from Dharwad, Karnataka, is amongst the 107 Padma Shri awardees announced for the year 2022 in the Others (Grassroots Innovation) category.

ABOUT

Abdul Khader Nadakattin

• Serial innovator - his prominent innovations include a device to separate tamarind seeds, ploughing blade manufacturing machine, Seed cum fertilizer drill, Water-heating boiler, an Automatic sugarcane sowing driller, and a wheel tiller.
• Innovations demonstrate principles of sustainability, cost-effectiveness, eco-friendliness, and most importantly a, social acceptance. (Example : A Wa(h!)ter Alarm)
• In-depth knowledge of agro-climatic conditions and soil characteristics
• Supported by National Innovation Foundation (NIF) – India, an autonomous body of the Department of Science and Technology (DST
• Was conferred with a Lifetime Achievement Award in 2015 during NIF’s 8th National Grassroots Innovation and Outstanding Traditional Knowledge
• True to his grassroots spirit and as a mark of respect for the award, he chose to walk barefoot and hence came to be known as the country’s “barefoot scientist”.

HUNASE HUCCHA

Owing to his portfolio of innovations related to tamarind, people started calling him "hunase huccha", which means tamarind maniac. It started with his success in growing tamarind with scarce but alkaline water and further graduated with experiments like the technique for harvesting tamarind from the tree and also the highly accepted machine to separate tamarind seeds. This inspired him to develop a machine for slicing tamarind. In furtherance of success with tamarind, he came up with innovations to address agriculture operations like deep ploughing, sowing of seeds, and also fuel-efficient water heating boiler.

NEWS

More than 400 convicts lodged in Delhi’s three jails are set to have their sentences remitted or reduced for showing good conduct during incarceration.

DETAILS

• The decision comes days after the city government accepted the Delhi Prisons’ proposal, moved every year on the occasion of Republic Day.
• Granting remission is a discretionary power of the State government under Section 432 of CrPC where it can at any time suspend the execution of the convict’s sentence or remit the punishment.

TERMS

• Pardon: It removes both the sentence and the conviction and completely absolves the convict from all sentences, punishments and disqualifications.
• Commutation: It denotes the substitution of one form of punishment for a lighter form. For example, a death sentence may be commuted to rigorous imprisonment, which in turn may be commuted to a simple imprisonment.
• Remission: It implies reducing the period of sentence without changing its character. For example, a sentence of rigorous imprisonment for two years may be remitted to rigorous imprisonment for one year.
• Respite: It denotes awarding a lesser sentence in place of one originally awarded due to some special fact, such as the physical disability of a convict or the pregnancy of a woman offender.
• Reprieve: It implies a stay of the execution of a sentence (especially that of death) for a temporary period. Its purpose is to enable the convict to have time to seek pardon or commutation.

PARDONING POWERS

• ARTICLE 72 - It says that the President shall have the power to grant pardons, reprieves, respites or remissions of punishment or to suspend, remit or commute the sentence of any person convicted of any offence.
• The power of the President to grant pardon extends in cases where the punishment or sentence is by a Court Martial but Article 161 does not provide any such power to the Governor.
• The President can grant pardon in all cases where the sentence given is sentence of death but pardoning power of Governor does not extend to death sentence cases.

NEWS

CVC modifies criteria for nomination of Independent External Monitors

DETALS

• Integrity Pact is a vigilance tool that envisages an agreement between the prospective vendors/bidders and the buyer, committing both the parties not to exercise any corrupt influence on any aspect of the contract.
• The pact also ensures transparency, equity and competitiveness in public procurement.
• It is a tool developed by Transparency International.
• In June 2021, the Commission had issued the revised guidelines for adoption and implementation of the ‘Integrity Pact’, also specifying the eligibility criteria for nomination of IEMs, who oversee the execution of the clause.
• They give recommendations to the authorities concerned after examining the complaints related to any contract.
• Following feedback and suggestions from the Chief Vigilance Officers and other individuals, the CVC decided to modify the criteria.
• Accordingly, through an order on Tuesday, the zone of consideration for empanelment as IEMs has been revised.
• It now includes officers who have held the post of Additional Secretary to the Government of India; were in equivalent or higher pay scale at the time of retirement, whether at the Centre or in any State; and those who were Chairman-cum-Managing Directors (CMD) of Schedule ‘A’ public sector enterprises or were equivalent/higher to Additional Secretary to the Central government at the time of retirement.

•  According to Article 112 of the Indian Constitution, the Union Budget of a year also referred to as the Annual Financial Statement (AFS) , is a statement of the estimated receipts and expenditure of the Government in a financial year.
• Components of the Budget —expenditure, receipts and deficit indicators.
• Total expenditure can be further be divided into capital and revenue expenditure. Receipts of the Government also have three components —revenue receipts, non-debt capital receipts and debt-creating capital receipts
• Since different components of expenditure and revenue can have different effects on income of different classes and social groups, the Budget has implications for income distribution as well.
• In India the fiscal rule is guided by the recommendations of the N.K. Singh Committee Report.
• Allowing for some deviations under exceptional times, it has three policy targets —maintaining a specific level of debt-GDP ratio (stock target), fiscal deficit-GDP ratio (flow target) and revenue deficit-GDP ratio (composition target).
• Based on their impact on assets and liabilities, total expenditure can be divided into capital and revenue expenditure. Capital expenditure is incurred with the purpose of increasing assets of a durable nature or of reducing recurring liabilities.
• Consider the expenditure incurred for constructing new schools or new hospitals. All these are classified as capital expenditure as they lead to creation of new assets.
• Revenue expenditure involves any expenditure that does not add to assets or reduce liabilities.
• Expenditure on the payment of wages and salaries, subsidies or interest payments would be typically classified as revenue expenditure.
• Depending on the manner in which it affects different sectors, expenditure is also classified into (i) general services (ii) economic services, (iii) social services and (iv) grants-in-aid and contribution.
• The sum of expenditure on economic and social services together form the development expenditure.
• Economic services include expenditure on transport, communication, rural development, agricultural and allied sectors.
• Expenditure on the social sector including education or health is categorised as social services. Again, depending on its effect on asset creation or liability reduction, development expenditure can be further classified as revenue and capital expenditure.
• The receipts of the Government have three components — revenue receipts, non-debt capital receipts and debt-creating capital receipts. Revenue receipts involve receipts that are not associated with increase in liabilities and comprise revenue from taxes and non-tax sources. Non-debt receipts are part of capital receipts that do not generate additional liabilities.
• Recovery of loans and proceeds from disinvestments would be regarded as non-debt receipts since generating revenue from these sources does not directly increase liabilities, or future payment commitments.
• Debt-creating capital receipts are ones that involve higher liabilities and future payment commitments of the Government.
• Fiscal deficit by definition is the difference between total expenditure and the sum of revenue receipts and non-debt receipts. It indicates how much the Government is spending in net terms.
• Since positive fiscal deficits indicate the amount of expenditure over and above revenue and non-debt receipts, it needs to be financed by a debt-creating capital receipt. Primary deficit is the difference between fiscal deficit and interest payments. Revenue deficit is derived by deducting capital expenditure from fiscal deficits.

What are the implications of the Budget on the economy

• All Government expenditure generates aggregate demand in the economy since it involves purchase of private goods and services by the Government sector
• All tax and non-tax revenue reduces net income of the private sector and thereby leads to reduction in private and aggregate demand. But except for exceptional circumstances, the GDP, revenue receipt and expenditure typically show a tendency to rise over time.
• The trend in absolute value of expenditure and receipts in themselves has little use for meaningful analysis of the Budget. The trend in expenditures and revenue is analysed either by the GDP or as growth rates after accounting for the inflation rate.
• Reduction in expenditure GDP ratio or increase in revenue receipt-GDP ratio indicates the Government’s policy to reduce aggregate demand and vice-versa. For similar reasons, reduction in fiscal deficit-GDP ratio and primary deficit-GDP ratios indicate Government policy of reducing demand and vice versa.
• Since different components of expenditure and revenue can have different effects on income of different classes and social groups, the Budget also has implications for income distribution. For example, revenue expenditure such as employment guarantee schemes or food subsidies can directly boost the income of the poor.
• Concession in corporate tax may directly and positively affect corporate incomes. Though both a rise in expenditure for employment guarantee schemes or reduction in the corporate tax would widen the fiscal deficit, its implications for income distribution would be different.

What are fiscal rules and how do they affect policy

• What - Provide specific policy targets on the basis of which fiscal policy is formed. Policy targets can be met by using different policy instruments.
• There exists no unique fiscal rule that is applied to all countries. Rather, policy targets are sensitive to the nature of economic theory and depend on the specificity of an economy.
• India’s case
  • Present fiscal rule is guided by the recommendations of the N.K. Singh Committee Report
  • Three policy targets — maintaining a specific level of debt-GDP ratio (stock target), fiscal deficit-GDP ratio (flow target) and revenue deficit-GDP ratio (composition target).

NEWS

A nematode infestation has led to mass mortality of spot-billed pelicans (Pelicanus philippensis) at Telineelapuram Important Bird Area (IBA) in Andhra Pradesh.

 Spot-billed Pelicans

• Scientific name - Pelecanus philippensis
• Also called grey pelican
• Breeds in southern Asia from southern Iran across India east to Indonesia.
• Bird of large inland and coastal waters, especially large lakes.
• Breeding population of these pelican species is limited to India, Sri Lanka and Cambodia.
• In the non-breeding season they are recorded in Nepal, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos and Vietnam.
• Conservation status
  • IUCN status: Near Threatened
  • Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972: Schedule IV (Hunting prohibited but the penalty for any violation is less compared to the first two schedules)

NEWS

Decommissioned INS Khukri to be converted into museum. The Navy vessel handed over to Diu administration

ABOUT

• Missile Corvette are agile high-speed ships and have considerable firepower. They are ideal for a littoral environment.
• INS Khukri was built in 1989 indigenously by the Mazagaon Dock
• When it was in the Indian Navy,  this missile corvette had travelled a distance of over 6,44,897 nautical miles that is almost three times distance between the Earth and the Moon/ is equivalent to navigating 30 times round the globe.
• The Indian Navy has four corvettes namely INS Kamorta, INS Kadmatt, INS Kiltan and INS Kavaratti that were commissioned in 2014, 2016, 2017 and 2020 respectively.

NEWS

Prime Minister of India hosted the first meeting of the India-Central Asia Summit virtually

DETAILS

• Who participated -  Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyz republic
• India has been planning to hold the summit since Modi’s visit to these central Asian countries in 2015
• Overcoming the lack of land connectivity between India and Central Asia’s landlocked countries was one of the “main issues of discussion”
• The leaders also spoke at length about concerns over Afghanistan, sharing the “same concerns and same objectives” in broader terms
• Agreed to setting up a Joint Working Group (JWG) of senior officials
• Concerns - immediate humanitarian assistance, ensuring the formation of a truly representative and inclusive government, combating terrorism and drug trafficking, and preserving the rights of women, children and minorities.
• Summit reflects the growing engagement of India with the central Asian countries

India – Central Asia Dialogue

• Held annually among the ministers
• First dialogue was held in 2019
• India and Central Asian countries signed High Impact Community Development Projects in 2020.
• The third dialogue was held in December 2021. During the dialogue, the countries pledged to increase their cooperation based on 4Cs, which is, commerce, connectivity, capacity building and contact.

India – Central Asia Business Council

• It promotes business linkages, mutual investments and understanding of business regulations. The last and the second council meet was held in 2020. The next and the third council meet is to be hosted by Uzbekistan in 2022.
• The trade between India and Central Asia is around 2 billion USD. On the other hand, the trade between China and central asia is around 100 billion USD.

NEWS

EU launches WTO case against China for ‘targeting’ Lithuania

Brussels initiated the move

ISSUE

Lithuania

• Is one of the smallest countries in the European Union
• Allowed Taiwan to open a diplomatic outpost in Vilnius recently

Why China opposed – China does not recognise Taiwan as a state and considers the self-ruled democratic island a rebellious territory of the mainland.

WHAT WILL HAPPEN

• The European Commission handles trade policy for the EU’s 27 member states and takes the lead on conflicts at the WTO in Geneva, even if they involve a single state.
• By going to the WTO, the EU lent support to accusations by Lithuanian business leaders and officials that the row has resulted in China blocking imports from Lithuania and other economic restrictions.
• The move launches a 60-day window for the two sides to come to a solution before moving the dispute to a panel.

 

MAHITI FOR PRELIMS

BALTIC STATES

• North eastern region of Europe
• Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania
• Eastern shores of the Baltic Sea.
• Surrounding countries - Russia, on the southeast by Belarus, and on the southwest by Poland and an exclave of Russia.
• Estonia is an important producer of oil shale, a large share of mineral and energy resources is imported.
• India and Baltic countries have historical connection and common linguistic roots.
• The cutting edge technology and innovation ecosystems of the Baltic countries complement India’s huge market and appetite for these technologies.

• Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs (MoHUA), Government of India,in partnership with Department of Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) and Agence Française de Développement (AFD)today launched the Swachhata Start-Up Challenge to provide an impetus to innovative start-ups to come forward and drive catalytic transformation in the sanitation and waste management sector.
• PM condoles demise of noted Kathakali dancer Ms. Milena Salvini
• Philippines to buy BrahMos missile system from India for $375 million
• Karnataka Bank has launched mobile banking facility to its NRI customers through its existing mobile banking application 'KBL MobilePlus' app.
• The country’s first woman Rafale fighter jet pilot Shivangi Singh was part of the Indian Air Force tableau at the Republic Day parade on Wednesday. She is only the second woman fighter jet pilot to be part of the IAF tableau.Last year, Flight Lieutenant Bhawna Kanth became the first female fighter jet pilot to be part of the IAF tableau.
• PM condoles the demise of eminent archaeologist Thiru R. Nagaswamy.