Daily CURRENT AFFAIRS

Daily Current Affair - UPSC/KAS Exams - 24th May 2021

What is the news : A Bangalore-based start-up has developed a novel, point-of-care Electrochemical ELISA test that enables fast and accurate estimation of total antibody concentration of COVID 19 in clinical samples.

Name of start-up : PathShodh Healthcare

Details :

• The start-up is incubated by IISC
• This novel technology and product was supported by the Department of Science and Technology (DST), Government of India, under its initiative on Centre for Augmenting WAR with COVID-19 Health Crisis (CAWACH).
• The effort was coordinated through SINE at IIT Bombay and IKP Knowledge Park, Hyderabad.
• The novelty of the technology is based on the measurement of electrochemical redox activity of IgM and IgG antibodies specific to SARS-CoV-2 Spike Glycoprotein (S1). The S1 protein hosts the Receptor Binding Domain (RBD), which latches to the ACE2 receptors on the cells before infection. Hence the antibody tests targeting S1 spike protein are more representative of an immune response against infection compared to other antibody tests targeting Nucleocapcid (N) protein.
• PathShodh’s technique is also a major departure from the qualitative rapid antibody tests in the market, which are primarily based on lateral flow ELISA technique. The technology has been protected through US and Indian patent applications.

What is the news : Species of African Cheetah, is expected to be re-introduced into the country in November this year at the Kuno National Park in Madhya Pradesh

Details :

• The country's last spotted cheetah died in Chhattisgarh in 1947 Cheetah was declared extinct in 1951 in India
• The Wildlife Institute of India (WII) some years back prepared a cheetah re-introduction project.
• The Supreme Court had earlier given its approval to introduce African cheetahs to a suitable habitat in India on an experimental basis.
• Kuno, located in the Chambal region, is spread over an area of over 750 sq km and has a conducive environment for the cheetah
• The National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) is going to release the money for the project
• Cheetah is considered vulnerable under the International Union for Conservation of Nature's (IUCN) red list of threatened species, with a declining population of less than 7,000 found primarily in African savannas.

What is the news :

• The cyclone TAUKTAE , which was named by Myanmar, means "gecko" — a highly vocal lizard — in Burmese dialect.
• Yaas, the cyclonic storm that is expected to hit the coasts of Odisha and West Bengal next week, has been named by Oman. Yaas refers to a tree that has a good fragrance and in English, the word is similar to Jasmine.

HOW ARE CYCLONES NAMED :

• In 2000, a group of nations called WMO/ESCAP (World Meteorological Organisation/United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific), which comprised Bangladesh, India, the Maldives, Myanmar, Oman, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Thailand, decided to start naming cyclones in the region.
• After each country sent in suggestions, the WMO/ESCAP Panel on Tropical Cyclones (PTC) finalised the list.
• The WMO/ESCAP expanded to include five more countries in 2018 — Iran, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Yemen.
• The list of 169 cyclone names released by IMD in April 2020 were provided by these countries — 13 suggestions from each of the 13 countries.

Why is it important to name cyclones?

• Adopting names for cyclones makes it easier for people to remember, as opposed to numbers and technical terms.
• Apart from the general public, it also helps the scientific community, the media, disaster managers etc.
• With a name, it is easy to identify individual cyclones, create awareness of its development, rapidly disseminate warnings to increased community preparedness and remove confusion where there are multiple cyclonic systems over a region.

What are the guidelines to adopt names of cyclones?

While picking names for cyclones, here are some of the rules that countries need to follow. If these guidelines are following, the name is accepted by the panel on tropical cyclones (PTC) that finalises the selection:

* The proposed name should be neutral to (a) politics and political figures (b) religious believes, (c) cultures and (d) gender

* Name should be chosen in such a way that it does not hurt the sentiments of any group of population over the globe

* It should not be very rude and cruel in nature

* It should be short, easy to pronounce and should not be offensive to any member

* The maximum length of the name will be eight letters

* The proposed name should be provided with its pronunciation and voice over

* The names of tropical cyclones over the north Indian Ocean will not be repeated. Once used, it will cease to be used again. Thus, the name should be new.

What is the news : Inching towards the record high seen in January, the country’s foreign exchange reserves swelled by $563 million to $590.028 billion in the week ended May 14, according to data from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).

Details :

• The increase was Driven by sustained foreign direct investment (FDI) and foreign portfolio investor (FPI) inflow
• During the reporting week ended May 14, the rise in the forex kitty was mainly on account of an increase in foreign currency assets (FCA), a major component of the overall reserves
• Expressed in dollar terms, the foreign currency assets include the effect of appreciation or depreciation of non-US currencies like the euro, British pound and Japanese yen held in the foreign exchange reserves.
• The special drawing rights (SDRs) with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) also posted a gain
• The rising forex reserves could bring some comfort to the government as well as the Reserve Bank in managing the nation’s external and internal financial issues at a time when the economy is facing Covid stress once again and it could have an impact on the GDP growth rate for the ongoing fiscal as states are announcing lockdowns

Additional info:

• FDI : Any investment from an individual or firm that is located in a foreign country into a country is called Foreign Direct Investment.
• FPI : Foreign portfolio investment (FPI) consists of securities and other financial assets held by investors in another country. It does not provide the investor with direct ownership of a company's assets and is relatively liquid
• SDR : The SDR is neither a currency nor a claim on the IMF. Rather, it is a potential claim on the freely usable currencies of IMF members. SDRs can be exchanged for these currencies.

What : Mobile robot to the Moon

By : NASA

What is the news : NASA has announced to send its first mobile robot to the Moon in 2023. Mobile robot will search ice and other resources on and below the surface of moon.

Interest in Lunar South Pole

South Pole of Moon attracts most of the scientists because of occurrence of water ice in permanently shadowed areas. The region features unique craters because near-constant sunlight does not reach to their interior. These craters are cold traps comprising of fossil record of hydrogen, water ice, and other such volatiles.

What is the news : UNESCO has accepted the nomination in Tentative Lists of its World Heri According tage Site.

How is the HERITAGE TAG granted :

• to the World Heritage Convention’s operational guidelines, a tentative list is an “inventory” of properties a country believes deserves to be a World Heritage Site. After UNESCO includes a property in the Tentative List, that country has to be prepare a nomination document that will be considered by the UNESCO World Heritage Committee.
• A World Heritage Site is a location with an “outstanding universal value”. This signifies “cultural and/or natural significance which is so exceptional as to transcend national boundaries and to be of common importance for present and future generations of all humanity”.

What is the news : India is all set to host “2022 FIFA under-17 Women’s World Cup” from October 11 to 30, 2022. It will be the second FIFA tournament to be hosted by India

FIFA Women’s World Cup- Background

• FIFA Women’s World Cup is a soccer competition which is contested Internationally by senior women’s national teams of members of  International Federation of Association Football (FIFA).
• The competition was started in 1991 and it is held every four years since then. The 1991 tournament was held in China

About FIFA

• It is a non-profit organization and a highest international governing body of association football, futsal and beach soccer.
• It was founded in 1904 to organise and look after the international competition among national associations of Belgium, France, Denmark, Germany, Netherlands, Sweden, Spain and Switzerland.
• It is Headquartered in Zurich, Switzerland and currently, 211 national associations are its member.

Note: United States have won the tournament four times. France is the current champions after winning in 2019

BACKGROUND :

• The Indian government announced a pandemic-related stimulus package in FY 2020-21 though there was large decline in tax revenue.
• The fiscal deficit for FY 2020-21 (revised estimates) is projected to be 9.5% of the GDP; for 2021-22, it is pegged at 6.8%.
• The focus is on maintaining fiscal discipline. In this peculiar scenario, sustained health financing in India remains a challenge.
• The World Health Organization (WHO) provides data on the percentage of the total population where the household expenditure on health was greater than 10% and 25% of the total household expenditure or income in India in 2011.
• As far as health expenditure above 10% is concerned, 17.33% of the population in India made out-of-pocket payments on health.
• The percentage was higher in rural areas compared to urban areas. Globally, the average was 12.67%, which means that 12.67% of the population spent more than 10% of their income (out of their pocket) on health. In Southeast Asia, 16% spent more than 10% of their household income on health.
• The Western Pacific region came second in the list of regions that saw a rate higher than the global average. Similarly, 3.9% of the population in India made more than 25% of out-of-pocket payments on health, with 4.34% in the rural areas.
• The Economic Survey of India 2019-20 has outlined the fact that an increase in public spending from 1% to 2.5-3% of GDP, as envisaged in the National Health Policy of 2017, can decrease out-of-pocket expenditure from 65% to 30% of overall healthcare expenses. This is where the importance of alternate sources of health financing in India needs to be stressed. 
• Fiscal reforms for managing the environment are important, and India has great potential for revenue generation in this aspect.

HOW CAN A ECO-TAX HELP

• Environment regulation, in turn, may take several forms: command and control; economic planning/urban planning; environmental tax (eco tax)/subsidies; and cap and trade.
• India currently focuses majorly on the command-and-control approach in tackling pollution. The success of an eco tax in India would depend on its architecture, that is, how well it is planned and designed.
• It should be credible, transparent and predictable. Ideally, the eco tax rate ought to be equal to the marginal social cost arising from the negative externalities associated with the production, consumption or disposal of goods and services.
• This requires an evaluation of the damage to the environment based on scientific assessments. This would include the adverse impacts on the health of people, climate change, etc. The eco tax rate may, thus, be fixed commensurate to the marginal social cost so evaluated. The Madras School of Economics had already undertaken extensive studies in this regard.
• Environmental tax reforms generally involve three complementary activities:

A)eliminating existing subsidies and taxes that have a harmful impact on the environment;

             B)restructuring existing taxes in an environmentally supportive manner

             C)initiating new environmental taxes.

• Taxes can be designed either as revenue neutral or revenue augmenting.

• In case of revenue augmenting, the additional revenue can either be targeted towards the provision of environmental public goods or directed towards the overall revenue pool. In developing countries like India, the revenue can be used to a greater extent for the provision of environmental public goods and addressing environmental health issues.
• In India, eco taxes can target three main areas: one, differential taxation on vehicles in the transport sector purely oriented towards fuel efficiency and GPS-based congestion charges; two, in the energy sector by taxing fuels which feed into energy generation; and three, waste generation and use of natural resources. Tax revenues can be generated through eco taxes. There is also a need to integrate environmental taxes in the Goods and Service Tax framework as highlighted by the Madras School of Economics in its studies.

How will the impact be on the GDP

• It will be negligible
• The implementation of an environmental tax in India will have three broad benefits: fiscal, environmental and poverty reduction. Environmental tax reforms can mobilise revenues to finance basic public services when raising revenue through other sources proves to be difficult or burdensome. Revenue from environmental tax reforms can also be used to reduce other distorting taxes such as fiscal dividend. Environmental tax reforms help internalise the externalities, and the said revenue can finance research and the development of new technologies.
• Environmental regulations may have significant costs on the private sector in the form of slow productivity growth and high cost of compliance, resulting in the possible increase in the prices of goods and services. However, the European experience shows that most of the taxes also generate substantial revenue and there is no evidence on green taxes with sustainable development goals leading to a ‘no growth’ economy. Most countries’ experiences suggest negligible impact on the GDP, though such revenues have not necessarily been used for environmental considerations. Thus, the negligible impact on the GDP may be a temporary phenomenon.
• Hence, this is the right time for India to adopt environmental fiscal reforms as they will reduce environmental pollution and also generate resources for financing the health sector.

• Diaspora Doctors and professionals launch “Project Madad” with a mission that “proper education and training” of local healthcare workers and Registered Medical Practitioners (RMPs) will be “fundamental” in controlling COVID-19 spread in rural India
• Congo’s Mount Nyiragongo unleashed lava that destroyed homes on the outskirts of Goma
• The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi has expressed deep grief over the passing away of noted Sanskrit scholar, Pandit Rewa Prasad Dwivedi
• The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi has expressed grief over the passing away of Former Atomic Energy Commission chairman Dr. Srikumar Banerjee.
• Recently, the Tripura Government has launched an online portal named Jagrut Tripura to help the people of the state avail benefits from the various schemes that has been launched by the State as well as the Central Government.
• The Global G20 Health Summit was co-hosted by European Commission along with Italy as part of its G20 presidency amid the surge and spread of the coronavirus cases.