CURRENT AFFAIRS NOVEMBER - 2020

N O V E M B E R 2 0 2 0 C A K A M A R A J I A S A C A D E M Y P a g e | 1

AP - 127, AF block, 6 th street, 11th Main Rd, Shanthi Colony, Anna Nagar, Chennai, Tamil Nadu 600040

CURRENT AFFAIRS

NOVEMBER - 2020

INDEX

A. POLITY AND GOVERNANCE

1. Bru Resettlement in Tripura

2. OTT under I&B

3. One Nation, One Election

4. New CIC Appointed

5. Roshni Act

6. Kerala Withdraws General Consent

to CBI

7. Star Campaigner

8. All insults not offences under

SC/ST Act

9. Disqualification of MLA

10. Parliamentary Standing Committee

on Health

B. INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

1. SCO Heads of State Summit

2. India – Luxembourg

3. India – Bahrain

4. Kartarpur Gurudwara

5. 4th

Global Meet on Criminal

Finances

6. India-Maldives-Sri Lanka Trilateral

7. RCEP takes off

8. 15th

G20 Leaders Summit

9. India – Italy

C. ECONOMY

1. Increase in Forex

2. WPI inflation @ 8 months high

3. GDP Contracts

4. Government allocates for infra

funding

5. Agriculture Exports Grow

6. NGREGA demand rises

7. Proposal for Corporate Houses to

set up banks

8. LVB under Moratorium

9. Centre rolls out 1.19 lakh crore

stimulus package

D. ENVIRONMENT

1. Uttarakhand de-notifies Elephant

Reserve

2. Blue Tide along Mumbai Coast

3. High Biodiversity in Ganga

4. Vulture number Stabilizing

5. Gya Glacier Outburst

6. Spike in Ammonium levels in

R.Yamuna

7. Atlantic Oceans largest protected

Marine Reserve

8. Lonar Lake Declared Ramsar Site

9. Water Bears survive UV Radiation

E. SOCIAL ISSUES

1. 2.5 crore rural homes gets tap

water

2. Indian Universities Employability

3. Deserted Wives alimony

4. More Children to get fortified rice

5. NITI Aayog report on Nutrition

6. Academic Freedom Index

7. Public Affairs Index

8. File FIRs for Cyber crimes

9. India’s push for gender equality in

Science

10. IIT Bombay tops in India- QS

Ranking

F. SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

1. D614G Mutation in Coronavirus

2. QRSAM Trial

3. IRNSS

4. Diabetes goal not satisfactory

5. EOS-01 launched

6. India and Measles Vaccine

7. RT-LAMP for detecting COVID

8. IMAC

9. Elimination of Kala Azar

10. India’s Deep Sea Mission

11. Gullian Barre Syndrome

12. SpaceX-NASA’s Crew 1 Mission

13. Fast Radio Burst Observed in

Milky Way Galaxy

G. ART AND CULTURE

Miyas of Assam and Char-Chapori Culture

H. PRELIMS TIT BITS

I. TROPICAL CYCLONES



A. POLITY AND GOVERNANCE

1.Protests against Bru resettlement in Tripura

What’s in news?

Tripura’s Kanchanpur and Panisagar areas

remains tense after protests against the planned

resettlement of thousands of Bru migrants

permanently at Kanchanpur sub-division of North

Tripura turned violent

Who are Brus?

i. The Bru or Reang are a community

indigenous to Northeast India, living

mostly in Tripura, Mizoram, and

Assam.

ii. In Tripura, they are recognised as a

Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group

(PVTG).

iii. Bru are the second most populous tribe of

Tripura, after the Tripuris

iv. They speak the Reang dialect of

Kokborok language which is of Tibeto-

Burmese origin and is locally referred to

as Kau Bru.

v. Hojagiri folk dance of Reang sub tribe is

rather well known all over the world.

vi. There is no dowry system among the Brus

and they are endogamous tribe

How did they become internally displaced?

i. In Mizoram, they are scattered in Kolasib,

Lunglei and Mamit districts.

ii. While many Brus of Assam and Tripura

are Hindu, the Brus of Mizoram converted

to Christianity over the years.

iii. Clashes in 1995 with the majority Mizos

led to the demand for the removal of the

Brus, perceived to be non-indigenous,

from Mizoram’s electoral rolls.

iv. This led to an armed movement by a Bru

outfit, which killed a Mizo forest official

in October 1997.

v. The retaliatory ethnic violence saw more

than 40,000 Brus fleeing to adjoining

Tripura where they took shelter in six

relief camps.

What’s now?

i. In a major breakthrough on repatriation of

displaced Bru persons from Mizoram, an

agreement was signed by Government of

India, Governments of Mizoram and

Tripura and Mizoram Bru Displaced

People’s Forum (MBDPF) in July 2018

ii. Government of India assured financial

assistance for rehabilitation of Brus in

Mizoram and address their issues of

security, education, livelihood etc. in

consultation with Governments of

Mizoram and Tripura.

iii. According to the four-corner agreement

for resettling them in Tripura, the central

government announced a special

development project with funding of Rs

600 crore.

iv. Each resettled family is estimated get 0.03

acre (1.5 ganda) of land for building a

home, Rs 1.5 lakh as housing assistance,

and Rs 4 lakh as a one-time cash benefit

for sustenance, monthly allowance of Rs

5,000 and free rations for two years from

the date of resettlement.

v. The repatriation so far has not gone

according to what the government had

promised, with the Mizoram government

not issuing ration cards to the families who

returned.

vi. The Bru leaders have also alleged that

those who accepted the rehabilitation

package had not been allotted land to

construct houses and had been kept in

huts, where they were sharing community

kitchens and toilets.

vii. Over the past 10 months, the state has

planned 12 resettlement spots across six

districts of Tripura with 300 families each.

viii. Six of these spots were proposed to be set

up at Kanchanpur sub-division alone, a

move opposed by the Joint Movement

Committee

ix. They demanded that the Bru migrants

should get settlement in all the eight

districts of the state to prevent their

concentration in Kanchanpur sub division.



x. The recent agitation in Tripura was started

by Joint Movement Committee to save

‘ancestral lands’ from Bru migrants as the

government was planning to settle 5,000

migrant families at Kanchanpur instead of

1,500 as assured by the local

administration a month back.

2.News websites, streaming services now under

I&B purview

What’s in news?

i. The government has ordered that digital

media, including films and online news

platforms, will now come under the

purview of the Union Ministry of

Information and Broadcasting.

ii. In the absence of any specific laws of

online content providers and news

platforms, the segment was not directly

regulated by any particular ministry and

the Information Technology Act, 2000

has provided the overarching legal

framework for it.

iii. The Cabinet Secretariat amended the

Government of India (Allocation of

Business) Rules to include “Films and

Audio-Visual programmes made available

by online content providers” and “News

and current affairs content on online

platforms” under the I&B Ministry.

iv. This has brought video streaming over-the-

top (OTT) platforms such as Netflix,

Amazon’s Prime Video, Hotstar, and

others under the Ministry of Information

and Broadcasting (I&B)

What are OTT platforms?

i. OTT, or over-the-top platforms, are audio

and video hosting and streaming services

which started out as content hosting

platforms, but soon branched out into the

production and release of short movies,

feature films, documentaries and web-

series themselves.

ii. These platforms offer a range of content

and use artificial intelligence to suggest

users the content they are likely to view

based on their past viewership on the

platform.

What are the regulation available for media?

i. For print media, there is the Press Council

of India, which is a statutory, quasi-

judicial authority;

ii. For television news, the News

Broadcasting Standards Authority is a

self-regulatory body;

iii. For films there is the Central Board of

Film Certification, which comes under

the I&B Ministry;

iv. For television entertainment, there is

Broadcasting Content Complaints

Council, which is also independent and

self-regulatory;

v. Advertising Standards Council of India,

is also a industry self-regulatory body.

vi. Moreover, the I&B Ministry also has a

mechanism to penalize television

channels—both, news and non-news—for

any violation of the programme code and

the advertising code prescribed under the

Cable Television Network (Regulation)

Act, 1995.

vii. In 2019 November, government had

brought out a draft Registration of Press

and Periodicals (RPP) Bill, which sought

to replace the 150-year of Press &

Registration of Books Act, 1867.

viii. So far in India, there are no laws or rules

regulating OTT platforms as it is a

relatively new medium of entertainment.

What happens now to the OTT platforms?

i. The issue of unregulated content on the

OTT platforms has been raised in the

courts several times in the past.

ii. First challenge before the OTT platforms

would be keeping a check on their content.

iii. It could also mean that these platforms

would have to apply for certification and

approval of the content they wish to

stream

iv. This could give rise to many conflicts as

most OTT platforms have content that



could otherwise be censored by the

certification boards in India.

Recent FDI Rules:

i. Upto 26% FDI is allowed in online news

platforms, as of now I&B Ministry has

laid down certain guidelines

ii. The conditions require the online news

platforms with even less than 26 per cent

foreign direct investment (FDI) to share

details of their shareholding, directors and

promoters within a month.

What’s next?

i. OTT platforms are likely to resist any

plans to censor the content being provided

and streamed by them as these platforms

have often chosen to produce movies and

documentaries on politically sensitive but

relevant topics.

ii. It will also have to be seen as to what

guidelines, if any, does the I&B ministry

put in place for regulating these OTT

platforms.

3.PM pitches for ‘One Nation, One Election’

What’s in News?

PM while addressing the concluding session of the

80th All India Presiding Officers Conference

pitched for “One Nation, One Election” and a

single voter list for all polls in order to prevent the

impact of the model code of conduct on

development works every few months due to

frequent spread-out polls.

Advantages of Simultaneous Elections:

In 2015, the Parliamentary Standing

Committee on Personnel, Public Grievances,

Law and Justice, headed by E M Sudarsana

Natchiappan, prepared a report on the ‘Feasibility

of Holding Simultaneous Elections to House of

People (Lok Sabha) and State Legislative

Assemblies’.

The report said that simultaneous elections would

help to reduce:

(1) the massive expenditure that is currently

incurred for the conduct of separate elections,

(2) the policy paralysis that results from the

imposition of the Model Code of Conduct during

election time,

(3) the impact on the delivery of essential

services and,

(4) the burden on crucial manpower that is

deployed during election time.

Disadvantages of Simultaneous Elections:

1) Complexity of simultaneous elections in a

country of India’s size and diversity would

be impossible to manage.

2) There would be massive logistics issues,

requiring about twice as many electronic

voting machines and Voter Verifiable

Paper Audit Trail machines as in a Lok

Sabha election.

3) Also, it is widely held that simultaneous

polls would benefit the nationally

dominant party at the cost of regional

players, and the complications that would

arise if any of the governments were to

collapse before completing its term.

Did India had Simultaneous Election Earlier?

1) India did start out with simultaneous

elections.

2) Lok Sabha and state legislatures went to

polls together in 1952 and 1957.

3) The cycle was first broken in Kerala, in

July 1959, when the government of

Jawaharlal Nehru used Article 356 of the

Constitution to dismiss the government of

the Communist E M S Namboodiripad

4) At present, Assembly elections in only

Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Arunachal

Pradesh and Sikkim are held together with

the Lok Sabha elections.

Earlier Attempts of Simultaneous Elections:

1) In 1983, the Election Commission had

suggested simultaneous elections.

2) The Law Commission headed by Justice B

P Jeevan Reddy, in its 170th Report in



May 1999, had stated: “We must go back

to the situation where the elections to Lok

Sabha and all the Legislative Assemblies

are held at once”

All India Presiding Officers Conference:

i. The All India Presiding Officers

Conference began in 1921

ii. The theme of this year's conference is

‘Harmonious Coordination between

Legislature, Executive and Judiciary- Key

to a Vibrant Democracy’.

4.Yashvardhan Kumar Sinha takes oath as

Chief Information Commissioner

Central Information Commission :

Background:

1. The Central Information Commission was

established by the Central Government in

2005, under the provisions of the Right

to Information Act (2005).

2. It is a Non-Constitutional Body

3. Right to Information (RTI) is an act of the

Parliament which sets out the rules and

procedures regarding citizens' right to

information.

4. It replaced the former Freedom of

Information Act, 2002.

5. Under the provisions of RTI Act, any

citizen of India may request information

from a "public authority" which is required

to reply expeditiously or within thirty

days.

6. In case of matter involving a petitioner's

life and liberty, the information has to be

provided within 48 hours.

Composition: The Commission consists of a Chief

Information Commissioner and not more than ten

Information Commissioners.

Appointment:

1. They are appointed by the President of

India on the recommendation of a

committee consisting of the Prime

Minister as Chairperson, the Leader of

Opposition in the Lok Sabha and a

Union Cabinet Minister to be nominated

by the Prime Minister

2. Oath of Office will be administered by the

President of India according to the form

set out in the First Schedule.

Eligibility Criteria:

1. Candidates for CIC/IC must be persons of

eminence in public life with wide knowledge and

experience in law, science and technology, social

service, management, journalism, mass media or

administration and governance.

2. CIC/IC shall not be a Member of Parliament or

Member of the Legislature of any State or Union

Territory. He shall not hold any other office of

profit or connected with any political party or

carrying on any business or pursuing any

profession.

Powers and Functions of CIC:

The Central Information Commission or State

Information Commission, as the case may be,

shall, while inquiring into any matter under this

section, have the same powers as are vested in a

civil court while trying a suit under the Code of

Civil Procedure, 1908, in respect of the following

matters, namely:—

(a) Summoning and enforcing the attendance of

persons and compel them to give oral or written

evidence on oath and to produce the documents or

things;

(b) Requiring the discovery and inspection of

documents;

(c) Receiving evidence on affidavit;

(d) Requisitioning any public record or copies

thereof from any court or office;

(e) Issuing summons for examination of witnesses

or documents; and

(f) Any other matter, which may be prescribed.

Resignation and Removal:

1. The CIC or an IC may, at any time, by

writing under his hand addressed to the

President, resign from his office.



2. The CIC or an IC may be removed from

office only by order of the President on the

ground of proved misbehaviour or

incapacity after the Supreme Court, on a

reference made to it by the President,

reports that he/she should be removed on

the grounds mentioned.

3. The President may also remove them from

office if such a person is adjudged

insolvent, convicted for certain offences

etc.

RTI Amendment 2019 related to CIC & IC:

Tenure:

It provided that the Chief Information

Commissioner and an Information Commissioner

(of Centre as well as States) shall hold office for

such term as prescribed by the Central

Government.

Salary:

It provided that the salary, allowances and other

service conditions of the Chief Information

Commissioner and an Information Commissioner

(of Centre as well as States) shall be such as

prescribed by the Central Government.

5.J&K Government Voids Roshni Act

What’s in News?

The Jammu and Kashmir government on October

31 declared all the actions taken under the Jammu

and Kashmir State Land (Vesting of Ownership to

the Occupants) Act, 2001, also known as the

Roshni Act, under which 20 lakh kanals of land

was to be transferred to existing occupants, as

“null and void”.

What is the Roshni Act?

i. The Roshni Act envisaged the transfer of

ownership rights of state land to its

occupants, subject to the payment of a

cost, as determined by the government.

ii. It was enacted by the then Farooq

Abdullah government in 2001, and it set

1990 as the cutoff for encroachment on

state land.

iii. The government’s target was to earn Rs

25,000 crore by transferring 20 lakh kanals

of state land to existing occupants against

payment at market rates.

iv. The government said the revenue

generated would be spent on

commissioning hydroelectric power

projects, hence the name “Roshni”.

v. Later on the cut off year was relaxed as

2004 and was relaxed further to 2007.

vi. The government also gave ownership

rights of agricultural land to farmers

occupying it for free, charging them only

Rs 100 per kanal as documentation fee.

Allegations and Illegality:

i. In 2009, the State Vigilance Organisation

registered an FIR against several

government officials for alleged criminal

conspiracy to illegally possess and vest

ownership of state land to occupants who

did not satisfy criteria under the Roshni

Act.

ii. The transactions under the Roshni Act had

been halted in 2018 after Jammu and

Kashmir went under governor’s rule and

Governor Satya Pal Malik had pronounced

the law “no longer relevant”.

iii. And that was before the state was stripped

of special status under Article 370 and

split into two Union Territories.

iv. A CAG report estimated that against the

targeted Rs 25,000 crore, only Rs 76 crore

had been realised from the transfer of land

into private ownership from 2007 to 2013.

v. The CAG report blamed irregularities

including arbitrary reduction in prices

fixed by a standing committee, and said

this was done to benefit politicians and

affluent people.

vi. Earlier, the Jammu and Kashmir High

Court pronounced the Roshni Act

“completely unconstitutional, contrary to

law and unsustainable” and ordered a

Central Bureau of Investigation probe on

the “land scam” enabled by the law.

6.Kerala withdraws General Consent to CBI



What’s in News?

Kerala withdraws General Consent to CBI,

thereby joining the list of other states including

Mizoram, West Bengal, Rajasthan, Maharashtra,

Chhattisgarh, and Jharkhand.

CBI:

i. The Central Bureau of Investigation is the

premier investigating agency of India.

ii. Operating under the jurisdiction of the

Ministry of Home Affairs (India),

Originally set up to investigate bribery and

governmental corruption, in 1965 it

received expanded jurisdiction to

investigate breaches of central laws

enforceable by the Government of India,

multi-state organised crime, multi-agency

or international cases

iii. However for investigations of offences

under the Prevention of Corruption Act,

its superintendence vests with the Central

Vigilance Commission.

iv. CBI is exempted from the provisions of

the Right to Information Act.

v. CBI is India's officially designated single

point of contact for liaison with the

Interpol.

What is general consent?

i. The CBI is governed by the Delhi Special

Police Establishment Act (DPSEA).

ii. This law makes the CBI a special wing of

Delhi Police and thus its original

jurisdiction is limited to Delhi.

iii. CBI needs consent of the state government

in whose territorial jurisdiction, the CBI

has to conduct an investigation.

iv. This is unlike other central government

agencies, for example, the National

Investigation Agency (NIA), which by

law, enjoys an all-India jurisdiction.

What does the CBI law say?

i. Section 6 of the DPSE Act authorises the

central government to direct CBI to probe

a case within the jurisdiction of any state

on the recommendation of the concerned

state government.

ii. The courts can also order a CBI probe, and

even monitor the progress of investigation.

iii. The CBI manual says, "The central

government can authorize CBI to

investigate such a crime in a state but only

with the consent of the concerned state

government. The Supreme Court and High

Courts, however, can order CBI to

investigate such a crime anywhere in the

country without the consent of the state."

How many types of consent are there for the CBI?

i. There are two types of consent for a probe

by the CBI.

ii. These are: general and specific.

iii. When a state gives a general consent to the

CBI for probing a case, the agency is not

required to seek fresh permission every

time it enters that state in connection with

investigation or for every case.

iv. When a general consent is withdrawn, CBI

needs to seek case-wise consent for

investigation from the concerned state

government. If specific consent is not

granted, the CBI officials will not have the

power of police personnel when they enter

that state.

v. This hurdle impedes seamless

investigation by the CBI. A general

consent is given to facilitate that seamless

investigation in a case of corruption or

violence.

What types of cases the CBI investigates in a

state?

The CBI investigates three types of cases through

three specialised wings.

a) The Anti-Corruption Division that

probes cases of corruption against public

servants.

b) The Economic Offences Division probes

crimes of financial malfeasance, bank

frauds, money laundering, black money

operations, and the like. However, the CBI

usually transfers cases of money



laundering to the Enforcement Directorate

(ED).

c) There is a Special Crimes Division to

investigate cases of violence such as

murder, crimes related to internal security

such as espionage, narcotics and banned

substances, and cheating. It is this division

of the CBI that generally handles cases

that get wide media coverage, for example,

actor Sushant Singh Rajput’s death case.

7.Star Campaigner Status withdrawn for

Kamal Nath

What’s in News?

Former Madhya Pradesh chief minister and

Congress leader Kamal Nath moved the Supreme

Court against the decision of the Election

Commission (EC) to remove his name from the

list of ‘star campaigners’ for his party.

Who is a Star Campaigner ?

i. While there are no specific definitions

according to law or the Election

Commission of India, a star campaigner

can be described as persons who are

nominated by parties to campaign in a

given set of constituencies.

ii. These persons are, in almost all cases,

prominent and popular faces within the

party.

iii. A recognised political party can have 40

star campaigners and an unrecognised

(but registered) political party can have

20.

iv. The list of star campaigners has to be

communicated to the Chief Electoral

Officer and Election Commission within a

week from the date of notification of an

election.

v. The expenditure incurred on

campaigning by such notified star

campaigners is exempt from being

added to the election expenditure of a

candidate.

vi. A star campaigner's expenditure is not

added to candidate's expenditure only

when he/she does a general campaign for

the political party, and not a specific

candidate.

vii. With a candidate's expenditure limit for all

states being set at Rs 70 lakh and for

Arunachal Pradesh, Goa and Sikkim, Rs

54 lakh, Section 77 (b) of The

Representation of People's Act, 1951 says

that most of the expenses incurred by the

campaigner "shall not be deemed to be

expenditure in connection with the

election". In other words, all expenses will

be borne by the respective political party.

viii. For example, expenses borne by star

campaigners on account of travel by air or

by any other means of transport shall not

be deemed as expenditure in connection

with the election.

ix. The manual to the Model Code of Conduct

states that for the benefit of availing

Section 77 (1) of The Representation of

People's Act, a permit for the mode of

transport for every star campaigner will be

issued centrally and against their name. It

is also mandatory for this permit to be

stuck on a prominent and visible place on

the vehicle.

x. The Model Code of Conduct states that if

the star campaigner is a prime minister or a

former prime minister, then expenses

incurred for bullet-proof vehicles required

by centrally appointed security personnel

will be borne by the government.

xi. If a candidate or her election agent shares

the stage with a star campaigner at a rally,

then the entire expenditure on that rally,

other than the travel expenses of the star

campaigner, is added to the candidate’s

expenses.

xii. This also applies when a candidate’s name

is mentioned by the Star Campaigner or

when photos of the star campaigner are

used by any candidate of the party

What is the issue in Madhya Pradesh ?

i. On October 30, Election Commission had

found Mr. Kamal Nath guilty of violating

the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) (he

was found using bad language) in place for



the byelections to 28 Assembly seats in

Madhya Pradesh scheduled on November

3.

ii. In mid October, the Election Commission

(EC) had already warned him after he

violated its advisory asking political

leaders not to make disrespectful

statements against women, however, poor

choice of words in public forum continued

and thereby EC revoked his name from the

list of Indian National Congress Star

Campaigners for the MP by-elections.

iii. Kamal Nath can still campaign but being

removed as “star campaigner” status

means that the money spent on his

meetings and rallies would now be added

to the poll expenditure of the candidate.

8.All insults not offence under SC/ST Act

What’s in News?

The Supreme Court observed that all insults or

intimidations to people belonging to Dalit or tribal

communities will not be an offence under the

Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes

(Prevention of Atrocities) Act

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE JUDGEMENT:

i. An offence will be considered under the

law only if the insults or intimidations

were intended to humiliate a member of

the community, targeting their caste or

tribe. Or, if it is done in a place “within

public view”.

ii. The Supreme Court said that a property

dispute between a person from the SC/ST

community and an upper caste person will

not reveal an offence under the Act unless

the accusations are made as the victim

belonged to the community.

iii. The SC noted that the aim of the Act was

to punish the actions of those belonging to

the upper caste against the vulnerable

sections of the society for the reason that

they belong to a particular community

SCHEDULED CASTES AND THE SCHEDULED

TRIBES (PREVENTION OF ATROCITIES)

AMENDMENT ACT, 2018:

i. It seeks to amend the Scheduled Castes

and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of

Atrocities) Act, 1989.

ii. The Act prohibits the commission of

offences against members of the

Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes

and establishes special courts for the trial

of such offences and the rehabilitation of

victims.

iii. The Bill states that the investigating

officer will not require the approval of

any authority for the arrest of an

accused.

iv. Further, it provides that a preliminary

enquiry will not be required for the

registration of a First Information

Report against a person accused under the

Act.

v. The Act states that persons accused of

committing an offence under the Act

cannot apply for anticipatory bail.

vi. The Bill seeks to clarify that this provision

will apply despite any judgements or

orders of a court that provide otherwise.

9.Mizoram Assembly Speaker disqualifies

Lalduhoma

What’s in News?

India’s first Member of Parliament to have been

disqualified from the Lok Sabha has now been

disqualified as an MLA in Mizoram

Disqualification of Lalduhoma:

Lalduhoma was a former IPS officer and in 1988

he became the first MP to have been disqualified

under the Anti-Defection Law for giving up

membership of the Congress (I)

Now he has been disqualified as MLA on the

ground that he has declared himself as a

representative of the Zoram People’s Movement

(ZPM) despite being elected as an independent

candidate from the Serchhip constituency by the

Speaker of Mizoram Assembly.



Anti – Defection Law:

The 52nd Amendment Act of 1985 provided for

the disqualification of the members of Parliament

and the state legislatures on the ground of

defection from one political party to another

For this purpose, it made changes in four Articles

of the Constitution and added a new Schedule (the

Tenth Schedule) to the Constitution.

This act is often referred to as the ‘anti-defection

law’.

Later, the 91st Amendment Act of 2003 made

one change in the provisions of the Tenth

Schedule.

It omitted an exception provision i.e.,

disqualification on ground of defection not to

apply in case of split.

Grounds of Disqualification:

Members of Political Parties:

A member of a House belonging to any political

party becomes disqualified for being a member of

the House,

(a) if he voluntarily gives up his membership of

such political party; or

(b) if he votes or abstains from voting in such

House contrary to any direction issued by his

political party without obtaining prior permission

of such party and such act has not been condoned

by the party within 15 days.

Independent Members:

An independent member of a House (elected

without being set up as a candidate by any

political party) becomes disqualified to remain a

member of the House if he joins any political

party after such election.

Nominated Members:

A nominated member of a House becomes

disqualified for being a member of the House if he

joins any political party after the expiry of six

months from the date on which he takes his seat in

the House.

This means that he may join any political party

within six months of taking his seat in the House

without inviting this disqualification.

However, Legislators may change their party

without the risk of disqualification in certain

circumstances:

The law allows a party to merge with or into

another party provided that at least two-thirds of

its legislators are in favour of the merger.

In such a scenario, neither the members who

decide to merge, nor the ones who stay with the

original party will face disqualification.

Any question regarding disqualification arising

out of defection is to be decided by the presiding

officer of the House.

10.Parliamentary panel bats for laws to

counter bio-terrorism

What’s in News?

Parliamentary Standing Committee on Health

in a report, “The Outbreak of Pandemic

COVID-19 And its Management” , has

mentioned formulating effective laws to counter

bio-terrorism is one of the important lessons to be

learnt from the COVID-19 pandemic.

The report did not explicitly state that COVID-

19 virus as a bio weapon

What is Bioterrorism?

i. A biological attack, or bioterrorism, is the

intentional release of viruses, bacteria, or other

germs that can sicken or kill people, livestock, or

crops.

ii. Bacillus anthracis, the bacteria that causes

anthrax, is one of the most likely agents to be used

in a biological attack.

What are the Recommendations given by the

Parliamentary Standing Committee?

The Committee strongly recommends the Ministry

to conduct more research and work towards

training and capacity building for management of

public health emergencies arising from the use of

bio-weapons



The follows are some of the recommendations

i. Financing the health sector:

a. The Committee recommended that

healthcare spending should be increased to 2.5%

of the GDP (as compared to 1.6% of GDP in

2019-20) within two years.

b. Further, it suggested that emphasis should

be given to spending on primary healthcare.

ii. Health infrastructure:

a. The total number of government hospital

beds were inadequate to deal with the rise in cases

of COVID-19 at the same time there is an

underutilization of beds provided by the Ministry

of Railways.

b. To deal with the burden on the existing

health infrastructure, the private healthcare sector

should be supported.

c. It suggested that the government institute

fair costing and pricing for COVID-19 treatment

in private hospitals.

iii. Healthcare workers:

a. There is a shortage of healthcare workers

due to vacancies in state run hospitals which are to

be filled at the earliest.

b. To streamline healthcare delivery, the

Committee recommended the creation of the

Indian Health Service as a public health cadre

similar to the Indian Administrative Service.

c. To assist healthcare workers during the

pandemic, the Committee recommended that

health workers have defined work hours and

leaves.

d. Further, it recommended: (i) paid sick

leave, and (ii) timely payment of salaries, for

health workers.

iv. Testing and tracing:

a. Poor contact tracing and less testing could

have been a factor in the growth of COVID-19

cases.

b. The number of testing facilities should be

increased and accurate tests, such as the RT-PCR

test, should be utilised.

v. Treatment:

a. The drugs should only be prescribed for

COVID-19 treatment after multi-centric trials and

detailed study, further, clear guidelines for the

safe use of drugs for treatment of COVID-19

should be issued.

vi. Vaccines:

a. A vaccine should pass all phases of

clinical trials before it is made public.

b. Further, it recommended that the whole

population should be vaccinated.

c. In this regard, the Committee suggested

that:

I.the cost of the vaccine should be subsidised for

weaker sections of society,

II. The cold-storage system across the country

should be upgraded, and

III.vaccines should be administered as per the

World Health Organisation’s strategic allocation

approach or a multi-tiered risk-based approach.

vii. Role of AYUSH:

a. To assist the allopathic sector, the

Committee recommended that AYUSH systems

should be utilised to combat the pandemic.

b. Further, it recommended the integration of

AYUSH with allopathy to: (i) give medical

students an understanding of preventative

healthcare and community medicine, and (ii)

equip AYUSH practitioners to provide primary

healthcare.

c. AYUSH doctors may provide assistance in

areas with a shortage of allopathic doctors or

COVID-19 hospitals and centres.

d. It recommended that standard operating

procedures for deployment of trained AYUSH

manpower to states should be prepared.

B. INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS



1.Modi says SCO members must respect

sovereignty

What’s in News?

20th SCO heads of state summit was held recently

which was chaired virtually by Russian President

Vladimir Putin.

Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO):

i. The Shanghai Cooperation Organization

(SCO) is an intergovernmental

organization founded in Shanghai in 2001

by six countries, People’s Republic of

China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic,

Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan.

ii. After the collapse of the Soviet Union in

1991, the then security and economic

architecture in the Eurasian region

dissolved and new structures had to come

up.

iii. The original Shanghai Five were China,

Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and

Tajikistan.

iv. The SCO was formed in 2001, with

Uzbekistan included.

v. It expanded in 2017 to include India and

Pakistan.

vi. Since its formation, the SCO has focused

on regional non-traditional security, with

counter-terrorism as a priority: The fight

against the “three evils” of terrorism,

separatism and extremism has become

its mantra.

vii. Today, areas of cooperation include

themes such as economics and culture.

Highlights of the Summit:

i. Prime Minister Narendra Modi said all

member-nations of the Shanghai

Cooperation Organisation (SCO) should

respect each other’s sovereignty and

territorial integrity.

ii. The Prime Minister also announced that in

2021, the National Museum of India will

hold an exhibition on the Buddhist

heritage of the SCO countries and India

will host a food festival reflecting the

culinary traditions of the SCO region.

iii. India has also proposed to set up a special

working group on innovation and startups

and a sub-group on traditional medicine

within SCO.

Moscow Declaration:

i. At the end of the 20th

Summit, the heads of

the States has adopted the “Moscow

Declaration” and 16 set of documents

which is meant to expand member states’

cooperation across different areas and

assist in a more coordinated approach to

address global and regional challenges,

including the COVID-19 pandemic.

ii. The Parties call for the early adoption by

consensus of a comprehensive convention

against international terrorism

iii. The SCO leaders adopted the action plan

for 2021-2025 to implement the SCO

Development Strategy through 2025 that

includes nearly 150 practical measures to

improve the organization’s activities in the

next five years, focusing mostly on

economic recovery after the coronavirus

outbreak.

iv. The package of documents also include the

SCO Cooperation Concept for Developing

Remote and Rural Territories in the Digital

Age and the Comprehensive Plan of Joint

Measures to Counter Epidemic Threats in

the Region.

v. The meeting, which finalized Russia’s

chairmanship in the organization and

passing it on to Tajikistan, also made a

decision to sign memorandums of

understanding between the SCO

Secretariat and the Secretariat of the

United Nations Economic and Social

Commission for Asia and the Pacific, the

Eurasian Economic Commission, the

World Health Organisation.

vi. The SCO leaders also supported

Kyrgyzstan’s initiative to establish an

SCO Cultural and Integration Centre in

Bishkek.



2.INDIA – LUXEMBOURG RELATIONS

What’s in news?

A virtual bilateral summit between India and

Luxembourg was held for the first time in the last

2 decades

India-Luxembourg Relations:

i. The diplomatic relations between India

and Luxembourg were established in 1947.

ii. India and Luxembourg have a

longstanding cooperation in the steel

sector.

iii. Chennai is the Indian hub for

Luxembourg's all-cargo airline Cargolux

iv. To identify the areas of mutual economic

interest and bilateral trade promotion,

v. India-BLEU (Belgo-Luxembourg

Economic Union) Joint Commission

Meeting (JCM) was set up in 1997.

vi. It is working as a biennial forum for

exchange of views on various issues of

economic cooperation and to identify the

areas of mutual economic interest and

bilateral trade promotion

vii. Luxembourg is the third largest source

of Foreign Portfolio Investments (FPI)

for India

viii. In 2020, Luxembourg is also the 15th third

largest source of Foreign Direct

Investments (FDI) into India.

ix. Luxembourg is one of the most important

financial centres globally.

x. Several Indian companies have raised

capital by issuing Global Depositary

Receipts at the Luxembourg Stock

Exchange.

xi. The bilateral trade between India-

Luxembourg in the year 2018-19 was USD

162 million (€147 million).

xii. India’s exports to Luxembourg mainly

consisted of engineering products, textiles

and garments and chemicals.

xiii. The major items of India’s imports from

Luxembourg are engineering goods, base

metals, Plastics and articles.

xiv. Several Luxembourg-based investment

funds hold substantial banking and asset

management market share in portfolio

investments in India.

xv. In March 2009, an Indian Business

Chamber of Luxembourg (IBCL) was

constituted to promote commercial

relations between India and Luxembourg.

xvi. Luxembourg’s issued a commemorative

stamp in 2019 to mark the 150th Birth

Anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi.

xvii. Luxembourg based space companies had

begun utilizing the services of India for

launching their satellites into space

recently on 7th November 2020 Satellite

PSLV-C49 by ISRO included 4 satellites

from Luxembourg.

xviii. There is also an ongoing collaboration in

the area of research in neurodegenerative

diseases

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE SUMMIT:

They following MOU’s were signed

i. MoU between India International

Exchange (India INX) and Luxembourg

Stock Exchange and MoU between State

Bank of India and Luxembourg Stock

Exchange both, provides for cooperation in

financial services industry, maintenance of

orderly markets in securities respective

country, ESG (environmental, social and

governance) and green finance in the local

market.

ii. MoU between Invest India and

Luxinnovation for Supporting and

developing mutual business cooperation

between Indian and Luxembourg

companies, including promotion and

facilitation of inbound FDI, coming from

or proposed by Indian and Luxembourgish

investors.

3.India, Bahrain agree to boost cooperation

What’s in News?

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar concluded

a two day visit to Bahrain



India and Bahrain agreed to further strengthen ties

including in areas of defence and maritime

security, space technology, trade and investment,

infrastructure, IT, health, hydrocarbon and

renewable energy

India – Bahrain Relations:

i. India Bahrain bilateral Trade and

commercial exchanges go back to about

5,000 years ago tracing their origins to the

period of Dilmun Civilization in Bahrain

to the era of Indus valley civilization in

India.

ii. Ancient Bahraini traders are believed to

have carried out flourishing trade of

Bahraini pearls with Indian spices from

India.

iii. Presence of around 350,000 Indian

nationals who comprise a third of

Bahrain's total population of 1.4 million is

an important anchor of our bilateral

relations with Bahrain.

iv. Bahrain launched ‘Little India in Bahrain’

project in November 2015 to acknowledge

and mark the contribution of Indian

community to the history and progress of

Bahrain

v. India and Bahrain had signed an Economic

and Technical Co-operation Agreement in

1981 which led to the establishment of The

India-Bahrain Joint Committee on

Economic and Technical Cooperation

(JCETC)

vi. India’s main items of exports to Bahrain

are mineral fuels, mineral oils, inorganic

chemicals, organic or inorganic

compounds of precious metals of rare

earth, Elam/radii/isotopes, cereals, nuts,

fruits, articles of apparel and clothing

accessories etc.,

vii. While main items of import from Bahrain

are crude oils, mineral fuels, their

bituminous substance, distillation,

aluminum, fertilizers, ores/slags/ ashes of

aluminum, iron and copper, pulp, salt,

printed books, newspapers etc

viii. In 2019, Prime Minister Narendra Modi

visited Bahrain , the first ever visit by an

Indian Prime Minister to the country

during which 3 MoUs on space, culture,

the International Solar Alliance and the

RuPay card was signed

4.Behind the fresh row over Kartarpur

gurdwara: Move to control administration,

donations

What’s in news?

The Pakistan government’s decision to transfer the

management and administrative control of the

Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Kartarpur from a Sikh

body — Pakistan Sikh Gurudwara Prabhandhak

Committee (PSGPC) — to a trust under the

Evacuee Trust Property Board, a non-Sikh body,

has inviting sharp reactions from India, which

termed the move “highly condemnable” and

against the spirit of the Kartarpur Corridor.

What is Gurdwara Darbar Sahib and what is its

importance in Sikh religion?

1. The Gurdwara Darbar Sahib, also known

as Gurdwara Kartarpur Sahib, is located in

Pakistan’s Narowal district across river

Ravi, about five kilometres from the Dera

Baba Nanak shrine in India’s Punjab.

2. Guru Nanak Dev, the first Sikh Guru had

arrived in Kartarpur between 1520 and

1522, as per historians, and spent the last

18 years of his life there.

3. It was in Kararpur that he laid the

foundations of a Sikh religion.

4. It was at Kartarpur that Nanak gave the

three Gs – Gurdwara, the Granth, and the

Guru himself – that underpin the Sikh

faith.

5. It was at Kartarpar, Guru Nanak started

the practice of Langar ('an almshouse' or

'a place for the poor and needy', is a

community kitchen in the Sikh tradition).

6. At Kartarpur, Guru Nanak practised what

he preached—“naam japo, kirrt karo,

wand chhako (worship, work, and

share)” — as the path to liberation

7. At his final resting place stands the

gurdwara.



8. Pakistan government restored the main

building of the gurdwara in 2004

Kartarpur Corridor:

1. The Kartarpur corridor connects the

Darbar Sahib Gurdwara in Narowal district

of Pakistan with the Dera Baba Nanak

shrine in Gurdaspur district in India’s

Punjab

2. India and Pakistan have signed an

agreement to operationalise the Kartarpur

corridor, which is valid initially for 5 years

3. The agreement will facilitate visa-free

movement of Indian pilgrims who would

just need a permit to cross over to

Pakistan.

4. The corridor would allow devotees to visit

Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Pakistan and

return in one day without a visa

5. Persons of Indian origin holding OCI

(Overseas Citizenship of India) card too

can visit the gurdwara using the Kartarpur

corridor.

6. The corridor was built to commemorate

550th birth anniversary celebrations of

Guru Nanak Dev, founder of Sikhism on

12th November 2019.

What’s the Controversy?

1. There were more than 176 gurdwaras of

religious and historical importance in

Pakistan.

2. Less than 20 of these gurdwaras have been

opened so far by Pakistan government in

last 73 years.

3. All such gurdwaras are under control of

Evacuee Trust Property Board (ETPB) of

Pakistan.

4. The Pakistan Sikh Gurudwara

Prabhandhak Committee (PSGPC) looks

after the religious affairs of the gurdwaras.

5. The PSGPC also keeps control of the

donations made by devotees

6. The Pakistan government’s has now

decided to transfer the management and

administrative control of the Gurdwara

Darbar Sahib in Kartarpur from Pakistan

Sikh Gurudwara Prabhandhak Committee

(PSGPC) to a trust under the Evacuee

Trust Property Board.

7. For this purpose, Project Management

Unit (PMU)- a new body has been formed

8. This has invited sharp criticism from India

5.132 countries attend 4th Global meet on

criminal finances

What’s in News?

Over 2,000 representatives from 132 countries

attended the virtual 4th Global Conference on

Criminal Finances and Cryptocurrencies

organised by the Interpol, Europol and the

Basel Institute on Governance.

About the Conference:

i. It is an initiative of the Working Group on

Cryptocurrencies and Money Laundering

established in 2016 by the three

organisations

ii. It was launched with an objective of

strengthening knowledge, expertise and

best practices for investigations into

financial crimes and intelligence on virtual

assets and cryptocurrencies

iii. A multi-agency and multi-disciplinary

approach involving both the private and

public sectors is key to tackling criminal

finances and the misuse of

cryptocurrencies.

iv. The conference’s agenda included trends

and investigations on cryptocurrency

related offences, exploring criminal flows

and operations in the dark markets,

ransomware and sextortion case studies,

money laundering involving virtual assets,

and the transfer of drug proceeds using

cryptocurrencies.

v. The conference underlined the need to

expand capabilities on ways to probe

virtual assets and regulate virtual asset

service providers to prevent money

laundering.

Criminal Finance:



Financial crime ranges from basic theft or fraud

committed by ill-intentioned individuals to large-

scale operations masterminded by organized

criminals with a foot on every continent.

These are serious criminal activities whose

importance should not be minimized as, over and

beyond their social and economic impact, they are

often closely linked to violent crime and even

terrorism

INTERPOL:

i. Interpol is the International Criminal

Police Organization, a network comprising

194 member nations, including India.

ii. The agency, with its headquarters in

Lyon, France, was established in 1923.

iii. India has been a member since 1956.

iv. Like any member nation, India maintains a

National Central Bureau which serves as

the national platform for cooperation

between domestic law enforcement units

and the international police community.

The NCB is the designated contact point

for the Interpol.

v. India has collaborated with the Interpol in

tackling a myriad of organised crimes such

as poaching, wildlife trafficking, spurious

drugs and fake medicine rackets, among

others.

vi. The Interpol basically connects police

across the world even if these individual

member nations do not have diplomatic

relations.

vii. The Interpol facilitates information

exchange, knowledge sharing and research

between nations.

viii. This is done by issuing colour-coded

'notices' in four languages -

English,Spanish, French, and Arabic.

ix. The Interpol doesn't have law enforcement

powers such as arrest.

Europol:

The European Union Agency for Law

Enforcement Cooperation, is the law enforcement

agency of the European Union (EU) formed in

1998 to handle criminal intelligence and combat

serious international organised crime and

terrorism through cooperation between competent

authorities of EU member states.

It's headquarters is in The Hague, Netherlands

The Basel Institute on Governance:

The Basel Institute on Governance is an

independent not-for-profit competence centre

working around the world to strengthen

governance and counter corruption and other

financial crimes

The organisation was established in Basel,

Switzerland in 2003

6.Trilateral meet held after 6 years, looks

beyond maritime security

What’s in News?

The fourth National Security Adviser-level

Trilateral Maritime Security Cooperation meeting

was recently held between India, Maldives and

Sri Lanka to promote “meaningful

cooperation” in the Indian Ocean region on

“maritime security”

Mauritius and Seychelles joined as observers

through virtual mode.

Trilateral Maritime Security Co-operation

Initiative:

i. The Trilateral Maritime Security Co-

operation Initiative was launched by India, Sri

Lanka and Maldives in October 2011 at Male

during the first National Security Adviser (NSA)

level meeting

ii. Later Two meeting were followed - in

2013 in Sri Lanka, and in 2014 in India

iii. The three countries were meeting after a

gap of six years, with the long delay attributed to

the strained relations between India and Maldives

during the presidency of Abdulla Yameen.

iv. Factors that necessitated the trilateral

maritime cooperation are as follows: maintaining

peace and security in the Indian Ocean Region;

perceived or real threat perception from external

sources; energy security; disaster management;



non-traditional threats, such as maritime terrorism,

arms and drug trade, piracy, human and arms

smuggling etc

Highlights of the 4th Meet:

i. The aim was to broad-base the maritime

security dialogue and include “terrorism”,

“radicalisation”, “extremism”, “drugs”, “arms and

human trafficking”, “money laundering” and

“cybersecurity” as they decided to cooperate in

these areas of common concern.

ii. Past trilateral meetings were limited in

their scope, as they did not mention terrorism

iii. While the trilateral dialogue is supposed to

be an annual feature, they also agreed to hold

deputy NSA-level working group meetings twice

a year for cooperation at the operational level.

iv. The three sides agreed to expand the scope

of cooperation to improve intelligence-sharing.

v. In the area of maritime cooperation, the

discussions surrounded “maritime domain

awareness, humanitarian assistance and disaster

relief, joint exercises, capacity building, maritime

security and threats, marine pollution, and

maritime underwater heritage”

Way Forward:

i. Given the limited capability and the vast

ocean area to look after, ensuring maritime

security is a major security concern for Sri Lanka

and the Maldives.

ii. In the emerging security situation in the

Indian Ocean, India seems to be comfortable with

the presence of the US and other like-minded

countries in the region.

iii. Nonetheless, India must ensure that in the

long run, it does not lose its relevance in the

neighbourhood.

iv. Factoring in the geo-strategic dynamics in

the Indian Ocean region, as well as the security

needs and strategic concerns of the littoral states,

resumption of the NSA level trilateral meeting

between India, Sri Lanka and the Maldives on

maritime Security Cooperation and inviting

Mauritius, Seychelles and Bangladesh is a

welcome development

7.China-led mega trade bloc RCEP takes off

What’s in News?

Fifteen Asia-Pacific countries have signed the

Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership

(RCEP), at the 37th Association of Southeast

Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit.

RCEP:

i. The Regional Comprehensive Economic

Partnership (RCEP) is a trade deal that was being

negotiated between 15 countries.

ii. They include the 10 Association of

Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) members

(Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia,

Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore,

Thailand, and Vietnam) and the five countries

with which the bloc has free trade agreements

(FTAs) —Australia, China, Korea, Japan, and

New Zealand.

iii. This is expected to represent at least 30%

of the global GDP and will emerge as the largest

free trade agreement in the world.

Why India Did not join RCEP?

i. Key issues that have prevented India from

coming on board include “inadequate”

protection against surges in imports.

(Auto-trigger Mechanism would have

allowed India to raise tariffs on products

in instances where imports cross a certain

threshold.)

ii. India has also not received any credible

assurances on its demand for more

market access, and its concerns over

non-tariff barriers. RCEP participants

like China are known to have used non-

tariff barriers in the past to prevent India

from growing its exports to the country.

iii. India had also reportedly expressed

apprehensions on lowering and

eliminating tariffs on several products

from the country.



iv. Its concerns on a “possible

circumvention” of rules of origin — the

criteria used to determine the national

source of a product — were also not

addressed. Current provisions in the deal

reportedly do not prevent countries from

routing, through other countries, products

on which India would maintain higher

tariffs. This is anticipated to allow

countries like China to pump in more

products.

v. According to a paper published by NITI

Aayog, India has a bilateral trade deficit

with most of the member countries of

RCEP. (Of India’s $105-billion trade

deficit with RCEP countries, nearly half

was with China.)

What would be the impact of India being out of

RCEP?

i. For India, it will be an opportunity to

strengthen its domestic industries and move

towards its dream of becoming self-reliant

ii. At the same time, India might lose out on

investment opportunities

iii. Countries in the RCEP agreement would

also lose out on an opportunity to access the

Indian market.

iv. The Indian government is expected to

pursue separate trade agreements with some of the

countries that will be part of the bloc, such as

Australia and New Zealand.

8.G20: PM calls for a new global index in post-

pandemic world

What’s in News?

The 15th G20 Leaders’ Summit was held virtually

under the presidency of Saudi Arabia, with the

theme "Realizing Opportunities of 21st

Century for All."

The agenda of the summit is focused on

overcoming the pandemic, economic recovery and

restoring jobs, and building an inclusive,

sustainable and resilient future.

India’s Proposals and Address in the Summit:

i. Addressing the summit, PM Modi

described Covid-19 as the biggest challenge the

world was facing since World War II and an

important turning point in the history of humanity.

ii. An official statement by the Ministry of

External Affairs said Modi called for a “new

global index for the post-Corona world that

comprises four key elements – creation of a vast

talent pool; ensuring that technology reaches all

segments of the society; transparency in systems

of governance; and dealing with Mother Earth

with a spirit of trusteeship”

iii. According to PM Modi, the emphasis over

the past few decades has been on capital and

finance, the time has come to focus on multi-

skilling and re-skilling to create a vast human

talent pool which will enhance the dignity of

people and make them more resilient to face

crises.

iv. Any assessment of new technology should

be based on its impact on ease of living and

quality of life

v. ‘Work from Anywhere’ is a new normal in

the post-Covid world and India offered it’s IT

prowess to further develop digital facilities for

efficient functioning of the G20

vi. The summit ended with the adoption of the

Leaders’ Declaration, and with Saudi Arabia

passing on the presidency to Italy.

vii. India will host the G20 summit in 2022.

G20:

i. The G20 is the international forum that

brings together the world’s major economies.

ii. It is a premier forum for international

economic cooperation.

ii. It brings together the leaders of both

developed and developing countries from every

continent.



iv. Its members account for more than 80% of

world GDP, 75% of global trade and 60% of the

population of the planet.

v. The forum has met every year since 1999

and includes, since 2008, a yearly Summit, with

the participation of the respective Heads of State

and Government.

vi. In addition to the Summit, ministerial

meetings, Sherpa meetings (in charge of carrying

out negotiations and building consensus among

Leaders), working groups and special events are

organized throughout the year.

vii. The G20 members are Argentina,

Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France,

Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico,

Republic of Korea, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South

Africa, Turkey, the United Kingdom, the United

States and the European Union (EU).

viii. The presidency of the G20 rotates between

member countries every year.

9.India & Italy ink 15 pacts

What’s in News?

India and Italy inked 15 pacts and finalised an

ambitious action plan to further expand their ties

following a virtual summit between Prime

Minister Narendra Modi and his Italian

counterpart Giuseppe Conte that primarily focused

on ramping up economic engagement.

News Highlights:

i. Italy is the fifth largest trading partner of

India in the European Union

ii. The volume of bilateral trade was Euros

9.52 billion in 2019

iii. In the wide-ranging discussions, the two

sides agreed to further strengthen defence

engagement including through co-development

and co-production of military systems and decided

to conclude a migration and mobility partnership

agreement at the earliest

iv. The two prime ministers condemned

terrorism in all its forms and manifestations and

pledged to strengthen cooperation in the fight

against the menace at bilateral level and in

multilateral fora

v. MoU between Cassa Depositi Prestiti

(CDP) and National Infrastructure Investment

Fund (NIIF) was signed

vi. The Italian Prime Minister thanked India

for extending support to Italy during the pandemic

by supplying medicines and personal protection

equipment (PPE).

vii. The two Leaders welcomed the Global

Health Summit, which will be held in Italy in the

context of the Italian G 20 Presidency in 2021, in

cooperation with the EU Commission.

viii. Creation of the first joint ASI-ISRO

(Italian Space Agency (ASI)) working group in

heliophysics field involving experts and scientists

from both countries was appreciated.

ix. MoU among the Indian Institute of

Technology (Kanpur), Ca’ Foscari University of

Venice, Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) and

Soprintendenza Archeologica Belle Arti e

Paesaggio di Venezia on creating network and

sharing skills for restoration and protection of

monuments was signed

x. Other MOU’s signed will lead to

cooperation in a diverse range of areas including

energy, trade, film-making, shipbuilding and

science and technology.

xi. The two leaders agreed to work closely

together for the success of the 16th India-EU

summit to be held in 2021.

India-Italy Joint Statement and Plan of Action

2020-2024:

The four-year action plan is based upon the

following Pillars

i. PILLAR I (Political dialogue at bilateral

level and coordination in multilateral fora)

a. This include enhance cooperation in the

field of counter terrorism, security, cybersecurity

and Defence, Prioritise disaster risk reduction and

management, foster connectivity etc



ii. PILLAR II (economic engagement)

a. This include improving the business

environment, Stronger contribution of Italy to

India’s flagship programmes "Make in India” and

"Assembled in India for the world”, food

processing, manufacturing and financial sector

iii. PILLAR III (Partnership in the field of

Science and Technology)

a. This aims to increase the partnership in the

field of S&T and environment for this India-Italy

Executive Programme for Scientific and

Technological Cooperation (2021-2023) is been

developed which will provide an overarching

umbrella to current and future initiatives in the

field of Science and Technology (S&T), with

particular regard to:

i. the establishment of Indo-Italian networks

of Excellence in selected areas of mutual strength

(cultural heritage preservation; renewable energy;

life and environmental sciences; geo-hazards);

ii. the implementation of the new phase of the

bilateral Industrial Research & Development

Cooperation Programme and the funding of joint

industrial research projects.

iv. PILLAR IV (Cultural cooperation and

people-to-people exchanges)

a. This include - Enhanced partnership in the

field of cultural and creative industries and

increase Student Mobility

C. ECONOMY

1.In eight months, forex reserves rise by more

than $100 billion

What’s in News?

In last eight months, the foreign exchange reserves

have risen by over $100 billion when the

lockdown was announced in March-end. This

jump of 22 per cent has come following a sharp

decline in imports alongside strong foreign

investment inflows in the second half of the

calendar year.

What is Foreign Exchange Reserves?

i. Foreign exchange reserves are the foreign

currencies held by a country's central bank

ii. Reserve Bank of India Act and the Foreign

Exchange Management Act, 1999 set the

legal provisions for governing the foreign

exchange reserves.

iii. Components of India's Foreign exchange

reserves are

(1) Foreign Currency Assets

(FCA) – it is the largest part of

India’s forex and it comprises of

major currencies such as the

Dollar, Euro, Pound Sterling,

Japanese Yen etc which are valued

in Dollar along with investments

made in Treasury bonds of other

countries and so on,

(2) Gold,

(3) Special Drawing Rights

(SDRs) which is the reserve

currency of IMF and

(The value of the SDR is calculated

from a weighted basket of major

currencies, including the U.S.

dollar, the euro, Japanese yen,

Chinese yuan, and British pound.)

(4) Reserve Tranche Position

(RTP) (It is basically an

emergency account that IMF

members can access at any time

without agreeing to conditions or

paying a service fee. In other

words, a portion of a member

country’s quota can be withdrawn

free of charge at its own

discretion.)

Why There is a increase in Forex Now?

i. While the forex reserves stood at about

$470 billion in the week ended March 20,

2020, it has risen by about $103 billion

since then and to touch nearly $573 billion

in the week ended November 13, 2020.

ii. The major reason in decline in import bill

- the net crude oil import declined sharply



between April and September this year and

the value of imports with respect to Gold

and Electronic Goods also decreased in the

time period

iii. The second major reason is the increase in

foreign investments in India both FDI

and FPI - Between April and November,

the foreign portfolio investments (FPI)

amounted to more than Rs 1.4 lakh crore

(nearly $19 billion).Meanwhile, the net

FDI between April and September

aggregated to about $23 billion.

What is the advantage of having high forex

reserves?

i. As GDP growth remains a concern for

2020-21, rising forex reserves provide

comfort to the government and the RBI.

ii. It sufficiently covers the import bill of the

country.

iii. Reserves also provide confidence to

markets that the country can meet its

external obligations and has reserves for

national disasters or emergencies.

iv. High reserves provide the central banks the

ability to intervene in the currency markets

if required to stabilise volatility in rupee-

dollar exchange rate, and also use it as a

tool for inflation management.

v. Accumulation of dollars is enhancing

liquidity in the banking system, keeping

bond yields in check and supporting

effective transmission

vi. Rise in foreign exchange reserves in

combination with benign oil prices and

tepid imports, has helped the Indian rupee

remain broadly stable since mid-March

2020.

2.WPI inflation at 8-month high

What’s in news?

The wholesale price-based inflation rose to an

eight-month high of 1.48 per cent in October, as

manufactured products turned costlier.

What’s WPI?

i. Wholesale Price Index (WPI) measures the

average change in the prices of

commodities for bulk sale at the level of

early stage of transactions.

ii. The index basket of the WPI covers

commodities falling under the three major

groups namely Primary Articles, Fuel and

Power and Manufactured products

iii. WPI is also known as the headline

inflation rate.

iv. The base year for calculation of WPI is

2011-2012

v. Office of Economic Advisor (OEA),

Department of Industrial Policy and

Promotion, Ministry of Commerce and

Industry calculates the WPI.

vi. The main uses of WPI are :

a. to provide estimates of inflation at

the wholesale transaction level for

the economy as a whole. This helps

in timely intervention by the

Government to check inflation in

particular, in essential

commodities, before the price

increase spill over to retail prices.

b. WPI is used as deflator for many

sectors of the economy including

for estimating GDP by Central

Statistical Organisation (CSO).

c. WPI is also used for indexation by

users in business contracts.

d. Global investors also track WPI as

one of the key macro indicators for

their investment decisions.

Consumer Price Index (CPI):

i. Consumer Price Index is a measure of

change in retail prices of goods and

services consumed by defined population

group in a given area with reference to a

base year.

ii. Presently the consumer price indices

compiled in India are

a. CPI for Industrial workers

CPI(IW),

b. CPI for Agricultural Labourers

CPI(AL) and;

c. Rural Labourers CPI(RL) and



d. CPI (Urban) and CPI(Rural).

iii. Of these, the first three are compiled by

the Labour Bureau in the Ministry of

Labour and Employment.

iv. Fourth is compiled by the Central

Statistical Organisation (CSO) in the

Ministry of Statistics and Programme

Implementation.

v. The base year for CPI is 2011-2012

except for CPI (IW) which is 2016

Wholesale Price Index (WPI) Vs Consumer Price

Index (CPI)

i. WPI reflects the change in average prices

for bulk sale of commodities at the first

stage of transaction while CPI reflects the

average change in prices at retail level paid

by the consumer.

ii. WPI does not capture changes in the prices

of services, which CPI does.

iii. The CPI basket consists of services like

housing, education, medical care,

recreation etc. which are not part of WPI

basket

iv. Both baskets measure inflationary trends

but the two indices differ in weightages

assigned to food, fuel and manufactured

items

3.GDP Contracts 7.5% in second quarter

What’s in News?

India’s GDP (Gross Domestic Product) contracted

7.5% in the second quarter of 2020-2021 and has

now entered a technical recession

What is a recessionary phase?

i. At its simplest, in any economy, a

recessionary phase is the counterpart of an

expansionary phase.

ii. In other words, when the overall output of

goods and services — typically measured

by the GDP — increases from one quarter

(or month) to another, the economy is said

to be in an expansionary phase.

iii. And when the GDP contracts from one

quarter to another, the economy is said to

be in a recessionary phase.

iv. Together, these two phases create what is

called a “business cycle” in any economy.

v. A full business cycle could last anywhere

between one year and a decade.

How is a recession different?

“When a recessionary phase sustains for long

enough, it is called a recession. In other words,

when the GDP contracts for a long enough period,

the economy is said to be in a recession.”

What is Technical Recession and which country

faces it?

i. A “technical recession” is when you

have 2 negative quarters of GDP, but it

is due mainly to slowing growth or an

isolated event rather than a major

underlying cause.

ii. Technical recessions are usually short in

duration and mild in severity

iii. India entered a recession at the end of

September.

iv. The UK is in its third quarter of recession.

v. Brazil and Indonesia are also in recession

while South Africa has evaded it until

now, but only marginally.

vi. China, where the pandemic began, has

bucked the trend.

What RBI Forecasted?

i. Earlier in its latest monthly bulletin — for

November — the Reserve Bank of India

has dedicated a chapter on the “State of the

economy”.

ii. The idea is to provide a monthly snapshot

of some of the key indicators of India’s

economic health.

iii. “By doing so, a hallowed tradition that

began with the first issue of the Bulletin in

January 1947, but interrupted during the

period 1995 to date, will be revived,” the

bulletin said.

iv. As part of the exercise, the RBI has started

“nowcasting” or “the prediction of the

present or the very near future of the state

of the economy”.



4.Government allots Rs.2000 cr for infra

funding

What’s in News?

The Cabinet approved infusion of Rs.2000 crore

as equity into a new debt platform to raise upto

Rs. 1.1 lakh crore for financing infrastructure

projects by 2025 sponsored by NIIF.

National Investment and Infrastructure Fund

(NIIF):

i. The National Infrastructure and Investment

Fund (NIIF) is India’s first-ever

sovereign wealth fund (SWF). (A

sovereign wealth fund is a state-owned

fund) which was set up in 2015

ii. The primary goal of setting up NIIF was to

optimise the economic impact largely

through investing in infrastructure-related

projects.

iii. Across its three funds- Master Fund, Fund

of Funds, and Strategic Fund - it manages

over $3 billion of capital

iv. The funds are registered as Alternative

Investment Fund (AIF) with the

Securities and Exchange Board of India

(SEBI).

v. The NIIF signed the first investment deal

of worth USD 1 billion with the Abu

Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA) in

October 2017.

vi. The ADIA became the first-ever

international investor in the NIIF’s master

fund.

vii. The Indian Government holds a 49%

share in the NIIF.

viii. Domestic investors such as ICICI Bank,

HDFC Bank, Axis Bank, Kotak Mahindra

Life are the other notable investors in the

NIIF.

ix. The UK Government in association with

the NIIF started the Green Growth

Equity Fund (GGEF) under its Fund of

Funds to invest in transportation, water,

waste management, renewable energy, and

other similar sectors in the country.

5.In a mirror of economy, agricultural exports

grow amid overall decline

What’s in news?

India’s agricultural exports are up 4.6% year-on-

year in dollar terms during April-September.

This comes even as the country’s overall

merchandise exports for the same period have

registered a 21.2% annual decline.

Agricultural Exports:

1. Agricultural exports help farmers to take

advantage of wider international market

and increase their income.

2. It have also resulted in increased

production in agriculture sector by

increasing area coverage and productivity.

3. In 2019-20, India exported agricultural and

allied products worth Rs 2.5 lakh crore

against imports of Rs 1.5 lakh crore.

Major Agricultural Commodities that are

Exported:

1. Rice is the major commodity that has been

exported with the value of shipments

increasing by well over a third to $4.08

billion in April-September.

2. India exports basmati rice largely to the

West Asian countries (Iran, Saudi Arabia,

Iraq, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and

Yemen), besides the US and UK.

3. The destinations for non-basmati are

mainly West Africa (Benin, Nigeria, Togo,

Ivory Coast, Liberia, Guinea and Senegal),

East Africa (Somalia and Djibouti), UAE

and Nepal.

4. The growth has come more from the non-

basmati rather than basmati segment.

5. The major segment to benefit is sugar,

Indian mills shipped out almost $2 billion

worth of the sugar in 2019-20, whereas

they have already done $1.4 billion during

the first six months of this fiscal.

6. A third commodity whose exports have

done well this year is cotton

7. In the 2019-20 season (October-

September), India exported 50 lakh bales



of cotton, compared to 42 lakh bales in the

preceding year.

8. For 2020-21 season, the projections for

cotton trade show exports hitting 70 lakh

bales — the highest since 117 lakh bales in

2013-14.

Things that favoured Indian Agricultural

Exports:

a) The recovery in global prices — courtesy

a combination of demand revival from

unlockdowns (opposite to what happened

in April-May)

b) Chinese stockpiling (in anticipation of a

fresh corona outbreak during the winter)

and

c) Dry weather in producer countries such

as Thailand, Argentina, Brazil and Ukraine

Agriculture Export Policy, 2018:

The major objectives of Agriculture Export Policy

are,

1. To double agricultural exports from

present ~US$ 30+ Billion to ~US$ 60+

Billion by 2022 and reach US$ 100 Billion

in the next few years thereafter, with a

stable trade policy regime.

2. To diversify our export basket,

destinations and boost high value and

value added agricultural exports including

focus on perishables.

3. To promote novel, indigenous, organic,

ethnic, traditional and non-traditional Agri

products exports.

4. To provide an institutional mechanism for

pursuing market access, tackling barriers

and deal with sanitary and phyto-sanitary

issues.

5. To strive to double India’s share in world

agri exports by integrating with global

value chain at the earliest.

6. Enable farmers to get benefit of export

opportunities in overseas market.

Elements of Agriculture Export Policy:

The recommendations in the Agriculture

Export Policy have been organised in two

categories – Strategic and Operational – as

detailed below:

Strategic

Policy measures

Infrastructure and logistics

support

Holistic approach to boost

exports

Greater involvement of State

Governments in agri exports

Focus on Clusters

Promoting value-added exports

Marketing and promotion of

“Brand India

Operational Attract private investments into

production and processing

Establishment of strong quality

regimen

Research & Development

Miscellaneous

6.NREGS demand still on rise: 96% of

panchayats have applicants

What’s in News?

Over 96 per cent of gram panchayats across the

country have registered demand for work under

NREGS from April till November-end, signalling

that the rural economy is still struggling to recover

from the pandemic-induced slump.

MGNREGA:

i. The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural

Employment Guarantee Act



(MGNREGA), was enacted on August 25,

2005.

ii. The MGNREGA provides a legal

guarantee for one hundred days of

employment in every financial year to

adult members of any rural household

willing to do public work-related unskilled

manual work at the statutory minimum

wage.

iii. The Ministry of Rural Development

(MRD), Govt of India is monitoring the

entire implementation of this scheme in

association with state governments

iv. This act was introduced with an aim of

improving the purchasing power of the

rural people, primarily semi or un-skilled

work to people living below poverty line

in rural India.

v. It attempts to bridge the gap between the

rich and poor in the country.

KEY FEATURES OF MGNREGA:

Legal right to work:

a) Unlike earlier employment guarantee

schemes, the Act provides a legal right to

employment for adult members of rural

households.

b) At least one third beneficiaries have to be

women.

c) Wages must be paid according to the

wages specified for agricultural labourers

in the state under the Minimum Wages

Act, 1948, unless the central government

notifies a wage rate (this should not be less

than Rs 60 per day).

d) At present, wage rates are determined by

the central government but vary across

states, ranging from Rs 135 per day to Rs

214 per day.

Time bound guarantee of work and unemployment

allowance:

a) Employment must be provided with 15

days of being demanded failing which an

‘unemployment allowance’ must be

given.

Decentralised planning:

a) Gram sabhas must recommend the works

that are to be undertaken and at least 50%

of the works must be executed by them.

b) PRIs are primarily responsible for

planning, implementation and monitoring

of the works that are undertaken.

c) In 2019, an MoU was signed between the

Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD)

and National Remote Sensing Centre

(NRSC) under ISRO for geo-tagging of

the assets created under MGNREGS in

each Gram Panchayat.

Work site facilities:

a) All work sites should have facilities such

as crèches, drinking water and first aid.

Transparency and accountability:

a) There are provisions for proactive

disclosure through wall writings, citizen

information boards, Management

Information Systems and social audits.

b) Social audits are conducted by gram

sabhas to enable the community to monitor

the implementation of the scheme.

Funding:

a) Funding is shared between the centre and

the states.

b) There are three major items of expenditure

– wages (for unskilled, semi-skilled and

skilled labour), material and administrative

costs.

c) The central government bears 100% of the

cost of unskilled labour, 75% of the cost of

semi-skilled and skilled labour, 75% of the

cost of materials and 6% of the

administrative costs.

CHALLENGES OF MGNREGA:

I. Fabrication of job cards

II. Delay in payment of wages

III. Non payment of unemployment

allowances

IV. Large number of incomplete works

V. Poor quality of assets created



VI. Several instances of corruption in the

implementation of MGNREGA

VII. Insufficient involvement of PRIs.

News Highlights:

i. The NREGS is a demand-based scheme

and has emerged as a safety net during the

pandemic for jobless migrant workers

returning to their villages

ii. Every year all the Gram Panchayat will not

demand work under MGNREGA such

Gram Panchayat data shows “nil person

days”

iii. From April to November end Gram

Panchayat with “nil person days” is at 8

year low

iv. Only a little over 9,000 GPs, ie. 3.4 per

cent of the 2.68 lakh GPs across the

country, generated nil person days of

work.

v. This means that over 96 per cent of gram

panchayats across the country have

registered demand for work under NREGS

from April till November-end

vi. Over 6.5 crore households, covering 9.42

crore individuals, have availed NREGS till

November 29 during the current financial

year, which is an all-time high.

vii. The wage expenditure, too, has reached an

all-time high of Rs 53,522 crore during

this period.

7.Proposal to allow corporate houses to set up

banks

What’s in News?

The Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) Internal

Working Group headed by Prasanna Kumar

Mohanty, formed on June 12 2020, has come out

with a set of recommendations that could redefine

the face of private bank ownership.

Some of the most staggering changes proposed

include higher promoter shareholding, the

provision for non-banking financial corporations

(NBFCs) to turn into banks, and the possibility of

corporates being allowed to become promoters.

Proposals in Report:

i. Increasing the level of promoter

shareholding:

a. The RBI committee has recommended

increasing the cap of promoters’ stake in the long

run — that is, 15 years — from the current level

of 15% to 26% stake in the paid up share capital

of the bank.

ii. Non-banking institutions could be turned

into banks

a. Currently, NBFCs don’t have any way to

convert into banks.

b. This means those looking to downsize

don’t have an option.

c. And, this applies to all 9,601 of India’s

shadow banks.

d. The top 50 account for 80% of the market

share when it comes to loans.

iii. Corporates may be allowed to become

bank promoters with the right changes to the

Banking Regulation Act

a. Instead of depending on rich bankers to

step in, this rule will allow large corporates and

industrial houses to become promoters of banks.

iv. Other suggested changes laid out by the

committee include provisions for payments banks

for converting into small finance banks.

a. They also suggested that small finance

banks and payments banks may be listed within

six years from the date “of reaching net worth

equivalent to prevalent entry capital requirement

prescribed for universal banks” or ten years “from

the date of commencement of operations”,

whichever is earlier.

v. The RBI committee is also advocating

that the licensing new banks should be enhanced

from ₹ 500 crore to ₹ 1000 crore for universal

banks, and from ₹ 200 crore to ₹ 300 crore for

small finance banks.

vi. The report has suggested that RBI

regulations need to be consistent and the same



for all players, irrespective of their licensing

date.

Why The recommendation matters?

i. The total balance sheet of banks in India

still constitutes less than 70 per cent of the GDP,

which is much less compared to global peers such

as China, where this ratio is closer to 175%.

ii. The domestic bank credit to the private

sector is just 50% of GDP when in economies

such as China, Japan, the US and Korea it is

upwards of 150 per cent.

iii. In other words, India’s banking system has

been struggling to meet the credit demands of a

growing economy.

iv. There is only one Indian bank in the top

100 banks globally by size.

v. Further, Indian banks are also one of the

least cost-efficient.

vi. Private banks are not only more efficient

and profitable but also have more risk appetite.

vii. It is in this background that the IWG was

asked to suggest changes that not only boost

private sector banking but also make it safer.

Why is the recommendation to allow large

corporates to float their own banks being

criticised?

i. Historically, RBI has been of the view that

the ideal ownership status of banks should

promote a balance between efficiency, equity and

financial stability.

ii. A greater play of private banks is not

without its risks.

iii. The global financial crisis of 2008 was a

case in point.

iv. A predominantly government-owned

banking system tends to be more financially stable

because of the trust in government as an

institution.

v. Moreover, even in private bank ownership,

past regulators have preferred it to be well-

diversified — that is, no single owner has too

much stake.

vi. More specifically, the main concern in

allowing large corporates — that is, business

houses having total assets of Rs 5,000 crore or

more, where the non-financial business of the

group accounts for more than 40% in terms of

total assets or gross income — to open their own

banks is a basic conflict of interest, or more

technically, “connected lending”.

What is connected lending?

i. Simply put, connected lending refers to a

situation where the promoter of a bank is also a

borrower and, as such, it is possible for a promoter

to channel the depositors’ money into their own

ventures.

ii. Connected lending has been happening for

a long time and the RBI has been always behind

the curve in spotting it.

iii. The recent episodes in ICICI Bank, Yes

Bank, DHFL etc. were all examples of connected

lending.

iv. The so-called ever-greening of loans

(where one loan after another is extended to

enable the borrower to pay back the previous one)

is often the starting point of such lending.

v. Unlike a non-bank finance company or

NBFC (many of which are backed by large

corporates), a bank accepts deposits from common

Indians and that is what makes this riskier.

Then why recommend it?

i. The Indian economy, especially the private

sector, needs money (credit) to grow.

ii. Far from being able to extend credit, the

government-owned banks are struggling to

contain their non-performing assets.

iii. Government finances were already

strained before the Covid crisis.

iv. With growth faltering, revenues have

plummeted and the government has limited ability



to push for growth through the public sector

banks.

v. Large corporates, with deep pockets, are

the ones with the financial resources to fund

India’s future growth.

8.Lakshmi Vilas bank places under 30-day

moratorium by RBI, caps withdrawals

What’s in News?

The Reserve Bank of India imposed a 30-day

moratorium on struggling Lakshmi Vilas Bank

Ltd (LVB), superseded its board of directors and

announced a draft scheme for the amalgamation of

the bank with DBS Bank India, a subsidiary of

DBS of Singapore, in the wake of “serious

deterioration in the financial position of the bank”.

What happened?

i. LVB undergone a steady decline with the

bank incurring continuous losses over the last

three years, eroding its net worth.

ii. Almost one fourth of the bank’s advances

have turned bad assets.

iii. Its gross non-performing assets (NPAs)

stood 25.40 per cent of the advances as of June

2020, as against 17.30 per cent a year ago

iv. Further, the bank was also experiencing

continuous withdrawal of deposits and low levels

of liquidity

v. The bank was placed under the prompt

corrective action (PCA) framework in September

2019 considering the breach of PCA thresholds as

on March 31, 2019.

What RBI did?

i. The Reserve Bank of India imposed a 30-

day moratorium

ii. Under the moratorium the RBI has

restricted withdrawals by depositors at Rs 25,000

from savings and current accounts, and

expenditure on any item at Rs 50,000 per month.

iii. Borrowers can withdraw above ₹ 25,000

only for unforeseen expenses including medical

treatment, education etc.

iv. The RBI has also superseded (replaced)

the Board of Directors of LVB, for a period of 30

days, in order to protect the depositors’ interest.

v. The central bank also appointed TN

Manoharan, former non-executive chairman of

Canara Bank, as administrator of LVB.

vi. RBI has announced a draft scheme to

merge LVB with DBS Bank India Ltd (DBIL), an

Indian subsidiary of Singapore’s DBS Bank.

vii. DBIL will bring in additional capital of Rs

2,500 crore, to support credit growth of the

merged entity.

viii. The scheme for merger will try to

implement the scheme before the expiry of the

moratorium

ix. The RBI, has assured depositors of LVB

that their interests will be protected.

9.Centre rolls out ₹ 1.19 lakh-crore stimulus

package

What’s in News?

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced

a fresh set of relief and stimulus measures

((Atmanirbhar Bharat 3.0) for the economy worth

₹ 1.19 lakh crore, including a scheme to boost re-

employment chances of formal sector employees

who lost their jobs amidst the COVID-19

pandemic.

Highlights of the Package:

A. Atmanirbhar Bharat Rozgar Yojana :

i. “Atmanirbhar Bharat Rozgar Yojana” is

being launched to incentivise creation of new

employment opportunities during the COVID

recovery phase.

ii. The beneficiaries under the Scheme are -

Any new employee joining employment in EPFO

registered establishments on monthly wages less

than Rs.15000/-. EPF members drawing monthly

wage of less than Rs.15000/- who made exit from



employment during COVID Pandemic from

01.03.2020 to 30.09.2020 and is employed on or

after 01.10.2020

iii. For establishments employing up to 1,000

employees, the total PF contribution of 24 per cent

for both employers and employees will be paid by

the government.

iv. For establishments employing more than

1,000 employees, the employees’ share of 12 per

cent will be contributed by the government.

v. To be eligible for the scheme, firms having

more than 50 employees must hire at least five

new workers, while those with less than 50

employees must hire a minimum of two workers.

vi. Scheme to be operational till 30th June

2021

B. Launch of ECLGS 2.0 (Emergency

Credit Line Guarantee Scheme) -Guaranteed

credit for supporting stressed sectors

i. To be utilized for 100% guaranteed

collateral free additional credit at capped interest

rates to— Entities in 26 stressed sectors identified

by Kamath Committee plus health care sector with

credit outstanding of above Rs. 50 crore and up to

₹ 500 Crore as on 29.2.2020.

ii. As per the Kamath committee, the stressed

sectors include auto components, construction,

gems and jewellery, hotel and restaurants, iron

and steel, real estate and textiles.

iii. Earlier, the (ECLGS) was available only to

small businesses. The revised scheme extends it to

stressed sectors, irrespective of their turnover and

will be available until March 31, 2021.

iv. Tenor of additional credit under ECLGS

2.0 to be 5 years, including one year moratorium

on principal repayment

v. Scheme available till 31.3.2021

C. PM Garib Kalyan Rozgar Yojana

i. The government has increased the outlay

of Rs. 20,000 crore for the PPM Garib Kalyan

Rozgar Yojana.

ii. The scheme, targeting migrant labourers

who returned to their native places, was created

integrating MNREGA and Grameen Sadak

Yojana.

D. Real estate sector:

i. The government has allowed buyers to

purchase homes at 20% below the circle rate

without attracting any tax penalties. The new

norm is for residential units up to Rs 2 crore.

(Circle rate is the government-defined value at

which property is registered, whereas agreement

value is the one negotiated between the builder

and the buyer)

ii. Earlier, if the developer sold property

below the circle rate, the differential between the

circle rate and the agreed rate was taxable for both

buyer and seller.

iii. Last year, the government allowed

developers to sell at rates up to 10% lower than

the circle rate without attracting additional tax.

iv. The government has now doubled the

differential to 20%.

v. This benefit will be available until June 30,

2021.

E. Infusion of equity to the extent of Rs

6,000 crore to the National Investment and

Infrastructure Fund (NIIF) debt platform

F. Rs 18,000 crores additional outlay for PM

Awaas Yojana (PMAY) –Urban

G. ₹ 65,000 crore additional outlay for

providing fertiliser subsidies to farmers.

H. Rs 10,200 crore are being additionally

provided as stimulus towards capital and

industrial expenditure.

I. Rs. 900 crore provided for Covid

Suraksha Mission for Research and

Development of Indian Covid Vaccine to

Department of Biotechnology

D. ENVIRONMENT



1.Uttarakhand wildlife board clears proposal

to de-notify Elephant reserve

What’s in News?

The Uttarakhand State Wildlife Board cleared a

proposal to cancel the notification of Shivalik

Elephant Reserve, which is spread over 5,409

square km, in the State.

News Highlights:

i. In the recent years, officials of the state

have noted that the notification for

elephant reserve was creating hurdles in

development work in that area.

ii. For instance, the expansion of the Jolly

Grant airport in Dehradun required

additional clearances due to the

notification of Elephant Reserve.

iii. However, even after the notification is

cancelled, the area will remain a reserve

forest and rules of Forest Conservation Act

will remain applicable there.

Conservation Efforts of Elephants in India:

i. The Indian elephant Elephas maximus

occurs in the central and southern Western

Ghats, North-east India, eastern India and

northern India and in some parts of

southern peninsular India.

ii. It is included in Schedule I of the Indian

Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 and in

Appendix I of the Convention on

International Trade in Endangered

Species of Flora and Fauna (CITES).

iii. ‘Gaj Yatra’ is a nationwide awareness

campaign launched by MoEF&CC to

celebrate elephants and highlight the

necessity of securing elephant corridors.

iv. Elephants are the National Heritage

Animal of India

v. Recently, Supreme Court has highlighted

that Elephants are “Keystone Species” in

an ecosystem

Project Elephant:

PROJECT ELEPHANT was launched by the

Government of India in the year 1992 as a

Centrally Sponsored Scheme with following

objectives:

1. To protect elephants, their habitat & corridors

2. To address issues of man-animal conflict

3. Welfare of captive elephants

The Project is being mainly implemented in 16

States / UTs , viz. Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal

Pradesh, Assam, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand,

Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, Meghalaya,

Nagaland, Orissa, Tamil Nadu, Tripura,

Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal.

The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate

Change provides the financial and technical

support to major elephant range states in the

country through Project Elephant.

The CITES Monitoring the Illegal Killing of

Elephants (MIKE) Programme is a site-based

system designed to monitor trends in the illegal

killing of elephants, build management capacity

and provide information to help range States make

appropriate management and enforcement

decisions.

2.Glistening ‘blue tide’ along Mumbai,

Sindhudurg coasts

What’s in News?

Bioluminescence or light-emitting tide is making

an appearance during night on Juhu beach in

Mumbai and Devgad, Velas and Murud along the

Maharashtra’s coastline

Why did the waves appear blue?

i. The phenomenon is called ‘blue tide’, and

appears when luminescent marine life

make the sea appear a deep shade of blue.

ii. The spectacle occurs when phytoplankton

(microscopic marine plants), commonly

known as dinoflagellates, produce light

through chemical reactions in proteins.

iii. Waves disturb these unicellular

microorganisms and make them release

blue light



What are phytoplanktons?

i. Phytoplanktons are freely floating

microorganisms that drift with water

currents.

ii. The two main classes of phytoplankton are

dinoflagellates and diatoms.

iii. Like land plants, phytoplankton have

chlorophyll to capture sunlight, and they

use photosynthesis to turn it into chemical

energy thereby consuming carbon dioxide,

and releasing oxygen.

iv. As they need light, phytoplankton live near

the surface, where enough sunlight can

penetrate.

v. They are known as the primary

producers of the ocean

vi. When too many nutrients are available,

phytoplankton may grow out of control

and form harmful algal blooms .

vii. Similar to the blue tide, harmful algal

blooms emit red light and produce a red

tide.

What is Bioluminescence?

i. Bioluminescence is the property of a

living organism to produce and emit

light. Animals, plants, fungi and bacteria

show bioluminescence.

ii. A remarkable diversity of marine animals

and microbes are able to produce their own

light.

iii. It is found in many marine organisms such

as bacteria, algae, jellyfish, worms,

crustaceans, sea stars, fish and sharks.

iv. Luminescence is generally higher in deep-

living and planktonic organisms than in

shallow species.

v. This may occur due to chemical reaction

involving light emitting molecule and an

enzyme called luciferin and luciferase

Why do they glow?

i. It is an antipredatory response.

ii. Bioluminescence is assumed to startle

predators, causing them to hesitate, in a

form of predator intimidation.

iii. Another explanation is that

bioluminescence helps these organisms

gather together and make colonies

What are the factors causing Bioluminescence?

a) Eutrophication (seawater has low

dissolved oxygen and high presence of

Nitrogen) making phytoplanktons very

dominant.

b) Heavy rain

c) Fertiliser run off

d) Discharge of sewage into the ocean.

e) Factors such as the pattern of the wind and

the temperature of the ocean also

determine the occurrence of

bioluminescent waves

Are bioluminescent waves common in India?

i. Bioluminescence has been an annual

occurrence along the west coast since 2016

during the months of November and

December.

ii. Not only in Maharashtra but recently, the

‘blue tide’ was witnessed along Dakshina

Kannada-Udupi coast.

iii. While bioluminescence is not common in

India, there are several tourist places

across the world which are famous for the

phenomenon.

iv. The Blue Grotto in Malta is one of nine

caves near the island of Filfa that produces

a phosphorescent glow.

v. Similar to the Blue Grotto is

Bioluminescent Bay in Puerto Rico, San

Diego in California, Navarre Beach in

Florida, and Toyama Bay in Japan.

Is the blue tide harmful?

i. While smaller blooms may be harmless,

slow-moving larger blooms may have an

impact on deep-sea fishing.

ii. This phenomenon is an indicator of

climate change.

iii. Harmful algal blooms can produce

extremely toxic compounds that have

harmful effects on fish, shellfish,

mammals, birds, and even people



Sea Sparkle:

i. The bloom of Noctiluca Scintillans

commonly known as “Sea Sparkle” has

displaced the microscopic algae called

diatoms which forms the basis of marine

food chain

ii. This has deprived food for the

planktivorous fish

iii. Though the species doesnot produce toxin

it was found to accumulate toxic levels of

ammonia, which is then excreted into the

surrounding waters, possibly acting as a

killing agent in blooms

iv. The ammonia makes N.Scintillans

unpalatable for most creatures, only

jellyfish and salps were known to prey on

it

v. They act both a plant and animals –

Because they graze on other micro-

organisms such as larvae, fish eggs and

diatoms, but the unicellular phytoplankton

that live inside it can photosynthesise

turning sunlight into energy, they help

their host cell survive even when food was

scarce.

3.High biodiversity in 49% of Ganga main

river

What’s in news?

Wildlife Institute of India (WII) in the second

phase of its survey of the entire main stem of the

Ganga river (the main river without its tributaries),

has found that 49 per cent of the river has high

biodiversity and that biodiversity sightings,

including of the Gangetic Dolphin and otters, have

increased in the river.

R.Ganga and its biodiversity?

1. Ganga rises in the Gangotri glacier near

Gaumukh in the Uttarkashi district of

Uttaranchal. Here, it is known as the

Bhagirathi.

2. At Devprayag, the Bhagirathi meets the

Alaknanda; hereafter, it is known as the

Ganga.

3. The Ganga and its tributaries flow through

11 states and cover 26.3 per cent of the

country’s total geographical area.

4. The main stem of the river flows through

five states — Uttarakhand, UP, Bihar,

Jharkhand and West Bengal.

5. Ten per cent of the high biodiversity areas

fall alongside national parks and

sanctuaries such as Rajaji national park in

Uttarakhand, Hastinapur wildlife sanctuary

in UP and Vikramshila gangetic Dolphin

sanctuary in Bihar

6. The high biodiversity stretches have been

divided into six zones – Devprayag to

Rishikesh (61 km), Makdumpur to Narora

(147 km), Bhitaura to Ghazipur (454 km),

Chhapra to Kahalgaon (296 km),

Sahibganj to Rajmahal (34 km) and

Baharampur to Barackpore (246 km).

7. The river supports around 2000 aquatic

species, including the threatened river

dolphin and gharial.

8. The Ganga river dolphin, gharial and

riverine turtle are the indicator species

used to develop conservation strategies

9. It has 143 different freshwater fish species,

including the Critically Endangered

Ganges shark, Gangetic stingray, Golden

mahseer and Hilsa.

Findings of the Report:

1. The study was initiated by WII on behalf

of the National Mission for Clean Ganga,

one of the flagship projects undertaken by

the Ministry of Jalshakti, and the first

phase of the survey was carried out

between 2017-2019.

2. Nesting colonies of the Indian Skimmer.

3. Seibold’s, a species of water snake,

disappeared 80 years ago and has now

resurfaced.

4. New distributions of the puffer fish.

5. The study has found that 49 per cent of the

river has high biodiversity and that

biodiversity sightings, have increased in

the river.



6. According to scientists, this indicates

reducing pollution levels and a healthier

state of the river.

Why the threat to the Ganga’s biodiversity is

real?

1. Freshwater ecosystems account for 0.01%

of the earth’s surface water but 10% of

species.

2. According to the UN Environment

Programme World Conservation

Monitoring Centre (UNEP-WCMC),

decline in diversity of freshwater species is

the highest, and surpasses losses in marine

and terrestrial species – globally 20% of

all known freshwater fish, 44% waterbirds

and 42% amphibian species are under

threat of extinction.

3. The highest loss of freshwater biodiversity

has been reported from the Indian

subcontinent, specifically the Gangetic

plains.

4.Vulture numbers ‘stabilising’, MoEF

launches action plan to increase population

What’s in news?

Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate

Change has launched a Vulture Action Plan

2020-25 for the conservation of vultures in the

country.

Vulture in India:

i. Vultures are large birds of prey specialized

to scavenge the bodies of dead animals

ii. There are nine recorded species of

vultures in India — the Oriental white-

backed, long-billed, slender-billed,

Himalayan, red-headed, Egyptian,

bearded, cinereous and the Eurasian

Griffon.

iii. Between the 1990s and 2007, numbers of

three presently critically-endangered

species – the Oriental white-backed, long-

billed and slender-billed vultures —

crashed massively with 99 per cent of the

species having been wiped out.

iv. The number of red-headed vultures, also

critically-endangered now, declined by

91% while the Egyptian vultures by 80%.

v. The Egyptian vulture is listed as

‘endangered’ while the Himalayan,

bearded and cinereous vultures are ‘near

threatened’.

vi. In India, Vultures also plays an important

role in Parsi religion, when a Parsi dies,

his or her body is left in the ‘Tower of

Silence’ for vultures, they believe that

being consumed by the scavenger bird

liberates the spirits of the dead.

Threats to Vultures:

Diclofenac:

i. Main threat to Vulture is Diclofenac, it is a

non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug

(NSAID) mainly used for animals,

bioaccumulation of Diclofenac causes

kidney failure and visceral gout in

Vultures leading to death.

ii. Diclofenac is such dangerously fatal for

Vultures that even 1% of it in carcass

would kill the Vulture in a short time, after

it feeds such carcass.

iii. It was found in 2006 and in 2008 it was

banned in India

Pesticide Pollution and Slow Breeding Rate:

i. Chlorinated hydrocarbon D.D.T (Dichloro

Diphenyl Trichloroethane) used as

pesticide enters the body of vultures

through food chain where it affects the

activity of estrogen hormone, as a result of

which the egg shell is weakened.

ii. Consequently the premature hatching of

egg takes place causing the death of the

embryo.

iii. Moreover a Vulture lay a single egg in a

breeding season

Others:

i. Poisoned Carcass

ii. Habitat Destruction

iii. Starvation due to non available of food



Conservation efforts:

i. The MoEFCC released the Action Plan for

Vulture Conservation 2006

ii. The Central Zoo Authority (CZA) and

Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS)

also established the Vulture Conservation

Breeding Programme, which has been

successful and had three critically-

endangered species bred in captivity for

the first time.

iii. Eight centres have been established and, so

far, 396 vultures of the three species have

successfully fledged.

iv. The Jatayu Conservation Breeding

Centre (JCBC) established at Pinjore in

2001 was the first Vulture Care Centre

(VCC) in the country.

v. Four rescue centres have been proposed

for different geographical areas like

Pinjore in the north, Bhopal in ventral

India, Guwahati in Northeast and

Hyderabad in South India.

vi. Protection status of White backed, Long

Billed and Slender Billed Vultures has

been upgraded from Schedule IV to

Schedule I of the Wild Life (Protection)

Act, 1972.

vii. The Vulture Safe Zone programme is

being implemented at eight different

places in the country where there were

extant populations of vultures, including

two in Uttar Pradesh.

viii. The Ministry also plans on carrying out

safety testing of available NSAIDs on

vultures and to develop new ones which do

not affect vultures.

5.Gya Glacial Outburst

What’s in News?

In August 2014, a glacial lake outburst flood

(GLOF) hit the village of Gya in Ladakh,

destroying houses, fields and bridges.

Researchers now have mapped the evolution of

Gya glacial lake and note the cause of the flood.

GLACIAL LAKE OUTBURST FLOOD (GLOF):

i. A glacial lake outburst flood is a type of

outburst flood occurring when water

dammed by a glacier or a moraine is

released.

ii. A water body that is dammed by the front

of a glacier is called a marginal lake, and a

water body that is capped by the glacier is

called a sub-glacial lake.

iii. When a marginal lake bursts, it may also

be called a marginal lake drainage. When a

sub-glacial lake bursts, it may be called a

jökulhlaup.

iv. Failure can happen due to erosion, a

buildup of water pressure, an avalanche of

rock or heavy snow, an earthquake or

cryoseism, volcanic eruptions under the

ice, or massive displacement of water in a

glacial lake when a large portion of an

adjacent glacier collapses into it.

v. In 1929, a GLOF from the Chong

Khumdan Glacier in the Karakoram

caused flooding on the Indus River 1,200

km downstream

GYA GLACIAL OUTBURST AND EFFECT:

i. Gya Lake is situated in Leh, Ladakh at

5,400 m which is snow covered even in

summer .

ii. Using remote sensing data, researchers

from Germany have mapped the evolution

of Gya Glacier and noted the cause of the

flood

iii. The flooding did not happen due to an

avalanche or landslide, rather there was a

thawing of the ice cores in the moraine

(a field of dirt and rocks that have been

pushed along by the glacier as it moves)



which drained through the subsurface

tunnels

iv. The researches note that the thawing of ice

cores may accelerate in future due to

global climate and there is an urgent need

to use multiple methods for better risk

assessment and early warning

v. It is almost certain that other glacial lake

outburst floods will happen all over the

Indian Himalaya.

vi. However, not all of these events have

catastrophic outcomes.

vii. It largely depends on urban planning, the

size of the lake, the distance between the

lake and affected villages, the valley

section and some more aspects.

viii. In some cases, cloudbursts can also trigger

glacial lake outburst flood events like in

the Kedarnath disaster in 2013.

ix. More bathymetric studies are needed to

analyse lake volumes, and it is important

to regularly monitor lake development and

dynamics.

x. New, sophisticated technologies can also

be put to use to understand the stability of

the moraines that dam the lake

6.Spike in ammonia levels in Yamuna

What’s in News?

Water supply was affected in parts of Delhi after a

spike in pollutants in the river Yamuna led to a

temporary closure of two water treatment plants.

Ammonia levels in the river, flowing into Delhi

from Haryana, had reached nearly 3 parts per

million (ppm), almost six times above the

acceptable limit of 0.5ppm

Yamuna River:

1. Yamuna, is the Western Most and the

longest tributary of Ganga and has its

source in Yamunotri Glacier on the

Western Slopes of Banderpunch Range in

Uttarakhand

2. It joins Ganga at Prayag

3. Some of its tributaries are Hindon, Tons,

Giri, Baghain, Chambal, Betwa, Varuna,

Ken

Causes for Yamuna River Pollution:

1. Effluents from dye units, distilleries and

other factories in Panipat and Sonepat

districts in Haryana

2. The pesticides used in the agriculture land

3. Discharge of Untreated Sewage /

Wastewater from Households

4. Idol Immersion

5. It is particularly polluted downstream of

New Delhi which dumps about 58% of its

waste into the river

6. High Density Population and Rapid

Urbanisation

Ammonia:

1. Ammonia is a colourless gas with a

chemical formula NH3.

2. It occurs naturally in the environment from

the breakdown of organic waste matter

3. It is widely used as a fertilizer,

manufacturing of explosives,

manufacturing of synthetic dyes,

refrigerant and in the production of soda

ash

Ammonia Pollution:

1. Ammonia reduces the amount of oxygen

and also increases Biochemical oxygen

demand (BOD).

(Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD) is

the measure of the quantity of oxygen used

by microorganisms in the oxidation of

organic matter

Dissolved Oxygen (DO) – Concentration

of Oxygen dissolved in a water sample

High BOD indicates low DO)

2. High levels of Ammonia increases the

toxicity of water thereby affected the life

of aquatic organisms

3. Long Term ingestion of water having

ammonia levels of 1 ppm or above may

cause damage to internal organs

Treatment for Ammonia Pollution :



1. The Delhi Jal Board (DJB) at present has

the capacity to treat 0.9 ppm of ammonia

in the raw water

2. If the concentration is higher than this,

then raw water is diluted with fresh water

3. The amount of chlorine added to disinfect

raw water is also increased when high

levels of ammonia are detected

Long Term Solution:

1. Maintaining Minimum Ecological Flow of

Water

2. Stabilisation of Ecosystem by means of

reducing the ammonium waste at the

source and treatment of waste water before

discharge

3. Stringent implementation of guidelines

against dumping harmful waste into the

river

7.Atlantic Ocean’s largest protected marine

reserve

What’s in news?

Isolated UK Overseas Territory of Tristan da

Cunha, which is home to the world’s most

remote human settlement, declared the largest

fully protected marine reserves in the Atlantic

Ocean at 687,000 square kilometres

Where is it located?

i. Tristan da Cunha is a remote group of

volcanic islands in the south Atlantic

Ocean.

ii. It is the most remote inhabited archipelago

in the world, lying approximately 1,511

miles (2,432 km) off the coast of Cape

Town in South Africa

iii. Tristan da Cunha is a British Overseas

Territory with its own constitution.

iv. There is no airstrip on the main island; the

only way of travelling in and out of Tristan

is by boat, a six-day trip from South

Africa.

v. Saint Helena and Falkland Islands are it’s

neighbouring islands

Biodiversity:

i. Tristan da Cunha, which is inhabited by

less than 300 humans is a small chain of

islands

ii. The water around the islands are

considered to be the richest in the world.

iii. The mountainous archipelago Tristan da

Cunha is home to tens of millions of

seabirds and several unique land birds

iv. However, some of its seabirds that are not

found anywhere else in the world face

threats including illegal and unregulated

fishing activities, overfishing, plastic

pollution and climate change.

v. The National Geographic reported that

invasive mice brought to the islands by

passing ships kill over 2 million birds a

year.

vi. As of now, there are two critically

endangered species in the island group and

over five endangered species.

vii. The island group is also home to the

World Heritage Site of Gough and

Inaccessible Islands, which is one of the

most important seabird islands in the

world.

What does the announcement mean for the island

group?

i. After joining the UK’s Blue Belt

Programme, it will become the largest no-

take zone in the Atlantic and the fourth

largest on the planet.

ii. This means fishing, mining and any such

activities will not be allowed.

iii. The almost 700,000 square kilometres of

the Marine Protection Zone (MPZ) is

almost three times the size of the UK and

will safeguard the future of sevengill

sharks, yellow-nosed albatrosses and

rockhopper penguins

UK’s Blue Belt Programme:

i. The Blue Belt programme supports the UK

Overseas Territories to put in place long

term protection.

ii. This includes 27 million pounds over a

period of five years for marine



conservation around the UK Overseas

Territories and international organisations

iii. Marine Protection Zones (MPZs) involve

the management of certain natural areas

for biodiversity conservation or species

protection and are created by delineating

zones with permitted and non-permitted

areas within that zone.

Way Forward:

Tristan da Cunha’s model can be used in many

islands around the world

As per the National Geographic Society’s

Campaign for Nature Initiative, over 30 percent of

the world’s oceans need to be protected to allow

ecosystems to provide benefits like ample fish

stocks

8.Lonar’s meteor lake declared Ramsar site

What’s in News?

The meteor lake at Lonar in Buldhana district has

been declared a Ramsar site

The number of protected wetlands in India

under the Ramsar Convention increased from

27 in 2019 to 41 in 2020

What are Wetlands?

The Ramsar Convention definition for wetlands

includes marshes, floodplains, rivers and lakes,

mangroves, coral reefs and other marine areas no

deeper than 6 metres at low tide, as well as

human-made wetlands such as waste-water

treatment ponds and reservoirs.

Wetlands in India:

i. A total of 757,060 wetlands have been

mapped in the country.

ii. The total wetland area estimated is 15.26

million hectares, which is around 4.63% of

the geographical area of the country

(National Wetlands Atlas - ISRO)

iii. The 2011 edition of the National Wetlands

Atlas of India classified India’s wetlands

into 19 categories.

iv. Common ones include river, stream,

reservoir, barrage, intertidal, mud-flat and

natural lake; the more unique among them

are lagoon, mangrove, coral, riverine and

high-altitude lake

v. Wetlands are regulated under the Wetlands

(Conservation and Management) Rules,

2017

Ramsar Convention:

i. The Ramsar Convention is an international

treaty for the conservation and sustainable

utilization of wetlands, recognizing the

fundamental ecological functions of

wetlands and their economic, cultural,

scientific, and recreational value

ii. This convention was adopted on February

2, 1971 in Ramsar, Iran.

iii. February 2 is observed as World

Wetlands Day every year.

iv. Ramsar Site designation is for “Wetlands

of International Importance”.

v. Wetlands can be designated to the Ramsar

List under any (one or more) of the nine

criteria that ranges from uniqueness of the

site to those based on species and

ecological communities supported.

vi. Globally, there are over 2,300 Ramsar sites

around the world, covering over 2.1

million sq km.



Ramsar Sites in India:

India has 41 Ramsar Sites, out of which

Kabartal (Bihar), Asan Conservation Reserve

(Uttrakhand), Sur Sarovar (Uttar Pradesh), Lonar

Lake (Maharashtra) were added in October –

November 2020

NAME OF SITE

STATE

LOCATION

1

Asan Conservation

Reserve Uttarakhand

2 Asthamudi Wetland Kerala

3

Beas Conservation

Reserve Punjab

4

Bhitarkanika

Mangroves Orissa

5 Bhoj Wetlands

Madhya

Pradesh

6 Chandertal Wetland

Himachal

Pradesh

7 Chilka Lake Orissa

8 Deepor Beel Assam

9

East Kolkata

Wetlands West Bengal

10 Harike Lake Punjab

11 Hokera Wetland

Jammu and

Kashmir

12 Kabartal Wetland Bihar

13 Kanjli Lake Punjab

14 Keoladeo Ghana NP Rajasthan

15

Keshopur-Miani

Community Reserve Punjab

16 Kolleru Lake

Andhra

Pradesh

17 Loktak Lake Manipur

18 Lonar Lake Maharashtra

19

Nalsarovar Bird

Sanctuary Gujarat

20

Nandur

Madhameshwar Maharashtra

21

Nangal Wildlife

Sanctuary Punjab

22

Nawabganj Bird

Sanctuary

Uttar

Pradesh

23

Parvati Agra Bird

Sanctuary

Uttar

Pradesh

24

Point Calimere

Wildlife and Bird

Sanctuary Tamil Nadu

25 Pong Dam Lake Himachal

Pradesh

26 Renuka Wetland

Himachal

Pradesh

27 Ropar Lake Punjab

28 Rudrasagar Lake Tripura

29 Saman Bird Sanctuary

Uttar

Pradesh

30

Samaspur Bird

Sanctuary

Uttar

Pradesh

31 Sambhar Lake Rajasthan

32 Sandi Bird Sanctuary

Uttar

Pradesh

33 Sarsai Nawar Jheel

Uttar

Pradesh

34 Sasthamkotta Lake Kerala

35 Sunderbans Wetland West Bengal

36

Surinsar-Mansar

Lakes

Jammu and

Kashmir

37 Sur Sarovar

Uttar

Pradesh

38 Tsomoriri Lake

Jammu and

Kashmir

39

Upper Ganga River

((Brijghat to Narora

Stretch)

Uttar

Pradesh

40

Vembanad Kol

Wetland Kerala

41 Wular Lake

Jammu and

Kashmir

Lonar Lake:

i. The Lonar lake, situated in the Deccan

Plateau’s volcanic basalt rock, was created

by the impact of a meteor 35,000 to 50,000

years ago.

ii. The water in the lake is highly saline and

alkaline, containing special

microorganisms like anaerobes,

Cyanobacteria and phytoplankton.

iii. The site also has 160 bird, 46 reptile and

12 mammal species.

9.How water bears survive lethal UV radiation

What’s in News?

In a recently published paper, researchers from

Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru (IISc) have

reported findings on a species of microscopic

organisms called tardigrades (also knows as water

bears).



Scientists have discovered a new species of

tardigrade that can endure ultraviolet (UV) light

so lethal, it is regularly used to get rid of hard-to-

kill viruses and bacteria.

Tardigrades:

i. Tardigrades, small aquatic creatures

known as water bears, can survive extreme

heat, radiation, and even the vacuum of outer

space—conditions that would kill most animals

ii. It can survive decades without food and

can live in water or on land, and are capable of

surviving temperatures as high as 150° Celsius

and as low as minus 272° Celsius albeit for a few

minutes.

iii. They are also called as moss piglets

iv. The eight-legged animals can come back

from being dried out to a lifeless husk for decades,

and withstand the crushing depths of the Mariana

Trench.

v. About 1,300 species of Tardigrades have

been reported worldwide.

vi. Most tardigrades eat algae and flowering

plants, piercing plant cells and sucking out their

contents though their tube-shaped mouths.

vii. Some, however, are carnivorous and may

eat other tardigrades.

viii. Tardigrades are nature’s pioneers,

colonizing new, potentially harsh environments,

providing food for larger creatures that follow.

ix. Tardigrades pose no threat to humans.

Scientists have yet to identify a species of

tardigrade that spreads disease.

x. In 2019, Tardigrades were on a lunar

lander and probe called Beresheet launched by

an Israeli private company but Beresheet crash-

landed on the Moon and got destroyed, but the

company said that they believe the tardigrades

might have survived the Beresheet lunar crash.

Research Findings:

i. Researchers at the Indian Institute of

Science scoured their campus for water bears, and

then exposed them to extreme conditions, realized

they had found a new species of tardigrade, part of

the Paramacrobiotus genus.

ii. To figure out how the new species—which

was found living in moss on a concrete wall in

Bengaluru, —survived, the scientists examined it

with an inverted fluorescence microscope.

iii. To their surprise, under the UV light, the

reddish tardigrades became blue.

iv. Fluorescent pigments, likely located under

the tardigrades’ skin, transformed the UV light

into harmless blue light.

v. In contrast, Paramacrobiotus with less

pigment died about 20 days after exposure.

E. SOCIAL ISSUES

1. 2.5 crore rural homes get tap water;

Telangana tops

What’s in news?

A latest data by Jal Shakti Ministry has revealed

that over 2.5 crore rural households have been

provided tap connections under the Jal Jeevan

Mission (JJM) since it started in 2019, with

Telangana and Bihar emerging as leading states

Jal Jeevan Mission:

1. Jal Jeevan Mission, is envisioned to

provide safe and adequate drinking water

through individual household tap

connections by 2024 to all households in

rural India.

2. The Mission was launched on August 15,

2019.

3. Department of Drinking Water and

Sanitation under the Jal Shakti Ministry is

the executing agency of the mission.



4. The Mission will focus on both demand

and supply side water management at

the local level.

5. It will also focus on creation of local

infrastructure like rainwater harvesting,

groundwater recharge and management of

household wastewater for reuse in

agriculture.

6. The Mission is based on a community

approach to water and includes extensive

Information, Education and

Communication as a key component of the

mission.

7. The fund sharing pattern between the

Centre and states is 50:50 (except

Himalayan and North East and UT’s),

90:10 for Himalayan and North-Eastern

States and 100% for Union Territories.

8. Recently, 100-days Campaign was

launched on the occasion of Gandhi

Jayanti under the Jal Jeevan Mission to

provide potable piped water supply in

Schools & Anganwadi Centres

Why is Jal Jeevan Mission Needed?

1. India is a water stressed country, the per

capita water availability in 2011 in India

was 1,545 cubic metre.

2. As per NITI Aayog, about 70% of piped

water supply in India is contaminated.

3. UNICEF data said the estimated economic

burden of waterborne diseases is

approximately US$600 million as

chemicals contaminate the water in 1.96

million homes.

4. More than 50% of the population has no

access to safe drinking water and about

200,000 people die every year for lack of

access to safe water.

5. The 2018 Composite Water Management

Index (CWMI) noted that 6% of economic

GDP will be lost by 2050, while water

demand will exceed the available supply

by 2030

Highlights of the recent data:

1. Goa has become the first state in the

country to provide a tap connection to all

rural households

2. Telangana is the top performing state in

terms of providing tap connections to a

maximum proportion (69.56 per cent) of

rural households, providing about 38 lakh

tap connections

3. Bihar, which is at second place, has

covered 54.38 per cent of rural households,

followed by Goa (24.3 per cent), Mizoram

(23.19 per cent), Haryana (21.12 per cent),

Manipur (20.78 per cent), Himachal

Pradesh (19.99 per cent), Maharashtra

(15.4 per cent), Uttarakhand (14.97 per

cent), and J&K (14.94 per cent).

4. West Bengal is at the bottom of the list of

32 states and Union territories, covering

only 1.44 per cent of rural households

since the start of the mission. The others at

the bottom of the list are Karnataka (1.4

per cent), Kerala (1.78 per cent), Ladakh

(2.25 per cent), Assam (3.39 per cent),

Jharkhand (3.36 per cent) and Rajasthan

(3.69 per cent), among others.

2.Indian universities No. 15 in employability of

graduates

What’s in News?

“Employability Rankings 2020” released by

Times Higher Education (THE) and a French

Consultancy “Emerging” has placed India at 15

rank in the world list of most universities

producing employable graduates

Highlights of the News:

i. India has improved its ranking from 23 in

2010 to 15 in 2020

ii. There is a general decline of American and

British universities in terms of employability.

iii. India has been one of the high performers for

employability over the last decade along with

Germany (ranked 3rd), China (5th) and South

Korea (9th).

iv. India also increased its representation in the

top 250 universities worldwide - from four in

2019 to six in 2020.



v. A notable performer is IIT-Delhi, which

ranked 149th in 2014 and moved up to 27th in

2020.

vi. The top 3 universities are California Institute

of Technology (1st), Massachusetts Institute

of Technology (2nd) and Harvard University

(3rd)

vii. China’s score saw an increase of 132% over

the past 10 years (208 in 2010 to 481 in 2020).

Way Forward:

i. As the Covid-19 situation has made the

challenge of finding work difficult for

graduates, the study says students and parents

are even more driven by the ability to get job

rather than the reputation of a university.

ii. Covid 19 has exposed the vulnerabilities of

Indian Universities in delivering quality skills

and education which will now hinder the

employability of students in post covid

scenario

iii. At the same time, India needs certain reform

to maintain and improve it’s standard in the

Global report namely – Reforms in Acts and

Laws related to UGC, NAAC ranking

framework, IQAC Regulations and imparting

industry relevant skills

3.Deserted wives, children entitled to alimony

from date of application: Supreme Court

What’s is News?

i. The Supreme Court held that deserted

wives and children are entitled to

alimony/maintenance from the husbands

from the date they apply for it in a court of

law.

ii. In order to prevent the dependent spouse

from undergoing financial hardships, it is

necessary that maintenance is awarded

from the date on which the application is

filed.

iii. Both the applicant wife and the respondent

husband have to disclose their assets and

liabilities in a maintenance case.

iv. Any earlier case filed or pending under

any other law should also be revealed in

court.

v. There is no provision in the Hindu

Marriage Act with respect to the date from

which an order of maintenance may be

made effective.

vi. Similarly, Section 12 of the Domestic

Violence Act, does not provide the date

from which the maintenance is to be

awarded.

vii. The judgment was given in a matrimonial

case on the question of payment of

maintenance by a man to his wife and son

under Section 125 of the Code of Criminal

Procedure (CrPC).

viii. Strict proof of marriage should not be a

pre-condition for grant of maintenance

under Section 125 of the CrPC

ix. Section 125(2) of CrPC is the only

statutory provision which provides that the

Magistrate may award maintenance either

from the date of the order, or from the date

of application

x. Usually maintenance cases have to be

settled in 60 days, but in reality, it takes

years to settle such cases, due to legal

loopholes.

xi. An order of maintenance may be enforced/

executed under Section 28A of the Hindu

Marriage Act, Section 20(6) of the

Domestic Violence Act or Section 128 of

CrPC.

xii. Further, an order or decree for maintenance

may be enforced as a money decree under the

Code of Civil Procedure.

4.More Children to get fortified rice

What’s in News?

In a bid to combat chronic anaemia and

undernutrition, Government is planning to

distribute fortified rice through Integrated Child

Development Services (ICDS) and Mid Day Meal

Schemes across the country from the next year

with special focus on 112 aspirational districts

Present Scheme for Food Fortification:

i. A centrally-sponsored pilot scheme was

approved in February 2019, for a three-



year period from 2019-20 onwards with a

budget outlay of Rs.174.6 crore

ii. Under it, one district each in 15

predominantly rice-eating States was

selected and fortified rice where to be

distributed through PDS

iii. It was found that, out of 15 states only 5

— Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Maharashtra,

Tamil Nadu and Chhattisgarh — have

started the distribution of fortified rice in

their identified pilot districts.

iv. The Food Corporation of India has now

been mandated to scale up the annual

supply of Fortified Rice Kernels (FRK)

from the current 15,000 tonnes to at least

1.3 lakh tonnes.

Food Fortification and Fortifying Rice:

i. According to the World Health

Organisation (WHO), food fortification is

defined as the practice of deliberately

increasing the content of essential

micronutrients so as to improve the

nutritional quality of the food supply and

to provide a public health benefit with

minimal risk to health.

ii. Fortifying rice is infused with iron, folic

acid and Vitamin B12

iii. Fortifying rice involves grinding broken

rice into powder, mixing it with nutrients,

and then shaping it into rice-like kernels

using an extrusion process.

iv. These fortified kernels are then mixed with

normal rice in a 1:100 ratio and distributed

for consumption.

v. Currently, there are only 15,000 tonnes of

these kernels available per year

ICDS:

i. The Integrated Child Development Service

(ICDS) Scheme providing for

supplementary nutrition, immunization

and pre-school education to the children is

a popular flagship programme of the

government.

ii. Launched in 1975, it is one of the world’s

largest programmes providing for an

integrated package of services for the

holistic development of the child.

iii. ICDS is a centrally sponsored scheme

implemented by state governments and

union territories.

iv. The scheme is universal covering all the

districts of the country.

v. The ICDS Scheme offers a package of six

services, viz.

a. Supplementary Nutrition

b. Pre-school non-formal education

c. Nutrition & health education

d. Immunization

e. Health check-up and

f. Referral services

Mid Day Meal Scheme:

i. It was 1995 as a centrally sponsored

scheme under the Ministry of Human

Resource Development

ii. The scheme provides that every child

within the age group of six to fourteen

years studying in classes I to VIII who

enrolls and attends the school, shall be

provided hot cooked meal having

nutritional standards of 450 calories and 12

gm of protein for primary (I- V class) and

700 calories and 20 gm protein for upper

primary (VI-VIII class), free of charge

every day except on school holidays.

iii. The scheme covers all government and

government aided schools and also

maktabs (elementary religious schools)

and madrasas (secondary religious

schools) supported under the Samagra

Shiksha Abhiyan.

5.Need to step up efforts to meet nutrition

targets, says NITI Aayog report

What’s in News?

The National Nutrition Mission or the Poshan

Abhiyaan — the world’s largest nutrition

programme for children and mothers — must be

stepped up in order to meet the targets set by the

Centre to reduce stunting, wasting, and

anaemia by 2022, warns a report by NITI Aayog

with only a little over a year left to reach its goals.



More than a third of children under five suffer

from stunting and wasting and 40% of children

between one and four are anaemic. Over 50% of

pregnant and non-pregnant women were found to

be anaemic, according to the National Family

Health Survey-4 released in 2016.

POSHAN ABHIYAN:

i. The Prime Minister’s Overarching

Scheme for Holistic Nutrition or

POSHAN Abhiyaan or National

Nutrition Mission, is Government of

India’s flagship programme to improve

nutritional outcomes for children, pregnant

women and lactating mothers

ii. It was launched on International Women’s

Day on 8 March, 2018 from Jhunjhunu in

Rajasthan

iii. For implementation of POSHAN

Abhiyaan the four point strategy/pillars of

the mission are:

a. Inter-sectoral convergence for

better service delivery

b. Use of technology (ICT) for real

time growth monitoring and

tracking of women and children

c. Intensified health and nutrition

services for the first 1000 days

d. Jan Andolan

iv. Improving capacities of frontline workers

through the Incremental Learning

Approach (ILA) mechanism.

v. Emphasizing convergent actions among

the frontline workforce, including through

performance linked joint incentives for the

3As (ASHA, Anganwadi & ANM).

vi. As a part of its mandate, NITI Aayog is

required to submit implementation status

reports of POSHAN Abhiyaan every six

months to the PMO

vii. The programme through the targets will

strive to reduce the level of stunting,

under-nutrition, anemia and low birth

weight babies.

viii. NNM targets to reduce stunting, under-

nutrition, anemia (among young children,

women and adolescent girls) and reduce

low birth weight by 2%, 2%, 3% and 2%

per annum respectively. Although the

target to reduce Stunting is atleast 2% p.a.,

Mission would strive to achieve reduction

in Stunting from 38.4% (NFHS-4) to 25%

by 2022 (Mission 25 by 2022).

ix. Under Poshan Abhiyaan, the month of

September is observed as Poshan Maah i.e.

Nutrition month every year, since 2018

The National Council on India’s Nutrition

Challenges:

i. As per the mandate of Government of

India, MoWCD has constituted the

National Council on India’s Nutritional

Challenges under the Chairmanship of

Vice-Chairman of NITI Aayog with the

following objectives:

a. To provide policy directions to

address India’s Nutrition

Challenges through coordinated

inter-sectoral action

b. To coordinate and review

convergence among ministries

c. To review programmes for

nutrition on a quarterly basis

ii. The key role of the Council is also to

coordinate and review convergence among

Ministries for providing policy directions

to address India’s Nutrition Challenges

through coordinated inter-sectorial action.

iii. $200 million loan from World Bank will

be used for implementing the National

Nutrition Mission

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE REPORT:

i. The review report was drafted in March

and does not factor worsening poverty and

hunger levels over the past seven months

(COVID Effect)

ii. The report calls for a need to lay as much

emphasis on complementary feeding as it

does on breastfeeding, which it points out



can help avert 60% of the total stunting

cases in India.

iii. It also recommends improved “water,

sanitation, hand washing with soap and

hygienic disposal of children’s stools” as

other interventions which could help avert

a quarter of the stunting cases.

iv. On stunting, the review says that India's

targets are conservative as compared to the

global target defined by the World Health

Assembly (WHA), which is a prevalence

rate of 5% of stunting as opposed to

India’s goal of reducing stunting levels to

13.3% by 2022.

v. Additional preventive nutrition and health

sensitive strategies are required to achieve

further reductions in wasting to meet

WHA target for India

vi. The projections are optimistic, and will

need to be re-adjusted for the COVID-19

disruptions to health and nutrition services

6.ACADEMIC FREEDOM INDEX:

What’s in News?

India has a low score in a new global index of

academic freedom

Academic Freedom Index:

i. Academic freedom, the freedom of

teachers and students to teach, study, and

pursue knowledge and research without

unreasonable interference or restriction

from law, institutional regulations, or

public pressure

ii. It has been published by Global Public

Policy Institute as a part of a global time-

series dataset (1900-2019) in cooperation

with Friedrich-Alexander University

Erlangen-Nürnberg, Scholars at Risk and

the V‑ Dem Institute.

iii. The AFI has eight components.

1. Freedom to research and teach

2. Freedom of academic exchange

and dissemination

3. Institutional autonomy

4. Campus integrity

5. Freedom of academic and cultural

expression

6. Constitutional protection of

academic freedom

7. International legal commitment to

academic freedom under the the

International Covenant on

Economic, Social and Cultural

Rights

8. Existence of universities

iv. The report has the index 0 -1

v. The index did not report data for 35

countries - including the United States and

Australia

vi. Uruguay and Portugal top the AFI, with

scores of 0.971 each, followed closely by

Latvia (0.964) and Germany (0.960).

vii. India with a score of 0.352, is closely

followed by Saudi Arabia (0.278) and

Libya (0.238).

viii. In the last five years, the AFI of India has

dipped by 0.1 points.

ix. Countries like Malaysia (0.582), Pakistan

(0.554), Brazil (0.466), Somalia (0.436)

and Ukraine (0.422) have scored better

than India.

x. India has not fared well in components like

institutional autonomy, campus integrity,

freedom of academic and cultural

expression and constitutional protection of

academic freedom

xi. AFI has cited the “Free to Think: Report of

the Scholars at Risk Academic Freedom

Monitoring Project”, suggests that political

tensions in India have something to do

with the falling economic freedom

Problems in India:

i. Most universities in India are subjected to

unsolicited interference from governments

in both academic and non academic issues

ii. Majority of the appointments especially to

top posts in universities are highly

politicised

iii. These choke academic and creative

freedom and lead to corrupt practices

including those in licensing and

accreditation, thus promoting unhealthy



favouritism and nepotism in staff

appointments and student admissions

iv. Which ultimately reflects “Rent Seeking

Culture” within the academic community

How National Education Policy NEP 2020 can

solve this?

i. NEP 2020 aims at overhauling the

educational system and making “India a

global knowledge superpower”, aligned

with the United Nations Sustainable

Development Goal-4 (SDG 4 -Quality

Education).

ii. It also emphasises universal access to

schools for all children, raising the Gross

Enrolment Ration (GER) and ending the

spiralling dropout rate in India

iii. The NEP 2020 claims that it is based on

principles of creativity and critical

thinking and envisions an education

system that is free from political or

external interference.

iv. The policy states that faculty will be given

the “freedom to design their own curricular

and pedagogical approaches within the

approved framework, including textbook

and reading material selections,

assignments and assessments”.

v. It also suggests constituting a National

Research Foundation (NRF), a merit-

based and peer-reviewed research funding,

which “will be governed, independently of

the government, by a rotating Board of

Governors consisting of the very best

researchers and innovators across fields”.

vi. It aims to de-bureaucratise the education

system by giving governance powers to

academicians.

7.PUBLIC AFFAIRS INDEX 2020

What’s in News?

Public Affairs Index-2020 released by the Public

Affairs Centre

Pubic Affairs Index:

i. It is an annual report released by Public

Affairs Centre – Not-for-Profit

Organization (NPO) based in Bengaluru

(Karnataka) headed by former Indian

Space Research Organisation (ISRO)

chairman K Kasturirangan

ii. In the index, the states were ranked on

governance performance based on a

composite index in the context of

sustainable development.

iii. It uses Three Dimensions of development

– Equity, Growth and Sustainability,

Five Themes, and 50 indicators

iv. It maps the indicators to the Sustainable

Development Goals (SDGs) relevant to

Indian states.

Equity Index:

i. This index is composed using 23 social,

economic and gender related indicators

such as malnutrition, women in legislature,

slum population and crimes against

SC/ST’s.

ii. Among the Large States, the top three are

Andhra Pradesh, Kerala and Chhattisgarh

and lowest being Uttar Pradesh

iii. Among the Small States, Meghalaya tops

the list followed by Himachal Pradesh and

Manipur, while Delhi was the least

Growth Index:

i. It comprises of 20 indicators such as

expense on agriculture, student-teacher

ratio, drinking water, sanitation, electricity

availability, fiscal deficit and

unemployment rate

ii. Among Large States, the top 3 are –

Kerala, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu while

Uttar Pradesh comes Last

iii. Among the Small States Goa tops the list

followed by Himachal Pradesh and Sikkim

and lowest score was of Manipur

Sustainability Index:

i. It is composed of 7 indicators such as use

of renewable energy, land degradation,

waste management and air quality



ii. Among Large States – Kerala, Tamil Nadu

and Telangana tops the list and West

Bengal was in the bottom

iii. Among the Small States – Goa, Meghalaya

and Sikkim tops the list while the last

place was obtained by Uttarakhand

Overall Ranking:

i. Four southern states, Kerala, Tamil

Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka

stood in the first four ranks in the large

state category in terms of governance,

Uttar Pradesh, Odisha and Bihar were at

the bottom of the ranking

ii. In the small state category, Goa ranked

first, followed by Meghalaya and

Himachal Pradesh. Worst performers are

Manipur, Delhi and Uttarakhand.

iii. Chandigarh emerged the best governed

Union territory , followed by Puducherry

and Lakshadweep.

iv. Andaman and Nicobar, Jammu and

Kashmir ,Dadar and Nagar Haveli were

the least performers.

8.File FIRs for Cybercrimes

What’s in News?

Home Ministry has written to all States to

examine and register FIRs based on complaints

received on the National Cybercrime Portal

What is a Cybercrime?

Cybercrime -the use of a computer as an

instrument to further illegal ends, such as

committing fraud, stealing identities, or violating

privacy

NCRB Data on Cybercrime:

i. Increased by 63.5% in 2019.

ii. Out of this, 60.4% of cybercrime cases

registered were for the motive of fraud,

followed by sexual exploitation, with 5.1%

iii. The highest number of cybercrime cases

were registered in Karnataka (12,020)

closely followed by Uttar Pradesh

(11,416), Maharashtra (4,967)

iv. As per the data available with the Home

Ministry, only 2.5% of total complaints

registered on the National Cybercrime

Reporting Portal was converted into First

Information Reports (FIRs)

India’s Cyber Situation:

i. India secures a spot amongst the top 10

spam-sending countries in the world

alongside USA

ii. India was ranked among the top five

countries to be affected by cybercrime,

according to a report by online security

firm ”Symantec Corp”

iii. Steps taken by India to deal with

Cybercrimes:

iv. Information Technology Act, 2000 deals

with - Identity theft , Cyberterrorism,

Cyberbullying , Hacking , Defamation,

Trade Secrets, Freedom of Speech,

Harassment and Stalking

v. National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal

under the Ministry of Home Affairs

which facilitate victims/complainants to

report cyber crime complaints online

vi. The National Cyber Security Policy

document drafted by the Department of

Electronics and Information Technology

(DeitY) in 2013 aimed at protecting the

public and private infrastructure from

cyber attacks.

vii. National Cyber security Coordination

Centre (NCCC) which was formed in

2017 with a mandate to scan internet

traffic and communication metadata

(which are little snippets of information

hidden inside each communication)

coming into the country to detect real-time

cyber threats.

viii. A scheme for establishment of Indian

Cyber Crime Coordination Centre

(I4C) has been established to handle issues

related to cybercrime in the country in a

comprehensive and coordinated manner

ix. In 2017 a platform named Cyber

Swachhta Kendra was introduced for

internet users to clean their computers and

devices by wiping out viruses and malware



x. Training of 1.14 Lakh persons through 52

institutions under the Information

Security Education and Awareness

Project (ISEA) – a project to raise

awareness and to provide research,

education and training in the field of

Information Security.

xi. In 2018 Cyber Surakshit Bharat

Initiative was launched to spread

awareness about cybercrime and building

capacity for safety measures for Chief

Information Security Officers (CISOs) and

frontline IT staff across all government

departments.

xii. In International Level we have Budapest

Convention on Cybercrime that seeks to

address Internet and computer crime

(cybercrime) by harmonizing national

laws, improving investigative techniques,

and increasing cooperation among nations.

It came into force on 1 July 2004. India is

not a signatory to this convention.

INTERPOL INITIATIVE:

i. The Interpol has created two secure and

flexible services to facilitate cybercrime

related communication among law

enforcement agencies and other

stakeholders to ensure more effective and

coordinated action based on timely

intelligence.

ii. Cybercrime Knowledge Exchange

workspace that handles general, non-

police information and is open to all

relevant users

iii. Cybercrime Collaborative Platform-

Operation, which assists in the law

enforcement operations, with access

restricted to the operational stakeholders

only.

iv. Said to be the first of its kind, the

Cybercrime Collaborative Platform-

Operation is a centralised information

database for coordination of global law

enforcement operations against

cybercrime.

9. India’s push for gender equity in science

What’s in News?

The Science, Technology and Innovation Policy,

currently being drafted by the Department of

Science and Technology (DST), one of the focus

in the draft will be to increase the participation of

women in science.

What is been planned?

i. DST will incorporate a system of grading

institutes depending on the enrolment of

women and the advancement of the careers

of women faculty and scientists.

ii. The concept borrows from a programme

started by the UK in 2005 called the

Athena SWAN (Scientific Women’s

Academic Network), which is now being

adopted by many countries.

iii. The DST will soon launch a pilot, which

the British Council has helped it develop.

What is Athena SWAN?

i. The Athena SWAN Charter is an

evaluation and accreditation programme in

the UK enhancing gender equity in

science, technology, engineering,

mathematics and medicine (STEMM).

ii. Participating research organisations and

academic institutions are required to

analyse data on gender equity and develop

action plans for improvement.

iii. The programme recognises such efforts

with bronze, silver or gold accreditation.

iv. Institutions that sign up commit to

addressing unequal gender representation;

tackling the gender pay gap; removing the

obstacles faced by women in career

development and progression;

discriminatory treatment often experienced

by trans people; gender balance of

committees and zero tolerance for bullying

and sexual harassment.

Why does India need such a programme?

i. In India, it will be called GATI (Gender

Advancement through Transforming

Institutions).



ii. India is ranked 108 out of 149 countries in

the 2018 Global Gender Gap report.

iii. According to DST figures, in 2015-16, the

share of women involved in scientific

research and development was 14.71% —

after it had actually increased from 13% in

2000-2001 to 29% in 2014-15.

iv. The DST has also found that women are

either not promoted, or very often drop out

mid-career to attend to their families

What are the challenges ahead?

i. To get as many institutions as possible to

sign up, the DST will need to manoeuvre

around government red tape as most

universities, barring the IITs and NITs, are

run and funded by the government as well.

ii. This means that these institutions don’t

have direct control over institutional

policies, recruitment and promotions.

iii. The DST has tied up with National

Assessment and Accreditation Council,

under the UGC, aiming to push gender

equity through them.

iv. The DST plans to run intensive gender

sensitisation programmes, especially for

the top leadership of institutions, and work

within existing rules such as pushing for

women members on selection committees

during recruitment processes.

v. In the future, the DST is likely to consider

policy changes such as those brought

about in the UK providing financial

incentives through grants to institutes.

10.IIT-Bombay best in country, 8 Indian

institutes in top 500: QS World University

Ranking 2021

What’s in News?

The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT)

Bombay is the best institute in India, as per the

latest QS World University Ranking 2021. The

institute has been ranked 172nd in top universities

across the world by the Quacquarelli Symonds

Ranking.

Quacquarelli Symonds Ranking:

i. QS Quacquarelli Symonds is the world’s

leading provider of services, analytics, and insight

to the global higher education sector, whose

mission is to enable motivated people anywhere in

the world to fulfil their potential through

educational achievement, international mobility,

and career development.

ii. The QS World University Rankings

portfolio, inaugurated in 2004

iii. It also publishes QS Asia University

Rankings 2021that compares 650 institutions from

18 locations across Asia.

iv. Some other ranking by QS are - QS Top

50 under 50 Ranking(annually), QS Graduate

Employability Rankings and QS Best Student

Cities

QS World University Ranking 2021 Highlights:

i. The United States has remained dominant

in the ranking with four out of the five institutes.

ii. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology

has continued to be the top-ranking university in

the world, followed by Stanford, Harvard and

California University of Technology (Caltech).

iii. QS ranking claims universities from across

80 different locations were ranked across six

metrics — academic reputation, employer

reputation, faculty-student ratio, citations per

faculty, international faculty ratio, and

international student ratio.

iv. Among Asian counterparts, the top-

ranking is grabbed by the National University of

Singapore.

v. A total of eight institutes have found their

place in the top 500, No Indian Institute is

featured in top 100

vi. In the recently released, Employability

Ranking, IIT-Delhi was ranked as the most

employable institute in India.

vii. IIT-Bombay, IISc Bangalore, IIT-Delhi,

IIT-Madras, IIT-Kharagpur, IIT-Kanpur, IIT-

Roorkee and IIT-Guwahati are placed in top 500



QS Asia University Ranking 2021:

i. The National University of Singapore

secured the top institution position for the third

consecutive year.

ii. No Indian institute could make it to the top

10 of the QS list for 2021.

iii. The top three Indian universities to feature

on the Asia Rankings are IIT Bombay (Rank 47),

IIT Delhi (Rank 50), and IIT Madras (Rank 56).

iv. A total of 107 Indian institutes made it to

the overall QS Asia Rankings.

v. Of them, 7 bagged a spot in the top 100.

vi. The top 8 countries with the most

universities are: Mainland China (124), India

(107), Japan (105), South Korea (88),Taiwan

(43),Pakistan (40),Malaysia (35) and Indonesia

(30)

F. SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

1.D614G MUTATION IN CORONAVIRUS

According to the paper published in the peer-

reviewed journal mBIO, D614G has become a

dominant mutation variant in COVID 19

pandemic, it has become the most transmitted

mutant variant

What is D614G mutation?

i. All viruses mutate to adapt to the barriers

that humans put up. RNA viruses such as

SARS-CoV-2 mutate slowly as they

require a host (human cell) in order to

replicate.

ii. Until now, 12,000 mutations have been

documented in over 3.2 crore cases

globally.

iii. One mutation has been found the most

widespread.

iv. It was first noticed in China and Germany,

but gained attention when it cropped up in

several cases across Europe, and

eventually in the US, Canada, Australia

and India.

v. In this mutation, glycine (G) replaces

aspartic acid (D) in the 614th position in

the amino acid.

vi. Hence the mutation came to be referred as

‘D614G’.

What makes this mutation unlike others?

i. To understand this, we must understand

how SARS-CoV-2 enters a human cell.

ii. When the virus makes an error in this

replicating cycle, we get a transformation

(mutation).

iii. The amino acids where mutation occurs

are located in the spike protein of the

virus.

iv. The spike proteins binds with the ACE2

receptor on the human cell and gains entry.

v. It is the peptides in the spike protein that

lock with the ACE2 receptor.

vi. In D614G mutation, two of the three

peptides open up, making chances of entry

into human cell higher.

vii. Imagine a hand with three fingers. If only

one finger opens, it has limited access to

pick up objects, but if two fingers open,

they can pick up more objects.

viii. The two peptides increase chances of the

virus entering a human cell.

ix. Because its nature allows a better chance

of entering a host cell than other mutated

strains, D614G has a higher rate of

transmission.

What are the implications of this?

i. A virus mutates every time it replicates in

the human cell to adapt and survive.



ii. This mutation is helping the virus do

exactly that.

iii. Patients infected with this mutation “had

significantly higher virus load in the

nasopharynx on initial diagnosis”.

(Viral load is a measure of virus particles. It is

the amount of virus present once a person has

been infected and the virus has had time to

replicate in their cells.)

iv. This mutation is widely prevalent in India

Way Forward:

The mutation may not reduce the ability of

vaccines in clinical trials to protect against

COVID-19 and the therapeutic antibodies should

be tested against the circulating variant of the

virus before clinical development

The paper, however, fails to establish any link

between the D614G mutation and the increase in

the severity of COVID-19 or its impact on the

mortality of the patients.

The patients infected with this mutation show

variable reactions depending on certain factors

such as age, exposure to other diseases, genetic

constitution and so on.

2. Second trial of QRSAM proves DRDO

warhead’s capabilities

What’s in News?

A second consecutive successful trial of the

indigenously developed Quick Reaction Surface

to Air Missile (QRSAM) was conducted by the

DRDO, it was conducted to strike down a high

performance Jet Unmanned Aerial Target called

Banshee, which simulates an aircraft.

What is QRSAM?

i. QRSAM is a short range Surface to Air

Missile (SAM) system, primarily designed

and developed by DRDO to provide a

protective shield to the moving armoured

columns of the Army from enemy aerial

attacks

ii. QRSAM is one of the 4 categories of air

defence system the other three being, Short

Range Surface to Air Missile (SRSAM),

Medium Range Surface to Air Missile

(MRSAM) and Long Range Surface to Air

Missile (LRSAM)

iii. The weapon system would be inducted in

2021, the indigenous development started

for QRSAM development was in 2014 by

DRDO

iv. The system has been designed for

induction into the Indian Army and has a

range of 25 to 30 kilometers.

v. It is an all weather, all terrain and

capable of striking multiple targets while

on-the-move

vi. It has both surveillance radars and

multi-function radars, having 360-degree

coverage with search on move and track

on move capability.

vii. It is equipped with electronic counter

measures against the aircraft jammers to

deceive enemy radars.

Some of India’s Air Defence System:

i. SPYDER (Surface-to-air PYthon and

DERby) missile of Israel was recently

deployed with Akash Air Defence

System in Ladakh region along the India-

China border.

ii. Akash is an advanced, quick-reaction,

surface-to-air, supersonic missiles with a

range of 30 km.

iii. In Feb 2020, US has approved the sale of

an Integrated Air Defence Weapon

System (IADWS) to India at an estimated

cost of $1.9 billion.

3.The regional navigation satellite system or

IRNSS that India is the fourth nation to have

What’s in News?

India became the fourth country in the world to

have its independent regional navigation satellite

system recognised by the International Maritime

Organisation (IMO) as a part of the World Wide

Radio Navigation System (WWRNS).



What is the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite

System?

i. The IRNSS is an independent regional

navigation satellite system developed by

India.

ii. It is designed to provide accurate position

information service to assist in the

navigation of ships in the Indian Ocean

waters.

iii. It could replace the US-owned Global

Positioning System (GPS) in the Indian

Ocean extending up to approximately 1500

km from the Indian boundary.

iv. Navigation in Indian Constellation

(NavIC) is an Indian Regional Navigation

Satellite System (IRNSS)

v. IRNSS consists of eight satellites, three

satellites in geostationary orbit and five

satellites in geosynchronous orbit.

vi. Some applications of IRNSS are:

a) Terrestrial, Aerial and Marine

Navigation

b) Disaster Management

c) Vehicle tracking and fleet management

d) Integration with mobile phones

e) Precise Timing

f) Mapping and Geodetic data capture

g) Terrestrial navigation aid for hikers

and travellers

h) Visual and voice navigation for drivers

What does the International Maritime

Organisation’s (IMO) recognition of the IRNSS

mean?

i. The IMO is the United Nations’

specialised agency responsible for the

safety and security of shipping and the

prevention of marine and atmospheric

pollution by ships.

ii. The Maritime Safety Committee (MSC) of

the IMO recognised the IRNSS as a

component of the World-wide Radio

Navigation System (WWRNS) during its

102nd session held virtually from

November 4 to November 11.

iii. With the recognition as a component of the

of the WWRNS, the Indian navigation

system is similarly placed as GPS, most

commonly used by marine shipping

vessels across the world or the Russian

Global Navigation Satellite System

(GLONASS).

iv. After the US, Russia and China that have

their own navigation systems, India has

become the fourth country to have its

independent regional navigation system.

v. Unlike GPS, however, IRNSS is a regional

and not a global navigation system.

What are the navigation system of other

countries?

1. GPS – Global Positioning System (United

States)

2. GLONASS (Russia)

3. GALILEO (European Union)

4. BEIDOU (China) (BeiDou Navigation

Satellite System (BDS))

5. Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency

(QZSS Japan)

4.Diabetes care goals are not yet satisfactory:

Study

What’s in News?

Recently a analysis titled, Temporal changes in

diabetes prevalence and achievement of care goals

in urban South Asia from 2010 to 2016-The

Center for Cardio-metabolic Risk Reduction in

South Asia Study, was published in the peer

reviewed British journal Diabetic Medicine.

Study Highlights:

i. A five-year follow-up of population with

diabetes in three mega cities (Chennai,

Delhi and Karachi) in South Asia has

found that the overall prevalence had risen

between 2010-11 and 2015-16 to just 1%.

ii. However, the four care goals — glycaemic

control (HbA1c), blood pressure,

cholesterol and cessation of smoking —

need improvement.

iii. Diabetologists refer to the four care goals

as ABCD — HbA1c below 7%; BP (below

140/90 mmHg); cholesterol (below



100mg/dl); and D (diet, in this case they

looked at prevalence of smoking).

iv. It found that HbA1c control had risen from

25% during 2010-11 to 30% during 2015-

16.

v. The percentage of those who controlled

their cholesterol rose from 34% to 45% but

there was no significant improvement in

blood pressure control.

vi. Also, the smokers in the studied

population had not given up their habit.

vii. The project was coordinated by CoE-

CARRS (Center of Excellence–Center for

cArdio-metabolic Risk Reduction in South

Asia) based at the Public Health

Foundation of India (PHFI), New Delhi, in

collaboration with the Centre for Chronic

Disease Control (CCDC), New Delhi; the

All India Institute of Medical Sciences

(AIIMS), New Delhi; Madras Diabetes

Research Foundation (MDRF), Chennai;

Aga Khan University, Karachi, Pakistan;

and Emory University, Atlanta, U.S.

viii. Six in ten adults in large South Asian

cities have either diabetes or

prediabetes.

ix. South Asia is making progress in terms of

its ability to deliver health care and there

are marked improvements in the past few

years

5.India successfully launches earth observation

satellite EOS-01

What’s in news?

India has launched successfully the Earth

Observation Satellite EOS-01 which is a Radar

Imaging Satellite (RISAT), along with nine

satellites from foreign countries, by a PSLV

rocket

What is Earth Observation Satellite?

1. An Earth observation satellite or Earth

remote sensing satellite is a satellite used

or designed for Earth observation (EO)

from orbit, including spy satellites and

similar ones intended for non-military uses

2. Land and forest mapping and monitoring,

mapping of resources like water or

minerals or fishes, weather and climate

observations, soil assessment, geospatial

contour mapping are all done through

earth-observation satellites.

3. RISAT, CARTOSAT Series, INSAT-

series, Resourcesat series, GISAT,

Scatsat,Bhaskara, Rohini are some of the

Earth Observation Satellites of India

What is EOS-1and the new naming system of

ISRO?

i. EOS-01 is an earth observation satellite,

intended for applications in agriculture,

forestry and disaster management support..

ii. It is a Radar Imaging Satellite (RISAT),

which was originally named RISAT-

2BR2.

iii. It will work together with RISAT-2B and

RISAT-2BR1 launched last year.

iv. EOS-01 carried an X-band synthetic-

aperture radar (SAR). (X band Radars

uses a frequency of 12.5-8 GHz and

wavelength of 2.4-3.75 cm, mostly

worldwide the X band radars are widely

used for military reconnaissance, mapping

and surveillance)

v. EOS-01, and its sister RISATs, use X-

band radars that operate at low

wavelengths and are considered best for

monitoring of urban landscape, and

imaging of agricultural or forest land

vi. With EOS-01, ISRO is moving to a new

naming system for its earth observation

satellites which till now have been named

thematically, according to the purpose they

are meant for.

vii. For example, the Cartosat series of

satellites were meant to provide data for

land topography and mapping, while the

Oceansat satellites were meant for

observations over sea

viii. Henceforth, it seems, all the earth

observation satellites would be called

EOS-series.

What is Radar Imaging and why is it used?



1. Imaging radar is an application of radar

which is used to create two-dimensional

images, typically of landscapes.

2. Imaging radar provides its light to

illuminate an area on the ground and take a

picture at radio wavelengths

3. It uses radio waves to determine the range,

angle, or velocity of objects.

4. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships,

spacecraft, guided missiles, weather and

terrain (land).

5. One big advantage that radar imaging has

over optical instruments is that it is

unaffected by weather, cloud or fog, or the

lack of sunlight.

6. It can produce high-quality images in all

conditions and at all times

7. Depending on the wavelength of the

electromagnetic radiation used by the

radar, different properties on land can be

captured in the image.

8. For example, a low wavelength signal can

capture tree cover or vegetation, while a

higher wavelength signal can penetrate

even dense tree cover to look at the

contours of land beneath.

News Highlights:

1. For the launch of EOS-01, ISRO used a

new variant of its PSLV rocket that has

been flown only once before, in January

last year, when it had placed the Microsat-

R satellite in orbit. (This Microsat-R was

the one that was brought down in March

last year in India’s first anti-satellite test,

a demonstration of its capability to hit an

in-orbit enemy satellite in space.)

2. This variant of PSLV does not become

waste after depositing its satellite in the

orbit.

3. Instead, the last stage of the rocket, the one

that remains after the satellite is separated,

can acquire its own orbit and be used as an

orbital platform for other onboard

instruments to perform experiments in

space.

4. In effect, the fourth stage acts like another

satellite, with a life span of about six

months.

5. The nine customer satellites from

Lithuania (1), Luxembourg (4) and USA

(4) were launched under a commercial

arrangement with NewSpace India Limited

(NSIL).

(NSIL is the commercial arm of Indian Space

Research Organisation (ISRO) under the

Department of Space with the primary

responsibility of enabling Indian industries to take

up high technology space related activities and is

also responsible for promotion and commercial

exploitation of the products and services

emanating from the Indian space programme.)

6.India among 6 countries with highest tally of

infants who didn’t get measles vaccine

What’s in News?

According to a new report titled ‘Progress

Towards Regional Measles Elimination

Worldwide 2000-2019’ of the World Health

Organisation and US Centers for Disease

Control and Prevention, India was among six

countries with the highest number of infants who

had not received the vaccine against measles.

Report Findings:

i. Measles disease surged worldwide in 2019

reaching the highest number of reported

cases in 23 years

ii. A total of 1.2 million children did not

receive the first dose of measles-

containing-vaccine (MCV1) in 2019 in

India, accounting for nearly half of the

world’s total along with the remaining five

countries — Nigeria (3.3 million),

Ethiopia (1.5 million), Democratic

Republic of the Congo (DRC) (1.4

million), Pakistan (1.4 million), and

Philippines (0.7 million).

iii. Global measles deaths climbed nearly 50

percent since 2016

iv. Most measles deaths in 2019 have been in

Africa, many associated with major



outbreaks in Madagascar and the

Democratic Republic of the Congo

v. To control measles and prevent outbreaks

and deaths, vaccination coverage rates

with the required MCV1 and MCV2 must

reach 95 per cent and be maintained at

national and subnational levels.

vi. Failure to vaccinate children on time with

two doses of measles-containing-vaccines

(MCV1 and MCV2) as the main driver of

these increases in cases and deaths

Measles:

i. Measles is a virus (paramyxovirus family)

that can be transmitted through airdrops,

personal contact and infected surfaces and

it is highly contagious

ii. The virus infects the respiratory tract, then

spreads throughout the body.

iii. Measles is a human disease and is not

known to occur in animals

iv. Symptoms usually develop 10–12 days

after exposure to an infected person and

last 7–10 days.

v. Unvaccinated young children are at

highest risk of measles and its

complications, including death.

vi. Unvaccinated pregnant women are also at

risk.

vii. Any non-immune person (who has not

been vaccinated or was vaccinated but did

not develop immunity) can become

infected.

viii. No specific antiviral treatment exists for

measles virus.

ix. Routine measles vaccination for children,

combined with mass immunization

campaigns in countries with high case and

death rates, are key public health strategies

to reduce global measles deaths.

The Measles & Rubella Initiative:

i. Launched in 2001, the Measles &

Rubella Initiative (M&R Initiative) is a

global partnership led by the American

Red Cross, United Nations Foundation,

Centers for Disease Control and

Prevention (CDC), UNICEF and WHO.

ii. The Initiative is committed to ensuring

that no child dies from measles or is born

with congenital rubella syndrome.

iii. The Initiative helps countries to plan, fund

and measure efforts to stop measles and

rubella for good.

India’s Response:

i. Measles-rubella (MR) vaccine is covered

under Mission Indradhanush, which

provides vaccination against 12 Vaccine-

Preventable Diseases (VPD) and envisaged

to rapidly increase the full immunization

coverage to 90%.

ii. It is also covered under the Intensified

Mission Indradhanush (IMI), which

aims to reach each and every child under

two years of age and all those pregnant

women who have been left uncovered

under the routine immunisation

programme.

iii. India has initiated the world’s largest

Measles-Rubella (MR) Campaign in 2017

which aims to vaccinate 405 million

children by 2019

Way Forward:

i. Measles is entirely preventable; in a time

in which we have a powerful, safe and

cost-effective vaccine nobody should still

be dying of this disease.

ii. Covid-19 has resulted in dangerous

declines in immunisation coverage,

leading to increased risk of measles

outbreaks.

iii. India can make use of the Intensified

Indradhanush Programme and the eVIN

initiative to make sure every child receives

the Vaccine on time

7.RT-LAMP for detecting COVID-19

RT-LAMP:

1) RT-LAMP (Reverse Transcriptase loop-

mediated isothermal amplification)

technology is a one-step nucleic acid



amplification method to multiply specific

sequences of RNA of the coronavirus.

2) Here, the RNA is first made into cDNA

(copy DNA) by the usual reverse

transcription.

3) Then, the DNA is amplified by the LAMP

technique.

4) Although the LAMP technique has been

used in western countries for the past five

years or more, the technique is new to the

Indian IVD industry

Current Methods of Testing:

RT-PCR:

i. The current method for SARS-CoV-2

diagnosis is the real time reverse

transcription polymerase chain reaction

(RT-PCR) test which detects the presence

of viral nucleic acids in nasopharyngeal

swab samples.

ii. The test requires complex and costly

equipment.

iii. It requires extensive training for potential

users.

iv. As the specificity and sensitivity of the test

is about 95%, there is a possibility of false

negative results.

v. The turnaround time is about 10 hours, so

that the result will be available only by the

next day.

vi. In remote places, the turnaround time

further increases depending on the distance

the samples need to travel.

vii. It does not have the capacity to keep pace

with the increasing demand.

Serology Tests:

i. COVID-19 serology tests are also in use to

detect antigens that are associated with the

virus infection.

ii. These tests are easy to use with rapid

results, as well as have minimal expenses.

iii. However, serology immunoassay lacks the

necessary accuracy to be a reliable

diagnostic test due to its low sensitivity

and high false negative/positive rates.

Advantages of RT- LAMP compared to Current

Methods:

i. The LAMP technology has many

advantages over RT-PCR technology.

ii. The RT-PCR test needs different

temperatures in one cycle.

iii. The temperature of the solution has to be

changed from 92 degrees C to 56 degrees

C and again to 72 degrees C every two

minutes, and this cycle has to be repeated.

iv. Thus, the PCR test needs expensive

thermal cycler as well as the real time PCR

machines.

v. On the other hand, the new RT-LAMP

technology is done at 65 degrees C, where

the DNA amplification is done at a

constant temperature (isothermal), so that

expensive thermal cycler is not required.

vi. Moreover, the quantity of DNA amplified

in the LAMP technology is hundred

thousand times more than that is taking

place in PCR.

vii. Therefore the final assay is possible with a

simple colour reaction, removing the need

for very costly real time PCR machines.

viii. An equally important advantage of the

LAMP technology is that the assay is so

fast that results can be obtained within 30

minutes and positive samples are amplified

as early as 10 minutes. This may be

compared with the PCR technique which

needs 8–10 hours for completion. This

means that COVID-19 testing centres can

report with accuracy in substantially lower

turnover time.

ix. Yet another advantage of LAMP is that the

reagents are to be stored at 4 degree C

(ordinary fridge), whereas the PCR-based

reagents are to be stored and transported at

–20 degrees C, which needs deep freezers

that escalate the cost.

x. The LAMP technology does not need

laborious preparation as in the case of RT-

PCR. LAMP is cost effective and does not

need complex expensive equipment.

Assays can be performed with minimum

skill and minimum infrastructure.



xi. RT-LAMP test can be done in a single

tube with minimal expertise in a very basic

lab setup like mobile units / kiosks for

testing at Airports, Railway Stations, Bus

Stands and other public places.

xii. RT-LAMP based COVID-19 kit

components are easily available and these

can be completely manufactured in India

8.IMAC to be domain awareness Centre

What’s in News?

The Navy’s Information Management and

Analysis Centre (IMAC), the nodal agency for

maritime data fusion set up after the 26/11

Mumbai terror attacks, will soon become a

National Maritime Domain Awareness Centre

(NMAC)

IMAC:

i. Approved by the Defence Acquisition

Council in 2012, the IMAC became operational in

2014 at a cost of ₹ 450 crore and is located in

Gurugram

ii. It is the nodal centre for maritime

security information collation and distribution.

iii. It is jointly operated by the Navy and

Coast Guard

iv. The Lashkar-e-Toiba terrorists who carried

out the 26/11 attacks had entered Mumbai through

the sea, using speedboats.

v. The attack exposed several vulnerabilities

of coastal security

vi. This resulted in the formation of IMAC

vii. It is the nodal centre of the National

Command Control Communication and

Intelligence System (NC3I), which was

established to link the operational Centres and

lower echelons of the Navy and the Coast Guard

spread across the country’s coastline, including

the island territories.

viii. The IMAC tracks vessels on the high seas

and gets data from the coastal radars, white

shipping agreements, Automatic Identification

Systems (AIS) transponders fitted on merchant

ships, air and traffic management system and

global shipping databases.

ix. It is important to note that IMAC tracks

only non-military or commercial ships, known as

white shipping.

x. Military ships, are tracked by the

Directorate of Naval Operations, as this is on a

classified (secret) network.

xi. As part of improving transparency on

maritime traffic on the high seas, the Navy had

been authorised to conclude white shipping

agreements with 36 countries and three

multilateral constructs.

xii. In 2018, the Information Fusion Centre

– Indian Ocean region (IFC-IOR) was set up

within the premises of the IMAC to coordinate

with regional countries on maritime country and

act as a regional repository of maritime data.

xiii. It presently has linkages with 21 partner

countries and 22 multi-national agencies across

the globe.

xiv. The NMAC (National Maritime Domain

Awareness Centre )will be multi-agency body

including the Navy, Coast Guard, intelligence

agencies, state marine police forces, and ministries

of shipping, ports and fisheries.

9.How kala-azar was eliminated from a highly

endemic district in Bihar

What’s in News?

In a recent paper published in PLOS Neglected

Tropical Diseases, Kala Azar disease has been

eliminated from Vaishali(Bihar) where it was

highly endemic.

Kala Azar:

i. Kala-azar or visceral leishmaniasis (VL)

is a tropical disease characterised by irregular

fever, weight loss, anaemia and swelling of the

spleen and liver.

ii. Some people may not face any symptom



iii. It is a parasitic disease of the viscera (the

internal organs, particularly the liver, spleen, bone

marrow and lymph nodes).

iv. It is caused by a protozoan Leishmania

parasite and is transmitted to humans by the bite

of infected female sandflies.

v. The term kala-azar comes from India

where it is the Hindi for black fever.

vi. The disease is also known as Indian

leishmaniasis, visceral leishmaniasis, leishmania

infection, dumdum fever, black sickness, and

black fever.

vii. Without proper diagnosis and treatment,

the disease is associated with high fatality

(deaths).

Prevalence of Kala Azar Globally and India:

i. According to the World Health

Organisation (WHO), globally, about 7 to 10 lakh

new cases occur annually.

ii. India accounts for about two-thirds of the

total global cases, and the disease is endemic to

Bihar, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal.

iii. More than 90% of the global burden of

visceral leishmaniasis (VL) was contributed by

seven countries in 2015: Brazil, Ethiopia, India,

Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan and Sudan

Elimination of Kala Azar:

i. A disease is considered to be eliminated

when the annual cases of the disease are reduced

to less than 1 case per 10,000 people at the sub-

district or block level.

ii. Eradication of the disease would mean that

there are zero cases.

iii. An initiative was launched by WHO to

eliminate VL as a public health problem from the

South East Asia region by 2020. The deadline has

now been extended to 2023.

iv. With an area of around 2,000 square

kilometres, Vaishali has a population of over 35

lakh and about 22% in the district got affected by

Kala-azar or visceral leishmaniasis (VL) each

year.

v. The programme to eliminate Kala Azar in

Vaishali included mapping of the case

distribution, community awareness campaigns,

early case detection and chemical-based vector

control.

vi. Once a person is diagnosed with Kala-

azar, indoor chemical spraying is done at the

patient’s house and at the neighbouring houses

within 500 metres.

vii. Though the disease is not contagious, the

infected sand fly may be present in the area and

the chemical spray will help kill them

viii. Routine monitoring is needed to identify if

the Kala-azar vector (sandfly) has developed

resistance to insecticides.

ix. Frequent monitoring of active cases –

track, test, and treat strategy – in the hotspot

region is very important

10.India set to launch “Deep Sea Mission”

What’s in News?

As per the Ministry of Earth Sciences, India will

soon launch an ambitious ‘Deep Ocean Mission’

that envisages exploration of minerals, energy and

marine diversity of the underwater world

The mission, which is expected to cost over

₹ 4,000 crore, will give a boost to efforts to

explore India’s vast Exclusive Economic Zone

and Continental Shelf

Samudrayaan:

i. The mission is tentatively named

“Samudrayaan”

ii. The project aims at sending Underwater

Vehicles and Robotics and manned

submersibles which is estimated to carry 3

humans for a 3 day expedition to the seafloor in

the Central Indian Ocean Basin

iii. The multi-disciplinary work will be

piloted by the MoES and other government

departments like the Defence Research and



Development Organisation, Department of

Biotechnology, Indian Space Research

Organisation (ISRO), Council for Scientific and

Industrial Research (CSIR)

iv. India has been ear-marked nearly 1.5 lakh

square kilometres of area in the central Indian

Ocean for exploration.

v. In September 2016, India signed a 15-year

contract with the International Seabed Authority

(ISA) for exploration of Poly-Metallic Sulphides

(PMS) in the Indian Ocean.

vi. The mission will also involve procurement

of more advanced deep sea vessels for

explorations.

vii. The existing vessel Sagar Kanya is nearly

three-and-half decades old.

International Seabed Authority (ISA):

i. Open Sea is a common property of the

humanity and it is governed under the United

Convention on the Laws of the Sea, which is

often called as “Constitution for the Oceans”

ii. The Treaty governs the right of free

passage to scientific research and marine

conservation

iii. The ISA is an institution set up under the

Convention on Law of the Sea to which India is a

Party.

iv. This body issues contracts for exploration

and exploitation of the deep sea and also ensures

distribution of some of the profits to the

developing nations

v. India received the status of pioneer

investor in 1987 and was given an area of about

1.5 lakh sq. kms in Central Indian Ocean Region

vi. The ISA earlier approved 10,000 sq. km

for India with a 15-year PMS exploration plan

along the Central Indian Ridge (CIR) and

Southwest Indian Ridge (SWIR) region of the

Indian Ocean.

vii. The 15-year contract formalised India’s

exclusive rights for exploration of PMS in the

allotted area in the Indian Ocean.

Polymetallic Nodules:

i. “Polymetallic polynodules” (manganese

nodules) are rock concretions on the sea floor

formed by concentric layers of iron, manganese,

and other high-value metals around a tiny core.

(Nickel, Copper, Cobalt, Cadmium, Lead,

Titanium etc)

ii. The size of a fully developed nodule varies

from a fraction of a millimeter to as much as 20

cm with an average size between 5 and 10 cm.

iii. Nodules are formed by precipitation of

metals from sea water over several million years.

iv. Polymetallic nodules occur in most oceans

of the world with the greatest abundance at the

vast abyssal floor at depths between 4000 and

6000 m.

v. Areas of economic interest have been

identified in the north central Pacific Ocean, the

Peru basin in the southeast Pacific, and the center

of the north Indian Ocean.

vi. Central Indian Ocean Basin is estimated

to have a huge 380 million tonnes of such

nodules

vii. India is one among the top 8-

countries/contractors and is implementing a long-

term programme on exploration and utilization of

Polymetallic Nodules.

viii. Polymetallic modules contain Rare Earth

Elements and metals which are important to high-

tech industries and the amount of copper

contained in the CCZ nodules is estimated to be

about 20% of that held in global land-based

reserves.

ix. These metals are particularly useful for

ensuring energy security as the world moves

towards non fossil fuel based energy generation

x. Lithium-ion battery and other related

technologies require these elements as they are

cardinal raw materials



xi. But IUCN has warned the nations against

the exploitation of deep

sea bed as it is home to

rich biodiversity

Deep Sea Mining:

i. Deep-sea mining

is the process of

retrieving mineral

deposits from the deep

sea – the area of the

ocean below 200 m

which covers about 65%

of the Earth’s surface.

ii. There is growing

interest in the mineral

deposits of the deep sea.

iii. This is largely

due to depleting

terrestrial deposits for

metals such as copper,

nickel, aluminium,

manganese, zinc, lithium

and cobalt, coupled with

rising demand for these

metals to produce high-

tech applications such as

smartphones and green

technologies such as wind turbines, solar panels

and electric storage batteries.

iv. The scraping of the ocean floor by

machines can alter or destroy deep-sea habitats,

leading to the loss of species and fragmentation or

loss of ecosystem structure and function.

v. Many species living in the deep sea are

endemic – meaning they do not occur anywhere

else on the planet – and physical disturbances in

just one mining site can possibly wipe out an

entire species.

vi. This is one of the biggest potential impacts

from deep-sea mining.

vii. Environmental impact assessments,

effective regulation and mitigation strategies are

needed to limit the impacts of deep-sea mining.

viii. Comprehensive baseline studies are

needed to improve our understanding of the deep

sea.

ix. Many nations such as Brazil, Singapore,

Russia, Canada, United States, Germany etc are

all moving towards deep sea exploration and

exploitation

x. In November, China live-streamed footage

of its new manned submersible parked at the

bottom of the Mariana Trench.

PICTURE : POLYMETALLIC NODULES



11.The Guillain Barre Syndrome

In a rare complication, some patients infected with

Covid-19 have been found suffering from Guillain

Barre Syndrome (GBS). In India, such cases have

been reported since August.

A group of neurologists in Mumbai is now

mapping these cases and their symptoms.

What is Guillain Barre Syndrome?

i. It is a very rare autoimmune disorder.

ii. The immune system, in an attempt to

kill the coronavirus, accidentally starts

attacking the peripheral nervous system.

iii. The peripheral nervous system is a

network of nerves that lead from the brain and

spinal cord to different parts of the body.

iv. Attacking them can affect limb functions.

v. The syndrome’s first symptoms are a

tingling or itching sensation in the skin, followed

by muscle weakness, pain and numbness.

vi. The symptoms may emerge first in feet

and hands.

vii. A person then starts experiencing reflex

loss and paralysis, which may be temporary, but

can last for 6-12 months or longer.

viii. With Covid-19 a year old, it is still

difficult to assess the nature of permanency GBS

in such cases may present.

ix. GBS is caused by bacteria or viral

infection.

x. In the past, patients of Middle East

Respiratory Syndrome showed GBS symptoms, as

did those infected with Zika, HIV, Herpes virus

and Campylobacter jejuni.

Guillain Barre Syndrome and Covid-19

i. Covid-19 is known to affect digestive,

cardiac and kidney functions.

ii. It is also known that some –– not all ––

patients are prone to neurological problems if they

contract the virus.

iii. The virus can cause memory fog, anxiety,

headache and depression if it attacks parts of the

brain which form the central nervous system.

iv. In all these cases, the virus attacks the

organs or tissues directly leading to the

complication.

v. But in some cases, it can have an indirect

effect.

vi. It can trigger an immune response so

powerful that the body’s peripheral nervous

system can come under attack

vii. It is paradoxical - we all want a good

immune system, but if the immune system is over-

active, it can be detrimental for the body, it can

attack healthy nerves along with attacking the

virus

viii. An interval of 5-10 days is noticed

between onset of GBS symptoms and Covid-19

infection, but some doctors say it can also take

weeks after Covid-19 infection for a person to

develop GBS.

Treatment

i. Intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG)

and sometimes plasma therapy helps recovery in

patients with GBS.

ii. Some patients may develop severe

complications and require intensive care treatment

or ventilator support.

12.SpaceX-NASA’s Crew-1 mission

What’s in News?

SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft was launched

from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida



carrying a crew of four people to the International

Space Station (ISS) on a six-month-long mission.

What is the Crew-1 mission?

i. The mission is part of NASA’s

Commercial Crew Program, whose objective is

to make access to space easier in terms of its cost,

so that cargo and crew can be easily transported to

and from the ISS, enabling greater scientific

research.

ii. Significantly, Crew-1 will be the first

operational flight of the SpaceX Crew Dragon

spacecraft on a Falcon 9 rocket to the ISS and is

the first of the three scheduled flights scheduled

over the course of 2020-2021.

iii. NASA certified SpaceX’s Crew Dragon

capsule and the Falcon 9 rocket, making it the first

spacecraft certification provided by the space

agency.

iv. This means SpaceX can now operate

regular flights to the space station.

What are the experiments that are to be

undertaken?

i. Some of the research that the crew is

carrying with themselves includes materials to

investigate food physiology, which will study the

effects of dietary improvements on immune

function and the gut microbiome and how those

improvements can help crews adapt to spaceflight

ii. Another experiment aboard the Crew

Dragon is a student-designed experiment titled,

“Genes in Space-7” that aims to understand how

spaceflight affects brain function.

iii. Other experiments include research that

will enable scientists to understand the physical

interactions of liquid, rocks and microorganisms,

experiment on the role of microgravity on human

health and another on how microgravity affects

heart tissue.

International Space Station (ISS)

i. The International Space Station (ISS) is a

modular space station (habitable artificial satellite)

in low Earth orbit (LEO).

ii. It is the largest artificial object in space

and the largest satellite in low Earth orbit,

regularly visible to the naked eye from Earth's

surface.

iii. The ISS is a multi-national collaborative

project between five participating space agencies

viz. NASA (United States), Roscosmos (Russia),

JAXA (Japan), ESA (Europe), and CSA

(Canada).

iv. Its main construction was completed

between 1998 and 2011 and has been

continuously occupied since Nov. 2, 2000

Sentinel-6 satellite :

i. The Copernicus Sentinel-6 Michael

Freilich satellite, designed to monitor oceans, was

launched from the Vandenberg Air Force base in

California aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket

ii. This is a part of the next mission dedicated

to measuring changes in the global sea level.

iii. Other satellites that have been launched

since 1992 to track changes in the oceans on a

global scale include the TOPEX/Poseidon, Jason-

1 and OSTN/Jason-2, among others.

iv. The mission, called the Jason Continuity

of Service (Jason-CS) mission, is designed to

measure the height of the ocean, which is a key

component in understanding how the Earth’s

climate is changing.

v. The spacecraft consists of two satellites,

one of them is Sentinel-6, and the other, called

Sentinel-6B, to be launched in 2025.

vi. It has been developed jointly by the

European Space Agency (ESA), NASA, European

Organisation for the Exploitation of

Meteorological Satellites (Eumetsat), the USA’s

National Oceanic and Atmospheric

Administration (NOAA) and the EU, with

contributions from France’s National Centre for

Space Studies (CNES)

vii. This will help scientists foresee the effects

of the changing oceans on the climate.



13.Fast radio burst, spotted by NASA for the

first time in the Milky Way

What’s in News?

NASA has reported that on April 2020, it

observed a mix of X-ray and radio signals never

observed before in the Milky Way.

Significantly, the flare-up it observed included the

first fast radio burst (FRB) seen within the galaxy.

Three papers reporting the detection of fast radio

burst (FRB) have been published recently in the

journal Nature

What is an FRB (Fast radio burst)?

i. The first FRB was discovered in 2007,

since when scientists have been working towards

finding the source of their origin.

ii. Essentially, FRBs are bright bursts of radio

waves (radio waves can be produced by

astronomical objects with changing magnetic

fields) whose durations lie in the millisecond-

scale, because of which it is difficult to detect

them and determine their position in the sky.

iii. The source of the FRB detected in April in

the Milky Way is a very powerful magnetic

neutron star, referred to as a magnetar, called SGR

1935+2154 or SGR 1935, which is located in the

constellation Vulpecula and is estimated to be

between 14,000-41,000 light-years away.

iv. The FRB was part of one of the magnetar’s

most prolific flare-ups, with the X-ray bursts

lasting less than a second.

v. The radio burst, on the other hand, lasted

for a thousandth of a second and was thousands of

times brighter than any other radio emissions from

magnetars seen in the Milky Way previously.

vi. It is possible that the FRB-associated burst

was exceptional because it likely occurred at or

close to the magnetar’s magnetic pole.

vii. This flare-up, which lasted for hours, was

picked up by NASA’s Fermi Gamma-ray Space

telescope and NASA’s Neutron star Interior

Composition Explorer (NICER), which is an X-

ray telescope mounted on the International Space

Station

What is a Radio Wave?

i. Radio waves are a type of electromagnetic

radiation and have the longest wavelengths in the

electromagnetic spectrum.

ii. The wavelength is the distance a wave

takes to complete one cycle.

iii. The basic building block of radio

communications is a radio wave

iv. Naturally occurring radio waves are

emitted by lightning and astronomical objects

What is a magnetar?

i. As per NASA, a magnetar is a neutron

star, “the crushed, city-size remains of a star many

times more massive than our Sun.”

ii. The magnetic field of such a star is very

powerful, which can be over 10 trillion times

stronger than a refrigerator magnet and up to a

thousand times stronger than a typical neutron

star’s.

iii. Neutron stars are formed when the core of

a massive star undergoes gravitational collapse

when it reaches the end of its life.

iv. This results in the matter being so tightly

packed that even a sugar-cube sized amount of

material taken from such a star weighs more than

1 billion tons, which is about the same as the

weight of Mount Everest

v. Magnetars are a subclass of these neutrons

and occasionally release flares with more energy

in a fraction of a second than the Sun is capable of

emitting in tens of thousands of years.

vi. In the case of SGR 1935, for instance, the

X-ray portion of the simultaneous bursts it

released in April carried as much energy as the

Sun produces in a month, assuming that the

magnetar lies towards the nearer end of its

distance range.

Why is this observation significant?



i. Until now, there were various theories that

tried to explain what the possible sources of an

FRB could be.

ii. One of the sources proposed by the

theories has been magnetars.

iii. But before April this year, scientists did

not have any evidence to show that FRBs could be

blasted out of a magnetar

iv. This also leads to a possibility that at least

some of these signals are also produced by

magnetars in other galaxies.

G. ART AND CULTURE

The Miyas of Assam, and their char-chapori

culture

What’s in News?

A proposed “Miya museum” reflecting the

“culture and heritage of the people living in char-

chaporis” has stirred up a controversy in Assam.

What are Char-chaporis?

1. Char-chaporis are shifting riverine

islands of the Brahmaputra and are

primarily inhabited by the Muslims of

Bengali-origin (pejoratively referred to as

‘Miyas’).

2. A char is a floating island while chaporis

are low-lying flood-prone riverbanks.

3. Prone to floods and erosion, these areas are

marked by low development indices.

4. The website of the Directorate of Char

Areas Development puts the population of

chars at 24.90 lakh as per a socio-

economic survey in 2002-03.

5. 80% of the Char population lives below

poverty line.

6. A UNDP Assam Human Development

report from 2014 describes the char areas

as suffering from “communication deficits,

lack of adequate schooling facilities

beyond primary, girl child marriage,

poverty and illiteracy”.

7. While Bengali-origin Muslims primarily

occupy these islands, other communities

such as Misings, Deoris, Kocharis, Nepalis

also live here

Who are the Miyas?

1. The ‘Miya’ community comprises

descendants of Muslim migrants from

East Bengal (now Bangladesh) to

Assam.

2. They came to be referred to as ‘Miyas’,

often in a derogatory manner.

3. The community migrated in several waves

— starting with the British annexation of

Assam in 1826, and continuing into

Partition and the 1971 Bangladesh

Liberation War — and have resulted in

changes in demographic composition of

the region.

4. Years of discontent among the indigenous

people led to the six-year-long (1979-85)

anti-foreigner Assam Agitation to weed

out the “illegal immigrant”, who was

perceived as trying to take over jobs,

language and culture of the indigenous

population.

What’s the Controversy?

The museum has been proposed in the

Kalakshetra, which is a cultural complex in

Guwahati named after neo-Vaishnavite reformer

Srimanta Sankardev, and which was set up as part

of the Assam Accord, it hurts Assamese

sentiments

H. PRELIMS TIT BITS

1.PLATFORM WORK:

The Code on Social Security Bill, 2020, for the

first time in Indian law, attempted to define

‘platform work’ outside of the traditional

employment category.

It says: “Platform work means a work

arrangement outside of a traditional employer-

employee relationship in which organisations or

individuals use an online platform to access other

organisations or individuals to solve specific

problems or to provide specific services or any



such other activities which may be notified by the

Central Government, in exchange for payment.”

A categorical clarification could ensure that social

security measures are provided to workers without

compromising the touted qualities of platform

work: flexibility and a sense of ownership.

2.“GO ELECTRIC” CAMPAIGN

The “Go Electric” campaign was launched by

Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) in

coordination with the Andhra Pradesh State

Energy Conservation Mission with an aim to

establish 400 Electric Vehicle charging stations

across Andhra Pradesh (1 charging station for

every 25 km along the National Highway)

3.U.S FORMALLY EXIT PARIS PACT:

The US formally exited the Paris Climate

Agreement. President Trump originally

announced his intention to withdraw from the

agreement in 2017 arguing it would undermine the

U.S. economy and formally notified the United

Nations last year.

Some 189 countries remain committed to the 2015

Paris accord, which aims to keep the increase in

average temperatures worldwide “well below” 2

degrees Celsius, ideally no more than 1.5 degree

Celsius compared to pre-industrial levels

The Paris accord requires countries to set their

own voluntary targets for reducing Greenhouse

Gases such as Carbon Di Oxide

The US is the second leading producer of all

carbon dioxide emissions globally, behind

China.

The US is the only country to withdraw from the

global pact. It can still attend negotiations and

give opinions, but is relegated to observer status.

4.LUHRO HYDROPOWER PROJECT:

Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs

approved the funding for 210 MW Luhri

Hydropower Project on R.Satluj in Himachal

Pradesh

5. NURTURING NEIGHBOURHOOD

CHALLENGE:

Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs has

launched “Nurturing Neighbourhood Challenge”

for 100 Smart Cities, cites with population of

more than 5 lakh and State/UT Capitals to develop

and implement initiatives to improve the quality

of life of young children, caregivers and

families.

6.NPCI ALLOWS WHATSAPP TO OFFER

PAYMENT SERVICES

The National Payments Corporation of India

(NPCI) allowed Facebook-owned messaging

platform WhatsApp to start its payments service

in the country in a "graded" manner.

NPCI runs the Unified Payments Interface (UPI)

used for real-time payments between peers or at

merchants' end while making purchases.

A "cap of 30 per cent of total volume of

transactions processed in UPI" will be applicable

on all Third Party App Providers (TPAPs) from

January 1, 2021

The cap of 30 per cent will be calculated on the

basis of the total volume of transactions processed

in UPI during the preceding three months on a

rolling basis

7.UAE OVERHAULS ISLAMIC LAWS:

The United Arab Emirates announced a major

overhaul of the country's Islamic personal laws,

allowing unmarried couples to cohabitate,

loosening alcohol restrictions and criminalizing

so-called "honor killings."

Attempted suicide, forbidden in Islamic law,

would also be decriminalized

The reforms aims to boost the country’s economic

and social standing and “consolidate the UAE’s

principles of tolerance”.

8.ADB APPROVES $300 MILLION LOAN

TO PAKISTAN

To promote macroeconomic stability in Pakistan

ADB is providing $300 million loan, earlier



Pakistan secured $800 million worth of debt

freeze deals from 14 members of the G20

9.CHINA’S FIRST DOMESTICALLY MADE

NUCLEAR REACTOR GOES ONLINE

China has powered up its first domestically

developed nuclear reactor — the Hualong One (

In east China’s Fujian province)

The reactor, which was connected to the national

grid, can generate 10 billion kilowatt-hours of

electricity each year and cut carbon emissions by

8.16 million tons.

Nuclear plants supplied less than five percent of

China’s annual electricity needs in 2019,

according to the National Energy Administration,

but this share is expected to grow as Beijing

attempts to become carbon neutral by 2060

This will help China to become less dependent on

Western allies for energy security and critical

technology

10.NEOM CITY:

Neom City is the $500 billion city state built on

Saudi Arabia’s northwest coast

The name Neom is a combination of Greek and

Arabia words means “New Future”

It is expected to open to the residents in 2025 and

it is located in the Tabuk Province (which is

roughly the size of Belgium) and located along the

Red Sea Coast

This region is already inhabited by Huwaitat

tribe

11.PAKISTAN CABINET FOR STRICT

PUNISHMENT TO RAPISTS

The Anti Rape (Investigation and Trial)

Ordinance, 2020 and the Pakistan Penal Code

(Amendment) Ordinance, 2020 was passed by

Pakistan Cabinet which aimed at handing out

exemplary punishment, including chemical

castration and hanging to rapists

The ordinance has amended the definition of rape

in which for the first time “Transgender” and

“Gang Rape” has been included

The proposed ordinance have also prohibit the

controversial two finger test performed on rape

survivors which was earlier declared unscientific

by WHO

12.SITMEX-2020 and SIMBEX-2020 :

The second edition of India, Thailand and

Singapore trilateral naval exercise SITMEX-

2020 was held in Andaman Sea.It was started in

2019

The 27th

bilateral India Singapore maritime

exercise SIMBEX-2020 was also held in

November , The SIMBEX series of exercises

between the Indian Navy and the RSN have been

conducted annually since 1994 and they are aimed

at enhancing mutual interoperability and imbibing

best practise

13. ‘ORUNODOI’ SCHEME:

The Assam government launched ‘Orunodoi’

scheme. Over 18 lakh families in the state will

receive minimum of 830 rupees per month that

will be deposited in the bank accounts of the

women of the families.

The main aim of the scheme is to take care of the

financial problems of the poor and BPL families

in the state with substantial financial support

14. CHINA’S CHANG’E-5

It is a lunar mission that aims to bring back

samples of lunar rock from a previously

unexplored portion i.e. Mons Rumker region of

the Moon.



Chang’e-5 probe, is named after the Chinese

Moon goddess who is traditionally accompanied

by a white or jade rabbit.

15. INS VAGIR

Indian Navy’s fifth Kalvari-class Diesel Electric

attack submarine INS Vagir was launched

It is fifth among the six Kalvari-class submarines

being constructed by the public sector shipbuilder

Mazagon Dock Ltd (MDL) in Mumbai.

The other vessels in the class are INS Kalvari,

INS Khanderi, INS Karanj, INS Vela and INS

Vagsheer.

Of these Kalvari and Khanderi have been

commissioned in 2017 and 2019, Vela and Karanj

and undergoing sea trials, Vagir has now been

launched and Vagsheer is under construction

The Kalvari class of submarines are capable of

launching various types of torpedoes and missiles

and are equipped with a range of surveillance and

intelligence gathering mechanisms.

16.SDG INVESTOR MAP

United Nations Development Programme, UNDP

and Invest India have launched the Sustainable

Development Goals (SDGs) Investor Map for

India.

It laid out 18 Investment Opportunities Areas in

six critical SDG enabling sectors, that can help the

country push forward on the trajectory of

Sustainable Development.

17.MADHYA PRADESH’S COW CABINET

Madhya Pradesh had set up a ‘Gau Cabinet’ for

the protection and promotion of cattle.

18.INDIA’S COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT

PROJECTS IN AFGHANISTAN:

India has announced the launch of Phase-IV of the

High Impact Community Development Projects in

Afghanistan.

It envisages more than 100 projects worth 80

million dollars that India would undertake in

Afghanistan

It includes construction of the Shatoot dam,

which would provide safe drinking water to two

million residents of Kabul city and 202-kilometer

Phul-e-Khumri transmission line that provided

electricity to Kabul city.

19. ESSENTIAL SERVICES MAINTENANCE

ACT (ESMA)

Uttar Pradesh government has imposed

Essential Services Maintenance Act (ESMA) in

the state.

As per the U.P ESMA, the state government now

has the power to prohibit strikes in workplaces

for the next six months, after which it may be

extended for another six months.

20. AIM-SIRIUS INNOVATION

PROGRAMME

Atal Innovation Mission (AIM) and Sirius,

Russia, today launched ‘AIM-Sirius Innovation

Programme for Indian and Russian school

children.

AIM-Sirius programme seeks to develop

technological solutions for the two countries.

Over a two-week programme, from 7th to 21st of

November , 48 students and 16 educators and

mentors will create 8 virtual products and mobile

applications addressing global challenges across a

range of areas like applied cognitive science,

health and well-being, and artificial intelligence

21. The Ministry of Shipping has been renamed

as the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and

Waterways

22. DIPAM SIGNED AN AGREEMENT

WITH WORLD BANK

Department of Investment and Public Asset

Management, DIPAM signed an agreement with

World Bank .

Under the agreement, World Bank is to provide

advisory services to DIPAM for asset

monetization.

DIPAM is mandated with facilitating

monetization of non-core assets of government



CPSEs under strategic disinvestment or closure

and enemy property of value of Rs. 100 crore and

above.

23.The First Solar Power enabled Textile Mill of

Asia is coming up in Parbhani District of

Maharashtra

24. PARAM SIDDHI

India’s Artificial Intelligence supercomputer

Param Siddhi has achieved 63rd rank among top

500 most powerful non-distributed computer

systems in the world.

25. UNITED NATIONS GENERAL

ASSEMBLY – INDIA SPONSORED

RESOLUTIONS

The first committee of the United Nations General

Assembly has adopted two India-sponsored

resolutions on nuclear disarmament which aim to

reduce risk of nuclear accidents and call for a

prohibition on the use of nuclear weapons.

The UNGA first committee deals with the issue of

disarmament and works in close cooperation with

the United Nations Disarmament Commission and

the Geneva-based Conference on Disarmament,

the other two bodies to deal with the nuclear issue.

The two resolutions adopted include Convention

on the Prohibition of the Use of Nuclear

Weapons and Reducing Nuclear Danger under

the Nuclear weapons cluster.

26. MISSION SAGAR-II

As part of ‘Mission Sagar-II’, the Government of

India is providing assistance to Friendly Foreign

Countries to overcome natural calamities and

Covid-19 pandemic.

Towards the same INS Airavat is delivering food

aid for the people of Sudan.

27. DECLARATION OF PRIVATE SECTOR

ON CLIMATE CHANGE

Some of India's biggest private sector companies

pledged to work with the government to tackle

climate change and build sustainable economies,

thereby helping the country achieve its targets

under the Paris Agreement.

CEOs of companies like Reliance Industries Ltd,

Tech Mahindra, Dalmia Cement, Ambuja Cement,

Dr Reddy's, Sun Pharma and Adani Transmission

etc. held a virtual discussion with Union

Environment Minister at the India CEO Forum on

Climate Change.

Following the discussion, they issued a

'Declaration of Private Sector on Climate Change',

pledging to take necessary action to help India

achieve its targets under the Paris Agreement.

The companies stated they aim to go beyond

promotion of renewable energy, enhanced energy

and material efficiency, improved processes and

technologies, water efficiency processes, planned

afforestation, waste management and recycling,

etc.

28. STATUE OF PEACE

Prime Minister Narendra Modi unveiled ‘Statue of

Peace’ in Rajasthan’s Pali, to mark the 151st

Jayanti celebrations of Jainacharya Shree Vijay

Vallabh Surishwer Ji Maharaj.

29.NATIONAL NEWBORN WEEK

Newborn Care Week is celebrated every year in

the country from 15 to 21 November.

The aim for celebrating the week is to raise

awareness about the importance of the newborn

care for child survival and development.

The theme of National Newborn Week this year is

‘Quality, Equity, Dignity for every newborn at

every health facility and everywhere’.

In 2014, India became the first country to launch

the India Newborn Action Plan (INAP), in

alignment with the Global Every Newborn Action

Plan towards eliminating preventable deaths of

new-borns and stillbirths

30.GAIL COMPLETES KOCHI

MANGALORE PIPELINE

GAIL India has completed the final 540-metre

treacherous stretch across the Chandragiri river in

northern Kerala



The 444-km-long natural gas pipeline was

launched in 2009 at an estimated cost of Rs 2,915

crore and was to be commissioned in 2014.

The pipeline will supply gas to all seven districts

it passes through Kerala -- Ernakulam, Thrissur,

Palakkad, Malappuram, Kozhikode, Kannur and

Kasargod -- and the hilly Wayanad district.

31.AUSTRALIA TO TEMPORARILY HOST

ISRO SATELLITE TRACKING FACILITY

As part of steps to deepen cooperation in civil

space activities, the space agencies of India and

Australia were working together to position

temporarily Indian tracking facilities in Australia

This would support India’s planned human space

flight programme.

32.MOYAR IS THE LAST STRONGHOLD

FOR MAHSEER

Known to be among the “largest and hardest

fighting freshwater fish in the world”, the

majestic hump-backed mahseer (Tor remadevii),

once a prize catch for anglers, is on the verge of

extinction.

In fact, the Moyar, flowing through the

Mudumalai and Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserves,

is one of the last strongholds for Tor remadevii,

known as the “tiger of the Cauvery river”.

Once seen in rivers across the Cauvery basin, the

mahseer, also known as the orange-finned

mahseer, is now restricted to a few protected

stretches of rivers in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.

The International Union for the Conservation of

Nature (IUCN) has listed it as being “critically

endangered”.

33.JAPANESE GRANT TO MALDIVES

Maldives received the Japanese Grant of $7.6

million for the Maldives Coast Guard and the

Maritime Rescue and Coordination Center

Earlier Maldives have signed first military

agreement with USA.

34. WILLOW WARBLER SPOTTED FOR

THE FIRST TIME IN INDIA

Willow Warbler (Phylloscopus trochilus), one of

the longest migrating small birds that breeds

throughout northern and temperate Europe and

the Palearctic, has been sighted for the first time

in the country at Punchakkari in Kerala

These birds migrate to sub-Saharan Africa

during early winter.

It is Least Concern according to the IUCN Status

35. UP UNLAWFUL RELIGIOUS

CONVERSION PROHIBITION

ORDINANCE, 2020

It makes religious conversion for marriage a non-

bailable offence and the onus will be on the

defendant to prove that conversion was not for

marriage.

The notice period to the District Magistrate for the

religious conversion is two months.

In case of conversion done by a woman for the

sole purpose of marriage, the marriage would be

declared null and void.

Violation of the provisions of the law would invite

a jail term of not less than one year extendable to

five years with a fine of Rs. 15,000.



If a minor woman or a woman from the Scheduled

Caste (SC) or Scheduled Tribe (ST) converts, the

jail term would be a minimum of three years and

could be extended to 10 years with a fine of Rs.

25,000.

The ordinance also lays down strict action,

including cancellation of registration of social

organisations conducting mass conversions, which

would invite a jail term of not less than three years

and up to 10 years and a fine of Rs. 50,000.

36.ARUNACHAL PRADESH RECORDS THE

BEST SEX RATIO

According to the 2018 report on “vital statistics

of India based on the Civil Registration

System”.

Arunachal Pradesh recorded 1,084 females born

per thousand males, followed by Nagaland (965)

Mizoram (964), Kerala (963) and Karnataka

(957).

The worst was reported in Manipur (757),

Lakshadweep (839) and Daman & Diu (877),

Punjab (896) and Gujarat (896).

Sex ratio at birth is number of females born per

thousand males.

37. MARCOS DEPLOYED IN LADAKH

The Marine Commandos, abbreviated to

MARCOS and officially called the Marine

Commando Force (MCF), is the special forces

unit of the Indian Navy that is responsible for

conducting special operations.

It was formed in 1987 and are capable of

operating in all types of environments; at sea, in

air and on land.

MARCOS are being deployed in the Eastern

Ladakh alongside the Indian Army against the

Chinese military in the vicinity of the Pangong

Tso lake

38. CHINA’S SUPER DAM ON

BRAHMAPUTRA

China will build a “super” dam on the lower

reaches of the R.Brahmaputra (Yarlung Zangbo)

river close to the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in

Tibet

The dam could come up in the Medog county of

TAR, which is close to Arunachal Pradesh.

The state-owned hydropower company

POWERCHINA signed a strategic cooperation

agreement with the Tibet Autonomous Region

(TAR) government to implement hydropower

exploitation in the downstream of the Yarlung

Zangbo river as part of the new Five Year Plan

(2021-2025).

In 2015, China operationalised its first

hydropower project at Zangmu in Tibet, while

three other dams at Dagu, Jiexu and Jiacha are

being developed, all on the upper and middle

reaches of the river.

This would be the first dam in the lower streches

39. GARIMA GREH

Under the Scheme of ‘Shelter Home for

Transgender Persons’, Social Justice &

Empowerment Ministry has launched ‘Garima

Greh: A Shelter Home for Transgender Persons’

in Vadodara, Gujarat for transgender persons who

have been forced to leave their homes or

abandoned by the family

By March 31 next year, Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai,

Patna, Kolkata, Jaipur, Raipur, Bhubaneswar and

Manipur will also have such homes to be called

“Garima Greh” with a capacity for 25 persons.

40. SARNA RELIGION



The Jharkhand government passed a resolution

to send the Centre a letter to recognise Sarna

religion and include it as a separate code in the

Census of 2021.

The followers of Sarna faith believe pray to

nature. The holy grail of the faith is “Jal, Jungle,

Zameen” and its followers pray to the trees and

hills while believing in protecting the forest areas.

It is believed that 50 lakhs tribal in the entire

country put their religion as ‘Sarna’ in the 2011

census, although it was not a code.

I. TROPICAL CYCLONES

Cyclone formed in the low latitudes is called as

Tropical cyclone.

Cyclone Nivar is the fourth cyclone to hit the

North Indian Ocean region in 2020 which made

landfall in Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh

What are the types of Tropical Cyclones

according to the wind speed?

1. Tropical Disturbances

2. Tropical depressions Low winds with a speed

between 31 and 61 km ph.

3. Tropical cyclone wind speed from 62 to 88 km

ph and it is assigned a name.

4. Severe Cyclonic Storm (SCS) wind speed is

between 89 to 118 km ph

5. Very SCS wind speed between 119 to 221 km

ph and

6. Super Cyclonic Storm when wind exceeds 221

km ph.

How are Tropical cyclones formed?

i. Tropical cyclones form only over warm ocean

waters near the equator.

ii. To form a cyclone, warm, moist air over the

ocean rises upward from near the surface. As

this air moves up and away from the ocean

surface, it leaves is less air near the surface. So

basically as the warm air rises, it causes an

area of lower air pressure below.

iii. Air from surrounding areas with higher air

pressure pushes in to the low pressure area.

Then this new “cool” air becomes warm and

moist and rises, too. And the cycle

continues…

iv. As the warmed, moist air rises and cools the

water in the air forms clouds. The whole

system of clouds and wind spins and grows,

fed by the ocean’s heat and water evaporating

from the ocean surface.

v. As the storm system rotates faster and faster,

an eye forms in the centre. It is very calm and

clear in the eye, with very low air pressure.

Higher pressure air from above flows down

into the eye.

vi. When the winds in the rotating storm reach 39

mph (63 kmph), the storm is called a “tropical

storm”. And when the wind speeds reach 74

mph (119 kmph), the storm is officially a

“tropical cyclone” or hurricane.

vii. Tropical cyclones usually weaken when they

hit land, because they are no longer being

“fed” by the energy from the warm ocean

waters. However, they often move far inland,

dumping many centimeters of rain and causing

lots of wind damage before they die out

completely.

How are Cyclones Named?

i. Cyclones that form in every ocean basin

across the world are named by the regional

specialised meteorological centres (RSMCs) and

Tropical Cyclone Warning Centres (TCWCs).

ii. There are six RSMCs in the world,

including the India Meteorological Department

(IMD), and five TCWCs



iii. As an RSMC, the IMD names the cyclones

developing over the north Indian Ocean,including

the Bay of Bengal and Arabian Sea, after

following a standard procedure.

iv. The IMD is also mandated to issue

advisories to 12 other countries in the region on

the development of cyclones and storms. 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.

v. After each country sent in suggestions, the

WMO/ESCAP Panel on Tropical Cyclones (PTC)

finalised the list.

vi. The WMO/ESCAP expanded to include

five more countries in 2018 — Iran, Qatar,Saudi

Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Yemen.

vii. The list of 169 cyclone names released by

IMD (13 suggestions from each of the 13

countries)

viii. The 13 names in the recent list that have

been suggested by India include: Gati, Tej,

Murasu, Aag, Vyom, Jhar (pronounced Jhor),

Probaho, Neer, Prabhanjan, Ghurni, Ambud,

Jaladhi and Vega.

ix. Nivar was the name suggested by Iran, in

the Parsi language, the word 'Nivar' means light.

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:

i. The proposed name should be neutral to

(a) politics and political figures (b) religious

believes, (c) cultures and (d) gender

ii. Name should be chosen in such a way that

it does not hurt the sentiments of any group of

population over the globe

iii. It should not be very rude and cruel in

nature

iv. It should be short, easy to pronounce and

should not be offensive to any member

v. The maximum length of the name will be

eight letters

vi. The proposed name should be provided

with its pronunciation and voice over

vii. The names of tropical cyclones over the

north Indian Ocean will not be repeated.

viii. Once used, it will cease to be used again.

Thus, the name should be new.

How are Cyclones Forecast?

i. Over the years, India’s ability to track the

formation of cyclones has improved

significantly.

ii. There is a network of 12 doppler weather

radars (DWR) along India’s coast if one were

to begin counting from Kolkata and trawl up

to Mumbai — there are 27 in all in the

country.

iii. Depending on where a storm is forming, these

radars send pulses of radio waves to gauge the

size as well as the speed at which water

droplets are moving.

iv. The earlier generation of radars was unable to

track such progress in real time, but with

DWRs, now the base standard of weather

radars, it is usually possible to detect a

potential storm at least four-five days in

advance.

v. The IMD also collaborates with similar

international networks, such as the Japan

Meteorological Agency, the U.S. National

Hurricane Center, and the U.S. Central Pacific

Hurricane Center, and these bodies constantly

send warnings and forecasts about changes in

the ocean weather.

vi. The IMD also issues flood forecast maps, in

collaboration with urban bodies that forecast



which pockets in a city are likely to be flooded

and where crop damage is likely to be

maximum.

CURRENT AFFAIRS NOVEMBER - 2020

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