10 PM Current Affairs Quiz #11 September 13, 2019

Explanation: Department of Information Technology (DIT) and the Department of Administrative Reforms (DAR&PG), Government of India jointly pursued the setting up of National Institute of Smart Government (NISG) in line with the recommendation # 97 of the National Taskforce on Information Technology and Software Development. In line with the above decision, NISG was registered as a Section 25 company in May 2002 with its headquarters at Hyderabad. 49% of NISG’s equity is held by Central Government and various State Governments, and 51% is held by institutional investors like NASSCOM and ILF&S. This structure was intended to foster the efficiency and flexibility of Private Sector combined with accountability of Public Sector. The NISG Vision and Mission statements place emphasis on the Public Private Partnership. Thus, partnering with the private sector is an essential element of NISG’s functioning. Bidding for projects against private industry players thus creates a contradictory situation to NISG’s objectives.

Explanation: The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) is a so-called mega-regional economic agreement being negotiated since 2012 between the 10 ASEAN (Association of South-East Asian Nations) governments and their six FTA partners: Australia, China, India, Japan, New Zealand and South Korea. RCEP is largely driven by ASEAN. Indeed, the project originated in, and expands upon, the stitching together of five existing ASEAN+1 trade agreements, that ASEAN signed with Japan, South Korea, China, India, Australia and New Zealand. The stated goal of the negotiations is to “boost economic growth and equitable economic development, advance economic cooperation and broaden and deepen integration in the region through the RCEP,” according to the ASEAN website. From what is known of the agreement’s contents, the proposed RCEP would cover almost every aspect of economy such as goods, services, investment, economic and technical cooperation, intellectual property rights (IPR), rules of origin, competition and dispute settlement.

Explanation: Population growth rates are always high in the early stages of development because of demographic factors. As death rates drop because of improvements in public health systems that eliminate epidemic diseases, birth rates do not because poverty and illiteracy persist. But as income levels rise, poverty is reduced and literacy (particularly among women) spreads, birth rates also come down. The bulge in population growth rates slowly diminishes. As development leads to higher income levels, birth rates decline further to levels that merely replace the existing population. Such demographic transitions are integral to development processes. At later stages, in rich countries, birth rates might drop further so that their population declines. The demographic transition in India has been much slower than elsewhere in Asia, essentially because poverty and illiteracy persist, while the public provision of education and healthcare has been grossly inadequate. Even so, the average annual rate of population growth, which was 2.1% in 1951-1971 and 2.2% in 1971-1991, dropped to 1.8% in 1991-2011 and 1.3% in 2011-2016. Birth rates (per 1,000 population) dropped from 37 in 1971 and 29 in 1991 to 22 in 2011 and 19 in 2016, while fertility rates (births per woman) dropped from 5.2 and 3.6 to 2.4 and 2.3, respectively.

Explanation: Between 2011-12 and 2017-18, earnings of regular workers declined in both rural and urban areas. Rural regular wages declined by 0.3% per annum, while urban regular wages declined by 1.7%. This is the second time in the last five decades that regular wages have declined in real terms. The first period of decline, between 1999-2000 and 2004-05, was also a phase when the National Democratic Alliance was in power. However, the decline then was marginal, unlike this time. Compare this with rural areas, where, despite the distress, wages do not show such a sharp decline. What is also worrying is that the decline is sharper in case of regular workers with graduate or higher educational qualifications, who generally represent the middle class. Wages of this section recorded faster growth all through the last five decades, but this time they declined by 3% per annum. This is precisely why the goods and services consumed by the middle class are also witnessing lower demand.

Explanation: Not a single Indian university has featured in the World University Rankings 2020, for the first time since 2012. While Indian Institute of Sciences (IISc) Bangalore retains the top position in the country, it has failed to figure among the top 300 best institutes, the ranking of which is compiled by UK-based Times Higher Education (THE). The IISc Bangalore’s position has slipped from the 251-300 ranking cohort in the previous year to the 301-350 grouping. However, it improved in the research environment, teaching environment and industry income. Meanwhile, the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Ropar debuts in the same bracket (301-350), followed by IIT Indore.