9 PM Daily Current Affairs Brief – March 10th, 2022

Mains Oriented Articles

GS Paper 1

•  A new Vision for Old age care
• India’s gender empowerment enigma

GS Paper 2

• What ails medical education in India
• New guidelines for lower fees in private medical colleges

GS Paper 3

• An alternative export strategy
• Water Management needs a Hydro Social Approach
• Why society gains when start-ups fail
• Managing the rupee

Prelims Oriented Articles (Factly)

• Cabinet approves establishment of WHO Global Centre for Traditional Medicine in India
• Cabinet approves setting up of National Land Monetization Corporation as a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) for undertaking surplus land monetization
• Sahitya Akademi of Ministry of culture to organise Literature festival ‘Sahityotsav’
• Explained: The implication of domestic investors being allowed to trade in top US stocks
• Chandrayaan-2 makes first observations of distribution of Argon-40 in Moon’s atmosphere
• More than 75% of Amazon rainforest near tipping point, may transform into dry savanna: Study
• Ministry of Tourism invites final comments on draft report for setting up National Digital Tourism Mission
• Scientists develop energy-efficient hydrogen production by urea electrolysis
• Explained: What was the Pal-Dadhvav massacre, whose centenary the Gujarat govt is observing?
• Cabinet approves Amendment of the Second Schedule to the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, 1957 for specifying rate of royalty in respect of certain minerals

Mains Oriented Articles

GS Paper 1

 A new Vision for Old age care

News: According to the UN World Population Ageing Report, India’s ageing population (those aged 60 and above) is projected to increase to nearly 20% by 2050 from about 8% now. 

Also currently, as India becomes increasingly urbanised, families are breaking up into smaller units which has lead to several homes for the elderly coming up in various cities. 

How capable are the old age homes for taking care of the needs of elderly? 

Typically, such homes are run by NGOs, religious or voluntary organisations with support from the government, or by local philanthropists. But as there is a lack of regulatory oversight the quality of service is not uniform. 

Basic Healthcare– Some recent research has pointed out that these homes lack in fulfilling even the basic health needs of their elderly residents. 

These health issues though if properly taken care of require some very basic treatment, but if left unaddressed can be the cause of problems like depression in the patient. 

Our homes, buildings and social environment are not built keeping the elderly (or people with disabilities) in mind. In such scenario, in order to prevent them from injury, their mobility is reduced. This reduces their sociability, their sense of independence and well-being — all leading up to mental health issues and depression. 

What can be done to make elderly care better? 

Screening-There is need for basic health screening at homes and public health facilities. This can include screenings for blood sugar, blood pressure, periodic vision. Such interventions hardly require some big sum of money, but go a long way in identifying health issues and offering support.  

The next step would be to build formal pathways to address any health issues that such screenings identify.  

There is also a need for robust public policy to support homes for the elderly. A comprehensive policy will guide elderlies to make their facilities, buildings and social environment elderly- and disabled-friendly. 

India’s gender empowerment enigma

Context: The International Women’s Day was celebrated. But, the focus on gender inequality has not been adequate in the country.

What are the steps taken to tackle gender inequality?

The government has made reforms which mandated longer maternity leave for women, the provision of better child care facilities in workplaces, the subsidized cooking gas distribution scheme, and the legislation to ban triple talaq among Muslim women of Indian Society.

Status of Indian Women

India slipped 28-rank in the World Economic Forum’s latest Global Gender Gap.

A sharp decline in female labour force participation rate (FLFPR) and there is growing female unemployment.

Reasons for poor performance of India in the global ranking?

India’s score fell sharply on account of the “political empowerment” dimension. The study only takes into account the representation of women in Parliament, not women’s participation at the level of local self-government, in which India performs very well.

India also stands at rank 114 in terms of educational attainment and in health and survival it stands at 155.

India ranks among the worst performers in terms of economic participation and access to opportunity. It means women have a low chance of finding jobs.

What are the ultimate causes behind poor status of Women in Indian Society

Patriarchal Society: It is validated by the troubling resistance to criminalising marital rape.

Disempowerment of women across Indian society. Indian society thinks that men have priority in terms of access to job opportunities and are viewed as principal bread-earners. It adds burdens of housework and childcare on working women and discrimination and/or harassment in the workplace.

The performance of Indian economy: It has shrunk steadily since 2017. It took unemployment rates to new highs. It was impacted by demonetisation and the goods and services tax reform measures. It was worsened by Covid-19. It slowed down the economy, and narrowed the scope for women to participate in the economy. It can continue longer if the Russia-Ukraine war is prolonged and fourth wave of the virus lashes the country.

Way Ahead

An expanding economy automatically enlarges the job market and eventually creates conditions in labour markets that compel businesses to overcome their gender prejudices and hire women.

Government Policies: The gender-focused government policies can serve to complement the expanding economy process.

GS Paper 2

What ails medical education in India

Context: India’s medical education system has attracted a lot of adverse attention due to the medical students being evacuated from Ukraine. There are issues like delay in post-graduate counselling because of reservation-related litigation. Also, Tamil Nadu legislating to opt out of NEET.

Issues in Indian Medical Education

A serious demand-supply mismatch: The MBBS degree continues to be an attractive option and there are inadequate seats in terms of population norms. The seats in the private college are priced between Rs 15-30 lakh per year.

Paucity of Faculty: The government’s initiative to open new medical colleges has run into a serious faculty crunch. All that the new colleges do is poaching faculty from a current medical college.

Academic quality continues to be a serious concern. There are loopholes of ghost faculty and corruption.

Salaries of Faculty: In many states’ government-run and private colleges, the faculties are low and private practice is common. This ruins the academic atmosphere.

A complete disregard for students’ welfare: The private institutions do not treat students and their parents who come for counselling in a well way. The system is designed for non-resident and other wealthy Indians to capture the seats left unfilled due to their high prices. This is done using a percentile system for defining eligibility and not per cent, so that students with money and low scores can get through.

Mushrooming of dental colleges of dubious quality: Many students who don’t get seat in medical colleges settle for a Bachelor in Dental Surgery degree. Such colleges in number and of poor quality. Thus, India produced far more dental surgeons than were in demand.

Middlemen problem: The aspiring students are bombarded with offers from agencies ensuring seats in Nepal, Mauritius, Ukraine, Russia, China and so on. Many students who get admitted, often fail to clear the foreign medical graduate examination (pass rate of 15%).

Corporatisation of the health sector: The health sector is treated like a service industry with a profit motive, medical education provides human resources — like business managers. Universal need and information asymmetry are among the many reasons often cited to make the case for the exclusion of market forces in health services and medical education.

Increasing need for specialisation: It leads students to prove their worth at every level or pay through their noses. This explains the decline in attraction for the MBBS among a section of students.

So, what needs to be done?

Increasing Medical seats: It can be done by converting district hospitals into medical colleges through private-public partnership model (NITI Aayog seems to be moving in this direction).

A functional regulatory framework: Recent efforts by the National Medical Council (NMC) to regulate college fees is a step in the right direction.

Subsidising medical education: The government can do so even in the private sector, or look at alternative ways of financing medical education for disadvantaged students.

Quality assessments of medical colleges should be regularly conducted, and reports should be available in the public domain. The NMC is proposing a common exit exam for all medical undergraduates as a quality control measure.

Conclusion

It is hoped that the current scaling up efforts, which are most welcome, are re-envisaged to focus on quality and societal needs along with commercial viability.

New guidelines for lower fees in private medical colleges

News: New National Medical Commission guidelines on fee structure at private medical colleges to kick in next year.

Status of medical seats in India

There are 85,000 medical seats in India. There are 41,190 seats in 276 private colleges and 43,237 seats are in 286 government colleges.

Fee Structure of the medical seats till now

Government Fee Regulation: the fee of seats in government colleges is determined either by the central government (for central government-run or autonomous colleges like AIIMS-Delhi) or the respective state governments.

Private Fee System: Some states capped the fee charged by some private medical colleges (But the norms were not uniform across the country). Despite regulations or capped fees in the private colleges, Fees remained much higher than in government medical colleges in that state.  

What are the new National Medical Commission guidelines on fee structure?

For half of the total approved seats in their institute, Private medical colleges, including deemed universities, will have to charge fees equivalent to government medical colleges in their states.

It means 3/4^th of the total MBBS seats (Half of private and total of states) will be available at low cost.

These New National Medical Commission guidelines will come into effect from next year.

How will these seats be allocated?

Seats will be allocated on the basis of NEET-UG Merit. “The students will first be given the seats at government medical colleges; their next option would be the seats in private medical colleges (at government determined fees) and then the rest of the private seats. All admissions will be through merit.”

How will the cost be fixed for the remaining seats in private colleges?

As per new regulations. the internal committee deciding the fee of the private colleges have been brought under the ambit of the state regulatory committees.

Fee Structure to be determined by the operating cost of the medical college. It can be calculated on the basis of the audit report from the previous financial years. For a new college, having no audit report, it can be calculated on an ad-hoc basis based on the audit of the most recently established medical college in the state.

Fixed fee: The fee fixed for a student joining the college should remain the same for the entire duration of the study, subject to inflation adjustment.

The Development Fee can be charged: It can range between 6 to 15% on operating cost, depending on their previous expenditure and development plans at present and linked to national rank once the ranking system is in place.

No capitation fees can be charged by the medical colleges. The determination of the fees will be on a “not-for-profit” basis.

Not to include the cost of running an associated medical hospital of the medical college in the student fees. However, in case, a hospital is running at a heavy loss, it can be spread for period of five to seven years (based on the decision of the state fee regulatory committee).

GS Paper 3

An alternative export strategy

News: In a recent interview Raghuram Rajan, the former governor of the Reserve Bank of India, has suggested that India should focus primarily on exports of information technology-enabled services (ITeS) along with professional services such as consultancy, legal, medicine, accounting, etc. 

What are the problems associated with making service export as the mainstay of India’s export strategy? 

Unemployment- Professional services involve skill-intensive jobs, and thus they may not provide a solution to the difficulty of rising levels of unemployment and underemployment among low-skilled workers. 

Unequal Growth-  An expansion of high-skill professional activities will only lead to a relatively greater demand for the more qualified consultants and professionals, further aggravating the unequal, K-shaped recovery pattern that has been evident during the pandemic. 

Data Privacy- The necessary regulatory policies for liberalisation of the services include various issues. For instance: issues of data privacy, storage and localisation

Movement of Professionals- India’s predominant comparative advantage in the services sector has been its human capital. Thus this has been the single most important factor for India’s prolonged and often stalled services sector negotiations in preferential trade agreements as well as at the WTO Doha Development Agenda.

What is a better alternative? 

India may actually consider focusing on services that are an integral part of manufacturing sector exports, and hence adopt an integrated approach to its services sector exports. This will include putting emphasis on employment-intensive services supporting manufacturing activity. 

This approach has been in use globally and is widely referred as “servicification” and/ or “servitisation” of manufacturing where services are increasingly exported as “embodied” and “embedded” in manufactured goods and processes. The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development or UNCTAD observes that for a select set of economies when services within manufacturing are considered, the services sector value addition to overall exports is close to two-thirds. 

Recent literature on the subject provides evidence of such services contributing to higher manufacturing sector productivity, export capabilities and employment.  

What will be the factors that can hinder such a policy’s smooth implementation? 

Rail freight and distribution services are among the most employment intensive sectors, but remain relatively more restricted in India. Undue restrictions in services supply and discriminatory regulations on foreign entry have been found to limit the positive economic gains from these services. 

Reforms and further liberalisation towards creating a facilitative regulatory framework for private/ foreign ownership and participation in these sectors will lead to not just enhanced services, but also to manufacturing productivity. 

What is the way forward? 

So, it is essential that India’s export strategy views services as an integral part of manufacturing. This will provide multiple benefits like enhanced productivity, manufacturing competitiveness, export and employment. 

Water Management needs a Hydro Social Approach

News: The fact that freshwater resources are under stress is very widely acknowledged, and also that the principal driving force behind this situation are human activities in their various forms. 

According to the IPCC estimates the gap between demand for and supply of fresh water may reach up to 40% by 2030 if present practices continue.  

What have been international efforts for conservation of water? 

2030 Water Resource Group was formed in 2008 at the instance of the World Economic Forum, it has been promoted by World Bank since 2018. 

This Group will is help in achieving the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) on water availability and sanitation for all by 2030 (SDG 6). 

How are some current water management techniques a cause of concern? 

Water resources are not distributed uniformly. Thus, world over intra- and inter-basin transfer (IBT) of water is used as a major hydrological intervention to rectify the imbalance in water availability due to naturally prevailing unequal distribution. 

However, World Wide Fund (WWF) for Nature has suggested a cautious approach and the necessity to adhere to sustainability principles set out by the World Commission on Dams, while taking up IBT projects. 

What has been India’s approach towards IBT projects? 

Recently, inter-basin transfer of water drew attention in India due to a provision made in Budget 2022 for the Ken Betwa river link project which is a part of the National River Linking project (mooted in 1970 and revived in 1999).  

This decision raises larger questions about hydrological assumptions and the use and the management of freshwater resources. 

What are the factors that are making the situation of water scarcity worse? 

The basic idea behind IBT is to export water from the surplus basin to a deficit basin. However, the status of basin as surplus may change if factors of present and future land use, especially cropping patterns, population growth, urbanisation, etc are considered.

Besides this, rainfall in many surplus basins has been reported as declining. 

There is also concern about the present capacity utilisation of water resources created in the country. The average water use efficiency of irrigation projects in India is only 38% against 50%-60% in the case of developed countries. 

Even at the crop level, we consume more water than the global average.  The agriculture sector uses a little over 90% of total water use in India. And in industrial plants, consumption is 2 times to 3.5 times higher per unit of production of similar plants in other countries. 

There is also lack of proper disposal and reuse of grey water in our country. It is estimated that 55% to 75% of domestic water use turns into grey water depending on its nature of use, people’s habits, climatic conditions, etc. This untreated grey water and industrial effluents get into freshwater bodies and becoming a source of pollution. 

Apart from the inefficient use of water in all sectors, there is also a reduction in natural storage capacity and deterioration in catchment efficiency. 

What is the way forward? 

There is a need to involve non-state actors in decision-making processes. 

Hydro-social cycle approach is one such approach that studies water resource in sync with the human-nature interactive structure. 

A hybrid water management system is necessary, where (along with professionals and policy makers) the individual, a community and society have definite roles in the value chain.  

Why society gains when start-ups fail

Context: Start-up culture should be promoted in India. It is economically beneficial without any harm.

Status of start-ups investment in India in 2021

India attracted $77 billion worth of private equity investment in 2021. Out of this around $42 billion was gone to early-stage ventures.

Why do we need to have start-ups?

Most start-ups are expected to fail: Indeed, most start-ups fail. But this high failure rate is not a problem per se. It is because society only needs a few successful start-ups. These few are enough to compensate for the losses of others as they alone can harness the gains of innovation, productivity, and job creation.  Therefore, start-ups failures should not be treated as a disease as discouraging them will never create innovation, immunity, and jobs.

Startups don’t socialise their losses: Corporate bank loans to crony capitalists create a huge amount of bad loans, leading to the need to bail out banks with public money. Whereas the cost of start-up failure is borne by consenting adults (entrepreneurs) with the support of foreign institutions, angel investors, and entrepreneurs with successful previous exits. The coming venture capital losses leave behind assets, generate learning and breed valuable alumni, unlike NPAs.

Startups will solve real problems for Indians: India’s poverty is not because of a shortage of land, labor, or capital. But it is due to issues in total factor productivity (combination of three factors).  Therefore, we need higher productivity regions, cities, sectors, firms, and individuals. Startups can play a major role and can pledge to solve the problems of India.

What are the issues associated with startups?

First, the global capital supply for funding start-ups is facing challenges due to fiscal and monetary policy normalization. For example, Investors are now not investing recklessly, they ae looking for financial sustainability and capital efficiency along with addressable markets. For example, the risk-free return in the US bond market.

Second, the explosive start-up funding has created excess of funding for many start-ups by using manipulative methods. For example, criminal fraud done by Elizabeth Holmes, founder Blood-testing company (Blood-testing company) Theranos by raising $700 million by acceptable hyping of her product and lying about performance.

Conclusion

We only need a few startups. Their survival will raise India’s soft power and prosperity by using improbable ideas to solve impossible problems.

Managing the rupee

News: Due to Russian Invasion of Ukraine, US imposed a ban on energy imports from Russia and its other allies could do the same. Their corporations in the energy sector are moving out of Russia. It could permanently reshape the dynamics of energy sector.

Energy prices might stay elevated in the foreseeable future even if a diplomatic solution is reached in the coming days and weeks.

All this will result into a weaker rupee, which will add to inflationary pressures. Inflation reduces the purchasing power and will be reflected in the external value of the currency as well.

Challenges to India Rupee (External Value of Rupee)

Due to a number of global backdrops, the Indian Rupee is under pressure.  A pressure is borne by Indian Rupee from both the current and capital accounts.

Impact of Higher Commodity Prices: India is a large importer of crude oil and several other commodities. Since beginning of this year, Oil prices have gone up by over 70 per cent. Thus, Indian Rupee slipped to an all-time low recently. On the other hand, due to the current scenario, the demand for US dollars may increase, pushing up its price.

Foreign portfolio investors: They are moving out of Indian markets. For instance, foreign investors, have sold Indian stocks worth over Rs 26,000 crore. Funds are flowing to the US, which has led to a decline in government bond yields, and is pushing up the dollar. Thus, dollar demand is increasing.

Increasing Interest Rate in USA: The Federal Reserve is expected to start increasing interest rates. It will tighten financial conditions in the coming months. In fact, risk aversion started much before the Ukraine crisis. It is because markets began to adjust to the possibility of higher-than-expected rate hikes by the Fed.

Suggestions for monetary policy adjustments

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) should not use large forex reserves to contain Rupee volatility. Obstructing this currency adjustment could create bigger imbalances.

An orderly adjustment in currency should be undertaken. It would actually help stabilize the current account. A stable and manageable deficit on the current account would, in turn, make the currency more stable.

The RBI should reassess its inflation outlook and act accordingly. RBI’s earlier projections for the next fiscal year are outdated. They need to be updated as ignoring inflation could increase risks, including external.

Prelims Oriented Articles (Factly)

Cabinet approves establishment of WHO Global Centre for Traditional Medicine in India

Source: This post is based on the article “Cabinet approves establishment of WHO Global Centre for Traditional Medicine in India” published in PIB on 9th Mar 2022 

What is the News?

The Union Cabinet has approved the establishment of the WHO Global Centre for Traditional Medicine(WHO GCTM).

What is WHO Global Centre for Traditional Medicine (WHO GCTM)?

WHO GCTM will be the first and only global outposted Centre (office) for traditional medicine across the globe.

It will be established under the Ministry of AYUSH.

Location: Jamnagar, Gujarat.

Purpose: The Centre will help 1) To position AYUSH systems across the globe, 2) To ensure quality, safety and efficacy, accessibility and rational use of traditional medicine, 3) To help develop norms, standards and guidelines, tools and methodologies for collecting data, undertaking analytics and assessing impact, 4) To develop specific capacity building and training programmes in the areas of relevance.

Cabinet approves setting up of National Land Monetization Corporation as a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) for undertaking surplus land monetization

What is the News?

The Union Cabinet has approved the setting up of the National Land Monetization Corporation (NLMC). The setting up of NLMC is in pursuance of the Budget Announcement for 2021-22.

What is National Land Monetization Corporation(NLMC)?

NLMC will be a wholly-owned Government of India company with an initial authorized share capital of Rs 5000 crore.

Nodal Ministry: It will be set up under the administrative jurisdiction of the Department of Public Enterprise, Ministry of Finance.

Composition: A chairman will be appointed to head the NLMC through a ‘merit-based selection process. The Board of Directors will comprise senior Central Government officers and eminent experts to enable professional operations and management of the company. The Board of NLMC can also hire, pay and retain experienced professionals from the private sector.

Functions of NLMC

To undertake monetisation of surplus land and building assets of Central public sector enterprises (CPSEs) as well as other government agencies.

To own, hold, manage and monetize surplus land and building assets of CPSEs under closure and the surplus non-core land assets of Government-owned CPSEs under strategic disinvestment. 

To advise other government entities to identify their non-core surplus assets and ‘generate maximum value’ by monetising them ‘in a professional and efficient manner’.

To act as a repository of best practices in land monetization, assist and provide technical advice to the Government in the implementation of asset monetization programmes.

Significance of NLMC

Firstly, with the monetization of non-core assets, the Government would be able to generate substantial revenues by monetizing unused and under-used assets.

Secondly, it will speed up the closure process of CPSEs and smoothen the strategic disinvestment process of Government-owned CPSEs. 

Source: This post is based on the article “Cabinet approves setting up of National Land Monetization Corporation as a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) for undertaking surplus land monetization” published in PIB on 10th Mar 2022 

Sahitya Akademi of Ministry of culture to organise Literature festival ‘Sahityotsav’

What is the News?

Sahitya Akademi is organising a literature festival named “Sahityotsav”.

What is Sahityotsav?

Sahityotsav is a Festival of Letters of Sahitya Akademi. It is India’s most inclusive literature festival.

The festival will be a part of the celebrations to commemorate the 75th anniversary of India’s Independence. 

The prestigious Sahitya Akademi Awards will also be presented during the festival.

What is the Sahitya Akademi Award?

Sahitya Akademi award was established in 1954. It is a literary honour that is conferred annually by Sahitya Akademi, India’s National Academy of letters.

The Akademi gives 24 awards annually to literary works in the languages it has recognized, and an equal number of awards to literary translations from and into the languages of India.

Note: Besides the 22 languages enumerated in the Constitution of India, the Sahitya Akademi has recognised English and Rajasthani as languages in which its programme may be implemented.

Significance: The Sahitya Akademi award is the second-highest literary honour by the Government of India, after the Jnanpith award.

What is Sahitya Akademi?

Sahitya Akademi, India’s National Academy of Letters, was founded in 1954 by the Ministry of Culture.

It is an organisation dedicated to the promotion of literature in the languages of India

Though set up by the Government, the Akademi functions as an autonomous organisation. It was registered as a society in 1956 under the Societies Registration Act, 1860.

Location: Rabindra Bhawan near Mandi House in Delhi

Source: This post is based on the article “Sahitya Akademi of Ministry of culture to organise Literature festival ‘Sahityotsav’” published in PIB on 10th Mar 2022 

Explained: The implication of domestic investors being allowed to trade in top US stocks

What is the News?

Investors in India have been allowed to trade in select US stocks through the NSE International Exchange (NSE IFSC).

Note: Currently, Indian investors buy US stocks through designated online brokers who have permission from Indian and US regulators to offer such services.

What does this mean?

Domestic investors can purchase US stocks like Amazon, Alphabet, Tesla, Meta Platforms, Microsoft, Netflix, Apple and Walmart through the NSE International Exchange (NSE IFSC).

However, the offering will be in the form of unsponsored Depositary Receipts(DRs). For example, one share of Tesla will be equivalent to 100 NSE IFSC receipts.

Note: When a company offers Depositary Receipts(DRs) to investors, they are known as sponsored DRs. Where a company does not directly offer such DRs, they are called unsponsored DRs.

Who can invest in these stocks?

A person resident outside India, Non-resident Indians and Individual resident in India who is eligible under FEMA (Foreign Exchange Management Act) to invest funds offshore, to the extent allowed in the Liberalized Remittance Scheme(LRS) of Reserve Bank of India.

Under the LRS framework, the RBI permits the resident individuals to remit up to USD2,50,000 per financial year for any permitted current or capital account transaction.

What are the advantages of investing through this in US stocks?

​​The business model offered by NSE IFSC will not only provide an additional investment opportunity to the Indian investors, but also make the entire process of investment easy and keep it at a low cost.

The proposed trading framework will also make US stocks affordable to Indian retail investors. Furthermore, all the trades will be covered under the investor protection framework at NSE IFSC.

What is NSE IFSC?

NSE IFSC (NSE International Exchange) was incorporated in 2016. It is a fully-owned subsidiary of the National Stock Exchange of India Limited (NSE).

Stock exchanges operating in the Gujarat International Finance Tech City (GIFT-IFSC) are permitted to offer trading in securities in any currency other than the Indian rupee.

What is NSE IFSC receipt?

It is a negotiable financial instrument in the nature of an unsponsored ‘depositary receipt’, which means it is a derivative product and investors can directly trade in the stocks without having to do so through registered online brokers.

Just like shares are purchased domestically, shares can be bought in the US and issue receipts against them, which will be known as NSE IFSC Receipts.

Source: This post is based on the article “Explained: The implication of domestic investors being allowed to trade in top US stocks” published in Indian Express on 10th Mar 2022 

Chandrayaan-2 makes first observations of distribution of Argon-40 in Moon’s atmosphere

What is the News?

Chandra’s Atmospheric Composition Explorer-2(CHACE-2), a payload onboard Chandrayaan-2, has made the first-of-its-kind discovery on the distribution of one of the noble gasses, Argon-40.

What is Chandrayaan-2?

Chandrayaan-2 is the second lunar exploration mission launched by ISRO in 2019.

Objective: To demonstrate ISRO’s capability to make a soft landing on the moon.

The mission had a lander and a rover component that was supposed to carry out a number of experiments on the lunar surface. 

However, due to technical glitches in the final moments ahead of the touchdown, the lander was unable to make a soft landing. Instead, it crash-landed and got destroyed.

But the Orbiter is continuing to carry out its scientific experiments. It is carrying eight instruments, including CHACE-2, for different kinds of measurements. 

Read more about Chandrayaan-2

What is the discovery made by the CHACE-2 payload?

Argon-40 (Ar-40) is known to exist in the lunar exosphere. But the knowledge on its distribution at higher latitudes is lacking. 

Now, the CHACE-2 payload has shown that the distribution of Argon-40 gas in the lunar ‘exosphere’ exists beyond the areas that were known. It has detected the presence of Argon in the equatorial and mid-latitude regions of the Moon.

The payload has also revealed that the distribution of Ar-40 has significant spatial heterogeneity. 

For example, there are localised enhancements (termed as Argon bulge) over several regions including the KREEP [potassium (K), Rare-Earth Elements, and Phosphorus (P)] on South Pole Aitken terrain (impact crater on the far side of the Moon).

Note: ‘Exosphere’ is the outermost region of the upper atmosphere of a celestial body where the constituent atoms and molecules rarely collide with each other and can escape into space.

What is the significance of this discovery?

Noble gases serve as important tracers to understand the processes of surface-exosphere interaction, and Argon-40 (Ar-40) is such an important tracer atom to study the dynamics of the lunar exospheric species.

Ar-40 originates from the radioactive disintegration of Potassium-40 (K-40) present below the lunar surface. Once formed, it diffuses through the inter-granular space and makes its way up to the lunar exosphere through seepages and faults.

The CHACE-2 observations provide the diurnal and spatial variation of Ar-40 covering the equatorial and mid-latitude regions of the Moon.

The uniqueness of this discovery lies in the fact that although Apollo-17(1972) and Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE Mission 2014) have detected the presence of Ar-40 in the lunar exosphere, the measurements were confined to the near-equatorial region of the Moon.

Moreover, the observations of Argon bulge by CHACE-2 are indicative of unknown or additional loss processes.

Source: This post is based on the article “Chandrayaan-2 makes first observations of distribution of Argon-40 in Moon’s atmosphere” published in The Hindu on 10th Mar 2022 

More than 75% of Amazon rainforest near tipping point, may transform into dry savanna: Study

What is the News?

According to a study, more than 75% of the Amazon rainforest has been heading towards a tipping point since the early 2000s.

What is the Amazon Rainforest?

It is a moist broadleaf tropical rainforest in the Amazon biome that covers most of the Amazon basin of South America.

The majority of the forest is contained within Brazil (60%), followed by Peru Colombia with 10%, and with minor amounts in Venezuela, Ecuador, Bolivia, Guyana, Suriname and French Guiana.

Why is the Amazon Rainforest important?

Amazon’s rainforest is home to 30% of the world’s species, comprising 40,000 plant species, 16,000 tree species, 1,300 birds and more than 430 species of mammals.

The rainforest is also a carbon sink — a place that absorbs more carbon dioxide than it releases. It plays an essential role in combating climate change.

What is happening with the Amazon Rainforest?

The Amazon Rainforest is getting impacted by activities such as Deforestation, increase in temperature and other human-induced activities.

Due to this, it is losing its ability to bounce back from damage caused by droughts, fires and deforestation.

The study has also warned that the rainforest may become a dry savanna-like ecosystem. This means that it could transform into a carbon source: Places that release more CO2 than they absorb.

Source: This post is based on the article “More than 75% of Amazon rainforest near tipping point, may transform into dry savanna: Study” published in Down To Earth on 10th Mar 2022 

Ministry of Tourism invites final comments on draft report for setting up National Digital Tourism Mission

What is the News?

The Ministry of Tourism has released a draft report on the proposed National Digital Tourism Mission.

About India’s Tourism Sector

Contribution to GDP: Direct and indirect contribution of tourism to GDP is approximately 5% in 2018-19.

International Tourist Arrivals (ITAs): With 17.9 million ITAs in 2019, India is at 23rd position in the world in terms of ITAs. ITAs have grown with a CAGR of 6.4% over 6 years from 2014 to 2019. 

Contribution to Employment: Both direct and indirect jobs in the tourism sector contributed to 12.5% of total jobs in the country in 2019.  

Contribution to Foreign Exchange Earnings (FEE): With 2.12 lakh crore FEE in 2019, India is at 12th position in the world. 

Challenges faced by Indian Tourism Industry

The Tourism industry continues to face challenges like lack of formalization, inadequate access to timely finance, fluctuations in currency exchange, seasonal dependence, lack of infrastructure, security issues, skill deficit, unavailability of freely available IT systems, lack of social media campaigns and need for more marketing opportunities.

What is Government planning to address the challenges faced by the Tourism industry?

The Ministry of Tourism had constituted an inter-ministerial task force for the implementation of a National Digital Tourism Mission. The task force has prepared a draft report on the proposed Mission.

What is the need for National Digital Tourism Mission?

The Tourism sector is highly fragmented. Sub Sectors of tourism such as transport, accommodation, restaurants and catering and personal services are all subject to very different challenges and opportunities. 

Moreover, most of the tourism systems developed by the Central Government, State Governments, the Public sector and the Private sector function in silos. As a result, the tourism ecosystem is unable to harvest the combinatorial benefits of information exchange

Hence, the National Digital Tourism Mission is being planned. The mission will aim to bridge the existing information gap amongst different stakeholders of the tourism ecosystem through a digital highway.

Source: This post is based on the article “Ministry of Tourism invites final comments on draft report for setting up National Digital Tourism Mission” published in PIB on 9th Mar 2022 

Scientists develop energy-efficient hydrogen production by urea electrolysis

What is the News?

Indian Scientists have designed an electrocatalyst system for energy-efficient hydrogen production with the help of the electrolysis of urea.

Hydrogen Production by Urea electrolysis

The energy requirement for the production of hydrogen through water electrolysis can be reduced by 70% through urea electrolysis. 

This can be done by replacing the energy-intensive counterpart of water splitting, oxygen evolution, with urea oxidation in urea electrolysis. The low-cost, earth-abundant Ni-based catalysts are widely applied for this process.

However, the main challenge associated with this urea oxidation is retaining the prolonged activity of the catalyst as the strong adsorption of the reactive intermediate(COx) on the active site referred to as catalyst poisoning causes activity loss.

To overcome this problem, scientists have designed an electrocatalyst system for energy-efficient hydrogen production with the help of the electrolysis of urea.

What is the significance of the production of hydrogen by Urea electrolysis?

India is one of the top countries in urea production, and it produced 244.55 LMT of urea during 2019-20. The nitrogenous fertilizer industries generate a high concentration of ammonia and urea as effluents. Hence, this can be utilized for energy production towards our country’s benefits.

Source: This post is based on the article “Scientists develop energy-efficient hydrogen production by urea electrolysis” published in PIB on 9th Mar 2022.

Explained: What was the Pal-Dadhvav massacre, whose centenary the Gujarat govt is observing?

What is the News?

On March 7, the Gujarat government marked 100 years of the Pal-Dadhvav killings, calling it a massacre “bigger than the Jallianwala Bagh”.

What is Pal – Dadhvav massacre?

Pal – Dadhvav massacre took place on March 7,1922 in Pal-Chitariya and Dadhvaav villages of Sabarkantha district, then part of Idar state (present-day Gujarat).

On this day, villagers from Pal, Dadhvav, and Chitariya had gathered on the banks of River Heir as part of the ‘Eki movement’ led by one Motilal Tejawat.

The movement was to protest against the land revenue tax (lagaan) imposed on the peasants by the British and feudal lords.

However, the British Paramilitary force was on the hunt for Tejawat. They heard of this gathering and reached the spot.

Nearly 2000 Bhil Tribals under the leadership of Tejawat lifted their bows and arrows. But the Britishers opened fire on them. Nearly 1,000 tribals (Bhils) fell to bullets. But Tejwat was taken safely from there, and later he returned to the spot to christen it ‘Veer Bhumi’.

Recognition of Pal-Dadhvav massacre 

The Pal-Dadhvav massacre was brought into focus at the Republic Day parade this year. 

The Republic Day tableau featured a seven-ft statue of Tejawat, inspired by the statue at the memorial. A song describing Tejawat as ‘Koliyari no Vanio Gandhi’ was also sung at the tableau.

Source: This post is based on the article “Explained: What was the Pal-Dadhvav massacre, whose centenary the Gujarat govt is observing?” published in Indian Express on 10th Mar 2022 

Cabinet approves Amendment of the Second Schedule to the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, 1957 for specifying rate of royalty in respect of certain minerals

What is the News?

The Union Cabinet has approved the proposal of the Ministry of Mines for amendment of the Second Schedule of the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, 1957.

What is the purpose of the amendment?

The amendment specifies the rate of royalty in respect of certain minerals like Glauconite, Potash, Emerald, Platinum Group of Metals (PGM), Andalusite, Sillimanite and Molybdenum.

What was the need for this amendment?

Geological Survey of India and Mineral Exploration Corporation Ltd. has been carrying out exploration of minerals such as Glauconite/ Potash, Emerald, Platinum Group of Metals (PGM), Andalusite and Molybdenum which are not mined in the country. The country is totally dependent on imports of these minerals.

However, now, as a major step towards mineral self-sufficiency, many State Governments have identified such mineral blocks for auction. However, the rate of royalty for these minerals was not separately provided.

That’s why this amendment was brought to specify the rate of royalty in respect of these minerals.

What is the use of these minerals?

Minerals like Glauconite and Potash are used as fertilizer in agriculture. 

Platinum Group of Metals(PGM) are high-value metals used in various industries and new innovative applications. 

Minerals like Andalusite, molybdenum are vital minerals used in industrial applications.

Hence, encouraging indigenous mining of these minerals would lead to a reduction in imports in potash fertilizers and other minerals, thereby reducing the country’s foreign dependency.

Source: This post is based on the article “Cabinet approves Amendment of the Second Schedule to the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, 1957 for specifying rate of royalty in respect of certain minerals” published in PIB on 10th Mar 2022.