9 PM Daily Current Affairs Brief – March 8th, 2022

Mains Oriented Articles

GS Paper 1

• Message in turnout: Women voters have become a force. Welfare policy reflects this but political representation doesn’t
• Rethinking the 100 new cities plan
• MORE WOMEN IN POLITICS WILL STRENGTHEN DEMOCRACY

GS Paper 2

• Sealed Cover Jurisprudence is appalling
• Disruption@gov.in
• What the plight of students in Ukraine reveals about medical education in India
• How invasion of Ukraine could transform nuclear landscape of Asia

GS Paper 3

• Risks of imported energy gets real
• Reaping the potential of the female workforce

Prelims Oriented Articles (Factly)

• Ministry of Women And Child Development in Partnership Ministry Of Education and UNICEF Launches Campaign ‘Kanya Shikhsa Pravesh Utsav’
• Government has approved continuation of Swatantrata Sainik Samman Yojana(SSSY)
• Explained: What are humanitarian corridors
• Theyyam goes global with live webcast
• Science behind jets of plasma occurring all over Sun’s chromosphere unravelled
• ECI hosts International Election Visitors Programme 2022
• Labour Ministry launches ‘donate a pension’ scheme
• Indian researchers develop low-energy chip architecture to prevent attacks on IoT devices
• Environmental Dimensions of AMR Report: Pharma, health sectors among 5 major sources of AMR, says UNEP report
• India looking to advance the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) with Bangladesh

Mains Oriented Articles

GS Paper 1

Message in turnout: Women voters have become a force. Welfare policy reflects this but political representation doesn’t

News: Female voter turnout percentage is found to be increasing in many recent elections.

Does this change hold any significance?

Government welfare schemes are showing greater empathy for women voters, and women voters are also rewarding those parties. For example, Both Jayalalithaa and Nitish Kumar can credit their long terms as CMs to their female voters.

However, these changing trends are not reflected in the proportion of women entering politics or getting tickets to fight elections to assemblies and Parliament. This change is required

Rethinking the 100 new cities plan

Topic: Smart Cities Mission

News: The idea of creation of 100 new cities in India has not taken off. It was an important mission launched by the public authorities in 2014 which included the Smart Cities Mission.

Why new cities are needed in India?

Economic Growth and Job Creation: Urban real estate development is a part and parcel of economic development and job creation. Therefore, it has to be properly focussed.

Very little land is needed to build new cities: For example, top 10 most populous cities occupy only about 0.2 per cent of the national land mass. Even urban areas as a whole occupy 4 per cent of the land base in India.

Only Few Cities Developed in India: India is a huge country with 28 states and eight Union Territories. Only a few new cities have come up since 1947

Low Level of Urbanization: The urban population in India still remains very low. It is at about 35 per cent which is very low in comparison to China (65 per cent)

What are the challenges in the development of cities?

The Land Acquisition Act, 2013: It makes acquisition difficult and costly. An Attempt to amend the 2013 Act has also been failed. However, there is still a way out.

A variant of Inspector Raj was abolished in manufacturing sector but its variant remained in the urban real estate sector: The private sector is still not allowed to provide infrastructure for the much-needed additional real estate development on a large scale.

Demand Supply Mismatch in Cities: There are unsold inventory of apartments built up in several cities. It is because real estate developers keep their supply limited relative to the demand. They build costly apartments. However, the demand for low-cost apartment is high which remains unmet. Therefore, the market price of urban real estate is high.

Inadequate Availability of funds for Mission of 100 Cities: A huge amount of finance or funds is required for development, or the planning and the implementation machinery.

Way Ahead

Participation of private players: There is a need to have an appropriate long-term policy framework to incentivise the participation of big private real estate companies in making the mission of 100 new cities real. They can be involved to plan, raise resources, construct, marketing, for instance, the development of much of Gurugram is an example.

Abolishing a variant of the licence-permit-quota Raj in the real estate sector:

Promoting construction of all variants of property: At substantially lower prices, we have massive demand. The construction in this segment is important.

It is imperative that we have several new cities, and not just extension of existing cities, which can be a messy and costly affair.

MORE WOMEN IN POLITICS WILL STRENGTHEN DEMOCRACY

News: After Covid-19, the position of role of women is strengthening in the political and civic life of democracy in South Asia.

Trends of Women Role in Politics

Global level: women leaders, such as Jacinda Ardern (New Zealand), Tsai-Ing Wen (Taiwan), Sanna Marin (Finland) and KK Shailaja (Kerala) has shown superior performance in handling the pandemic.

Local level: The panchayat sarpanches and health officials such as Roorkee’s Daljit Kaur, Singhwahini’s Ritu Jaiswal and the mayor of Chandannath municipality in Nepal, Kantika Sejuwal, among many others, have also performed very well.

What are the issues?

Paradox Situation in South Asian democracy: On one side, a strong women leader such as Sirimavo Bandaranaike, Chandrika Kumaratunga, Indira Gandhi, Khaleda Zia, Sheikh Hasina, and Benazir Bhutto have been in the power in South Asia. On the other side, women’s condition in society at large, continued to be appalling.

Underrepresentation of Women in political parties as members of key decision-making bodies. For instance, India has fallen several places in the Inter-Parliamentary Union’s global ranking of women’s parliamentary presence, from 117 after the 2014 election to 143 as of January 2020. In fact, India is currently behind Pakistan (106), Bangladesh (98) and Nepal (43) and ahead of Sri Lanka (182).

Some good developments towards political empowerment of women

Strength of Women Member of Parliament in India Has Increased: Currently, women make up 14.6% of MPs (78 MPs) in the Lok Sabha. It is a historic high.

Winnability of Women Politician is high:  For example, BJP women candidates won at a strike-rate of 7% as opposed to their male counterparts at 66 per cent. Additionally, 27 of 41 women MPs were able to retain their seats as well.

Voluntary Parliamentary Quotas for Women: In the 2019 general elections, West Bengal under Mamata Banerjee and Odisha under Naveen Patnaik fielded 40 per cent and 33 per cent women candidates, respectively.

High Female Voter Turnout in 2019: Women are increasingly asserting their citizenship rights. For example, in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, women’s participation exceeded that of men for the first time.

Influence of growing turnout of women voters: For example, The TMC ran many women-centric schemes like Swasthya Sathi, Kanyashree Prakalpa and Rupashree Prakalpa, that potentially played a central role in their victory.

Suggestions for improvement

Passing of the Women’s Reservation Bill.

Inspirational From Some States like West Bengal and Odisha must be replicated in other states.

Promoting Women Voter Turnout: It could influence political parties’ programmatic priorities and improve their responsiveness to women voters’ interests, preferences, and concerns, including sexual harassment and gender-based violence.

Ramoni, a 15^th century Bengali poet, a low-caste washerwoman, sang, “I’ll not stay any longer in this land of injustice/ I’ll go to a place where there are no hellhounds”. We will need to sympathise with this which is also the voice of the present generation of women.

GS Paper 2

Sealed Cover Jurisprudence is appalling

News: License of MediaOne a television channel in Kerala was cancelled by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting on the grounds of national security.  

Subsequently, the State High court also dismissed its appeal plea. However, the reasons for invoking national security were not disclosed. 

How this particular incident infringes upon several Fundamental Rights? 

It compromises right to freedom of speech and expression of the television channel.  

The rights to association, occupation and business are also impacted.  

Moreover, the viewers also have a right to receive ideas and information that gets compromised. 

The most disturbing part of the incident is that state need not even show that its security is threatened. 

What earlier supreme court judgements have said on the issue? 

It is paramount to ensure that the test of reasonable restrictions is satisfied as it is the bedrock of judicial review. 

The Supreme court adopted the proportionality test in the Modern Dental College vs State of Madhya Pradesh (2016) case and reiterated it in the K.S. Puttaswamy vs Union of India (2017) case. 

When an action is alleged to have curtailed fundamental rights, the court is bound to examine the legality of the action through the lens of proportionality. 

This act of executive to not disclose the reasons of using the national security clause even to the other party concerned(here the broadcaster) is opposed to the principles of natural justice. 

How the current High court judgement stands in contradiction to prev SC judgements? 

First, there was no examination of the national security plea based on the well established proportionality analysis.

Second, as per a three-judge Bench in the Pegasus case (Manohar Lal Sharma vs Union of India, 2021) the state does not get a “free pass every time the spectre of ‘national security’ is raised”. 

Disruption@gov.in

News: State government of Bengal has ordered an internet shutdown in a few districts for a week in order to curb cheating in the ongoing State board exams. 

How frequent are the internet shutdown in India? 

According to Access Now, a non-profit which advocates for digital civil rights, from about 155 global shutdowns it documented in the year 2020 109 were from India. 

What are its negative impacts? 

Internet is a commercial and social lifeline. The telecom industry estimated it loses Rs 2.4 crore an hour in every circle area where there’s a shutdown.

Apart from this, the losses incurred by other businesses that increasingly rely on the internet go unnoticed.  

What is the legislation that governs internet shutdowns in India? 

The umbrella legislation governing this area is Indian Telegraph Act.  

However, problem arises due to a new set of rules introduced by GoI in August 2017 to provide statutory cover for temporary suspension of telecom services. These rules identify public emergency and public safety as ground for imposing internet shutdowns.

As these terms don’t have any particular description they are many a times interpreted subjectively by the executive and may also lead to their misuse. 

What have been the Supreme court’s observation in the case of internet shutdowns? 

The shutdowns imposed by states are inconsistent with a relevant Supreme Court verdict.

In January 2020, the apex court said that the freedom to carry on trade over the internet enjoys constitutional protection under Article 19. Therefore, any restriction has to meet the test of proportionality.  

What the plight of students in Ukraine reveals about medical education in India

News: Odisha’s CM requested PM of India, to ensure uninterrupted education for medical students coming from Ukraine. He has requested him to enable their admission to Indian medical colleges.

Almost 18,000 Indian medical students have come back from Ukraine’s war zones. Such a situation also arose post-Partition, when the refugee medical students had migrated from medical colleges located in the newly-created Pakistan.

Why Indian students go abroad to pursue their medical education?

Less number of seats available for medical education in India: Number of aspirants who want to become doctors after 12^th are more than seats. For example, only 89,875 out of 1.6 million students who appeared in NEET-2021, were selected for 596 medical colleges in the country.

Thus, the remaining students are left with the option to either enrol in non-medical courses in India or seek admission to foreign medical colleges.

Problems faced by returning Indian medical students

Dilemma: It is unlikely that students may go back to Ukraine even if situation normalise. However, they also won’t be able to get direct admissions into Indian medical colleges due to regulatory and social issues. Thus, they will have to go through qualifying exam to get admission.

Qualifying Exam to Intern in India: On return, they need to pass a qualifying examination to intern in the medical institutions recognised by the National Medical Commission (NMC).

Poor passing rates: Mostly below 20% due to several reasons: (a) Varying Training standards across foreign institutions, (b) The language of instruction other than English and (c) Different curriculum in foreign colleges, for example, a student training in Russia or Ukraine is unlikely to learn much about kala-azar or malaria.

Vast Syllabus of Screeding Examination: Syllabus encompassed the entire gamut of medical education.

What can be done for overall improvement in the medical education in India?

Don’t hand over district hospitals to the private sector. It will exacerbate inequities in healthcare and disconnect secondary care from primary health care (PHC) which is organized by the government

Upstream and Downstream Linkages of the District Hospital: link downstream to primary healthcare services and upstream to tertiary care hospitals to provide the students with a full range of clinical exposure while functioning as the main centre of education.

Online Classroom Teaching: Common classrooms can be created by virtually linking several of the medical colleges in a state

Financial Assistance to State governments: It is to be done for transformation of district hospitals.

Reduce urban-rural disparities in healthcare: For example, a centrally sponsored scheme aims to set up 157 new medical colleges attached to existing district/referral hospitals in areas that do not have any medical college.

Paramedical Training: Nursing colleges and allied health professional training centres may also be added to district hospitals to create a multi-layered, multi-skilled health workforce.

As an ultimate solution, the government can enroll the returning students in a BSc (Public Health) program. The National Health Policy of 2017 calls for Public Health Management cadres to be established in every state. Thus, it can lead to initiation of a programme for large-scale training of public health professionals.

How invasion of Ukraine could transform nuclear landscape of Asia

News: Putin’s nuclear sabre-rattling in Ukraine has triggered a consequential debate on the importance of atomic weapons in deterring Chinese expansionism in Asia.

Geopolitical Impact of nuclear threats and Ukraine developments in other parts of the world

(a) In Japan, Ex-PM of Japan, Shinzo Abe, called for a national debate on hosting American nuclear weapons on Japanese soil, (b) In South Korea, Presidential runner Yoon Suk-yeol talked of strengthening Seoul’s nuclear deterrence against both Pyongyang and Beijing, (c) In Taiwan, a nuclear-powered submarine is being reportedly developed, and (d) In Australia, nuclear-powered submarines are  being built while working with the UK and the US to build.

Why China’s eastern neighbours are taking a fresh look at the nuclear option?

American Commitment does not cover Taiwan: The current US policy does not explicitly state that its armed forces will come to the rescue of Taiwan if it is attacked by China.

Legal Guarantees Are Not Substitute for nuclear weapons: In 1994, Ukraine agreed to give up the nuclear weapons that it inherited from the Soviet Union in return for guarantees on Kyiv’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.

Whether US Nuclear umbrella or the so-called extended deterrence will work: For example, The US actively discouraged Taiwan, South Korea and Japan from developing nuclear weapons in return for American security commitments, including the shelter of the American “nuclear umbrella”.

Threat of China emulating Russia: China has been giving signals of following the policy of great-power chauvinism and territorial expansionism. For example, China appropriated the territories of its neighbours in the South China Sea, and forcibly absorbed Hong Kong completely.

Growing China-Russia Alliance: Recently, an “alliance without limits” was unveiled by both Russia and China at a summit meeting in Beijing. They agreed for the unprecedented commitment to stand by each other.

What are the possible solutions?

Developing a nuclear arsenal: Taiwan, South Korea, and Japan have significant technological capabilities. But it would be the last and most politically risky option.

Strengthening the military alliance: These countries could develop an alliance with the US and boost national defence capabilities including advanced missile systems.

Nuclear Sharing Agreements: Japan and South Korea talking about potential nuclear sharing arrangements with the US. In Taiwan and Australia, the emphasis is on developing nuclear-powered submarines.

GS Paper 3

Risks of imported energy gets real

News: India imports 36 per cent of its total energy needs and biomass still accounts for a fourth of India’s energy supply.  

The current spike in energy prices due to sanctions on Russia have the potential to derail India’s post-Covid recovery. 

This crisis should strengthen policymakers’ resolve to focus on self-sufficiency in energy over the medium-term. 

What has been the rise in energy prices been in the last two years? 

Current Oil Prices at $120 per barrel is $40 higher than the price in the December 2021 quarter Which will have an additional burden of $60 billion. 

Prices of other forms of dense energy like gas, coal, edible oil and fertilisers have risen too primarily because Russia and Ukraine are net suppliers of these commodities.  

Together with oil, the increase in energy imports for India could be $100 billion, close to 3 per cent of GDP. 

What are the impacts of the rise in energy prices? 

Value of India’s energy imports as a share of gross domestic product (GDP) is now close to the highest among major economies. 

– Higher energy costs may make consumers to shift to foreign alternatives from costly locally produced goods and services. This will negatively impact the GDP growth because the benefit will go outside the country. Although government may cushion this impact by cutting taxes on fuel, import duties on edible oil, etc but it also has little fiscal room to absorb the total impact. 

– Across the world and in history, economic productivity strongly correlates with the use of dense forms of energy. However, higher prices (of petrol, diesel and LPG or of plastic products) means lower usage and a drop in energy use means lower GDP, as improvements in energy efficiency occur over a longer period. 

– Higher energy prices as well as geopolitical uncertainty are likely to hurt global demand, and this may negatively impact India’s manufacturing exports. 

What if the current scenario doesn’t end in the short term? 

This may lead to India’s balance of payments transitioning from a reasonable surplus to a very large deficit.  

This may also lead to a huge negative impact on the current account, which may push Reserve Bank of India to let the rupee depreciate. 

If the current crisis lasts longer, then the government may have to let the petrol and diesel prices rise, accelerate electrification and shift to a less-import-dependent energy mix. 

Reaping the potential of the female workforce

Topic: New economic opportunities for women

News: The large-scale adoption of digital and smartphone technologies and the increased need for personal care for the sick, elderly and children have opened up employment opportunities, especially for women.

Status of Participation of Women in the Workforce of India & Comparison with other Countries

In 2019, 21% of women were either working or looking for work, compared to 32% in 2005 in India.

India’s female labour force participation (FLFP) rate is lower than some of its neighbours in South Asia such as Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.

India’s FLFP rate is the lowest among the BRICS countries

Why Women Employment is Very important?

Demographic dividend: India’s population is among the youngest in the world. In 2020, the median age in India was about 29. Women and girls form a significant part of India’s demographic dividend.

Further, Increasing FLFP in India is crucial for economic growth, inclusive growth and achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.

Lesson from other countries: Countries like China, Singapore, Taiwan and South Korean achieved fast-paced economic growth due to reaping of the demographic dividend.

What are the potential sectors for creating employment for women?

The care service sector: The health, education, and other personal care services are labour-intensive sectors. As per the ILO Report on Care work and Care Jobs for the Future of Decent Work: Key findings in Asia and the Pacific (2018), increased investment in the care economy has the potential to generate a total of 69 million jobs in India by 2030. For example, the child care services can be provided in office complexes through collaborative models

Digital Platforms and The Gig Economy: Due to increasing use of smartphones, the low cost of Internet and other initiatives like Digital India campaign, the work from home has increased in India. It provides job flexibility which are particularly important for women.  Digital platforms that allow remote work are, in principle, accessible to men and women in any location.

What are the suggestions to improve FLFP rate?

Closing digital accessibility gap: according to the GSMA Mobile Gender Gap Report, only 25% of women owned smartphones compared to 41% of men in India in 2020. It can be significant in giving boosting women’s employment in the gig and platform sector.

Greater investment in better health and care facilities can lead to more employment opportunities for women.

Providing access to higher education (beyond secondary education): It can be done by motivating women and their families through incentives such as scholarships as well as transport and hostel facilities.

Skill training: It should be aligned to the gig, platform and care sectors as well as other emerging sectors such as those covered under the Production Linked Incentive Scheme. Online skill training can be provided. It is because they had to face constraints in physical mobility due to social norms, domestic responsibilities or concerns over safety.

Enabling women to acquire physical assets (through credit facilities, revolving funds, etc.)

Involvement of All Stakeholders: Governments, skill training partners, private firms, corporates and industry associations as well as civil society organisations all need to come together to create enabling measures for women.

Cooperative federalism: Constant dialogue and engagement with the States on action strategies will be required. It may include Inter-ministerial coordination.

Prelims Oriented Articles (Factly)

Ministry of Women And Child Development in Partnership Ministry Of Education and UNICEF Launches Campaign ‘Kanya Shikhsa Pravesh Utsav’

Source: This post is based on the article “Ministry of Women And Child Development in Partnership  Ministry Of Education and UNICEF Launches Campaign Kanya Shikhsa Pravesh Utsav” published in PIB on 8th Mar 2022.

What is the News?

On International Women’s Day, the Ministry of Women and Child Development (MoWCD) has launched a landmark campaign Kanya Shikhsa Pravesh Utsav.

What is Kanya Shikhsa Pravesh Utsav?

Launched by: Ministry of Women and Child Development(MoWCD) in partnership with the Ministry of Education and UNICEF.

Purpose: It is a campaign that aims to a) ​​bring back out of school adolescent girls in India to the formal education and/or skilling system and b) enhance enrolment and retention of girls between 11-14 years of age in school.

Umbrella Initiative: The campaign has been rolled out under the umbrella of the Beti Bachao Beti Padhao(BBBP) Initiative.

Key Features of the campaign: Under the campaign, over 400 districts across all states will be funded under Beti Bachao Beti Padhao Scheme for outreach and awareness generation at the grassroots level to sensitize communities and families to enroll adolescents girls in schools. This funding will be over and above the funding from Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan.

Moreover, Anganwadi workers(AWWs) will also be further incentivised for counseling and referring out of school adolescent girls. 

Significance of the campaign: The campaign intends to build on the existing schemes and programmes like Schemes for Adolescent Girls (SAG), Beti Bachao Beti Padhao (BBBP) and National Education Policy (NEP) to work on a comprehensive system for out of school girls.

Government has approved continuation of Swatantrata Sainik Samman Yojana(SSSY)

Source: This post is based on the article “Government has approved continuation of Swatantrata Sainik Samman Yojana(SSSY)” published in PIB on 8th Mar 2022.

What is the News?

The government has approved the continuation of the Swatantrata Sainik Samman Yojana (SSSY) till 2025-26.

What is Swatantrata Sainik Samman Yojana(SSSY)?

Nodal Ministry: Ministry of Home Affairs

Background of the Scheme:

In 1969, the Government of India introduced the ‘Ex-Andaman Political Prisoners Pension Scheme to honour the freedom fighters who had been incarcerated in the Cellular Jail at Port Blair. 

In 1972, to commemorate the 25th Anniversary of Independence, a regular scheme for grant of freedom fighters’ pension was introduced. 

Thereafter, in 1980, a scheme by the name ‘Swatantrata Sainik Samman Pension Scheme was implemented.

From 2017-18 onwards, the nomenclature of the Scheme has been changed to ‘Swatantrata Sainik Samman Yojana’. 

What is the purpose of the scheme?

The scheme aims to provide a monthly Samman Pension to freedom fighters, as a token of respect for their contribution in the national freedom struggle and on their demise to their eligible dependents viz. spouses and thereafter, unmarried and unemployed daughters and dependent parents.

Explained: What are humanitarian corridors

Source: This post is based on the article “Explained: What are humanitarian corridors” published in Indian Express on 8th Mar 2022.

What is the News?

Russia has declared a temporary ceasefire in the Russia-Ukraine War to provide “Humanitarian Corridors” for civilians.

What are Humanitarian Corridors?

Humanitarian Corridors are demilitarized zones in a specific area and for a specific time. They are created when both sides of an armed conflict agree to them.

The United Nations considers humanitarian corridors to be one of several possible forms of a temporary pause of armed conflict.

Need: The corridors are necessary when cities are under siege and the population is cut off from basic food supplies, electricity and water.

Purpose: Through these corridors, either food and medical aid can be brought to areas of conflict, or civilians can be evacuated.

Sets up by, In most cases, humanitarian corridors are negotiated by the United Nations. Sometimes they’re also set up by local groups.

Access to corridors: Access to humanitarian corridors is determined by the parties to the conflict. It’s usually limited to neutral actors, the UN or aid organizations such as the Red Cross.

Concerns: There is a risk of military or political abuse. For example, the corridors can be used to smuggle weapons and fuel into besieged cities.

Theyyam goes global with live webcast

Source: This post is based on the article “Theyyam goes global with live webcast” published in The Hindu on 8th Mar 2022.

What is the News?

Kerala Tourism department has started live-streaming Theyyam performances to promote cultural tourism.

What is Theyyam?

​​Theyyam is a popular ritual form of dance worship in Kerala and Karnataka. It consists of thousand-year-old traditions, rituals and customs.

The people consider Theyyam itself as a channel to a god, and they thus seek blessings from Theyyam.

There are about 456 types of Theyyam. Theyyam is performed by males, except the Devakoothu theyyam. It is the only Theyyam ritual performed by women. It is performed only in the Thekkumbad Kulum temple(Kerala).

Performance: The dance or invocation is generally performed in front of the village shrine. It is also performed in the houses as ancestor worship with elaborate rites and rituals.

Some popular Theyyams

Vishnumoorthi: It is the most popular Vaishnava Theyyam. This theyyam narrates and performs the story of Hiranyakashipu’s death by Lord Vishnu in his avatar of Narasimham.

Sree Muthappan Theyyam: It consists of two divine figures and is considered as the personification of two divine figures— the Thiruvappana or Valiya Muttapan (Vishnu) and the Vellatom or Cheriya Muttapan (Shiva).

Gulikan: Gulikan represents Yama, the Hindu god of death, called Yama. The Benkanakavu in Nileshwar is the most famous temple dedicated to Gulikan.

Science behind jets of plasma occurring all over Sun’s chromosphere unravelled

Source: This post is based on the article “Science behind jets of plasma occurring all over Sun’s chromosphere unravelled” published in PIB on 8th Mar 2022.

What is the News?

Scientists have unravelled the science behind the jets of plasma.

What is Plasma?

Plasma is often called the fourth state of matter (beyond the conventional solids, liquids and gases).

What are Jets of Plasma?

Jets or spicules appear as thin grass-like plasma structures that constantly shoot up from the surface of the sun and are then brought down by gravity. 

The amount of energy and momentum that these spicules can carry is of fundamental interest in solar and plasma astrophysics. 

However, the processes by which plasma is supplied to the solar wind and the solar atmosphere is heated to a million degrees Celsius still remain a puzzle.

What did the scientists find out about these Jets of Plasma?

Scientists have explained the origin of ‘spicules’ or ‘jets’ on the Sun.

They explained that the plasma right below the visible solar surface (photosphere) is perpetually in a state of convection, much like boiling water in a vessel heated at the bottom. This is ultimately powered by the nuclear energy released in the hot-dense core. 

The convection serves almost periodic but strong kicks to the plasma in the solar chromosphere, the shallow semi-transparent layer right above the visible solar disk. The chromosphere is 500 times lighter than the plasma in the photosphere. 

Therefore, these strong kicks from the bottom shoot the chromospheric plasma outward at ultrasonic speeds in the form of spicules or jets.

ECI hosts International Election Visitors Programme 2022

Source: This post is based on the article “ECI hosts International Election Visitors Programme 2022” published in PIB on 8th Mar 2022.

What is the News?

The Election Commission of India(ECI) has hosted the virtual International Election Visitors Programme(IEVP) 2022.

What is the International Election Visitors Programme(IEVP)?

India has been hosting the International Election Visitors Programme(IEVP) since the 2012 elections.

During this programme, International delegates are invited to visit the Polling stations and see the electoral processes in practice for themselves in person.

Hence, this programme provides a platform for the exchange of ideas, sharing of experiences, best practices and skills in the field of Electoral Management with various countries.

Participants of IEVP 2022

IEVP 2022 was attended by delegates from nearly 32 countries and 4 international organizations: International IDEA, International Foundation of Electoral Systems (IFES), Association of World Election Bodies (A-WEB) and Community of Democracies.

What is International IDEA?

International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (International IDEA) is an intergovernmental organization that works to support and strengthen democratic institutions and processes around the world, to develop sustainable, effective and legitimate democracies. Headquarters: Stockholm, Sweden. It is also an official United Nations Observer.

What is the International Foundation of Electoral Systems (IFES)?  

It is an international, non-profit organization founded in 1987. The organization helps develop and provides assistance and support for elections in new and emerging democracies. It is based in Arlington,USA.

What is the Community of Democracies?

It is an intergovernmental coalition of states established in 2000. It aims to bring together governments, civil society and the private sector in the pursuit of the common goal of supporting democratic rules, expanding political participation, advancing and protecting democratic freedoms. Its secretariat is based in Warsaw, Poland.

Labour Ministry launches ‘donate a pension’ scheme

Source: This post is based on the article “Labour Ministry launches ‘donate a pension’ scheme” published in The Hindu on 8th Mar 2022.

What is the News?

Ministry of Labour and Employment has launched the “Donate a Pension” Scheme.

What is a Donate a Pension Scheme?

It has been launched under the Pradhan Mantri Shram Yogi Maan-Dhan Scheme(PM-SYM).

Under this scheme, any citizen can donate the premium contribution under PM-SYM of their immediate support staff such as domestic workers, drivers, helpers, care givers, nurses in their household or establishment.

The donor can pay the contribution for a minimum of one year, with the amount ranging from ₹660 to ₹2,400 a year depending on the age of the beneficiary.

The premium can be paid through maandhan.in or visiting a Common Service Centre.

Indian researchers develop low-energy chip architecture to prevent attacks on IoT devices

Source: This post is based on the article “Indian researchers develop low-energy chip architecture to prevent attacks on IoT devices” published in Indian Express on 8th Mar 2022.

What is the News?

Indian researchers have built a low-energy security chip that is designed to prevent Side-channel attacks(SCAs) on IoT (Internet of Things) devices.

What are Side-channel attacks(SCA)?

SCA is a security exploit that aims to gather information from the indirect effects of the functioning of the system hardware rather than attacking a programme or software directly.

They basically aim to extract sensitive information like cryptographic keys, proprietary machine learning models and parameters by measuring things like timing information, power consumption and electromagnetic leaks of a system.

For example, it can be used on a smartwatch to extract ECG and heart rate signals that one wants to keep secret.

What have the researchers done to prevent SCA attacks?

Researchers have developed a low-energy security chip that is designed to prevent Side-channel attacks(SCAs) on IoT (Internet of Things) devices.

The chip uses near-threshold computing, a computing method where the data is split into separate, unique and random components. The chip then conducts operations separately on each component in a random order before aggregating the results for a final result.

Due to this method, the information leak from the device through power-consumption measurements are random and would reveal nothing but gibberish in an SCA. 

What are the advantages and disadvantages of this chip?

Advantages: It is smaller than the size of a thumbnail and uses much less power than traditional security measures against SCAs. It has also been built to be easily incorporated into smartwatches, tablets, and a variety of other devices.

Disadvantages: This method is energy and computation power-intensive, while also requiring more system memory to store information.

Environmental Dimensions of AMR Report: Pharma, health sectors among 5 major sources of AMR, says UNEP report

Source: This post is based on the article “Pharma, health sectors among 5 major sources of AMR, says UNEP report” published in Down To Earth on 7th Mar 2022.

What is the News?

The United Nations Environment Programme(UNEP) has released a report titled “Environmental Dimensions of Antimicrobial Resistance(AMR)”.

What is Antimicrobial Resistance(AMR)?

It occurs when microorganisms (bacteria, viruses, fungi, and parasites) evolve and stop responding to medicines, making even minor infections tough to treat, causing severe illnesses and deaths.

What are the key findings of the report related to Antimicrobial Resistance(AMR)?

UNEP Projections on AMR deaths: AMR could kill up to 10 million people per year by 2050.

The economic impact is also expected to be substantial: By 2030, the shortfall in the gross domestic product caused by AMR could be $3.4 trillion per year, with an additional 24 million people pushed into extreme poverty.

What are the contributors to the spread of AMR?

The report has identified five major contributors to the spread of antimicrobial resistance(AMR). These are: 

– Poor sanitation, sewage and waste effluent 

– Effluent and waste from pharmaceuticals manufacturing 

– Effluent and waste from healthcare facilities 

– Use of antimicrobial and manure in crop production and 

– Releases, effluent and waste in animal production.

What are the suggestions given by the report to reduce AMR?

1) Enhancing environmental governance, planning and regulatory frameworks, 2) Identifying and targeting priority AMR-relevant pollutants, 3) Improving reporting, surveillance and monitoring and 4)  Prioritizing financing, innovation and capacity development.

India looking to advance the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) with Bangladesh

Source: This post is based on the article “India looking to advance the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) with Bangladesh” published in PIB on 8th Mar 2022.

What is the news?

India’s Commerce and Industry Minister has said that India was looking to advance a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement(CEPA) with Bangladesh.

Note: CEPA is a kind of comprehensive free trade pact under which two trading partners significantly reduce or eliminate customs duties on the maximum number of goods traded between them. They also liberalise norms to facilitate trade in services and boost investments.

India-Bangladesh Trade Relations

Trade: Bangladesh is India’s biggest trade partner in South Asia.The bilateral trade between the countries stood at USD 10.8 billion in 2020-21 as against USD 9.5 billion in 2019-20.

– Major exports from India to Bangladesh include cotton, cereals, fuel, vehicle parts and machinery and mechanical appliances.

India’s Assistance to Bangladesh:Vaccine Maitree reaffirmed India’s friendship with Bangladesh with over one crore vaccines being supplied from India. 

– India has also extended three lines of credit for $8 bn to Bangladesh, the largest concessional credit given by India to any single country

– India is developing two Indian Economic Zones at Mirsarai and Mongla in Bangladesh. 

What are the four focus areas for strengthening the India-Bangladesh relationship?

Uninterrupted Supply chain: Despite COVID-19, India-Bangladesh maintained an uninterrupted supply chain. But this connectivity needs to be improved further to expand our bilateral trade.

Push to Joint Production of Defence Equipment: India-Bangladesh defence cooperation has not progressed, though India offered USD 500 mn line of credit. 

Explore potential areas of investments like Textiles, Jute products, Leather & Footwear, APIs for Pharmaceuticals, Medical Equipment, Digital Health, Agribusiness, Electronics and Renewable Energy.

India and Bangladesh can become ‘Pharmacy of the world: During COVID-19, vaccines produced in India, created a niche for themselves as safe vaccines.Time has now come for joint manufacturing of vaccines and other medicines.