Comprehensive Current affairs 1 September 2020

 Census and NPR may get delayed due to COVID.

The first phase of the Census and the exercise to update the National Population Register (NPR), scheduled for this year but deferred due to the coronavirus outbreak, may be delayed by a year as there is no sign of slowdown of the pandemic.

The Indian census is one of the largest administrative and statistical exercises in the world, with the involvement of more than 30 lakh officials who would visit each household across the length and breadth of the country.

According to the earlier schedule, the census would have its reference date as March 1, 2021, and in the snow-bound areas of Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, it would be October 1, 2020.

With a history of more than 130 years, this reliable, time tested exercise has been bringing out a veritable wealth of statistics every 10 years, including on the rich diversity of the people, and has become one of the tools to understand and study India.

The objective of the NPR is to create a comprehensive identity database of every usual resident in the country.The database would contain demographic as well as biometric particulars.

For the NPR, a usual resident is defined as a person who has resided in a local area for the past six months or more or a person who intends to reside in that area for the next six months.

States to work out on new industrial plans for labour welfare.

States have started working on new industrial policies with detailed plans for labour welfare, particularly with regard to housing of migrant workers in industrial clusters, in line with an advisory from the Centre.

The Centre had in the first week of August written to all states, specifically asking them to include labour welfare measures in their investments and industrial policies, or at least have a plan in place, labour ministry officials told

The 18-point advisory detailed steps to provide “improved living conditions to workers coming back from states” by ensuring “decent working conditions, occupational safety and social security benefits”.

The government has asked "both the origin and destination states" of migrant workers to ensure the enrolment of eligible migrant workers in Ayushman Bharat scheme and insurance schemes provided by the Centre. It has also asked states to “encourage employers to follow all laws when dealing with the workers, particularly with regard to their wages, living conditions and safety”

Export Preparedness Index 2020 released by NITI Aayog.

Niti Aayog in partnership with the Institute of Competitiveness has released the first Export Preparedness Index (EPI) 2020.

• The EPI intends to identify challenges and opportunities and encourage a facilitative regulatory framework.

• The index ranked states on four key parameters – policy; business ecosystem; export ecosystem; export performance.

• The index also took into consideration 11 sub-pillars — export promotion policy; institutional framework; business environment; infrastructure; transport connectivity; access to finance; export infrastructure; trade support; R&D infrastructure; export Diversification; and Growth Orientation.

States Performance:

• Gujarat has topped the index followed by Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu.

• The other States that have made it to the top 10 include Rajasthan, Odisha, Telangana, Haryana, Chhattisgarh, Karnataka and Kerala.

• Himalayan states: Uttarakhand topped the chart, followed by Tripura and Himachal Pradesh.

• Union Territories: Delhi has performed the best, followed by Goa and Chandigarh.

• Landlocked States: Rajasthan performed the best, followed by Telangana and Haryana.

• Coastal States emerged as the best performers, with six out of eight coastal States featuring in the Top 10 Rankings.

Concerns Raised:

• Report highlighted India’s inability to take advantage of China’s falling export capacity during 2014-16, and losing out to nations like Vietnam due to delayed action. This “vital period” had served as an opening for other developing economies to enter and subsume lines of production from where China had either been weakened or its influence toned down.

• “India did bring in reforms in late 2017 to ensure that the export sector remained competitive and attracts potential investors. However, Bangladesh and Vietnam had made the most of the situation before India and enhanced their export competitiveness by targeting their strengths,” it stated.

Solutions:

• Short-term solutions to these “significant” bottlenecks, ranges from facilitating joint development of export infrastructure to collaborating with academic institutions.

• By creating convergence for building export infrastructure, facilitating robust industry-academia-government linkages to build trade-support networks, promoting state-level engagements for economic diplomacy, and an emphasized focus on designs and standards, India would be able to develop some of the key learnings of this analysis.”

• Report signifies that States will not only have to focus on increasing and diversifying exports but also need to focus on ensuring forward and backward integration to global value chains, which would allow the states to export higher value-added goods and services.

Women in Peacekeeping operations.

Recently, India has co-sponsored a Security Council resolution that calls for full, effective and Meaningful Participation of Women Personnel in Peacekeeping Operations.

• The resolution was put forth by Indonesia.

• India is one of the largest troop contributors to UN peacekeeping operations.

• India was elected non-permanent member of the Security Council for a two-year term beginning January 1, 2021.

• India has a long tradition of being associated with UN Peacekeeping since its inception.

The country made history in 2007 when she deployed the first all-women Police Unit in the UN Mission in Liberia.

• India is the fifth largest contributor of uniformed personnel to the UN Peacekeeping Forces.

Mustapha Adib to be designated as new Lebanese PM.

Lebanon's ambassador to Germany Mustapha Adib is on course to become the country's next prime minister after securing major political backing.

Mr.Adib was named by four former prime ministers on the eve of binding consultations between the president and parliamentary blocs on their choice for the post.

The announcement came a day before French President Emmanuel Macron is due to arrive for a two day-visit, during which he is expected to press Lebanese officials to formulate a new political pact to lift the country out of its multiple crises.

The government, led by Hassan Diab, quit this month amid anger over an explosion in the capital Beirut.

Meanwhile Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah said on Sunday that his powerful Iran-backed Shia movement is “open” to a French proposal for a new political pact for Lebanon.

His comments came a day before French President Emmanuel Macron was due in blast-hit Beirut for his second visit in less than four weeks to press for political reform and reconstruction in tandem with the start of political consultations to name a new Lebanese Premier.

World Urdu Conference 2020.

• Recently, the World Urdu Conference 2020 is being organised by the National Council for Promotion of Urdu Language (NCPUL) from 27th-28th August 2020.

Highlights:

• Urdu is one of the languages mentioned in the 8th Schedule to the Constitution.

• The Constitutional provisions relating to the 8th Schedule are articles 344(1) and 351.

• Presently, 8th Schedule consists of the 22 languages namely (1) Assamese, (2) Bengali, (3)Gujarati, (4) Hindi, (5) Kannada, (6) Kashmiri, (7) Konkani, (8)Malayalam, (9) Manipuri,

(10) Marathi, (11) Nepali, (12) Oriya, (13) Punjabi, (14) Sanskrit, (15) Sindhi, (16) Tamil, (17) Telugu, (18) Urdu (19) Bodo, (20) Santhali, (21) Maithili and (22) Dogri.

• It is one of the official languages in states like Kashmir, Telangana, UP, Bihar, New Delhi and West Bengal.

• Urdu is a language of composite culture and interfaith bonds in India.

• Hindu-Muslim composite culture is a constructed concept of the 20th century that describes amalgams of Hindu and Islamic elements in South Asian culture.

• Article 51A(f) of the Constitution declares a solemn fundamental duty of every citizen to value and preserve the rich heritage of our composite culture.

• The Urdu speakers in India number almost 44 million. The largest numbers are in the state of Uttar Pradesh, followed by Bihar, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and Karnataka.

• These states together account for 85% of the national Urdu-speaking population.

• Delhi is the major centre of Urdu literature and publishing.

About National Council for Promotion of Urdu Language:

• It has become the biggest Urdu networking hub in the world.

• It started functioning as an autonomous body in 1996. It comes under the Ministry of Education.

• It is the National Nodal Agency for Promotion of Urdu.

• It has also been assigned the responsibility of promotion of Arabic and Persian.

Finance ministry asks PSB’s to monitor insolvency proceedings with respect to individual guarantors.

The Finance Ministry has asked public sector banks to monitor cases where insolvency proceedings could be initiated against individuals who are guarantors of corporate debtors that have defaulted on loans.

The Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) provides for a time-bound and market-linked resolution of stressed assets.

The Code also provides for initiation of insolvency proceedings against personal guarantors of corporate debtors, even though the provision has not been used much by lenders to recover dues.

In an advisory, the Department of Financial Services has asked Public Sector Banks (PSBs) to consider putting in place a mechanism for monitoring the cases which may require initiation of individual insolvency process before the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) against personal guarantors to corporate debtors.

Recently, the NCLT's Mumbai bench allowed State Bank of India (SBI) to initiate insolvency proceedings against Anil Ambani as a personal guarantor to recover Rs. 1,200 crore dues from two companies promoted by him.

India reports an all-time record acreage of Kharif (summer sown) crops this year.

In what should spell good news for the rural economy, India has reported an all-time record acreage of Kharif (summer sown) crops this year despite the Covid-19 pandemic and flood situation in many states. The development indicates that the farm sector, which remained largely free of restrictions during lockdown, may continue to register growth despite a shrinking GDP.

India had reported its previous record for Kharif crop sown area in 2016 when the acreage was 1,075 lakh hectares. The country’s average sown area in the past five years has been 1,066 lakh hectares. The higher acreage can be attributed to a good monsoon rainfall and proactive measures, taken by farmers and governments during the lockdown period, to beat the impact of Covid-19 on agriculture.

NASA finds asteroid pass by at a closer distance to earth.

An asteroid with diameters between 22 and 49 metres will shoot pass Earth in a distance closer than Earth from the Moon on September 1, according to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).

➡NASA estimates the asteroid's relative speed at around 8.16 kilometres per second.

➡The last time asteroid 2011 ES4 fly by the Earth was visible from ground for four days. This time, it will be closer to our planet than before with an estimated distance of 1.2 lakh kilometres, closer than that of the Moon, which is 3.84 lakh kilometres away from the Earth.

➡The asteroid, listed as a potentially hazardous asteroid, was first discovered in the spring of 2011 and passes by Earth by Earth every nine years.

Djokovic wins master’s crown.

Novak Djokovic tied Rafael Nadal’s record by earning his 35th title at a Masters 1000 tournament, overcoming a sluggish start to beat Milos Raonic 1-6, 6-3, 6-4 in the Western & Southern Open final on Saturday and improve to 23-0 this season.

Djokovic was listless in the first set.It took all of 30 minutes for Raonic, a Canadian ranked No. 30, to take that set. But Djokovic asserted himself in the second set, breaking to lead 3-2 with a backhand passing shot and raising his right fist.

In the third, Djokovic broke twice more, and eventually the 33-year-old from Serbia was raising his arms to mark his 80th career title and 61st on hard-courts.

Focus on mains.

Genetically Modified Bt Brinjal.

Experts have slammed a recent move of the Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC) giving its green light for bio safety research-level-II (BRL-II) field trials for Event 142, a new variety of genetically modified brinjal (Bt brinjal).

Why this is a Matter of Concern?

• This new variety of genetically modified brinjal was quietly given approval without any data in the public domain. This variety got approved even before the second season BRL-II and the bio safety report was out.

• This paved the way for crop developers and applicants to seek permission for commercial cultivation.

• There was no transparency in the manner when it came to reports regarding the bio safety of this variety of Brinjal.

What is a GM Crop?

• A GM or transgenic crop is a plant that has a novel combination of genetic material obtained through the use of modern biotechnology.

• For example, a GM crop can contain a gene(s) that has been artificially inserted instead of the plant acquiring it through pollination.

• The resulting plant is said to be “genetically modified” although in reality all crops have been “genetically modified” from their original wild state by domestication, selection, and controlled breeding over long Periods of Time.

What is the Legal Position of Genetically Modified Crops in India

• In India, the Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC) is the apex body that allows for commercial release of GM crops.

• Penalty: Use of the unapproved GM variant can attract a jail term of 5 years and fine of Rs 1 lakh under the Environmental Protection Act, 1989.

About GEAC:

• The Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC) is a statutory body constituted under the ‘Rules for the Manufacture, Use /Import /Export and Storage of Hazardous Microorganisms/Genetically Engineering Organisms or Cells, 1989’ notified under the

Environment (Protection) Act, 1986.

• It was formed as the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee and was renamed to its current name in 2010.

• It functions under the Ministry of Environment, Forests & Climate Change.

• The body regulates the use, manufacture, storage, import and export of hazardous microorganisms or genetically-engineered organisms and cells in India.

Why are Farmers Rooting for GM Crops?

• Reduced costs: Cost of weeding goes down considerably if farmers grow Ht Bt cotton and use glyphosate against weeds. In case of Bt brinjal, the cost reduces as the cost of production is reduced by cutting down on the use of pesticides.

Concerns:

• Environmentalists argue that the long-lasting effect of GM crops is yet to be studied and thus they should not be released commercially. Genetic modification, they say, brings about changes that can be harmful to humans in the long run.