Comprehensive Current affairs 12 November 2020

Fifteenth Finance Commission.

The 15th Finance Commission has summitted its report to President Ram Nath Kovind on Monday. Its main recommendationsisthe devolution of funds between the Centre and the States for the period 2021-22 to 2025-26.

Apart from the main report uniquely titled ‘Finance Commission in Covid Times’ which depicts a set of scales on its cover to denote balance between the Union and the States, the Commission has presented two more volumes as part of its submissions.

The first one focuses on the State of the Union government’s finances, with an in-depth scrutiny of key departments, the medium-term challenges facing the Centre and a roadmap for the future. The other volume is entirely dedicated to States, with the finances of each analysed in great depth. The panel has come up with State-specific considerations to address the key challenges that individual States face, as per a statement issued by the Commission after its meeting with the President.

The Commission’s chairman N.K. Singh was accompanied by members Ajay Narayan Jha, Anoop Singh, Ashok Lahiriand Ramesh Chand for the report’s submission to the President.

Purchasing Mannager Index (PMI).

Recently, India's manufacturing output showed the strongest growth in 13 years in October 2020 amid robust sales growth, as per the IHS Markit India Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI).

Highlights:

• The headline seasonally adjusted IHS Markit India Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) rose from 56.8 in September to 58.9 in October, and pointed to the strongest improvement in the health of the sector in more than a decade (13 years).

• This is a third straight monthly improvement in PMI. In April, the index had slipped into contraction mode (27.4), after remaining in growth territory for 32 consecutive months.

• In PMI parlance, a print above 50 means expansion, while a score below that denotes contraction.

About Purchasing Managers’ Index:

• It is an indicator of business activity - both in the manufacturing and services sectors.

• It is calculated separately for the manufacturing and services sectors and then a composite index is also constructed.

• It summarizes whether market conditions as viewed by purchasing managers are expanding, neutral, or contracting.

• It is to provide information about current and future business conditions to company decision makers, analysts, and investors.

• The headline PMI is a number from 0 to 100.

 ✓ PMI above 50 represents an expansion when compared to the previous month;

✓ PMI under 50 represents a contraction, and

✓ A reading at 50 indicates no change.

• It is usually released at the start of every month. It is, therefore, considered a good leading indicator of Economic Activity.

It is compiled by IHS Markit for more than 40 Economies Worldwide. IHS Markit is a global leader in information, analytics and solutions for the major industries and markets that drive Economies Worldwide.

Criminalization of Politics.

As per an analysis by Association for Democratic Reforms, 89% Assembly constituencies in Bihar have three or more candidates who have declared criminal cases against themselves in their affidavits for the Ongoing Elections.

• This Highlights the problem of Criminalisation of Politics.

Factors:

• Individuals and political parties do massive expenditure for buying the votes and for other illegitimate purposes. The politician’s link with the constituency gives rise to political crime.

• Corruption is also an important factor in the criminalisation of politics. The corrupted political member uses his powers for winning the elections in an unfair manner.

• Low compliance of Election Commission (EC) guidelines.

• Interference in the investigation of crime and poor prosecution of cases.

• Massive delays of cases of criminal candidates over the years and high cost involved in the judicial proceedings.

 • Unwarranted granting of parole and abundance withdrawal of the court cases.

Suggestions:

• Intra-party democracy and accountability should be promoted by the Constitution.

• The Political parties should themselves refuse tickets to the candidates with criminal records.

• Amend the Representation of People`s Act, 1951 to debar the persons from contesting elections against whom crimes of heinous nature are pending.

• Persons who have been punished with a jail term of more than 7 years should not be given a right to contest elections before the High Court grants permission.

• Implementation of Fast-track courts to deal with the cases of politicians with criminal records.

• Awareness should be created about NOTA (none of the above) and criminal background of the candidate to prevent the criminals from winning elections.

• The appointment of Election Commissioners should be Fair and Transparent.

• Greater transparency should be brought in campaign financing that will make it less desirable for the political parties to comprise the candidates pertaining to criminal Background.

Order of Sichuan-Tibet Railway project.

Chinese President ordered the construction of the new USD 47.8 billion railway project connecting the country’s southwest Sichuan province to Linzhi in Tibet close to the Indian border in Arunachal Pradesh.

The Sichuan-Tibet Railway will be the second railway line into Tibet after the Qinghai-Tibet Railway project.

It will go through the southeast of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, one of the world’s most geologically active areas, according to the Chinese official media. The Sichuan-Tibet Railway starts from Chengdu, capital of Sichuan province and travels through Ya’an and enters Tibet via Qamdo, shortening the journey from Chengdu to Lhasa from 48 hours to 13 hours.Linzhi, also known as Nyingchi, is located close to the Arunachal Pradesh border.

The India-China border dispute covers the 3,488-km-long Line of Actual Control, the de-facto border between the two countries. China claims Arunachal Pradesh as part of south Tibet which is firmly rejected by India.

Linzhi also has an airport which is one of the five airports built by China in the Himalayan region.

Energy Conservation (EC) Act .

The Ministry of Power, Government of India issued notification to cover all the Electricity Distribution Companies (DISCOMs) under the preview of the EC Act.

As per the notification, which was formulated in consultation with Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) ‘All entities having issued distribution license by State/Joint Electricity Regulatory Commission under the Electricity Act, 2003 (36 of 2003)’ are notified as Designated Consumers (DCs).

Key highlights:

The amendment is expected to help DISCOMs to monitor their performance parameters and bring in transparency in the Distribution sector through professional inputs.

It will also assist in developing projects for reducing the electricity losses by DISCOMs and implementing effective solutions.

The amendment is expected to improve the financial state of the DISCOMs.

The quarterly data of these DISCOMs will be collected and monitored by the government to suggest measures for increasing the efficiency and reduce the energy loss.

This move is expected to gradually become more effective if extended upto the level of end consumers.

About Bureau of Energy Efficiency

Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) is a statutory body under the Ministry of Power,Government of India.

It assists in developing policies and strategies with the primary objective of reducing the energy intensity of the Indian economy.

BEE coordinates with designated consumers, designated agencies, and other organization to identify and utilize the existing resources and infrastructure, in performing the functions assigned to it under the EC Act.

Earth observation satellite EOS-01.

ISRO has successfully launched its Earth Imaging Satellite EOS-01 and 9 other foreign satellites onboard the PolarSatellite Launch Vehicle PSLV-C49 from Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota.

Last year EOS-01 is another Radar Imaging Satellite (RISAT) that will work together with RISAT-2B and RISAT-2BR1launched.

It aims at to providing all-weather round-the-clock service for high-resolution images for applications inagriculture, forestry and disaster management support.

Earth observation satellites are used for several areas like rural development, mineral prospecting, covering agriculture, water resources, urban planning etc.

Declared four more biodiversity heritage sites for Karnataka.

The Karnataka Biodiversity Board has decided to declare four more areas in the State as biodiversity heritage sites.

Biodiversity heritage sites are well defined areas that are unique, ecologically fragile ecosystems - terrestrial, coastal and inland waters and, marine.

Under Biological Diversity Act, 2002, the State Government in consultation with local bodies can notify about biodiversity heritage sites.

 The following to declare as biodiversity heritage sites are:

Antaragange Betta in Kolar;

Aadi Narayana Swamy Betta in Chickballapur;

Mahima Ranga Betta in Nelamangala, Bengaluru;

Urumbi area on the Kumaradhara river basin in Dakshina Kannada.

Extension of fortified rice scheme.

Children in Anganwadis and Govt. Schools could soon be Eating Rice infused with iron, folic acid and vitamin B-12.

• In a bid to combat chronic anaemia and under nutrition, the government is making plans to distribute fortified rice through the Integrated Child Development Services and Mid-Day Meal schemes across the country from next year, with a special focus on 112 Aspirational Districts.

Background of Fortification:

• In February, 2019, the government approved a centre-sponsored “Rice Fortification and Public Distribution System” pilot scheme.

• The three-year pilot scheme from the start of 2019-20 has been accepted. The budget allocated is a total amount of Rs 42.65 crore.

• During the initial implementation phase, the scheme focuses on 15 districts preferably one District per State.

What is Food Fortification?

• Fortification is the addition of key vitamins and minerals such as Iron, Iodine, Zinc, and Vitamins A & D to staple foods such as rice, wheat, oil, milk and salt to improve their nutritional content.

• These nutrients may or may not have been originally present in the food before processing or may have been lost during processing.

 • It does not alter the characteristics of the food like the taste, aroma or the texture of the food.

What is Rice Fortification?

• Rice fortification is the practice of increasing the content of essential micronutrients in rice and to improve the nutritional quality of the rice.

• Fortifying rice involves grinding broken rice into powder, mixing it with nutrients, and then shaping it into rice-like kernels using an extrusion process.

• These fortified kernels are then mixed with normal rice in a 1:100 ratio, and distributed for Consumption.

Why Rice Fortification?

• Rice is the world’s most important staple food. An estimated 2 billion people eat rice every day, forming the mainstay of diets across large of Asia and Africa.

• Regular milled rice is low in micronutrients and serves primarily as a source of carbohydrate only. The fortification of rice is a major opportunity to improve nutrition.

• Fortified rice are contains Vitamin A, Vitamin B1, Vitamin B12, Folic Acid, Iron and Zinc.

Significance:

• Micronutrient malnutrition, also known as hidden hunger, is a serious health risk.

Sometimes due to lack of consumption of a balanced diet, lack of variety in the diet or unavailability of food one does not get adequate micronutrients.

• According to the National Family Health Survey (NFHS-4)

✓ 4 percent of children (6-59 months) are anaemic.

✓ 1 percent of women in the reproductive age group are anaemic.

✓ 7 percent of children under 5 are underweight.

 • Hence fortification of food is a Safe method of improving nutrition among people as the addition of micronutrients to food does not pose a health risk to people.

Food Fortification in India:

• Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has formulated a comprehensive regulation on fortification of foods namely ‘Food Safety and Standards (Fortification of Foods) Regulations, 2016’.

• These regulations set the standards for food fortification and encourage the production, manufacture, distribution, sale and consumption of fortified foods.

• The regulations also provide for specific role of FSSAI in promotion for food fortification and to make fortification mandatory. This sets the premise for the national summit on fortification of food.

• Packaging and labelling has to state the food fortificant added, +F logo and the tagline “SampoornaPoshanSwasth Jeevan”.

• It should be in compliance with the Food Safety and Standards (Packaging and Labeling) Regulations, 2011.

Way Forward:

• Currently, there are only 15,000 tonnes of these kernels available per year in the country.

To cover PDS, Anganwadis and mid-day meals in the 112 aspirational districts, annual supply capacity would need to be increased to about 1.3 lakh tonnes.

• To cover PDS across the country, 3.5 lakh tonnes of fortified kernels would be needed. FCI has also been asked to invest in equipping rice mills with the blending machines needed to mix the kernels into normal rice, added the statement.