Comprehensive Current affairs 5 October 2020

 All weather tunnel road at Rohtang inaugurated.

P M Modi today inaugurated the strategically important all-weather Atal Tunnel at Rohtang in Himachal Pradesh.

Atal Tunnel, the longest highway tunnel in the world was built by the Border Roads Organisation. The tunnel reduces the distance between Manali and Leh by 46 km and the travel time by four to five hours. The 9.02-km tunnel connects Manali to Lahaul-Spiti valley throughout the year, the valley was earlier cut off for about six months every year due to heavy snowfall.

The AtalBihari Vajpayee government had taken the decision to construct a strategic tunnel below the Rohtang Pass on June 3, 2000, and the foundation stone for the access road to the south portal of the tunnel was laid on May 26, 2002.

In December 2019, the Government decided to name the Rohtang Tunnel as Atal Tunnel in honour of the former Prime Minister and scholar AtalBihari Vajpayee who had passed away the previous year.

 Social Stock Exchange

The Securities and Exchange Board’s (SEBI) working group has submitted its report with recommendations regarding the structure, mechanisms, and regulatory framework for the proposed Social Stock Exchange (SSE).

Issues with the idea of Social Stock Exchange:

• SSE Exists in one form or another in UK, Singapore, South Africa, Canada and Brazil, but it is yet to take off in Any Country.

• It has been an instrument focussed on social enterprises with rather poor results.

• The proposed SSE in our country could have been an interesting innovation if it was first.

• Replicating an Experiment from elsewhere in an extremely complex environment of endemic poverty, high inequality and regional variation does not seem a reasoned decision.

• It is therefore Important to Analyse why it has been Pushed as a Key Policy.

Why Civil Society is Sceptical:

• The 2020-21 Union Budget says that not-for-profit organisations will need to apply every five years for income tax registration to ascertain their charitable status.

• They will also need to renew their 80(G) certificate that provides tax relief to their donors.

• The not-for-profit sector would not be able to survive without the tax-exempt charitable status.

• These restrictions will open the gates to corruption and bullying by the tax and government bureaucracy.

• The SEBI working group was constituted of business leaders, government and SEBI officials with a token representative from Civil Society.

• Composition of the committee reflects the real intent of the SSE, which is to create instruments for market to enter the social sector.

 • However, the way the exchange is envisioned makes it clear that the interests of the private sector are guiding the idea of SSE.

Will the Entry of Private Sector Benefit Social Sector:

• The Proponents of the SSE argue that it would help set standards and a performance matrix for the Social Sector.

• SSE is also expected to help bench-marking of sector actors (credibility checks), organise information and data, help in Impact Assessments, and do Capacity Building for the Sector.

Solving Complex Social Problems:

• Poverty or Injustice are Essentially Systemic and political questions that need multi-pronged dynamic Engagement.

• Developing set Standards of impact Assessment and Performance matrix has the risk of privileging only one approach to the Developmental Challenges at hand.

• The SSE would create more Intermediaries and benefit Larger Organisations.

• More than 99 per cent of the three million NGOs in the Country are in the small category and will be Untouched by the SSE.

India's Tribal affairs ministry launches Tribes e- marketplace.

Indian Minister of Tribal Affairs launched India’s largest handicraft and organic products marketplace- Tribes India E-Marketplace. Keeping in line with the vision of the Prime Minister of making India Aatmanirbhar and self-reliant, this initiative of TRIFED will showcase the produce and handicrafts of tribal enterprises from across the country.

•It will help them market their products directly. On this occasion, Mr Munda also flagged off several other TRIFED initiatives that are aimed to support the tribal brethren.

•These include the inauguration of Tribes India’s 123rd and 124th outlets in Rishikesh and Kolkata, inclusion of new tribal product ranges from the states of Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh and partnership of TRIFED and Tribes India with Amazon in their Seller Flex programme. The Minister also launched Pakur Honey which is 100 per cent natural honey, gathered by SanthalTribals from Pakur in Jharkhand.

•TRIFED aims to onboard 5 lakh tribal producers for sourcing of various handicraft, handloom,natural food products across the country.

India aims achieving nuclear disarmament gradually.

Foreign Secretary of India has said that India reiterates its long-standing and unwavering commitment to universal, verifiable and non-discriminatory nuclear disarmament leading to the complete elimination of nuclear weapons.

Secretary said this while addressing the high-Level Plenary meeting to commemorate and promote the International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons.

He said, India believes that nuclear disarmament can be achieved through a step-by-step process underwritten by a universal commitment and an agreed multilateral framework. India remains convinced of the need for meaningful dialogue among all States possessing nuclear weapons, for building trust and confidence.

The Foreign Secretary said, India espouses the policy of No First Use against nuclear weapon states and non-use against non-nuclear weapon states. India is a key partner in global efforts towards disarmament and strengthening the non-proliferation order.

Armenia agrees for mediation with Azerbaijan.

Azerbaijani forces on Friday struck Stepanakert, the main city in Azerbaijan’s breakaway NagornyKarabakh region, wounding “many” people, an Armenian official said as fighting raged for a sixth day.

•The two neighbours have been locked in a simmering conflict for decades over the region and new fighting that erupted on Sunday has been the heaviest in decades.

 •In a joint appeal, Russian President Vladimir Putin, U.S. President Donald Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron urged the two sides to return to negotiations aimed at resolving the longstanding dispute.

•Mr. Macron has warned NATO member Turkey — which backs Azerbaijan — against the alleged deployment of militants from Syria to the Karabakhconflict.The separatist government in Stepanakert said Azerbaijani forces destroyed a bridge linking Armenia to Karabakh.

NCLAT issues guidelines on resolution plan.

The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) has said that once a resolution plan for a debt-ridden company is approved by the lenders, the successful bidder cannot be permitted to withdraw its offer.

•A three-member NCLAT bench said the sanctity of the resolution process has to be maintained and such withdrawal by a successful bidder ‘frustrates’ the entire exercise of Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process.

•Moreover, there is also no express provision in the Insolvency & Bankruptcy Code to allow any successful resolution applicant to ‘stage a U-turn’, it added.

•“Provision for submission of a Performance Bank Guarantee by a resolution applicant while submitting its resolution plan, as required under the amended provisions of IBBI [Insolvency Resolution Process of Corporate Persons] Regulations, 2016 is a step in this direction, but may not be deterrent enough to prevent a Successful Resolution Applicant from taking a U-turn,” the NCLAT said.

Campaign to supply piped water to schools.

India's Jal Shakti Ministery launched 100-days campaign to provide potable piped water supply in Schools and Anganwadi Centres.

This mission was envisaged by the Prime Minister NarendraModi on 29th of last month, while releasing the ‘Margdarshika’ for Gram Panchayats and PaaniSamitis for implementation of

JalJeevan Mission. Prime Minister had appealed to the States to make best use of this campaign to ensure provision of potable piped water supply in these public institutions.

Under the JalJeevan Mission States and Union Territories are to ensure that during the campaign, Gram Sabhas are convened at the earliest to pass a resolution for providing safe water in all schools, anganwadi centres and other public institutions in the village in the next 100 days. These facilities will be operated and maintained by the Gram Panchayat and its sub-committee.

The Ministry said, this is a befitting tribute to the Father of the Nation Mahatma Gandhi on his 151st birth anniversary. JalJeevan Mission aims at the universal coverage of provision of tap water connection to every rural home by 2024. Under the mission, special focus is on women and children.

India-Bangladesh naval exercise gets underway at bay of Bengal

The 2nd edition of Indian and Bangladesh Navy Bilateral Exercise Bongosagar is scheduled to commence in Northern Bay of Bengal today.

Exercise is aimed at developing interoperability and joint operational skills through conduct of a wide spectrum of maritime exercises and operations. The Ministry of Defence in a statement said, ships from both navies will participate in surface warfare drills, seamanship evolutions and helicopter operations.

This exercise will be followed by the 3rd edition of Indian and Bangladesh Navy Coordinated Patrol in Northern Bay of Bengal from 4th to 5th October , wherein both the units will undertake joint patrolling along the International Maritime Boundary Line.

This edition of Exercise Bongosagar assumes greater significance since it is being conducted during MujibBarsho, the 100th birth anniversary of Bangabandhu Sheikh MujiburRahman.

Sports ministry flags off CRPF DivyangYodha Cycle rally.

Youth Affairs and Sports Minister KirenRijiju today flagged in CRPF DivyangYodha Cycle rally that began its journey from Sabarmati Ashram, Gujarat and culminated at Rajpath today on the occasion of Gandhi Jayanti.

 •The cycle rally covered about one thousand kilometre to reach Delhi in the last 16 days. The rally team consisted of six women of CRPF Mahila Battalions.

PUSA Decomposers

The scientists have recently developed a bio-decomposer technique called ‘PUSA Decomposers’ for converting crop stubble into Compost.

Highlights:

• Delhi and many other North Indian States are covered with smoke during winters due to stubble

burning in the neighbouring States by the farmers.

• The decomposers are in the form of capsules made by extracting fungi strains that help the paddy straw to decompose at a much faster rate than usual.

• The fungi helps to produce the essential enzymes for the degradation process.

• Decomposer Mixture involves making a liquid formulation using decomposer capsules and fermenting it over 8-10 days and then spraying the mixture on fields with crop stubble to ensure speedy bio-decomposition of the Stubble.

• The farmers can prepare 25 litre of liquid mixture with 4 capsules, jaggery and chickpea flour. The mixture is sufficient to cover 1 hectare of land.

• It takes around 20 days for the degradation process to be completed.

• Under usual circumstances, shredded and watered paddy straw, which is mixed with soil, takes at least 45 days to decompose.

• It does not give enough time for farmers to prepare fields for the wheat crop on time.

Significance:

• It improves the Fertility and productivity of the soil as the stubble works as manure and compost for the crops and lesser fertiliser consumption is required in the future.

 • The soil loses its Richness due to Stubble burning and it also destroys the useful bacteria and fungi in the soil, apart from causing harm to the environment.

• It is an efficient and effective, cheaper, doable and practical technique to stop stubble burning.

• It is an eco-friendly and Environmentally useful Technology and will contribute to achieve Swachh Bharat Mission.

How Remunerative is Farming in India.

The government’s push to reform India’s agriculture sector has divided opinions and Triggered a debate about the state of Indian Agriculture.

Highlights:

• In the context of this debate, two long-standing characteristics of Indian agriculture are Noteworthy:

Indian Agriculture is Highly Unremunerative:

• It has been heavily Regulated by the Government and Protected from the free play of Market Forces

Why are the New Legislation Introduced?

• According to the government, the new Bills passed by Parliament attempt to make it easier for farmers to sell to and produce for the private sector.

• The hope is that liberalizing the sector and allowing greater play for market forces will make Indian agriculture more efficient and more remunerative for the farmers.

• In this context, it is important to understand some of the basics of Indian agriculture.

Basics of Indian Agriculture:

1.      Workforce Engaged:

 ✓ At the time of Independence, about 70% of India’s workforce (a little less than 100 million) was employed in the agriculture sector.

✓ Even at that time, agriculture and allied activities accounted for around 54% of India’s national income.

✓ Over the years, agriculture’s contribution to national output declined sharply. As of

2019-20, it was less than 17% (in gross value added terms).

✓ And yet, the proportion of Indians engaged in agriculture has fallen from 70% to just 55% (Chart1).

✓ As the Committee on Doubling Farmers’ Income (2017) observes, “the dependence of the rural workforce on agriculture for employment has not declined in proportion to the falling contribution of agriculture to GDP”.

2. Land Holdings:

✓ While the number of people dependent on agriculture has been burgeoning over the years, the average size of landholdings has become reduced sharply — even to the extent of being unviable for efficient production.

✓ Data shows that 86% of all landholdings in India are small (between 1 and 2 hectares) and marginal (less than 1 hectare — roughly half a football field).

✓ The average size among marginal holdings is just 0.37 ha which hardly provides Enough Income to stay above the Poverty line.

3. Debts:

✓ The combined result of several such inefficiencies is that most Indian farmers are Heavily Indebted (Chart 2).

 ✓ The data shows that 40% of the 24 lakh households that operate on landholdings smaller than 0.01 ha are indebted. The average amount is Rs 31,000.

✓ A good reason why such a high proportion of farmers is so indebted is that Indian agriculture — for the most part — is unremunerative.

✓ Chart 3 provides the monthly income estimates for an agriculture household in four very different states as well as the all-India number.

✓ Some of the most populous states like Bihar, West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh have very low levels of income and Very high Proportions of Indebtedness.

4. Buying & selling:

✓ Another way of understanding the plight of the farmers relative to the rest of the economy is to look at the Terms of Trade between farmers and non- farmers.

✓ Terms of Trade is the ratio between the prices paid by the farmers for their inputs and the prices received by the farmers for their output.

✓ As such, 100 is the benchmark. If the ToT is less than 100, it means farmers are worse off. As Chart 4 shows, ToT rapidly improved between 2004-05 and 2010-11 to breach the 100-mark but since then it has worsened for Farmers.

5. MSP:

✓ A key variable in the debate is the role of minimum support prices. Many protesters fear governments will roll back the system of MSPs.

✓ MSPs provide “guaranteed prices” and an “assured market” to farmers, and save them from price fluctuations. This is crucial because most farmers are not adequately informed.

✓ But although MSPs are announced for around 23 crops, actual procurement happens for very few crops such as wheat and rice.

 ✓ Moreover, the percentage of procurement varies sharply across states (Chart 5). As a result, actual Market prices — what the farmers get — are often Below MSPs.

Comprehensive Current affairs 4 October 2020

 Apex Court asserts states cannot declare slowdown as public emergency.

The State cannot declare the slowdown caused by the pandemic a “public emergency” to curtail the rights of people, the Supreme Court.

The pandemic had not resulted in an “internal disturbance” of a nature that posed a “grave emergency” whereby the security of India was threatened, it said.

A Bench led by Justice D.Y. Chandrachud observed that the sweeping powers of the State to declare a public emergency could only be wielded in case of “threat to the security of India or a part of the territory must be caused by war, external aggression or an internal disturbance”.

In a 41-page judgment, Justice Chandrachud observed: “We find that the economic slowdown created by the COVID-19 pandemic does not qualify as an internal disturbance threatening the security of the State”.

 The verdict dealt with blanket notifications issued by the Gujarat government denying factory workers overtime wages during the lockdown by invoking its powers of declaring a public emergency under Section 5 of the Factories Act.

GoI claims over 99% of Indian cities as open defecation free.

Government today said that more than 99 per cent of the cities across the country have become Open Defecation Free, ODF. Housing and Urban Affairs Ministry today celebrated six glorious years of Swachh Bharat Mission - urban and organised a webinar on ‘Swachhatake 6 saal, Bemisaal.

•Speaking on the ocassion, Housing and Urban Affairs Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said, it is time to reaffirm pledge for Swachhatam Bharat, Swasthatam Bharat - Cleaner and healthier India.

•He said this spirit of Jan Andolan and Jan Bhagidari is exemplified by the SwachhSurvekshan 2020 in which over 12 crores of citizens have participated in the survey. The Minister said, when Swachh Bharat Mission- urban was launched in 2014, it was with the vision of achieving Clean India by 2nd October 2019, the 150th birth anniversary of the Father of the Nation.

EU takes legal action against U.K over Brexit bill.

The European Union took legal action against Britain on Thursday over its plans to pass legislation that would breach parts of the legally binding divorce agreement the two sides reached late last year.

The EU move underscored the worsening relations with Britain, which was a member of the bloc until January 31. Both sides are trying to forge a rudimentary free trade agreement before the end of the year, but the fight over the controversial U.K. Internal Market Bill has soured relations this month.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said that the British plan “by its very nature is a breach of the obligation of good faith laid down in the Withdrawal Agreement.”

 EU leaders fear that if the U.K. Bill becomes law, it could lead to the re-imposition of a hard land border between Northern Ireland, which is part of Britain, and EU member Ireland, and erode the stability that has underpinned peace since the 1998 Good Friday accord.

British lawmakers voted 340-256 on Tuesday to push the legislation past its last major hurdle in the House of Commons.

Vietnam says Chinese military drills could hurt talks.

Vietnam said on Thursday that military drills conducted this week by Beijing in the South China Sea will hurt negotiations on a regional maritime code of conduct (COC) for the disputed waters.

The exercises could complicate efforts to restart talks on a long-awaited code between China and the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN), Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Le Thi Thu Hang told a regular briefing.

China on Monday began five military exercises simultaneously along different parts of its coast, including two exercises near Paracel Islands also claimed by Vietnam. “The resumption of code of conduct (COC) negotiations after a long pause because of the (coronavirus) pandemic is the priority of ASEAN countries and China,” Ms. Hang said.

Vietnam shared that priority and “looks forward to concluding the COC in an effective, comprehensive way”, in line with international law, Ms. Hang said.

Finance ministry grants permission for additional grants to 2 states.

Union Finance Ministry has granted additional borrowing permission to Uttar Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh for successfully undertaking reforms in the Public Distribution System (PDS) and Ease of Doing Business. This will make an additional amount of seven thousand 376 crore rupees available to these states.

In view of the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic, the Union Government had in May this year allowed additional borrowing limit of up to two per cent of Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) to the states for the current financial year.

 This made an amount up to four lakh 27 thousand 302 crore rupees available to the states. One per cent of this additional borrowing limit is subject to implementation of four specific state-level reforms, where weightage of each reform is 0.25 per cent of GSDP.

These reforms include implementation of One Nation, One Ration Card System, Ease of Doing Business reforms, Urban Local body reforms and Power Sector reforms.

Earlier last week, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Goa, Karnataka and Tripura were granted permission to raise additional financial resources of nine thousand 913 crore rupees through Open Market Borrowings upon successfully meeting the reform conditions of implementation of One Nation, One Ration Card System.

Andhra Pradesh has now become the first state in the country to successfully undertake Ease of Doing Business reforms as well and has therefore become eligible to raise an additional amount of two thousand 525 crore rupees through Open Market Borrowings.

GST collections indicate economic recovery.

Ministry of Finance has said that the gross Goods and Services Tax, GST revenue collection in the month of September stood at 95 thousand 480 crore rupees. The revenue collection in September is the highest so far during this fiscal.

Out of total GST collection, Central GST is 17 thousand 741 crore rupees, State GST is 23 thousand 131 crore rupees, Integrated GST is 47 thousand 484 crore rupees and Cess is 7 thousand 124 crore rupees.

The Ministry in a statement said, the total revenue earned by Central Government and the State Governments after regular settlement in the month of September is over 39 thousand crore rupees for CGST and 40 thousand 128 crore rupees for the SGST.

 Researchers develop sutures with nano fibre yarns.

A team of researchers at IIT Madras is ready with a prototype of suture thread made of nanofiber yarns that is bio-absorbable and can deliver a higher load of antibiotics and/or therapeutics at the site itself.

The suture material uses nanofibers woven as yarn using certain specific techniques, and the strength can be varied depending on the target tissue (skin, muscle, cartilage), explains Rama S. Verma of the Stem Cell and Molecular Biology laboratory, Department of Biotechnology, IIT Madras. Each strand has a good tensile strength, besides degrading rapidly and mimics the collagen fibrils of body tissues, he adds.

Several innovations globally in suture material have advanced infection control and achieved in some cases, better recovery among patients, even as other options such as staples, glues and strips have become available.

Nanofiber yarns are thread-like structures formed by twisting together hundreds of nanofibers, Prof. Verma explains. The way the nanofibers mimicked the collagen fibril sparked the idea in a lab that primarily works on scaffold-based tissue engineering to create thread like structures by twisting nanofibers together using custom-made machinery.

“Several experiments were done to prove its compatibility, mechanical strength, stem cell interaction, immune responses, and antibacterial property, and they were compatible with prescribed norms in surgical procedure,” Prof. Verma claims.

Comprehensive Current affairs 3 October 2020

 Ambedkar Social Innovation and Incubation Mission for scheduled castesSocial Justice and Empowerment.

Minister ThaawarchandGehlot today launched the Ambedkar Social Innovation and Incubation Mission under Venture Capital Fund for SCs, with a view to promoting innovation and enterprise among SC students studying in higher educational institutions.

Addressing the occasion, Mr Gehlot said that the Ministry had launched the Venture Capital Fund for SCs in 2014-15 with a view to developing entrepreneurship amongst the SC and Divyang youth and to enable them to become job-givers.

The objective of this fund is to provide concessional finance to the entities of the SC entrepreneurs. Under this fund, 117 companies promoted by SC entrepreneurs have been sanctioned financial assistance to set up business ventures.

 The Minister said, under Ambedkar Social Innovation Incubation Mission initiative, one thousand SC youth will be identified in the next four years with start-up ideas through the Technology Business Incubators in various higher educational institutions.

They will be funded 30 lakh rupees in three years as equity funding to translate their start-up ideas into commercial ventures. Successful ventures would further qualify for venture funding of up to five Crore rupees from the Venture Capital Fund for SCs.

NSO report finds Indians spending half a day on self-care and maintenance.

The average Indian spends half their day on self-care and maintenance, and around 11% of the time daily in employment and related activities. These are the findings of the Time Use Survey that was conducted in the country from January-December 2019 to measure the participation rate and time spent on paid activities, care activities and unpaid activities.

As per survey findings released Tuesday, Indians spent 50.4% or 726 minutes of their time daily on self-care and maintenance. Rural males spent an average 51.2% of their total time on these activities.
Both rural and urban males spent around 7% of their time on learning that includes self-study for distance education course work (video, audio, online) while rural females allocated 5.7% and urban females spent 6.1% of their average daily time on learning.

India-China agree on five point agreement for disengagement at LAC

India and China have agreed to sincerely implement the agreement between the Foreign Ministers of the two countries in order to ensure disengagement at all the friction points along the Line of Actual Control (LAC).

The 19th meeting of the Working Mechanism for Consultation and Coordination on India-China Border Affairs (WMCC) which was held today in virtual mode and was attended by delegation from both the sides reviewed the current situation along the LAC in the India-China border areas.

During the meeting both India and China positively evaluated the outcome of the 6th Senior Commanders meeting held on 21st of this month and emphasized the need to implement the steps outlined so as to avoid misunderstandings and to maintain stability on the ground.

In the same context, the need to strengthen communication, especially between the ground commanders, was also emphasized by both sides.

Both the sides agreed to continue to maintain close consultations at the diplomatic and military level. It was also agreed that the next round of the meeting of Senior Commanders will be held at an early date so that both sides can work towards early and complete disengagement of the troops along the LAC in accordance with the existing bilateral agreement and protocols, and fully restore peace and tranquility.

Japanese defence ministry seeks record budget for 2021

Japan's Defence Ministry is seeking a record-high budget of nearly 5.5 trillion yen ($55 billion) for fiscal 2021. The move is to fund more purchases of costly American stealth fighters and expand its capability to counter possible threats in both cyber and outer space.

The budget request made public today is the first under new Prime Minister YoshihideSuga. It would be an eight per cent increase from the current year, signalling a continuation of his predecessor Shinzo Abe's security policy. Japan's defence spending has risen for eight consecutive years since 2013, a year after Mr Abe took office.

The rise in spending came as Mr Abe pushed for Japan's Self-Defence Force to expand its international role and capability amid threats from North Korea and China.

Japan also faced demands from US President Donald Trump that US allies increase defense spending, which Japan did in part with costly American weapons purchases that also bolster weapons compatibility with American forces.

Japanese defence ministry seeks record budget for 2021

Japan's Defence Ministry is seeking a record-high budget of nearly 5.5 trillion yen ($55 billion) for fiscal 2021. The move is to fund more purchases of costly American stealth fighters and expand its capability to counter possible threats in both cyber and outer space.

The budget request made public today is the first under new Prime Minister YoshihideSuga. It would be an eight per cent increase from the current year, signalling a continuation of his predecessor Shinzo Abe's security policy. Japan's defence spending has risen for eight consecutive years since 2013, a year after Mr Abe took office.

The rise in spending came as Mr Abe pushed for Japan's Self-Defence Force to expand its international role and capability amid threats from North Korea and China.

Japan also faced demands from US President Donald Trump that US allies increase defense spending, which Japan did in part with costly American weapons purchases that also bolster weapons compatibility with American forces.

Fiscal deficit soars to 109% of budget target

India’s fiscal deficit soared to 109% of the Budget target in just the first five months of the year, with revenues remaining muted. However, the Centre stuck to its ₹12 lakh crore borrowing plan for the year with the Finance Ministry exuding confidence that it would manage to meet its expenditure commitments within this plan.

The Centre had already enhanced its borrowing target for the year by ₹4.2 lakh crore to ₹12 lakh crore in May this year as the initial adverse impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the national lockdown became apparent

Revenue collections were largely to blame for the fiscal deficit hitting ₹8.70 lakh crore compared to the target of ₹7.96 lakh crore, as tax revenue declined across the board. Rating agencies expect the fiscal deficit slippage to be much higher by the end of the year.

 AditiNayar, principal economist at ICRA, reckoned that the deficit will rise to ₹14 lakh crore and the Centre would have to scale up its borrowings by at least ₹1.1 lakh crore, even if no further fiscal support measures were announced.

Care Ratings chief economist MadanSabnavis agreed that fiscal slippage would be quite wide. “We expect central government deficit to be in the region of 9% this year. This is notwithstanding the fact that there may be no new stimulus involving additional expenditure,” he said.

Core sectors shrink for sixth consecutive month

India’s eight core industrial sectors contracted by 8.5% in August compared to August 2019, marking the sixth month in a row of shrinking output.

The decline in August was sharper than the 8% decline in July as per revised data released by the Department of Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade, with coal and fertilizers being the only two sectors registering growth of 3.6% and 7.3% year-on-year, respectively.

The sharpest decline on a year-on-year basis in August was registered in refinery products (19.1%), followed by cement (14.6%) and natural gas (9.5%). For the five months from April to August, the core sectors, which account for a little over 40% of the Index of Industrial Production, shrank 17.8%.
Earlier, the sectors’ July output was estimated to have shrunk 9.6%. The government has also revised the numbers for core sector performance in May, stating that output shrank 21.4% that month instead of the 23.4% reported earlier.

DRDO test fires Brahmos supersonic missile.

India today successfully test-fired BrahMos supersonic cruise missile with several indigenous features. The test firing of the missile was carried out by the Defence Research and Development Organisation, DRDO from Balasore in Odisha.

BrahMos surface-to-surface supersonic cruise missile features indigenous Booster and Airframe Section along with many other ‘Made in India’ sub-systems. 

Defence Ministry said, the BrahMos Land-Attack Cruise Missile was cruising at a top speed of Mach 2.8. It is one more major step in enhancing the indigenous content.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh has congratulated all the personnel of DRDO and team BrahMos for the spectacular mission.

Mr Singh said, today’s successful launch has paved the way for the serial production of the indigenous booster and other indigenous components of the powerful BrahMos Weapon System realizing Atmanirbhar Bharat pledge.

AFI releases revised calendar.

The Athletics Federation of India (AFI) has scheduled the first-ever National Open Throws Championships on October 26 and 27 at Patiala, marking the resumption of its calendar for 2020.
The revised calendar includes the zonal junior National championships and the junior National at Ranchi. The first major competition as part of the Olympic qualification process will be the Indian GP at Thiruvananthapuram on Feb. 12, followed by two more the same month. The Federation Cup will be held from March 10 to 14.

Comprehensive Current affairs 2 October 2020

Centre to hold talks with states in order to curb pollution as winter approaches

With winter approaching and concerns over an imminent rise in pollution across Delhi and other cities in the Gangetic plain, Union Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar has said that he will be convening a “virtual conference” of Environment Ministers of Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan and officials in the State departments as well as from city corporations.

“We had asked States to prepare short, medium and long-term plans for curbing pollution in 2016 and this meeting will be a review. It will be a free discussion,” he said at a conference on Tuesday.

So far, the Minister said, there have been several meetings this year already with the States as well one that included the Prime Minister’s Office to discuss issues around curbing pollution.

From October, teams of officials from the Central Pollution Control Board will be conducting spot checks in the Delhi -National Capital Region to catch and fine offenders who may be burning plastic waste, littering or be constructing structures without adhering to protocol.

 On Saturday, Delhi Chief Minister wrote to Mr.Javadekar, saying that alternative technologies ought to be tried to disincentivise stubble burning.

Defence ministry launches startup challenge -4.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh launched the Defence India Startup Challenge (DISC 4) during the iDEX event, featuring the initiatives aimed at expanding the horizons of Innovations for Defence Excellence (iDEX) ecosystem in New Delhi today. Mr Singh also launched the iDEX4Fauji initiative and Product Management Approach (PMA) guidelines during the event.

iDEX4Fauji is a first of its kind initiative, launched to support innovations identified by members of the Indian Armed Forces and will bolster frugal innovation ideas from soldiers and field formations.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr Singh said, the iDEX initiative stands out as one of the most effective and well-executed defence Startupecosystem created in the country. He said, it would be a decisive step towards achieving self-reliance in the spirit of the AtmaNirbhar Bharat campaign.

Responsible AI for Social Empowerment (RAISE) 2020

Recently, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) and NITI Aayog will organize a Mega Virtual Summit on Artificial Intelligence (AI), RAISE 2020-‘Responsible AI for Social Empowerment 2020’.

It is a first of its kind, global meeting of minds on Artificial Intelligence to drive India's vision and roadmap for social transformation, inclusion and empowerment through responsible AI.

• It includes using AI in areas like Health, Agriculture, Education, Skilling, Mobility,

Fintech, Research, Inclusive AI, Future of Work, among others.

• The event will witness participation from global industry leaders, key opinion makers, Government representatives and academia.

• It will also feature some startups working in AI-related fields.

 • Industry analysts predict that AI could add up to 957 billion USD to India’s economy by 2035.

• India can leverage AI for inclusive development, representing the country's 'AI for All' strategy.

• India has launched National AI Strategy and National AI Portal and has also started leveraging AI across various sectors such as education, agriculture, healthcare, e-commerce, finance, telecommunications, etc.

• Recently, India joined the 'Global Partnership on Artificial Intelligence (GPAI)' as a founding member to support the responsible and human-centric development and use of

Artificial Intelligence (AI).

About Artificial Intelligence:

• It describes the action of machines accomplishing tasks that have historically required human intelligence.

• It includes technologies like machine learning, pattern recognition, big data, neural networks, self-algorithms etc. Example: Facebook’s list of suggested friends for its users, self-driving cars, etc.

• It Automates Processes and reduces human error but the principal limitation of AI is that it learns from the data. This means any inaccuracies in the data will be reflected in the results.

• It is important to make AI responsible as it can be misused for various purposes like Deep Fakes, Cybercrimes, Social Manipulation etc.

EU raises concern over exit of amnesty international from India.

Expressing “concerns” about the government’s investigation into Amnesty International (AI), the European Union said it hopes the global human rights agency can continue its work in India.

▶However, the government defended its actions, and said AI is in “clear contravention” of Indian law.

▶The action against AI including freezing their funds, followed a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) inquiry, and is part of the government’s scrutiny of more than 20 international NGOs including Greenpeace, Compassion International, and Ford Foundation, over the past few years.

▶However, the Ministry of Home Affairs issued a broad defence of actions by various agencies against AI for the past decade, calling it a “bipartisan and purely legal approach towards Amnesty”, which has now suspended its India operations, claiming a “witch-hunt” by the government.

▶“India, by settled law, does not allow interference in domestic political debates by entities funded by foreign donations,” the MHA added, in a reference to AI’s reports on alleged human rights violations in Jammu and Kashmir, and its reference to Delhi Police investigations into the February riots where 53 people were killed.

Afghan negotiator team suggest increased cooperation with Pakistan.

The chief of Afghanistan’s peace negotiating team said Tuesday on a visit to Pakistan that the time has come for the two neighbouring countries to shun the suspicion, “stale rhetoric” and tired conspiracy theories that have dogged past relations.

Abdullah Abdullah is in Pakistan on a bridge-building mission meant to mend deep-rooted mistrust between the two countries. It was his first visit in 12 years.

Mr. Abdullah told the Institute of Strategic Studies in Islamabad that the two neighbours are on the threshold of a new relationship characterised by “mutual respect, sincere cooperation and shared prosperity”

Demand for credit from priority segments drop.

Despite efforts by the government to boost credit supply by offering many a scheme to MSMEs and other priority sectors, the same has plunged to a low 1.9% in the June quarter from 10.2% a year ago, according to a report.

 To help small business tide over the impact of the pandemic, the government has offered credit-driven boost to the economy.

Citing the Reserve Bank’s quarterly statistics on deposits and credit for the June quarter, Care Ratings on Tuesday said in absolute terms, overall bank deposits stood at ₹141.3 lakh crore in June 2020, up 11.5% from ₹126.7 lakh crore in June 2019.

Outstanding credit stood at ₹103.3 lakh crore, up 6.4% but lower than 11.7% in the same period in June 2019. But on a sequential basis, credit growth has seen a negative 1.1% during the reporting period, which was also a negative 1% in the March 2020 quarter.

Though overall contraction in credit demand has continued in the June quarter at minus 1.1% from minus 1% in June 2019, in absolute terms, incremental credit declined by a higher ₹1.2 lakh crore in June 2020 from ₹1 lakh crore in June 2019.

This is owing to decline in overall sectoral growth — agriculture and allied credit declined by 0.4% incrementally, industrial credit by 1%, services sector declined by 2.6% and personal loan segment declined by 2.5% growth, the report said.

 NTPC invites bid for procurement of biomass pellets.

India's largest power producer, NTPC Limited has invited bids for procurement of biomass pellets for its various thermal plants as part of its endeavour to reduce burning of crop residue on farmlands that cause air pollution.

The power producer has envisaged consumption of five million tonnes of pellets in the current year at its 17 power plants including NTPC Korba, (Chhattisgarh), NTPC Farakka, (West Bengal), NTPC Dadri (Uttar Pradesh), NTPC Kudgi (Karnataka) and NTPC Rihand (Uttar Pradesh).

In a statement, NTPC Limited said, it had first undertaken this unique initiative on pilot basis in 2017 for biomass co-firing by replacing some of the coal with pellet based fuel at NTPC Dadri, Uttar Pradesh.

Post successful implementation, NTPC now plans to replicate the model in 17 of its state of the art plants.

The Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation releases “Health in India” report.

The Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation has released the “Health in India” report. The main objective of the report was to gather quantitative data on India’s health sector. The report have highlighted on the health of religious communities across country.

▶The report has been prepared on the basis of information provided by the NSS Schedule 25.0 (Household Consumption: Health). The data was collected through a sample survey of around 1.13 households that include 5.55 lakh people.

▶Report states that, women were more susceptible to suffering than men. Around 6.1% of males were suffering from ailments in rural area while percentage of women in rural area was 7.6%. On the other hand,In urban areas, 8.2% of males and 10% of females were sick of ailments.

▶The relation between health and religion is highly important in the manner that many religious practices helps to reduce the impacts of some of the diseases. The religious practices works as a guard against blood pressure. These practices also helps to strengthen the immune system.

How Remunerative is Farming in India.

The government’s push to reform India’s agriculture sector has divided opinions and Triggered a debate about the state of Indian Agriculture.In the context of this debate, two long-standing characteristics of Indian agriculture are Noteworthy:

Indian Agriculture is Highly Unremunerative:

• It has been heavily Regulated by the Government and Protected from the free play of Market Forces

 Why are the New Legislation Introduced?

• According to the government, the new Bills passed by Parliament attempt to make it easier for farmers to sell to and produce for the private sector.

• The hope is that liberalizing the sector and allowing greater play for market forces will make Indian agriculture more efficient and more remunerative for the farmers.

• In this context, it is important to understand some of the basics of Indian agriculture.

Basics of Indian Agriculture:

1. Workforce Engaged:

✓ At the time of Independence, about 70% of India’s workforce (a little less than 100 million) was employed in the agriculture sector.

✓ Even at that time, agriculture and allied activities accounted for around 54% of India’s national income.

✓ Over the years, agriculture’s contribution to national output declined sharply. As of 2019-20, it was less than 17% (in gross value added terms).

✓ And yet, the proportion of Indians engaged in agriculture has fallen from 70% to just 55% (Chart1).

✓ As the Committee on Doubling Farmers’ Income (2017) observes, “the dependence of the rural workforce on agriculture for employment has not declined in proportion to the falling contribution of agriculture to GDP”.

2. Land Holdings:

✓ While the number of people dependent on agriculture has been burgeoning over the years, the average size of landholdings has become reduced sharply — even to the extent of being unviable for efficient production.

 ✓ Data shows that 86% of all landholdings in India are small (between 1 and 2 hectares) and marginal (less than 1 hectare — roughly half a football field).

✓ The average size among marginal holdings is just 0.37 ha which hardly provides Enough Income to stay above the Poverty line.

3. Debts:

✓ The combined result of several such inefficiencies is that most Indian farmers are Heavily Indebted (Chart 2).

✓ The data shows that 40% of the 24 lakh households that operate on landholdings smaller than 0.01 ha are indebted. The average amount is Rs 31,000.

✓ A good reason why such a high proportion of farmers is so indebted is that Indian agriculture — for the most part — is unremunerative.

✓ Chart 3 provides the monthly income estimates for an agriculture household in four very different states as well as the all-India number.

✓ Some of the most populous states like Bihar, West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh have very low levels of income and Very high Proportions of Indebtedness.

4. Buying & selling:

✓ Another way of understanding the plight of the farmers relative to the rest of the economy is to look at the Terms of Trade between farmers and non-farmers.

✓ Terms of Trade is the ratio between the prices paid by the farmers for their inputs and the prices received by the farmers for their output.

✓ As such, 100 is the benchmark. If the ToT is less than 100, it means farmers are worse off. As Chart 4 shows, ToT rapidly improved between 2004-05 and 2010-11 to breach the 100-mark but since then it has worsened for Farmers.

5. MSP:

✓ A key variable in the debate is the role of minimum support prices. Many protesters fear governments will roll back the system of MSPs.

✓ MSPs provide “guaranteed prices” and an “assured market” to farmers, and save them from price fluctuations. This is crucial because most farmers are not adequately informed.

✓ But although MSPs are announced for around 23 crops, actual procurement happens for very few crops such as wheat and rice.

✓ Moreover, the percentage of procurement varies sharply across states (Chart 5). As a result, actual Market prices — what the farmers get — are often Below MSPs.