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  • Pakistan to remain on FATF ‘Greylist’

    The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has decided to retain Pakistan on the “greylist” till the next review of its performance.

    Practice question for mains:

    Q.What is FATF? Discuss its role in combating global financial crimes and terror financing.

    What is the FATF?

    • FATF is an intergovernmental organization founded in 1989 on the initiative of the G7 to develop policies to combat money laundering.
    • The FATF Secretariat is housed at the OECD headquarters in Paris.
    • It holds three Plenary meetings in the course of each of its 12-month rotating presidencies.
    • As of 2019, FATF consisted of 37 member jurisdictions.
    • India became an Observer at FATF in 2006. Since then, it had been working towards full-fledged membership. On June 25, 2010, India was taken in as the 34th country member of FATF.

    What is the role of FATF?

    • The rise of the global economy and international trade has given rise to financial crimes such as money laundering.
    • The FATF makes recommendations for combating financial crime, reviews members’ policies and procedures, and seeks to increase acceptance of anti-money laundering regulations across the globe.
    • Because money launderers and others alter their techniques to avoid apprehension, the FATF updates its recommendations every few years.

    What is the Black List and the Grey List?

    • Black List: The blacklist, now called the “Call for action” was the common shorthand description for the FATF list of “Non-Cooperative Countries or Territories” (NCCTs).
    • Grey List: Countries that are considered safe haven for supporting terror funding and money laundering are put in the FATF grey list. This inclusion serves as a warning to the country that it may enter the blacklist.

    Consequences of being in the FATF grey list:

    • Economic sanctions from IMF, World Bank, ADB
    • Problem in getting loans from IMF, World Bank, ADB and other countries
    • Reduction in international trade
    • International boycott

    Pakistan and FATF

    • Pakistan, which continues to remain on the “grey list” of FATF, had earlier been given the deadline till the June to ensure compliance with the 27-point action plan against terror funding networks.
    • It has been under the FATF’s scanner since June 2018, when it was put on the Grey List for terror financing and money laundering risks.
    • FATF and its partners such as the Asia Pacific Group (APG) are reviewing Pakistan’s processes, systems, and weaknesses on the basis of a standard matrix for anti-money laundering (AML) and combating the financing of terrorism (CFT) regime.

  • Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code, 2021

    For the first time, the union government, under the ambit of the IT (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules 2021, has brought in detailed guidelines for digital content on both digital media and Over The Top (OTT) platforms.

    Try answering this

    Q.What is Over the Top (OTT) media services? Critically analyse the benefits and challenges offered by the OTT media services in India.

    Guidelines Related to Social Media

    • Due Diligence To Be Followed By Intermediaries: The Rules prescribe due diligence that must be followed by intermediaries, including social media intermediaries. In case, due diligence is not followed by the intermediary, safe harbour provisions will not apply to them.
    • Grievance Redressal Mechanism: The Rules seek to empower the users by mandating the intermediaries, including social media intermediaries, to establish a grievance redressal mechanism for receiving resolving complaints from the users or victims.
    • Ensuring Online Safety and Dignity of Users, Especially Women Users: Intermediaries shall remove or disable access within 24 hours of receipt of complaints of contents that erodes individual privacy and dignity.

    Additional Due Diligence to Be Followed by Significant Social Media Intermediary:

    • Appoint a Chief Compliance Officer who shall be responsible for ensuring compliance with the Act and Rules. Such a person should be a resident of India.
    • Appoint a Nodal Contact Person for 24×7 coordination with law enforcement agencies. Such a person shall be a resident in India.
    • Appoint a Resident Grievance Officer who shall perform the functions mentioned under the Grievance Redressal Mechanism. Such a person shall be a resident in India.
    • Publish a monthly compliance report mentioning the details of complaints received and action taken on the complaints.
    • Significant social media intermediaries providing services primarily in the nature of messaging shall enable identification of the first originator of the information.

    Digital Media Ethics Code Relating to Digital Media and OTT Platforms

    This Code of Ethics prescribes the guidelines to be followed by OTT platforms and online news and digital media entities.

    (a) Self-Classification of Content

    • The OTT platforms, called the publishers of online curated content in the rules, would self-classify the content into five age-based categories– U (Universal), U/A 7+, U/A 13+, U/A 16+, and A (Adult).
    • Platforms would be required to implement parental locks for content classified as U/A 13+ or higher and reliable age verification mechanisms for content classified as “A”.
    • The publisher of online curated content shall prominently display the classification rating specific to each content or programme together with a content descriptor.

    (b) Norms for news

    • Publishers of news on digital media would be required to observe Norms of Journalistic Conduct of the Press Council of India and the Programme Code under the Cable Television Networks Regulation Act.

    (c) Self-regulation by the Publisher

    • Publisher shall appoint a Grievance Redressal Officer based in India who shall be responsible for the redressal of grievances received by it.
    • The officer shall take a decision on every grievance received it within 15 days.

    (d) Self-Regulatory Body

    • There may be one or more self-regulatory bodies of publishers. Such a body shall be headed by a retired judge of the Supreme Court, a High Court or independent eminent person and have not more than six members.
    • Such a body will have to register with the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.
    • This body will oversee the adherence by the publisher to the Code of Ethics and address grievances that have not to be been resolved by the publisher within 15 days.

    (e) Oversight Mechanism

    • Ministry of Information and Broadcasting shall formulate an oversight mechanism.
    • It shall publish a charter for self-regulating bodies, including Codes of Practices.
    • It shall establish an Inter-Departmental Committee for hearing grievances.

    Back2Basics: Social Media usage in India

    • The Digital India programme has now become a movement that is empowering common Indians with the power of technology.
    • The extensive spread of mobile phones, the Internet etc. has also enabled many social media platforms to expand their footprints in India.
    • Some portals, which publish analysis about social media platforms and which have not been disputed, have reported the following numbers as the user base of major social media platforms in India:
    1. WhatsApp users: 53 Crore
    2. YouTube users: 44.8 Crore
    3. Facebook users: 41 Crore
    4. Instagram users: 21 Crore
    5. Twitter users: 1.75 Crore
    • These social platforms have enabled common Indians to show their creativity, ask questions, be informed and freely share their views, including constructive criticism of the government and its functionaries.
    • The govt acknowledges and respects the right of every Indian to criticize and disagree as an essential element of democracy.

  • [pib] City Innovation Exchange (CiX)

    The City Innovation Exchange (CiX) platform was launched by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs.

    City Innovation Exchange (CiX)

    • The CiX will connect cities to innovators across the national ecosystem to design innovative solutions for their pressing challenges.
    • The platform will ease the discovery, design & validation of solutions through a robust, transparent and user-centric process that will reduce barriers for innovators and cities to discover fitting solutions.
    • Built on the concept of ‘open innovation’, the platform will help in the flow of ideas ‘outside in and inside out, enhancing the skills and capacity required to deliver smart urban governance.
    • Through interaction with Academia and Businesses/Startups, the platform will benefit cities in the transfer of ideas from ‘labs’ to the real environment.
    • Similarly, by helping urban governments interact with citizens, the platform will ensure the adoption of tested solutions that will be impactful and sustainable.

    Benefits of CiX

    • The CiX platform will be a significant addition to the growing innovation ecosystem of India and focuses on fostering innovative practices in cities.
    • CiX, through an ‘open innovation’ process, engages with innovators to design-test-deliver on solutions to pressing urban challenges.
    • This initiative is among the ongoing efforts to realize PM’s vision of New and AtmaNirbhar Bharat, by making cities more self-reliant and enabled to meet the needs of and provide services to their citizens.
    • The platform in due time will help our cities in adopting solutions that will enhance the quality of life for their residents and significantly improve the Ease of Doing Business.

    Try this PYQ:

    Q.The Constitution (Seventy-Third Amendment) Act, 1992, which aims at promoting the Panchayati Raj Institutions in the country, provides for which of the following?

    1. Constitution of District Planning Committees.
    2. State Election Commissions to conduct all panchayat elections.
    3. Establishment of State Finance Commissions.

    Select the correct answer using the codes given below:

    (a) Only 1

    (b) 1 and 2 only

    (c) 2 and 3 only

    (d) 1, 2 and 3

  • Federalism and India’s human capital

    The article argues for recognising the correlation between human capital and decentralisation in India.

    Low human capital indicators

    • In the World Bank’s Human Capital Index, the country ranked 116th.
    • The National Family Health Survey-5 for 2019-20 shows that malnutrition indicators stagnated or declined in most States.
    • The National Achievement Survey 2017 and the Annual Status of Education Report 2018 show poor learning outcomes.
    • In addition, there is little convergence across States.
    • India spends just 4% of its GDP as public expenditure on human capital:1% and 3% on health and education respectively— one of the lowest among its peers.

    Initiatives to address these issues

    • Investing in human capital through interventions in nutrition, health, and education is critical for sustainable growth.
    • The National Health Policy of 2017 highlighted the need for interventions to address malnutrition.
    • On the basis of NITI Aayog’s National Nutrition Strategy, the Poshan Abhiyaan was launched, as part of the Umbrella Integrated Child Development Scheme.
    • The latest Union Budget has announced a ‘Mission Poshan 2.0’ and the Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan has been the Centre’s flagship education scheme since 2018.

    Relation between decentralisation and human capital

    • International experience suggests that one reason why these interventions are not leading to better outcomes may be India’s record with decentralisation.
    • Globally, there has been a gradual shift in the distribution of expenditures and revenue towards sub-national governments.
    • These trends are backed by studies demonstrating a positive correlation between decentralisation and human capital.

    Issues with decentralisation in India

    1) Letting states decide the way of empowerment

    • The 73rd and 74th Amendments bolstered decentralisation by constitutionally recognising panchayats and municipalities as the third tier.
    • The Amendment also added the Eleventh and Twelfth schedules containing the functions of panchayats and municipalities.
    • These include education, health and sanitation, and social welfare for panchayats, and public health and socio-economic development planning for municipalities.
    • However, the Constitution lets States determine how they are empowered.
    • In effect, three tiers of government are envisaged in the Constitution it divides powers between the first two tiers — the Centre and the States
    • This has resulted in vast disparities in the roles played by third-tier governments.

    2) Centralised nature of fiscal architecture

    • While the Constitution assigns the bulk of expenditure responsibilities to States, the Centre has major revenue sources.
    • To address this vertical imbalance, the Constitution provides for fiscal transfers through tax devolution and grants-in-aid.
    • In addition, the Centre can make ‘grants for any public purpose’ under Article 282 of the Constitution.
    • While fiscal transfers that are part of tax devolution are unconditional, transfers under grants-in-aid or Centrally Sponsored Schemes (CSSs) can be conditional.
    • Therefore, the increase in the States’ share of tax devolution represents more meaningful decentralisation.
    • Despite some shifts towards greater State autonomy in many spheres, the centralised nature of India’s fiscal architecture has persisted. 
    • Centrally Sponsored Schemes (CSS) have formed a sizeable chunk of intergovernmental fiscal transfers over the years, comprising almost 23% of transfers to States in 2021-22.
    • But its outsized role strays from the intentions of the Constitution.
    • There are issues in the design of CSSs as well, with the conditions being overly prescriptive and, typically, input-based.
    • Against this, international experience reveals that schemes with output-based conditions are more effective.
    • Moreover, CSSs typically have a cost-sharing model, thereby pre-empting the States’ fiscal space.

    3) Lack of fiscal empowerment

    • Third-tier governments are not fiscally empowered.
    • The collection of property tax, a major source of revenue for third-tier governments, is under 0.2% of GDP in India, compared to 3% of GDP in some other nations.
    • The Constitution envisages State Finance Commissions (SFCs) to make recommendations for matters such as tax devolution and grants-in-aid to the third tier.
    • However, many States have not constituted or completed these commissions on time.

    Solution

    • The Centre should play an enabling role, for instance, encouraging knowledge-sharing between States.
    • For States to play a bigger role in human capital interventions, they need adequate fiscal resources.
    • To this end, States should rationalise their priorities to focus on human capital development.
    • The Centre should refrain from offsetting tax devolution by altering cost-sharing ratios of CSSs and increasing cesses.
    • Concomitantly, the heavy reliance on CSSs should be reduced, and tax devolution and grants-in-aid should be the primary sources of vertical fiscal transfers.
    • Panchayats and municipalities need to be vested with the functions listed in the Eleventh and Twelfth Schedules.

    Consider the question “There is a positive correlation between decentralisation and human capital. This in part explains India’s low human capital indicators. In light of this, examine the issues with the decentralisation in India and suggest the measures to deal with it.”

    Conclusion

    Leveraging the true potential of our multi-level federal system represents the best way forward towards developing human capital.

     

     

  • [pib] Sun’s Rotation over the Century

    Scientists at Kodaikanal Solar Observatory have estimated how the Sun has rotated over a century from data extracted from old films and photographs that have been digitized.

    Try this PYQ:

    Q.Consider the following phenomena:

    1. Size of the sun at dusk
    2. Colour of the sun at dawn
    3. Moon being visible at dawn
    4. Twinkle of stars in the sky
    5. Polestar being visible in the sky

    Which of the above are optical illusions?

    (a) 1, 2 and 3

    (b) 3, 4 and 5

    (c) 1, 2 and 4

    (d) 2, 3 and 5

    Sun’s Rotation

    • The Sun rotates around an axis that is roughly perpendicular to the plane of the ecliptic; the Sun’s rotational axis is tilted by 7.25° from perpendicular to the ecliptic.
    • It rotates in the counterclockwise direction (when viewed from the north), the same direction that the planets rotate (and orbit around the Sun).
    • The Sun’s rotation period varies with latitude on the Sun since it is made of gas.
    • Equatorial regions rotate faster than Polar Regions.
    • The equatorial regions (latitude = 0 degrees) rotate in about 25.6 days. The regions at 60 degrees latitude rotate in about 30.9 days. Polar Regions rotate in about 36 days.

    Key observations of the study

    • The Sun rotates more quickly at its equator than at its poles.
    • Over time, the Sun’s differential rotation rates cause its magnetic field to become twisted and tangled.
    • The tangles in the magnetic field lines can produce strong localized magnetic fields.
    • When the Sun’s magnetic field gets twisted, there are lots of sunspots.
    • The sunspots which form at the surface with an 11-year periodicity are the only route to probe the solar dynamo or solar magnetism inside the Sun and hence measure the variation in solar rotation.

    Benefits offered

    • This estimation would help study the magnetic field generated in the interior of the Sun, which causes sunspots and results in extreme situations like the historical mini-ice age on Earth (absence of sunspots).
    • It could also help predict solar cycles and their variations in the future.

  • A changing fiscal framework

    The article examines the changes in government’s fiscal policy stance which supports the debt-financing and apparent contradiction displayed by increased excise duty.

    Increase in excise duty

    • Well before India began to globalise there was a time when each Union Budget announced sales tax increases on tobacco products.
    • The rise in tax was expected to be a shot in the arm for the revenue-starved government of our poor country.
    • India is less poor now, having risen to the rank of an emerging market economy.
    • Yet, COVID-19 has wreaked havoc.
    • As opposed to a Budget estimate of 3.5% for fiscal deficit, the revised estimates show a 2.7 times larger deficit of 9.5% for FY 2020-21. 
    • A comparison of the government’s revised Budget estimates with the original Budget estimates reveals a fall in receipts from every source of taxation except excise.
    • The revised Budget shows a rise of ₹94,000 crore on account of excise duties alone.
    • Presumably, the increase comes from the much-debated excise duty increases on petroleum and diesel.
    • The excise duty rise will hardly compensate for the huge falls in other tax revenues.
    • The larger excise duty collection is not large enough to have significantly reduced the inflated fiscal deficit figure.

    Implications of hike in excise duty

    • Given the nature of the products on which the excise duty has gone up, prices of commodities will rise in general.
    • With annual output shrinking by an estimated 7.7%, it is straightforward to conclude that unemployment has risen significantly.
    • The accompanying price rise will be the unemployed persons’ worst nightmare.
    • The result will be severe inequality.

    Change in economic policy framework

    • The Economic Survey 2020-21 considers Olivier Blanchard’s prescription that a fiscal deficit automatically transformed to government debt.
    • Such debts along with their servicing liabilities have a tendency to magnify over the years where present borrowings keep increasing to repay past borrowings and service charges.
    • This leaves little room for growth-enhancing expenditure and reduces a government’s creditworthiness in the eyes of lenders.
    • Debt-financed fiscal spending could well be a driver of growth.
    • It can improve the standard of living of the entire population, without necessarily removing inequality.
    • A government’s fiscal expenditure, Professor Blanchard points out, has stronger multiplier effects during recessions than during booms
    • The inequality, however, could well be benignant, for even though the rich will grow richer, the poor will escape out of poverty.

    Condition for debt-financed fiscal spending

    • Debt or the fiscal deficit constitutes the government’s spendable resources.
    • What will prevent the government from sinking into a debt trap?
    • Professor Blanchard shows that the debt-to-GDP ratio can be prevented from exploding if the rate of growth of GDP happens to be higher than the sovereign rate of interest.
    • This is the case in developed economies.
    • In such economies, debt financed government expenditure will create a positive primary surplus out of which interest payments can be made to keep the debt-GDP ratio under control.
    • There will, of course, be a maximum value that this ratio can attain, a value that is higher the larger is the excess of the growth rate over the interest rate.

    Contradiction in fiscal policy and fiscal regime

    • According to the Economic Survey, India’s average interest rate and growth rate over the last 25 years (leaving out FY 2020-21) have been 8.8% and 12.8% respectively.
    • Hence, Professor Blanchard’s condition is satisfied.
    • This, of course, is not to support excise duty increases, for it goes against the very principle of the Blanchard argument.
    • Therefore, there appears to be a contradiction between the government’s announced fiscal policy stance and the fiscal regime it is actually running.

    Consider the question”The Economic Survey 2020-2021 calls for the debt-financed fiscal spending. Do you think that this view is suitable for India economy? What are the risks involved?”

    Conclusion

    The government must consider the implications of increased excise on the economy and should focus on removing the contradiction in its fiscal policy and fiscal regime.

  • NITI Aayog’s Draft National Policy on Migrant Workers

    Spurred by the exodus of 10 million migrants from big cities during the Covid-19 lockdown, the NITI Aayog has prepared a draft national migrant labour policy.

    Highlights of the Policy

    • The draft describes two approaches to policy design:
    1. To focus on cash transfers, special quotas, and reservations
    2. To enhance the agency and capability of the community and thereby remove aspects that come in the way of an individual’s own natural ability to thrive

    A rights-based approach

    • The policy rejects a handout approach, opting instead for a rights-based framework.
    • It seeks to remove restrictions on the true agency and potential of the migrant workers.
    • The goal a/c to the document should not be to provide temporary or permanent economic or social aids”, which is “a rather limited approach”.
    • Migration, the draft says, should be acknowledged as an integral part of the development and government policies should not hinder but…seek to facilitate internal migration.

    Issues with existing law

    • The 2017 report argued that specific protection legislation for migrant workers was unnecessary.
    • Migrant workers aren’t yet integrated with all workers as part of an overarching framework that covers regular and contractual work.
    • The report discussed the limitations of The Inter-State Migrant Workers Act, 1979, which was designed to protect labourers from exploitation by contractors by safeguarding their right to non-discriminatory wages.
    • It mentions that the Ministry of Labour and Employment should amend the 1979 Act for “effective utilization to protect migrants”.

    Restructuring the institutions

    The NITI draft lays down institutional mechanisms to coordinate between Ministries, states, and local departments to implement programmes for migrants.

    • Nodal agency: It identifies the Ministry of Labour and Employment as the nodal Ministry for implementation of policies, and asks it to create a special unit to help to converge the activities of other Ministries.
    • Resources centre: This unit would manage migration resource centres in high migration zones, a national labour Helpline, links of worker households to government schemes, and inter-state migration management bodies.
    • Migration corridors: On the inter-state migration management bodies, it says that labour departments of source and destination states along major migration corridors, should work together through the migrant worker cells.
    • Labour officers from source states can be deputed to destinations – e.g., Bihar’s experiment to have a joint labour commissioner at Bihar Bhavan in New Delhi.
    • Role for Panchayats: Alongside the long-term goal, policies should promote the role of panchayats to aid migrant workers and integrate urban and rural policies to improve the conditions of migration.
    • Migration management: Panchayats should maintain a database of migrant workers, issue identity cards and passbooks, and provide “migration management and governance” through training, placement, and social-security benefit assurance, the draft says.

    Ways to stem migration

    • Even as it underlines the key role of migration in development, the draft recommends steps to stem migration.
    • The draft asks source states to raise minimum wages to bring a major shift in the local livelihood of tribal that may result in stemming migration to some extent.
    • The absence of community building organisations (CBO) and administrative staff in the source states have hindered access to development programmes, pushing tribals towards migration, the draft says.
    • The “long term plan” for CBOs and panchayats should be to “alleviate distress migration policy initiatives” by aiming “for a more pro-poor development strategy in the sending areas.

    The importance of data

    • The draft calls for a central database to help employers “fill the gap between demand and supply” and ensures “maximum benefit of social welfare schemes”.
    • It asks the Ministries and the Census office to be consistent with the definitions of migrants and subpopulations, capture seasonal and circular migrants, and incorporate migrant-specific variables in existing surveys.
    • Both documents see limited merit in Census data that comes only once a decade.
    • It asked the National Sample Survey Office to include questions related to migration in the periodic labour force survey and to carry out a separate survey on migration.

    Preventing exploitation

    • The policy draft describes a lack of administrative capacity to handle issues of exploitation.
    • State labour departments have little engagement with migration issues, and are in “halting human trafficking mode”, the draft says.
    • The local administration, given the usual constraints of manpower, is not in a position to monitor.
    • This has become the breeding ground for middlemen to thrive on the situation and entrap migrants which leads to potential exploitation and trafficking.

    Specific recommendations

    • The draft asks the various ministries to use Tribal Affairs migration data to help create migration resource centres in high migration zones.
    • It asks the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship to focus on skill-building at these centres.
    • The Ministry of Education should take measures under the Right to Education Act to mainstream migrant children’s education, to map migrant children, and to provide local-language teachers in migrant destinations.
    • The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs should address issues of night shelters, short-stay homes, and seasonal accommodation for migrants in cities.
    • The National Legal Services Authority (NALSA) and Ministry of Labour should set up grievance handling cells and fast track legal responses for trafficking, minimum wage violations, and workplace abuses etc.

  • Pagri Sambhaal Movement of 1907

    As a part of the ongoing farmers’ protest, groups across the country have celebrated February 23 as ‘Pagri Sambhal Diwas’.

    Try this PYQ:

    Q.What was the immediate cause for the launch of the Swadeshi movement?

    (a) The partition of Bengal done by Lord Curzon.

    (b) A sentence of 18 months rigorous imprisonment imposed on Lokmanya Tilak.

    (c) The arrest and deportation of Lala Lajpat Rai and Ajit Singh; and passing of the Punjab Colonization Bill.

    (d) Death sentence pronounced on the Chapekar brothers.

    Pagri Sambhaal Movement

    • Pagrhi Sambhaal Jatta was a successful farm agitation that forced the British government to repeal three laws related to agriculture back in 1907.
    • Bhagat Singh’s uncle Ajit Singh was the force behind this agitation, and he wanted to channel people’s anger over the farm laws to topple the colonial government.

    What were the ‘three laws’?

    • The three farm-related acts at the centre of the storm in 1907 were the Punjab Land Alienation Act 1900, the Punjab Land Colonization Act 1906 and the Doab Bari Act.
    • These acts would reduce farmers from owners to contractors of land, and gave the British government the right to take back the allotted land if the farmer even touched a tree in his field without permission.
    • Amid resentment against the laws, Bhagat Singh’s father Kishan Singh and uncle Ajit Singh, with their revolutionary friend Ghasita Ram, formed the Bharat Mata Society.
    • It worked to mobilise this unrest into a revolt against the British government.

    Repeal of the laws

    • Ajit Singh persuaded Congress leader Lala Lajpat Rai to come on the stage during a rally in Lyallpur on March 3, 1907, to protest against the laws.
    • On sensing the popular resentment, the British made a minor amendment to the laws.
    • The agitation couldn’t remain non-violent. Ajit Singh was booked for sedition after his speech at a public meeting in Rawalpindi on April 21, 1921.
    • Violence erupted soon afterwards and the British government repealed the three controversial laws in May 1907.

  • Intensified Mission Indradhanush (IMI) 3.0

    States and UTs have started the implementation of the Intensified Mission Indradhanush 3.0, a campaign aimed to reach those children and pregnant women who have been missed out or been left out of the routine immunisation.

    Do not get confused with the Mission Indradhanush for Public Sector Banks launched in 2015. It aims at revamping the functioning of the Public Sector Banks to enable them to compete with the Private Sector Banks.

    Intensified Mission Indradhanush (IMI) 3.0

    • IMI 3.0 is aimed to accelerate the full immunization of children and pregnant women through a mission mode intervention.
    • The campaign is scheduled to have two rounds of immunisation lasting 15 days (excluding routine immunisation and holidays).
    • It is being conducted in pre-identified 250 districts/urban areas across 29 States/UTs in the country.
    • Beneficiaries from migration areas and hard to reach areas will be targeted as they may have missed their vaccine doses during the pandemic.

    About the Mission Indradhanush

    • Mission Indradhanush seeks to drive towards 90% full immunisation coverage of India and sustain the same by the year 2020. It was launched in December 2014.

    Aims and objectives

    • It aims to immunize all children under the age of 2 years, as well as all pregnant women, against eight vaccine-preventable diseases.
    • The diseases being targeted are diphtheria, whooping cough, tetanus, poliomyelitis, tuberculosis, measles, meningitis and Hepatitis B.
    • In 2016, four new additions have been made namely Rubella, Japanese Encephalitis, Injectable Polio Vaccine Bivalent and Rotavirus.
    • In 2017, Pneumonia was added to the Mission by incorporating the Pneumococcal conjugate vaccine under Universal Immunisation Programme

    Try this question from CSP 2016:

    Q.‘Mission Indradhanush’ launched by the Government of India pertains to:

    (a) Immunization of children and pregnant women

    (b) Construction of smart cities across the country

    (c) India’s own search for the Earth-like planets in outer space

    (d) New Educational Policy

  • Places in news: Lake Chad

    One of Africa’s largest freshwater bodies, Lake Chad, has shrunk by 90 per cent.

    Try this PYQ from CSP 2018:

    Q.Which of the following has/have shrunk immensely/dried up in the recent past due to human activities?

    1. Aral Sea
    2. Black Sea
    3. Lake Baikal

    Select the correct answer using the code given below:

    (a) 1 only

    (b) 2 and 3

    (c) 2 only

    (d) 1 and 3

    Lake Chad

    • Lake Chad in the Sahel spans the countries of Nigeria, Niger, Chad and Cameroon and is home to 17.4 million people.
    • It is blessed with rich aquatic and terrestrial biodiversity.
    • The Chari River, fed by its tributary the Logone, provides over 90% of the lake’s water, with a small amount coming from the Yobe River in Nigeria/Niger.
    • Despite high levels of evaporation, the lake is freshwater.
    • The Lake Chad basin comprises biosphere reserves, World Heritage and Ramsar sites as well as wetlands of international conservation importance.

    Why it is significant?

    • For years, the lake has been supporting drinking water, irrigation, fishing, livestock and economic activity for over 30 million people in the region.
    • It is vital for indigenous, pastoral and farming communities in one of the world’s poorest countries.
    • However, climate change has fuelled a massive environmental and humanitarian crisis.
    • The United Nations has termed the Lake Chad crisis as “one of the worst in the world”.

    A looming peril

    • The lake has shrunk 90 per cent over the last 60 years since the chronic droughts surged at the beginning of the 1970s.
    • The surface area of the lake was 26,000 square kilometres in 1963; it has now reduced to less than 1,500 square kilometres.
    • Its population is exploding and the region has been ripped apart from conflict at an unprecedented scale.

    Behind all crises

    • The ever-changing climate has dramatically worsened the situation, amplifying food and nutritional insecurity in the region.
    • Temperature is rising one-and-a-half times faster than the global average. The seasonal and inter-rainfall patterns have been drastically changing each year.
    • This has triggered food insecurity, ultimately pushing communities into the arms of terrorist groups.
    • Boko Haram is one of the top insurgent groups with a strong foothold in the region.