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  • Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA)

    The Centre has designated 18 key operatives and leaders of extremists groups as individual terrorists under the recently-amended Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA).

    Try this question for mains:

    Q.“Anti-terror laws should not be used as a tool to silence the critics of the government.” Discuss in context to the recent amendments to the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA).

    About UAPA

    • The UAPA is aimed at effective prevention of unlawful activities associations in India.
    • Its main objective was to make powers available for dealing with activities directed against the integrity and sovereignty of India
    • It is an upgrade on the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act TADA, which was allowed to lapse in 1995 and the Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA) was repealed in 2004.
    • It was originally passed in 1967 under the then Congress government led by former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.
    • Till 2004, “unlawful” activities referred to actions related to secession and cession of territory. Following the 2004 amendment, “terrorist act” was added to the list of offences.

    Recent amendments

    • The Centre had amended UAPA, 1967, in August 2019 to include the provision of designating an individual as a terrorist.
    • Before this amendment, only organisations could be designated as terrorist outfits.

  • Water on the Moon

    The Moon has water at places where none had been detected before and has potentially more water than previously believed in regions where it was already understood to exist.

    Try this MCQ:

    Q.NASA’s VIPER mission sometimes seen in news is related to the study of-

    a)Moon

    b)Venus

    c)Sun

    d)None of these

    Water on the moon

    • In two separate studies in Nature Astronomy, scientists have reported findings with potentially huge implications for sustaining humans on the Moon in the future.
    • One study reports the detection of water on the Moon’s sunlit surface for the first time.
    • The other estimates that the Moon’s dark, shadowy regions, which potentially contain ice, are more widespread than thought.

    Why is the discovery of water important?

    • Apart from being a marker of potential life, water is a precious resource in deep space.
    • For astronauts landing on the Moon, water is necessary not only to sustain life but also for purposes such as generating rocket fuel.
    • NASA’s Artemis programme plans to send the first woman and the next man to the Moon in 2024 and hopes to establish a “sustainable human presence” there by the end of the decade.

    What was known about water on the Moon?

    • Previous Moon studies, including by the ISRO Chandrayaan-1 mission, have provided evidence for the existence of water.
    • In 2009, the Moon Mineralogy Mapper (M3) instrument aboard Chandrayaan-1 found water molecules in the Polar Regions.

    What is different in the new discovery?

    • This time, it is confirmed H20 molecules, discovered in Clavius Crater in the Moon’s southern hemisphere.
    • And it is the first time water has been detected on the sunlit side, showing it is not restricted to the shadowy regions.
    • SOFIA, which is a modified Boeing 747SP jetliner that flies at altitudes up to 45,000 feet, has an infrared camera that picked up the wavelength unique to water molecules.
    • The data showed water in concentrations of 100-412 parts per million trapped in 1 cubic metre of soil.

    How could the water have formed?

    • Space rocks carrying small amounts of water could have bombarded the Moon.
    • Alternatively, the Sun’s solar wind could have carried hydrogen, which then reacted with minerals in the lunar soil to create hydroxyl, which later transformed into water.
    • The sunlit surface retaining the water presents a puzzle since the Moon does not have a thick atmosphere.
    • One possibility is that the water gets trapped into tiny bead-like structures that were created in the soil by impacts from space rocks.
    • Alternatively, the water could be hidden between grains of lunar soil and sheltered from the sunlight, NASA said.

    So, how widespread is water on the Moon?

    • On the sunlit side, it is not yet known whether the water SOFIA found is easily accessible.
    • On the other hand, the hidden, shadowy pockets on the lunar surface called “cold traps” are spread across a combined 40,000 sq km, the other study has reported.
    • The cold traps have gone without sunlight for potentially billions of years. If they do contain ice, it means water is going to be more accessible than previously assumed.

    What next?

    • SOFIA will look for water in additional sunlit locations to learn more about how the water is produced, stored, and moved across the Moon.
    • Meanwhile, NASA’s Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover (VIPER) will carry out a mission to create the first water resource maps of the Moon.

  • Natural gas to come under GST

    Officials have indicated that the government is considering bringing natural gas under the ambit of the GST regime.

    Try this question from CSP 2018:

    Q.Consider the following items:

    1. Cereal grains hulled
    2. Chicken eggs cooked
    3. Fish processed and canned
    4. Newspapers containing advertising material

    Which of the above items is/are exempt under GST (Goods and Services Tax)?

    (a) 1 only

    (b) 2 and 3 only

    (c) 1, 2 and 4 only

    (d) 1, 2, 3 and 4

    Why such demands?

    • Global energy MNCs have called on the government to bring natural gas under the GST regime.
    • Currently petrol, diesel, aviation turbine fuel, natural gas and crude oil fall outside India’s Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime.

    Why is it important to bring natural gas under the GST regime?

    • Bringing natural gas under the GST would lead to a reduction in the cascading impact of taxes on industries such as power and steel, which used natural gas as an input.
    • This would do away with the central excise duty and different value-added taxes imposed by states.
    • This would lead to an increase in the adoption of natural gas in line with the government’s stated goal to increase the share of natural gas in the country’s energy basket from 6.3% to 15%.

    Back2Basics: GST

    • GST launched in India on 1 July 2017 is a comprehensive indirect tax for the entire country.
    • It is charged at the time of supply and depends on the destination of consumption.
    • For instance, if a good is manufactured in state A but consumed in state B, then the revenue generated through GST collection is credited to the state of consumption (state B) and not to the state of production (state A).

    Must read:

    Goods and Services Tax

  • Room Temperature Superconductivity

    A study has shown that a new material superconducts at 15 degrees Celsius but at extremely high pressure.

    In India, we often get to hear about the transmission losses in DISCOMS. Such losses can be zeroed with the application of superconducting cables (which is practically impossible unless we find a normal working one). The phenomena, superconductivity, however, is not new to us, UPSC may end up asking some tricky statements in the prelims regarding it.

    What is Superconductivity?

    • A superconductor is a material, such as a pure metal like aluminium or lead, that when cooled to ultra-low temperatures allows electricity to move through it with absolutely zero resistance.
    • Kamerlingh Onnes was the first scientist who figured out exactly how superconductor works in 1911.
    • Simply put, superconductivity occurs when two electrons bind together at low temperatures.
    • They form the building block of superconductors, the Cooper pair.
    • This holds true even for a potential superconductor like lead when it is above a certain temperature.

    What is the new material?

    • A new material composed of carbon, hydrogen and sulphur superconducts at 15 degrees Celsius.
    • However, it needs ultrahigh pressure of about 2 million atmospheres to achieve this transition, putting off any thoughts of application to the future.
    • The pressure they needed was 267 Gigapascals (GPa), or 2.6 million atmospheres.
    • The pressure at the centre of the Earth is 360 GPa, so it is 75% of the pressure at the centre of the Earth.

    What are Superconductors?

    • Superconductors are materials that address this problem by allowing energy to flow efficiently through them without generating unwanted heat.
    • They have great potential and many cost-effective applications.
    • They operate magnetically levitated trains, generate magnetic fields for MRI machines and recently have been used to build quantum computers, though a fully operating one does not yet exist.

    Issues with superconductors

    • They have an essential problem when it comes to other practical applications: They operate at ultra-low temperatures.
    • There are no room-temperature superconductors. That “room-temperature” part is what scientists have been working on for more than a century.
    • The amount of energy needed to cool a material down to its superconducting state is too expensive for daily applications.

  • Dairy production in the Indus Valley Civilization

    A new study has shown that dairy products were being produced by the Harappans as far back as 2500 BCE.

    Try this PYQ:

    Q.Which one of the following is not a Harappan site?

    (a) Chanhudaro

    (b) Kot Diji

    (c) Sohgaura

    (d) Desalpur

    Dairy production in IVC

    • By analysing residues on ancient pots, researchers show the earliest direct evidence of dairy product processing, thus throwing fresh light on the rural economy of the civilization.
    • The studies were carried out on 59 shards of pottery from Kotada Bhadli, a small archaeological site in present-day Gujarat.

    How did they find it?

    • The team used molecular analysis techniques to study the residues from ancient pottery.
    • Pots are porous. The pot preserves the molecules of food such as fats and proteins. Using techniques like C16 and C18 analysis we can identify the source of lipids.
    • Traces were seen in cooking vessels indicating that milk may have been boiled and consumed.

    Significant outcome of the study

    • The study has found residues in a bowl showing that either heated milk or curd could have been served.
    • There are also remains of a perforated vessel, and similar vessels were used in Europe to make cheese.
    • The Harappans did not just use dairy for their household.
    • The large herd indicates that milk was produced in surplus so that it could be exchanged and there could have been some kind of trade between settlements.
    • This could have given rise to an industrial level of dairy exploitation.

  • Species in news: Himalayan Brown Bear

    A recent study has predicted massive habitat decline for the Himalayan brown bear (Ursus arctos isabellinus) by 2050 due to climate change.

    Try this PYQ:

    Q. The Himalayan Range is very rich in species diversity. Which one among the following is the most appropriate reason for this phenomenon?

    (a) It has a high rainfall that supports luxuriant vegetative growth.

    (b) It is a confluence of different bio-geographical zones.

    (c) Exotic and invasive species have not been invasive species have not been introduced in this region.

    (d) It has less human interference.

    Himalayan Brown Bear

    • The Himalayan brown bear is one of the largest carnivores in the highlands of Himalayas.
    • It occupies the higher reaches of the Himalayas in remote, mountainous areas of Pakistan and India, in small and isolated populations, and is extremely rare in many of its ranges.
    • While the brown bear as a species is classified as Least Concern by the IUCN, this subspecies is highly endangered and populations are dwindling.
    • It is ‘Endangered’ in the Himalayas and Critically Endangered in the Hindu Kush.

    What did the study say?

    • The study carried out in the western Himalayas by scientists of Zoological Survey of India, predicted a massive decline of about 73% of the bear’s habitat by the year 2050.
    • These losses in habitat will also result in loss of habitat from 13 protected areas (PAs), and eight of them will become completely uninhabitable by the year 2050, followed by loss of connectivity in the majority of PAs.
    • The study highlights for the need to adopt preemptive spatial planning of PAs in the Himalayan region for the long-term viability of the species.

  • Base Year of CPI- Industrial Workers revised to 2016

    The Labour and Employment Ministry has revised the base year of the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for Industrial Workers (CPI-IW) from 2001 to 2016.

    Why such a move?

    • This revision reflects the changing consumption pattern, giving more weightage to spending on health, education, recreation and other miscellaneous expenses while reducing the weight of food and beverages.

    What is the Consumer Price Index (CPI)?

    • The CPI is a measure that examines the weighted average of prices of a basket of consumer goods and services, such as transportation, food, and medical care.
    • It is calculated by taking price changes for each item in the predetermined basket of goods and averaging them. Changes in the CPI are used to assess price changes associated with the cost of living.
    • The CPI is one of the most frequently used statistics for identifying periods of inflation or deflation.
    • Essentially it attempts to quantify the aggregate price level in an economy and thus measure the purchasing power of a country’s unit of currency.

    Types of CPI in India

    • CPI in India comprises multiple series classified based on different economic groups.
    • There are four series, viz the CPI UNME (Urban Non-Manual Employee), CPI AL (Agricultural Labourer), CPI RL (Rural Labourer) and CPI IW (Industrial Worker).
    • While the CPI UNME series is published by the Central Statistical Organisation, the others are published by the Department of Labour.
    • From February 2011 the CPI (UNME) released by CSO is replaced as CPI (urban), CPI (rural) and CPI (combined).

    How it is different from WPI?

    • CPI is different from WPI, or Wholesale Price Index, which measures inflation at the wholesale level.
    • While WPI keeps track of the wholesale price of goods, the CPI measures the average price that households pay for a basket of different goods and services.
    • WPI measures and tracks the changes in the price of goods before they reach consumers; goods that are sold in bulk and traded between entities or businesses (rather than consumers).
    • Even as the WPI is used as a key measure of inflation in some economies, the RBI no longer uses it for policy purposes, including setting repo rates.
    • The central bank currently uses CPI or retail inflation as a key measure of inflation to set the monetary and credit policy.

    Major components of WPI

    • Primary articles are a major component of WPI, further subdivided into Food Articles and Non-Food Articles.
    • Food Articles include items such as Cereals, Paddy, Wheat, Pulses, Vegetables, Fruits, Milk, Eggs, Meat & Fish, etc.
    • Non-Food Articles include Oil Seeds, Minerals and Crude Petroleum
    • The next major basket in WPI is Fuel & Power, which tracks price movements in Petrol, Diesel and LPG
    • The biggest basket is Manufactured Goods. It spans across a variety of manufactured products such as Textiles, Apparels, Paper, Chemicals, Plastic, Cement, Metals, and more.
    • Manufactured Goods basket also includes manufactured food products such as Sugar, Tobacco Products, Vegetable and Animal Oils, and Fats.

    Note: WPI has a sub-index called WPI Food Index, which is a combination of the Food Articles from the Primary Articles basket, and the food products from the Manufactured Products basket.

    Now try this PYQ from 2014 CSP:

    Q.With reference to India, consider the following statements:

    1. The Wholesale Price Index (WPI) in India is available on a monthly basis only
    2. As compared to the Consumer Price Index for Industrial Workers (CPI (IW)), the WPI gives less weight to food articles.

    Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

    (a) 1 only

    (b) 2 only

    (c) Both 1 and 2

    (d) Neither 1 nor 2

    Back2Basics: Base Year

    • A base year is the first of a series of years in an economic or financial index. It is typically set to an arbitrary level of 100.
    • Any year can serve as a base year, but analysts typically choose recent years. They are periodically revised to keep data current in a particular index.
    • A base year is used for comparison in the measure of business activity or economic index.
    • For example, to find the rate of inflation between 2013 and 2018, 2013 is the base year or the first year in the time set.

  • Action Plan for Vulture Conservation 2020-2025

    Uttar Pradesh, Tripura, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu will get a vulture conservation and breeding centre each, according to the Action Plan for Vulture Conservation 2020-2025.

    Action Plan for Vulture Conservation

    • The action plan was approved by the National Board for Wildlife (NBWL) October 5, 2020. An earlier one was formulated in 2006 for three years.
    • The new plan has laid out strategies and actions to stem the decline in vulture population, especially of the three Gyps species:
    1. Oriental white-backed vulture (Gyps bengalensis)
    2. Slender-billed vulture (Gyps tenuirostris)
    3. Long-billed vulture (Gyps indicus)

    Note: These three vulture species were listed by  IUCN, in 2000 as ‘Critically  Endangered’,  which is the highest category of endangerment.

    • This would be done through both ex-situ and in-situ conservation.
    • The plan has also suggested that new veterinary non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDS) be tested on vultures before their commercial release. NSAIDS often poisons cattle whose carcasses the birds pray on.

    Highlights of the new plan

    • A system to automatically remove a drug from veterinary use if it is found to be toxic to vultures, with the help of the Drugs Controller General of India.
    • Conservation breeding of red-Headed vultures and Egyptian vultures and the establishment at least one vulture-safe zone in each state for the conservation of the remnant populations in that state.
    • Coordinated nation-wide vulture counting, involving forest departments, the Bombay Natural History Society, research institutes, non-profits and members of the public.
    • A database on emerging threats to vulture conservation, including collision and electrocution, unintentional poisoning, etc.

    Why protect vultures?

    • Vultures are often overlooked and perceived as lowly scavengers, but they play a crucial role in the environments in which they live.
    • The scavenging lifestyle that gives them a bad reputation is, in fact, that makes them so important for the environment, nature and society.
    • Vultures, also known as nature’s cleanup crew, do the dirty work of cleaning up after death, helping to keep ecosystems healthy as they act as natural carcass recyclers.

  • In news: International Labour Organization

    After 35 years, India has assumed the Chairmanship of the Governing Body of International Labour Organization (ILO).

    Try this PYQ:

    Q.The Partnership for Action on Green Economy (PAGE), a UN mechanism to assist countries transition towards a greener and more inclusive economies, emerged at:

    (a) The Earth Summit on Sustainable Development 2002, Johannesburg

    (b) The United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development 2012, Rio de Janeiro

    (c) The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change 2015, Paris

    (d) The World Sustainable Development Summit 2016, New Delhi

    About the International Labour Organization

    • The ILO is a UN agency whose mandate is to advance social and economic justice through setting international labour standards.
    • Founded in 1919 under the League of Nations, it is the first and oldest specialised agency of the UN.
    • The ILO has 187 member states: 186 out of 193 UN member states plus the Cook Islands.
    • The ILO’s international labour standards are broadly aimed at ensuring accessible, productive, and sustainable work worldwide in conditions of freedom, equity, security and dignity.

    About its Governing Body

    • The Governing body is the apex executive body of the ILO which decides policies, programmes, agenda, budget and elects the Director-General.
    • It meets three times a year, in March, June and November.

    Significance for India

    • India will be presiding over the upcoming meeting of the Governing Body to be held in November 2020.
    • India would have the opportunity to interact with the senior officials and social partners of the member states.
    • It will also provide a platform to apprise participants of the transformational initiatives taken by the Government in removing the rigidities of the labour market.

  • UN Report on Gender Gap in Labour Market

    Gender equality across the world remains a far-fetched goal and no country has achieved it so far, according to the 2020 edition of the United Nations report on the state of gender equality in the world.

    Try this question for mains:

    Q.Discuss how marriage age and women’s health are linked with each other?

    About the Report

    • The report titled “World’s Women: Trends and Statistics” was released by the UN-DESA.
    • The report provided a reality-check on the global status of women 25 years since the world adopted the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action.
    • It presented the global state of gender equality in six critical areas: Population and families; health; education; economic empowerment and asset ownership; power and decision-making; and violence against women and the girl child as well as the impact of COVID-19.

    Highlights on status of women

    • The gender gap in the labour market, for example, has not budged a bit since 1995.
    • While the status of women has improved with regard to education, early marriage, childbearing and maternal mortality, the progress has stagnated in other areas.

    Participation in the labour market

    • The gender gap in the labour market has remained as it was since 1995: The gap of 27 percentage points has barely changed since then, the report showed.
    • Only 47 per cent women of working age participated in the labour market, compared to around 74 per cent men, according to the report.
    • The largest gender gap in labour force participation was observed in the prime working age (25-54).
    • This gap has remained unaddressed since 1995 and was at 32 percentage points as of 2020, according to the report. It was 31 percentage points in 1995.
    • In India, the ratio of female-to-male labour force participation rate was 29.80 in 2019 as against the desired ratio of 50 per cent.

    Working for free

    • The data in the interactive UN report showed how women remained under the burden of unpaid domestic and care work.
    • On an average day, women globally spent about three times (4.2 hours) as many hours on unpaid domestic and care work as men (1.7 hours).
    • Unpaid domestic work includes activities related to the maintenance of the household, including food preparation, upkeep of the home, caring for pets etc.

    Family responsibilities

    • Family responsibilities and unequal distribution of unpaid domestic and care workers were among the primary reasons for women not joining the labour force.
    • Their participation depended on their liabilities and responsibilities in their household, noted UN. It found that women living alone were more likely to be in the labour market.
    • On an average, 82 per cent women of prime working-age living alone were in the labour market, compared to 64 per cent women living with a partner and 48 per cent living with a partner and children.
    • Their participation rates in the economy were found to improve in the latter part of their lives after their responsibilities reduced — when their children grew older.