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  • Highlights of the Global Hunger Report, 2020

    India has the highest prevalence of wasted children under five years in the world, which reflects acute undernutrition, according to the Global Hunger Index 2020.

    Note the parameters over which the GHI is based and their weightage composition.

    Global Hunger Index (GHI)

    • The GHI has been brought out almost every year by Welthungerhilfe lately in partnerships with Concern Worldwide since 2000; this year’s report is the 14th one.
    • The reason for mapping hunger is to ensure that the world achieves “Zero Hunger by 2030” — one of the SDGs laid out by the UN.
    • A low score gets a country a higher ranking and implies better performance.
    • It is for this reason that GHI scores are not calculated for certain high-income countries.
    • Each country’s data are standardised on a 100-point scale and a final score is calculated after giving 33.33% weight each to components 1 and 4, and giving 16.66% weight each to components 2 and 3.

    For each country in the list, the GHI looks at four indicators:

    1. Undernourishment (which reflects inadequate food availability): calculated by the share of the population that is undernourished (that is, whose caloric intake is insufficient)
    2. Child Wasting (which reflects acute undernutrition): calculated by the share of children under the age of five who are wasted (that is, those who have low weight for their height)
    3. Child Stunting (which reflects chronic undernutrition): calculated by the share of children under the age of five who are stunted (that is, those who have low height for their age)
    4. Child Mortality (which reflects both inadequate nutrition and unhealthy environment): calculated by the mortality rate of children under the age of five.

    India’s performance this year

    • In the 2020 Global Hunger Index, India ranks 94th out of the 107 countries with sufficient data to calculate 2020 GHI scores.
    • With a score of 27.2, India has a level of hunger that is serious.
    • The situation has worsened in the 2015-19 period, when the prevalence of child wasting was 17.3%, in comparison to 2010-14, when it was 15.1%.
    • India fares worst in child wasting (low weight for height, reflecting acute undernutrition) and child stunting (low height for age, reflecting chronic undernutrition), which together make up a third of the total score.

    Useful comparative data

    • Overall, India ranks 94 out of 107 countries in the Index, lower than neighbours such as Bangladesh (75) and Pakistan (88).
    • In the region of the south, east and south-eastern Asia, the only countries which fare worse than India are Timor-Leste, Afghanistan and North Korea.

  • What is New START Treaty?

    Russian President Mr Putin has proposed a one-year extension without conditions of the last major nuclear arms reduction accord, the New START Treaty between Russia and the U.S.

    The New START, INF and the Open Skies …. Be clear about the differences of these treaties. For example- to check if their inception was during cold war era etc.

    New START Treaty

    • The New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) pact limits the number of deployed nuclear warheads, missiles and bombers and is due to expire in 2021 unless renewed.
    • The treaty limits the US and Russia to a maximum of 1,550 deployed nuclear warheads and 700 deployed missiles and bombers, well below Cold War caps.
    • It was signed in 2010 by former US President Barack Obama and then-Russian President Dmitry Medvedev.
    • It is one of the key controls on superpower deployment of nuclear weapons.
    • If it falls, it will be the second nuclear weapons treaty to collapse under the leadership of US President Donald Trump.
    • In February, US withdrew from the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF), accusing Moscow of violating the agreement.

    Also read:

    https://www.civilsdaily.com/news/us-confirms-pull-out-from-inf-treaty/

  • Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO)

    Russian Navy along with CSTO members has begun military exercises in the central waters of the Caspian Sea north of the Azerbaijani capital Baku.

    Try this MCQ:

    Q.The Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO) sometimes seen in news is an alliance led by:

     

    (a) Russia (b) USA (c) India (d) European Union

    Collective Security Treaty Organization

    • CSTO is an intergovernmental military alliance that was signed on 15 May 1992.
    • In 1992, six post-Soviet states belonging to the Commonwealth of Independent States—Russia, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan—signed the Collective Security Treaty
    • This is also referred to as the “Tashkent Pact” or “Tashkent Treaty”.
    • Three other post-Soviet states—Azerbaijan, Belarus, and Georgia—signed the next year and the treaty took effect in 1994.
    • Five years later, six of the nine—all but Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Uzbekistan—agreed to renew the treaty for five more years, and in 2002 those six agreed to create the CSTO as a military alliance.

  • Five Eyes (FVEY) group of nations

    India joins the UK in drive known as ‘Five Eyes’ group of nations, as a seventh member against encrypted social media messages.

    Map the countries in ‘Five Eyes’ group of nations.

    ‘Five Eyes’ group of nations

    • The Five Eyes (FVEY) is an intelligence alliance comprising Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States.
    • The origins of the Five Eyes alliance can be traced back to the Atlantic Charter, which was issued in August 1941 to lay out the Allied goals for the post-war world.
    • These countries are parties to the multilateral UK-USA Agreement, a treaty for joint cooperation in signals intelligence.
    • India is among seven countries to back a UK-led campaign against end-to-end encryption of messages by social media giants such as Facebook, which they say hinder law enforcement by blocking all access to them.

    A formal expansion

    • The UK and India joined this group to ensure they do not blind themselves to illegal activity on their platforms, including child abuse images.
    • This marks an expansion of the so-called “Five Eyes” group of nations, a global alliance on intelligence issues, to include India and Japan.

    For a common cause

    • All members claim that end-to-end encryption policies such as those employed by the social media giant erode the public’s safety online.
    • They have made it clear that when end-to-end encryption is applied with no access to content, it severely undermines the ability of companies to take action against illegal activity on their own platforms.
    • It also prevents law enforcement investigating and prosecuting the most serious crimes being committed on these services such as online child sexual abuse, grooming and terrorist content.

    Back2Basics: End-to-end encryption

    • End-to-end encryption (E2EE) is a system of communication where only communicating users can read the messages.
    • It is regarded as the most secure way to communicate privately and securely online.
    • By encrypting messages at both ends of a conversation, end-to-end encryption prevents anyone in the middle from reading private communications.
    • In principle, it prevents potential eavesdroppers – including telecom providers, Internet providers, and even the provider of the communication service – from being able to access the cryptographic keys needed to decrypt the conversation.

  • What are ‘Chapter Proceedings’ by Police?

    The Mumbai police last week began “chapter proceedings” against the Editor-in-Chief of a news channel.

    Can you relate the philosophy behind chapter proceedings and preventive detention?

    What exactly are “chapter proceedings”?

    • Chapter proceedings are preventive actions taken by the police if they fear that a particular person is likely to create trouble and disrupt the peace in society.
    • These proceedings are unlike punitive action taken in case of an FIR with an intention to punish.
    • Here, the police can issue notices under sections of the Code of Criminal Procedure to ensure that the person is aware that creating nuisance could result in action against him.

    What are the sections using which these notices are served?

    • Generally, a notice is issued to a person under section 111 of the CrPC whereby he is asked to present himself before the Executive Magistrate – an ACP-rank officer in a Commissionerate of a Dy. the collector in rural areas – who has issued the notice.
    • The person has to explain why he should not be made to sign a bond of good behaviour.
    • If the Executive Magistrate is not satisfied with the answer, the person is asked to sign a bond of good behaviour and produce sureties vouching for his/her good behaviour.
    • A fine amount is also decided – in accordance with the crime and the person’s financial capability – which the person would have to pay if he violates the conditions set in the bond.

    Legal immunities against such proceedings

    • On receiving the notice under section 111, a person can appeal the notice before the courts.
    • In fact, in the past, courts have come down strongly against chapter proceedings in some cases.

  • National Authority of Ship Recycling (NASR)

    The Central government has notified the Director-General of Shipping as the national authority for recycling of ships under the Recycling of Ships Act, 2019.

    The ‘Hong Kong Convention’ is the odd man out here. Read more about the convention at:

    https://www.civilsdaily.com/news/pib-hong-kong-international-convention-for-safe-recycling-of-ships-2009/

    About NASR

    • The national authority of ship recycling will be set up in Gandhinagar, Gujarat.
    • The location of the office will benefit the ship recycling yard owners situated in Alang, Gujarat which is home to the largest ship recycling industry in the world.
    • DG Shipping is authorized to administer, supervise and monitor all activities relating to ship recycling in the country.
    • DG Shipping will oversee the sustainable development of the ship recycling industry, monitoring the compliance to environment-friendly norms and safety and health measures for the stakeholders.
    • DG Shipping will be the final authority for the various approvals required by the ship-recycling yard owners and state governments.

    Recycling of Ships Act, 2019

    • Under the Ship Recycling Act, 2019, India has acceded to the ‘Hong Kong International Convention for the Safe and Environmentally Sound Recycling of Ships’.
    • This was adopted by the International Maritime Organization (IMO).
    • DG Shipping is a representative of India in the IMO and all the conventions of IMO are being enforced by DG Shipping.

  • Comparison between India- Bangladesh per capita GDP

    In IMF’s latest Economic Outlook, Bangladesh has overtaken India in GDP per capita. This has caught everyone’s attention.

    Do you know?

    • In the 2019 edition of Transparency International’s rankings, Bangladesh ranks a low 146 out of 198 countries (India is at 80th rank; a lower rank is worse off).
    • In the latest gender parity rankings, out of 154 countries mapped for it, Bangladesh is in the top 50 while India languishes at 112.

    Bangladesh surpasses India

    • Typically, countries are compared on the basis of GDP growth rate, or on absolute GDP.
    • For the most part since Independence, on both these counts, India’s economy has been better than Bangladesh’s.
    • This can be seen from Charts 1 and 2 that map GDP growth rates and absolute GDP — India’s economy has mostly been over 10 times the size of Bangladesh, and grown faster every year.
    • However, per capita income also involves another variable — the overall population — and is arrived at by dividing the total GDP by the total population.

    What made India lag behind?

    There are three reasons why India’s per capita income has fallen below Bangladesh this year:

    • The first thing to note is that Bangladesh’s economy has been clocking rapid GDP growth rates since 2004.
    • Secondly, over the same 15-year period, India’s population grew faster (around 21%) than Bangladesh’s population (just under 18%).
    • Lastly, the most immediate factor was the relative impact of Covid-19 on the two economies in 2020. While India’s GDP is set to reduce by 10%, Bangladesh’s is expected to grow by almost 4%.

    How has Bangladesh managed to grow so fast and so robustly?

    • Freshly start: In the initial years of its independence with Pakistan, Bangladesh struggled to grow fast. However, moving away from Pakistan also gave the country a chance to start afresh on its economic and political identity.
    • Diverse labour participation: As such, its labour laws were not as stringent and its economy increasingly involved women in its labour force. This can be seen in higher female participation in the labour force.
    • Textile boom: A key driver of growth was the garment industry where women workers gave Bangladesh the edge to corner the global export markets from which China retreated.
    • Less dependence on Agriculture: It also helps that the structure of Bangladesh’s economy is such that its GDP is led by the industrial sector, followed by the services sector. Both of these sectors create a lot of jobs and are more remunerative than agriculture.
    • Better social capital: Bangladesh improved a lot on several social and political metrics such as health, sanitation, financial inclusion, and women’s political representation.

    Retaining the lead

    • The IMF’s projections show that India is likely to grow faster next year and in all likelihood again surge ahead.
    • But, given Bangladesh’s lower population growth and faster economic growth, India and Bangladesh are likely to be neck and neck for the foreseeable future in terms of per capita income.

  • Next Generation Treasury Application (NGTA)

    In a bid to improve its functioning, the RBI has decided to move to the Next Generation Treasury Application (NGTA) for managing the country’s foreign exchange and gold reserves.

    Aspirants must make a note here:

    1.Authority managing FOREX in India

    2.Components of FOREX

    3.IMF’s SDRs

    4.Emergency use of FOREX

    What is NGTA?

    • The NGTA, according to the RBI, would be a web-based application providing scalability, manoeuvrability and flexibility to introduce new products and securities, besides supporting multi-currency transactions and settlements.
    • It would be supporting various transactions in asset classes like Fixed Income (FI), Forex (FX), Money Market (MM) and Gold.
    • It would be used for managing the foreign exchange reserves in a more efficient way, mitigate risk, achieve operational efficiencies, dealing in various asset classes and reporting.

    Objectives of NGTA

    The objectives of the proposed system include:

    • dealing in various asset classes (like Fixed Income Securities, Forex, Money Market, Gold);
    • portfolio management; workflow management; reserve management;
    • integration with various third-party and in-house systems; and dashboards, reports, widgets.

    Features of NGTA

    • The NGTA shall automatically fetch all the relevant details of a security/contract from a trading platform.
    • It shall support all internationally accepted conventions pertaining today count, interest computation, holiday logic, shut period-dividend, ex-dividend, cash flows, and odd coupon.
    • With respect to transactions in gold, the NGTA shall support purchase, sale, deposit (including rollover and premature withdrawal).
    • On maturity of a gold deposit, there can be exact, under or over delivery.

    Back2Basics: Forex Reserves

    • Reserve Bank of India Act and the Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999 set the legal provisions for governing the foreign exchange reserves.
    • RBI accumulates foreign currency reserves by purchasing from authorized dealers in open market operations.
    • The Forex reserves of India consist of below four categories:
    1. Foreign Currency Assets
    2. Gold
    3. Special Drawing Rights (SDRs)
    4. Reserve Tranche Position
    • The IMF says official Forex reserves are held in support of a range of objectives like supporting and maintaining confidence in the policies for monetary and exchange rate management including the capacity to intervene in support of the national or union currency.
    • It will also limit external vulnerability by maintaining foreign currency liquidity to absorb shocks during times of crisis or when access to borrowing is curtailed.

  • Places in news: Taiwan Strait

    A U.S. warship sailed through the Taiwan Strait in what the American military described as a “routine” passage on but enraging China, which claims sovereignty over the island and surrounding seas.

    Try this PYQ:

    Q.Which one of the following can one come across if one travels through the Strait of Malacca?

    (a) Bali

    (b) Brunei

    (c) Java

    (d) Singapore

    Taiwan Strait

    • The Taiwan Strait, also known as the Formosa Strait, is a 180 km wide strait separating Taiwan and mainland China.
    • The strait is currently part of the South China Sea and connects to the East China Sea to the north. The narrowest part is 130 km wide.
    • The entire strait is on Asia’s continental shelf.
    • Historically both the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and Taiwan espoused a One-China Policy that considered the strait part of the exclusive economic zone of a single “China”.

    Tap to read more about One China Policy at:

  • [pib] KAPILA Program

    Union Education Ministry has launched ‘KAPILA’ Kalam Program for IP Literacy and Awareness Education campaign to bring awareness towards the patenting of inventions.

    Remember one thing, ‘KAPILA’ Program is related to IP awareness. It sounds much like an animal husbandry related initiative.

    ‘KAPILA’ Program

    • KAPILA is an acronym for Kalam Program for IP (Intellectual Property) Literacy and Awareness.
    • Under this campaign, students pursuing education in higher educational institutions will get information about the correct system of the application process for patenting their invention and they will be aware of their rights.
    • The program will facilitate the colleges and institutions to encourage more and more students to file patents.