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Distribution: weekly

  • Microfinance institutions

    The microfinance institutions (MFI) faced several restrictions by RBI which were not applicable to banks, NBFC and small finance banks. This denied the MFIs level playing field. A recent Consultative document by the RBI frees MFIs from such restrictions. The article explains this in detail.

    Background of regulation of MFI’s  by RBI

    • RBI first allowed informal self-help groups to open savings accounts in banks and bank lending to these groups in 1991-92.
    • In 2000, RBI permitted all types of institutions to offer microcredit and bank loans extended to these institutions for on-lending were treated as part of the priority sector lending.
    • Beyond these, RBI was unwilling to bring in any regulations on the plea that as long as these are not deposit-taking institutions there is no need to regulate them. 
    • That was the stand of various RBI-appointed committees too, including the Vyas Committee of 2004.
    • Based on the Malegam Committee recommendations, RBI came out with detailed guidelines for microfinance institutions (not the microfinance sector) in 2011.
    • These guidelines introduced a new category of NBFCs, viz NBFC-MFIs (microfinance institutions).
    • It also set norms for income criteria for clients of MFIs, repayment period, borrower loan limits, interest rate norms and caps, limits on a number of lenders to a borrower and a host of other norms and criteria.

    How these norms created the issue of a level playing field?

    • After 2015-16, the entry of small finance banks, eight of which were MFIs, into the microfinance space started to create issues.
    • MFIs discovered to their dismay that while they had to adhere to a set of regulations, it was a free-for-all for non-MFIs (banks, SFBs and NBFCs).
    • The main issue was that non-MFIs need not adhere to the norm of number of lenders (two in the case of NBFC-MFIs) and per-borrower loan limits.
    • It prompted non-MFIs to target borrowers identified and nurtured by MFIs with higher loan amounts, leading to high levels of borrower indebtedness.
    • In addition, the interest rate cap (2.75 times the base rate declared quarterly by RBI) was squeezing the margins of small and medium MFIs, as none of them get loans from the biggest banks.

    Way forward

    • The recent Consultative Document by RBI frees MFIs from the restriction imposed by the 2011 regulations and gives them a level-playing field.
    • Another important feature for MFIs is that by doing away with the 50% income generation loans criteria and the repayment period norms.
    • RBI is facilitating credit flow into lifecycle needs like housing, water sanitation, education, health, renewable energy, etc, which are now as important as income generation.
    • On the interest rate front, initially, some upward correction could be there by medium and small MFIs based on their borrowing rates.
    • The document enhances the role for the regulator as the adoption of Board-approved policies to determine the norms of household indebtedness and to fix a transparent rate of interest by each institution and their implementation need a rigorous supervisory oversight

    Conclusion

    Providing a level playing field to the MFI is critical to their development, the document by RBI rightly does that. It will help in providing credit to those who remain outside the formal banking network.

    Source:

    https://www.financialexpress.com/opinion/unfettering-microfinance-recent-rbi-consultative-document-frees-mfis-from-shackles-imposed-by-2011-regulations/2277925/

  • Covid-19 Delta-plus Variant

    The Maharashtra government has tightened the Covid-19 unlocking process in the wake of a rise in cases of the Delta Plus variant.

    What is Delta Plus?

    • A variant that has emerged as a new threat, especially in India, Delta Plus (B.1.617.2.1/(AY.1) is a new mutant strain of the Delta variant of SARS-CoV-2.
    • It is technically the next generation of SARS-COV-2.
    • The Delta variant that was first detected in India eventually became a huge problem for the whole world.
    • However, the Delta Plus variant, at present, is limited to smaller areas in the country. This mutant of Delta was first detected in Europe in March 2021, but it came to light on June 13.
    • Although it is still under investigation, experts believe that the Delta Plus variant has increased transmissibility.

    What is known so far?

    • The new Delta plus variant has been formed due to a mutation in the Delta or B.1.617.2 variant.
    • Delta Plus (AY.1) is resistant to monoclonal antibodies cocktail.
    • Since it’s a new variant, its severity is still unknown.
    • 63 genomes of Delta (B.1.617.2) with the new K417N mutation have been identified by the GISAID (global science initiative) so far.
    • The mutation is in the spike protein of SARS-COV-2, which helps the virus enter and infect the human cells.
    • People reported symptoms like headaches, sore throats, runny noses, and fever.

    Are COVID-19 vaccines effective against the Delta Plus variant?

    • Medical experts say it is too early to predict the effectiveness of the existing vaccines on the new variant.
    • A detailed study would be required to establish any effect of the mutant on the immune system.
    • However, Union Health Ministry says that both Indian vaccines — Covishield and Covaxin are effective against the Delta variant.
    • There is fear that this new variant Delta Plus may spark the third wave of COVID-19, but there is a very low incidence of such cases, so there is no certainty.

  • Places in news: Black Sea

    Russia accused Britain of spreading lies over a warship confrontation in the Black Sea.

    What is the issue?

    • Russia annexed Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula in 2014, a move that was not recognized by most countries in the world.
    • Russia has frequently responded at NATO warships visits near Crimea, casting them as destabilizing.
    • NATO members Turkey, Greece, Romania and Bulgaria are in the Black Sea, but warships from the US, UK and other NATO allies also have made increasingly frequent visits in a show of support to Ukraine.

    About Black Sea

    • The Black Sea is a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean lying between Europe and Asia; east of the Balkans (Southeast Europe), south of the East European Plain in Eastern Europe, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia in Western Asia.
    • It is supplied by major rivers, principally the Danube, Dnieper, and Don.
    • The watersheds of many countries drain into the sea beyond the six that share its coast.
    • The Black Sea is bordered by Bulgaria, Georgia, Romania, Russia, Turkey, and Ukraine.

    Must answer this PYQ in the comment box:

    Q.Consider the following pairs:

    Sea

    Bordering country
    1. Adriatic Sea Albania
    2. Black Sea Croatia
    3. Caspian Sea Kazakhstan
    4. Mediterranean Sea Morocco
    5. Red Sea Syria

    Which of the pair given above are correctly matched? (CSP 2020)

    (a) 1, 2 and 4 only

    (b) 1, 3 and 4 only

    (c) 2 and 5 only

    (d) 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5

  • 60 Years of Antarctic Treaty

    The 1959 Antarctic Treaty (wef 1961) recently celebrated its 60th anniversary.

    Antarctic Treaty

    • The Antarctic Treaty and related agreements are collectively known as the Antarctic Treaty System (ATS).
    • It regulates international relations with respect to Antarctica, Earth’s only continent without a native human population.
    • For the purposes of the treaty system, Antarctica is defined as all of the land and ice shelves south of 60°S latitude.
    • The treaty entered into force in 1961 and currently has 54 parties.
    • The treaty sets aside Antarctica as a scientific preserve, establishes freedom of scientific investigation, and bans military activity on the continent.
    • The treaty was the first arms control agreement established during the Cold War.
    • India is a signatory of this treaty since 1983.

    Why is it significant?

    • Negotiated during the middle of the Cold War by 12 countries with Antarctic interests, it remains the only example of a single treaty that governs a whole continent.
    • It is also the foundation of a rules-based international order for a continent without a permanent population.

    Key provisions

    • The treaty is remarkably short and contains only 14 articles.
    • Principal provisions include promoting the freedom of scientific research, the use of the continent only for peaceful purposes, and the prohibition of military activities, nuclear tests and the disposal of radioactive waste.

    What the treaty says about territorial claims

    • The most important provision of the treaty is Article IV, which effectively seeks to neutralise territorial sovereignty in Antarctica.
    • For the Antarctic territorial claimants, this meant a limit was placed on making any new claim or enlargement of an existing claim.
    • Likewise, no formal recognition was given to any of the seven territorial claims on the continent, by Argentina, Australia, Chile, France, New Zealand, Norway and the United Kingdom.
    • Russia, the United States and China — signatories with significant Antarctic interests who have not formally made territorial claims — are also bound by the limitations of Article IV.
    • And one sector of Antarctica is not subject to the claim of any country, which effectively makes it the last unclaimed land on earth.
    • The treaty also put a freeze on any disputes between claimants over their territories on the continent.

    How the treaty has expanded

    • Though the compact has held for 60 years, there have been tensions from time to time.
    • Argentina and the UK, for instance, have overlapping claims to territory on the continent.
    • When combined with their ongoing dispute over the nearby Falkland (Malvinas) Islands, their Antarctic relationship remains frosty.
    • Membership of the treaty has grown in the intervening years, with 54 signatories today.

    Where to from here?

    • While the Antarctic Treaty has been able to successfully respond to a range of challenges, circumstances are radically different in the 2020s compared to the 1950s.
    • Antarctica is much more accessible, partly due to technology but also climate change.
    • More countries now have substantive interests in the continent than the original 12.
    • Some global resources are becoming scarce, especially oil.

    Answer this PYQ:

    Q.The term ‘IndARC’, sometimes seen in the news, is the name of:

    (a) An indigenously developed radar system inducted into Indian Defence

    (b) India’s satellite to provide services to the countries of Indian Ocean Rim

    (c) A scientific establishment set up by India in Antarctic region

    (d) India’s underwater observatory to scientifically study the Arctic region

    Back2Basics: Indian Antarctic Program

    • The Indian Antarctic Program is a multi-disciplinary, multi-institutional program under the control of the National Centre for Polar and Ocean Research, Ministry of Earth Sciences.
    • It was initiated in 1981 with the first Indian expedition to Antarctica.
    • The program gained global acceptance with India’s signing of the Antarctic Treaty and subsequent construction of the Dakshin Gangotri Antarctic research base in 1983 superseded by the Maitri base from 1989.
    • The newest base commissioned in 2012 is Bharati, constructed out of 134 shipping containers.

    Various missions

    In 1981 the Indian flag unfurled for the first time in Antarctica, marking the start of Southern Ocean expeditions under the environmental protocol of the Antarctic Treaty (1959).

    (1) Dakshin Gangotri

    The first permanent settlement was built in 1983 and named Dakshin Gangotri. In 1989 it was excavated and is being used again as supply base and transit camp. It was decommissioned in the year 1990 after half of it got buried under the ice.

    (2) Maitri

    The second permanent settlement, Maitri, was put up in 1989 on the Schirmacher Oasis and has been conducting experiments in geology, geography and medicine. India built this station close to a freshwater lake around Maitri known as Lake Priyadarshini.

    (3) Bharati

    Located beside Larsmann Hill at 69°S, 76°E, Bharati is established in 2015.  This newest research station for oceanographic research will collect evidence of continental breakup to reveal the 120-million-year-old ancient history of the Indian subcontinent.

    (4) India Post Office in Antarctica

    It was established in the year 1984 during the third Indian expedition to Antarctica. It was located at Dakshin Gangotri. This post office was indeed situated in a stunning location and it was more than just a post office. An interesting fact about this place is that as many as 10,000 letters were posted and canceled in this post office in total in the first year of its establishment.

  • Proposal for Integrated Theatre Commands

    The Chief of Defence Staff has held a meeting with the Vice Chiefs of the Army, the Navy and the Air Force, and others in the backdrop of concerns about the proposed model of the integrated theatre commands.

    What are integrated theatre commands?

    • In the simplest words, it is a unified command under which all the resources of the Army, the Navy and the Air Force are pooled, depending on the threat perception.
    • The commands could be geographical — like looking at a border with a particular country — or thematic, like a command for all maritime threats.
    • Several nations in the world have theatre commands, including the United States and China.

    Is theatre commands a new idea?

    • The idea of creating an integrated tri-Services command in India is not new — it had been recommended at various levels after the Kargil conflict.
    • When Gen Rawat was appointed Chief of Defence Staff in January 2020 with a mandate to raise such commands within his three-year tenure, the idea was finally brought to the design table.
    • After his appointment, Gen Rawat had commissioned studies within each of the armed forces to come up with ideas of what these commands could look like.
    • These were headed by the Vice Chiefs of the forces.
    • Last year, Gen Rawat had suggested that the first of these commands, the Air Defence Command, could come up by the end of 2020.
    • However, the process has been delayed due to multiple factors, including the Covid-19 pandemic.
    • Officials are now suggesting that some of the new commands could be rolled out by the end of this year.

    What is the proposal under discussion?

    • A model with four to five integrated tri-Services theatre commands is under discussion, with each command headed by a three-star officer.
    • This officer, the theatre commander, will report to the Chiefs of Staff Committee (COSC), which, as the name suggests, includes the three Service Chiefs, and is headed by the CDS as its permanent chairman.
    • This brings in a major change — the Service chiefs currently have all the operational control over their forces; operational powers will now move to the COSC.
    • Each of these commands will have the needed assets from all the three forces. Operational control over all of those assets, regardless of the force, will lie with the commander of that theatre.

    The proposed commands are:

    • A Maritime Theatre Command, which will take care of all the maritime security needs of the country on both the eastern and the western seaboards, and will include air strike assets and amphibian forces of the Army.
    • An Air Defence Command, which will be mandated with air defence across the country and beyond. The fighter jets will have reconnaissance and surveillance assets as well.
    • Two or three land-based commands are proposed. If there are two commands, there will be one each for India’s borders with China and Pakistan.
    • But there is also a proposal to have another command looking at India’s borders with Pakistan and China in Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh.
    • There will be a Logistics Command, which will have the logistics of all the Services under one person; and there will be a Training and Doctrine Command, so that all Services work under a common doctrine and have some basic common training.

    What will be the role of the Services, if not operational?

    • As of now, the Services have to speak to each other in times of need and urgency to request their assets to conduct a particular operation.
    • The proposal is to have a theatre commander who will have operational control of the assets under his command, thus enhancing jointness among the forces, and also reducing duplication of resources.
    • However, this would leave the Service chiefs with no direct control over their assets operationally.
    • This does not mean their roles will be made redundant. Now the Services will have the core tasks to Raise, Train and Sustain their respective forces.
    • Also, as each chief will be a member of the COSC and an expert of his/her domain, his or her inputs will be necessary for all operational decisions.

    Readiness of the services

    • Sources within the Services and the Defence Ministry have mentioned that while the Army and the Navy are on board with the proposal, the Air Force has certain reservations.
    • One, the Air Force does not want the Air Force chief to lose operational control of Air assets, according to the sources.
    • Two, the Air Force is concerned that all of its assets might be divided within these integrated theatres.
    • Sources in the Air Force said that all such concerns need to be addressed before such a significant transformation of the defence set-up takes place.

    How many commands are there now; are any of them tri-Service commands?

    As of now, the three forces have 17 commands between them.

    • The Army has seven commands: Northern, Eastern, Southern, Western, Central, Southwestern and Army Training Command (ARTRAC).
    • The Air Force has seven as well: Western, Eastern, Southern, Southwestern, Central, Training, and Maintenance commands.
    • The Navy has three: Western, Eastern and Southern, of which Southern is largely about training.
    • Even if these commands operate in the same region, they are not co-located, and their areas of operational responsibility are not necessarily the same.
    • There are two existing tri-Service commands as well — the Andaman and Nicobar Command (ANC), which is headed by rotation by officers from the three Services.

  • GIMAC: India’s first maritime arbitration centre

    The Gujarat Maritime University signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the International Financial Services Centres Authority in GIFT City to promote the Gujarat International Maritime Arbitration Centre (GIMAC).

    What is GIMAC?

    • The GIMAC will be part of a maritime cluster that the Gujarat Maritime Board (GMB) is setting up in GIFT City at Gandhinagar.
    • The Maritime Board has rented about 10,000 square feet at GIFT House which is part of the Special Economic Zone (SEZ) area with clearance from the development commissioner.
    • This will be the first centre of its kind in the country that will manage arbitration and mediation proceedings with disputes related to the maritime and shipping sector.
    • The centre is expected to be ready by the end of August.

    Why is such a centre needed?

    • It is required because, for instance, the ship owners belong to a different country and the person leasing the ship is from another country.
    • Any dispute arising between them can be resolved within this centre.
    • There are over 35 arbitration centres in India. However, none of them exclusively deals with the maritime sector.
    • The arbitration involving Indian players is now heard at the Singapore Arbitration Centre.
    • The idea is to create a world-class arbitration centre focused on maritime and shipping disputes that can help resolve commercial and financial conflicts between entities having operations in India.
    • Globally, London is the preferred centre for arbitration for the maritime and shipping sector.

    What is the current status of the project?

    • The process of recruiting staff for the arbitration centre is currently underway.
    • A 10-member advisory board for GIMAC, consisting of international experts and professionals, has been created, which will help in the framing of rules for the arbitration centre and in empanelling arbitrators.

  • National Anti-Profiteering Authority (NAA)

    The National Anti-Profiteering Authority (NAA) has directed GST officials across the country to ensure that the tax rate cuts notified on some COVID-19-related essentials are passed on to consumers.

    What is National Anti-Profiteering Authority (NAA)?

    • The NAA has been constituted under Section 171 of the Central GST Act, 2017 to ensure that the reduction in the rate of tax or the benefit of the input tax credit is passed on to the recipient by way of commensurate reduction in prices.
    • The decision about the formation of the NAA came in the background of a rate reduction of a large number of items by the GST Council in its 22ndmeeting at Guwahati.
    • At the meeting, the Council reduced rates of more than 200 items including goods and services.
    • This has made a tremendous price reduction effect and the consumers will be benefited only if the traders are making the quick reduction of the prices of respective items.
    • There was a concern that traders are reluctant to make price cuts so that they can make a profit.

    Answer this PYQ in the comment box:

    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

    What is profiteering?

    • Profiteering means unfair profit realized by traders by manipulating prices, tax rate adjustment etc.
    • In the context of the newly launched GST, profiteering means that traders are not reducing the prices of the commodities when the GST Council reduces the tax rates of commodities and services.
    • Conventionally, several traders will have a strong tendency to quickly increase the price of a commodity whose tax rate has been increased.
    • But on the opposite side, they may delay the price reduction of a commodity whose tax rate has been cut by the government.
    • A delayed or postponed price reduction helps business firms to make a higher profits. The losers here are the consumers.

    Functioning of NAA

    • The Authority’s main function is to ensure that traders are not realizing unfair profit by charging high prices from the consumers in the name of GST.
    • Traders may charge high prices from the consumers by naming the GST factor.
    • Similarly, they may not make quick and corresponding price reductions when the GST Council makes a tax cut. All these constitute profiteering.
    • The responsibility of the NAA is to examine and check such profiteering activities and recommend punitive actions including the cancellation of licenses.

    Steps were taken by the NAA to ensure that customers get the full benefit of tax cuts:

    • Holding regular meetings with the Zonal Screening Committees and the Chief Commissioners of Central Tax to stress upon consumer awareness programs;
    • Launching a helpline to resolve the queries of citizens regarding registration of complaints against profiteering.
    • Receiving complaints through email and the NAA portal.
    • Working with consumer welfare organizations in order to facilitate outreach activities.

  • Blended mode of teaching

    Blended mode of teaching and its advantages

    • A recent circular by the University Grants Commission (UGC) proposes that all higher educational institutions (HEI) teach 40% of any course online and the rest 60% offline termed as blended learning (BL).
    • The UGC argues that this “blended mode of teaching” and learning paves the way for:
    • 1) Increased student engagement in learning.
    • 2) Enhanced student-teacher interactions.
    • 3) Improved student learning outcomes.
    • 4) More flexible teaching and learning environments, among other things.
    • 5) Other key benefits such as the increased opportunity for institutional collaborations at a distance and enhanced self-learning accruing from blended learning (BL).
    • 6) BL benefits the teachers as well. It shifts the role of the teacher from being a “knowledge provider to a coach and mentor”.
    • 7)  The note adds that BL introduces flexibility in assessment and evaluation patterns as well.

    Challenges

    • All India Survey on Higher Education (2019-20) report shows that 60.56% of the 42,343 colleges in India are located in rural areas and 78.6% are privately managed.
    • Only big corporates are better placed to invest in technology and provide such learning.
    • Second, according to datareportal statistics, Internet penetration in India is only 45% as of January 2021.
    • This policy will only exacerbate the existing geographical and digital divide.
    • Third, BL leaves little room for all-round formation of the student that includes the development of their intelligent quotient, emotional quotient, social quotient, physical quotient and spiritual quotient.
    • The listening part and subsequent interactions with the teacher may get minimised.
    • Also, the concept note assumes that all students have similar learning styles and have a certain amount of digital literacy to cope with the suggested learning strategies of BL.
    • This is far from true. Education in India is driven by a teacher-centred approach.

    Suggestions

    • The government should ensure equity in access to technology and bandwidth for all HEIs across the country free of cost.
    • Massive digital training programmes must be arranged for teachers.
    • Even the teacher-student ratio needs to be readjusted to implement BL effectively.
    • This may require the appointment of a greater number of teachers.
    • The design of the curriculum should be decentralised and based on a bottom-up approach.
    • More power in such education-related policymaking should be vested with the State governments.
    • Switching over from a teacher-centric mode of learning at schools to the BL mode at the tertiary level will be difficult for learners.
    • Hence, the government must think of overhauling the curriculum at the school level as well.
    • Finally, periodical discussions, feedback mechanisms and support services at all levels would revitalise the implementation of the learning programme of the National Education Policy 2020, BL.
    • It will also lead to the actualisation of the three cardinal principles of education policy: access, equity and quality.

    Conclusion

    Government must take steps to address the concerns with blended learning before implementing it.

  • What is AgriStack?

    The Department of Agriculture, Cooperation and Farmers Welfare has entered into an MoU with Microsoft Corporation to start a pilot project in 100 villages to create a ‘Unified Farmer Service Interface’ through its cloud computing services.

    AgriStack

    • The AgriStack is a collection of technologies and digital databases proposed by the Central Government focusing on India’s farmers and the agricultural sector.
    • The central government has claimed that these new databases are being built to primarily tackle issues such as poor access to credit and wastage in the agricultural supply chain.
    • Under AgriStack’, the government aims to provide ‘required data sets’ of farmers’ personal information to Microsoft to develop a farmer interface for ‘smart and well-organized agriculture’.
    • The digital repository will aid precise targeting of subsidies, services and policies, the officials added.
    • Under the programme, each farmer of the country will get what is being called an FID, or a farmers’ ID, linked to land records to uniquely identify them. India has 140 million operational farm-land holdings.
    • Alongside, the government is also developing a unified farmer service platform that will help digitise agricultural services delivery by the public and private sectors.

    Issues with the move

    • Agriculture has become the latest sector getting a boost of ‘techno solutionism’ by the government.
    • But it has, since then, also become the latest sector to enter the whole debate about data privacy and surveillance.
    • Since the signing of the MoUs, several concerns related to sharing farmers’ data with private companies the major one being Microsoft whose owner Bill Gates is said to be the largest private farmland owner in the US.
    • In all the MoUs, there are provisions under which the agriculture ministry will enter into a data sharing agreement with the private companies of the likes of Amazon, Microsoft and Patanjali.
    • The development has raised serious concerns about information asymmetry, data privacy and consent, profiling of farmers, mismanaged land records and corporatization of agriculture.
    • The formation of ‘Agristack’ also implies commercialization of agriculture extension activities as they will shift into a digital and private sphere.

    Why such concerns?

    • The project was being implemented in the absence of a data protection legislation.
    • It might end up being an exercise where private data processing entities may know more about a farmer’s land than the farmer himself.
    • Without safeguards, private entities would be able to exploit farmers’ data to whatever extent they wish to.
    • This information asymmetry, tilted towards the technology companies, might further exploit farmers, especially small and marginal ones.

    What are some major threats?

    • One of the biggest worries is the threat of financial exploitation.
    • We have already seen how microfinance firms have wreaked financial havoc in rural hinterlands.
    • Now, once Fintech companies are able to collect granular data about the farmers’ operations, they may offer them usurious rates of interest precisely when they would be in the direst need for credit.
    • With this, the risk of commodifying agriculture and farmer data ran high.

  • What is a Full Ship Shock Trial (FSST)?

    The US Navy Friday carried out a ‘full ship shock trial’ on its newest and most advanced nuclear-powered aircraft carrier to ensure its hardness was capable of withstanding battle conditions.

    What is a Full Ship Shock Trial (FSST)?

    • During World War II, American warships suffered severe damage from enemy mines and torpedoes that had actually missed their target, but exploded underwater in close proximity.
    • The US Navy has since worked to improve the shockproofing of their ship systems to minimize damage from such “near miss” explosions.
    • In FSSTs, an underwater explosive charge is set off near an operational ship, and system and component failures are documented.
    • The FSST probes whether the components survive shock in their environment on the ship; it probes the possibilities of system failures, and large components that could not be otherwise tested.