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  • EnVision Mission to Venus

    Following NASA’s footsteps, the European Space Agency (ESA) announced that it has selected EnVision as its next orbiter that will visit Venus sometime in the 2030s.

    Last week, NASA selected two missions to the planet Venus, Earth’s nearest neighbour. The missions called DAVINCI+ and VERITAS have been selected based on their potential for scientific value and the feasibility of their development plans.

    What is EnVision?

    • EnVision is an ESA-led mission with contributions from NASA. It is likely to be launched sometime in the 2030s.
    • The earliest launch opportunity for EnVision is 2031, followed by 2032 and 2033.
    • Once launched on an Ariane 6 rocket, the spacecraft will take about 15 months to reach Venus and will take 16 more months to achieve orbit circularization.
    • The spacecraft will carry a range of instruments to study the planet’s atmosphere and surface, monitor trace gases in the atmosphere and analyses its surface composition.

    What are other such missions?

    • EnVision will follow another ESA-led mission to Venus called ‘Venus Express’ (2005-2014) that focused on atmospheric research and pointed to volcanic hotspots on the planet’s surface.
    • Other than this, Japan’s Akatsuki spacecraft has also been studying the planet’s atmosphere since 2015.

    Why are scientists interested in studying Venus?

    • At the core of the ESA’s mission is the question of how Earth and Venus evolved so differently from each other considering that they are roughly of the same size and composition.
    • Venus is the hottest planet in the solar system because of the heat that is trapped by its thick cloud cover.
    • Last year, a team of scientists reported that they had found phosphine gas (a chemical produced only through biological processes) in the atmosphere of Venus.
    • This triggered excitement in the scientific community that some life forms might be supported by the planet.
    • But the existence of life on the planet is nearly impossible given the high temperatures of Venus and its acidic atmosphere.

    Back2Basics: Venus Planet

    • For those on Earth, Venus is the second-brightest object in the sky after the moon.
    • It appears bright because of its thick cloud cover that reflects and scatters light.
    • But while Venus, which is the second closest planet to the Sun, is called the Earth’s twin because of their similar sizes, the two planets have significant differences between them.
    • For one, the planet’s thick atmosphere traps heat and is the reason that it is the hottest planet in the solar system, despite coming after Mercury, the closest planet to the Sun.
    • Surface temperatures on Venus can go up to 471 degrees Celsius, which is hot enough to melt lead.
    • Further, Venus moves forward on its orbit around the Sun but spins backwards around its axis slowly.
    • This means on Venus the Sun rises in the west and sets in the East.
    • One day on Venus is equivalent to 243 Earth days because of its backward spinning, opposite to that of the Earth’s and most other planets.
    • Venus also does not have a moon and no rings.

  • What is Fastly Internet Outage?

    Several big websites around the world went down for about half an hour because of a major issue with the content delivery network (CDN) of American cloud computing services provider Fastly.

    Global internet outage: Which websites were affected?

    • com, Reddit, Twitch, Spotify, Pinterest, Stack Overflow, GitHub, gov.uk, Hulu, HBO Max, Quora, PayPal, Vimeo and Shopify are some of the big names.
    • Prominent news websites impacted were the Financial Times, the Guardian, the New York Times, CNN, and Verge, to name some.
    • Most users would have seen a 503 error when trying to access these websites, indicating that the browser was not able to access the server.

    What is Fastly?

    • Fastly is a cloud computing services provider, which offers CDN, edge computing, cloud storage services.
    • All of its geographies, including the three stations it has in India — Chennai, Mumbai and New Delhi — were suffering from “Degraded Performance”.

    Answer this PYQ from CSP 2018:

    Q.The terms ‘WannaCry, Petya, Eternal Blue’ sometimes mentioned news recently are related to

    (a) Exoplanets

    (b) Crypto currency

    (c) Cyber attacks

    (d) Mini satellites

    What is a CDN?

    • A CDN refers to a geographically distributed group of servers that work together to provide fast delivery of Internet content.
    • They house content close to the telecom service providers’ networks.
    • Majority of web traffic across the world today is routed through CDNs.
    • Platforms such as Netflix, Facebook, Amazon — ones with large quantities of data held in global libraries — host their geographically relevant content closer to where that content is to be consumed.
    • This ensures the end customer is able to access the content faster.
    • Another reason companies rely on these CDNs is to help protect their sites against traffic spikes, distributed denial of service (DDOS) attacks, etc.

  • [pib] Aspirational Districts Programme

    In an independent appraisal report released today, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) India has lauded the Aspirational Districts Programme (ADP) as a very successful model of local area development.

    Aspirational Districts Programme

    • Launched in January 2018, the ‘Transformation of Aspirational Districts’ initiative aims to remove this heterogeneity through a mass movement to quickly and effectively transform these districts.
    • The broad contours of the programme are Convergence (of Central & State Schemes), Collaboration (of Central, State level ‘Prabhari’ Officers & District Collectors), and Competition among districts driven by a spirit of mass Movement.
    • With States as the main drivers, this program will focus on the strength of each district, identify low-hanging fruits for immediate improvement, measure progress, and rank districts.

    Selection of districts

    • A total of 117 Aspirational districts have been identified by NITI Aayog based upon composite indicators.
    • These include Health & Nutrition, Education, Agriculture & Water Resources, Financial Inclusion and Skill Development and Basic Infrastructure which have an impact on Human Development Index.

    Weightage has been accorded to these districts as below:

    • Health & Nutrition (30%)
    • Education (30%)
    • Agriculture & Water Resources (20%)
    • Financial Inclusion & Skill Development (10%)
    • Basic Infrastructure (10%)

  • [pib] Sub-Mission on Agricultural Mechanization (SMAM)

    To empower the farmers through the Sub-Mission on Agricultural Mechanization (SMAM) scheme, the government has released funds for various activities of Farm Mechanization.

    Sub-Mission on Agricultural Mechanization (SMAM)

    • The Agri ministry has launched this mission in 2014-15 with the objectives of increasing the reach of farm mechanization to small and marginal farmers and to the regions & difficult areas where farm power availability is low.
    • Under this scheme, it has been proposed to established Village Level farm Machinery Bank (VLFMB), Custom Hiring Centres (CHC) and High Tech Hubs (HTH) in order to facilitate easy availability of farm implements and machinery for hire by farmers.

    Why need such a scheme?

    • Agricultural Mechanization plays a vital role in optimizing the use of land, water energy resources, manpower and other inputs like seeds, fertilizers, pesticides etc to maximize the productivity of the available cultivable area and make agriculture a more profitable and attractive profession for rural youth.
    • It is one of the key drivers for the sustainable development of the agriculture sector.
    • Sustainable Agriculture mechanization growth will require appropriate and precision agricultural machinery adequately supported by the latest technology.

  • What Centre must do to meet the economic challenges

    The article takes an overview of the fiscal and monetary challenges posed by the second covid wave and suggest ensuring the availability of liquidity.

    GDP projections need to be re-examined

    •  According to NSO’s provisional estimates for 2020-21, the annual contraction in real GDP turned out to be 7.3 per cent.
    • The erstwhile GDP growth projections for 2021-22 are being re-examined to take into account the adverse impact of the second wave of the pandemic.
    • The RBI has revised down its 2021-22 real GDP growth forecast to 9.5 per cent.
    • Some other recent estimates (ICRA) indicate the feasibility of a 9 per cent growth.
    •  It is also important to consider nominal GDP growth for 2021-22 since that would be a critical determinant of fiscal prospects. 
    • In the light of supply-side and cost-push pressures, the RBI has projected CPI inflation at 5.1 per cent.
    • The nominal GDP growth may be projected at 13.4 per cent, that is, 1 percentage point lower than Centre’s budget assumption of 14.4 per cent.

    Fiscal aggregates

    • The Controller General of Accounts’ data indicate a gross tax revenues (GTR) of Rs 20.2 lakh crore and net tax revenue of Rs 14.2 lakh crore for 2020-21. 
    • The likely growth in GTR for 2021-22 may be derived by applying a buoyancy of 0.9.
    • This gives a tax revenue growth of 12 per cent, translating that to projected gross and net tax revenues for 2021-22 would mean Rs 22.7 lakh crore and Rs 15.8 lakh crore respectively. 
    • This implies some additional net tax revenues to the Centre amounting to Rs 0.35 lakh crore as compared to the budgeted magnitudes.
    • The main expected shortfall may still be in non-tax revenues and non-debt capital receipts.
    • According to the CGA numbers, their 2020-21 levels are respectively Rs 2.1 lakh crore and Rs 0.57 lakh crore.
    • Applying a growth rate of 15 per cent on these, a shortfall in 2021-22 to the tune of Rs 1.3 lakh crore may arise in non-tax revenues and non-debt capital receipts.

    So, how much would be the Fiscal Deficit?

    • The growth rates of non-tax revenues and and non-debt capital receipts average to a little lower than 15 per cent during the five years preceding 2020-21.
    • In any case, the large budgeted growth of 304 per cent in non-debt capital receipts for 2021-22 seems quite unlikely because of the challenges posed by the second wave.
    • Taking into account RBI’s recently announced dividend of Rs 0.99 lakh crore to the Centre, the main shortfall may be in non-debt capital receipts.
    • Together, the overall shortfall in total non-debt receipts may be limited to about Rs 0.9 lakh crore, or 0.4 per cent of estimated nominal GDP.
    • This indicates that a slippage, if any, in the budgeted fiscal deficit of 6.7 per cent of GDP, as revised in view of the recently released GDP data, could be a limited one.

    Way forward: Prioritise three heads

    • First, an increase in the provision for income support measures for the vulnerable rural and urban population.
    • Second, in light of the recent decision, the budgeted expenditure on vaccination of Rs 0.35 lakh crore ought to be augmented, at the very least, doubled.
    • Third, additional capital expenditure for select sectors, particularly healthcare, should also be provided for.
    • Together these additional expenditures would amount to Rs 1.7 lakh crore, about 0.8 per cent of the estimated nominal GDP.
    • Thus, we need to plan for a fiscal deficit of about 7.9 per cent of GDP.

    Borrowing programme would need RBIs support

    • The Centre has announced borrowings of Rs 1.6 lakh crore to meet the shortfall in the GST compensation cess.
    • Given the higher fiscal deficit, it would need to add to its borrowing programme another Rs 2.6 lakh crore, taking the total borrowing, including GST compensation, to about Rs 16.3 lakh crore, from Rs 12.05 lakh crore now.
    • Borrowing by states would be in addition to this.
    • The net result will be an unprecedented borrowing programme by the Centre which may require RBI’s support.
    • RBI is injecting liquidity into the system through various channels.
    • Banks have sufficient liquidity to subscribe to new debt.
    • This is indirect monetisation of debt.
    • This is not new, but the scale is much higher.
    • Direct monetisation is best avoided.
    • The success of the borrowing programme of the Centre depends on the support provided by the RBI.
    • The support need not be direct.
    • It can be indirect as is currently happening. RBI is injecting liquidity into the system in a big way.
    • Despite this, the money multiplier is low.
    • This may be attributed to two reasons: Low credit expansion and larger leakage in the form of currency.
    • The potential for money supply growth is large.
    • The discussion in the monetary policy statement on inflation is focused entirely on supply availability and bottlenecks in the distribution of commodities.
    • The output gap is certainly relevant.
    • But equally relevant in an analysis of inflation is liquidity in the system, and its impact on output and prices with lags.
    • The injection of liquidity has its limits.

    Conclusion

    With higher expenditure, financed through borrowings, the impact of liquidity expansion on inflation needs to be monitored.

  • US, UK seek to sign New Atlantic Charter

    US President Joe Biden and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson seeks to sign a new Atlantic Charter.

    What is Atlantic Charter?

    • The Atlantic Charter was a statement issued on 14 August 1941 that set out American and British goals for the world after the end of World War II.
    • The charter’s adherents signed the Declaration by United Nations on 1 January 1942, which was the basis for the modern United Nations.
    • The charter inspired several other international agreements and events that followed the end of the war.
    • The dismantling of the British Empire, the formation of NATO, and the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) all derived from the Atlantic Charter.

    Why sign new charter?

    • At their meeting, the two leaders plan to sign what they’re calling a new Atlantic Charter, pledging to “defend the principles, values, and institutions of democracy and open societies.”
    • US hopes to reassure European allies that the US had shed the transactional tendencies of Donald Trump’s term and is a reliable partner again.
    • The US staunchly opposed the Brexit movement, the British exodus from the European Union that Mr. Johnson championed, and has expressed great concern with the future of Northern Ireland.
    • Biden once called the British leader a “physical and emotional clone” of Trump.

  • CHIME Telescope

    Scientists with the Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment (CHIME) Collaboration have assembled the largest collection of fast radio bursts (FRBs) in the telescope’s first FRB catalog.

    CHIME Telescope

    • CHIME is an interferometric radio telescope at the Dominion Radio Astrophysical Observatory in British Columbia, Canada.
    • It consists of four antennas consisting of 100 x 20-meter cylindrical parabolic reflectors with 1024 dual-polarization radio receivers suspended on support above them.
    • The telescope receives radio signals each day from half of the sky as the Earth rotates.
    • While most radio astronomy is done by swiveling a large dish to focus light from different parts of the sky, CHIME stares, motionless, at the sky, and focuses incoming signals using a correlator.
    • This is a powerful digital signal processor that can work through huge amounts of data, at a rate of about seven terrabytes per second, equivalent to a few percent of the world’s Internet traffic.

    What are FRBs?

    • FRBs are oddly bright flashes of light, registering in the radio band of the electromagnetic spectrum, which blaze for a few milliseconds before vanishing without a trace.
    • These brief and mysterious beacons have been spotted in various and distant parts of the universe, as well as in our own galaxy.
    • Their origins are unknown and their appearance is highly unpredictable.
    • But the advent of the CHIME project has nearly quadrupled the number of fast radio bursts discovered to date.
    • With more observations, astronomers hope soon to pin down the extreme origins of these curiously bright signals.

  • [pib] All India Survey on Higher Education (AISHE) 2019-20

    Union Education Minister has announced the release of the report of All India Survey on Higher Education (AISHE) 2019-20.

    This newscard provides useful data about the state of higher education in India on various parameters. Such data should not be missed while substantiating any point in answer writing.

    About AISHE

    • AISHE was established by the Ministry of HRD for conducting an annual web-based survey, thereby portraying the status of higher education in the country.
    • The survey is conducted for all educational institutions in India on many categories like teachers, student enrolment, programs, examination results, education finance, and infrastructure.
    • This survey is used to make informed policy decisions and research for the development of the education sector.
    • This Report provides key performance indicators on the current status of Higher education in the country.

    Highlights of the 2019-20 Report

    (1) Total Enrolment

    (2) Gross Enrolment Ratio

    (3) Gender Parity Index (GPI)

    • GPI in Higher Education in 2019-20 is 1.01 against 1.00 in 2018-19 indicating an improvement in the relative access to higher education for females of eligible age group compared to males.

    (4) Pupil-Teacher Ratio

     

    • TPR in Higher Education in 2019-20 is 26. In 2019-20: Universities: 1,043(2%); Colleges: 42,343(77%) and stand-alone institutions: 11,779(21%).

    (5) Enrolment in higher education

    • 38 crore Students enrolled in programs at under-graduate and post-graduate levels.
    • Out of these, nearly 85% of the students (2.85 crore) were enrolled in the six major disciplines such as Humanities, Science, Commerce, Engineering & Technology, Medical Science and IT & Computer.

    (6) Doctorate pursuance

    • The number of students pursuing PhD in 2019-20 is 2.03 lakh against 1.17 lakh in 2014-15.

    (7) Total number of teachers

    • The Total Number of Teachers stands at 15,03,156 comprising of 57.5% male and 42.5% female.

  • South Asia’s healthcare burden

    The article contrasts the public healthcare system in South Asian countries with that of their Southeast Asian peers and highlights the shortcomings.

    Subpar public healthcare system

    • Super spreader events, a fragile health infrastructure neglected for decades, citizens not following health protocols, and logistical mismanagement were the factors responsible for the destruction in the second Covid-19 wave.
    • What has exacerbated the situation is a subpar public healthcare system running on a meagre contribution of a little over 1% of India’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
    • While the private medical sector is booming, the public healthcare sector has been operating at a pitiful 0.08 doctors per 1,000 people, World Health Organization’s (WHO) prescribed standard ois1:1000.
    • India has only half a bed available for every 1,000 people, which is a deficient figure even for normal days.
    • Bangladesh and Pakistan fare no better, with a bed to patient ratio of 0.8 and 0.6, respectively, and a doctor availability of less than one for every 1,000 people.
    • While ideally, out-of-pocket expenditure should not surpass 15% to 20% of the total health expenditure, for India, Bangladesh and Pakistan, this figure stands at an appalling 62.67%, 73.87% and 56.24%, respectively.

    Lack of investment in healthcare

    • Major public sector investments by the ‘big three’ of South Asia, i.e., India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh, are towards infrastructure and defence, with health taking a backseat.
    • While India has the world’s third-largest military expenditure, its health budget is the fourth-lowest.
    • Indian government in this year’s budget highlighted an increase of 137% in health and well-being expenditure, a closer look reveals a mismatch between facts and figures.
    • In Pakistan, even amidst the pandemic, the defence budget was increased while the spending on health remained around $151 million.
    • Not too far behind is Bangladesh, with decades of underfunding culminating in a crumbling public healthcare system.
    • Major public sector investments by the ‘big three’ of South Asia, i.e., India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh, are towards infrastructure and defence, with health taking a backseat.
    • A quick look at pre-pandemic sectoral allocations explains the chronically low status of human development indicators in the three countries.

    Learning from Southeast Asia

    • Southeast Asia has prioritised investments in healthcare systems while broadening equitable access through universal health coverage schemes.
    • Vietnam’s preventive measures focused on investments in disease surveillance and emergency response mechanisms.
    • Even countries like Laos and Cambodia are making a constant effort towards improving the healthcare ecosystem.
    • All have done much better than their South Asian peers.

    Conclusion

    Learning from the devastation unleashed by the pandemic, South Asian countries must step up investment in their public healthcare sectors to make them sustainable, up to date and pro-poor; most importantly, the system should not turn its back on citizens.

  • Holding states to account

    The article highlights the excessive focus on the Union government and the lack of scrutiny of the functioning of the States in various areas.

    Need for focus on the States

    • In discussions on reforms or debates about public expenditure, there is an excessive focus on the Union government.
    • This focus reflects our mindset that there is a “Centre”, though constitutionally, there is no “Centre”. There is the Union government.
    • There is not as much interest in State Finance Commissions and their recommendations as it is in the Union Finance Commission’s recommendations.
    • Alternatively, there is limited scrutiny of state-level expenditure, or fiscal devolution and decentralisation of decision-making within states, or tracking functioning of state legislatures.
    • Most factor markets we seek to reform are on the concurrent list or the state list.

    The Annual Review of State Laws 2020: Key findings

    • PRS Legislative Research published this report and it focuses on the legislative work performed by states in the calendar year 2020.
    • The annual review has been done in the pandemic year as 2020 saw the first wave of the pandemic.
    • It covers 19 state legislatures, including the Union territory of Delhi, which together accounts for 90 per cent of the population of the country.

    1) Low Productivity

    • As a benchmark, the Parliament met for 33 days in 2020.
    • Pre-2020, these 19 states met for an average of 29 days a year.
    • In 2020, they met for an average of 18 days.
    • When they met in 2020, States passed an average of 22 Bills (excluding Appropriation Bills).
    • Karnataka passed 61 Bills, the highest in the country.
    • The lowest was Delhi which passed one Bill, followed by West Bengal and Kerala, which passed two and three Bills respectively.

    2) States pass Bills without scrutiny

    • The report states that the State legislatures pass most Bills without detailed scrutiny.
    • In 2020, 59 per cent of the Bills were passed on the same day that they were introduced in the legislature.
    • A further 14 per cent were passed within a day of being introduced.
    • In Parliament, Bills are often referred to Parliamentary Standing Committees for detailed examination.
    • In most states, such committees are non-existent.

    3) Information not shared by the legislature

    • Information and data on state legislatures is not easily available.
    • While some state legislatures publish data on a regular basis, many do not have a systematic way of reporting legislative proceedings and business.”
    • Typically, information becomes available when countervailing pressure is generated.
    • Reports like this help to do that.

    Consider the question “In discussions on reforms, or debates about public expenditure, there is an excessive focus on the Union government. However, on reforms and public expenditures, we also need to focus on scrutinising the states”. Comment.

     

    Conclusion

    Scrutinising States on various areas of their functioning is important to hold them accountable. The availability of data from state legislatures is an opportunity to monitor them better.