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GS Paper: GS3

  • India’s first indigenous Bio-Sample Collection Kit: mWRAPR

    The Indian Institute of Science (IISc.) led start-up has launched mWRAPR, a biological transport and storage medium for genomic sequencing labs, biobanks, and research labs handling biological samples for molecular analysis.

    mWRAPR

    • It is India’s first indigenous bio-sample kit, a biological transport and storage medium.
    • It would help in preserving genetic content in all types of biological samples, including microbiomes, saliva, cells, tissues, blood, body fluids, and fecal tubes.
    • It is the only Molecular Transport Medium to be manufactured in India that competes with sample stabilisation and transporting media of notable foreign brands.

    Significance

    • The disruptions in global supply chain limits accessibility to materials for molecular diagnostics.
    • India required to move to molecular tests (PCR/ RT-PCR test), but sample collection kits currently used were very cheap and not of molecular grade.
    • RNA WRAPR is the kind of molecular grade sample collection medium that India needs right now.

     

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  • Revamped Distribution Sector Reform Scheme (RDSS)

    Context

    Launched in July 2021, the Revamped Distribution Sector Reform Scheme (RDSS) is the latest of many central government grant-based programmes towards electricity distribution network investments.

     RDSS overview

    • Revamped Distribution Sector Reform Scheme (RDSS) has an outlay of Rs 3 lakh crore for five years.
    • Half of the outlay is for better feeder and transformer metering and pre-paid smart consumer metering.
    • The remaining half, 60 percent of which will be funded by central government grants, will be spent on power loss reduction and strengthening networks.
    • RDSS stipulates universal pre-paid metering but post-paid options may be suitable in many contexts.
    • RDSS suggested measures such as privatization and franchisee adoption.

    Legacy design issues in RDSS

    • Design issues: Complex processes and conditions for fund disbursal: Only 60 percent of the total Rs 2.5 lakh crore grants allocated in past schemes were disbursed.
    • Lack of review and regulatory oversight: Lack of public review and regulatory oversight in states is another issue.
    • Prescriptive approach: The prescriptive approach of the scheme design impedes effective implementation. For example, RDSS emphasizes loss reduction investments over system strengthening.
    • However, high losses are typically connected to sustained poor quality service which, in turn, is affected by inadequate investment in system strengthening.

    Opportunities for discoms under RDSS

    1] Strengthen rural networks

    • It is important to strengthen rural networks to meet growing demand.
    • In the past decade, 4.9 crore poor households have been electrified and more than Rs 50,000 crore has been invested in rural networks.
    • However, actual investments have been much less than planned.
    • Transformer and sub-station capacities were designed to meet the minimal demand assuming few lights, fans, and TV.
    • Increased supply hours, appliance usage, and the needs of rural enterprises will need more network investment.
    • Without this, the risk of power outages is high.
    • The RDSS system’s strengthening plans can focus on this challenge.

    2] Opportunity to provide reliable supply and reduce subsidy requirements for agriculture

    • About 25 percent of electricity sales is to be highly subsidized, agricultural consumers who also receive an erratic, poor quality supply.
    • Under the national KUSUM scheme, day-time, low-cost supply can be provided to a large number of farmers by installing megawatt scale solar plants.
    • For this to work, separate feeders for agricultural consumers are needed. RDSS prioritizes investments and grants towards dedicated agricultural feeders to accelerate feeder solarisation.
    • States must leverage this grant support to provide reliable supply and reduce subsidy requirements.

    3] Automatic metering of distribution feeders

    • Often, discoms under-estimate losses by over-estimating unmetered consumption in a bid to demonstrate loss reduction.
    • For greater veracity, all feeders must be equipped with meters capable of communicating readings without manual intervention.
    • States should leverage RDSS’s emphasis on automatic meter reading for this.

    4] Smart metering

    • RDSS prescribes a phase-wise roll-out of consumer smart meters, starting with commercial and industrial consumers and urban areas.
    • Such an approach provides states with an opportunity to understand implementation issues, adopt suitable strategies for metering and evolve frameworks for assessing benefits vis-a-vis the costs.

    5] Network for charging EVs

    • Discoms can avail 60 percent of grants under RDSS for network investments required to address the demand of charging infrastructure for electric vehicles.
    • This can accelerate a shift away from petrol and diesel fuels.

    Way forward

    • Flexibility: To leverage various opportunities, states must emphasize the need for flexibility in prioritizing investments in their action plans.
    • Central government agencies should also be flexible in the monitoring, tracking, and fund disbursal mechanisms.
    • Accelerated implementation: This should be accompanied by state-level commitments towards accelerated but deliberate implementation.

    Conclusion

    Despite the challenges, there are opportunities for discoms under RDSS. However, without these efforts, despite its potential, RDSS will likely be important but limited in its impact, like its predecessors.

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  • What are Artificial Neural Networks (ANN)?

    This newscard is an excerpt from the original article published in TH.

    What are ANN?

    • The concept behind an ANN is to define inputs and outputs, feed pieces of inputs to computer programs that function like neurons and make inferences or calculations.
    • It then forwards those results to another layer of computer programs and so on, until a result is obtained.
    • As part of this neural network, a difference between intended output and input is computed at each layer and this difference is used to tune the parameters to each program.
    • This method is called back-propagation and is an essential component to the Neural Network.

    Setting up of ANNs

    • Instead of CPUs, Graphic Processing Units (GPU) which are good at performing massive parallel tasks can be used for setting up ANNs.
    • A few free ANN frameworks are TensorFlow, Keras, PyTorch and Theano.
    • These can be used for both normal Machine Learning tasks like classification or clustering and for Deep Learning/ANN tasks.

    Why called Neural Network?

    • Neuron is the building block of the brain and it inspired computer scientists from the 1950s to make a computer perform tasks like a brain does.
    • It is not a simple problem and the clue to its complexity is in the brain structure.

    Why ANN?

    Ans. Making an artificial brain

    • We need billions of artificial neurons if we were to build an artificial brain.
    • With the increase in computing power, mimicking billions of neurons is now possible.

    Popularity of ANNs

    • Data Science, used interchangeably with Machine Learning, is the computer technology that uses data to detect patterns.
    • Hand-written digit recognition is a good example of machine learning.
    • However, in order for the computer to do this task, large amounts of sample data need to be manually labelled as examples of images of digits.
    • The ANN mentioned above with its backpropagation does exactly this.
    • This is why ANNs have become hugely popular in the past decade. This approach of using neural networks of many layers to automatically detect patterns and parameters is called Deep Learning.

     

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  • What is Havana Syndrome?

    A recent US intelligence report says that ‘Havana Syndrome’ —a collection of symptoms and related brain injuries, reported by some US officials could be caused by pulsed electromagnetic energy or close-range ultrasound.

    What is Havana Syndrome?

    • ‘Havana Syndrome’ is a colloquial name given to a set of symptoms such as dizziness, hearing loss, headaches, vertigo, nausea, memory loss and possible brain injuries.
    • It was first reported by 16 American Embassy staff and their family members in Havana, Cuba, in 2016-17.
    • There have been other instances of the phenomenon, which has mostly impacted US officials.

    What did the latest investigation find?

    • Such cases have been caused by pulsed electromagnetic energy in the radio frequency.
    • The results of the investigation did not point to who may have been behind the phenomenon, nor commented on their motivations.
    • A partially redacted report summary finds that the symptoms of AHI are “genuine and compelling.”

    What can be the other reasons?

    • Psychosocial factors alone do not explain the core characteristics, the report finds, although they may cause other incidents or contribute to long-term effects.
    • These other incidents could occur via hyper-vigilance or reactions to stress especially among individuals who are security-oriented.

     

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  • Places in news: Basai Wetlands

    The Basai Wetlands in Gurugram has shrunk to a quarter of its original size over the years.

    Basai Wetlands

    • Basai wetland, located in Basai village in Gurgaon Haryana is a flora and fauna rich water body.
    • It lies in one of the paleochannel of the Sahibi River, a tributary of Yamuna which originates from the Aravalli range in Rajasthan and flows through the region.

    Its significance

    • It is recognized as one of India’s Important Bird and Biodiversity Areas and is of global conservation significance.
    • It supports populations of several endangered, vulnerable, and threatened bird species.
    • It is recognized globally as an Important Bird Area (IBA) by the BirdLife International housing 20,000 birds of over 280 species including migratory birds and endangered birds.
    • However, it has not yet been declared a protected wetland by the Government of Haryana.

    Threats

    • Given the accelerated expansion of the city of the future, the wetland continues to disappear under newly laid roads, modern housing constructions and other infrastructure development.
    • An upcoming expressway, cutting through the terrain here, has majorly impacted the flyway of thousands of migratory birds from Europe and Central Asia.

     

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  • Fast-tracking Vande Bharat Express

    Presenting the Union Budget for 2022-23, Finance Minister said 400 new energy-efficient Vande Bharat trains will be introduced in three years.

    What is Vande Bharat Express?

    • The Vande Bharat Express is a semi-high speed train designed, developed, and built by the Integral Coach Factory (ICF).
    • Presently there are only two Vande Bharat trains that are running — Delhi to Varanasi and Delhi to Katra.

    Key Features 

    • The current Vande Bharat trains have seating only in two classes — chair car and executive chair car. But Railways is planning to upgrade it.
    • The trains have fully sealed gangways for a dust-free environment, modular bio-vacuum toilets, rotating seats in Executive Class, personalized reading lights, automatic entry/exit doors with sliding footsteps, diffused LED lighting, mini pantry, and sensor-based interconnecting doors in each coach.
    • They are self-propelled trains that do not require an engine. This feature is called a distributed traction power system, which is increasingly becoming the norm the world over for passenger operations(Distributed power gives the train higher acceleration and deceleration compared to loco-hauled trains, which take a much longer time to reach top speed or to gradually come to a halt).
    • 400 trains announced by the Finance Minister carry a potential investment of Rs 50,000 crore over the next three years, because of different specifications and also, inflation.
    • The current Vande Bharat’s are being made at Rs 106 crore per trainset of 16 cars, at 2018 pricing.

    Benefits of Vande Bharat Trains

    1) Cuts Travel Time Drastically

    2) Energy Efficient

    3) Reduce Turnaround Time

    4) Faster Acceleration and Deceleration among others.

    Why High-speed rail projects are important for India?

    • Improve India’s GDP: According to a study conducted by the London School of Economics and Political Science and the University of Hamburg in 2008, cities that are connected to HSR systems tend to witness a rise in their gross domestic product (GDP) by at least 2.7 percentage points compared to their neighbors that do not have an HSR station. The reason for the differential was improved market access.
    • Role of the trains in India’s development: Being the third-largest network in the world under single management and
      with over 68,102 route km IR strives to provide a safe, efficient, competitive, and world-class transport system.
    • During FY21, IR carried 1.23 billion tonnes of
      freight and 1.25 billion passengers. In addition, despite COVID -19 pandemic revenue earning freight loading (excluding loading by Konkan Railway Corporation Ltd. (KRCL) was 1230.9 million tonnes in 2020-21 as compared to 1208.4 million tonnes during2019-20. Passengers originating were 1250 million in 2020-21 as compared to 8086 million in 2019-20- Economic Survey 2021-22. 
    • Spin-off effect: It is about Rs 40,000 crore business opportunity that would also create 15,000 jobs and several spin-off benefits and act as a stimulus for the development of satellite towns.
    • Boost to ‘Make in India’– it involves only about 15 percent import content which will further go down if production volumes increase.
    • Environmental Benefits: More rail traffic translates to less automobile traffic, and by extension, less highway and city street traffic congestion, reduced air pollution. In addition, less congestion means less wear and tear on the roadways, which means that they require fewer repairs.  According to the International Association of Railways (UIC), high-speed rail is eight times more energy-efficient than airplanes and four times more efficient than automobile use.
    • Social Benefits: High-speed rail can promote a sense of social cohesion among residents, by bringing distant populated areas closer together.
    • Global Experience: The High-Speed Railway has an economic multiplier effect. Since the introduction of the first Shinkansen (literally meaning ‘new main line’) in Japan in 1964, high-speed trains have proven to be an undeniable technological, commercial and popular success. Many countries like the UK, France, Germany, Spain, China, and most recently, the US have adopted the technology.

    Challenges faced by the High-Speed Rail Projects

    • Infrastructure Bottlenecks: India’s railway system is saddled with a two-pronged infrastructure deficit – aging infrastructure and the pace of new project execution struck by unforeseen circumstances related to socio-economic issues on land acquisition for new projects and escalating projects costs.
    • New Technologies: For instance, Hyperloop Transportation Technologies which proposes to make travel as fast as 760 miles per hour, investing a humongous capital on bullet trains seems like an outdated investment.
    • Political Will: The politics of Rail Bhavan and an unwillingness to accept the need for change have derailed the project execution.
    • Short of Investments: For instance, the estimated cost of Mumbai-Ahmedabad HSR is ₹1.1 lakh crore (US$17 billion) which is massively expensive. Though India receives funding from Japan (81%), the power demand and up-gradation of existing infrastructure will be more costly.
    • Social Conflict: Development along the corridor will lead to an increase in urbanization, the fight for resources, and social conflicts due to the labor influx of the workforce.
    • Legal Trouble: While farmers in Maharashtra are protesting on the ground, the farmers in Gujarat led by Gujarat Khedut Samaj (GKS)-  fighting a case in the Gujarat High Court against the land acquisition for the bullet train project.

    Way ahead

    • Stakeholders approach: Politics and Policy have to be in sync for the railway modernization. In order to achieve the target, Railways will have to pool in all resources and multiple stakeholders, including private players to deliver the propulsion system and also carry out the assembling. The Policymakers and administration should give priority to systematic sustainable development work- the convergence of jal, jungle, jameen(water-forest-land is an asset for the Adivasi community). 
    • Regular Monitoring: To ensure the induction of these trains in the shortest time possible, as envisaged by Indian Railways.
    • Technology Transfer: The government has to push for the technology transfer of HSR. This is because there is no mention of the transfer of technology anywhere in the agreement.

    Conclusion

    India aspires to become the third-largest economy in the next 25 years. It has already proven its prowess in the field of space and now is the time for furthering its international stature by joining the exclusive club of nations having a high-speed rail network, however, we should be careful not to confuse leapfrogging technology development with elitism, whether it is mobile phones, satellite launches, regional air connectivity, or high-speed rail. This high-speed rail project will therefore help the Indian Railways to become a global leader in scale, technology, and skill.

     

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  • What is ‘Z’ Category Security?

    A noted Parliamentarian from Hyderabad has rejected the ‘Z’ category security by the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) accorded to him.

    Security Provisions in India

    • In India, security is provided to high-risk individuals by the police and local government.
    • The level of security needed by any individual is decided by the Ministry of Home Affairs, based on inputs received from intelligence agencies which include the IB and R&AW.
    • Individuals such as PM, home minister, and other officials such as the National Security Advisor generally get security cover because of the positions they occupy.
    • In addition to this, persons who are believed to be under threat also receive security cover.

    What is ‘Z’ Category Security?

    In India, the category covers are X, Y, Y-plus, Z, Z-plus, and SPG (Special Protection Group).

    • X Category: The protectee gets one gunman. Protectees in the Y category have one gunman for mobile security and one (plus four on rotation) for static security.
    • Y Plus category: It receives the cover of two gunmen (plus four on rotation) for mobile security, and one (plus four on rotation) for residence security,
    • Z Category: It has six gunmen for mobile security and two (plus 8) for residence security. They get 10 security personnel for mobile security, and two (plus 8) for residence security.
    • Z Plus Category: It is provided by National Security Guard commandos whereas the other category of security is provided by the Delhi police or the ITBP or CRPF personnel.

    What about Special Protection Group (SPG) Cover?

    • The SPG cover is meant only for the PM and his immediate family.
    • After Indira Gandhi was assassinated by her own security guards in 1984, the Rajiv Gandhi government decided to create a special cadre of security personnel for the PM.
    • In March 1985, following the recommendations of a committee set up by the Home Ministry, a special unit was created for this purpose under the Cabinet Secretariat.
    • This unit, initially called the Special Protection Unit, was renamed as Special Protection Group in April 1985.

     

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  • Species in news: Golden Langur

    Neighbours of a golden langur habitat in western Assam’s Bongaigaon district have opposed a move by the State government to upgrade it to a wildlife sanctuary.

    Kajoijana Bamuni Hill Wildlife Sanctuary

    • The Assam Forest Department has issued a preliminary notification for converting the 19.85 sq. km. patch of forest into the Kajoijana Bamuni Hill Wildlife Sanctuary.
    • It is one of the better-known homes of the golden langur (Trachypithecus geei) found only in Assam and Bhutan.

    About Golden Langur

    • Gee’s golden langur (Trachypithecus geei), also known as simply the golden langur, is an Old World monkey.
    • It is found in a small region of Western Assam and in the neighboring foothills of the Black Mountains of Bhutan.
    • Long considered sacred by many Himalayan people, the golden langur was first brought to the attention of the western world by the naturalist Edward Pritchard Gee in the 1950s.
    • Adult males have a cream to golden coat with darker flanks while the females and juveniles are lighter.
    • It has a black face and a long tail up to 50 cm in length.

    Its habitat

    • It lives in high trees and has a herbivorous diet of ripe and unripe fruits, mature and young leaves, seeds, buds and flowers.
    • The average group size is eight individuals, with a ratio of several females to each adult male.
    • It is one of the most endangered primate species of India and Bhutan.

    Distribution

    • Its habitat is bounded on the south by the Brahmaputra River, on the east by the Manas River, on the west by the Sankosh River, in Assam and on the north by the Black Mountains of Bhutan.

    Conservation status

    • IUCN Red List: Endangered
    • CITES: Appendix I
    • Wildlife Protection Act, 1972: Schedule I

     

    Try this question from CSP 2014:

     

    Q. Which one of the following groups of animals belongs to the category of endangered species?

     

    (a) Great Indian Bustard, Musk Deer, Red Panda, Asiatic Wild Ass

    (b) Kashmir Stag, Cheetah, Blue Bull, Great Indian Bustard

    (c) Snow Leopard, Swamp Deer, Rhesus Monkey, Saras (Crane)

    (d) Lion Tailed Macaque, Blue Bull, Hanuman Langur, Cheetah

     

    [wpdiscuz-feedback id=”5b66kfytn5″ question=”Please leave a feedback on this” opened=”1″]Post your answers here.[/wpdiscuz-feedback]

     

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  • Fiscal management during a pandemic

    Context

    The fiscal deficit for the year 2022-23 is higher than what was recommended by the Fifteenth Finance Commission. However, if we consider the direction of consolidation, it is towards a reduction in the fiscal deficit.

    The budget focuses on capital investment

    • This year’s Union budget projects an increase in capex by Rs 3.14 lakh crore, as compared to the budgeted numbers of the previous fiscal.
    • Given the economy’s savings-investment profile and macroeconomic uncertainties due to the pandemic, private and household investments are likely to be reactive to the general economic environment.
    • Achieving sustainable recovery: For the government, making capital investment in such uncertain times assumes a much higher priority and is equally indispensable for achieving a strong and sustainable recovery from the pandemic.
    • Increasing share of government: As per National Accounts data, gross fixed capital formation by the general government (Centre and states) has shown an increase as a percentage of GDP from 3.48 in 2011-12 to 3.82 in 2019-20, while other sectors, particularly households, the share fell from 15.75 per cent to 11.39 per cent during the same period.
    • The fiscal stance taken in the post-pandemic budgets for higher capital spending, including the budget of 2022-23, is likely to further enhance the general government share in overall capital formation. 
    • Important role of the States: it is also important to recognise that two-thirds of the general government’s capital expenditure is undertaken by states and in this context, the announcement of the Rs 1 lakh crore interest-free loans to the states to increase public investment has been a significant step.
    •  Since states taken together have a higher share in the country’s public capital spending, effective absorption of this additional borrowing facility will be critical for higher public investment.

    Three broad trends on Fiscal Consolidation

    • 1] Increase in taxes: The increase in taxes by Rs 5.71 lakh crore between 2020-21 (the first year of the pandemic) and 2022-23 shows that the fiscal challenges have eased, but remain present as we navigate economic recovery in uncertain times.
    • 2] Reduction in revenue deficit: Between 2020-21 and 2022-23 (BE), the reduction in revenue deficit has been substantial — from 7.3 per cent to 3.8 per cent of GDP.
    • 3] Revenue deficit dominates fiscal deficit: Compositionally, revenue deficit continues to be more than 55 per cent of the fiscal deficit and the management of such a deficit has few important considerations for revenue expenditure, that is, interest payments and allocation under various centrally sponsored and central sector schemes.
    • Role of CSS in revenue deficit: Aggregate allocation under centrally sponsored and central sector schemes (CSS) as per the 2022-23 (BE) is Rs 3.83 lakh crore and the interest payment cost of the Union government is Rs 9.56 lakh crore.
    • Beyond scheme-wise allocations, it is also important to consider CSS allocation as an issue of macro-fiscal management issue at the Union and state level, especially when it is contributing to the high revenue deficit of the central government and binding state resources for matching contribution, thereby increasing states’ deficit.

    Understanding the direction of fiscal consolidation

    • The fiscal deficit for the year 2022-23 is higher than what was recommended by the Fifteenth Finance Commission.
    • However, if we consider the direction of consolidation, it is towards a reduction in the fiscal deficit.
    • Though in the medium-term, the fiscal story is about supporting recovery, it is also true that there is no “one-size-fits-all” solution to fiscal consolidation and debt sustainability. 

    Conclusion

    The direction of fiscal consolidation rather than a specific quantified path in an unprecedented time like this is probably the most appropriate consideration.

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  • Chandrayaan-3 set for launch in August

    ISRO plans to execute the Chandrayaan-3 mission in August this year.

    What is Chandrayaan-3 Mission?

    • The Chandrayaan-3 mission is a follow-up of Chandrayaan-2 of July 2019, which aimed to land a rover on the lunar South Pole.

    Chandrayaan-2: A quick recap

    • Chandrayaan-2 consisted of an Orbiter, Lander and Rover, all equipped with scientific instruments to study the moon.
    • The Orbiter would watch the moon from a 100-km orbit, while the Lander and Rover modules were to be separated to make a soft landing on the moon’s surface.
    • ISRO had named the Lander module as Vikram, after Vikram Sarabhai, the pioneer of India’s space programme, and the Rover module as Pragyaan, meaning wisdom.

    Utility of the Orbiter

    • The Orbiter part of the mission has been functioning normally. It is carrying eight instruments.
    • Each of these instruments has produced a handsome amount of data that sheds new light on the moon and offers insights that could be used in further exploration.

    Inception of Chandrayaan 3

    • The subsequent failure of the Vikram lander led to the pursuit of another mission to demonstrate the landing capabilities needed for the Lunar Polar Exploration Mission proposed in partnership with Japan for 2024.

    Its design

    • The lander for Chandrayaan-3 will have only four throttle-able engines.
    • Unlike Vikram on Chandrayaan-2 which had five 800N engines with a fifth one being centrally mounted with a fixed thrust.
    • Additionally, the Chandrayaan-3 lander will be equipped with a Laser Doppler Velocimeter (LDV).

    Back2Basics: Chandrayaan-1 Mission

    • The Chandrayaan-1 mission was launched in October 2008 was ISRO’s first exploratory mission to the moon, in fact to any heavenly body in space.
    • The mission was designed to just orbit around the moon and make observations with the help of the instruments onboard.
    • The closest that Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft came to the moon was in an orbit 100 km from its surface.

     

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