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GS Paper: GS3

  • What are Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs)?

    A French luxury fashion brand is suing American digital artist who created a series of NFTs (Non-Fungible Tokens), a rapidly growing part of the cryptoworld.

    Non-Fungible Tokens

    • An NFT is a unique, irreplaceable token that can be used to prove ownership of digital assets such as music, artwork, even tweets and memes.
    • The term ‘non-fungible’ simply means that each token is different as opposed to a fungible currency such as money (a ten-rupee note can be exchanged for another and so on).
    • Cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum are also fungible, which means that one Bitcoin can be exchanged for another.
    • But an NFT cannot be exchanged for another NFT because the two are different and therefore unique.
    • Each token has a different value, depending on which asset it represents.

    How does NFT transaction take place?

    • NFT transactions are recorded on blockchains, which is a digital public ledger, with most NFTs being a part of the Ethereum blockchain.
    • NFTs became popular in 2021, when they were beginning to be seen by artists as a convenient way to monetize their work.

    Why are they in high demand?

    • One of the other attractions is that NFTs are a part of a new kind of financial system called decentralized finance (DeFi), which does away with the involvement of institutions such as banks.
    • For this reason, decentralized finance is seen as a more democratic financial system because it makes access to capital easier for lay people by essentially eliminating the role of banks and other associated institutions.
    • Even so, because NFTs operate in a decentralized system, any person can sell a digital asset as one.
    • This can sometimes create problems. For instance, if you were to sell someone else’s artwork as an NFT, you could essentially be infringing on a copyright.

     

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  • [pib] One District One Product (ODOP) Initiative

    As a major boost to Centre and State collaboration in promoting products under the ODOP Initiative – a State Conference was recently held by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT).

    One District One Product (ODOP)

    • ODOP spearheaded by the Uttar Pradesh government in 2018, is an important initiative that is being adopted all over India to realize the true potential of each district.
    • ODOP is an initiative which is seen as a transformational step forward towards realizing the true potential of a district, fuel economic growth and generates employment and rural entrepreneurship.
    • It is operationally merged with ‘Districts as Export Hub’ initiative being implemented by DPIIT as a major stakeholder.
    • The main philosophy is to select, brand and promote one product from each district of India that has a specific characteristic feature to enable profitable trade in that product and generate employment.

    Why need this scheme?

    • India is home to several agricultural and non-agricultural (including manufacturing) products that are region-specific.
    • Every district has products that are unique and provide livelihoods and generate income.
    • This scheme is in tune with the PM’s call to transform every district into an export hub and realize the goal of Atmanirbhar Bharat.

    What needs to be done for its success?

    The important aspect that the policy initiatives in India should thus be mindful of are:

    • Ownership of the initiative should lie at the center of implementation.
    • The stakeholders irrespective of the sector along the value chain need to be identified and provided information and awareness.
    • It is important to streamline other initiatives such as registration of Geographical Indications (GI), formation and development of farmer producer organizations etc.

     

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  • [pib] Sela Pass Tunnel Project

    The final blast for the 980-metre long Sela Tunnel was recently conducted by the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) amidst inclement weather and heavy snowfall.

    Sela Pass Tunnel Project

    • The tunnel covers a total distance of 12.04 kms which consist of two tunnels of 1790 metres and 475 meters.
    • It is being built at an estimated cost of ₹687 crores by the Border Roads Organisation.
    • It aims to provide all weather connectivity to Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh — an area claimed entirely by China — and other forward areas.
    • Once built it will cut travel time to Tawang by at least an hour for Indian troops stationed in adjoining Assam’s Tezpur town — the headquarters of the Indian army’s IV Corps.

    Strategic Importance

    • The lack of motorable roads and rail connections in India’s northeast and Arunachal Pradesh in particular were seen as distinct disadvantages for India vis a vis China in the region.
    • Analysts had been warning of China building infrastructure including access roads right up to the Indian border that would give it a strategic advantage in any conflict with India.
    • Once completed this would result in all weather connectivity to Tawang and forward areas and reduction in more than one hour of travelling time from Tezpur to Tawang.

     

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  • A chance to support growth, fiscal consolidation

    Context

    The adverse effect of the third wave of COVID-19, which is mainly affecting the last quarter of 2021-22, may call for a further downward adjustment in the growth rate to about 9%.

    Growth in FY 2021-22

    •  As per the NSO’s advance estimates, at the end of 2021-22, the magnitude of GDP in real terms is estimated at INR₹147.5-lakh crore that is only a shade higher than INR₹145.7-lakh crore in 2019-20.
    • Thus, due to the three waves of COVID-19 that India has experienced, two years of real growth in economic activities have been wiped out. 
    • As per the advance estimates, the gross fixed capital formation (GFCF) relative to GDP at current prices stands at 29.6% in 2021-22.
    • Capacity utilisation in India continues to have considerable slack.
    • Private final consumption expenditure (PFCE) also shows a low growth of 6.9% in 2021-22.
    • Any pick-up in demand would continue to be constrained by low-income growth in sectors characterised by a high marginal propensity to consume (MPC) such as the trade, transport, et al. sector and the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise (MSME) sector more broadly.
    • It may thus be prudent to expect a real GDP growth in the range of 6%-7%.
    • Growth in 2022-23 would also continue to be constrained by supply-side bottlenecks and high prices of global crude and primary products.
    • Growth in 2022-23 would depend on the basic determinants such as the saving and investment rates in the economy.

    Suggestions

    • Extend GST compensation period: The GST compensation provision would also come to an end in June 2022.
    • This would cause a major revenue shock at least for some States such as Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Andhra Pradesh.
    • While this matter may be considered by the GST Council, the compensation arrangement should be extended by two years in some modified form.
    • With respect to non-tax receipts, the scope of the National Monetization Pipeline (NMP) may be extended to cover monetisation of government-owned land assets.
    • Disinvestment initiatives may have to be accelerated.
    • Expenditure prioritisation in 2022-23 should focus on reviving both consumption and investment demand.
    • Urban counterpart to MGNREGA: Since consumption demand remains weak, some fiscal support in the form of an urban counterpart to Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) may be considered.

    Focusing on fiscal consolidation

    • It would be appropriate now to consider a graduated return to fiscal consolidation while using fiscal policy to lay the base for faster growth in the years to come.
    • The Fifteenth Finance Commission had suggested a fiscal consolidation path where the Centre’s fiscal deficit was benchmarked at 5.5% of GDP for 2022-23.
    • In their pessimistic scenario, it was kept at 6% of GDP. 
    • It may be prudent to limit the reduction in fiscal deficit-GDP ratio to about 1% point of GDP in 2022-23.
    • This would imply a fiscal deficit in the range of 5.5%-6% of GDP.
    • From here on, a stepwise reduction of 0.5% points per year would enable a level of about 4% of GDP by 2025-26.
    • By this time, as suggested by the Fifteenth Finance Commission, a high-powered inter-governmental group should be constituted to re-examine the sustainability parameters of debt and fiscal deficit of the central and state governments.

    Conclusion

    Expenditure prioritisation in 2022-23 should focus on reviving both consumption and investment demand while aiming for the gradual return to the fiscal consolidation.

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  • A proposal for Indian Environmental Service

    The Supreme Court has asked the Government if it will create an Indian Environmental Service (IES) as recommended by a committee headed by former Cabinet secretary T.S.R Subramanian in 2014.

    Why is the IES debate back in the news?

    • The Supreme Court was responding to a petition whose counsel pointed out that the matters of environment required special expertise.
    • Currently, matters of environmental regulation rest on scientists of the Ministry of Environment and Forests as well as bureaucrats from the Indian Administrative Services (IAS).
    • The apex court expressed reluctance at getting into administrative matters of the Government but nevertheless asked the Centre if it expects to go about constituting such a mechanism.

    TSR Subramanian Committee Report on Environment

    • The Subramanian committee was set up in August 2014 to review the country’s green laws and the procedures followed by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC).
    • It suggested several amendments to align with the Government’s economic development agenda.
    • The report had suggested amendments to almost all green laws, including those relating to the environment, forest, wildlife and coastal zone clearances.
    • The committee suggested that another committee, with more expertise and time, be constituted to review the environmental laws.

    Key recommendations

    (a) Establishment of Environment Management Authorities

    • The report proposed an ‘Environmental Laws (Management) Act’ (ELMA), that envisioned full-time expert bodies to be constituted at the Central and State levels respectively:
    1. National Environmental Management Authority (NEMA)
    2. State Environmental Management Authority (SEMA)

    (b) Project clearances

    • These authorities evaluate project clearance (using technology and expertise), in a time bound manner, providing for single-window clearance.
    • It suggested a “fast track” procedure for “linear” projects (roads, railways and transmission lines), power and mining projects and for “projects of national importance.”
    • It also suggested an appellate mechanism against the decisions of NEMA/SEMA or MoEF&CC, in respect of project clearance, prescribing a three-month deadline to dispose appeals.

    (c) Expanding Environment Protection Act

    • The Air Act and the Water Act is to be subsumed within the EP Act.
    • The existing Central Pollution Control Board and the State PCBs, which monitor and regulate the conditions imposed on the industries to safeguard environment be integrated into NEMA and SEMA.

    (d) Evaluating Environmental Reconstruction Cost (ERC)

    • The report also recommends that an “ERC” should be assessed for each project on the basis of the damage caused by it to the environment and this should be added into the cost of the project.
    • This cost has to be recovered as a cess or duty from the project proponent during the life of the project.

    (e) Research and Development

    • It proposed the establishment of a National Environment Research institute “on the lines of the Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education”.
    • It would bring in the application of high-end technology in environment governance.

    (f) Establishment of Indian Environment Service (IES)

    • Finally, an Indian Environment Service should be established to recruit qualified and skilled human resource in the environment sector.

    How were the recommendations received?

    • The Centre never formally accepted this report and neither constituted a new committee as recommended by the Parliamentary Standing Committee.
    • The Parliamentary rejected the report on the grounds that it ended up diluting key aspects of environmental legislation designed to protect the environment.
    • However, many of these recommendations are implicitly making their way into the process of environmental regulation.

    Back2Basics: All Indi Services

    • The All India Services (AIS) comprises three civil services: the Indian Administrative Service, the Indian Police Service and the Indian Forest Service.
    • A unique feature of the AIS is that the members of these services are recruited by the centre (Union government in federal polity), but their services are placed under various State cadres.
    • They have the liability to serve both under the State and under the centre.
    • Officers of these three services comply to the All India Services Rules relating to pay, conduct, leave, various allowances etc.
    • The All India Services Act, 1951, provides for the creation of two more All India Services, namely, the Indian Engineering Service and the Indian Medical Service.

     

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  • Kerala gets its first-ever Scientific Bird Atlas

    The Kerala Bird Atlas (KBA), the first-of-its-kind State-level bird atlas in India, has created solid baseline data about the distribution and abundance of bird species across all major habitats, giving an impetus to futuristic studies.

    Kerala Bird Atlas (KBA)

    • The KBA has been prepared based on systematic surveys held twice over 60 days a year during the wet (July to September) and dry (January to March) seasons between 2015 and 2020.
    • It was conducted as a citizen science-driven exercise with the participation of over 1,000 volunteers of the birdwatching community.
    • The KBA accounts for nearly three lakh records of 361 species, including 94 very rare species, 103 rare species, 110 common species, 44 very common species, and 10 most abundant species.
    • It was found that the species count was higher during the dry season than in the wet season while species richness and evenness were higher in the northern and central districts than in the southern districts.

    Significance of KBA

    • The KBA offers authentic, consistent and comparable data through random sampling from the geographical terrain split.
    • It is arguably Asia’s largest bird atlas in terms of geographical extent, sampling effort and species coverage derived from the aggregation of 25,000 checklists.
    • The KBA is considered to be a valuable resource for testing various ecological hypotheses and suggesting science-backed conservation measures.

     

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  • Why India needs a single agency to guard its borders

    Context

    Recent developments warrant a comprehensive review of border management to ensure the all-weather security of our borders.

    What makes India’s border management difficult?

    • India shares land borders with Pakistan, China, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Myanmar, which stretch approximately 15,106 km.
    • In addition, we have an approximately 3,323 km-long LoC with Pakistan, which further extends to the rechristened 110 km stretch of “Actual Ground Position Line” (AGPL) dividing the Siachen glacier region.
    • Further east, we have the 3,488 km LAC with China.
    • We share maritime boundaries with Sri Lanka, Maldives, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Myanmar and Indonesia; we have a 7,683 km coastline and an approximately 2 million sq km exclusive economic zone (EEZ).
    • This makes India’s task more complex than most other countries.

    Multiple agencies securing borders

    • Complexity is accentuated by the fact that along with the army, we have multiple other security agencies — the Central Armed Police Force (CAPF) and the Paramilitary Forces (PMF) — sharing the responsibility.
    • While the army is deployed along the LoC and AGPL, the Border Security Force (BSF) looks after the international border with Pakistan and Bangladesh.
    • Guarding the LAC has been assigned to the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) and Assam Rifles.
    • The Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) is responsible for guarding the borders with Nepal and Bhutan.
    • The Assam Rifles looks after our border with Myanmar.
    • In a nutshell, in addition to the army, we have four agencies guarding borders with six neighbours.
    • Conversely, maritime borders are guarded by a single agency — the Coast Guard.

    Need for review of the border management

    • There is a lack of a coherent policy on training, planning and the conduct of guarding operations among various outfits.
    • Overall coordination is also affected.
    • Our adversary on the western border has often escalated violations by resorting to the prolonged use of military resources.
    • Chinese provocations along the LAC are military operations.
    • Clearly, the peace-time scenario is now by and large militarised.

    Way forward

    • Single security agency: In this scenario, India needs a single security agency adequately equipped, suitably armed and trained in advanced military drills and sub-unit tactics to guard our borders.
    • Manpower from Army: Further, to augment the battle efficiency, a fixed percentage of manpower, including the officer cadre, should be drawn on deputation from the army.
    • Paramilitary force under Ministry of Defence: To ensure the desired training and operational standards, this single security agency should be designated as a paramilitary force under the Ministry of Defence and operate under the army.
    • Mergers: The ITBP and the SSB should be fully merged into the new outfit; the BSF and CRPF still have important internal security duties and can be partially merged.
    • The reorganised Assam Rifles too should retain its role of conducting counter-insurgency operations and act as a reserve for the army for conventional operations.
    • Most countries have raised specialised and dedicated armed bodies for border security.
    •  Iran has the Border Guard Command, Italy has the Border Police Service, Russia has created a Border Guard Service, whereas in the US, it is under Homeland Security.
    • Most of these countries, based on threat perception and for better combat cohesion, have placed these organisations under the command of the armed forces.

    Conclusion

    India should adopt a single agency with adequate resources and training to deal with the evolving challenges.

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  • Declaration on Forests and Land Use

    At COP-26 in Glasgow, countries got together to sign the Declaration on Forests and Land Use (or the Deforestation Declaration). However, India was among the few countries that did not sign the declaration.

    What is this Deforestation Declaration?

    • It was signed by 142 countries, which represented over 90 percent of forests across the world.
    • The declaration commits to halt and reverse forest loss and land degradation by 2030 while delivering sustainable development and promoting an inclusive rural transformation.
    • The signatories committed $19 billion in private and public funds to this end.

    Why did India abstain from joining?

    • India had concerns about the linkage the declaration makes between deforestation, infrastructure development and trade.
    • Any commitment to the environment and climate change should not involve any reference to trade, cited India.
    • Analysts in India have linked the decision to a proposed amendment to the Forest Conservation Act 1980 that would ease the clearances presently required for acquiring forest land for new infrastructure projects.

    India abstained from many things

    • A look at India’s positions on some other recent critical pledges and decisions related to climate change reveals a clear pattern of objections or absence.
    • At CoP26, India was not part of the dialogue on Forests, Agriculture and Commodity Trade (FACT).
    • FACT, which is supported by 28 countries seeks to encourage “sustainable development and trade of agricultural commodities while protecting and managing sustainably forests and other critical ecosystems”.
    • India also voted against a recent draft resolution to allow for discussions related to climate change and its impact on international peace and security to be taken up at the UNSC.

    Why should India join this declaration?

    • Broadly speaking, all of India’s objections are based on procedural issues at multilateral fora.
    • Although justifiable on paper, these objections seem blind to the diverse ways in which climate change is linked to global trade, deforestation, agriculture, and international peace, among other issues.
    • For context, consider India’s palm oil trade. India is the largest importer of crude palm oil in the world.
    • Palm oil cultivation, covering roughly 16 million acres of land in Indonesia and Malaysia, has been the biggest driver of deforestation in the two countries.

     

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  • Why 5G roll-outs are disrupting flights to the US?

    Air India said Boeing had cleared its B777 aircraft for flights to the US following concerns that the 5G roll-out there could interfere with critical aircraft functions.

    What is 5G Technology?

    • 5G or fifth generation is the latest upgrade in the long-term evolution (LTE) mobile broadband networks.
    • It’s a unified platform which is much more capable than previous mobile services with more capacity, lower latency, faster data delivery rate and better utilization of spectrum.

    How can 5G affect flight safety?

    • Airlines take off and land using auto-pilot systems, which use data from radar altimeters to determine the altitude of the aircraft.
    • Altimeters emit radio waves at 4.2-4.3 Gigahertz (GHz) frequency, which could interfere with a 5G band called C-Band, which lies between 3.7-4.4 GHz.
    • This interference can mess up the data. That’s the safety concern. Radio altimeters are used at airports and other low-altitude locations.
    • A different kind of altimeter, called pressure altimeter, is used for high altitude areas.
    • Not using auto-pilot would lead to more fuel consumption and higher costs for airlines.

    What happens to Air India’s operations?

    • While scheduled international flights, to and from India, remain suspended due to the pandemic, Air India operates flights to the US under an air bubble agreement.
    • These routes are served by the airline’s wide-body fleet of Boeing 777 and Boeing 787 planes.
    • The roll out of 5G is expected to primarily impact the operations of Boeing 777 and 747.

    Can this impact India’s 5G roll-out?

    • India’s 5G auctions are expected to include spectrum bands of 3.3GHz -3.6GHz, which means the C-Band may not be operational, at least in the near future.
    • Plus, aircraft equipment is manufactured globally, with certain standards.
    • The FAA tests will likely lead to standards for altimeters and applied internationally.
    • For aircraft makers, altimeters are key equipment. But they’re bought off-the-rack instead being designed in-house.
    • Once a standard is known, it can be implemented in all aircraft.

    Also read

    [Burning Issue] 5G Technology

  • What is Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR)?

    The Global Research on Antimicrobial Resistance (GRAM) report published in The Lancet provides the most comprehensive estimate of the global impact of Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) so far.

    What is AMR?

    • Antimicrobial resistance (AMR or AR) is the ability of a microbe to resist the effects of medication that once could successfully treat the microbe
    • Antibiotic resistance occurs naturally, but misuse of antibiotics in humans and animals is accelerating the process.
    • A growing number of infections – such as pneumonia, tuberculosis, gonorrhoea, and salmonellosis – are becoming harder to treat as the antibiotics used to treat them become less effective.
    • It leads to higher medical costs, prolonged hospital stays, and increased mortality.

    How does it occur?

    • Antibiotics are medicines used to prevent and treat bacterial infections.
    • Antibiotic resistance occurs when bacteria change in response to the use of these medicines.
    • Bacteria, not humans or animals, become antibiotic-resistant.
    • These bacteria may infect humans and animals, and the infections they cause are harder to treat than those caused by non-resistant bacteria.

    What did the GRAM report find?

    • AMR is a leading cause of death globally, higher than HIV/AIDS or malaria.
    • As many as 4.95 million deaths may be associated with bacterial AMR in 2019.
    • Lower respiratory tract infections accounted for more than 1.5 million deaths associated with resistance in 2019, making it the most common infectious syndrome.

    The six leading pathogens for deaths associated with resistance were:

    1. Escherichia coli (E. Coli)
    2. Staphylococcus aureus
    3. Klebsiella pneumonia
    4. Streptococcus pneumonia
    5. Acinetobacter baumannii
    6. Pseudomonas aeruginosa

    What are the implications of this study?

    • Common infections such as lower respiratory tract infections, bloodstream infections, and intra-abdominal infections are now killing hundreds of thousands of people every.
    • This includes historically treatable illnesses, such as pneumonia, hospital-acquired infections, and foodborne ailments.

    Way forward

    • Doctors recommend greater action to monitor and control infections, globally, nationally and within individual hospitals.
    • Access to vaccines, clean water and sanitation ought to be expanded.
    • The use of antibiotics unrelated to treating human disease, such as in food and animal production must be “optimised” and finally they recommend being “more thoughtful”.

     

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