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GS Paper: GS3

  • What is Havana Syndrome?

    Nearly four years after a mysterious neurological illness started to affect American diplomats in Cuba, China, and other countries, a report has found “directed” microwave radiation to be its “plausible” cause.

    Q.Microwave warfare is the new nuke. Discuss.

    The ‘Havana syndrome’

    • In late 2016, US diplomats in Havana reported feeling ill after hearing strange sounds and experiencing odd physical sensations in their hotel rooms or homes.
    • The symptoms included nausea, severe headaches, fatigue, dizziness, sleep problems, and hearing loss, which have since come to be known as “Havana Syndrome”.
    • Cuba had denied any knowledge of the illnesses even though the US had accused it of carrying out “sonic attacks”, leading to an increase in tensions.

    Possible factor: Microwave Weapons

    • “Microwave weapons” are supposed to be a type of direct energy weapons, which aim highly focused energy in the form of sonic, laser, or microwaves, at a target.
    • People exposed to high-intensity microwave pulses have reported a clicking or buzzing sound as if seeming to be coming from within your head.
    • It can have both acute and long-term effects — without leaving signs of physical damage.
    • These weapons are considered to be the cause of the “syndrome” whose symptoms include nausea, dizziness, fatigue, and cognitive difficulties.

    How did researchers deduce that?

    • The researchers have examined four possibilities to explain the symptoms — infection, chemicals, psychological factors and microwave energy.
    • The experts examined the symptoms of about 40 government employees.
    • The report concluded that directed pulsed RF (radio frequency) energy appears to be the most plausible mechanism in explaining these cases among those that the committee considered.

  • How should India navigate future energy transition?

    The article is based on the book by Daniel Yergin, titled ” The New Map: Energy, Climate and the Clash of Nations”. The book throws some questions to countries dependent on oil and suggests the framework for their transition to renewable.

    Six broad themes underlying the energy transition

    • The first is the US shale revolution, which transformed the US from a major importer of oil and gas to a significant exporter.
    • The second is the leveraging by Russia of its gas exports to compel former members of the Soviet Union to stay within its sphere of influence and to embrace China into an energy partnership.
    • The third is China’s assertion of its rights over the South China Seas — a critical maritime route for its energy imports and the Belt and Road initiative;
    • The fourth is sectarian strife (Sunni/Shia) in the Middle East which, compounded by volatile and falling oil prices, has brought the region to the edge;
    • The fifth is the Paris climate summit and its impact on public sentiment, investment decisions, corporate governance and regulatory norms.
    • Sixth is the consequential impact of the manifold and impressive advancement of clean energy technologies.

    Questions for India

    • The ongoing transition in the energy world raises several questions for India.
    • How might they impact its objective to provide reliable, affordable, clean and universal access to energy?
    • Who will bear the costs of the transition — in particular, the costs of retrofitting industrial infrastructure and upgrading the power grids.
    • How can it prevent the “perfect storm” of high unemployment due to laid-off coal workers and stranded assets thermal power plants, slowed economic growth and environmental degradation?
    • How realistic is a green transition for an economy almost totally dependent on fossil fuels?

    Three policy initiatives for the government

    1) Securing favourable terms with oil suppliers

    • The government leverage its buyer strength to secure “most favoured” terms of trade for crude supplies.
    • In this regard, they bring out one development that plays to India’s advantage — the onset of “peak oil demand” (that is, demand will plateau before supply depletes).
    • However, there is no consensus on the timing of peak demand.

    2) Develop own systems for photovoltaics (PVs) and batteries

    • India must develop its own world-scale, competitive, manufacturing systems for photovoltaics (PVs) and battery storage.
    • Otherwise, India will not be able to provide affordable solar units unless it accepts the further deepening of dependence on Chinese imports.
    • Currently, China manufactures 75 per cent of the world’s lithium batteries; 70 per cent of solar cells; 95 per cent of solar wafers and it controls 60 per cent of the production of poly silica.
    • China is also looking to secure a chokehold over several strategic minerals (cobalt, nickel).

    3) Prepare a clean energy technology strategy

    • Technology is the answer to the energy transition.
    • That is what will bring the system to the tipping point of radical change.
    • China has placed clean energy R&D at the forefront of its “Plan 2025”.
    • The India strategy should identify relevant “breakthrough technologies”, establish the funding mechanisms and create the ecosystem for partnerships (domestic and international).

    Conclusion

    As an economy which is energy import-dependent, fossil-fuel-based India must balance between the rising demand for energy and an unhealthily strong linkage between this demand and environmental pollution.

  • Diversification of output to overcome the MSP trap

    The article analyses the state of agriculture in Punjab and the its dependace on the MSP regime and suggest the diversification as a solution to the MSP trap.

    Punjab’s role in Green Revolution

    • India was desperately short of grains in 1965, and heavily dependent on PL 480 imports from the US against rupee payments, as the country did not have enough foreign exchange to buy wheat at global markets.
    • The entire foreign exchange reserves of the country at the time could not help it purchase more than 7 MMT of grains.
    • It is against this backdrop that the minimum support price (MSP) system was devised in 1965.

     India’s current grains management system: Issue of excess grains

    • Today, the Food Corporation of India (FCI) stocks grains touched 97 MMT in June this year against a buffer stock norm of 41.2 MMT.
    • The economic cost of that excess grain, beyond the buffer stock norm, was more than Rs 1,80,000 crore, a dead capital locked in without much purpose.
    • That’s the situation of the current grain management system based on MSP and open ended procurement.

    Decline in Punjab’s economic level

    •  In 1966 Punjab had the highest per capita income.
    • Punjab’s position fell to 13th in 2018-19.
    • There are several reasons behind this deterioration, ranging from lack of industrialisation to not catching up even with respect to the modern services sector like IT, financial services.

    What explains Punjab’s prosperity

    • Punjab’s agriculture is blessed with almost 99 per cent irrigation against an all-India average of little less than 50 per cent.
    • The average landholding in Punjab is 3.62 hectare (ha) as against an all-India average of 1.08 ha.
    • Punjab’s fertiliser consumption per ha is about 212 kg vis-Ă -vis an all-India level of 135 kg/ha.
    • The productivity levels of wheat and rice in Punjab stand at 5 tonnes/ha and 4 tonnes/ha respectively, against an all-India average of 3.5t/ha and 2.6t/ha.

    Assesing Punjab’s real contribution to income and agriculture

    • In Punjab, the total farm families are just 1.09 million, a fraction of the all-India total of 146.45 million.
    •  The overall subsidy, from just power and fertilisers would amount to roughly Rs 13,275 crores.
    • That means each farm household in Punjab got a subsidy of about Rs 1.22 lakh in 2019-20.
    • This is the highest subsidy for a farm household in India.
    • Let’s not forget that the average income of the Punjab farm household is the highest in India.[2.5 time’s the India’s average].
    • But to assess the real contribution of farmers/states to agriculture and incomes, the metric is the agri-GDP per ha of gross cropped area of the state in question.
    • This is an important catch-all indicator, as it captures the impact of productivity, diversification, prices of outputs and inputs and subsidies.
    • On that indicator, unfortunately, Punjab has the 11th rank amongst major agri-states.

    Way forward: Diversification of crops

    • States in south India like Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Kerala have a much more diversified crop pattern tending towards high-value crops/livestock — poultry, dairy, fruits, vegetables, spices, fisheries.
    •  If Punjab farmers want to increase their incomes significantly, double or even triple, they need to gradually move away from MSP-based wheat and rice to high-value crops and livestock, the demand for which is increasing at three to five times that of cereals.
    • Punjab needs a package to diversify its agriculture — say a Rs 10,000 crore package spread over five years.

    Conclusion

    Once farmers diversify their farm output and double their incomes, they will not be stuck in the MSP trap.

  • Rat Hole Mining in Meghalaya

    Rat-hole coal mining had sucked the life out of a village in Meghalaya’s East Jaintia Hills district.

    Q.Despite a ban, rat-hole mining continues to prevail as an important practice in Meghalaya. What are the issues associated with it? Discuss. (150W)

    Rat Hole Mining

    • It is a primitive and hazardous method of mining for coal, with tunnels that are only 3-4 feet in diameter (hence, rat-hole), leading to pits ranging from 5-100 sq. mt deep.
    • It involves digging of very small tunnels in which workers, more often children, enter and extract coal.
    • Although the coal is of bad quality, people see it as a treasure chest.
    • In backward regions, where there is the loss of livelihood, lack of employment opportunities and under-education, people see rat-hole mines as an opportunity to earn daily bread.
    • A major portion of these employees are children, who are preferred because of their thin body shape and ease to access depths.

    Despite a ban

    The National Green Tribunal banned rat-hole mining in Meghalaya in 2014 on a petition that said acidic discharge from the mines was polluting the Kopili River. But the practice continues unabated.

    Threats of such mining

    • Water from rivers and streams in the mining area has become unfit for drinking and irrigation and is toxic to plants and animals.
    • Layers of rock above the coal removed during mining contain traces of iron, manganese and aluminium that get dissolved from mining sites through the acid run-off or are washed into streams as sediment.
    • There are several mishaps where workers get trapped to death due to the sudden collapse of such mines.

  • Himachal wants GI status for five products

    The Himachal Pradesh government is trying to obtain GIs for five products from the state – Karsog Kulth, Thangi of Pangi, Chamba Metal Crafts, Chamba Chukh, and Rajmah of Bharmour.

    Read more about GIs at:

    GI(Geographical Indicator) Tags

    Which are the five HP products?

    • Karsog Kulth: Kulthi or Kulth (horse gram) is a legume grown as a kharif crop in Himachal Pradesh. Kulth grown in the Karsog area of Mandi district is believed to be particularly rich in amino acids.
    • Pangi ki Thangi: It is a type of hazelnut which grows in Pangi valley located in the northwestern edge of Himachal. It is known for its unique flavour and sweetness.
    • Chamba metal crafts: These include items such as metal idols and brass utensils which, historically, were made by skilled artisans in the courts of kings of Chamba. There are efforts to revive the trade, and a plate made from a brass-like alloy and having carvings of gods and goddesses is still popular.
    • Chamba Chukh: It’s a chutney made from green and red chillies grown in Chamba, and prepared in traditional and unique ways. The practice has largely declined in rural households of Chamba, but survives to some extent at the small-scale industrial level.
    • Bharmouri Rajmah: It’s more specifically called the Kugtalu Rajmah, since it grows in the area around Kugti Pass in the Bharmour region of Chamba district. It is rich in proteins and has a unique flavor.

    How many registered GIs does Himachal currently have?

    • They are eight in number.
    • It includes four handicrafts (Kullu Shawl, Chamba Rumal, Kinnauri Shawl and Kangra Paintings).
    • There are three agricultural products (Kangra Tea, Basmati and Himachali Kala Zeera) and one manufactured product (Himachali Chulli Oil).
    • Kullu Shawl and Kangra Tea were the first to be registered in 2005-06.
    • Basmati has been registered jointly from seven states of North India, including Himachal Pradesh.
    • Chulli (apricot) oil and kala jeera (cumin), mainly associated with Kinnaur and known for their medicinal properties, were the last to be registered in 2018-19.

    How does a GI tag help?

    • A GI tag provides a better market for these products and prevents misuse of the name.
    • A GI registration is given to an area, not a trader, but once a product gets the registration, traders dealing in the product can apply for selling it with the GI logo.
    • Authorised traders are each assigned a unique GI number. For example, Kullu shawl has 135 authorised traders. A shawl made in Ludhiana cannot be sold as a Kullu shawl.
    • If any unauthorised trader, even from Kullu, tries to sell a shawl under the name of Kullu shawl, he or she can be prosecuted under The Geographical Indications of Goods (Registration and Protection) Act, 1999.
    • GIs are also expected to boost or revive the items whose production has declined, as is being aimed in the case of Chamba Chukh and metal crafts.

    Back2Basics: Geographical Indication (GI)

    • The World Intellectual Property Organisation defines a GI as “a sign used on products that have a specific geographical origin and possess qualities or a reputation that are due to that origin”.
    • GIs are typically used for agricultural products, foodstuffs, handicrafts, industrial products, wines and spirit drinks.
    • Internationally, GIs are covered as an element of intellectual property rights under the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property.
    • They are also covered under the Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) Agreement.
    • Presently, there are 370 registered GIs in India.

  • RBI keeps repo rate unchanged

    The MPC decided on Friday to leave the Repo rate unchanged at 4%. However, the RBI faces a dilemma over the excess liquidity in the economy while tackling inflation.

    Limits of monetary  policy

    • Even though our economy slumped into a recession in the first half of 2020-21, there seems little further RBI can do with monetary policy to spur growth.
    • Its monetary decision to leave its main policy rate unchanged at 4%, the rate at which it lends money to banks, thus seems appropriate.
    • This is because retail inflation has hovered above its 6% upper tolerance limit for much of this year.
    • It is the first time its 2016-adopted price-stability framework looks poised for failure.
    • Meanwhile, it has announced wider coverage of an earlier scheme by which banks buy bonds issued by firms in specific stressed sectors–a way to ease credit.

    Poor credit demand

    • Supply-side measures have their limits of efficacy, with aggregate demand observed to be in a bad way and investments restrained by uncertainty.
    • Therefore, RBI’s focus had to shift to the inflationary effects of excess liquidity detected in the economy.
    • Oddly, this doesn’t seem to have happened.
    • With over â‚č6 trillion still being parked daily by banks with RBI at its reverse repo window, a reflection of poor credit demand.

    Dilemma RBI faces in maintaining low interest rate

    • Plus, India has seen a large sum of dollars coming into India.
    • To keep the rupee’s global value stable and Indian exports competitive, RBI has been buying those dollars, thus raising our foreign exchange reserves and pumping more liquidity into the domestic arena.
    • Sterilizing the inflationary effect of this usually requires bonds to be sold, which increases their market supply and pressures yields up-a dilution of its stance on easy money.
    • This poses a dilemma that RBI may soon have to grapple with.
    • RBI’s core task as a central bank, of watching both the external and internal stability of the currency under its charge, may get more complex than ever if capital inflows stay high, global investors see an opportunity in ‘carry trade’ profits, and price trends don’t go by its expectations.

    Conclusion

    If India’s broad policy frame is being pushed by our covid crisis towards a major reset, with the Centre’s fisc granted a freer run and its debt burden to be partially inflated away over the years, then that would call for another debate.

  • The many layers to agricultural discontent

    Farmers protest against the Farm laws is based on the multiple reasons. The article analyses these concerns of the protesting farmers.

    Three farm laws and response to it

    • Three Farm Bills were passed by the Central government in September 2020.
    • In the process, the regulatory role the state played hitherto with regard to these issues was watered down to a great extent.
    • Apart from complex challenges that rural India confronts today, there is a substantial body of studies that demonstrates how the vagaries of the market and the role of the middlemen reinforce agrarian distress in India.
    • However, organised farmers’ bodies are not in sync with the reasoning of the government.

    Role of the states

    • There is a debate around the constitutional provisions with regard to the respective domains of the State and the Union with regard to agricultural marketing,
    • However, issues affecting the farming community have a far greater bearing on the States relative to the Centre.
    • Ideally, given its immediacy, the States are the apt agencies to respond to a host of concerns faced by the farming community, which includes agricultural marketing.
    • While enacting the Farm Bills, the Centre extended little consideration to the sensitivity of the States.

    Role of APMC

    • In Punjab and Haryana, tweaking the APMC system and its resultant bearing on Minimum Support Price (MSP) is seen by the farmers as a threat to an assured sale of their produce at a price.
    • MSP system provides a cushion, wherein the farmer can anticipate the cost of opting for these crops and tap the necessary supports through channels he has been familiar with.
    • Farmers are apprehensive of the vagaries of a competitive market where he would eventually be beholden to the large players including monopolies.
    • There is widespread apprehension that the measures proposed by the Farm Acts in addition to the existing agrarian distress, are only going to make the lot of the farmer even more precarious.
    • All across the country, the farming community is prone to sympathise with the demand to scrap the new laws, as they have little to offer to them in a positive sense.

    Conclusion

    Those with large holdings and produce for the market — are spearheading the present stand-off against the Farm Bills, as it affects them very deeply. But farming distress is shared in common by the different strata within the farming community, even though it has a differential impact on them.

  • Perils of profits based economic recovery

    The economies across the world are showing recovery driven by profits. However, one cannot neglect the implication of such recovery for the long term growth given the pressure such recovery has been exerting on the labour markets. The article deals with this issue.

    3 Ways to look at GDP

    • The first is what they tell us about the past.
    • Here, the news has generally been better-than-expected.
    • The US and India saw a much stronger recovery last quarter than previously envisioned.
    • The second is sectoral, production side-agriculture, manufacturing, services- and the functional, expenditure side consumption, investment, net exports.
    • But there’s a third way — the income side.
    • Value addition must ultimately accrue to the different factors of production.
    • On the income side, therefore, GDP is simply the sum of profits, wages and indirect taxes.

    Profit-driven growth and impact on employment

    • The economic recovery in many parts of the world is driven disproportionately by capital than labour.
    • In India, the net profits of listed companies grew 25 per cent (in real terms) last quarter. This despite revenues shrinking.
    • Revenue shrank because firms aggressively cut costs, including employee compensation.
    • This implies that if listed company profits are growing 25 per cent, and yet GDP contracted 7.5 per cent, it reveals (by construction) significant pressure on profits of unlisted SMEs, wages and employment.
    • Labour market pressures are evident in India too.
    • Household demand for MGNREGA remains very elevated, suggesting significant labour market slack.
    • The employment rate in some labour market surveys still reveal about 14 million fewer employed compared to February, and nominal wage growth across a universe of 4,000 listed firms has slowed from about 10 per cent to 3 per cent over the last six quarters.

    Why this matters

    • It may be rational for any one firm to boost profits by cutting employee compensation.
    • But if every firm pursued that strategy, that simply reduces future aggregate demand and profitability for all firms.
    • This is quintessential fallacy of composition that Keynes enumerated.
    • Weak demand, in turn, disincentivises re-hiring, reinforcing the risks of settling into a sub-optimal equilibrium.

    Need to remain vigilant about labour market

    • Remaining vigilant about labour markets is particularly important for India.
    • Private consumption was increasingly financed by households running down savings and taking on debt pre-COVID-19.
    • Consequently, if job-market pressures induce households into perceiving this shock as a quasi-permanent hit on incomes, households will be incentivised to save, not spend in the future.

    Way forward for fiscal consolidation

    • While economic momentum is expected to slow as pent-up demand wears off, the level of output will progressively reach pre-COVID levels as the economy normalises.
    • The question is what will drive growth after that?
    • India’s fiscal response has been restrained thus far, with the Centre’s total spending similar to last year and state capex under pressure.
    • It’s therefore important for the Centre to step up spending in the remaining months.
    • More importantly, public investment, and a large infrastructure push, must be the leitmotif of the next budget.
    • This will be crucial to boost demand, create jobs, crowd-in private investment and improve the economy’s external competitiveness.
    • If higher infrastructure spending is financed by higher asset sales, the headline fiscal deficit (which matters for bond markets and interest rates) can be slowly reduced, even as the underlying fiscal impulse (which matters for growth and jobs) remains positive.
    • This is the only way to undertake fiscal consolidation without incurring a fiscal drag.
    • Monetary policy has led the charge in 2020. But with inflation continuing to remain sticky and elevated, the RBI has fewer degrees of freedom going forward.

    Conclusion

    The stronger-than-expected GDP print is very encouraging. But this is the start of a long journey back. Much, therefore, remains to be done. The excitement around the vaccine shouldn’t obscure this fundamental premise.

  • HL-2M Tokamak: The Artificial Sun of China

    China successfully powered up its “artificial sun” nuclear fusion reactor for the first time marking a great advance in the country’s nuclear power research capabilities.

    Scratch your school basics to answer this PYQ:

    Q.The known forces of nature can be divided into four classes, viz, gravity, electromagnetism, weak nuclear force and strong nuclear force.

    With reference to them, which one of the following statements is not correct? (CSP 2012)

    (a) Gravity is the strongest of the four

    (b) Electromagnetism act only on particles with an electric charge

    (c) Weak nuclear force causes radioactivity

    (d) Strong nuclear force holds protons and neutrons inside the nuclear of an atom.

    HL-2M Tokamak

    • The HL-2M Tokamak reactor is China’s largest and most advanced nuclear fusion experimental research device.
    • The mission is named Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak (EAST).
    • Located in Sichuan province and completed late last year, the reactor is often called an “artificial sun” on account of the enormous heat and power it produces.
    • It uses a powerful magnetic field to fuse hot plasma and can reach temperatures of over 150 million degrees Celsius- approximately ten times hotter than the core of the sun.
    • Scientists hope that the device can potentially unlock a powerful clean energy source.

    Back2Basics: Nuclear Fusion

    • Nuclear fusion is a reaction in which two or more atomic nuclei are combined to form one or more different atomic nuclei and subatomic particles (neutrons or protons).
    • Fusion is the process by which the sun and other stars generate light and heat. It is a nuclear process, where energy is produced by smashing together light atoms.
    • It is the opposite reaction of fission, where heavy elements like Uranium and Thorium are split apart.

    Nuclear Fusion Reaction

    • For a nuclear fusion reaction to occur, it is necessary to bring two nuclei so close that nuclear forces become active and glue the nuclei together.
    • Nuclear forces are small-distance forces and have to act against the electrostatic forces where positively charged nuclei repel each other.
    • This is the reason nuclear fusion reactions occur mostly in high density, high-temperature environment (millions of degree Celsius) which is practically very difficult to achieve under laboratory conditions.

  • [pib] The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA)

    The Ministry of Science & Technology has inaugurated the 2nd Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) 2020 Conference.

    Do you know?

    According to the World Cancer Report by the WHO, one in 10 Indians develops cancer during their lifetime and one in 15 dies of the disease!

    The Cancer Genome Atlas

    • The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) is a landmark project started in 2005 by the US-based National Cancer Institute (NCI) and the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI).
    • The idea was to make a catalogue of the genetic mutations that cause cancer.
    • This meant collecting tumour samples and blood samples (known as the germline) from patients and processing them using gene sequencing and bioinformatics.
    • The TCGA is a continuing effort even after fifteen years and has generated over 2.5 petabytes of data for over 11,000 patients.
    • This data is available to researchers all around the world and has been used to develop new approaches to diagnose, treat and prevent cancer.

    Indian Cancer Genome Atlas (ICGA)

    • On similar lines, the establishment of an ICGA has been initiated by a consortium of key stakeholders in India led by CSIR in which several government agencies, cancer hospitals, academic institutions and private sector partners.
    • It is aimed at improving clinical outcomes in cancer and other chronic diseases.

    Why need such Atlas?

    • Diverse molecular mechanisms- including genetic and lifestyle factors contribute to cancer, posing significant challenges to treatment.
    • Therefore, it is necessary to better understand the underlying factors- patient by patient.
    • In this context, it is important to create an indigenous, open-source and comprehensive database of molecular profiles of all cancer prevalent in Indian population.