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GS Paper: GS3

  • One Sun, One World, One Grid (OSOWOG) Initiative

    The Union Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) has put calls for proposals to the One Sun, One World, and One Grid (OSOWOG) initiative on hold till further notice.

    Try this PYQ:

    Q.Consider the following statements:

    1. The International Solar Alliance was launched at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in 2015.
    2. The Alliance includes all the member countries of the United Nations.

    Which of the above statements is/are correct? (CSP 2016)

    (a) 1 only

    (b) 2 only

    (c) Both 1 and 2

    (d) Neither 1 nor 2

    OSOWOG Initiative

    • Under the project, India envisaged having an interconnected power transmission grid across nations for the supply of clean energy.
    • The vision behind the OSOWOG mantra is ‘The Sun Never Sets’ and is a constant at some geographical location, globally, at any given point of time.
    • With India at the fulcrum, the solar spectrum can easily be divided into two broad zones viz. far East which would include countries like Myanmar, Vietnam, Thailand, Lao, Cambodia etc. and far West which would cover the Middle East and the Africa Region.

    Implementation

    • The OSOWOG would have three phases. In the first phase Phase I, Middle East, South Asia and South-East Asia would be interconnected.
    • In the second phase, solar and other renewable energy resources rich regions would be interconnected.
    • In the third phase would vie for global interconnection of the power transmission grid to achieve the One Sun One World One Grid vision.

    Benefits of the project

    • Attracting investment: An interconnected grid would help all the participating entities in attracting investments in renewable energy sources as well as utilizing skills, technology and finances.
    • Poverty allevation: Resulting economic benefits would positively impact poverty alleviation and support in mitigating water, sanitation, food and other socio-economic challenges.
    • Reduced project cost: The proposed integration would lead to reduced project costs, higher efficiencies and increased asset utilization for all the participating entities.

    Issues with project

    • It is hindered with the issues of intricate geopolitics, unfavourable economics, unwarranted globalisation and undue centralization that act against the concept.

  • What is the Business Responsibility Report?

    In efforts to have a single source for all non-financial disclosures by corporates, a government-appointed panel has made various proposals on business responsibility reporting, including putting in place two formats for disclosing information.

    Try this PYQ:

    Which one of the following is not a feature of Limited Liability Partnership firm? (CSP 2010)

    (a) Partners should be less than 20

    (b) Partnership and management need not be separate

    (c) Internal governance may be decided by mutual agreement among partners

    (d) It is corporate body with perpetual succession

    What is the Business Responsibility Report (BRR)?

    • Business Responsibility  Report is a disclosure of the adoption of responsible business practices by a  listed company to all its stakeholders.
    • This is important considering the fact that these companies have accessed funds from the public, have an element of public interest involved, and are obligated to make exhaustive disclosures on a regular basis.
    • BSR is to be submitted as a part of the Annual Report.
    • It contains a standardized format for companies to report the actions undertaken by them towards the adoption of responsible business practices.
    • It has been designed to provide basic information about the company, information related to its performance and processes, and information on principles and core elements of the BSR.

    SEBI recommendations for BSR

    • As per the report, reporting may be done by top 1,000 listed companies in terms of their market capitalization or as prescribed by markets regulator SEBI.
    • The reporting requirement may be extended by MCA (Ministry of Corporate Affairs) to unlisted companies above specified thresholds of turnover and/ or paid-up capital.
    • The panel has suggested two formats for disclosures — a comprehensive format and a “lite version” — and also called for the implementation of the reporting requirements in a gradual and phased manner.
    • Smaller unlisted companies may adopt a lite version of the format, on a voluntary basis.

  • What is Next Generation Sequencing (NGS)?

    • To speed up testing as well as improve the accuracy of testing COVID-19, the CSIR is working on developing “mega labs” where large machines, called Next Generation Sequencing machines (NGS), will be used for sequencing human genomes.
    • It is repurposed to sequence 1,500-3,000 viral genomes at a go for detecting the SARS-CoV-2 novel coronavirus.

    Try this PYQ:

    What is Cas9 protein that is often mentioned in news? (CSP 2018)

    (a) A molecular scissors used in targeted gene editing

    (b) A biosensor used in the accurate detection of pathogens in patients

    (c) A gene that makes plants pest-resistant

    (d) A herbicidal substance synthesized in genetically modified crops

    What is NGS?

    • DNA sequencing is the process of determining the nucleic acid sequence – the order of nucleotides in DNA.
    • It includes any method or technology that is used to determine the order of the four bases: adenine, guanine, cytosine, and thymine.
    • The advent of rapid DNA sequencing methods has greatly accelerated biological and medical research and discovery.
    • Next-generation sequencing (NGS), also known as high-throughput sequencing, is the catch-all term used to describe a number of different modern sequencing technologies.
    • These technologies allow for sequencing of DNA and RNA much more quickly and cheaply than the previously used Sanger sequencing, and as such revolutionized the study of genomics and molecular biology.

    Benefits

    • The genome sequencing machines can substantially detect the possible presence of the virus even in several instances where the traditional RT-PCR tests miss out on them.
    • This is primarily because the RT-PCR test identifies the SARS-CoV-2 virus by exploring only specific sections of the virus.
    • Having an edge, the genome method can read a bigger chunk of the virus genome and thereby provide more certainty that the virus in question is indeed the particular coronavirus of interest.
    • It can also trace the evolutionary history of the virus and track mutations more reliably.

    Back2Basics:

    PCR Test for Diagnosis of the COVID-19

  • abscisic acid (ABA)

    A team of researchers at the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER), Bhopal, has conducted a study on seed germination that could have a major impact on agriculture.

    What is the study about?

    • The study aims to determine the optimum timing of seed germination and thus ensure high plant yields.
    • It focused on the interplay between plant hormones like abscisic acid (ABA) which inhibit the sprouting of the seed and environmental cues like light (which promotes the sprouting process) and darkness.

    Note the following plant hormones and their functions:

    Hormone

    Function
    Ethylene Fruit ripening and abscission
    Gibberellins Break the dormancy of seeds and buds; promote growth
    Cytokinins Promote cell division; prevent senescence
    Abscisic Acid Close the stomata; maintain dormancy
    Auxins Involved in tropisms and apical dominance

    What is Abscisic Acid? 

    • Humans have glands that secrete hormones at different times to stimulate body processes such as growth, development, and the breaking down of sugars.  
    • Plants also have hormones that stimulate processes that are necessary for them to live.  
    • Abscisic acid is a plant hormone involved in many developmental plant processes, such as dormancy and environmental stress response.  
    • Abscisic acid is produced in the roots of the plant as well as the terminal buds at the top of the plant. 

    Function of Abscisic Acid 

    Abscisic acid is involved in several plant functions.  

    • Plants have openings on the bottom side of their leaves, known as stomata. Stomata take in carbon dioxide and regulate water content. Abscisic acid has been found to function in the closing of these stomata during times when the plant does not require as much carbon dioxide or during times of drought when the plant cannot afford to lose much water through transpiration. 
    • One of the crucial functions of abscisic acid is to inhibit seed germination. Abscisic acid has been found to stop a seed from immediately germinating once it has been placed in the soil. It actually causes the seed to enter a period of dormancy.  
    • This is of great benefit to the plants because most seeds are formed at the end of the growing season, when conditions would not be favorable for a new plant to sprout. The abscisic acid causes the seed to wait until the time when conditions are more favorable to grow. This ensures greater success in the plant’s ability to grow and reproduce successfully. 
    • ABA functions in many plant developmental processes, including seed and bud dormancy, the control of organ size and stomatal closure. It is especially important for plants in the response to environmental stresses, including drought, soil salinity, cold tolerance, freezing tolerance, heat stress and heavy metal ion tolerance.

  • SPT0418-47: The Baby Milky Way

    SPT0418-47, a golden halo glinting 12 billion light-years away is the farthest galaxy resembling our Milky Way was recently spotted by astronomers.

    Try this PYQ:

    Which of the statements about black holes in space is/are correct?  (CSP 2016)

    1. It is a region in space where the pulling force of gravity is so strong that light is not able to escape.
    2. It can result from the dying stars.

    Select the correct answer using the code given below:

    (a) 1 only

    (b) 2 only

    (c) Both 1 and 2

    (d) Neither 1 nor 2

    SPT0418-47

    • The galaxy, called SPT0418-47, is so far away that it took billions of years for its light to reach Earth and so our image of it is from deep in the past.
    • It was picked up by the powerful Alma radio telescope in Chile using a technique called gravitational lensing, where a nearby galaxy acts as a powerful magnifying glass.
    • This was when the Universe was 1.4 billion years old — just 10% of its current age — and galaxies were still forming.
    • It has features similar to our Milky Way — a rotating disc and a bulge, which is the high density of stars packed tightly around the galactic centre.

    What makes it special?

    • This is the first time a bulge has been seen this early in the history of the Universe, making SPT0418-47 the most distant Milky Way look-alike.
    • Thus the infant star system challenges our understanding of the early years of the Universe.
    • Researchers expect these young star systems to be chaotic and without the distinct structures typical of mature galaxies like our Galaxy.
    • This unexpected discovery suggests the early Universe may not be as chaotic as once believed and raises many questions on how a well-ordered galaxy could have formed so soon after the Big Bang.

    Back2Basics: Milky Way

    • The Milky Way is the galaxy that contains our Solar System, with the name describing the galaxy’s appearance from Earth.
    • It appears like a hazy band of light seen in the night sky formed from stars that cannot be individually distinguished by the naked eye.
    • From Earth, the Milky Way appears as a band because its disk-shaped structure is viewed from within.
    • Galileo Galilei first resolved the band of light into individual stars with his telescope in 1610.
    • Until the early 1920s, most astronomers thought that the Milky Way contained all the stars in the Universe.
    • Following the 1920 Great Debate between the astronomers Harlow Shapley and Heber Curtis, observations by Edwin Hubble showed that the Milky Way is just one of many galaxies.

  • Species in news: Great Indian Hornbill

    A study based on satellite data has flagged a high rate of deforestation in a major hornbill habitat in Arunachal Pradesh.

    Try this PYQ:

    Q. In which of the following regions of India are you most likely to come across the ‘Great Indian Hornbill’ in its natural habitat? (CSP 2016)

    (a) Sand deserts of northwest India

    (b) Higher Himalayas of Jammu and Kashmir

    (c) Salt marshes of western Gujarat

    (d) Western Ghats

    About Great Indian Hornbill

    IUCN status: Vulnerable (uplisted from Near Threatened in 2018), CITES: Appendix I

    • The great hornbill (Buceros bicornis) also known as the great Indian hornbill or great pied hornbill, is one of the larger members of the hornbill family.
    • The great hornbill is long-lived, living for nearly 50 years in captivity.
    • It is predominantly fruit-eating, but is an opportunist and preys on small mammals, reptiles and birds.
    • Its impressive size and colour have made it important in many tribal cultures and rituals.
    • A large majority of their population is found in India with a significant proportion in the Western Ghats and the Nilgiris.
    • The nesting grounds of the birds in the Nilgiris North Eastern Range are also believed to support some of their highest densities.

    Their ecological significance

    • Referred to as ‘forest engineers’ or ‘farmers of the forest’ for playing a key role in dispersing seeds of tropical trees, hornbills indicate the prosperity and balance of the forest they build nests in.

    Threats

    • Hornbills used to be hunted for their casques — upper beak — and feathers for adorning headgear despite being cultural symbols of some ethnic communities in the northeast, specifically the Nyishi of Arunachal Pradesh.
    • Illegal logging has led to fewer tall trees where the bird’s nest.

    Back2Basics: Hornbill Festival

    • The Hornbill Festival is a celebration held every year from 1 – 10 December, in Kohima, Nagaland.
    • The festival was first held in the year 2000.
    • It is named after the Indian hornbill, the large and colourful forest bird which is displayed in the folklore of most of the state’s tribes.
    • Festival highlights include the traditional Naga Morungs exhibition and the sale of arts and crafts, food stalls, herbal medicine stalls, flower shows and sales, cultural medley – songs and dances, fashion shows etc.

  • Perseids Meteor Shower

    The Perseids meteor shower is going to be active from August 17-26.

    Try this question from CSP 2014:

    Q.What is a coma, in the content of astronomy?

    (a) Bright half of material on the comet

    (b) Long tail of dust

    (c) Two asteroids orbiting each other

    (d) Two planets orbiting each other

    What is the Perseids meteor shower?

    • The Perseids meteor shower peaks every year in mid-August. It was first observed over 2,000 years ago.
    • The Perseids occur as the Earth runs into pieces of cosmic debris left behind by the comet Swift-Tuttle.
    • The cloud of debris is about 27 km wide, and at the peak of the display, between 160 and 200 meteors streak through the Earth’s atmosphere every hour as the pieces of debris.
    • They travel at the speed of some 2.14 lakh km per hour; burn up a little less than 100 km above the Earth’s surface.

    What are Meteor Showers?

    • Meteors are bits of rock and ice that are ejected from comets as they manoeuvre around their orbits around the sun.
    • As meteors fall towards the Earth, the resistance makes the space rocks extremely hot and, as meteorites pass through the atmosphere, they leave behind streaks of glowing gas that are visible to the observers and not the rock itself.
    • Meteor showers, on the other hand, are witnessed when Earth passes through the trail of debris left behind by a comet or an asteroid.
    • When a meteor reaches the Earth, it is called a meteorite and a series of meteorites, when encountered at once, is termed as a meteor shower.
    • According to NASA, over 30 meteor showers occur annually and are observable from the Earth.

    Where do the Perseids come from?

    • The comet Swift-Tuttle, which was discovered in 1862 by Lewis Swift and Horace Tuttle, takes 133 years to complete one rotation around the sun.
    • The last time it reached its closest approach to the sun was in 1992 and will do so again in 2125.
    • Every time comets come close to the sun, they leave behind dust that is essentially the debris trail, which the Earth passes through every year as it orbits around the Sun.

    Back2Basics:

     

  • RBI revises guidelines for opening Current Accounts

    The article explains the salience of the RBI’s recent restriction on the opening of current accounts by the companies.

    Context

    • RBI has put restrictions on who can open a current account with which bank.

    What are the restrictions and why it matters

    • A company that has borrowed from a bank cannot open a current account with another bank.
    • It can open a current account with its lending banks under some circumstances.
    • Otherwise such company is encouraged to use the cash credit and overdraft facilities under which it has borrowed.

    Let’s understand why it matters

    • Firms borrow from PSU banks, but open current accounts with private or foreign banks.
    • When transactions move to current account of banks other than the lending bank, it loses visibility on end use of the funds.
    • Basically the PSU bank has no idea where the money has gone.
    • For example, when a firm gets money from its customers, instead of parking it with the lending bank it puts it in the current account with another bank.
    • The lending bank has no way of knowing if the loan is going bad wilfully or otherwise.

    Why private banks may oppose the move

    • Easy revenue source has got blocked.
    • They can, of course, start lending to firms to retain this business but that would mean taking risk.
    • It would be far safer to be with retail customers who have neither power nor lawyers to defend them against sharp banking practices.

    Why it matters to bank customers

    • Vanishing money raises the cost of funds to the bank and results in higher lending rates and lower deposit rates for us.
    • For taxpayers, it means regular use of our funds to recapitalize the banking system that periodically goes bankrupt due to loans gone bad.
    • So, an overall tightening of the system is great news.

    Conclusion

    For too long have the citizens been punished with greater scrutiny, tighter rules, higher costs and fewer benefits as compared to the suits. We should let the banks hand-wring, but celebrate the closure of each loophole as it happens.

    Back2Basics: What is the current account?

    • A current account is like a savings bank account, but with many facilities for swift and multiple transactions, overdraft facilities and it carries no interest.
    • Banks like to sell these accounts as they enjoy huge floats, or money that just sits with the bank waiting to be used by the depositing firms.

  • [pib] Krishi Megh: A Cloud-based Data Recovery Centre

    Union Minister of Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare has launched the Krishi Megh Data Recovery Centre.

    Do not get confused with the name ‘Krishi Megh’. One might mistakenly relate it to some weather forecasting tool of the Indian Meteorological Department.

    Krishi Megh

    • The Krishi Megh has been set up at National Academy of Agricultural Research Management (NAARM), Hyderabad.
    • It has been set up under the National Agricultural Higher Education Project (NAHEP), funded by both the government and World Bank.
    • It has been built to mitigate the risk, enhance the quality, availability and accessibility of e-governance, research, extension and education in the field of agriculture in India.
    • Currently, the main data centre of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) is at the Indian Agricultural Statistics Research Institute (IASRI) in New Delhi.

    Back2Basics: Cloud Storage

    • It is a cloud computing model that stores data on the Internet through a cloud computing provider who manages and operates data storage as a service.
    • It is delivered on demand with just-in-time capacity and costs, and eliminates buying and managing your own data storage infrastructure.
    • It gives agility, global scale and durability, with “anytime, anywhere” data access.

  • Making up for shortfalls in GST collection

    The article deals with the issue of shortfall in the GST compensation cess and the challenge Central government faces to pay the promised compensation to the states.

    Background of the cess

    • GST subsumed several taxes, including those which were the preserve of the States.
    • Therefore it required an amendment to the Constitution of India.
    • The amendment affected the Seventh Schedule, so it required ratification by the legislatures of half the States.
    • Before the GST, States exporting goods to other States collected a tax.
    • But the GST is a destination-based tax, i.e., the State where the goods are sold receive the tax.
    • This implies that manufacturing States would lose out while consuming States would benefit.
    • So, in order to convince manufacturing States to agree to GST, a compensation formula was created.
    • Under which States were promised compensation for loss of revenue for a period up to five years.
    • The Act for compensation to states assumed that the GST revenue of each State would grow at 14% every year, from the amount collected in 2015-16.
    • This scheme is valid for five years, i.e., till June 2022.

    Compensation cess fund

    • A compensation cess fund was created from which States would be paid for any shortfall.
    • An additional cess would be imposed on certain items and this cess would be used to pay compensation.
    • The Act states that the cess collected and “such other amounts as may be recommended by the [GST] Council” would be credited to the fund.
    • In the first two years of this scheme, the cess collected exceeded the shortfall of States.
    • In the third year, 2019-20, the fund fell significantly short of the requirement.

    The problem and its source

    •  A key source of the problem is that the 2017 Act guaranteed a tax growth rate of 14%, which is unachievable this year.
    • The 14% target was too ambitious to start with.
    • Given the government’s inflation target at 4%, this implied a real GDP growth plus tax buoyancy of 9%.
    • But, the Central government is constitutionally bound to compensate States for loss of revenue for five years.

    Solution to the problem

    1) The Constitution could be amended to reduce the period of guarantee to three years thus ending June 2020.

    • But most States would be reluctant to agree to this proposal.
    • It could also be seen as going back on the promise made to States.

    2) The Central government could fund this shortfall from its own revenue.

    •  The Centre’s finances are stretched due to shortfall in its own tax collection combined with extra expenditure to manage the health and economic crisis.

    3) The Centre could borrow on behalf of the cess fund.

    • The tenure of the cess could be extended beyond five years until the cess collected is sufficient to pay off this debt and interest on it.

    4) the Centre could convince States that the 14% growth target was always unrealistic.

    • If the Centre can negotiate with States through the GST Council to reset the assured tax level, it could then bring in a Bill in Parliament to amend the 2017 Act.

    Consider the question “What were the reasons for making provisions under GST for paying the states compensation for tax revenue shortfall? What are the implications of the provision for the Central government?”

    Conclusion

    The Constitution makes it obligatory for the Centre to make up for shortfall by the States. The cess collected will not be sufficient for this purpose. The GST Council, which is a constitutional body with representation of the Centre and all the States, should find a practical solution.

    B2BASICS

    Source: https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/making-up-for-shortfalls-in-gst-collection/article32319744.ece