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Celebrating Einstein’s century
Context

In 1921, the Nobel Prize Committee concluded that Einstein would have to wait and the Committee decided not to award the Prize to anyone in 1921. Opinions changed in a year and when Einstein did receive the 1921 Prize in 1922.

Background
- Noble Prize was not awarded for his theories of relativity but for “his services to Theoretical Physics, and especially for his discovery of the law of the photoelectric effect”.
- The citation harked back to the revolutionary theories that Einstein had established in 1905. ‘Annus Mirabilis’, or the Year of Miracles, is how 1905 is remembered by physicists because Einstein, only 26 then, published four remarkable papers that year.
- One of them explained that light was made of photons and when the light shone on metal, each photon’s energy correlated to the electron’s speed on the metal’s surface.
- This theory redefined the composition of light and Einstein himself dubbed it revolutionary.
- It was for this that he received the Nobel Prize.
Special theory of relativity
- The special theory of relativity was published in 1905.
- James Maxwell had established that light was an electromagnetic wave and the value of its speed was calculated. Building on this,
- Speed of light remains constant for all observers: Einstein understood that while moving from one frame of reference to another, which is moving at a different speed, the speed of light remains a constant.
- He gave a physical interpretation to the equations governing the transformation from one frame to another based on this fact.
- Time slows down when measured from the rest: Einstein’s theory establishes that time moves slower within a moving body when measured from a point at rest (but moves normally within the moving body itself).
- Length reduces: The length of the moving body contracts when measured from an outside point at rest.
- When a moving body emits light, the length contraction and time slowdown of the moving body are just exactly what are needed to restore the speed of light to its constant value.
- Einstein’s insight was that there was no absolute time because time was measured by the simultaneity of two events and this simultaneity would be observed differently.
- As lagniappe to the scientific community, Einstein published his famous mass-energy equivalence E=mc2 in late 1905.
- A mundane example of the application of the special theory of relativity is the use of GPS on our phones.
General theory of relativity
- The theory is general enough to apply to all forms of motion, including those where gravity does not appear.
- Einstein worked out equations using tensors, the mathematical implement to describe the transformation of different dimensions.
- In November 1915, Einstein completed the general theory of relativity.
- As per this theory, space and time form a continuum, like a fabric, and every object in the universe distorts this fabric, much like how dropping a large ball distorts a taut trampoline sheet.
- This distortion is gravity. It produces two effects.
- One, the fabric causes any other object in the vicinity to move towards the heavier object and this is why gravity causes an object to pull things towards it.
- Two, it bends light in the process of attracting it.
Conclusion

In just two decades, Einstein led physics out of its traditional moorings, laid the entablature of modern physics on Newtonian and Maxwellian pillars of classical physics and opened it up to newer questions.

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August 18, 2021
Streak Daily | Videos & Questions | Aug 18, 2021
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August 18, 2021
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This is the cycle that makes or breaks a UPSC aspirant’s dreams. Follow this cycle and you will become an IAS officer.

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August 18, 2021
18th Aug 2021 | Current Affairs Test – 03

[WpProQuiz 744]

[WpProQuiz_toplist 741]

August 18, 2021

Important Economic Index, Surveys, and Reports in News

18th Aug, 2021

Sr. No	Reports/Indices	Publishing Organizations
1.	Ease of Doing Business	World Bank
2.	World Development Report	World Bank
3.	Global Economic Prospect (GEP) report	World Bank
4.	Remittance Report	World Bank
5.	Ease of Living Index	World Bank
6.	India Development Update	World Bank
7.	Universal Health Coverage Index	World Bank
8.	The Service Trade Restriction Index	World Bank
9.	Human Capital Index	World Bank
10.	Global Financial Stability Report	International Monetary Fund (IMF)
11.	World Economic Outlook	IMF
12.	The Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA)	Organization of Economic Development and Cooperation (OECD)
13.	World Trade Outlook Indicator	WTO
14.	Global Information Technology Report	World Economic Forum (WEF)
15.	Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Report	WEF
16.	Global Competitiveness Report	WEF
17.	Enabling Trade Report	WEF
18.	Global Energy Architecture Performance Index Report	WEF
19.	Global Environment Performance Index 2016	WEF
20.	World Power Language Index	WEF
21.	Inclusive Development Index	WEF
22.	Global Gender Gap Index	WEF
23.	Global Financial System Report	Bank for International Settlements (BIS)
24.	Global Money Laundering Report	Financial Action Task Force (FATF)

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August 18, 2021

Understanding the strategic flux and humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan
Context

The Afghan government and its defence forces have completely collapsed. The world over, television screens are full of images of the extraordinary takeover of Afghanistan by the Taliban.

Background of the US intervention in Afghanistan
- The original trigger for the US military intervention in Afghanistan was the 9/11 attacks.
- The objective then was to eliminate the al Qaeda sanctuaries hosted by the Taliban.
- That goal was quickly attained, as was another one — the elimination of Osama Bin Laden in Abbottabad, Pakistan, in 2011.
- The US was thereafter stuck into a vortex in which its mission oscillated between counter-terrorism and counter-insurgency.
- The military presence in Afghanistan has been questioned by the US political firmament for a decade.
Factors driving the US exit
- China factor: The US now regards China as its principal strategic competitor.
- China’s muscle-flexing in the East and South China Seas calls for a renewed effort by the US to protect its stakes.
- The rise of China is the main geo-strategic threat for the US.
- In 2001, the US had taken its eye off the ball in diverting its attention to the global war on terror.
- Beginning with Afghanistan, it meandered through Iraq, Libya and Syria, with mixed results.
- Taiwan: China’s recent ratcheting up of pressure on Taiwan has also sounded the alarm.
Implications of Taliban’s return for region
- The new regime in Kabul is likely to open the door to economic investments from China.
- At the geopolitical level, the BRI may well receive a boost, given China’s interests in connectivity that could straddle the region, from Pakistan to Iran.
- Pakistan has shown alacrity in welcoming the change of guard in Kabul.
- The change in Afghanistan has security implications for India and the region at large.
- A spill-over of any chaos and instability in Afghanistan beyond its borders could give terrorism a shot in the arm.
- It could also singe Pakistan if it does not review its malevolent practices, which favour terror as an instrument of state policy.
Way forward for India
- India should prioritise the welfare of the Afghan people, whenever the opportunity presents itself.
- Currently, about 2,500 Afghan students are enrolled in educational and vocational institutions across India.
- They will no doubt wish to extend their scholarships.
- As a close neighbour, India has keen stakes in ensuring a stable, secure and developed Afghanistan.
- As the rotational President of the UN Security Council for August, India has an opportunity to engage important stakeholders on the way forward.
- Beyond that too, India’s presence in the UN Security Council till the end of 2022 will provide a platform to explore options with greater flexibility.
Conclusion

The global community needs to underscore the continued participation of women in governance in Afghanistan and keep an eye on violations of human rights and international humanitarian law.

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August 18, 2021
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August 18, 2021
Sub-Mission on Fodder and Feed
Context

The government recently announced a Sub-Mission on Fodder and Feed.

Why availability of good and affordable quality feed and fodder matters
- A study by the Indian Grassland and Fodder Research Institute has observed that for every 100 kg of feed required, India is short of 23.4 kg of dry fodder, 11.24 kg of green fodder, and 28.9 kg of concentrate feed.
- Low milk productivity: The lack of good quality feed and fodder impacts the productivity levels of cattle.
- This is one of the chief reasons why Indian livestock’s milk productivity is 20%-60% lower than the global average.
- High input cost: If we break down the input costs, we find that feed constitutes 60%-70% of milk production costs.
- When the National Livestock Mission was launched in 2014, it focused on supporting farmers in producing fodder from non-forest wasteland/grassland, and cultivation of coarse grains.
- However, this model could not sustain fodder availability due to a lack of backward and forward linkages in the value chain.
Why Sub-Mission on Fodder and Feed is significant
- As about 200 million Indians are involved in dairy and livestock farming, the scheme is important from the perspective of poverty alleviation.
- The Sub-Mission on Fodder and Feed intends to create a network of entrepreneurs who will make silage (the hub) and sell them directly to the farmers (the spoke).
- Bringing down the input cost: The large-scale production of silage will bring down the input cost for farmers since silage is much cheaper than concentrate feed.
- Objective: The revised scheme has been designed with the objectives of increasing productivity, reducing input costs, and doing away with middlemen (who usually take a huge cut).
- Since India has a livestock population of 535.78 million, effective implementation of this scheme will play a major role in increasing the return on investment for our farmers.
About the Sub-Mission on Fodder and Feed
- The scheme will provide 50% capital subsidy up to ₹50 lakh towards project cost to the beneficiary for infrastructure development and for procuring machinery for value addition in feed such as hay/silage/total mixed ration.
- Private entrepreneurs, self-help groups, farmer producer organizations, dairy cooperative societies, and Section 8 companies (NGOs) can avail themselves of the benefits under this scheme.
- The scheme can be used for covering the cost of infrastructure/machinery such as bailing units, harvester, chaff cutter, sheds, etc.
Challenges and solution
- Seasonal availability: A major challenge in the feed sector emanates from the fact that good-quality green fodder is only available for about three months during the year.
- Fermenting green fodder: Ideal solution would be to ferment green fodder and convert it into silage.
- Hence, under the fodder entrepreneurship program, farmers will receive subsidies and incentives to create a consistent supply chain of feed throughout the year.
Conclusion

The mission will help marginal farmers reduce their input costs and help them in increasing the return on capital employed.
August 18, 2021
What are Oil Bonds?
The Centre has argued that it cannot reduce taxes on petrol and diesel as it has to bear the burden of payments in lieu of oil bonds issued by the previous UPA government to subsidize fuel prices.

What are Oil Bonds?
- Oil bonds are special securities issued by the government to oil marketing companies in lieu of cash subsidy.
- These bonds are typical of a long-term tenure like 15-20 years and oil companies are paid interest.
- Before the complete deregulation of petrol and diesel prices, oil marketing companies were faced with a huge financial burden as the selling price of petrol and diesel in India was lower than the international market price.
- This ‘under-recovery is typically compensated through fuel subsidies allocated in the Union budget.
- However, between 2005 and 2010, the UPA government issued oil bonds to the companies amounting to Rs 1.4 lakh crore to compensate them for these losses.
Why do governments issue such bonds?
- Compensation to companies through issuance of such bonds is typically used when the government is trying to delay the fiscal burden of such a payout to future years.
- Governments resort to such instruments when they are in danger of breaching the fiscal deficit target due to unforeseen circumstances that lead to a collapse in revenues or a surge in expenditure.
- These types of bonds are considered to be ‘below the line’ expenditure in the Union budget and do not have a bearing on that year’s fiscal deficit, but they do increase the government’s overall debt.
- However, interest payments and repayment of these bonds become a part of the fiscal deficit calculations in future years.
Backgrounder: Deregulation of fuel prices
- Fuel price decontrol has been a step-by-step exercise, with the government freeing up prices of aviation turbine fuel in 2002, petrol in 2010, and diesel in 2014.
- Prior to that, the government would intervene in fixing the price at which retailers were to sell diesel or petrol.
- This led to under-recoveries for oil marketing companies, which the government had to compensate for.
- The prices were deregulated to make them market-linked, unburden the government from subsidizing prices, and allow consumers to benefit from lower rates when global crude oil prices tumble.
- Price decontrol essentially offers fuel retailers such as Indian Oil, HPCL or BPCL the freedom to fix prices based on calculations of their own cost and profits.
- However, the key beneficiary in this policy reform of price decontrol is the government.
Impact: Loss of consumers
- While oil price deregulation was meant to be linked to global crude prices, Indian consumers have not benefited from a fall in global prices.
- The central, as well as state governments, impose fresh taxes and levies to raise extra revenues.
- This forces the consumer to either pay what she’s already paying, or even more.
Why are the Oil Bonds in news?
- As prices of petrol and diesel climb steeply, the Centre has been under pressure to cut the high taxes on fuel.
- Taxes account for 58 per cent of the retail selling price of petrol and 52 per cent of the retail selling price of diesel.
- However, the government has so far been reluctant to cut taxes as excise duties on petrol and diesel are a major source of revenue, especially at a time the pandemic has adversely impacted other taxes such as corporate tax.
- The government is estimated to have collected more than Rs 3 lakh crore from tax on petrol and diesel in the 2020-21 fiscal year.
The blame game
- The present government has blamed the UPA regime for its inability to cut taxes.
- It pointed out that the bonds issued by the Manmohan Singh government have weakened the financial position of the oil marketing companies and added to the government’s fiscal burden now.
- It is an argument that has been often repeated since 2018.
What budget documents show
- Budget documents show that such bonds will be up for redemption over the next few years — beginning with two to be redeemed in the current fiscal year — till 2026.
- The government has to repay a principal amount of Rs 10,000 crore this year, according to these documents.
- The government has paid around Rs 10,000 crore annually as interest over the last decade.
- The government is likely to pay a similar amount of interest for the current fiscal as well.
Is the issuance of such special securities restricted to the UPA era?
- Besides oil bonds, the UPA era also saw the issuance of fertilizer bonds from 2007 to compensate fertilizer companies for their losses due to the difference in the cost price and selling price.
- However, the issuance of such special securities is not limited to the UPA regime.
- Over the years, the Modi government has issued bank recapitalization bonds to specific public sector banks (PSBs) as it looked to meet the large capital requirements of these PSBs without allocating money from the budget.
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August 18, 2021
Why banks want inspection reports by RBI to be kept confidential?
The contentious issue of whether banks should disclose inspection reports by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is back in the news once again after a division bench of the Supreme Court referred writ petitions filed by banks to another bench for reconsideration.

What is RBI’s inspection on banks?
- The Banking Regulation Act, 1949 empowers the Reserve Bank of India to inspect and supervise commercial banks.
- These powers are exercised through on-site inspection and off-site surveillance.
- RBI carries out dedicated and integrated supervision overall of credit institutions, i.e., banks, development financial institutions, and non-banking financial companies.
- The Board for Financial Supervision (BFS) carries out this function.
- Banks currently disclose the list of wilful defaulters and names of defaulters against whom they have filed suits for loan recovery.
Note: CAMELS is an international rating system used by regulatory banking authorities to rate financial institutions, according to the six factors represented by its acronym. The CAMELS acronym stands for “Capital adequacy, Asset quality, Management, Earnings, Liquidity, and Sensitivity.”

Why in news now?
- In 2015, the Supreme Court had come down on the RBI for trying to keep the inspection reports and defaulters list confidential.
- This was aimed for the public disclosure of such reports of the RBI, much against the wishes of the banking sector.
- The SC had said the RBI has no legal duty to maximize the benefit of any public sector or private sector bank, and thus there is no relationship of ‘trust’ between them.
- It added that the RBI was duty-bound to uphold the public interest by revealing these details under RTI.
What is the issue?
- The RBI was allowed to make such reports public following the Supreme Court order.
- The SC had wanted full disclosure of the inspection report.
- However, the court agreed that only some portions on bad loans and borrowers would be made public.
- Banks have been refusing to disclose inspection reports and defaulters’ lists.
Issues with report publication
- Bank defamation: As banks are involved in dealing in money, they fear any adverse remarks — especially from the regulator RBI — will affect their performance and keep customers away.
- Trust of the account holder: Banks are driven by the “trust and faith” of their clients that should not be made public.
- The invalidity of RTI: On the other hand, private banks insisted that the RTI Act does not apply to private banks.
- Right to Privacy: Banks also argued that privacy is a fundamental right, and therefore should not be violated by making clients’ information public.
Why are banks against disclosing inspection reports?
- Many feel that the RBI’s inspection reports on various banks, with details on alleged malpractices and mismanagement, can open up a can of worms.
- As these reports have details about how the banks were manipulated by rogue borrowers and officials, banks want to keep them under wraps.
- Obviously, banks don’t want inspection reports and defaulters’ lists to be made public as it affects their image.
- Customers may also keep out of banks with poor track records.
Try this PYQ now:

Q.In the context of the Indian economy non-financial debt includes which of the following?
1. Housing loans owed by households
2. Amounts outstanding on credit cards
3. Treasury bills
Select the correct answer using the code given below:

(a) 1 only

(b) 1 and 2 only

(c) 3 only

(d) 1, 2 and 3

Post your answers here (You need to sign-in for that).
August 18, 2021

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What are Oil Bonds?

Why do governments issue such bonds?

Backgrounder: Deregulation of fuel prices

Impact: Loss of consumers

Why are the Oil Bonds in news?

The blame game

What budget documents show

Is the issuance of such special securities restricted to the UPA era?

What is RBI’s inspection on banks?

Why in news now?

What is the issue?

Issues with report publication

Why are banks against disclosing inspection reports?

Try this PYQ now:

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