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  • The costs of relying on China to become more apparent to India’s neighbours

    The article explains the implications of China’s assertive foreign policy for India’s neighbours.

    Chinese warning to Bangladesh

    • The Chinese ambassador to Bangladesh warned Bangladesh against joining the Quad and added that it will risk “significant damage” to its relationship with Beijing if it warms up to the Quad.
    • This came as a surprise as China was warning Bangladesh against joining a club that has no plans to invite new members, let alone Bangladesh.
    • China always used tough language when it came to issues of its sovereignty and territorial integrity.
    • The aggressive style now covers a much broader range of issues.
    • Beijing is conscious that Bangladesh’s impressive economic performance in recent years as well as its location at the top of the Bay of Bengal littoral lends a new strategic salience to Bangladesh.
    • China notes India’s growing diplomatic investment in developing a strategic partnership with Bangladesh.
    • China is also not blind to the emerging interest in US and Japan to expand cooperation with Dhaka.
    • Bangladesh, which supports China’s Belt and Road Initiative, is open to similar infrastructure cooperation with the US, Japan and India.

    China’s wolf worrier diplomacy

    • The new wolf warrior diplomacy confronts head-on any criticism of China in the public sphere.
    • India has been at the receiving end of this policy for a while — especially during the recent crises of Doklam and Ladakh.
    • But India’s South Asian neighbours, all of whom enjoy good relations with China, are only now getting a taste of Beijing’s new diplomatic medicine.
    • Chinese Ambassador’s public remarks about the Quad were about telling Bangladesh to resist any Indo-Pacific temptation.
    • Pre-emption is very much part of Beijing’s strategic culture.

    What such assertive diplomacy mean for South Asia

    • Delhi has learnt after long that too much diplomatic interference in the Subcontinent has tended to undermine the pursuit of India’s regional objectives.
    • China, as the world’s newest superpower, probably bets that its substantive leverages — including economic, diplomatic, and military — will limit the costs while deterring smaller nations from crossing the markers that it lays down.
    • South Asian elites have always seethed at India meddling in their internal affairs; they have held up China’s non-interventionist policy as a welcome alternative.
    • The controversy in Bangladesh over China’s remark on joining Quad should help update their past images of Beijing
    • India is now more circumspect than before about interventions in the region.
    • It recognises that avoiding knee-jerk interventions is a sensible policy.
    • Our neighbours have always complained about India’s inefficiency in implementing economic projects and contrasted this with China’s speed and purposefulness.
    • But they are also discovering the flip side of Chinese economic efficiency — the capacity to set and implement terms of cooperation that are not always in favour of the host nation.
    • All the regimes in the region have had access to different sections of the Indian elite and some capacity to shape the discourse on neighbourhood policies.
    • They have no political recourse at all in China’s closed political system.

    Consider the question “As Beijing becomes ever more assertive in South Asia, the costs of relying on China are likely to become more apparent to South Asia’s smaller nations. Comment.”

    Conclusion

    Until now, Chinese support against India seemed free of cost. As Beijing becomes ever more assertive in South Asia, the costs of relying on China are likely to become more apparent.

  • Need for West Asia’s diplomatic resets

    The article highlights the unprecedented engagement among the countries of West Asia even among the rivals and explains its significance.

    New diplomatic engagements in West Asia

    • Recently, there have been interactions between senior Saudi and Iranian officials, the first since diplomatic ties were broken in January 2016.
    • Following the removal of the diplomatic and economic blockade on Qatar that was imposed by Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt, Doha has made efforts to mend ties with both Saudi Arabia and Egypt, in tandem with similar initiatives of its doctrinal and political ally, Turkey.
    • On May 5, Turkey and Egypt had their first diplomatic meeting in Cairo after they had broken diplomatic ties in 2013.
    • The two countries, on opposite sides on almost all regional issues, are now exploring how to address their differences.

    Driving force behind these engagements

    • The driving force behind these unprecedented engagements is the advent of the Biden administration at the helm of politics in the United States.
    • He has taken a tough line on Saudi Arabia, scrutinising its human rights record and opposition to the war in Yemen.
    • Besides concerns in West Asian capitals, the broader message is that the U.S. is now likely to be less engaged with the region’s quarrels.
    • These signals of new U.S. policies have occurred even as the novel coronavirus pandemic is devastating West Asia.
    • Finally, one major factor is the recognition that the ongoing regional conflicts, in Syria, Yemen and Libya, despite the massive death and destruction, have yielded no military outcome and now demand fresh diplomatic approaches.

    Long way to go in resolving differences

    • Egypt remains uneasy about Turkey’s ties with the Brotherhood and its regional ambitions.
    • Saudi Arabia has similar concerns about Turkey’s doctrinal affiliations and its relations with Iran.
    • There are difficulties in reshaping Saudi-Iran relations as well.
    • Iran may ease the pressure on the kingdom in Yemen and gradually yield ground in Iraq.
    • However, Syria will test their diplomatic skills as they explore how to accommodate their competing strategic interests in that devastated country.

    Historic period for West Asian diplomacy

    • This is truly a historic period for West Asian diplomacy.
    • The major states are displaying unprecedented self-confidence in pursuing initiatives without the involvement of western powers that have dominated regional affairs for at least a couple of centuries.
    • This has left a pervasive sense of insecurity across West Asia and made the countries dependent on western alliances to ensure their interests.
    • This has left a pervasive sense of insecurity across West Asia and made the countries dependent on western alliances to ensure their interests.

    Role for India

    • Given that regional contentions are inter-connected, third-party facilitators will be needed to promote mutual confidence and prepare the ground for a comprehensive regional security arrangement.
    • This will bring together regional and external states with a stake in West Asia security.
    • This arrangement will have provisions for participating states to uphold regional peace and promote mutually beneficial cooperation in energy, economic and logistical connectivity areas.
    • Given its close ties with all the regional states, India is well-placed to build an association of like-minded states — Japan, Russia, South Korea — to shape and pursue such an initiative for West Asian peace.

    Conclusion

    These new diplomatic engagements with erstwhile rivals could in time overturn existing regional alignments and possibly end ongoing conflicts.

  • Promoting Science and Technology – Missions, Policies & Schemes

    18th May 2021
     

    Genome Mapping of the Indian Ocean

    A team of scientists and researchers from the National Institute of Oceanography (NIO) onboard its research vessel Sindhu Sadhana will work on a research project to reveal the internal working of the body of the ocean at a cellular level.

    Genome Mapping of the Indian Ocean

    • The first-of-its-kind research project in the country is aimed at understanding the biochemistry and the response of the ocean to climate change, nutrient stress and increasing pollution.
    • The researchers will collect samples from various stretches of the ocean at an average depth of about 5 km.
    • Just like gene mapping is carried out on blood samples collected from humans, the scientists will map these in the bacteria, microbes found in the ocean.
    • The mapping of the Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) and Ribonucleic acid (RNA) will show the nutrients present in them, and also those lacking in different parts of the ocean.

    Objectives of the mission

    • This project will help scientists understand the internal working of the ecosystem of the Indian Ocean.
    • The research will enable scientists to identify the factors controlling the changes in RNA, DNA in the oceans, and various stressors impacting them.
    • The ocean has several micronutrients like nitrates, sulphates and silicates, minerals like iron ore and zinc, and trace metals like cadmium or copper.
    • The genome mapping will show the presence of which these microbes have adapted to, in addition to their reaction to atmospheric carbon dioxide.
    • This will help in identifying which part of the ocean has a greater concentration of which mineral or element.
    • Scientists will then use these as tracers to tackle the causative factors for excess or lack of a certain mineral or element and suggest possible solutions for their mitigation.
    • In addition, the large pool of RNA, DNA library of the oceans will be utilized for using the Indian Ocean for human benefit in the future.

    Studying the interactions of trace metals

    • Trace metals are the metals subset of trace elements; that is, metals normally present in small but measurable amounts in animal and plant cells.
    • Trace metals like cadmium or copper are supplied to oceans via continental run-offs, atmospheric deposition, hydrothermal activities and continental shelf interaction.
    • They are essential for ocean productivity for having a holistic understanding of nutrient cycling and productivity of the oceans.
    • Isotopic forms of trace metals can be utilized to track the movement of water masses responsible for ocean circulation and as tools to study the biological, geochemical and ecosystem processes and food web analyses

    National Mission on Quantum Technology and Applications (NM-QTA)

    About NM-QTA

    • The mission will function under the Department of Science & Technology (DST).
    • It will be able to address the ever-increasing technological requirements of society and take into account the international technology trends.
    • The mission will help prepare next-generation skilled manpower, boost translational research and also encourage entrepreneurship and start-up ecosystem development.

    Recent applications

    • Recently, DRDO has successfully demonstrated communication between its two labs using Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) technology.
    • In June 2020, China demonstrated quantum communication technology using the satellite Micius, by conducting a secret conference between two ground stations about 1,120 km apart.
    • They used the satellite not to transmit the entire communication, but to simultaneously send a pair of secret keys to the two ground stations.
    • Other potential applications include secure communication, fast computers that established quantum supremacy, sensors, and quantum-inspired devices.

    Quantum Technology

    • Quantum Technology is based on the principles of quantum theory, which explains the nature of energy and matter on the atomic and subatomic level.
    • It concerns the control and manipulation of quantum systems, with the goal of achieving information processing beyond the limits of the classical world.
    • Its principles will be used for engineering solutions to extremely complex problems in computing, communications, sensing, chemistry, cryptography, imaging and mechanics.
    • This key ability makes quantum computers extremely powerful compared to conventional computers when solving certain kinds of problems like finding prime factors of large numbers and searching for large databases.

    What is Quantum Mechanics?

    • It is a fundamental theory in physics which describes nature at the smallest – including atomic and subatomic – scales.
    • At the scale of atoms and electrons, many of the equations of classical mechanics, which describe how things move at everyday sizes and speeds, cease to be useful.
    • In classical mechanics, objects exist in a specific place at a specific time.
    • However, in quantum mechanics, objects instead exist in a haze of probability; they have a certain chance of being at point A, another chance of being at point B and so on.

    Science Technology and Innovation Policy (STIP), 2020

    Aim: To identify and address the strengths and weaknesses of the Indian STI ecosystem to catalyse socio-economic development of the country and also make the Indian STI ecosystem globally competitive.

    The philosophy behind

    • Unlike previous STI policies which were largely top-driven in the formulation, this policy follows core principles of being decentralized, evidence-informed, bottom-up, experts-driven, and inclusive.
    • It aims to be dynamic, with a robust policy governance mechanism that includes periodic review, evaluation, feedback, adaptation and, most importantly, a timely exit strategy for policy instruments.
    • The STIP will be guided by the vision of positioning India among the top three scientific superpowers in the decade to come; to attract, nurture, strengthen, and retain critical human capital through a people-centric STI ecosystem

    The Open Science Framework

    Open Science fosters more equitable participation in science through-

    • Increased access to research output;
    • Greater transparency and accountability in research; inclusiveness;
    • Better resource utilization through minimal restrictions on reuse of research output and infrastructure and
    • Ensuring a constant exchange of knowledge between the producers and users of knowledge

    Inclusion principles

    • The STIP proposes that at least 30 per cent representation be ensured for women in all decision-making bodies, as well as “spousal benefits” are provided to partners of scientists belonging to the LGBTQ+ community.
    • Among the proposals in the policy is the removal of bars on married couples being employed in the same department or laboratory.
    • As of now, married couples are not posted in the same department, leading to cases of loss of employment or forced transfers when colleagues decide to get married.
    • The policy says that for age-related cut-offs in matters relating to the selection, promotion, awards or grants, the “academic age” and not the biological age would be considered.

    Funding improvements

    • At 0.6% of GDP, India’s gross domestic expenditure on R&D (GERD) is quite low compared to other major economies that have a GERD-to-GDP ratio of 1.5% to 3%.
    • This can be attributed to inadequate private sector investment (less than 40%) in R&D activities in India; in technologically advanced countries, the private sector contributes close to 70% of GERD.
    • STIP has made some major recommendations in this regard, such as the expansion of the STI funding landscape at the central and state levels.
    • It has enhanced incentivisation mechanisms for leveraging the private sector’s R&D participation through boosting financial support and fiscal incentives for industry.

    40th Indian Scientific Expedition to Antarctica (ISEA)

    • The Indian Antarctic Program is a multi-disciplinary, multi-institutional program under the control of the National Centre for Antarctic and Ocean Research, Ministry of Earth Sciences.
    • It was initiated in 1981 with the first Indian expedition to Antarctica.
    • The program gained global acceptance with India’s signing of the Antarctic Treaty and subsequent construction of the Dakshin Gangotri Antarctic research base in 1983, superseded by the Maitri base from 1990.
    • The newest base commissioned in 2015 is Bharati, constructed out of 134 shipping containers.

    Indian mission on the Arctic

    • Himadri Station is India’s first Arctic research station located at Spitsbergen, Svalbard, Norway. It is located at the International Arctic Research base, Ny-Ålesund.
    • It was inaugurated on the 1st of July, 2008 by the Minister of Earth Sciences. It is followed by IndARC.
    • The United States Geological Survey estimates that 22% of the world’s oil and natural gas could be located beneath the Arctic.
    • ONGC Videsh has signed joint venture with Russia for oil exploration there.

    Digital Ocean’: the Digital Platform for Ocean Data Management

    Digital Ocean

    • Digital Ocean is a first of its kind digital platform for Ocean Data Management.
    • The platform will be promoted as a platform for capacity building on Ocean Data Management for all Indian Ocean Rim countries.
    • It would help share ocean knowledge about the ocean with a wide range of users including research institutions, operational agencies, strategic users, the academic community, and the maritime industry and policymakers.
    • It also provides free access to information to the general public and the common man.
    • It will play a central role in the sustainable management of our oceans and expanding ‘Blue Economy’ initiatives.

    Its’ features

    • It includes a set of applications developed to organize and present heterogeneous oceanographic data by adopting rapid advancements in geospatial technology.
    • It facilitates:
    1. Online interactive web-based environment for data integration,
    2. 3D and 4D (3D in space with time animation) data visualization,
    3. Data analysis to assess the evolution of oceanographic features,
    4. Data fusion and multi-format download of disparate data from multiple sources viz., in-situ, remote sensing, and model data, all of which is rendered on a georeferenced 3D Ocean

    Certification of ‘Quantum Entanglement’

    What is Quantum Entanglement (QE)?

    • QE is the name given to a special connection between pairs or groups of quantum systems, or any objects described by quantum mechanics.
    • It is one of the biggest parts of quantum mechanics that makes it hard to understand in terms of the everyday world.
    • When we look at particles, we usually say that each particle has its own quantum state. Sometimes, two particles can act on one another and become an entangled system.
    • When a pair or group of particles can only be described by the quantum state for the system, and not by individual quantum states, we say the particles are “entangled”.

    Going bit technical here-

    • It is the physical phenomenon that occurs when a pair or group of particles is generated; interact, in a way such that the quantum state of each particle of the pair or group cannot be described independently of the state of the others.
    • Entangled states are key resources to facilitate many quantum information processing tasks and quantum cryptographic protocols.

    Why decode the Entanglement?

    • Entanglement is fragile and is easily lost during the transit of photons through the environment.
    • Hence it is extremely important to know whether a pair of photons are entangled, in order to use them as a resource.
    • Verification of entanglement requires the use of measurement devices, but such devices may be hacked or compromised.

    How to secure QE?

    • Device-independent self-testing (DIST) is a method that can be used in order to overcome such a possibility.
    • This method enables the verification of entanglement in an unknown quantum state of two photons without having direct access to the state, or complete trust in the measurement devices.
    • The theory relies on the application of the quantum uncertainty principle while implementing full device independence is a difficult task.

    Shodh Shuddhi

    Shodh Shuddhi

    • The union Ministry of HRD has launched the Plagiarism Detention Software (PDS) “Shodh Shuddhi”.
    • This service is being implemented by Information and Library Network (INFLIBNET), an Inter University Centre (IUC) of UGC.
    • PDS will significantly help to improve the quality of research outcome by ensuring the originality of ideas and publication of the research scholars.
    • Initially, about 1000 Universities/ Institutions (Central Universities; Centrally Funded Technical Institutions (CFTIs); State Public Universities; Deemed Universities; Private Universities; Inter University Centre (IUCs) & Institutes of National Importance are being provided with this service.

    What is Plagiarism?

    • Plagiarism is the “wrongful appropriation” and “stealing and publication” of another author’s “language, thoughts, ideas, or expressions” and the representation of them as one’s own original work.
    • Plagiarism is considered academic dishonesty and a breach of journalistic ethics.

    Central Equipment Identity Register (CEIR)

     
    • International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) is supposed to be a unique identity of a mobile phone device.
    • IMEI number being programmable, some miscreants do reprogram the IMEI number, which results in cloning of IMEI causing multiple phone devices with same IMEI number.
    • As on date, there are many cases of cloned/duplicated IMEI handsets in the network.
    • If such IMEI is blocked, a large number of mobile phones will get blocked being handsets with same IMEI causing inconvenience to many genuine customers.
    • Thus, there is a need to eliminate duplicate/fake IMEI mobile phones from the network.
    • Accordingly, a project called Central Equipment Identity Register (CEIR) system has been undertaken by the DoT for addressing security, theft and other concerns including reprogramming of mobile handsets.

    Superconductivity

    Superconductivity

    • Superconductivity is a phenomenon of exactly zero electrical resistance and expulsion of magnetic flux fields occurring in certain materials, called superconductors, when cooled below a characteristic critical temperature.
    • A material is said to be a superconductor if it conducts electricity with zero resistance to the flow of electrons.
    • Until now, scientists have been able to make materials superconduct only at temperature much below zero degree C and hence making practical utility very difficult.
    • They help build very high efficiency devices leading to huge energy savings.

    Silver embedded gold matrix

    • The material that exhibited superconductivity is in the form of nanosized films and pellets made of silver nanoparticles embedded in a gold matrix.
    • Interestingly, silver and gold independently do not exhibit superconductivity.

    Redefined units of measurement of kilogram, Kelvin, mole and ampere

    • The General Conference on Weights and Measures (CGPM) at BIPM held on 16 November 2018 has unanimously adopted the resolution to redefine four of the seven base units.
    • These included kilogram (SI unit of weight), Kelvin (SI unit of temperature), mole (SI unit of amount of substance), and ampere (SI unit of current).
    • The new SI is being implemented worldwide from 20th May 2019 i.e. the World Metrology Day.

    Global standards of Kg

    • The global standards for measurement are set by the International Bureau of Weights and Measures (BIPM), of which India became a member in 1957.
    • At BIPM in Sèvres, near Paris, stands a cylinder of platinum-iridium locked in a jar.
    • Since 1889, the kilogram has been defined as the mass of this cylinder, called Le Grand K, or International Prototype Kilogram (IPK).
    • In India, CSIR-NPL maintains the National Prototype Kilogram (NPK-57), which is calibrated with IPK.

    Redifining Kg

    • The IPK was the last physical artifact used to define any of the fundamental units.
    • IPK would put on a little extra mass when tiny dust particles settled on it; when cleaned, it would shed some of its original mass.
    • Scientists have long stressed that the fundamental units should be defined in terms of natural constants.
    • On November 16, 2018 representatives of 60 countries agreed that the kilogram should be defined in terms of the Planck constant.
    • The Planck constant is a quantity that relates a light particle’s energy to its frequency.
    • Using a machine called a Kibble balance, in which the weight of a test mass is offset by an electromagnetic force, the value of the Planck constant was fixed, the kilogram was redefined.

    How was this achieved?

    • The new definition for kilogram fits in with the modern definitions for the units of time (second) and distances (metre).
    • Today, the second is defined as the time it takes for a certain amount of energy to be released as radiation from atoms of Caesium-133.
    • By its modern definition, a metre is the distance travelled by light in vacuum in 1/299,792,458 of a second (which is already defined).
    • This is where the Planck constant comes in.
    • It has been measured precisely at 6.626069… × 10^(-34) kilograms per second per square metre.
    • With the second and the metre already defined, a very precise definition for the kilogram

    Benefits of recalibration

    • What was 1 kg earlier is still 1 kg today. An updated kilogram doesn’t mean that weights everywhere will be thrown off balance.
    • All that has changed is the definition, for the sake of accuracy.
    • A mass measured as 1 kg earlier would have meant 1 kg, plus or minus 15-20 micrograms.
    • Using the new definition, a mass measured as 1 kg will mean 1 kg, plus or minus 1 or 2 nanograms.

    About World Metrology Day

    • The World Metrology Day (WMD) is celebrated annually on this very day as the Metre Convention was signed by representatives of seventeen nations on May 20, 1875.
    • The Convention set the framework for global collaboration in the science of measurement and in its industrial, commercial and societal applications.

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  • 18th May 2021 | Prelims Daily with Previous Year Questions

    [WpProQuiz 639]

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  • India should walk the talk on TRIPS waiver

    The article highlights the variance in India’s stand on intellectual property rights waiver for Covid related drugs on the international level and domestic level. 

    Removing the IPR barrier

    • When the pandemic hit the globe, India and South Africa piloted the proposal to waive key provisions of the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) agreement on COVID-19 vaccines, drugs, therapeutics, and related technologies.
    • The core idea is that IPRs such as patents should not become barriers in scaling up production of medical products essential to combat COVID-19.
    • The TRIPS waiver proposal, now backed by the U.S. would give immunity to member countries from a legal challenge at the WTO if their domestic IPR laws suspend or do not enforce IP protection on COVID-19 medical products.
    • Member countries of the World Trade Organization (WTO) are under an obligation to ensure that their domestic intellectual property rights (IPR) laws conform to the requirements of the TRIPS agreement.

    No use of compulsory licencing in India

    • The existing flexibilities under the Patents Act of 1970, such as compulsory licences, which are consistent with the TRIPS agreement, can be used to increase the supply of COVID-19 medical products.
    • However, despite the nudging by the judiciary and others, the government inexplicably hasn’t made use of compulsory licences in the pandemic.
    • While issuing compulsory licences for COVID-19 vaccines in the absence of technology transfer is easier said than done, they can be used to augment the supply of drugs and other therapeutics.
    • For instance, there are demands that compulsory licences be issued for drugs such as Remdesivir to augment supply.
    • Natco, an Indian pharmaceutical company, has requested a compulsory licence under Section 92 of the Patents Act for Baricitinib, a COVID-19 drug.
    • This is ironic because India has historically played a leading role in mainstreaming TRIPS flexibilities like the compulsory licence at the WTO.
    • The Central government, in an affidavit filed before the Supreme Court, states that the main constraint in boosting the production of drugs like Remdesivir is the unavailability of raw materials and essential inputs.
    • The affidavit further states, “it is presumptuous to assume that the patent holder will not agree to more voluntary licences”.

    Issues with the government’s stand

    •  If that is the real bottleneck, and not IPR-related legal hurdles, why is India pushing for a TRIPS waiver at the WTO?
    • The first step in advocating for the removal of IPR-related impediments at the WTO is to make use of the existing lawful means.
    • Therefore, the government’s stand before the Supreme Court is not only contradictory with India’s position at the WTO but also severely undermines it.

    Way forward

    • To make its TRIPS waiver stand convincing, the government needs to make aggressive use of Sections 92 and 100 of the Patents Act to license all patents necessary to make COVID-19 medical products.
    • The government should not only transfer Covaxin’s technology to domestic pharmaceutical companies, to boost national supplies, but also offer it to foreign corporations. 
    •  By unlocking its vaccine technical know-how to the world, India would demonstrate its resolve to walk the talk on the TRIPS waiver.

    Conclusion

    India must take a consistent stand on IPRs on COVID-19 medical products internationally and domestically.

  • Why has Indian manufacturing been losing jobs since 2016?

    The State of Working India (SWI) 2021 has documented the impact of one year of Covid-19 in India, on jobs, incomes, inequality, and poverty.

    Highlights of the SWI 2021

    • The SWI 2021 showed that the pandemic had forced people out of their formal jobs into casual work, and led to a severe decline in incomes.
    • There is a sudden increase in poverty over the past year.
    • Maharashtra, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, and Delhi, contributed disproportionately to job losses.
    • Unsurprisingly, these are also the states that suffered the maximum Covid caseload.

    Labour Participation Rate (LPR) is the ratio of the labour force to the population greater than 15 years of age. It is defined as the section of working population in the age group of 16-64 in the economy currently employed or seeking employment.

    Worsened with COVID

    • It pointed to an ailment of the Indian economy that has not only been a longstanding one but also one that has gotten worse over the past few years even without the help of Covid.
    • Agriculture, mines, manufacturing, real estate and construction, financial services, non-financial services, and public administrative services sectors account for 99% of total employment in India.
    • The number of people employed in the manufacturing sector of the economy has come down from 51 million to 27 million — that is, almost halving in the space of just four years!
    • For instance, the number of people employed in agriculture is going up.
    • Equally disheartening is that employment in non-financial services (such as providing education and entertainment industry etc.) has fallen sharply.

    Why are these trends worrisome?

    • It is important to understand that traditionally Indian policymakers have been of the view that the manufacturing sector is our best hope to soak up the surplus-labour otherwise employed in agriculture.
    • Manufacturing is well suited because it can make use of the millions of poorly educated Indian youth, unlike the services sector, which often requires better education and skill levels.
    • For the longest time, India has struggled to get its manufacturing industries to create a growing bank of jobs.
    • But, and this is what the CMIE data shows, what is happening in the past 4-5 years is that far from soaking up excess labour from other sectors of the economy, manufacturing is actually letting go of workers.

    Return to Agriculture

    • India has seen a hike in the number of people “employed” in agriculture over the past year.
    • This is nothing but disguised unemployment.
    • Essentially, labourers and workers are returning to their rural homes in the absence of jobs either in manufacturing or services.

    Why is Indian manufacturing failing to create jobs?

    • On the face of it, every past government has come out with a policy to boost manufacturing jobs. But still, the situation is getting worse.
    • There are different ways to look at this question.
    1. One is to look at why manufacturing has struggled to create as many jobs in the past
    2. The second is to look at the specific reasons why manufacturing has been bleeding jobs, instead of creating them, since 2016-17.

    Let’s tackle the historical question first.

    • If one looks at any of the sectors in the economy — agriculture, industry, services — starting a manufacturing unit requires the highest amount of fixed investment upfront (relative to the output that may be generated later).
    • In other words, it is a big commitment on the part of an entrepreneur to put up a huge amount of money without necessarily knowing how it will all pan out.
    • What has traditionally made this truly risky is the highly extractive nature of governments.
    • In simpler terms, far too often governments have been corrupt, with officials and politicians extracting bribes.

    Less focus on manufacturing goods

    • As regards the demand for manufacturing goods, experts point out that Indians have always consumed relatively less of manufacturing goods and relatively more of food and services.

    There are two possible reasons for this.

    1. One, most Indians are quite poor and hence most of the income is spent on food.
    2. Two, repairs and maintenance are a very high part of our consumption choice.
    • In other words, when Indians buy a manufactured product — say a refrigerator — they tend to use it for much longer than in developed countries.

    Core of the problem

    • The trouble lies with policymakers repeatedly neglecting the labour-intensive industries.
    • Since the second five year plan, the P C Mahalanobis strategy was to gain self-reliance by investing in capital intensive industries so that India does not have to import machines etc. from other countries.
    • The hope was that the demand from Indian consumers will make the domestic industry viable.
    • But Indian domestic demand was quite anaemic due to poverty levels.

    Other policy lacunas

    • As against the capital intensive industries, which were involved in making heavy machines, the labour-intensive ones (such as leather, handicrafts, textiles etc.) were reserved for the small-scale industry framework.
    • But while the labour-intensive manufacturing firms could not match the capital-intensive firms in terms of GDP value or growth of output, they did have a distinct advantage of creating more jobs.
    • But, by treating them as small-scale industries, policies held back their growth.
    • Moreover, India did not push for integrating its labour-intensive manufacturing in the global supply chains by aggressively following exports.
    • Instead, the idea was to substitute imports in the name of self-reliance.

    What has happened since 2016-17?

    • Things have become worse over the past five odd years despite the Indian government unveiling its ambitious Make in India (MII) initiative and the latest Production-Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme.
    • For one India is repeating the same mistakes with MII and PLI schemes.
    • They are again aimed more at capital intensive manufacturing, not labour intensive ones.
    • Moreover, India is reverting to the protectionist approach, aimed at self-reliance, yet again in recent years.
    • Further, much like in the past, this time, too, the domestic demand is weak for aggressively boosting labour-intensive industries aimed at capturing the export markets.

    Conclusion

    • The growing rift in the fortunes of informal and formal manufacturing could be the reason why India is seeing such a massive decline in manufacturing jobs.
    • The government has tried its level best to push for greater formalization but it has often been accused of not understanding the nature and functioning of India’s informal economy.

    Way forward

    • For the same level of employment, formality is good.
    • But if there is a trade-off between formality and employment generation, choosing formality may not be so beneficial. And this trade-off appears to be quite sharp in India.
    • Indian manufacturing is still at best hope for creating new jobs and soaking up excess unskilled labour through better infrastructure and easier regulatory support — to create millions of new jobs.

  • ICMR drops Plasma Therapy for COVID-19

    The use of convalescent plasma has been dropped from the recommended treatment guidelines for COVID-19, according to an advisory from the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).

    Q.What is convalescent plasma therapy and what are the issues involved in its adoption?

    Convalescent Plasma Therapy

    • The therapy seeks to make use of the antibodies developed in the recovered patient against the coronavirus.
    • The whole blood or plasma from such people is taken, and the plasma is then injected into critically ill patients so that the antibodies are transferred and boost their fight against the virus.
    • A COVID-19 patient usually develops primary immunity against the virus in 10-14 days.
    • Therefore, if the plasma is injected at an early stage, it can possibly help fight the virus and prevent severe illness.

    How often has it been used in the past?

    • This therapy is no new wonder. It has been used several times.
    • The US used plasma of recovered patients to treat patients of Spanish flu (1918-1920).
    • In 2014, the WHO released guidelines to treat Ebola patients with convalescent whole blood and plasma.
    • In 2015, plasma was used for treating MERS patients.

    How is it done?

    • The process to infuse plasma in a patient can be completed quickly.
    • It only requires standard blood collection practices and extraction of plasma.
    • If whole blood is donated (350-450 ml), a blood fractionation process is used to separate the plasma.
    • Otherwise, a special machine called aphaeresis machine can be used to extract the plasma directly from the donor.
    • While blood is indeed extracted from the donor, the aphaeresis machine separates and extracts the plasma using a plasma kit, and the remaining blood components are returned into the donor’s body.

  • Places in news: Leang Sakapao Caves

    Researchers have reported that Pleistocene-era rock paintings dating back to 45,000-20,000 years ago in cave sites in southern Sulawesi, on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi, are weathering at an alarming rate.

    Have you ever found the mention of ‘Altamira Caves’ in your NCERTs?

    Leang Sakapao Caves

    • This cave art of Sulawesi is much older than the prehistoric cave art of Europe.
    • The artwork in the area includes what is believed to be the world’s oldest hand stencil (almost 40,000 years ago), created by pressing the hand on a cave wall and spraying wet red-mulberry pigments over it.
    • A nearby cave features the world’s oldest depiction of an animal, a warty pig painted on the wall 45,500 years ago.

    Impact of climate change

    • The artwork made with pigments was decaying due to a process known as haloclasty, which is triggered by the growth of salt crystals due to repeated changes in temperature and humidity.
    • This is caused by alternating wet and dry weather in the region.
    • Indonesia has also experienced several natural disasters in recent years, which have quickened the process of deterioration.

    Note:

    Mark all islands of the Indonesian Archipelago in your Atlas.

  • Farzad B Gas Field

    Iran gave the Farzad B gas field to a domestic gas producer in a setback move to India.

    Farzad B Gas Field

    • Farzad-B is an off-shore natural gas field 20 kilometres off Farsi Island in Iran.
    • The gas field was discovered in 2008 by a consortium of three Indian companies, led by the state-owned ONGC Videsh with a 40% stake; the other companies were Indian Oil Corporation (40%) and Oil India (20%).

    Deal soured after US sanctions

    • Negotiations between the consortium and the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) to develop the gas field stalled due to secondary sanctions against Iran by the US and the European Union in the early 2010s.
    • Following the lifting of sanctions after the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action was signed in July 2015 the consortium was close to an agreement to invest $US5 billion to develop the gas field.
    • After the United States withdrawal from the JCPOA in May 2018, and the reinstatement of U.S. sanctions against Iran, the negotiations between the consortium and NIOC broke down.

    Consider the question “Balancing the contrasts has been the basis of India’s relations with Iran. Comment.”

  • 18 May 2021 | Nikaalo Prelims Quiz- TS 16- Science and Technology Test 2: Defence Technology; Nanotechnology; Space Technology

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