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  • Insurance (Amendment) Bill, 2021

    The Rajya Sabha has passed the Insurance Amendment Bill 2021 that increases the maximum foreign investment allowed in an insurance company from 49% to 74%.

    It is very intriguing to see several amendments in news these days. Isn’t it?

    Insurance Amendment Bill

    • The Bill seeks to amend the Insurance Act, 1938.
    • The Act provided the framework for functioning of insurance businesses and regulates the relationship between an insurer, its policyholders and its shareholders.
    • It also had provisions regarding the regulator (the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India).

    Key highlights of the bill

    The Bill seeks to increase the maximum foreign investment allowed in an Indian insurance company.

    () Foreign investment

    • The Act allows foreign investors to hold up to 49% of the capital in an Indian insurance company, which must be owned and controlled by an Indian entity.
    • The Bill increases the limit on foreign investment in an Indian insurance company from 49% to 74%, and removes restrictions on ownership and control.
    • However, such foreign investment may be subject to additional conditions as prescribed by the central government.

    () Investment of assets 

    • The Act requires insurers to hold a minimum investment in assets which would be sufficient to clear their insurance claim liabilities.
    • If the insurer is incorporated or domiciled outside India, such assets must be held in India in a trust and vested with trustees who must be residents of India.
    • The Act specifies in an explanation that this will also apply to an insurer incorporated in India, in which at least: (i) 33% capital is owned by investors domiciled outside India, or (ii) 33% of the members of the governing body are domiciled outside India.
    • The Bill removes this explanation.

    Expected outcomes

    • More capital at dispense: The FDI limit increase is also expected to provide access to fresh capital to some of the insurance companies, which are struggling to raise capital from their existing promoters.
    • Better solvency: This would not only increase the solvency position for some insurers but would provide long-term growth capital for other companies to invest in newer technologies.
    • Insurance penetration: These technologies would not only help in managing losses but also in customer acquisition and thus insurance penetration.
    • Technological impetus: The additional funds could be used to invest in technology to adapt to the evolving customer needs like responsive service through digital platforms.

  • Carbon footprint of Bitcoins

    At a time when investors around the world are scrambling to follow the newest financial trend, very few are bothered about the carbon footprint that the cryptocurrency is leaving behind.

    If Bitcoin were a country, it would consume more electricity than Austria or Bangladesh!

    Footprint of Bitcoins

    • T A recent study by Alex de Vries, a Dutch economist, has shown that Bitcoins leave behind a carbon footprint of 38.10 Mt a year.
    • The annual carbon footprint of Bitcoins is almost equivalent to that of Mumbai, or to put it to a global perspective, as high as the carbon footprint of Slovakia.
    • A recent study has shown that Bitcoins leave behind a carbon footprint of 38.10 Mt a year.
    • According to a study titled ‘CO2 Emissions from Fuel Combustion (Highlights) 2017’, Mumbai’s yearly carbon footprint stands at 32 Mt, while Bangalore’s is at 21.60 Mt.
    • Vries has been able to create a Bitcoin Energy Consumption Index, one of the first systematic attempts to estimate the energy use of the bitcoin network.

    Relation between creating bitcoins and electricity required

    • Bitcoins are created by “mining” coins, for which high-tech computers are used for long hours to do complex calculations.
    • The more coins there are in the market, the longer it takes to “mine” a new one and in the process, more electricity is consumed.
    • As mining provides a solid source of revenue, people are willing to run power-hungry machines for hours to get a piece.
    • In 2017, the Bitcoin network consumed 30 terawatt-hours (TWh) of electricity a year.
    • As such, each bitcoin transaction roughly requires an average of 300kg of carbon dioxide – which is equivalent to the carbon footprint produced by 750,000 credit cards swiped.

    Calculating the carbon footprint

    • The major problem with mining Bitcoin is not its massive energy-consumption nature; it is the fact that most of the mining facilities are located in regions that rely heavily on coal-based power.
    • Earlier, determining the carbon impact of the Bitcoin network was difficult as tracking down miners was never easy.
    • As per the estimates of De Vries, roughly 60% of the costs of bitcoin mining is the price of the electricity used.
    • The price of a Bitcoin stood at $42,000 and at this rate; miners would be earning around $15 billion annually.

    Other impacts of Bitcoin mining

    • The effects of cryptocurrency mining often spill over to other parts of the economy.
    • With miners using high-tech computers for hours to formulate new blockchains, these machines do not last long.
    • Manufacturers of Bitcoin mining devices need a substantial number of chips to produce these machines and recently, during the Covid-19 crisis, the world had witnessed a shortage of these chips.
    • This shortage, now, in turn, started affecting the production of electric vehicles around the world.

    What can be done to control the carbon footprint?

    • The Dutch economist asks policymakers to follow the path shown by Québec in Canada, where a moratorium on new mining operations has been imposed.
    • Although Bitcoin might be a decentralized currency, many aspects of the ecosystem surrounding it are not.
    • Large-scale miners can easily be targeted with higher electricity rates, moratoria, or, in the most extreme case, confiscation of the equipment used.
    • Governments can also ban cryptocurrencies from digital asset marketplaces as it will affect the prices of a digital currency.

    India and the cryptocurrency

    • The country, at present, has around 75 lakh cryptocurrency investors who have together pooled over Rs 10,000 crore into Bitcoins and other such digital currencies.
    • The prices have surged by over 900%, courtesy of the worldwide boom – a single bitcoin that used to cost around Rs 4 lakh in 2020 now costs somewhere around Rs 41 lakh now.
    • FM Nirmala Sitharaman has said that the Centre will take a “calibrated approach” and leave a window open for experiments with blockchain technology.

  • [pib] What is Artificial Photosynthesis?

    Scientists have found a method to mimic nature’s own process of reducing carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, namely photosynthesis, to capture excess carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

    Artificial Photosynthesis

    • Artificial photosynthesis (AP) is a chemical process that mimics the natural process of photosynthesis to convert sunlight, water, and carbon dioxide into carbohydrates and oxygen.
    • The term artificial photosynthesis is commonly used to refer to any scheme for capturing and storing the energy from sunlight in the chemical bonds of fuel (a solar fuel).
    • Photocatalytic water splitting converts water into hydrogen and oxygen and is a major research topic of artificial photosynthesis.
    • Light-driven carbon dioxide reduction is another process studied that replicates natural carbon fixation.

    Try this PYQ:

    Which of the following adds/add carbon dioxide to the carbon cycle on the planet Earth?

    1. Volcanic action
    2. Respiration
    3. Photosynthesis
    4. Decay of organic matter

    Select the correct answer using the code given below:

    (a) 1 and 3 only

    (b) 2 only

    (c) 1, 2 and 4 only

    (d) 1, 2, 3 and 4

    Challenges in AP

    • Research on this topic includes the engineering of enzymes and photoautotrophic microorganisms for microbial biofuel and biohydrogen production from sunlight.
    • This AP harnesses solar energy and converts the captured carbon dioxide to carbon monoxide (CO), which can be used as a fuel for internal combustion engines.
    • In AP, scientists are essentially conducting the same fundamental process in natural photosynthesis but with simpler nanostructures.
    • However, there are plenty of hurdles to overcome as a successful catalyst to carry out AP.

    What have Indian researchers achieved?

    • Indian researchers have designed and fabricated an integrated catalytic system based on a metal-organic framework (MOF-808) comprising of a photosensitizer that can harness solar power and a catalytic centre that can eventually reduce CO2.
    • A photosensitizer is a molecule that absorbs light and transfers the electron from the incident light into another nearby molecule.
    • The scientists have immobilized a photosensitizer, which is a chemical called ruthenium bipyridyl complex ([Ru (bpy)2Cl2]) and a catalytic part which is another chemical called rhenium carbonyl complex ([Re(CO)5Cl]).
    • They have fabricated it inside the nano space of a metal-organic framework for artificial photosynthesis.

    Outcomes of the research

    • The developed catalyst exhibited excellent visible-light-driven CO2 reduction to CO with more than 99% selectivity.
    • The catalyst also oxidizes water to produce oxygen (O2).
    • The Photocatalytic assembly, when assessed for CO2 reduction under direct sunlight in a water medium without any additives, showed superior performance of CO production.
    • Being heterogeneous, the integrated catalytic assembly can be reused for several catalytic cycles without losing its activity.

    Back2Basics:  Photosynthesis

    • It is the process by which green plants and certain other organisms transform light energy into chemical energy.
    • It is a process used by plants and other organisms to convert light energy into chemical energy that, through cellular respiration, can later be released to fuel the organism’s metabolic activities.
    • This chemical energy is stored in carbohydrate molecules, such as sugars, which are synthesized from carbon dioxide and water – hence the name photosynthesis.

  • [pib] High Electron Mobility Transistor (HEMT)

    Indian Scientists from Bangalore have developed a highly reliable, High Electron Mobility Transistor (HEMTs) that is normally OFF the device and can switch currents up to 4A and operates at 600V.

    We cannot deny the possibility of a complex S&T based prelims question. This newscard seems very technical. However many of you might be aware of the p-n junction diodes and conventional transistors.

    What is HEMT?

    • A high electron mobility transistor or HEMT is a type of field-effect transistor (FET) that is used to produce a high performance at microwave frequencies.
    • The HEMT provides a fusion of low noise figure that comes combined with the unique ability to function at very high microwave frequencies.
    • These devices are commonly used in aspects of radiofrequency designs that require high performance at high-frequency levels.
    • They produce a high gain, which makes these transistors very useful as amplifiers. They can switch speeds very rapidly.
    • And finally, they produce very low noise values as the current variations in these transistors are comparatively low.

    Practical applications of HEMT

    • HEMTs are used in applications where microwave millimetre wave communications are conducted.
    • They are also used for radar, imaging, as well as radio astronomy.
    • They are also used in voltage converter applications.
    • These transistors are also ideal as digital on-off switches in integrated circuits, and to be used as amplifiers for huge amounts of current by using a small voltage as a control signal.

    What is the news?

    First-ever indigenous HEMT

    • This first-ever indigenous HEMT device made from gallium nitride (GaN) is useful in electric cars, locomotives, power transmission and other areas requiring high voltage and high-frequency switching.
    • It would reduce the cost of importing such stable and efficient transistors required in power electronics.

    How does it work?

    • Power electronic systems demand high blocking voltage in OFF-state and high current in ON-state for efficient switching performance.
    • Specific transistors called HEMTs made of aluminium gallium nitride/ gallium nitride (AlGaN/GaN) provides an edge over silicon-based transistors as they allow the systems to operate at very high voltages, switch ON and OFF faster, and occupy less space.
    • Commercially available AlGaN/GaN HEMTs use techniques to keep the transistor in a normally OFF state, which affects the stability, performance and reliability of the device.
    • Therefore, to meet this need, researchers have developed a new kind of HEMT, which is in the OFF state by default and works like any other commonly used power transistor.

  • [pib] US India Artificial Intelligence (USIAI) Initiative

    The US India Artificial Intelligence (USIAI) Initiative was recently launched.

    USIAI Initiative

    • This initiative focuses on AI cooperation in critical areas that are priorities for both countries.
    • It has been launched by the Indo-U.S. Science and Technology Forum (IUSSTF).
    • The IUSSTF is a bilateral organisation funded by the Department of Science & Technology (DST), the GOI and the U.S. Department of States.
    • USIAI will serve as a platform to discuss opportunities, challenges, and barriers for bilateral AI R&D collaboration, enable AI innovation, help share ideas for developing an AI workforce etc.
    • AI R&D is being promoted and implemented in the country through a network of 25 technology hubs working as a triple helix set up under the National Mission on Interdisciplinary Cyber-Physical Systems (NM-ICPS).

    Back2Basics: Artificial intelligence (AI)

    • Artificial intelligence (AI) refers to the simulation of human intelligence in machines that are programmed to think like humans and mimic their actions.
    • The term may also be applied to any machine that exhibits traits associated with a human mind such as learning and problem-solving.
    • The ideal characteristic of artificial intelligence is its ability to rationalize and take actions that have the best chance of achieving a specific goal.
    • A subset of artificial intelligence is machine learning, which refers to the concept that computer programs can automatically learn from and adapt to new data without being assisted by humans.
    • Deep learning techniques enable this automatic learning through the absorption of huge amounts of unstructured data such as text, images, or video.

  • Induction of INS Dhruv

    India Navy is set to commission INS Dhruv to track satellites, strategic missiles and map the Indian Ocean bed later this year.

    INS Dhruv is no ordinary vessel for the Indian Navy. Read its stealth capabilities and utilities.

    INS Dhruv

    • INS Dhruv has been developed with the help of the DRDO and Indian Navy with India’s Strategic Force Command and National Technical Research Organisation (NTRO) as main intelligence consumers.
    • The indigenously-developed surveillance ship has been built by Hindustan Shipyard Ltd at its Visakhapatnam facility under the Atma Nirbhar Bharat Abhiyan initiative.
    • The 15,000-tonne ship, part of a classified project, will not only create maritime domain awareness for India in the Indian Ocean but also act as an early warning system for adversary missiles headed towards India.

    Stealth capabilities

    • INS Dhruv is equipped with active electronically scanned array radars, or AESA considered a game-changer in radar technology.
    • It can scan various spectrums to monitor satellites of adversaries that are watching over India.
    • It can also understand the range and true missile capability of adversary nations that it finds in the Indo-Pacific.

    Benefits offered

    • Once the vessel is commissioned, India will be the only country outside the P-5 – the US, the UK, China, Russia and France – to have this capability
    • It will act as a major force multiplier to India’s ocean surveillance capabilities.
    • It will be able to provide the Indian Navy with an “ECG of the Indian Ocean”.

  • Changes needed in lateral entry requirements

    It has been a while since the government introduced the provision of lateral entry into civil services. This article suggests the changes that need to be made in the system to attract the best talent and facilitating their success.

    Administrative reforms in India

    • The lack of administrative reform in India has frustrated many stakeholders for a long time.
    • One of the key focus areas of such reform is enabling lateral entry into an otherwise permanent system of administrators.
    • Eight professionals were recruited for joint secretary-level positions in various ministries.
    • Some other positions at the joint secretary and director-level have been advertised.

    Changes needed

    1) Entry requirements need to be relaxed

    • In the permanent system, IAS officers get promoted to joint secretary level after 17 years of service and remain at that level for ten years.
    • If similar experience requirements are used for lateral entry, it is unlikely that the best will join because in the private sector they rise to the top of their profession at that age.
    •  To attract the best talent from outside at the joint secretary level, entry requirements need to be relaxed so that persons of 35 years of age are eligible.

    2) Facilitating lateral entrants for success

    • There are many dimensions to this. For a start, there are several joint secretaries in each ministry who handle different portfolios.
    • If assigned to an unimportant portfolio, the chances of not making a mark are high.
    • A cursory look at the portfolios of the eight laterally-hired joint secretaries doesn’t suggest that they hold critical portfolios.
    • There must also be clarity in what precisely is the mandate for the lateral entrant.
    • To be disrupters, lateral entrants need to be able to stamp their authority on decision making.
    •  For this to happen, there need to be more lateral entrants at all levels in ministries.
    • In the functioning of government, there is a long chain in decision-making and a minority of one cannot override it.
    • Also, it requires an understanding of the system and an ability to work with the “permanent” establishment.
    • No training or orientation is provided for this.

    Consider the question “What are the advantages of lateral entry in the civil services? What are the challenges in the success of lateral entrants? Suggest the measures to improve it.”

    Conclusion

    Lateral entry, like competition in any sphere, is a good thing. But serious thinking is required on entry requirements, job assignments, number of personnel and training to make it a force for positive change. Some reform of the “permanent” system — particularly its seniority principle — may be a prerequisite.

  • 20th March 2021 | Prelims Daily with Previous Year Questions

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  • 19th March 2021 | Prelims Daily with Previous Year Questions

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