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Type: Prelims Only

  • Monsoon Updates

    Western Disturbances to bring rain in New Delhi

    5 January 2022 | Prelims Only | Environment
    Mains GS1: GS1-15.Geographical features and their location- Changes in critical geographical features (including water-bodies and ice-caps) and in flora and fauna and the effects of such changes.

    Note4Students

    From UPSC perspective, the following things are important:

    Prelims level: Western Disturbances

    Mains level: Not Much

    Under the influence of two consecutive western disturbances, New Delhi is in for a wet spell.

    Western Disturbances

    • A western disturbance is an extratropical storm originating in the Mediterranean region that brings sudden winter rain to the northwestern parts of the Indian subcontinent.
    • It is a non-monsoonal precipitation pattern driven by the westerlies.
    • The moisture in these storms usually originates over the Mediterranean Sea, the Caspian Sea and the Black Sea.
    • Extratropical storms are global phenomena with moisture usually carried in the upper atmosphere, unlike their tropical counterparts where the moisture is carried in the lower atmosphere.
    • In the case of the Indian subcontinent, moisture is sometimes shed as rain when the storm system encounters the Himalayas.
    • Western disturbances are more frequent and strong in the winter season.

    Impact: Winter Rainfall and Extreme Cold

    • Western disturbances, specifically the ones in winter, bring moderate to heavy rain in low-lying areas and heavy snow to mountainous areas of the Indian Subcontinent.
    • They are the cause of most winter and pre-monsoon season rainfall across northwest India.
    • An average of four to five western disturbances forms during the winter season.

    Its significance

    • Precipitation during the winter season has great importance in agriculture, particularly for the rabi crops.
    • Wheat among them is one of the most important crops, which helps to meet India’s food security.

    Try this PYQ:

    Q. Consider the following statements:

    1. The winds which blow between 30°N and 60°S latitudes throughout the year are known as westerlies.
    2. The moist air masses that cause winter rains in the North-Western region of India are part of westerlies.

    Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

    (a) Only 1

    (b) Only 2

    (c) Both 1 and 2

    (d) Neither 1 nor 2

     

     

    [wpdiscuz-feedback id=”9y7ae6mirv” question=”Please leave a feedback on this” opened=”1″]Post your answers here.[/wpdiscuz-feedback]

     

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  • Terrorism and Challenges Related To It

    Multi Agency Centre (MAC): A common counter-terrorism grid

    5 January 2022 | Prelims Only | Internal Security
    Mains GS3: GS3-24. Various Security Forces and Agencies and their Mandate.

    Note4Students

    From UPSC perspective, the following things are important:

    Prelims level: MAC, NATGRID

    Mains level: Counter-terrorism ops and security agencies

    The Union government has asked the States to share more intelligence inputs through the Multi Agency Centre (MAC), a common counter-terrorism grid under the Intelligence Bureau (IB).

    Why in news?

    • States are often reluctant to share information on the platform.
    • There are several gaps in sharing critical information at the right time.
    • Plans are afoot for more than a decade to link the system up to the district level.

    About MAC

    • The Multi-Agency Centre (MAC) was formed in December 2001 following the Kargil intrusion and the subsequent overhaul of the Indian national security apparatus suggested by the Kargil Review Committee report.
    • Accordingly, the Intelligence Bureau (IB) was authorized to create a multi-agency centre (MAC) in New Delhi.
    • Now functioning 24×7 as the nodal body for sharing intelligence inputs, MAC coordinates with representatives from numerous agencies, different ministries, both central and state.
    • Various security agencies share real-time intelligence inputs on the MAC.
    • The state offices have been designated as subsidiary MACs (SMACs).
    • As many as 28 organisations, including the Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW), armed forces and State police, are part of the platform.

    Back2Basics: NATGRID

    • NATGRID is an intelligence-sharing network that collates data from the standalone databases of the various agencies and ministries of the Indian government.
    • It collects and collates a host of information from government databases including tax and bank account details, credit/debit card transactions, visa and immigration records and itineraries of rail and air travel.
    • It came into existence after the 2008 Mumbai attacks.
    • It is accessible to only authorized people from 10 security agencies on a case-to-case basis for investigations into suspected cases of terrorism.
    • It will also have access to the Crime and Criminal Tracking Network and Systems, a database that links crime information, including First Information Reports, across 14,000 police stations in India.

    Note: NATGRID data will be made available to 11 central agencies, which are: Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW), Intelligence Bureau (IB), National Investigation Agency (NIA), Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), Enforcement Directorate (ED), Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC), Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) and Directorate General of GST Intelligence.

     

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  • Blockchain Technology: Prospects and Challenges

    Understanding IC15, India’s first Crypto Index

    5 January 2022 | Prelims Only | Economics
    Mains GS3: Indian Economy

    Note4Students

    From UPSC perspective, the following things are important:

    Prelims level: IC15 Crypto Index

    Mains level: Cryptocurrencies market in India

    Superapp CryptoWire recently launched India’s first cryptocurrency index, IC15, which will measure the performance of the 15 most widely traded cryptocurrencies listed on leading crypto exchanges by market capitalization.

    What is IC15?

    • CryptoWire constituted an Index Committee of domain experts, industry practitioners, and academicians that will select cryptocurrencies from the top 400 coins in terms of market capitalization.
    • The eligible cryptocurrency should have traded on at least 90% of the days during the review period and be among the 100 most liquid cryptocurrencies in terms of trading value.
    • Also, the cryptocurrency should be in the top 50 in terms of the circulating market capitalization.
    • The committee will then select the top 15 cryptocurrencies. The index will be reviewed quarterly.

    What is its significance?

    • IC15 can be replicated for creating index-linked products such as index funds or exchange-traded funds (ETFs).
    • Usually, the performance of a mutual fund scheme is assessed with reference to a benchmark, which could be a total return index of the Nifty or the Sensex.
    • IC15 is the first index in India that can act as a benchmark of the underlying cryptocurrency market and the performance benchmark for fund managers.
    • Moreover, robo-advisors, which provide financial advice with moderate to minimal human intervention, can use this index to create investment products at lower costs.

    How  does  IC15  correlate  with other market indicators?

    • IC15’s base value as on 1 April 2018 was 10,000.
    • It would mean that the index has gained 615% in absolute terms to 71,475.48 till 31 December 2021.

    Can  index-based  crypto investment reduce risks?

    • Index investing can be an effective way to diversify against risks as a fund invests in a basket of assets against a few limited coins.
    • However, index-based investing may not fully remove risks associated with investing in crypto assets.
    • Case in point: IC15 saw a 50% plunge in 2018, whereas other asset classes have seen a maximum drop in the range of 3-4%.
    • Further, bitcoin and ethereum have a combined weightage of 77% in the index, making it highly vulnerable to any volatility in these two coins.

    Can crypto funds be launched in India?

    • SEBI has recently asked mutual fund houses not to launch crypto-based funds until the Centre comes out with clear regulations.
    • This means asset management companies for now won’t be able to launch crypto funds based on IC15.
    • However, in the absence of any regulations, crypto platforms can offer products based on the index.
    • Global crypto investment platform Mudrex last year launched Coin Sets—crypto funds based on themes such as decentralized finance or market cap.

     

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  • Primary and Secondary Education – RTE, Education Policy, SEQI, RMSA, Committee Reports, etc.

    [pib] What is Nai Talim?

    5 January 2022 | Prelims Only | Governance
    Mains GS2: GS2-13.Issues relating to development and management of Social Sector/Services relating to Health, Education, Human Resources.

    Note4Students

    From UPSC perspective, the following things are important:

    Prelims level: Nai Talim

    Mains level: Not Much

    The Vice President of India has said that the New Education Policy follows the ‘Nai Talim’ of Mahatma Gandhi by giving importance to the mother tongue as the medium of instruction at the school level.

    What is Nai Talim?

    • The phrase Nai Talim is a combination of two words- Nai Means ‘New’ and Talim – a Urdu word-means ‘Education’.
    • In 1937, Gandhiji introduced the concept of Nai Talim in India. It aimed to achieve Gram Swaraj (liberation of villages).
    • In short, Gandhiji dreamed to make all villages independent; and self-reliant.
    • It is an approach to the total personality development of body, mind and spirit and was based on four principles namely:
    1. Education or learning in mother tongue along with handicraft work,
    2. Work should be linked with most useful vocational needs of the locality,
    3. Learning should be linked with vocational work, and
    4. Work should be socially useful and productive needed for living.

    Gandhiji and Education

    • Gandhi’s first experiments in education began at the Tolstoy Farm ashram in South Africa.
    • It was much later, while living at Sevagram (Wardha) and in the heat of the Independence struggle, that Gandhi wrote his influential article in Harijan about education.
    • In it, he mapped out the basic pedagogy (or teaching) with focus on:
    1. Lifelong character of education,
    2. Social character and
    3. A holistic process
    • Thus, for Gandhi, education is ‘the moral development of the person’, a process that is by definition ‘lifelong’.
    • He believed the importance of role of teacher in the learning process.

     

    Try this PYQ from CSP 2020:

     

    Q. One common agreement between Gandhism and Marxism is

    (a) The final goal of a stateless society

    (b) Class struggle

    (c) Abolition of private property

    (d) Economic determinism

     

     

    [wpdiscuz-feedback id=”3i9ahv7hw9″ question=”Please leave a feedback on this” opened=”1″]Post your answers here:[/wpdiscuz-feedback]

     

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  • ISRO Missions and Discoveries

    Gaganyaan and other new Missions in 2022

    4 January 2022 | Prelims Only | Science and Technology
    Mains GS3: GS3-16.Achievements of Indians in Science & Technology

    Note4Students

    From UPSC perspective, the following things are important:

    Prelims level: Gaganyaan Mission

    Mains level: Indian Human Spaceflight Programme (IHSP)

    After a rather muted 2021 in terms of satellite launches, Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) is gearing up for a number of missions in 2022 including the launch of the first unmanned mission of Gaganyaan.

    Gaganyaan Mission

    • Gaganyaan is crewed orbital spacecraft intended to be the formative spacecraft of the Indian Human Spaceflight Programme (IHSP).
    • The IHSP was initiated in 2007 by ISRO to develop the technology needed to launch crewed orbital spacecraft into low Earth orbit.
    • The first uncrewed flight, named Gaganyaan 1, is scheduled to launch no earlier than June 2022 on a GSLV Mark III rocket.
    • ISRO had been working on related technologies and it performed a Crew Module Atmospheric Re-entry Experiment and a Pad Abort Test for the mission.
    • If completed in meantime, India will become the fourth nation to conduct independent human spaceflight after the Russia, US and China.

    Details of the project

    • The spacecraft is being designed to carry three people, and a planned upgraded version will be equipped with rendezvous and docking capability.
    • In its maiden crewed mission, this capsule will orbit the Earth at 400 km altitude for up to seven days with a two or three-person crew on board.
    • This Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) manufactured crew module had its first un-crewed experimental flight in 2014.
    • DRDO will provide support for critical human-centric systems and technologies like space-grade food, crew healthcare, radiation measurement and protection, parachutes for the safe recovery of the crew module and fire suppression system.

    Other missions this year

    • Earth Observation Satellites: EOS-4 and EOS-6
    • Flights for Crew Escape System of Gaganyaan
    • Chandrayaan-03
    • Aditya Ll
    • XpoSat

    New projects

    • Venus mission
    • DISHA –a twin aeronomy satellite mission
    • TRISHNA, an ISRO-CNES [Centre national d’études spatiales] mission

     

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  • RBI Notifications

    RBI approves Offline E-Payments

    4 January 2022 | Prelims Only | Economics
    Mains GS3: Indian Economy

    Note4Students

    From UPSC perspective, the following things are important:

    Prelims level: Offline E-payments

    Mains level: Not Much

    The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has come out with the framework for facilitating small-value digital payments in offline mode, a move that would promote digital payments in semi-urban and rural areas.

    Offline E-payments

    • Offline digital payment does not require Internet or telecom connectivity.
    • Such payments can be carried out face-to-face (proximity mode) using any channel or instrument like cards, wallets and mobile devices.
    • Such transactions would not require an Additional Factor of Authentication.
    • Since the transactions are offline, alerts (by way of SMS and/or e-mail) will be received by the customer after a time lag.
    • There is a limit of ₹200 per transaction and an overall limit of ₹2,000 until the balance in the account is replenished.

    Conditions applied

    • Payment instruments shall be enabled for offline transactions only after the explicit consent of the customer.
    • That apart, these transactions using cards will be allowed without a requirement to turn on the contactless transaction channel.
    • The customers shall have recourse to the Reserve Bank – Integrated Ombudsman Scheme, as applicable, for grievance redressal.
    • RBI retains the right to stop or modify the operations of any such payment solution that enables small value digital payments in offline mode.

     

    Answer this PYQ in the comment box:

    Q. With reference to digital payments, consider the following statements:

    1. BHIM app allows the user to transfer money to anyone with a UPI-enabled bank account.
    2. While a chip-pin debit card has four factors of authentication, BHIM app has only two factors of authentication.

    Which of the statements given above is/ are correct? (CSP 2018)

    (a) 1 only

    (b) 2 only

    (c) Both 1 and 2

    (d) Neither 1 nor 2

     

    [wpdiscuz-feedback id=”naidd0dw2j” question=”Please leave a feedback on this” opened=”1″]Post your answers here.[/wpdiscuz-feedback]

     

     

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  • Modern Indian History-Events and Personalities

    Who was Rani Velu Nachiyar?

    4 January 2022 | Prelims Only |
    Mains GS1: GS1-02.Modern Indian History- Mid-18th century – Present (significant events, personalities, issues);

    Note4Students

    From UPSC perspective, the following things are important:

    Prelims level: Velu Nachiyar

    Mains level: Not Much

    The Prime Minister has paid tributes to Rani Velu Nachiyar on her birth anniversary.

    Velu Nachiyar (1730-1796)

    • Rani Velu Nachiyar was a queen of Sivaganga estate from c. 1780–1790.
    • She was the first Indian queen to wage war with the East India Company in India.
    • She is widely known as Veeramangai (“brave woman”).

    Her legend

    [A] Early life

    • Velu Nachiyar was the princess of Ramanathapuram and the only child of King Chellamuthu Vijayaragunatha Sethupathy and Queen Sakandhimuthathal of the Ramnad kingdom.
    • Nachiyar was trained in many methods of combat, including war match weapons usage, martial arts like Valari, Silambam, horse riding, and archery.
    • She was a scholar in many languages and was proficient in languages like French, English and Urdu.

    [B] Battles fought

    • During this period, she formed an army and sought an alliance with Hyder Ali with the aim of launching a campaign against the East India Company in 1780.
    • When her husband, Muthu Vaduganatha Periyavudaya Thevar was killed in a battle with EIC soldiers, she was drawn into the conflict.
    • When Velu Nachiyar found the place where the EIC stored some of their ammunition, she arranged a suicide attack on the location, blowing it up.

     

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  • Nuclear Diplomacy and Disarmament

    India, Pakistan exchange list of nuclear installations, prisoners

    3 January 2022 | Prelims Only | International Relations
    Mains GS2: India & Its Neighborhood – Relations

    Note4Students

    From UPSC perspective, the following things are important:

    Prelims level: Non-Nuclear Aggression Agreement

    Mains level: Nuclear Non-Proliferation

    India and Pakistan has exchanged a list of their nuclear installations that cannot be attacked in case of an escalation in hostilities, as part of an annual ritual that has been in practice between the two neighbours for more than three decades.

    Non-Nuclear Aggression Agreement

    • The Non-nuclear aggression agreement is a bilateral and nuclear weapons control treaty between India and Pakistan, on the reduction (or limitation) of nuclear arms.
    • Both pledged not to attack or assist foreign powers to attack on each others nuclear installations and facilities.
    • The treaty was drafted in 1988, and signed by the PM Rajiv Gandhi and his counterpart Benazir Bhutto on 21 December 1988; it entered into force on January 1991.
    • The treaty barred its signatories to carry out a surprise attack (or to assist foreign power to attack) on each other’s nuclear installations and facilities.
    • Starting in January 1992, India and Pakistan have annually exchanged lists of their respective military and civilian nuclear-related facilities.

    Need for the treaty

    • In 1986-87, the massive exercise, ‘Brasstacks’ was carried out by the Indian Army, raising the fears of an Indian attack on Pakistan’s nuclear facilities.
    • Since then, the Foreign ministries of both countries had been negotiating to reach an understanding towards the control of nuclear weapons.

    Significance of the agreement

    • The treaty barred its signatories to carry out a surprise attack (or to assist foreign power to attack) on each other’s nuclear installations and facilities.
    • The treaty provides a confidence-building security measure environment.

    Other: Sharing of Prisoners information

    • Both nations do simultaneously share the list of prisoners in each others’ custody.
    • These lists are exchanged under the provisions of the Agreement on Consular Access signed in May 2008.
    • Under this pact, the two countries should exchange comprehensive lists on January 1 and July 1 every year (i.e. twice a year).

     

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  • Industrial Sector Updates – Industrial Policy, Ease of Doing Business, etc.

    Global shortage of Semiconductor Chips

    3 January 2022 | Prelims Only | Economics
    Mains GS3: GS3-12.Effects of liberalization on the economy, changes in industrial policy and their effects on industrial growth

    Note4Students

    From UPSC perspective, the following things are important:

    Prelims level: Semiconductor, Rare earth elements

    Mains level: Electronic industry

    Worldwide carmakers have slashed production due to an abrupt and cascading shortage of semiconductors.

    Semiconductor Chips

    • Semiconductors — also known as integrated circuits (ICs), or microchips — are most often made of silicon or germanium, or a compound like gallium arsenide.
    • It’s the thing that makes electronic items smart and faster.
    • Made from a material, usually silicon, that “semi-conducts” electricity, the chip performs a variety of functions.
    • Memory chips, which store data, are relatively simple and are traded like commodities.
    • Logic chips, which run programs and act as the brains of a device, are more complex and expensive.

    Reasons for shortages

    • Stay-at-home shift: This pushed chip demand beyond levels projected before the pandemic. Lockdowns spurred growth in sales of smartphones, laptops etc to the highest in a decade
    • Fluctuating forecasts: Automakers that cut back drastically early in the pandemic underestimated how quickly car sales would rebound.
    • Stockpiling: Chinese smartphone industry dominates the global market for 5G networking gear — began building up inventory to ensure it could survive US sanctions.

    How is the chip crisis playing out in geopolitics?

    • The global chip crisis and geopolitical tensions with China have shifted focus back on semiconductors.
    • The US, which was once a leader in chip manufacturing, wants the crown back.
    • The protectionist US is looking to bring manufacturing back to America and reduce its dependency on a handful of chipmakers mostly concentrated in Taiwan and South Korea.
    • China’s renewed aggression on Taiwan is also being seen in light of the chip crisis.

    Impact of semiconductor shortages

    • Chip shortages are expected to wipe out $210 billion of sales for carmakers this year, with the production of 7.7 million vehicles lost.
    • Broadband providers were facing delays of more than a year when ordering internet routers.

    Why is it so hard to compete?

    • Manufacturing advanced logic chips requires extraordinary precision, along with huge long-term bets in a field subject to rapid change.
    • Plants cost billions of dollars to build and equip, and they have to run flat-out 24/7 to recoup the investment.
    • A factory also consumes up enormous amounts of water and electricity and is vulnerable to even the tiniest disruptions, whether from dust particles or distant earthquakes.

     

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  • Innovations in Biotechnology and Medical Sciences

    The functioning of INSACOG

    3 January 2022 | Prelims Only | Science and Technology
    Mains GS3: GS3-17.Awareness in the fields of IT, Space, Computers, Robotics, Nano-technology, Bio-technology and issues relating to Intellectual Property Rights.

    Note4Students

    From UPSC perspective, the following things are important:

    Prelims level: INSACOG

    Mains level: Not Much

    The Indian SARS-CoV-2 Consortium on Genomics (INSACOG) has sequenced about 1,00,000 samples.

    What is INSACOG?

    • INSACOG is a consortium of 10 labs and 18 satellite labs across India tasked with scanning COVID samples from patients and finding the variants that has led to spike in transmission.
    • The institutes involved include the laboratories of the Department of Biotechnology, Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, Indian Council of Medical Research, and the Health Ministry.
    • Its work began in January 2020, by sequencing all samples with a history of travel from the U.K. and a proportion of positive samples in the community.

    Tasks of INSACOG

    • The NCDC is tasked with coordinating collections of samples from the States as well as correlating disease with certain mutations.
    • It is mainly involved in genomic sequencing which is done by isolating the genetic material of the coronavirus samples.
    • It is also tasked with tracking certain combinations of mutations that become more widespread in India.

    What has it found so far?

    • The INSACOG sequenced about 1,00,000 samples as of early December 2021 when this data was last made publicly available.
    • The bulk of its effort has been focussed on identifying international ‘variants of concern’ (VoC) that are marked out by the WHO as being particularly infectious or pathogenic.
    • International travellers who arrive in India and test positive are the ones whose samples usually get sent to INSACOG for determining the genomic variant.

    Why is genome sequencing useful?

    • Understanding mutations: The purpose of genome sequencing is to understand the role of certain mutations in increasing the virus’s infectivity.
    • Immune response: Some mutations have also been linked to immune escape, or the virus’s ability to evade antibodies, and this has consequences for vaccines.
    • Effectiveness of vaccines: Labs across the world, including many in India, have been studying if the vaccines developed so far are effective against such mutant strains of the virus.
    • Evolution of viruses: Studies such as this have shown that Omicron, for instance, has evolved to evade antibodies much better than the Alpha or Delta variant. This prompted the push towards booster doses.

    How is it done?

    • Genomic sequencing is done by isolating the genetic material (RNA) of the coronavirus samples.
    • RNA consists of millions of nucleotide bases and genomic sequencing is about identifying and comparing the sequence in a given sample to a reference sample.
    • Changes in the sequence are clues to mutations that show that the virus may have undergone distinct changes at some key locations.
    • There are several approaches to genome sequencing — whole genome sequencing, next-generation sequencing — that have different advantages.
    • It has now evolved to a stage where large sequencers can process even thousands of samples simultaneously.

    Various challenges that INSACOG faces

    • Geographical variations: Given that COVID-19 is spreading, mutating and showing geographical variations, the original aim of the group was to sequence at least 5% of COVID-19 samples.
    • Shortage of funds: But only 1% has been achieved yet, primarily due to a shortage of funds, insufficient reagents and tools necessary to rapidly scale up.
    • Red-tapism: The INSACOG, in spite of being peopled by expert scientists, is ultimately within the Central government’s communication structure.
    • Infrastructure lacunae: Not all INSACOG labs have the same quality of equipment and manpower and therefore a surge or spike in some cities can mean difficulties in processing.

     

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