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Type: Prelims Only

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

    What are General Financial Rules (GFR)?

    Prelims Only | Governance | Mains Paper 2: Ministries & Departments Of The Government

    Note4Students

    From UPSC perspective, the following things are important:

    Prelims level: General Financial Rules (GFRs)

    Mains level: Various moves to boost MSME sector

    The union government has notified amendments to General Financial Rules (GFR) to ensure that goods and services valued less than Rs 200 crore are being procured from domestic firms, a move which will benefit MSMEs.

    Possible mains question:

    Q. Discuss how the nationwide lockdown to control the coronavirus outbreak has led to the resurfacing of inherent bottlenecks in India’s MSME Sector.

    What are the General Financial Rules (GFRs)?

    • The GFRs are a compilation of rules and orders of the Government of India to be followed by all while dealing with matters involving public finances.
    • They are instructions that pertain to financial matters.
    • They lay down the general rules applicable to Ministries / Departments, and detailed instructions relating to the procurement of goods.
    • They are issued by the procuring departments broadly in conformity with the general rules while maintaining the flexibility to deal with varied situations.

    Also read:

    [Burning Issues] Fiscal Push for MSME Sector of India (Part I)

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  • Horticulture, Floriculture, Commercial crops, Bamboo Production – MIDH, NFSM-CC, etc.

    In news: International Tea Day

    IOCRPrelims Only | Agriculture | Mains Paper 3: Major Crops & Cropping Patterns

    The ‘International Tea Day’ gets thumbs up from the UN. Tea is the most consumed drink in the world, second only to water.

    It would be no surprise to expect a question based on worldwide tea production:

    Q. Among the following, which one is the largest exporter of rice in the world in the last five years? (CSP 2019)

    (a) China

    (b) India

    (c) Myanmar

    (d) Vietnam

    International Tea Day

    • While the UN has been aware of the popularity of the drink, May 21, 2020, became the first time when it recognized and gave an official nod to International Tea Day.
    • The UN General Assembly proclaimed May 21 as International Tea Day.
    • The day is aimed at promoting sustainable production, consumption and trade of tea.
    • As part of the celebrations, key players in tea production come together and make systematic plans for expansion of demand for tea, particularly in tea producing countries where per capita consumption is relatively low.
    • This day also reminds all actors at global, regional and national levels to ensure that the tea sector continues to play a role in reducing extreme poverty, fighting hunger and safeguarding natural resources.

    Tea

    • Tea is an aromatic beverage commonly prepared by pouring hot or boiling water over cured leaves of the Camellia sinensis, an evergreen shrub native to East Asia.
    • After water, it is the most widely consumed drink in the world.
    • There are many different types of tea; some, like Darjeeling and Chinese greens, have a cooling, slightly bitter, and astringent flavour.
    • Tea has a stimulating effect in humans primarily due to its caffeine content.
    • China is the leading producer of tea in the world. (Ref.)

    Its significance

    • In 2018, over 50 lakh tonnes of tea was consumed globally, according to Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the UN.
    • The origin of tea plantations dates back to 5,000 years. Like many cultures, tea enjoys a special space in Indian culture.
    • With more than 100 varieties being consumed in the country, India is among the top four producers of tea.
    • Currently, tea is grown in more than 35 countries and supports 1.3 crore people including smallholder farmers around the globe.

    Back2Basics: Tea cultivation in India

    • India is the second producer of tea in the world and second in terms of land devoted to tea growing as well.
    • Much of India’s tea production is concentrated in the areas of Darjeeling, Nilgiri, Dooars, and Assam, which is the single largest tea growing region in the world. The top 5 growing states in India, ranked by production, are:

    1) Assam

    2) West Bengal

    3) Tamil Nadu

    4) Kerala

    5) Karnataka

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  • Indian Air Force Updates

    What is the ‘Sonic Boom’ that rattled Bengaluru city?

    Prelims Only | Science Tech | Mains Paper 3: Awareness in various sc and tech fields

    Note4Students

    From UPSC perspective, the following things are important:

    Prelims level: Sonic Boom, Mach Number

    Mains level: India's missile programme

    The ‘loud sound’ heard in Bengaluru a few days back, which puzzled lakhs of city dwellers, was revealed to have emanated from an IAF test flight involving a supersonic profile. The sonic boom was probably heard while the IAF aircraft was decelerating from supersonic to subsonic speed between 36,000 and 40000 feet altitude.

    Note:

    We often get to hear about updates in  India’s missile programme. UPSC may ask a basic physics question asking fundamental differences between various Mach number and its differences.

    What is a ‘sonic boom’?

    • Sound travels in the form of waves which are emitted outwards from its source.
    • In air, the speed of these waves depends on a number of factors, such as the temperature of the air and altitude.
    • When an aircraft travels at supersonic speed – meaning faster than sound (>1225 kmph at sea level) – the field of sound waves moves to the back of the craft.
    • A stationary observer thus hears no sound when a supersonic flight approaches since the sound waves are at the rear of the latter.
    • At such speeds, both newly created as well as old waves, are forced into a region at the aircraft’s rear called a ‘Mach cone’, which extends from the craft and intercepts the Earth in a hyperbola-shaped curve, and leaves a trail called the ‘boom carpet’.
    • The loud sound that is heard on the Earth when this happens is called a ‘sonic boom’ (resembles bomb-blast sound).

    Impacts

    • When such aircraft fly at a low altitude, the sonic boom can become intense enough to cause the glass to crack or cause health hazards.
    • Overland supersonic flights have thus been banned in many countries.

    Supersonic flights

    • In 1947, the American military pilot Chuck Yeager became the first to breach the sound barrier, flying the Bell X-1 aircraft at 1127 kmph.
    • Since then, many supersonic flights have followed, with advanced designs allowing speeds of over Mach 3, or three times the speed of sound.
    • According to the IAF website, India’s fastest jets include the Sukhoi SU-30 MKI (Mach 2.35) and the Mirage-2000 (Mach 2.3).

    Back2Basics: Traverse of sound

    • From a stationary source, such as a television set, sound waves travel outwards in concentric spheres of growing radii.
    • When the source of sound is moving – e.g, a truck– the successive waves in front of the truck get closer together, and the ones behind it spread out.
    • This is also the cause of the Doppler effect– in which bunched waves at the front appear at a higher frequency to a stationary observer, and spread out waves that are behind are observed at a lower frequency.
    • As long as the source of the sound keeps moving slower than the speed of sound itself, this source– say a truck or a plane – remains nested within the sound waves that are travelling in all directions.

    Mach number

    • The ratio of the speed of the aircraft to the speed of sound in the gas determines the magnitude of many of the compressibility effects.
    • Because of the importance of this speed ratio, aerodynamicists have designated it with a special parameter called the Mach number in honour of Ernst Mach, a late 19th-century physicist who studied gas dynamics.
    • Subsonic conditions occur for Mach numbers less than one, M < 1.
    • As the speed of the object approaches the speed of sound, the flight Mach number is nearly equal to one, M = 1, and the flow is said to be transonic.
    • Supersonic conditions occur for Mach numbers greater than one, 1 < M < 3.
    • For speeds greater than five times the speed of sound, M > 5, the flow is said to be hypersonic.
    • The Space Shuttle re-enters the atmosphere at high hypersonic speeds, M ~ 25. Under these conditions, the heated air becomes ionized plasma of gas and the spacecraft must be insulated from the high temperatures.

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  • Zoonotic Diseases: Medical Sciences Involved & Preventive Measures

    ‘Agappe Chitra Magna’ kit for COVID diagnosis

    Prelims Only | Science Tech | Mains Paper 3: Awareness in various sc and tech fields

    Note4Students

    From UPSC perspective, the following things are important:

    Prelims level: Agappe Chitra Magna

    Mains level: COVID diagnosis and treatment

    Agappe Chitra Magna, a magnetic nanoparticles-based RNA extraction kit has been commercially launched.

    The peculiarity of the name ‘Agappe Chitra Magna’ creates a possibility of a prelims question. One may confuse it with any sort of Artform.

    Agappe Chitra Magna (ACM) Kit

    • The ACM kit is developed by the Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences and Technology (SCTIMST) and manufactured by Kochi-based Agappe Diagnostics Ltd.,
    • It uses innovative technology for isolating RNA using magnetic nanoparticles to capture the RNA from the patient sample.
    • The magnetic nanoparticles beads bind to the viral RNA and, when exposed to a magnetic field, give a highly purified and concentrated RNA.
    • As the sensitivity of the detection method is dependent on getting an adequate quantity of viral RNA, this innovation enhances the chances of identifying positive cases.
    • The commercial launch of the kit is a major step to make India self-reliant in detecting COVID-19 and can help increase the rate of testing and bring down its costs, a crucial step for combating the pandemic.

    Significance of the kit

    • The commercial launch of the kit is a major step to make India self-reliant in detecting COVID-19 and can help increase the rate of testing and bring down its costs, a crucial step for combating the pandemic.
    • The RNA isolation kit will reduce the dependence on imported kits and make COVID testing more cost-effective.

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  • Renewable Energy – Wind, Tidal, Geothermal, etc.

    Etalin Hydro Electric Project

    Prelims Only | Enviro & Biodiversity | Mains Paper 3: Conservation, Environmental Pollution & Degradation, Eia

    Note4Students

    From UPSC perspective, the following things are important:

    Prelims level: Biogeographic Zones, Etalin Hydro Electric Project

    Mains level: India's border infrastructure

    A group of conservationists has written to the Environment Ministry seeking rejection of the approved Etalin Hydro Electric Project in the Dibang Valley district of Arunachal Pradesh.

    Make a note of major dams in India along with the rivers, terrain, major Wildlife sanctuaries and national parks incident to these rivers.

    Etalin Hydro Electric Project

    • Etalin HEP is a 3097 MW project based on the river Dibang.
    • It is envisaged as a run of the river scheme on rivers Dri and Tangon in the Dibang Valley District of Arunachal Pradesh.
    • Dibang is a tributary of the Brahmaputra River which flows through the states of Arunachal Pradesh and Assam.
    • The project is being executed through the Etalin Hydro Electric Power Company Limited, a JV company of Jindal Power Limited and Hydro Power Development Corporation of Arunachal Pradesh Limited.
    • It is expected to be one of the biggest hydropower projects in India in terms of installed capacity.

    Issues with the Project

    • The Project falls under the richest bio-geographical province of the Himalayan zone and would be located at the junction of major biogeographic zones like Palaearctic Zone and Indo-Malayan Zone.
    • It would involve the clearing of 2.7 lakh trees in “subtropical evergreen broad-leaved forest and subtropical rain forests”.
    • Underscoring the inadequacy of the Environment Impact Assessment report on Etalin, the conservationists said observations by wildlife officials were ignored.
    • These include the threat to 25 globally endangered mammal and bird species in the area to be affected.

    Back2Basics: Biogeographic Zones

    • A biogeographic realm or ecozone is the broadest biogeographic division of Earth’s land surface, based on distributional patterns of terrestrial organisms.
    • These zones delineate the large areas of the Earth’s surface within which organisms have been evolving in relative isolation over long periods of time.
    • They are separated from one another by geographic features, such as oceans, broad deserts, or high mountain ranges that constitute barriers to migration.
    • Originally, six biogeographic regions were identified: Palearctic (Europe and Asia), Nearctic (North America), Neotropical (Mexico, Central and South America), Ethiopian/Afrotropic (Africa), Oriental/Indo-Malayan (Southeast Asia, Indonesia) and Australian (Australia and New Guinea).
    • Currently, eight are recognised since the addition of Oceania (Polynesia, Fiji and Micronesia) and Antarctica.

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  • Capital Markets: Challenges and Developments

    Minimum Public Shareholding (MPS) Requirement

    Prelims Only | Economics | Mains Paper 3: Indian Economy

    Note4Students

    From UPSC perspective, the following things are important:

    Prelims level: Minimum Public Shareholding (MPS)

    Mains level: Not Much

    The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has relaxed the 25 per cent minimum public shareholding norm and advised exchanges not to take penal action till August 2020 in case of non-compliance.

    A statement based question can be asked about the SEBI in the prelim asking-

    If it is a statutory or quasi-judicial body ; Scope of its regulation; Appointment of its chairman etc..

    What is a Public Shareholding Company?

    • A Public Shareholding Company is a company whose capital is divided into shares of equal value, which are transferable.
    • Shareholders of a Public Shareholding Company are not liable for the company’s obligations except for the amount of the nominal value of the shares for which they subscribe.

    What is MPS requirement?

    • The 25 per cent MPS norms were introduced in 2013, whereby no listed company was permitted to have more than 75 per cent promoter stake.
    • The rules were aimed at improving liquidity and better stock price discovery by making higher float available with public.
    • The average promoter holding in India is among the highest globally.
    • Last year, the government had proposed to increase the minimum public float from the current 25 per cent to 35 per cent. It had met with opposition, forcing the government to drop the plan.

    Why ease MPS norms?

    • The Sebi move is aimed at easing such compliance rules amid the disruptions caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
    • The decision has been taken after receiving requests from listed entities and industry bodies as well as considering the prevailing business and market conditions.
    • As per the norms, exchanges can impose a fine of up to Rs 10,000 on companies for each day of non-compliance with MPS requirements.
    • Besides, exchanges can intimate depositories to freeze the entire shareholding of the promoter and promoter group. This circular will come into force with immediate effect.

    Back2Basics: Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI)

    • The SEBI is the regulator of the securities and commodity market in India.
    • It was first established in 1988 as a non-statutory body for regulating the securities market.
    • It became an autonomous body on 12 April 1992 and was accorded statutory powers with the passing of the SEBI Act 1992.
    • SEBI has to be responsive to the needs of three groups, which constitute the market:

    1) issuers of securities

    2) investors

    3) market intermediaries

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  • UDAY Scheme for Discoms

    Fiscal support to the power sector

    Prelims Only | Economics | Mains Paper 3: Infrastructure: Energy, Ports, Roads, Airports, Railways Etc.

    Note4Students

    From UPSC perspective, the following things are important:

    Prelims level: UDAY scheme

    Mains level: UDAY scheme, its success and failures

    Part of the package announced by Finance Minister was a Rs 90,000-crore liquidity injection into power distribution companies (or discoms).

    Practice question:

    Ujwal DISCOM Assurance Yojana (UDAY) has failed to turn around the precarious financial position of state power DISCOMs in India. Discuss.

    Fiscal push for DISCOMs

    • The move is aimed at helping the discoms clear their dues with gencos (or electricity generation companies), who in turn can clear their outstanding dues with suppliers, such as coal miners, easing some of the working capital woes of Coal India Ltd and contract miners.
    • This is subject to the condition that the Centre will act as guarantor for loans given by the state-owned power finance companies such as PFC and REC Ltd to the discoms.

    Why was this needed?

    • The primary trigger is the poor financial condition and revenue collection abilities of most state discoms.
    • This is despite several interventions, including a scheme called UDAY that was launched in 2015 to fix the problems of a sector where the upstream side (electricity generation) was drawing investments even as the downstream (distribution) side was leaking.

    How do the DISCOMs work?

    To understand how the sector works, we have to imagine a three-stage process.

    • First stage: Electricity is generated at thermal, hydro or renewable energy power plants, which are operated by either state-owned companies or private companies.
    • Second stage: The generated electricity then moves through a complex transmission grid system comprising electricity substations, transformers, and power lines that connect electricity producers and the end-consumers.
    • The entire electricity grid consists of hundreds of thousands of miles of high-voltage power lines and millions of miles of low-voltage power lines with distribution transformers that connect thousands of power plants to millions of electricity customers all across the country.
    • Third stage: This last-mile link is where discoms come in, operated largely by state governments. However, in cities such as Delhi, Mumbai, Ahmedabad, and Kolkata, private entities own the entire distribution business or parts of it.

    Why there is a problem?

    • Discoms essentially purchase power from generation companies through power purchase agreements (PPAs), and then supply it to their consumers (in their area of distribution).
    • The key issue with the power sector currently is the continuing problem of the poor financial situation of state discoms.
    • This has been affecting their ability to buy power for supply, and the ability to invest in improving the distribution infrastructure. Consequently, this impacts the quality of electricity that consumers receive.

    There are two fundamental problems here:

    1) Lack of competitiveness

    • One, in India, electricity price for certain segments such as agriculture and the domestic category (what we use in our homes) is cross-subsidised by the industries (factories) and the commercial sector (shops, malls).
    • This affects the competitiveness of the industry.

    2) Transmission and distribution losses

    • There is the problem of AT&C (aggregate transmission and distribution losses), which is a technical term that stands for the gap in the bills that it raises and the final collection process from end-consumers.
    • As a result, the discoms are perennially short of funds, even to pay those supplying power to them, resulting in a cascading impact up the value chain.

    Back2Basics: UDAY Scheme

    https://www.civilsdaily.com/news/uday-scheme-for-financial-turnaround-of-power-distribution-companies/

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  • Promoting Science and Technology – Missions,Policies & Schemes

    International Day of Light and its significance

    Prelims Only | Science Tech | Mains Paper 3: S&T – Applications In Everyday Life

    Note4Students

    From UPSC perspective, the following things are important:

    Prelims level: LASER, LIDAR

    Mains level: NA

    The UN marks the International Day of Light (IDL) — an annual initiative held globally to raise awareness on the critical role played by light-based technologies in everyday life.

    The IDL as mentioned in the news creates no scope for a possible prelim question, but the purpose behind its celebration does.  i.e. LASER technology. LIDAR is the latest development in the LASER technology. UPSC may puzzle you here by asking the working principle of LIDAR.

    International Day of Light (IDL)

    • The IDL is administered from the International Basic Science Programme (IBSP) of UNESCO, and its Secretariat is located at the Abdus Salam International Centre of Theoretical Physics (ICTP) at Trieste, Italy.
    • The IDL highlights the contribution of such technologies in various avenues such as science, technology, art, and culture, thus helping achieve the UNESCO goals of education, equality, and peace.
    • The day selected, May 16, marks the anniversary of the first successful operation of the LASER in 1960 by physicist and engineer Theodore Maiman.
    • The LASER is a perfect example of how a scientific discovery can yield revolutionary benefits to society in communications, healthcare and many other fields.

    Why is the IDL celebrated?

    • In 2015, to raise global awareness of the achievements of light science and its applications, the UN observed the International Year of Light and Light-based Technologies 2015 (IYL 2015).
    • The event helped establish links and collaborations between decision-makers, industry leaders, scientists, artists, social businesses, NGOs, and the public at large.
    • Following the success of IYL 2015, Ghana, Mexico, New Zealand and Russia placed a resolution before the UNESCO Executive Board supporting the idea of an International Day of Light.
    • It was adopted on September 19, 2016, at the Board’s 200th session at the UNESCO HQ in Paris, France.
    • The Board decision was endorsed by the UNESCO General Conference at its 39th session on November 7, 2017, and the first IDL was held on May 16, 2018.

    Back2Basics: LASER

    • A laser is a device that emits light through a process of optical amplification based on the stimulated emission of electromagnetic radiation.
    • It is an acronym for “light amplification by the stimulated emission of radiation.
    • The laser stimulates atoms or molecules to emit light at particular wavelengths and amplifies that light, typically producing a very narrow beam of radiation.
    • The emission generally covers an extremely limited range of visible, infrared, or ultraviolet wavelengths.
    • Many different types of lasers have been developed, with highly varied characteristics.
    • A laser is widely used in industrial cutting, surgical removal of tissues etc.
    • LIDAR is the most famous application of LASERs.

    LiDAR (Light Detection And Ranging)

    • It is a remote sensing method that uses light in the form of a pulsed laser to measure ranges (variable distances) to the Earth.
    • It bounces pulsed laser light off the ground, revealing contours hidden by dense foliage.
    • These light pulses—combined with other data recorded by the airborne system— generate precise, three-dimensional information about the shape of the Earth and its surface characteristics.
    • LIDAR systems allow scientists and mapping professionals to examine both natural and manmade environments with accuracy, precision, and flexibility.
    • A LIDAR instrument principally consists of a laser, a scanner, and a specialized GPS receiver.
    • Airplanes and helicopters are the most commonly used platforms for acquiring LIDAR data over broad areas.

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  • Foreign Policy Watch: India – EU

    Mapping: Baltic Travel Bubble

    Prelims Only | International Relations | Mains Paper 2: Bilateral, Regional and Global Groupings and agreements involving India

    Note4Students

    From UPSC perspective, the following things are important:

    Prelims level: Baltic Travel Bubble

    Mains level: Travel restriction in times of COVID outbreak

    The Baltic countries of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania have opened their borders to one another, creating a coronavirus “travel bubble” with an improvised idea to boost travel into their countries.

    Mark the following things on Map:

    1. Baltic Sea and its bordering nations

    2. Irben Strait

    3. Gulf of Riga

    4. Gulf of Finland

    Baltic Travel Bubble

    • The ‘Baltic travel bubble’ aims to facilitate the citizens of these three countries to travel within the region without hassles.
    • However, those who are coming from any other than these three countries would be required to follow self-isolation guidelines and stay in quarantine for exactly 14 days.
    • During the epidemic, Estonia and Lithuania closed their borders to non-citizens and all three nations placed mandatory quarantines for those entering for reasons related to non-work activities.
    • The region has been part of the European Union since 2004 and since 2007 has been a member of the European Schengen Free Travel Area.

    Significance of the travel ease

    • The Baltic nations have shown trust in each other’s healthcare system and have concluded that they have been able to tackle the coronavirus outbreak efficiently.
    • For Asian countries including India, these developments can provide interesting pointers when lockdown relaxations pertaining to travel and flights are being considered.

    Bonus: Try this question from CSP 2011

    Between India and East Asia, the navigation-time and distance can be greatly reduced by which of the following?

    1. Deepening the Malacca straits between Malaysia and Indonesia.

    2. Opening a new canal across the Kra isthmus between the Gulf of Siam and Andaman Sea.

    Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

    (a) 1 only

    (b) 2 only

    (c) Both 1 and 2

    (d) Neither 1 nor 2

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  • New Species of Plants and Animals Discovered

    Species in news: Troglomyces twitteri

    Prelims Only | Enviro & Biodiversity | Mains Paper 3:

    Note4Students

    From UPSC perspective, the following things are important:

    Prelims level: Troglomyces twitteri

    Mains level: NA

    A new species has just been identified on an old image on Twitter. It is named as Troglomyces twitteri.

    The species Troglomyces twitteri has something unique in its name. UPSC may ask a straight forward question like – The specie Troglomyces twitteri recently seen in news is a- (a) Algae (b) Fungi (c) Fish (d) Sea Grass …….

    Troglomyces twitteri

    • Troglomyces twitteri is a type of parasitic fungus.
    • It belongs to an order called Laboulbeniales — tiny fungal parasites that attack insects and millipedes.
    • These fungi live on the outside of host organisms; in this case, on the reproductive organs of millipedes.
    • Laboulbeniales were first discovered in the middle of the 19th century.

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