Daily Prelims Notes 13 May 2021

May 13, 2021
Posted by: OptimizeIAS Team
Category: DPN

Daily Prelims Notes

13 May 2021

Table Of Contents

Subject: History

Context : Activist RanjanaNirula, working committee member and former Treasurer of Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU), died in Delhi on Monday, aged 75

Concept:

One of the founders of the All India Democratic Women’s Association (AIDWA) in Delhi, Nirula was also a member of the Delhi State Committee of CPI(M), apart from being the Working Editor of the journal titled ‘The Voice of the Working Woman’

All India Democratic Women’s Association

It is an independent left oriented women’s organisation committed to achieving democracy, equality and women’s emancipation.
It was founded in 1981 as a national level mass organisation of women.
It is also the women’s wing of the Communist Party of India (Marxist).
Its members are from all strata in society, regardless of class, caste and community. About two-thirds of the organization’s strength is derived from poor rural and urban women.
It upholds secular values and challenges and resists cultural practices demeaning to women and believes that the emancipation of women in India requires fundamental systemic change.

2. RED CROSS SOCIETY

Subject : Current Events

Context : The Red Cross Society of China has sent 100 oxygen concentrators, 40 ventilators and some other medical supplies to the Indian Red Cross Society as COVID-19 assistance.

Concept :

World Red Cross day is observed on May 8 on the birth anniversary of Henry Dunant, who was the founder of the International Committee of the Red Cross.
Henry Dunant was also the recipient of the first Nobel Peace Prize.
The main aim of the Red Cross Society is basically to inspire, initiate and encourage all kinds of humanitarian activities under all times and circumstances.
Programmes conducted by the Red Cross Society can be broadly categorised into four parts including the promotion of humanitarian principles and values; disaster response; disaster preparedness; and health and care.
The Red Cross Society is based on 7 principles namely, humanity, impartiality, neutrality, independence, voluntary, unity and universality.

Indian Red Cross Society

IRCS is a voluntary humanitarian organization to protect human life and health with the help of its network of over 1100 branches throughout India.
It was established in 1920 and has completed its 100 years of existence.
It is a part of the largest independent humanitarian organisation in the world, the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement.
Its mission is to provide relief at the time of disasters/emergencies and also promotes healthcare facilities among vulnerable people and communities.
The President of India is the President and the Union Health Minister is the Chairman of the Society.

3. COVAID PORTAL

Subject : Governance

Context: CovAid portal set up for real-time monitoring of relief

Concept :

Central government think tank NITI Aayog has set up a dedicated portal named CovAid to keep a track of all the Covid-19 aid received by the Indian government from several missions or individual organisations.
The platform keeps an end-to-end check from initiations to distribution.
It is important to note that all the received items are exempted from customs duties, health-cess and GST obligation, and can be received anywhere in India by the Indian Red Cross Society.
Once verified, the donor will be prompted to share the details of donations along with the several documentations — waybill, commercial invoice and total value of donated items, packing list, donation/gift certificate or covering letter, flight or cargo details — for the Indian Red Cross Society to facilitate the process on arrival including customs and all other clearances.

4. GST COUNCIL

Subject : National Organisations

Context : West Bengal finance minister Amit Mitra has written to Union FM Nirmala Sitharaman to urgently convene a meeting of the GST Council and discuss the issue of compensation shortfall to states and other pending items.

Concept :

GST Council

It is a constitutional body under Article 279A. It makes recommendations to the Union and State Government on issues related to Goods and Service Tax and was introduced by the Constitution (One Hundred and First Amendment) Act, 2016.
The GST Council is chaired by the Union Finance Minister and other members are the Union State Minister of Revenue or Finance and Ministers in-charge of Finance or Taxation of all the States.
It is considered as a federal body where both the centre and the states get due representation.
Every decision of the Goods and Services Tax Council shall be taken at a meeting by a majority of not less than three-fourths of the weighted votes of the members present and voting, in accordance with the following principles, namely:
the vote of the Central Government shall have a weightage of one third of the total votes cast, and
the votes of all the State Governments taken together shall have a weightage of two-thirds of the total votes cast, in that meeting.
Economic Survey 2017-18 also hailed the GST Council for its cooperative federalism technology which brings together the Center and States and can be applied to many other policy reforms.

5. IRON DOME

Subject : Defence / IR

Context: Videos on social media showed rockets fired from Gaza being intercepted by the Israeli Iron Dome air defence system. It appeared that the rockets were hitting an invisible shield.

Concept :

In 2006, during the Israeli-Lebanon war, Hezbollah fired thousands of rockets in to Israel.
Following this, Israel announced that the Rafael Advance System run by the Government of Israel will develop an air defence system to protect its people and cities. Thus Iron Dome was developed by Israel.

About Iron Dome

It was deployed in 2011.
According to Rafael Advance Systems, the Iron Dome has so far made more than two thousand interceptions. Its success rate is more than 90%.
It is capable of protecting forward operating bases, urban areas, deployed and manoeuvring forces.
It shall be used in all weather conditions. Also, it can be operated during the day and at night.
It is a short-range ground air-to-air defence system.
It is used to counter rockets, mortars, aircraft, helicopters, mortars artillery and unmanned vehicles.

Working of Iron Dome

When the interceptor sensor of the iron dome senses an incoming rocket, it detonates its own rocket and sends out fragments. If the timing is right, then the fragments of the detonated rocket will hit the rocket warhead.
However, the interceptor approaches the rocket is critical. It intercepts missiles in all directions. That is, Front Approach, Rear Approach and Side Approach.
It has three main systems. All the three systems act together to provide a shied over a defined area. The three systems are as follows:

Detection and Tracking radar to spot incoming threats

Battle Management and Weapon Control System

Missile Firing Unit

It establishes a working relationship between interceptor missile and radar.

6. ARTICLE 311

Subject : Polity

Context : Recently, the suspended police officer Sachin Waze was dismissed from service by Mumbai Police Commissioner under Article 311 (2) (b) without a departmental enquiry.

Concept :

Article 311 provides two safeguards to civil servants against any arbitrary dismissal from their posts.
A civil servant cannot be dismissed or removed by an authority subordinate to that by which he was appointed.
A civil servant cannot be dismissed or removed or reduced in rank except after an inquiry in which he has been informed of the charges against him and given a reasonable opportunity of being heard in respect of those charges.
The above two safeguards are available only to the members of the civil services of the Centre, the all-India services, the civil services of a state or to persons holding civil posts under the Centre or a state.
It is not available to the members of defence services or persons holding military posts.

The second safeguard of holding inquiry is not available in the following three cases:

Where a civil servant is dismissed or removed or reduced in rank on the ground of conduct which has led to his conviction on a criminal charge; or
Article 311 (2) (b) Where the authority empowered to dismiss or remove a civil servant or to reduce him in rank is satisfied that for some reason (to be recorded in writing), it is not reasonably practicable to hold such inquiry; or
Where the president or the governor is satisfied that in the interest of the security of the state, it is not expedient to hold such inquiry.

What is the process of a departmental enquiry?

In a departmental enquiry, after an enquiry officer is appointed, the civil servant is given a formal chargesheet of the charges.
The civil servant can represent himself/herself or choose to have a lawyer.
The witnesses can be called during the departmental enquiry following which the enquiry officer can prepare a report and submit it to the government for further action.
The government employee dismissed under these provisions can approach either tribunals like the state administrative tribunal or Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) or the courts.

7. INDEX OF INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTION & CPI

Subject : Economy

Context : The retail inflation, measured Consumer Price Index (CPI) eased to 4.29 per cent in April. Separately, the factory output, measured in terms of Index of Industrial Production (IIP), grew by 22.4 per cent in March.

Concept :

Index of Industrial Production

The Index of Industrial Production (IIP) is an index that shows the growth rates in different industry groups of the economy in a fixed period of time.
It is compiled and published monthly by the Central Statistical Organization (CSO), Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation.
IIP is a composite indicator that measures the growth rate of industry groups classified under:
Broad sectors, namely, Mining, Manufacturing, and Electricity.
Use-based sectors, namely Basic Goods, Capital Goods, and Intermediate Goods.
Base Year for IIP is 2011-2012.
The eight core industries of India represent about 40% of the weight of items that are included in the IIP.

Consumer Price Index

Consumer Price Index or CPI is the measure of changes in the price level of a basket of consumer goods and services bought by households. CPI is a numerical estimation calculated using the rates of a sample of representative objects the prices of which are gathered periodically.
The CPI captures changes in price level at the consumer level.
Changes in prices at the producer level are tracked by the Wholesale Price Index (WPI).
CPI can capture the change in the prices of services which the WPI cannot.

Various Indices of CPI are :

CPI – Industrial Workers (CPI -IW): It tries to measure the alterations over a time period on the prices of a fixed basket of goods and services utilised by Industrial Workers.
CPI – Agricultural Labourers (CPI -AL): This index measures the change in the price of commodity basket consumed by the agricultural labourers. It is this used to revise minimum wages for agricultural labour in different States.
CPI – Rural Labourers: This index measures the change in the price of commodity basket consumed by the rural labourers.
The above indices are published monthly by Labour Bureau under the Ministry of Labour and Employment for all India as well as States and Union Territories.
Since the above three indices covered only a segment of the population and not the overall nation, we Designed three more indices of CPI.
CPI – Rural: This index measures the change in the price of commodity basket consumed by the rural population
CPI – Urban: This index measures the change in the price of commodity basket consumed by urban population
CPI – Combined: It is computed by combining CPI Rural and CPI Urban Index The base year for the above three indices is 2011-12 and are published monthly by the National Statistical Office (NSO), Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation.

8. RUN RATE

Subject : Economy

Context : Indian Oil Corporation had reduced its refinery run rate to 88 per cent, while privatisation-bound Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd cut its run rate to 85 per cent of its refining capacity. Run rate is the proportion of crude processed by a refinery relative to its total processing capacity.

Concept :

Run rate is the financial performance of a company, using current financial information as a predictor of future performance.
The run rate assumes that current conditions will continue.
Run rates are helpful in formulating performance estimates for companies that have been operating for short periods of time.
Run rate may also refer to the average annual dilution from company stock option grants over the most recent three-year period recorded in the annual report.

9. PLI SCHEME FOR THE ADVANCED CHEMISTRY CELL (ACC) BATTERY STORAGE

Subject : Government Schemes

Context : The Union Cabinet has approved the proposal of Department of Heavy Industry for implementation of the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) Scheme ‘National Programme on Advanced Chemistry Cell (ACC) Battery Storage’.

Concept :

The move aims to achieve a manufacturing capacity of 50 GigaWatt Hour of ACC and five Giga Watt Hour of Niche ACC with an outlay of 18,100 crore.
ACCs are the new generation of advanced storage technologies that can store electric energy either as electrochemical or as chemical energy and convert it back to electric energy as and when required.
It will also give a big push to electric mobility, benefiting three-wheelers, four-wheelers and heavy vehicles.
India is currently importing Battery Storage Equipment worth 20 thousand crore rupees and the scheme will be helpful in making the country self-reliant (Atmanirbhar).

10. INSTITUTE OF CHARTERED ACCOUNTANTS OF INDIA (ICAI)

Subject : National Organisations

Context : The Union Cabinet has approved signing of MoU between Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) and Qatar Financial Centre Authority (QFCA).

Concept :

The MoU would enhance cooperation between the Institutes to work together to strengthen the Accounting profession and entrepreneurship base in Qatar.
This MoU will benefit Ministry of Corporate Affairs, Institute of Chartered Accountants of India and Qatar Financial Centre Authority.
ICAI has an active Chapter in Doha, Qatar which was established in the year 1981 and is the oldest among the 36 overseas Chapters of the ICAI.
Qatar (Doha) Chapter is amongst the most vibrant Chapters of ICAI.

About ICAI

The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) is a statutory body established by an Act of Parliament of India, The Chartered Accountants Act, 1949′, to regulate the profession of Chartered Accountancy in India.
Qatar Financial Centre Authority (QFCA) an independent legal entity established pursuant to Law No. (7) of 2005,is responsible for the development and promotion of the QFC as a world-class on-shore financial and business centre in the State of Qatar.

11. ANAMALAI TIGER RESERVE

Subject : Environment

Context : Recently, the residents of two tribal settlements within the limits of the Anamalai Tiger Reserve (ATR), were gearing up for the annual festival of their local deity, Vairapattan.

The Kattupatti and Kuzhipatti settlements of Pulayar community have barely heard of the acronym COVID-19.

Concept :

Anamalai Tiger Reserve (ATR)

It is the 29th and one of the four Tiger Reserves in Tamil Nadu.
It lies South of the Palakkad gap in the Southern Western Ghats.
It was originally a territorial division known as Coimbatore South Forest division which was declared as wildlife sanctuary in 1976.
It forms part of the AnamalaiParambikulam Elephant Reserve declared in 2003.
The Wildlife sanctuary was declared as Tiger Reserve in April 2007 and declared as a critical Tiger habitat in December 2007.
There are Six Tribal Communities (VIZ) Malasar, Malaimalasar, Kadar, Muduvar, Pulayar and Eravalar with the population of nearly 6000 living in 35 Settlements.
It supports diverse habitat types viz. Wet evergreen forests, semi evergreen forests, moist deciduous, dry deciduous, dry thorn and shola forests.

About Pulayar community

It is also known as Pulaya, or Pulayas or Holeya or Cheramar.
The Pulayas are a tribe spread out in the Kodaikanal hills.
It is one of the main social groups found in Kerala, Karnataka and in historical Tamil Nadu or Tamilakam.
The spiritual life of the Pulaya includes certain ancient magic rituals and practices that have a certain reputation.

Pulayas are noted for their music, craftsmanship, and for certain dances which include:

Kōlam-thullal: A mask dance which is part of their exorcism rituals, and
Mudi-āttam: A hair-dance which has its origins in a fertility ritual.
The 1976 Government of India Gazette notifies Pulayan, Cheramar as Scheduled Caste (SC).
The government of Tamil Nadu has not officially recognised them as a Scheduled Tribe.

12. SAMARAJIT JANA

Subject : Important Personalities

Context : A leader of the rights movement for sex workers in India and a public health expert known for his contribution to the prevention of HIV in the country, Smarajit Jana, passed away due to COVID-19 related complications in Kolkata.

Concept :

An epidemiologist, he was also a member of the National Task Force on COVID-19.
Jana spearheaded the first rights-based HIV intervention programmes in India by collectivising the sex workers of Sonagachi. He was also a member of the NACO’s steering committee.
DrSmarajit Jana, who helped the children of sex workers a chance to fight discrimination through football, and was the founder of the Durbar MahilaSamanwayaSamiti.
Dr Jana was also the founder of Durbar Sports Academy. The Samiti is a collective of 65,000 sex workers in West Bengal.
Established in 1992 in Sonagachi, the largest red-light area in Kolkata, it has been working for the rights of women and sex workers, and causes such as anti-human trafficking and HIV/AIDS prevention.
The organisation also used football to fight discrimination against the children of sex workers.

13. COMPULSORY LICENSING

Subject : Economy

Context : Kerala High Court seeks Centre’s response to invoke compulsory licensing of Covid vaccines.

Concept :

A compulsory licence is a licence or authorisation issued by the government to an applicant for making, using and selling a patented product or employing a patented process without the consent of the patentee.
Chapter XVI of the Indian Patents Act 1970 and the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights discuss compulsory licensing.
The application for compulsory license can be made any time after 3 years from date of sealing of a patent.

The following conditions should be fulfilled by the applicant:

Reasonable requirements of the public with respect to the patented invention have not been satisfied;
Patented invention is not available to the public at a reasonably affordable price.
Patented invention is not used in India.
Additionally, according to Section 92 of the Act, compulsory licenses can also be issued suomotu by the Controller of Patents pursuant to a notification issued by the Central Government if there is either a “national emergency” or “extreme urgency” or in cases of “public non-commercial use”.

When was the first license issued?

India’s first ever compulsory license was granted by the Patent Office on March 9, 2012, to Hyderabad-based Natco Pharma for the production of generic version of Bayer’s Nexavar, an anti-cancer agent used in the treatment of liver and kidney cancer.