Daily Prelims Notes 13 October 2022

Daily Prelims Notes

13 October 2022

Table Of Contents

1. Chola Irrigation and water management
2. India’s Digital Ecosystem for Agriculture
3. ‘Cancel all debt’: Activists disrupt IMF, World Bank annual meeting
4. 5G software updates in phones
5. Assam communities demanding ST tag
6. United Nations World Geospatial Information Congress
7. Under cheetah deal, sought India’s support on lifting the ivory ban: Namibia
8. ONDC
9. What does the DNA say about the future of the rhino in India?
10. World Economic Outlook
11. Structural Reforms
12. Demonetisation
13. Role of Banking in economic crisis
14. PM-DevINE
15. Inter-operable Regulatory Sandbox
16. Gambia
17. Lebanon
18. Poland

1. Chola Irrigation and water management

Subject: Ancient and Medieval History

Context: Mani Ratnam’s Ponniyin Selvan I

• Cholas undertook measures to improve the irrigation system that was in practice. As the state was drawing most of its revenue from agriculture, the Cholas focused their efforts on managing water resources. Vativaykkal, a criss-cross channel, is a traditional way of harnessing rain water in the Kavery delta.
• Vati runs in the north–south direction while vaykkal runs in the east–west direction. Technically, vati is a drainage channel anda vaykkal is a supply channel. The waterrunning through vaykkal to the field wasto be drained out to vati and to anothervaykkal. Rain water would flow from wherethe natural canal started. Many irrigationcanals are modifications of such naturalcanals. The harnessed water was utilisedalternately through vatiand Herethe mechanism designed was such thatwater was distributed to the parcelled outlands in sequel.
• Many canals were named afterthe kings, queens and gods. Someexamples of the names are Uttamacholavaykkal, Panca-vanamadevi-vaykkal and Ganavathy-vaykkal.
• Ur-vaykkal was ownedjointly by the landowners. The nadu levelvaykkal was referred to as nattu-vaykkal. Theturn system was practiced for distributingthe water.
• Chola inscriptions list some bigsizeirrigation tanks such as Cholavaridhi, Kaliyaneri, Vairamegatataka created by the Pallavas, Bahur big tank and Rajendra Cholaperiyaeri. For the periodical or seasonalmaintenance and repair of irrigation works, conscripted labour was used.

Water Management:

• Different kinds of water rights These rights regulated the share of water from the tanks and wells; italso entailed the right of deepening and
• Broadening the channels and repairingthe irrigation system. The allotment of water is described as nirkkiintavaru (share of water as allotted). The water was released through kumizh (sluice) ortalaivay (head-channel). Royal orders warned the people against the violationof water rights and encroachment of water resources gifted to the brahmadeyasettlements. Commonly owned villagetank was called enkalkulam (our tank).
• Land transactions in the form of donationand endowment were accompanied bywater rights as well. For the periodicaland seasonal maintenance and repair ofthe irrigation tanks, rendering free labourwas in practice. Vetti and amanji were the forms of free labour related to public works at the village level.
• Village assemblies under the Cholascollected a tax called eriayam, which was utilised for repairing irrigation tanks.
• Sometimes local leaders like araiyan repaired and renovated irrigation tanks destroyed in a storm. There were instancesof the water from a tank shared by villagers and the temples.
• Special groups known as talaivayar, talaivay-chanrar and eri-araiyarkal were in charge of releasing the water through the head channel and sluice from the rivers or tanks. A group of people who were in charge of kulam was called In later period, temples were entrusted with the upkeep of the irrigation sources.

2. India’s Digital Ecosystem for Agriculture

Subject :Agriculture/Technology

Context: The agriculture ministry has constituted an expert task force in charge of consolidating the ‘India Digital Ecosystem of Agriculture (IDEA)’ report.

Concept:

• In 2021, the Union Minister for agriculture announced the initiation of the ‘Digital Agriculture Mission 2021–2025’.
• The initiative aims to leverage a wide range of technologies from AI, blockchain along with drone technology to improve the sector’s overall performance.
• IDEA serves as a important part of the initiative which lays the framework for implementation of digital advancements in agriculture.

Concept of IDEA

• The farmer and the improvement of farmers’ livelihood is the aim of the IDEA concept and it is proposed to happen through tight integration of agri-tech innovation and the agriculture industry ecosystem to farming and food systems.
• The IDEA principles explicitly talk about openness of data, which means open to businesses and farmers, indicating the integration.
• Value-added innovative services by agri-tech industries and start-ups are an integral part of the IDEA architecture.

Key Features of IDEA

• IDEA lays out framework for ‘Agristack’.
• Each farmer will have a unique digital identification that contains personal details, information about the land they farm, as well as production and financial details.
• Each ID will be linked to the individual’s digital national ID Aadhaar.
• This will create a National Farmers Database, a sort of ‘super Aadhaar’ for farmers.
• The database will include farmers’ digitised land records (under National Land Records Modernisation Programme) and it is cross-linked with the Aadhaar database so as to create a unique FID, or a farmers’ ID.
• On top of that, it will pull information from running schemes like the PM Kisan, soil health cards, the national crop insurance scheme PM FasalBimaYojna, and so on.
• The Unified Farmer Service Interfaceis being built by Microsoft under the aegis of the Department of Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare (DoAFW)
• This database will enable anyone with access to it to
• uniquely identify a landholder
• know the extent of his holding
• the state of the soil
• cropping patterns and average yields
• and other such information at a granular level.

Digital Initiatives by GOI

Agri Stack:

• The Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare has planned creating ‘AgriStack’ – a collection of technology-based interventions in agriculture.
• It will create a unified platform for farmers to provide them end to end services across the agriculture food value chain.

Unified Farmer Service Platform (UFSP):

• UFSP is a combination of Core Infrastructure, Data, Applications and Tools that enable seamless interoperability of various public and private IT systems in the agriculture ecosystem across the country. UFSP is envisaged to play the following role:
  • Act as a central agency in the agri ecosystem (like UPI in the e Payments)
  • Enables Registration of the Service Providers (public and private) and the Farmer Services.
  • Enforces various rules and validations required during the service delivery process.
  • Acts as a Repository of all the applicable standards, API’s (Application Programming Interface) and formats.
  • Act as a medium of data exchange amongst various schemes and services to enable comprehensive delivery of services to the farmer.
• This will be a part of ‘AgriStack’ that the Govt. envisages to create.

National e-Governance Plan in Agriculture (NeGP-A):

• A Centrally Sponsored Scheme, it was initially launched in 2010-11 in 7 pilot States, which aims to achieve rapid development in India through use of ICT for timely access to agriculture related information to the farmers.
• In 2014-15, the scheme was further extended for all the remaining States and 2 UTs.

National Land Records ModernisationProgramme (NRLMP):

• Under the programme, each farmer will have a unique digital identification (farmers’ ID) that contains personal details, information about the land they farm, as well as production and financial details.
• Each ID will be linked to the individual’s digital national ID Aadhaar.

Other Digital Initiatives: Kisan Call Centres, Kisan Suvidha App, Agri Market App, Soil Health Card (SHC) Portal, etc.

3. ‘Cancel all debt’: Activists disrupt IMF, World Bank annual meeting

Subject :International organizations

Context :Two activists from the women-led peace group ‘CodePink’ crashed an afternoon debt restructuring panel during the International Monetary Fund and World Bank Group annual meetings to demand that the international financial institutions “cancel all debts.”.

Concept :

• According to their statement, the path to economic sovereignty for the Global South is not through the predatory loans offered by the IMF/World Bank.
• But instead through reparations of all wealth and resources that have been stolen from countries through colonization, illegal invasions, occupations, and extraction of oil, gas, and coal.
• The CodePink protest came on the same day that the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) published a paper(‘Too little Too late’) calling on rich countries to step up and deliver desperately needed debt relief to 54 developing nations that are home to more than half of the poorest people on the planet.

IMF-WB annual meeting

• The Annual Meetings are usually held for two consecutive years at the IMF and World Bank headquarters in Washington, D.C. and every third year in another member country.
• The 2022 Annual Meetings of the Boards of Governors of the World Bank Group and the IMF are scheduled to be held in Washington, D.C., during the week of October 10-16, 2022.
• The Board of Governors for each institution consists of one governor from each of the institutions’ member countries, typically the finance minister, central bank governor, or minister of development.
• During the Annual Meetings, the Boards of Governors decide on major policy issues related to the future work of the two institutions, which are subsequently implemented by their respective Executive Boards.
• Board of Governors is advised by two ministerial committees, the International Monetary and Financial Committee (IMFC) and the Development Committee.

International Monetary and Financial Committee (IMFC):

• IMFC has 24 members, drawn from the pool of 189 governors of IMF, and represents all member countries.
• It discusses the management of the international monetary and financial system.
• It also discusses proposals by the Executive Board of the IMF to amend the Articles of Agreement.
• And any other matters of common concern affecting the global economy.

Development Committee:

• It is a joint committee (25 members from Board of Governors of IMF & World Bank), tasked with advising the Boards of Governors of the IMF and the World Bank on issues related to economic development in emerging market and developing countries.
• It serves as a forum for building intergovernmental consensus on critical development issues.

IMF and World Bank collaboration

• Financial Industry Assessment Program (FSAP):The Financial Industry Assessment Program (FSAP) assesses the benefits and drawbacks of a country’s financial sector and makes recommendations for how to proceed.
• Debt Sustainability Framework (DSF): The Multilateral Debt Relief Initiative (MDRI- 2005) and the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC-1996) initiative both aim to lower the debt loads of the world’s poorest, most severely indebted countries.
• The Debt Sustainability Framework (DSF), developed by the IMF and World Bank, is used to jointly evaluate a country’s ability to pay its debts.
• Joint Climate Change Policy Assessments (CCPA): As a pilot initiative, the IMF and the World Bank first unveiled Joint Climate Change Policy Assessments (CCPA) in 2017.
• These assessments cover preparation, macroeconomic impact, mitigation, adaptation, and finance strategies for small, vulnerable, and capacity-constrained countries.

4. 5G software updates in phones

Subject : Science and Technology

Context:

• Govt to push Apple, Samsung for 5G software updates in phones
• The Ministry of Electronics and IT (MeitY) and Department of Telecommunications (DoT) will meet with key smartphone makers like Apple, Samsung, and Google to push for them to roll out software updates to their phones to support 5G in the country.

Concerns : several 5G-enabled smartphones are not ready for the recently launched high-speed service:

• MeitY and DoT will ask the smartphone markets to enable their handsets to support 5G, across both the standalone (SA) and non-standalone (NSA) architecture and release software and firmware updates over the air to support the high-speed network.
  • Under SA, which Reliance Jio has opted for, the 5G network can operate with dedicated equipment, and run parallel to the existing 4G network,
  • whereas in NSA, which is being deployed by Airtel, operators can maximise the utilisation of their existing network infrastructure with relatively lower investment.
• At the moment, a number of 5G-enabled smartphones sold in the country are not supporting the data speeds.
• For instance, several smartphones made by prominent manufacturers such as Apple, Samsung, Google and OnePlus currently do not support Airtel 5G.
• In the case of Apple, the manufacturer is yet to update its software to support Airtel’s 5G for all of the iPhones that support the technology, that is starting from the iPhone 12 series to the latest iPhone 14 series.
• 5G services were officially launched in the country on October 1.
• For consumers, 5G will provide superior internet speed and low latency. At its peak, internet speeds on 5G could touch 10 Gbps, compared to the 100 Mbps peak of 4G. Similarly, latency under 4G is between 10-100 ms (millisecond), whereas it is expected to be under 1 ms on 5G. Latency is the time it takes for a device to send packets of data and get a response.
• Among the three major telecom operators, Bharti Airtel has rolled out its 5G services in eight cities including Delhi, Mumbai, Varanasi and Bengaluru, and said the rest of the country would get it by March 2024.
• Reliance Jio is set to launch 5G in metro cities by Diwali this year, and in the rest of the country by 2023-end. Vodafone Idea has not announced a timeline yet.

Features of 5G :

• 5G is the fifth generation cellular technology that apart from increasing the downloading and uploading speeds over the mobile network, also reduces the latencye. the time taken by a network to respond.
• 5G will provide download speed of 1 Gbps, which is at least 100 times the existing data speeds.
• It also increases energy efficiency and offers more stable network connections.
• 5G will have a wider area in the frequency spectrum (range of frequencies) that will ensure no network congestion.
• In addition, it will also ensure connectivity to a full circle i.e. everything is connected to every other thing.
• 5G is based on OFDM (orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing). It is a method that reduces interference by modulating a digital signal across different channels.

5. Assam communities demanding ST tag

Subject : Geography

Context: Leaders of six communities in Assam, which are agitating for Scheduled Tribe status in their State, have stressed the need to stay united in their fight.

Six communities in Assam

• The leaders of Tai-Ahom, Matak, Moran, Chutia, Koch-Rajbongshi, and Adivasi communities have cautioned that they are being pitted against each other, even as they are headed for a fresh round of meetings with the All Assam Tribal Sangha (AATS), an umbrella body of existing STs, over their demands.
• Efforts to keep representatives of all six agitating communities together has been renewed, especially since one faction of the Chutia community — the ChutiaYuvaSanmilan — announced recently that they would be breaking away from the group that has so far been meeting with the AATS and the government over demands to be classified as STs.
• While the All Assam Chutia Students’ Union continues to be part of the group leading  negotiations, the exit of the Chutia YS came within days of a meeting between Chief Minister HimantaBiswaSarma, the six agitating communities, and the AATS.
• At the meeting, a consensus was arrived at regarding the inclusion of just two of the six agitating communities — Matak and Moran — with more meetings promised to discuss the possibility of including the others.
• They were not originally indigenous.

6. United Nations World Geospatial Information Congress

Subject : Science and Technology

Context: The second United Nations World Geospatial Information Congress was inaugurated in Hyderabad today

Details:

United Nations World Geospatial Information Congress (UNWGIC)-

• The first United Nations World Geospatial Information Congress was held in Deqing, Zhejiang Province, China in 2018.
• The United Nations Committee of Experts on Global Geospatial Information Management (UN-GGIM) organizes the United Nations World Geospatial Information Congress (UNWGIC) every four years.
• The objectives are enhancing international collaboration among the Member States and relevant stakeholders in Geospatial information management and capacities.
• The Second United Nations World Geospatial Information Congress (UNWGIC 2022) began in Hyderabad today.
• The five-day conference is being hosted by the Department of Science & Technology, Ministry of Science and Technology and convened by the United Nations Committee of Experts on Global Geospatial Information Management.

The theme of 2022 event–

• With the theme of ‘Geo-Enabling the Global Village: No one should be left behind,’ the Second UNWGIC 2022 will reflect on the importance of integrated geospatial information infrastructure and knowledge services to support the implementation and monitoring of sustainable development goals.

Importance of Geospatial technology–

• The Prime Minister cited that the geospatial technology has been driving inclusion and progress in national development projects like SVAMITVA, PM Gati Shakti master plan, JAM Trinity, etc.
  • Technology and talent are the two pillars that are key to India’s development journey and technology is not an agent of exclusion but an agent of inclusion.
  • India is one of the top startup hubs in the world, with the number of unicorn startups having almost doubled since 2021– a testimony to India’s young talent.
  • The Prime Minister underscored the endless possibilities that geospatial technology These include sustainable urban development, managing, and mitigating disasters, tracking the impact of climate change, forest management, water management, stopping desertification, and food security.

Inclusion through Geospatial technology–

•  450 million unbanked people, a population greater than that of the USA, were brought under the banking net and 135 million people, about twice the population of France, were given insurance.
• Sanitation facilities were taken to 110 million families and tap water connections to over 60 million families, India is ensuring no one is left behind.

Prospect of the Geospatial sector–

• The dignitaries also released a report on the ‘The India experience in aligning with the IGIF’
• A Solar Calculator,Geospatial incubator, the Bhunidhi portal and the National Toponymy database were unveiled by the Minister.
• In his keynote address, the Union Minister for Science and Technology and Ministry of Earth Sciences, Dr Jitendra Singh said that the geospatial economy is expected to cross Rs 63,000 crore by 2025 at a growth rate of 12.8% and to provide employment to more than 10 lakh people mainly through Geospatial start-ups.
• This would boost the current boom of technology-led start-ups.
• He said the democratization of the Indian geospatial ecosystem will spur domestic innovation and enable Indian companies to compete in the global mapping ecosystem by leveraging modern geospatial technologies and realising the dream of “Atmanirbhar Bharat” or “Self-sufficient India” fully.
• Various national organizations like the Survey of India, Geological Survey of India, National Atlas and Thematic Mapping Organization (NATMO), Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and National Informatics Centre have implemented several GIS-based pilot projects across a range of domains like waste resource management, forestry, urban planning, etc. to demonstrate the applications of Geospatial Technology.
• The Rural Development Ministry has mapped over 45 lakh km of rural roads by using 21 data layers of the map, which has digitized information regarding water bodies, green areas, plots, and other structures essential for administrative purposes.

Nearly 2.6 lakh gram panchayat had been covered by the ministry under the scheme of mapping and digitization.

7. Under cheetah deal, sought India’s support on lifting the ivory ban: Namibia

Subject : Environment

Context–

• IN THE deal it signed with Namibia to fly in cheetahs, India agreed to promote “sustainable utilisation and management of biodiversity” by supporting advances in this area of bilateral cooperation “ at international forums including meetings of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Flora and Fauna” (CITES).
• While the word “ivory” has not been mentioned, Namibia has already sought India’s backing, under the commitment to support “sustainable management” at the CITES, for its longstanding proposal to allow trade in ivory derived from elephants of Namibia, Botswana, South Africa and Zimbabwe.

India’s standpoint–

• India has backed a total ban on the ivory trade since the 1980s.
• Namibia is seeking India’s support in the 19th meeting of the CITES Conference of the Parties (CoP19) due in Panamanext month.
• India has been against removing the ban on the international ivory trade despite having an ivory stockpile of an estimated 20- 30,000 kg worth over $250 million, stored with the forest departments of various states.
• India and Kenya together sponsored the proposal in CoP-12 (2002) to put the southern African elephants back in Appendix-I.

Namibia’s stand on ivory trade–

• On July 20, 2022, India’s Environment Minister signed the deal on “Wildlife Conservation and Sustainable Biodiversity Utilisation” with Namibia’s Deputy Prime Minister Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah to bring cheetahs home.
• Namibia and the other three southern African countries – Botswana, South Africa and Zimbabwe– argue that their elephant populations have bounced back and their stockpiled ivory, if sold internationally, can generate much-needed revenue for elephant conservation and incentivising communities.

Key points of India-Namibia agreement–

• It is learnt that the key areas of cooperation in the India- Namibia agreement are:
  • Biodiversity conservation with a specific focus on the restoration of cheetahs in their former range areas through the exchange of expertise and capacities.
  • Wildlife conservation and sustainable biodiversity utilisation by sharing good practices in technological applications, mechanisms of livelihood generation for local communities, and sustainable management of biodiversity. Support advances in these spheres at international forums including meetings of the CITES.
  • Collaboration in areas of climate change, environmental governance, pollution and waste management.
  • Train Namibian personnel in smart patrol and population estimation techniques, and facilitate surveillance and monitoring equipment.
  • Two seats for Namibia at the Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun. Legally binding on both parties, the five-year agreement will automatically renew for successive five-year periods unless it is terminated by either party through a six-month notice. The agreement can be amended mutually with a three-month notice.

CITES stand–

• CITES said, there was a sharp spike in elephant poaching across the globe when the trade in ivory was allowed by the CITES in 1999 and 2008.
• The ivory trade was globally banned in 1989 and all African elephant populations were put in CITES Appendix-I.
• The populations of Namibia, Botswana and Zimbabwe were transferred to Appendix- II in 1997 and South Africa’s in 2000.
• No trade is allowed in species listed in CITES Appendix-I while trade is strictly regulated in those under Appendix II.
• In 1999 and 2008,Namibia, along with Zimbabwe and, later, Botswana and South Africa, was permitted by CITES to conduct one-off sales of ivory stockpiled from natural elephant deaths and seizures from poachers.

Subsequently, Namibia’s proposal for allowing a regular form of controlled trade in ivory by delisting the elephant populations of the four countries from CITES Appendix II was rejected at the CoP17 (2016) and CoP18 (2019).

Living Planet Report 2022: Wildlife populations decline by 69% in 50 years

Report findings-

• There has been a 69 per cent decline in the abundance of the wildlife populations of mammals, birds, amphibians, reptiles and fish, across the globe in the last 50 years, according to the latest Living Planet Report by World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF). 
  • Annual report links climate change and biodiversity loss for 1st time. Biodiversity loss and climate crisis should be dealt with as one instead of two different issues as they are intertwined.
• The highest decline (94 per cent) was in Latin America and the Caribbean region.
• Africa recorded a 66 per cent fall in its wildlife populations from 1970-2018 and the Asia Pacific 55 per cent.
• Freshwater species populations globally were reduced by 83 per cent, confirming that the planet is experiencing a “biodiversity and climate crisis”.
  • Habitat loss and barriers to migration routes were responsible for about half of the threats to monitored migratory fish species.
• Mangroves continue to be lost to aquaculture, agriculture and coastal development at a rate of 0.13 per cent per year.
  • Many mangroves are also degraded by overexploitation and pollution, alongside natural stressors such as storms and coastal erosion.
  • Mangrove loss represents a loss of habitat for biodiversity and the loss of ecosystem services for coastal communities.
  • Around 137 square kilometres of the Sundarbans mangrove forest in India and Bangladesh has been eroded since 1985, reducing land and ecosystem services for many of the 10 million people who live there, the analysis showed.

Key threats–

• WWF identified six key threats to biodiversity — agriculture, hunting, logging, pollution, invasive species and climate change — to highlight ‘threat hotspots’ for terrestrial vertebrates.

Living Planet Report-

• It is published every 2 years by WWF.
• It is a comprehensive study of trends in global biodiversity and the health of the planet.
• The report presents a comprehensive overview of the state of the natural world through the Living Planet Index (LPI).

Living Planet Index (LPI)-

• The Living Planet Index (LPI), featuring about 32,000 populations of 5,230 species across the world, showed that vertebrate wildlife populations are plummeting at a particularly staggering rate in tropical regions of the world.
• It is a measure of the state of the world’s biological diversity based on population trends of vertebrate species in terrestrial, freshwater and marine habitats.

Ecological footprint-

• The ecological footprint is the biologically productive area needed to provide for everything used by people: fruits and vegetables, fish, wood, fibres, absorption of CO2 from fossil fuels use, and space for buildings and roads.
  • It is currently developed by Global Footprint Network (an independent think-tank). The GHG footprint and carbon footprint are a component of the Ecological Footprint.
  • Humanity’s Ecological Footprint for 2014 was 7 planet Earth’s. This meant that humanity’s demands were 1.7 times faster than what the Earth’s ecosystems renewed.

According to the National Footprints Accounts (2014), India has a bio-capacity of approximately 0.45 gha per person, which means it is a ‘bio-capacity debtor’ or an ‘ecologically deficit country’ with a 148 per cent more demand than supply on its natural resources.

8. ONDC

Subject : Economy

Context-

• The Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC), which is a government- backed project aimed at enabling small merchants and mom-and-pop stores in parts of the country to access processes and technologies that are typically deployed by large e-commerce platforms, is expected to extend beta testing in Delhi after having commenced services in Bengaluru.

What is ONDC?

• It is an initiative aimed at promoting open networks for all aspects of exchange of goods and services over digital or electronic networks.
• ONDC is a freely accessible government-backed platform that aims to democratisee-commerce by moving it from a platform-centric model to an open network for buying and selling of goods and services.
  • Under ONDC, it is envisaged that a buyer registered on one participating e-commerce site (for example, Amazon) may purchase goods from a seller on another participating e-commerce site (for example, Flipkart).
  • Presently, buyers and sellers have to be on the same app for a transaction which happens through the same platform. For example, a buyer needs to go to Amazon, to buy a product from a seller on Amazon.
• It is a not-for-profit organisation that will offer a network to enable local digital commerce stores across industries to be discovered and engaged by any network-enabled applications.
• The open network concept extends beyond the retail sector, to any digital commerce domains including wholesale, mobility, food delivery, logistics, travel, urban services, etc.
• It is neither an aggregator application nor a hosting platform, and all existing digital commerce applications and platforms can voluntarily choose to adopt and be a part of the ONDC network.
• ONDC is to be based on open-sourced methodology, using open specifications and open network protocols independent of any specific platform.
• It is being developed as a counter to the current stranglehold of two big players in the Indian e-commerce market, which is largely dictated by Amazon and Walmart- owned Flipkart.
• In May this year, the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade went live with a test run of ONDC in cities like Delhi-NCR, Bengaluru, Coimbatore, Bhopal, and Shillong where it plans to onboard 150 sellers.
• On September 30, the services launched across 16 pin codes in Bengaluru.

How does ONDC work?

• The ONDC platform lies in the middle of the interfaces hosting the buyers and the sellers.
• So far, the buyer side interface is being hosted by Paytm, and the seller side interface is being hosted by other players like GoFrugal, etc.
• When a buyer searches for an item on the Paytm app, from where ONDC has gone live, the app will connect to the ONDC platform, which will connect it to seller side interfaces.

Implementing authority-

• Implementation of ONDC, which is expected to be on the lines of Unified Payments Interface (UPI) could bring various operational aspects put in place by e-commerce platforms to the same level.
• The project to integrate e-commerce platforms through a network based on open-source technology has been tasked to the Quality Council of India.

9. What does the DNA say about the future of the rhino in India?

Subject: Environment

Introduction-

• The one-horned rhino (Rhinoceros unicornis) now numbers around 4,034 individuals found only in the grasslands of India and Nepal, Due to significant human-induced pressures like hunting, encroachment and habitat degradation, the species had severely declined during the 1900s.
• However, the efforts of the governments of India and Nepal and other stakeholders, along with the enforcement of conservation laws have helped the rhino population recover.

Evolution of Rhinos in India–

• The study also revealed that the most recent ancestor of the species entered Indiaapproximately one million years ago through northeast India, followed by their inland movement along the Siwalik range through the Siva-Malayan route and finally concluded around the Holocene climate period (approx. 19,000-5,000 years ago).
• The rhino population then established itself in Nepal as well as the northwestern parts of India.
• It gradually got restricted to the grassland regions along the Ganga, Indus and Brahmaputra flood plains as well as in the terai grasslands in the foothills of the Himalayas.

Successful translocation but Skewed distribution–

• The one-horned rhino was once distributed widely in the Brahmaputra-Ganges-Indus plains, and also extended further up to the Himalayan foothills, but currently, it is found only in 11 locations across India and Nepal over a cumulative area of about 4000 sq. km.
• This indicates translocation is a successful and relatively safe conservation tool for rhino population restoration.
• Out of the total global one-horned rhino population, about 65% is confined to Kaziranga National Park in India and 17% to Chitwan national park in Nepal.
• The National Rhino Conservation Strategy adopted by India in 2019 aims to increase the rhino distribution by 5% by 2030.
• From the success achieved to date, it can be advocated that translocation can play a pivotal role for this species.
• In such a case, understanding the genetic status of the current rhino populations in both countries will be crucial for the long-term survival of the species.

DNA study of Indian Rhinos–

• The DNA of the rhino population in India is being studied under the RhoDIS (Rhino DNA Index System) India program implemented by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change along with the Wildlife Institute of India,WWF India and the states bearing rhinos in India.
• The findings showed that the population of the Indian rhinos has three “evolutionary significant units” corresponding to the populations of Assam, West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh.
• This conclusion is based on whole mitochondrial genome data analysis.

Genetic variation is key to long-term health and survival–

• In the study on rhino evolution, we also looked into the genetic variation within each of the three genetically significant units and found that except for the Assam population which has high mitochondrial diversity, the population in the other two states (West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh) are genetically poor.
• Building on this, we also analysed the genetic structure of the two reintroduced populations in India – theDudhwa population reintroduced during the 1984-85 period and the Manas population which was translocated under the Indian Rhino Vision 2020 program beginning in
• The genetic makeup of the Dudhwa rhinos was quite poor due to the fact that the main breeding females in the Dudhwa population were sourced from Chitwan National Park in Nepal and the dominant male for a long time was an individual from Pobitora Wildlife Sanctuary of Assam.
• Since mitochondrial DNA is only maternally inherited, the observed skewed genetic signature in Dudhwa can be attributed to the founder population composition.
• This can be taken as learning for planning future translocations to set up new rhino populations, especially in the context of the greater one-horned rhino.

Concern remains–

• The present rhino populations are all scattered and isolated with little opportunity for genetic exchange across the populations as there is no habitat connectivity in most cases. This could be detrimental since rhinos are not known to be long-ranging, unlike elephants or tigers that cover long distances to move across habitats.

10. World Economic Outlook

Subject : Economy

Context:

The central message of the International Monetary Fund’s World Economic Outlook is that ‘the worst is yet to come’.

About the Report:

• More than a third of the global economy will contract this year or next, along the three largest economies—the United States, the European Union, and China.
  • It has cut the forecast for global growth — from 6.0 per cent in 2021 to 3.2 per cent in 2022 and 2.7 per cent in 2023
  • India’s growth in 2022-23 will be 5.8 per cent.
• Increasing price pressures remain the most immediate threat to current and future prosperity.
  • Global inflation is now expected to peak at 9.5 per cent in late 2022 and could remain elevated for longer than previously imagined and is likely to decrease to 4.1 per cent only by 2024.
  • Global core inflation, expected to be 6.6 per cent. In other words, food and fuel price inflation, which has typically spiked headline inflation, has now seeped through to core inflation and, as such, will take more time to go away.
• Downside risks
  • Policy miscalibration
  • Financial stability and appreciation of dollar
  • War in Ukraine

Concept:

Core inflation 

• It is the inflation rate when prices of food and fuel are not accounted for.
• Core inflation typically rises and falls more gradually than inflation in food and fuel.
• Conventionally, core inflation is calculated by excluding ‘food and beverages’ and ‘fuel and light’ groups from overall inflation (CPI-C).

Reports by IMF:

• Global Financial Stability Report.
• World Economic Outlook.

 World Economic Outlook

• It is a survey by the IMF that is usually published twice a year in the months of April and October.
• It analyzes and predicts global economic developments during the near and medium term.
• In response to the growing demand for more frequent forecast updates, the WEO Update is published in January and July, between the two main WEO publications released usually in April and October.

Policy Miscalibration

• It is a situation when fiscal and monetary policies run against each other.
• Example-What recently happened in the UK where the Liz Truss government resorted to an expansionary fiscal policy (tax cuts and unfunded hikes in expenditures) even as the Bank of England was trying to raise interest rates to contain historically high inflation.
  • The result was a mini-financial collapse with investors losing confidence in the policymakers and selling off British assets.
• It can also occur when fiscal and   monetary policies are aligned, if there are other mistakes. 
  • For instance, monetary policymakers can over-tighten their stance (that is, raise interest rates more than required) or do the opposite.
    • Over-tightening risk- cost of borrowing rises thus reducing investment and growth while under-tightening risks -inflation seeping through to core inflation and taking longer to contain.

Stagflation

• It  is said to happen when an economy faces stagnant growth as well as persistently high inflation. 
• That’s because with stalled economic growth, unemployment tends to rise and existing incomes do not rise fast enough and yet, people have to contend with rising inflation.
• Higher prices will reduce this demand. Fewer goods and services being demanded will then disincentive businesses from investing in new capacities, which, in turn, will exacerbate the unemployment crisis and lead to even lower incomes. Thus leading to Stagflation.

11. Structural Reforms

Subject : Economy

Context:

The chief economist of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) India needed key structural reforms in order to achieve the ambitious target of being a USD 10 trillion economy.

Challenges India facing:

• Higher crude oil and fertiliser prices will spike domestic inflation;
• Global slowdown will reduce exports– reducing domestic growth and worsening the trade deficit;
• A strong dollar-result in reducing our forex reserves and reducing our capacity to import goods.
• Rising fiscal deficit– on account of lower demand among most Indians, the government might be forced to spend more towards providing basic relief in the form of food and fertiliser subsidies.

Structural reforms:

• Structural reforms tackle obstacles to the fundamental drivers of growth by liberalising labour, product and service markets, thereby encouraging job creation and investment and improving productivity.
• They are designed to boost an economy’s competitiveness,growth potential and adjustment capacity.
• Typical structural reforms include policies that:
  • make labour markets more adaptable and responsive
  • liberalise service sectors, boost competition in product and service markets, specific sectors, or improve the overall business environment
  • encourage innovation
  • improve the quality of public taxation systems
  • address the challenges of population ageing on the welfare state.
• Example– In order to get out of the macro-economic crisis in 1991, India launched a New Economic Policy, which was based on LPG or Liberalisation, Privatisation and Globalisation model.
  • The broad range of reforms under the LPG model included:
    • Liberalising Industrial Policy: Abolition of industrial license permit raj, Reduction in import tariffs, etc.
    • Beginning of Privatisation: Deregulation of markets, Banking reforms, etc.
    • Globalisation: Exchange rate correction, liberalising foreign direct investment and trade policies, Removal of mandatory convertibility cause, etc.

12. Demonetisation

Subject : Economy

Context:

The Supreme Court said that it will have to examine the 2016 demonetisation decision to come to a conclusion whether the issue has become a mere “academic” exercise.

Concept:

Demonetisation:

• It is the act of stripping a currency unit of its status as legal tender.
• It occurs whenever there is a change of national currency and the current form or forms of money is pulled from circulation and retired, often to be replaced with new notes or coins.
  • Currency with Public: As per the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) definition, currency with public is arrived at after deducting cash with banks from total currency in circulation.
  • Currency in Circulation: It refers to cash or currency within a country that is physically used to conduct transactions between consumers and businesses
• High Denomination Bank Notes (Demonetisation) Act 1978 –
  • It highlights the need for demonetisation of high denominations, in the public interest.
  • The usage of high-denomination bank notes was considered detrimental to the Economy of India, due to illegal financial transactions facilitated by high-denomination bank notes.

13. Role of Banking in economic crisis

Subject : Economy

Context:

The nobel prize for economics this year highlighted how failure of banks can aggravate a conventional economic crisis.

Details:

Ben S Bernanke’s work:

• It suggested bank failures during the depression sustained and aggravated the depressing conditions for a longer time, covering 1929-1933, in the US.
• Failure of banks has the potential to affect the medium-term prospects of economic prosperity.

Diamond and Dybvig work:

• Banks play a critical role in mobilisation of savings and converting the savings in an economy into productive investments. Thus, eliminates the deficiency of demand due to deficient investment.
• Banks help in addressing the mismatches in the preferences of the savers and borrowers.
  • The borrowers prefer longer term to maturity for their loans, while the savers require the option to immediately draw upon their savings. This leads to maturity mismatch.
  • In the absence of banks, it is impossible for the borrower to approach a large number of savers with little acquaintances and pool the loan amount. This leads to size mismatch.
• Banks play a critical role in resolving the conflict, and provide options for both the savers and borrowers as per their preferences.
• Banks enable mobilisation of savings and promotion of capital formation, which help in achieving and sustaining economic growth by addressing.

The Keynesian explanation on the causes of the Great Depression:

• It was given by John Maynard Keynes.
• It emphasises on the role of deficient aggregate demand in causing underemployment equilibrium or depression . 
  • Aggregated demand means the total demand for final goods and services in an economy.
  • It is the total (final) expenditure of all the units of the economy, i.e., households, firms, government, and the rest of the world.
• It is suggested that inadequate investment and consumption expenditure driven by the animal spirits of pessimism led to the Great Depression of early 1930s.
• The ‘animal spirit’ is a term coined by the famous British economist, John Maynard Keynes, to describe how people arrive at financial decisions, including buying and selling securities, in times of economic stress or uncertainty.
  • Animal spirits describe the psychological and emotional factors that drive investors to take action when faced with high levels of volatility in the economy. There is no logical basis for optimism or pessimism of investors.

14. PM-DevINE

Subject : Economy

Context:

Cabinet approves Rs 6,600 crore scheme ‘PM-DevINE’ for North-Eastern states.

Prime Minister’s Development Initiative for North East Region:

• It aims to support infrastructure, industries and other livelihood projects in the Northeastern states.
• The objectives:
  • fund infrastructure convergently, in the spirit of PM Gati Shakti,
  • support social development projects based on the needs of the NE region,
  • enable livelihood activities for youth and women and
  • fill the development gaps in various sectors.
• The PM-DevINE will lead to the creation of infrastructure, support industries, social development projects and create livelihood activities for youth and women, thus leading to employment generation.
• It will be implemented during the remaining four years of the 15th Finance Commission from 2022-23 to 2025-26.
• It  is a 100 per cent Central government-funded plan.
• It will be administered by the Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER)
• It will address the BMS shortfalls and development gaps:
  • The parameters of NE states in respect of Basic Minimum Services (BMS) are well below the national average and there are critical development gaps as per the District Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) Index 2021-22 prepared by NITI Aayog, UNDP and the Ministry of DoNER.

Central schemes / Central Sector Schemes:

• These schemes are funded and implemented by the union government.
• Usually they are schemes related to the subjects over which union government has jurisdiction as per Schedule VII

Centrally Sponsored Schemes:

• These schemes are funded by the Union Government or Union as well as State government but implemented by State governments.
• Funding patterns may be 50:50,75:25 etc.
• North Eastern and Hilly states generally have a pattern of  90:10.

15. Inter-operable Regulatory Sandbox

Subject : Economy

Context:

The Inter-Regulatory Technical Group on FinTech (IRTG on FinTech) has put in place a common window under the system of Inter-operable Regulatory Sandbox (IoRS).

Concept:

• IRTG has been constituted under the aegis of the Sub-Committee of the Financial Stability and Development Council (FSDC-SC) for inter-regulatory coordination among the financial sector regulators on FinTech-related issues including IoRS.
• Financial products and service providers whose business models, activities and features fall within the remit of more than one financial sector regulator, will be considered for the testing under IoRS. 
• The framework of the regulator under whose remit the ‘dominant feature’ of the product falls, will govern it as ‘Principal Regulator (PR)’. 
• The regulator under whose remit the other features apart from the dominant feature of the product fall will be the ‘Associate Regulator (AR)’
• The FinTech Department of RBI-nodal point for receiving applications under IoRS and will be designated as ‘Coordination Group (CG)’ for IoRS.
  • It will conduct preliminary scrutiny of the application and forward the same to the concerned PR and AR(s) under whose purview the innovation falls.
  • Detailed scrutiny of the application will be done by the PR based on its own framework.
  • The PR will coordinate with AR(s), regarding the features of the product, which falls under their remit.

Various Financial Sector Regulators:

• Securities and Exchange Board of India
• Reserve Bank of India
• Ministry of Finance
• Ministry of Corporate Affairs
• Insurance Regulatory Authority of India
• PFRDA-Pension Fund Regulatory & Development Authority

Regulatory sandbox (RS)

• It refers to live testing of new products or services in a controlled/test regulatory environment for which regulators may permit certain relaxations for the limited purpose of the testing.
• The regulatory sandbox allows the regulator, innovators, financial service providers and customers to conduct field tests to collect evidence on the benefits and risks of new products and systems.

16. Gambia

Subject : Geography mapping

 Context:

• Recently, the World Health Organisation (WHO) issued an alert about four Indian-manufactured cough syrups, which are said to be linked to acute kidney injury in children and 66 deaths in the small West African nation of The Gambia.
• The WHO analysis of samples confirmed the presence of  unacceptable amounts of diethylene glycol and ethylene glycol as contaminants.
• These ingredients are not allowed in food or drugs, as they can cause abdominal pain, vomiting, diarrhoea, headache, severe renal injury and neurological toxicity.

Where is Gambia:

• It is the smallest country within mainland Africa.
• It is surrounded by Senegal, except for its western coast on the Atlantic Ocean.
• Banjul is the capital of Gambia.

Geography of Gambia.

• The Gambia is a very small and narrow country whose borders mirror the meandering Gambia River.
• It lies between latitudes 13 and 14°N, and longitudes 13 and 17°W.
• Senegal surrounds the Gambia on three sides, with 80 km of coastline on the Atlantic Ocean marking its western extremity.
• It contains three terrestrial ecoregions: Guinean forest-savanna mosaic, West Sudanian savanna, and Guinean mangroves.

Ethnic groups:

• The Mandinka ethnicity is the largest ethnic group.

There are other ethnic groups like Fula, Wolof, Jola/Karoninka, Serahule / Jahanka, Serers, Manjago, Bambara, Aku Marabou and Bainunka

17. Lebanon

Subject : Geography mapping

Context:

• Israel and Lebanon have agreed to a draft deal to resolve a decades-old dispute over the control of an eastern stretch of the Mediterranean Sea.

Where is Lebanon:

• Lebanon is a country in Western Asia.
• It is the second smallest country in continental Asia.
• It is located between Syria to the north and east and Israel to the south, while Cyprus lies to its west across the Mediterranean Sea.
• Its location is at the crossroads of the Mediterranean Basin and the Arabian hinterland.
• It is part of the Levant region of the Middle East.
• Beirut is the capital of Lebanon.

Geography of Lebanon:

• Lebanon is located in Western Asia between latitudes 33° and 35° N and longitudes 35° and 37° E. 
• It has a coastline and border of 225 kilometres on the Mediterranean Sea to the west, a 375 kilometres border shared with Syria to the north and east and a 79 kilometres long border with Israel to the south.
• The border with the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights is disputed by Lebanon in a small area called Shebaa Farms.
• It is divided into four distinct physiographic regions e the coastal plain, the Lebanon mountain range, the Beqaa valley and the Anti-Lebanon mountains.
• Lebanon has a moderate Mediterranean climate. In coastal areas, winters are generally cool and rainy whilst summers are hot and humid.

18. Poland

Subject : Geography mapping

Context:

• Recently there was a leak on a pipeline carrying oil from Russia to Europe in one of the Druzhba pipelines in Poland.

Where is Poland:

• It is a country located in Central Europe and is the fifth-most populous member state of the European Union.
• Warsaw is the capital of Poland.
• It is bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukraine to the east, Slovakia and the Czech Republic to the south, and Germany to the west.
• It also shares maritime boundaries with Denmark and Sweden.

Geography of Poland:

• Poland is the ninth-largest country in Europe.
• The central and northern region of Poland bordering the Baltic Sea lie within the flat Central European Plain, but its south is hilly and mountainous.
• The country has a coastline spanning 770 km extending from the shores of the Baltic Sea, along the Bay of Pomerania in the west to the Gulf of Gdańsk in the east.
• The beach coastline is abundant in sand dune fields or coastal ridges and is indented by spits and lagoons, notably the Hel Peninsula and the Vistula Lagoon, which is shared with Russia.
• The largest Polish island on the Baltic Sea is Wolin, located within Wolin National Park.
• Poland also shares the Szczecin Lagoon and the Usedom island with Germany.
• The mountainous belt in the extreme south of Poland is divided into two major mountain ranges i.ethe Sudetes in the west and the Carpathians in the east.
• Poland’s highest point is Mount Rysy at 2,501 metres in elevation, located in the
• The lowest point in Poland is situated at RaczkiElbląskie in the Vistula Delta, which is 1.8 metres below sea level.
• Poland’s longest rivers are the Vistula, the Oder, the Warta, and the Bug. The country also possesses one of the highest densities of lakes in the world.

The deepest is Lake Hańcza at 108.5 metres in depth

19. New Andaman islands : strategic and ecological  significance–

Subject : Geography mapping

 Location and Composition–

• It is located in the Indian Ocean, in the southern reaches of the Bay of Bengal, nearer to Indonesia and
• This comprises of two island groups – the Andaman Islands and the Nicobar Islands – which separates the Andaman Sea to the east from the Indian Ocean.
• These two groups are separated by the 10° N parallel, the Andamans lying to the north of this latitude, and the Nicobars to the south.
• The capital of this territory is the Andamanese town of Port Blair.
• There are 836 Islands/Islets/Rocky Outcrops in the territory, of which only some 38 are permanently inhabited.
• The smaller Nicobarscomprise some 22 main islands (10 inhabited).
• The Andamans and Nicobars are separated by a channel (the Ten Degree Channel) some 150 km wide.

Demography of A&N Island–

• The territory’s population as per the most recent (2011) Census of India was 3,79,944 and the literacy rate is 86.27%.
• Added together, the total land area of the territory is approximately 8,249 km².
• The total area of the Andaman Islands is 6,408 km² and that of the Nicobar Islands is 1,841 km²
• Hindi and English are the official languages of the islands.
• Bengali is the dominant and most spoken language, with 26% of the population speaking
• The other major languages spoken in the islands are Hindi (18.23%),Tamil (17.68%),Telugu (12.81%), Malayalam (8.11%) and Nicobarese (8.05%) according to 2001 Census of India.
• Other minor spoken languages are Kurukh/Oraon, Munda and
• Andaman Creole Hindi is widely used as a trade language in the Andamans.

About Flora & Fauna–

• Unique’ luxuriant evergreen tropical rainforest canopy, sheltering a mixed germ plasm bank, comprising of Indian, Myanmarese, Malaysian and endemic floral strain.
• So far, about 2200,varieties of plants have been recorded out of which 200 are endemic and 1300 do not occur in mainland India.
• Grasslands occur only in the Nicobars, and while deciduous forests are common in the Andamans, they are almost absent in the Nicobars.
• The present forest coverage is claimed to be 2% of the total land area.
• Timber-
• Andaman Forest is abound in plethora of timber species numbering 200 or more, out of which about 30 varieties are considered to be
• Major commercial timber species are Gurjan (Dipterocarpus spp.) and Padauk (Pterocarpus dalbergioides).
• Ornamental wood such as (1) Marble Wood (Diospyros marmorata) (2) Padauk (Pterocarpus dalbergioides), (3) Silver Grey (a special formation of wood in white chuglam) (4) Chooi (Sageraea elliptical and (5) Kokko (Albizzia lebbeck) are noted for their pronounced grain formation.
• The holy Rudraksha (Elaeocarpssphaericus) and aromatic Dhoop/Resin trees also occur here.
• Fauna–
• MAMMALS –
  • About 50 varieties of forest mammals are found to occur in A&N Islands, most of them are understood to be brought in from outside and are now considered endemic due to their prolonged insular adaptation.
  • Rat is the largest group having 26 species followed by 14 species of bat.
  • Among the larger mammals there are two endemic varieties of wild pig namely Sus Scrofa andamanensis from Andaman and S.nicobaricus from Nicobar.
  • The spotted deer Axis axis, Barking deer and Sambar are found in Andaman District.Interview island in Middle Andaman holds a fairly good stock of feral elephants.
  • Fishes and Corals
• Butterflies and Moths–
  • With about 225 species, the A&N Islands house some of the larger and most spectacular butterflies of the world.
  • Ten species are endemic to these
  • Mount Harriet National Park is one of the richest areas of butterfly and moth diversity on these Islands.
• Shells-
• These islands are traditionally known for their shell wealth specially Turbo,Trochus, Murex and Nautilus which are being used as novelties supporting many cottage industries producing a wide range of decorative items & ornaments.
• State symbols–
• State Bird- Andaman Wood Pigeon
• State Animal- Dugong
• State Tree- Andaman Padauk
• Particularly vulnerable Tribal Groups (PTGs) who have been identified in the Andaman & Nicobar Islands. They are:-

1. Great Andamanese of Strait Island
2. Onges of Little Andaman
3. Jarawas of South and Middle Andaman
4. Sentinelese of Sentinel Islands
5. Shompens of Great Nicobar