Daily Prelims Notes 17 January 2024

Daily Prelims Notes

17 January 2024

Table Of Contents

1. What are light-emitting diodes and why are they prized as light sources?
2. India acquires five lithium blocks in Argentina
3. Another cheetah ‘Shaurya’ dies at Kuno; 10th death so far
4. Arunachal Pradesh’s Pakke Paga Hornbill Festival gears up for its 9th Edition
5. Biological E’s Corbevax bags Emergency Use Listing from WHO
6. Understanding the Tenth Schedule
7. ICMR starts revising current National Essential Diagnostics List for first time
8. As Davos crowd gathers, govts. urged to rein in ‘billionaire class’
9. Coming flood of U.S. Treasury issuance spooks some investors
10. Why Kashmir is without snow
11. Need reasonable cap on issue of guarantees by States for better fiscal management: RBI
12. Defense technology council

1. What are light-emitting diodes and why are they prized as light sources?

Subject: Science and Tech

Section: Msc

What are diodes?

• A diode is a small electronic component with two terminals, an anode and a cathode, designed to allow current flow in only one direction.
• It operates based on a p-n junction, where a p-type material with positive charge carriers (holes) meets an n-type material with negative charge carriers (electrons).
• This junction allows electrons to move easily from the n-type to the p-type material, creating a one-way current flow.
• The anode is connected to the p-type material, and the cathode is connected to the n-type material. Initially, some electrons move from the n-side to the p-side, creating a layer between them without free electrons or holes.
• When a suitable voltage is applied, more electrons flow from the n-side to the p-side, allowing current to move from the anode to the cathode. However, if the voltage is reversed, the current won’t flow in the opposite direction.

What is an LED?

• An LED, or Light-Emitting Diode, is a type of diode that emits light through a process called electroluminescence.
• Within the diode’s p-n junction, when electrons with higher energy levels meet and fill holes, they release energy in the form of light.
• The visible light emitted depends on the frequency of this energy. The phenomenon is regulated by the band gap, ensuring that the emitted light falls within the visible part of the electromagnetic spectrum.

What is called the Band Gap?

• The band gap is a characteristic of materials, representing the energy difference between the lower and higher energy levels that electrons can occupy.
• In conductive materials,electrons flow freely when energized by an electric field, while insulators prevent electron flow due to insufficient energy.
• The band gap is the energy barrier electrons must overcome to conduct current.
• In LEDs, the energy released during electron-hole recombination corresponds to the band gap.
• Engineers can tailor the band gap of the p-n junction in LEDs by selecting specific materials, allowing for the emission of visible light when an electric current is applied.

What colours can an LED produce?

• LEDs can produce all three primary colours—red, green, and blue—allowing for a diverse range of colours when combined.
• However, the development of blue LEDs faced challenges, as scientists struggled to create crystals of gallium nitride, a compound capable of emitting blue light, with the required properties.
• Breakthroughs in epitaxy, a layer-by-layer material-building process, led to the invention of bright blue LEDs in the late 1980s.Three Japanese researchers, Isamu Akasaki, Hiroshi Amano, and Shuji Nakamura, received the 2014 Nobel Prize in Physics for their significant contributions to this achievement.

Advantages of LED lights:

• The advantages of LEDs, in line with Haitz’s law, include a substantial decrease in cost and a significant increase in light output for a given frequency of light.
• Even before Haitz’s law,LEDs were valued for their efficiency compared to incandescent bulbs and fluorescent lamps.
• Their durability, light contrast, and energy efficiency contribute to cost savings and reduced material waste.

Applications of LED lights:

• LEDs find applications in various fields, from consumer electronics like smartphones and TV screens to industrial uses such as signboards, greenhouse lighting for plants, barcode scanners, and air quality monitoring.
• Modern LEDs can produce different colours, operate at various frequencies, and be embedded in the skin, and organic LEDs offer enhanced light emission.
• Ongoing research explores more efficient LEDs using materials like perovskites.

Source: TH

2. India acquires five lithium blocks in Argentina

Subject: Geography

Section: Economic geography

Context:

• The Mines Ministry, through KhanijBidesh India Limited (KABIL), signed an agreement with Argentina’s State-owned CAMYEN for the development of five lithium blocks.
• CAMYEN, which stands for Catamarca Minera Y Energetica  Sociedad Del Estado, is based out of the Catamarca province in the Latin American nation.

Details:

• The State-owned KABIL will start the exploration and development of five lithium brine blocks, namely Cortadera-I, Cortadera-VII, Cortadera-VIII, Cateo-2022-01810132, and Cortadera-VI, covering an area of about 15,703 hectares.
• KABIL is also preparing to set up a branch office at Catamarca, Argentina.
• This is the first-ever lithium exploration and mining project undertaken by a government company in India.
• Argentina is part of the world’s “Lithium Triangle”, along with Chile and Bolivia, and the three together have more than half of the world’s total lithium resources.

About lithium:

• Lithium is a non-ferrous metal and is one of the key components in EV batteries.
• It has the symbol Li and is a chemical element.
• It’s a silvery-white metal with a delicate texture.
• It is the lightest metal and the lightest solid element under normal circumstances.
• It must be kept in mineral oil since it is very reactive and combustible.
• It is both an alkali and a rare metal.

India’s lithium reserves:

• According to the Indian Mines Ministry, the government agencies made the small discovery of lithium resources at a site in Mandya, Karnataka. It is the country’s first lithium reserve.
• Now, Lithium inferred resources have been found in the Reasi District of Jammu & Kashmir (UT).
• India’s lithium requirements, amounting to around ₹24,000 crore, are met through imports, with the majority of supplies coming from China.

KhanijBidesh India Ltd (KABIL):

• KABIL is a joint venture between National Aluminium Company (NALCO),Mineral Exploration Corporation Ltd (MECL) and Hindustan Copper Ltd (HCL).
• It was formed in 2019 to identify, acquire, develop and process strategic minerals overseas for use in India.
• It has been concentrating on securing copper, cobalt and lithium and in some cases nickel supplies among the critical minerals identified.

Source: TH BL

3. Another cheetah ‘Shaurya’ dies at Kuno; 10th death so far

Subject: Environment

Section: Species in news

Context:

• Another cheetah brought to India from Namibia died on January 16, 2024, at Kuno National Park in Madhya Pradesh. Freddie, rechristened as Shaurya, was brought to India in September 2022.

Details:

• Eight cheetahs had arrived from Namibia — three males and five females in September 2022. Another batch of a dozen cheetahs — seven males and five females — reached India from South Africa for the introduction of the wild cats in the country.
• Now, 13 adult cheetahs remain at Kuno, six males and seven females. Among the cubs, there is a single female from the first litter born in March 2023 and three more born late in December 2023.

Kuno National Park:

• It was established in 1981, as a wildlife sanctuary in the Sheopur and Morena districts. It was also known as Kuno-Palpur and Palpur-Kuno Wildlife Sanctuary.
• In 2018, it was given the status of a National Park.
• It is part of the Khathiar-Gir dry deciduous forests ecoregion.
• The protected area is largely a dry deciduous forest.

Source: DTE

4. Arunachal Pradesh’s Pakke Paga Hornbill Festival gears up for its 9th Edition

Subject: Environment

Section:  Protected Area

Context:

• The 9th edition of the Pakke Paga Hornbill Festival (PPHF), a state festival of Arunachal Pradesh, will take place at Seijosa in the PakkeKessang district from January 18-20, 2024.

About Pakke Paga Hornbill Festival (PPHF):

• The festival focuses on wildlife conservation, with a particular emphasis on hornbills.
• The first-ever PPHF was held on January 16-18, 2015.
  • The area is also home to the Nyishi, the largest tribal group in Arunachal Pradesh.
• The aim was to recognise the role played by the Nyishi in conserving hornbills in PTR. The Nyishi had formerly hunted hornbills and used their bills to craft traditional headgear. They had later turned hornbill conservationists.
• Other objectives were to raise alternative sources of income for the region and to create awareness in the rest of India about the wonders of PTR and its surrounding areas.
• This year, the festival’s theme is DomutohDomutoh, Paga hum Domutoh.
• It translates to ‘Let Our Hornbills Remain’ in the Nyishi language.
• This year’s festival aims to underscore the critical need for preserving these iconic birds.

About Pakke Tiger Reserve (PTR):

• Pakke Tiger Reserve is a Project Tiger reserve in the East Kameng district of Arunachal Pradesh in Northeast India.
• The reserve is protected by the Department of Environment and Forest of Arunachal Pradesh.
• It was known as Pakhui Tiger Reserve but was renamed in April 2001 by the Governor of Arunachal Pradesh.
• It has won the India Biodiversity Award 2016 in the category of ‘Conservation of threatened species’ for its Hornbill Nest Adoption Programme.
• Four species of the birds — Wreathed, Great Indian, Oriental Pied and the endangered Rufous-necked — are found in the Pakke Tiger Reserve (PTR) of Arunachal Pradesh.

About Hornbill bird:

• Hornbills are birds found in tropical and subtropical Africa, Asia and Melanesia of the family Bucerotidae.
• They are characterized by a long, down-curved bill which is frequently brightly coloured and sometimes has a horny casque on the upper mandible.
• Hornbills have a two-lobed kidney.
• They are the only birds in which the first and second neck vertebrae (the atlas and axis respectively) are fused together; this probably provides a more stable platform for carrying the bill.
• The family is omnivorous, feeding on fruit and small animals.
• They are monogamous breeders nesting in natural cavities in trees and sometimes cliffs.
• In the Neotropical realm, toucans occupy the hornbills’ ecological niche, an example of convergent evolution.
• Despite their close appearances, the two groups are not very closely related, with toucans being allied with the woodpeckers, honeyguides and several families of barbet, while hornbills (and their close relatives the ground hornbills) are allied with the hoopoes and wood-hoopoes.

Source: DTE

5. Biological E’s Corbevax bags Emergency Use Listing from WHO

Subject: Science and Tech

Section:  Health

Context:

• The World Health Organization (WHO) has granted an Emergency Use Listing (EUL) to Biological E Ltd’s (BE) Covid vaccine, Corbevax.
• The Hyderabad-based vaccine-maker’s Corbevax is India’s first indigenously developed COVID-19 vaccine based on a protein sub-unit platform.

Details:

• The Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) approved Corbevax for restricted use in emergencies among adults, adolescents and young children in a sequential manner from December 2021 to April 2022 as well as India’s first heterologous Covid booster shot for adults aged 18 and above in June 22.
• The Corbevax vaccine is administered through the intramuscular route with two doses scheduled 28 days apart and is stored at 2 to 8 degrees Celsius temperature and presented as 0.5 ml (single dose) vial, 5 ml (10 doses) vial and 10 mL (20 doses) vial pack.
• BE has been working on a next-generation Covid vaccine based on the XBB1.5 variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which would conform to WHO TAG-CO-VAC recommendations.

Corbevax development:

• Corbevax, an indigenously produced vaccine, originated from the Baylor College of Medicine’s National School of Tropical Medicine.
• Leveraging a decade of experience in developing recombinant protein vaccines for coronaviruses SARS and MERS, researchers at the School used the genetic sequence of SARS-CoV-2, specifically the spike protein gene, made available in February 2020.
• The gene was cloned and engineered, then inserted into yeast to produce and release copies of the protein, similar to beer production.
• After purification to eliminate yeast remnants, the vaccine was formulated using an adjuvant to enhance the immune response.
• These cost-effective and readily available ingredients contributed to the vaccine’s affordability.

How Corbevax works?

• Corbevax is a recombinant protein sub-unit vaccine designed to target a specific part of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, namely the spike protein on its surface.
• The spike protein is essential for the virus to enter cells and cause infection. By introducing only this protein to the body, the vaccine triggers an immune response without the presence of the entire virus.
• This immune response prepares the body to defend against the virus if it attempts to infect, reducing the likelihood of severe illness.
• While this technology has been used for decades in hepatitis B vaccines, Corbevax represents one of the early Covid-19 vaccines employing this approach, with Novavax also developing a protein-based vaccine awaiting emergency use authorization from regulatory bodies.

How Corbevax is different?

• Corbevax stands out from other approved Covid-19 vaccines by using a different approach. While vaccines like Pfizer and Moderna are mRNA-based,AstraZeneca-Oxford/Covishield, Johnson & Johnson, and Sputnik V are viral vector vaccines, and Covaxin, Sinovac-CoronaVac, and Sinopharm’s vaccines are inactivated vaccines (include killed particles of the whole SARS-CoV-2 virus),Corbevax is a recombinant protein sub-unit vaccine.
• Unlike inactivated vaccines that target the entire virus structure, Corbevax, similar to mRNA and viral vector vaccines, focuses on the spike protein.
• However, Corbevax introduces the spike protein directly rather than instructing cells to produce it.
• Despite being administered in two doses like many other Covid-19 vaccines, Corbevax is expected to be among the cheapest options due to its low-cost production platform.

Emergency Use Listing (EUL) of WHO:

• The WHO Emergency Use Listing Procedure (EUL) is a risk-based assessment process designed to evaluate and list unlicensed vaccines, therapeutics, and in vitro diagnostics, expediting their availability during public health emergencies.
• It aids UN procurement agencies and Member States in determining the suitability of specific products based on essential quality, safety, efficacy, and performance data.
• The procedure covers three product streams (vaccines, therapeutics, and in vitro diagnostics) with specific eligibility criteria.
• These include the severity and immediacy of the targeted disease, the absence of licensed products, compliance with Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) or Quality Management System (QMS), and the commitment to complete product development and seek WHO prequalification once licensed.

Source: Indian Express

6. Understanding the Tenth Schedule

Subject: Polity

Section: Elections

Context:

• The Speaker of the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly has refused to disqualify 40 MLAs of the Eknath Sindhe faction after recognising it as the real Shiv Sena.

About Defection

• In Legislature, a defector is a person who gives up allegiance to one party in exchange for allegiance to another, changing sides in a way which is considered illegitimate by the first party.
• In India, the defections of legislators during the 1960s and 70s from their parent parties created political instability in many States, bringing down elected governments.
• Therefore, to ensure the stability of elected governments, the 52nd constitutional amendment introduced the ‘anti-defection’ law through the Tenth Schedule in 1985.

What is Anti-Defection Law?

• The 52nd Amendment Act, 1985 provided for the disqualification of the members of Parliament and state legislatures on the ground of defection from one political party to another.
• Through this amendment, a new Schedule i.e. Schedule 10 was added to the Constitution.This act is often referred to as the ‘anti-defection law’.
• Later, the 91st Amendment Act, 2003 made one change in the provisions of the Tenth Schedule.Itomitted an exception provision i.e., disqualification on ground of defection not to apply in case of split.

Various Features of the Act:

• The Tenth Schedule contains the following provisions with respect to the disqualification of members of Parliament and the state legislatures on the ground of defection.
• Disqualification:
  • Members of Political Parties:
  • If he voluntarily gives up his membership of such political party; or
  • If he votes or abstains from voting in such House contrary to any direction issued by his political party without obtaining prior permission of such party.
  • Independent Members:
  • An independent member of a House (elected without being set up as a candidate by any political party) becomes disqualified to remain a member of the House if he joins any political party after such election.
  • Nominated Members:
  • A nominated member of a House becomes disqualified for being a member of the House if he joins any political party after the expiry of six months from the date on which he takes his seat in the House.
  • Exceptions:
  • If a member goes out of his party as a result of a merger of the party with another party.
  • A merger takes place when two- thirds of the members of the party have agreed to such merger.
  • If a member, after being elected as the presiding officer of the House, voluntarily gives up the membership of his party or re-joins it after he ceases to hold that office.

Deciding Authority:

• Any question regarding disqualification arising out of defection is to be decided by the presiding officer of the House.
• In KihotoHollohan case (1993), the Supreme Court held that the presiding officer, while deciding a question under the Tenth Schedule, function as a tribunal.
• Hence, his decision like that of any other tribunal, is subject to judicial review on the grounds of mala fides, perversity, etc.

Important Judgements w.r.t. Anti-Defection Law:

• In KihotoHollohan case, the Supreme Court held that the law is valid in all respects, expect on the matter about judicial review, which was held to be unconstitutional.
• In Shri Rajesh Verma v. Shri Mohammad Shahid Akhlaque case, the court held that if the member of the party publicly opposes his original party and supports the other the party then this act deems to be a resignation from the party.
• In Mannadi Satyanarayan Reddy v Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly case, the question was raised regarding the jurisdiction of Speaker or Presiding Officers.
• The court held that there is no provision in the Tenth Schedule which fetters exercise of jurisdiction by the Speaker to decide this question.

Benefits of Anti-Defection Law:

• It provides for greater stability in the body politic by checking the propensity of legislators to change parties.
• It facilitates democratic realignment of parties in the legislature by way of merger of parties.
• It reduces corruption at the political level as well as non- developmental expenditure incurred on irregular elections.
• It gives, for the first time, a clear-cut constitutional recognition to the existence of political parties.

Criticism of the Anti-Defection Law:

• The law does not make a differentiation between dissent and defection. It curbs the legislator’s right to dissent and freedom of conscience.
• It does not provide for the expulsion of a legislator from his party for his activities outside the legislature.
• Its discrimination between an independent member and a nominated member is contradictory. If the former joins a party, he is disqualified while the latter is allowed to do the same.

7. ICMR starts revising current National Essential Diagnostics List for first time

Subject: Science and Tech

Section: Health

Context:

• The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has begun the process of revising the current National Essential Diagnostics List (NEDL), saying that considerable time has passed since the first list was released in 2019.

More about News:

• The World Health Organisation (WHO) released the first edition of essential diagnostics list (EDL) in May 2018. Even though WHO’s EDL acts as a reference point for development of national EDL(NEDL), India’s diagnostics list has been customised and prepared as per landscape of India’s health care priorities.
• In India, diagnostics are regulated under the regulatory provisions of the Medical Device Rules, 2017.
• Diagnostics (medical devices and in vitro diagnostics) follow a regulatory framework based on the drug regulations under the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940 and Drugs and Cosmetics Rules 1945.

National Essential Diagnostic List

• Level of Healthcare: NEDL has been developed for all levels of health care – village level, primary, secondary and tertiary care.
• It builds upon the Free Diagnostics Service Initiative (FDI) and other diagnostics initiatives of the Health Ministry to provide an expanded basket of tests at different levels of the public health system.
• FDI was launched in July 2015. Under this initiative, the National Health Mission (NHM) is supporting all states to provide essential diagnostics – laboratory and radiology at their public health facilities, free of cost.
• Scope: It includes a group of general laboratory tests for routine patient care and for diagnosis of communicable and non- communicable diseases.

8. As Davos crowd gathers, govts. urged to rein in ‘billionaire class’

Subject: Economy

Section: External Sector

Context:

• As per Oxfam, the combined fortunes of the world’s five richest men have more than doubled to $869 billion since 2020 while five billion people have been made poorer.

More about News:

• Oxfam called for governments to rein in corporate power by breaking up monopolies; instituting taxes on excess profit and wealth; and promoting alternatives to shareholder control such as forms of employee ownership.

9. Coming flood of U.S. Treasury issuance spooks some investors

Subject: Polity

Section: Federalism

Context:

• Cracks are forming in the market’s bullish consensus for bonds, as resurfacing fiscal concerns duel with expectations that cooling inflation will push the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates in coming months.

About Bonds

• A bond is a debt investment to raise money and finance a variety of projects and activities.
• Corporates or governments issue bonds directly to investors, instead of obtaining loans from a bank.
• The investor buys the bonds and loans money to the entity and in turn receives fixed interest.
• This is for a defined period of time (till maturity date) and a variable or fixed interest rate (coupon rate).

Bond prices, Bond yields and interest rates Linkages

Bond Price –

• Face value is the money amount the bond will be worth at its maturity.
• It is also the reference amount the bond issuer uses when calculating interest payments.
• The issuance price of a bond is typically set at par face value.
• But a bond’s price changes on a daily basis, just like that of any other publicly-traded security.
• The actual market price of a bond depends on various factors including:
  • the credit quality of the issuer
  • the length of time until expiration
  • the coupon rate compared to the general interest rate environment at the time

Interest rates – 

• The price of a bond primarily changes in response to changes in interest rates in the economy.
• For instance, say the investors get a better return in corporate bond either due to rise in their rate or due to fall in rate of government’s bond.
• This would make the corporate bond much more attractive.
• Investors in the market will bid up the price of the bond until it trades at a premium that equalizes the prevailing interest rate environment.

Bond Yield –

• In simple terms, yield is the amount of return that an investor will realize on a bond.
• If the investor holds the bond to maturity, s/he will be guaranteed to get the principal amount back plus the interest.
• However, a bond does not necessarily have to be held to maturity by the investors.
• Instead, investors may sell them for a higher or lower price to other investors.
• The bond prices and yields generally move in opposite directions.
• This is because, as a bond’s price increases, its yield to maturity falls.

What causes the rise in bond yields?

• The major factors affecting the yield are –
  • the monetary policy of the Central Banks, especially the course of interest rates
  • the fiscal position of the government
  • government’s borrowing programme
  • global markets, economy, and inflation
  • A fall in interest rates makes bond prices rise and bond yields fall and vice versa.
  • In short, a rise in bond yields means interest rates in the monetary system have fallen.
  • In other words, the returns for investors (those who invested in bonds and government securities) have declined.

10. Why Kashmir is without snow

Subject: Polity

Section: Federalism

Context: 

Snowfall events in the Ladakh-Jammu and Kashmir region have been showing a declining trend in recent years.

More on news:

• Government data shows that 95,989 tourists, including 547 foreigners, had visited Gulmarg in January last year.
• Officials said the footfall seemed to be at least 60 percent lower this year.
• Snowfall in Kashmir attracts tourists and is crucial for the local climate, winter crops and horticulture, availability of waters in streams and rivers, and for the local economy as well.
• Winter precipitation in Jammu and Kashmir and in Ladakhis mainly in the form of snowfall.
• As per India Meteorological Department (IMD) data, Jammu and Kashmir saw 80 per cent rainfall deficit in December and 100 percent (absolutely no rain) deficit in January so far.
• The overall decreasing trend of snowfall has been attributed to a decline in western disturbance events and gradual rise in temperatures, which involves the role of climate change.

Reasons for low snowfall

Western Disturbances:

• Winter precipitation in the Himalayan region is caused mainly by Western Disturbances. 
• These are large eastward-moving rain-bearing wind systems that originate beyond Afghanistan and Iran, picking up moisture from as far as the Mediterranean Sea and even the Atlantic Ocean.
• Western Disturbances are the primary source of rainfall over north and northwest India during the post-monsoon and winter months.
• Western disturbances have been showing a declining trend in recent times.

Increasing temperatures:

• Temperatures in Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh region are rising at a faster pace.
• The rate of increase of temperature is seen to be higher in the upper elevation areas than in the plains.
• This is also contributing to the decline in snowfall.

El Nino:

• There have been several years in the last one decade i.e. 2022, 2018, 2015 — when winters have been relatively dry in Jammu and Kashmir, and snowfall has been very low.
• El Nino has persisted for a few months and will continue to do so in the coming months,affecting the global atmospheric circulation and contributing to the deficit precipitation in the region .
• Even in the absence of El Nino, some years had seen very less snowfall.

Repercussions

• Less snowfall in the region is expected to have both short-term and long-term implications.
• Long-term implications include the
  • generation of less hydroelectricity
  • an increase in the rate of glacier melting
  • an adverse impact on the drinking water supply as scanty snowfall means very little recharge of groundwater.
• Short term implications include
  • a dry spell can result in an increase in forest fires,
  • agricultural drought, and
  • a drop in crop production.
• Other implications:
  • It can lead to an early spring leading to early flowering, which can cause a reduction in yield.
  • Yields of apples or saffron are badly affected in the absence of snowfall as winter snow is a source of steady moisture to the soil.

11. Need reasonable cap on issue of guarantees by States for better fiscal management: RBI

Subject: Polity

Section: Federalism

Context:

• RBI Working Group has recommended that they should be subject to a reasonable cap on issuance of guarantees.

More on news:

• Government guarantees should not be allowed for creating direct liability / de facto
• liability on the State.
• States have been cautioned against using guarantees to obtain finance through State Owned   
• Entities.
• The Working Group on ‘State Government Guarantees,’ consists of members from the
  • Ministry of Finance, Government of India; 
  • Comptroller and Auditor General of India; and 
  • some State Governments.
• The group  emphasized that guarantee is a potential future liability that is contingent on the occurrence of an unforeseen future event.
• States should continue with their contributions towards building up the Guarantee Redemption Fund to a desirable level of 5 percent of their total outstanding guarantees over a period of five years from the date of constitution of the fund.
• As of March end 2021, outstanding guarantees issued by the States stood at ₹7.40lakh crore, or 3.7 per cent of their combined SGDP .

Key recommendations of the working group:

• The state governments should consider fixing a ceiling for the incremental guarantees they issue during a year at 5 percent of the revenue receipts or 0.5 per cent of Gross State Domestic Product, whichever is less.
• It suggested that the state government assess, monitor and be prudent while issuing guarantees.
• State governments may consider charging a minimum guarantee fee for guarantees extended and additional risk premium may be charged based on the risk category and the tenor of the underlying loan.
• It also suggested that state governments may publish data relating to guarantees, as per the Indian Government Accounting Standard (IGAS).
• A minimum of 0.25 percent per annum may be considered as the base or minimum guarantee fee.
• An additional risk premium which is based on risk assessment by the State government, may be charged to each risk category of issuances.
• The group said State governments need to classify the projects/ activities as high risk, medium risk and low risk and assign appropriate risk weights before extending guarantee for them, said the group.
• Such risk categorisation should also take into consideration the past record of defaults.

About Guarantee Redemption Fund (GRF):

• The objective of the GRF is to provide a cushion for servicing contingent liabilities arising from the invocation of guarantees issued by the State governments, in respect of bonds and other borrowings by State Level undertakings or other bodies.
• Though the participation from the states in GRF is voluntary.
• Around19 States have already established GRF.
• The GRF corpus is managed by the RBI.

12. Defense technology council

Subject: Polity

Section: National Body

Context:

• Expert committee headed by Vijay Raghavan (former principal scientific advisor) recommended that an apex body known as Defence Technology Council chaired by the Prime Minister should   determine the country’s defense technology roadmap.

More on news:

• The nine-member Vijay Raghavan panel was set up by the government last year to review the functioning of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).
• The government’s decision to review the functioning of DRDO comes against the backdrop of several of its projects suffering from huge delays.
• The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Defence had expressed concerns that 23 of its 55 mission mode projects could not be completed in time.
• VijayRaghavan committee has observed that the DRDO should focus on its original goal of research and development for defense.
• DRDO should refrain from involving itself in productization, production cycles, and product management, tasks that are more suitable for the private sector.

About Defence Technology Council:

• The Defence Technology Council headed by the Prime Minister would play a pivotal role in identifying the right players for specific defense technologies.
• The defence minister and the National Security Advisor will act as Vice Presidents.
• It will   determine the country’s defense technology roadmap and decide on major projects and their execution.
• The Defence Technology Council is proposed to have an executive committee to be chaired by the Chief of Defence Staff.
• The Principal Scientific Advisor, along with the three service chiefs and their vice chiefs will also be its members.

The Department of Defence Science, Technology, and Innovation:

• The panel suggested creating a separate department under the Defence Ministry — the Department of Defence Science, Technology, and Innovation. 
• This department is proposed to be headed by a technocrat.
• It will promote defense research and development in the academic and start-up ecosystem.
• It will also serve as the secretariat for the Defence Tech Council.
• This department will draw scientists from DRDO and academia, building a repository of knowledge on production expertise and conducting background research for the DTC.
• The department will operate labs for testing and certification, a function also performed by DRDO.

Mission mode project:

A Mission Mode project of the DRDO refers to a focused and time-bound development undertaken to achieve specific goals and objectives in the field of defense and technology.