Daily Prelims Notes 19 October 2020

October 19, 2020
Posted by: OptimizeIAS Team
Category: DPN

Table Of Contents

Subject: Environment

Context : Every year in October, Delhi’s air quality starts to dip and a war of words between different governments erupts.

Concept :

Air pollution in Delhi and the whole of the Indo Gangetic Plains is a complex phenomenon that is dependent on a variety of factors. The first and foremost is the input of pollutants, followed by weather and local conditions.
October usually marks the withdrawal of monsoons in Northwest India.
Once monsoon withdraws, the predominant direction of winds changes to north westerly. During summers, too, the direction of wind is north westerly and storms carrying dust from Rajasthan and sometimes Pakistan and Afghanistan.
For example, In 2017, a storm that originated in Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait led to a drastic dip in Delhi’s air quality in a couple of days.
The dip in temperatures is also behind the increased pollution levels. The inversion height — which is the layer beyond which pollutants cannot disperse into the upper layer of the atmosphereis lowered. The concentration of pollutants in the air increases when this happens.
Also, high-speed winds are very effective at dispersing pollutants, but winters bring a dip in wind speed over all as compared to in summers.
Factors such as farm fires and dust storms are added to the already high base pollution levels in the city, air quality dips further.

What are the other big sources of pollution in Delhi?

Dust and vehicular pollution are the two biggest causes of dipping air quality in Delhi in winters. Dry cold weather means dust is prevalent in the entire region, which does not see many rainy days between October and June.
Dust pollution contributes to 56% of PM 10 and and the PM2.5 load at 59 t/d, the top contributors being road 38 % of PM 2.5 concentration, the IIT Kanpur study said.

2. FINANCE COMMISSION

Subject: Polity

Context: Finance Commission chief says that GST cess will continue.

Concept :

Finance Commission is a constitutional body under Article 280 created every five years to recommend the transfer of financial resources from the Centre to the States.
The Commission also decides the principles on which grants-in-aid will be given to the States.
The 15th FC headed by Mr. N.K. Singh and its recommendations, to be observed for a period of five years, will kick in from April 1, 2020.

State Finance Commissions (SFCs)

The State Finance Commission (SFC) is an institution created by the 73rd and 74th Constitutional Amendments (CAs) to rationalize and systematize State/sub-State-level fiscal relations in India.
Article 243I of the Constitution mandated the State Governor to constitute a Finance Commission every five years.
Article 243Y of the Constitution states that the Finance Commission constituted under article 243 I shall also review the financial position of the Municipalities and make recommendations to the Governor.

3. ASIAN KING VULTURE

Subject: Environment

Context : The sighting of a pair of critically endangered Asian king vultures and a juvenile in the Sigur plateau is a cause for optimism that the species may be re-establishing itself in the region.

Concept :

The Mudumalai Tiger Reserve (MTR), encompassing both the Sigur plateau and the Moyar valley, is believed to be home to 12-14 individuals.\
The population of the Asian king vulture, like most vulture species in India, has crashed over the last five decades.
IUCN Status : Critically Endangered
Other vulture species in India are :

4. MARITIME INDIA VISION 2030

Subject: Economy

Context : A ten year blueprint for maritime sector is to be released by prime minister.

Concept :

Setting up a ₹25,000-crore Maritime Development Fund (MDF) and a pan-India port regulatory authority are among the highlights of the Maritime India Vision 2030.
Maritime India Vision 2030, the latest avatar of the Sagarmala programme, outlines a raft of policy initiatives and development projects involving an investment of ₹3.5 lakh crore to double cargo volumes to 2,600 million tonnes (mt).
The MDF seeks to provide low cost, long-tenure financing to the sector with the Centre contributing ₹2,500 crore over seven years.
The regulatory authority will be set up under the new Indian Ports Act (to replace the century-old Indian Ports Act 1908) for enabling oversight across major and non-major ports
It seeks to enhance institutional coverage for ports and provide for structured growth of the ports sector to boost investor confidence.

5. MONETARY TRANSMISSION

Subject: Economy

Context :High incidence of non-performing assets (NPAs) in banks acts as a major roadblock in transmission of monetary policy actions of the Reserve Bank, a working paper prepared by the officials of the central bank said.

Concept :

The working paper also made a strong case for capital injection in state-owned banks, arguing that such a move would increase the credit flow to the real sector in addition to ensuing smoother transmission of monetary policy.

Monetary Transmission:

Repo rate is the interest rate that the RBI charges the banks when it lends them money.
The banks’ lending rate is the interest rates that banks charge from customers when they take a loan.
By cutting the repo rate, the RBI has been sending a signal to the rest of the banking system that the lending rates in the system should come down.
This process of repo rate cuts leading to interest rate cuts across the banking system is called “monetary policy transmission”.

6. GHARTAK FIBRE

Subject: Economy

Context : Prime Minister inaguarated Ghar Tak Fibre scheme in Bihar for digital connectivity.

Concept :

These services are to be executed along with combined efforts of Common Service Centre.
The project is to be implemented Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology under the scheme “Ghar Tak Fibre”.
The project will connect 45,945 villages in the state and will thus enable Digital revolution to reach farthest corner of Bihar.
This scheme aims to fulfill the objectives of digital india and bharatnet programme aims to provide optical fibre enabled internet connections to every home in the country, concentrating on village and rural areas

Additional Information :

The CSC Wi-Fi Choupal is an initiative to provide high speed internet connectivity to rural India. It ensures digital connectivity using Bharat Net.

7. TRIPS

Subject: Economy

Context : India’s joint proposal with South Africa at the World Trade Organisation for a temporary waiver of certain Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights obligations to ensure smooth supply of medicines and vaccines during the Covid-19 pandemic.

It has gained support from most developing countries while several developed members, including the US, Australia and the EU, opposed it.

Concept :

TRIPS is an international agreement administered by the World Trade Organization (WTO), which sets down minimum standards for many forms of intellectual property (IP) regulations as applied to the nationals of other WTO Members.
It was negotiated at the end of the Uruguay Round of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) in 1994.
TRIPS requires WTO members to provide copyright rights, covering content producers including performers, producers of sound recordings and broadcasting organizations; geographical indications, including appellations of origin; industrial designs; integrated circuit layout-designs; patents; new plant varieties; trademarks; trade dress; and undisclosed or confidential information.
The agreement also specifies enforcement procedures, remedies, and dispute resolution procedures.

TRIPS Plus

TRIPs Plus are higher level of protection norms demanded by the developed countries that are not prescribed by the WTO’s TRIPs regime.
They demand higher protection to intellectual property rights including inventions, internationally. These higher levels of protection norms are named as TRIPs Plus.
The term is used to indicate that these requirements go beyond the minimum standards imposed by TRIPs.
Many developing countries who are members of FTAs are under pressure to enact these tougher conditions in their patent laws.
The developing countries have concerns over the higher level of protection demanded by the developed world. They fear that once such levels of protection are given multilaterally, it will reduce competition and may led to price rise of medicines, affecting health security in poor countrie
For example, the demand for Data Exclusivity protection(protection of clinical test data submitted to a regulatory agency) that have high commercial value is a major demand from the developed world which doesn’t usually come under TRIPs.
India has consistently objected to put higher level of protection (TRIPs Plus) than provided by the TRIPs. The implication of TRIPs Plus on India is that it will restrict the operation of the country’s generics drugs manufactures.

8. INDEPENDENCE OF JUDICIARY

Subject: Polity

Context: Andhra Pradesh CM’s letter to Chief Justice of India regarding to the conduct of judges of AP High Court.

Concept:

Article 121 : Restriction on discussion in Parliament No discussions shall take place in Parliament with respect to the conduct of any Judge of the Supreme Court or of a High Court in the discharge of his duties expect upon a motion for presenting an address to the President praying for the removal of the Judge as hereinafter provided.
Article 211 : Restriction on discussion in the Legislature No discussion shall take place in the Legislature of a State with respect to the conduct of any Judge of the Supreme Court or of a High Court in the discharge of his duties.