Daily Prelims Notes 21 October 2020

October 21, 2020
Posted by: OptimizeIAS Team
Category: DPN

Table Of Contents

Subject : Polity

Context : Special session of the Punjab Assembly passed three farm amendment Bills removing Punjab from the ambit of the central laws. It is sent to governor office.

Concept :

Bill states that the sale of wheat and paddy shall be valid only if the seller pays a price equal to or greater than the MSP announced by the central government.
It states that any person or company or corporate house violating the above provision will be punished with imprisonment of not less than three years and a fine.
The Bills say the state government can notify a fee to be levied on private traders or electronic trading platforms for trade and commerce outside the mandis established under the Punjab Agricultural Produce Markets Act, 1961.
Apart from the Governor, the Punjab government’s new farm Bills need the assent of the President since they seek to amend laws passed by the central government.

President assent to state bill: When a state bill is reserved by the governor for the consideration of the President, the President has three alternatives:

He may give his assent to the bill; the bill then becomes an act.
He may withhold his assent to the bill; the bill then ends and does not become an Act.
He may return the bill for reconsideration of the House or Houses of the state legislature. When a bill is so returned, the House or Houses have to reconsider it within six months.

2. InvIT’s

Subject : Economy

Context : Infrastructure Investment Trusts are likely to acquire infrastructure assets worth over 4lakh crore rupees in the next five years.

Concept :

It is a Collective Investment Scheme similar to a mutual fund, which enables direct investment of money from individual and institutional investors in infrastructure projects.
They are designed to pool small sums of money from a number of investors to invest in assets that give cash flow over a period of time. Part of this cash flow would be distributed as dividend back to investors.
The InvITs are regulated by the SEBI (Infrastructure Investment Trusts) Regulations, 2014.
InvIT’s would be a preferred platform for long term investors to invest in Indian Infrastructure Sector with a stable regulation and taxation regime.

3. MONETARY TRANSMISSION

Subject: Economy

Context : Banks with higher capital ratios transmit monetary policy actions more smoothly than banks with lower capital base according to recent study by RBI .

Concept :

The RBI study attempts to understand the link between bank capital and monetary transmission by looking at the relationship between bank capital and loan growth/cost of funds.
It states that for each one percentage point increase in CRAR, there is 7.8 percentage points rise in loan growth rate. On the contrary, one percentage point increase in GNPA ratio reduces the loan growth rate by 0.9 percentage points.
In effect, while rise in capital ratio helps in better monetary policy transmission, significant amount of stressed assets could limit credit supply.

What is monetary policy 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”.

4. IMMUNOTHERAPY

Subject : Science and tech

Context : Cancer patients in India can get better access to immuno-oncology therapies, if more global trials on these drugs are undertaken in India, according to IQVIA, a human data science company.

Concept :

Immunotherapy

Immunotherapy tries to help the immune system recognise cancer as a threat, and attack it.
Rather than attacking the cancer directly, as chemo does, immunotherapy tries to rally the patient’s own immune system to fight the disease
Immune system is a network of cells, tissues and bio chemicals they secrete. It defends the body against the viruses, bacteria and other invaders.
Immune system does not stop cancer as cancer often finds ways to hide from the immune system or block its ability to fight
Immunotherapy involves drugs that free immune cells to fight cancer. These drugs blocks a mechanism called checkpoint. Checkpoint is used by cancer to shut down the immune system

5. PLASMA THERAPY

Subject : Science and tech

Context : Convalescent plasma therapy could soon be discontinued as a treatment for COVID-19 patients, the Centre.

Plasma therapy failed to benefit COVID-19 patients in the largest randomized trial conducted in India, carried out by the ICMR which found that plasma didn’t particularly help lower mortality or severity of COVID-19 in patients treated with it.

Concept :

Convalescent Plasma Therapy

Convalescent plasma (CP) therapy is not a new therapy and banks on the age-old concept of passive immunity.
The convalescent plasma therapy seeks to make use of the antibodies developed in the recovered patient against the coronavirus.
The whole blood or plasma from such people is taken, and the plasma is then injected in critically ill patients so that the antibodies are transferred and boost their fight against the virus.
A study in The Lancet Infectious Diseases stated that a Covid patient usually develops primary immunity against the virus in 10-14 days.
Therefore, if the plasma is injected at an early stage, it can possibly help fight the virus and prevent severe illness.
The plasma can be infused into two kinds of Covid-19 patients, those with a severe illness or individuals at a higher risk of getting the virus.
However, while plasma transfers immunity from one person to another, it is not known if it can save lives in Covid-19 infection.

6. KALESHWARAM PROJECT

Subject: Infrastructure

Context: The National Green Tribunal has held that environmental clearance to Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Project was granted ex post facto, after completion of substantial work, by the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change “in violation of law”.

Concept:

The Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Scheme of Telangana is a multi-purpose irrigation project on the Godavari River in Kaleshwaram, Bhupalpally in Telangana.
The project starts at the confluence point of Pranahita River and Godavari River.
Originally called Pranahita-Chevella project in erstwhile Andhra Pradesh, it was redesigned, extended and renamed as Kaleshwaram project in Telangana in 2014.
The project will also support Mission Kakatiya and Mission Bhagiratha schemes of telangana designed to provide drinking water to many villages and improve the capacities of tanks.

Additional Information:

Godavari River

The Godavari is India’s second longest river after the Ganga.
Source: Trimbakeshwar, Maharashtra.
Areas drained: It flows east for 1,465 kilometres, draining the states of Maharashtra, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, and Karnataka, ultimately emptying into the Bay of Bengal through its extensive network of tributaries.
Tributaries: The major tributaries of the river are classified as the left bank tributaries which include the Purna, Pranhita, Indravati and Sabari River and the right bank tributaries are Pravara, Manjira, Manair.
Kumbh Mela is held at Nasik (on the Godavari), Prayagraj (at the confluence of Ganga, Yamuna, and the mythical Saraswati), Haridwar (on the Ganges), and Ujjain (on the Shipra) every four years by rotation.
Sadarmatt Anicut across river Godavari is one among the two irrigation projects in the International Commission on Irrigation and Drainage (ICID) Register of Heritage Irrigation Structures.

Pranahita River

Pranahita River is the largest tributary of the Godavari river covering about 34% of its drainage basin.
It is a confluence of various other smaller tributaries like Wardha, Penganga and Wainganga Rivers.

7. FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENT

Subject: Economy

Context: Foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows into India in the first five months of 2020-21 have hit a record high, despite a sharp 60% contraction in the first quarter.

Concept:

Foreign Direct Investment

FDI is an investment from a party in one country into a business or corporation in another country with the intention of establishing a lasting interest.
Lasting interest differentiates FDI from foreign portfolio investments, where investors passively hold securities from a foreign country.
Foreign direct investment can be made by expanding one’s business into a foreign country or by becoming the owner of a company in another country.
FDI is not just the inflow of money, but also the inflow of technology, knowledge, skills and expertise/know-how
FDI in India is allowed under two modes – either through the automatic route, for which companies don’t need government approval, or through the government route, for which companies need a go-ahead from the centre.

New FDI Policy:

An entity of a country, which shares a land border with India or where the beneficial owner of an investment into India is situated in or is a citizen of any such country, can invest only under the Government route.
A transfer of ownership in an FDI deal that benefits any country that shares a border with India will also need government approval.
Investors from countries not covered by the new policy only have to inform the RBI after a transaction rather than asking for prior permission from the relevant government department.

8. UNCTAD

Subject: Economy

Context: The UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) said in a report on that a lower but positive economic growth in India in the post-COVID-19 pandemic period and India’s large market will continue to attract market-seeking investments to the country.

Concept:

The World Investment Report focuses on trends in Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) worldwide, at the regional and country levels and emerging measures to improve its contribution to development.

UNCTAD

United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) was established in 1964 to promote development-friendly integration of developing countries into the world economy.
UNCTAD is a permanent intergovernmental body headquartered at Geneva in Switzerland.
Some of the reports published by it are:

Trade and Development Report

World Investment Report

The Least Developed Countries Report

Information and Economy Report

Technology and Innovation Report

Commodities and Development Report

9. POLLSPENDING

Subject: Polity

Context: The poll spending limit for candidates contesting Lok Sabha and Assembly elections has been enhanced by 10 percent based on the recommendation of the Election Commission.

Contestants be allowed to spend more on campaigning keeping in mind difficulties they may face due to COVID-19 curbs.

Concept:

Current rules on poll spending:

At present, under Rule 90 of the Conduct of Election Rules, 1961, a candidate contesting Lok Sabha polls can spend up to Rs 70 lakh and up to Rs 28 lakh in an assembly election depending on the state in which s/he is contesting polls.
Under Section 77 of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, every candidate shall keep a separate and correct account of all expenditure incurred between the date on which he has been nominated and the date of declaration of the result.
All candidates are required to submit their expenditure statement to the ECI within 30 days of the completion of the elections.
An incorrect account or expenditure beyond the cap can lead to disqualification of the candidate by the ECI for up to three years, under Section 10A of the Representation of the People Act, 1951.
It can be noted that there is no cap on a political party’s expenditure, which is often exploited by candidates of the party. However, all registered political parties have to submit a statement of their election expenditure to the ECI within 90 days of the completion of the elections.