Daily Prelims Notes 7 January 2021

January 7, 2021
Posted by: OptimizeIAS Team
Category: DPN

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Daily Prelims Notes 7 January 2021

By

Santosh Sir

All 6 Prelims qualified

4 CSE Mains qualified

If I can do it, you can too

Table Of Contents

1. NATIONAL INFRASTRUCTURE PIPELINE

Subject: Economy

Context: Finance and Corporate Affairs Minister Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday reviewed the progress of the National Infrastructure Pipeline (NIP) as the government seeks to accelerate infrastructure spending in the economy.

Concept:

The NIP has been expanded from 6,385 projects at the time of its introduction a year ago, to more than 7,300 projects, and is making progress despite the pandemic, the government said in a statement.

About NIP:

NIP was announced in union budget in 2019-20 for an outlay of Rs 100 lakh Crore for infrastructure projects over the next 5 years.
NIP is a first-of-its-kind initiative to provide world-class infrastructure across the country and improve the quality of life for all citizens.
It will improve project preparation, attract investments (both domestic & foreign) into infrastructure, and will be crucial for attaining the target of becoming a $5 trillion economy by FY 2025.
Covers both economic and social infrastructure projects.

Atanu Chakraborty Report :

The task force headed by Atanu Chakraborty on National Infrastructure Pipeline (NIP), in May 2020, submitted its final report to the Finance Minister. It has recommended the following ,
Investment needed: ₹111 lakh crore over the next five years (2020-2025) to build infrastructure projects and drive economic growth.
Energy, roads, railways and urban projects are estimated to account for the bulk of projects (around 70%).
The centre (39 percent) and state (40 percent) are expected to have an almost equal sharein implementing the projects, while the private sector has 21 percent share.
Aggressive push towards asset sales.
Monetisation of infrastructure assets.
Setting up of development finance institutions.
Strengthening the municipal bond market.

2. SIXTH SCHEDULE

Subject : Polity

Context : A committee would be constituted under Minister of State for Home G. Kishan Reddy to find an appropriate solution to the issues related to language, culture and conservation of land in the Union Territory of Ladakh, the Home Ministry said in a statement.

Concept :

The representatives expressed their concern with respect to conservation of language, culture and land of Ladakh. A protest was also held in this regard before the LAHDC [Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council] elections.

LAHDC

The Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council-Leh was created in 1995 under the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council Act 1995 and an Autonomous Hill Council has also been established in neighbouringKargil District.
The autonomous hill councils work with village panchayats to take decisions on economic development, healthcare, education, land use, taxation, animal husbandry and local governance which are further reviewed at the block headquarters in the presence of the chief executive councillor and executive councillors.
As per Hill Council norms, the Chief Executive Councilor possess the rank and powers of a Cabinet Minister while as the Executive Councilors possess the rank and status of Deputy Minister.
The council is composed of 30 Councillors of which 26 are directly elected and 4 are nominated members.
The executive arm of the council consists of an executive committee composed of a Chief Executive Councillor and four other executive councillors.
National Commission for Scheduled Tribes in 2019 recommended that the Union Territory of Ladakh be brought under the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution.

The Sixth Schedule

The Sixth Schedule of the Constitution consists of provisions for the administration of tribal areas in Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram, according to Article 244 of the Indian Constitution.
Passed by the Constituent Assembly in 1949, it seeks to safeguard the rights of tribal population through the formation of Autonomous District Councils (ADC).
ADCs are bodies representing a district to which the Constitution has given varying degrees of autonomy within the state legislature.
The Governors of these states are empowered to reorganise boundaries of the tribal areas.
In simpler terms, she or he can choose to include or exclude any area, increase or decrease the boundaries and unite two or more autonomous districts into one.
They can also alter or change the names of autonomous regions without a separate legislation.
Along with ADCs, the Sixth Schedule also provides for separate Regional Councils for each area constituted as an autonomous region.
In all, there are 10 areas in the Northeast that are registered as autonomous districts – three in Assam, Meghalaya and Mizoram and one in Tripura.
These regions are named as district council of (name of district) and regional council of (name of region).
Each autonomous district and regional council consists of not more than 30 members, of which four are nominated by the governor and the rest via elections. All of them remain in power for a term of five years.
The Bodoland Territorial Council, however, is an exception as it can constitute up to 46 members.

3. PARTICULATE MATTER 2.5

Subject : Environment

Concept :

Particulate matter

Particulate matter, or PM, is the term for particles found in the air, including dust, dirt, soot, smoke, and liquid droplets.
Particles can be suspended in the air for long periods of time.
Some particles are large or dark enough to be seen as soot or smoke. Others are so small that individually they can only be detected with a microscope.
Many manmade and natural sources emit PM directly or emit other pollutants that react in the atmosphere to form PM.

PM 2.5

Particles less than 2.5 micrometers in diameter (PM2.5) are referred to as “fine” particles and are believed to pose the greatest health risks.
Because of their small size (approximately 1/30th the average width of a human hair), fine particles can lodge deeply into the lungs.
Particles with diameters between 2.5 and 10 micrometers are referred to as “coarse” particles.
PM 2.5 particles can only be detected with the help of electron microscope.

Sources of PM

Sources of fine particles include all types of combustion activities (motor vehicles, power plants, wood burning, etc.) and certain industrial processes.
Sources of coarse particles include crushing or grinding operations, and dust from paved or unpaved roads.
Other particles may be formed in the air from the chemical change of gases. They are indirectly formed when gases from burning fuels react with sunlight and water vapor. These can result from fuel combustion in motor vehicles, at power plants, and in other industrial processes.

4. APPOINTMENT and REMOVAL OF SUBORDINATE COURT JUDGES

Subject : Polity

Context : Bihar High Court sacks 16 employees of a civil court

Concept :

Subordinate Courts in India

The District Courts of India are the district courts of the State governments in India for every district or for one or more districts together taking into account the number of cases, population distribution in the district.
They administer justice in India at a district level.
These courts are under administrative control of the High Court of the State to which the district concerned belongs. The decisions of District court are subject to the appellate jurisdiction of the High court.
Control over subordinate courts is the collective and individual responsibility of the High Court as it is the head of the judiciary in the state and has got administrative control over the subordinate courts in respect of certain matters.

Appointment and Removal of Judges

The appointment, posting, promotion is made by Governor after consultation with High court

He/she should have been an advocate or pleader for 7 years.

He/she should be recommended by high court.

He /she shouldn’t already be in service of centre or state.

Other appointments of judicial service are made by Governor after consulting high court and state public service commission. Appointments of judicial service below district judge are made by high court.
District judge (Civil cases) / Sessions judge (Criminal cases) has highest judicial position in district. He has original and appellate jurisdiction over civil and criminal cases.
A district judge or additional judge may be removed from his office by the governor on conformation from the high court collegium.

5. CARACAL

Subject: Environment

Context: Union forest minister Prakash Javdekar, who tweeted that with the addition of the caracal there will now be 22 species under critically endangered species recovery programme.

Concept:

The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) lists caracals as a species of ‘least concern’, mainly due to their large numbers in Africa. But in India they are ‘endangered’.
Now it is classified as ‘Critically Endangered’ in India.
since 2001, the Caracal’s presence has been only reported the three states, including Rajasthan, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh

About Caracal

The caracal wild cat (Caracal caracal) is a rare species in India.
The black tufted ears of this cat are one of its most distinguishing features.
In Kutch dialect of Gujarat Caracals are locally referred to as Hornotro which means killer of a Blackbuck whereas in Rajasthan it is known as Junglee Bilaoor Wildcat.
They are mostly found in the tropical dry deciduous and tropical thorn and shrub forests of Central and Western India.
Caracals had appeared in Indian paintings dating back to seventeenth century.
Their survival in India is endangered primary reasons being the rapid loss of scrub and thorn habitat and unchecked human activates in the caracals habitat

6. PURCHASING MANAGER’S INDEX

Subject: Economy

Context: India’s services sector activity expanded at a slower pace in December as growth in sales eased to a three-month low and staff hiring came to a halt amid weak business optimism, a PMI survey showed.

Concept:

The Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) is an index of the prevailing direction of economic trends in the manufacturing and service sectors.
It consists of a diffusion index that summarizes whether market conditions, as viewed by purchasing managers, are expanding, staying the same, or contracting.
The purpose of the PMI is to provide information about current and future business conditions to company decision makers, analysts, and investors.
The PMI is a number from 0 to 100.

PMI above 50 represents an expansion when compared to the previous month;

PMI under 50 represents a contraction, and

A reading at 50 indicates no change.

If PMI of the previous month is higher than the PMI of the current month (as is the case mentioned above), it represents that the economy is contracting.
The PMI is usually released at the start of every month.
It is calculated separately for the manufacturing and services sectors and then a composite index is constructed.

7. HUNG PARLIAMENT

Subject: Polity

Context: Former President Pranab Mukherjee stated that he was ready to break the convention and invite a Congress-led coalition to form a government if the 2014 Lok Sabha election had thrown up a hung Parliament.

Concept:

Hung Parliament refers to a Parliament wherein no party has a working majority.
A Hung Parliament occurs when neither of the parties has gained an outright majority and the Parliament is equally balanced. Hence, no party can automatically assume control over the executive.
A Hung Parliament is not a time-specific phenomenon. Even when a party or a pre-electoral alliance has gained the majority and formed the government, a reduction in the membership of this party of alliance can cause a Hung Parliament.

Role of the President

When the situation of Hung Parliament arises, the constitutional institution of the President is empowered to take certain steps, making the role of the President pivotal in such a situation.
In India, fresh elections are conducted when none of the parties are capable of forming the government. Until then, the President’s rule is applied.
However, before bringing President rule, the President in case of Lok Sabha elections and the Governor of the State in case of State legislatures gives the opportunity to the parties to form a coalition government so that fresh elections can be avoided.
The sarkaria commission on centre – state relations has observed that:

First preference should be given to a pre-electoral alliance that has attained a majority.

The second preference should be given to the single largest party which is not having a majority.

The third preference should be given to the post-electoral alliance with a majority.

Last preference should be given to a post-electoral alliance where some partners join the government while others provide outside support.

8. COLLEGE OF SUPERVISORS

Subject: Economy

Context: Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on January 6 said it is now fully operationalising a College of Supervisors (CoS) to further strengthen supervision over regulated entities.

Concept:

Reserve Bank had set up a College of Supervisors (CoS) to augment and reinforce supervisory skills among its regulatory and supervisory staff both at entry level and on a continuous basis.
This was done to facilitate the development of unified and focused supervision by providing training and other developmental inputs to the concerned staff.
The CoS will have a full-time Director supported by an Academic Advisory Council (AAC).
The Cos will be headed by former deputy governor N S Viswanathan and will have five other members.
The AAC will identify areas where skill building/up-skilling are required, plan and develop curricula of all programmes, benchmark the programmes with international standards/best practices, develop appropriate teaching methods, etc.
The full-fledged operationalisation of the CoS will further contribute to effective oversight of the regulated entities by augmenting and ensuring a consistent quality of supervisory resources pool.

9. BASAVESHWARA

Subject: Culture

Context: Karnataka Chief Minister laid the foundation stone for the ‘New Anubhava Mantapa’ in Basavakalyan, the place where 12th century poet-philosopher Basaveshwara lived for most of his life.

Concept:

The New Anubhava Mantapa, as envisaged now, will be a six-floor structure in the midst of the 7.5 acre plot and represent various principles of Basaveshwara’sphilosophy.
It will showcase the 12th Century Anubhava Mantapa (often referred to as the “first Parliament of the world”) established by him in Basavakalyan, where philosophers and social reformers held debates.
The building will adopt the KalyanaChalukya style of architecture.

About Basaveshwara

Basavanna was a 12th-century philosopher, statesman, Kannada poet and a social reformer during the reign of the Kalachuri-dynasty king Bijjala I in Karnataka, India.
Basavanna spread social awareness through his poetry, popularly known as Vachanaas. Basavanna rejected gender or social discrimination, superstitions and rituals.
He introduced new public institutions such as the Anubhava Mantapa (or, the “hall of spiritual experience”), which welcomed men and women from all socio-economic backgrounds to discuss spiritual and mundane questions of life, in open.
As a leader, he developed and inspired a new devotional movement named Virashaivas, or “ardent, heroic worshippers of Shiva”.
This movement shared its roots in the Tamil Bhakti movement, particularly the Shaiva Nayanars traditions, over the 7th- to 11th-century.

Lingayats

The term Lingayat denotes a person who wears a personal linga, an iconic form of god Shiva, on the body which is received during the initiation ceremony.
Lingayats are the followers of the 12th-century social reformer-philosopher poet, Basaveshwara.
The Lingayats are strict monotheists. They enjoin the worship of only one God, namely, Linga (Shiva).
The word ‘Linga’ does not mean Linga established in temples, but universal consciousness qualified by the universal energy (Shakti).
Lingayats had been classified as a Hindu subcaste called “Veerashaiva Lingayats” and they are considered to be Shaivites.

Sharana movement:

The Sharana movement , Basaveshwara presided over attracted people from all castes, and like most strands of the Bhakti movement, produced a corpus of literature, the vachanas, that unveiled the spiritual universe of the Veerashaiva saints.
The egalitarianism of Basavanna’s Sharana movement was too radical for its times.
He set up the Anubhava Mandapa, where the Sharanas, drawn from different castes and communities, gathered and engaged in learning and discussions.
Sharanas challenged the final bastion of the caste order: they organised a wedding where the bridegroom was from a lower caste, and the bride a Brahmin.

10. PULICAT LAKE

Subject: Geography

Context: The Expert Appraisal Committee (EAC) of the Environment Ministry has directed a sub-committee to visit the coastal stretch of Pulicatlake where the Department of Fisheries, Tamil Nadu, has proposed two training walls for permanent stability for the bar mouth of the lake.

Concept:

Pulicat Lagoon is the second largest brackish water lagoon in India, after Chilika Lake. It is present in the Coromondal Region i.e. Andhra Pradesh–Tamil Nadu Border.
The barrier island of Sriharikota separates the lake from the Bay of Bengal and is home to the Satish Dhawan Space Centre.
The lake encompasses the Pulicat Lake Bird Sanctuary.
Flamingo Festival is held every year to promote tourism in Pulicatlake and Nellapattu. It has been organised for the past 12 years
The primary inflows to the Pulicat Lake are Arani, Kalangi and Swarnamukhi.
About 96% of the Pulicat Lake is present in Andhra Pradesh while only 3% is present in Tamil Nadu.
The Buckingham Canal, a navigation channel, is part of the lagoon on its western side.

11. TIDE – RAINFALL QUOTIENT

Subject : Disaster Management

Context : To understand if a coastal city is more prone to floods caused by tidal events or extreme rainfall, a team from the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay devised a new metric or measure called the Tide–Rainfall Flood Quotient.

Concept :

Using the past rainfall data, tidal data, and topography of the region this framework can be applied to pinpoint the major factor at play.
The team selected three geographically diverse flood-prone coastal regions – Mithi Catchment in Mumbai, Maharashtra, Jagatsinghpur District in Odisha, and Greater Chennai Corporation in Tamil Nadu to test their new metric.
The new method helped classify these regions into ‘storm-tide dominated’ or ‘pluvial (rainfall) dominated’ regions.
The metric can help disaster management experts in framing better flood risk management systems directed towards long term planning.

Additional Information

The C40 Cities report of 2018 notes that by 2050, over 570 low-lying coastal cities will face projected sea level rise by at least 0.5 meters, putting over 800 million people at risk from the impacts of rising seas and storm surges.
While the inland areas can be flooded due to the heavy rainfall, the coasts are threatened by the impact of tidal surges.