Daily Prelims Notes 9 December 2022

December 9, 2022
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Daily Prelims Notes

9 December 2022

Table Of Contents

1. India to almost double its renewable power capacity in next 5 years: IEA report

About IEA:

Established in 1974 as per the framework of the OECD, IEA is an autonomous intergovernmental organisation.
Its mission is guided by four main areas of focus: energy security, economic development, environmental awareness and engagement worldwide.
Headquarters (Secretariat): Paris, France.

Roles and functions:

Established in the wake of the 1973-1974 oil crisis, to help its members respond to major oil supply disruptions, a role it continues to fulfil today.
IEA’s mandate has expanded over time to include tracking and analyzing global key energy trends, promoting sound energy policy, and fostering multinational energy technology cooperation.

Composition and eligibility:

It has 30 members at present. The IEA family also includes eight association countries. A candidate country must be a member country of the OECD. But all OECD members are not IEA members.
India became an associate member of IEA in 2017.

To become a member a candidate country must demonstrate that it has:

Crude oil and/or product reserves equivalent to 90 days of the previous year’s net imports, to which the government has immediate access (even if it does not own them directly) and could be used to address disruptions to global oil supply.
A demand restraint programme to reduce national oil consumption by up to 10%.
Legislation and organisation to operate the Co-ordinated Emergency Response Measures (CERM) on a national basis.
Legislation and measures to ensure that all oil companies under its jurisdiction report information upon request.
Measures in place to ensure the capability of contributing its share of an IEA collective action.

Reports:

Global Energy & CO2 Status Report.
World Energy Outlook.
World Energy Statistics.
World Energy Balances.
Energy Technology Perspectives.

IEA Report findings-

Renewable energy will comprise 90 per cent of global electricity capacity expansion in the next five years and much of it will be in India.
China, the European Union and the United States will be three other geographies contributing majorly to this upward trend besides India.
Renewable energy’s installed power capacity addition will grow to 2,400 gigawatts (GW) between 2022 and 2027.
This expansion was 85 per cent faster than the previous five years and will be equal to the entire installed power capacity of China today.
With the addition of 145 gigawatts (GW), India is forecast to almost double its renewable power capacity over 2022-2027. Solar photovoltaic (PV) accounts for three-quarters of this growth, followed by onshore wind with 15 per cent and hydropower providing almost all the rest.

Two main policies (came in 2022) to boost domestic manufacturing are-

The duty on imports was increased to 40 per cent for PV modules from 15 per cent and to 25 per cent for solar cells in April 2022. This was done to reduce dependence on China and increase domestic manufacturing. This is expected to add 16 GW of PV capacity, 60 per cent higher than last year.
The Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme sanctioned 9 GW of PV manufacturing capacity to provide an ecosystem of local manufacturing. This programme aims to expand India’s solar PV cell and module manufacturing capacity to over 70 GW in this decade, including 29 GW of manufacturing capacity fully integrated across the whole supply chain.

Solar, wind and discoms-

Hybrid projects refer to innovative combinations of solar and wind power at a site. It can include solar, wind, and battery or pumped hydro storage. Bundling coal with renewables is also another option.
Storage plays a key role in hybrid projects.
In July 2022, the Indian government suspended reverse bidding in wind auctions.
Drawbacks of the ‘reverse bidding’ process include-
- Good sites for wind energy projects are located only in coastal areas.
- Even within a coastal state, there are tier 1, tier 2, and tier 3 sites depending on the wind intensity.
- Another problem in reverse bidding was the difference in the costs of the land.
- The government is looking for ‘closed envelop bidding’ But that may lack transparency. Also one has to look at different mechanisms in combination such as accelerated depreciation, generation-based incentives, or feed-in tariffs.
Higher renewable purchase obligations, which were announced in July 2022 and specify targets for wind, hydro, and other renewable energy sources (solar, bioenergy), should further encourage power utilities (DISCOM) to procure renewable energy.
Government can provide incentives to DISCOM for encouraging the instalment of Rooftop solar PV cells.

2. IRDAI opens bancassurance floodgates for all insurers

Subject : Economy

Insurance regulator IRDAI has now widely thrown open the bancassurance channel for insurers as part of its overall effort to increase insurance penetration in the country.
Also, to achieve the long-term goal of ‘insurance for all’ by 2047, when the country will celebrate its golden jubilee of independence.
Each bank can now have distribution tie up with as many as 9 life insurers, 9 general insurers and 9 health insurers.

About Bancassurance

Bancassurance or Bank Insurance Model refers to the distribution of the insurance and related financial products by the Banks whose main business is NOT insurance.
So, simply Bancassurance, i.e., banc + assurance, refers to banks selling the insurance products.This partnership arrangement can be profitable for both companies.
Bancassurance term first appeared in France in 1980, to define the sale of insurance products through banks’ distribution channels.
Banks earn additional revenue by selling insurance products, and insurance companies expand their customer bases without increasing their sales force.
For Bancassurance, the Banks need to obtain a prior license from the IrDA or Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority, so that they can work as “Composite Corporate Agent” or may have “Referral Arrangement” with the Insurance Companies.
RBI Guidelines: As per the Government of India Notification dated August 3, 2000, specifying ‘Insurance’ as a permissible form of business that could be undertaken by banks under Section 6(1)(o) of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949.

Models of Bancassurance

Referrral Model

Here, Bank will give office space to the insurance company in its branches.
The insurance staff will sit in the bank branch and sell its products to bank customers.
Bank staff doesn’t participate in selling.
Bank faces no risk. Insurance company pays fixed-fees for using the office space.

Corporate Agent Model

Bank ties up with one life, one non-life and one health insurance company. For example:
Majority of banks follow this model.
Bank sells policies of only one insurance company= customer is deprived of ‘choice’, even if other insurance companies are offering better alternatives.
Bank is not liable to customer.

Broker Model

Bank sells policy of multiple insurance companies under one roof. (multiple life insurance companies, multiple general insurance companies, multiple health insurance companies.)
Bank earns commission according to sales-agreement with individual company.

3. Bank Runs aren’t what they used to be

Subject : Economy

The collapse of crypto exchange FTX; the flood of assets out of Credit Suisse Group AG; the limits on fund redemptions by Blackstone Real Estate Income Trust (BREIT) – they’ve all been characterized as “bank runs” by various economic
Google searches for the term “run on the bank” are hitting levels not seen since the global financial crisis in 2008.

What is Bank run?

A bank run occurs when large groups of depositors withdraw their money from banks simultaneously based on fears that the institution will become insolvent.
With more people withdrawing money, banks will use up their cash reserves and ultimately end up defaulting.
Bank runs have occurred throughout history including during the Great Depression and the 2008-09 financial crisis.
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation was established in 1933 in response to a bank run.
In India, Deposit Insurance and Credit Guarantee Corporation is established in 1978 as statutory body.
Silent bank runs occur when funds are withdrawn via electronic transfer instead of in-person.
When compared to bank run, silent bank runs are not visible to everyone as they are taking through electonic mode of withdrawal.

Preventive measures to bank run

The RBI has been bringing out half-yearly Financial Stability Reports (FSR) since 2010, in which one section is exclusively devoted to commercial banking sector.
The central bank as a regulator ensures that banks are prepared to meet these risks.
The Capital to risk assets ratio (CRAR) is a safeguard that the capital base of a bank is not eroded.
Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) and Statutory Liquidity Ratio (SLR) is a safeguard that a bank is able to return deposits of the customers on demand.
Further, RBI is adopting international standards prescribed by the Basel committee on banking supervision and financial stability board.

4. Maulana Azad Fellowship for minorities to stop from 2023: Centre

Subject: Government Schemes

The Union government has decided to discontinue the Maulana Azad National Fellowship (MANF) from 2022-23 for minorities as according to them, the scheme overlaps with various other fellowship schemes for higher education.

Maulana Azad Fellowship for minorities scheme(MANF)

The Ministry of Minority Affairs implements MANF Scheme for educational empowerment of students belonging to six notified minority communities i.e. Buddhist, Christian, Jain, Muslim, Sikh, Zoroastrian (Parsi).
The Scheme is implemented through the University Grants Commission (UGC) and no waiting list is prepared under the Scheme by UGC.
Candidates belonging to the Six centrally notified minority are considered for award of fellowship under the MANF Scheme.
The selection of candidates is done through JRF-NET (Junior Research Fellow- National Eligibility Test) examination conducted by the National Testing Agency.
Prior to 2019-20, the merit list was prepared on the basis of marks obtained by the candidates in their Post Graduate examination.
However, in 2018-19, only the candidates who had qualified CBSE-UGC-NET/JRF or CSIR-NET/JRF were eligible to apply.
As per the data provided by UGC 6,722 candidates were selected under the scheme between 2014-15 and 2021-22 and fellowships to the tune of ₹ 738.85 crores were distributed during the same period.

Contributions of Maulana Abul Kalam Azad

He was a proponent of Hindu Muslim unity, opposed to Partition.
In 1912, he started a weekly journal in Urdu called Al-Hilal which played an important role in forging Hindu-Muslim unity after the bad blood created between the two communities in the aftermath of Morley-Minto reforms (1909).
Under the 1909 reforms, the provision of separate electorates for Muslims was resented by Hindu.
The government regarded Al- Hilal as a propagator of secessionist views and banned it in 1914.
Maulana Abul Kalam Azad then started another weekly called Al-Balagh with the same mission of propagating Indian nationalism and revolutionary ideas based on Hindu-Muslim unity.
In 1916, the government banned this paper too and expelled Maulana Abul Kalam Azad from Calcutta and exiled him to Bihar from where he was released after the First World War 1920.
He was one of the founding members of the Jamia Millia Islamia University, originally established at Aligarh in the United Provinces in 1920.
His Works: Basic Concept of Quran, Ghubar-eKhatir, Dars-e-Wafa, India Wins Freedom, etc.
Azad supported the Non-Cooperation Movement (1920-22) started by Gandhiji and entered the Indian National Congress in 1920.
In 1923, he was elected as the president of Indian National Congress. At an age of 35, he became the youngest person to serve as the President of the Indian National Congress.
Maulana Azad was arrested in 1930 for violation of the salt laws as part of Gandhiji’s Salt Satyagraha. He was put in Meerut jail for a year and a half.
He again became the president of Congress in 1940 and remained in the post till 1946.

Post Independence

In 1947, he became the first education minister of free India and remained at this post till his death in 1958. In his tenure, he did tremendous work for the upliftment of the country.
The first IIT, IISc, School of Planning and Architecture and the University Grants Commission were established under his tenure as the education minister.
Indian Council for Cultural Relations, for introduction of Indian culture to other nations.
11th November is observed as National Education Day every year since 2008 to commemorate his birth anniversary.
Maulana Abul Kalam Azad was posthumously awarded India’s highest civilian honour, Bharat Ratna in 1992.

5. Bt Brinjal biopiracy case: Apex court restores PIL in Karnataka HC after nearly a decade

Subject : Science and Technology

What is the issue?

In 2012, Environment Support Group (ESG), a non-profit that works to mainstream environmental and social justice in decision-making, filed a PIL before the Karnataka High Court.
The PIL was about the seed of the Bt Brinjal, developed by the public-private partnership, which was created by accessing six varieties of indigenous brinjal seeds illegally.
The high court then transferred the petition to the National Green Tribunal.
After nearly a decade, the apex court has now restored the petition back to the high court after ESG challenged the move in the Supreme Court, stating that the NGT did not have the power to look into petitions challenging constitutional validity.

What is Biopiracy?

Biopiracy refers to the practice of commercially exploiting naturally occurring biochemical or genetic material, especially by obtaining patents that restrict its future use, while failing to pay fair compensation to the community from which it originates.

What the government has done-

In this decade, 231 more crops have been removed from the protection of piracy provided in Section 3 of the Biodiversity Act, bringing the total to 421.
This would imply that these plant species/varieties can be traded/exported without any prior permission from the authorities, leading to overexploitation of the resources.
The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC), in a 2009 notification, had listed 190 plants as Normally Traded Commodities (NTC).
15 of those plants had been classified as ‘threatened’ or ‘critically endangered’.
Stripping them of protection provided in Section 3 by listing them under Section 40 of the Biodiversity Act will prove detrimental to the existence of those plants.

Section 3 of the Biological Diversity Act 2002-

Certain persons not to undertake Biodiversity related activities without the approval of the National Biodiversity Authority.

No person referred to in sub-section (2) shall without previous approval of the National Biodiversity Authority, obtain any biological resource occurring in India or knowledge associated thereto for research or for commercial utilisation or for bio-survey and bio-utilisation.
The persons who shall be required to take the approval of the National Biodiversity Authority under sub-section (1) are the following, namely: —
a person who is not a citizen of India;
a citizen of India, who is a non-resident as defined in clause (30) of section 2 of the Income-tax Act, 1961;
a body corporate, association or organisation-
not incorporated or registered in India; or
incorporated or registered in India under any law for the time being in force which has any non-Indian participation in its share capital or management.

Section 40 of the act states:

Notwithstanding anything contained in this act, the central government may, in consultation with the National Biodiversity Authority (NBA), by notification in the Official Gazette, declare that the provisions of this act shall not apply to any items, including biological resources normally traded as commodities.

How does the MoEF&CC decide on the varieties that should be removed from the Section 3 protection?

The act does not describe a criteria or procedure for exempting crops from the protection in Section 3 and including them in Section 40.
The act only mentions that the Union government has the power to make such exemptions.

Consequences-

If the trade of these species is unfettered, they may face extinction.
Garcinia imberti Bourd— an evergreen tree endemic to the Agastyamala forests of the Western Ghats — which was listed as threatened in 2012, is now critically endangered.
Chlorophytum borivilianum — a herb found in peninsular India — has moved from ‘near threatened’ to ‘critically endangered’.

BT- Brinjal-

The Bt Brinjal was developed by the University of Agricultural Sciences (UAS), Dharwad, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu UAS, Maharashtra Hybrid Seeds Company (Mahyco) and Monsanto, along with Sathguru Management Consultants Private Ltd.
They developed it by accessing the germplasm of indigenous brinjal varieties- malpur, majarigota, kudachi, udupi, 112 GO and rabkavi– without obtaining any consent of local Biodiversity Management Committees, the State Biodiversity Board and the National Biodiversity Authority.
Bt Brinjal has been developed by inserting a gene cry1Ac from a soil bacterium called Bacillus thuringiensis through an Agrobacterium-mediated gene transfer.
This genetically modified brinjal gives resistance against insects such as the Brinjal Fruit and Shoot Borer (Leucinodesorbonalis).
Once a fruit and shoot borer larva feeds on Bt brinjal plants, it injects the cry1Ac protein along with the plant tissue. It reacts with the alkaline in the insect gut, binding it to specific receptor proteins present in the membrane. It disrupts the insect’s digestive process, causing paralysis and eventually the death of the larvae.

6. Toilets spew invisible aerosol plumes with every flush — here’s the proof, captured by high-powered lasers

Subject : Science and Technology

Context-

Every time you flush a toilet, it releases plumes of tiny water droplets into the air around you. These droplets, called aerosol plumes, can spread pathogens from human waste and expose people in public restrooms to contagious diseases.

Aerosols transmissible diseases (ATB)-

Aerosol-transmissible diseases (ATDs), such as tuberculosis and measles, are transmitted by infectious particles or droplets through inhalation or direct contact with mucous membranes in the respiratory tract or eyes.
ATDs that spread via the airborne route is called airborne infectious diseases (AirID).
Aerosol particles containing pathogens are important human disease vectors.
Smaller particles that remain suspended in the air for a period of time can expose people to respiratory diseases like influenza and COVID-19 through inhalation.
Larger particles that settle quickly on surfaces can spread intestinal diseases like norovirus through contact with the hands and mouth.

Probable solution-

There are ways to reduce human exposure to toilet plumes.
An obvious strategy is to close the lid prior to flushing.
However, this does not completely eliminate aerosol plumes and many toilets in public, commercial and healthcare settings do not have lids.
Ventilation or UV disinfection systems could also mitigate exposure to aerosol plumes in the bathroom.

7. Could video streaming be as bad for the climate as driving a car? Calculating the Internet’s hidden carbon footprint

Subject: Climate Change

Context-

International Energy Agency (IEA) published a report- “Data Centres and Data Transmission Networks”

As per the report-

The estimate is based on quantitative information — the electrical energy and the amount of data used.
Driving a small car to the movie theatre may have lower carbon emissions than streaming the same movie alone at home. A two-hour film pollutes as much as a 45-minute car drive.
In 2002, global Internet usage was just 156 GB. Twenty years later, traffic is approximately 150,000 GB per second, nearly a thousand-fold increase.
The annual energy consumption of information and communication technology infrastructure is constantly at least 2,000 TWh, 5 per cent of the global electricity use.
Projections suggest that we will reach 10 per cent by 2030.

Suggestions provided are-

Turn off the camera when not needed in a video call.
Decrease the video resolution when possible, particularly on small screens.
Watch movies when they are broadcast rather than using on-demand services, which require dedicated computational power and data for each viewer.
Finally, let’s start thinking in kWh about everything we do, and do our part to help the implementation of such a standard. In this way, we will talk with the same energy currency, as we do with money.
Set up individual “energy wallets” and decide how to spend what we have in a sustainable way.

8. Understanding the cosmos: Bizarre flash of light traced back to kilonova a billion light years away

Subject : Science and Technology

Context-

A flash of light in the sky that astounded scientists by lasting close to a minute has been traced back to an explosion a billion light years away. The discovery has broken several assumptions about powerful explosions in the universe.

About the findings-

The source was found to be an astronomical event called a kilonova. The source was relatively closer- only 1 billion light years away.
Kilonovae is also known for its red colours, which is a signature of the rare, heavy elements like gold produced in their ejecta. These clues suggested that the source could be a kilonovae
The event produced very heavy elements about 1,000 times the mass of the Earth. This supports the idea that kilonovae are the main factories of gold in the universe.
These explosions take place during the merger of two neutron stars or a neutron star and a black hole.
Researchers could not identify whether the GRBs came from the merger of two neutron stars or a neutron star colliding with a black hole.
A neutron star is the collapsed core of a massive supergiant star, whereas a black hole is a place in space where gravity pulls so much that even light can not get out.
Stellar black holes are made when the centre of a very big star falls in upon itself or collapses.
When this happens, it causes a supernova — an exploding star that blasts part of the star into space.
Both kilonova and supernova produce the most energetic form of light called Gamma-ray burst (GRBs), the former is known to generate shorter pulses lasting less than 2 seconds. This new event, however, generated a GRB that lasted roughly 50 seconds.
GRBs can be divided into two classes: Long-duration (2 seconds to several minutes) and short-duration (a few milliseconds to 2 seconds) bursts.
This breaks the long-held traditional GRB paradigm that massive star collapses produce long GRBs and supernovae and neutron star mergers produce short GRBs and kilonovae.

9. Genetically Modified (GM) Mustard hybrid Dhara Mustard Hybrid-11 (DMH-11)

Subject: Environment

Context: Genetically Modified (GM) Mustard hybrid Dhara Mustard Hybrid-11 (DMH-11) has showed approximately 28 per cent more yield than the national check and 37 per cent more than the zonal checks.

What is DMH-11?

The full form of DMH is Dhara Mustard Hybrid. It is a genetically modified crop, only second after GM cotton, to get approval for being inducted into the environment for seed production and testing. GM cotton is commercially used in India.

The signature feature of DMH is that it carries a gene for herbicide resistance. i.e herbicide tolerant.
It has been developed by scientists from the Centre for Genetic Manipulation of Crop Plants (CGMCP), Delhi University.
They developed the hybrid containing two alien genes isolated from a soil bacterium called Bacillus amyloliquefaciens.
The barnase-barstar GM technology was deployed to develop DMH-11. The researchers a popular Indian mustard variety ‘Varuna’ (the barnase line) with an East European ‘Early Heera-2’ mutant (barstar).
It contains 3 important genes Bargene, Barnase and Barstar, all derived from soil bacterium.
It would be a high yielding variety of the mustard crop.
This is significant because it can help India achieve self-sufficiency in oil production and save on forex. Currently, India is the world’s leading importer of edible oils and more than 50% of the domestic demand for edible oils is met through imports.

GM Crops

GM crops are derived from plants whose genes are artificially modified, generally by inserting genetic material from another organism, to give it new properties, such as improved nutritional value, increased yield, resistance to disease or drought, tolerance to a herbicide, etc.
In India, only one GM crop, BT Cotton is approved for commercial use.

Concerns associated with DMH-11

The introduction of DMH-11 and its long-term effects on the environment were not taken into serious consideration before taking the decision to introduce them into the environment.

Details of the trial and its outcome on food safety and environmental sustainability have not been made public before sanctioning its introduction.
A potential long-term assessment of the social and economic impacts of these crops is yet to be made.
Various studies reveal that introduction of herbicide-resistant or HT crops had led to adverse impacts on the environment. This outcome had been noticed in several countries like the US, Australia, Canada and Argentina. Thus both developed and developing countries are experiencing the adverse impact of such an initiative.
The most evident outcome of these crops is the spread of herbicide-resistant weeds across large tracts of agricultural land. This can lead to catastrophe in the long run.
There is also an apprehension that the seeds of this crop cannot be used for regeneration. Hence, the farmers need to buy new seeds every time they want to grow the crops.
There is also a likelihood that these crops could lead to disruption in species diversity.
There is the ethical question of whether it is correct to violate natural organisms’ intrinsic values by mixing among species.
Also, the seeds of GM crops in general are produced only by a handful of companies. Such a monopoly can lead to seed buyers having few choices and price manipulation by corporations.

What is the Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC)?

It is one of the extended arms of the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MOEFCC). It is a statutory body.

This institution is responsible for the introduction of any GM crop into the environment in the country.
This committee is headed by the special secretary of the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change. A representative of the Department of Biotechnology is a co-chair.

10. Adhoc judges

Subject: Polity

Context: The Supreme Court said on Thursday the process suggested by the Centre for appointment of ad-hoc judges in high courts is “very cumbersome” and emphasised a simpler procedure should be adopted so the real objective of their appointment doesn’t get defeated.

Understanding Ad hoc judges in India

Article 127 of the Indian Constitution proposes that when a quorum of permanent judges is needed to continue or hold a Supreme Court session, the Chief Justice of India can nominate a High Court judge as an ad hoc Supreme Court judge for a specified time.
The chief justice of the Supreme Court can only accomplish so after consulting with the chief judge of the High Court in question and accepting the President’s prior consent.
The judge selected for this post should be eligible to serve on the Indian Supreme Court.
It is the responsibility of the judge thus designated to attend Supreme Court sessions first and foremost, above his other obligations.
While doing so, the Ad hoc judge in India carries all of the power, authorities, and advantages and the obligations of a Supreme Court judge.

Article 224A of the Constitution deals with appointment of ad-hoc judges in high courts and says “the Chief Justice of a High Court for any State may at any time, with the previous consent of the President, request any person who has held the office of a Judge of that Court or of any other High Court to sit and act as a Judge of the High Court for that State”.

11. Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is all set to get the status of a national party

Subject: Polity

Context: Ten years after it was formed, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is all set to get the status of a national party after securing nearly 13% of the vote share and five seats in the Gujarat Assembly election.

According to Election Commission (EC) rules, a party gets national status if it is recognised as a State party in four States. For recognition as a State party, it has to secure at least 6% of the valid votes polled and two seats in the Assembly or Lok Sabha elections.

Gujarat is the fourth State where the AAP will be recognised as a State party. While the party has governments in Delhi and Punjab, in Goa, it had won two Assembly seats and secured 6.67% of the votes.

Recognition of National and State Parties

The Election Commission registers political parties for the purpose of elections and grants them recognition as national or state parties on the basis of their poll performance.
The other parties are simply declared as registered unrecognised parties.
The recognition granted by the Commission to the parties determines their right to certain privileges like allocation of the party symbols, provision of time for political broadcasts on the state-owned television and radio stations and access to electoral rolls.
Further, the recognized parties need only one proposer for filing the nomination. Also, these parties are allowed to have forty “star campaigners” during the time of elections and the registered–unrecognized parties are allowed to have twenty “star campaigners”.
The travel expenses of these star campaigners are not included in the election expenditure of the candidates of their parties.
Every national party is allotted a symbol exclusively reserved for its use throughout the country.
Similarly, every state party is allotted a symbol exclusively reserved for its use in the state or states in which it is so recognised. A registered-unrecognised party, on the other hand, can select a symbol from a list of free symbols.
The national parties and state parties are also known as all-India parties and regional parties respectively.

Conditions for Recognition as a National Party

A party is recognised as a national party if any of the following conditions is fulfilled:
If it secures six per cent of valid votes polled in any four or more states at a general election to the Lok Sabha or to the legislative assembly; and, in addition, it wins four seats in the Lok Sabha from any state or states; or
If it wins two per cent of seats in the Lok Sabha at a general election; and these candidates are elected from three states; or
If it is recognised as a state party in four states.

Conditions for Recognition as a State Party

A party is recognised as a state party in a state if any of the following conditions is fulfilled:
If it secures 6% of the valid votes polled in the state at a general election to the legislative assembly of the state concerned; and, in addition, it wins 2 seats in the assembly of the state concerned; or
If it secures 6% of the valid votes polled in the state at a general election to the Lok Sabha from the state concerned; and, in addition, it wins 1 seat in the Lok Sabha from the state concerned; or
If it wins 3% of seats in the legislative assembly at a general election to the legislative assembly of the state concerned or 3 seats in the assembly, whichever is more; or
If it wins 1 seat in the Lok Sabha for every 25 seats or any fraction thereof allotted to the state at a general election to the Lok Sabha from the state concerned; or
If it secures 8% of the total valid votes polled in the state at a General Election to the Lok Sabha from the state or to the legislative assembly of the state. This condition was added in 2011.

As of now, there are Eight national parties in the country — BJP, Congress, Trinamool Congress, Nationalist Congress Party, CPI, CPI(M), BSP and the National Peoples Party, Meghalaya. Aap when approved will become the ninth one.

Sl. No.	Name of the Party (Abbreviation)	Symbol Reserved
1.	Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP)	Elephant (In all States/U.T.s except in Assam)
2.	Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)	Lotus
3.	Communist Party of India (CPI)	Ears of Corn and Sickle
4.	Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPM)	Hammer, Sickle and Star
5.	Indian National Congress (INC)	Hand
6.	Nationalist Congress Party (NCP)	Clock
7.	All India Trinamool Congress (AITC)	Flowers and Grass
8.	National People’s Party (NPP)	Book
9.	Aam Admi party	Broom

FIRST NATIONAL PARTY FROM NORTH-EAST

The National People’s Party (NPP) has been recognised as the eighth national party by the Election Commission of India, making it the first regional party of the north-east to be accorded the status.

NPP was given the national party status for fulfilling the following conditions:
- In the general election to the Legislative Assembly of Arunachal, the party polled 14.55% (Polling more than 6% of the total valid votes in the last general election) of the valid votes.
- The NPP, in addition, won five out of the sixty seats in the Legislative Assembly of Arunachal Pradesh.
- Based on above mentioned two criteria, the party fulfilled the requirements for recognition as State Party in the State of Arunachal Pradesh.
- Thereby, after its recognition as State party in Arunachal Pradesh, it has become a recognized State party in four States i.e. Manipur, Meghalaya, Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh.
- Thus the Party fulfilled the eligibility condition for being recognized as National Party.
- Further, as per the request of the Party, the symbol “Book” has been allotted as the reserved symbol for the ‘National People’s Party’.
Before NPP’s elevation, India had seven national parties.
- Trinamool Congress, led by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, became the seventh in September 2016.
The National People’s Party (NPP) was formed in 2013 by the current Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma’s father and former Lok Sabha Speaker, late PurnoAgitok Sangma.

Benenfits of National Party in India:

Recognition as a national or a State party ensures that the election symbol of that party can’t be used by any other political party in polls across India.
Recognized ‘State’ and ‘National’ party requires only one proposer to file nomination.
The recognized ‘state’ and National Parties are given two sets of electoral rolls free of cost by the Election Commission.
In addition to this the candidates contesting on the ticket of National or state party get a copy of the electoral roll free of cost during the general elections.
The National parties receive land or building from the government to establish their party office.
National parties can have upto40 star campaigners while other can have upto 20 star campaigners.
The expenditure incurred on the travelling and other expenses of star campaigners is not included in the election expenditure of the party candidate.
National Parties get the time slot on the national and state television & Radio to address the people and convey their message to the mass people.
The Election Commission had amended a rule on August 22, 2016, under which it will now review the national and state status of political parties in every ten years instead of five.
So now the status of present national and state party will remain intact till 2026
It is observed that a lot of political parties are created to ’round trip’ the black money into white. The Election Commission has the mandate to register a political party, but it can’t deregister any party. The EC is demanding to get power to deregister a party. But this demand is pending with the Law Ministry.
But the Commission had used its powers under Article 324 of the Constitution to “delist” parties for being dormant and not contesting elections for a long time.
So it is the need of the hour that government should take every strict action to bring out transparency in the elections.

When can a party lose its tag?

Once recognised as a national or a state party, a political party retains that status irrespective of its performance in the next elections.
It loses the given status only if it fails to fulfil any of the conditions for two successive Assembly and two successive Lok Sabha elections.

12. FSSAI’s star ratings

Subject: Government Schemes

News : FSSAI’s star ratings for food products may mislead consumers: experts ; Experts say IIM-Ahmedabad study is flawed in ‘design and interpretation’

Context:

The rating will be the first such in India, a country burdened with lifestyle diseases, and is aimed at guiding consumers to opt for healthy food. The HSR format ranks a packaged food item based on salt, sugar, and fat content and the rating will be printed on the front of the package.
The FSSAI, a body under the ministry of health and family welfare (MoHFW) had directed IIM-A to conduct a large-scale survey to analyse major FoP Labelling models that are available across the world and identify one which is easy to understand and can induce behaviour change among Indian consumers. In India, packaged food has had back-of-package (BOP) nutrient information in detail but no FoP Labelling, which, as global experience suggests, has the ability to nudge healthy consumption behaviour with respect to packaged food.
Following the report, the FSSAI has sought feedback from industry associations for evaluation by a scientific panel so that the HSR model can be included in the draft regulation formulated by the government.
The food regulator has exempted milk and dairy products from the proposed FoP Labelling, as they were in the earlier FSSAI draft notified in 2019. Also, the scientific panel has recommended voluntary implementation of FoP Labelling from 2023 and a transition period of four years for making it mandatory.

What are Health Star Ratings?

Food product packaging is often confusing or distracting, particularly when there are so many different options available on supermarket shelves. This can make it hard to understand the nutritional value of products.
The Health Star Rating system is a front of pack labelling system which helps you quickly and easily compare the nutrition of similar products that you typically see in the same part of the shop. The system provides a rating from a half to five stars – the more stars, the healthier the choice. When looking for the stars, remember that they are meant to provide a comparison within similar product categories only. For example, the system helps choose between one breakfast cereal and another, not between yoghurt and pasta sauce.

Front-of-Pack (FoP) Labelling System

FoP labelling system has long been listed as one of the global best practices to nudge consumers into healthy food choices.
In India, FoP labelling on packaged foods was recommended in 2014 by an expert committee constituted by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI). However, the country has not moved ahead on it towards bringing in a law. In 2019, Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) had brought the spotlight on this concern by highlighting the fact that most of such junk foods would be labelled `red’ as per the draft FSSAI law.
CSE also pointed towards the delays and dilutions in bringing forth the legislation, because of opposition from the powerful packaged food industry. The industry’s pressure tactics continue till date.
Over the last year, the apex food regulator has been brainstorming with experts to launch FoPL in India. A petition seeking direction to the government to frame guidelines on HSR and impact assessment for food items and beverages was filed in the Supreme Court in June last year
At present, countries such as the UK, Chile, Mexico, New Zealand, and Australia have FoPL.

Key points about Health Star Ratings:

Packaged foods will have a number of stars displayed on them which will indicate whether the item is healthy or unhealthy. This ‘health start’ display on the package will help customers ascertain whether the packaged food is harmful or healthy.
The star rating will be determined by the amount of fats, sugar, and salt in the food item.
The system will be similar to the one that is being used by the Bureau of Energy Efficiency for assessing the energy efficiency in electrical devices.
The ratings will be placed in front of the packets as studies show that this method is much more effective towards affecting the choice of the consumer.

Why FSSAI want to adopt Health Start Rating?

This move follows a report by the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad (IIM-A) on the impact of front-of-the-pack labelling for packaged and processed foods. The study endorsed the HSR format as the best suited to Indians in helping to choose healthier packaged food items under a new policy on Front of Packaging Labelling (FoPL).
IIM-A has recommended HSR as the most preferred format by Indian consumers under proposed FoPL in India. This national survey by IIM-A is the voice of more than 20,000 people across the country and none of the countries in the world has surveyed people at such a large scale. FoPL will bring a transformational reform in the society as it will encourage healthy eating. It will also help to reduce the burden of Non- Communicable Diseases (NCDs) in the country.

Argument against :

The move has upset public health experts who favour the warning label system such as a black-and-white stop symbol used in Chile or the red warning symbol in Israel for each of the three ingredients — salt, sugar and fat.
“Warning signs educate consumers about harmful ingredients present in a food product and help them make healthy choices. They also give a repetitive educational message so that even for domestic cooking or buying street food the warning bell goes off.
This educational component of a properly constructed warning system is missing in the health star[s] system, which are like a movie rating system and are of no use.
According to the expert the system being proposed by the food regulator was “devious” as it misleads consumers about a product’s nutrition profile.
Under the health star rating system, an algorithm assigns a product a certain number of stars based on “positive” components (fibre, protein, and fruit, vegetable, nut and legume content) balanced against other components (energy, sugars, sodium, and saturated fat).
Experts argue that this is divorced from science as the presence of high quantities of sugar can’t be offset by the so-called positive ingredients.

Conclusion :

The system is not intended to replace general dietary advice, such as that provided by the FSSAI Guidelines, which recommend eating a balanced diet that includes a variety of nutritious foods every day.
A high star rating doesn’t necessarily mean the product provides for a complete, balanced diet and should replace items from other core food groups or be eaten to excess.
In addition, many healthy foods, like fresh fruit and vegetables and lean meats, are not generally packaged and will not display or will have a Health Star Rating. Fresh fruit and vegetables are now eligible to display a 5 star health rating.
Instead of increasing packaging, food retailers are encouraged to use posters, shelf wobblers or other means to display the Health Star Rating