Mains Factly August 2023

  • September 4, 2023
  • Posted by: OptimizeIAS Team
  • Category: Friday Factly
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GS1

Geography

  • India completely depends on imports for its lithium requirements. Its only official find so far is to the tune of 5.9 million tones in J&K & currently price determination for auctions are being carried out by the Ministry of Mines.
  • A report by the International Energy Agency earlier this year noted that China holds at least 60 percent of the world’s manufacturing capacity for most-manufactured technologies, such as solar photovoltaic & wind systems & 40 percent of electrolyser manufacturing. It is said that Critical minerals needed for these industries were also highly concentrated, with the Democratic Republic of Congo supplying 70 percent of cobalt, China 60 percent of rare earth elements & Indonesia 40 percent of nickel. Australia accounts for 55 percent of lithium mining & Chile for 25 percent

Society

  • 2019 ILPO Report “A Quantum Leap for Gender Equality” identified unpaid care work as the biggest impediment to women’s formal employment, as it engaged 21.7 percent of women b/w 18-54 years of age, as opposed to 1.7 years of men

GS2

Judiciary

  • Pendency of 5 crore court cases a matter of grave concern: Kiren Rijiju

Elections

  • At Rs 14,259 crore, assets of Karnataka MLAs highest among states: analysis

Internet Shutdowns

  • Internet Shutdowns are growing at an alarming rate in India. The country was second in the world in the first half of 2023, according to Surf Shark’s half yearly analysis of Internet shut downs worldwide

Health & Poverty

  • Household’s out-of-pocket expenditure (00PE) on healthcare figure has improved over the years to 48.21 per cent in 2018-2019 from 69.4 per cent in 2004-2005, according to the National Health Accounts, it still remains high. This runs a severe risk of pushing people into poverty.
  • High OOPE on health is impoverishing some 55 million Indians annually, with over 17 per cent households incurring catastrophic levels of health expenditures every year, a World Health Organization (WHO) report from March 2022 estimated.
  • Indian households spent Rs 2,87,573 crore on healthcare services, accounting for a major chunk of the total health expenditure. In comparison, the country’s Current Health Expenditure is Rs 5,40,246 crore, where the government has contributed Rs 2,42,219 crore. This includes capital expenditure.
  • While the proportion of OOPE on health has decreased over the years, it remains much higher than the global average of 18.1 per cent as of 2019, according to the World Bank.

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GS 3

Environment

  • Tiger reserves are home to nearly 50 per cent of threatened bird species of India & many other endangered species that find refugee within them.
  • A 2019 Report evaluating 10 tiger reserves based on 27 ecosystems services estimated that their annual monetary value is up to Rs 16, 202.11 crore. This means, for every rupee we spent on conserving tigers in these reserves, we received a benefit of up to Rs 7488. Additionally, in terms of water provisioning, these tigers’ reserves provided benefits wort Rs 330 billion.
  • India among the 12 countries responsible for 52% of the world’s mismanaged plastic waste
  • A/q to CSE’s Report “The Plastic Life Cycle“, India recycles 12.3 percent of its plastic waste & incinerates 20 percent.
  • As per the latest India State of Forest Report 2021, India’s total forest cover is 7,13,789 sq km — 21.71 percent of the country’s geographical area. The forest cover of the country has increased by 1540 sq km & the tree cover has increased by 721 sq km compared to the assessment in 2019.
  • A/q to the World Bank, India might suffer a staggering 2.8 percent GDP loss by 2050 due to climate change-related impacts

Livestock

  • Livestock account for 14.5% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions. Methane is the 2nd biggest greenhouse gas after carbon dioxide

Irrigation

  • “Of the farmers using irrigation in the country, 70-80 percent are groundwater dependent. And more intensive irrigation frequently means more income”, stated the report released during the launch of Water, Environment, Land & Livelihoods (WELL) Labs, a new Bangalore based organizations, July 27, 2023

Land Reforms

  • Based on household surveys, the Sample Survey Office estimates that 13 percent of land in India is leased. However, according to the Agri Census statistics based on land records, just 0.36 percent of the land is shown as officially leased.
  • To mitigate this disparity, states have to come forward to adopt the Model (Agricultural) Land Leasing Act proposed by NITI Aayog in 2016.
  • It is also estimate that the 36 percent of India’s tenant farmers were completely landless&56 percent owned less than one hectare. Across the country, over 20 percent of land holdings are farmed by tenant farmers who cannot access facilities like credit & other support service

Economic Growth

  • There is widely held assumption in India that employment is low because investment is low. The investment rate fell from 33.5 percent of GDP in 2014-15 to 27.3 percent in 2020-21, but touched 33.9 percent & 33.8 percent in FY18 & FY19, respectively. The investment ratio touched 35.3 percent in Q4 f FY23.

Fossil Fuel Subsidies

  • India ranks 4th among the top 5 nations in fossil fuel subsidies with around $350 billion (over Rs 28 Lakhs)
  • Globally, total fossil fuel subsidies amounted to $7 trillion in 2022, equivalent to nearly 7.1 percent of Global GDP
  • Globally, full price reform would generate net welfare benefits of about 3.6 percent of GDP

Manufacturing

  • India’s manufacturing sector has underperformed when compared to other nations, with a meagre share of 16.3 percent of the GDP. This is much less than that of China & Korea, whose manufacturing accounts for 29 percent of the GDP & 27 percent in Thailand. In India, 65 percent of the population is below the age of 35 & the manufacturing sector will play a key role in trapping the potential of this demographic dividend
  • Manufacturing in India has stagnated at 15-16% of GDP, while some major Asian countries are at 35-40%. We have the lowest manufacturing share in the gross exports in whole of Asia; India is no longer the fastest growing economy in the region & it lags behind Bangladesh, Vietnam & Cambodia in terms of growth performance.

Income Tax

  • During the last 4 years, the number of income Tax filers has increased from 6.47 crore in 2019-20 to 7.40 crore in 2022-23. At the same time, zero-tax filers increased from 2.90 crore to 5.16 crore in 2022-23 (that is, the zero tax filers were 45 per cent of total filers in 2019-20, which increased to 70 percent in 2022-23)

Climate Change

  • As we approach 2030, reports indicate that external climate finance of $1 trillion per year will be required, significantly exceeding the current mobilized amount of $50-80 billion annually. Furthermore, in 2020, only $83.3 billion was provided to developing & emerging economies, often in the form of concessional & non-concessional loans

Climate Crisis & Climate Finance

  • A 2021 Report by World Bank estimated that over 200 million people will be displaced because of the climate crisis by 2050
  • As we approach 2030, reports indicate that external climate finance of $1 trillion per year will be required, significantly exceeding the current mobilized amount of $50-80 billion annually. Furthermore, in 2020, only $83.3 billion was provided to developing & emerging economics, often in the form of concessional & non-concessional loans.

Economic Growth

  • The investment rate fell from 35.5 percent of GDP in 2014-15 to 27.3 percent in 2020-21, but touched 33.9 percent & 33.8 percent in FY18 & FY19, respectively. The investment ratio touched 35.3 percent in Q4 of FY23

Employment

  • Today the unorganized or the informal sector account for more than 90 percent of the work-force in the country & almost 50 percent of the national income evolves from this sector.
  • A whopping 1.311 crore people found new formal jobs in India in FY23, until February. This marks an 18.2 per cent increase in formal job creation, compared with the corresponding period in FY22.
  • Chancel & Piketty (2019) estimate that the top 1% earners in India captured less than 21% of the total income in the 1930s, but this was drastically reduced to 6% in the early 1980s & then rose to 22% during the liberalization era.

Resource Mobilization

  • The number of Income Tax Returns filled by the July 31 deadline touched a new high of Rs 6.77 crore this year, or 16.1% more from July 2022, with 53.7 lakh filing ITRs for the first time

AI Economy

  • A 2021 report by the McKinsey Global Institutes found that AI could add $957 billion to India’s GDP by 2035

Financial Inclusions

  • Per capita women deposits increased by Rs 4618 in the last 5 years from Rs 37, 885 in FY19 to Rs42, 503 in FY23, a/q to SBI’s Economic Research Department (ERD)

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Agriculture

  • Climate change can reduce agricultural income by 15-25 percent; it is high time that rationale of climate resilient agriculture (CRA) is valued & implemented more rigorously
  • Only 6 percent of farmers in the country get the benefit of MSP. The livelihood of about 50 percent of the country’s population depends on agriculture & agriculture-related activities. A/q to a 2019 NABARD report, the average doubt burden on a farmer’s family is over Rs 1 lakh
  • Agricultural Census data shows that there were about 121 million agricultural holdings in India in 2000-01. Around 99 million were small & marginal farmers. Average size has declined from 2.3 ha. In 1970-71 to 1.37 ha. In 2000-01, small & marginal farmers account for more than 80% of total farm hhs. But their share in operated area is around 44%. Thus, there are significant land inequalities in India.
  • The role of small farms in development & poverty reduction is well recognized (Lipton, 2006). The global experience of growth & poverty reduction shows that GDP growth originating outside agriculture (WDR, 2008). Small holdings play important role in raising agricultural development & poverty reduction

Disaster

  • The Asian Region was battered by extreme events driven by climate change, with flooding emerging as a particularly frequent & damaging threat, a new report by the suffered the third highest losses in the region on account of flooding, amounting to over $4.2 billion, the report found

Infrastructure

  • Cargo movement on the National Waterways has increased by 16 percent in FY23, over previous fiscal
  • Indian Railways is also among the largest rail networks worldwide & its route length network covers more than 67, 956 kms, with 13, 169 passenger trains & 8479 freight trains, plying 23 million travellers & 3 million tones (MT) of freight daily from 7349 stations

Energy

  • Estimated potential of Tidal & Wave power in India is 12, 455 MW & 41, 300 MW respectively

Space Tech

  • With the success of Chandrayaan-3, India now has became a space power with a proven track record. India’s space economy is expected to grow to $12.8 billion by 2025
  • Overall countries have made 47 attempts at soft landing on the moon of which only 21, including Chandrayaan-3. have been successful.

Irrigation

Science & Technology