Daily Prelims Notes 6 March 2021

March 6, 2021
Posted by: OptimizeIAS Team
Category: DPN

No Comments

Daily Prelims Notes

6 March 2021

By

Santosh Sir

All 6 Prelims qualified

4 CSE Mains qualified

If I can do it, you can too

Table Of Contents

1. Combined Commanders Conference (CCC)

Subject: Security

Context: A three-day military commander level conference is going on in Kevadia (Gujrat).

Concept:

It is a premier brain-storming event of the Military Commanders from the three Services.
Top leadership is reviewing the security situation and defence preparedness of the Armed Forces, and deliberating pertinent organisational issues for evolving a joint military vision for the future.
Unlike past it has expanded to make it a multi-layered, interactive, informal and informed event with the added participation of about 30 Officers and soldiers of various ranks from the three Services.
Defence minister and the PM will also take part in three-day conference. It will also see attendance of NSA and officers from defence ministry.
CCC started in 2014 from Delhi and since then has moved to different places.

2. High level national Committee to commemorate 75 years of independence

Subject: Polity

Context: A 259-member committee has been formed to recommend and guide celebration of 75 years of Indian independence.

Concept:

The committee will be headed by PM.
It will see representation from different walks of life like former president (PratibhaPatil), governors, CMs, Eminent citizens, Chief of defence staff, Chief of three defence wings and opposition leaders.
It will provide policy guidelines and direction for the commemoration of 75-year of independence at the national and international level.
The celebration will start 75 days before the day and continue up to August 15, 2023 during which the committee will invite suggestion and recommendations for celebration.

3. T1C2 tiger

Subject: Environment

Context: T1C2 was released into wild in Pench Tiger Reserve

Concept:

T1C2 is a 3-year-old tigress whose mother “Avni”, a maneatertigeress was killed 2 years ago.
It was released into wild after National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) cleared its release into wild.
It was after radio collaring of the tigress. Radio collaring is primarily used for tracking the movement and activity patterns of the tagged animal, with the signals being sent to a handheld device or to a computer via a satellite.

About Pench tiger reserve

It is one of the premier tiger reserves of India and the first one to straddle across two states – Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra.
The part of the reserve in Madhya Pradesh is nestled in the southern slopes of the Satpura range of Central India.
It comprises of the Indira PriyadarshiniPench National Park, the Pench Mowgli Sanctuary and a buffer.
It was portrayed in the famous “The Jungle Book” by Rudyard Kipling.
River pench flows into reserve cutting it into two from North to South before going on to join the Kanhan River, The Pench River which emerges from Mahadeo Hills of Satpura Ranges.
The Indian Wolf, Sloth Bear, Bengal royal tiger is major attraction of the reserve.

4. Inert waste

Subject: Environment

Context: Members of the Ridge Management Board (RMB) Friday decided to form an expert panel to study a proposal made by the South MCD for dumping “inert material” in Bhatti mines at Asola Bhatti Wildlife Sanctuary.

Concept:

Generally, there are three categories of landfills (place where waste):

landfills for hazardous waste
landfills for non-hazardous waste
landfills for inert waste.

About inert waste

Those waste which is neither biologically nor chemically and is waste which will not decompose
Ex- sand, concrete, Clay, Sub soil, Chalk and Rubble
Usually, it doesn’t pose a threat to the environment, or the health of animals or other people and will not endanger the quality of watercourses.
However, large amount of this type of waste can make it an issue.

5. Private members bill

Subject: Polity

Context: The MP state legislature passed a private bill to change the name of Hoshangabad to Narmadapuram through voice vote.

Concept:

Every member of Parliament/legislature, who is not a Minister, is called a Private Member.
A private member’s Bill is different from a public Bill and is piloted by an MP/MLA who is a private member.
Government Bills are backed by the government and also reflect its legislative agenda. The admissibility of a private Bill is decided by the Chairman in the case of the Rajya Sabha and the Speaker in the case of the Lok Sabha
the Member must give at least a month’s notice, for the House Secretariat to examine it for compliance with constitutional provisions and rules on legislation (Public bill can be introduced on any day).
Unlike public bill which can be introduced any day, the private members bill can be introduced only on Friday.
Private members bill has lesser chance of being passed.
As per PRS Legislative, no private member’s Bill has been passed by Parliament since 1970. To date, Parliament has passed 14 such Bills, six of them in 1956.

6. Overseas Citizen of India (OCI)

Subject: Polity

Context: The government issued a consolidated list of rights that OCI enjoy.

Concept:

The OCI scheme came with the amendment of the Citizenship Act in 2005. Further in 2015 it was merged with the PIO (Person of Indian Origin) card.
Individuals who do not have citizenship of any other country are not eligible to gain an OCI status.
Individuals whose parents or grandparents hold citizenship of Pakistan and Bangladesh are not eligible to apply.

The Ministry of Home Affairs defines an OCI as a person who:

Was a citizen of India on or after 26th January 1950; or
Was eligible to become a citizen of India on 26th January 1950; or
Belong to a territory which became part of India after 15 august 1947; or
Is a child or grandchild of such a person; or
Is a minor child of the persons from any of the above category or either or both of the parents are citizens of India.
For foreign origin spouse of the Citizen of India or An OCI card holder: 1) Whose marriage is registered 2) Married for more than two years before the date of application

Benefits of OCI card:

OCI cardholders can enter India multiple times, get a multipurpose lifelong visa to visit India, and are exempt from registering with Foreigners Regional Registration Office (FRRO).
If an individual is registered as an OCI for a period of five years, he/she is eligible to apply for Indian citizenship.
At all Indian international airports, OCI cardholders are provided with special immigration counters.
OCI cardholders can open special bank accounts in India, buy the non-farm property and exercise ownership rights and can also apply for a Permanent Account Number (PAN) card.
On par with the Indian nationals in the matter of domestic air fares, entry fees to monuments and public places.
Parity with Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) in adoption of children, appearing in competitive exams, purchase or sale of immovable property barring agricultural land and farmhouses, and pursuing professions such as doctors, lawyers, architects, and chartered accountants

Limitations

OCI cardholders do not get voting rights, cannot hold a government job and purchase agricultural or farmland.
They cannot travel to restricted areas without government permission.
Need prior permission for a set of activities that include research, journalism, mountaineering, missionary or Tablighi work, and visits to restricted areas

7. Cryptocurrency bill and challenges

Context: The Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) has claimed that the secrecy shrouds proposed Cryptocurrency and Regulation of Official Digital Currency Bill, 2021.

Concept:

About cryptocurrency

Cryptocurrency is a digital or virtual currency that is secured by cryptography, which makes it nearly impossible to counterfeit or double-spend. Many cryptocurrencies are decentralized networks based on blockchain technology—a distributed ledger enforced by a disparate network of computers.Ex- Bitcoin and Ethereum

Additional info

IAMAI said that the draft bill hardly saw any effort towards consultation.
The law is proposed for existing laws to deal with cryptos are inadequate.
It plans to introduce a law banning trade in all cryptocurrencies — except for those issued by the government itself
In 2018, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) had issued a circular banning the provision of banking services to any entity using cryptocurrencies (it was indirectly an end to all crypto exchanges functioning in the country)
The Supreme Court (Internet and Mobile Association of India vs RBI), however, struck the circular down on grounds of proportionality.
The Doctrine of Proportionality entails that any public authority must maintain a sense of proportion between the goal it wants to achieve and the means it employs to achieve it.
The S C Garg Committee on cryptocurrencies had earlier raised various concerns around such assets, holding the same view of a blanket ban. Among the issues raised was that cryptos do not have any of the benefits of fiat currency; and that they have a degree of pseudo anonymity.

Challenging the ban constitutionally and otherwise

The current challenge to the bill is also on ground of doctrine of proportionality.
Right to trade in cryptos under Article 19 of the Constitution, which was recognised in the IAMAI case
the right to property, especially since the apex court has previously recognised crypto assets as “intangible property”
Challenge to right to free speech and expression (as US courts have previously said that the encryption software in its source code form must be protected by the First Amendment)
Arbitrariness of decision by banning it violates right to equality under art 14. Ex- In creating a Central Bank Digital Currency and banning all others, the Centre may be accused of being arbitrary
Differentiation between public and private cryptos is vague and confusing
value-transfer role does not mean it has to be a fiat currency, such as in the case of gold or even a loyalty points system, which can coexist with other legal tender.
Pseudo anonumity also does not hold as law enforcement has been successfully able to trace offenders by analysing blockchain and de-anonymizing transactions.

About fiat money

Fiat money is government-issued currency that is not backed by a physical commodity, such as gold or silver, but rather by the government that issued it.

8. GVA vs GDP

Subject: Economy

Context: Report prepared by the Finance Ministry’s Economic Affairs Department has said that using GVA (Gross Value Added) rather than GDP (Gross Domestic Products) for tracking the economy in a better way.

Concept:

India opted to make major changes to its compilation of national accounts and bring the whole process into conformity with the United Nations System of National Accounts (SNA) of 2008.
As per the SNA, gross value added, is defined as the value of output minus the value of intermediate consumption and is a measure of the contribution to GDP made by an individual producer, industry or sector.
It gives the rupee value of goods and services produced in the economy after deducting the cost of inputs and raw materials used.
GVA can be described as the main entry on the income side of the nation’s accounting balance sheet, and from an economics perspective represents the supply side.
It provides the rupee value for the number of goods and services produced in an economy after deducting the cost of inputs and raw materials that have gone into the production of those goods and services.
In the new series, in which the base year was shifted to 2011-12 from the earlier 2004-05, GVA at basic prices became the primary measure of output across the economy’s various sectors and when added to net taxes on products amounts to the GDP.
Earlier, India had been measuring GVA at ‘factor cost’ till the new methodology was adopted in which GVA at ‘basic prices’ became the primary measure of economic output.
GVA at basic prices will include production taxes and exclude production subsidies
As part of the data on GVA, the NSO provides both quarterly and annual estimates of output — measured by the gross value added — by economic activity. The sectoral classification provides data on eight broad categories that span the gamut of goods produced and services provided in the economy. These are:

Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing
Mining and Quarrying
Manufacturing
Electricity, Gas, Water Supply and other Utility Services
Construction
Trade, Hotels, Transport, Communication and Services related to Broadcasting
Financial, Real Estate and Professional Services
Public Administration, Defence and other Services.

GDP

It is the total monetary or market value of all the finished goods and services produced within a country’s borders in a specific time period.
GDP includes all private and public consumption, government outlays, investments, additions to private inventories, paid-in construction costs, and the foreign balance of trade. (Exports are added to the value and imports are subtracted).
Nominal GDP is evaluated at current market prices and real GDP is inflation-adjusted measure that reflects the quantity of goods and services produced by an economy in a given year, with prices held constant from year to year in order to separate out the impact of inflation or deflation from the trend in output over time.
GDP can be calculated in three ways, using expenditures, production, or incomes.

GDP and GVA relationship

Gross Value Added = GDP + subsidies on products – taxes on products
GVA represents supply-side perspective of economy, unlike GDP which is a demand side approach. This makes GVA a good estimate for policymakers.
GVA as a measure is important for attracting investment as any country which seeks to attract capital and investment from overseas does need to conform to the global best practices.
GVA is considered better estimate for economy as sharp increase in the output (as measured in GDP) can be due to higher tax collections due to factors like better compliance and hardly reflection of production

9. Bridging trial

Subject: Science and Technology

Context: The scientific community is divided in its opinion on the need for such a trial in current context of pandemic.

Concept:

A bridging trial performed in the new region to provide clinical data on efficacy, safety, dosage and dose regimen in the new region that will allow extrapolation of the foreign clinical data to the population in the new region
It provides additional pharmacokinetic information(to determine the fate of substances administered to a living organism.) in the population of the new region.
Bridging trials are required to understand how a vaccine works on the local population, as there are issues of ethnicity, genetic variation and so on
When no bridging study is needed to provide clinical data for efficacy, a pharmacokinetic study in the new region may be considered as a bridging study.