Daily Prelims Notes 10 March 2021

March 10, 2021
Posted by: OptimizeIAS Team
Category: DPN

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Daily Prelims Notes

10 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. VACCINE PASSPORT

Subject: Science & tech

Context: Israel became the first country to introduce a certification system that allows those who have been vaccinated against Covid-19 to access certain facilities and events.

Israel’s “vaccine passport” is meant for public facilities such as restaurants, gyms, and hotels in the country — but certification of this kind has a bearing on the full resumption of international air travel as well.

Concept:

A vaccination pass or passport is documentation proving that the individual has been vaccinated against Covid-19.
Some versions will also allow people to show that they have tested negative for the virus, and therefore can more easily travel.
The versions being worked on now by airlines, industry groups, nonprofits and technology companies will be something people can pull up on their mobile phone as an app or part of their digital wallet.
As more people are inoculated, there will likely be aspects of public life in which only people who have been vaccinated are allowed to participate.
In order to travel internationally, government and health authorities will need to know if you have been vaccinated or have tested negative for the virus.
Many countries are already requiring proof of a negative test for entry.

2. PARLIAMENT ADJOURNMENT

Subject: Polity

Context: Both the Houses of Parliament adjourned without taking up any major agenda on Tuesday too, as the Opposition continued protests demanding a debate on the increasing prices of petroleum products.

Concept:

Adjournment

An adjournment suspends the work in a sitting for a specified time, which may be hours, days or weeks. In this case, the time of reassembly is specified.
An adjournment only terminates a sitting and not a session of the House.
The power of adjournment lies with the presiding officer of the House.

Adjournment Sine Die

Adjournment sine die means terminating a sitting of Parliament for an indefinite period. In other words, when the House is adjourned without naming a day for reassembly, it is called adjournment sine die.
The power of adjournment sine die lies with the presiding officer of the House.
Note: The presiding officer of a House can call a sitting of the House before the date or time to which it has been adjourned or at any time after the House has been adjourned sine die.

3. DIGIDHAN MISSION

Subject : Current events / Government Schemes

Context : According to official data on the DigiDhan Dashboard, the total number of digital transactions between April 1, 2020, and March 8, 2021,stood at 4,877.51 crore, against the 4,579.94 crore transactions clocked in 2019-20.

Concept:

Hon’ble Finance Minister in his Budget Speech of FY 2017-18, announced a target of 2,500 crore digital transaction for 2017-18 and had announced that a dedicated Mission shall be set up for this purpose.
In pursuance of this vision, “DIGIDHAN Mission” has been set under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), with an objective to achieve the target of 2500 crore digital payment transactions in financial year 2017-18 and to enable digital payment infrastructure throughout the country.
The Digidhan mission will not only work on spreading literacy about online payments, but will also undertake promotion of best practices, processes, adoption and on-boarding systems across the ecosystem for a wide and quick uptake.

Digidhan Dashboard

To monitor the growth of digital payments, MeitY has developed “Digidhan Dashboard”, a platform for accurate reporting, monitoring and analysis of all digital payments transactions occurring in the country and enablement of infrastructure through deployment of Physical/Mobile/BHIM AadhaarPoS devices.
It will help in tracking the growth of digital payment transactions in the country and will provide inputs for effective planning of digital payment promotional activities.
The Dashboard includes data of various modes of digital payment transactions. It provides two levels of access.
General access provides details of growth of digital payment and related infrastructure. Privileged access is given to the stakeholders to review their performance for better implementation and promotion of digital payments.

4. NATIONAL SOCIAL ASSISTANCE PROGRAMME

Subject : Government Schemes

Context: The Centre must increase the “meagre” pensions provided for poor senior citizens, widows and disabled people, said the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Rural Development.

Concept :

National Social Assistance Programme (NSAP):

The NSAP is a Centrally Sponsored Scheme under the Ministry of Rural Development. It came into effect from 15th August,1995.
It represents a significant step towards the fulfillment of the DPSP in Article 41 of the Constitution.
In particular, Article 41 of the Constitution of India directs the State to provide public assistance to its citizens in case of unemployment, old age, sickness and disablement and in other cases of undeserved want within the limit of its economic capacity and development.
It aims to provide financial assistance to the elderly, widows and persons with disabilities in the form of social pensions.
Coverage: It currently covers more than three crore people who are below the poverty line (BPL), including about 80 lakh widows, 10 lakh disabled and 2.2 crore elderly.

Presently NSAP comprises of five schemes, namely:

Indira Gandhi National Old Age Pension Scheme (IGNOAPS).
Indira Gandhi National Widow Pension Scheme (IGNWPS).
Indira Gandhi National Disability Pension Scheme (IGNDPS).
National Family Benefit Scheme NFBS).
Annapurna

5. BASE EFFECT

Subject : Economics

Context: Crisil expects India’s gross domestic product (GDP) growth to rebound to 11 per cent in fiscal 2022 after an estimated 8 per cent contraction this fiscal. The analytics company sees growth next fiscal (FY22) to be a story of two halves, with base effect lifting the first half and broad-based growth in the second.

Concept:

The base effect refers to the impact of the rise in price level (i.e. last year’s inflation) in the previous year over the corresponding rise in price levels in the current year (i.e., current inflation).
If the price index had risen at a high rate in the corresponding period of the previous year leading to a high inflation rate, some of the potential rise is already factored in, therefore a similar absolute increase in the Price index in the current year will lead to a relatively lower inflation rates.
On the other hand, if the inflation rate was too low in the corresponding period of the previous year, even a relatively smaller rise in the Price Index will arithmetically give a high rate of current inflation.

6. NATIONAL WILDLIFE BOARD OF INDIA

Subject : Environment

Context: Recently , Supreme Court stated that national wildlife board has not met for about six years.

Concept:

The National Board for Wildlife has 47 members with the Prime Minister in the Chair.
The Minister in charge of the MoEF in GOI is the Vice-Chairperson.
The Additional Director General of Forests (WL) & Director, Wildlife Preservation is the Member-Secretary to the Board.
Other members include three Members of Parliament (two from Lok Sabha and one from Rajya Sabha), five NGOs and 10 eminent ecologists, conservationists and environmentalists.
The board is advisory in nature and advises the GOI in conservation and development of wildlife and forests.
It has the power to review all wildlife-related matters and approve projects in and around national parks and sanctuaries.
No alternation of boundaries in national parks and wildlife sanctuaries can be done without the approval of the National Board for Wildlife.

7. CARE TAKER GOVERNMENT

Subject : Polity

Context: The Governor accepted Rawat’s resignation and asked him to continue on the post until a successor takes charge.

Concept:

Caretaker Government

A caretaker government is a temporary government that performs some governmental duties and functions in a country until a regular government is elected or formed.
Caretaker governments may be put in place when a government in a parliamentary system is defeated in a motion of no confidence or in the case when the house to which the government is responsible is dissolved, to be in place for an interim period until an election is held and a new government is formed.
In this sense, in some countries which use a Westminster system of government, the caretaker government is simply the incumbent government, which continues to operate in the interim period between the normal dissolution of parliament for the purpose of holding an election and the formation of a new government after the election results are known.
Unlike in ordinary times, the caretaker government’s activities are limited by custom and convention.
In systems where coalition governments are frequent a caretaker government may be installed temporarily while negotiations to form a new coalition take place.
This usually occurs either immediately after an election in which there is no clear victory or if one coalition government collapses and a new one must be negotiated. Discretionary Powers of President
Though the President has no constitutional discretion, he has some situational discretion like in appointment of Prime Minister when no party has a clear majority in the Lok Sabha or when the Prime Minister in office thes suddenly and there is no obvious successor.
In such a situation, the President usually appoints the leader of the largest party or coalition in the Lok Sabha as the Prime Minister and asks him to seek a vote of confidence in the House within a month.
This discretion was exercised by the President, for the first time in 1979, when Neelam Sanjiva Reddy (the then President) appointed Charan Singh (the coalition leader) as the Prime Minister after the fall of the Janata Party government headed by Morarji Desai.

8. CYBER VOLUNTEER PROGRAMME

Subject : Governance

Context : The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) informed the Lok Sabha on Tuesday that a “cyber volunteer” programme has been rolled out for “cyber hygiene promotion” and the services of volunteers would be utilised by the State police as per requirement.

Concept :

Cyber Crime Volunteers Concept:

Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C) has envisaged the Cyber Crime Volunteers Program to bring together citizens with passion to serve the nation on a single platform and contribute in the fight against cybercrime in the country.
The programme targets to rope in around 500 persons to flag unlawful content on the Internet.
Good Samaritans are welcomed to register as Cyber Crime Volunteers in the role of unlawful content flaggers for facilitating law enforcement agencies in identifying, reporting and removal of illegal/unlawful online content.
Volunteers have been advised to study Article 19 of the Indian Constitution, which deals with freedom of expression.
Further, the volunteer shall “maintain strict confidentiality of tasks assigned/carried out by him/her”. The State Nodal Officer of States/UTs also reserves the right to take legal action against the Volunteer, in case of violation of terms and conditions of the Program.
Unlawful Content, in general means content that violates any law in force in India.

9. PRESEIDENT ASSENT TO STATE BILLS

Subject : Polity

Context : The Union government informed the Lok Sabha on Tuesday that an inter-ministerial consultation for the Andhra Pradesh Disha (Special Courts for Specified Offences against Women and Children) Bill, 2020, had been initiated.

Minister of State for Home G. Kishan Reddy informed the House that the Bill reserved by the Governor had been received in January 2021 for assent of the President

Concept :

Article 200 of the Indian Constitution provides provisions regarding the powers of the Governor when a bill is passed by the state legislature.
The Governor shall declare either that he assents to the Bill or that he withholds assent therefrom or that he reserves the Bill for the consideration of the President.
When a bill other than money bill is presented before Governor for his assent, he either gives assent to the bill, withhold his assent to the bill or return the bill for reconsideration of houses.
If the bill is passed again by state legislature with or without amendments, he has to give his assent or reserve the bill for consideration of President.
The Governor cannot send money bill back for reconsideration because the money bill would usually be introduced with prior assent of Governor only.
In case the money bill reserved for Presidents assent, the President has to state whether he is giving assent or withholding his assent.
The Constitution does not furnish any guidance to the Governor that in which matters he should accord his assent and in which matters he should withhold assent.

Options for President on Bills reserved by Governor

When a bill passed by a state legislature is reserved by the governor for consideration of the President, the President can:
Give his assent to the bill, or
Withhold his assent to the bill, or
Direct the governor to return the bill (if it is not a money bill) for reconsideration of the state legislature.
It should be noted here that it is not obligatory for the President to give his assent even if the bill is again passed by the state legislature and sent again to him for his consideration.

10. NISAR

Subject : Science & tech

Context : ISRO has completed development of a Synthetic Aperture Radar capable of producing high-resolution images for a joint earth observation satellite mission with the U.S. space agency NASA.

Concept :

NISAR stands for NASA ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar Mission
It aims to study the hazards and global environmental changes and slated to launched in 2020-21.
NISAR is a dual frequency (L & S Band) Radar Imaging Satellite. It will be the first radar imaging satellite to use dual frequency.
Will be launched in a Sun Synchronous Low -Earth
It is designed to observe and take measurements of some of the planet’s most complex processes, including ecosystem disturbances, ice-sheet collapse, and natural hazards such as earth quakes, tsunamis, volcanoes and landslides.
The satellite is likely to be launched from India aboard an Indian launch vehicle.

11. DUSTLIK 2

Subject : Defence

Context : At Exercise Dustlik-II between India and Uzbekistan from March 10-19, the Army will showcase its Counter Insurgency (CI) and Counter Terrorism (CT) skills.

Concept :

Dustlik-II is a bilateral military exercise between India and Uzbekistan. This exercise would be held in India between March 10 and 19.
This 10-day long exercise will seek to enhance military cooperation between the two countries.
The focus will be on counter-insurgent and counter-terrorist operations at the urban settings. The first edition of this exercise was held in 2019 in Uzbekistan, near Tashkent. Dustlik is the Uzbek term for friendship.

12. OPEC+

Subject : International Organisations

Context :India has asked state refiners to speed up diversification of oil imports to gradually cut their dependence on West Asian suppliers after OPEC+ decided last week to largely continue production cuts in April, two sources said.

Concept :

The non-OPEC countries which export crude oil along with the 14 OPECs are termed as OPEC plus countries.
OPEC plus countries include Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Brunei, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Mexico, Oman, Russia, South Sudan and Sudan.
Saudi and Russia, both have been at the heart of a three-year alliance of oil producers known as OPEC Plus — which now includes 11 OPEC members and 10 non-OPEC nations — that aims to shore up oil prices with production cuts.

About OPEC

OPEC stands for Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries.
It is a permanent, intergovernmental organization, created at the Baghdad Conference in 1960, by Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and Venezuela.
It aims to manage the supply of oil in an effort to set the price of oil in the world market, in order to avoid fluctuations that might affect the economies of both producing and purchasing countries.
It is headquartered in Vienna, Austria.
OPEC membership is open to any country that is a substantial exporter of oil and which shares the ideals of the organization.
Today OPEC is a cartel that includes 14 nations, predominantly from the middle east whose sole responsibility is to control prices and moderate supply.