Daily Prelims Notes 11 November 2021

Daily Prelims Notes

11 November 2021

Table Of Contents

1. NASA’s DART mission
2. Global emissions of CO2 from transport
3. General consent for CBI
4. Onake Obavva
5. Tuvalu Map
6. RBI Retail Direct Scheme
7. Govt of India and the Crypto currencies
8. Headline Inflation vs Core Inflation
9. Member of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme (MPLADS)
10. Cotton Corporation of India (CCI)
11. National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR)
12. Global Climate Risk Index 2021
13. Guidelines for decommissioning coal-based power plants
14. Delhi Declaration
15. USA-India Defence Technology & Trade Initiative
16. Janjatiya Gaurav Divas

1. NASA’s DART mission

Subject – Science and Tech

Context – On November 24, at around 11.50 am (IST), NASA will launch the agency’s first planetary defence test mission named the Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART)

Concept –

• The main aim of the mission is to test the newly developed technology that would allow a spacecraft to crash into an asteroid and change its course.
• The spacecraft will be launched on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.
• The target of the spacecraft is a small moonlet called Dimorphos (Greek for “two forms”). It is about 160-metre in diameter and the spacecraft is expected to collide when it is 11 million kilometres away from Earth.
• Dimorphos orbits a larger asteroid named Didymos (Greek for “twin”) which has a diameter of 780 metres.
• The asteroid and the moonlet do not pose any threat to Earth and the mission is to test the new technology to be prepared in case an asteroid heads towards Earth in the future.
• The spacecraft will navigate to the moonlet and intentionally collide with it at a speed of about 6.6 kilometres per second or 24,000 kilometres per hour. The collision is expected to take place between September 26 and October 1, 2022.
• It is a suicide mission and the spacecraft will be completely destroyed.
• The spacecraft also carries about 10 kg of xenon which will be used to demonstrate the agency’s new thrusters called NASA Evolutionary Xenon Thruster–Commercial (NEXT-C) in space.
  • NEXT has very high fuel efficiency and flexible operations making it ideal for many classes of science missions.

Why Dimorphos?

• Didymos is a perfect system for the test mission because it is an eclipsing binary which means it has a moonlet that regularly orbits the asteroid and we can see it when it passes in front of the main asteroid.
• Earth-based telescopes can study this variation in brightness to understand how long it takes Dimorphos to orbit Didymos.
• The timing for the DART impact is when the Didymos system is closest to the Earth. So the telescopes can really make the most precise measurement possible.

2. Global emissions of CO2 from transport

Subject – Environment

Context – Six large automobile makers and 31 countries on Wednesday pledged to work towards ending the sale of new petrol and diesel vehicles by 2040, and five years sooner in the world’s “leading markets” for their vehicles.

Concept –

• Six large automobile makers and 31 countries pledged to work towards ending the sale of new petrol and diesel vehicles by 2040, and five years sooner in the world’s “leading markets” for their vehicles.
• Governments of three of the world’s biggest automobile markets, the United States, China, and Japan, abstained from taking the pledge.
• But India — the fourth-largest auto market in the world — joined the coalition, which includes the United Kingdom, Canada, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, and Sweden.
• The pledge is not legally binding.

• As of 2018, the latest year for which a reliable assessment is widely available, road travel — including both passenger and freight vehicles — accounted for almost three-quarters of the world’s transport emissions.
  • Passenger vehicles — cars and buses — accounted for the larger part of road travel emissions, and 45.1% of total CO2 emissions from transport.
• Since the entire transport sector accounted for a little more than a fifth of total CO2 emissions, and road transport accounted for three-quarters of transport emissions, road transport accounted for 15% of total global CO2 emissions.

India to work towards zero-emission cars by 2040

• India has joined over 30 other countries in signing a declaration that promises to work towards ensuring that only zero-emission cars and vans are sold by the year 2040.
• However, this timeline is meant mainly for the developed country signatories, and is not a legally-binding commitment.
• Emerging markets like India have only promised to work “intensely towards accelerated proliferation and adoption of zero-emission vehicles”.
• Road transport accounts for about 10 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions, and significant reductions from this sector is considered essential to meeting the goal of keeping global temperature rise within 2 degrees Celsius from pre-industrial levels.
• At the initiative of the UK government, the COP26 host, India has also joined a Zero Emission Vehicle Transition Council that will discuss ways to accelerate the push towards early adoption of zero-emission vehicles.

India’s target –

• A few years earlier, India had announced that it planned a 100 per cent transition to electric vehicles by the year 2032.
• Considered an impossible task, the target has since been modified — 30 per cent of all passenger cars and 70 per cent of commercial vehicles are now supposed to become electric by 2030.

3. General consent for CBI

Subject – Polity

Context – The Supreme Court this week expressed concern over a submission by the CBI that since 2018, around 150 requests for sanction to investigate have been pending with eight state governments that have withdrawn general consent to the agency.

Concept –

• The National Investigation Agency (NIA), which is governed by The NIA Act, 2008, has jurisdiction across the country.
• But the CBI is governed by The Delhi Special Police Establishment (DSPE) Act, 1946, and must mandatorily obtain the consent of the state government concerned before beginning to investigate a crime in a state.
• The consent of the state government can be either case-specific or general.
• A “general consent” is normally given by states to help the CBI in seamless investigation of cases of corruption against central government employees in their states.
• Section 6 of The DSPE Act (“Consent of State Government to exercise of powers and jurisdiction”) says: “Nothing contained in section 5 (“Extension of powers and jurisdiction of special police establishment to other areas”) shall be deemed to enable any member of the Delhi Special Police Establishment to exercise powers and jurisdiction in any area in a State, not being a Union territory or railway area, without the consent of the Government of that State.”

Which states have withdrawn general consent, and why?

• Eight states have currently withdrawn consent to the CBI: Maharashtra, Punjab, Rajasthan, West Bengal, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Kerala, and Mizoram. All except Mizoram are ruled by the opposition.
• At the time of withdrawing consent, all states alleged that the central government was using the CBI to unfairly target the opposition.

What does the withdrawal of general consent mean?

• It means the CBI will not be able to register any fresh case involving officials of the central government or a private person in the state without the consent of the state government.
• In Vinay Mishra vs the CBI, Calcutta HC ruled in July this year that corruption cases must be treated equally across the country, and a central government employee could not be “distinguished” just because his office was located in a state that had withdrawn general consent.
  • The HC also said that withdrawal of consent would apply in cases where only employees of the state government were involved.
  • The agency can use the Calcutta HC order to its advantage until it is — if it is — struck down by the Supreme Court.
• Even otherwise, the withdrawal of consent did not make the CBI defunct in a state — it retained the power to investigate cases that had been registered before consent was withdrawn.
• Also, a case registered anywhere else in the country, which involved individuals stationed in these states, allowed the CBI’s jurisdiction to extend to these states.
• There is ambiguity on whether the CBI can carry out a search in connection with an old case without the consent of the state.
  • But the agency has the option to get a warrant from a local court in the state and conduct the search.
• In case the search requires an element of surprise, Section 166 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) can be used, which allows a police officer of one jurisdiction to ask an officer of another to carry out a search on their behalf.
  • And should the first officer feel that a search carried out by the latter may lead to loss of evidence, the section allows the first officer to conduct the search himself after giving notice to the latter.
• Finally, consent does not apply in cases where someone has been caught red-handed taking a bribe.

But what about fresh cases?

• Again, the CBI could use the Calcutta HC order to register a fresh case in any state.
• Alternatively, it could file a case in Delhi and continue to investigate people inside these states.
  • In an order passed on October 11, 2018, Delhi High Court ruled that the agency could probe anyone in a state that has withdrawn general consent, if the case was not registered in that state.

Political accusations aside, to what extent is the CBI “its master’s voice”?

• After the 2018 amendments to the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, the Centre has come to exercise power over the CBI not just administratively, but also legally.
• In 2018, the government pushed through Parliament amendments to Section 17A of the Act, making it mandatory for the CBI to seek the Centre’s permission before registering a case of corruption against any government servant.
  • Earlier, the Centre had mandated that such permission was required only for officials of the level of joint secretary and higher. The amendments were brought after the Supreme Court struck down the government’s directive.
• CBI officers say the 2018 amendment virtually means the agency can investigate only the officers that the government of the day wants investigated.

4. Onake Obavva

Subject – History

Context – Karnataka’s celebration of her bravery

Concept –

• From this year, the Karnataka government has decided to celebrate ‘Onake Obavva Jayanti’ on November 11 throughout the state
• She was a woman warrior who fought the forces of Hyder Ali single-handedly with a pestle (‘onake’ in Kannada) in Chitradurga in the 18th century.
• Onake Obavva died fighting the troops of Hyder Ali, a ruler of the Mysore Kingdom and father of Tipu Sultan, when he invaded the Chitradurga Fort, which was ruled by Madakari Nayaka in the 18th century.
• Chitradurga Fort, locally known as Elusuttina Kote, (the fort of seven circles in Kannada), is situated in Chitradurga, 200 km northwest of Bengaluru.
• The hole through which Hyder Ali’s soldiers entered is called ‘Onake Obavvana Kindi’ (kindi means hole in Kannada) and has become a tourist spot along with the Chitradurga Fort.
• Inspired by Onake Obavva, in 2018, the Chitradurga police started ‘Obavva Pade’, a squad of women police constables to protect and educate women in the district.

Other women warriors of Karnataka

• Abbakka Rani (first Tuluva Queen of Ullal in coastal Karnataka who fought the Portuguese),
• Keladi Chennamma (the queen of the Keladi Kingdom who is known for fighting against Mughal emperor Aurangzeb), and
• Kittur Chennamma (Queen of Kittur known for the 1824 revolt against the British East India Company).

5. Tuvalu Map

Subject – Environment / Geography

Context – Tuvalu’s foreign minister gave COP26 speech knee-deep in the ocean

Concept –

• The foreign minister of Tuvalu, a tiny Pacific island nation located halfway between Hawaii and Australia, delivered a powerful message at the United Nations COP26 climate summit.
• The island nation of Tuvalu, which is home to around 11,000 people, has witnessed sea levels rise by about 0.5 centimetres every year since 1993, according to a 2011 Australian government report.

6. RBI Retail Direct Scheme

Subject – Economy

Context – PM to launch RBI’s retail direct, integrated ombudsman schemes

Concept –

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi will launch two innovative, customer-centric initiatives of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), the retail direct scheme and the integrated ombudsman scheme, via video-conferencing.
• The RBI Retail Direct Scheme is aimed at enhancing access to the government securities market for retail investors.
  • It offers them a new avenue for directly investing in the securities issued by the Centre and the State governments.
  • The investors will be able to easily open and maintain their government securities accounts online with the RBI for free, it added.

Reserve Bank-Integrated Ombudsman Scheme

• The Reserve Bank-Integrated Ombudsman Scheme aims to further improve the grievance redress mechanism for resolving customer complaints against entities regulated by the central bank.
• The central theme of the scheme is based on “One Nation-One Ombudsman” with one portal, one e-mail address and one postal address for the customers to lodge their complaints.
• There will be a single point of reference for the customers to file their complaints, submit documents, track the status of their complaints and provide feedback.
• A multi-lingual toll-free phone number will provide all the relevant information on grievance redress and assistance for filing complaints.

7. Govt of India and the Crypto currencies

Subject – Economy

Context – Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Shaktikanta Das sounded alarm on cryptocurrencies, cautioning investors on the potential pitfalls of the digital currency.

Concept –

Is cryptocurrency trading regulated by the Govt of India now? – No.

• The exchange platforms enabling trading of cryptocurrencies (bitcoins, etherium, litecoin, dogecoin) such as Wazirx, CoinDCX, Coinswitch Kuber are not operating under the supervision of any regulatory body under the Government of India.
  • Neither the RBI nor SEBI regulates them.
• The exchanges have formed rules, including KYC requirements, that investors need to fulfill.
• But these are not watertight, and there have been many cases of money-laundering and other malpractices through the exchanges.

How has the government approached cryptocurrency regulation in the past?

• No country in the world, including India, has a comprehensive regulation for cryptocurrency trading.
• While China banned crypto trading and mining recently, other countries have not issued a complete ban on these activities yet.

Will cryptos get a currency status?

• Private crypto currencies cannot be a fiat currency because they do not have any underlying assets backing them, and the price is discovered through demand and supply dynamics alone.
• Second, there is no sovereign guarantee.
• Finally, the prices are too volatile to be considered as legal tender.

What is the RBI’s stand?

• The RBI is very worried about money laundering risks through these private cryptocurrencies, and has expressed the concerns to the Centre.
• The Centre has to now pass a law to regulate them.
• The RBI is also working on an official digital currency, which will be official legal tender.

8. Headline Inflation vs Core Inflation

Subject – Economy

Context – ‘Tax cut on fuels positive for inflation management’

Concept –

Headline Inflation

• Headline Inflation is the measure of total inflation within an economy. It includes price rise in food, fuel and all other commodities.
• The inflation rate expressed in Wholesale Price Index (WPI) usually denotes the headline inflation. Though Consumer Price Index (CPI) values are often higher, WPI values traditionally make headlines.

Core Inflation (Underline Inflation or Non-food Inflation)

• Core inflation is also a term used to denote the extend of inflation in an economy. But Core inflation does not consider the inflation in food and fuel. This is a concept derived from headline inflation.
• There is no index for direct measurement of core inflation and now it is measured by excluding food and fuel items from Wholesale Price Index (WPI) or Consumer Price Index (CPI).

Core inflation = Headline inflation – (Food and Fuel) inflation.

9. Member of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme (MPLADS)

Subject – Governance

Context – Centre to resume MPLADS

Concept –

• Under MPLADS MPs can recommend works of developmental nature with emphasis on the creation of durable community assets in the areas of drinking water, primary education, public health, sanitation and roads in their constituencies.
• MPLAD is a Central Sector Scheme which was announced in December 1993.
• The recommendations of the works are made by the Members of Parliament for the betterment of the community.
• These works are executed by District Authorities in accordance with the respective State Government’s financial, technical and administrative rules.
• Initially, the Scheme was under the control of the Ministry of Rural Development and Planning. In October, 1994, the scheme was transferred to the Ministry of Statistics & Programme Implementation.
• Under this scheme, every MP is entitled to spend Rs 5 crore annually.
  • MPs to get ₹2 cr. each instead of previously approved ₹5 cr.
• According to the ‘Guidelines on Members of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme (MPLADS)’ published by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation in June 2016, the MPLAD funds can also be used for implementation of the schemes such as Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, Accessible India Campaign (Sugamya Bharat Abhiyan), conservation of water through rain water harvesting and Sansad Aadarsh Gram Yojana, etc.

Functioning

• Each year, MPs receive Rs. 5 crore in two instalments of Rs. 2.5 crore each. Funds under MPLADS are non-lapsable.
• Lok Sabha MPs have to recommend the district authorities projects in their Lok Sabha constituencies, while Rajya Sabha MPs have to spend it in the state that has elected them to the House.
• Nominated Members of both the Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha can recommend works anywhere in the country.
• MPs are to recommend every year, works costing at least 15 per cent of the MPLADS entitlement for the year for areas inhabited by Scheduled Caste population and 7.5 per cent for areas inhabited by ST population.
• The District Authority would be responsible for overall coordination and supervision of the works under the scheme at the district level and inspect at least 10% of the works under implementation every year.

10. Cotton Corporation of India (CCI)

Subject – Economy

Context – Cabinet okays Rs 17,409 crore to CCI for cotton procurement in 7 seasons to 2020-21

Concept –

• Cotton Corporation of India was established in 1970 under Companies Act 1956.
• It’s a Government of India’s corporate agency, engaged in diverse activities related to trade, procurement, and export of cotton.
• CCI is governed by Textile Policy 1985 issued by Ministry of Textiles, Government of India.
• CCI operates in the following states as of now – Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharastra, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Orissa.
• The major role of the CCI is to undertake price support operations, whenever the market prices of cotton falls below the minimum support prices (MSP).

Cotton

• Cotton is a kharif crop which requires 6 to 8 months to mature. Its time of sowing and harvesting differs in different parts of the country depending upon the climatic conditions.
• Cotton is the crop of tropical and sub-tropical areas and requires uniformly high temperature varying between 21°C and 30°C. The growth of cotton is retarded when the temperature falls below 20°C.
• Cotton is a drought – resistant crop ideal for arid climates and requires an average annual rainfall of 50- 100 cm.
• It requires at least 210 frost free days in a year.
• It occupies just 2.1 % of the world’s arable land, yet it meets 27% of the world’s textiles need. In addition to its fibre used in textiles and apparel, food products are also derived from cotton like edible oil and animal feed from the seed.
• India is the second largest producer of cotton in the world after China.
• Between 2011 and 2018, India implemented a Cotton Technical Assistance Programme (Cotton TAP-I) for seven African countries namely Benin, Burkina Faso, Mali and Chad and also Uganda, Malawi and Nigeria.
• The technical assistance focused on improving the competitiveness of the cotton and cotton-based textiles and apparel industry in these countries through a series of interventions which had significant outcomes leading to a demand for a follow on project.

11. National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR)

Subject – Polity

Context – NCPCR questions UNICEF on plan to screen same-sex films in Bengal schools

Concept –

• Set up in March 2007 under the Commission for Protection of Child Rights Act, 2005.
• It works under the administrative control of the Ministry of Women & Child Development.
• Definition: The Child is defined as a person in the 0 to 18 years age group.
• The Commission’s Mandate isto ensure that all Laws, Policies, Programmes, and Administrative Mechanisms are in consonance with the Child Rights perspective as enshrined in the Constitution of India and also the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.
• Under the RTE Act, 2009, the NCPCR can:
  • inquire into complaints about violation of the law.
  • summon an individual and demand evidence.
  • seek a magisterial enquiry.
  • file a writ petition in the High Court or Supreme Court.
  • approach the government concerned for prosecution of the offender.
  • recommend interim relief to those affected.
• Composition:
  • This commission has a chairperson and six members of which at least two should be women.
  • All of them are appointed by Central Government for three years.
  • The maximum age to serve in commission is 65 years for Chairman and 60 years for members.
• It monitors the implementation of Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012.

To know about United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), please refer September 2021 DPN.

12. Global Climate Risk Index 2021

Subject – Environment

Context – Climate negotiators must wake up to loss and damage as disasters multiply

Concept –

• The international environmental think tank ‘Germanwatch’ released the Global Climate Risk Index 2021.
• Germanwatch, based in Bonn and Berlin (Germany), is an independent development and environmental organisation which works for sustainable global development.
• It is published
• The Index analyses the extent to which countries and regions have been affected by the impacts of weather-related loss events (storms, floods, heat waves etc.).
• The impact is calculated in terms of fatalities and economic losses, both.
• The 2021 Index does not include data from United States of America.
• Mozambique, Zimbabwe as well as the Bahamas were the most affected countries in 2019.
• For the period from 2000 to 2019, Puerto Rico, Myanmar and Haiti rank highest.
• India has improved its rankings from last year. It is ranked 7th in the 2021 Index as compared to 5th in 2020 Index.

13. Guidelines for decommissioning coal-based power plants

Subject – Environment

Context – India proposes guidelines for decommissioning coal-based power plants

Concept –

• The Central Pollution Control Board has prepared a set of guidelines for decommissioning of coal-based power plants, following an order of the National Green Tribunal.
• Coal-fired power plants are typically decommissioned after completion of their useful life, which varies generally from 30 to 45 years in India.
• The draft guidelines, which the NGT has asked the union environment ministry to finalise within the next six months, call for a comprehensive environmental management plan and environmental impact assessment report for decommissioning of such power plants.
• The proposed guidelines suggest a range of measures to deal with water and air issues, management of hazardous waste, ash, electronic waste, construction waste, toxic metals, asbestos, closures and capping of ash ponds and ash impoundments, removal and disposal of chemicals and monitoring after the decommissioning process.
• The guidelines suggest a range of measures including an Environmental Management Plan (EMP) and an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) report for the decommissioning process.
• The guidelines noted that the decommissioning process should follow various Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974, Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution Act, 1981 and the Hazardous and Other Wastes (Management and Transboundary Movement) Rules, 2016 (HWM Rules 2016), Construction and Demolition Waste Management Rules, 2016, and the rules regarding management and utilisation of ash.

14. Delhi Declaration

Subject – IR

Context – NSA meet seeks urgent help for Afghans

Concept –

• Delhi Declaration — a joint statement on the NSAs’ meeting on Afghanistan signed by all eight participating countries.
• It is a collective cooperation against terrorism and drug trafficking in the region and “expressed concern over the deteriorating socio-economic and humanitarian situation in Afghanistan and underlined the need to provide urgent humanitarian assistance to the people of Afghanistan”.

15. USA-India Defence Technology & Trade Initiative

Subject – IR

Context – India, U.S. monitoring defence trade projects

Concept –

• The DTTI was announced in 2012 as an ambitious initiative for co-production and co-development of military systems.
• It is not a treaty or a law. It is basically a defense strategy to facilitate the development of defense technology by reducing bureaucratic processes and legal requirements in all possible ways.
• It is a flexible mechanism to make sure that senior leaders from both countries are engaged consistently to strengthen the opportunities in the field of defence.
• With the help of DTII, India can strengthen its defense industrial base. It is expected to move away from the traditional “buyer-seller” dynamic toward a more collaborative approach.

16. Janjatiya Gaurav Divas

Subject – Governance

Context – Janjatiya Gaurav Divas on Nov. 15

Concept –

• As a part of the year-long commemoration of 75 years of Independence, the Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved declaration of November 15 as “Janjatiya Gaurav Divas” to remember the contributions of tribal freedom fighters.
• The date was chosen as it was the birth anniversary of Birsa Munda, a tribal freedom fighter revered as “bhagwan” by tribal communities.

Birsa Munda

• He was an Indian tribal freedom fighter, religious leader, and folk hero who belonged to the Munda tribe, in the Chotanagpur Plateau area.
• He spearheaded a tribal religious millenarian movement that arose in the Bengal Presidency (now Jharkhand) in the late 19th century, during the British Raj, thereby making him an important figure in the history of the Indian independence movement.
• His portrait hangs in the Indian Parliament Museum; he is the only tribal leader to have been so honored.
• Also known as Dharti Aaba (Father of Earth), Birsa Munda is known to have mobilised the tribal community against the British and had also forced the colonial officials to introduce laws protecting the land rights of the tribals.

Birsait Sect:

• Having gained awareness of the British colonial ruler and the efforts of the missionaries to convert tribals to Christianity, Birsa started the faith of ‘Birsait’.
• Members of the Munda and Oraon community joined the Birsait sect and it turned into a challenge to British conversion activities.
• Further, he urged the Mundas to give up drinking liquor, clean their village, and stop believing in witchcraft and sorcery.