Daily Prelims Notes 17 January 2023

Daily Prelims Notes

17 January 2022

Table Of Contents

1. Export slows down
2. Ranil pledges full implementation of 13th Amendment
3. Nepal plane crash
4. Bhitarkanka National Park
5. Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose
6. IMD warns of ground frost from severe cold
7. Protests in Germany against coal mine expansion
8. James Webb telescope discovers its first Earth-sized exoplanet
9. Most Central Asian countries have broken food safety control systems, finds paper
10. Cancer in India: A status report
11. Law minister seeks govt nominees in court collegium
12. IIT Madras employs Solar Thermal Energy to recycle waste concrete
13. Return to old pension plan is big risk for States, warns RBI

1. Export slows down

Subject: Economy

Section: External Sector

Details: India exported goods worth $34.48 billion in December 2022, constituting a 7.75% rise from November’s $32 billion figure but a steep 12.2% dip from a year ago. Imports also contracted 3.5% to $58.2 billion from $60.33 billion a year ago.

Reasons for slowdown

1. Base effect: High base effect is said to be the main reason behind the slow growth.

If we take any data point or index, it is often contextualised by comparing it with a reference point, which is usually the same period of last year or the previous month. Now, this reference point or base can have an effect on the result of the comparison, and this phenomenon is commonly referred to as base effect. If the base for which the comparison is made is high, then the outcome is a result of a high-base effect and vice-versa.

2. Global slow down: According to various estimates the world particularly developed world is going into recession.

Trade deficit

• Trade deficit or negative balance of trade (BOT) is the gap between exports and imports. 
• When money spent on imports exceeds that spent on exports in a country-a trade deficit occurs.
• The opposite of a trade deficit is a trade surplus.
• India tends to have a trade deficit every year because it imports far more (in terms of value, measured in $) than it exports.

2. Ranil pledges full implementation of 13th Amendment

Subject: International Relations

Section: India’s neighbouring countries

Context: The Sri Lankan government will “fully implement” the 13th Amendment

• The sharp focus is the 13th Amendment passed in 1987, which mandates a measure of power devolution to the provincial councils established to govern the island’s nine provinces.
• It is an outcome of the Indo-Lanka Accord of July 1987, signed by the then Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and Sri Lankan President J.R. Jayawardene, in an attempt to resolve Sri Lanka’s ethnic conflict that had aggravated into a full-fledged civil war, between the armed forces and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, which led the struggle for Tamils’ self-determination and sought a separate state.
• The 13th Amendment, which led to the creation of Provincial Councils, assured a power sharing arrangement to enable all nine provinces in the country, including Sinhala majority areas, to self-govern.
• Subjects such as education, health, agriculture, housing, land and police are devolved to the provincial administrations, but because of restrictions on financial powers and overriding powers given to the President, the provincial administrations have not made much headway.
• In particular, the provisions relating to police and land have never been implemented.
• The 13th Amendment carries considerable baggage from the country’s civil war years. It was opposed vociferously by both Sinhala nationalist parties and the LTTE. 
• The former thought it was too much power to share, while the Tigers deemed it too little

3. Nepal plane crash

Context:

• It is also called flight data recorder or cockpit voice recorder and it stores data about planes.
• They reveal information which leads to information about the accidents of flight.
• There are two different flight recorder devices the flight data recorder (FDR) preserves the recent history of the sounds in the cockpit, including the conversation of the pilots.
• These can also be combined into a single unit.
• These boxes are of a size of a shoe.
• It is compulsory on every commercial flight or corporate jet, and are mostly on tail of aircraft.
• The flight data recorder (FDR) records more than 80 different types of information such as altitude, airspeed, flight heading, vertical acceleration, pitch, roll, autopilot status, etc. cockpit voice recorder (CVR) records radio transmissions and other sounds in the cockpit, such as conversations between the pilots, and engine noises.

How are they identified?

• Black boxes are a blazing, high-visibility orange in colour, so that crews looking for them at a crash site have the best chance of finding them. It is not certain how they got their nickname, but recorders are today the holy grail that investigators seek in their quest for answers whenever there is an airline accident.
• The use of black boxes dates back to the early 1950s, when, following plane crashes, investigators were unable to arrive at a conclusive cause for the accidents. An Australian scientist named David Warren is often credited with their invention.

Surviving the crash

• In the initial days of the black box, a limited amount of data were recorded on wire or foil. Thereafter magnetic tape was used, and modern models contain solid state memory chips.
• The recording devices, each weighing about 4.5 kg, are stored inside a unit that is generally made out of strong substances such as steel or titanium, and are insulated from extreme heat, cold or wetness. The FDR is located towards the tail end of the aircraft because that is usually where the impact of a crash is the least.
• To make black boxes discoverable under water, they are equipped with a beacon that sends out ultrasound signals for 30 days.

4. Bhitarkanka National Park

Subject: Environment

Section: Places of news

The population of saltwater crocodiles in the water bodies of Bhitarkanika National Park and its nearby areas in Odisha’s Kendrapara district has marginally increased in 2023, according to the annual reptile census

Bhitarkanika is the abode of 20 whitish estuarine crocodiles according to the reptile census report, added Kar.

In 1975, the ministry of forest and environment, in collaboration with the United Nations Development Programme, had started a crocodile breeding and rearing project in Dangamala within Bhitarkanika. Thanks to the success of the project, the crocodile population started increasing in the creeks, rivers and other water bodies of the park and its nearby areas. In 2006, the Guinness Book of World Records recorded a 23-foot-long salt-water crocodile in Bhitarkanika as the largest crocodile in the world

The breeding and rearing programme for three species of crocodilians — saltwater crocodile, mugger and gharial — had been started in 1975 in 34 places in West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and other states in India and Nepal.

But the saltwater crocodile conservation programme in Bhitarkanika is the most successful one as in 1975, Bhitarkanika was the home of only 96 crocodiles

Bhitarkanka National Park

• Bhitarkanika is a unique habitat of Mangrove Forests crisscrossed with numerous creeks and mud flats located in Kendra Para district of Orissa.
• It is a Ramsar Site under Ramsar Convention on wetlands.
• Bhitarkanika located in the estuary of Brahmani, Baitarani, and Dharma & Mahanadi River systems.

• Bhitarkanika National Park is a prime habitat of leopard cat, fishing cat, jungle cat, hyena, wild boar, spotted deer, sambar, porcupine, dolphin, salt water crocodile including partially white crocodile, python, king cobra, water monitor lizards, terrapin, marine turtle, kingfisher, wood pecker, hornbill, bar headed geese, pintail, white bellied sea eagle, tern, sea gull, waders and a large variety of resident and migratory birds.
• Nutrients from Bhitarkanika are flushed out to the Gahirmatha Marine Sanctuary, which attracts the world’s largest population of Olive Ridley Sea turtles for congregation and nesting. Nearly half a million turtles arrive here every winter.

5. Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose

Subject: History

Section: Personality

Context:

The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) will organise a week­long event revolving around the life of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose and his contribution to the freedom struggle as part of ‘Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav Iconic Events Week’ to celebrate 75 years of India’s Independence

Subhas Chandra Bose

• Subhas Chandra Bose was born on 23rd January 1897, in Cuttack, Orissa Division, Bengal Province, to PrabhavatiDutt Bose and Janakinath Bose.
• He was highly influenced by Vivekananda’s teachings and considered him as his spiritual Guru. His political mentor was Chittaranjan Das.
• In 1921, Bose took over the editorship of the newspaper ‘Forward’, founded by ChittaranjanDas’sSwaraj Party.
• In 1923, Bose was elected the President of the All-India Youth Congress and also the Secretary of Bengal State Congress.
• He was also sent to prison in Mandalay in 1925 due to his connections with revolutionary movements where he contracted Tuberculosis.
• Bose took over as the elected President of Indian National Congress in 1938 (Haripur) and stood for unqualified Swaraj (self-governance) and the use of force against the British which then combated against Mahatma Gandhi and his views.
• Bose was re-elected in 1939 (Tripuri) but soon resigned from the presidency and formed the All India Forward Bloc, a faction within the Congress which aimed at consolidating the political left.
• He died on 18th August 1945, in a plane crash in Japanese-ruled Formosa (now Taiwan).

Contribution to Freedom Struggle

• Association with C.R Das: He was associated with C.R. Das’ political endeavour, and was also jailed along with him. When C.R. Das was elected Mayor of Calcutta Cooperation, he nominated Bose as the chief executive. He was arrested for his political activities in 1924.
• Trade union movements: He organised youth and promoted trade union movements. In 1930, he was elected Mayor of Calcutta, the same year he was elected the President of AITUC.
• Association with congress: He stood for unqualified swaraj (independence), and opposed Motilal Nehru Report which spoke for dominion status for India.
• He actively participated in the Salt Satyagraha of 1930 and vehemently opposed the suspension of Civil Disobedience Movement and signing of the Gandhi-Irwin Pact in 1931.
• In the 1930s, he was closely associated with left politics in Congress along with Jawaharlal Nehru and M.N. Roy.
• Because of the endeavour of the left group, the congress passed very far-reaching radical resolutions in Karachi in 1931 which declared the main Congress aim as socialization of means of production besides guaranteeing fundamental rights.
• Congress presidentship: Bose won the congress presidential elections at Haripura in 1938.
• Next year at Tripuri, he again won the presidential elections against Gandhi’s candidate PattabhiSitarammayya.
• Due to ideological differences with Gandhi, Bose left congress and found a new party, ‘the Forward Bloc’.
• The purpose was to consolidate the political left and major support base in his home state Bengal.
• Civil disobedience movement: When World War II began, he was again imprisoned for participation in civil disobedience and was put under house arrest.
• Bose manages to escape to Berlin by way of Peshawar and Afghanistan. He reached Japan and from there to Burma and organised the Indian National Army to fight the british and liberate India with the help of Japan.
• He gave famous slogans ‘Jai Hind’ and ‘DilliChalo’. He died in a plane crash before realising his dreams.

Azad Hind

• Bose founded the free India centre in Berlin and created the Indian Legion out of the Indian prisoners of war who had previously fought for the British in North Africa prior to their capture by Axis forces.
• In Europe, Bose sought help from Hitler and Mussolini for the liberation of India.
• In Germany, he was attached to the special bureau for India which was responsible for the broadcasting on the German sponsored Azad Hind Radio.
• On this radio, Bose on 6th July 1944, addressed Mahatma Gandhi as the ‘Father of the Nation’.

Indian National Army:

• He reached Japanese-controlled Singapore from Germany in July 1943, issued from there his famous call, ‘Delhi Chalo’, and announced the formation of the Azad Hind Government and the Indian National Army on 21st October 1943.
• The INA was first formed under Mohan Singh and Japanese Major Iwaichi Fujiwara and comprised Indian prisoners of war of the British-Indian Army captured by Japan in the Malayan (present-day Malaysia) campaign and at Singapore.
• The INA included both, the Indian prisoners of war from Singapore and Indian civilians in South-East Asia. It’s strength grew to 50,000.
• The INA fought allied forces in 1944 inside the borders of India in Imphal and in Burma.
• However, with the fall of Rangoon, Azad Hind Government ceased to be an effective political entity.
• In November 1945 a British move to put the INA men on trial immediately sparked massive demonstration all over the country.
• Impact: The I.N.A. experience created the wave of disaffection in the British Indian army during the 1945-46, which culminated in the great Bombay naval strike of February 1946 and was one of the most decisive reasons behind the British decision to make a quick withdrawal.
• Composition of I.N.A: The I.N.A. was essentially non-communal, with Muslims quite prominent among its officers and ranks, and it also introduced the innovation of a women’s detachment named after the Rani of Jhansi.

6. IMD warns of ground frost from severe cold

Context: India Meteorological Department (IMD) has warned ground frost may develop over parts of Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan for three days until Wednesday

Ground frost is a result of sustained lowering of minimum (night) temperatures worsened by thick fog

Frost occurs when the temperature of the air in contact with the ground is below the freezing-point of water

What are the different types of frost?

Ground frost

A ground frost refers to the formation of ice on the ground, objects or trees, whose surface have a temperature below the freezing point of water. During situations when the ground cools quicker than the air, a ground frost can occur without an air frost. A grass frost, an un-official type of ground frost, can occur when other surfaces – such as concrete or road surfaces – don’t experience a frost, due to their better ability at holding onto any warmth. It is possible for a grass frost to occur in late spring or even early summer when the risk of more wide-spread frosts has disappeared and is something that gardeners in particular need to be aware of.

Air frost

An air frost occurs when the air temperature falls to or below the freezing point of water. An air frost is usually defined as the air temperature being below freezing point of water at a height of at least one metre above the ground.

Hoar frost

Hoar frost is composed of tiny ice crystals and is formed by the same process as dew, but when the temperature of the surface is below freezing point. The ‘feathery’ variety of hoar frost forms when the surface temperature reaches freezing point before dew begins to form on it. A ‘white’ frost, composed of more globular ice, occurs when the dew forms first, then subsequently freezes. The presence of fog tends to prevent the formation of hoar frost as it reduces the potential for radiational cooling of surfaces.

Frost is sometimes confused with glaze or rime.

Rime is a rough white ice deposit which forms on vertical surfaces exposed to the wind. It is formed by supercooled water droplets of fog freezing on contact with a surface it drifts past.

Glaze can only form when supercooled rain or drizzle comes into contact with the ground, or non-supercooled liquid may produce glaze if the ground is well below 0 °C. Glaze is a clear ice deposit that can be mistaken for a wet surface and can be highly dangerous.

Impact of frost

• Crop damage

7. Protests in Germany against coal mine expansion

Subject: Geography

Section: Economic geography

Context: 

A small village Lützerath in Western Germany that is set to be destroyed for the expansion of a coal mine was cleared by activists, including Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg.

Resurging use of coal in Europe:

• As International Energy Agency (IEA) global coal use is set to rise by 1.2% in 2022, surpassing 8 billion tonnes in a single year for the first time.
• The reason is the energy supply disruption due to the Russia-Ukraine war.
• The UK declared to open its first new coal mine in the country in 30 years in Cumbria.
• The United Kingdom announced that a part of its Nottinghamshire coal-burning power plant would remain open two years beyond its planned closure date.
• Italy decided to delay its plan of disabling six coal plants by 2025.
• France has rebooted its coal plant located in Saint-Avold (the plant has been shut down at the beginning of 2022).
• Poland resumed the use of lignite (the most polluting type of coal).

Coal mining in Europe:

There are more than 50 coal mining regions in Europe, spread across 17 countries.

Germany and Poland are topping the list of coal producers, followed by Turkey and, to a lesser extent, by Serbia, the Czech Republic and Ukraine. 

8. James Webb telescope discovers its first Earth-sized exoplanet

Subject: Sci & Tech

Section: Space

Context:

• The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) announced that the James Webb Space Telescope has discovered its first new exoplanet.

More in news:

• Researchers have labelled the planet as LHS 475 b, and it’s roughly the same size as Earth.
• Located just 41 light-years away, the planet orbits very close to a red dwarf star and completes a full orbit in just two days.

What are exoplanets?

• Exoplanets are planets that orbit other stars and are beyond our solar system.
• To date, more than 5,000 exoplanets have been discovered.
• Scientists believe that there are more planets than stars as each star has at least one planet orbiting it.
• Exoplanets differ in size. They can be gas giants bigger than Jupiter or as small and rocky as Earth.
• They are also known to have different kinds of temperatures — boiling hot to freezing cold.

How are exoplanets discovered?

• Discovering exoplanets is quite tough as they are small and hard to spot around their bright host stars.
• Scientists rely on indirect methods, such as the transit method, which is “measuring the dimming of a star that happens to have a planet pass in front of it”.
• Other methods include direct imaging, astrometry, radial velocity, transit event observation, and microlensing.

What are red dwarf stars?

• A red dwarf is the smallest and coolest kind of star in the main sequence.
• Red dwarfs are by far the most common type of star in the Milky Way, at least in the neighbourhood of the Sun, but because of their low luminosity, individual red dwarfs cannot be easily observed.
• From Earth, not one star that fits the stricter definitions of a red dwarf is visible to the naked eye.
• Proxima Centauri, the nearest star to the Sun, is a red dwarf, as are fifty of the sixty nearest stars.
• According to some estimates, red dwarfs make up three-quarters of the stars in the Milky Way.

9. Most Central Asian countries have broken food safety control systems, finds paper

Subject: International relations

Section :Groupings

Context:

• The Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation (CAREC) region faces severe food safety challenges due to fractured safety control systems, according to Asian Development Bank (ADB)’s working paper.

About the report:

• Report title: Strengthening Food Safety Systems in the Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation Member Countries: Current Status, Framework, and Forward Strategies.
• Published by: Asian Development Bank (ADB).

Highlights of report findings:

• Microbial contamination, excessive food additives and excessive drug residues are the major food safety challenges.
• These food safety issues cannot realistically be entirely eliminated — food safety will remain a long-term effort in China until the production system of agriculture and food processing industries has been greatly improved.
• Regarding international trade among CAREC member countries (CMCs), both food exports and imports account for about 90 per cent of total agricultural trade.

Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation (CAREC):

• CAREC is an Asian Development Bank (ADB)–supported initiative.
• Created in 1997 to encourage economic cooperation among countries in the region.
• Countries include: Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Mongolia and China are a part of it.
• Goal: To accelerate economic growth and poverty reduction in member countries.

10. Cancer in India: A status report

Subject: Science and technology

Section: Health/Diseases

Context:

• Deaths due to cancer have declined by 33% in the United States since 1991, according to a report by the American Cancer Society.

Cancer in India:

• Both the incidence of cancer and mortality continue to rise in the country.
• The rate of cervical and smoking-related cancers has gone down, and the incidence of lung breast cancers has increased.
  • Cervical cancer cases declined due to late marriages, fewer children, better hygiene and vaccination. Cervical cancer can be prevented with HPV (human papillomavirus) vaccine.
  • Breast cancer cases have gone up due to the same reasons.
• Most common cancer: Lung, mouth, prostate, tongue and stomach.

Incidence of cancer and mortality in the country:

• 14.6 lakh new cases in 2022
• 14.2 lakh in 2021, and 13.9 lakh in 2020.
• Deaths due to cancer increased to about 8.08 lakh in 2022 from 7.9 lakh in 2021 and 7.7 lakh in 2020.
• One in nine Indians will develop cancer during their lifetime.
• One in 68 men will develop lung cancer and one in 29 women will develop breast cancer.
• The incidence of cancer is higher among women- 103.6 per 100,000 in 2020, compared to 94.1 among men.

11. Law minister seeks govt nominees in court collegium

Subject: Polity

Section: Judiciary

Concept:

• Union Law Minister has written to Chief Justice of India (CJI) to suggest a nominee of the Union government in the Supreme Court Collegium and a State representative in each of the High Court collegiums.
• The letter offered the suggestion since the Memorandum of Procedure (MoP) is pending finalisation.
• This letter is only part of an ongoing dialogue between the Government and the court regarding appointments and it is yet to be discussed by the Collegium.

Key suggestions given by Law Ministry

• The search and evaluation committee for High Court judges should include a nominee of the Central and respective state governments.
• For shortlisting of judges for the Supreme Court and Chief Justices of High Courts, this committee should include a nominee of the Centre.
• At present, the names are vetted by the Collegium, either of the High Courts or the Supreme Court, which comprises senior judges.
• The committee will, in turn, make its recommendations to the High Court or Supreme Court Collegium as the case may be.
• The final decision will still vest with the Collegium.

Memorandum of Procedure (MoP)

• The MoP is the official playbook agreed upon by the government and the judiciary on the appointment of judges.
• It is a crucial document that governs the collegium system of appointing judges.
• Since the collegium system evolved through a series of ruling by the Supreme Court, and is not based on legislation, the MoP is the bedrock of the process of appointments.
• MoP fixes the protocol under which the collegium system works.

Current status of MoP

• In October 2015, SC struck down the constitutional amendment that had brought in the National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC).
• NJAC act had provided for a six-member panel, including the Law Minister and two independent persons, to appoint judges to the SC and the High Courts.
• It sought to change the system of appointment of judges to the higher judiciary by giving the government a say in the appointment process.
• After NJAC judgement, the apex court had directed the government to finalise the existing MoP by supplementing it in consultation with the Supreme Court collegium.
• The new MoP is to take into consideration eligibility criteria, transparency, establishment of a new secretariat and a mechanism to deal with complaints against proposed candidates.
• So far, the Supreme Court and the Government have failed to reach at a consensus on revision of the MoP.
• A key point of contention was the inclusion of a national security clause that could thwart an appointment.
• Currently, the government’s stand is that the MoP is “pending finalisation”.

12. IIT Madras employs Solar Thermal Energy to recycle waste concrete

Subject: Environment

Section: Pollution

Concept:

• The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras researchers have developed a treatment process involving solar thermal energy to recycle construction and demolition debris.
• The demonstration was done at the ‘India One Solar Thermal Power Plant,’ located in ‘Shantivan,’ the headquarters of the Brahma Kumaris organization in Rajasthan.

Treatment Process

• It has 770 solar concentrators to produce electricity using steam generated at high pressure.
• The waste concrete from demolition was heated using solar radiation to produce recycled concrete aggregate (RCA) that was higher in quality when compared to those obtained from mechanical crushing.
• The concrete made using this technology met the requirements for typical structural applications.
• The plant has been operational since 2017 and provides power to a community of about 25,000 people at a reasonable cost and low maintenance.

Significance

• Concrete is the most common material used in construction universally with an annual production estimated to be 10–30 billion tonnes.
• The present study attempts to mitigate the limitations of conventional thermomechanical techniques with regard to harmful emissions through the utilization of concentrated solar energy.
• It presents strong evidence for the use of concentrated solar energy for recycling waste concrete, with promise for large-scale waste concrete recycling.
• This would reduce the energy footprint of Construction and Demolition waste processing significantly, and lead to savings in raw material and electricity, towards circular economy.

13. Return to old pension plan is big risk for States, warns RBI

Subject : Economy

Section : Fiscal Policy

Concept :

• The likely reversion to the old pension scheme (OPS) by some States is a major risk looming large on the sub-national fiscal horizon, according to the Reserve Bank of India’s report on State finances.
• Among the States, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Punjab, and Himachal Pradesh have so far restored the OPS for government employees.

Old Pension Scheme

• The scheme assures life-long income, post-retirement.
• Under the old scheme, employees get a pension under a pre-determined formula which is equivalent to 50% of the last drawn salary.
• They also get the benefit of the revision of Dearness Relief (DR), twice a year. The payout is fixed and there was no deduction from the salary.
• Moreover, under the OPS, there was the provision of the General Provident Fund (GPF).
  • GPF is available only for all the government employees in India.
  • Basically, it allows all the government employees to contribute a certain percentage of their salary to the GPF.
  • And the total amount that is accumulated throughout the employment term is paid to the employee at the time of retirement.
• The Government bears the expenditure incurred on the pension. The scheme was discontinued in 2004.

Concerns:

• The main problem was that the pension liability remained unfunded — that is, there was no corpus specifically for pension, which would grow continuously and could be dipped into for payments.
• The Government of India budget provided for pensions every year; there was no clear plan on how to pay year after year in the future.
• The ‘pay-as-you-go’ scheme created inter-generational equity issues — meaning the present generation had to bear the continuously rising burden of pensioners.

New Pension Scheme (NPS)

• As a substitute of OPS, the NPS was introduced by the Central government in April, 2004.
• This pension programme is open to employees from the public, private and even the unorganised sectors except those from the armed forces.
• The scheme encourages people to invest in a pension account at regular intervals during the course of their employment.
• After retirement, the subscribers can take out a certain percentage of the corpus.
• The beneficiary receives the remaining amount as a monthly pension, post retirement.
• Nodal agency: Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA)
• Eligibility:
• Any Indian citizen between 18 and 60 years can join NPS.
• NRIs (Non-Residential Indians) are also eligible to apply for NPS.
• Permanent Retirement Account Number (PRAN):
• Every NPS subscriber is issued a card with 12-digit unique number called Permanent Retirement Account Number or PRAN.
• Minimum contribution in NPS:
• The subscriber has to contribute a minimum of Rs. 6,000 in a financial year.
• If the subscriber fails to contribute the minimum amount, his/her account is frozen by the PFRDA.
• Who manages the money invested in NPS?
• The money invested in NPS is managed by PFRDA-registered Pension Fund Managers.
• At the moment, there are eight pension fund managers.

Difference between NPS and OPS

• The Old Pension Scheme is a pension-oriented It offers regular pensions to employees during retirement. The pension amount is 50% of the last drawn salary by the employee.
• Thus, in OPS, the pension amount is constant.
• On the other hand, the National Pension Scheme is an investment cum pension
• NPS contributions are invested in market-linked securities, i.e., equity and debt instruments.
• Therefore, NPS doesn’t guarantee returns.
• However, the investments, in NPS, are volatile and hence have the potential to generate significant returns.