Daily Prelims Notes 17 October 2020

October 17, 2020
Posted by: OptimizeIAS Team
Category: DPN

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Table Of Contents

1. INTERNATIONAL DAY OF POVERTY ERADICATION

Subject: Economy

Context: International day for poverty eradication is observed by united nations on 0ctober17.

Concept:

This year marks the 27th anniversary of the declaration by the General Assembly of UNO.
2020 Theme: Acting together to achieve social and environmental justice for all.

POVERTY

Poverty is a state or condition in which a person or community lacks the financial resources and essentials for a minimum standard of living. Poverty means that the income level from employment is so low that basic human needs can’t be met.
According to World Bank, Poverty is pronounced deprivation in well-being, and comprises many dimensions. It includes low incomes and the inability to acquire the basic goods and services necessary for survival with dignity.
Poverty also encompasses low levels of health and education, poor access to clean water and sanitation, inadequate physical security, lack of voice, and insufficient capacity and opportunity to better one’s life.
In India, 21.9% of the population lives below the national poverty line in 2011.

Types of Poverty:

Absolute Poverty: A condition where household income is below a necessary level to maintain basic living standards (food, shelter, housing). This condition makes it possible to compare between different countries and also over time.
It was first introduced in 1990, the “dollar a day” poverty line measured absolute poverty by the standards of the world’s poorest countries. In October 2015, the World Bank reset it to $1.90 a day.
Relative Poverty: It is defined from the social perspective that is living standard compared to the economic standards of population living in surroundings. Hence it is a measure of income inequality.
Usually, relative poverty is measured as the percentage of the population with income less than some fixed proportion of median income.

Poverty Estimation in India

Poverty estimation in India is carried out by NITI Aayog’s task force through the calculation of poverty line based on the data captured by the National Sample Survey Office under the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MOSPI).
Poverty line estimation in India is based on the consumption expenditure and not on the income levels.
Poverty is measured based on consumer expenditure surveys of the National Sample Survey Organisation. A poor household is defined as one with an expenditure level below a specific poverty line.
The incidence of poverty is measured by the poverty ratio, which is the ratio of the number of poor to the total population expressed as a percentage. It is also known as head-count ratio.
Alagh Committee (1979) determined a poverty line based on a minimum daily requirement of 2400 and 2100 calories for an adult in Rural and Urban area respectively.
Subsequently different committees; Lakdawala Committee (1993), Tendulkar Committee (2009), Rangarajan committee (2012) did the poverty estimation.
As per the Rangarajan committee report (2014), the poverty line is estimated as Monthly Per Capita Expenditure of Rs. 1407 in urban areas and Rs. 972 in rural areas.

Poverty Alleviation Programs in India

Integrated Rural Development Programme (IRDP): It was introduced in 1978-79 aimed at providing assistance to the rural poor in the form of subsidy and bank credit for productive employment opportunities through successive plan periods.
Jawahar Rozgar Yojana/Jawahar Gram Samridhi Yojana: The JRY was meant to generate meaningful employment opportunities for the unemployed and underemployed in rural areas through the creation of economic infrastructure and community and social assets.
Rural Housing – Indira Awaas Yojana: The Indira Awaas Yojana (LAY) programme aims at providing free housing to Below Poverty Line (BPL) families in rural areas and main targets would be the households of SC/STs.
Food for Work Programme: It aims at enhancing food security through wage employment. Food grains are supplied to states free of cost, however, the supply of food grains from the Food Corporation of India (FCI) godowns has been slow.
National Old Age Pension Scheme (NOAPS): This pension is given by the central government. The job of implementation of this scheme in states and union territories is given to panchayats and municipalities. The states contribution may vary depending on the state. It is a successful venture.
Annapurna Scheme: This scheme was started by the government in 1999–2000 to provide food(10 KG 0f free food grains) to senior citizens who cannot take care of themselves and are not under the National Old Age Pension Scheme (NOAPS), and who have no one to take care of them in their village. They mostly target groups of ‘poorest of the poor’ .
Sampoorna Gramin Rozgar Yojana (SGRY): The main objective of the scheme continues to be the generation of wage employment, creation of durable economic infrastructure in rural areas and provision of food and nutrition security for the poor.
Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) 2005: The Act provides 100 days assured employment every year to every rural household. One-third of the proposed jobs would be reserved for women. The central government will also establish National Employment Guarantee Funds. Similarly, state governments will establish State Employment Guarantee Funds for implementation of the scheme. Under the programme, if an applicant is not provided employment within 15 days s/he will be entitled to a daily unemployment allowance.
National Rural Livelihood Mission: Aajeevika (2011): It evolves out the need to diversify the needs of the rural poor and provide them jobs with regular income on a monthly basis. Self Help groups are formed at the village level to help the needy.
National Urban Livelihood Mission: The NULM focuses on organizing urban poor in Self Help Groups, creating opportunities for skill development leading to market-based employment and helping them to set up self-employment ventures by ensuring easy access to credit.
Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana: It will focus on fresh entrant to the labour market, especially labour market and class X and XII dropouts.
Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana: It aimed at direct benefit transfer of subsidy, pension, insurance etc. and attained the target of opening 1.5 crore bank accounts. The scheme particularly targets the unbanked poor.

2. STATE DEVELOPMENT LOAN

Subject: Economy

Context : The Reserve Bank of India said it will conduct the first ever purchase auction of State Development Loans (SDLs) under Open Market Operations (OMOs) for an aggregate amount of ₹10,000 crore .

Concept :

State Development Loans (SDL) are debt issued by state governments to fund their fiscal deficit. States in India like the centre run budgets where expenditure is higher than revenue leading to deficits.
The deficit by the states is financed partly through market borrowings in the form of SDL.
SDL issues are managed by the RBI, which also makes sure that the SDL’s are serviced by monitoring escrow accounts for payment of interest and principal.
The SDL market is similar to that of the government bond market. . The participants in the SDL market include banks, insurance companies, provident and pension funds, mutual funds and other institutional participants.
SDL’s qualify as approved SLR (Statutory Liquidity Ratio) security and are also qualify as approved investments for insurance companies, provident and pension funds and trusts.
SDL’s also qualify for repo in the LAF (Liquidity Adjustment Facility) auction of the RBI.

3. NCC, NSS

Subject: National Agencies

Context : The Supreme Court on Friday directed the National Cadet Corps (NCC), National Service Scheme (NSS) and Bharat Scouts and Guide to assist the one-man committee of retired apex court judge to contain the menace of stubble burning.

Concept :

National Cadet Corps

The NCC was formed in 1948 (on the recommendation of H. N. Kunzru Committee-1946), and has its roots to British era uniformed youth entities like University Corps or University Officer Training Corps.
Currently it has a strength of around 14 lakh cadets from Army, Navy and Air Force wings.
The NCC falls under the purview of the Ministry of Defence and is headed by a Director General of three-star military rank.
It enrolls cadets at high school and college level and also awards certificates on completion of various phases.

National Service Scheme (NSS):

It is an Indian government-sponsored public service program conducted by the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports of the Government of India.
The scheme was launched in Gandhiji’s Centenary year in 1969.
The University Grants Commission (UGC) headed by Radhakrishnan recommended introduction of national service in the academic institutions on a voluntary basis with a view to developing healthy contacts between the students and teachers on the one hand and establishing a constructive linkage between the campus and the community on the other hand.

4. SOLIDARITY TRIALS

Subject : Science and tech

Context : World Health Organization (WHO) made available interim results from the Solidarity Therapeutics Trial — a large-scale global trial studying the effectiveness of various repurposed therapies in Covid-19 treatment.

The findings put a dampener on expectations from these therapies including remdesivir, once seen as promising.

Concept :

The Solidarity Trial will test four different drugs or combinations — remdesivir, a combination of two drugs, lopinavir and ritonavir, the two drugs plus interferon beta, and chloroquine.
It will compare their effectiveness to what is called standard of care, the regular support hospitals treating COVID-19 patients use now.
There are 30 vaccine groups that are operational worldwide right now looking at COVID-19, with five having gone into animal-toxicity study.
India is also a participant.

5. SKEWED SEX RATIO

Subject: Health

Context: C Rangarajan (former Chairman, Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council) and J K Satia argue that there is an urgent need to reach young people both for reproductive health education and services as well as to cultivate gender equity norms.

Concept:

The sex ratio is the ratio of males to females in a total population.
The skewed sex ratio could upset the gains from a falling fertility rate which is estimated to be TFR 2.2(Total Fertility Rate) in 2018.
However it will not result in stabilisation of population. This is because of the population momentum effect, a result of more people entering the reproductive age group of 15-49 years due to the past high-level of fertility.
That is why the UN Population Division has estimated that India’s population would possibly peak at 161 crore around 2061.
The SRS(Sample Registration System) reports show that sex ratio at birth in India, measured as the number of females per 1,000 males, declined marginally from 906 in 2011 to 899 in 2018.
This is a cause for concern because this adverse ratio results in a gross imbalance in the number of men and women and its inevitable impact on marriage systems as well as other harms to women.
Urgent reforms are needed to reduce the effect of population momentum and accelerate progress towards reaching a more normal sex-ratio at birth.

6. MINIMUM SUPPORT PRICE

Subject: Economy (agri)

Context:

PM says that minimum support price (MSP) and government procurement are important part of food security in India.

Concept:

Fixation of MSP

The MSP is fixed on the recommendations of the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP).

Factors taken into consideration for fixing MSP include:

Demand and supply;
Cost of production (A2 + FL method)
Price trends in the market, both domestic and international;
Inter-crop price parity;
Terms of trade between agriculture and non-agriculture;
A minimum of 50% as the margin over cost of production; and
Likely implications of MSP on consumers of that product.
The Commission also makes visits to states for on-the-spot assessment of the various constraints that farmers face in marketing their produce, or even raising the productivity levels of their crops.
Based on all these inputs, the Commission then finalizes its recommendations/reports, which are then submitted to the government.
The government, in turn, circulates the CACP reports to state governments and concerned Central Ministries for their comments.
After receiving the feed-back from them, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) of the Union government takes a final decision on the level of MSPs and other recommendations made by the CACP.
Procurement: The Food Corporation of India (FCI), the nodal central agency of the Government of India, along with other State Agencies undertakes procurement of crops.
Government fixes MSP for 22 mandated crops which are paddy, jowar, bajra, maize, ragi, arhar, moong, urad, groundnut-in-shell, soyabean, sunflower, sesamum, nigerseed, cotton, wheat, barley, gram, masur(lentil), rapeseed/mustard, safflower, jute and copra. In addition, MSP of Toria and de-husked coconut are also fixed on the basis of the MSPs of rapeseed/mustard and copra respectively

7. HIV

Subject: Science and tech

Context:

The prevalence of HIV/AIDS among antenatal women has dropped from 0.27% to 0.18% in Tamil Nadu, according to the findings of the recent HIV Sentinel Surveillance 2019.

Concept :

HIV attacks CD4, a type of White Blood Cell (T cells)in the body’s immune system. T cells are those cells that move around the body detecting anomalies and infections in cells.
After entering body, HIV multiplies itself and destroys CD4 cells, thus severely damaging the human immune system. Once this virus enters the body, it can never be removed.
CD4 count of a person infected with HIV reduces significantly. In a healthy body, CD4 count is between 500- 1600, but in an infected body, it can go as low as 200.
Weak immune system makes a person prone to opportunistic infections and cancer. It becomes difficult for a person infected with this virus to recover from even a minor injury or sickness.
By receiving treatment, severe form of HIV can be prevented.

Transmission

HIV is transmitted from person to person through bodily fluids including blood, semen, vaginal secretions, anal fluids and breast milk.
To transmit HIV, bodily fluids must contain enough of the virus. A person with ‘Undetectable HIV’ cannot transfer HIV to another person even after transfer of fluids.
‘Undetectable HIV’ is when the amount of HIV in the body is so low that a blood test cannot detect it. Treatment can make this possible. But regular monitoring of the same through blood tests is also required.

Symptoms

Around 80% of people infected with HIV develop a set of symptoms known as Acute Retroviral Syndrome, around 2-6 weeks after the virus enters into body.
The early symptoms include fever, chills, joint pains, muscle aches, sore throat, sweats particularly at night, enlarged glands, a red rash, tiredness, weakness, unintentional weight loss and thrush.
A person can carry HIV even without experiencing any symptoms for a long time. During this time, the virus continues to develop and causes immune system and organ damage.

Treatment

Anti-Retroviral Therapy:

It is a combination of daily medications that stop the virus from reproducing.

The therapy helps in protecting CD4 cells thus keeping the immune system strong enough to fight off the disease.

It, besides reducing the risk of transmission of HIV, also helps in stopping its progression to AIDS (a spectrum of conditions caused by infection due to HIV).

Stem Cell Transplant:

Under this, an infected person is treated with stem cell transplant from donors carrying a genetic mutation that prevents expression of an HIV receptor CCR5.

CCR5 is the most commonly used receptor by HIV-1. People who have mutated copies of CCR5 are resistant to HIV-1 virus strain.

8. HUNGER INDEX

Subject : Economic Indices

Context :Overall, India ranks 94 out of 107 countries in the Index, lower than neighbours such as Bangladesh (75) and Pakistan (88). 2020 scores reflect data from 2015-19.

The Index, which was ,is a peer-reviewed report released annually by Concern Worldwide and Welthungerhilfe.

Concept :

This index uses four parameters to determine its scores. India fares worst in child wasting (low weight for height, reflecting acute undernutrition) and child stunting (low height for age, reflecting chronic undernutrition), which together make up a third of the total score.
India has the highest prevalence of wasted children under five years in the world, which reflects acute undernutrition, according to the Global Hunger Index 2020.
However, child stunting has actually improved significantly, from 54% in 2000 to less than 35% now.
India has improved in both child mortality rates, which are now at 3.7%, and in terms of undernourishment, with about 14% of the total population which gets an insufficient caloric intake.
In the region of south, east and south-eastern Asia, the only countries which fare worse than India are Timor-Leste, Afghanistan and North Korea