Daily Prelims Notes 18 August 2021

August 18, 2021
Posted by: OptimizeIAS Team
Category: DPN

No Comments

Daily Prelims Notes

18 Aug 2021

Table Of Contents

1. The Bhalki Conspiracy

Subject – History

Context – Forgotten tales of the freedom struggle in Karnataka as India celebrates its 75^th Independence.

Concept –

Exactly 10 years after India’s First War of Independence in 1857, the anti-British sentiments echoed in Bhalki, and it was later termed the Bhalki Conspiracy.
The associates of Nana Saheb Peshwa II and Tatya Tope, the notable leaders of the revolt, regrouped in Hyderabad and staged attacks against British camps in Secundrabad, Aurangabad, and other places in 1862.
Rao Saheb, nephew of Nana Saheb, who led the attacks, was caught and executed. His associate Rama Rao challenged the British by hoisting Bhagwa Dhwaj at Ashti village near Bhalki in 1867.
The British began a manhunt and when Rama Rao, also known as Jung Bahadur, and his associates Balakrishna, Vitoba, and Bhima Rao were holding a meeting at Bhalki, the British arrested them. They were charged with hatching a plot against the British and the Nizam rule and awarded life imprisonment.
The Bhalki Conspiracy is considered to be the last echo of India’s First War of Independence.

2. Makkalai Thedi Maruthuvam Scheme

Subject – Government Schemes

Context – Doorstep healthcare delivery can mitigate the effects of disruption caused by pandemics

Concept –

In Tamil Nadu, ‘Makkalai Thedi Maruthuvam’ scheme is a community based intervention to tackle and treat NCDs and to address the crucial issues of prevention and early detection.
It involves a tentative budget in excess of ₹250 crore.
It includes population-based screening for the 18plus population for 10 common conditions –hypertension, diabetes, oral, cervical and breast cancers, TB, leprosy, chronic kidney disease, Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease, mental health and the delivery of hypertension / diabetes drugs to patients aged 45plus besides to those with restricted or poor mobility.
The State, which has a high burden of NCDs, also acted on data that indicated very low community control rates for hypertension (7.3%) and diabetes (10.8%) among patients.

3. Albert Einstein

Subject – Science and Tech

Context – Einstein received the 1921 Noble Prize in 1922, for “his services to Theoretical Physics, and especially for his discovery of the law of the photoelectric effect”.

Concept –

‘Annus Mirabilis’, or the Year of Miracles, is how 1905 is remembered by physicists because Einstein, only 26 then, published four remarkable papers that year.
One of them explained that light was made of photons and when light shone on metal, each photon’s energy correlated to electron’s speed on the metal’s surface. This redefined the composition of light and Einstein himself dubbed it revolutionary. It was for this that he received the Nobel Prize.
Light, Einstein said, is a beam of particles whose energies are related to their frequencies according to Planck’s formula. When that beam is directed at a metal, the photons collide with the atoms. If a photon’s frequency is sufficient to knock off an electron, the collision produces the photoelectric effect.

4. Sub-Mission on Fodder and Feed

Subject – Agriculture

Context – A study by the Indian Grassland and Fodder Research Institute has observed that for every 100 kg of feed required, India is short of 23.4 kg of dry fodder, 11.24 kg of green fodder, and 28.9 kg of concentrate feed.

Concept –

The SubMission on Fodder and Feed intends to create a network of entrepreneurs who will make silage (the hub) and sell them directly to the farmers (the spoke).
It is premised on the idea that the funding of the hub will lead to the development of the spoke. The largescale production of silage will bring down the input cost for farmers since silage is much cheaper than concentrate feed.
Studies have indicated that by growing fodder crops one can earn ₹1.60 by investing ₹1 as compared to ₹1.20 in the case of common cereals like wheat and rice.
Private entrepreneurs, self-help groups, farmer producer organisations, dairy cooperative societies, and Section 8 companies (NGOs) can avail themselves of the benefits under this scheme.
The scheme will provide 50% capital subsidy up to ₹50 lakh towards project cost to the beneficiary for infrastructure development and for procuring machinery for value addition in feed such as hay/silage/total mixed ration.
The scheme can be used for covering the cost of infrastructure/machinery such as bailing units, harvester, chaff cutter, sheds, etc.
The revised scheme has been designed with the objectives of increasing productivity, reducing input costs, and doing away with middlemen (who usually take a huge cut).

5. Operation Sadbhavana

Subject – Governance

Context – Army to sponsor J&K students

Concept –

The Army will sponsor 110 students from Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh to its residential public schools and higher education institutions across the country from the current academic year.
It aims to win the hearts and minds of residents of the two Union Territories.
Domiciled residents of J&K and Ladakh, sponsored by the Army’s Northern Command headquarters would be eligible for admissions in the current academic year.
From next year onwards, they would be required to pass a special admission test.

6. LCA Tejas

Subject – Security

Context – HAL signs deal with GE Aviation for LCA Tejas.

Concept –

The Light Combat Aircraft(LCA) programme was started by the Government of India in 1984 when they established the Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA) to manage the LCA programme.
It replaced the ageing Mig 21 fighter planes.
Designed by –Aeronautical Development Agency under the Department of Defence Research and Development.
Manufactured by -State-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Limited(HAL).
Features:
- The lightest, smallest and tailless multi-role supersonic fighter aircraft in its class.
- Designed to carry a range of air-to-air, air-to-surface, precision-guided,
- Air to air refuelling capability.
- Maximum payload capacity of 4000 kg.
- It can attend the maximum speed of Mach 1.8.
- The range of the aircraft is 3,000km
Variants of Tejas:
- Tejas Trainer:2-seater operational conversion trainer for training air force pilots.
- LCA Navy: Twin- and single-seat carrier-capable for the Indian Navy.
- LCA Tejas Navy MK2:This is phase 2 of the LCA Navy variant.
- LCA Tejas Mk-1A:This is an improvement over the LCA Tejas Mk1 with a higher thrust engine.

7. Cabinet Committee on Security

Subject – Polity

Context – Prime Minister Narendra Modi chaired a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) where he instructed the officials concerned to ensure the safe evacuation of Indian nationals from Afghanistan within the next few days and also provide all possible help to “Afghan brothers and sisters who are looking towards India for assistance.”

Concept –

The committee is responsible for debates, discussions and appointments of/in the national security bodies.
Major decisions with respect to the significant appointments, issues of national security, defence expenditure of India are taken by the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS).
CCS is chaired by the Prime Minister of India.
The following are the members of the CCS:
- Prime Minister
- Minister of Defence
- Minister of Home Affairs
- Minister of Finance & Corporate Affairs
- Minister of External Affairs.

Cabinet Committees

There are 8 cabinet committees –
- Appointments Committee of the Cabinet.
- Cabinet Committee on Accommodation.
- Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs.
- Cabinet Committee on Parliamentary Affairs.
- Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs.
- Cabinet Committee on Security.
- Cabinet Committee on Investment and Growth.
- Cabinet Committee on Employment & Skill Development.
All committees except Cabinet Committee on Accommodation and Cabinet Committee on Parliamentary Affairs are headed by the Prime Minister.
They are extra-constitutional in emergence.
In other words, they are not mentioned in the Constitution. However, the Rules of Business provide for their establishment.
The executive in India works under the Government of India Transaction of Business Rules, 1961.These Rules emerge from Article 77(3) of the Constitution, which states: “The President shall make rules for the more convenient transaction of the business of the Government of India, and for the allocation among Ministers of the said business.”
The Prime Minister constitutes Standing Committees of the Cabinet and sets out the specific functions assigned to them. He can add or reduce the number of committees.
In addition to cabinet committees, several Groups of Ministers (GoMs) are constituted to look into different issues/subjects.

8. Enforcement Directorate

Subject – Security

Context – ED attaches assets linked to ex-MLA.

Concept –

It is a Multi-Disciplinary Organization mandated with the task of enforcing the provisions of two special fiscal laws – Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999 (FEMA) and Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA).
The origin of this Directorate goes back to 1st May, 1956, when an ‘Enforcement Unit’was formed, in Department of Economic Affairs, for handling Exchange Control Laws violations under Foreign Exchange Regulation Act, 1947 (FERA, 1947).
In the year 1957, this Unit was renamed as ‘Enforcement Directorate’. The administrative control of the Directorate was transferred from Department of Economic Affairs to Department of Revenue in 1960.
The Directorate enforces two laws;
- FEMA, a Civil Law having quasi-judicial powers, for investigating suspected contraventions of the Exchange Control Laws and Regulations with the powers to impose penalties on those adjudged guilty.
- PMLA, a Criminal Law, whereby the Officers are empowered to conduct enquiries to locate, provisionally attach/confiscate assets derived from acts of Schedules Offences besides arresting and prosecuting the Money Launderers.
The ED has its headquarters in New Delhi and has many regional offices all over the country.
Composition – Besides directly recruiting personnel, the Directorate also draws officers from different Investigating Agencies, viz., Customs & Central Excise, Income Tax, Police, etc. on deputation.
- It is headed by the Director of Enforcement, who is an IRS officer (Indian Revenue Service).
Other functions:
- Processing cases of fugitive/s from India under Fugitive Economic Offenders Act, 2018.
- Sponsor cases of preventive detention under Conservation of Foreign Exchange and Prevention of Smuggling Activities Act, 1974(COFEPOSA)in regard to contraventions of FEMA.
Special courts:
- For the trial of an offence punishable under section 4 of PMLA, the Central Government (in consultation with the Chief Justice of the High Court), designates one or more Sessions Court as Special Court(s).The court is also called “PMLA Court”.
- Any appeal against any order passed by PMLA court can directly be filed in the High Court for that jurisdiction.

9. Gurkhas

Subject – IR

Context – Gurkhas not to be tagged as foreigners.

Concept –

Impressed by their discipline and ferocity in Anglo-Nepalese War of 1814-16, the British decided to recruit Gurkha soldiers starting in 1815. Since then, the Gurkhas have fought on the side of the British Empire in almost every war, including both World Wars.
After the 1947 Tripartite Agreement, the British Army amalgamated the Gurkha regiment into combined Royal Gurkha Rifles (RGR).
- 1947 Tripartite Agreement between India, Nepal and the United Kingdom deals with the military service of Gurkha soldiers from Nepal.
Currently, the Gurkhas comprise up to 3% of the British Army.
In 2015 they completed 200 years of service in British Army.
Queen Elizabeth II of Britain is guarded by two personal Gurkha officers.
The Gurkhas are recruited every year at the British Gurkha camp at Pokhara in Nepal. The camp enlists fresh recruits not only for the British Army, but also for the counter-terror arm of the Singapore Police Force.
Their signature weapon of Gurkhas, Khukri, forms part of the Gurkha regimental insignia in Britain as well as in India.

Ties with Indian Army

Currently, there roughly are 32,000 Gurkhas who make up the 40 battalions serving in the seven regiments in the Indian Army. There is not a single military campaign launched by independent India, where the battalions have not left their indelible mark.

10. Hirakud Reservoir

Subject – Geography

Context – Odisha plans ‘odyssey’ to wild cattle island. Hirakud reservoir to open for ecotourism.

Concept –

It is a multipurpose scheme conceived by Er. M. Visveswaraya in 1937, after recurrence of devastating floods in Mahanadi river. Its first hydro power was commissioned in 1956.
Hirakud Dam is built across the Mahanadi River, close to Sambalpur city in Odisha in India.
Type: It is a composite structure of earth, concrete and masonry. It is the longest major earthen dam in India.
Background: It is one of the first major multipurpose river valley projects started after India’s independence and began operations in 1957.
With successful irrigation provided by the dam, Sambalpur is called the rice bowl of Odisha.

Mahanadi River

- The Mahanadi River system is the third largest of peninsular India after Godavari and Krishna, and the largest river of Odisha state.
- The catchment area of the river extends to Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Jharkhand and Maharashtra.
- Its basin is bounded by the Central India hills on the north, by the Eastern Ghats on the south and east and by the Maikala range on the west.
Source -It rises from a place near Sihawa in Bastar hills in the state of Chhattisgarh to the south of Amarkantak.
Major Tributaries of the Mahanadi river
- Seonath River
- Hasdeo River
- Mand River
- Ib River
- Jonking River
- Tel River

11. Right to be forgotten

Subject – Polity

Context – Acquitted men move Delhi HC seeking ‘right to be forgotten’.

Concept –

Right to be forgotten refers to the ability of an individual to limit, delink, delete, or correct the disclosure of the personal information on the internet that is misleading, embarrassing, or irrelevant.
It allows for the lawful removal of personal information of an individual if such request is made.
The right to be forgotten is distinct from the right to privacy because the right to privacy comprises of the information that is not publicly known, whereas the right to be forgotten involves removing information that was publicly known at a certain time and not allowing third parties to access the information.
Legislative Stand: In India, there are no legal provisions related to it.
Neither the Information Technology (IT) Act 2000 (amended in 2008)nor the IT Rules, 2011 deals with the right to be forgotten.
Only Section 27 of the draft Data Protection bill has listed out three scenarios in which an individual will have the right to restrict or prevent continuing disclosure of personal data, also known as the right to be forgotten.
- This will be applicable if data disclosure is no longer necessary,
- or the consent to use data has been withdrawn,
- or if data is being used contrary to the provisions of the law.
Judicial Stand: There have been instances, where the High courts have upheld the right of an individual to be forgotten.
- For instance, the Karnataka High Court upheld a woman’s right to be forgotten stating that the right is in line with the trend in the western countries. In the sensitive cases involving women in general and highly sensitive cases involving rape or affecting the modesty and reputation of the person concerned, it must be adhered to.
- The Delhi High Court, in another case had asked from the Centre and Google whether the right to privacy included the right to delink from the Internet the irrelevant information.

12. Maharaja Ranjit Singh

Subject – History

Context – Sikh emperor’s statue vandalised in Pakistan.

Concept –

He was born on November 13, 1780 in Gujranwala, now in Pakistan.
At that time, Punjab was ruled by powerful chieftains who had divided the territory into Misls (refers to the sovereign states of the Sikh Confederacy, that rose during the 18th century in the Punjab region in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent after the collapse of the Mughal Empire).
Ranjit Singh overthrew the warring Misls and established a unified Sikh empire.
He was given the title Lion of Punjab (Sher-e-Punjab) for his success in freeing Lahore (his capital) from the Afghan invaders.
Modernization of Army
- He combined the strong points of the traditional Khalsa army with western advances in warfare to raise Asia’s most powerful indigenous army of that time.
- He also employed a large number of European officers, especially French, to train his troops.
- He appointed French General Jean Franquis Allard to modernize his army.
Wide Empire
- Ranjit Singh’s trans-regional empire(spread over several states) included the former Mughal provinces of Lahore and Multan besides part of Kabul and the entire Peshawar.
- The boundaries of his state went up to Ladakh— in the northeast, Khyber pass (route the foreign rulers took to invade India) in the northwest, and up to Panjnad in the south where the five rivers of Punjab fell into the Indus.
The Maharaja was known for his just and secular rule. Both Hindus and Muslims were given powerful positions in his darbar.
He turned Harimandir Sahib at Amritsar into the Golden Temple by covering it with gold.
He is also credited with funding Hazoor Sahib gurudwara at the final resting place of Guru Gobind Singh in Nanded, Maharashtra.
His throne is displayed prominently at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.

13. Financial Inclusion Index

Subject – Economy

Context – RBI unveils financial inclusion index.

Concept –

The Reserve Bank of India(RBI) announced the formation of a
composite Financial Inclusion Index (FIIndex) tocapture the extent of financial inclusion across the country.
The FIIndex for the period ended March 2021 stood at53.9 compared with 43.4 for the period ended March 2017.
The annual FIIndex will be published in July every year, the RBI said in a release.
The index incorporates details of banking, investments, insurance, postal as well as the pension sector in consultation with the government and respective sectoral regulators.
The index captures information on various aspects of financial inclusion in a single value ranging between 0 and 100, where 0 represents complete financial exclusion and 100 indicates full financial inclusion.
The FI Index comprises three broad parameters (weights indicated in brackets)
- Access (35 percent),
- Usage (45 percent), and
- Quality (20 per cent)with each of these consisting of various dimensions, which are computed based on a number of indicators.
It has been constructed without any ‘base year’.
A unique feature of the index is the Quality parameter that captures the quality aspect of financial inclusion as reflected by financial literacy, consumer protection, and inequalities and deficiencies in services

14. Small Finance Bank

Subject – Economy

Context – Small finance banks are meeting inclusion objectives, and must stick to their differentiated model.

Concept –

Small Finance Banks are the financial institutions which provide financial services to the unserved and unbanked region of the country.
They are registered as a public limited company under the Companies Act, 2013.
Small Finance Banks are governed by the provisions of the:
- Banking Regulation Act, 1949;
- Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934;
- Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999;
- Payment and Settlement Systems Act, 2007;
- Credit Information Companies (Regulation) Act, 2005;
- Deposit Insurance and Credit Guarantee Corporation Act, 1961;
- Other relevant Statutes and the Directives, Prudential Regulations and other Guidelines/Instructions issued by Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and other regulators from time to time.
SFBs will be given scheduled bank status once they commence their operations, and found suitable as per Section 42 of the Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934.

Differentiated Banks vs Universal Banks

There are two kinds of banking licences that are granted by the Reserve Bank of India – Universal Bank Licence and Differentiated Bank Licence.
Differentiated Banks (niche banks) are banks that serve the needs of a certain demographic segment of the population. Small Finance Banks and Payment Banks are examples of differentiated banks in India.
Differentiated banks are distinct from Universal Banks (Eg: Commercial Banks like SBI, HDFC, ICICI etc) as they are infused as niche segments. Niche banks typically target a specific market and tailor the bank’s operations to this target market’s preferences.
The differentiation could be on account of capital requirement, the scope of activities or area of operations. As such, they offer a limited range of services/products or function under a different regulatory dispensation.

15. Ransomware

Subject – Security

Context – The confluence of remote working together with the rise in sophistication of organised cyber-criminal groups has led to the rise of ransomware as the one of the most significant cyber risks to face organisations and governments alike.

Concept –

Ransomware is a malware or malicious software that accesses vulnerable files and systems and locks the users out by encrypting the files or systems until a ransom money is paid by the victim to obtain decryption key.
Over the years, various state sponsored/independent cyber-criminal outfits like ‘Ryuk’, ‘REvil’, and ‘Darkside’ have emerged and developed a highly lucrative business model known as ‘Ransomware as a Service (RaaS)’ where ransomware developers form alliances with other cyber-criminal groups (‘Affiliates’) who increase their outreach and share the proceeds of exploits in pre-agreed proportions.

Financial Impact –

According to Willis Towers Watson’s (WTW’s) Global Cyber Insurance Claims data, the average ransomware demand in 2020 was between $4-4.5 million (up from under $3.5 million in 2017), with the average ransom payment noted as slightly above $1.6 million.
According to Sophos’s ‘State of Ransomware 2020’ report, India is statistically the most impacted, with average ransomware remediation costs of $1.1 million and average ransom payment being $76,619.

16. Blood Clotting

Subject – Science and Tech

Context – Blood clotting may be root cause of long Covid

Concept –

Clotting is a necessary process that can prevent too much loss of blood when there is cut or injury.
A blood clot is a clump of blood that has changed from a liquid to a gel-like or semisolid state.
Blood clots are healthy and lifesaving when they stop bleeding. But unnecessary clotting causes serious medical problems which include a heart attack, stroke, etc.
An injury or a trauma stimulates the platelets (also called thrombocytes)in the blood to release certain factors which activate the mechanism of clotting.
- Calcium ions, Fibrinogens, a protein and Vitamin K are also needed for clotting.

History of Blood Clotting Diseases:

The 1918 Spanish flu pandemic, caused by a novel strain of influenza, was also linked to downstream damage from clots that could end lives dramatically.
Viruses including HIV, dengue and Ebola are all known to make blood cells prone to clumping.
The pro-clotting effect may be even more pronounced in patients with the coronavirus.

17. Colorado River Basin

Subject – Geography

Context – US government has declared water shortage for the Colorado River Basin for the first time.

Concept –

The Colorado River flows from the Rocky Mountains into the southwestern US and into Mexico.
The river is fed by snowmelt from the Rocky and Wasatch mountains and flows a distance of over 2,250 km (river Ganga flows through a distance of roughly 2,500 km) across seven states and into Mexico.
The Colorado River Basin is divided into the Upper (Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and northern Arizona) and Lower Basins (parts of Nevada, Arizona, California, southwestern Utah and western New Mexico).
In the Lower Basin, the Hoover Dam controls floods and regulates water delivery and storage.
Apart from the Hoover dam, there is the Davis Dam, Parker Dam and the Imperial Dam that regulate the release of water from the Hoover Dam.
The river drains a vast arid and semiarid sector of the North American continent, and because of its intensive development it is often referred to as the “Lifeline of the Southwest.”
Major lakes in its basin
- Lake Mead is the largest reservoir in the US in terms of volume and was formed in the 1930s by the Hoover Dam in Southern Nevada.
- Its main source of water is obtained from the Rocky Mountain snowmelt and runoff.
- The other is Lake Powell, the reservoir created by the Glen Canyon Dam in Arizona.
Reason for shortage – Since the year 2000, this river basin has been experiencing a prolonged drought.

18. 180nm CMOS

Subject – Science and Technology

Context: India’s Milestone in Semiconductor R&D, IIT Bombay demonstrates Memory Technology on 180nm CMOS Process

Concept:

The natural world is analog while computing is digital. Computers perceive the natural world through sensor chips whose output is analog.
The analog output is converted into the language of computers through a digitizer chip or an analog to digital converter (ADC).
The generic chips can now be designed and application-specific offsets added to make expensive custom chip design redundant, saving time and money for the user.
IIT Bombay partnered with SCL to successfully demonstrate CMOS 180nm based production-ready 8-bit memory technology.
The 180 nm process refers to the level of MOSFET (CMOS) semiconductor process technology that was commercialized around the 1998–2000 timeframe by leading semiconductor companies
The Government of India took cognizance of the significance of R&D in innovation-driven semiconductor manufacturing, at IIT Bombay and the Indian Institute of Science.
The team at IIT Bombay was supported by the Department of Science and Technology’s Intensification of Research in High Priority Area (IRHPA).Aspects of the work were funded by MeitY/DST’s Nano electronics Network for Research and Applications (NNetRA)

Advantage of CMOS 180nm

The chip uses one-time programmable (OTP) memory based on ultra-thin deposited silicon dioxide (a few atoms thick) instead of the existing gate oxide-based OTP technology.
In contrast to the high voltage required by gate oxide breakdown (a popular OTP memory), IIT Bombay’s memory chip requires less power and chip-area as the need for boosted voltage supply is avoided.
The Memory technology is critical to data security.
It will be a game changer by enabling secure memory and encryption hardware for the country.