Daily Prelims Notes 22 September 2024

Daily Prelims Notes

22 September 2024

Table Of Contents

1. ‘Export potential high for plantation sector’
2. At UN summit, India calls for global shift to sustainable living
3. India’s First Comprehensive Cancer Genomics Repository Launched by ICGA Foundation
4. South America’s Climate Crisis: Wildfires, Droughts, and the Threat of La Niña
5. Is the Spike in India’s Trade Deficit a Cause for Concern?
6. Typhoid, pneumonia, UTIs show resistance to certain antibiotics
7. Vivad Se Vishwas 2.0: Lower settlement for those filing by Dec. 31

1. ‘Export potential high for plantation sector’

Sub: Geo

Sec: Eco Geo

Context:

• Plantation commodities and their value-added products have significant export potential.

Key Export Statistics:

1. Tea: 260 million kg exported last fiscal year
2. Coffee: $1.29 billion worth of exports
3. Spices:9% consistent growth rate (CAGR)

Value Addition in Exports:

• Spices: Nearly 50% of exports are value-added products
• Coffee: 38% of exports are value-added products

Sector-Specific financial assistance:

1. Coffee:
   • Annual allocation increased from ₹220 crore to ₹300 crore
   • Focus on mechanization and quality improvement
2. Tea:
   • Funding for ‘Tea Development & Promotion Scheme’ raised from ₹290.81 crore to ₹528.97 crore for 2024-25 and 2025-26
   • Operational guidelines for the scheme recently issued

Source: TH

2. At UN summit, India calls for global shift to sustainable living

Sub: Env

Sec: Int Conventions

Context:

• The UN “Summit of the Future” is being held in New York, USA.

Details:

• India’s Approach to Climate Change:
  • Emphasis on sustainable lifestyles to address climate challenges
  • Focus on affordable solutions rather than imposed decisions
• Potential Impact of Sustainable Practices:
  • International Energy Agency estimate: Adopting sustainable practices could reduce annual global emissions by 2 billion tons by 2030
  • Areas of focus: energy and water conservation, waste reduction, sustainable food systems
• India’s Initiatives
  • Resolution on sustainable lifestyles adopted at the UN Environment Assembly
  • Over 1 million Indian schools connected to eco-clubs for environmental awareness
  • Projection of 30-35 million jobs in India’s clean energy sector by 2047
  • Leadership in international organizations:International Solar Alliance and Global Biofuel Alliance
  • “Ek Ped Maa Ke Naam” (Plant for Mother) campaign: 750 million saplings planted in 3.5 months
• Education and Employment
  • Emphasis on incorporating technical education for green sectors from school to employment stages
• Global Cooperation
  • Call for focus on affordable solutions in climate change discussions
  • Importance of community-led campaigns and global citizen engagement

About ‘Summit of the Future’:

• It is a significant global event organized by the United Nations.
• It aims to bring together world leaders, policymakers, and other stakeholders to discuss and address global challenges and strengthen multilateral cooperation in tackling emerging threats.
• The aim of the Summit is twofold:
  • Accelerate efforts to meet our existing international commitments, and
  • Take concrete steps to respond to emerging challenges and opportunities.

Source: TH

3. India’s First Comprehensive Cancer Genomics Repository Launched by ICGA Foundation

Sub: Sci

Sec: Biotech

Why in News

The Indian Cancer Genome Atlas (ICGA) Foundation has launched India’s first comprehensive cancer genomics repository. This platform aims to improve the understanding of genetic variations in cancer specific to the Indian population, marking a significant advancement in cancer research and treatment. The repository provides crucial data that will help researchers, clinicians, and innovators in the field of oncology.

ICGA (Indian Cancer Genome Atlas) Repository: The ICGA aims to create a comprehensive genomic, transcriptomic, and proteomic dataset for Indian cancer patients, addressing the need for region-specific data for personalized treatments.

Data: The ICGA cancer multi-omics portal is the first in India to offer data that includes DNA, RNA, and protein profiles of breast cancer patients, integrated with clinical outcomes. Currently, the platform consists of data from 50 breast cancer patients, with plans to expand to over 500 patients in the coming year.

Significance: Historically, cancer treatments in India relied on Western datasets, which are not always applicable to the Indian population. ICGA seeks to fill this gap with India-specific data to enhance diagnosis, treatment, and outcomes.

Global Collaboration: The ICGA platform invites global researchers to access and contribute to its data, fostering collaborative cancer research on an international scale​.

TCGA (The Cancer Genome Atlas):Launched in 2006, TCGA is a landmark project that molecularly characterized over 20,000 primary cancer samples across 33 cancer types. It provides large-scale data for understanding cancer at the genomic level.

Contributions: TCGA has generated more than 2.5 petabytes of data, offering insights into the genetic mutations driving cancer and improving diagnostic, therapeutic, and preventive measures.

Impact: The data has been used to develop more precise treatments by identifying specific mutations and pathways that contribute to cancer progression​.

What is Atlas?

In the context of cancer genomics, an “Atlas” refers to a comprehensive collection of data that maps out genomic alterations, mutations, and molecular processes that underlie different cancer types.

Examples: Both ICGA and TCGA serve as “atlases” by compiling vast datasets that help researchers explore cross-cancer patterns, cellular origins, and oncogenic processes, which in turn supports the development of personalized therapies​.

What is multi-omics?

Multi-Omics is an integrated approach in biological sciences that combines data from various “omics” fields, such as genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, metabolomics, epigenomics, and microbiomics. This allows researchers to explore multiple levels of biological processes simultaneously.

Multi-Omics and its key aspects:

4. South America’s Climate Crisis: Wildfires, Droughts, and the Threat of La Niña

Sub: Geo

Sec: Mapping

Why in News:

South America is currently facing a severe environmental crisis with widespread wildfires, droughts, and the impending impact of a La Niña event. Countries like Brazil, Paraguay, Bolivia, and Peru are grappling with extreme climate conditions, which are exacerbating socio-economic problems, especially for indigenous communities.

Drought in Northern South America:Paraguay, Brazil, and Ecuador are experiencing severe droughts, leading to falling water levels in their rivers.

Major Rivers: Paraguay River and Argentina’s Parana River have seen significant drops in water levels, affecting transport routes for vital commodities like soy and grains.

Paraguay and Parana Rivers:

Impact of Wildfires: Brazil, Peru, and Bolivia have been the hardest hit by raging wildfires.

Impact on Indigenous Communities: These wildfires are isolating indigenous populations, making it harder for them to access basic resources. Struggles of Paraizinho community along the Madeira River, a tributary of the Amazon.

Floods in Brazil:While northern Brazil faces severe drought, the southern city of Porto Alegre experienced devastating floods in May, which killed 95 people. This stark contrast highlights the unpredictable nature of climate change.

Amazon Drought: Brazil’s Amazon basin, a vital global carbon sink, is experiencing its worst drought in years.

Bolivia Uprising: In response to the government’s inaction, citizens of La Paz took to the streets in protest, demanding stronger measures to combat the wildfires.

The Threat of La Niña: Experts predict that La Niña, a weather phenomenon that brings cooler ocean temperatures, may lead to less-than-expected rainfall in the coming months.

South American Countries

5. Is the Spike in India’s Trade Deficit a Cause for Concern?

Sub: Eco

Sec: External Sector

Why This in News

India has recently witnessed a significant rise in its trade deficit, reaching a nine-month high in July 2024, followed by a further increase in August. This surge, driven by declining exports and rising imports, has raised concerns about the sustainability of India’s trade dynamics and its impact on the economy. The focus is on understanding the reasons behind this growing trade deficit, key sectors affected, and potential risks for the future.

Recent Trends in India’s Exports and Imports:

Export Decline:India’s goods exports began declining, shrinking by 1.5% in July 2024 to an eight-month low. The contraction deepened to 9.3% in August.

Record Import Bill: Imports, on the other hand, grew by 7.5% in July and 3.3% in August. This led to a record import bill of $64.4 billion in August, translating into a merchandise trade deficit of $29.7 billion, the second-highest after the $29.9 billion gap recorded in October 2023.

Trade Deficit Explained:

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.

A trade deficit implies that Indians need dollars/forex more than the rest of the world needs rupees for the trades to settle.

A trade deficit puts pressure on the rupee’s exchange rate against the dollar and persistently high trade deficits tend to weaken the rupee’s exchange rate.

It is a part of the Current Account Deficit.

The current account records exports and imports in goods and services and transfer payments. It represents a country’s transactions with the rest of the world and, like the capital account, is a component of a country’s Balance of Payments (BOP).

There is a deficit in Current Account if the value of the goods and services imported exceeds the value of those exported.

Major components are:Goods,Services, andNet earnings on overseas investments (such as interests and dividend) and net transfer of payments over a period of time, such as remittances.

Current Account Balance = Trade gap + Net current transfers + Net income abroad.

Trade gap/Trade deficit = Exports – Imports

Factors Behind the Widening Trade Deficit

Decline in Major Export Sectors

Petroleum Exports: Oil exports fell sharply by 22.2% in July and 37.6% in August.

Gems and Jewellery: This sector saw over 20% decline in both July and August.

Other Sectors: Export growth in pharmaceuticals, electronics, and iron ore has slowed significantly, with the Chinese economic slowdown contributing to reduced demand in these sectors.

Import Growth Driven by Gold

Gold Imports: India’s gold imports surged, more than doubling to $10.1 billion in August, an all-time high, in contrast to the $3-3.4 billion range seen since April.

Factors Driving Gold Import Surge: The reduction in import duty from 15% to 6%, rising gold prices, and stocking by jewellery players ahead of the festive season have fueled this rise.

Long-Term Challenges

Export Targets: The Indian government aims to scale up both services and goods exports to $1 trillion each by 2030. However, this ambitious goal faces hurdles due to the global economic slowdown, increasing trade barriers, and protectionist policies.

New Trade Barriers: The introduction of measures like the European Union’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism and Deforestation Rules adds further complexity to India’s trade prospects.

Why trade deficit bad for a country’s economy?

If the trade deficit increases, a country’s GDP decreases. 

A higher trade deficit can decrease the local currency’s value.

Impact the jobs market and lead to an increase in unemployment. If more mobiles are imported and less produced locally, then there will be fewer local jobs in that sector.

More imports contribute to imported inflation and an increase in the fiscal imbalance, which is damaging to a developing country.

What is Balance of Payments?

Balance of Payments (BoP) of a country can be defined as a systematic statement of all economic transactions of a country with the rest of the world during a specific period usually one year.

For preparing BoP accounts, economic transactions between a country and the rest of the world are grouped under – Current account, Capital account and Errors and Omissions. It also shows changes in Foreign Exchange Reserves.

Current Account: It shows export and import of visibles (also called merchandise or goods – represent trade balance) and invisibles (also called non-merchandise). Invisibles include services, transfers and income. Thus,

• The balance of trade in goods
• The balance of trade in services.
• Net current income e.g. profit from overseas investment.
• Transfer payments e.g. payments to the EU.

The balance of exports and imports of goods is referred to as the trade balance. Trade Balance is a part of ‘Current Account Balance’.

Capital Account: It shows a capital expenditure and income for a country. It gives a summary of the net flow of both private and public investment into an economy. External Commercial Borrowing (ECB),Foreign Direct Investment, Foreign Portfolio Investment, etc form a part of capital account.

Errors and Omissions: Sometimes the balance of payments does not balance. This imbalance is shown in the BoP as errors and omissions. It reflects the country’s inability to record all international transactions accurately.

Changes in Foreign Exchange Reserves: Movements in the reserves comprises changes in the foreign currency assets held by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and also in Special Drawing Rights (SDR) balances.

Overall, the BoP account can be a surplus or a deficit. If there is a deficit then it can be bridged by taking money from the Foreign Exchange (Forex) Account

6. Typhoid, pneumonia, UTIs show resistance to certain antibiotics

Sub: Sci

Sec: Health

Context:

• A recent report by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) Antimicrobial Resistance Surveillance Network (AMRSN) says that urinary tract infections (UTI), blood stream infections, pneumonia, and typhoid are among the diseases showing resistance to commonly used antibiotics.

About the Report:

• This is the seventh detailed report from the ICMR-AMRSN and presents data from January 1 to December 31, 2023.
• The report analysed trends and patterns of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in six key pathogenic groups in the country.
• Gram-negative bacilli such as Escherichia coli (E. coli), Acinetobacter baumannii and Klebsiella pneumoniae were found to be themost commonly isolatedpathogens from relevant clinical samples (blood, urine, respiratory tract samples).

Gram-negative bacteria:

• Gram-positive bacteria have a cell wall composed of thick layers of peptidoglycan whereas gram-negative bacteria have thin layer of peptidoglycan.
• In a Gram stain test, gram-negative bacteria stain pink while gram-positive cells retain the purple-colour.
• Gram-negative bacteria have an additional outer membrane that contains lipopolysaccharides (LPS), which provides extra protection and can trigger strong immune responses.
• The outer membrane acts as a barrier, making Gram-negative bacteria more resistant to antibiotics like penicillin.
• Often require stronger or more specific antibioticsfor treatment.
• Gram-negative bacteria are responsible for a wide range of infections including urinary tract infections (UTIs), pneumonia, septicemia (blood infections), and wound infections.
• Examples of Gram-Negative Bacteria:
  • Escherichia coli (E. coli)
  • Klebsiella pneumoniae
  • Pseudomonas aeruginosa
  • Acinetobacter baumannii
  • Neisseria gonorrhoeae

Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR):

• Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) is theability of a microbe to resist the effects of medication previously used to treat them. It is also known as antibiotic resistance.
• As a result, the medicines become ineffective and infections persist in the body.
• The WHO defines antimicrobial resistance as a microorganism’s resistance to an antimicrobial drug that was once able to treat an infection by that microorganism.
• The resistance to antimicrobials is a natural biological phenomenon. However, the misuse and overuse of antibiotics accelerates the development of AMR.
• Microbial resistance to antibiotics has made it harder to treat infections such as pneumonia, tuberculosis (TB), blood poisoning (septicaemia) and several food-borne diseases.

7. Vivad Se Vishwas 2.0: Lower settlement for those filing by Dec. 31

Sub: Schemes

Sec: Eco

Context:

• The Income Tax Department has set a deadline of December 31 to file declaration under Vivad Se Vish was 2.0 scheme.

Vivad se Vishwas scheme:

• Launched by: Department of Expenditure, Ministry of Finance
• Objective:
  • To provide relief to the micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) that have been affected by the COVID-19
  • To resolve pending tax disputes and reduce litigation in a simple and swift manner.
• Key features:
  • It offers a one-time opportunity for MSMEs to settle their pending tax disputes by paying only the disputed tax amount and getting a waiver of interest and penalty.
  • Early compliance (before a set date) allows for the waiver of interest and penalty.
  • It provides immunity from any future prosecution or penalty for the settled cases.

Vivad se Vishwas 2.0:

• The scheme was announced in the Union Budget 2023-24to resolve pending appeals in income tax disputes. The scheme shall come into forcefrom October 1.
• The Scheme provides for lesser settlement amounts for a ‘new appellant’ in comparison to an ‘old appellant’.
• It also provides for lesser settlement amounts for taxpayers who file declaration on or before 31^st December 2024.