Daily Prelims Notes 25 February 2021
- February 25, 2021
- Posted by: OptimizeIAS Team
- Category: DPN
Daily Prelims Notes
25 February 2021
By
Santosh Sir
All 6 Prelims qualified
4 CSE Mains qualified
If I can do it, you can too
Table Of Contents
- Rajasthan Model of Public Health
- World’s largest cricket arena
- Testing sewage to Map Covid spread
- Sub-categorisation of OBCs
- Tribal’s forest right vs Critical Wildlife Habitat/Tiger Habitat
- Infrastructure Investment Trusts (InvIT)
- Offence of criminal conspiracy
- Californian variant of Sars-Cov-2
- Corruption Perception Index (CPI) and Pygmalian effect
- Mount Etna (Italy)
- India-South Africa IPR waiver proposal
- Ghana first to receive vaccine supply from COVAX facility
- Open market Operations (OMOs)
1. Rajasthan Model of Public Health
Subject: Polity
Context: Rajasthan has taken steps toward the universal health by which a Right to health bill will be brought and state will seek to provide universal preventive care, primary care and curative care.
Concept:
- Aim is to guarantee quality healthcare to all citizens, without any “catastrophic” out of pocket financial burden on them
- Allocation of Rs 3,500 crore in the upcoming financial year as part of measures to reinforce health infrastructure in the state.
- The standards of health provisioning will be as per WTO set standards.
- A right to health bill will be brought. Emphasis in bill be on rights of patients, especially their consent, and of service providers
- Every family will get a Rs 5 lakh health cover.
- Ensuring primary healthcare services within three kilometres or 30 minutes walking distance to each citizen, primary care within 12 kilometres.
- A mechanism for grievance redressal within the healthcare services at every block and district level, hoping to adopt a congenial approach through Swasthya Jan Sunwai.
2. World’s largest cricket arena
Context: The 130000-capacity stadium at Motera, Ahmedabad (Gujrat) was inaugurated by the President.
Concept:
- It will be part of Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel Sports enclave.
- Earlier named Sardar Patel stadium or Motera stadium, it was renovated and renamed as Narendra Modi stadium yesterday.
3. Testing sewage to Map Covid spread
Subject: Science and Technology
Context: A model developed by Kerala-born microbiologist settled in Sydney, in March last year has been adopted across Australia for its testing of waste-water to locate fragments of SARS-CoV-2 and thus detect hidden cases within the broader community.
Concept:
- The model works on premise of person infected with coronavirus will start ‘shedding’ the virus within three-four days through his faeces (The ‘shedding’ can also occur while coughing, showering, sneezing or brushing one’s teeth.).
- Such virus fragments, travelling through toilets and sewer pipes, end up in sewage treatment plants. Sample taken from sewage treatment plants in a specific catchment gives result of presence of virus in community even before symptom shows up.
- It has been seen to have high sensitivity, and high economic potential with testing equivalent to testing large number of people and containing spread in initial stages.
- The model was result of a research programme, Collaboration on Sewage Surveillance for SARS-CoV-2 (ColoSSoS) launched by Water Research Australia (WRA).
Subject: Polity
Context: Former NCBC chief Justice Eswaraiah says if the government wants to sub-categories the OBCs in order to give them justice, it should either publicise the data of Socio Economic and Caste Census (SECC)-2011 or it should conduct a caste census.
Concept:
- According to him, without scientific data availability like SECC-2011 or caste census for current OBC population it would be a unscientific, unconstitutional and illegal exercise.
Sub-categorisation of OBCs
- It is basically a restructuring of OBC reservation for equitable distribution of benefit so that those castes who are not able to avail it can be targeted.
- It is believed that only a few affluent communities among the over 2,600 included in the central list of OBCs have secured a major part 27% OBC reservation.
- Sub-categorisation would ensure “equitable distribution” of representation among all OBC communities. Ex- Bihar currently has OBCs and EBCs (Extremely Backward classes within that share of 27%.).
- G Rohini Committee is currently working on the sub-categorisation of OBCs and is expected to submit report by end of July this year.
5. Tribal’s forest right vs Critical Wildlife Habitat/Tiger Habitat
Subject: Environment
Context: Thousands of tribals living in villages located in the core areas of Sitanadi Udanti Tiger Reserve in Chhattisgarh are demanding that their Community Forest Resource rights be recognized which are currently violated using core areas under critical Tiger habitat in the area.
Concept:
Land rights under the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006:
- SECTION 3 (1) (i) of the Act gives right to protect, regenerate or conserve or manage any community forest resource which the tribals have been traditionally protecting and conserving for sustainable use.
- For recognition of Community Forest Resource rights, traditional boundary of a tribal village is recognised, empowering the gram sabha of the village to take decisions on protection, regeneration, conservation and management of the forest and its produce.
- The Gram Sabha is empowered to take decisions regarding protection, regeneration, conservation and management of the forest and its produce under the Act.
- For Community Forest Resource rights, the traditional boundary of tribal village as a unit is the boundary.
- 20006 Act’s Section 4(1) says notwithstanding anything contained in any other law for the time being in force, and subject to the provisions of this Act, the Central Government hereby recognises and vests forest rights under Section 3(1) of the same Act.
Critical Tiger habitat
- These are core areas of tiger reserves and are identified under the Wild Life Protection Act (WLPA), 1972 based on scientific evidence.
- Such areas are required to be kept as inviolate for the purpose of tiger conservation, without affecting the rights of the Scheduled Tribes or such other forest dwellers.
- The notification of CTH is done by the state government in consultation with the expert committee constituted for the purpose.
Critical Wildlife Habitat
- Critical ‘wildlife’ habitats (CWLHs), on the other hand, are defined only in the Forest Rights Act, 2006.
- CWLHs are meant to be areas of national parks and wildlife sanctuaries that are required to be kept as inviolate for the purpose of wildlife conservation (not just tigers).
- Similar to CTH, the identification of CWLH is done based on scientific and objective criteria, but it mandatorily requires settlement of forest rights under FRA.
- Unlike CTHs, the notification of CWLHs can only be done with the consent of the Gram Sabhas and affected stakeholders.
- Post notification, the forest rights in CWLHs can be modified or resettled subject to certain conditions.
6. Infrastructure Investment Trusts (InvIT)
Subject: Economy
Context: The railways officials are looking at InvIT after its role in road and power sector as it has been seeking to attract private investment
Concept:
- It is a Collective Investment Scheme similar to a mutual fund, which enables direct investment of money from individual and institutional investors in infrastructure projects to earn a small portion of the income as return
- it is a tiered structure with Sponsor setting up the InvIT which in turn invests into the eligible infrastructure projects either directly or via special purpose vehicles (SPVs).
- It is regulated by the SEBI (Infrastructure Investment Trusts) Regulations, 2014
7. Offence of criminal conspiracy
Subject: Polity
Context: Arrest and then recent bail of activist Disha Ravi for the offence of conspiracy to incite violence in national capital on 26th January has brought this in focus.
Concept:
- Sections 120A and 120B of the IPC, deals with the offence of criminal conspiracy. Former deals with the definition, while later provides for punishment.
- The law originated during the British times in 1913 to control rising national sentiments.
- The common intention and an agreement between two or more persons to commit a criminal offence constitute the offence of criminal conspiracy.
- Agreement is necessary (not necessary for all the conspirators to know each other) and sufficient to establish the charge of conspiracy (even if actual offence was not committed). This means it is a substantive offence itself and is done to prevent crime in initial stages.
- The SC in 1993 Delhi blasts case: The encouragement and support which co-conspirators give to one another rendering enterprises possible which, if left to individual effort, would have been impossible, furnish the ground for visiting conspirators and abettors with condign punishment
- once the prosecution proves the conspiracy charge, all of the accused will be held liable for conspiracy, and also separately for individual offences committed by them.
- For prescribing punishment for conspiracy, the IPC divides criminal conspiracies into two categories.
- First, for criminal conspiracy to commit serious offences — which carry a sentence of two years or more, including life imprisonment and the death penalty — the accused will be punished as though they had abetted such offence.
- Second, in a criminal conspiracy to commit offences that carry a jail term of less than two years, fine or both, the punishment is imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months, or fine, or both.
8. Californian variant of Sars-Cov-2
Subject: Science and Technology
Context: A new variant first found in California (USA) has been found to be more contagious than earlier variants.
Concept:
- The variant known as B.1.427/B.1.429 has seen to be rapidly spreading in parts of USA.
- Study revealed that it produces twice as many viral particles than other variants.
- Earlier the UK variant was said to both highly transmissible as well as lethal.
9. Corruption Perception Index (CPI) and Pygmalian effect
Subject: International reports
Context: Various concerns have been raised against the Corruption Perception Index which is not seen as an objective, region-specific dataset, rather it is a perception-based index.
Concept:
- India’s rank slipped to 86th in corruption perception index 2020 out of 180 countries.
About Corruption Perception Index
- First launched in 1995 by the Transparency International, the Index has been widely credited with putting the issue of corruption on the international policy agenda.
- Transparency International is a non-profit, non-governmental organisation dedicated to fighting corruption. It was founded in 1993 and is based in Berlin, Germany.
- The index, which ranks 180 countries and territories by their perceived levels of public sector corruption according to experts and business people, uses a scale of 0 to 100, where 0 is highly corrupt and 100 is very clean.
About Pygmalian effect
- The Pygmalion effect is a psychological phenomenon wherein high expectations lead to improved performance in a given area. Its name comes from the story of Pygmalion, a mythical Greek sculptor.
- Pygmalion carved a statue of a woman and then became enamored with it. Unable to love a human, Pygmalion appealed to Aphrodite, the goddess of love. She took pity and brought the statue to life. The couple married and went on to have a daughter, Paphos.
Subject: Geography
Context: For a week Mt Etna has been belching lava, ash and volcanic rocks on a regular basis as a result of eruption.
Concept:
- Mount Etna is the highest Mediterranean island mountain and the most active stratovolcano or Composite volcano in the world. It is about 3,326 metres high and is the highest peak in Italy South of the Alps.
- The almost continuous eruptive activity of Mount Etna continues to influence volcanology, geophysics and other Earth science disciplines.
- It also impacts terrestrial ecosystems including endemic flora and fauna and its activity makes it a natural laboratory for the study of ecological and biological processes.
About Composite volcano
- Cone-shaped volcanoes built from many layers of lava, pumice, ash, and tephra.
- Due to multiple layers of viscous material, rather than fluid lava, composite volcanoes tend to form tall peaks rather than rounded cones.
- Sometimes the summit crater collapses to form a caldera.
- Composite volcanoes are responsible for the most catastrophic eruptions in history.
- So far, Mars is the only place in the solar system besides Earth known to have stratovolcanoes.
11. India-South Africa IPR waiver proposal
Subject: Economy
Context: Around 90 WTO members have supported India-South Africa IPR proposal for temporary waiver during Covid 19 period.
Concept:
- At the recent TRIPS Council meeting these members supported the proposal which has 57 co-sponsors.
- It says that the member countries canchoose to neither grant nor enforce patents and other intellectual property- (IP) related to Covid-19 drugs, vaccines and medical products for the duration of the pandemic.
- The co-sponsors of the India-South Africa proposal include Kenya, Eswatini, Mozambique, Pakistan and Bolivia.
- Significance of this support is that proposal will not be set aside and that more efforts are made to move towards a consensus on the matter
- It was also supported by ACP group, one of the largest groups on forum.
- Several developed countries and China, Colombia and Chile, however, continue to oppose it, and sought more evidence-based discussion.
- However skewed access to vaccine is evident: As per the data, the US, the UK and the EU accounted for about 30 per cent of over 200 million vaccines that have been administered globally. It has been reported that just 10 countries have administered 75 per cent of all Covid-19 vaccines while over 100 countries have not received a single dose.
About ACP Group
- ACP Group (African, Caribbean and Pacific Group – 62 members) was created by the Georgetown Agreement in 1975 and now known as Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific States (OACPS).
- Aim of the group is sustainable development and poverty reduction within its member states, as well as their greater integration into the world’s economy.
- Many small island developing states are OACPS states. The fourth Lomé Convention was revised in 1995 in Mauritius and gives special attention to island countries in this agreement.
About Trips
12. Ghana first to receive vaccine supply from COVAX facility
Subject: International Bodies
Context: Ghana received the world’s first delivery of coronavirus vaccines from the United Nations-backed COVAX initiative on Wednesday.
Concept:
- It received 600000 doses of AstraZeneca vaccine.
- It is the beginning of the largest vaccine procurement and supply operation in history, according to the World Health Organization and UNICEF.
- COVAX facility seeks to ensure people from less wealthy countries are not left behind in the race for life-saving vaccines
About COVAX:
https://optimizeias.com/covax-2/
13. Open market Operations (OMOs)
Subject: Economy
Context: On March 4 the RBI will conduct a Rs 15000 crore OMO.
Concept:
- Since the beginning of January 2021, the yield on G-secs have jumped around 24 basis points leading to fall in its prices.
- Due to the price drop banks are staring at mark-to-market (MTM) losses in the fourth quarter.
- Yield and price of bonds/G-secs are inversely related, moving in opposite directions. Thus, if yield of G-secs rises, its price drops down and vice-versa.
- Thus, rise in yield implies fall in price of G-secs which means losses for banks which are holding it
About Mark-to-Market (MTM) losses
MTM losses relates to asset’s value adjusted on a daily basis to reflect its market price and losses in it due to fall in prices.
About OMOs
- Open Market Operations (OMOs) are market operations conducted by RBI by way of sale/purchase of government securities to/from the market with an objective to adjust the rupee liquidity conditions in the market on a durable basis.
- If there is excess liquidity, RBI resorts to sale of securities and sucks out the rupee liquidity.
- Similarly, when the liquidity conditions are tight, RBI buys securities from the market, thereby releasing liquidity into the market.
- It is one of the quantitative (to regulate or control the total volume of money) monetary policy tools which is employed by the central bank of a country to control the money supply in the economy.
About G-secs
- A Government Security (G-Sec) is a tradable instrument issued by the Central Government or the State Governments.
- It acknowledges the Government’s debt obligation.
- Such securities are short term (usually called treasury bills, with original maturities of less than one year- presently issued in three tenors, namely, 91 day, 182 day and 364 day) or long term (usually called Government bonds or dated securities with original maturity of one year or more.