Daily Prelims Notes 25 June 2021

June 25, 2021
Posted by: OptimizeIAS Team
Category: DPN

Daily Prelims Notes

25 June 2021

Table Of Contents

1. 88% of SMB’s yet to avail stimulus benefits

Subject : Economy

Context : A nationwide survey conducted among self employed, micro and small businesses (SMBs) during June 10-15 indicates that 88 per cent of the respondents have not yet availed the benefits of any of the stimulus packages announced by the government.

Concept :

Conducted by Chennai based Consortium of Indian Associations (CIA) and its 40 partner SMB associations, the survey found that 73 per cent of the SMB respondents did not make any profit during 2020-21. Over 81,000 SMBs participated in the survey.
The respondents included manufacturers (49 per cent), service providers (15 per cent), self-employed (14 per cent), and consultants, start-ups, traders, food and hospitality and others.
The CIA also proposed the government amend the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Act, 2006, to strengthen the state facilitation councils.

2. Govt seeks ‘affordable’ price , production cut phase – out from OPEC

Subject : International Organisations

Context : With domestic retail fuel prices soaring to record high on rising global oil rates, India on Thursday asked oil cartel OPEC for ‘affordable’ oil price within a ‘reasonable band’ and that the producers should phase out production cuts.

Concept :

OPEC nations such as Saudi Arabia have mostly been India’s principal oil source. But, OPEC and its allies — called OPEC+ — ignoring its call for ease supply curbs had led to the world’s third-biggest oil importer tap newer sources to diversify its crude oil imports.
As a result, OPEC’s share in India’s oil imports has dropped to about 60 per cent in May from 74 per cent in the previous month.

About OPEC

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) was founded in Baghdad, Iraq, with the signing of an agreement in September 1960 by five countries namely Islamic Republic of Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela.
They were to become the Founder members of the Organization.
As of 2020, OPEC has a total of 13 Member Countries viz. Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates (UAE), Saudi Arabia, Algeria, Libya, Nigeria, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, Republic of Congo, Angola and Venezuela are members of OPEC.
OPEC’s objective is to co-ordinate and unify petroleum policies among member Countries, in order to secure fair and stable prices for petroleum producers; an efficient, economic and regular supply of petroleum to consuming nations; and a fair return on capital to those investing in the industry.
It is head quartered in Vienna, Austria.
OPEC membership is open to any country that is a substantial exporter of oil and which shares the ideals of the organization.

OPEC +

OPEC+ is the alliance of crude producers undertaking corrections in supply in the oil markets since 2017.
OPEC plus countries include Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Brunei, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Mexico, Oman, Russia, South Sudan and Sudan.

3. Proposed Integrated Theatre Commands

Subject : Defence

Context : While deliberations continue for a consensus on the creation of the military’s integrated theatre commands, the four proposed commands are likely be raised by year-end, according to a government official.

Concept :

Integrated Theatre Command:

An integrated theatre command envisages a unified command of the three Services, under a single commander, for geographical theatres (areas) that are of strategic and security concern.
The commander of such a force will be able to bear all resources at his disposal — from the Army, the Indian Air Force, and the Navy — with seamless efficacy.
The integrated theatre commander will not be answerable to individual Services.
Integration and jointness of the three forces will avoid duplication of resources. The resources available under each service will be available to other services too.
The services will get to know one another better, strengthening cohesion in the defence establishment.
The Shekatkar committee has recommended the creation of 3 integrated theatre commands — northern for the China border, western for the Pakistan border, and southern for the maritime role.

Current Situation:

The Indian armed forces currently have 17 commands. There are 7 commands each of the Army and the Air Force. The Navy has 3 commands.
Each command is headed by a 4-star rank military officer.
There is one joint command in Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
It is the first Tri-Service theatre command of the Indian Armed Forces, based at Port Blair in Andaman and Nicobar Islands of India.
It was created in 2001 to safeguard India’s strategic interests in Southeast Asia and the Strait of Malacca by increasing rapid deployment of military assets in the islands.
The other tri-service command, the Strategic Forces Command (SFC), looks after the delivery and operational control of the country’s nuclear assets.

4. Covid Vaccine Makers and indemnity

Subject : Science & tech

Context : In talks over supply of their vaccines in India, Pfizer and Moderna are seeking indemnity against costs of compensation for adverse events.

Concept :

Globally, the two companies have supplied their Covid-19 vaccines only after indemnities were given against the costs of compensation for adverse effects due to vaccination.
This means that they cannot be sued in those countries on account of such effects.
Grant of indemnity does not always mean beneficiaries cannot seek compensation for adverse events, but the bar is very high.

In India

The Indian drug regulator has not granted indemnity against the costs of compensation for severe side effects to the manufacturers of any of the three Covid-19 vaccines — Covishield, Covaxin and Sputnik V — to which it has given emergency use authorisation.
For clinical trials, Indian law has laid out rules and a formula for grant of compensation in case of injury or death of any trial subject.
But when a vaccine is approved for commercial use, there is no specific provision under the Drugs and Cosmetic Act for compensation.
However, beneficiaries seeking compensation can file petitions before legal forums, such as consumer courts or a High Court.

International level

The US, which began vaccinating its population in December, was the first country to provide such legal protection to Covid-19 vaccine manufacturer. The UK too has granted indemnity to vaccine manufacturers.
And the World Health Organization (WHO) has a special compensation programme for low-income countries covered under its COVAX facility.
The Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness Act (PREP) Act authorises the US Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) to limit legal liability for losses relating to the administration of medical countermeasures such as vaccines.
Immunity under the PREP Act covers “all claims for loss” — death; physical, mental, or emotional injury, illness, disability, or condition; fear of such injury, including medical monitoring costs; and loss of or damage to property, including business interruption loss.

5. Adani’s Australian arm strikes coal at Carmichael mine

Subject : Economy / Geography

Context : The Adani group struck first coal from its Carmichael, Australia project on Thursday and will start shipping to its customers according to schedule. With this, the project will not only lift the economic prospects of the hitherto barren Australian outback, but also help Indian power plants to source cheap coal.

Concept :

The Carmichael coal mine is a proposed thermal coal mine in the Galilee Basin in Queensland, Australia.
The mine is proposed by Adani Mining, a wholly owned subsidiary of India’s Adani Group.

Project components:

The mine is planned to contain six open-cut pits and five underground mines.
A new rail line is needed to transport coal to port facilities. The proposal includes a new 190 km rail line to connect with the existing Goonyella railway line.
Exports are to leave the country via port facilities at Hay Point and Abbot Point after being transported to the coast via rail. Most of the exported coal is planned to be shipped to India. This requires significant port expansion.
Proposed benefits: It would be the largest coal mine in Australia and one of the largest in the world. At peak capacity the mine would produce 60 million tonnes of coal a year. Over the 60 years, the mine is expected to produce 2.3 billion tonnes.
Opposition to project: The mine has drawn immense controversy about its

claimed economic benefits,

financial viability,

plans for government subsidy and

the potential damaging environmental impacts upon the Great Barrier Reef, groundwater at its site and its carbon emissions.

6. Mukesh Ambani eyes a 75k crore green future for Reliance

Subject : Economy

Context : Reliance Industries has laid out an ambitious plan worth Rs 75,000 crore to pivot towards green energy as its chief Mukesh Ambani announced that the company will look to cut down its carbon footprint to nil by 2035 and join in the efforts to bridge the green energy divide “in India and globally.

Concept :

Talking up a total investment of over Rs 60,000 crore in the next 3 years, Ambani said that the first part of the plan is to build “Four Giga Factories” that will “manufacture and fully integrate all the critical components of the new energy ecosystem”.
The four component factories will comprise “an integrated solar photovoltaic module factory” for the production of solar energy while “an advanced energy storage battery factory” will be set up for the storage of intermittent energy.
An electrolyser factory will come up for the production of green hydrogen and, “for converting hydrogen into motive and stationary power”, a fuel cell factory, too, is in the works.

Working of a gigafactory

Gigafactory, a giant operation that first took shape in the Nevada desert, is a massive battery factory, a part of the plan to help transition of the world onto renewable sources.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk is the founder of Giga factory who is believed to have first coined the term “Gigafactory” in November 2013, and the word comes from the prefix “giga” which is used to denote a measurement that’s been multiplied by one billion.
The gigafactory is intended to gradually provide cradle-to-cradle handling of batteries, from raw material over components to finished products, and recycling old batteries into new.
Cells constitute most of the value creation, whereas packing and electronics are minor parts. More engineers are assigned to developing production equipment than to developing products.

7. Ambergris or ‘Whale Vomit’

Subject : Science / Environment

Context : Recently, there have been two cases where the Mumbai Police has arrested five persons trying to sell Ambergris or ‘whale vomit’.

Concept :

Ambergris

It is generally referred to as whale vomit.
It is a solid waxy substance that floats around the surface of the water body and at times settles on the coast.
A sperm whale eats several thousand squid beaks a day and a beak makes it way to the whale’s stomach and into its looping convoluted intestines where it becomes ambergris.
It was called as “preternaturally hardened whale dung” by a German physician Franz Schwediawer in 1783.
It is produced only by an estimated one per cent of sperm whales.
It contains alkaloids, acids, and a specific compound called ambreine, which is similar to cholesterol.

Value of Ambergris

It is referred to as floating gold because 1 kg of ambergris is worth Rs 1 crore in the international market.
The reason for its high cost is its use in the perfume market, especially to create fragrances like musk.
It is believed to be in high demand in countries like Dubai that have a large perfume market.
The ancient Egyptians used it as incense and it is also believed to be used in some traditional medicines.

Laws governing trade of Ambergris

The sperm whale is a protected species and hunting of the whale is not allowed.
The buying or selling of ambergris in India is prohibited under the Wildlife Protection Act 1972.

Sperm Whale

They are the largest of the toothed whales and have one of the widest global distributions of any marine mammal species.
They are found in all deep oceans, from the equator to the edge of the pack ice in the Arctic and Antarctic.
They are named after the waxy substance i.e. spermaceti, found in their heads.
It is listed as ‘Vulnerable’ under the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.
They inhabit all of the world’s oceans.

8. Indian Navy to get its first ever indigenous aircraft carrier IAC-1 Vikrant next year

Subject : Defence

Context : Onboard the deck of IAC-1, the defence minister said, “The IAC boasts of nearly 75 percent indigenous content. This includes the design, the steel used in the construction and key weapons and sensors.”

Concept :

INS Vikrant

Named after its predecessor and the first airbase reinforced warship of India. It is also known as Indigenous Aircraft Carrier 1 (IAC-1).
It is informally called INS Vikrant 2.
It is currently under construction and conducting trials by Cochin Shipyard Limited in Kochi, Kerala.
It is the first aircraft carrier warship to be made in India.
It weighed up to 40,000 tonnes and can carry up to 40 aircraft.
It is expected to be commissioned in 2023.

9. UPSC to meet on June 28 to select panel for TN Police chief post

Subject : Polity / Governance

Context :The names of seven DGP rank officers of the Tamil Nadu cadre drawn from the 1987 to 1989 IPS batches were already sent to the UPSC for shortlisting.

Concept :

However, the UPSC has directed the state government to send a revised list and according to senior officers with the police headquarters, a list of nine ADGP level officers of the 1990 and 1991 IPS batches was forwarded to the UPSC.

DGP Appointment

Earlier In July 2018, the Supreme Court had refrained State governments from appointing DGPs without first consulting the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC).
The State governments concerned have to send UPSC the names of the probables three months before the incumbent DGPs are to retire.
The UPSC will prepare a panel of three officers fit to be DGP and send it back.
The UPSC shall, as far as practicable, choose the people within the zone of consideration who have got a clear two years of service and must give due weightage to merit and seniority.
The State, in turn, shall “immediately” appoint one of the persons shortlisted by the UPSC.
On the practice of States appointing “Acting DGPs”, the court rejected the idea of acting or temporary DGPs, i.e.. States shall appoint a person as permanent DGP.
The court also ruled that any rule or state law on the subject of appointment of police officers will be kept in suspension. However, the States, which have made laws on police appointments, can move to court seeking modifications of its order.

10. Russia, U.K. spar over Black Sea incident

Subject : Geography / IR

Context : Russia accused Britain on Thursday of spreading lies over a warship confrontation in the Black Sea and warned London that it would respond resolutely to any further provocative actions by the British Navy off the coast of Russia-annexed Crimea.

Concept :

About Crimean peninsula

The Crimean peninsula is connected on the northwest to the mainland by the “Perekop Isthmus”, a 5-mile- (8-km-) wide strip of land that has been the site of numerous battles for the control of Crimea.
Between Crimea and the mainland to the north lies Svyash (“Putrid Sea”), a network of shallow inlets that is separated from the Sea of Azov by the Arabat Spit, a 70-mile- (113-km-) long sandbar along the eastern shore of Crimea.
The Crimean Peninsula was annexed by the Russian Federation in 2014 and since then has been administered as two Russian federal subjects – the Republic of Crimea and the federal city of Sevastopol.

Black Sea

Black Sea is an inland sea located between far-southeastern Europe and the far-western edges of the continent of Asia and the country of Turkey.
Bordering Countries: Romania, Bulgaria, Ukraine, Russia, Georgia, and Turkey.
It connects to the Mediterranean Sea first through the Bosporus Strait, then through the Sea of Marmara and the Dardanelles Strait, then south through the Aegean Sea and the Sea of Crete.
The Black Sea is also connected to the Sea of Azov by the Strait of Kerch.

11. FUTURISTIC INFANTRY COMBAT VEHICLES (FICVs)

Subject : Defence

Context : The Indian Army has issued a tender, or a Request For Information (RFI), for the procurement of 1,750 Futuristic Infantry Combat Vehicles (FICVs) to replace the Russian-origin infantry vehicles in service.

Concept :

This is the Army’s third attempt for the procurement of a new infantry vehicle.
According to the RFI, the FICVs would be employed for cross-country operations, including amphibious operations in plain and desert terrain along the Western borders and high altitudes, up to 5,000 m, and mountain terrain along the northern borders in eastern Ladakh, the central sector and north Sikkim.
They would replace the 1980s vintage Russian-origin BMP-2.
Based on the responses to the RFI, the Army would finalise the specifications and also decide the procurement category.
The main operational tasks that would have to performed by the FICV include destroying enemy tanks, armoured personnel carriers, combat vehicles, low-flying helicopters and other ground-based weapon platforms and positions.

12. NAFED Fortified Rice Bran Oil

Subject : Economy

Context : Department of Food and Public Distribution E-launched “NAFED Fortified Rice Bran Oil”.

Concept :

Rice bran oil is the oil extracted from the hard outer brown layer of rice called chaff (rice husk). It is known for its high smoke point of 232 °C (450 °F) making it suitable for high-temperature cooking methods such as stir frying and deep frying.
Rice bran oil has a composition similar to that of peanut oil.
Rice Bran oil has multiple health benefits, including lowering cholesterol level due to its low trans-fat content and high mono unsaturated and poly unsaturated fat contents. It also acts as a booster and reduces the risk of cancer due to the high amount of Vitamin E it contains.
This oil is recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) as one of the best substitutes for other edible oils.

NAFED

National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India Ltd (NAFED) is an apex organization of marketing cooperatives for agricultural produce in India.
It was founded on 2 October 1958.
It is registered under Multi State Co-operative Societies Act.
It is Headquartered in New Delhi.

13. National Portal for Transgender persons

Subject: Governance

Context: Just over six months after it was launched, the Centre’s national portal for issuing certificates of identity to transgender persons has issued 1,557 certificates as of June 16, 2021, according to Social Justice and Empowerment Ministry data.

Concept:

In November 2020, Union Minister for Social Justice & Empowerment launched a ‘National Portal for Transgender Persons’.
It has been developed within 2 months of Notification of Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Rules, 2020 on 29 September, 2020.
This Portal would help a transgender person in applying for a Certificate and Identity card digitally from anywhere in the country.
The most important benefit is that it helps the transgender person to get the I-Card without any physical interface and without having to visit any office.
Through the Portal, they can monitor the status of their application that ensures transparency in the process.
Getting Transgender Certificate and Identity Cards as per their self-perceived identity is an important provision of The Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act, 2019.