Daily Prelims Notes 30 March 2021

March 30, 2021
Posted by: OptimizeIAS Team
Category: DPN

Daily Prelims Notes

30 March 2021

Table Of Contents

Subject: Government Schemes

Context : Less than 6% of houses sanctioned under the Centre’s flagship rural housing scheme in 2020-21 have reached completion so far this year, with COVID-19 stalling progress, the Rural Development Ministry told a Parliamentary Standing Committee last month.

Concept:

Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana-Gramin.

Ministry: Ministry of Rural Development.
The erstwhile rural housing scheme Indira Awaasyojana (IAY) has been restructured into Pradhan MantriAwaasYojana –Gramin (PMAY-G) from 01.04.2016.
PMAY-G aims at providing a pucca house, with basic amenities, to all houseless householder and those households living in kutcha and dilapidated house, by 2022.
Target: Construction of 2.95 crore houses with all basic amenities by the year 2022.

Cost sharing:

The cost of unit assistance in this scheme is shared between Central and State Governments in the ratio 60:40 in plain areas and 90: 10 for North Eastern and Himalayan States.
The scheme envisages training of Rural Masons with the objective of improving workmanship and quality of construction of houses while at the same time, increasing availability of skilled masons and enhancing employability of such masons.

Selection of beneficiaries:

Based on housing deprivation parameters of Socio-Economic and Caste Census (SECC), 2011, subject to 13 point exclusion criteria, followed by Gram Sabha verification.

2. USD COIN

Subject: Science & technology

Context: Visa Becomes First Major Payments Network to Settle Transactions in USD Coin (USDC).

Concept:

USD Coin (USDC) is a digital stablecoin that is pegged to the United States dollar and runs on the Ethereum, Stellar and AlgorandBlockchain.
Each USDC is backed by a dollar held in reserve.
USD Coin is managed by a consortium called Centre,founded by Circle and including cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase and Bitcoin miner company Bitmain, which is an investor in Circle.

3. UK VARIANT CORONAVIRUS

Subject: Science & tech

Context: The UK variant of the coronavirus did not appear to be more transmissible than the variant of the virus most common in India, according to a study by scientists at the National Institute of Virology, Pune.

Concept:

The variant was identified in genomic surveillance by COVID-19 Genomics UK (COG-UK), a consortium that analyses genome sequencing data from the UK. COG-UK is the largest contributor to the global Covid-19 database GISAID.
The variant is the result of multiple mutations in the spike protein of the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, as well as mutations in other genomic regions of the RNA virus.
COG-UK identified one of these mutations as “N501Y”, in an area of the spike protein that binds to a key protein in the human cell, the ACE2 receptor.
This was an indication that the alterations may, theoretically, result in the virus becoming more infectious.

4. POLLING AGENTS

Subject: Polity

Context: The Election Commission’s recent decision to change the rules for appointing polling agents has sparked off a debate in West Bengal.

Concept:

A polling agent is a person appointed as a representative of a political party as it is not possible for a candidate to be physically present at every polling booth on the day of the elections.
Therefore, the Election Commission allows a candidate to appoint a polling agent who keeps an eye on the voting process.

What is the role of a polling agent?

As per the Election Commission’s rules, a polling agent should be familiar with the rules and procedures to conduct elections using EVMs and VVPATs, and with the working of these machines.
Towards this end, a polling agent attends the demonstrations arranged by the Returning Officer, where the functioning and operation of these machines are explained.

New regulations:

As per the new regulations, a political party can now nominate a polling agent for any booth within the assembly segment he/she is a voter from.
Earlier, the polling agent had to be a voter of the booth or an adjoining booth that he/she is working at.
The Trinamool has been opposing the change in rules, calling it “arbitrary, motivated and biased” and has also written to the Election Commission seeking withdrawal of the order.

5. HEART OF ASIA- ISTANBUL PROCESS

Subject: International Relations

Context: External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar reached Dushanbe on a three-day visit to Tajikistan. He will attend the 9th Ministerial Conference of Heart of Asia – Istanbul Process on Afghanistan.

Concept:

The Heart of Asia – Istanbul Process (HoA-IP) is an initiative of Afghanistan and Turkey, which was officially launched at a conference hosted by Turkey in Istanbul on 2 November 2011.
Since then, Afghanistan supported by fourteen Participating Countries of the Heart of Asia Region and 16 Supporting Countries beyond the region as well as 12 Regional and International Organizations is leading and coordinating this Process.
It is a platform for promoting regional security, economic and political cooperation centred on Afghanistan through dialogue and a set of Confidence Building Measures (CBMs).
The Directorate General for Regional Cooperation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Afghanistan is acting as the de facto Secretariat of the Process.

The Heart of Asia Region:

The geographical area covering the 15 Participating Countries of the HoA-IP is defined as the Heart of Asia Region.
It is one of the biggest regions in the world with a collective geographical area of more than 40 million km2 covering around 27% of the land area of the Earth.

6. PROROGATION

Subject: Polity

Context: President Ram NathKovind has prorogued the fifth session of 17th Lok Sabha. The session had commenced on 29th January. President also prorogued the Rajya Sabha. The House was adjourned sine die on 25th of this month.

Concept:

Termination of a session of the House by an order made by the President under article 85(2) is called ‘prorogation’.
The President in exercising the power to prorogue the House acts on the advice of the Prime Minister.
Usually, prorogation follows the adjournment of the sitting of the House sine die.
The time-lag between the adjournment of a House sine die and its prorogation is generally two to four days, although there are instances when a House was prorogued on the same day on which it was adjourned sine die.
It is not necessary that both the Houses should be prorogued simultaneously.

Effects of prorogation on different categories of business pending before the House

Article 107(3) of the Constitution of India expressly provides that a Bill pending in Parliament shall not lapse by reason of the prorogation of the House. This also covers Bills pending before a Select or Joint Committee of the House(s).
Notices of intention to move for leave to introduce Bills also do not lapse on prorogation and no fresh notice is necessary in the next session for that purpose except where any sanction or recommendation granted under the Constitution in respect of a Bill has ceased to be operative.
On the prorogation, all pending notices of Motions and Resolutions except those relating to introduction of Bills as mentioned above, lapse and fresh notices must be given for the next session.
Any business pending before a committee shall not lapse by reason only of the prorogation of the House and the committee shall continue to function notwithstanding such prorogation.
On prorogation of either House of Parliament, the President has the power to issue Ordinances under article 123.

7. ASTEROID APOPHIS

Subject : Science & tech

Context : Recently, the USA’s NASA space agency has ruled out the possibility of the dreaded asteroid Apophis causing any damage to the Earth for the next 100 years.

Concept :

Asteroid Apophis

It is named after the ancient Egyptian god of chaos and darkness.
It was discovered in 2004, after which NASA had said that it was one of the asteroids that posed the greatest threat to Earth.
It measures 340 metre across which is comparable to the size of the huge ship that has currently blocked the Suez Canal.
The astronomers used the 70-metre radio antenna at the Deep Space Network’s Goldstone Deep Space Communications Complex near Barstow, California in order to track Apophis’ motion.
They also used the 100-metre Green Bank Telescope in West Virginia which showed imaging of Apophis.
The two systems were used together in a “bistatic” experiment that doubled the strength of the received signal.
Apophis is categorised as a potentially hazardous asteroids (PHAs).

Potentially Hazardous Asteroids:

It means that an asteroid has the potential to make threatening close approaches to the Earth.
Specifically, all asteroids with a Minimum Orbit Intersection Distance (MOID) of 0.05 AU (which is about 7,480,000 Km) or less and an Absolute Magnitude (H) of 22.0 (about 150 mt in diameter) or less are considered PHAs.
MOID is a method for calculating the minimum distance between two almost overlapping elliptical orbits.
The absolute magnitude is a measure of the star’s luminosity i.e. the total amount of energy radiated by the star every second.

8. AFRICAN ELEPHANT

Subject : Environment

Context : Recently, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has found that the forest elephant and savanna elephant are threatened with extinction.

Concept :

The report has opted to assess the African mammal as two separate species following genetic studies of populations.
The IUCN has found that the forest and savanna elephants split from each other 5–6m years ago, at about the same time humans separated from chimpanzees.
The forest elephant has been classified by the IUCN as critically endangered, while the savanna elephant is listed as endangered.

About Forest and Savanna Elephants

The majority of critically endangered forest elephants are in the Congo basin in Gabon, West Africa, while Botswana has the largest population of savanna elephants.
The forest elephants are generally smaller in size, have oval-shaped ears, straighter tusks and longer gestation periods.
The savanna elephants live in larger family groups; have bigger ears and different-shaped skulls, among other differences.
The habitat range of both species rarely crosses over in Africa, with savanna elephants preferring grasslands and deserts, while the forest elephant is mainly found in tropical rainforests.

About African Elephant

African elephants are the largest land animals on Earth.
They are slightly larger than their Asian cousins and can be identified by their larger ears that look somewhat like the continent of Africa.
African elephants are a keystone species, meaning they play a critical role in their ecosystem as they are known as ecosystem engineers.
African elephants are categorized into savanna elephants and forest elephants.
The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) banned the global commercial ivory trade in 1989.