Daily Prelims Notes 5 October 2024

October 5, 2024
Posted by: OptimizeIAS Team
Category: DPN

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Daily Prelims Notes

5 October 2024

Table Of Contents

1. India’s Per Capita Income to Rise by $2000 in 5 Years

Sub : Eco

Sec: National Income

Finance Minister’s Statement:
- Finance Minister Sitharaman stated that the coming decades will see the steepest rise in living standards for Indians, marking a significant period for the country’s development.
Per Capita Income Projection:
- India’s per capita income is projected to increase by $2,000 over the next five years.
- As per IMF projections, it took 75 years to reach the current per capita income of $2,730, but adding another $2,000 will take only five years.
Reduction in Inequality:
- Inequality in India has declined, as reflected in the Gini Coefficient, which measures income inequality:
  - In rural areas, it improved from 0.283 to 0.266.
  - In urban areas, it improved from 0.363 to 0.314.
Impact of Economic Reforms:
- The improvements in inequality are expected to continue as the effects of the last 10 years of economic and structural reforms become more visible in the data, especially as the impact of the Covid shock fades.
Fiscal Discipline Commitment:
- The government is committed to reducing the fiscal deficit:
  - The fiscal deficit is estimated to decline from 5.6% of GDP in FY24 to 4.9% of GDP in FY25.
  - Fiscal discipline will help control bond yields and reduce borrowing costs across the economy.
Capital Expenditure Growth:
- Capital expenditure is budgeted to increase by 17.1% to ₹11.1 lakh crore in FY25, which amounts to 3.4% of GDP.
- A larger proportion of the fiscal deficit is now allocated to capital outlays, indicating a focus on investment-oriented deficit financing.
Lowering of Subsidies:
- A decline in commodity prices has allowed for reduced allocations for fertilizer and fuel subsidies, contributing to restrained revenue expenditure growth.
- Revenue expenditure is projected to grow by 6.2% year-on-year.
India’s Economic Performance:
- India’s economic performance over the past decade has been notable, with the country leapfrogging from the 10th to the 5th largest economy in just five years.
- The economy has maintained high growth rates and inflation within a comfortable range, providing a solid foundation for future growth.

Gini Coefficient:

The Gini Coefficient measures income inequality in a country, ranging from 0 to 1.
- A 0 represents perfect equality (everyone has the same income).
- A 1 represents maximum inequality (one person has all the income).

Fiscal Deficit:

Fiscal Deficit occurs when a government’s expenditures exceed its revenues (excluding borrowings). It indicates the amount of borrowing required to meet the gap.

Bond Yield:

Bond Yield is the return an investor earns on a bond. It is inversely related to the bond price. As bond prices fall, yields rise, and vice versa.

Deficit Financing:

Deficit Financing refers to a government funding its excess expenditures over revenue by borrowing or creating new money, often through the issuance of government bonds.

2. WHO Approves First Mpox Diagnostic Test for Emergency Use: Expanding Global Access

Sub : Sci

Sec: Health

Why In News

The World Health Organization (WHO) recently approved the first Mpox diagnostic test under its Emergency Use Listing (EUL), which is crucial for expanding diagnostic capacity and tackling the spread of the virus in Africa and other affected regions. This approval marks a significant step in improving access to accurate and timely testing, especially in countries grappling with Mpox outbreaks.

WHO’s First Emergency Use-Listed Mpox Diagnostic Test

The WHO has approved Alinity m MPXV assay, developed by Abbott Molecular Inc, as the first Mpox in vitro diagnostic test under the Emergency Use Listing (EUL) procedure. This real-time PCR test is designed to detect monkeypox virus (clade I/II) DNA from human skin lesion swabs, ensuring rapid and precise diagnosis.

In 2024, Africa reported over 30,000 suspected cases of Mpox. Limited testing capacity in the region has contributed to the virus’s spread, delaying diagnosis and containment efforts.

How Alinity m MPXV assay works?

Detects monkeypox virus (clade I/II) DNA from skin lesion swabs. Uses polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for precise virus identification.

Provides quick confirmation of Mpox in suspected cases. Designed for trained clinical personnel in PCR techniques.

Approved by WHO under the Emergency Use Listing (EUL) to address Mpox outbreaks.

What is Mpox?

Mpox is a viral zoonotic disease caused by the monkeypox virus which was first recorded in humans in 1970 in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

Mpox can be transmitted to humans through physical contact with someone who is infectious, with contaminated materials, or with infected animals.

There are no specific treatments for Mpox virus infection.

In 2022, the disease was declared a global emergency after it spread to some 70 countries. The emergency was withdrawn in 2023.

There are two known types (clades) of mpox virus: clade I and clade II

Clade I:

Severity: Clade I is considered the more severe and deadlier variant.

Transmission: This clade is typically transmitted from animals to humans, which is known as zoonotic transmission.

Geographical Distribution: Historically, Clade I have been more common in Central Africa, where human-to-animal interaction is higher.

Clade II:

Subdivisions: Clade II is further divided into Clade IIa and Clade IIb.

Clade IIb is the newer variant responsible for the recent global outbreak.

Transmission: This clade is more transmissible between humans, and it has been linked to human-to-human transmission, including through close contact and sexual activity.

Affected Groups: Clade IIb has affected more women and children in Africa and is spreading faster than previous variants.

3. What is the National Agriculture Code, currently being formulated by Bureau of Indian Standards

Sub : Schemes

Sec: Agri

National Agriculture Code (NAC):

The Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) is working on developing a National Agriculture Code (NAC), similar to the existing National Building Code and National Electrical Code.

Why is the NAC Needed?

BIS already sets standards for agricultural machinery (tractors, harvesters) and inputs (fertilizers, pesticides).
However, many critical areas in agriculture lack standards, such as field preparation, micro irrigation, and water use.
There’s a need for a comprehensive standards framework that covers all agricultural practices and helps guide policymakers and farmers.

Key Components of the NAC:

The NAC will cover the entire agriculture cycle and will serve as a guide for farmers, agricultural universities, and field officials.
It will include:
- General principles for all crops.
- Crop-specific standards for paddy, wheat, oilseeds, pulses, etc.

What the NAC Will Cover?

The NAC will set standards for:

Agricultural machinery and processes.
Post-harvest operations: crop selection, land preparation, irrigation, soil/plant health, harvesting, primary processing, sustainability, and record maintenance.
Input management: chemical fertilizers, pesticides, weedicides.
Crop storage and traceability.
Emerging areas: natural farming, organic farming, and IoT-based agriculture.

Objectives of the NAC:

Create an implementable national code that accounts for agroclimatic zones, crop types, and the socio-economic diversity of Indian agriculture.
Promote a quality culture by providing a reference for policymakers, agriculture departments, and regulators.
Offer a comprehensive guide for effective decision-making in agricultural practices.
Integrate Indian Standards with recommended agricultural practices.
Address SMART farming, sustainability, and traceability.
Assist capacity-building programs for farmers via extension services and civil society organizations.

Timeline and Development Process:

Working panels involving university professors and R&D organizations have been formed to draft the NAC, focusing on 12-14 key areas.
The tentative deadline for completing the NAC is October 2025.
After finalization, training programs will be organized for farmers, with BIS providing financial support.

Standardized Agriculture Demonstration Farms (SADF)

BIS is also setting up Standardized Agriculture Demonstration Farms (SADF) at selected agriculture institutes to test and implement agricultural practices based on Indian Standards.
These farms will:
- Serve as experimental sites.
- Be used by farmers, officials, and industry experts to learn about new technologies and practices.
10 premier agricultural institutes have been identified for this project, with MoUs being signed for development.
The Pantnagar-based Govind Ballabh Pant University of Agriculture and Technology (GBPUAT) is one of the first institutes involved.

Importance of SADFs

They will be used for practical demonstrations to train farmers and officials.
The BIS is providing financial support for setting up these farms, learning from similar initiatives already implemented in China.

Source: IE

4. Why we shouldn’t worry (too much) about an asteroid hitting Earth

Sub : Sci

Sec: Space sector

Context:

2024 ON, an asteroid the size of the Eiffel Tower and shaped like a peanut, was deemed potentially hazardous but posed no actual threat to Earth.
It measured 370 meters in diameter and traveled at 40,000 kilometers per hour.
Despite dramatic headlines, astronomers calculated that 2024 ON would pass by Earth at a safe distance of one million kilometers, more than twice the distance to the moon.

Near-Earth Objects (NEOs)

Definition:
- According to the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs, NEOs are asteroids or comets that pass close to Earth’s orbit, with a perihelion (closest distance to the sun) of less than 195 million kilometers.
- Earth’s orbit is 150 million kilometers from the sun, meaning NEOs are within our solar neighborhood.
Known NEOs:
- Scientists have cataloged around 34,000 NEOs, and none of the larger ones are currently on a collision course with Earth.

Asteroid Impact Likelihood:

Smaller NEOs:
- Tiny NEOs hit Earth daily, but larger impacts are rare. An asteroid the size of 2024 ON might hit Earth once every 10,000 years.
Larger Asteroids:
- Around 100 tons of space debris hits Earth daily, though it consists mostly of tiny rocks that don’t cause harm.
- Objects larger than 1 kilometer in diameter, like the asteroid that caused the dinosaur extinction, might impact Earth every 260 million years.
- Only 5% of such large objects remain undiscovered.
- Even smaller NEOs, around 40 meters in width, can cause significant damage if they enter Earth’s atmosphere at high speeds.

Finding and Tracking NEOs

NEOWISE telescope has discovered over 158,000 NEOs before it was retired in 2024.
Its successor, the NEO Surveyor, is set to begin in 2027, aiming to find more hazardous asteroids.
The upcoming Vera Rubin Observatory (Ground-Based Telescope) in Chile will provide a time-lapse map of the universe, significantly improving asteroid discovery rates.
The ESA’s Flyeye telescopes will also contribute to tracking asteroids by making wide-field observations of the night sky.
Detecting NEOs is difficult because it’s hard to gauge how far away objects are from Earth.

NASA’s DART Mission:

In 2022, NASA successfully tested its Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) by crashing a spacecraft into an asteroid to change its trajectory.
ESA will launch Hera in October 2024 to further study DART’s impact and help refine planetary defense strategies.
The asteroid Apophis, once considered a significant threat, will pass close to Earth in 2029, but updated calculations show it won’t hit the planet.

Source: IE

5. How elephants are counted

Sub : Env

Sec: Species in news

Context:

The Environment Ministry has delayed the release of the “Status of Elephant in India 2022-23” report, citing incomplete census data from the Northeast. The report for other regions is ready but will not be released until June 2025.

Decline in Elephant Populations:

Preliminary data shows a sharp decline in elephant populations, particularly in:
- Southern West Bengal (84% decrease)
- Jharkhand (64% decrease)
- Odisha (54% decrease)
- Kerala (51% decrease)

Reasons for Decline:
- The report attributes the decline to factors like unmitigated mining, linear infrastructure projects, and other developmental activities.

Counting Methods:

The elephant census has evolved significantly since the 1990s:
Old Methods:
- Total Direct Count (Pre-2002): A basic headcount of elephants, which lacked scientific accuracy.
- Indirect Dung Count (Post-2002): Surveyors counted elephant dung along pre-designated forest paths and used the dung decay rate and defecation rate to estimate populations.
- Sample Block Counts: Surveyed limited areas (5 sq km) to maximize detection and then extrapolated to estimate populations across larger areas.
New Method (2022-23 Census): The 2022-23 census used a genetic mark-recapture model. Instead of visual identification (used for tigers), elephant dung samples were analyzed for genetic markers to identify individual elephants.

Mark-Recapture Method:

This statistical method uses recaptured individual photographs (for tigers) or dung DNA (for elephants) to estimate population density and extrapolate numbers for areas not directly surveyed.
The Synchronous All India Elephant Estimation 2022-23 (SAIEE 2023) differed from this tiger census method in only one aspect: it used a genetic mark-recapture model.
The elephant hide has no unique markings like tiger stripes. So elephant dung samples collected during ground surveys were analysed in the lab to identify unique elepphants.

Tiger and Elephant Census Harmonization:

In 2021, India announced plans to harmonize tiger and elephant population estimation.
In this method, the entire forest area is broken down into similar-sized cells or blocks (say, A, B, C, and D) where ground surveys are conducted to look for tiger signs (pug marks, droppings, etc.) and identify tiger-occupied forest cells (say, A, B and D).
The survey also assesses a range of “co-variates” — common variable factors such as the quality of vegetation, availability of prey. distance from water/ nightlight, degree of human disturbance etc. – to determine the relative tiger-holding potential of these blocks.

Regional Threats:

Habitat loss and conflict are common threats to elephants across India.
Different regions face unique threats to elephants. For example, in Odisha, issues like mining and low-hanging power lines are key contributors to declining populations.

Source: IE

6. UK-Mauritius treaty on Chagos Archipelago, Diego Garcia: What it means, why it matters for India

Sub: IR

Sec: Places in news

Context:

The UK announced that it would cede sovereignty of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius. This settlement resolves a long-standing sovereignty dispute over Britain’s last African overseas territory, while maintaining the Diego Garcia military base jointly operated by the UK and US.

Historical Background:

Chagos Archipelago: Comprising 58 islands, the Chagos Archipelago lies about 500 km south of the Maldives in the Indian Ocean.
The islands were uninhabited until the late 18th century when the French brought enslaved Africans and Indians to work in coconut plantations.
After France ceded the islands to Britain in 1814, Chagos was attached to Mauritius for administrative purposes.
When Mauritius gained independence in 1968, Chagos remained under British control, with Britain offering Mauritius a grant of £3 million for the “detachment” of the islands.

Strategic Importance:

The UK retained sovereignty over Chagos due to its strategic military importance.
In 1966, Britain and the US signed a defense agreement, and Diego Garcia, the largest island in the Chagos Archipelago, became a major military base by 1986.
The BIOT (British Indian Ocean Territory) administration expelled about 2,000 civilians from Diego Garcia, central to the sovereignty dispute.
Diego Garcia has been used for critical US military operations, including in the Gulf War, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and monitoring the Malacca Strait, a crucial trade route vital to China.

Sovereignty Dispute:

Mauritius has long claimed that the UK illegally occupies Chagos and has raised the issue at the UN and ICJ.
In 2017, the UN General Assembly referred the issue to the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which ruled in 2019 that the UK should “unconditionally withdraw” from the Chagos Archipelago.
The UK-Mauritius agreement resolves this, with the UK ceding claims over the islands except Diego Garcia, which will remain a military base for 99 years.

Implications of the Agreement:

Mauritius is now free to implement resettlement on the Chagos Islands, except for Diego Garcia.
The UK will create a trust fund for the displaced Chagossians.
The agreement helps avoid Mauritius seeking alternative alliances, such as with China, which is increasingly assertive in the Indian Ocean.

India’s Role:

As a former British colony, India has supported Mauritius’ claims over the Chagos Islands and voted in favour of Mauritius at the UNGA in 2019.
India has strengthened its ties with Mauritius, inaugurating an India-built airstrip and jetty on Agaléga, a dependency of Mauritius, earlier in 2023, signaling growing strategic interests in the Indian Ocean amidst rising Chinese influence.

Source: IE

7. Haitian gang massacre leaves at least 70 dead: UN

Sub: IR

Sec: Places in news

Context:

At least 70 people were killed in a series of gang attacks by the Gran Grif gang in Haiti, according to the United Nations Human Rights Office.

About Haiti:

Located in the Caribbean, occupying the western part of the island of Hispaniola, which it shares with the Dominican Republic.
Capital: Port-au-Prince.
Colonized by the French in the 17th century, it became one of the wealthiest colonies due to sugar and coffee plantations.
Gained independence from France in 1804, becoming the first independent nation in Latin America.

Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR):

The office was established by the United Nations General Assembly in 1993 in the wake of the 1993 World Conference on Human Rights.
It is commonly known as the UN Human Rights Office.
It works to promote and protect the human rights that are guaranteed under international law and stipulated in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948.
The OHCHR is led by the High Commissioner for Human Rights.
It is based in Geneva and has several regional offices.

8. NIC e-Office System Failure Halts Railway File Operations

Sub : Schemes

Sec: Awareness in IT

Why in News:

Recently, the e-Office system used by the Indian Railways experienced a major failure, causing file movements and communications within the department to come to a standstill for four to five days. This raised concerns about the digital infrastructure’s resilience and the measures in place to handle such breakdowns.

About e-office:

E-Office is designed and developed by National Informatics Centre, Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology (MEITY).

E-Office is a cloud enabled software that can be deployed/hosted in any data centre or in any cloud identified by the organization.

NIC team shall help the organization in setting up of e-Office environment, master data preparation and in initial rollout.

The e-Office aims to support Governance by ushering in more effective and transparent inter and Intra-Government processes. The vision of e-Office is to achieve a simplified, responsive, effective and transparent working of all Government Offices.

The Open Architecture on which e-Office has been built, makes it a reusable framework and a standard reusable product amenable to replication across the Governments, at the Central, State and District levels.

e-office is for unclassified files with two-factor authentication and is not available on the Internet, but on NICNET. It has mandatory features of authentication of documents with digitally signed certificates and e-signatures. So far, 74 ministries and departments have migrated to e-office version 7.0.

Restoration by RailTel

RailTel, responsible for maintaining the e-Office system for the Ministry of Railways, restored normalcy after a few days of downtime.

The system is hosted in Tier-III Uptime USA-certified data centres in Secunderabad and Gurugram for RailTel customers, including the Indian Railways.

The exact reasons for the system failure were not disclosed, raising concerns over the resilience and reliability of the NIC e-Office system.

Besides the Indian Railways, the NIC e-Office platform also supports other government entities such as the Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO), IRCTC, and Rail Vikas Nigam Limited (RVNL), indicating the broader impact such failures could have.

National Informatics Centre

The National Informatics Centre (NIC) is an attached office under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) in the Indian government.

It was established in 1976 and is located in New Delhi.

The NIC provides infrastructure to help support the delivery of government IT services and the delivery of some of the initiatives of Digital India.

NIC provides network backbone and e-Governance support to the Central Government, State Governments and UT Administrations.

NIC has been closely associated with the Government in different aspects of Governance besides establishing a Nationwide State-of-the-Art information and communication technology (ICT) Infrastructure.

It has also built a large number of digital solutions to support the government at various levels, making the last-mile delivery of government services to the citizens a reality.

9. Wayanad Landslide Relief: Kerala High Court Seeks Centre’s Response on Delay in Funds

Sub : Polity

Sec: Msc

Why in News

The Kerala High Court (HC) has sought a response from the central government regarding the delay in releasing relief funds from the National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF) and the Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund (PMNRF) for victims of the Wayanad landslide.

National Disaster Response Fund:

Defined under sec 46 of Disaster Management Act, 2005 (DM Act).

It is a fund managed by the Central Government for meeting the expenses for emergency response, relief and rehabilitation due to any threatening disaster situation or disaster.

Located in the “Public Accounts” of Government of India under “Reserve Funds not bearing interest“.

Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) audits the accounts of NDRF.

Constituted to supplement the funds of the State Disaster Response Funds (SDRF) of the states to facilitate immediate relief in case of calamities of a severe nature.

National Calamity Contingency Fund (NCCF) was renamed as National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF) with the enactment of the Disaster Management Act in 2005.

What is it to be used for?

NDRF amount can be spent only towards meeting the expenses for emergency response, relief and rehabilitation. For projects exclusively for the purpose of mitigation, i.e, measures aimed at reducing the risk, impact or effect of a disaster or threatening disaster situation a separate fund called National Disaster Mitigation Fund has to be constituted.

Sources of Financing NDRF:

Financed through the levy of a cess on certain items, chargeable to excise and customs duty, and approved annually through the Finance Bill.

The requirement for funds beyond what is available under the NDRF is met through general budgetary resources.

Currently, a National Calamity Contingency Duty (NCCD) is levied to finance the NDRF and additional budgetary support is provided as and when necessary. A provision also exists in the DM Act,2005 to encourage any person or institution to make a contribution to the NDRF.

Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund (PMNRF)

The Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund (PMNRF) was established in 1948 by Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru to provide assistance to displaced persons following the partition of India. Over the years, the fund’s scope has expanded to support victims of both natural and man-made disasters.

The PMNRF is primarily used to offer relief to those affected by:

Natural disasters: Floods, cyclones, earthquakes, etc.

Man-made disasters: Major accidents, acid attacks, riots, and other crises.

Funding and Administration

The fund is made up entirely of public contributions and does not receive any government budgetary allocations.

The corpus is invested in fixed deposits with banks, and disbursements are made only with the Prime Minister’s approval.

Donations to the PMNRF are eligible for 100% tax deduction under Section 80G of the Income Tax Act, 1961.

10. Prakrit & Pali: All you need to know about the newly designated Classical Languages

Sub : History

Sec: Art and Culture

Context:

Among the five languages recently granted Classical Language status are Pali and Prakrit, both derivatives of Sanskrit that were widely used in Ancient India.
The other languages are Marathi, Bengali and Assamese.

Prakrits: the language of the people

The term ‘Prakrit’ derives from ‘prakriti,’ meaning ‘source’ or ‘origin’. Most scholars believe this refers to the Prakrits having evolved from Sanskrit.
They were much simpler than Sanskrit, and thus the language used by the masses, as opposed to Sanskrit being the language of the elites.
Most pre-Gupta inscriptions, including the Ashokan edicts (3rd Century CE), were composed in various forms of Prakrit.

No one Prakrit:

There is no one Prakrit language. Rather, Prakrit generally refers to a group of closely-related Indo-Aryan languages, which may also have other names.
The term Prakrit encompasses various languages and dialects. Some scholars define it to include all Middle Indo-Aryan languages that derived from Sanskrit.
These languages eventually evolved into the modern languages we speak today, such as Hindustani, Marathi, and Bengali.

Some notable Prakrits include:

Magadhi:
- Official language of the Mauryan court and spoken by the people of Magadha.
- Ashokan edicts were written in Magadhi.
- Evolved into modern languages like Bengali, Assamese, Odia, and the Bihari languages (Bhojpuri, Magahi, and Maithili).
Ardhamagadhi:
- Variation of the Magadhi language prominently used by Jain scholars.
- Most Prakrit courses today teach Ardhamagadhi.
Shauraseni:
- Used in North and Central India.
- The speech of women and people from the lower classes in Sanskrit plays was often denoted in this Prakrit.
- Evolved into Hindustani, Punjabi, and other languages of the Hindi group.

Pali: language of Buddhist canon

As vernacular languages, Prakrits were chosen by heterodox religions like Jainism and Buddhism.
Pali has traditionally been linked to Magadhi Prakrit, with the term ‘pali’ meaning “lines or series,” referring to it as the language of Buddhist texts.
However, some modern scholars think that Pali is a blend of several Prakrit languages, including some western dialects, that were combined and partly influenced by Sanskrit.
Pali is the language of the Theravada Buddhist canon and due to its significance to Buddhism, Pali is the variant of Prakrit that is most studied today.
After Theravada Buddhism declined in India, Pali continued to exist as a religious language in Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, and Cambodia, where this branch of Buddhism thrived.

Pali canon:

The Pali Canon refers to the standard collection of scriptures divided into three general baskets (Tripitakas) in the Theravada Buddhist tradition, written in the Pali language.
Vinaya Pitaka (Discipline Basket): deals with rules or discipline of the Buddhist sangha.
Sutta Pitaka (Sayings Basket): the largest basket comprising discourses and sermons of the Buddha himself, as well as some religious poetry.
Abhidhamma Pitaka: the basket that further elaborates on Buddhist philosophy.