National Current Affairs – UPSC/IAS Exams- 14th February 2020

Global cost of air pollution from fossil fuels

Topic: Environment and Ecology

In News: A new Greenpeace report has estimated the global cost of air pollution from fossil fuels at around $2.9 trillion per year, or $8 billion per day 3.3% of the world’s GDP.

More on the Topic:

• China and the US are estimated to bear the highest absolute costs from fossil fuel air pollution, respectively at $900 billion and $600 billion.
• Globally, air pollution is estimated to cause 4.5 million premature deaths each year. This includes 3 million deaths attributable globally to PM2.5, which is one of the principal pollutants in northern Indian cities including Delhi.
• Globally, 5 is also estimated to cause the loss of 62.7 million years of life, 2.7 million emergency room visits due to asthma, 2 million preterm births and 1.75 billion work absences. The 2 million preterm births include 981,000 in India and over 350,000 in China.
• Many of the solutions to curb air pollution are also solutions to limit global temperatures from increasing beyond 1.5°C.

India Specific Findings:

• India is estimated to bear a cost of $150 billion, or 4% of the country’s GDP, which is the third-highest absolute cost from fossil fuel air pollution worldwide.
• Additionally, the report links approximately 350,000 new cases of child asthma in India to nitrogen dioxide, which is a byproduct of fossil fuel combustion. As a result of this, over 1.28 million more children in India live with asthma, which is linked to fossil fuel pollution.
• In India, exposure to fossil fuels also leads to a loss of around 490 million workdays.

Source: Hindu

Konark Sun Temple

Topic: Art and Culture

In News: A plan to restore and preserve the nearly 800-year-old Konark Sun Temple in Odisha would be drawn up soon.

More on the Topic:

• Konark Sun Temple, located in the East Odisha near the sacred city of Puri.
• Built in 13th century by King Narasimhadeva I (AD 1238-1264). Its scale, refinement and conception represent the strength and stability of the Ganga Empire as well as the value systems of the historic milieu.
• The temple is designed in the shape of a colossal chariot. It is dedicated to the sun God. In this sense, it is directly and materially linked to Brahmanism and tantric belief systems.
• The Konark temple is widely known not only for its architectural grandeur but also for the intricacy and profusion of sculptural work.
• It marks the highest point of achievement of Kalinga architecture. It was declared a UNESCO world heritage site in 1984.
• There are two rows of 12 wheels on each side of the Konark sun temple. Some say the wheels represent the 24 hours in a day and others say the 12 months.
• The seven horses are said to symbolize the seven days of the week.
• Sailors once called this Sun Temple of Konark, the Black Pagoda because it was supposed to draw ships into the shore and cause shipwrecks.
• Konârak is the invaluable link in the history of the diffusion of the cult of Surya, which originating in Kashmir during the 8th century, finally reached the shores of Eastern India.

Source: Hindu

Naming of Viruses

Topic: Health

In News: The World Health Organization (WHO) has named the new coronavirus disease as ‘Covid-19’.

More on the topic:

• The new name is taken from the words “corona”, “virus” and “disease”, with 2019 representing the year when it emerged.
• The WHO wanted to avoid stigmatizing a country or particular group, so it chose a name that did not refer to a geographical location, an animal, an individual or a group of people.
• The WHO, in consultation with the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), has identified best practices for naming new human diseases.

These best practices apply to a new disease:

• That is an infection, syndrome, or disease of humans;
• That has never been recognised before in humans;
• That has potential public health impact; and
• Where no disease name is yet established in common usage
• Names that are assigned by the WHO may or may not be approved by the International Classification of Diseases (ICD) at a later stage.
• The ICD, which is also managed by the WHO, provides a final standard name for each human disease according to standard guidelines that are aimed at reducing the negative impact from names while balancing science, communication and policy.

Source: Indian Express

Uniform Civil Code

Topic: Governance

In News: The opposition managed to stall a private member Bill called ‘The Uniform Civil Code in India Bill, 2020.’

More on the Topic:

• It is a generic set of governing laws for every citizen without taking into consideration the religion.
• Article 44 of the Constitution says that there should be a Uniform Civil Code. According to this article, “The State shall endeavor to secure for the citizens a uniform civil code throughout the territory of India”.
• Since the Directive Principles are only guidelines, it is not mandatory to use them.
• Indian laws do follow a uniform code in most civil matters – Indian Contract Act, Civil Procedure Code, Sale of Goods Act, Transfer of Property Act, Partnership Act, Evidence Act etc.
• States, however, have made hundreds of amendments and therefore in certain matters, there is diversity even under these secular civil laws.
• As of now all Indian states do not follow a Uniform Civil Code, the Law Commission even concluded that a Uniform Civil Code is neither feasible nor desirable.

Private Member Bill:

• An MP who is not a minister is a private member and while both private members and ministers take part in the lawmaking process, Bills introduced by private members are referred to as private member’s Bills and those introduced by ministers are called government Bills.

Source: The wire

Data for Mobility Governance

Topic: Governance

In News: Data-based governance can assist in reducing traffic congestion, as illustrated by a pilot study in Hyderabad.

More on the Topic:

• Congestion caused an estimated $24 billion to the four metro cities in India in 2018.
• Given the limited land resources available, the key to solving congestion lies in improving the efficiency of existing transportation systems.
• An efficient transportation system would help ease congestion, reduce travel time and cost, and provide greater convenience.

How Data will Improve Efficiency?

Available sources of Data:

• CCTV cameras.
• Automatic traffic
• Map services and-
• Transportation service providers could be used.

Case studies:

• London: A study by Transport for London estimates that its open data initiative on sharing of real-time transit data has helped add £130 million a year to London’s economy by improving productivity and efficiency.
• Results from China: In China, an artificial intelligence-based traffic management platform developed by Alibaba has helped improve average speeds by 15%.
• Hyderabad Open Transit Data portal: Hyderabad Open Transit Data, launched by Open Data Telangana, is the country’s first data portal.

What does it do?

• It publishes datasets on bus stops, bus routes, metro routes, metro stations, schedules, fares, and frequency of public transit services.
• The portal’s objective is to empower start-ups and developers to create useful mobility applications.
• The datasets were built after an intensive exercise carried out by the Open Data Team and Telangana State Road Transport Corporation to collect, verify and digitise the data.
• Hyderabad has also begun collaborating with the private sector to improve traffic infrastructure.
• One such partnership followed a Memorandum of Understanding signed between the Telangana government and Ola Mobility Institute.
• Under this collaboration, Ola has developed a tool, Ola City Sense, to provide data-based insights that can monitor the quality of Hyderabad’s roads and identify bad quality patches.
• The information thus given is useful not only for carrying out road repairs, it also helps officials take initiatives to improve road safety, monitor quality of construction, and study the role of bad roads in causing congestion.
• A pilot was implemented in a municipal zone to gauge the efficacy of the data in supporting road monitoring and prioritisation of repairs.
• The early results of this pilot project were encouraging. The dashboard helped city officials plan the pre-monsoon repair work and budget for repairs last year.

Need of the Hour:

• The Hyderabad project and the pilot demonstrated the willingness of government departments to apply data-based insights for better decision making. This could also serve as a model for other cities to emulate.
• The Hyderabad example also shows that governments can make their departments data-centric by- Institutionalising data collection, Building technology platforms And helping the departments develop the capacity to handle the insights generated from the data.
• Command and control centres under the ‘smart cities’ initiative can be an ideal starting point.
• Such interventions, however, also need to address genuine concerns around data security and privacy.

Source: Hindu

Vivad Se Vishwas scheme

Topic: Government Policies

In News: The vivad se vishwas scheme was announced by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman during her budget speech.

More on the Topic:

• The scheme aims to settle the huge number of pending direct tax cases. The scheme aims to resolve 483,000 direct tax-related disputes pending in various appellate forums.
• The amnesty scheme, at present, covers disputes pending at the level of commissioner (appeals), Income Tax Appellate Tribunals (ITAT), high courts, the Supreme Court and those in international arbitration.
• It offers a complete waiver on interest and penalty to the taxpayers who pay their pending taxes by March 31.
• The scheme aims to benefit those whose tax demands are locked in dispute in multiple forums.
• In case it is just the interest and the penalty which is in dispute, the taxpayer will have to pay 25% of the disputed amount till March 31, and subsequently, it will be 30%.
• If a taxpayer is not able to pay direct taxes by March 31st then, he will get further time till June 30th. However, in that case, he would have to pay 10 percent more on the tax.
• In case it is just the interest and the penalty which is in dispute, the taxpayer will have to pay 25% of the disputed amount till March 31, and subsequently, it will be 30%.

Source: PIB