National Current Affairs – UPSC/IAS Exams- 24th December 2019

Cabinet Committee on Investment and Growth (CCIG)

Topic: Polity and Governance

In News: The newly-formed Cabinet Committee on Investment and Growth (CCIG) held its first meeting on Monday as the government looks to boost spending to bring back a sputtering economy on track.

More on the Topic:

• The Cabinet Committee on Investment and Growth was set up in June 2019. It was aimed at boosting spending to bring back the sputtering economy on track.
• The growth rate fell consequently for the last six quarters. Last week, Fitch Ratings cut its growth forecast for India to 4.6 per cent for 2019-20 fiscal on significant deceleration in the past few quarters due to credit squeeze and deterioration in business and consumer confidence.
• Moody’s has put 2019-20 growth at 4.9 per cent and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) estimates it at 5.1 per cent.

Cabinet Committees:

• Cabinet Committees are extra-constitutional in emergence. In other words, they are not mentioned in the Constitution. However, the Rules of Business provide for their establishment.
• These Rules emerge out of Article 77(3) of the Constitution, which empowers the President to make rules for the more convenient transaction of the business of the Government, and for the allocation among Ministers.
• These committees are of two types—standing and ad hoc. The standing Cabinet Committees are of a permanent nature while the ad hoc Cabinet Committees are of a temporary nature.

Model Mains Question: Why Cabinet Committees Are Formed, What Are The Functions Of Each?

Source: Hindu

Outer Space Force

Topic: International Affairs

In News: Following concerns that China and Russia are challenging its position in space, U.S. President Donald Trump signed the 2020 National Defense Authorization Act recently, which created a new branch of the U.S. military the space force.

More on the Topic:

• The Space Force will be the sixth formal force of the U.S. military, after the Army, Air Force, Navy, Marines, and Coast Guard.
• The main goal of the Space Force is to secure and extend American dominance of the space domain.
• Space Force will organize, train, and equip military space forces. Eventually, the aim is to push the Space Force out from under the Air Force’s wings and make it a stand-alone organization.
• Using satellites, the Space Force will aid other arms of the military by strengthening communications, navigation and providing intelligence to counter adversaries which could use missiles or cyber warfare to target its satellites.

Concerns:

• China has attacked Donald Trump’s newly created US Space Force as a “direct threat to outer space peace and security.”
• The relevant US actions are considered as a serious violation of the international consensus on the peaceful use of outer space, undermine global strategic balance and stability, and pose a direct threat to outer space peace and security.

Why space has become so important?

• Space is a “war-fighting domain” and global powers like Russia and China are already treating it as such.
• Besides, the stakes are high. Much of our 21st-century economy and lifestyle — from bank transactions to weather forecasting to television service to the GPS directions depends on satellites functioning round the clock and without interruption. The military depends on them too.
• In 2007, China shot down one of its own satellites — mission accomplished in its own right, it also littered orbit with potentially destructive space debris. Many saw the operation as a veiled display of military power.

International Initiatives to Constrain Space Race:

• The United Nations has adopted a number of resolutions calling for negotiations to prevent an arms race in outer space.
• The U.N. Outer Space Treaty provides the basic framework on international space law, saying that space should be reserved for peaceful uses.
• India was one of the 18 members that formed an ad-hoc Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space at the United Nations.
• India firmly believes in peaceful uses of outer space and has thus denounced space weaponization. It is one of the leading voices in creating the Outer Space Treaty.
• The proper way to solve the arms race in outer space is to develop multi-laterally negotiated controls on weapons in space through a new space treaty.

Such a treaty should,

• Ban the testing, production, deployment or use of weapons in space
• Ban the testing, production, deployment or use of earth-based weapons which operate into space
• Require the notification of all planned space activities
• Establish monitoring and verification procedures
• Include procedures for resolving conflicts regarding military use of space and enforcement mechanisms for violations of the treaty.

Source: Hindu

Islamic Cooperation countries (OIC)

Topic: International Organisations

In News: The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) has voiced concern over the Citizenship Amendment Act and the verdict in the Ayodhya case.

More on the Topic:

• The OIC is a 57-member grouping of Muslim majority nations, including Pakistan. The body has usually been supportive of Pakistan and often sided with Islamabad in its disputes with India.
• The OIC urged the Indian government to ensure the safety of the Muslim minority and the protection of their religious sites.
• It also cautioned that “any action, contrary to these principles and obligations, may lead to further tensions and may have serious implications on peace and security across the region.”

Importance of OIC:

• OIC’s growing economic and energy interdependence with India has become important in recent times.
• That India has one of the world’s largest Muslim populations.

Source: The Hindu

West African Nations Rename Common Currency

Topic: International Affairs

In News: Eight West African countries Saturday agreed to change the name of their common currency to Eco.

More on the Topic:

• CFA franc was their currency so far. The CFA franc was initially pegged to French franc and has been linked to euro for about two decades.
• The 8 West African countries namely- Ivory Coast, Mali, Burkina Faso, Benin, Niger, Senegal, Togo and Guinea-Bissau currently use CFA France as their currency. All these countries, except Guinea-Bissau, are former French colonies.

Source: Hindu

Ujwal DISCOM Assurance Yojana

Topic: Government Policies

In News: Discoms have missed the FY ’19 UDAY target to bring down their aggregate technical and commercial (AT&C) losses to 15 per cent.

More on the Topic:

• Discom losses, which had progressively reduced in the first couple of years since the UDAY scheme’s rollout in November 2015, have rebounded in FY ’19 to nearly double the losses recorded the previous year.
• Book losses of discoms, which had reduced from Rs 51,562 crore in FY ’16 to Rs 15,132 crore in FY ’18, have nearly doubled this financial year to Rs 28,036 crore.
• The primary reason for failure is the failure of discoms to collect the full cost that they pay for power the same issue that had led to the floundering of the previous two schemes.

Problems Faced by Indian Power Sector:

• Inadequate Tariff increases
• Poor Power purchase planning
• Sale of power at prices lower than the discom’s procurement costs
• Political Willingness
• Lack of timely Subsidy Payments
• Inefficiencies in metering and billing
• Illegal Connections
• Reckless funding by banks to loss-making Discoms

About the Scheme:

• Broadly, the scheme had three critical components.
• Takeover of discom debt by state governments, reduction in aggregate technical and commercial (AT&C) losses, timely tariff revisions and elimination of the gap between the average per unit cost of supply (ACS) and average revenue realised (ARR) by FY19.

Certain conditions put across by Uday involves:

• Loss reduction needs to be aided by circle-wise targets, feeder and DT Metering as well as upgrading and replacement of transformers
• Regions with sustained loss reduction should be incentivised (rewarded) by increased hours of supply

Other initiatives that can be taken to reduce discom inefficiencies:

• Laying down a specific performance-monitoring & compliance mechanism (can be incentivised by additional funding and other inputs)
• Monitoring of lending by banks to ensure reliable supply of investment
• Ensure regular tariff setting
• Energy auditing of feeders
• Metering of distribution transformers (DT)
• Elimination of revenue gaps
• Allow fuel-cost adjustments in final tariffs
• Reduction in short-term power purchase
• Liquidation of Regulatory Assets
• Ensuring advance payments of subsidies

Issues with Uday:

• State Subject: Electricity is not a Central subject and thus, the scheme cannot be made a compulsory one- which leaves the door open for unequal working of the Discom per State.
• No monetary assistance is being provided by the State though states willing to become a part of the scheme will be granted with subsidised funding in the government’s schemes and priority in the supply of coal.

Way Ahead:

• Political will is the need of the hour.
• Restructuring package needs to be designed in a way that it can deal with both; an unexpected tariff shock or an increased burden on the State Government.

Source: Hindu

Oxygen Parlour

Topic: Environment and Ecology

In News: In a unique initiative to battle rising air pollution in cities, an ‘Oxygen Parlour’ has been opened at Nashik railway station to provide an experience of breathing clean air to the commuters.

More on the Topic:

• The initiative comes with the efforts of Airo Guard(consultancies in field of plant nurseries) in collaboration with the Indian Railways.
• Oxygen Parlour is based on the recommendation of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).
• In 1989, NASA had conducted a study in which they identified some plants that better absorb the five most harmful pollutants from the air. These plants are planted at the station.

Source: PIB

Konda Reddy Tribe

Topic: Social Justice

In News: Konda Reddy tribes are not able to access mobile phone services as work to set up cellphone towers was stopped twice after the Maoists did not allow such a facility.

More on the Topic:

• This tribe is one of the most backward tribal groups in the states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.
• They inhabit on both the banks of the Godavari River (East and West Godavari districts), in the hilly-forest region of Khammam (Telangana) and Srikakulam (Andhra Pradesh).
• They live in the interior forest areas largely cut-off from the mainstream. Traditionally, they were shifting cultivators and recently, some of them have adopted settled agriculture and horticulture.
• Collection of non timber forest products and basket-making supplement the sources of their livelihood.
• Their mother tongue is Telugu with a unique accent.
• Konda Reddis have also been recognized as Primitive Tribal Group (now Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups)
• The Konda Reddis are known for their eco-friendly practices such as use of household articles made of bamboo, bottle gourd and seed.

Source: Hindu