National Current Affairs – UPSC/KAS Exams- 20th February 2019

National Electronics Policy

Topic: Science and Technology

In News: The Union Cabinet  approved the new National Electronics Policy 2019 that aims to achieve a turnover of $400 billion (about Rs. 26 lakh crore) for the electronics system design and manufacturing (ESDM) sector by 2025, while generating employment opportunities for one crore people.

More on the Topic:

• The policy will enable flow of investment and technology, leading to higher value addition in the domestically manufactured electronic products and increased manufacturing of electronics hardware for local use as well as exports.
• The policy has introduced new “easier to implement” incentive schemes, including interest subvention scheme and credit default guarantee, to replace some of the existing ones under the National Electronics Policy 2012.
• The new policy proposes to provide interest subsidy of 4% on loans up to Rs. 1,000 crore on plant and machinery. In case of larger loans, the subsidy will be limited to Rs. 1,000 crore.
• The government also proposes to create a fund to provide default guarantee of up to 75% to the banks for plant and machine loans of up to Rs. 100 crore. “This will eliminate the need for small and new investors to provide third party collateral.
• The scheme will be on the pattern of credit guarantee being provided by SIDBI for SME sector.
• To promote creation of an ecosystem, the NEP 2019 has pitched for 2.0 version of the Electronics Manufacturing Cluster scheme, under which infrastructure support will be provided for a group of industries that are part of the product supply chain rather than individual industries.
• The NPE 2019 has also proposed creating a Sovereign Patent Fund to acquire intellectual property for chips and chip components

Source: The Hindu

Hyperloop

Topic: Science and Technology

In News: Maharashtra declared the Virgin company’s proposed hyperloop system between Pune and Mumbai as an official infrastructure project. Construction on a 7-mile test track could start this year.

More on the Topic:

• Passenger operations could begin by the middle of the next decade, cutting travel time between the cities to 30 minutes, one-fifth the current duration.
• Bbecause of energy cost advantages over other forms of transportation, a system will be able to break even in a decade after full-scale operations begin.
• A difference from other transit systems will be the passenger experience. To keep the structural integrity of the near-vacuum tube, there will be no windows.
• Instead, developers are looking at various exterior simulations that could be projected on large screens throughout the pod.

About Hyperloop:

• A Hyperloop is a proposed mode of passenger and/or freight transportation, first used to describe an open-source vactrain design released by a joint team from Tesla and SpaceX.
• Drawing heavily from Robert Goddard’s vactrain, a hyperloop is a sealed tube or system of tubes through which a pod may travel free of air resistance or friction conveying people or objects at high speed while being very efficient.
• In Musk’s original concept, each capsule floats on a 02–0.05 in (0.5–1.3 mm) layer of air provided under pressure to air-caster “skis“, similar to how pucks are levitated above an air hockey table, while still allowing faster speeds than wheels can sustain.
• Hyperloop One’s technology uses passive maglev for the same purpose. Linear induction motors located along the tube would accelerate and decelerate the capsule to the appropriate speed for each section of the tube route.
• With rolling resistance eliminated and air resistance greatly reduced, the capsules can glide for the bulk of the journey.
• Source: The Hindu

New Universe map unveils 3,00,000 more galaxies

Topic: Science and Technology

In News: A new map of the night sky published charts hundreds of thousands of previously unknown galaxies discovered using a telescope that can detect light sources optical instruments cannot see.

More on the Topic:

• The international team behind the unprecedented space survey said their discovery literally shed new light on some of the Universe’s deepest secrets, including the physics of black holes and how clusters of galaxies evolve.
• More than 200 astronomers from 18 countries were involved in the study, which used radio astronomy to look at a segment of sky over the northern hemisphere, and found 3,00,000 previously unseen light sources thought to be distant galaxies.
• The map created by the LOFAR observations, part of which was published in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics , contains data equivalent to the capacity of ten million DVDs yet charts just two percent of the sky.
• Radio astronomy allows scientists to detect radiation produced when massive celestial objects interact.

Methodology:

• The team used the Low Frequency Array (LOFAR) telescope in the Netherlands to pick up traces — or “jets” — of ancient radiation produced when galaxies merge. These jets, previously undetected, can extend over millions of light years.
• “With radio observations one can detect radiation from the tenuous medium that exists between galaxies.
• The LOFAR telescope is made up of a network of radio antenna across seven countries, forming the equivalent of a 1,300-km diameter satellite dish.
• The team plans to create images of the northern sky, which they say will reveal as many as 15 million as-yet undetected radio sources.

Significance of the discovery:

• The discovery of the new light sources may also help scientists better understand the behaviour of one of space’s most enigmatic phenomena.
• Black holes — which have a gravitational pull so strong that no matter can escape them — emit radiation when they engulf other high-mass objects such as stars and gas clouds.
• The new observation technique would allow astronomers to compare black holes over time to see how they form and develop.

Source: The Hindu

The first ‘climate change extinction’

Topic: Environment and Ecology

In News: Australia officially declared a Great Barrier Reef rodent extinct recently, making it the first mammal believed to have been killed off by human-induced climate change.

More on the Topic:

• The rat-like Bramble Cay Melomys — whose only known habitat was a small sandy island in far northern Australia — has not been spotted in a decade.
• Researchers from Queensland determined a key factor in its disappearance was “almost certainly” repeated ocean inundation of the cay — a low-lying island on a coral reef — over the last decade, which had resulted in dramatic habitat loss.
• Available data on sea-level rise and weather events in the Torres Strait region “point to human-induced climate change being the root cause of the loss of the Bramble Cay Melomys”
• The Melomys rubicola , considered the Great Barrier Reef’s only endemic mammal species, was first discovered on the cay in 1845 by Europeans who shot the “large rats” for sport.

Model Mains Question: Human induced climate change has multifaceted consequences. Comment.

Source:The Hindu

New angel tax rules, a relief to start-ups

Topic: Economy

In News: The Union government has liberalised angel tax rules, exempting registered start-ups of a specified size from the tax.

More on the topic:

• Investments of up to 25 crore in an eligible company will be exempt from the angel tax.
• In addition, investments made by a listed company with a networth of at least Rs. 100 crore or a turnover of at least Rs. 250 crore will also be exempt. Investments made by non-residents will also be exempt.

About Angel Tax:

• Angel tax is a term used to refer to the income tax payable on capital raised by unlisted companies via issue of shares where the share price is seen in excess of the fair market value of the shares sold.
• The excess realisation is treated as income and taxed accordingly. The tax was introduced in the 2012 Union Budget by then finance minister Pranab Mukherjee to arrest laundering of funds. It has come to be called angel tax since it largely impacts angel investments in startups.

Background:

• At least 80 startups have received notices to pay angel tax since last year. Many founders have said they have been asked to pay up as much as 30% of their funding as tax.
• Angels have also received multiple notices asking them to furnish details on their source of income, their bank account statements and other financial data.
• Procuring valuations from merchant bankers is also a more expensive proposition for startups than going through chartered accountants. For those who have been issued notices charges are piling up for chartered accountant fees for filing an appeal.
• The government has said no coercive action will be taken to recover the demand and has set up a committee to review the entire issue.
• The committee came up with the above mentioned solutions.

Source: The Hindu

International Vision Zero Conference

Topic: Social Justice

In News: S ‘International Vision Zero Conference’ to Promote Occupational Safety and Health is being held in Mumbai.

More on the Topic:

• The conference provides a forum for promoting safety and health at work by exchanging knowledge, practices and experience.
• The Conference has been organized by Directorate General Factory Advice and Labour Institutes (DGFASLI), Ministry of Labour and Employment, German Social Accident Insurance (DGUV), Germany in association with Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay and International Social Security Association – Manufacturing, Construction and Mining.

About Vision Zero’ concept:

• The concept of Vision Zero is based on four fundamental principles viz. life is non-negotiable, humans are fallible, tolerable limits are defined by human physical resistance, and people are entitled to safe transport and safe workplaces.
• The Vision is based on principles of Controlling Risks, Ensuring Safety and Health in Machines, Equipment and Workplaces and Skill Upgradation of Workforce.
• The concept of ‘Vision Zero’ is fast gaining international acceptance and is expected to leverage the efforts of the Government of India to raise the occupational safety and health standards in the country so as to improve the occupational safety and health situation.

Source: The Hindu

Rajasthan Social Accountability Bill

Topic: Polity and Governance

In News: In a first for India, Rajasthan government has prepared the draft of Rajasthan Social Accountability Bill and has invited suggestions from the general public.

More on the Topic:

• The bill will make officials accountable for timely delivery of public goods and services as citizens’ entitlement. The Bill will also set up a grievance redressal mechanism starting from village panchayats.
• The draft has been uploaded on the web portal of the Administrative Reforms and Coordination Department and suggestions invited from citizens.
• The purview of bill includes any entity or body, which is under the control of the government, governor and the high court of Rajasthan. Entity or the body set up by Central Government to function within the State of Rajasthan and partially or wholly providing public goods and services provided there is consent of the Central Government.
• It seeks to impose penalties and compensation and initiate departmental action against the Grievance Redressal Officer (GRO) of the service delivery department for non-compliance. For example: If the local police have failed to deliver it duties, the onus is on the GRO.

Model Mains Question: Rajasthan government has prepared the draft of Rajasthan Social Accountability Bill What are your suggestions to enhance social accountability of government officials?