National Current Affairs – UPSC/IAS Exams- 19th February 2020

Aditya L1

Topic: Science and Technology

In News: The ISRO is preparing to send its first scientific expedition to study the Sun. Named Aditya-L1, the mission, expected to be launched early next year, will observe the Sun from a close distance.

More on the Topic:

• ISRO categorises Aditya L1 as a 400 kg-class satellite, that will be launched using the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) in XL configuration. The space-based observatory will have seven payloads (instruments) on board to study the Sun’s corona, solar emissions, solar winds and flares, and Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs), and will carry out round-the-clock imaging of the Sun.
• The mission will be undertaken in collaboration between various labs of ISRO, along with institutions like the Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA), Bengaluru, Inter University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics (IUCAA), Pune, and Indian Institute of Science, Education and Research (IISER), Kolkata. Aditya L1 will be ISRO’s second space-based astronomy mission after AstroSat, which was launched in September 2015.
• Challenges: What makes a solar mission challenging is the distance of the Sun from Earth (about 149 million km on average, compared to the only 3.84 lakh km to the Moon) and, more importantly, the super hot temperatures and radiations in the solar atmosphere.
• All participating institutions are currently in the final stages of developing their respective payloads. Some payloads have been built, and are in the testing phase with each component being checked and calibrated. Some payloads are at the stage of integration of individual components.

Source: Hindu

Dams to control rising sea

Topic: Environment and Ecology

In News: Scientists have proposed the construction of two dams of a combined length of 637 km — the first between northern Scotland and western Norway; the second between France and southwestern England to limit sea level rise.

More on the Topic:

• The scientists proposed Separating the North and Baltic Seas from the Atlantic Ocean may be the “most viable option” to protect Northern Europe against unstoppable sea level rise (SLR).
• They have also identified other regions in the world where such mega-enclosures could potentially be considered, including the Persian Gulf, the Mediterranean Sea, the Baltic Sea, the Irish Sea, and the Red Sea.
• Rationale: While NEED may appear to be “overwhelming” and “unrealistic”, it could be “potentially favourable” financially and in scale when compared with alternative solutions to fight SLR, the paper argues.
• The researchers classify the solutions to SLR into three categories of taking no action, protection, and managed retreat and submit that NEED is in the second category.
• While managed retreat, which includes options such as managed migrations, may be less expensive than protection (NEED), it involves intangible costs such as national and international political instability, psychological difficulties, and loss of culture and heritage for migrants.
• NEED, the paper says, will have the least direct impact on people’s daily lives, can be built at a “reasonable cost”, and has the largest potential to be implemented with the required urgency to be effective.
• The Viability: Using the costs of building the 33.9-km Saemangeum Seawall in South Korea and the Maasvlakte 2 extension of the Rotterdam harbour in the Netherlands as examples, the researchers have estimated the total costs associated with NEED at between €250 billion and €550 billion. If construction is spread over a 20-year period, this will work out to an annual expense of around 0.07%-0.16% of the GDP of the 15 Northern European countries that will be involved. Construction costs would be higher for the UK, Denmark, Netherlands, Germany, and Belgium, amounting to roughly 0.15%-0.32% of their GDP annually for 20 years because of their vulnerability, awareness of SLR, or both.
• The construction will “heavily impact” marine and terrestrial ecosystems inside and outside the enclosure, will have social and cultural implications, and affect tourism and fisheries as well.

Source: Hindu

New CVC and CIC

Topic: Polity and Governance

In News: Sanjay Kothari, Secretary to the President of India, is tipped to be the next Chief Vigilance Commissioner. Former Information and Broadcasting Secretary Bimal Julka will be the Chief Information Commissioner.

More on the topic:

• Central Vigilance Commission (CVC): Central Vigilance Commission is the apex vigilance institution, free of control from any executive authority, monitoring all vigilance activity under the Central Government and advising various authorities in Central Government organizations in planning, executing, reviewing and reforming their vigilance work.
• Vigilance means to ensure clean and prompt administrative action towards achieving efficiency and effectiveness of the employees in particular and the organization in general, as lack of Vigilance leans to waste, losses and economic decline.
• The CVC was set up by the Government in February, 1964 on the recommendations of the Committee on Prevention of Corruption, headed by Shri K. Santhanam. In 2003, the Parliament enacted CVC Act conferring statutory status on the CVC.
• The CVC is not controlled by any Ministry/Department. It is an independent body which is only responsible to the Parliament.

· The Central Vigilance Commissioner and the Vigilance Commissioners shall be appointed by the President on recommendation of a Committee consisting of the Prime Minister (Chairperson), the Minister of home affairs (Member) and the Leader of the Opposition in the House of the People.

• Central Information Commission: CIC was established in 2005 by the Central Government under the provisions of Right to Information (RTI) Act, 2005.
• It hears appeals from information-seekers who have not been satisfied by the public authority and also addresses major issues concerning the RTI Act.
• CIC submits an annual report to the Union government on the implementation of the provisions of RTI Act.
• The commission includes one chief information commissioner and not more than ten information commissioners who are appointed by the President of India on the recommendation of a committee consisting of the Prime Minister as Chairperson, the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha; a Union Cabinet Minister to be nominated by the Prime Minister.

Source: Hindu

Agricultural Output

Topic: Economy

In News: Total foodgrain production is projected to scale an all-time high of almost 292 million tonnes in 2019-20, propelled by record production of both rice and wheat, according to the Agriculture Ministry’s second advance estimates released recently.

More on the Topic:

• Production of several crops, including rice and major pulses, was lower than targeted in the kharif or the monsoon season. However, the abundance of late monsoon rains resulted in cumulative rainfall that was 10% higher than the long-period average for the season.
• This helped farmers rake in rabi or winter harvests that were larger-than-expected in almost all crops.
• Thus, the estimate for total foodgrain output of 291.95 million tonnes is more than six million tonnes higher than the 285.21 million tonnes produced in 2018-19.
• Rice: The Agriculture Ministry expects rice production to reach 117.47 million tonnes, slightly higher than the 116.48 million tonnes produced in the previous year.
• Wheat: which is only grown in the rabi season, will see a major surge in production at 106.2 million tonnes in the current year, from the 103.6 million tonnes in 2018-19.
• Millets, Nutri Cereals: Despite the government’s drive to encourage millets and nutri-cereals, production failed to match targets this year, with the estimate pegged at 45.24 million tonnes.
• Pulses: production was estimated to come in lower-than targeted 23 million tonnes, although it was still higher than the previous year’s harvest. Most pulses are dry land crops, grown on land without irrigation and the delay in monsoons in many areas hit kharif harvests although rabi production improved.
• Oil seeds: Production was estimated at almost 342 million tonnes, higher than last year but still lower than the target for this year.
• Sugarcane: Sugarcane is the only major crop where this year’s estimated production of 3,538 million tonnes was significantly lower than last year’s output of 4,054 million tonnes. A glut in sugar production over the last few years had resulted in a crash in prices and an increase in payment arrears from sugar mills to cane farmers.

UPSC Mains Question: How can the ‘Digital India’ programme help farmers to improve farm productivity and income?What steps has the Government taken in this regards?

Source: The Hindu

FATF – Pakistan

Topic: International Affairs

In News: The International Co-operation Review Group (ICRG) of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) recommended that Pakistan be retained on the “Grey List”, given its failure to completely implement the 27-point action plan to check terror financing.

More on the Topic:

• Pakistan was placed on the grey list by the FATF for failing to curb anti-terror financing.
• Pakistani analysts say being put on the FATF watchlist could deal a blow to Pakistan’s economy, making it harder for foreign investors and companies to do business in the country.
• It would be counterproductive to put Pakistan on the watch list as it would hurt its capability to fight terrorism. Also, being put back on the grey list would heighten Pakistan’s risk profile and some financial institutions would be wary of transacting with Pakistani banks and counterparties.
• Being placed on the FATF watchlist carries no direct legal implications but brings extra scrutiny from regulators and financial institutions that can chill trade and investment and increase transaction costs.

About FATF:

• The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) is an inter-governmental body established in 1989 on the initiative of the
• It is a “policy-making body” which works to generate the necessary political will to bring about national legislative and regulatory reforms in various areas. The FATF Secretariat is housed at the OECD headquarters in Paris.
• The objectives of the FATF are to set standards and promote effective implementation of legal, regulatory and operational measures for combating money laundering, terrorist financing and other related threats to the integrity of the international financial system.

Blacklist and grey list?

• FATF maintains two different lists of countries: those that have deficiencies in their AML/CTF regimes, but they commit to an action plan to address these loopholes, and those that do not end up doing enough. The former is commonly known as grey list and latter as blacklist.
• Once a country is blacklisted, FATF calls on other countries to apply enhanced due diligence and counter measures, increasing the cost of doing business with the country and in some cases severing it altogether.

Source: Hindu

Reserves of lithium near Mandya

Topic: Economy

In News: The researchers at the India’s Atomic Energy Commission have found Lithium Reserves of 14,100 tonnes in Mandya.

More on the Topic:

• Mandya is 100 km away from Bengaluru, Karnataka. Being a very rare metal Lithium is mainly used in manufacturing batteries for electric vehicles.
• The present data provides a total estimation of available Li2O as about 30,300 tonnes over an area of 0.5 km x 5 km, which works out to about 14,100 tonnes of lithium metal.
• While this comes as welcome news, the reserve is small as compared to major producers such as Chile with its 8.6 million tonnes reserve, Australia with 2.8 million tonnes, Argentina with 1.7 million tonnes, and Portugal with 60,000 tonnes.
• Significance: So, far India has been importing all its lithium requirements.
• The Indian government has been pushing for an electric vehicle ecosystem. India’s imports of lithium batteries tripled to $1.2 billion in 2019 from $384 million in FY17,

·  The advantage of lithium-ion batteries is that they are not based upon chemical reactions that break down the electrodes, but upon lithium ions flowing back and forth between the anode and cathode. · They are lightweight, rechargeable, powerful batteries, now used in everything from mobile phones to laptops and long-range electric vehicles. · Battery technology helps replace carbon-emitting sources because it allows power companies to store excess solar and wind power when the sun does not shine nor the wind blow, making possible a fossil fuel-free society and combating the effects of climate change. ·  They are also capable of being miniaturized and used in devices like implanted pacemakers. ·  They can be scaled up to power a car or a home. Mechanics of Lithium ion battery: · Lithium-ion batteries are powered by flows of lithium ions crossing from one material to another. ·  When the battery is in use, positively-charged lithium ions pass from an anode to a cathode, releasing a stream of electrons along the way that form an electric current. · When the battery is being recharged, lithium ions flow in the opposite direction, resetting the battery to do it all over again.

 Source: PIB