National Current Affairs – UPSC/KAS Exams- 13th October 2018

India elected to influential UN rights council with highest number of votes

Topic: International Relations

IN NEWS: India was elected with the highest number of votes by the General Assembly to the influential Human Rights Council on Friday with a pledge to combat intolerance.

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• India received 188 votes, the highest polled by any of the 18 countries elected in the voting.
• This is the fifth time India is elected to the Geneva-based Council, the main body of the UN charged with promoting and monitoring human rights.
• India’s presence on the Council will be important because the previous UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Raad Al Hussein asked the body to facilitate an international commission of inquiry into allegations of human rights violation in Kashmir.
• The regional group endorsed five countries, which matched the number of seats open for election this year, and they were the only countries on the ballot. The other regional candidates were Bahrain, Fiji and the Philippines.
• Thirteen other countries representing the other four regions were also elected to the Council.
• In January India will join China and Nepal, besides Pakistan, which were elected to the 47-member Council in previous years to serve three-year terms.
• When it nominated itself for the Council, India showcased its position as “the world’s largest democracy (and) India’s secular polity.”
• It pledged that it will continue to support international efforts to combat racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance.
• In the nomination pledge, India also presented a broader approach to human rights, emphasising climate justice, health and poverty alleviation.
• India was among the first batch of 47 countries elected to the Council in 2006 soon after it was set up and received an initial one-year term instead of three to facilitate a rotating roster of vacancies each year.
• It was again elected in 2007, 2011 and 2014 to three-year-terms.
• Countries can be elected for only two consecutive terms and India took a year’s break when its term ended in 2017.

The United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC)

• The United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) is a United Nations body whose mission is to promote and protect human rights around the world.The UNHRC has 47 members elected for staggered three-year terms on a regional group basis.
• The headquarters of UNHRC is in Geneva, Switzerland.
• The UNHRC investigates allegations of breaches of human rights in UN member states, and addresses important thematic human rights issues such as freedom of association and assembly, freedom of expression, freedom of belief and religion, women’s rights, LGBT rights, and the rights of racial and ethnic minorities.

The Election

• Elections were held by secret ballot in the 193-member General Assembly on Friday, although the number of candidates for all the five regions matched the vacancies making it a formality.
• On the 47-member Council the seats are allocated based on “equitable regional distribution” giving the Asia-Pacific region a total of 13 seats, with some coming up for election every year.
• The African region also has 13 seats, while East European region has six, West European and others seven, and Latin American and Caribbean eight.

Source:The Hindu

Inflation up, industrial output slows

Topic: Indian Economy

In news: Consumer price inflation accelerated marginally in September to 3.77%, from 3.69% in August. Inflation in the food and beverages segment quickened to 1.08% from 0.78% over the same period.

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• Inflation is the rate at which the general level of prices for goods and services is rising and, consequently, the purchasing power of currency is falling. Central banks attempt to limit inflation and avoid deflation in order to keep the economy running smoothly.
• As a result of inflation, the purchasing power of a unit of currency falls. For example, if the inflation rate is 2 percent, then a pack of chocolate that costs Rs 1 in a given year will cost Rs1.02 the next year. As goods and services require more money to purchase, the implicit value of that money falls.
• The Federal Reserve uses core inflation data, which excludes volatile industries such as food and energy prices.
• External factors can influence prices on these types of goods, which does not necessarily reflect the overall rate of inflation. Removing these industries from inflation data paints a much more accurate picture of the state of inflation.

Inflation in Moderation: Harms and Benefits

• While excessive inflation and hyperinflation have negative economic consequences, deflation’s negative consequences for the economy can be just as bad or worse.
• Consequently, policy makers since the end of the 20th century have attempted to keep inflation steady at purticular percent per year.
• Moreover, countries that are experiencing higher rates of growth can absorb higher rates of inflation. India’s target is around 4 percent, while Brazil’s sits at 4.5 percent.
• Inflation is generally measured in terms of a consumer price index (CPI), which tracks the prices of a basket of core goods and services over time.
• Viewed another way, this tool measures the “real” that is, adjusted for inflation value of earnings over time.
• It is important to note that the components of the CPI do not change in price at the same rates or even necessarily move the same direction.
• For example, the prices of secondary education and housing have been increasing much more rapidly than the prices of other goods and services; meanwhile fuel prices have risen, fallen, risen again and fallen again each time very sharply in the past 10 years.

Types of Inflation:

• Cost-push inflation: is a type of inflation caused by substantial increases in the cost of important goods or services where no suitable alternative is available. It stands in contrast to demand-pull inflation.
• Demand-pull inflation: results when prices rise because aggregate demand in an economy is greater than aggregate supply. Cost-push inflation is a result of increased production costs, such as wages and raw materials and decreased aggregate supply.

Source:The Hindu

Major mission to sequence genes of Indians planned

Topic: Indian Economy

In news: India is planning a major mission to sequence the genes of a “large” group of Indians akin to projects in the United Kingdom, China, Japan and Australia and use this to improve health as well as buck a global trend of designing ‘personalised medicine’.

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• The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and the Department of Biotechnology would be closely associated with the project.
• Ever since the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research in 2009 announced that it had sequenced the genome of an Indian, then making India one of six countries to achieve such a feat, several research labs have analysed genes from Indians for disease susceptibility.
• However, no compendium of genes that differentiate Indian populations from, say Caucasian or African genomes exist.
• A group of Indian scientists and companies are involved with a 100k GenomeAsia project, led out of the Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore, to sequence the whole genomes of 100k Asians, including 50,000 Indians.

Significance of Genome Sequencing:

• In most living things, the genome is made of a chemical called DNA. The genome contains genes, which are packaged in chromosomes and affect specific characteristics of the organism.
• By doing genome sequencing we will have a better understanding of the base sequences that can tell us important genetic information in one specific segment of DNA. Once genes are identified and analysed from sequence information, scientists can look for mutations that cause disease, thereby providing valuable medical information.

Source:The Hindu

Overhaul GDP norms: Estimates Committee

Topic: Indian Economy

In news:The current manner in which the GDP is measured needs an overhaul as it provides an incomplete estimation of economic activity, a report by the Estimates Committee of Parliament pointed out in a draft report.

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• The committee noted that the GDP calculation does not measure the depletion of natural resources, where as any rise in GDP growth requires utilisation of natural resources, their utilisation and depletion is not taken into account while measuring GDP.
• The report said the current measure of GDP did not incorporate the economic contributions of women in running households and maintaining accounts; nor did it have any measure of whether an increase in GDP resulted in an increase in happiness.
• The committee noted that while NITI Aayog had acknowledged that efforts must be made to ensure that GDP growth is combined with sustainability, it had so far not suggested any ways to achieve this.
• The Committee, therefore, strongly recommended to evolve indicators/parameters to gauge the environmental resource decay and replenishment efforts made to compensate the loss and also to capture these aspects in measuring GDP and other economic parameters.
• The committee highlighted that the current GDP measure, while accounting for increases in production, did not take into account other factors of economic activity such as the change in quality of the output due to improvements in technology, or how advances like artificial intelligence will impact employment.

COMMITTEE ON ESTIMATES:

• The Estimates Committee is a Committee of Lok Sabha.
• The Committee consist of not more than 30 Members from Lok Sabha who shall be elected by the House every year from amongst its members according principle of promotional representation by means of single transferable vote. The Speaker is empowered to appoint the Chairman of the Committee from amongst its members.

Functions of the Committee

(a) To report what economies, improvements in organization, efficiency or administrative reform, consistent with the policy underlying the estimates, may be effected;

(b)To suggest alternative policies in order to bring about efficiency and economy in administration

(c)To examine whether the money is well laid out within the limits of the policy implied in the estimates; and

(d) To suggest the form in which the estimates shall be presented to Parliament;

(e)The Committee continues the examination of the estimates from time-to-time throughout the financial year and may report to the House as its examination proceeds or on the conclusion of the examination.

Source:Pib

C-section use doubled in India between 2005 and 2015: Lancet study

Topic: Issues related to Health

In news: The number of babies born in India through caesarean section increased from 9 per cent in 2005-6 to 18.5 per cent in 2015-16, according to a series of three papers published in The Lancet journal, which also found that C-section use almost doubled worldwide between 2000 and 2015.

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• While the life-saving surgery is still unavailable for many women and children in low-income countries and regions, the procedure is overused in many middle- and high-income settings, said researchers.
• In the 10 countries with the highest number of births in 2010-2015, there were large differences in caesarean section or C-section use between regions.
• Inter-state differences in India ranged from 7 per cent to 49 per cent.
• There were also significant disparities within low- and middle-income countries, where the wealthiest women were six times more likely to have a C-section compared with the poorest women, and where C-section was 1.6 times more common in private facilities than public facilities.
• The Series tracks trends in C-section use globally and in nine regions based on data from 169 countries from World Health Organisation (WHO) and UNICEF databases.

What is C-Section:

• C-section is a life-saving intervention for women and newborns when complications occur, such as bleeding, foetal distress, hypertensive disease, and babies in abnormal position.

Why to Avoid Unnecessary C-Sections:

• The surgery C-Section is not without risk for mother and child, and is associated with complications in future births.
• Pregnancy and labour are normal processes, which occur safely in most cases. The large increases in C-section use—mostly in richer settings for non-medical purposes—are concerning because of the associated risks for women and children.
• Greater understanding of this is important to help inform decision making by families, physicians, and policy makers. C-section is a type of major surgery, which carries risks that require careful consideration.

Source:The Hindu

Microsoft India signs pact with Niti for AI tools in agri, healthcare

Topic: Science and Technology

 In news: Microsoft India said it has signed an agreement with Niti Aayog to deploy artificial intelligence (AI) technologies to address challenges in agriculture and healthcare, and promote adoption of local language computing, among others.

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• Microsoft India will support NITI Aayog by combining the cloud, AI, research and its vertical expertise for new initiatives and solutions across several core areas.
• Microsoft will also accelerate the use of AI for the development and adoption of local language computing, in addition to building capacity for AI among the workforce through education.
• Under the agreement, Microsoft will provide Niti Aayog advanced AI-based solutions to address challenges in agriculture and healthcare including farm advisory services, healthcare screening models at Primary Health Centres, and building capacity for AI through education among others.

 Source:Pib

G Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution

Topic:Effects of liberalization on the economy, changes in industrial policy and their effects on industrial growth.

 In news: The World Economic Forum has announced its new Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution in India, which would aim to bring together the government and business leaders to pilot emerging technology policies.

More on the Topic:

• As described by the founder and executive chairman of WEF, Klaus Schwab, “the fourth industrial revolution is a technological revolution that will fundamentally alter the way we live, work and relate to one another”.
• The 4th revolution will be characterized by the advent of cyber-physical systems which, while being reliant on the technologies and infrastructure of the third industrial revolution, represent entirely new ways in which technology becomes embedded within societies and even our human bodies.
• Examples include genome editing, new forms of machine intelligence, and breakthrough approaches to governance that rely on cryptographic methods such as blockchain.
• The first Industrial Revolution began in Britain in the last quarter of the 18th century with the mechanisation of the textile industry, harnessing of steam power, and birth of the modern factory.
• The Second Industrial Revolution, from the last third of the nineteenth century to the outbreak of World War I, was powered by developments in electricity, transportation, chemicals, steel, and mass production and consumption.
• The third industrial revolution, beginning c. 1970, was digital and applied electronics and information technology to processes of production.

Source:PIB