Context

The Reserve Bank of India has indicated that pilot projects to figure out the viability of Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) are likely to be launched soon.

About:                                          

• In recent years, the significant rise of private cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ether has spooked central banks throughout the world and pushed the case for official digital currencies.
• RBI is currently working towards a phased implementation strategy and examining use cases that could be implemented with little or no disruption.
  • The clarity is welcome, given that the much-awaited Cryptocurrency and Regulation of Official Digital Currency Bill, 2021, is yet to be introduced.
• The Deputy Governor of RBI himself cited a 2021 BIS survey of central banks, which found that
  • 86% were actively researching the potential for such currencies,
  • 60% were experimenting with the technology, and
  • 14% were deploying pilot projects.
• China, having already engaged in pilot projects for its digital RMB, is in fact planning a major roll-out soon. There has been little doubt, therefore, that India needs a digital rupee.
• The important questions are about the details and the timeline.

Syllabus– General Studies 1 (Society)/ 3 (Economy)

Context

• The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) was a pivotal shock absorber during the first wave of the pandemic. Its functioning hinges on sufficient budget allocation, reliable payment systems, and ease of access to wages.
• However, the Government of India (GoI) not only reduced the MGNREGA budget this year but also neglected it in subsequent relief measures post the second wave.
• The MGNREGA, among other social security programmes, can be a powerful safety net for the poor. But delays in payments continue even in such precarious times.

Normal procedure-

• Under the Act, workers should get wages within 15 days of completion of work failing which they are entitled to compensation for delays.
• The MGNREGA payment process consists of two stages. 
  • After work is completed, a Funds’ Transfer Order (FTO) with worker details is digitally sent to the GoI by the panchayat/block. This is the state’s responsibility.
  • The GoI then processes the FTOs and transfers wages directly to the workers’ accounts. This is called Stage 2 and is entirely the GoI’s responsibility.
• The Act’s guidelines say that the first stage must be completed in eight days and the second within seven days after Stage 1.
  • However, as per official data, only 26 per cent of the transactions of the first quarter of this financial year were credited within the stipulated seven-day period by the GoI.

Syllabus: General Studies Paper 2

Context:

With the withdrawal of the United States from Afghanistan in process, indian government has decided to ramp down its civilian presence in the war-torn country, bracing for a full-blown civil war.

India has ‘temporarily’ closed its consulate in kandahar and evacuated its diplomats and indo-tibetan border police (ITBP) personnel stationed there.

Indias developmentworks in afghanistan:

1. India built vital roads, dams, electricity transmission lines and substations, schools and hospitals, etc.
2. The 2011 india-afghanistan strategic partnership agreementrecommitted indian assistance to help rebuild afghanistan’s infrastructure and institutions, education and technical assistance for capacity-building in many areas, encourage investment in afghanistan and provide duty-free access to the indian market. Bilateral trade is now worth $1 billion.
3. India’s development assistanceis now estimated to be worth well over $3 billion. And unlike in other countries where india’s infrastructure projects have barely got off the ground or are mired in the host nation’s politics, it has delivered in afghanistan.
4. Last year, india pledged $1 million for another aga khan heritage project, the restoration of the bala hissar fortsouth of kabul, whose origins go back to the 6th century.
5. Bala hissar went on to become a significant mughal fort, parts of it were rebuilt by jahangir, and it was used as a residence by shah jahan.

Trade relations with afghanistan:

1. Despite the denial of an overland route by pakistan, india-afghanistan tradehas grown with the establishment in 2017 of air freight corridors.
2. In 2019-20, bilateral trade crossed $1.3 billion, afghan government officials said at a recent interaction with indian exporters in mumbai.

Syllabus– General Studies 3 (Economy)

Context

• Recently, the Union Cabinet, chaired by the Prime Minister, approved the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) Scheme for specialty steel.
• The duration of the scheme will be five years, from 2023-24 to 2027-28.

Furthermore

• Speciality steel has been chosen as the target segment because out of the production of 102 million tonnes steel in India in 2020-21, only18 million tonnes value added steel/speciality steel was produced in the country.
• Apart from this out of 6.7 million tonnes of imports in the same year, approx. 4 million tonnes import was of specialty steel alone resulting in FOREX outgo of Approx. Rs. 30,000 crores.
• By becoming Aatmanirbhar in producing speciality steel, India will move up the steel value chain and come at par with advanced steel making countries like Korea and Japan.

Syllabus– General Studies 3 (Environment)

Context

• Recently, the Central government informed the Rajya Sabha that there were no Great Indian Bustards (GIB) in Kutch Bustard Sanctuary (KBS) in Gujarat’s Kutch district as on January 1 this year.
  • It raised many eyebrows among conservationists and wildlife enthusiasts as it had come just three months after the Supreme Court ordered power companies to place their overhead power lines underground in GIB habitat in Rajasthan and Kutch to save the species from going extinct.

About Great Indian Bustards

• GIBs are the largest among the four bustard species found in India.
  • The other three being MacQueen’s bustard, lesser florican and the Bengal florican. 
• GIBs’ historic range included much of the Indian sub-continent but it has now shrunken to just 10% of it.
• The Great Indian Bustard (GIB) is the State bird of Rajasthan.
• Habitats: Among the heaviest birds with flight, GIBs prefer grasslands as their habitats. 
  • Being terrestrial birds, they spend most of their time on the ground with occasional flights to go from one part of their habitat to the other.
  • They feed on insects, lizards, grass seeds etc.

Syllabus: General Studies Paper 3

Context:

India’s dependence on china is here to stay. But the search for alternative value chains must continue.

Introduction:

The principal measure of cross-border investment activities on multinational enterprises (MNES) is foreign direct investment flows (FDI).

The three key dimensions of technology policy trends in recent times are:

1. The degree of fragmentation and the length of value chains,
2. The geographical spread of value-adds, and
3. The governance choices of MNES that determine the prevalence of arm’s -length trade versus FDI.

Given the declining trend of global value chains and arm’s-length trade a successful firm may have a strong regional bias impacting the survival of globally competitive firms.

Regional and global value chains:

Gvc is a world-wide phenomenon. It works effectively when there is active participation from different economies in various stages of growth.

It has a strong foundational link to roles, regulations, products and services, and processes across markets.

So, understanding it’s functioning and assimilating it is crucial for countries like india, that are ready for the next level of growth.

One of the lessons to be learnt from the novel coronavirus pandemic is that nations should build supply chains inside the country.

The neighbourhood concept:

Studies have looked at fdi inflows through the lens of neighbourhood and extended neighbourhood concepts.

These concepts are applicable in the china and india context.

Indeed, while a substantial fraction of FDI inflows may be explained by select economic variables, country-specific factors and the idiosyncratic component account for more of the investment inflows in europe, china, and india with special reference to the post-covid 19 period.

How to define neighbourhood?

Syllabus– General Studies 1(Geography)/3 (Environment)

Context

• Even as countries are grappling with the Covid-19 pandemic, climate change remains one of the biggest threats. This year, people around the world have been doubly hit by the pandemic and extreme weatherevents which experts say have been fuelled by climate change.
• As per World Meterological Organisation (WMO), rising temperatures can have far-reaching consequences, including an impact on food security, health, the environment and sustainable development.

We look at some of the extreme weather events across the world this year and try to explore if they are being caused by climate change.

Extreme events in 2021

Among the extreme weather events across the world this year are the-

• unprecedented heat wavethat drove temperatures across Canada and parts of the United States to a record high,
• causing hundreds of deaths between June 25 to 30;
• the recent floods in Germanythat killed over 180 people in the country;
• cyclones Tauktaeand Yaas that hit India’s west and east coasts, respectively;
• as well as the floods in New South Wales(NSW)in March.

Syllabus– General Studies 3(Science and Technology)

Context

Recently, the first recorded death due to the bird flu (H5N1 avian influenza) was in Delhi, India in 2021.

Bird flu: the disease

• Bird flu or avian influenza is a disease caused by avian influenza Type A viruses found naturally in wild birds worldwide. The virus can infect domestic poultry including chickens, ducks, turkeys and there have been reports of H5N1 infection among pigs, cats, and even tigers in Thailand zoos.
• Avian Influenza type A viruses are classified based on two proteins on their surfaces –
  • Hemagglutinin(HA) and
  • Neuraminidase(NA).
• There are about 18 HA subtypes and 11 NA subtypes. Several combinations of these two proteins are possible e.g., H5N1, H7N2, H9N6, H17N10, etc.

Infection in Humans

• There have been reports of avian and swine influenza infections in humans including A(H1N1), A(H1N2), A(H5N1), A(H7N9), etc.
  • The first report of human H5N1 infection was in 1997 and currently, over 700 human cases of Asian Highly Pathogenic Asian Avian Influenza A (HPAI) H5N1 virus have been reported to the World Health Organisation from 16 countries.
  • The infection is deadly as it has a high mortality rate of about 60%.

CONTEXT:

Thirty years ago, the liberalization regime launched in 1991 completed its 30 years in 2021.

• A severe balance of payments problem triggered an acute economic crisis that year.
• Three decades later, the pandemic-induced lockdown brought the wheels of economic activity to a grinding halt, triggering a sharp economic contraction in the first half of the fiscal year.

BACKGROUND:

LPG reforms: India’s New Economic Policy was announced on July 24, 1991 known as the LPG or Liberalisation, Privatisation and Globalisation model.

• Liberalization-It refers to the process of making policies less constraining of economic activity and also reduction of tariff or removal of non-tariff barriers.
• Except for 18 controlled industries, licenses were abolished across the board.
• Industrialists were free to enter any sectorand expand capacities without govt.’s approvals.
• Foreign ownership,hitherto restricted to 40%, was taken above the critical threshold of 51%.
• The monopolies law was abolished.
• The state was allowed to sell public sector.

Syllabus– General Studies 3 (Science and Tech.)

Context

Recently, NASA announced that its new spacecraft, named NEA Scout, has completed all required tests and has been safely tucked inside the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket.

Furthermore:

• NEA Scout is one of several payloads that will hitch a ride on Artemis I, which is expected to be launched in November.
• Artemis I will be an uncrewed testflight of the Orion spacecraft and SLS rocket.
• Under the Artemis programme, NASA has aimed to land the first woman on the Moon in 2024 and also establish sustainable lunar exploration programs by 2030.

What is NEA Scout?

• Near-Earth Asteroid Scout, or NEA Scout, is a small spacecraft, about the size of a big shoebox. 
• Its main mission is to fly by and collect data from a near-Earth asteroid. 
• It will also be America’s first interplanetary mission using a special solar sail propulsion.
  • This type of propulsion is especially useful for small, lightweight spacecraft that cannot carry large amounts of conventional rocket propellant.