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Tuesday, October 18, 2022

Daily Current Affairs, 18th October 2022

19:49

 


1)  Global Handwashing Day 2022: Unite for Universal Hand Hygiene

•October 15 is marked as Global Handwashing Day, with the aim of increasing awareness and understanding about the importance of handwashing with soap as an effective and affordable way to prevent diseases and save lives. Hand hygiene has become quite popular after the Covid-19 pandemic. And to make handwashing a habit, there is a day dedicated to it; global hand washing day. It is an initiative to unite universal hand hygiene habits of people across the world. This global advocacy day is celebrated on October 15 each year.


Global Handwashing Day 2022: Theme


•This year’s theme, “Unite for Universal Hand Hygiene”, calls on all of society to work together to scale up hand hygiene.


2)  India to host 90th General Assembly of INTERPOL

•The 90th General Assembly of Interpol is going to be held in New Delhi from 18th October to 21st October 2022. The 90th General Assembly of Interpol will have the world’s largest police body with 195 members. The General Assembly is the International policing organization’s top governing body and meets once a year to take important decisions.


3)  Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik launched a new book Pandemic Disruptions and Odisha’s

•Odisha Chief Minister, Naveen Patnaik released the book titled ‘Pandemic Disruptions and Odisha’s Lessons in Governance’ by Dr Amar Patnaik, Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha this evening at Naveen Niwas. This book is a culmination of the various essays on pertinent contemporary issues that emerged in India during the pandemic years of 2020-21 and 2021-2022. Odisha Government’s handling of the covid crisis riding on its earlier experience in handling natural disasters has been applauded nationally as well as globally.


4)  India Lifted 415 Million out of Poverty in 15 Years: UN

•The number of people living below the poverty line in India decreased by 415 million between 2005-06 and 2019-21, according to a new Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) released  jointly by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI) at the University of Oxford.


6)  Ulf Kristersson Elected As Sweden’s new Prime Minister Backed By Far Right

•Sweden’s parliament elected Moderates leader Ulf Kristersson as the country’s new prime minister. A total of 176 members of the Riksdag voted in favor of Kristersson, while 173 members voted against him.


7)  Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw Inaugurates India’s First Aluminum Freight Rake at Bhubaneswar Railway Station

•Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw inaugurated India’s first aluminium freight rake — 61 BOBRNALHSM1 — at Bhubaneshwar Railway Station. The rake’s destination is Bilaspur. As per reports, the aluminium freight rake wields the capacity to carry 180-ton more goods as against the traditional rake. Moreover, it is 180 tons lighter than the traditional steel rake.


8)  Justice DY Chandrachud named as 50th Chief Justice of India

•President Droupadi Murmu has appointed Dr Justice DY Chandrachud as the new Chief Justice of India. He will succeed the present Chief Justice of India Justice Uday Umesh Lalit. Justice Chandrachud’s appointment will come into effect from the 9th of next month. Justice DY Chandrachud would be the 50th Chief Justice of India. While Justice Lalit has a tenure of 74 days, Justice Chandrachud will serve as the CJI for two years. Justice Chandrachud will demit office on November 10, 2024.


9)  Home Minister Amit Shah Launches First Hindi Version of MBBS Course Books

•Home Minister Amit Shah launched the MBBS Course books in Hindi version at Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh. It is the first ever Hindi version of the MBBS course books in India. The book launch event was felicitated by the Bhopal state education minister Vishvas Kailash Sarang and Bhopal CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan.
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The HINDU Notes – 18th October 2022

15:02

 


📰 PM Modi inaugurates ‘One Nation, One Fertilizer’ scheme

•Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday inaugurated 600 Kisan Samridhi Kendras and ‘One Nation, One Fertilizer’ scheme and said that these steps were being taken to modernise agriculture.

•The Kisan Samridhi Kendras would function as helping centres for farmers in this process, he added.

•The PM was speaking at a conclave of farmers and 1,500 start-ups in the agriculture sector, where he also released the 12th instalment of the PM Kisan Samman Nidhi. Under the scheme, ₹16,000 crore will be credited into the bank accounts of over 8.5 crore farmers. Over ₹2 lakh crore has been transferred to farmers, helping them manage costs, he said.

•The amount under the scheme would be credited directly into the accounts of farmers. “There will be no mediators for this,” Mr. Modi added.

•He said that earlier urea factories in the country were closed down to benefit importers and added that after 2014, the government took several steps and now the country was marching towards self sustenance in liquid nano urea production. “Nano urea will help farmers to address the issue of scarcity,” Mr. Modi said.

•He said fertilizers would be rebranded as “Bharat” to help farmers and it would reduce the prices of major fertilizers as transportation cost would be regulated.

•He added that as part of observing the Millets Year in 2023, the Centre would promote cultivation of millets. New varieties of seeds were also being produced to meet the challenges of climate change.

📰 Hindi imposition and its discontents

What are the reported recommendations of the Parliamentary Committee on Official Language? When did the linguistic row initially start? What is the history of the ‘anti-Hindi’ agitations in Tamil Nadu? How have regional leaders reacted?

•The reported recommendation of the Parliamentary Committee on Official Language to use Hindi as the medium of instruction in Central institutions of higher education in Hindi-speaking States and regional languages in other States has once again ignited controversy.

•At different points in time, leaders, starting from Jawaharlal Nehru in the mid-1950s, assured the people of Tamil Nadu that there would be no “imposition” of Hindi. However, in recent years, be it the National Education Policy or reports of English signage on National Highways in Tamil Nadu getting replaced with Hindi signage, the political class of the State had overwhelmingly expressed its reservations.

•If reports in sections of the media are an indication, English, as a medium of instruction in all technical and non-technical institutions, will be permitted only where it is absolutely essential, as the idea is to replace the language gradually with Hindi in those institutions.

The story so far:

•The reported recommendation of the Parliamentary Committee on Official Language to use Hindi as the medium of instruction in Central institutions of higher education in Hindi-speaking States and regional languages in other States has once again ignited a controversy over, what is called by critics of the BJP, an attempt to impose Hindi on non-Hindi speaking people. Chief Ministers of Tamil Nadu and Kerala, M. K. Stalin and Pinarayi Vijayan have voiced their concerns over the recommendation.

What is the backdrop to the Hindi imposition row?

•The origin of the linguistic row goes back to the debate on official languages. In the Constituent Assembly, Hindi was voted as the official language by a single vote. However, it added that English would continue to be used as an associate official language for 15 years. The Official Languages Act came into effect on the expiry of this 15-year period in 1965. This was the background in which the anti-Hindi agitation took place. However, as early as in 1959, Jawaharlal Nehru had given an assurance in Parliament that English would continue to be in use as long as non-Hindi speaking people wanted it.

Why do many parties in Tamil Nadu stand against the recommendation?

•Tamil Nadu has had a long history of agitations against “Hindi imposition”. In August 1937, in the then Presidency of Madras, the regime headed by C. Rajagopalachari, also known as Rajaji or CR, decided to make Hindi compulsory in secondary schools. E.V. Ramasamy, or Periyar as he was known, who was still in the Justice Party at that time, had spearheaded an agitation against the move, marking the first such stir. A few months after CR’s resignation, the British government, in February 1940, made Hindi optional. In January 1965, the second round of agitations erupted in the wake of Hindi becoming the official language of the Union government coupled with the approach adopted by the Central government towards the whole issue.

•At different points in time, leaders, starting from Jawaharlal Nehru in the mid-1950s, assured the people of Tamil Nadu that there would be no “imposition” of Hindi. However, in recent years, be it the National Education Policy or reports of English signage on National Highways in the State getting replaced with Hindi signage, the political class of the State had overwhelmingly expressed its reservations. The reiteration of the age-old assurance by the Central government coupled with the promise of the promotion of other Indian languages have barely mollified the protesters.

•The essence of the Official Languages Act, 1963, is to provide something to each of the differing groups to meet its objections and safeguard its position. Whenever the parties in the State see any attempt to disturb this status quo, their reaction is always uniform — a virulent opposition.

What does the present proposal say?

•If reports in sections of the media are an indication, English, as a medium of instruction in all technical and non-technical institutions, will be permitted only where it is absolutely essential, as the idea is to replace the language gradually with Hindi in those institutions.

•While IITs, IIMs and All India Institute of Medical Sciences are considered technical institutions, Kendriya Vidyalayas and Navodaya Vidyalayas fall under the other category. Also, the committee has recommended the removal of English as one of the languages in examinations held for recruitment to the Central services. It has stated that the requisite knowledge of Hindi among candidates should also be ensured.

What is the alternative suggested by critics of the proposal ?

•Both Mr. Stalin and Mr. Vijayan have called for equal treatment to all the languages specified under the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution. The Kerala Chief Minister has specifically stated that question papers for competitive examinations should be prepared in all the languages while his Tamil Nadu counterpart has urged the Centre to promote all languages and keep open the avenues of progress in terms of education and employment equal to speakers of all languages.

📰 Judicial comity over arithmetic

•A Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court has unanimously held that a judgment delivered by a larger Bench will prevail over the decision of a smaller Bench, irrespective of the number of judges constituting the majority in the larger Bench.

•It is well-known in law that the decision of a superior court will always be binding on a lower court and that the decision of a larger Bench will always hold force over a smaller Bench of the same court. This canon of law seeks to ensure that there is stability and consistency in the decisions of the court. This principle stems from the assumption that a Bench with more strength is more likely to arrive at a correct decision.

Understanding Bench strength

•A vast majority of cases before the Supreme Court is heard and decided by a Bench of two judges (Division Bench) or three (full Bench). It is a settled position that a Bench of equal strength cannot overrule or reconsider a decision of a coordinate Bench; it can, at best, doubt the correctness of it. Whenever there is doubt or conflict between decisions of co-equal Benches, it is referred to the Chief Justice of India and this is where larger Benches are constituted. The larger Benches examine the question or correctness of the decision and the majority opinion expressed by them becomes the verdict, which is binding on the lower Benches.

•An anomaly here is that a majority decision is treated as the ruling of the entire Bench, including the dissenting judges, that examined the question. This is where the problem originates. If the correctness of a law laid down unanimously by a five-judge Bench is doubted, could it be overruled by four judges of a seven-judge Bench? Could it be said that the four judges of the larger Bench arrived at the correct decision and not the five judges of the smaller Bench?

•The Supreme Court, while considering the same question, held that if the number of judges is to have salience and not Bench strength, then every decision of a larger bench could be doubted and overruled on the ground of plurality of opinions, thereby toppling the certainty and stability of decisions. The observation holds some rationale, as even in a study, the one with the larger sample space (larger Bench) is assumed to reflect a correct outcome over a study with a smaller sample space. This is the underlying raison d'être for the Rule of Precedents.

•However, a blanket adherence to the Doctrine of Precedents as enunciated by the Supreme Court can have serious consequences, as the correctness of a decision would become a game of numbers rather than reasons. The Supreme Court justified the binding nature of the larger Bench’s view saying that this view was arrived at after deliberation by more judges. But just because a decision was considered by more judges does not mean that it is correct and it certainly would not be perceived to be correct. In fact, if a larger Bench arrived at a decision by a slim majority (say, 4:3 in a seven-judge Bench), its correctness would be all the more doubted on the presumption that had the Bench comprised different judges, the outcome might have been different. After all, it is natural that a decision by a larger majority is perceived to be correct over a decision considered by a larger number.

•Such an anomaly is usually avoided in the U.S. and in South Africa owing to the fact that any reconsideration of a precedent is a matter deliberated by the entire sitting strength of the court as opposed to division(s). While both the U.K. and Australia follow a system similar to that of India, the entire act of ‘reconsidering a precedent’ is viewed as a delicate and grave judicial responsibility in these countries. Rarely do precedents get re-decided more than once, unlike in India, in order to give quietus to litigation and in the limited occasion where a decision is reopened, the only requirement is that it would examined by a Bench of all ‘available judges’.

Recommendations

•If such conflicts are to be avoided by the Supreme Court of India, certain changes are required in terms of how larger Benches are constituted. It is recommended that the term ‘larger Bench’ be understood not in the strict sense of being merely greater in strength than the lower Bench. Instead, there should be an endeavour to have a quorum with a break-even or a greater majority than the lower Bench. Thus, if a five-judge unanimous decision is referred to a larger Bench, it should be considered by a nine-judge Bench rather than seven, so that it would in any case be decided by a majority of at least five judges. After all, correctness of a judicial decision has more to it than just the number of judges deliberating the vexed question of law. Otherwise, a lower number of judges holding a majority opinion could overrule a higher number of judges holding a majority opinion based on the sheer fact that the lower number of majority opinion judges was part of a larger bench. By permitting this possibility, the Supreme Court has opened up the likeliness of its decisions being criticised on the grounds of having a ‘narrow majority’ in comparison to its previous unanimous decisions.

📰 About 41.5 crore Indians out of multi-dimensional poverty since 2005-06

India has by far the largest number of poor people worldwide at 22.8 crore, followed by Nigeria at 9.6 crore. There were also 9.7 crore poor children in India in 2019-2021

•About 41.5 crore people exited poverty in India during the 15-year period between 2005-06 and 2019-21, out of which two-third exited in the first 10 years, and one-third in the next five years, according to the global Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) released on Monday.

•The report produced by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI) shows that the incidence of poverty fell from 55.1% in 2005-06 to 16.4% in 2019-21 in the country and that deprivations in all 10 MPI indicators saw significant reductions as a result of which the MPI value and incidence of poverty more than halved.

•Improvement in MPI for India has significantly contributed to the decline in poverty in South Asia and it is for the first time that it is not the region with the highest number of poor people, at 38.5 crore, compared with 57.9 crore in Sub-Saharan Africa.

•The report doesn’t fully assess the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on poverty in India as 71% of the data from the National Family Health Survey-5 (2019-2021) relied upon for MPI were collected before the pandemic.

•The global MPI constructs a deprivation profile of each household and person through 10 indicators spanning health, education and standard of living. All indicators are equally weighted within each dimension. The global MPI identifies people as multidimensionally poor if their deprivation score is 1/3 or higher.

•Bihar, the poorest State in 2015-2016, saw the fastest reduction in MPI value in absolute terms. The incidence of poverty there fell from 77.4% in 2005-2006 to to 34.7% in 2019-2021.

•Despite the strides made, the report notes that the ongoing task of ending poverty remains daunting. India has by far the largest number of poor people worldwide at 22.8 crore, followed by Nigeria at 9.6 crore. Two-third of these people live in a household in which at least one person is deprived in nutrition. There were also 9.7 crore poor children in India in 2019-2021 — more than the total number of poor people, children and adults combined, in any other country covered by the global MPI.

📰 Today’s weapon of choice, its expanding dimensions

•As the 21st century advances, a new danger — the cyber threat — is becoming a hydra-headed monster. It is hardly confined to any one domain though the military is the one most often touted. Rather, it is the civilian sphere where the cyber threat is becoming more all-pervading today and, in turn, a serious menace. It is beginning to have a cascading effect with questions being raised on how this would fit in with our belief in, and need for, a well-regulated world order.

•What is most unfortunate is that not enough attention is being bestowed on the ‘all-encompassing nature’ of the cyber threat. In the wake of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, the world seems awash with papers on artificial intelligence (AI)-driven military innovations and ‘potential crisis hot zones’, along with stray references to new forms of hybrid warfare. But there is very little about the threat posed by cyber attacks. Ignored also is the new reality of the ‘weaponisation of everything’ which has entered the vocabulary of threats. The latter clearly demands a ‘proto-revolutionary’ outlook on the part of policymakers, which is evidently lacking. Lost in translation is also the nature of today’s weapon of choice, viz., cyber. This lack of awareness is unfortunate at a time when states clearly lack the necessary resilience to face a variety of multi-vector threats.

‘Grey zone operations’

•‘Grey Zone Operations’ which fall outside traditional concepts of conflicts have become the new battleground, especially in regard to cyber warfare. ‘Grey Zone Operations’ are already beginning to be employed to undermine the vitals of a state’s functioning, a trend likely to grow. The convergence of emerging technologies alongside new hybrid usages, pose several challenges to nations and institutions.

•Cyber space has been described by Lt. Gen. Rajesh Pant (retired), India’s current national cyber security coordinator, as a “superset of interconnected information and communication technology, hardware, software processes, services, data and systems”. Viewed from this perspective, it constitutes a critical aspect of our national power. Cyber threats are not confined to merely one set of conflicts — such as Ukraine, where no doubt cyber tools are being extensively employed — extending well beyond this and other conflicts of a varied nature. The cyber threat is in this sense all-pervading,embracing many regions and operating on different planes. Hence, dealing with the cyber threat calls for both versatility and imaginative thinking. Demands for a cyber command by the Indian military ignore the widely varying nature of the cyber threat. That a group of United Nations government experts have been deliberating endlessly on how to promote responsible behaviour of states in cyber space, without much success is testimony to the difficulties that prevail.

•With each passing day, we confront a new reality, viz., the extent to which exploitation of cyber space by criminally minded elements undermines our everyday world and beliefs. The recent arrest in India, of a Russian for hacking into computers involved in the conduct of examinations for entry into the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), is a reflection of how cyber criminals are significantly amplifying their ‘Grey Zone Warfare’ tactics. This is, perhaps, the tip of the iceberg for, as a general rule, it takes a long time for the general public to become aware of the nature and consequences of cyber attacks. At first these look like random accidents and it takes sophisticated cyber forensics to understand the contours of such attacks. It may surprise many that the IIT entrance examination should be an area for ‘Grey Zone Warfare’, but the real surprise should be that the perpetrators could succeed in compromising an examination software system deemed to be among the most secure across the world. Thus, ‘Grey Zone Warfare’ is set to become the predominant paradigm for the remainder of the century. This adds urgency to erecting proper defences against Grey Zone attacks.

•Distorting the entry-level results of the Joint Entrance Examination is a blow to the nation’s prestige, apart from creating chaos across the board, since entry into higher educational institutions and entry-level jobs in the country is driven by examinations which employ various kinds of technology. Till now, technology was perceived as a foolproof means to end malpractices, but the recent incident calls into question the veracity of such assumptions. What is even more consequential is that it significantly raises the bar as far as the intensity and scale of cyber attacks on other national assets and infrastructure are concerned, with many more of them coming under still more aggravated assaults.

•The extent to which the system has been compromised is terrifying to contemplate, even before the full facts are unearthed. Yet, it has grave implications for the entire spectrum of endeavours that are totally dependent on technologically-driven remote access functioning as a part of their everyday business activity. Niche solutions for such cyber intrusions are available (though little known or used) and it is important that those concerned undertake a leap of faith to install such solutions before the situation goes out of control.

Cyber space battles, dilemmas

•It can be argued that there may be nothing radically wrong in highlighting cyber space as essentially a locus of geo-political conflict — the Russia-Ukraine crisis being an instance — but there is much more to the cyber threat than this. In the case of the Russia-Ukraine war, cyber space has become an experiment for various players to try and support a weaker nation against a more powerful opponent, through distortion of information and communication flows, which are considered essential to the success or failure of any war strategy. While Russia may not publicly admit to the fact that it is hurting, with most global information networks being ranged against it and distorting realities, it has certainly added a new cyber dimension to the ongoing conflict. While its effect on the course of the conflict may not be decisive, the potential for mischief is immense. Additionally, distortion by private players of the concept of ‘the information super highway’ casts a dark shadow over the entire current systems of belief, providing a great deal of fuel for thought — more specifically when such influences turn out to be fake or distorted.

•All this again brings to mind shades of the past, when the Cambridge Analytica scandal erupted over the issue of its becoming involved in elections. Similar suspicions again surfaced regarding Facebook’s manipulation of personal data. Hence, it is evident that the cyber realm is no longer confined to events such as the Russia-Ukraine war and the battle is now in our own backyards, with several non-state actors engaging in hybrid warfare and distorting day-to-day practices, including examinations. These pose legal, ethical and real dilemmas. Left unchecked, the world may have to confront a new kind of Wild West, before states find a common denominator for regulating cyber space and lay down proper rules and practices to prevent anarchy and chaos.

📰 Strengthening dollar shrinks foreign reserves across nations
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THE HINDU NEWSPAPER IMPORTANT ARTICLES 18.10.2022

07:29
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Monday, October 17, 2022

Daily Current Affairs, 17th October 2022

20:55

 


1)  International Day for the Eradication of Poverty 2022 observed on 17 October

•International Day for the Eradication of Poverty is observed every year on October 17 globally. It is a day to raise awareness about the global issue of poverty and how it is a violation of human rights and of human dignity. The day also honours the courage of people living in poverty and their everyday struggles. On the occasion of the 35th anniversary of the World Day to Overcome Extreme Poverty and the 30th anniversary of the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty, this year, the UN honors people living with poverty and their daily courage and raises awareness on why global cooperation is necessary to eradicate poverty.


International Day for the Eradication of Poverty 2022: Theme


•This year’s theme for International Day for the Eradication of Poverty is “Dignity For All in Practice”. The dignity of the human being is not only a fundamental right in itself but constitutes the basis of all other fundamental rights. Therefore, “Dignity” is not an abstract concept: it belongs to each and every one. Today, many people living in persistent poverty experience their dignity being denied and disrespected.


2)  India to Host SCO National Coordinators Meet

•India is set to host the Shanghai Coordinators Organization national coordinator meeting in Delhi. The SCO National Coordinators meeting will take place from the 17th to the 18th of October 2022. New Delhi took over the presidency of the nine-member grouping earlier this year at the Samarkand SCO summit.


3)  Amit Shah inaugurates ‘Gatha Swaraj Ki’ gallery in Scindia Museum, Gwalior

•Union Home Minister Amit Shah has inaugurated a gallery-cum-exhibition depicting the history of prominent Maratha commanders at the sprawling Jai Vilas Mahal of Scindias, the erstwhile rulers of Gwalior. Shah was in Gwalior to lay the foundation for the terminal building and expansion of the Rajmata Vijayaraje Scindia Airport.


•Shah visited the museum in the palace and inaugurated the ‘Gatha Swaraj ki-Maratha Gallery’ depicting the history of the main Maratha rulers including the Scindias, Gaikwads, Holkars, Nevalkars, Bhosales and the Pawar.


•As per the booklet about the gallery, the word “Swaraj” was first used by Sakharam Ganesh Deoskar in a Bangla book- “Shivajir Mahatva” on the life of Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj in 1902. The word “Swaraj” was used by Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Mahatma Gandhi, Veer Savarkar, the Bhartiya Jan Sangh and Indian National Congress among others. Union civil aviation minister Jyotiraditya Scindia, the royal descendant, his wife Priyadarshini Raje and their son Mahanaryaman welcomed Shah in the palace.


4)  Telangana’s Hyderabad honoured with AIPH ‘World Green City award 2022’

•The city of Hyderabad, Telangana, has been honoured as the Grand winner of the AIPH (International Association of Horticultural Producers) World Green City Awards 2022, the most prestigious award of the Inaugural AIPH World Green City awards (2022 edition), for its initiative titled “Green Garland to the State of Telangana”. Hyderabad also won the award under the ‘Living Green for Economic Recovery and Inclusive Growth’ category.


5)  India Stands 3rd in the World in Terms of Fish Production

•Union Minister of State for Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying  Dr. L Murugan has recently said that India stands third in the world in terms of fish production. India is the 3rd largest fish producing and 2nd largest aquaculture nation in the world after China.


6)  Tamil Nadu is the only State to achieve Jal Jeevan Mission target for 2022

•Tamil Nadu has emerged as the only state in India which has achieved the target for 2022 Q1 and Q2 for Jal Jeevan Mission, with 69.57 lakh households provided with tap connections. Union Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat visited Chennai and reviewed the progress of the work on the Jal Jeevan Mission for assured portable Tap water supply to every rural household by 2024.


7)  EAM S Jaishankar Visits Egypt on 2-day Official Arrival

•External Affairs Minister Dr. S. Jaishankar has reached Cairo in Egypt on his two-day official visit. On the first day of his visit, he met with eminent personalities in the field of foreign policy. During his visit, Dr Jaishankar have discuss a range of bilateral, regional and international issues of mutual interest with Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry.


8)  Piyush Goyal: India to achieve USD 2 trillion export target by 2030

•Piyush Goyal Predicts the Growth of Economy and Exports: Piyush Goyal, the minister of commerce and industry, expressed confidence that the nation will reach its goal of 2 trillion USD in products and services exported by 2030. The Union Commerce and Industry minister was addressing at the Chennai-based Exporters Conclave.


9)  NATO announced its annual nuclear exercise “Steadfast Noon”

•The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), also called the North Atlantic Alliance announced had started its annual nuclear exercise code-named “Steadfast Noon”. The week-long exercise is taking place over Southern Europe and involves aircraft and personnel from 14 NATO countries. Steadfast Noon involves training flights with dual-capable fighter jets, as well as conventional jets, backed by surveillance and refuelling aircraft. No live weapons are used. This exercise helps to ensure that NATO’s nuclear deterrent remains safe, secure and effective.


•Notably: Steadfast Noon, as the exercise is known, runs from October 17 to October 30 and will involve 14 countries and up to 60 aircraft of various types, including fourth and fifth-generation fighter jets, as well as surveillance and tanker aircraft.


•Of the 14 nations involved, Dutch F-16s and German Tornadoes are operating out of Ghedi AB alongside Italian Tornados, while U.S. and Belgian F-16s and possibly Czech Gripen are operating out of Aviano AB.


10)  Goa to host 9th World Ayurveda Congress & Arogya Expo

•The 9th World Ayurveda Congress (WAC) and Arogya Expo, will be held in Panaji, Goa from 8th to 11th December 2022. The 9th World Ayurveda Congress aims to transformationally push Ayurveda to bring it into global focus. The 9th World Ayurveda Congress (WAC) is going to be hosted in Goa and it aims to create an accessible and affordable healthcare system that is in harmony with modern medical practices.


11)  Japan to Scrap Remarriage Restrictions on Pregnant Women

•Japanese cabinet ministers on Oct 14 approved the scrapping of a law that stipulates women pregnant at the time of a divorce must wait 100 days before marrying again. The law, in place for more than a century, does not apply to men and was originally intended as a way to aid the identification of the father who is financially responsible for a newborn baby.


12)  India’s WPI inflation falls to 10.7% in Sep from 12.41% in Aug

•India’s WPI inflation falls to 10.7% in Sep: Inflation based on the Wholesale Price Index(WPI) decreased to 10.70% in September. According to official figures, the WPI-based inflation rate was 12.41% in August. High-speed diesel (HSD) saw the highest inflation rate at 65.96%. (YoY). It was followed by price increases of 44.72 percent for crude oil and natural gas and 49.79 percent for potatoes.


13)  Haryana topped the Public Affairs Index 2022 in big states

•Haryana has bagged the top position in the category of big states in the Public Affairs Index-2022. The state has emerged at the forefront in social, economic and political justice themes. It has topped among the major states with a score of 0.6948, followed by Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Chhattisgarh, Punjab and Karnataka among many other states.


•In PAI-2022, Sikkim has retained its position as the best-governed small state in India. The index, prepared by a Bengaluru-based non-profit think tank Public Affairs Centre (PAC), was released. In the report, economic justice was measured on indicators such as labour productivity, assurance of standard of living to wage workers, public expenditure on development, coverage of social safety net, and employment opportunities.


14)  Bob Dylan’s latest book, “The Philosophy of Modern Song,” released soon

•A new book titled “The Philosophy of Modern Song” authored by Bob Dylan, Nobel laureate and published by Simon & Schuster will be launched in November 2022. The Philosophy of Modern Song contains the artistic journey and achievements of Bob Dylan.


•The collection of essays is Bob Dylan’s first book of new writing since 2004, when he released ‘Chronicles, Volume One and since winning the Nobel prize for literature in 2016. Bob Dylan released thirty¬nine studio albums. He won the Nobel Prize in Literature and was also awarded the French Legion of Honor, a Pulitzer Prize and the Presidential Medal of Freedom etc. The most prominent books of Bob Dylan are ‘’The Lyrics 1961¬2012’’, ‘’Tarantula (1971)’’, ‘’Younger Than That Now’’ etc.


15)  ICC tie-up with UNICEF to promote gender equality

•The International Cricket Council (ICC) and UNICEF have launched a global partnership to empower women and girls and promote inclusion and gender equality through cricket. The initiatives to drive greater gender equity along with advocacy campaigns involving some of the world`s best players will form the basis of the partnership, which aims to mobilise the “power of cricket to driving positive social change”.
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The HINDU Notes – 17th October 2022

17:23

 


📰 ‘India’s coal mines are severely under-utilised amid push for new ones’

Though the country experienced supply crunch twice last year, a report suggests new projects under development could be ‘unnecessary’ as only two-thirds of the current capacity is under use

•On average, India’s coal mines use only two-thirds of the capacity, with some large ones using only 1%, says an analysis by Global Energy Monitor (GEM), a firm that tracks utilisation of the fuel-source internationally.

•This suggests that 99 of India’s coal mine projects, expected to yield 427 million tonnes per annum (MTPA), under development are unnecessary, and opening new coal mines would not contribute to easing short-term supply-crunches.

•At least twice last year, India experienced severe coal crises, with more than 100 of 285 thermal power plants witnessing coal stocks fall below the critical mark of 25% of the required stock. In over 50 plants, it fell below 10%. This led to power shortages in several States, including Andhra Pradesh, Jharkhand, Uttarakhand and Madhya Pradesh. 

•GEM performed its analysis by surveying annual reports of Coal India, the largest coal producer in the world, and its subsidiaries and underlines that the company has not listed capacity constraints as among the reasons it fails to reach production targets.

•Instead, it blames “..competition from renewables, infrastructure impasses, and land-use concerns for hindering output...” the report notes.

•Coal mines under development threaten to displace at least 165 villages and affect 87,630 families, of which 41,508 live in areas where the predominant population is tribal communities. These also threaten 22,686 hectares (ha) of agricultural land and 19,297 ha of forest, and will consume at least 168,041 kilolitres of water per day, comparable to the daily water needs of over one million people, according to GEM.

•On the heels of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s announcement of a net zero target of 2070, these new mines “... increase India’s likelihood of stranded assets, delay a clean energy future — and in the process pose irreversible impacts on India’s rural communities and environments for the sake of economically precarious mining ventures”, the report underlines.

‘Warning signs ignored’

•“The signs warning against the massive expansion of coal mining are easy to see, but the Indian government is not heeding them,” Ryan Driskell Tate, project manager for GEM’s Global Coal Mine Tracker, said in a statement.

•“New mines can’t make the industry’s old problems go away. The irony of this expansion is that opening new mines today could intensify the sector’s weaknesses and inefficiencies tomorrow, especially as competition from renewables and conflicts over land use continue to emerge.”

📰 Food day as a reminder to ‘leave no one behind’

•Globally, food and nutrition security continue to be undermined by the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, climate change, spiralling food inflation, conflict, and inequality. Today, around 828 million people worldwide do not have enough to eat, and over 50 million people are facing severe hunger.

•The Hunger Hotspots Outlook (2022-23) — a report by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the World Food Programme (WFP) — forebodes escalating hunger, as over 205 million people across 45 countries will need emergency food assistance to survive.

•This year’s World Food Day (October 16) has been a reminder to ensure that the most vulnerable people within our communities have easy access to safe and nutritious food. The promise to end hunger by 2030 is possible only through collective and transformational action to strengthen agri-food systems; better production, better nutrition, a better environment, and a better life.

Better production, better nutrition

•India has had an inspiring journey towards better production and achieving self-sufficiency and is now one of the largest agricultural product exporters. During 2021-22, it recorded $49.6 billion in total agriculture exports — a 20% increase from 2020-21. However, recent climate shocks have raised concerns about India’s wheat and rice production over the next year. Therefore, it is important to place a greater focus on climate adaptation and resilience building.

•By 2030, India’s population is expected to rise to 1.5 billion. Agri-food systems will need to provide for and sustainably support an increasing population. There is increased recognition to move away from conventional input-intensive agriculture towards more inclusive, effective, and sustainable agri-food systems that would facilitate better production. There have also been a series of initiatives by the Government of India on better production and improving food access, especially for vulnerable populations.

•Since 1948, the FAO has continued to play a catalytic role in India’s progress in the areas of crops, livestock, fisheries, food security, and management of natural resources through the promotion of sustainable practices.

•World Food Day is a reminder to ‘Leave No One Behind’, and is an opportunity — perhaps the most urgent one in recent history — for nations to strengthen food security nets, provide access to essential nutrition for millions and promote livelihood for vulnerable communities.

•One of India’s greatest contributions to equity in food is its National Food Security Act (NFSA) 2013 which anchors the Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS), the PM POSHAN scheme (earlier known as the Mid-Day Meals scheme), and the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS). Today, India’s food safety nets collectively reach over a billion people. The WFP works with State and national governments to strengthen these systems to reach the people who need them most. The Government continues to take various measures to improve these programmes with digitisation and measures such as rice fortification, better health, and sanitation.

•Food safety nets and inclusion are linked with public procurement and buffer stock policy — visible during the global food crisis (2008-12) and the COVID-19 pandemic fallout, whereby vulnerable and marginalised families in India continued to be buffered by the TPDS which became a lifeline. An International Monetary Fund paper titled ‘Pandemic, Poverty, and Inequality: Evidence from India’ asserted that ‘extreme poverty was maintained below 1% in 2020 due to the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY). India’s upcoming G20 presidency is an opportunity to bring food and nutrition security to the very centre of a resilient and equitable future.

A better environment

•Nutrition and agricultural production are not only impacted by climate change but also linked to environmental sustainability. Soil degradation by the excessive use of chemicals, non-judicious water use, and declining nutritional value of food products need urgent attention.

•Millets have received renewed attention as crops that are good for nutrition, health, and the planet. As climate-smart crops, they are hardier than other cereals. Since they need fewer inputs, they are less extractive for the soil and can revive soil health. Additionally, their genetic diversity ensures that agrobiodiversity is preserved.

•India has led the global conversation on reviving millet production for better lives, nutrition, and the environment, including at the UN General Assembly, where it appealed to declare 2023 as the International Year of Millets. It is the world’s leading producer of millets, producing around 41% of total production in 2020. The national government is also implementing a Sub-Mission on Nutri-Cereals (Millets) as part of the National Food Security Mission. State-level missions in Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, and Andhra Pradesh are a testament to India’s resolve to revive these indigenous crops.

•Millet conservation and promotion contribute to addressing food security, improved nutrition, and sustainable agriculture, which aligns with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) agenda. Millet production has been proven to enhance biodiversity and increase yields for smallholder farmers, including rural women. The International Fund for Agricultural Development’s (IFAD’s) Tejaswini programme with Madhya Pradesh showed that growing millets meant a nearly 10 times increase in income (₹1,800 per month in 2013-14 to ₹16,277 in 2020-21), with better food security because millet crops were not impacted by excessive rainfall.

•A study by the FAO on millets in India emphasises strengthening value chains for enhancing nutritional benefits and increasing farmers’ incomes.

A better life

•It is clear that the path to a better life resides in transforming food systems, making them more resilient and sustainable with a focus on equity, including by incentivising the protection of the commons; enhancing food and nutrition security and social protection networks, including by providing non-distortionary income support; promoting production and consumption of nutritious native foods such as millets, by investing in consumer sensitisation; investing in making the global and regional supply chain robust and responsive by strengthening transparency in the agricultural system through systems that promote labelling, traceability, etc.; and increasing cooperation for leveraging solutions and innovations. India can lead the global discourse on food and nutrition security by showcasing home-grown solutions and best practices, and championing the principle of leaving no one behind — working continuously to make its food system more equitable, empowering, and inclusive.

📰 Understanding the Global Hunger Index

On what indicators is the GHI computed? Why did the Ministry of Women and Child Development reject the report and call it “an erroneous measure of hunger”? Why are child-centric metrics used to calculate global hunger?

•The Ministry of Women and Child Development on Saturday rejected the Global Hunger Index (GHI) that ranked India 107 among 121 countries. The GHI is a peer-reviewed annual report that endeavours to “comprehensively measure and track hunger at the global, regional, and country levels”.

•As per the Ministry, the report lowers India’s rank based on the estimates of the Proportion of Undernourished (PoU) population. It elaborates that the U.S. Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) estimate is based on the ‘Food Insecurity Experience Scale (FIES)’ survey module that bears a sample size of 3,000 respondents. It stated that the data represented a miniscule proportion for a country of India’s size.

•The GHI website explains that while FAO uses a suite of indicators on food security, the GHI only uses the PoU obtained through food balance sheets based on data reported by member countries, including India.

The story so far:

•For the second time in two years, the Ministry of Women and Child Development on Saturday rejected the Global Hunger Index (GHI) that ranked India 107 among 121 countries. India was accorded a score of 29.1 out of 100 (with 0 representing no hunger), placing it behind Sri Lanka (66), Myanmar (71), Nepal (81) and Bangladesh (84). It referred to the index as “an erroneous measure of hunger”.

What is the Global Hunger Index?

•The GHI, is a peer-reviewed annual report that endeavours to “comprehensively measure and track hunger at the global, regional, and country levels”. Authors of the report primarily refer to the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal 2 (SDG 2) that endeavours to achieve ‘Zero Hunger’ by 2030. According to them, the report attempts to “raise awareness and understanding of the struggle against hunger”. The GHI score is computed using four broad indicators — undernourishment (measure of the proportion of the population facing chronic deficiency of dietary energy intake), child stunting (low height for age), child wasting (low weight for height) and child mortality (death of a child under the age of five).

Why these four metrics?

•Undernourishment, as per the authors, provides a basis to measure inadequate access to food and is among the lead indicators for international hunger targets, including the UN SDG 2. Child stunting and mortality, offers perspective about the child’s vulnerability to nutritional deficiencies, access to food and quality of nutrition. Since children (especially below five) are at a developmental age there is a greater and urgent requirement for nutrition with results particularly visible. This forms the basis of assessing nutritional requirement among children. Adults are at a sustainable age — they are not growing but rather subsisting on nutrition for healthy survival. And lastly, on the same rationale, child mortality indicates the serious consequences of hunger.

What allegations are we looking at?

•As per the Ministry for Women and Child Development, the report lowers India’s rank based on the estimates of the Proportion of Undernourished (PoU) population. It elaborates that the U.S. Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) estimate is based on the ‘Food Insecurity Experience Scale (FIES)’ survey module conducted using the Gallup World Poll, that bears a sample size of 3,000 respondents being asked eight questions. It stated that the data represented a miniscule proportion for a country of India’s size. It countered the assertions in the report pointing to India’s per capita dietary energy supply increasing year-on-year due to enhanced production of major agricultural commodities in the country over the years.

•The GHI website provides important clarifications on these points raised by the government. It explains that while FAO uses a suite of indicators on food security, including two important indicators — prevalence of undernourishment and prevalence of moderate or severe food insecurity based on FIES — the GHI only uses the PoU obtained through food balance sheets based on data reported by member countries, including India. A food balance sheet provides a comprehensive picture of the pattern of a country’s food supply during a specified reference period. It lists down the source of the supply and its utilisation specific to each food category.

•On why the GHI uses three child-specific indicators out of the four to calculate hunger for a country’s population, the website explains, “By combining the proportion of undernourished in the population (1/3 of the GHI score) with the indicators relating to children under age five (2/3 of the GHI score), the GHI ensures that both the food supply situation of the population as a whole and the effects of inadequate nutrition within a vulnerable subset of the population are captured.” In fact, a Senior Policy Officer at the GHI said that, “All four indicators used in the calculation of the global hunger are recognised by the international community, including India, and used for measuring progress towards the UN SDGs.”

Why the controversy?

•According to the Ministry, the report is not only disconnected from ground reality but also chooses to ignore the food security efforts of the Central government especially during the pandemic. The Union Cabinet through the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Ann Yojna (PM-GKAY), provisioned an additional 5 kg ration per person each month in addition to their normal quota of foodgrains. According to Professor of Economics at the Ambedkar University, Dipa Sinha, the schemes definitely helped ease the situation but fell short of being adequate.

📰 Making a case for the Old Pension Scheme
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