IASbaba’s Daily Current Affairs (Prelims + Mains

Focus)- 12th September 2018

Archives

(PRELIMS+MAINS FOCUS)

Small loans could turn bad: Former RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan

Part of: GS Prelims and Mains II and III – Government schemes and Policies; Indian Economy and related issues

In news:

According to Former RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan –

• the next crisis in India’s banking sector could come from loans given to the unorganised micro and small businesses, called MUDRA loans, and credit extended through the Kisan credit card.
• Government should refrain from setting ambitious credit targets or waiving loans.
• Credit Guarantee Scheme for MSMEs, run by the Small Industries Development Bank of India, needs to be examined with urgency (as it is “a growing contingent liability”).
• A large number of bad loans originated in the period 2006-2008, when economic growth was strong and it is at such times that banks make mistakes.

Do you know?

• As per the data from the Micro Units Development and Refinance Agency (MUDRA) website, a total of ₹6.37 lakh crore has been disbursed under the scheme by public and private sector banks, regional rural banks and micro-finance institutions till date.
• MUDRA loans are offered under the Prime Minister Mudra Yojana or PMMY, launched in 2015 by the NDA government.

Important schemes

IASbaba recommend you to have different perspective and assessment of following schemes for this year Mains or for next attempt.

1. MUDRA Scheme
2. Kisan credit card
3. Credit Guarantee Scheme for MSMEs

Ecological damage to Aravallis

Part of: GS Prelims and Mains III – Environment and Ecology; Conservation of Biodiversity

In news:

• Supreme Court ordered the demolition of structures built illegally in the protected forests of the Aravallis.
• SC bench ordered that all structures built after August 18, 1992 in the area known as ‘Kant Enclave’ at Anangpur in Faridabad district of Haryana should be demolished.

Important Value Additions:

• Aravalli Range is a range of mountains running in a southwest direction, starting in North India from Delhi and passing through southern Haryana, through to Western India across the states of Rajasthan and ending in Gujarat.
• It is the oldest range of fold mountains in India.

Map work: Locate Aravalli range and other mountain ranges

Influx of alien fish species due to Kerala Floods

Part of: GS Prelims and Mains III – Environment and Ecology; Conservation of Biodiversity

In news:

• The catastrophic floods in Kerala have released several alien species of fish into waterbodies.
• Influx of alien fishes has raised a threat to the endemic aquatic ecosystem and biodiversity.
• Alien species had escaped in large numbers from flooded commercial and ornamental fish farms.
• As per IUCN, proliferation of alien species poses a serious threat to the freshwater ecosystems of Kerala, which is considered to be a global hotspot for fish diversity.

No water aerodrome project in Chilika Lake

Part of: GS Prelims and Mains III – Environment and Ecology; Conservation of Biodiversity

In news:

• Airports Authority of India (AAI) has dropped the proposed water aerodrome project at Chilika Lake in Odisha.

Fast recap:

• AAI had proposed to set up a water aerodrome in Chilika Lake for starting amphibious aircraft operations in Odisha.
• Project faced green hurdle due to possible ecological consequences.
• Chilika turns into a temporary habitat for lakhs of migratory and residential birds. If an aircraft flies at low height, there is every chance of the birds getting hit.
• Noise pollution generated by close to 10,000 boats has already taken a toll on the endangered Irrawaddy dolphins in the lake. The amphibious aircraft operation would add to the woes.

Do you know?

• Nearly one million avian visitors come from the Arctic and Eurasian regions to Chilika.

India’s first missile tracking ship

Part of: GS Prelims and Mains III – Defence; Security; Science and Technology

In news:

• India’s first missile tracking ship is readying for sea trials
• Built by Hindustan Shipyard Ltd., the hi-tech vessel will enter elite global club
• The ship is being built for the National Technical Research Organisation
• This will be the first of its kind ocean surveillance ship

About NTRO

• NTRO is the technical intelligence agency working directly under the supervision of the Prime Minister’s Office and the National Security Adviser.
• The NTRO acts as the primary advisor on security issues to the Prime Minister and the Union Council of Ministers of India. It also provides technical intelligence to other Indian agencies.
• NTRO’s activities include satellite and terrestrial monitoring. It cannot, however, legally monitor Internet or other communications; there are nine other agencies authorized to do so. NTRO is also charged with developing technology relevant to Indian national security and intelligence. These technologies include cryptology, cybersecurity and data management.

Do you know?

• Visakhapatnam is considered a strategic location on the East Coast for the Indian defence forces as it is home for Ship Building Centre to build nuclear powered submarine INS Arihant class, Naval Alternate Operational Base at Rambilli, the second naval base after Eastern Naval Command headquarters, training centre for Marine Commandos and headquarters of the submarine arm.

Pic: https://d39gegkjaqduz9.cloudfront.net/TH/2018/09/12/DEL/Delhi/TH/5_07/c2eb2975_2385663_101_mr.jpg

BIMSTEC First joint military exercise: MILEX 18 exercise

Part of: GS Mains II and Prelims – International; India and its neighbours

In news:

• MILEX 18 exercise – to be held in Pune – is aimed at helping BIMSTEC nations practise “planning and conduct of counter terrorist operations”.
• Each country was asked to send a contingent of 30 personnel including five officers and 25 soldiers in addition to three observers.
• However many countries backed out from sending full contingents and sent only observers.

U.S. threatens sanctions on ICC

Part of: GS Mains II and Prelims – International

In news:

• US has threatened to prosecute International Criminal Court (ICC) officials if Americans are charged with war crimes committed in Afghanistan.
• Hague-based court’s response – As a court of law, will continue to do its work undeterred, in accordance with those principles and the overarching idea of the rule of law.

Do you know?

• The Hague-based ICC was set up in 2002 with a jurisdiction to investigate and prosecute the world’s worst crimes, including genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity.
• The court, however, does not have the capacity to arrest suspects and depends on member states for their cooperation.
• The United States has not signed up to the court and in 2002, its Congress passed a law enabling Washington to invade the Netherlands to liberate any U.S. citizen held by the court.

(MAINS FOCUS)

NATIONAL

TOPIC: General Studies 2 

• Constitution; fundamental right, social justice, liberty, equality, fraternity
• Welfare schemes, mechanisms, laws, institutions and bodies constituted for the protection and betterment of these vulnerable sections

A greater transformation

Introduction

• In its decision in Navtej Singh Johar v. Union of Indi, the Supreme Court has struck down the colonial-era law criminalising homosexuality and the lives of LGBTQ persons.
• In its four concurring judgments, the court traversed the protections of fundamental rights in the Constitution to find that the provision violated the rights of LGBTQ persons to dignity, equality, privacy and expression.

Observations of the Court: ‘Personal matters’ and a stereotypical morality

• Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code indifferently intruded into a zone of intimate decision which is entitled to constitutional protection.
• “The choice of a partner, the desire for personal intimacy and the yearning to find love and fulfilment in human relationships have a universal appeal.”
• “The state has no business to intrude into these personal matters. Nor can societal notions of heteronormativity regulate constitutional liberties based on sexual orientation.”
• The opinion of the Chief Justice of India, stresses the right to develop one’s individuality against the demands of social conformity.
• The guarantee of equality at its heart was the guarantee of equal citizenship. The criminalising ambit of Section 377 violated this guarantee as it “singles out people, by their private choices” and “marks them as less than citizens — or less than human”.
• The harm of Section 377 was not just that it prohibited a form of intimate and personal choice but that it encoded a stereotypical morality which has deep-ranging social effects.
• Section 377 “perpetuates a certain culture”, based on “homophobic attitudes” which make “it impossible for victims to access justice”.
• Constitutional guarantee of the right to develop one’s personhood and the right to equal citizenship is firmly anchored in the notion of constitutional morality, as referenced by Justices of the SC.
• The denial to LGBT persons of the right to dignity is incompatible with the morality of the Constitution.

Significance of the judgment

• The right not to be discriminated against on grounds of one’s sexual orientation is violated by the prejudicial stereotypes about the LGBTQ community fostered by Section 377.
• By explicitly setting out the Court as a guarantor of minority rights, regardless of the opinion of “popular or legislative majorities”, the Court has signalled its determination to defend the Constitution.
• In a time when lynchings have become the order of the day and government remains a mute spectator, the role that the judiciary has to play in safeguarding the right to life of minorities of all stripes and hues cannot be overstated.
• The idea that majority opinion should prevail over the right to dignity and liberty of the minority was explicitly rejected.
• The logic of Navtej Singh Johar is anchored within what bench called “a transformative Constitution”.
• According to judges, “the purpose of having a constitution is to transform society” to “embrace therein” the “ideals of justice, liberty, equality and fraternity”.
• The mandate to transform society in allegiance to the Constitution is a task vested in the state, the judiciary and the citizen.

Way forward

• If a law has taken root in the social, cultural and legal consciousness, the challenge of wiping out the prejudice which the law has fostered is still immense.
• Similar Example; the prejudice and violence Denotified Tribes still face at the hands of the state and society even after the colonial-era Criminal Tribes Act was repealed.
• Court mandated the Union of India to give “wide publicity to the judgment” and conduct “sensitisation and awareness training for government officials and in particular police officials in the light of observations contained in the judgment” to combat the prejudicial attitudes encoded in Section 377.
• The implications of a transformative Constitution are wide ranging and its power can be harnessed by inter-caste, inter-religious and same sex couples, all of whom are battling a form of social morality which is at odds with the Constitution.
• The court observed, “The right to love not just a separate battle for LGBTQ individuals but a battle for us all”.
• If respect for dignity, equality and fraternity, against all the forms of discrimination by a conservative social morality, becomes more widely accepted, India will be less of a majoritarian democracy and more of a form of constitutional democracy.

Connecting the dots:

• SC judgments and striking down of provisions such as Section 377, is beginning of the war against discriminatory social morality. Elucidate.

ENVIRONMENT

TOPIC: General Studies 3

• Conservation, environmental pollution and degradation, environmental impact assessment
  
• International efforts for protection environment and mitigation of degradation
  

Cloudy forecast: on climate change

Introduction

• The conference of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change in Bangkok was to draft a rulebook for the Paris Agreement ahead of a crucial international conference in Poland in December, ran into predictable difficulties over the issue of raising funds to help poorer nations.
• Some developed countries led by the U.S. has rejected the agreement and are unwilling to commit to sound rules on raising climate finance.

Till now, Emissions done by Developed Countries:

• Those emissions raised living standards for their citizens but contributed heavily to the accumulated carbon dioxide burden, now measured at about 410 parts per million of CO2 in the atmosphere, up from 280 ppm before the industrial revolution.
• If scientific estimates are correct, the damage already done to the West Antarctic Ice Sheet is set to raise sea levels; a 2° Celsius rise will also destabilise the Greenland Ice Sheet.
• Failed agriculture in populous countries will drive more mass migrations of people, creating conflict.
• A deeper insight on all this will be available in October when the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change releases its scientific report on the impact of a 1.5° C rise in global average temperature.

India and China: should take Leadership Role:

• There is international pressure on China and India to cut GHG emissions. Both countries have committed themselves to a cleaner growth path.
• India, which reported an annual CO2 equivalent emissions of 2.136 billion tonnes in 2010 to the UNFCCC two years ago, estimates that the GHG emissions intensity of its GDP has declined by 12% for the 2005-2010 period.
• As members committed to the Paris Agreement, China and India have the responsibility of climate leadership in the developing world, and have to green their growth.

Do you know?

Background:

• At COP 21 in Paris, on 12 December 2015, Parties to the UNFCCC reached a landmark agreement to combat climate change and to accelerate and intensify the actions and investments needed for a sustainable low carbon future.
• Under the pact concluded in Paris, rich countries pledged to raise $100 billion a year by 2020 to help developing countries reduce their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and aid populations to cope with extreme events such as floods, droughts and storms.
• However, Mr. Trump in June last year announced his decision to withdraw from the Paris deal, saying the accord would have cost America trillions of dollars, killed jobs, and hindered the oil, gas, coal and manufacturing industries.
• United States of America (USA) is the second largest Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emitter presently.
• However, if cumulative historical emission is considered, USA would be largest GHG emitter.
• So, its withdrawal will affect control of cumulative global GHG emissions. It will also affect the availability of international funds for climate change, as USA was a contributor to climate finance.

India’s Contribution to reduce GHGs:

• In the pre-2020 period, India announced its voluntary goal to reduce the emission intensity of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by 20-25 per cent from 2005 levels by 2020.
• Government of India is implementing the National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC) which includes eight national missions being implemented by various Ministries in specific areas:
• Solar Energy, Enhanced Energy Efficiency, Sustainable Habitat, Water, Sustaining the Himalayan Ecosystem, Green India, Sustainable Agriculture and Strategic knowledge for Climate Change.

Measures and Policies for Tackling Climate Change by India:

Under the Paris Agreement, India has submitted its Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) to the UNFCCC outlining Eight (8) targets for 2021-2030, including

• To reduce Emission Intensity of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by 33 to 35 percent by 2030 from 2005 level,
• To achieve about 40 percent cumulative electric power installed capacity from non-fossil fuel-based energy resources by 2030 with the help of transfer of technology and low-cost international finance including from Green Climate Fund (GCF),
• To create an additional carbon sink of 2.5 to 3 billion tonnes of CO2 equivalent through additional forest and tree cover by 2030.
• The other targets pertain to sustainable lifestyles; climate friendly growth path; climate change adaptation; climate change finance; and capacity building and technology.

Way forward

• Obstructing the transition to a carbon-neutral pathway and preserving the status quo is short-sighted, simply because the losses caused by weather events are proving severely detrimental to all economies.
• Developing countries need a supportive framework in the form of a rulebook that binds the developed countries to their funding pledges, provides support for capacity building and transfer of green technologies on liberal terms.
• Incremental changes along with increasing contributions from renewables and improvements in energy efficiencies would not be sufficient.
• There should instead be major changes in technological innovation, behaviour, values and governance. This is an unprecedented challenge for humanity.
• This is the time for the world’s leaders to demonstrate that they are ready to go beyond expediency and take the actions needed to avert long-term catastrophe.

Connecting the dots:

• In the backdrop of negative developments in climate change efforts, on behalf of some developed nations under the leadership of US, do you think that Paris summit (COP21) will be able to achieve its targets?

(TEST YOUR KNOWLEDGE)

Model questions: (You can now post your answers in comment section)

Note:

• Featured Comments and comments Up-voted by IASbaba are the “correct answers”.
• IASbaba App users – Team IASbaba will provide correct answers in comment section. Kindly refer to it and update your answers.

Q.1) Consider the following regarding Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana (PMMY)

1. It aims to provide formal access of financial facilities to non-corporates, small businesses.
2. Under the scheme, Pradhaan Mantri Mudra Yojana three categories of interventions have been named which include Shishu (Loan up to ₹50,000), Kishore (Loan ranging from ₹50,000 to ₹5 lakh) and Tarun (Loan above ₹5 lakh and below ₹10 lakh)
3. Food Processing is an eligible activity for coverage under one of the MUDRA schemes.

Select the correct option

1. 1 and 3
2. 2 and 3
3. 1 and 2
4. 1, 2 and 3

Q.2) Which of the following is not correct about Kisan Credit Card?

1. It was introduced by Indian Banks based on NABARD’s Model scheme.
2. Commercial banks, Regional Rural Banks as well as State co-operative banks can provide loans under this scheme.
3. The card holder is also covered under personal accident insurance.
4. The card is valid for lifetime or till the person is in employed in agriculture.

Q.3) Which one of the following mountain ranges is spread over only one State in India?

1. Satpura
2. Aravalli
3. Sahyadri
4. None of the above

Q.4) Which of the following statements are correct regarding the ‘Aravalli’ ranges of India?

1. It is the oldest block mountain range of India
2. It is highly denuded because of erosion.
3. The highest peak of Aravallis is Guru Shikhar

Select the code from below:

1. 1 and 2
2. 2 and 3
3. 1 and 3
4. All of the above

Q.5) Consider the following about National Technical Research Organisation:

1. It is the technical intelligence agency working directly under the supervision of the Prime Minister’s Office and the Home Ministry.
2. It involves in satellite and terrestrial monitoring activities.
3. It also develops technology relevant to Indian national security and intelligence.

Which of the above statements is/are correct?

1. 1 only
2. 1 and 2 only
3. 2 and 3 only
4. 1, 2 and 3

Q.6) Choose the correct pair/s from the below:

1. MILEX 18 exercise  : : ASEAN
2. Exercise Peace Mission 2018 : : SCO
3. IBSAMAR exercise : : BRICS

Select incorrect answer:

1. 1 only
2. 1 and 2 only
3. 2 and 3 only
4. 1, 2 and 3

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