DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS IAS | UPSC Prelims and Mains Exam –4th June 2024

Syllabus

• Prelims – SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

Context: NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has spotted the earliest-known galaxy, one that is surprisingly bright and big considering it formed during the universe’s infancy.The discovery was made by an international team of astronomers, who used JWST to observe galaxies as part of the JWST Advanced Deep Extragalactic Survey (JADES) program.

Background:-

• JWST, which by peering across vast cosmic distances is looking way back in time, observed the galaxy as it existed about 290 million years after the Big Bang event that initiated the universe roughly 13.8 billion years ago

What do we know about the galaxy?

• This galaxy, called JADES-GS-z14-0, measures about 1,700-light years across. A light year is the distance light travels in a year, which is 9.5 trillion km.
• The galaxy has a mass equivalent to 500 million stars the size of our Sun and is rapidly forming new stars — about 20 every year.
• Until now, the earliest-known galaxy dated to about 320 million years after the Big Bang.
• The JADES team in the same study disclosed the discovery of the second oldest-known galaxy, from about 303 million years post-Big Bang. That one, JADES-GS-z14-1, is smaller — with a mass equal to about 100 million sun-sized stars, measuring roughly 1,000 light years across and forming about two new stars per year.

James Webb Space Telescope (JWST)

• The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), also known as Webb, is a large infrared telescope with a 6.5-meter primary mirror.
• The mirrors are made of ultra-lightweight beryllium. Webb’s biggest feature is a tennis court sized five-layer sunshield that attenuates heat from the Sun more than a million times.
• Webb is designed to conduct infrared astronomy. Its high-resolution and high-sensitivity instruments allow it to view objects too old, distant, or faint.
• Webb’s revolutionary technology will study every phase of cosmic history—from within our solar system to the most distant observable galaxies in the early universe.
• Over the last two years, scientists have used JWST to explore what astronomers refer to as Cosmic Dawn – the period in the first few hundred million years after the big bang where the first galaxies were born.
• Webb is an international collaboration between NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA), and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA).
• The Webb was launched on 25 December 2021 on an Ariane 5 rocket from Kourou, French Guiana.
• In January 2022 it arrived at its destination, a solar orbit near the Sun–Earth L2 Lagrange point, about 1.5 million kilometers (930,000 mi) from Earth.

Source: Indian Express

Syllabus

• Mains – GS 3

Context: Economists at the public sector Bank of Baroda have published a report about the finances of Indian states for the financial year ended March (FY2024). The report analyses state-level finances based on three variables: how much money they raised on their own, how much they spent to boost productive capacities of the state, and how much they borrowed from the market.

Background:

• The rise in India’s import of discounted Russian oil over the past few months has hit flows from Saudi Arabia the most, the data shows.

Key takeaways

• Fiscal Deficit
  • The report found that most states were able to limit their fiscal deficit (the amount of money they had to borrow to bridge the gap between expenses and income) within the budgeted levels .
  • This is a significant achievement, since over-borrowing by states adds to the Centre’s over-borrowings, and ultimately leaves less money for private sector firms to borrow.
• Capital spends
  • This is the kind of spending that goes into making productive assets such as roads and bridges, which boost economic activity in the state. Typically, when governments try to meet fiscal deficit targets, they tend to cut on capex, which in turn, tends to undermine the ability of the state economy to grow faster.
  • Taken together, states managed to spend only 84% of their capex budget. There were four outliers (in green) — Uttar Pradesh,Telangana, Bihar and Sikkim — that either spent the full amount or went beyond the target. Three states— Punjab, Chhattisgarh, and Nagaland — spent less than 50% of their capex budget.
• Tax revenues
  • A state’s total tax revenues can be broadly divided into two heads: own tax revenues (OTR), and share in Union taxes.
  • The researchers found that overall, OTR accounted for around 61% of tax revenues of states. Within the OTR, GST (Goods and Services Tax) collections made up the biggest chunk (almost 32%), followed by state excise and sales tax (22%) and stamp and registration (7%).
  • A higher share of OTR helps a state to be more fiscally resilient. Telangana had the highest share of OTR in total tax revenue (82%), closely followed by Haryana (79%),Karnataka (78%), Kerala (77%), Maharashtra (73%), and Tamil Nadu (71%).
• Consumption divide
  • GST is a consumption-based tax— that is, it is paid at the point where a good or service is consumed. So, if a car is made in Tamil Nadu but bought in UP, then GST is levied and collected in UP.
  • As such, per capita GST collection can be used as a proxy for state-wise consumption patterns. Consumption levels, in turn, are a proxy for income levels.Higher consuming states end up paying higher taxes like GST and sales tax/ excise duty.
  • NORTH-SOUTH DIVIDE:States in North India fall well below the national average, while states in the South pull up the national average. Per-capita GST levels in Karnataka or Telangana are almost 3-4 times that of Madhya Pradesh and Jharkhand, which shows the relative lack of prosperity of the average citizen in the latter states.
  • EAST-WEST DIVIDE:There is a divide between some of the big states in the East and West. Consumption levels in Maharashtra and Gujarat are far in excess of those in Odisha, West Bengal and Assam.
  • There are some exceptions — such as Haryana in the North — but a broad divide is clearly visible.

Source: Indian Express

Syllabus

• Prelims – SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

Context: China landed an uncrewed spacecraft on the far side of the moon, overcoming a key hurdle in its landmark mission to retrieve the world’s first rock and soil samples from the dark lunar hemisphere.

Background:

• The landing elevates China’s space power status in a global rush to the moon, where countries including the United States are hoping to exploit lunar minerals to sustain long-term astronaut missions and moon bases within the next decade.

About CHANG’E-6 CRAFT

• The mission is the sixth in the Chang’e moon exploration programme, which is named after a Chinese moon goddess. It is the second designed to bring back samples, following the Chang’e 5, which did so from the near side in 2020.
• In 2020 Chang’e-5 brought back 1.7kg of material from an area called Oceanus Procellarum on the Moon’s near side.
• The current mission was launched on 3 May 2024 and the lander touched down on the lunar far side on 1 June 2024 in a huge crater known as the South Pole-Aitken Basin.
• In the mission, the lander is to use a mechanical arm and a drill to gather up to 2 kilogrammes of surface and underground material for about two days.
• An ascender atop the lander will then take the samples in a metal vacuum container back to another module that is orbiting the moon. The container will be transferred to a re-entry capsule that is due to return to Earth in the deserts of China’s Inner Mongolia region about June 25.
• Missions to the moon’s far side are more difficult because it doesn’t face the Earth, requiring a relay satellite to maintain communications. The terrain is also more rugged, with fewer flat areas to land.
• This mission will enable an unprecedented comparison between the moon’s unexplored far side and its well-studied Earth-facing side. The South Pole-Aitken Basin is one of the largest known impact craters in the solar system.
• China is the only country to have reached the far side of the moon twice, the previous mission being the Chang’e-4 in 2019.

Source: Financial Express

Syllabus

• Prelims – ECONOMY

Context: The Reserve Bank of India’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC), which is scheduled to meet from June 5 to 7, is expected to keep the repo rate steady at 6.5 per cent as sticky food inflation continues to remain a threat to the inflation.

Background:

• The six-member rate-setting panel of the RBI is likely to maintain status-quo for the eighth time in a row, market experts said. The repo rate — the rate at which the RBI lends money to banks to meet their short-term funding needs — is expected to remain unchanged at 6.5 per cent.

About MONETARY POLICY COMMITTEE :

• Urjit Patel committee in 2014 recommended the establishment of the Monetary Policy Committee.
• It is a statutory and institutionalized framework under the Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934, for maintaining price stability, while keeping in mind the objective of growth.
• It is constituted by the Central Government and led by the Governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).
• Composition: Six members (including the Chairman) – three officials of the RBI and three external members nominated by the Government of India. Three external Members of MPC will be experts in the field of economics or banking or finance or Monetary policy and will be appointed for a period of 4 years and shall not be eligible for re-appointment.
• The Governor of RBI is ex-officio Chairman of the committee
• Meetings: The meetings of the Monetary Policy Committee are held at least four times a year and it publishes its decisions after each such meeting.
• Decision Making: Decisions are taken by majority with the governor having the casting vote in case of a tie.
• The current mandate of the committee is to maintain 4% annual inflation until 31 March 2026 with an upper tolerance of 6% and a lower tolerance of 2%.

Source: Indian Express

Syllabus

• Prelims – HISTORY

Context: In the narrow lanes of Bulbuli Khana near Turkman Gate in Old Delhi, walled in by buildings on all sides, is a tomb made of stone. It hardly sees any visitors. This forgotten tomb is of the first and only woman ruler to ever sit on Delhi’s throne, Razia Sultan.

Background:

• Daughter of Sultan Iltutmish, Razia ruled during the Delhi Sultanate era from 1236 to 1240. It is believed she had refused to be addressed as a Sultana (as per her gender) as that word meant “wife or mistress of a Sultan”, but claimed the title “Sultan”. It was a title never before bestowed on a woman.

About RAZIA SULTANA

• Raziyyat-Ud-Dunya Wa Ud-Din (1205 – 1240), popularly known as Razia Sultana, was a ruler of the Delhi Sultanate.
• She was the first female Muslim ruler of the subcontinent, and the only female Muslim ruler of Delhi.
• A daughter of Mamluk Sultan Shamsuddin Iltutmish, Razia administered Delhi during 1231–1232 when her father was busy in the Gwalior campaign.
• According to a possibly apocryphal legend, impressed by her performance during this period, Iltutmish nominated Razia as his heir apparent after returning to Delhi.
• Iltutmish was succeeded by Razia’s half-brother Ruknuddin Firuz, whose mother Shah Turkan planned to execute her. During a rebellion against Ruknuddin, Razia instigated the general public against Shah Turkan, and ascended the throne after Ruknuddin was deposed in 1236.
• Razia’s ascension was challenged by a section of nobles, some of whom ultimately joined her, while the others were defeated. The Turkic nobles who supported her expected her to be a figurehead, but she increasingly asserted her power. This, combined with her appointments of non-Turkic officers to important posts, led to their resentment against her.
• She was deposed by a group of nobles in April 1240, after having ruled for less than four years. She married one of the rebels – Ikhtiyaruddin Altunia – and attempted to regain the throne, but was defeated by her half-brother and successor Muizuddin Bahram in October that year, and was killed shortly after.

Source: Indian Express

Syllabus

• Mains – GS 2

Context: As this years summer’s court break began, the debate about how much time judges actually put in on the Bench has been rekindled by a casual remark from a member of the Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council, who said that judges work only for a few hours a day, take long vacations and need to modernise.

Background:

• As per information provided to Rajya Sabha by ministry of Law and Justice, over 5.02 crore cases were pending in various courts.

Judicial Pendency:

• It refers to the high number of unresolved cases that are pending before the courts.
• The problem of pendency is particularly acute at the lower levels of the judiciary, where the majority of cases are filed and where the shortage of judges is most severe.
• In many states, the number of pending cases is significantly higher than the national average. For example, in Bihar, there are over 5 million pending cases, while in Uttar Pradesh, there are over 6 million pending cases.
• Between 2010 and 2020, pendency across all courts grew by 2.8% annually. This implies that if no new cases were to be filed, the time taken by courts to dispose of all the pending cases at the current disposal rate would be 1.3 years for the Supreme Court and 3 years each for High Courts and subordinate courts.
• Tribunals and special courts (such as Fast Track Courts and Family Courts), which were set up to ensure speedy disposal of cases, also witness high pendency and vacancies.

Reasons for the pendency of cases:

• Low ratio of judges to population and delay in filling the vacancies of judicial officers and judges.
• The laid down procedure of allowing a maximum of three adjournments per case is not followed in over 50 percent of the matters being heard by courts, leading to rising pendency of cases.
• Court complexes lack adequate funds, internet, lackadaisical working style of staff, and courtrooms to occupy judges.
• Delay in processing both civil and criminal cases due to non-availability of counsel, misaligned incentives, the complexity of facts involved, nature of evidence, etc. leads to rising judicial pendency.

Way Forward:

• Collegium should take adequate safeguards and transparency in selecting judges so that judges of high calibre and impeccable integrity are appointed to the higher courts. An All-India Judicial Services examination can be considered to maintain high standards in the judiciary. Articles 224A and 128 of the Constitution can be invoked to appoint ad hoc Judges.
• Promoting Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) mechanisms such as Lok Adalat, Arbitration, Mediation, Conciliation, etc. for civil cases can help to reduce the burden on courts and facilitate robust legal practice.
• The government should provide adequate funds for developing and upgrading the judicial infrastructure, training judicial staff, etc.
• A time limit should be set for hearing a case and deciding. Consider and explore options for setting up fast-track courts and fixing time limits or deadlines for certain categories of cases, especially in subordinate courts.
• Reduce the criminalization of violations and move towards the compounding of minor offences.
• Reform forensics and ballistics testing by outsourcing to accredited laboratories.
• Government departments must establish a strong internal grievance redressal mechanism and empower designated officers to decide disputes between employees and departments.
• Introduce incentive and sanction-based models of motivation to ensure that citizens abide by the law. Prohibitive penalties should be imposed to check traffic violations, and civic violations including littering in public, first-time petty offenders, etc.

Source: Indian Express

Q1.) Consider the following statements about Razia Sultana

1. Iltutmish was succeeded by Razia’s half-brotherRuknuddin Firuz,
2. She ruled during the Delhi Sultanate era from 1236 to 1240.
3. She dressed in traditional male attire & rode on elephants through the streets of Delhi.

How many of the statements given above are correct?

1. Only one
2. Only two
3. All three
4. None  

Q2.) Consider the following statements about James Webb Space Telescope (JWST):

1. JWST is an international collaboration between NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA), and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA).
2. Scientists have used JWST to explore Cosmic Dawn.
3. JWST is designed to conduct infrared astronomy.

How many of the statements given above are correct?

1. Only one
2. Only two
3. All three
4. None

Q3.) Consider the following statements :

1. CHANG’E-6 mission is part of China’s moon exploration programme.
2. Missions to the moon’s far side are more difficult because it doesn’t face the Earth, requiring a relay satellite to maintain communications.

Which of the statements given above is/are not correct?

1. 1 only
2. 2 only
3. Both 1 and 2
4. Neither 1 nor 2

Comment the answers to the above questions in the comment section below!!

ANSWERS FOR ’  4th June 2024 – Daily Practice MCQs’ will be updated along with tomorrow’s Daily Current Affairs.st

Q.1) – b

Q.2) – c

Q.3) – b