27 Oct 2021: UPSC Exam Comprehensive News Analysis

Oct 27th, 2021, CNA:- Download PDF Here

TABLE OF CONTENTS

A. GS 1 Related
B. GS 2 Related
HEALTH
1. Centre plans 2 mobile hospitals
GOVERNANCE
1. Framework to manage drone traffic notified
INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
1. China’s Foreign Minister meets Taliban in Doha, offers support
C. GS 3 Related
D. GS 4 Related
E. Editorials
POLITY
1. Safety first
ENVIRONMENT AND ECOLOGY
1. Why India shouldn’t sign on to net zero
F. Prelims Facts
1. ‘Tax revenue set to beat forecast’
G. Tidbits
1. ‘Count on the not so big powers’
2. The highs and lows in states’ IMR rankings
H. UPSC Prelims Practice Questions
I. UPSC Mains Practice Questions

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Yojana Gist
Kurukshetra Gist    
Current Affairs Magazine

Category: GOVERNANCE

1. Framework to manage drone traffic notified

Context:

  • The Ministry of Civil Aviation has recently notified a traffic management policy framework for drones.

Details:

  • The proposed framework envisages private, third-party service providers for ensuring safe drone operations. Unmanned Traffic Management Service Providers (UTMSP) will be responsible for segregating and separating a drone from other drones and manned aircraft.
  • These UTMSP will extend automated, algorithm-driven software services to drone operators operating in airspace below 1,000 ft.
  • UTMSPs will be allowed to levy a service fee on users for the offering of their services.
  • The traffic management providers will be assisted by Supplementary Service Providers (SSPs), who will maintain data about the terrain, weather, location of manned aircraft, etc.
  • The drone traffic management policy also proposes the integration of UTM with Air traffic management systems to help ensure the separation of manned and unmanned aircraft routes.
  • Law enforcement and security agencies will be allowed access to some information in the UTM ecosystem on a need-to-know basis.

Category: INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

1. China’s Foreign Minister meets Taliban in Doha, offers support

Context:

  • The Chinese Foreign Minister met the Acting Deputy Prime Minister of Afghanistan in Doha, Qatar.

Details:

  • China’s Foreign Minister pledged support and assistance to the Taliban. China expressed its willingness to continue to provide humanitarian aid to Afghanistan and also work with the international community to help Afghanistan realise economic reconstruction and development. China pledged 200 million yuan ($30.96 million) worth of grains, winter supplies, medicines and vaccines to Afghanistan.
  • The Chinese Foreign Minister also called on the U.S. and the West to lift sanctions on members of the Taliban regime.
  • In return China expects the Taliban to dissociate itself from the East Turkestan Islamic Movement [ETIM] and other separatist organisations and also take effective measures to crack down on them.
    • The ETIM has been blamed by China for several attacks in its western Xinjiang region.
  • Taliban represented by the acting Deputy Prime Minister noted that a friendly policy towards China is a firm choice by their regime and has stated that they will not allow anyone to use Afghan territory to harm Chinese interests.
  • The Taliban have also expressed interest in Chinese investments and in the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), including extending the China Pakistan Economic Corridor to Afghanistan.

Category: ENVIRONMENT AND ECOLOGY

1. Why India shouldn’t sign on to net zero

Context:

  • Amid the growing calls for net zero carbon emissions, the article argues against India announcing any such net zero target year.

Arguments against net zero target:

  • The timing of the world’s carbon dioxide emissions reaching net zero is not the critical parameter for the safety of humanity. Rather, there is the need to cap the global cumulative emissions of carbon dioxide (global carbon budget). The calls for net zero carbon emissions tend to overlook this crucial concept of global carbon budget.
  • The net zero targets announced by the top three emitters of the world — China, the U.S. and the European Union — will not be sufficient to keep global temperature increase below 1.5°C.
  • Notably, the Paris Climate Agreement which forms the basis of the global climate action framework does not require that net zero be reached individually by countries by 2050.
  • The net zero carbon emission targets seem to be against the principle of equity and climate justice. This approach front-loads emission reduction requirements on developing countries, despite their already low emissions and allows the developed world to backload its emissions, buying time for its own transition. It seems to be neglecting the legacy emissions from the global north. Hence this concept allows for the over-appropriation of the global carbon budget by the global north.

Recommendations for India:

  • The article recommends that India should refrain from agreeing to a net zero target year based on the following arguments.

Low legacy emissions:

  • India is responsible for no more than 4.37% cumulative emissions of carbon dioxide since the pre-industrial era, despite being home to more than a sixth of humanity.

Low per capita emissions:

  • India’s per capita emissions are less than half the world average.
  • India’s contribution to global emissions is so disproportionately low that even a more ambitious climate action plan by India will not make any drastic impact on global climate action.

Developmental necessities:

  • The adoption of a net zero target year risks endangering the economic development process of India which is of paramount importance to eradicate poverty, hunger and malnutrition in India.

Conclusion:

  • India, in enlightened self-interest, must stake its claim to a fair share of the global carbon budget.
  • It should call for restriction of the future cumulative emissions by the big emitters, to their fair share of the global carbon budget.
  • India should call for technology transfer and financial support, together with “negative emissions” from the developed countries to compensate for the legacy emissions.

For more related information refer to the following article:

UPSC Exam Comprehensive News Analysis of 25th Oct 2021

F. Prelims Facts

1. ‘Tax revenue set to beat forecast’

  • The Indian government expects its tax revenues for the current fiscal year to be 10% above budgeted estimates. This would be the first time in four years that the tax revenues could be higher than its budgeted estimates if the projection holds true.
    • Tax revenues have been below projections ever since 2017-18 as the economy lost momentum even before COVID-19 and then slipped into a deep recession due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
  • The uptick in government tax revenues, pickup in retail sales and exports seem to be suggestive of a robust economic recovery in India.
  • The robust tax revenue projections and the meeting of the disinvestment targets will help the government beat its fiscal deficit projection of 6.8% by as much as 30-40 basis points.
    • India aims to raise Rs. 1.75 lakh crore in the current fiscal year through disinvestment.

G. Tidbits

1. ‘Count on the not so big powers’

  • Syed Akbaruddin, India’s former Permanent Representative to the UN with rich experience in international diplomacy and power play calls for India to attach equal importance to bilateral relationships with the middle powers as well as other smaller nations in addition to the natural importance that India attaches to its relationship with the superpowers of the world.
  • This he argues is essential as the support from the middle and smaller powers form the base of India’s global support on which the relationships with global superpowers can be leveraged upon.
  • This can also help insulate India from the powerplay often employed by superpowers in international relations to protect their mutual self-interests.

2. The highs and lows in states’ IMR rankings

  • The infant mortality rate (deaths per 1000 live births of children under one year of age) has improved in all states between 2014 and 2019.
  • However, wide variations exist among the states in the pace of decline.

H. UPSC Prelims Practice Questions

Q.1 Consider the following statements with regards to National Population Register:
  1. NPR has been termed as the register of usual residents of the country by the Office of the Registrar General and Census Commissioner.
  2. A “usual resident”, for the NPR, is a person who has lived in an area for at least one year or more, or a person who intends to live in an area for the next one year or more.
  3. The Registrar General of Citizen Registration would be responsible for providing the notification regarding the duration of the enumeration in the Official Gazette.

Options:-

  1. 1 & 2 only
  2. 2 & 3 only
  3. 1 & 3 only
  4. All of the above
CHECK ANSWERS:-

Answer: c

Explanation:

  • The National Population Register (NPR) is a Register of usual residents of the country. It is being prepared at the local (Village/sub-Town), sub-District, District, State and National levels under provisions of the Citizenship Act 1955 and the Citizenship (Registration of Citizens and Issue of National Identity Cards) Rules, 2003. It is mandatory for every usual resident of India to register in the NPR.
  • A “usual resident” is defined for the purposes of NPR as a person who has resided in a local area for the past six months or more or a person who intends to reside in that area for the next six months or more.
  • The objective of the NPR is to create a comprehensive identity database of every usual resident in the country. The database would contain demographic as well as biometric particulars.
  • The Registrar General of Citizen Registration shall notify the period and duration of the enumeration in the Official Gazette.
Q.2 Consider the following statements with regards to the Gorkhaland Territorial 
Administration:
  1. The Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (often abbreviated as GTA) is an Autonomous District Council for the Darjeeling and Kalimpong areas of West Bengal.
  2. The GTA was formed in 2012 to replace the Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council.
  3. The formation of GTA resulted from a tripartite agreement between the Union government, the State government and Gorkha Janamukti Morcha.

Which of these statements is/are correct?

  1. 1 & 2 only
  2. 1 & 3 only
  3. 2 & 3 only
  4. All of the above
CHECK ANSWERS:-

Answer: d

Explanation:

  • The Gorkhaland Territorial Administration is an Autonomous District Council for the Darjeeling and Kalimpong areas of the West Bengal state in India. It currently consists of three hill subdivisions Darjeeling, Kurseong, Mirik, some areas of Siliguri subdivision of Darjeeling district and the whole of Kalimpong district under its authority.
  • The GTA was formed in 2012 to replace the Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council, which was formed in 1988 and administered the Darjeeling hills for 23 years.
  • The GTA was formed as a result of the tripartite agreement between the State, Centre and the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM).
Q.3 Consider the following statements with regards to languages in India and choose the 
incorrect one:
  1. “Rajbhasha Bharati” is a quarterly magazine published by the Department of Official Language and is dedicated to encouraging Hindi writing in the fields of technology, information, literature, etc.
  2. There are no fixed criteria for any language to be included in the Eighth Schedule of the Indian Constitution.
  3. Since 2018, members of parliament can speak in any of the 22 languages in the 8th schedule after giving a 24-hour prior notice.
  4. None of the above
CHECK ANSWERS:-

Answer: d

Explanation:

  • The Department of Official Language brings out ‘Rajbhasha Bharati’, a quarterly magazine, dedicated to encouraging writings in the field of Official Language, literature, technology, information technology, etc., in Hindi and also to give wide publicity to the efforts being made in different Central Government Offices for the use and propagation of Official Language Hindi.
  • As the evolution of dialects and languages is dynamic, influenced by socio- eco-political developments, it is difficult to fix any criterion for languages to be included in the Eighth Schedule of the Indian Constitution.
  • Since 2018, members of parliament can speak in any of the 22 languages in the 8th schedule after giving a 24-hour prior notice.
Q.4 Electoral bonds are sold by
  1. All the Scheduled Commercial Banks in India
  2. All the Scheduled Public Sector Banks in India
  3. All the Scheduled Private Sector Banks in India
  4. Only a few designated branches of the State Bank of India
CHECK ANSWERS:-

Answer: d

Explanation:

  • State Bank of India (SBI) has been authorised to issue and encash Electoral Bonds through its 29 Authorized Branches. No other bank can undertake these functions.
Q.5 With reference to forced labour (Vishti) in India during the Gupta period, which one of 
the following statements is correct? (UPSC-2019)
  1. It was considered a source of income for the State, a sort of tax paid by the people.
  2. It was totally absent in the Madhya Pradesh and Kathiawar regions of the Gupta Empire.
  3. The forced labourer was entitled to weekly wages.
  4. The eldest son of the labourer was sent as the forced labourer.
CHECK ANSWERS:-

Answer: a

Explanation:

  • Vishti was a form of forced labour extracted by either the state, the provincial governor or the local chief. It is also mentioned in the Gupta era copper inscriptions that enlist a variety of taxes. Junagarh inscription mentions vishti as one form of tax, which indicates that it was extracted from Gujarat and Malwa regions.
  • Since it was a forced labour in lieu of tax, it was not a wage labour. Wage labour existed in ancient India but it was not called vishti. Vishti could be extracted from anyone, not in particular from the eldest son only.

I. UPSC Mains Practice Questions

  1. Examine the controversy surrounding Mullaperiyar dam in the light of recent directions given by the Supreme Court. (15 marks, 250 words)[GS-2, Polity]
  2. The Pradhan Mantri Ayushman Bharat Health Infrastructure Mission aims to build a robust public health infrastructure. Discuss. (15 marks, 250 words)[GS-2, Governance]

Read the previous CNA here.

Oct 27th, 2021, CNA:- Download PDF Here

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