• May 19, 2023

Global Annual to Decadal Climate Update

Tags: Syllabus: GS 3/Environment

In News

• Recent publication by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) of the Global Annual to Decadal Climate Update.

About Global Annual to Decadal Climate Update

• It is published annually in May and provides a forecast of the global climate for the following year and five years.

Climate indices such as global mean near-surface temperature, Atlantic multidecadal variability, and the El Nio/Southern Oscillation, as well as regional indices and annual and multi-year seasonal means of near-surface temperature, mean sea-level pressure, and precipitation, are the primary focus.

Findings 

• Over the next five years, global temperatures are likely to reach record highs, fueled by heat-trapping greenhouse gases and a natural El Nio event.
  • The annual mean global near-surface temperature for each year between 2023 and 2027 is projected to be between 1.1°C and 1.8°C higher than the average for 1850-1900. This is used as a baseline because it was before the emission of greenhouse gases by human and industrial activities.
• There is a 66% probability that the annual average near-surface global temperature will exceed 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels for at least one year between 2023 and 2027.  
• There is a 98% probability that at least one of the next five years, as well as the entire five-year period, will be the warmest on record.
• •The rate of Arctic warming is disproportionate.
  • When averaging the temperature anomaly over the next five protracted winters in the northern hemisphere, it is expected to be more than three times as large as the global mean anomaly when compared to the average from 1991 to 2020.
• Predicted precipitation patterns for May to September 2023-2027, in comparison to the average for 1991-2020, indicate increased precipitation in the Sahel, northern Europe, Alaska, and northern Siberia, and decreased precipitation for this season over the Amazon and portions of Australia.

Implications 

• A heating El Nio is predicted to develop in the coming months, and this, coupled with human-caused climate change, will drive global temperatures into uncharted territory.

• In addition to increasing global temperatures, human-caused greenhouse gases are causing ocean warming and acidification, sea ice and glacier melt, sea level rise, and more extreme weather. • This will have far-reaching consequences for human health, food security, water management, and the environment.

Suggestions and Way Ahead 

• This report does not indicate that the 1.5C limit specified in the Paris Agreement, which refers to long-term warming over many years, will be exceeded irreversibly.
• However, the WMO warns that the 1.5C threshold will be exceeded temporarily and with increasing frequency.
• There is a need to strengthen weather and climate services to support climate change adaptation.
• The current Early Warnings for All initiative should be prioritized to safeguard people from increasingly extreme weather.

Source: TH

Competition Commission of India (CCI)

Tags: Syllabus: GS 2 / Governance 

In News 

• The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) has appointed Ravneet Kaur, an IAS officer from the 1988 cohort, as the first female chairperson of India’s Competition Commission (CCI).

Ravneet Kaur

• She is the first woman to lead the CCI for a period of five years from the date of her appointment, or until she reaches the age of 65, or until further orders are issued. She is also the second woman to lead a ‘economic regulator’ position, following Madhabi Puri Buch, who was appointed chairperson of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) in 2022.Since Ashok Kumar Gupta’s resignation in October 2022, the CCI has been without a full-time chairperson. Since then, CCI member Sangeeta Verma has served as interim chairperson.

Competition Commission of India (CCI)

• The Competition Commission of India (CCI) is a statutory body under the Ministry of Corporate Affairs charged with enforcing the Competition Act of 2002.

• In 2003, the CCI was established.

• It consists of a Chairperson and no more than six Central Government-appointed members.

• The Director General’s (DG) Office is the investigative arm of the CCI; it initiates an investigation when the Commission issues a prima facie order directing the DG to do so.

Competition Act, 2002

• The Competition Act of 2002 prohibits anti-competitive agreements, abuse of dominant position by enterprises, and regulates combinations (acquisition, acquiring control, and mergers and acquisitions) that have or are likely to have a significant adverse effect on competition in India.

• The Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices Act of 1969 was superseded by the Competition Act of 2002.

• The Competition Act of 2002 was revised in 2007 and 2009. The antitrust provisions of the law became effective in 2009.

Competition (Amendment) Act, 2023

• It amends the Competition Act of 2002 to promote regulatory certainty and a business climate based on trust.

• The legal definition of turnover has been expanded to include “global turnover from all products and services of an enterprise in violation.” It allows the CCI to impose penalties on entities based on their ‘global turnover’ as opposed to only considering their’market turnover’ as is the case currently.

• It authorizes the CCI to issue orders regarding anti-competitive agreements and “abuse of dominant position” by imposing a fine of up to 10% of the average income or turnover for the three preceding fiscal years.

• For their appeals to be heard by an appellate tribunal, firms penalized by the CCI must pay at least 25% of the penalties imposed on them.

• It provides stakeholders with certainty by prescribing a three-year statute of limitations for the filing of information on anti-competitive agreements and abuse of dominant position.

• To address lethal acquisitions in the digital market, it has introduced the concept of “Deal Value Threshold” for notifying CCI of mergers and acquisitions (M&A).

• To make approvals for mergers and acquisitions time-bound, the bill reduces the overall time limit for assessment from 210 days to 150 days from the date notice is filed by the parties involved. The CCI will be required to formulate a “prima facie opinion” within 30 days of receiving the notification, failing which the combination will be presumed approved.

• • It introduces ‘Settlement and Commitment Framework’ for quicker market correction and fewer lawsuits.

• The revised law permits the CCI to designate a Director General (Investigation). • The CCI will appoint a Director General (Investigation) under the “Leniency Plus” regime. Up until now, the Centre has appointed the DG (Investigation).

• The bill decriminalizes certain violations of the Act by converting their sanction from fines to civil penalties. These violations include noncompliance with CCI orders and Director General directives regarding anticompetitive agreements and exploitation of dominant position.

Source: ET

Fertilizer Subsidy

Tags: Syllabus: GS3/ Agricultural Resources

In News 

• The Union Cabinet approved a subsidy of 1,080,000,000,000 rupees for the current kharif or monsoon season.

About 

• Of this amount, Rs. 38,000 crore will be allocated to phosphatic and potassic (P&K) fertilizer subsidies, while Rs. 70,000 crore will be allocated to urea fertilizer subsidies.

• The Centre anticipates that this year’s fertilizer subsidy will exceed Rs. 2.25 lakh crore, as fertilizer prices continue to rise due to global factors such as a drop in production and increased logistics costs, particularly due to the Ukraine crisis. In 2012, the total fertilizer subsidy was approximately 2.56 lakh crore rupees.

Fertilizer Subsidy Schemes

• The Department of Fertilizers periodically implements various fertilizer subsidy schemes with varying subsidy components to guarantee the timely and convenient availability of various fertilizers at affordable prices.

• Currently, (i) Urea; (ii) 21 grades of P&K-fertilizers; and (iii) City Compost fall under the Department of Fertilizers’ subsidy schemes.

Urea Subsidy: 

• The urea is sold at a Maximum Retail Price (MRP) statutorily set by the Government of India. • The difference between delivery cost of urea at farm gate and net market realization by the urea units is subsidized by the Government of India to the urea manufacturer / importer.

Nutrient Based Subsidy (NBS): 

• The Nutrient Based Subsidy (NBS) Policy for P&K fertilizers has been implemented since 2010 by the Department of Fertilizers. 
• Under the NBS Policy, the Government provides a fixed rate of subsidy (in Rs. Per Kg basis) on each nutrient of subsidized P&K fertilizers. MRP of P&K fertilizers has been left open and fertilizer manufacturers / marketers are allowed to fix the MRP at reasonable rates.

Promotion of City Compost: 

• In 2016, the Department of Fertilizers announced the City Compost Promotion Scheme.

• Under the program, Market Development Assistance (MDA) in the form of a fixed quantity of Rs.1,500/- per MT of City Compost will be provided in order to increase production and consumption of the product.

Source: TH

Doubled outlay on PLI for IT hardware

Tags: Syllabus: GS3/ Indian Economy & Related Issues, Growth & Development

In News

• The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology recently authorized an updated Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme for manufacturing IT hardware.

More about the news

• About:
• Notification of the PLI scheme for IT hardware began in March 2021.
• The program provides incentives of up to 4 percent for incremental investments in domestic manufacturing for eligible companies, such as Dell and Flextronics.
• The Cabinet has approved the changes based on industry feedback regarding the improvement of the previous scheme version.
  • Significance of the sector:
• Over the past eight years, the manufacturing of electronics in India has experienced a CAGR of 17%.
• This year, production surpassed a significant milestone of $105 billion.
• India surpassed $11 billion in mobile phone exports and is now the second-largest manufacturer of mobile handsets, behind only China.
  • Challenges:
  • The IT Hardware manufacturing industry confronts unequal playing conditions in comparison to competing nations.
  • According to industry estimates, the electronics manufacturing sector is handicapped by 8.5% to 11% due to a lack of Adequate infrastructure, Domestic supply chain and logistics;
  • High cost of finance; Inadequate availability of quality power;
  • Limited design capabilities and industry focus on R&D;
  • and Inadequacies in skill development.
  • A mechanism is required to compensate for manufacturing disadvantages relative to other main manufacturing economies.

Production Linked Incentive (PLI) Scheme

• About:
• The Finance Minister announced the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) Schemes for thirteen critical sectors;
• It will create national manufacturing champions and generate job opportunities for the country’s youth.
• Aim & Objectives:
• To provide incentives for incremental sales of products manufactured domestically;
• To encourage local firms to establish or expand existing manufacturing facilities.
• In addition to encouraging local companies to establish or expand existing manufacturing units, it invites foreign companies to open up shop in India.
• The objective is to make India more compliant with World Trade Organization (WTO) obligations and nondiscriminatory and neutral with regard to domestic sales and exports.
  • Implimentation:
  • The Scheme will be implemented by a Nodal Agency that acts as a Project Management Agency (PMA) and is responsible for providing secretarial, managerial, and implementation support, as well as carrying out other responsibilities as assigned from time to time by MeitY.
  • PLI for for IT Hardware:

• Support under the Scheme will be provided to eligible companies for the manufacture of commodities (covered under the target segment) in India.

• (i) Laptops, (ii) Tablets, (iii) All-in-One PCs, and (iv) Servers shall comprise the Target Segment for PLI.

The Semiconductor and electronics sector in India

• As part of the China-plus-one diversification strategy, India has a significant opportunity to become a major manufacturer of electronics and semiconductors.

 One China Plus:

• This strategy, also known as Plus One, is a business strategy to avoid investing solely in China and to diversify business operations in other nations.

• Western companies have invested in China for the past two decades, attracted by the country’s low production costs and vast domestic consumer markets.

The electronics and semiconductor products manufacturing industry in the United States has experienced exponential growth over the past fifteen years.

Import & domestic production:

• In 2014, approximately 92% of mobile devices sold in the country were imported, whereas in 2022, approximately 97% of mobile devices were produced domestically.

Potential:

• The nation’s electronics ecosystem, which includes manufacturing, designing, innovation, and production, was valued at $10 billion in 2014, $75 billion in 2022, and anticipated to surpass $300 billion by 2025-26.
• Foreign direct investment in the sector: o The electronics and semiconductor sector attracted 66% of the FDI that entered India over the past three years.

Sector-specific production:

• The electronic devices industry is segmented as follows: Mobile Phones (24%), Consumer Electronics (22%), Strategic Electronics (12%), Computer Hardware (7%), LEDs (2%) and Industrial Electronics (34%), which includes Automotive, Medical, and other industrial electronic products.

Demand:

• Transitions in technology, such as the implementation of 5G networks and IoT, are accelerating the adoption of electronic products.
• Projects such as ‘Digital India’ and ‘Smart City’ have increased the demand for IoT in the market for electronic devices and will unquestionably herald in a new era for electronic products.

Source: IE

Pir Panjal valley

Tags: Syllabus: GS1/Geography

In News

• This year, militant activity in the Pir Panjal valley has claimed more lives than in the Kashmir valley.

About

• Militants in the Pir Panjal valley are altering their strategy to outsmart security agencies and survive longer in a region with terrain as rugged as Afghanistan’s mountains. • The valley includes 225 kilometers of the Line of Control (LoC) with Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK).

• The interrogation of locals has shed light on the new mode of operation employed by militants after their infiltration into the forests of the Pir Panjal valley.

• Security agencies are concerned about not only the increase in militant activity in Rajouri-Poonch, but also the change in strategy, the use of “smarter” sleeper cells, the impenetrable means of communication, the application of technology, and the intensive training militants are receiving to fight and survive in hostile forests.

Pir Panjal valley

• The Pir Panjal is a subrange of the Himalayas that extends into Pakistan from the Neelam River in Jammu and Kashmir to the Beas River in Kullu, Himachal Pradesh.

• On the eastern side of the Pir Panjal range is Rohtang Pass, which connects two districts of Himachal Pradesh: Kullu & Lahaul and Spiti.

o This pass provides access to Kullu and other sections of Himachal for residents of Lahaul Valley. o The easternmost and highest point of this range, Mt. Indrasan, is located in Manali, Kullu, Himachal Pradesh.

• The Kugti Pass, the highest pass in the Pir Panjal range, connects the Bharmour region of Chamba to the Lahaul Valley in the Lahaul-Spiti district of Himachal Pradesh.

Source: TH

Hysterectomy

Tags: Syllabus: GS2/ Health

In News

• The Supreme Court has instructed states and union territories to implement health guidelines formulated by the Centre within three months in order to monitor “unnecessary” hysterectomies.

About

• In the Indian states of Bihar, Chhattisgarh, and Rajasthan, “unnecessary hysterectomies” were performed as part of the Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana and other healthcare-related government programs.

• According to the petitioners, a number of healthcare institutions were found to be abusing the procedure in order to demand excessive insurance premiums from governments under various health insurance plans.

• In developed nations, hysterectomies are typically performed on premenopausal women over the age of 45. However, in India, community-based studies have consistently discovered an increase in hysterectomy rates among young women aged 28 to 36.

What is Hysterectomy?

• It is a surgical procedure in which the uterus and sometimes adjacent organs and tissues are removed.

 • When only the uterus is removed, the procedure is known as a partial hysterectomy. The removal of the uterus and cervix is known as a total hysterectomy.

• A radical hysterectomy is performed when the uterus, cervix, part of the vagina, and a large portion of the ligaments and tissues surrounding these organs are removed.

• These procedures may be performed through the vagina (with no incisions in the abdomen) or through an incision (cut) in the abdomen.

Way Ahead

• According to Article 21 of the Constitution, the right to health is an inherent component of the right to life. Life must be predicated on robust health conditions in order to be appreciated in all its facets. There has been a severe violation of the fundamental rights of women who have undergone unnecessary hysterectomies.
• All hysterectomies should be subject to mandatory audits.
• The guidelines for preventing unnecessary hysterectomies should be adhered to.

Source: TH

75/25 initiative (Hypertension)

Tags: Syllabus: GS 2 / Health

In News 

• To commemorate World Hypertension Day (May 17), the Union Ministry of Health has launched the 75/25 initiative and the Shashakt Portal.

About

• Under the 75/25 initiative, the Union Health Ministry seeks to screen and provide standard care to 75 million individuals with hypertension and diabetes by 2025.

• The Shashakt Portal for educating 40,000 Primary Health Care Medical Officers on Standard Treatment Workflow for non-communicable diseases (NCDs) has been launched.

National Programme for Prevention and Control of Non-Communicable Diseases (NP-NCD)

• The Revised operational guidelines of National Programme for Prevention and Control of Non-Communicable Diseases (NP-NCD) were also released with the goal of much broader coverage.

 • The programme now provides services for Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) and Asthma, Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) and Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Diseases (NAFLD), ST Elevation of Myocardial Infarction (STEMI) in addition to Hypertension,

Hypertension 

• Blood pressure is represented as a pair of numbers.
• The first number (systolic) represents blood vessel pressure when the heart contracts or pulses.
• The second (diastolic) number represents the pressure in the blood vessels between heartbeats.
• Hypertension is diagnosed if the systolic blood pressure readings on two separate days are 140 mmHg and/or the diastolic blood pressure readings on two separate days are 90 mmHg.
• Hazard factors: Age, genetics, being overweight or obese, lack of physical activity, a high-salt diet, and excessive alcohol consumption all increase the likelihood of developing hypertension.
• Prevention & Treatment: It is common, but if left untreated, it can be fatal. Changes in lifestyle, such as adopting a healthier diet, ceasing smoking, and engaging in more physical activity, can help reduce blood pressure. Some individuals may still require medication.

Source: TH

Rasht-Astara Railway

Tags: Syllabus:GS 2/International Relations 

In News

• The Russian and Iranian presidents signed an agreement to finance and construct an Iranian rail line as part of a nascent international North–South Transport Corridor.

About Rasht-Astara railway

• It is viewed as an important link in the corridor, which aims to connect India, Iran, Russia, Azerbaijan, and other nations via rail and sea — a route that, according to Russia, can rival the Suez Canal as a significant global trade route.
• Significance 
• The 162 km railway along the coast of the Caspian Sea would help connect Russian harbors on the Baltic Sea to Iranian ports in the Indian Ocean and the Gulf.It will substantially diversify global traffic flows.

Source: TH