Daily Current Affairs

July 2023

Current Affairs

Poverty & UNDP

Context: The UN report noted that deprivation in all indicators declined in India and “the poorest States and groups, including children and people in disadvantaged caste groups, had the fastest absolute progress.”

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Different types of Poverty 

Absolute Poverty 

Absolute poverty means poverty defined using a universal baseline with no reference to other people’s income or access to goods. The failure of meeting this baseline thus means that the individual is poor.

It incorporates the deficiency of basic food, clean water, prosperity, refuge, guidance and information and puts a money value on them to calculate a baseline. 

Relative Poverty 

Relative poverty is the level of poverty which changes depending on the context–it’s relative to the economic context in which it exists. Relative poverty is present when a household income is lower than the median income in a particular country.

For example, if the disposable income of a household is less than 50% of the median income of the country the household is relatively poor.

Situational Poverty 

Situational poverty occurs when “a family temporarily experiences financial constraints due to an illness, job loss, or other temporary event”.

Generational Poverty 

Generational poverty is a condition in which poverty has become a familial pattern for at least two generations, although it typically affects multiple generations. Sometimes, situational poverty may lead to Generational poverty.

Subjective Poverty 

Subjective poverty is an individual’s perception on his or her financial/material situation. This kind of Poverty is defined on the basis of individual feeling, i.e., those who say that they feel poor represent subjective poverty.

Different Methods of measuring Poverty

Head Count Ratio or Poverty Ratio 

Absolute poverty may be measured by the number or ‘head count’ of those whose incomes fall below the ‘poverty line’. Head Count Ratio is the percentage of that population in the total population.  

Multi-dimensional Poverty 

Multidimensional poverty encompasses the many deprivations that people can experience across different areas of their lives. This could include a lack of education or employment, inadequate housing, poor health and nutrition, low personal security, or social isolation.

In 2005/2006, about 645 million people were in multidimensional poverty in India, with this number declining to about 370 million in 2015/2016 and 230 million in 2019/2021.

Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) is released by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI). 

The MPI as a poverty index can be pictured as a stacked tower of the interlinked deprivations experienced by poor individuals, with the aim of eliminating these deprivations.

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Source UNDP

Causes of improvement 

During the last two decades, India has implemented several social protection programmes with the aim to improve living standards, and these have helped the Indian government in poverty reduction.

  • Implementation of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) since 2006 has significantly increased household consumption and accumulated more nonfinancial assets.
  • Minimum Support Price (MSP), Public Distribution Systems (PDS), PM-POSHAN and other programmes have addressed the problem of food security. 
  • Code on social security, Code on wages etc. have increased labour earnings and security of job which played significant roles in poverty reduction.
  • PM- Jan Dhan Yojana and biometric identity cards under Aadhar have also transformed the anti-poverty programmes by replacing the current cumbersome and leaky distribution of benefits under various schemes using the Direct Benefit Transfers (DBT) programme. 
  • Saubhagya scheme, PM-Sahaj Har Ghar Bijali Yojana etc. helped in improving the standard of living.
  • Swachh Bharat mission, National Rural Drinking Water Programme, Total Sanitation Campaign, Jalmani Programme etc. have helped in improving the sanitation outcomes.
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Current status of MPI in India

India was among the 19 countries that halved their global Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) value during one period - for India it was 2005/2006–2015/2016.

  • According to the report, people who are multidimensionally poor and deprived under the nutrition indicator in India declined from 44.3% in 2005/2006 to 11.8% in 2019/2021, Child mortality fell from 4.5% to 1.5%.
  • Those who are poor and deprived of cooking fuel fell from 52.9% to 13.9% and those deprived of sanitation fell from 50.4% in 2005/2006 to 11.3% in 2019/2021.
  • In the drinking water indicator, the percentage of people who are multidimensionally poor and deprived fell from 16.4 to 2.7 during the period, electricity (from 29% to 2.1%) and housing from 44.9% to 13.6%.

Way Forward

  • Government may focus on the implementation of programmes which faces the problem of rigidity, non-adaptability to local conditions, late disbursement of funds, reallocation of funds to unrelated recurring expenditure, and wide-ranging rent-seeking practices. 
  • DBT, technological improvement Programmes and sanitation programmes has been criticised because of digital divide and urban biasness in their implementation. Through initiatives for education and awareness, the Indian government could enhance the implementation its policies.

First French long-range missiles already in Ukraine

Context: France has already made a delivery of a number of SCALP long-range cruise missiles to Ukraine, a military source told after President Emmanuel Macron announced the supplies.

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Types of Missiles 

Ballistic Missiles 

Ballistic missiles are powered initially by a rocket or series of rockets in stages, but then follow an unpowered trajectory that arches upwards before descending to reach its intended target. Ballistic missiles can carry either nuclear or conventional warheads. 

There are four general classifications of ballistic missiles based on their range, or the maximum distance the missile can travel: 

  • Short-range: less than 1,000 kilometers (approximately 620 miles), also known as “tactical” ballistic missiles.
  • Medium-range: between 1,000 and 3,000 kilometers (approximately 620-1,860 miles), also known as “theater” ballistic missiles. 
  • Intermediate-range: between 3,000 and 5,500 kilometers (approximately 1,860-3,410 miles) 
  • Long-range: more than 5,500 kilometers (approximately 3,410 miles), also known as intercontinental or strategic ballistic missiles.
    • Intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) can fly much further than the minimum range; for example, Russia could hit Chicago with an ICBM launched from the Krasnoyarsk ICBM base, which is located 9,156 kilometers (5,689miles) away.

Cruise Missiles

Cruise missiles are unmanned vehicles that are propelled by jet engines, much like an airplane. They can be launched from ground, air, or sea platforms. 

  • Cruise missiles remain within the atmosphere for the duration of their flight and can fly as low as a few meters off the ground. Flying low to the surface of the earth expends more fuel but makes a cruise missile very difficult to detect. 
  • Cruise missiles are self-guided and use multiple methods to accurately deliver their payload, including terrain mapping, global positioning systems (GPS) and inertial guidance, which uses motion sensors and gyroscopes to keep the missile on a pre-programmed flight path. 
  • As advanced cruise missiles approach their target, remote operators can use a camera in the nose of the missile to see what the missile sees. This gives them the option to manually guide the missile to its target or to abort the strike.

Storm Shadow Cruise missile aka SCALP long-range cruise missiles  

Storm Shadow is a long-ranged, air-launched, conventionally armed, deep-strike supersonic missile, which is manufactured by the France-based MBDA Missile Systems. 

  • Range: More than 250 km.
  • It is capable of being operated day and night in all weathers and is designed to destroy high-valued stationary targets such as airbases, radar installations, communications hubs and port facilities. 
  • It is equipped with fire-and-forget technology and offers high-precision deep strike capability as it features a sophisticated navigation system that includes inertial navigation (INS), a global positioning system (GPS) and terrain reference navigation for better control over the path. 

The missile features the BROACH (Bomb Royal Ordnance Augmented Charge) warhead — a high-technology warhead, which first cuts the surface of the target, penetrates into it and then explodes.

The Majorana Fermions that holds the key to ‘quantum supercomputers’

Context: In a paper published on June 21, researchers at Microsoft announced that they had figured out a way to create an elusive kind of particle that could potentially revolutionise quantum computing.

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Supercomputing 

Supercomputing technology comprises supercomputers, the fastest computers in the world. Supercomputers are made up of interconnects, I/O (input/output) systems, memory and processor cores.

  • Unlike traditional computers, supercomputers use more than one central processing unit (CPU). 
  • These CPUs are grouped into compute nodes, comprising a processor or a group of processors—symmetric multiprocessing (SMP)—and a memory block. 
  • A supercomputer can contain tens of thousands of nodes. With interconnect communication capabilities, these nodes can collaborate on solving a specific problem. 
  • Nodes also use interconnects to communicate with I/O systems, like data storage and networking.

Supercomputing is measured in floating-point operations per second (FLOPS). Petaflops are a measure of a computer's processing speed equal to a thousand trillion flops. And a 1-petaflop computer system can perform one quadrillion (1015) flops. From a different perspective, supercomputers can be one million times more processing power than the fastest laptop.

Quantum Computing 

Quantum computing is a rapidly emerging technology that harnesses the laws of quantum mechanics to solve problems too complex for classical computers.  

Qubit 

A qubit (or quantum bit) is the quantum mechanical analogue of a classical bit. In classical computing the information is encoded in bits, where each bit can have the value zero or one. In quantum computing the information is encoded in qubits. A qubit can hold a one, a zero or crucially a superposition of these.

  • A quantum computer can use individual electrons as qubits – its fundamental units of information. Information can be encoded in some property of each electron, like its spin.

Quantum Superposition 

A quantum state in superposition can be seen as a linear combination of other distinct quantum states. This quantum state in superposition forms a new valid quantum state.

Quantum Entanglement

A pair or group of particles is entangled when the quantum state of each particle cannot be described independently of the quantum state of the other particle(s). The quantum state of the system as a whole can be described; it is in a definite state, although the parts of the system are not. 

Concepts associated with Quantum computing 

Spin 

Qantum particles exhibit an intrinsic angular momentum component which is known as spin. 

Anti-Particle

Dirac’s equation predicted the existence of an antiparticle for each particle, such that if the two meet, they annihilate each other. Based on his prediction, scientists found the first antiparticle, the positron (or the anti-electron), in 1932.  

Bound state 

The Bound state of a particle is that particular state in which two particles are energetically forbidden to be separated at large distances or potentially bound in that state.

Ground state 

It is the state of a particle with lowest possible energy. Usually, particles do not show any degeneracy at ground state.

Degeneracy 

Degeneracy in quantum mechanics means that a system can have multiple states at the same energy.

Topological System 

Topology systems are concerned with the properties of a geometric object that are preserved under continuous deformations, such as stretching, twisting, crumpling, and bending; that is, without closing holes, opening holes, tearing, gluing, or passing through itself.

Topological Degeneracy 

In topological systems, the system has multiple states at the lowest or ground state energy, i.e., the quantum system can exist in two (or more) possible states at its lowest energy.  

Fermions 

These particles have half integer quantum spin like 1/2, 3/2, 5/2, etc. This is why any particle, even something as large as an entire atom, can be a fermion, just its total quantum spin needs to have a half-integer value.

Non-Abelian Statistics

Under these rules, changing the order of steps in which you perform a task changes the task’s outcomes.

For example, say you have an algorithm that performs a series of steps in the order A-B-C-D. If the algorithm played according to the rules of non-Abelian statistics, A-C-B-D would give a different result from A-D-B-C. 

Majorana Fermions and Majorana Zero Modes (MZM)

The quantum rules that apply to a single fermion also apply to pairs, or bound states. When the bound states are their own antiparticles – i.e., if they meet, they annihilate each other – they are Majorana fermions. Physicists call such bound states Majorana zero modes.

To be a Majorana zero mode, any bound state should satisfy two conditions

  • It should obey the Dirac equation.
  • It should be its own antiparticle.  

Majorana Zero Modes helping in Computing 

Quantum computers have a big problem, they’re very fragile and slight disturbances in the surrounding my result in the change of the quantum state of the particle and can result in change of the information.

  • Majorana zero modes are a mathematical construction that allows electrons to be described theoretically as being composed of two halves. 
  • From a quantum computing perspective, if an electron can be split into two parts, then the information it encodes as a qubit will be protected from local perturbations.

Which makes Majorana Zero modes much more stable than most other qubits.

Also, MZM follows non-Abelian statistics which makes the outcome also dependent on the path taken in computation. So, the calculation done by MZM will have one more degree of freedom.

Current status of MZM 

Indian Institute of Science associate professor Anindya Das said, “While topological quantum computing remains the ultimate goal, the existence of Majorana fermions hasn’t been settled yet. The result will need to be independently confirmed.”

India-China Tibet Issue

Context: China protested the meeting between the Dalai Lama and officials of the “Central Tibetan Administration” (CTA) with visiting U.S. official Uzra Zeya in New Delhi, calling it an attempt to “interfere” in China’s “internal affairs”. Ahead of the meeting with Ms. Zeya, the Dalai Lama, who arrived in Delhi on Saturday, said that Tibetans did not seek “independence” and he was open for talks with the Chinese government, which he said had sent feelers to him.

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  • Xizang [Tibet] affairs are purely internal affairs of China and no external forces have the right to interfere. China firmly opposes any form of contact between foreign officials and the “Tibetan independence” forces,” 
  • China had similarly protested Ms. Zeya’s visit to Dharamshala to meet the Dalai Lama in May 2022 and had opposed the setting up of the “special coordinator on Tibetan issues” post by the Biden administration in 2021
  • The U.S. should take concrete actions to honour its commitment of acknowledging Xizang as part of China, stop meddling in China’s internal affairs under the pretext of Xizang-related issues, and offer no support to the anti-China separatist activities of the Dalai clique. Referring to the CTA as a “separatist political group” not recognised by any country.

History of Tibet

  1. Tibet was India’s actual neighbour, and in 1914, it was Tibetan representatives, along with the Chinese that signed the Simla convention with British India that delineated boundaries. Remember, most of India’s boundaries and the 3500km LAC is with the Tibetan Autonomous Region, and not the rest of China.
  2. India’s voluntary revocation of its special rights in Tibet, inherited from the British raj, during the 1950s for the sake of better India-China relations. This coupled with the acceptance of Chinese rule in Tibet has reduced India’s ability to play any meaningful role in Tibet.
  3. After China’s full accession of Tibet in 1950, that China repudiated the convention and the McMahon line that divided the two countries. And in 1954, India signed an agreement with China agreeing to trading terms on what it called the “Tibet region of China”.
  4. In 1959, when the Dalai Lama fled to India, PM Nehru gave him and Tibetan refugees shelter, and they set up the Tibetan government in exile, which continues to hold elections.
  5. The disappearance of Tibet as a buffer in 1951 meant that Indian and Chinese forces stood eye-to-eye across the undemarcated Himalayan border. Prime minister Nehru was willing to sacrifice Tibet for the sake of friendship between India and China. But the Chinese also claimed that the boundary between British India and Tibet was the work of “European imperialists and Tibetan feudal lords”, and thus the boundary treaties needed to be re-negotiated.
  6. The presence of the Dalai Lama and his followers in India is a source of friction between India and China. China has repeatedly claimed that the Dalai Lama is using his position to lobby for independence for Tibet and thus trying to break up China, which the Chinese government describes as “splitting the motherland” .It has asked the Indian government to address these issues.
  7. China feels that India continues to keep the “Tibetan Question” alive by giving refuge to the Dalai Lama. This has not helped improve relations between the two Asian giants and this issue will continue to remain the bone of contention as China tries to increase its presence and hold over Tibet
  8. It is to be understood that Tibet is at the heart of the India-China rivalry for dominance in Asia. When Tibet was occupied, it changed the asymmetry between the two sides. China was able to exercise geo-strategic influence over much of south Asia and challenge India’s dominance in the region. India recognises that the loss of Tibet as a buffer zone crippled the security of its northern frontiers forcing it to maintain hundreds and thousands of soldiers along the Himalayan frontier.

Today the official Indian policy is that the Dalai Lama is a spiritual leader, and the Tibetan community in India, with more than a lakh exiles, is not allowed to undertake any political activity. Despite frequent protests from China, especially when the Dalai Lama is invited to an official event or travels to Arunachal Pradesh, most governments have held the line on what is seen as a contradictory stand.

Recent developments in Tibet

  • Changes in Tibet itself: Over the past few decades, the Chinese government has moved to change Tibet in many ways. From pouring in investment, infrastructure projects, to pouring in Han or mainland Chinese, in an effort to Sinicize the population. While there has been rapid development, including the famous Qinghai Tibet, and now Sichuan Tibet rail lines, there has also been an increasing suppression of the Tibetan populations’ links to the Dalai Lama, and old border crossings from Nepal have been sealed
  • Infrastructural Drive: The construction of Chinese dams on the upper riparian areas of the Brahmaputra, and  construction of Tibetan villages along the LAC, particularly along Arunachal Pradesh boundary, which can prove to be a future flashpoint aimed at bolstering Chinese claims of territory.
  • Changed Geo-Security Outlook: China has begun to raise Tibetan Militia groups, while the Indian Army trains the Tibetan Special Frontier Force, which could lead to the frightening albeit unlikely spectre of Tibetans on both sides fighting each other at some point in the future.
  • Question over Tibetan people: The question over the future of the Tibetan community in India, that the government doesn’t give citizenship to Tibetans born in India after the cut-off year of 1987, leaving the youth of the community completely in limbo, living in segregated communes in different parts of India, but not being given rights as Indians, with little recourse or connection to what is happening back home in Tibet.
  • Increased US interest: The US has also increased its role, by accepting more Tibetan refugees, with an estimated 30,000 now residing there. Most prominently, the Karmapa Lama the head of the Karma Kagyu sect, who took Dominican citizenship, also resides permanently in the US now, and as US-China relations deteriorate, is likely to increase its interest in the Tibetan issue.
  • Succession of Dalai Lama: The larger question is over the succession to the Dalai Lama, who has been not only the spiritual leader but also a political leader of the community worldwide. China has made it clear it intends to announce its own Dalai Lama, as it once did the Panchen Lama, and try to control the succession. The US is likely to weigh in as well, as it has by settling the Karmapa there.

Demographic transition and change in women’s lives

Context: India's population has skyrocketed from 340 million at Independence to 1.4 billion, thanks to improved public health and medical advancements. This unexpected decline in mortality has transformed the lives of Indians, especially women, as they navigate longer lifespans and the consequences of fewer children.

Demographic transition

Demographic transition refers to the process of changes in population characteristics that occur as societies develop over time. 

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India’s Demographic transition

  • The growth of population was fuelled by receding starvation, improved public health and medical interventions.
  • In 1941, male life expectancy was about 56 years and only 50% of boys survived to age 28. Today, life expectancy for men is 69 years and nearly 50% of them live up to 75 years of age. 
  • Due to rapid decline in mortality rates, the Total Fertility Rate (TFR) fell from 5.7 in 1950 to 2.1 in 2019. #As per National Family Health Survey 5

Dynamics of Male Child in India

  • Social norms and patrilocal kinship patterns combined with lack of financial security reinforce a preference for sons.
  • According to India Human Development Survey (IHDS), 85% of women respondents expected to rely on their sons for old age support, while only 11% expected support from their daughters. #Report
  • Nowadays, Parents who want to ensure at least one son among their one or two child family, often resort to sex selective abortion.

Impact of declining fertility on Women’s life

  • Increased opportunities for Education: With declining fertility, women may choose to delay starting a family in order to pursue education, career goals, or personal aspirations. This can provide women with greater opportunities for personal and professional growth. In India, there has been significant progress in women's educational attainment, with over 70% of girls enrolling in secondary education.
  • Focus on family planning: Declining fertility rates often coincide with increased availability and acceptance of family planning methods. This empowers women to have greater control over their reproductive choices, allowing them to plan the timing and number of children they want to have. 
  • Reduce gender disparities in society: When women have fewer children, they can allocate more time and energy towards their own pursuits, including education, careers, and personal interests. This can help break traditional gender roles and promote gender equality by challenging societal expectations placed on women as primary caregivers.
  • Improved employment opportunities: With fewer children to care for, women can participate more actively in the labour force, contributing to household income and economic growth. Women's financial independence can lead to greater decision-making power within families and promote their overall well-being.
  • Reduced maternal and infant mortality: When women have fewer pregnancies, the overall risk of complications and health issues associated with childbirth is reduced. Improved access to healthcare services, prenatal care, and skilled birth attendants further enhances maternal and infant health outcomes.

How early marriage and aging impacts Women’s empowerment?

  • Early motherhood may not lead to increased participation in the labour force for women. By the time their childcare responsibilities decrease, they may have missed out on opportunities in occupations that require specialized skills, leaving them with limited options for employment, mostly in unskilled work.
  • For widowed women, the lack of access to savings and property results in dependence on children, mainly sons, bringing the vicious cycle of son preference to full circle.

Practical strategies to harness Gender Dividend:

  • Enhancing women’s access to employment and assets will reduce their reliance on sons and could break the vicious cycle of disadvantage, stretching from childhood to old age.
  • Expansion of anganwadis to include a creche can result into increased participation of mothers in the work. E.g., Randomised control trial in Madhya Pradesh showed positive results as per World Bank.
  • State support should be provided for childcare, as it creates space for education and employment for Women. #CaseStudy: State support for childcare declined, employment rates for mothers fell from 88% to 66% in urban China.
  • Government can make staffing creche an acceptable form of work under National rural employment guarantee scheme (NREGS).
  • Self-help group movement can be harnessed to setup neighbourhood childcare centres in urban and rural areas.

Fully harnessing the gender dividend is crucial for realizing the long-awaited demographic dividend, and a significant aspect of accomplishing this is by ensuring optimal access to childcare.

Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers’ Rights (PPV&FR) Act

Context: Earlier, the Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers Rights’ Authority (PPVFRA) revoked the company’s registration vis-a-vis the unique potato variety developed by it. Subsequently, PepsiCo filed an appeal against the order of PPVFRA in the Delhi High Court. However, on July 5, the Delhi High Court held that there was “no merit” in the appeal filed by PepsiCo over the patent rights for its ‘unique potato’ variety. 

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What is the PPV&FR Act?

  • The Act provides an effective framework to conserve and encourage the development of various plant varieties. It established an effective system to safeguard and recognise the rights of breeders, researchers and farmers to promote agricultural development in the country. 
  • The Act introduced intellectual property protection in Indian agriculture and is the world’s only IPR legislation which grants intellectual property rights not only to the plant breeders but also to the farmers.
  • Additionally, it also facilitates the mushrooming of the Indian seed industry to ensure the availability of high-quality seeds and planting materials to farmers.
  • Eligibility criteria: A variety of seed is eligible for registration under the Act if it fulfils the criteria of Distinctiveness, Uniformity and Stability (DUS). The Act prescribes the registrable plant varieties that can be registered for protection, namely: 
  • New variety
  • Extant variety 
  • Farmers' variety
  • Essentially derived variety

Institutional Mechanism under the Act

  • Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers’ Rights Authority (PPVFRA): To implement the provisions of the Act by the Department of Agriculture and Cooperation, Ministry of Agriculture. General Functions of the Authority include:
  • Registration of new plant varieties.
  • Developing DUS (Distinctiveness, Uniformity and Stability) test guidelines for new plant species.
  • Facilitate development and commercialisation of new varieties through formal linkages with agricultural universities, research institutions and Krishi Vigyan Kendras.
  • Recognizing and rewarding farmers, community of farmers, particularly tribal and rural communities engaged in conservation and improvement.
  • Maintenance of National Gene Bank to store the seed material.
  • Preservation of plant genetic resources of economic plants and their wild relatives.
  • Plant Varieties Protection Appellate Tribunal (PVPAT): The decisions of the PVPAT can be challenged in the High Court. The Tribunal shall dispose of the appeal within one year.

About the Case

  • PepsiCo had developed a potato plant variety, ‘FL 2027’. 
  • FL 2027 is a ‘chipping potato’ variety with low external defects, high dry matter/high solids content and stable sugars, all of which make it highly suitable for the manufacture of chips. Potatoes of this particular variety are used to make the popular Lays’ Potato Chips.
  • A certificate of registration for FL 2027 was granted to PepsiCo India on February 1, 2016, conferring it an exclusionary right to market, sell, import, export or distribute FL 2027 for a period of six years. 
  • However, in an application filed by a farmers’ rights activist, the PPVFRA revoked the company’s registered potato variety on December 3, 2021. This is because PepsiCo had given the first date of sale of the variety in its application as December 17, 2009. However, the variety had already been commercialised in 2002 in Chile. This means that the certificate of registration which PepsiCo had obtained was based on incorrect information furnished by the applicant. Therefore, as per Section 34(a) (incorrect information furnished), the registration was revoked.

What are grounds for revocation?

According to Section 34 of the PPV&FR Act, the protection granted to a breeder may be revoked by the authority on the following grounds: 

  • Grant of a registration certificate is based on incorrect information furnished by the applicant
  • Registration certificate was granted to an ineligible person.
  • When the breeder does not provide the registrar with the required documents.
  • Failure to provide an alternative denomination for variety registration in case the earlier. variety provided is not permissible for registration.
  • Failure of the breeder to provide the required seeds for compulsory licence.
  • Failure to comply with the acts, rules, regulations and directions issued by the Authority.
  • Grant of the registration certificate is against public interest.

Why did the court reject the appeal?

  • PepsiCo had sought the registration of FL 2027 variety as a “new variant” instead of an “extant variant” in its application dated February 16, 2012, despite furnishing the date of its commercialisation in India to be December 17, 2009. 
  • However, to be registered as a “new variant” an additional requirement of ‘novelty’ in addition to ‘distinctiveness’, ‘uniformity’ and ‘stability’ (DUS) must be satisfied. This requires the propagated or harvested material from it must not have been sold in India earlier than 1 year before the date of filing the application for registration. 
  • Hence, the court held that FL 2027 could not fulfil the criteria of novelty and was only eligible for registration under “extant variety”.

Conclusion

  • India is an agri-based economy with the agriculture sector having the highest workforce, nearly 152 million as of FY2021. Hence, the multinational food processing companies and investors must prioritise the wellbeing of farmers and their rights by developing a comprehensive understanding of India’s local laws, particularly the PPV&FR Act 2001, and recognise the safeguards and protections it provides to farmers.

China’s Outreach in South pacific

Context: Leaders of the Solomon Islands and China promised to expand relations that have fuelled unease in Washington and Australia about Beijing’s influence in the South Pacific.

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China & Solomon Islands

  • The Solomon Islands, 2,000 kilometres northeast of Australia, has been China’s biggest success in a campaign to expand its presence in the South Pacific. The Solomon government switched official recognition in 2019 to Beijing from Taiwan.
  • The Solomon Islands signed a secretive security agreement with Beijing that might have allowed Chinese military forces in the South Pacific.
  • Beijing wants to expand relations and trade through its Belt and Road Initiative to build ports and other infrastructure from the Pacific across Asia and Africa.

Recent Developments in the region:

Located between the US, China and Australia, the Pacific island countries hold strategic importance for security and defence. The US has long maintained influence and a military presence in the Pacific region. Over the last decade, China has focused on strengthening its ties in Pacific through increased aid development, diplomacy and security cooperation.

  • The area gained prominence when in 2022, Solomon Islands signed a security pact sparking international concern over the possibility of Beijing building its first military base in the region.
  • China has also signed off on a variety of smaller bilateral agreements during the same tour. To counter the move, newly appointed Australian Foreign Minister, immediately travelled to Fiji, Samoa and Tonga to shore up Australian diplomatic interests in Oceania.

Isolation of Taiwan

Strategist are of the opinion that China would use the island countries to further isolate Taiwan from the diplomatic support it receives from the region. 

  • Several countries in Oceania (The Marshall Islands, Nauru, Palau, and Tuvalu) recognize Taiwan as a sovereign country. Chinese outreach and development manoeuvrings could therefore help them reduce regional support for Taiwanese independence. 
  • As a testimony to this Honiara has recently cut ties with Taiwan and followed Beijing’s line on the “One China” policy. The “Inter-governmental Framework Agreement on Security Cooperation” between Beijing-Honiara is a culmination of these efforts.

Isolation of Australia:

  • Increased Chinese influence in the region could lead to more overseas military bases being built, and could lead to Australia, a vital Pacific ally for the United States, to be isolated, cutting them from supply lines from overseas.

The Zero Sum Game in the Pacific

  • China’s engagement with South Pacific is about increasing its influence and about diminishing American and Australian influence. It’s a zero-sum game. Australia has a security cooperation agreement with Honiara and is a preferred security provider. Australia went from being a “key security provider” to becoming “one of the options” to seek out.

Great Game in the Pacific

  • The US’ posture and initiatives in Indo-Pacific are also worrying China. US’ Indo-Pacific strategy outlines that it is keen to focus on “every corner of the region including the Pacific Islands. Further the formation of Quad and US’ Indo-Pacific strategy have worried China, so this game of influence will further intensify.

Regional Economics

  • The Pacific region is also an important route to transport products and natural resources. Further the exports from Australia (as Australia supplies critical minerals like that of iron ore, coal, and raw cotton and exports to important allies like Australia and other countries like New Zealand pass through this sea area. 

Climate Hazards

  • Many Pacific Island nations are worried of the impact of climate change and rising sea levels, which pose an immediate existential threat. In fact, the Fijian Defence Minister, in the recent Shangri-La Dialogues that the greatest threat to the region is not a conflict between China and the U.S., but rather the geopolitical effects of climate change.

Conclusion 

As two geopolitical superpowers start to compete for political dominance in the region, the region as a whole now risks being dragged into conflicts, being used as pawns in broader global ambitions, and at the worst, could see themselves as the site of an armed conflict.

Chandrayaan-3

Context: Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) plans to launch the Chandrayaan-3 mission, India’s third lunar mission, to the moon on July 14. 

Chandrayaan-3: 

  • Chandrayaan-3 is a follow-on mission to Chandrayaan-2 to demonstrate end-to-end capability in safe landing and roving on the lunar surface. 
  • It will be launched onboard a Launch Vehicle Mark 3 from Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh. 
  • Cost of the mission: Rs 615 crore
  • Duration: The mission is only meant to last for a half lunar day, which is roughly equal to 14 Earth days. 
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Objectives: 

  • To demonstrate a Safe and Soft Landing on Lunar Surface (near the lunar South Pole).
  • To demonstrate Rover roving on the moon (which will carry out in-situ chemical analysis of the lunar surface during the course of its mobility)
  • To conduct in-situ scientific experiments.
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Soft-landing on Moon:

  • This will be India’s second attempt to soft-land a lander and rover on the lunar surface.
    • Chandrayaan-2 was launched in July 2019 in the form of an orbiter and a lander (‘Vikram’) bearing a rover (‘Pragyan’).
    • While the orbiter entered into orbit around the moon, the surface mission failed in September 2019 when the lander crashed instead of executing a slow descent.
  • Chandrayaan-3 consists of a Lander and a Rover similar to Chandrayaan-2, but would not have an orbiter.
    • The rocket (LVM-3) will place the payload in an elliptical orbit around the earth, where a propulsion module will take over and pilot the lander to a circular orbit around the moon.
    • Finally, the lander will detach and begin a series of manoeuvres culminating in a gradual landing (on August 23-24, 2023) over the surface of the moon.
  • To improve the chances of success at this stage, ISRO made changes to the software and hardware of the Chandrayaan-3 mission, especially for the lander thrusters. Additionally, ISRO has developed improved soft-landing sequences and the lander has four thruster engines instead of five, sturdier legs and larger solar panels, and will carry more fuel.

Several advanced technologies in Chandrayaan-3:

  • Propulsion module has a Spectro-polarimetry of Habitable Planet Earth (SHAPE) payload to gather data on the polarisation of light reflected by Earth so that researchers can look for other planets with similar signatures. Hence, it will assist with exoplanet searches. 
  • Lander payloads:
    • Chandra's Surface Thermophysical Experiment (ChaSTE) to measure thermal conductivity and temperature on the surface;
    • Instrument for Lunar Seismic Activity (ILSA) to detect moonquakes;
    • Langmuir Probe to estimate the density and variation of plasma, or superheated gas, in the moon's environment; 
    • A Laser Retroreflector Array (from NASA) to measure distances using laser ranging to understand the dynamics of the Moon system. 
  • Rover payloads:
    • Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer (APXS) to look for elements in the lunar soil and rocks;
    • Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscope (LIBS) to examine the chemical and elemental composition of the lunar surface.

Significance of Chandrayaan-3:

  • Chandrayaan-3 offers opportunities for India to lead the world’s response to the moon’s growing importance in the scientific and political milieus.
    • Chandrayaan-3 is India’s second attempt to achieve a soft landing on the Moon’s surface. Only three countries – the United States, Russia and China – have successfully landed spacecraft on the airless lunar surface.
    • Chandrayaan-3 will be the first to land on the South Pole of the Moon. All other spacecraft which have landed on the moon have landed in the equatorial region, a few degree latitude north or south of the lunar equator. 

Why moon’s South Pole? 

  • Experts note that there is a possibility of the presence of water at the South Pole. Water ice has been detected at both poles of the Moon, but the South Pole has more area in permanent shadow and colder temperatures, so it is thought to have more water ice.
  • Moreover, the South Pole witnesses extremely cold temperatures; this means that anything trapped here would remain frozen in time, without undergoing much change. The rocks and soil in this region could therefore provide clues to the early solar system.

Further, South Pole is located in the South Pole-Aitken basin, which is a huge crater. There may be material from the deep crust and upper mantle of the Moon on or near the surface.

Palliative care

Context: A new set of operational guidelines of NP-NCD, issued by the government, limit the focus of palliative care in India to people with cancer.

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About Palliative care

  • It is the branch of medicine focusing on improving the quality of life and preventing suffering among those with life-limiting illnesses like heart failure, kidney failure, certain neurological diseases, cancer, etc.
  • It aims to identify patients at risk of over-medicalisation at the expense of quality of life and financial burden on the family.
  • It also aims to improve the quality of life by addressing the physical, psychological, spiritual, and social domains of the health of people suffering from life-limiting diseases
  • It is often misinterpreted as end-of-life care.
  • Beneficiaries are terminal cases of Cancer, AIDS etc.
  • The goal is the availability and accessibility of rational, quality pain relief and palliative care to the needy, as an integral part of Health Care at all levels, in alignment with the community requirements.

Need for palliative care

  • Palliative care in India has largely been available at tertiary healthcare facilities in urban areas. Due to this skewed availability of services, it is accessible to only 1-2% of the estimated 7-10 million people who require it in the country. 
  • India has experienced a steep rise in the burden of lifestyle-related non-communicable diseases. Nearly 1.4 million people are diagnosed with cancer in India every year while diabetes, hypertension, and respiratory diseases are also on the rise. All these diseases need palliative care sooner or later in the disease trajectory.
  • Post-independence India has made considerable efforts to improve the health of its people like the introduction of the three-tier health system, multiple national health programmes and schemes, and the Ayushman Bharat Health Insurance Scheme. But despite these efforts, 55 million people in India are pushed below the poverty line every year due to health-related expenditures. Over-medicalisation plays a significant role in this financial burden. 

Steps taken by the government:

  • The National Programme for Prevention & Control of Non-Communicable Diseases (NP-NCD): In order to prevent and control major NCDs, it was launched in 2010 with a focus on strengthening infrastructure, human resource development, health promotion, early diagnosis, management and referral.
  • The programme envisaged the provision of promotive, preventive, and curative care from the primary to tertiary institutes, thus providing health services delivery across the continuum of care.
  • National Programme for Palliative Care (NPPC): It was launched in 2012, NCD Cells are being established at National, State and District levels for programme management, and NCD Clinics are being set up at District and CHC levels, to provide services for early diagnosis, treatment and follow-up for common NCDs. Provision has been made under the programme to provide free diagnostic facilities and drugs for patients attending the NCD clinics.
  • National Programme for Health Care for the Elderly: To provide accessible, affordable, and high-quality long-term, comprehensive and dedicated care services to an Ageing population.
  • NGOs like Pallium India, Karunashraya, and CanSupport are trying to fill the gap in palliative care in India.

Gaps in the guidelines

  • Per the Global Atlas of Palliative Care, in 2020, the need for palliative care was higher for non-cancer illnesses. However, the revised NP-NCD operational guidelines, mention palliative care in synonymy with cancer only. Cancer is just one of 20 common health conditions that require palliative care. 
  • Since most patients who need palliative care are suffering from debilitating diseases, home-based care forms the ideal mode of healthcare delivery. Previously, the programme guidelines mentioned providing support for home-based palliative care services. However, palliative care service delivery starts only from the district hospital in the revised guidelines, with no mention of home-based care.
  • No mention of home-based palliative care services: Since most patients who need palliative care are suffering from debilitating diseases, home-based care forms the ideal mode of healthcare delivery.
  • However, palliative care service delivery starts only from the district hospital in the revised guidelines.
  • No mention of paediatric palliative care:  An estimated 98% of children facing moderate to severe suffering during their end of life reside in lower and middle-income countries like India.
  • Linking of 11 programmes (including NPPC) to promote convergence: The mechanisms of the linkage with a programme (NPPC) that has not yet been fully implemented are unclear.

Way Forward:

  • Access to palliative care will be assessed by estimating morphine-equivalent consumption of strong opioid analgesics (excluding methadone) per death from cancer. Including an indicator to assess morphine access is a welcome move, but an indicator focusing only on patients with cancer might lead to an inaccurate assessment of coverage of services.
  • The recommendations of the World Health Assembly in 2014:
  • Palliative care to be integrated into health systems at all levels. 
  • Including palliative care along with curative treatment

It is high time for India to realise the ongoing pandemic of non-communicable diseases and strengthen its palliative care services.

Women’s reproductive autonomy is the new catchword

Context: This year’s World Population Day theme, i.e., ‘Unleashing the power of gender equality: Uplifting the voices of women and girls to unlock our world’s infinite possibilities’, could not be more apt for India. When we unlock the full potential of women and girls, encouraging and nurturing their desires for their families and themselves, we galvanise half the leadership, ideas, innovation, and creativity available to societies.

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India’s Progress on Population Front

  • On World Population Day (July 11), India deserves to be commended for its family planning initiatives, where despite the many challenges, the aim is to provide an increasingly comprehensive package of reproductive health services to every potential beneficiary — with a focus on the provision of modern short and long-acting reversible contraceptives, permanent methods, information, counselling, and services, including emergency contraception.
  • India’s commitment towards the Family Planning 2030 partnership includes expanding its contraceptive basket.
  • The inclusion of new contraceptive options advances women’s rights and autonomy, leading to a spike in modern contraceptive prevalence.
  • Access to timely, quality and affordable family planning services is crucial because unspaced pregnancies may have a detrimental influence on the newborn’s health as well as major effects on maternal mortality, morbidity, and healthcare expenditure.
  • The Indian government’s health, population and development programmes have shown steady progress.
  • Life expectancy at birth has significantly increased in the country over the years. Compared to the 1990s, Indians are currently living a decade longer. In terms of maternal health, India has made impressive strides.
  • The current maternal mortality rate is 97 (per 100,000 live births in a year), down from 254 in 2004.
  • Another triumph of these programmes is gender empowerment.
  • Since the beginning of 2000, India has cut the number of child marriages by half.
  • Teen pregnancies, too, have dramatically decreased.
  • Access to vital services, including health, education, and nutrition, has also improved.

Issue of Lack of Physical/Reproductive Autonomy

  • According to the most recent National Family Health Survey (NFHS-5), just 10% of women in India can independently decide about their health, and 11% of women believe that marital violence is acceptable if a woman refuses to have sex with her husband.
  • Nearly half of all pregnancies in India are unplanned.

Advantages of Physical/Reproductive Autonomy

  • Advancing gender equality is not just about women but also populations as a whole.
  • In ageing societies that worry about labour productivity, achieving gender parity in the workforce is the most effective way to improve output and income growth.
  • In countries experiencing rapid population growth, women’s empowerment through education and family planning can bring enormous benefits by way of human capital and inclusive economic development.
  • More importantly, the focus on gender equality helps shift the focus away from the notion of ‘population stabilisation’ to ‘population dynamics’ based on reproductive choices people make.
  • India has a significant opportunity to advance gender equality and grow its economy. Raising the women’s labour force participation by 10 percentage points might account for more than 70% of the potential GDP growth opportunity ($770 billion in additional GDP by 2025).

The way forward

  • Focusing on gender equality-centred growth, rights, and choices promises to help all achieve their aspirations.
  • Gender equality can be ensured by making investments in a woman’s life at every stage, from childbirth to adolescence to maturity.
  • Engaging with women, girls and other marginalised people and formulating legislation and policies that empower them to assert their rights and take life-changing personal decisions are the first steps in this direction.
  • Gender-just approaches and solutions are the fundamental building blocks of a more prosperous India, and indeed the world.

The Global South: origins and significance

Context: The unwillingness of many leading countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America to stand with NATO over the war in Ukraine has brought to the fore once again the term “Global South.”

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Image Source: Tariene Gaum (ResearchGate)
  • The term Global South appears to have been first used in 1969 by political activist Carl Oglesby. Writing in the liberal Catholic magazine Commonweal, Oglesby argued that the war in Vietnam was the culmination of a history of northern “dominance over the global south.”
  • The term ‘First World’ referred to the advanced capitalist nations; the ‘Second World’, to the socialist nations led by the Soviet Union; and the ‘Third World’, to developing nations, many at the time still under the colonial yoke.
  • The term ‘Global South’ is not geographical. In fact, the Global South’s two largest countries - China and India - lie entirely in the Northern Hemisphere.
  • Countries in the Global South were mostly at the receiving end of imperialism and colonial rule, with African countries as perhaps the most visible example of this.
  • However there is an increase in economic might of the countries in global south as it is estimated by 2030 it is projected that three of the four largest economies will be from the Global South — with the order being China, India, the U.S. and Indonesia. Already the GDP in terms of purchasing power of the Global South-dominated BRICS nations — Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa — surpasses that of the Global North’s G-7 club.
  • The economic transformation has brought greater political prominence, as Global South nations assert themselves globally. For example, China brokering deals between Iran and Saudi Arabia, and Brazil's peace plan for Ukraine. This shift has sparked discussions of an "Asian Century" and a "post-Western world."

Importance of South-South Cooperation:

  1. Driving Economic Growth: Countries in the Global South have been major contributors to more than half of the world's economic growth in recent years. This collaboration fuels economic progress and fosters sustainable development.
  2. Increasing Trade: Intra-South trade has reached unprecedented levels, accounting for over a quarter of global trade. This trend strengthens regional economies, enhances market access, and promotes economic integration.
  3. Foreign Direct Investment: Outflows of foreign direct investment from the Global South represent a significant portion of global flows. This investment promotes infrastructure development, creates jobs, and encourages technological advancements.
  4. Poverty Alleviation: Remittances from migrant workers to low- and middle-income countries have played a crucial role in lifting millions of families out of poverty. South-South cooperation enables financial support and sustainable development initiatives for vulnerable communities.
  5. Achieving Sustainable Development Goals: The ambitious 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development necessitates the ideas, energy, and ingenuity of countries in the Global South. Their active participation and cooperation are indispensable for achieving these goals.

ISSUES IN SOUTH-SOUTH COOPERATION

  1. Power Imbalances and Exploitation: Stronger countries in the Global South sometimes take advantage of weaker partners, undermining the principles of fairness and equitable collaboration. China, in particular, has been criticized for such practices.
  2. Environmental Concerns and Public Health: Certain international oil companies have been accused of disregarding environmental impacts and public health concerns while extracting natural resources. Addressing these issues is crucial for sustainable cooperation.
  3. Misuse of Financial Assistance: Some countries exploit the principle of lack of conditionality by diverting financial assistance intended for socially impactful projects to other purposes. This undermines trust and hampers genuine development efforts.
  4. Non-Interference Limitations: The principle of non-interference can hinder the resolution of local conflicts, as countries like India and China prioritize economic interests over intervention. Balancing economic cooperation and addressing internal conflicts is crucial.
  5. Lacks institutional and Financial Capacity: Global South is not a coherent group and does not have a single shared agenda and the collective institutions created to voice concerns of Global South such as Non-Aligned Movement and New International Economic Order have been largely rendered dysfunctional, this has led to strong regional competition and opposition among countries of global south. Further there is also lack of financial capacity among countries of Global South.
  6. North Dominated Mindset: North-oriented mindset and traditional vertical links with metropoles and the world still dominated by US hegemony.

    Push for Electric Vehicles

    Context: Battery electric vehicles are at the heart of the government’s push for net zero. However, this strategy may not be as successful in India’s peculiar conditions. While there is little debate that electrification is the future, the roadmap remains unclear.

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    What are Electric Vehicles(EVs)?

    An EV is defined as a vehicle that can be powered by an electric motor that draws electricity from a battery. There are four types of electric vehicles available:

    • Battery Electric Vehicles (BEVs): They are also known as All-Electric Vehicles (AEV). Electric Vehicles using BEV technology run entirely on a battery-powered electric drivetrain. The electricity used to drive the vehicle is stored in a large battery pack which can be charged by plugging into the electricity grid. The charged battery pack then provides power to one or more electric motors to run the electric car.
    • Hybrid Electric Vehicle (HEVs): They combine a conventional internal combustion engine (ICE) with an electric propulsion system, resulting in a hybrid drivetrain that substantially lowers fuel usage. The onboard battery in a conventional hybrid is charged when the internal combustion engine is powering the drivetrain. 
    • Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle (PHEVs):  They also have hybrid drivetrain that uses both an ICE and electric power for motive power, backed by rechargeable batteries that can be plugged into a power source.
    • Fuel Cell Vehicles (FCVs): These vehicles use hydrogen to power their onboard electric motor. FCVs combine hydrogen and oxygen to produce electricity, which runs the motor. Unlike BEVs, their range and refuelling process are comparable to conventional cars.

    Issues with Battery Electric Vehicles (BEVs) Push

    • Requirement of Upfront Subsidy: Push for such vehicles require an elaborate system of lucrative tax incentives which must be backed by government subsidies. However, this overt subsidisation will further intensify the state's fiscal burden. 
    • Charging Network: India currently has only about 2,000 public charging stations operational across the country to support more than 1 million EVs. Also, due to varied power requirements for differently sized vehicles, India’s charging infrastructure demands are unique. This has further created challenges in charging infrastructure expansion.
    • Electricity Source: In India, the grid is still fed largely by coal-fired thermal plants. Using fossil fuel generation to power EVs would mean reduced tailpipe emissions in the cities, but continuing pollution from the running of the thermal plant.
    • Value Chain: India is struggling to make inroads into the global value chain for sourcing of key inputs such as Lithium, Cobalt and Nickel. This will make India almost entirely reliant on imports from a small pool of countries such as Argentina, Chile, China and Australia in order to meet the increasing demand.

    Way Forward

    The two major objectives should be to cut emissions and reduce costly fuel imports for which there are a lot of technologies to choose from:

    • Hybrids: The hybrid technology is seen as a good intermediate step towards achieving the all-electric goal. Hybrids typically have improved fuel efficiency through electrification of the powertrain, but do not require the charging infrastructure base that is an essential for BEVs. Additionally, a hybrid vehicle base may also spawn the manufacture of the battery ecosystem, which can then be leveraged for a BEV push.
    • Ethanol & Flex Fuel: A flex fuel, or flexible fuel, vehicle has an internal combustion engine, but unlike a regular petrol or diesel vehicle, it can run on more than one type of fuel, or even a mixture of fuels such as petrol and ethanol. A nationwide pilot that is currently underway aims to replicate the commercial deployment of this technology in other markets such as Brazil, Canada, and the US.
    • FCEVs & Hydrogen ICEs: Hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs) are practically zero emission, while Hydrogen ICE vehicles are similar to conventional internal combustion engine vehicles, with a few tweaks to prep them to run on hydrogen. Certain components of the engine can be modified or changed which will make them compatible with hydrogen, instead of petrol or diesel. 
    • Synthetic Fuels: These fuels are made from carbon dioxide and hydrogen, and are produced using renewable energy. The idea is to make this usable in all petrol-engine cars, rendering their use virtually CO2-neutral, and thereby give ICE cars a fresh lease of life. 

    ConclusionIt must be noted that monetary incentives alone cannot drive EV penetration. Hence, the government must invest in robust EV infrastructure, parking benefits and workplace charging facilities. Further, vehicle manufacturers must maintain a technology-agnostic approach that spells out the emissions objectives that they have to meet, irrespective of technology.

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