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The Indian Express’ UPSC weekly news express covers some of the important and burning topics of current affairs news from this week to help you prepare for UPSC-CSE. Try out the MCQs and check your answers provided towards the end of the article.
Syllabus:
Preliminary Examination: Current events of national and international importance.
Mains Examination: General Studies II: Welfare schemes for vulnerable sections of the population by the Centre and States and the performance of these schemes; mechanisms, laws, institutions and Bodies constituted for the protection and betterment of these vulnerable sections.
— In a horrific incident which sparked outrage in Delhi, a 17-year-old girl, on her way to school with her younger sister, was attacked with an acid-like substance by two men on a motorcycle near her home in Dwarka Wednesday morning. The girl, who was to take the CLAT exam on December 18 for admission to a national law university, sustained severe injuries on her face, neck and eyes. She is being treated at the Safdarjung Hospital.
— The incident has once again brought back to focus the heinous crime of acid attacks and the easy availability of corrosive substances.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
Deeptiman Tiwary explains law on acid attacks in India —
How prevalent are acid attacks in India?
— Though heinous, acid attacks on women are not as prevalent a crime as others against women. According to data compiled by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), there were 150 such cases recorded in 2019, 105 in 2020 and 102 in 2021. West Bengal and UP consistently record the highest number of such cases generally accounting for nearly 50 per cent of all cases in the country year on year.
— The chargesheeting rate of acid attacks stood at 83 per cent and the conviction rate at 54 per cent in 2019. In 2020, the figures stood at 86 per cent and 72 per cent respectively. In 2021, the figures were recorded to be 89 per cent and 20 per cent respectively. In 2015, MHA issued an advisory to all states to ensure speedy justice in cases of acid attacks by expediting prosecution.
What is the law on acid attacks?
— Until 2013, acid attacks were not treated as separate crimes. However, following amendments carried out in the IPC, acid attacks were put under a separate section (326A) of the IPC and made punishable with a minimum imprisonment of 10 years which is extendable to life along with fine.
— The law also has provisions for punishment for denial of treatment to victims or police officers refusing to register an FIR or record any piece of evidence. Denial of treatment (by both public and private hospitals) can lead to imprisonment of up to one year and dereliction of duty by a police officer is punishable by imprisonment of up to two years.
What is the law on the regulation of acid sales?
— In 2013, the Supreme Court took cognizance of acid attacks and passed an order on the regulation of sales of corrosive substances. Based on the order, the MHA issued an advisory to all states on how to regulate acid sales and framed the Model Poisons Possession and Sale Rules, 2013 under The Poisons Act, 1919. It asked states to frame their own rules based on model rules, as the matter fell under the purview of states.
— According to the MHA’s directions and the model rules, over-the-counter sale of acid was not allowed unless the seller maintains a logbook/register recording the sale of acid. This logbook was to also contain the details of the person to whom acid is sold, the quantity sold, the address of the person and also specify the reason for procuring acid.
— The sale is also to be made only when the buyer produces a photo ID containing his address issued by the government. The buyer must also prove he/she is above 18 years of age.
— Sellers are also required to declare all stocks of acid with the concerned Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM) within 15 days and in case of undeclared stock of acid. The SDM can confiscate the stock and suitably impose a fine of up to Rs 50,000 for a breach of any of the directions.
— The rules ask educational institutions, research laboratories, hospitals, government departments and the departments of Public Sector Undertakings, which are required to keep and store acid, to maintain a register of usage of acid and file the same with the concerned SDM.
— In August last year, MHA issued another advisory to all States/ UTs to review and ensure that the retail sale of acids and chemicals is strictly regulated in terms of the Poison Rules so that these are not used in crime.
What about victim compensation and care?
— Based on Supreme Court directions, the MHA asked states to make sure acid attack victims are paid compensation of at least Rs. 3 lakhs by the concerned State Government/Union Territory as the aftercare and rehabilitation cost. Out of this, a sum of Rs 1 lakh is to be paid to the victim within 15 days of the occurrence of such an incident to facilitate immediate medical attention and expenses in this regard. The balance sum of Rs. 2 lakhs is to be paid “as expeditiously as may be possible and positively within two months thereafter”.
— States are supposed to ensure that treatment provided to acid attack victims in any hospital, public or private, is free of cost. The cost incurred on treatment is not to be included in the Rs 1 lakh compensation given to the victim.
“Acid attack victims need to undergo a series of plastic surgeries and hence 1-2 beds at the Apex State Tertiary Hospital could be earmarked for the treatment of acid attack victims so that the victims need not run from pillar to post to get these operations performed expeditiously,” the 2013 MHA advisory said.
“In addition, private hospitals which have availed the facility of concessional land for setting up the hospital could also be persuaded to earmark 1-2 beds for treatment of underprivileged victims of acid attacks which the State Government can identify for treatment,” it added.
— Apart from this, MHA suggested states should also extend social integration programs to the victims for which NGOs could be funded to exclusively look after their rehabilitative requirements.
How do these help in prevention?
— According to sources in the police, the regulations on acid sales largely help in tracking the accused and not so much in prevention. “The implementation of the regulations is not very strict. Acid is still easily available in many places. Then these are crimes of passion. In a majority of cases the accused is not even thinking about consequences,” a senior police officer said.
— Another officer said that things have improved compared to the past as social attitudes are changing and the focus of the police in dealing with crimes against women can cause some deterrence. “But the key to solving this problem will always remain in society. We must create more awareness. Parents must teach their children the importance of boundaries and consent,” the officer said.
What else you should know?
— The Centre had in 2013 introduced the ‘Nirbhaya Fund’ to help women in distress, provide improved infrastructure and manpower to help women, and create a safer space for them.
— Under the ‘Approved Framework’ for Nirbhaya Funds, the Centre states: “Violence and abuse against women and girls is frequent on streets, in public transportation and in other public places.” The Nirbhaya Fund has been launched as a non-lapsable fund which is handled by the MoWCD and Ministry of Finance.
— So far, 708 functional Sakhi Centres have been installed in India. Sakhi Centres or One-Stop Centres are a prime project where medical, legal, police service and counselling services are supposed to be provided to women in urban and rural areas. More than 860 crore was allocated for the project, which was launched with the aim to help women in distress and/or facing violence. A total of 758 Sakhi Centres have been sanctioned so far.
(Source: What is the law on acid attacks in India? by Deeptiman Tiwary)
Point to ponder: December 2012 sexual assault case: Ten years on, the wrong lessons.
1. MCQ
With reference to Nirbhaya fund, consider the following question
1. The Nirbhaya Fund has been launched as a non-lapsable fund which is handled by the MoWCD and Ministry of Finance.
2. The Centre had in 2014 introduced the ‘Nirbhaya Fund’ to help women in distress, provide improved infrastructure and manpower to help women, and create a safer space for them.
Which of the following statements are true?
a) Only 1
b) Only 2
c) Both 1 and 2
d) Neither 1 nor 2
Syllabus:
Preliminary Examination: General Science and Current events of national and international importance.
Mains Examination: General Studies III: Science and Technology- developments and their applications and effects in everyday life.
Why in news?
— Scientists in the United States have, for the first time, achieved a net gain in energy from a nuclear fusion reaction, seen as a big step forward in the decades-old endeavour to master a technology that is considered the most dependable source of energy in future.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
What is nuclear fusion?
— The fusion reaction happens when two light nuclei merge to form a single heavier nucleus. Because the total mass of that single nucleus is less than the mass of the two original nuclei, the leftover mass is energy that is released in the process, according to the Department of Energy. In the case of the sun, its intense heat — millions of degrees Celsius — and the pressure exerted by its gravity allow atoms that would otherwise repel each other to fuse.
— Scientists have long understood how nuclear fusion has worked and have been trying to duplicate the process on Earth as far back as the 1930s. Current efforts focus on fusing a pair of hydrogen isotopes — deuterium and tritium — according to the Department of Energy, which says that particular combination releases “much more energy than most fusion reactions” and requires less heat to do so.
— Fusion is a different, but more powerful, way of harnessing the immense energy trapped in the nucleus of an atom. This is the process that makes the Sun and all other stars shine and radiate energy. Attempts to master the fusion process have been going on at least since the 1950s, but it is incredibly difficult and is still at an experimental stage.
— The nuclear energy currently in use across the world comes from the fission process, in which the nucleus of a heavier element is split into those of lighter elements in a controlled manner. In fusion, nuclei of two lighter elements are made to fuse together to form the nucleus of a heavier atom.
— A large amount of energy is released in both these processes, but substantially more in fusion than fission. For example, the fusion of two nuclei of a heavier isotope of hydrogen, called tritium, produces at least four times as much energy as the fission of a uranium atom which is the normal process of generating electricity in a nuclear reactor. Besides greater energy yield, fusion is also a carbon-free source of energy, and has negligible radiation risks.
— But fusion reactions happen only at very high temperatures, 10 times the temperature that exists at the core of the Sun, and creating such an extreme environment in a laboratory requires huge amounts of energy. So far, the energy released in such experimental fusion reactions have been lower than what is consumed to create the enabling high temperatures. At best, some of these reactions have produced ‘near break-even’ energies. That is why the latest experiment conducted at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California is being considered a big deal.
Fusion still far from reality
— Significant though the achievement is, it does little to bring the goal of producing electricity from fusion reactions any closer to reality. By all estimates, use of the fusion process for generating electricity at a commercial scale is still two to three decades away. The technology used in the US experiment might take even longer to get deployed.
— Technicians use a service system lift to access the target chamber interior for inspection and maintenance at the National Ignition Facility (NIF), a laser-based inertial confinement fusion research device, at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory federal research facility in Livermore, California, United States in 2008.
— There are at least two different ways in which fusion reactions are being experimented with. These differ mainly in the way the input energy is supplied to create the extreme heat to enable fusion, but that also results in differences in design and capabilities. At the Lawrence Livermore facility, scientists use high-energy laser beams to achieve those temperatures, also called ‘inertial fusion’. At some other places, including the international collaborative project in southern France called ITER in which India is a partner, very strong magnetic fields are used for the same purpose.
“It is relatively easier to attain break-even energy levels through inertial fusion compared to magnetic fusion. Obtaining net energy gain is a very important step, but we are still far away from reactor grade fusion reactions. There are many many challenges to be overcome before the potential of fusion reaction is realised,” Dr Indranil Bandyopadhyay, Group Leader, Council Support and Knowledge Management, ITER India, said.
— This undated image provided by the National Ignition Facility at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory shows the NIF Target Bay in Livermore, California. (Damien Jemison/Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory via AP, File)
— According to current timelines, the ITER project is expected to demonstrate the viability of a commercially scalable nuclear fusion reactor between 2035 and 2040. The actual deployment of a fusion reactor for generating electricity could take another decade after that. Several countries, like China, Japan, UK and South Korea, are working on this technology separately as well, apart from collaborating at ITER. Bandopadhyay said it is the magnetic fusion that is expected to deliver the fusion reactors first.
— Still, the United States, also a partner at ITER, and some other countries including China, are trying the laser-based inertial fusion as well. This is mainly because this technology can also be used to develop fusion-based nuclear weapons that would be far more powerful and devastating than the current nuclear weapons.
Incremental progress
— In December last year, UK-based JET laboratory, which uses magnetic fusion, had improved its own previous record for the amount of energy produced from a fusion reaction. The reaction had run for five seconds and produced 59 megajoules of energy, more than double the previous record.
— The fusion reactions currently being run in labs last for barely a few seconds. Those based on laser beams run for even shorter times. It is difficult to sustain such extreme high temperatures for prolonged periods. Bandopadhyay said the ITER project was being designed to run for 3,000 seconds. At its full power, it was expected to produce five times more energy than it would consume. However, when run for shorter time periods, about 300-500 seconds, it could release10 times the energy consumed.
“It is not that there is any physical limit to how long a fusion reactor can run. Magnetic fusion reactions can run for hours. But there are lots of engineering challenges right now,” Bandopadhyay said.
— ITER, when operational, would become the biggest machine anywhere in the world, more complex than the Large Hadron Collider at CERN, or the LIGO project to detect gravitational waves. Right now, the ITER reactor is in the machine assembly phase. Over 10 million parts, being manufactured and tested in the seven member countries, have to be transported, assembled and integrated.
— India joined the ITER project in 2005. The Institute for Plasma Research in Ahmedabad, a laboratory under the Department of Atomic Energy, is the lead institution from the Indian side participating in the project. As a member country, India is building several components of the ITER reactor, while also carrying out a number of experiments and R&D activities related to the project.
Why is fusion so hard?
— It takes more than extreme heat and pressure. It also takes precision. The energy from the lasers must be applied precisely to counteract the outward force of the fusion fuel, according to Stephanie Diem, an engineering physics professor at the University of Wisconsin–Madison.
— And that’s just to prove net energy gain is possible. It’s even harder to produce electricity in a power plant. For example, the lab’s lasers can only fire a few times a day. To viably produce energy, they would need to fire rapidly and capsules would need to be inserted multiple times a minute, or even faster.
— Another challenge is to increase efficiency, said Jeremy Chittenden, a professor at Imperial College in London specializing in plasma physics. The lasers used at Livermore require a lot of electrical energy, and researchers need to figure out a way to reproduce their results in a much more cost-effective way, he said.
(Sources: Why fusion could be a clean-energy breakthrough, Understanding the fusion energy breakthrough announced by US scientists by Amitabh Sinha )
Point to ponder: Can nuclear fusion help fuel the world?
2. MCQ
What is Nuclear fusion as a phenomenon related to?
a) Heavy nucleus splitting
b) Heavy nuclei combining
c) Light nucleus splitting
d) Light nuclei combining
Syllabus:
Preliminary Examination: Current events of national and international importance.
Mains Examination: General Studies III: Science and Technology- developments and their applications and effects in everyday life.
Why in news?
— To promote the use of ‘NAVigation with the Indian Constellation’ (NavIC), the Indian version of GPS, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) will introduce the L1 frequency in all its future satellites, Jitendra Singh, Union Minister of State for the Department of Space, said in Parliament recently.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
What exactly is ISRO doing?
— Singh in a written reply in Parliament on Wednesday said, “The next satellites, starting from NVS-01 onwards, will have an L1 band for civilian navigational use.”
— The seven satellites in the NavIC constellation so far use two frequencies for providing positioning data — the L5 and S bands. The new satellites NVS-01 onwards, meant to replace these satellites, will also have L1 frequency. The L1 is the oldest and most established GPS signals, which even the less sophisticated, civilian-use devices such as smartwatches are capable of receiving. Thus, with this band, the use of NavIC in civilian-use gadgets can go up.
And what is NavIC?
— NavIC is India’s homegrown alternative to GPS. Developed by ISRO, the navigation satellite system was first approved in 2006 at a cost of $174 million, but became operational only by 2018. At present, it consists of eight satellites, covering the whole of India and up to 1,500 km from its boundaries.
— The government has said NavIC is as accurate as GPS. Singh, in his reply to Parliament, reiterated that the “performance of NavIC system is on par with the other positioning systems”.
Where is NavIC being used right now?
— As reported by The Indian Express, NavIC is mainly being used in public vehicle tracking, to provide emergency warning alerts to fishermen venturing into the deep sea, and for tracking data related to natural disasters.
— The government is also pushing for its increased use in smartphones. In fact, in September, Reuters had reported that the government urging tech giants to make smartphones compatible with NavIC had “worried the likes of Samsung, Xiaomi and Apple, who fear elevated costs and disruptions as the move requires hardware changes.” According to the report, the government wanted that smartphones support NavIC as well as GPS by January 2023, which phone makers had said was a very stiff deadline to meet.
Advantages of NavIC
— To put it briefly, the government says that India should not rely on positioning systems run by other governments, which are at the risk of suspension for civilians in times of crises. Also, NavIC, since it is homegrown, will be more accurate than other systems.
— In fact, as reported by The Indian Express, with a fully operational constellation and ground stations outside of India — ISRO plans to set up ground stations in Japan and France to better triangulate the entire area under NavIC coverage – the system is likely to become more accurate than GPS. The satellites placed directly over India also ensure better availability of signals in varied geographical regions compared to GPS, which India receives at an angle, making it difficult to access in dense forests or valleys.
— Apart from the US-owned GPS, the other prominent navigation systems are Galileo from the European Union, Russia-owned GLONASS and China’s Beidou. QZSS, operated by Japan, is another regional navigation system covering Asia-Oceania region.
Point to ponder: What is NavIC, India’s home-grown alternative to the GPS navigation system?
3. MCQ
With reference to NavIC, consider the following statements.
1. NavIC is India’s homegrown alternative to GPS.
2. Developed by ISRO, the navigation satellite system was first approved in 2006 at a cost of $174 million, but became operational only by 2018.
3. At present, it consists of eight satellites, covering the whole of India and up to 1,500 km from its boundaries.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
a) 1 only
b) 1 and 2 only
c) 2 and 3 only
d) All of the above
Syllabus:
Preliminary Examination: Current events of national and international importance.
Mains Examination: General Studies II: India and its neighbourhood- relations.
Why in news?
— Last month, Bangladesh reached out to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) seeking help. According to an IMF press release, Bangladesh will receive economic assistance worth $4.5 billion (around Rs 37,000 crore). This is a significant reversal for an economy that overtook India’s in terms of per capita income in 2020 on the back of robust economic growth for the better part of the last two decades, and especially since 2017.
What’s wrong with Bangladesh’s economy?
— If one looks at the growth of Gross Domestic Product or GDP, Bangladesh continues to post very impressive numbers. For one, unlike many countries including India that saw their GDP contract in 2020 following the Covid-19 pandemic, the economy of Bangladesh actually grew during this period. Its GDP grew by 3.4 per cent in 2020, by 6.9 per cent in 2021, and it is expected to grow by 7.2 per cent in 2022.
However, Bangladesh’s problems lie elsewhere.
— The IMF states that “Bangladesh’s robust economic recovery from the pandemic has been interrupted by Russia’s war in Ukraine, leading to a sharp widening of the current account deficit, rapid decline of foreign exchange reserves, rising inflation and slowing growth.”
— In other words, while it is true that Bangladesh has posted very impressive economic growth numbers, the Russian invasion of Ukraine has meant four things:
* Inflation spiked to uncomfortable levels as all kinds of commodities such as crude oil became costlier. The inflation rate in November was 8.85 per cent as against 5.98 per cent in November 2021. For the 12 months ending November, inflation grew at 7.48 per cent — much higher than 5.48 per cent in the 12 months ending November 2021.
* Bangladesh’s current account balance has gone deep into a deficit — both in absolute terms as well as a percentage of the GDP. The current account balance looks at the gap between the money coming into a country on account of earnings via the export of goods and services and the money going out of the country via the import of goods and services. Bangladesh has typically been hugely dependent on its export earnings, but as the western economies slow down and their consumers put off their demand for a later date, Bangladesh suffers.
* Bangladesh’s currency, the Taka, weakened partly under the pressure of the surge in the US dollar and partly on account of the worsening current account deficit. A weaker Taka further aggravated the inflationary spiral because all imports become costlier still. In December 2021, it took 86 Taka to buy a US dollar. As of today, the exchange rate has worsened to 105 Taka — a loss of more than a fifth of the currency’s value in less than a year.
* The weakness in the external front also resulted in Bangladesh’s foreign exchange reserves getting depleted. Last December, the forex reserves were valued at $46,154 million. As of now, they are just $33,790 million — a fall of more than one-fourth of its total valuation.
How will IMF’s monetary assistance help?
— “Bangladesh’s request is part of the authorities’ measures to cushion its economy from the economic disruptions caused by the ongoing war in Ukraine and to manage macroeconomic risks posed by climate change,” states the IMF. But that is not the only goal.
— “Even as Bangladesh tackles these immediate challenges, addressing long-standing structural issues remains critical, including threats to macroeconomic stability from climate change. To successfully graduate from Least Developed Country status and achieve middle-income status by 2031, it is important to build on past successes and address structural issues to accelerate growth, attract private investment, enhance productivity, and build climate resilience,” states IMF.
— Overall, the IMF’s programme hopes to achieve the following goals:
* Creating additional fiscal space through higher revenue mobilisation and rationalisation of expenditures. This will allow the government to increase growth-enhancing spending as well as mitigate the impact on the vulnerable through higher social spending and better-targeted social safety net programs.
* Containing inflation with increased exchange rate flexibility so that the country can buffer external shocks better.
* Strengthening the financial sector by enhancing governance and regulatory aspects.
* Boosting growth potential by creating a conducive environment to expand trade and foreign direct investment among other things.
* Strengthening institutions to create an enabling environment will help meet climate change objectives.
(Source: Bangladesh has reached out to IMF for help: what is wrong with the country’s economy? by Udit Misra )
Point to ponder: Almost every country slowing, India a bright spot compared to others. Comment.
4. MCQ
“Bretton Woods Twins” refers to
a) WTO and World Bank
b) IMF and World Bank
c) WTO and IMF
d) IMF and WTO
Syllabus:
Preliminary Examination: General issues on Environmental ecology, Bio-diversity and Climate Change – that do not require subject specialization.
Mains Examination: General Studies III: Conservation, environmental pollution and degradation, environmental impact assessment.
Why in news?
— Industry executives have joined activists and negotiators from nearly 200 countries at this month’s U.N. nature summit in Montreal, where negotiations on a global pact to protect nature could lead to tougher disclosure requirements for businesses.
— Sectors such as mining, agriculture, oil and fashion are under scrutiny at the COP15 talks, due to their heavy impact on nature with activities that can contaminate soil, foul waterways or pollute the air. As negotiators work to agree on conservation targets by the summit’s scheduled end on December 19, momentum is building for a measure to require businesses to disclose their harm to the environment.
— Here is a look, by Allison Lampert (Reuters) at how key sectors could be affected by the COP15 talks:
Mining
— For companies mining metals and coal, an environmental disclosure requirement could force companies to reveal the impacts not just from the blasting and drilling they do on-site, but also from the logging and deforestation carried out in creating access roads.
— Mining companies are also concerned about the central goal of the COP15 talks – to set aside 30 per cent of Earth’s land and ocean areas for conservation by 2030. That could cut into areas rich with resources for extraction.
Agriculture
— With new disclosure rules, the farming sector would face an increased burden of reporting on activities like land clearing and pesticide use. Hefty reporting obligations could burden smaller farms and ranches, some industry groups warned.
“A lot of our producers are family businesses,” said Larry Thomas, manager environment and sustainability with the Canadian Cattle Association. The agriculture sector will likely escape a separate proposed goal to slash pesticide in half, said the Eurasia Group analyst Gbaguidi, following opposition from developing countries like Brazil, Argentina, and Paraguay due to food shortages and higher prices.
“Because of the food crisis, a lot of emerging markets are just not as open as they would have been on setting bold targets related to the agricultural sector,” Gbaguidi said.
Oil
— Following COP15, oil companies are expected to ramp up their internal resources for reporting on and disclosing how oil drilling and exploration activities impact nature as well, Gbaguidi said. The American Petroleum Institute did not respond to a request for comment on the COP15 talks.
— The Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers said the country’s oil and natural gas industry wants to minimize marine and land disturbances, while also quickly restoring lands degraded by their operations to natural landscapes, CAPP spokesperson Jay Averill said.
Fashion/retail
— Fashion and retail are facing pressure from consumers and governments to reduce waste and emissions throughout their operations.
— For them, a strong deal that forces all companies to report any harm would work toward assuaging some consumer concerns. In a letter to world governments in October, more than 330 companies including Swedish fashion giant H&M Group, furniture maker IKEA, British pharmaceutical and biotech company GSK and Switzerland’s Nestle came out in support of a COP15 deal that includes mandatory disclosure of companies’ environmental impacts by 2030.
— Smaller companies with limited resources for monitoring and accounting could find a disclosure requirement more challenging.
(Source: UN nature summit puts industry on alert to disclose more by Reuters)
Point to ponder: Addressing climate change requires discarding the business as usual approach. Discuss.
5. MCQ
Which one of the following statements best describes the term ‘Social Cost of Carbon’? It is a measure, in monetary value, of the (2020)
a) long-term damage done by a tonne of CO2, emissions in a given year
b) requirement of fossil fuels for a country to provide goods and services to its citizens, based on the burning of those fuels
c) efforts put in by a climate refugee to adapt to live in a new place
d) contribution of an individual person to the carbon footprint on the planet Earth
Note— Tawang issue will be covered comprehensively next week in the UPSC Essentials: Issue at a glance
