UPSC Essentials: Key terms of the past week

Sovereign credit rating (SCR)

Relevance

Prelims: Economic and Social Development

Mains: GS III-Indian Economy and issues relating to planning, mobilization of resources, growth, development and employment.

A credit rating is a numerical estimate of a borrower’s creditworthiness in general or in relation to a specific debt or financial obligation. Simply put, any organization that wants to borrow money, whether it’s an individual, a corporation, a state or provincial authority, or a sovereign government, can get a credit rating. A rating agency evaluates a company’s or government entity’s financial strength, particularly its ability to make principal and interest payments on its loans.

The SCR is an independent assessment of a country’s or sovereign entity’s creditworthiness. It provides investors with information on the level of risk involved with investing in a country’s debt, including any political risk.

It not only issues bonds from external debt markets but also attracts Foreign Direct Investment. That becomes the major reason for countries to earn a sovereign credit rating.

A credit rating agency examines the country’s economic and political situation at the country’s request. It then awards the country a rating. A Baa3 or higher rating is considered investment grade, whereas a Ba1 or below rating is considered speculative by Moody’s. Countries with a BBB- or higher rating are considered investment grades, whereas those with a BB+ or lower rating are considered speculative or “junk” grades.

The three main worldwide credit rating agencies, Fitch Ratings, Moody’s Investors Service, and Standard & Poor’s (S&P), dominate roughly 95 per cent of global rating activity. The CRISIL, ICRA, CARE, SMERA, Fitch India, and Brickwork Ratings are the six-credit rating agencies registered with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI).

Point to ponder: What is the role of SEBI?

Global Security Initiative

Relevance

Prelims: Current events of national and international importance.

Mains: GS II – International Relations – Bilateral, regional and global groupings and agreements involving India and/or affecting Indian interests.

As per the Chinese president, the Global Security Initiative is an initiative to promote security for all in the world and to oppose unilateralism, group politics and bloc confrontation. This initiative is aimed at countering the initiatives of the West like the Indo-Pacific strategy of the USA, the Quad and the AUKUS (Australia-UK-US) security pact.

Point to ponder: What is Quad?

Asani

Relevance

Prelims: Indian and World Geography – Physical, Social, Economic Geography of India and the World.

Mains: GS I – Geography – Important Geophysical phenomena such as earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanic activity, cyclones, etc.

The Indian Meteorological Department has predicted that Cyclone Asani will intensify into a ‘severe cyclone’ over the Southeast regions of the Bay of Bengal. The name Cyclone Asani has been given by Sri Lanka. It means ‘wrath’ in Sinhalese.

Point to ponder: What are tropical cyclones? Which tropical cyclones hit India in 2020-2021?

Total Fertility Rate (TFR)

Relevance

Prelims: Economic and Social Development – Sustainable Development, Poverty, Inclusion, Demographics, Social Sector Initiatives, etc.

Mains: GS III – Issues relating to development and management of Social Sector/Services relating to Health, Education, Human Resources.

Total fertility rate (TFR) refers to the total number of children born or likely to be born to a woman in her lifetime if she were subject to the prevailing rate of age-specific fertility in the population. TFR of about 2.1 children per woman is called replacement-level fertility. TFR lower than 2.1 children per woman indicates that a generation is not producing enough children to replace itself, eventually leading to an outright reduction in population.

Point to ponder: What are the reasons and significance of declining TFR?

Monkeypox

Relevance

Prelims: General Science (Health)

Monkeypox is a viral zoonotic disease that occurs primarily in tropical rainforest areas of Central and West Africa and is occasionally exported to other regions. This virus infection has been detected in squirrels, Gambian pouched rats, dormice, and some species of monkeys. It is caused by Monkeypox virus, a member of the orthopoxvirus genus in the family Poxviridae.

Monkeypox infection was first discovered in 1958 following two outbreaks of a pox-like disease in colonies of monkeys kept for research — which led to the name ‘monkeypox’.

It typically presents clinically with fever, rash, and swollen lymph nodes and causes the lymph nodes to swell (lymphadenopathy), which smallpox does not.

The incubation period (time from infection to symptoms) for monkeypox is usually 7-14 days but can range from 5-21 days. Generally, up to a tenth of people ill with monkeypox may die, with most deaths occurring in younger age groups. The clinical presentation of monkeypox resembles that of smallpox, a related orthopoxvirus infection that was declared eradicated worldwide in 1980. The Vaccinia vaccine used during the smallpox eradication programme was also protective against monkeypox.

A new third-generation vaccinia vaccine has now been approved for the prevention of smallpox and monkeypox. Antiviral agents are also being developed.

Point to ponder: How does the transmission of monkeypox virus take place?

Heatwaves

Relevance

Prelims: Indian and World Geography – Physical, Social, Economic Geography of India and the World.

Mains: GS I – Important Geophysical phenomena such as earthquakes, volcanic activity, cyclones, etc.

A Heat Wave is a period of abnormally high temperatures, more than the normal maximum temperature that occurs during the summer season in the North-Western parts of India, Central, East and North Peninsular. India Heat Waves typically occur between March and June, and in some rare cases even extend till July. Sometimes, it occurs over Tamil Nadu and Kerala also. The extreme temperatures and resultant atmospheric conditions adversely affect people living in these regions as they cause physiological stress, sometimes resulting in death.

The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) has given the following criteria for Heat Waves:

Higher daily peak temperatures and longer, more intense heat waves are becoming increasingly frequent globally due to climate change. India, too, is feeling the impact of climate change in terms of increased instances of heat waves which are more intense in nature with each passing year, and have a devastating impact on human health thereby increasing the number of heatwave casualties.

Point to ponder: What are the criteria for heatwaves as per the IMD? What can be the health impact of heatwaves?

Foreign Portfolio Investment (FPI)

Relevance

Prelims: Economic and Social Development – Sustainable Development, Poverty, Inclusion, Demographics, Social Sector Initiatives, etc.

Mains: GS III – Indian Economy and issues relating to planning, mobilization of resources, growth, development and employment.

Foreign portfolio investment (FPI) is one of the common ways to invest in overseas economies. It includes securities and financial assets held by investors in another country. It also includes bonds or other debt issued by these companies or foreign governments, mutual funds, or exchange-traded funds (ETFs) that invest in assets abroad or overseas.

Foreign portfolio investment is part of a country’s capital account. It is important to note that it is shown on its balance of payments (BOP). The BOP measures the amount of money flowing from one country to another country over one monetary year.

The investor does not actively manage the investments through FPIs, he does not have control over the securities or the business. The investor’s goal is to create a quick return on his money. The FPI is often referred to as “hot money” because of its tendency to flee at the first signs of trouble in an economy. The FPI is relatively liquid depending on market volatility.

Point to ponder: What is the difference between FDI and FPI?

Rocket Propelled Grenade (RPG)

Relevance

Prelims: Current events of national and international importance

Mains: GS III – Security Issues

The RPG is a weapon of Soviet origin which roughly translated means a handheld anti-tank grenade launcher. An important feature of the RPG is that it is a portable, shoulder-fired weapon, which is easy to operate and can cause widespread damage whether used in an anti-personnel mode, against armoured vehicles, or against buildings. Different versions of the RPG are designed as per the usage of the weapon with varying capacity of the warhead, effective range, and penetration levels. The origins of the RPG lie in the various conflicts that have taken place in modern military warfare, dating back to World War I.

Point to ponder: What damage can an RPG cause and can they be easily procured by terrorists?

Sedition law (IPC Section 124A)

Relevance

Prelims: Indian Polity and Governance – Constitution, Political System, Panchayati Raj, Public Policy, Rights Issues, etc.

Mains: Government policies and interventions aimed at development in various sectors and issues arising out of their design and implementation.

Section 124A defines sedition as “Whoever, by words, either spoken or written, or by signs, or by visible representation, or otherwise, brings or attempts to bring into hatred or contempt, or excites or attempts to excite disaffection towards, the Government estab­lished by law shall be punished with im­prisonment for life, to which fine may be added…”

The provision also contains three explanations:

1) The expression “disaffection” includes disloyalty and all feelings of enmity

2) Comments expressing disapprobation of the meas­ures of the Government with a view to obtaining their alteration by lawful means, without exciting or attempting to excite hatred, contempt, or disaffection, do not constitute an offense under this section

3) Comments expressing disapprobation of the admin­istrative or other action of the Government without exciting or attempting to excite hatred, contempt, or disaffection, do not constitute an offence under this section.

Point to ponder: What have been the legal challenges to IPC Section 124A? What is the Kedarnath ruling on sedition?

UIDAI

Relevance

Prelims: Indian Polity and Governance – Constitution, Political System, Panchayati Raj, Public Policy, Rights Issues, etc.

Mains: Statutory, regulatory and various quasi-judicial bodies.

The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) is a statutory authority established on July 12, 2016, by the Government of India under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, following the provisions of the Aadhaar Act, 2016. The UIDAI is mandated to assign a 12-digit unique identification (UID) number (Aadhaar) to all residents of India. The UIDAI was initially set up by the Government of India in January 2009, as an attached office under the aegis of the Planning Commission.

Point to ponder: Why can’t Aadhaar data be used in police investigations?

Ethanol blending

Relevance

Prelims: Economic and Social Development – Sustainable Development, Poverty, Inclusion, Demographics, Social Sector initiatives, etc.

Mains: Government policies and interventions aimed at development in various sectors and issues arising out of their design and implementation.

Ethanol is one of the principal biofuels, which is naturally produced by the fermentation of sugars by yeasts or via petrochemical processes such as ethylene hydration. The Government of India has advanced the target for 20 per cent ethanol blending in petrol (also called E20) to 2025 from 2030. Currently, 9.99 per cent of ethanol is blended with petrol in India.

Increased use of ethanol can help reduce the oil import bill. India’s net oil import cost stands at $551 billion in 2020-21. The government’s ethanol-blending programme can save the country Rs 30,000 crore per annum. Ethanol blending provides incentives to farmers as the oil companies primarily procure ethanol from sugarcane farmers. The government’s plan is to encourage use of water-saving crops to produce ethanol. Use of ethanol-blended petrol decreases emissions such as carbon monoxide (CO), hydrocarbons (HC) and nitrogen oxides (NOx).

Point to ponder: What is the ‘roadmap’ according to the ethanol-blending programme in India?

FCRA

Relevance

Prelims: Economic and Social Development – Sustainable Development, Poverty, Inclusion, Demographics, Social Sector Initiatives, etc.

Mains: GS II – Statutory, regulatory and various quasi-judicial bodies.

The Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) was enacted during the Emergency in 1976 in an atmosphere of apprehension that foreign powers were interfering in India’s affairs by pumping in funds through international organizations. These concerns had been expressed in Parliament as early as 1969.

The law sought to regulate foreign donations to individuals and associations so that they functioned “in a manner consistent with the values of a sovereign democratic republic”.

An amended FCRA was enacted under the UPA government in 2010 to “consolidate the law” on utilisation of foreign funds, and “to prohibit” their use for “any activities detrimental to the national interest”.

The law was amended again by the current government in 2020, giving the government tighter control and scrutiny over the receipt and utilization of foreign funds by NGOs.

Broadly, the FCRA requires every person or NGO wishing to receive foreign donations to be registered under the Act, to open a bank account for the receipt of the foreign funds in State Bank of India, Delhi, and to utilise those funds only for the purpose for which they have been received and as stipulated in the Act.

They are also required to file annual returns, and they must not transfer the funds to another NGO.

The Act prohibits the receipt of foreign funds by candidates for elections, journalists or newspaper and media broadcast companies, judges and government servants, members of the legislature and political parties or their office-bearers, and organizations of a political nature.

Point to ponder: How does FCRA work?

Section 375 of the IPC

Relevance

Prelims: Indian Polity and Governance – Constitution, Political System, Panchayati Raj, Public Policy, Rights Issues, etc.

Mains: GS I – Indian society and diversity – Salient aspects.

Section 375 of the IPC defines the acts that constitute rape by a man.

Section 375 of the Indian Penal Code defines rape as “sexual intercourse with a woman against her will, without her consent, by coercion, misrepresentation or fraud or at a time when she has been intoxicated or duped or is of unsound mental health and in any case if she is under 18 years of age.”

This provision has two exceptions as well. Apart from decriminalizing marital rape, it mentions that medical procedures or interventions shall not constitute rape. Also, Section 375 states that “sexual intercourse or sexual acts by a man with his own wife, the wife not being under fifteen years of age, is not rape”.

Point to ponder: What is the history of marital rape law in India?

Inflation

Relevance

Prelims: Economic and Social Development – Sustainable Development, Poverty, Inclusion, Demographics, Social Sector Initiatives, etc.

Mains: Indian Economy and issues relating to planning, mobilisation of resources, growth, development and employment.

Inflation refers to the rise in the prices of most goods and services of daily or common use, such as food, clothing, housing, recreation, transport, consumer staples, etc. It measures the average price change in a basket of commodities and services over time. Inflation is indicative of the decrease in the purchasing power of a unit of a country’s currency. This could ultimately lead to a deceleration in economic growth. The NSO under the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation measures inflation. Inflation in India is primarily measured by two main indices — WPI (Wholesale Price Index) and CPI (Consumer Price Index) which measure wholesale and retail-level price changes, respectively.

Retail inflation is measured by the consumer price index (CPI). It is a weighted average of the prices of a basket of consumer goods and services. Therefore, retail inflation is also termed CPI-based inflation.

Point to ponder: What are the reasons behind high inflation?

INSACOG

Relevance

Prelims: Economic and Social Development – Sustainable Development, Poverty, Inclusion, Demographics, Social Sector Initiatives, etc.

Mains: GS II – Government policies and interventions aimed at development in various sectors and issues arising out of their design and implementation.

The INSACOG is a national multi-agency consortium of Regional Genome Sequencing Laboratories (RGSLs) set up by the Indian government in December 2020 to monitor the genomic variations in the Covid-19 causing SARS-CoV-2 virus. RGSLs are responsible for genome sequencing and identification of variants of concern/variants of interest, potential variants of interest, and other mutations.

The idea behind the establishment of the INSACOG is to expand the whole genome sequencing of the coronavirus to understand how it spreads and evolves. The INSACOG is a joint initiative of the Health Ministry, the Department of Biotechnology (DBT), the CSIR and the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).

Point to ponder: How will extending the INSACOG network to neighbouring countries help India’s neighbourhood policy?

Sagittarius A*

Relevance

Prelims: General Science.

Mains: General awareness in the fields of IT, Space, Computers, Robotics, Nanotechnology, Bio-technology.

Sagittarius A* is a supermassive black hole that sits 26,000 light years away from Earth, near the Galactic Centre, or the centre of the Milky Way.

Since the discovery of Sagittarius A* 24 years ago, it has been fairly calm. This year, Sagittarius A* has shown unusual activity, and the area around it has been much brighter than usual.

Point to ponder: What is a black hole?