UPSC Daily Current Affairs- March 10, 2022 PDF Download

GS-II

Context

Recently, India, Bangladesh and Nepal finalised an enabling memorandum of understanding (MoU) for implementing the long-gestating Bangladesh-Bhutan-India-Nepal (BBIN) Motor Vehicles Agreement (MVA).

What is the BBIN connectivity Project?

• Background: The project was conceived after the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) failed to agree on a regional motor vehicles agreement at a summit in Nepal in 2014, mainly because of opposition from Pakistan.
• Origin: The BBIN Motor Vehicle Agreement for the Regulation of Passenger, Personal and Cargo Vehicular Traffic between the 4 countries was signed during a transport ministers’ meeting in Thimpu on 15th June 2015.
• Objective: Operationalising the MVA by concluding the Passenger and the Cargo Protocol will help realise the full potential of trade and people to people connectivity between the BBIN countries by fostering greater sub-regional cooperation.
• Bhutan’s Reluctance: The BBIN project suffered a setback in 2017 when Bhutan temporarily opted out of it after being unable to get parliamentary approval for the MVA. 
  • The 3 other countries decided at the time to press ahead with the agreement.
• Foreign Funding: The Asian Development Bank has supported the project as part of its South Asian Subregional Economic Cooperation programme, and has been requested to prioritise about 30 road projects worth billions of dollars.
  • The World Bank, which has estimated that the implementation of the MVA will potentially see an increase in traffic-regional trade within South Asia by nearly 60%, has also announced its interest in supporting infrastructure.
• Persisting Issues: There are still some agreements holding up the final protocols, including issues like insurance and bank guarantees, and the size and frequency of freight carriers into each country, which they hope to finalise this year before operationalizing bus and truck movements between them.

What are the concerns of Bhutan?

• The objections of Bhutan pertains to sustainability and environmental concerns.
• In 2020, Prime Minister Lotay Tshering held that given Bhutan’s “current infrastructure” and top priority to remaining a “carbon-negative” country, it would not be possible to consider joining the MVA. 
  • Thus, the Bhutanese parliament decided not to endorse the plan.

What are the Similar Connectivity Initiatives which India is a part of?

• Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar (BCIM) Corridor
• India-Myanmar-Thailand Trilateral Highway
• Kaladan Multi-Modal Transit Transport (KMMTT)

Context

Recently, many women soldiers were training to be a part of a United Nations Peacekeeping mission.

• For more than a decade, the United Nations (UN) has called for more participation from women in conflict prevention, post-conflict peacebuilding and peacekeeping.

What is UN Peacekeeping?

• UN Peacekeeping began in 1948 when the UN Security Council authorised the deployment of UN military observers to the Middle East.
• UN Peacekeeping helps countries navigate the difficult path from conflict to peace.
• It deploys troops and police from around the world, integrating them with civilian peacekeepers to address a range of mandates set by the UN Security Council (UNSC) and the General Assembly.

What is Background of Indian Women in Peacekeeping Forces?

• Background: For the first time in the history of UN peacekeeping, India sent an all-female Formed Police Unit (FPU) to be deployed in Liberia in 2007 after a civil war ravaged the African nation.
• Intent: Recently, at the UN Security Council (UNSC), Indian officials called for more female participation in public life and the elimination of violence against them as a prerequisite for promoting lasting peace around the world.
• Significance: In a profession that continues to be heavily dominated by men, and in a nation that is riddled with gender violence, these female police officers from India are breaking stereotypes to represent their country on the world stage.

What is the current status of Women in UN Peacekeeping forces?

• Multi-Role: Women are deployed in all areas – police, military and civilian – and have made a positive impact on peacekeeping environments, including in supporting the role of women in building peace and protecting women's rights.
• Current Numbers: According to the UN, in 2020, out of approximately 95,000 peacekeepers, women constitute 4.8% of military contingents and 10.9% of formed police units and 34% of justice and corrections government-provided personnel in UN Peacekeeping missions.
• Global Effort Initiative: UN Police Division launched 'the Global Effort' to recruit more female police officers into national police services and into UN police operations around the world.
  • The 2028 target for women serving in military contingents is 15%, and 25% for military observers and staff officers.
• UNSC Resolution: UN Security Council resolution 1325 (UNSCR1325) has called for an expansion of the role and contribution of women in its operations, including uniformed women peacekeepers.
• Action for Peacekeeping (A4P) initiative: The UN Action for Peacekeeping (A4P) initiative views the Women, Peace and Security agenda as critical to enhancing peacekeeping operations’ performance.
  • This can be achieved through supporting women’s full participation in peace processes and making peacekeeping more gender-responsive, including through increasing the number of civilian and uniformed women in peacekeeping at all levels and in key positions.

Why is it important to have women peacekeepers?

• Improved Operations And Performance: Greater diversity and a broadened skillset means improved decision‐making, planning and results, leading to greater operational effectiveness and performance.
• Better Access: Women peacekeepers can better access the population, including women and children - for example, by interviewing and supporting survivors of gender-based violence and violence against children - thereby generating critical information that would otherwise be difficult to reach.
• Building Trust and Confidence: Women peacekeepers are essential enablers to build trust and confidence with local communities and help improve access and support for local women.
  • For example, by interacting with women in societies where women are prohibited from speaking to men.
• Inspiring and Creating Role Models: Women peacekeepers serve as powerful mentors and role models for women and girls in post-conflict settings in the host community, setting examples for them to advocate for their own rights and pursue non‐traditional careers.

Context

Ministry of Tourism had constituted an inter-ministerial task force for National Digital Tourism Mission to undertake consultations with the tourism industry and domain experts, define the context, mission, vision, objectives, and overall scope of the National Digital Tourism Mission.

Vision
To bridge the existing information gap amongst different stakeholders of tourism ecosystem through a digital highway.

The Need

• Envisages to achieve the objective of harnessing the full potential of digitization in tourism sector by facilitating exchange of information and services in tourism sector.
• Most of the tourism systems developed by Central Government, State Governments, Public sector and Private sector function in silos. As a result, the tourism ecosystem is unable to harvest the combinatorial benefits of information exchange.
• Data systems currently don’t interact with each other using a common language, thereby curtailing data analytics and resultant policy-making. In order to overcome the same, there is need for seamless standardized data exchange amongst various stakeholders.

Context

The Global Water System Project, which was launched in 2003 as a joint initiative of the Earth System Science Partnership (ESSP) and Global Environmental Change (GEC) programme, epitomises global concern about the human-induced transformation of fresh water and its impact on the earth system and society.

Valuation of water

• It is globally estimated that the gap between demand for and supply of fresh water may reach up to 40% by 2030 if present practices continue.
• SDG 6: The formation of the 2030 Water Resource Group in 2008, at the instance of the World Economic Forum, and the World Bank’s promotion of the group’s activity since 2018, is in recognition of this problem and to help achieve the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) on water availability and sanitation for all by 2030 (SDG 6).
• The latest UN World Water Development Report, 2021, titled ‘Valuing Water’, has laid stress on the proper valuation of water by considering five interrelated perspectives: water sources; water infrastructure; water services; water as an input to production and socio-economic development, and socio-cultural values of water.

Need for hydro-social cycle approach

• Designing a comprehensive mix of divergent views about water along with ecological and environmental issues held by stakeholder groups is necessary. 
• In this context, a hydro-social cycle approach provides an appropriate framework.
• It repositions the natural hydrological cycle in a human-nature interactive structure and considers water and society as part of a historical and relational-dialectical process.
• The anthropogenic factors directly influencing a freshwater system are the engineering of river channels, irrigation and other consumptive use of water, widespread land use/land cover change, change in an aquatic habitat, and point and non-point source pollution affecting water quality.

The intra- and inter-basin transfer (IBT) of water

• IBT is a major hydrological intervention to rectify the imbalance in water availability due to naturally prevailing unequal distribution of water resources within a given territory. 
• There are several IBT initiatives across the world. 
• The National River Linking Project of India is one of those under construction. 
• Based on a multi-country case study analysis, the World Wildlife Fund/World Wide Fund for Nature (2009) has suggested a cautious approach and the necessity to adhere to sustainability principles set out by the World Commission on Dams while taking up IBT projects.

Issues with assumptions, use and management of freshwater resources in India

• Contestation on concept of the surplus and deficit basin
  • The basic premise of IBT is to export water from the surplus basin to a deficit basin. 
  • However, there is contestation on the concept of the surplus and deficit basin itself as the exercise is substantially hydrological.
  • Besides this, rainfall in many surplus basins has been reported as declining.
  • The status of the surplus basin may alter if these issues are considered.
• Low capacity utilisation
  • There is concern about the present capacity utilisation of water resources created in the country.
  • By 2016, India created an irrigation potential for 112 million hectares, but the gross irrigated area was 93 million hectares.
  • There is a 19% gap, which is more in the case of canal irrigation.
  • In 1950-51, canal irrigation used to contribute 40% of net irrigated area, but by 2014-15, the net irrigated area under canal irrigation came down to less than 24%. 
  • Groundwater irrigation now covers 62.8% of net irrigated area.
  • Low efficiency of irrigation projects: The average water use efficiency of irrigation projects in India is only 38% against 50%-60% in the case of developed countries. 
  • More water consumption for crops: Even at the crop level we consume more water than the global average.
  • Rice and wheat, the two principal crops accounting for more than 75% of agricultural production use 2,850 m 3/tonnes and 1,654 m 3/tonnes of water, respectively, against the global average of 2,291m 3/tonnes and 1,334m 3/ tonnes in the same order.
  • The agriculture sector uses a little over 90% of total water use in India.
  • And in industrial plants, consumption is 2 times to 3.5 times higher per unit of production of similar plants in other countries. Similarly, the domestic sector experiences a 30% to 40% loss of water due to leakage.
• Low use of greywater
  • Greywater is hardly used in our country.
  • It is estimated that 55% to 75% of domestic water use turns into greywater depending on its nature of use, people’s habits, climatic conditions, etc.
  • At present, the average water consumption in the domestic sector in urban areas is 135 litres to 196 litres a head a day.
  • If greywater production in the rural areas is considered it will be a huge amount.
  • The discharge of untreated greywater and industrial effluents into freshwater bodies is cause for concern. The situation will be further complicated if groundwater is affected.
• Other issues
  • Apart from the inefficient use of water in all sectors, there is also a reduction in natural storage capacity and deterioration in catchment efficiency.

Conclusion
A hybrid water management system is necessary, where along with professionals and policy makers the individual, a community and society have definite roles in the value chain. The challenge is not to be techno-centric but anthropogenic.

GS-III

Context

The Union Cabinet has approved the setting up of a new government-owned firm National Land Monetisation Corporation (NLMC) for pooling and monetizing sovereign and public sector land assets.

About NLMC

• The National Land Monetisation Corporation (NLMC) is being formed with an initial authorised share capital of ₹5,000 crore and paid-up capital of ₹150 crore.
• The government will appoint a chairman to head the NLMC through a “merit-based selection process” and hire private sector professionals with expertise.
• The NLMC will undertake monetization of surplus land and building assets of Central public sector enterprises (CPSEs) as well as government agencies.

How will it function?

• NLMC will own, hold, manage and monetise surplus land and building assets of CPSEs under closure and surplus non-core land assets of Government-owned CPSEs under strategic disinvestment.
• This will speed up the closure process of CPSEs and smoothen the strategic disinvestment process of Government-owned CPSEs, the statement said.
• NLMC will undertake surplus land asset monetisation as an agency function, and assist and provide technical advice to the Centre in this regard.
• The NLMC board will comprise senior Government officers and eminent experts, while its chairman and non-Government directors will be appointed through a merit-based selection process, the statement said.
• The Corporation will have minimal full-time staff, hired directly from the market on a contract basis.

Stipulated tasks

• CPSEs have referred around 3,400 acres of land and other non-core assets to the Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM) for monetisation. 
• Monetisation of non-core assets of MTNL, BSNL, BPCL, BEML, HMT, is currently at various stages of the transaction, as per latest data in the Economic Survey 2021-22.

Significance of NLMC

• The government would be able to generate substantial revenues by monetizing unused and under-used assets.
• The new corporation will also help carry out monetization of assets belonging to public sector firms that have closed or are lined up for a strategic sale.

UPI123Pay and Digisaathi

Context

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has launched new UPI services for feature phones called UPI123Pay for non internet users to make digital payments, also launched a 24x7 helpline for digital payments called 'Digisaathi'.

• 'Digisaathi' has also been set up by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) to provide users with automated responses on information related to digital payment products and services. Presently it is available in English and Hindi language.

What is UPI 123 Pay?

• About: It will work on simple phones that do not have an internet connection.
  • As of now, the UPI features are mostly available only on smartphones.
  • The UPI service for feature phones will leverage the RBI's regulatory Sandbox on Retail Payments.
    • A regulatory sandbox usually refers to live testing of new products or services in a controlled/test regulatory environment for which regulators may permit certain regulatory relaxations for the limited purpose of the testing.
  • The UPI service will enable digital transactions through a mechanism of ‘on-device’ wallet in UPI applications."
  • The users will be able to undertake a host of transactions based on four technology alternatives including- IVR (interactive voice response) number, missed call-based approach, app functionality in feature phones and proximity sound-based payments..
• Benefits
  • The new service for feature phones will enable individuals to make direct payments to others without smartphones and internet.
  • Users can initiate payments to friends and family, pay utility bills, recharge the FAST Tags of their vehicles, pay mobile bills and also allow users to check account balances.
  • It will allow customers to use feature phones for almost all transactions except scan and pay.
  • UPI123Pay will benefit an estimated 40 crore feature phone users and enable them to undertake digital payments in a secure manner. This will bring non-smartphone users under the digital payment system.

Context

• Month after setting sail on the Ganga from Patna, a vessel carrying 200 metric tonnes of food grains for the Food Corporation of India (FCI), docked at Guwahati’s Pandu port on the southern bank of the Brahmaputra.
• The occasion is believed to have taken inland water transport, on two of India’s largest river systems, to the future.

Why is a Ganga-Brahmaputra cargo vessel in focus?

• There is nothing unusual about a cargo vessel setting sail from or docking at any river port. 
• This has rekindled hope for the inland water transport system which the landlocked northeast depended on heavily before India’s independence in 1947.

Inland water service: A necessity for the NE

• Seamless cargo transportation has been a necessity for the northeast.
• Around Independence, Assam’s per capita income was the highest in the country.
• This was primarily because of access for its tea, timber, coal and oil industries to seaports on the Bay of Bengal via the Brahmaputra and the Barak River (southern Assam) systems.
• Ferry services continued sporadically after 1947 but stopped after the 1965 war with Pakistan, as Bangladesh used to be East Pakistan then.
• The scenario changed after the river routes were cut off and rail and road through the “Chicken’s Neck”, a narrow strip in West Bengal, became costlier alternatives.
• The start of cargo movement through the Indo-Bangladesh Protocol (IBP) route is going to provide the business community a viable, economic and ecological alternative.

How did the water cargo service through Bangladesh come about?

• The resumption of cargo transport service through the waterways in Bangladesh has come at a cost since the Protocol on Inland Water Transit and Trade was signed between the two countries.
• India has invested 80% of ₹305.84 crore to improve the navigability of the two stretches of the IBP (Indo-Bangladesh Protocol) routes — Sirajganj-Daikhowa and Ashuganj-Zakiganj in Bangladesh.
• The seven-year dredging project on these two stretches till 2026 is expected to yield seamless navigation to the north-eastern region.
• With this, the distance between NW1 and NW2 will reduce by almost 1,000 km once the IBP routes are cleared for navigation.

Policy boosts to IWs

• The Government has undertaken the Jal Marg Vikas project with an investment of ₹4,600-crore to augment the capacity of NW1 for sustainable movement of vessels weighing up to 2,000 tonnes.
• Sailors who made the cargo trips possible have had difficulties steering clear of fishing nets and angry fishermen in Bangladesh.
• These hiccups will get sorted out with time.

Why go for IWT?

• Inland Water Transport (IWT) is a fuel-efficient, environment friendly and cost effective mode of transport having potential to supplement the over-burdened rail and congested roads.
• It is a boon where road transport is least feasible.

Context

Recently, the Indian researchers at RRI (Raman Research Institute) in a study using the SARAS 3 radio telescope, have conclusively denied a recent claim of the discovery of a radio wave signal from cosmic dawn.

• In 2018 a team of researchers from Arizona State University (ASU) and MIT in the US detected a signal from stars emerging in the early universe using data from the EDGES radio telescope.
• The Cosmic Dawn is the period from about 50 million years to one billion years after the Big Bang when the first stars, black holes, and galaxies in the Universe formed.
• The RRI is an autonomous research institute engaged in research in basic sciences. The institute was founded in 1948 by the Indian physicist and Nobel Laureate Sir C V Raman.

What is SARAS-3 Radio Telescope?

• SARAS is a niche high-risk high-gain experimental effort of RRI.
• SARAS aims to design, build and deploy in India a precision radio telescope to detect extremely faint radio wave signals from the depths of time, from our “Cosmic Dawn” when the first stars and galaxies formed in the early Universe.

What are the Findings?

• SARAS 3 did not find any evidence of the signal claimed by the EDGES experiment.
• The presence of the signal is decisively rejected after a careful assessment of the measurement uncertainties.
• The detection reported by EDGES was likely contamination of their measurement and not a signal from the depths of space and time.
• However, astronomers still do not know what the actual signal looks like.