The Hindu Editorial Analysis- 23rd January, 2022 | Current Affairs: Daily, Weekly & Monthly - CLAT PDF Download

1. The Great Resignation

UPSC Syllabus: Prelims: Current affairs (Indian Economy)
Sub Theme: Unemployment due to COVID | UPSC

Context: The Great Resignation has largely been fuelled by burnout, but other factors also include the shift to working from home and the desire to move into a more stable profession.

• In 2020, resignation rates across the US plummeted due to the fear and uncertainty caused by the pandemic. However, one year later, as the workforce experienced a collective burnout, individuals left their jobs at unprecedented rates, leading some to describe the phenomenon as the Great Resignation.
• In November 2021, 4.5 million workers left their jobs according to the US Labor Department. This matched record numbers observed in September and accounted for 3 per cent of the workforce quitting their jobs each month. Estimates indicate that in total, 75.5 million people in America resigned in 2021. Furthermore, according to a ResumeBuilder.com poll, around 23 per cent of the workforce will seek new jobs in 2022.
• Low-wage workers were more likely to resign than their higher-paid counterparts with the sectors most affected including hospitality, healthcare and social assistance, and transportation, warehousing, and utilities. Around 4.4 per cent of all positions in education are open, over 6 per cent in retail, and more than 8 per cent in healthcare. This amounts to almost a million and a half vacant positions.
• In India, the situation is not as dire but still cause for concern. Following the Great Resignation, the IT and technology sector is hiring at unprecedented rates with the top five IT companies hiring around 1.7 lakh people in 2021. Not only are people in the workforce changing jobs, but according to a September 2021 survey by Amazon India, nearly 51 per cent of job seekers are looking for opportunities in industries where they have little to no experience.
• The Great Resignation has largely been fuelled by burnout, but other factors also include the shift to working from home and the desire to move into a more stable profession. An MIT Sloan study found that more innovative companies suffer from a higher turnover as they demand more from their employees and project a sense of instability due to their cutting-edge nature. Unsurprisingly, companies that report higher employee satisfaction are better at retaining their employees. The MIT analysis found that a toxic corporate culture is the higher predictor of attrition and over ten times more important than salary in predicting turnover.

Impact

• In light of these resignations, the labour market has incentivised companies to offer better benefits and higher salaries. Economists predict that the race to attract top talent will continue with larger companies who can offer better salaries winning out. A recent report from the Conference Board found that the share of job postings that include a hiring bonus more than doubled between March 2020 and October 2021.
• According to research from the WFH Project, while higher pay can be a big factor, people value the flexibility to work from home as much as they would, a ten per cent pay rise. Consequently, companies across the board are offering employees shorter and more flexible work weeks with several shifting permanently to work from home.
• The work from home culture has also impacted the housing market. For what one would pay to rent a small apartment in a city like New York or San Francisco, they could afford to buy a house in a city like Greenville, South Carolina. This in turn has attracted big employers like BMW and Michelin to move to smaller cities, while also nurturing small businesses and start-ups.
• Bleeding workforces have also fuelled more automation. In 2020, the World Economic Forum surveyed 300 global companies and found that 43 per cent of business expect to reduce their workforce with new technology. As companies struggle to hire in the US, companies are increasingly turning towards automation and outsourcing to combat labour shortages.

What can be done?

• According to the same MIT study, there are a number of ways that companies can retain top talent. The first is to provide opportunities for lateral job moves. The study found that people experience burnout due to a lack of new challenges and the opportunity to try something new. When employees are offered new jobs at their companies, they are almost 12 per cent less likely to resign. International postings are also a big incentive as they come with new experiences.
• The study also found that companies that have a healthy work culture are less likely to lose employees. Creating a better workplace includes hosting more cooperate social events, providing employees with benefits like happy hours and organising more excursions outside the office. This has the dual benefit of creating fun experiences and strengthening connections between team members.
• The paper notes that when blue-collar employees describe their schedules as predictable, they are less likely to quit. It, therefore, advises companies that higher low-wage workers to make schedules more predictable by establishing concrete time slots and putting in place measures like mandatory mask wearing and social distancing.

2. The Concern Over 5G and Flight Safety

UPSC Syllabus: Prelims and Mains GS paper III: Science and Technology
Sub Theme: 5G related issues | UPSC

Context: Flights to the United States from India were briefly suspended after the Federal Aviation Administration warned that the rollout of new 5G technology could potentially lead to interference with onboard instruments.

• Flights to the United States from India resumed on Thursday as the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) cleared the landing of more aircraft even in low-visibility conditions, despite the rollout of C-band 5G technology.
• Following the announcement, Air India resumed flights from India to the US, with the first flight for John F Kennedy International Airport in New York departing in the morning.

Why had AI suspended its US flights?

• On January 14, the FAA warned that the rollout of new 5G technology by AT&T and Verizon in the allotted 3.7-3.98 GHz (gigahertz) band could potentially lead to interference with onboard instruments such as radar altimeters.
• Commercial passenger and cargo airlines had also warned of an impending “catastrophic” aviation crisis if the rollout of 5G went ahead as planned.
• Early on Wednesday, AI announced it would not be operating eight India-US flights — on the Delhi-New York, Delhi-Chicago, Delhi-San Francisco sectors — that day “due to deployment of the 5G communications in the US”.
• Besides AI, US-based American Airlines and Delta Airlines operate direct flights between the countries. These carriers, too, cancelled their flights on Wednesday.
• The deployment of 5G by AT&T and Verizon, two of the biggest wireless communications service providers in the US, has triggered concern among airlines, who have said that the frequencies used by the telecom companies is very close to the frequencies used by onboard instruments such as radar altimeters, which operate in the 4.2-4.4 GHz range.

How Do Flight Radar Altimeters Help in Safe Flight Operations?

• For all airborne vehicles — an aircraft, spacecraft, or even a missile — an altimeter is crucial to gauge the altitude and the distance covered.
• Altimeters are of three main kinds: barometric, laser, and radio or radar altimeters. Most commercial passenger and cargo aircraft use a combination of all these altimeters along with global positioning system (GPS) to determine their path, as well as factors such as height above sea level, presence of high rises, mountains, and other obstacles, and the likely flying time.
• The radio or radar altimeter is a very small, low-power radar system that operates in the 4.2-4.4 GHz frequency microwave C-band. The high frequency of these altimeters enable aircraft makers to install small antennae that produce powerful signals that can be relayed quickly and accurately.

Why is There Concern About Radar Altimeter Interference Specifically in the US?

• Although the rollout of 5G by telecom service providers has been a cause of concern for aviation everywhere, the situation is critical in the US, which auctioned 5G bandwidth in 2021 in the 3.7-3.98 GHz on the C-band spectrum range. This band is very close to the 4.2-4.4 GHz range in which radio or radar altimeters operate, airline companies have complained.
• According to industry experts, there are chances of interference of the two bands as telecom service operators, in order to extract the full value of 5G and give customers the best experience, push operations to the highest band possible. Altimeters too need to operate at higher frequencies in order to get the most accurate readings possible.

What is the situation in India?

• In India, where 5G is yet to be rolled out, the frequency range for 5G telecoms operations is pegged around 3.3-3.68 GHz. It is learnt that the Federation of Indian Pilots has, in its meetings with the Department of Telecommunications (DoT), expressed concern about the frequencies being close together.
• The DoT however, assured them that there would be no interference as the frequencies for commercial 5G services were at least 530 MHz away from those used by altimeters.

3. Parakram Diwas and S C Bose

UPSC Syllabus: Prelims and Mains GS paper I: Indian Modern History
Sub Theme: Freedom fighter | UPSC

Celebration of Parakram Diwas

• Government of India issued a gazette notification in January 2021 on 125th birth Anniversary of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose to celebrate the day every year as Parakram Diwas.
• High Level Committee under the chairmanship of Hon’ble Prime Minister was constituted last year for the commemoration.
• The Committee included distinguished persons, historians, authors, experts, family members of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose as well as eminent persons associated with Azad Hind Fauz (INA).
• Celebration of Parakram Diwas will be done every year to honour and remember Netaji’s indomitable spirit and selfless service to the nation. It will also inspire people of the country, especially the youth, to act with fortitude in the face of adversity as Netaji did, and to infuse in them a spirit of patriotic fervour.

Steps Announces Last Year to celebrate Parakram Diwas

• Government of India approved various proposals relating to Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose such as
• establishing a memorial in Red Fort to INA martyrs and at Neelganj near Kolkata,
• short Videos on Netaji and INA,
• documentary on INA trials,
• publishing of biography of Col. Dhillon and Gen. Shahnawaz Khan,
• publishing of photos of INA in the form of a pictorial book, children-friendly comics on Netaji.
• Govt. of India is also celebrating important dates associated with Netaji & INA at significant places such as
• Moirang Day – British army defeated on Indian soil – 14 April
• INA Raising Day-21st October,
• Netaji went to Andaman & unfurled flag – 30th December,
• INA battle of Imphal.
• In 2018 the government named the island of Andaman as Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose Island.

Subhas Chandra Bose Aapda Prabandhan Puraskar

• Union government has instituted the annual Subhas Chandra Bose Aapda Prabandhan Puraskar to recognize and honour the invaluable contribution and selfless service rendered by individuals and organisations in India in the field of disaster management.
• The award is announced every year on 23rd January. The award carries a cash prize of Rs. 51 lakh and a certificate in case of an institution and Rs. 5 lakh and a certificate in case of an individual.
• Today, Prime Minister will confer the Subhas Chandra Bose Aapda Prabandhan Puraskars for the years 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022 in the investiture ceremony. A total of seven awards will be presented during the ceremony.

Grand Statue of Netaji at India Gate

• To commemorate the 125th birth anniversary of the great freedom fighter Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose and as part of the year-long celebrations, the government has decided to install a grand statue of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose at India Gate.
• The statue, made of granite, shall be a fitting tribute to the immense contribution of Netaji in our freedom struggle, and would be a symbol of the country’s indebtedness to him.
• Till the work for the statue is completed, a hologram statue of Netaji will be present at the same place. Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi will unveil the hologram statue of Netaji at India Gate on 23rd January 2022 at around 6 PM.

Important Facts – S.C. Bose

Early Life

• Netaji Subhas was born in Odisha’s Cuttack to Prabhabati Bose and Janakinath Bose in 1897.
• He studied at Presidency College, from which he was expelled in 1916 for nationalist activities.
• He was influenced by Swami Vivekananda’s teachings and considered him as his spiritual guru.
• His parents sent him to the University of Cambridge in England to prepare for Indian Civil Service (ICS) examination.

Participation in Freedom Struggle

• In the year 1920, he passed the ICS examination, but on hearing about the Jallianwalla Bagh massacre he quit ICS and came back to India in 1921 to join freedom struggle.
• On his return to India, he joined Non-Cooperation Movement started by Mahatama Gandhi.
• During the movement, he was advised by the Mahatma Gandhi to work with Chittaranjan Das who became his political guru.
• In 1938 he was elected president of the Indian National Congress and formed a national planning committee, which formulated a policy of broad industrialization.

Difference of Opinion

• His idea of industrialization was not in sync with Gandhi’s ideas of cottage industries.
• There was also difference in assessment of India’s preparedness for civil disobedience in the backdrop of international developments.
• He was also against India’s joining the Second World War as an ally of British.

Military Contribution

• Bose’s ideology tilted towards socialism and leftist authoritarianism. He formed the All India Forward Bloc in 1939 as a faction within the Congress.
• The idea to frame Forward Block was bring all radical elements of the Congress party so that he could spread the meaning of complete independence of India with adherence of the application of principles of equality and social justice.
• He raised the first Indian National Army (INA), Azad Hind Fauj in 1943 and started an armed coup and inspired thousands of Indian youths to join the struggle for independence from the British colonial rule.

Bose called Mahatma Gandhi as Father of the Nation

• In his radio address, while launching attacks on the British forces, it was Subhas Chandra Bose who called Mahatma Gandhi the father of the nation. 
• In his last radio address from Burma in 1944 that Subhas Chandra Bose said, “Father of our Nation! In this holy war for India’s liberation, we ask for your blessings and good wishes.”

Azad Hind Fauj & Subhash Chandra Bose

• Indian Independence League – Rash Behari Bose, an Indian revolutionary who had escaped from India and had been living in Japan for many years, set up the Indian independence league in 1942 with the support of Indians living in the countries of southeast Asia.
• When Japan defeated the British armies and occupied almost all the countries of south-East Asia, the league formed the Indian National Army from among the Indian prisoners of war with the aim of liberating India from the British rule.
• General Mohan Singh, who had been an officer in the British Indian army, played an important role in organizing this army.
• Bose visited Japan in 1943 where the Royal Administration agreed to his appeal for help to free India from British and here Bose rebuilt the Indian National Army for India’s freedom.
• In October 1943 Bose formed a provisional government which was recognised by the Axis Powers during the Second World War. In December 1943, INA freed the Andaman and Nicobar islands from the British and were renamed as Swaraj and Shaheed islands.
• However, the attempt to liberate India by the Azad Hind Fauj did not succeed.

Literary Contributions

• He started the newspaper ‘Swaraj’.
• He authored the book The Indian Struggle which covers the Indian independence movement from 1920 to 1942. The book was banned by the British government.
• An Indian Pilgrim  

4. Kerala Bird Atlas

UPSC Syllabus: Prelims and Mains GS paper III: Environment and ecology
Sub Theme: Defence equipments | UPSC

Unique Feature

• Conducted between 2015-20.
• Conducted through citizen-science driven exercise.
• Asia’s largest bird atlas.
• Over 361 species were identified.

Current Affairs: India’s reliance on Chinese goods surge | The Hindu

UPSC Syllabus: Prelims/Mains: Indian economy

Sub Theme: India’s trade with China | UPSC

Context: India’s imports from China has increased over 66% in last financial year. India has imported around $97.5b and exported around $27.5b only. Total volume of trade was $125b

What: Integrated circuits, laptops and personal computers, oxygen therapy apparatus and intermediate chemicals.