Weekly Current Affairs (22nd to 31st July 2022) - 1 - UPSC PDF Download

Nordic Stream

Context: Russia's Gazprom recently said it would again reduce gas deliveries through Nord Stream 1 by 20% for 'repairs,' cutting the current flow in half. 

Key Highlights

• Russian gas giant Gazprom said it will be cutting gas delivery by 33% daily, that would correspond to 20% of the pipeline's capacity.
• The full capacity of Nord Stream 1 is over 160 cubic meters of gas exported daily. Stopping the turbine will result in reduced capacity of 33 million cubic meters.
• The EU is heavily reliant on Russian gas. Last year, Russia supplied some 40 percent of the EU’s natural gas. 

About Nordic Stream

• Nord Stream 1, which is majority-owned by Gazprom, is the single biggest pipeline bringing crucial supplies of Russian natural gas to Europe via Germany.
• Nord Stream 1 begins north of Saint Petersburg in Russia and ends at a station near Greifswald on Germany's northern Baltic Sea coast.

N-Treat Technology

Context: To prevent sludge and sewage from 25 storm water drains between Bandra and Dahisar from flowing into the sea, Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has planned in-situ treatment of sewage from the drains through N-Treat technology.

Key Highlights

• The project will be undertaken with the help of Indian Institute of Technology-Bombay’s (IIT-B) N-Treat Technology.
• The floating matter will be removed daily, silt deposits from the silt traps will be removed once in four months, and plants will be trimmed as required.
• The floating matter collected every day will be disposed of at the nearest municipal waste collection point daily.
• This project will deal with the collective water flow of 1,11,150 kilo litres of water per day from the 25 nullahs, having an overall length of 2.9 km.
• The project will take place over the next five-and-ahalf years, and the first six months will be required for installing the equipment. 

About N-treat Technology

• N-Treat is a seven-stage process for waste treatment that uses screens, gates, silt traps, curtains of coconut fibers for filtration, and disinfection using sodium hypochlorite.
• It is a natural and environment friendly way for sewage treatment. Its set up takes place within the nullah channels, that is through the in-situ or on-site method of treatment, and does not require additional space.
• Aside from a floating bed on the surface, IIT-B has proposed suspending floating rafts vertically, called florafts.
• According to its proposal, “Their hanging roots would provide a large surface area for passive filtration as well as development of microbial consortium. In the floating wetlands, plants acquire nutrition directly from the water column for their growth and development, thus reducing the organic as well as inorganic pollutants.”
• The final stage for sewage treatment will include disinfection using sodium hypochlorite, to kill the bacteria in the water.

Low Temperature Thermal Desalination (LTTD) Technology

Context: National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT) has developed Low Temperature Thermal Desalination (LTTD) technology for conversion of seawater to potable water.

Key highlights

• In a written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha, Dr Jitendra Singh said, Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES) through its autonomous Institute, National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT) has developed Low Temperature Thermal Desalination (LTTD) technology for conversion of seawater to potable water.
• The technology has been successfully demonstrated in Lakshadweep islands.
• Three desalination plants based on the LTTD technology have been developed and demonstrated at Kavaratti, Agati and Minicoy Islands of Union Territory of Lakshadweep.
• The capacity of each of these LTTD plants is 1 Lakh litre of potable water per day.
• Based on the success of these plants, Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) through Union Territory (UT) Lakshadweep has entrusted the work of establishing 6 more LTTD plants at Amini, Androth, Chetlet, Kadmat, Kalpeni and Kiltan with a capacity of 1.5 lakhs litres/day.
• The LTTD technology is found suitable for Lakshadweep islands where the required temperature difference of about 15⁰C between sea surface water and deep-sea water is found in the vicinity of Lakshadweep coasts only as of now.
• The cost of desalination plants depends on a number of factors inter alia which includes technology used and location of the plant.
• The total cost of the six LTTD plants in Lakshadweep islands is Rs. 187.75 cr.

India Innovation Index

Context: NITI Aayog recently released the India Innovation Index 2021.

Key Highlights

• The Index has found that the country's overall spending on R&D has been one of the lowest in the world.
• R&D investment in India, in fact, has declined from 0.8% of the GDP in 2008–09 to 0.7% in 2017-18.
• As per NITI Aayog’s report, India’s Gross Expenditure on Research and Development (GERD) is lower than the other BRICS nations.
• Brazil, Russia, China and South Africa spend around 1.2%, 1.1%, above 2% and 0.8% respectively.
• The world average is around 1.8%.
• Developed countries the United States, Sweden, and Switzerland spend about 2.9%, 3.2% and 3.4%, respectively.
• Israel spends 4.5% of its GDP on R&D, the highest in the world.
• Karnataka has retained its top spot in the ‘Major States’ category, followed by Telangana and Haryana in innovation.
• Manipur has emerged as the best performer among the north-eastern and hilly states, followed by Uttarakhand and Meghalaya.
• Among the Union Territories and city-states, Chandigarh is the top performer, followed by Delhi. 

About India Innovation Index

• The India Innovation Index is prepared by the NITI Aayog and the Institute for Competitiveness.
• The number of indicators has increased from 36 (in the India Innovation Index 2020) to 66 (in the India Innovation Index 2021).

India’s Bioeconomy Report, 2022

Context: Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC) recently released India Bioeconomy Report 2022. 

Key Highlights

• The report said the country's bioeconomy has reached over USD 80 billion in 2021, registering a 14.1 per cent growth over USD 70.2 billion in 2020.
• It said that India generated USD 219 million of bioeconomy daily, adding USD 80.12 billion in 2021.
• On an average, at least three biotech startups were incorporated every day in 2021 (a total of 1,128 biotech startups set up in 2021) and the industry crossed USD 1 billion in research and development spending.
• On the vaccine front, India administered nearly 4 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines per day.
• BIRAC/DBT has established a strong network of 74 specialized bio-incubation centers in 21 states/UTs, including 7 bio-incubators in the northeast region. 

India’s Bioeconomy

• India is among the top three in South Asia and top 12 destinations for biotechnology in the world, with approximately 3 per cent share in the global biotechnology industry.
• Moreover, India has the 2nd highest number of USFDA approved manufacturing plants outside the US. 
• In case of sustainable biofuel, target year for 20 per cent ethanol blending has been advanced from 2025 to 2023 and this biotech sub-sector has shown two times growth.

Aadhaar FaceRD App

Context: The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) has launched an app-Aadhaar FaceRD App, to help with face authentication as a method of confirming an Aadhaar holder's identity.

Key Highlights

• The application allows Aadhaar Authentication User Agencies (AUA) to capture a person's face for the authentication process.
• Aadhaar Face Authentication technology has been developed in-house by UIDAI.
• Aadhaar FaceRD App captures a live person's face for Aadhaar authentication using Face Authentication Technology.
• Using the newly launched app, verification of Aadhaar card holders can be done anytime and at any place. Hence, Aadhaar holders would not need to carry physical identification.
• The biometric data of Aadhaar card holders will be stored in the Central Identity Data Repository. Therefore, the data would not go into private hands.
• According to UIDAI, this app can be used for Aadhaar face authentication for various other apps.

Anti-Piracy Bill, 2022

Context: Minister of External Affairs S. Jaishankar introduced a bill in Parliament that provides for stringent punishment, including death penalty, for those involved in piracy at sea.

Key Highlights

• The introduction of the bill came after some 18 Indians aboard a crude oil carrier were kidnapped off the coast of Nigeria. India is still negotiating the release of its nationals.
• The Anti-Maritime Piracy Bill 2019 is aimed at promoting the safety and security of India’s maritime trade, and the safety of its crew members.
• The aim of drafting the proposed legislation is to keep up with India’s commitment to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), which concluded in 1982. India had ratified the UNCLOS in 1995.
• Section three of the bill says that “whoever commits any act of piracy, shall be punished (i) with imprisonment for life; or (ii) with death, if such person in committing the act of piracy causes death or an attempt thereof."
• The bill noted that incidents of piracy have been growing since 2008, with the Gulf of Aden seeing a major uptick in attacks by pirates from Somalia. This route is used by about 2,000 ships each month for trade between Asia and Europe and East Coast of Africa. With the enhanced (international) naval presence in the Gulf of Aden, pirates shifted their area of operations eastwards and southwards. This led to a flurry of piracy incidents towards the western coast of India as well.

Jharkhand’s New Tourism Policy

Context: Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren recently launched the Jharkhand tourism Policy. 

Key Highlights

• The policy focuses on “extraction to attraction”.
• The government is aiming to encourage Indian and foreign private investment and participation in tourism infrastructure projects. The new tourism policy includes strategic joint ventures with private tour operators for setting up tourist packages and services, upgrading tourist information centres, and conducting a detailed assessment of tourism potential in every district.
• The state also plans to introduce the Jharkhand Tourism Home Stay Scheme, a bed-and-breakfast scheme of the state’s tourism ministry, on the lines of ‘Incredible India’.
• The policy proposes to enhance connectivity within the state through road permits to tour operators and aggregators.
• The government will provide a single-window system and 20-25 per cent capital investment subsidy (up to Rs 10 crore) and a reimbursement of 75 per cent of net goods and services tax paid for five years, to those investing in the state’s tourism sector.
• Other incentives include not levying holding tax for five years, reimbursing electricity duty and stamp duty, and captive power generating subsidy of 30 per cent up to Rs 5 lakh. The fiscal incentives include an interest subsidy at 50 per cent (up to Rs 20 lakh) for five years.
• The government will also provide special provisions for women, ex-servicemen, the differently-abled, and people belonging to scheduled castes and scheduled tribes.
• A security force will be set up by involving exservicemen. To prevent tourists being exploited by service providers, legislation for facilitating tourism trade has also been enacted.

Monkeypox

Context: World Health Organisation (WHO) declared the monkeypox outbreak a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC).

Key highlights

• The World Health Organisation (WHO) has declared the monkeypox epidemic a global health emergency.
• The committee of independent advisers were split on their decision on whether to call the growing monkeypox outbreak a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC) the highest level of alert. The head of the WHO, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, broke the deadlock and declared the outbreak a PHEIC.
• The first case of monkeypox was reported in a child in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (then Zaire) in 1970. Since then, outbreaks have generally been small and traceable to an individual who recently returned from a country where the virus is endemic that is, countries in west and central Africa. But the current outbreak is unlike any previous one outside of Africa in that there is sustained person-to-person transmission of the infection.
• As of July 2022, there have been 16,593 confirmed infections in 68 countries.
• Most infections have been reported from Europe. 

About Monkeypox

• 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. It is caused by monkeypox virus, a member of the Orthopoxvirus genus in the family Poxviridae.
•  Monkeypox virus is transmitted from one person to another by close contact with lesions, body fluids, respiratory droplets and contaminated materials such as bedding.
• Monkeypox is usually a self-limited disease with the symptoms lasting from 2 to 4 weeks. Severe cases can occur. In recent times, the case fatality ratio has been around 3–6%.

World Economic Outlook Update

Context: The International Monetary Fund (IMF) lowered India's economic growth forecast for the current fiscal to 7.4% from the 8.2%.

Key Highlights

• The multilateral agency also cut India’s growth forecast for the next fiscal by 0.8 percentage points to 6.1% amid growing economic risks.
• Despite the growth downgrade, India will remain one of the fastest growing major economies in the world in 2022-23 and 2023-24
• Meanwhile, the IMF also cut the 2022 global domestic product (GDP) estimate to 3.2%.
• In its latest World Economic Outlook update, IMF suggested policymakers prioritize taming inflation through further monetary policy tightening.
• The IMF also cut the global growth outlook and warned that the world may soon be on the brink of a recession.
• Global economic expansion will likely slow to 3.2% this year, slower than the 3.6% forecast by the fund in April.