Weekly Current Affairs (15th to 21st August 2022) - 2 - UPSC PDF Download

National Mission on Interdisciplinary Cyber-Physical Systems

Context: Recently, the Ministry of Science and Technology has organised a workshop to discuss joint research projects under NM-ICPS (National Mission on Interdisciplinary Cyber-Physical Systems).

• A total of 35 joint projects have been identified which will be implemented by TIHs (Technology Innovation Hubs) and research institutions from the USA.
• This endeavour will help achieve collaborative research and development between the two countries in the area of CPS (Cyber-Physical Systems).

What are Cyber-Physical Systems?

About: Cyber-physical systems integrate sensing, computation, control and networking into physical objects and infrastructure, connecting them to the Internet and to each other.

Applications

• Driverless cars that communicate securely with each other on smart roads,
• Sensors in the home to detect changing health conditions
• Improving agricultural practices and enabling scientists to address issues arising out of climate change, etc.

Significance

• Advances in cyber-physical systems will enable capability, adaptability, scalability, resiliency, safety, security and usability that will far exceed the simple embedded systems of today.

What is National Mission-Interdisciplinary Cyber-Physical Systems?

About: It was launched in 2018 by the Ministry of Science and Technology with an outlay of Rs. 3,660.00 crore for a period of five years to encourage innovation in new age technologies.

It covers the entire India which includes Central Ministries, State Governments, Industry and Academia.

Objectives

• The NM-ICPS is a comprehensive Mission which would address technology development, application development, human resource development & skill enhancement, entrepreneurship and start-up development in Cyber Physical System (CPS) and associated technologies.
• The Mission aims at the establishment of 15 Technology Innovation Hubs (TIH), six Application Innovation Hubs (AIH) and four Technology Translation Research Parks (TTRP).
• These Hubs & TTRPs will connect to Academics, Industry, Central Ministries and State Government in developing solutions at reputed academic, R&D and other organizations across the country in a hub and spoke model.
• The Hubs & TTRPs have four focused areas along which the Mission implementation would proceed, namely:
  • Technology Development,
  • HRD & Skill Development,
  • Innovation, Entrepreneurship & Start-ups Ecosystem Development, and
  • International Collaborations.

Significance

• CPS technologies provide a cutting edge to a Nation's scientific, engineering, and technologically innovative capabilities, support other missions of the government, provide industrial and economic competitiveness and have truly become a Strategic Resource.
• The Mission can act as an engine of growth that would benefit national initiatives in health, education, energy, environment, agriculture, strategic cum security, and industrial sectors, Industry 4.0, SMART Cities, Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) etc.
• CPS is an integrated system of upcoming technology, which in turn is being taken up on priority basis by countries in the race for development. CPS will indeed bring a paradigm shift in entire skill sets requirements.
• The job opportunities will be enhanced through the Mission by imparting advanced skills and generating skilled manpower as per the requirement of the industry/ society.

Talks Between India & NATO

Context: It was recently reported India held its first political dialogue with the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) in Brussels on December 12, 2019.

What is NATO?

• North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) is a military alliance established by the North Atlantic Treaty (also called the Washington Treaty) of April 1949, by the United States, Canada, and several Western European nations to provide collective security against the Soviet Union.
• There are currently 30 member states.
  • Original Members: Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
  • Other Countries: Greece and Turkey (1952), West Germany (1955, from 1990 as Germany), Spain (1982), the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Poland (1999), Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia, and Slovenia (2004), Albania and Croatia (2009), Montenegro (2017), and North Macedonia (2020).
• France withdrew from the integrated military command of NATO in 1966 but remained a member of the organization, it resumed its position in NATO’s military command in 2009.
  • Recently, Finland and Sweden have shown interest to join NATO.
• Headquarters: Brussels, Belgium.

What is the NATO-India Political Dialogue?

About: India held its first political dialogue with the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) in Brussels on December 12, 2019.

Significance

• NATO has been engaging both China and Pakistan in bilateral dialogue.
• While Engaging NATO in a political dialogue would provide India an opportunity to bring about a balance in NATO’s perceptions about the situation in regions and issues of concern to India.
• There is convergence in the perspectives of both India and NATO on China, terrorism, and Afghanistan, including Pakistan’s role in Afghanistan.

Issues

• According to NATO’s perspective, the biggest threat it face was not China, but Russia whose aggressive actions are threatening European security.
• Further, NATO had faced difficulties to convene meetings of the NATO-Russia Council due to Russian refusal to place issues such as Ukraine and Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty,
• Given the divergence among NATO countries, its view on China was seen as mixed, while it did deliberate on China’s rise, it presented both a challenge and an opportunity,
• Further, in Afghanistan, NATO saw the Taliban as a political entity.

NATO’S View:

• Dialogue with India would further enhance the cooperation among NATO countries and India’s geo-strategic location shares a unique perspective and enhances international security in India's own region and beyond.

Privatisation of Banks

Context: Recently, RBI has warned that big-bang privatisation of public sector banks can do more harm than good.

Key Findings

• While private sector banks (PVBs) are more efficient in profit maximisation, their public sector counterparts have done better in promoting financial inclusion.
  • PSBs (Public Sector Banks) have played a key role in catalysing financial investments in low-carbon industries, thereby promoting green transition in countries such as Brazil, China, Germany, Japan, and in the European Union.
  • PSBs were not entirely guided by the profit maximisation goal alone and have integrated the desirable financial inclusion goals in their objective function unlike private sector banks.
• Countercyclical role of PSB lending: In the recent years, these banks have also gained greater market confidence. 
  • Despite the criticism of weak balance sheets, data suggests that they weathered the COVID-19 pandemic shock remarkably well.
• The gradual approach to privatisation adopted by the government could ensure that a void was not created in fulfilling the social objective of financial inclusion and monetary transmission.
• Recent mega mergers of PSBs have resulted in consolidation of the sector, creating stronger and more robust and competitive banks.
  • In 2020, the government merged 10 nationalised banks into four large lenders, thereby bringing down the number of PSBs to 12.
• The establishment of the National Asset Reconstruction Company Limited (NARCL) would help in cleaning up the legacy burden of bad loans from their balance sheets.
• The recently constituted National Bank for Financing Infrastructure and Development (NABFiD) would provide an alternative channel of infrastructure funding, thus reducing the asset liability mismatch concerns of PSBs.

What is 'Privatisation'?

• The transfer of ownership, property or business from the government to the private sector is termed privatisation. 
• The government ceases to be the owner of the entity or business.
• It is considered to bring more efficiency and objectivity to the company, something that a government company is not concerned about. 
• India went for privatisation in the historic reforms budget of 1991, also known as 'New Economic Policy or LPG policy'.

Need for Privatisation

Aggravated high Non-Performing Assets (NPAs) and stressed assets amidst pandemic.

• To strengthen the strong banks and also minimise their numbers through privatisation to reduce its burden of support.
• Less effective bank mergers & infuse better management policies.
• No political interference & prompt decision making.
• More profitability & accountability to shareholders.
• Improves inflow of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) or investment.
• Recommended by Narasimham Committee (proposed 33% govt. stakes), P J Nayak Committee (<below 50%), RBI Working Group, etc.
• Better use of technology by private banks

Benefit of Privatisation

• Less effective bank mergers & infuse better management policies.
• No political interference & prompt decision-making.
• More employment opportunities in the sector for a large section of educated youth.
• More accountability to shareholders.
• Better use of technology by private banks.
• Improves inflow of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) or investment.

Why is the government focusing on Privatisation?

• Minimising governance:
  • Government wants to minimise its presence in different sectors where private industry is relatively more competent.
  • This market-led approach is also reflected in the creation of Asset Reconstruction Company for solving the financial crunch.
• Profitability:
• Public banks lag on profitability, market capitalisation and dividend payment record.
• Stressed assets:
• The Non-Performing Assets (NPAs) and stressed assets have increased in number, especially amidst pandemic.
• The government is taking all the possible measures to ensure that the country doesn’t end up being in deficit financing mode and privatisation could be one of the best ways out.

Arguments Against

• Performance Concerns (Lakshmi Vilas Bank’s operational issues, ICICI bank’s dubious loans sanctions, Yes Bank case etc.)
• This move will result in financial exclusion and promote crony capitalism.
• This will remove the sovereign guarantee behind the PSB deposits and make household savings less secure.
• Under Reporting of NPAs- 2015 Asset Quality Review by RBI.
• Concerns of successful disinvestment.
• Defeats goal of financial inclusion (failed Priority Lending Targets).
• Non-sharing of government’s social responsibilities (Violation of DPSP under Article 38).
  • Privatisation will shrink employment opportunities for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes (OBC) since the private sector does not follow reservation policies for the weaker sections.

Way Ahead

• From the conventional perspective that privatisation is a panacea for all ills, the economic thinking has come a long way to acknowledge that a more nuanced approach is required while pursuing it.
• These reforms were likely to help strengthen PSBs further.

Kamakhya Temple

Context: The Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) is planning to construct a ropeway from the Kamakhya Railway Station to the Kamakhya temple in Guwahati.

About:

• It is situated on the Nilachal Hill in western part of Guwahati city in Assam.
• It  is one of the oldest of the 51 Shakti Peethas in India. 
• The main temple is surrounded by individual temples dedicated to the ten Mahavidyas:
  • Kali, Tara, Sodashi, Bhuvaneshwari, Bhairavi, Chhinnamasta, Dhumavati, Bagalamukhi, Matangi and Kamalatmika.
• It is a centrepiece of Tantrik Shaktism cult in India
• Being the centre for Tantra worship this temple attracts thousands of tantra devotees in an annual festival known as the Ambubachi Mela. Another annual celebration is the Manasha Puja. 

Temple Architecture:

• It had been modelled out of a combination of two different styles, namely, the traditional nagara or North Indian and saracenic or Mughal. 
• Thus, being an unusual combination which came into its existence on this famous sakti shrine of India, it has been named as the Nilachala Style of Architecture. 
• The reason behind development of this new type by transgression of the orthodox nagara tradition is stated in the Darang-raj vamsavali, a compilation of 17th century A.D.

Indian Deliberating on Ocean Diversity Pact

Context: A delegation from India and other member countries of the UN are in New York to deliberate on a one-of-its-kind agreement to conserve marine biodiversity in the high seas.

About 

• The agreement is expected to be the final in a series set in motion since 2018 to draft an international legally binding instrument under the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). 

What are High Seas?

• The high seas are the parts of the ocean that are not included in the exclusive economic zones, territorial sea or internal waters of a State.
• The high seas are open to all States, whether coastal or land-locked. Freedom of the high seas is exercised under the conditions laid down by this Convention and by other rules of international law.
• The high seas comprise nearly 45% of the Earth’s surface.

Why do we need the Ocean Diversity Pact?

• The agreement is deciding on the rights of companies that undertake exploration for biological resources in the high seas: do companies have absolute rights on any discovery or extraction in these regions or should they share their gains, in terms of intellectual property and royalties with a UN-prescribed body.
• Typically the focus of mining activity in the sea has been for gas hydrates, precious metals and other fossil fuel resources. However with advances in biotechnology and genetic engineering, several companies see potential in exotic microbes and other organisms – several of them undiscovered
• Lack of monitoring and surveillance means human rights violations are abundant in the open ocean.
• There is no single global mechanism to establish Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) outside States’ territorial seas or uniform requirements for undertaking environmental impact assessments.
• The Union Cabinet approved a ‘Blue Economy’ policy for India, a nearly ?4,000-crore programme spread over five years. Studies on sustainable utilisation of deep sea bio-resources will be the main focus.

United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS)

• UNCLOS is an acronym for the United Nations Convention for the Law of the Sea. 
• The convention is also sometimes referred to as the Law of the Sea Convention or the Law of the Sea treaty. 
• UNCLOS came into operation and became effective from 16th November 1982.
  • India became a signatory to the UNCLOS in 1982.
• It replaced the four Geneva Conventions of April, 1958, which respectively concerned the territorial sea and the contiguous zone, the continental shelf, the high seas, fishing and conservation of living resources on the high seas.
• As per UNCLOS, the sea is divided into 4 parts:
  • Territorial waters
  • Contiguous Zone
  • Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ)
  • Continental Shelf
• It defines a distance of 12 nautical miles (approx. 22 km) from the baseline as Territorial Sea limit and a distance of 200 nautical miles distance as Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) limit.
  • Exclusive Economic Zone is an area of the sea in which a sovereign state has special rights regarding the exploration and use of marine resources, including energy production from water and wind.

Tilapia Aquaculture Project

Context: Recently, TDB-DST (Technology Development Board – Department of Science and Technology) entered a new domain by funding its first ever Aquaculture project using state of the art Israeli technology for production of Tilapia Fish.

What is Aquaculture?

• Cultivating aquatic organisms 
  • Aquaculture can be simply put as the controlled process of cultivating aquatic organisms, especially meant for human consumption.
• According to FAO of the United Nations
  • The farming of aquatic organisms including fish, molluscs, crustaceans and aquatic plants. Farming implies some sort of intervention in the rearing process to enhance production, such as regular stocking, feeding, protection from predators, etc.
• Ownership
  • Such farming also implies individual or corporate ownership of the stock being cultivated, the planning, development and operation of aquaculture systems, sites, facilities and practices, and the production and transport.

Why is Fisheries Important for India?

• Fastest growing sectors 
  • A fishery is one of the fastest growing sectors amongst the primary producing sectors. 
• Sunrise sector 
  • The sector plays a vital role in the economic and overall development of the country also referred to as the sunrise sector.
  • It is poised to bring in immense potential through equitable and inclusive growth.
• Providing employment 
  • The sector is recognized as a powerful engine for providing employment to 14.5 million people and sustaining livelihood for the 28 million fishermen community of the country. 

What is the Neel Kranti Mission (Blue Revolution)?

• Vision
  • The Neel Kranti Mission has the vision to achieve economic prosperity of the country and the fishers and fish farmers as well as contribute towards food and nutritional security through full potential utilization of water resources for fisheries development in a sustainable manner, keeping in view the bio-security and environmental concerns.
• Integrated development 
  • Its vision is to create an enabling environment for integrated development of the full potential of fisheries of the country.
• Improving income status 
  • It aims to improve the income status of fishers and fish farmers keeping in view the sustainability, bio-security and environmental concerns.
• The objectives include:
  • To increase the overall fish production in a responsible and sustainable manner for economic prosperity
  • To modernise the fisheries with special focus on new technologies
  • To ensure food and nutritional security
  • To generate employment and export earnings
  • To ensure inclusive development and empower fishers and aquaculture farmers

What is Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana?

• It is a flagship scheme for focused and sustainable development of the fisheries sector in the country with an estimated investment of 20,050 crore for its implementation during 2020-21 to 2024-25 as part of Aatmanirbhar Bharat package.

Aims

• To bring about the Blue Revolution through sustainable and responsible development of the fisheries sector in India.
• To enhance the fish production by an additional 70 lakh tonne by 2024-25, increasing fisheries export earnings to Rs.1, 00,000 crore by 2024-25.
• To double the incomes of fishers and fish farmers, reducing post-harvest losses from 20-25% to about 10% and the generation of gainful employment opportunities in the sector.

Implementation

• It will be implemented as an umbrella scheme with two separate components namely
  • Central Sector Scheme the project cost will be borne by the Central government.
  • Centrally Sponsored Scheme All the sub-components/activities will be implemented by the States/UTs and the cost will be shared between Centre and State.
• A well-structured implementation framework would be established for the effective planning and implementation of PMMSY.
• For optimal outcomes, ‘Cluster or area-based approach’ would be followed with requisite forward and backward linkages and end to end solutions.

Intended benefits of the scheme

• This scheme will address critical gaps in fish production and productivity, quality, technology, post-harvest infrastructure and management and logistics.
• It will help to improve the availability of certified quality fish seed and feed for international trade.
• The scheme helps in better traceability in fish and effective aquatic health management.
• It will create direct employment opportunities to about 15 lakh fishers, fish farmers, fish vendors and other rural and urban populations in fishing.
• This will further boost investments from states and private players in the fisheries sector and the increase in competitiveness of fish and fisheries products. The scheme will also help in doubling the incomes of fish farmers and fish workers by 2024.

Tilapia Fish

• Tilapia has emerged to be one of the most productive and internationally traded food fish in the world.
• The culture of tilapia has become commercially popular in many parts of the world and fishery experts have dubbed the tilapia as “aquatic chicken” due to its quick growth and low maintenance cultivation.
• If any fish could be named a global fish, no better name can be thought of than Tilapia. 

Major Reforms undertaken by the Government 

• Some of the major reforms and steps taken by the Union Government to harness the potential of the Fisheries sector in a sustainable and responsible manner towards ushering the Blue Revolution in Fisheries include:
  • Creation of a separate Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying in the Union Government.
  • Setting up a new and dedicated Department of Fisheries with independent administrative structure.
  • Implementation of the Centrally Sponsored Scheme on Blue Revolution: Integrated Development and Management of Fisheries during the period 2015-16 to 2019-20.
  • Creation of Fisheries and Aquaculture Infrastructure Development Fund (FIDF).
  • Launching of the Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana (PMMSY).

Conclusion 

• Thus, the sector urges young entrepreneurs of the country to come forward and offer solutions, resolving on-ground challenges through technology interventions and innovative solutions.

Excercise Vinbax & Exercise UDARASHAKTI

Context: Recently, Vietnam-India Bilateral Army Exercise VINBAX 2022 concluded at Chandimandir, Haryana.

About Vinbax 2022

• Vietnam has deployed a contingent in UN peacekeeping operations for the first time in South Sudan while India has a long and rich tradition of contributing to UN peacekeeping operations.
• The final validation exercise nicknamed ‘Men in Blue’ was built around the setting up of a base in a remote African location faced with myriad challenges.
• Importance: 
  • It was the first time ever that the Vietnam People’s Army (VPA) was undertaking a Field Training Exercise with any foreign Army. 
  • The fact that Vietnam chose India for this honour, speaks volumes about the value the two countries place on their mutual relationship.
  • Signifies the close relationship and convergence of interests between Vietnam and India.

About Exercise UDARASHAKTI 

• The bilateral exercise between the Indian Air Force (IAF) and the Royal Malaysian Air Force (RMAF) culminated at the RMAF Air Base Kuantan.
• Spanning four days, the exercise saw the two Air Forces work in cohesion through a series of complex aerial combat drills in multiple domains and exercise settings. 
• Significance:
  • It provided both the Air Forces an opportunity to share each others' best practices. 
  • The exercise was characterized by the display of a high degree of professionalism by all participants.