UPSC Daily Current Affairs- 24th November 2022 | Current Affairs & Hindu Analysis: Daily, Weekly & Monthly PDF Download

GS-I

Context

November 24 is commemorated as the Shaheedi Divas of Guru Tegh Bahadur.

About:

• Guru Tegh Bahadur (1621 – 1675) was the ninth of ten Gurus of the Sikh religion.
• Name: He was born as Tyaga Mal. He came to be known by the name Teg Bahadur (Mighty of The Sword), given to him by Guru Hargobind after he shown his valour in a battle against the Mughals.
• Family: His father was the Sixth guru, Guru Hargobind. His son Guru Gobind Singh, became the tenth Sikh guru.
• Life and works:
  • He built the city of Anandpur Sahib (in Rupnagar/Ropar district, on the edge of Shivalik Hills, near the Sutlej River, in Punjab). Here the last two Sikh Gurus lived and where Guru Gobind Singh Ji founded the Khalsa Panth in 1699.
  • He contributed more than 100 poetic hymns to Granth Sahib which cover various topics, such as the nature of God, human attachments, body, mind, dignity service etc.
  • He resisted the forced conversions of Kashmiri Pandits and non-Muslims to Islam.
• Martyrdom:
  • He was publicly beheaded in 1675 on the orders of Mughal emperor Aurangzeb in Delhi for himself refusing to convert to Islam. He is remembered for giving up his life for freedom of religion.
  • His martyrdom is remembered as the Shaheedi Divas of Guru Tegh Bahadur every year on 24 November, according to the Nanakshahi calendar released by the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee in 2003.
• Memorials in Delhi:
  • Gurudwara Sis Ganj Sahib mark the place of his execution.
  • Gurdwara Rakab Ganj Sahib mark the places of cremation of his body.

Source: Indian Express

Context

A new study published in the Nature Communications journal on El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) projects that climate change will significantly impact El Niño-La Niña weather patterns approximately by 2030 — a decade before what was earlier predicted.

About:

Findings:

• The combination of El Niño, La Niña, and the neutral state between the two opposite effects is called the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO).
• Southern oscillations are large-scale changes in sea level pressure in the tropical Pacific region.

El Niño phenomenon:

• El Niño is the warming of sea water in the central-east Equatorial Pacific that occurs every few years.
• During El Niño, surface temperatures in the equatorial Pacific rise, and trade winds — east-west winds that blow near the Equator — weaken.
• Normally, easterly trade winds blow from the Americas towards Asia.
• Due to El Niño, they falter and change direction to turn into westerlies, bringing warm water from the western Pacific towards the Americas.
• The phenomena of upwelling, where nutrient-rich waters rise towards the surface, is reduced under El Niño.
• This in turn reduces phytoplankton. Thus, fish that eat phytoplankton are affected, followed by other organisms higher up the food chain.
• Warm waters also carry tropical species towards colder areas, disrupting multiple ecosystems.
• Since the Pacific covers almost one-third of the earth, changes in its temperature and subsequent alteration of wind patterns disrupt global weather patterns.
• Impacts:
  • El Niño causes dry, warm winter in Northern U.S. and Canada and increases the risk of flooding in the U.S. gulf coast and south-eastern U.S. It also brings drought to Indonesia and Australia.

La Niña:

• La Niña is the opposite of El Niño.
• La Niña sees cooler than average sea surface temperature (SST) in the equatorial Pacific region.
• Trade winds are stronger than usual, pushing warmer water towards Asia.
• On the American west coast, upwelling increases, bringing nutrient-rich water to the surface.
• Pacific cold waters close to the Americas push jet streams — narrow bands of strong winds in the upper atmosphere — northwards.
• Impacts:
  • This leads to drier conditions in Southern U.S., and heavy rainfall in Canada.
  • La Niña has also been associated with heavy floods in Australia.
  • Two successive La Niña events in the last two years caused intense flooding in Australia, resulting in significant damage.

Impact on India’s monsoons:

• In India, El Niño causes weak rainfall and more heat, while La Niña intensifies rainfall across South Asia, particularly in India’s northwest and Bangladesh during the monsoon.
• At present, India, like the rest of the globe, is witnessing an extended ‘triple dip’ La Niña.

Source: The Hindu

GS-II

Context

The most vital mandate of the Central Information Commission, the apex body under India’s transparency regime, its primary duty is to decide the disclosure or the non-disclosure of information. But the commission has seemingly relinquished this primary duty in cases of larger public importance.

All you need to know about Central Information Commission (CIC)

• Chief Information commissioner (CIC): Chief Information commissioner who heads all the central departments and ministries- with their own public information officers (PIO)s. CICs are directly under the President of India.
• Composition: The Commission consists of a Chief Information Commissioner and not more than ten Information Commissioners. At present (2019), the Commission has six Information Commissioners apart from the Chief Information Commissioner.
• Appointment: They are appointed by the President on the recommendation of a committee consisting of the PM as Chairperson, the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha and a Union Cabinet Minister nominated by the PM.
• Office term: The CIC/IC shall hold office for such term as prescribed by the Central Government or until they attain the age of 65 years, whichever is earlier. They are not eligible for reappointment.

Power and functions:

• It is the duty of the Commission to receive and inquire into a complaint from any person regarding information request under RTI, 2005.
• The Commission can order an inquiry into any matter if there are reasonable grounds (suo-moto power).
• While inquiring, the Commission has the powers of a civil court in respect of summoning, requiring documents etc.

Procedure of RTI and the role of CIC

• Provision to File and application and seek guaranteed reply: Citizens can file applications under the Right to Information Act with any public body and are guaranteed a reply from the public information officer of that public body within 30 days.

Provision of appeal in case of dissatisfaction:

• In case of a no reply or dissatisfaction with the response, the citizen can file an appeal at the departmental level and then a second and final appeal with the Information Commission.
• Each State has its own State Information Commission to deal with second appeals concerning State bodies. At the Centre, it is the Central Information Commission (CIC).

How RTI amendment, 2019 has changed CIC?

• Before the amendment to the Until the 2019 amendment to the RTI Act, Information Commissioners (ICs) appointed to the CIC were equal in status to the Chief Election Commissioner, and that of a Supreme Court judge. They had a five­-year fixed term and terms of service.
• After the amendments of 2019, the Centre gave itself powers to change and decide these terms whenever it wished, thereby striking at the independence of the commission and those who man it.

What are the concerns raised over the changed approach of CIC?

• Decreasing accountability: Records show that not a single order for disclosure has been forthcoming in matters of public importance. The present set of Information Commissioners have together adopted a new jurisprudence that has created additional hurdles in a citizen’s quest for accountability.
• Systematic ignorance to the mandate of non-disclosure: The Commission has adopted a new way of delegating its mandate to decide cases to the Ministry before it. In most cases, the Ministries reiterate their earlier stand of non­disclosure, most often under vague grounds of national interest.
• Refusing to its duty: After these public authorities pass fresh orders, which are usually a reiteration of their earlier stand against disclosure, the CIC refuses to accept any further challenge to such orders, therefore, refusing to do its duty of deciding the cases.
• Ignoring the principle of natural justice: One of the cardinal rules of natural justice is that no one should be a judge in their own cause. However, the commission now allows, or rather wants, the very Ministry that stands accused of violating the RTI Act to act as the judge in their own cause and decide whether a disclosure is necessary.
• New instruments such as pending cases and stay orders: A case to keep pending for final order or a stay order is unheard of and there is no provision in the RTI Act for the same.
• Officers have no fear of any penal provisions: Bureaucrats reject RTIs with glee with no fear of facing penal provisions outlined in Section 20 of the RTI Act, knowing fully well that they have a free hand under the Information Commissioners.

Back to basics: The Right to Information

• RTI is an act of the parliament which sets out the rules and procedures regarding citizens’ right to information.
• It replaced the former Freedom of Information Act, 2002.
• Under the provisions of RTI Act, any citizen of India may request information from a “public authority” (a body of Government or “instrumentality of State”) which is required to reply expeditiously or within 30.
• In case of the matter involving a petitioner’s life and liberty, the information has to be provided within 48 hours.
• The Act also requires every public authority to computerize their records for wide dissemination and to proactively publish certain categories of information so that the citizens need minimum recourse to request for information formally.

Conclusion

Dark clouds surround India’s transparency regime. Citizens have to mount intense pressure on authorities to act and appoint commissioners of integrity. Lawyers have to help willing citizens take matters to court and seek justice.

Source: The Hindu

Context

The Global Hunger Index (GHI) 2022 has brought more unwelcome news for India, as far as its global ranking on a vital indicator of human development is concerned. India ranked 107 out of 121 countries. Malnutrition still haunts India

Global hunger Index (GHI)

• The GHI is an important indicator of nutrition, particularly among children, as it looks at stunting, wasting and mortality among children, and at calorific deficiency across the population.

Findings according to the National family health survey findings (NFHS-5)

• India’s National Family Health Survey (NFHS-5) from 2019-21 reported that in children below the age of five years, 35.5% were stunted, 19.3% showed wasting, and 32.1% were underweight.

Status of budgetary allocation for Government Schemes

• Gaps in the funding: Experts have suggested several approaches to address the problem of chronic malnutrition, many of which feature in the centrally-sponsored schemes that already exist. However, gaps remain in how they are funded and implemented, in what one might call the plumbing of these schemes.
• Saksham Anganwadi:
  • The Government of India implements the Saksham Anganwadi and Prime Minister’s Overarching Scheme for Holistic Nutrition (POSHAN) 2.0 scheme (which now includes the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) scheme),
  • It seeks to work with adolescent girls, pregnant women, nursing mothers and children below three.
  • However, the budget for this scheme for FY2022-23 was ₹20,263 crore, which is less than 1% more than the actual spent in FY2020-21 an increase of less than 1% over two years.
• PM POSHAN:
  • PM POSHAN, or Pradhan Mantri Poshan Shakti Nirman, known previously as the Mid-Day Meal scheme (National Programme of Mid-Day Meal in Schools).
  • The budget for FY2022-23 at ₹10,233.75 crore was 21% lower than the expenditure in FY2020-21.
  • It is clear that the budgets being allocated are nowhere near the scale of the funds that are required to improve nutrition in the country.

What are the hurdles for effective Implementation of such large-scale schemes?

• Underfunded Nutrition Programme: An Accountability Initiative budget brief reports that per capita costs of the Supplementary Nutrition Programme (one of the largest components of this scheme) has not increased since 2017 and remains grossly underfunded, catering to only 41% of the funds required.
• Vacant posts of Projects officers and insufficient manpower: The budget brief also mentions that over 50% Child Development Project Officer (CDPO) posts were vacant in Jharkhand, Assam, Uttar Pradesh, and Rajasthan, pointing to severe manpower constraints in successfully implementing the scheme of such importance.
• Regular controversies over the food served under MDM: While PM POSHAN (or MDM) is widely recognized as a revolutionary scheme that improved access to education for children nationwide, it is often embroiled in controversies around what should be included in the mid-day meals that are provided at schools.
• Irregular social audits: Social audits that are meant to allow community oversight of the quality of services provided in schools are not carried out routinely.
• Volatile food prices effects: The effect of cash transfers is also limited in a context where food prices are volatile and inflation depletes the value of cash.
• Social factors: Equally, there are social factors such as ‘son preference’, which sadly continues to be prevalent in India and can influence household-level decisions when responding to the nutrition needs of sons and daughters.

Suggestions for the effective delivery of the government schemes

• Tracing the reasons behind existing malnutrition: It is clear that malnutrition persists due to depressed economic conditions in large parts of the country, the poor state of agriculture in India, persistent levels of unsafe sanitation practices, etc. Political battles over malnutrition are not going to help; nor is continuing to think in silos.
• Cash transfers where purchasing poverty is less: Cash transfers have a role to play here, especially in regions experiencing acute distress, where household purchasing power is very depressed. Cash transfers can also be used to incentivize behavioural change in terms of seeking greater institutional support.
• Targeted supplementation: Food rations through PDS and special supplements for the target group of pregnant and lactating mothers, and infants and young children, are essential.
• Community participation: Getting these schemes right requires greater involvement of local government and local community groups in the design and delivery of tailored nutrition interventions.
• Comprehensive social education programs for girls: A comprehensive programme targeting adolescent girls is required if the inter-generational nature of malnutrition is to be tackled. There is a need of comprehensive social education programme.

Conclusion

Malnutrition has been India’s scourge for several years now. A month-long POSHAN Utsav may be good optics, but is no substitute for painstaking everyday work. The need of the hour is to make addressing child malnutrition the top priority of the government machinery, and all year around.

Source: Indian Express

GS-III

• India recently carried out a successful launch of Agni-3 Intermediate Range Ballistic Missile from A.P.J. Abdul Kalam Island in Odisha.
• It was launched as part of routine user training launches carried out under the aegis of the Strategic Forces Command.
• India has also completed its nuclear triad and operationalised its second-strike capability, with nuclear ballistic missile submarine INS Arihant undertaking deterrence patrols.
  • A nuclear triad is a three-pronged military structure that consists of land-launched nuclear missiles, nuclear-submarines and aircraft with nuclear missiles.
  • A second-strike capability assures an ability to respond to a nuclear attack with powerful nuclear retaliation.

• About IGMDP:
  • It was a programme for the R&D of the comprehensive range of missiles in India, started in 1982–83 under the leadership of Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam.
  • It was a Ministry of Defence programme managed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and Ordnance Factories Board.
  • As part of this program, the Interim Test Range (renamed as A.P.J. Abdul Kalam Island in 2016) at Balasore in Odisha was also developed for missile testing.
• Types of missiles under the programme: APJ Abdul Kalam started multiple projects simultaneously to develop the following types of Indian Guided Missiles -
  • Short Range Surface to Surface Missile (SSM) ‘Prithvi’
  • Long Range Surface to Surface Missile (SSM) ‘Agni’
  • Medium Range Surface to Air Missile (SAM) ‘Akash’
  • Short Range Surface to Air Missile (SAM) ‘Trishul’
  • Anti-tank Guided Missile (ATGM) ‘Nag’

About the Agni Missiles:

• It was initially conceived in the IGMDP as a technology demonstrator project in the form of a re-entry vehicle, and was later upgraded to a ballistic missile with different ranges.
  • A ballistic missile is a type of missile that uses projectile motion to deliver warheads on a target.
  • These weapons are guided only during relatively brief periods and most of the flight is unpowered.
• The Agni missile is a family of medium to intercontinental range ballistic missiles, named after one of the five elements of nature.
• Agni missiles are long range, nuclear weapons capable, surface to surface ballistic missiles.
• The first missile of the series, Agni-I was developed under the lGMDP and tested in 1989.
• After its success, the Agni missile program was separated from the IGMDP upon realizing its strategic importance.
• The Agni series of missiles constitute the backbone of India’s nuclear weapons delivery which also includes the Prithvi short range ballistic missiles and fighter aircraft.

About the Strategic Forces Command (SFC):

• Sometimes called Strategic Nuclear Command, SFC (created in 2003) forms part of India's Nuclear Command Authority (NCA).
  • The NCA is the authority responsible for command, control and operational decisions regarding India's nuclear weapons programme.
  • It comprises a Political Council headed by the Prime Minister of India and an Executive Council headed by the National Security Advisor.
• SFC is responsible for the management and administration of the country's tactical and strategic nuclear weapons stockpile.

Source: Indian Express

Context

The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, has recently launched a call for startup applications for registration on the MAARG portal, the National Mentorship Platform by Startup India.

About:

• MAARG portal, (Mentorship, Advisory, Assistance, Resilience and Growth), is a one stop platform to facilitate mentorship for startups across diverse sectors, functions, stages, geographies, and backgrounds.
• The objectives of the MAARG portal are: 
  • To provide sector focused guidance, handholding, and support to startups throughout their lifecycle
  • To establish a formalized and structured platform that facilitates intelligent matchmaking between the mentors and their respective mentees
  • To facilitate efficient and expert mentorship for startups and build an outcome-oriented mechanism that allows timely tracking of the mentor-mentee engagements.
• Startups can now effectively connect with academicians, industry experts, successful founders, seasoned investors, and other experts from across the globe, through Artificial Intelligence (AI) based matchmaking, to get personalized guidance on growth and strategy.
• The key features of the portal include customizable mentorship programs for ecosystem enablers, mobile-friendly user interface, recognition for contributing mentors, video and audio call options, etc.
• The MAARG is being operationalized in three phases which include, Mentor Onboarding, Startup Onboarding, and MAARG Portal Launch and Mentor Matchmaking.

Source: PIB

Context

A contingent of Indian Special Forces troops are currently engaged in a bilateral joint training Exercise GARUDA SHAKTI.

About:

• It is a joint training exercise between Indian Special Forces and the Indonesian Special Forces.
• It is held at Sangga Buana Training Area,in
• The Exercise is the eighth edition of the series of bilateral exercises under this banner and this is a part of military-to-military exchange programs.
• It aims at enhancing understanding, cooperation and interoperability between the Special Forces of both armies.

Source: All India Radio

Measles

Context

Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has recently decided to depute three high-level multi-disciplinary three-member teams to Ranchi, Ahmedabad and Malappuram (Kerala) to take stock of the upsurge in cases of Measles there.

About:

• Measles is a highly contagious viral disease.
• Transmission: It is transmitted via droplets from the nose, mouth or throat of infected persons.
• Symptoms: Initial symptoms include high fever, a runny nose and bloodshot eyes. Several days later, a rash develops, starting on the face and upper neck and gradually spreading downwards.
• Health Impact: It can cause life-threatening complications including encephalitis (an infection that leads to swelling of the brain), severe diarrhoea and dehydration, pneumonia, ear infections and permanent vision loss.
• Treatment: The disease is preventable through two doses of a safe and effective vaccine.
• Criteria for Measles elimination:
  • Measles elimination is defined as the absence of endemic measles virus transmission in a region or other defined geographical area for more than 12 months.
  • Conversely, a country is no longer considered to be measles free if the virus returns and transmission is sustained continuously for more than a year.
• Measles & Rubella Initiative (M&RI):
  • M&RI is a partnership formed in 2001 of the American Red Cross, CDC, the United Nations Foundation, UNICEF and World Health Organization (WHO)
  • It is committed to achieving the Global Vaccine Action Plan goal of measles and rubella elimination in at least five WHO regions by 2020.

Source: The Hindu