UPSC Daily Current Affairs- 30th November 2022 | Current Affairs & Hindu Analysis: Daily, Weekly & Monthly PDF Download

GS-I

Mauna Loa, the world’s largest active volcano, erupted after 38 years recently.

About:

• Mauna Loa is one of five volcanoes that together make up the Big Island of Hawaii, which is the southernmost island in the Hawaiian archipelago.
• It’s not the tallest (that title goes to Mauna Kea) but it’s the largest and makes up about half of the island’s land mass.
• It sits immediately north of Kilauea volcano, which is currently erupting from its summit crater.
• Kilauea is well-known for a 2018 eruption that destroyed 700 homes and sent rivers of lava spreading across farms and into the ocean.
• Mauna Loa last erupted 38 years ago.
• In written history, dating to 1843, it’s erupted 33 times.

Some famous volcanoes

• Any volcano that has erupted within the Holocene period (in the last 11,650 years) is considered to be “active” by scientists.
• “Dormant” volcanoes are those active volcanoes which are not in the process of erupting currently, but have the potential to do so in the future.
• Mauna Loa was a dormant volcano for the last 38 years.
• “Extinct” volcanoes are ones which scientists predict will never face any further volcanic activity.
• Ben Nevis, the tallest mountain in the UK, is an extinct volcano.

Krakatoa, Indonesia

• One of the most catastrophic volcanic eruptions ever occurred in Krakatoa in 1883.

Mount Vesuvius, Italy

• In 79 CE, Mount Vesuvius erupted in one of the deadliest eruptions in European history, killing as many as 16,000 and destroying the town of Pompeii.

Mount Fuji, Japan

• It last erupted in 1707-1708 and had a devastating effect on the local population.

Eyjafjallajökull, Iceland

• Sometimes referred to as E15, it is one of the many volcanic features of Iceland.
• In 2010, a relatively small eruption managed to bring air traffic in Europe to a complete standstill. 

Kīlauea, Hawaii

• Adjacent to the Mauna Loa, this is one of the most active volcanoes on the planet.
• It has been erupting intermittently since recorded history, with its eruption lasting from 1983 to 2018 being the longest continuous eruption ever recorded. 

Mount St Helens, USA

• Located in Washington State, Mount St. Helens was a major eruption that occurred on May 18, 1980 and it remains the deadliest and most economically destructive volcanic event in U.S. history.

Source: Indian Express

Context

The government has shelled out Rs 9.53 crore of taxpayers’ money towards commission and printing costs of the Electoral Bonds (EBs) issued to fund political parties.

About Electoral Bond Scheme:

• Introduced with the Finance Bill, 2017, the Electoral Bond Scheme was notified on January 29, 2018.
• An Electoral Bond is like a promissory note that may be purchased by a person who is a citizen of India or incorporated or established in India.
• A person being an individual can buy Electoral Bonds, either singly or jointly with other individuals.
• The bonds are like banknotes that are payable to the bearer on demand and are interest-free.
• Only the Political Parties registered under Section 29A of the Representation of the People Act (RPA), 1951 and which secured not less than one percent of the votes polled in the last General Election to the House of the People or the Legislative Assembly of the State, shall be eligible to receive the Electoral Bonds.

Procedure:

• The State Bank of India (SBI) has been authorised to issue and encash Electoral Bonds through its 29 Authorized Branches.
• The bonds are sold by the SBI in denominations of Rs 1,000, Rs 10,000, Rs 1 lakh, Rs 10 lakh and Rs 1 crore.
• One can purchase these bonds only digitally or through cheques.
• The Electoral Bonds can be encashed by an eligible Political Party only through a Bank account with the Authorized Bank.
• The Electoral Bond deposited by an eligible Political Party in its account is credited on the same day.
• Electoral Bonds shall be valid for fifteen calendar days from the date of issue and no payment is being made to any payee Political Party if the Electoral Bond is deposited after expiry of the validity period.

Advantages of Electoral Bonds:

• Ensures Accountability: Donations through Electoral Bonds will only be credited in the party bank account disclosed with the ECI.
  • As encashment of all the donations are through banking channels, every political party shall be obliged to explain how the entire sum of money received has been expended.
• Discouraging Cash: The Purchase will be possible only through a limited number of notified banks and that too through cheque and digital payments. Cash will not be encouraged.
• More Transparency: It helps the political parties to operate in a more transparent manner with the election commission, regulatory authorities and the general public at large.
• Maintains Anonymity: The individuals, groups of individuals, NGOs, religious and other trusts are permitted to donate via electoral bonds without disclosing their details. Therefore, the identity of the donor is being preserved.

Criticism of Electoral Bonds:

• Hindering Right to Know: Voters will not know which individual, company, or organisation has funded which party, and to what extent. Before the introduction of electoral bonds, political parties had to disclose details of all its donors, who have donated more than Rs 20,000.
  • The change infringes the citizen’s ‘Right to Know’ and makes the political class even more unaccountable.
• Unauthorized Donations: In a situation where the contribution received through electoral bonds are not reported, it cannot be ascertained whether the political party has taken any donation in violation of provision under Section 29B of the RPA, 1951 which prohibits the political parties from taking donations from government companies and foreign sources.
• Leading to Crony-Capitalism: It could become a convenient channel for businesses to round-trip their cash parked in tax havens to political parties for a favour or advantage granted in return for something. Anonymous funding might lead to infusion of black money.
• Loopholes: Corporate Entities may not enjoy the benefit of transparency as they might have to disclose the amount donated to the Registrar of Companies; Electoral bonds eliminate the 7.5% cap on company donations which means even loss making companies can make unlimited donations etc.

Supreme Court’s Stance on Electoral Bonds:

• The Supreme Court (SC) agreed that the scheme protects the identity of purchasers of electoral bonds in a cloak of anonymity, but highlighted that such purchases happened only through regular banking channels.
• In 2019, the Supreme Court asked all the political parties to submit details of donations received through electoral bonds to the ECI. It also asked the Finance Ministry to reduce the window of purchasing electoral bonds from 10 days to five days.
• The Election Commission of India (ECI) also told the Supreme Court of India that while it was not against the Electoral Bonds Scheme, it did not approve of anonymous donations made to political parties.

Way Forward:

It can be said that the release of electoral bonds will restrict the generation of black money up to some extent. But the rule that identity of the donors will be kept confidential may make futile the exercise to eliminate black money, as it may just end up making Black money White.

The government may reconsider and modify certain provisions of the Electoral Bonds Scheme to ensure full disclosure and transparency. At the same time, the bonds should ensure that the funds being collected by the political parties are accounted for clean money from the appropriate channels without any obligation of give and take.

Source: Indian Express

Context

During the 4th India-France annual defence dialogue chaired by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and Sebastien Lecornu, India and France discussed defence industrial cooperation with a focus on ‘Make in India’

• India and France have traditionally close and friendly relations.
• There is scope to strengthen maritime cooperation and complexity of bilateral exercises.

Political:

• 1998 Strategic Partnership document signifies convergence of views on a range of international issues and growing bilateral relationship.
• France has continued to support India’s claim for permanent membership of the United Nations Security Council and the reforms of the United Nations.
• France’s engagement in the Indo-Pacific and India’s centrality in the French strategy for the region is of significance as well.

Defense and Security:

• A Ministerial level Defence dialogue has been held annually since 2018.
• Bilateral military exercises
• Exercise Shakti (Army)
• Exercise Varuna (Navy)
• Exercise Garuda (Air Force)
• IMEX 22
• Purchase of 36 Rafale fighter aircraft by India in 2016.
• P-75 Scorpene Project: The contract for six Scorpene submarines from DCNS (Naval Group) was signed in 2006 and includes technology transfer at the Mazagaon Docks Ltd.
• Adoption of the Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism (CCIT) in the UN
• Following the Pulwama attack (Feb 2019), France nationally listed the Pakistan-based ‘global terrorist’ Hafiz Saeed, which was followed up by the UN.
• France has also supported India’s requests to block attempts by Pakistan to enlist innocent Indian citizens under the UNSC 1267 sanctions Committee based on fabricated charges.

Environment and Technology:

• France is a founding member of the International Solar Alliance (ISA), announced by PM Modi in 2015 at UN Climate Change CoP21.
• Further, India is a member of ITER, a multi-national consortium formed to construct an experimental fusion reactor, located in Cadarache, France.
• France’s support was vital in India’s accession to the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR), Wassenaar Arrangement (WA) and Australia Group (AG).
• France continues to support India’s bid for accession to the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG).

Economic cooperation:

• There are over a 1000 French businesses in India in variegated sectors such as defense, ITES, consulting, engineering services, heavy industry et al.
• France is the 7th largest foreign investor in India with a cumulative FDI stock of USD 9 billion from 2000 to 2020, which represents 2 % of the total FDI inflows into India.
• In the period April 2018-March 2019, India-France bilateral trade stood at 11.59 billion Euro, India’s exports to France were valued at 6.23 billion Euro meanwhile, French exports to India stood at 5.35 billion Euro.
• The 18th Joint Economic Committee meeting 2020 led to the signing of a bilateral ‘Fast Track Mechanism’ for investors. The first meetings were held on 16 February 2022
• In 2022, a dedicated desk was set up by Invest India for investor queries.

Covid-19 cooperation:

• India supplied France with nearly 2 million hydroxychloroquine tablets and 36 MT of paracetamol (API).
• France sent 120 ventilators, 50 thousand serological tests and 50 thousand nose/throat swabs as aid.
• France also announced a 200 million euro loan to India to help the vulnerable sections most severely affected by the pandemic.
• Over 2500 Indians had been repatriated from France and a similar number of French citizens were repatriated from India to their home countries through special flights.
• In the second wave, France provided 18 oxygen plants till date to hospitals across India which will fulfill oxygen requirements for 10 years.
• France also supplied over 100 tonnes of Liquid Medical Oxygen to the state of Maharashtra through the French industrial gas producer Air Liquide.
• Besides this, P2G assistance also came in from several French companies, including Airbus.

Cultural relations:

• The Indian diaspora in France is estimated to be around 5,00,000.
• There are more than 50 Indian community organizations active in France, majorly from Puducherry and Tamil Nadu, Gujarat and Punjab.
• An increasing number of students (nearly 10,000) and professionals studying and working in mainland France.
• In 2016, ICCR presented the Namaste France cultural festival in France and the French side presented the French cultural festival Bonjour India from 2017-18.
• India will be the Country of Honour for the 2022 edition of the Paris International Book Fair (Livre Paris, June 2022).
• The International Day of Yoga has been organized by the Embassy of India in Paris.
• In 2022 as part of MEA’s AKAM Week, a French mural artist created a wall art at the Mandi House Metro Station in Delhi on the theme of “A French Garden” to reflect the “enduring friendship” between the two countries.

Way forward:

• Though, India has a trade surplus with France but the bilateral trade could be improved.
• In recent interactions at the EU level, India has sought an early harvest trade agreement, while working towards a comprehensive FTA.
• As G20 members, both nations must focus on reviving global growth.

Source: Indian Express

GS-III

Context

According to a NITI Aayog’s report on the policy framework of the Carbon Capture Utilisation and Storage (CCUS), CCUS has a critical role to play for the country to halve CO2 emissions by 2050.

• CCUS is a technology for decarbonising carbon dioxide (CO2) from high polluting sectors.

Carbon capture, utilisation, and storage (CCUS):

• About CCUS:
  • It is the process of capturing CO2 emissions and either using them to make things such as building materials (utilisation) or permanently storing them thousands of feet below the surface (storage).
• Need:
  • The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in its Global Warming of 1.5 °C report highlights that achieving net-zero emissions by 2050 isn’t possible without ambitious mitigation actions like CCUS.
• Significance of CCUS:
  • Capturing CO2 helps reduce carbon emission intensity of industrial operations, while retaining the carbon neutrality (CO2 emissions = CO2 capture) of the production processes.
  • It is a critical component of meeting the global net-zero ambitions of the Paris Agreement.
• Advantages of CCUS:
  • Safe transportation: CO2 is an inert gas that is not flammable. Smaller amounts of compressed CO2 can be transported on trucks, while larger amounts are often transported by pipes.
  • Safe storage: The CO2 is stored within rock formations over half a mile underground in depleted oil or gas fields or saline formations.
  • Safe reuse: Captured carbon can be put to many uses, from the manufacture of industrial materials (concrete, chemicals, biofuels, plastic and foam) to using CO2 for oil extraction or waste clean-up in alkaline industries.
• Disadvantages of CCUS:
  • High cost of mechanisms used to implement CCUS: For example, carbon capture necessitates the creation of compounds capable of binding to CO2 in exhaust gas or the atmosphere, which is costly.
  • Less demand for recycled CO2: Converting CO2 for commercial use would provide economic value to this greenhouse gas. However, demand for CO2 is less than the vast amount of CO2 that must be removed from the atmosphere.

India’s efforts towards promoting CCUS:

• Department of Science and Technology (DST) aims to nurture the area of Carbon Capture, Utilisation, and Storage through emphasis on research and development and capacity building of both human resource as well as infrastructure.
• Mission Innovation Challenge on CCUS (IC3): DST-Department of Biotechnology (DBT) had jointly launched the mission in 2018, to enable near-zero CO2 emissions from power plants and carbon-intensive industries.
• Accelerating CCS Technologies (ACT): This initiative aims to facilitate R&D and innovation that can lead to development of safe and cost-effective CO2 capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS) technologies.
  • India has joined forces with France, Germany, Norway, Switzerland, The Netherlands, the UK, and the US, etc., to achieve these objectives. 

News Summary - Highlights of the report:

• Importance of CCUS for India
  • India’s per capita CO2 emissions were about 1.9 tonnes per annum, which was less than 40% of the global average and about one-fourth of that of China.
  • Industries such as steel, cement, oil, gas, petrochemicals, chemicals and fertilisers, have a critical role to play for the country to halve CO2 emissions by 2050.
  • Therefore, a sustainable solution for the decarbonisation of sectors that contribute to 70% of emission is needed.
  • CCUS has an important and critical role to play in it, especially for India to accomplish net-zero by 2070.
• Impact on economy
  • The CCUS technology would help in promoting the low carbon-hydrogen economy and in removal of the CO2 stock from the atmosphere.
  • CCUS could enable the production of clean products while utilising rich endowments of coal, reducing imports and thus leading to a self-reliant India economy.
  • There will be an impact on the economy if value-added products such as green methanol, green ammonia can be produced from this captured CO2.
  • CCUS also has an important role to play in enabling sunrise sectors such as coal gasification and the nascent hydrogen economy in India.
• Way forward
  • The key challenge would be to reduce the cost of the mechanisms to implement the technology.
  • To address this challenge, the focus should be on R&D, particularly on cutting edge technologies.
  • The key to a successful CCUS implementation in India was to enact a policy framework that supported the creation of sustainable and viable markets for CCUS projects. The policy should -
    • Establish early-stage financing and funding mechanisms for CCUS projects.
    • Promote the private sector through sufficient incentives.
    • Be carbon credits or incentives based, to promote the CCUS sector in India through tax and cash credits.
    • Over time (probably beyond 2050), the policy should transition to carbon taxes, to enable reaching India’s net zero goals by 2070.

Source: The Hindu

Context

According to Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation officials, Mumbai has reported 11 fresh measles cases and one suspected death amid the outbreak of the viral infection in the city. With this the infection tally in the metropolis so far this year has gone up to 303.

About Measles:

• Measles is caused by a virus in the paramyxovirus family and it is normally passed through direct contact and through the air. The virus infects the respiratory tract, then spreads throughout the body.
• Measles is a human disease and is not known to occur in animals.
• Before the introduction of measles vaccine in 1963 and widespread vaccination, major epidemics occurred approximately every 2–3 years and measles caused an estimated 2.6 million deaths each year.

Signs and symptoms:

• The first sign of measles is usually a high fever, which begins about 10 to 12 days after exposure to the virus, and lasts 4 to 7 days.
• A runny nose, a cough, red and watery eyes, and small white spots inside the cheeks can develop in the initial stage.
  • After several days, a rash erupts, usually on the face and upper neck.
• Serious complications are more common in children under the age of 5, or adults over the age of 30.
• Severe measles is more likely among poorly nourished young children, especially those with insufficient vitamin A, or whose immune systems have been weakened by HIV/AIDS or other diseases.

Transmission:

• It is spread by coughing and sneezing, close personal contact or direct contact with infected nasal or throat secretions.
• It can be transmitted by an infected person from 4 days prior to the onset of the rash to 4 days after the rash erupts.
• Measles outbreaks can result in epidemics that cause many deaths, especially among young, malnourished children.
• In countries where measles has been largely eliminated, cases imported from other countries remain an important source of infection.

Treatment:

• Routine measles vaccination for children, combined with mass immunization campaigns in countries with low routine coverage, are key public health strategies to reduce global measles deaths.
• WHO recommends immunization for all susceptible children and adults for whom measles vaccination is not contraindicated.
  • Reaching all children with 2 doses of measles vaccine, either alone, or in a measles-rubella (MR), measles-mumps-rubella (MMR), or measles-mumps-rubella-varicella (MMRV) combination, should be the standard for all national immunization programmes.

Source: The Hindu

Context

The police and forest officials in the Manipur’s Ukhrul town have been scanning “gambling dens” following reports of wild animals – dead or alive – being offered as prizes for raffle draws.

About Binturong/Bearcat:

• Binturong, (Arctictis binturong), also called bear cat or cat bear, catlike omnivore of the civet family (Viverridae), found in dense forests of Southeast Asia.
• Its range extends from Nepal, India, and Bhutan southward to the Indonesian islands of Sumatra and Java and eastward to Borneo.
• It has long shaggy hair, tufted ears, and a long, bushy, prehensile tail. The colour generally is black with a sprinkling of whitish hairs.
• The head and body measure about 60–95 cm (24–38 inches) and the tail an additional 55–90 cm (22–35 inches); weight ranges from about 9 to 14 kg (20 to 31 pounds).
• The binturong is principally nocturnal and crepuscular (that is, active during twilight).
• It is found most often among trees, using its prehensile tail as an aid in climbing. It feeds mainly on fruit, such as figs, but it also takes eggs and small animals.
• In some areas binturongs are tamed and have been reported as being affectionate pets.
• Binturongs are classified as a vulnerable species by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources.

Source:  The Hindu

Context

Commemorating the day one of the most significant space missions to Mars was launched, November 28 is marked as Red Planet Day.

• On this day in 1964, the United States launched the space probe Mariner 4 on a course towards Mars, which it flew past in July 1965, sending back pictures of the red planet.
• This was the first time that a spacecraft undertook the first flyby of the red planet, becoming the first-ever spacecraft to take close-up photographs of another planet.

About Mars:

• Mars has two moons Phobos and Deimos
• In late 19th century, Italian astronomer Giovanni Schiaparelli claimed to have observed linear patterns on the surface of the planet that he called canali.
• This was mistranslated into English as canals, leading some to believe canals were built by intelligent beings on Mars — an early instance of Mars being thought to have life, similar to Earth.
• 1964 Mariner 4 showed lunar-type impact craters, some of them having frost.
• A television camera took pictures of about 1% of the planet.
• Mariner 4 lasts about three years in solar orbit
• Viking missions of the 1970s and the 1980s carried out the first chemical analysis of Martian soil, as well as four biology experiments to detect biological activity.
• Scientists hypothesised that certain meteorites might have a source region in Mars.
• In 1984, a study showed that the isotopic composition of rare gases (Xenon, Krypton, Neon and Argon) matched the isotopic ratios of the Martian atmosphere measured by the Viking spacecraft.
• Odyssey, 2001 and water on Mars: Gamma Ray Spectrometer on board the Mars Odyssey spacecraft detected a fascinating hydrogen signature that seemed to indicate the presence of water ice. But there was ambiguity – this was because hydrogen can be part of many other compounds as well.
• NASA’s Phoenix landed on the Martian North Pole in May 2008, and survived for about 150 days.
• The robotic arms of Phoenix scooped soil and ice from the surface, heated the material in eight ovens, and measured the composition of the gases with a mass spectrometer.
• The Phoenix mission established conclusively that the initial discovery of hydrogen by Mars Odyssey in 2002 was indeed water ice.

Mars missions:

• NASA has a lander (Mars Insight), a rover (Curiosity), and three orbiters (Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, Mars Odyssey, MAVEN)
• India’s Mars Orbiter Mission (Mangalyaan-1)
• A technology demonstration venture — carried five payloads (total 15 kg) collecting data on surface geology, morphology, atmospheric processes, surface temperature and atmospheric escape process.
• UAE – Hope
• study the Martian atmosphere
• address question of how and why Mars lost its atmosphere
• EU has 2 orbiters (Mars Express and ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter)
• China –  Tianwen-1

Source: Indian Express