UPSC Daily Current Affairs- 12th May 2023 | Current Affairs & Hindu Analysis: Daily, Weekly & Monthly PDF Download

GS-I

Why India is heating up slower than the world average?

Why in News?

According to the latest report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change the world is currently at around 1.1°C of warming whereas the warming trends over the Indian region are very different.

About

• The annual mean temperature of the world is known to have increased by 1.1 degree Celsius from the average of the 1850-1900 period.
• An assessment of climate change over the Indian subcontinent, published by the Ministry of Earth Sciences in 2020, said annual mean temperatures had risen by 0.7 degree Celsius from 1900.
• This is significantly lower than the 1.59 degree Celsius rise for land temperatures across the world.
• It could give the impression that the problem of climate change over India was not as acute as other parts of the world.

Temperature

• Temperature is the measure of the average heat or thermal energy in a substance. 
• Air and water temperatures are primarily determined by the amount of sunlight that is absorbed by the surface of the Earth, and the amount of heat that is re-radiated in the atmosphere by the greenhouse gases. 
• Atmospheric and ocean circulation redistribute heat across the surface of the Earth and shape regional temperature patterns.

Are Warming Trends Different Across the Globe?

• Average of Warming Temperature: The planet as a whole has warmed by 1.1 degree Celsius compared with pre industrial times but, this is just the average. Different regions have seen very different levels of warming.
• Arctic Region: The polar regions, particularly the Arctic, have seen significantly greater warming. The Arctic region has warmed at least twice as much as the world average. Its current annual mean temperatures are about 2 degrees Celsius higher than pre-industrial times.
  • The ice cover in the Arctic is melting, because of which more land or water is getting exposed to the Sun. Ice traps the least amount of heat and reflects most of the solar radiation when compared with land or water. 
  • More recent research suggests that the higher warming in the polar region could be attributed to a host of factors, including the albedo effect, changes in clouds, water vapour and atmospheric temperatures.
  • The warming in the polar regions account for a substantial part of the 1.1 degree Celsius temperature rise over the entire globe.

Factors that Affects the Warming of Regions

• Altitude: The increase in temperatures is known to be more prominent in the higher altitudes, near the polar regions, than near the equator. 
  • This is attributable to a complex set of atmospheric phenomena, including heat transfers from the tropics to the poles through prevailing systems of air circulation. 
• Albedo effect: Another prominent cause is what is known as the albedo effect, or how much sunlight a surface reflects. The ice cover in the Arctic is melting, because of which more land or water is getting exposed to the Sun.
  • Ice traps the least amount of heat and reflects most of the solar radiation when compared with land or water. 
• Aerosols: Aerosols refer to all kinds of particles suspended in the atmosphere. These particles have the potential to affect the local temperature in multiple ways. 
  • Many of these scatter sunlight back, so that less heat is absorbed by the land. Aerosols also affect cloud formation. Clouds, in turn, have an impact on how much sunlight is reflected or absorbed.
• Land-Ocean Atmospheric Interactions: Variation in the amount of solar radiation absorbed, and the amount of heat re-radiating from Earth’s land and oceans results in temperature differences in air over different types of terrain. 
  • For example, sea breezes occur because land heats up and cools down faster than water, so that the land is warmer during the day and breezes flow from the sea inland, but the ocean is warmer than land at night, so the wind blows from land to sea.

Indian Scenario

• Location: India happens to be in the tropical region, quite close to the equator. A major part of India’s relatively lesser warming can be attributed to its location in the lower latitudes. Higher latitudes experiencing greater warming are now fairly well established in science.
  • A majority of the global landmass is concentrated in the northern latitudes for a country like India, located in the tropics, the deviation in temperature rise from the global average is not surprising.
• Indian Ocean: Land areas have a tendency to get heated faster, and by a larger amount, than oceans.  In the tropics and along the equator, it is mostly oceans. Because of both these reasons — that lands heat up more, and most of the land is located in northern latitudes — the average warming over global land areas has become more pronounced. 
• Aerosol concentration: Concentration of aerosols over the Indian region is quite high, due to natural as well as man-made reasons. Emissions from vehicles, industries, construction, and other activities add a lot of aerosols in the Indian region. 
  • A reduction in warming could be an unintended but positive side-effect of aerosols. They have the potential to avoid 0.1 to 0.2 degree Celsius of warming over the Indian region. 

Source: Indian Express

Why in News?

Maharana Pratap Jayanti was celebrated recently.

About Maharana Pratap:-

• Maharana Pratap, was born in Kumbhalgarh, Rajasthan.
• He was the 13th King of Mewar and the eldest son of Udai Singh II.
  • Maharana Udai Singh II: ruled the kingdom of Mewar, with his capital at Chittor.
  • Udai Singh II was also a founder of the city of Udaipur (Rajasthan).

Important Events:-

Battle of Haldighati:

• The Battle of Haldighati was fought in 1576.
• It was between Rana Pratap Singh of Mewar and Raja Man Singh of Amber who was the general of the Mughal emperor Akbar. 
• Maharana Pratap fought a brave war but was defeated by Mughal forces.
• It is said that Maharana Pratap’s loyal horse named Chetak, gave up his life as the Maharana was leaving the battlefield.
• Reconquest:-
  • After 1579, Pratap recovered Western Mewar including Kumbhalgarh, Udaipur and Gogunda.
  • He also built a new capital, Chavand, near modern Dungarpur.
• He was succeeded by his son Amar Singh, who submitted in 1614 to Emperor Jahangir.

Source: Economic Times

GS-II

Why in News?

Given the large migrant population in Karnataka, Lokniti-Centre for the Study of Developing Societies conducted a study among the migrant voters of Bengaluru to find out their voting patterns.

About Migrant Worker:

• A migrant worker is a person who migrates within a home country or outside it to pursue work.
  • Migrant workers usually do not have the intention to stay permanently in the country or region in which they work.
• In India, Migrant workers usually refer to those who engage in internal migration within the country, often for the purpose of seeking employment.
• Internal migration refers to the movement of people from one place to another within the same country.

Internal migration in India:

• As per census 2011, the total number of internal migrants in India is 36 crore or 37% of the country’s population.
• The Economic Survey pegged the size of the migrant workforce at roughly 20 per cent or over 10 crore in 2016.
• Major origin states of internal migration: Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, and Odisha.
• Major destination states of internal migration: Maharashtra, Delhi, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, and Punjab.
• Sectoral composition: The share of migrant workers is the highest in the construction sector for females while the highest number of male migrant workers are employed in public services (transport, postal, public administration services) and modern services (financial intermediation, real estate, renting, education, health).

About Remote Voting:

• Any method that enables voters to cast their ballots from locations other than the polling place designated for their registration address is referred to as remote voting.
• Both domestically and internationally may be used as the remote voting location. It includes both non-electronic and electronic voting processes.
• A “Committee of Officers on Domestic Migrants” was established by the Election Commission of India (ECI) earlier to handle this problem.
• A solution in the form of “remote voting” was proposed in the Committee’s 2016 report.

Migration and  Remote Voting

• Migrant workers across India are often apprehensive about registering themselves as voters in any other State apart from their home State. This is due to various reasons such as
  • frequent changes in residence,
  • fear of losing property in their home State, and
  • their inability or unwillingness to bring their families with them as well.
  • The migrants often convey that the locality were not safe for women.

Remote Electronic Voting Machine:

• Remote Electronic Voting Machine (RVM), allows domestic migrants to vote in national and regional elections.
• The EC proposed using this in a State Assembly election as a pilot so internal migrants within a state can cast their ballots.

Features of RVM:

• It is a standalone, non-networked system having the same security features as the existing Indian EVMs and provides the same voting experience to the voter as the EVM.
• The RVM system is essentially a modified version of the existing EVM system.
• A single Ballot Unit (BU) can cater to multiple AC/ PCs at a single polling station by using a dynamic ballot display instead of the usually printed paper ballot sheet on BU.

Significance of RVM:

• Increasing voters’ participation: It will enable a voter, who is listed in constituencies, to exercise voting rights from a single machine.
• Ease of Voting: Migrant voters need not travel to their home district to exercise their voting rights.
• Vibrant Democracy: It will enable approximately 30 crore electors, currently not exercising their franchise, to vote.
• Safety and Security: Remote e-voting machine will be a standalone device which doesn’t need connectivity to operate.

Concerns with RVM:

• Inclusive definition of migrants: Migrants are not a uniform and defined class, with fluid identities, locations and situations.
• Trust Issue: Various countries have already rejected EVMs for paper-based ballots.
• Hacking Probability: RVMs with more technological components are bound to raise further questions.
• Lack of Level Playing Field: Remote voting can theoretically provide an added edge to bigger parties and richer candidates who can campaign across the constituency and beyond.
• Model Code of Conduct: There is no clarity about how Model Code of Conduct will be implemented in the remote constituencies.

Way Forward:

Lakhs of migrants not only have they left their home States, they have also given up on significant rights. While elections are an opportunity for people to exercise their fundamental rights, the votes of migrant voters have been missing for years. While the ECI’s move provides a ray of hope to millions of migrant workers, two crucial priorities ahead are to create awareness about the initiative and ensure transparency.

Source:  The Hindu

Supreme Court Rules in Favour of Delhi Govt in Tussle with Centre

Why in News?

A five-judge constitutional bench of the Supreme Court held that the Delhi Govt will have legislative and executive control over administrative services in the National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCTD) except with regard to public order, police and land.

 Background of the Case:

• A five-judge Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court was hearing the dispute between the Delhi government and the Central government.
• The dispute was over matters pertaining to control over the transfers and the overall functioning of administrative services in the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi.
• The administrative services include appointments and transfers, in the national capital.

What gave Rise to this Dispute?

• Article 239 AA was inserted in the Constitution by the 69^th Constitutional Amendment Act, 1991.
  • Based on the recommendations of S Balakrishnan Committee, it gave special status to Delhi.
• It says that the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi will have an Administrator and a Legislative Assembly.
  • The Legislative Assembly “shall have power to make laws for the whole or any part of the NCT w.r.t. any of the matters in the State List or Concurrent List in so far as any such matter is applicable to Union territories”.
  • However, the legislative assembly of Delhi cannot legislate on the following three subjects – Police, Public Order, and Land.
• However, in the past few years, governance in the NCT has often been a subject of conflict between the Delhi government and the L-G.

Control over Administrative Services:

• In 2019, a two-judge bench of the SC delivered a split verdict on the aspect of who controls administrative services in Delhi.
• The two-judge bench had recommended that a three-judge bench be set up to decide the issue of control of administrative services.
• Further, in May 2022, a three-judge Bench had referred this case to a larger Bench on the Central government’s plea.
• The three-judge Bench had decided that the question of control over administrative services required “further examination”.

Central & State Government’s Arguments:

• The Central Government has consistently maintained that because Delhi is the national capital and the face of the country, it must have control over administrative services, which include appointments and transfers.
• On the other hand, the Delhi government has argued that in the interest of federalism, the elected representatives must have power over transfers and postings.
• 
  
  • The Delhi government had also contended that the recent amendments to the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (Amendment) Act, 2021, violate the doctrine of basic structure of the Constitution.

What were the Legal Issues before the SC?

• There were two legal issues before the court –
  • The first arises from a reference made by a two-judge Bench in February 2019.
    • While deciding on the distribution of powers between the Delhi government and Centre, left the question of who will have control over the administrative services for consideration by a larger Bench.
  • Second issue is the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (Amendment) Act 2021, passed by the Parliament.
    • The Act provided that the term “government” referred to in any law made by the Legislative Assembly of Delhi will imply the Lieutenant Governor (L-G).
    • However, the Delhi government has challenged the constitutional validity of the Act.

 News Summary:

• A five-judge bench of the Supreme Court has ruled unanimously in favour of the Delhi government on the issue of who controls the bureaucracy in the national capital.
  • Earlier, it was the Lieutenant-Governor, Chief Secretary and the Secretary of the Services Department who took a call on these issues.
• The Court held that the legislature has control over bureaucrats in administration of services, except in areas outside the legislative powers of the National Capital Territory (NCT).
• According to the Supreme Court, the Delhi government, much like other States, represents the representative form of government and any further expansion of the Union's power will be contrary to the Constitutional scheme.
• The Court pointed out that if officers stop reporting to ministers or do not follow their instructions, the principle of collective responsibility will be affected.
• Limitations –
  • However, the Court added that control over services would not extend to entries related to public order, police and land.
  • Also, the decision on which IAS officer gets posted to the national capital — and for how long — will continue to be the Centre’s prerogative.
  • Also, the Central government will continue to, appoint the Chief Secretary of Delhi, with consultations with the Chief Minister which, as per tradition, is more or less a formality.

What is a Constitution Bench?

• Article 145(3) deals with the setting up of a Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court comprising at least five judges “for the purpose of deciding any case involving a substantial question of law as to the interpretation” of the Constitution.
• This is the second time that a constitutional bench has been set up to decide on issues between the Delhi government and Delhi’s Lieutenant Governor — the Centre’s representative in the capital — in the past four years.

Source: Indian Express

Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC)

Why in News?

The ONDC (Open Network for Digital Commerce) is gradually challenging the dominance of Zomato and Swiggy by offering users cheaper prices for the same food items.

About ONDC Project:

• Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) is an initiative aiming at promoting open networks for all aspects of exchange of goods and services over digital or electronic networks.
• ONDC is to be based on open-sourced methodology, using open specifications and open network protocols independent of any specific platform.
• It is a non-profit initiative of the Department of Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), Ministry of Commerce.
• Currently, grocery and food items merchants are mostly part of it, but beauty, fashion, personal care products, and electronics, among others, are gradually joining in
• Currently, there are partners like Paytm, Meesho, Magicpin, Mystore, Craftsvilla, and Spice Money, which act as online storefronts, allowing users to order food or any other product from a business listed on the ONDC platform.

Significance of ONDC:

• On ONDC, buyers and sellers may transact irrespective of the fact that they are attached to one specific e-commerce portal.
  • This could give a huge booster shot to smaller online retailers and new entrants.
• However, if mandated, this could be problematic for larger e-commerce companies, which have their own processes and technology deployed for these segments of operations.
• ONDC is expected to digitise the entire value chain, standardise operations, promote inclusion of suppliers, derive efficiency in logistics and enhance value for consumers.
• The platform envisages equal-opportunity participation and is expected to make e-commerce more inclusive and accessible for consumers as they can potentially discover any seller, product or service by using any compatible application/platform, thus increasing their freedom of choice.
• It will enable transactions of any denomination, thus making ONDC a truly ‘open network for democratic commerce’.
• Over the next five years, the ONDC expects to bring on board 90 crore users and 12 lakh sellers on the network, enabling 730 crore additional purchases.

Challenges with ONDC:

• Threat to Local businesses in the long run: The local business will find it extremely challenging to compete with the discounts, sales and other lucrative offers, being offered by prominent e-commerce players which may result in local business being squeezed out of the network in the long run.
• Silent on liability for a bad product: The strategy paper is silent on the issues regarding liability on the network in case consumers faced issues regarding transactions, delivery of substandard products and service.
• No clarity on how existing laws will apply: There is also a lack of clarity on the applicability of the existing e-commerce laws to the network.

Indian e-commerce Industry:

• Growth: The Indian e-commerce industry has been on an upward growth trajectory. The Indian e-commerce market was estimated to be worth over $55 Bn in Gross Merchandise Value in 2021.
  • By 2030, it is expected to have an annual gross merchandise value of $350 Bn.
• Factors of Growth: Fuelling e-commerce growth, India is expected to have over 907 million internet users by 2023, which accounts for ~64% of the total population of the country.
  • The e-commerce industry in India is growing on levers such as increased smartphone penetration, increased affluence and low data prices, providing impetus for e-retail growth.
  • India is the 2nd largest internet market in the world with ~62 billion UPI transactions in 2022.
  • Electronics and apparel make up nearly 70 per cent of the e-commerce market, when evaluated against transaction value.
  • Other new upcoming categories within e-commerce include ed-tech, hyperlocal and food-tech.
• Gaining Popularity in tier-2 and tier-3 cities: The e-commerce trend is gaining major popularity even in tier-2 and tier– 3 cities as they now make up nearly half of all shoppers and contribute three of every five orders for leading e-retail platforms.
  • The average selling price (ASP) in tier-2 and smaller towns is only marginally lower than in tier-1/metro cities.

Way Forward:

ONDC must create consumer trust through robust mechanisms for ensuring redressal of grievances of consumers and enforcing transparent policies for returns, refunds and cancellations.

There needs to be a paradigm shift from an operator-driven monolithic platform-centric model to a facilitator-driven, interoperable decentralized network. The policies should be implemented at the network level.

Source: The Hindu

GS-III

Why in News?

The Ministry of Power and Ministry of Environment will develop Carbon Credit Trading Scheme for Decarbonisation. Government plans to develop the Indian Carbon Market with the objective to decarbonize the Indian economy by pricing the Green House Gas emission through trading of Carbon Credit Certificates.

What are Carbon Markets?

• Carbon markets are essentially a tool for putting a price on carbon emissions— they establish trading systems where carbon credits or allowances can be bought and sold.
• A carbon credit is a kind of tradable permit that, per United Nations standards, equals one tonne of carbon dioxide removed, reduced, or sequestered from the atmosphere.
• Carbon allowances or caps, meanwhile, are determined by countries or governments according to their emission reduction targets.
• A United Nations Development Program release this year noted that interest in carbon markets is growing globally, i.e., 83% of NDCs submitted by countries mention their intent to make use of international market mechanisms to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Two types of Carbon Markets:

• Compliance Market –
• These are set up by policies at the national, regional, and/or international level— are officially regulated.
• Entities in this sector are issued annual allowances or permits by governments equal to the emissions they can generate.
• If companies produce emissions beyond the capped amount, they have to purchase additional permit, either through official auctions or from companies which kept their emissions below the limit, leaving them with surplus allowances.
• The market price of carbon gets determined by market forces when purchasers and sellers trade in emissions allowances.

Voluntary Market:

• These are markets in which emitters— corporations, private individuals, and others— buy carbon credits to offset the emission of one tonne of CO2 or equivalent greenhouse gases.
• Such carbon credits are created by activities which reduce CO2 from the air, such as afforestation.
• In a voluntary market, a corporation looking to compensate for its unavoidable GHG emissions purchases carbon credits from an entity engaged in projects that reduce, remove, capture, or avoid emissions.

Source: Newsonair

Why in News?

Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and Union Health Ministry successfully conducted a trial run of blood bag delivery by drones under its iDrone initiative.

About i-drone Initiative

• The project ‘i-DRONE’(ICMR’s Drone Response and Outreach for North East) assessed the feasibility of using drones to deliver vaccines and medical supplies. 
• 'i-DRONE' was first used during covid19 pandemic for distributing vaccines to unreachable areas. 
• This was carried out in difficult geographical terrains including land, island, foothills and across the hills. 
• The medical supplies delivered under iDrone project included COVID-19 vaccines, vaccines used in routine immunisation programs, antenatal care medicines, multi-vitamins, syringes and gloves.
• The operations connected the district hospitals to the community and primary health care centres in the districts.

Significance

• Clarity on challenge mapping and identifying the possible solutions can be achieved by developing indigenous capacities in research, and introduction of innovations and technologies in the mainstream. 
• The boost of technology is an accelerator which is gradually pushing India towards achieving the status of being a developed nation.
• It will lead to development of SOPs for wider applicability and use of drones for delivery of blood bags and the components. 
• Additionally, it will provide answers to whether drones shall be used as a method of transportation for temperature sensitive blood products in remote locations of the country.
• The drone-based delivery of blood will reduce the time for last-mile deliveries within the country.

Source: PIB