Daily Current Affairs UPSC 05 June 2024

Depreciation of Rupee

• Definition: Fall in the value of rupee compared to another currency due to market forces.
• Reasons: Political instability, outflow of capital.
• Benefits: Boosts exports, discourages imports.
• Issues: May lead to inflation, expose companies to foreign exchange risks.
• Measures to control: RBI can sell forex reserves, encourage capital flows in NRI deposits.

Devaluation

• Definition: Deliberate downward adjustment in the official exchange rate by reducing the currency's value.
• Done by: Government or central bank.

Hawking Radiation

• Hawking Radiation (HR) was hypothesized by physicist Stephen Hawking in 1974.
• HR has never been directly observed.
• In the Universe, pairs of particles come into existence and rapidly recombine and disappear.
• If one particle of the pair crosses the event horizon of a black hole, it is forever separated from its companion.
• The particles left outside the event horizon are known as Hawking radiation.

Five Eyes Alliance

• Australia opens up armed forces to non-citizen residents from Five Eyes Alliance.
• Five Eyes Alliance is a multilateral intelligence-sharing network between US, UK, Canada, Australia, & New Zealand.
• Partner countries share intelligence with each other.
• Five Eyes Intelligence Oversight and Review Council established to increase cooperation.
• Council includes non-political intelligence oversight, review, and security entities of Five Eyes countries.

Preston Curve

• Origin of the concept: Proposed by Samuel H. Preston in 1975.
• Relationship between per capita income and life expectancy: Increasing per capita income does not significantly increase life expectancy beyond a certain point.
• Initial impact of income growth: Rising income in a poor country leads to improved life expectancy due to better nutrition, sanitation, and healthcare access.
• Plateau effect: Life expectancy improvement levels off after a certain threshold of income growth.

Lunar sample

Benefits of lunar sample collection:

• Provides valuable information about the early history of the Moon and Earth.
• Aids in understanding the development of planetary bodies.
• Helps in studying the interaction of planetary surfaces with radiations and particles.

Challenges associated with lunar sample collection:

• Difficulty in collecting samples from challenging locations on the moon.
• Issues related to sample preservation and contamination.

Hydroxyurea

ICMR's Initiative to Provide Oral Hydroxyurea for Sickle Cell Disease in Children.

Hydroxyurea is classified as an antimetabolite medication

• Helps prevent the formation of sickle-shaped Red Blood Cells (RBCs).

Sickle Cell Disease (SCD) is a group of inherited disorders

• Changes the shape of RBCs from round to a sickle shape.
• India has the highest prevalence of SCD in South Asia, with over 20 million cases.

FSSAI issues directives to Food Business Operators (FBOs)

1.FSSAI instructs FBOs to remove '100% fruit juice' claims.

• FSSAI states that there is no provision for such claims in Food Safety and Standards (Advertising and Claims) Regulations, 2018.
• Products must follow Food Safety and Standards (Labelling and Display) Regulations, 2020.

2.Ingredient list must include "reconstituted" next to juice name.

3.Products with over 15 gm/kg of added nutritive sweeteners must be labeled as         'Sweetened juice'.

Reverse transcriptase (RTs)

1. Researchers discovered that bacteria infected with viruses use RNA to bind Reverse      Transcriptase (RT).

• RT is a group of enzymes known as RNA-dependent DNA polymerases that are crucial for genetic information flow.
• These enzymes facilitate the reverse transcription process, which involves synthesizing DNA from an RNA template.

Mexico (Capital: Mexico City)

Claudia Sheinbaum elected as the first woman president of Mexico

Political Features:

• Territorial Boundaries: USA to the north, Guatemala and Belize to the south-east.
• Maritimes Boundaries: Pacific Ocean to the west and south, Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean Sea to the east.

Geographical Features:

• Mexico is part of the circum-Pacific "Ring of Fire" with active volcanism and seismic activity.
• Major Rivers include Rio Grande and Yaqui.
• Mountain range: Sierra Madre.
• Major mountain peaks: Pico de Orizaba, Popocatepetl, Iztaccihuatl.

"SDC Mandatory for New Ads: Ministry of Information and Broadcasting"

Supreme Court Directive on Advertisements

• The Supreme Court has directed that no advertisement can be shown on TV, print media, or the internet without a valid SDC.
• SDC, signed by an authorized representative of the advertiser/advertising agency, must be submitted through specific portals.

Portals for Submission of SDC

• The Broadcast Seva Portal is for TV and Radio Advertisements.
• The Press Council of India's portal is for print and digital/internet advertisements.

Certification Requirements for Advertisements

• SDC will certify that the advertisement does not contain misleading claims and complies with relevant regulatory guidelines.
• Guidelines include those from the Cable Television Networks Rules, 1994, and the Norms of Journalistic Conduct of the Press Council of India.

Significance of the Directive

• The directive aims to ensure transparency and accountability by preventing misleading advertisements without accountability.
• It also aims to protect consumers from unfair trade practices and false advertisements that harm the public interest.
• The directive will help in better implementation of legislations and rules related to misleading advertisements.

Establishment of Press Council of India (PCI) in 1979

Created as a statutory quasi-judicial autonomous authority under the Press Council Act, 1978.

Role of PCI

• Aimed at preserving the freedom of the press in India.
• Focuses on maintaining and improving the standards of newspapers and news agencies.

Composition of the Council

• Consists of a Chairman and 28 members.
• Chairman is traditionally a retired judge of the Supreme Court.
• Nominated by a Committee comprising the Chairman of Rajya Sabha, Speaker of Lok Sabha, and a member elected by the Council members.

"Carbon Pricing Trends 2024: World Bank Report"

Key findings of the report:

• Carbon Pricing (CP) revenues in 2023 exceeded USD 100 billion for the first time.
• There are 75 global CP instruments in operation, covering around 24% of global greenhouse gas emissions.
• Brazil, India, and Türkiye have made notable progress towards CP implementation.
• China and India are the largest host countries in terms of issuance of Carbon Credits.

Main types of CP:

1.Emissions trading system (ETS): A system where emitters can trade emission units     to meet their emission targets.

• Types of ETSs include Cap-and-trade systems and Baseline-and-credit systems.

2.Carbon tax: Sets a price per unit of greenhouse gas emissions or carbon content.

Benefits of CP:

• Places the burden of emissions damage on polluters.
• Spurs investment and innovation in clean technology.
• Facilitates Paris Agreement emissions pathways for below 2°C/1.5°C warming.

CP at national level:

• India introduced the Carbon Credit Trading Scheme (CCTS) in 2023.
• Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) implemented the Perform, Achieve and Trade (PAT) Scheme.
• Clean Energy Cess of Rs.400/- per tonne of coal was introduced.

CP at Global Level:

• Carbon pricing began under the Kyoto Protocol in 1997.
• Three market-based mechanisms were established: International emissions trading (IET), the clean development mechanism (CDM), and joint implementation (JI).
• Article 6 of the Paris Agreement allows countries to transfer carbon credits earned from reducing Greenhouse Gas emissions.

"ONDC Records 8.9 Million Transactions in May"

Overview of ONDC

• ONDC is a Section 8 company initiated by DPIIT.
• It is based on open-sourced methodology.
• Mission is to increase e-commerce penetration in India.

Benefits of ONDC

• Sellers get equal opportunity to compete.
• Buyers enjoy seamless shopping experience.
• Tech companies see rapid adoption and scalability.
• FinTech can provide credit solutions.

Challenges of ONDC

• Resistance from incumbent players.
• Transitioning offline businesses online.

"NOTA Comes Second in Indore with 200,000+ Votes"

Introduction of NOTA

• NOTA was established in 2013 following a directive from the Supreme Court in response to a public interest litigation by the Peoples Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL).
• NOTA allows voters to reject all candidates running for office, indicating their disapproval of the available choices.
• Even if NOTA receives the most votes, the candidate with the second-highest number of votes is declared the winner.
• The Supreme Court has clarified that the NOTA option is intended for universal adult suffrage and direct elections.
• NOTA is also practiced in various countries around the world, including France, Belgium, Brazil, Finland, and Sweden.

Benefits of NOTA

• Provides citizens with a way to express dissatisfaction with the available candidates.
• Encourages greater participation in the democratic process of voting.
• Aims to promote high moral and ethical values among both citizens and politicians.
• Indirectly pushes political parties to nominate better candidates.

Challenges of NOTA

• NOTA is seen as having symbolic significance as it does not directly impact the outcome of elections.
• There is typically a low number of votes cast for NOTA.
• NOTA could be strengthened, as seen in the local body elections in Maharashtra, where a re-election may be held if the majority of votes are for NOTA.

"Coal Ministry Report: Greening Initiative in PSUs"

Efforts of PSUs in Environmental Conservation in Coal Mining

Key Findings:

• Coal PSUs are actively involved in afforestation and ecological restoration projects.
• Innovative techniques like seed ball plantation, seed casting via drones, and Miyawaki plantation are being used to increase green cover in coal regions.
• Miyawaki plantation involves planting native trees, shrubs, and groundcover plants within every square meter.

Other Greening Initiatives in the Mining Sector:

• Mine closure guidelines require reclamation and rehabilitation of mined-out land.
• Environmental Impact Assessment and Environment Management Plan for Mining are in place.
• Forest Clearance must be obtained to diverge forest land for non-forest purposes.
• India's NDC commitment includes creating an additional carbon sink through additional forest and tree cover by 2030.

Environmental Consequences of Coal Mining

• Impact on Land: Each year, open-cast coal mining destroys significant amounts of fertile land, leading to land degradation and changes in the land profile. This can have a negative impact on flora and fauna in the area.
• Soil Contamination: Harmful toxic metals from coal mining settle in agricultural fields, reducing crop productivity and soil fertility. This can have long-lasting effects on the land and surrounding environment.
• Social Consequences: Coal mining often leads to the displacement of people and loss of livelihoods as communities are uprooted to make way for mining operations. This can have a significant impact on the well-being of those affected.
• Pollution: Coal mining contributes to air pollution, water pollution, and acid rock drainage, which can have detrimental effects on the environment and human health. These pollutants can spread beyond the immediate mining area, affecting larger ecosystems.

"CBIC Seeks Feedback on Central Excise Bill, 2024"

Draft Central Excise Bill, 2024

• The CBIC has prepared a draft 'Central Excise Bill, 2024' to replace the Central Excise Act of 1944.
• The aim of the Bill is to enact a modern central excise law that promotes ease of doing business by repealing old and redundant provisions.

Excise Duty Overview

• Excise duty is an indirect tax collected from customers by retailers or intermediaries.
• It is paid when goods are transferred from the manufacturing unit to a warehouse.

Governance of Excise Duty

• Central Excise Act, 1944 governs the levy and collection of excise duties on goods manufactured/produced in the country.
• Central Excise Tariff Act, 1985 classifies goods on which central excise duty is levied and the rates of duty payable.

Changes Due to GST

• GST has subsumed many types of excise duty, with excise duty now only applying to petroleum and liquor.
• Excise duty on alcohol, alcoholic preparations, and narcotic substances is collected by the State Government as "State Excise" duty.