Current Affairs – September 27, 2024

{GS1 – A&C – Architecture} Borra Caves

• Context (TH): Borra Caves near Visakhapatnam to get a facelift under Swadesh Darshan 2.0.

About Borra Caves

• Location: Located on the Eastern Ghats in Ananthagiri hills of Araku Valley in Andhra Pradesh. It is among the deepest and largest caves in India.
• Discovered by: William King George of the Geological Survey of India.
• It was formed millions of years ago by the water activity of the Gosthani River.
• The caves are basically karstic limestone structures extending to a depth of 80 meters.
• A naturally formed Shivling inside the caves is worshipped by local tribal communities.
• Excavations have unearthed stone tools dating back to the Paleolithic age (30,000-50,000 years ago), indicating early human habitation.

Swadesh Darshan Scheme 2.0

• Revamped Scheme: The Ministry of Tourism has revamped its Swadesh Darshan scheme as Swadesh Darshan 2.0 for the development of sustainable and responsible tourist destinations covering tourism and allied infrastructure, tourism services, human capital development, destination management.
• Private Sector Investment: Encourage increased investment in tourism and hospitality.
• Public-Private Partnerships (PPP): Promote PPPs for the operation and maintenance of assets created under the scheme.

Read More > GoI Initiatives for the Tourism Sector

{GS2 – Governance – Initiatives} India’s First Digital Census

• Context(DTE): India’s 2021 Census, delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, is the first to adopt a digital format. However, it faces debates on its implications for governance, welfare, and resource allocation.

• Under the 2021 census, citizens can self-enumerate through a mobile app developed by the Office of the Registrar General, available in 16 Indian languages, potentially reducing costs and time.

Importance of Census Data

• Development Planning and Resource Allocation: Census data is crucial for development indicators, resource distribution, and planning. The lack of current data has affected schemes like the National Food Security Act, 2013, and PM Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana.
• Delimitation and Political Representation: India’s population has grown significantly since 2011, yet there has been no delimitation of parliamentary and legislative constituencies, leading to underrepresentation in the Lok Sabha for states with rapid population growth.
• Women’s Reservation Act is contingent on the completion of the census and subsequent delimitation of constituencies.

Challenges

• Digital Divide: Only about 50% of India’s 1.4 billion population has access to smartphones. Women are half as likely to have internet access as men.
• Delayed Execution: Despite the pandemic being over, the delay in initiating the census has raised concerns, as critical welfare schemes depend on accurate and up-to-date demographic data.
• Trust Deficit in Government Data Collection: Citizens are often wary of sharing personal information with the government due to past incidents of data breaches. E.g. The Aadhaar data breach incident
• Underrepresentation of Marginalized Groups including women, tribal communities, and economically disadvantaged people, leading to potential underrepresentation in the census data.
• Technological Infrastructure: States like Bihar and Jharkhand face frequent power outages, impacting the functionality of digital census data collection.

Way Forward

• Hybrid Model for Data Collection: Implement a hybrid system combining digital and traditional (in-person) enumeration methods. E.g. Japan allows citizens to self-enumerate online but also sends enumerators for those unable or unwilling to use digital platforms.
• Pilot Projects to Test Digital Platforms: Conduct a pilot digital census in smaller districts to identify and rectify problems before a full-scale rollout.
• Capacity Building and Digital Literacy Programs: Launch widespread digital literacy programs in rural and underserved areas to familiarise citizens with digital platforms and the census process.
• Enhancing Data Security and Privacy: Adopt stronger data encryption and privacy protection measures to ensure citizens’ trust. E.g. EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
• Digital Inclusion Measures: Ensure targeted outreach programs to bring marginalised groups. E.g. Kenya’s 2019 census involved special measures to ensure participation from nomadic tribes.

{GS2 – Polity – IC – Federalism} Impact of Cess on Fiscal Federalism

• Context (IE): In recent years, the share of cess in the Union government’s gross tax revenue has surged significantly, raising questions about states’ financial autonomy.

• Cess is a tax levied by the Union government for specific purposes and is not shared with states under the divisible tax pool. This policy has led to concerns over its impact on fiscal federalism.

Current Scenario with Cess in India

• Rise in Cess Collection from 6% of gross tax revenue in 2011 to 18% in 2021. From 2019-23, Rs 13 lakh crore was collected as cess by the Union government, excluding the GST compensation cess.
• Impact on Divisible Pool: The divisible pool, which is shared with states, has reduced from 89% of the gross tax revenue in 2011 to 79% in 2021.
  • Despite the 14^th Finance Commission’s recommendation to increase state devolution to 42%, the growing share of cess has undermined its impact.
• Unutilized Cess Funds: A CAG report in 2018-19 revealed that Rs 1 lakh crore collected as cess was retained in the Consolidated Fund of India (CFI) instead of being transferred to designated reserve funds. E.g. Rs 10,000 crore from the Road and Infrastructure Cess.
• Limited Growth in Revenue: Despite the increase in cess, the Union government’s revenue receipts have only marginally grown from 8.8% of GDP in 2014 to 9.6% in 2024.

Challenges

• Erosion of Federalism: Cess is outside the divisible pool, reducing states’ share of tax revenues, especially impacting states with higher per capita GSDP, like Karnataka.
• Lack of Transparency: Misallocation and under-utilization of cess funds, as pointed out by CAG, hinder accountability and transparency instead of being used for their intended purpose.
• Fiscal Inequality: The increasing share of cess disadvantages states with lesser political alignment with the ruling party at the centre, depriving them of their rightful share in central tax revenue.
• Political Bias: States opposing the central government ideologically often face delays or reductions in allocations from cess collections, fostering an environment of coercive federalism.

Way Forward

• A comprehensive review of cess and surcharge levied by the Union government should be conducted, following the recommendations of the Sarkaria and Punchhi Commissions. E.g. limiting cess on crude oil to a fixed timeframe with a clear utilisation plan for infrastructure projects.
• Improving Transparency: Establish a robust monitoring mechanism for cess collection and allocation, ensuring funds are transferred to designated reserve funds and utilised efficiently. E.g. regular audits of cess funds by the CAG to avoid misallocation, like in the Road and Infrastructure Cess case.
• Strengthening Fiscal Federalism: Increase the states’ share in tax revenues by ensuring that cesses do not disproportionately reduce the divisible pool. E.g. Canada’s Equalization Payments system allows for wealthier provinces to contribute to less affluent provinces.
• Encouraging Dialogue between the Union and state governments to address concerns related to fiscal devolution. Regular meetings of the GST Council to foster cooperative federalism.
• Legislative Reforms: Amend relevant fiscal laws to ensure stricter compliance with cess usage and enforce time limits on existing cesses to avoid their perpetual extension.

{GS3 – Envi – RE} Integrating RE with Electric Bus Operations

• Context (DTE): Solar canopies can usher in greener, more efficient public transport. It would help bus operators offset operational costs and reduce dependence on conventional energy sources.
• It can help India achieve its Net Zero emissions and enhance energy security.

Current Scenario of Electric Buses in India

• As of July 2024, 8,938 pure e-buses are operational in India (excluding Telangana and Lakshadweep).
• Government Initiatives for promoting electric buses:
  • FAME Scheme: It aims to promote electric mobility.
  • PM E-DRIVE Scheme: 14,028 e-buses to be deployed in cities with populations of over 4 million.
  • PM-eBus Sewa Scheme: 10,000 e-buses to be deployed in cities with populations under 4 million.

About Solar Photovoltaic (SPV) Canopies

• Solar canopies are systems that use either wood, metal, or another material to hold up solar panels on a non-roof structure. They provide shelter and generate solar energy with photovoltaic panels.
• They are usually installed in outdoor spaces like parking lots, open areas, or rooftops of buildings.
• It may continue to produce energy when the sun goes down, providing buildings with the ability to function and allowing one to use solar energy even after daylight hours.

Advantages of SPV Canopies

• Financial benefits: Lowers power consumption costs and avoids utility demand charges.
• Operational benefits: Ensures reliable, uninterrupted power supply during outages.
• Environmental benefits: Promotes cleaner public transport systems by reducing dependency on conventional power grids.
• Other benefits: Provides shade, protects buses and enhances the working environment for employees.

Limitations of SPV Canopies

• Insufficient: Power generated may not be sufficient for full-day operations, especially in large depots.
• Financially unviable: The upfront cost of installing SPV canopies poses financial challenges.
• Other challenges: It faces operational and logistical hurdles as it is still an emerging technology.

Way forward

• Collaborations with organisations like the C40 Cities Finance Facility, which are willing to extend support for sustainable urban projects to address financial challenges.
• Linking SPV canopy installation to incentives under the PM e-Bus Seva Scheme can foster collaboration between STUs, public sector undertakings, and industry partners.

{GS3 – IE – Employment} Future Jobs and the Need for Upskilling Workers

• Context (IE): The changing dynamics of the global job market, driven by technological advancements, require India to focus on upskilling its workforce.

• The contrasting employment data indicates both growth and challenges, with a widening skill gap and the need for educational reforms to align with industry demands.

Discrepancies in Employment Data

• Job growth at 6%, up from 3.2% in FY23.
• The unemployment rate stands at 9.2%, as of June 2024. (Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy, FY24)
• Level of unemployment decreased from 6.8% to 6.7% (Jan-March 2024), and labour force participation increased from 48.5% to 50.2% (PLFS).
• India needs to create 1.2 crore jobs annually over the next decade, but with current growth rates, it can only generate 80–90 lakh jobs, leaving a deficit of 30–40 lakh (Citigroup Research)

Factors Affecting Employment Generation

• Skill Gaps: Inefficiencies in the labour market create mismatches in job availability and skills required, affecting employment growth.
• Aspirational Gap: There is a disconnect between available jobs and job seekers’ expectations, especially with a growing preference for IT jobs versus manual labour roles.
• Technological Advancements: Technological innovations reduce the need for labour in traditional sectors, leading to a decline in employment elasticity.
• Impact of Automation: The rise of AI and automation is shrinking middle-management roles while creating opportunities for professionals skilled in technology and innovation.

Challenges in Education and Skilling

• Misalignment of Education and Industry Needs: Educational programs are disconnected from market demands, causing 33% of educated youth to remain unemployed (CMIE).
• Quality of Education: Despite a 27% rise in enrolment (AISHE 2023), the education system still lacks the quality needed for adequate job preparedness.
• Outdated Curriculum: Many institutions follow old curricula, with 40% of employers citing a skills mismatch between graduates and job requirements (NASSCOM).
• Lack of Practical Training: Practical skill acquisition is insufficient, with only 20% of engineering graduates in India considered employable (Aspiring Minds Report 2024).
• Skill Development Post-Graduation: Due to poor foundational education, 56% graduates need further training to become employable (India Skills Report 2024).
• Unequal Access to Quality Education: Rural students face a 20% lower chance of receiving quality education, affecting their employment prospects (World Bank).

Way Forward

• Promoting Labour-Intensive Sectors: Industrialisation should focus on sectors with strong inter-sectoral linkages that can absorb more labour. E.g. food processing industry’s strong linkages with agriculture and manufacturing.
• Technology-intensive industries must improve their international competitiveness by adopting modern technology and increasing R&D efforts. E.g. India’s strong base in generic drugs can be leveraged.
• Educational and Skilling Reforms: Making students job-ready immediately after graduation. E.g. Germany’s dual-education system.
• Addressing Aspirational Gaps: Ensure alignment between job seekers’ aspirations and the availability of appropriate jobs through career counselling and vocational training.
• Sectoral Approach to Employment Generation: A differentiated incentive system targeting both labour-intensive and technology-driven sectors is needed.
• Improved Data Coordination: Agencies like the National Statistical Commission should improve data quality and coordination between various sources to ensure transparency and accurate reporting.

{GS3 – S&T – Tech} PARAM Rudra Supercomputers

• Context (TH | IE): The Prime Minister launched three Param Rudra Super Computing Systems and a High-Performance Computing (HPC) system for weather and climate research.

• Param Rudra supercomputing system boasts an impressive 1-petaflop processing capability and features graphics processing units (GPUs) that enhance its ability to process vast amounts of data.
• The three supercomputers will cost around Rs 130 crore and will be developed indigenously under the National Supercomputing Mission (NSM).
• They have been deployed at three key locations: Delhi, Pune and Kolkata to facilitate pioneering scientific research.
  • Giant Metre Radio Telescope (GMRT), Pune will leverage the supercomputer to explore Fast Radio Bursts (FRBs) and other astronomical phenomena.
  • Inter University Accelerator Centre (IUAC), Delhi will enhance research in material science and atomic physics.
  • S N Bose Centre, Kolkata will use supercomputing technology to drive advanced research in physics, cosmology, and earth sciences.
• The most powerful of these is the one installed at IUAC, which has a capacity of 3 petaflops. GMRT has one petaflop supercomputer, while the one at S N Bose Institute has a capacity of 838 teraflops.
• In addition, the computing power available for weather and climate research has been upgraded by the setting up of two High-Power Computing (HPC) systems in Pune and Noida.

National Supercomputing Mission

• NSM was launched in 2015 to provide the country with supercomputing infrastructure to meet the increasing computational demands by manufacturing supercomputers indigenously in India. It is a first-of-its-kind attempt to boost the country’s computing power.
• Steered jointly by: Ministry of Electronics and IT (MeitY) & Department of Science and Technology.
• Implemented by: Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC), Pune and the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru.
• The Mission envisages empowering national academic and R&D institutions by installing a vast supercomputing grid comprising more than 70 high-performance computing facilities.
• The supercomputers will be networked on the National Supercomputing grid over the National Knowledge Network, which connects academic institutions and R&D labs over a high-speed network.
• The mission also includes the development of highly professional and skilled human resources to meet the challenges of the development of these applications.
• The mission was planned in three phases:
  • Phase I looking at assembling supercomputers.
  • Phase II looking at manufacturing certain components within the country.
  • Phase III where a supercomputer is designed by India.
• The Mission supports the government’s ‘Digital India’ and ‘Make in India’ initiatives.
• Under NSM, the first indigenously assembled supercomputer, i.e. PARAM Shivay, was installed at IIT (BHU) in 2019. It was followed by Param Shakti and Param Brahma supercomputers.

Objectives of the mission

1. Make India a world leader in HPC and to enhance the national capability in solving grand challenge problems of national and global relevance.
2. Empower scientists & researchers with state-of-the-art computing facilities for their cutting-edge research in their respective Domains.
3. Reduce redundancies and avoid duplication of efforts and investments.
4. Create an ecosystem for positioning India as a major power for supercomputing and attain global competitiveness and self-reliance in HPC.

{Prelims – Envi – Species} Monocled Cobra (Naja kaouthia)

• Context (PIB): Region-specific antivenoms are needed to improve treatment of monocled cobra bites.

About Monocled Cobra

• Also known as Indian spitting cobra, it is a venomous cobra species belonging to the Elapidae family.
• Distribution: It is commonly found across South and Southeast Asia.
• Physical description: It can vary in colour from yellow, brown, grey to blackish, with/without cross bands.

Credits: Thai National Park

• Significance: Help in controlling rodent populations, thus benefiting agricultural ecosystems.
• Conservation Status: IUCN: Least Concern
• Its venom is highly neurotoxic and cytotoxic, causing severe neurotoxicity and regional tissue destruction. The variability in venom composition across different regions poses a challenge for effective treatment, highlighting the need for region-specific antivenoms.

{Prelims – Envi – Species} The Iberian Lynx (Lynx pardinus)

• Context (TH): Recent scientific advancements have shed light on strategies to bolster its survival.

Source: The Hindu

• The Iberian lynx is the world’s most endangered feline species.
• Distribution: It is native to the Iberian Peninsula in southwestern Europe, including Portugal and Spain.
• Habitat: It lives in Mediterranean forests composed of native oaks and abundant undergrowth and thickets. It favours a mixture of dense scrub for shelter and open pasture for hunting.
• Physical description: It is heavily spotted and has long legs and a short tail with a black tip. Its coat is tawny with dark spots, and it bears a characteristic “beard” around its face and prominent black ear tufts.
• Diet: It feeds on the European rabbit (makes up over 80% of its diet), other small mammals, such as rodents, hares, and birds, as well as larger prey such as deer.
• Conservation Status: IUCN: Vulnerable| CITES: Appendix II
• Threats: Illegal hunting, habitat loss and degradation, decreasing food base, caught illegally or hunted with dogs, etc.

{Prelims – In News} Global Innovation Index 2024

• Context (TH): Global Innovation Index 2024 was released by World Intellectual Property Organisation.

• The Global Innovation Index (GII) is a ranking of countries as per their success and capacity in innovation.
• It is developed jointly by Cornell University, INSEAD and WIPO and is published annually since 2007.

Key findings

• Most innovative economies: Switzerland > Sweden > USA > Singapore > UK.
• Fastest 10-year climbers: China, Turkiye, India, Viet Nam and the Philippines.
• China (11^th rank) remains the only middle-income economy in the top 30.
• 41 economies are performing below expectations on innovation, the majority from Latin America, the Caribbean and Sub-Saharan Africa.

India specific findings

• India’s rank: 39th (2023 – 40^th, 2015 – 81^st). It leads in the lower middle-income group. It ranked first among ten economies in Central and Southern Asia.
• Secured 4^th position in WIPO Science and Technology (S&T) Cluster Ranking. Major cities like Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru, and Chennai are listed among the world’s top 100 S&T clusters.
• Its strengths lie in key indicators such as ICT services exports, venture capital received, and intangible asset intensity (measures the strength of non-physical assets like patents and trademarks).
• India’s unicorn companies secure the country the 8th rank globally.

{Prelims – In News} Keffiyeh Scarf

• Context (IE): Author Jhumpa Lahiri refused the Noguchi Prize, citing the ban on Keffiyeh Scarf.
• Jhumpa Lahiri is an Indian-American author known for themes of identity, displacement, and the immigrant experience. She won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 2000 for Interpreter of Maladies.

About Keffiyeh Scarf

• Traditional Middle Eastern scarf, usually made of cotton or wool. It is known for its distinctive checkered pattern. It is commonly worn by Arab men, especially in desert environments.

Credits: ebay

• The black-and-white keffiyeh is most associated with Palestinian identity. It became a symbol during the 1936–39 Arab Revolt against British rule. Recently, Palestinian fighters have worn it to symbolize nationalism and resistance to Israel’s occupation.

Why Keffiyehs Have Been Banned at Times?

• Due to its association with Palestinian nationalism and resistance.
• Seen as a symbol of rebellion in regions sympathetic to Israel or during civil unrest.

{Prelims – In News} Nanjangud rasabale

• Context (TH): Nanjangud rasabale banana variety, which had become scarce because of a fungal disease, has begun to thrive again.
• It is grown in and around the area Mysore and Chamarajanagar district, Karnataka.
• The fruit is characterised by its medium size and gall formation in the pulp. A major characteristic of the fruit is its long shelf life, as it survives for around a fortnight after its starts ripening.
• It is more vulnerable to Panama wilt, a soil-borne disease.
• It was awarded the GI tag in 2006 for its thick pulp and distinct taste and aroma.

{Prelims – Sci – Bio} Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori)

• Context (TH): Need for efforts to be taken to eradicate Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori).

• H. pylori bacteria grow in the protective mucus layer of the stomach lining, where they are less exposed to the highly acidic juices produced by the stomach. It can also be found in stool, saliva, and plaque on the teeth.
• It produces ammonia, which helps protect it from stomach acid and enables it to disrupt and penetrate the mucus layer.
• Symptoms: It causes redness and inflammation in the stomach lining (gastritis), and painful sores called peptic ulcers. It can also lead to stomach cancer.
• Transmission: It can be transmitted from person to person.