Daily Current Affairs for UPSC CSE
Topics Covered
- Bill passed by State assemblies that are repugnant with Central laws
- Draft Cryptocurrency & Regulation of Official Digital Currency Bill
- Neutrinos and Supernova
- Saturn’s Tilting Axis
1 . Bill passed by State assemblies that are repugnant with Central laws
Context : The ordinance on unlawful religious conversions, promulgated by the Uttar Pradesh government last year, has not been sent to the Centre for examination, according to a reply from the Union Home Ministry to a query under the Right to Information Act (RTI).
Process for Bill passed by State assemblies that are repugnant with Central laws
- The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) examines bills passed by State assemblies that are repugnant with Central laws before they get the President’s assent to become a law.
- The State Legislations are examined in consultation with the Central Ministries/Departments concerned from three angles viz.,
- (i) Repugnancy with Central laws;
- (ii) Deviation from National or Central Policy; and
- (iii) Legal and Constitutional validity.
- Whenever necessary, the State Governments are advised to modify/amend provisions of such legislations/Bills keeping the above in view. Sometimes, discussions are also held with the State Governments and Ministries/Departments of the Government of India with a view to arrive at the final decision.
About the Bill
- The controversial ordinance — the Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Ordinance, 2020, — was promulgated in November
- The law makes religious conversion a non-bailable offence, inviting penalties of up to 10 years in prison if found to be effected for marriage or through misrepresentation, force, undue influence, coercion, allurement or other alleged fraudulent means.
- According to the Ordinance, in case of conversion done by a woman for the sole purpose of marriage, the marriage would be declared null and void.
- Article 213 of the Constitution under which U.P. Governor Anandiben Patel promulgated the ordinance says the Governor shall not, without instructions from the President, promulgate any such ordinance if a bill would have “required the previous sanction of the President” for introduction in the Legislature.
2 . Draft Cryptocurrency & Regulation of Official Digital Currency Bill
Context : India proposes law to ban cryptocurrencies, create official digital currency
About the News
- The Centre plans to introduce a law to ban private cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin and put in place a framework for an official digital currency to be issued by the central bank
- The law will “create a facilitative framework for creation of the official digital currency to be issued by the Reserve Bank of India [RBI]
- The legislation, listed for debate in the current parliamentary session, seeks “to prohibit all private cryptocurrencies in India, however, it allows for certain exceptions to promote the underlying technology of cryptocurrency and its uses
Background
- In mid-2019, a government panel recommended banning all private cryptocurrencies, with a jail term of up to 10 years and heavy fines for anyone dealing in digital currencies.
- The panel has, however, asked the government to consider the launch of an official government-backed digital currency in India, to function like bank notes, through the Reserve Bank of India.
- The RBI had in April 2018 ordered financial institutions to break off all ties with individuals or businesses dealing in virtual currency such as bitcoin within three months.
- However, in March 2020, the Supreme Court allowed banks to handle cryptocurrency transactions from exchanges and traders, overturning a central bank ban had that dealt the thriving industry a major blow.
- Governments around the world have been looking into ways to regulate cryptocurrencies but no major economy has taken the drastic step of placing a blanket ban on owning them, even though concern has been raised about the misuse of consumer data and its possible impact on the financial system.
Highlights of the draft Bill
- The draft Bill seeks to prohibit mining, holding, selling, trade, issuance, disposal or use of cryptocurrency in the country. Cryptocurrency is defined as any information, code, or token which has a digital representation of value and has utility in a business activity, or acts as a store of value, or a unit of account.
- Under the draft Bill, mining, holding, selling, issuing, transferring or use of cryptocurrency is punishable with a fine or imprisonment of up to 10 years, or both.
- A person must declare and dispose of any cryptocurrency in his possession, within 90 days from the commencement of the Act.
- The draft Bill permits the use of processes or technology underlying any cryptocurrency for experiment, research, or teaching.
- The central government, in consultation with the RBI, may issue digital rupee as legal tender. The RBI may also notify a digital currency recognised as legal tender in a foreign jurisdiction, as a foreign currency.
Key Features of the draft bill
- Cryptocurrency: The draft Bill defines cryptocurrency as any information, code, number or token, generated through cryptographic means or otherwise, which has a digital representation of value and has utility in a business activity, or acts as a store of value or a unit of account.
Regulation of cryptocurrency
- Ban on cryptocurrencies: The draft Bill bans the use of cryptocurrency as legal tender or currency. It also prohibits mining, buying, holding, selling, dealing in, issuance, disposal or use of cryptocurrency. Mining is an activity aimed at creating a cryptocurrency and/or validating cryptocurrency transactions between a buyer and seller.
- In particular, the use of cryptocurrency is prohibited for: (i) use as a medium of exchange, store of value or unit of account, (ii) use as a payment system, (iii) providing services such as registering, trading, selling or clearing of cryptocurrency to individuals, (iv) trading it with other currencies, (v) issuing financial products related to it, (vi) using it as a basis of credit, (vii) issuing it as a means of raising funds, and (viii) issuing it as a means for investment.
- Exemptions: The central government may exempt certain activities, if necessary in public interest. The use of technology or processes underlying cryptocurrency for experiment, research or teaching is permitted.
- Digital Rupee: The central government may, in consultation with the central board of the RBI, approve digital rupee to be legal tender. The RBI may also notify a foreign digital currency as a foreign currency. Foreign digital currency means a digital currency recognised as legal tender in a foreign jurisdiction.
Offences and Penalties
- Under the Bill, mining, holding, selling, issuing, transferring or using cryptocurrency is punishable with a fine or imprisonment of up to 10 years, or both.
- Issuing any advertisement, soliciting, assisting or inducing participation in use of cryptocurrency is punishable with a fine or imprisonment of up to seven years, or both. Acquiring, storing or disposing of cryptocurrency with the intent of using it for non-commercial purposes will be punishable with a fine.
- The Bill provides for a transition period of 90 days from the commencement of the Act, during which a person may dispose of any cryptocurrency in their possession, as per the rules notified by the government.
3 . Neutrinos and Supernova
Context : Researching the mechanisms of the so called Type II supernovas, a team from IIT Guwahati has come up with new insights into the part played by neutrinos in the dramatic death of massive stars. The collaboration includes astrophysicists from Max Planck Institute, Munich, Germany; Northwestern University, Illinois and University of California, Berkeley, in the U.S.
Background
- Many stars, towards the end of their lifetimes, form supernovas – massive explosions that send their outer layers shooting into the surrounding space. Most of the energy of the supernova is carried away by neutrinos – tiny particles with no charge and which interact weakly with matter.
Supernova
- All stars burn nuclear fuel in their cores to produce energy. The heat generates internal pressure which pushes outwards and prevents the star from collapsing inward due to the action of gravity on its own mass.
- But when the star ages and runs out of fuel to burn, it starts to cool inside. This causes a lowering of its internal pressure and therefore the force of gravity wins; the star starts to collapse inwards.
- This builds up shock waves because it happens very suddenly, and the shock wave sends the outer material of the star flying. This is what is perceived as a supernova. This happens in very massive stars.
- In stars that are more than eight times as massive as the Sun, the supernova is accompanied by a collapsing of the inner material of the dying star – this is also known as core collapse supernova or Type II supernova.
- The collapsing core may form a black hole or a neutron star, according as its mass.
Neutrinos
- Neutrinos come in three ‘flavours’, another name for ‘types’, and each flavour is associated with a light elementary particle.
- For instance, the electron-neutrino is associated with the electron; the muon-neutrino with the muon and the tau-neutrino with the tau particle.
- As they spew out of the raging supernova, the neutrinos can change from one flavour to another in a process known as neutrino oscillations.
- Due to the high density and energy of the supernova, several interesting features emerge as this is a nonlinear phenomenon: “This [phenomenon] may generate neutrino oscillations happening simultaneously over different energies (unlike normal neutrino oscillation), termed collective neutrino oscillation.
- The oscillation result may dramatically change when one allows the evolution with the angular asymmetry, the oscillations can happen at a nanosecond time scale, termed fast oscillation.”
- Models of this process, dubbed the effective two-flavour models, have only taken into account the asymmetry between electron neutrino and the corresponding antineutrino. In a paper published in Physical Review Letters, the researchers from IIT Guwahati claim that a three-flavour model is needed to predict well the dynamics of the supernova.
Fast oscillations
- The fast oscillations are important because the researchers find that these can decide the flavour information of the supernova neutrinos.
- So far, this has not been done, and models have only kept terms involving a neutrino and its corresponding anti-neutrino.
- We find that fast nonlinear oscillations of neutrinos are sensitive to three flavours, and neglecting the third flavour may yield the wrong answer,” says Dr. Chakraborty. “Thus, the presence of …[asymmetry between] the muon neutrinos and antineutrinos will be crucial for the neutrino oscillations, in turn influencing the supernova mechanism.”
- Understanding this is important when one wants to measure the influence of neutrinos and their oscillations on supernova mechanism and heavy element synthesis in stellar environments.
4 . Saturn’s Tilting Axis
What caused the tilt to Saturn’s rotation axis?
- According to the Scientists the tilt of the rotation axis of the gas giant Saturn may in fact be caused by its moons. The current tilt of Saturn’s rotation axis is caused by the migration of its satellites, and especially by that of its largest moon, Titan.
- Recent observations have shown that Titan and the other moons are gradually moving away from Saturn much faster than astronomers had previously estimated. By incorporating this into their calculations, the researchers concluded that this process affects the inclination of Saturn’s rotation axis: as its satellites move further away, the planet tilts more and more.
- In fact, what we see today is merely a transitional stage in this shift. Over the next few billion years, the inclination of Saturn’s axis could more than double.
- The decisive event that tilted Saturn is thought to have occurred relatively recently. For over three billion years after its formation, Saturn’s rotation axis remained only slightly tilted. It was only roughly a billion years ago that the gradual motion of its satellites triggered a resonance phenomenon that continues today: Saturn’s axis interacted with the path of the planet Neptune and gradually tilted until it reached the inclination of 27 degrees observed today, says a release from CNRS.