Daily Current Affairs : 10th June

Daily Current Affairs for UPSC CSE

Topics Covered

1. 5G Network
2. Line of Credit Agreement
3. Global map of where groundwater meets oceans
4. Multilateral Convention to Implement Tax Treaty Related Measures to Prevent Base Erosion and Profit Shifting
5. Foreign Tribunals
6. Paper based kit for Malaria detection
7. Chandrayaan 2
8. Traffic Index 2018
9. Facts for Prelims : Golden Langur, The Most Honourable Order of the Distinguished Rule of Nishan Izzuddeen, National maritime heritage museum, Enforcement Directorate 

1 . 5G Network

Context : Union Communications Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad announced that the government will be holding an auction for spectrum, which includes airwaves that will be used to offer 5G or fifth-generation services, in the current calendar year. India is yet to begin trials for these even as the government is targeting 2020 as the launch year for 5G in the country.

What is 5G?

• It is the next generation cellular technology that will provide faster and more reliable communication with ultra low latency.
• A government panel report points out that with 5G, the peak network data speeds are expected to be in the range of 2-20 Gigabits per second (Gbps). This is in contrast to 4G link speeds in averaging 6-7 Megabits per second (Mbps) in India as compared to 25 Mbps in advanced countries

Benefits

• With 5G technology, consumers will be able to download data heavy content such as 8K movies and games with better graphics in just a few seconds. But once 5G becomes commercial, users will be required to change their current devices in favour of 5G-enabled ones.
• 5G is expected to form the backbone of emerging technologies such as the Internet of Things (IoT) and machine to machine communications, thereby supporting a much larger range of applications and services, including driverless vehicles, tele-surgery and real time data analytics. The ultra low latency offered by 5G makes the technology desirable for such use cases. Latency is the amount of time data takes to travel between its source and destination.
• A government panel on 5G says the technology will extend the use of wireless technologies — for the first time — across completely new sectors of the economy from industrial to commercial, educational, health care, agricultural, financial and social sectors.
• It is widely accepted that 5G’s value for India may be even higher than in advanced countries because of the lower levels of investments in physical infrastructure. “5G may offer ‘leapfrog’ opportunities by providing ‘smart infrastructure’ that offers lower cost and faster infrastructure delivery,” as per the government panel. One of the primary applications of 5G will be implementation of sensor-embedded network that will allow real time relay of information across fields such as manufacturing, consumer durables and agriculture. 5G can also help make transport infrastructure more efficient by making it smart. 5G will enable vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-infrastructure communication, making driverless cars, among other things, a reality.

Challenges in implementation of 5 G in India

• Two of the three private telcos, Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea, have, however, expressed apprehensions about the auction this year. They have pointed out that the reserve price of these airwaves is very high. Besides, there are currently no India-specific use cases for deployment of 5G.
• Telecom industry body Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) has also expressed concerns about the financial health of the sector amid intense competition and recent phase of consolidation. Currently, the industry’s cumulative debt is pegged at around Rs. 7 lakh crore.
• The COAI has also pointed out that 5G is overpriced by at least 30% to 40% compared to international standards and auction in other markets such as South Korea and the U.S.
• Besides the spectrum, 5G will require a fundamental change to the core architecture of the communication system. Simply upgrading the existing Long Term Evolution core will not be able to support the various requirements of all 5G use cases.

Facts for Prelims

• South Korea and the U.S. became the first countries to commercially launch 5G services.
• Spectrum for 5G services in India is available only in 700 Mhz and 3300-3600 Mhz bands

2 . Line of Credit

Context : India and Maldives welcomed the signing of the $800-million Line of Credit Agreement in March 2019 for assisting the Maldives in achieving sustainable social and economic development

About Line of Credit provided by the Govt of India

• Department of Economic Affairs on behalf of Government of India had been extending Lines of Credit (LOCs) to friendly developing foreign countries.
• Till 2003-04, the LOCs were from Government to Government. Accordingly the full amount covered by the LOCs, used to be provided in the Budget.
• In 2003-04, The Government of India (GOI) formulated the Indian Development Initiative (IDI), now known as Indian Development and Economic Assistance Scheme (IDEAS) with the objective of sharing India’s development experience through: capacity building and skills transfer, trade and infrastructure development,
• Hence since 2003-04, this system has been substituted by extending GOI supported Lines of Credit through Exim Bank of India.
• Under the existing Guidelines for extending LOCs, countries have been classified into the three broad categories : Highly Indebted Poor Countries declared under the Paris Club Initiative, Low Income Countries and Middle Income Countries is as per the world Bank Classification of economics and the classification of LDC Countries is as per the classification done by the UN Office of the high representative for the least developed countries, landlocked developing countries and small island developing states.

3 . Global map of where groundwater meets oceans

Context : Scientists have created high-resolution maps of points around the globe where groundwater meets the oceans — the first such analysis of its kind that may help protect both drinking water and the seas.

About the Findings

• Nearly one-half of fresh submarine groundwater discharge flows into the ocean near the tropics.
• Regions near active fault lines send greater volumes of groundwater into the ocean than regions that are tectonically stable.
• Dry, arid regions have very little groundwater discharge, opening the limited groundwater supplies in those parts of the world to saltwater intrusion.
• The study found that in some parts of the world, groundwater could be polluting oceans and lakes with nutrients and other chemicals. Groundwater, for example, can carry higher concentrations of nitrates — a key contributor of the types of harmful algal blooms — as well as high concentrations of mercury.
• The study also found that climate heavily influences groundwater flow, and that cities in dry areas are especially vulnerable to salt water contamination of aquifers.

Importance of the Findings

• Freshwater-groundwater discharge is a natural line of defense against saltwater intrusion hence findings may help coastal communities better protect and manage their drinking water.
• Understanding how and where groundwater gets to surface water could help policy-makers create better plans to improve those bodies of water.
  

4 . Multilateral Convention to Implement Tax Treaty Related Measures to Prevent Base Erosion and Profit Shifting

Background

• Multilateral Convention to Implement Tax Treaty Related Measures to Prevent Base Erosion and Profit Shifting’ (MLI for short) is the official title of the multilateral treaty framework that aims to prevent Base Erosion and Profit Sharing .
• Base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS) refers to artificially shifting profits to low or no-tax locations where there is little or no economic activity, resulting in little or no overall corporate tax being paid. This is achieved by employing tax planning strategies that exploit gaps and mismatches in tax rules
• Convention will be applied alongside existing tax treaties, modifying their application in order to implement the BEPS measures. The Convention ensures consistency and certainty in the implementation of the BEPS Project in a multilateral context.
• The Convention also provides flexibility to exclude a specific tax treaty and to opt out of provisions or parts of provisions through making of reservations
• Working together in the OECD/G20 BEPS Project, over 60 countries jointly developed 15 actions to tackle tax avoidance, improve the coherence of international tax rules and ensure a more transparent tax environment.
• Implementation of the Final BEPS Package requires changes to more than 3000 bilateral tax treaties which will be burdensome and time consuming. In view of the same, the Convention was conceived as a Multilateral instrument which would swiftly modify all covered bilateral tax treaties (Covered Tax Agreements / CTA) to implement BEPS measures.

What is Multi lateral Instrument

• The multilateral instrument is a treaty/ standard template, which is one element of the OECD BEPS project, designed to help implement the recommended measures to avoid tax treaty abuse. Countries will be able to use MLI framework to implement some of the BEPS action plans relating to double tax treaties.

Why Multi lateral Instrument

• Abuse of tax treaties is an important source of BEPS. The MLI helps the fight against BEPS by implementing the tax treaty-related measures developed through the BEPS Project alongside existing bilateral tax treaties in a synchronised and efficient manner.
• These measures help combat (a) treaty abuse, (b) improve dispute resolution, (c) prevent the artificial avoidance of permanent establishment status and (d) neutralise the effects of hybrid mismatch arrangements.

India and the Convention

• In 2017 India has given its approval for the Multilateral Convention to Implement Tax Treaty Related Measures to Prevent Base Erosion and Profit Shifting.
• Signing of the Multilateral Convention will enable the application of BEPS outcomes through modification of existing tax treaties of India in a swift manner.
• Signing of the Convention will enable curbing of revenue loss through treaty abuse and base erosion and profit shifting strategies by ensuring that profits are taxed where substantive economic activities generating the profits are carried out and where value is created. 

5 . Foreign Tribunals

Context : With Assam’s National Register of Citizens as the backdrop, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has laid out specific guidelines to detect, detain and deport foreign nationals staying illegally across the country.

Background

• The Foreign tribunals are quasi-judicial bodies, unique to Assam, to determine if a person staying illegally is a “foreigner” or not.
• In other parts, once a ‘foreigner’ has been apprehended by the police for staying illegally, he or she is produced before a local court under the Passport Act, 1920, or the Foreigners Act, 1946, with the punishment ranging three months to eight years in jail.
• Once the accused have served the sentence, the court orders their deportation, and they are moved to detention centres till the country of origin accepts them

About the amendment

• The MHA has amended the Foreigners (Tribunals) Order, 1964, and has empowered district magistrates in all States and Union Territories to set up tribunals to decide whether a person staying illegally in India is a foreigner or not. Earlier, the powers to constitute tribunals were vested only with the Centre.
• The amended Foreigners (Tribunal) Order, 2019 also empowers individuals to approach the Tribunals. “Earlier only the State administration could move the Tribunal against a suspect. If a person doesn’t find his or her name in the final list, they could move the Tribunal

Composition of Foreign Tribunal as per Foreign Tribunals Order

• Tribunal shall consist such number of judicial members as the Central Govt may think fit to appoint
• Where the Tribunal consist two or more members then one amongst them should be appointed as chairman

Powers of the Tribunal

• The Tribunal shall have powers of civil court while trying a suit under the coded of Civil Procedure 1908 in respect of the following matters :
  • Summoning and enforcing attendance of any person and examining him on oath
  • Requiring the discovery and production of any document
  • Issuing commissions for the examination of any witness

6 . Paper based kit for Malaria detection

Context : With over one million reported cases in 2017, malaria still continues to be a burden for India and most countries of southeast Asia. Now, a group of researchers from IIT Guwahati has developed a simple detection method that uses an instrument when in the lab or a piece of chromatographic paper when in the field.

About the Kit

• The kit can be used to detect Plasmodium parasite, which causes malaria and also specifically detect Plasmodium falciparum
• Using an ordinary syringe fitted with a small magnet, magnetic beads and few chemicals inside, the researchers were able to specifically capture the antigen released by the parasites in the blood of malaria patients.
• As the blood has many interfering agents the researchers used magnetic bead–tethered aptamers (two small DNA molecules), which capture only the specific antigens and separate these from the blood serum to perform the reaction. The magnetic bead helps in holding the aptamers,
• One of the aptamers selectively captures the antigen ( P. falciparum glutamate dehydrogenase – PfGDH) from the P. falciparum strains, while the other captures another antigen ( Plasmodium lactate dehydrogenase – PLDH ) that is common to all the Plasmodium species.
• The team used PfGDH instead of the currently used HRP-2 as there have been several reports of HRP-2 gene deletions in P. falciparum. This absence of gene allows the parasite to evade HRP-2-based detection tests, resulting in a false-negative test result.
• When the captured antigens interact with specific substrates inside the syringe, the blue dye turns pink. The dye is then adsorbed over a modified chromatographic paper. The formation of pink colour on the paper is a direct indication of the presence of parasites in the blood serum. The intensity of the colour increases when the concentration of antigen is high.

7 . Chandrayaan 2

About Chandrayaan 2

• Chandrayaan–2, India’s second mission to the Moon is a totally indigenous mission comprising of an Orbiter, Lander and Rover.
  • Orbiters fly around the planet making observations like weather and mapping, and often acting as communications relays for experiments on the surface.
  • Landers touch down and perform experiments within reach of it’s robotic arms, usually focusing on weather observations and soil analysis, they are immobile
  • Rovers are mobile and moves slowly around on the surface, taking pictures and performing a variety of geological and chemical tests and analyses
• After reaching the 100 km lunar orbit, the Lander housing the Rover will separate from the Orbiter. After a controlled descent, the Lander will soft land on the lunar surface and deploy a Rover.
• The mission will carry a six-wheeled Rover which will move around the landing site in semi-autonomous mode
• The instruments on the rover will observe the lunar surface and send back data, which will be useful for analysis of the lunar soil.
• The Chandrayaan-2 orbit around the moon and perform the objectives of remote sensing the moon. The payloads will collect scientific information on lunar topography, mineralogy, elemental abundance, lunar exosphere and signatures of hydroxyl and water-ice.

Details of the mission

• The 3,800-kg spacecraft includes an orbiter which will circle the moon at 100 km
• Five-legged lander called Vikram that will descend on the moon
• A robotic rover, Pragyan, that will probe the lunar terrain around it.
• All three modules will carry payloads. The orbiter alone will have eight payloads or instruments. The lander will carry four while the rover will be equipped with two instruments.
• ISRO has chosen a landing area at the hitherto unexplored lunar south pole, making it the first agency to touch down at the south pole if it succeeds in its first landing attempt.
• ISRO will send the mission on its heavy lift booster, the GSLV MkIII, from Sriharikota.

Challenges of the Mission

8 . Traffic Index 2018

Context : Mumbai was ranked as the most traffic-congested city in the world for the second straight year, while Delhi was at fourth place.

About Traffic Index

• Traffic Index 2018 was published by TomTom, an Amsterdam-based company that offers traffic solutions, uses location technology to collect traffic information, and has been publishing city rankings for eight years.
• The latest index ranks 403 cities across 56 countries, including 13 new cities.

Methodology

• Congestion has been defined in terms of the additional time taken to reach a destination as opposed to when the road would have been clear of traffic
• Mumbai’s 2018 congestion level of of 65%, therefore, means that the extra travel time is 65% more than an average trip would take during uncongested conditions. For Delhi, by the same yardstick, the extra travel time is 58% more.

9 . Facts for Prelims

Golden Langur

• Golden langur, is an Old World monkey found in a small region of western Assam, India and in the neighboring foothills of the Black Mountains of Bhutan.
• It is one of the most endangered primate species of India
• They are listed in Appendix I of CITES and Schedule I of Wildlife Protection Act, 1972
• They are also endangered as per IUCN Red list
• Chakrashila in Assam is India’s first wildlife sanctuary with golden langur as the primary species.

The Most Honourable Order of the Distinguished Rule of Nishan Izzuddeen

• The Maldivian government honoured Indian Prime Minister with ‘The Most Honourable Order of the Distinguished Rule of Nishan Izzuddeen’, the highest honour conferred by Male on foreign dignitaries.

National maritime heritage museum

• India and Portugal will cooperate in the setting up of a national maritime heritage museum at Lothal in Gujarat.
• The project is being implemented by the Ministry of Shipping through its Sagarmala programme, with the involvement of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), the State government and other stakeholders.

Enforcement Directorate

• Enforcement Directorate (ED), which investigates crimes related to money laundering, is under Finance Ministry