Daily Current Affairs : 15th and 16th July 2022

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Daily Current Affairs for UPSC CSE

Topics Covered

  1. Monkeypox
  2. Forest Conservation Rules
  3. Pendency of Cases
  4. Fiscal Deficit
  5. NIRF
  6. Public Capital Expenditure
  7. Universal Immunization Programme

1 . Monkeypox

Context : The first known lab-confirmed case of monkeypox in India has been reported in a 35-year-old man in Kerala, who reached the State capital three days ago from the UAE. The Union Health Ministry should now make the official declaration.

About Monkey Pox

  • The monkeypox virus is an orthopoxvirus, which is a genus of viruses that also includes the variola virus, which causes smallpox, and vaccinia virus, which was used in the smallpox vaccine. Monkeypox causes symptoms similar to smallpox, although they are less severe.
  • While vaccination eradicated smallpox worldwide in 1980, monkeypox continues to occur in a swathe of countries in Central and West Africa, and has on occasion showed up elsewhere. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), two distinct clade are identified: the West African clade and the Congo Basin clade, also known as the Central African clade.
  • Monkeypox is a zoonosis, that is, a disease that is transmitted from infected animals to humans. According to the WHO, cases occur close to tropical rainforests inhabited by animals that carry the virus.
  • Monkeypox virus infection has been detected in squirrels, Gambian poached rats, dormice, and some species of monkeys.
  • The first human case was recorded in 1970 in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) during a period of intensified effort to eliminate smallpox.

Transmission

  • Human-to-human transmission is, however, limited — the longest documented chain of transmission is six generations, meaning the last person to be infected in this chain was six links away from the original sick person, the WHO says.
  • Transmission, when it occurs, can be through contact with bodily fluids, lesions on the skin or on internal mucosal surfaces, such as in the mouth or throat, respiratory droplets and contaminated objects, the WHO says. While vaccination eradicated smallpox worldwide in 1980, monkeypox continues to occur in a swathe of countries in Central and West Africa, and has on occasion showed up elsewhere. Photo credit: WHO

Symptoms

  • Monkeypox begins with a fever, headache, muscle aches, back ache, and exhaustion. It also causes the lymph nodes to swell (lymphadenopathy), which smallpox does not. The WHO underlines that it is important to not confuse monkeypox with chickenpox, measles, bacterial skin infections, scabies, syphilis and medication-associated allergies.

2 . Forest Conservation Rules

Context : The Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) sparred earlier this week on the latest version of the Forest Conservation Rules. Congress spokesperson, Jairam Ramesh, alleged that the latest version of the rules, updated last month, allowed forest land to be diverted to industry without settling questions of the rights of forest dwellers and tribals who resided on those lands.

What are the Forest Conservation Rules?

  • The Forest Conservation Rules deal with the implementation of the Forest Conservation Act (FCA), 1980.
  • They prescribe the procedure to be followed for forest land to be diverted for non-forestry uses such as road construction, highway development, railway lines, and mining.
  • The broad aims of the Forest Conservation Act are to protect forest and wildlife, put brakes on State governments’ attempts to hive off forest land for commercial projects and striving to increase the area under forests.

Rules for diversion of forest Land

  • For forest land beyond five hectares, approval for diverting land must be given by the Central government. This is via a specially constituted committee, called the Forest Advisory Committee (FAC).
  • This committee examines whether the user agency, or those who have requested forest land, have made a convincing case for the upheaval of that specific parcel of land, whether they have a plan in place to ensure that the ensuing damage — from felling of trees in that area, denuding the local landscape — will be minimal and the said piece of land doesn’t cause damage to wildlife habitat.
  • Once the FAC is convinced and approves (or rejects a proposal), it is forwarded to the concerned State government where the land is located, who then has to ensure that provisions of the Forest Right Act, 2006, a separate Act that protects the rights of forest dwellers and tribals over their land, are complied with.
  • The FAC approval also means that the future users of the land must provide compensatory land for afforestation as well as pay the net present value (ranging between ₹10-15 lakh per hectare.)

What do the updated rules say?

  • The new rules, according to the Centre, “streamline” the process of approvals. The rules make a provision for private parties to cultivate plantations and sell them as land to companies who need to meet compensatory forestation targets.
  • This, according to the government, will help India increase forest cover as well as solve the problems of the States of not finding land within their jurisdiction for compensatory purposes. While this has invited its own controversy, the latest point of contention is the absence of wording, in the updated Forest Conservation Rules, of what happens to tribals and forest-dwelling communities whose land would be hived off for developmental work.
  • Prior to the updated rules, state bodies would forward documents to the FAC that would also include information on the status of whether the forest rights of locals in the area were settled.
  • After 2009, the Environment Ministry passed an order mandating that proposals would not be entertained by the FAC unless there was a letter from the State specifying that the forest rights in the place had been “settled” and the gram sabha, or the governing body in villages in the area, had given their written consent to the diversion of forest.
  • However, there have been a series of orders by the Environment Ministry over the years, and frequently opposed by the Ministry of Tribal Affairs, that have sought to skirt the necessity for consent from the gram sabha.
  • The new rules formally codify this and say that a project, once approved by the FAC, will then be passed on to the State authorities who will collect the compensatory fund and land, and process it for final approval.
  • Only in passing, is it mentioned that the States will ensure “settlement” of Forest Rights Acts applicable. This, many forestry experts say, doesn’t automatically imply the consent of the resident tribals and forest dwellers.

What is the government’s position?

  • According to the govt fulfilling and complying with the FRA, 2006 was an independent process and could be undertaken by States “at any stage” of the forest clearance process and that complying with provisions of the FRA is mentioned in the rules before States order diversion of the land. However, it had to be completed before granting approval for land diversion.

3 . Pendency of Cases

Context : In India, more than 40% of cases are decided after three years, while in many other countries less than 1% of cases are decided after three years.

Background

  • More than 40% of cases are decided after three years in India, while in many other countries less than 1% of cases are decided after three years. If India does not act decisively and quickly, this percentage will keep increasing. The rich, the powerful and the wrongdoers have a field day by getting their cases expedited or delayed as they wish. The increase in corruption and crime is a direct fallout of the sluggish justice delivery system. This severely impacts the poor and marginalised. For them, the judicial process itself becomes a punishment. Data show that about 70% of prisoners in India are undertrials and are mostly poor citizens.

Solutions for Pendency of Cases

  • Filling Sanctioned Judicial Positions : First, reduce the pendency of cases by filling sanctioned judicial positions. Analysis shows that between 2006 and 2019, the average increase in pendency was less than 2% per year whereas the average vacancy in sanctioned judicial positions was about 21%. If the sanctioned positions had been filled, pendency of cases would have gone down each year. The responsibility of ensuring near-zero vacancies should be with the Chief Justices of the High Courts and the Chief Justice of India and they should be held accountable for the same. Right now, nobody believes that they are accountable, and filling judicial vacancies is not considered a matter of priority. Filling all vacancies may result in a requirement of about 5,000 courtrooms. A simple solution would be to run 5,000 courts in two shifts.
  • Use of technology : The second is to improve working with the use of technology. The e-Committee of the Supreme Court has been in existence since 2005. It has made three outstanding recommendations which are not being followed.
    • One, computer algorithms should decide on case listing, case allocation and adjournments with only a 5% override given to judges. It said all rational reasons and limits should be put on adjournments; case listing should give main weightage to ‘first in, first out’; and case allocation should take into account logical criteria. This would be a big step in reducing arbitrariness and the unfair advantage that the powerful enjoy.
    • Two, the courts should focus on e-filing. The e-Committee made detailed SOPs on how petitions and affidavits can be filed and payment of fees can be done electronically without lawyers or litigants having to travel to the courts or use paper. This should be implemented in all seriousness and would also save about three lakh trees annually.
    • Three, it focused on virtual hearings. COVID-19 prompted the courts to adopt virtual hearings. However, virtual hearings were held only in some cases while physical hearings were held in most. In pre-COVID-19 years, the increase in the pendency of cases in all courts used to be about 5.7 lakh cases a year. In 2020 alone, it increased to an astonishing 51 lakh. It appears that if a hybrid virtual hearing model is not adopted, the backlog of cases could cross 5 crore in 2022. The dysfunctional justice system will be perpetually overwhelmed. All the courts in the country must switch to a hybrid virtual mode immediately and start disposing cases. Even after the COVID-19 crisis ends, it would be beneficial to continue hybrid virtual courts. This will make access to justice easier for litigants, reduce costs, and also give a fair opportunity to young lawyers from small towns. The required hardware is available in all courts.

4 . Fiscal Deficit

Context : India’s macro risks have receded in recent weeks and concerns about the fiscal deficit target being breached may be misplaced according to the Finance Ministry while conceding that the current account deficit (CAD) could, however, deteriorate this year mainly due to rising trade deficits.

Fiscal Deficit – Definition

  • Fiscal Deficit is the difference between the total income of the government (total taxes and non-debt capital receipts) and its total expenditure.
  • A fiscal deficit situation occurs when the government’s expenditure exceeds its income.
  • This difference is calculated both in absolute terms and also as a percentage of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the country.
  • A recurring high fiscal deficit means that the government has been spending beyond its means.

Fiscal deficit in the Indian Context

  • The government describes fiscal deficit of India as “the excess of total disbursements from the Consolidated Fund of India, excluding repayment of the debt, over total receipts into the Fund (excluding the debt receipts) during a financial year”.

What constitutes the government’s total income or receipts?

  • It has two components revenue receipts and non-tax revenues.
  • Revenue receipts of the government
    • Corporation Tax
    • Income Tax
    • Custom Duties
    • Union Excise Duties
    • GST and taxes of Union territories. (GST or Goods and Services Tax which is collected by the Centre includes CGST (Central Goods and Services Tax), IGST (Integrated Goods and Services Tax) & GST Compensation Cess)
  • Non-tax revenues
    • Interest Receipts
    • Dividends and Profits
    • External Grants
    • Other non-tax revenues
    • Receipts of union territories

Expenditures of the government:

  • It can be classified into:
    • Revenue Expenditure
    • Capital Expenditure
    • Interest Payments
    • Grants-in-aid for creation of capital assets

Fiscal Deficit formula: How is Fiscal Deficit calculated?

  • Fiscal Deficit = Total expenditure of the government (capital and revenue expenditure) – Total income of the government (Revenue receipts + recovery of loans + other receipts)
  • If the total expenditure of the government exceeds its total revenue and non-revenue receipts in a financial year, then that gap is the fiscal deficit for the financial year.
  • The fiscal deficit is usually mentioned as a percentage of GDP. For example, if the gap between the Centre’s expenditure and total income is Rs 5 lakh crore and the country’s GDP is Rs 200 lakh crore, the fiscal deficit is 2.5% of the GDP.

What causes Fiscal Deficit?

  • Generally fiscal deficit takes place either due to revenue deficit or a major hike in capital expenditure. Capital expenditure is incurred to create long-term assets such as factories, buildings and other development.
  • Sometimes, the governments spend on handouts and other assistance to the weak and vulnerable sections of the society such as the farmers and the poor. This can also lead to fiscal deficit
  • A high fiscal deficit can also be good for the economy if the money spent goes into the creation of productive assets like highways, roads, ports and airports that boost economic growth and result in job creation.

How is Fiscal Deficit met?

  • A deficit is usually financed through borrowing from either the central bank of the country or raising money from capital markets by issuing different instruments like treasury bills and bonds.

5 . National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF)

Context : The Indian Institute of Technology, Madras (IIT-M), is yet again the top higher educational institute in the country followed by the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru, and IIT Bombay, according to the Ministry of Education’s National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) 2022.

Details of the Ranking

  • A total of 4,786 institutions were evaluated on five parameters — teaching, learning and resources (TLR); research and professional practice; graduation outcome; outreach; and inclusivity and perception.
  • Among the universities, IISc, Jawaharlal Nehru University, Jamia Millia Islamia, Jadavpur University and Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham were among the top five. And among the top five colleges in the country are Miranda House, Hindu College, Presidency College, Loyola College and Lady Shri Ram College for Women.
  • The top five medical institutes are All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh, Christian Medical College, Vellore, National Institute of Mental Health & Neuro Sciences, Bengaluru, and Banaras Hindu University. The top five management institutes are Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Ahmedabad, IIM Bengaluru, IIM Kolkata, IIT Delhi and IIM Kozhikode.

Importance of Ranking

  • Rankings help universities to improve their performance on various ranking parameters and identify gaps in research and areas of improvement
  • Rankings acts as a guide to students for selection of universities based on a set of criteria and helps universities to improve their performance on various ranking parameters and identify gaps in research and areas of improvement.
  • Ranking of Institutions at national level instill a competitive spirit amongst institutions to perform better and secure higher rank in international ranking.

About NIRF

  • The National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) was approved by the MHRD and launched on 29th September 2015.
  • This framework outlines a methodology to rank institutions across the country.
  • The methodology draws from the overall recommendations broad understanding arrived at by a Core Committee set up by MHRD, to identify the broad parameters for ranking various universities and institutions.
  • The parameters broadly cover “Teaching, Learning and Resources,” “Research and Professional Practices,” “Graduation Outcomes,” “Outreach and Inclusivity,” and “Perception”.
  • It gives higher weight to parameters such as teaching and learning, student and faculty strength, use of financial resources, research papers and patents and graduation outcomes.
  • Keeping in mind the social responsibility aspect of education in a developing country, there is a unique provision to judge institutions on inclusivity and outreach measures, including gender, geographical and socioeconomic diversity and the welcoming of differently abled students.
  • 90% of the parameters in NIRF are completely objective and fact-based, while only 10% is based on the subjective parameter of perception by academic peers and employers.
  • This is the seventh consecutive edition of NIRF. It ranks colleges, universities and research institutions and also provides an overall ranking of all of them combined. Institutes are also ranked across seven subject domains, namely engineering, management, pharmacy, law, medical, architecture and dental.

6 . Capital Expenditure

Context : Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said India’s long-term growth prospects were embedded in public capital expenditure programmes.

About Capital Expenditure

  • Capital expenditure is the money spent by the government on the development of machinery, equipment, building, health facilities, education, etc. It also includes the expenditure incurred on acquiring fixed assets like land and investment by the government that gives profits or dividend in future. 
  • The Budget estimate of the government’s capital expenditure for the year 2020-21 was Rs 1,084,748 crore. The revised estimates of capital expenditure for the 2019-20 Budget came at Rs 1,059,472 crore, while the actuals for the 2018-19 Budget stood at Rs 915,670 crore.

Understanding capital expenditure

  • Capital spending is associated with investment or development spending, where expenditure has benefits extending years into the future. Capital expenditure includes money spent on the following:
    • Acquiring fixed and intangible assets
    • Upgrading an existing asset
    • Repairing an existing asset
    • Repayment of loan

Why is capital expenditure important?

  • Capital expenditure, which leads to the creation of assets are long-term in nature and allow the economy to generate revenue for many years by adding or improving production facilities and boosting operational efficiency. It also increases labour participation, takes stock of the economy and raises its capacity to produce more in future.
  • Along with the creation of assets, repayment of loan is also capital expenditure, as it reduces liability.
  • However, the government has to be cautious with the expenditure. In the financial year 2019-20, capital expenditure was 14.2 per cent of Budget Estimates. The government had to cut public spending sharply towards the end of the financial year in order that the deficit target could be met. Total expenditure fell by 0.3 percentage points in 2018-19 over 2017-18. This includes a 0.4 percentage point slash in revenue expenditure and 0.1 percentage point hike in capital expenditure.

How is capital expenditure different from revenue expenditure?

  • Unlike capital expenditure, which creates assets for the future, revenue expenditure is one that neither creates assets nor reduces any liability of the government. Salaries of employees, interest payment on past debt, subsidies, pension, etc, fall under the category of revenue expenditure. It is recurring in nature.

7 . Universal Immunization Programme

Context : The number of children in India who were unvaccinated or missed their first dose of diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis (DTP) combined vaccine doubled due to the pandemic, rising from 1.4 million in 2019 to 2.7 million in 2021, as the world recorded the largest sustained decline in childhood vaccinations in approximately 30 years, according to official data published by the WHO and UNICEF.

Mission Indradhanush

  • Mission Indradhanush (MI) was launched by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MOHFW) on 25th December 2014 with the aim of expanding immunization coverage to all children across India. Children across socio-economic, cultural and geographical spectrums in India, are being immunized under this program. The initiative’s mammoth task is being fulfilled with the support of an integrated and committed task-force, ensuring full immunisation coverage. 
  • Every MI activation is planned to the last detail; from planning where camps will be set up to which children need to get vaccinated and what vaccinations will be required for the camp
  • The Mission Indradhanush aims to cover all those children who are either unvaccinated, or are partially vaccinated against vaccine preventable diseases. India’s Universal Immunisation Programme (UIP) provide free vaccines against 12 life threatening diseases, to 26 million children annually. 

About Universal Immunisation Programme

  • Immunization Programme in India was introduced in 1978 as ‘Expanded Programme of Immunization’ (EPI) by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India. In 1985, the programme was modified as ‘Universal Immunization Programme’ (UIP) to be implemented in phased manner to cover all districts in the country by 1989-90 with the one of largest health programme in the world.
  • Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India provides several vaccines to infants, children and pregnant women through the Universal Immunisation Programme.

Vaccines provided under universal immunization programme

  • BCG Vaccine : BCG stands for Bacillus Calmette-Guerin vaccine. It is given to infants to protect them from tubercular meningitis and disseminated TB.
  • Oral Polio Vaccine : It protects children from poliomylitis.
  • Hepatitis B : Protects from Hepatitis B virus infection.
  • Pentavalent vaccine : It is a combined vaccine to protect children from five diseases Diptheria, Tetanus, Pertusis, Haemophilis influenza type b infection and Hepatitis B.
  • Rotavirus vaccine : It gives protection to infants and children against rotavirus diarrhoea. It is given in select states.
  • Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccine : It protects infants and young children against disease caused by the bacterium Streptococcus pneumoniae.
  • Fractional Inactivated Poliomylitis Vaccine. It is used to boost the protection against poliomylitis.
  • Measles vaccine is used to protect children from measles. In few states Measles and Rubella a combined vaccine is given to protect from Measles and Rubella infection.
  • Japanese encephalitis vaccine : It gives protection against Japanese Encephalitis disease. JE vaccine is given in select districts endemic for JE after the campaign.
  • DPT is a combined vaccine; it protects children from Diphtheria, Tetanus and Pertussis.
  • TT vaccine has been replaced with Td vaccine in UIP to limit the waning immunity against diphtheria in older age groups

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