Daily Current Affairs : 18th and 19th August 2022

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Daily Current Affairs for UPSC CSE

  1. Inflation Targeting
  2. Swift System
  3. Rohingya issue
  4. Arctic Warming 
  5. Report on Air pollution 
  6. Facts for Prelims

1 . Inflation Targeting  

Context: Monetary authorities will need to take necessary policy actions to tame inflation as it remains above the target range even though it has eased slightly, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) officials wrote in an article on the ‘State of the Economy’ in the August edition of the RBI Bulletin. 

Key Highlights 

  • Inflation has edged down, but its persistence at elevated levels warrants appropriate policy responses to anchor expectations going forward. 
  • Observing that global growth prospects had turned gloomier over the month, it said the easing of supply chain pressures and the recent ebbing of commodity prices were providing some breather from record high inflation. 
  • In India, supply conditions are improving, with the recent monsoon pick-up, strong momentum in manufacturing and a rebound in services.  
  • The onset of the festival season should boost consumer demand, including rural, also as sowing activity picks up.  
  • Robust central government capital outlays are supporting investment activities. 
  • For the rest of the year, the RBI’s projections scent a steady easing of the momentum of price changes. 
  • They stressed that “imported inflation pressure points remained the overarching risk, followed by pending pass-through of input costs if producers regained pricing power”. 
  • On Capital flows return 
  • On a positive note, officials highlighted the return of capital flows, when the appetite for portfolio flows to emerging economies had deteriorated as the dollar appreciated in step with the U.S. Federal Reserve’s policy tightening. 

What is Inflation Targeting ? 

  • Inflation targeting is a central banking policy that revolves around adjusting monetary policy to achieve a specified annual rate of inflation.  
  • The inflation target is defined as a medium-term average rather than as a rate (or band of rates) that must be held at all times.  
  • The principle of inflation targeting is based on the belief that long-term economic growth is best achieved by maintaining price stability, and price stability is achieved by controlling inflation. 
  • Inflation targeting primarily focuses on maintaining price stability, but is also believed by its proponents to support economic growth and stability.  
  • Inflation targeting can be contrasted to other possible policy goals of central banking, including the targeting of exchange rates, unemployment, or national income. 

India’s Inflation Targeting

  • In 2016, the Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934, was amended to provide a statutory basis for the implementation of a flexible inflation-targeting framework, where the Centre and the RBI would review and agree upon a specific inflation target every five years.
  • Under this, 4% was set as the Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation target for the period from August 5, 2016, to March 31, 2021, with the upper tolerance limit of 6% and the lower tolerance limit of 2%.
  • MPC being accountable for failure to establish and achieve the nominal anchor. The failure defined as the inability to achieve the target of 4 percent (+/- 2 per cent) for 3 successive quarters. Such failure requires MPC to issue a public statement
  • To the extent that ensuring price stability is its primary goal, the RBI through its MPC must constantly assess not just current levels of inflation and prices of various goods and services in the economy, but also take into consideration inflation expectations both of consumers and financial markets so as to use an array of monetary tools, including interest rates, to contain inflation within its target range.

How does inflation targeting work? 

  • The central bank forecasts the future path of inflation and compares it with the target inflation rate (the rate the government believes is appropriate for the economy).  
  • The difference between the forecast and the target determines how much monetary policy has to be adjusted.  
  • Some countries have chosen inflation targets with symmetrical ranges around a midpoint, while others have identified only a target rate or an upper limit to inflation. Most countries have set their inflation targets in the low single digits.  

Cons of Inflation Targeting 

  • A major advantage of inflation targeting is that it combines elements of both “rules” and “discretion” in monetary policy. This “constrained discretion” framework combines two distinct elements: a precise numerical target for inflation in the medium term and a response to economic shocks in the short term. 
  • Some analysts believe that a focus on inflation targeting for price stability creates an atmosphere in which unsustainable speculative bubbles and other distortions in the economy, such as that which produced the 2008 financial crisis, can thrive unchecked (at least until the inflation trickles down from asset prices into retail consumer prices). 
  • Some believe that it encourages inadequate responses to terms-of-trade shocks or supply shocks.  
  • Critics argue that exchange rate targeting or nominal GDP targeting would create more economic stability. 

Conclusion 

  • Inflation targeting has been successfully practised in a growing number of countries over the past 20 years, and many more countries are moving toward this framework.  
  • Over time, inflation targeting has proved to be a flexible framework that has been resilient in changing circumstances, including during the recent global financial crisis. Individual countries, however, must assess their economies to determine whether inflation targeting is appropriate for them or if it can be tailored to suit their needs. 

2 . Swift system 

Context: Indian Defence Ministry officials had stated that in addition to apprehensions about timely deliveries of spares and equipment from Russia due to the war in Ukraine, another issue that has arisen is payments for deals underway since Russia was shut out of the global SWIFT system for money transfers. 

What Is the SWIFT Banking System? 

  • The SWIFT system stands for the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication and is a secure platform for financial institutions to exchange information about global monetary transactions such as money transfers.
  • While SWIFT does not actually move money, it operates as a middleman to verify information of transactions by providing secure financial messaging services to more than 11,000 banks in over 200 countries.

The working 

  • This payment network allows individuals and businesses to take electronic or card payments even if the customer or vendor uses a different bank than the payee. 
  • SWIFT assigns each financial organization a unique code that has either eight characters or 11 characters, known as a bank identifier code, or BIC.  
    • The BIC may also go by the terms SWIFT code, SWIFT ID, or ISO 9362 code. 
    • This unique ID code (a BIC number) identifies not only the bank name but the country, city, and branch as well. 
  • SWIFT, today, is the largest and most streamlined method for international payments and settlements. 
  • SWIFT has been used to impose economic sanctions, such as on bad actors like Iran and Russia. 

The World Before SWIFT 

  • Prior to SWIFT, telex was the only available means of message confirmation for international funds transfer. 
  • Telex was hampered by low speed, security concerns, and a free message format. 
  • In other words, Telex did not have a unified system of codes like SWIFT to name banks and describe transactions.  
  • Telex senders had to describe every transaction in sentences that were then interpreted and executed by the receiver. This led to many human errors, as well as slower processing times. 
  • To circumvent these problems, the SWIFT system was formed in 1973. 
  • Six major international banks formed a cooperative society to operate a global network that would transfer financial messages in a secure and timely manner. 

Its Current standing 

  • By 1977, it expanded to 518 institutions in 22 countries.  
  • In 2022, there were more than 11,000 institutional members hailing from more than 200 countries and territories. 
  • Although there are other message services like Fedwire, Ripple, and Clearing House Interbank Payments System (CHIPS), SWIFT continues to retain its dominant position in the market.  
    • Its success may be attributed to how it continually adds new message codes to transmit different financial transactions and to the security of its platform

Challenges for SWIFT 

  • The majority of SWIFT clients process huge transactional volumes for which manual entry of instructions is not practical.  
  • The need for the automation of SWIFT message creation, processing, and transmission is growing.  
  • However, this comes at a cost and increased operational overhead.  
  • Although SWIFT has been successful in providing software for automation, that too comes at a cost.  
  • SWIFT may need to tap into these problem areas for the majority of its client base.  
  • Automated solutions within this space may bring in a new stream of income for SWIFT and keep clients engaged in the long run. 

SWIFT and Economic Sanctions 

  • Because of their reliance on SWIFT to conduct fast, seamless, secure communication, countries around the world have an incentive to remain in good standing with the organization.  
  • SWIFT is overseen by central banks from Group of Ten (G10) countries, but it is a neutral organization operating for the benefit of all of its members. 
  •  In recent years, the possible use of SWIFT membership as a potential economic sanction against members has emerged multile times.  
  • In 2012, for example, the European Union passed a sanction against Iran that compelled SWIFT to disconnect sanctioned Iranian banks.  
  • And in 2022, leaders from the U.K., EU, U.S., and Canada announced that selected banks in Russia would be disconnected from SWIFT over its invasion of Ukraine. 

3 . Importance of Public Sector Banks 

Context: RBI bulletin have warned that privatisation of public sector banks (PSBs) can do more harm than good and asked the government to take a nuanced approach on the issue.  

Key Highlights 

  • The RBI article comes against the backdrop of the recent policy paper by NCAER director general and member of the economic advisory council to the Prime Minister, and former Niti Aayog vice-chairman , which recommended that all PSBs should be privatised and only SBI may remain under government ownership for now due to its better performance. 
  • The RBI article provides an alternative view with evidence that PSBs are not entirely guided by the profit maximisation goal alone and have integrated the desirable financial inclusion goals in their objective function, unlike private sector banks. 
  • In recent years PSB banks have also gained greater market confidence. Despite the criticism of weak balance sheets, data suggests that they weathered the pandemic shock remarkably well. 

What are public Sector Banks 

  • Public sector banks are those in which the government holds more than 50% of the total stock.  
  • The government formulates all the financial guidelines for public sector banks.  
  • India’s biggest public sector bank is the State Bank of India.  
  • Public sector banks constantly work in the public interest by introducing schemes for customers’ benefit. They also charge less for their services than private banks. 
  • Besides working in the public interest, nationalised banks in India also earn huge profits. 

Importance of PSBs 

  • PSB coverage : Today, the branches of PSBs and Regional Rural Banks (RRBs) constitute 75% of all the bank branches (excluding payment banks and branches of foreign banks). Almost half of them are spread out in the rural and semi-urban areas.  This geographical spread by itself contributed immensely to the inculcation of banking habits amongst the people in the interior parts of the country.   The PSBs’ coverage of vast interiors, in spite of all their accessibility and other problems, and their basic brick-and-mortar model paved the way for people opting to open savings bank accounts in large numbers.  
  • Confidence in bank branches  : People are aware that all banks give high importance to ‘customer service’ and the RBI keeps a close watch on the quality of customer service in the branches. RBI has also established elaborate Banking Ombudsman mechanisms at all its regional offices and a dissatisfied customer of a bank has easy access to this mechanism, which strives to resolve issues without much of a problem. 
  • Nature of credit deployment  :In terms of credit deployment too, the PSBs score better than PvtSBs, though in the last two to three years, the PvtSBs have expanded their credit business more aggressively.  

4 . Rohingya issue  

Context: Hours after Minister for Urban Development Hardeep Singh Puri tweeted that all Rohingya migrants from Myanmar living in a camp in Delhi will be shifted to flats, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) issued a strong denial. 

Recent developments 

  • The Minister for Urban Development earlier tweeted calling the plans to move the Rohingya to an apartment complex built for economically weaker sections (EWS), a “landmark decision”. 
  • After a storm of criticism from certain groups, the Home Ministry denied any such plan and also blamed the Delhi government for the proposal to move the Rohingya “illegal foreigners”. 
  • MHA also issued orders that the shanty town where the Rohingya were now living in be designated a “detention centre”, pending the deportation of all of the hundreds of people living there. 

What is the Rohingya crisis in Myanmar?

  • An estimated 7.3 lakh Rohingya have fled to Bangladesh since 2017 when the Myanmar military launched a brutal crackdown on Rohingya villages in the country’s Rakhine state. In August, the UN said the army action was carried out with “genocidal intent”.
  • Myanmar has stoutly denied all allegations of genocide. It has also denied nearly all allegations made by the Rohingya of mass rape, killings and arson against its army. Myanmar says the soldiers carried out legitimate counterterrorism operations.

Rohingya crisis – Background 

  • The Rohingya have suffered systematic discrimination, disenfranchisement, and targeted persecution for decades and small and large groups have been coming to Bangladesh from at least the 1970s following violence in Rakhine.  
  • Before 2017, waves of Rohingya had come to Bangladesh in 1978, 1992, 2012, and 2016. 
  • Under the 1982 citizenship law, the Myanmar government recognised only about 40,000 Rohingyas as its citizens. The rest were dubbed as “illegal Bengalis” – immigrants from Bangladesh. 
  • Their largest exodus began in August 2017 after a massive wave of violence broke out in Myanmar’s Rakhine state, forcing more than 700,000 people – half of them children – to seek refuge in Bangladesh.  
  • Entire villages were burned to the ground, thousands of families were killed or separated and massive human rights violations were reported, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). 

The confusion over the ethnicity of ‘Rohingya’ 

  • The history of movement back and forth between Chittagong and Arakan forms the context for the development of a complex and fluid ethnicity which has over time acquired the name ‘Rohingya’ for itself.  
  • To a large extent, the conflict between the Rakhine Buddhists and the Rohingya Muslims is based on a debate between the two groups over the historicity of the Rohingya identity in Burmese land. 
  • The majority of the Rakhine Buddhists believe that ‘Rohingya’ is a fabricated religious identity.  They claim that the Burmese past never had any community called Rohingya and that those who refer to themselves by the name are basically immigrants from modern-day Bangladesh who were brought in by the British. 
  • The Rohingya Muslims on the other hand, are of the strong belief that their community has had deep-rooted existence in the Burmese past and that they are indeed original inhabitants of Rakhine.  

Rohingya refugees in other parts of the world 

  • There are over 980,000 refugees and asylum-seekers from Myanmar in neighbouring countries, including Bangladesh and India.
  • Approximately 919,000 Rohingya refugees are living at the Kutupalong and Nayapara refugee camps in Bangladesh’s Cox’s Bazar region — the largest and most densely populated camps in the world.  
  • Some 2,000 Rohingya had left for Bangladesh this year, amid fears of being deported. 
  • Rohingya refugees have also sought refuge in Thailand (92,000) and India (21,000), with smaller numbers settling in Indonesia, Nepal and other countries across the region. 
  • There are about 16,000 UNHCR-certified Rohingya refugees in India.  
  • The government estimate puts the figure of Rohingya refugees living in India beyond 40,000 with maximum concentration in and around Jammu. 
  • As of early this year, around 1,100 Rohingya lived in Delhi and another 17,000 elsewhere in India, working mainly as manual labourers, hawkers and rickshaw pullers, according to estimates from Rohingya rights activist Ali Johar. 

India’s response to the Rohingya crisis 

  • First phase: 
    • It began with the eruption of violent conflicts between Rakhine Buddhists and Rohingya Muslims in the Rakhine State in 2012. 
    • India considered it an ‘internal affair’ but was sympathetic to Myanmar.  
    • India also allowed Rohingya refugees to enter the country and did not make it an issue in its domestic politics or in its bilateral relations with Myanmar.  
    • India in the first phase took the side of the Myanmar government because it was concerned that raising the issue publicly might push Myanmar towards China as it was building relations with the then newly formed quasi-democratic government.  
  • Second phase: 
    • It began sometime in mid-2017 with the announcement of the government’s plans to deport the Rohingyas who have settled in different parts of India.  
    • The government termed them “illegal immigrants.” 
    • The one-sided position of the Indian government had to be nuanced when Bangladesh, which bore the brunt of the refugee outflow, sought India’s help. 
    • India launched “Operation Insaniyat” to provide relief assistance for the refugee camps in Bangladesh. 
    • In the second phase, apart from geopolitics, humanitarian concerns and non-interference in internal affairs, two other factors drove the Indian approach—the growing security concerns and the need for diplomatic balancing between Bangladesh and Myanmar.  
  • Third phase: 
    • India’s approach in this phase was probably driven by the need to find a role for itself in finding a resolution to the crisis by strengthening its quiet diplomacy.  
    • It began soon after China stepped in with its “three-step solution” to the Rohingya crisis and the subsequent signing of the repatriation agreement between Bangladesh and Myanmar in November 2017.  
    • India signed an MoU on the Rakhine State Development Programme with Myanmar. Aim: Socio-economic development and livelihood initiatives in Rakhine State”. Under the MoU, India pledged US$25 million for a five-year development project in Rakhine State. 
  • At the invitation of the Myanmar government, India joined the UNSC delegation that visited Myanmar in early May 2018 along with three other neighbours—China, Laos, and Thailand. 
  • India stressed the importance of “safe, speedy and sustainable return of displaced persons to Rakhine State.” 

India’s position amidst the crisis 

  • The Indian government has been trying to send back Rohingya.  Last year, the Supreme Court rejected a plea to stop the government from deporting to Myanmar some 150 Rohingya Muslims. 
  • Reason:  
    • Many of these refugees are without jobs and could fall prey to radical ideologies.  
    • They may join the Harkat-ul-Jihadi Islam (HuJI) which has been accused of carrying out bomb blasts in Assam.  
    • There is fear of a major spillover of the conflict into India’s northeast in terms of refugee flow from across the porous Bangladesh-India border.  
    • The northeast is a region plagued by armed ethnic conflicts based on issues of land and identity. Further inroads by a refugee population could exacerbate the situation in the northeast. 
  • Many of the Rohingya in India carry identity cards issued by the UNHCR recognising them as refugees, but the country is not a signatory to the UN Refugee Convention. 
  • India also rejects a UN position that deporting the Rohingya violates the principle of refoulement – forcible return of refugees to a country where they face danger. 
  • At the regional level, Delhi has not shown interest in making the Rohingya issue a part of the agenda for the subregional grouping, Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC), despite prioritising its strategic focus on the grouping in recent years 

5 . Arctic Warming 

Context:  Recently, Finnish Meteorological Institute researchers published their study in the Communications Earth & Environment journal, concluding that the Arctic is heating four times faster than the rest of the planet.  

Key Highlights 

  • The warming is more concentrated in the Eurasian part of the Arctic, where the Barents Sea north of Russia and Norway is warming at seven times faster than the global average.  
  • Other studies in 2021 (the American Geophysical Union) and in 2022 (Geophysical Research Letters) indicate that the Arctic amplification is four times the global rate.  
  • While earlier studies have proved that the Arctic is warming two or three times faster, recent studies show that the region is fast changing and that the best of climate models may not be able to capture the rate of change and predict it accurately. 

What is Arctic amplification? What causes it? 

  • Global warming the long-term heating of the earth’s surface,  has hastened due to anthropogenic forces or human activities since pre-industrial times and has increased the planet’s average temperature by 1.1 degrees Celsius.  
  • While changes are witnessed across the planet, any change in the surface air temperature and the net radiation balance tend to produce larger changes at the north and south poles.  This phenomenon is known as polar amplification; these changes are more pronounced at the northern latitudes and are known as the Arctic amplification. 
  • Among the many global warming-driven causes for this amplification, the ice-albedo feedback, lapse rate feedback, water vapour feedback and ocean heat transport are the primary causes.
  • Sea ice and snow have high albedo (measure of reflectivity of the surface), implying that they are capable of reflecting most of the solar radiation as opposed to water and land. In the Arctic’s case, global warming is resulting in diminishing sea ice. As the sea ice melts, the Arctic Ocean will be more capable of absorbing solar radiation, thereby driving the amplification.
  • The lapse rate or the rate at which the temperature drops with elevation decreases with warming. Studies show that the ice-albedo feedback and the lapse rate feedback are responsible for 40% and 15% of polar amplification respectively.

Findings of previous studies 

  • Studies have shown that the Arctic was warming at twice the global rate prior to the beginning of the 21st century.  
  • With revised figures, the Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change released a ‘Special Report on the Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate’ in 2019, which said that the “Arctic surface air temperature has likely increased by more than double the global average over the last two decades.” 
  • In May 2021, the Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme (AMAP) warned that the Arctic has warmed three times quicker than the planet, and the chance of the sea ice completely disappearing in summers is 10 times greater, if the planet is warmer by two degrees Celsius above the pre-industrial levels.  The report also said that the average annual temperature in the region increased by 3.1 degrees Celsius compared to the 1 degree Celsius for the planet. 
  • However, recent studies have shown that the mean Arctic amplification saw steep changes in 1986 and 1999, when the ratio reached 4.0, implying four times faster heating than the rest of the planet. 

Consequences of Arctic warming 

  • Rise in sea level: Greenland ice sheet holds the second largest amount of ice, after Antarctica, and therefore it is crucial for maintaining the sea level.  
    • In 2019, this was the single biggest cause of the rise in the sea level, about 1.5 metres.  
    • If the sheet melts completely, the sea level would rise by seven metres, capable of subsuming island countries and major coastal cities. 
  • Loss of biodiversity: The warming of the Arctic Ocean and the seas in the region, the acidification of water, and changes in the salinity levels are impacting the biodiversity, including the marine species and the dependent species. The warming is also increasing the incidence of rainfall which is affecting the availability and accessibility of lichens to the reindeer. 
  • Hunger: It is causing widespread starvation and death among the Arctic fauna. 
  • Release of GHGs: The permafrost in the Arctic is thawing and in turn releasing carbon and methane which are among the major greenhouse gases responsible for global warming. 
  • Rise in diseases: Experts fear that the thaw and the melt will also release the long-dormant bacteria and viruses that were trapped in the permafrost and can potentially give rise to diseases. 

Impact on India 

  • Impact on monsoons in the subcontinent: 
    • The link between the two is growing in importance due to the extreme weather events the country faces, and the heavy reliance on rainfall for water and food security. 
    • A study found that the reduced sea ice in the Barents-Kara sea region can lead to extreme rainfall events in the latter half of the monsoons — in September and October.  
    • The changes in the atmospheric circulation due to diminishing sea ice combined with the warm temperatures in the Arabian Sea contribute to enhanced moisture and drive extreme rainfall events.  
    • In 2014, India deployed IndARC, India’s first moored-underwater observatory in the Kongsfjorden fjord, Svalbard, to monitor the impact of the changes in the Arctic Ocean on tropical processes such as the monsoons. 
  • Rise in sea level: According to the World Meteorological Organization’s report, ‘State of Global Climate in 2021’, the sea level along the Indian coast is rising faster than the global average rate.  One of the primary reasons for this rise is the melting of sea ice in the polar regions, especially the Arctic. 

6 . Report on Air pollution 

Context: A global analysis of air quality found that Indian cities, while recording particulate matter emissions (PM2.5) that are among the highest in the world, do relatively better on nitrogen dioxide (NO 2) emissions. 

About the report 

  • The report, Air Quality and Health in Cities was released by US-based Health Effects Institute. 
  • It analyses pollution and global health effects for more than 7,000 cities around the world. 
  • It focuses on two of the most harmful pollutants – fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and nitrogen dioxide (NO 2). 

Major findings

  • Global patterns for exposures to the two key air pollutants are different.  
    • Exposures to PM2.5 pollution tend to be higher in cities located in low- and middle-income countries  
    • Exposure to NO 2 is high across cities in high-income as well as low- and middle-income countries. 
  • Delhi and Kolkata were ranked first and second in the list of top 10 most polluted cities when PM2.5 levels were compared 
  • No Indian city appeared in the list of top 10 – or even top 20 – polluted cities when N0 2 levels were compared.  
  • This list saw Shanghai at the top. 
  • Other cities with high NO 2 population levels included Moscow, Beijing, Paris, Istanbul and Seoul. 
  • NO2 Emission 
    • NO 2 comes mainly from the burning of fuels in older vehicles, power plants, industrial facilities and residential cooking and heating.  
    • As city residents tend to live closer to busy roads with dense traffic, they are often exposed to higher NO 2 pollution than residents of rural areas. 
    • Due to their highly reactive nature, nitrogen oxides also contribute to the formation of other pollutants, including ozone and particulate matter.  
    • NO 2 also has a shorter lifetime compared with PM2.5 and other air pollutants. 
  • As a result, NO 2 levels show very high variability in space and time. 
  • In comparison, PM2.5 levels tend to show less spatial variation at the fine scale. 
  • This paradoxical situation in India is likely due to the relatively lower adoption of high-efficiency engine vehicles.  
  • Complete combustion of fuel results in higher NOx (nitrogen oxides) whereas incomplete combustion sees other kinds of emissions. 
  • Report added that ground monitoring of air quality remains limited in many regions of the world, particularly in low- and middle-income countries, obscuring the true degree of NO 2 pollution in countries such as India. 

The world’s most polluted city is in India 

  • The cities in South Asia, West Sub-Saharan Africa and East Asia reported exposures to PM2.5 higher than 35 μg/m3 (the least stringent WHO limit). 
  • India and Indonesia witnessed the most severe increase in PM2.5 pollution, while China experienced the greatest improvements.  
  • India is home to 18 of the 20 cities with the most severe increase in PM2.5 pollution (more than 30 μg/m3) from 2010 to 2019; the other two cities are in Indonesia.  
  • Of the 50 cities with the most severe increase in PM2.5, 41 are in India and nine are in Indonesia. 
  • Of the 103 most populous cities across 21 different regions of the world, three Indian cities made it to the top 20 with the highest population-weighted annual average PM2.5 exposures in 2019 – New Delhi, Kolkata and Mumbai. 
  • In South Asia, the above-mentioned three cities in India, along with Dhaka in Bangladesh and Karachi in Pakistan showed higher death rates than the global urban median (58 deaths/100,000 people).  
  • Delhi and Kolkata feature in the top 20 of the 103 most populous cities in each region which had the highest PM2.5-related disease burden in 2019. 

The methodology adopted for the report 

  • The scientific team systematically estimated annual average concentrations of PM2.5 and NO 2 across the entire globe, which was divided into grid cells, each covering 0.0083° × 0.0083°of longitude and latitude. 
  • They then used information from all grid cells within a city boundary to estimate the PM2.5 concentration in a specific city. 
  • To estimate the annual average PM2.5 and NO 2 exposures, the team linked the concentrations in each grid cell with the number of people living within each block to produce a population-weighted annual average concentration.  

India and air pollution 

  • Many cities in India face high levels of air pollution.  
  • So much so that in 2019, the Union government launched the National Clean Air Programme (NCAP) to reduce levels of particulate matter in 132 target cities by 20-30% by 2024.  
  • Funds amounting to Rs 472.06 crore have been released since then, but states have utilised only less than half of it. 
  • An analysis found that air pollution in most of the 132 cities has only either “marginally improved” or, even worse, increased since then. 
  • According to the World Air Quality Report 2021 – which put New Delhi at the top of its list of most polluted capital cities – India was also among the top five countries with the world’s lowest air quality.  
  • The report said that 12 of the 15 cities in Central and South Asia with the worst air in 2021 were in India. 

6 . Facts for Prelims  

Great Indian Bustard 

Context: The perceived beliefs and recorded observations of egg laying habit of Great Indian Bustard (GIB) have changed after the recent excessive rains in western Rajasthan. The critically endangered bird species has adopted an altogether new behaviour of giving clutch of two eggs at a time after getting additional protein diet during the monsoon season. 

About the Great Indian Bustard (GIB) 

  • The Great Indian Bustard (GIB), the State bird of Rajasthan, is considered India’s most critically endangered bird. 
  • Flagship grassland species, representing the health of the grassland ecology. 
  • In India it is confined mostly to Rajasthan and Gujarat. Small populations occur in Maharashtra, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. 
  • The great Indian bustard can easily be distinguished by its black crown on the forehead contrasting with the pale neck and head.  
  • The body is brownish and the wings are marked with black, brown and grey. 
  • Males and females generally grow to the same height and weight but males have larger black crowns and a black band across the breast.  
  • They breed mostly during the monsoon season when females lay a single egg on open ground.
  • These birds are opportunist eaters.  
  • Their diet ranges widely depending on the seasonal availability of food.  
  • They feed on grass seeds, insects like grasshoppers and beetles, and sometimes even small rodents and reptiles. 
  • Major threats: 
    • The biggest threat to this species is hunting. 
    • This is followed by occasional poaching outside Protected Areas, collisions with high tension electric wires, fast moving vehicles and free-ranging dogs in villages.  
    • Other threats include habitat loss and alteration as a result of widespread agricultural expansion and mechanized farming, infrastructural development such as irrigation, roads, electric poles, as well as mining and industrialization. 
  • Conservation status
    • Listed in Schedule I of the Indian Wildlife (Protection)Act, 1972, in the CMS Convention and in Appendix I of CITES 
    • Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List and the National Wildlife Action Plan (2002-2016).  
    • It has also been identified as one of the species for the recovery programme under the Integrated Development of Wildlife Habitats of the Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of India. 

Vostok 2022 

Context: Indian and Chinese troops will take part in military exercises in Russia later this month, the first such major war games to be hosted by Russia since its invasion of Ukraine in February. 

About Vostok exercise 

  • Belarus, Mongolia, Tajikistan and other countries are also participating. 
  • Vostok (East) 2022 exercises will be held from August 30 to September 5 in 13 training grounds in Russia’s Eastern Military District, and the manoeuvres would include units of airborne troops, long-range bombers and military cargo aircraft.  
  • It remains unclear if Indian and Chinese troops will be present together or if they will take part in different drills which will be spread across the 13 different training grounds.  
  • Vostok is a large-scale Russian military exercise. 
  • It involves units from the Army, Air Force and Navy 

Temples in Sri Lanka 

Context: Sri Lanka’s tourism officials plan to attract Indian tourists, who constitute the single largest segment of foreign tourists, through new packages such as the Murugan-Shiva Shakthi trails. As part of the Murugan trail, two important places — Nallur Kandaswamy or Murugan temple in Jaffna of the Northern Province, and Kataragama of the Uva Province in the southeast — have been included. 

Nallur Kandaswamy or Murugan temple 

  • Nallur Kandaswamy Kovil is a significant Hindu temple, located in Nallur, Northern Province, Sri Lanka. 
  • Presiding deity: Lord Murugan in the form of the holy ‘Vel’ in the Sanctum, the primary shrine, and in other forms, namely, Shanmugar, Muthukumaraswami, Valli Kaanthar with consorts Valli and Deivayanai, and Thandayuthapani, sans consorts in secondary shrines in the temple. 
  • The original, Kandaswamy Temple was founded in 948 AD.  
  • According to the Yalpana Vaipava Malai, the temple was developed at the site in the 13th century by Buwanika Bahu, a minister to the King of Kotte.  
  • Sapumal Kumaraya, who ruled the Jaffna kingdom on behalf of the Kotte kingdom is credited with building the third Nallur Kandaswamy temple. 

Kataragama of the Uva Province 

  • Kataragama is a pilgrimage town sacred to Hindu, Buddhist and indigenous Vedda people of Sri Lanka.  
  • People from South India also go there to worship. 
  • The town has the Kataragama temple, a shrine dedicated to Skanda Kumara also known as Kataragama deviyo.  
  • The ancient Kiri Vehera Buddhist stupa, which is believed to be built by the regional king Mahasena in the 6th century BC is also a major attraction in Kataragama area. 
  • The town has a venerable history dating back to the last centuries BCE.  
  • It was the seat of government of many Sinhalese kings during the days of Rohana kingdom. 
  • Although Kataragama was a small village in medieval times, today it is a fast-developing township surrounded by jungle in the southeastern region of Sri Lanka. 

Farm loan interest subsidy 

Context: The Union Cabinet decided to restore the interest subvention on short-term agriculture loans to 1.5% for all financial institutions, including cooperative banks. 

Interest Subvention Scheme (ISS) 

  • Under the Interest Subvention Scheme (ISS), lenders offer a 3 per cent interest subvention on short-term agriculture loans of up to Rs 3 lakh — originally offered at 7 per cent interest to borrowers who repay the loans on time, effectively making them cheaper. 
  • It was extended to farmers and those involved in fisheries and animal husbandry. 
  • Objective: Provide agricultural credit for Short Term crop loans at an affordable rate, which was initiated to achieve high productivity and overall production in the agricultural sector and it is extended on a yearly basis.   

Credit guarantee plan 

Context: The Union Cabinet approved an enhancement of ₹50,000 crores in the Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme (ECLGS), raising its limit to ₹5 lakh crore, with the additional amount set to be deployed for enterprises in the hospitality and related sectors that were hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme (ECLGS) 

  • Launched by the Government of India as a special scheme in view of the COVID-19 crisis. 
  • Objective: To provide 100% guarantee coverage to Banks and NBFCs to enable them to extend emergency credit facilities to Business Enterprises / MSMEs in view of COVID-19 to meet their additional term loan/additional working capital requirements. 
  • ECLGS-1.0: Refers to the scheme for providing 100% Guarantee to member lending institutions in respect of eligible credit facility extended by them to its borrowers whose total credit outstanding (fund based only) across all lending institutions and days past due as on February 29, 2020, was up to Rs.50 crore and up to 60 days respectively.  
  • ECLGS-2.0: Scheme for providing 100% Guarantee to member lending institutions in respect of eligible credit facilities extended by them to its borrowers in the 26 sectors identified by the Kamath Committee on Resolution Framework vide its report dated 04.09.2020 and the Healthcare sector whose total credit outstanding (fund based only) across all lending institutions and days past due as on February 29, 2020, was above Rs.50 crore and not exceeding Rs.500 crore and up to 60 days respectively.  
  • ECLGS-3.0: Scheme for providing 100% guarantee to member lending institutions in respect of eligible credit facilities extended by them to its borrowers in the Hospitality, Travel & Tourism and Leisure & Sporting sectors whose total fund based outstanding across all lending institutions is up to Rs.500 crore and days past due are up to 60 days as on 29.02.2020. 

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