Daily Current Affairs : 21st and 22nd June 2022

Daily Current Affairs for UPSC CSE

Topics Covered

1. 13th Amendment to the Sri Lakan Constitution
2. Registration and Deregistration of Political Parties
3. Black Swan Event
4. Lightning
5. Twin Deficit Problem of India
6. WTO Ministerial Conference.
7. Spectrum Sale
8. Facts for Prelims

1 . 13th Amendment to the Sri Lankan Constitution

Context : Addressing Sri Lanka’s Tamil national question is imperative for the island nation’s recovery from the crushing economic crisis it is facing, veteran Tamil leader R. Sampanthan said, contending that the unresolved issue had proved a major impediment for the country’s economic progress since Independence.

What is the legislation?

• It is an outcome of the Indo-Lanka Accord of July 1987, signed by the then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and President J.R. Jayawardene, in an attempt to resolve Sri Lanka’s ethnic conflict that had aggravated into a full-fledged civil war, between the armed forces and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, which led the struggle for Tamils’ self-determination and sought a separate state.
• The 13th Amendment led to the creation of Provincial Councils and assured a power sharing arrangement to enable all nine provinces in the country, including Sinhala majority areas, to self-govern.
• Subjects such as education, health, agriculture, housing, land and police are devolved to the provincial administrations, but because of restrictions on financial powers and overriding powers given to the President, the provincial administrations have not made much headway.
• The provisions relating to police and land have never been implemented.
• Initially, the north and eastern provinces were merged and had a North-Eastern Provincial Council, but the two were de-merged in 2007 following a Supreme Court verdict.

Why is it contentious?

• The 13th Amendment carries considerable baggage from the country’s civil war years.
• It was opposed vociferously by both Sinhala nationalist parties and the LTTE. The former thought it was too much power to share, while the Tigers deemed it too little.
• A large section of the Sinhala polity, including the leftist-nationalist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) which led an armed insurrection opposing it, saw the Accord and the consequent legislation as an imprint of Indian intervention.
• Though signed by the powerful President Jayawardene, it was widely perceived as an imposition by a neighbour wielding hegemonic influence.
• The Tamil polity, especially its dominant nationalist strain, does not find the 13th Amendment sufficient in its ambit or substance.
• However, some including the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) — which chiefly represented the Tamils of the north and east in Parliament in the post-war era until its setback in the recent polls — see it as an important starting point, something to build upon.

Why is the 13th Amendment significant?

• Till date, the 13th Amendment represents the only constitutional provision on the settlement of the long-pending Tamil question.
• It is considered part of the few significant gains since the 1980s, in the face of growing Sinhala-Buddhist majoritarianism from the time Sri Lanka became independent in 1948.

2 . Registration and Deregistration of Political Parties

Context : The Election Commission decided to delete 111 Registered Unrecognised Political Parties (RUPPs) from the register, as part of the poll panel’s “graded action” against parties that flouted its rules.

Registration of Political Party

• Registration of political parties is governed by the provisions of section 29A of the Representation of the People Act, 1951. 
• According to the Election Commission, any party seeking registration has to submit an application to the Commission within a period of 30 days following the date of its formation as per guidelines prescribed by the Commission in exercise of the powers conferred by Article 324 of the Constitution of India and Section 29A of the Representation of the People Act, 1951. The registration of all political parties is governed by the provisions of Section 29A of the Representation of the People Act, 1951.
• In India, the Election Commission currently only has the power to register parties, not to de-register them

Recognized Political Party

• According to the EC, “a political party shall be treated as a recognised political party in a state, if and only if either the conditions specified in Clause (A) are, or the condition specified in Clause (B) is fulfilled by that party.
  • As per clause (A), a party should be engaged in political activity for a continuous period of five years; and has, at the last general election in that state to the house of the people, or, as the case may be, to the Legislative Assembly of the state, returned- either ( i ) at least one member to the house of the people for every twenty-five members of that House or any fraction of that number from that state; or (ii) at least one member to the Legislative Assembly of that state for every thirty members of that assembly or any fraction of that number.“
  • Clause (B) states that the “total number of valid votes polled by all the contesting candidates set up by such party at the last general election in the state to the house of the people, or as the case may be, to the Legislative Assembly of the state, is not less than six per cent of the total number of valid votes polled by all the contesting candidates at such general election in the state.”

Recognition as National Party and State Party

• For recognition of a ‘national party’ if a political party is treated as a recognised political party in four or more states, only then will it be recognised as a `national party’ throughout the whole of India, but it will only be continued to be categorised as one as long as that political party continues to fulfill the conditions for recognition in four or more states on the results of any subsequent general election either to the house of the people or to the Legislative Assembly of any state.
• The rules also state if a political party is treated as a recognised political party in less than four states, it will be a `state party’ in the state but only so long as that political party continues to fulfill the conditions for recognition on the results of any subsequent general election to the house of the people or, as the case may be, to the Legislative Assembly of the state.

Registered Unrecognised Political Parties (RUPPs)

• Either newly registered parties or those which have not secured enough percentage of votes in assembly or general elections to become a state party, or those which have never contested elections since being registered are considered unrecognised parties.

Benefits for Political Parties

• The candidates set up by a political party registered with the EC will get preference in the matter of allotment of free symbols vis-à-vis purely independent candidates. M
• These registered political parties, over course of time, can get recognition as a ‘state party’ or a ‘national party’ subject to the fulfilment of the conditions prescribed by the Commission in the Election Symbols (Reservation and Allotment) Order, 1968.
• As per the rules, if a party is recognised as a ‘state party’, it is entitled for exclusive allotment of its reserved symbol to the candidates set up by it in the state in which it is so recognised, and if a party is recognised as a ‘national party’ it is entitled for exclusive allotment of its reserved symbol to the candidates set up by it throughout India.
• Recognised ‘state’ and ‘national’ parties need only one proposer for filing the nomination and are also entitled for two sets of electoral rolls free of cost and broadcast/telecast facilities over state-owned Akashvani/Doordarshan during the general elections.

3 . Black Swan event

Context : A study by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has spoken about the possibility of capital outflows to the tune of $100 billion (around Rs 7,80,000 crore) from India in case of a major global risk scenario or a “black swan” event.

What is a ‘black swan’ event?

• A black swan is a rare, unpredictable event that comes as a surprise and has a significant impact on society or the world.
• These events are said to have three distinguishing characteristics –
  • They are extremely rare and outside the realm of regular expectations
  • They have a severe impact after they hit
  • They seem probable in hindsight when plausible explanations appear

When did the term originate?

• The black swan theory was put forward by author and investor Nassim Nicholas Taleb in 2001, and later popularised in his 2007 book – The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable. The Sunday Times described his work as one of the 12 most influential books since World War II.
• In his book, Taleb does not try to lay out a method to predict such events, but instead stresses on building “robustness” in systems and strategies to deal with black swan occurrences and withstand their impact.
• The term itself is linked to the discovery of black swans. Europeans believed all swans to be white until 1697, when a Dutch explorer spotted the first black swan in Australia. The metaphor ‘black swan event’ is derived from this unprecedented spotting from the 17th century, and how it upended the West’s understanding of swans.

When have such events occurred in the past?

• Interestingly, Taleb’s book predated the 2008 global financial crisis – a black swan event triggered by a sudden crash in the booming housing market in the US.
• The fall of the Soviet Union, the terrorist attack in the US on September 11, 2001, also fall in the same category.
• In an interview to Bloomberg in 2020, he called covid pandemic a “white swan”, arguing that it was predictable, and there was no excuse for companies and governments not to be prepared for something like this. While the outbreak of any pandemic is difficult to individually predict, the possibility of one occurring and having a major impact on systems around the world was known and documented.

4 . Lightning

Context : Seventeen people have been killed by lightning over the last two days in various parts of Bihar, Six deaths have been reported from Bhagalpur district, while three people were killed in Vaishali, and two each in Banka and Khagaria. Other deaths happened in Madhepura, Saharsa, Munger and Katihar.

About Lightning

• Lightning is a rapid and massive discharge of electricity in the atmosphere some of which is directed towards earth.
• The discharges are generated in giant moisture-bearing clouds that are 10-12 km tall. The base of these clouds typically lie within 1-2 km of the Earth’s surface, while the top is 12-13 km away. Temperatures in the top of these clouds are in the range of –35° to –45°C.
• As water vapour moves upward in the cloud, the falling temperature causes it to condense. As they move to temperatures below 0°C, the water droplets change into small ice crystals. They continue to move up, gathering mass until they are so heavy that they start to fall to Earth. This leads to a system in which, simultaneously, smaller ice crystals are moving up and bigger crystals are coming down.
• Collisions follow and trigger the release of electrons, a process that is very similar to the generation of sparks of electricity. As the moving free electrons cause more collisions and more electrons, a chain reaction ensues.
• This process results in a situation in which the top layer of the cloud gets positively charged, while the middle layer is negatively charged. The electrical potential difference between the two layers is huge, of the order of a billion to 10 billion volts. In very little time, a massive current, of the order of 100,000 to a million amperes, starts to flow between the layers.
• While the Earth is a good conductor of electricity, it is electrically neutral. However, in comparison to the middle layer of the cloud, it becomes positively charged. As a result, about 15%-20% of the current gets directed towards the Earth as well. It is this flow of current that results in damage to life and property on Earth.
• Direct lightning strikes are rare but even indirect strikes are fatal given the immense amount of charge involved.

Lighting Atlas

• A recently released annual report on lightning by the Climate Resilient Observing Systems Promotion Council (CROPC), which works closely with government agencies like the India Meteorological Department, includes a lightning atlas which maps vulnerability at the district level.
• According to the report, Madhya Pradesh has reported the largest number of cloud to ground lighting strikes, followed by Chhatisgarh, Maharashtra, Odisha and West Bengal. Other states with high strike rate include Bihar, UP, Karnataka, Jharkhand and Tamil Nadu.

Relation between covid 19 and Lightning

• According to the the annual lightning in 2019-20, about 1.4 crore lightning strikes were recorded, which increased to 1.85 crore in 2020-21.
• In 2021-22, about 1.49 crore strikes were recorded across the country. The reduction, in line with the trend observed globally, has been attributed to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.
• The reason attributed to reduction in lightning is due to Covid-2019 pandemic induced reduction in aerosol level, pollution, environmental upgradation and relatively stable weather system in Indian subcontinent
• But most of this reduction was seen in the cloud-to-cloud lightning. Of the strikes that reach the Earth, only a 2.5% reduction was observed.

Mitigation Measures

• Lightning is not classified as a natural disaster in India. But recent efforts have resulted in the setting up of an early warning system, that is already saving many lives. More than 96% of lightning deaths happen in rural areas. As such, most of the mitigation and public awareness programmes need to focus on these communities.
• Lightning protection devices are fairly unsophisticated and low-cost. Yet, their deployment in the rural areas, as of now, is extremely low.
• States are being encouraged to prepare and implement lightning action plans, on the lines of heat action plans. An international centre for excellence on lightning research to boost detection and early warning systems is also in the process of being set up.

5 . Twin Deficit Problem of India

Context : In its latest ‘Monthly Economic Review’, the Ministry of Finance has painted an overall optimistic picture of the state of the domestic economy. But, given the uncertainties like covid and Russia- Ukraine war, the report highlights two key areas of concern for the Indian economy: the fiscal deficit and the current account deficit (or CAD).

Fiscal deficit

• The fiscal deficit is essentially the amount of money that the government has to borrow in any year to fill the gap between its expenditures and revenues. Higher levels of fiscal deficit typically imply the government eats into the pool of investible funds in the market which could have been used by the private sector for its own investment needs. At a time when the government is trying its best to kick-start and sustain a private sector investment cycle, borrowing more than what it budgeted will be counter-productive.
• The report states that “as government revenues take a hit following cuts in excise duties on diesel and petrol, an upside risk to the budgeted level of gross fiscal deficit has emerged”.
• The report underscores the need to trim revenue expenditure (or the money government spends just to meet its daily needs). “Rationalizing non-capex expenditure has thus become critical, not only for protecting growth supportive capex but also for avoiding fiscal slippages,” it states. “Capex” or capital expenditure essentially refers to money spent towards creating productive assets such as roads, buildings, ports etc. Capex has a much bigger multiplier effect on the overall GDP growth than revenue expenditure.

Current account deficit

• The current account essentially refers to two specific sub-parts:
  • Import and Export of goods — this is the “trade account”
  • Import and export of services — this is called the “invisibles account”.
• If a country imports more goods (everything from cars to phones to machinery to food grains etc) than it exports, it is said to have a trade account deficit. A deficit implies that more money is going out of the country than coming in via the trade of physical goods. Similarly, the same country could be earning a surplus on the invisibles account — that is, it could be exporting more services than importing.
• If, however, the net effect of a trade account and the invisibles account is a deficit, then it is called a current account deficit or CAD. A widening CAD tends to weaken the domestic currency because a CAD implies more dollars (or foreign currencies) are being demanded than rupees.
• The Ministry’s worry is that costlier imports such as crude oil and other commodities will not only widen the CAD but also put downward pressure on the rupee. A weaker rupee will, in turn, make future imports costlier. There is one more reason why the rupee may weaken. If, in response to higher interest rates in the western economies especially the US, foreign portfolio investors (FPI) continue to pull out money from the Indian markets, that too will hurt the rupee and further increase CAD.

6 . WTO Ministerial Conference

Context : On June 17, member countries of the World Trade Organization (WTO) wrapped up the Ministerial Conference’s twelfth outing (MC12) securing agreements on relaxing patent regulations to achieve global vaccine equity; ensuring food security, according subsidies to the fisheries sector and continuing moratoriums relevant to e-commerce, among others. Together they constitute what WTO’s Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala referred to as the “Geneva Package.” India saw some successes at the MC12 with respect to the above mentioned sectors.

What is the WTO’s Ministerial Conference?

• The MC is at the very top of WTO’s organisational chart. It meets once every two years and can take decisions on all matters under any multilateral trade agreement.
• Unlike other organisations, such as the International Monetary Fund or World Bank, WTO does not delegate power to a board of directors or an organisational chief.
• All decisions at the WTO are made collectively and through consensus among member countries at varied councils and committees. This year’s conference took place in Geneva, Switzerland.  

What were the debates around agriculture at the MC? 

• The agreements on the subject are of particular significance to India. Referring to its status as a significant contributor to the World Food Programme (WFP), India had earlier stated that it had never imposed export restrictions for procurement under the programme. It put forth that a blanket exemption could constrain its work in ensuring food security back home. In such a situation, it would have to keep its WFP commitments irrespective of its domestic needs.
• Negotiators agreed that member countries would not impose export prohibitions or restrictions on foodstuffs purchased for humanitarian purposes of the WFP. The decision would however not prevent member countries from adopting measures for ensuring domestic food security.  
• Negotiators could not reach agreements on issues such as permissible public stockholding threshold for domestic food security, domestic support to agriculture, cotton, and market access.
• The central premise of the agreements was to ensure availability, accessibility and affordability of food to those in need, especially in humanitarian emergencies. It encouraged member countries with available surplus to release them on international markets in compliance with WTO regulations. Moreover, it instituted a work programme to come up with measures to help LDCs (least-developed countries) and NFIDCs (Net Food Importing Developing Countries) enhance their domestic food security and bolster agricultural production. 

What about fisheries related agreements? 

• India successfully managed to carve out an agreement on eliminating subsidies to those engaged in illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing.
• The only exception for continuing subsidies for overfished stock is when they are deemed essential to rebuild them to a biologically sustainable level.
• Overfishing refers to exploiting fishes at a pace faster than they could replenish themselves — currently standing at 34% as per the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). Declining fish stocks threaten to worsen poverty and endanger communities that rely on aquatic creatures for their livelihood and food security.
• Further, the agreements hold that there would be no limitation on subsidies granted or maintained by developing or least-developed countries for fishing within their exclusive economic zones (EEZ).  

Have the current moratoriums on electronic transmissions been extended? 

• Member countries agreed to extend the current moratorium on not imposing customs duties on electronic transmission (ET) until MC13 — scheduled to take place in December 2023. 105 countries which includes the U.S. , the U.K., Australia, China and Japan among others , had sought an extension of the moratorium, with India and South Africa being in opposition.
• Broadly, ETs consist of online deliveries such as music, e-books, films, software and video games. They differ from other cross-border e-commerce since they are ordered online but not delivered physically.

What were the discussions on patent relaxations?

• Member countries agreed on authorising the use of the subject matter of a patent for producing COVID-19 vaccines by a member country, without the consent of the rights holder. Further, it asks member countries to waive requirements, including export restrictions, set forth by WTO regulations to supply domestic markets and member countries with any number of vaccines. The agreement, however, comes too little, too late for economically poorer countries.
• Several LDCs have suffered in their efforts to combat the now nearly three-year-old pandemic, owing to factors such as a stressed balance of payments situation , different levels of development, financial capabilities and varying degrees of import dependence on those products.
• Within the next six months, members are expected to decide on increasing the scope of the agreement to cover the production and supply of COVID-19 diagnostics and therapeutics as well.

7 . Spectrum Sale

Context : The Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, gave its nod for the auction of spectrum that can be used to offer 5G services, at its meeting held on June 14.

About the Auction

• A total of 72,097.85 MHz (or 72 Ghz) of spectrum with a validity period of 20 years will be put on sale during the auction planned towards the end of July.
• The auction will be held for spectrum in various Low (600 MHz, 700 MHz, 800 MHz, 900 MHz, 1800 MHz, 2100 MHz, 2300 MHz), Mid (3300 MHz) and High (26 GHz) frequency bands.
• It is expected that the Mid and High band spectrum will be utilised by telecom service providers (TSPs) to roll-out 5G services wherein speeds would be 10 times higher than what is possible through the current 4G services.
• This follows the Budget 2022 announcement by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman that the government would auction telecom spectrum in 2022, which will enable private players to roll out 5G services before March 2023.

What are the key issues?

• The two issues that the industry has highlighted with regards to the upcoming auctions are high reserve prices for the spectrum and direct allotment of spectrum to enterprises for setting up captive private networks.
• The government has accepted the recommendations given by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) on reserve prices for spectrum auctions. While the TRAI had earlier recommended reducing prices of airwaves across various bands by 35-40% from its earlier proposed base price, the telecom operators had expressed disappointment given their demand for a 90% cut in the prices. “
• On allowing direct allocation of spectrum for captive non-public networks, the government has reasoned that the move will spur a new wave of innovations in Industry 4.0 applications such as machine to machine communications, Internet of Things (IoT), Artificial Intelligence (AI) across automotive, healthcare, agriculture, energy, and other sectors. However, the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI), which counts the three private telcos as its members, has said that the move severely degrades the business case of TSPs.

What benefits are likely to come with 5G?

• 5G is the next generation cellular technology that will provide faster and more reliable communication with ultra low latency. As per the set standards, with 5G, the peak network speeds are expected to be in the range of 2-20 Gbps as opposed to about 25 Mbps on current 4G networks. In India, however, 4G speeds average at around 6-7 Mbps, but are picking up gradually.
• It is expected that 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. The users will need to update to 5G-enabled devices to access the network, if they are not already using one. However, it is likely that the primary use of the technology will go beyond delivery of services on personal mobile devices. 5G is expected to form the backbone of emerging technologies such as IoT and machine to machine communications, thereby supporting a much larger range of applications and services, such as tele-surgery and real time data analytics. 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.
• As per a report by a government panel on 5G, even after the entry of 5G into the Indian networks, the earlier generation mobile technologies — 2G, 3G and 4G, will continue to remain in use and may take 10 or more years to phase out. 5G is expected to create a cumulative economic impact of $1 trillion in India by 2035, the report added.

8 . Facts for Prelims

Summer Solistice

• June 21 is the day of the summer solstice in the northern hemisphere. The summer solstice marks the beginning of the astronomical summer and occurs when the earth has its maximum tilt towards the sun. For temperate regions, the summer solstice is when the sun reaches its highest point in the sky.
• The Earth orbits the sun at an angle. So for half the year, the Northern Hemisphere is tilted towards the Sun and therefore, it is summer for the Northern hemisphere and winter for the Southern Hemisphere. During the other half of the year, the Northern Hemisphere is tilted away from the sun, thus creating winter in the Northern Hemisphere and summer in the south.
• Solstices happen twice per year: one for the winter and one for the summer and this is interchanged depending on which Hemisphere you live in. The longest day of the year happens on the day of the summer solstice since the earth receives the longest period of daylight during the day.
• The solstice has been seen as a significant time of the year in many cultures and has been marked by festivals and rituals across the globe.
• Interestingly, Prime Minister Narendra Modi suggested June 21 as the international day of yoga at a UN address in 2021 since that was the longest day in the Northern Hemisphere. Also, Christmas happens around the day of the summer solstice in Australia and other countries in the southern hemisphere. Poland and some other Slavic countries including the Czech Republic and Slovakia celebrate “Noc Kupaly” or Kupala during the shortest night of the year i.e, during the summer solstice. Many of the rituals of this festival are connected to the idea of fertility and ritual purification and include herb collecting, bonfire lighting and bathing in a river.