NEWS TODAY

VISIONIAS

23&24th MAY, 2021

Impact of IAS:

Expeditious construction of fencing, floodlighting & roads along Indo-Bangladesh, Indo-Pakistan and Indo-Myanmar borders.

Development of Integrated Check Posts (ICPs) at various locations on the International Borders of the country.

Construction of strategic roads along India-China, Indo-Nepal & Indo-Bhutan borders.

Deployment of hi-tech electronic surveillance equipment on international borders.

Recent report finds that life and non-life insurance (like health, automobile or cyber insurance) market in India is estimated to register a CAGR of around 7% over the next five years.

Insurance is defined as “a contract, represented by a policy, in which an individual or entity receives financial protection or reimbursement against losses from an insurance company.”Traditionally, in India insurance is seen as an investment or a push rather than a pull product.Economic Survey 2020-21 stated that India’s insurance penetration, which was at 2.71% in 2001, has steadily increased to 3.76% in 2019, but stayed much below the global average of 7.23%.Similarly, the insurance density was nearly $78 in 2019 ($58 in life segment and $19 in non-life segment); much lower than global insurance density.Government Initiatives: Union Budget 2021 increased FDI limit in insurance from 49% to 74%. Launch of Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojna and Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana; Increase allocation for crop insurance scheme.

Life and health insurance has witnessed a significant boost in demand with increasing awareness and demand for protection due to Covid-19.

Help conserve the vanishing natural heritage from urban centres.

Nagar Van project launched in 2020 aims to create urban forest cover in 200 cities across the country in the next five years.Incorporation of green cover requirements in urban planning with protection of connectivity between habitats. E.g. NCR development plan with minimum 10% of green cover.Globally, City Biodiversity Index (also known as the Singapore Index) was created in 2008 that is used by cities around the world to measure their biodiversity.

Vegetation filters air pollutants.Imparting resilience to climate change.Enhancing water availability to the city.Providing cultural, conservational and educational services.

COVID-19 PANDEMIC HAS BOOSTED THE INDIAN INSURANCE SECTOR

Whiteflies, native to the Caribbean islands or Central America (or both), are small white-coloured invasive insects affecting cotton, vegetable crops and other crops in tropical and sub-tropical regions.

In India, there are no specific policies to address the issue of IAS, though it is part of several existing biodiversity legislation and regulations. India has adopted Aichi Target 9 as its National Biodiversity Target 4 – i.e., to identify invasive alien species and their pathways of introduction, and to develop strategies to manage IAS.

Invasive alien species (IAS)

The spread due to their polyphagous nature (ability to feed on various kinds of food) and prolific breeding.

All aliens (species) are not invasive species, but all invasives are aliens.National Biodiversity Authority (NBA) identifies 169 species as invasive in India.

Whiteflies, native to the Caribbean islands or Central America (or both), are small

According to IUCN (International union of Conservation of Nature), IAS are species that are introduced, accidentally or intentionally, outside of their natural geographic range and that become problematic.

WHITEFLIES PLAGUING HORTI-CULTURE CROPS IN ANDHRA PRADESH

Delhi is home to 7 biodiversity parks that are built around two ecological systems in the capital: the Yamuna floodplain and the rocky Aravalli landscape.

Cities are home to more than half of the world’s population, and are responsible for a disproportionately large ecological footprint, which threatens the health of the planet’s ecosystems.Other Initiative taken to conserve biodiversity in Cities

Significance of these biological Parks

MORE BIRDS AND ANIMALS MAKE DELHI’S 7 NATURE PARKS THEIR HOMES

In a report submitted to the Ministry of Home Affairs, the BPRD has proposed Integrated Law Enforcement Centres (ILECs) on all its borders on lines of the United States’ Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the UK’s Border Agency and the European Union’s Frontex.Issues in border management identified

Mandate of ILECs

Report recommends preparing a draft act for the implementation of ILECs.

Security ambivalence and lack of strategic thinking. This is evident from the absence of a policy to check infiltration/illegal migration from the eastern borders; inability to stop or contain cross-border terrorism; trafficking in drugs etc.

Different agencies active on India’s land borders operating within the silos. Various gaps and overlapping in the role, jurisdiction of these agencies results in suboptimal outcome at national level.

Geomorphology of India’s borders, their historical evolution and legal status, the nature of cross-border socio-economic-ethnic transactions.

It would work inside the existing Integrated Check Posts (ICPs).Register, investigate and dispose of all types of cross-border crimes.Each ILEC can have small self-sustaining investigative units.Maintain cross-border crime data (collated from different stakeholder agencies, mass-and-social-media etc.) and process it for trends.

BUREAU OF POLICE RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT (BPRD) REPORT RECOMMENDS UNIFIED AGENCY FOR CROSS BORDER CRIMES

Recent initiative taken for effective border management

It costs nearly $1.3 trillion dollars to the global economy since 1970, an average of $26.8 billion per year. 

Key objectives of IRDAI include promotion of competition so as to enhance customer satisfaction through increased consumer choice and fair premiums, while ensuring the financial security of the Insurance market.

They suppress native biodiversity and cause local extinctions by altering wildlife habitat.They affect livelihoods directly by suppressing species that people depend on (e.g., non-timber forest products, ‘NTFP’) and by encroaching on agricultural and grazing land.

They affect wellbeing indirectly by altering hydrology, damaging soils, affecting the provisioning of ecosystem services, and due to costs incurred in their control or management.

Insurance penetration is calculated as the percentage of insurance premium to GDP, while insurance density is the ratio of insurance premium to population.Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) is an autonomous body established under the IRDAI Act 1999 for overall supervision and development of the Insurance sector in India.

VISIONIAS

VISIONIASALSO IN NEWS

Mechanism of escape mutations in

Coronavirus variants 

BRICS Astronomy Working Group (BAWG)

WHO, EU approval for Covaxin

One Stop Centre (OSCs)

Hence, antibodies that target the general area in and around the receptor binding site lose their ability to effectively bind and neutralise the virus when the mutations are present. 

It is a Centrally Sponsored Scheme formulated by Ministry of Women and Child Development (MWCD).

OSC are intended to support women affected by violence, in private and public spaces, within the family, community and at the workplace.

According to a new study from scientists at Scripps Research and others, several of the mutations in the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus are clustered at the “receptor binding site” (where the virus attaches to host cells), on the spike protein of the virus. 

ELSA is a labeled immunoassay that is considered the gold standard of immunoassays. 

Other sites on the ‘receptor binding domain’ are unaffected.

Recently, India has decided to facilitate WHO and EU European Medicine Agency approval for CovaxinIt will help Indians in avoiding travel restrictions in the present and post-covid world based on vaccination-based travel e.g., the 27 EU member countries recently approved proposal to allow fully vaccinated” tourists from countries outside Europe under certain criteria.

OSCs has provided assistance to over 3 lakh women so far. About One Stop Centre Scheme:

It will also help in pushing for more export orders for the indigenous vaccine in the future and getting it listed in the WHO Emergency Use List.It will also benefit in scientific research and collaboration between the Indian and foreign vaccine producers.

Invasive alien species (IAS)

Other Initiative to push manufacturing sector

To increase the manufacturing sector’s growth rate to 12-14% per annum; To create 100 million additional manufacturing jobs in the economy by 2022;To ensure that the manufacturing sector’s contribution to GDP is increased to 25% by 2022 (revised to 2025).

According to an analysis by the Centre for Economic Data and Analysis (CEDA) decline was particularly sharper in 2020-21 owing to the pandemic – on a year-on-year basis.

This has happened despite the Indian government’s push to improve manufacturing in the country with the ‘Make in India’ project. About Make in India:

From employing 51 million people in 2016-17, employment in manufacturing, which accounts for 17% of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP), declined by 46% to reach 27.3 million in 2020-21

Introduced in 2014 has been designed to facilitate investment, foster innovation, enhance skill development, protect intellectual property and build best in class manufacturing infrastructure in the country.Focus on 25 sectors like automobiles, automobile components, aviation etc.

Three major objectives under the programme:

Sector employed 32% fewer people in 2020-21 over 2019-20.

MANUFACTURING EMPLOYMENT IN 2020-21 WAS NEARLY HALF OF WHAT IT WAS FIVE YEARS AGO.: REPORT

It is NASA’s first mobile robot to be sent to the Moon in late 2023 in search of ice and other resources on and below the lunar surface. It is part of NASA’s Artemis programme. 

VIPER runs on solar power. It will collect data that would help NASA map resources at the lunar South Pole that could one day be harvested for long-term human exploration at the Moon.

This is yet another example of how robotic science missions and human exploration go hand in hand. 

Earlier in 2019, it proposed the BRICS Intelligent Telescope and Data Network (BITDN) to take lead in wide field imaging sky surveys and study the dynamically changing universe, helping to meet big data challenges of forefront astronomical facilities.

Recently, BAWG has recommended networking of telescopes in member countries and creating a regional data network.

BAWG provides a platform for BRICS member countries to collaborate in the field of astronomy.

Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover

(VIPER)

Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme, which is aimed at boosting domestic manufacturing and exports.

Increasing FDI limits: for ex FDI in defence manufacturing under the automatic route increased from 49% to 74%.Mega Investment Textiles Parks (MITRA) scheme to build world-class infrastructure for textile sector.

Recently, a start-up funded by the Department of Science and Technology (DST) has developed first of its kind, semi-quantitative Electrochemical ELISA test that would help rapid & accurate estimation of total antibody concentration of COVID-19. 

Enzyme-linked immunosorbent

assay (ELISA) Test 

This immunological test is very sensitive and is used to detect and quantify substances, including antibodies, antigens, proteins, glycoproteins, and hormones in the blood sample. 

It provides emergency and non-emergency access to a range of services including police, medical, legal aid and counseling, psychological support to fight against any forms of violence against women.