Hindu Notes from General Studies-01

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As the nuclear family system has gained traction, the percentage of ‘couple only’ families has increased.

News

• Though nuclear families are the norm in India, the percentage of single-mother households is on the rise, according to the United Nation’s Progress of the World’s Women 2019 report.
• In India, there are far fewer women in the workforce compared to all other regions.

Findings

• Nuclear families (couple with children) form the highest % of households. Extended families (one or more parents or relatives) are also common.
• There are more single-mother households (5.4%) than single-father households.
• As the nuclear family system has gained traction, the percentage of ‘couple only’ families has increased. The percentage of single mothers too has increased, corresponding to increasing rates of divorce in the country.
• Over half the unmarried women aged 25-54 are part of the labour  This proportion halves when they are married, possibly due to family constraints or requirements.
• A higher % of married men than single men are part of the labour force, which means that marriage does not affect their participation.
• Central and Southern Asia have the lowest percentage of women in the labour force, irrespective of their marital status. All the figures indicate percentage of women who are part of the workforce.

Arctic mission will trap scientists in ice to study climate

News

• In a couple of months, the German icebreaker RV Polarstern, a hulking ship will set out for the Arctic packed with supplies and scientific equipment for a year-long mission to explore the planet’s frigid far north.
• The icebreaker will be the base for scientists from 17 nations studying the impact of climate changeon the Arctic and how it could affect the rest of the world.

Beyond News

• Scientists plan to sail the ship into the Arctic Ocean, anchor it to a large piece of sea ice and allow the water to freeze around them, effectively trapping themselves in the vast sheet of white that forms over the North Pole each winter.
• The organizers say that the project is unprecedented in scale and ambition.
• As temperatures drop and the days get shorter, they’ll race against time to build temporary winter research camps on the ice, allowing them to perform tests that wouldn’t be possible at other times of the year or by satellite sensing.
• The mission’s aim to understand global warming means there’s no time for national rivalry.
• Scientists from United States, China, Russia and other countries will be rotating every two months as other icebreakers bring fresh supplies.
• By combining measurements on the ice with data collected from satellites, scientists hope to improve the increasingly sophisticated computer models for weather and climate predictions.
• The mission has received funding from U.S. institutions such as the National Science Foundation, the Department of Energy, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and NASA.
• Once the Polarstern is carried into the depth of the Arctic night, far off the coast of northern Greenland, the scientists will be on their own, making any emergency evacuation almost impossible.
• Nonetheless, the ship has a fully equipped medical station to avoid any calamity on board.
• Scientists now believe that the cold cap that forms each year is key to regulating weather patterns across the Northern Hemisphere.

Hindu Notes from General Studies-02

Cabinet approves Code on Wages Bill

News

• The Union Cabinet approved the Code on Wages Bill, which subsumes existing laws regarding minimum wages and other workers’ remuneration issues as part of the government’s efforts to improve ease of doing business.
• As a part of its ease of doing business initiative, the government will be subsuming a total of 44 labour laws into four codes on wages, social security, industrial safety and welfare and industrial relations.

Hindu Notes from General Studies-03

Economic Survey

News

• The Economic Survey 2018-19, tabled in Parliament.

Aadhaar aided MGNREGS beneficiaries

• Economic Survey 2018-19 has used the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) as a case study to show the benefits of the use of technology in improving targeting and efficiency in welfare schemes, especially for the most vulnerable groups.
• The Survey cites data on the timeliness of wage payments, worker turnout, demand and supply of work under the scheme before and after Aadhaar-linked payments (ALP) were implemented as a proof for its benefits.
• Data show that in 2014-15, less than 27% of wage payments were generated within 15 days. Direct benefit transfers were introduced two years later. By 2018-19, more than 90% of wage payments were generated within 15 days.
• Payment delays drive away farmers in genuine distress, while others not in distress take the benefits. A person undergoing economic distress needs immediate and certain liquidity.
• Working for uncertain promised wages, which are likely to be realised with a substantial lag, presents an unattractive proposition for a person in distress as delayed payments effectively imply zero wages in adverse times, says the Survey.
• Scholarships, pensions, and subsidies for food, kerosene, and gas cylinders should be next in line to implement Aadhaar-based payments.

Economic Survey moots central welfare database of citizens

• The Economic Survey 2018-19, pitched for setting up a central welfare database of citizens by merging different data maintained by separate Ministries and departments which can be tapped for enhancing ease of living for citizens, particularly the poor.
• While the Survey pointed out that governments can create data as a public good within the legal framework of data privacy, it added that care must also be taken not to impose the “elite’s preference of privacy on the poor, who care for a better quality of living the most.”
• It also recommended granting access to select database to private sector for a fee, given that “stringent technological mechanisms exist to safeguard data privacy.”
• The government could utilise the information embedded in these distinct datasets to enhance ease of living for citizens, enable truly evidence-based policy, improve targeting in welfare schemes, uncover unmet needs, integrate fragmented markets, bring greater accountability in public services and generate greater citizen participation in governance, etc.
• The datasets talked about inclusion of administrative data such as birth and death records, pensions, tax records, marriage records; survey data such as census data, national sample survey data; transactions data such as e-national agriculture market data, UPI data, institutional data and public hospital data on patients.

Economic Survey lays out blueprint for $5 trillion economy

• The Economic Survey 2019 focusses on moving to a “virtuous cycle” of savings, investments and exports to transform India into a $5 trillion economy in the next five years.
• According to the survey India’s GDP is forecast to expand by 7% in fiscal 2019-20, slightly higher than the 6.8% in 2018-19.
• Survey made the point that data must be viewed as a public good and used in a concerted way to deliver services. It said that as data of societal interest is generated by the people, it can be created as a public good within the legal framework of data privacy.
• Another key area of focus for the Survey was the MSME sector and how to make it grow so as to boost profit creation, job creation, and enhance productivity.
• It noted that ‘dwarf’ firms (with less than 100 workers), accounted for more than 50% of all organised firms in manufacturing by number. Despite this, their contribution to employment was just 14% and to productivity a mere 8%.
• Large firms, on the other hand, are just 15% in number but account for 75% employment and close to 90% of productivity. Therefore, there is a need to “unshackle” MSMEs and enable them to grow into larger firms.
• The Survey also pointed to the need for labour reform, highlighting the fact that factories in States that have flexible labour markets are much more productive than those in States with rigid laws.
• The Survey also pointed to the need for labour reform, highlighting the fact that factories in States that have flexible labour markets are much more productive than those in States with rigid laws.

Shift focus to water productivity

• The Economic Survey 2018-19 has said as far as agriculture is concerned, the country should shift its focus from land productivity to irrigation water productivity and on devising policies to incentivise farmers to adopt efficient ways of water use.
• This should become a national priority to avert a looming water crisis.
• Agriculture remains the predominant occupation in terms of number of people employed. Also, agriculture is dependent highly on water. So, appropriate mechanism needs to be framed for economical use of water among small and marginal farmers, said the Survey.
• The survey said States such as Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh, which have high land productivity, tend to have very low irrigation water productivity, reflecting inefficient use of water and the need to re-calibrate cropping pattern.
• Adopting improved methods of irrigation and irrigation technologies will have a critical role in increasing irrigation water productivity.

Economic Survey 2018-19 calls for improvement in contract enforcement regime

• Contract enforcement remains the single biggest constraint to improve India’s Ease of Doing Business (EODB) ranking, which currently stands at 163 in the world ranking, the Economic Survey 2018-19 said.
• It remarked that in spite of a number of actions to expedite and improve the contract enforcement regime, economic activity was affected by the long shadow of delays and pendency across the legal landscape.
• Noting that the relationship between economic governance and the rule of law (Dandaniti) is the key to prosperity, and a bulwark against Matsyanyaya(law of the fish/jungle), the survey said two key issues need to be dealt with in order to make the judiciary more efficient and to clear the ‘legal logjam.’
• Firstly, the courts must achieve a 100% case clearance rate (CCR) so that there is zero accumulation to the existing pendency. Secondly, the backlog of cases already present in the system must be removed.
• CCR is the ratio of the number of cases disposed of in a given year to the number of cases instituted in that year.
• District and Subordinate (D&S) courts, which account for the bulk of pendency, received 1.5 crore additional cases in 2018 and had a backlog of 2.87 crore (as on January 1, 2018).
• But it managed to dispose of 1.33 crore cases in the year, thus, closing 2018 at 3.04 crore.
• There are currently 17,891 judges compared to the sanctioned strength of 22,750. On average, a judge disposes of 746 cases.
• It suggested improving the efficiency of the courts, increasing number of working days of courts, establishment of Indian Courts and Tribunal Services, and deployment of technology in legal system.

Survey calls for tax cuts, space for hotels in infra boost to tourism

• The Economic Survey 2018-19 has recommended a series of measures to boost the tourism sector, which saw a “sharp slowdown” last year.
• The recommendations include increased budgetary allocation for development of infrastructure, making land available for hotels, and reduction in taxes.
• The Survey, added that there was a need to strengthen the coordination mechanism of various Ministries and stakeholders to resolve issues in promotion of tourism in the country.
• Additionally, the State governments need to be sensitised about tourism being a major driver of employment and poverty alleviation.
• Pointing out that the sector experienced a sharp slowdown in 2018, the Survey stated that the foreign tourist arrivals (FTAs) in 2018-19 stood at 10.6 million compared with 10.4 million in 2017-18.
• Likewise, foreign exchange earnings (FEEs) from tourism stood at $27.7 billion in 2018-19 as compared to $28.7 billion in 2017-18. In terms of growth, the FEEs declined from 20.6% in 2017-18 to -3.3% in 2018-19.
• The Survey also showed that FDI in hotel and tourism also declined from $1,132 million in 2017-18 to $1,076 million in 2018-19.

Over 32000 animals killed on railway tracks between 2016 and 2018

News

• More than 32,000 animals, including cattle, lions and leopards, have been killed on railway tracks in the past three years, according to data provided by the railways.

Beyond News

• Additionally, this year, till June 20, 3,479 animals were killed after being run over by trains. This does not include elephants, 60 of whom were killed in the last three years and five this year till June 20.
• While in 2016, 7,945 animals were mowed down by trains, in 2017, the number rose to 11,683 and in 2018, it was 12,625 bringing the total number of animals killed between 2016 and 2018 to 32,253.
• A senior railway official said that while the number of train accidents was decreasing, the number of animal deaths on tracks which were around 3,000-4,000 in 2014-2015 has been increasing, which is a cause of concern.
• Trains are also bearing the brunt of cattle run over cases. Earlier this year, newly launched Vande Bharat Express, was hit by stray cattle and its aerodynamic nose, which is made of steel with a fibre cover on it, had to be replaced.
• The railways is now planning to fence off tracks that are around open areas such as fields to avoid these incidents.

NASA tests launch-abort system for its moon mission

News

• NASA carried out a successful test of a launch-abort system for the Orion capsule designed to take U.S. astronauts to the Moon.

Beyond News

• The three-minute exercise aimed to test in almost real-life conditions the evacuation of astronauts from the capsule in the event of an explosion or rocket booster failure.
• In the test, an unmanned Orion capsule was launched by a mini-rocket a repurposed first stage of an intercontinental ballistic missile. Fifty-five seconds after the launch, at an altitude of 9,500 m, a rocket-powered tower on top of the crew module ignited its engines to quickly pull the Orion away from a hypothetical rocket experiencing problems.
• In just 15 seconds, the capsule gained two miles of altitude. Then the tower reoriented the capsule to prepare it for descent and disengagement from the tower.
• In real-life conditions, parachutes would open to ease the manned capsule’s fall toward the Atlantic Ocean.

Drug regulator issues alert about cyber security risk in Medtronic insulin pumps

News

• A week after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) warned about cybersecurity risks attached to some models of insulin pumps manufactured by American medical equipment supplier Medtronic, India’s apex drug regulator, the Central Drug Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) has also issued an alert.

Beyond News

• CDSCO noted that some models were vulnerable to hackers and an unauthorised person with technical skills and equipment could potentially connect wirelessly to a nearby insulin pump to change the settings and control insulin delivery.
• India has a growing population of diabetics. 
• CDSCO has advised that patients and caregivers should check and see if the model and software version of their insulin pump is affected, talk to their healthcare provider about a prescription to switch to a model with better cyber security protection, keep the insulin pump and the devices that are connected to them within their control and not share their pump serial number and be attentive to pump notifications, alarms and alerts.
• It further advises patients to disconnect the USB device from their computer when it is not being used to download data from their pump.
• The affected models include Minimed Paradigm (MMT-715, MMT-712 & MMT-722) and MiniMed Paradigm Veo (MMT-754) Insulin Pump.

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