Daily Current Affairs 12&13-03-2020

S.No. Contents Subject Articles

1. The Hindu Social Justice • A health scheme sans clout.

(editorial)
(Hyd-
Edition) Science & • Coronavirus | States to be asked to
Technology invoke Epidemic Disease Act: Centre

Economy • Shared economy at $2 bn by end-

2020

International • Fail-safe exit for America, but a

relations worry for India. (editorial)

2. Reports/Indices • World Climate and Security report.

• A New era for girls: Taking stock on
25 years of progress.
3. Science & Technology • National Supercomputing Mission

4. PIB • Integrated Project for Source

Sustainability and Climate Resilient
Rain-Fed Agriculture in Himachal
Pradesh
• NCRB celebrates 35th Inception Day
and launches Crime Multi Agency
Centre and National Cybercrime
Training Centre
5. Places/Species/etc... in news • Senna Spectabilis

6. Practice Prelims Question

7. Daily Mains Capsule

©AKS IAS www.aksias.com 8448449709 1

 The Hindu – Hyderabad Edition
1) Coronavirus | States to be asked to invoke Epidemic Disease Act:
Centre.
• Where does it fall under UPSC Syllabus?
▪ Prelims: General Science
▪ Mains: GS3: Science & Technology
▪ Synopsis:
▪ Cabinet Secretary has advised all states and Union Territories should
invoke provisions of Section 2 of Epidemic Diseases Act,1897 so that
Health Ministry advisories are enforceable.
▪ What is Epidemic Disease Act, 1897?
o Aim: to provide for the better prevention of the spread of dangerous
epidemic diseases.
o It was introduced by the British in 1897 to tackle the epidemic of bubonic
plague that broke out in the then state of Bombay.
▪ Provisions of the act:
o It empowers state governments/UTs to take special measures and
formulate regulations for containing the outbreak.
o It empowers the central government to take steps to prevent the spread of
an epidemic.
o Any person disobeying any regulation or order made under this Act shall
be deemed to have committed an offence punishable under section 188 of
the Indian Penal Code.
o It gives legal protection to the implementing officers acting under the Act.

2)Shared economy at $2 bn by end-2020

• Where does it fall under UPSC Syllabus?
▪ Prelims: Economic development
▪ Mains: GS3: Economy - Growth
▪ Synopsis:
• According to a recent report by Maple Capital Advisors, the Shared
economy in India is estimated to be about $2 billion industry by the end of
2020.
• What is meant by shared economy?

©AKS IAS www.aksias.com 8448449709 2

o It is an economic model defined as a peer-to-peer (P2P) based activity of
acquiring, providing or sharing access to goods and services that is often
facilitated by an Online platform.
o It includes segments such as co-working (Awfis, WeWork India), co-living
(Stanza Living, OYO Life), shared mobility (Uber, Ola) and furniture rental
(Furlenco, Rentomojo).
3) A health scheme sans clout. (editorial)
• Where does it fall under UPSC Syllabus?
▪ Prelims: Social development
▪ Mains: GS2: Social Justice – Issues related to health
▪ Synopsis:
▪ To promote the culture of Innovation in the health system through the
Ayushman Bharat.
▪ What the article says?
✓ Ayushman Bharat -PM Jan Arogya Yojana, to achieve its intended
objectives needs massive funding, which warrant for innovative solutions.
✓ Transformative technologies and boosting innovations in service delivery
are the two strategies to contain costs, improving care quality and bridging
existing gaps in service provision under the Ayushman Bharat.
✓ Keeping this in view, the National health authority, implementing body of
Ayushman Bharat, set up an ‘innovation unit’, to promote indigenous cost-
effective technologies.
✓ However, the fundamental issues in the health innovation systems in
India, as of now are:
1. The very nature of proposed innovations
2. Piecemeal adoption
✓ The health care innovative start-up system, though offers solutions, but not
all of them are not cost effective.
✓ The emphasis on telemedicine and drone technology, missing other
fundamental issues like operational processes and business models which
are highly impactful.
✓ Standardisation of hospital procedures, evidence-based protocols, robust
procurement systems for supplies like generic medicines, work profile
alterations of existing human resources are possible solutions to bring
innovation in the health system without affecting the quality.
✓ Ensuring a smooth interface between start-ups and hospitals can help in
diffusing innovations, but there are limitations in it.
✓ The hospitals shall be provided incentives to implement innovations and
also it should be demand driven.

©AKS IAS www.aksias.com 8448449709 3

✓ And the present business model of Ayushman Bharat, resulted in low
empanelment of hospitals which is acting as a limitation for a conducive
innovation system.
✓ However, it doesn’t mean that one cannot push innovation through
Ayushman Bharat but it all depends upon the kind of innovations and their
consequence, extent and depth of incorporation and the clout of Ayushman
Bharat in health provision.

4) Fail-safe exit for America, but a worry for India. (editorial)

• Where does it fall under UPSC Syllabus?
▪ Prelims: Current events of national and international importance
▪ Mains: GS2: International Relations
▪ Synopsis:
▪ The recent US- Taliban peace deal, wherein the US planned to withdraw
their troops from Afghanistan.
▪ What is the issue in the deal?
✓ If one observes, the terms of peace deal, the manner in which it is
negotiated and the geopolitical context, it seems that it is more about
honourable exit for U. S’s trump administration rather than about ending
violence in the country.
✓ The deal is negotiated by the Taliban from the position of strength and
Trump administration from position of weakness and little political will
and Afghan elected government as a bystander, means that country is on
the verge of a long-drawn battle.
▪ Geopolitical features involved:
✓ When the Taliban came to power in mid-1990’s in Kabul, it had few backers
in the International community, especially the northern alliance, supported
by the countries like Russia and India.
✓ But the scenario now is completely opposite, and Taliban has now
supporters and it also learned how to deal with the international system
and play the game of balance of power.
✓ Now everyone who wants to have a stake in Afghanistan and who oppose
the US presence in Afghanistan, will try to give legitimacy to Taliban and
want to keep it in good humour.
✓ This is most true with countries like Pakistan, China, Russia and Iran.
▪ India’s Issues:
✓ India caught in a tough spot in this whole issue.
✓ Taliban, in the mid-1990’s, was anti -India, but now, there is no proven
animosity by Taliban towards New-Delhi.

©AKS IAS www.aksias.com 8448449709 4

✓ However, India took a moralistic approach towards Afghanistan, by
supporting the elected Ashraf Ghani government and not recognising the
non-state actors.
✓ It was argued, this approach is not a smart diplomatic strategy,
diplomatically lazy one and self-defeating one.
✓ Due to China’s increased influence in the geo-politics and geo-economics of
the region, India’s ability to influence the players in the region is severely
limited.
✓ And also, India’s relations with the other players in the region is also at low
level as of now. For example, with Iran, after India succumbed to the US
sanctions.
✓ Now the exclusivity in Russia-India relationship, which was a thing of the
past, and Pakistan will be targeting India a fair game.
✓ Unless New Delhi develops a counter-strategy to address the issues, India
will be pushed increasingly into a geo-political tough spot in the region.
▪ Taliban and Kashmir angle:
✓ The failure of US forces in Afghanistan, may inspire some sections of youth
in the Kashmir, to question the abilities of Indian forces to ensure peace in
the state. This misplaced understanding might aggravate the situation in
Kashmir
✓ The US-Taliban deal cannot survive without assistance from Pakistan, as
recognised by the other global powers. So, this can be used by Pakistan to
up the ante in Kashmir.
✓ India’s official statement about Afghanistan as a “contiguous neighbour”-
meaning India considers the POK a part of sovereign territory, will be
noticed by Pak and China.
▪ Victory of Fundamentalism:
✓ The victory of Taliban, is a sign of victory of religious fundamentalism in
the region and it will have serious implications for the region as a whole.
✓ It provides legitimization for similar regimes elsewhere and might provide
potential inspiration to other outfits in the region and outside too.

Reports & Indices

1. World Climate and Security report.
• Publisher: International Military Council on Climate and Security
(IMCCS)
• Highlights of the index:

©AKS IAS www.aksias.com 8448449709 5

o Climate change induced water insecurity is a significant driver of
instability and will pose a significant or higher risk to global security by
2030.
o The forced displacement and scale of natural disasters would increase by
2040.Hence, as a result the projected conflicts within nations would also
increase.

2. A New era for girls: Taking stock on 25 years of progress.

• Publisher: UNICEF + Plan International + United Nations Women
• Highlights of the index:
o The number of out-of-school girls worldwide dropped by 79 million
between 1998 and 2018.
o The number of female youths aged 15-24 years who are illiterate declined
from 100 million to 56 million between 1995 and 2018, but 1 in 10 female
youth remain illiterate today.
o Since 1995, the proportion of young women who were married as children
has declined globally from 1 in 4 to approximately 1 in 5.
o However, still one in every 20 girls aged 15-19 which is around 13 million
has experienced rape in a lifetime.
o Over the past 25 years, the adolescent birth rate has declined from 60
births per 1,000 girls aged 15-19 years to 44 births worldwide.

Science & Technology

1. National Supercomputing Mission
• Launched: 2015
• Aim: Empower national academic and R&D institutions by installing a
vast supercomputing grid comprising more than 70 high-performance
computing facilities.
• Objectives:
o To make India one of the world leaders in Supercomputing and to
enhance India’s capability in solving grand challenge problems of
national and global relevance
o To empower our scientists and researchers with state-of-the-art
supercomputing facilities and enable them to carry out cutting-edge
research in their respective domains
o To minimize redundancies and duplication of efforts, and optimize
investments in supercomputing
o To attain global competitiveness and ensure self-reliance in the
strategic area of supercomputing technology
• Implementing Agency: Department of Science and Technology and
Department of Electronics and Information Technology (DeitY),

©AKS IAS www.aksias.com 8448449709 6

 through the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC)
and Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru.
• Supercomputers Built under NSM:
o PARAM Shivay installed in IIT-BHU, Varanasi
o Second Supercomputer installed in IIT-Kharagpur
o PARAM Brahma, installed in IISER-Pune

Press Information Bureau (PIB)

1. Integrated Project for Source Sustainability and Climate
Resilient Rain-Fed Agriculture in Himachal Pradesh
▪ Which part of UPSC syllabus covers this:
▪ Prelims: Agriculture
▪ Mains: GS3: Economy – Agriculture & GS3: Environment
▪ About the project:
• Aim: To improve water management practices and increase
agricultural productivity in selected Gram Panchayats in Himachal
Pradesh.
• Funding: Centrally Sponsored Scheme (Central Government +
Himachal Pradesh Government + World bank loan)
• Why this project?
o In Himachal Pradesh, many of the lowland areas lack access to
irrigation water and depend on decreasing amounts of rainfall during
the critical monsoon season.
o Agricultural production and snowlines have already shifted to higher
altitudes, impacting the production of fruits, including HP’s iconic
apples.
o Climate change is also expected to increase average temperatures and
decrease rainfall in the lowlands, while both temperatures and rainfall
are expected to increase in the highlands, which could lead to more
extreme flooding events.
• Benefits of this project:
o The project will improve upstream water sources in forests, pastures
and grasslands and ensure sufficient water is available for sustainable
agriculture both in Himachal Pradesh and in downstream states.
o Enhancing the climate resilience of agriculture and its allied activities
is a key component of the project for which efficient use of water is the
focal point.
o The project will set up hydrological monitoring stations to monitor the
water quality and quantity. This will not only help lay the foundation
for future water budgeting through better land use and agricultural

©AKS IAS www.aksias.com 8448449709 7

 investments, but also ensure more holistic catchment area treatment
(CAT) plans that are based on source sustainability, carbon
sequestration, and water quality.

2) NCRB celebrates 35th Inception Day and launches Crime Multi

Agency Centre and National Cybercrime Training Centre
▪ Which part of UPSC syllabus covers this:
▪ Prelims: Defense
▪ Mains: GS3: Internal Security – Cybersecurity
▪ Synopsis:
• Union Minister for Home affairs has launched the Crime Multi Agency
Centre (Cri-MAC) and National Cybercrime Training Centre (NCTC).
• About NCTC:
o It is meant for professional quality eLearning services on cybercrime
investigation on large scale to police officers, judges, prosecutors and
other stakeholders.
• About Cri-MAC:
o It aims to share information between various police forces on heinous
crimes and other issues related to inter-state coordination.

Places/Species etc… in news

1.Senna spectabilis
• It is a plant species of the legume family (Fabaceae)
• It is native to South and Central America.
• The plant has become an invasive alien species in parts of Africa, India
and other countries.
• The thick foliage of the tree arrests the growth of other indigenous tree
and grass species. Hence, it causes food shortage for the wildlife
population especially herbivores.
• It also adversely affects the germination and growth of the native
species.
• IUCN Status: ‘Least Concern’

Prelims Practice Questions

1) Consider the following statements:
1. Senna spectabilis is native to India.
2. It is a weed that affects the germination and growth of other plants.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
(a) 1 only
(b) 2 only

©AKS IAS www.aksias.com 8448449709 8

(c) Both 1 and 2
(d) Neither 1 nor 2

2) PARAM, which is in news recently is a:

(a) Malware
(b) Super Computer
(c) Exoplanet
(d) Submarine

Daily Mains Capsule (Essay)

Neglect of primary health care and education in India are reasons for
backwardness

©AKS IAS www.aksias.com 8448449709 9