1 IASEC Current Affairs @iasexamcongress

IAS Exam Congress

PEH Series
for
CS (Prelims) - 23

Introduction:

“Prelims Exclusive Handouts’’ (PEH) is a set of 12pdfs compiled by Team IASEC for our PRIME members but these are
now open to all. These 06-10 page documents are just the plain compilation of all the CSE – prelims relevant
affairs/content/events of a given month in the most condensed form possible.
One may rely completely on these pdfs along with i-Connect series (that gives more contemporary and thematic
coverage) or PT-365 (Vision IAS).
Lastly, reading the newspaper should not be discontinued as it has its own utility especially for mains.

Best wishes.

December-2022

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2 IASEC Current Affairs @iasexamcongress

1. Recession, yield inversion:

 Sustained period when economic output falls and unemployment rises -- two consecutive
quarters of decline in a country’s real (inflation-adjusted) GDP.
 Depression: No formal definition of depression, but most analysts consider a depression to
be an extremely severe recession, in which the decline in GDP exceeds 10 percent. The most
recent was in the early 1990s in Finland, which registered a decline in GDP of about 14 percent.
During the Great Depression, the U.S. economy contracted by about 30 percent over a four-
year period.
 A key pointer to emerging recession (in US) is the inversion of US treasury yields.
 Yield inversion happens when yields for shorter duration bonds are higher than the yields on
longer duration bonds. If investors suspect that the economy is heading for trouble, they will
pull out money from short-term risky assets (such as stock markets) and put it in long-term
bonds. This causes the prices of the long-term bonds to rise and their yields to fall. This
process first leads to flattening and eventually the inversion of the yield curve.
 A double-dip recession is when a gross domestic product (GDP) growth slides back to
negative after a quarter or two of positive growth.

2. Graphene:
 Graphene is a one-atom-thick sheet of carbon atoms arranged in a honeycomb-like pattern.
Graphene is considered to be the world's thinnest, strongest and most conductive material -
of both electricity and
heat.
 Optically transparent,
yet so dense that it is
impermeable to gases
– not even helium, the
smallest gas atom, can
pass through it. (A 2-D
structure)
 Application: Next-gen
techs – wearable and
superfast electronics,
ultrasensitive sensors,
multifunctional
composites and coatings, membranes, medicine and biotechnology, energy harvesting and
storage.
 At present used in: microelectronics (for example to make LED lighting more efficient and
longer lasting) and also in larger applications - for example thermal foils for mobile devices.
Huawei's latest smartphones, for example, have adopted graphene-based thermal films.
 Graphene may enable batteries and supercapacitors (and even fuel-cells) that can store more
energy - and charge faster, too.

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 Promise for additional applications: anti-corrosion coatings and paints, efficient and precise
sensors, faster and efficient electronics, flexible displays, efficient solar panels, faster DNA
sequencing, drug delivery, and more.
 Latest News from April 2022: Graphene helps track the nanomotion of bacteria, capture the
low-level noise of a single bacterium using graphene. Being able to pick up on the miniscule
sounds of bacteria can help track if an antibiotics is working, or if the bacteria are resistant to
the antibiotic.
Also Read: https://www.nanowerk.com/infographics/graphene-infographic-large.jpg

3. ‘Unitary Digital Identity framework’:

India has agreed to provide a grant to Sri Lanka to implement a ‘Unitary Digital Identity framework’,
apparently modelled on the Aadhaar card.

4. Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC):

 Network based on open protocol and will enable local commerce across segments, such as
mobility, grocery, food order and delivery, hotel booking and travel, among others, to be
discovered and engaged by any network-enabled application.
 It is an initiative of the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) under
the Ministry of Commerce and Industry.
 It seeks to democratise digital or electronic commerce, moving it from a platform-centric
model to an open-network.
Read: https://www.business-standard.com/about/what-is-ondc#collapse

5. Poison Pill in economy:

 A nickname for shareholder rights plan, the term ‘poison pill’ refers to a defence tactic used
by a target company to prevent or discourage a potential hostile takeover.

6. IMF’s Extended Fund Facility (EFF):

 EFF was established to provide assistance to countries experiencing serious payment
imbalances because of structural impediments or slow growth and an inherently weak
balance-of-payments position.
 IMF aids: When a country faces serious medium-term balance of payments problems because
of structural weaknesses that require time to address.
Read: https://www.imf.org/en/About/Factsheets/Sheets/2016/08/01/20/56/Extended-Fund-Facility

7. Ocean Deoxygenation:
 The primary causes of deoxygenation are eutrophication (increased nutrient run-off from
land and sewage pollution) and nitrogen deposition from the burning of fossil fuels, coupled
with the widespread impacts from ocean warming.
 Impact: formation of low oxygen zones and harmful algal blooms become more frequent.

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HD Infographic:
https://www.iucn.org/sites/dev/files/content/documents/what_is_deox_infographic.pdf

8. Crypto-Asset Reporting Framework and Common Reporting Standard:

 Integral additions to the global standards for automatic exchange of information.
 Under the aegis of OECD.

9. G20 Sustainable Finance Roadmap:

 The G20, under Italy’s 2021 Presidency, has re-established and elevated the G20 Sustainable
Finance Working Group (SFWG) with the goal of scaling up sustainable finance that supports
the objectives of the 2030 Agenda and goals of the Paris Agreement.
 The Roadmap is a multi-year document that will help inform the broader G20 agenda on
climate and sustainability, future workplans of the SFWG, and other relevant international
work.
Read (optional*):
https://g20sfwg.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/G20-Sustainable-Finance-Roadmap.pdf

10. Solidarity Lanes:

 Established by EU to help Ukraine export agricultural goods.
 The situation (Ukr-Russia) is threatening global food security and there is an urgent need to
establish alternative logistics routes using all relevant transport modes.
 In this context EU set up these.

11. Boao Forum for Asia (BFA):

 A non-profit organization modelled on WEF (Davos) that hosts high-level forums for leaders
from government, business and academia in Asia and other continents to share their vision.

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12. Wassenaar Arrangement:

 India will officially assume the
chairmanship from 1st January,
2023. (took over from Ireland).
 Wassenaar Arrangement is a
voluntary export control
regime. Est. in July 1996, has 42
members who exchange
information on transfers of
conventional weapons and dual-
use goods and technologies.
(Secretariat is in Vienna, Austria)
 Dual-use refers to the ability of a good or technology to be used for multiple purposes -
usually peaceful and military.

13. Refugee issue and India:

 India is not a party to the 1951 Refugee
Convention and its 1967 Protocol.
 India lacks specific legislation to address
the problem of refugees, in spite of their
increasing inflow. Moreover, the
Foreigners Act, 1946, fails to address the
peculiar problems faced by refugees as
a class. It also gives unbridled power to
the Central government to deport any
foreign citizen.
 Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and
Regular Migration, a non-binding agreement for the better management of migration, was
adopted by the United Nations member countries in December 2018. The major goal of the
compact is to assist nation states to frame well-managed migration policies. India’s decision
to sign the compact comes as a real surprise in the face of the country’s historical reluctance
to sign international migration laws and treaties.

14. Financial Intermediary Fund for Pandemic PPR (the ‘Pandemic Fund’):
 Hosted by the World Bank.
 Aims to address critical pandemic PPR gaps and build capacity at national, regional and global
levels, bring additionality in financial resources for pandemic PPR, catalyze complementary
investments, and facilitate a coordinated and coherent approach to pandemic PPR
strengthening.

15. Polity in news (refer to static sources):

 Elections of VP
 SC Judges appointment

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16. Election commission in news:

 Election Commission recently told the Supreme Court that “there is no express provision
which bars associations with religious connotations to register as political parties under
Section 29A of the Representation of the People Act-1951”.
 The EC generally does not have the power to deregister political parties, something which it
has proposed as an electoral reform to the government many times.
 Further, constitution has no detailed guidelines, terms of office and appointment procedure
for CEC or Election commissioners. (multiple times in news)
 On the issue of symbols, the Election Symbols (Reservation and Allotment) Order, 1968 bars
parties from having symbols with religious or communal connotations.

17. Chhapar Blackbuck Sanctuary:

 Located in Churu, Rajasthan.
 Some issue related to ESZ.

18. World Soil Day:

 FAO marked World
Soil Day 2022 (5th
December) with
the launch of its
first Global Status
on Black Soils,
which are at
greater risk than
ever due to the
climate crisis,
biodiversity loss.

19. Horticulture sector in news:

 Plant agriculture dealing with garden crops like fruits, vegetables, and ornamental plants.
 India is the second largest producer of horticulture crops globally.
 India is a leader in producing fruits like Mango, Banana, Pomegranate, Sapota, Acid Lime and
Aonla. In 2021-22, Uttar Pradesh followed by Madhya Pradesh and West Bengal were the top
states in horticulture production.
 National horticulture board (NHB):
o Set up by the Government in 1984
as an Autonomous organization
under the administrative control
of Ministry of Agriculture and
Farmers Welfare and registered
as a society under Societies
Registration Act. HQ: Gurugram.
 Central Institute of Horticulture (CIH), Nagaland.
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 Coconut Development Board (CDB):

o Statutory body est. under the Ministry
of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, for
the integrated development of coconut
cultivation and industry in the country
with focus on productivity increase and
product diversification.

20. Metaverse:
 A network of 3D virtual worlds focused on social connection and it can be defined as a
simulated digital environment that uses Augmented Reality (AR), Virtual Reality (VR), and
blockchain, along with concepts from social media, to create spaces for rich user interaction
mimicking the real world.

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21. Asteroid Ryugu:

 It is a diamond-shaped space rock.
 The asteroid’s name means “dragon palace”
in Japanese and refers to a magical
underwater castle in a Japanese folktale.

22. Regenerative agriculture:

 Farming system that focuses on soil health,
food quality, biodiversity improvement,
water quality and air quality through
methods such as reducing the use of chemical
fertilisers and pesticides, reducing tillage, integrating livestock and using cover crops.

23. International Indigenous Forum on Biodiversity:

 IIFB is a collection of representatives from indigenous governments, indigenous non-
governmental organizations and indigenous scholars and activists that organize around the
CBD and other important international environmental meetings.

24. Locations/cities in news:

 Semeru volcano erupted in Indonesia’s Eastern Java Island.
 Kharkiv, Kherson – Ukraine
 Madera – Kenya -- harshest droughts in four decades
 Black Sea
 Aegean Sea

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