Depreciation in Rupee

Why in News

Recently, the Indian Rupee depreciated to a nine-month low of 75.4 against the USD, it is one of the biggest losers among the emerging market currencies.

• Over the last three weeks since 22^nd March 2021, Rupee has lost 4.2% against the USD.

Key Points

• Reasons for the Decline:
  
  • Rising Covid Cases:
    
    • Rising Covid-19 cases have emerged as a key concern. As several states are now considering more stringent lockdown measures, market participants are concerned over delay in the recovery of the economy, which was hit hard in 2020-21 by the pandemic.
  • Strengthening of USD:
    
    • The strengthening of USD in line with expectations of better growth in the US economy, has also put pressure on the Rupee.
  • Reserve Bank of India's (RBIs) G-SAP:
    
    • RBI’s announcement of Government Securities Acquisition Programme (G-SAP) programme to infuse liquidity has also put additional pressure on the Rupee.
    • This is being read as a sort of quantitative easing policy the global central banks had followed, in which the RBI will support the government’s elevated borrowing programme through infusion of liquidity.
  • Decreasing FPI Investments:
    
    • Another factor that is putting additional pressure is the decreasing support of the Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPIs), who pumped huge inflows into Indian equity markets between October 2020 and February 2021.
      
      • While the FPIs invested a net of Rs. 1.94 lakh crore between October 2020 and February 2021 (in the Indian markets), in the month of April 2021 they have pulled out a net of Rs 2,263 crore (till date).
• Impact of Depreciating Rupee:
  
  • Losers:
    
    • People Importing from outside.
    • People seeking foreign education.
    • People travelling abroad.
    • People investing abroad.
    • People seeking medical treatment abroad etc.
  • Gainers:
    
    • People exporting from India.
    • People receiving remittances from Non Resident Indian (NRI).
    • Foreign tourists as travel to India gets cheaper.

Source: IE

Child Labour and Forced labour in India

Why in News

A recent study has raised the issue of ambiguity about definitions of child labour and forced labour in India, especially for sugarcane producing states of Bihar, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Punjab, and Uttar Pradesh.

• The study was commissioned by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and The Coca-Cola Company.

Key Points

• Findings from the Study:
  
  • Authorities discounted underage child labour as “children helping parents in the field”.
  • Similarly, confusion was about the advance payment to migrant workers, and associated risks of forced or bonded labour.
  • Most of the interventions in the sugarcane sector, either by government authorities or by the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) arm of companies, were focused just on “improving farming techniques to ensure an increase in cane productivity”.
• Child Labour and Forced Labour (Meaning):
  
  • The term “child labour” is often defined as work that deprives children of their childhood, their potential and their dignity, and that is harmful to physical and mental development.
  • Forced labour is defined as “all work or service which is exacted from any person under the menace of any penalty and for which the said person has not offered himself voluntarily”.
    
    • The term forced labour includes slavery and practices similar to slavery as well as bonded labour or debt bondage.
    • Bonded Labour is a practice in which employers give high-interest loans to workers who work at low wages to pay off the debt.

• Provisions of Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Amendment Act, 2016:
  
  • According to the Act, employment of children below the age of 14 years in any commercial enterprise is illegal.
  • The Act also bars the employment of adolescents in occupations that deal with hazardous working conditions such as chemical plants and mines.
  • The Act says that children can only work after school hours or during holidays and that children are allowed to work in family owned secure sectors.
  • Criticism:
    
    • It is criticised that the Act allows child labour in “family or family enterprises” or allows the child to be “an artist in an audio-visual entertainment industry”.
      
      • Itt excludes a section of toiling children in the unorganized sectors including agriculture as well as the household work.
    • The Act does not define the hours of work and it simply states that children may work after school hours or during vacations.
• Bonded Labour in India:
  
  • The Supreme Court of India has interpreted bonded labour as the payment of wages that are below the prevailing market wages and legal minimum wages.
  • The Constitution of India prohibits forced labour under Article 23 (Fundamental Rights).
    
    • Article 23: Prohibition of traffic in human beings and forced labour.
  • Bonded labour was historically associated with rural economies where peasants from economically disadvantaged communities were bound to work for the landlords.
  • Bonded labour is found to exist in both rural and urban pockets in unorganized industries such as brick kilns, stone quarries, coal mining, agricultural labour, domestic servitude, circus, and sexual slavery.

Way Forward

• The cycle of poverty and its implications must be addressed properly, so families can find other means to survive and send their children to schools.
• Many NGOs like Bachpan Bachao Andolan, ChildFund, CARE India, Kailash Satyarthi Children Foundation etc. have been working to eradicate child labour in India. Right kind of focus and orientation with state level authorities is also needed to avoid the practice of child labour.
• Forced Child Labour requires an urgent action from governments and the international communities.
• A very robust, reliable and fairly decent social security package and strict implementation of the acts is needed.

Source: IE

MANAS Mobile App

Why in News

Recently, the government of India launched a mobile app, MANAS (Mental Health and Normalcy Augmentation System) to promote mental wellbeing across age groups.

• MANAS was endorsed as a national program by the Prime Minister’s Science, Technology, and Innovation Advisory Council (PM-STIAC).
  • PM-STIAC: It is an overarching Council that facilitates the Principal Scientific Adviser’s Office to assess the status in specific science and technology domains, comprehend challenges in hand, formulate specific interventions, develop a futuristic roadmap and advise the Prime Minister accordingly.

Key Points

• About:
  
  • It is a comprehensive, scalable, and national digital wellbeing platform and an app developed to augment mental well-being of Indian citizens.
  • It integrates the health and wellness efforts of various government ministries, scientifically validated indigenous tools with gamified interfaces developed/researched by various national bodies and research institutions.
  • It is based on life skills and core psychological processes, with universal accessibility, delivering age-appropriate methods and promoting positive attitude focusing on wellness.
• Developed By:
  
  • National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences (NIMHANS) Bengaluru, Armed Forces Medical College (AFMC) Pune and Centre for Development of Advanced Computing(C-DAC) Bengaluru.
• Beneficiaries:
  
  • Catering to the overall wellbeing of people of all age groups, the initial version of MANAS focuses on promoting positive mental health in the age group of 15-35 years.
• Aim:
  
  • To build a healthier and happier community, to empower it to nurture its innate potential for building a Swasth and Atmanirbhar Bharat.
• Motto of MANAS:
  
  • Uttam Mann, Saksham Jan.

Mental Health in India

• Data Analysis: A report published in The Lancet Psychiatry in February 2020 indicates that in 2017, there were 197.3 million people with mental disorders in India.
  
  • The top mental illnesses were depressive disorder (45.7 million) and anxiety disorder (44.9 million).
  • The contribution of mental disorders to the total Disability-Adjusted Life Years (DALYs) in India increased from 2.5% in 1990 to 4.7% in 2017.
    
    • Depressive disorder and anxiety disorder contributed the most to the total mental disorders DALYs.
    • DALYs: The burden of disability associated with a disease or disorder can be measured in units called DALYs.
      
      • DALYs represent the total number of years lost to illness, disability, or premature death within a given population.
• Other Indian Initiatives to Improve Mental Health:
  
  • The Mental Health Care Act (MHCA) 2017:
    
    • The Mental Health Care Act (MHCA) 2017 came into force in 2018 to meet the requirements of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities which India ratified in 2007.
  • KIRAN:
    
    • The Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment has launched a 24/7 toll-free helpline to provide support to people facing anxiety, stress, depression, suicidal thoughts and other mental health concerns.
  • Manodarpan Initiative:
    
    • Manodarpan is an initiative of the Ministry of Education under Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan.
    • It is aimed to provide psychosocial support to students, family members and teachers for their mental health and well-being during the times of Covid-19.
  • NIMHANS RAAH APP:
    
    • It is a one-stop source of data on mental health centres and professionals. It is developed by the NIMHANS.

Way Forward

• Although developing apps to cater mental well-being of citizens on scalable, secure and digital platforms is the need of the hour the app must be integrated with the public health schemes like the National Health Mission, Poshan Abhiyan, e-Sanjeevani and others so that it is used widely. Besides, the application must be made multi-lingual.
• Increasing the number of psychologists and psychiatrists, and Apps alone won’t help. Stigma and awareness are two separate issues although interlinked. They need to be addressed in parallel in order to tackle the burden of mental illness.

Source:PIB

Online Grievance Management Portal: NCSC

Why in News

The Government launched the “Online Grievance Management Portal of National Commission for Scheduled Castes (NCSC)” on the occasion of 130^th birth anniversary of Dr. B R Ambedkar.

• The portal would make it easier for the SC population to register their complaints.

Key Points

• About the Online Portal:
  
  • It has been designed in collaboration with the Bhaskaracharya Institute for Space Applications and Geoinformatics (BISAG-N), a Centre of Excellence under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology.
  • It will facilitate an end-to-end e-filing of complaints and grievances and their tracking.
    
    • It is for submission of complaints about atrocities against citizens who belong to the Scheduled Castes.
  • It is “intended to make the hearing processor" similar to India’s e-Courts project and allow grievance redressal for the country’s scheduled caste population in a “time bound manner".
  • It will supplement the physical submission of complaints and grievances.
• About the National Commission for Scheduled Castes (NCSC):
  
  • NCSC is a constitutional body that works to safeguard the interests of the Scheduled Castes (SC) in India.
  • Article 338 of the Constitution of India deals with this commission.
    
    • It provided for a National Commission for the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes with duties to investigate and monitor all matters relating to safeguards provided for them, to inquire into specific complaints and to participate and advise on the planning process of their socio-economic development etc.
    • By the amendment in 2003, the erstwhile National Commission for SC and ST was replaced by two separate Commissions from the year 2004 which are: National Commission for Scheduled Castes (NCSC) and National Commission for Scheduled Tribes (NCST)-under Article 338-A.
• Functions of the NCSC:
  
  • Monitoring and investigating all issues concerning the safeguards provided for the SCs under the Constitution.
  • Enquiring into complaints relating to the deprivation of the rights and safeguards of the SCs.
  • Taking part in and advising the central or state governments with respect to the planning of socio-economic development of the SCs.
  • Regular reporting to the President of the country on the implementation of these safeguards.
  • Any other function with respect to the welfare, protection, development and advancement of the SC community.
  • The Commission is also required to discharge similar functions with regard to the Anglo-Indian Community as it does with respect to the SCs.
  • Till 2018, the commission was also required to discharge similar functions with regard to the Other Backward Classes (OBCs). It was relieved from this responsibility by the 102^nd Amendment Act of 2018.

Source: PIB

Narrow-Line Seyfert 1 (NLS1): Farthest Gamma-Ray Emitting Galaxy

Why in News

Recently, Astronomers have discovered a new active galaxy called Narrow-Line Seyfert 1 (NLS1) which has been identified as the farthest gamma-ray emitting galaxy.

Key Points

• The Study:
  
  • Scientists from Aryabhatta Research Institute of Observational Sciences (ARIES) in collaboration with researchers from other institutions, studied around 25,000 luminous Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS).
    
    • AGN are the most powerful, long-lived objects and steady sources of luminosity in the Universe. The emission is spread widely across the electromagnetic spectrum, often peaking in the Ultra-Violet , but with significant luminosity in the x-ray and infrared bands.
    • SDSS is a major multi-spectral imaging and spectroscopic redshift survey using a dedicated 2.5-m wide-angle optical telescope at Apache Point Observatory in New Mexico, United States.
      
      • It has created the most detailed three-dimensional maps of the Universe ever made, with deep multi-color images of one third of the sky, and spectra for more than three million astronomical objects.
• Findings:
  
  • They found a unique object that emits high-energy gamma rays located at a high redshift (more than 1)
    
    • It was identified as a gamma-ray emitting NLS1 galaxy, which is a rare entity in space.
    • The new gamma-ray emitting NLS1 was formed when the Universe was only about 4.7 billion years old as compared to its current age of about 13.8 billion years.

• Instrument Used:
  
  • The scientists used the Japanese 8.2 m Subaru Telescope which is one of the largest ground-based telescopes in the world, located at Hawaii, USA.
  • Its powerful light collecting capability can capture weak light from celestial objects. A major feature of the Subaru Telescope is that its prime focus boasts an overwhelming wide field of view compared to other large telescopes
• Significance:
  
  • Detection of gamma-ray emission from NLS1 challenges the idea of how relativistic jets are formed because NLS1s are a unique class of AGN that are powered by black holes of low mass and hosted in spiral galaxies.
    
    • Relativistic Jets:
      
      • Supermassive black holes in the centers of some active galaxies that create powerful jets of radiation and particles travelling close to the speed of light are called relativistic jets.
      • These jets are believed to be the sources of the fastest-travelling particles in the Universe that are cosmic rays.
  • No method was present till date to find NLS1 at redshifts larger than one.
  • This discovery opens up a new way to find gamma-ray emitting NLS1 galaxies in the early Universe.

Source:PIB

Research on Lithium Ion Battery Performance

Why in News

Researchers from IIT Guwahati have developed a technique to improve the performance of rechargeable lithium-ion batteries, which power most of the portable devices used today.

Key Points

• Lithium Ion Batteries:
  
  • Development:
    
    • The 2019 Nobel Prize in Chemistry was jointly awarded to Stanley Whittingham, John Goodenough and Akira Yoshino for work that led to the development of lithium-ion batteries.
    • The foundation of the lithium-ion (Li-ion) battery was laid during the oil crisis of the 1970s, around which time Whittingham started working on developing methods that could lead to fossil fuel-free energy technologies.
    • The first commercially viable Li-ion battery was created by Yoshino in 1985.
  • Utility:
    
    • Li-ion batteries provide portable electricity, powering electronic gadgets such as mobile phones, laptops and tablets.
    • Today, most Electrical Vehicles (EV) use Li-ion batteries as well, but are slowly reaching their theoretical limits of being able to provide roughly up to 300-watt hour per kilogram of energy.
    • These batteries can also be used to store solar and wind power, which means that with their widespread use it may even be possible to live in a fuel free society.
  • Disadvantage:
    
    • Some of the disadvantages of Li-ion batteries include their susceptibility to overheating and their being prone to damage at high voltages.
      
      • Since they are made with flammable and combustible materials.
    • Such batteries also start losing their capacity over time—for instance, a laptop battery in use for a few years does not function as well as a new one.
• New Research:
  
  • Researchers from IIT Guwahati have developed a technique which can precisely estimate one of the most important battery internal states known as SOC, state of charge.
  • SOC reflects the remaining capacity of the battery, that is how much more charge can be withdrawn from the battery before it gets fully discharged.
  • The knowledge of remaining capacity helps to optimize battery’s capacity utilization, prevent overcharging and undercharging of the battery, increases its lifespan, reduces cost, and ensures safety of the battery and its surroundings.
  • To improve a battery’s lifespan and optimize its capacity, it is important to predict its various states accurately. One of these states is the SOC, which has so far been difficult to estimate.
  • Through their work, the researchers have proposed an approach that avoids overestimation and therefore helps in taking accurate measurements.

• Related Developments:
  
  • The Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory developed a Lithium-ion battery that does not catch fire.
  • Earlier in January 2020, researchers from Australia claimed that they developed the world’s most efficient lithium-sulfur (Li-S) battery, capable of powering a smartphone for five continuous days.
    
    • While the materials used in the Li-S batteries are not different from those in Li-ion batteries, the Australian researchers reconfigured the design of the sulfur cathodes (a type of electrical conductor through which electrons move) to accommodate higher stress without a drop in overall capacity.
  • India, through a newly-floated state-owned company Khanij Bidesh India Ltd, has inked a pact with an Argentine firm to jointly prospect lithium in Argentina, a country that has the one of the largest reserves of Lithium in the world.
• Potential Alternatives to Li-ion Technology:
  
  • Lithium-Sulfur Batteries:
    
    • Li-S batteries are generally considered the successors of Li-ion batteries because of their lower cost of production, energy efficiency and improved safety.
      
      • Their cost of production is lower because sulfur is abundantly available.
    • Even so, there have been some difficulties when it comes to commercialising these batteries, mainly due to their short life cycle and poor instantaneous power capabilities.
  • Graphene Batteries:
    
    • Graphene batteries may be an important alternative to lithium-ion batteries, with the latter having limitations due to the frequency with which lithium requires charging. Graphene is a newly stabilized and isolated material.
  • Fluoride Batteries:
    
    • Fluoride Batteries have the potential to last eight times longer than lithium batteries.
  • Sand Battery:
    
    • This alternative type of lithium-ion battery uses silicon to achieve three times better performance than current graphite Li-ion batteries. The battery is still lithium-ion like the one found in a smartphone, but it uses silicon instead of graphite in the anodes.
  • Ammonia-powered Batteries:
    
    • Ammonia-powered batteries may not be coming any time soon, but the chemical commonly known as a household cleaner is still an alternative to lithium in the way it can power fuel cells in vehicles and other equipment.
    • If scientists can figure out a way to produce ammonia without creating the greenhouse gas emissions that result right now, they can ship it anywhere in the world to be converted into hydrogen to power those fuel cells.
  • Vertically Aligned Carbon Nanotube Electrode:
    
    • These are good candidates for lithium-ion battery electrodes which require high rate capability and capacity.
  • Solid-state Batteries:
    
    • It uses alternatives to aqueous electrolyte solutions, an innovation that could lower the risk of fires, sharply increase energy density and potentially take only 10 minutes to charge an EV, cutting the recharging time by two-thirds.
    • These cells can extend the driving distance of a compact electric vehicle while maintaining legroom - a quantum leap in battery tech.

Source: IE

B R Ambedkar: 130th Birth Anniversary

Why in News

The nation celebrated the 130^th birth anniversary of B R Ambedkar on 14^th April 2021.

• Dr. Ambedkar was a social reformer, jurist, economist, author, polyglot (knowing or using several languages) orator, a scholar and thinker of comparative religions.

Key Points

• Birth: Babasaheb Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar was born in 1891 in Mhow, Central Province (now Madhya Pradesh).
• Brief Profile:
  
  • He is known as the Father of the Indian Constitution and was India's first Law Minister.
  • He was the Chairman of the Drafting Committee for the new Constitution.
  • He was a well-known statesman who fought for the rights of the Dalits and other socially backward classes.
• Contributions:
  
  • He led the Mahad Satyagraha in March 1927 against Hindus who were opposing the decision of the Municipal Board.
    
    • In 1926, Municipal Board of Mahad (Maharashtra) passed an order to throw open the tank to all communities. Earlier, the untouchables were not allowed to use water from the Mahad tank.
  • He participated in all three Round Table Conferences.
  • In 1932, Dr. Ambedkar signed the Poona pact with Mahatma Gandhi, which abandoned the idea of separate electorates for the depressed classes (Communal Award).
    
    • However, the seats reserved for the depressed classes were increased from 71 to 147 in provincial legislatures and to 18% of the total in the Central Legislature.
  • His ideas before the Hilton Young Commission served as the foundation of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).
• Election and Designation:
  
  • In 1936, he was elected to the Bombay Legislative Assembly as a legislator (MLA).
  • He was appointed to the Executive Council of Viceroy as a Labour member in 1942.
  • In 1947, Dr. Ambedkar accepted PM Nehru's invitation to become Minister of Law in the first Cabinet of independent India.
• Shift to Buddhism:
  
  • He resigned from the cabinet in 1951, over differences on the Hindu Code Bill.
  • He converted to Buddhism. He passed away on 6^th December 1956 (Mahaparinirvan Diwas).
    
    • Chaitya Bhoomi is a memorial to B R Ambedkar, located in Mumbai.
  • He was awarded India’s highest civilian honour the Bharat Ratna in 1990.
• Important Works:
  
  • Journals:
    
    • Mooknayak (1920)
    • Bahishkrit Bharat (1927)
    • Samatha (1929)
    • Janata (1930)
  • Books:
    
    • Annihilation of Caste
    • Buddha or Karl Marx
    • The Untouchable: Who are They and Why They Have Become Untouchables
    • Buddha and His Dhamma
    • The Rise and Fall of Hindu Women
  • Organisations:
    
    • Bahishkrit Hitkarini Sabha (1923)
    • Independent Labor Party (1936)
    • Scheduled Castes Federation (1942)
• Relevance of Ambedkar in Present Times:
  
  • Caste-based inequality in India still persists. While Dalits have acquired a political identity through reservation and forming their own political parties, they lack behind in social dimensions (health and education) and economic dimension.
  • There has been a rise of communal polarization and communalization of politics. It is necessary that Ambedkar's vision of constitutional morality must supersede religious morality to avoid permanent damage to the Indian Constitution.

Source IE

Sputnik V Vaccine

Why in News

Sputnik V, the vaccine against Covid-19 developed by Russia, has been cleared for emergency use by the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI).

• It is now the third coronavirus vaccine to get emergency use approval, after Covishield (Serum Institute of India) and Covaxin (Bharat Biotech).

Key Points

• About the Sputnik V Vaccine:
  
  • The Sputnik V vaccine has been developed by Gamaleya National Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology in Moscow.
  • It uses two different viruses that cause the common cold (adenovirus) in humans.
    
    • The adenoviruses are weakened so they cannot replicate in humans and cannot cause disease.
    • They are also modified so that the vaccine delivers a code for making the coronavirus spike protein. This aims to ensure that when the real virus tries to infect the body, it can mount an immune response in the form of antibodies.
  • Sputnik uses a different vector for each of the two shots in a course of vaccination. This provides immunity with a longer duration than vaccines using the same delivery mechanism for both shots.
    
    • The two shots are given 21 days apart.
  • Sputnik V is to be stored at -18°C in its liquid form. However, in its freeze-dried form, it can be stored at 2-8°C, in a conventional refrigerator without any need to invest in additional cold-chain infrastructure.
• Efficacy:
  
  • Phase 3 trials conducted in Russia, with the results published in The Lancet, have found it has an efficacy of 91.6%.
  • In India, Dr Reddy’s conducted a bridging study after which it applied for emergency use approval.
    
    • Trial participants were given the first dose (rAd26-) followed by a booster dose (rAd5-S) 21 days later.

Source IE