Current Affair 1:

IAEA Mission Finds Solid Regulatory Arrangements in India

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News:

An International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) mission said India’s regulator showed a strong commitment and professionalism to ensure nuclear and radiation safety in the country. It was concluded by Integrated Regulatory Review Service (IRRS) team.

The team also noted areas where improvements can be made to strengthen the radiation safety regulatory oversight programme for all facilities and activities using radiation sources.

Integrated Regulatory Review Service (IRRS)

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) establishes, and globally promotes the application of its safety and security standards. It does this through its peer review services that are available to its Member States.

The Integrated Regulatory Review Service (IRRS) is one of these. It is aimed at enhancing the effectiveness of a Member State’s regulatory infrastructure for nuclear, radiation, radioactive waste and transport safety. It is commonly known as an ‘IRRS mission’.

An IRRS team is made up of technical experts, drawn from Member States, and IAEA personnel. It evaluates a state’s government, legal and regulatory infrastructure for safety. This includes the practical arrangements for regulating its nuclear facilities, activities and radiological safety against relevant IAEA safety guidance and standards.

See the lates nuclear contribution in total non-fossil bases power capacity. Its 1.7%.

 

Current Affair 2:

Tendu Leaves- Green Gold

 

News: Tendu leaf collectors allege that the government gives them a lower price for the leaves, while it fetches a higher price in the open market.

Tendu (Diospirus melanocaylon) is also called ‘green gold’ and is a prominent minor forest produce in India.

It is also called as ‘green gold’ in tribal areas because tendu leaves are the biggest source of income for a large population dependent on forest produce collection. According to the data of The Tribal Cooperative Marketing Development Federation of India, 75 lakh (7.5 million) people across the country get employment for about three months through the collection of tendu leaves.

In 1964, the trade in tendu leaves was nationalised in then-undivided Madhya Pradesh. Until then, people were free to sell tendu leaves in markets across the country.

Maharashtra adopted the same system in 1969, undivided Andhra Pradesh in 1971, Odisha in 1973, Gujarat in 1979, Rajasthan in 1974 and Chhattisgarh in 2000.

Under this arrangement, the state forest department collects tendu leaves, allows their transportation and sells them to traders.

Ok, learn more thing. Where this minor forest produce is defined? Under which Act?

Under Forest Rights Act, 2006, "minor forest produce" includes all non-timber forest produce of plant origin including bamboo, brush wood, stumps, cane, tussar, cocoons, honey, wax, lac, tendu or kendu leaves, medicinal plants and herbs, roots, tubers and the like.

The Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006, gives the “right of ownership, access to collect, use and dispose of minor forest produce which has been traditionally collected within or outside village boundaries”.

Current Affair 3:

Why India’s central bank has no choice but to raise repo rate to control inflation?

 

Even though present inflation is "cost push/supply shock", RBI has increased the repo rate to control inflation. The overall logic is: The higher interest rates cannot bring down fuel and food prices but it can control demand in the economy. By slowing down overall demand and by extension the overall GDP growth rate, a tighter monetary policy (higher repo rate) is expected to allow the "supply" more time to get in sync with the "demand". And it is because of this reason that tighter monetary policies tend to drag down economic growth.

And this is where the government's fiscal policy - both expenditure and taxation - can help. And that’s the reason Govt. reduced taxes/customs duty on fuel and imported raw material to moderate inflation.

Second is,

RBI conducts ‘Inflation Expectation Survey’ of households wherein RBI gauges the household’s expectation regarding inflation for the three months ahead and one-year ahead period. Basically, RBI in the survey asks people what do you think, what will be the inflation next year. The interesting thing is that, "if people expect/think that inflation will be higher in the coming time then this expectation/thinking itself leads to higher inflation in the economy". And the reason is, if I feel that inflation is going to increase next year then I will demand higher wages from my employer and if my employer increases my wage... then this higher wage will ultimately lead to higher inflation.

Another example, if my flat owner feels inflation is going to be higher next year then in the rent agreement hi will put a higher increase on rent say 10%/12%... which will ultimately increase the rentals. 

This 'inflation expectation survey' is used by RBI for monetary policy purpose. If the present inflation is low but the 'inflation expectation' is high then RBI will increase the repo rate because monetary policy (increase of repo rate) works/impacts with lags/delay"

Why RBI fell behind the curve (in controlling inflation)??

RBI was not increasing the repo rate (in Feb, March, April) as it was trying to give more time so that the demand could pick up. But before the demand could recover, the inflation  over-shooted due to Russia-Ukraine war and RBI had to do monetary tightening (in May and June) before the demand could recover fully.

Current Affair 4:

Rajya Sabha Elections

 

Each state has a fixed number of RS seats and 1/3rd of them come up for election every 2 years.

Article 80 of the constitution stipulates the maximum size of the house. The number of elected RS members from the States & UTs cannot be more than 238. Apart from the elected members, 12 members can be nominated by the President of India. Currently there are 233 elected members and 12 nominated members.

The system of election of members to the Rajya Sabha is by proportional representation by means of the single transferable vote (STV). The STV system is similar to the one followed in the election to the President of India and members of the legislative council in states. The vote is transferred from one candidate to another in any of the two situations mentioned below.

• When a candidate obtains more than what is required for his success and therefore has an unnecessary surplus
• When a candidate polls so few votes that he has absolutely no chance and therefore the votes nominating him are liable to be wasted

The Quota

The minimum number of valid votes required for a candidate to be declared elected is called the quota. The quota calculation depends on the number of seats to be filled.

Scenario 1:

At an election where only one seat is to be filled, every ballot paper is deemed to be of the value of one and the quota is calculated by adding the values credited to all the candidates and dividing the total by two and adding one to the quotient, ignoring the remainder, if any, and the resulting number is the quota. It has to be:

Scenario 2:

At an election where more than one seat is to be filled, every ballot paper is deemed to be of the value of 100 and the quota is determined by adding the values credited to all the candidates and dividing the total by a number which exceeds by one the number of vacancies to be filled and adding one to the quotient ignoring the remainder, if any, and the resulting number is the quota.

For instance, if 3 candidates are to be elected and the total number of voters who participated in the poll is 176, the quota is

If none of the candidates get the required quota of first preference votes, then a process of vote transfer takes place, successively eliminating those who get the least number of first preferential votes.

 

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