Current Affair 1:

Government Data Roundup

 

First report:

Brief about the report:

It is a performance-based index aimed to facilitate the ease of setting up a business start-up and the creation of conducive environments to create a facilitative ecosystem. It was initiated in 2018, consisting of 26 action points and a total score of 100. Out of these 26 action points, 8 points were based on the feedback received. States are ranked into five categories – Best Performers, Top Performers, Leaders, Aspiring Leaders, and Emerging Start-up Ecosystems.

Key Highlights:

• Gujarat and Karnataka emerged as Best Performers for states, and Meghalaya stood top for UTs and the North-eastern region. Kerala, Maharashtra, Odisha, and Telangana stood as Top Performers. Jammu & Kashmir emerged as the Top Performer among UTs and NE states.
• Andhra Pradesh and Bihar from the States category and Mizoram and Ladakh from the UTs/NE States were clubbed under the Emerging Start-up Ecosystem.

 

Second report:

Key Highlights:

1. The final CPI combined (Rural+ Urban) general rate stood at 7.04% for May-2022, while June-2022’s provisional combined stood at 7.01%. This marks an increase from April-2021’s combined rate of 6.26%.
2. The combined CFPI for May-2022 stood at 7.97%, while the provisional CFPI for June 2022 stood at 7.75%. This shows a significant increase from the June-2021 figure of 5.51%.

Significance of the report:

1. The continuous breaching of the upper tolerance level of inflation targets shows a worrisome picture of the Indian economy. In fact, the previous time inflation stood below 4% before the pandemic in 2019. This upward trend has ripple effects on other aspects of the economy.
2. CPI covers a fixed basket of goods & services that cover all aspects an average Indian household consumes. Therefore, it gives an indication of the cost of living and the currency’s value. The rising level of CPI indicates a growing burden on pockets of common people.
3. Rising CPI indicates the loss of purchasing power of the currency. If this constant rise in CPI is unchecked and becomes uncontrollable, it could become a lethal force in the economy.

 

Third report:

Brief about the report:

 

This index measures the changes in the level of industrial production in the economy. It indicates the mood of the industrial activity in the country. The base year for this index is 2011-12, and it is assigned a value of 100. While the annual survey of industries gives a complete and detailed picture of industrial activity, this index gives a short-term analysis of industrial performance. The data for this index is sourced from 14 different agencies like the Indian Bureau of Mines, coffee board, tea board, and central electricity authority.

For this index, industrial production is categorized into three sectors – Mining (14.2%), Manufacturing (75.5%), and Electricity (10.3%). The values in the brackets denote their relative weights. Alternatively, there is also a ‘use-based’ classification of goods – primary goods (34.05%), capital goods (8.22%), intermediate goods (17.22%), infrastructure goods (12.34%), consumer durables (12.84%), and consumer non-durables (15.33%).

Key Highlights:

1. The IIP for May 2022-23 stands at 137.7, which was 115.1 during May 2021-22. Among the sectors, electricity topped with a score of 199.9, followed by manufacturing and mining at 134.5 and 120.1.
2. According to the use-based classification, primary goods stood at 144.5, capital goods at 95.3, intermediate goods at 152.2, and infrastructure goods at 153.1. The indices for consumer non-durables stood at 113.5 and that of consumer durables was at 136.8.
3. The majority of the goods have shown improvement over the May 2021-22 values, with consumer durables and non-durables also registering a rise.

Significance:

Stronger IIP indicates the growing demand and recovery of the economy.

 

Fourth report:

Brief about the report:

1. India is now the second largest producer of fruits and vegetables in the world and is the leader in several horticultural crops, namely Mango, Banana, Papaya, Cashew, Areca nut, Potato and Okra. Together, fruits and vegetables account for 90% of the horticulture crop production.
2. Compared to the traditional agricultural sector, horticulture is more remunerative, and demand-driven, providing employment opportunities across this sector.
3. An increase of 2.1% is estimated in the horticulture production in 2021-22 (341.63 million Tonnes), as compared to 2020-21(334.60 million Tonnes).
4. Fruits production is estimated to increase from 102.48 million Tonne in 2020-21 to 107.10 million Tonnes in 2021-22.
5. Vegetable production is estimated to increase from 200.45 million Tonne in 2020-21 to 204.61 million Tonnes in 2021-22.
6. Onion production is estimated to increase from 26.64 million Tonne in 2020-21 to 31.70 million Tonnes in 2021-22.
7. Potato production is estimated to decrease from 56.17 million Tonne in 2020-21 to 53.58 million Tonnes in 2021-22.
8. Tomato production is expected to be decreased from 21.18 million Tonne in 2020-21 to 20.34 million Tonnes in 2021-22.

 

Last report:

Brief about the report:

The MHRD adopted the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF), which was introduced in 2015. This framework provides a mechanism for classifying educational institutions across the nation. To determine the broad criteria for rating different colleges and institutions, the process is based on the overall recommendations and broad understanding reached by a Core Committee established by MHRD. The below table shows the criteria.

Table  Description automatically generated:

Key highlights of the report:

1. Indian Institute of Technology, Madras keeps its top spot in the overall category and engineering for record-breaking fourth and seventh consecutive years, respectively.
2. For the seventh year in a row, the Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru, leads the Universities Category. For the second year in a row, it was first in the category of research institutions.
3. IIM Ahmedabad continues to hold the top spot in the Management discipline for a third straight year.
4. For the fifth year running, All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi, holds the top position in the medical field. Additionally, AIIMS is listed for the first time in the Overall category at position 9.
5. For the fourth year in a row, Jamia Hamdard leads the pharmacy rankings.
6. For the sixth year running, Miranda House remains at the top of the list of colleges.
7. IIT Roorkee is now in first place in Architecture subject for the second consecutive year.g

Current Affair 2:

Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA)

 

News:

About:

Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA) is a statutory body of Ministry of Women & Child Development, Government of India. (It is a statutory body under the Juvenile Justice Act, 2015.)

It functions as the nodal body for adoption of Indian children and is mandated to monitor and regulate in-country and inter-country adoptions.

CARA is designated as the Central Authority to deal with inter-country adoptions in accordance with the provisions of the Hague Convention on Inter-country Adoption, 1993, ratified by Government of India in 2003.

CARA primarily deals with adoption of orphan, abandoned and surrendered children through its associated /recognised adoption agencies.

Today, we will learn more about adoption:

Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015

What is Adoption?

Adoption means the process through which the adopted child is permanently separated from his biological parents and becomes the lawful child of the adoptive parents with all the rights, privileges and responsibilities that are attached to a biological child.

(As per Section 2(2) of the JJ (C&PC) Act, 2015)

The Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection) Act 2015 read with Adoption Regulation,2017 has recognized five kinds of adoption namely,

• an abandoned, surrendered, destitute child/ren adopted by unrelated person/s living within the country
• an abandoned, surrendered, destitute child/ren adopted by unrelated person/s living outside the country
• a related child by relatives living within the country
• a related child by relatives living outside the country
• adoption of a child by step parents within the country

Who can be adopted?

A child can be adopted if s/he is:

1. An orphan, abandoned or surrendered (OAS) child who has been declared legally free for adoption by the Child Welfare Committee (CWC) (As per the provisions of the JJ (C&PC) Act 2015 and the corresponding rules)
2. A child of a relative (a relative means the child's paternal uncle or aunt, a maternal uncle or aunt or paternal and maternal grandparents)
3. A child or children of spouse from earlier marriage surrendered by the biological parent(s) for adoption by the step-parent.

(Section 38 and 56 of the JJ (C&PC) Act, 2015 and Regulation 4 of Adoption Regulations)

Who can adopt?

General

Prospective adoptive parents (PAP):- who are physically, mentally and emotionally stable, financially capable and who do not have any life-threatening medical conditions are eligible to adopt.

The minimum age difference between the child and PAP/s shall not be less than twenty-five years.

Current Affair 3:

Why WTO does not allow Governments to export foodgrains from the public stockholdings?

 

Subsidy can be given by reducing the price of a product (at which it is sold) or by increasing the price of the product (at which it is procured example MSP)

WTO wants to ensure fair trade across member countries. And if the trade across member countries is happening at market rate and there is not Govt. interference then WTO does not have any problem. Actually, WTO wants to prevent distortion in international trade and Govt. intervention (through MSP, fertilizer subsidy, electricity subsidy etc.) creates distortion. Now how come distortion happens through Govt. intervention. let us take an example:

1) Stocking Subsidy example:   Suppose a trader (from country X) procured wheat from the farmer at market price of Rs. 18/kg and stocked it for 6 months (stocking cost Rs. 4/kg) and then he exported the wheat  above  Rs. 22/kg (=Rs. 18/kg + Rs. 4/kg) and earned some profit margin.

 

Now, suppose Indian Govt. has also procured wheat from the farmer at market price of Rs. 18/kg (and not at MSP) and did stocking, so there will be a stocking/storage cost, but Govt. of India treats this storage cost as a subsidy for the people of India in the name of food security and does not exactly calculate it. So, if there is excess stock, then Govt. of India wants to sell this wheat stock at just above Rs. 18/kg (or may be below it, because whatever is the loss that’s basically subsidy which taxpayers are funding, so Govt. won't mind selling even below Rs. 18/kg, but a trader will never do that).  So, in this case the importing country will prefer to purchase from Govt. of India rather than the trader (from country X) and then we will say that trade got distorted.

2) MSP example: Suppose the international price of wheat is Rs. 16/kg and in India the market price is Rs. 18/kg. So, Indian farmers will not be able to export as no one will buy at Rs. 18/kg. But then Govt. of India comes into picture and procures the Indian Farmers wheat at Rs. 20/kg (MSP) and tries to export it at Rs. 16/kg. By doing this the traders and farmers in other countries (where Wheat was Rs. 16/kg) will be displaced and this is basically distortion in international trade.

So, it’s not only Govt. of India does... but there are several Govts doing this and hence WTO has put restrictions on export of stocks procured at Govt. regulated rates (MSP) and stocked under public stockholding programmes. And every time WTO cannot check that at what price Govts are procuring or what is the stocking subsidy. So, it favours market mechanism and restricts export from public stockholdings.

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