Current Affair 1:

New purchasing power parities (PPPs) released by the International Comparison Program

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News:

It has revised the previously published 2011 PPPs to take into account the effects of national accounts rebasing. It also published new PPPs for 2017 that reflect new price data collected from around the world.

So, first we will discuss Purchasing Power Parity.

Purchasing power parity is defined as the number of units of a country’s currency required to buy the same amount of goods and services in the domestic market as one dollar would buy in the US. Understand with an example. You will never forget.

Now we will focus on released Report.

According to the report, Purchasing Power Parities and the Size of World Economies: Results from the 2017 International Comparison Program, the size of the global economy was nearly $120 trillion in 2017 measured by the new PPPs, and over half of total economic activity was in low- and middle-income economies.

Few important points relevant for us: Nothing more is required.

1. China’s GDP stood at $19,617 billion in PPP terms in 2017, while the United States’ GDP was $19,519 billion. Together they accounted for one-third of global GDP. India, at $8,051 billion, was the third-largest economy, followed by Japan, Germany, and the Russian Federation.

1. India is also third largest economy in terms of its PPP-based share in global Actual Individual Consumption and Global Gross Capital Formation.

   

1. Purchasing Power Parities (PPPs) of Indian Rupee per US$ at Gross Domestic Product (GDP) level is now 20.65 in 2017 from 15.55 in 2011.

1. Exchange Rate of US Dollar to Indian Rupee is now 65.12 from 46.67 during same period.

1. Also, the Price Level Index (PLI), the ratio of a PPP to its corresponding market exchange rate, which is used to compare the price levels of economies, improved to 47.55 in 2017 from 42.99 in 2011.

Just to understand more clearly: As a general observation, PLIs at the GDP level tend to be generally lower in economies with lower GDP per capita. This observation is consistent with the fact that, as an economy develops, consumers move from consuming basic goods that are also tradable to consuming more services that are not tradable. As wage rates increase, so do the costs of services, which subsequently push up the general price level.

International Comparison Program (ICP)

The ICP is one of the largest statistical initiatives in the world.  It is managed by the World Bank under the auspices of the United Nations Statistical Commission, and relies on a partnership of international, regional, sub-regional, and national agencies working under a robust governance framework and following an established statistical methodology. The main objectives of the ICP are to:

1.  produce purchasing power parities (PPPs) and comparable price level indexes (PLIs) for participating economies
2. convert volume and per capita measures of gross domestic product (GDP) and its expenditure components into a common currency using PPPs. 

India has participated in almost all ICP rounds since its inception in 1970. The Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation is National Implementing Agency (NIA) for India, which has the responsibility of planning, coordinating and implementing national ICP activities.

Current Affair 2:

Pollinator Week: Why we need to protect the bees and the butterflies

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Around 40 per cent of invertebrate pollinator species, particularly bees and butterflies — face extinction across the world, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

There are two categories of pollinators: invertebrates and vertebrates. Well-known invertebrate pollinators include bees, moths, flies, wasps, beetles and butterflies. Monkeys, rodents, lemurs, tree squirrels and birds also facilitate pollination and are among the vertebrate pollinators.

Numbers Declining in India:

Now we will learn two bodies important for Prelims Exam:

The International Pollination Initiative (IPI), formally known as the International Initiative for the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Pollinations, aims to promote coordinated worldwide action to monitor pollinator decline, identify practices and build capacity in the management of pollination services for sustainable agriculture, and improve food security, nutrition and livelihoods through enhanced conservation, restoration and sustainable use of pollinators.

The International Pollinator Initiative Plan of action 2018-2030 is prepared jointly by Convention on Biological Diversity and the Food and Agriculture Organization of United Nation.

This is the second Plan of Action. The first Plan of Action was from 2000-2015.

Next topic is, Global Coalition of the Willing on Pollinators

 

The organisation was formed in 2016, to follow up on the findings of IPBES Assessment on Pollinators, Pollination and Food Production, which found that many of the world’s pollinator species are on the decline. Not more than this is required.

By signing Declaration on Global coalition of the willing on Pollinators, partners commit to:

1. taking action to protect pollinators and their habitats by developing and implementing national pollinator strategies, consistent with the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) thematic assessment on pollinators, pollination and food production
2. sharing experience and lessons learnt in developing and implementing national pollinator strategies, especially knowledge on new approaches, innovations and best practice
3. reaching out to seek collaboration with a broad spectrum of stakeholders
4. developing research on pollinator conservation
5. mutual support and collaboration

The coalition now has 28 signatories including 17 European countries, five from Latin America and the Caribbean and four from Africa.

India is not a member of coalition.

Current Affair 3:

Rail Route Through Melghat Tiger Reserve

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The proposed conversion of the railways’ Akola-Khandwa metre-gauge line to broad-gauge line through the Melghat tiger reserve (MTR) in Maharashtra’s Vidarbha region has drawn concern. Apart from impacting the tiger population in the area, the project could severely affect the biodiversity and natural habitat of many other species.

Situated in the Satpura hill ranges, the MTR is a part of Amravati district bordering Madhya Pradesh. The Union Ministry of Railways is planning to upgrade the 176-kilometre-long Akola (Maharashtra)-Khandwa (Madhya Pradesh) metre-gauge line to a broad-gauge line. Of this, around 39 kilometres of the track falls under the MTR jurisdiction while 18 kilometres of it passes through the critical tiger habitat.

The MTR comprises five protected areas, Gugamal National Park, Melghat Sanctuary, Narnala, Amba Barwa and Wan wildlife sanctuary. While Melghat sanctuary has hilly areas, other ones like Narnala, Ambabarwa and Wan have plains. The existing metre-gauge passes through Wan sanctuary.

So, if the ask you now:

1. Where is this Tiger Reserve?
2. In which Hills it is situated (UPSC has asked such questions)?
3. Protected areas within it?

Everything you can answer now. We don’t care which material you choose to read (you are mature enough to analyze which one is good), but these current affairs should not be missed.

Current Affair 4:

Smuggling of Exotic Macaws

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The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) has busted a wildlife smuggling syndicate with seizure of a consignment of exotic macaws which had been smuggled from Bangladesh. They were identified as hyacinth macaw, pesquet’s parrot, severe macaw and hahn’s macaw.

The seized macaws are protected under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), with hyacinth macaw being accorded the highest protection. Hyacinth Macaw important here.

Hyacinth Macaw

It is a parrot native to central and eastern South America. It is the largest macaw and the largest flying parrot species.

Threat: Habitat loss and the trapping of wild birds for the pet trade have taken a heavy toll on their population in the wild.

Protection Status:

International Union for Conservation of Nature's Red List: Vulnerable

It has been listed in Appendix 1 of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES)

Directorate of Revenue Intelligence

It is India's chief anti-smuggling intelligence, investigations and operations agency. It works under the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC), Ministry of Finance. It is headed by a Director General of the rank of Special Secretary to the Government of India.

It is tasked with detecting and curbing smuggling of contraband, including drug trafficking and illicit international trade in wildlife and environmentally sensitive items, as well as combating commercial frauds related to international trade and evasion of Customs duty.

Current Affair 5:

YUKTI 2.0: Platform for Higher Education Institutes

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Under which Ministry: Ministry of Human Resource Development

Objective:

1. It aims to help systematically assimilate technologies having commercial potential and information related to incubated startups in our higher education institutions.
2. YUKTI 2.0 initiative is a very important step in the direction of making Bharat Atma Nirbhar. 
3. More importantly, initiatives like YUKTI 2.0 will also help in fostering the culture of innovation and entrepreneurship in our academic institutions.

The portal will prove to be a milestone towards promoting innovations and entrepreneurship culture in our higher education system and involving youth in nation building.

YUKTI 2.0 is an extension of ‘YUKTI (Young India combating Covid with Knowledge, Technology and Innovation) Portal’ which was launched to identify ideas relevant in Covid pandemic. Through this portal, the Ministry will endeavor to ensure that students, teachers and researchers in higher educational institutions are getting appropriate support to meet the requirements needed to advance their technologies and innovations.

Other Initiatives to Boost Innovation:

1. Institutions of Eminence (IoE) Scheme is a government's scheme to provide the regulatory architecture for setting up or upgrading of 20 Institutions (10 from public sector and 10 from the private sector) as world-class teaching and research institutions.
2. Various amendments have been made in the Prime Minister’s Research Fellowship Scheme to boost research in the country.
3. Through the Atal Innovation Mission, the government has established Atal Tinkering Laboratories (ATLs) in schools across the country. The objective of this scheme is to foster curiosity, creativity and imagination in young minds; and inculcate skills such as design mindset, computational thinking, adaptive learning, physical computing.

Other schemes launched by the Central Government: National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF), Impacting Research, Innovation & Technology (IMPRINT), Uchchtar Avishkar Yojna (UAY), Global Initiative of Academic Networks (GIAN) in the field of education for promoting higher education and research work in the country. We will discuss them whenever we will find them in news.

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