Current Affairs 3 May 2021 – IAS Current Affairs

Current Affairs 3 May 2021  focuses on Prelims-Mains perspective. Major events are :

1. Sri Guru Teg Bahadur
2. Ethanol Blending Policy a Boon for farmers
3. Earth’s axis shift due to Climate Change
4. Asian Development Outlook 2021
5. CEC moves Supreme Court
6. Xylophis Deepaki
7. Coronavirus Variants Classified

Sri Guru Teg Bahadur

Source : PIB
GS II : Indian culture will cover the salient aspects of Art Forms, Literature and Architecture from ancient to modern times.

Why in News ?

The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi has bowed to Sri Guru Teg Bahadur Ji on his 400th Parkash Purab.

About Guru Tegh Bahadur

• Guru Tegh Bahadur was the ninth of ten Gurus
• He founded the Sikh religion and the leader of Sikhs from 1665
• Guru Tegh Bahadur was executed on the orders of Aurangzeb the sixth Mughal emperor in Delhi in 1675.
• Born in Amritsar, Punjab, India in 1621 considered as disciplined and fearless warrior.
• 115 hymns are included in Sri Guru Granth Sahib.
  • They cover a wide range of topics, such as the nature of God, human attachments, body, mind, sorrow, dignity, service, death, and deliverance.

Sikh Gurus

• Gurus are the spiritual masters of Sikh.
• They established religion over a period of two and a half centuries starting from 1469.
• Sikhs have a student–teacher relationship with their Gurus since their teachings, written in Guru Granth Sahib, serve as a guide for the sikhs.
• Guruship was finally passed on by the tenth guru to the holy Sikh scripture, Guru Granth Sahib
  • This is now considered as the living Guru by the followers of the Sikh faith.
• The ten Gurus are
  1. Guru Nanak Dev
  2. Guru Angad Dev
  3. Guru Amar Das
  4. Guru Ram Das
  5. Guru Arjan Dev
  6. Guru Hargobind
  7. Guru Har Rai
  8. Guru Har Krishan
  9. Guru Tegh Bahadur
  10. Guru Gobind Singh

Guru Granth Sahib

• Guru Granth Sahib is the central religious scripture of Sikhism
• This is regarded by Sikhs as the final, sovereign and eternal Guru following the lineage of the ten human gurus of the religion.
• Adi Granth its first rendition was compiled by the fifth guru Guru Arjan Dev.
  • It was installed at the Golden Temple, with Baba Buddha as the first granthi or reader.
• The Guru Granth Sahib is written in the Gurmukhi script.
  • It is the official script for writing Punjabi in the Indian State of Punjab.
• It also contains hymns and verses of thirteen Hindu Bhakti movement sant poets (saints) and two Muslim saint poets.

Ethanol Blending Policy a Boon for farmers

Source : PIB
GS II : Government policies and interventions for development in various sectors and issues arising out of their design and implementation.
GS III : Food processing and related industries in India- scope and significance, location, upstream and downstream requirements, supply chain management

Why in News ?

To increase production of fuel grade ethanol and to achieve blending targets, the Govt of India has allowed use of maize and rice with FCI for production of ethanol.

What is Ethanol-blended petrol?

Ethanol : It is the organic compound Ethyl Alcohol which is produced from biomass having higher octane number than gasoline hence improves the petrol octane number. Ethanol has insignificant amount of water in it.

• Ethanol can be mixed with gasoline to form different blends thus forming the Ethanol blended petrol
• Ethanol molecule contains oxygen which allows makes the engine for more complete combust of the fuel,
  • Resulting in fewer emissions
  • Reduces the occurrence of environmental pollution.
• Besides ethanol is also considered as renewable fuel as ethanol is produced from plants that harness the power of the sun.

Key Facts

• Government has fixed target of 10% blending of fuel grade ethanol with petrol by 2022 & 20% blending by 2025.
• With the vision to
  • Boost agricultural economy
  • To reduce dependence on imported fossil fuel
  • To save foreign exchange on account of crude oil import bill
  • To reduce the air pollution
• With a view to support sugar sector and in the interest of sugarcane farmers, the Government has also allowed production of ethanol from B-Heavy Molasses, sugarcane juice, sugar syrup and sugar.
  • Also encouraging sugar mills to divert excess sugarcane to ethanol.
• By 2025 it is targeted to divert 50-60 LMT of excess sugar to ethanol, which would solve the problem of high inventories of sugar, improve liquidity of mills thereby help in timely payment of cane dues of farmers.
  • In past 3 sugar seasons about Rs. 22,000 cr revenue was generated by sugar mills/ distilleries from sale of ethanol to OMCs.
• To increase production of fuel grade ethanol and to achieve blending targets, the Govt of India has allowed use of maize and rice with FCI for production of ethanol.
• The extra consumption of surplus food grains would ultimately benefit the farmers as they will get better price for their produce and assured buyers
  • This will also increase the income of crores of farmers across the country.
• In current ethanol supply year (ESY) 2020-21 (December to November) to achieve 8.5% blending target, about 325 Cr ltrs ethanol is required to be supplied to OMCs.

• Other measures taken
  • With a view to increase existing capacities further DFPD has notified modified interest subvention scheme in January.
    • For setting up new grain based distilleries/ expansion of existing grain based distilleries, dual feed distilleries & molasses based distilleries to produce ethanol & production of ethanol from other 1G feed stocks.
    • 422 proposals with a capacity of 1684 cr ltrs for a loan amount Rs. 42000 crore have been approved by DFPD.
    • It is expected that from the proposals approved more than 600 cr ltrs may come up in next 2 to 4 years.
    • Thus, the ethanol distillation capacity from these projects and ongoing projects may reach to 1500 cr ltrs by 2024-25 which would be sufficient to achieve 20% blending target.

Ethanol blending in India has reached more than 7.2 per cent the first time. Achieved this level in the first four months of the ethanol supply year 2020-21 (December to November) putting the country on course to meet the target of 10 per cent blending by 2022.

Ethanol Blending Policy

• Sugar companies are under obligation to deliver the contracted ethanol to the nearest OMC depot.
• The OMCs are supposed to pay the transportation charges.
• Issues faced by Sugar Companies due to the policy
  • OMCs do not do the full reimbursement because the base rate was fixed in October last year (before the current spurt in fuel prices) Sugar companies.
  • Sugar companies have to bear an additional burden of Rs 3-5 per litre.
  • Sometimes ethanol got transported to OMCs before the stocked quantity aren’t empty.
    • This pushed up the turnaround time of tankers containing ethanol from one-two days to 15-20 days.
• A litre of ethanol currently costs Rs. 61 that purely depends on internal fuel prices.

Achievement by The States

• In states such as Goa, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Punjab, Delhi, Uttarakhand, and Himachal Pradesh (and Daman and Diu, a Union Territory) 9.5-10 per cent ethanol is being blended with petrol.
• This means these states are close to the 2022 target.

National Bio-fuel Policy

• National Bio-fuel Policy has set a target to achieve
  • 10 per cent ethanol blending with petrol by the year 2020.
  • 20 per cent ethanol blending target by 2030 which has been advanced to 2025.

Earth’s axis shift due to Climate Change

Source : PIB
GS II : Conservation, environmental pollution and degradation, environmental impact assessment.

Why in News?

New research has added yet another impact to this list – marked shifts in the axis along which the Earth rotates.

Earth’s axis is an imaginary pole going right through the centre of Earth from top to bottom. Earth has seasons because its axis doesn’t stand up straight.

Key Facts

• A study published in Geophysical Research Letters of the American Geophysical Union (AGU) says that due to the significant melting of glaciers because of global temperature rise, planet’s axis of rotation has been moving more than usual since the 1990s.
• Impact : While this change is not expected to affect daily life, it can change the length of the day by a few milliseconds.
• Since the 1990s, climate change has caused billions of tonnes of glacial ice to melt into oceans.
  • This has caused the Earth’s poles to move in new directions.
• North pole has shifted in a new eastward direction since the 1990s because of changes in the hydrosphere
  • From 1995 to 2020, the average speed of drift was 17 times faster than from 1981 to 1995.
  • Also, in the last four decades, the poles moved by about 4 metres in distance.
• The calculations were based on satellite data from NASA’s Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) mission as well as estimates of glacier loss and groundwater pumping going back to the 1980s, according to Science Alert.
• Other Possible Reasons
  • Terrestrial water storage or change in non‐glacial regions due to climate change
  • Unsustainable consumption of groundwater for irrigation and other anthropogenic activities.
• In normal situation polar motion is caused by changes in the hydrosphere, atmosphere, oceans, or solid Earth.

The Earth’s axis of rotation is the line along which it spins around itself as it revolves around the Sun. The points on which the axis intersects the planet’s surface are the geographical north and south poles.

Earth’s rotation

• Earth’s rotation or spin is the rotation of planet Earth around its own axis.
• Earth rotates eastward.
• Earth’s axis is tilted 23.5 degrees. The angle varies a little over time, but the gravitational pull of the moon prevents it from shifting by more than a degree or so.

Asian Development Outlook 2021

Source : Down to Earth
GS II : Bilateral, regional and global groupings and agreements involving India and/or affecting India’s interests GS III : Indian Economy

Why in News ?

Report published in Asian Development Outlook 2021. Pandemic could put India’s economic recovery at risk, according to a new report by leading financial institution, the Asian Development Bank (ADB).

• The report assessed 45 economies in the Asia and Pacific.

Key Facts

Pandemic was the biggest threat to Asia and the Pacific. This was mainly due to delay in vaccine rollouts or major new outbreaks.

• The ongoing second wave of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) put India’s economic recovery at risk  according to the Asian Development Bank (ADB).
• Asian Development Outlook 2021 explain the 45 economies that excluded Japan, Australia and New Zealand, were to grow 7.3 per cent this year.
  • If a healthy global recovery and early progress on COVID-19 vaccines.
• India’s economy, was expected to grow 11 per cent in fiscal year 2021 amid a strong vaccine drive.
• India’s gross domestic product (GDP) was expected to expand 7 per cent in 2022.
  • South Asia’s gross domestic product growth was expected to rebound to 9.5 per cent.
• The region’s growth is forecast to moderate to 5.3 per cent in 2022.
• Excluding high income newly industrialised economies a growth of 7.7 per cent is forecast for this year and 5.6 per cent for next year.
  • Growth was forecast to be the strongest in east.
  • East Asia’s GDP was expected to grow 7.4 per cent in 2021 and 5.1 per cent in 2022.
  • At the same time south Asia, central and southeast Asia as well as the Pacific were to see more moderate growth.
• China’s GDP was forecast to expand 8.1 per cent in 2021 and 5.5 per cent in 2022.
• Average inflation in the region was forecast to fall to 2.3 per cent in 2021, from 2.8 per cent in 2020.

How ADB IS Funded ?

• ADB raises funds through bond issues on the world’s capital markets.
• ADB also rely on its members contributions retained earnings from its lending operations, and the repayment of loans.
• As of 31 December 2016, Japan holds the largest proportions of shares at 15.67%.
• The United States holds 15.56%, China holds 6.47%, India holds 6.36%, and Australia holds 5.81%.

India and ADB Relation

• India is a founding member and the fourth largest shareholder.
• India is planning to set up a ADB‘s regional hub at New Delhi.
• In India, ADB finances projects such as
  • East coast economic corridor
  • Solar rooftop investment program
  • Mechi river bridge project in Indo-Nepal border
  • TAPI gas pipeline
  • South Asia Subregional Economic Cooperation (SASEC) Program
  • Supporting fiscal reforms in West Bengal State

CEC moves Supreme Court

Source : The Hindu
GS II : Structure, organisation and functioning of the Executive and the Judiciary Ministries and Departments of the Government; pressure groups and formal/informal associations and their role in the Polity

Why in News ?

EC moves Supreme Court against Madras HC over the comment that EC responsible for Covid wave remark.

Background

The high court had criticised the Commission for conducting elections during the second wave of the pandemic and failing to ensure adherence to Covid norms.

• Observed that EC officials must be tried on charges of murder for their failure to ensure adherence to Covid protocols during assembly elections in West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Assam and Puducherry.
• The EC should not have allowed political parties to take out rallies.
• The High Court, however, refrained from passing any such order.

Key Facts

• In its plea the EC has asked the Supreme Court to expunge the HC’s remarks, terming them uncalled for and blatantly disparaging.
• According to the Election Commission it affect the constitutional authority of EC.
• Tarnished the image of the ECI as an independent constitutional agency that is entrusted with the constitutional responsibility of conducting elections.
• A special leave petition urged the top court to direct the police not to register cases for murder against Election Commission officials
  • Also it aims to take any coercive action on the basis of media reports on oral observations attributed to the High Court judges.

Special Leave Petition : Article 136

Special leave to appeal by the Supreme Court : 
The aggrieved party takes special permission to be heard in Supreme Court against the judgment given by the appeals court generally Supreme Court and sometimes Tribunals. It’s up to the Supreme Court to grant the petition to be heard if it deems fit to be heard.

Article 136

• Notwithstanding anything in this Chapter, the Supreme Court may, in its discretion, grant special leave to appeal from any judgment, decree, determination, sentence or order in any cause or matter passed or made by any court or tribunal in the territory of India.
• Nothing in clause ( 1 ) shall apply to any judgment, determination, sentence or order passed or made by any court or tribunal constituted by or under any law relating to the Armed Forces.

Election Commission

• Election Commissioners, who are charged with the free and fair conduct of polls.
• The appointment of the chief election commissioner and other election commissioners shall be made by the president.
• The President of India (based on a recommendation from incumbent Govt of India) appoints the Chief Election Commissioner.
• Conventionally, senior-most Election Commissioner is appointed as CEC.
• He has tenure of six years, or up to the age of 65 years, whichever is earlier.
• President may also appoint after consultation with the election commission such regional
  commissioners as he may consider necessary to assist the election commission.
• At present, the Election Commission of India is a three-member body, with one Chief Election Commissioner and two Election Commissioners.

Xylophis Deepaki

Source : The Hindu
GS II : Indian culture will cover the salient aspects of Art Forms, Literature and Architecture from ancient to modern times.

Why in News?

Xylophis Deepaki the species is named in honour of Indian herpetologist Deepak Veerappan for his contribution in erecting a new subfamily Xylophiinae to accommodate wood snakes.

• The team suggests the common name Deepak’s wood snake.

Key Facts

• Xylophis deepaki first seen in a coconut plantation in Kanyakumari
  • It is now reported to be an endemic species of Tamil Nadu
  • It has been sighted in a few locations in the southern part of the Western Ghats.
  • It is a is a tiny snake of just 20 cm length
• In the first four months of 2021 the Western Ghats presented new butterflies frogs, fruit flies and a freshwater crab.
• The new find increases the total number of currently recognised wood snakes to five species.
  • Very little information is available on the precise distributions of each species, their natural history, population status, feeding and reproductive ecology, and conservation status.
• The new species is found in the drier regions and in lower altitudes around Agasthyamalai hills.
  • The other Xylophis were reported from cold higher altitudes, of 1,700 m and above, in the Nilgiris and the Anaimalai Hills.
  • Its close relative, Captain’s wood snake, is known from the western slopes of the Western Ghats in the Kerala.

Xylophis Species

• Xylophis is a small genus of snakes in the family Pareidae, a small snake largely found in South Asia.
• The genus contains five species
  • Xylophis captaini Gower & Winkler : Captain’s wood snake, Captain’s xylophis
  • Xylophis deepaki :  Deepak’s wood snake
  • Xylophis mosaicus : Anamalai wood snake
  • Xylophis perroteti : Perrotet’s mountain snake, striped narrow headed snake
  • Xylophis stenorhynchus : Gunther’s mountain snake
• All of which are endemic to the Western Ghats in southern India.

Wood snakes

• Wood snakes are harmless, subfossorial and often found while digging soil in farms and under the logs in the Western Ghat forests.
• They feed on earthworms and possibly other invertebrates.
• Close  relatives of the species are found in northeast India and Southeast Asia and are known to be arboreal.

Agasthyamalai hills

• Tall peak in the Western Ghats of South India and a part of the Agasthyamala Biosphere Reserve.
  • Agasthyamala Biosphere Reserve is among 20 new sites added by UNESCO.
• It lies on the border between the Indian states of Kerala in Pathanamthitta, Kollam and Thiruvananthapuram districts and Tamil Nadu in Kanyakumari district, Tirunelveli district.
• Religious Importance : Pilgrimage centre for devotees of the Hindu sage Agastya who is considered to be one of the seven rishis (Saptarishi) of Hindu Puranas. 

Nilgiri Mountains

• Nilgiri Mountains form part of the Western Ghats in western Tamil Nadu, India.
• At least 24 of the Nilgiri Mountains peaks are above 2,000 metres
  • The highest peak being Doddabetta, at 2,637 metres.
• Three national parks border portions of the Nilgiri mountains.
  • Mudumalai National Park
  • Mukurthi National Park
  • Silent Valley National Park
• Nilgiri Hills are part of the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve a part of the UNESCO World Network of Biosphere Reserves.

Anaimalai Hills

• Anaimalai or Anamala Hills mountains that form the southern portion of the Western Ghats.
• It had span the border of Tamil Nadu and Kerala in Southern India.
• Also known as the Elephant Mountains.
• Currently under consideration by the UNESCO World Heritage Committee for selection as a World Heritage Site.

Coronavirus Variants Classified

Source : Indian Express
GS II : Issues relating to development and management of Social Sector/Services relating to Health, Education, Human Resources
GS III : Science and Technology

Why in News ?

In a recent research there are a number of variants in corona virus identified.

• Two variants from the B.1.617 lineage identified in UK an Indian variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus.
• In March, India’s Health Ministry said that a new double mutant variant.

Key Facts

• What is a Variant ?
  • Variants of a virus have one or more mutations that differentiate it from the other variants that are in circulation.
• Emergence and Spread
  • Most mutations are causing damage for the virus while some make it easier for the virus to survive.
  • SARS-CoV-2 virus is evolving fast because of the scale at which it has infected people around the world.
  • High levels of circulation mean it is easier for the virus to change as it is able to replicate faster.
  • B.1.617 variant of the virus has two mutations, referred to as E484Q and L452R.
  • Both are separately found in many other coronavirus variants, but they have been reported together for the first time in India.
• Coronavirus Variants
  • The variants emerging from the B.1.617 lineage are designated as Variants Under Investigation (VUI).
    • three variants first identified in India are called VUI-21APR-01, VUI-21APR-02 and VUI-21APR-03) by (Public Health England) PHE.
  • US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) classifies variants into three categories– variant of interest (VOI), variant of concern (VOC) and variant of high consequence.
    • B.1.1.7, B.1.351, P.1, B.1.427, and B.1.429 variants circulating in the US are classified as variants of concern.

Variants Under Investigation (VUI) : A variant with specific genetic markers that have been associated with changes to receptor binding, reduced neutralization by antibodies generated against previous infection or vaccination, reduced efficacy of treatments, potential diagnostic impact, or predicted increase in transmissibility or disease severity.

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