Current Affairs 1 September 2022 – IAS Current Affairs
Current Affairs 1 September 2022 focuses on Prelims-Mains perspective. Major events are :
India’s First-quarter GDP 2022-23
Source: Times of India
GS III: Indian Economy
What is discussed under India’s First-quarter GDP 2022?
- Gross Domestic Product
- Key Highlights of GDP Q1FY23
- Comparison of GDP with previous years
Why in News?
- National Statistical Office (NSO) data showed that the country’s GDP increased by an annual 13.5% in the April–June quarter of the current fiscal year.
- It is higher than the 4.1% in the previous quarter but lower than the 20.1% projected in first quarter of 2021–2022.
- The RBI had predicted 16.2% growth for the first quarter of 2022-2023.
Key Highlights of GDP Q1FY23
- India continued to have the fastest-growing major economy, whereas China saw 0.4% growth in the April to June 2022 quarter.
Photo by Andre Taissin on Unsplash - It is the fastest growth in a year, as the GDP of the nation had previously grown by 4.1% in the preceding quarter (Q4FY22), 5.4% in the quarter ending in December 2021 of FY22, and 8.4% in the quarter ending in September 2021.
- The government’s capital spending on infrastructure saw investments continue to rise in the June quarter.
- Estimates, however, indicated that GDP grew by 3.8% in the first quarter of fiscal 2020 compared to the pre-pandemic period.
- The country’s gross value added (GVA), which is GDP minus net product taxes and reflects increase in supply, increased by 12.7% between April and June 2022, according to the most recent data by the National Statistical Office (NSO).
Comparison with Previous Years
- Following a 24.4% fall in the financial year 2020–21 as a result of a statewide lockdown implemented to fight the COVID–19 epidemic, GDP climbed by 20.1% year over year last year.
- Compared to 2.2% a year ago, the farm sector’s GVA increase in the first quarter was 4.5%.
- However, from 49% in the same quarter last year, the manufacturing sector’s GVA growth dramatically slowed to 4.8% this quarter.
- In the quarter, mining GVA growth is 6.5% compared to 18% in the prior year.
- Additionally, the construction sector’s GVA slowed, falling from 71.3% to 16.8% in the quarter.
- Compared to the same period last year, the electricity, gas, water supply, and other utility services segment expanded by 14.7% in the third quarter.
- GVA growth in the services sector, which includes commerce, lodging, transportation, communication, and broadcasting-related services, was 25.7% in the first quarter compared to 34.3% in the previous quarter.
- Financial, real estate, and professional services all had first-quarter growth of 9.2% over the same period last year.
- In comparison to the first quarter of the previous fiscal, public administration, defence, and other services saw increase of 26.3% instead of 6.2%.
- According to the NSO, the Nominal GDP or GDP at Current Prices is projected to reach Rs 64.95 trillion in Q1 2022–23 as opposed to Rs 51.27 trillion in Q1 2021–22, representing a rise of 26.7% as opposed to 32.4% a year before.
Gross Domestic Product
- GDP calculates the monetary value of the final goods and services, those purchased by the consumer, produced in a nation during a specific time period (say a quarter or a year).
- It accounts for all the output produced inside a nation’s boundaries.
- GDP is made up of products and services generated for market consumption as well as certain non-market production, including government-provided defence or educational services.
Anti-Radiation Pills
Source: Indian Express
GS II: Policies and Developmental Studies
What is discussed under Anti-Radiation Pills?
- What are anti-radiation pills?
- How do anti-radiation pills protect the thyroid?
- Limits of anti-radiation pill use
- What is a radiation emergency?
Why in News?
- As worries of a nuclear accident at Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia power plant rise, the European Union has made the decision to provide 5.5 million anti-radiation tablets as a preventative measure to be given out to locals.
- People who are receiving the tablets are being instructed to wait until a radioactive leak has been verified before taking them.
What Are Anti-Radiation Pills?
- In situations of radiation exposure, potassium iodide (KI) tablets, also known as anti-radiation pills, are believed to offer some protection.
Image by OpenClipart-Vectors from Pixabay - They include non-radioactive iodine and can aid in preventing the thyroid gland from absorbing radioactive iodine and concentrating it there.
- Radioactive iodine
- Radioactive iodine may be discharged into the environment during radiation emergencies, which are often nuclear power plant accidents.
- It may then enter the body by inhalation or ingestion.
- This is called internal contamination.
- Many years after exposure, thyroid cancer risk can increase in newborns, kids, and young adults when the thyroid absorbs high doses of radioactive iodine.
How do anti-radiation pills protect the thyroid?
- Both KI and radioactive iodine are forms of iodine.
- The thyroid absorbs both of them in.
- A person must consume KI before or soon after exposure to radioactive iodine for it to be effective.
- The thyroid can be prevented from absorbing radioactive iodine when the appropriate dose and timing of KI are used.
- This occurs because the thyroid cannot absorb radioactive iodine because it has already filled with KI.
Limits of anti-radiation pill use
- Only radioactive iodine is protected against by KI; other forms of radiation are not protected.
- KI only safeguards the thyroid; other body parts are not covered by KI.
- To be most effective, KI must be taken within 24 hours before or four hours after exposure.
- KI is not a remedy and cannot repair thyroid damage that has already occurred.
- A person may not be completely protected against radioactive iodine by KI.
- They are recommended for people under 40 years of age.
What Is a Radiation Emergency?
- These are accidental incidents that pose a radiological risk to both people and the environment.
- Such circumstances entail exposure to radiation from a radioactive source and the need for quick action to lessen the danger.
- Anti-radiation pills are also needed to handle such a situation.
NCRB’s Crime In India Report
Source : Indian Express
GS II : Internal Security
What is discussed under NCRB’s Crime In India Report?
- Human Trafficking cases
- What is the major reason for the Trafficking of Humans?
- What is the Crime in India Report?
Why in News ?
Recently a new edition of Crime in India the annual report of the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), was released on August 29, for crime-related statistics in 2021.
Key Facts on Crime in India
- Overall, 2021 saw a 7.6 per cent decline in the number of crimes registered, as compared to 2020.
- The crime rate per lakh population declined from 487.8 in 2020 to 445.9 in 2021.
- Crime against women rose by 15.3 per cent in 2021 from the previous year, according to latest data released by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), with 4,28,278 cases registered last year following 3,71,503 cases in 2020.
Human Trafficking cases
- Goa has the highest rate of human trafficking cases per lakh population.
- One case of human trafficking per lakh population as against the national average of 0.2cases.
Image by Klaus Hausmann from Pixabay - 15 cases of human trafficking in which 38 victims all adult women and Indian nationals.
- Trafficked for sexual exploitation while six were trafficked for domestic servitude.
- One case of human trafficking per lakh population as against the national average of 0.2cases.
- 2,189 cases of human trafficking have been registered by AHTUs of States/UTs during 2021, as compared to 1,714 cases in the year 2020, showing an increase of 27.7%.
- The highest number of cases have been registered in Telangana (347 cases), Maharashtra (320 cases), and Assam (203 cases).
- Delhi saw 73.5% jump in human trafficking cases last year.
- A total of 6,533 victims were reported to be trafficked, in which 2,877 children and 3,656 adults were trafficked.
- 6,213 victims have been rescued from clutches of traffickers.
What is the Conviction rate?
- A total of 5,755 persons were arrested in 2,189 cases of trafficking.
- The conviction rate in human trafficking remains poor.
- Data on convictions was not available for 11 states, as many as eight states and three Union territories saw no convictions at all.
- No Conviction : Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Goa, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Odisha, Telangana, Delhi, Chandigarh and Jammu and Kashmir.
- Top conviction rate is in Jharkhand, which saw convictions in 84.2 per cent of the 92 cases that were registered in 2021.
- Seven states reported no convictions while two reported a conviction rate of less than 2 per cent.
What is the major reason for Trafficking of Humans?
- Forced them into bonded labour or sexually exploited.
- Many of the victims were pushed into domestic work and were rescued from residential areas.
- A large number of the victims were dragged out of residential neighbourhoods and forced into domestic employment.
Constitutional & legislative provisions related to Trafficking in India
- Trafficking in Human Beings or Persons is prohibited under the Constitution of India under Article 23 (1).
- The Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act, 1956 : legislation for prevention of trafficking for commercial sexual exploitation.
- Criminal Law (amendment) Act 2013 : has come into force wherein Section 370 of the Indian Penal Code has been substituted with Section 370 and 370A IPC which provide for comprehensive measures to counter the menace of human trafficking including trafficking of children for exploitation in any form.
- Protection of Children from Sexual offences (POCSO) Act, 2012 : which has come into effect from 14th November, 2012 is a special law to protect children from sexual abuse and exploitation with precise definition of abuse.
- Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986 : To prohibit the engagement of children in certain employments and to regulate the conditions of work of children in certain other employments.
- Sections 372 and 373 : Dealing with selling and buying of girls for the purpose of prostitution.
- Anti Trafficking Cell (ATC) : Anti-Trafficking Nodal Cell was set up in the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) (CS Division in 2006.
- Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act 1976
UN Convention : India has ratified the United Nations Convention on Transnational Organised Crime (UNCTOC) which has as one of its Protocols Prevention, Suppression and Punishment of Trafficking in Persons, particularly Women and Children.
SAARC Convention : India has ratified the SAARC Convention on Preventing and Combating Trafficking in Women and Children for Prostitution.
What is the Crime in India Report?
- NCRB was established in January 1986 with the aim of establishing a body to compile and keep records of data on crime.
- It functions under the Union Home Ministry.
- Preparation of Data
- NCRB report includes information gathered from all 36 states and Union Territories in the nation.
- The relevant state-level crime records bureaus provide comparable information for 53 metropolitan areas, or those with a population of more than 10 lakh as per the 2011 census.
- These then validated further at the district level, then the state level, and finally by the NCRB.
Way Forward
- The state governments’ collaborate with the source states to prosecute the traffickers and act against the online commercial sexual activities.
- A need for review the cause for poor conviction rate in the cases of sex trafficking.
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