30 July 2024, The Hindu
‘Find it difficult to breathe, but can’t afford rooms above the basement’
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GS 2: Issues relating to development and management of Social Sector/Services relating to Health, Education, Human Resources
- Two days after three Civil Services aspirants drowned in the basement of a coaching institute in Old Rajinder Nagar, many students in the area and Mukherjee Nagar, another coaching hub, continue to live in illegally rented basement accommodations at great risk to their lives.
- When The Hindu visited the two coaching hubs, many students who live in basement paying guest (PG) accommodations talked about the experience of living in congested, poorly ventilated spaces, where a heavy spell of rain means wading through knee-deep water, suffering electric shocks, and getting stuck in basements.
The problem with India’s blocking of the Chinese
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GS 2: International Relations- India and its neighbourhood
- Indian authorities have promised more visas to Chinese technicians, whose help Indian businesses urgently need.
- Rajesh Kumar Singh, Secretary, Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade, recently accepted claims by Indian companies that “a significant skill gap” exists between Chinese and Indian factory supervisors and workers.
- As a Vellore-based shoe manufacturer explained, Chinese professionals are “highly productive.”
- They can “help you produce 150 items with the same resources with which we produce 100”.
- The Engineering Export Promotion Council of India’s chairman has joined the call for more visas for Chinese technicians.
Any further delay in Census taking is perilous
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Prelims syllabus: Current events of national and international importance.
- When the Centre did not extend the deadline of June 30, 2024 to freeze administrative boundaries for the purpose of the Census, hopes were raised that the decennial Census operations, initially scheduled to begin in 2020 as a prelude to Census 2021, would at least commence in October 2024.
- It usually takes about three months after the boundaries are set, to make massive preparations for the field work.
- However, these expectations were belied when the Budget 2024-25 recently allocated ₹1,309.46 crore for the Census, a significant reduction from 2021-22 when ₹3,768 crore was allocated for the decadal exercise, thereby indicating that it may not be carried out even after the considerable delay.
- The next Census, therefore, continues to be on hold with the government yet to announce the new schedule.
Human failure
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GS 2: Issues relating to development and management of Social Sector/Services relating to Health, Education, Human Resources
- The tragic accident at an IAS coaching centre in New Delhi, where flooding led to three IAS aspirants dying, was a largely man-made, hence avoidable, disaster.
- Such incidents are an increasing feature of localised urban flooding in which human failures play a major role.
- Basements in buildings have limited access and often limited ventilation.
- Getting in and out can be a challenge and being trapped is a real possibility as the water will find its way there first.
- Special pumping arrangements would be required to mitigate flooding.
- In general, rules do not permit basements in buildings across the country to have habitation, while allowing storage, parking and utilities such as electric equipment and generators.
- Habitation would include offices and residents. Shops are sanctioned especially in malls or mixed-use buildings as they are seen as temporary habitation.
Teaching computers to forget
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GS 3: General awareness in the fields of IT, Space, Computers, Robotics, Nanotechnology, bio-technology
- Policymakers have been grappling with the rising complexity of Machine Learning (ML) models that churn huge swathes of data through Large Language Models (LLMs) and deep neural networks.
- The complexity has made it difficult for data fiduciaries to effectively “correct, complete, update and erase” sensitive data from computer systems.
- Simultaneously, we are witnessing an increase in AI (Artificial Intelligence) bias, misinformation, and breach of privacy, which gets heightened during events such as elections.
Target drug producers, not users
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GS 2: Issues relating to development and management of Social Sector/Services relating to Health, Education, Human Resources
- Telangana is battling a drug problem. Hyderabad has emerged as a transit hub for drugs, with marijuana being ferried through the city to be supplied to neighbouring Maharashtra and Karnataka.
- Konark Express, which runs between Bhubaneshwar and Mumbai through Hyderabad, is used to transport drugs, according to the police.
- During the recent meeting between the Chief Ministers of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, tackling this problem was an important item on the agenda.
Can States tax mining activities?
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GS 2: issues and challenges pertaining to the federal structure
- In a landmark ruling on July 25, the Supreme Court affirmed that States have the legislative authority to impose taxes on minerals in addition to the royalty levied by the Centre.
- Upholding the principles of federalism, the verdict clarified that the power of State legislatures to tax mineral activities within their respective territories is not constrained by Parliament’s Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, 1957 (1957 Act).
- The case which has been pending for more than a quarter century was decided by an 8:1 ruling with Chief Justice of India (CJI) D.Y. Chandrachud authoring the majority opinion.
- Justice B.V. Nagarathna gave a dissenting opinion where she cautioned that allowing States to impose additional levies could hinder the development of the nation’s mineral resources and disproportionately advantage mineral-rich States.
Quad calls for end to violence in Ukraine, Gaza, and Myanmar
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GS 2: International Relations- Important International institutions, agencies, their structure and mandates
- The Quadrilateral partnership consisting of Australia, India, Japan, and the United States intends to expand the Indo-Pacific Partnership for Maritime Domain Awareness (IPMDA) into the Indian Ocean Region, the Foreign Ministers of the four member countries announced on Monday in Tokyo.
- Addressing the meeting, External Affairs Minister Dr. S. Jaishankar said the four members of the Quad grouping are democracies that are working as a “powerful stabilizing factor.”
- The Ministers also called for immediate cessation of violence in Ukraine, Gaza, and Myanmar.
Defence Acquisition Council approves amendment to MQ-9B UAV deal with U.S.
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GS 3: General awareness in the fields of IT, Space, Computers, Robotics, Nanotechnology, bio-technology
- The Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) chaired by defence minister Rajnath Singh on Monday reviewed and approved amendments to the deal for 31 MQ-9B High Altitude Long Endurance (HALE) Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) from general Atomics of the US, according to defence sources.
- The DAC also gave approval to proposal regarding the scheduled refit of aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya later this year, sources said.
- “The amendments approved are within the scope of the Acceptance of Necessity (AoN) that was granted for the MQ-9B deal.
- They are related to the indigenous content and related aspects,” a defence source said.
Centre likely to move ILO against its India employment report
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GS 3: Indian Economy and issues relating to planning, mobilisation of resources, growth, development and employment
- India, a founding member of the International Labour Organization (ILO), is likely to raise a complaint against the UN agency over its India Employment Report 2024, released in March this year.
- A Union Labour Ministry official said the “model” ILO had used to assess the employment scenario in India was not suitable and India has its own assessment of the situation.
- Weeks before the general election, the report prepared by the ILO and the Institute of Human Development (IHD) said India’s youth account for almost 83% of the unemployed workforce and the share of youngsters with secondary or higher education in the total unemployed youth has almost doubled from 35.2% in 2000 to 65.7% in 2022.
NCERT proposes 10 ‘bagless days’ a year for students from Classes 6 to 8
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GS 2: Issues relating to development and management of Social Sector/Services relating to Health, Education, Human Resources
- To provide respite to school students between Classes 6 and 8, the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) has proposed 10 ‘bagless days’ to be implemented by schools across States.
- In its guidelines, the NCERT has said that teachers would have to plan activities for students to learn from local vocational experts, including carpenters, gardeners, potters, and artists.
Spike in freight costs to hit exporters
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GS 3: Indian Economy (international trade)
- A recent four-fold spike in container freight costs, could hit Indian exporters’ profit margins and enhance their working capital requirements through 2024-25 if there is no respite soon, with smaller players likely to face a worse impact, India Ratings and Research (Ind-Ra) warned on Monday.
- While freight rates had corrected significantly after the surge witnessed in 2022 after the COVID pandemic due to supply chain bottlenecks, the correction in freight and forwarding cost of Indian corporates was lower than that for international freight and forwarding cost, and is likely to inch up in this financial year, Ind-Ra noted.
