Prelims Sure Shot 

1. India Lifted 271 Million People Out of Poverty

Why in News

• According to India’s Voluntary National Review (VNR) of Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) at least 271 million people were lifted out of multi-dimensional poverty between 2005- 06 and 2016-17. it has been presented by the Niti Ayog at the High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development.

 Key Points

Related Data:

• The estimates presented were drawn from the 2019 global Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) released in July 2019. Over 640 million people across India were in multidimensional poverty in 2005-2006. The number of people living under poverty decreased to around 369.55 million by 2016-2017. However, 27.9% of India’s population was still poor in 2016-17
• Poverty Reduction: In rural areas poverty reduction has outpaced that in urban areas.
• Multidimensional Poverty Index: it was launched by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Oxford Poverty & Human Development Initiative (OPHI) in MPI is based on the idea that poverty is not unidimensional (not just depends on income and one individual may lack several basic needs like education, health etc.), rather it is multidimensional.
• The index shows the proportion of poor people and the average number of deprivations each poor person experiences at the same time.
• MPI uses three dimensions and ten indicators which are: Education, Health, Standard of living A person is multidimensionally poor if she/he is deprived in one third or more (means 33% or more) of the weighted indicators (out of the ten indicators). Those who are deprived in one half or more of the weighted indicators are considered living in extreme multidimensional poverty.

 

2. Grant in Aid for Rural Local Bodies

Why in News

• Recently, the Ministry of Finance has released a part of grants-in-aid of Rs. 15187.50 crore for around 2.63 lakh Rural Local Bodies (RLBs) of 28 States.
• This has been made on the recommendations of the Ministry of Panchayati Raj and the Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation, Ministry of Jal Shakti.
• This forms part of the Tied Grant as recommended by the 15 Finance Commission (FC) for the Financial Year (FY) 2020-2021.

 Key Points

• Recommendation of 15 FC: It recommended the grant in aid of 60,750 crore for (FY 2020-21) the RLBs which is the highest ever allocation made by the Finance Commission in any single year.
• Allocation: It will be allocated in two parts, namely Basic Grant and Tied Grant in 50:50%
• Basic Grant: These grants are untied and can be used by RLBs for location-specific needs, except for salary or other establishment expenditure Untied funds are utilised for the works of emergent nature which are normally not covered under the schemes decentralized at the district level.
• Tied Grants: These are used for the basic services of: Sanitation and maintenance of Open-Defecation Free (ODF) Supply of drinking water, rain water harvesting and water recycling.
• If any RLB has fully saturated the needs of one category it can utilize the funds for the other category.
• Assistance: The Ministry of Panchayati Raj would support the states in effective utilization of the grants by providing Web/IT enabled platforms for planning, monitoring, accounting / auditing of the works and funds flow at the level of each of the RLBs.

Finance Commission

• It is a constitutional body, that determines the method and formula for distributing the tax proceeds between the Centre and states and among the states as per the constitutional arrangement and present requirements.
• Under Article 280 of the Constitution, the President of India is required to constitute a Finance Commission at an interval of five years or earlier. The 1 FC was set up in 1951 and there have been fifteen so far.
• The 15 FC headed by N.K. Singh was constituted by the President of India on 27 November 2017, against the backdrop of the abolition of the Planning Commission and the introduction of the Goods and Services Tax (GST).

 

3. Agreement on Scientific Cooperation Between India and EU

Why in News

• Recently, India and the European Union (EU) agreed to renew the Agreement on Scientific Cooperation for the next five years (2020-2025) during the virtual 15 India-EU Summit.
•  European Union (EU), is an international organization comprising 27 European countries and governing common economic, social, and security policies.
• EU was designed to enhance European political and economic integration by creating a single currency (the euro), a unified foreign and security policy, and common citizenship rights and by advancing cooperation in the areas of immigration, asylum, and judicial affairs.

 Key Points

• Renewal of Agreement on Scientific Cooperation: India and the EU have agreed to further collaborate in research and innovation based on the principles of mutual benefit and reciprocity, as established in the India-EU Agreement on Science and Technology (2001) which expired on 17 May 2020.
• Both parties are also committed to launch the renewal procedure for the above agreement and acknowledge 20 years of cooperation on research and innovation.

 Significance:

• It will also strengthen the institutional linkages in research, exchange of researchers, students, startups and attract co-investment of resources for co-generation of knowledge.
• India-EU Science and Technology Cooperation: Science and Technology: India-EU Science & Technology Steering Committee meets annually to review scientific cooperation.
• The Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES) and the European Commission (EC) have established a Co-Funding Mechanism (CFM) to support joint research projects selected under European Research & Innovation Framework Program ‘Horizon 2020’ related to climate change and polar research.
• Space Technology: Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has had a long standing cooperation with the European Union, since the 1970s. ISRO and the European Space Agency are working towards enhancing cooperation in earth observation. It also involves the Copernicus programme signed in 2018. Copernicus is the European Union’s Earth observation programme.

 

4. Delimitation in North-east Illegal: Former EC Expert

Why in News

• Recently, a former legal advisor to the Election Commission (EC) has held that the Centre’s order for setting up a Delimitation Commission for Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Assam and Nagaland is “unconstitutional” and “illegal”.
• The government constituted a Delimitation Commission to redraw Lok Sabha and assembly constituencies of the Union Territory Jammu and Kashmir and the four northeastern states on 6 March 2020. It is headed by the former Supreme Court judge Ranjana Prakash Desai.

 Key Points

Background:

• Last delimitation exercise (2002-08) kept out Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur and Nagaland because the data used for it from 2001 Census was challenged for being defective.
• The tribal communities in the four states feared that the delimitation exercise would change the composition of seats reserved for them, hurting their electoral interests. The Delimitation Act of 2002 was amended on 14 January 2008, to empower the President to postpone the exercise in these states after violence erupted.
• Subsequently, Parliament decided that EC would carry out the delimitation exercise in the four states and introduced the Section 8A of the Representation of the People (RP) Act 1950 for this purpose.

Issue:

• The Centre’s order for setting up a Delimitation Commission is illegal because it violates the Representation of the People Act 1950. Section 8A of the RP Act 1950, introduced by Parliament in 2008, states that delimitation in the four northeastern states would fall within the EC’s remit. Hence, any delimitation exercise by the new Delimitation Commission would be declared void and result in wastage of huge public funds.
• Delimitation is the act of redrawing boundaries of Lok Sabha and Assembly constituencies to represent changes in population and is done on the basis of the preceding Census.

Constitutional Basis:

• Article 82 provides the Parliament to enact a Delimitation Act after every Census. The Census Act of 1948 provides for the permanent scheme of conducting population Census. It is carried out in a ten years interval. Article 170 provides division of State into territorial constituencies as per Delimitation Act after every Census.
• Composition: It is usually composed of the retired Supreme Court judge, Chief Election Commissioner and respective states’ Election Commissioners.

 

5. Clinical Trial of Covid-19 Vaccine: ZyCoV-D

Why in News

• Recently, India has started phase I/II clinical trials of Covid-19 vaccine – ZyCoV-D, designed and developed by Zydus (a pharmaceutical company) with support from the Department of Biotechnology (DBT).
• The adaptive phase I/II clinical trials will assess the safety, tolerability and immunogenicity of the vaccine.
• The other indigenously developed vaccine – Covaxin – produced by Hyderabad based Bharat Biotech is also underway to start clinical trials.

 Key Points

• Description: ZyCoV-D, a plasmid DNA vaccine, comes under the Vaccine Discovery Programme supported by the Department of Biotechnology under the National Biopharma Mission. Plasmids are circular deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) vectors that can be used as vaccines to prevent various types of diseases.
• DNA Vaccine Platform: The development of ZyCov-D has established the DNA vaccine platform in the country which is simple to deploy, temperature stable, and consistently manufacturable- thus lowering costs and enhancing the effectiveness of a vaccine. Furthermore, the platform can be rapidly used to modify the vaccine in a couple of
• weeks in case the virus mutates.

 National Biopharma Mission

• It is an industry-academia collaborative mission for accelerating biopharmaceutical development in the country. It was launched in 2017 at a total cost of 1500 crore and is 50% co-funded by World Bank loan. It is being implemented by the Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC).
• BIRAC is a Public Sector Enterprise, set up by the Department of Biotechnology (DBT), Ministry of Science & Technology.
• Under this Mission, the Government has launched Innovate in India (i3) programme to create an enabling ecosystem to promote entrepreneurship and indigenous manufacturing in the biopharma sector.
• Objectives: Development of vaccines, medical devices, diagnostics and biotherapeutics besides, strengthening the clinical trial capacity and building technology transfer capabilities in the country.

 

6. Online NISHTHA Programme

Why in News

• Recently, the National Initiative for School Heads and Teachers Holistic Advancement (NISHTHA) programme has been launched for the first time in online mode in the state of Andhra Pradesh.

Key Points

• Initially, the NISHTHA programme was launched in 2019 through face-to-face mode to improve learning outcomes at the elementary level in the country. NISHTHA has been customized for online mode to be conducted through Digital Infrastructure for Knowledge Sharing (DIKSHA) and NISHTHA

Aim:

• National Initiative for School Heads’ and Teachers’ Holistic Advancement (NISHTHA) is a capacity building programme for improving the quality of school education through integrated teacher training. It aims to build competencies among all the teachers and school principals at the elementary stage.

Implementation:

• The functionaries (at the state, district, block level) will be trained in an integrated manner on learning outcomes, school based assessment, learner – centred pedagogy, new initiatives in education, addressing diverse needs of children through multiple pedagogies, etc.
• It is being organized by constituting National Resource Groups (NRGs) and State Resource Groups (SRGs) at the National and the State level who will be training 42 lakhs teachers

Digital Infrastructure for Knowledge Sharing

• DIKSHA Portal was launched by the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD in It provides a digital platform for teachers giving them an opportunity to learn and train themselves and connect with the teacher community. It is built considering the whole teacher’s life cycle – from the time student teachers enroll in Teacher Education Institutes (TEIs) to after they retire as teachers. It also provides access to NCERT textbooks and lessons, following the regular school curriculum.

 

6. National Thermal Power Corporation Limited

Why in News

• Recently, the National Thermal Power Corporation Limited (NTPC Ltd.) has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF), acting through the National Investment and Infrastructure Fund Limited (NIIFL). It will explore opportunities for investments in areas like renewable energy (RE), power distribution among other areas of mutual interest in India.

 Key Points

• NTPC Ltd. is a central Public Sector Undertaking (PSU) under the Ministry of Power. It is India’s largest energy conglomerate with roots planted way back in 1975 to accelerate power development in India.

 Few Recent Initiatives:

• Creation of public charging infrastructure in various cities and battery charging and swapping stations for electric 3-wheelers have been commissioned.
• Providing electric buses to state/city transport undertakings. For example, e-bus solutions for Andaman and Nicobar Administration are under implementation. Launch of its new project involving hydrogen Fuel Cell Electric Vehicles (FCEV) to run in Delhi and Leh.

National Investment and Infrastructure Fund Limited:

• It is a collaborative investment platform for international and Indian investors, anchored by the Government of India. It was set up in December 2015 to catalyse funding into the country’s core sector.
• It invests across asset classes such as infrastructure, private equity and other diversified sectors in India, with the objective to generate attractive risk-adjusted returns for its investors. It has a targeted corpus of Rs. 40,000 crore to be raised over the years. 49% of which will be funded by the government at any given point of time. Remaining 51% is to be raised from domestic and global investors, including international pension funds, sovereign wealth funds and multilateral/bilateral investors.

 

7. Indian Council of Agricultural Research

Why in News

• Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) celebrated its 92 foundation day on 16 July 2020.

 Key Points

• The Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) was established on 16 July 1929 as a registered society under the Societies Registration Act, 1860.
• It is an autonomous organisation under the Department of Agricultural Research and Education (DARE), Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Government of India. It is headquartered at New Delhi. With 102 ICAR institutes and 71 agricultural universities spread across the country this is one of the largest national agricultural systems in the world.

Note:

• The Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) will start a Farmers Innovation Fund. The ‘Kisan Diwas’ or National Farmers Day is observed across the country on 23 December to celebrate the birth anniversary of Chaudhary Charan Singh, the former Prime Minister of India.
• Norman E. Borlaug was the winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1970 for his work in global agriculture. He is also known as the Father of the Green Revolution.
• The World Food Prize is also known as the “Nobel Prize for Food and Agriculture”. Dr. Rattan Lal has been declared the winner of the World Food Prize 2020. M.S. Swaminathan, the father of India’s green revolution, was the first recipient of this award in 1987.