- Core sector contraction widens to 2.5%
The issue in news
Output at India’s eight core sectors shrank 2.5% in October with the contraction widening from September’s revised 0.1% decline as steel production slid again after a brief revival in the preceding month.
Core Sectors:
- The eight-core sectors of the Indian economy are:
-
- Electricity
- Steel
- Refinery products
- Crude oil
- Coal
- Cement
- Natural gas
- Fertilizers
- The core sectors account for about 40% of the Index of Industrial Production (IIP).
Core sectors
Core sectors of an economy are the main or the key industries in the economy. In India, 8 sectors are considered the Core Sectors.
These industries have a major impact on general economic activities and also industrial activities. They significantly impact most other industries as well. The core sector represents the capital base of the economy.
These eight industries have a combined share of above 40% in the Index of Industrial Production (IIP).
The IIP gives the growth rates of different industry groups of the economy over a specified period
Index of Eight Core Industries (ICI)
The ICI is a production volume index prepared and released by the Office of the Economic Adviser (OEA), Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), Ministry of Commerce & Industry, GOI.
- It is released 12 days before the IIP is released.
- The objective of the Index of Eight Core Industries is to give an advance indication on the production performance of the industries which are of ‘core’ nature before the release of the IIP.
- The ICI measures the individual and collective performances of the production in these eight core industries.
- The ICI is used by policymakers including the Ministry of Finance, other Ministries, and Departments.
- It is also used by banks for financing infrastructure projects and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).
- To calculate the ICI, the components covered under the eight core sectors are mentioned in the table below:
-
- Coal – Coal Production excluding Coking coal.
- Electricity – Actual Electricity Generation of Thermal, Nuclear, Hydro, imports from Bhutan.
- Crude Oil – Total Crude Oil Production.
- Cement – Production of Large Plants and Mini Plants.
- Natural Gas – Total Natural Gas Production.
- Steel – Production of Alloy and Non-Alloy Steel only.
- Refinery Products – Total Refinery Production (in terms of Crude Throughput).
- Fertilizer – Urea, Ammonium Sulphate (A/S), Calcium Ammonium Nitrate (CAN), Ammonium chloride (A/C), Diammonium Phosphate (DAP), Complex Grade Fertilizer and Single superphosphate (SSP).
- The ICI is released every month. The index is calculated by using the Laspeyres formula of the weighted arithmetic mean of quantity relatives
- GMRT accorded prestigious IEEE Milestone status
The issue in news
The Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (GMRT) has been selected as a ‘Milestone’ facility by the U.S.-based Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE).
- IEEE is the world’s largest technical professional organisation dedicated to advancing technology in all areas related to electrical and electronics engineering.
- This is the third such IEEE ‘Milestone’ recognition for an Indian contribution.
- The previous two Indian IEEE Milestones were for the pioneering work done by Sir J.C. Bose to demonstrate the generation and reception of radio waves in 1895 (recognised in 2012), and for the Nobel Prize-winning (in 1930) ‘scattering of light’ phenomenon observed by Sir C.V. Raman in 1928.
Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (GMRT)
- GMRT is an array of thirty fully steerable parabolic radio telescopes of 45-metre diameter. It is operated by the National Centre for Radio Astrophysics of the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research.
- It was designed and built by a team led by the late pioneering astrophysicist Govind Swarup in the 1980s and 1990s.
- Detecting the 21 cm signal from the most distant galaxies in the universe was the main science goal of the GMRT.
- Its design is based on the `SMART’ concept – for Stretch Mesh Attached to Rope Trusses.
- It is erected at Narayangaon, near Pune.
- The location for GMRT, Pune meets several important criteria such as low man-made radio noise, availability of good communication, vicinity of industrial, educational and other infrastructure and, a geographical latitude sufficiently north of the geomagnetic equator in order to have a reasonably quiet ionosphere and yet be able to observe a good part of the southern sky as well.
- Climate action portal launched
The issue in news
Union Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change launched a single point information source for climate action known as the “India Climate Change Knowledge Portal”.
About the Portal:
- The portal will provide information on the different climate initiatives taken by various line ministries enabling users to access updated status on these initiatives.
- The portal captures sector-wise adaptation and mitigation actions that are being taken by the various line ministries in one place including updated information on their implementation.
- The knowledge portal will help in disseminating knowledge among citizens about all the major steps the government is taking at both national and international levels to address climate change issues.
- The eight components of the portal are India’s climate profile, national policy framework, India’s NDC goals, adaptation actions, mitigation actions, bilateral and multilateral cooperation, international climate negotiations, reports & public.
- The portal can be accessed at https://www.cckpindia.nic.in/.
National Organ Donation Day
The issue in news
27 November is observed as ‘National Organ Donation Day’ in India.
Organ donation in India:
- To raise awareness of organ donation, the Indian government observes this Day every year.
- Organ donations have always been abysmally low in India. According to estimates, only 0.65 donations per million population take place in the country, compared to 35 in Spain and 26 in the US.
- Even before the pandemic, organ donations have always been low in India.
- According to data released by the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in 2019, 1.5-2 lakh people require kidney transplants annually but only about 8,000 (4 per cent) patients receive them.
- Similarly, almost 80,000 patients require liver transplants every year but only 1,800 of these transplants are performed. About 1 lakh patients require corneal or eye transplants annually but less than half manage to get them.
- For cardiac patients, of the 10,000 who require heart transplants, only about 200 of them match with viable donors.
- A major reason for this shortage is the lack of awareness among people about the process of donation.
- Those who wish to become organ donors need to register themselves on online portals like the National Organ and Tissue Transplant Organization (NOTTO), Regional Organ and Tissue Transplant Organization (ROTTO) or the Organ Retrieval Banking Organisation (ORBO).
- Family members of a deceased person can also consent to donate their organs.
Transplantation of Human Organs Act, 1994
- Transplantation of Human Organs Act was passed in 1994 and subsequently amended in 2011 thus bringing in form Transplantation of Human Organs (Amendment) Act 2011.
- It provides various regulations for the removal of human organs and its storage. It also regulates the transplantation of human organs for therapeutic purposes and for the prevention of commercial dealings in human organs.
Main Provisions
- The act recognises brain death identified as a form of the death process and defines criteria for brain death.
- It provides regulatory and advisory bodies for monitoring transplantation activity.
- It also provides for maintenance of a registry of donors and recipients of human organs and tissues.
हिन्दी