Current Affairs 21 October 2022

Current Affairs 21 October

CONTENTS 1)    CCI 2)    Pokkali rice 3)    Energy crisis 4)    Vulture conservation 5)    Mains value addition 6) Prelims ,PIB

GS-II -Statutory organisations

COMPETITION COMMISSION OF INDIA

CONTEXT –Competition Commission of India (CCI) imposes Rs 1,338-crore fine on Google for ‘anti-competitive practices’. For abusing its dominant position in multiple markets in the Android mobile device ecosystem.

CCI

•  to ensure smooth alignment of sectoral regulatory laws in tandem with the competition law., undertake competition advocacy

Achievements

Judgements

1. 2012 – Imposed fine on 11 cement companies for cartelisation.
2. 2013- Modified clauses in agreements between real estate company and apartment buyers -Landmark ruling and benefitted property owners across country
3. The Builder cannot undertake any additional construction beyond the approved building plan given to the buyers.
4. Not just the buyer but the builder will be liable for any defaults.
5. All payments made by the buyers must be based on construction milestones and not “on demand
6. 2013 – Penalty on BCCI for misusing its dominant position.
7. 2015- on three airlines for cartelisation in determining fuel surcharge on air cargo.
8. 2018- Fined Google’s parent company, Alphabet Inc.  for ‘search bias’.

Cartelisation

According to CCI, a “Cartel includes an association of producers, sellers, distributors, traders or service providers who, by agreement amongst themselves, limit, control or attempt to control the production, distribution, sale or price of, or, trade in goods or provision of services”.

 The three common components of a cartel are:

1. An agreement.
2. Between competitors.
3. To restrict competition.

GS-III- Agriculture

POKKALI  PADDY

• Pokkali is an ancient farming practice where one season of rice farming is alternated with another season of fish culture.
• Rice farming and fish farming are mutually complementary.

Significance

• Saltwater resistance ,Grown in kerala
• GI tag
• Variety – Vyttila 11
• Oldest and tallest rice variety in world.
• Help in Climate resilient agriculture
• Peculiar taste and high protein content, antioxidants, Low carbohydrate.

Issues

• As a person has to stand in waist-deep water to harvest the mature paddy stalks, it is tough to get workers to do the job.
  • Shrimp farmers – Pokkali farmers moved to the Kerala High Court against shrimp cultivators disrupting the crop calendar,
  • Court said the Pokkali rice cycle is from April 15 to November 15 with shrimp and fish farmers occupying the fields in the remaining period.
  • Fear that Pokkali may be facing the threat of extinction. 

Other GI Tag Registered Varieties from Kerala: Kaipad, Wayanad Jeerakasala, Wayanad Gandhakasala, Palakkadan Matta and Navara.

Further, the Kuttanad below-sea level farming system has been recognised by the FAO as a Globally Important Agricultural Heritage System (GIAHS).

GS-III – Energy security

ENERGY CRISIS

• The numerous leak in  the Nord Stream 1, energy pipeline connecting Russia to Germany, has driven supplies to a halt.
• The region of Groningen in the Netherlands has a gas field prone to earthquakes -government had earlier said that it would shutter the field in response to local protests.
• However, due to recent geopolitical tensions with reduced gas supplies , the Dutch government wants to keep options open.
• A Bloomberg report earlier this month said that if allowed, the additional supply from the field could go up to a level that would make up for what Germany imported last year from Russia.

Anthropological disasters

• Examples of human activity that could lead to ‘induced seismicity’ are damming of rivers to create reservoirs, oil or gas extraction, and mining.
• Fluid extraction from hydrocarbon reservoirs (rocks that hold hydrocarbons which are oil and gas) causes an increase in net effective stresses plus geomechanics of the rock, may lead to development of new faults and fractures.
• In the case of Groningen, the ground subsiding has been caused by extraction alone over several years. Such extraction causes rocks to contract — as the pores get to hold less and less hydrocarbons over time.

India’s dependence on global gas

• Examples of human activity that could lead to ‘induced seismicity’ are damming of rivers to create reservoirs, oil or gas extraction, and mining.
• Fluid extraction from hydrocarbon reservoirs (rocks that hold hydrocarbons which are oil and gas) causes an increase in net effective stresses plus geomechanics of the rock, may lead to development of new faults and fractures.
• In the case of Groningen, the ground subsiding has been caused by extraction alone over several years. Such extraction causes rocks to contract — as the pores get to hold less and less hydrocarbons over time.

GS-III – Environment

VULTURE CONSERVATION

CONTEXT – The Tamil Nadu government formed a committee to set up an institutional framework for the effective conservation of vultures.

• TN home to four species of vultures — the white-rumped vulture (Gyps bengalensis), long-billed vultures (Gyps indicus), the Asian king-vulture (Sarcogyps calvus) and the Egyptian vulture.

Habitat –

• The preferred habitats of the Vulture are deserts, savannas and grassland near a water source.
• It also inhabits open mountain ranges up to 3,000 metres above sea level.
• The Mudumalai and the Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserve are crucial strongholds for the vultures in southern India. Tamil Nadu boasts the largest population of vultures south of the Vindhiya Mountain Range.
• Valmiki Tiger Reserve (VTR), Bihar.

Role of vultures in ecosystem–

Challenges-

1. Poisoning – By man made drugs such as NSAID- diclofenac, ketoprofen and nimesulide results in kidney failure.Can wipe out all species.
2. Temple tourism – In sigur plateau .  There have been recorded instances of vultures abandoning nesting sites located too close to temples
3. Invasive weeds – Lantana camara in vulture-landscapes, which hinder the birds from scavenging as their large wing-spans require plenty of open area.
4. Illegal tapping of water along  streams
5. Climate change
6. Forest fires – the Terminalia arjuna trees, that many vultures use as nesting sites are disappearing.

7. Food Dearth and Contaminated Food.
8. Electrocution by Power lines.

Government initiatives

• Banned use of diclofenac to treat cattle.
• Ministry for Environment, Forests and Climate Change launched a Vulture Action Plan 2020-25 
• The Vulture Safe Zone programme 
• To upscaling conservation four rescue centres will be opened like Pinjore in the north, Bhopal in central India, Guwahati in Northeast and Hyderabad in South India.
• To study the cause of deaths of vultures in India, a Vulture Care Centre (VCC) was set up at Pinjore, Haryana in 2001.Later in 2004, the VCC was upgraded to being the first Vulture Conservation and Breeding Centre (VCBC) in India. Administered by BHNS.
• Last nationwide census of vultures in 2015

Way forward

• Experts have called for a synchronous vulture census to accurately identify vulture populations and nesting sites.
• Activists calling for strict controls on the amount of people allowed to attend the festivals around vulture nests
• Only through a multipronged approach of increasing the amount of food available to the birds and managing invasive species can vulture numbers start rebounding.

MAINS VALUE ADDITION

GS-II

Against equality – The Federation of All India Medical Association (FAIMA) has demanded immediate withdrawal of the new set of standard operating procedures (SOP) issued by AIIMS aimed at streamlining treatment arrangements for sitting MPs ,as it encourages VIP culture.

GS-II- Reduce crowding of prisons

• Over 450 prisoners have walked free in Chhattisgarh after Lok Adalats — a first of its kind initiative anywhere in the country according to authorities — were set up in jails across the State on October 15.
• The Adalats will be held every working Saturday and provide relief to undertrials, and in some cases convicted prisoners, by explaining their rights and legal options such as plea bargaining and settlement.

GS-III -Agriculture- Stubble burning

Origin- Because of green revolution

Solutions – In-situ solutions include happy seeders and bio-decomposers, while the ex-situ solutions include collecting and using stubble as fuel in boilers, to produce ethanol, or to simply burn away alongside coal in thermal power plants. Economic incentives .

GS- IV – Honesty

• The ‘honesty shops’ opened in nearly 15 schools in Kerala  as part of the Student Police Cadet (SPC) project have gifted some valuable lessons on trust, truth and integrity for students.
• There is no salesman at these counters and students can drop the money for each item like books & stationery in the collection box kept on a table. They can walk in, choose the item of their choice and pay for it based on the price list displayed.

 PRELIMS

• Hyderabadi Haleem wins ‘Most Popular GI’ (Geographical Indication) food award.
• Uttar Pradesh bags top honours at PMAY-U awards 2021.
•  60th anniversary of the India-China war, which began with a Chinese attack on October 20, 1962.
• Official languages committee headed by Amit shah.
• HCL founder Shiv Nadar gets 2022 Lifetime Achievement Award of USISPF (US-India Strategic Partnership Forum) and Hurun India Philanthropy List 2022.
• Pradeep Singh Kharola appointed CMD of India Trade Promotion Organization (ITPO)
• The Karnataka government has decided to promulgate an ordinance for increasing reservation for Scheduled Castes (SCs) from 15% to 17%, and for Scheduled Tribes (STs) from 3% to 7%.
• UPSC favourite -Metaverse is a combination of multiple elements of technology, including virtual reality, augmented reality, and video where users “live” within a digital universe.

The Interpol  unveiled the first-ever ‘metaverse’ specifically designed for law enforcement worldwide

• World Statistics Day celebrated on Oct 20, ‘Data for Sustainable Development’
• The Army, which has made three tranches of Emergency Procurements (EP) in the last few years, is preparing for a fourth round of EP which will be entirely from the domestic industry.
• The Indian Space Research Organisation, along with the Ministry of Science and Technology (MoST), is set to organise a two-day conference themed ‘Akash Tatva’ (the element Akash) in Dehradun that would expose “youth of India to the wisdoms of ancient science along with modern scientific advancements”.

PIB

• PM launched Mission LiFE at the Statue of Unity, Ekta Nagar, Kevadia, Gujarat.
• Dharmendra Pradhan launches National Curriculum Framework for the Foundational Stage and the pilot project of Balvatika 49 Kendriya Vidyalayas across the country
• A month long “Kashi Tamil Sangamam” is to be organized in Varanasi (Kashi)  from 16^th November to 19^th December,2022 .Spirit of “Ek Bharat, Shrestha Bharat” will create a bridge between ancient India and contemporary generation. Kashi Sangamam will rediscover the link between these two ancient centres of knowledge, culture and heritage.
• SPECIAL CAMPAIGN 2.0 in all government offices- Cleanliness in terms of DISPOSAL OF PENDING MATTERS -Good governance

Statements in news for GS-II

China will continue a “fighting” approach to diplomacy with a “rock hard resolve to safeguard sovereignty”

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