19 January 2024

DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS ANALYSIS

1 – An improvement in the trade deficit of India: GS III – Indian Economy:

Context:

• India’s trade deficit has significantly improved recently, as both imports and exports have decreased and the trade gap has shrunk.
• In November 2023, there was a USD 20.58 billion trade deficit as a result of merchandise exports falling 2.8% Year over Year (YoY) to USD 33.9 billion and imports falling 4.3% to USD 54.98 billion.
• From its peak of USD 29.9 billion in October 2023, the trade deficit demonstrated a notable decrease.
• A trade deficit is the difference between a nation’s export and import costs. It is included in the deficit of the current account.
• A reduction in the shipments of engineering products and petroleum, which account for almost half of India’s total exports, added to the overall decline in exports.
• November saw some assistance from developing industries like electronics (23.56% growth) and favourable contributions from iron ore, minerals, jewellery, and pharmaceuticals.

Source The Hindu

2 – Logistics Simplicity in Various States 2023: GS II – Government Policies and Interventions:

Context:

• The fifth edition of the “Logistics Ease Across Different State (LEADS) 2023” report, which offers strategic insights to stakeholders in the logistics sector, was recently released by the Ministry of Commerce & Industry.

Logistics Ease Across Different States, or LEADS, is what?

About:

• Across all 36 States and UTs, the logistics infrastructure, services, and human resources are evaluated using the LEADS, an in-house data-driven index.
• LEADS is still a bridging and guiding mechanism for identifying interventions that improve logistics efficiency at State/UT levels. International indices, such as the Logistics Performance Index, show a positive correlation with it.
• LEADS was developed in 2018 and has since changed. It was initially modelled after the World Bank’s Logistics Performance Index.

Criteria for Evaluation:

Three major criteria are used in the report’s evaluation of logistics performance:

• Infrastructure for Logistics
• Services for Logistics
• Environment of Operations and Regulation

Techniques:

• The report is based on a primary survey that was conducted throughout India between May and July of 2023, involving over 7,300 responses from 36 states and union territories. It also contains insights from more than 750 stakeholder consultations that were led by different associations.

Which LEADS 2023 highlights are most important?

Achievers:

• The logistics index chart 2023 classifies thirteen states and Union Territories as achievers, including Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, and Chandigarh.
• These areas have demonstrated effective logistical services that support economic expansion and the promotion of exports.
• According to the logistics index, Kerala, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand, Arunachal Pradesh, and Nagaland are considered to be fast movers.
• The logistical services in these areas have advanced and improved significantly.
• The aspirers category includes states and union territories like Goa, Odisha, West Bengal, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Himachal Pradesh, and Jharkhand. These areas are recognised as having the potential to expand their logistics ecosystem. These regions are working to improve their logistics.

Reforms in Policy:

• The importance of policy changes is emphasised in the report, along with the state of the logistics industry, digital initiatives (like PM GatiShakti, Logistics Data Bank, Unified Logistics Interface Platform (ULIP), and GST), and the coordination of state and federal logistics policies.

Source The Hindu

3 – Surat Diamond Bourse (SDB) in Gujarat: GS II – Government Policies and Interventions:

Context:

• A noteworthy advancement in the diamond and jewellery industries was recently marked by the Indian Prime Minister’s opening of the Surat Diamond Bourse (SDB) in Gujarat.
• The SDB is currently the biggest office complex in the world. By utilising Surat’s proficiency in diamond cutting and polishing, it seeks to move the centre of the diamond trade from Mumbai to Surat.

What is the Indian diamond industry’s current state?

• About Diamond: Pure carbon makes up the rare, naturally occurring mineral known as a diamond. The Greek word Adamas, which meaning indestructible, is where the word diamond originates.
• Diamond is found in two different types of deposits: alluvial deposits that come from primary sources and igneous rocks with a basic or ultrabasic composition.
• Russia, Botswana, Canada, South Africa, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo are the main producers of diamonds.
• As of 2022, Russia is the world’s leading producer of rough diamonds, with an estimated 42 million carats extracted.
• The G7 group of nations recently announced direct import restrictions on diamonds processed by third countries, such as India, starting in March 2024, and on diamonds with Russian origins starting in January 2024. This announcement has caused significant anxiety for the Indian gem and jewellery trade as well as the diamond processing industry.
• Still, lab-grown diamonds are becoming more popular because they are environmentally friendly.
• India is home to the largest diamond cutting and polishing facility in the world, producing more than 90% of the world’s polished diamonds.
• The Indian Diamonds Yearbook 2019 divides the country’s diamond fields into four regions:
• Madhya Pradesh’s Central Indian region includes the Panna belt.
• A portion of the districts of Anantapur, Kadapa, Guntur, Krishna, Mahabubnagar, and Kurnool comprise the Andhra Pradesh tract located in South India.
• The districts of Raipur’s Behradin-Kodavali area and Chhattisgarh’s Bastar district’s Tokapal, Dugapal, etc.
• Mostly in Odisha, the eastern region of India is situated between the Godavari and Mahanadi valleys.
• India is the top exporter of cut and polished diamonds in 2022.

Lab-Grown Diamonds: What Are They?

About:

• Lab-grown diamonds, also known as LGDs, are diamonds that are grown in a lab with cutting-edge equipment.
• They are also referred to as man-made, cultured, synthetic, or artisan-created diamonds.
• Natural diamonds are created under intense pressure and high temperatures deep within the Earth over a lengthy period of time—up to three billion years.
• The chemical, optical, physical, and crystal structural characteristics of LGDs are nearly identical to those of natural diamonds.
• Lab-grown diamonds are not subject to the negative social and environmental effects of mining, in contrast to diamonds that are mined.
• As a result, every LGD is regarded as environmentally friendly and helps to preserve the environment.
• Production techniques: Chemical Vapour Deposition (CVD) and High Pressure, High Temperature (HPHT) are the two main techniques used in laboratories to synthesise LGDs.
• A seed, or a slice of another diamond, is used in both the HPHT and CVD processes of artificial diamond growth.
• Market Share in India: As a major centre for diamond cutting and polishing, India has seen a sharp increase in export revenue as a result of the growing demand for LGDs around the world.
• Nonetheless, they currently hold a 2-3% market share in the diamond industry as a whole.
• The Union Finance Minister announced in Budget 2023–24 that customs duties on imported seeds used in the production of rough LGDs would be eliminated in an effort to increase the share.

Source The Hindu

4 – Validity of Arbitration Clauses in Unstamped Contracts: GS II – Government Policies and Interventions:

Context:

• Arbitration agreements incorporated into substantive commercial contracts or other instruments that are not stamped or sufficiently stamped are not void, unenforceable, or nonexistent, according to a recent ruling by the Supreme Court’s (SC) Constitution Bench, which consists of seven judges.

Which aspects of the SC decision stand out the most?

• giving the lead opinion in a curative petition that overturned a previous Supreme Court ruling in the N.N. by a five-judge bench. In a global case, the Chief Justice of India ruled that “inadequate or non-stamping defects are curable.”
• underpayment or inadequate contract stamping as defined by the Indian Stamp Act of 1899. would not impact the 1996 Arbitration and Conciliation Act’s arbitration procedures.
• A stand-alone law is the Arbitration Act. The Arbitration Act governs matters like the arbitration agreement, the appointment of arbitrators, and the arbitral tribunal’s authority to rule on matters. These matters must be evaluated in accordance with the legal guidelines.
• Consequently, the Arbitration Act’s operation cannot be hampered by the provisions of other statutes.
• The ruling significantly boosts India’s hopes of developing into a global centre for arbitration to settle business disputes swiftly.
• In the past, arbitrations involving similar disputes had encountered obstacles because the parties had either failed to pay the necessary stamp duty or had not sufficiently stamped the contracts.

What is the Indian term for the Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) Mechanism?

Arbitration:

• An arbitral tribunal hears the dispute and renders a decision (an “award”) that is largely binding on the parties.
• Compared to a trial, it is less formal and frequently has laxer evidence rules.
• An arbitrator’s ruling cannot normally be appealed.
• There is very little room for judicial intervention in the arbitration process, with the exception of a few temporary measures.
• The Arbitration and Conciliation Act 1996 (amended in 2015, 2019 and 2021) governs and regulates arbitration in India.
• The Arbitration and Conciliation (Amendment) Act, 2019 aims to create the Arbitration Council of India (ACI), an autonomous entity.

Harmony:

• a non-binding process wherein the parties to a dispute receive assistance from an unbiased third party, the conciliator, in order to reach a mutually agreeable resolution of the conflict.
• The conciliator’s recommendations are up to the parties to accept or reject.
• Nonetheless, the settlement agreement drafted by the conciliator will be final and binding on both parties if it is accepted by them.

Settlement:

• A neutral third party known as a “mediator” assists the parties in their efforts to settle their disagreement in a way that is agreeable to both of them.
• While assisting the parties in communicating so they can attempt to resolve the conflict amicably, the mediator does not make decisions for the parties.
• A mediator may be anyone who completes the 40 hours of training required by the Supreme Court’s (SC) Mediation and Conciliation Project Committee.
• In order to be eligible for accreditation as a qualified mediator, he must also have completed at least 20 mediations overall and at least 10 mediations that resulted in a settlement.
• The goal of the Mediation Act of 2023 is to encourage mediation—especially institutional mediation—and offer a way to make mediated settlement agreements legally binding.

Bargaining:

• A non-binding process whereby the parties start talks with each other without the help of a third party in an effort to reach a mutually agreeable settlement.
• It is the most widely used alternative dispute resolution technique.
• Businesses, non-profits, government agencies, court cases, international relations, and private affairs like marriage, divorce, parenthood, and daily living all involve negotiation.

The Arbitration Council of India (ACI): What is it?

• Context of the Constitution: Pursuant to Article 51 of the Indian Constitution, India shall make efforts to:
• Promote adherence to international law and treaty obligations in the interactions between organised peoples and a single nation.
• Promote the use of arbitration to settle international disputes. ACI is a step towards fulfilling this constitutional duty.

Goal:

• The mission of ACI is to advance alternative dispute resolution procedures such as conciliation, arbitration, and mediation.

The make-up of the ACI:

The Chairperson of the ACI will be one of the following:

• Chief Justice of a High Court; Judge of the Supreme Court; Judge of a High Court.
• a distinguished individual with extensive experience conducting arbitrations.
• Government appointees, a renowned arbitrator, and an academic with arbitration experience will round out the membership.

Source The Hindu

5 – Domestication of Yaks: GS III – Environmental Conservation:

Context:

• The first evidence of yak domestication by humans was found in Bangga, a settlement in the Shannan prefecture of the Tibetan Autonomous Region of China, according to a recent study.
• The Brahmaputra River flows through Shannan, a region bordered by Bhutan and Arunachal Pradesh.

Which are the Study’s Principal Findings?

• Coexistence of Domesticated Yaks and Taurine Cattle: The study emphasises how domesticated yaks and taurine cattle coexisted in Bangga 2,500 years ago, suggesting a highly developed degree of animal husbandry and agricultural techniques.
• The presence of taurine cattle in a region so close to the Indian subcontinent, where Zebus predominate, also surprised the researchers.
• It claimed that taurine cattle from Anatolia (modern-day Turkiye) most likely travelled through northern Tibet and the Silk Road to reach central and eastern Tibet.
• The majority of contemporary European and temperate Asian cattle breeds are taurine. They are not to be confused with the humped or Zebu breeds that are indigenous to tropical Asia and the Indian subcontinent.
• Proof of Hybridization and Advanced Breeding: Interestingly, researchers found evidence of hybrids, which are the offspring of deliberate crossbreeds between yaks and cattle. This finding highlights the sophisticated knowledge that prehistoric people had regarding animal breeding.
• In the Asian highlands alone, there are an estimated 14 to 15 million domestic yaks. They can also be found in the Union territories and Himalayan border states of India, including Arunachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Sikkim, Ladakh, and Himachal Pradesh. But wild yaks, who have never been tamed by humans, are in danger.

What Are the Important Details About Wild Yaks?

About:

• The wild yak, also called Bos mutus or Bos grunniens, is found in isolated regions of the Tibetan plateau, mainly in cold deserts, grasslands, and high-elevation alpine tundra.
• The native wild yak population, which was once also found in Bhutan and Nepal, is reportedly thought to have gone extinct in those countries, leaving only China and India as their current home, according to the Convention on Migratory Species (CMS).

Principal Dangers to Wild Yaks:

• The main threats are habitat loss, genetic hybridization with domestic yaks, and poaching.
• People in the Tibetan Plateau and the Himalayas breed Dzo (a male hybrid) and Dzomo (a female hybrid) by mating yaks and cattle.
• Wild yak populations are impacted by forced relocation to less desirable habitats due to disturbances caused by human activities and their livestock.

Source The Hindu