DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS ANALYSIS
1 – Current account deficit in India: GS III – Economy-related issues
Context:
- According to data released by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), India’s current account deficit (CAD) increased to $9.2 billion (1.1% of GDP) in the April–June quarter from $1.3 billion (0.2% of GDP) in the three months prior. This was due to a decline in net receipts from services and a decrease in goods exports, even as imports increased.
Why Is the CAD Widening?
- The CAD was $17.9 billion in the year-earlier quarter of fiscal 2022–2023—or 2.1% of GDP.
As stated by RBI:
- The main causes of the quarter-over-quarter increase in the CAD were a larger trade deficit, a reduced surplus in net services, and a decrease in private transfer revenues.
- While net services receipts increased year over year (y-o-y), they decreased sequentially, mostly as a result of a fall in exports of business, travel, and computer services.
- Private transfer receipts, which primarily comprise the remittances of Indian workers working abroad, decreased to $27.1 billion in Q4 of FY23 from $28.6 billion in the previous quarter.
- The income account’s net outgo decreased to $10.6 billion from $12.6 billion in the previous quarter, mostly due to payments of investment income.
- In Q1 FY24, net foreign commercial borrowings to India saw an inflow of $5.6 billion, compared to an outflow of $2.9 billion the previous year.
- ICRA projects the CAD to widen sequentially to $19–21 billion (-2.3% of GDP) in Q2, given the average merchandise trade deficit heading higher in July–August 2023 relative to Q1 FY24 levels and the recent surge in crude oil prices.
CAD: What is it?
- The country experiences a current account deficit (CAD) when its outlays surpass its revenues.
- It is calculated in US dollars and tracks the financial transactions involving the import and export of goods and services to and from India and other countries.
- When the nation’s expenditures for imports exceed its revenue from exports of goods and services, a current account deficit may result. When, on the other hand, export revenue exceeds import revenue for goods and services, the current account may be considered “surplus.”
- CAD is a crucial instrument for assessing the state of an economy. Every financial quarter, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in India produces CAD statistics, which is expressed as a percentage of GDP and is measured in US dollars.
Source The Hindu
2 – About MS Swaminathan: GS I – Indian History
Context:
- Mankombu Sambasivan Swaminathan, or M.S. Age-related complications claimed the life of famed agricultural scientist Swaminathan, who was also a major force behind the nation’s “Green Revolution,” at his Chennai home. 98 years old.
M. Swaminathan:
- In addition to receiving the inaugural World Food Prize for his role in India’s Green Revolution, he was a Padma Vibushan laureate.
- Swaminathan worked in a variety of areas in a variety of roles. He held the following positions: Principal Secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture (1979–80), Acting Deputy Chairman and later Member (Science and Agriculture), Planning Commission (1980–82), Director of the Indian Agricultural Research Institute (1961–72), Director General of ICAR and Secretary to the Government of India, Department of Agricultural Research and Education (1972–79), and Director General, International Rice Research Institute, the Philippines (1982–88).
- A panel on farmers was established in 2004 to investigate farmer misery in the wake of a startling number of suicide cases. Swaminathan was named chair of this commission. The panel recommended, among other things, that the Minimum Selling Price (MSP) be at least 50% higher than the weighted average cost of production when it delivered its findings in 2006.
Source The Hindu
3 – A unique dictionary: GS I – Culture-related issues
Context:
- A dictionary is needed for a language that is only spoken by 1,600 people in areas of West Bengal that border Bhutan.
About Toto Lingua:
- Toto belongs to the Sino-Tibetan language family’s Kiranti branch. Bengali script is used to write Toto, which is spoken by the indigenous Toto people.
- The primary speaking community is in Totopara, a village located in the northeastern Indian state of West Bengal’s Alipurduar district. The West Bengali district of Jalpaiguri is home to several Toto speakers as well.
- About 1,400 people spoke Toto in 2014; the language is considered severely endangered. The majority of Toto households speak Toto at home, although the kids attend school in Bengali, and outside of the home, more and more Toto people are speaking Bengali and Nepali.
- By putting the language’s vocabulary in print, the dictionary takes a step towards maintaining the language, which has only survived verbally up until now.
- In India, 42 languages are in danger of becoming extinct, according to a 2018 UNESCO assessment. There were fewer than ten thousand speakers of these. Any language that is only spoken by 10,000 people is potentially endangered, according to UNESCO’s standards. The majority of extinct languages originate from India’s indigenous tribal populations.
- Language conveys cultural values and indigenous knowledge in addition to serving as a means of communication for the expression of thoughts and feelings. Language loss will only lead to a decline in cultural diversity and a rise in cultural homogeneity.
Source The Hindu
4 – World Heart Day 2023: GS II – Health-related issues
Context:
- Every year on September 29, World Heart Day is commemorated to increase public awareness of heart disease and the preventive steps that may be taken to assist manage and prevent cardiovascular illnesses.
About:
- World Heart Day 2023 will have the theme “Use Heart, Know Heart.”
- In 1999, the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the World Heart Federation (WHF) collaborated to establish World Health Day for the first time.
- World Heart Day was first celebrated on September 24, 2000, and it was originally commemorated on the last Sunday in September.
- The World Heart Federation states that World Heart Day serves to educate people worldwide about cardiovascular disease (CVD), which includes heart disease and stroke, and how it is the biggest cause of death worldwide, taking 18.6 million lives annually. It also emphasises the steps that individuals may take to avoid and control CVD.
Source The Hindu
5 – ‘Five Eyes’ intelligence alliance: GS II – International issues
Context:
- The recent claims made by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada that the Indian government was responsible for the killing of Khalistani leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar on Canadian soil have drawn attention to the intelligence-sharing organisation “Five Eyes,” which is thought to have supplied the information that “helped” Canada.
About:
- A international intelligence-sharing network known as “Five Eyes” is shared by more than 20 agencies from five English-speaking nations: the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, and New Zealand.
- It is based on signals intelligence (SIGINT) as well as surveillance. The group was dubbed “Five Eyes” because intelligence shared amongst the member nations is classified as “Secret—AUS/CAN/NZ/UK/US Eyes Only.
- The United States and United Kingdom’s alliance. developed in the wake of World War II to fight the Soviet menace.
- After deciphering German and Japanese codes during World War II, the two nations formed an alliance to exchange intelligence on signals linked to radio, satellite, and internet communications.
- The partnership was formally established in 1946 with the signing of an agreement to cooperate in signals intelligence.
Source The Hindu
