17 October 2022

DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS ANALYSIS

1 – Galwan River: GS II – International Relations:

Context:

• On October 16, immediately before Chinese President Xi Jinping entered the stage at Beijing’s Great Hall of the People to inaugurate China’s once every five years party congress, a film honouring the nation’s major achievements during the prior 10 years was screened on the venue’s screens.
• One of the eagerly expected images of China’s space programme and its cutting-edge domestic passenger aeroplane, the C919, was taken in the Galwan Valley, which is on the border between China and India.

About:

• The Galwan River links the contentious Aksai Chin region, governed by China, to the Indian Ladakh region.
• It begins near the Samzungling caravan camp on the eastern slope of the Karakoram Mountains and travels west till it merges with the Shyok River.
• The meeting of the two rivers is located 102 kilometres south of Daulat Beg Oldi.
• Galwan is a part of the Indus River system because of the Shyok River’s inflow.
• The little valley of the Galwan River in the Karakoram mountains has been used by China and India as a flashpoint in their border dispute.

Source The Hindu

2 – Landfill Sites: GS III – Environmental Conservation related issues

Context:

• The elimination of all legacy landfills nationwide is one of the goals of the Swachh Bharat Mission (Urban) 2.0, and representatives from the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs claim that preparations are well underway. A public dashboard that tracks the progress at 2,200 such sites is also a possibility.

About:

• Solid trash is stacked, compacted, and covered in a landfill, a man-made trench sunk into the ground.
• Landfills hold both household and business garbage. The majority of household garbage found in landfills is organic waste, which includes items like food, paper, cardboard, and wood.
• Landfills could also contain plastic or tin packaging.
• In a landfill, a safety liner prevents toxic substances from seeping through the waste and tainting the water supply.
• Additionally, this prevents the spread of rats and insects.

Dumping waste in landfills:

• Landfills of today are much more than just locations to deposit trash.
• This is a result of more cautious waste management practices to preserve the quality of the groundwater nearby.
• To safeguard the local ecology, lighter items should be kept near the sanitary dump’s base, where the majority of hazardous waste is buried.

Limitations:

• Sanitary landfills could be fatal if their systems malfunction since they require ongoing maintenance, wastewater treatment, and the recovery of poisonous gases.
• Sanitary landfills’ main drawbacks are their propensity to harm the environment and their pricey space and resource requirements for waste containment.

Benefits:

• Because carbon dioxide and methane are generated when waste begins to degrade, landfills provide for excellent energy sources.
• It is possible to extract, clean, and utilize these gases to produce energy.
• The nation’s landfills create about 95.6 million tonnes of carbon (IV) oxide per year.
• Environmentally friendly: Landfills are not hazardous to the environment because of the efforts of environmentalists and conservationists who advocated for tight landfill rules, norms, and standards.
• It is no longer common practice to simply dump almost anything in open-air landfills.

Problems with landfills

• Greenhouse Gases: Significant amounts of CO2 and methane gas are released into the environment during the decomposition of human excrement.
• These are greenhouse gases, which are very important in the process of global warming.
• Hazardous waste is disposed of in landfills, where it slowly seeps into the soil and groundwater.
• The ecosystem is seriously threatened by this. Among the substances on the list are arsenic, mercury, PVC, acids, lead, and household cleaning products.
• Leachate, a toxic chemical produced when water filters through landfill waste, has the potential to readily poison our rivers.

Conclusion:

• Even though contemporary landfills are designed to confine hazardous trash, leaks can nevertheless occur occasionally. As a result, landfills continue to pose a threat to the environment and public health. Communities of colour and those with lower incomes frequently reside close to landfills, according to studies. Because of this injustice, these people are more likely to be exposed to the health risks associated with landfills.

Source The Hindu

 3 – Foreign Direct Investment: GS III – Economy-related issues

Context:

• Despite investor apprehension caused by the pandemic and geopolitical upheaval, a survey by the Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) and EY estimates that India has the potential to attract $475 billion in FDI flows over the next five years.

Foreign Direct Investment (FDI): What is it?

• A foreign direct investment (FDI) is a monetary investment made into a company or organisation in another country by a party from that country with the aim of forming a long-term partnership.
• A company can employ foreign direct investment, among other things, to grow internationally and buy a long-term interest.
• In open economies with competent people and promising economic prospects, foreign direct investment (FDI) is widespread.

The following are some advantages of foreign direct investment (FDI):

• Foreign direct investment (FDI) can benefit local businesses, the business environment, and the economy of the nation where it is generated. Emerging economies benefit from foreign direct investment.
• Foreign direct investment supports the development of human capital, the spread of technology, and the integration of global trade.

Foreign direct investment pitfalls:

• Foreign direct investment limitations and currency rates may be detrimental to the investing nation.
• It occasionally can impede local investment by diverting resources elsewhere.

Foreign direct investment (FDI) and India:

• Foreign direct investment provides a significant financial boost to India’s economic growth (FDI).
• India started to liberalise its economy in the wake of the 1991 financial crisis, and since then, FDI has gradually expanded in the nation.
• India is the top recipient of greenfield FDI and one of the top 100 countries in the world for business accessibility (EoDB).

Source The Hindu

4 – Old Pension Scheme: GS II – Government Policies and Interventions

Context:

• Recently, the Joint Action Committee (JAC) for Public Transport Department (PTD-RTC) Employees issued a statement saying that they will encourage the government to reinstate the pre-merger pension plan and other social programmes.

The old “Pay As You Go” (PAYG) pension plan comprised what?

• Before 2004, a PAYG plan that gave beneficiaries the choice of paying a one-time contribution or having a fixed amount withheld on a regular basis was in place in India. The government was compelled to pay the full pension sum in order to ensure regular returns on employee payments to the General Provident Fund (GPF). The amount of the pension provided by the government to retirees was equal to 50% of their final pay plus DA. The pension was also given to any surviving qualifying family members in the case of a death. There is now a Rs. 9,000 minimum pension.

“National Pension System” definition:

• With effect from January 2004, the Central Government established the National Pension System. (NPS). (Due to the exclusion of the armed forces).
• In order to enhance and streamline the system, the Union Cabinet approved modifications for central government employees who are covered by NPS in 2018–19.
• The NPS was created to release the government from its pension commitments.
• India’s pension debt, according to a 2000s article, has gotten out of hand.

What was the government trying to accomplish when it created the National Pension Scheme?

• Only 12% of the workforce was covered by the old pension systems, leaving 88% of workers uninsured.
• Fiscal Burden: Because the PAYG programme was proving to be extremely expensive, there were worries that it might soon go bankrupt. Spending on pensions has increased as a result of the Fifth Pay Commission’s hefty award in 2006.

Source The Hindu