Daily Current Affairs – 19th October 2022

GRAVITATIONAL WAVE OBSERVATIONS

For the very first time, scientists noted that this observation of the Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave (LIGO) observatories coincided with the measurements made by other telescopes that measured visual and electromagnetic signals.

What is Black hole?

A black hole is a place in space where gravity pulls so much that even light can not get out. The gravity is so strong because matter has been squeezed into a tiny space. This can happen when a star is dying.

Because no light can get out, people can’t see black holes. They are invisible. Space telescopes with special tools can help find black holes. The special tools can see how stars that are very close to black holes act differently than other stars.

What are the observations through telescopes?

The matter moving faster than light: An unusual jet of matter was observed that gave an illusion of travelling faster than light. These were all exciting phenomena observed for the very first time by telescopes and observatories.

Confirmation by Hubble Space Telescope: Now, using data that had been recorded by the Global astro metric Interferometer for Astrophysics (GAIA) spacecraft and Hubble Space Telescope instruments, scientists have confirmed that the above picture is correct. They have made it more precise and descriptive.

Seven times the speed of light: In a paper published in Nature, they describe measuring the “apparent speed” of the jet to be about seven times the speed of light.

Lorenz factor: They have also measured more accurately a factor called the Lorenz factor which scales with the actual speed of the particles in the jet. Unlike earlier estimates which placed this factor at about 4, the present paper estimates this factor to be over 40. This is because they measure the speed of the relativistic jet to be close to 0.9997c, where “c” is the speed of light.

Clarity about the source as neutron star in block hole generation: This resolves the earlier fuzziness about what the source was and puts the source clearly as massive neutron stars merging to give a black hole and throwing off relativistic jets of particles in the process.

Fateful Triangle China,USA and India and Changing World Order

America’s national security strategy issued by the Joe Biden Administration last week and the Chinese Communist Party’s 20th Congress this week promise to reshape the geopolitics of Asia and the Indo-Pacific.

Historical background of USA-CHINA

Context of World War II: Asia has seen multiple phases in the US-China relationship. In the second half of the 19th century, American missionaries began to arrive in China and began to generate empathy for the nation. During World War II, Washington backed Chinese nationalists in their fight against Japanese occupation.

US efforts to isolation China: The US tried to isolate China from 1949 when the communists prevailed over the nationalists.

Cooperation to counter Soviet: The 1970’s saw the US and communist China come together to counter the Soviet Union.

Multiple Economic engagement: The 1980s saw the beginning of an economic engagement that turned into a huge commercial and technological partnership from the 1990s.

What is the USA’s assumption and China’s ambition?

China as responsible stakeholder: The US establishment dismissed the idea of China as potential threat and bet that Beijing could become a “responsible stakeholder” in the world order.

Democratization of Chinese society is inevitable: America also believed that China’s growing economic prosperity would inevitably lead to greater democratisation of its society.

Visible decline of west: China, however, has steadily moved in the other direction, especially under Xi, who has convinced himself that the West is in terminal decline.

China’s ambition to change the world order: Xi is determined to seize this moment to reshape the Asian as well as the global order to suit Chinese interests. At the same time, China has become increasingly repressive at home.

Explicit expression of ambition: Xi made no effort to hide China’s new geopolitical ambition nor has he been defensive about his authoritarian rule. This, in turn, bestirred the US into rethinking its China policy in the second decade of the 21st century.

How China is asserting itself?

Asserting own version of Global order: Beijing, argues that recent history points to the superiority of the Chinese system over the Western one. And it offers its own versions of a global order – economic, political and social. Since the end of the Cold War, ideological arguments had receded into the background but are now back in significant play.

China offering model Economic Globalization: China continues to sing praises of the model of economic globalisation that has facilitated Beijing’s rise over the last four decades. But under Xi, China has emphasised the importance of self-reliance in the name of a “dual circulation strategy”.

Leveraging world’s dependence for strategic gain: At the same time, Beijing has sought to enhance the world’s dependence on its economy and leverage it for strategic benefit. The profound political backlash against trade and economic cooperation with China in the US led to the questioning of economic globalisation in the Trump years.

China building the powerful military: As China became a richer country, it also focused on building a powerful army. Using both the instruments of hard power, China under Xi has actively sought to undermine US alliances in Asia and mount pressure on American forward military presence in Asia.

India’s role in shaping the world order

Convergence of National interest wit USA: Today, Indian and American policies are converging. For both Delhi and Washington, Beijing presents the main national challenges.

Reducing economic dependence on China: On the economic and technological front, both India and the US are trying to reduce their exposure to China.

Keeping independent foreign policy: On the geopolitical front, a US plan to look beyond formal alliances suits Delhi, which is wedded to an independent foreign policy.

Opportunity for cooperation: It is never easy to translate abstract convergence into concrete policies. The current churn in Asia provides Delhi and Washington with a historic opportunity to build on the new convergences in the areas of trade, technology, and geopolitics.

India’s Direct Benefit Transfer a Revolutionary tool for social welfare

Last week, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) lauded India’s Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) Scheme as a “logistical marvel” that has reached hundreds of millions of people and specifically benefitted women, the elderly and farmers. Paolo Mauro, Deputy Director in the IMF’s Fiscal Affairs Department, praised the role of technological innovation in achieving this feat.

What is Direct Benefit Transfer(DBT)?

With the aim of reforming Government delivery system by re-engineering the existing process in welfare schemes for simpler and faster flow of information/funds and to ensure accurate targeting of the beneficiaries, de-duplication and reduction of fraud Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) was started on 1st January, 2013.

DBT Mission was created in the Planning Commission to act as the nodal point for the implementation of the DBT programmes. The Mission was transferred to the Department of Expenditure in July, 2013 and continued to function till 14.9.2015. To give more impetus, DBT Mission and matters related thereto has been placed in Cabinet Secretariat under Secretary (Co-ordination & PG).

Efforts behind the efficient DBT

Mission-mode approach for financial inclusion: Government endeavoured to open bank accounts for all households, expanded Aadhaar to all, and scaled up the coverage of banking and telecom services.

Public Finance Management System through Aadhar: It evolved the Public Finance Management System and created the Aadhaar Payment Bridge to enable instant money transfers from the government to people’s bank accounts.

Participation of various stakeholders for extensive UPI: The Aadhaar-enabled Payment System and Unified Payment Interface further expanded interoperability and private-sector participation.

Directly receiving of subsidies: This approach not only allowed all rural and urban households to be uniquely linked under varied government schemes for receiving subsidies directly into their bank accounts but also transferred money with ease.

What is the Present status of DBT?

The status of JAM trinity (Jan Dhan Aadhar Mobile)

By 2022, more than 135 crore Aadhaar’s have been generated,

There are 47 crore beneficiaries under Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana,

Mobile subscribers number more than 120 crores.

Riding on this network, the DBT programme has reached commanding heights towards achieving the government’s vision of “sabka vikas”.

Last mile banking through Bank Mitras: 5 lakh Bank Mitras delivering branchless banking services.

DBT applicable to government schemes: Becoming the major plank of the government’s agenda of inclusive growth, it has 318 schemes of 53 central ministries spanning across sectors, welfare goals and the vast geography of the country.

International Solar Alliance approves funding mechanism

To bolster investments in solar power projects, the International Solar Alliance (ISA), in its General Assembly approved the ‘Solar Facility’, a payment guarantee mechanism.

What is Solar Facility?

It is expected to stimulate investments into solar projects through two financial components:

Solar Payment Guarantee Fund and

Solar Insurance Fund

The thrust of the facility is to attract private capital to flow into “underserved markets” in Africa.

The ISA would aim to crowdsource investments from various donors across the globe and proposed projects in Africa would be able to purchase payment guarantees or partial insurance premium from these funds.

Why such move?

ISA’s mission is to unlock US $1 trillion (₹80 lakh crore) of investments in solar power by 2030 while reducing cost of the technology and its financing.

What is International Solar Alliance (ISA)?

The ISA is an alliance of more than 121 countries, most of them being sunshine countries, which lie either completely or partly between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn.

It is headquartered in Gurugram, India.

The primary objective of the alliance is to work for efficient exploitation of solar energy to reduce dependence on fossil fuels.

The alliance is a treaty-based inter-governmental organization.

The initiative was launched by PM Modi at the India Africa Summit and a meeting of member countries ahead of the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Paris in November 2015.

Objectives of the ISA

To mobilize investments of more than USD 1000 billion by 2030

To take coordinated action for better harmonization, aggregation of demand, risk and resources, for promoting solar finance, solar technologies, innovation, R&D, capacity building etc.

Reduce the cost of finance to increase investments in solar energy in member countries

Scale up applications of solar technologies in member countries

Facilitate collaborative research and development (R&D) activities in solar energy technologies among member countries

Promote a common cyber platform for networking, cooperation and exchange of ideas among member countries

Benefits of the project

Attracting investment: An interconnected grid would help all the participating entities in attracting investments in renewable energy sources as well as utilizing skills, technology and finances.

Poverty alleviation: Resulting economic benefits would positively impact poverty alleviation and support in mitigating water, sanitation, food and other socio-economic challenges.

Reduced project cost: The proposed integration would lead to reduced project costs, higher efficiencies and increased asset utilization for all the participating entities.