UPSC CURRENT AFFAIRS – 4 July 2024

UPSC CURRENT AFFAIRS – 4 July 2024 covers important current affairs of the day, their backward linkages, their relevance for Prelims exam and MCQs on main articles

InstaLinks :  Insta Links help you think beyond the  current affairs issue and help you think multidimensionally to develop depth in your understanding of these issues. These linkages provided in this ‘hint’ format help you frame possible questions in your mind that might arise(or an examiner might imagine) from each current event. InstaLinks also connect every issue to their static or theoretical background.

Table of Contents 

GS Paper 2: (UPSC CURRENT AFFAIRS – 4 July 2024)

1. Social Security to Vulnerable sections

    

GS Paper 3:

2. RBI’s Draft Foreign Exchange Management Regulation, 2024

GS Paper 4:

3. Issues with the Medical Ethics in India

Reports in News:

4. New World Soil Health Index

5. Responsible AI for All (RAI) on Facial Recognition Technology (FRT)

Facts for Prelims (FFP)

1. Abhaya Mudra

2. Palm Trees

3. Desert Moss: Syntrichia caninervis

4. Li-Fi technology

5. Rudram-1

UPSC CURRENT AFFAIRS – 04 July 2024

GS Paper 2:

Social Security to Vulnerable sections

Syllabus: Social Justice

 Source: ET

Context: Karnataka has introduced new social security and welfare rules for unorganized transportation workers (under Karnataka Motor Transport and Other Allied Workers Social Security and Welfare Act 2024), aiming to cover approximately 5.4 million workers across various sectors. This initiative, a first in India, includes workers in ancillary roles such as tyre repair and wheel balancing.

What is Social Security?

Social Security refers to a system of public programs designed to provide economic support and protection to individuals and families facing various life circumstances that may lead to income loss or financial hardship. It typically includes measures such as pensions for retirement, disability benefits, unemployment benefits, healthcare coverage, maternity and parental benefits, and survivor benefits.

Issues with India’s Social Security system: 

1. Lack of Coverage: Around 53% of India’s salaried workforce and most gig workers lack access to social security benefits.
2. Budgetary Allocation: Initial funding for the National Social Security Fund was inadequate, far below estimated needs.
3. Poor Fund Utilization: Funds allocated often remain unspent or underutilized, indicating inefficiencies in management.
4. Corruption and Leakage: Funds are sometimes misused or diverted, with instances of fraud and improper beneficiary management.
5. Inadequate Benefits: Some schemes offer minimal benefits or have restrictive eligibility criteria, leaving out many deserving recipients.
6. Budgetary Cuts: Reductions in allocations for key schemes like MGNREGA reflect lower priority for social welfare.
7. Digital Divide: Transition to digital platforms for benefits distribution excludes those without access to technology.
8. Informal Sector: The vast informal labour sector, comprising 91% of India’s workforce, lacks formal social security coverage and benefits.

Government of India’s schemes:

Steps to Improve Social Security in India:

1. Universal Social Security: Consolidate existing schemes and provide universal coverage to all labourers.
2. Expand EPFO Contribution: Increase contributions to EPFO for formal workers, both employers and employees.
3. Government Support: Provide subsidies or assistance to vulnerable workers unable to contribute.
4. Digitization and e-Shram Platform: Invest in digital platforms for efficient registration and delivery of social security services.
5. Mandatory Social Security for Employers: Enforce mandatory social security entitlements for employees through their employers.
6. Raise Awareness: Increase awareness about social security rights and available benefits among workers.

Insta Links:

• Assessing India’s Social Security Programs

Prelims Links:

UPSC CURRENT AFFAIRS – 4 July 2024 GS Paper 3:

RBI’s Draft Foreign Exchange Management Regulation, 2024

Syllabus: Indian Economy

Source: The Hindu BL

Context: The RBI has proposed draft regulations (Draft Foreign Exchange Management (Export and Import of Goods and Services) Regulations, 2024) to streamline export-import transactions, enhancing ease of business for small exporters and importers.

Key Highlights of the Draft Regulation:

• Exporters must declare the full export value of goods or services to the specified authority.
• The full export value must be realized and repatriated to India within nine months from the date of shipment for goods and the date of invoice for services.
• Authorized Dealers (AD) may extend the specified period for reasonable and sufficient cause.
• No advance remittance for the import of gold and silver is permitted unless specifically approved by RBI.

Aim of the Draft: The draft regulations aim to enhance business convenience, particularly for small exporters and importers, while enabling Authorized Dealer Banks to offer faster and more efficient services to foreign exchange clients. These regulations align with India’s progressive liberalization policies governing foreign exchange transactions under FEMA.

What is FEMA?

Under FEMA all foreign exchange transactions are categorized into two types: current account transactions and capital account transactions.

1. Current Account Transactions: These include transactions that do not significantly impact the resident’s assets or liabilities outside India. Examples include payments for foreign trade, expenses related to foreign travel, and educational expenses abroad.
2. Capital Account Transactions: These involve transactions that alter the resident’s assets or liabilities outside India, such as investments in foreign securities or acquisition of immovable property overseas.

Resident Indians: Defined under Section 2(v) of FEMA, 1999, a resident in India typically includes individuals residing in India for more than 182 days during the preceding financial year, Indian-registered corporations, and offices or agencies in India owned or controlled by non-residents or vice versa.

Mains Link: 

Discuss how emerging technologies and globalisation contribute to money laundering. Elaborate measures to tackle the problem of money laundering both at national and international levels. (UPSC 2021)

Prelims Links:

UPSC CURRENT AFFAIRS – 4 July 2024 GS Paper 4:

Issues with the Medical Ethics in India

Syllabus: Applications of Ethics

Source: TH

 Context: The article highlights systemic issues in medical ethics oversight in India.

What is Medical Ethics?

 Medical ethics addresses ethical choices in healthcare, defining what is right or wrong within a specific cultural context. It governs the responsibilities of healthcare providers, including doctors, hospitals, and other professionals, towards patients and society at large.

Issues with the Medical Ethics in India: 

1. Informed Consent: Often not obtained adequately or at all from patients, especially in clinical trials involving vulnerable populations.
2. Patient Privacy: Lack of stringent measures to protect patient data and confidentiality.
3. Conflicts of Interest: Instances where doctors have financial interests in treatments or procedures they recommend E.g., involvement of senior doctors of Apollo hospitals in the organ trade racket.
4. Doctor-Patient Trust: Erosion due to the commercialization of healthcare and lack of transparency.
5. Regulatory Oversight: Weak enforcement and compliance with ethical guidelines, leading to abuses in clinical trials and patient care.
6. Inequitable Access: Disparities in healthcare delivery and access to treatments based on socio-economic factors.

Provisions of the Code of Medical Ethics:

Other Measures Needed: 

1. Boosting Medical Humanitarianism: Provide regular training and support to enhance doctors’ empathy and compassion towards patients.
2. Respectful Interaction: Encourage effective communication between doctors and patients, promoting familiarity with patient histories and routines to revive the concept of ‘family doctors’.
3. Focus on Emergency Medicine (EM): Introduce dedicated EM residents trained to handle tough situations, manage charged environments, and deliver difficult news effectively in emergency rooms and trauma centres.
4. Enforcement of Ethical Guidelines: Ensure strict adherence to ethical guidelines and cultural sensitivity among physicians and hospital ethical committees.
5. Ensuring Doctor Confidence: Implement measures for doctor safety such as security guards, CCTV cameras, and displaying patient interaction guidelines in regional languages within hospitals.

Insta Links: 

• Medical Ethics: ‘Cash-for-Kidney’ scam

Mains Links:

Case Study:

Dr. X is a leading medical practitioner in a city. He has set up a charitable trust through which he plans to establish a super-specialty hospital in the city to cater to the medical needs of all sections of society. Incidentally, that part of the State had been neglected over the years. The proposed hospital would be a boon for the region. You are heading the tax investigation agency of that region. During an inspection of the doctor’s clinic, your officers have found out some major irregularities. A few of them are substantial which had resulted in considerable withholding of tax that should be paid by him now. The doctor is cooperative. He undertakes to pay the tax immediately. However, there are certain other deficiencies in his tax compliance that are purely technical in nature. If these technical defaults are pursued by the agency, considerable time and energy of the doctor will be diverted to issues that are not so serious, urgent, or even helpful to the tax collection process. Further, in all probability, it will hamper the prospects of the hospital coming up. There are two options before you: Taking a broader view, ensuring substantial tax compliance, and ignoring defaults that are merely technical in nature. Pursue the matter strictly and proceed on all fronts, whether substantial or merely technical. As the head of the tax agency, which course of action will you opt for and why? (250 words)

UPSC CURRENT AFFAIRS – 4 July 2024  Reports in News

Reports in News

UPSC CURRENT AFFAIRS – 4 July 2024 Facts for Prelims (FFP)

Abhaya Mudra

 Source: IE

Context: The ‘abhaya mudra’ is a hand gesture symbolizing fearlessness and reassurance.

Originating in the Buddhist tradition, it is depicted with the right hand raised outward at shoulder height, fingers pointing up. It signifies protection and serenity, associated with the Buddha granting fearlessness to his followers, including taming a wild elephant. Over time, it became a motif in Hindu art, seen in depictions of deities like Shiva and Vishnu, illustrating their compassionate and protective qualities.

Palm Trees

 Source: DTE

Context: Odisha plans to plant 1.9 million palm trees and restrict cutting to reduce lightning deaths, targeting areas heavily affected during pre-monsoon and monsoon seasons.

Palm trees are part of tropical forest ecosystems and include varieties like Coconut, Oil Palm, Arecanut, and Palmyrah. Palmyrah is the State Tree of Tamil Nadu. They act as natural conductors during lightning strikes, preventing loss of lives.

What is Lightning?

It is a powerful electrical phenomenon caused by the buildup of electrical charges within clouds and between clouds and the ground. It results in a brilliant flash of light and thunder.

India is among a few countries with an early warning system for lightning, providing forecasts up to five days in advance. Lightning accounted for 2,880 deaths in 2021, making up 40% of all accidental deaths due to natural forces, as reported by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB). Lightning frequency is highest in northeastern states and West Bengal, Sikkim, Jharkhand, Odisha, and Bihar.

Desert Moss: Syntrichia caninervis

 Source: Space com

Context: Scientists have discovered Syntrichia caninervis, a desert moss capable of surviving Mars-like environmental conditions.

Syntrichia caninervis is found in harsh locations like Antarctica and the Mojave Desert. It is considered a potential pioneer species for Mars colonization.

What are mosses?

Mosses are small, non-vascular plants belonging to the taxonomic division Bryophyta. They lack true roots, stems, and leaves, instead absorbing water and nutrients through their stems. Mosses are commonly found in damp, shady environments worldwide, such as forests, bogs, and rocks.

Li-Fi technology

 Source: Financial Express

 Context: The Defence Ministry has adopted Velmenni’s Li-Fi technology to tackle communication challenges in the Indian Navy.

Li-Fi, developed by Velmenni, uses light for secure wireless communication, supported by a grant under India’s iDEX initiative.

What is Li-Fi Technology?

LiFi (Light Fidelity) is a wireless communication technology using visible light, specifically LED bulbs, to transmit data. Invented by Professor Harald Haas in 2011, LiFi offers high-speed, bidirectional mobile communication similar to WiFi but with faster speeds, lower latency, and greater bandwidth (thousands of terahertz).

It operates by modulating LED light to encode binary data, which is then received and decoded by photodiodes to transmit data wirelessly via visible light communication. This makes LiFi ideal for electromagnetic-sensitive environments such as aircraft cabins, hospitals, and nuclear power plants, as it does not cause electromagnetic interference and utilizes unused visible light frequencies for communication.

Rudram-1

 Source: FE

 Context: India successfully test-fires its first Indigenous anti-radiation missile, ‘Rudram-1’

What is Rudram-1?

 It was developed by DRDO for the Indian Air Force and is an air-to-surface anti-radiation missile launched from Sukhoi-30MKI fighter jets. It features INS-GPS navigation and a Passive Homing Head for accurate targeting of radiation-emitting sources. With an effective range of 500 meters to 15 km in altitude and up to 250 km in distance, Rudram-1 significantly enhances the IAF’s capability to suppress enemy air defences and neutralize critical installations.

Types of Missiles Used by Indian Military

UPSC CURRENT AFFAIRS – 4 July 2024 [PDF]

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