2022-2023

Current Affairs

75x75
by Guna Mathivanan
ANSWER WRITING
Chapters:
1. National Income
2. Inflation
3. Public Finance
4. Money Market
5. Capital Market
6. Money Stock Measures
7. External Trade
8. Human Development
9. Poverty and Unemployment
10. NCERT Key Terms
 1. MGNREGA (Society / Social Justice)
• The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural
Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), 2005,
guarantees 100 days of work each financial
year to any rural household willing to do public
work-related unskilled manual work at the
statutory minimum wage.
• The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural
Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS)
was initiated as directed in MGNREGA to
implement the mandate of the Act.
• The act makes it obligatory for the State to give
rural households work on demand.
• In case such employment is not provided within
• The Ministry of Rural Development 15 days of registration, the applicant becomes
(MRD), is monitoring the entire eligible for an unemployment allowance.
implementation of this scheme in
association with state governments.
MGNREGA
• One-third of the stipulated workforce must be
women.
• The employment will be provided within a
radius of 5 km: if it is above 5 km extra wage
will be paid.
• The wages are revised according to the
Consumer Price Index-Agricultural Labourers
(CPI-AL).
• Work site facilities such as crèche, drinking
water, shade have to be provided.
• Social Audit has to be done by the Gram Sabha
• Funding is shared between the centre and the
states.
• The funding pattern of the scheme comprises
100% funding for unskilled labour cost and 75%
of the material cost by Central Government and
rest shall be borne by the State Government.
Social Audit
• Social auditing is a process by which an
organization / government accounts for its social
performance to its stakeholders.
• In India, social audits were first made statutory in
a 2005 Rural Employment Act.
• The 73rd Amendment of the Constitution
empowered the Gram Sabhas to conduct Social
Audits in addition to other functions.

Gram Sabha
• Gram Sabha is the Sabha of the electorate.
• All other institutions of the Panchayati Raj like
the Gram Panchayat, Block Panchayat and Zilla
Parishad are constituted by elected
representatives.
• The term Gram Sabha is defined in the
Constitution of India under Article 243(b).
Why in News?
• The Centre has made it mandatory that the
attendance of workers under the MGNREGS be
captured through a mobile application with time-
stamped and geo-tagged photographs rather
than the attendance marked in registers.
• There are nearly 15 crore active workers under
the MGNREGS.
• The latest development is expected to check any
leakage in the programme and bring in more
transparency.
• This is also expected to stop any bogus
attendance of workers through fake entries in
physical registers and ensure only genuine ones
on the job get paid and the attendance is
captured in real-time.
• There were also concerns that the physical
register system could be manipulated, which
could lead to pilferage of MGNREGS funds.
Concerns
• However, concerns have been raised
related to patchy Internet connectivity in
rural areas and little or no technical
support.
• The biggest setback after the move has
been for women employees.
• In a majority of cases, the employees’
families are averse to giving phones to
women, especially smartphones.
• Hence, many women have dropped out of
MGNREGS.
2. PM-KUSUM Scheme (ECONOMICS)

• The Pradhan Mantri Kisan Urja Suraksha Evam

Utthaan Mahabhiyan (PM-KUSUM) launched in
2019 for farmers for installation of solar pumps
and grid connected solar and other renewable
power plants in the country.
• The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy has
formulated a Scheme ‘Kisan Urja Suraksha evam
Utthaan Mahabhiyan (KUSUM)’.
PM KUSUM
Component-A:
• 10,000 MW of Decentralized Ground
Mounted Grid Connected Renewable
Power Plants.

Component-B:
• Installation of 17.50 lakh standalone
Solar Powered Agriculture Pumps.

Component-C:
• Solarisation of 10 Lakh Grid-connected
Agriculture Pumps.
• All three components combined, the
scheme aims to add a solar capacity of
25,750 MW by 2022.
Subsidy:
• 60% subsidy on the solar pumps will be
provided to farmers will be shared between the
Centre and the States while 30% would be
provided through bank loans.
• The balance cost has to be borne by the farmers.
Advantages:
• Under the scheme, farmers can install a solar
power system and supply excess power to the
grid thus increasing farmer income through
sale of surplus power.
• Scheme also includes installation of stand-alone
off-grid solar water pumps to fulfil irrigation
needs of farmers not connected to grid.
Advantages:
• Reduction of transmission losses as well as
providing support to the financial health of
DISCOMs by reducing the subsidy burden to the
agriculture sector.
• The scheme has direct employment potential.
• Besides increasing self-employment the
proposal is likely to generate employment
opportunity equivalent to 6.31 lakh job for
skilled and unskilled workers.
• Impact on Energy/ Environment
Advantages:
• The scheme would also promote energy
efficiency as India has about 30 million farm
pumps that include 10 million pumps running
on diesel.
• The Scheme will have substantial environmental
impact in terms of savings of CO2 emissions.
• All three components of the Scheme combined
together are likely to result in saving of about
27 million tonnes of CO2 emission per annum.
• Further, Component-B of the Scheme on
standalone solar pumps may result in saving of
1.2 billion liters of diesel per annum and
associated savings in the foreign exchange due
to reduction of import of crude oil.
Why in News?
• The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy has
observed that some fraudulent websites have
claimed to be the registration portal for the PM-
KUSUM scheme, collecting money and
information from the people interested in the
Scheme.
• In order to avoid any loss to the general public,
MNRE has issued public notices, advising the
general public not to deposit any registration fee
or share any personal information on such
websites.
3. Ujjwala Scheme (Society / Social Justice)
• Launched in 2016, Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala
Yojana is a scheme of the Ministry of Petroleum
& Natural Gas which aims to safeguard the
health of women & children by providing them
with a clean cooking fuel – LPG.
• The scheme provides free LPG connections to
economically weaker families.
• The connections are issued in the name of
women of the households.
• Under the scheme, cash assistance of Rs. 1600 is
given to the beneficiaries to get a deposit-free
new connection.
Ujjwala Scheme
• Further, interest free loans are provided to
purchase a stove and refill by Oil Marketing
Companies.
• Initially, the beneficiaries under PMUY were
identified either from the SECC list or from seven
other identified categories.
• In 2018, the Government extended the benefit to
all left out poor families not having LPG
connections and not covered under the existing
beneficiary categories.
Under the scheme, an adult woman belonging to
any of the following categories, is an eligible
beneficiary under the expanded scheme.
• SC Households
• ST Households
• Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Gramin)
• Most Backward Classes
• Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY)
• Tea and Ex- Tea Garden tribes
• Forest Dwellers
• People residing in Islands and River Islands
• SECC Households (AHL TIN)
• Poor Household as per 14-point declaration
• Applicant must have attained 18 years of age.
• There should not be any other LPG connections in
the same household
 PMUY 2.0
• Last year, the Government of India launched the
second phase of Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana -
Ujjwala 2.0.
• During Ujjwala 1.0, launched in 2016, a target
was set to provide LPG connections to 5 crore
women members of BPL households.
• Later, the target was revised to 8 Crore LPG
connections which was achieved in August 2019.
• In the Union budget for Financial Year 2021-22, a
provision for an additional one crore LPG
• Along with a deposit free LPG connection under the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala
connection, Ujjwala 2.0 will provide first Yojana was announced.
refill and hotplate free of cost to the • These one crore additional connections under
beneficiaries. Ujjwala 2.0 aim to provide deposit-free LPG
• In Ujjwala 2.0, migrants will not be connections to those low-income families who
required to submit ration cards or could not be covered under the earlier phase of
address proof. this scheme.
Why in News?
• According to an Right to Information (RTI)
response from oil marketing firms, in the last
financial year, 90 lakh beneficiaries of the
Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana did not refill their
cylinders.
• And over 1 crore beneficiaries refilled their
cylinders only once.
• Since the COVID-19 pandemic started in 2020,
fuel prices fluctuated and kept rising with the
disruptions of fuel imports.
• Thus, even after providing subsidies under Central
schemes like Ujjwala Yojana, the LPG rates were
too high for consumers to refill even once.
• With being unable to refill LPG cylinders due to
exorbitant prices, many of them have returned to
getting fuel from wood, cow dung, etc.
 4. PRAGATI
• PRAGATI (Pro-Active Governance And Timely
Implementation) is a multi-purpose and multi-
modal platform existing in the Prime Minister’s
Office.
• PRAGATI is an interacting video conferencing
platform where PM will interact with
Government Secretaries and Chief Secretaries of
the States.
• Will be held on every month on fourth
Wednesday at 3.30 pm – to be known as PRAGATI
Day.
• Promotes cooperative federalism as it brings on
one platform the Secretaries of Government of
India and the Chief Secretaries of the States.
“Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently • It is aimed at addressing common man’s
chaired the meeting of the 40th edition grievances and simultaneously monitoring and
of PRAGATI” reviewing important programmes and projects.
 National Informatics Centre
• The National Informatics Centre under the
Ministry of Electronics and Information
Technology (MeitY) is the technology partner of
the Government of India.
• It was established in 1976 with an objective to
provide technology driven solutions to Central
and State Governments in various aspects of
development.
“The system has been designed inhouse • NIC has been instrumental in adopting and
by the PMO team with the help of providing Information and Communication
National Informatics Center (NIC)” Technology (ICT) and eGovernance support to the
Central Government.
5. UNCCD
Land Degradation Vs Land Desertification
(Environment)

• Land degradation is caused by multiple forces,

including extreme weather conditions
particularly drought, and human activities that
pollute or degrade the quality of soils and land
utility negatively affecting food production,
livelihoods, and the production and provision of
other ecosystem goods and service
• Desertification is defined as “a type of land
degradation in which a relatively dry land region
becomes increasingly arid, typically losing its
bodies of water as well as vegetation and
wildlife.”
Causes
• Extreme heat events that reduce photosynthesis
in trees, restrict their overall growth rates
• Global warming increases heat stress, deficits in
soil moisture that in turn will increase the rate of
drying/ aridity
• Increased/excessive rainfall over a short period
of time that leads to crop losses and topsoil
erosion
• Land acts as both the source as well as a sink of
carbon thereby, so urbanization, deforestation,
change in cropping pattern, have a direct impact
on the overall emissions of greenhouse gases.
 Impact
• As land is degraded and in some places deserts
expand,
• food production is reduced,
• Water sources dry up populations are pressured
to move to more hospitable areas resulting in
large scale migration to urban centres putting
pressure on limited resources in urban areas.
• Forests, Trees, Vegetation Cover, Soil Organic
Compound are important sink of Carbon dioxide
“Globally, about 25 percent of the – Land degradation reduces the amount of
total land area has been degraded. Carbon dioxide absorbed.
40% of world’s population is impacted
negatively because of land
degradation”
Impact on Health
• Higher threats of malnutrition from reduced
food and water supplies;
• More water- and food-borne diseases that
result from poor hygiene and a lack of clean
water;
• Respiratory diseases caused by atmospheric
dust from wind erosion and other air pollutants;
• The spread of infectious diseases as populations
migrate.
UNCCD
• The United Nations has three major Conventions:
the United Nations Framework Convention on
Climate Change (UNFCCC), the Convention on
Biological Diversity (CBD) and the United Nations
Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD).
• These conventions were the result of the 1992 UN
Conference on Environment and Development in
Rio de Janeiro, also called the Earth Summit.
• Established in 1994, the UNCCD is the sole legally
binding international agreement linking
environment and development to sustainable
land management.
• The Convention specifically addresses the arid,
semi-arid and dry sub-humid areas, known as the
drylands, where some of the most vulnerable
ecosystems and peoples can be found.
• The Convention has 197 parties including India.
Note: UNCCD – COP 14
• The COP, which meets every two years, discusses
ways and means forward to address global land
degradation.
• India for the first took over the COP presidency
from China for two years until the next COP in
2021.
• India’s is geographical area is 328.7 million
hectares.
• About 29% or about 96.4 million hectares are
considered degraded.
• As per ISRO’s Desertification and Land
Degradation Atlas, nearly 30% of land in the
country is degraded.
Note: UNCCD – COP 14
• COP 14 ended with a commitment to achieve land
degradation neutrality by 2030
• Such neutrality is defined by the U.N. as ensuring
that enough land is available across the world to
ensure a sustainable future.
• It is a state where the amount and quality of land
resources, necessary to support ecosystem
functions and services, enhance food security,
remains stable or increase within specified
temporal and spatial scales and ecosystem.
COP 14 - UNCCD
• COP 14 came with Delhi Declaration , a
consensus document, agreed upon by more than
100 countries “welcomed” the proposed adoption
of a “voluntary” land degradation neutrality
target by India, which has committed to restoring
at least 26 million hectares of degraded land by
2030.
• The Declaration doesn’t detail commitments by
other countries.
Why in the news?
• The 15th Conference of Parties (COP15) of the
United Nations Convention to Combat
Desertification (UNCCD) was recently held in
Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire, in West Africa.
• The COP15 theme, ‘Land. Life. Legacy: From
scarcity to prosperity', is a call to action to
ensure land, the lifeline on this planet, continues
to benefit present and future generations.
• The Conference concluded with a global pledge
to boost drought resilience and invest in land
restoration for future prosperity.
 Highlights of COP15
• The global leaders representing UN member
states agreed to establish an Intergovernmental
Working Group on Drought for 2022-2024 to look
into possible options to support a shift from
• The leaders came on board and also reactive to proactive drought management.
committed to priorities and ensure • The UN members also agreed and committed to
women’s involvement in land accelerate the restoration of one billion hectares
management for effective land of degraded land by 2030.
restoration. • The UN member states will focus on improving
• Other significant outcomes of the COP data gathering and monitoring to track progress
15 included: Abidjan Call issued by the against the achievement of land restoration
Heads of State and Government to commitments.
boost long-term environmental • They committed to establishing a new
sustainability and Abidjan Declaration partnership model for large-scale integrated
on achieving gender equality for landscape investment programmes.
successful land restoration.
Note: Bonn Challenge
• The Bonn Challenge is a global effort to bring 150
million hectares of the world’s deforested and
degraded land into restoration by 2020, and 350
million hectares by 2030.
• It was launched in 2011 by the Government of
Germany and IUCN
• Restoring 350 million hectares of degraded
landscape by 2030 would take out between 13 to
26 billion tonnes of greenhouse gases emissions
from the atmosphere.
• At the UNFCC Conference of the Parties (COP)
2015 in Paris, India also joined the voluntary
Bonn Challenge and pledged to bring into
restoration 13 million hectares of degraded and
deforested land by 2020, and an additional 8
million hectares by 2030
6. Biosphere Reserve (In-Depth)
• Biosphere reserves are places where humans live
in harmony with nature, and where there is an
effective combination of sustainable
development and nature conservation.
• Biosphere reserves include terrestrial, marine
and coastal ecosystems.
• UNESCO has introduced the designation
‘Biosphere Reserve’ for natural areas to
minimize conflict between development and
conservation.
 Criteria for Designation:
Structure of BR
• Core zone is the innermost protected • A site must contain a protected and minimally
area of a BR free from human disturbed core area of value of nature
intervention. It includes higher order conservation.
predators and may include centres of • The core area must be a bio-geographical unit
endemism. and should be large enough to sustain viable
• Buffer zone is used for activities such populations representing all trophic levels.
as limited tourism., grazing , research • The involvement of local communities and use
, etc of their knowledge in biodiversity preservation.
• The transition area is where
communities foster socio-culturally
and ecologically sustainable
economic and human activities.
Who nominates Biosphere Reserves?
• Biosphere reserves are nominated by national
governments and remain under the sovereign
jurisdiction of the states where they are located
• In Indian Context Biosphere Reserves are
announced by the state or central governments
by notification.
• The Governments can nominate them under the
UNESCO’s (MAB) Programme after its
establishment as a biosphere reserve.

India
• India has 18 Biosphere reserves, out of which 12
are recognized under UNESCO’S MAB program.
• They are Nilgiris, Gulf of Mannar, Sunderbans,
Nanda Devi, Nokrek, Pachmarhi, Similipal,
Achanakmar-Amarkantak, Great Nicobar,
Agasthyamala, Khangchendzonga and Panna.
 World Network of Biosphere Reserve:
• The World Network of Biosphere Reserves was
created in 1971 by UNESCO.
•90 sites in 33 countries in Africa • It is a part of UNESCO’S MAB Programme.
•36 sites in 14 countries in the Arab • There are 738 biosphere reserves in 134
States countries, including 22 transboundary sites.
•172 sites in 24 countries in Asia and • In South Asia, over 30 biosphere reserves have
the Pacific been established. The first one was the Hurulu
•308 sites in 41 countries in Europe Biosphere Reserve in Sri Lanka, which was
and North America designated in 1977
•132 sites in 22 countries Latin • In India, Nilgiris was designated as the first
America and the Caribbean. biosphere reserve by UNESCO in 2000. It stretches
across the States of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and
Kerala.
MAB – MAN and ANIMAL Biosphere Programme
• Launched in 1971 by UNESCO
• It aims to promote innovative approaches to
economic development that are socially and
culturally appropriate, and environmentally
sustainable.
• It predicts the consequences of today’s actions
on tomorrow’s world and thereby increases
people’s ability to efficiently manage natural
resources for the well-being of both human
populations and the environment.
Biodiversity Loss
• Today we see a increased Biodiversity loss caused
by various factors like climate change, invasive
species, overexploitation of natural resources,
pollution and urbanisation
• Because of the collective excesses, ecological
carrying capacity of planet earth has largely
been exceeded
• The trend needs to be redressed.
Pockets of Hope
• Biosphere reserves are places where humans live
in harmony with nature, and where there is an
effective combination of sustainable development
and nature conservation.
• It remains as a pockets of hope.
• If these pockets of hope can expand, with at
least one biosphere reserve per country, and
with more and larger sites covering the terrestrial
surface, it will give the realisation to millions of
people that a better future is truly possible, one
where we can truly live in harmony with nature.
Need of the hour
• Cleaner air, high quality drinking water, and
enough food and healthy habitats to ensure
that ecosystem services continue to benefit
humanity without critically affecting nature’s
balance.
• More financial support from richer nations and
from the private sector would be desirable for
establishing numerous biosphere reserves
• Strengthen environmental laws and policies and
their implementation
Evil Quartet
• It is a concept which discusses the major
causes of biodiversity loss
1. Habitat loss and fragmentation,
2. Alien species invasion ,
3. overexploitation
4. co- extinction.

Carrying Capacity
• It is the maximum population size that a
habitat can sustain indefinitely without
depleting available limited resources.
• The species population size is limited by
environmental factors like adequate food,
shelter, water, and mates.
Objectives
1. Attaining quality education for all
and lifelong learning UNESCO
2. Mobilizing science knowledge and • United Nations Educational, Scientific and
policy for sustainable development Cultural Organization (UNESCO) is a specialized
3. Addressing emerging social and agency of the United Nations (UN).
ethical challenges • It seeks to build peace through international
4. Fostering cultural diversity, cooperation in Education, the Sciences and
intercultural dialogue and a culture of Culture.
peace • Founded in 1945
5. Building inclusive knowledge • UNESCO’s Headquarters are located in Paris
societies through information and
communication
6. Focuses on global priority areas -
“Africa” and “Gender Equality”
Question
Biosphere reserves are the living examples that
humans can coexist with nature. In the above
context discuss the importance of biosphere
reserves (10 Marks, 250 Words)