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Insights Daily Current Affairs Pib Summary - 24 June 2021
Insights Daily Current Affairs Pib Summary - 24 June 2021
24 June 2021
insightsonindia.com/2021/06/24/insights-daily-current-affairs-pib-summary-24-june-2021
InstaLinks help you think beyond the issue but relevant to the issue from UPSC
prelims and Mains exam point of view. 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. This helps you study a topic holistically and add
new dimensions to every current event to help you think analytically.
Table of Contents:
GS Paper 2:
1. What is ranked choice voting, which made its debut in New York mayoral polls?
1/13
GS Paper 3:
1. Suez Canal.
2. Pygmy hogs.
GS Paper : 2
Topics Covered: Comparison of the Indian constitutional scheme with that of other
countries.
What is ranked choice voting, which made its debut in New York mayoral
polls?
Context:
What is it?
The method allows voters to rank candidates by preference rather than selecting just their
top choice. New York City is having voters rank their top five — though voters are not
required to choose five.
Ranking candidates is far more complicated, but advocates believe it is fairer and more
accurately reflects the collective will of the majority.
1. If someone gets 50% plus one after all the first-choice votes are counted, then the
election is over and that candidate wins.
2. But if no one gets 50% plus one, it’s on to Round 2.
3. The person with the lowest number of first-place votes is eliminated, and that
candidate’s voters’ second choices get redistributed as votes for other candidates.
4. This reallocation of votes goes on until someone reaches 50% plus one.
2/13
There are some 20 jurisdictions across the country that use ranked-choice voting.
It has also been used by Australia, Ireland and Malta since the early 20th century.
Northern Ireland, New Zealand and Scotland have all adopted it as well.
1. It means the winner gets a majority of the vote. The usual system of “most votes
wins” can mean someone with only a plurality of the overall vote can be elected, not
necessarily the person with majority support.
2. More moderate candidates. It’s less likely that extreme candidates who have a
strong base of support but aren’t liked more broadly could get through in a crowded
primary.
3. Less negative campaigning. The argument goes that candidates need a majority
of voters to like them.
4. People can feel good about casting their vote. Instead of holding their nose for
that one choice they get, voters can express at least a first choice for the person
they really like.
Insta Curious:
InstaLinks:
Prelims Link:
Mains Link:
3/13
What is Delta Plus, a variant of coronavirus with K417N mutation?
Context:
The Health Ministry has categorised Delta Plus variant of coronavirus as a ‘variant of
concern’. It has been detected in many states.
1. An increase in transmissibility.
2. More severe diseases that require hospitalisation or death.
3. A significant reduction in neutralisation by antibodies generated during previous
infection or vaccination.
4. Reduced effectiveness of treatments or vaccines, or diagnostic detection failures.
In the case of the Delta Plus variant, the Health Ministry identified three characteristics
— increased transmissibility; stronger binding in receptors of lung cells; and potential
reduction in monoclonal antibody response.
1. Variants of a virus have one or more mutations that differentiate it from the other
variants that are in circulation.
2. Essentially, the goal of the virus is to reach a stage where it can cohabitate with
humans because it needs a host to survive.
3. Errors in the viral RNA are called mutations, and viruses with these mutations are
called variants. Variants could differ by a single or many mutations.
What is a mutation?
4/13
Variants of Concern so far:
‘Variants of concern’ include B.1.1.7 or Alpha first identified in the UK, B.1.351 or Beta
first identified in South Africa, and B.1.427 or Epsilon first identified in the US.
Earlier, the World Health Organisation (WHO) had identified the Delta variant or
B.1.617.2, first found in India, as a ‘variant of concern’.
Insta Curious:
Do you know Variants of Interest and Variants of High Consequence ? Read here
InstaLinks:
Prelims Link:
Mains Link:
Topics Covered: Bilateral, regional and global groupings and agreements involving
India and/or affecting India’s interests.
Context:
The United Kingdom has appointed a liaison officer to the Indian Navy’s Information
Fusion Centre for Indian Ocean Region (IFC-IOR), which is meant for maritime domain
awareness.
About IFC-IOR:
5/13
The IFC-IOR was set up in 2018 to coordinate with regional countries on maritime
issues and act as a regional repository of maritime data.
It presently has linkages with 21 partner countries and 22 multi-national agencies
across the globe.
It is located in Gurugram, India.
The liaison officer will be based full-time at the centre, working directly with the Indian
armed forces and fellow liaison officers from partner nations to enhance maritime domain
awareness in the region.
International Liaison Officers (ILO) from 13 countries have been invited, and ILOs
from countries had joined earlier- Australia, France, Japan and the U.S.. The U.K.
is the 5th country to post an ILO.
Insta Curious:
Do you know about the Indian Ocean Commision? Read Here (Briefly)
InstaLinks:
Prelims Link:
Mains Link:
Discuss how observer status at the Indian Ocean Commission helps India secure its
strategic objectives.
6/13
Sources: the Hindu.
Topics Covered: Bilateral, regional and global groupings and agreements involving
India and/or affecting India’s interests.
Context:
Through this India in collaboration with the UNDP and the TIWB Secretariat aims to aid
Bhutan in strengthening its tax administration by transferring technical know-how and
skills to its tax auditors, and through sharing of best audit practices.
7/13
2. The objective of the TIWB Initiative is to enable sharing of tax audit knowledge and
skills with tax administrations in developing countries through a targeted, real time
“learning by doing” approach.
3. TIWB is focused on promoting hands-on assistance by sending Experts to build
audit and audit-related skills pertaining to specific international tax matters and the
development of general audit skills within developing tax administrations.
Insta Curious:
Did you know about the Better Life Index developed by OECD? Read here,
InstaLinks:
Prelims Link:
Mains Link:
Sources: PIB.
GS Paper : 3
Context:
The Competition Commission has ordered a detailed probe against Google for alleged
anti-competitive practices in the smart television operating systems market in the
country.
CCI found that Google was dominant in the relevant market for licensable smart TV
device operating systems in India. It also said that prima facie mandatory pre-
installation of all the Google applications under Television App Distribution
Agreement (TADA) amounts to imposition of unfair conditions on the smart TV device
manufacturers. This is in contravention of Section 4(2)(a) of the Competition Act.
8/13
Section 4 of the Act pertains to abuse of dominant position.
The Competition Commission of India (CCI) was established under the Competition Act,
2002 for the administration, implementation and enforcement of the Act, and was duly
constituted in March 2009. Chairman and members are appointed by the central
government.
The Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices Act, 1969 (MRTP Act) was repealed
and replaced by the Competition Act, 2002, on the recommendations of Raghavan
committee.
Insta Curious:
InstaLinks:
Prelims Link:
1. About CCI.
2. Highlights of the Competition Act and amendments to it.
3. About NCLT and its jurisdiction.
Mains Link:
9/13
Climate crisis to hit sooner than feared:
Context:
A landmark draft report was recently released by the UN’s climate science advisers.
The report has not yet been officially released. It is, however, designed to influence
critical policy decisions.
Climate change will fundamentally reshape life on Earth in the coming decades, even
if humans can tame planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions.
Concern: Dangerous thresholds are closer than once thought, and dire consequences
stemming from decades of unbridled carbon pollution are unavoidable in the short term.
Food insecurity: Tens of millions more people are likely to face chronic hunger by 2050,
and 130 million more could experience extreme poverty within a decade if inequality is
allowed to deepen.
In 2050, coastal cities on the “frontline” of the climate crisis will see hundreds of
millions of people at risk from floods and increasingly frequent storm surges made more
deadly by rising seas.
Water scarcity: Some 350 million more people living in urban areas will be exposed to
water scarcity from severe droughts at 1.5 degrees Celsius of warming — 410 million at
two degrees Celsius.
Insta Curious:
10/13
Sources: the Hindu.
Suez Canal:
The Suez Canal is an artificial sea-level waterway running north to south
across the Isthmus of Suez in Egypt, to connect the Mediterranean Sea and
the Red Sea.
The canal separates the African continent from Asia.
It provides the shortest maritime route between Europe and the lands lying around
the Indian and western Pacific oceans.
It is one of the world’s most heavily used shipping lanes, carrying over 12% of world
trade by volume.
Pygmy hogs:
Context:
11/13
By 2025, the PHCP plans to release a target of 60 pygmy hogs in Manas- their
home where their last original population still survives, albeit in declined numbers.
What is PHCP?
Why in News?
Cabinet approved the agreement between India and Saint Vincent and The Grenadines
for the Exchange of Information and Assistance in Collection with respect to Taxes.
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