Current Affairs 20th July 2023 for UPSC Prelims Exam

Current Affairs 20th July 2023 for UPSC Prelims Exam

Atomic and Hydrogen Bombs

Context: An upcoming Hollywood movie will narrate the life tale of Robert Oppenheimer, often hailed as the visionary/brainchild behind the development of the atomic bomb.

About Atomic Bombs

• Atomic bombs, also known as fission bombs, are a type of nuclear weapon that derives its destructive force from nuclear fission reactions.
• Nuclear fission is a process in which the nucleus of an atom splits into two or more smaller nuclei, along with the release of a significant amount of energy and the emission of neutrons.
• The first atomic bombs, dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki during World War II in 1945, were pure fission bombs. The devastation caused by these bombs led to the end of the war and a significant shift in global politics.

• Composition:
  • The core component of an atomic bomb is a fissile material, which is a substance capable of sustaining a nuclear fission chain reaction.
  • The two commonly used fissile materials in atomic bombs are uranium-235 and plutonium-239.
• Mechanism of an atomic bomb:
  • When an atomic bomb is detonated, conventional explosives are used to rapidly compress the fissile material into a supercritical mass. 
  • A supercritical mass refers to a quantity of fissile material that is large enough to sustain a chain reaction of nuclear fission.
  • When the fissile material reaches this critical state, the atomic nuclei are split into smaller fragments, releasing a tremendous amount of energy in the form of an explosion.
  • The energy release from an atomic bomb can be equivalent to the explosion of tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of tons of conventional explosives.
• Impact: The immediate effects of an atomic bomb explosion include an intense blast wave, extreme heat, and a significant amount of ionizing radiation, leading to devastating damage to buildings and infrastructure and causing severe injuries or fatalities to those in the blast zone.

About Hydrogen Bombs

• A hydrogen bomb, also known as a thermonuclear bomb, is a more advanced and devastating type of nuclear weapon compared to the atomic bomb.
• It operates on the principles of nuclear fusion where two atomic nuclei come together to form a heavier nucleus, releasing an enormous amount of energy in the process.
• The first successful test of a hydrogen bomb was conducted by the United States in 1952, code-named “Ivy Mike.”
• Mechanism of hydrogen bomb:
  • Hydrogen bomb uses a two-stage process to release energy.
  • In the first stage of a hydrogen bomb explosion, a smaller fission bomb (similar to an atomic bomb) is used to initiate the fusion reaction.
  • This fission bomb creates the high temperature and pressure necessary for the fusion of hydrogen isotopes (typically deuterium and tritium) in the second stage.
  • The fusion of hydrogen nuclei into helium releases an enormous amount of energy, several orders of magnitude greater than a fission reaction.
  • The energy release in a hydrogen bomb can be equivalent to millions of tons of TNT.

Nuclear Enrichment

• Natural uranium consists of two different isotopes – nearly 99% U-238 and only around 0.7% of U-235.
• U-235 is a fissile material that can sustain a chain reaction in a nuclear reactor.
• Enrichment process increases the proportion of U-235 through the process of isotope separation (U-238 is separated from U-235).
• For nuclear weapons, enrichment is required up to 90% or more which is known as weapons-grade uranium.
• Low-enriched uranium, which typically has a 3-5% concentration of U-235, can be used to produce fuel for commercial nuclear power plants.
• Highly enriched uranium has a purity of 20% or more and is used in research reactors.
• Methods for uranium enrichment:
  • The most common method of enrichment is through the use of centrifuges, which spin at high speeds to create a centrifugal force that separates the isotopes based on their weight.
  • Another method is gaseous diffusion, where uranium hexafluoride gas is forced through a series of barriers, allowing the lighter U-235 to diffuse more rapidly and become more concentrated.

Current Affairs 19th July 2023 for UPSC Prelims Exam

Tomato Inflation

Context: As prices of tomatoes continue to rise in various parts of India, the Reserve Bank of India has highlighted that the volatility of tomato prices has historically contributed to overall inflation levels in the country.

Tomato Production in India

• States: Tomato production in the country is concentrated regionally in the States of Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Odisha, and Gujarat, which account for close to 50% of total production.
• Crops: There are two major crops of tomato annually — kharif and rabi.
  • The rabi crop hits the market between March and August annually while the kharif crop comes to markets from September.
  • Some regions in Maharashtra and Himachal Pradesh’s Solan can grow tomatoes during the monsoon months.
  • In the summer, Andhra Pradesh’s Madanapalle region alone accounts for tomato cultivation in India.
• Production: As for tomato production, it peaked in 2019-20 at 21.187 million tonnes (MT) and has been declining since.
  • In 2021-22, it dropped to 20.69MT and 20.62MT in 2022-23.

Factors for Price Rise of Tomato

• Extreme Weather Conditions & Pest Attack: The heatwaves and high temperatures in April and May along with delayed monsoon showers in southern India and Maharashtra led to pest attacks in tomato crops.
• Low Commercial Realization of the Crop: As a result, inferior-quality varieties came to markets earlier in 2023, fetching farmers prices ranging as low as ₹6 to ₹11 per kg between December 2022 and April 2023.
• Crunch in Supply: A lot of farmers resorted to selling whatever crop they had at these prices while some abandoned their crops. This led to a crunch in supply.
• Incessant Rains: Incessant rains in tomato-growing regions further affected the new crop.
• Shift to Other Crops:  July-August is a lean production period for tomato, as it falls between yields, compounded the problem.
  • Reports show that many farmers in the Kolar district of Karnataka, which is usually responsible for sizeable tomato supplies, shifted to beans owing to the higher prices it fetched in 2022.

Is it a Seasonal Issue?

• Stand of the Govt: The Central Govt. has called this sudden and sharp price rise in tomatoes a “seasonal” and temporary issue.
• Policy Experts: However, policy experts over the years, and now the RBI and the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD), have expressed concerns over this high seasonal price volatility of tomatoes and its impact on the overall Consumer Price Index (CPI).
• Tomato as Most Volatile: A NABARD study notes that tomato is the most volatile out of all the three TOP (tomato, onion, potato) agri-commodities.
  • While the weightage of the food and beverages component in the combined CPI is 45.86, vegetables account for a relatively small part of this at 6.04, and the TOP commodities are even lesser at 2.20.
  • Even with such a low weightage, the contribution of TOP to the overall CPI has been quite volatile.
  • In June 2022, at 8.9%, tomato had the largest contribution among 299 commodities in the CPI basket.
• Cyclical Phenomenon:  A July 2022 study by ICRIER notes how tomato prices have been following a cyclical phenomenon, with the same situation arising every alternate year.
  •  The year 2021 also saw prices drop to as low as ₹2-₹3 per kg for farmers.
    • This led to a lot of them cultivating tomatoes in lesser land area and shifting to other crops, which resulted in a glut.

Measures to Control Price Rise

• Since tomato is highly perishable, improved value and supply chains can help with the problem.
•  An organised value chain involves a market-focussed collaboration of a set of entities working in tandem to produce, process and market products and services in an effective and efficient manner.
• An ICRIER study suggests increasing the processing capacity for tomatoes.
• Building more processing units and linking tomato value chains to processing of at least 10% of tomato production into tomato paste and puree during peak seasons, and using them in the lean season when fresh tomato prices spike can be a solution.
•  The development of integrated cold chains should be done.
• A 2022 study estimated that farmers’ share of what consumers pay for tomatoes is only 32%.
  • Eliminating middlemen and encouraging Farmer Producers Organisations to sell produce directly.
  • Amending rules of Agricultural Produce Market Committees to reduce commission and other fees should also be done.

Polio Virus

Context: It is unethical to continue using polio-causing oral polio vaccines for eradication of polio.

About Poliomyelitis (Polio)

• Definition: Poliomyelitis (polio) is a highly infectious viral disease that largely affects children under 5 years of age.
• Cause:  It is caused by a virus belonging to the Picornaviridae family that mainly affects nerves in the spinal cord or brain stem.
• Polio Strains: There are three individual and immunologically distinct wild poliovirus strains
  • Wild Poliovirus type 1 (WPV1)
  • Wild Poliovirus type 2 (WPV2)
  • Wild Poliovirus type 3 (WPV3)
  • Symptomatically, all three strains are identical, in that they cause irreversible paralysis or even death.
  • However, there are genetic and virological differences, which make these three strains separate viruses which must each be eradicated individually.
• Spread: The virus is transmitted by person-to-person spread mainly through the faecal-oral route or, less frequently, by a common vehicle (e.g. contaminated water or food) and multiplies in the intestine, from where it can invade the nervous system and cause paralysis.
• Treatment:  Polio can be treated with the following vaccines:
  • An inactivated (killed) polio vaccine (IPV)
  • A live attenuated (weakened) oral polio vaccine (OPV)
• Global Polio Eradication Initiative: It is an initiative created in 1988 to eradicate the disease poliomyelitis. It is led by WHO.
• About Vaccine-derived Polio:
  • Vaccine-derived poliovirus is a well-documented strain of poliovirus mutated from the strain originally contained in the oral polio vaccine (OPV).
  • OPV contains a live, weakened form of poliovirus that replicates in the intestine for a limited period, thereby developing immunity by building up antibodies.
  • Vaccine-associated paralytic poliomyelitis (VAPP) is a rare adverse event associated with oral poliovirus vaccine (OPV).
  • VAPP is caused by a reversion mutation of attenuated virus, thereby converting the virus back to an infectious form that subsequently attacks the nervous system.
• WHO’s Commitment:
  • In 1988, the World Health Assembly declared WHO’s commitment to global eradication of polio by 2000.
  • But in 1993, the goal was shifted, the goal was to eradicate only wild poliovirus globally by 2000.
  • This meant eradicating vaccine-derived poliovirus (VDPV) and vaccine-associated paralytic poliomyelitis (VAPP) was no longer the objective.
  • The reason was that developing countries using oral polio vaccine reported many vaccine-derived or vaccine-associated polio cases annually.
  • Meanwhile, the developed countries switched to inactivated polio vaccine thus eradicating polio decades ago.
    • As per WHO, switching from trivalent to bivalent OPV vaccine and introducing one dose of IPV can reduce the occurrence and ultimately eliminate all vaccine-derived type 2 poliovirus cases.
    • But the number of vaccine-derived type 2 poliovirus outbreaks have only increased sharply after the global switch to bivalent oral polio vaccine.

Henley Passport Index 2023

Context: The latest ranking published by Henley Passport Index has put India’s passport at the 80th spot, moving it up seven places from its position in 2022.

About Henley Passport Index

• Definition: The Henley Passport Index is the original, authoritative ranking of all the world’s passports according to the number of destinations their holders can access without a prior visa.
  •  The index is based on exclusive data from the International Air Transport Association (IATA), the largest, most accurate travel information database.
  • The Henley Passport Index compares the visa-free access of 199 different passports to 227 travel destinations.
  • For every country that a passport allows its holder to enter without requiring a visa, or simply by obtaining a visa on arrival instead of getting pre-departure approval, it scores a point.
  • The Index is brought out by Henley and Partners.
• Henley Passport Index 2023:
  •  Top 10 most powerful passports in the world:
    • 1. Singapore
    • 2. Germany, Italy and Spain
    • 3. Austria, Finland, France, Japan, Luxembourg, South Korea and Sweden
    • 4. Denmark, Ireland, Netherlands and the United Kingdom
    • 5. Belgium, Czech Republic, Malta, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal and Switzerland
    • 6. Australia, Hungary and Poland
    • 7. Canada and Greece
    • 8. Lithuania and The United States
    • 9. Latvia, Slovakia and Slovenia
    • 10. Estonia and Iceland
  • Weakest passports in the world:
    • Afghanistan remains at the bottom of the Henley Passport Index, with a visa-free access score of just 27, followed by Iraq (score of 29), and Syria (score of 30), the three weakest passports in the world.
• India’s Rank: India is currently ranked 80th on the index along with Togo and Senegal, with visa-free access to 57 countries.
  •  India’s ranked 87^th in 2022.
  • While Indian passport holders have visa-free access and visa-on-arrival access to countries such as Indonesia, Thailand, Rwanda, Jamaica, and Sri Lanka, they still need a visa to enter 177 destinations across the world. Some of these countries include China, Japan, Russia, the United States, and European Union Countries.
• Henley Openness Index: Henley & Partners also conducted an exclusive new research resulting in the Henley Openness Index which measures how many nations does a country allow visa-free access to.
  • Here, India was ranked 94 out of a total of 97 ranks for allowing only four countries visa-free access.
  • At the bottom of the Index were four countries for scoring zero for not permitting visa-free access for any passport — namely, Afghanistan, North Korea, Papua New Guinea, and Turkmenistan.

Rajasthan Minimum Guaranteed Income Bill

Context: The Rajasthan government has tabled the Rajasthan Minimum Guaranteed Income Bill, 2023, which effectively seeks to cover the entire adult population of the state with guaranteed wages or pension.

About Rajasthan Minimum Guaranteed Income Bill, 2023

• Categories of the Bill: The Bill has three broad categories:
  •  right to minimum guaranteed income,
  •  right to guaranteed employment,
  • right to guaranteed social security pension.
• Provisions:
  • Minimum Guaranteed Income: Each adult citizen of the state has been guaranteed a minimum income for 125 days a year through the Rajasthan government’s flagship Indira Gandhi Shahri Rozgar Guarantee Yojana for urban areas, and through Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) in rural areas.
    • The government will provide eligible categories with a minimum pension of Rs 1,000.
  • Guaranteed Employment: The right to employment states that post the work in urban or rural employment schemes, the minimum wages should be paid “weekly or in any case not later than a fortnight.
  • Program Officer: The state will designate a program officer, not below the rank of Block Development Officer in rural areas and an Executive Officer of the local body in urban areas, to implement the Act.
    • The Program Officer shall ensure that the work site is within a radius of five kilometres of where the job card is registered in both rural and urban areas.
    • If the Program Officer fails to provide employment within 15 days from the receipt of the application, the applicant shall be entitled to an unemployment allowance on a weekly basis.
  • Guaranteed Social Security Pension: Every person falling in the category of old age/especially abled/widow/single woman with prescribed eligibility shall be entitled to a pension.
    • Pension would be an automatic increase of 15% annually on the base rate in two instalments: 5% in July and 10% in January of each financial year 24 starting 2024-2025.
• Expenditure: An additional expenditure of Rs 2,500 crore per year.
• Importance of the Bill:  The aim of Bill is to guarantee minimum income to the poor.
  • Idea of the new law is to provide legal framework to different social security schemes to ensure that the money promised to people is given to them.
  • The Bill is part of a bouquet of schemes and measures undertaken by his government to provide relief from inflation.

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