Daily CA 21 July

1.

As clouds loom over global food grain supplies after Russia’s withdrawal from the Black Sea grain deal, India has banned the export of rice with immediate effect, although the ban is limited to varieties of non-basmati white rice. India’s move is likely to impact the global supply of rice, similar to what the conflict in Ukraine has done to other grains.

The uneven distribution of rainfall in the country during June, including a late start to seasonal monsoon rains in certain key rice-growing states and heavy rains in other regions, has led to concerns of a production shortfall. As a result, the decision to halt exports was triggered to mitigate the impact on the crop and ensure adequate supply.

The afflicted category, non-basmati white and broken rice, accounted for around 10 million tons of India’s overall rice exports of 22 million tons last year. The administration stated late Thursday that the prohibition did not apply to parboiled rice, which accounted for 7.4 million tons of exports in 2022.

Rice is a staple food for almost 3 billion people, and about 90 percent of the water-intensive crop is grown in Asia, where the El Nino weather pattern often results in decreased rainfall. Global prices have already reached their highest point in 11 years.

This week, as supply worries increased because of El Nino, the price of rice shipped from Vietnam reached its highest level in more than a decade. Vietnam is the world’s third-largest exporter, after India and Thailand.

Food costs have been rising due to disruptions to supply chains from the Russia-Ukraine war, and unpredictable weather has also weighed on food prices.

The latest decision shows how concerned India is about rising food prices. With an eye on a general election coming up in less than a year, the government has restricted rice exports since September 2022.

It expanded the export ban on wheat to control prices and supply for domestic consumption, and this year’s reduced cane yields pushed the center to limit sugar exports too.

India is crucial to the global rice trade as it is the world’s top rice exporter and accounts for 40 percent of global exports.

India’s record rice exports last year were more than the combined shipments of the world’s next four biggest exporters; the country’s rice shipments reached a record 22.2 million metric tons last year. India’s export ban will weigh on prices as it ships rice to over 140 nations.

2.

Sri Lanka has notified the Indian rupee as a designated currency

Making Indian rupee (INR) a designated foreign currency enables not only trade settlement between the two countries in INR but also Indian tourists coming to Sri Lanka can use INR for transactions.

the utilisation will depend on India’s private sector and people who engage in the trade sector. 

Wickremesinghe in India 

Wickremesinghe was invited by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and is the first Sri Lankan leader to visit since the island nation was hit by an unprecedented economic crisis last year.

Notably, this is also the first time that the 74-year-old Sri Lankan leader is vising India since he assumed office in July 2022 after his predecessor, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, fled Sri Lanka amid massive public protests

3.

The Indian government has been aggressively pushing the Digital India framework and forging ahead with the campaign to even the most remote part of the nation. 

The government aims to improve online infrastructure across the nation and, with better internet connectivity, the government and other services will be made available efficiently. 

But the spread of the internet comes with online security and cybercrimes, and in order to tackle such threats, there’s a need to establish measures and regulations. 

Hence, India is planning to enforce Digital India Act (currently a draft), which will seek to ensure that the internet in India is open, free from user harm and criminality. It will also look after establishing the institutional mechanism of accountability. 

What is Digital India Act (DIA)? 

DIA has been introduced to replace the Information Technology Act, which came into being in October 2000. 

The government said that the Digital India Act, of 2023 is a future-ready legislation that aims to provide a strong legal framework to support India’s tech goals. 

A statement published by PIB read, “It constitutes a significant part of the Global Standard Cyber laws being formulated by the Narendra Modi Government for catalysing India’s digital economy.” 

Digital Personal Data Protection Bill, the National Data Governance Framework policy, the recent amendments to the IT Rules, and CERT-In guidelines are important elements of this legal framework. 

Today, the nation is the world’s largest “digitally connected democracy” with 830 million internet users. 

The government argues that the internet is mostly managed under the 23-year-old IT Act, which lacks provisions on user rights, trust, and safety, among other issues, and is ill-equipped to deal with emerging, sophisticated forms of cybercrime such as doxxing, cyberstalking, and online trolling, among others

Technology has pros and cons 

From the internet to mobile phones to artificial intelligence (AI), several waves in information technology have come with immense benefits for humankind. But there have been associated issues as well. 

For example, many hail ChatGPT, and other tools like it, as the “next big thing”. ChatGPT is an AI-powered language model, which is capable of generating human-like text based on context and past conversations. It is developed by OpenAI. 

Its usage spread like a virus across the world, threatening jobs, and more. But the tool has also been condemned by experts. Recently, US regulators have asked OpenAI how it’s addressing the potential for ChatGPT to generate false and misleading statements about real people. 

AI-powered tech can help with efficiency and productivity gains, improved speed of business, and more, but there’s also a need to establish control over the tech o keep it in check. 

4.

The Indian space agency ISRO announced the successful completion of engines that would steer the Indian astronaut crew module, during the Gaganyaan human spaceflight missions.

This test involved five liquid apogee motor (LAM) engines with a thrust of 440N and sixteen reaction control system (RCS) thrusters with a thrust of 100N

This test is one in a series of many tests that ISRO intends to conduct under various circumstances, to check the reliability of its service module.

In simple terms, a rocket lifts a spacecraft or crew module to space using the rocket’s own propulsive power. Once the crew module is separated from the rocket and ejected into space, it has to rely on its own engines to steer itself, to move into the most precise orbit and even to steer itself back towards earth for re-entering the atmosphere etc. This time, ISRO has tested the systems that would help its crew module perform all of the above and more.

The five LAMs that offer a thrust of 440N each are meant to steer the spacecraft, change its orbit and perform the tasks that require high-thrust. Owing to various factors, spacecrafts are required to fire their on-board engines to makes course corrections, steer clear from space debris and other space objects or satellites etc.

For example, a spacecraft which has to dock with the International Space Station must be able to use its own engines to steer itself towards the space station. However, the LAM are the main engines of the spacecraft and are only placed on one side of the craft.

5.

NF Railway’s Carriage & Wagon Workshop, New Bongaigaon received the GreenCo Silver rating by CII-Sohrabji Godrej Green Business Centre, India. New Bongaigaon Workshop is the first workshop in NF Railway to achieve the GreenCo Silver rating. The workshop achieved Silver rating by completing its various green rating on-site works. GreenCo is a rating system, an initiative by the Confederation of Indian Industry to facilitate Indian industries to substantially improve their environmental friendly performance thereby saving both natural and financial resources.

The workshop used energy efficient equipment, green infrastructure for the maintenance of rolling stocks. It has also reduced Green house gases emission to a good extent in the last few years. Carriage & Wagon Workshop, New Bongaigaon has taken various steps for Water Conservation and Waste Management. As a result, overall specific water consumption has been reduced substantially during the last few years. The workshop has norms for material conservation, recycling and recyclability so that no waste shall be sent to the landfill. It will either be reused or sold to certified recyclers. To meet the high energy demand of the workshop, solar rooftop has been installed as a part of generating renewable energy. The workshop team has also done awareness and training programmes regarding environment sustainability. To get this rating, the workshop has also achieved a specific energy reduction by implementing 100% LED lighting in workshop

Inputs from Wion and Reuters