DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS ANALYSIS

27^th January 2022

No.	Topic Name	Prelims/Mains
1.	ABOUT THE AADHAR-VOTER CARD LINKAGE	Prelims & Mains
2.	DETAILS OF THE INDIAN COUNCIL OF MEDICAL RESEARCH	Prelims & Mains
3.	DETAILS OF THE ANTI DUMPING DUTY	Prelims & Mains
4.	DETAILS OF THE ASIATIC GOLDEN CAT	Prelims Specific
5.	ABOUT THE PANNA BIOSPHERE RESERVE	Prelims Specific

 

1 – ABOUT THE VOTER ID AADHAR LINKAGE:

GS II

Topic – Election related issues

• Context:
• The Election Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2021, aims to alter the Representation of the People Act to include essential measures such as voluntary voter ID linking with Aadhaar.
• Aadhaar and voter ID must be linked:
• Since 2015, the Election Commission has been requesting this. To link the Aadhaar number with the voter ID number, the EC created the National Electoral Law Purification and Authentication Program. The connection, according to the report, will weed out repeated enrolments under one person’s name.
• The programme was put on hold at the time because the Supreme Court ruled that using Aadhaar to access welfare programmes would be voluntary.
• As a result, the EC revised its plan and said that the linkage would be optional.
• Other clauses in the bill include:
• It will allow new voters to register on four qualifying dates instead of the current January 1 each year.
• Anyone turning 18 on or before January 1 is currently eligible to register as a voter. After a year, anyone born after January 1 will be required to enlist.
• According to the bill, in addition to January 1, there will be three more qualifying dates in each calendar year: April 1, July 1, and October 1.
• The reforms also make it possible for service voters to vote in gender-neutral elections.
• The modification will help to make the statutes “gender neutral” by replacing the word “wife” with “spouse.”
• Currently, an Army officer’s wife can register as a service voter, but a woman officer’s husband cannot. This will change as the term ‘wife’ is replaced by the term’spouse.’
• What Are the Concerns About Aadhaar Seeding and Voter ID:
• The proposal doesn’t say how much data will be shared between the ECI and UIDAI databases, how consent will be obtained, or whether consent to link the databases may be rescinded.
• Any move to allow data exchange could be problematic in the absence of a strong personal data protection law – a Bill in that regard has yet to pass Parliament.
• There would be an invasion of the individual’s privacy.
• Source – The Hindu

2 – ABOUT THE INDIAN COUNCIL OF MEDICAL RESEARCH:

GS II

Topic – Statutory and Non-Statutory Bodies

• The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) is India’s highest body for biomedical research design, coordination, and promotion.
• Its mission is to undertake, coordinate, and implement medical research for the benefit of the Society, as well as to translate medical advances into goods and processes that may be used in the public health system.
• It is supported by the Indian government through the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare’s Department of Health Research.
• ICMR is supported & fully funded by the Indian government.
• It is administered by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare’s Department of Health Services (DHS) (MoH&FW).
• The ICMR’s headquarters are in New Delhi.
• It is neither a regulatory nor a statutory entity.
• India’s Clinical Trials Registry is hosted by the ICMR (CTRI). It was founded on July 20, 2007.
• It is a free, online public record system that allows clinical trials in India to be registered.
• The clinical trial registry was voluntary until the 15th of June 2009, when the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) made trial registration at CTRI mandatory.
• Importance – It encourages clinical studies to be registered before the first person is enrolled.
• Since 1913, it has published the Indian Journal of Medical Research (IJMR).
• The National Institute of Nutrition (NIN) of the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) was founded in 1918 as the ‘Beri Beri Enquiry’ at the Pasteur Institute in Coonoor, Tamil Nadu.
• Sir Robert McCarrison founded the ‘Beri Beri’ investigation unit, which is today known as NIN.
• The governing body of the ICMR is presided over by India’s Union Health Minister.
• The Director-General of the ICMR is Prof. Balram Bhargava, the Secretary of the DHS.
• The ICMR is made up of 27 institutes/regional medical research centers. The following table contains a list of ICMR institutes:

• Source – The Hindu

3 – DETAILS OF THE ANTI DUMPING DUTY:

GS III

Topic – Indian Economy

• What is Dumping:
• Dumping occurs when a country exports commodities to another country at a cheaper price than it charges in its own domestic market.
• This is a deceptive trade activity that has the potential to distort international trade.
• Objective:
• The imposition of anti-dumping duties is a response to the situation created by the dumping of products and the resulting trade distortion.
• Anti-dumping tariffs can restrict the international rivalry of domestic enterprises producing similar items in the long run.
• It’s a levy imposed by a domestic government on foreign imports that it deems are priced below fair market value.
• The World Trade Organisation allows anti-dumping measures to be used as a tool for fair competition.
• Countervailing Duties are not the same as Antidumping Duties.
• Countervailing duty is a customs duty on goods that have received government subsidies in the originating or exporting country, whereas ADD is a customs duty on goods that have received government subsidies in the originating or exporting country.
• Anti-dumping Duty Provisions at the WTO:
• Anti-dumping duties are valid for five years from the date of imposition unless they are removed sooner.
• Sunset Review:
• Through a sunset or expiry review examination, it can be prolonged for another five years.
• A sunset review, also known as an expiry review, assesses the need for a program or agency to continue to operate. It provides for an evaluation of the program’s or agency’s effectiveness and performance.
• A review of this nature can be initiated on its own or in response to a properly documented request from or on behalf of the domestic industry.

• Source – The Hindu

4 – DETAILS OF THE ASIATIC GOLDEN CAT:

Prelims Specific Topic:

• The Asiatic Golden Cat is a medium-sized wild cat belonging to the Indian subcontinent’s north-eastern region.
• On the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List of vulnerable species, the Asiatic golden cat (Catopuma temminckii) is classed as near threatened.
• Schedule 1 of the Wildlife Protection Act mentions Asiatic cats.
• Appendix 1 of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) includes wild cats.
• Source – The Hindu

5 – ABOUT THE PANNA BIOSPHERE RESERVE:

Prelims Specific Topic

• PBR was founded in 1981 and is located in the Madhya Pradesh districts of Panna and Chhatarpur, covering an area of approximately 540 km2.
• It is located in the Vindhya mountain range in Madhya Pradesh’s northern region.
• The Ken River (one of the Yamuna River’s least polluted tributaries) runs through the reserve, and the Ken-Betwa river interlinking project will be built there as well.
• Panna diamond mining is also well-known in the area.
• Recognition and Conservation:
• Panna National Park, India’s 22nd tiger reserve, was designated as a Project Tiger Reserve in 1994.
• The Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change declared it a Biosphere Reserve in 2011. (MoEFCC).
• 2018: By the year 2018, the tiger population has increased dramatically from a decade previously, when it was predicted to be nil.
• The state with the most tigers is Madhya Pradesh, followed by Karnataka and Uttarakhand.
• It was included in the Man and Biosphere Programme by UNESCO in 2020. (MAB).

• Source – The Hindu