GS Analyst
Daily Current Affairs

Criminals are reaping “obscene” profits of nearly one-quarter of a trillion dollars from forced labour, says the International Labour Organization (ILO).

Key-highlights of the Report

• Report Title: ‘Profits and poverty: The economics of forced labour’
• The report estimates that traffickers and criminals are generating close to USD 10,000 per victim, up from USD 8,269 (adjusted for inflation) a decade ago.
• Forced labour generates illegal profits worth USD 36 billion per year.
• In terms of profit per victim, figures were highest in Europe and Central Asia, followed by the Arab States, the Americas, Africa, and Asia and the Pacific.
• Forced commercial sexual exploitation accounts for more than two-thirds (73%) of the total illegal profits, despite accounting for only 27% of the total number of victims in privately imposed labour.
• These illegal profits are the wages that rightfully belong in the pockets of workers but instead remain in the hands of their exploiters, as a result of their coercive practices.

1: Dimension- Reason behind the situation

• Forced labour and higher profits: This increase is fuelled by both a growth in the number of people forced into labour (a form of modern slavery), as well as higher profits generated from the exploitation of victims.
• Lack of adequate livelihood options become more vulnerable to forced labour as they and may be easily tricked into accepting risky opportunities for survival.
• Limited Government intervention: While there are improved identification measures but legal frameworks, gaps in services available to survivors remained and only limited action has been taken to address systemic risk factors to forced labour.

2: Dimension- Impact of such exploitation

• Cycles of poverty and exploitation: Forced labour perpetuates cycles of poverty and exploitation and strikes at the heart of human dignity. 
• Multiple forms of coercion: It encompasses various forms of exploitation, including forced marriage, commercial sexual exploitation, human trafficking, deliberate and systematic withholding of wage, slavery-like practices and the sale and exploitation of children.

3: Dimension- Required Measures

• Investment: There is urgent need for investment in enforcement measures to stem illegal profit flows and hold perpetrators accountable.
• Enforcement actions: There is need for strengthening legal frameworks, providing training for enforcement officials extending labour inspection into high-risk sectors, and better coordination between labour and criminal law enforcement.
• Addressing root cause: Enforcement actions must be part of a comprehensive approach that prioritises addressing root causes and safeguarding victims.

Mains Practice Question

Q:  “Forced labour is the most dangerous form of modern slavery”. Comment

The air quality global ranking of cities for 2023 has been released by a Swiss firm, IQAir, which has been reporting this annually for over six years now. 

Key-highlights of the Report

• Bangladesh is the world’s most polluted country and Delhi is the most polluted capital.
• India has emerged as the world’s third most polluted country.
• The world’s most polluted city is Begusarai in the east Indian state of Bihar.
• Nine of the top 10 most polluted cities are in India, up from six the previous year.
• Meanwhile, 42 cities in the top 50 are in India, up from 39; and an astounding 83 cities in the top 100 are Indian (up from 63 and 65 in the previous two years).
• Delhi is back to being the most polluted capital of the world, the fifth time in the last six years.
• It’s PM 2.5 level has averaged over 102 micrograms per cubic metre, up 10 units from the previous year. WHO’s safe guideline is just 5 micrograms. 

1: Dimension-Reason behind high polluting levels

• Transboundary Pollution: Pollution from northern and southern India is funnelled in by winds and affects the entirety of eastern India and Bangladesh. This is known as transboundary pollution.
• Climate change could be exacerbating air pollution.
  • Fossil fuel emissions account for 65% of global CO2 emissions and are also the primary cause of the majority of PM2.5-related deaths.

2: Dimension- Why cities of Indo-Gangetic plains are heavily polluted

• Coal-powered plants: The Indo-Gangetic plain is a highly productive and fertile river basin that supports more than 200 million people. This belt hosts 10% of India’s coal-fired power generation plants – all located close to the Ganga.
• High PM levels: The entire Indo-Gangetic plain has high level of nitrogen and sulphur oxides, which are responsible for increased levels of particulate matter in the air.
• Multiple sources: There is no one source when it comes to air pollution, but many. These include dust, biomass burning, industrial emissions, coal-powered plants, deforestation and complex weather patterns.

Mains Practice Question

Q: ‘Air pollution’ is a major global environmental risk. How is India being affected by air pollution? Furthermore, delve into the enduring challenge of pollution in the Indo-Gangetic Plain, elucidating its persistent nature and impact on the region.

In the recently published UN-sponsored World Happiness Report, India ranked 126, the same as last year, in the happiness index.

 Key-findings of the Report

• Finland remained the world's happiest country for a seventh straight year.
• Nordic countries kept their places among the 10 most cheerful, with Denmark, Iceland and Sweden trailing Finland.
• Afghanistan, plagued by a humanitarian catastrophe since the Taliban regained control in 2020, stayed at the bottom of the 143 countries surveyed.
• For the first time since the report was published more than a decade ago, the United States and Germany were not among the 20 happiest nations, coming in 23rd and 24th respectively.
• In turn, Costa Rica and Kuwait entered the top 20 at 12 and 13.
• India’s ranking: India ranked 126, the same as last year, in the happiness index.
  • Factors such as marital status, social engagement, and physical health influence life satisfaction among older Indians.

The Chennai headquartered space start-up Agnikul Cosmos Private Limited is set to launch its first rocket Agnibaan Sub Orbital Technology Demonstrator (SOrTeD).

About Agnibaan SOrTeD

• Agnibaan SOrTeD - will be-
  • India’s first launch from a private Launchpad
  • India’s first semi-cryogenic engine powered rocket launch
  • India’s first liquid oxygen-kerosene rocket flight in India, from India’s first privately developed launchpad, in Sriharikota
  • The world’s first single piece 3D printed engine designed and built indigenously.
• This is a sub-orbital launch but it is not a sounding rocket.
• It has the full stack of closed loop feedback guidance and control with a gimballed thrust vector control.

Report claims that famine is now imminent in Northern governorates of Gaza.

What is Famine?

• Famine is essentially a technical term, referring to a population that faces widespread malnutrition and hunger-related deaths due to a lack of access to food. 
• There is a famine when three conditions come together in a specific geographic area-
  • At least 20 per cent of the population in that particular area are facing extreme levels of hunger;
  • 30 per cent of the children in the same place are wasted, or too thin for their height; and
  • The death – or mortality – rate has doubled, from the average, surpassing two deaths per 10,000 daily for adults and four deaths per 10,000 daily for children.

Japan ended its negative interest rate policy, as the Bank of Japan (BoJ) raised interest rates for the first time since 2007. This marks an end to a prolonged period of ultra-loose monetary policy aimed at stimulating the economy.

What are negative interest rates?

• Negative interest rates are when central banks make their commercial counterparts pay to park their excess cash at the institution.
• This method is usually adopted during deflationary periods when consumers hold too much money instead of spending as they wait for a turnaround in the economy.
• Consumers may expect their money to be worth more tomorrow than today during these periods.
• When this happens, the economy can experience a sharp decline in demand, causing prices to plummet even lower.
• Japan’s objective behind the rate: To encourage spending and inflation in an ageing society with a negative population growth.
• These negative interest rates were first introduced by Swedish Riksbank in 2009. This was followed up others such as the central banks of Denmark, Switzerland and then Japan.

As many as 17 states tapped financial markets to raise a total of Rs 50,206 crore through auction of state government securities, marking the largest such weekly borrowing ever.

What is a Government Security (G-Sec)?

• A Government Security (G-Sec) is a tradeable instrument issued by the Central Government or the State Governments.
• It acknowledges the Government’s debt obligation.
• Such securities are short term (usually called treasury bills, with original maturities of less than one year) or long term (usually called Government bonds or dated securities with original maturity of one year or more).
• G-Secs are issued through auctions conducted by Reserve Bank of India (RBI).
• In India, the Central Government issues both, treasury bills and bonds or dated securities while the State Governments issue only bonds or dated securities, which are called the State Development Loans (SDLs).

Indian States have been gradually registering a withdrawal of Spring.

Reason behind this situation

• Spring is the period of relatively benign weather between the winter of January and the scorching summers of April.
• As the Earth orbits the Sun, sunlight strikes the surface at varying angles because of the planet’s tilt. This creates seasons. However, temperatures in February have become warmer, leading to a missing spring season.
• The warming of winter in southern India and the lack of rainfall in the north in winter due to an aberration in the pattern of Western Disturbances and the jet stream, winds that originate in the Mediterraneanand bring moisture to north India during winter.

World Sparrow Day is an annual event that is marked on March 20.

• House sparrows belong to a group known as passerines, from the order
• These small, grey-brown birds are sexually dimorphic, meaning that the males and females do not look similar.
• They are highly opportunistic feeders.
• Sparrows are vital for the ecosystem: These little birds support in further developing biodiversity and supporting plant growth in the ecosystem, resulting in healthier and greener environments. Sparrows consume and discharge seeds, helping in better spread of plant seeds, making the climate around us flourish. 
• IUCN Status: Endangered

The Katli river faces degradation due to unregulated mining activities in the riverbed. 

• Katli river is also known as the Kantali river.
• It is a rainfed seasonal river of Shekhawati region of Rajasthan in India.
• It originates from Aravalli Range and empties in center of its Inland drainage basin in northwest region of Churu district
• It flows through the Sikar, Jhunjhunu, Neem Ka Thana and Churu districts of Rajasthan.