GS Analyst
Daily Current Affairs

India’s trade deficit has widened to a record $31.02 billion in July thanks to contracting merchandise exports and a rise in imports.

• The trade deficit for the month was provisionally estimated at a record $31 billion against $25.6 billion in June and at $100 billion for the first four months of the financial year.
  

Causes of present Trade deficit:

• In the current instance, government intervention to control exports of petroleum products and certain commodities due to domestic demand and inflation contributed to the widening of the trade deficit.
• Earnings from petroleum product exports declined by $2.4 billion in July from $7.83 billion in June 2022.
  • This primarily because the Indian government imposed an export cess on petrol and diesel and global prices cooled amid concerns about economic growth in the US and China.
• Exports of gems and jewellery were affected by muted consumer demand in several key markets.
  • The US is one of biggest consumer and since the US is in a technical recession, exports of gems and jewellery and readymade garments may continue to be muted for some months.
• Coal imports were another transaction that contributed to the import bill and the widening of the trade deficit this financial year.
• Rising demand for electronic goods including mobile phones and computers contributed to rising import bills and widening trade deficit.

What is a trade deficit?

• A trade deficit is an amount by which the cost of a country's imports exceeds its exports.
• Simply put, trade deficit or negative balance of trade (BOT) is the gap between exports and imports.  When money spent on imports exceeds that spent on exports in a country, trade deficit occurs.
• It is one way of measuring international trade, and it's also called a negative balance of trade.
• This deficit occurs when a country does not produce everything it needs and borrows from foreign states to pay for the imports. That's called the current account deficit.

What does a Deficit mean for an Economy?

• A deficit implies that more money is going out of the country than coming in via the trade of physical goods. Similarly, the same country could be earning a surplus on the invisibles account — that is, it could be exporting more services than importing.
• Definition of Stagflation: Stagflation is defined as an economy that is suffering both an increase in inflation and low growth.
• Stagflation was initially identified in the 1970s, when an oil shock caused fast inflation and significant unemployment in many industrialised economies.
• The latest RBI report also point out that “even as the world was looking at a distinct possibility of widespread stagflation, India was at low risk due to its stabilisation policies.”

Cheerag scheme was recently launched to offer “free education” to Economically Weaker Section (EWS) students of government schools in “budget” private schools.

Haryana’s Cheerag scheme:

• Haryana government recently launched the “Chief Minister Equal Education Relief, Assistance and Grant (Cheerag)” scheme.
• It was introduced in place of a similar scheme launched by Bhupinder Singh Hooda’s government in 2007 under Rule 134 A of the Haryana School Education Rules, 2003.
• Under the Cheerag scheme, government school students whose parents have an annual verified income of less than Rs 1.8 lakh can enroll in private schools from Class II to XII.
• The government will reimburse Rs 700 per student from Classes II to V, Rs 900 per student from Classes VI to VIII, and Rs 1,100 per student from Classes IX to XII.

Response to the Cheerag scheme:

• As many as 533 “budget” private schools – mostly in villages and small towns — applied to offer seats to EWS students under the Cheerag scheme. 
  • Only 381 schools found eligible due to different technical reasons.
• A total of 24,987 seats for EWS students from government schools were offered.
  • However, only 1,665 students have preferred to opt for the scheme, which is just 6.66 per cent of the total offered seats.

Concerns over Haryana’s Cheerag scheme:

• The union leaders have apprehensions that the scheme may be aimed at encouraging private schools at the cost of government schools.
• As per our information, there are nearly 85,000 teachers, including guest teachers, in government schools, while nearly 50,000 posts are lying vacant.”
• The government should strengthen infrastructure at government schools and fill the vacant posts of teachers.
• It has been claimed that as many as 90 per cent of the students of government schools fall under the Cheerag scheme which is meant for those with parents who have an annual income of Rs 1.8 lakh.

As part of the Atma Nirbhar Bharat initiative to promote self-sufficiency in Fertilisers, Government of India has been advising and supporting the Indian fertiliser companies to strengthen their backend supply chain.

Diammonium phosphate (DAP):

• Diammonium phosphate (DAP) is the world’s most widely used phosphorus fertilizer.
• It is a preferred fertilizer in India because it contains both Nitrogen and Phosphorus which are primary macro-nutrients and part of 18 essential plant nutrients.
• Fertilizer grade DAP Contains 18% Nitrogen and 46% Phosphorus (P2O5).
• DAP is manufactured by reacting Ammonia with Phosphoric acid under controlled conditions in fertilizer plants.
  
  

Properties:

• It is a very popular fertilizer because of its excellent physical properties and nutrient content.
• It is free flowing, dust-free and does not normally give any storage problem.
• DAP is almost water-soluble and ultimately leaves acid effect on soils because of ammonia (NH4) it contains.
• DAP on incorporation into soil, reacts with water and gets converted into HPO4 and NH4.
• Ammonium (NH4) follows the same routes as in case of urea.
• Phosphorus in DAP is present in best available from (HPO4).
• Depending upon the soil reaction (pH), phosphorus exists in 3 forms which can be absorbed by plant roots.
• These are HPO4, H2PO4 and PO4. Phosphorus, which is immobile in soil, is not subjected to leaching losses.
  
  

Non-Agricultural Use:

• DAP also acts as a fire retardant.
• For example, a mixture of DAP and other ingredients can be spread in advance of a fire to prevent a forest from burning. It then becomes a nutrient source after the danger of fire has passed.
• DAP is used in various industrial processes, too, such as metal finishing.
• It is commonly added to wine to sustain yeast fermentation and to milk to produce cheese cultures.

The "Swachh Sagar, Surakshit Sagar/Clean Coast Safe Sea “campaign is a 75-day citizen-led campaign for improving ocean health through collective action.

Swatch Sagar, Surakshit Sagar Campaign:

• The campaign has 3 strategic underlying goals that target transformation and environmental conservation through behaviour change. The three underlying goals of the campaign are:
• Consume Responsibly
• Segregate waste at home and
• Dispose Responsibly.
• The coastal clean-up drive will be carried out at 75 beaches across the country with 75 volunteers for every kilometre of the coastline.
• The campaign will culminate with the largest beach cleaning event on Sept 17, 2022 (International Coastal Cleanup Day) covering 75 beaches across India’s 7500+km coastline.
  
  
• Ministries involved: This campaign will include Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES), Ministry of Environment Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC), Ministry of Education, Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways, Ministry of Jal Shakti, Ministry of Fisheries and Animal Husbandry, National Service Scheme (NSS), Indian Coast Guard, National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), Paryavaran Sanrakshan Gatividhi (PSG), along with other government departments, social organizations and educational institutions.
• The campaign will combine both virtual and physical formats for delivering key messages and engaging the target audience in adopting lifestyle and behavioural changes that promote environmental sustainability.
  • Examples of virtual activities include quizzes, pledges and challenges.
  • Physical activities will include the actual beach clean-up along with rallies, skits and contests etc.
• It is the first-of-its-kind and longest running Coastal clean-up campaign in the world with highest number of people participating in it.
• Through this campaign, a mass behavioural change among the masses is intended by raising awareness about how plastic usage is destroying our marine life.
• A mobile app “Eco Mitram” has been launched to spread awareness about the campaign and also for the common people for voluntary registration for the beach cleaning activity.
• The target of the programme is to remove 1,500 tonnes of marine litter from the sea-coasts which will be a huge relief to marine life and the people staying in coastal areas.

The National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT), an autonomous Institute under Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES) is establishing an Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion plant with a capacity of 65kW in Kavaratti Lakshadweep.

Ocean thermal energy conversion (OTEC):

• Ocean thermal energy conversion (OTEC) is a process or technology for producing energy by harnessing the temperature differences (thermal gradients) between ocean surface waters and deep ocean waters.

How it works?

• Energy from the sun heats the surface water of the ocean.
• In tropical regions, surface water can be much warmer than deep water.
• This temperature difference can be used to produce electricity and to desalinate ocean water.
• Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) systems use a temperature difference (of at least 77° Fahrenheit) to power a turbine to produce electricity.
• Warm surface water is pumped through an evaporator containing a working fluid. The vaporized fluid drives a turbine/generator.
• The vaporized fluid is turned back to a liquid in a condenser cooled with cold ocean water pumped from deeper in the ocean.
• OTEC systems using seawater as the working fluid can use the condensed water to produce desalinated water.
  
  

Benefits:

• Economic Benefits
  • Reduced fuel imports
  • Stable utilities pricing
  • Reduced capital expense to Power Companies & Government
  • Allows for power usage to be increased affordably Reduced burden on existing utilities
• Social & Environmental Benefits
  • Affordable fresh water production
  • Promotes aquaculture
  • Creates jobs & export opportunities
  • Diversifies fuel options & provides energy independence
  • World leadership role in eco- awareness
  • Environmentally Responsible Limitless renewable energy from local resources
  • Fossil fuel avoidance
  • OTEC can save up to 15,000 bbls of oil per year per MW
  • Zero emissions – OTEC saves nearly 7,000 tons of CO2 per year per MW

OTEC in India:

• India had planned to set up an OTEC plant way back in 1980, off the Tamil Nadu coast, but with the foreign vendor closing down its operation, it had to be abandoned.
• Chennai-based National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT), under the Earth Sciences Ministry has now developed expertise in design, assembly and deployment of deep sea pipelines, reviving India's hopes to explore Ocean Thermal Energy.
• India’s Potential: India has the potential to generate 180,000 MW using OTEC, which demonstrates the prospects for OTEC in India in the future.

OTEC Plant:

• Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion plant will be established by NIOT, with a capacity of 65kW in Kavaratti Lakshadweep.
• Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion plant will power the Low Temperature Thermal Desalination (LTTD) based desalination plant for conversion of Sea water into Potable water.
• The capacity of this LTTD plant is 1 lakh litre of potable water per day.

James Webb Space Telescope caught Cartwheel Galaxy that is located about 500 million light-years away and appears like a wheel of a wagon.

• Cartwheel Galaxy, located about 500 million light-years away in the Sculptor constellation, has been caught with the James Webb Space Telescope.
• The structure appears like a wheel of a wagon, and Webb reveals the galaxy's central black hole along with the information about star formation.
• Astronomers called the galaxy a ‘ring galaxy’ because of its two rings – a bright inner ring surrounded by a colourful one.
  • The appearance of the galaxy is justified by the high-speed collisions that have taken place internally between a large spiral galaxy and a smaller galaxy which is not visible in the image.
  • The rings have been discovered with an extremely hot dust filled bright core consisting of gigantic young star clusters.
  • The outer ring, expanded for 440 million years, consists of star formation and supernovas.
• Cartwheel galaxy has been explored earlier with the Hubble Space Telescope but the same had failed may be due to the thick layer of dust which obstructs the view. Webb with an infrared gaze explored the uncovered part of the Cartwheel galaxy.
• Webb Telescope had not just revealed the observations of the galaxy’s present structural formations but also determined that Cartwheel is in a very transitory stage.
  
  
  

About James Webb Space Telescope:

• It is the most powerful infrared telescopeof National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).
• It is also considered a successor of the Hubble Telescopeand will extend and complement its discoveries.
• JSWT will observe in near-infrared lightrather than light in the visible part of the spectrum (unlike Hubble) and thus it will have a much greater capacity to see obscure stars and galaxies
• Collaboration: It is a joint venture of NASA(US), ESA (Europe), and CSA (Canada)
• Webb was formerly known as the “Next Generation Space Telescope” (NGST)and it was renamed in 2002 after a former NASA administrator, James Webb.
• The JWST observatory includes three main elements-
• the Integrated Science Instrument Module (ISIM)
• the Optical Telescope Element (OTE)
• the Spacecraft Element which comprises the spacecraft bus and the sunshield
  
  

Key features of JWST are-

• JWST will operate in an orbit around the Earth-Sun L2 Langrage point, ~ 1.5 million kilometres away from Earth. This makes its operation, pointing and stability requirements much simpler in comparison with HST
• It orbits around the Earth at an altitude of ~570 km above it.
• The telescope and the instruments will operate at the extremely low temperature of -233°C, which prevents the instrument's own infrared emission from overwhelming the signals from the astronomical targets