GS Analyst
Daily Current Affairs

In a crucial judgment, the Supreme Court held the provisions of the Employees’ Pension (Amendment) Scheme 2014 to be legal and valid.

About the case:

• The dispute primarily concerned the controversial amendments made to clause 11 of the EPS-1995.
• The Employee's Pension (Amendment) Scheme, 2014 was brought into force through a notification.
• As per the amendment, new members who joined EPF after Sept 1, 2014, with a basic salary of over Rs 15000 per month were excluded from the EPS.
• The Kerala High Court had struck down the amendments, following which the EPFO had appealed in the Supreme Court.
• It held that restricting the pension contribution to Rs 15000 criteria was arbitrary.
• Further, employees were allowed to choose to contribute to pension on higher pay at any point in time and the timeline to exercise such option.

Changes brought after Amendment:

• In the earlier version of EPS-1995, the maximum pensionable salary cap was Rs6,500.
• Members whose salaries exceeded this cap could opt, along with their employers, to contribute up to 8.33% of their actual salaries.
• The amendments raised the cap from Rs6,500 to Rs 15,000.
• But the amendments said only employees, who were existing EPS members as on September 1, 2014, could continue to contribute to the pension fund in accordance with their actual salaries.
• They were given a window of six months to opt for the new pension regime.
• After the amendment additional obligations were created for members, whose salaries exceeded the Rs15,000 ceiling. They had to contribute at the rate of 1.16% of the salary in addition to their EPF contribution.

Key Points of the Judgements:

• The top court said that the employees, who were entitled to join the pension scheme but could not do so as they did not exercise the option within the cut-off date, should be given an additional opportunity.
• The reason cited was the lack of clarity regarding the cut-off date in view of the High Court judgments invalidating the provisions of the Employee's Pension (Amendment) Scheme, 2014.
• Therefore, the Court exercised its powers under Article 142 of the Constitution to extend the cut-off date.
• The provision of the contribution of 1.16% of monthly salary towards pension schemes for, those who earn more than Rs 15,000 per month has been struck down.

Article 142 of the Indian Constitution empowers the Supreme Court's verdicts and rulings to be enforced. It stipulates that in the performance of its jurisdiction, the top court may issue any verdict or order necessary to provide “complete justice” in just about any case before it.

Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO)

• It is a government organization that manages the provident fund and pension accounts of member employees and implements the Employees’ Provident Fund and Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1952 which applies to the whole of India with exemption given only to Jammu & Kashmir.
• The Employees’ Provident Fund and Miscellaneous Provisions Act, of 1952 provides for the institution of provident funds for employees in factories and other establishments.
• It is administered by the Ministry of Labour & Employment, Government of India.
• It is one of the World's largest Social Security Organisations in terms of clientele and the volume of financial transactions undertaken.

The Election commission is contemplating the possibility of postal ballots for overseas migrants.

What is the issue?

• Citizens who leave the country for short-term work often miss out on exercising their voting rights.
• Overseas citizens, although can cast their vote, the necessity to vote in person comes with a monetary cost and acts as a disincentive for their wanting to exercise their mandate.

Developments:

• Proxy voting: In 2014, a committee constituted by the ECI concluded that proxy voting was the most viable solution.
  • A Bill was passed in the 16th Lok Sabha (2014-19) to enable this. But Bill lapsed with the dissolution of the 16th Lok Sabha.
• The ECI then approached the government to permit NRIs to vote via postal ballots similar to a system that is already used by service voters, (a member of the armed Forces of the Union; or a member of a force to which provisions of the Army Act, 1950 which is the Electronically Transmitted Postal Ballot System or ETPBS.

Voting Rules for overseas voters:

• Representation of the People (Amendment) Act, 2010: After the passing of the Act, NRIs have been able to vote, but only in person at the polling station where they have been enrolled as an overseas elector.
  • The provision of having to visit the polling booth in person has discouraged eligible voters from exercising their mandate.
• Amendment to Conduct of Election Rules, 1961: The Rule was amended in 2016 to allow service voters to use the Electronically Transmitted Postal Ballot System (ETPBS).
• Under this system, postal ballots are sent electronically to registered service voters.
• The service voter can then register their mandate on the ballot and send it back via ordinary mail.
• The ECI proposed to extend this facility to overseas voters as well.
• In the case of overseas voters: the address mentioned in the passport is taken as the place of ordinary residence and chosen as the constituency for the overseas voter to enroll.

Possible outcomes of allowing Postal ballot use:

• Greater turnout among service voters in the process of voting.
• It is a more trustworthy way of registering mandates rather than appointing proxies.

• A team of researchers at the Institute of Nano Science and Technology (INST), Mohali, has developed a nano-biosensor for detecting ‘lycopene’.
  
  

About the Discovery:

• The researchers from the Institute of Nano Science and Technology (INST), Mohali, have developed a nano-biosensor for detecting ‘lycopene’.
• The biosensor (transparent strip) offers minimal scattering with maximum sensitivity in comparison to previous paper strips.
• The sensor uses a portable smartphone-based upconverting reusable fluorescent paper strip.
• A simple smartphone camera can be used for detection.
• The reusable, paper-based strip may help make the lycopene detection process easy, cheap, and less time-consuming.
• The study has been published by the American Chemical Society.

Issues with present analytical methods:

• A commercial sensor is used for determining the percentage. The process is expensive and time-consuming.

Upconversion Nanoparticles (UCNP):

• Upconverting nanoparticles (UCNPs) are nanoscale particles (diameter 1–100 nm) that exhibit photon upconversion.
• Upconversion is a process where light can be emitted with photon energies higher than the light generating the excitation.
• In photon upconversion, two or more incident photons of relatively low energy are absorbed and converted into one emitted photon with higher energy.
• This transparent Upconversion nanoparticle (UCNP) strip is sensitive to lycopene with a detection limit as low as 10 nM.

How does it work?

• An increase in strip hydrophobicity during the fabrication process complements the strip to selectively permeate and present an extraction-free substitute analysis for chromatography.
• Hydrophobicity endows the strip with the capability to reuse the strip with approximately 100 percent luminescence recovery.

What is lycopene?

• Lycopene is a type of organic pigment called a carotenoid.
• It is synthesized by plants and microorganisms but cannot be synthesized by the human body and can only be obtained via diet.
• It gives some vegetables and fruits (e.g., tomatoes) a red color.
• Lycopene is a powerful antioxidant that might help protect cells from damage. It's found in tomato, watermelon, red-orange, pink grapefruit, apricot, papaya, and guava.
• It is a potent antioxidant that helps prevent cancer and heart disease.
• It may interfere with chemotherapy and radiation therapy. Cancer patients are therefore suggested to use lycopene supplements with caution.

Effect of degradation of Lycopene on Tomato:

• The undesirable Biodegradation of lycopene not only affects the attractive color of the final products but also their nutritive value.
• The main cause of lycopene degradation in tomato dehydration is isomerization and oxidation.
• As a result, the quality of the produce is rated based on the lycopene present in it and is priced accordingly.

Methods to determine lycopene in food or biological samples:

• UV-Visible spectrophotometry
• Liquid chromatography
• Reverse-phase liquid chromatography
• Supercritical fluid chromatography
• Matrix-assisted desorption ionization

North Korea has dramatically ramped up missile tests this year and tested an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM).

What are ICBMs?

• An intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) is a missile with a minimum range of 5,500 kilometers primarily designed for nuclear weapons delivery.
• Conventional, chemical, and biological weapons can also be delivered with varying effectiveness, but have never been deployed on ICBMs.
• ICBMs are differentiated by having greater range and speed than other ballistic missiles.
• Short and medium-range ballistic missiles are known collectively as theatre ballistic missiles.
• The International Code of Conduct against Ballistic Missile Proliferation (ICOC), now known as the Hague Code of Conduct against Ballistic Missile Proliferation (HCOC), is a political initiative aimed at globally curbing ballistic missile proliferation.
• India is a signatory to this convention.
• Established in April 1987, the voluntary Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR) aims to limit the spread of ballistic missiles and other unmanned delivery systems that could be used for chemical, biological, and nuclear attacks.
• India has joined the MTCR in 2016.

Countries that have ICBMs:

• India, Russia, the United States, North Korea, China, Israel, the United Kingdom, and France.
• North Korea conducted the first successful test of its Hwasong-14 ICBM in July 2017.

What missiles has North Korea been testing?

• North Korea has been testing a variety of ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, and hypersonic missiles.
• Hypersonic missiles fly at several times the speed of sound and at low altitudes, to escape radar detection.
  
  
  

Timeline for North Korea’s ICBMs:

• Shortly after two successful tests of the Hwasong-14, North Korea launched a new ICBM, the Hwasong-15, in November 2017.
• The continental United States is about 9,000 km (5,500 miles) from North Korea, and some U.S. and South Korean experts believe both missiles can fly more than 10,000 km (6,213 miles), putting many parts of the United States in range.
• North Korean leader Kim Jong Un declared after the Hwasong-15 test that the country had achieved the “great historic cause of completing the state nuclear force.”
• In March 2022, North Korea launched its massive Hwasong-17 ICBM for the first time after unveiling it at a pre-dawn military parade in October 2020. The missile is large enough to potentially deliver a nuclear warhead anywhere in the United States.
• Unlike any of North Korea’s previous ICBM tests, the Hwasong-17 was launched directly from a transporter-erector-launcher vehicle with 11 axles, which experts said is the largest road-mobile, liquid-fuelled ICBM in the world.
• The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has not had physical access to North Korea's nuclear facilities since April 2009.

International perspective:

• This test has to be seen in the current context when the Americans have withdrawn their troops from Afghanistan and they are trying to reassess regional security issues.
• So, the North Koreans want to emphasize they are a critical component of the US’s regional security concern.
• This activity highlights North Korea’s continuing focus on developing its military program and the threats that it poses to its neighbors and the international community.

• Stubble burning in Punjab and Haryana is not a standalone reason for smoke and haze over Delhi.
  
  

Role of Agricultural burning:

• During this time of the year, the burning of agricultural waste in Punjab and Haryana is indeed the dominant reason for the smoke and haze over Delhi.
• The particulate matter from the burning contributes 30-40% of the PM2.5 concentrations in Delhi’s air during this time.
• It is the single largest source of PM2.5 levels on most days during this period.

Reasons for burning agricultural waste:

• This waste is the remains of the paddy crop after it has been harvested. This kind of burning is not specific only to Punjab or Haryana. However, the scale of burning in these states is much bigger than elsewhere.
• Even in these states, this practice is relatively new. Even 10 years ago, the crop-burning problem was not this acute.
• The burning is necessitated by the need to prepare the fields for the next crop in a very short window of time.
• Due to a slight shift in the cropping pattern in these states, there is now very little time between the harvesting of one crop and the planting of the next crop.
• The traditional method of manually uprooting, or cutting, the stumps of the previous crop is time-consuming and can delay the sowing of the next crop.
• So, farmers resort to the easier option of burning these remains.

Role of Weather:

• A 30-40% rise in pollutants at any other time of the year would not cause the same impact.
• Agricultural waste burning in Punjab and Haryana happens in the months of May and June as well, although on a smaller scale.
• At that time, it accounts for about 15-20% of PM2.5 concentrations in Delhi’s air.
• But the air quality over the capital hardly ever becomes this bad. The reason is the weather, or rather, heat.
• Hotter air rises higher above the surface and takes the pollutants along with it.
• The polluting particles are lifted 2-3 km above the surface or even higher, before getting dispersed.
• During October-November, the air is not that hot.
• The pollutants are trapped and tend to get concentrated at lower levels of the atmosphere, resulting in the smoke and haze situation that is being witnessed now.

Impact of banning construction and diesel vehicles:

• Construction has a small contribution to PM2.5 concentration. The particles released from these activities are usually larger and add to PM10 concentrations. The banning of construction, therefore, is unlikely to have any significant impact on the prevailing situation
• Diesel vehicles, particularly older trucks, are indeed important contributors to high PM2.5 levels. And a ban on their movement can help in improving the situation to some extent.