Daily Current Affairs for 13th April 2021

GS PAPER I NEWS

Jallianwala Bagh massacre

Why in News

Recently the Prime Minister of India paid tribute to the martyrs of Jallianwala Bagh massacre.

Jallianwala Bagh Massacre

• Jallianwala Bagh Massacre or Amritsar massacre is a horrible incident in the history of India
• It was took place on 13 April 1919.
• It was Sunday on 13^th April 1919, when many Hindu and Sikh people gathered at the Jallianwala Bagh of Amritsar to celebrate the holy festival of Baisakhi.
• They were gathered peacefully to protest the arrest and deportation of two national leaders, Satyapal and Saifuddin Kitchlew. They both Indian freedom fighter.
• The Acting Brigadier-General Reginald Dyer and his troops entered the garden, blocking the main entrance, and with no warning opened fire on the crowd for about ten minutes.
• After that the Hunter Commission was setup in October 1919 and published its report on 26th May 1920 in which they stated that the gathering was not the result of a conspiracy by Indians.
• Martial law declared in Punjab was justified and Dyer firing at the mob was justified except that he should have given a warning first, and that the duration of the firing should have been shortened.

GS PAPER – II

Chief Election Commissioner

Why in News

Recently Election Commissioner Sushil Chandra appointed as the Chief Election Commissioner by the President of India.

Key Points

• Sushil Chandra took the charge of Election Commissioner on February 15, 2019 after retiring as the chairman of the Central Board of Direct Taxes.
• He replaces Sunil Arora who was the 23^rd Chief Election Commissioner of India.
• Two years tenure of Sunil Arora ended on 12 April 2021.
• Sushil Chandra is going to be continued as 23^rd Chief Election Commissioner of India.

Election Commission

• The Election Commission of India (ECI) is a permanent constitutional body under the jurisdiction of Ministry of Law and Justice.
• It was established in 1950 and originally only had a Chief Election Commissioner.
• The Election Commissioner Amendment Act, 1989 was enacted on 1^st January 1990 under which the commission turned into a multi-member body.
• A 3-member Commission has been in operation in 1989 and the decisions by the commission are made by a majority vote who is usually retired IAS officers.
• Government of India is responsible for the conduct of elections at the national level, state level and local level.
• Article 324 of the Indian Constitution provides the power of superintendence, direction and control of elections to parliament, state legislatures, the office of president of India and the office of vice-president of India shall be vested in the election commission.
• It is amongst the few institutions of India which function with both autonomy and freedom.

Chief Election Commissioner

• The Chief Election Commissioner is the head of the Election Commission of India.
• Tenure of the Chief Election Commissioner is 6 years or up to 65 years of age.
• Chief Election Commissioner of India is usually a member of the Indian Civil Service and mostly from the Indian Administrative Service.
• The Chief Election Commissioner is appointed by the President of India.
• The first Election Commissioner was Sukumar Sen appointed on 1950.

Election Commissioners

• Election Commissioners of India are the members of Election Commission of India.
• The Election Commissioner is appointed by the President of India.
• Tenure of the Election Commissioner is 6 years.

GS PAPER – II

Fall in Crude Oil Price

Why in News

The price of Brent crude has fallen under $63 per barrel from a high of $70 per barrel in early March.

Reason of price falling of Crude Oil

• Due to recent resurgence in Covid-19 infections coupled the OPEC+ decided to increase crude oil production has contributed to a fall in crude oil prices.
• OPEC+ has phased withdrawal of production cuts of total crude oil production by the group of countries rise by 1.1 million barrels per day by July.
• Recent US data has also indicated that gasoline inventories are rising faster than the fall in crude oil inventories.
• It raising concerns of waning demand for petroleum products.
• A fall in US crude oil production also contributed to keeping global prices elevated.

Impact on India

• India had suggested withdrawing production cuts stating that high crude oil prices were slowing the economic recovery in developing economies.
• The fall in international crude prices led to rise in the prices of petrol and diesel hit all-time highs across the country.

OPEC+

• The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) is a permanent, intergovernmental Organization,.
• It was created at the Baghdad Conference on September 10–14, 1960, by Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela.
• Objective of the OPEC is to coordinate and unify the petroleum policies of its Member Countries and ensure the stabilization of oil markets in order to secure an efficient, economic and regular supply of petroleum to consumers, a steady income to producers and a fair return on capital for those investing in the petroleum industry.

GS PAPER – III

Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc (Tepco)

Why in News

Recently, Japan is planning to release more than 1 million tonnes of contaminated water from the destroyed Fukushima nuclear station into the sea.

Key Points:

• The first release of water will take place in about two years.
• The Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc (Tepco) plant operator has giving time to begin filtering the water to remove harmful isotopes before its first release, build infrastructure and acquire regulatory approval.
• Nearly 1.3 million tonnes of contaminated water is stored in huge tanks at the Fukushima Daiichi plant at an annual cost of about 100 billion yen ($912.66 million).
• But now, space is running out.
• Tepco has been struggling with contaminated water since bringing three reactors under control after a 2011 earthquake and tsunami knocked out electricity and cooling.
• The company has been using a makeshift system of pumps and piping to inject water into damaged reactor vessels to keep melted uranium fuel rods cool.
• The water is contaminated as it comes in contact with the fuel before leaking into damaged basements and tunnels and mixes with groundwater that flows through the site from hills above.
• In 2018, Tepco admitted it had not filtered all dangerous materials out of the water.

Water release from Tepco

• Tepco plans to filter the contaminated water again to remove radioactive isotope of hydrogen, leaving only tritium.
• Tepco will then dilute the water until tritium levels fall below regulatory limits, before pumping it directly into the ocean from the coastal site.
• Tritium is considered to be relatively harmless because it does not emit enough energy to penetrate human skin.

Disadvantages of Fukushima Water Release

• It can damage Fisheries which can harm the livelihood of the people.
• It raised concern to neighboring countries also as this release will affect a direct and indirect on the safety of their people and surrounding environment.

Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings (TEPCO)

• Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc (Tepco) is a Japanese electric utility holding company servicing located in the eastern portion of Shizuoka Prefecture.
• It was nationalized in 1939 in preparation of total war (the Pacific War),
• It was privatized in 1951 on behest of the U.S./Allied occupation forces, creating nine privately owned government-granted monopolies.

Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant

• It is a disabled nuclear power plant located on a 3.5-square-kilometre in the towns of Ōkuma and Futaba in Fukushima Prefecture, Japan.
• It was first commissioned in 1971.
• The plant suffered major damage from the magnitude 9.0 earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan on March 11, 2011.

.GS PAPER – III

Index of Industrial Production (IIP)

Why in News

According to the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) the Retail Inflation rises up to 5.52 per cent in the month of March.

Key Points

• The report of Index of Industrial Production (IIP) was released recently.
• This is the fourth consecutive month that the CPI data has come within the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) upper margin of 6%.
• The Highlights of the report are:
• Industrial output of India fell for the second successive month in 2021, contracting 3.6% year on year.
• The retail inflation goes high up to 5.52% in four-months of 2021.
• Electricity was the only sector to report positive growth of a meager 0.1%.
• On the other hand, the manufacturing output shrank 3.7%.
• The mining sector slipped up to 5.5%.
• According to the chief of India Ratings and Research, the Core inflation jumped to a 29-month high of 5.96% in March 2021 from 3.95% in 2020 and 5.88% in February 2021 due to demand and increase in commodity prices.

Index of Industrial Production (IIP)

• It is the ruler to measure the growth rates in different industry groups of the economy in a stipulated period of time.
• This index is computed and published by the Central Statistical Organization (CSO) on a monthly basis.
• It is the major economic indicator of the manufacturing sector of the economy.
• The current base year of IIP Index is 2011-12.
• Three broad categories of IIP are: Mining, manufacturing, and electricity.

Central Statistical Organization (CSO)

• The Central Statistics Office (CSO) is a governmental agency in India under the Ministry of Statistics and Programmes Implementation.
• It was formed on 2^nd May 1951.
• It is responsible for co-ordination of statistical activities in India, and evolving and maintaining statistical standards.
• The CSO is located in Delhi.
• It deals with statistical data of different departments.

Inflation

• Inflation refers to the rise in the prices of most goods and services of common use, such as food, clothing, housing, etc.
• It is indicative of the decrease in the purchasing power of a unit of a country’s currency and measured in percentage.
• Inflation is inversely proportional to purchasing power as if inflation increases, the purchasing power decreases.
• There are two major indices to measure inflation: WPI (Wholesale Price Index) and CPI (Consumer Price Index), which measure wholesale and retail-level price changes, respectively.
• Main causes of inflation in India are High demand and low production or supply of multiple commodities and Excess circulation of money.

Consumer Price Index

• It is a measure that examines the weighted average of prices of a basket of consumer goods and services, such as transportation, food, and medical care.
• It is calculated by taking price changes for each item in the predetermined basket of goods and averaging them.