Daily Current Capsules - 29th July 2020
Human Resource Development
India Report- Digital Education June 2020

Relevance IN -Prelims (about India Report on Digital Education, 2020 highlights) + Mains (Issues relating to development and management of Social Sector/Services relating to Health, Education, Human Resources.)
What's the NEWS

• Union Minister for HRD launched India Report on Digital Education, 2020.

Know! about India Report on Digital Education, 2020.

• The report elaborates on the innovative methods adopted by Ministry of HRD, Education Departments of States and Union Territories for ensuring accessible and inclusive education to children at home and reducing learning gaps

Ministry of Human Resource Development has initiated many projects to assist teachers, scholars and students in their pursuit of learning like

• DIKSHA platform
• Swayam Prabha TV Channel
• Online MOOC courses
• On Air - Shiksha Vani
• DAISY by NIOS for differently-abled
• e-PathShala
• National Repository of Open Educational Resources (NROER) to develop e-content

Some of the major digital initiatives by State Governments are

• SMILE (Social Media Interface for Learning Engagement) in Rajasthan
• Project Home Classes in Jammu
• Padhai Tunhar duvaar (Education at your doorstep) in Chhattisgarh
• Unnayan Initiatives in Bihar through portal and mobile application
• Mission Buniyaad in NCT of Delhi
• Kerala's own educational TV channel (Hi-Tech school programme)
• Telangana has online certificate programs for teachers on ‘Management of mental well-being during COVID'.

Some states have launched innovative mobile apps and portals as means to facilitate remote learning.

• Madhya Pradesh has launched Top Parent App, a free mobile app that empowers parents of young children (3-8 years) and KHEL(Knowledge Hub for Electronic Learning), a Game Based Application that covers class 1-3.
• Uttarakhand is making use of Sampark Baithak App through which primary school students can access animated videos, audios, worksheet, puzzles, etc.
• Assam has launched the Biswa Vidya Assam Mobile Application for class 6 to 10.
• Bihar has launched Vidyavahini App with e-books for class 1 to 12.
• Under Unnayan Bihar Initiative, Bihar has also launched Mera Mobile Mera Vidyalaya for students, and Unnayan Bihar Teacher App.
• Chandigarh has launched Phoenix Mobile application to assess the learning outcome for the students of class 1 to 8.
• Maharashtra has launched the Learning Outcomes Smart Q Mobile App to facilitate learning for students in the state.
• Punjab has launched iScuela Learn Mobile Application for class 1 to 10.
• Sikkim Edutech App connects all the schools of Sikkim under the State Education Department,
• Tripura has an application titled ‘EmpowerU Shiksha Darpan' in order to facilitate student's appraisal.
• Uttar Pradesh launches ‘Top Parent' app targeting children from 3-8years age.
• The application currently houses three high-quality EdTech apps for children - Chimple, Maths Masti and Google Bolo.

Innovative mediums by states to ensure inclusion.

• Due to poor mobile connectivity and unavailability of internet services, Chhattisgarh has started Motor iskool.
• Jharkhand has started the Roving teacher where many teachers keep moving to teach children.
• Gujarat started a Reading Campaign for Oral Reading Fluency- Vanchan Abhiyan and Parivar no maalo-salamat ane humfaalo (family's nest-safe and warm) socio psychological support programme for children.

Science & Technology
Lyfas COVID score
Relevance IN -Prelims (about Lyfas COVID score + about CAWACH)
What's the NEWS

• The Centre for Augmenting WAR with COVID-19 Health Crisis (CAWACH), an initiative by the Department of Science and Technology (DST), has selected Bangalore based startup Acculi Labs to develop a COVID risk assessment profile called Lyfas COVID score.

Know! about Lyfas COVID score.

• Acculi Labs is armed with ‘Lyfas' a clinical-grade, non-invasive, digital functional biomarker smartphone tool for screening, early detection, root cause analysis, acute event risk assessment, prognosis, and home monitoring of chronic diseases
• The new technology developed with support from the DST, will detect the possible infection in an asymptomatic individual to prioritise the conventional testing queue as well as carry out a risk assessment of an asymptomatic individual to become symptomatic and risk assessment of an asymptomatic individual for recovery.

Know! about CAWACH

• CAWACH, an initiative by the National Science & Technology Entrepreneurship Development Board (NSTEDB), DST, Government of India, is supporting market-ready innovations for the control of COVID-19 and startup ideas to address associated challenges.

Tribal Affairs
All-Encompassing Digitisation drive
Relevance IN -Prelims (about all-encompassing digitisation drive' by tribal Ministry + about TRIFED)
What's the NEWS

• TRIFED under Ministry of Tribal Affairs has embarked on an ‘all-encompassing digitisation drive' to only promote tribal commerce

Know! more about the drive

• The drive also maps and links its village-based tribal producers and artisans to national and international markets by setting up state of art e- platforms benchmarked to international standards.
• The strategy is aimed to effectively promote tribal commerce.
• TRIFED is in the process of digitising all the information related to the forest dwellers associated with the Van Dhan Yojana, village haats and their warehouses.
• • All tribal clusters are identified and mapped using GIS technology

Know! about TRIFED

• TRIFED was established in August 1987 under the Multi-State Cooperative Societies Act, 1984 by the Government of India as a National level Cooperative body.
• Under the administrative control of the then Ministry of Welfare of India, TRIFED is mandated to ringing about socio-economic development of tribals of the country by institutionalising the trade of Minor Forest Produce (MFP) & Surplus Agricultural Produce (SAP) collected/ cultivated by them.
• TRIFED plays the dual role of both a market developer and a service provider
• TRIFED is involved actively in capacity building of the tribal people through sensitisation and the formation of Self Help Groups (SHGs).
• TRIFED is engaged in training the tribals in several activities, so that they can effectively carry them out.
• The organisation also assists them in exploring and creating opportunities to market the developed products in national and international markets on a sustainable basis.
• TRIBES India is the brand under which the sourced handcrafted products from the tribal people are sold.

Health and Family Welfare
Empathy e-Conclave on "World Hepatitis Day"
Relevance IN -Prelims (about Empathy e-conclave)

• On the occasion of "World Hepatitis Day", 2nd Empathy e-Conclave was organised
• The event was organised by Institute of Liver and Biliary Sciences (ILBS) in collaboration with Airport Authority of India (AAI) for creating awareness among the parliamentarians.
• India is committed to the WHO goals of elimination of Hepatitis C and of reducing the burden of Hepatitis B by 2030.
• • The theme of this year's conclave is "Keep your Liver Safe in COVID times"

Environment
Detailed report of Tiger Census on the eve of Global Tiger Day released

Relevance IN -Prelims (about the detailed report highlights) + Mains ( GS III Environment conservation)
What's the NEWS

• The Union Environment Minister, released the detailed report of Tiger Census on the eve of Global Tiger Day

Detailed report of Tiger Census (Highlights)

• India has 70 percent of world's tiger population.
• India is tirelessly working with all 13 tiger range countries towards nurturing the tiger.
• To deal with the challenge of human-animal conflict which is causing deaths of animals, LIDAR based survey technology will be used for the first time.
• Lidar is a method for measuring distances by illuminating the target with laser light and measuring the reflection with a sensor.
• With the presence of nearly 30 percent of India's tigers outside tiger reserves, India had embarked upon assessing management interventions through the globally developed Conservation Assured | Tiger Standards (CA|TS) framework, which will now be extended to all fifty tiger reserves across the country.

• India's tiger population now stands at 2967 which is 70 percent of the global tiger population.
• A feather in India's cap was added with the Guinness World Records recognizing the country's efforts as the world largest camera trap survey of wildlife.

• Abundance index of co-predators and other species has been carried out which hitherto was restricted only to occupancy
• Sex ratio of tigers in all camera trap sites has been carried out for the first time.
• Anthropogenic effects on tiger population have been elaborated in a detailed manner.
• Tiger abundance within pockets in tiger reserves has been demonstrated for the first time.

Economy
RBI signs $400 mn currency swap with Sri Lanka

Relevance IN -Prelims (about the currency swap agreement and its benefits) + Mains ( GS III Economic development + GS II bilateral relations)
What's the NEWS

• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has signed an agreement for extending a $400-million currency swap facility to Sri Lanka to boost the foreign reserves and ensure financial stability of the country

Know! all about the currency swap agreement

• Sri Lanka entered into an agreement with the RBI for a currency swap worth $400 million under the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) framework in April
• Reserve Bank of India signs document for $400 million currency swap facility to Sri Lanka till Nov 2022
• In the swap arrangement, a country provides dollars to a foreign central bank, which, at the same time, provides the equivalent funds in its currency to the former, based on the market exchange rate at the time of the transaction.
• The parties agree to swap back these quantities of their two currencies at a specified date in the future, which could be the next day or even two years later, using the same exchange rate as in the first transaction. In Sri Lanka's case, it's more than two years.
• These swap operations carry no exchange rate or other market risks, as transaction terms are set in advance.
• The absence of an exchange rate risk is the major benefit of such a facility.
• This facility provides the country, which is getting the dollars, with the flexibility to use these reserves at any time in order to maintain an appropriate level of balance of payments or short-term liquidity.
• The RBI also offers similar swap lines to central banks in the SAARC region within a total corpus of $2 billion.
• India already has a $75 billion bilateral currency swap line with Japan, which has the second highest dollar reserves after China.

Connect to the Past ( May 2020 article)
How a dollar swap line with US Fed can help in uncertain times
What's the News

• India is working with the United States to secure a dollar swap line that would help in better management of its external account and provide extra cushion in the event of an abrupt outflow of funds, according to banking industry and government sources.

Currency Swap Agreement

• Forex reserves/assets (also called foreign exchange assets) are assets held on reserve by a central bank in foreign currencies. These may include foreign currencies, bonds, treasury bills and other government securities. These are held to ensure that a central bank has enough funds if its national currency weakens/ devalues rapidly.
• A currency swap between the two countries is an agreement to exchange currencies with predetermined terms and conditions.
• The parties agree to swap back these quantities of their two currencies at a specified date in the future, which is the next day or as far ahead as three months, using the same exchange rate as in the first transaction.
• These swap operations carry no exchange rate or other market risks as transaction terms are set in advance. Central banks and Governments engage in currency swaps with foreign counterparts to meet short term foreign exchange liquidity requirements or to ensure adequate foreign currency to avoid Balance of Payments (BOP) crisis till longer arrangements can be made.
• In a dollar swap arrangement, a kind of currency swap, the US Fed provides dollars to a foreign central bank (Say, RBI), which, at the same time, provides the equivalent funds in its currency (here, Indian Rupees) to the Fed, based on the market exchange rate at the time of the transaction.
• In 2019, India signed a $75 billion bilateral currency swap line agreement with Japan, which has the second largest dollar reserves after China. This facility provides India with the flexibility to use these reserves at any time in order to maintain an appropriate level of balance of payments or short-term liquidity.
• The Reserve Bank of India also offers similar swap lines to central banks in the SAARC region within a total corpus of $2 billion.

Need Of Dollar Swap In The Present Context

• In roughly a month, India's foreign exchange reserves have fallen by nearly $13 billion - from an all-time high of $487.23 billion on March 6 to $474.66 billion as of April 3, as per the latest data reported by the RBI.
• Despite the slump in global crude oil prices and reduction in imports due to the pandemic outbreak, a sharp outflow of funds resulting from foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) looking for safer havens amidst the current global uncertainty, has pulled down India's foreign exchange reserves.
• On March 19, 2020, the Fed opened temporary swap arrangements with the central banks of Australia, Brazil, Denmark, South Korea, Mexico, Norway, New Zealand, Singapore, and Sweden, to be in place for at least six months for a combined $450 billion.
• The Fed already has permanent swap arrangements with the Bank of Canada, the Bank of England, the European Central Bank, the Bank of Japan, and the Swiss National Bank.
• Other large economies including India, China, Russia, Saudi Arabia and South Africa - all part of the G-20 grouping - currently do not have a currency swap line with the US.

• With the high level of Forex available with India at present, it is largely expected to tide over any challenge posed by continued outflows of funds from the markets. However, a swap line with the US Federal Reserve provides additional comfort to the forex markets.
• Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) have been large sellers in the Indian equity and debt markets in March and April so far, as concerns over the economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic has hit investor sentiment.
• Even as the stock markets have seen a pullback from earlier low levels, there is apprehension that the economic impact of COVID-19 will last for a significant length of time, and there is unlikely to be any V-shaped recovery in the economy or in the financial markets.
• This means that the government and the RBI cannot lower their guard on the management of the economy and the external account.