Daily Currentaffairs: 04 Oct 2020

Tables of contents

1.UAE's mission to Moon

2.India reports Current Account Surplus

3.Long Period Average Rainfall 

4. Recommended Dietary Allowances and Nutrient Requirements Report

5.Decline in India's External Debt

 

1.UAE's mission to Moon

Recently, a top official in the United Arab Emirates has said that UAE plans to send an unmanned spacecraft to the moon in 2024.

Key Highlights

• The rover would be named “Rashid”, after the name of Late Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum.

• The spacecraft is to be built entirely by Emirati engineers and researchers.

• The scientific objectives of the mission are investigations of the lunar soil and thermal properties of the surface.

• The rover will also collect images and relay them back to Earth, and the mission will be used to test cutting-edge material science, robotics and mobility technologies.

• If successful in 2024, the UAE could become the first Arab country and the fourth nation on the Earth to land a spacecraft on the moon, after the US, the Soviet Union and China.

Source: The Indian Express

2.India reports Current Account Surplus

Recently, India's current account has ended in a record surplus of $19.8 billion or 3.9 percent of GDP during the quarter ended June 2020.

Factors responsible for India's Current Account Surplus

• Contraction in Merchandise Trade: The current account surplus of India happened due to contraction of merchandise trade on a massive slump in crude consumption due to the lockdown prompted by the COVID pandemic, and stable services income.

• Sharp contraction in the trade deficit: The surplus in the current account was on account of a sharp contraction in the trade deficit to $ 10.0 billion due to steeper decline in merchandise imports relative to exports.

• Stable net services receipts: The net services receipts remained stable, primarily on the back of net earnings from computer services.

Implication of India's Current Account Surplus

• The current account surplus at a time when the economy is contracting is not perceived to be a healthy sign as it points to a sharp slowdown in domestic consumption.

• The big boost to the current account surplus ratio which is expressed as a percentage of GDP came from the decline in nominal GDP by around 23% in quarter 1 (Q1) which lowered the denominator.

• The current account balances which represent the net of the country's export and imports of goods and services and also payments made to foreign investors or inflows from them, are considered as an important indicator of a country's external sector.

Source: The Economic Times

3.Long Period Average Rainfall

Recently, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) had predicted in that the rainfall in 2020 would be 102 percent of the Long Period Average (LPA) but the rainfall recorded this monsoon was 109 percent of the LPA.

About Long Period Average (LPA) Rainfall

• The LPA is the average rainfall received by the country as a whole during the south-west monsoon, for a 50-year period.

• The current LPA is 89 cm, based on the average rainfall over years 1951 and 2000. 

• The LPA acts as a benchmark against which the rainfall in any monsoon season is measured.

• A 50-year average is expected to smooth out the day-to-day, month-to-month variations, while also accounting for freak weather events like the El Nino and La Nina.

• The IMD maintains five rainfall distribution categories on an all-India scale. These are:

• • Normal or Near Normal: When percent departure of actual rainfall is +/-10% of LPA, that is, between 96-104% of LPA

  • Below normal: When departure of actual rainfall is less than 10% of LPA, that is 90-96% of LPA

  • Above normal: When actual rainfall is 104-110% of LPA

  • Deficient: When departure of actual rainfall is less than 90% of LPA

  • Excess: When departure of actual rainfall is more than 110% of LPA

Region and state-wise distribution of rainfall

• The monsoon rainfall in 2020 was particularly heavy in southern India, with the region recording 129 percent of LPA.

• The east and north-east received 106 percent of LPA, while the central region registered 115 percent.

• The north-western region had deficient rainfall i.e. 84 percent of LPA.

• The meteorological subdivisions that received deficient rainfall are Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram and Tripura, western Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh.

Month-to-month variation of rainfall

• The Ministry of Earth Sciences has stated that the rainfall in 2020 is uniquely placed in the historical record because of the contrasting month-to-month variations in rainfall.

• The month June saw rainfall over 118 percent of the LPA while the month of July had deficient rainfall at 90 percent of LPA.

• The month of August was the wettest month as it registered 127 percent of average rainfall, the highest since 1976 (128.4 percent) and the fourth-highest in 120 years.

Reasons for variability in rainfall

• The formation and movement of cyclone Nisarga over the Arabian Sea helped the monsoon advance into mainland along the west coast in June.

• In July, the unfavourable features, which impede the progress of the monsoon, resulting in deficient rainfall for the country.

• The weak monsoon in July was mainly due to absence of any major monsoon disturbance over the Bay of Bengal. 

  • It also led to an atmospheric trough close to the foothills of the Himalayas on many days.

• The formation of back-to-back low-pressure systems over the northern Bay of Bengal and their movement towards Gujarat and south Rajasthan caused higher-than-normal rainfall over central and western India.

Source: The Print

4.Recommended Dietary Allowances and Nutrient Requirements Report

Recently, the ICMR-National Institute of Nutrition (NIN) has released the 'Recommended Dietary Allowances and Nutrient Requirements' report.

Key Highlights of the Report

• It has redefined the ideal or reference Indian adult man and woman with regard to age to 19-39 years instead of 20-39 years.

• The body weight has been kept at 65 kg for males and 55 kg for females while earlier, it was 60 kg and 50 kg respectively.

• The cereal-legume-milk composition of the diet for a moderately active man has been improved to 3:1:2.5 as compared to the earlier 11:1:3 

• The visible fat intake for sedentary, moderate and heavy activity has been set at 25 gm, 30 gm and 40 gm a day for adult men and 20 gm, 25 gm and 30 gm a day for adult women as against the single level recommended earlier.

• The fiber-based on energy intake was recommended for the first time and the level of about 40 gm/2000 kcal has been considered as safe intake.

• It has recommended a minimum of 400 gm/day of fruits and vegetables to obtain sufficient amounts of antioxidant nutrients such as beta-carotene, Vitamin C, and certain non-nutrients like polyphenols and flavonoids.

• The water required from beverages for adult men ranges from 32-58 ml per kg body mass and for women, it ranges from 27-52 ml per kg body mass.

The Recommended Dietary Allowances (RDA) are daily dietary nutrient intake levels which would be sufficient to meet the nutrient requirements of nearly all healthy individuals.

 

The Estimated Average Requirements (EARs) are the average daily nutrient intake levels of the population.

 

Source: The Hindu

5.Decline in India's External Debt

Recently, India's external debt declined to US$ 554.5 billion end June 2020, recording a decrease of US$ 3.9 billion over its level at end-March 2020.

Factors responsible for Decline in India's External Debt

• Decrease in long-term debt: The long-term debt (with an original maturity of above one year) was placed at US$ 449.5 billion, recording a decrease of US$ 2.0 billion over its level at end-March 2020.

• Decrease in short-term debt: The share of short-term debt (with an original maturity of up to one year) in total external debt declined to 18.9% at end-June 2020 from 19.1% at end-March 2020.

  • The ratio of short-term debt (original maturity) to foreign exchange reserves declined to 20.8% at end-June 2020 (22.4% at end-March 2020).

• Decrease in outstanding debt of the government and non-government sectors: The borrower-wise classification shows that the outstanding debt of both government and non-government sectors decreased at end-June 2020.

Components of India's External Debt

• The US dollar-denominated debt remained the largest component of India's external debt at end-June 2020, followed by the Indian rupee, yen, SDR and the euro.

• The share of the outstanding debt of non-financial corporations in total external debt was the highest followed by deposit-taking corporations (except the central bank), general government and other financial corporations.

• The instrument-wise classification shows that the loans were the largest component of external debt followed by currency and deposits, trade credit and advances and debt securities.

• The commercial borrowings remained the largest component of external debt followed by non-resident deposits and short-term trade credit.

Source: Business Standard

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