UPSC Daily Current Affairs | Prelim Bits 04-05-2021
iasparliament
May 04, 2021
Climate Change & Shift in Earth’s Axis
A new study has added shifting of Earth’s axis to the list of consequences of climate change, which already includes rising sea levels, heat waves, melting glaciers and storms.
While this change is not expected to affect daily life, it can change the length of the day by a few milliseconds.
As per the study, since the 1990s, climate change has caused significant glacial ice to melt into oceans, which in turn has caused the Earth’s poles to move in new directions.
Other causes may include terrestrial water storagechange in non‐glacial regions due to climate change and unsustainable consumption of groundwater and other anthropogenic activities.
The North Pole has shifted in a new eastward direction since the 1990s, because of changes in the hydrosphere.
The calculations were based on satellite data from NASA’s Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) mission and estimates of glacier loss and groundwater pumping going back to 1980s.
Earth’s Axis
The Earth’s axis of rotation is the line along which it spins around itself as it revolves around the Sun. The points on which the axis intersects the planet’s surface are the geographical north and south poles.
The location of the poles is not fixed, however, as the axis moves due to changes in how the Earth’s mass is distributed around the planet.
Thus, the poles move when the axis moves, and the movement is called “polar motion”.
Generally, polar motion is caused by changes in the hydrosphere, atmosphere, oceans, or solid Earth.
According to NASA, data from the 20th century shows that the spin axis drifted about 10 centimetres per year.
PLI Scheme for the Food Processing Industry
Ministry of Food Processing Industries (MoFPI) has launched an online portal for ‘Production Linked Incentive Scheme for Food Processing Industry’ (PLISFPI).
This Central Sector Scheme ‘PLISFPI’ will be implemented for the period from 2021-22 to 2026-27. It is a part of Prime Minister’s announcement of Aatmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan.
It will support creation of global food manufacturing champions commensurate with India's natural resource endowment and support Indian brands of food products in the international markets.
The scheme has two components,
It will provide sales based incentives for manufacturing of four major food product segments - Ready to Cook/ Eat (RTC/ RTE) foods, Processed Fruits &Vegetables, Marine Products, Mozzarella.
It will provide grants for undertaking Branding & Marketing activities abroad.
The sales based incentive would be paid from 2021-22 to 2026-27 on incremental sales over the base year. For the first 4 years, 5th & 6th years, base year would be 2019-20, 2021-22 & 2022-23 respectively.
Applicants will be extended grant @ 50% of expenditure on branding & marketing abroad subject to a maximum grant of 3% of Sales of food products or Rs 50 crore per year, whichever is less.
Beneficiaries
Applicants may be Proprietary Firm or Partnership Firm or Limited Liability Partnership (LLP) or a Company registered in India (or) Co-operatives (or) SME. They will apply only through online portal.
Category-I - Applicants are large entities who apply for Incentive based on Sales Exports, and Investment Criteria.
Category-II - SMEs Applicants manufacturing innovative/ organic products who apply for PLI Incentive based on Sales, their product uniqueness, level of product development etc.
Category-III - Applicants applying solely for grant for undertaking Branding & Marketing activities abroad, who will be selected based on the level of recognition of their Brand, sales, exports, etc.
PRAYAAS Scheme
The Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) sent the pension payment orders to the retiring employees under the Employees’ Pension Scheme, 1995 through the “PRAYAAS” initiative.
PRAYAAS is initiative of the EPFO to disburse pension payment order on the very day of retirement/ superannuation.
