True random number generator (TRNG) device
Paper 3 Science Technology
Why in News?
Recently Indian Institute of Science (IISc) has developed a true random number generator (TRNG) device to develop improve data encryption.
Key Points
• A team at the Department of Electrical Communication Engineering (ECE), Indian Institute of Science (IISc) has developed a true random number generator (TRNG) device.
• It can improve data encryption and provide improved security for sensitive digital data such as credit card details, passwords, and other personal information. The study describing the TRNG device has been published in the journal ACS Nano.
• In cryptography, encryption is the process of encoding information. This process converts the original representation of the information, known as plaintext, into an alternative form known as ciphertext.
• only authorized parties can decipher a ciphertext back to plaintext and access the original information. Thus Encrypted information can be decoded only by authorised users who have access to a cryptographic ‘key’. But the key needs to be unpredictable and, therefore, randomly generated to resist hacking.
• Cryptographic keys are typically generated in computers using pseudorandom number generators, which rely on mathematical formulae or pre-programmed tables to produce numbers that appear random but are not.
• In contrast, a TRNG extracts random numbers from inherently random physical processes, making it more secure.
How it works?
• In IISc’s TRNG device, random numbers are generated using the random motion of electrons.
• It consists of an artificial electron trap constructed by stacking atomically-thin layers of materials like black phosphorus and graphene.
• The current measured from the TRNG device increases when an electron is trapped, and decreases when it is released. Since electrons move in and out of the trap in a random manner, the measured current also changes randomly. The timing of this change determines the generated random number.
• One cannot predict exactly at what time the electron is going to enter the trap. So, there is an inherent randomness that is embedded in this process.
Performance test
• The performance of the TRNG device on the standard tests for cryptographic applications designed by the US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has exceeded their expectations.
• “Min-entropy is a parameter used to measure the performance of TRNGs. Its value ranges from 0 [completely predictable] to 1 [completely random].
• The TRNG device showed a record-high min-entropy of 0.98, a significant improvement over previously reported values, which were around 0.89,” the team’s electronic TRNG is also more compact than its clunkier counterparts that are based on optical phenomena.
Source – The Hindu
“Sela macaque” – a New Arunachal monkey
Paper 3 Biodiversity
Why in News?
Recently The scientists of Zoological Survey of India (ZSI) have discovered a very new macaque species which is distributed in western and central Arunachal Pradesh.
Key Points
• The scientists have named it as ‘Sela Macaque’ (Macaca selai) — as this species is geographically separated from Arunachal macaque of the Tawang district by a mountain pass, called Sela pass.
• Sela macaque, the new-to-science primate was identified and analysed by a team of experts from the Zoological Survey of India (ZSI) and the University of Calcutta.
• Their study has been published in the latest edition of Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. Phylogenetics relate to the evolutionary development and diversification of a species or group of organisms.
• The study said that The phylogenetic analysis revealed that the Sela macaque was geographically separated from the Arunachal macaque (Macaca munzala) of Tawang district by Sela. This mountain pass acted as a barrier by restricting the migration of individuals of these two species for approximately two million years.
• ZSI’s scientist said the Sela pass acted as a barrier by restricting the migrations of individuals between these two species for approximately two million years. The Sela macaque is genetically closer to the Arunachal macaque and there are many physical characteristics similar between these two species like a heavy-build shape and long dorsal body hair.
• Some distinct morphological characters to differentiate them were identified by the scientists. In short, the Arunachal macaque has a dark face and dark brown coat colour, while the Sela macaque has a pale face and brown coat colour.
• scientists observed distinct behaviours among troops that are common in both species –some troops are habituated to human presence while others avoid human proximity. According to the villagers, the Sela macaque is a major cause of crop loss in the West Kameng district of Arunachal Pradesh.
• The study says the Sela macaque has a tail longer than the Tibetan macaque, Assamese macaque, Arunachal macaque and the white-cheeked macaque but shorter than the bonnet macaque and toque macaque.
• Sela macaque belongs to the sinica species-group of Macaca, but it differs from all other members of this group through attributes such as brown collar hair and muzzle, thick brown hair around the neck and the absence of chin whiskers.
Source – The Hindu
Uniform civil code in Uttarakhand
Paper 2 Governance
Why in News?
Recently The Uttarakhand government has formed panel to implement Uniform Civil Code.
Key Points
• The Uttarakhand government has formed an expert committee headed by a retired Supreme Court judge for implementing Uniform Civil Code (UCC) and to check all the relevant laws that control personal matters for those living in Uttarakhand.
• a five-member committee will be headed by retired Supreme Court judge Ranjana Desai, who currently heads the Delimitation Commission of India. Other members of the committee are: retired Delhi High Court judge Pramod Kohli, social activist Manu Gaur, retired IAS officer Shatrughan Singh, and Doon University Vice-Chancellor Surekha Dangwal.
• The state government’s notification regarding the constitution of the committee said that to examine all relevant laws governing individual civil affairs of all citizens residing in the state of Uttarakhand and report on the same along with amendments to the draft law or existing law. This committee is being constituted for this purpose.
• Apart from this, an expert committee is being constituted with the approval of the Governor to examine and implement the applicable laws related to marriage, divorce, property rights, inheritance and inheritance, adoption and maintenance and guardianship etc. and Uniform Civil Code.
What is Uniform Civil Code?
• Uniform Civil Code is a proposal in India to formulate and implement personal laws of citizens which apply on all citizens equally regardless of their religion, sex, gender and sexual orientation.
• Currently, personal laws of various communities are governed by their religious scriptures.
• Article 44 of the Constitution of India, while referring to the Uniform Civil Code, states that “the State shall endeavour to introduce a Uniform Civil Code for citizens in the entire region of India”. This article is in the Directive Principles of State Policy in part, which is recorded as advice in the Constitution. That is, it is not binding.
Why the need?
• Different laws of different religions put a burden on the judiciary. With the implementation of the Uniform Civil Code, this problem will be relieved and the decisions of the cases pending in the courts for years will be expedited.
• In marriage, divorce, adoption and property sharing, there will be a uniform law for everyone, no matter what religion it belongs to. At present, people of every religion deal with these cases under their personal laws.
• The concept of uniform civil code is that it will strengthen national unity by an equality in law for all. The implementation of a uniform law on every Indian in the country is also expected to improve the country’s politics.
Source – Indian Express
Nano Liquid Urea Plant
Paper 3 Agriculture
Why in News?
Today, on 28th May 2022, hon’ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi will inaugurate the world’s first nano liquid urea plant in Gujarat, let us know about it.
Key Points
• Prime Minister Narendra Modi is on a two-day visit to Gujarat from May 28, 2022.
• During this, PM Modi will inaugurate the newly constructed Matushri KDP Multispecialty Hospital at Atkot near Rajkot in Gujarat. The hospital is equipped with high quality medical equipment and will provide world class health facilities to the people of Saurashtra region.
• Pm Modi will also inaugurate the IFFCO Nano Liquid Urea Plant (IFFCO Nano Liquid Urea) at a cost of Rs 175 crore at Kalol, Gandhi Nagar.
• It is worth mentioning that India has become the first country in the world to start commercial production of nano urea.
• As per the information received, the use of liquid nano urea will result in economic savings to farmers, increase productivity and also reduce India’s dependence on urea imports. This will also reduce the subsidy burden on the government and the government will be able to use this savings for other public welfare schemes.
• IFFCO in its test study has found that spraying of liquid nano-urea by drones is more effective on crops and will also have a positive impact on productivity.
About Nano Urea
• Nano Urea is a unique fertilizer based on nanotechnology which has been developed for the first time in the world and is also approved by the Government of India.
• Spraying nano urea on the leaves at the stages of the crop’s revolution leads to the successful supply of nitrogen, thereby increasing the production as well as protecting the environment,
• Because it is used as a spray on the leaves and it does not even contaminate the soil by going to the ground like the normal granular urea.
• Nano Urea Liquid has been developed indigenously at IFFCO’s Nano Biotechnology Research Centre (NBRC) at Kalol in Gujarat.
• Nano urea has been developed in place of conventional urea and can reduce the requirement of conventional urea by at least 50 percent.
Profit
• It is useful for all crops.
• It is useful for safe and environment friendly sustainable farming.
• Saves urea and other nitrogenous urea without affecting the yield.
• With the improvement of the quality of soil air and water, the fertilizer use efficiency is also high along with the problem of environmental pollution.
• Productive quality increases with the increase in production.
• Reduction in transportation and storage expenses and easy transportation can be done.
Source – PIB
“Guardian Ring” Program
Paper 2 Health, Education, Human Resources
Why in News?
This time a special event called ‘Guardian Ring’ will be organized on The International Day of Yoga i.e. June 21, let’s know about it.
Key Points
• It may be mentioned that the 8th International Day of Yoga is being organized this time in Mysore, Karnataka State in which the Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi, will lead the yoga practitioners and yoga enthusiasts from all over the world.
• Significantly, the idea behind the yoga festival is to encourage people to adopt yoga, because it is a wonderful gift of our thousands of years old civilization and through it we can enrich the quality of our lives.
• This time the special attraction of the International Day of Yoga will be the “Guardian Ring” programme. Under this, the entire Yoga Day will be shown to be a yoga festival taking place all over the world.
• It is worth noting that every year on The International Day of Yoga, embassies abroad organize yoga activities. The Guardian Ring will thread the scenes from various embassies into a single thread.
• Its streaming will start from Japan, also known as the Land of Sunrise. It will start at 6 a.m. local time and then the link will turn westwards. Whenever, in whichever country there is a sunrise, the streaming will start from there.
• It will be telecast live on DD India. The “Guardian Ring” will outline “One Sun, One Earth”. The purpose of this concept is to show the unifying power of yoga.
Preview Program
• Ahead of the International Day of Yoga on 21st June, the Ministry is organizing a preview programme at several places. As per the information received, more than 25 crore people will participate in the yoga festivals to be held at 75 prominent places across the country in the run-up to the Amrut Mahotsav of Independence under the preview programme.
• Yoga festivals were also held at five archaeological sites, Rakhigarhi (Haryana), Hastinapur (Uttar Pradesh), Sivasagar (Assam), Dholavira (Gujarat) and Adichnallur (Tamil Nadu), which fall among the “major” sites of India.
• As part of the 100-day preview of the International Day of Yoga on March 13, the 75-day preview event was held at the Red Fort in Delhi.
• This was followed by a 50-day preview programme on May 2, 2022 at the Shiv Dol temple at Sivasagar in Assam.
• On the occasion of International Day of Yoga, a programme will be held in Mysuru, Karnataka on 21st in which the Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi, will lead a mass yoga demonstration.
• The Ministry is also planning to organize a digital yoga demonstration in Mysuru to highlight the achievements of all the earlier International Yoga Days. The exhibition will cover the power of yoga, excellent behaviour, research-reference, common yoga practice rules, etc.
• Thus, the 8th International Day of Yoga is being encouraged by the Ministry through various programmes so that the message of Yoga spreads all over the world and reaches out to the majority of the people.
• It is worth mentioning that International Day of Yoga is celebrated on June 21 every year all over the world. This year, the Yoga Festival is being organized at 75 heritage sites of archaeological importance in the run-up to the Amrit Mahotsav of Independence to give a boost to Brand India.
• All the ministries of the government, defence forces and other uniformed service organisations are working together so that this movement which has attained health through yoga is a huge success.
• In order to bring everyone under the ambit of this movement, the Ministry of AYUSH plans to engage gram panchayats across the country. In this way, the movement will be able to be taken from the urban areas to the heart of India. The Ministry is committed to encourage more and more people from rural areas in this direction.
About The International Day of Yoga
• The International Day of Yoga is celebrated every year on June 21 all over the world, the aim is to spread awareness about the benefits of Yoga and to make people aware of the layers of their health.
• It is worth mentioning that the international day of yoga was first celebrated in the year 2015. The purpose of celebrating this day is to raise global awareness about the benefits of practicing yoga.
• It is worth mentioning that yoga is a practice that originated in India. The word yoga is a Sanskrit word which means to connect. Yoga symbolizes the integration of body and consciousness. There are 84 classical asanas in yoga such as tadasana, trikonasana, bhujangasana etc.
• Physical inactivity has become one of the leading causes of death worldwide in the last few decades due to busy lifestyle as it causes non-communicable diseases like diabetes, heart disease etc. Yoga is more than physical activity, it not only promotes good health but also helps in maintaining a balanced day-to-day life.
• As a means of improving health in this time of uncertainty, yoga has benefits that can help a person deal with stress by enhancing mental peace, flexibility and fitness. Due to this, due to India’s initiative all over the world, the practice of celebrating The International Day of Yoga started.
background
• India had moved a proposal for the idea of the International Day of Yoga during the opening of the 69th session of the UN General Assembly.
• The United Nations passed the resolution in December 2014 and declared June 21 as the International Day of Yoga.
• The first Yoga Day was celebrated in 2015 at Rajpath, New Delhi. It set a Guinness World Record for being the world’s largest yoga session with 35,985 people.
Source – PIB
National Mineral Congress held
Paper 3 Economics
Why in News?
Recently, the Ministry of Coal organized the National Mineral Congress at Bhubaneswar, Odisha on 27th May 2022.
Key Points
• Ministry of Coal in collaboration with Ministry of Power, Ministry of Steel and Ministry of Mines organized national mineral congress on 27th May 2022 in Bhubaneswar.
• It was organised through virtual medium, Shri Anil Kumar Jain, Secretary, Ministry of Coal who is also the Chairman of the Indian National Committee of the World Mining Congress (INC WMC), inaugurated the Congress.
• Organized by the Indian National Committee of the World Mining Congress, this National Mineral Congress was attended by industry experts from 20 major companies. It discussed the challenges in the aluminium and steel sector, coal gasification and the action plan of carbon to hydrogen.
• Coal gasification and adoption of coal to hydrogen technology and roadmap for coal gasification and roadmap for coal gasification were the focus areas of the union government at this conference and to take this approach forward, the Ministry of Coal also launched documents related to the mission of 100 million tonnes (MT) coal gasification by 2030 .
• It is noteworthy that the National Mineral Congress is being organized by INC WMC, which aims to negotiate, deliberate/discuss. Serve as a common forum for discussion and to hold appropriately structured collective problem-solving sessions to decide effective ways and means to address this important issue.
About the Indian National Committee of the World Mining Congress
• The Indian National Committee of the World Mining Congress (INC WMC) is affiliated to the World Mining Congress which is an organization affiliated to the United Nations.
• Upon approval by the Cabinet, the organisation was registered under the Societies Registration Act in 2016,
• The objective of the organization is to promote the development of the mining and mineral sector with emphasis on Indian mining sector.
• The Coal Minister has been inducted as the Patron, the Coal Secretary as the Chairman, the Secretary Power, Steel and Mines as the Co-Chairman.
• Apart from various educational institutions, commercial companies engaged in mining were also made member secretaries of the society.
Source – PIB
INS Khanderi
Paper 3 : Security, Internal Security
Why in News?
Recently, defence minister Shri Rajnath Singh made a sea voyage at the stealth submarine ‘INS Khanderi’ in Karwar, Karnataka, let us know about it.
Key Points
• The Defence Minister Shri Rajnath Singh visited the sea on ‘INS Khanderi’, one of the powerful platforms of the Indian Navy, during his visit to the Karwar Naval Base in Karnataka on May 27, 2022. The Defence Minister was briefed on the combat capabilities and offensive power of the state-of-the-art Kaveri class submarine.
• The Defence Minister witnessed a number of action-related exercises in which submarines showcased advanced sensor suites, combat systems and weapon capabilities. These capabilities provide distinct advantages to the submarine in the subsurface area.
• The voyage also showed the defence minister the capabilities of the stealth submarine in responding to anti-enemy submarine action.
• The Defence Minister spoke to the crew of the submarine and complimented them for operating in a challenging environment. He praised the Indian Navy for its high preparedness and aggressive capability in dealing with any threat in the maritime domain.
• Operation Sortie was accompanied by deployment of ships of the Western Fleet, antisubmarine mission sorties by P-81 MPA and Sea-King helicopters, flypasts by MiG-29K combat aircraft and demonstration of search and rescue capability.
• At the same time, the Defence Minister has directly looked at the three-pronged combat capability of the Indian Navy. It may be recalled that the Defence Minister had travelled from INS Vikramaditya in September 2019 and earlier this month had travelled on the P-81 Long Range Maritime Reconnaissance Anti-Submarine Warfare aircraft.
About INS Khanderi
• INS Khanderi is the second of the six Kalvari-class submarines of the Indian Navy to be built in India.
• Under Project 75, India is building an indigenous submarine in collaboration with France. Under this, six diesel-electric attack submarines of Kalvari class based on Scorpene class were being built at Mazagon Dock Limited (MDL).
• There are 6 submarines of Kalvari class – INS Kalvari, INS Khanderi INS Karanj, INS Vela, INS Waghir, INS Wagsheer.
• It is worth mentioning that the Scorpene submarine is a highly powerful platform. It has state-of-the-art secret features and is equipped with long-range guided torpedo and antiship missiles. These submarines are equipped with state-of-the-art sonar and sensor suites that allow exceptional action capability.
• At present, four submarines of this class are operated by the Indian Navy. It is expected that by the end of the year, two more submarines will be inducted. With the induction of these submarines, the indian navy’s underwater capability in the Indian Ocean region has increased considerably.
• INS Khanderi is a diesel-electric attack submarine that was designed by french naval defence and energy company DCNS and manufactured at Mazagon Dock Limited in Mumbai.
• It is named after its predecessor INS Khanderi (S22), who served in the Navy from 1968-1989, and was named after the island fort of Khanderi of the Maratha king Shivaji.
• INS Khanderi was commissioned into the Navy on 28 September 2019 by the Defence Minister.
The features
• Its length is about 67.5 meters and its width is 12.3 meters. With the ability to stay in the water for 40 to 45 days and cover a distance of 12,000 km at a time, the submarine can land up to a depth of 350 metres.
• Modern anti-surface, anti-submarine weapons are present in the submarine. Apart from this, extremely fast communication equipment has also been installed for intelligence gathering and surveillance, which will enable the enemies’ conspiracies to be detected immediately.
• The permanentally magnetized resolution motor fitted in it is oneof the many features of it. Because of this, this submarine remains very silent in the sea, so that the enemy country will not know that there is a submarine in its maritime area. Apart from this, there are also two diesel engines of 1250 kW. It has 6 torpedo tubes. Out of this, a missile can also be fired from 2 tubes. It has a system of keeping a total of 12 torpedoes within it.
Source – PIB
17th Mumbai International Film Festival
Paper 2 Health, Education, Human Resources subjects
Why in News?
India’s most prominent documentary film event, mumbai international film festival-MIFF 2022 is going to start from 29th May 2022.
Key Points
• The upcoming 17thMumbai International Film Festival is going to begin on 29th May 2022 at the Film Division campus. It is worth mentioning that the National Museum of Indian Cinema is also located in this complex.
• The opening ceremony of the week-long biennial film festival will take place at Nehru Centre, Worli, while the screening of all films during the festival will take place at the Film Division Complex, which has state-of-the-art auditoriums.
• MIFF 2022 has received tremendous encouragement from filmmakers around the world. 808 film entries have been received from 30 countries for the festival. Out of these, 102 films will be screened under the competition category. Of these, 35 films will be screened in international competitions and 67 under national competitions. 18 films will be screened under the ‘MIFF Prism’ category.
• To commemorate 50 years of Bangladesh’s independence, Bangladesh has been elected a ‘country with special status’ this year. A special package of 11 films from Bangladesh including the critically acclaimed film Haseena- A Daughters Tale will be screened at MIFF 2022.
• The netflix original series “Mighty Little Bhim: I Love Taj Mahal” episode will have a world premiere at MIFF 2022.
• The first animation film ‘Ramayana: The Legend of Prince Ram’, co-produced by India and Japan, will also have a special screening at MIFF. The film division’s contribution to documentary culture in India will be showcased through a specially curated package, Image-Nation.
• Special packages prepared by Shorts TV for film lovers such as Oscar film packages, special film packages from Italy and Japan, Indian panorama category films from the recent editions of IFFI will be the centre of special attraction.
• Students from reputed institutes like National Institute of Design (NID), Ahmedabad, Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute (SRFTI), Kolkata, Maharashtra Institute of Technology (MIT) Pune, K R Narayanan Film Institute, Kerala will showcase the spirit of young talent under the film package. Also, Myanmar’s Student Animation Documentary Films and Student Animation Film Festival will be a unique exhibition of Brazilian films.
• Similarly, films produced in Northeast India, the best short story of pocket films platform and special screening of the innovative version of Satyajit Ray’s film Sukumar Ray will be screened.
• It is worth mentioning that MIFF, being one of the world’s prestigious documentary film festivals, brings together documentary filmmakers, film lovers, film reviewers, broadcasters and OTT platforms and scholars who debate and discuss contemporary trends in the documentary field.
Prizes
• The best film of the festival will be presented with the Golden Conch Award with a cash prize of Rs 10 lakh. Among other awards, cash prizes ranging from five to one lakh are given along with silver conch shells, trophies and certificates.
• The IDPA Award for Rs 1 lakh cash and a trophy on the final day of the film festival will also be presented for best student film and Dadasaheb Phalke Chitranagari Award for best budding director.
• The prestigious Dr V Shantaram Lifetime Achievement Award, which carries Rs 10 lakh in cash, will be presented with golden conch shell and a citation to an eminent filmmaker for his significant contribution to documentary films.
• S Krishnaswamy, Shyam Benegal, Naresh Bedi, Vijaya Mulay are some of the prominent filmmakers who have been honoured with this prestigious award in the past. The award is set in memory of legendary filmmaker V Shantaram, who was closely associated with the films division as an honorary lead producer during the 1950s.
About Mumbai International Film Festival
• Mumbai International Film Festival is an event organized by the Film Division, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India in the city of Mumbai .
• It was started in the year 1990, and it focuses on documentary, short story and animation films.
• The festival aims to provide a platform for documentary and short filmmakers from all over the world to meet, exchange ideas and explore possibilities of co-producing and marketing documentary, short and animation films.
• This biennial festival is traditionally held at the National Centre for the Performing Arts (NCPA), Mumbai.
Source – All India Radio
Indian Business Portal
Paper 3 Economics
Why in News?
Recently, the Minister of State for Commerce and Industry, Smt Anupriya Patel launched the Indian Business Portal to empower MSMEs, artisans and farmers.
Key Points
• Union Minister of State for Commerce and Industry Anupriya Patel launched the Indian Business Portal in New Delhi on 27 May 2022.
• It may be mentioned that the “Indian Business Portal” has been designed and developed by the Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) in partnership with GlobalLinker, as an international trade hub for Indian exporters and foreign buyers .
• In fact it is a B2B digital marketplace to empower MSME exporters, artisans and farmers to identify new markets for their products and increase their sales globally.
• The portal will serve as a major centre of international trade for Indian exporters and foreign buyers. It is a business-to-business, digital business destination that will help small, medium export entrepreneurs, artisans and farmers to explore a new market for their products.
Strategic objectives of The Indian Business Portal
• Digitize Indian exporters and help them become searchable online
• To promote exports from all Indian states
• Demonstrate India’s strength across a wide range of products and services
• Encourage virtual meetings between buyers and sellers
• Providing a reliable network of Indian exporters to foreign buyers.
Importance
• Global Visibility – FIEO will promote the market across the globe to help Indian exporters, SMEs, artisans promote their products and services globally.
• Business Meetings – This portal facilitates the creation of buyer and seller meetings, and also the option to make purchases directly from artisans and exporters for foreign consumers who offer less quantity of their products.
• Geographical Indications (GI) Products – A special focus has been dedicated to helping Indian artisans, farmers and producers working in over 370 Indian Geographical Indication (GI) categories to digitize their catalogues and showcase their unique offerings globally through the Indian Business Portal.
About Indian Export Organisations Association (FIEO)
• The Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) was established jointly in 1965 by the Ministry of Commerce, Government of India and Private Trade and Industry.
• It is a trade promotion organisation which acts as the apex body for exporters in the country.
• The organization is responsible for identifying and assisting Indian entrepreneurs and exporters in overseas markets.
• Its headquarters is located in ‘Export Bhawan’ in New Delhi.
Source – All India Radio
‘Wealth Generation and Distribution’ Report
Paper 1 social issues
Why in News?
Recently, the non-profit organization Oxfam International released its ‘Wealth Generation and Distribution’ report, let us know the highlights of this report.
Key Points
• Oxfam International’s ‘Wealth Generation and Distribution’ report this year was titled ‘Profiting from Pain’.
• On analyzing the creation of wealth over the last two years, i.e., during the pandemic, Oxfam International found that some people have benefited immensely in every crisis that comes to this earth. In this, the poor have suffered badly and more people have fallen into the quagmire of poverty than ever before.
• According to the report, in the last 24 months, since the pandemic hit in 2020, the wealth of the world’s billionaires has grown much more than the combined growth of the last nearly two years. In the last two years, 573 new billionaires have been born.
• The report has varied the income of different corporations according to sectors. Energy, food and medicine (in the three sectors where the world is facing a crisis) corporations have recorded maximum profits in their lifetime. There have been 62 new billionaires in the food sector.
• The last two years have been a boon for the food and energy sector billionaires, with their wealth rising by $1 billion every two days. During this time, the top five energy companies – BP, Shell, Total Energies, Exxon and Chevron – made a daily profit of $2,600 every second while the world was a victim of lockdowns and extreme economic stress.
• The pandemic also gave rise to 40 new billionaires in the pharmaceutical sector. “Pharmaceutical corporations such as Moderna and Pfizer are making a profit of $1,000 every second from their monopoly control over the COVID-19 vaccine.
• On the other hand, due to increase in the prices of food items, loss of livelihood and no means of earning, 263 million people will become poor this year i.e. in 2022. It will be at the expense of billionaires who are being born every 33 hours. In the three sectors where the maximum wealth has been created, the wages of the labourers have not been increased. The burden of the crisis is felt only by the poor and marginalized.
Wealth of the top 10 rich, more than the total wealth of 3.1 billion people
• Putting it in the right perspective, the inequality today is beyond comprehension and it has become so deep during the pandemic as it has ever been before. For example, according to Oxfam International, the wealth of the world’s top ten richest people is more than the total wealth of 3.1 billion people, or 40 percent of the people at the bottom of the economy.
• It can also be said in such a way that a poor man will never earn as much by working all his life, as much as the rich will earn in a year. According to Oxfam’s estimate, it will take just one year for the rich in the top one per cent to earn as much as it takes 112 years for a worker in the bottom 50 per cent to earn.
• The inattention in raising earnings and wealth is not a shocking thing for us. How and how do they become poor? It’s not a question for us. The question instead is how the rich become rich so fast. The answer to this question gives us a hint, how we can make the poor rich.
• Poverty is now effectively an inherited thing. One born in a poor home will surely be poor forever. Economists such as Lucas Chancel, lead author of the World Inequality Report 2022, have expressed rising inequality as follows – according to him, 50 percent of the world’s population does not have any kind of wealth. Obviously, this will leave the poor behind.
• That is why there is a growing demand that governments give direct cash or income support to the people. It can be the ‘capital’ that the poor can be convinced of and strategize to pave the way for their prosperity. Even if they were not included in the list of billionaires to attend the next annual meeting of the Economic Forum.
Source – Down to Earth