10 10 19

SL. THE HINDU

TOPICS
NO. PAGE NO.

1 For a happy childhood (Article) 11

2 Chemistry Nobel to trio for work on batteries 14

3 Gemini System for Fishermen 09

4 The minimum wage solution (Article) 11

5 India slips 10 places in global competitiveness index 15

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Title 1. For a happy childhood (Article) (The Hindu Page 11)

Syllabus Prelims: Social Issue

Mains: GS Paper II – Social Issue
Theme Acknowledging the problem of Mental Health

Highlights Context: The article appears in the backdrop of World Mental Health Day being observed today.
The article flags the issue of high prevalence of mental health in India, especially among
adolescents and thus the urgent need for multiple research-based interventions needed to
tackle the problem.

How big is the problem?

Mental health status in general
• According to National Mental Health Survey 2015-16, one in every sixth Indian needs
mental health intervention.
• WHO report of 2017 on depression
▪ Almost 7.5% of Indians suffer from major or minor mental disorders.
▪ 56 million Indians are suffering from depression.
▪ 38 million Indians suffer from anxiety disorders including generalised anxiety
disorder (GAD), panic disorder, phobias, social anxiety disorder, obsessive-
compulsive disorder (OCD) and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Mental health among adolescents (focus of the article)

• About 7.3% of adolescents in the age group 13-17 suffer from mental disorders.
• 20% of school-going children suffer from depression.
• Besides suicide among adolescents is higher than any other age group.

Causes
• Poor social environment: leading to peer pressure, bullying in public spaces. (schools)
• Sexual and physical abuse at young age
• Overprotected upbringing
• Mental disorder is still a social stigma
• Increasing substance abuse: According to Global status report on alcohol and health
2018, more than a 25% of all 15–19-year-olds are current drinkers.
• Internet and gaming addiction:
leads to loneliness, isolation and thus anxiety in social situations.
Recently internet and gaming addictions are increasingly being recognized as mental
disorders.(WHO’s International Classification of Diseases)
Challenges
• Undetected: About ½ of mental health disorders start by 14 years of age which largely
goes undetected and thus untreated.
• Lack of awareness
• Lack of mental healthcare facilities: About 50% of households do not have mental
health care facilities within 20km radius.
• Low insurance penetration in general and mental health insurance in particular
• Lack of communication with parents

Possible solutions
The author suggests a multi-pronged evidence-based approach to tackle the issue.
• Parents and peers should play an important role by being understanding and
communicative.
• A more open parenthood especially in identifying and discussing the issues especially
related to sexual abuse, internet and gaming addiction etc
• Early identification of the problem by sensing ‘warning signs’ like over and under eating
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habits, erratic sleep patterns and mood swings.

• Access to institutional psychological support for suicide
• SPIRIT (Suicide Prevention and Implementation Research Initiative) is one such effort in
that direction
• The passing of Mental Healthcare Act, 2017 is a good step, however the devil lies in its
effective implementation.

Personal Notes
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Title 2. Chemistry Nobel to trio for work on batteries (The Hindu Page 14)

Syllabus Prelims: Economy

Mains: GS Paper III – Economy
Theme Economic Revival through Agriculture

Highlights Abstract
• The 2019 Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded to a trio of scientists whose works,
independently, have contributed to development of lithium-ion batteries as an alternative to
fossil fuels.
• The winners of the prize include
✓ John B. Goodenough, a German-American (Oldest Nobel Laureate at 97)
✓ M. Stanley Whittingham, a British-American
✓ Akira Yoshino of Japan

In focus: Li-ion batteries

• Lithium ion batteries are rechargeable, lightweight batteries.
• They are extensively used in consumer electronics including mobile phones, laptops,
pacemakers etc and also electric cars.
• Besides lithium-ion batteries are used as safer energy-storage devices capable of
storing even renewable energy including solar and wind.

Basics of battery

• Typically a battery works on the principle of ‘redox’ reactions which result in electricity,
flow of electron from anode (-ve electrode) to cathode (+ve electrode).
• In the discharge mode, the anode loses electron and cathode gains electron resulting in
the powering of electric devices connected in between.
• In the recharge mode, the opposite happens.

Redox reaction
Reduction - gain of electrons
Oxidation – loss of electrons

• Thus the anode is made of material which readily loses electron and cathode is made of
material that readily accepts electron.
• The voltage of the whole circuit depends on anode and cathode used.

Evolution of Li-ion battery technology

Early Li-ion batteries
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• Whittingham’s contribution: Pioneer

• In the earliest Li-ion batteries of 1970s , Lithium was used as anode (negative electrode)
and titanium disulphide was used as cathode (positive electrode)
• This was because Lithium is an alkali earth metal that readily loses electron.
• Goodenough’s contribution: Increase of potential
• He replaced the cathode with cobalt oxide which resulted in increase of voltage from 2
volts to 4 volts.
• Akira Yoshino’s contribution: Safety of anode
• While lithium is a good material for anode it extremely reactive in nature and thus may
lead to explosion when exposed to water or air.
• Thus Yoshino made an anode made of petroleum coke and instead of using lithium
metal as a whole he inserted lithium ions in between the carbon layers.

Present
• Currently Lithium cobalt oxide is used as cathode (positive electrode) and carbon in the
form of graphite is used as anode (negative electrode).

Advantages
• Light weight
✓ Lithium ion batteries are the lightest batteries because lithium is the lightest
metal available.

• High Energy Density and thus improved storage capacity

✓ Good batteries are the ones that hold more energy per gram.
✓ Lithium is also a highly reactive element, meaning that a lot of energy can be
stored in its atomic bonds.
✓ This translates into a very high energy density for lithium-ion batteries.
✓ A typical automobile lead-acid battery weighs 6 kilograms more to store the
same amount of energy than a lithium-ion battery.
✓ In consumer electronics like mobile, laptops, camera etc 1 kilogram of Nickle
cadmium batteries stores typically 60 to 70 watt-hours.
✓ A typical lithium-ion battery can store 150 watt-hours of electricity in 1 kilogram
of battery.

• Minimum losses
✓ A lithium-ion battery pack loses only about 5 percent of its charge per month,
compared to a 20 percent loss per month for Nickle-Cadmium batteries.
✓ This is because typically lithium-ion batteries are not based upon chemical
reactions that break down the electrodes, but upon lithium ions flowing back and
forth between anode and cathode.

• Low Maintenance
✓ Lithium-ion batteries can handle hundreds of charge/discharge cycles.
✓ Relatively low self-discharge - self-discharge is less than half that of nickel-
based batteries, which means that you do not have to completely discharge them
before recharging.

Impact of Li-ion battery revolution

• Safe and efficient storage
• Li-ion batteries have revolutionized safe energy-storage technology and thus
ubiquitously used in consumer electronics like mobile phones, laptops etc
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• EV Revolution
• Li-ion batteries are preferred alternatives for Electric Vehicles due to high potential and
low weight. (EV revolution depends on weight of the batteries.)

Challenges
• Ageing
✓ Lithium ion batteries suffer from ageing at room temperature. Therefore in a
typical consumer electronic batteries need to be partially charged - around 40%
to 50% and kept in a cool storage area. Storage under these conditions will help
increase the life.
• Transportation
✓ Another disadvantage of lithium ion batteries is that there can be certain
restrictions placed on their transportation, especially by air to protect against
short circuits.
• Cost
✓ Lithium-ion batteries are around 40% more costly to manufacture than Nickel
cadmium cells.
• Resource crunch
✓ LiBs use lithium, cobalt, nickel and manganese which are in short supply in the
world restricted to Bolivia, Chile.

Li-ion batteries in India

• Currently Li-ion batteries are imported mostly from China, South Korea and Taiwan.
• Recently ISRO has announced a technology transfer package to competent Indian
industries/start-ups working in manufacturing and production of Li-ion batteries.
• The move for setting up local production will give fillip to government’s plan to achieve
100% EVs in the country by 2030.
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Personal
Notes
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Title 3. Gemini System for Fishermen (The Hindu Page 09)

Syllabus Prelims: General Science

Mains: GS Paper III – Science & Technology
Theme Gagan Enabled Mariner’s Instrument for Navigation and Information (GEMINI)

Highlights Context
• It is a portable receiver linked to ISRO satellites that is fail-proof and warns fishermen of
danger. It will provide seamless and effective dissemination of information and
communication on disaster warnings, potential fishing zones and Ocean States Forecasts
to fishermen.
• It is a box shaped receiver that has an antenna and in-built battery that can last three to
four days.
• It works on GAGAN platform developed by ISRO and Airports Authority of India. GAGAN is
an Indian made Global Positioning System. GAGAN foot-print covers the entire Indian
Ocean round the clock.
• It relies on the positioning system of ISRO’s GSAT satellites. When GEMINI is connected to
an app, it informs fishermen about the probability of fish catch in the surrounding seas. It
has been developed by Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS)
based in Hyderabad in collaboration with Accord, a private company.
Significance:
• Though the advisories and forecasts are disseminated through multiple communication
modes, none of them could provide such information, including the disaster warnings
when the fishermen move away from the coast beyond 10-12 km (typical ranges of mobile
phones and VHF).
• That remained as a major limitation in disseminating the information to fishermen who go
in the sea beyond 50 nautical miles; sometimes up to 300 nautical miles and beyond to
conduct multiday fishing.
• There used to communication blackouts with the old system leading to 20 fishermen
going missing in the aftermath of Cyclone Okhi in 2017. The present system is much more
secure. This communication gap resulted in loss of life, serious injuries to those rescued
and severe damages to fishing boats and fishing gear.
• The device is priced at Rs 9,000 which is expensive for fishermen. However, steps are being
taken to subsidise it by 90% for making it affordable for fishermen.
• The GEMINI device receives and transfers the data received from GAGAN satellite/s to a
mobile through Bluetooth communication. A mobile application developed by INCOIS
decodes and displays the information in nine regional languages.
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Personal
Notes
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Title 4. The minimum wage solution (Article) (The Hindu Page 11)

Syllabus Prelims: Economy

Mains: GS Paper III – Economy
Theme Increase NREGA wages to spur rural demand

Highlights Context: The Government to mitigate economic crisis has announced 1. New Index of NREGA
wages & 2. Reduction in corporate tax rate.
• The new index will help in revising NREGA wages considering inflation in the economy and
is indexed with an updated inflation index called the Consumer Price Index-Rural (CPI-R).
• CPI-R involves more non-food items such as healthcare and education and reflects the
rural consumption basket in a much better way as compared to Consumer Price Index-
Agricultural Labourers (CPI-AL).
• Indices are (weighted) averages of the prices of a basket of goods consumed and the
index must be based on the main items of consumption for rural households.

Will the new index impact rural economy?

• The article argues that the new index will only have impact if the NREGA wages are too
high.
• Eg. Let us assume two different monthly NREGA wages to be Rs. 250 and Rs. 450. So a 10
per cent increase in wages will impact more for Rs. 450 than for Rs. 250 because of the
large quantum.
• Increased wages after 10 per cent hike will be Rs.275 and Rs. 495 respectively.
• So, there is a need for a substantial increase in NREGA wages followed by indexing it with
CPI-R as it will enhance the amount of wages to be paid substantially leading to more
money at the hand of the people in the lower pyramid.
• However, NREGA wages paid by centre is still lower than minimum state wages which
needs to be equalled in all states and UTs.

Minimum Wage

• Minimum wages are based on legal provisions arrived through calculating the minimal
nutritional requirement and basic needs of an individual.
• In Sanjit Roy v. State of Rajasthan (1983), the Supreme Court held that paying less than
minimum wages is akin to “forced labour”.
• In Workmen v. Management of Raptakos Brett (1991), the Court held that education,
healthcare and insurance besides the bare essentials must be added to arrive at a moral
“living wage” to ensure basic dignity of life.
• Despite these judgments, as of now NREGA wages are just a quarter of the minimum daily
living wage of Rs. 692 as outlined in the 7th Pay Commission.

Corporate Tax Cut & Rising Inequality

• The article highlights that the current corporate tax cut will further widen economic
inequality. According to the Oxfam Inequality Report 2018, in one year, the wealth of the
richest 1% in India grew by Rs. 20.91 lakh crore which is equivalent to the 2017-18 Budget.
• As per another report of CRISIL, due to the recent tax cut, 1,000 companies would have annual
savings of around Rs. 37,000 crore. In comparison, the last annual NREGA budget was only Rs.
60,000 crore.
• So the estimated gains of more than a 1,000 companies would be equivalent to the annual earnings
of around 7.2 crore NREGA labourers. Further, the budget allocation for NREGA gets exhausted
by October of each financial year, leading to delays in payment of wages.
• According to a 2015 IMF report, “if the income share of the top 20% (the rich) increases, then GDP
growth actually declines over the medium term”, while “an increase in the income share of the
bottom 20% (the poor) is associated with higher GDP growth”.
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• So, corporate rate cut may give some liquidity to corporates, but unlikely to increase rural demand.
• On the contrary, without a substantial increase in NREGA wages, the wages would barely match
inflation levels leading to wage stagnation in real terms.
• It is therefore economically prudent to substantially increase the budget for public programmes
such as NREGA. This would lead to higher disposable income for the poor which in turn would
have positive multiplier effects in the economy.

Personal
Notes
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Title 5. India slips 10 places in global competitiveness index (The Hindu Page 15)

Syllabus Prelims: Economy

Mains: GS Paper III – Economy
Theme Global Competitiveness Index – India slips to 68

Highlights Context: India has moved down 10 places to rank 68th in a global index that measures
competitiveness, as it fared poorly in most parameters such as infrastructure, the adoption of
information, communications and technology (ICT), financial markets, skills, and innovation
capability, compared to last year. Besides, the country could not keep pace with many small but
closely positioned nations such as Colombia, Azerbaijan, and Turkey, showed the Global
Competitiveness Report 2019, released by the World Economic Forum (WEF) recently. As many
as 141 countries were surveyed for the index.
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Personal
Notes