29 February 2024

• Economy: MoSPI released the second advance estimate: India's Q3 FY2023-24 GDP grew 8.4 per cent, with NSO revising full-year FY24 growth to 7.6 per cent. Manufacturing grew 11.6 per cent in Q3.
• Polity: Parliament passed the Jammu and Kashmir Reservation (Amendment) Bill 2024, extending reservation benefits to Pahadi, Gaddi Brahmin, and Sippi communities.
• Environment: The Western Ghats recorded a first-ever documented case of a mushroom growing on a live frog (Mysticellus franki).
• Science: ISRO completed successful validation of the Crew Escape System for Gaganyaan, a safety mechanism to pull the capsule away from the launch vehicle in case of an emergency.

GS area: Economy (GDP, National Income Accounting, Macro)

The National Statistical Office (NSO), under the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI), released the second advance estimate (SAE) for India's GDP for the financial year 2023-24:

• Q3 FY24 (October to December 2023) GDP growth: 8.4 per cent (year-on-year, at constant prices, base year 2011-12).
• Manufacturing sector: Grew 11.6 per cent in Q3, the fastest among major sectors.
• Gross Value Added (GVA) at basic prices: Grew 6.5 per cent in Q3 FY24.
• Full-year FY24 GDP forecast (SAE): NSO revised the full-year FY2023-24 GDP growth forecast to 7.6 per cent (revised upward from 7.3 per cent in the first advance estimate).
• Why GDP and GVA differ: GDP at market prices = GVA at basic prices + Product taxes - Product subsidies. The GDP figure includes indirect taxes, which were boosted by higher GST collections. GVA captures productive activity without this tax-subsidy distortion.
• Sectoral breakdown (Q3):
  • Agriculture: Approximately 0.7 per cent growth (weak due to El Nino-impacted Kharif; Rabi crops recovering).
  • Industry: 9.5 per cent, driven by manufacturing and construction.
  • Services: 7.4 per cent.
• Base effect: The high Q3 growth partly reflects a low base from Q3 FY23 when growth was moderate. Economists flagged this when assessing true momentum.
• NSO methodology: India uses the expenditure approach and production approach to compute GDP. PFCE (Private Final Consumption Expenditure), GFCF (Gross Fixed Capital Formation), and government consumption are the main demand components.
• IMF comparison: IMF's World Economic Outlook had forecast India's FY24 growth at 6.7 per cent. The 7.6 per cent outturn was significantly above IMF's projection.

Static linkage: Economy (GDP, GVA, NSO, MoSPI, national income accounting, PFCE, GFCF, advance estimate, macro indicators).

GS area: Polity (Reservation Policy, J&K, Parliament)

Parliament passed the Jammu and Kashmir Reservation (Amendment) Bill 2024, extending benefits from "Weak and Under-Privileged Classes" to "Other Backward Classes" in Jammu and Kashmir.

• Communities benefited: Pahadis (mountain-dwelling communities), Gaddi Brahmins, and Sippis in Jammu and Kashmir.
• Constitutional basis: Article 15(4) and 16(4) of the Constitution allow the state to make special provisions for the advancement of socially and educationally backward classes.
• J&K's special context: After the reorganisation of J&K into two Union Territories (J&K and Ladakh) in August 2019, legislation for J&K is passed by Parliament acting as the state legislature (since J&K UT has a legislature but was then under President's Rule, and Ladakh has no legislature).
• Pahadi OBC demand: Pahadi communities in J&K had long demanded OBC status to access reservation in government jobs and education. The Delimitation Commission had also recommended political reservation for Pahadi communities.

Static linkage: Polity (reservation, Articles 15(4) and 16(4), J&K reorganisation, OBC, Parliament as state legislature for UTs).

GS area: Environment (Biodiversity, Ecology, Western Ghats)

Researchers in India documented, for the first time, a mushroom growing on a live frog in the Western Ghats. The mushroom belonged to the genus Mycena; the frog was a Mysticellus franki (a narrow-mouthed frog).

• Scientific significance: This is the first documented case globally of a basidiomycete mushroom growing on a live amphibian. Previous records of fungi on frogs involved either dead frogs or pathogenic chytrid fungi (Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis, which causes chytridiomycosis and has driven multiple amphibian extinctions).
• Western Ghats biodiversity:
  • One of the 36 global biodiversity hotspots.
  • Contains approximately 5,000 species of flowering plants, 139 mammal species, 508 bird species, 179 amphibian species, and 6,000 insect species.
  • UNESCO World Heritage Site (2012).
• Mysticellus franki: A species of narrow-mouthed frog endemic to the Western Ghats. Named after the naturalist Frank Wall.

Static linkage: Environment (Western Ghats, biodiversity hotspots, amphibians, fungi, endemic species).

GS area: Science and Technology (Space, ISRO)

ISRO conducted a successful test of the Crew Escape System (CES) for the Gaganyaan human spaceflight mission.

• What the CES does: In the event of a catastrophic launch vehicle failure, the CES fires high-thrust solid rockets to rapidly pull the crew module away from the failing rocket, deploying parachutes for a safe sea landing.
• Test details: The pad abort test was conducted from Sriharikota. The system successfully separated the crew module and landed it safely in the Bay of Bengal.
• Gaganyaan mission context:
  • Target: Carry three Indian astronauts (Vyomanauts) to a 400 km orbit for 3 days.
  • Launch vehicle: LVM3 (GSLV-Mk III).
  • The cryogenic CE20 engine for the upper stage was human-rated in January-February 2024.
• Uncrewed G1 mission: ISRO planned an uncrewed test mission (Gaganyaan-G1) before sending humans.
• Astronaut training: Four Indian Air Force pilots selected as Gaganyaan astronauts underwent training in Russia at the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Centre.

Static linkage: Science and Technology (ISRO, Gaganyaan, crew safety, launch vehicles, cryogenic engines).

GS area: Environment (Climate Change, Himalayan Ecology)

A report by the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) highlighted that Himalayan glacier retreat threatens water security for approximately 240 million people in the Hindu Kush Himalayan (HKH) region.

• Hindu Kush Himalayan region: Extends across eight countries: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, India, Myanmar, Nepal, and Pakistan. Contains the world's largest concentration of glaciers outside the polar regions.
• ICIMOD: Headquartered in Kathmandu, Nepal. An intergovernmental organisation (India is a member) conducting research on mountain ecosystems and climate change in the HKH.
• Glacier retreat rate: Himalayan glaciers are retreating at approximately 40 metres per decade. Some smaller glaciers have lost 20-40 per cent of their mass since the 1970s.
• Water security impact: River systems like the Indus, Ganges, and Brahmaputra are glacier-fed in their upper reaches. Reduced glacier volume means more intense short-term floods (glacial lake outburst floods, GLOFs) followed by long-term water scarcity.
• India-specific risk: India's Indus River and its tributaries are heavily glacier-fed (approximately 40 per cent of Indus flow in the upper basin is glacier-fed). Long-term water availability for Punjab and Sindh agriculture is at risk.

Static linkage: Environment (Himalayan glaciers, ICIMOD, GLOFs, HKH, transboundary rivers, climate risk).

• Leap year statistics: 2024 is a leap year (divisible by 4, and since it is divisible by 100 it must also be divisible by 400: 2024 is not divisible by 100, so the simple rule applies). Leap years add a day to February to correct the mismatch between the calendar year and Earth's revolution around the sun. The solar year is approximately 365.2422 days.
• India's Gross Fixed Capital Formation: GFCF (investment in physical assets) grew at 10.6 per cent in FY24, driven by government infrastructure spending (the 11.1 lakh crore capital expenditure in the 2024-25 budget announcement continuing the investment push).