1 June 2024

• Health: World No Tobacco Day 2024 theme: "Protecting children from tobacco industry interference." WHO and MOHFW flag tobacco's toll of 1.35 million deaths a year in India.
• Polity: The seventh and final phase of the 2024 Lok Sabha election concluded on 1 June 2024. Voting covered 57 constituencies. Counting scheduled for 4 June.
• Environment: India Meteorological Department recorded extreme heat across north India; AWS stations drew scrutiny after a faulty reading at Mungeshpur, Delhi showed 52.9°C.
• Economy: RBI variable rate repo auctions reflect a banking sector liquidity deficit of approximately 1.54 lakh crore rupees.

GS area: Health, Social Issues, Governance

The World Health Organization designated 31 May as World No Tobacco Day. The 2024 theme is "Protecting children from tobacco industry interference." India's Ministry of Health and Family Welfare held its national event on 31 May and the policy conversation continued into June.

• Scale of the problem in India: tobacco causes an estimated 1.35 million deaths every year. Nearly 26 crore Indians use some form of tobacco. About 60 lakh workers are employed in the tobacco industry.
• WHO FCTC: the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control was adopted in 2003. It is the first global public health treaty negotiated under WHO auspices. India ratified it in 2004.
• MPOWER framework: WHO's six-point policy package. Monitor tobacco use and policies; Protect people from tobacco smoke; Offer help to quit; Warn about dangers; Enforce bans on advertising; Raise taxes.
• National Tobacco Control Programme (NTCP): India's flagship scheme to reduce tobacco production, supply and demand. It funds district-level tobacco control cells and awareness campaigns.
• ToFEI: Tobacco-Free Educational Institutions guidelines. The Ministry of Education collaborates with SEEDS to keep campuses smoke-free and to block industry access to students.
• Award: Odisha State Tobacco Control Cell won the WHO SEAR World No Tobacco Day Award 2024 for the South-East Asia Region.

The industry-interference angle is the new UPSC hook: tobacco companies fund youth-facing campaigns disguised as wellness, which the FCTC's Article 13 on advertising bans is meant to check.

Static linkage: health policy, international organisations (WHO).

GS area: Polity, Elections

The seventh and final phase of the 18th Lok Sabha general election was held on 1 June 2024. Voting covered 57 constituencies spread across eight states and one union territory including Uttar Pradesh (13 seats), Punjab (13 seats), Bihar (8 seats), and Himachal Pradesh (4 seats).

• Scale of the election: more than 96.8 crore voters were enrolled for the 2024 election. Voting ran across seven phases from 19 April to 1 June 2024.
• 642 million voters turned out: the 2024 election is among the largest democratic exercises in history by absolute turnout.
• Article 324: vests superintendence, direction and control of elections in the Election Commission of India. The Election Commission is a constitutional body with an independent secretariat.
• RP Act 1951: the Representation of the People Act governs the conduct of elections to Parliament and state assemblies. Section 33A requires candidates to disclose pending criminal cases where a court has framed charges.
• Model Code of Conduct: not a statutory instrument. It is a consensus document that political parties agreed to follow. The Election Commission enforces it through its Article 324 powers.
• Counting: scheduled for 4 June 2024 across counting centres nationwide.

Static linkage: Parliament and state legislatures, Election Commission.

GS area: Science and Technology, Disaster Management

A faulty sensor at the Mungeshpur Automatic Weather Station in Delhi recorded 52.9 degrees Celsius. The actual temperature was about 3 degrees lower. The episode focused attention on how India measures heat.

• India Meteorological Department: established in 1875. It functions under the Ministry of Earth Sciences and is one of six WMO Regional Specialised Meteorological Centres.
• Automatic Weather Station: transmits meteorological observations without manual intervention. Its four core sensors measure wind speed and direction, temperature and humidity, atmospheric pressure, and rainfall.
• Stevenson Screen: the standard white louvred box that shields a thermometer from direct sunlight while allowing free air circulation. It is the reference method for temperature measurement.
• AWS limitation: electrical resistance thermometers are unreliable at extreme temperatures. Calibration drift and maintenance gaps can produce large errors.
• Heatwave definition (IMD): a plain station records a heatwave when the maximum temperature reaches 40 degrees Celsius or more and is at least 4.5 degrees above normal. A severe heatwave requires departure of 6.4 degrees or more.
• Heatwave as notified disaster: heatwaves are still not among the 12 notified disasters under the Disaster Management Act 2005. The 12 notified categories include cyclones, droughts, earthquakes, floods, landslides and cloudbursts.

Static linkage: disaster management, science and technology (meteorology).

GS area: Economy (monetary policy)

The RBI conducted Variable Rate Repo auctions to inject liquidity into a banking system that was running a deficit of approximately 1.54 lakh crore rupees.

• Repo rate: the fixed rate at which the RBI lends to commercial banks for overnight periods against government securities. The rate had been held at 6.5 per cent since February 2023.
• Variable Rate Repo (VRR): a market-determined borrowing rate. Banks bid at their preferred rates; the RBI accepts bids up to the cut-off. Duration is up to 14 days. The purpose is short-term liquidity injection.
• Variable Rate Reverse Repo (VRRR): the mirror operation. The RBI absorbs surplus liquidity from banks at a market-determined rate.
• LAF corridor: the Liquidity Adjustment Facility corridor runs between the Standing Deposit Facility rate (floor) and the Marginal Standing Facility rate (ceiling). The repo rate sits in the middle.
• Banking sector liquidity: the aggregate net position of all scheduled commercial banks with the RBI. A deficit means banks are net borrowers from the RBI.

Static linkage: monetary policy (Economy).

GS area: Economy

Data released for FY 2023-24 showed foreign direct investment inflows of 44 billion US dollars, a 3.5 per cent decrease from FY 2022-23.

• Total FDI including reinvested earnings: 70.95 billion US dollars versus 71.35 billion the previous year.
• January to March FY 2024: FDI in equity rose 33.4 per cent to 12.38 billion US dollars, showing a recovery in the final quarter.
• Top source countries FY 2024: Singapore, Mauritius and the United States.
• Cumulative top five (2000 to 2024): Mauritius, Singapore, United States, Netherlands, Japan.
• Leading sectors FY 2024: computer software and hardware, services, and construction.
• Leading states: Maharashtra attracted the highest inflows. Gujarat rose. Karnataka declined.
• Policy: the DPIIT under the Ministry of Commerce formulates FDI policy. Two routes exist: the automatic route (no prior approval) and the government route (approval required from the relevant ministry).
• Prohibited sectors: lottery, gambling, chit funds, Nidhi companies, and trading in transferable development rights.

Static linkage: economy (investment, external sector).

GS area: Environment and Ecology

The International Gibbon Day context renewed attention on India's only ape species. The Global Gibbon Network initiated International Gibbon Day in 2020.

• Hoolock Gibbon: India's only ape and the world's smallest and fastest ape species. Current global population is approximately 12,000.
• Range: northeast India, Bangladesh, Myanmar and southern China.
• Two species in India: the Western Hoolock Gibbon is listed as endangered on the IUCN Red List. The Eastern Hoolock Gibbon is listed as vulnerable.
• Legal protection: Schedule I of the Wildlife Protection Act 1972. This is the highest category of protection under Indian law.
• Hollongapar Gibbon Sanctuary: located in Assam. Established 1997. The area was first set aside in 1881. It hosts approximately 125 gibbons and the Bengal Slow Loris. A railway track bisects the sanctuary. The Northeast Frontier Railway is constructing canopy bridges designed by the Wildlife Institute of India to restore connectivity.

Static linkage: biodiversity, environment and ecology.

• Cambodia's Techo Funan Canal: a 180-kilometre Chinese-backed canal connecting the Mekong River basin to Cambodia's coast. Vietnam objects to reduced Mekong flow. Strategic analysts flag potential Chinese military use.
• Stromatolites: layered rock formations produced by ancient cyanobacterial communities. A new discovery was reported at Sheybarah Island in the Red Sea. Modern stromatolites are rare; Shark Bay in Australia is the best-known site.