Current Affairs

1. THE INDIAN RUPEE DEPRECIATED BY AROUND 27.6% AGAINST THE US DOLLAR IN THE LAST 10 YEARS –

• The currency has gained real value when considering its exchange rate against major global currencies.

How is the Decadal Journey of the Indian Rupee-

• The rupee fell from Rs 44.37 to Rs 60.34 (26.5%) from 2004 to 2014 against the US dollar.
• The rupee has further depreciated from Rs 60.34 to Rs 83.38 (27.6%) against the US dollar in the last between 2014 to 2024.
• Appreciation and depreciation of currency refer to changes in the value of a currency relative to other currencies in the foreign exchange market.
• Between 2004 and 2024, rupee declined by 32.2% (from 133.77 to 90.76) as per 40-currency basket NEER and 40.2%, (from 139.77 to 83.65) as per 6-currency basket NEER and during the same period.
• The rupee’s average exchange rate against the US dollar dropped by 45.7%, from Rs 44.9 to Rs 82.8. Therefore, between 2004 and 2024, the rupee has undergone a smaller depreciation against the currencies of India’s major trading partners compared to its depreciation solely against the US dollar.
• Also rupee’s trade-weighted REER for both 40-currency and 6-currency basket has increased in the last 20 years indicating that Rupee strengthened between 2004-05 and 2023-24. Rupee has strengthened in real terms over time, while ruling at 100 or above most of the time in the last 10 years.

 

2. SIDE-EFFECTS OF COVID-19 VACCINE –

• Recently, there has been a lot of controversy over the side-effects of Oxford-AstraZeneca’s vaccine. It is sold in India under the br and name of “Covishield” by Serum Institute of India (SII)
• It is being linked to a rare adverse side effect called Thrombosis with Thrombocytopenia Syndrome (TTS).
• TTS is also referred to as vaccine-induced prothrombotic immune thrombocytopenia (VIPIT) or vaccine-induced immune thrombotic thrombocytopenia (VITT). This rare syndrome has been observed in individuals who have received Covid-19 vaccines utilising adenoviral vectors.
• It is generally believed to be caused by an immune reaction triggered by the adenovirus vector used in these vaccines.
• TTS is linked to a variety of symptoms such as difficulty breathing, chest or limb pain, small red spots or bruising beyond the injection site, headaches, numbness in body parts, and more.
• Thrombosis refers to the formation of blood clots, while thrombocytopenia is characterised by a low platelet count.
• Covishield has shown over 80% protection against severe COVID-19 and over 90% protection against death in various studies, even during the Delta wave.
• For a 50% chance of getting Covid-19 and a 0.1% risk of death, the vaccine provides a significant mortality benefit, outweighing the risks by far.

 

3. RECENTLY, IT WAS FOUND THAT HARYANA IS FACING A ‘FLOOR TEST’ AMIDST INDEPENDENT MLAS WITHDRAWING SUPPORT FROM THE GOVERNMENT –

• Floor Test (aka Trust Vote) is a constitutional mechan ism used to determine whether the incumbent government enjoys the support of the legislature.
• Under it, a Chief Minister appointed by the Governor can be asked to prove majority on the floor of the Legislative Assembly. It is primarily taken to know whether the executive enjoys the confidence of the legislature.
• The appointed chief minister usually belongs to the single largest party or the coalition which has the ‘magic number’. The magic number is the total number of seats required to form a government, or stay in power. It is the half-way mark, plus one.In case of a tie, the Speaker casts the deciding vote.
• Under Article 175(2), the Governor can summon the House and call for a floor test to prove whether the government has the numbers. However, the Governor can exercise the above only as per Article 163 of the Constitution which says that the Governor acts on the aid and advice of the Council of Ministers headed by the Chief Minister.