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Page Contents:
15th Sep Current Affairs News Analysis | Prelims & Mains 2020
Today's Must Read Articles :Inflation
HEADLINES:
Recently, the inflation data for the month of August 2020 was released.
WHY IN NEWS:
The inflation data includes retail inflation and wholesale inflation data.
SYLLABUS COVERED: GS 3: Economy
ISSUE:
MEASURING INDICES
- The retail inflation is measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI).
- The wholesale price-based inflation is measured by Wholesale Price Index (WPI).
KEY TAKEAWAY POINTS
- The retail inflation growth dipped to 6.69% in the month of August. It was at 6.73% in July 2020.
- However, the retail inflation continued to grow beyond the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) upper margin of 6%.
- The Central government has mandated the RBI to keep inflation within the range of 4±2%.
- This inflation range (4% within a band of +/- 2%) was recommended by the committee headed by Urjit Patel in 2014.
- The Consumer Food Price Index (CFPI) or the inflation in the food basket eased to 9.05% in the month of August. It was at 9.27% in July 2020.
- The wholesale price-based inflation rose to 0.16% in August as food items and manufactured products turned costlier.
- The WPI inflation was in the negative territory for four straight months — April (-) 1.57%, May (-) 3.37%, June (-) 1.81% and July (-) 0.58%.
INFLATION
- Inflation is a quantitative measure of the rate at which the average price level of a basket of selected goods and services in an economy increases over some period of time.
- Often expressed as a percentage, inflation thus indicates a decrease in the purchasing power of a nation’s currency.
- In India, inflation is primarily measured by two main indices — WPI (Wholesale Price Index) and CPI (Consumer Price Index) which measure wholesale and retail-level price changes, respectively.
IASbhai WINDUP:
- Inflation in food articles during August stood at 3.84%.
- However, fuel and power inflation fell 9.68% in August.
SOURCES: PIB | 15th Sep Current Affairs News Analysis
Graphene mask inactivates coronaviruses
HEADLINES:
New research: Graphene mask inactivates coronaviruses under sunlight
WHY IN NEWS:
This is hot from IE
SYLLABUS COVERED: GS 3: Diseases : Science
ISSUE:
- City University of Hong Kong Researchers have produced graphene masks with an anti-bacterial efficiency of 80 per cent.
- They say can be raised to almost 100 per cent with exposure to sunlight for 10 minutes.
GRAPHENE
- Most carbon-containing materials can be converted into graphene using a commercial CO2 infrared laser system.
- Initial tests showed promising results in the deactivation of two coronavirus species.
- The researchers created a laser-induced form of graphene and tested it on E coli.
- It showed anti-bacterial efficiency of about 82 per cent.
- Most of the E coli were dead after 8 hours.
IASbhai WINDUP:
The team also plans to test the graphene on the Covid-19 virus.
SOURCES: PIB | 15th Sep Current Affairs News Analysis
DISCOVER MORE : Important Daily Current Affairs for UPSC PRELIMS 2020
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