Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Mapping: Islands in the Pacific
Mains level: Not Much
Approximately four months after COVID-19 was first detected, the South Pacific Islands have not yet reported any cases of the infectious disease.
Closely observe the map. Note important islands. UPSC may shift its traditional focus from middle east/central asia to this region. These days, Pacific and Indo-Pacific region carry a decent importance.
We can expect MCQs asking to arrange these islands in north-south / east-west direction.
Which South Pacific islands have recorded cases of COVID-19?
- Fiji recorded its first case of COVID-19 on March 19.
- Guam, a territory of the US in the South Pacific, witnessed an outbreak among the staff of the US navy.
- New Caledonia also recorded its first COVID-19 cases in mid-March, with links to overseas travel.
- The Solomon Islands, the Cook Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu, the Marshall Islands, Palau and Nauru have no recorded cases of COVID-19.
What impact will COVID-19 have on Pacific island nations?
- A widespread outbreak of COVID-19 will have a disastrous impact on these island nations.
- Although these islands are popular with tourists, the outer islands and rural villages are home to indigenous populations.
- Most of these areas have a very basic infrastructure for healthcare, with larger hospitals and medical centres located in bigger towns.
- Even in everyday circumstances, these small medical centres struggle due to the lack of medical supplies.
- The socio-cultural factors, like the prevalence of large families in this region, also make the individuals susceptible to community transmission.
- There is also a lack of access to running water, making sanitation difficult.
- Environmental factors like the seasonal tropical cyclone that swept through the region in April, led to the displacement of hundreds of people in the Solomon Islands, Fiji, Vanuatu and Tonga.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Sal Forest Tortoise
Mains level: NA
A recent study by ecologists in the Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun, has found that the area designated as a protected area network has only a small overlap with the actual habitat of Sal forest tortoise. Over 90% of the potential distribution of the species falls outside the current protected area’s network.
What you should focus on?
On map, identify areas where Sal forest tortoise are found.
Revise the map of various Forest system of India and their characteristics as well.
Also…..Is tortoise a mammal or an amphibian?…..or something else??
Sal Forest/ Elongated Tortoise
- Also known as the elongated tortoise (Indotestudo elongata), the sal forest tortoise, recently assessed as Critically Endangered, is heavily hunted for food.
- It is collected both for local use, such as decorative masks, and international wildlife trade.
- The Sal forest tortoise is widely distributed over eastern and northern India and Southeast Asia.
- It is one of the only four land tortoises found in India. It is legally protected under Schedule IV of the Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 as amended up to 2006.
- According to the IUCN, the population of the species may have fallen by about 80% in the last three generations (90 years).
About Sal Forest
- It is a forest type dominated by a single plant species, commonly known as Sal tree (Shorea robusta).
- It belongs to the category ‘Tropical Moist Deciduous Forest’.
- The distribution of Sal forests is controlled by the conditions of topography, geology, and soil.
- Sal forests are mainly distributed in the South and Southeast Asia, occurring along the base of Tropical Himalayas from Assam to Punjab, in the eastern districts of Central India, and on the Western Bengal Hills.
Also read the complete series on-
Natural Vegetation and Wildlife- Part 1 | An Overview of Natural Vegetation Types Found in India
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: SAGAR Programme
Mains level: India's SAGAR policy of Indian Ocean Region
As part of India’s outreach amidst the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, ships have departed for Maldives, Mauritius, Seychelles, Madagascar and Comoros, to provide Food Items, COVID related Medicines including HCQ Tablets and Medical Assistance Teams under Mission Sagar.
Mission SAGAR, unlike other missions, can create confusion with the name and its purpose. Make note of such special cases. UPSC can ask such questions as one liner MCQs.
Mission SAGAR
- As part of the mission, INS Kesari would enter the Port of Male in the Republic of Maldives, to provide them 600 tons of food provisions.
- The deployment is in consonance with the PMs vision of Security and Growth for All in the Region ‘SAGAR’.
- This deployment is in line with India’s role as the first responder in the region and builds on the excellent relations existing between these countries to battle the COVID-19 pandemic and its resultant difficulties.
- The operation is being progressed in close coordination with the Ministries of Defence and External Affairs, and other agencies of the govt.
Back2Basics
SAGAR Programme (Security and Growth for All in the Region)
- SAGAR is a term coined by PM Modi in 2015 during his Mauritius visit with a focus on the blue economy.
- It is a maritime initiative which gives priority to the Indian Ocean region for ensuring peace, stability and prosperity of India in the Indian Ocean region.
- The goal is to seek a climate of trust and transparency; respect for international maritime rules and norms by all countries; sensitivity to each other`s interests; peaceful resolution of maritime issues; and increase in maritime cooperation.
- It is in line with the principles of the Indian Ocean Rim Association.
IORA (Indian Ocean Rim Association)
- Established in 1997 in Ebene Cyber City, Mauritius.
- First established as Indian Ocean Rim Initiative in Mauritius on March 1995 and formally launched in 1997 by the conclusion of a multilateral treaty known as the Charter of the IORA for Regional Cooperation.
- It is based on the principles of Open Regionalism for strengthening Economic Cooperation particularly on Trade Facilitation and Investment, Promotion as well as Social Development of the region.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: NPA, IBC.
Mains level: Paper 3- Novel approach needed to deal with the bankruptcy problem.
As our attention now shifts to the revival of the economy, we have to take stock of the damage to the economy. As recently as 2008 we have faced a financial crisis, but this crisis is bigger in the scale and our fiscal health is weaker than it was at the time of the 2008 crisis. So, to deal with the situation we have to adopt a novel approach. What should be the approach? Read further to know.
From 2014 to Covid-19 in finance and banking
- TBS challenge: As far back as December 2014, the banking sector and infrastructure firms had come under financial stress, a problem that was termed the Twin Balance Sheet (TBS) challenge.
- By December 2019, the problem had spread to the NBFC and real estate sectors, raising the number of stressed balance sheets to four.
- Following the Covid-19 shock, the problem of stressed balance sheets will spread across the economy.
How bad is the damage likely to be?
- Reports suggest that around one-third of industrial and service firms have applied for moratoria on their bank loans.
- If only a quarter of these deferred loans eventually go bad, then the stock of non-performing assets (NPAs) would increase by Rs 5 lakh crore.
- Senior bank officials have been quoted as estimating that the stock of NPAs could increase by as much as Rs 9 lakh crore.
- In this case, we would be looking at NPAs of Rs 18 lakh crore, equivalent to around 18 per cent of current loans outstanding.
So, how is the situation different from 2008 financial crisis?
- At one level, the answer is simple: The shareholders of the financial institutions, which in most cases means the government.
- But this is where the ubiquity of the balance sheet problem comes in.
- When the TBS challenge first materialised, after the Global Financial Crisis of 2008-09, the government had a relatively strong balance sheet.
- Deficits were low, and the consolidated debt-GDP ratio, having fallen by 17 percentage points over the previous 7 years, stood at just over 60 per cent of GDP.
- So, fiscal room was available, allowing the government to recapitalise the PSU banks.
- This time, the government’s financial position will be quite different.
- Central and state government deficits and debts will increase dramatically this year.
- Revenues, already slowing, have been decimated by the Covid crisis, while expenditures have increased.
- Add in a slowly recovering economy, and it becomes clear that the fiscal position will remain weak for some considerable time.
- What are the options with the government? The government will want to pass the burden onto the corporate and household sectors, in the form of higher taxes, more arrears, and possibly higher inflation.
- But these sectors will resist, for they have financial problems of their own.
2 ways to minimise the size of the loss
- It will be tempting to delay recognising the problem, pushing it into the future, by allowing banks not to classify bad loans as NPAs, and barring them from taking defaulters to the IBC system.
- But this would be the wrong approach and there are two ways to minimise the loss.
- 1. Prevent bankruptcies from occurring.
- To do this, banks will need to identify the firms that are viable, and lend them the funds they need to tide them over the immediate crisis.
- But banks are reluctant to bear the risk of making such loans.
- So, the government might need to create a guarantee fund to support lending.
- 2. When firms default, resolve as quickly as possible
- Speed is necessary because the financial position of stressed firms tends to worsen over time.
- By definition, stressed firms have poor cash flows and can’t obtain much in the way of loans from banks.
- So, they don’t have enough money to fund their operations properly.
- Which means that over time their underlying business deteriorates, destroying the firms’ market value.
- While public attention focuses on the size of the NPAs, a much more important number is the recovery rate — the degree to which the banks can recover on these loans.
- And the only way to maximise the recovery rate is to sort out the bad loans speedily.
- The economy will reap an additional benefit since the resolved firms will be able to contribute to the recovery.
Consider the question “As the economy stares at the destruction caused by the pandemic certain novel measures to salvage the economy are necessary. In light of this statement suggest the measures that the government should take to avoid the NPA problem from mounting.”
Conclusion
A new approach is consequently needed. The immediate problems created by the crisis must be addressed, decisively and quickly. Then the attention will have to turn to address the pre-COVID legacy balance sheet problems.
Back2Basics: What is NPA?
- A non-performing asset (NPA) is a loan or advance for which the principal or interest payment remained overdue for a period of 90 days.
- Banks are required to classify NPAs further into Substandard, Doubtful and Loss assets.
- Substandard assets: Assets which has remained NPA for a period less than or equal to 12 months.
- Doubtful assets: An asset would be classified as doubtful if it has remained in the substandard category for a period of 12 months.
- Loss assets: As per RBI, “Loss asset is considered uncollectible and of such little value that its continuance as a bankable asset is not warranted, although there may be some salvage or recovery value.”
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: GVA, Fiscal deficit
Mains level: Paper 3- Extent of damage to various sectors of the economy and challenges ahead for the government.
Various projections of growth paint a grim picture of the Indian economy as well as the global economy. This article analyses the sector-wise impact and comes with the GVA projections for 2020-21. The government has to deal with serious challenges like financing huge fiscal deficits. So, what will be the growth rate for 2020-21 and what will be the size of GVA? Read to know!
Projections of growth and uncertainty
- Various institutions have assessed India’s growth prospects for 2020-21 ranging from 0.8% (Fitch)to 4.0% (Asian Development Bank).
- This wide range indicates the extent of uncertainty and tentative nature of these forecasts.
- The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has projected India’s growth at 1.9%, China’s at 1.2%, and the global growth at (-) 3.0%.
- The actual growth outcome for India would depend on: 1) the speed at which the economy is opened up 2) the time it takes to contain the spread of virus, and, 3) the government’s policy support.
Health of India economy before the crisis
- India slid into the novel coronavirus crisis on the back of a persistent economic downslide.
- There was a sustained fall in the saving and investment rates with unutilised capacity in the industrial sector.
- In 2019-20, there was a contraction in the Centre’s gross tax revenues in the first 11 months during April 2019 to February 2020, at (-) 0.8%.
- These trends continue to beset the Indian economy in this crisis.
Growth prospects for 20-21 from the output side
- In 2019-20, which would serve as the base year, India may show GVA growth of about 4.4%,
- This is well below the Central Statistics Office’s second advance estimate of 9%.
- The IMF’s GDP growth estimate for 2019-20 is at 2%.
- GVA is divided into eight broad sectors. Although all sectors have been disrupted, some may be affected less than the others. We divide the output sectors in four groups.
- Group A- This group is likely to suffer minimum disruption.
- Agriculture and allied sectors, and public administration, defence.
- Despite some labour shortage issues, agriculture sector may show near-normal performance.
- The public and defence services have been nearly fully active, with the health services at the forefront of the the COVID-19 fight.
- For the group A sectors, it may be possible to achieve 90% of the 2019-20 growth performance.
- Group D- This group is likely to suffer maximum disruption.
- This includes, trade, hotels, restaurants, travel and tourism under the broad group of “Trade, Hotels, Transport, Storage and Communications”.
- This sector may be able to show 30% of 2019-20 growth performance.
- Group B
- This comprises sectors which may suffer average disruption showing 50% of 2019-20 growth performance.
- These sectors are mining and quarrying, electricity, gas, water supply and other utility services, construction, and financial, real estate and professional services.
- Group C
- In this group come manufacturing which has suffered significant growth erosion in 2019-20.
- It is feasible to stimulate this sector by supporting demand.
- In this case a 40% performance factor on the average growth of the preceding three years is applied.
So, what are the estimates for 2020-21 GVA?
- Considering these four groups together, a GVA growth of 2.9% is estimated for 2020-21.
- Realising this requires strong policy support, particularly for the manufacturing sector which has a weight of 17.4%.
- It is also based on the assumption that the Indian economy may move on to positive growth after the first quarter.
- In the first quarter, GVA growth will be negative.
Policy support for the growth
- Monetary policy initiatives undertaken so far include a reduction in the repo rate to 4.4%, the reverse repo rate to 3.75%, and cash reserve ratio to 3%.
- The Reserve Bank of India has also opened several special financing facilities.
- These measures need to be supplemented by an appropriate fiscal stimulus.
- Cash-constrained central and State governments have taken expenditure reducing measures by announcing freezing of enhancements of dearness allowance and dearness relief.
- This may result in savings of ₹37,000 crore for the Centre and about ₹82,000 crore for the States, together amounting to 6% of GDP.
- There is also talk of substantially reducing non-salary defence expenditure.
- With lower petroleum prices, fertilizer and petroleum subsidies may be reduced.
- These expenditure cuts are contemplated to keep the fiscal deficit under some control.
Fiscal stimulus and fiscal deficit
- Fiscal stimulus can be of three types:
- 1) Relief expenditure for protecting the poor and the marginalised.
- 2) Demand-supporting expenditure for increasing personal disposable incomes or government’s purchases of goods and services, including expanded health-care expenditure imposed by the novel coronavirus, and,
- 3) Bailouts for industry and financial institutions.
- The Centre had earlier announced a relief package of ₹1.7-lakh crore.
- The Centre’s budgeted fiscal deficit of 3.5% of GDP may have to be enhanced substantially to 1) make up for the shortfall in budgeted revenues; 2) account for a lower than projected nominal GDP for 2020-21, 3) provide for a stimulus.
- Thus, the Centre’s fiscal deficit may increase to 6.0% of GDP.
- Expenditure on the construction of hospitals, roads and other infrastructure and purchase of health-related equipment and medicines require prioritisation.
- These expenditures will have high multiplier effects.
- Similar initiatives may be undertaken by the State governments which may also enhance their combined fiscal deficit to about 0% of GDP to account for 3.0% of GDP under their respective Fiscal Responsibility Legislation/Law and to provide for the shortfall in their revenues and some stimulus.
Challenges
- Financing of the fiscal deficit poses a major challenge this year.
- On the demand side, the Central (6.0%) and State governments (4.0%) and Central and State public sector undertakings (3.5%).
- These together present a total public sector borrowing requirement (PSBR) of 13.5% of GDP.
- Against this, the total available resources may at best be 9.5% of GDP.
- The gap of 4.0% points of GDP may result in increased cost of borrowing for the Central and State governments.
Consider the question, “Examine the sector-wise damage caused to the economy due to Covid-19 pandemic. What were the fiscal and monetary measures taken to mitigate the damage and challenges faced by the government in meeting the required revenue demands.”
Conclusion
The gap in requirement of resources and availability may be bridged by enhancing net capital inflows including borrowing from abroad and by monetising some part of the Centre’s deficit. The monetisation of debt can at best be a one-time effort. This cannot become a general practice.
Back2Basics: What is GVA?
- GVA it is a measure of total output and income in the economy.
- It provides the rupee value for the amount of goods and services produced in an economy after deducting the cost of inputs and raw materials that have gone into the production of those goods and services.
- It also gives sector-specific picture like what is the growth in an area, industry or sector of an economy.
- While GVA gives a picture of the state of economic activity from the producers’ side or supply side, the GDP gives the picture from the consumers’ side or demand perspective.
- Both measures need not match because of the difference in treatment of net taxes.
- GDP = GVA + taxes on products – subsidies on products
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much.
Mains level: Paper 2- Changing global order presents opportunities for India.
The world is going through a transition phase. We are experiencing the rise of new powers and the decline of the old. India has to navigate its path through this changing order keeping its interests in mind. The double opportunity in current scenario for India is explained in the article. To know more about it, continue reading.
The changing global stage
- The world today is fragmenting and slowing down economically.
- Asia-Pacific is the new economic and political centre of the world with the rise of China, India and other powers — Indonesia, South Korea, Iran, Vietnam.
- Rapid shifts in the balance of power in the region have led to arms races and the US’s “America First” attitude has led to rising uncertainty.
- China-U.S. strategic contention is growing, uninhibited so far by their economic co-dependence.
- As China seeks primacy in a world so far dominated by the U.S., the world faces a destabilising power transition which may or may not be completed.
What should India’s response be to the new situation?
Alliance with the US?
- Many experts advocate that India should enter into an alliance with the U.S in the wake of rising China.
- But India is much greater and more resilient than these people think.
- Also, the aim of foreign and security policies of India has been the pursuit of strategic autonomy for India.
- Thus, in the present situation, India should retain the above initiative and not get entangled in others’ quarrels. (i.e. the US-China quarrel)
- Also, India should focus on pursuing its own national interest in this disorganized and uncertain world by creative diplomacy and flexibility.
- An alliance seems to be exactly the wrong answer.
China challenge
- One way to handle China could be to see whether the two countries can evolve a new modus vivendi.
- This new modus vivendi shall replace the one that was formalised in the 1988 Rajiv Gandhi visit.
- The old framework is no longer working and the signs of stress in the relationship are everywhere.
- The more India rises, the more it must expect Chinese opposition.
- So, India will have to work with other powers to ensure that its interests are protected in the neighbourhood, the region and the world.
- The complexity of India-China relations suggests there is a scope for new modus vivendi.
- This would require a high-level strategic dialogue between the two sides about their core interests, red lines, differences and areas of convergence.
What India can do to keep the region multi-polar?
- As U.S. is withdrawing from the world, it will no longer be the upholder of international, economic and political order.
- There is uncertainty over how the US will choose to deal with China.
- India must work with other powers to ensure that this region stays multi-polar and that China behaves responsibly.
Double opportunity for India
- 1. Opportunity in the US-China contention
- US-China contention will continue in future. Hence, both China and the U.S. will look to put other conflicts (eg: conflicts with India on trade or border issue) and tensions on the back burner.
- This effect is already perceptible in the Wuhan meeting between China’s President Xi Jinping and Mr. Modi in early 2018.
- And the apparent truce and dialing back of rhetoric by both India and China.
- 2. Opportunity to Change national security Structures
- Today, India is more dependent on the outside world than ever before.
- It relies on the world for energy, technology, essential goods like fertilizer and coal, commodities, access to markets, and capital.
- Adding the new security agenda and the contested global commons in outer and cyberspace and the high seas to India’s traditional state-centred security concerns gives India a sense of insecurity.
- So, India needs to adapt to the changes and avoid imitating China.
Consider the question-“The global order is experiencing geopolitical churn, new powers are rising and older are staring at the decline. In such a scenario, examine the opportunities India can explore in the context of the US-China contention”.
Conclusion
India risks missing the bus to becoming a developed country if it continues business and politics as usual. The most important improvement that India needs to make concerns its national security structures and their work — introducing flexibility into India’s thinking and India’s structures. For change is the only certainty in life.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Stringency Index
Mains level: Effectiveness of the nationwide lockdown and its shortcomings
India enforced one of the strongest lockdowns at an early phase of case growth. Now, an index created by the University of Oxford quantifies that.
The Stringency Index provides a computable parameter to evaluate the effectiveness of the nationwide lockdown in India.
What is Stringency Index?
- It is among the metrics being used by the Oxford COVID-19 Government Response Tracker.
- The Tracker involves a team of 100 Oxford community members who have continuously updated a database of 17 indicators of government response.
- These indicators examine containment policies such as school and workplace closings, public events, public transport, stay-at-home policies.
- The Stringency Index is a number from 0 to 100 that reflects these indicators. A higher index score indicates a higher level of stringency.
What does the Stringency Index tell us?
- It provides a picture of the stage at which any country enforced its strongest measures.
- Oxford provides an overlay of countries’ death curve and their stringency score.
- Some countries saw their deaths just begin to flatten as they reached their highest stringency, such as Italy, Spain, or France.
- As China pulled stronger measures, its death curve plateaued.
- In countries such as the UK, the US, and India, the Oxford graphs find that the death curve has not flattened after strictest measures were enforced.
How does India compare with others?
- The Index has found that India indeed had one of the strongest lockdown measures in the world — at a 100 score since March 22.
- When compared to other countries with the similar or higher caseload, India called its strict lockdown at a much earlier point on its case and death curves.
- These 18 other countries had more than 500 cases when they called their strictest lockdown, while India had 320.
- Again, India had only four deaths on March 22, when its score reached 100, while most countries had more deaths at that point (except Switzerland; no deaths).
- Spain called for its strictest measures later in its case and death count than all others. Sweden has had the most liberal measures in this set, and Iran the second most liberal.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: UAPA
Mains level: ‘The Resistance Front’
(Image Source: The Economic Times)
A newly floated outfit, the Resistance Front, has come under the scanner of enforcement agencies for its suspected links with the banned Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT).
This is a very significant development with respect to India’s concern against terrorism. Terrorism and the terror outfits are increasingly becoming more institutionalized and ‘the Resistance Front’ is an another move towards it.
‘The Resistance Front’
- TRF, which is owning up terror attacks in Kashmir these days, is an offshoot of the terrorist group Lashkar-e-Taiba and is also associated with other terror outfits such as Hizbul Mujahideen, Jaish-e-Mohammed.
- Various reports claim that after the abrogation of Article 370 in J&K, Pakistan decided to increase the terror activities in the Valley.
- However, facing international pressure and to protect itself from being blacklisted by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), Pakistan decided to launch a new terror group with a new identity.
- Various Indian security agencies operating in Kashmir feel that the ‘TRF’ was formed due to the pressure on Pakistan from the FATF to cut down on the funding of the terrorist groups.
A new strategy justifying terrorism
- The word ‘resistance’ has been used by Pakistan and the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) to put in place a new strategy for supporting terrorism against India.
- Pakistan’s plan is to rebrand the terrorists operating under the umbrella of JeM, LeT and Hizbul as “non-religious” rebellion.
- Pakistan wants to project Kashmiri terrorism as a resistance movement by Kashmiris. So far Hizbul and LeT have come under TRF’s umbrella.
Must read:
Explained: Amendments to the UAPA
Back2Basics: What is the FATF?
- FATF is an intergovernmental organization founded in 1989 on the initiative of the G7 to develop policies to combat money laundering.
- The FATF Secretariat is housed at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) headquarters in Paris.
- It holds three Plenary meetings in the course of each of its 12-month rotating presidencies.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Locusts invasion
Mains level: Locusts invasion and its threats
Locusts normally arrive during July-October but have already been spotted in Rajasthan. At a time India is battling COVID, they present a new worry with their potential for exponential growth and crop destruction.
Along with being a disaster issue, Locust attack is also a challenge for India’s food security. Discuss what socio – economic and technological ways can be adopted to tackle this menance.
What exactly are Locusts?
- The desert locust (Schistocerca gregaria) is a short-horned grasshopper that is innocuous while it is in a “solitary phase” and moving about independently.
- These winged insects differ from normal hoppers and become dangerous only when their populations build up rapidly and the close physical contact in crowded conditions triggers behavioural changes.
- They, then, enter the “gregarious phase”, by grouping into bands and forming swarms that can travel great distances (up to 150 km daily), while eating up every bit of vegetation on the way.
- If not controlled at the right time, these insect swarms can threaten the food security of countries.
How seriously should the first sightings be viewed?
- The damage potential of locusts has been limited in India only because of the country hosting a single breeding season — unlike Pakistan, Iran and East Africa, where they also multiply during January-June.
- There’s nothing much to worry right now, as the rabi crop has already been harvested and farmers are yet to commence plantings for the new Kharif season.
- The locusts’ bands so observed are less populated. But their timing, though, is cause for concern.
- The normal breeding season for locusts in India is July-October. But this time, they have been sighted by mid-April.
- Last year, too, they were seen towards end-May as isolated grasshoppers.
- The longer time to breed is more conducive for a build-up of gregarious insect swarms, as opposed to solitary, innocuous hoppers.
Control measures in India
- India has a Locust Control and Research scheme that is being implemented through the Locust Warning Organisation (LWO), established in 1939.
- It was amalgamated in 1946 with the Directorate of Plant Protection Quarantine and Storage (PPQS) of the Ministry of Agriculture.
- The LWO’s responsibility is monitoring and control of the locust situation in Scheduled Desert Areas mainly in Rajasthan and Gujarat, and partly in Punjab and Haryana.
- The LWO publishes a fortnightly bulletin on the locust situation.
What kind of damage can they cause?
- Locusts are polyphagous, i.e. they can feed on a wide variety of crops.
- Secondly, they have the ability to multiply rapidly. A single female desert locust lays 60-80 eggs thrice during its roughly 90-day life cycle.
- It is estimated that a 1-square-km area can accommodate 40-80 million of these insects, making the growth of their swarms exponential quite like the Covid-19 virus.
What is the genesis of the present locust upsurge, particularly in East Africa?
- It lies in the Mekunu and Luban cyclonic storms of May and October 2018 that struck Oman and Yemen, respectively.
- These turned large desert areas in remote parts of the southern Arabian Peninsula into lakes, which allowed the insects to breed undetected across multiple generations.
- The swarms attacking crops in East Africa reached peak populations from November onwards while building up since the start of this year in southern Iran and Pakistan.
- Widespread rains in East Africa in late March and April have enabled further breeding.
- Prior to that, the locusts from spring breeding areas of southwest Pakistan and southern Iran would arrive in Rajasthan and Gujarat during May-June.
- They would, then, breed with the onset of the southwest monsoon rains and continue doing so through the Kharif cropping season.
What can and should be done?
- If the monsoon is good, and in the absence of control operations, the magnitude of attack could be worse than in the 2019-20 rabi season.
- The last year’s locust incursions were the first and most significant since 1993.
- Local authorities in Rajasthan and Gujarat had to treat over 4.30 lakh hectares of infested areas with sprayers mounted on tractors and other vehicles.
Pesticides give better control
- The old generation organophosphate insecticides such as Malathion (96% ultra-low volume aerial application) are effective against locusts.
- About one litre of the chemical is necessary to treat a hectare of their breeding areas, including trees where they halt for the night.
- There is ample stock of pesticides to control any swarms in India.
Click here to read about the complete genesis of Locusts and their origin:
Locust Invasions and its mitigation
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Urban Ozone
Mains level: Good and Bad Ozone
A Manchester (UK) based research has found that the nationwide lockdown may be leading to the generation of a dangerous pollutant, urban ozone.
The Ozone is formed due to different factors in the Troposphere and the Stratosphere (where the ozone acts as a protective layer). Note these differences from prelims perspective.
Urban Ozone
- The photochemical production of ozone may become more important in urban areas during summertime in these low conditions of oxides of nitrogen.
- As nitrogen oxides reduce, photochemical production may become more efficient and can lead to higher ozone concentrations in the summertime.
- The higher summer temperatures increase emissions of biogenic hydrocarbon from natural sources such as trees. These biogenic hydrocarbons significantly affect urban ozone levels.
- While ozone is important for screening harmful solar UV radiation when present higher up in the atmosphere, it can be a danger at the Earth’s surface and can react to destroy or alter many biological molecules.
Back2Basics: Ozone Gas
- It is a gas that occurs both in the Earth’s upper atmosphere and at ground level.
- Ozone occurs in two layers of the atmosphere. The layer closest to the Earth’s surface is the troposphere.
- Here, ground-level or “bad” ozone is an air pollutant that is harmful to breathe and it damages crops, trees and other vegetation. It is the main ingredient of urban smog.
- The stratospheric or “good” ozone protects life on Earth from the sun’s harmful ultraviolet (UV) rays.
Formation of Ozone
- Ozone is produced naturally in the stratosphere when highly energetic solar radiation strikes molecules of oxygen, and cause the two oxygen atoms to split apart in a process called photolysis. If a freed atom collides with another O2, it joins up, forming ozone.
- The majority of tropospheric ozone formation occurs when nitrogen oxides (NOx), carbon monoxide (CO) and volatile organic compounds (VOCs), react in the atmosphere in the presence of sunlight, specifically the UV spectrum.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Arribadas, Olive Ridley Turtles
Mains level: Not Much
Mass hatching of Olive Ridley turtles began at Odisha’s Rushikulya rookery, a major nesting site of these marine turtles.
Mass hatching of Olive Ridley turtles is a very celebrated news every year. Also make sure to look at the Rivers system in the region from the map above.
Olive Ridley Turtles
- The Olive Ridley Sea Turtle (Lepidochelys olivacea), also known as the Pacific ridley sea turtle, is a medium-sized species of sea turtle found in warm and tropical waters, primarily in the Pacific and Indian Oceans.
- In the Indian Ocean, the majority of olive ridleys nest in two or three large groups at Rushikulya rookery near Gahirmatha in Odisha.
- The coast of Odisha in India is the largest mass nesting site for the olive ridley, followed by the coasts of Mexico and Costa Rica.
- The species is listed as Vulnerable in the IUCN Red List, Appendix 1 in CITES, and Schedule 1 in Wildlife Protection Act, 1972.
Special feature: Mass nesting
- They are best known for their behaviour of synchronized nesting in mass numbers, termed Arribadas.
- Interestingly, females return to the very same beach from where they first hatched, to lay their eggs.
- They lay their eggs in conical nests about one and a half feet deep which they laboriously dig with their hind flippers.
- They hatch in 45 to 60 days, depending on the temperature of the sand and atmosphere during the incubation period.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Netravali Wildlife Sanctuary
Mains level: Not Much
A rare Black Panther was spotted in the Netravali WLS in South Goa.
There are many WLS and National Park in the tiny state of Goa. Unlike others, they rarely find any mention in news. Here a quick revision for you.
Make sure to locate them on map.
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Bhagwan Mahavir Wildlife Sanctuary,
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Bondla Wildlife Sanctuary,
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Netravali Wildlife Sanctuary,
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Cotigao Wildlife Sanctuary,
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Mhadei Wildlife Sanctuary,
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Salim Ali Bird Sanctuary,
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Anshi National Park.
Black Panther
- Black Panther or Black Leopard is a color variant of spotted Indian leopards, reported from densely forested areas of south India, mostly from the state of Karnataka.
- A black panther is the melanistic colour variant of any Panthera, particularly of the leopard (P. pardus) in Asia and Africa, and the jaguar (P. onca) in the Americas.
- They are also known as the ghost of the forest.
About Netravali Wildlife Sanctuary
- Netravali Wildlife Sanctuary is located in South-Eastern Goa, India.
- It constitutes one of the vital corridors of the Western Ghats and covers an area of about 211 sq.km.
- Netravali or Neturli is an important tributary of River Zuari, which originates in the sanctuary.
- Forests mostly consist of moist deciduous vegetation interspersed with evergreen and semi-evergreen habitat; there are also two all-season waterfalls in the sanctuary.
- The Gaur or Indian Bison, Malabar giant squirrel, four-horned antelope or chousingha, leopard, black sloth bear along with a host of other predators and herbivores find home in the sanctuary.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Various passes in news, BRO
Mains level: India's border connectivity and the role of BRO
The Border Roads Organisation (BRO) has completed the construction of road from Dharchula to Lipulekh along the China Border, famously known as Kailash-Mansarovar Yatra Route.
We can expect a prelims question asking to arrange few passes from West to East or vice versa. Click here to get through all such Himalayan Passes.
Darchula – Lipulekh road
- The road is an extension of Pithoragarh-Tawaghat-Ghatiabagarh road. In this 80 Km road, the altitude rises from 6000 feet to 17,060 feet.
- It originates from Ghatiabagarh in Uttarakhand and terminates at Lipulekh Pass, the gateway to Kailash Mansarovar.
- With the completion of this project, the arduous trek through treacherous high-altitude terrain can now be avoided by the Pilgrims of Kailash Mansarovar Yatra and the period of journey will be reduced by many days.
(Note: The Lipulekh Pass links Uttarakhand with China’s Tibetan Autonomous Region.)
Significance
- At present, the travel to Kailash Mansarovar takes around two to three weeks through Sikkim or Nepal routes.
- Lipulekh route had a trek of 90 Km through high altitude terrain and the elderly yartris faced lot of difficulties.
- Now, this yatra will get completed by vehicles.
Also read:
The Northern and Northeastern Mountains | Part 2
Back2Basics: Border Roads Organisation (BRO)
- The BRO develops and maintains road networks in India’s border areas and friendly neighboring countries and functions under the Ministry of Defence.
- It is entrusted for construction of Roads, Bridges, Tunnels, Causeways, Helipads and Airfields along the borders.
- Officers from the Border Roads Engineering Service (BRES) and personnel from the General Reserve Engineer Force (GREF) form the parent cadre of the Border Roads Organisation.
- It is also staffed by officers and troops drawn from the Indian Army’s Corps of Engineers on extra regimental employment.
- The BRO operates and maintains over 32,885 kilometers of roads and about 12,200 meters of permanent bridges in the country.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: NDMA 2005, Epidemics Act 1897
Mains level: Paper 2- Laws invoked for dealing with pandemic.
India lacks specific legislation to deal with pandemics like COVID. While NDMA 2005 and Epidemic Diseases Act 1897 has been invoked to deal with the present situation, both acts lack specific provision in dealing with the pandemics. Here we can take lessons from UK’s Coronavirus Act and Singapore’s regulations to create a well-drafted Indian COVID 19 law.
Which acts were used for enforcing lockdown?
- The home ministry issued directions to State governments and district authorities under the Disaster Management Act of 2005.
- Under the Act, the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) was set up under the Prime Minister, and the National Executive Committee (NEC) was chaired by the Home Secretary.
- The State governments and authorities exercised powers under the Epidemic Diseases Act of 1897 to issue further directions.
- District authorities such as the Commissioner of Police have consequently issued orders to impose Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code in public places.
Issues with the laws used for lockdown
- The invoking of the Disaster Management Act has allowed the Union government to communicate seamlessly with the States.
- But serious questions remain whether the Act was originally intended to or is sufficiently capable of addressing the threat of a pandemic.
- The use of the archaic Epidemic Diseases Act reveals the lack of requisite diligence and responsiveness of government authorities in providing novel and innovative policy solutions to address a 21st-century problem.
- Another serious problem is that any violation of the orders passed would be prosecutable under Section 188 of the Indian Penal Code.
- But section 188 of IPC is a very ineffective and broad provision dealing with disobedience of an order issued by a public servant.
The UK and Singapore’s laws to deal with the pandemic
- U.K’s Coronavirus Act, 2020: It deals with issues including emergency registration of healthcare professionals, temporary closure of educational institutions, audio-visual facilities for criminal proceedings, powers to restrict gatherings, and financial assistance to industry.
- Singapore’s Infectious Diseases Regulations, 2020: These regulations provides for the issuance of stay orders which can send ‘at-risk individuals’ to a government-specified accommodation facility.
- Both U.K.’s and Singapore’s laws set out unambiguous conditions and legally binding obligations.
- As such, under Singaporean law, the violators may be penalised up to $10,000 or face six months imprisonment or both.
- In contrast, Section 188 of the Indian Penal Code has a fine amount of ₹200 to ₹1,000 or imprisonment of one to six months.
- Even then, proceedings under Section 188 can only be initiated by private complaint and not through a First Information Report.
- As such, offences arising out of these guidelines and orders have a weak basis in terms of criminal jurisdiction thereby weakening the objectives of the lockdown.
Problems in the government’s approach
- The Union government showed no inclination towards drafting or enacting COVID-19-specific legislation that could address all the issues pre-emptively.
- There has been little clarity on a road map to economic recovery.
- A consolidated, pro-active policy approach is absent.
- In fact, there has been ad hoc and reactive rule-making, as seen in the way migrant workers have been treated.
- This has also exposed the lack of coordination between the Union and State governments.
Consider the question, “Unlike many countries which legislated specific acts to deal with Covid-19 pandemic, India was already equipped with acts which enabled it to deal with the pandemic. Describe the acts and their provisions used to deal with the pandemic. What were the issues with these provisions?”
Conclusion
In past instances, the Union government has not shied away from promulgating ordinances. These circumstances call out for legislative leadership, to assist and empower States to overcome COVID-19 and to revive their economic, education and public health sectors.
Back2Basics: National Disaster Management Act 2005
- On 23 December 2005, the Government of India enacted the Disaster Management Act.
- The act envisaged the creation of the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), headed by the Prime Minister.
- The act also provides for State Disaster Management Authorities (SDMAs) headed by respective Chief Ministers.
- NDMA and SDMAs spearhead and implement a holistic and integrated approach to Disaster Management in India.
- The NDMA was formally constituted on 27thSeptember 2006, in accordance with the Disaster Management Act, 2005 with Prime Minister as its Chairperson and nine other members, and one such member to be designated as Vice-Chairperson.
- According to the Disaster Management Act, 2005 a disaster is defined as-
- A catastrophe, mishap, calamity or grave occurrence in any area, arising from natural or manmade causes, or by accident or negligence which results in substantial loss of life or human suffering or damage to, and destruction of, property, or damage to, or degradation of, environment, and is of such a nature or magnitude as to be beyond the coping capacity of the community of the affected area.
- The MHA has defined a disaster as an “extreme disruption of the functioning of a society that causes widespread human, material, or environmental losses that exceed the ability of the affected society to cope with its own resources.
Epidemic Diseases Act 1897
- The Epidemic Diseases Act is routinely enforced across the country for dealing with outbreaks of diseases such as swine flu, dengue, and cholera.
- The colonial government introduced the Act to tackle the epidemic of bubonic plague that had spread in the erstwhile Bombay Presidency in the 1890s.
- Using powers conferred by the Act, colonies authorities would search suspected plague cases in homes and among passengers, with forcible segregations, evacuations, and demolitions of infected places.
- Historians have criticised the Act for its potential for abuse.
- In 1897, the year the law was enforced, Lokmanya Tilak was punished with 18 months’ rigorous imprisonment after his newspapers Kesari and Mahratta admonished imperial authorities for their handling of the plague epidemic.
Provisions of the 1897 Epidemic Diseases Act
- The Act is one of the shortest Acts in India, comprising just four sections. It aims to provide for the better prevention of the spread of Dangerous Epidemic Diseases.
- The then Governor-General of colonial India had conferred special powers upon the local authorities to implement the measures necessary for the control of epidemics.
- Although, the act does define or give a description of a “dangerous epidemic disease”.
Its various sections can be summarized as under
- The first section describes all the title and extent, the second part explains all the special powers given to the state government and centre to take special measures and regulations to contain the spread of disease.
- The second section has a special subsection 2A empowers the central government to take steps to prevent the spread of an epidemic, especially allowing the government to inspect any ship arriving or leaving any post and the power to detain any person intending to sail or arriving in the country.
- The third section describes the penalties for violating the regulations in accordance with Section 188 of the IPC. Section 3 states, “Six months’ imprisonment or 1,000 rupees fine or both could be charged out to the person who disobeys this Act.”
- The fourth and the last section deals with legal protection to implementing officers acting under the Act.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much.
Mains level: Paper 2- Adoption of technology by judiciary in its functioning.
COVID pandemic has been changing many aspects of our life and forcing us to innovate or embrace the novel changes. The judiciary is not immune to this change. This article advocates for the adoption and popularization of online court. But there were several attempts at the adoption of technology in the working of courts even before the pandemic. Time has now come to its adoption on a wider scale.
Three types of courts in our justice delivery system
- First, conventional courts located in court complexes where judges, lawyers and litigants are physically present.
- Second, online courts where the judge is physically present in the courtroom but the lawyer or litigant is not.
- This is the present arrangement, except that now the courtroom is the residential office of the judge, due to the lockdown.
- Third, virtual courts where there is no judge, lawyer or litigant and a computer takes a decision based on the inputs of the litigant.
Pilot project with Tihar Jail
- The pilot was for dealing with routine remand cases of prisoners.
- The procedure postulated prisoners being produced in court, not physically but through video conferencing (VC), hence an online court.
- The pilot project started tentatively with some hiccups but proved to be a success.
- Now several courts have adopted the online process with varying degrees of commitment.
District courts and High Courts’ adoption of online route
- A few district judges have taken a step forward and recorded the statement of parties in cases of divorce by mutual consent.
- As of now, several such cases, including those involving NRIs, are dealt with through VC in online courts.
- Punjab and Haryana judges have gone even further ahead. The online courts record the expert evidence of doctors from PGIMER through VC.
- This has freed the doctors from time-consuming trips to the courts and has resulted in savings of several crores for the exchequer.
- A determined and concerted effort is necessary to popularise online courts at the district level.
- Some high court judges in Delhi and Punjab and Haryana have completely dispensed with paper.
- In these high courts, everything is on a soft copy, through e-Filing and scanned documents.
- Lawyers and judges have made necessary adjustments to the new regime and the cases are conveniently heard and decided in “paperless courts”.
- A few other high courts initiated similar steps, but have yet to institutionalise “paperless courts”.
What are the problems?
- Unfamiliarity with the medium of communication is the major issue. Judges are simply not used to consciously facing a camera generally and in particular while hearing a case.
- Similarly, lawyers find it difficult to comfortably argue while seated.
- Body language, facial expressions, the tone and tenor, both of the judge and the lawyer, make for important signals and clues which cannot be captured in VC.
- Some technical problems in conducting online hearings have also surfaced. The bandwidth is not adequate or stable enough.
- The picture sometimes breaks or gets frozen and the voice often cracks.
- Consultations are also a problem. Lawyers occasionally need to consult their client or the instructing advocate; judges also need to consult each other during a hearing.
- Attention needs to be paid to these real-time issues otherwise lawyers will harbour misgivings about a fair hearing.
- The chairman of the Bar Council of India has voiced a concern that 90 per cent of the lawyers are not computer literate or tech-savvy.
eCourts Project: A virtual court
- A virtual court is a unique contribution of the eCourts Project.
- A pilot virtual court was launched in August 2018 in Delhi for traffic offences and it has been a great success.
- Virtual courts have been successfully tried out in Delhi, Haryana, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu.
- A virtual court is a simple programme through which a person can find out if a challan has been issued to him or her through a search facility.
- If a challan has been issued, the details are available online and the person may plead guilty or not guilty.
- On a guilty plea, the minimum fine is imposed and on a not-guilty plea, the case is electronically transferred to the traffic court for trial.
- At the end of the day, a judge reviews the cases and disposes of them electronically depending on the option exercised.
- One judge is all it takes to manage the virtual court for Delhi or an entire state.
- With the launch of virtual courts, the daily footfalls to the courts have drastically reduced and thousands have pleaded guilty and paid the fine electronically.
Potential of the virtual courts
- The virtual court system has the potential of being upscaled and other petty offences attracting a fine such as delayed payments of local taxes or compoundable offences can also be dealt with by virtual courts.
- This will ease the burden on conventional courts and therefore must be strongly encouraged.
Consider the question- “Covid-19 pandemic has been forcing judiciary for faster adoption of technology. Discuss the issues and advantages of the adoption of technology such as video conferencing by the judiciary”
Conclusion
Post lockdown, justice delivery will certainly undergo a transformation. And judges, lawyers and litigants will need to adapt to the new normal. Several countries and courts have made adjustments not only for the period of the pandemic or lockdown but also for the future. We should certainly not be left behind but must also make a roadmap to meet the challenge.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much.
Mains level: Paper 3- Transforming military
The COVID blaze caused economic disruption and now even the military is feeling the heat. The military is grappling with multiple issues like freezing of fresh capital acquisition and delay in procurement. But this could also be considered as an opportunity to transform the Indian military. 4 areas where this transformation could start are discussed in this article. Read to know more.
The difference in approaches to security
- Pakistan’s approach: Pakistan stagnates in an existential-threat-based and India-centric approach to national security.
- What is China’s approach? China’s expansive global strategy and unbridled capability-based development surge have overcome the dangers of direct competition with the US.
- It has closed the gap through an “indirect approach to international security”.
- This indirect approach looks at building on strengths in areas such as cyberspace, non-contact warfare, economic and diplomatic coercion.
So, what should be India’s approach to security?
- Strategic guidelines for India’s must shift from a threat-based methodology to a multi-disciplinary capability.
- An outcome-based orientation to fit with the nation’s power aspirations.
4 most critical means to kick-start the transformation:
1. Creation of indigenous defence capability
- Doing this without brushing away the short and medium-term requirement of selective imports will be the key to a calibrated march to self-sufficiency.
2. Leadership
- India’s military leadership is very hierarchical and sequential in its approach.
- However, this same leadership has superb operational skills and possesses a quick understanding of technology, tactics, techniques and procedures.
- Consequently, strategic leaders need to be identified and their transition towards becoming more than mere executors of operational plans and campaigns needs to be enabled.
- Multi-disciplinary thinking, lateral assimilation and a world-view are among the specific skill-sets that need to be nurtured.
3. Training and Education
- Training and education form the next two silos in the process of transformation.
- The US example: Several military officers at the colonel level — fresh out of war colleges and the university environment where they spend a year of education (not training) — are posted at the Pentagon and NATO HQ.
- Here, they work alongside civilians, politicians, lawmakers, not forgetting their own joint leadership.
- In such an environment, it is not difficult to mark, train and recognise talent in ways that go beyond the mere rank structure.
- It is high time India goes down that road because even though economic globalisation may be on hold for a while post-COVID-19, there is going to be a flattening of the world from a security perspective.
- There will be common threats that would need to be fought jointly by nations.
- The three pre-requisites in these silos will be an amalgam of 1)service-centric and joint operations expertise, 2) operational acumen in a global environment, and 3) broad-based education that develops intellectual capital.
- Training in the Indian military is top-notch and needs a little tweaking to help officers and men understand the rules of engagement in a Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous (VUCA) world.
- It is diversified education at all levels of leadership that is a weak area.
4. Jointness and integration
- Finally, the silo of jointness and integration without losing identities and compromising competencies is an outcome that needs to be chased down with focus and determination.
Consider the question based on the issues discussed in the article “Strategic guidelines for India’s security managers must shift from a threat-based methodology to a multi-disciplinary capability and outcome-based orientation to fit with the nation’s power aspirations. Based on some expert committee reports, discuss the ways which the Indian military follow to achieve the transformation to satisfy the nation’s power aspirations.”
Conclusion
Some difficulties caused to the military due to COVID pandemic should be considered as an opportunity. It should be an opportunity to evolve a transformational culture in the Indian military. This should be based on clear political guidelines driven by existing and futuristic capabilities, expected strategic outcomes and anticipated strategic challenges.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not Much
Mains level: World History: Pearl Harbor Attack and its aftermath
US President Mr Trump has said the COVID-19 pandemic is a worse “attack” on the U.S. than either Pearl Harbor or 9/11.
Practice Question :
Discuss how the world order changed post Pearl Harbour attack with context to the US hegemony in Asia-Pacific.
Attack on Pearl Harbor
- The December 7, 1941 attack on Pearl Harbour was among the most significant moments of the World War II.
- It signalled the official entry of the US into the hostilities, which eventually led to the dropping of nuclear bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945.
- Significantly, in December 2016, Shinzo Abe became the first sitting Japanese Prime Minister to visit Pearl Harbour.
What led up to the attack on Pearl Harbour?
- Before Japan attacked Pearl Harbour in 1941, relations between the US and Japan were already worsening.
- In 1910, Japan annexed Korea and, in 1937, it invaded China, sending alarm bells ringing in the US and other Western powers about Japan’s manifest expansionist agenda.
- Between December 1937 and January 1938, an episode which is referred to as the “Nanking Massacre” or the “Rape of Nanking”, occurred — Japanese soldiers killed and raped Chinese civilians and combatants.
- Japanese historians estimate that anywhere between tens of thousands and 200,000 Chinese were killed.
- The US was against Japan’s aggression in China, and imposed economic sanctions and trade embargoes after its invasion.
Immediate causes
- Japan was reliant on imports for oil and other natural resources — this was one of the reasons why it invaded China and later French Indo-China (present-day Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia).
- The intention was to take control of the major Chinese ports to have access to resources such as iron, rubber, tin, and most importantly, oil.
- In July 1941, the US ceased exporting oil to Japan.
- Negotiations between the two countries ended with the “Hull Note”, the final proposal delivered to Japan by the US. Essentially, the US wanted Japan to withdraw from China without any conditions.
- Ultimately, the negotiations did not lead to any concrete results, following which Japan set its task for Pearl Harbour in the last week of November 1941.
- Japan considered the attack to be a preventive measure against the US interfering with Japan’s plans to carry out military operations in some parts of Southeast Asia.
What happened at Pearl Harbour?
- About 7.55 am on December 7, 1941, about 180 aircraft of the Imperial Japanese Navy attacked the US Naval base at Pearl Harbour on the island of Oahu in Hawaii.
- The bombing killed over 2,300 Americans and destroyed the battleships USS Arizona and USS Oklahoma.
- Roughly 160 aircraft were destroyed, and 150 were damaged.
Impact on the US
- In the short term, the American naval presence in the Pacific was severely weakened.
- However, the Japanese had largely ignored the harbour’s infrastructure, and many of the damaged ships were repaired on-site and returned to duty.
- American opinion immediately shifted to favouring war with Japan, a course that would conclude with Japan’s unconditional surrender less than four years later.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Styrene gas, Various acts governing hazardous chemicals
Mains level: Loopholes in handling of Hazardous chemicals in India
A gas leak has claimed at least 11 lives and affected thousands of residents in five villages in Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh. The source of the leak was a styrene plant owned by South Korean electronics giant LG.
Practice question:
Despite a robust policy framework governing the hazardous chemicals in India, the recent gas leakage incident in Vizag highlights India’s unaddressed vulnerability to chemical disasters. Criticallly comment.
Vizag gas lead: What is styrene?
- It is a flammable liquid that is used in the manufacturing of polystyrene plastics, fibreglass, rubber, and latex.
- Styrene is also found in vehicle exhaust, cigarette smoke, and in natural foods like fruits and vegetables.
- According to The Manufacture, Storage and Import of Hazardous Chemicals Rules, 1989, styrene is classified as a toxic and hazardous chemical.
What happens when exposed to styrene?
- A short-term exposure to the substance can result in respiratory problems, irritation in the eyes, irritation in the mucous membrane, and gastrointestinal issues.
- And long-term exposure could drastically affect the central nervous system and lead to other related problems like peripheral neuropathy.
- It is, likely, a carcinogenic substance that can react with oxygen in the air to mutate into styrene dioxide, a substance that is more lethal.
- However, there is no sufficient evidence despite several epidemiology studies indicating there may be an association between styrene exposure and an increased risk of leukaemia and lymphoma.
What are the symptoms?
- Symptoms include headache, hearing loss, fatigue, weakness, difficulty in concentrating etc.
- Animal studies have reported effects on the nervous system, liver, kidney, and eye and nasal irritation from inhalation exposure to styrene.
How bad is the situation in Visakhapatnam?
- It is yet unclear whether the deaths are due to direct exposure to styrene gas or one of its byproducts.
- However, hundreds of people including many children were admitted to hospitals.
- The cases are high as the gas leak was only detected at 3 am in the morning, meaning several crucial hours have been lost till safety precautions were taken.
- More fatally, the gas was leaked while people were fast asleep.
What caused the leak?
- Styrene monomer was used at the manufacturing plant to produce expandable plastics.
- The storage requirement of styrene monomer strictly mentions that it has to be below 17 degrees Celsius.
- There was a temporary and partial shutdown of the plant because of the nationwide lockdown.
- The leak occurred as a result of styrene gas not being kept at the appropriate temperature.
- This caused a pressure build-up in the storage chamber that contained styrene and caused the valve to break, resulting in the gas leakage.
Is it under control?
- The leak has been plugged and NDRF teams moved into the five affected villages and have started opening the houses to find out if anyone was stranded inside.
- The Covid-19 preparedness helped a lot as dozens of ambulances with oxygen cylinders and ventilators were readily available.
- The spread of the gas depends on wind speeds. So far it is estimated that areas within a five-kilometre radius have been affected.
What are the guidelines on the storage of hazardous chemicals in plants?
After the Bhopal disaster, much legislation was enacted starting from the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 to the Public Liability Insurance Act, 1991. They are-
| Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 |
Omnibus act, which gives sweeping powers to Central government to take all measures to protect the environment |
| Environment (Protection) Rules, 1986 |
Set discharge and product standards – source standards for restricting pollution; product standards for manufactured goods and ambient air and water standards – for regulating quality of life and environmental protection |
| Hazardous Waste (Management Handling and Transboundary Movement) Rules, 1989 |
Industry required to identify major accident hazards, take preventive measures and submit a report to the designated authorities |
| Manufacture, Storage And Import Of Hazardous Chemicals Rules, 1989 |
Importer must furnish complete product safety information to the competent authority and must transport imported chemicals in accordance with the amended rules. |
| Chemical Accidents (Emergency, Planning, Preparedness and Response) Rules, 1996 |
Centre is required to constitute a central crisis group for management of chemical accidents; set up quick response mechanism termed as the crisis alert system. Each state is required to set up a crisis group and report on its work. |
| Factories Amendment Act, 1987 |
Provision to regulate siting of hazardous units; safety of workers and nearby residents and mandates for on-site emergency plans and disaster control measures |
| Public Liability Insurance Act, 1991 |
Imposes a no-fault liability on the owner of hazardous substance and requires the owner to compensate victims of accident irrespective of any neglect or default. For this, the owner is required to take out an insurance policy covering potential liability from any accident. |
|
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: African Swine Fever
Mains level: Not Much
- Amid the coronavirus pandemic, another disease outbreak is affecting thousands of animals in Assam.
- Since February, over 2,900 pigs have died in the state due to African Swine Fever (ASF), which does not affect humans but can be catastrophic for pigs.
- This is the first time that an ASF outbreak has been reported in India.
As Flu is nowadays a lot in news, keep a tab on them for prelims. Be it the Swine Flue, African Swine Fever or even H5N1.
African Swine Fever (ASF)
- ASF is a severe viral disease that affects wild and domestic pigs typically resulting in an acute hemorrhagic fever.
- The disease has a case fatality rate (CFR) of about 100 per cent.
- Its routes of transmission include direct contact with an infected or wild pig (alive or dead), indirect contact through ingestion of contaminated material such as food waste, feed or garbage or through biological vectors such as ticks.
- The disease is characterized by the sudden deaths of pigs.
- Other manifestations of the disease include high fever, depression, anorexia, loss of appetite, hemorrhages in the skin, vomiting and diarrhoea among others.
How did the current outbreak start?
- As per the latest update issued by FAO, the current outbreak of ASF has affected China, Mongolia, Vietnam, Cambodia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Republic of Korea and Indonesia among others.
- In China, the first ASF outbreak was confirmed in August 2018 and since then more than 1 million pigs have been culled in the country.
- ASF came into India through Tibet into Arunachal Pradesh and then into Assam, the state with the highest population of pigs in the country.
How is ASF different from swine flu?
- Swine influenza or swine flu is a respiratory disease of pigs, which is caused by type A influenza virus that regularly causes outbreaks of influenza in pig populations.
- While the swine flu causing virus leads to a high number of infections in pig herds, the disease is not as fatal and causes few deaths. Specific swine influenza vaccines are available for pigs.
- The swine flu viruses are spread among pigs through close contact and through contaminated objects moving between infected and uninfected pigs.
- Symptoms include fever, depression, coughing, discharge from the nose and eyes, eye redness or inflammation.
Vaccines availability
- As of now, there is no approved vaccine, which is also a reason why animals are culled to prevent the spread of infection.
- It is important that determination of ASF is made through laboratory testing and it is differentiated from Classical Swine Fever (CSF), whose signs may be similar to ASF, but is caused by a different virus for which a vaccine exists.
- Even so, while ASF is lethal, it is less infectious than other animal diseases such as foot-and-mouth disease.
What is the impact ASF will have on pig farmers?
- Pig farmers in Assam describe the outbreak as a “double whammy” since the COVID-19 lockdown was already impacting sales negatively.
- The outbreak has ruined the prospect of the Northeastern states as a hub for the export of pork products.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Luhman 16A, Binary star system
Mains level: Not Much
A group of international astrophysicists have identified cloud bands on the surface of Luhman 16A, one of a pair of binary brown dwarfs in the Vela constellation.
Space terminology has gained importance in prelims. The Luhman 16A coupled with few more examples of space concepts like binary star and dwarf star are discussed in this newscard.
Luhman 16A
- Luhman 16 is a binary star system, the third closest system to the Sun after Alpha Centauri and Barnard’s star.
- At a distance of about 6.5 light-years from the Sun, this pair of brown dwarfs referred to as Luhman 16A and Luhman 16B orbit each other, casting a dim light.
- Brown dwarfs are also called failed stars because their masses are intermediate to the largest planets and the smallest main sequence stars.
- Their masses being too small, they are unable to sustain fusion of their hydrogen to produce energy.
- It is believed that some of the more massive brown dwarfs fuse deuterium or lithium and glow faintly.
The cloud band over Luhman
- The group, by using the Very Large Telescope at European Southern Observatory, Chile, found that Luhman 16A had band-like clouds in its atmosphere, whereas the same was not true of Luhman 16B.
- Many astronomers detected polarization of brown dwarfs.
- But what is special in the newest study of Luhman 16 is that the researchers have found the actual structure of the clouds — that they form bands over one of the pair.
- Understanding the cloud system over a brown dwarf can shed light on the pressure, temperature and climate on the surface of the celestial body.
Why it has made into a headline?
- The researchers have used an idea put forth nearly two decades ago by Indian astrophysicist Sujan Sengupta, who works at the Indian Institute of Astrophysics, Bengaluru.
- Sengupta had propounded the light emitted by a cloudy brown dwarf, or reflected off an extrasolar planet, will be polarized.
- He then suggested that a polarimetric technique could serve as a potential tool to probe the environment of these objects.
Back2Basics: Binary Star System
- A binary star is a star system consisting of two stars orbiting around their common barycenter.
- Systems of two or more stars are called multiple star systems.
- These systems, especially when more distant, often appear to the unaided eye as a single point of light, and are then revealed as multiple by other means.
- Binary star systems are very important in astrophysics because calculations of their orbits allow the masses of their component stars to be directly determined.
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