Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Treaty of Sugauli-1816
Mains level: Paper 2- India-Nepal relations
This article helps us understand Nepal’s perspective of the India-Nepal border dispute. Though the issue dates back to India’s independence, it came to dominate the political landscape in Nepal since 1990s. But there is no solution in sight. So, what makes the issue complex? Read to know…
What the border dispute between two countries is about?
- The inauguration of the “new road to Mansarovar” on May 8 by India’s defence minister has strained the relations between Nepal and India.
- Nepal claims that a section of the road passes through the territory of Nepal and links with the Tibetan Autonomous Region of China through the Lipu Lekh pass in Nepal.
- The 1816 Sugauli Treaty between Nepal and British India placed all the territories east of the Kali (Mahakali) river, including Limpiyadhura, Kalapani and Lipu Lekh at the northwestern front of Nepal, on its side.
- The borders of Nepal, India and China intersect in this area.
- Given the situation in 1961, Nepal and China fixed pillar number one at Tinker pass with the understanding that pillar number zero (the tri-junction of Nepal, India, and China) would be fixed later.
- Lipu Lekh pass is 4 km northwest and Limpiyadhura 53 km west of Tinker pass.
No progress on the solution of the issue
- The dispute over the Kalapani area has spanned the last seven decades.
- Both Nepal and India have recognised it as an outstanding border issue requiring an optimal resolution.
- When in August 2014, Prime Minister Narendra Modi became the first Indian Prime Minister to visit Nepal in 17 years, Nepal’s Prime Minister Sushil Koirala raised this issue again.
- The two prime ministers agreed to resolve the issue on a priority basis and directed their foreign secretaries “to work on the outstanding boundary issues including Kalapani and Susta”.
- There was virtually no progress on the ground.
Nepal’s objection to India-China agreement
- In May 2015, Prime Minister Modi visited China, and the two countries agreed to “enhance border areas cooperation”.
- The May 2015 agreement is a broad one compared to the 1954 India-China agreement “on trade and intercourse between Tibet Region of China and India”, which mentions Lipu Lekh pass as one of the six passes “through which traders and pilgrims of both countries may travel”.
- Nepal protested against the inclusion of its territory, Lipu Lekh, in the joint statement without its consent and demanded that the two countries make necessary corrections to reflect the ground realities.
- The protest was ignored.
Growing nationalism and distrust let to the deterioration of relations
- The tone of Nepal-India relations appears to be dominated by frustrations of the past and traditional attitudes more than the opportunities of the future.
- The widening gap in understanding each other’s concerns has helped feed Nepali nationalism and create a dense cloud of distrust and suspicion between the two countries.
- The gap widened after India chose to impose an economic blockade in response to Nepal’s sovereign decision to promulgate a democratic constitution.
- The current ruling Communist Party of Nepal made people’s anger over the blockade its campaign plank during the 2017 general election.
What makes the border issues complex and difficult to solve?
- Complexity of the issue stems from the fact that the political leadership handles only a small part of this very important bilateral relationship.
- India as a big neighbour is rarely seen grasping the psychological dimensions of the relationship.
- Officials handling these multifaceted relations may momentarily influence the atmospherics but they rarely touch the core of these relations, let alone reorient or transform them in the rapidly changing context.
- This is manifest in the deferring of substantive conversations on the outstanding boundary issue for decades.
- The foreign secretary level mechanism has not met even once to discuss the border issue since its formation.
- There are over three dozen bilateral mechanisms between Nepal and India to engage at various levels.
- The meetings of these mechanisms are rarely regular.
Consider the question “The India-Nepal border dispute looks minor, but allowing it to fester is likely to sow the seeds of immense competition and intense rivalry in the sensitive Himalayan frontier with far-reaching geopolitical implications. Comment.”
Conclusion
Geography, history, and economy make Nepal and India natural partners, sharing vital interest in each other’s freedom, integrity, dignity, security and progress. People-to-people relations are unique strengths of bilateral relations. India, for it’s part and in the spirit of its ‘neighbourhood first’ policy, must start a solution-oriented dialogue and find the solution to the dispute.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Carbon Dioxide concentration in atmosphere
Mains level: Paper 3- Climate change
In the context of climate change, the rising concentration of carbon dioxide and rising global temperature are inextricably linked with each other. This article elaborates on two interlinked and rising curves-CO2 and temperature. The article is concluded on the positive note that leaders would act on climate change with same urgency as Covid.
The upward journey of two curves
- Two interrelated curves began their upward trend two centuries ago with the advent of the industrial age.
- The first curve was the atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide or, more generally, all greenhouse gases, GHGs.
- And the second was the average global temperature curve.
CO2 concentration at 407 ppm: But did we get here?
- Actually, the CO2 curve began its upward march about 18,000 years ago when it was a little under 200 parts per million (ppm).
- And earth was much colder back then.
- By the time it reached 270 ppm about 11,500 years ago, the warmer conditions accompanying this curve made it possible for the emergence of agriculture.
- Over the past million years, CO2 levels never exceeded 280-300 ppm.
- They always went back to 200 ppm before rising again in a cyclical fashion.
- They remained steady at close to 280 ppm for 10,000 years until, beginning in the mid-19th century.
- They began to rise again as humans burnt coal and oil to fuel the industrial revolution, and burnt forests to expand agriculture and settlements.
- From a mere 0.2 billion tonnes of CO2 emissions in 1850, annual emissions increased to 36 billion tonnes by 2018.
- If all this CO2 had accumulated in the atmosphere, we can say that human life would have been altered beyond recognition.
- Nature has been rather kind to us so far — about one-half of all CO2 emissions have been sanitised from the atmosphere, equally by growing vegetation on land and by absorption in the oceans.
- Thus, the levels of CO2 in the atmosphere reached 407 ppm in 2018, a level last experienced by earth some three million years ago.
Global temperature up by 1 degree Celcius
- From 1850 onwards, for over a century, the global temperature showed a slight warming trend.
- But there was nothing suggestive of anything serious.
- From 1975 onwards, the temperature graph has shown a distinct, upward trend.
- By 2015, the globe had heated by a full degree Celsius relative to a hundred years previously.
- Climate modellers unequivocally project that under the current trends of emissions the globe will heat up by 4˚C by the end of the century.
- he 2003 European heat wave killed over 70,000 people.
- The years 2015-19 have globally been the warmest years on record.
- Leave aside the Amazon fire of 2019, the bush fires of 2019-20 in Australia were unprecedented in their scale and devastation.
- March 2020 has been the second warmest March on record.
But climate change is not just about temperature rise
- Climate change involves not just a change in temperature but every other component of weather, including rainfall, humidity and wind speed.
- Indirect effects follow, such as a rise in sea levels from melting glaciers.
- Globally there have been several extreme weather events such as hurricanes, heat waves or droughts.
- While no single event can be directly attributed to climate change, the collective trends are consistent with climate change predictions.
Warning for India
- The Climate Impact Lab at the University of Chicago put out a warning for India last year.
- It says that if global CO2 emissions continue to gallop at the present rate, average summer temperatures would rise by 4˚C in most States.
- Extremely hot days (days above 35˚C), which were only five days in 2010, would increase to 15 days by 2050 and to 42 days by 2100 on average across all districts.
- A more moderate emissions scenario, as a result of countries largely fulfilling their commitments under the Paris Agreement, would keep average global temperature rise below 2˚C compared to pre-industrial levels.
Let’s look into the financial dimension of tackling climate change
- The most common excuse is that the world cannot afford to curb GHG emissions for fear of wrecking the economy.
- An article in Nature in 2019 highlighted the financial dimensions of tackling the looming climate crisis.
- Apparently, the wealthy nations are spending over $500 billion each year internally on projects aimed at reducing emissions.
- The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, however, estimates that a sustained annual investment of $2.4 trillion in more efficient energy systems is needed until 2035 in order to keep warming below the more ambitious 1.5˚C relative to pre-industrial levels.
- To put this in perspective, that is about 2.5% of the global GDP.
What happened to the $100 billion per year aid to poor countries?
- Some of the wrangling over money relates to the amounts that the wealthy nations, agreed to pay other countries to cope with climate change.
- Underlying idea was that these countries have caused most of the GHGs resulting in global warming,
- At the UN Climate Conference in 2009, the richest nations had pledged to provide $100 billion in aid each year by 2020 to the poorer countries for climate change mitigation and adaptation.
- In 2017, for which data are available, only $71 billion had been provided.
- And most of the money was spent on mitigation and less than 20% towards climate adaptation.
- Such numbers had been challenged prior to the 2015 Paris Summit by many countries, including India.
- It was challenged because much of the so-called aid provided did not come out of dedicated climate funds but, rather, development funds or simply loans which had to be repaid.
- It thus seems unlikely that the rich countries will deliver $100 billion in tangible climate finance during 2020.
Time to act
- COVID-19 has unwittingly given humanity a brief respite from the climate change curve.
- Commentators are already talking about a paradigm shift in the structure and functioning of societies once the pandemic subsides.
- This is also a make-or-break moment for the climate trajectory which has to be flattened within a few years if we are to avoid dangerous climate change.
- Nature’s kindness is not expected to last beyond a 2˚C rise in temperature as the carbon sequestered into vegetation will be thrown back into the atmosphere.
- Also remember that earth has already warmed by 1˚C and we really have only another 1˚C as a safety margin or 0.5˚C if we are concerned about island nations.
Consider the mains question asked by the UPSC in 2017-‘Climate change’ is a global problem. How India will be affected by climate change? How Himalayan and coastal states of India will be affected by climate change?
Conclusion
There is no substitute to reducing GHG emissions. Technologists, economists and social scientists must plan for a sustainable planet based on the principles of equity and climate justice within and across nations. It is the responsibility of leaders to alter their mindset and act on the looming climate crisis with the same alacrity they have shown on COVID-19.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Permafrost
Mains level: Paper 1-Permafrost thaw.
The principal reason that led to the recent 20,000-tonne oil leak at an Arctic region power plant in Russia that is now being recognised is the sinking of ground surface due to permafrost thaw.
Try this question from Mains 2017:
Q. What is Cryosphere? How does the Cryosphere affect global climate?
What is Permafrost?
- Permafrost is ground that remains completely frozen at 0 degrees Celsius or below for at least two years.
- It is defined solely based on temperature and duration.
- The permanently frozen ground, consisting of soil, sand, and rock held together by ice, is believed to have formed during glacial periods dating several millennia.
Where are they found?
- These grounds are known to be below 22 per cent of the land surface on Earth, mostly in polar zones and regions with high mountains.
- They are spread across 55 per cent of the landmass in Russia and Canada, 85 per cent in the US state of Alaska, and possibly the entirety of Antarctica.
- In northern Siberia, it forms a layer that is 1,500 m thick; 740 m in northern Alaska.
- At lower latitudes, permafrost is found at high altitude locations such as the Alps and the Tibetian plateau.
How climate change is eating away at these grounds?
- The Earth’s polar and high altitude regions — its principal permafrost reservoirs — are the most threatened by climate change.
- Arctic regions are warming twice as fast compared to the rest of the planet, its current rate of temperature change being the highest in 2,000 years.
- In 2016, Arctic permafrost temperatures were 3.5 degrees Celsius higher than at the beginning of the 20th century.
- A study has shown that every 1 degree Celsius rise in temperature can degrade up to 39 lakh square kilometre due to thawing.
- This degradation is expected to further aggravate as the climate gets warmer, putting at risk 40 per cent of the world’s permafrost towards the end of the century– causing disastrous effects.
The threat to infrastructure
- Thawing permafrost is also ominous for man-made structures overhead.
- The Russian oil leak occurred recorded temperatures in Siberia at more than 10 degrees Celsius above average, and called them “highly anomalous” for the region where the power plant is located.
- As temperatures rise, the binding ice in permafrost melts, making the ground unstable and leading to massive potholes, landslides, and floods.
- The sinking effect causes damage to key infrastructure such as roads, railway lines, buildings, power lines and pipelines.
- These changes also threaten the survival of indigenous people, as well as Arctic animals.
A ticking time bomb
- Beneath its surface, permafrost contains large quantities of organic leftover from thousands of years prior — dead remains of plants, animals, and microorganisms that got frozen before they could rot.
- It also holds a massive trove of pathogens.
- When permafrost thaws, microbes start decomposing this carbon matter, releasing greenhouse gases like methane and carbon dioxide.
- Researchers have estimated that for every 1 degree Celsius rise in temperature, these grounds could release GHGs to the tune of 4-6 years’ of emissions from coal, oil, and natural gas.
- Along with greenhouse houses, these grounds could also release ancient bacteria and viruses into the atmosphere as they unfreeze.
Back2Basics
https://www.civilsdaily.com/news/thawing-of-permafrost/
Also read:
Ambarnaya River Oil spill in Russia
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Payment Infrastructure Development fund
Mains level: Paper 3- Digital payment in India
The RBI has created a Payments Infrastructure Development Fund (PIDF) with an outlay of Rs. 500 Cr.
Possible prelims question:
Q. Which of the following is the major aim of Payments Infrastructure Development Fund (PIDF) recently created by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI)?
a) Promotion of UPI payments
b) Deploying Points of Sale (PoS) infrastructure
c) Creation of digital wallets
d)All of the above
Payments Infrastructure Development Fund (PIDF)
- PIDF aims to encourage acquirers to deploy Points of Sale (PoS) infrastructure — both physical and digital modes in tier-3 to tier-6 centres and north eastern states.
- The setting of PIDF is in line with the measures proposed by the vision document on payment and settlement systems in India 2019-2021.
- It is also in line with the RBI’s proposal to set up an Acceptance Development Fund which will be used to develop card acceptance infrastructure across small towns and cities.
Its working
- The PIDF will be governed through an Advisory Council and managed and administered by RBI.
- It will also receive recurring contributions to cover operational expenses from card-issuing banks and card networks.
- RBI will also contribute to its yearly shortfalls, if necessary.
Why need PIDF?
- Over the years, the payments ecosystem in the country has evolved with a wide range of options such as bank accounts, mobile phones, cards, etc.
- To provide further fillip to digitization of payment systems, it is necessary to give impetus to acceptance infrastructure across the country, more so in under-served areas.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Piezo-electric crystals
Mains level: Not much
Indian scientists have found a new process for synthesizing crystalline rubrene for the development of optoelectronic devices and also for preparation of Electronic Skin (E-Skin).
Note the difference between the Pyro-electric/ Piezo-electric/ Pyro-photonic effects. UPSC may shuffle the meaning of such terms in statement based prelims question.
What is crystalline rubrene?
- Crystalline rubrene is a polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon-based thin film.
- It is a water-free, solvent-free, environmentally friendly one-step plasma process.
- It demonstrated optoelectronic properties (which detect and control light).
- A highly uniform pin-hole-free thin film can be deposited by this process, which is useful for the fabrication of high-end devices.
Working principle
- Devices made of pyro-electric materials (that generate electric charge when they are heated or cooled) and piezo-electric materials (that generate electric charge under the effect of mechanical pressure), can help detect change in temperature and pressure.
- Pyro-electric materials also show pyro-phototronic effect where pyro-electricity is associated with the change in temperature of a material when it absorbs photons.
- Pyro-electric infrared detectors are well known for application in infrared sensing for space research, defense, remote sensing, and household appliances.
Principle application: Human Skin
- These kinds of materials are available in biological systems such as – human skin, plant cellulose leading to their significance in the understanding of basic science of biological systems and also in their huge application prospect.
- The rubrene crystal has a thin amorphous oxide layer formed over the crystalline film.
- This induces surface layer polarization effect leading to pyro-phototronic effect.
Significance of the research
- Since last few years, scientists from around the world are working on the synthesis of organic materials for electronic applications.
- The conventional process for synthesis of organic electronic materials based on chemical processes provides very good quality materials, but the stability of the materials is not very good, and it requires use of solvents.
- Moreover, multiple steps are required for material synthesis and film deposition.
Applications
- This novel process developed by the Indian team is useful for developing advanced optoelectronic devices and preparation of Electronic Skin (E-Skin).
- It may prove to be useful tool for laboratory simulation of different biological systems for probing the organization and dynamics of those systems.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: CAT
Mains level: Paper 2- Functioning and independence of CAT
The union govt. has inaugurated the 18th Bench of Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) for the Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.
Try this question from our AWE initiative:
“The Central Administration Tribunal which was established for redressal of grievances and complaints by or against central government employees nowadays is exercising its powers as an independent judicial authority.” Explain. (10 Marks)
What is Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT)?
- The Central Administrative Tribunal had been established under Article 323 – A of the Constitution for adjudication of disputes and complaints with respect to recruitment and conditions of service.
- It aims to provide speedy and inexpensive justice to the aggrieved public servants.
- It adjudicates for the persons appointed to public services and posts in connection with the affairs of the Union or other authorities under the control of the Government.
- In pursuance of Article 323-A, the Parliament has passed the Administrative Tribunals Act in 1985.
- The act authorizes the Central government to establish one Central Administrative Tribunal and the state administrative tribunals.
Composition of the CAT
- The CAT is a specialist body consisting of Administrative Members and Judicial Members who by virtue of their specialized knowledge are better equipped to dispense speedy and effective justice.
- A Chairman who has been a sitting or retired Judge of a High Court heads the Central Administrative Tribunal.
- There are now 18 Benches and 21 Circuit Benches in the CAT all over India.
Its functioning
- It exercises jurisdiction only in relation to the service matters of the parties covered by the Administrative Tribunals Act, 1985.
- The Tribunal is guided by the principles of natural justice in deciding cases and is not bound by the procedure, prescribed by the Civil Procedure Code.
- Under Section 17 of the Administrative Tribunal Act, 1985, the Tribunal has been conferred with the power to exercise the same jurisdiction and authority in respect of contempt of itself as a High Court.
Independence of working
- The conditions of service of the Chairman and Members are the same as applicable to a Judge of High Court as per the Administrative Tribunals (Amendment) Act, 2006.
- The orders of CAT are challenged by way of Writ Petition under Article 226/227 of the Constitution before respective High Court in whose territorial jurisdiction the Bench of the Tribunal is situated.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Article 370
Mains level: Paper 2- China-Pakistans overlapping interests in Kashmir and diverging objectives.
While their interests overlap, Pakistan and China diverge when it comes to their objective in Kashmir. Both want to keep the pressure on India to avoid it from changing the status quo. Extending this line of argument, the author in this article suggest that India should separate the policy response to China from Pakistan, as they differ in their objectives.
Coordinated efforts to corner India?
- Latest news on the Ladakh front suggests that Chinese and Indian forces have begun to disengage in select areas.
- But this does not detract from the reality that in the past few weeks Beijing and Islamabad are making coordinated efforts to challenge India’s presence in the Kashmir-Ladakh region.
- There is stepped-up activity on Pakistan’s part to infiltrate terrorists into the Valley.
- China has undertaken provocative measures on the Ladakh front to assert control over disputed areas around the Line of Actual Control (LAC).
Let’s see how Pakistan and China’s interests overlap
- In Pakistan’s case the intensification in its terrorist activities is related in part to the dilution of Article 370.
- Dilution of Article 370 helps India de-link Ladakh from the Kashmir problem.
- For China, the division of Ladakh from Jammu and Kashmir allows India a freer hand in contesting China’s claims in the region.
- Increasing road-building activity on India’s part close to the LAC augments this perception.
- In addition, Ladakh borders China’s most restive provinces of Xinjiang and Tibet.
- Ladakh is also contiguous to Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK), Gilgit and Baltistan, where the Chinese have invested hugely under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project.
- External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar’s remark last year that India expects to have “physical jurisdiction over (POK) one day” has alarmed Beijing which sees any such Indian move as threatening the CPEC project.
- These factors demonstrate the overlapping interests that Beijing and Islamabad have regarding India in this region.
The above factors explain why Pakistan and China would want India to be so preoccupied with taking defensive measures in Kashmir and Ladakh as to have little time and energy left to attempt to alter the status quo in POK or in Aksai Chin.
But there are major differences in Pakistani and Chinese objectives regarding India
- These differences are related to their divergent perceptions of their disputes and their different force equations with India.
- For China, Ladakh is primarily a territorial dispute with strategic ramifications.
- China also believes it is superior to the Indian militarily and, therefore, can afford to push India around within limits as it has been attempting to do in the recent confrontation.
- For Pakistan, its territorial claim on Kashmir is based on an immutable ideological conviction that it is the unfinished business of partition and as a Muslim-majority state is destined to become a part of Pakistan.
- Islamabad also realises that it is the weaker power in conventional terms and therefore has to use unconventional means, primarily terrorist infiltration, to achieve its objective of changing the status quo in Kashmir.
- China is a satiated power in Ladakh having occupied Aksai Chin and wants to keep up the pressure on New Delhi to prevent the latter from trying to change the situation on the ground.
Way forward-Pay attention to objectives while negotiating
- China’s primary concern with regard to Kashmir is to prevent any Indian move from threatening the CPEC project.
- It does not challenge the status quo in Kashmir.
- Pakistan, on the other hand, is committed to changing the status quo in Kashmir at all cost.
- It has been trying to do so since Partition not only through clandestine infiltration but also by engaging in conventional warfare.
- Therefore, while it is possible to negotiate the territorial dispute with China on a give-and-take basis.
- Doing the same is not possible in the case of Pakistan which considers Kashmir a zero-sum game.
- India should, therefore, distinguish the different objectives on the part of Beijing and Islamabad and tailor its responses accordingly without conflating the two threats to its security.
Consider the question “Policy response of India in dealing with Pakistan and China should consider differences in their objectives in relation to Kashmir. And clubbing them together just because of their tactical overlap should be avoided. Elaborate.”
Conclusion
Lumping the twin threats posed by Pakistan and China together because of a tactical overlap between them makes it difficult to choose policy options rationally. So, the policy response must understand the difference in their objectives and avoid clubbing them together.
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