Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 2- Strategic autonomy and alignment with the U.S.
India has been maintaining strategic autonomy in its foreign policy since Independence. But the end of Cold War and growing closeness towards the U.S. raises concerns. This article addresses this issue.
India’s foreign policy: characterised by autonomy
- India has historically prided itself as an independent developing country which does not take orders from or succumb to pressure from great powers.
- Indian maintained this stance in its foreign policy when the world order was bipolar from 1947 to 1991, dominated by the U.S. and Russia.
- Also, when the world was unipolar from 1991 to 2008, dominated by the U.S.
- Or when it is multipolar as at the present times.
- The need for autonomy in making foreign policy choices has remained constant.
Flexibility in foreign policy
- However, strategic autonomy has often been adjusted in India’s history as per the changing milieu.
- During the 1962 war with China, Prime Minister Nehru, had to appeal to the U.S. for emergency military aid.
- In the build-up to the 1971 war with Pakistan, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi had to enter a Treaty of Peace, Friendship and Cooperation with the Soviet Union to ward off both China and the U.S.
- And in Kargil in 1999, India welcomed a direct intervention by the U.S. to force Pakistan to back down.
- In all the above examples, India did not become any less autonomous when geopolitical circumstances compelled it to enter into de facto alliance-like cooperation with major powers.
- Rather, India secured its freedom, sovereignty and territorial integrity by manoeuvering the great power equations and playing the realpolitik game.
Concerns over India’s growing closeness to the U.S.
- As India is facing China’s growing aggression along the LAC, Non-alignment 2.0 with China and the U.S. makes little sense.
- Fears that proximity to the U.S. will lead to loss of India’s strategic autonomy are overblown.
- Because independent India has never been subordinated to a foreign hegemon.
What should be India’s strategy
- In the threat environment marked by a pushy China, India should aim to have both- American support and stay as an independent power centre by cooperation with middle powers in Asia and around the world.
- For India complete dependence on the U.S. to counter China would be an error.
- Such complete dependence would be detrimental to India’s national interest such as its ties with Iran and Russia and efforts to speed up indigenous defence modernisation.
- A wide and diverse range of strategic partners, including the U.S. is the only viable diplomatic way forward in the current emerging multipolar world order.
Consider the question “Does India’s close alignment with the U.S. harms its strategic autonomy? Suggest the strategy to balance India’s security concerns and maintaining strategic autonomy.”
Conclusion
We are free and self-reliant not through isolation or alliance with one great power, but only in variable combinations with several like-minded partners. India is familiar with the phrase ‘multi-vector’ foreign policy. It is time to maximise its potential.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much.
Mains level: Paper 2- Role of judiciary in democracy and challenges it faces
The article analyses the role of the judiciary in democracy and the challenges it has been facing.
Challenges to democracy
- Growing lack of faith among many Indians in the functioning of the Supreme Court (SC).
- The politicisation of the civil service and the police.
- The creation of a cult of personality
- The intimidation of the media.
- The use of tax and investigative agencies to harass and intimidate independent voices.
- The refusal to do away with repressive colonial-era laws and instead the desire to strengthen them.
- The undermining of Indian federalism by the steady whittling down of the powers of the states by the Centre.
Role and challenges judiciary faces
- In recent years the Supreme Court has done little to stop or stem the degradation of democracy.
- Some examples: Court’s refusal to strike down laws like UAPA that should have no place in a constitutional democracy.
- Its unconscionable delay in hearing major cases.
- The COVID-19 crisis has accelerated trend towards authoritarianism and the centralisation of power.
- But the hearings and orders of the past few months show, the Supreme Court seems unable or unwilling to check these ominous trends.
- The failure of the SC is in part a failure of leadership.
- One chief justice has accepted a Governorship immediately on retirement, and another has accepted a Rajya Sabha seat.
- Powers of the Master of the Roster are imperfectly defined, and can lead themselves to widespread misuse by the incumbent.
Consider the question “Examine the role of the judiciary as the guardian of the Constitution. What are the challenges judiciary facing the judiciary in recent times?”
Conclusion
Time has come for all the serving justices in the highest court of the land to think seriously about the ever-increasing gap between their calling as defined by the Constitution, and the direction the Court is now taking.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: PCR, Genome Sequencing, NGS
Mains level: Genome Sequencing Applications
- To speed up testing as well as improve the accuracy of testing COVID-19, the CSIR is working on developing “mega labs” where large machines, called Next Generation Sequencing machines (NGS), will be used for sequencing human genomes.
- It is repurposed to sequence 1,500-3,000 viral genomes at a go for detecting the SARS-CoV-2 novel coronavirus.
Try this PYQ:
What is Cas9 protein that is often mentioned in news? (CSP 2018)
(a) A molecular scissors used in targeted gene editing
(b) A biosensor used in the accurate detection of pathogens in patients
(c) A gene that makes plants pest-resistant
(d) A herbicidal substance synthesized in genetically modified crops
What is NGS?
- DNA sequencing is the process of determining the nucleic acid sequence – the order of nucleotides in DNA.
- It includes any method or technology that is used to determine the order of the four bases: adenine, guanine, cytosine, and thymine.
- The advent of rapid DNA sequencing methods has greatly accelerated biological and medical research and discovery.
- Next-generation sequencing (NGS), also known as high-throughput sequencing, is the catch-all term used to describe a number of different modern sequencing technologies.
- These technologies allow for sequencing of DNA and RNA much more quickly and cheaply than the previously used Sanger sequencing, and as such revolutionized the study of genomics and molecular biology.
Benefits
- The genome sequencing machines can substantially detect the possible presence of the virus even in several instances where the traditional RT-PCR tests miss out on them.
- This is primarily because the RT-PCR test identifies the SARS-CoV-2 virus by exploring only specific sections of the virus.
- Having an edge, the genome method can read a bigger chunk of the virus genome and thereby provide more certainty that the virus in question is indeed the particular coronavirus of interest.
- It can also trace the evolutionary history of the virus and track mutations more reliably.
Back2Basics:
PCR Test for Diagnosis of the COVID-19
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Plant growth hormones
Mains level: Not Much
A team of researchers at the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER), Bhopal, has conducted a study on seed germination that could have a major impact on agriculture.
What is the study about?
- The study aims to determine the optimum timing of seed germination and thus ensure high plant yields.
- It focused on the interplay between plant hormones like abscisic acid (ABA) which inhibit the sprouting of the seed and environmental cues like light (which promotes the sprouting process) and darkness.
Note the following plant hormones and their functions:
|
Hormone
|
Function
|
| Ethylene |
Fruit ripening and abscission |
| Gibberellins |
Break the dormancy of seeds and buds; promote growth |
| Cytokinins |
Promote cell division; prevent senescence |
| Abscisic Acid |
Close the stomata; maintain dormancy |
| Auxins |
Involved in tropisms and apical dominance |
What is Abscisic Acid?
- Humans have glands that secrete hormones at different times to stimulate body processes such as growth, development, and the breaking down of sugars.
- Plants also have hormones that stimulate processes that are necessary for them to live.
- Abscisic acid is a plant hormone involved in many developmental plant processes, such as dormancy and environmental stress response.
- Abscisic acid is produced in the roots of the plant as well as the terminal buds at the top of the plant.
Function of Abscisic Acid
Abscisic acid is involved in several plant functions.
- Plants have openings on the bottom side of their leaves, known as stomata. Stomata take in carbon dioxide and regulate water content. Abscisic acid has been found to function in the closing of these stomata during times when the plant does not require as much carbon dioxide or during times of drought when the plant cannot afford to lose much water through transpiration.
- One of the crucial functions of abscisic acid is to inhibit seed germination. Abscisic acid has been found to stop a seed from immediately germinating once it has been placed in the soil. It actually causes the seed to enter a period of dormancy.
- This is of great benefit to the plants because most seeds are formed at the end of the growing season, when conditions would not be favorable for a new plant to sprout. The abscisic acid causes the seed to wait until the time when conditions are more favorable to grow. This ensures greater success in the plant’s ability to grow and reproduce successfully.
- ABA functions in many plant developmental processes, including seed and bud dormancy, the control of organ size and stomatal closure. It is especially important for plants in the response to environmental stresses, including drought, soil salinity, cold tolerance, freezing tolerance, heat stress and heavy metal ion tolerance.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Galaxies, Milky Way
Mains level: Not Much
SPT0418-47, a golden halo glinting 12 billion light-years away is the farthest galaxy resembling our Milky Way was recently spotted by astronomers.
Try this PYQ:
Which of the statements about black holes in space is/are correct? (CSP 2016)
- It is a region in space where the pulling force of gravity is so strong that light is not able to escape.
- It can result from the dying stars.
Select the correct answer using the code given below:
(a) 1 only
(b) 2 only
(c) Both 1 and 2
(d) Neither 1 nor 2
SPT0418-47
- The galaxy, called SPT0418-47, is so far away that it took billions of years for its light to reach Earth and so our image of it is from deep in the past.
- It was picked up by the powerful Alma radio telescope in Chile using a technique called gravitational lensing, where a nearby galaxy acts as a powerful magnifying glass.
- This was when the Universe was 1.4 billion years old — just 10% of its current age — and galaxies were still forming.
- It has features similar to our Milky Way — a rotating disc and a bulge, which is the high density of stars packed tightly around the galactic centre.
What makes it special?
- This is the first time a bulge has been seen this early in the history of the Universe, making SPT0418-47 the most distant Milky Way look-alike.
- Thus the infant star system challenges our understanding of the early years of the Universe.
- Researchers expect these young star systems to be chaotic and without the distinct structures typical of mature galaxies like our Galaxy.
- This unexpected discovery suggests the early Universe may not be as chaotic as once believed and raises many questions on how a well-ordered galaxy could have formed so soon after the Big Bang.
Back2Basics: Milky Way
- The Milky Way is the galaxy that contains our Solar System, with the name describing the galaxy’s appearance from Earth.
- It appears like a hazy band of light seen in the night sky formed from stars that cannot be individually distinguished by the naked eye.
- From Earth, the Milky Way appears as a band because its disk-shaped structure is viewed from within.
- Galileo Galilei first resolved the band of light into individual stars with his telescope in 1610.
- Until the early 1920s, most astronomers thought that the Milky Way contained all the stars in the Universe.
- Following the 1920 Great Debate between the astronomers Harlow Shapley and Heber Curtis, observations by Edwin Hubble showed that the Milky Way is just one of many galaxies.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Hornbill
Mains level: NA
A study based on satellite data has flagged a high rate of deforestation in a major hornbill habitat in Arunachal Pradesh.
Try this PYQ:
Q. In which of the following regions of India are you most likely to come across the ‘Great Indian Hornbill’ in its natural habitat? (CSP 2016)
(a) Sand deserts of northwest India
(b) Higher Himalayas of Jammu and Kashmir
(c) Salt marshes of western Gujarat
(d) Western Ghats
About Great Indian Hornbill
IUCN status: Vulnerable (uplisted from Near Threatened in 2018), CITES: Appendix I
- The great hornbill (Buceros bicornis) also known as the great Indian hornbill or great pied hornbill, is one of the larger members of the hornbill family.
- The great hornbill is long-lived, living for nearly 50 years in captivity.
- It is predominantly fruit-eating, but is an opportunist and preys on small mammals, reptiles and birds.
- Its impressive size and colour have made it important in many tribal cultures and rituals.
- A large majority of their population is found in India with a significant proportion in the Western Ghats and the Nilgiris.
- The nesting grounds of the birds in the Nilgiris North Eastern Range are also believed to support some of their highest densities.
Their ecological significance
- Referred to as ‘forest engineers’ or ‘farmers of the forest’ for playing a key role in dispersing seeds of tropical trees, hornbills indicate the prosperity and balance of the forest they build nests in.
Threats
- Hornbills used to be hunted for their casques — upper beak — and feathers for adorning headgear despite being cultural symbols of some ethnic communities in the northeast, specifically the Nyishi of Arunachal Pradesh.
- Illegal logging has led to fewer tall trees where the bird’s nest.
Back2Basics: Hornbill Festival
- The Hornbill Festival is a celebration held every year from 1 – 10 December, in Kohima, Nagaland.
- The festival was first held in the year 2000.
- It is named after the Indian hornbill, the large and colourful forest bird which is displayed in the folklore of most of the state’s tribes.
- Festival highlights include the traditional Naga Morungs exhibition and the sale of arts and crafts, food stalls, herbal medicine stalls, flower shows and sales, cultural medley – songs and dances, fashion shows etc.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Meteor terminology
Mains level: Not Much
The Perseids meteor shower is going to be active from August 17-26.
Try this question from CSP 2014:
Q.What is a coma, in the content of astronomy?
(a) Bright half of material on the comet
(b) Long tail of dust
(c) Two asteroids orbiting each other
(d) Two planets orbiting each other
What is the Perseids meteor shower?
- The Perseids meteor shower peaks every year in mid-August. It was first observed over 2,000 years ago.
- The Perseids occur as the Earth runs into pieces of cosmic debris left behind by the comet Swift-Tuttle.
- The cloud of debris is about 27 km wide, and at the peak of the display, between 160 and 200 meteors streak through the Earth’s atmosphere every hour as the pieces of debris.
- They travel at the speed of some 2.14 lakh km per hour; burn up a little less than 100 km above the Earth’s surface.
What are Meteor Showers?
- Meteors are bits of rock and ice that are ejected from comets as they manoeuvre around their orbits around the sun.
- As meteors fall towards the Earth, the resistance makes the space rocks extremely hot and, as meteorites pass through the atmosphere, they leave behind streaks of glowing gas that are visible to the observers and not the rock itself.
- Meteor showers, on the other hand, are witnessed when Earth passes through the trail of debris left behind by a comet or an asteroid.
- When a meteor reaches the Earth, it is called a meteorite and a series of meteorites, when encountered at once, is termed as a meteor shower.
- According to NASA, over 30 meteor showers occur annually and are observable from the Earth.
Where do the Perseids come from?
- The comet Swift-Tuttle, which was discovered in 1862 by Lewis Swift and Horace Tuttle, takes 133 years to complete one rotation around the sun.
- The last time it reached its closest approach to the sun was in 1992 and will do so again in 2125.
- Every time comets come close to the sun, they leave behind dust that is essentially the debris trail, which the Earth passes through every year as it orbits around the Sun.
Back2Basics:
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