Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Great Indian Bustards
Mains level: Not Much
The Environment Ministry has informed the Parliament that there were no Great Indian Bustards (GIB) left in Kutch Bustard Sanctuary (KBS) in Gujarat’s Kutch district.
Great Indian Bustards
- GIBs are the largest among the four bustard species found in India, the other three being MacQueen’s bustard, lesser florican, and the Bengal florican.
- GIBs’ historic range included much of the Indian sub-continent but it has now shrunken to just 10 percent of it. Among the heaviest birds with flight, GIBs prefer grasslands as their habitats.
- GIBs are considered the flagship bird species of grassland.
On the brink of extinction
- The GIB population in India had fallen to just 150.
- Pakistan is also believed to host a few GIBs and yet openly supports their hunting.
Protection accorded
- Birdlife International: uplisted from Endangered to Critically Endangered (2011)
- Protection under CITES: Appendix I
- IUCN status: Critically Endangered
- Protection under Wildlife (Protection) Act: Schedule I
Threats
- Overhead power transmission
- Poor vision: Due to their poor frontal vision, can’t detect powerlines in time and their weight makes in-flight quick maneuvers difficult.
- Windmills: Coincidentally, Kutch and Thar desert are the places that have witnessed the creation of huge renewable energy infrastructure.
- Noise pollution: Noise affects the mating and courtship practices of the GIB.
- Changes in the landscape: by way of farmers cultivating their land, which otherwise used to remain fallow due to frequent droughts in Kutch.
- Cultivation changes: Cultivation of cotton and wheat instead of pulses and fodder are also cited as reasons for falling GIB numbers.
Supreme Court’s intervention
- The Supreme Court has ordered that all overhead power transmission lines in core and potential GIB habitats in Rajasthan and Gujarat should be undergrounded.
- The SC also formed a three-member committee to help power companies comply with the order.
Conservation measures
- In 2015, the Central government launched the GIB species recovery program.
- Under the program, the WII and Rajasthan Forest departments have jointly set up conservation breeding centers where GIB eggs are harvested from the wild.
- They have been incubated artificially and hatchlings raised in a controlled environment.
Answer this PYQ in the comment box:
Q.Consider the following pairs:
Protected Area :: Well-known for
- Bhiterkanika, Odisha — Salt Water Crocodile
- Desert National Park, Rajasthan — Great Indian Bustard
- Eravikulam, Kerala — Hoolock Gibbon
Which of the pairs given above is/are correctly matched? (CSP 2014)
(a) 1 only
(b) 1 and 2
(c) 2 only
(d) 1, 2 and 3
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Zero click attack
Mains level: Paper 2- Issues with surveillance
Context
The Pegasus spyware, created by NSO Group in Israel has created a political storm in India over its alleged use by the government.
About the Pegasus spyware controversy
- It uses a “zero-click” attack which allows the device to be taken over remotely by exploiting software and hardware vulnerabilities.
- The Israeli Defence Ministry’s stated that Pegasus and other cyber products are exported “exclusively to government entities” and are only for the purpose of preventing and investigating crime and counter terrorism.
- Pegasus has been used to illegally hack into people’s lives and to obtain private information outside the boundaries of the law.
- Those who were supposedly targeted range from the uppermost echelons of the judiciary, Opposition party leaders, activists and journalists.
How it harms freedoms and rights guaranteed by the Constitution
- A person has the basic fundamental rights of liberty, privacy, speech and expression amongst others.
- These rights go hand in hand with each other.
- The alleged use of Pegasus to illegally hack into persons’ lives, listen in on private conversations, to thereafter use this private information against said persons in hope of gaining undue advantage, are all outside the boundaries of the law.
- Surveillance on this level would have the effect of instilling fear and directly hampering a person’s ability to freely make their own decisions.
- The effect is that a person does not have the freedom to think, to speak or even be in the privacy of their own homes.
Legal provisions for surveillance
- In December 2018, the government authorised 10 security and intelligence agencies to intercept, monitor and decrypt any information generated, transmitted, received or stored in any computer resource.
- The authorisation is required before any of the 10 notified agencies can intercept, monitor or decrypt any information.
- This and other grounds are being taken by the government before the Supreme Court to defend its stance.
- The Data Protection Bill (yet to be passed by Parliament) offers no protection in respect of surveillance.
- Sections 43 and 66 of the Information Technology Act, 2000 criminalise hacking.
Conclusion
The majority is not always right. A democracy has the indelible right to question, to demand answers and explanations. The government has many questions to answer and steps to take to protect the rights and freedoms of its citizens.
Back2Basics: Zero-click attack
- A zero-click attack is a remote cyber attack which does not require any interaction from the target to compromise it.
- Pegasus spyware eliminates the need for human errors to compromise a device and instead relies on software or hardware flaws to gain complete access to a device.
- Zero-click attacks occur only when an attacker is able to takeover a device remotely after successfully exploiting vulnerabilities in the software and hardware of the phone.
- To make this kind of attack successful, an attacker needs to exploit flaws in a device, whereas spear phishing is a social engineering attack.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Nord Stream 2 Pipeline
Mains level: Not Much
The US, which had previously imposed sanctions to prevent the completion of a major new gas pipeline between Russia and Germany, has now signaled its approval for the project.
Nord Stream 2 Pipeline
- It is a system of offshore natural gas pipelines running under the Baltic Sea from Russia to Germany.
- It includes two active pipelines running from Vyborg to Lubmin near Greifswald forming the original Nord Stream, and two further pipelines under construction running from Ust-Luga to Lubmin termed Nord Stream 2.
- In Lubmin the lines connect to the OPAL line to Olbernhau on the Czech border and to the NEL line to Rehden near Bremen.
- The first line Nord Stream-1 was laid and inaugurated in 2011 and the second line in 2012.
- At 1,222 km in length, Nord Stream is the longest sub-sea pipeline in the world, surpassing the Langeled pipeline.
Why is the pipeline controversial?
- The US believed that the project would increase Europe’s dependence on Russia for natural gas.
- Currently, EU countries already rely on Russia for 40 percent of their gas needs.
- The project also has opponents in eastern Europe, especially Ukraine, whose ties with Russia have seriously deteriorated in the aftermath of the Crimean conflict in 2014.
- There is an existing land pipeline between Russia and Europe that runs through Ukraine.
- The country feels that once Nord Storm 2 is completed, Russia could bypass the Ukrainian pipeline, and deprive it of lucrative transit fees of around $3 billion per year.
- Ukraine also fears another invasion by Russia once the new pipeline is operational.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Microplastic pollution
Mains level: Water Pollution
The Ganga is heavily polluted with microplastics at Varanasi, Haridwar, and Kanpur, Delhi-based non-profit Toxics Link claimed.
What are Microplastics?
- Microplastics are plastics that are less than 5 mm in size but are a major source of marine pollution.
- Untreated sewage from many cities along the river’s course, industrial waste, and religious offerings wrapped in non-degradable plastics pile pollutants into the river as it flows through several densely populated cities.
- The plastic products and waste materials released or dumped in the river break down and are eventually broken down into microparticles.
- The rivers finally transport significantly large quantities downstream into the ocean, which is the ultimate sink of all plastics being used by humans.
Microplastics in Ganga
- They are non-degradable plastics that often entered the Ganga through industrial waste or packaging of religious offerings, its research found.
- The density of population in the three cities also added to the problem because a large chunk of pollutants got directly discharged into the river by people living on the banks.
- Among the three cities, the Toxics Link’s study found that sites at Varanasi showed the maximum load of microplastics in the water of the Ganga, as compared to the other two cities.
- This might be due to cumulative downstream pollution as well as industrial and human activities.
On a global high
- The researchers tried to compare the microplastics concentration in Ganga water with similar studies on other rivers across the globe.
- It included the Rhine in Europe, the Patapsco, Magothy, Rhode in North America, and the Elqui, Maipo, Biobio, and Maule in South America.
- They found the Ganga microplastics pollution was much higher.
- This was in spite of a higher per capita consumption of plastic in the European countries, North and South America, as compared to India.
How does it impact people?
- The Ganga is a source of water for not just drinking and bathing purposes but also for irrigation to a large extent.
- Microplastics in river water, if ingested in humans or other organisms, can cause toxicity through various means.
- Not only are these microplastics toxic themselves, they also have a tendency to absorb various toxins present in water, including harmful chemicals.
- Although some of the effects of microplastics on public health are understood, a lot still needs to be done.
Answer this PYQ in the comment box:
Q. Why is there a great concern about the ‘microbeads’ that are released into the environment? (CSP 2019)
(a) They are considered harmful to marine ecosystems.
(b) They are considered to cause skin cancer in children.
(c) They are small enough to be absorbed by crop plants in irrigated fields.
(d) They are often found to be used as food adulterants.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: UNESCAP
Mains level: Ease of Cross-Border Trade
As per the latest UN Global Survey on Digital and Sustainable Trade Facilitation, India’s rank moved up from 78.49% in 2019 to 90.32% in 2021.
About the Survey
- The Global Survey on Digital and Sustainable Trade Facilitation is conducted every two years by UNESCAP.
- The 2021 Survey includes an assessment of 58 trade facilitation measures covered by the WTO’s Trade Facilitation Agreement.
- The Survey is keenly awaited globally as it evidences whether or not the trade facilitation measures being taken have the desired impact and helps draw comparison amongst countries.
- A higher score for a country also helps businesses in their investment decisions.
Global performance
- Among developed countries, Australia, New Zealand, Netherlands, Japan, and Belgium have scored more than 93%.
- In South Asia, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka were behind India with a score of 64.5% and 60.2%, the survey showed.
India’s improvement
- India has scored 90.32% in United Nation’s Economic and Social Commission for Asia Pacific’s (UNESCAP) latest Global Survey on Digital and Sustainable Trade Facilitation.
- The Survey hails this as a remarkable jump from 78.49% in 2019.
India’s significant improvement in the scores on all 5 key indicators, as follows:
- Transparency:100% in 2021 (from 93.33% in 2019)
- Formalities: 95.83% in 2021 (from 87.5% in 2019)
- Institutional Arrangement and Cooperation: 88.89% in 2021 (from 66.67% in 2019)
- Paperless Trade: 96.3% in 2021 (from 81.48% in 2019)
- Cross-Border Paperless Trade: 66.67% in 2021 (from 55.56% in 2019)
- The Survey notes that India is the best-performing country when compared to the South and southwest Asia region (63.12%) and the Asia Pacific region (65.85%).
- The overall score of India has also been found to be greater than many OECD countries including France, UK, Canada, Norway, Finland etc. and the overall score is greater than the average score of EU.
- India has achieved a 100% score for the Transparency index and 66% in the “Women in trade” component.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Bhartiya Prakritik Krishi Padhati (BPKP)
Mains level: Promotion of Organic Farming
The Union Minister of Agriculture has provided useful information regarding the Bhartiya Prakritik Krishi Padhati (BPKP).
Bhartiya Prakritik Krishi Padhati (BPKP)
- Natural farming is promoted as BPKP under a centrally sponsored scheme- Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana (PKVY).
- The scheme mainly emphasizes the exclusion of all synthetic chemical inputs and promotes on-farm biomass recycling.
- It stresses biomass mulching; use of cow dung-urine formulations; plant-based preparations and time to time working of soil for aeration.
- Under BPKP, financial assistance of Rs 12200/ha for 3 years is provided for cluster formation, capacity building, and continuous handholding by trained personnel, certification, and residue analysis.
About Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana
- “PKVY” is an elaborated component of Soil Health Management (SHM) of the major project National Mission of Sustainable Agriculture (NMSA).
- Under PKVY Organic farming is promoted through the adoption of the organic village by cluster approach and PGS certification.
The Scheme envisages:
- Promotion of commercial organic production through certified organic farming.
- It will raise farmer’s income and create a potential market for traders.
Program implementation
- Fifty or more farmers will form a cluster having 50 acres of land to take up the organic farming under the scheme.
- In this way, during three years 10,000 clusters will be formed covering a 5.0 lakh acre area under organic farming.
- There will be no liability on the farmers for expenditure on certification.
- Every farmer will be provided Rs. 20,000 per acre in three years for the seed to harvesting crops and to transport produce to the market.
- Organic farming will be promoted by using traditional resources and organic products will be linked with the market.
- It will increase domestic production and certification of organic produce by involving farmers.
Answer this PYQ in the comment box:
Q.With reference to organic farming in India, consider the following statements:
- ‘The National Programme for Organic Production (NPOP) is operated under the guidelines and directions of the Union Ministry of Rural Development.
- ‘The Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) functions as the Secretariat for the implementation of NPOP.
- Sikkim has become India’s first fully organic State.
Which of the above statements is/are correct? (CSP 2018)
(a) 1 and 2 only
(b) 2 and 3 only
(c) 3 only
(d) 1, 2 and 3
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: ONDC
Mains level: Paper 3- Advantages and challenges in the Open Network for Digital Commerce project
Context
The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) recently issued orders appointing an advisory committee for its Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) project.
About ONDC project
- The Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) project aims to make e-commerce processes open-source.
- In simple terms, it aims at creating a platform that can be utilised by all online retailers.
- This is another effort by the government to facilitate the creation of shared digital infrastructure, as it has previously done for identity (Aadhaar) and payments (Unified Payments Interface).
- It will digitise e-commerce value chains, standardise operations, promote inclusion of suppliers, and derive efficiencies in logistics.
What are its advantages?
- Level playing field: When done well, this approach can level the playing field and create value for users.
- Curb monopoly: The market is dominated by a few players who are facing investigations for unfair trade practices in many countries.
- Prevent market failure: The sector is characterised by many small players who individually do not have the muscle to have an equitable bargain with e-commerce companies.
- Economists call this a “market failure”, and it presents a legitimate case for intervention.
The three layers of an open digital ecosystem and their conceptual framework for adoption and safeguards
1) Tech layer
- The “tech layer” should be designed for minimalism and decentralisation.
- The government should restrict its role to facilitating standards and protocols that provide open access, and in getting them adopted organically.
- Building an entire tech platform should happen only if a standards-based approach doesn’t suffice.
- If built, the platform should be built on “privacy by design” principles.
- It should collect minimal amounts of data (especially personal data) and store it in a decentralised manner.
- Tools like blockchain could be used to build technical safeguards that cannot be overridden without active consent.
2) Governance layer
- Avoid excessive government intervention: The “governance layer” around this should allay business fears of excessive state intervention in e-commerce.
- Legal provision: Any deployment of standards or tech should be accompanied by law or regulation that lays out the scope of the project.
- Independent regulator for personal data: If collection of any personal data is required, passing the data protection bill and creating an independent regulator should be a precondition.
- Handling by independent society: To assure the industry of fairness, the government could hand over the stewardship of the standards or platform to an independent society or non-profit.
3) Community layer
- A community layer can foster a truly inclusive and participatory process.
- This may be achieved by making civil society and the public active contributors and seeking wide feedback on drafts of the proposal.
- Once the framework is implemented, ensuring quick and time-bound redressal of grievances will help build trust in the system.
Concerns with government creating shared digital infrastructure
- This approach also comes with risks and we should tread with caution.
- In general, governments should intervene in markets only when there is a clearly identifiable market failure or massive societal benefits from creating shared infrastructure.
Way forward
- The government’s championing of open-source technology for digital commerce is commendable.
- It should also push the envelope on the other principles of the open-source movement — transparency, collaboration, release early and often, inclusive meritocracy, and community.
- Even if we do all things right, an infrastructure-led approach may not be sufficient.
- Therefore, we need to supplement infrastructure with tightly-tailored regulation.
- We need to explore the concept of interoperability, that is, mandating that private digital platforms like e-commerce firms enable their users and suppliers to solicit business on other platforms.
- To drive the adoption of an open e-commerce platform in a sector with entrenched incumbents we need to create “reference applications”, and financial or non-financial incentives.
- Useful learnings can be drawn from the adoption of UPI: The government supported the rollout of BHIM as a reference app, and offered incentives.
Consider the question “How the Open Network for Digital Commerce project can help deal with the issues with the e-commerce sector? Suggest the approach the project should adopt to make it a success.”
Conclusion
It is timely that India is exploring innovative ways to bridge the gaps in e-commerce markets. But the boldness of this vision must be matched by the thoughtfulness of the approach.
Back2Basics: What is ‘Privacy by Design?
- Privacy by design is a concept that integrates privacy into the creation and operation of new devices, IT systems, networked infrastructure, and even corporate policies.
- Developing and integrating privacy solutions in the early phases of a project identifies any potential problems at an early stage to prevent them in the long run.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 2- Importance of medical workforce in making the healthcare system robust
Context
On July 8, 2021, the Union government announced the “India COVID-19 Emergency Response and Health Systems Preparedness Package: Phase II”. But it lacks provision for the medical workforce.
Objectives of the package
- The stated purpose of the package is to boost health infrastructure and prepare for a possible third wave of COVID-19.
- There is plan to increase COVID-19 beds, improve the oxygen availability and supply, create buffer stocks of essential medicines; purchase equipment and strengthen paediatric beds.
What is lacking in the package?
- Workforce shortage: The package barely has any attention on improving the availability of health human resources.
- As reported in rural health statistics and the national health profile there are vacancies for staff in government health facilities, which range from 30% to 80% depending upon the sub-group of medical officers, specialist doctors to nurses, laboratory technicians, pharmacists and radiographers, amongst others.
- Interstate variation: In addition, there are wide inter-State variations, with States that have poor health indicators with the highest vacancies.
Way forward
- Package for filling the existing vacancies: The COVID-19 package II needs to be urgently supplemented by another plan and a similar financial package (with shared Union and State government funding) to fill the existing vacancies of health staff at all levels.
- An objective approach to assess the mid-term health human resource needs could be the Indian Public Health Standards (IPHS).
- IPHS prescribes the human resources and infrastructure needed to make various types of government health facilities functional.
- The pandemic should be used as an opportunity to prepare India’s health system for the future.
- Scrutiny of the progress on policy decision: The progress on key policy decisions, for the last few years, to strengthen India’s health system, including those in India’s national health policy of 2017, need to be objectively scrutinised.
- These two sets of policy decisions should be reviewed and progress monitored, through a meeting of the Central Council of Health and Family Welfare, of which the Health Ministers of the States are members.
Conclusion
India’s health system will not benefit from ad hoc and a patchwork of one or other small packages. It essentially needs some transformational changes.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: OPEC+
Mains level: Paper 2- Tension in bilateral relations of oil producing companies and its implications for the world
Context
The end to the UAE’s weeks-long impasse with Saudi Arabia and Russia, a non-OPEC state, was brought about by Sunday’s deal.
What was the deal about?
- United Arab Emirates (UAE), said to hold the world’s largest untapped crude reserves, had demanded an increase in its oil output quotas.
- The end to the UAE’s weeks-long impasse with Saudi Arabia, one of the world’s biggest crude exporters, and Russia, a non-OPEC state, was brought about by Sunday’s deal.
- Under its terms, the UAE’s demand for an increase in its oil output quotas, in recognition of its higher production capacity, has been conceded.
- The baselines have also been raised for Saudi Arabia, Russia, Iraq, and Kuwait.
- The bloc will now step up crude production by 400,000 barrels a day starting in August.
- The output boost is in response to rising oil prices in the wake of the rebound in economic activity.
- The cartel had cut oil production by 9.7 million barrels a day (mbd) as oil demand fell from 100 mbd to 91.1 mbd and prices plummeted from $70 in January 2020 to around $20 in April.
Strain in Saudi Arabia-UAE relations
- The UAE has played hardball during the bloc’s attempts to deal with the pandemic-induced price volatility.
- Thus, while the internal rift has been resolved for now, the danger cannot be ruled out of an increasingly economically and politically assertive UAE flexing its muscle.
- Bilateral relations between the traditional allies, Saudi Arabia and the UAE, have been especially strained since the UAE established diplomatic ties with Israel last year and withdrew troops from the Saudi-spearheaded war in Yemen the year before.
- A more recent arena of tension is the tariffs Riyadh has imposed on imports from the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council.
- Saudi Arabia will now exclude from the GCC tariff agreement goods made by companies with a workforce of less than 25% of locals and industrial products with less than 40% of the added value after their transformation process.
- Home to a predominantly migrant population, the move could hit the UAE especially hard.
OPEC’s concerns
- The OPEC, forecast in 2016 that a strict implementation of the Paris climate accord could see the demand for oil peak by 2030.
- There is an eagerness to maximise the returns on their substantial hydrocarbon resources, amid growing speculation of a peak in oil demand within sight.
- The International Energy Agency (IEA), which in 2016 forecast a continued rise in oil consumption until the 2040s, has more recently hinted at about a 5% rise or fall relative to the demand before the pandemic within a decade.
- OPEC’s other concerns are the stabilization of world oil prices without jeopardizing national expenditure programs, and the diversification of economies in anticipation of the unfolding global energy transition.
Conclusion
The latest OPEC compromise echoes growing recognition of the delicate balance between competing domestic and global priorities.
B2BASICS
OPEC
- The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) is a permanent, intergovernmental organization, created at the Baghdad Conference in 1960, by Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and Venezuela.
- It aims to manage the supply of oil in an effort to set the price of oil in the world market, in order to avoid fluctuations that might affect the economies of both producing and purchasing countries.
- It is headquartered in Vienna, Austria.
- OPEC membership is open to any country that is a substantial exporter of oil and which shares the ideals of the organization.
- Gabon terminated its membership in January 1995. However, it rejoined the Organization in July 2016.
- As of 2019, OPEC has a total of 14 Member Countries viz. Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates(UAE), Saudi Arabia, Algeria, Libya, Nigeria, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, Republic of Congo, Angola, Ecuador, and Venezuela are members of OPEC.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Mazar-e-Sharif, Kandahar
Mains level: Paper 2- Engaging the Taliban
Context
With over a third of Afghanistan’s more than 400 districts under Taliban control, the talk-to-the-Taliban option is indeed the best of the many less than perfect options available to India.
India need a reset in its Afghanistan policy
- India has ‘temporarily’ closed its consulate in Kandahar.
- This follows the decision to suspend operations in the Indian consulates in Jalalabad and Herat.
- India’s decision to partially “withdraw” from Afghanistan shows that betting only on the government in Kabul was a big mistake,
- It also shows that India realises the threat the Taliban poses to Indian assets and presence in Afghanistan.
- To safeguard its civilian assets there as well as to stay relevant in the unfolding ‘great game’ in and around Afghanistan, India must fundamentally reset its Afghanistan policy.
- India must, in its own national interest, begin ‘open talks’ with the Taliban before it is too late.
- Open dialogue with the Taliban should no longer be a taboo; it is a strategic necessity.
Reason for avoiding open talks with Taliban
- There are at least five possible reasons why India appears to want to keep the Taliban engagement slow and behind closed doors.
- First, if India chooses to engage the Taliban directly, it could make Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani, to look towards China and the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) for national security and personal political survival.
- Second, India is also faced with the dilemma of who to talk to within the Taliban given that it is hardly a monolith.
- Third, given the global opprobrium that Taliban faced in its earlier avatar and the lack of evidence about whether the outfit is a changed lot today, New Delhi might not want to court the Taliban so soon.
- Fourth, there is little clarity about what the Taliban’s real intentions are going forward and what they would do after ascending to power in Kabul.
- Fifth, it would not be totally unreasonable to consider the possibility of Pakistan acting out against India in Kashmir if India were to establish deeper links with the Taliban.
Reasons India should engage with the Taliban openly
- Wide international recognition: Whether we like it or not, the Taliban, is going to be part of the political scheme of things in Afghanistan, and unlike in 1996, a large number of players in the international community are going to recognise/negotiate/do business with the Taliban.
- Countering Pakistan: The Taliban today is looking for regional and global partners for recognition and legitimacy especially in the neighbourhood.
- So the less proactive the Indian engagement with the Taliban, the stronger Pakistan-Taliban relations would become.
- A worldly-wise and internationally-exposed Taliban 2.0 would develop its own agency and sovereign claims including perhaps calling into question the legitimacy of the Durand Line separating Pakistan and Afghanistan, something Pakistan was always concerned about. T
- The Taliban would want to hedge their bets on how far to listen to Pakistan.
- That is precisely when New Delhi should engage the Taliban.
- Security of civilian assets: India needs to court all parties in Afghanistan, including the Taliban if it wants to ensure its security of its civilian assets there.
- It makes neither strategic nor economic sense to withdraw from Afghanistan after spending over $3 billion, something the Government seems to be prepared to do
- Being a part of Afghanistan’s future course: If India is not proactive in Afghanistan at least now, late as it is, Russia, Iran, Pakistan and China will emerge as the shapers of Afghanistan’s political and geopolitical destiny, which for sure will be detrimental to Indian interests there.
- Continental grand strategy: Backchannel talks with Pakistan and a consequent ceasefire on the Line of Control, political dialogue with the mainstream Kashmiri leadership, secret parleys with Taliban all indicate that India is opening up its congested north-western frontier.
- Except for the strategic foray into the Indo-Pacific, India today is strategically boxed in the region and it must break out of it. Afghanistan could provide, if not immediately, India with such a way out.
Consider the question ” India’s Afghan policy is at a major crossroads; to safeguard its civilian assets there as well as to stay relevant in the unfolding ‘great game’ in and around Afghanistan, New Delhi must fundamentally reset its Afghanistan policy. Comment.”
Conclusion
In the end, India’s engagement with the Taliban may or may not achieve much, but non-engagement will definitely hurt Indian interests.
Back2Basics: Durand Line
- Durand Line, boundary established in the Hindu Kush in 1893 running through the tribal lands between Afghanistan and British India, marking their respective spheres of influence.
- In modern times it has marked the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan.
- The acceptance of this line—which was named for Sir Mortimer Durand, who induced ʿAbdor Raḥmān Khān, amir of Afghanistan, to agree to a boundary—may be said to have settled the Indo-Afghan frontier problem for the rest of the British period.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Article 21
Mains level: Paper 2- Right to speedy trial
The Bombay High Court has said that speedy trial is a fundamental right highlighting the issue of people languishing in prisons waiting for the trial to begin.
Background
- The HC was hearing a petition seeking a judicial probe into the death of a tribal rights activist.
- The petitioner told the court that he was not looking for the cause of the death, but an inquiry into what happened in jail that ultimately led to his death.
Right to speedy trial
- It is a right under which it is asserted that a government prosecutor may not delay the trial of a criminal suspect arbitrarily and indefinitely.
- Otherwise, the power to impose such delays would effectively allow prosecutors to send anyone to jail for an arbitrary length of time without trial.
- Right to speedy trial is a concept gaining recognition and importance day by day.
Its constitutional status
- The right to speedy trial is guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution of India.
- In the case Kartar Singh v. State of Punjab (1961) it was declared that right to speedy trial is an essential part of fundamental right to life and liberty.
- Article 21 declares that “no person shall be deprived of his life or personal liberty except according to the procedure laid by law.”
What causes delay?
- Delay in disposition of cases due to huge pendency
- Provision for adjournment
- Vacation of the court
- Investigative agencies generally delay
Why speedy trial is necessary?
The right to a speedy trial serves several important purposes:
- First, requiring a speedy trial helps to ensure that a defendant does not have to spend an unreasonable amount of time in jail.
- It also helps to respect and protect the mental health of the defendant by making sure that the defendant is not kept in suspense or anxiety over pending criminal charges for months or years at a time.
- The right to a speedy trial protects a defendant’s ability to gather evidence for his or her own defense.
- Over time, physical evidence can become harder and harder to locate, and witnesses may move, lose their memories of an event, or even pass away.
Alternative solutions
- The Law Commission of India and the Malimath Committee recommended that the system of plea bargaining should be introduced in Indian criminal justice system.
- Plea bargaining refers to a person charged with a criminal offence negotiating with the prosecution for a lesser punishment than what is provided in law by pleading guilty to a less serious offence.
- This will facilitate the speedy disposal of criminal cases and reduces the burden on the courts at least for some minor trials and not serious criminal offences.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: SMILE
Mains level: Paper 2- Scheme for
The Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment has formulated a scheme “SMILE – Support for Marginalized Individuals for Livelihood and Enterprise”.
SMILE Scheme
- This scheme is sub-scheme under the ‘Central Sector Scheme for Comprehensive Rehabilitation of persons engaged in the act of Begging’.
- It covers several comprehensive measures including welfare measures for persons who are engaged in the act of begging.
- The focus of the scheme is extensively on rehabilitation, provision of medical facilities, counselling, basic documentation, education, skill development, economic linkages and so on.
- The scheme would be implemented with the support of State/UT Governments/Local Urban Bodies, Voluntary Organizations, Community Based Organizations (CBOs), institutions and others.
- Scheme provides for the use of the existing shelter homes available with the State/UT Governments and Urban local bodies for rehabilitation of the persons engaged in the act of Begging.
- In case of non-availability of existing shelter homes, new dedicated shelter homes are to be set up by the implementing agencies.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Harela Festival
Mains level: Paper 1- Festivals in India
Villagers across Uttarakhand celebrated Harela, a festival of greenery, peace, prosperity and environmental conservation.
Harela Festival
- Harela means ‘day of green’ and is celebrated in the month of Shravan (the fifth month of the Hindu lunar calendar) to worship Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvati.
- People across Uttarakhand, especially the Kumaun region, associate greenery with prosperity.
- The seeds of five to seven types of crops — maize, til (sesame), urad (black gram), mustard, oats — are sown in donas (bowl made of leaves) or ringalare (hill bamboo baskets) nine days before the festival.
- They are harvested on the ninth day and distributed to neighbours, friends and relatives.
- The flourish of the crops symbolizes prosperity in the year ahead.
- People make clay statues of Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvati, known as Dikare, and worship them a day before the festival.
- Harela is also linked to the Barahnaza system (12 types of crops), a crop diversification technique followed in the region.
Answer this PYQ in the comment box:
Q.Consider the following pairs:
Tradition: State
1. Chapchar Kut: festival Mizoram
2. Khongjom Parba ballad: Manipur
3. Thang Ta dance: Sikkim
Which of the pairs given above is/are correct?
(a) 1 only
(b) 1 and 2
(c) 3 only
(d) 2 and 3
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: BITs
Mains level: Paper 3- Cairn Energy case
Context
The recent move by Cairn to seize India’s sovereign assets in order to enforce its arbitration award has brought into focus the dispute and the related issues.
Utility of Bilateral Investment Treaties (BIT)
- After the World Wars, as more countries gained sovereignty, they tended to look at foreign investments as a form of neo-colonialism.
- Bilateral investment treaties became the primary tool to forge relationships between developed and developing countries.
- The BITs help to adopt standards for prompt, adequate and effective compensation in case of expropriation.
- With the advent of globalisation, BITs became the means for foreign investment in developing countries.
- Although the impact of investment agreements on foreign investments remains highly contextualised and inconclusive, these came to govern international investment relations.
- The BITs retained the old-world construct that allowed international arbitration.
- However, many developing countries view arbitration of tax matters as a breach of their sovereign right to tax.
The Cairn Energy case
- In 2012, explanations were added to the Income Tax Act 1961 — these provisions were deemed as having a retrospective effect.
- This was more in response to the Supreme Court’s decision in the Vodafone case which denied the income tax department’s assertion of tax claims arising from the offshore transfer of interest that substantially derived their value from India.
- The 2012 explanations to the IT Act indeed sought to fix tax avoidance.
- Looking into the details of the Cairn case, one can see the series of reorganisations that tip-toed around tax laws of multiple jurisdictions, resulting in the non-payment of tax.
- Taxing offshore indirect transfers — a structuring device to gain tax advantage from the indirect sale of assets — is not unique to India (336 tax treaties contain such an article).
- It is also possible to see that the underlying assets of the subsidiaries were immovable assets in India.
- The UK-India tax treaty allowed for taxation of capital gains as per Indian law.
- India challenged the admissibility of the case before the arbitration tribunal.
- However, the case rests on a distinction between tax and tax-related investment.
- Surely, all investments have tax implications and the acceptance of such a distinction could create problems even where tax is explicitly carved out from the bilateral investment treaties.
- The option of arbitration upon an unsuccessful Mutual Agreement Procedure (MAP) resolution is not available in India.
- For this reason, over the years, there has been a rising trend in tax disputes involving BITs.
- The Cairn case is one such instance where arbitration was invoked especially since MAP was not an option.
Way forward
- The case raises many questions that administrators must address through reform.
- India’s model BIT introduced in 2016 rectifies the issue of the distinction between tax dispute and investment-related taxation dispute through the specific exclusion of taxation.
- The recognition of a tax-related investment dispute, distinct from a tax dispute, should not undermine such a carve-out.
Conclusion
It is also important to note even if the award is enforced, the matter of tax avoidance stands pending before the High Court. Given the complexity, the only reasonable solution would be a negotiated settlement. Even if there’s a resolution in the Cairns case, questions of law would remain.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: FPI and FDI
Mains level: Paper 3- Equity market bubble
Context
Even as the real economy returns to the doldrums after being hit by the second wave of COVID-19 infections, the continuing bull run in India’s equity market in the April-June quarter has baffled many observers.
V-shaped recovery of equity market
- The benchmark BSE Sensex had nosedived to below 28,000 in March-April 2020, following the nationwide lockdown.
- The equity market posted a sharp V-shaped recovery in 2020-21.
- The Sensex surged beyond 50,000 in February 2021 and is currently closing on the 53,000 level.
Factors suggesting bubble in equity market
- There was an 81%-plus growth in the Sensex between April 2020 and March 2021 in the backdrop of real GDP growth plummeting to -7.3% during the same period.
- While output contraction had reversed from the third quarter of 2020-21, the inflation rate also rose and remained way ahead of the real GDP growth rate in the last two quarters (Chart 1).
- It is difficult to find any rationality behind the skyrocketing BSE Sensex in the context of such stagflation in the real economy.
- Just like the fall in the equity prices was driven by the exit of foreign portfolio investors (FPI), the return of massive FPI inflows has driven the Indian equity bubble since then (Chart 2).
- Net FPI inflows clocked an unprecedented ₹2.74 lakh crore in 2020-21, the previous high being ₹1.4 lakh crore in 2012-13.
- The Reserve Bank of India (RBI)’s annual report (2020-21) to state stated that: “This order of asset price inflation in the context of the estimated 8 per cent contraction in GDP in 2020-21 poses the risk of a bubble.”
Global factors
- The global liquidity glut, following the expansionary, easy money policies adopted by the fiscal and monetary authorities of the OECD and G20 countries, has led to equity price inflation in several markets driven by FPIs, especially in Asia.
- Following cues from the U.S. and the U.K., Asian equity markets in Singapore, India, Thailand, Malaysia and Hong Kong are currently witnessing price-earnings (P/E) ratios significantly above their historic means.
- The BSE Sensex’s P/E ratio of 32 in end-June 2021 is way above its historic mean of around 20.
What could burst the bubble?
- Change in monetary policy: With COVID-19 vaccination and economic recovery proceeding apace in the U.S., the U.K. and Europe, fiscal and monetary policy stances will change soon.
- Exit of FPIs: Once the U.S. Federal Reserve and other central banks start raising interest rates, the direction of FPI flows will invariably change bringing about corrections in equity markets across Asia.
- India remains particularly vulnerable to a major correction in the equity market because of two reasons.
- Low pace of vaccination: The pace of COVID-19 vaccination in India, given the vast population, lags behind most large countries.
- In the absence of a substantial increase in the vaccination budget and procurement, large segments of the Indian population will remain vulnerable to a potential third wave of COVID-19, with its attendant deleterious impact on the real economy.
- Weak fiscal stimulus: India’s economic recovery from the recession will remain constrained by the weak fiscal stimulus that has been delivered by the Central government.
- Data from the IMF clearly show that while the total global stimulus consisted of additional public spending or revenue foregone measures amounting to 7.4% of global GDP, India’s fiscal measures amounted to 3.3% of GDP only.
Consider the question “What are the factors driving equity market boom globally? What are the factors that could threaten such boom with a major correction?”
Conclusion
With all agencies, including the RBI, downsizing India’s growth projections for 2021-22, it remains to be seen how long India’s equity bubble lasts.
Back2Basics: P/E ratio
- The price-to-earnings ratio (P/E ratio) is the ratio for valuing a company that measures its current share price relative to its per-share earnings (EPS).
- The price-to-earnings ratio is also sometimes known as the price multiple or the earnings multiple.
- To determine the P/E value, one simply must divide the current stock price by the earnings per share (EPS).
P/E Ratio=Earnings per share / Market value per share
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Doctrine of Severability
Mains level: Management of Cooperatives
In a major boost for federalism, the Supreme Court has struck down parts of the 97th Constitution amendment which shrank the exclusive authority of States over their cooperative societies.
Background
- The Gujarat High Court in 2013 had held that the amendment, to the extent it introduced conditions for state laws on co-operative societies, was liable to be struck down.
- This amendment was passed without the ratification of one-half of the state legislatures as mandated by Article 368(2) of the Constitution.
- As per Article 368(2), ratification of one-half of state legislatures is required for an amendment that makes changes to an entry in the state list.
- Since co-operative societies were a state subject as per Entry 32 in List II of the Seventh Schedule, the amendment introducing Part IX B required ratification as per Article 368(2), the High Court ruled.
What was 97th Amendment about?
- The 97th constitutional amendment dealt with issues related to the effective management of cooperative societies in the country.
- It was passed by Parliament in December 2011 and had come into effect from February 15, 2012.
- Part IXB, introduced in the Constitution through the 97th Amendment of 2012, dictated the terms for running cooperative societies.
- The provisions in the amendment went to the extent of determining the number of directors a society should have or their length of tenure and even the necessary expertise.
What is the recent Judgement?
- In a majority judgment, the supreme court has held that cooperative societies come under the “exclusive legislative power” of State legislatures.
- The judgment may be significant in the background of fears voiced by the States whether the new Central Ministry of Cooperation would disempower them.
- The change in the Constitution has amended Article 19(1)(c) to give protection to the cooperatives and inserted Article 43 B and Part IX B, relating to them.
- The Centre has contended that the provision does not denude the States of its power to enact laws with regard to cooperatives.
Exceptions to the amendment
- The Supreme court did not strike down the portions of Part IXB of the Amendment concerning “Multi-State Cooperative Societies” due to the lack of ratification.
- When it comes to Multi-State Co-operative Societies (MSCS) with objects not confined to one State, the legislative power would be that of the Union of India.
What was the dissenting opinion?
- In his dissent, Justice K.M. Joseph said the doctrine of severability would not operate to distinguish between single-State cooperatives and MSCS.
- The judge said the entire Part IXB should be struck down on the ground of absence of ratification.
Back2Basics: Doctrine of Severability
- Article 13 deals with laws inconsistent with or in derogation of fundamental rights.
- It also deals with all laws enforced in India, before the commencement of the Constitution.
- The doctrine of Severability in Article 13 can be understood in two dimensions
- Article 13(1) validates all Pre-Constitutional Law and thereby declares that all pre-Constitutional laws in force before the commencement of the Indian Constitution shall be void if they are inconsistent with the fundamental rights.
- Article 13(2) mandates the State that it shall not make any law that takes away or abridges the fundamental rights conferred in Part III of the Indian Constitution and any law contraventions this clause shall be void.
- This doctrine widens the scope for Judicial Review on unconstitutional parts of any law.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Solar Rooftop
Mains level: Renewable Energy in India
The Union government’s target of producing 40 gigawatts of rooftop solar power by 2022 is unrealistic: The country could produce only 4.4 GW rooftop solar energy till March 31, 2021, according to the Union Ministry of New and Renewable Energy.
What is Solar Rooftop?
- A solar photovoltaic (PV) system mounted on a rooftop of a building is a mini-power requirement or feed into the grid.
- The size of the installation varies significantly depending on the availability of space, amount of electricity consumed by the property and the ability or willingness of the owner to invest the capital required.
Why rooftop?
- Rooftop solar with a storage system is a benefit for both, end consumers as well as discoms (power distribution companies).
- A one-kilowatt (kW) rooftop system can produce three to five units of electricity a day.
- The combination increasingly becomes cost-effective for electricity generation compared to the traditional grid supply and diesel generators.
- In 2021, solar and storage will be cheaper than grid supply for most commercial and industrial (C&I) customers.
- The increase in penetration of rooftop solar in the distribution grid will have a significant impact on the stability of the grid.
A viable alternative
- Most housing societies in urban India rely on diesel generators for power backup. However, as power availability improves in the country, diesel generators will become redundant.
- The operational cost of diesel generators is quite high— R16-18 per unit against Rs 5-6 a unit for solar rooftop systems. So rooftop solar power makes financial sense.Solar rooftop is also a perfect solution for commercial and institutional buildings that operate mostly during the day.
- Their rooftops can be utilized to generate electricity, and they can, partially or completely, replace diesel generators. This would also help them reduce their electricity bills.
Question of energy storage
- In order to integrate rooftop solar and electric vehicles, the grid needs to be flexible and smart.
- Energy storage systems will play a key role in providing this flexibility by acting as a load when there is a surplus generation, as well as generating sources when there is a supply shortage.
- There are two major methods of integrating battery storage into the electric grid:
- Front-of-the-meter (FTM): It is implemented at the utility-scale, wherein the battery system is connected to the transmission or distribution network that ensures grid reliability. This happens on a considerably large scale (~MWh scale).
- Behind-the-meter (BTM): The other method is implemented at the residential and commercial/industrial level, mainly to provide backup during a power failure or to store excess locally generated energy from solar rooftop photovoltaic (PV) systems.
India’s storage capacity
- About 34 GW / 136 GWh of battery storage is expected to be installed by 2030, according to the Central Electricity Authority of India.
- This capacity would be used for RE integration, demand-side and peak load management services.
Storage challenges
- The solar segment offers a huge market opportunity for advanced battery technologies.
- However, manufacturers have some ground to cover in addressing technical limitations of batteries, such as charging characteristics, thermal performance and requirement of boost current to charge deep cycle batteries.
- Since solar companies may directly procure batteries from manufacturers and require after-sale services and technical support, battery companies should have wider a presence to address these expectations.
Other key challenges
- Rooftop solar source doesn’t match the rise in renewable energy in India.
- While industrial and commercial consumers account for 70% of total installed capacity residential consumers remain a big untapped potential to give the boost
- Solar rooftops also face several challenges such as little consumer awareness, lack of innovative government policies or attention, bureaucratic hassles, and limited support from discoms.
Way forward
- Supportive policies and innovative technological approaches are needed for the sector to achieve its potential.
- Indian policymakers need to plan for rooftop solar plus storage, rather than rooftop solar alone with the grid as storage (net / gross metering).
- The declining cost of storage solutions, along with that of rooftop solar solutions, is likely to change the future of the Indian power sector.
- Several countries such as Australia, the United States, Germany, among others have already endorsed solar power with battery storage.
- Energy storage, therefore, represents a huge economic opportunity for India.
- The creation of a conducive battery manufacturing ecosystem on a fast track could cement India’s opportunity for radical economic and industrial transformation in a critical and fast-growing global market.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Privilege Motion
Mains level: Breach of Privilege
A spokesperson of the non-ruling political party has said that he will move a privilege motion against the Health Minister for misleading Parliament that no deaths were reported specifically because of shortage of oxygen.
Breach of Privilege
- Parliamentary privilege refers to the right and immunity enjoyed by legislatures, in which legislators are granted protection against civil or criminal liability for actions done or statements made in the course of their legislative duties.
- The powers, privileges and immunities of either House of the Indian Parliament and of its Members and committees are laid down in Article 105 of the Constitution.
- Article 194 deals with the powers, privileges and immunities of the State Legislatures, their Members and their committees.
What is a privilege motion?
- Parliamentary privileges are certain rights and immunities enjoyed by members of Parliament, individually and collectively, so that they can “effectively discharge their functions”.
- When any of these rights and immunities are disregarded, the offence is called a breach of privilege and is punishable under law of Parliament.
- A notice is moved in the form of a motion by any member of either House against those being held guilty of breach of privilege.
- Each House also claims the right to punish as contempt actions which, while not breach of any specific privilege, are offences against its authority and dignity.
What are the rules governing privilege?
- Rule No 222 in Chapter 20 of the Lok Sabha Rule Book and correspondingly Rule 187 in Chapter 16 of the Rajya Sabha rulebook govern privilege.
- It says that a member may, with the consent of the Speaker or the Chairperson, raise a question involving a breach of privilege either of a member or of the House or of a committee thereof.
- The rules however mandate that any notice should be relating to an incident of recent occurrence and should need the intervention of the House.
- Notices have to be given before 10 am to the Speaker or the Chairperson.
What is the role of the Speaker/Rajya Sabha Chair?
- The Speaker/RS chairperson is the first level of scrutiny of a privilege motion.
- The Speaker/Chair can decide on the privilege motion himself or herself or refer it to the privileges committee of Parliament.
- If the Speaker/Chair gives consent under Rule 222, the member concerned is given an opportunity to make a short statement.
What is the privileges committee?
- In the Lok Sabha, the Speaker nominates a committee of privileges consisting of 15 members as per respective party strengths.
- A report is then presented to the House for its consideration. The Speaker may permit a half-hour debate while considering the report.
- The Speaker may then pass final orders or direct that the report be tabled before the House.
- A resolution may then be moved relating to the breach of privilege that has to be unanimously passed.
- In the Rajya Sabha, the deputy chairperson heads the committee of privileges, which consists of 10 members.
Answer this PYQ in the comment box:
Q.With reference to the Parliament of India, which of the following Parliamentary Committees scrutinizes and reports to the House whether the powers to make regulations, rules, sub-rules, by-laws etc. conferred by the constitution of delegated by the Parliament are being properly exercised by the Executive within the scope of such delegation?
(a) Committee on Government Assurances
(b) Committee on Subordinate Legislation
(c) Rules Committee
(d) Business Advisory Committee
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Monkey B Virus
Mains level: Zoonotic Diseases
China has reported the first human death case with the Monkey B virus (BV).
What is Monkey B virus?
- The virus, initially isolated in 1932, is an alphaherpesvirus enzootic in macaques of the genus Macaca.
- B virus is the only identified old-world-monkey herpes virus that displays severe pathogenicity in humans.
Answer this question from our AWE initiative:
There is been an increase in occurance of zoonotic human infectious diseases are zoonotic . Give reasons for this. Also suggest ways to contain and decrease the frequency of such events.(250 Words)
How is it transmitted?
- The infection can be transmitted via direct contact and exchange of bodily secretions of monkeys and has a fatality rate of 70 per cent to 80 per cent.
- According to the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, Macaque monkeys commonly have this virus, and it can be found in their saliva, feces, urine, or brain or spinal cord tissue.
- The virus may also be found in cells coming from an infected monkey in a lab. B virus can survive for hours on surfaces, particularly when moist.
When can a human get infected with B virus?
- Humans can get infected if they are bitten or scratched by an infected monkey.
Symptoms
- Symptoms typically start within one month of being exposed to B virus but could appear in as little as three to seven days.
- The first indications of B virus infection are typically flu-like symptoms such as fever and chills, muscle ache, fatigue and headache.
- Following this, a person may develop small blisters in the wound or area on the body that came in contact with the monkey.
- Some other symptoms of the infection include shortness of breath, nausea and vomiting, abdominal pain and hiccups.
- As the disease progresses, the virus spreads to and causes inflammation (swelling) of the brain and spinal cord, leading to neurologic and inflammatory symptoms.
Is there a vaccine against B virus?
- Currently, there are no vaccines that can protect against B virus infection.
Who are at higher risk for infection?
- The virus might pose a potential threat to laboratory workers, veterinarians, and others who may be exposed to monkeys or their specimens.
- To date, only one case has been documented of an infected person spreading the B virus to another person.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: One District One Focus Product
Mains level: Not Much
ODOFP programme
- The ODOFP programme cover products of agriculture and allied sectors for 728 districts of the country.
- The products have been identified from agricultural, horticultural, animal, poultry, milk, fisheries, aquaculture, marine sectors across the country.
- These identified products will be supported under the PM-FME scheme of the Ministry of Food Processing Industries, which provides incentives to promoters and micro-enterprises
- This scheme is being implemented for a period of five years from 2020-21 to 2024-25.
- The scheme adopts One District One Product (ODOP) approach to reap the benefits of scale in terms of procurement of inputs, availing common services and marketing of products.
About ODOP
- The ODOP scheme aims to identify one product per district based on the potential and strength of a district and national priorities.
- A cluster for that product will be developed in the district and market linkage will be provided for that.
- It is operationally merged with the ‘Districts as Export Hub’ initiative implemented by the Director-General of Foreign Trade (DGFT), Department of Commerce.
- Under the initial phase of the ODOP programme, 106 Products have been identified from 103 districts across 27 States.
Back2Basics: PMFME Scheme
- A centrally sponsored scheme that aims to enhance the competitiveness of existing individual micro-enterprises in the unorganized segment of the food processing industry.
- It aims to enhance the competitiveness of existing individual micro-enterprises in the unorganized segment of the food processing industry and promote formalization of the sector,
- It further aims to promote formalization of the sector and provide support to Farmer Producer Organizations, Self Help Groups, and Producers Cooperatives along their entire value chain.
- The scheme envisions directly assist the 2,00,000 micro food processing units in providing financial, technical, and business support for the up-gradation of existing micro food processing enterprises.
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