Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Jallianwala Bagh Massacre
Mains level: Not Much
Prime Minister has virtually inaugurated the renovated Jallianwala Bagh complex in Amritsar.
What led to Jallianwala Bagh Massacre?
Protesting the contentious Rowlatt Act
- The act officially known as the Anarchical and Revolutionary Crimes Act, 1919 was passed in 1919 by the Imperial Legislative Council.
- It had authorized the British government to arrest anybody suspected of terrorist activities.
- It also authorized the government to detain such people arrested for up to 2 years without trial.
- It empowered the police to search a place without a warrant. It also placed severe restrictions on the freedom of the press.
- The primary intention of colonial govt. was to repress the growing nationalist movement in the country.
- The British were also afraid of a Ghadarite revolution in Punjab and the rest of the country.
The day
- The massacre took place on 13 April 1919 when troops of the British Indian Army under the command of Col. Reginald Dyer fired rifles into a crowd of Indians.
- The civilians had assembled for a peaceful protest to condemn the arrest and deportation of two national leaders, Satya Pal and Saifuddin Kitchlew.
- Dyer without warning ordered his troops to fire at the unarmed crowd which included children as well.
- The indiscriminate firing went on for about 10 minutes which resulted in the deaths of at least 1000 people and injured more than 1500 people.
Aftermath
- In protest against the massacre, Rabindranath Tagore gave up his knighthood.
- Gandhiji relinquished his title ‘Kaiser-e-hind’ bestowed on him by the British for his services during the Boer War in South Africa.
- Michael O’Dwyer, the then Lieutenant-Governor of Punjab, who had approved the actions of Dyer, was assassinated by Udham Singh in London in 1940 as revenge against the massacre.
- The heroic treatment of Dyer’s heinous act again set a benchmark of colonial arrogance.
Hunter Commission for inquiry
- In October 1919 the Secretary of State for India, Edwin Montagu, ordered the formation of a committee of inquiry into the events in Punjab.
- Referred to as the Disorders Inquiry Committee, it was later more widely known as the Hunter Commission (Not to be confused with Hunter Education Commission).
- Still, there are long-standing demands in India that Britain should apologize for the massacre.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: BCG, TB and other respiratory diseases
Mains level: Not Much
The first use of BCG (Bacillus Calmette-Guerin), the vaccine against tuberculosis (TB) in humans have been completed for 100 years.
What is TB?
- TB is a very ancient disease and has been documented to have existed in Egypt as early as 3000 BC.
- It is caused by a bacterium called Mycobacterium tuberculosis, belonging to the Mycobacteriaceae family consisting of about 200 members.
- Some of these cause diseases like TB and leprosy in humans and others infect a wide range of animals. Mycobacteria are also widely dispersed in the environment.
- In humans, TB most commonly affects the lungs (pulmonary TB), but it can also affect other organs (extra-pulmonary TB).
Yet not eliminated
- Other historically dreaded diseases like smallpox, leprosy, plague, and cholera have been either eradicated or controlled to a large extent due to advances in science and technology.
- However, TB continues to be a major public health problem in the world.
- According to the WHO’s Global TB Report, 10 million people developed TB in 2019 with 1.4 million deaths. India accounts for 27% of these cases.
BCG Vaccine for TB
- BCG was developed by two Frenchmen, Albert Calmette and Camille Guerin, by modifying a strain of Mycobacterium Bovis (that causes TB in cattle) till it lost its capacity to cause disease while retaining its property to stimulate the immune system.
- It was first used in humans in 1921.
- Currently, BCG is the only licensed vaccine available for the prevention of TB.
- It is the world’s most widely used vaccine with about 120 million doses every year and has an excellent safety record.
BCG in India
- In India, BCG was first introduced on a limited scale in 1948 and became a part of the National TB Control Programme in 1962.
- India is committed to eliminating TB as a public health problem by 2025.
Effectiveness of BCG
- One intriguing fact about BCG is that it works well in some geographic locations and not so well in others.
- Generally, the farther a country is from the equator, the higher is the efficacy.
- In children, BCG provides strong protection against severe forms of TB.
- This protective effect appears to wane with age and is far more variable in adolescents and adults, ranging from 0–80%.
- In addition to its primary use as a vaccine against TB, BCG also protects against respiratory and bacterial infections of newborns and other mycobacterial diseases like leprosy and Buruli’s ulcer.
- It is also used as an immunotherapy agent in cancer of the urinary bladder and malignant melanoma.
Try answering this PYQ:
What is the importance of using pneumococcal conjugate vaccines in India? (CSP 2020)
- These vaccines are effective against pneumonia as well as meningitis and sepsis.
- Dependence on antibiotics that are not effective against drug-resistant bacteria can be reduced.
- These vaccines have no side effects and cause no allergic reactions
Select the correct answer using the given code below:
(a) 1 only
(b) 1 and 2 only
(c) 3 only
(d) 1, 2 and 3
Post your answers here.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Hurricane (Tropical Cycolnes)
Mains level: Impact of frequent cyclonic landfalls
Hurricane Ida has made landfall in Louisiana, US as an extremely dangerous Category 4 storm.
What is a Hurricane?
- A hurricane is a tropical cyclone that occurs in the Atlantic Ocean and the northeastern Pacific Ocean.
- And a typhoon occurs in the northwestern Pacific Ocean; in the south Pacific or the Indian Ocean, comparable storms are referred to simply as “tropical cyclones” or “severe cyclonic storms”.
What are Tropical Cyclones?
A Tropical cyclone is an intense circular storm that originates over warm tropical oceans and is characterized by low atmospheric pressure, high winds, and heavy rain.
- Cyclones are formed over slightly warm ocean waters. The temperature of the top layer of the sea, up to a depth of about 60 meters, need to be at least 28°C to support the formation of a cyclone.
- This explains why the April-May and October-December periods are conducive for cyclones.
- Then, the low level of air above the waters needs to have an ‘anticlockwise’ rotation (in the northern hemisphere; clockwise in the southern hemisphere).
- During these periods, there is an ITCZ in the Bay of Bengal whose southern boundary experiences winds from west to east, while the northern boundary has winds flowing east to west.
- Once formed, cyclones in this area usually move northwest. As it travels over the sea, the cyclone gathers more moist air from the warm sea which adds to its heft.
Try this question from CSP 2020:
Q.Consider the following statements:
- Jet Streams occur in the Northern Hemisphere only.
- Only some cyclones develop an eye.
- The temperature inside the eye of a cyclone is nearly 10 degree Celsius lesser than that of the surroundings.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
(a) 1 only
(b) 2 and 3 only
(c) 2 only
(d) 1 and 3 only
Post your answers here.
Destruction caused
- Strong Winds: Cyclones are known to cause severe damage to infrastructure through high-speed winds.
- Torrential rains and inland flooding: Torrential rainfall (more than 30 cm/hour) associated with cyclones is another major cause of damages. Unabated rain gives rise to unprecedented floods.
- Storm Surge: A Storm surge can be defined as an abnormal rise of sea level near the coast caused by a severe tropical cyclone.
Some (unexpected) benefits
Although Tropical cyclones are known for the destruction they cause, when they strike they also bestow certain benefits to the climatic conditions of that area such as
- Relieve drought conditions
- Carry heat and energy away from the tropics and transport it towards temperate latitudes
- Maintain a relatively stable and warm temperature worldwide
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Also read:
[Burning Issue] Tropical Cyclones and India
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: CDRI
Mains level: Paper 2- Afghanistan issue
Context
Over the past few weeks, there has been much talk about India’s diplomatic stakes being threatened by the changing political scenario in Afghanistan.
India’s role in Afghanistan’s development
- India is currently the fifth-largest donor in Afghanistan.
- India’s total development assistance over the years has been worth over $3 billion.
- Soft and hard measures: India’s development cooperation with Afghanistan has encompassed both soft and hard measures.
- Soft measures have helped build goodwill and greater people-to-people contact and has involved measures focusing on health, education, capacity development and food security, among others.
- Many projects have been community-driven, thus helping engage a large section of people in development efforts.
- Hard infrastructure examples include the parliament building which was inaugurated in 2015, financing the Delaram-Zaranj Highway as well as the 42 MW Salma Dam in Herat province.
- India had also engaged in triangular cooperation under the US umbrella, cooperating with USAID on various programmes.
- This includes Afghan Women’s Empowerment Programme, a collaboration between USAID and the Self-Employed Women’s Association (SEWA) for providing vocational education for Afghan women.
How India’s approach differed from other donors?
- Demand-driven approach: India follows a demand-driven approach, which implies that the sectors for investment are chosen by the recipient government.
- Not condition based: although its aid is extended as a soft means to gain strategic leverage, it comes without political conditions.
- In PPP terms, the value of the Indian rupee is often underestimated, meaning that the Indian rupee would be able to buy substantially more goods and services at adjusted exchange rates.
- For example, a study by the Stimson Centre found out that even though Indian aid in 2015-16 totalled $1.36 billion, in PPP terms it could be pegged at over $5 billion.
Way forward
- Adapt programs to new reality: At the Afghanistan Conference in Geneva in 2020, India announced several development projects.
- New political developments in Afghanistan are unlikely to lead to a complete disconnect with India and its established socio-economic role.
- However, India may need to adapt its programmes to new realities.
- Diversify portfolio: There is still an infrastructure deficit in Afghanistan and a need for rebuilding and reconstruction.
- As far as development cooperation is concerned, however, India needs to further diversify its portfolios.
- Resilient Afghanistan to climate change: India can do much to build a more resilient Afghanistan with respect to climate change and disaster risk reduction with it spearheading global campaigns like CDRI.
Conclusion
India needs to establish itself as a neutral entity that is keen on the development of the region but ready to work with all parties concerned.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 3- Land reforms
Context
The farmers’ agitation in India has attracted worldwide attention and support.
Story of land reforms in India
- Being a state subject, various states implemented reforms with varying degrees of effectiveness and equity.
- Objectives: The objectives were the same: Abolition of feudal landlordism, conferment of ownership on tenants, fixing land ceilings, distribution of surplus land, increasing agricultural productivity and production, etc.
- However, owing to manipulations in land records, much surplus land was not available for distribution among the landless tillers.
- Less than one per cent of the total land in the country was declared as surplus.
- The relevant criteria for land entitlement should have been employment and main source of income.
Change in social structure after land reforms
- The ex-tenants, after getting land made use of several programmes —Green Revolution technology, bank nationalisation and priority sector lending, urbanisation and expanding urban markets.
- They cornered a disproportionate share of various subsidies.
- The tenant-turned-capitalist farmers formed political parties, which produced strong state-level leaders, who controlled state-level planning, fiscal policies and politics.
- In place of a strong Centre and weak states, came a weak Centre and strong states.
- Rich farmers have formed strong power blocs, with unquestioned clout and bargaining power, not only in north-western India but also in states like Maharashtra.
Need for agrarian reforms
- Farmers are seeking legal safeguards against market fluctuations, especially against any downward pressure on agricultural prices.
- While they welcome every rise in prices, they demand legal protection against price falls, a legitimate stance.
- Even as agricultural prosperity must be promoted,it should not be just shared between farmers (especially rich ones) and urban consumers, but by all.
- Farm workers, in particular, must benefit from it.
Reforms for farmworkers
- Agricultural land should be pooled and equally distributed among farm households.
- Non-farm households should not be permitted to hold farmland.
- Land reforms should be a central subject; while agriculture can remain a state subject.
- Such a programme will empower and enrich marginalised and excluded individuals and social groups.
- It should be the kernel of a justiciable universal property right that must form an integral/inalienable part of Article 21 (Right to Life) of the Constitution.
Conclusion
The right to life is hollow without a right to livelihood. Through an effective land reforms programme, let’s build a prosperous India based on equity and justice.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Cost of capital
Mains level: Paper 3- Asset monetisation and challenges in it
Context
The government has announced an ambitious programme of asset monetisation. It hopes to earn ₹6 trillion in revenues over a four-year period.
About Asset monetisation
- Unlike in privatisation, no sale of government assets is involved.
- The government parts with its assets — such as roads, coal mines — for a specified period of time in exchange for a lump sum payment.
- Asset monetisation will happen mainly in three sectors: roads, railways and power.
- Other assets to be monetised include: airports, ports, telecom, stadiums and power transmission.
- Two important statements have been made about the asset monetisation programme.
- The focus will be on under-utilised assets.
- Monetisation will happen through public-private partnerships (PPP) and Investment Trusts.
Challenges
1) Investors would prefer property utilised assets over underutilised assets
- Suppose an asset is not being used adequately because it has not been properly developed or marketed well enough.
- A private party may judge that it can put the assets to better use.
- It will pay the government a price equal to the present value of cash flows at the current level of utilisation.
- This is a win-win situation for the government and the private player.
- The government gets a ‘fair’ value for its assets.
- The private player gets its return on investment.
- Increase in efficiency: The economy benefits from an increase in efficiency.
- Monetising under-utilised assets thus has much to commend it.
- However, in case of an asset that is being properly utilised, the private player has little incentive to invest and improve efficiency.
- It simply needs to operate the assets as they are.
- The private player may value the cash flows assuming a normal rate of growth.
- The cost of capital for a private player is higher than for a public authority.
- The higher cost of capital for the private player could offset the benefit of any reduction in operating costs.
- The government earns badly needed revenues but these could be less than what it might earn if it continued to operate the assets itself.
- There is no improvement in efficiency.
- The benefits to the economy are likely to be greater where under-utilised assets are monetised.
- However, private players will prefer well-utilised assets to assets that are under-utilised.
- That is because, in the former, cash flows and returns are more certain.
2) Valuation challenges
- It is very difficult to get the valuation right over a long-term horizon, say, 30 years.
- For a road or highway, growth in traffic would also depend on factors other than the growth of the economy.
- . If the rate of growth of traffic turns out to be higher than assessed by the government in valuing the asset, the private operator will reap windfall gains.
- Alternatively, if the winning bidder pays what turns out to be a steep price for the asset, it will raise the toll price steeply.
- The consumer ends up bearing the cost.
- It could be argued that a competitive auction process will address these issues and fetch the government the right price while yielding efficiency gains.
- But that assumes, among other things, that there will be a large number of bidders for the many assets that will be monetised.
3) Life of the returned asset may not be long
- There is no incentive for the private player to invest in the asset towards the end of the tenure of monetisation.
- The life of the asset, when it is returned to the government, may not be long.
- In that event, asset monetisation virtually amounts to sale.
- Monetisation through the PPP route is thus fraught with problems.
Way forward: InvIT route
- Infrastructure Investment Trusts (InvIT) are mutual fund-like vehicles in which investors can subscribe to units that give dividends.
- Monetisable assets will be transferred to InvITs.
- The sponsor of the Trust is required to hold a minimum prescribed proportion of the total units issued.
- InvITs offer a portfolio of assets, so investors get the benefit of diversification.
- In the InvIT route to monetisation, the public authority continues to own the rights to a significant portion of the cash flows and to operate the assets.
- So, the issues that arise with transfer of assets to a private party — such as incorrect valuation or an increase in price to the consumer — are less of a problem.
Key takeaways
- Low cost of capital for public authority: In general, due to the low cost of capital for public authority, the economy is best served when public authorities develop infrastructure and monetise these.
- InvIT route: Monetisation through InvITs is likely to prove less of a problem than the PPP route.
- Monetise under utilised assets: We are better off monetising under-utilised assets than assets that are well utilised.
- Monitoring authority should be set up: To ensure proper execution, there is a case for independent monitoring of the process.
- The government may set up an Asset Monetisation Monitoring Authority staffed by competent professionals.
Consider the question “How asset monetisation is different from privatisation? What are the challenges in asset monetisation? Suggest the ways forward.”
Conclusion
Government must pay attention to the challenges in asset monetisation and use it in the proper way to increase the efficiency in the economy.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Article 21
Mains level: Right to be Forgotten
The Delhi High Court upheld the view that the “Right to Privacy” includes the “Right to be Forgotten” and the “Right to be Left Alone”.
Right to be Forgotten in India
- The Right to be Forgotten falls under the purview of an individual’s right to privacy, which is governed by the Personal Data Protection Bill that is yet to be passed by Parliament.
- In 2017, the Right to Privacy was declared a fundamental right by the Supreme Court in its landmark verdict.
- The court said at the time that “the right to privacy is protected as an intrinsic part of the right to life and personal liberty under Article 21 and as a part of the freedoms guaranteed by Part III of the Constitution”.
What was the recent case?
- The TV celebrity had moved Delhi High Court with the plea that orders be issued to Google and relevant entities to facilitate the removal of posts, videos, articles and any information related to incidents that he was involved.
- His plea cited that his presence on the internet is a source of “utmost psychological pain” to him.
Legal issues
- India does not have a law yet on right to be forgotten.
- In the meantime, the Information Technology Rules, 2011 — which is the current regime governing digital data — does not have any provisions relating to the right to be forgotten.
- The Personal Data Protection (PDP) Bill was tabled in Parliament in 2019 and is being examined by a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC).
Key features of PDP Bill
- Personal Data: Section 20 of the PDP Bill says that a ‘data principal’ — or the person who generates the data or to whom the information pertains — can rightfully ask a ‘data fiduciary’, which is any entity that stores or processes such data, to “restrict or prevent the continuing disclosure of his personal data” in specific circumstances.
- Purpose of data: To seek the erasure of data, it is necessary to establish that it “has served the purpose for which it was collected or is no longer necessary for the purpose; was made with the consent of the data principal.
- Right to be forgotten: The Bill says that the right to be forgotten can be enforced only on an order of an adjudicating officer following an application filed by the data principal.
- Contravention with Free Speech: However, the decision on whether the right to be forgotten can be granted with respect to any data will depend on whether it contravenes “the right to freedom of speech and expression and the right to information of any other citizen”.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: CSR Expenditure rules
Mains level: CSR
The Ministry of Corporate Affairs has clarified that companies have to ensure that funds transferred to implementing agencies are actually utilized for them to be counted towards mandatory CSR expenditure.
What is Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)?
- CSR is a type of business self-regulation that aims to contribute to the societal goals of a philanthropic, activist, or charitable nature by engaging in or supporting volunteering or ethically-oriented practices.
- It rests on the ideology of “give and take” i.e. to take scarce resources from the environment for running a business, and in turn to contribute towards economic, social, and environmental development.
CSR in India
- India is the first country in the world to make corporate social responsibility (CSR) mandatory, following an amendment to the Companies Act, 2013 in April 2014.
- Businesses can invest their profits in areas such as education, poverty, gender equality, and hunger as part of any CSR compliance.
All companies with a net worth of Rs 500 crore or more, a turnover of Rs 1,000 crore or more, or net profit of Rs 5 crore or more, are required to spend 2 per cent of their average profits of the previous three years on CSR activities every year.
What is the recent clarification?
- The MCA has clarified that excess Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) expenditure prior to FY21 cannot be set off against future CSR expenditure requirements.
- Corporate donations to government schemes cannot be counted as CSR.
- The ministry has also clarified that companies have to ensure that funds transferred to implementing agencies are actually utilized for them to be counted towards mandatory CSR expenditure.
Impact of the move
- This clarification may impact donations to state government schemes which are often done for the sake of managing relationships with the government.
Earlier changes
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Bharat series (BH-series)
Mains level: Not Much
The Ministry of Road Transport & Highways has rolled out a new series for vehicles registration ‘BH’ to avoid re-registration of vehicles while moving to another state.
Bharat series (BH-series)
- There was a procedure of re-registration of a vehicle while moving to another state.
- A vehicle bearing BH registration mark shall not require assignment of a new registration mark when the owner of the vehicle shifts from one State to another.
- Format of Bharat series (BH-series) Registration Mark –
Registration Mark Format:
- YY BH #### XX
- YY – Year of first registration
- BH- Code for Bharat Series
- ####- 0000 to 9999 (randomized)
- XX- Alphabets (AA to ZZ)
Why such move?
- Station relocation occurs with both Government and private sector employees.
- Such movements create a sense of unease in the minds of such employees with regard to transfer of registration from the parent state to another state.
- Under section 47 of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988, a person is allowed to keep the vehicle for not more than 12 months in any state other than the state where the vehicle is registered.
Who can get this BH series?
- BH-series will be available on voluntary basis to Defense personnel, employees of Central Government/ State Government/ Central/ State PSUs and private sector companies/organizations.
- The motor vehicle tax will be levied for two years or in multiple of two.
- This scheme will facilitate free movement of personal vehicles across States/UTs of India upon relocation to a new State/UT.
- After completion of the fourteenth year, the motor vehicle tax shall be levied annually which shall be half of the amount which was charged earlier for that vehicle.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Pantanal Wetlands
Mains level: Not Much
Pantanal, the world’s largest tropical wetlands is facing a severe crisis due to wildfires and climate change.
Pantanal Wetlands
- The Pantanal is a natural region encompassing the world’s largest tropical wetland area, and the world’s largest flooded grasslands.
- It is located mostly within the Brazilian and extends to some portions of Bolivia and Paraguay.
- It sprawls over an area estimated at between 140,000 and 195,000 square kilometer.
- Roughly 80% of the Pantanal floodplains are submerged during the rainy seasons, nurturing a biologically diverse collection of aquatic plants and helping to support a dense array of animal species.
Risks faced
- Unlike the Amazon rainforest, vegetation in the Pantanal has evolved to coexist with fire — many plant species there require the heat from fires to germinate.
- Often caused by lightning strikes, those natural fires spring up at the end of the dry season, but the surrounding floodplains prevent them from spreading.
- What’s different now is the drought, contributing further to the unusually dry conditions and exacerbating the fire risk.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Deeper Beel
Mains level: Wetland conservation
The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change has notified the eco-sensitive zone of the Deepar Beel Wildlife Sanctuary on the south-western edge of Guwahati.
Deepar Beel
- Deepar Beel is one of the largest freshwater lakes in Assam and the State’s only Ramsar site besides being an Important Bird Area.
- It is located to the south-west of Guwahati city, in Kamrup Metropolitan district.
- It is a permanent freshwater lake, in a former channel of the Brahmaputra River, to the south of the main river.
- It is also called a wetland under the Ramsar Convention which has listed the lake in November 2002, as a Ramsar Site for undertaking conservation measures on the basis of its biological and environmental importance.
Major threats
- Deepar Beel has long been used as a sponge for Guwahati’s sewage via a couple of streams.
- The wetland has also suffered from seepage of toxins from a garbage dump at Boragaon adjoining it.
- It has for decades been threatened by a railway track — set to be doubled and electrified — on its southern rim, a garbage dump, and encroachment from human habitation and commercial units.
- The water has become toxic and it has lost many of its aquatic plants that elephants would feed on.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Species mentioned
Mains level: Not Much
India has added 557 new species to its fauna reveals Animal Discoveries 2020, a document published recently by the Zoological Survey of India (ZSI).
Major species discovered
The number of faunal species in India has climbed to 1,02,718 species. Among the new species, some interesting species discovered in 2020 are:
- Trimeresurus salazar, a new species of green pit viper discovered from Arunachal Pradesh;
- Lycodon deccanensis, the Deccan wolf snake discovered from Karnataka; and
- Sphaerotheca Bengaluru, a new species of burrowing frog named after the city of Bengaluru.
- Xyrias anjaalai, a new deep-water species of snake eel from Kerala;
- Glyptothorax giudikyensis, a new species of catfish from Manipur; and
- Clyster galateansis, a new species of scarab beetles from the Great Nicobar Biosphere.
Visitor species
- Myotis cf. frater, a bat species earlier known from China, Taiwan and Russia, has been reported for the first time from Uttarakhand in India
- Zoothera citrina gibsonhilli, an orange-headed thrush earlier known from southern Myanmar to south Thailand (central Malay peninsula) was reported for the first time from India based on a collection made from the Narcondam island in the Andaman & Nicobar Islands.
Significance
- The ZSI publication shows that India is a mega biodiverse country, rich in biodiversity, with 23.39% of its geographical area under forest and tree cover.
- India is positioned 8th in mega biodiversity countries in the world with 0.46 BioD index which is calculated by its percentage of species in each group relative to the total global number of species in each group.
About Zoological Survey of India
- The ZSI was set up by British zoologist Thomas Nelson Annandale, in 1916.
- It is the premier taxonomic research organization in India.
- It was established to promote surveys, exploration and research leading to advancement of our knowledge of various aspects of the exceptionally rich animal life of India.
- The ZSI had its genesis as the Zoological Section of the Indian Museum at Calcutta in 1875.
- Since its inception, the ZSI has been documenting the diversity and distribution of the fauna of India towards carrying out its mandate of conducting exploration-cum-taxonomic-research programmes.
- The ZSI has published an extremely large amount of information on all animal taxa, from Protozoa to Mammalia.
Try answering this PYQ:
Q.With reference to India’s Biodiversity, Ceylon frogmouth, Coppersmith barbet, Gray-chinned minivet and White-throated redstart are: (CSP 2020)
(a) Birds
(b) Primates
(c) Reptiles
(d) Amphibians
Post your answers here
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Diclofenac
Mains level: Paper 3- Declining vulture population and steps taken
Context
India lost more than 95% of its vulture population through the 1990s and by the mid-2000s. Today, the country requires urgent conservation efforts to save vultures from becoming extinct.
About vultures
- Vultures belong to the Accipitridae family whose members include eagles, hawks and kites.
- They are relatively social birds with an average lifespan of 10-30 years in the wild.
- Vultures are slow breeders and so the survival of every individual is very crucial.
- Generally, vultures rely on other carnivores to open carcasses.
- Their powerful bills and long slender necks are designed to help them tear off the meat chunks from inside the carcass.
- India has nine species of vultures. Many are critically endangered.
- Vultures have a highly acidic stomach that helps them digest rotting carcass and kill disease-causing bacteria.
Role played by vultures in ecosystem
- Removing vultures from the ecosystem leads to inefficient clearing of carcasses and contaminates water systems.
- If dead animals are left to rot for long durations, it may give rise to disease-causing pathogens.
- The animals that consume such flesh become further carriers of disease.
- Thus, they play a crucial role in maintaining the health of the ecosystem.
Factors responsible for decline in future population
- India has nine species of vultures. Many are critically endangered.
- Use of diclofenac: The main reason for the decline in the vulture population is the use of the drug, diclofenac.
- Diclofenac, which relieves cattle of pain, is toxic to vultures even in small doses and causes kidney failure and death.
- Hunting: Myths about the medicinal healing powers of vultures’ body parts has led to the hunting of vultures.
- Quarrying: Quarrying and blasting of stones where vultures nest have also caused their decline.
Steps to increase numbers
- India banned diclofenac for veterinary use in 2006.
- Five States are to get vulture breeding centres under the Action Plan for Vulture Conservation for 2020-2025, approved in October 2020.
- Vulture ‘restaurants’, which exist in some countries, are also a way of preserving the population.
- In these ‘restaurants’, diclofenac-free carcasses of cattle are dumped in designated areas where vultures gather to feed.
Conclusion
Awareness and action must go hand in hand. With International Vulture Awareness Day coming up on September 4, it is important for us to spread awareness about the importance of vultures in our ecosystem.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 2- Way forward for India on Afghanistan issue
Context
In the chaos that has followed the Taliban takeover of Kabul on August 15, India has been relatively silent.
India’s role in Afghanistan’s development
- India’s role spanned three areas in Afghanistan:
- In terms of infrastructure building and development assistance, encompassing all 34 provinces of the country.
- In terms of building democracy, helping script the Constitution and hold elections.
- In terms of educational investment, allowing thousands of young Afghans to study, be trained as professionals and soldiers, and become skilled in India.
- India was the first country that Afghanistan signed a strategic partnership with.
- India was the only country that undertook perilous but ambitious projects such Parliament, the Zaranj-Delaram Highway, and the Chabahar port project in Iran for transit trade.
- India was by far the one country that polled consistently highly among countries that Afghan people trusted.
- What should India do now? India should not choose to simply walk away from such capital, regardless of the developments in Afghanistan, domestic political considerations in India and geopolitical sensitivities.
The marginalisation of India’s role in negotiations over Afghanistan
- No other power from the west to the east has considered India’s interests while charting its course on Afghanistan.
- India has found itself cut out of several quadrilateral arrangements: the main negotiations held by the “Troika plus” of the United States-Russia-China-Pakistan that pushed for a more “inclusive government” including the Taliban.
- The alternative grouping of Russia-Iran-China-Pakistan that formed a “regional arc” that has today seen them retain their embassies in Kabul.
- Neither India’s traditional strategic and defence partner, Russia, nor its fastest growing global strategic partner, the United States, thought it important to include India.
- It is time to accept that India is in need of a new diplomatic strategy.
Way forward for India
1) Leveraging its position at the UN
- India needs to begin by rallying the United Nations, to exert its considerable influence in its own interest, and that of the Afghan “republic”, which is an idea that cannot be just abandoned.
- Next, India must take a leading role in the debate over who will be nominated to the Afghan seat at the UN depending on the new regime in Afghanistan committing to international norms on human rights, women’s rights, minority rights and others.
- As Chairman of the Taliban Sanctions Committee (or the 1988 Sanctions Committee), India must use its muscle to ensure terrorists such as Sirajuddin Haqqani must not be given any exemptions: on travel, recourse to funds or arms.
2) India’s engagement with Afghanistan
- The question of whether India should convert its back-channel talks with the Taliban and with Pakistan in the past few months into something more substantive remains to be debated.
- This becomes more important as India now faces a “threat umbrella” to its north, including Pakistan’s cross-border terrorism, Afghanistan’s new regime and China’s aggression at the Line of Actual Control.
- A more broad-based and consultative process of engaging all political parties would be required.
- While not directly dealing with the Taliban, India must ensure stronger communication with those who are dealing directly, including leaders such as former Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai, to ensure its interests.
- As a part of its engagement, India must consider whether to revive its assistance to the resistance, which at present includes Ahmad Shah Massoud Jr., Amrullah Saleh, Abdul Rashid Dostum and Atta Mohammad Noor.
3) Engagement with the Afghan people
- The Government must embrace its greatest strength in Afghanistan — its relations with the Afghan people — and open its doors to those who wish to come here.
- In particular, India must continue to facilitate medical visas for Afghan patients and extend the education visas for students who are already admitted to Indian colleges.
Conclusion
It is India’s soft power, strategic autonomy or non-alignment principles and selfless assistance to those in need, particularly in its neighbourhood, that has been the strongest chords to its unique voice in the world. The moment to make that voice heard on Afghanistan is now.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Trailing indicators
Mains level: Paper 3- Indicators to look at to get the state of economy
Context
GDP growth estimates range from a high of 11 per cent, as per the government, to 9.5 per cent as per RBI. The variation is stark. So, what should one look at to evaluate the state of the economy?
Things to consider while evaluating the economy
- First, since the economy contracted by 7.3 per cent in 2020-21, all numbers will be exaggerated in the upward direction.
- Second, beware of interpretations based on single-month data.
- Cumulative numbers are better at times, but can be misleading too.
- Third, what is more important is how things will play out during September-December as this is the festival-cum-harvest season which engenders spending normally.
- Several indicators are used as leading signals of the economy, but here, too, we need to be careful.
- PMIs for manufacturing and services tell us if we are better off than the previous month.
- But that is not how data is normally presented as we usually talk of year-on-year growth.
- But it is an early signal for sure. The IIP and core sector numbers will be influenced by base numbers and come with a lag.
Indicators to look at as signs of recovery
- Credit growth: Bank credit is a good indicator of whether companies are producing more as all activity requires working capital.
- Here, the picture is not good as growth is (-) 0.4 per cent as of July end, indicating that activity has not picked up yet.
- Therefore, credit growth is in the negative territory.
- Investment: Debt issuances are lower in the first four months at around Rs 1.25 lakh crore, which is half of the Rs 2.57 lakh crore mobilised last year.
- Therefore, the investment scenario is still one where companies are watchful.
- There is surplus capacity in industry with utilisation rate being at 69.4 per cent in March 2021.
- Rural demand: Rural demand is an integral part of the story and presently progress on the kharif crop is satisfactory.
- A good crop is also necessary to generate spending power besides augmenting supplies in the market as well as food processing industry.
- The second wave has pushed back rural households with more expenditure on health care.
- Employment generation: Employment generation is a trigger for higher income and spending and while the battle between CMIE and EPFO data remains unresolved, the market will finally reveal if people have more money.
Inflation concern
- Inflation is high and though there is a view that it is transient.
- Several households, who are living on a fixed income have witnessed a double whammy in the form of lower returns on deposits and cumulative inflation of 6 per cent last year, and a similar number this year.
Conclusion
Investment will trail consumption and while the Centre has a good capex plan, it is only one piece in the overall puzzle. The private sector must get involved and with the banks being hesitant, the road can get longer.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Maldives and its location
Mains level: Read the attached story
Maldives has announced the signing of a $500-million infrastructure project for the construction of the Greater Malé Connectivity Project (GMCP) with India.
Greater Malé Connectivity Project
- This infrastructure project, the largest-ever by India in the Maldives, involves the construction of a 6.74-km-long bridge and causeway link.
- It will connect the Maldives capital Malé with the neighbouring islands of Villingli, Gulhifalhu and Thilafushi.
- The seeds of the project were planted during the External Affairs Minister’s visit to Malé in September 2019.
- The GMCP is not only the biggest project India is doing in the Maldives but also the biggest infrastructure project in the Maldives overall.
Significance of the Project
- This project is significant because it facilitates inter-island connectivity in the country
- Transport is a major challenge for residents who have to take boats or seaplanes to distant islands.
- It becomes even more difficult during the monsoons when the seas are rough.
- This bridge that would connect Malé with the three neighboring islands would ease the process.
The Chinese-made 1.39 km-long Sinamalé Bridge connects Malé with the islands of Hulhulé and Hulhumalé and this project, four tiles longer, would link the other three islands.
Why it is needed?
- Male is one of the most densely populated cities in the world.
- Close to 40% of the entire population of the Maldives lives in Malé, which has an area of approximately 8.30 square kilometres.
- It is very congested and land is a major issue.
Why these islands?
- On the island of Gulhifalhu, a port, is at present being built under the Indian line of credit.
- Located some 6 kilometers from Malé, since 2016, the island has been promoted as a strategic location for manufacturing, warehousing and distribution facilities due to its proximity to the capital city.
- Located 7 km from the capital, the artificial island of Thilafushi was created and designated as a landfill in the early 1990s, to receive garbage created mostly in Malé.
- The Maldives has plans of expanding industrial work on Thilafushi, making this bridge’s connectivity to the capital indispensable for the transport of employees and other services.
Why did Male opt for India’s offer?
- After a five-year grace period, the interest rate is 1.75% and the Maldives has to repay it over a 20-year period.
- India’s loans are less expensive and more transparent, unlike China’s.
- The Maldives hasn’t really been clear about how much debt it owes to China.
Importance of Maldives for India
- Geo-strategic importance: Maldives, a Toll Gate in the Indian Ocean. Located in the southern and northern parts of this island chain lies the two important sea lanes of communication (SLOCs).
- Trade: These SLOCs are critical for maritime trade flow between the Gulf of Aden and Gulf of Hormuz in West Asia and the Strait of Malacca in Southeast Asia. Nearly 50% of India’s external trade and 80% of its energy imports transit these SLOCs in the Arabian Sea.
- Important SAARC member: Besides, Maldives is a member of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) and the South Asia Subregional Economic Cooperation (SASEC).
- People To People Contact: There is a significant population of Maldivian students in India. They are aided by a liberal visa-free regime extended by India. There is also medical tourism.
- Economic Cooperation: Tourism is the mainstay of the Maldivian economy. The country is now a major tourist destination for some Indians and a job destination for others.
What hinders India in Male?
- Unstable governments: India’s major concern has been the impact of political instability in the neighbourhood on its security and development.
- Religious extremism: In the past decade or so, the number of Maldivians drawn towards terrorist groups like the Islamic State (IS) and Pakistan-based madrassas and jihadist groups has been increasing.
- Affinity with China: China’s strategic footprint in India’s neighbourhood has increased. The Maldives has emerged as an important ‘pearl’ in China’s “String of Pearls” construct in South Asia. It has also started using the China card to bargain with India.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Draft Drone Rules, 2021
The central government has notified the Drone Rules 2021, a much more liberalised regime for unmanned aircraft systems than what existed previously.
Key features of Drone Rules 2021
These rules are built on a premise of trust, self-certification and non-intrusive monitoring. The policy is designed to usher in an era of super-normal growth while balancing safety and security considerations.
- Several approvals abolished: Unique authorisation number, unique prototype identification number, certificate of manufacturing and airworthiness, certificate of conformance, certificate of maintenance, import clearance, acceptance of existing drones, operator permit, authorisation of R&D organisation, student remote pilot licence, remote pilot instructor authorisation, drone port authorisation etc.
- Number of forms reduced: from 25 to 5.
- Types of fees: reduced from 72 to 4.
- Quantum of fee: reduced to nominal levels and delinked with size of drone. For instance, the fee for a remote pilot license fee has been reduced from INR 3000 (for large drone) to INR 100 for all categories of drones; and is valid for 10 years.
- Digital sky platform: It shall be developed as a user-friendly single-window system. There will be minimal human interface and most permissions will be self-generated.
- Interactive airspace map: with green, yellow and red zones shall be displayed on the digital sky platform within 30 days of publication of these rules.
- No permission required in green zones: Green zone means the airspace upto a vertical distance of 400 feet or 120 metre that has not been designated as a red zone or yellow zone in the airspace map; and the airspace upto a vertical distance of 200 feet or 60 metre above the area located between a lateral distance of 8 and 12 kilometre from the perimeter of an operational airport.
- De-licensing: No remote pilot licence required for micro drones (for non-commercial use) and nano drones. No requirement for security clearance before issuance of any registration or licence. Nano and model drones (made for research or recreation purposes) are exempt from type certification.
- Foreign ownership: No restriction on foreign ownership in Indian drone companies.
- Import: Import of drones to be regulated by DGFT. Requirement of import clearance from DGCA abolished.
- Size of drones: Coverage of drones under Drone Rules, 2021 increased from 300 kg to 500 kg. This will cover drone taxis also.
- Testing of drones: for issuance of Type Certificate to be carried out by Quality Council of India or authorised testing entities.
- UID: Manufacturers and importers may generate their drones’ unique identification number on the digital sky platform through the self-certification route. Drones present in India on or before 30 Nov 2021 will be issued a unique identification number through the digital sky platform provided, they have a DAN, a GST-paid invoice and are part of the list of DGCA-approved drones.
- Penalties: Maximum penalty for violations reduced to INR 1 lakh.
- Permission: Safety and security features like ‘No permission – no takeoff’ (NPNT), real-time tracking beacon, geo-fencing etc. to be notified in future. A six-month lead time will be provided to the industry for compliance.
- Drone corridors: will be developed for cargo deliveries.
- Drone promotion council: to be set up by Government with participation from academia, startups and other stakeholders to facilitate a growth-oriented regulatory regime.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Supermassive Black Holes
Mains level: Gravitational waves observation
Indian researchers have discovered three supermassive black holes from three galaxies merging together to form a triple active galactic nucleus, a compact region at the centre of a newly discovered galaxy that has a much-higher-than-normal luminosity.
What are Supermassive black holes?
- A supermassive black hole is the largest type of black hole, with mass on the order of millions to billions of times the mass of the Sun.
- Black holes are a class of astronomical objects that have undergone gravitational collapse, leaving behind spheroidal regions of space from which nothing can escape, not even light.
- They are difficult to detect because they do not emit any light. But they can reveal their presence by interacting with their surroundings.
Active galactic nuclei (AGN) from such black holes
- When the dust and gas from the surroundings fall onto a supermassive black hole, some of the mass is swallowed by the black hole, but some of it is converted into energy.
- This is emitted back as electromagnetic radiation that makes the black hole appear very luminous.
- They are called active galactic nuclei (AGN) and release huge amounts of ionized particles and energy into the galaxy and its environment.
- Both of these ultimately contribute to the growth of the medium around the galaxy and ultimately the evolution of the galaxy itself.
How does merger of black holes occur?
- A major factor impacting galaxy evolution is galaxy interactions, which happen when galaxies move close by each other and exert tremendous gravitational forces on each other.
- During such galaxy interactions, the respective supermassive black holes can get near each other.
- The dual black holes start consuming gas from their surroundings and become dual AGN.
What happens when galaxies collide?
- If two galaxies collide, their black hole will also come closer by transferring the kinetic energy to the surrounding gas.
- The distance between the blackholes decreases with time until the separation is around a parsec (3.26 light-years).
- The two black holes are then unable to lose any further kinetic energy in order to get even closer and merge.
- This is known as the final parsec problem.
Here comes the third black hole
- Many AGN pairs have been detected in the past, but triple AGN are extremely rare, and only a handful has been detected before using X-ray observations.
- The presence of a third black hole can solve this problem.
- The dual merging blackholes can transfer their energy to the third blackhole and merge with each other.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Sambhar Lake
Mains level: Not Much
The world-famous Sambhar Salt Lake in Rajasthan is constantly shrinking with the degradation of soil and water quality and a decline in the population of migratory birds.
Sambhar Lake
- The lake, situated 80 km south-west of Jaipur, is the country’s largest inland saline water body which attracts thousands of migratory birds every year.
- The death of more than 20,000 birds belonging to about 10 species which migrate annually to the lake had made international headlines in 2019.
- The lake receives water from six rivers: Mantha, Rupangarh, Khari, Khandela, Medtha and Samod.
- Sambhar has been designated as a Ramsar site because the wetland is a key wintering area for tens of thousands of pink flamingos and other birds that migrate from northern Asia and Siberia.
Threats: Illegal mining
- 30% of the Sambhar Lake’s area had been lost to mining and other activities, including the illegal salt pan encroachments.
- It has also threatened the livelihoods of local people who have always lived in harmony with the lake and its ecology.
Try answering this:
Which one of the following is an artificial lake? (CSP 2014)
(a) Kodaikanal (Tamil Nadu)
(b) Kolleru (Andhra Pradesh)
(c) Nainital (Uttarakhand)
(d) Renuka (Himachal Pradesh)
Post your answers here.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 3- Current account opening restriction to deal with the NPA issue
Context
Some bank borrowers have gone to court demanding that it quash the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) circular dated August 6, 2020 on opening current accounts.
Background
- Current accounts with non-lending banks are an important channel for diversion.
- Diversion of funds is a major reason for large non-performing assets (NPAs).
- Internal diversion is for non-priority purposes and funds can also be diverted to other firms, owned or controlled by the same group, friends or relatives.
- To prevent this, the RBI mandates a No-Objection Certificate (NOC) from lending banks before opening such accounts.
- Banks should verify with CRILC, the RBI credit database, and inform lenders. Banks should also obtain a NOC from the drawee bank when an account is opened through cheques.
- Widespread non-compliance with mandated safeguards forced the RBI to bar non-lending banks from opening current accounts for large borrowers.
- Thus, if borrowing is through a cash credit or overdraft account, no bank can open a current account.
What are the current regulations?
- If a borrower has no cash credit or overdraft account, a current account can be opened subject to restrictions.
- If the bank’s exposure is less than 10% of total borrowings, debits to the account can only be for transfers to accounts with a designated bank.
- If total borrowing is ₹50 crore or more, there should be an escrow mechanism managed by one bank which alone can open a current account.
- Other lending banks can open ‘collection accounts’ from which funds will be periodically transferred to the escrow account.
- If the borrowing is between ₹5 crore and ₹50 crore, lending banks can open current accounts.
- Non-lending banks can open collection accounts.
- If borrowing is below ₹5 crore, even non-lending banks can open current accounts.
- The working capital credit should be bifurcated into loan and cash credit components at individual bank levels.
Issues with regulations
- If a borrower has an overdraft, how can there not be a current account?
- An overdraft is the right to overdraw in a current account up to a limit.
- The second issue is that the circular forecloses such operational flexibility.
- Third, why should a bank with low exposure transfer funds to another bank when it can use it to adjust other dues with it?
- Fourth, share in borrowing is not static. Crossing the threshold both ways could happen often.
- Fifth, there is a mismatch between what a borrower needs and the regulations allow.
- Support of non-lending banks through current accounts in other banks is required for large accounts.
- Sixth, transactions in an active current account enables a bank to monitor a borrower’s account, however small.
- The lack of such control was why large development financial institutions of yesteryear built up huge NPAs.
- Seventh, the regulation mandates splitting working capital into loan and cash credit components across all banks.
- Such a one-size-fits-all regulation does not factor in the purpose of the different facilities.
- A large company might avail itself of loans in Mumbai, but require current accounts with another bank in Assam where it might have a factory.
- Lack of flexibility: Rules are not flexible, do not provide for unforeseen circumstances, and can be easily circumvented.
- Use more generic terms: Regulation needs to use more generic terms. Terms such as Working Capital Term Loan might mean different things in different banks.
- Diversion of fund is risk better dealt by banks: Is it not better to leave management of exceptional risks such as diversion of funds to the banks?
- The cost of regulation: the costs of regulation be justified by the benefits.
Conclusion
When regulation ignores market practices, it lacks legitimacy, a construct from neo-institutionalist literature. When legitimacy is wanting, compliance suffers.
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