Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: JCPOA
Mains level: Paper 2- JCPOA negotiations
Context
Iran’s foreign minister during his recent visit to Syria, noted that Iran and the major powers, who have been negotiating a mutual return to the Iran nuclear deal — or the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) — over the last eleven months, were closer to an agreement “than ever before”.
Issues in the negotiation over Iran’s return to JCPOA
- The ongoing eighth round of talks between Iran and P4+1, has been going on since December 27, 202.
- These issues remaining are understood to be Tehran’s demand for guarantees against another withdrawal in the future, the verifiable lifting of all US sanctions, and the IAEA investigation into Iran’s past nuclear activities.
- Guarantees against another withdrawal: On the issue of guarantees against another withdrawal, Iran is no longer demanding legal guarantees from Washington.
- Lifting all sanctions: Tehran has refused to retreat from its uncompromising stance on the lifting of all US sanctions, while the Biden administration has so far been prepared to lift only those “inconsistent” with the deal.
- Another key sticking point, though not directly related to the nuclear deal, is Iran’s demand that President Biden reverse his predecessor’s designation of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a Foreign Terrorist Organisation.
Concerns
- Western interlocutors are alarmed by Iran’s shrinking breakout time — the time needed for gathering enough weapons-grade uranium to make a single nuclear warhead.
- Also, they are concerned that the longer Iran stays outside the agreement, the more nuclear expertise and fissile material it will accumulate, thus making the original deal obsolete.
- Thus, time is of the essence for reaching an agreement that will turn the clock back on Iran’s nuclear activities.
Conclusion
Iran uses its nuclear activities as a bargaining counter to seek an agreement that will best serve its interests. So, the early conclusion of the deal is important to turn the clock back on Iran’s nuclear activities.
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Back2Basics: What is JCPOA
- The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) is a agreement reached by Iran and the P5+1 (China, France, Germany, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States) on July 14, 2015.
- The nuclear deal was endorsed by UN Security Council Resolution 2231, adopted on July 20, 2015.
- Iran’s compliance with the nuclear-related provisions of the JCPOA is verified by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) according to certain requirements set forth in the agreement.
- Despite Iran’s verified compliance with the deal, the United States unilaterally withdrew from the JCPOA on May 8, 2018, and subsequently re-imposed all U.S. sanctions on Iran lifted by the accord.
- Then-U.S. President Donald Trump cited the deal’s sunset provisions and its failure to account for Iran’s ballistic missile program, among other things, as impetus for withdrawal from the accord.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Agri-GDP
Mains level: Paper 3- Self reliance in food
Context
For the Amrit Kaal (next 25 years) that the government has announced, we need to be self-reliant not just in missiles (defence equipment) but also in meals (food).
What does self-reliance in food mean?
- Its true meaning lies in specialising in commodities in which we have a comparative advantage, export them, and import those in which we don’t have a significant comparative advantage.
- Self-reliance in food does not mean that we have to produce everything ourselves at home, irrespective of the cost.
- If some protection is needed for new areas to develop (infant industry argument), that may be okay.
- But one should not aspire to be self-sufficient behind high tariff walls.
Importance of agri-R&D
- What is it that gives a country an edge over others in attaining comparative advantage?
- There is ample literature to show that agri-R&D raises total factor productivity and makes agriculture more competitive globally.
- If India wants to be fully self-reliant in food, it is generally agreed that it must invest at least 1 per cent of its agri-GDP in agri-R&D.
- The Economic Survey (2021-22) explicitly highlighted the correlation between spending on agri-R&D and agricultural growth.
- Low expenditure on agri-R&D: But the budgets of both the Union government and the states put together reveal that this expenditure on agri-R&D and education hovers around 0.6 per cent of agri-GDP.
- This is way below the minimum cut off point of 1 per cent and government policy must urgently work towards raising this substantially.
- There are some global and local companies like Bayer, Syngenta, MAHYCO, Jain Irrigation, and Mahindra and Mahindra that spend a considerable amount of their turnover on R&D programmes and developing high-tech inputs.
- The USP of these companies is that they develop technology that increases productivity while addressing the current challenges of limited net sown area, depleting water resources, vulnerability to climate change, and the need to produce nutrient-rich food.
Way forward
- Role of private sector: The private sector need to come forward and help India attain supremacy in agri-R&D and innovation systems and a hub for exports and agri-technology.
- Increase expenditure on Agri-R&D and education: The need of the hour is to focus on increasing expenditure on ARE and other development projects, which can aid in the sustainable growth of the agriculture sector.
- India’s budget allocations in the agri-food space should thrive on creating “more from less”.
- There is a need to work on building long-term sustainable solutions that have an aggressive approach to implementing relevant policies and developing new ones.
- India’s current budgetary allocation strategy and trends need to be reoriented to ensure that there is more room for R&D expenditure by the government.
- Incentivise private companies for R&D: In addition to this, the government should come out with policies that incentivise private companies to expand their R&D programmes and invest more financial resources on development projects, which have the potential to overcome the challenges of the current agrarian setup of India.
Conclusion
If India wants to be fully self-reliant in food, it must focus on agri-R&D and increase allocation in the Budget.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Affinity Test
Mains level: Scheduled Tribes and issues
The Supreme Court wants to fix foolproof parameters to determine if a person belongs to a Scheduled Tribe and is entitled to the benefits due to the community as it is no longer sure about an “affinity test”.
What is the Affinity Test?
- Affinity Test is used to shift through anthropological and ethnological traits to link a person to a tribe.
- There is the likelihood that contact with other cultures, migration and modernization would have erased the traditional characteristics of a tribe.
- The claim by an applicant that he is a part of a Scheduled Tribe and is entitled to the benefit extended to that tribe, cannot per se be disregarded on the ground that his present traits do not match his tribes.
- These include peculiar anthropological and ethnological traits, deity, rituals, mode of marriage, death ceremonies, method of burial of dead bodies etc.
- Worship is an integral part of the life of a community and tribes have specific modes which need to be ascertained by the officers who decide the claims (for ST status).
Who are the Scheduled Tribes?
- The term ‘Scheduled Tribes’ first appeared in the Constitution of India.
- Article 366 (25) defined scheduled tribes as “such tribes or tribal communities or parts of or groups within such tribes or tribal communities as are deemed under Article 342 to be Scheduled Tribes for the purposes of this constitution”.
- Article 342, which is reproduced below, prescribes procedure to be followed in the matter of specification of scheduled tribes.
- The first specification of Scheduled Tribes in relation to a particular State/ Union Territory is by a notified order of the President, after consultation with the State governments concerned.
- These orders can be modified subsequently only through an Act of Parliament.
- The above Article also provides for listing of scheduled tribes State/Union Territory wise and not on an all India basis.
What did the Supreme Court say?
- It has been considered it best to refer the question of fixing the parameters to a larger Bench.
- The Bench emphasized that the issue was a “matter of importance” when it came to the issuance of caste certificates.
- The affinity test may be used to corroborate the documentary evidence and should not be the sole criteria to reject a claim the apex court had warned.
Why discuss this?
- The Supreme Court has decided to refer the question to a larger Bench for an authoritative decision.
- It realised that the courts were faced with varied opinions about the efficacy of the affinity test.
Status of STs in India
- The Census 2011 has revealed that there are said to be 705 ethnic groups notified as Scheduled Tribes (STs).
- Over 10 crore Indians are notified as STs, of which 1.04 crore live in urban areas.
- The STs constitute 8.6% of the population and 11.3% of the rural population.
Precursor to this Judgements
- On one side, a full Bench of the Bombay High Court in Shilpa Vishnu Thakur v State of Maharashtra accepted the “relevance and importance of the affinity test”.
- The full Bench, in a decision in 2009, held that the affinity test was an “integral part” of the verification process for caste certificates.
- Scrutiny committees could easily determine the authenticity of a claim by running an affinity test on the basis of ethnicity and anthropology.
- The HC had said that the term ‘affinity’ meant the ‘association’ of the applicant for a caste certificate with a Scheduled Tribe into which he or she has been born.
- However, two years later, in 2011, the Supreme Court adopted a cautionary note. It indicated that the affinity test may have run its course.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: NRI vs OCI
Mains level: Voting rights issue
The Union Government was exploring the possibility of allowing online voting for non-resident Indians (NRI).
Why in news?
- The matter of to ease voting for NRIs comes in the wake of a proposal made by the Election Commission of India (ECI).
- The Law Ministry in November 2020 decided to extend the facility of postal ballots to eligible NRIs for the various State Assembly elections to be held in 2021.
- The ECI then, had proposed amending the Conduct of Election Rules, 1961, in order to allow this facility.
NRI vs. OCI
- The term NRI is a residential status designed by the Income Tax Department of the Indian government and has efficiency only during filing Income Tax returns.
- On the other hand, OCI is an immigration status or special visa in layman’s language provided to foreign nationals of Indian origin by the Indian government to work or live indefinitely.
How can overseas voters currently vote in Indian elections?
- Prior to 2010, an Indian citizen who is an eligible voter and was residing abroad for more than six months, would not have been able to vote in elections.
- This was because the NRI’s name was deleted from electoral rolls if he or she stayed outside the country for more than six months at a stretch.
- After the passing of the Representation of the People (Amendment) Act, 2010, eligible NRIs who had stayed abroad beyond six months have been able to vote, but only in person at the polling station where they have been enrolled as an overseas elector.
- Just as any resident Indian citizen above the age of 18 years) is eligible to vote in the constituency where she/he is a resident, overseas Indian citizens are also eligible to do so.
- In the case of overseas voters, their address mentioned in the passport is taken as the place of ordinary residence and chosen as the constituency for the overseas voter to enroll in.
How has the existing facility worked so far?
- Hike in voters: From merely 11,846 overseas voters who registered in 2014, the number went up to close to a lakh in 2019. But the bulk of these voters (nearly 90%) belonged to just one State — Kerala.
- Section 20-1A, Part III of the RP Act: It addresses this to some extent by qualifying “a person absenting himself temporarily from his place of ordinary residence shall not by reason thereof cease to be ordinarily resident therein.
- Proxy provisions: The Bill provided for overseas voters to be able to appoint a proxy to cast their votes on their behalf, subject to conditions laid down in the Conduct of Election Rules, 1961.
- Electronically Transmitted Postal Ballot System: The ECI then approached the government to permit NRIs to vote via postal ballots similar to a system that is already used by service voters, (a member of the armed Forces of the Union; or a member of a force to which provisions of the Army Act, 1950 (46 of 1950) which is ETPBS. The ECI proposed to extend this facility to overseas voters as well.
What is ETPBS and how does it function?
- The Conduct of Election Rules, 1961 was amended in 2016 to allow service voters to use the ETPBS.
- Under this system, postal ballots are sent electronically to registered service voters.
- The service voter can then download the ETPB (along with a declaration form and covers), register their mandate on the ballot and send it to the returning officer of the constituency via ordinary mail.
- The post will include an attested declaration form (after being signed by the voter in the presence of an appointed senior officer who will attest it).
- The postal ballot must reach the returning officer by 8 a.m. on the day of the counting of results.
- In the case of NRI voters, those seeking to vote through ETPBS will have to inform the returning officer at least five days after notification of the election.
Will this facility be available to all overseas voters across countries?
- There were news reports that the ECI had indicated to the Ministry of External Affairs that it would want postal voting introduced on a pilot basis in non-Gulf countries.
- But the ECI had asked the Law Ministry to explore the possibility of extending postal ballots to overseas electors and not restrict it to any particular country.
- In March 2021, the Ministry of External Affairs informed ECI that the implementation could require to overcome “huge logistical challenges” and needs “a realistic assessment of requirements”
Are postal ballots a viable means of voting?
- The ETPBS method allowed for greater turnout among service voters in the 2019 Lok Sabha election.
- With the increasing mobility of citizens across countries for reasons related to work, the postal ballot method has been internationally recognized.
- A postal ballot mechanism that allows for proper authentication of the ballot at designated consular/embassy offices and an effective postal system should ease this process for NRIs.
Back2Basics: NRI vs OCI
Non-Resident Indian (NRI)
- To mention it, NRI is someone who is not a resident of India.
- However, the law is much more complicated and must be delved deeper to gain an inclusive insight into the sector.
- A person is considered a resident of India if he/she has been staying in India for a minimum tenure of 182 days during the previous financial year of a particular year. OR
- A person living in India for a total of 365 days during the previous four financial years and a minimum of 60 days during the last financial years is considered a citizen for a particular year.
- Now an NRI or a non-resident of India is eligible to pay charges for only the first two situations, which means either the income received or earned in India.
- Therefore, the NRI status also influences the enjoyable rights of that person.
Overseas Citizen of India (OCI)
- OCI is a card issued by the government of India that denotes that a non-resident or foreigner has been permitted to stay and work within Indian boundaries.
- Hence, this card provides foreigners with an immigration status without any limited tenure.
- There are cases where PIOs of specific categories are allowed for OCI cards that have migrated from India to foreign countries (except Pakistan and Bangladesh) if the other government agrees for dual citizenship.
- An individual holding an OCI card can be an overseas citizen of India in the layman’s language.
- So an OCI is not a citizen of India, but the Indian government has given the cardholder permission to reside and work within the boundaries of India.
- Residents migrating from Pakistan and Bangladesh are not eligible for holding the OCI card. Even if their parents are citizens of both countries, the applicants will be denied having an OCI card.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: CSWS
Mains level: Not Much
A corner-shot weapon system (CSWS), designed and developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), is at an advanced stage of being inducted by the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and the Jammu and Kashmir police.
What is CSWS?
- The CSWS is a special purpose weapon designed by the Armament Research and Development Establishment (ARDE), Pune.
- It can engage targets located around the corners as the system bends and captures video feed thus saving soldiers from any surprise counter-attack and is best suited for urban, close quarter situations.
- It is equipped with weapon, camera, laser, infrared illuminator and torch in front portion, while display, electronics, battery and swivelling mechanism are located at rear portion.
- The body is made from high-grade aluminium alloy to make it lighter and durable.
Key features
- Day-night firing capability, colour display, digital zoom, zeroing facility, hot keys, high power battery along with status display and compliance with JSS 5855 makes it a very potent system for security forces.
- It is very helpful in Counter Insurgency and Counter Terror (CI/CT) operations.
- This indigenously developed system has many superior features compared to its contemporary international systems and available for 9 mm GLOCK 17/19 and 1A1 Auto Pistol variant.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: T-Cell Immunity
Mains level: Long term health impact of COVID
A new study from Wuhan has studied the role of T-Cell Immunity against prolonged and sever COVID-19.
What are T-Cells?
- Like B cells, which produce antibodies, T cells are central players in the immune response to viral infection.
- For your immune system to fight off any kind of invader, such as a virus, you need a kind of white blood cell called a B cell, which makes antibodies, and a similar-looking white blood cell called a T cell.
- T cells can play different roles altogether.
- They can act as “killer cells”, attacking cells which have been infected with a virus or another kind of pathogen, or they can act as “helper cells” by supporting B cells to produce antibodies.
How do they function?
- Alongside antibodies, the immune system produces a battalion of T cells that can target viruses.
- Some of these, known as killer T cells (or CD8+ T cells), seek out and destroy cells that are infected with the virus.
- Others, called helper T cells (or CD4+ T cells) are important for various immune functions, including stimulating the production of antibodies and killer T cells.
- T cells do not prevent infection, because they kick into action only after a virus has infiltrated the body. But they are important for clearing an infection that has already started.
- In the case of COVID-19, killer T cells could mean the difference between a mild infection and a severe one that requires hospital treatment.
What did the latest research find?
- The researchers found that neutralising antibodies were detectable even 12 months after infection in “most individuals”.
- It remained stable 6-12 months after initial infection in people younger than 60 years.
- The researchers found that “multifunctional T cell responses were detected for all SARS-CoV-2 viral proteins tested”.
- And most importantly, the magnitude of T cell responses did not show any difference immaterial of how severe the disease was.
- While the ability of antibodies to neutralise was nearly absent against the Beta variant, it was reduced in the case of the Delta variant.
Neutralizing antibodies
- SARS-CoV-2-specific neutralising antibody and T cell responses were retained 12 months after initial infection.
- Neutralising antibodies to the D614G, Beta, and Delta were reduced compared with those for the original strain, and were diminished in general.
- Memory T cell responses to the original strain were not disrupted by new variants.
- The findings show that robust antibody and T cell immunity against SARS-CoV-2 is present in majority of recovered patients 12 months after moderate-to-critical infection.
Robustness of antibodies
- The study reveals the durability and robustness of the T cell responses against variants, including Delta, even after one year of infection.
- Most importantly, the robust and longstanding T cell responses were seen in people who have not been reinfected or vaccinated.
- This would mean even in the absence of vaccination, a person who has been infected by the virus even one year ago would have robust immune responses.
- It would offer protection against disease progressing to a severe form requiring hospitalization.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Olive Ridley Turtles
Mains level: Not Much
About 2.45 lakh Olive Ridley sea turtles crawled ashore on the Nasi-II beach of the Gahirmatha Marine Sanctuary along the Odisha coast for laying eggs, marking one of the largest opening day arrivals of turtles at the site.
Olive Ridley Turtles
- The Olive Ridley Sea Turtle (Lepidochelys olivacea), also known as the Pacific ridley sea turtle, is a medium-sized species of sea turtle found in warm and tropical waters, primarily in the Pacific and Indian Oceans.
- In the Indian Ocean, the majority of olive ridleys nest in two or three large groups at Rushikulya rookery near Gahirmatha in Odisha.
- The coast of Odisha in India is the largest mass nesting site for the olive ridley, followed by the coasts of Mexico and Costa Rica.
- The species is listed as Vulnerable in the IUCN Red List, Appendix 1 in CITES, and Schedule 1 in Wildlife Protection Act, 1972.
Special feature: Mass nesting
- They are best known for their behavior of synchronized nesting in mass numbers, termed Arribadas.
- Interestingly, females return to the very same beach from where they first hatched, to lay their eggs.
- They lay their eggs in conical nests about one and a half feet deep which they laboriously dig with their hind flippers.
- They hatch in 45 to 60 days, depending on the temperature of the sand and atmosphere during the incubation period.
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