Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Digitization of Agriculture
In June this year, two significant documents relating to the Indian agriculture sector were released.
What are the reports about?
- The first is a consultation paper on the India Digital Ecosystem of Agriculture (IDEA) and the second on Indian Agriculture: Ripe for Disruption from a private organisation, Bain and Company.
- Through their work, these reports have depicted the agriculture reforms announced by the union government as a game-changer in the agriculture sector.
Challenges highlighted
The major challenges of the agriculture sector are:
- Food Sufficiency but Nutrition Deficiency
- High import of edible oil and oilseeds
- Yield plateaus
- Degrading soil, Water stress
- Inadequate market infra/linkages
- Unpredictable, volatile prices
- Post-harvest losses, wastages
- Lack of crop planning due to information asymmetry
Key takeaway: Way for doubling farmers income
- These reports in short argues that benefiting from the huge investments into the agri-ecosystem, doubling farmers’ income targets can be achieved in near future.
- The Indian agriculture sector in future will encompass farm to fork and pave the way for a single national market with a national platform with better connection between producer and consumers.
The forecast
- The Bain report is a data-based prediction on agri-business scenarios, anchored to the agricultural set-up at present and predicting its future trajectories in another 20 years.
- It includes targeting the production of alternative proteins, and food cell-based food/ingredients and initiating ocean farming, etc.
- The report has a ‘today forward– future back approach’ and predicts a drastic investment opportunity development by 2025.
- The agriculture sector (currently worth $370 billion), is estimated to receive an additional $35 billion investment.
The two enabling conditions for such investment opportunities are:
- Changes in the regulatory framework, especially recent changes in the Farm Acts and
- Digital disruption
The IDEA of integration
- Digital disruption: The blueprint of “digital agriculture” is similar to the digital disruption mentioned in the Bain report.
- Integration: Eventually, the farmer and the improvement of farmers’ livelihood is the aim of the IDEA concept and it is proposed to happen through tight integration of agri-tech innovation and the agriculture industry.
- Enabling conditions: To be precise, the IDEA concept profounds the creation of second enabling conditions (which is described in the Bain report).
- Openness of data: The IDEA principles explicitly talk about openness of data, which means open to businesses and farmers, indicating the kind of integration it aims at.
- Value-added innovative services: by agri-tech industries and start-ups are an integral part of the IDEA architecture.
- Data architecture: The services listed in the document (to be available on the platform) are equally important data for farmers and businesses.
A thread of digital disruption
- The IT industry has opposition to IDEA mainly due to the ethics of creating a Unique Farmer ID based on one’s Aadhaar number and also the potential for data misuse.
- Beyond the news coverage about the prospects of achieving the goal of Doubling Farmers Income on which the present government has almost lost its hope.
Issues with these reports
- The Bain report has not been widely discussed — at least in the public domain.
- The assumptions used by authors especially for its ‘future back approach’, need more or less focusing on widespread food production in controlled environments.
- The emission, energy, and other resource footprints and sustainability issues around these techniques are not adequately studied.
Yet these reports are important
- The report has convincingly demonstrated the business opportunity available in supply chains between farm to APMC mandi and mandi to the customer.
- This can be realised with the support of digital disruption and the latest agriculture reforms.
- Both these reports heavily rely on digital disruption to improve farmers’ livelihoods, without discussing how much farmers will be prepared to benefit from the emerging business.
An unconvincing ‘how’
- Digital divide: The fact is that a majority of small and marginal farmers are not technology-savvy.
- No capacity building: That most of them are under-educated for capacity building is ignored amidst these ambitious developments.
- Unrealistic assumptions: The Bain report relies on the general assumption that more investments into the agriculture sector will benefit farmers; ‘but how’ has not been convincingly answered.
- Overemphasis on technology: Similarly, how the technology fix will help resolve all the issues of Indian agriculture listed at the beginning of the report is unclear in the IDEA concept.
- Reluctance by farmers: These reports ignore the protest of farmers against the reforms without considering it as a barrier or risk factor resulting in a repealing of these new farm laws.
Way ahead: Focus on the farmer
- A data revolution is inevitable in the agriculture sector, given its socio-political complexities.
- However, we cannot just count on technology fixes and agri-business investments for improving farmers’ livelihoods.
- There need to be immense efforts to improve the capacities of the farmers in India – at least until the educated young farmers replace the existing under-educated small and medium farmers.
- This capacity building can be done through a mixed approach through FPOs and other farmers’ associations where technical support is available for farmers.
Conclusion
- Considering the size of the agriculture sector of the country this is not going to be an easy task but would need a separate program across the country with considerable investment.
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More than half of the country’s 135 coal-fired power plants are running on fumes – as coal stocks run critically low. They have fuel stocks of less than four days, government data shows.
Coal shortage in India
- In a country where 70% of the electricity is generated using coal, this is a major cause for concern as it threatens to derail India’s post-pandemic economic recovery.
- Utilities are scrambling to secure coal supplies as inventories hit critical lows after a surge in power demand from industries and sluggish imports due to record global prices push power plants to the brink.
How did the crisis escalate?
- As India’s economy picked up after a deadly second wave of Covid-19, demand for power rose sharply.
- Power consumption in the last two months alone jumped by almost 17%, compared to the same period in 2019.
- At the same time global coal prices increased by 40% and India’s imports fell to a two-year low.
- India is the world’s second largest importer of coal despite also being home to the fourth largest coal reserves in the world.
- Power plants that usually rely on imports are now heavily dependent on Indian coal, adding further pressure to already stretched domestic supplies.
What is the likely impact?
- Experts say importing more coal to make up for domestic shortages is not an option at present.
- India has seen shortages in the past, but what’s unprecedented this time is coal is really expensive now.
- Businesses at the end of the day pass on these costs to consumers, so there is an inflationary impact – both direct and indirect that could potentially come from this.
- If the crisis continues, a surge in the cost of electricity will be felt by consumers.
- Retail inflation is already high as everything from oil to food has become more expensive.
Other reasons for this crisis
- In recent years, India’s production has lagged as the country tried to reduce its dependence on coal to meet climate targets.
- Prices of power-generation fuels are surging globally as electricity demand rebounds with industrial growth, tightening supplies of coal and liquefied natural gas.
- India is competing against buyers such as China, the world’s largest coal consumer, which is under pressure to ramp up imports amid a severe power crunch.
- Rising oil, gas, coal and power prices are feeding inflationary pressures worldwide and slowing the economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Challenges posed
- The desire to cut its reliance on heavily polluting coal burning power plants has been a major challenge for the government in recent years.
- The question of how India can achieve a balance between meeting demand for electricity from its almost 1.4bn people has to be answered.
What can the government do?
- Experts advocate a mix of coal and clean sources of energy as a possible long-term solution.
- It’s not completely possible to transition and it’s never a good strategy to transition 100% to renewables without a backup.
- Long term investment in multiple power sources aside a crisis like the current one can be averted with better planning.
- There is need for closer coordination between Coal India Limited – the largest supplier of coal in the country and other stakeholders.
- For now, the government is working with state-run enterprises to ramp up production and mining to reduce the gap between supply and demand.
Way forward
- This is a global phenomenon, one not specifically restricted to India.
- It is unclear how long the current situation will last.
- With the monsoon on its way out and winter approaching, the demand for power usually falls.
- So, the mismatch between demand and supply may iron out to some extent.
Try answering this PYQ:
Consider the following statements:
- Coal sector was nationalized by the Government of India under Indira Gandhi.
- Now, coal blocks are allocated on lottery basis.
- Till recently, India imported coal to meet the shortages of domestic supply, but now India is self- sufficient in coal production.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
(a) 1 only
(b) 2 and 3 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: Indus valley civilization
Mains level: Key developments on IVC
Researchers at the Central University of Kerala (CUK) have found that domestication of sheep had taken place in the Indian subcontinent, especially in the Indus Valley Civilisation (IVC) regions in the 6th or 7th millennium BC.
Animal domestication in IVC
A number of domesticated animal species have been found in excavations at the Harappan cities.
- The Indian humped cattle (Bos indicus) were most frequently encountered, though whether along with a humpless variety, such as that shown on the seals, is not clearly established.
- The buffalo (B. bubalis) is less common and may have been wild.
- Sheep and goats occur, as does the Indian pig (Sus cristatus).
- The camel is present, as well as the ass (Equus asinus).
- Bones of domestic fowl are not uncommon; these fowl were domesticated from the indigenous jungle fowl.
- Finally, the cat and the dog were both evidently domesticated.
- Present, but not necessarily as a domesticated species, is the elephant.
- The horse is possibly present but extremely rare and apparently only present in the last stages of the Harappan Period.
Key findings of the study
- The study has found genetic evidence that sheep had been domesticated in the region in contrast to the general belief that they were domesticated then in West Asia alone.
- India ranks second in terms of sheep population, represented by as many as 44 well-described breeds in addition to several nondescript species.
- It highlights that genetic diversity and phylogeography of Indian sheep breeds remained poorly understood, particularly the south Indian breed.
How was the classification held?
- Researchers retrieved the mitochondrial DNA sequences of another 11 breeds for analysis, which further strengthened their study.
- The researchers analysed these sequences along with published data of domestic and wild sheep from different countries, including India.
- The haplotype diversity observed was relatively high in Indian sheep, which were classified into the three known major mitochondrial DNA lineages namely A, B, and C.
Diversity among Indian Sheeps
- It was found that lineage A was predominant among Indian sheep, whereas lineages B and C were observed at low frequencies.
- Particularly lineage C was restricted to the breeds of northern and eastern India.
- The study examined the south Indian breeds, provided strong genetic evidence that the Indian subcontinent was one of the domestication centres of the lineage A sheep.
- When DNA sequences were compared with other breeds across the world, it was found that the Indian sheep haplotypes were unique and highly diverse.
- The high genetic diversity and statistical analysis suggest that sheep was domesticated in the country.
- The wild Sheep, O. vignei blanfordi in Mehrgarh [Pakistan], may be a potential progenitor of domestic sheep lineage.
Breeds studied
- Among the south Indian breeds, except for Mandya, all others, notably Bellary, Coimbatore, Hassan, Katchaikatty Black, Nilgri, Ramnad White, and Vembur, were fully encompassed with lineage A.
- However, Kenguri Kilakarsal, Madras Red, Mecheri, and Tiruchy Black breeds, had very low occurrences of lineage B mitochondria.
- In contrast, a majority of individuals of Mandya and Sonadi breeds carried a relatively high frequency of lineage B.
- In terms of the conservation of sheep genetic resources, these two breeds are important with respect to maternal lineages.
Try answering this PYQ:
With reference to the difference between the culture of Rigvedic Aryans and Indus Valley people, which of the following statements is/are correct?
- Rigvedic Aryans used the coat of mail and helmet in warfare whereas the people of Indus Valley Civilization did not leave any evidence of using them.
- Rigvedic Aryans knew gold, silver and copper whereas Indus Valley people knew only copper and iron.
- Rigvedic Aryans had domesticated the horse whereas there is no evidence of Indus Valley people having been aware of this animal.
Select the correct answer using the code given below:
(a) 1 only
(b) 2 and 3 only
(c) 1 and 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: NATO
Mains level: Not Much
NATO has withdrew the accreditation of eight Russian officials to the military alliance in response to a rise in malign activities by Moscow.
NATO
- NATO is a military alliance established by the North Atlantic Treaty (also called the Washington Treaty) of April 4, 1949.
- It sought to create a counterweight to Soviet armies stationed in Central and Eastern Europe after World War II.
- Its original members were Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
- NATO has spread a web of partners, namely Egypt, Israel, Sweden, Austria, Switzerland and Finland.
Why was it founded?
Ans. Communist sweep in Europe post-WWII and rise of Soviet dominance
- After World War II in 1945, Western Europe was economically exhausted and militarily weak, and newly powerful communist parties had arisen in France and Italy.
- By contrast, the Soviet Union had emerged from the war with its armies dominating all the states of central and Eastern Europe.
- By 1948 communists under Moscow’s sponsorship had consolidated their control of the governments of those countries and suppressed all non-communist political activity.
- What became known as the Iron Curtain, a term popularized by Winston Churchill, had descended over central and Eastern Europe.
Ideology of NATO
- The NATO ensures that the security of its European member countries is inseparably linked to that of its North American member countries.
- It commits the Allies to democracy, individual liberty and the rule of law, as well as to peaceful resolution of disputes.
- It also provides a unique forum for dialogue and cooperation across the Atlantic.
The Article 5
- The heart of NATO is expressed in Article 5, in which the signatory members agree that an armed attack against one or more of them in Europe or North America shall be considered an attack against them all.
Why in news now?
- The relationship between NATO and Russia is at its lowest point since the end of the Cold War.
- The NATO (rather US) sees their aggressive actions, not least against Ukraine, but also the significant military buildup and violations of important arms control agreements.
- NATO suspended practical cooperation with Russia in 2014 after it annexed Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: River Ranching
Mains level: Fisheries development
The Union Minister for Fisheries, Animal Husbandry & Dairying, is set to launch the River Ranching Programme in Uttar Pradesh under the Namami Gange Programme.
What is River Ranching?
- River Ranching is a form of aquaculture in which a population of a fish species (such as salmon) is held in captivity for the first stage of their lives.
- They are then released, and later harvested as adults when they return from the sea to their freshwater birthplace to spawn.
Objective
The key objectives of the program are:
- To sustain and conserve the biodiversity in the river.
- Facilitate regular stocking of fingerlings of cultivable carps to enhance productivity
- Increase fish production
- Enhance income and livelihood opportunities to communities’ dependent on these resources
Why need such a program?
- River ranching helps in achieving sustainable fisheries, reducing habitat degradation, conserving biodiversity, maximising social-economic benefits and would also remove factors causing pollution.
- In this activity, different species of fish are released in the river, which destroy factors that increase the level of nitrogen.
- These fishes will also aid in maintaining the cleanliness of the river as they feed on organic remnants.
Where is the scheme being launched?
- In Uttar Pradesh, about 15 lakh fish fingerlings of native carp species shall be simultaneously released into the river in 12 districts by the department.
- These districts include Bulandshahr/Hapur, Hardoi, Bijnor, Amroha, Fatehpur, Kanpur, Badayun, Kaushambi, Prayagraj, Mirzapur, Varanasi and Ghazipur.
- Four other states namely Uttarakhand, Orissa, Tripura and Chhattisgarh will also witness the launching of nationwide River Ranching program.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: National Digital Livestock Mission
Mains level: Not Much
The Union Minister of State Fisheries, Animal Husbandry & Dairying unveiled the National Digital Livestock Mission Blueprint.
National Digital Livestock Mission
- The NDLM would be a digital platform developed by Dept. of Dairy and Animal Husbandry on the foundation of the existing Information Network for Animal Productivity and Health (INAPH).
- It aims to create a farmer-centric, technology-enabled ecosystem where the farmers are able to realize better income through livestock activities with the right information.
- The bedrock of NDLM will be the unique identification of all livestock, which will be the foundation for all the state and national level programmes including domestic and international trade.
- The farmers will be able to effortlessly access the markets, irrespective of their location or holdings through this digital platform as a wide-range of stake-holders will be connected in this ecosystem.
- This system will also include robust animal breeding systems, nutrition, disease surveillance, disease control programmes and a traceability mechanism for animals and animal products.
Why need such mission?
- The livestock sector has a unique combination of being the backbone of rural livelihood.
- The growth would have been a lot better if there were concerted efforts to harmonise programmes across the country in order to create an ecosystem that is conducive for growth of the sector.
- This has been the main idea behind the deployment of NDLM, keeping the welfare of the farmer at the core.
Back2Basics: National Livestock Mission
- National Livestock Mission is an initiative of the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare.
- The mission, which commenced from 2014-15, has the objective of sustainable development of the livestock sector.
- NABARD is the subsidy channelising agency for following schemes, under Entrepreneurship Development & Employment Generation (EDEG) component of National Livestock Mission.
- Poultry Venture Capital Fund (PVCF)
- Integrated Development of Small Ruminants and Rabbit (IDSRR)
- Pig Development (PD)
- Salvaging and Rearing of Male Buffalo Calves (SRMBC)
- Effective Animal Waste Management
- Construction of Storage Facility for Feed and Fodder
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: High Ambition Coalition (HAC)
Mains level: NA
India has officially joined the High Ambition Coalition for Nature and People, a group of more than 70 countries encouraging the adoption of the global goal to protect 30×30.
High Ambition Coalition (HAC)
Aim: To promote an international agreement to protect at least 30 % the of world’s land and ocean by 2030
- The HAC is an informal group of approximately 61 countries within the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
- It is committed to advancing progressive proposals on climate ambition.
- The HAC was founded by the Republic of the Marshall Islands in 2014 with the aim of ensuring the Paris Agreement, adopted in 2015, was as ambitious as possible.
- The Republic of the Marshall Islands serves as the convener and secretariat of the HAC.
- The global 30×30 goal is currently a centerpiece of the treaty.
Members
- HAC members currently include a mix of countries in the global north and south; European, Latin American, Africa and Asia countries are among the members.
- India is the first of the BRICS bloc of major emerging economies (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) to join the HAC.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: WTO
Mains level: Paper 3- Challenges facing WTO
Context
Created in 1995, during the heyday of neoliberalism, the World Trade Organization (WTO) became a shining example of triumphant free-market capitalism. Now, the WTO is facing a serious existential crisis.
Challenges facing WTO
1) Disfunctional appellate body
- The United States, which played a pivotal role in establishing the WTO, seems to have lost interest in it.
- The feeling in the US is that the WTO hasn’t served the American national interest by failing to stem China’s rise and regularly indicting the U.S. in several trade disputes.
- The continuation of the U.S. policy on the WTO is most evident in the sustained crippling of the Appellate Body (AB).
- Three out of seven AB members serve on any one case.
- However, since December 2019, the AB has stopped functioning due to rising vacancies.
- Countries now have an easy option not to comply with the WTO panel decisions by appealing into the void.
- If no solution is found soon, the WTO’s rules-based order will start crumbling.
2) Public stockholding for food security purposes
- No solution has been found to the public stockholding for food security purposes despite a clear mandate to do so in the 2015 Nairobi ministerial meeting.
- This is of paramount concern for countries like India that use Minimum Support Price (MSP)-backed mechanisms to procure foodgrains.
- With rising prices and the need to do higher procurement to support farmers and provide food to the poor at subsidised prices, India might breach the cap.
- Although countries have agreed that legal suits will not be brought if countries breach the cap (the so-called ‘peace clause’), it is imperative to find a permanent solution such as not counting MSP-provided budgetary support as trade-distorting.
3) Disagreement on TRIPS waiver for Covid-19
- The WTO member countries continue to disagree on the need of waiving the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) agreement for COVID-19 related medical products.
- It was exactly a year back when India and South Africa proposed a TRIPS waiver to overcome intellectual property (IP)-related obstacles in increasing accessibility of COVID-19 medical products, including vaccines.
4) Regulating irrational subsidies provided for fishing
- Irrational subsidies provided for fishing that has led to the overexploitation of marine resources by countries like China, which is the largest catcher and exporter of fish.
- The WTO is close to signing a deal on regulating irrational subsidies
- This agreement should strike a balance between conserving ocean resources and the livelihood concerns of millions of small and marginal fishermen in countries like India.
5) Fragmentation of global governance due to plurilateral trade agreements
- The gridlock at the WTO has led to the emergence of mega plurilateral trade agreements like the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) and Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) agreement.
- These mega plurilateral agreements not only fragment the global governance on international trade but also push the multilateral order to the margin, converting the WTO to what some call an “institutional zombie”.
Conclusion
Notwithstanding its flaws, the WTO is the only forum where developing countries like India, not party to any mega plurilateral trade agreements, can push for evolving an inclusive global trading order that responds to the systemic imbalances of extant globalisation. What is at stake is the future of trade multilateralism and not just an institution, in which India has a huge interest.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Distortions in the Global Order
This article discusses new situations prompted by the tectonic shifts in India’s internal and external environment to take another look at India’s path to power in a world between orders.
New global order: No Order
- Multipolarity: The world is today adrift. We are neither in a bipolar Cold War nor in a multipolar world, though perhaps tending towards a world of several power centres.
- Lack of cohesion: The lack of a coherent international response to the COVID-19 pandemic is proof of an absence of international order and of the ineffectiveness of multilateral institutions.
- Climate ignorance: So is the ineffective international response to climate change and other transnational threats.
What are the major shifts in global order?
- Secular stagnation
- Retreat from globalisation
- Regionalisation of trade
- Shifting balance of power
- Rise of China and others
- Structural China-United States strategic rivalry
All above factors have shifted the geopolitical and economic centres of gravity from the Atlantic to Asia.
Major Concerns
- Chauvinism: Inequality between and within states has bred a narrow nationalism and parochialism.
- Existential threats: We are entering a new polarised information age, and face ecological crises of the Anthropocene, making climate change an existential threat.
Asia as the nucleus: With focus on China
- Shift of focus by the US: Over the next decade we expect Asia to remain the cockpit of geopolitical rivalries, and that the US remains the most formidable power, though its relative power is declining.
- China at the centre: China sees a window of opportunity but acts in a hurry, suggesting that she believes that window may close or is already closing due to push back from the West and others.
China’s expansionism
- China’s crowded geography constrains her both on land and at sea.
- Hence it expects her profile and power to continue expanding, particularly in our periphery.
- The result is likely continued friction, some cooperation, and quasi-adversarial relations between India and China, which others will take advantage of.
- Overall, we do not expect conventional conflict between the great powers in Asia, though other forms and levels of violence and contention in the international system will rise, with Taiwan a special case.
Opportunities in disguise for India
- The uncertainty and changing geopolitical environment clearly pose considerable challenges to Indian policy.
- However, it also throws up certain opportunities, enhancing our strategic options and diplomatic space, if we adjust policies internally and externally, particularly in the subcontinent.
How can India reap the benefits?
- Enhancing ties with the US: Increasing security congruence with the US could enable growing cooperation in fields significant for India’s transformation: energy, trade, investment, education and health.
- Climate cooperation: Other areas in which India and the U.S. could increase cooperation are: climate change and energy, tech solutions for renewable energy, and on digital cooperation.
- Neighbourhood first: Several middle powers like Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Indonesia in the neighbourhood are now India’s natural partners.
- Digital space: This time of transition between orders is also when new standards and norms are being developed, particularly in the digital space. India can and must be present at the creation.
- Maritime cooperation: At sea, the balance is today more favourable to us than before, possibly more so than on the continent. India must bat for the creation of a Maritime Commission in IOR.
Bottlenecks in India’s neighbourhood policy
- Over securitisation of policy: towards our neighbours has driven trade underground, criminalised our borders.
- Conducive environment for entry of China: This has enabled the large-scale entry of Chinese goods destroying local industry in the northeast.
- Lack of self-strengthening: While lessening dependence on China, and seeking external balancing, our primary effort has to concentrate on self-strengthening.
- Lack of socio-political enterprise: If there is one country which in terms of its size, population, economic potential, scientific and technological capabilities can match or even surpass China, it is India.
Way forward for India
(A) Bringing multipolarity in Asia.
- The way forward should be based on the core strategic principles in Non-Alignment 2.0 which are still relevant: independent judgement, developing our capacities, and creating an equitable and enabling international order for India’s transformation.
- Today’s situation makes India’s strategic autonomy all the more essential.
(B) Making an issue-based coalition
- India must adjust to changing circumstances. We have no choice but to engage with this uncertain and more volatile world.
- One productive way to do so would be through issue-based coalitions including different actors, depending on who has an interest and capability.
(C) Reviving SAARC
- India must craft and reinvigorate regional institutions and processes in the neighbourhood, reviving the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) for instance.
- India could be the primary source of both prosperity and security in the neighbourhood — the subcontinent and the Indian Ocean Region.
Conclusion
- Economic policy must match political and strategic engagement.
- Globalisation has been central to India’s growth.
- A more active regional and international role for India is incompatible with a position on the margins of the global economy.
- Self-reliance in today’s world and technologies can only be realised as part of the global economy.
- We should not imitate China’s claims to being a civilisational state and its adoption of victimhood.
- Instead, we should affirm our own strength and historic national identity.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Judgments in the newscard
Mains level: Quota in Promotions
The Union government has urged the Supreme Court to do away with the requirement of collecting quantifiable data by the Centre and states to determine the representation of people belonging to Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs) while implementing reservation in promotion.
Supreme Court directive on Quota in Promotions
Background
- The top court has called it “disturbing” that the Union government did not discontinue reservation in promotion for people belonging to SC/STs.
- It referred to their numbers exceeded the upper ceiling of 15% and 7.5% respectively, of positions in some classes of central government jobs.
Quota in Promotions: A timeline
What was the case?
- The Union government has been pressing for reservation in promotion proportionate to the population of SCs and STs as per a 1995 judgment by the top court in the RK Sabharwal case.
- It wants it to be left open to the Centre and states to decide on promotional avenues for SCs and STs.
- It claims that the condition regarding collection of quantifiable data to show inadequacy of representation of SCs/STs is “vague”.
- Advocates representing general category have contended that the reservation cannot be for an indefinite period and that it must stop as soon as the upper ceiling has been reached.
- Further, they have emphasised that reservation in promotion should be cadre-based only after quantifiable data is collected and the creamy layer has been excluded.
Defying the need for quantifiable data
- Attorney General sought to convince the court that the roster system, based on the proportionate population of SCs/STs, has been working quite well in all government departments.
- The condition of collecting quantifiable data on inadequacy of representation of SCs/STs may not be required at all.
- He urged that there is no need to verify any further or collect quantifiable data after the roster system.
Referring to the Nagraj Case
- Article 16(4A) of Indian Constitution allows reservations to SCs and STs in promotions, as long as the government believes that they are not adequately represented in government services.
- In 2006, a Constitution bench’s ruling in the M Nagaraj case made it incumbent upon the state to collect quantifiable data showing inadequacy of representation in public employment.
- This was to be done in addition to maintaining overall administrative efficiency.
Why such demand by the Centre?
- The Attorney General has said that it is tough for a member of the SC/ST to reach the ‘Group A’ category jobs.
- The time has come for the apex court to firm up and draw the basis for reservation in promotions for SC/ST candidates to fill up vacancies in top jobs.
- The Bench referred to records filed before it to note that there was low representation of SC/ST category in Group A jobs.
- Instead of improving the situation in the Group A ranks, the court said, efforts are on to ensure adequate representation in Groups B and C. This was not fair, it remarked.
Must read:
[Burning Issue] SC judgement on Reservation not being a Fundamental Right
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Nobel Price, BioCatalysts
Mains level: NA
(1) Nobel Prize for Economic Sciences, 2021
The 2021 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences has been awarded in one half to Canadian-born David Card and the other half jointly to Israeli-American Joshua D Angrist and Dutch-American Guido W Imbens.
- David Card has been awarded for his empirical contributions to labor economics. Joshua D Angrist and Guido W Imbens won the award “for their methodological contributions to the analysis of causal relationships.”
- The 2020 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences was awarded to Paul R Milgrom and Robert B Wilson “for improvements to auction theory and inventions of new auction formats”.
Contributions
- David Card: He has analyzed how minimum wages, immigration and education impact the labor market.
- One of the significant findings of this research was that“increasing the minimum wage does not necessarily lead to fewer jobs”.
- It also led to the understanding that“people who were born in a country can benefit from new immigration, while people who immigrated at an earlier time risk being negatively affected”.
- It also illuminated the role of resources available in school in shaping the future of students in the labor market.
- Joshua Angrist and Guido Imbens: They were rewarded for their “methodological contributions” to the research tool.
- Their work demonstrated “how precise conclusions about cause and effect can be drawn from natural experiments”.
(2) Nobel Prize for Chemistry, 2021
The 2021 Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded to Benjamin List and David MacMillan for the development of asymmetric organocatalysis.
- Last year, the honour went to Frenchwoman Emmanuelle Charpentier and American Jennifer Doudna, for developing the gene-editing technique known as CRISPR-Cas9 – DNA snipping “scissors”.
About the Development
- They have developed a new and ingenious tool for molecule building: organocatalysis.
- Many research areas and industries are dependent on chemists’ ability to construct molecules that can form elastic and durable materials, store energy in batteries or inhibit the progression of diseases. This work requires catalysts.
- According to researchers, there were just two types of catalysts available: metals and enzymes. Catalysts are any substance that increases the rate of a reaction without itself being consumed.
- In 2000, they, independent of each other, developed a third type of catalysis. It is called asymmetric organocatalysis and builds upon small organic molecules.
- Significance:
- Its uses include research into new pharmaceuticals and it has also helped make chemistry greener.
- Both these sets of catalysts (metals and enzymes) had limitations.
- Heavier metals are expensive, difficult to mine, and toxic to humans and the environment.
- Despite the best processes, traces remained in the end product; this posed problems in situations where compounds of very high purity were required, like in the manufacture of medicines.
- Also, metals required an environment free of water and oxygen, which was difficult to ensure on an industrial scale.
- Enzymes on the other hand, work best when water is used as a medium for the chemical reaction. But that is not an environment suitable for all kinds of chemical reactions.
Organocatalysis
-
- Organic compounds are mostly naturally-occurring substances, built around a framework of carbon atoms and usually containing hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, sulphur, or phosphorus.
- Life-supporting chemicals like proteins, which are long chains of amino acids (carbon compounds containing nitrogen and oxygen) are organic.
- Enzymes are also proteins, and therefore, organic compounds. These are responsible for many essential biochemical reactions.
- Organocatalysts allow several steps in a production process to be performed in an unbroken sequence, considerably reducing waste in chemical manufacturing.
- Organocatalysis has developed at an astounding speed since 2000. Benjamin List and David MacMillan remain leaders in the field, and have shown that organic catalysts can be used to drive multitudes of chemical reactions.
- Using these reactions, researchers can now more efficiently construct anything from new pharmaceuticals to molecules that can capture light in solar cells.
Asymmetric Organocatalysis
-
- The process called asymmetric organocatalysis has made it much easier to produce asymmetric molecules – chemicals that exist in two versions, where one is a mirror image of the other.
- Chemists often just want one of these mirror images – particularly when producing medicines – but it has been difficult to find efficient methods for doing this.
- Some molecules with mirror versions have different properties. An example is the chemical called carvone, which has one form that smells like spearmint and a counterpart that smells like the herb, dill.
- Different versions of the same molecule might have different effects when ingested. Then it becomes important to be able to make only the mirror image of a drug that has the desired physiological effect.
(3) Nobel Prize in Physics, 2021
The 2021 Nobel Prize in Physics is awarded with one half jointly to Syukuro Manabe, Klaus Hasselmann and the other half to Giorgio Parisi “for groundbreaking contributions to our understanding of complex physical systems.”
- This is the first time climate scientists (Manabe and Hasselmann) have been awarded the Physics Nobel. Last year, the award was given for the research into black holes.
Manabe and Hasselmann
- Awarded for work in physical modelling of Earth’s climate, quantifying variability and reliably predicting global warming.
- Demonstrated how increases in the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere would increase global temperatures, laying the foundations for current climate models.
Parisi
- Awarded for “the discovery of the interplay of disorder and fluctuations in physical systems from atomic to planetary scales.”
- He “built a deep physical and mathematical model” that made it possible to understand complex systems in fields such as mathematics, biology, neuroscience and machine learning.
(4) Nobel Prize for Physiology/Medicine, 2021
Recently, two United States-based scientists, David Julius and Ardem Patapoutian have been awarded the 2021 Nobel Prize for Physiology/Medicine for their discoveries of receptors for temperature and touch.
- They have focused their work on the field of somatosensation, that is the ability of specialized organs such as eyes, ears and skin to see, hear and feel.
About the Discoveries
David Julius:
- He discovered TRPV1, a heat-sensing receptor.
- His findings on the skin’s sense of temperature was based on how certain cells react to capsaicin, the molecule that makes chili peppers spicy, by simulating a false sensation of heat.
Ardem Patapoutian
- He discovered two mechanosensitive ion channels known as the Piezo channels.
- The Piezo1 is named after the Greek word for pressure, ‘píesi’.
- He is credited for finding the cellular mechanism and the underlying gene that translates a mechanical force on our skin into an electric nerve signal.
Significance of Discoveries
-
- The findings have allowed us to understand how heat, cold and mechanical force can initiate the nerve impulses that allow us to perceive and adapt to the world around us.
- This knowledge is being used to develop treatments for a wide range of disease conditions, including chronic pain.
Back To Basics: About Nobel Prizes
- The will of the Swedish scientist Alfred Nobel established the five Nobel prizes in 1895.
- The Nobel Prizes are a set of recognition given to fields of Chemistry, Literature, Peace, Physics, and Physiology or Medicine by The Nobel Foundation.
- The Nobel Foundation is a private institution established in 1900, has ultimate responsibility for fulfilling the intentions in Alfred Nobel’s will.
- The prizes in Chemistry, Literature, Peace, Physics, and Physiology or Medicine were first awarded in 1901.
- In 1968, Sveriges Riksbank established the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Malaria and it vaccines
Mains level: Malaria menace in India
In a historic move, the World Health Organization (WHO) has endorsed the first anti-malarial vaccine, as mankind enters a key turning point in a battle waged relentlessly over decades between man and mosquito, the vector.
Mosquirix
- RTS,S/ASO1 (RTS.S), trade name Mosquirix acts against P. falciparum, the most deadly malaria parasite globally, and the most prevalent in Africa.
- The vaccine was able to prevent approximately 4 in 10 cases of malaria over a 4-year period in Africa.
- This is the first malaria vaccine that has completed the clinical development process.
- It is also the first malaria vaccine to be introduced by three national ministries of health through their childhood immunization programs — more than 800,000 children in Ghana, Kenya, and Malawi.
- have been vaccinated, and are benefiting from the added protection provided by the vaccine as part of a pilot program.
How the vaccine can help?
- WHO’s recommendation is based on the advice of its two global advisory bodies, one for immunization and the other for malaria.
- WHO has recommended that in the context of comprehensive malaria control, the RTS,S/AS01 malaria vaccine be used for the prevention of P. falciparum malaria in children living in regions with moderate to high transmission as defined by it.
- The malaria vaccine should be provided in a schedule of 4 doses in children from 5 months of age for the reduction of malaria disease and burden.
Back2Basics: Malaria
- Malaria is caused by the bite of the female Anopheles mosquito if the mosquito itself is infected with a malarial parasite.
- There are five kinds of malarial parasites — Plasmodium falciparum, Plasmodium vivax (the commonest ones), Plasmodium malariae, Plasmodium ovale and Plasmodium knowlesi.
- Therefore, to say that someone has contracted the Plasmodium ovale type of malaria means that the person has been infected by that particular parasite.
- Malaria is treated with prescription drugs to kill the parasite. Chloroquine is the preferred treatment for any parasite that is sensitive to the drug.
Countries that have eliminated malaria
- Globally, the elimination net is widening, with more countries moving towards the goal of zero malaria.
- In 2019, 27 countries reported fewer than 100 indigenous cases of the disease, up from 6 countries in 2000.
- Countries that have achieved at least 3 consecutive years of zero indigenous cases of malaria are eligible to apply for the WHO certification of malaria elimination.
- 11 countries have been certified as malaria-free: United Arab Emirates (2007), Morocco (2010), Turkmenistan (2010), Armenia (2011), Sri Lanka (2016), Kyrgyzstan (2016), Paraguay (2018), Uzbekistan (2018), Algeria (2019), Argentina (2019), and El Salvador (2021).
Burden of Malaria in India
- In 2018, the National Vector-borne Disease Control Programme (NVBDCP) estimated that approximately 5 lakh people suffered from malaria.
- 63% of the cases were of Plasmodium falciparum.
- The recent World Malaria Report 2020 said cases in India dropped from about 20 million in 2000 to about 5.6 million in 2019.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Jim Corbett NP
Mains level: Tiger Conservation
The Union Minister of State for Environment, Forest and Climate Change has recently proposed to change the name of Corbett National Park to Ramganga National Park.
Who was Jim Corbett?
- Born in Nainital in 1875, Edward James Corbett lived in India till Independence, after which he left for Kenya where he died in 1955.
- India’s best known hunter, Corbett earned fame after he tracked down and killed a number of man-eating tigers and leopards (he is said to have killed over a dozen).
- An ace shot, Corbett was called upon regularly by the government to track and shoot man-eaters in the villages of Garhwal and Kumaon in Uttarakhand.
Corbett National Park
- Jim Corbett National Park is a national park in India located in the Nainital district of Uttarakhand state.
- The first national park in India, it was established in 1936 during the British Raj and named Haily National Park after a governor of the United Provinces in which it was then located.
- It was renamed Ramganga National Park, named after the river that flows through it, shortly after Independence and was rechristened yet again as Corbett National Park in 1956.
- Jim Corbett had played a leading role in its establishment and had died the year before.
- The park was the first to come under the Project Tiger initiative.
The tiger reserve
- The national park along with the neighbouring 301-sq km-Sonanadi Wildlife Sanctuary together make the critical tiger habitat of the Corbett Tiger Reserve.
- With its hills, grasslands and streams, it is ideal tiger territory.
- The place from where Project Tiger was launched in 1973, with its tiger population at 163, it boasts of a single largest tiger population in a tiger reserve and one of the highest tiger densities in the country.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Bhoramdeo Tiger Reserves
Mains level: Not Much
The National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) approved the Chhattisgarh government’s proposal to declare the combined areas of the Guru Ghasidas National Park and Tamor Pingla Wildlife Sanctuary as a Tiger Reserve.
Bhoramdeo Tiger Reserve
- The new Reserve is located in the northern part of the state, bordering Madhya Pradesh and Jharkhand.
- This will be the fourth Tiger Reserve in Chhattisgarh, after the Udanti-Sitanadi, Achanakmar, and Indravati Reserves.
- The proposal was considered under Section 38V(1) of The Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972.
- This section says that the State Government shall, on the recommendation of the Tiger Conservation Authority, notify an area as a tiger reserve.
A decade in making
- The Tamor Pingla Wildlife Sanctuary was identified as part of the Sarguja Jashpur Elephant Reserve in 2011.
- The Guru Ghasidas National Park used to be part of the Sanjay National Park in undivided Madhya Pradesh.
- Both were identified as reserve forests, and had been in line to be notified as Tiger Reserve since 2011.
Medium-sized reserve
- The constituent units of the new Tiger Reserve, Guru Ghasidas National Park and Tamor Pingla Wildlife Sanctuary, are spread over 1,44,000 hectares (1,440 sq km) and 60,850 hectares (608.5 sq km) respectively.
- Guru Ghasidas National Park is in Koriya district; Tamor Pingla is in Surajpur district in the northwestern corner of Chhattisgarh.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Mundapota Kela, Denotified Tribes
Mains level: Tribal development
Members of the Mundapota Kela community in Odisha perform an unthinkable act of their head buried in soil, which requires exceptional breath control, for a living.
Mundapota Kela
- The community — Mundapota Kela (a denotified tribe) — is left with few members who earn a livelihood with this bizarre act.
- It is believed to have migrated to Odisha from Rayalaseema area of Andhra Pradesh decades ago.
- Being street performers, they travel from one village to another and bury their heads in soil for several minutes.
- They collect rice, vegetables and money from villagers for putting up the show.
Try answering this PYQ:
Q.Consider the following statements about Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs) in India:
- PVTGs reside in 18 States and one Union Territory.
- A stagnant or declining population is one of the criteria for determining PVTG status.
- There are 95 PVTGs officially notified in the country so far.
- Irular and Konda Reddi tribes are included in the list of PVTGs.
Which of the statements given above are correct?
(a) 1, 2 and 3
(b) 2, 3 and 4
(c) 1, 2 and 4
(d) 1, 3 and 4
Post your answers here:
Back2Basics: De-Notified Tribes
- Denotified Tribes (DNTs), also known as Vimukta Jati are the tribes that were listed originally under the Criminal Tribes Act of 1871 as Criminal Tribes.
- Once a tribe became “notified” as criminal, all its members were required to register with the local magistrate, failing which they would be charged with a “crime” under the Indian Penal Code.
- The Criminal Tribes Act was repealed in 1949 and thus ‘de-notified’ the tribal communities.
- The denotified tribes were reclassified as “habitual offenders” in 1959.
- The UN’s anti-discrimination body Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) asked India to repeal the Habitual Offenders Act (1952) and effectively rehabilitate the denotified and nomadic tribes on 9 March 2007.
- A National Commission for Denotified, Nomadic and Semi-Nomadic Tribes (NCDNSNT) was setup in 2003 to study various developmental aspects under the chairmanship of Shri. Balkrishna Renke.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Central Asian Flyway
Mains level: NA
The two-day meeting of 30 range countries of Central Asian Flyway has begun.
What is Central Asian Flyway?
- Central Asian Flyway (CAF) is a flyway covering a large continental area of Eurasia between the Arctic Ocean and the Indian Ocean and the associated island chains.
- It comprises several important migration routes of waterbirds, most of which extend from the northernmost breeding grounds in Siberia to the southernmost non-breeding wintering grounds in West Asia, India, the Maldives and the British Indian Ocean Territory.
- The CAF range is essentially centred on one of the three major wintering areas of waterfowl in the Old World, namely the Indian subcontinent, the other two being Africa.
- There are also the African-Eurasian Flyway (AEWA) to the west, and south-east Asia in the East Asian – Australasian Flyway (EAAF) to the east.
- These wintering areas are geographically separate, and present entirely different ecological, historical and cultural situations.
Range countries
- The flyway covers 30 countries of North, Central and South Asia and Trans-Caucasus.
- India is the core country of the CAF and supports 257 species of water birds.
Major migratory birds
- Critically Endangered – northern bald ibis, white-bellied heron, Baer’s pochard
- Endangered – greater adjutant
- Vulnerable – black-necked crane, Indian skimmer, lesser adjutant, masked finfoot, Socotra cormorant, wood snipe
- Near Threatened – black-headed ibis, lesser flamingo, pygmy cormorant, white-eyed gull
Why designate such flyways?
- Approximately one in five of the world’s 11,000 bird species11,000 bird species migrate, some covering enormous distances.
- Conserving migratory birds requires cooperation and coordination along the entire flyway between countries and across national boundaries.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: DHID
Mains level: Issues with ABDM
Much recently, the Prime Minister had launched the Digital Health ID project (DHID), generating debate on issues related to the use of technology in a broken health system.
Explained: Digital Health ID
Good intents of the DHID
- The key objective of DHID is to improve the quality, access and affordability of health services by making the service delivery “quicker, less expensive and more robust”.
- The ambition is undoubtedly high. Given that health systems are highly complex, the DHID would hardly be able to address some of the issues plaguing it.
Why need DHID?
(a) Record maintenance
- The use of technology for record maintenance is not just inevitable but necessary. Its time has certainly come.
- A decade ago, the process to shift towards electronic medical records was initiated in the private sector.
- It met with limited success, despite the strong positives.
- With DHID, the burden of storing and carrying health records for every visit to the doctor is minimised.
(b) Better tracking of medical history
- The doctor has instant access to the patient’s case history –the treatment undertaken, where and with what outcomes — enabling more accurate diagnosis and treatment.
- As the DHID enables portability across geography and healthcare providers, it also helps reduce re-testing or repeating problems every time a patient consults a new doctor.
- That’s a huge gain, impacting the quality of care and enhancing patient satisfaction and confidence.
(c) Better Diagnosis
- DHID can have a transformative impact in promoting ecosystems that function as paperless facilities.
- Paperless hospitals can promote early diagnosis before the patient reaches the doctor after spending long hours in queue.
- The doctor can already go through the patient’s record and the pharmacist can make the drugs available by the time the patient reached its counter.
(d) Promoting medical research
- Digitisation of medical records is another important positive, given the problems related to space and retrieving huge databases.
- Well organised repositories that enable easy access to records can stimulate much-needed research on medical devices and drugs.
- This storehouse of patient data can be valuable for clinical and operational research.
Given our population, would this be an idealistic expectation?
- We need to conduct pilot studies to assess the use of technology for streamlining patient flows and medical records and thereby increase efficiencies across different typologies of hospitals and facilities.
- While technology helps smoothen processes and enhance patient experience, there is a cost attached.
- Investments have to be made upfront and results should not be expected overnight.
Issues with DHID
(a) A costly affair
- In the immediate short run, DHID will increase administrative costs by about 20 per cent, due to the capital investment in data infrastructure.
- Over the long run, the additional cost to healthcare is expected to be about 2 per cent.
- Any scaling up of this reform would require extensive fiscal subsidies and more importantly providing techno-logistical support to both government and private hospitals.
(b) Privacy concerns
- Most important is the issue of privacy, the high possibility of hacking and breach of confidentiality.
- The possibility of privacy being violated increases with the centralisation of all information.
- Though it is said that the patient is the owner of the information, how many of us deny access, as a matter of routine, when we download apps or programmes that seek access to all our records?
- How far is this “consent” practical for an illiterate, vulnerable patient desperate to get well?
- So, taking refuge behind a technical statement that access is contingent on patient consent is unconvincing.
Ground situation in India
- Inherently unaffordable healthcare: The costs in the Indian context can be high and that should lead to a careful assessment of the project.
- Digital divide: Such a scenario is not inconceivable and in the case of health, may cause immense hardship to the most marginalised sections of our population.
- Infrastructure gap: A large majority of facilities do not have the required physical infrastructure — electricity, accommodation, trained personnel.
- Usual nature of technical glitches: Cards getting corrupted, servers being down, computers crashing or hanging, and power outages are common in India.
- Conformity over data synchronization: The inability to synchronise biometric data with ID cards has resulted in large-scale exclusions of the poor from welfare projects.
- Accuracy of records: Besides, the efficacy of the DHID hinges on the assumption that every visit and every drug consumed by the patient is faithfully and accurately recorded.
- Increased workload on Medical Professionals: Moreover, while electronic mapping of providers may enable patients to spot a less busy doctor near their location, it is simplistic to assume that the patient will go there.
Plugging the existing gaps
- Patient preference for a doctor is dependent upon perception and trust. Likewise, teleconsultations need a huge backend infrastructure and organisation.
- Teleconsulting has certainly helped patients access medical advice for managing minor ailments, getting prescriptions on the phone and even getting drugs delivered home.
- But in handling chronic diseases that necessitate continuity of care, teleconsultations have been problematic and cannot be substituted for actual physical examination.
- Continuity of care is central to good outcomes in inpatient management of chronic diseases.
- The one serious shortcoming of using teleconsultation for such management is the high attrition rate of doctors within the context of an overall shortage of doctors.
- Technology can be of little use in the absence of doctors and basic infrastructure.
Way forward
- What is needed is building very robust firewalls and trust.
- Seeing the frequency with which Aadhaar cards have been breached, it is not unreasonable to be concerned with this issue and the implications it has at the family and societal levels.
- For this reason, instead of a big bang approach, it is better to go slow and steady.
- That’s the only way to ensure that a good policy does not die along the way due to poor implementation.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Nobel Price
Mains level: Climate Change Assessment
Three scientists received the Nobel Prize in Physics for work that is essential to understanding how the Earth’s climate is changing, pinpointing the effect of human behaviour on those changes and ultimately predicting the impact of global warming.
Who are the laureates?
- The winners were Syukuro Manabe, Klaus Hasselmann of Germany, and Giorgio Parisi from Italy.
- In 2015, at a UK-based climate-focused online publication sought to identify the three most influential climate change research papers ever published.
- The paper that received the most votes was one by Syukuro Manabe and Richard Wetherald way back in 1967.
- These reports for the first time, had described the impact of carbon dioxide and water vapour on global warming.
Citation for their Climate Model
- Manabe is a senior meteorologist and climatologist at Princeton University.
- In the 1960s, he led ground-breaking research into how increased levels of carbon dioxide lead to higher temperatures on the surface of the Earth.
- This laid the foundation for the development of current climate models.
- Hasselmann is a German physicist and oceanographer who greatly advanced public understanding of climate change through the creation of a model that links climate and chaotic weather systems.
- Parisi has focused on quantum field theory and complex systems.
Why it is significant feat?
- This is the first-time climate scientists have been awarded the Physics Nobel.
- The IPCC had won the Peace Nobel in 2007, an acknowledgement of its efforts in creating awareness for the fight against climate change.
- A Chemistry Nobel was also awarded to Paul Crutzen in 1995, for his work on the ozone layer, is considered the only other time someone from atmospheric sciences has won this honour.
- The recognition of Manabe and Hasselmann, therefore, is being seen as an acknowledgement of the importance that climate science holds in today’s world.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: National Road Safety Board
Mains level: Road safety issues in India
The Ministry of Road Transport & Highways has notified the constitution of the National Road Safety Board.
National Road Safety Board
- The NRSB will be constituted of a panel of seven members and a chairman, with the members having experience in the fields related to road safety, traffic regulation, urban planning, civil engineering and police enforcement and investigation.
- Additionally, the board will also comprise of technical committees to look into a variety of aspects of road safety from civil engineering to vehicle construction and safety equipment.
Why need such board?
- Along with the rapid expansion and up-gradation on the road network and the enforcement of higher safety standards for vehicles, the Government is now actively looking into the safety of roads too.
Terms of reference
- The Head Office of the Board shall be in the National Capital Region and the Board may establish offices at other places in India.
- The Board shall be responsible for promoting road safety, innovation and adoption of new technology and for regulating traffic and motor vehicles.
For this purposes, inter alia, the Board shall formulate
- specific standards for road safety, traffic management and road construction for hilly regions
- guidelines for capacity building and development of skills for traffic police, hospital authorities, highway authorities, educational and research organizations and other organizations
- guidelines for establishing and operating trauma facilities and para-medical facilities, for consideration by the Central Government
- provide technical advice and assistance to the Central Government, State Governments and local authorities on road safety and traffic management
Key provision: Protection of Samaritans
- The board aims to promote Good Samaritans and good practices in road safety and traffic management
- Good Samaritans who rescue victims of serious road accidents and rush them to a hospital within the golden hour will now be rewarded with ₹5,000.
- They will also be eligible for a cash prize of ₹1 lakh which will be given to 10 such Samaritans in a year.
- It has been felt that there is a need to motivate the general public through cash awards and certificates to help the road accident victims in emergency situation and to boost their morale.
- The categories of accidents that will make one eligible for the award will include those that result in a major surgery or minimum three days of hospitalisation or brain and spinal cord injuries.
Do you know?
The ‘golden hour’ has been defined as ‘the time period lasting one hour following a traumatic injury during which there is the highest likelihood of preventing death by providing prompt medical care.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Industrial Park Ratings System (IPRS)
Mains level: NA
The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) has released the Industrial Park Ratings System Report.
Industrial Park Ratings System (IPRS)
- The IPRS pilot exercise was launched in 2018 with an objective of enhancing industrial infrastructure competitiveness and supporting policy development for enabling industrialization across the country.
- The IPRS report is an extension of the India Industrial Land Bank which features more than 4,400 industrial parks in a GIS-enabled database.
- It seeks to help investors identify their preferred location for investment.
- With this report, the investors can even remotely refer to this report to identify the suitable investable land area, as per the various parameters of infrastructure, connectivity, business support services and environment and safety standards.
Highlights of the report
- 41 Industrial Parks have been assessed as “Leaders” in the Industrial Park Ratings System Report released by DPIIT.
- 90 Industrial Parks have been rated as under the Challenger category while 185 have been rated as under “Aspirers”.
- These ratings are assigned on the basis of key existing parameters and infrastructure facilities etc.
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