Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Moplah Revolt
Mains level: Various tribal uprisings in India
This August 20, marked the centenary of the Malabar rebellion, which is also known as the Moplah riots.
Try this question from CSP 2020:
Q. With reference to the history of India, “Ulgulan” or the Great Tumult is the description of which of the following event?
(a) The Revolt of 1857
(b) The Mappila Rebellion of 1921
(c) The Indigo Revolt of 1859-60
(d) Birsa Munda’s Revolt of 1899-1900
Sign-in to post your answers here.
Malabar Rebellion
- The Malabar Rebellion in 1921 started as resistance against the British colonial rule and the feudal system in southern Malabar but ended in communal violence between Hindus and Muslims.
- There were a series of clashes between Mappila peasantry and their landlords, supported by the British, throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries.
- It began as a reaction against a heavy-handed crackdown on the Khilafat Movement, a campaign in defence of the Ottoman Caliphate by the British authorities in the Eranad and Valluvanad taluks of Malabar.
- The Mappilas attacked and took control of police stations, British government offices, courts and government treasuries.
Who was Variyankunna Kunjahammed Haji?
- He was one of the leaders of the Malabar Rebellion of 1921.
- He raised 75000 natives, seized control of large territory from the British rule and set up a parallel government.
- In January 1922, under the guise of a treaty, the British betrayed Haji through his close friend Unyan Musaliyar, arresting him from his hideout and producing him before a British judge.
- He was sentenced to death along with his compatriots.
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Also read
Important Rebellion
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Greenland
Mains level: Not Much
Recently the summit of Greenland received rain and not snow. This has sparked fear as scientists are pointing to it as evidence that Greenland is warming rapidly.
About Greenland
- Greenland is the world’s largest island located between the Arctic and Atlantic oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago.
- It is an autonomous territory within the Kingdom of Denmark.
- Though physiographically a part of the continent of North America, Greenland has been politically and culturally associated with Europe (specifically Norway and Denmark, the colonial powers).
- The majority of its residents are Inuit, whose ancestors migrated from Alaska through Northern Canada, gradually settling across the island by the 13th century.
- It has three-quarters of its surface covered with a permanent ice sheet, which is increasingly coming under threat because of climate change.
Rain at Greenland: The rarest phenomenon
- At the highest point on Greenland’s ice sheet, the US maintains a Summit Station, a research facility that observes changes occurring over the island as well as in Arctic weather.
- Researchers observed rain at the normally frigid summit, with the precipitation extending up to Greenland’s southeast coast.
- The rain, coupled with warm conditions, caused a major melting event at the summit.
- This led to rapid ice melting running off into the ocean in volumes, thus accelerating global sea-level rise.
A cause of worry
- Greenland, which is two-thirds the size of India, already witnessed one of its most severe melting events.
- It has lost 8.5 billion tons of surface mass in one day– the third such extreme event in the past decade.
- The UN’s “code red” climate report released last week concluded that the burning of fossil fuels led to Greenland melting in the last 20 years.
- The rapid melting is also threatening polar bears, which now have to make their way hundreds of kilometers towards Greenland’s interior from the coasts, where they usually find enough food.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Panjshir Valley
Mains level: Not Much
The Taliban has sent hundreds of its fighters to the Panjshir Valley, one of the few parts of Afghanistan not yet controlled by the group.
Panjshir Valley
- Located 150 km north of Kabul, the Valley is near the Hindu Kush Mountain range.
- It’s divided by the Panjshir river and ringed by the Panjshir mountains in the north and the Kuhestan mountains in the south.
- The mountain tops are covered by snow throughout the year.
- This difficult terrain makes the Valley a nightmare for invaders.
Why is it significant?
- The Valley has repeatedly played a decisive role in Afghanistan’s military history, as its geographical position almost completely closes it off from the rest of the country.
- The only access point to the region is through a narrow passage created by the Panjshir River, which can be easily defended militarily.
- Famed for its natural defenses, the region tucked into the Hindu Kush mountains never fell to the Taliban during the civil war of the 1990s, nor was it conquered by the Soviets a decade earlier.
- Panjshir Valley was among the safest regions in the country during the time of the NATO-backed government from 2001 to 2021.
- The valley is also known for its emeralds, which were used in the past to finance the resistance movements against those in power.
Answer this PYQ:
Consider the following pairs
Towns: Country in news
- Aleppo: Syria
- Kirkuk: Yemen
- Mosul: Palestine
- Mazar-i-sharif: Afghanistan
Which of the pairs given above are correctly matched? (CSP 2018)
(a) 1 and 2
(b) 1 and 4
(c) 2 and 3
(d) 3 and 4
Post your answers here.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: G-Secs
Mains level: Not Much
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has announced that it will conduct an open market purchase of government securities of ₹25,000 crore under the G-sec Acquisition Programme (G-SAP 2.0).
Answer this PYQ in the comment box:
Q.Consider the following statements:
- The Reserve Bank of India manages and services the Government of India Securities but not any State Government Securities.
- Treasury bills are issued by the Government of India and there are no treasury bills issued by the State Governments.
- Treasury bills offer are issued at a discount from the par value.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
(a) 1 and 2 only
(b) 3 Only
(c) 2 and 3 only
(d) 1, 2 and 3
Post your answers here:
What are Government Securities?
- These are debt instruments issued by the government to borrow money.
- The two key categories are:
- Treasury bills (T-Bills) – short-term instruments which mature in 91 days, 182 days, or 364 days, and
- Dated securities – long-term instruments, which mature anywhere between 5 years and 40 years
Note: T-Bills are issued only by the central government, and the interest on them is determined by market forces.
Why G-Secs?
- Like bank fixed deposits, g-secs are not tax-free.
- They are generally considered the safest form of investment because they are backed by the government. So, the risk of default is almost nil.
- However, they are not completely risk-free, since they are subject to fluctuations in interest rates.
- Bank fixed deposits, on the other hand, are guaranteed only to the extent of Rs 5 lakh by the Deposit Insurance and Credit Guarantee Corporation (DICGC).
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Nuclear Fusion Reaction
Mains level: Cleaner energy resources
California based researchers have announced that their experiment has made a breakthrough in nuclear fusion research.
What exactly is Nuclear Fusion?
- Nuclear fusion is defined as the combining of several small nuclei into one large nucleus with the subsequent release of huge amounts of energy.
- The difference in mass between the reactants and products is manifested as either the release or the absorption of energy.
- Nuclear fusion powers our sun and harnessing this fusion energy could provide an unlimited amount of renewable energy.
- An example of nuclear fusion is the process of four hydrogens coming together to form helium.
What was the experiment?
- In the experiment, lasers were used to heat a small target or fuel pellets.
- These pellets containing deuterium and tritium fused and produced more energy.
- The team noted that they were able to achieve a yield of more than 1.3 megajoules of heat energy.
- This megajoule of energy released in the experiment is indeed impressive in fusion terms.
How was the new breakthrough achieved?
- The team used new diagnostics, improved laser precision, and even made changes to the design.
- They applied laser energy on fuel pellets to heat and pressurize them at conditions similar to that at the center of our Sun. This triggered the fusion reactions.
- These reactions released positively charged particles called alpha particles, which in turn heated the surrounding plasma.
- At high temperatures, electrons are ripped from an atom’s nuclei and become a plasma or an ionized state of matter. Plasma is also known as the fourth state of matter.
- The heated plasma also released alpha particles and a self-sustaining reaction called ignition took place.
Future prospects: Benefits
- It is expected that fusion could meet humanity’s energy needs for millions of years.
- Fusion fuel is plentiful and easily accessible: deuterium can be extracted inexpensively from seawater, and tritium can be produced from naturally abundant lithium.
- Future fusion reactors will not produce high activity, long-lived nuclear waste, and a meltdown at a fusion reactor is practically impossible.
- Importantly, nuclear fusion does not emit carbon dioxide or other greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, and so along with nuclear fission could play a future climate change mitigating role as a low carbon energy source.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: MEIS, RODTEP Scheme
Mains level: Export promotion schemes in India
The Centre has notified the rates and norms for the Remission of Duties and Taxes on Exported Products (RoDTEP) scheme asserting that it would put ‘direct cash in the pockets of exporters’ soon.
RoDTEP Scheme
- RoDTEP is a scheme for Exporters to make Indian products cost-competitive and create a level playing field for them in the Global Market.
- It has been kicked in from January 2021, replacing the earlier Merchandise and Services Export Incentive Schemes (MEIS and SEIS) that were in violation of WTO norms.
- The new RoDTEP Scheme is a fully WTO compliant scheme.
- It will reimburse all the taxes/duties/levies being charged at the Central/State/Local level which are not currently refunded under any of the existing schemes but are incurred at the manufacturing and distribution process.
Answer this PYQ:
Q.With reference to the international trade of India at present, which of the following statements is/are correct?
- India’s merchandise exports are less than its merchandise imports.
- India’s imports of iron and steel, chemicals, fertilizers and machinery have decreased in recent years.
- India’s exports of services ye more than its imports of services.
- India suffers from an overall trade/current account deficit.
Select the correct answer using the code given below:
(a) 1 and 2 only
(b) 2 and 4 only
(c) 3 only
(d) 1, 3 and 4 only
Post your answers here (You need to sign-in for that).
Why need such a scheme?
- The scheme was announced last year as a replacement for the Merchandise Export from India Scheme (MEIS), which was not found not to be compliant with the rules of the World Trade Organisation.
- Following a complaint by the US, a dispute settlement panel had ruled against India’s use of MEIS as it had found the duty credit scrips awarded under the scheme to be inconsistent with WTO norms.
Coverage of the scheme
- It covers about 75% of traded items and 65% of India’s exports.
- To enable zero-rating of exports by ensuring domestic taxes are not exported, all taxes, including those levied by States and even Gram Panchayats, will be refunded under the scheme.
- Steel, pharma, and chemicals have not been included under the scheme because their exports have done well without incentives.
Back2Basics: Merchandise Exports from India Scheme (MEIS)
- MEIS was launched with an objective to enhance the export of notified goods manufactured in a country.
- This scheme came into effect on 1 April 2015 through the Foreign Trade Policy and was in existence till 2020.
- It intended to incentivize exports of goods manufactured in India or produced in India.
- The incentives were for goods widely exported from India, industries producing or manufacturing such goods with a view to making Indian exports competitive.
- The MEIS covered almost 5000 goods notified for the purpose of the scheme.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Maharaja Ranjit Singh
Mains level: Not Much
A bronze statue of the first ruler of the Sikh Empire, Maharaja Ranjit Singh, was vandalized in Pakistan.
Who was Maharaja Ranjit Singh?
- Maharaja Ranjit Singh (13 November 1780 – 27 June 1839), popularly known as Sher-e-Punjab or “Lion of Punjab”, was the first Maharaja of the Sikh Empire.
- He survived smallpox in infancy but lost sight in his left eye.
- Prior to his rise, the Punjab region had numerous warring misls (confederacies), twelve of which were under Sikh rulers and one Muslim.
- Ranjit Singh successfully absorbed and united the Sikh misls and took over other local kingdoms to create the Sikh Empire.
- He repeatedly defeated invasions by outside armies, particularly those arriving from Afghanistan, and established friendly relations with the British.
Empirical expansion
- Ranjit Singh’s trans-regional empire spread over several states. His empire included the former Mughal provinces of Lahore and Multan besides part of Kabul and the entire Peshawar.
- The boundaries of his state went up to Ladakh — Zorawar Singh, a general from Jammu, had conquered Ladakh in Ranjit Singh’s name — in the northeast.
- His empire extended till Khyber pass in the northwest, and up to Panjnad in the south where the five rivers of Punjab fell into the Indus.
- During his regime, Punjab was a land of six rivers, the sixth being the Indus.
His legacy
- Ranjit Singh’s reign introduced reforms, modernization, investment into infrastructure, and general prosperity.
- His Khalsa army and government included Sikhs, Hindus, Muslims, and Europeans.
- His legacy includes a period of Sikh cultural and artistic renaissance, including the rebuilding of the Harmandir Sahib in Amritsar, Takht Sri Patna Sahib, Bihar, and Hazur Sahib Nanded, Maharashtra under his sponsorship.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Positive Pay System
Mains level: Not Much
Banks have been informing customers about making mandatory, the positive pay system, a process of reconfirming the key details of high-value cheques.
What is the Positive Pay System?
- The Positive Pay System, developed by the National Payments Corporation of India, is a process of reconfirming the key details of large value cheques.
- Under this system, a person issuing the high-value cheque submits certain essential details of that cheque like date, name of the beneficiary/payee amount etc. to the drawee bank.
- The details can be submitted through electronic means such as SMS, mobile app, internet banking, ATM etc.
- The details are cross-checked while issuing the cheque and any discrepancy is flagged.
Try answering this PYQ:
Q.Which one of the following links all the ATMs in India? (CSP 2018)
(a) Indian Banks’ Association
(b) National Securities Depository Limited
(c) National Payments Corporation of India
(d) Reserve Bank of India
(Note: You need to sign-in to answer this PYQ)
Post your answers here.
What is the limit on the amount for the system?
- RBI has told banks to enable the facility for all account holders issuing cheques for amounts of ₹50,000 and above.
- It has also been said that while availing of the facility is at the discretion of the account holder, banks may consider making it mandatory in case of cheque values of ₹5 lakh and above.
Why is this system important for customers?
- Some banks have been telling customers that if the details of large-value cheques are not pre-registered, the cheque will be returned.
- On issuance of a high-value cheque, customers should ensure that details are provided within the timeframe prescribed by the banks for hassle-free clearance.
- RBI has said only cheques that are registered in the Positive Pay System will be accepted under the dispute resolution mechanism.
- Customers would get an SMS on whether the cheque is accepted or rejected for any reason.
What are the details of the cheque that must be submitted?
- Account number, cheque number, date of the cheque, amount, transaction code, beneficiary name, MICR CODE.
How can these details be submitted?
- These details can be submitted through the respective bank’s website, internet banking, or mobile banking.
- In case a customer does not use electronic banking services, they can submit the details by visiting bank branches.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Slender Loris
Mains level: Various endemic species of India
The Kadavur hills in central Tamil Nadu’s Karur district are home to the Kadavur Reserve Forest. These forests are home to the shy and reclusive slender loris, a species of primate.
Slender Loris
- Slender loris (Loris tardigradus) is secretive and has nocturnal habits. It usually travels from the canopy of one tree to another. But, at times, it also comes down to bushes at the ground level to feed.
- It is also found in the adjoining forest areas on the eastern, southern and western slopes of the Kadavur hills.
- It sleeps by day in the foliage or in a hole or crevice. It comes out at dusk in search of prey.
- They are fond of lantana berries and also eat insects, lizards, small birds, tree frogs, tender leaves and buds.
- They are usually solitary but sometimes found in pairs.
Conservation
- The slender loris has been listed as ‘Endangered’ by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature.
- It has been brought under Schedule I of the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972 in order to provide the highest level of legal protection.
Threats
- As it is believed that these animals have some medicinal properties, they are captured and sold.
- Since there is great demand for keeping these animals as pets, they are illegally smuggled.
- Habitat loss, electrocution of live wires, and road accidents are other threats that have caused its populations to dwindle.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Various Naga tribes
Mains level: Tribal assertiveness in NE region
The Parliament has passed a bill that seeks to amend the nomenclature of certain tribes from Arunachal Pradesh mentioned in the Constitution (Scheduled Tribes) Order, 1950.
What does the Bill amend?
- The Bill seeks to modify Part-XVIII of the Schedule to the Constitution (Scheduled Tribes) Order, 1950.
- Part-XVIII lists 16 tribes of Arunachal, in order: Abor, Aka, Apatani, Nyishi, Galong, Khampti, Khowa, Mishmi [Idu, Taroon], Momba, Any Naga tribes, Sherdukpen, Singpho, Hrusso, Tagin, Khamba, and Adi.
- The Bill corrects the names of tribes spelled incorrectly and adds names of a few tribes that were either named ambiguously or had their parent group named only.
Why is it significant?
- Self-identification: It is an essence for much-needed respect for small indigenous communities in the Northeast.
- Indigenous nomenclature of tribes: This has been a long-standing demand in Arunachal Pradesh for two reasons: for the recognition of individual identity and to do away with the ambiguity as a result of errors in their names.
- Identity assertion: For long, communities — whether civil society members or student leaders — have demanded that they must be known by their respective names.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Gati Shakti Master Plan
Mains level: Infrastructure development
In his I-day speech, the PM has announced a ₹100 lakh crore “Gati Shakti” infrastructure plan.
What is Gati Shakti Master Plan?
- The PM has pegged the project as a source of employment opportunities for the youth in the future.
- The plan will make a foundation for holistic infrastructure and give an integrated pathway to our economy.
- More details and the launch date of the project are awaited.
What are the focus areas of the project?
- The Gati Shakti plan will help raise the global profile of local manufacturers and help them compete with their counterparts worldwide.
- It also raises possibilities of new future economic zones.
- The PM also said that India needs to increase both manufacturing and exports.
Why need such a plan?
- The push for infrastructure is in line with the government’s efforts to step up capital expenditure in infrastructure to promote economic growth.
- Infrastructure development has the ability to create a multiplier effect with every rupee invested, yielding much higher returns.
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Back2Basics:
National Infrastructure Pipeline (NIP)
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Karez/ Qanat
Mains level: Not Much
The Taliban are set to seize Kabul, but some expert believes they will spare the age-old Karez system of underground aqueducts in the country given its importance.
What is a Qanat / Karez?
- This system of underground vertical shafts in a gently sloping tunnel that is built from an upland aquifer to ground level.
- Some historians and archaeologists have attributed people in the southeast Arabian Peninsula as the first developers. Others, however, ascribe it to the ancient Persians.
- The Qanat / Karez system, wherever it was developed, soon spread to many Persian, Arab and Turkic lands.
- It even came to the Indian Subcontinent during the 800-year-old Islamic Period.
Karez in India
- The system was brought in the Indian Subcontinent during the Bahamani Sultanate, founded by Alaudin Bahman Shah.
- It later broke into five other Sultantates: Bijapur, Golconda, Ahmadnagar, Bidar and Berar.
- The Bahamani Sultanate was Persianate in nature and encouraged many things Persian, among them, the Karez.
- They was built in the city of Bidar during the reign of Bahamani Sultan Ahmad Shah Wali (1422-1436), who shifted the capital from Gulbarga to Bidar.
- By the 15th century, Bijapur city had a network of pipelines. Everyone got 24×7 supply of water.
- It also worked as confidence-building measure between the Sultan and his subjects since the Karez was built the state.
Try answering this PYQ:
With reference to the economic history of medieval India, the term Araghatta’ refers to:
(CSP 2016)
(a) bonded labour
(b) land grants made to military officers
(c) waterwheel used in the irrigation of land
(d) wastel and converted to cultivated land
Post your answers here.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: IndiGau
Mains level: Not Much
The National Institute of Animal Biotechnology (NIAB), Hyderabad has launched a chip called IndiGau.
IndiGau
- IndiGau is India’s first Cattle Genomic Chip for the conservation of pure varieties of indigenous cattle breeds like, Gir, Kankrej, Sahiwal, Ongole etc.
- It is purely indigenous and the largest cattle chip in the world.
- It has 11,496 markers more than that placed on 777K Illumina chip of US & UK breeds.
- The manufacturing of this chip is in synergy with Rashtriya Gokul Mission and is a great example of Atmanirbhar Bharat.
Utility of IndiGau
- Indigenous bovines are robust and resilient and are particularly suited to the climate and environment of their respective breeding tracts,
- Their productivity is less likely to be impacted by the adversities of climate change.
- The milk of indigenous animals is high in fat and SNF (solids-not-fat) content.
(SNF content are the substances in milk other than butterfat and water in the form of casein, lactose, vitamins, and minerals which contribute significantly to the nutritive value of milk.)
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Back2Basics: National Programme for Bovine Breeding and Dairy Development
- The NPBBDD has been formulated by merging four ongoing schemes of the Department of Animal Husbandry, Dairying and Fisheries in the dairy sector.
- It was launched in Feb 2014.
- This merger has been done to integrate milk production and dairying activities in a scientific and holistic manner to meet the increasing demand for milk in the country.
Components of the scheme
NPBBDD has the following three components.
- National Programme for Bovine Breeding (NPBB)
- National Programme for Dairy Development (NPDD) and
- Rashtriya Gokul Mission.
Differences between all these schemes:
1) National Programme for Bovine Breeding
It aims-
- To arrange quality Artificial Insemination services at farmers’ doorstep
- To bring all breedable females under organized breeding through Artificial Insemination or natural service using germplasm of high genetic merits
2) National Programme for Dairy Development
It aims-
- To create and strengthen infrastructure for the production of quality milk including cold chain infrastructure linking the farmer to the consumer
- To strengthen dairy cooperative societies/Producers Companies at the village level
- To increase milk production by providing technical input services like cattle-feed, and mineral mixture etc.
3) Rashtriya Gokul Mission
It aims-
- To undertake breed improvement programme for indigenous cattle breeds so as to improve the genetic makeup and increase the stock.
- To enhance milk production and productivity of indigenous bovines.
- To upgrade nondescript cattle using elite indigenous breeds like Gir, Sahiwal, Rathi, Deoni, Tharparkar, Red Sindhi.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Ramsar wetlands in India
Mains level: Wetlanc conservation
Four more wetlands from India get recognition from the Ramsar Secretariat as Ramsar sites.
What are Wetlands?
- A wetland is a distinct ecosystem that is flooded by water, either permanently or seasonally, where oxygen-free processes prevail.
- The primary factor that distinguishes wetlands from other landforms or water bodies is the characteristic vegetation of aquatic plants, adapted to the unique hydric soil.
Significance of Wetlands
- Wetlands provide a wide range of important resources and ecosystem services such as food, water, fibre, groundwater recharge, water purification, flood moderation, erosion control, and climate regulation.
- They are, in fact, are a major source of water and our main supply of freshwater comes from an array of wetlands that help soak rainfall and recharge groundwater.
- They provide many societal benefits: food and habitat for fish and wildlife, including threatened and endangered species; water quality improvement; flood storage; shoreline erosion control; economically beneficial natural products for human use; and opportunities for recreation, education, and research, etc.
Which are the new sites added to the Ramsar List?
- Thol and Wadhwana from Gujarat and
- Sultanpur and Bhindawas from Haryana
With this, the number of Ramsar sites in India are 46 and the surface area covered by these sites is now 1,083,322 hectares.
(1) Bhindawas Wildlife Sanctuary
- Bhindawas WLS, the largest wetland in Haryana is a human-made freshwater wetland.
- Over 250 bird species use the sanctuary throughout the year as a resting and roosting site.
- The site supports more than ten globally threatened species including the endangered Egyptian Vulture, Steppe Eagle, Pallas’s Fish Eagle, and Black-bellied Tern.
(2) Sultanpur National Park
- Sultanpur NP from Haryana supports more than 220 species of resident, winter migratory and local migratory waterbirds at critical stages of their life cycles.
- More than ten of these are globally threatened, including the critically endangered sociable lapwing, and the endangered Egyptian Vulture, Saker Falcon, Pallas’s Fish Eagle and Black-bellied Tern.
(3) Thol Lake Wildlife Sanctuary
- Thol Lake WLS from Gujarat lies on the Central Asian Flyway and more than 320 bird species can be found here.
- The wetland supports more than 30 threatened waterbird species, such as the critically endangered White-rumped Vulture and Sociable Lapwing, and the vulnerable Sarus Crane, Common Pochard, and Lesser White-fronted Goose.
(4) Wadhvana Wetland
- Wadhvana Wetland from Gujarat is internationally important for its birdlife as it provides wintering ground to migratory waterbirds, including over 80 species that migrate on the Central Asian Flyway.
- They include some threatened or near-threatened species such as the endangered Pallas’s fish-Eagle, the vulnerable Common Pochard, and the near-threatened Dalmatian Pelican, Grey-headed Fish-eagle and Ferruginous Duck.
Back2Basics: Ramsar Convention
- The Convention on Wetlands of International Importance (better known as the Ramsar Convention) is an international agreement promoting the conservation and wise use of wetlands.
- It is the only global treaty to focus on a single ecosystem.
- The convention was adopted in the Iranian city of Ramsar in 1971 and came into force in 1975.
- Traditionally viewed as a wasteland or breeding ground of disease, wetlands actually provide fresh water and food and serve as nature’s shock absorber.
- Wetlands, critical for biodiversity, are disappearing rapidly, with recent estimates showing that 64% or more of the world’s wetlands have vanished since 1900.
- Major changes in land use for agriculture and grazing, water diversion for dams and canals, and infrastructure development are considered to be some of the main causes of loss and degradation of wetlands.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Read the attached story
Mains level: NA
From December, India will move to a system that will count tigers and elephants as part of a common survey.
Common survey for elephants and tiger
- Given that 90% of the area occupied by elephants and tigers is common, and once estimation methods are standardized, having a common survey can significantly save costs.
- The tiger survey is usually held once in four years and elephants are counted once in five years.
- According to the most recent 2018-19 survey, there were 2,997 tigers in India while in the last count in 2017, there were 29,964 elephants in India.
Answer this PYQ:
With reference to Indian Elephants, consider the following statements :
1. The leader of an elephant group is a female.
2. The maximum gestation period can be 22 months.
3. An elephant can normally go on calving till the age of 40 years only.
4. Among the States in India, the highest population is in Kerala.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct ?
(a) 1and 2 only
(b) 2 and 4 only
(c) 3 only
(d) 1,3 and 4 only
Post your answers here:
Why need a common survey?
- Based on sightings in camera traps and indirect estimation methods, tiger numbers are computed.
- Elephant numbers largely rely on States directly counting the number of elephants.
- In recent years, techniques such as analyzing dung samples have also been deployed to estimate birth rates and population trends in elephants.
About All India Tiger Estimation
- The tiger count is prepared after every four years by the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) provides details on the number of tigers in the 18 tiger reign states with 50 tiger reserves.
- It is conducted by the NTCA and the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) in collaboration with the State Forest Departments.
- The entire exercise spanned over four years is considered to be the world’s largest wildlife survey effort in terms of coverage and intensity of sampling.
- Over 15, 000 cameras are installed at various strategic points to capture the movement of tigers.
- This is supported by extensive data collected by field personnel and satellite mapping.
Back2Basics: Asian Elephants
- Asian elephants are listed as “Endangered” on the IUCN Red List of threatened species.
- This has been done as most of the range States except India have lost their viable elephant populations due to loss of habitat, poaching, etc.
- Current population estimates indicate that there are about 50,000-60,000 Asian elephants in the world.
- More than 60% of the world’s elephant population is in India.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Exercise Al–Mohed Al–Hindi
Mains level: NA
The maiden bilateral naval exercise between India and Saudi Arabia named ‘AL–Mohed AL–Hindi’ has got underway.
Must read:
[Prelims Spotlight] Various Defence Exercises in News
Ex Al-Mohed AI-Hindi 2021
- This is the first edition of a bilateral naval exercise between India and Saudi Arabia.
- It comprises several shore and sea-based drills between the two navies.
- It reflects the growing defense ties between the two nations in the wake of the Indian Army chiefs’ first visit to the West Asian country last year.
- INS Kochi is the Indian warship participating in the exercise.
- The exercise is being held against the backdrop of growing tensions in the Persian Gulf following a drone attack on the tanker MV Mercer Street off Oman.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Government e-Marketplace
Mains level: Not Much
The Government e-Marketplace (GeM) system has resulted in a 10% savings in public procurement costs in five years.
Government e-Marketplace
- GeM is an online platform for public procurement in India by various Government Departments / Organizations / PSUs.
- The initiative was launched on August 9, 2016 by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry with the objective to create an open and transparent procurement platform for government buyers.
- It is owned by GeM SPV (Special Purpose Vehicle) which is a 100 per cent Government-owned, non-profit company under the Ministry of Commerce and Industries
- GeM aims to enhance transparency, efficiency and speed in public procurement.
- It provides the tools of e-bidding, reverse e-auction and demand aggregation to facilitate the government users achieve the best value for their money.
- The purchases through GeM by Government users have been authorized and made mandatory by Ministry of Finance.
Note: The government has made it mandatory for sellers on the Government e-Marketplace (GeM) portal to clarify the country of origin of their goods when registering new products.
Advantages for Buyers
- Offers rich listing of products for individual categories of Goods/Services
- Makes available search, compare, select and buy facility
- Enables buying Goods and Services online, as and when required.
- Provides transparency and ease of buying
- Ensures continuous vendor rating system
- Up-to-date user-friendly dashboard for buying, monitoring supplies and payments
- Provision of easy return policy
Advantages for Sellers
- Direct access to all Government departments.
- One-stop shop for marketing with minimal efforts
- One-stop shop for bids / reverse auction on products / services
- New Product Suggestion facility available to Sellers
- Dynamic pricing: Price can be changed based on market conditions
- Seller friendly dashboard for selling, and monitoring of supplies and payments
- Consistent and uniform purchase procedures
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Dara Shikhoh and his legacy
Mains level: Secular polity in Medieval India
The final resting place of Mughal prince Dara Shikoh remains a mystery, with the Archaeological Survey of India saying it has not located the grave within the Humayun’s Tomb complex.
Dara Shikoh
- Dara Shikoh, who was Mughal emperor Shah Jahan’s son and expected heir, was killed on the orders of his brother Aurangzeb in 1659 after losing the war of succession.
- He was the eldest son and heir-apparent of the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan.
- Dara was designated with the title Padshahzada-i-Buzurg Martaba (Prince of High Rank) and was favored as a successor by his father and his older sister, Princess Jahanara Begum.
- In the war of succession which ensued after Shah Jahan’s illness in 1657, Dara was defeated by his younger brother Prince Muhiuddin (Aurangzeb).
- He was executed in 1659 on Aurangzeb’s orders in a bitter struggle for the imperial throne.
His legacy
- Dara was a liberal-minded unorthodox Muslim as opposed to the orthodox Aurangzeb.
- He authored the work The Confluence of the Two Seas, which argues for the harmony of Sufi philosophy in Islam and Vedanta philosophy in Hinduism.
- It was Dara Shikoh who was responsible for making the Upanishads available to the West as he had them translated.
- He had commissioned a translation of Yoga Vasistha.
- A great patron of the arts, he was also more inclined towards philosophy and mysticism rather than military pursuits.
- The course of the history of the Indian subcontinent, had Dara Shikoh prevailed over Aurangzeb, has been a matter of some conjecture among historians.
Q.Who among the following Mughal Emperors shifted emphasis from illustrated manuscripts to album and individual portrait?
(a) Humayun
(b) Akbar
(c) Jahangir
(d) Shah Jahan
Answer this PYQ here:
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: CHAPEA Mission
Mains level: Not Much
NASA is seeking applications for its new mission called the Crew Health and Performance Exploration Analog (CHAPEA), which is related to Mars.
CHAPEA
- The mission is set to begin in 2022 and will give four successful applicants the chance to live and work in a 1,700 square-foot module that is created by a 3D printer and is called the Mars Dune Alpha.
- The simulated quarters include a kitchen, areas for medical, recreation, fitness, work, crop growth, a technical work area and two bathrooms.
- This habitat will simulate what it feels like to carry out missions on Mars including resource limitations, equipment failure, communication delays and any other environmental stressors.
- The crew will be expected to perform simulated spacewalks, scientific research and use virtual reality and robotic controls and exchange communications.
What is the purpose of this mission?
- The habitat in which the crew members will stay will be as Mars-realistic as possible.
- The results from this analog mission will provide scientific data that will help in validating the systems that will be used for actual missions to Mars and also help in solving problems for spaceflight research.
- CHAPEA is not the only analog mission, there are others including Aquarius/NEEMO, Concordia, Desert RATS, and HESTIA.
- Analog missions are required because not all experiments can be carried out in space because resources and money are limited.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Absorption Spectroscopy
Mains level: Not Much
Researchers from IIT Madras and IISER Kolkata have developed a method to detect minute quantities of chemicals in solution using Absorption Spectroscopy.
Note: These days there has been a rise in questions from biology (rather cell biology in particular).
Absorption Spectroscopy
- Absorption spectroscopy is a tool to detect the presence of elements in a medium.
- Light is shone on the sample, and after it passes through the sample is examined using a spectroscope.
- Dark lines are seen in the observed spectrum of the light passed through the substance, which correspond to the wavelengths of light absorbed by the intervening substance and are characteristic of the elements present in it.
- In usual methods, about a cubic centimeter of the sample is needed to do this experiment.
- In the method developed here, minute amounts of dissolved substances can be detected easily.
- Usually in absorption spectroscopy, the principle used is that light because of its wavelike nature, shows diffraction patterns, that is, dark and light fringes, when it scatters off any object.
Studying small objects
- A related concept called the Abbe criterion sets a natural limit on the size of the object being studied.
- According to this criterion, the size of the observed object has to be at least of the order of the wavelength of the light being shone on it.
- If one wants to perform absorption spectroscopy using visible light, namely, blue, green and red, the wavelengths [of these colours] are about 400 nm, 500 nm and 600 nm, respectively.
What has Indian researchers achieved?
- In the method used by the researchers here, tiny, nano-sized particles that can absorb light being shone on them and re-emit red, blue and green light were employed.
- The particles emit electric fields that are analogous to how a tiny magnet would give off magnetic lines of force – this is called a dipole, and the particle is like a tiny mobile phone’s antenna.
- This dipole generates an electromagnetic field depending upon the quantum properties of the erbium dopants in the glass.
- The absorption leaves a gap in the reflected light, which is what is observed and used to analyse the nature of the absorbing material.
Applications of this technology
- There are many potential applications.
- Small molecules almost ten-millionth of an mm in diameter can be detected while these pass the emission region of the glass particle.
- The future is to use it to measure individual molecules, see absorption spectroscopy of a single DNA or protein molecule.
Try this
Q.Which of the following statements are correct regarding the general difference between plant and animal cells?
- Plant cells have cellulose cell walls whilst animal cells do not.
- Plant cells do not have plasma membranes unlike animal cells which do.
- Mature plant cell has one large vacuole whilst an animal cell has many small vacuoles.
Select the correct answer using the code given below:
(a) 1 and 2 only
(b) 2 and 3 only
(c) 1 and 3 only
(d) 1, 2 and 3
Answer this PYQ here:
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