Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Azhdarchid pterosaurs
Mains level: Not Much
Azhdarchid pterosaurs, the giant reptiles that flew in the skies nearly 65 million years ago, had necks longer than that of a giraffe (i.e. more than 6fts).
What are pterosaurs?
- Pterosaurs are reptiles that are close cousins of dinosaurs, the first animals after insects to evolve powered flight.
- Some pterosaurs were as large as an F-16 fighter jet, while others were as small as a paper aeroplane.
- Pterosaurs went extinct about 65-66 million years ago (end of the Cretaceous period) and while they did not leave any of their descendants behind.
- One reason for this is that few pterosaurs lived in places where fossils tend to form, because of which their bones are preserved poorly.
Revise the geological timescale from your NCERT textbook.
Azhdarchid pterosaurs
- They are one type of pterosaur and one of the distinguishing characteristics about them is how big they were, especially their long necks.
- Some of these pterosaurs were the largest animals to have flown in the sky, with wingspans greater than 30 feet.
- The name azhdarchid, as per a blog on Scientific American comes from Azhdarcho, a Central Asian form named by Russian ornithologist and palaeontologist in 1984.
What have the researchers found?
- Researchers involved in this study were curious about how the reptile’s long neck functioned and how it was able to support the pterosaur’s body, allowing them to capture and eat heavy prey animals.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Chief Election Commissioner
Mains level: Not Much
The President has appointed Election Commissioner Sushil Chandra to take over as Chief Election Commissioner.
Chief Election Commissioner
- The Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) of India heads the Election Commission of India.
- The ECI is a body constitutionally empowered to conduct free and fair elections to the national and state legislatures and of President and Vice-President.
- This power of the Election Commission of India is derived from Article 324 of the Constitution of India.
- CEC of India is usually a member of the Indian Civil Service and mostly (not necessarily) from the Indian Administrative Service.
His/ Her Removal
- It is very difficult to remove the authority of the Chief Election Commissioner once appointed by the president.
- The two-thirds of the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha need to present and vote against him for disorderly conduct or improper actions.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: NLS1 Galaxy
Mains level: Black holes and gravitation waves
Astronomers have discovered a new active galaxy identified as the farthest gamma-ray emitting galaxy that has so far been stumbled upon. This active galaxy called the Narrow-Line Seyfert 1 (NLS1) galaxy.
Try this PYQ:
Q.Recently, scientists observed the merger of giant ‘blackholes’ billions of light-years away from the Earth. What is the significance of this observation?
(a) ‘Higgs boson particles’ were detected.
(b) ‘Gravitational waves’ were detected.
(c) Possibility of inter-galactic space travel through ‘wormhole’ was confirmed.
(d) It enabled scientists to understand ‘singularity’.
NLS1 Galaxy
- Indian scientists have studied around 25,000 luminous Active galactic nuclei (AGN) from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS).
- They identified it as a gamma-ray emitting NLS1 galaxy, which is a rare entity in space.
- It is about 31 billion light-years away, opens up avenues to explore more such gamma-ray emitting galaxies that wait to meet us.
What makes it intriguing?
- Ever since 1929, when Edwin Hubble discovered that the Universe is expanding, it has been known that most other galaxies are moving away from us.
- Light from these galaxies is shifted to longer (and this means redder) wavelengths – in other words, it is red-shifted.
- Scientists have been trying to trace such red-shifted galaxies to understand the early Universe.
- Powerful relativistic jets, or sources of particles in the Universe travelling nearly at speed to light, are usually produced by AGN powered by large black holes and hosted in a giant elliptical galaxy.
Why NLS1 is unique?
- NLS1s are a unique class of AGN that are powered by the black hole of low mass and hosted in a spiral galaxy.
- As of today, gamma-ray emission has been detected in about a dozen NLS1 galaxies, which are a separate class of AGN identified four decades ago.
- All of them are at redshifts lesser than one, and no method was present to date to find NLS1 at redshifts larger than one.
- This discovery opens up a new way to find gamma-ray emitting NLS1 galaxies in the early Universe.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Monkeydactyl
Mains level: Evolution of natural history
Researchers have described a pterosaur species with opposable thumbs, which could likely be the earliest-known instance of the limb.
Monkeydactyl
- The pterosaur species were reptiles, close cousins of dinosaurs and the first animals after insects to evolve powered flight.
- They evolved into various species; while some were as large as an F-16 fighter jet, others were as small as paper aeroplanes.
- The new pterosaur fossil was discovered in the Tiaojishan Formation of Liaoning, China, and is thought to be 160 million years old.
- It has now been described by an international team of researchers from China, Brazil, the UK, Denmark and Japan, and has been named Kunpengopterus antipollicatus, also dubbed “Monkeydactyl”.
What has the team found?
- “Antipollicatus” in ancient Greek means “opposite thumbs”, and it was attached to the name because the researchers’ findings could be the first discovery of a pterosaur with an opposed thumb.
- Researchers suggested that K. antipollicatus could have used its hand for grasping, which is likely an adaptation for arboreal life.
What makes it special?
- Opposability of the thumb enables the species to “simultaneously flex, abduct and medially rotate the thumb” in a way that one is able to bring the tip of the thumb to touch the tips of the other fingers.
- Along with humans, some ancient monkeys and apes also had opposable thumbs. Humans, however, have a relatively long and distally placed thumb, and larger thumb muscles.
- This means that humans’ tip-to-tip precision grip when holding smaller objects is superior to non-human primates.
- This is the reason that humans are able to hold a pen, unscrew an earring stopper, or put a thread through a needle hole.
- The grasping hands of primates developed as a result of their life in the trees — an opposable thumb made it easier for the common ancestor of all primates to cling on to tree branches.
Try this PYQ:
Q.Some species of plants are insectivorous. Why?
(a) Their growth in shady and dark places does not allow them to undertake sufficient photosynthesis and thus they depend on insects for nutrition
(b) They are adapted to grow in nitrogen deficient soils and thus depend on insects for sufficient nitrogenous nutrition
(c) They cannot synthesize certain vitamins themselves and depend on the insects digested by them
(d) They have remained in that particular stage of evolution as living fossils, a link between autotrophs and heterotrophs
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Jyotiba Phule
Mains level: Social reformers in India
The Prime Minister has paid tribute to the great social reformer, thinker, philosopher and writer Mahatma Jyotiba Phule on his birth anniversary.
Mahatma Phule
- Jotirao Govindrao Phule was an Indian social activist, thinker, anti-caste social reformer and writer from Maharashtra.
- His work extended to many fields, including the eradication of untouchability and the caste system and for his efforts in educating women and exploited caste people.
- He and his wife, Savitribai Phule, were pioneers of women’s education in India. Phule started his first school for girls in 1848 in Pune at Tatyasaheb Bhide’s residence or Bhidewada.
- He, along with his followers, formed the Satyashodhak Samaj (Society of Truth Seekers) to attain equal rights for people from exploited castes.
- People from all religions and castes could become a part of this association which worked for the upliftment of the oppressed classes.
- Phule is regarded as an important figure in the social reform movement in Maharashtra. He was bestowed with an honorific Mahātmā title by Maharashtrian social activist Vithalrao Krishnaji Vandekar in 1888.
His social work
Phule’s social activism included many fields, including the eradication of untouchability and the caste system, education of women and the Dalits, and welfare of downtrodden women.
- Education
- In 1848, aged 21, Phule visited a girls’ school in Ahmadnagar, run by Christian missionaries.
- He realized that exploited castes and women were at a disadvantage in Indian society, and also that education of these sections was vital to their emancipation
- Phule first taught reading and writing to his wife, Savitribai, and then the couple started the first indigenously run school for girls in Pune.
- The conservative upper caste society of Pune didn’t approve of his work. But many Indians and Europeans helped him generously.
- Women’s welfare
- Phule watched how untouchables were not permitted to pollute anyone with their shadows and that they had to attach a broom to their backs to wipe the path on which they had travelled.
- He saw young widows shaving their heads, refraining from any sort of joy in their life. He saw how untouchable women had been forced to dance naked.
- He made the decision to educate women by witnessing all these social evils that encouraged inequality.
- He championed widow remarriage and started a home for dominant caste pregnant widows to give birth in a safe and secure place in 1863.
- His orphanage was established in an attempt to reduce the rate of infanticide.
- Along with his longtime friend Sadashiv Ballal Govande and Savitribai, he started an infanticide prevention centre.
- Phule tried to eliminate the stigma of social untouchability surrounding the exploited castes by opening his house and the use of his water-well to the members of the exploited castes.
- Views on religion and caste
- Phule recast Aryan invasion theory, proposing that the Aryan conquerors of India, were in fact barbaric suppressors of the indigenous people.
- He believed that they had instituted the caste system as a framework for subjugation and social division that ensured the pre-eminence of their Brahmin successors.
- He saw the subsequent Muslim conquests of the Indian subcontinent as more of the same sort of thing, being a repressive alien regime.
- But he considered the British to be relatively enlightened and not supportive of the varnashrama dharma system instigated and then perpetuated by those previous invaders.
- In his book, Gulamgiri, he thanked Christian missionaries and the British colonists for making the exploited castes realise that they are worthy of all human rights.
- His critique of the caste system began with an attack on the Vedas, the most fundamental texts of Hindus. He considered them to be a form of false consciousness.
- He is credited with introducing the Marathi word ‘Dalit’ (broken, crushed) as a descriptor for those people who were outside the traditional varna system.
- He advocated making primary education compulsory in villages. He also asked for special incentives to get more lower-caste people in high schools and colleges.
Satyashodhak Samaj
- On 24 September 1873, Phule formed Satyashodhak Samaj to focus on the rights of depressed groups such as women, the Shudra, and the Dalit.
- Through this the samaj opposed idolatry and denounced the caste system.
- Satyashodhak Samaj campaigned for the spread of rational thinking and rejected the need for priests.
- Phule established Satyashodhak Samaj with the ideals of human well-being, happiness, unity, equality, and easy religious principles and rituals.
- A Pune-based newspaper, Deenbandhu, provided the voice for the views of the Samaj.
- The membership of the samaj included Muslims, Brahmins and government officials. Phule’s own Mali caste provided the leading members and financial supporters for the organization.
Published works
- Tritiya Ratna, 1855
- Manav Mahammand (Muhammad) (Abhang)
- Gulamgiri, 1873
- Sarvajanik Satya Dharma Poostak, April 1889
- Sarvajanic Satya Dharmapustak, 1891
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Thwaites Glacier
Mains level: Glacial melting and sea level rise
The melting of Antarctica’s Thwaites Glacier – also called the “Doomsday Glacier”– has long been a cause of concern because of its high potential of speeding up the global sea-level rise happening due to climate change.
Thwaites Glacier
- Called the Thwaites Glacier, it is 120 km wide at its broadest, fast-moving, and melting fast over the years.
- Because of its size (1.9 lakh square km), it contains enough water to raise the world sea level by more than half a meter.
- Studies have found the amount of ice flowing out of it has nearly doubled over the past 30 years.
- Thwaites’s melting already contributes 4% to global sea-level rise each year. It is estimated that it would collapse into the sea in 200-900 years.
- Thwaites is important for Antarctica as it slows the ice behind it from freely flowing into the ocean. Because of the risk it faces — and poses — Thwaites is often called the Doomsday Glacier.
What have previous studies said?
- A 2019 study by New York University had discovered a fast-growing cavity in the glacier. Then last year, researchers detected warm water at a vital point below the glacier.
- The study reported water at just two degrees above freezing point at Thwaites’s “grounding zone” or “grounding line”.
- The grounding line is the place below a glacier at which the ice transitions between resting fully on bedrock and floating on the ocean as an ice shelf.
- The location of the line is a pointer to the rate of retreat of a glacier.
- When glaciers melt and lose weight, they float off the land where they used to be situated. When this happens, the grounding line retreats.
- That exposes more of a glacier’s underside to seawater, increasing the melting rate resulting in the glacier speeding up, stretching out, and thinning, causing the grounding line to retreat ever further.
What has the new study revealed?
- The recent Gothenburg study used an uncrewed submarine to go under the Thwaites glacier front to make observations.
- The submersible called “Ran” measured among other things the strength, temperature, salinity and oxygen content of the ocean currents that go under the glacier.
- There is a deep connection to the east through which deepwater flows from Pine Island Bay, a connection that was previously thought to be blocked by an underwater ridge.
Why this is a cause of worry?
- The warm water is approaching the pinning points of the glacier from all sides, impacting these locations where the ice is connected to the seabed and where the ice sheet finds stability.
- This has the potential to make things worse for Thwaites, whose ice shelf is already retreating.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Gangetic and Indus Dolphin
Mains level: Not Much
Detailed analysis of South Asian river dolphins has revealed that the Indus and Ganges River dolphins are not one, but two separate species.
About Gangetic Dolphin
- The Gangetic river system is home to a vast variety of aquatic life, including the Gangetic dolphin (Platanista gangetica).
- It is one of five species of river dolphin found around the world.
- It is found mainly in the Indian subcontinent, particularly in Ganga-Brahmaputra-Meghna and Karnaphuli-Sangu river systems.
- An adult dolphin could weigh between 70 kg and 90 kg. The breeding season of the Gangetic dolphin extends from January to June.
- They feed on several species of fishes, invertebrates etc.
Indus Dolphin is the divergent specie
- Currently, they are classified as two subspecies under Platanista gangetica. The study estimates that Indus and Ganges river dolphins may have diverged around 550,000 years ago.
- The international team studied body growth, skull morphology, tooth counts, colouration and genetic makeup and published the findings last month in Marine Mammal Science.
Conservation status
- The Indus and Ganges River dolphins are both classified as ‘Endangered’ species by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
- It is the national aquatic animal and had been granted non-human personhood status by the government in 2017.
- It is also protected under Schedule I of the Wildlife Protection Act (1972).
- Vikramshila Gangetic Dolphin Sanctuary (VGDS) in Bihar is India’s only sanctuary for the Gangetic dolphin.
- It has been categorised as endangered on the Red List of Threatened Species by the IUCN
- Physical barriers such as dams and barrages created across the river, the declining river flows reduced the gene flow to a great extent making the species vulnerable.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not Much
Mains level: Opium cultivation
The Central government has decided to rope in the private sector to commence production of concentrated poppy straw from India’s opium crop.
What is the move?
- The move aims to boost the yield of alkaloids, used for medical purposes and exported to several countries.
- Among the few countries permitted to cultivate the opium poppy crop for export and extraction of alkaloids, India currently only extracts alkaloids from opium gum at facilities controlled by the Revenue Department.
- This entails farmers extracting gum by manually lancing the opium pods and selling the gum to government factories.
- The Ministry has now decided to switch to new technologies after trial cultivation reports submitted last year by two private firms showed higher extraction of alkaloids using the concentrated poppy straw (CPS).
Opium Poppy
- The milky fluid that seeps from cuts in the unripe poppy seed pod has, since ancient times, been scraped off and air-dried to produce what is known as opium.
- The seedpod is first incised with a multi-bladed tool.
- This lets the opium “gum” ooze out.
- The semi-dried “gum” is harvested with a curved spatula and then dried in open wooden boxes.
- The dried opium resin is placed in bags or rolled into balls for sale.
Why such a move?
- India’s opium crop acreage has been steadily declining over the years.
- The CPS extraction method is expected to help cut the occasional dependence on imports of products like codeine (extracted from opium) for medical uses.
Amendments to NDPS Act
- Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh are the three traditionally opium-growing States, where poppy crop cultivation is allowed based on licences issued annually by the Central Bureau of Narcotics.
- While roping in private players in producing CPS and extracting alkaloids from it is likely to require amendments to the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, 1985.
- The Revenue Department has decided to appoint a consultant to help frame the bidding parameters and concession agreements for the same.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: CVC
Mains level: Not Much
The CVC has modified the guidelines pertaining to the transfer and posting of officials in the vigilance units of government organisations, restricting their tenure to three years at one place.
Revise all statutory and constitutional bodies from your Polity Book at least 2-3 times before the prelims.
Central Vigilance Commission (CVC)
- CVC is an apex governmental body created in 1964 to address governmental corruption.
- In 2003, the Parliament enacted a law conferring statutory status on the CVC.
- It has the status of an autonomous body, free of control from any executive authority, charged with monitoring all vigilance activity under the Central Government of India.
- It advises various authorities in central Government organizations in planning, executing, reviewing and reforming their vigilance work.
Its establishment
- It was set up by the Government Resolution on 11 February 1964, on the recommendations of the Committee on Prevention of Corruption, headed by Shri K. Santhanam.
- N Srinivasa Rau was selected as the first Chief Vigilance Commissioner of India.
Composition
- The Commission shall consist of:
- A Central Vigilance Commissioner – Chairperson;
- Not more than two Vigilance Commissioners – Members.
- The CVC and other VCs shall be appointed by the President on the recommendation of a Committee consisting of the PM (Chairperson), the Minister of Home Affairs (Member) and the Leader of the Opposition in the House of the People (Lok Sabha).
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: SUOPACE
Mains level: Not Much
The Supreme Court has unveiled its Artificial Intelligence (AI) portal SUPACE, designed to make research easier for judges, thereby easing their workload.
SUPACE
- A pet project of the former Chief Justice of India S A Bobde, the SUPACE is a tool that collects relevant facts and laws and makes them available to a judge.
- The Supreme Court’s system is not designed to take decisions, but only to process facts and to make them available to judges looking for input for a decision.
- The CJI had then said that AI is to the intellect, what muscle memory is to the mind.
Its’ utility
- SUPACE will produce results customized to the need of the case and the way the judge thinks.
- This will be time-saving. It will help the judiciary and the court in reducing delays and pendency of cases.
- AI will present a more streamlined, cost-effective and time-bound means to the fundamental right of access to justice.
- It will make the service delivery mechanism transparent and cost-efficient.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Muan
Mains level: Particle physics and its various anomalies
The results from the Muon g-2 experiment show that fundamental particles called muons behave in a way that is not predicted by the Standard Model of particle physics.
After genetics, AI and the blockchain, Particle Physics is making several headlines these days. This is something intuitive.
What is Muon?
- Fermilab, the American particle accelerator, has released first results from its “muon g-2” experiment.
- These results spotlight the anomalous behaviour of the elementary particle called the muon.
- The muon is a heavier cousin of the electron and is expected to have a value of 2 for its magnetic moment, labelled “g”.
- Now, the muon is not alone in the universe.
- It is embedded in a sea where particles are popping out and vanishing every instant due to quantum effects.
- So, its g value is altered by its interactions with these short-lived excitations.
Main characteristic: Anomalous magnetic moment
- The Standard Model of particle physics calculates this correction, called the anomalous magnetic moment, very accurately.
- The muon g-2 experiment measured the extent of the anomaly and announced that “g” deviated from the amount predicted by the Standard Model.
- That is, while the calculated value in the Standard Model is 2.00233183620 approximately, the experimental results show a value of 2.00233184122.
- They have measured “g” to an accuracy of about 4.2 sigma when the results are combined with those from a 20-year-old experiment.
- This makes physicists sit up and take note, but it is not yet significant enough to constitute a discovery – for which they need a significance of 5 sigma.
The g factor
- The muon is also known as the fat electron.
- It is produced copiously in the Fermilab experiments and occurs naturally in cosmic ray showers.
- Like the electron, the muon has a magnetic moment because of which, when placed in a magnetic field, it spins and processes, or wobbles, slightly, like the axis of a spinning top.
- Its internal magnetic moment, the g factor, determines the extent of this wobble.
- As the muon spins, it also interacts with the surrounding environment, which consists of short-lived particles popping in and out of a vacuum.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Government Securities Acquisition Programme (G-SAP)
Mains level: Open market operations
What is the first phase of operation?
- The RBI has officially notified that it would conduct the first phase of G-SAP 1.0 operations on April 15, 2021.
- It will begin with the purchase of five dated securities for an amount aggregating to Rs 25,000 crore.
- The first phase of G-SAP purchase will happen using the multiple price method under which the bidders pay at the respective rate they had bid.
- The RBI has notified four securities for the G-Sec purchase in different maturities.
- In addition to the G-SAP plan, the RBI will also continue to deploy regular operations.
- This would be under the LAF, longer-term repo/reverse repo auctions, forex operations and open market operations including special OMOs.
- This is to ensure that the liquidity conditions evolve in consonance with the stance of monetary policy.
What are the concerns?
- Interest rates – For the Government, the RBI keeping the yield down is a good news because the overall borrowing costs go down.
- But, the RBI artificially keeping the interest rates lower in the financial system has caused concerns.
- In healthy economic system, the interest rates pricing should be driven by demand-supply.
- It shouldn’t be artificially suppressed by the central bank; this might lead to distortions and have other consequences.
- Savers – Cheaper rates will be good news to big, top rated companies who can issue bonds to raise money and to the government.
- But low interest rates coupled with high inflation is a systemic worry for savers.
- Already, savers are getting negative returns on their deposits if one takes into account the inflation adjusted rates or real rates.
- Rupee – Government resorting to massive bond purchase to keep the rates low is not good news for the local currency.
- The Indian Rupee, notably, came under pressure after the RBI announced the massive Rs 1 lakh crore bond purchase programme.
- The fear of investors pulling capital out of India in a low interest environment is hurting the local currency.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Seechewal model
Mains level: Wastewater management
A new wastewater treatment plant opened recently in a village in Punjab’s Patiala district uses a unique method devised to treat, recycle and reuse wastewater.
Seechewal Model
- The plant in the village of Patiala aims to achieve the following objective using the ‘Seechewal Model’ of wastewater management:
- Recycling and reusing the treated wastewater for irrigation
- Preventing further contamination of groundwater
- The model is a pipe-and-pump formula used to remove heavy solid particles, oil and other material from water.
- It was introduced by Sant Balbir Singh Seechewal and was first used in Seechewal, Punjab.
- The project aims to implement a combination of processes through four-well systems of wastewater treatment for reuse apart from human consumption.
- The water wells need to be cleaned regularly; otherwise, they produce extremely poor effluents with high suspended solids, which can be detrimental to the constructed wetland and cause clogging of beds.
- To ensure continuous and effective operation, the accumulated material must be emptied periodically.
Benefits offered
- The project will reduce the usage of freshwater by providing an option of treated water to farmers. It will aim at water sustainability with appropriate technologies of water recycle-reuse-recharge.”
- The project has engaged, empowered and evolved community sustained processes for water management and strengthened community collectives.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Sadabahar mango
Mains level: GMO crops
A farmer from Kota, Rajasthan, has developed a round-the-year dwarf variety of mango called Sadabahar, which is resistant to most major diseases and common mango disorders.
Try this PYQ:
Q.With reference to the Genetically Modified mustard (GM mustard) developed in India, consider the following statements:
- GM mustard has the genes of a soil bacterium that give the plant the property of pest-resistance to a wide variety of pests.
- GM mustard has the genes that allow the plant cross-pollination and hybridization.
- GM mustard has been developed jointly by the IARI and Punjab Agricultural University.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct? (CSP 2018)
(a) 1 and 3 only
(b) 2 only
(c) 2 and 3 only
(d) 1, 2 and 3
Sadabahar
- The fruit is sweeter in taste, comparable to langra and being a dwarf variety, is suitable for kitchen gardening, high-density plantation, and can be grown in pots for some years too.
- Besides, the flesh of the fruits, which is bourn round the year, is deep orange with a sweet taste, and the pulp has very little fiber content which differentiates it from other varieties.
- The bountiful nutrients packed in mango are immensely good for health.
- This variety has been verified by the National Innovation Foundation (NIF), India, an autonomous institution of the Department of Science & Technology.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: HSN Code
Mains level: Not Much
It has been made mandatory for a GST taxpayer having a turnover of more than Rs 5 crore in the preceding financial year, to furnish 6 digits HSN Code (Harmonized System of Nomenclature Code). This comes into effect from April 1.
HSN code
- The Harmonized System, or simply ‘HS’, is a six-digit identification code developed by the World Customs Organization (WCO).
- Called the “universal economic language” for goods, it is a multipurpose international product nomenclature.
- Over 200 countries use the system as a basis for their customs tariffs, gathering international trade statistics, making trade policies, and monitoring goods.
- The system helps in harmonizing customs and trade procedures, thus reducing costs in international trade.
What makes the 6 digit code?
- A unique six-digit code has numbers arranged in a legal and logical structure, with well-defined rules to achieve uniform classification.
- Of the six digits, the first two denote the HS Chapter, the next two give the HS heading, and the last two give the HS subheading.
- The HS Code for pineapple, for example, is 0804.30, which means it belongs to Chapter 08 (Edible fruit & nuts, peel of citrus/melons), Heading 04 (Dates, figs, pineapples, avocados, etc. fresh or dried), and Subheading 30 (Pineapples).
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Exercise 'Shantir Ogroshena'
Mains level: NA
Indian Army team comprising officers, junior commissioned officers (JCOs) and soldiers from the Dogra regiment will participate in the multilateral exercise ‘Shantir Ogroshena’ (front runner of peace).
The name very much suggests that the exercise is hosted by Bangladesh. But one must note, it’s a multilateral exercise.
Shantir Ogroshena
- Indian Army will participate in Multinational Military Exercise namely SHANTIR OGROSHENA -2021 in Bangladesh.
- The nine days exercise will start on the 4th of this month to commemorate the birth centenary of Bangladesh Father of the Nation, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and mark glorious 50 years of liberation.
- The theme of the exercise is ‘Robust Peace Keeping Operations’. Military observers from the US, UK, Turkey, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Singapore will also be in attendance throughout the exercise.
- Military observers from the USA, UK, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Singapore will also be in attendance throughout the exercise.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: PIO, OCI
Mains level: Indian Diaspora
People of Indian origin (PIO) and the Indian diaspora having Overseas Citizens of India (OCI) cards are now not required to carry their old, expired passports for travel to India.
UPSC can ask statement based question in prelims based on the definition and privileges of OCI card-holders.
Who is an Overseas Citizen?
- An OCI is a category introduced by the government in 2005.
- Persons of Indian Origin (PIOs) of certain categories as specified in the Citizenship Act, 1955 are eligible for being OCI cardholders.
- Some of the benefits for PIO and OCI cardholders were different until 2015 when the government merged these two categories.
- The MHA defines an OCI as a person who was a citizen of India on or after January 26, 1950; or was eligible to become a citizen of India on that date; or who is a child or grandchild of such a person, among other eligibility criteria.
- According to Section 7A of the OCI card rules, an applicant is not eligible for the OCI card if he, his parents or grandparents have ever been a citizen of Pakistan or Bangladesh.
Privileges to an OCI
- OCI cardholders can enter India multiple times, get a multipurpose lifelong visa to visit India, and are exempt from registering with Foreigners Regional Registration Office (FRRO) no matter how long their stay.
- If an individual is registered as an OCI for a period of five years, he/she are eligible to apply for Indian citizenship.
- At all Indian international airports, OCI cardholders are provided with special immigration counters.
- OCI cardholders can open special bank accounts in India, they can buy the non-farm property and exercise ownership rights and can also apply for a driver’s license and PAN card.
- However, OCI cardholders do not get voting rights, cannot hold a government job and purchase agricultural or farmland.
- They cannot run for public office either, nor can they travel to restricted areas without government permission.
Why such a move?
- There had been inconvenience caused to members of the Indian diaspora due to certain OCI card rules as they undertook to travel to India during the pandemic.
- He said some of the passengers were not allowed to board flights to India and were sent back from airports as they were not carrying their old foreign passports, which was required as per government rules.
- The OCI card, among other benefits, allows multiple entries, multi-purpose lifelong visa to an Indian-origin foreign national to visit India.
- Under the provisions of the OCI card, which gives the cardholder a lifelong visa to India, those below 20 years and above 50 years need to renew their OCI card every time they have their passport renewed.
Back2Basics: PIO vs. OCI
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Military farms, Project Freiswal
Mains level: NA
Military farms have been closed after 132 years of service.
Read till the end to know what Project Freiswal is.
What are Military Farms?
- The farms were set up with the sole requirement of supplying hygienic cow milk to troops in garrisons across British India.
- The first military farm was raised on February 1, 1889, at Allahabad.
- Post-independence, the farms flourished with 30,000 heads of cattle in 130 farms all over India.
- They were even established in Leh and Kargil in the late 1990s.
Why are they shutdown?
- The major task was the management of large tracts of defence land, production and supply of baled hay to animal holding units.
- There have been several recommendations in the past to shut down the farms.
- In 2012, the Quarter Master General branch had recommended their closure.
- Again in December 2016 by Lt. Gen. DB Shekatkar (retd) committee was appointed to recommend measures to enhance combat capability and rebalance defence expenditure of the armed forces.
Their significance
- For more than a century, the farms with dedication and commitment supplied 3.5 crore litres of milk and 25,000 MT of hay yearly.
- It is credited with pioneering the technique of artificial insemination of cattle and the introduction of organised dairying in India, providing yeoman service during the 1971 war.
- It also supplied milk at the Western and Eastern war fronts as well as during the Kargil operations to the Northern Command.
Another initiative: Project Freiswal
- It utilizes Friesian-Sahiwal cross-breeds as a base for the evolution of a new milch strain – “Frieswal” – through interbreeding, selection and progeny testing of bulls.
- It was introduced on 3 November 1987 at the Military Farm School and Research Centre in Meerut.
- It had the objective of studying the genetic aspects of Holstein x Sahiwal crossbreeds and those of important indigenous cattle breeds for their improvement through selection.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Taliban Peace Deal
Mains level: Restoration of democracy in Afghanistan
As the May 1 deadline for pulling out all American troops from Afghanistan nears, US President Joe Biden faces some difficult decisions.
Key tasks for the US before they exit
- The U.S. could abide by the promise made in the U.S.-Taliban agreement signed in February 2020 to withdraw the last of the around 2,500 American Marines stationed in Afghanistan.
- However, Mr Biden has said it would be tough given the levels of violence there.
- The US could negotiate with the Taliban for an extension of the agreement, offering other incentives like the release of more prisoners and the delisting of sanctioned Taliban terrorists.
- The other option is to scrap the 2020 agreement and back the Ashraf Ghani government to continue towards a negotiated settlement, even as US troops remain in Afghanistan to stabilize the security situation.
What is the US likely to do?
- The US exit plan is still underway and that no decision on the length of stay or troop numbers have been made to this point, cleared the US Secy of Defence.
- No U.S. troops have been targeted by Taliban militants in the past year, but violence against Afghan civilians, particularly women, journalists, students and activists has gone up manifold despite the peace agreement.
- More than 3,000 civilians were killed in 2020.
- The US has shown some impatience with the Ghani government as well, believing that it is dragging its feet on intra-Afghan negotiations that began last year in Doha but have stalled for the moment.
Plans for Ashraf Ghani
- A US plan proposes that Mr Ghani step up negotiations with the Taliban for “power-sharing”, discuss principles of future governance and step aside eventually for a “more inclusive” or interim government. The
- The tone of the letter seems to make it clear that the US is not in favour of completely scrapping the 2020 agreement.
- Therefore, it is most likely to pursue the option of negotiating for an extension of the agreement, according to experts, as it builds other dialogue platforms.
Try this question from our AWE Initiative:
What is President Ghani’s plan?
- Ghani has proposed his own peace plan.
- It would involve a full ceasefire, inviting the Taliban to participate in early elections in Afghanistan, and then for Mr Ghani to hand over power to the elected government.
- He also said no regional talks could be successful if they did not include India, which is a development partner and a stakeholder.
Where does India stand?
- India’s position has been to back an “Afghan-owned, Afghan-led, Afghan-controlled” peace process, backing the elected government in Kabul, and it has not yet held talks with the Taliban directly.
- As a result, its option remains to stand with the Ghani government and support the constitution that guarantees a democratic process and rights of women and minorities, over any plans the Taliban might have if they come to power.
- At the same time, India has not foreclosed on the option of talking to the Taliban if it does join the government in Afghanistan.
- India too has made it clear that it seeks to be an integral part of the process, as the outcomes will have a deep impact on India’s security matrix as well.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: ULPIN Scheme
Mains level: Land records management in India
The Centre plans to roll out the Unique Land Parcel Identification Number (ULPIN) Scheme.
ULPIN Scheme
- The ULPIN scheme has been launched in ten States this year and will be rolled out across the country by March 2022, the Department of Land Resources told the Standing Committee on Rural Development.
- It would allot a 14-digit identification number to every plot of land in the country within a year’s time.
- It will subsequently integrate its land records database with revenue court records and bank records, as well as Aadhaar numbers on a voluntary basis.
- The scheme will enhance the service deliveries to the citizen of the country and will also function as inputs to the schemes of the other sectors like Agriculture, Finance Disaster Management etc.
“Aadhaar number” for Land
- Officials described it as “the Aadhaar for land”, a number that would uniquely identify every surveyed parcel of land and prevent land fraud, especially in the hinterlands of rural India, where land records are outdated and often disputed.
- The identification will be based on the longitude and latitude coordinates of the land parcel and is dependent on detailed surveys and geo-referenced cadastral maps, according to a presentation the Department made to States in September 2020.
- This is the next step in the Digital India Land Records Modernization Programme (DILRMP), which began in 2008 and has been extended several times as its scope grew.
Try this PYQ:
Q.Consider the following statements:
- Aadhaar card can be used as proof of citizenship or domicile.
- Once issued, the Aadhaar number cannot be deactivated or omitted by the Issuing Authority.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
(a) 1 only
(b) 2 only
(c) Both 1 and 2
(d) Neither 1 nor 2
A cost-effective approach
- Linking Aadhaar with land records through ULPIN would cost ₹3 per record while seeding and authentication of landowner Aadhaar data would cost ₹5 each.
- It added that the integration of the Aadhaar numbers with the land record database would be done on a voluntary basis.
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