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  • Koothambalam of Guruvayur Temple

    The renovated Koothambalam of the Sreekrishna temple, Guruvayur, has been selected for the UNESCO Asia-Pacific Award for cultural heritage conservation.

    Try this PYQ:

    Q. Building ‘Kalyana Mandapas’ was a notable feature in the temple construction in the kingdom of-
    (a) Chalukya
    (b) Chandela
    (c) Rashtrakuta
    (d) Vijayanagara

    What is Koothambalam?

    • Koothambalam meaning temple theatre is a closed hall for staging Koothu, Nangiar koothu and Koodiyattam, the ancient ritualistic art forms of Kerala.
    • Koothambalams are said to be constructed according to the guidelines given in chapter 2 of Nātyasāstra of Bharata Muni.
    • The stage within the hall is considered to be as sacred as the temple sanctum.

    Its’ construction

    • It is constructed within the cloister of the Temple; more precisely within the pancaprakaras of the temple. The prescribe location is between the prakaras of bahyahara and maryada.
    • In Kerala tradition, it is considered as one among the panchaprasadas of a temple complex.
    • Its dimension varies from temple to temple.
    • A square platform with a separate pyramidal roof supported by pillars in the centre called natyamandapam is constructed as s separate structure within the large hall of Koothampalam.
    • The floor of the hall is divided into two equal halves and one part is for performance (including stage, instruments, green room etc.) and another half for seating audience.

    About Guruvayur Temple

    • It is a Hindu temple dedicated to the Hindu lord, Guruvayurappan (a four-armed form of the Lord Vishnu), located in the town of Guruvayur in Kerala.
    • It is one of the most important places of worship for Hindus in Kerala and is often referred to as Bhuloka Vaikunta (Holy Abode of Vishnu on Earth).

  • Plea in SC against 1975-77 Emergency

    The Supreme Court agreed to look into whether it should examine the constitutionality of the proclamation of National Emergency in 1975 by the then Indira Gandhi-led government.

    Q.Discuss how the imposition of National Emergency under Art. 352 of the Constitution seek to change India’s federal character.

    What is the issue?

    • A 94-year old lady is seeking compensation for the loss she suffered due to the proclamation of emergency.
    • Petitioner has claimed that a number of her immovable properties were illegally occupied for their activities during the Emergency.
    • A bench of the Supreme Court has agreed to examine if the court could examine whether the proclamation of Emergency was constitutional.
    • The court was hesitant to take up the issue as 45 years have passed since the declaration of Emergency and examining such an issue on merits now could be a cumbersome process.

    What is a National Emergency?

    • A national emergency can be declared on the basis of “external aggression or war” and “internal disturbance” in the whole of India or a part of its territory under Article 352.
    • Such an emergency was declared in India in 1962 war (China war), 1971 war (Pakistan war), and 1975 internal disturbance (declared by Indira Gandhi).
    • But after the 44th amendment act 1978 added the provision for Internal Emergency.
    • The President can declare such an emergency only on the basis of a written request by the Cabinet headed by the Prime Minister.

    The 1975 Emergency

    • On June 12, 1975, the Allahabad High Court had declared the election of then PM Indira Gandhi as null and void.
    • Following the court decision, Gandhi moved the Supreme Court and stayed the high court’s decision allowing her to remain as PM while limiting her right to vote in the parliament till the appeal was decided.
    • Following an opposition rally for the resignation of Indira Gandhi, she made a decision to impose a national Emergency which would give the central government sweeping powers.
    • On June 25, 1975, then President Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed relying on Article 352 of the Constitution declared a national emergency in the country.

    What happened after the proclamation of Emergency?

    • From media censorship, suspension of civil liberties and attempts to fundamentally change the Constitution to suit the government, the Emergency is remembered as a dark period in India’s democracy.
    • The 38th- 42nd Constitutional amendments were passed during the Emergency which led to a tussle between the executive and the judiciary that gave the Parliament a power to amend the Constitution.
    • Many of these changes were either overturned by courts or were reversed in the 44th Constitutional amendment in 1978 which was brought in after the Janata government was voted to power.

    Series of Amendments

    • Through the 38th Constitutional Amendment, Gandhi sought to expand the power of the President and barred judicial review of the proclamation of Emergency.
    • The 39th amendment was intended to nullify the effect of the Allahabad High Court ruling that declared Gandhi’s election as null and void.
    • The amendment placed any dispute to the election to the office of the Prime Minister, President beyond the scope of judicial review.
    • The 40th amendment placed crucial land reforms in the Ninth schedule, beyond the scope of judicial review.
    • The 41st Amendment said no criminal proceedings “whatsoever” could lie against a President, Prime Minister, or Governor for acts before or during their terms of office.
    • In the 42nd amendment, the Parliament expanded its powers to amend the Constitution, even its ‘basic structure’ and curtail any fundamental rights.

    The 44th Amendment

    • Through the 43rd and 44th amendments, many of the amendments made during the Emergency were withdrawn.
    • Article 352- the provisions relating to Emergency itself was strengthened to prevent misuse by the executive.

  • CMS-01 Satellite launched by ISRO

    The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) successfully placed into a transfer orbit India’s 42nd communications satellite, CMS-01, carried onboard the PSLV-C50.

    CMS-01

    • It is a communications satellite envisaged for providing services in extended C Band of the frequency spectrum and its coverage will include the Indian mainland and the Andaman & Nicobar and Lakshadweep islands, the ISRO.
    • The satellite is expected to have a life of over seven years.
    • It was injected precisely into its pre-defined sub- geostationary transfer orbit (GTO).
    • CMS-01 is considered to be a replacement of the aged satellite GSAT-12. It provides services like tele-education, tele-medicine, disaster management support and Satellite Internet access.

    What is GTO?

    • A geosynchronous transfer orbit or geostationary transfer orbit (GTO) is a type of geocentric orbit.
    • Satellites which are destined for geosynchronous (GSO) or geostationary orbit (GEO) are (almost) always put into a GTO as an intermediate step for reaching their final orbit.
    • A GTO is highly elliptic.
    • Its perigee (closest point to Earth) is typically as high as low Earth orbit (LEO), while its apogee (furthest point from Earth) is as high as geostationary (or equally, a geosynchronous) orbit.

  • A-68s: Largest floating Iceberg

    A research mission is held to find out the impact of a giant floating iceberg A-68s on the wildlife and marine life on a sub-Antarctic island.

    Q. How does the cryosphere affect global climate? (CSM 2017)

    What are Icebergs?

    • An iceberg is a large piece of freshwater ice that has broken off a glacier or an ice shelf and is floating freely in open (salt) water.
    • Small bits of disintegrating icebergs are called “growlers” or “bergy bits”.
    • Much of an iceberg is below the surface which led to the expression “tip of the iceberg” to illustrate a small part of a larger unseen issue.
    • Icebergs are considered a serious maritime hazard, especially for shipping industries.

    A-68s

    • The iceberg — named A-68s — is travelling at varying speeds depending on local conditions, but at its fastest was travelling about 20 kilometres a day.
    • The huge iceberg — the size of the U.S. state of Delaware — has been floating north since it broke away from Antarctica’s Larsen C ice shelf in 2017.
    • It is now about 75 kilometres from the island of South Georgia, and scientists are concerned over the risks it poses to the wildlife in the area if it grounds near the island.
    • South Georgia is home to colonies of tens of thousands of penguins and 6 million fur seals, which could be threatened by the iceberg during their breeding season.
    • The waters near the island are also one of the world’s largest marine protected areas and house more marine species than the Galapagos.
    • Destruction by the iceberg will release this stored carbon back into the water and, potentially, the atmosphere, which would be a further negative impact.

  • [pib] Haldibari – Chilahati Rail Link

    Ours and Bangladeshi PM has jointly inaugurated a railway link between Haldibari in India and Chilahati in Bangladesh.

    Examine the opportunities and challenges in the adoption PPP model by the Indian Railways.

    Haldibari – Chilahati Rail Link

    • This rail link being made functional is the 5th rail link between India and Bangladesh.
    • It was operational till 1965. This was part of the Broad Gauge main route from Kolkata to Siliguri during partition.
    • Trains travelling to Assam and North Bengal continued to travel through the then East Pakistan territory even after partition.
    • For example, a train from Sealdah to Siliguri used to enter East Pakistan territory from Darshana and exit using the Haldibari – Chilahati link.
    • However, the war of 1965 effectively cut off all the railway links between India and the then East Pakistan.
    • So on the Eastern Sector of India partition of the railways thus happened in 1965.  So the importance of the reopening of this rail link can be well imagined.

    A British-era legacy

    • The railway network of India and Bangladesh are mostly inherited from British Era Indian Railways.
    • After partition in 1947, 7 rail links were operational between India and the then East Pakistan (up to 1965). Presently, there are 4 operational rail links between India and Bangladesh.
    • They are, Petrapole (India) – Benapole (Bangladesh),  Gede (India) – Darshana (Bangladesh), Singhabad (India)-Rohanpur (Bangladesh),  Radhikapur (India)–Birol (Bangladesh).

    Benefits offered by the rail

    • The rail link will be beneficial for transit into Bangladesh from Assam and West Bengal.
    • It will enhance rail network access to the main ports, dry ports, and land borders to support the growth in regional trade and to encourage economic and social development of the region.
    • Common people and businessman of both countries will be able to reap the benefit of both goods and passenger traffic, once passenger trains are planned in this route.
    • With this new link coming into operation,  tourists from Bangladesh will be able to visit places like Darjeeling, Sikkim, Dooars apart from countries like Nepal, Bhutan etc easily.
    • Economic activities of these South Asian countries will also be benefitted from this new rail link.

  • How Parliament meets

    The centre has said that there will be no winter session of Parliament this time due to the COVID despite the ‘success’ in curbing the pandemic. This year, the Parliament has met for only 33 days!

    Q. The undue delays and inactions by the constitutional functionaries threaten to widen the constitutional faultlines among the Executives. Critically comment.

    Sessions of Parliament

    • The power to convene a session of Parliament rests with the government. But it is the President who summons Parliament.
    • The decision is taken by the Cabinet Committee on Parliamentary Affairs, which currently comprises nine ministers, including those for Defence, Home, Finance, and Law.
    • The decision of the Committee is formalized by the President, in whose name MPs are summoned to meet for a session.
    • A general scheme of sittings was recommended in 1955 by the General Purpose Committee of Lok Sabha.
    • It was accepted by the government of PM Jawaharlal Nehru but was not implemented.

    No fixed calendar

    • India does not have a fixed parliamentary calendar.
    • By convention, Parliament meets for three sessions in a year.
    • The longest, the Budget Session, starts towards the end of January and concludes by the end of April or first week of May.
    • The session has a recess so that Parliamentary Committees can discuss the budgetary proposals.
    • The second session is the three-week Monsoon Session, which usually begins in July and finishes in August.
    • The parliamentary year ends with a three-week-long Winter Session, which is held from November to December.

    What the Constitution says

    • The summoning of Parliament is specified in Article 85 of the Constitution. Like many other articles, it is based on a provision of The Government of India Act, 1935.
    • This provision specified that the central legislature had to be summoned to meet at least once a year and that not more than 12 months could elapse between two sessions.
    • Dr B R Ambedkar stated that the purpose of this provision was to summon the legislature only to collect revenue and that the once-a-year meeting was designed to avoid scrutiny of the government by the legislature.
    • His drafting of the provision reduced the gap between sessions to six months and specified that Parliament should meet at least twice a year.

    Convening a Session: The debate

    • During the debate, members of the Constituent Assembly highlighted three issues: (i) the number of sessions in a year, (ii) the number of days of sitting and, (iii) who should have the power to convene Parliament.
    • Prof K T Shah from Bihar was of the opinion that Parliament should sit throughout the year, with breaks in between.
    • Others wanted Parliament to sit for longer durations and gave examples of the British and American legislatures which during that time were meeting for more than a hundred days in a year.
    • Prof Shah also wanted the presiding officers of the two Houses to be empowered to convene Parliament in certain circumstances. These suggestions were not accepted by Dr Ambedkar.

    Moved, delayed, stretched

    • Over the years, governments have shuffled around the dates of sessions to accommodate political and legislative exigencies.
    • Sessions have also been cut short or delayed to allow the government to issue Ordinances.

    Fewer House sittings

    • Over the years, there has been a decline in the sittings days of Parliament.
    • During the first two decades of Parliament, Lok Sabha met for an average of a little more than 120 days a year.
    • This has come down to approximately 70 days in the last decade.

    Why sittings are reducing day by day?

    • One institutional reason given for this is the reduction in the workload of Parliament by its Standing Committees, which, since the 1990s, have anchored debates outside the House.
    • However, several Committees have recommended that Parliament should meet for at least 120 days in a year.

  • U.S. puts India on ‘currency manipulators’ monitoring list

    The U.S. Treasury has labelled Switzerland and Vietnam as currency manipulators and added three new names, including India, to a watch list of countries. Earlier it had removed India from the list in March 2019.

    What is Currency Manipulation?

    • Currency manipulation refers to actions taken by governments to change the value of their currencies relative to other currencies in order to bring about some desirable objective.
    • The typical claim – often doubtful – is that countries manipulate their currencies in order to make their exports effectively cheaper on the world market and in turn make imports more expensive.

    Why do countries manipulate their currencies?

    • In general, countries prefer their currency to be weak because it makes them more competitive on the international trade front.
    • A lower currency makes a country’s exports more attractive because they are cheaper on the international market.
    • For example, a weak Rupee makes Indian exports less expensive for offshore buyers.
    • Secondly, by boosting exports, a country can use a lower currency to shrink its trade deficit.
    • Finally, a weaker currency alleviates pressure on a country’s sovereign debt obligations.
    • After issuing offshore debt, a country will make payments, and as these payments are denominated in the offshore currency, a weak local currency effectively decreases these debt payments.

    US treasury’s criteria

    To be labelled a manipulator by the U.S. Treasury:

    • Countries must at least have a $20 billion-plus bilateral trade surplus with the US
    • foreign currency intervention exceeding 2% of GDP and a global current account surplus exceeding 2% of GDP

    Implications for India

    • India has traditionally tried to balance between preventing excess currency appreciation on the one hand and protecting domestic financial stability on the other.
    • India being on the watch list could restrict the RBI in the foreign exchange operations it needs to pursue to protect financial stability.
    • This comes when global capital flows threaten to overwhelm domestic monetary policy.
    • The two most obvious consequences could be an appreciating rupee as well as excess liquidity that messes with the interest rate policy of the RBI.
    • Indian policymakers have to be sensitive for the unpredictable nature of policy-making in the US under Trump, especially concerning global trade.

  • Chang’e 5 returns to Earth carrying moon rocks

    A Chinese lunar capsule has returned to Earth with the first fresh samples of rock and debris from the moon in more than 40 years.

    Try this PYQ:

    Q.What do you understand by the term Aitken basin:

    (a) It is a desert in the southern Chile which is known to be the only location on earth where no rainfall takes place

    (b) It is an impact crater on the far side of the Moon

    (c) It is a Pacific coast basin, which is known to house large amounts of oil and gas

    (d) It is a deep hyper saline anoxic basin where no aquatic animals are found

    Chang’e-5 Probe

    • The Chang’e-5 probe, named after the mythical Chinese moon goddess, aims to shovel up lunar rocks and soil to help scientists learn about the moon’s origins, formation and volcanic activity on its surface.
    • The goal of the mission is to land in the Mons Rumker region of the moon, where it will operate for one lunar day, which is two weeks long.
    • It will collect 2 kg of surface material from a previously unexplored area known as Oceanus Procellarum — or “Ocean of Storms” — which consist of vast lava plain.
    • The original mission, planned for 2017, was delayed due to an engine failure in China’s Long March 5 launch rocket.

    A big achievement

    • The successful mission was the latest breakthrough for China’s increasingly ambitious space programme that includes a robotic mission to Mars and plans for a permanent orbiting space station.
    • This return marked China’s third successful lunar landing but the only one to lift off again from the moon.
    • It also marked the first time scientists have obtained fresh samples of lunar rocks since the former Soviet Union’s Luna 24 robot probe in 1976.

    Significance of the mission

    • Rocks found on the Moon are older than any that have been found on Earth and therefore they are valuable in providing information about the Earth and the Moon’s shared history.
    • Lunar samples can help to unravel some important questions in lunar science and astronomy, including the Moon’s age, its formation, the similarities and differences between the Earth and the Moon’s geologic features.
    • For instance, the shape, size, arrangement and composition of individual grains and crystals in a rock can tell scientists about its history, while the radioactive clock can tell them the rock’s age.
    • Further, tiny cracks in rocks can tell them about the radiation history of the Sun in the last 100,000 years.

  • Human Development Index (HDI) 2019

    India dropped two ranks in the United Nations’ Human Development Index this year, standing at 131 out of 189 countries.

    Try this PYQ:

    Which one of the following is not a sub-index of the World Bank’s ‘Ease of Doing Business Index’?

    (a) Maintenance of law and order

    (b) Paying taxes

    (c) Registering property

    (d) Dealing with construction permits

    Human Development Index (HDI)

    • HDI is a statistical tool used to measure a country’s overall achievement in its social and economic dimensions.
    • It is one of the best tools to keep track of the level of development of a country, as it combines all major social and economic indicators that are responsible for economic development.
    • Pakistani economist Mahbub-ul-Haq created HDI in 1990 which was further used to measure the country’s development by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP).
    • Every year UNDP ranks countries based on the HDI report released in their annual report.

    Various indicators under HDI

    • Calculation of the index combines four major indicators: life expectancy for health, expected years of schooling, mean of years of schooling for education and GNI per capita for the standard of living.

    For the first time: PHDI

    • For the first time, the UNDP introduced a new metric to reflect the impact caused by each country’s per-capita carbon emissions and its material footprint.
    • This is Planetary Pressures-adjusted HDI or PHDI.
    • It measured the amount of fossil fuels, metals and other resources used to make the goods and services it consumes.
    • The report found that no country has yet been able to achieve a very high level of development without putting a huge strain on natural resources.

    Highlights of the 2019 Report

    • Norway, which tops the HDI, falls 15 places if this metric is used, leaving Ireland at the top of the table.
    • In fact, 50 countries would drop entirely out of the “very high human development group” category, using this new metric PHDI.
    • Australia falls 72 places in the ranking, while the US and Canada would fall 45 and 40 places respectively, reflecting their disproportionate impact on natural resources.
    • The oil and the gas-rich Gulf States also fell steeply. China would drop 16 places from its current ranking of 85.

    Indian scenario

    • If the Index were adjusted to assess the planetary pressures caused by each nation’s development, India would move up eight places in the rankings.
    • China’s net emissions (8 gigatonnes) are 34% below its territorial emissions (12.5 gigatonnes) compared with 19% in India and 15% in Sub-Saharan Africa.

  • [pib] PM Special Scholarship Scheme (PMSSS)

    The Prime Minister’s Special Scholarship Scheme (PMSSS) instalment has been released to support J&K and Ladakh students.

    Tap to read more about: Reorganization of J&K

    About PMSSS

    • The PMSSS aims to build the capacities of the youths of J&K and Ladakh by educating, enabling and empowering them to compete in the normal course.
    • Under the Scheme, the youths of J&K and Ladakh are supported by way of scholarship in two parts namely the academic fee & maintenance allowance.
    • The academic fee is paid to the institution where the student is provided admission after on-line counselling process conducted by the AICTE (All India Council for Technical Education).
    • The academic fee covers tuition fee and other components as per the ceiling fixed for various professional, medical and other under-graduate courses.
    • In order to meet the expenditure towards hostel accommodation, mess expenses, books & stationery etc., a fixed amount of Rs.1.00 Lakh is provided to the beneficiary and is paid in instalments of Rs. 10,000/- pm directly into students account.