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Distribution: weekly

  • World Drug Report: India in top five list

    According to the latest World Drug Report of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), the fourth highest seizure of opium in 2018 was reported from India, after Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan.

    Drug seizures in India and neighbourhood

    • The maximum of 644 tonnes of opium was seized in Iran, followed by 27 tonnes in Afghanistan and 19 tonnes in Pakistan.
    • In India, the figure stood at four tonnes in 2018.

    Heroin

    • Heroin is manufactured from the morphine extracted from the seed pod of opium poppy plants.
    • Iran reported the highest seizure of heroin (25 tonnes), followed by Turkey, United States, China, Pakistan and Afghanistan.
    • India was at the 12th position in the world.

    Global pattern

    • 97% of the total global production of opium in the past five years came from only three countries.
    • About 84% of the total opium was produced in Afghanistan, from where it is supplied to neighbouring countries, Europe, west Asia, south Asia and Africa.
    • From Myanmar, which accounts for 7% of the global opium production, and Laos, where 1% of the opium is produced, it is supplied to east and south-east Asia and Oceania.
    • Mexico accounts for 6% of the global opium production, while Colombia and Guatemala account for less than 1% of global production.

    Some other details

    • The report said that the global area under opium poppy cultivation declined for the second year in a row in 2019.
    • It went down by 17% in 2018 and by 30% in 2019.
    • Despite the decline in cultivation, opium production remained stable in 2019, with higher yields reported in the main opium production areas.
    • Quantities of seized opiates remained concentrated in Asia, notably in south-west Asia (70%).
    • Asia is host to more than 90% of global illicit opium production.
    • Also, it is the world’s largest consumption market for opiates and also accounts for almost 80% of all opiates seized worldwide in 2018.

    Consider the question asked in 2018 “India’s proximity to two of the world’s biggest illicit opium-growing states has enhanced her internal security concerns. Explain the linkages between drug trafficking and other illicit activities such as gunrunning, money laundering and human trafficking. What countermeasures should be taken to prevent the same?”

  • Railways to become Net Zero Carbon Emission Mass Transport by 2030

    A new dawn ushers on Indian Railways as it endeavors to be self-reliant for its energy needs as directed by the Prime Minister and solarise railway stations by utilizing its vacant lands for Renewable Energy (RE) projects.

    Moving towards ‘Net Zero’ Carbon Emission Railways

    • The Ministry of Railways has decided to install solar power plants on its vacant unused lands on mega-scale.
    • The use of solar power will accelerate the mission to achieve a conversion of Indian Railways to ‘Net Zero’ Carbon Emission Railway.
    • Railway Energy Management Company Ltd. (REMCL) is working to further proliferate the use of solar energy on mega scale.
    • It has already floated tenders for 2 GW of solar projects for Indian Railways to be installed on unutilised railway lands.

    Projects along operational railway lines

    • Indian Railways is also adopting an innovative concept of installation of solar projects along operational railway lines.
    • This will help in preventing encroachment, enhancing the speed and safety of trains and reduction of infrastructure costs due to direct injection of solar power into the traction network.
    • With these mega initiatives, Indian Railways is leading India’s fight against climate challenge.
    • These are significant steps towards meeting its ambitious goal of being a net zero carbon emissions organisation and meeting India’s Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDC) targets.

     

  • Explaining Lithium increase in the Universe

    In a study recently published in Nature Astronomy scientists from Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA) along with their international collaborators have provided a robust observational evidence for the first time that Li production is common among low mass Sun-like stars during their He-core burning phase.

    Importance of lithium in our life

    • Light inflammable, metal lithium (Li) has brought about transformation in modern communication devices and transportation.
    • A great deal of today’s technology is powered by lithium in its various shades [remember Li-ion battery!].
    • But where does the element come from?
    • The origin of much of the Li can be traced to a single event, the Big-Bang that happened about 13.7 Billion years ago, from which the present-day Universe was also born.

    Why lithium was thought to be different?

    • Li content in the physical Universe has increased by about a factor of four over the life of the Universe.
    • However, the rest of the elements carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, iron, nickel and so on which grew about a million times over the lifetime of the Universe.
    • Li, however, understood to be an exemption!
    • Current understanding is that lithium in stars like our Sun only gets destroyed over their lifetime.
    • As a matter of fact, the composition of all the elements in the Sun and the Earth is similar.
    • But, the measured content of Li in the Sun is a factor of 100 lower than that of the Earth, though both are known to have formed together.

    So, what the new finding suggests?

    • This discovery challenges the long-held idea that stars only destroy lithium during their lifetime.
    • It implies that the Sun itself will manufacture lithium in the future.
    • This is not predicted by models, indicating that there is some physical process missing in stellar theory.
    • Further, the authors identified “He flash”.
    • “He flash” is an on-set of He-ignition at the star’s core via violent eruption at the end of the star’s core hydrogen-burning phase, as the source of Li production.
    • Our Sun will reach this phase in about 6-7 billion years.

  • Indo-Pacific region

    As India tries to diffuse the tension along the disputed northern border with China, it must focus on the other potential fronts that China could open. India Ocean could be the next one. This article examines the centrality of the Indian Ocean for China and their approach to the region.

    India’s Indo-Pacific vision

    • This vision is based on our historical associations with this region.
    • This vision also acknowledges the importance of the Indian Ocean in building prosperity in this century.
    • So, the key points of this vision are thus-
    • 1) Inclusiveness, openness and ASEAN centrality and unity.
    • 2) India does not see the Indo-Pacific Region as a strategy or as a club of limited members.
    • 3) It is not directed against any country.

    China should have equal access

    • China is not a littoral state in the Indian Ocean.
    • Historically, Chinese naval activity was limited to the East China Sea, the Bohai Sea, the Yellow Sea, and the South China Sea.
    •  In today’s context, China is the second-largest economy and the world’s largest trading nation.
    • The sea-lanes of communication in the Indian Ocean are vital to her economy and security.
    • Under international law, China should have equal access to the Indian ocean.

    China’s “Malacca Dilemma”

    • China thinks that others would block the Malacca Straits to “contain” the Chinese.
    • So, China has strategized to dominate not just the Malacca Straits, but the ocean beyond it.
    • The PLA Navy (PLAN) made its first operational deployment in the Gulf of Aden in 2008.
    • In 2009 China planned for overseas base or facility.
    • In 2010 a China State Oceanic Administration report alluded to plans to build aircraft carriers.

    BRI: Overcoming the deficiencies China face in India Ocean

    • The US hegemony and India’s regional influence in the Indian Ocean are thought of as a challenge to China.
    • So, China focused on 3 inherent deficiencies that they wanted to overcome.
    • (a) China is not a littoral state.
    • (b) Its passage through key maritime straits could be easily blocked.
    • (c) The possibility of US-India cooperation against China.
    • How to overcome these deficiencies?
    • (1) carefully selecting sites to build ports — Djibouti, Gwadar, Hambantota, Sittwe and Seychelles.
    • (2) By conducting activities in a low-key manner to “reduce the military colour as much as possible”.
    • (3) By not unnerving India and America by cooperating at first, then slowly penetrating into the Indian Ocean, beginning with detailed maritime surveys, ocean mapping, HADR, port construction and so on.

     China acting on the plans

    • The PLA’s new base in Djibouti is the prototype for more “logistics” facilities to come.
    • More port construction projects like Gwadar and Hambantota, are being offered to vulnerable countries.
    • These projects are commercially unviable but have military possibilities,
    • Chinese “civilian” vessels routinely conduct surveys in the EEZ of littoral states.
    • In January 2020 the PLA Navy conducted tripartite naval exercises with Russia and Iran in the Arabian Sea.
    • They have the largest warship building programme in the world.

    Consider the question “What constitutes India’s Indo-Pacific vision? Elaborate on the factors that explain China’s reluctance to subscribe to this vision.”

    Conclusion

    The idea of Indo-Pacific might potentially derail the carefully crafted Chinese plan. So, they now wish to cause alarm by raising fears about Great Power “strategic collision” caused by the so-called American-led “containment” strategy. It is important to look past their propaganda.

  • How to counter China

    There is no doubt that an economically prosperous India will be well placed to deal with China effectively. So, to achieve this prosperity India urgently needs to embark upon the path of reforms. 

    How much China has moved ahead

    • In 1987, both countries’ nominal GDPs were almost equal.
    • China’s economic opening-up has left India behind, contributing to a military imbalance.
    • China’s economy was nearly five times larger than India’s in 2019.
    • Not coincidentally, from rough parity in 1989, China’s military spending last year more than tripled India’s.
    • Heightened vigilance along the LAC demands summoning scarce resources.
    • If India cannot close the economic gap and build military muscle, Beijing may feel emboldened to probe the subcontinent’s land and maritime periphery.

    Reforms: Key to progress

    • In 1991, India enacted changes allowing markets to set commodity prices.
    • But it did not similarly liberalise land, labour and capital.
    • Now, the government has delivered mixed messages about a revitalised reform agenda.
    • Some States have temporarily lifted labour restrictions.
    • Some others intend to make land acquisition easier.

    But a call for self-sufficiency could do harm

    • India emphasis on self-reliance could inhibit growth and constrain investment in a more vigorous foreign and defence policy.
    • Greater self-sufficiency is desired.
    • Home-grown manufacturing of critical medicinal ingredients or digital safeguards on citizens’ personal data would reduce vulnerabilities.
    • Imposing restriction to help the local defence industry would hamper acquisitions helping balance China.

    Competition from other countries

    • China is facing intense scrutiny for its role in the pandemic, geopolitical competition, trade wars, and economic coercion.
    • Businesses are revisiting whether or not to diversify suddenly exposed international value chains.
    • India’s competitors [like Bangladesh, Vietnam] are trying to attract the businesses shifting out form China.
    • These countries are highlighting their regulatory predictability, stable tax policies, and fewer trade obstacles.
    • While India remains outside the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, competitors are wooing companies seeking lower trade barriers.
    • Asian countries are pushing ahead: Vietnam just inked a trade deal with the European Union that threatens to eat into India’s exports.

    Way forward

    • India needs increased exports and investments to provide more well-paying jobs, technology.
    • Before committing to long-term, multi-billion investments, companies often want to test India’s market through international sales.
    • Liberalisation remains the tried-and-true path to competitiveness.
    • If India can unite its people and rapidly strengthen capabilities, it will likely discover that it can deal with China effectively.

    Consider the question “Do you agree with the view that slowdown in the reforms in land, labour and capital after the reforms of 1991 restricted Indias economic progress? Give reasons in support of your argument.

    Conclusion

    The choices that India makes to recapture consistent, high growth will determine its future. Bold reforms offer the best option to manage Beijing and achieve greater independence on the world stage.

  • What is Winter Diesel?

    India’s armed forces may soon be using winter diesel for operations in high altitude areas such as Ladakh, where winter temperatures plummet to extremely low as -30° Celsius.

    This year BS-VI compliant fuel was in news. Try differentiating the Winter Diesel with the BS-VI fuel.

    What is Winter Diesel?

    • Winter diesel is a specialised fuel that was introduced by Indian Oil Corp. Ltd. last year specifically for high altitude regions and low-temperature regions such as Ladakh, where ordinary diesel can become unusable.
    • The flow characteristics of regular diesel change at such low temperatures and using it may be detrimental to vehicles.
    • Winter diesel which contains additives to maintain lower viscosity can be used in temperatures as low as -30°C and that besides a low pour point, it had higher cetane rating — an indicator is the combustion speed of diesel and compression needed for ignition.
    • It has lower sulphur content, which would lead to lower deposits in engines and better performance.

    Back2Basics: BS-VI fuel

    • Sulphur content in fuel is a major cause for concern. Sulphur dioxide released by fuel burning is a major pollutant that affects health as well.
    • BS-VI fuel’s sulphur content is much lower than BS-IV fuel.
      It is reduced to 10 mg/kg max in BS-VI from 50 mg/kg under BS-IV.

    This reduction makes it possible to equip vehicles with better catalytic converters that capture pollutants. However, BS-VI fuel is expected to be costlier that BS-IV fuel.

    With inputs from:
    https://www.civilsdaily.com/news/pib-winter-grade-diesel/

  • Sindhu Darshan Puja

    During his day-long whirlwind visit, PM Narendra performed Sindhu Darshan Puja at Nimu, the forward brigade place in Ladakh.

    Sindhu Darshan Puja.

    ⦁ Sindhu Darshan Festival is a festival of India held every year on full moon day (on Guru Purnima) in the month of June.
    ⦁ It is held at Leh, in Ladakh District of Ladakh. It stretches for three days.
    ⦁ It was first started in the October by veteran politician L.K. Advani, 1997 and continues to be held every year since then, attracting large number of foreign and domestic tourists.
    ⦁ The main reason behind the celebration of Sindhu Darshan Festival is to endorse the Indus River (Sindhu River) as an icon of the communal harmony and unity of India.

  • Plastic waste management in pandemic

    The threat posed by plastic waste to the environment is well established. The corona pandemic has led to an increase in plastic waste. This article suggests some ways to deal with the issue.

    Rising plastic use during pandemic

    •  In 2018, a report by McKinsey estimated that, globally, we generate 350 million tonnes of plastic waste.
    • Only 16 per cent of it is recycled.
    • Today, due to pandemic the amount of plastic waste we are generating is much higher than that estimated in the McKinsey report.
    • The Guardian recently reported that there are possibly more masks than jellyfish in the oceans today.

    Management of plastic in India

    • We have the Plastic Waste Management Rules of 2016, which were updated and amended in 2018.
    • In fact, India saw incredible momentum in its fight for effective management of plastic waste in the last year.
    • The Prime Minister made clarion calls for a jan andolan (people’s movement) to curb the use of single-use plastic(SUP).
    • Jan andolan was also to ensure proper disposal of all plastic waste.
    • Also, the entire country rallied together under the banner of the Swachhata Hi Seva campaign.

    Why single-use plastic is different

    • Plastic is not the problem, our handling of it is.
    • We need plastic, but not SUP, which is difficult to dispose of effectively, and that is where the problem lies.
    • It is important to understand this distinction.
    • By understanding this distinction we may change our behaviour and our lifestyles, to balance our need for plastic with effectively managing its waste.

    Way forward

    • One way to approach the issue is to treat it not just as an environmental problem but as an economic opportunity.
    •  We require new business models which are designed for sustainability.
    • In Uganda, they are melting plastic waste to make face shields which are being sold for just a dollar each.
    • But, most of all, we need a tectonic shift in the behaviour of consumers.
    • We need consumers to care about their role in the plastic waste value chain.
    • Under phase 2 of the Swachh Bharat Mission (Grameen) village communities are now starting to plan for setting up waste collection and segregation systems, with material recovery facilities at the block- level.
    • Change is possible when we take necessary steps to Refuse, Reduce, Reuse, Recycle and, when all else fails, Remove, or dispose of plastic waste safely and effectively.
    • Raising awareness amongst the public of the harm caused by plastic pollution through education and outreach programs to modify behavior.
      • A movement against plastic waste would have to prioritise the reduction of single-use plastic such as multi-layer packaging, bread bags, food wrap, and protective packaging.
    • Promote Alternatives, before the ban or levy comes into force, the availability of alternatives need to be assessed, hence the government may:
      • Provide economic incentives to encourage the uptake of eco-friendly and fit-for-purpose alternatives that do not cause more harm.
      • Support can include tax rebates, research and development funds, technology incubation, public-private partnerships and support to projects that recycle single-use items and turn waste into a resource that can be used again.
      • Reduce or abolish taxes on the import of materials used to make alternatives.
    • Provide incentives to the alternative industry by introducing tax rebates or other conditions to support its transition from plastic industry.
    • Expanding the use of biodegradable plastics or even edible plastics made from various materials such as bagasse (the residue after extracting juice from sugarcane), corn starch, and grain flour.
    • Use of microbeads in personal care products and cosmetics must be prohibited.
    • Target the most problematic single-use plastics by conducting a baseline assessment to identify the most problematic single-use plastics, as well as the current causes, extent and impacts of their mismanagement.
    • Consider the best actions to tackle the problem of plastic waste management (e.g. through regulatory, economic, awareness, voluntary actions) given the country’s socio-economic standing.
    • Assess the potential social, economic and environmental impacts (positive and negative) of the preferred short-listed plastic waste management measures/actions, by considering how will the poor be affected, or what impact will the preferred course of action have on different sectors and industries.
    • Identify and engage key stakeholder groups like retailers, consumers, industry representatives, local government, manufacturers, civil society, environmental groups, and tourism associations in order to ensure broad buy-in.
    • Explaining the decision and any punitive measures that will follow, as a result of non compliance of plastic management rule.
    • Use revenues collected from taxes or levies on single-use plastics to maximize the public good, thereby supporting environmental projects or boosting local recycling with the funds and creating jobs in the plastic recycling sector with seed funding.
    • Enforce the plastic waste management measure effectively, by making sure that there is clear allocation of roles and responsibilities.
    • Monitor and adjust the plastic waste management measure if necessary and update the public on progress.

    Consider the question “What are the legal provisions for plastic waste management in India? Suggest the ways to deal with the issue of plastic waste effectively.”

    Conclusion

    The corona pandemic crisis should not blind us to the plastic crisis and we should try to bring about the behaviour change when it comes to the use of plastic and devise the economic model.

  • Prerak Dauur Samman

    The Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs (MoHUA) announced a new category of awards titled ‘Prerak Dauur Samman’ as part of Swachh Survekshan 2021.

    Try this question:

    Q. The Prerak Dauur Samman recently seen in news is related to:

    a) Swachh Bharat b) Literature c) Health Services d) Visual Arts

    Prerak Dauur Samman

    • The Prerak Dauur Samman has a total of five additional subcategories -Divya (Platinum), Anupam (Gold), Ujjwal (Silver), Udit (Bronze), Aarohi (Aspiring) – with top three cities being recognized in each.
    • In a departure from the present criteria of evaluating cities on ‘population category’, this new category will categorize cities on the basis of six select indicator wise performance criteria which are as follows:

    1) Segregation of waste into Wet, Dry and Hazard categories

    2) Processing capacity against wet waste generated

    3) Processing and recycling of wet and dry waste

    4) Construction & Demolition (C&D) waste processing

    5) Percentage of waste going to landfills

    6) Sanitation status of cities

  • What is the Hagia Sophia?

    Turkey’s highest court this week convened to decide whether Istanbul’s iconic Hagia Sophia museum can be turned into a mosque.

    Try this question:

    Q. The iconic Hagia Sophia, a UNESCO World Heritage site was recently in news. It is situated in:

    a) Greece b) Turkey c) Israel d) Iran

    What is the Hagia Sophia?

    • The construction of this iconic structure in Istanbul started in 532 AD during the reign of Justinian I, the ruler of the Byzantine Empire when the city was known as Constantinople.
    • The structure was originally built to become the seat of the Patriarch of the Eastern Orthodox Church and remained so for approximately 900 years.
    • In 1453, when Constantinople fell to Sultan Mehmet II’s Ottoman forces, the Hagia Sophia was ransacked by the invading forces and turned into a mosque shortly after.
    • For a long time, the Hagia Sophia was Istanbul’s most important mosque.
    • The 1,500-year-old structure, listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site, was originally a cathedral before it was turned into a mosque.

    What is the controversy about?

    • In the 1930s, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder of the Republic of Turkey, shut down the mosque and turned it into a museum in an attempt to make the country more secular.
    • There have been calls for long from extremists groups to convert the Hagia Sophia back into a mosque.