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GS Paper: GS1

  • Cyclone Mandous makes landfall in Tamil Nadu

    mandous

    Cyclone Mandous crossed the north Tamil Nadu coast with fierce winds and heavy downpour.

    Cyclone Mandous

    • ‘Mandous’ was a name submitted by WMO member United Arab Emirates and is pronounced as ‘Man-Dous.’
    • It means ‘treasure box’ in Arabic.

    What are Tropical Cyclones?

    • A tropical cyclone is an intense circular storm that originates over warm tropical oceans and is characterized by low atmospheric pressure, high winds, and heavy rain.
    • Cyclones are formed over slightly warm ocean waters. The temperature of the top layer of the sea, up to a depth of about 60 meters, need to be at least 28°C to support the formation of a cyclone.
    • This explains why the April-May and October-December periods are conducive for cyclones.
    • Then, the low level of air above the waters needs to have an ‘anticlockwise’ rotation (in the northern hemisphere; clockwise in the southern hemisphere).
    • During these periods, there is an ITCZ in the Bay of Bengal whose southern boundary experiences winds from west to east, while the northern boundary has winds flowing east to west.
    • Once formed, cyclones in this area usually move northwest. As it travels over the sea, the cyclone gathers more moist air from the warm sea which adds to its heft.

    Requirements for a Cyclone to form

    There are six main requirements for tropical cyclogenesis:

    • Sufficiently warm sea surface temperatures
    • Atmospheric instability
    • High humidity in the lower to middle levels of the troposphere
    • Enough Coriolis force to develop a low-pressure centre
    • A pre-existing low-level focus or disturbance
    • Low vertical wind shear

    How are the cyclones named?

    • In 2000, a group of nations called WMO/ESCAP (World Meteorological Organisation/United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific) decided to name cyclones.
    • It comprised Bangladesh, India, the Maldives, Myanmar, Oman, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Thailand, decided to start naming cyclones in the region.
    • After each country sent in suggestions, the WMO/ESCAP Panel on Tropical Cyclones (PTC) finalized the list.
    • The WMO/ESCAP expanded to include five more countries in 2018 — Iran, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Yemen.

    Basics

    Cyclones

    • The atmospheric disturbances which involve a closed circulation of air around a low pressure at the center and high pressure at the periphery, rotating anti-clockwise in the northern hemisphere and clockwise in the southern hemisphere (due to the Coriolis force) are called “cyclones”.

    Cyclones are broadly classified into two types based on the latitudes of their origin-

    • Tropical cyclones
    • Temperate/Extra-tropical cyclones

    Tropical Cyclones

    • Tropical cyclones develop in the region between the tropics of Capricorn and Cancer. These are violent storms that originate over oceans in tropical areas and move on to the coastal regions bringing large-scale destruction caused by violent winds, very heavy rainfall and storm surges. These cyclones are one of the most devastating natural calamities.
    • Tropical cyclones mostly move along with the direction of trade winds, so they travel from east to west and make landfall on the eastern coasts of the continents.
    • Tropical cyclones are known by different names depending on the regions of the world. They are known as Hurricanes in the Atlantic, Typhoons in the Western Pacific and South China Sea, Willy-willies in Western Australia and Cyclones in the Indian Ocean.

    Temperate Cyclones/Extra-Tropical Cyclones

    • It occurs between 30°-60° latitude in both hemispheres (in between the Tropic of Cancer and the Arctic circle in the northern hemisphere and in between the Tropic of Capricorn and the Antarctic Circle in the southern hemisphere).
    • These cyclones move with the westerlies and are therefore oriented from west to east.

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  • Need to expand the food safety net

    food

    Context

    • The National Food Security Act (NFSA), 2013, through the Public Distribution System (PDS), provides a crucial safety net for roughly 800 million people. Even critics of the PDS appreciated its services during the COVID-19 lockdown.

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    Background: COVID-19 lockdown and policy gaps in ensuring food security

    • Too many still excluded from the PDS: The humanitarian crisis resulting from the COVID-19 lockdown, made it apparent that too many were still excluded from the PDS.
    • Governments decision: In response to the humanitarian crisis, the Government made one sensible policy decision swiftly. It doubled the entitlements of the 800 million who were already covered by the PDS (from five kilograms per person per month, to 10kg). But that does nothing for those without ration cards.

    National food security Act (NFSA)

    • Aims to provide subsidized food grains: The NFS Act, 2013 aims to provide subsidized food grains to approximately two-thirds of India’s 1.2 billion people.
    • Legal entitlements for existing food security programs: It was signed into law on 12 September 2013, retroactive to 5 July 2013. It converts into legal entitlements for existing food security programmes of the GoI.
    • Integrating various government schemes: It includes the Midday Meal Scheme, Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) scheme and the Public Distribution System (PDS). The Midday Meal Scheme and the ICDS are universal in nature whereas the PDS will reach about wo-thirds of the population (75% in rural areas and 50% in urban areas).
    • It recognizes maternity entitlement: Pregnant women, lactating mothers, and certain categories of children are eligible for daily free cereals.
    • Key provisions: The NFSA provides a legal right to persons belonging to “eligible households” to receive foodgrains at a subsidised price. It includes rice at Rs 3/kg, wheat at Rs 2/kg and coarse grain at Rs 1/kg under the Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS). These are called central issue prices (CIPs).

    How Public Distribution System (PDS) is determined?

    • PDS coverage is determined by Section 3(2) of the NFSA 2013.
    • It states that the entitlements of eligible households “shall extend up to seventy-five per cent of the rural population and up to fifty per cent of the urban population.”
    • Section 9 of NFSA required that the total number of persons to be covered “shall be calculated on the basis of the population estimates as per the census of which the relevant figures have been published.”

    food

    What are the exclusion problems?

    • Coverage ratio is too low: The exclusion problem could be because the NFSA coverage ratios were too low to start with, or due to the ‘freeze’ in coverage in absolute terms (around 800 million).
    • Population increase has not been accounted: Between the last Census in 2011 and today, population increase has not been accounted for in determining the number of ration cards. No one could have anticipated that the 2021 Census would be postponed indefinitely. This means that even a decadal update has not happened.
    • Lack of sensitivity to understand the problem: There is no attempt at understanding or addressing the hardships of people who are deprived of the food security net that the PDS provides.
    • Court’s observation and a suggestion: Government inaction led to the matter being taken to the Supreme Court of India in the Problems and Miseries of Migrant Labourers case. The Court agreed that the prayer to increase coverage “seems to be genuine and justified”. It directed the Union of India to “come out with a formula and/or appropriate policy/scheme, if any, so that the benefits under NFSA are not restricted as per the census of 2011 and more and more needy persons/citizens get the benefit under the National Food Security Act”. Going further, the Court said that the Government could consider “projection of population increase” to resolve this issue.
    • Burdening the states: In its response, the Government attempts repeatedly to shift the blame to State governments. But States are responsible for identifying people for PDS ration cards, once they are given the numbers to be covered by the central government.

    Way ahead

    • Several State governments have used their own resources this includes poor States such as Chhattisgarh and Odisha to expand coverage beyond the centrally determined quotas.
    • Robust procurement trends and a comfortable food stocks position are what make an expansion affordable.
    • Adjusting for population increase, as directed by the Supreme Court, will increase coverage by roughly 10% (from 800 million to 900 million).
    • Any sensible policy should have an in-built mechanism for updating coverage annually to account for population increase.

    Conclusion

    • Instead of allowing the Government to delay this any further (the matter has been in Court since 2020), the Supreme Court should be firm, directing the Government to get on with apportioning the additional coverage of roughly 100 million across States, so that the States can start identifying new ration card beneficiaries.

    Mains Question

    Q. What is food security? What is National food security Act? There is number some problems for expanding food security net through PDS. Analyse and suggest way forward.

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  • Why climate action needs women?

    climate

    Context

    • Women have historically been underrepresented at the UN’s global conference on climate change, and this year’s COP 27 congregation in Egypt, was no exception. A photo of the heads of state and government representatives participating in the event which went viral across social media, at the beginning of the summit, in fact, showcased the presence of only seven women leaders among the grand total of 110 attendees.

    Women participation in climate negotiations

    • Analysis by BBC percentage of women is very less: As per an analysis conducted by the BBC, women accounted for a mere 34 percent of the committee members in negotiations rooms with some country teams having more than 90 percent men.
    • Participation women at recent COP27 was one of the lowest: According to the Women’s Environment and Development Organisation (WEDO), which tracks women’s participation in climate forum, the recent COP27 numbers represented one of the lowest concentrations of women seen at the UN climate summit.
    • Despite of collective pledge to increase women participation, number fallen: These number have in fact, fallen from a peak of 40 percent women’s participation during COP24 in 2018 and despite the countries collective pledge to increase female representation at these talks as early as 2011.
    • Skewed gender ration in negotiations on key climate issues: This skewed gender ratio, however, reflected the broader trend across delegation teams, which participated in negotiations on key climate issues such as funding, limiting the use of fossil fuels, carbon emissions, etc.

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    climate

    Why climate action needs women?

    • Women are most disproportionately affected by disasters: Females are in fact, most disproportionately affected when disasters hit as they suffer greater economic repercussions, bear an additional burden of unpaid care and domestic work, have lesser access to resources, and are pushed to drop out of school or marry early to help manage the family’s financial stress.
    • Domestic household responsibilities become more worse in disasters: Their responsibility to secure water, food, and fuel for their families becomes much more difficult during floods, droughts, or other climate-related crises, forcing them to travel to longer distances, putting their own health at risk.
    • Climate change also increases women’s vulnerability: As per new research published by ActionAid, climate change also increases women’s vulnerability to gender-based violence, further bringing about damaging consequences for their reproductive as well as psychological health.
    • Sustainable development and gender equality are intrinsically linked: The goal of pursuing sustainable development and bringing about gender equality are intrinsically linked, and one cannot be achieved without the attainment of the other.
    • Considering the various roles women play in the management of natural resources: Women just like any other member impact the overall management of natural resources through the various roles that they play including in the economy, in households, and the society. Their inclusion in climate negotiations is thus, crucial to ensure the development and implementation of a balanced approach to the diverse dimensions of sustainable development such as the economic, social and environmental.
    • Women have been at the forefront on environment related movements: Women and girls in all their diversity for centuries have played a transformative role in climate change adaptation as well as mitigation, and have been at the forefront of movements related to environmental and climate justice, putting forth some of the most creative and effective approaches for the promotion of sustainable energy transitions that help in the protection of local systems and are based on indigenous knowledge.
    • Gender diverse corporate boardrooms resulted in the adoption of more climate-friendly policies: There exists a growing body of evidence that shows the association between women’s participation and leadership in climate action, and better resource governance, conversation outcomes, and disaster readiness. This stands true, even for the private sector, where diversifying corporate boardrooms on the basis of gender have resulted in the adoption of more climate-friendly policies. For instance, according to a working paper series by the European Central Bank, “a 1 percent increase in the share of female firm managers leads to a 0.5 percent decrease in CO2 emissions
    • Comprise nearly half of the world’s population: The question, which therefore needs to be raised, is whether climate change mitigation, disaster reduction, and adaptation strategies can really be holistically developed without the inclusion of women who comprise of nearly half of the world’s population.
    • Women with their strong body of knowledge and expertise should, thus, be recognised as co-owners and agenda-settlers of the climate process with their skills, knowledge and experience being utilised to improve climate governance outcomes at the local and national levels as well as in multilateral climate forums and the private sector.

    climate

    What can be done to increase women participation in climate change negotiations?

    • Quotas can be provided not only to increase participation but also to address inequalities: To begin with, measures, including quotas can be put in place to not only increase women’s meaningful participation and leadership at all levels of climate action decision-making but also to address persisting inequalities including in terms of their access and control of resources such as land, technology, and finance.
    • Integrating a gender perspective across spectrums: Secondly, a conscious effort needs to be made by the policy makers to integrate a gender perspective across spectrums, ranging from design, monitoring and evaluation, implementation and funding of all national climate policies, plans and actions to ensure that the needs and concerns of women are being adequately addressed.
    • Expanding gender responsive finance and services: The member states must expand gender-responsive finance as well as gender-responsive public services, healthcare systems, universal social protections, combining measures both to eliminate gender-based violence in climate policies and to promote a care economy, thereby, guaranteeing the provision and access to justice for women.
    • Implementing the ways to multiply gender equality, thereby empowering women to harness their skills: Heads of states must identify and implement ways to multiply gender equality, empowering women and young girls. To put it simply, global investments, especially for women and girls belonging to marginalise communities must be focused on directly amplifying and fostering their skills, resilience and knowledge, thereby, removing critical barriers that hinder their participation in decision-making positions.

    climate

    Way ahead

    • There remains no doubt that climate change inevitably results in the exacerbation of gender inequalities.
    • The world leaders, therefore, need to pay attention to the voices of women who continue to bear a differential impact with mitigations strategies and negations being specifically tailored to the gender issues that women are confronted with during a climate-related crisis.

    Conclusion

    • Climate change is a complex global phenomenon, which requires comprehensive global action that includes each and every individual. The UN Climate Change Conference, one of the biggest summits instead of excluding women, should therefore, serve as an opportunity to recognise and augment the innovative climate actions that are being brought by women. It should also provide a platform for understanding how existing structures prevent women’s engagement and subsequently, develop response mechanisms with policy measures that take into account the immediate as well as long-term gendered impacts of environmental calamities.

    Mains Question

    Q. Women have historically been underrepresented at the UN’s global conference on climate change and COP 27 have been no exception. Why climate action needs women? What can be done? Discuss.

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  • Shortcomings in the climate justice negotiations

    climate

    Context

    • In the climate negotiations, areas of interest to developing countries are not covered or sparsely covered, while other areas are over-regulated. Equitable sustainable development is not even discussed. At COP27, the policy debate was no longer legitimized by science.

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    Problems with the current negotiating process

    • Developed countries’ national emissions of C02 from consumption: citizens in developed countries are not even aware that two-thirds of their national emissions of carbon dioxide come from their diet, transport, and residential and commercial sectors, which together constitute the major share of their GDP; the consumption sectors are not independent silos but reflect their urban lifestyles.
    • Ignores urbanization and requirement of fossil fuels for developing countries: the process ignores that global well-being will also follow urbanisation of the developing country’s population, requiring fossil fuels for infrastructure and energy to achieve comparable levels.
    • Requirement of Infrastructure development in developing countries: the need for vast quantities of cement and steel in developing countries for infrastructure, constituting essential emissions, as they urbanise, is not being considered.

    climate

    Discussion missing on developing countries to pace up decarbonization

    • Late urbanization: As late urbanisers, developing countries account for more than half the annual emissions and most emissions growth.
    • Cannot afford new technologies: They cannot affordably access many of the new technologies to decarbonise quickly.
    • Not having a comparable level playing field: The result is a shrinking of their policy space and human rights, endangering efforts to achieve comparable levels of well-being with those who developed earlier without any constraints.

    Why the foundation of the Climate Treaty in international environmental law is questionable?

    • US interpretation in Stockholm Conference on the Environment (1972):  In the run-up to the Stockholm Conference, the United States Secretary of States stated that “urbanization has changed the nation with seventy five percent of its people living in the urban area. we must see ourselves not only as victims of environmental degradation but as environmental aggressors and change our patterns of consumption and production accordingly”.
    • Conclusion by scientific committee set up by the US: A scientific committee concluded that “long range planning to cope with global environmental problems must take account of the total ecological burden, controlling that burden by systematic reduction in per-capita production of goods and services would be politically unacceptable. A concerted effort is needed to orient technology toward making human demands upon the environment less severe”.
    • Power play on risk management but not on the technology transfer: Power play framed natural resource use around risk management rather than technology transfer and the well-being of all within ecological limits.

    climate

    Why climate negotiations are seen as Differentiated common responsibility?

    • Missing the objective: The objective of the Climate Treaty is to avoid a concentration of cumulative emissions of carbon dioxide, prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system and enable sustainable economic development.
    • Climate agreements and initiatives: The Paris Agreement (2015) agreed to a 1.5°C global temperature goal. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in 2018 recommended that net emissions needed to zero out around 2050. In Glasgow, in 2021, negotiators zeroed in on coal to reduce future emissions.
    • Ignored the key findings of the IPCC report: This initiative was not based on science and it ignored the key finding of the IPCC on the centrality of the carbon budget, i.e., cumulative emissions associated with a specific amount of global warming that scientifically links the temperature goal to national action.
    • Carbon budget and the developing countries: Carbon budgets are robust as they can be estimated accurately from climate models. And, they are the most useful for policy as they couple the climate to the economy consistent with the science of both. The IPCC, in 2018, estimated the budget for a 50% chance of avoiding more than 1.5°C of warming to be 2,890 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide (now, it is less than 400bn tonnes), raising the question on how late developers will attain comparable levels of wellbeing.

    Shortcomings in Climate justice

    • Climate injustice flows from the negotiations and not from the text of the Climate Treaty.
    • Rejected historical responsibility and shifted the burden: The process adopted the structure of international law in a manner that rejected historical responsibility for a continuing problem, and steadily shifted the burden to China and India.
    • The flaw in set agenda: The agenda was set around globalised material flows described as global warming (the symptom), and not wasteful use of energy.
    • Public finance is not materialised for actual objective: Public finance is used as a means to secure a political objective, and not to solve the problem itself. The $100 billion promised at Paris along with pre-2020 commitments constituting the incentive for developing countries to agree to a global temperature goal has not materialised. And, new funding for ‘Loss and Damage’ will be from a “mosaic of solutions”, constituting a breach of trust.
    • Longer term trend has been ignored: With one-sixth of the global population, the developed country share in 2035 will still be 30%. Asia’s emissions with half the world’s population will rise to 40% remaining within its carbon budget. Pressures to further reduce emissions displace their human rights.

    Conclusion

    • India’s thrust on LiFE (or “Lifestyle for Environment”), with the individual shifting from wasteful consumption of natural resources goes back to the original science. Consumption-based framing challenges the ‘universalism’ that has dominated the negotiations and its common path of reductions based on single models. The carbon budget formalizes a ‘diversity’ of solutions. For example, in developed countries, exchanging overconsumption of red meat for poultry can meet half the global emissions reduction required by the end of the century.

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  • SC offers to find solution to ‘deceitful conversions’

    The Supreme Court said that- acts of charity or good work to help a community or the poor should not cloak an intention to religiously convert them as payback.

    What did the SC say?

    • Conversion on the basis of a voluntarily felt belief in the deity of a different faith is different from belief gained through allurement.
    • The court said it would examine such veiled intentions behind religious conversions through allurement by offering food, medicines, treatment, etc.

    What is Religious Conversions?

    • Religious conversion is the adoption of a set of beliefs identified with one particular religious denomination to the exclusion of others.
    • It is one of the most heated issues in the society and politics which can be defined as the adoption of any other religion or of a set of beliefs by the exclusion of other i.e. renouncing one religion and adopting another.
    • There are various reasons for which people do convert their religion like:
    1. Voluntary Conversions i.e. conversions by free choice or because of change of beliefs.
    2. Forceful Conversions i.e. conversions by coercion, undue influence or inducement.
    3. Marital Conversions i.e. conversions due to marriage.
    4. Conversion for convenience i.e. social mobility

    Constitutional ambiguity over conversions

    • The question whether ‘right to convert’ comes under the ambit of ‘right to propagate any religion’ holds fundamental importance to determine the constitutionality of anti-conversion laws.
    • Article 25 talks about the term “propagate” which means to promote or transmit or merely a freedom of expression.

    Why is this getting prominence in India?

    Selective persecution and religious marginalization is often debated in India due to religious conversions for:

    1. Ghar Wapsi
    2. Inter-faith Marriages (often termed as Love Jihad)

    What about Incentivised Conversions?

    • There are many cases of incentivized conversions for the poor sections of society in exchange for a dignified social life.

    For them, the solution lies in addressing the root issues:

    1. Ending discrimination
    2. Providing high-quality and free education to the poor and disenfranchised
    3. Improving access and quality of free health facilities and medicines
    4. Improving nourishment and
    5. Providing adequate employment opportunities to all

    How has Parliament handled anti-conversion bills?

    After independence, Parliament introduced a number of anti-conversion bills which were not enacted for want of majority approval.

    • In post-Independent India, the first Indian Conversion (Regulation and Registration) Bill, 1954, which sought to enforce “licensing of missionaries and the registration of conversion.”
    • This was followed by the introduction of the Backward Communities (Religious Protection) Bill, 1960, “which aimed at checking conversion of Hindus to ‘non-Indian religions’.
    • Non-India religions included Islam, Christianity, Judaism and Zoroastrianism,.
    • The Freedom of Religion Bill in 1979, which sought “official curbs on inter-religious conversion.”

    Conclusion

    • Religious conversion gives new identity to the communities converted which in turn leads to social mobility.
    • Hence, anti-conversion amount to discrimination and a violation of the right to equality.
    • However, inter-faith marriages should not be pre-conditioned with religious conversion.
    • This certainly raises concerns for the majority of society.
    • Also mass conversions for the sake of revivalism should also not be promoted in any ways.

     

     

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  • What Ambedkar said about Buddhism ‘being better than Marxism’

    While his views on Buddhism being superior to other religions are well-known, Ambedkar also believed the Buddha’s path to be superior to the popular religion-rejecting philosophy, Marxism.

    Marxist view of religion

    • Marx saw religion as a conservative force that prevented social change by creating false consciousness.
    • Marx once said- “Religion is the opium of the people. It is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of our soulless conditions.”
    • The end goal of Marxism is to achieve a classless society throughout the world.

    How Dr. Ambedkar compared Buddhism to Marxism?

    • Ambedkar has compared Buddhism with Marxism, saying that while both strive for the same end of a just and happy society.
    • The means propounded by Buddha are superior to those of Marx.
    • It is just simple that Marx was modern and Buddha ancient.
    • If the Marxists keep back their prejudices and study the Buddha and understand what he stood for I feel sure that they will change their attitude, Ambedkar writes.

    Similarities between the two

    • In showing the similarities between Buddhism and Marxism, Ambedkar first condenses the basic philosophy of both into neat bullet points.
    • For Buddhism, Dr. Ambedkar lists key points:
    1. The function of Religion is to reconstruct the world and to make it happy and not to explain its origin or its end;
    2. That private ownership of property brings power to one class and sorrow to another;
    3. That it is necessary for the good of Society that this sorrow be removed by removing its cause; and
    4. All human beings are equal.
    • Of Marx, he says all that is left “is a residue of fire”:
    1. The function of philosophy is to reconstruct the world and not to waste its time in explaining the origin of the world;
    2. That private ownership of property brings power to one class and sorrow to another through exploitation;
    3. That it is necessary for the good of society that the sorrow be removed by the abolition of private property.”

    How abolition of private property works under Buddhism?

    • Dr Ambedkar says Buddhism’s commitment to abolishment of private property is apparent in how its ‘Bhikshus’ give up all worldly goods.
    • He says the rules for Bhikhshus owning property or possessions are “far more rigorous than are to be found in communism in Russia.”
    • To establish a happy and fair society, the Buddha had laid down a path for believers.
    • The means adopted by the Buddha were to convert a man by changing his moral disposition to follow the path voluntarily.

    Key difference: Violent means

    • The means adopted by the Communists are equally clear, short and swift. They are (1) Violence and (2) Dictatorship of the Proletariat.
    • It is now clear what are the similarities and differences between Buddha and Karl Marx.
    • The differences are about the means. The end is common to both.
    • The driving force of India’s Constitution also says Buddha was a democrat.
    • As to Dictatorship, the Buddha would have none of it. He was born a democrat and he died a democrat, Ambedkar writes.

     

    Try this PYQ:

    Q. Karl Marx explained the process of class struggle with the help of which one of the following theories?

    (a) Empirical liberalism.

    (b) Existentialism.

    (c) Darwin’s theory of evolution.

    (d) Dialectical materialism.

     

    [wpdiscuz-feedback id=”x41ztc7vwh” question=”Please leave a feedback on this” opened=”1″]Post your answers here.[/wpdiscuz-feedback]

     

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  • India tops index on Social Hostilities Index (SHI)

    shi

    In 2020, India has been ranked first in the Social Hostilities Index (SHI) released by US think-tank Pew Research Center.

    What is Social Hostilities Index (SHI)?

    • SHI measures acts of religious hostility by private individuals, organisations or groups in society.
    • The SHI measures acts of religious hostility by private individuals, organizations or groups.
    • The index comprises 13 metrics, including religion-related armed conflict or terrorism and mob or sectarian violence.
    • Questions used to compute the SHI included whether the country saw violence motivated by religious hatred or bias, whether individuals faced harassment or intimidation motivated by religious hatred or bias and whether there was mob violence against those of particular religious groups.

    How bad has India fared?

    • At 9.4 out of a maximum possible score of 10, India’s SHI in 2020 was worse than neighbouring Pakistan and Afghanistan, and a further increase in its own index value for 2019, the Pew data showed.
    • India has faced severe backlash due to its crackdown on a ‘religious’ congregation held in New Delhi defying the COVID pandemic.

    Other components: Government Restrictions Index (GRI)

    • India much better on a second index: the Government Restrictions Index (GRI).
    • This index looks at laws, policies and state actions restricting religious beliefs and practices.
    • China ranked the worst, with a score of 9.3.
    • India’s 34th rank was enough to categorize it among countries with “high” levels of such government restrictions.
    • The GRI comprises 20 measures, including efforts by governments to ban particular faiths, prohibit conversion, limit preaching or give preferential treatment to one or more religious groups

    Official data for substantiation

    • By India’s own official crime statistics, the picture is more mixed.
    • According to police data, religious riots for which cases were filed rose substantially in 2020, and declined again in 2021.
    • But there have been significant variations over time, and the numbers are too low as a share of overall rioting incidents to indicate a definitive trend.
    • Moreover, the home ministry no longer provides data on “communal incidents”, and the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) now only publishes data on religious “riots”.

     

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  • Shivaji Maharaj and the Agra escape

    Shivaji Maharaj

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    Context

    • Recently, Maharashtra Tourism Minister Mangal Lodha triggered a controversy by equating Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj’s legendary Agra escape to Chief Minister Eknath Shinde’s defection from the Uddhav Thackeray-led camp in Maharashtra. His comments drew sharp criticism from political parties and other organisations that venerate Shivaji as a Maratha icon, with no parallel in the past or present.

    Brief Political background of the issue

    • Eknath Shinde’s “revolt” against party leadership and CM Uddhav Thackeray in June this year led to the fall of the coalition government of the Shiv Sena, NCP, and the Congress. He has since taken the reins of Maharashtra as its CM.

    Shivaji Maharaj

    Who was Chhattrapati Shivaji Maharaj?

    • Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj (1630-1680): He was born on 19th February, 1630 at Shivneri Fort in District Pune in the present-day state of Maharashtra. He was born to a general Shahaji raje who served different Deccan Sultans over the course of his life and Jijabai, as known to be an influential and determined woman who was an embodiment of self-respect and virtue.
    • Founder of an Independent Maratha kingdom: Shivaji Maharaj was keen on expanding his father’s fiefdom of modern-day Pune into an independent Maratha state. He carved out an independent Maratha kingdom from various Deccan states in the 17th century. At the time of his death, he held around 300 forts over an area that stretched across the Konkan coast, from Surat to near Goa, and was overlooked by the strategic Western Ghats.
    • Contemporary kingdoms and power struggle: At this point of time, several Sultanates (mainly Bijapur, Golkonda and Ahmadnagar) and the Mughals were vying for the control of the Deccan. As Mughal power grew, these Sultanates would become tributaries to the Mughal Empire (while often continuing to bicker among themselves) with the rulers and ruling clans being given positions in the Mughal court.
    • Lifetime conflicts and fights for Swaraj: His conflict with the Adil Shahi Sultanate of Bijapur began when he was only 16. He would spend the rest of his life fighting various opponents, and in the process, laying the foundation for the Maratha Empire which would stretch across large parts of the Indian subcontinent and rule till the 19th Century.
    • Importance of forts in his times: Early in his life, he realised that the key to holding power in the Deccan (or for that matter, many places in India in that era) was to capture and hold important forts. Thus, his strategies would be centred around taking control of forts in strategic locations, often on hilltops. He also repaired and built new forts as his sphere of control increased.

    How is Shivaji Maharaj remembered?

    • An inspiration to fight against the colonial rule: Shivaji remained a Maratha folk legend until two centuries after his death. It was the British Raj and the subsequent anti-colonial movement that marked his increasing stature in history and as a pan Indian hero.
    • From a folk hero to a Pan India hero: Nationalist historians saw him as an example of an local Indian ruler who was able to successfully resist and defeat the powerful and oppressive “outsiders” (Muslim rulers, including both Mughals and the Deccan Sultans). Thus, Shivaji rose from being a folk hero to a nationalist icon, seen as a proto-nationalist himself.
    • Tales of his bravery and just rule used to infuse motivation: Tales of his bravery were told to galvanise a population that was enduring emasculation and injustices under its British overlords. Over the 19th and 20th centuries, the narrative around Shivaji Maharaj emphasised on both his military heroism and his just rule.

    Shivaji Maharaj

    Shivaji Maharaj and the Mughals

    • Meteoric rise: Shivaji Maharaj’s meteoric rise posed challenges to the suzerainty of the Mughals. His first direct encounter with the Mughals was during Aurangzeb’s Deccan campaigns of the 1650s. As Aurangzeb went North to fight for the Mughal throne, Shivaji Maharaj was able to seize further territory.
    • Swift and smart warfare tactics beyond understanding of the Mughals: His tactics against the Mughals were adapted to the specific nature of his force and the flabby Mughal armies. Using swift cavalry attacks, he would raid and pillage Mughal strongholds. While on the rare occasion he would engage in battle to actually capture and hold Mughal positions, most often, he would simply cause much menace, raid the treasury, and leave with the Mughals in terror and disarray.
    • Well know Seize of Surat: Famously, in 1664, he attacked the port of Surat (now in Gujarat) and plundered one of the richest and busiest commercial towns of Mughal India while the local governor hid in a nearby fort.
    • Posed a greatest challenge to Aurangzeb and subsequent treaty of Purandar: As the legend of Shivaji and the physical sphere of his influence grew, Aurangzeb sent a 100,000-strong, well-equipped army under Raja Jai Singh I to subdue him in 1665. After putting up a valiant fight, Shivaji was besieged in the Purandar hill fort.

    The chronology of the great escape

    • Taken to Agra after purandar treaty: He was taken to Aurangzeb’s court in Agra in 1666. He presented Aurangzeb with various gifts, but he felt slighted at the treatment he received in return, and made his displeasure clear in open court.
    • Kept under strict House arrest: Aurangzeb put him under house arrest in Agra. Far away from home and help, Shivaji realised he needed to escape to save himself and his territories. He began to plot a plan to return home and keep up his fight against the Mughals.
    • The perfect plan of escape: The story of Shivaji’s subsequent escape is now part of common lore. The popularly told story involves an elaborate plan, under which he began daily distribution of alms to brahmans. The alms would be sent from his home in Agra in large, covered baskets.
    • The final escape right under the nose of Mughals: After some time, the Mughal guards became lax about checking the contents of the baskets that daily left his house. One day, Shivaji slipped into one of the baskets, and put his young son, Sambhaji, in another basket. It was in these covered baskets that Shivaji and his son left Agra, right under the noses of the Mughals.
    • Smart and swift movement in disguise from the Mughal territory: From there, he would traverse across Mughal territory, living incognito until he reached the safer lands closer to home. Some versions of this story say that he took the disguise of a wandering ascetic while others say he had a number of different disguises. His exact path is not known, though folktales and songs memorialising Shivaji often mention different towns and places he crossed.
    • Embarrassed Aurangzeb regarded him as a king: Aurangzeb was livid and embarrassed. But he chose not to start an immediate conflict with Shivaji again. Instead, he offered Shivaji the title of Raja and guaranteed his authority in the Maratha lands as long as he acknowledged the supremacy of the Mughals and maintained truce.

    Shivaji Maharaj

    Coronation of Shivaji Maharaj to Chhatrapati and the ideal rule

    • By 1669, Shivaji had regrouped and raised an effective army. Using his old guerilla tactics, he would swiftly descend into static Mughal and Bijapuri strongholds, looting and pillaging the shocked Mughals.
    • During this time, Aurangzeb was occupied with Pathan revolts in the North-West corner of his Empire. Shivaji deftly regained his lost positions in the Konkan coast. In 1674, he crowned himself Chhatrapati, officially creating an independent Maratha kingdom.
    • The next six years were spent expanding his rule and forging new political norms, replacing the prevailing Indo-Persian court culture. He promoted the use of Marathi and Sanskrit in his courts and created an elaborate administrative system with a council of ministers known as “Ashta Pradhan.”

    Conclusion

    • Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj is not just a name or a person but to many he is an idea, a life and inspiration for today and tomorrow, which has no parallel in the past or the present.
    • Protection of the Swarajya and welfare of his subjects were the motives that pushed Shivaji Maharaj to escape from Agra. Comparing his love for his subjects with the political exigencies and manoeuvers of present-day politicians will be an injustice to the astuteness of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj.

    Mains question

    Q. Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj is considered as the king of the people; Discuss how he is remembered today and what qualities make him stand tall and different from those of the past and present?

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  • ‘French Baguette’ gets UNESCO heritage status

    Baguette

    Baguette the staple French bread has been inscribed into the UN’s list of intangible cultural heritage (ICH).

    What is a Baguette?

    • The baguette is a long and thin loaf made of flour, water, salt and yeast, and is consumed as a staple in France.
    • Some believe that it was invented by August Zang, a baker and an entrepreneur from Vienna in 1839, who introduced the world to the taste of crusty bread with softer insides, using a steam oven.
    • It gained its official name in 1920.
    • The history of the bread is uncertain, some also believe that Napoleon Bonaparte ordered thin sticks of bread for consumption by his soldiers as they could be carried from one place to another more conveniently.

    Why did France nominate it for the UN list?

    • About 10 billion baguettes are consumed every year in France by a population of 67 million.
    • It drew attention to the steady decline in the number of bakeries in the country as around 20,000 of them have closed down since 1970.
    • In March 2021, France nominated the baguette as its candidate for consideration within the UNESCO ICH list.
    • In 1970, there were 55,000 artisanal bakeries (one for every 790 residents) compared with 35,000 today (one for every 2,000), often in favour of baguettes produced industrially.

    Back2Basics: UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH)

    • ICH means the practices, representations, expressions, knowledge, skills – as well as the instruments, objects, artefacts and cultural spaces associated with them that communities, groups and, in some cases, individuals recognize as a part of their cultural heritage.
    • Furthermore, its importance is not in the cultural manifestation itself, but in the wealth of knowledge, know-how and skills that are transmitted from one generation to the next.
    • The adoption of the Convention for the Safeguarding of the ICH by the General Conference of UNESCO in 2003 was a crucial step towards preserving intangible heritage.
    • UNESCO’s list of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity was established in the year 2008.

    Criteria for the selection

    • There are three criteria for an intangible cultural heritage to be inscribed in the United Nations list.
    • The entity must-
    1. be recognized by communities, groups and, in some cases, individuals as part of their cultural heritage,
    2. be transmitted from generation to generation and be constantly recreated by communities and groups in response to their environment, their interaction with nature and their history and
    3. provide them with a sense of identity and continuity, thus promoting respect for cultural diversity and human creativity

    India’s ICH on the UNESCO list

    • Sangeet Natak Akademi is the nodal organisation which looks after this function, and files nominations of intangible cultural entities from India, for evaluation by the international body.
    • ICG from India include Kolkata’s Durga Puja (2021), Kumbh Mela (2017), Navroz (2016), Yoga (2016), traditional brass and copper craft of utensil-making among coppersmiths of Punjab (2014), Sankirtana, a ritual musical performance of Manipur (2013), and the Buddhist chanting of Ladakh (2012).
    • Before 2011, the list included Chhau dance, Kalbelia folk songs and dance of Rajasthan, and Mudiyettu, a dance drama from Kerala (2010), Ramman, a religious festival and theatre performance of Garhwal in the Himalayas (2009), and Kutiyattam or Sanskrit theatre, and Vedic chanting (2008).
    • Ramlila, a traditional performance of Ramayana, was also included in 2008.
    • This year, India nominated Garba, a traditional dance form that originated in the state of Gujarat, for inscription on UNESCO’s ICH list.

     

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  • Places in news: Great Barrier Reef

    A joint report by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and UNESCO’s World Heritage Centre (WHC) expressed concern about the status of the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) in Australia, recommending that it “be inscribed on the List of World Heritage in Danger.”

    About Great Barrier Reef

    • Australia’s Great Barrier Reef is the world’s largest reef system stretching across 2,300 km and having nearly 3,000 individual reefs.
    • It hosts 400 different types of coral, gives shelter to 1,500 species of fish and 4,000 types of mollusc.
    • Coral reefs support over 25% of marine biodiversity even as they take up only 1% of the seafloor.
    • The marine life supported by reefs further fuels global fishing industries.
    • Besides, coral reef systems generate $2.7 trillion in annual economic value through goods and service trade and tourism.
    • In Australia, the Barrier Reef, in pre-COVID times, generated $4.6 billion annually through tourism and employed over 60,000 people including divers and guides.

    What does the new report say?

    • The current report surveyed 87 reefs in the GBR between August 2021 and May 2022.
    • Coral cover is measured by determining the increase in the cover of hard corals.
    • The hard coral cover in northern GBR had reached 36% while that in the central region had reached 33%.
    • Meanwhile, coral cover levels declined in the southern region from 38% in 2021 to 34% in 2022.
    • The record levels of recovery, the report showed, were fuelled largely by increases in the fast-growing Acropora corals, which are a dominant type in the GBR.

    Threats found

    • Acropora corals are also the most susceptible to environmental pressures such as rising temperatures, cyclones, pollution, crown-of-thorn starfish (COTs) attacks which prey on hard corals and so on.

    Does this mean the reef is out of the woods?

    • Behind the recent recovery in parts of the reef, are the low levels of acute stressors in the past 12 months — no tropical cyclones, lesser heat stress in 2020 and 2022 as opposed to earlier.
    • Besides predatory attacks and tropical cyclones, scientists say that the biggest threat to the health of the reef is climate change-induced heat stress, resulting in coral bleaching.
    • The concern is that in the past decade, mass bleaching events have become more closely spaced in time.
    • The first mass bleaching event occurred in 1998 when the El Niño weather pattern caused sea surfaces to heat, causing 8% of the world’s coral to die.
    • The second event took place in 2002.
    • But the longest and most damaging bleaching event took place from 2014 to 2017. Mass bleaching then occurred again in 2020, followed by earlier this year.

    Back2Basics: Coral Reefs

    • Corals are marine invertebrates or animals which do not possess a spine.
    • They are the largest living structures on the planet.
    • Each coral is called a polyp and thousands of such polyps live together to form a colony, which grow when polyps multiply to make copies of themselves.
    • Corals are of two types — hard corals and soft corals.
    1. Hard corals extract calcium carbonate from seawater to build hard, white coral exoskeletons. Hard corals are in a way the engineers of reef ecosystems and measuring the extent of hard coral is a widely-accepted metric for measuring the condition of coral reefs.
    2. Soft corals attach themselves to such skeletons and older skeletons built by their ancestors. Soft corals also add their own skeletons to the hard structure over the years. These growing multiplying structures gradually form coral reefs.

    How do corals bleach?

    • Corals share a symbiotic relationship with single-celled algae called zooxanthellae.
    • The algae prepares food for corals through photosynthesis and also gives them their vibrant colouration.
    • When exposed to conditions like heat stress, pollution, or high levels of ocean acidity, the zooxanthellae start producing reactive oxygen species not beneficial to the corals.
    • So, the corals kick out the colour-giving algae from their polyps, exposing their pale white exoskeleton and leading to coral starvation as corals cannot produce their own food.
    • Bleached corals can survive depending on the levels of bleaching and the recovery of sea temperatures to normal levels.
    • Severe bleaching and prolonged stress in the external environment can lead to coral death.

    Try this PYQ:

    Consider the following statements:

    1. Most of the world’s coral reefs are in tropical waters.
    2. More than one third of the world’s coral reefs are located in the territories of Australia, Indonesia and Philippines.
    3. Coral reefs host far more number of animal phyla than those hosted by tropical rainforests.

    Which of the above statements is/are correct?

    (a) 1 and 2 only

    (b) 3 only

    (c) 1 and 3 only

    (d) 1 and 3 only

     

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