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GS Paper: GS1

  • Need of uniform civil code

    Context

    • The Portuguese Civil Code of 1867, the so-called “common civil code” of Goa, is in the news again. A 28-member parliamentary standing committee headed by senior BJP leader and Rajya Sabha member, Sushil Kumar Modi, recently visited the state to study it in the context of the demand for a uniform civil code.
    • India Needs Uniform Civil Code; One Nation, One Law Will Restore Equality and Gender Parity

    Definition

    • The Uniform Civil Code (UCC) calls for the formulation of one law for India, which would be applicable to all religious communities in matters such as marriage, divorce, inheritance, adoption. The code comes under Article 44 of the Constitution, which lays down that the state shall endeavour to secure a Uniform Civil Code for the citizens throughout the territory of India.

    Importance of article 44

    • The objective of Article 44 of the Directive Principles in the Indian Constitution was to address the discrimination against vulnerable groups and harmonise diverse cultural groups across the country.

    Brief history of UCC

    • The origin of the UCC dates back to colonial India when the British government submitted its report in 1835 stressing the need for uniformity in the codification of Indian law relating to crimes, evidence, and contracts, specifically recommending that personal laws of Hindus and Muslims be kept outside such codification.

    Objectives of UCC:

    • Bringing simplicity in personal laws: When enacted the code will work to simplify laws that are segregated at present on the basis of religious beliefs like the Hindu code bill, Shariat law, and others.
    • Uniformity across country: The code will simplify the complex laws around marriage ceremonies, inheritance, succession, adoptions making them one for all.  The same civil law will then be applicable to all citizens irrespective of their faith.
    • National integration: The UCC aims to provide protection to vulnerable sections as envisaged by Babasaheb Ambedkar including women and religious minorities, while also promoting nationalistic fervour through unity.

    Why it is needed now

    • To counter the gender disparity produced by specific personal laws: India has a history of severely patriarchal and misogynistic traditions perpetuated by society and ancient religious norms that continue to dominate family life.
    • Plugging the loopholes in legal system: By legalising personal laws, we’ve established a parallel court system based on thousands of ancient values. By eliminating all loopholes, the universal civil code would tip the balance in favour of society.
    • Reaffirming equality to everyone: While Muslims are permitted to marry many times in India, a Hindu or a Christian will face prosecution for doing the same. Similarly, there are significant disparities between many religious-related regulations.
    • Addressing problem of vote bank politics: If all religions are subject to the same laws, there will be no room for politicising issues of discrimination, concessions, or special privileges enjoyed by a particular community on the basis of their religious personal laws.
    • Infusing secularism: At the moment, we practise selective secularism, which means that we are secular in some areas but not in others. A Uniform Civil Code requires all citizens of India to adhere to the same set of laws, regardless of whether they follow Hinduism, Islam, Christianity or Sikhism.

    SC verdict on UCC: Daniel Latifi Case

    This case demonstrates how universally applicable law should prevail over unjust religious laws. In this case, Muslim Women’s Act (MWA) was challenged for violation of Articles 14, 15 & 21 of the Constitution. The primary point of contention was the amount paid throughout the iddat period. The Supreme Court upheld the act’s constitutionality but interpreted it in accordance with Section 125 of the CrPC, holding that the amount received by a wife during the iddat period should be sufficient to support her during the iddat period as well as for the remainder of her life or until she remarries.

     

    Challenges ahead in its application

    • Less education to understand this: India is a country of a diverse culture where the beliefs of the people are too vehement but with the right communication and education to all the religious groups, the implementation can take place efficiently and effectively.
    • Apprehension of some people: Fear of the certain section of society who are subjected to the special rights, shall be addressed since such rights will have no impact or interference by enactment of the Uniform Civil Code, which shall be ensured to the society as this is one of their Fundamental Rights as under Article 15 of the Indian Constitution.

    Case study of Goa:

    It is pertinent to note that the State of Goa is the first State to implement a uniform civil code since its liberation from the Portuguese in 1961. The Supreme Court has even hailed Goa as a shining example where the uniform civil code is applicable to all, regardless of religion except while protecting certain limited rights.

    Conclusion

    • With so much diversity, India needs something like a UCC which can work as an agent to promote uniformity and to some extent mute the sound pollution created by the religious radical forces.
    • On individual level, it is important to understand UCC is with the objective of One Nation, One Lawsided by oneness among the people rather than a mere tool to overcome oppression and discrimination against women or a target on a particular religion.

    Try this question:

     

    What is uniform civil code? Do you think that right time has arrived to implement it? Discuss challenges in its implementation with your suggestions to overcome the same.

     

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  • Aviation safety regulator opens door for transgender pilots

    In a big win for an aspiring pilot and the entire transgender community, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has for the first time framed new medical guidelines that allow transgender persons who have completed gender transition therapy or surgery to be declared fit to fly.

    What did DGCA allow?

    • The DGCA guidelines for aeromedical evaluation of transgender persons for obtaining medical clearance for all categories of pilot’s licence — private pilot’s licence, student pilot licence and commercial pilot licence.
    • An ongoing hormone therapy will also not be a ground for disqualification.
    • It says that candidates who have completed their hormone therapy and gender affirmation surgery more than five years ago will be declared medically fit.
    • They should clear screening for mental health in accordance with the World Professional Association for Transgender Health.

    Some limitations

    • However, transgender pilots “may” have some limitations imposed such as being allowed to only fly as first officers (junior pilots).
    • When they are flying as pilot-in-command their co-pilot has to have 250 hours of flying on that particular type of aircraft or the co-pilot has to be a senior captain who is a trainer.

    Why such modification?

    • An Indian citizen, is the first transgender trainee pilot with a private pilot licence from South Africa.
    • He/she was unable to complete his training in India after the DGCA in April 2020 rejected his medical clearance needed to obtain a student’s pilot licence.
    • The Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment intervened and wrote to the DGCA.
    • It called the rules “discriminatory” and in violation of the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act of 2019 and demanded “guidelines for licensing” for transgender persons.

    Conclusion

    • Because of the fear of backlash from society, family and friends, coming out as a transgender is itself a very challenging move for those who hide their identity.
    • Major issue lies with societal acceptance of transgender and recognition. Such steps create awareness among people with example.
    • Society should be made sensitive enough to realize it is none of the concerned person’s fault.

    Back2Basics: Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act, 2019: Key Features

    Defining Transperson

    • The act defines a transgender person as one whose gender does not match the gender assigned at birth.
    • It includes trans-men and trans-women, persons with intersex variations, gender-queers, and persons with socio-cultural identities, such as kinnar and hijra.

    Prohibition against discrimination

    • It prohibits the discrimination against a transgender person, including denial of service or unfair treatment in relation to education, employment, healthcare, access to, or enjoyment of goods, facilities, opportunities available to the public.
    • Every transgender person shall have a right to reside and be included in his household.
    • No government or private entity can discriminate against a transgender person in employment matters, including recruitment, and promotion.

    HRD measures

    • A transgender person may make an application to the District Magistrate for a certificate of identity, indicating the gender as ‘transgender’.
    • Educational institutions funded or recognised by the relevant government shall provide inclusive facilities for transgender persons, without discrimination.
    • The government must provide health facilities to transgender persons including separate HIV surveillance centres, and sex reassignment surgeries.

    Grievances redressal

    • The National Council for Transgender persons (NCT) chaired by Union Minister for Social Justice, will advise the central government as well as monitor the impact of policies with respect to transgender persons.
    • It will also redress the grievances of transgender persons.

    Legal Protection

    • The Bill imposes penalties for the offences against transgender persons like bonded labour, denial of use of public places, removal from household & village and physical, sexual, verbal, emotional or economic abuse.

     

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  • History of popular slogans raised during Freedom Struggle

    Inspiring and controversial, this article explains the history of slogans that have endured in India’s politics.

    (1) ‘Jai Hind’ by Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose

    • Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose popularised ‘Jai Hind’ as a salutation for soldiers of his Indian National Army (INA), which fought alongside Netaji’s ally Japan in the Second World War.
    • But according to some accounts, Netaji did not actually coin the slogan.
    • A book says the term was coined by Zain-ul Abideen Hasan, the son of a collector from Hyderabad, who had gone to Germany to study.
    • There, he met Bose and eventually left his studies to join the INA.
    • Khan was tasked by Bose to look for a military greeting or salutation for the INA’s soldiers, a slogan which was not caste or community-specific, given the all-India basis of the INA.
    • The idea for ‘Jai Hind’ came to Hasan when he was at the Konigsbruck camp in Germany.

    (2) ‘Tum mujhe khoon do, main tumhe aazadi doonga’ by Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose

    • This slogan had origins in a speech Netaji made in Myanmar, then called Burma, on July 4, 1944.
    • Underlining his core philosophy of violence being necessary to achieve independence, he said, “Friends! My comrades in the War of Liberation! Today I demand of you one thing, above all.
    • He ended the speech saying “Tum mujhe khoon do, main tumhe aazadi doonga” (Give me blood and I promise you freedom).

    (3) ‘Vande Mataram’ by Bankim Chandra Chatterji

    • The term refers to a sense of respect expressed to the motherland.
    • In 1870, Bengali novelist Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay wrote a song which would go on to assume a national stature, but would also be seen as communally divisive by some.
    • Written in Bengali, the song titled ‘Vande Mataram’ was not introduced into the public sphere until the publishing of the novel Anandamath in 1882, of which the song is a part.
    • Vande Mataram soon became the forefront of sentiments expressed during the freedom movement.
    • The novel, set in the early 1770s came against the backdrop of the Fakir-Sannyasi Rebellion against the British in Bengal.

    (4) ‘Inquilab Zindabad’ by Maulana Hasrat Mohani

    • ‘Inquilab Zindabad’ (Long live the revolution) was first used by Maulana Hasrat Mohani in 1921.
    • Hasrat was his pen name (takhallus) as a revolutionary Urdu poet, which also became his identity as a political leader.
    • Hasrat Mohani was a labour leader, scholar, poet and also one of the founders of the Communist Party of India in 1925.
    • Along with Swami Kumaranand — also involved in the Indian Communist movement — Mohani first raised the demand for complete independence or ‘Poorna Swaraj’, at the Ahmedabad session of the Congress in 1921.
    • His stress on Inquilab was inspired by his urge to fight against social and economic inequality, along with colonialism.
    • Before Mohani coined this slogan, the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia made the idea of revolution symbolic of the struggle for oppressed nationalities globally.
    • It was from the mid-1920s that this slogan became a war cry of Bhagat Singh and his Naujawan Bharat Sabha, as well as his Hindustan Socialist Republican Association (HSRA).

    (5) ‘Sarfaroshi ki Tamanna’ by Bismil Azimabadi

    • This is the first line of a poem written by Bismil Azimabadi (and NOT Ramprasad Bismil), a freedom fighter and poet from Bihar, after the Jallianwalah Bagh Massacre of 1921 in Amritsar, Punjab.
    • The lines were popularised by Ram Prasad Bismil, another revolutionary.
    • He was a part of the Kakori train robbery, a successful and ambitious operation in which a train filled with British goods and money was robbed for Indian fighters to purchase arms.

    (6) ‘Do or Die’ by Gandhi Ji

    • In 1942, the Second World War commencing and the failure of Stafford Cripps Missions – which only promised India a ‘dominion status’ where it would still have to bear allegiance to the King of England .
    • This made Gandhi Ji realise that the movement for freedom needed to be intensified.
    • On August 8, 1942, the All-India Congress Committee met in Gowalia Tank Maidan (August Kranti Maidan) in Bombay.
    • Gandhi addressed thousands after the meeting to spell out the way forward.

    (7) ‘Quit India’ by Yusuf Meherally

    • While Gandhi gave the clarion call of ‘Quit India’, the slogan was coined by Yusuf Meherally, a socialist and trade unionist who also served as Mayor of Mumbai.
    • A few years ago, in 1928, Meherally had also coined the slogan “Simon Go Back” to protest the Simon Commission – that although was meant to work on Indian constitutional reform, but lacked any Indians.
    • Meherally was a Congress Socialist Party member who was actively involved in anti-government protests.

     

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  • 80 years of Quit India Movement

    On this day 80 years ago — on August 9, 1942 — the people of India launched the decisive final phase of the struggle for independence through the Quit India Movement.

    Quit India Movement

    • It was a mass upsurge against colonial rule on a scale not seen earlier, and it sent out the unmistakable message that the sun was about to set on the British Empire in India.
    • Mahatma Gandhi, who had told the Raj to “Quit India” on the previous day (August 8) was already in jail along with the entire Congress leadership.
    • So when August 9 dawned, the people were on their own — out on the street, driven by the Mahatma’s call of “Do or Die”.
    • This truly people-led movement was eventually crushed violently by the British, but by then it was clear that nothing short of their final departure was acceptable to India’s masses.

    The slogan ‘Quit India’

    • While Gandhi gave the clarion call of Quit India, the slogan was coined by Yusuf Meherally, a socialist and trade unionist who also served as Mayor of Bombay.
    • A few years ago, in 1928, it was Meherally who had coined the slogan “Simon Go Back”.

    Build-up to August 1942

    • Failure of Cripps Mission: While factors leading to such a movement had been building up, matters came to a head with the failure of the Cripps Mission. With WW2 raging, the beleaguered British government needed the cooperation of its colonial subjects. With this in mind, in March 1942, a mission led by Sir Stafford Cripps arrived in India to meet leaders of the Congress and the Muslim League.
    • Betrayal on WW2 Promises: The idea was to secure India’s whole-hearted support in the war, and the return offer to Indians was the promise of self-governance. But things did not go that way.
    • No complete freedom: Despite the promise of “the earliest possible realisation of self-government in India”, Cripps only offered dominion status, not freedom.
    • Unviable partition plan: Also, there was a provision for the partition of India, which was not acceptable to the Congress.

    Gandhiji’s departure from non-violent struggle

    • The failure of the Cripps Mission made Gandhi realise that freedom would come only if Indians fought tooth and nail for it.
    • The Congress was initially reluctant to launch a movement that could hamper Britain’s efforts to defeat the fascist forces. But it eventually decided on mass civil disobedience.
    • At the Working Committee meeting in Wardha in July 1942, it was decided the time had come for the movement to move into an active phase.

    Gandhi’s address: Do or Die

    • On August 8, 1942, Gandhi addressed the people in the Gowalia Tank maidan in Bombay (Mumbai). “Here is a mantra, a short one that I give you.
    • Imprint it on your hearts, so that in every breath you give expression to it,” he said.
    • “The mantra is: ‘Do or Die’. We shall either free India or die trying; we shall not live to see the perpetuation of our slavery,” Gandhi said.
    • Aruna Asaf Ali hoisted the Tricolour on the ground. The Quit India movement had been officially announced.
    • The government cracked down immediately, and by August 9, Gandhi and all other senior Congress leaders had been jailed.
    • Gandhi was taken to the Aga Khan Palace in Poona (Pune), and later to Yerwada jail. It was during this time that Kasturba Gandhi died at the Aga Khan Palace.

    Course of events

    (1) People vs. the Raj

    • The arrest of their leaders failed to deter the masses.
    • With no one to give directions, people took the movement into their own hands.
    • In Bombay, Poona, and Ahmedabad, hundreds of thousands of ordinary Indians clashed with the police.
    • The following day (August 10), protests erupted in Delhi, UP, and Bihar.
    • There were strikes, demonstrations and people’s marches in defiance of prohibitory orders in Kanpur, Patna, Varanasi, and Allahabad.
    • The protests spread rapidly into smaller towns and villages.
    • Till mid-September, police stations, courts, post offices, and other symbols of government authority came under repeated attack.

    (2) Working class involvement

    • Railway tracks were blocked, students went on strike in schools and colleges across India, and distributed illegal nationalist literature.
    • Mill and factory workers in Bombay, Ahmedabad, Poona, Ahmednagar, and Jamshedpur stayed away for weeks.

    (3) Violent phase

    • Bridges were blown up, telegraph wires were cut, and railway lines were taken apart.

    Outcome: Brutal suppression

    • The Quit India movement was violently suppressed by the British — people were shot and lathi-charged, villages were burnt, and backbreaking fines were imposed.
    • In the five months up to December 1942, an estimated 60,000 people had been thrown into jail.
    • However, though the movement was quelled, it changed the character of the Indian freedom struggle, with the masses rising up to demand with a passion and intensity like never before.

     

    Try this PYQ:

    Q. Quit India Movement was launched in response to:

    (a) Cabinet Mission Plan

    (b) Cripps Proposals

    (c) Simon Commission Report

    (d) Wavell Plan

     

    [wpdiscuz-feedback id=”bejmwel566″ question=”Please leave a feedback on this” opened=”1″]Post your answers here.[/wpdiscuz-feedback]

     

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  • Panel bats for Equality in Child’s Guardianship

    A mother and father should have equal rights as guardians of their children and the Hindu Minority and Guardianship Act (HMGA), 1956 should be amended as it discriminates against women, a parliamentary panel has recommended in its report.

    Why in news now?

    • The said Act does NOT provide for joint guardianship.
    • NOR does it recognise the mother as the guardian of the minor legitimate child unless the father is deceased or is found unfit.
    • The Act gives preference to father over mother.
    • Thus it goes against the right to equality and right against discrimination envisaged under Articles 14 and 15 of the Constitution.

    What is Guardianship?

    • A guardian is a person appointed to look after another person or his property in India, as per the personal laws of the religion into which the minor was born.
    • He or she takes on the responsibility of caring for and protecting the person for whom he or she has been appointed guardian.
    • On behalf of the ward’s person and property, the guardian makes all legal decisions.

    Guardianship under the Hindu law

    • The Hindu Minority and Guardianship Act, 1956, regulates guardianship of minor children in Hindu law (covers Hindus, Sikhs, Jains and Buddhists in India).
    • A minor is described as anyone under the age of eighteen, according to Section 4(a) of the Act.
    • A guardian, according to Section 4(b) of the Act, is an individual who is responsible for the child’s care, property, or both.
    • The various forms of guardianship in India include:
    1. Natural guardian: Only three people are considered natural guardians, according to Section 6 of the 1956 Act: the mother, father, and husband.
    2. Testamentary guardian: A testamentary guardian is a guardian appointed in a will by the natural guardian. A father has the testamentary right to appoint a guardian for his legitimate children or property or both. If the mother is alive after the father’s death, she will be the guardian of the children, and the fathers will be restored only if the mother dies without appointing a guardian.
    3. Guardian appointed by the court: The court can appoint a guardian to a child under the Guardians and Wards Act, 1890 who would be called a certified guardian. The powers of the certified guardian are also stated in the Act. The Act confers power to district courts.
    4. De facto guardian: A de facto guardian is someone who has consistently shown an interest in caring for, handling, or managing the infant, his or her property, or both. A de facto guardian is not a legal guardian, and therefore, has no legal authority over the child or the child’s property, but he has assumed responsibility for the child and the property.
    5. Guardians by affinity: The guardianship of a minor widow by a relative within the degree of sapinda (generation of ancestors) is known as affinity guardianship.

    Guardianship under Muslim law

    The law of guardianship in Muslims came from certain verses in the religious texts.

    1. Natural guardian: The only father is considered the natural guardian of a child under Muslim law, and the mother is not considered a natural or other guardian even after the father’s death.
    2. Testamentary guardian: The term wali, guardian, amin, or kaim-mukam refers to a testamentary guardian.
    3. Guardian appointed by the court: When natural and testamentary guardians fail, the court has the right to appoint a guardian for the child. The Guardians and Wards Act of 1890 governs the appointment of a guardian for a child from any group.

     

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  • What are Foreigners’ Tribunals?

    The Guwahati High Court has asked the Centre and the Assam government to collectively decide whether or not the ministerial staff for 200 additional Foreigners’ Tribunals (FT) would be appointed.

    Do you know?

    The Guwahati High Court has largest jurisdiction in terms of states, with its area covering the states of Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, and Mizoram.

    What is Foreigners Tribunal?

    • The foreigners tribunals are quasi-judicial bodies, unique to Assam, to determine if a person staying illegally is a “foreigner” or not.
    • With Assam’s NRC as the backdrop, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has laid out specific guidelines to detect, detain and deport foreign nationals staying illegally across the country.
    • The MHA has amended the Foreigners (Tribunals) Order, 1964, and has empowered district magistrates in all States and UTs to set up tribunals to decide whether a person staying illegally in India is a foreigner or not.
    • Earlier, such powers to constitute tribunals vested with the Centre only.

    Why need such tribunals?

    • In other parts, once a ‘foreigner’ has been apprehended by the police for staying illegally, he or she is produced before the local court under the Passport Act, 1920, or the Foreigners Act, 1946.
    • The punishment ranges from imprisonment of three months to eight years.
    • Once the accused have completed the sentence, the court orders their deportation, and they are moved to detention centres till the country of origin accepts them.

    What was the last amendment?

    • The 1964 order on Constitution of Tribunals said: “The Central Government may by order, refer the question as to whether a person is not a foreigner within meaning of the Foreigners Act, 1946 to a Tribunal to be constituted for the purpose.
    • The amended order issued says – “for words Central Government may,’ the words ‘the Central Government or the State Government or the UT administration or the District Collector or the District Magistrate may’ shall be substituted.”

    Impact of the Amendment

    • The amended Foreigners (Tribunal) Order, 2019 also empowers individuals to approach the Tribunals.
    • Earlier only the State administration could move the Tribunal against a suspect, but with the final NRC about to be published and to give adequate opportunity to those not included, this has been done.
    • If a person doesn’t find his or her name in the final list, they could move the Tribunal.
    • The amended order also allows District Magistrates to refer individuals who haven’t filed claims against their exclusion from NRC to the Tribunals to decide if they are foreigners or not.
    • Opportunity will also be given to those who haven’t filed claims by referring their cases to the Tribunals.
    • Fresh summons will be issued to them to prove their citizenship.

     

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  • In news: Continental Drift Theory

    This newscard is an excerpt from the original article published in TH which talks about the specie Lemurs who are supposed to jump into seas to find India which got drifted away from the Madagascar.

    Study on Lemurs

    • Many life forms in Madagascar have affinities to lineages found in India (3,800 km away) rather than Africa (413 km). This posed a ‘difficult enigma’ to naturalists.
    • One such species is the Lemurs.
    • We most likely see lemurs in a Hollywood animation movie; singing, dancing and playing pranks.
    • Zoologists was perplexed by the presence of lemurs, their relatives, and their fossils in Madagascar and India, but not in nearby Africa or the Middle East.
    • In the 1860s, he proposed that a large island or continent must have once existed between India and Madagascar, serving as a land bridge.
    • Over time, this island had sunk. He called this proposed island Lemuria.

    Existence of such Island in Indian legends

    • Tamil revivalists such as Devaneya Pavanar also took up the idea, in the form of a Tamil civilisation, lost to the sea as described in literature and in Pandyan legends.
    • They called this submerged continent Kumari Kandam.

    Basis of this legend: Continental Drift Theory

    • In the early 20th century, German geologist Alfred Wegener published a paper on his theory called continental drift.
    • It is a hypothesis that Earth’s continents were moving across Earth, and sometimes, even colliding into one another.
    • According to Wegener’s theory, Earth’s continents were once joined as a single, giant landmass, which he called Pangaea.
    • But over time, Pangaea broke apart and formed the continents as we know them today.
    • Wegener couldn’t explain why this phenomenon was happening, so at the time, his theory was heavily criticized by his colleagues.
    • But over the years, technological advances allowed scientists to study the Earth more closely, and geologists started to build on Wegener’s theory.

    Rise over to Plate Tectonics

    • Discoveries like seafloor spreading helped explain the “why” behind continental movement, and eventually, Wegener’s initial continental drift theory morphed into plate tectonic theory.
    • And now, the idea that Earth’s crust is slowly moving beneath our feet is widely accepted.

    The Seven Major Tectonic Plates

    There are seven major plates, and dozens of minor plates, that make up the outer crust of the Earth. The big seven are:

    1. North American plate
    2. Eurasian plate
    3. Pacific plate
    4. South American plate
    5. African plate
    6. Indo-Australian plate
    7. Antarctic plate

     

    The areas between these plates are known as plate boundaries, and their interactions cause some crazy things to happen on Earth’s surface.

    There are three types of plate boundaries:

    1. Divergent boundary
    • A divergent boundary is when two plates move away from each other, which creates a fracture in the lithosphere.
    • A well-known divergent boundary is the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, which runs approximately 10,000 miles from the Arctic Ocean all the way down to the south of Africa.
    1. Convergent boundary
    • A convergent boundary is when two plates collide with one another.
    • If the collision is between oceanic crust and continental crust, the denser oceanic crust slides underneath the other plate, which is a process known as subduction.
    • When two continental crusts collide, the rock folds and lifts at the boundary, creating mountains like the Himalayas (where the Indian plate meets the Eurasian plate).
    1. Transform Boundary
    • When two plates move parallel to one another, their meeting point is called a transform boundary. The friction causes tension.
    • Eventually, that tension needs to be released, which can cause earthquakes.
    • The San Andreas Fault is a well-known major transform boundary between the North American and Pacific plates—it caused the infamous San Francisco earthquake of 1906.

    How do we apply this theory here?

    • A landmass called Gondwana, split into two 165 million years ago — one containing what is now Africa and South America, the other comprising India, Madagascar, Australia and Antarctica.
    • Around 115 million years ago, Madagascar and India together broke free.
    • Around 88 million years ago, India moved northward, dropping a few parcels of land along the way to form Seychelles.
    • It joined the Eurasian mass 50 million years ago giving rise to the Himalayas and South Asia that we are familiar with.
    • Around 115 million years ago, it was the dinosaurs that ruled. Many life forms had not even evolved.

    Substantiation to this study

    (1) Fossil study

    • Supporting the Gondwana breakup, dinosaur fossils found in India and Madagascar are closely related and do not resemble species found in Africa and Asia.
    • Fragments of Laplatosaurus madagascarensis have been found in both India and Madagascar.

    (2) Molecular clocks

    • A powerful technique, the molecular clock, is used to estimate the time when two forms of life diverged from each other.
    • It is based on the observation that evolutionary changes in the sequence of an RNA or a protein molecule occur at a fairly constant rate.
    • The difference in the amino acids of, say the haemoglobin of two animals can tell you how long ago their lineages diverged.
    • Molecular clocks corroborate well with other evidence, such as the fossil record.
    • South India and Sri Lanka have only two genuses of the cichlid family of freshwater and brackish-water fishes — the Etroplus (a food fish in Kerala, where it is called pallathi) and Pseudetroplus.
    • Molecular comparisons show that the nearest relatives of Etroplus are found in Madagascar, and their common ancestor diverged from African cichlids 160 million years ago.

    India’s pivotal position

    • India occupies a pivotal position in the distribution of life forms in Asia, Madagascar and Africa. Gondwana creatures moved out of India.
    • Others crossed over to stay. For example, Asian freshwater crabs (Gecarcinucidae) are now found all over Southeast Asia but their most recent common ancestor evolved in India.
    • Fossil finds in the Vastan lignite mine in Gujarat by researchers have identified the earliest Indian mammal, a species of bat, and the earliest euprimate, a primitive lemur.
    • These were dated 53 million years ago, around the time (or just before) the India-Eurasian plates collided.

    What about the lemurs?

    • Madagascar is a large island, with a variety of climatic conditions. Evidence favours an ancestor primate crossing over from Africa.
    • No monkey, ape or large predator managed the crossing, so dozens of lemur species proliferated.
    • In India, we have the lorises, which are the closest extant relatives of the lemurs.
    • These are shy, nocturnal forest dwellers, with large, appealing eyes.
    • They are also believed to have survived oceanic rides from Africa.
    • They are mostly found in the Northeastern States (slow loris), and where Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu meet (slender loris).

     

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  • Who was Vannuramma?

    The fort of legendry Vannuramma in Nallamala forest in the present day Mydukur mandal of Kadapa district is trending due to its rundown condition.

    Who was Vannuramma?

    • Vannuramma ruled five ‘Durgams’ (under fiefdom) between 1781 and 1796 with Sakarlapadu as the administrative headquarters.
    • According to historical accounts, she was born in Pathimadugu Rekulakunta, now in Kadapa district, and got married to Veerneni Chinna Narasimha Naidu in 1764.
    • The family had the practice of praying at Vannuru Swamy temple in Kalyanadurgam of Anantapur district.
    • Vannuramma thus got her name as she was born, as believed, as the god’s gift.
    • Though there are not many historical accounts, Kadapa-based writer Bommisetty Ramesh brought out the first book last year on her.
    • Based on information culled out from the Mackenzie Kaifiyat of Kadapa, he extensively toured the region ruled by her, collected folklore and verified the same with historians.

    Her legend

    • The very mention of the name ‘Vannuramma’ brought chill to the spine of the Matli kings and Kadapa Nawabs.
    • Of all the Polegars (local chieftains) who had ruled the regional territories of Rayalaseema before the advent of the British, the lone woman ruler remains forgotten from the pages of history.
    • Under attack from fellow Polegars, Vannuramma’s family fled Thippireddypalle and took shelter in Chagalamarri fort, where they lived for eight years before her husband breathed his last in 1780.
    • Vannuramma wielded the sword when the Matli king Appayya Raju and Mysore Sultan Hyder Ali’s follower Meeru Saheb waged a war, invaded Sakerlapadu Durgam and robbed the property of locals.
    • Mobilising her army, she declared a war and brought the territory back into her fold in 1781.

    Her death

    • Even the Golconda Nawabs, through their Kadapa henchman Khadarvali Khan, tried in vain to control her.
    • It was then they hatched a plan to woo her adopted son and arrested her on some flimsy charges.
    • When the unsuspecting Vannuramma attended the Matli king’s court to prove her innocence, she was slapped with charges of treason.
    • The Nawabs captured her and sentenced her with ‘Korthi’, an inhuman form of punishment where a person is made to sit on a sharpened tree stump and left to die.
    • Vannuramma died in full public view in the year 1718 of Salivahana Saka, which translates to August 16, 1796, i.e., 226 years back.

     

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  • What is a Carbon Market, and why does India want to create one?

    The Bill to amend the Energy Conservation Act, 2001 seeks to establish a domestic carbon market and facilitate trade in carbon credits.

    What are Carbon Credits?

    • Carbon credits are measurable, verifiable emission reductions from certified climate action projects.
    • These projects reduce, remove or avoid greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
    • But they also bring a whole host of other positive benefits, for example, they empower communities, protect ecosystems, restore forests or reduce reliance on fossil fuels.
    • Projects must adhere to a rigorous set of criteria to pass verification by third-party agencies and a review by a panel of experts at a leading carbon offset standard.
    • After an organization or an individual buys a carbon credit, the credit is permanently retired so it can’t be reused.

    What are Carbon Markets?

    • Carbon markets are regulatory structures that allow, in particular, oil and gas-intensive companies or heavy industry (or, in the case of COP25, countries) to reduce their economic footprint through a series of incentives.
    • The idea behind this system is that the most polluting countries can purchase the right to pollute more from countries that have not reached their emissions limits.
    • The 1997 Kyoto Protocol turned polluting emissions into a commodity.
    • For example, the European Union Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) is the largest in the world and has been in operation since 2015.

    How is the concept evolved?

    • When the world evolved the ‘clean development mechanism’ (CDM) after the Kyoto Protocol agreement of 1997 as companies in the developing world could put up projects.
    • These include renewable energy or afforestation — that helped reduce carbon dioxide emissions, and earn ‘credits’ that could be sold in the market.
    • It was expected that these credits would be bought by the developed countries that had committed to emissions cuts under the Protocol.
    • Thus emerged the CDM market, aka ‘compliance market’. Alongside, environmentally conscious entities also started buying these carbon credits (or offsets) — the ‘voluntary market’.

    What is the status now?

    • This system functioned well for a few years.
    • But the market collapsed because of the lack of demand for carbon credits.
    • As the world negotiated a new climate treaty in place of the Kyoto Protocol, the developed countries no longer felt the need to adhere to their targets under the Kyoto Protocol.
    • A carbon market was envisaged to work under the successor Paris Agreement, but its details are still being worked out.

    Global successes

    • Domestic or regional carbon markets are already functioning in several places, most notably in Europe, where an emission trading scheme (ETS) works on similar principles.
    • Industrial units in Europe have prescribed emission standards to adhere to, and they buy and sell credits based on their performance.
    • China, too, has a domestic carbon market.

    Mechanism in India

    • A similar scheme for incentivizing energy efficiency has been running in India for over a decade now.
    • This BEE scheme, called- Perform, Achieve and Trade (PAT) Scheme allows units to earn efficiency certificates if they outperform the prescribed efficiency standards.
    • The laggards can buy these certificates to continue operating.

    What does new Amendment seeks to bring?

    • The new carbon market that is proposed to be created through this amendment to the Energy Conservation Act, would be much wider in scope.
    • Although the details of this carbon market are not yet known, it is likely to be on the lines of the European ETS, facilitating the buying and selling of carbon credits.

     

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  • Earth has recorded its shortest day since the 1960s- why?

    On June 29, the Earth completed one full spin — a day — in 1.59 milliseconds less than its routine 24 hours. It was the shortest day recorded since the 1960s.

    Note: A millisecond is one-thousandth of a second.

    Earth spinning faster

    • While the Earth has been completing its rotations faster in recent years, when looked at over a much longer period of time, our planet is actually spinning slower.
    • Every century, the Earth takes a few milliseconds longer to complete one rotation — and on average, days are actually getting longer.
    • So, 1.4 billion years ago, a day would have ended in less than 19 hours,

    How did scientists find that?

    • Scientists got to know by using precise atomic clocks to measure the Earth’s rotational speed.

    Why are days getting shorter these days?

    • Scientists aren’t entirely sure.
    • Something has changed and changed in a way we haven’t seen since the beginning of precise radio astronomy in the 1970s.

    Factors attributing Earth’s Spin

    (1) Tidal Braking

    • The research attributed the larger trend of the Earth’s slower spin mostly to the gravitational pull of the Moon, which causes tidal friction and slows down the Earth’s rotations.

    (2) Climate change-induced surface variations

    • Melting ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica
    • Changes in ocean circulation

    (3) Geomorphic factors

    • Movements in the planet’s inner molten core
    • Seismic activity
    • Wind speed, and shifting atmospheric gases

    (4) Chandler wobble phenomenon

    • This refers to the small deviation in the movement of Earth’s geographical poles.
    • The normal amplitude of the Chandler wobble is about three to four metres at Earth’s surface, but from 2017 to 2020 it disappeared.

    (5) Other propositions

    • Activities that push mass towards the centre of the Earth will hasten the planet’s rotation.
    • Anything that pushes mass outwards will slow down the spin, a report noted.

    What can happen if the Earth continues to spin faster on a sustained basis?

    • To ensure that the time on clocks matches the speed of the Earth’s rotation, a system of leap seconds has been used since the 1970s.
    • They involve one-second adjustments to Universal Coordinated Time (UTC), the time standard used to synchronize clocks around the world.
    • Due to the long-term slowing in the planet’s spin, 27 leap seconds have been added to UTC.
    • However, if the Earth continues to spin faster and days subsequently become shorter, scientists may have to introduce the first ever ‘negative leap second,’ which involves subtraction of a second from clocks.

     

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