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  • Global Climate Risk Index 2021

    India was ranked the seventh worst-hit country in 2019 in the Global Climate Risk Index 2021.

    The report holds much significance for prelims as well as mains. Just for the sake of information, we must be aware of India’s performance.

    Global Climate Risk Index

    • The GCRI is released annually by the environmental think tank and sustainable development lobbyist Germanwatch.
    • It analyses to what extent countries have been affected by the impacts of weather-related loss events (storms, floods, heat waves etc.).
    • It pushes for the need to support developing countries in coping with the effects of climate change.

    Highlights of the 2020 year

    Global prospects

    • Mozambique, Zimbabwe and The Bahamas were the worst-affected countries in 2019.
    • While hurricane Dorian ravaged The Bahamas; Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Malawi were affected by the single extreme weather event of cyclone Idai.
    • Japan and Afghanistan were the other countries that fared worse than India on the Index, while South Sudan, Niger and Bolivia fared better in comparison but still made it to the top 10 worst-affected countries.

    The burden of development

    • Eight of the 10 countries most affected between 2000 and 2019 were developing countries with low or lower middle income per capita.
    • Vulnerable people in developing countries suffered most from extreme weather events like storms, floods and heatwaves, whereas the impact of climate change was visible around the globe.
    • Poorer countries are hit hardest because they are more vulnerable to the damaging effects of a hazard and have the lower coping capacity.

    Data about India

    • According to the Index floods caused by heavy rain in 2019 took 1,800 lives across 14 states in India and displaced 1.8 million people.
    • Overall, the intense monsoon season affected 11.8 million people, with the economic damage estimated to be $10 billion (Rs.72,900 crore at $1=INR 72.9).
    • A total of eight tropical cyclones meant that 2019 was one of the most active Northern Indian Ocean cyclone seasons on record. Six of them intensified to become “very severe”.
    • The worst was Cyclone Fani in May 2019 which affected a total of 28 million people, killing nearly 90 people in India and Bangladesh, and causing economic losses of $8.1 billion (Rs.59,066 crore).

  • India’s Draft Arctic Policy

    India has unveiled a new draft ‘Arctic’ policy that and is committed to expanding scientific research, “sustainable tourism” and mineral oil and gas exploration in the Arctic region.

    Note: Five Arctic littoral states — Canada, Denmark (Greenland), Norway, Russia and the USA (Alaska) — and three other Arctic nations — Finland, Sweden and Iceland — form the Arctic Council (estd. 1996).

    Try mapping them.

    Caution: India became an Observer in the Arctic Council for the first time in 2013. And, India isn’t a full-time observer.

    India at the Arctic

    • India launched its first scientific expedition to the Arctic in 2007 and set up a research station ‘Himadri’ in the international Arctic research base at Ny-Ålesund in Spitsbergen, Svalbard, Norway.
    • It has two other observatories in Kongsforden and Gruvebadet. Himadri is manned for about 180 days a year.
    • Since its establishment, over 300 Indian researchers have worked in the station. India has sent 13 expeditions to the Arctic since 2007 and runs 23 active projects.

    Draft ‘Arctic’ policy

    • The draft policy discusses the importance of understanding the impact of climate change in the Arctic region and its connection with India’s monsoon, which is crucial for its economy.
    • India also proposes to focus on vast resources of the Arctic region including hydrocarbons, minerals and renewable power to ensure its energy security.
    • The policy is cautious in framing its involvement in the Arctic as “common heritage of mankind” but its priorities are similar to that of other non-Arctic states.
    • This policy roadmap draft rides on five pillars:
    1. Science and research activities,
    2. Economic and human development cooperation,
    3. Transportation and connectivity,
    4. Governance and international cooperation, and
    5. National capacity building.

    Nodal bodies

    • The Goa-based National Centre for Polar and Ocean Research to lead scientific research and act as a nodal body.
    • It would thus coordinate among various scientific bodies to promote domestic scientific research capacities by expanding earth sciences, biological sciences, climate change and space-related programmes, dove-tailed with Arctic imperatives.

    Why study arctic?

    • The Arctic is home to almost four million inhabitants, of which approximately one-tenth are considered as indigenous people.
    • Climate change has meant that seasons in the Arctic influence tropical weather.
    • The Arctic influences atmospheric, oceanographic and biogeochemical cycles of the earth’s ecosystem.
    • The loss of sea ice, ice caps, and warming of the ocean and atmosphere would lower salinity in the global oceans.
    • This could increase the temperature differential between land and oceans in the tropical regions, dry subtropical areas and increase precipitation at higher latitudes.
    • Arctic research will help India’s scientific community to study melting rates of the third pole — the Himalayan glaciers.

  • What is a Tripuri Risa?

    Tripura CM has of late made a statement to sport the Risa, a customary hand-woven cloth used by Tripura’s indigenous tribal communities.

    Try this PYQ:

    Q.Consider the following pairs:

    Sr. Tradition State
    1. Chapchar Kut festival : Mizoram
    2. Khongjom Parba ballad : Manipur
    3. Thang-Ta dance : Sikkim

    Which of the pairs given above is/are correct? (CSP 2018)

    a) 1 only

    b) 1 and 2

    c) 3 only

    d) 2 and 3

    What is Risa?

    • Risa is one of the three parts of customary Tripuri female attire, the other two being the Rignai and Rikutu.
    • The Risa, which is essentially a customary hand-woven cloth, is used as headgear, stole, female upper cloth or presented to honour a distinguished recipient.
    • The Rignai is primarily used to cover the lower part of the body and literally translates into ‘to wear’. The Rituku covers the upper half of the body, wrapping it all around.
    • However, it is also used as a ‘chunri’ or a ‘pallu’ of the Indian saree. It is also used to cover the head of newly married Tripuri women.

    Its cultural significance

    • Apart from its beautiful designs, the Risa plays a host of crucial social utilities.
    • Adolescent Tripuri girls are first given Risa to wear when she reaches 12-14 years in an event called Risa Sormani.
    • The event involves prayers to a Lampra god, where her elder women pray for her wellbeing throughout her life.
    • However, it is also used in religious festivals like the Garia Puja, a customary festival of the tribal communities, or as a head turban by male folks during weddings and festivals, as a cummerbund over dhoti or headscarf.
    • The cloth is even used as a makeshift baby carrier on the mother’s back.

  • Celebration of Parakram Diwas

    The Union Culture Ministry has announced that January 23, birth anniversary of Subhash Chandra Bose, would be celebrated as “Parakram Diwas” — the day of courage — every year.

    Try this PYQ

    Q.Highlight the difference in the approach of Subhash Chandra Bose and Mahatma Gandhi in the struggle for freedom. (150 W)

    Subhash Chandra Bose (1897-1945)

    • Bose was an Indian revolutionary prominent in the independence movement against British rule of India.
    • He also led an Indian national force from abroad against the Western powers during World War II.
    • He was a contemporary of Mohandas K. Gandhi, at times an ally and at other times an adversary.
    • He was highly influenced by a socialist ideology that acquired popularity as consequences of the Russian Revolution.

    Forget not that the grossest crime is to compromise with injustice and wrong. Remember the eternal law: You must give if you want to get.

    – Netaji

    Association with INC

    • In 1927, after being released from prison, Bose became general secretary of the Congress and worked with Jawaharlal Nehru for independence.
    • In late December 1928, Bose organised the Annual Meeting of the Indian National Congress (INC) in Calcutta.
    • Subsequently, Bose wanted to get elected as Congress President in a subsequent session of 1939 convened at Tripuri.
    • However, his candidature was challenged by Mahatma Gandhi who wanted to prevent socialist orientation to the Indian National Movement.
    • Gandhi proposed Pattabhi Sitaramaya for this candidature.
    • In this election, Bose emerged victorious by a huge margin which was not acceptable to Mahatma Gandhi.
    • Congress leader supported Mahatma Gandhi and forced Subhash Chandra Bose to step down from Presidentship.
    • Under such collective pressure, Bose not only resigned from the Congress members. Thereafter he established a separate political party known as “Forward Bloc”.

    Escape to Germany

    • On the outbreak of WW-II, Bose advocated a campaign of mass civil disobedience to protest against Linlithgow’s decision to declare war on India’s behalf without consulting the Congress leadership.
    • Having failed to persuade Gandhi of the necessity of this, he was house arrested from where he escaped to Germany.
    • He then went to several countries of Europe and finally landed in a region of Singapore in “South East Asia”.

    Azad Hind Fauj

    • The SE Asia region was under the control of Japan where a large number of “Indian Prisoners of War” was confined.
    • When Subhash Chandra Bose reached Singapore in1943 this army was led by a prominent revolutionary Ras Behari Bose whose cadre was known as “Indian National Army”.
    • Subhash Chandra Bose reorganized and expanded this force in order to liberate India. This force was renamed as “Azad Hind Fauj” by him.

    The Azad Hind Government

    • The Provisional Government of Free India, or, more simply, Free India (Azad Hind), was an Indian provisional government established in occupied Singapore in 1943.
    • C. Bose was the leader of Azad Hind Government (AHG) and also the Head of State of this Provisional Indian Government-in-exile.
    • It was a part of the freedom movement, originating in the 1940s outside India with a purpose of allying with Axis powers to free India from British rule.

    Its collapse and INA Trials

    • INA under the leadership of Bose got defeated severely at Rangoon due to lack of support of Japanese.
    • Bose was suggested to leave Burma to continue his struggle for Indian independence and returned to Singapore before the fall of Rangoon.
    • The AHG govt in the islands collapsed when the island garrisons of Japanese and Indian troops were defeated by British troops and the islands themselves retaken.
    • The Provisional Government of Free India ceased to exist with the deaths of the Axis, the INA, and Bose in 1945.
    • It was followed by the Famous Trials at Red Fort.

    Also read:

    In news: 1946 Royal Indian Navy Mutiny

  • 1776 Commission report of the White House

    The White House has released the 1776 Commission report, just days before president-elect Joe Biden would take his oath in office.

    Read about anti-apartheid movement from your World History sources.

    What is the news?

    • Earlier, Trump has signed an executive order to set up a “national commission to promote patriotic education” in the country.
    • The initiative dubbed the ‘1776 Commission’, is an apparent counter to The 1619 Project, a Pulitzer Prize-winning collection of essays on African American history of the past four centuries.
    • It explores the Black community’s contribution to nation-building since the era of slavery to modern times.
    • The name marks the independence of 13 US colonies from the British Empire in 1776.

    What is Trump’s 1776 Commission?

    • With this move, Trump sought to activate his right-wing supporters by doubling down on what he described as “cancel culture”, “critical race theory” and “revisionist history”.
    • Looking at the racial attacks, trump had said that Americans are inundated with critical race theory.
    • This was a Marxist doctrine holding that America is a wicked and racist nation, that even young children are complicit in oppression.
    • Trump wanted to reform this idea and wanted to portray himself as a defender of traditional American heritage against “radical” liberals.”

    What was the 1619 Project?

    • The Project is a special initiative of The New York Times Magazine, launched in 2019 to mark the completion of 400 years since the first enslaved Africans arrived in colonial Virginia’s Jamestown in August 1619.
    • The project aimed to reframe US history by considering what it would mean to regard 1619 as America’s birth year.

  • Task force on Age of Marriage for Women submits its report

    The task force set up to take a re-look at the age of marriage for women has submitted its report to the Prime Minister’s Office and the Ministry of Women and Child Development.

    Try this question for mains:

    Q.The different minimum age of marriage for women and men is a discriminatory provision. Analyse.

    What is the issue?

    • PM in his I-Day speech last year spoke about a panel formed to decide on the “right age of marriage” for women.
    • The minimum age of marriage, especially for women, has been a contentious issue.
    • The law evolved in the face of much resistance from religious and social conservatives.
    • Currently, the law prescribes that the minimum age of marriage is 21 years and 18 years for men and women respectively.

    Invoking ‘Majority’

    • The minimum age of marriage is distinct from the age of majority which is gender-neutral.
    • An individual attains the age of majority at 18 as per the Indian Majority Act, 1875.
    • The law prescribes a minimum age of marriage to essentially outlaw child marriages and prevents the abuse of minors.

    About the Committee

    • The Union Ministry for WCD had set up a task force to examine matters pertaining to the age of motherhood, imperatives of lowering Maternal Mortality Ratio and the improvement of nutritional levels among women.
    • The task force would examine the correlation of age of marriage and motherhood with health, medical well-being, and nutritional status of the mother and neonate, infant or child, during pregnancy, birth and thereafter.
    • It will also examine the possibility of increasing the age of marriage for women from the present 18 years to 21 years.

    How common are child marriages in India?

    • UNICEF estimates suggest that each year, at least 1.5 million girls under the age of 18 are married in India.
    • It makes our country home to the largest number of child brides in the world — accounting for a third of the global total.
    • Nearly 16 per cent adolescent girls aged 15-19 are currently married.

    Provisions for the minimum age for marriage

    • Personal laws of various religions that deal with marriage have their own standards, often reflecting custom.
    • For Hindus, Section 5(iii) of The Hindu Marriage Act, 1955, sets 18 years as the minimum age for the bride and 21 years as the minimum age for the groom.
    • However, child marriages are not illegal — even though they can be declared void at the request of the minor in the marriage.
    • In Islam, the marriage of a minor who has attained puberty is considered valid.
    • The Special Marriage Act, 1954 and the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006 also prescribe 18 and 21 years as the minimum age of consent for marriage for women and men respectively.
    • Additionally, sexual intercourse with a minor is rape, and the ‘consent’ of a minor is regarded as invalid since she is deemed incapable of giving consent at that age.

    Evolution of the law

    • The IPC enacted in 1860 criminalised sexual intercourse with a girl below the age of 10.
    • The provision of rape was amended in 1927 through The Age of Consent Bill, 1927, which declared that marriage with a girl under 12 would be invalid.
    • The law faced opposition from conservative leaders of the Indian National Movement, who saw the British intervention as an attack on Hindu customs.
    • A legal framework for the age of consent for marriage in India only began in the 1880s.

    Comes in: The Sarda Act

    • In 1929, The Child Marriage Restraint Act set 16 and 18 years as the minimum age of marriage for girls and boys respectively.
    • The law, popularly known as the Sarda Act after its sponsor Harbilas Sarda, a judge and a member of Arya Samaj, was eventually amended in 1978 to prescribe 18 and 21 years as the age of marriage for a woman and a man respectively.

    Contention over different legal standards

    • There is no reasoning in the law for having different legal standards of age for men and women to marry. The laws are a codification of custom and religious practices.
    • The Law Commission consultation paper has argued that having different legal standards “contributes to the stereotype that wives must be younger than their husbands”.
    • Women’s rights activists have argued that the law also perpetuates the stereotype that women are more mature than men of the same age and, therefore, can be allowed to marry sooner.
    • The international treaty Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), also calls for the abolition of laws that assume women have a different physical or intellectual rate of growth than men.

    Why is the law being relooked at?

    • Despite laws mandating minimum age and criminalizing sexual intercourse with a minor, child marriages are very prevalent in the country.
    • From bringing in gender-neutrality to reduce the risks of early pregnancy among women, there are many arguments in favour of increasing the minimum age of marriage of women.
    • Early pregnancy is associated with increased child mortality rates and affects the health of the mother.

    Upholding the Constitution

    • Petitioners, in this case, had challenged the law on the grounds of discrimination.
    • It is argued that Articles 14 and 21 of the Constitution, which guarantee the right to equality and the right to live with dignity, were violated by having different legal ages for men and women to marry.
    • Two significant Supreme Court rulings can act as precedents to support the petitioner’s claim.
    • In 2014, in the ‘NALSA v Union of India’ case, the Supreme Court, while recognising transgenders as the third gender, said that justice is delivered with the “assumption that humans have equal value and should, therefore, be treated as equal, as well as by equal laws”.
    • In 2019, in ‘Joseph Shine v Union of India’, the Supreme Court decriminalized adultery, and said that “a law that treats women differently based on gender stereotypes is an affront to women’s dignity”.

  • UN Adaptation Gap Report, 2020

    The United Nations Adaptation Gap Report, 2020 was recently released by the UNEP.

    Must read edition: Five years of Paris Agreement

    UN Adaptation Gap Report

    • UN Environment Programme (UNEP) has managed the production of UN Environment’s Adaptation Gap Report series since its first edition in 2014.
    • The aim of the reports is to inform national and international efforts to advance climate change adaptation.

    Behind the concept: Adaptation Cost

    • Adaptation Cost includes costs of planning, preparing for, facilitating and implementing the climate change adaptation measures.
    • It thus derives benefits as the avoided damage costs or the accrued benefits following the adoption and implementation of adaptation measures.

    Highlights of the 2020 report

    • The annual cost of adaptation to the effects of climate change for developing countries is estimated to at least quadruple by 2050, according to the United Nations Adaptation Gap Report, 2020.
    • The current cost for developing countries is in the range of $70 billion (Rs 5.1 lakh crore) and may rise to $140-300 billion in 2030 and $280-500 billion in 2050.

    Funding gaps

    • The ever-increasing adaptation cost has also outpaced the growth in adaptation finance that refers to the flow of funds to developing countries to help them tide over the damages caused by climate change.
    • This, in turn, has kept the adaptation finance gap from closing with the current efforts, although the fund flow has increased, the report said.
    • Adaptation costs, in actual terms, are higher in developed countries but the burden of adaptation is greater for developing countries in relation to their gross domestic product.
    • These countries, especially in Africa and Asia, which are least equipped to tackle climate change will also, be the most impacted by it, the report noted.

  • [pib] Who was Thiruvalluvar?

    The Prime Minister has extended his venerations to Thiruvalluvar on the Thiruvalluvar Day.

    Read everything about Sangam Literature from your basic sources.

    Who was Thiruvalluvar?

    • Thiruvalluvar is fondly referred to as Valluvar by Tamils was born during 4th -5th century CE.
    • His ‘Thirukkural’, a collection of 1,330 couplets (‘kurals’ in Tamil), are an essential part of every Tamil household.
    • It holds importance in the same way the Bhagavad Gita or the Ramayana are in traditional North Indian Hindu households.
    • Thiruvalluvar is revered as an ancient saint, poet, and a philosopher by Tamils, irrespective of their religion.
    • He is an essential anchor for Tamils in tracing their cultural roots; Tamils are taught to learn his couplets word-for-word and to follow his teachings in their day-to-day living.

    Also read:

    https://www.civilsdaily.com/news/sangam-era-older-than-previously-thought-finds-study/

  • Adultery Law and the Armed Forces

    The Supreme Court has admitted a petition filed by the Ministry of Defence (MoD) seeking to exempt armed forces personnel from the ambit of a Constitution Bench judgment of 2018 that decriminalized adultery.

    Q.  Personnels of the Indian Armed Forces constitute a ‘Distinct Class’.

    Discuss this statement in context to the extension of IPC section 497 to the Armed forces.

    What was the 2018 historic Judgment?

    • The Supreme Court had struck down Section 497 of the Indian Penal Code, which criminalized adultery.
    • It also declared Section 198 of the Criminal Procedure Code as unconstitutional, which deals with the procedure for filing a complaint about the offence of adultery.

    Important observations of the judgment

    • Section 497 was unconstitutional and is violative of Article 21 (Right to life and personal liberty) and Article 14 (Right to equality).
    • The court observed that two individuals may part if one cheats, but to attach criminality to infidelity is going too far. How married couples deal with adultery is absolutely a matter of privacy.
    • Besides, there is no data to back claims that abolition of adultery as a crime would result in “chaos in sexual morality” or an increase of divorce.
    • Any provision of law affecting individual dignity and equality of women invites the wrath of the Constitution.
    • It’s time to say that a husband is not the master of the wife. Legal sovereignty of one sex over other sex is wrong, ruled the court.
    • Marriage does not mean ceding autonomy of one to the other. Ability to make sexual choices is essential to human liberty. Even within private zones, an individual should be allowed her choice.

    What about Armed forces?

    • The judgment of 2018 created “instability”. It allowed personnel charged with carrying on an adulterous or illicit relationship to take cover under the judgment.
    • The bench had then referred the case to the CJI to pass appropriate orders to form a five-judge Bench to clarify the impact of the 2018 judgment on the armed forces.
    • This case is now being under the observation of the apex court.

    Govt. stance over this

    • The MoD has sought for an exemption to this decriminalization in the petition.
    • It said that there will always be a concern in the minds of the Army personnel who are operating far away from their families under challenging conditions about the family indulging in untoward activity.
    • The petition goes on to say that personnel of the Army, Navy and the Air Force were a “distinct class”. They were governed by special legislation, the Army Act, the Navy Act and the Air Force Act.
    • Adultery amounted to unbecoming conduct and a violation of discipline under these three Acts.
    • Unlike Section 497, the provisions of the three Acts did not differentiate between a man and a woman if they were guilty of an offence.

    Constitutional backing for an exception

    • These special laws imposed restrictions on the fundamental rights of the personnel, who function in a peculiar situation requiring utmost discipline.
    • The three laws were protected by Article 33 of the Constitution, which allowed the government to modify the fundamental rights of the armed forces personnel.

    The core idea behind govt. proposition

    • One has to remember that the armed forces exist in an environment wholly different and distinct from civilians. Honour is a sine qua non of the service.
    • The provisions of the Acts should be allowed to continue to govern the personnel as a “distinct class”, irrespective of the 2018 judgment.
    • This is because, the discipline necessary for the performance of duty, crucial for national safety, would break down.
    • It said the court would not, at the time, have been appraised of the different circumstances under which the armed forces operated.

    Back2Basics: Article 33 of the Indian Constitution

    • It deals with the power of Parliament to modify the rights conferred by this Part III in their application etc.
    • Parliament may, by law, determine to what extent any of the rights conferred by this Part shall, in their application to-

    (a) the members of the Armed Forces; or

    (b) the members of the Forces charged with the maintenance of public order; or

    (c) persons employed in any bureau or other organisation established by the State for purposes of intelligence or counterintelligence; or

    (d) persons employed in, or in connection with, the telecommunication systems set up for the purposes of any Force, bureau or organisation referred to in clauses (a) to (c), be restricted or abrogated so as to ensure the proper discharge of their duties and the maintenance of discipline among them

  • Sulawesi Cave Paintings

    A team of archaeologists in Indonesia has discovered what may be the world’s oldest known cave painting dating back to more than 45,000 years.

    Try this PYQ:

    Q.There are only two known examples of cave paintings of the Gupta period in ancient India. One of these is paintings of Ajanta caves. Where is the other surviving example of Gupta paintings?

    (a) Bagh caves

    (b) Ellora caves

    (c) Lomas Rishi cave

    (d) Nasik caves

    Sulawesi Cave Paintings

    • The cave painting depicts a wild boar endemic to the Sulawesi island of Indonesia, where the painting was found.
    • The central Indonesian island, which occupies an area of over 174,000 sq. km, is situated between Asia and Australia.
    • It has a long history of human occupation.

    Significance of the painting

    • The archaeologists’ note that the dated painting of the Sulawesi warty pig seems to be the world’s oldest surviving representational image of an animal.
    • The painting was made using red ochre pigment and depicts a pig with a short crest of upright hairs and a pair of horn-like facial warts in front of the eyes.
    • These pigs have been hunted by humans for tens of thousands of years and are the most commonly depicted animal in the ice age rock art of the island.
    • It suggests that they have long been used as food and form a “focus of creative thinking and artistic expression” for people of that time.

    Must read:

    Chapter 1 | Stone Age – Paleolithic, Mesolithic and Neolithic

    How did the archaeologists date it?

    • The painting was first discovered in 2017 as part of surveys the team was carrying out with the Indonesian authorities.
    • For these painting archaeologists used a method called U-series isotope analysis, which uses calcium carbonate deposits that form naturally on the cave wall surface to determine its age.
    • They used a calcium carbonate deposit, also referred to as “cave popcorn” that had formed on the rear foot of one of the pig figures.
    • They were able to figure out a minimum age for the painting at around 45,500 years, which means the painting was made before this.

    Sulawesi: Oldest human habitat

    Try memorizing these Islands of the Indo-Pacific in their East-West alternations.

    • Sulawesi island contains some of the oldest directly dated rock art in the world and also some of the oldest evidence for the presence of hominins beyond the southeastern limits of the Ice Age Asian continent.
    • Hominins include modern humans, extinct human species and our immediate ancestors.
    • Homo sapiens are the first modern humans who evolved from their hominid predecessors between 200,000-300,000 years ago.
    • It is estimated that these modern humans started migrating outside of Africa some 70,000-100,000 years ago.
    • Even so, it is not yet clear as to when modern humans first colonised Sulawesi.