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  • The Battle of Bhima-Koregaon (1818)

    The history of the Bhima-Koregaon battle should be taught in schools, said the Union Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment.

    Try this PYQ:

    What was the immediate cause for Ahmad Shah Abdali to invade and fight the Third Battle of Panipat:

    (a) He wanted to avenge the expulsion by Marathas of his viceroy Timur Shah from Lahore

    (b) The frustrated governor of Jullundhar Adina Beg khan invited him to invade Punjab

    (c) He wanted to punish Mughal administration for non-payment of the revenues of the Chahar Mahal

    (Gujrat Aurangabad, Sialkot and Pasrur)

    (d) He wanted to annex all the fertile plains of Punjab upto borders of Delhi to his kingdom

    Battle of Bhima-Koregaon

    • The 1818 battle of Bhima-Koregaon, one of the last battles of the Third Anglo-Maratha War culminated in the Peshwa’s defeat.
    • It was fought on 1 January 1818 between the British East India Company (BEIC) and the Peshwa faction of the Maratha Confederacy, at Koregaon at the banks of River Bhima.
    • A 28,000-strong force led by Peshwa Baji Rao II while on their way to attack the company-held Pune were unexpectedly met by an 800-strong Company force of which 500 belonged to the Dalit community.
    • The battle was part of the Third Anglo Maratha war, a series of battles that culminated in the defeat of the Peshwa rule and subsequent rule of the BEIC in nearly all of Western, Central, and Southern India.

    Mahars under Shivaji

    • Back in the seventeenth century, the community was particularly valued by the ruler Shivaji, under whom Maratha caste identities were far more fluid.
    • The value of the Mahars for military recruitment under Shivaji was noted by the social reformer Jyotirao Phule.
    • The Mahars were not only beneficiaries of the attempt at caste unity under Shivaji but were in fact valued for their martial skills, bravery, and loyalty.

    Mahars after Shivaji

    • The position occupied by the Mahars under Shivaji, however, was short-lived and under later Peshwa rulers, their status deteriorated.
    • The Peshwas were infamous for their Brahmin orthodoxy and their persecution of the untouchables.
    • The Mahars were forbidden to move about in public spaces and punished atrociously for disrespecting caste regulations.
    • Stories of Peshwa atrocities against the Mahars suggest that they were made to tie brooms behind their backs to wipe out their footprints and pots on their necks to collect their spit.

    Why is the battle significant?

    • The battle resulted in losses to the Maratha Empire, then under Peshwa rule, and control over most of western, central, and southern India by the British East India Company.
    • The battle has been seen as a symbol of Dalit pride because a large number of soldiers in the Company forces were the Mahar Dalits, the same oppressed community to which Babasaheb Ambedkar belonged.
    • After centuries of inhumane treatment, this battle was the first time that Mahars had been included in a battle in which they won.

    Dr. Ambedkar’s association

    • It was Babasaheb Ambedkar’s visit to the site on January 1, 1927, that revitalized the memory of the battle for the Dalit community.
    • He led to its commemoration in the form of a victory pillar, besides creating the discourse of Dalit valor against Peshwa ‘oppression’ of Dalits.

  • Why Geo-engineering is still a dangerous, techno-utopian dream?

    Geoengineering has steadily shifted over the last few decades from the margins towards the mainstream of climate action discourse.

    Q.What do you mean by Geoengineering? What are its practical applications? Also, discuss its limitations. (250W)

    What is Geoengineering?

    • Climate engineering aka geoengineering is the deliberate and large-scale intervention in the Earth’s climate system, usually with the aim of mitigating the adverse effects of global warming.
    • It is a deliberate, large-scale intervention carried out in the Earth’s natural systems to reverse the impacts of climate change.
    • Its techniques fall primarily under three categories: Solar radiation management (SRM), carbon dioxide removal (CDR), and weather modification.
    • Solar radiation management refers to offsetting the warming effect of greenhouse gases by reflecting more solar radiation (sunlight) back into space.
    • Carbon dioxide removal refers to removing carbon dioxide gas (CO2) from the atmosphere and sequestering it for long periods of time.

    Debates around geoengineering have burrowed to the deepest roots of our conflict with nature — do we have the right to manage and manipulate nature?

    What are the specificities of geoengineering?

    Specific technologies include-

    • Solar geoengineering or ‘dimming the sun’ by spraying sulfates into the air to reflect sunlight back into space;
    • Ocean fertilization or the dumping of iron or urea to stimulate phytoplankton growth to absorb more carbon;
    • Cloud brightening or spraying saltwater to make clouds more reflective and more.

    CDR technologies being proposed as a means to achieve ‘net zero’ emissions by mid-century involve deliberate intervention in the natural carbon cycle:

    • Carbon capture and storage (CCS), direct air capture (DAC) and
    • Bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS)

    India and Geo-engineering

    • We had experiments such as LOHAFEX (an ocean iron fertilization experiment to see if iron can cause algal bloom and trap carbon dioxide from the atmosphere).
    • LOHAFEX was an ocean iron fertilization experiment jointly planned by the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) in India and the Helmholtz Foundation in Germany.
    • The purpose of the experiment was to see if the iron would cause an algal bloom and trap carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

    How well did it fetch?

    • As expected iron fertilization led to the development of bloom during LOHAFEX, but the chlorophyll increase within the fertilized patch, an indicator of biomass, was smaller than in previous experiments.
    • The algal bloom also stimulated the growth of zooplankton that feed on them. The zooplanktons in turn are consumed by higher organisms.
    • Thus, ocean fertilization with iron also contributes to the carbon-fixing marine biomass of fish species that have been removed from the ocean by over-fishing.

    The debate over its advocacy

    • Mainstream activists are advocating solar geoengineering as a means to buy “humanity more time to cut greenhouse gas emissions”.
    • Opponents have numerous foundationally solid arguments. They warn against “taking our ecosystems even further away from self-regulation”.
    • They argue that such actions distract attention from the need for deep cuts to gross emissions which is achievable with the right political will and resource mobilization.

    Undesired consequences of geoengineering

    • Conducting tests for geoengineering is a fallacy since these methods need to be deployed at a scale large enough to impact the global climate system to be certain of their efficacy.
    • It is a large risk to take without knowing the potentially harmful consequences of such a planetary scale deployment.
    • Some of these consequences are already known. Solar geoengineering, for example, alters rainfall patterns that can disrupt agriculture and water supplies.
    • Injecting sulfate aerosols in the stratosphere above the Arctic to mimic volcano clouds, for example, can disrupt the monsoons in Asia and increase droughts.

    Geopolitical concerns

    • Manipulating the climate could have the same geopolitical function as nuclear weapons.
    • Even before geoengineering is deployed, it may be used as a threat that will likely incite countermeasures.
    • Say if governments ever gain control of changing the course of potentially damaging storms, diversions that direct storms toward other countries may be seen as acts of war.

    What lies ahead?

    • We all know that climate change is growing more rapidly than anticipated earlier.
    • Hence we should combine it with a program of deep decarbonization. This would help implement a “clean-up process” that will hasten our return to a more habitable environment.
    • Scientists agree that natural climate solutions such as forest sinks cannot be relied upon for the scale of mitigation needed.
    • Therefore, a socially just application of such technologies for carbon capture with geological sequestration offers ‘negative emissions’.

    Conclusion

    • Geoengineering cannot be treated as a magical mechanism to escape the heightening concentrations of greenhouse gases (GHGs) while accepting the viewpoint that rapid decarbonization is impossible.
    • It also cannot be treated as a license to continue emitting more GHGs with no changes to current consumption and production patterns.
    • Specific technologies that can help us achieve negative emissions need to be publicly funded and democratically administered to ensure that they serve the public interest.
    • And they can only act as a supplement to scaling back of GHG emissions in all sectors, not a substitute.

  • Argentina’s legalizes Abortion

    Argentina has legalized abortions up to the 14th week of pregnancy, in what was a ground-breaking decision in a country that has some of the world’s most restrictive abortion laws.

    In 2009 the Supreme Court of India gave a landmark judgement in Suchita Srivastava vs Chandigarh Administration case where it was held that right to reproductive autonomy is an integral part of Right to Life under Article 21 of Constitution of India.

    The Apex Court stressed that a medical procedure of abortion cannot be carried out on a woman if she has not consented to it.

    Hence, the right to reproductive autonomy was held as a Fundamental Right.

    About the ban

    • Prior, abortions were only permitted in cases of rape or when the woman’s health was at serious risk.
    • Activists have been campaigning for years, calling for an overturning of this law that has been in existence since 1921.
    • The bill calls for greater autonomy for women over their own bodies and control of their reproductive rights, and also provides better healthcare for pregnant women and young mothers.

    Why is it a landmark move?

    • Prior to this, girls and women were forced to turn to illegal and unsafe procedures because abortion was against the law in Argentina.
    • For girls and women from socio-economically disadvantaged backgrounds, the scope of access to safe medical procedures for abortion was even narrower.
    • According to Human Rights Watch, unsafe abortion was the leading cause of maternal mortality in the country.
    • The Catholic Church and the evangelical community wield immense power and influence in Argentina and had strongly opposed the passing of this bill.
    • In fact, for several decades, following the beliefs of the Catholic Church, even the sale of contraceptives was prohibited in the country.

    Debate over abortions

    • There are differing opinions with regard to allowing abortions.
    • One opinion is that terminating a pregnancy is the choice of the pregnant woman and a part of her reproductive rights.
    • The other is that the state has an obligation to protect life, and hence should provide for the protection of the foetus.
    • Religiosity of the issue (as in case of Catholics) is another aspect.

    What impact will this have in Latin America?

    • Activists are hopeful that the passage of this law will have an impact in other countries in Latin America.
    • At present, abortions are illegal in Nicaragua, El Salvador and the Dominican Republic.
    • In Uruguay, Cuba, Guyana, and in some parts of Mexico, women can request for an abortion, but only in specific cases, and each country has its own laws on the number of weeks.
    • The countries also have varying degrees of punishment and penalties meted out to girls and women, including jail.

    Welcome move

    • Women’s rights activists have acknowledged that despite the new law in Argentina, the fight is far from over in the region.
    • Anti-abortion groups and their religious and political backers have attempted to stall any progress in the process.

    Back2Basics: Abortion in India

    The Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Act, 1971 has governed women’s right to access abortion and their reproductive autonomy.

    • The 2020 amendment bill provides for legal abortion procedure.
    • The Act regulates the conditions under which a pregnancy may be aborted. The Bill increases the time period within which abortion may be carried out.
    • Currently, abortion requires the opinion of one doctor if it is done within 12 weeks of conception and two doctors if it is done between 12 and 20 weeks.
    • The Bill allows abortion to be done on the advice of one doctor up to 20 weeks, and two doctors in the case of certain categories of women between 20 and 24 weeks.
    • The Bill sets up state-level Medical Boards to decide if pregnancy may be terminated after 24 weeks in cases of substantial foetal abnormalities.

  • Internet usage in Indian states

    The recent National Family Health Survey (NFHS-5) survey helps us gain an idea about the spread of awareness regarding the internet among people.

    This newscard provides a picture of gendered as well as regional differentiation of internet usage in India.

    Statewise Internet Usage

    (1) Gendered data

    • A very high differential is also seen among the female and male population who have ever used the internet. In every state, it is seen that the percentage of male users exceeds the number of females.
    • The states and Union territories with the highest percentage of internet users among men are Goa (82.9 %), Lakshadweep (80.3 %), and Mizoram (79.7 %).
    • Also, states like Sikkim (76.7 %), Goa (73.7 %) and Mizoram (67.6 %) have the highest percentage of female internet users. The lowest internet usage among men is seen in Meghalaya (42.1 %), Assam (42.3 %) and Bihar (43.6 %).
    • In some states like Bihar, Tripura, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, there is almost double the number of male internet users than female ones. Among women, it is seen in Bihar (20.6 %), Andhra Pradesh (21 %) and Tripura (22.9 %).

    (2) Urban-Rural divide

    • Except for West Bengal, there is no other state which shows a lower percentage of urban male internet users compared to rural ones.
    • States like Goa, Kerala and Lakshadweep don’t show a huge variation in internet accessibility in the urban and rural areas.
    • But in every other state, there is an approximate difference of 10-15 % between the two regions, with urban areas staying ahead.

    Why it matters?

    • The internet today has a very huge range and a big impact on the lifestyle and empowerment of people.
    • Female empowerment and gender equality have been one of the UN-mandated Sustainable Development Goals that our country is trying to achieve.
    • Good and affordable internet availability to women will be a big step towards fulfilling this goal.

    Significance of the data

    • Gender differentiation that is seen in the offline world also affects the variations that we have seen in the online world, which includes differences in education, employment and income.
    • Sexual harassment and trolling are other reasons why people prefer to keep their female relatives away from the internet.
    • Just like phone ownership was used as an indicator to understand the women empowerment situation in the country, this too can be an indicator for the same.

    Conclusion

    • The results from the NFHS-5 survey are still partial, but they have shown a great variation in the access to the internet among the states, between men and women and also between the rural and urban regions of each state.
    • When we look at the differentials in the usage of the internet by women across the rural and urban regions, a huge gap is seen between the urban and rural women’s use of the internet.
    • The variations are very high, with the percentage of women users of the internet in rural areas being just half of that in urban areas. These disparities paint a sad picture.

  • Foreign architects of Indian cities

    A controversy has been playing out over the last several days over a decision by the IIM Ahmedabad to bring down 18 dormitories built by legendary American architect Louis Kahn on the old campus.

    This newscard is full of facts. But one must note the features of present-day Indian Architecture and the western influence on it.

    Kahn, in fact, is one among several foreign architects whose work defines several Indian cities. Take a glimpse of all important architects and their works:

    Antonin Raymond & George Nakashima

    • Golconde, one of India’s first modernist buildings, was conceptualized in Puducherry by the founders of the experimental township of Auroville.
    • Tokyo-based Czech architect Antonin Raymond was invited to design this space as a universal commune, and Japanese-American woodworker George Nakashima would complete it after Raymond left India.
    • It is possibly India’s first reinforced concrete buildings, built between 1937 and 1945.
    • Its façade creates the impression that one could open or shut these concrete blinds, without compromising on privacy, while the ascetic interiors helped provide a meditative atmosphere.

    Otto Koenigsberger

    • Berlin-bred Koenigsberger was already working for the Maharaja of Mysore in the late 1930s when he was commissioned by Tata & Sons to develop the industrial township of Jamshedpur in the early 1940s.
    • He would later design the masterplan for Bhubhaneswar (1948) and Faridabad (1949).
    • Having seen children and women walk large distances to reach schools and workplaces, he planned for schools and bazaars in the city center and for a network of neighborhoods.
    • His friends Albert Mayer and Mathew Nowicki would go on to design Chandigarh.
    • However, much before Koenigsberger, there was the Scottish biologist and geographer Patrick Geddes, who wrote town planning reports, from 1915 to 1919, for 18 Indian cities, including Bombay and Indore.

    Frank Lloyd Wright

    • Though the legendary American architect never built a structure in India, his influence was unmistakable.
    • Two of his students, Gautam and Gira Sarabhai, founders of the National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad, requested him to design the administration building for Sarabhai Calico Mills in 1946.
    • It would possibly have been the city’s first high-rise with terraces and a podium.
    • Padma Vibhushan Charles Correa, one of India’s finest architects and urban planners, was hugely influenced by Wright.

    Le Corbusier

    • Before Swiss-French painter-writer-architect Corbusier came on the scene in Chandigarh, there was Polish architect Mathew Nowicki, an admirer of Frank Lloyd Wright and American developer Albert Mayer.
    • Nowicki’s death in a plane crash ended the commission, and Corbusier came on board.
    • With English architect Maxwell Fry and his wife Jane Drew, Corbusier with his cousin Pierre Jeanneret would design many of Chandigarh’s civic buildings, from courts to housing.
    • Corbusier’s modernist approach, without decoration, gave India its brutalist, bare concrete buildings.
    • He won favour with the Sarabhai’s of Ahmedabad and built the Sarabhai House, Shodhan House, Mill Owner’s Association Building and Sankar Kendra. He is often called the “father of modern Indian architecture”.

    Joseph Allen Stein

    • He was invited by Vijayalakshmi Pandit in 1952 to come to India and establish the Department of Architecture and Planning at the West Bengal Engineering College.
    • Though he also practiced briefly in Orissa and West Bengal, it’s in New Delhi where Stein left the deepest imprint.
    • From the Triveni Kala Sangam, the High Commissioner’s Residence and Chancery for Australia, where his polygon-shaped masonry with local stone made its first appearance to ‘Steinabad’.

    Louis Kahn

    • The importance of being Kahn is never more real than now, as the American architect’s only project in India faces bulldozers.
    • The design for IIM Ahmedabad (1962-1974) carried the essence of learning in the humility of its material, and the way spaces were managed.

  • Who was freedom fighter Udham Singh?

    December 26 was the birth anniversary of freedom fighter Udham Singh, who is known for avenging the Jallianwala Bagh massacre of 1919.

    Try this PYQ:

    Q.The Ghadr (Ghadar) was a –

    (a) Revolutionary association of Indians with headquarters at San Francisco.

    (b) Nationalist organization operating from Singapore

    (c) Militant organization with headquarters at Berlin

    (d) Communist movement for India’s freedom with head-quarters at Tashkent

    Who was Udham Singh?

    • Singh, born in Sunam in Punjab’s Sangrur district in 1899, was a political activist who got associated with the Ghadar Party while in the US.
    • The multi-ethnic party was believed to have communist tendencies and was founded by Sohan Singh Bhakna in 1913.
    • Headquartered in California, the party was committed to the ouster of the British from India.
    • In 1934, Singh made his way to London with the purpose of assassinating O’Dwyer, who in 1919 had been the Lieutenant Governor of Punjab.

    Why did he consider O’Dwyer responsible for the massacre?

    • O’Dwyer ordered Brigadier Reginald Dyer to Amritsar before the massacre; he was worried that there might be a second Indian mutiny, given the Hindu-Muslim unity and the demonstrations and strikes.
    • Instead of Dyer, O’Dwyer is considered to be the actual perpetrator, since Dyer could not have executed it without his permission.
    • On March 13, 1940, Udham Singh shot O’Dwyer at a meeting of the East India Association and the Royal Central Asian Society at Caxton Hill.
    • He was immediately arrested and held in Brixton prison and was sentenced to death and was hanged on July 31, 1940, at Pentonville Prison.

    A legend in India

    • For avenging the Jallianwala Bagh massacre, Singh is seen by many as a hero. Gandhi, though, had famously called Singh’s revenge as an “act of insanity”.
    • While being on trial, he referred to himself as Mohamed Singh Azad, to symbolize Hindu-Sikh-Muslim unity in the fight for India’s freedom.
    • In 1974, his remains were sent back to India and he was cremated in his village in Sunam.
    • There have been several demands in the past few years for Udham Singh’s statue to be installed in Jallianwala Bagh and the Parliament complex.
    • In 2018, his statue was installed at Jallianwala Bagh during Baisakhi.
    • Udham Singh Nagar district in Uttarakhand is named after the freedom fighter.

  • Places in news: Rahim’s Tomb

    This newscard is an excerpt from the original article published in The Hindu.

    Try this PYQ:

    Q.With reference to Mian Tansen, which one of the following statements is not correct?

    (a) Tansen was the title given to him by Emperor Akbar.

    (b) Tansen composed Dhrupads on Hindu gods and goddesses.

    (c) Tansen composed songs on his patrons.

    (d) Tansen invented many Ragas.

    Who was Rahim?

    • Dating back to 1598, during the rule of Akbar, Abdur Rahim Khan I Khanan was one of the Navratna in the court.
    • Winning wars with his military training and hearts with his dohas and translated texts — he was a man who survived despite his father Bairam Khan’s assassination when he was just four.
    • Meant to be a dedication of a husband to his wife, the tomb ended up housing his own remains too when he died in 1627.

    His works

    • Apart from writing various dohas, Rahim translated Babar’s memoirs, Baburnama from Chagatai language to the Persian language, which was completed in 998 (1589–90) AD.
    • He had an excellent command over the Sanskrit language.
    • In Sanskrit, he wrote two books on astrology, Khetakautukam and Dwatrimshadyogavali.

    Why in news?

    • The tomb is in a run-down situation but undergoing renovation.
    • The historical and cultural significance is more than the archaeological and architectural significance, so restoring the dignity of the burial place has been very important.

  • History: Visva-Bharati University

    The Visva-Bharati University established by Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore has completed its centenary.

    Do you remember the scheme of education by Gandhi Ji, called Nai Talim?

    Visva-Bharati University

    • The university was set up by Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore in 1921 at Santiniketan, Bolpur in West Bengal’s Birbhum district.
    • It was founded by Rabindranath Tagore who called it Visva-Bharati, which means the communion of the world with India.
    • Until independence, it was a college. Soon after independence, the institution was given the status of a central university in 1951 by an act of the Parliament.

    Its establishment

    • The origins of the institution date back to 1863 when Debendranath Tagore was given a tract of land by the zamindar of Raipur, the zamindar of Kirnahar.
    • He set up an ashram at the spot that has now come to be called chatim tala at the heart of the town.
    • The ashram was initially called Brahmacharya Ashram, which was later renamed Brahmacharya Vidyalaya.
    • It was established with a view to encouraging people from all walks of life to come to the spot and meditate.
    • In 1901 his youngest son Rabindranath Tagore established a co-educational school inside the premises of the ashram.

    What makes it special?

    • Rabindranath Tagore believed in open-air education and had reservations about any teaching done within four walls.
    • This was due to his belief that walls represent the conditioning of the mind.
    • Tagore did not have a good opinion about the Western method of education introduced by the British in India; on this subject, Tagore and Gandhiji’s opinion matched.
    • So he devised a new system of learning in Visva-Bharati. He allowed students to continue their course till the student and his teacher both are satisfied.
    • At Visva-Bharati, if a course demanded by a student is not available, then the university will design a course and bring teachers for that course.
    • The university would not be bothered by the consideration of whether there is a demand for the course.

  • Mapping: Caspian Sea

    The Caspian is actually a lake, the largest in the world and it is experiencing a devastating decline in its water level that is about to accelerate.

    Note the countries bordering the Caspian Sea: Kazakhstan, Russia, Azerbaijan, Iran and Turkmenistan. Or else remember the acronym ‘TARIK(h)’ (Hindi word for date).

    You can frame a mnemonic statement of your choice. Do similarly for major lakes and inland seas. But dont let it move over TARIK pe TARIK!

    Caspian Sea

    • The Caspian Sea is the world’s largest inland body of water, variously classed as the world’s largest lake or a full-fledged sea.
    • As an endorheic basin, it lies between Europe and Asia.
    • An endorheic basin is a drainage basin that normally retains water and allows no outflow to other external bodies of water, such as rivers or oceans, but converges instead into lakes or swamps, permanent or seasonal that equilibrates through evaporation
    • Its level is the product of how much water is flowing in from rivers, mostly the mighty Volga to the north, how much it rains and how much evaporates away.
    • At the end of the century, the Volga and other northern rivers will still be there.
    • However, a projected temperature rise of about 3℃ to 4℃ in the region will drive evaporation through the roof.

    Now try this PYQ:

    Q.Which of the following has/have shrunk immensely/ dried up in the recent past due to human activities?

    1. Aral Sea
    2. Black Sea
    3. Lake Baikal

    Select the correct option using the code given below:

    (a) 1 only

    (b) 2 and 3 only

    (c) 2 only

    (d) 1 and 3 only

    Why in news?

    • By the end of the century, the Caspian Sea will be nine metres to 18 metres lower. That’s a depth considerably taller than most houses.
    • The Caspian’s surface is already dropping by 7 cm every year, a trend likely to increase.
    • It means the lake will lose at least 25 per cent of its former size, uncovering 93,000 sq km of dry land.
    • If that new land were a country, it would be the size of Portugal.

    Past strides in its level

    • The Caspian Sea has a history of violent rises and falls.
    • In Derbent, on the Caucasus coast of Russia, submerged ancient city walls testify to how low the sea was in medieval times.
    • Around 10,000 years ago, the Caspian was about 100 metres lower.
    • A few thousand years before that it was about 50 metres higher than today and even over spilt into the Black Sea.

  • TN govt gives nod for Jallikattu

    The Tamil Nadu government has permitted Jallikattu to be held across the state during the upcoming Pongal season.

    51A (g) of the Constitution of India mandates every citizen to protect forests, lakes, rivers, wild animals etc. Apart from that, the Constitution also reminds us to show compassion towards birds and animals.

    What is Jallikattu?

    • It is a bull-taming sport and a disputed traditional event in which a bull such is released into a crowd of people.
    • Multiple human participants attempt to grab the large hump on the bull’s back with both arms and hang on to it while the bull attempts to escape.
    • Participants hold the hump for as long as possible, attempting to bring the bull to a stop. In some cases, participants must ride long enough to remove flags on the bull’s horns.
    • It is typically practised in the state of Tamil Nadu as a part of Pongal (harvest) celebrations in January.

    A historic sport

    • Jallikattu has been known to be practised during the Tamil classical period (400-100 BCE).
    • It was common among the Ayar people who lived in the ‘Mullai (pastoral)’ division of the ancient Tamil country.
    • Later, it became a platform for the display of bravery, and prize money was introduced for participation encouragement.
    • A seal from the Indus Valley Civilization depicting the practise is preserved in the National Museum, New Delhi.

    Why it is disputed?

    • As there were incidents of injury and death associated with the sport, both to the participants and to the animals forced into it, animal rights organizations have called for a ban to the sport.
    • This has resulted in the court banning it several times over the past years.
    • However, with protest from the people against the ban, a new ordinance was made in 2017 to continue the sport.

    Various concerns

    • The event has caused several human deaths and injuries and there are several instances of fatalities to the bulls.
    • Animal welfare concerns are related to the handling of the bulls before they are released and also during the competitor’s attempts to subdue the bull.
    • Practices, before the bull is released, include prodding the bull with sharp sticks or scythes, extreme bending of the tail which can fracture the vertebrae, and biting of the bull’s tail.
    • There are also reports of the bulls being forced to drink alcohol to disorient them, or chilli peppers being rubbed in their eyes to aggravate the bull.
    • During attempts to subdue the bull, they are stabbed by various implements such as knives or sticks, punched, jumped on and dragged to the ground.

    Why activists seek a ban over it?

    • Animal rights activists argue that Jallikattu exploits the bull’s natural nervousness as prey animals by deliberately placing them in a terrifying situation.
    • They are forced to run away from the competitors whom they perceive as predators and the practice effectively involves catching a terrified animal.
    • Along with human injuries and fatalities, bulls themselves sometimes sustain injuries or die, which people may interpret as a bad omen for the village.
    • An investigation by the Animal Welfare Board of India concluded that “Jallikattu is inherently cruel to animals”.

    Arguments in favour of the sport

    • According to its protagonists, it is not a leisure sport available but a way to promote and preserve the native livestock.
    • Some believe that the sport also symbolizes a cordial man-animal relationship.