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  • PM named 21 Andaman Islands after Param Vir Chakra recipients

    param vir chakra

    Prime Minister named 21 largest unnamed islands of Andaman & Nicobar Islands after India’s 21 Param Vir Chakra awardees.

    Note: Earlier, Ross Island was renamed Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose Dweep by the Prime Minister during his visit to the Island in 2018. Neil Island and Havelock Island were also renamed Shaheed Dweep and Swaraj Dweep.

    Here’s the full list of 21 islands renamed after Param Vir Chakra awardees:

    1. Dhan Singh Island after Lieutenant Colonel (then Major) Dhan Singh Thapa
    2. Tarapore Island after Lt Col Ardeshir Burzorji Tarapore
    3. Karam Singh Island after Lance Naik (Hony. Captain) Karam Singh
    4. Bana Island after Naib Subedar Bana Singh
    5. Ekka Island after Lance Naik Albert Ekka
    6. Khetrapal Island after 2nd Lt Arun Khetrapal
    7. Pandey Island after Lt Manoj Kumar Pandey
    8. Hoshiar Island after Major Hoshiar Singh
    9. Shaitan Island after Major Shaitan Singh
    10. Jadunath Island after Nayak Jadunath Singh
    11. Yogender Island after Subedar Major (Hony. Captain) Yogendra Singh Yadav
    12. Hamid Island after Company Quartermaster Havildar (CQMH) Abdul Hamid
    13. Rane Island after 2nd Lt Rama Raghoba Rane
    14. Ramaswamy Island after Major Ramaswamy Parameswaran
    15. Batra Island after Captain Vikram Batra
    16. Joginder Island after Subedar Joginder Singh
    17. Salaria Island after Captain G S Salaria (then Major)
    18. Piru Island after Company Havildar Major Piru Singh
    19. Somnath Island after Major Somnath Sharma
    20. Sekhon Island after Flying Officer Nirmaljit Singh Sekhon
    21. Sanjay Island after Subedar Major (then Rifleman) Sanjay Kumar

    About Param Vir Chakra (PVC)

    • The PVC is India’s highest military decoration, awarded for displaying distinguished acts of valour during wartime.
    • Till now, the medal has been awarded 21 times, of which 14 were posthumous and 16 arose from actions in Indo-Pakistani conflicts.
    • Of the 21 awardees, 20 have been from the Indian Army, and one has been from the Indian Air Force.
    • Major Somnath Sharma of the Kumaon Regiment was the first recipient.
    • Others wartime gallantry awards are Mahavir Chakra, Vir Chakra; and peacetime gallantry awards include- Ashok Chakra, Kirti Chakra and Shaurya Chakra.

    History of gallantry awards in India

    • The history of present-day Indian gallantry awards can be traced back to the rule of the East India Company.
    • The first formal award was instituted by Lord William Bentinck in 1834 as the Order of Merit, later renamed the Indian Order of Merit in 1902.
    • During the First World War, the British awards system was adopted and continued through the Second World War.
    • Post-independence, new awards were instituted on 26 January 1950, with retroactive effect from 15 August 1947.
    • The PVC is equivalent to the Victoria Cross in the United Kingdom and the Medal of Honor in the United States.

     

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  • AI-Generated Art: Paradox of capturing humanity

    AI

    Context

    • Around the end of last year, social media spaces were trending with Lensa-generated images of online users. A subscription app, Lensa, makes graphic portraits, called “Magic Avatar” images, using selfies uploaded by its users. As AI takes a strong foothold over the realm of art, are we equipped with mechanisms to define what is right and what is wrong in this domain in the first place?

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    The case of Lensa app

    • A subscription app, Lensa, makes graphic portraits, called Magic Avatar images, using selfies uploaded by its users.
    • Celebrities worldwide stepped in to show how they looked so perfect in their avatars in a Lensa world.
    • However, a few days later, hundreds of women netizens worldwide started flagging issues with their avatars. They pointed out how their avatar images had their waists snatched and showed sultry poses.
    • Even after these women uploaded different pictures, Lensa generated hyper-sexualised, semi-pornographic images.

    How art is generated using Artificial Intelligence?

    • Uses algorithms based on textual prompts: AI art is any art form generated using Artificial Intelligence. It uses algorithms that learn a specific aesthetic based on textual prompts and, after that, go through vast amounts of data in the form of available images as the first step.
    • Algorithms generate new images: In the next step, the algorithm tries to generate new images that tally with the kind of aesthetics that it has learnt.
    • Role of artists with right keystrokes: The artist becomes more like a curator who inputs the right prompt to develop an aesthetically-fulfilling output. While artists use brush strokes in other digital platforms like Adobe Photoshop, in programmess like Dall-E and Midjourney, all it takes are keystrokes.
    • For example: The generation of an artwork like Starry Night in the digital era. While Van Gogh would have taken days of effort to conceptualise and get the correct strokes and paint, in the AI art era, it is just a matter of the right textual prompts.

    AI

    Can it truly capture the essence of humanity?

    • The impact of AI-generation on the masses’ experience of art: Art is one of the few pursuits that makes life meaningful. It remains to be seen if AI-generated art will alienate the experience of art from the masses.
    • AI takes away the satisfaction of creating artworks: AI-generated art dehumanises artworks. Perhaps the most satisfying aspect of generating an artwork lies in making it.
    • The questions over the capability of AI to capture subtle human emotions: It is also doubtful whether AI art will capture the most subtle of human emotions. How much humour is “humorous” for AI? Can AI express grief and pain in the most profound ways as described by our poets? Can AI capture the enigmatic smile of Mona Lisa that makes one believe that she is shrouded in mystery?

    Have you heard about Midjourney?

    • Midjourney is an AI based art generator that has been created to explore new mediums of thought.
    • It is an interactive bot, which uses machine learning (ML) to create images based on texts. This AI system utilises the concepts and tries to convert them into visual reality.
    • It is quite similar to other technologies such as DALL-E 2.

    AI

    Arguments in favor of such art

    • Thatre D opera Spatial generated by Midjourney: The question of whether AI art is causing “a death of artistry” was raised, last year, when an entry called “Théâtre D’opéra Spatial” generated from Midjourney (an artificial intelligence programme) by Jason M Allen won the Blue Ribbon at the Colorado State Fair.
    • Finding suitable prompts is no less than a genius art: AI artists like Allen think finding suitable prompts to create an artwork amounts to creativity and qualifies AI art as genuine or authentic.
    • AI could democratise art world: Some artists believe AI art could democratise the art world by removing gatekeepers.

    Concerns over the biases in data

    • There is bias in this data available for AI inputs due to a lack of representation of the less privileged communities’ women, people of colour and other marginalised groups.
    • Most of the training data for AI art currently emerges in the Global North and is often mired by the stereotypes of ableism, racism and sexism.
    • Historically, art has performed a political function as a venue for dissent. Can AI art overcome these inherent biases in data to bring out meaningful political engagement?

    AI

    Conclusion

    • AI-generated art can bring new ideas and possibilities to the art world, but it is important to think about how it might change people’s experience of art and if it takes away the human touch. It is also important to question if AI can truly capture the emotions that make art so special. It’s best to approach AI-generated art with an open mind and consider both the good and bad.

  • State of the Economy Report and the Macroeconomic Stability

    Economy

    Context

    • The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) just-released State of the Economy report. The report suggests that while controlling inflation was a big concern in 2022, the bank may now be more focused on avoiding a recession in 2023. There is still debate about whether the recession will be short and mild or long and severe.

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    What is State of the Economy report?

    • A State of the Economy report is a paper that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) releases which gives a summary of how the country’s economy is doing.
    • The report talks about things like prices going up, how much the economy is growing, how many people have jobs, and the bank’s plan for managing money.
    • The RBI uses the report to make decisions about interest rates and other economic rules, and it also helps people like economists, investors, and regular citizens understand the economy and make smart choices.

    Economy

    What the RBI’s State of the Economy report says?

    • Retail inflation eased: Retail inflation eased to 5.72 per cent in December. In November, the inflation print was 5.88 per cent. The government has mandated the central bank to keep inflation at 4 per cent with a +/- 2 per cent band.
    • Consumer price inflation within RBI’s upper tolerance limit: The report said the country’s macroeconomic stability is getting bolstered with inflation being brought into the tolerance band. consumer price inflation in the last two months falling within the RBI’s six per cent upper tolerance limit
    • Hopeful for the fiscal consolidation: It is even hopeful of fiscal consolidation underway at central and sub-national levels and the external current account deficit on course to narrow through the rest of 2022 and 2023. RBI said in a report that they want to keep prices steady at a certain level and bring it down to 4% by 2024.
    • Narrowing CAD: Lead indicators suggest that the current account deficit is on course to narrow through the rest of 2022 and 2023.
    • Stock market continue to outperform peers: The country’s stock markets stood out in 2022 and continue to outperform peers on the strength of macroeconomic fundamentals and retail participation.

    Who prepares the report and what the authors says?

    • Views expressed are not of the institution: The report was prepared by RBI’s deputy governor Michael Patra and other RBI officials. The views expressed in the report are of the authors and not of the institution, the report said.
    • India at a bright spot: Authors said the prospect of India as a bright spot amidst 2023’s encircling gloom is burnished by most recent history and current developments. By cross-country standards, the country’s economy exhibited resilience through 2022 in the face of the triad of shocks war; monetary policy tightening; and recurring waves of the pandemic.
    • India will be ahead of UK: According to the authors, at current prices and exchange rates, India will still be the 5th largest economy in the world in 2023, worth $3.7 trillion and will be ahead of the UK.

    Economy

    Back to basics: What is Monetary policy?

    • Monetary policy is the macroeconomic policy laid down by the central bank.
    • It involves the management of money supply and interest rate and is the demand side economic policy used by the government of a country to achieve macroeconomic objectives like inflation, consumption, growth and liquidity.
    • A contractionary policy increases interest rates and limits the outstanding money supply to slow growth and decrease inflation.
    • During times of slowdown or a recession, an expansionary policy grows economic activity, by lowering interest rates, saving becomes less attractive, and consumer spending and borrowing increase.

    What are the concerns and prognosis over the report?

    • Predictions are too optimistic: The report’s release is significant, as it comes before the Union Budget for 2023-24. However, the report’s predictions may be too optimistic.
    • Risks tilted towards growth than inflation: The balance of risks is currently tilted towards growth rather than inflation, both globally and domestically.
    • Slowing down the pace of monetary tightening: It is appropriate for the RBI to slow down or pause the pace of monetary tightening. Monetary policy takes time to have an effect, so the impact of these increases may take a few quarters to realise actually.
    • Wait and Watch Approach: The RBI can afford to adopt a wait-and-watch approach and allow the impact of past actions to be fully felt. This does not mean neglecting inflation, as bringing it down to 4% is still important.

    Economy

    Conclusion

    • The world is, no doubt, viewing India favourably as an investment destination, both for its large domestic market and the need to de-risk from China in the current geopolitical environment. The government’s focus on improving the country’s physical as well as digital infrastructure is boosting the investors’ confidence. Demonstrating macroeconomic stability and policy credibility can be the icing on the cake to bring the world to India.

    Mains question

    Q. Highlight RBI’s State of the Economy report and discuss what makes India a favorable investment destination?

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  • What are Additional Tier-1 (AT-1) Bonds?

    The Bombay High Court has quashed the write-off of Additional Tier-1 (AT1) bonds worth Rs 8,400 crore issued by Yes Bank Ltd, bringing relief to investors.

    What are AT1 bonds?

    • AT-1, short for Additional Tier-1 bonds, are a type of unsecured, perpetual bonds that banks issue to shore up their core capital base to meet the Basel-III norms.
    • AT-1 bonds are complex hybrid instruments, ideally meant for institutions and smart investors who can decipher their terms and assess if their higher rates compensate for their higher risks.
    • They carry a face value of ₹10 lakh per bond.
    • There are two routes through which retail folk have acquired these bonds — initial private placement offers of AT-1 bonds by banks seeking to raise money; or secondary market buys of already-traded AT-1 bonds based on recommendations from brokers.

    Why are they important?

    AT-1 bonds have several unusual features lurking in their fine print, which make them very different from plain bonds.

    • One, these bonds are perpetual and carry no maturity date. Instead, they carry call options that allow banks to redeem them after five or 10 years. But banks are not obliged to use this call option and can opt to pay only interest on these bonds for eternity.
    • Two, banks issuing AT-1 bonds can skip interest payouts for a particular year or even reduce the bonds’ face value without getting into hot water with their investors, provided their capital ratios fall below certain threshold levels. These thresholds are specified in their offer terms.
    • Three, if the RBI feels that a bank is tottering on the brink and needs a rescue, it can simply ask the bank to cancel its outstanding AT-1 bonds without consulting its investors. This is what has happened to YES Bank’s AT-1 bond-holders who are said to have invested ₹10,800 crore.

     

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  • Day 6| Daily Answer Wars| CD WarZone

    Topics for Today’s question:

    GS-3 Infrastructure: Energy, Ports, Roads, Airports, Railways etc.       

    Question:

    Q. Why is Public Private Partnership (PPP) required in infrastructural projects? Examine the role of PPP model in the redevelopment of Railway Stations in India. (10 Marks)

     

    HOW TO ATTEMPT ANSWERS IN DAILY ANSWER WARS (DAW)?

    1. Daily 1 question either from General Studies 1, 2, 3 or 4 will be provided via live You Tube video session.
    2. You can write your answer on an A4 sheet and scan/click pictures of the same.
    3. The answer needs to be submitted by joining the telegram group given in the link below.

      https://t.me/cdwarzone

    *In case your answer is not reviewed, reply to your answer saying *NOT CHECKED*. 

    1. For the philosophy of Daily Answer Wars and payment: 
    Daily Answer Wars | CD warzone
    Payment Link DAW

  • Women to get Command Roles in the Indian Army

    women

    As many as 108 women officers in the Army are set to be cleared for the rank of Colonel (selection grade) which will make them eligible to command units and troops in their respective arms and services for the first time.

    What exactly does Commanding a unit mean?

    • Once promoted to a Colonel, an officer is eligible to command troops directly in the Army, which is an acknowledgment of the leadership qualities of the officer.
    • It is considered a coveted appointment because in no other rank — including higher ranks like Brigadier or Major General — does an officer interact directly with troops on the ground.
    • Women officers in many streams of the Army, including the Army Air Defence, Signals, Engineers, Army Aviation, EMEs, Army Ordnance Corps, and Intelligence Corps will be commanding units.

    Women in commands: Significance

    • Leadership opportunity: Despite working at the grassroots level as junior officers, women officers hitherto did not get an opportunity to prove their leadership skills as they were not eligible to command a unit.
    • Gender parity: Most importantly, it grants women officer’s parity with their male counterparts.
    • Higher ranks: Earlier promotions were staff appointments — which are more administrative in nature and not purely command appointments in which an officer commands troops on ground.
    • Benefits after permanent commission: With a longer career in the Army, women officers will be considered for promotions, including to the rank of Colonel and beyond.

    Why did their Colonel promotions come so late?

    • An officer in the Army is promoted to the rank of Colonel only after serving between 16 and 18 years, based on certain criteria such as annual confidential reports and various courses.
    • Women officers who were inducted into the Army were inducted as Short Service Commission (SSC) officers in 1992 and in the years after did not have the choice to opt for permanent commission.

    Supreme Court order affirming Permanent Commission

    • In 2019, the Army changed its rules allowing SSC women officers to opt for permanent commission who would have otherwise retired after 14 years of service.
    • However, this was not retrospective and applied only to the batches of women officers starting their career in the Army in 2020.
    • With the landmark Supreme Court judgment of February 2020, permanent commission was granted to women officers with retrospective effect.
    • This opened the doors for their further growth and promotions in the Army, which has been of late opening leadership and higher management courses for women.

    How are women still discriminated?

    • Women are still not eligible in core combat arms such as Infantry, Mechanised Infantry and Armoured Corps.
    • Indian Army is not open to women fighting wars at the borders as foot soldiers.
    • Much of this resistance stems from past instances of male soldiers being taken as prisoners of war and tortured by the enemy.
    • However, the Army has recently decided to open the Corps of Artillery, a combat support arm, to women.

    What about the Indian Navy and the Indian Air Force?

    • Women officers have been inducted into all branches of the Navy, and they will be eligible for permanent commission in the future.
    • Women officers can command shore-based units and, as they join the service and become eligible for permanent commission, they would be able to command ships and air squadrons.
    • The IAF has opened all branches for women officers, including the fighter stream and the new weapon systems branch.
    • As they are granted permanent commission based on eligibility and vacancies, they will be eligible to command units in the future.

    How many women serve in the Indian armed forces?

    • The Army, being the largest of the three services, has the largest number of women officers at 1,705, followed by 1,640 women officers in the IAF, and 559 in the Navy.
    • This data was submitted by the government to Parliament last year.

     

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  • Forex Reserves zoom by $10.417 billion to $572 billion

    India’s forex reserves zoomed by $10.417 billion to $572 billion, making it one of the biggest weekly jumps in recent times.

    Recent trends in FOREX Reserves

    • In the previous reporting week, the overall reserves had dropped by $1.268 billion to $561.583 billion.
    • In October 2021, the country’s forex reached an all-time high of $645 billion.
    • The reserves have been declining as the central bank deploys the kitty to defend the rupee amid pressures caused majorly by global developments.
    • In October 2022, the reserves had swelled by $14.721 billion during a week.

    What is Foreign Exchange (Forex) Reserve?

    • Foreign exchange reserves are important assets held by the central bank in foreign currencies as reserves.
    • They are commonly used to support the exchange rate and set monetary policy.
    • In India’s case, foreign reserves include Gold, Dollars, and the IMF’s quota for Special Drawing Rights.
    • Most of the reserves are usually held in US dollars, given the currency’s importance in the international financial and trading system.
    • Some central banks keep reserves in Euros, British pounds, Japanese yen, or Chinese yuan, in addition to their US dollar reserves.

    India’s forex reserves cover:

    1. Foreign Currency Assets (FCAs)
    2. Special Drawing Rights (SDRs)
    3. Gold Reserves
    4. Reserve position with the International Monetary Fund (IMF)

    Countries with the highest foreign reserves

    • Currently, China has the largest reserves followed by Japan and Switzerland.
    • India earlier overtook Russia to become the fourth-largest country with foreign exchange reserves. (Data from August 2022)
    1. China – $3,349 Billion
    2. Japan – $1,376 Billion
    3. Switzerland – $1,074 Billion
    4. Russia – $597.40 Billion

    Why are these reserves so important?

    • All international transactions are settled in US dollars and, therefore, required to support India’s imports.
    • More importantly, they need to maintain support and confidence for central bank action, whether monetary policy action or any exchange rate intervention to support the domestic currency.
    • It also helps to limit any vulnerability due to sudden disturbances in foreign capital flows, which may arise during a crisis.
    • Holding liquid foreign currency provides a cushion against such effects and provides confidence that there will still be enough foreign exchange to help the country with crucial imports in case of external shocks.

    Initiatives taken by the government to increase forex

    • To increase the foreign exchange reserves, the Government of India has taken many initiatives like AatmaNirbhar Bharat, in which India has to be made a self-reliant nation so that India does not have to import things that India can produce.
    • Other than AatmaNirbhar Bharat, the government has started schemes like Duty Exemption Scheme, Remission of Duty or Taxes on Export Product (RoDTEP), Nirvik (Niryat Rin Vikas Yojana) scheme, etc.
    • Apart from these schemes, India is one of the top countries that attracted the highest amount of Foreign Direct Investment, thereby improving India’s foreign exchange reserves.

     

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  • What constitutes a Trademark Violation?

    trademark

    The Delhi High Court dismissed a case of trademark infringement brought by the global fast food chain against a Delhi-based restaurant.

    What is a trademark?

    • A trademark is a symbol, design, word or phrase that is identified with a business.
    • When a trademark is registered, its owner can claim “exclusive rights” on its use.
    • The Trademark Act, 1999, governs the regime on trademark and its registration.
    • The Act guarantees protection for a trademark that is registered with the Controller General of Patents, Designs, and Trademarks, also known as the trademark registry.
    • A trademark is valid for 10 years, and can be renewed by the owner indefinitely every 10 years.

    Violation of trademark

    • Using a registered trademark without authorization of the entity that owns the trademark is a violation or infringement of the trademark.
    • Using a substantially similar mark for similar goods or services could also amount to infringement.
    • In such cases, courts have to determine whether this can cause confusion for consumers between the two.
    • There are several ways in which a trademark can be infringed. However, the trademark owner has to show that the trademark has a distinct character-
    1. Deceptive similarity: The law states that a mark is considered deceptively similar to another mark if it nearly resembles that other mark, confusing the consumer in the process. Such deception can be caused phonetically, structurally or visually.
    2. Passing off: Say, a brand logo is misspelt in a way that’s not easy for the consumer to discern. The Supreme Court has ruled that passing off is a “species of unfair trade competition or of actionable unfair trading by which one person, through deception, attempts to obtain an economic benefit of the reputation which other has established for himself in a particular trade or business”.

     

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  • Economic growth and the government disintermediation

    Context

    • Between spending and saving, governments are generally better at the former. High growth comes with the advantage that government revenue expands and gets spent, as is happening this fiscal. But this is also habit-forming. If growth tapers down as is expected in FY 2024 cutting back government spending will be politically rocky just before a general election. Better then, to get selective on spending early on.

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    Current economic indicators

    • Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman took over the hot seat in May 2019. True to character, she resolved to pick up this rolling can by tabling in the FY 2021 budget, an amount of INR 2.64 trillion (1.2 percent of GDP) to pay these overdues.
    • India, yet again, in an era of high inflation and high oil import prices. It has taken courage and sagacity to reduce the FD from 9.2 percent (FY 2021—the COVID-19 year) to a targeted 6.4 percent this fiscal.

    Challenges to establish a declining trend back towards an FD of 3.5 percent of GDP

    • The oil slick of global uncertainty and inflation: Oil price uncertainties, created by the Ukraine standoff, which was partially cushioned via nimble Indian diplomacy resisting the boycott of cheaper Russian oil, has kept imported oil at US$77.7 per barrel in January 2023. But the ongoing opening up of China could firm up oil prices.  
    • India’s high-debt burden compromises fiscal resilience: Interest payments in FY 2023 (budgeted) at INR 9.4 trillion, are the largest expense outlay bucket, accounting for 43 percent of budgeted Union net revenue receipts, up from 41.7 percent in FY 2021. Defence and domestic security services at 15 percent come next, followed by subsidies (food, fertilizers, and fuel) at 14 percent and inflation-indexed government pensions at 9 percent.
    • Infrastructure lags: Infrastructure remains a drag on growth although intercity highways have improved. Multimodal transport solutions remain underdeveloped as do train stations and bus terminals in most towns and rural areas. The competitiveness of major Indian ports in 2018 was ranked 42nd well below China, Malaysia and Thailand- pulled down by low outcomes in infrastructure and turn-around time. The gas grid remains nascent with just 10.1 million connections versus 309 million users for LPG canisters a more volatile substitute for cooking fuel, than piped natural gas.

    What is the worrying situation?

    • Inflation: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) expects retail inflation, assessed at 5.78 percent (December 2022) to trend downwards in FY 2024. But signals of embedded inflation via core inflation (other than volatile food and fuel) above 6 percent are worrying.
    • Disrupted energy supply: A disruption in energy supplies could upset sanguine inflation expectations.
    • Taming inflation would increase fiscal crunch: Taming the resulting inflation by reducing taxes on the retail supply of petroleum products would increase the fiscal crunch.
    • Interests funded by additional borrowings is risky strategy: High-growth economies can afford to fund by borrowings as can start-ups, which borrow against their future growth prospects. For a large, lower middle-income economy like India, with historically moderate long-term growth rates (4 to 6 percent), it compromises reserve fiscal capacity to respond, through counter-cyclical measures, to economic downturns induced by economic shocks a risk-laden strategy.

    What India should do?

    • Resume much delayed disinvestment: Resume the much-delayed privatisation and disinvestment of public sector enterprises and government-owned financial sector entities.
    • Make Indian railway and autonomous entity: Second, make Indian Railway an autonomously regulated, commercially run entity, providing a surplus to the government rather than looking for budgetary support.
    • Encourage public finance outlays: Maximise the economic impact by encouraging public finance outlays to be driven by competitive metrics of allocative efficiency across investment options and program/project implementation models.

    Conclusion

    • For a new phase of growth, government disintermediation is appropriate. It allows for increased competition and innovation in the private sector, leading to greater efficiency and economic growth. India has momentum. What it needs is for the reins to be lightly held.

    Mains question

    Q. What obstacles does the Indian economy face as it enters a new era of growth, and what should India do?

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  • Herpetofauna and the Impact of crop pesticides

    Herpetofauna

    Context

    • The demand for land for food production always results in an uncomfortable trade-off between agricultural expansion and species conservation. One can see an example of this trade-off in paddy fields, whose unique combination of wet and drylands provide ideal habitats for amphibians and reptiles. However, Amphibians and reptiles are bearing the brunt of crop intensification.

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    Ecological services provided by herpetofauna

    • Herpetofauna: Amphibians and reptiles are cold-blooded animals, together referred to as herpetofauna, provide immense ecological services.
    • As biological control agents: Frogs and toads, for instance, act as biological control agents by feeding on crop pests. Several salamanders and tadpoles of frogs help in controlling mosquito and mosquito-borne diseases by feeding on the larvae.
    • Efficient pollinators and improves soil quality: They also help improve soil quality and aeration, aid in dispersal of seeds and in pollination. There are almost 40 species of lizards including skinks and geckos that are efficient pollinators.

    Threats faced by herpetofauna

    • Increased use of pesticides and fertilizers: The diversity and abundance of these herpetofauna are rapidly declining with increased use of pesticides, fertilisers, land conversion, changes in cropping systems and the reduced proportion of natural vegetation.
    • Threatened by agriculture and management practices: According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), 1,532 species of Anurans (frogs) and 825 species of reptiles in the world are critically endangered, endangered and vulnerable due to agriculture and its management practices.
    • Particularly threatened in India: They appear to be particularly threatened in India which has a high amphibian diversity most of them are endemic to the region and, as per the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, had the largest cropland area over the last decade, followed by the US and China.
    • Being cold-blooded, amphibians and reptiles have unique physiological demands: They are extremely sensitive to microclimates (with a narrow range of soil humidity, moisture, light flux, acidity, air and soil temperature) and microhabitats (they have small habitats like grass cover and low dispersal range; maximum lifetime dispersal for frogs and toads is 12 km). This makes them particularly susceptible to agricultural intensification. However, the researchers find a distinct difference in the way it affects amphibians and reptiles.

    Survey to understand the impact of crop intensification

    • To understand the impact of crop intensification on the populations and diversity of herpetofauna, researchers from the University of Calcutta conducted a year-long survey of farm lands in Odisha’s Baleswar district.
    • Almost 90 per cent of the 250,550 hectares of cultivable land in the district is under paddy.

    Did you know?

    • Baleswar district, of Odisha is known as “Rice bowl of the state”.

    Comment if any place in your state is recognized as such

    Findings of the Survey

    • Low diversity in high cropping intensity: The abundance of amphibians was almost half and their diversity was low in areas with high cropping intensity, pesticide application and low natural vegetation when compared with areas where less-intensive farming is practised.
    • Amphibians are more exposed to pesticides: The difference is because amphibians are more exposed to pesticide contamination than reptiles as their skin is highly permeable and performs both respiration and water uptake.
    • Species are going through an extinction debt: The researchers suggest the species are rather going through an extinction debt wherein there is a lag between the impact of agricultural intensification on them and their response to it.
    • Reptiles face a higher threat from conflicts with humans: The real impact of the current intensification of agriculture on reptiles would be felt much later. When compared with amphibians, reptiles like snakes face a higher threat from conflicts with humans. Encroachment of forest areas and misconceptions and myths result in the indiscriminate killing of snakes irrespective of them being venomous or harmless.
    • Intraguild predation: The researchers also find that in areas where the diversity of the frog population is lesser, the numbers of beneficial arthropods have reduced due to intraguild predation. If this reduction in populations of both predators continues, it will disrupt the natural system of suppressing crop pest abundance.

    What is mean by intraguild predation?

    • A phenomenon where more than one species feed on the same prey and therefore competitors feed on each other.
    • For example, when one predator, like a lion, hunts and kills another predator, like a hyena, for food.
    • It’s when animals that are both hunters, compete against each other for the same prey.
    • It is just like how two kids might fight over a candy bar.

    Way ahead

    • The study shows unless a threshold abundance of frogs is maintained, their impacts will be far from beneficial to agriculture.
    • Semi-natural and natural vegetation and buffer strips such as ditches, provide chances to increase numbers of alternate prey, intermediate hosts of target pests and increase the availability of nutritional plant resources.
    • Semi-natural patches are beneficial for arthropod communities and can raise their numbers to enhance crop pest regulation.

    Conclusion

    • To optimize the benefits from existing farmland, the researchers recommend that biodiversity research be holistic so more organisms get targeted ecological services.

    Mains question

    Q. What are herpetofauna? Highlight the Ecological services provided by herpetofauna and discuss the threats faced by herpetofauna.

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