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GS Paper: GS3

  • NASA-ISRO partnership’s NISAR and its Mission

    nisar

    An earth-observation satellite NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR) jointly developed by NASA and ISRO is all set to be shipped to India later this month for a possible launch in September.

    What is NISAR?

    • NISAR has been built by space agencies of the US and India under a partnership agreement signed in 2014.
    • The 2,800 kilograms satellite consists of both L-band and S-band synthetic aperture radar (SAR) instruments, which makes it a dual-frequency imaging radar satellite.
    • While NASA has provided the L-band radar, GPS, a high-capacity solid-state recorder to store data, and a payload data subsystem, ISRO has provided the S-band radar, the GSLV launch system and spacecraft.
    • Another important component of the satellite is its large 39-foot stationary antenna reflector.
    • Made of a gold-plated wire mesh, the reflector will be used to focus the radar signals emitted and received by the upward-facing feed on the instrument structure.

    What is the mission?

    • Once launched into space, NISAR will observe subtle changes in Earth’s surfaces, helping researchers better understand the causes and consequences of such phenomena.
    • It will spot warning signs of natural disasters, such as volcanic eruptions, earthquakes and landslides.
    • The satellite will also measure groundwater levels, track flow rates of glaciers and ice sheets, and monitor the planet’s forest and agricultural regions, which can improve our understanding of carbon exchange.
    • By using synthetic aperture radar (SAR), NISAR will produce high-resolution images.
    • SAR is capable of penetrating clouds and can collect data day and night regardless of the weather conditions.

     

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  • Wealth Tax: Does It Distort the Economy Too Much?

    Wealth

    Context

    • There is a good reason we do not tax wealth directly. Actually, there are many good reasons. But that’s not stopping some states from giving it a try. There are much more effective options for targeting wealthy people for tax revenue that are better for the economy. Some the US is already doing, such as state property taxes, federal capital gains taxes and estate taxes on inheritances.

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    What is wealth tax?

    • Wealth tax is a direct tax unlike the goods and services tax or value-added tax, can take several forms, such as property tax, inheritance or gift tax and capital gains tax.
    • It aims to reduce the inequalities of wealth.
    • It is based on the market value of assets owned by a taxpayer and charged on the net wealth of super rich individuals.

    Wealth

    Why in news?

    • The new bills this week by California and Washington propose taxing their richest residents 1% to 1.5% each year.
    • Four other states including New York and Illinois propose taxing unrealized capital gains, or taxing wealth based on how much it grew in the last year whether or not you sold any assets.

    Wealth

    Crafting good tax policy starts with a question: How much will it distort economic behaviour?

    • Creates distortions: Many economists say that wealth taxes create the most distortions, followed by income and consumption taxes.
    • Wealth taxes discourage saving and investment: A 1% or 2% wealth tax may sound small, but it’s very large compared with current tax rates. Since it’s levied each year, it’s better compared to current taxes on realized capital income. These plans drastically reduce the return on risky investment, and rewarding risk is important for economic growth.
    • Unrealized capital gains, are much harder to measure: Income is relatively easy to measure. Your employer sends you money that is well documented and has an objective value. Overall wealth, especially unrealized capital gains, are much harder to measure.
    • Mostly rich people hold Wealth in assets: Very rich people also tend to hold a lot of their wealth in assets that aren’t publicly traded, either in private equity, in their own businesses, fine art, gold bars or other possessions.
    • Hard to implement effectively: Most jurisdictions have abandoned wealth taxes. They are very hard to implement at the federal level, let alone by states with fewer resources to collect and assess data on wealth holdings.
    • Example of Switzerland: A possible model is Switzerland, where individual cantons have their own wealth tax, but the tax accounts for a trivial share of tax revenue.
    • A wealth tax is a bad policy based on the economics and feasibility: Collecting it will require tremendous resources that states don’t have and it won’t produce the revenue they’re counting on.

    Wealth Tax in India

    • Abolished wealth tax: The government abolished wealth tax as announced in the budget 2015. In its place, the government decided to increase the surcharge levied on the ‘super rich’ class by 2% to 12%. (Super rich are persons with incomes of Rs.1 crore or higher and companies that earn Rs.10 crores or higher).
    • Abolished to simplify tax structure and discourage tax evasion: The abolition was a move to do away with high costs of collection and also to simplify the existing tax structure thereby discouraging tax evasion.
    • No wealth tax at present: India presently does not have any wealth tax i.e., a tax levied on one’s entire property in all forms. It did not impose a one-time ‘solidarity tax’ on wealth in post-covid budgets that could have generated resources for essential public investment.

    Wealth

    Way ahead

    • Promising that a few wealthy people can pick up the public tab is bad economics.
    • States would be better off making their consumption taxes larger and more progressive.
    • They can tax luxury goods like designer clothes, private jet travel or second homes heavily.
    • Governments can better enforce our existing wealth taxes by eliminating loopholes in capital gains and estate levies.

    Conclusion

    • Wealth taxes will continue to be in the conversation as states and the federal government need more revenue and are reluctant to raise taxes on anyone who earns more than $400,000 a year. Many economists say that wealth taxes create the most distortions, followed by income and consumption taxes. Wealth taxes need to studied not only from the lens of fiscal challenges that the states face but also market economies and probable distortions.

    Mains question

    Q. What is wealth tax? Highlight the present status of Wealth tax in India. It is said that Wealth tax distorts economic behaviour. Discuss in the context of States in the US proposes taxing the rich.

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  • Micro hydro systems: An alternative source of energy

    hydro

    Context

    • The crisis unfolding in Joshimath for over a month has led to conversations on the relevance of hydropower in the Himalayan region. Two years ago, a glacier burst led to question marks over the Rishiganga hydroelectric project in Uttarakhand.

    What is hydropower

    • Hydropower generates electricity from the natural flow of water without releasing any emissions or pollutants. It also does not rely on fossil fuels. Therefore, it is often considered green energy.

    hydro

    Hydropower Projects in Himalayan region

    • The Himalaya are a major water source for much of South Asia: Most countries in the region, including India, China, Nepal, Bhutan, and Pakistan, have built or are planning to build hydropower projects in the Himalaya.
    • Hydropower one of the key renewable energy sources of India: In India, the government has identified hydropower as a key renewable energy source. Many hydropower projects are under construction or in the planning stages in the Indian Himalaya, including the Subansiri Lower Hydroelectric Project in Arunachal Pradesh and the Teesta Low Dam Hydroelectric Project in Sikkim.
    • Nepal has also identified hydropower as a major source of energy: Nepal has many hydropower projects in the planning and development stages, including the Arun III Hydroelectric Project and the West Seti Hydroelectric Project.
    • Main source of revenue for Bhutan: In Bhutan, hydropower is the main source of revenue, and the government has set a target to export surplus electricity to India. The country has built several hydropower projects, including the Chukha Hydropower Project and the Tala Hydropower Project.

    hydro

    Concerns about the potential conflicts over water resources in the region

    • Fragile ecosystem of Himalaya already under stress: The Himalaya is a fragile ecosystem and home to a diverse range of flora and fauna. It is already threatened by deforestation, overgrazing, and construction activities that harm the environment and local communities that depend on it.
    • Construction of dams can disrupt the characteristics of river flow: The construction of dams can disrupt the flow of rivers, leading to changes in water temperature and chemistry. It can also cause erosion, landslides, and sedimentation which can have a negative impact on the local environment.
    • Construction disrupts well-being of the local population: Dams also disrupt the migration patterns of fish and other aquatic species and impact the local wildlife, particularly if the dam’s construction leads to habitat loss. Large-scale hydroelectric dams displace local communities, affecting their livelihoods and cultural heritage and impacting the overall well-being of the local population.

    hydro

    Micro hydro systems as an alternative to hydropower

    • Micro hydro system of 100 kilowatts (kW): It is a small-scale hydroelectric power generation system that typically generates up to 100 kilowatts (kW) of electricity.
    • Applications: These systems use the energy of falling water to turn a turbine, which, in turn, generates electricity. They can be used for various applications, including powering homes, businesses, and small communities.
    • Less expensive and smaller environmental footprint: They are typically less expensive to build and maintain than large hydroelectric dams and have a smaller environmental footprint.
    • Can be located at inaccessible areas: They can be located even in inaccessible areas where it is difficult to transmit electricity from larger power stations, and they can provide a reliable source of energy to communities that are not connected to the grid.
    • Two types : Micro hydro systems can be classified into two main types i.e., run-of-river and storage systems. 1. Run-of-river systems use the natural flow of water in a stream or river to generate electricity. 2. In contrast, storage systems use a reservoir to store water and release it as needed to generate electricity.

    hydro

    Conclusion

    • The environmental impact of hydropower can vary depending on projects and the ways in which they are implemented. Micro hydro systems can be tailored to minimize the ecosystem’s negative impact and provide sustainable energy solutions. However, it also can have some impact on the environment and local communities. A detailed assessment should be carried out to evaluate the potential impact before proceeding with the project.

  • MISHTI: Budgetary push for Mangroves

    mangrove

    The Union Budget for 2023-24 announced an initiative for mangrove plantation along the coastline and on saltpan lands, under MISHTI (Mangrove Initiative for Shoreline Habitats & Tangible Incomes).

    MISHTI

    • MISHTI is a new programme that will facilitate mangrove plantation along India’s coastline and on salt pan lands.
    • This new programme will aim at intensive afforestation of coastal mangrove forests.

    Implementation strategy

    • The Budget states that MISHTI will be implemented through convergence between-
    1. MGNREGS (Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme),
    2. CAMPA (Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority) Fund and other sources.

    What are Mangroves?

    • Mangroves are salt-tolerant plant communities found in tropical and subtropical intertidal regions.
    • They are important refuges of coastal biodiversity and also act as bio-shields against extreme climatic events.
    • With the threat of climate change and frequent tropical storms looming large, planting more mangroves is a welcome development for India which has a coastline of about 7,500 km.

    Mangroves in India

    • India has about 4,992 sq km (0.49 million hectares) of mangroves, according to the Indian State of Forest Report (IFSR) 2021.
    • Mangroves in India are distributed across nine States and three UTs with West Bengal having the highest mangrove cover of 2,114 sq km.
    • The IFSR report also points out that there has been an increase in the mangrove cover from 4,046 sq km in 1987 to 4,992 sq km in 2021.

    Why protect mangroves?

    • Infrastructure projects — industrial expansion, shifting coastlines, coastal erosion and storms, have resulted in a significant decrease in mangrove habitats.
    • Between 2010 and 2020, around 600 sq km of mangroves were lost of which more than 62% was due to direct human impacts, the Global Mangrove Alliance said in its 2022 report.

    Importance of mangroves

    • Biodiversity: Mangrove forests — consisting of trees and shrub that live in intertidal water in coastal areas — host diverse marine life.
    • Fishing grounds: They also support a rich food web, with molluscs and algae-filled substrate acting as a breeding ground for small fish, mud crabs and shrimps, thus providing a livelihood to local artisanal fishers.
    • Carbon sinks: Equally importantly, they act as effective carbon stores, holding up to four times the amount of carbon as other forested ecosystems.
    • Cyclone buffers: When Cyclone Amphan struck West Bengal in May, its effects were largely mitigated by the Sundarbans flanking its coasts along the Bay of Bengal.

    Threats to Mangroves

    • Anthropogenic activities: They are a major threat to the mangroves. Urbanization, industrialization and the accompanying discharge of industrial effluents, domestic sewage and pesticide residues from agricultural lands threaten these fragile ecosystems.
    • Saltpan and aquaculture: This causes huge damage to the mangroves. Shrimp farming alone destroyed 35,000 hectares of mangroves worldwide.
    • Destruction for farming: 40% of mangroves on the west coast has been converted into farmlands and other settlements in just 3 decades.
    • Sea-level rise: This is another challenge to these mangroves- especially on the Bay of Bengal coast.

    What lies ahead?

    • A contract-based one-time plantation under MGNREGS and CAMPA alone may not work unless the local communities take ownership of the forests.
    • Discharge of untreated domestic and industrial effluents into the rivers should be immediately stopped.
    • The natural inter-tidal flow along the coast should be conserved.

    Try this PYQ:

    Q. Which one of the following is the correct sequence of ecosystems in the order of decreasing productivity?

    (a) Oceans, lakes, grasslands, mangroves

    (b) Mangroves, oceans, grasslands, lakes

    (c) Mangroves, grasslands, lakes, oceans

    (d) Oceans, mangroves, lakes, grasslands

     

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  • What is the North Star?

    north star

    Vice President said Parliament is the “North Star” of democracy, “a place of discussion and deliberation to realize the aspirations and dreams of the people”.

    What is North Star?

    • North Star is a metaphor to refer to something constant/permanent that leads and provides direction.
    • Polaris, also known as the North Star or the Pole Star, is a very bright star (around 2500 times more luminous than our sun) placed less than 1° away from the north celestial pole.
    • Its position and brightness have made humans use it for navigation since late antiquity.
    • It is a part of the constellation Ursa Minor and is around 323 light-years away from Earth.

    How it helps navigation?

    • It stands almost motionless in the night sky, with all the stars of the northern sky appearing to rotate around it.
    • This makes it an excellent fixed point from which to draw measurements for celestial navigation.
    • Simply the elevation of the star above the horizon gives the approximate latitude of the observer and in the northern hemisphere, if you can see Polaris you can always tell which way is north.
    • Upon crossing the equator to the South, the North Star is lost over the horizon and hence stops being a useful navigational aid.

    When the North Star was first used to navigate?

    • Polaris seems to have been first charted by the Roman mathematician and astronomer Ptolemy, who lived from about 85 to 165 B.C.
    • While there does exist some evidence pointing at how the star was used for navigation in late antiquity, it is during the ‘Age of Exploration’ that it becomes such a central part of human history.
    • Christopher Columbus, on his first trans-Atlantic voyage of 1492, “had to correct (his ship’s bearings) for the circle described by the pole star about the pole”, wrote his son in his biography.
    • As European colonizers set sail for exotic locations across the world, the North Star became an ever-so-important feature.

     

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  • Muons and their use to analyse large structures

    muon

    As per a new study, researchers are examining the fortress wall of Xi’an, an ancient city in China, by using tiny outer space particles ‘Muon’ that can penetrate hundreds of metres of stone surfaces.

    What are Muons?

    • Muons are subatomic particles raining from space.
    • They are created when the particles in Earth’s atmosphere collide with cosmic rays — clusters of high-energy particles that move through space at just below the speed of light.
    • About 10,000 muons reach every square metre of the Earth’s surface a minute.
    • These particles resemble electrons but are 207 times as massive.
    • Therefore, they are sometimes called “fat electrons”. Because muons are so heavy, they can travel through hundreds of metres of rock or other matter before getting absorbed or decaying into electrons and neutrinos.
    • In comparison, electrons can penetrate through only a few centimetres. Muons are highly unstable and exist for just 2.2 microseconds.

    What is muon tomography or muography?

    • Muography is conceptually similar to X-ray but capable of scanning much larger and wider structures, owing to the penetration power of muons.
    • As these high-energy particles are naturally produced and ubiquitous, all one needs to do is place a muon detector underneath, within or near the object of interest.
    • The detector then tracks the number of muons going through the object from different directions, to form a three-dimensional image.

    Muons and archaeology

    • The technique was first used in the late 1960s, when Nobel Laureate and US experimental physicist Luis Alvarez joined hands with Egyptologists to search for hidden chambers in the Pyramid of Khafre, Giza.
    • Nothing was found at the time.

    Recent feats achieved

    • In 2017, modern archaeologists repeated the experiment with more sophisticated and advanced muon detectors and stumbled upon a major finding.
    • By placing several detectors, the archaeologists were able to discover a previously unknown chamber at least 30 metres long.
    • It was the first major inner structure to be found in the pyramid since the 19th century.

    Uses of muography beyond archaeology

    • Apart from archaeology, muography has found use in customs security, internal imaging of volcanoes and others.
    • Around 2015, scientists used the technique to look inside the Fukushima nuclear reactors after the 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Japan.
    • As the site was highly radioactive, they put the two muon detectors in 10 centimetres thick boxes to protect them from radiation and then carried out the scanning.
    • Muography is also being used by researchers to analyse Mount Vesuvius, a volcano in Italy.

     

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  • Artificial intelligence(AI): An immediate challenge flagged by ChatGPT

    AI

    Context

    • With the launch of Open AI’s ChatGPT late last year, the impending changes in the nature of work, creativity and economy as a whole have moved from being the subject of futuristic jargon to an immediate challenge.

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    Background

    • Since at least 2015 when Klaus Schwab popularised the term Fourth Industrial Revolution at that year’s World Economic Forum terms like 4IR, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Internet of Things, Future of Work, entered the lexicon of politicians, bureaucrats, consultants and policy analysts.

    Sample developments over just the last few days

    • A judge in Colombia included his conversations with ChatGPT in a ruling;
    • Microsoft is integrating the bot with its search engine, Bing, and other products;
    • Google is reportedly trying to launch a similar tool and there are reports that ChatGPT can already code at entry level for Google engineers.

    What are the Concerns?

    • Lifestyle may become redundant: Concerns about plagiarism in universities and beyond, as well as the fear that many white-collar jobs may become redundant in the coming years, as AI becomes more ubiquitous and sophisticated.
    • Implications on labour, education and authenticity: The AI revolution is likely to have serious implications on labour, education, authenticity of content and its authorship, and much else.
    • Case of Social media’s influence in US elections: The concerns around social media’s influence on politics and society became sharp in the aftermath of the 2016 US presidential elections and accusations of voter manipulation by foreign agents. Much of the world is still struggling with the questions raised then.

    AI

    Do you what exactly ChatGPT is?

    • Simple definition: ChatGPT is a chatbot built on a large-scale transformer-based language model that is trained on a diverse dataset of text and is capable of generating human-like responses to prompts.
    • A human like language model: It is based on GPT-3.5, a language model that uses deep learning to produce human-like text.
    • It is more engaging with details: However, while the older GPT-3 model only took text prompts and tried to continue on that with its own generated text, ChatGPT is more engaging. It’s much better at generating detailed text and can even come up with poems.
    • Keeps the memory of the conversations: Another unique characteristic is memory. The bot can remember earlier comments in a conversation and recount them to the user.
    • Human- like resemblance: A conversation with ChatGPT is like talking to a computer, a smart one, which appears to have some semblance of human-like intelligence.

    AI

    Anticipating possible futures requires engagement with the opportunities

    • The Struggle to keep up with technology in policymaking:
    1. Governments worldwide face a challenge in creating policies that keep up with the rapid pace of technological advancement.
    2. Policymakers should understand that they must work to bridge the gap between technology and regulation, as a growing divide could lead to problems.
    • Preparing for technological change in education and workforce:
    1. In addition to creating regulations that support innovation, it’s crucial to plan for the changes that new technology will bring to education and employment.
    2. This includes anticipating new job types and skills required, as well as updating the education system to prepare future workers.
    • Importance of Preparing for technological change for India:
    1. India has been facing the challenge of balancing privacy and regulation in the handling of data for several years.
    2. Successfully adapting to technological changes is crucial for India to make the most of its large, young workforce. If not addressed in time, the consequences could be severe

    Conclusion

    • The transformations the new technology is bound to bring about must be met with swift adjustments in the broader national and international legal and policy architecture. The lag between technology innovation and policy that was seen with the rise of Big Data and social media can serve as a lesson.

    Mains Question

    Q. With the rapid innovations and launching of Artificial intelligence models everyday will change the nature of work, creativity and economy as a whole. comment

  • Budget and the Urban planning

    Budget

    Context

    • Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented the Union Budget 2023-24. It has been marked by areas of continuity over the past three years. However, we should not overlook the missed opportunities for more fundamental reforms while celebrating continuity.

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    Areas of focus 

    • Some areas like the continued boost in capital expenditure have received wide attention. Others, such as the reform of urban development and planning processes have received less.
    • As India grows, the quality of urbanisation will determine the quality of economic growth, and vice versa.
    • From this perspective, the continued focus on improving urban infrastructure and land-use efficiency is welcome.

    Budget

    Proposals related to urban planning and urbanization

    • Urban planning reforms and efficient land use: Cities will be encouraged to undertake urban planning reforms, adopting practices that use land more efficiently, creating resources for urban infrastructure, making urban land affordable, and improving inclusivity.
    • Infrastructure financing: Cities will be incentivized to ring-fence user charges on infrastructure and undertake property tax governance reforms so that they are creditworthy enough to issue municipal bonds.
    • Infrastructure Development fund for Tier 2 and 3 cities: A fund will be created by using shortfalls in priority sector lending to create infrastructure in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities. Rs 10,000 crore is the expected amount to be made available for this fund. States will be expected to adopt user charges to access these resources.
    • Improving sewage and waste management: Proposals on improvements in infrastructure for handling sewage and managing waste.

    Budget

    Proposals continued from previous budget

    • The 2021-22 budget focused on providing urban infrastructure public transport, waste management and universal water supply.
    • In 2020-21, the budget, like this year, proposed improvements in sewage treatment and waste management to do away with manual cleaning.
    • It proposed tax concessions to encourage overseas borrowing for specified municipal bonds. In 2019, the government announced, and then formulated a model tenancy law to promote rental housing.

    What more can be done?

    • Shift towards market-oriented reforms in urban planning and development:
    1. States and city administrators have themselves come around to the benefits of market-oriented reforms, obviating some of the necessity for the Centre to champion them. This could be driven by the emergence of cities as engines of growth, the resultant commodification of urban land markets and, therefore, the increasing focus on land-use efficiency.
    2. Greater openness to new ideas of urban planning could also be driven intellectually by changes in the outlooks of professionals in the field urban planners, architects and administrators who are increasingly able to work directly with state and municipal governments.
    • Lack of Political Significance for Urban Governance Reforms:
    1. It could be that while cities are increasingly economically significant, they are not yet significant enough politically for politicians to look at urban governance issues more seriously.
    2. While the 73rd and 74th amendments to the Constitution devolved many powers to local governments, state governments continue to hold most of the aces. This could change rapidly in the future as India transitions from rural to urban.

    Budget

    Conclusion

    • While urban governance systems are improving, India’s cities are still plagued by issues that need fundamental changes. Our building by-laws, restrictions on land use and zoning still create inefficiencies and make our cities unaffordable, dirty and polluted. The government’s steps to increase capacity building and to create expert committees to propose reforms in these areas is commendable. However, the pace of these proposals is inadequate and need to prioritised to meet urban India’s challenges.

  • What is Additional Surveillance Mechanism (ASM)?

    The National Stock Exchange (NSE) placed very famous enterprises of business tycoons under the additional surveillance mechanism (ASM).

    Why in news?

    • The Adani Group has shed $108 billion in market value since Hindenburg Research accused it of stock manipulation and accounting fraud.

    What is Additional Surveillance Mechanism (ASM)?

    • 2018 saw the establishment of the Additional Surveillance Measure (ASM), a measure by SEBI and recognised stock exchanges to control the incredibly volatile stocks on the Indian stock market.
    • ASM in the stock market functions as a control measure for speculative trading to safeguard the interests of retail investors and keep them out of potentially dangerous trading situations.
    • There are two parts of additional margins:
    1. Long-term ASM
    2. Short-term ASM

    What is ASM list in the stock market?

    • ASM list means a collection of securities currently under observation owing to variables like price volatility, volume variation, etc.
    • Investors are alerted to unexpected price movement by stocks that have been shortlisted for the ASM list.
    • These equities are subject to various trading restrictions to halt any speculation.
    • The regulations that apply to stocks on the ASM list are more stringent.
    • They are prohibited from being pledged and using intraday leverages like bracket and cover orders, among others.

    How does it work?

    • For instance, the stock will be moved to a 5% price band the day it joins the ASM list; from then on, it may only move 5% up or down from the previous day’s closing level.
    • As a result of this limit violation, the stock can no longer trade on the market once this limit is violated.
    • In addition, the investor ought to have 100% margin money to trade the stock as of the fifth day.
    • The selected securities will be monitored further, based on predetermined criteria and transferred into Trade to Trade settlement once the criterion is met.

    Criteria to determine ASM list stocks

    The following criteria are used to select stocks for inclusion in ASM and were mutually decided upon by SEBI and Exchanges:

    • Close-to-Close Price Variation
    • Market Capitalisation
    • Volume Variation
    • Delivery Percentage
    • High Low Variation
    • Client Concentration
    • of Unique PANs

     

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  • CITES database reveals Red Sanders smuggling

    red sanders

    The CITES trade database has recorded 28 incidents of Red Sanders confiscation, seizure, and specimen from the wild being exported from India.

    Red Sanders

    • The species, Pterocarpus santalinus, is an Indian endemic tree species, with a restricted geographical range in the Eastern Ghats.
    • It is a very slow-growing tree species that attains maturity in natural forests after 25-40 years.
    • It is endemic to a distinct tract of forests in Andhra Pradesh.
    • It is mainly found in Chittoor, Kadapa, Nandhyal, Nellore, Prakasam districts of Andhra Pradesh.
    • It was classified as ‘near threatened’ in 2018 and has now joined the ‘endangered’ list once again in 2021.
    • It is listed under Appendix II of CITES and is banned from international trade.

    Legal protection in India

    • The Union Environment Ministry had decided to keep Red Sanders (red sandalwood) OUT of the Schedule VI of Wild Life Protection Act, 1972, arguing that this would discourage the cultivation of the rare plant species.
    • Schedule VI regulates and restricts the cultivation, possession, and sale of a rare plant species.

    Threats to this specie

    • Red Sanders are known for their rich hue and therapeutic properties, are high in demand across Asia, particularly in China and Japan.
    • They are used in cosmetics and medicinal products as well as for making furniture, woodcraft and musical instruments.
    • Its popularity can be gauged from the fact that a tonne of Red Sanders costs anything between Rs 50 lakh to Rs 1 crore in the international market.

    Try this question from CSP 2016:

    Q.With reference to ‘Red Sanders’, sometimes seen in the news, consider the following statements:

    1. It is a tree species found in a part of South India.
    2. It is one of the most important trees in the tropical rain forest areas of South India.

    Which of the above statements is/are correct?

    (a) 1 only

    (b) 2 only

    (c) Both 1 and 2

    (d) Neither 1 nor 2

     

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    Back2Basics: Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES)

    • CITES stands for the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora.
    • It is as an international agreement aimed at ensuring “that international trade in specimens of wild animals and plants does not threaten their survival”.
    • It was drafted after a resolution was adopted at a meeting of the members of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) in 1963.
    • It entered into force on July 1, 1975, and now has 183 parties.
    • The Convention is legally binding on the Parties in the sense that they are committed to implementing it; however, it does not take the place of national laws.
    • India is a signatory to and has also ratified CITES convention in 1976.

    CITES Appendices

    • CITES works by subjecting international trade in specimens of selected species to certain controls.
    • All import, export, re-exports and introduction from the sea of species covered by the convention has to be authorized through a licensing system.
    • It has three appendices:
    1. Appendix I includes species threatened with extinction. Trade-in specimens of these species are permitted only in exceptional circumstances.
    2. Appendix II provides a lower level of protection.
    3. Appendix III contains species that are protected in at least one country, which has asked other CITES Parties for assistance in controlling trade.

     

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