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GS Paper: GS3

  • RBI’s Positive Pay system

    The new ‘Positive Pay’ mechanism was recently introduced by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).

    Try this PYQ:

    With reference to digital payments, consider the following statements:

    1. BHIM app allows the user to transfer money to anyone with a UPI-enabled bank account.
    2. While a chip-pin debit card has four factors authentication, BHIM app has only two factors of authentication.

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

    a) 1 only
    b) 2 only
    c) Both 1 and 2
    d) Neither 1 nor 2

    What is the move?

    • Issuers will be able to send all details to their bank, thereby ensuring faster clearance of cheques above Rs 50,000.
    • All cheques will be processed as per the information sent by the account holder at the time of issuance of cheques.
    • This will cover approximately 20 per cent of transactions by volume and 80 per cent by value.
    • It will make cheque payments safer and reduces instances of frauds.

    What is Positive Pay Mechanism?

    • Positive Pay is a fraud detection tool adopted by banks to protect customers against forged, altered or counterfeit cheques.
    • It crosses verifies all details of the cheque issued before funds are encashed by the beneficiary.
    • In case of a mismatch, the cheque is sent back to the issuer for examination.
    • By following such a system, a bank knows of a cheque being drawn by the customer even before it is deposited by the beneficiary into his/her account.

    How does the mechanism work?

    • Under Positive Pay feature, the issuer will first share the details of the issued cheque like cheque number, date, name of the payee, account number, amount and the likes through his/her net banking account.
    • Along with this, an image of the front and reverse side of the cheque is also required to be shared, before handing it over to the beneficiary.
    • When the beneficiary submits the cheque for encashment, the details are compared with those provided to the bank through Positive Pay.
    • If the details match, the cheque is honoured. However, in the case of mismatch, the cheque is referred to the issuer.
    • In this way, any cheque where any sort of fraud has happened cannot be cleared at all and hence, a depositor’s money can be protected.

  • In news: Mauritius Oil Spill

    A Japanese ship recently struck a coral reef resulting in an oil spill of over 1,000 tonnes into the Indian Ocean near Mauritius.

    Try this PYQ:

    Q.Recently, “oil zapper’’ was in the news. What is it? (CSP 2011)

    (a) It is an eco-friendly technology for the remediation of oily sludge and oil spills.

    (b) It is the latest technology developed for undersea oil exploration.

    (c) It is a genetically engineered high biofuel-yielding maize variety.

    (d) It is the latest technology to control the accidentally caused flames from oil wells.

    What caused the Mauritius oil spill?

    • A Japanese vessel struck a coral reef resulting in an oil spill of over 1,000 tonnes into the Indian Ocean.
    • The ship was carrying an estimated 4,000 tonnes of oil.
    • The accident had taken place near two environmentally protected marine ecosystems and the Blue Bay Marine Park Reserve, which is a wetland of international importance.

    How dangerous are oil spills?

    • Oil spills affect marine life by exposing them to harsh elements and destroying their sources of food and habitat.
    • Further, both birds and mammals can die from hypothermia as a result of oil spills.
    • For instance, oil destroys the insulating ability of fur-bearing mammals, such as sea otters.
    • It also decreases the water repellency of birds’ feathers, without which they lose their ability to repel cold water.

    Some major incidents

    • Some of the world’s largest oil spills include the Persian Gulf War oil spill of 1991 when more than 380 million gallons of oil was poured into the northern Persian Gulf by Iraq’s forces.
    • The 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is also considered to be among the largest known accidental oil spills in history.
    • Starting April 20, 2010, over 4 million barrels of oil flowed over a period of 87 days into the Gulf of Mexico.

    How is the oil spill cleaned?

    • There are a few ways to clean up oil spills including skimming, in situ burning and by releasing chemical dispersants.
    • Skimming involves removing oil from the sea surface before it is able to reach the sensitive areas along the coastline.
    • In situ burning means burning a particular patch of oil after it has concentrated in one area.
    • Releasing chemical dispersants helps break down oil into smaller droplets, making it easier for microbes to consume, and further break it down into less harmful compounds.
    • Natural actions in aquatic environments such as weathering, evaporation, emulsification, biodegradation and oxidation can also accelerate the recovery of an affected area. But these occur differently in freshwater and marine environments.

  • [pib] Sarabhai Crater

    The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) has named a crater captured by Chandrayaan 2 Orbiter after Vikram Sarabhai.

    Try this PYQ:

    What do you understand by the term Aitken Basin? (CSP 2012)

    (a) It is a desert in southern Chile which is known to be the only location on earth where no rainfall takes place

    (b) It is an impact crater on the far side of the Moon

    (c) It is a Pacific coast basin, which is known to house large amounts of oil and gas

    (d) It is a deep hypersaline anoxic basin where no aquatic animals are found

    Sarabhai Crater

    • “Sarabhai” Crater is named after Dr Vikram Sarabhai and around 250 to 300 kilometres east of this Crater is where the Apollo 17 and Luna 21 Missions had landed.
    • The crater captured in 3D images shows that the Crater has a depth of around 1.7 Kms taken from its raised rim and the slope of Crater walls is in between 25 to 35 degree.
    • These findings will help the Space Scientists to understand further the process of the lunar region filled with lava.

    Who was Vikram Sarabhai?

    • Sarabhai was an Indian physicist and astronomer who initiated space research and helped develop nuclear power in India.
    • He is internationally regarded as the Father of the Indian Space Program.
    • Known as the cradle of space sciences in India, the Physical Research Laboratory (PRL) was founded in 1947 by him. He was the founder of ISRO.
    • He started a project for the fabrication and launch of an Indian satellite.
    • As a result, the first Indian satellite, Aryabhata, was put in orbit in 1975 from a Russian cosmodrome.

  • Myth of the pristine forest

    • The COVID-19 pandemic has driven migrant workers back to their villages, including many situated inside or on the fringes of forested areas, including sanctuaries and national parks.
    • Even as they seek to remake livelihoods there, a new battle has emerged between the forest department (FD) and these local communities.
    • It pertains to the declaration of a Critical Wildlife Habitat (CWH), which a PIL in the Bombay High Court seeks to get the department to urgently notify.

    Try this question for mains:

    Forest dwellers are integral to the very survival and sustainability of the forest ecosystem. Analyse.

    What is Critical Wildlife Habitat (CHW)?

    • CWH is a provision under the Forest Rights Act, 2006 (FRA).
    • The Act primarily focuses on recognising the historically-denied rights of forest-dwellers to use and manage forests.
    • The CWH provision, however, is an attempt to assuage concerns of wildlife conservationists.
    • It allows for the possibility that in protected areas (PAs) — wildlife sanctuaries and national parks — these rights could be attenuated, and, if absolutely necessary, forest-dwellers could be relocated in the interest of wildlife conservation.

    Forest dwellers vs. Wildlife

    • Conservationists believe that wildlife needs absolutely “inviolate” areas — those devoid of humans and human activities.
    • Many others believe human-wildlife co-existence is generally possible and must be promoted if we are to have “socially just conservation”.

    Achieving balanced conservation: The FRA provisions

    • A careful reading of the CWH provisions in the FRA shows that it is open to both possibilities, as long as they are arrived at through a rigorous and participatory process.
    • It requires setting up a multi-disciplinary expert committee, including representatives from local communities.
    • It also requires determining — using “scientific and objective criteria” and consultative processes — whether, and wherein the PA, the exercise of forest rights will cause irreversible damages.
    • It then requires determining whether coexistence is possible through a modified set of rights or management practices.
    • Only if the multi-stakeholder expert committee agrees that co-existence or other reasonable options are not possible, should relocation be taken up, again with the informed consent of the concerned gram sabhas.
    • For any such process to commence, the Act requires that all forest rights under the FRA must first be recognised.

    Issues with the FRA

    (1) Concerns of eviction

    • Hardline conservationists took FRA as a great opportunity to complete its agenda of evicting forest-dwellers from PAs.
    • It has been observed that many villages were resettled when they had rights claims pending, others had their claims illegally rejected or incompletely granted, and several had not even applied to this controversy erupted.
    • However, there are settlements in some of these PAs, and of course, people in villages adjacent to all the PAs are likely to have customary rights.
    • In spite of the court ordering rapid completion of the rights recognition process, there has been almost no progress on this front.

    (2) Issues with expert committees

    • The constitution of the expert committees is faulty. They do not contain expert social scientists familiar with the area. Wildlife enthusiasts are sometimes substituted for experts in life sciences.
    • Many members have challenged the very constitutionality of the FRA, making a travesty of the idea of “objectivity” in the process.

    (3) Criteria judging the damages

    • The criteria being used by the committees to determine the threat of “irreversible damage” to wildlife are quite extreme and are not supported by any consensus even among ecologists.
    • There are no objective criteria decided yet by these committees.

    Conclusion

    • The FRA begins by recognising that forest dwellers “are integral to the very survival and sustainability of the forest ecosystem”.
    • In that context, the CWH provision should not be seen as simply a tool for evicting forest-dwellers to create so-called “inviolate” spaces.
    • It is an opportunity to rigorously and participatorily explore all avenues of co-existence.
    • Such co-existence is indeed possible. In general, forest-dwellers harbour both the knowledge and the attitudes needed for conservation.
    • Co-managing PAs is, therefore, the most effective and socially just long-term solution, and relocation should be seen as the absolute last resort.

    B2BASICS

    Forest Rights act

  • One Sun, One World, One Grid (OSOWOG) Initiative

    The Union Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) has put calls for proposals to the One Sun, One World, and One Grid (OSOWOG) initiative on hold till further notice.

    Try this PYQ:

    Q.Consider the following statements:

    1. The International Solar Alliance was launched at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in 2015.
    2. The Alliance includes all the member countries of the United Nations.

    Which of the above statements is/are correct? (CSP 2016)

    (a) 1 only

    (b) 2 only

    (c) Both 1 and 2

    (d) Neither 1 nor 2

    OSOWOG Initiative

    • Under the project, India envisaged having an interconnected power transmission grid across nations for the supply of clean energy.
    • The vision behind the OSOWOG mantra is ‘The Sun Never Sets’ and is a constant at some geographical location, globally, at any given point of time.
    • With India at the fulcrum, the solar spectrum can easily be divided into two broad zones viz. far East which would include countries like Myanmar, Vietnam, Thailand, Lao, Cambodia etc. and far West which would cover the Middle East and the Africa Region.

    Implementation

    • The OSOWOG would have three phases. In the first phase Phase I, Middle East, South Asia and South-East Asia would be interconnected.
    • In the second phase, solar and other renewable energy resources rich regions would be interconnected.
    • In the third phase would vie for global interconnection of the power transmission grid to achieve the One Sun One World One Grid vision.

    Benefits of the project

    • Attracting investment: An interconnected grid would help all the participating entities in attracting investments in renewable energy sources as well as utilizing skills, technology and finances.
    • Poverty allevation: Resulting economic benefits would positively impact poverty alleviation and support in mitigating water, sanitation, food and other socio-economic challenges.
    • Reduced project cost: The proposed integration would lead to reduced project costs, higher efficiencies and increased asset utilization for all the participating entities.

    Issues with project

    • It is hindered with the issues of intricate geopolitics, unfavourable economics, unwarranted globalisation and undue centralization that act against the concept.

  • What is the Business Responsibility Report?

    In efforts to have a single source for all non-financial disclosures by corporates, a government-appointed panel has made various proposals on business responsibility reporting, including putting in place two formats for disclosing information.

    Try this PYQ:

    Which one of the following is not a feature of Limited Liability Partnership firm? (CSP 2010)

    (a) Partners should be less than 20

    (b) Partnership and management need not be separate

    (c) Internal governance may be decided by mutual agreement among partners

    (d) It is corporate body with perpetual succession

    What is the Business Responsibility Report (BRR)?

    • Business Responsibility  Report is a disclosure of the adoption of responsible business practices by a  listed company to all its stakeholders.
    • This is important considering the fact that these companies have accessed funds from the public, have an element of public interest involved, and are obligated to make exhaustive disclosures on a regular basis.
    • BSR is to be submitted as a part of the Annual Report.
    • It contains a standardized format for companies to report the actions undertaken by them towards the adoption of responsible business practices.
    • It has been designed to provide basic information about the company, information related to its performance and processes, and information on principles and core elements of the BSR.

    SEBI recommendations for BSR

    • As per the report, reporting may be done by top 1,000 listed companies in terms of their market capitalization or as prescribed by markets regulator SEBI.
    • The reporting requirement may be extended by MCA (Ministry of Corporate Affairs) to unlisted companies above specified thresholds of turnover and/ or paid-up capital.
    • The panel has suggested two formats for disclosures — a comprehensive format and a “lite version” — and also called for the implementation of the reporting requirements in a gradual and phased manner.
    • Smaller unlisted companies may adopt a lite version of the format, on a voluntary basis.

  • What is Next Generation Sequencing (NGS)?

    • To speed up testing as well as improve the accuracy of testing COVID-19, the CSIR is working on developing “mega labs” where large machines, called Next Generation Sequencing machines (NGS), will be used for sequencing human genomes.
    • It is repurposed to sequence 1,500-3,000 viral genomes at a go for detecting the SARS-CoV-2 novel coronavirus.

    Try this PYQ:

    What is Cas9 protein that is often mentioned in news? (CSP 2018)

    (a) A molecular scissors used in targeted gene editing

    (b) A biosensor used in the accurate detection of pathogens in patients

    (c) A gene that makes plants pest-resistant

    (d) A herbicidal substance synthesized in genetically modified crops

    What is NGS?

    • DNA sequencing is the process of determining the nucleic acid sequence – the order of nucleotides in DNA.
    • It includes any method or technology that is used to determine the order of the four bases: adenine, guanine, cytosine, and thymine.
    • The advent of rapid DNA sequencing methods has greatly accelerated biological and medical research and discovery.
    • Next-generation sequencing (NGS), also known as high-throughput sequencing, is the catch-all term used to describe a number of different modern sequencing technologies.
    • These technologies allow for sequencing of DNA and RNA much more quickly and cheaply than the previously used Sanger sequencing, and as such revolutionized the study of genomics and molecular biology.

    Benefits

    • The genome sequencing machines can substantially detect the possible presence of the virus even in several instances where the traditional RT-PCR tests miss out on them.
    • This is primarily because the RT-PCR test identifies the SARS-CoV-2 virus by exploring only specific sections of the virus.
    • Having an edge, the genome method can read a bigger chunk of the virus genome and thereby provide more certainty that the virus in question is indeed the particular coronavirus of interest.
    • It can also trace the evolutionary history of the virus and track mutations more reliably.

    Back2Basics:

    PCR Test for Diagnosis of the COVID-19

  • abscisic acid (ABA)

    A team of researchers at the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER), Bhopal, has conducted a study on seed germination that could have a major impact on agriculture.

    What is the study about?

    • The study aims to determine the optimum timing of seed germination and thus ensure high plant yields.
    • It focused on the interplay between plant hormones like abscisic acid (ABA) which inhibit the sprouting of the seed and environmental cues like light (which promotes the sprouting process) and darkness.

    Note the following plant hormones and their functions:

    Hormone

    Function
    Ethylene Fruit ripening and abscission
    Gibberellins Break the dormancy of seeds and buds; promote growth
    Cytokinins Promote cell division; prevent senescence
    Abscisic Acid Close the stomata; maintain dormancy
    Auxins Involved in tropisms and apical dominance

    What is Abscisic Acid? 

    • Humans have glands that secrete hormones at different times to stimulate body processes such as growth, development, and the breaking down of sugars.  
    • Plants also have hormones that stimulate processes that are necessary for them to live.  
    • Abscisic acid is a plant hormone involved in many developmental plant processes, such as dormancy and environmental stress response.  
    • Abscisic acid is produced in the roots of the plant as well as the terminal buds at the top of the plant. 

    Function of Abscisic Acid 

    Abscisic acid is involved in several plant functions.  

    • Plants have openings on the bottom side of their leaves, known as stomata. Stomata take in carbon dioxide and regulate water content. Abscisic acid has been found to function in the closing of these stomata during times when the plant does not require as much carbon dioxide or during times of drought when the plant cannot afford to lose much water through transpiration. 
    • One of the crucial functions of abscisic acid is to inhibit seed germination. Abscisic acid has been found to stop a seed from immediately germinating once it has been placed in the soil. It actually causes the seed to enter a period of dormancy.  
    • This is of great benefit to the plants because most seeds are formed at the end of the growing season, when conditions would not be favorable for a new plant to sprout. The abscisic acid causes the seed to wait until the time when conditions are more favorable to grow. This ensures greater success in the plant’s ability to grow and reproduce successfully. 
    • ABA functions in many plant developmental processes, including seed and bud dormancy, the control of organ size and stomatal closure. It is especially important for plants in the response to environmental stresses, including drought, soil salinity, cold tolerance, freezing tolerance, heat stress and heavy metal ion tolerance.

  • SPT0418-47: The Baby Milky Way

    SPT0418-47, a golden halo glinting 12 billion light-years away is the farthest galaxy resembling our Milky Way was recently spotted by astronomers.

    Try this PYQ:

    Which of the statements about black holes in space is/are correct?  (CSP 2016)

    1. It is a region in space where the pulling force of gravity is so strong that light is not able to escape.
    2. It can result from the dying stars.

    Select the correct answer using the code given below:

    (a) 1 only

    (b) 2 only

    (c) Both 1 and 2

    (d) Neither 1 nor 2

    SPT0418-47

    • The galaxy, called SPT0418-47, is so far away that it took billions of years for its light to reach Earth and so our image of it is from deep in the past.
    • It was picked up by the powerful Alma radio telescope in Chile using a technique called gravitational lensing, where a nearby galaxy acts as a powerful magnifying glass.
    • This was when the Universe was 1.4 billion years old — just 10% of its current age — and galaxies were still forming.
    • It has features similar to our Milky Way — a rotating disc and a bulge, which is the high density of stars packed tightly around the galactic centre.

    What makes it special?

    • This is the first time a bulge has been seen this early in the history of the Universe, making SPT0418-47 the most distant Milky Way look-alike.
    • Thus the infant star system challenges our understanding of the early years of the Universe.
    • Researchers expect these young star systems to be chaotic and without the distinct structures typical of mature galaxies like our Galaxy.
    • This unexpected discovery suggests the early Universe may not be as chaotic as once believed and raises many questions on how a well-ordered galaxy could have formed so soon after the Big Bang.

    Back2Basics: Milky Way

    • The Milky Way is the galaxy that contains our Solar System, with the name describing the galaxy’s appearance from Earth.
    • It appears like a hazy band of light seen in the night sky formed from stars that cannot be individually distinguished by the naked eye.
    • From Earth, the Milky Way appears as a band because its disk-shaped structure is viewed from within.
    • Galileo Galilei first resolved the band of light into individual stars with his telescope in 1610.
    • Until the early 1920s, most astronomers thought that the Milky Way contained all the stars in the Universe.
    • Following the 1920 Great Debate between the astronomers Harlow Shapley and Heber Curtis, observations by Edwin Hubble showed that the Milky Way is just one of many galaxies.

  • Species in news: Great Indian Hornbill

    A study based on satellite data has flagged a high rate of deforestation in a major hornbill habitat in Arunachal Pradesh.

    Try this PYQ:

    Q. In which of the following regions of India are you most likely to come across the ‘Great Indian Hornbill’ in its natural habitat? (CSP 2016)

    (a) Sand deserts of northwest India

    (b) Higher Himalayas of Jammu and Kashmir

    (c) Salt marshes of western Gujarat

    (d) Western Ghats

    About Great Indian Hornbill

    IUCN status: Vulnerable (uplisted from Near Threatened in 2018), CITES: Appendix I

    • The great hornbill (Buceros bicornis) also known as the great Indian hornbill or great pied hornbill, is one of the larger members of the hornbill family.
    • The great hornbill is long-lived, living for nearly 50 years in captivity.
    • It is predominantly fruit-eating, but is an opportunist and preys on small mammals, reptiles and birds.
    • Its impressive size and colour have made it important in many tribal cultures and rituals.
    • A large majority of their population is found in India with a significant proportion in the Western Ghats and the Nilgiris.
    • The nesting grounds of the birds in the Nilgiris North Eastern Range are also believed to support some of their highest densities.

    Their ecological significance

    • Referred to as ‘forest engineers’ or ‘farmers of the forest’ for playing a key role in dispersing seeds of tropical trees, hornbills indicate the prosperity and balance of the forest they build nests in.

    Threats

    • Hornbills used to be hunted for their casques — upper beak — and feathers for adorning headgear despite being cultural symbols of some ethnic communities in the northeast, specifically the Nyishi of Arunachal Pradesh.
    • Illegal logging has led to fewer tall trees where the bird’s nest.

    Back2Basics: Hornbill Festival

    • The Hornbill Festival is a celebration held every year from 1 – 10 December, in Kohima, Nagaland.
    • The festival was first held in the year 2000.
    • It is named after the Indian hornbill, the large and colourful forest bird which is displayed in the folklore of most of the state’s tribes.
    • Festival highlights include the traditional Naga Morungs exhibition and the sale of arts and crafts, food stalls, herbal medicine stalls, flower shows and sales, cultural medley – songs and dances, fashion shows etc.