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  • Electoral Reforms In India

    Bureaucrats cannot be State Election Commissioners: SC

    SC Judgements | Polity | Mains Paper 2: Representation Of People’s Act

    The Supreme Court gas held that independent persons and not bureaucrats should be appointed State Election Commissioners.

    No bureaucrats in SEC

    • The judgment came on an appeal against an order of the Bombay High Court which had set aside the election notification issued by the Goa State Election Commission in some municipalities.
    • Justice F. Nariman, in a judgment, said giving government employees the additional charge of State Election Commissioners is a “mockery of the Constitution”.
    • It said government employees holding the post of State Election Commissioners as additional charge should give up the post.
    • The Supreme Court said its direction should be followed strictly.

    Why such a move?

    • Under the constitutional mandate, it is the duty of the State to not interfere with the functioning of the State Election Commission.
    • The independence of Election Commissions cannot be compromised at any cost, the Bench said.

    State Election Commission

    • Under the 73rd and 74th constitutional amendment acts, State Election Commissions were created for every state to conduct elections to panchayats and municipalities.
    • The SECs came into as envisaged in Articles 243K and 243ZA of the Constitution of India.
    • The above Articles provide that the superintendence, direction and control of the preparation of electoral rolls for, and the Conduct of all elections to the Panchayats and Municipalities shall vest in the SEC.
    • The Constitution itself has facilitated provision for smooth, free and fair, regular elections to the Local bodies and has, therefore, entrusted the SEC with the responsibility for holding such elections.
    • In the domain of the elections to the local bodies, the SEC functions independently and has the same powers and duties as that of the Election Commission of India.

    Try this PYQ:

    Q.The Constitution (Seventy-Third Amendment) Act, 1992, which aims at promoting the Panchayati Raj Institutions in the country, provides for which of the following?

    1. Constitution of District Planning Committees.
    2. State Election Commissions to conduct all panchayat elections.
    3. Establishment of State Finance Commissions.

    Select the correct answer using the codes given below:

    (a) Only 1

    (b) 1 and 2 only

    (c) 2 and 3 only

    (d) 1, 2 and 3

    The Election Commissioner

    • The State Election Commissioner is appointed by the Governor.
    • It has the status, salary and allowance of a Judge of a High Court and cannot be removed from office except in the like manner and on the like grounds as a Judge of a High Court.
    • The Election Commissioner is also the Chairman of the Delimitation Commission.

    Its duties

    • The first and foremost duty of the SEC is to prepare the elector rolls of Panchayats, Municipalities and Municipal Corporation and conduct their elections.

    In addition to the above functions, the State Election Commission has also the following functions:

    1. Conduct of elections to the offices of the Mayor/Chairman/President/Deputy Mayor/Vice Chairman/Vice President and the no-confidence motion against them.
    2. Conduct of the Elections to various Standing Committees and their Chairpersons
    3. Determination of disqualification of elected members/Councilors.
    4. Determination of disqualification of elected members on the ground of defection.

    Back2Basics: Election Commission of India (ECI)

    • ECI is an autonomous and permanent constitutional authority responsible for administering election processes in India at the national and state level.
    • The body administers elections to the Lok Sabha, Rajya Sabha, State Legislative Assemblies, State Legislative Councils and the offices of the President and Vice President of the country.
    • The EC operates under the authority of the Constitution per Article 324 and subsequently enacted the Representation of the People Act.
    • The commission has the powers under the Constitution, to act in an appropriate manner when the enacted laws make insufficient provisions to deal with a given situation in the conduct of an election.
    • Being a constitutional authority, EC is amongst the few institutions which function with both autonomy and freedom, along with the country’s higher judiciary, the UPSC and the CAG.

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  • Minority Issues – SC, ST, Dalits, OBC, Reservations, etc.

    Places of Worship Act, 1991

    | Indian Society | Mains Paper 1: Communalism, Secularism, Regionalism

    The Supreme Court has asked the Centre to respond to a plea challenging the Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act, 1991. The court has opened the doors for litigation in various places of worship across the country including Mathura and Varanasi.

    Take this ‘wonderful’ question from CS Mains 2019:

    Q.What are the challenges to our cultural practices in the name of secularism?

    Places of Worship Act, 1991

    • It was passed in 1991 by the P V Narasimha Rao-led government.
    • The law seeks to maintain the “religious character” of places of worship as it was in 1947 — except in the case of the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid dispute, which was already in court.
    • The law was brought in at the peak of the Ram Mandir movement, exactly a year before the demolition of the Babri Masjid.
    • Introducing the law, then Home Minister S B Chavan said in Parliament that it was adopted to curb communal tension.

    What are its provisions?

    The objective of the law describes it as an Act to prohibit conversion of any place of worship.

    • It aims to provide for the maintenance of the religious character of any place of worship as it existed on the 15th day of August 1947, and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto”.
    • Sections 3 and 4 of the Act declared that the religious character of a place of worship shall continue to be the same as it was on August 15, 1947.
    • No person shall convert any place of worship of any religious denomination into one of a different denomination or section.
    • Section 4(2) says that all suits, appeals or others regarding converting the character of a place of worship, that was pending on August 15, 1947, will stand abated when the Act commences and no fresh proceedings can be filed.
    • However, legal proceedings can be initiated after the commencement of the Act if the change of status took place after the cut-off date of August 15, 1947.

    What does it say about Ayodhya, and what else is exempted?

    • Act does not to apply to Ram Janma Bhumi Babri Masjid.

    Besides the Ayodhya dispute, the Act also exempted:

    • any place of worship that is an ancient and historical monument or an archaeological site, or is covered by the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains Act, 1958;
    • a suit that has been finally settled or disposed of;
    • any dispute that has been settled by the parties or conversion of any place that took place by acquiescence before the Act commenced.

    What has the Supreme Court said about the Act?

    • In the 2019 Ayodhya verdict, the Constitution Bench led by former CJI Ranjan Gogoi referred to the law and said it manifests the secular values of the Constitution and strictly prohibits retrogression.
    • In providing a guarantee for the preservation of the religious character of places, Parliament determined that independence from colonial rule furnishes a constitutional basis for healing the injustices of the past.
    • The law addresses itself to the State as much as to every citizen of the nation. Its norms bind those who govern the affairs of the nation at every level.
    • Those norms implement the Fundamental Duties under Article 51A and are hence positive mandates to every citizen as well.

    Why is the law under challenge?

    • A politician has challenged the law on the ground that violates secularism.
    • He has also argued that the cut-off date of August 15, 1947, is “arbitrary, irrational and retrospective” and prohibits Hindus, Jains, Buddhists, and Sikhs from approaching courts to “reclaim” their places of worship.
    • Such places, he argued, were “invaded” and “encroached” upon by “fundamentalist barbaric invaders”.
    • The right-wing politicians have opposed the law even when it was introduced, arguing that the Centre has no power to legislate on “pilgrimages” or “burial grounds” which is under the state list.
    • Another criticism against the law is that the cut-off is the date of Independence, which means that the status quo determined by a colonial power is considered final.

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  • Air Pollution

    Curbing Benzene Emission

    Prelims Only | Enviro & Biodiversity | Mains Paper 3: Conservation, Environmental Pollution & Degradation, Eia

    A joint committee appointed by the National Green Tribunal (NGT) to study air pollution in Kerala has pointed out that petrol refuelling stations were a major source of benzene emissions and volatile organic compounds (VOCs).

    Why such a move?

    • Benzene is a major constituent of evaporative emission due to its high volatility.

    Try this PYQ:

    Q.Consider the following:

    1. Carbon monoxide
    2. Methane
    3. Ozone
    4. Sulphur dioxide

    Which of the above are released into atmosphere due to the burning of crop/biomass residue?

    (a) 1 and 2 only

    (b) 2, 3 and 4 only

    (c) 1 and 4 only

    (d) 1, 2, 3 and 4

    What is Benzene?

    • Benzene is a chemical that is a colourless or light yellow liquid at room temperature. It has a sweet odour and is highly flammable.
    • It evaporates into the air very quickly. Its vapour is heavier than air and may sink into low-lying areas.
    • It dissolves only slightly in water and will float on top of the water.

    Its formation and uses

    Benzene is formed from both natural processes and human activities.

    • Natural sources of benzene include volcanoes and forest fires. Benzene is also a natural part of crude oil, gasoline, and cigarette smoke.
    • Some industries use benzene to make other chemicals that are used to make plastics, resins, and nylon and synthetic fibres.
    • It is also used to make some types of lubricants, rubbers, dyes, detergents, drugs, and pesticides.

    Benzene emission

    • The major sources of benzene exposure are tobacco smoke, automobile service stations, exhaust from motor vehicles, and industrial emissions.
    • Benzene is present in both exhaust and evaporative emissions. Motor vehicles account for approximately 85% of the total benzene emissions.
    • However, ingestion and dermal absorption of benzene can also occur through contact with contaminated water.

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  • Global Geological And Climatic Events

    2001 FO32: the largest asteroid passing by Earth

    Prelims Only | Science Tech | Mains Paper 3: Awareness in various sc and tech fields

    On March 21, the largest asteroid predicted to pass by Earth in 2021 will be at its closest. It is called 2001 FO32.

    Try this PYQ:

    Q.Which of the following is/are cited by the scientists as evidence/evidence for the continued expansion of the universe?

    1. Detection of microwaves in space
    2. Observation of redshirt phenomenon in space
    3. Movement of asteroids in space
    4. Occurrence of supernova explosions in space

    Codes:

    (a) 1 and 2 only

    (b) 2 only

    (c) 1, 3 and 4

    (d) None of the above can be cited as evidence.

    2001 FO32

    • There is no threat of a collision with our planet now or for centuries to come.
    • Scientists know its orbital path around the Sun very accurately since it was discovered 20 years ago and has been tracked ever since.
    • It won’t come closer than 2 million km to Earth, but it will present a valuable scientific opportunity for astronomers who can get a good look at a rocky relic that formed at the dawn of our Solar System.

    Proximity to Earth

    • For comparison, when it is at its closest, the distance of 2 million km is equal to 5¼ times the distance from Earth to the Moon.
    • Still, that distance is close in astronomical terms, which is why 2001 FO32 has been designated a “potentially hazardous asteroid”.
    • The reason for the asteroid’s unusually speedy close approach is its highly eccentric orbit around the Sun, an orbit that is tilted 39° to Earth’s orbital plane.
    • This orbit takes the asteroid closer to the Sun than Mercury, and twice as far from the Sun as Mars.
    • Later, the asteroid slows after being flung back out into deep space and swinging back toward the Sun. It completes one orbit every 810 days (about 2¼ years).

    Studying the visitor

    • This asteroid will provide an opportunity for astronomers to get a more precise understanding of the asteroid’s size and albedo (i.e. how bright, or reflective, its surface is), and a rough idea of its composition.
    • When sunlight hits an asteroid’s surface, minerals in the rock absorb some wavelengths while reflecting others.
    • By studying the spectrum of light reflecting off the surface, astronomers can measure the chemical “fingerprints” of the minerals on the surface of the asteroid.

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  • Plantation Agriculture – RISPC, Tea Act, etc.

    Seabuckthorn plantations in Himachal Pradesh

    Prelims Only | Enviro & Biodiversity | Mains Paper 3: Major Crops & Cropping Patterns

    The Himachal Pradesh government has decided to start planting Seabuckthorn in the cold desert areas.

    What is Seabuckthorn?

    • It’s a shrub that produces an orange-yellow coloured edible berry.
    • In India, it is found above the tree line in the Himalayan region, generally in dry areas such as the cold deserts of Ladakh and Spiti.
    • In Himachal Pradesh, it is locally called Himalayan chharma and grows in the wild in Lahaul and Spiti and parts of Kinnaur.
    • According to the Seabuckthorn Association of India, around 15,000 hectares in Himachal, Ladakh, Uttarakhand, Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh are covered by this plant.

    Try this PYQ from CSP 2019:

    Q.Recently, there was a growing awareness in our country about the importance of Himalayan nettle (Girardinia diversifolia) because it is found to be a sustainable source of

    (a) anti-malarial drug

    (b) biodiesel

    (c) pulp for paper industry

    (d) textile fibre

    Benefits of the Seabuckthorn plant

    (1) Medicinal benefits

    • As a folk medicine, Seabuckthorn has been widely used for treating stomach, heart and skin problems.
    • In the last few decades, scientific research worldwide has backed many of its traditional uses.
    • Its fruit and leaves are rich in vitamins, carotenoids and omega fatty acids, among other substances, and it can help troops in acclimatizing to high-altitude.

    (2) Ecological benefits

    • Besides being an important source of fuelwood and fodder, Seabuckthorn is a soil-binding plant that prevents soil-erosion, checks siltation in rivers and helps preserve floral biodiversity.
    • In the Lahaul valley, where willow trees are dying in large numbers due to pest attack, this hardy shrub is a good alternative for protecting the local ecology.

    (3) Commercial benefits

    • Seabuckthorn also has commercial value, as it is used in making juices, jams, nutritional capsules etc.
    • But wild Seabuckthorn cannot sustainably supply raw material to the industry, and the plant needs to be cultivated on a large scale as is being done in China.

    What is the latest project?

    • The Seabuckthorn association wants the forest departments of various Himalayan states/UTs to plant Seabuckthorn on arid and marginal lands using compensatory afforestation or CAMPA funds.
    • Recently, the union ministry of environment, forest and climate change asked these states to submit proposals for taking up such plantations.
    • This is in the light of reduced water flow from Himalayan glaciers and their impact on ecology.

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  • Climate Change Negotiations – UNFCCC, COP, Other Conventions and Protocols

    Working towards climate justice in a non-ideal world

    | Enviro & Biodiversity | Mains Paper 3: Conservation, Environmental Pollution & Degradation, Eia

    The new U.S. administration has renewed its commitment to climate actions by reconvening the Major Economies Forum. This has several implications for India and the developing countries. The article deals with this issue.

    Reconvening MEF and its implications for developing countries

    • The election of Joe Biden as U.S. President has catapulted climate change to the top of the global agenda.
    • Interestingly, the U.S. is not just striding back to the Obama signature achievement of the Paris Accord with its voluntary commitments but also to the Bush days [which was not necessarily voluntary].
    • This change is best evidenced by the presidential call to reconvene the Major Economies Forum (MEF).
    • The MEF, which was first convened in March 2009, originated in the Bush-era U.S. efforts to rope in major emitters.
    • It was also to push a way forward on climate change without heed to the principle of differentiated responsibilities and recognition of historical responsibilities.
    • These two are hallowed principles of the climate discourse given the decades of staying power of greenhouse gases (GHGs) in the atmosphere.

    Changing approach implications for India

    • All countries have been told to commit to net zero (GHG emissions) by 2050 with credible plans to ensure meeting this domestic target.
    • Taking a cue from the new U.S. Administration, the UN Secretary-General has even called on countries to declare national climate emergencies apart from building a coalition for a carbon-neutral world by 2050.
    • As of today, countries representing around 65% of global CO2 emissions have already agreed to this.
    • These plans and their implementation will, undoubtedly, be subject to international reviews and verification.
    • Historical responsibilities and differentiation have no place in this discourse; but neither does the level of development.
    • India can easily be in the crosshairs of such a discourse no matter its extraordinarily small carbon footprint in per-capita terms and huge development imperatives.

    Possibility of carbon border levies

    • Adding to the challenges is the distinct possibility of the EU imposing carbon border levies on those who do not take on high carbon cut-down targets and do so unilaterally if there is no global agreement.
    • While as of now the U.S. Administration appears ambivalent on these border levies, the possibility of their coming around cannot be ruled out.
    • In such a scenario, World Trade Organization rules that presently exclude the use of tariffs on environmental grounds will certainly get modified.

    A fund pay-in idea

    • To deal with the issue of climate finance, Raghuram Rajan has recently put forward a proposal for India to consider.
    • The proposal calls on countries to pay into a global fund amounts based on their carbon emissions over and above the global per-capita average of five tons.
    • This obviously disincentives coal in a big way while incentivising renewables.
    • Those above the global average would pay, while those below would receive the monies.
    • While this would suggest a certain equity, it may be unacceptable to the developed countries even though Mr. Rajan has gone along with the drumbeat to forget historical responsibility.
    • For India, such a proposal may appear attractive as India today has per capita CO2 emission of only 2 tons and is a global record setter in pushing renewables.
    • The long-term implications of such a proposal require examination in detail, quite apart from factoring in the twists and turns that negotiations could give to such an idea.
    • And then, of course, there are alternatives such as emission trading. 

    Implications for developing countries

    • The proposal of fund pay-in allows practical considerations to trump fairness by not only giving a short shrift to historical responsibility but also denying priority access to the remaining carbon space for developing countries.
    • In that sense, it double penalises them while giving developed countries a certain free pass.
    • Here it bears noting that more than 75% of the carbon space available to humankind to keep global temperature rises to 1.5° C has already been taken up by the developed world and China.

    Consider the question “As the world seeks to tackle the climate change through climate action, delivering climate justice should also be the priority. In light of this, discuss the challenges faced by the developing countries in this regard.”

    Conclusion

    Climate justice is an imperative for India, which needs to leverage its green and pro-nature commitment to ensure carbon and policy space for its developmental and global aspirations. India’s diplomatic and negotiating efforts must be quickly geared to that end.

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  • Industrial Sector Updates – Industrial Policy, Ease of Doing Business, etc.

    India as a factory for the Quad

    op-ed snap | Economics | Mains Paper 3: Indian Economy

    The article highlights how India could offer the solution to the tactical issue faced by the Quad: matching China’s manufacturing capacity.

    Strategic case for the Quad

    • The strategic case for the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, better known as the Quad, has always been sound.
    • A rising China, with its authoritarian one-party system, is a challenge to the democratic order.
    • The strategic case for the Quad has, however, always faced a tactical hurdle.
    • China was the factory of the world.
    • It had become an almost indispensable cog in the global supply chain owing to its low-cost manufacturing prowess at a mass scale.
    • How could any grouping hope to challenge China’s power-play dynamics while at the same time being dependent on its factories to sustain its economies?

    Two recent development that changed the dynamic

    • Two recent developments have completely changed the dynamic.
    • First, Australia returned to the Malabar Naval exercises in 2020, after 13 years.
    • Second, on March 12, the first summit-level meet of the Quad — comprising the US, India, Japan and Australia — is scheduled to take place.

    Rise in India’s manufacturing ability

    • What has changed between 2007 and 2020 that Quad 2.0 has become viable is the globally visible rise in India’s manufacturing ability.
    • Consider the following examples.

    1) PPE Kit manufacturing

    • First, the success in PPE kits.
    • At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, India was manufacturing zero PPE kits.
    • India not just created an overnight world-class manufacturing capacity to meet its own needs but also started exporting PPE kits.

    2) Vaccine Maitri

    • Second, the soft power of Vaccine Maitri.
    • The developed countries are scrambling to secure vaccines for their domestic population.
    • India is not only vaccinating its own people faster than any other country but is also exporting millions of vaccines to countries in need.
    • From Canada to Pakistan and from the Caribbean Islands to Brazil — Made in India vaccines have been a life vest across the globe.

    3) India’s private industry

    • Third, the enterprise of India’s private industry — a hallmark of the deepening manufacturing base.
    • As a recent New York Times report noted, when it came to syringes — without which the vaccines were useless — the global scramble again led to Indian manufactures.
    • Hindustan Syringes alone has ramped up its manufacturing capacity to almost 6,000 syringes a minute.

    4) Precision high-end manufacturing

    • The PLI scheme launched for electronics’ manufacturing evinced unprecedented global interest with 22 top companies, including the top manufactures for Apple and Samsung mobile phones.
    • Over the next five years, a manufacturing capacity of over $150 billion and exports of $100 billion have been tied up through this scheme.

    5) Figher plane manufacturing

    • Fifth, the success of India’s fourth-generation fighter jet programme and the orders placed by the Indian Air Force for 83 Tejas jets.
    • India’s success is one more milestone in its journey towards emerging as a global manufacturing destination.

    Policy changes to make India manufacturing destination

    • Concurrently, India has been reforming its economic policies to make it even more attractive as a manufacturing destination.
    • India has the lowest tax rate anywhere in the world — 15 per cent for new manufacturing units.
    • FDI norms have been relaxed across the board and automatic approval processes instituted for FDI even up to 100 per cent.
    • Privatisation of PSUs is now an established process.
    • Labour laws have been finally reformed and compliance burdens significantly eased.
    • Taxation is now faceless, thus ending the spectre of rent-seeking.
    • A well-functioning, world-class bankruptcy law is in place. Interest rates are low.
    • And India’s digital infrastructure rivals the best in the world and in many cases beats it.

    Consider the question “India’s growing prowess as the manufacturing hub could provide the Quad tactical basis by replacing China. Comment.“

    Conclusion

    The only arrow that was missing in the quiver of the Quad has now been attained. The strategic case for the Quad was never in doubt. The dependence on China’s factories is what kept the grouping of democracies from emerging. India has raised its hand to solve that problem.

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  • Higher Education – RUSA, NIRF, HEFA, etc.

    How to grow better colleges

    op-ed snap | Governance | Mains Paper 2: Health & Education

    The article highlights the important role students can play in improving the quality of colleges and institution in India.

    Improving the colleges

    • The global QS ranking is out and India has 12 universities and institutions in the top-100 in particular subjects.
    • We have many colleges offering higher education but typically they are not very good.
    • Today, with a huge number of students going to college, education is tied strongly to career prospects.
    • If studying and thinking harder do not lead to even a decent chance of career improvement, it is natural for most students to lose academic ambition.

    Career prospects in various colleges

    • For admission in IIT, many work extremely hard to secure admission, but then lose motivation and drift towards near-certain graduation.
    • IIT admission is a value signal to future employers who do not see much relevance in the actual syllabus.
    • The entry wall is high, the exit wall is low, and the four-year syllabus is an obstacle course between the student and an employer with whom eye contact was made from atop the entry wall itself.
    • Students of varied subjects thus remain uninterested in their core syllabi.
    • Lower-ranked colleges may attract a slightly different mix of employment prospects, some in core areas.
    • In many colleges, both good and bad ones, high grades correlate only loosely with career outcomes. 

    Improving the college

    • Very few jobs actually require the highest quality education — the best academic and research jobs.
    • In such a system, it may not be worthwhile or even practical for a mediocre college to unilaterally improve itself.
    • Having improved, it remains to convince society that it deserves to displace the pre-eminent colleges at the top.
    • For lower-ranking colleges to improve itself, its students must first see useful value in a better education.
    • That requires system-wide growth in opportunity.

    How to achieve system-wide growth in opportunity

    • Such growth cannot be legislated from above. It must occur organically, from below.
    • There are several stakeholders involved in such transition.
    • 1) At the top are policymakers.
    • Policymakers are trying and have achieved many things.
    • In recent years, however, our demographics have caught up with us.
    • We have more than 650 million people under age 25.
    • No other country is close. We need more than policies.
    • 2) Next is industry. It faces a learning curve for technology.
    • Countries that wish to lead must develop their own technology, even at high cost.
    • Indian industry can often choose between importing slightly older technology from outside or developing things in-house.
    • A slow growth in the latter has begun and may pull our college system upward over time.
    • 3) Our next stakeholders are college teachers.
    • For a college to flourish, it needs many students who compete to enroll.
    • Our entrance exams for good engineering colleges are hard.
    • Our nationally renowned degree colleges which admit based on board marks are frequently forced to set very high cutoffs.
    • The need for more engineering colleges, for many students who are clearly good enough, has led to the creation of several private colleges that teach well in large volumes.
    • Quality of teachers’ is improving.
    • College teachers improve as their employers aim higher, and as their students bring more into the classroom.
    • 4) Finally, we have students. If students demand better instruction, colleges will sooner or later supply it.

    Way forward for students

    • Students must aim to relate their learning to society.
    • They must see their learning not as an obstacle course but as an initiation into a process that yields tangible long-term value.
    • Indian society does not merely have people looking for work.
    • It also has work looking for people: Work in food, health, design, manufacturing, transport, safety, garbage, water, energy, farming, and a hundred other things that we can do better.
    • Room for improvement is plentiful, though the market models may not be efficient or mature yet.
    • The walls between our classrooms and our lives must be broken, if our colleges are to flourish.
    • In recent decades, India has also attracted much work from overseas. Growth in that direction may well be sustained.

    Consider the question “India has many colleges and institutions offering higher education but few could get the spot in the list of top global institutes. Examine the factors responsible for this. Suggest the measures to deal with this issue.”

    Conclusion

    Such change, driven by student aspirations, will be organic, bottom-up, and unstoppable.

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  • Modern Indian History-Events and Personalities

    The legacy and return of the Bamiyan Buddhas

    | History | Mains Paper 1: Arts & Culture

    Two decades later after its destruction, the Bamiyan Buddhas have been brought back to life in the form of 3D projections in an event called “A Night with Buddha”.

    Bamiyan Buddhas

    • In their Roman draperies and with two different mudras, the Bamiyan Buddhas were great examples of a confluence of Gupta, Sassanian and Hellenistic artistic styles.
    • They are said to date back to the 5th century AD and were once the tallest standing Buddhas in the world.
    • Salsal and Shamama, as they were called by the locals, rose to heights of 55 and 38 metres respectively, and were said to be male and female.
    • Salsal means “the light shines through the universe”; Shamama is “Queen Mother”.
    • The statues were set in niches on either end of a cliffside and hewn directly from the sandstone cliffs.

    Try this PYQ from CSP 2014:

    Q.Lord Buddha’s image is sometimes shown with a hand gesture called ‘Bhumisparsha Mudra’. It symbolizes-

    a) Buddha’s calling of the Earth to watch over Mara and to prevent Mara from disturbing his meditation

    b) Buddha’s calling of the Earth to witness his purity and chastity despite the temptations of Mara

    c) Buddha’s reminder to his followers that they all arise from the Earth and finally dissolve into the Earth and thus this life is transitory

    d) Both the statements ‘a’ and ‘b’ are correct in this context

    The significance of Bamiyan

    • Bamiyan is situated in the high mountains of the Hindu Kush in the central highlands of Afghanistan.
    • The valley, which is set along the line of the Bamiyan River, was once integral to the early days of the Silk Roads, providing passage for not just merchants, but also culture, religion and language.
    • When the Buddhist Kushan Empire spread, acting as a crucible of sorts, Bamiyan became a major trade, cultural and religious centre.
    • As China, India and Rome sought passage through Bamiyan, the Kushans were able to develop a syncretic (mix) culture.
    • In the rapid spread of Buddhism between the 1st to 5th centuries AD, Bamiyan’s landscape reflected the faith, especially its monastic qualities.

    Taliban’s destruction of the Buddhas

    • The hardline Taliban movement, which emerged in the early 1990s, was in control of almost 90 per cent of Afghanistan by the end of the decade.
    • The destruction of the Bamiyan Buddhas was part of this extremist culture.
    • In February 2001, the Taliban declared its intention to destroy the statues, despite condemnation and protest from governments and cultural ambassadors’ world over.

    The aftermath of the destruction

    • The Taliban’s destruction of the Bamiyan Buddhas met with global criticism, many of whom saw it as a cultural crime not just against Afghanistan but also against the idea of global syncretism.
    • Following the fall, UNESCO included the remains in its list of world heritage sites in 2003, with subsequent efforts made to restore and reconstruct.

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  • Promoting Science and Technology – Missions,Policies & Schemes

    Genome Mapping of the Indian Ocean

    | Science Tech | Mains Paper 3: Awareness in various sc and tech fields

    A team of scientists and researchers from the National Institute of Oceanography (NIO) onboard its research vessel Sindhu Sadhana will work on a research project to reveal the internal working of the body of the ocean at a cellular level.

    Genome Mapping of the Indian Ocean

    • The first-of-its-kind research project in the country is aimed at understanding the biochemistry and the response of the ocean to climate change, nutrient stress and increasing pollution.
    • The researchers will collect samples from various stretches of the ocean at an average depth of about 5 km.
    • Just like gene mapping is carried out on blood samples collected from humans, the scientists will map these in the bacteria, microbes found in the ocean.
    • The mapping of the Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) and Ribonucleic acid (RNA) will show the nutrients present in them, and also those lacking in different parts of the ocean.

    Objectives of the mission

    • This project will help scientists understand the internal working of the ecosystem of the Indian Ocean.
    • The research will enable scientists to identify the factors controlling the changes in RNA, DNA in the oceans, and various stressors impacting them.
    • The ocean has several micronutrients like nitrates, sulphates and silicates, minerals like iron ore and zinc, and trace metals like cadmium or copper.
    • The genome mapping will show the presence of which these microbes have adapted to, in addition to their reaction to atmospheric carbon dioxide.
    • This will help in identifying which part of the ocean has a greater concentration of which mineral or element.
    • Scientists will then use these as tracers to tackle the causative factors for excess or lack of a certain mineral or element and suggest possible solutions for their mitigation.
    • In addition, the large pool of RNA, DNA library of the oceans will be utilized for using the Indian Ocean for human benefit in the future.

    Studying the interactions of trace metals

    • Trace metals are the metals subset of trace elements; that is, metals normally present in small but measurable amounts in animal and plant cells.
    • Trace metals like cadmium or copper are supplied to oceans via continental run-offs, atmospheric deposition, hydrothermal activities and continental shelf interaction.
    • They are essential for ocean productivity for having a holistic understanding of nutrient cycling and productivity of the oceans.
    • Isotopic forms of trace metals can be utilized to track the movement of water masses responsible for ocean circulation and as tools to study the biological, geochemical and ecosystem processes and food web analyses.

    Also read

    https://www.civilsdaily.com/news/explained-indias-deep-ocean-mission/

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