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

    Nature Index, 2020

    IOCR | Science Tech | Mains Paper 3: Achievements Of Indians In S&T

    India has ranked twelfth, globally in science research output as per the recently-released Nature Index table 2020. The top five positions have gone to the United States of America, China, Germany, United Kingdom and Japan.

    Note: This nature index has nothing to do with nature conservation. It has only mentioned the rankings of research institutes in natural and physical sciences.

    What is the Nature Index?

    • The Nature Index is a database of author affiliation information collated from research articles published in an independently selected group of 82 high-quality science journals.
    • It serves as an indicator of high-quality research in the Natural and Physical Sciences.
    • The database is compiled by Nature Research, a division of the international scientific publishing company Springer Nature that publishes academic journals.
    • The index provides a close to the real-time proxy of high-quality research output and collaboration at the institutional, national and regional level.

    India’s achievements

    • Globally the top-rated Indian institutions in this list are CSIR, a group of 39 institutions at the 160th position and IISc Bangalore at the 184th
    • Three of the autonomous institutions of the DST have found their place among the top 30 Indian Institutions.
    • Keeping out CSIR, which is a cluster of institutions, IACS Kolkata is among the top three institutions in quality Chemistry Research in India.
    • NCASR Banglore ranks 4th among academic institutions in life sciences, 10th in Chemistry and Physical Sciences, 10th among Indian academic institutions, and 469th in the global ranking.

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  • Wildlife Conservation Efforts

    Species in news: Indian Gaur

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

    The first population estimation exercise of the Indian gaur carried out in the Nilgiris Forest Division has revealed that more than an estimated 2,000 Indian gaurs inhabit the entire division.

    Try this question from CSP 2012:

    Q. Which one of the following groups of animals belongs to the category of endangered species?(2012)

    (a) Great Indian Bustard, Musk Deer, Red Panda and Asiatic Wild Ass

    (b) Kashmir Stag, Cheetal, Blue Bull and Great Indian Bustard

    (c) Snow Leopard, Swamp Deer, Rhesus Monkey and Saras (Crane)

    (d) Lion-tailed Macaque, Blue Bull, Hanuman Langur and Cheetal

    Indian Gaur

    • The Indian Gaur also called the Indian bison is one of the largest extant bovines found in India.
    • It is native to South and Southeast Asia and has been listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List since 1986.
    • The global population has been estimated at maximum 21,000 mature individuals by 2016.
    • It declined by more than 70% during the last three generations, and is extinct in Sri Lanka and probably also in Bangladesh.
    • In Malaysia, it is called Seladang and Pyaung in Myanmar. The domesticated form of the gaur is called Gayal (Bos frontalis) or Mithun.
    • They are highly threatened by poaching for trade to supply international markets, but also by opportunistic hunting, and specific hunting for home consumption.

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  • Global Geological And Climatic Events

    Lonar Lake colour changes to pink

    Prelims Only | Enviro & Biodiversity | Mains Paper 1: Geographical Features & Their Location

    The colour of water in Maharashtra’s Lonar Lake, formed after a meteorite hit the Earth some 50,000 years ago, has changed to glaring.

    Make a note of all saltwater lakes in India. Few of them are Pulicat, Pangong Tso, Chilika, and Sambhar Lakes etc.

    About Lonar Lake

    • Lonar Lake, also known as Lonar crater, is a notified National Geo-heritage Monument, saline (pH of 10.5), Soda Lake, located at Lonar in Buldhana district, Maharashtra.
    • It was created by an asteroid collision with earth impact during the Pleistocene Epoch.
    • It is one of the four known, hyper-velocity, impact craters in basaltic rock anywhere on Earth.
    • It sits inside the Deccan Plateau—a massive plain of volcanic basalt rock created by eruptions some 65 million years ago.
    • Its location in this basalt field suggested to some geologists that it was a volcanic crater.

    Why there’s a color change?

    • The salinity and algae can be responsible for this change.
    • There is no oxygen below one meter of the lake’s water surface.
    • There is an example of a lake in Iran, where water becomes reddish due to increase in salinity.
    • The level of water in the Lonar Lake is currently low as compared to the few past years and there is no rain to pour fresh water in it.
    • The low level of water may lead to increased salinity and change in the behaviour of algae because of atmospheric changes.

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  • Climate Change Impact on India and World – International Reports, Key Observations, etc.

    Crisis of today should not blind us to the crisis of tomorrow

    | | Mains Paper 1: Important Geophysical Phenomena

    Covid-19 pandemic has overwhelmed the governments across the world. And the destruction caused by it would impact not only our present but the future as well. So, what this means to our climate future? First and foremost, it will leave the governments with less fund to invest for the greener outcomes. What would be the other impacts? And how can we avoid turning blind eye to the crises waiting for us in the near future? Read the article to know…

    Cyclones amid pandemic-what do it signal?

    • The very language used to describe the effects of climate change is now being deployed, correctly, to shape our understanding of a covid-ravaged near future: poverty, the failure of markets, uncertainty, and an overwhelmed government.
    • In less than a month, we have been given a glimpse of how the climate crisis can yank at the seams of a state already undone.
    • We saw Cyclone Amphan transform from a tropical storm to one of the largest cyclones South Asia has ever seen in a matter of hours, aided by warmer than usual waters in the Bay of Bengal.
    • We also saw Cyclone Nisarga barrel down on Maharashtra, the second pre-monsoon cyclone to hit the west coast in 127 years.
    • Governments would have been hard-pressed to deal with such extremes even in the best of times.

    So, how COVID-19 would impact response to climate change?

    •  There are two strands of opinion.
    • The optimistic one sees this as a moment to remake our states and societies in a measured response.
    • This includes directing economic packages to areas that increase our resilience to natural disasters and technologies that reduce our emissions.
    • This could be an opportunity to reinforce sustainable behaviour — fewer morning commutes and less air travel, for example.
    • The other strand is more dire, arguing that this will amount to a lost decade or two as our attention is focused on keeping the teetering ship of economy afloat.
    • In this reading, present concerns will trump preparations for an uncertain future.
    • Between these two strands there is consensus that we are at a critical juncture.
    • What we do now will determine the flow of events decades into the future.

    What our climate future holds?

    We will have to face the following 3 problems in the future owing to the Covid-19 pandemic today.

    1. Scarcity of funds

    • It has been two months since India’s lockdown, and we know enough to have a rational conversation about our climate future.
    • Perhaps the most important news relates to public and private debt.
    • The government has raised its borrowing limit, states will need to borrow more to tide over shortfalls and the private sector has seen returns from investments dry out.
    • All three are already heavily indebted, meaning the cost of capital for future borrowing will only grow.
    • That leaves limited fiscal room to finance the building blocks of resilience: everything from grain to health, employment schemes, irrigation, efficient water systems and river management infrastructure.
    • It could mean that efforts to reduce our energy emissions are left without patient pools of long-term capital.

    2. Underdeveloped knowledge infrastructure

    • The knowledge infrastructure needed to react to climate change might be left similarly underdeveloped.
    • Climate change distinguishes itself from other policy fields in the wide range of analytical tasks it demands, from predicting weather trends to understanding how specific seed varieties react to droughts.
    • Thinking about climate change requires a lot of people exploring varied questions simultaneously.
    • That involves funding an ecosystem of thinkers from diverse disciplines.
    • Only the state can provide for multi-year studies, institutional support and the like.
    • These are inherently long-term investments and only really start paying off over decades.
    • It means that hamstrung investment in coming years will leave a knowledge vacuum in the future.

    3. Impact on the psychology of the government

    • The Indian government, reacting to a million crises erupting across the economy, will be hard-pressed to plan for a hazy but sinister future.
    • Promises of a greener, less turbulent future will falter against the turbulence of today.
    • This instinct will be shared by governments across the world.
    • This might well numb the effects of the global climate negotiation architecture.

    Way forward

    • Crafting a response that carefully balances present and future will take a great deal of collective effort.
    • Foremost, it will require policy ideas that deliberately marry employment and industrial priorities with green outcomes.
    • Ideas such as pushing to manufacture solar equipment or electric vehicles in India should, at some point, coalesce into something that looks like a climate plan for the country.
    • This task will fall to universities, NGOs, think tanks and individuals working together in disciplined debate.

    Consider the question “Do you agree with the view that the corona crisis would adversely impact our efforts towards mitigating the impact of climate change? Giver reasons in support of your argument.”

    Conclusion

    We should be careful not to drag ourselves through one crisis only to emerge into another longer, less predictable, and unstoppable one. So, balancing the present problems and their solutions with an eye on a certain and stable future is the need of the hour.

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  • Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code

    Faults in section inserted for the suspension of IBC amid pandemic

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

    Following the lockdown, the government announced the suspension of some provision of IBC to soften the blow of economic crisis. Section 10A was inserted to suspend the provision. But it giver rise to other questions. What are these questions? Read the article to know…

    What changes were made?

    • In mid-May, the Finance Minister announced that the government was planning to bring in an ordinance to suspend provisions enabling filing of fresh insolvency cases for a period of one year..
    • Finally, on June 5, the government promulgated an ordinance which inserted Section 10A in the IBC.
    • The government said the ordinance was promulgated because the lockdown has caused business disruptions which may lead to default on debts pushing such companies into insolvency.
    • Therefore, it felt that suspending Sections 7, 9 and 10 of the IBC would be the right course of action.

    What are the issues with section 10A?

    • Section 10A provides that “no application for initiation of corporate insolvency resolution process of a corporate debtor shall be filed, for any default arising on or after 25th March, 2020 for a period of six months or such further period, not exceeding one year from this period, as may be notified in this behalf”.
    • This means that these provisions shall remain suspended from March 25 till September 25, unless extended for another six months, which would extend the suspension up till March 25, 2021.
    • However, the proviso to the section states that no application for insolvency resolution shall ever be filed against a corporate debtor for any default occurring during the suspension period.
    • While the main Section 10A suspends such applications for a limited period, the proviso enlarges the scope to provide complete amnesty under the IBC for any default occurring during such period.
    • The role of a proviso in a statute is to restrict the application of the main provision under exceptional circumstances.
    • However, the proviso here expands the substantive provision in the main section.
    • Further, if the main provision is unclear, a proviso may be given to explain its true meaning.
    • In this case the main provision appears clear, only to be obfuscated by the proviso.
    • The proviso therefore does not appear to be legally tenable.
    • As creditors can still approach courts, and as banks/FIs can still approach Debt Recovery Tribunals, the protection given by this proviso seems illusory.
    • But Section 10A also suspends provisions of Section 10 of the IBC which enables voluntary insolvency resolution.
    • This is difficult to understand as such voluntary insolvency resolution should have been made easier for companies facing distress.

    Painting all defaults with the same brush

    • The ordinance appears to consider every default occurring during the suspension period to be a consequence of the pandemic.
    • There could be cases where defaults were imminent due to other reasons, but which will now still enjoy this protection.
    • The ordinance should have protected only such defaults which may occur as a direct consequence of the pandemic or the lockdown and should have left this determination to the National Company Law Tribunal.
    • Also, a company defaulting on its payment obligations on March 24 (a day before the lockdown started) would not be provided any relief under the IBC as compared to a company defaulting on or immediately after March 25 due to similar reasons.
    • This makes the suspension, in the absence of definition of a COVID-19 default, prima facie arbitrary.

    Issue with increasing the default amount limit

    • Earlier, the government increased the minimum default amount to trigger corporate insolvency resolution from ₹1 lakh to ₹1 crore.
    • This was purportedly done to protect MSMEs from insolvency petitions.
    • However, this also operates against such MSMEs because they will now be forced to approach civil courts to recover undisputed debts below ₹1 crore.
    • The suspension of these provisions would now impact even claims above ₹1 crore for at least six months to a year.

    Conclusion

    The ordinance has opened itself up to a legal challenge on grounds of arbitrariness and untenability of the proviso due to the flaw in its drafting. It is unfathomable how these flaws arose despite the government having ample time to think this through.

    B2BASICS:

     Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2015

    The code contains a clear speedy mechanism for early identification of financial distress and initiates revival/re-organisation of the company if it is viable.

    Timeline

    • The bill proposes a timeline of 180 days to deal with the applications for insolvency resolution with an option of extending it by 90 days for exceptional cases.

    Insolvency Resolution Plan

    • The insolvency resolution plan has to be approved by 75% of the creditors. If the plan is approved, then the adjudicating authority will give its sanction. In case of rejection of insolvency resolution plan, the adjudicating authority will pass an order for liquidation.

    Insolvency Professionals (IPs) & Insolvency Professional Agencies (IPAs)

    • The resolution processes will be conducted by licensed insolvency professionals (IPs).  These IPs will be members of insolvency professional agencies (IPAs).  IPAs will also furnish performance bonds equal to the assets of a company under insolvency resolution.

    Information Utilities

    • Information utilities (IUs) will be established to collect, collate and disseminate financial information to facilitate insolvency resolution.

    Bankruptcy and Insolvency Adjudicator

    • The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) will adjudicate insolvency resolution for companies.  The Debt Recovery Tribunal (DRT) will adjudicate insolvency resolution for individuals.
    • The Debt Recovery Tribunal (DRT), which has jurisdiction over individuals and unlimited liability partnership firms. Appeals from the order of DRT shall lie to the Debt Recovery Appellate Tribunal (DRAT).

    Insolvency regulators

    • The Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India will be set up to regulate functioning of IPs, IPAs and IUs.

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  • G20 : Economic Cooperation ahead

    Expanding the G7

    op-ed snap | International Relations | Mains Paper 2: Bilateral, Regional and Global Groupings and agreements involving India

    There has been a call for expansion of G7 by the U.S. President. Against this backdrop, this article examines the historical background in which the group emerged. But a lot has changed since. So, it would be appropriate for G7 to adjust to the new reality. But what would be the focus of a new mechanism? What are the areas in which India would be interested? All such questions are answered in this article.

    Call for expansion of G7 and China’s objection

    • Recently, the U.S. President proposed the expansion of G7 to G10 or G11,  with the inclusion of India, South Korea, Australia and possibly Russia.
    • Elaborating this logic, the White House Director of Strategic Communications said the U.S. President wanted to include other countries, including the Five Eyes countries.
    • Five Eye is an intelligence alliance comprising Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States.
    • The U.S. also stressed said the expanded group should talk about the future of China.
    • A Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs official immediately reacted, labelling it as “seeking a clique targeting China”.

    Should India care about China’s objection if invited to join?

    • China’s objection to an expanded G7 is no reason for India to stay away from it, if invited to join.
    • India has attended several G7 summits earlier too, as a special invitee for its outreach sessions.
    • India’s Prime Minister was guest invited to Biarritz, France to the G7 summit last year, along with other heads of government.

    The historical background of G7

    • The G7 emerged as a restricted club of the rich democracies in the early 1970s.
    • The quadrupling of oil prices just after the 1973 Arab-Israeli War, when  OPEC imposed an embargo against Canada, Japan, the Netherlands, and the United States, shocked their economies.
    • Although the French were spared the embargo, the chill winds of the OPEC action reverberated around the world.
    • So, French President invited the Finance Ministers of five of the most developed members of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, the United States, Germany, Japan, Italy, and the United Kingdom, for an informal discussion on global issues.
    • This transformed into a G7 Summit of the heads of government from the following year with the inclusion of Canada in 1976.
    • And the European Commission/Community (later Union) joined as a non-enumerated member, a year later.
    • On the initiative of U.S. President Bill Clinton and British Prime Minister Tony Blair, the G7 became the G8, with the Russian Federation joining the club in 1998.
    • This ended with Russia’s expulsion following the annexation of Crimea in 2014.

    Declining share G7 and rising of E7 in world GDP

    • When constituted, the G7 countries accounted for close to two-thirds of global GDP.
    • According to the 2017 report of the accountancy firm, PwC, “The World in 2050”, they now account for less than a third of global GDP on a purchasing power parity (PPP) basis.
    • And less than half on market exchange rates (MER) basis.
    • The seven largest emerging economies (E7, or “Emerging 7”), comprising Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Russia and Turkey, account for over a third of global GDP on purchasing power parity (PPP) terms.
    • And over a quarter on MER basis.

    Predictions for India

    • India’s economy is already the third largest in the world in PPP terms, even if way behind that of the U.S. and China.
    • By 2050, the PwC Report predicts, six of the seven of the world’s best performing economies will be China, India, the United States, Indonesia, Brazil, and Russia.
    • Two other E7 countries, Mexico and Turkey, also improve their position.
    • It projects that India’s GDP will increase to $17 trillion in 2030 and $42 trillion in 2050 in PPP terms, in second place after China, just ahead of the United States.
    • This is predicated on India overcoming the challenge of COVID-19, sustaining its reform process and ensuring adequate investments in infrastructure, institutions, governance, education and health.

    Limitations of G7

    • The success or otherwise of multilateral institutions are judged by the standard of whether or not they have successfully addressed the core global or regional challenges of the time.
    • The G7 failed to head off the economic downturn of 2007-08.
    • This failure led to the rise of the G20.
    • In the short span of its existence, the G20 has provided a degree of confidence, by promoting open markets, and stimulus, preventing a collapse of the global financial system.
    • The G7 also failed to address the contemporary issues, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, climate change, the challenge of the Daesh, and the crisis of state collapse in West Asia.
    • It had announced its members would phase out all fossil fuels and subsidies, but has not so far announced any plan of action to do so.
    • And their coal fired plants emit “twice more CO2 than those of the entire African continent”.

    Turmoil in West Asia and failure of Europe to act

    • Three of the G7 countries, France, Germany, and the U.K., were among the top 10 countries contributing volunteers to the ISIS.
    • West Asia is in a greater state of turmoil than at any point of time since the fall of the Ottoman Empire.
    • This turmoil has led to a migrants crisis.
    • Migrant crisis persuaded many countries in Europe to renege on their western liberal values, making the Mediterranean Sea a death trap for people fleeing against fear of persecution and threat to their lives.

    So, to deal with the unprecedented challenge, we need new institution

    • The global economy has stalled and COVID-19 will inevitably create widespread distress.
    • Nations need dexterity and resilience to cope with the current flux, as also a revival of multilateralism, for they have been seeking national solutions for problems that are unresolvable internally.
    • Existing international institutions have proven themselves unequal to these tasks.
    • A new mechanism might help in attenuating them.
    • It would be ideal to include in it the seven future leading economies, plus Germany, Japan, the U.K., France, Mexico, Turkey, South Korea, and Australia.
    •  The 2005 ad hoc experiment by Prime Minister Tony Blair in bringing together the G7 and the BRICS countries was a one-off.

    What should be the focus of this new institution?

    • A new international mechanism will have value only if it focuses on key global issues.
    • A related aspect is how to push for observing international law and preventing the retreat from liberal values on which public goods are predicated.
    • Global public health and the revival of growth and trade in a sustainable way -that also reduces the inequalities among and within nations- would pose a huge challenge.

    What should be India’s priority in new institution?

    • India would be vitally interested in three: 1) international trade, 2) climate change, 3) the COVID-19 crisis.
    • Second order priorities for India would be cross-cutting issues such as counter-terrorism and counter-proliferation.
    • An immediate concern is to ensure effective implementation of the 1975 Biological Weapons Convention .
    • And the prevention of any possible cheating by its state parties by the possible creation of new microorganisms or viruses by using recombinant technologies.
    • On regional issues, establishing a modus vivendi with Iran would be important to ensure that it does not acquire nuclear weapons and is able to contribute to peace and stability in Afghanistan, the Gulf and West Asia.
    • The end state in Afghanistan would also be of interest to India.
    • And also the reduction of tensions in the Korean Peninsula and the South China Sea.

    Consider the question “There has been a clamour for expanding G7 and India is being considered as one of the prospective candidates in the expanded group. In light of this examine the challenges and opportunities for India if it gets entry into the expanded group.”

    Conclusion

    The decaying influence in geopolitics and declining share in the world GDP calls for the formation of the new institution. IF and when that institution comes into being India should try to address its immediate concern with the help of new mechanism based on values.

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  • Foreign Policy Watch: India-China

    Strategic importance of Daulat Beg Oldie, Ladakh

    | International Relations | Mains Paper 2: India & Its Neighborhood – Relations

    In the reporting on the LAC stand-off, the Darbuk-Shyok-Daulat Beg Oldie (DSDBO) road has often appeared in news.

    Practice questions for mains:

    Q. Discuss how India’s all-weather border infrastructure has created new festering points for the Sino-Indian border skirmished.

    Daulat Beg Oldie

    • DBO is the northernmost corner of Indian Territory in Ladakh, in the area better known in Army parlance as Sub-Sector North.
    • DBO has the world’s highest airstrip, originally built during the 1962 war but abandoned until 2008 when the Indian Air Force (IAF) revived it as one of its many Advanced Landing Grounds (ALGs) along the LAC.

    The DSDBO Road

    • DSDBO is an all-weather 255-km long road 255-km long built by India over nearly 20 years.
    • Running almost parallel to the LAC, the DSDBO road, meandering through elevations ranging between 13,000 ft and 16,000 ft, took India’s Border Roads Organisation (BRO) almost two decades to construct.
    • Its strategic importance is that it connects Leh to DBO, virtually at the base of the Karakoram Pass that separates China’s Xinjiang Autonomous Region from Ladakh.

    A trigger for PLA incursions

    • Of the possible triggers cited for the PLA targeting of Indian Territory along the LAC in eastern Ladakh, the construction of DSDBO all-weather road is possibly the most consequential.
    • The Chinese build-up along the Galwan River valley region overlooks and hence poses a direct threat to the DSDBO road.

    Significance of DSDBO Road

    • The DSDBO highway provides the Indian military access to the section of the Tibet-Xinjaing highway that passes through Aksai Chin.
    • The road runs almost parallel to the LAC at Aksai Chin, the eastern ear of erstwhile Jammu and Kashmir state that China occupied in the 1950s, leading to the 1962 war in which India came off worse.
    • The DSDBO’s emergence seemingly panicked China, evidenced by the 2013 intrusion by the PLA into the nearby Depsang Plains, lasting nearly three weeks.
    • DBO itself is less than 10 km west of the LAC at Aksai Chin. A military outpost was created in DBO in reaction to China’s occupation of Aksai Chin.
    • It is at present manned by a combination of the Army’s Ladakh Scouts and the paramilitary Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP).

    Other strategic considerations

    • To the west of DBO is the region where China abuts Pakistan in the Gilgit-Baltistan area, once a part of the erstwhile Kashmir principality.
    • This is also the critical region where China is currently constructing the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) in Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir (PoK), to which India has objected.
    • As well, this is the region where Pakistan ceded over 5,180 sq km of PoK to China in 1963 under a Sino-Pakistan Boundary Agreement, contested by India.

    Also read:

    https://www.civilsdaily.com/burning-issue-india-china-skirmish-in-ladakh/

     

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  • Genetically Modified (GM) crops – cotton, mustards, etc.

    GM seeds: the debate, and a sowing agitation

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

    In the current Kharif season, farmers would undertake mass sowing of GM seeds for maize, soybean, mustard brinjal and herbicide-tolerant (Ht) cotton, although these are not approved. Farmers had carried out a similar movement last year, too.

    Practice question for mains:

    Q. Indian agriculture is in a way, a victim of its own past success – especially the green revolution. Critically comment.

    Genetically Modified (GM) seeds

    • Conventional plant breeding involves crossing species of the same genus to provide the offspring with the desired traits of both parents.
    • Genetic engineering aims to transcend the genus barrier by introducing an alien gene in the seeds to get the desired effects.
    • The alien gene could be from a plant, an animal or even a soil bacterium.

    What is the legal position of GM crops in India?

    • In India, the Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC) is the apex body that allows for the commercial release of GM crops.
    • In 2002, the GEAC had allowed the commercial release of Bt cotton.
    • More than 95 per cent of the country’s cotton area has since then come under Bt cotton.
    • Use of the unapproved GM variant can attract a jail term of 5 years and a fine of Rs 1 lakh under the Environmental Protection Act,1989.

    GM crops in India

    • Bt cotton, the only GM crop that is allowed in India, has two alien genes from the soil bacterium Bacillus Thuringiensis (Bt) that allows the crop to develop a protein toxic to the common pest pink bollworm.
    • Ht Bt, on the other, cotton is derived with the insertion of an additional gene, from another soil bacterium, which allows the plant to resist the common herbicide glyphosate.
    • In Bt brinjal, a gene allows the plant to resist attacks of fruit and shoot borer.

    Why are farmers rooting for GM crops?

    • In the case of cotton, farmers cite the high cost of weeding, which goes down considerably if they grow Ht Bt cotton and use glyphosate against weeds.
    • Brinjal growers in Haryana have rooted for Bt brinjal as it reduces the cost of production by cutting down on the use of pesticides.
    • Industry estimates say that of the 4-4.5 crore packets (each weighing 400 gm) of cotton sold in the country, 50 lakh are of the unapproved Ht Bt cotton.
    • Haryana has reported farmers growing Bt brinjal in pockets which had caused a major agitation there.

    Why furore over GM crops?

    • Environmentalists argue that the long-lasting effect of GM crops is yet to be studied and thus they should not be released commercially.
    • The genetic modification brings about changes that can be harmful to humans in the long run.

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  • Foreign Policy Watch: India-China

    LAC row: China reaches accord with India

    | International Relations | Mains Paper 2: Bilateral, Regional and Global Groupings and agreements involving India

    China said that it had “reached an agreement” with India on the ongoing tensions along the Line of Actual Control (LAC), a day after India announced troops from both sides had begun a “partial disengagement” from some of the stand-off points.

    Practice question for mains:

    Q. “Early settlement of the boundary question serves the fundamental interests of both countries”. Discuss in light of the ongoing border skirmishes between India and China.

    Read the complete story here:

    https://www.civilsdaily.com/burning-issue-india-china-skirmish-in-ladakh/

    Troops moving back

    • Partial deinduction has happened from some points in Galwan and Hot Springs areas.
    • Chinese side removed some of the tents and some troops and vehicles have been moved back, and the Indian side to has reciprocated.
    • At some points in the Galwan Valley, Chinese troops have moved back 2-3 km. However, there is no change in the ground situation at Pangong Tso.

    De-escalation begins

    • India and China held Major general-level talks to discuss further de-escalation at several standoff points in Eastern Ladakh including Patrolling Point (PP) 14, following a broad accord reached on Saturday in talks held at the Corps Commander-level.
    • As per the agreement, a series of ground-level talks would be held over the next 10 days, with four other points of conflict identified at PP15, PP17, Chushul and the north bank of Pangong Lake.
    • The Chinese Foreign Ministry said both sides had agreed to handle the situation “properly” and “in line with the agreement” to ease the situation.
    • However, it did not provide specific details on some of the stand-off points, such as Pangong Lake, where Chinese troops are still present on India’s side of the LAC.

    No final solution yet

    • At present, the two sides are taking actions in line with the agreement to ameliorate the border situation.
    • Government officials said a partial disengagement had happened at some points in the Galwan area and at Hot Springs, but there was no change at Pangong Lake.
    • Chinese state-run media has revealed that the ongoing dispute will not escalate into a conflict.
    • But it added due to the complexity of the situation, the military stand-off could continue for a little longer.

    Way forward

    • The military-level talks showed that both sides do not want to escalate tensions further.
    • It showed that China and India remain determined to peacefully resolve border issues.
    • However, the ongoing stand-off is not likely to end immediately, as concrete issues must still be resolved.

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  • Interstate River Water Dispute

    Vamsadhara River Water Dispute

    States | Polity | Mains Paper 2: Statutory, Regulatory & Various Quasi-Judicial Bodies

    Andhra Pradesh  and Odisha CM recently held talks to iron out all differences with regard to the sharing of Vamsadhara River waters.

    Note all major rivers over which inter-state disputes exist say Narmada, Mahadayi, Cauvery, Krishna, etc. Observe their flow and the area swept.

    Also, refer your atlas to check the complicated border sharings between Chhatisgarh, AP/Telangana and Odisha.

    Vamsadhara River

    • River Vamsadhara is an important east-flowing river between Rushikulya and Godavari, in Odisha and Andhra Pradesh.
    • The river originates in the border of Thuamul Rampur in the Kalahandi district and Kalyansinghpur in Rayagada district of Odisha.
    • It runs for a distance of about 254 kilometres, where it joins the Bay of Bengal at Kalingapatnam, Andhra Pradesh.
    • The total catchment area of the river basin is about 10,830 square kilometres.

    The dispute

    • Andhra Pradesh wants to build the Neradi bridge across the river which will be possible only after Odisha’s consent.
    • Odisha argues that the flood flow canal would result in drying up the existing river bed and consequent shifting of the river affecting the groundwater table.
    • Odisha also raised the issue of scientific assessment of available water in Vamsadhara at Katragada and Gotta Barrage, Andhra Pradesh and the basis for sharing the available water.

    Back2Basics: Interstate River Water Disputes

    • River waters use/harnessing is included in states jurisdiction. However, article 262 of the Constitution provides for the adjudication of inter-state water disputes.
    • Under this, Parliament may by law provide for the adjudication of any dispute or complaint with respect to the use, distribution and control of waters of any inter-state river and river valley.
    • The President of India may also establish an interstate council as per Article 263 to inquire and recommend on the dispute that has arisen between the states
    • The Parliament has enacted the two laws, the River Boards Act (1956) and the Inter-State Water Disputes Act (1956).
    • Under this, Parliament may by law provide for the adjudication of any dispute or complaint with respect to the use, distribution and control of waters of any inter-state river and river valley.
    • The Inter-State Water Disputes Act empowers the Central government to set up an ad hoc tribunal for the adjudication of a dispute between two or more states in relation to the waters of an inter-state river or river valley.
    • The award of the tribunal is final and binding on the parties to the dispute.
    • Neither the Supreme Court nor any other court is to have jurisdiction in respect of any water dispute which may be referred to such a tribunal under this Act.

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