Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Shravathi river, Macaque
Mains level: Not Much
The Union government allowed a geotechnical investigation that involved drilling of 12 boreholes inside Sharavathi Valley Lion-tailed Macaque Sanctuary in the Western Ghats in Karnataka.
Try this PYQ:
Which one of the following groups of animals belongs to the category of endangered species?
(a) Great Indian Bustard, Musk Deer, Red Panda, Asiatic Wild Ass
(b) Kashmir Stag, Cheetah, Blue Bull, Great Indian Bustard.
(c) Snow Leopard, Swamp Deer, Rhesus Monkey, Saras (Crane)
(d) Lion Tailed Macaque, Blue Bull, Hanuman Langur, Cheetah
About Lion-tailed Macaque
- Endemic to rainforests of the Western Ghats, the Lion-tailed Macaque (Macaca Silenus) is an Endangered species, according to IUCN assessment.
- It is listed in Appendix 1 of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species.
- It is a Schedule 1 species under WPA, 1972 and thereby, accorded the highest protection under the Indian law.
- Their total (global) population is 2,500 mature individuals.
Why in news?
- Sharavathi is likely one of the most exploited rivers.
- It flows for mere 132 km, but four major power projects on it produce 40 per cent of all hydroelectric power in Karnataka.
- Yet, in an attempt to squeeze more power from the river flowing through the Western Ghats, a new pumped hydro-storage project has been proposed.
- This will only intensify the cumulative adverse impact of previous projects on the biodiversity of the Sharavathi valley.
- In particular, the impacts on the iconic Lion-tailed Macaque are likely to be huge.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 2- Gains against HIV
The article highlights the achievement in the fight against AIDS. Most significant are the achievements in the prevention of transmission from mother-to-child.
Significant gains
- As per recently released 2019 HIV estimates by the National AIDS Control Organization (NACO)/Ministry of Health and Family Welfare with the technical support of UNAIDS there has been a 66.1% reduction in new HIV infections among children and a 65.3% reduction in AIDS-related deaths in India over a nine-year period.
- The number of pregnant women living with HIV has reduced from 31,000 in 2010 to 20,000 in 2019.
- Overall, antenatal coverage has expanded, and HIV testing has increased over time and within target range.
- Treatment coverage has also expanded.
Progress in preventing mother to child transmission
- Under the leadership of NACO, a ‘Fast-Tracking of EMTCT (elimination of mother-to-child transmission) strategy-cum-action plan’ was outlined by June 2019.
- The plan entailed mobilisation and reinforcement of all national, State and partners’ collective efforts to achieve the EMTCT goal.
- Additionally, in March 2020, we began efforts to minimise challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic.
- From 2010 to 2019, India made important progress in reducing the HIV impact on children through prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV.
- This was done through education and communication programmes; increased access to HIV services with innovative delivery mechanisms for HIV testing; counselling and care; and treatment and follow-ups.
- India made HIV testing for all pregnant women free and HIV treatment is offered the same way nationwide without cost to pregnant mothers living with HIV through the national ‘treat all’ policy.
- For two years UNICEF has worked with the World Health Organization and NACO to identify high burden districts (in terms of density of pregnant women living with HIV) as the last mile towards disease elimination.
- Since 2002, when the EMTCT of HIV programmes were launched in India, a series of policy, programmatic and implementation strategies were rolled out so that all pregnant women can access free HIV testing and free treatment regimens for life to prevent HIV transmission from mothers to babies.
- This has been made possible in government health centres and grass-root level workers through village health and nutrition days and other grass-roots events under the National Health Mission.
- Indeed, the approach being promoted by UNICEF in focusing attention and resources in high burden districts is supported by the HIV strategic information division of NACO and UNAIDS to better understand the locations and populations most HIV affected, so that technical support and HIV services can be directed towards these areas.
Conclusion
Using data-driven and decision-making approaches it is certain that AIDS will no longer be a public health threat for children in India by the end of 2030, if not before.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: BBIN, SAARC
Mains level: Paper 2- Economic progress of Bangladesh and its implications for the subcontinent
Bangladesh is expected to cross India in terms per capita income. This speaks volumes about the achievements of Bangladesh when contrasted with Pakistan. At the same time, it has several implications for the region. The elaborates on such implications.
What other countries can learn from Bangladesh
- The International Monetary Fund’s latest World Economic Outlook published recently predicts that Bangladesh’s per capita GDP will overtake that of India this year.
- The projected difference is rather small — $1,888 to $1,877 — and unlikely to last beyond this year.
- International development institutions are convinced that the rest of the subcontinent and developing countries around the world can learn much from Dhaka’s experience — the so-called “Bangladesh model”.
5 Implications for the region
1) Rising global interest in the subcontinent
- Rapid and sustained economic growth in Bangladesh has begun to alter the world’s perception of the subcontinent.
- India and Pakistan dominated the region and other countries were considered small.
- But Bangladesh was far from being small, demographically it’s the eighth-largest nation in the world.
- The economic rise of Bangladesh is changing some of that.
2) Changing economic weights of Bangladesh and Pakistan
- This year, Bangladesh’s GDP is expected to reach about $320 billion.
- The IMF did not have the 2020 numbers from Pakistan to report but in 2019, Pakistan’s economy was at $275 billion.
- The IMF suggests that Pakistan’s economy will contract further this year.
- Bangladesh has controlled its population growth and Pakistan has not.
- Dhaka has a grip over its inflation and Islamabad does not.
- There is no question that Pakistan’s negative geopolitical weight in the world will endure.
- But Bangladesh’s growing economic muscle will help Dhaka steadily accumulate geopolitical salience in the years ahead.
3) Accelerate regional integration
- Bangladesh’s economic growth can accelerate regional integration in the eastern subcontinent.
- The region’s prospects for a collective economic advance are rather dim.
- Due to Pakistan’s opposition to economic cooperation with India and its support for cross-border terror, the main regional forum for the subcontinent, the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc), is dormant.
- Instead of merely praying for the revival of Saarc, Delhi could usefully focus on the BBIN.
- BBIN is sub-regional forum among Bangladesh, Bhutan, India and Nepal, activated in the middle of last decade — has not advanced fast enough.
- It is time for Delhi and Dhaka to take a fresh look at the forum and find ways to widen the scope and pace of BBIN activity.
- Meanwhile, there is growing interest in Bhutan and Nepal for economic integration with Bangladesh.
4) Increasing importance of Bangladesh in geopolitics of Indo-Pacific
- The economic success of Bangladesh is drawing attention from a range of countries in East Asia, including China, Japan, South Korea, and Singapore.
- The US, which traditionally focused on India and Pakistan, has woken up to the possibilities in Bangladesh.
- Bangladesh does not want to get into the fight between Beijing and Washington, but the great power wooing of Dhaka is bound to intensify in the new geopolitics of the Indo-Pacific.
5) Development of India’s eastern and north-eastern states could accelerate
- Bangladesh’s economy is now one-and-a-half times as large as that of West Bengal; better integration between the two would provide a huge boost for eastern India.
- Also, connectivity between India’s landlocked Northeast and Bangladesh would provide a boost to the development of north-eastern states.
- Delhi and Dhaka are eager to promote greater cooperation, but there has been little political enthusiasm in Kolkata.
- In Assam, the issue of migration continues to impose major political constraints.
Way forward
- Parliamentary approval of the boundary settlement in 2015, despite the opposition, was a step in the right direction from India.
- So was the acceptance of the 2014 international arbitration award on the maritime boundary dispute between India and Bangladesh.
- But the positive dynamic surrounding the bilateral relationship acquired a negative tone in the second amidst the poisonous rhetoric in India around the Citizenship Amendment Act.
- There is much room for course correction in Delhi and to shift the focus from legacy issues to future possibilities.
Conclusion
Both the countries need to jointly develop and pursue with Dhaka an ambitious framework for shared prosperity.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Doha Accord
Mains level: Paper 3- Threat of terrorism
We have been spared of some unfortunate news of terrorist attacks in the recent past, however, it would be mistake to discount the threat posed by the terrorist organisations especially when we consider the backdrop of Doha Accord. The article deals with the threat of terrorism.
Declining support
- Terrorist organisations like Taliban, al-Qaeda, Islamic State, Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) have been dormant during a pandemic.
- This is partly explained by the fact that open terror attacks have been reducing, presumably because:
- 1) Terror outfits lack resources.
- 2) Because of temporary loss of support from those normally hostile to the non-Islamic world and tolerant Muslims.
- However, given their past resilience, they continue to pose threats to modern society, especially to India and its neighbourhood.
But threat persists
- These terrorist organisations continue to be attractive to misguided youth in India whose loyalties are extraterritorial.
- Their numbers may not be formidable, but they can cause a ripple effect that cannot be underestimated.
- Terrorist cells are probably engaged in the quiet process of collecting resources for future lethal assaults against India and other countries in the neighbourhood.
- Once the pandemic eases, we may see a resurgence of terror.
- The aggravation of poverty in developing nations due to COVID-19 could offer a fertile ground for recruitment.
- The al-Qaeda and the Islamic State are carrying out their recruitment undiminished by the problems posed by the pandemic.
- Only these two outfits have an impressive global reach backed by global ambitions.
What are the implications of Doha Accord?
- The Doha Accord signed this year between the Taliban and the U.S., which has brought about an improved relationship between the two.
- The U.S. has agreed to a near-total withdrawal of its troops in return for the Taliban’s promise to preserve peace in Afghanistan.
- The Taliban and the al-Qaeda need each other in many areas.
- Both are friendly towards Pakistan and could pose a problem or two to India in the near future.
- Many recent raids by the National Investigation Agency point to an al-Qaeda network in India.
- Once the situation gets better, the al-Qaeda, in cahoots with other aggressive Islamic outfits in and around Pakistan, is bound to escalate the offensive against India.
- This is one factor that makes the al-Qaeda and other terror outfits still relevant to India’s security calculus.
Consider the question “What are the implications of Doha Acord for India’s security architecture?”
Conclusion
The threat posed by the changing geopolitical landscape is bound to increase in the coming days and hence India should prepare itself to tackle the challenge.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Regulatory sandbox
Mains level: Paper 3- Regulatory sandbox
The International Financial Services Centres Authority (IFSCA) has introduced a framework for Regulatory Sandbox to tap into innovative Fin-tech solutions.
Try answering this simple question:
Q.What is Regulatory Sandbox? What are its salient features?
Regulatory Sandbox
- A regulatory sandbox usually refers to live testing of new products or services in a controlled/test regulatory environment for which regulators may permit certain regulatory relaxations for the limited purpose of the testing.
- The objective of the sandbox is to foster responsible innovation in financial services, promote efficiency and bring benefit to consumers.
- It provides a secure environment for fintech firms to experiment with products under supervision of a regulator.
- It is an infrastructure that helps fintech players live test their products or solutions, before getting the necessary regulatory approvals for a mass launch, saving start-ups time and cost.
Its inception
- The concept of a regulatory sandbox or innovation hub for fintech firms was mooted by a committee headed by then RBI executive director Sudarshan Sen.
- The panel submitted its report in Nov 2017 has called for a regulatory sandbox to help firms experiment with fintech solutions, where the consequences of failure can be contained and reasons for failure analysed.
- If the product appears to have the potential to be successful, it might be authorised and brought to the broader market more quickly.
What is the new framework?
- IFSCA has introduced a framework for “Regulatory Sandbox”.
Under this Sandbox framework, entities operating in the capital market, banking, insurance and financial services space shall be granted certain facilities and flexibilities.
- It will experiment with innovative FinTech solutions in a live environment with a limited set of real customers for a limited time frame.
- These features shall be fortified with necessary safeguards for investor protection and risk mitigation. The Regulatory Sandbox shall operate within the IFSC located at GIFT City (Gandhinagar).
- IFSCA shall assess the applications and extend suitable regulatory relaxations to commence limited purpose testing in the Sandbox.
Other propositions
- As additional steps towards creating an innovation-centric ecosystem, the IFSCA has proposed the creation of an “Innovation Sandbox”.
- It will be a testing environment where Fin-tech firms can test their solutions in isolation from the live market.
- This would be based on market related data made available by the Market Infrastructure Institutions (MIIs) operating in the IFSC.
- The Innovation Sandbox will be managed and facilitated by the MIIs operating within the IFSC.
Back2Basics: GIFT City, Gandhinagar
- GIFT city is India’s first operational smart city and international financial services centre (much like a modern IT park).
- The idea for GIFT was conceived during the Vibrant Gujarat Global Investor Summit 2007 and the initial planning was done by East China Architectural Design & Research Institute (ECADI).
- Currently approximately 225 units/companies are operational with more than 12000 professionals employed in the City.
- The entire city is based on concept of FTTX (Fibre to the home / office).The fiber optic is laid in fault tolerant ring architecture so as to ensure maximum uptime of services.
- Every building in GIFT City is an intelligent building. There is piped supply of cooking gas. India’s first city-level DCS (district cooling system) is also operational at GIFT City.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Countries participating in exerciese
Mains level: Paper 3- Defence exercises
Upping the ante against China amid the ongoing LAC confrontations, Australia has formally accepted India’s invite for the upcoming Malabar Exercise.
About Ex. Malabar
- Exercise Malabar is a trilateral naval exercise involving the United States, Japan and India as permanent partners.
- Originally begun in 1992 as a bilateral exercise between India and the United States, Japan became a permanent partner in 2015.
- Past non-permanent participants are Australia and Singapore.
- The annual Malabar series began in 1992 and includes diverse activities, ranging from fighter combat operations from aircraft carriers through Maritime Interdiction Operations Exercises.
Significance of Australia’s inclusion
- Earlier, India had concerns that it would give the appearance of a “quadrilateral military alliance” aimed at China.
- Now both look forward to the cooperation in the ‘Indo-Pacific’ and the strengthening of defence ties.
- This has led to a convergence of mutual interest in many areas for a better understanding of regional and global issues.
- Both are expected to conclude the long-pending Mutual Logistics Support Agreement (MLSA) as part of measures to elevate the strategic partnership.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Cultivation of heeng
Mains level: Paper 3- Heeng cultivation in India
Farmers of the remote Lahaul valley in Himachal Pradesh are taking up cultivation of asafoetida (Heeng) to utilize vast expanses of waste land in the cold desert conditions of the region.
Try this PYQ:
Q.Which one of the following reflects back more sunlight as compared to other three?
(a) Sand desert
(b) Paddy crop land
(c) Land covered with fresh snow
(d) Prairie land
Asafoetida cultivation in India
- Asafoetida is one of the top condiments and is a high-value spice crop in India.
- Raw asafoetida is extracted from the fleshy roots of Ferula assafoetida as an oleo-gum resin.
- Although, there are about 130 species of Ferula found in the world, but only Ferula asafoetidais the economically important species used for the production of asafoetida.
Why cultivate it?
- Heeng is not cultivated in India.
- Government data states that India imports about 1,200 tonnes of raw heeng worth Rs 600 crore from Iran, Afghanistan and Uzbekistan.
Regions for its cultivation
- Asafoetida best grows in dry and cold conditions.
- The plant can withstand a maximum temperature between 35 and 40 degree, whereas during winters, it can survive in temperatures up to minus 4 degree.
- During extreme weather, the plant can get dormant.
- Regions with sandy soil, very little moisture and annual rainfall of not more than 200mm are considered conducive for heeng cultivation in India.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: District Development Councils
Mains level: Paper 2- DDCs in J and K
The Centre has amended the Jammu and Kashmir Panchayati Raj Act, 1989, to facilitate the setting up of District Development Councils (DDC).
Tap to read more about: Reorganization of J&K
What are DDCs?
- DDCs structure will include a DDC and a District Planning Committee (DPC).
- The J&K administration has also amended the J&K Panchayati Raj Rules, 1996, to provide for establishment of elected District Development Councils in J&K.
- This system effectively replaces the District Planning and Development Boards in all districts, and will prepare and approve district plans and capital expenditure.
Composition of DDCs
- Their key feature, however, is that the DDCs will have elected representatives from each district.
- Their number has been specified at 14 elected members per district representing its rural areas, alongside the Members of
- Legislative Assembly chairpersons of all Block Development Councils within the district.
Term of reference
- The term of the DDC will be five years, and the electoral process will allow for reservations for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and women.
- The Additional District Development Commissioner (or the Additional DC) of the district shall be the Chief Executive Officer of the District Development Council.
- The council, as stated in the Act, will hold at least four “general meetings” in a year, one in each quarter.
What will be the process here onward?
- The 14 constituencies for electing representatives to the DDC will have to be delimited.
- These constituencies will be carved out of the rural areas of the district, and elected members will subsequently elect a chairperson and a vice-chairperson of the DDC from among themselves.
Within the third tier, where do the DDCs fit in?
- The DDCs replace the District Planning and Development Boards (DDBs) that were headed by a cabinet minister of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir.
- For Jammu and Srinagar districts, as winter and summer capitals, the DDBs were headed by the Chief Minister.
However, for Leh and Kargil districts, the Autonomous Hill Development Councils performed the functions designated for the DDBs.
How will DPC work, then?
- For every district there will be DPC comprising MPs representing the area, Members of the State Legislature representing the areas within the District etc. among others.
- The MP will function as the chairperson of this committee.
- The committee will “consider and guide” the formulation of development programmes for the district.
- It would indicate priorities for various schemes and consider issues relating to the speedy development and economic uplift of the district.
- It would function as a working group for formulation of periodic and annual plans for the district; and formulate and finalise the plan and non-plan budget for the district.
Centre’s objective behind this new structure
- The J&K administration in a statement said that the move to have an elected third tier of the Panchayati Raj institution marks the implementation of the entire 73rd Amendment Act in J&K.
- The idea is that systems that had been made defunct by earlier J&K governments such as the panchayati raj system are being revived under the Centre’s rule in the state through the Lieutenant Governor’s administration.
- In the absence of elected representatives in the UT, senior government officials argue that DDCs will effectively become representative bodies for development at the grassroots in the 20 districts of the UT.
- They hope that this may draw some former legislators in as well.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Constitutional provisions related to the Governor
Mains level: Paper 2- Misuse of discretionary power by the Governor
The article deals with the role of Governor in the state and issue of misuse of discretionary power vested in him.
Constitutional provision related to Governor
- Various Raj Bhavans have become embroiled in controversies over the decade.
- This is partly because the Constitution of India does allow a certain discretion to the Governor.
- And a discretion invariably does get abused.
- The framers of the Constitution had rejected an elected Governor because they were unambiguously clear that political power would only be vested with elected executives.
- Yet, they were not inclined to put in a formal Instrument of Instructions for the Governors and were content to believe that political decencies and correctness would be observed both by the Governor and the Chief Minister.
As the distinguished constitutional expert, Nani A. Palkhivala explained it “the Constitution intended that the Governor should be the instrument to maintain the fundamental equilibrium of the people of the State and to ensure that the mandates of the Constitution are respected in the State”.
Misuse of ‘discretion’ by Governors
- As an appointee of the Union Government, the Governors have been prone to act on the instructions by ruling party at the Centre.
- Inevitably the “discretion” in choosing a Chief Minister, or requiring a Chief Minister to prove his/her majority, or dismissing a Chief Minister, dissolving the legislature, recommending President’s Rule — came to be tainted with partisan political considerations.
- More often than not, the governor’s discretion was abused, sometimes absurdly, even whimsically.
- In the S.R. Bommai case, the Supreme Court did try through its judgment to prevent the misuse of power.
Conclusion
The guidelines given in the S.R. Bommai case should be adhered to by the Governor and should avoid conflict with the elected governments in the States.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 2- Police reforms
The police have been in the news for incidents involving violence and killings. These instances points to the urgent need for the implementation of the Supreme Court directives given in the Prakash Singh case. The article deals with the issues of delay in the implementation.
Need for immediate remedial measures
- Police has been in the news for incidents involving police brutalities like thrashing of a Dalit Ahirwar couple by the police Madhya Pradesh, torture and killing of father-son duo in Tamil Nadu and killing of gangster in UP.
- These incidents and several others show that we need immediate remedial measures.
Past attempts for police reforms
- The first serious attempt was when the National Police Commission (NPC) was set up in 1977.
- The NPC submitted eight reports to the Ministry of Home Affairs between 1979 and 1981.
- Seven of these reports were circulated to the States in 1983.
Prakash Sing Case
- No action was taken on the reports of the reports until 1996.
- In 1996 Prakash Singh, a retired IPS officer, filed a PIL in the apex court in 1996 demanding the implementation of the NPC’s recommendations.
- In 2006, the Supreme Court issued a slew of directives on police reform.
Status of implementation of directives by Staes
- The one directive that would hurt the most is the setting up of a State Security Commission (SSC) in each State.
- State Security Commission would divest the political leaders of the unbridled power that they wield at present.
- Of the States that constituted an SSC, only Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka have made SSC recommendations binding on the State government.
- Only six States provided a minimum tenure of two years to the Director General of Police (DGP).
- Many States have not implemented a single directive of the Supreme Court.
Way forward
- Expecting political will to implement police reforms is difficult to come by, it is for the judiciary to step in and enforce the directives it had passed.
- Fourteen years is too long a period for any further relaxation.
- The Court has to ensure that its directives are not dismissed lightly.
Consider the question “What are the issues facing police administration? What are the reasons for lack of full implementation of the directives given by the Supreme Court in the Prakash Singh case?
Conclusion
A bold step towards bringing down crimes is possible only when the politicians-criminals-police nexus is strangled.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Buldana pattern
Mains level: Water coservation models
Maharashtra’s ‘Buldana Pattern’ of water conservation’ has won national recognition and the NITI Aayog is in the process of formulating National Policy on water conversation based on it.
Refer this link to read more about traditional water conservations systems in India:
https://geographyandyou.com/ten-traditional-water-conservation-methods/
What is ‘Buldhana Pattern’?
- It is based on the synchronization of national highway construction and water conservation.
- It was achieved for the first time in Buldana district of drought-prone Vidarbha region, by using soil from the water bodies, nallas and rivers.
- This consequently leads to the increase in capacity of water storage across the water-bodies in Buldana district and it came to be known as ‘Buldana Pattern’.
- Creation of State Water Grid and adopting water Conservations works under this pattern will increase the agriculture production and bring prosperity in farmer’s economic life in Vidarbha.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: SLINEX
Mains level: Not Much
The Eighth Edition of annual Indian Navy (IN) – Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) bilateral maritime exercise SLINEX-20 is scheduled off Trincomalee.
About SLINEX-20
- SLINEX-20 aims to enhance inter-operability, improve mutual understanding and exchange best practices and procedures for multi-faceted maritime operations between both navies.
- In addition, the exercise will also showcase the capabilities of our indigenously constructed naval ships and aircraft.
- SLINEX series of exercise exemplifies the deep engagement between India and Sri Lanka which has strengthened mutual cooperation in the maritime domain.
- Interaction between the SLN and IN has also grown significantly in recent years, in consonance with India’s policy of ‘Neighbourhood First’ and the vision of ‘Security and Growth for all in the Region (SAGAR)’.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Himalayan orogeny
Mains level: Not Much
A recent survey has found that a tectonic fault line that runs through Ladakh, all along the Indus river, is not inactive as was previously thought and is, in fact, moving northward.
Tap here to read more about Himalayan orogeny:
Indus Suture Zone (ISZ)
- A suture zone is a linear belt of intense deformation, where distinct terranes, or tectonic units with different plate tectonic, metamorphic, and paleogeographic histories, join together.
- The ISZ represents a belt of tectonic compression caused by the underthrusting of the Indian shield/ plate against the Tibetan mass.
- It marks the boundary between the Indian and Eurasian plates.
- The suture zone stretches from the North-Western Himalayan syntaxis bordering the Nanga Parbat to the East as far as the Namche Barwa Mountain.
Its tectonic activity
- The Karakoram Range and the Ladakh plateau lie to the north of ISZ and originally formed a part of the European plate.
- The zone has been neo-tectonically active for the past 78,000-58,000 years.
- While the frontal and central parts of the Himalayas — the Shivaliks, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Jammu and Kashmir and Sikkim — are still known to be active and moving.
- The fault line runs all along the Indus river, from China through India and Pakistan.
- The study was conducted in Ladakh from the north of Ladakh’s capital, Leh, to the Tso Moriri lake, a distance of 213 kilometres.
Why the Ladakh region is more vulnerable?
- Fault lines weaken the rock formation in the region through which it runs, making the area vulnerable to excessive erosion and landslides.
- What makes the Ladakh region vulnerable is that unlike other areas in the Himalayas and the rest of the country, there is very little vegetation here and very few trees that can root the soil down.
- So, in the case of a flash flood or a cloud burst, this can have a widespread impact.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Seaplanes
Mains level: Seaplane connectivity in India
The first of the five seaplane services in Gujarat, connecting Sabarmati River in Ahmedabad to the Statue of Unity in Kevadia in Narmada district, will be inaugurated on October 31
India’s first seaplane
- A seaplane is a fixed-winged aeroplane designed for taking off and landing on water. It offers the public the speed of an aeroplane with the utility of a boat.
- The first seaplane project of the country is part of a directive of the Union Ministry of Civil Aviation.
- As per the directive, the Airports Authority of India (AAI) requested state governments of Gujarat, Assam, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana and the administration of Andaman & Nicobar to propose potential locations for setting up water aerodromes to boost the tourism sector.
Where will the seaplane connect?
- In Kevadia, the proposed Terminal will be spread over 0.51 acres in the premises of the Sardar Sarovar Narmada Nigam Ltd., located in the Panchmuli lake (Dyke 3) of the Sardar Sarovar Dam at Limdi village.
- It is approximately 90 km from Vadodara, 150 km from Surat and 200 km from Ahmedabad — with an aerial distance of 74.6km from Vadodara airport.
What impact will it have on the environment?
- The water aerodrome is not a listed project/activity in the Schedule to the Environmental Impact Assessment Notification, 2006 and its amendments.
- However, the activities proposed under the water aerodrome project may have a similar type of impact as that of an airport.
- There has to be a bathymetric and hydrographic survey by Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI).
- During seaplane operations, there will be turbulence created in the water while takeoff and landing of seaplanes. This will lead to more operation process i.e. mixing of oxygen in the water.
- This will have a positive impact on the aquatic ecosystem near seaplane operations increasing oxygen content and decreasing carbon content in this system.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: GI tags in news
Mains level: Not Much
The makers of the Thanjavur Art Plate, with its roots in a craft that dates back to the Marathas of the 1800s, are banding together for its cultural and commercial rejuvenation.
Must read:
All time GI tags in news
Thanjavur Art Plates
- The Thanjavur Art Plate is an artefact which is exclusively made in Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu, India.
- It is a circular plate made as a gift item. It is a handicraft consisting of metals such as silver, bronze, and copper embossed with figures of gods and goddesses at its centre.
- Patronised by Maratha ruler Serfoji II (1777-1832), Thanjavur Kalai craftsmen were kept busy with orders for royal gifts, mostly decorative salvers, jewel boxes and vessels like water pots and ewers.
- In its contemporary version, the craft has been commercially reinterpreted as ‘Thanjavur kalai thattu’ or Thanjavur Art Plate, a ceremonial platter made with silver, copper and brass layers in three stages.
- The base is plated with alternate copper and silver panels, a bigger embossed silver motif on the central section, and the setting of globular jigna or sequins in the secondary relief.
- It was given a Geographical Indications (GI) tag in 2007, as a proof of its long heritage.
Back2Basics: Geographical Indications in India
- A Geographical Indication is used on products that have a specific geographical origin and possess qualities or a reputation that are due to that origin.
- Such a name conveys an assurance of quality and distinctiveness which is essentially attributable to its origin in that defined geographical locality.
- This tag is valid for a period of 10 years following which it can be renewed.
- Recently the Union Minister of Commerce and Industry has launched the logo and tagline for the Geographical Indications (GI) of India.
- The first product to get a GI tag in India was the Darjeeling tea in 2004.
- The Geographical Indications of Goods (Registration and Protection) Act, 1999 (GI Act) is a sui generis Act for the protection of GI in India.
- India, as a member of the WTO, enacted the Act to comply with the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights.
- Geographical Indications protection is granted through the TRIPS Agreement.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Mullaperiyar Dam
Mains level: Not Much
The Mullaperiyar dam has recently turned 125.
Try this PYQ:
Q. What is common to the places known as Aliyar, Isapur and Kangsabati?
(a) Recently discovered uranium deposits
(b) Tropical rain forests
(c) Underground cave systems
(d) Water reservoirs
Mullaperiyar Dam
- It is a masonry gravity dam on the Periyar River in the Indian state of Kerala.
- It is located 881 m above mean sea level, on the Cardamom Hills of the Western Ghats in Thekkady, Idukki District of Kerala.
- It was constructed between 1887 and 1895 by John Pennycuick and also reached in an agreement to divert water eastwards to the Madras Presidency area (present-day Tamil Nadu).
- Pennycuick is widely worshipped as a hero by farmers in the four districts of southern Tamil Nadu, where water from the dam meets the drinking water needs and irrigates thousands of hectares.
Why is the dam special?
- The dam was constructed surmounting many odds, with malaria and thick jungles taking a toll on workers. It was a huge challenge before him to construct the dam and divert the river course.
- Pennycuick sowed the seeds of river interlinking to bring barren and rain-starved areas under cultivation.
- To fund dam construction, gold ornaments were donated by Chettiar families and farmers in Cumbom valley also gave their meagre savings to Pennycuick.
- Pennycuick even sold his ancestral property in Britain and spent the amount for completing the works of the dam when the expenses exceeded the allotted funds.
- The British government endowed him with the ‘Companion of Star of India’, a high civilian honour. He died on March 9, 1911, at Frimley in Britain.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Hybrid funds
Mains level: Not Much
This newscard is an excerpt from an originally FAQ published in TH.
Try this PYQ:
Q.Which of the following is issued by registered foreign portfolio investors to overseas investors who want to be part of the Indian stock market without registering themselves directly?
(a) Certificate of Deposit
(b) Commercial Paper
(c) Promissory Note
(d) Participatory Note
Hybrid Fund
- A hybrid fund is one that invests in both equity and bonds. So, such funds ought to help investors with their asset allocation decision.
- This refers to how you allocate your annual savings between equity and bond investments.
- Suppose you are unsure of the proportion of equity and bond investments to have in your portfolio.
- By investing in a hybrid fund, you could outsource your asset allocation decision to the manager of the fund, so the argument goes.
- The issue is that each goal you pursue requires different asset allocation. For instance, the asset allocation for your child’s education portfolio must be different from your retirement portfolio.
- Hybrid funds cannot consider your individual goal requirement as it is a collective investment vehicle.
Tax efficiency of the fund
- Based on current tax laws, a hybrid fund that holds 65% or more in equity is considered as an equity fund.
- So, if you redeem your units in such hybrid funds after a holding period of more than 12 months, you have to pay long-term capital gains tax of 10%.
- If a hybrid fund holds less than 65% in equity, you have to pay 20% capital gains tax with indexation if you sell your units after a holding period of more than 36 months.
Back2Basics: Stocks vs. Bonds vs. Equity
- A stock represents a collection of shares in a company which is entitled to receive a fixed amount of dividend at the end of the relevant financial year which are mostly called Equity of the company.
- Bonds term is associated with debt raised by the company from outsiders which carry a fixed ratio of return each year and can be earned as they are generally for a fixed period of time.
- Bonds are actually loans that are secured by a specific physical asset.
- It highlights the amount of debt taken with a promise to pay the principal amount in the future and periodically offering them the yields at a pre-decided percentage.
- Equity is ownership of assets that may have debts or other liabilities attached to them. Equity is measured for accounting purposes by subtracting liabilities from the value of an asset.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Skinks
Mains level: NA
Celebrating skinks, Zoological Survey of India has listed 62 species.
Try this PYQ:
Q.With reference to India’s Biodiversity, Ceylon frogmouth, Coppersmith barbet, Gray-chinned minivet and White-throated redstart are-
(a) Birds
(b) Primates
(c) Reptiles
(d) Amphibians
What are Skinks?
- Skinks are lizards belonging to the family Scincidae, a family in the infraorder Scincomorpha.
- With long bodies, relatively small or no legs, no pronounced neck and glossy scales, skinks are common reptiles around homes.
- Although they are common reptiles and have a prominent role in maintaining ecosystems, not much is known about their breeding habits, and ecology because identification of the species can be confusing.
Certain notions about them
- Skinks are highly alert, agile and fast-moving and actively forage for a variety of insects and small invertebrates.
- The reduced limbs of certain skink species or the complete lack of them make their slithering movements resemble those of snakes, leading people to have the incorrect notion that they are venomous.
- This results in several of these harmless creatures being killed.
ZSI study on Skinks
- A recent publication by the Zoological Survey of India (ZSI) reveals that India is home to 62 species of skinks and says about 57% of all the skinks found in India (33 species) are endemic.
- Sepsophis (with one species)and Barkudia (with two species) are limbless skinks found in the hills and coastal plains of the eastern coast.
- Barkudia insularisis believed to be found only in the Barkud Island in Chilka lake in Odisha. Barkudia melanosticta is endemic to Visakhapatnam.
- Sepsophis punctatus is endemic to the northern part of Eastern Ghats.
- Five species of Kaestlea (blue-tailed ground skinks) are endemic to the Western Ghats and four species of Ristella (Cat skinks) also endemic to the southern part of Western Ghats.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: APMC Act
Mains level: Paper 3- Need for agri reforms
The recently passed agri bills seek to expand the choices and opportunities available with the farmers and will help in increasing their income.
Diversified product segment
- The Minimum Support Price (MSP) evolved as a mechanism to guard farmers against supply and demand shocks in the cereals segment.
- Now, however, farmers and agricultural producers have diversified their product segments, cereals no longer dominate production.
- In the last decade itself, India has witnessed tremendous change in the GVA composition of the agri-sector.
- The share of crops has decreased from 65.4% in 2011-12 to 55.3% in 2018-19, projected to further fall to 45.6% in 2024-25.
- In the same period, value add of livestock and fishing & aquaculture is steadily increasing, as are the total value outputs of sub-segments like horticulture, milk and meat.
- With differentiated production strategies that are less reliant on cereals and more on other segments, farmers are accruing better incomes.
- By diversifying their produce, they are moving away from one-crop risks.
Government schemes and policies
- Keeping farmers dependent on subsidies and restricted by APMCs, and acts like the Essential Commodities Act wasn’t in the nation’s long-term interests.
- Recognising this, the government has been making sequential changes in the system.
- It started with the introduction of the National Agriculture Market (e-NAM) to facilitate online trading of agri-produce.
- Then PM-KISAN was introduced to provide minimum income support to nine crore marginal farmers, at Rs 6,000 annually.
- The KISAN credit card with an allotment of a total of Rs 2 lakh crore credit to maintain larger workforces and implements during harvest season is helping farmers plan and organise their harvests better.
- The Rs 1 lakh crore Agri Infrastructure Fund as part of Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan will help by the creation of agri-infrastructure.
Need for structural changes
- The government recently passed three agri-bills, these are:-
- 1) The Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce Bill.
- 2) Farmers Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill.
- 3) Essential Commodities (Amendment) Bill.
- They enable farmers the freedom to diversify their crops and produce, which reduces mono-crop dependence and increases income avenues.
- They can also now sell their produce anywhere, to the highest bidder across the country.
- The farmers are no longer are they required to go to the mandis where they are subject to middlemen and layers of bureaucracy.
- Contract farming enable farmers them to boost the value-add of their products via contracts and assured procurement by the food processing industries.
- Retaining the MSP system means the government is underwriting the whole network for certain crops to ensure farmers receive assured income for those crops.
Focusing on the export market
- The passage of agri bills gives India the long-awaited opportunity to orient its agriculture sector towards export markets.
- By catering to just the Indian economy, the exposure is hardly $3 trillion ; instead, export-orientation caters to an $82 trillion global economy —a 27x expansion.
- India’s agri exports in 2018 were at $38.5 billion.
- India can comfortably triple this by providing infrastructure for grading, sorting, and supply chain distribution.
Conclusion
The farm Bills are liberating farmers at a pivotal juncture, the nation and farmers have a generational opportunity here to break out of a 70-year sectoral stagnation and aim bigger.
Source:-
https://www.financialexpress.com/opinion/agri-reforms-farm-bills-latest-step-in-sequential-freeing-up-of-farm-sector/2107611/
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The article analyses some trends in India’s population growth as found in the Sample Registration System Statistical Report (2018).
Context
- There have been some encouraging trends in India’s population in the Sample Registration System (SRS) Statistical Report (2018) and global population projections made by the Institute of Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME), US.
Declining TFR
- SRS report estimated the Total Fertility Rate (TFR), the number of children a mother would have at the current pattern of fertility during her lifetime, as 2.2 in the year 2018.
- It is estimated that replacement TFR of 2.1 would soon be, if not already, reached for India as a whole.
- As fertility declines, so does the population growth rate.
- This report estimated the natural annual population growth rate to be 1.38 per cent in 2018.
- A comparison of 2011 and 2018 SRS statistical reports shows that TFR declined from 2.4 to 2.2 during this period.
- Fertility declined in all major states.
- In 2011, 10 states had a fertility rate below the replacement rate. This increased to 14 states.
- The annual natural population growth rate also declined from 1.47 to 1.38 per cent during this period.
So, when will India’s population stabilise
- Duet to population momentum effect, a result of more people entering the reproductive age group of 15-49 years due to the past high-level of fertility, population stabilisation will take some time.
- The UN Population Division has estimated that India’s population would possibly peak at 161 crore around 2061.
- Recently, IHME estimated that it will peak at 160 crore in 2048.
- Some of this momentum effect can be mitigated if young people delay childbearing and space their children.
Factors affecting fertility rates
- Fertility largely depends upon social setting and programme strength.
- Programme strength is indicated by the unmet need for contraception, which has several components.
- The National Family Health Survey (2015-16) provides us estimates for the unmet need at 12.9 per cent and contraceptive prevalence of 53.5 per cent for India.
- Female education is a key indicator for social setting, higher the female education level, lower the fertility.
- As the literacy of women in the reproductive age group is improving rapidly, we can be sanguine about continued fertility reduction.
Declining sex ratio at birth: Cause for concerrn
- The SRS reports show that sex ratio at birth in India, measured as the number of females per 1,000 males, declined marginally from 906 in 2011 to 899 in 2018.
- Biologically normal sex ratio at birth is 950 females to 1,000 males.
- The UNFPA State of World Population 2020 estimated the sex ratio at birth in India as 910, lower than all the countries in the world except China.
- This is a cause for concern for following 2 reasons:
- 1) This adverse ratio results in a gross imbalance in the number of men and women.
- 2) Impact on marriage systems as well as other harms to women.
- Increasing female education and economic prosperity help to improve the ratio.
- It is hoped that a balanced sex ratio at birth could be realised over time, although this does not seem to be happening during the period 2011-18.
Conclusion
In conclusion, there is an urgent need to reach young people both for reproductive health education and services as well as to cultivate gender equity norms. This could reduce the effect of population momentum and accelerate progress towards reaching a more normal sex-ratio at birth. India’s population future depends on it.
Back2Basics: Total Fertility Rate and Replacement rate
- Total fertility rate (TFR) in simple terms refers to total number of children born or likely to be born to a woman in her life time if she were subject to the prevailing rate of age-specific fertility in the population.
- TFR of about 2.1 children per woman is called Replacement-level fertility (UN, Population Division).
- This value represents the average number of children a woman would need to have to reproduce herself by bearing a daughter who survives to childbearing age.
- If replacement level fertility is sustained over a sufficiently long period, each generation will exactly replace itself without any need for the country to balance the population by international migration.
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