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  • Nusantara City: New Capital of Indonesia

    Indonesia passed a bill replacing its capital Jakarta with East Kalimantan, situated to the east of Borneo island. The new capital city of the country will be called Nusantara.

    About Nusantara

    • The New State Capital Law Bill has been drafted by a special committee set up by Widodo’s government and makes Nusantara, also called IKN, the capital of the Republic of Indonesia.
    • The transfer of the status of Jakarta as Indonesia’s capital to Nusantara, where 256,142 hectares of land has been set aside for the project, will take place in the “first semester” of 2024.
    • East Kalimantan, where the new capital will be, as per the bill is said to have a world-city vision.
    • It will be designed and managed with the objective of becoming a sustainable city in the world.

    Why is Indonesia changing its capital city?

    • The new location is very strategic – it’s in the centre of Indonesia and close to urban areas.
    • The burden Jakarta is holding right now is too heavy as the centre of governance, business, finance, trade and services.
    • Jakarta is also infamous for being the worlds’ first sinking capital city due to rising sea levels.
    • The city’s pollution levels are so bad that it has been ranking as one of the most polluted cities in the world for years.
    • Another important reason to shift the capital from Java island to Borneo island has been the growing inequality – financial and otherwise.

    Where is East Kalimantan?

    • East Kalimantan is 2,300 kilometres from Jakarta on the eastern side of Borneo island, shared by Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei.
    • The new capital will be located in the North Penajam Paser and Kutai Kartanegara regions.
    • East Kalimantan is an area with immense water resources and habitable terrain.
    • East Kalimantan is rich in flora and fauna.

    Why Nusantara?

    • Nusantara is an old Javanese term that means ‘archipelago’.
    • Nusantara has historical, sociological, and philosophical aspects attached to the name.
    • The name would represent Indonesia as a whole and would show the potential of the nation.

    What are the other countries that have changed capitals?

    • Indonesia is not the first country to change its capital city.
    • There has been a long list of countries that have changed their capitals for various reasons. Brazil changed its capital city from Rio De Janerio to Brasilia, a more centrally-located city, in 1960.
    • In 1991, Nigeria hanged the country’s capital from Lagos to Abuja.
    • Kazakhstan moved its capital city from Almaty, which is still its commercial centre, to Nur-Sultan in 1997.
    • Myanmar changed its capital from Rangoon to Naypyidaw in 2005.

     

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  • AP govt bans Chintamani Padya Natakam: A noted Telugu folk play

    The Andhra Pradesh government has brought the curtains down on the popular Telugu play ‘Chintamani Padya Natakam’, which has enthralled people for almost 100 years.

    Chintamani Padya Natakam

    • It is a stage play penned by social reformer, writer and poet Kallakuri Narayana Rao about 100 years ago.
    • In the play, the writer explains how people neglect their families by falling prey to certain social evils.
    • It was aimed to create awareness on the Devadasi system and how the flesh trade was ruining many families at that particular period.
    • Subbisetty, Chintamani, Bilvamangaludu, Bhavani Shankaram, and Srihari are some of the characters in the play.

    Its performance

    • The play is named after the main character, Chintamani, a woman born into a family involved in the flesh trade.
    • The play focuses on how she attained salvation after repentance.
    • Subbi Shetty, a character in the play, loses his wealth to Chintamani and his character is utilised in a way that engages the audience.
    • Chintamani play is popular across the state. It has been performed at thousands of places.
    • The play continues to engage the audience even today and has become a must stage play in villages during Dasara celebrations.

    Why it got banned?

    • Began as a social sermon, this play has been increasingly going vulgar.
    • Subbi Shetty, who resembles a person of a transgender community, is used to portray the social group in a bad way.
    • Obscene dialogues are added to the play in the name of creativity.

     

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  • Species in news: Swamp Deer

    The population of the vulnerable eastern swamp deer, extinct elsewhere in South Asia, has dipped (from 907 in 2018 to 868 in 2020 ) in the Kaziranga National Park and Tiger Reserve.

    Swamp Deer

    • The swamp deer also called as barasingha is a deer species distributed in the Indian subcontinent.
    • Populations in northern and central India are fragmented, and two isolated populations occur in southwestern Nepal.
    • It has been locally extinct in Pakistan and Bangladesh, and its presence is uncertain in Bhutan.
    • In Assamese, barasingha is called dolhorina; dol meaning swamp.

    Note: Swamp deers do occur in the Kanha National Park of Madhya Pradesh, in two localities in Assam, and in only 6 localities in Uttar Pradesh.

    Conservation status

    • IUCN Red List: Endangered
    • CITES: Appendix I
    • Wildlife Protection Act of 1972: Schedule I

     

    Try this PYQ:

    Q. Consider the following fauna of India:

    1. Gharial
    2. Leatherback turtle
    3. Swamp deer

    Which of the above is/are endangered?

    (a) 1 and 2 only

    (b) 3 only

    (c) 1, 2 and 3

    (d) None

     

    [wpdiscuz-feedback id=”qbvqhaqmhv” question=”Please leave a feedback on this” opened=”1″]Post your answers here.[/wpdiscuz-feedback]

     

     

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  • What are Smog Towers?

    Some researchers in New Delhi have observed paradoxical phenomena near the smog towers. The air closest to the tower should be cleanest, but the device recorded the opposite in several instances.

    What are Smog Towers?

    • Smog towers are structures designed to work as large-scale air purifiers. They are fitted with multiple layers of air filters and fans at the base to suck the air.
    • After the polluted air enters the smog tower, it is purified by multiple layers before being re-circulated into the atmosphere.

    Structure of the Delhi smog tower

    • The structure is 24 m high, about as much as an 8-storey building — an 18-metre concrete tower, topped by a 6-metre-high canopy. At its base are 40 fans, 10 on each side.
    • Each fan can discharge 25 cubic metres per second of air, adding up to 1,000 cubic metres per second for the tower as a whole. Inside the tower in two layers are 5,000 filters.
    • The filters and fans have been imported from the United States.

    How does it work?

    • The tower uses a ‘downdraft air cleaning system’ developed by the University of Minnesota.
    • Polluted air is sucked in at a height of 24 m, and filtered air is released at the bottom of the tower, at a height of about 10 m from the ground.
    • When the fans at the bottom of the tower operate, the negative pressure created sucks in air from the top.
    • The ‘macro’ layer in the filter traps particles of 10 microns and larger, while the ‘micro’ layer filters smaller particles of around 0.3 microns.
    • The downdraft method is different from the system used in China, where a tower uses an ‘updraft’ system — air is sucked in from near the ground, and is propelled upwards by heating and convection.
    • Filtered air is released at the top of the tower.

    Likely impact

    • Computational fluid dynamics modelling suggests the tower could have an impact on the air quality up to 1 km from the tower.
    • The actual impact will also determine how the tower functions under different weather conditions, and how levels of PM2.5 vary with the flow of air.

    Issues with smog towers

    • Many experts say that the smog towers are not a viable method to clean city’s air.
    • The government had talked about 80% pollution reduction at inlet and outlet of the tower but never mentioned about the effect of distance from the tower.
    • Instead of spending ₹40 crore on two towers, the government could have spent the funds on several other options such as replacing the small and polluting industrial boilers or chimneys etc.

     

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  • How Republic Day tableaux are designed and selected

    Recently, West Bengal’s tableau for the Republic Day parade was rejected without assigning any reasons or justifications.

    Who manages the R-Day Parade?

    • The Defence Ministry is the responsible authority for the Republic Day parade and the celebrations.
    • Around September, it invites all the states, the UTs, Central Government departments, and a few constitutional authorities to participate in the parade through tableaux.

    Managing Tableaux

    • The Defence Ministry shares the basic guidelines about what all the tableaux can or should include.
    • The tableaux of two different states/ UTs cannot be too similar, as the tableaux, together, should showcase the diversity of the country.
    • The tableaux cannot have any writing or use of logos, except for the name of the state/ UT/ department, which should be written in Hindi on the front, English on the back, and a regional language on the sides.
    • The Ministry also asks the participants to use eco-friendly material for the tableaux, and avoid the use of plastic or plastic-based products.

    How are the tableaux selected?

    • The selection process is elaborate and time-consuming.
    • The Defence Ministry constitutes an expert committee of distinguished persons from fields like art, culture, painting, sculpture, music, architecture, choreography, etc.

    Process of selection

    (1) Submission of sketches

    • First, the submitted sketches or designs of the proposals are scrutinised by this committee, which can make suggestions for any modifications in the sketch or design.
    • The sketch should be simple, colourful, easy to comprehend and should avoid unnecessary detail.
    • It should be self-explanatory, and should not need any written elaboration.

    (2) Music and Visuals

    • If there is a traditional dance involved with the tableau, it should be a folk dance, and the costumes and musical instruments should be traditional and authentic.
    • The proposal should include a video clipping of the dance.

    (3) 3D Models

    • Once approved, the next stage is for the participants to come up with three-dimensional models for their proposals.
    • These are again examined by the expert committee for final selection, taking in view several criteria.
    • In making the final selection the committee looks at a combination of factors, looking at the visual appeal, impact on the masses, idea/ theme of the tableaux, degree of detail involved.

    Do they have to be of a particular size?

    The Defence Ministry provides each participant with one tractor and one trailer, and the tableau should fit on that.

    • The ministry prohibits use of any additional tractor or trailer, or even any other vehicle to be part of it.
    • However, the participant can replace their ministry-provided tractor or trailer with other vehicles, but the total number should not be more than two vehicles.
    • The tractor has to be camouflaged in harmony with the tableau’s theme, and the ministry stipulates a distance of around six feet between the tractor and the trailer for turning and manoeuvering.
    • The dimensions of the trailer on which the tableau will be placed is 24 feet, 8 inches long; eight feet wide; four feet two inches high; with a load-bearing capacity of 10 tonnes.
    • The tableaux should not be more than 45 feet long, 14 feet wide and 16 feet high from the ground.

    (Republic Day celebrations from this year will start on January 23 instead of January 24 to include the birth anniversary of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose.)

     

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  • Art-form in news: Kathak

    Kathak legend Pandit Birju Maharaj has recently passed away.

    About Kathak

    • Kathak is one of the eight major forms of Indian classical dance.
    • The origin of Kathak is traditionally attributed to the traveling bards in of ancient northern India known as Kathakars or storytellers.
    • The term Kathak is derived from the Vedic Sanskrit word Katha which means “story”, and Kathakar which means “the one who tells a story”, or “to do with stories”.
    • Wandering Kathakars communicated stories from the great epics and ancient mythology through dance, songs and music.

    Its origin

    • Kathak dancers tell various stories through their hand movements and extensive footwork, their body movements and flexibility but most importantly through their facial expressions.
    • It evolved during the Bhakti movement, particularly by incorporating the childhood and stories of the Hindu god Krishna, as well as independently in the courts of north Indian kingdoms.
    • Kathak is unique in having both Hindu and Muslim gharanas and cultural elements of these gharanas.
    • Kathak performances include Urdu Ghazals and commonly used instruments brought during the Mughal period.

    Major gharanas

    • Kathak is found in three distinct forms, called “gharanas”, named after the cities where the Kathak dance tradition evolved – Jaipur, Banaras and Lucknow.
    • While the Jaipur gharana focuses more on the foot movements, the Banaras and Lucknow gharanas focus more on facial expressions and graceful hand movements.

    Performance details

    • It involves both Nritta (pure dance) and Nritya (expressive dance).
    • Stylistically, the Kathak dance form emphasizes rhythmic foot movements, adorned with small bells (Ghungroo) and the movement harmonized to the music.
    • The legs and torso are generally straight, and the story is told through a developed vocabulary based on the gestures of arms and upper body movement, facial expressions, neck movements, eyes and eyebrow movement, stage movements, bends and turns.
    • The main focus of the dance becomes the eyes and the foot movements.
    • The eyes work as a medium of communication of the story the dancer is trying to communicate. With the eyebrows the dancer gives various facial expressions.
    • A Kathak performance can be solo, duo or team. In a technical performance, the speed and energy the dancers exchange with the audience increases in multiples, that is the tempo doubles or quadruples.

     

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  • Web 3.0: A vision for the future

    The concept of Web3, also called Web 3.0, used to describe a potential next phase of the internet, created quite a buzz in 2021.

    What is Web3?

    • The model, a decentralized internet to be run on blockchain technology, would be different from the versions in use, Web 1.0 and Web 2.0.
    • In web3, users will have ownership stakes in platforms and applications unlike now where tech giants control the platforms.

    Previous versions of Web

    To understand web3, we should start with Web 1.0 and Web 2.0.

    [1] Web 1

    • Web 1.0 is the world wide web or the internet that was invented in 1989. It became popular from 1993.
    • The internet in the Web 1.0 days was mostly static web pages where users would go to a website and then read and interact with the static information.
    • Even though there were e-commerce websites in the initial days it was still a closed environment and the users themselves could not create any content or post reviews on the internet.
    • Web 1.0 lasted until 1999.

    [2] Web 2

    • Web 2.0 started in some form in the late 1990s itself though 2004 was when most of its features were fully available. It is still the age of Web 2.0 now.
    • The differentiating characteristic of Web 2.0 compared to Web 1.0 is that users can create content.
    • They can interact and contribute in the form of comments, registering likes, sharing and uploading their photos or videos and perform other such activities.
    • Primarily, a social media kind of interaction is the differentiating trait of Web 2.0.

    What are some of the concerns?

    • In Web 2.0, most of the data in the internet and the internet traffic are owned or handled by very few behemoth companies ex. Google.
    • This has created issues related to data privacy, data security and abuse of such data.
    • There is a sense of disappointment that the original purpose of the internet has been distorted.
    • It is in this context that the buzz around Web3 is significant.

    Dawn of Web3

    • Gavin Wood, founder of Ethereum, a block chain technology company, used the term Web3 first in 2014 and in the past few years many others have added to the idea of Web3.
    • In 2021, owing to the popularity of crypto-currency, more discussions happened on Web3.

    How will Web3 address the problems of data monopoly?

    Web3 will deliver decentralized and fair internet where users control their own data.

    • Currently if a seller has to make a business to the buyer, both the buyer and seller need to be registered on a “shop” or “platform” like Amazon or Ebay or any such e-commerce portal.
    • What this “platform” currently does is that it authenticates that the buyer and seller are genuine parties for the transaction.
    • Web3 would try to remove the role of the “platform”.
    • For the buyer to be authenticated, the usual proofs aided by block chain technology will be used. The same goes for the seller.

    How is blockchain technology used here?

    • With block chain, the time and place of the transaction are recorded permanently.
    • Thus, Web3 enables peer to peer (seller to buyer) transaction by eliminating the role of the intermediary. This concept can be extended to other transactions also.
    • Consider a social media application where you want to share pictures with your followers.
    • It could be a broadcast operation from you aided by blockchain and you don’t need social media accounts for all the participants to be able to perform this.

    Another key feature: Decentralized Autonomous Organization

    • The key concepts in Web3 seen so far are peer to peer transaction and block chain.
    • The spirit of Web3 is Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO).
    • DAO is all about the business rules and governing rules in any transaction are transparently available for anyone to see and software will be written conforming to these rules.
    • Crypto-currency and block chain are technologies that follow the DAO principle.
    • With DAO, there is no need for a central authority to authenticate or validate.

    Will it take off?

    • We don’t know yet if Web3 will become the dominant mode of handling the internet but the questions it raises are relevant.
    • Web3 is in its very initial days and there is no consensus if it will take off like Web 1.0 or Web 2.0 did.
    • There is much skepticism from top tech brains in the industry and the academic community that Web3 does not solve the problems it purports to solve.

     

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  • Species in news: Asiatic Lions in Kuno National Park

    Experts have argued that the introduction of African cheetahs to Kuno National Park could endanger the Asiatic lion which has also been identified for re-introduction.

    Do you know?

    Cheetahs had a more extensive distribution than lions — there are no records of lions occurring south of the Narmada River, but Asiatic cheetahs roamed most of India until they were hunted to extinction by 1947.

    About Asiatic Cheetah

    • Cheetah, the world’s fastest land animal was declared extinct in India in 1952.
    • The Asiatic cheetah is classified as a “critically endangered” species by the IUCN Red List, and is believed to survive only in Iran.
    • It was expected to be re-introduced into the country after the Supreme Court lifted curbs for its re-introduction.
    • From 400 in the 1990s, their numbers are estimated to have reached to 50-70 today, because of poaching, hunting of their main prey (gazelles) and encroachment on their habitat.

    Why reintroduce Cheetahs?

    • Reintroductions of large carnivores have increasingly been recognized as a strategy to conserve threatened species and restore ecosystem functions.
    • The cheetah is the only large carnivore that has been extirpated, mainly by over-hunting in India in historical times.
    • India now has the economic ability to consider restoring its lost natural heritage for ethical as well as ecological reasons.

    Why was the project halted?

    • The court was worried whether the African cheetahs would find the sanctuary a favorable climate as far as the abundance of prey is concerned.
    • Those who challenged the plan argued that the habitat of cheetahs needed to support a genetically viable population.

    Issues with cheetah re-introduction

    • Since 2018, dozens of lions have died from diseases, including canine distemper, opening up a frightening possibility of loss when confined to a single location.
    • Establishing an additional free-ranging wild lion population in Kuno is of paramount importance and roadblocks, if any, must be transparently addressed.
    • Clearly, the introduction of African cheetahs cannot take precedence over translocating Asiatic lions from Gujarat to Kuno National Park as ordered by none other than the apex court in 2013.
    • However, simultaneous re-introduction can create a conflict for prey between these two wild cats.

     

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  • Carbon Footprints of Cryptocurrencies

    Bitcoin prices are rising these days and so will be its mining. As cryptocurrency will become mainstream, its carbon footprint cannot be ignored.

    What are Cryptocurrencies?

    Cryptocurrency

    Global crypto market

    • In 2019, the global cryptocurrency market was approximately $793 million.
    • It’s now expected to reach nearly $5.2 billion by 2026, according to a report by the market research organization Facts and Factors.
    • In just one year—between July 2020 and June 2021—the global adoption of cryptocurrency surged by more than 880 percent.

    Carbon footprints of Bitcoins

    • Increasing popularity of cryptocurrency has environmentalists on edge, as the digital “mining” of it creates a massive carbon footprint due to the staggering amount of energy it requires.
    • A/c to the Bitcoin Energy Consumption Index, the carbon footprint of Bitcoin is equivalent to that of New Zealand.
    • Both emit nearly 37 megatons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere every year.

    What is Mining?

    • Mining is a process in which computational puzzles are solved in order to verify transactions between users, which are then added to the blockchain.
    • In simpler terms, the works are created, or “minted,” through a process called proof-of-work (PoW), which establishes its unique identity.

    How do cryptocurrencies create such a footprint?

    • Unlike mainstream traditional currencies, bitcoin is virtual and not made from paper or plastic, or even metal.
    • Bitcoin is virtual but power-hungry as it is created using high-powered computers around the globe.
    • Bitcoin is created when high-powered computers compete against other machines to solve complex mathematical puzzles.
    • This is an energy-intensive process that often relies on fossil fuels, particularly coal, the dirtiest of them all.

    Conclusion

    • What this means is that, unlike traditional currency or gold, Bitcoin is not solely a settlement layer, not solely a store of value, and not solely a medium of exchange.
    • This makes Bitcoin’s relative energy consumption productive in comparison to comparative sectors, given its robust potential uses.
    • The promise of such an endeavor offers hope for a more sustainable cryptocurrency future.
    • Whether this will make much difference to the climate crisis in light of government and industrial inaction remains to be seen.

    Back2Basics: Bitcoin Energy Consumption Index

     

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  • Millimeter Wave band in 5G auctions

    The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has asked for views on band plan, block size, and conditions for auction of spectrum in 5G bands, which includes Millimetre (mm) Wave band of 24.25-28.5 GHz.

    Must read:

    Status of 5G Rollout in India

    What is 5G technology?

    • 5G or fifth generation is the latest upgrade in the long-term evolution (LTE) mobile broadband networks.
    • It’s a unified platform that is much more capable than previous mobile services with more capacity, lower latency, faster data delivery rate and better utilisation of spectrum.

    5G spectrum

    5G mainly works in 3 bands, namely low, mid and high-frequency spectrum — all of which have their own uses as well as limitations.

    (1) Low band spectrum

    • It has a great promise in terms of coverage and speed of internet and data exchange but the maximum speed is limited to 100 Mbps (Megabits per second).
    • So Telcos can use and install it for commercial cell phone users who may not have specific demands for very high speed internet, the low band spectrum may not be optimal for specialized needs of the industry.

    (2) Mid-band spectrum

    • It offers higher speeds compared to the low band, but has limitations in terms of coverage area and penetration of signals.
    • This band may be used by industries and specialized factory units for building captive networks that can be moulded into the needs of that particular industry.

    (3) High-band spectrum

    • It offers the highest speed of all the three bands, but has extremely limited coverage and signal penetration strength.
    • Internet speeds in the high-band spectrum of 5G has been tested to be as high as 20 Gbps (giga bits per second), while, in most cases, the maximum internet data speed in 4G has been recorded at 1 Gbps.

    What is Millimetre (mm) Wave Band?

    • Millimetre Wave band or mmWave is a particular segment of radio frequency spectrum that range between 24 GHz and 100 GHz.
    • This spectrum, as the name suggests, has a short wavelength, and is apt to deliver greater speeds and lower latencies.
    • This in turn makes data transfer efficient and seamless as the current available networks work optimally only on lower frequency bandwidths.

    Significance of this mm band

    • 5G services can be deployed using lower frequency bands.
    • They can cover greater distances and are proven to work efficiently even in urban environments, which are prone to interference.
    • But, when it comes to data speeds, these bands fail to hit peak potential needed for a true 5G experience.
    • So, mmWave is that quintessential piece in the 5G jigsaw puzzle for mobile service providers.

    Concerns with inclusion of mm-band

    • The mm bands have been preserved for satellite-based broadband services as per the decision taken by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU).
    • Providing excess spectrum could pose a downside risk of the bands going unsold, or even worse, underutilised by terrestrial players at the expense of satellite-based service providers.
    • Offering excessive spectrum will result in Indian citizens being denied the benefits of high-demand, advanced satellite broadband services.
    • In addition to this, it will result in a massive loss to the Indian economy of up to $184.6 billion by 2030, along with the loss of foreign direct investment (FDI) and employment generation benefits.

    How could this disrupt the satellite communication industry?

    • Internet has largely been provided to users via fibre-optic based broadband connectivity or mobile network.
    • Of late, another class of Internet vendors is showing up. These are satellite-based communication service providers.
    • For example, SpaceX’s Starlink and Bharti Airtel’s OneWeb are some of the players in this market.
    • This segment uses Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites to provide broadband to both urban and rural users. Their service could also be used for weather predictions.
    • The mm band had been the subject of controversy due to out-of-band emissions into the passive satellite band used for weather satellites at 23.6-24 GHz.

    HeaWay ahead

    • The allocation of mmWave band is critical to the satellite communication industry, which needs a stronger regulatory support to ensure that 5G operations don’t interfere with their existing operations.
    • The industry body pointed to Europe’s “5G Roadmap”, which is built on the ITU’s decision to hold these bands for satellite-based broadband services.

     

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