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  • Retail Inflation climbs to 6.07%

    India’s retail inflation inched up to an eight-month high of 6.07% in February from 6.01% in January, with rural India experiencing a sharper price rise at 6.38%.

    What is Retail Inflation?

    • When we generally talk about retail inflation, it often refers to the rate of inflation based on the consumer price index (CPI).
    • The CPI tracks the change in retail prices of goods and services which households purchase for their daily consumption.
    • The CPI monitors retail prices at a certain level for a particular commodity; price movement of goods and services at rural, urban and all-India levels.
    • The change in the price index over a period of time is referred to as CPI-based inflation, or retail inflation.

    What is Consumer Price Index (CPI)?

    • It is an index measuring retail inflation in the economy by collecting the change in prices of most common goods and services used by consumers.
    • In India, there are four consumer price index numbers, which are calculated, and these are as follows:
      1. CPI for Industrial Workers (IW)
      2. CPI for Agricultural Labourers (AL)
      3. CPI for Rural Labourers (RL) and
      4. CPI for Urban Non-Manual Employees (UNME).
    • While the Ministry of Statistics and Program Implementation collects CPI (UNME) data and compiles it, the remaining three are collected by the Labour Bureau in the Ministry of Labour.
    • The base year for CPI is 2012.
    • To calculate CPI, multiply 100 to the fraction of the cost price of the current period and the base period.

    Significance of CPI

    • Generally, CPI is used as a macroeconomic indicator of inflation, as a tool by the central bank and government for inflation targeting and for inspecting price stability, and as deflator in the national accounts.
    • CPI also helps understand the real value of salaries, wages, and pensions, the purchasing power of the nation’s currency, and regulating rates.
    • CPI, one of the most important statistics to ascertain economic health, is generally based on the weighted average of the prices of commodities.
    • It basically gives an idea of the cost of the standard of living.

     

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  • Functioning of the ISS after US sanctions

    Western sanctions against Russia could cause the International Space Station (ISS) to crash, the head of Russian space agency Roscosmos has warned.

    What is the ISS?

    • The ISS was launched in 1998 as part of joint efforts by the U.S., Russia, Japan, Canada and Europe.
    • The idea of a space station originated in the 1984 State of the Union address by former U.S. President Ronald Reagan.
    • The space station was assembled over many years, and it operates in low-earth orbit.
    • Since its inception, it has served as a laboratory suspended in space and has aided multiple scientific and technological developments.
    • The ISS was originally built to operate for 15 years.

    Why was ISS launched?

    • A space station permits quantum leaps in research in science, communications, and in metals and lifesaving medicines which could be manufactured only in space.
    • ISS has consistently maintained human presence for the past 21 years, providing astronauts with sophisticated technologies for scientific research.

    What is Russia’s role in maintaining the ISS?

    • The ISS is built with the co-operation of scientists from five international space agencies — NASA of the U.S., Roscosmos of Russia, JAXA of Japan, Canadian Space Agency and the European Space Agency.
    • Each agency has a role to play and a share in the upkeep of the ISS.
    • Both in terms of expense and effort, it is not a feat that a single country can support.
    • Russia’s part in the collaboration is the module responsible for making course corrections to the orbit of the ISS.
    • They also ferry astronauts to the ISS from the Earth and back.
    • Until SpaceX’s dragon spacecraft came into the picture the Russian spacecrafts were the only way of reaching the ISS and returning.

    Why does the orbit of the ISS need to be corrected?

    • Due to its enormous weight and the ensuing drag, the ISS tends to sink from its orbit at a height of about 250 miles above the Earth.
    • It has to be pushed up to its original line of motion every now and then.
    • This is rather routine, even for smaller satellites.
    • Approximately once a month this effort has to be made.
    • The other reason for altering the path of the ISS is to avoid its collision with space debris, which can damage the station.

    What is the extent of effort and expense involved in this?

    • Manoeuvring the ISS is expensive.
    • In a year, 7-8 tonnes of fuel may need to be spent, with each manoeuvre costing nearly a tonne of fuel.
    • If a manoeuvre is put off for later, the ISS may sink a little more and the delayed operation would cost more as a larger correction needs to be made.

    Risks of crashing

    • The orbit of the ISS does not fly over the Russian territory mostly.
    • Places that are closer to the equator run a greater risk of it falling in their domain.
    • The orbit is at about 50 degrees and so most probably, the ISS will fall in that level.
    • But this is only a probability, as it can move or disintegrate.
    • But in case of this eventuality, people in the ISS will be brought back, modules can be detached thereby making it much smaller which will ensure that it disintegrates before touching the earth.

     

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  • Indian missile misfires into Pakistan

    India has acknowledged a malfunction led to accidental firing of a missile, which Pakistan says landed in its territory.

    Conducting Missile Tests: NOTAM and NAVAREA Warnings

    • Under the pre-notification of flight testing of ballistic missiles agreement signed in 2005, a country must provide the other an advance notification on flight test it intends to take for any land or sea launched, surface-to-surface ballistic missile.
    • Before the test, the country must issue Notice to Air Missions (NOTAM) or Navigational Warning (NAVAREA) to alert aviation pilots and seafarers, respectively.
    • Also, the testing country must ensure that the launch site is not within 40 km, and the planned impact area is not within 75 km of either the International Boundary (IB) or the Line of Control (LoC).
    • The planned trajectory should not cross the IB or the LoC and must maintain a horizontal distance of at least 40 km from the border.

    Pre-notifications to the neighbours

    • The testing country must notify the other nation “no less than three days in advance of the commencement of a five day launch window within which it intends to undertake flight tests.
    • The pre-notification has to be conveyed through the respective Foreign Offices and the High Commissions, as per the format annexed to this Agreement.

    What is the recent case of misfire?

    • Neither country has spelt this out; Pakistan has only called it a “supersonic” missile.
    • Some experts have speculated that it was a test of one of India’s top missiles, BrahMos, jointly developed with Russia.
    • Their assessment is based on information that it travelled 200 km, manoeuvred mid-air and travelled at 2.5 times to 3 times the speed of sound at an altitude of 40,000 feet.
    Note:  BrahMos has a top speed of Mach 3, a range of around 290 km, and a cruising altitude of 15 km (around 50,000 feet). It can be fired from anywhere, is nuclear-capable, and can carry warheads of 200-300 kg.

     

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  • Art-form in news: Santhali Sohrai Murals

    Santhali communities of Odisha and Jharkhand are changing their ways of painting traditional Sohrai murals to modernity.

    What is Sohrai?

    • Sohrai is a harvest festival of the Indian states of Bihar, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, and West Bengal.
    • It also called cattle festival. It is celebrated after harvest and coincide with festival of Diwali.

    What are Sohrai Murals?

    • Sohrai Mural is an indigenous art form is practised by the women of Santhal Community.
    • Ritualistic art is done on mud walls to welcome the harvest and to celebrate the cattle.
    • The women clean their houses and decorate their walls with murals of Sohrai arts.
    • This art form has continued since 10,000-4,000 BC. It was prevalent mostly in caves, but shifted to houses with mud walls.

    Features of this art

    • This Sohrai art form can be monochromatic or colorful.
    • The people coat the wall with a layer of white mud, and while the layer is still wet, they draw with their fingertips on it.
    • Their designs range from flowers and fruits to various other nature-inspired designs.
    • The cow dung that was earlier used to cake the walls of the house is used to add colour.
    • The dark outline is visible due to the previously applied contrasting white mud coat.
    • The artists are spontaneous in their drawing. The designs are usually drawn from the artist’s memory.
    • The personal experience of the artist and their interaction with nature are the biggest influence.

     

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  • [pib] National Land Monetisation Corporation (NLMC)

    The Union Cabinet has approved the setting up of a new government-owned firm National Land Monetisation Corporation (NLMC) for pooling and monetizing sovereign and public sector land assets.

    What is NLMC?

    • The National Land Monetisation Corporation (NLMC) is being formed with an initial authorised share capital of ₹5,000 crore and paid-up capital of ₹150 crore.
    • The government will appoint a chairman to head the NLMC through a “merit-based selection process” and hire private sector professionals with expertise.
    • The NLMC will undertake monetization of surplus land and building assets of Central public sector enterprises (CPSEs) as well as government agencies.

    How will it function?

    • NLMC will own, hold, manage and monetise surplus land and building assets of CPSEs under closure and surplus non-core land assets of Government-owned CPSEs under strategic disinvestment.
    • This will speed up the closure process of CPSEs and smoothen the strategic disinvestment process of Government-owned CPSEs, the statement said.
    • NLMC will undertake surplus land asset monetisation as an agency function, and assist and provide technical advice to the Centre in this regard.
    • The NLMC board will comprise senior Government officers and eminent experts, while its chairman and non-Government directors will be appointed through a merit-based selection process, the statement said.
    • The Corporation will have minimal full-time staff, hired directly from the market on a contract basis.

    Stipulated tasks

    • CPSEs have referred around 3,400 acres of land and other non-core assets to the Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM) for monetisation.
    • Monetisation of non-core assets of MTNL, BSNL, BPCL, BEML, HMT, is currently at various stages of the transaction, as per latest data in the Economic Survey 2021-22.

    Significance of NLMC

    • The government would be able to generate substantial revenues by monetizing unused and under-used assets.
    • The new corporation will also help carry out monetization of assets belonging to public sector firms that have closed or are lined up for a strategic sale.

     

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  • What are Karewas?

    Kashmir’s highly fertile alluvial soil deposits called ‘karewas’ are being destroyed in the name of development, much to the peril of local people

    What are Karewas?

    • The Kashmir valley is an oval-shaped basin, 140 km long and 40 km wide, trending in the NNW–SSE direction.
    • It is an intermountain valley fill, comprising of unconsolidated gravel and mud.
    • A succession of plateaus is present above the Plains of Jhelum and its tributaries.
    • These plateau-like terraces are called ‘Karewas’ or ‘Vudr’ in the local language.
    • These plateaus are 13,000-18,000 metre-thick deposits of alluvial soil and sediments like sandstone and mudstone.
    • This makes them ideal for cultivation of saffron, almonds, apples and several other cash crops.

    Significance of Karewas

    • Today, the karewa sediments not only hold fossils and remnants of many human civilisations and habitations, but are also the most fertile spots in the valley.
    • Kashmir saffron, which received a Geographical Indication (GI) tag in 2020 for its longer and thicker stigmas, deep-red colour, high aroma and bitter flavour, is grown on these karewas.

    How are they formed?

    • The fertility of these patches is believed to be the result of their long history of formation.
    • When formed during the Pleistocene period (2.6 million years to 11,700 years ago), the Pir Panjal range blocked the natural drainage in the region and formed a lake spanning 5,000 sq km.
    • Over the next few centuries, the water receded, making way for the valley and the formation of the karewas between the mountains.

    Threats to Karewas

    • Despite its agricultural and archaeological importance, karewas are now being excavated to be used in construction.
    • Between 1995 and 2005, massive portions of karewas in Pulwama, Budgam and Baramulla districts were razed to the ground for clay for the 125-km-long Qazigund-Baramulla rail line.
    • The Srinagar airport is built on the Damodar karewa in Budgam.

     

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  • In news: Pal-Dadhvav Massacre

    The Gujarat government has marked 100 years of the Pal-Dadhvav killings, calling it a massacre “bigger than the Jallianwala Bagh”.

    Pal-Dadhvav Massacre

    • The massacre took place on March 7, 1922, in the Pal-Chitariya and Dadhvaav villages of Sabarkantha district, then part of Idar state.
    • The day was Amalki Ekadashi, which falls just before Holi, a major festival for tribals.
    • Villagers from Pal, Dadhvav, and Chitariya had gathered on the banks of river Heir as part of the ‘Eki movement’, led by one Motilal Tejawat.
    • The movement was to protest against the land revenue tax (lagaan) imposed on the peasants by the British and feudal lords.
    • Tejawat, who belonged to Koliyari village in the Mewad region of Rajasthan, had also mobilised Bhils from Kotda Chhavni, Sirohi, and Danta to participate.

    The fateful day

    • Tejawat had been outlawed by the Udaipur state, which had announced a Rs-500 reward on his head.
    • The Mewad Bhil Corps (MBC), a paramilitary force raised by the British that was on the lookout for Tejawat, heard of this gathering and reached the spot.
    • On a command from Tejawat, nearly 2000 Bhils raised their bows and arrows and shouted in unison- ‘We will not pay the tax’.
    • The MBC commanding officer, HG Sutton, ordered his men to fire upon them creating a huge stampede.
    • Nearly 1,000 tribals (Bhils) fell to bullets. While the British claimed some 22 people were killed, the Bhils believe 1,200-1,500 of them died.

    Must read:

    Important Rebellions and Peasant Movements

     

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  • Stagflation’ in India

    Reports suggest that crude oil prices soared and touched almost $140 per barrel mark amid Russian invasion of Ukraine. This has posed a risk of causing Stagflation in India.

    What is Stagflation?

    • Stagflation is a stagnant growth and persistently high inflation. It, thus, describes a rather rare and curious condition of an economy.
    • Iain Macleod, a Conservative Party MP in the United Kingdom, is known to have coined the phrase during his speech on the UK economy in November 1965.
    • Typically, rising inflation happens when an economy is booming — people are earning lots of money, demanding lots of goods and services and as a result, prices keep going up.
    • When the demand is down and the economy is in the doldrums, by the reverse logic, prices tend to stagnate (or even fall).
    • But stagflation is a condition where an economy experiences the worst of both worlds — the growth rate is largely stagnant (along with rising unemployment) and inflation is not only high but persistently so.

    How does one get into Stagflation?

    • The best-known case of stagflation is what happened in the early and mid-1970s.
    • The OPEC (Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries), which works like a cartel, decided to cut crude oil supply.
    • This sent oil prices soaring across the world; they were up by almost 70%.
    • This sudden oil price shock not only raised inflation everywhere, especially in the western economies but also constrained their ability to produce, thus hampering their economic growth.
    • High inflation and stalled growth (and the resulting unemployment) created stagflation.

    Is India facing stagflation?

    • In the recent past, this question has gained prominence since late 2019, when retail inflation spiked due to unseasonal rains causing a spike in food inflation.
    • In December 2019, it was also becoming difficult for the government to deny that India’s growth rate was witnessing a secular deceleration.
    • As revised estimates, released in January end, now show, India’s GDP growth rate decelerated from over 8% in 2016-17 to just 3.7% in 2019-20.
    • However, the answer to this question in December 2019 was a clear no.
    • For one, in absolute terms, India’s GDP was still growing, albeit at a progressively slower rate.

    Why this is a cause of concern?

    • Russia is the world’s second-largest oil producer and, as such, if its oil is kept out of the market because of sanctions, it will not only lead to prices spiking, but also mean they will stay that way for long.
    • While India is not directly involved in the conflict, it will be badly affected if oil prices move higher and stay that way.
    • India imports more than 84% of its total oil demand. At one level, that puts into perspective all the talk of being Atmanirbhar (or self-reliant).
    • Without these imports, India’s economy would come to a sudden halt — both metaphorically as well as actually.

    Expected impact on Indian Economy

    • Higher inflation would rob Indians of their purchasing power, thus bringing down their overall demand.
    • In other words, people are not demanding enough for the economy to grow fast.
    • Private consumer demand is the biggest driver of growth in India.
    • Such aggregate demand — the monetary sum of all the soaps, phones, cars, refrigerators, holidays etc. that we all spend on in our personal capacity — accounts for more than 55% of India’s total GDP.
    • Higher prices will reduce this demand, which is already struggling to come back up to the pre-Covid level.
    • Fewer goods and services being demanded will then disincentivise businesses from investing in new capacities, which, in turn, will exacerbate the unemployment crisis and lead to even lower incomes.

    Back2Basics: Inflation and its impact

    • Depression: It is Economic depression is a sustained, long-term downturn in economic
    • Deflation: It is the general fall in the price level over a period of time.
    • Disinflation: It is the fall in the rate of inflation or a slower rate of inflation. Example: a fall in the inflation rate from 8% to 6%.
    • Reflation: It is the act of stimulating the economy by increasing the money supply or by reducing taxes, seeking to bring the economy back up to the long-term trend, following a dip in the business cycle. It is the opposite of disinflation.
    • Skewflation: It is the skewed rise in the price of some items while remaining item prices remain the same. E.g. Seasonal rise in the price of onions.
    • Stagflation: The situation of rising prices along with falling growth and employment, is called stagflation. Inflation accompanied by an economic recession.

     

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  • Legacy of Savitribai and Jyotirao Phule

    Maharashtra Governor has recently received flak for his remarks on the social reformist couple Jyotirao and Savitribai Phule.

    Who were the Phules?

    • Mahatma Jyotirao and Savitribai Phule stand out as an extraordinary couple in the social and educational history of India.
    • They spearheaded path-breaking work towards female education and empowerment, and towards ending caste- and gender-based discrimination.
    • In 1840, at a time when child marriages were common, Savitri at the age of ten was married to Jyotirao, who was thirteen years old at the time.
    • The couple later in life strove to oppose child marriage and also organised widow remarriages.

    The Phules’ endeavors and legacy

    • Education: Jyotirao, the revolutionary that he was, observed the lack of opportunities for education for young girls and women.
    • Leaders of the masses: He started to educate his wife at home and trained her to become a teacher. Together, by 1848, the Phules started a school for girls, Shudras and Ati-Shudras in Poona.
    • Widow shelter: The historic work was started by Jyotirao when he was just 21 years old, ably supported by his 18-year-old wife. In 1853, Jyotirao-Savitribai opened a care centre for pregnant widows to have safe deliveries and to end the practice of infanticide owing to social norms.
    • Prevention of infanticide: The Balhatya Pratibandhak Griha (Home for the Prevention of Infanticide) started in their own house at 395, Ganj Peth, Pune.

    The Satyashodhak Samaj:

    • Literally meaning ‘The Truth-Seeker’s Society’ was established on September 24, 1873 by Jyotirao-Savitribai and other like-minded people.
    • The Samaj advocated for social changes that went against prevalent traditions, including economical weddings, inter-caste marriages, eradication of child marriages, and widow remarriage.
    • The Phules also had far-sighted goals — popularising female education, establishing an institutional structure of schools in India, and to have a society where women worked in tandem with men.

     

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  • Tiger Density in India

    Preliminary findings of a study by the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) suggest that the density of tigers in the Sunderbans may have reached the carrying capacity of the mangrove forests, leading to frequent dispersals and a surge in human-wildlife conflict.

    Tiger Density of India

    • In the Terai and Shivalik hills habitat — think Corbett tiger reserve, for example — 10-16 tigers can survive in 100 sq km.
    • This slides to 7-11 tigers per 100 sq km in the reserves of north-central Western Ghats such as Bandipur, and to 6-10 tigers per 100 sq km in the dry deciduous forests, such as Kanha, of central India.
    • The correlation between prey availability and tiger density is fairly established.
    • There is even a simple linear regression explaining the relationship in the 2018 All-India Tiger report that put the carrying capacity in the Sunderbans “at around 4 tigers” per 100 sq km.
    • A joint Indo-Bangla study in 2015 pegged the tiger density at 2.85 per 100 sq km after surveying eight blocks spanning 2,913 sq km across the international borders in the Sunderbans.

    Conflict: cause or effect

    • The consequence, as classical theories go, is frequent dispersal of tigers leading to higher levels of human-wildlife conflict in the reserve peripheries.
    • Physical (space) and biological (forest productivity) factors have an obvious influence on a reserve’s carrying capacity of tigers.
    • What also plays a crucial role is how the dispersal of wildlife is tolerated by people — from the locals who live around them to policymakers who decide management strategies.
    • More so when different land uses overlap and a good number of people depend on forest resources for livelihood.

    Why tiger corridors are not a solution?

    • But though vital for genes to travel and avoid a population bottleneck, wildlife corridors may not be the one-stop solution for conflict.
    • First, not all dispersing tigers will chance upon corridors simply because many will find territories of other tigers between them and such openings.
    • Even the lucky few that may take those routes are likely to wander to the forest edges along the way.
    • Worse, the corridors may not lead to viable forests in reserves such as Sunderbans, bounded by the sea and villages.

    Way ahead

    • Artificially boosting the prey base in a reserve is often an intuitive solution but it can be counter-productive.
    • To harness the umbrella effect of tigers for biodiversity conservation, it is more beneficial to increase areas occupied by tigers.
    • For many, the prescription is to create safe connectivity among forests and allow tigers to disperse safely to new areas.

    Try this PYQ from CSP 2020:

    Q.Among the following Tiger Reserves, which one has the largest area under “Critical Tiger Habitat” ?

    (a) Corbett

    (b) Ranthambore

    (c) Nagarjunasagar- Srisailam

    (d) Sunderbans

     

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