THE POLITY

1. HOW SIKKIM BECAME A PART OF INDIA

THE CONTEXT:  A turning point in the history of Sikkim involves the appointment of John Claude White, a civil servant in British India who in 1889 was appointed the Political Officer of Sikkim, which by then was a British Protectorate under the Treaty of Tumlong signed in March, 1861.

THE EXPLANATION:

It was on May 16, 1975 that Sikkim became 22nd state of the Union of India. While in many modern narratives, the tale of the former kingdom under the Namgyal dynasty acquiring Indian statehood begins in decades close to the 1970s, the real story, according to experts, can only be understood by tracing the events back to 1640s when Namgyal rule was first established.

ATTACKS DURING NAMGYAL RULE

• Beginning with Phuntsog Namgyal, the first chogyal (monarch), the Namgyal dynasty ruled Sikkim until 1975. At one point, the kingdom of Sikkim included the Chumbi valley and Darjeeling; the former being part of China now.
• In the early 1700s, the region saw a series of conflicts between Sikkim, Nepal, Bhutan, and Tibet, which resulted in a shrinking of Sikkim’s territorial boundaries.

BRITISH EXPANSION

• When the British arrived, their expansion plans in the Indian subcontinent included controlling the Himalayan states.
• The kingdom of Nepal, meanwhile, continued with its attempts to expand its territory. This resulted in the Anglo-Nepalese war (November, 1814 to March, 1816), also known as the Gorkha war, which was fought between the Gorkhali army and the East India Company. Both sides had ambitious expansion plans for the strategically important mountainous north of the Indian subcontinent.
• In 1814, Sikkim allied with the East India Company in the latter’s campaign against Nepal. The Company won and restored to Sikkim some of the territories that Nepal had wrested from it in 1780.

THE TURNING POINT

• A turning point in the history of Sikkim involves the appointment of John Claude White, a civil servant in British India who in 1889 was appointed the Political Officer of Sikkim, which by then was a British Protectorate under the Treaty of Tumlong signed in March, 1861.
• As with most of the Indian subcontinent that the British had under their administrative control, the kingdom of Sikkim, although a protectorate, had little choice in the administration of its own kingdom.

SCENARIO AFTER 1947

• Three years after India’s Independence in 1947, Sikkim became a protectorate of India. In 1950, a treaty was signed between the then Sikkim monarch Tashi Namgyal and India’s then Political Officer in Sikkim, Harishwar Dayal. A clause in the treaty read: “Sikkim shall continue to be a Protectorate of India and, subject to the provisions of this Treaty, shall enjoy autonomy in regard to its internal affairs.”
• Geopolitical changes during that time put Sikkim in a delicate position. China’s invasion of Tibet in 1949 and Nepal’s attacks on Sikkim throughout the kingdom’s history were cited as reasons why the kingdom needed the support and protection of a powerful ally.
• Further, the talk of persecution of Tibetans after China’s arrival at the scene generated fear of the possibility of Sikkim suffering a similar fate.

DISCONTENT AGAINST MONARCHY

• The period between the 1950s and the 1970s marked growing discontent in Sikkim. Primarily, there was anger against the monarchy because of growing inequality and feudal control.
• In December 1947, political groups came together and formed the Sikkim State Congress, a political party that supported the merging of Sikkim with the Union of India.
• Three years later, the Sikkim National Party was formed that supported the monarchy and independence of the kingdom. A democratic system would have meant a reduction in powers held by the monarch in Sikkim and some researchers believe that the last monarch, Palden Thondup Namgyal, attempted to reduce civil and political liberties.
• Anti-monarchy protests grew in 1973, following which the royal palace was surrounded by thousands of protesters.
• Indian troops arrived after the monarch was left with no choice but to ask New Delhi to send assistance. Finally, a tripartite agreement was signed in the same year between the chogyal, the Indian government, and three major political parties, so that major political reforms could be introduced.

1974 ELECTIONS

• A year later, in 1974, elections were held, where the Sikkim State Congress led by KaziLhendupDorji won, defeating pro-independence parties. That year, a new constitution was adopted, which restricted the role of the monarch to a titular post, which Palden Thondup Namgyal bitterly resented.
• In the same year, India upgraded Sikkim’s status from protectorate to “associated state”, allotting to it one seat each in the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha. Opposed to the move, the monarch attempted to bring international attention to it soon after.

DECISION TO JOIN INDIA

• A referendum was held in 1975 where an overwhelming majority voted in favour of abolishing the monarchy and joining India.
• A total 59,637 voted in favour of abolishing the monarchy and joining India, with only 1,496 voting against.
• Sikkim’s new parliament, led by KaziLhendupDorjee, proposed a bill for Sikkim to become an Indian state, which was accepted by the Indian government.

THE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

2. THE REPO RATE IN INDIA

THE CONTEXT: On May 4, the Reserve Bank of India, in a surprise move, announced that the bank’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) had held an ‘off-cycle’ meeting at which it had decided unanimously to raise the “policy repo rate by 40 basis points to 4.40%, with immediate effect”.

THE EXPLANATION: 

• The repo rate is one of several direct and indirect instruments that are used by the RBI for implementing monetary policy. Specifically, the RBI defines the repo rate as the fixed interest rate at which it provides overnight liquidity to banks against the collateral of government and other approved securities under the liquidity adjustment facility (LAF).
• Since this is the rate of interest that the RBI charges commercial banks such as State Bank of India and ICICI Bank when it lends them money, it serves as a key benchmark for the lenders to in turn price the loans they offer to their borrowers.
• Besides the direct loan pricing relationship, the repo rate also functions as a monetary tool by helping to regulate the availability of liquidity or funds in the banking system. For instance, when the repo rate is decreased, banks may find an incentive to sell securities back to the government in return for cash. This increases the money supply available to the general economy. Conversely, when the repo rate is increased, lenders would end up thinking twice before borrowing from the central bank at the repo window thus, reducing the availability of money supply in the economy.
• Since inflation is, in large measure, caused by more money chasing the same quantity of goods and services available in an economy, central banks tend to target regulation of money supply as a means to slow inflation.
• Inflation can broadly be: mainly demand driven price gains, or a result of supply side factors that in turn push up the costs of inputs used by producers of goods and providers of services, thus spurring inflation, or most often caused by a combination of both demand and supply side pressures.
• Changes to the repo rate to influence interest rates and the availability of money supply primarily work only on the demand side by making credit more expensive and savings more attractive and therefore dissuading consumption. However, they do little to address the supply side factors, be it the high price of commodities such as crude oil or metals or imported food items such as edible oils.

There is also another aspect to consider. Repo rate increases impact the real economy with a lag.

• In February 2021, the RBI in its annual ‘Report on Currency and Finance’ observed that “the challenge for an efficient operating procedure [of monetary policy] is to minimise the transmission lag from changes in the policy rate to the operating target”, which in this case is the mandate to keep medium-term inflation anchored at 4%, and bound within a tolerance range of 2% to 6%.
• The RBI noted in the report that there were several channels of transmission, ‘the interest rate channel; the credit or bank lending channel; the exchange rate channel operating through relative prices of tradables and non-tradables; the asset price channel impacting wealth/income accruing from holdings of financial assets; and the expectations channel encapsulating the perceptions of households and businesses on the state of the economy and its outlook’.
• “These conduits of transmission intertwine and operate in conjunction and are difficult to disentangle,” the central bank added, underscoring the challenges monetary authorities face in ensuring that changes to the repo rate actually help in achieving the policy objective.

3. WHAT IS FAIR AND AVERAGE QUALITY WHEAT, THE NORMS FOR     WHICH HAVE BEEN RELAXED BY GOVT?

THE CONTEXT: The relaxation of procurement parameters to “reduce the hardship of farmers and avoid distress sale of wheat” does not mean the quality of the grain is bad.

THE EXPLANATION: 

• The Centre on May 15)relaxed the Fair and Average Quality (FAQ) norms for wheat in the ongoing rabi marketing season in Punjab, Haryana, and Chandigarh by a factor of three, raising the permissible limit of “shrivelled and broken grains” to 18% from the existing 6%.
• Unseasonal heat in March, when the rabi crop goes through its grain-filling stage, has led to shrivelling, making the grain unfit for procurement as per the usual quality norms.
• Every year, before procurement begins in this region in April, the Storage and Research (S&R) division of the Department of Food & Public Distribution in the Union Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution, notifies specifications to ensure the quality of the procured wheat.
• This year, wheat containing up to 0.75% foreign matter, 2% damaged grain, 4% slightly damaged grain, 6% shrivelled and broken grain, and 12% moisture was cleared for procurement.
• The specifications are implemented at the time of procurement by qualified personnel from the quality control wing of the central government’s nodal agency for procurement, the Food Corporation of India (FCI). According to FCI, fair and average quality (FAQ) wheat is one that meets all all-down specifications.

Grain that looks good

• FAQ wheat is fully developed, and has a proper shine or lustre. The main varieties are golden or pale yellow in colour, the grain is not dark, and does not have any streaks. It is properly dry, and meets all nutritional conditions, the values of which are tested in the lab in case of doubt.
• The inspector added that FCI’s QC wing conducts physical and chemical analyses during the procurement process, and on the stored crop to ensure quality standards and parameters are met.

PREVIOUS RELAXATIONS

• The government has in the past relaxed norms for moisture content and loss of lustre following heavy rain during the harvesting season, when ripe crops were flattened, and the grain turned blackish. This is for the first time, however, that such a major relaxation has been allowed for shrivelled grain, FCI officials said. The officials said they could not recall a previous relaxation for the shrivelled grain of more than perhaps 1-2%.

Is the wheat bad?

• The relaxation of procurement parameters to “reduce the hardship of farmers and avoid distress sale of wheat” does not mean the quality of the grain is bad. “The grains are smaller in size, but there is no loss of quality.
• The quality control wings of both FCI and the government have carried out several tests on the shrivelled grain, and found only weight loss, not a loss of quality,” a senior FCI officer said, adding that this wheat will now be called “Under Relaxed Specifications (URS) wheat” instead of FAQ.

THE ENVIRONMENT AND ECOLOGY

4. INDIA’S 52ND TIGER RESERVE, RAMGARH VISHDHARI NOTIFIED

THE CONTEXT: Ramgarh Vishdhari, spread across Bundi, Bhilwara and Kota districts in Rajasthan, will be a major corridor connecting tigers of Ranthambore and Mukundra reserves.

THE EXPLANATION:

• Ramgarh Vishdhari Wildlife Sanctuary was notified as a tiger reserve May 16, 2022, after a nod by the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) in July 2021.
• It is now India’s 52nd tiger reserve and Rajasthan’s fourth, after Ranthambore, Sariska and Mukundra.
• There were an estimated 2,967 tigers in India in 2019, according to the National Tiger Conservation Authority.
• The population in this area will probably never be very high because it is a small area. But since it is an important area for tiger connectivity, the conservation efforts and funding that will be deployed there now will benefit the population of the big cats.

5. NEED TO TRIPLE INVESTMENTS FOR RESTORING DEGRADED LAND BY 2030: SEOUL DECLARATION

THE CONTEXT:The investment in forest and landscape restoration globally must be tripled by 2030 to implement global commitments and meet internationally agreed goals and targets, according to the recently adopted Seoul Declaration.

THE EXPLANATION:

• The Declaration focuses on identifying key areas that can help combat multiple crises humanity faces. It was adopted May 5, 2022.
• The Seoul Forest Declaration sends a powerful message that forests, forestry and forest stakeholders offer major solutions to the challenges the world currently faces, but action is needed now.
• We must now scale up political will and increase financial and technical investments. The Declaration will add to the sense of urgency to accelerate action, strengthen partnerships and enhance cross-sectoral collaboration
• Forests transcend political, social and environmental boundaries and are vital for biodiversity and the carbon, water and energy cycles at a planetary scale. The responsibility over forests should be shared and integrated across institutions, sectors and stakeholders in order to achieve a sustainable future.
• It added that forest-based solutions must be inclusive of the perspectives of family farmers, smallholders, forest communities, indigenous peoples, women and youth and respectful of their rights.
• The solutions must empower them to participate equitably in decision-making and sustainable forest value chains.
• The Declaration, signed by 141 participant countries, also urged the use of innovative technology and mechanisms to enable evidence-based forest and landscape decision-making and effective forest communication.
• New partnerships such as the Assuring the Future of Forests with Integrated Risk Management (AFFIRM) Mechanism, the Sustaining an Abundance of Forest Ecosystems (SAFE) initiative and the Platform for REDD+ Capacity Building were also undertaken at the Congress to boost international participation and cooperation.
• The Declaration also pointed out that the health of forests and humans was closely related and forest degradation can have “serious negative impacts on human health and well-being”.
• It stated that forests must be maintained in a healthy and productive state to reduce the risk of future pandemics and to provide other essential benefits for the physical and mental health of mankind.
• The Declaration added that the full potential of sustainably produced wood can be utilized to transform the building sector, along with providing renewable energy and innovative new materials as wood was “renewable, recyclable and incredibly versatile.”
• The Declaration added that the outcomes of the 15th WFC, including it as well as the Youth Call for Action and the Ministerial Call on Sustainable Wood, should be transmitted to the next Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, to the upcoming Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity and to other important forest-related fora.

THE SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

6. SCIENTISTS DISCOVER FOSSIL OF PRE-HISTORIC GIANT SNAKE IN LADAKH

THE CONTEXT: Scientists have discovered the fossil of a Madtsoiidae snake in the Himalayan mountains in Ladakh, which sheds fresh light on the prevalence and existence of this rare serpent species in the Indian subcontinent.

THE EXPLANATION:

• Madtsoiidae is an extinct group of medium-sized to gigantic snakes, firstly appeared during the later part of the Cretaceous period, that began 145 million years ago and ended 66 million years ago. They are thought to grow up to 30 feet in length.
• Research by scientists indicates their prevalence in the Indian subcontinent for a much longer time than previously thought. Also, global climatic shifts and the prominent biotic reorganisation across the Eocene-Oligocene boundary did not cause the extinction of this important group of snakes in India.
• The study was undertaken by researchers from the Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology, Dehradun, Panjab University, Chandigarh, Indian Institute of Technology, Ropar and Comenius University, Slovakia. The newly discovered specimen has been housed in the repository of Wadia Institute, according to a statement issued today by the Ministry of Science and Technology.
• Eocene–Oligocene, which took place about 34 million years ago, was the time of major climatic change on Earth due to shifts in volcanic and meteorite activity, and is marked by large-scale extinction and floral and faunal turnover.
• Madtsoiidae were mostly found in the Gondwanan landmasses, an ancient super continent that broke up about 180 million years ago and eventually split into landmasses that are today known as Africa, South America, Australia, Antarctica, the Indian subcontinent and the Arabian Peninsula.
• From fossil records, the whole group disappeared in the mid-Paleogene period, ranging between 66 million to 23 million years ago, across most Gondwanan continents except for Australia where it survived with its last known classification of Wonambi till the late Pleistocene period from 2.6 million to 11,700 years ago.

THE PRELIMS PRACTICE QUESTIONS

QUESTION FOR 17th MAY 2022

Q.  If the Repo rate is increased by RBI, then which of the following can be the consequence of this step?

1. Money supply in the economy will increase.
2. Inflation may come down.
3. Private consumption will increase.
4. Increase in the production of goods and services.

ANSWER FOR THE 15^TH AND 16^{TH OF} MAY

Answer: D

• Explanation: Statement 1 is incorrect: Indian Constitution provides for the establishment of the Election Commission with the composition of the Chief Election Commissioner and as many Election Commissioners as President may fix from time to time. It is not necessarily a multi-member body.
• Statement 2 is incorrect: CEC and ECs have equal powers and equal salary, allowances which are similar to a judge of a Supreme Court.
• Statement 3 is incorrect: Constitution has not debarred CEC and ECs from any further appointment by the government after their retirement.

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