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THE CULTURE

1. SAO JOAO FESTIVAL IN GOA

THE CONTEXT: As in every monsoon, Catholics in Goa will celebrate Sao Joao, the feast of St John the Baptist in the last week of June.

THE EXPLANATION:

• The celebrations will include revellers sporting crowns made of fruits, flowers and leaves, and the major draw of the feast is the water bodies wells, ponds, fountains, and rivers in which the revellers take the “leap of joy”.
• Enjoyed by children and adults alike, the festival also includes playing the traditional gumott (percussion instrument), a boat festival, servings of feni, and a place of pride for new sons-in-law.

WHAT IS SAO JOAO AND WHERE IS IT CELEBRATED IN GOA?

• In Goa, Catholics celebrate all the feasts of the Roman Catholic Church, which include the feast of St John the Baptist on June 24 (John the Baptist because he had baptised Jesus Christ on the river Jordan).
• Traditionally, there are spirited Sao Joao festivities in the villages of Cortalim in South Goa and Harmal, Baga, Siolim and Terekhol in North Goa.
• However, over the years, pool parties and private Sao Joao parties in Goa have been a “complete package of merriment and joy” for tourists, according to the Goa Tourism Development Corporation (GTDC).

THE SOCIETY

2. INDIGENOUS OGIEK PEOPLE

THE CONTEXT: The African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights, an international court established by members of the African Union, ordered the Kenyan government June 23, 2022, to pay $1.3 million to the indigenous Ogiek people as reparations for historical injustices and discriminations.

THE EXPLANATION:

• The Government of Kenya will pay in moral damages, according to a statement by the Forest Peoples Programme, a non-profit.
• The government has also been ordered to recognise the Ogiek as an indigenous people of Kenya.
• It has to make that recognition effective including through formal recognition of the Ogiek language and the people’s cultural and religious practices.
• It will also have to take all necessary legislative and administrative measures in consultation with the Ogiek to delimit, demarcate their ancestral lands and give them community titles over the land.

WHO ARE THE OGIEK?

• The Minority Rights Group International (MRGI), an international group advocating the rights of indigenous peoples and disadvantaged groups, describes the Ogiek as “one of the last forest-dwelling hunter-gatherer communities”.
• The Ogiek are thus among some of the most marginalised of all indigenous peoples and minorities in Kenya.

THE POLITY AND GOVERNANCE

3. ANTI-DEFECTION LAW

THE CONTEXT: The unfolding political crisis in Maharashtra has thrown the spotlight on the anti-defection law, and the roles of the Deputy Speaker and the Governor.

THE EXPLANATION:

WHAT IS DEFECTION?

• The bill was proposed by then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi after winning an absolute majority in the centre following his mother and Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s assassination. The act came into effect in March 1985.
• According to the anti-defection law, if a member is elected on the ticket of a certain party and resigns from the party, defies party leadership, or is absent for crucial votes, they are disqualified for the remaining term and their election is rendered invalid.
• However, the law doesn’t outlaw the splitting of a political party to ensure that there is no dictatorship and that the party systems also remain democratic. If a party has a certain number of elected representatives in the assembly then a merger with another party is also allowed under the anti-defection law, if two-thirds of the total elected members of the party in the assembly are willing to make that decision.

WHAT IS THE GOVERNOR’S ROLE?

• The Governor has a crucial role when there is political instability in a state.
• Before 1994, Governors were quick to dismiss a state government, charging that it did not have a majority in the state legislature and recommending the imposition of the President’s rule in the state. But the Supreme Court ended this practice with its judgment in the S R Bommai case in 1994.
• In this landmark case, the court ruled that the place for deciding whether a government has lost its majority was in the legislature.
• One question being discussed is whether the political crisis in Maharashtra could lead to the dissolution of the Assembly. The Chief Minister of a state can recommend to the Governor to dissolve the legislature before the end of its five-year term and call for elections.
• Here, the Governor’s discretion comes into play. The Governor may choose not to dissolve the legislature if he or she believes that the recommendation is coming from a council of ministers who do not enjoy the confidence of the state legislature.

THE INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS

4. ANNUAL BRICS SUMMIT

THE CONTEXT: The 14^th summit of BRICS group is being held by China in June 2022.

THE EXPLANATION:

• BRICS countries, on June 23, discussed the Russia-Ukraine conflict and supported peace dialogues between the two conflicting countries, while also stressing the need for humanitarian assistance.
• The two-day virtual summit attended by the heads of state of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, will end on June 24.
• BRICS nations discussed the situation in Ukraine and recall our national positions as expressed at the appropriate fora, namely the UNSC and UNGA.
• They support talks between Russia and Ukraine. We’ve also discussed our concerns over the humanitarian situation in and around Ukraine.

PM MODI’S ADDRESS AT BRICS

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi addresses the summit on June 23 and said the BRICS countries can act in unison and lend a helping hand to the world in the post-COVID recovery.
• BRICS members have a similar approach regarding the governance of the global economy. Our mutual cooperation can make a useful contribution to the global post-COVID recovery.
• He went on to highlight the various areas BRICS can work on as a team, which includes an increase in connectivity between BRICS Youth Summits, BRICS Sports, civil society organizations, and think tanks.

ABOUT BRICS

• Grouping of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.
• Chairmanship of the forum is rotated annually among the members, in accordance with the acronym B-R-I-C-S.
• The first BRIC Summit took place in 2009 in the Russian Federation. South Africa was invited to join BRIC in December 2010, after which the group adopted the acronym BRICS.
• The BRICS Leaders’ Summit has convened annually.
• BRICS nations signed BRICS Contingent Reserve Arrangement (CRA) in 2014 as part of Fortaleza Declaration at Sixth BRICS summit.
• The BRICS CRA aims to provide short-term liquidity support to the members through currency swaps to help mitigating BOP crisis situation and further strengthen financial stability.
• The initial total committed resources of the CRA shall be one hundred billion dollars of the United States of America (USD 100 billion).

NEW DEVELOPMENT BANK (NDB)

• During the Sixth BRICS Summit in Fortaleza (2014) the leaders signed the Agreement establishing the New Development Bank (NDB).
• Headquarter- Shanghai

  THE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

5. OPEN NETWORK FOR DIGITAL COMMERCE

THE CONTEXT: The government of India announced the launch of the pilot phase of open network for digital commerce (ONDC) in five cities in late April 2022 with an aim to “democratise” the country’s fast-growing digital e-commerce space that is currently dominated two U.S.-headquartered firms — Amazon and Walmart.

WHAT IS ONDC?

• It is a not-for-profit organisation that will offer a network to enable local digital commerce stores across industries to be discovered and engaged by any network-enabled applications.
• It is neither an aggregator application nor a hosting platform, and all existing digital commerce applications and platforms can voluntarily choose to adopt and be a part of the ONDC network.
• The ONDC aims to enable consumers to buy products from all participating e-commerce platforms through a single platform.
• Under ONDC, it is envisaged that a buyer registered on one participating e-commerce site (for example, Amazon) may purchase goods from a seller on another participating e-commerce site (for example, Flipkart).
• ONDC model is trying to replicate the success of the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) in field of digital payments. UPI allows people to send or receive money irrespective of the payment platforms they are registered on.
• The open network concept also extends beyond the retail sector, to any digital commerce domains including wholesale, mobility, food delivery, logistics, travel, urban services, etc.

WHAT LED TO FORMATION OF ONDC?

• It found that there is a huge disconnect between the scale of online demand and the ability of the local retail ecosystem to participate.
• What is the current status?
• Presently, ONDC is in its pilot stage in five cities — Delhi NCR, Bengaluru, Bhopal, Shillong and Coimbatore — with a target of onboarding around 150 retailers.
• Over the next five years, the ONDC expects to bring on board 90 crore users and 12 lakh sellers on the network, enabling 730 crore additional purchases and an additional gross merchandising value (GMV) of ₹3.75 crore.

 WHAT ARE THE LIKELY BENEFITS OF ONDC?

• The ONDC will standardise operations like cataloguing, inventory management, order management and order fulfilment, hence making it simpler and easier for small businesses to be discoverable over networks and conduct business.
• However, experts have pointed out some likely potential issues such as getting enough e-commerce platforms to sign up, along with issues related to customer service and payment integration.

THE ENVIRONMENT AND ECOLOGY

6. FUND FOR BIODIVERSITY WOES

THE CONTEXT: The Global Environment Facility (GEF), the only multilateral fund focused on biodiversity, has promised to provide $5.33 billion over the next four years to address problems related to biodiversity worldwide, it announced at an information session of the ongoing preparatory meeting on the Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework meeting in Nairobi.

THE EXPLANATION:

• The amount is 30 per cent more than in the last four years. Biodiversity would be the focus area during these years and at least 60 per cent of the commitments will be related to biodiversity.
• GEF plans to provide the funds to improve food systems, ecosystem restoration, ensure clean and healthy oceans, climate change mitigation and manage chemicals and waste, among other things.
• The plan is to provide $1 million per country for in-country work and $9 million as global technical assistance.
• This would help meet goals. But it is much less than the requirement estimated by Campaign for Nature, a non-profit. The organisation estimates the requirement to be at least $60 billion each year.
• The world failed to meet the Aichi targets on biodiversity set for 2011-2020, due to a lack of adequate financial resources. In 2020, an assessment showed that none of the 20 Aichi targets had been met.
• Campaign for Nature asked developed countries to provide funds in the form of grants and not debt and also ensure that indigenous people and local communities had direct access to these resources.
• This is important in light of the recent developments where people from Tanzania’s Maasai community are being forcefully evicted from their ancestral land to make way for a luxury game reserve for the rich.
• Investing in the environment is important considering that money spent now can help avoid massive future costs that come from the degradation of nature as well as zoonotic diseases and pandemics that can be caused due to the loss of nature.
• The Nairobi meet is being held in preparation for the 15th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CoP15), scheduled for later this year in Montreal, Canada.

THE SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

7. GSAT-24 SATELLITE

THE CONTEXT: India’s GSAT-24 satellite, built by ISRO for NewSpace India Limited (NSIL), was successfully launched by French company Arianespace on its Ariane 5 space launch vehicle from Kourou in French Guiana, in South America.

THE EXPLANATION:

• GSAT-24 is a 24-Ku band communication satellite weighing 4180 kg with pan-India coverage for meeting DTH application needs.
• NSIL, incorporated in March 2019, is a Central Public Sector Enterprise (CPSE), under the Department of Space (DOS) and is the commercial arm of ISRO.

GSAT-24: WHAT IS IT?

• GSAT-24 is a 24-Ku band communication satellite weighing 4180 kg with Pan India coverage for meeting DTH application needs. NSIL has leased the entire satellite capacity to M/s Tata Play.
• It is the first demand-driven satellite configured by ISRO, owned, operated and funded by NewSpace India Limited for the commercial users.
• This communication satellite is configured with the primary objective to augment satellite-based DTH and VSAT services in BSS Ku-band.
• Its 24 Ku-band transponders have an enhanced Effective Isotropic Radiated Power (EIRP) of 53.5 dBW, with coverage over the Indian mainland, Andaman & Nicobar and Lakshadweep islands.

WHAT IS IT USED FOR?

• Enhanced EIRP results in more DTH channels within the same spectrum, more HD channels or system robustness with additional rain fade margin.
• A satellite-based interactive educational service for classroom connectivity employing DTH quality broadcast.
• Telecommunications and emerging applications like digital cinema, high-speed backhaul links, bulk-data transfer etc.

THE MISCELLANEOUS

8. NEW DIRECTOR GENERAL OF NIA

THE CONTEXT: The Centre appointed former Punjab DGP Dinkar Gupta, an IPS officer of the 1987 batch, as the Director-General of the National Investigation Agency (NIA).

The EXPLANATION:

• According to an official order issued by the Personnel Ministry, the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet cleared the name of Dinkar Gupta, a 1987-batch India Police Service (IPS) officer from Punjab, for the top NIA post.
• According to the order, Dinkar Gupta will hold the post of NIA chief till March 31, 2024, that is the date of his retirement or till further orders, whichever comes earlier.

NIA (NATIONAL INVESTIGATING AGENCY)

• About: NIA is a central agency created by the Government Of India (GOI) to fight terror in India.
• Origin: The Mumbai terror attacks of 2008 were the primary force behind the constitution of NIA. Further, India is marred by various issues like smuggling of arms and drugs, circulation of counterfeit Indian currency, etc. which have certain national and international linkages. These reasons further ignited the need for NIA. Accordingly, the NIA Act was enacted on 31-12-08 and the National Investigation Agency (NIA) was born.
• Current Status: NIA has registered and investigated 244 cases to date. After submission of charge sheets, 37 cases have been finally or partially decided in trial. Of these, 35 cases have ended in conviction giving NIA an enviable conviction percentage of 91.3%.
• Position in India: At present, the NIA is functioning as the Central Counter-Terrorism Law Enforcement Agency in India. It has been given special powers to investigate cases within India without any special permission from the states.
• Vision: The NIA aims to set the standards of excellence in counter-terrorism and other national security-related investigations at the national level by developing into a highly trained, partnership-oriented workforce. NIA aims at creating deterrence for existing.

THE PRELIMS PRACTICE QUESTIONS

QUESTION FOR 24TH JUNE 2022

1. Consider the following statements about Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC):

1. It is a not-for-profit organization.
2. It aims to enable consumers to buy products from all participating e-commerce platforms through a single platform.

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

       a) 1 only                                            b) 2 only

c) Both 1 and 2                                d) Neither 1 nor 2

ANSWER FOR 23^RD JUNE 2022

Answer: b)

Explanation:

• Statement 1 is incorrect: Loktak lake is located in Loktak Lake is the largest freshwater lake in Northeast India. Also, it is included as a wetland of international importance under the Ramsar Convention. 
• Statement 2 is correct: It is famous for the phumdis (heterogeneous mass of vegetation, soil and organic matter at various stages of decomposition) floating over it.
• Statement 3 is correct: Keibul Lamjao National Park located on this phumdis, is the only floating national park in the world. The park is the last natural refuge of the endangered Sangai(state animal), or Manipur brown-antlered deer, one of three subspecies of Eld’s deer.