POLITY AND GOVERNANCE

WHAT IS THE STATUS OF REMOTE VOTING FOR NRI’S?

THE CONTEXT: Recently, the Supreme court disposed a batch of petitions seeking remote voting for NRIs. On the assurance of the Attorney general, the Centre was looking at ways to facilitate distance voting for non-resident Indians (NRIs), mainly migrant laborers.

THE EXPLANATION:

What is the size of the NRI electorate?

• According to estimates, India has the largest diaspora population, with nearly 35 crore non-resident Indians spread across the globe. Many of them are in the Gulf countries, the U.S. and the U.K. In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, 99,844 NRIs registered and 25,606 electors turned up to vote, with a majority hailing from Kerala (25,534).
• In the 2014 Parliamentary elections, 11,846 NRIs registered and only a fraction turned up to vote. Of the registered overseas electors, 90% belonged to Kerala. Others registered are from Gujarat, Punjab, and Tamil Nadu among other States.
• A major reason for low NRI registration and voting despite India amending the Representation of the People Act in 2010 to enable eligible NRIs who had stayed abroad beyond six months to vote is the condition that they have to visit the polling booth in person.

What has the government done so far?

• Since the in-person proviso of the amended Act discouraged many, petitions were filed in the Supreme Court between 2013 and 2014 by NRIs. The Election Commission of India (ECI) formed a Committee in 2014 on the Court’s direction to explore the options for overseas electors. The committee narrowed it down to two remote voting options — e-postal ballot and proxy voting.

Proxy voting is a form of voting whereby a member of a decision-making body may delegate his or her voting power to a representative, to enable a vote in absence.

• The Electronically Transmitted Postal Ballot System (ETPBS) involves the NRI voter sending an application to the returning officer in person or online. The returning officer will send the ballot electronically. The voter can then register their mandate on the ballot printout and send it back with an attested declaration. The voter will either send the ballot by ordinary post or drop it at an Indian Embassy where it would be segregated and posted. Proxy voting, meanwhile, enables voters to appoint proxies to vote on their behalf.
• Both ETPBS and proxy voting are currently available to only service voters, like those in the armed forces or diplomatic missions. In its report, the ECI said proxy voting would be a “convenient” and “doable” method.

HEALTH ISSUES

EBOLA VIRUS

THE CONTEXT: Recently, Ugandan officials have reported 11 more cases of Ebola in the capital since October 21, a worrisome increase in infections just over a month after an outbreak was declared in a remote part of the East African country.

THE EXPLANATION:

• According to a top World Health Organization official in Africa said that Uganda’s Ebola outbreak was “rapidly evolving,” describing a challenging situation for health workers.
• Ugandan health authorities have confirmed 75 cases of Ebola since September 20, including 28 deaths. There are 19 active cases.

VALUE ADDITION:

What is Ebola Virus Disease?

Ebola virus disease (EVD) is a deadly disease with occasional outbreaks that occur mostly on the African continent. EVD most commonly affects people and nonhuman primates (such as monkeys, gorillas, and chimpanzees). It is caused by an infection with a group of viruses within the genus Ebolavirus:

• Ebola virus (species Zaire ebolavirus)
• Sudan virus (species Sudan ebolavirus)
  

  

• Taï Forest virus (species Taï Forest ebolavirus, formerly Côte d’Ivoire ebolavirus)
• Bundibugyo virus (species Bundibugyo ebolavirus)
• Reston virus (species Reston ebolavirus)
• Bombali virus (species Bombali ebolavirus)

Of these, only four (Ebola, Sudan, Taï Forest, and Bundibugyo viruses) have caused disease in people. Reston virus can cause disease in nonhuma

n primates and pigs, but there have not been cases in people. Bombali virus was first identified in bats in 2018, and experts do not know yet if it causes disease in either animals or people.

When was the first instance?

• Ebola virus was first discovered in 1976 near the Ebola River in what is now the Democratic Republic of Congo. Since then, the virus has been infecting people from time to time, leading to outbreaks in several African countries.

Vaccines:

• An experimental Ebola vaccine, called rVSV-ZEBOV proved highly protective against EVD in a major trial in Guinea in 2015.
• The rVSV-ZEBOV vaccine is being used in the ongoing 2018-2019 Ebola outbreak in DRC. Pregnant and breastfeeding women should have access to the vaccine under the same conditions as for the general population.
• The public mistrust and militia attacks have prevented health workers from reaching some hard-hit areas for administering the vaccines.

INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

WHO ARE KURDISH GROUPS?

THE CONTEXT: According to Sweden Foreign Minister new government will distance itself from the Kurdish YPG militia as it tries to win Turkey’s approval to join NATO.

THE EXPLANATION:

• The Syrian Kurdish YPG militia and its political branch PYD are considered by Turkey extensions of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which launched an insurgency against Turkey in 1980 and is regarded as a terrorist group by Turkey, the United States and the European Union.
• Sweden, along with the United States and several other NATO countries, has supported the YPG in the fight against Islamic State.
• However, Turkey has vowed to block Sweden’s application to join NATO if it doesn’t stop supporting the militia group.

Who are Kurds?

• At an estimated 25 million to 35 million population, they are the world’s largest stateless ethnic group.
• The majority among the Kurdish people today are Sunni Muslim, but there are adherents of other faiths too, including Sufism and other mystical practices.
• They live in the highlands of southern and eastern Turkey, northern Iraq, the northeastern Syria, northwestern Iran, and parts of south Armenia, and are a minority in each of these countries. Small communities live in Georgia, Kazakhstan, Lebanon, and eastern Iran as well.
• Kurds have long had a reputation for being fearless fighters, and they have served as mercenaries in many armies over the centuries.
• The mediaeval warrior Saladin, founder of the Ayyubid dynasty that replaced the Fatimids in Egypt and ruled over large parts of the Middle East in the 12th and 13th centuries, was of Kurdish ethnicity.

What’s happening now?

Recently, the Trump administration ordered US troops to step aside from the border in northern Syria, effectively paving the way for Turkey to launch an offensive against US-backed Kurdish forces who they regard as enemies.

What are their demands?

• The Kurds have never achieved nation-state status, except in Iraq, where they have a regional government called Iraqi Kurdistan.
• Kurdistan is made up of five different regions: southeastern Turkey, northeastern Syria, northern Iraq, northwestern Iran and southwestern Armenia.
• In the early 20th century, the Kurds began working toward the creation of homeland known as Kurdistan. In 1920, the Treaty of Sèvres — one of a series of treaties that the Central Powers signed after their defeat in World War I — outlined the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire and called for an autonomous Kurdistan.
• Three years later, after the end of the war, Western allies dropped demands for an independent Kurdish state and the Kurdish region was divided among several countries.

ENVIRONMENT, ECOLOGY AND CLIMATE CHANGE

A THIRD OF WORLD HERITAGE GLACIERS UNDER THREAT, WARNS UNESCO STUDY

THE CONTEXT: According to UN study, a third of the glaciers on the UNESCO World Heritage list are under threat, regardless of efforts to limit temperature increases.

THE EXPLANATION:

• The study highlighted that it was still possible to save the other two-thirds, if the rise in global temperatures did not exceed 1.5 degrees Celsius compared to the pre-industrial era. UNESCO said this would be a major challenge facing delegates at the upcoming COP27.

COP27: The 2022 United Nations Climate Change Conference, more commonly referred to as Conference of the Parties of the UNFCCC, or COP27, will be the 27th United Nations Climate Change conference. It will be held from November 6-18, 2022, in Egypt’s Sharm El Sheikh.

• According to UNESCO Director General, UNESCO is determined to support states in pursuing this goal. In addition to drastically reduced carbon emissions, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) is advocating for the creation of a new international fund for glacier monitoring and preservation.
• Such a fund would support comprehensive research, promote exchange networks between all stakeholders and implement early warning and disaster risk reduction measures.
• The study noted that Half of humanity depends directly or indirectly on glaciers as their water source for domestic use, agriculture, and power. Glaciers are also pillars of biodiversity, feeding many ecosystems.
• “When glaciers melt rapidly, millions of people face water scarcity and the increased risk of natural disasters such as flooding, and millions more may be displaced by the resulting rise in sea levels.
• Fifty UNESCO World Heritage sites are home to glaciers, representing almost 10% of the Earth’s total glacierised area. They include the highest (next to Mt Everest), the longest (in Alaska), and the last remaining glaciers in Africa.
• The UNESCO study, in partnership with the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), showed that these glaciers have been retreating at an accelerated rate since 2000 due to CO2 emissions, which are warming temperatures.
• They are currently losing 58 billion tons of ice every year – equivalent to the combined annual water use of France and Spain – and are responsible for nearly 5% of observed global sea-level rise. The glaciers under threat are in Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America, North America and Oceania.

VALUE ADDITION:

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) that was outlined in a constitution signed November 16, 1945. It promotes international collaboration in education, science, and culture to promote peace.

Headquarters: Paris, France

Member Countries:  It has 195 member countries, and it pursues its objectives through five major programs: education, natural sciences, social and human sciences, culture, and communication and information.

 Reports Published: 

• Global Education Monitoring Report
• Gender Parity Index.

ONE WORD A DAY: ACCLIMATIZATION

THE CONTEXT: According to officials, two of the eight cheetahs inside the Kuno National Park (KNP) in Madhya Pradesh were released into an acclimatization enclosure from the quarantine area where they were kept since their translocation from Namibia in mid-September 2022.

THE EXPLANATION:

What is meant by Acclimatization?

• Acclimation is a gradual, reversible change to the body to help adapt to changes to the environment. Temperatures, precipitation, and food sources are always changing. One way that living things can handle these changes is through a process called acclimation.
• It is a slow, reversible change to the body that allows an organism to handle a different environment. This change can occur over a few days, several weeks, or even months.

How is Acclimatization Different from Adaptation?

• The presence of special features or habits in a species that help to survive in a particular habitat is called adaptation. For example, desert plants have leaves reduced into spines to reduce water loss by transpiration.  But, acclimatization helps to overcome the small problems caused by changes in the surroundings.
• For example, tomatoes are plants that grow best in temperate climates. However, they can survive freezing temperatures if the temperature drop happens over a few days rather than occurring suddenly. This short-term “adjustment” is how the tomato acclimatizes to the harsh temperature. It happens in short period within the lifetime of an entity. On the other hand, the adaptation of a species to a particular environment takes place over generations.

 

PRELIMS PERSPECTIVE

EQUAL RESPECT TO VANDE MATARAM: CENTRE TO DELHI HIGH COURT

THE CONTEXT: The Centre has told the Delhi High Court that the national anthem ‘Jana Gana Mana’ and the national song ‘Vande Mataram’ “stand on the same level” and that citizens should show equal respect to both.

THE EXPLANATION:

ABOUT OUR NATIONAL SONG:

• ‘Vande Mataram’ is the national song of India. It was written by Mr. Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay to praise the “Mother India” on 7th November 1875, and was published in a Bengali fiction novel ‘Anandmath’.
• He wrote Vande Mataram at Chinsurah, near the river Hooghly (near Mallik Ghat).
• It is assumed that the concept of Vande Mataram clicked to Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay when he was serving as a government official (a District Collector), around 1876.
• Jadunath Bhattacharya was asked to set a tune for this poem just after it was written
• It was adopted on January 24, 1950, by providing it equal status with national anthem Jana Gana Mana.
• It is taken from the novel Anand Math published in 1882.
• It was sung for the first time at the congress session at Calcutta in 1896.
• It is formed for the proclamation of Mother Land. It played a vital role in the Indian independence movement.
• The original Vande Mataram comprises of 6 stanzas.
• It was translated in prose by Shri Aurobindo in Karmayogin on 20 November 1909.