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THE ENVIRONMENT AND ECOLOGY

1. PLASTIC PARK PROJECT GETS FINAL APPROVAL

THE CONTEXT: Union ministry of chemicals and fertilisers, department of chemicals and petrochemicals, has given final approval for the setting up of a Plastic Park at Ganjimutt in Dakshin Kannada.

THE EXPLANATION:

According to the Ministry the park will be set up on 104 acres of Karnataka Industrial Areas Development Board (KIADB) land at an estimated cost of ₹62.77 crore. In that, 50% of the project cost, that is ₹31.38 crore, will be borne by the Union Government and the remaining 50% by the KIADB.

About the Plastic Park:

• Plastic Park has state-of-the- art infrastructure with common facilities including plastic waste management system. Plastic Parks plays key role in growth of the plastic processing community material and machinery suppliers, plastic processing companies, plastic recycling companies.
• The park is to generate hundreds of employments for the local youths. A poly propylene unit is to be set up in the park. This unit will provide raw materials to the polymer and plastic units inside the park. Polypropylene is a thermoplastic polymer. It is mainly used in plastic packaging. The park will include admin building, export building, warehouse facility, etc.
• The plastic parks have so far been created in Tamont village in Madhya Pradesh, Billaua village in Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh, Pradeep village near Jagatsinghpur in Odisha, Gellapukhuri in Assam, Devipur in Jharkhand, Voyallur in Thiruvallur district of Tamil Nadu.

Significance of the Plastic Park Scheme?

• The plastic parks aim to boost the value addition and competitiveness in the plastics processing industry. The scheme strives to achieve it though measures led by research and development.
• The plastic industry is classified into two broad categories in India.
• The first is polymer manufacturing that is called upstream category.
• The second category is industries involved in the conversion of processable polymers into useful end products. These industries are called downstream.
• India’s share in global plastic exports just 1%. The Indian plastic industry is big. However, it is highly fragmented. The plastic parks will help to consolidate the industry.

2. KERALA GETS ITS FIRST-EVER SCIENTIFIC BIRD ATLAS

THE CONTEXT: The Kerala Bird Atlas (KBA), the first-of-its-kind state-level bird atlas in India, has created solid baseline data about the distribution and abundance of various bird species across all major habitats giving an impetus for futuristic studies.

THE EXPLANATION:

• KBA is said to be Asia’s largest bird atlas in terms of geographical extent.
• KBA has been conducted as a citizen science-driven exercise with the participation of over 1,000 volunteers of the birdwatching community.
• KBA has created strong benchmark information about the distribution and abundance of bird species across all major habitats, giving momentum to futuristic studies.

The KBA accounts for nearly three lakh records of 361 species, that includes,

• 94 very rare species
• 103 rare species
• 110 common species
• 44 very common species
• 10 most abundant species

The KBA is considered to be a valuable resource for testing various ecological hypotheses and suggesting science-backed conservation measures.

Bird Atlas surveys shall be done twice a year.

1. July mid – September mid [60 days, 9 weekends]
2. January mid – March mid [60 days, 9 weekends]

3. PERU DECLARES ‘ENVIRONMENTAL EMERGENCY’

THE CONTEXT: The Peruvian government declared a 90-day “environmental emergency” in damaged coastal territories, after an oil spill that saw 6,000 barrels of crude oil pour into the sea.

THE EXPLANATION:

• The oil spill came out of a tanker belonging to the Spanish energy firm Repsol. The incident occurred at the La Pampilla refinery, some 30 kilometers (around 19 miles) north of the Peruvian capital of Lima in the Ventanilla district of the port city of Callao.
• According to the refinery, the spill was caused by freak waves, which resulted from the eruption of a volcano in Tonga. Currents spread the oil to distances more than 40 kilometers from the refinery, tarring some 21 beaches.

What damage has the spill caused?

The spill has caused the death of marine wildlife and raised concerns around the livelihood of local fishermen and the economic consequences from the loss of tourism.

International Efforts for curtailing Oil Pollution: 

• International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (MARPOL): Rolled out by the International Maritime Organization (IMO) in 1973. It recognized the need for international coherent efforts for curbing oil spill.
• International Convention on Oil Pollution Preparedness, Response and Cooperation 1990: Nearly 90 countries came up after the Exxon Valdez oil spill, 1989 to prepare an emergency plan under IMO. Creates a special fund out of the contribution of shipping companies
• Double Hull Ruling, 1993 by IMO: As per these guidelines, By July 1993, all tankers must have double hulls for additional safety. All single-hulled ships must be phased out by 1995.

Note: TERI has developed Oil Zapper Bacteria which can degrade the oil quickly.

4. SPECIES OF FUNGI ASSOCIATED WITH BASAL STEM ROT FOUND

THE CONTEXT: Researchers from Kerala have identified two new species of fungi from the genus Ganoderma that are associated with coconut stem rot. They have also genotyped the two fungi species, named Ganoderma keralense and G. pseudoapplanatum and identified genetic biomarkers.

THE EXPLANATION:

Basal stem rot

• The butt rot or basal stem rot of coconut is known by several names in different parts of India: Ganoderma wilt (Andhra Pradesh), Anaberoga (Karnataka) and Thanjavur wilt (Tamil Nadu).
• The infection begins at the roots, but symptoms include discolouration and rotting of stem and leaves. In the later stages, flowering and nut set decreases and finally the coconut palm (Cocos nucifera) dies.
• A reddish brown oozing is seen. This oozing has been reported only in India. Once infected, recovery of the plants is not likely. Not surprising then, that this causes a huge loss: By some estimates made in 2017, in India, around 12 million people are said to depend on coconut farming.
• Another sign of infection is presence of shelf-like “basidiomata,” which are the fruiting or reproductive structures of the fungus, on the tree trunks. “Although microscopic, many fungi, produce macroscopic fruiting structures on the substrates where they grow [for example, Ganoderma]”.
• Since the fungus is microscopic, it is only detected after the symptoms start manifesting or when the reproductive structures are borne, which can be too late.

THE MISCELLANEOUS

5. AMAR JAWAN JYOTI MERGED WITH NATIONAL WAR MEMORIAL FLAME

THE CONTEXT: The iconic Amar Jawan Jyoti (AJJ), which was inaugurated after the 1971 Liberation War of Bangladesh by former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, even as Prime Minister announced the construction of a statue of Subhas Chandra Bose, restructuring the symbolism around the India Gate.

Symbol of colonial past’

• India Gate was a “symbol of our colonial past” as it has only some of those who fought for the British in First World War 1 and the Anglo-Afghan War. It is designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens, was unveiled by Lord Irwin on February 12, 1931. It was built to honour the over 83,000 soldiers of British India who died from 1914 to 1921. It has 13,516 names inscribed all over the monument.
• The AJJ was set up to pay homage for the soldiers who laid down their lives in the 1971 war. The memorial of the unknown soldier, an inverted bayonet with a helmet structure, along with the AJJ was inaugurated under the arch of India Gate by then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi on January 26, 1972 to commemorate India’s victory in the 1971 war, in which 93,000 Pakistani prisoners of war surrendered and saw the birth of Bangladesh.

About the National War Memorial:

The National War Memorial was inaugurated by Prime Minister on February 25, 2019 and ever since it was set up, political and military leaders of the country lay wreaths in remembrance at the new site rather than at the Amar Jawan Jyoti. It was built to commemorate all the soldiers who have laid down their lives in the various battles, wars, operations and conflicts of Independent India.

THE PRELIMS PRACTICE QUESTIONS

QUESTION OF THE DAY 24^TH JANUARY 2022

Q1. Hogenakkal Falls are located across which of the following river of India?

              a) River Krishna

b) River Godavari

c) River Sharavati

d) River Kaveri

ANSWER FOR 22^ND JAN 2022

Answer: B

Explanation:

Highlights of Tiger Census 2018:

• India is home to almost 70% of the world tiger population.
• India has 2,967 tigers, a rise of 33% over the figure found in the previous census of 2014 (2,226).
• Madhya Pradesh (526) has the highest tiger population. Karnataka (524) has the second- highest tiger population. Uttarakhand (442) has the third-highest tiger population.
• Among the NE states, Assam (190) has the highest tiger population.
• Tiger population fell in Chhattisgarh and Mizoram.
• There is no change in the tiger population in Odisha.
• In Buxa, Dampa and Palamau tiger reserves, tiger was not found.

Note: India has already fulfilled its resolve of doubling tiger numbers, made at the St. Petersburg Declaration in 2010, much before the target year of 2022.

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THE ART & CULTURE

1. A.P. GOVT. BANS 100-YEAR-OLD ‘CHINTAMANI PADYA NATAKAM’

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

THE EXPLANATION: 

• Telugu play writer Mahakavi Kallakuri Narayana Rao who was also a social reformer, cinematographer, and nationalist wrote the play Chintamani around 100 years ago, which was very popular on stage. It was also made into a movie twice in Telugu once in 1933 & in 1956 with NT Rama Rao, Bhanumathi, and Jamuna in the lead roles.
• The Arya Vaishyas or baniya community in Andhra have been portrayed in such a manner and they have been up in arms against the play for a long time. The issue had cropped during the centenary celebrations of the play which was held in Eluru of West Godavari.

THE INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

2. INDIA EXTENDS ANOTHER $500 MILLION LOC TO SRI LANKA

THE CONTEXT: India extended a $500 million-Line of Credit (LOC) to Sri Lanka for urgent fuel imports, days after providing $900 million relief to the island nation facing one of its worst economic downturns.

THE EXPLANATION:

• According to the Ministry of External affairs the emergency assistance Sri Lanka had sought from India to tide over its dollar crunch leading to a shortage of essentials, including fuel, medicines, and certain food supplies.
• These measures are in line with India’s commitment to stand with Sri Lanka, contribute to Sri Lanka’s economic growth and impart greater momentum to bilateral economic and commercial partnership.”
• The LoC from India coincides with Sri Lanka’s central bank servicing a sovereign bond for $500 million, and also with reports on likely power outages owing to a shortage of fuel supply amid the persisting dollar crisis.

What is the current economic situation in Sri Lanka?

• Poor state of tourism industry: The tourism industry, which represents over 10% of the country’s Gross Domestic Product and brings in foreign exchange, has been hit hard by the Easter Sunday terror attacks of 2019 and coronavirus pandemic.
• Shortage of forex reserves: As a result, forex reserves have dropped from over $7.5 billion in 2019 to around $2.8 billion in July 2021.
• Depreciation of currency: The printing of Rs. 800 billion by the Central Bank of Sri Lanka over the last 18 months to ease the economic crisis has increased liquidity in the economy. But this infusion of money, and the consequent increase in demand without a corresponding increase in supply, has led to a sharp spike in inflation. This in turn has devalued the currency, made imports costlier, added to the debt, and put the forex reserves under more pressure. So, the value of the Sri Lankan rupee has depreciated by around 8% in 2021.
• Rise in price of food items: It has to be noted that the country depends heavily on imports to meet even its basic food supplies. So the price of food items has risen in tandem with the depreciating rupee. The government’s ban on the use of chemical fertilizers in farming has further aggravated the crisis by dampening agricultural production.
• High debt: Its public debt-to-GDP ratio was at 109.7% in 2020, and its gross financing needs to remain high at 18% of GDP, higher than most of its emerging economy peers. More than $2.7 billion of foreign currency debt will be due in the next two years.

3. THE HOUTHI ATTACK ON THE UNITED ARAB EMIRATES

THE CONTEXT: A suspected drone attack in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), caused multiple explosions in which three people were killed —two Indians and one Pakistani.

THE EXPLANATION:

• The Shia Houthi rebels of Yemen, who have been controlling the northern parts of the country, including the capital Sana’a, for almost seven years, have claimed responsibility for the attack.
• While the UAE hasn’t confirmed the Houthi claims. Also the Saudi-led coalition that is fighting the Houthis in Yemen, launched air strikes on Sana’a.

Who are the Houthis?

Founded in the 1990s by Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi, a member of Yemen’s Shia majority, the Houthi movement has a pretty straight forward slogan or sarkha: “God is great, death to America, death to Israel, curse on the Jews, victory to Islam.” After Yemeni soldiers killed Hussein in 2004, his brother Abdul Malik took over.

How did Saudi Arabia get involved?

The rise of the Houthis sent alarm bells ringing across Sunni Arab states, particularly Saudi Arabia. A Saudi-led coalition — backed by the US, UK and France — then launched an air campaign in Yemen, with the aim of defeating the rebel group. What the coalition thought would take only a few weeks has stretched on for seven years, growing into a full-blown civil war.

4. INDONESIA RELOCATE CAPITAL TO BORNEO

THE CONTEXT: Indonesia’s parliament has approved a bill to relocate the nation’s capital from Jakarta to a jungled area of Kalimantan on Borneo Island.

THE EXPLANATION:

• The new centre will be called “Nusantara”, a Javanese name for the Indonesian archipelago, also “the new capital has a central function and is a symbol of the identity of the nation, as well as a new centre of economic gravity,”
• Plans to relocate the government from Jakarta, a bustling megacity of 10 million people that suffers from chronic congestion, floods and air pollution, have been floated by multiple presidents, but none have made it this far.
• Southeast Asia’s largest economy has envisioned the newcapital as a low-carbon “superhub” that will support pharmaceutical, health and technology sectors and promote sustainable growth beyond Java island.
• But critics say the law was rushed through with limited public consultation and environmental consideration.

THE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

5. THE DEVAS-ANTRIX DEAL

THE CONTEXT: The Supreme Court has upheld the liquidation of Devas, whose foreign investors continue to fight for compensation following the cancelled 2005 satellite deal with Antrix.

THE EXPLANATION:

• A 2005 satellite deal between Antrix Corporation — the commercial arm of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) – and Devas Multimedia Pvt Ltd, a start-up headquartered in Bengaluru, is at the heart of a global legal tussle between the Indian government and foreign investors in Devas.
• The tussle is a fallout of the cancellation of the deal in 2011 by the then UPA government citing requirement of satellite spectrum allotted to Devas for security purposes.

What was the Devas-Antrix deal?

• They signed an “Agreement for the Lease of Space Segment Capacity on ISRO/Antrix S-band spacecraft by Devas Multimedia Pvt Ltd” on January 28, 2005, a month after Devas was incorporated in Bengaluru in December 2004 by two former ISRO employees.
• Under the deal, ISRO would lease to Devas two communication satellites (GSAT-6 and 6A) for 12 years for Rs 167 crore. Devas would provide multimedia services to mobile platforms in India using S-band transponders on the satellites, with ISRO leasing 70 MHz of S-band spectrum.
• The deal progressed smoothly for six years before it was annulled by the UPA government on February 25, 2011, following a Cabinet Committee on Security decision of February 17 to terminate the agreement to use the S-band for security purposes. The government decision was taken in the midst of the 2G scam and allegations that the Devas deal involved the handing over of communication spectrum valued at nearly Rs 2 lakh crore for a pittance.

What is the current Issue?

• After the NDA government came to power in 2014, the CBI was asked to investigate the 2005 deal. In August 2016, the CBI filed a chargesheet against eight officials from Devas, ISRO and Antrix linked to the deal for “being party to a criminal conspiracy with an intent to cause undue gain to themselves or others by abusing official positions”.
• Among the eight is former ISRO chairman G Madhavan Nair and former Antrix executive director K R Sridharamurthi. The CBI has charged the accused of causing a loss of approximately Rs 578 crore to the government through the deal.
• The ED filed a chargesheet in 2018 under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act against a former managing director of Antrix and five Devas officials, stating that Devas transferred 85% of its Rs 579 crore foreign funding to the US under various claims.

What led to the liquidation?

Antrix filed a plea in the National Company Law Tribunal in January 2021 for liquidation of Devas in India, which it said was incorporated in a fraudulent manner. The NCLT order held that the start-up was “incorporated in a fraudulent manner and for unlawful purposes”.

THE SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

6. WEB 3.0 NEXT PHASE OF INTERNET

THE CONTEXT: Web 3.0 is the potential next phase of the internet wherein the internet will be decentralized and run on blockchain technology.

THE EXPLANATION:

THE CONCEPT OF WEB 3.0:

It is used to describe a potential next phase of the internet, created quite a buzz in 2021. 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.

EARLIER VERSIONS

• Web 1.0 was mostly static where users would go to a website and read and interact with static information; The differentiating characteristic of Web 2.0, which we use now, is that users can create content.
• In Web 2.0, most of the data in the internet and the internet traffic are owned or handled by a few large companies creating issues of data privacy, data security and abuse of data. Web3 offers a solution to these problems.

What are some of the concerns?

In Web 2.0, most of the data on the internet and the internet traffic are owned or handled by very few behemoth companies. This has created issues related to data privacy, data security and abuse of such data. It is in this context that the buzz around Web3 is significant.

THE INTERNAL SECURITY

7. THE ‘HYBRID TERRORISTS’ IN JK

THE CONTEXT: Jammu and Kashmir Police that biggest challenge for security forces in the union territory are going to be hybrid terrorists. Hybrid terrorists are those who are not listed with the security forces and are only brought in by terror groups just once or twice to carry out terrorist attacks.

THE EXPLANATION:

According to JK Police, there are two biggest challenges with regard to terrorism, they are

1. Hybrid Terrorism
2. Narco-terrorism

Hybrid Terrorism:

In 2021, Kashmir valley saw dozens of attacks soft targets like civilians, policemen (on leave), political workers and people from minority communities. Security forces are now focussing on identification of such hybrid terrorists.

Narco Terrorism:

The security forces are facing in the Kashmir Valley is narco-terror. Tons of narcotics have been recovered by security forces in various districts of the Kashmir valley and security agencies believe that the money from these drugs is being used by the terror outfits. The arms and ammunition are mostly bought from money generated through drug trafficking. These drugs are sold in different parts of the country.

Kashmir is very near to Golden Crescent 

THE PRELIMS PRACTICE QUESTIONS

QUESTION OF THE DAY 19^TH JANUARY 2022

Q1. Consider the following statements about National Commission for Women:

1. It is neither constitutional nor a statutory body.
2. It consists of one chairman and other five members.
3. They are nominated by the central government.

Which of the statement given above is/are correct?

               a) 1 and 2 only

b) 2 and 3 only

c) 3 only

d) 1, 2 and 3

ANSWER FOR 18^TH JANUARY 2022.

Answer: a)

Explanation:

• Statement 1 is incorrect: Kathak is a prominent ancient Indian classical dance and is thought

to have started from the wandering bards of North India (Uttar Pradesh) known as Kathakars, meaning storytellers.

• Statement 2 is correct: The foundations of Kathak are rooted in Natya Shastra, an ancient

Sanskrit text written by Bharata Muni.

• Statement 3 is correct: Kathakars convey stories through rhythmic foot movements, hand

gestures, facial appearances and eye work.