1. POCSO ACT

TAG: PRELIMS PERSPECTIVE

THE CONTEXT: Kerala High Court recently quashed a case filed under the POCSO Act, India’s child protection law, against a woman accused of subjecting her children to an obscene act.

EXPLANATION:

• The Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012 [“POCSO Act, 2012”] is legislation which aims at protecting children from all types of sexual abuse.
• Although the Convention on the Rights of the Child was adopted by the United Nations in 1989, the offences against children were not redressed by way of any legislation in India till the year 2012.
• It provides stringent deterrents for the commission of offences against children ranging from a minimum of 20 years of imprisonment to the death penalty in case of aggravated penetrative sexual assault.
• Before the introduction of the POCSO Act, 2012, the sole legislation in India that aimed at protecting the rights of a child was the Goa’s Children’s Act, 2003 and Rules, 2004.
• Under the Indian Penal Code, 1860, child sexual abuse accounted for an offence under Sections 375, 354 and 377.
• In India, POCSO Act, 2012 is not the only legislation which deals with child sexual abuse cases. The POCSO Act cannot be called a complete code in itself and provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, Indian Penal Code, 1860, Juvenile Justice Act, and Information Technology Act, 2000 overlap and encapsulate the procedure and specify the offences.
• The Act enunciates the punishment where the offences have been committed against a child. Section 2(1)(d) of the POCSO Act contains the definition of child. It states that, “ a child means any person below the age of eighteen year”. This implies that offences perpetrated against anyone of the age less than eighteen years are punishable under the POCSO Act.

Some of the salient features of the POCSO Act are discussed as follows:

• Confidentiality of the victim’s identity: Section 23 of the POCSO Act provides for the procedure of media and imposes the duty to maintain the child victim’s identity unless the Special Court has allowed the disclosure.
• Gender-neutral provisions: Another glaring feature of the POCSO Act is that it does not create any distinction between the victim or the perpetrators on the basis of their gender. The definition of child includes anyone below 18 years of age and in several cases, the courts have even convicted women for engaging in child sexual abuse incidents.
• Mandatory reporting of child abuse cases: Sexual abuse cases happen behind closed doors and the elders attempt to hide these incidents due to the stigma that is attached to these crimes. Consequently, for the proper implementation of the POCSO Act, reporting of these incidents by the third parties who have the knowledge or apprehension of such offences, has been made mandatory under Sections 19 to 22 of the POCSO Act.

Issue:

• Kerala High Court this week quashed a case filed under the POCSO Act, India’s child protection law, against a woman accused of subjecting her children to an obscene act.
• The mere sight of a woman’s naked upper body should not be deemed sexual by default — and it should be considered in the context in which it was published, the court observed on June 5.
• She was accused of subjecting her children to an obscene act. Police registered a case, and in a final report filed at the Additional Sessions Court, Ernakulam, charged her with offences under Sections 10 read with Section 9 (n), Section 14 read with Section 13 (b), and Section 15 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012.
• The police also charged the activist under Section 67B (a), (b), and (c) of the Information Technology (IT) Act, 2000, and Section 75 of the Juvenile Justice (JJ) Act, 2015.
• Section 67B (a) (b) and (c) of the IT Act lays down the punishment for publishing or electronically transmitting obscene material, which depicts children in sexually explicit acts. Section 67B (a) is attracted when the material depicts children engaged in sexually explicit acts, and Section 67(B) (b) is attracted when children are depicted in an obscene, indecent, or sexually explicit manner.
• Section 67B (c) is about the cultivation, enticement, or induction of children into online relationships for sexually explicit acts.
• Section 75 of the JJ Act prescribes punishment for cruelty to children, which includes assaulting, abandoning, abusing, exposing, and wilfully neglecting them to cause unnecessary mental or physical suffering.

What the court said

• Dismissing the POCSO charges against her, the court said that Sections 9 (n) and 10 are attracted when a child’s relative commits “sexual assault”. However, “sexual assault” under Section 7 of the Act requires “sexual intent” while touching the child’s private parts or making the child touch one’s own or another person’s private parts.
• On the use of Section 15 (punishment for storing pornographic material involving children), the court said the children in the video were clothed, and participating in a harmless and creative activity. “Hence, the offence under Section 15 also would not lie,” the court said.
• In ‘K.S. Puttaswamy v Union of India’ (2017), a nine-judge Bench of the Supreme Court unanimously recognized the right to privacy as a fundamental right under Article 21 of the Constitution, and declared bodily autonomy to be an integral part of it, the court said.
• Clearing the accused of charges under Sections 67B (a), (b), and (c) of the IT Act, the court said that Section 67B (b) is attracted only when the material “depicts children in an obscene or indecent, or sexually explicit manner”.

2. SAHKAR SE SAMRIDHI

TAG: PRELIMS PERSPECTIVE

THE CONTEXT: In the direction of realizing the Prime Minister’s vision of “Sahkar Se Samridhi”, the Government of India has taken five more important decisions. These decisions were taken in a meeting of Union Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation with Minister of Chemicals and Fertilizers in New Delhi.

EXPLANATION:

• These important decisions will increase the income of Primary Agricultural Credit Societies, as well as increase the employment opportunities in rural areas and farmers will be able to get fertilizers, pesticides, seeds and agricultural machinery at the local level.

The following 5 important decisions were taken in the meeting-

1. There are about 1 lakh Primary Agricultural Credit Cooperative Societies present across the country. On the basis of mapping, Primary Agricultural Credit Societies (PACS) which are not functioning as fertilizer retailers will be identified and they will be encouraged to function as retailers on the basis of feasibility in a phased manner.
2. PACS which are not currently functioning as Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samridhi Kendras (PMKSK) will be brought under the ambit of PMKSK.
3. PACS will be connected with the marketing of organic fertilizers, especially Fermented Organic Manure (FoM) / Liquid Fermented Organic Manure (LFOM) / Phosphate Enriched Organic Manure (PROM).
4. Under the Market Development Assistance (MDA) scheme of Department of Fertilizers, fertilizer companies will act as an aggregator for small bio-organic producers to market the end product, in this supply and marketing chain of bio-organic fertilizers PACS will also be included as wholesalers/retailers.
5. PACS can also be employed as Drone entrepreneurs for spraying fertilizers and pesticides. Drones can also be used for survey of property.

Sahkar Se Samriddhi:

• Government aims to achieve overall prosperity in the country through the mantra of “Sahkar Se Samriddhi”.
• It is being proposed to strengthen cooperatives by bringing transparency, modernization, and creating competitiveness.
• In order to achieve this, Government is formulating a new National Cooperation Policy, for which it has started consultations with various stakeholders including various Ministries/Departments of Central Governments, State Governments, Cooperative Federations, NABARD and other major cooperative institutions of the country.
• Already, response has been received from about 35 stakeholders, including 10 Ministries and 6 State Governments.

Governance of the Cooperative Societies

• The history of cooperative society can be tied back to 1904, when first law for Cooperative Society was enacted for governance and administration of the formation of the cooperative societies in India. This was superseded by Cooperative Societies Act, 1912. Thereafter, various cooperative committees were formed for better governance considering the nature and objective of the cooperative societies being formed.
• The Multi-Unit Cooperative Societies Act, 1942 was enacted to govern the Cooperative Societies established in more than one state. It was superseded by The Muti-State Cooperative Societies Act, 1984 which was again modified in 2002.
• The Act encouraged formation of various multi-state cooperative societies which has been aid for the low-income groups all over India for raising credits at lower interest rates, paving way to the larger market with minimal cost and other administrative support.
• In 2021, the Government has formed a vision “Sahakar se Samriddhi” (prosperity through cooperation) and taken several steps to strengthen India’s cooperative architecture. The Union Ministry of Cooperation was formed to realise the vision, streamline process for ease of doing business for a cooperative society, provide a separate administrative and legal framework to the cooperative businesses.
• In 2022, the Government has planned to formulate a new National Cooperation Policy for bringing transparency, modernization, and competitiveness in India’s cooperative businesses.
• In budget speech on 1st February 2023, the Hon’ble Finance Minister (“FM”) has stated the inclusive growth as one of the Saptarishi for this Amrit Kaal Budget. Co-operative societies are one of the important pillars for an inclusive growth of India

3. ATLANTIC DECLARATION

TAG: GS 2: INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

THE CONTEXT: US President  and British Prime Minister agreed to deepen close economic ties between their countries, pledging to accelerate the clean energy transition and strengthen critical mineral supply chains.

EXPLANATION:

• It is first-of-its-kind economic partnership that mapped out future cooperation on issues such as artificial intelligence, and other economic and commercial relations.
• It is a framework for a 21^st Century U.S.-UK Economic Partnership to ensure that our unique alliance is adapted, reinforced, and reimagined for the challenges of this moment.
• Since Atlantic Charter in 1941, both countries have worked together to shape an open and rules-based international order based on our enduring support for shared values.
• An international economic architecture has been designed that has underpinned by the closest cooperation on defense and security, a thriving economic relationship, leadership in science and technology, and deep ties between our people and civil societies.
• Over the past year, we have taken steps to deepen our unrivalled defense, security, and intelligence relationship across every theater in the globe in which we cooperate, recognizing the indivisibility of security in the Euro-Atlantic and the Indo-Pacific and other regions.
• The United States and the United Kingdom resolve to partner to build resilient, diversified, and secure supply chains and reduce strategic dependencies.
• We remain committed to continuing to lead in the technologies of the future and advance the closest possible coordination on our economic security and technology protection toolkits to ensure that emerging technologies work for, not against, our democracies and security.
• And as democratic and open societies we resolve to work together to ensure the safety, prosperity, and security of our nations and peoples while driving growth in living standards across the world.
• The Atlantic Declaration and accompanying Action Plan form the basis of a new type of innovative partnership across the full spectrum of our economic, technological, commercial and trade relations; a first of its kind, and which demands our joint leadership and imagination to realize in full.
• It will constitute a new economic security framework covering ever-closer cooperation on critical and emerging technologies and stronger protective toolkits.
• It will support the United States and the United Kingdom in our efforts to harness the energy transition and technological breakthroughs to drive broadly shared growth, create good jobs, and leave no community behind. It will explore ways to deepen our trade and investment relationship. And it will strengthen our alliance across defense, science, health security, and space allowing us to explore increased cooperation in other areas for mutual economic benefit.

Atlantic Declaration Action Plan (ADAPT)
Together the United States and the United Kingdom can lead in building a new form of economic partnership that advances economic growth and competitiveness, that builds capacity, resilience, and inclusiveness, and works for our workers and communities; works for our businesses; works for our climate; and works for our national security. As the first steps in this new partnership, we are today announcing and taking concrete and coordinated actions to deepen this partnership across five pillars, by:

1. ensuring U.S.-UK leadership in critical and emerging technologies,
2. advancing ever-closer cooperation on our economic security and technology protection toolkits and supply chains,
3. partnering on an inclusive and responsible digital transformation,
4. building the clean energy economy of the future
5. further strengthening our alliance across defense, health security, and space.

Atlantic Declaration Action Plan (ADAPT) to develop and drive forward concrete progress across the Atlantic Declaration Action Plan and ensure increasing ambition over the next months and years.

4. MISSION ON ADVANCED AND HIGH-IMPACT RESEARCH (MAHIR)

TAG: PRELIMS PERSPECTIVE

THE CONTEXT: The government has launched a ‘Mission on Advanced and High-Impact Research (MAHIR)’ with a view to leverage emerging technologies in the power sector and make the country a manufacturing hub.

EXPLANATION:

• The Ministry of Power and the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy have jointly launched a National Mission to quickly identify emerging technologies in the power sector and develop them indigenously, at scale, for deployment within and outside India.
• The National Mission, titled “Mission on Advanced and High-Impact Research (MAHIR)” aims to facilitate indigenous research, development and demonstration of the latest and emerging technologies in the power sector.
• By identifying emerging technologies and taking them to the implementation stage, the Mission seeks to leverage them as the main fuel for future economic growth and thus make India a manufacturing hub of the world.
• The Mission will be funded by pooling financial resources of the Ministry of Power, Ministry of New and Renewable Energy and the Central Public Sector Enterprises under the two Ministries. Any additional funding needed will be mobilized from Government of India’s budgetary resources.
• Planned for an initial period of five years from 2023-24 to 2027-28, the Mission will follow the technology life cycle approach of Idea to Product.
• Mission will serve as a catalyst for national priorities such as achieving Net Zero emissions and promoting initiatives like Make in India and Start-up India. It will also contribute towards achieving the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
• MAHIR will work towards Industry-Academia -Government collaboration to create an ecosystem for innovation and translation of research in the power sector.

Mission Objectives

The key objectives of the Mission are as follows:

• To identify emerging technologies and areas of future relevance for the Global Power Sector and take up indigenous end-to-end development of relevant technologies
• To provide a common platform for Power Sector Stakeholders for collective brainstorming, synergetic technology development and devise pathways for smooth transfer of technology
• To support pilot projects of indigenous technologies (developed especially by Indian Start-ups) and facilitate their commercialization
• To leverage foreign alliances and partnerships to accelerate research & development of advanced technologies and to build competencies, capabilities and access to advanced technologies through bilateral or multilateral collaborations, thereby facilitating exchange of knowhow and Technology Transfer.
• To seed, nurture and scale up scientific and industrial R&D and to create vibrant & innovative ecosystem in the Power Sector of the country
• To make our Nation among the leading Countries in Power System related Technologies & Applications development

Areas Identified for Research

To begin with, the following eight areas are identified for research:

• Alternatives to Lithium-Ion storage batteries
• Modifying electric cookers / pans to suit Indian cooking methods
• Green hydrogen for mobility (High Efficiency Fuel Cell)
• Carbon capture
• Geo-thermal energy
• Solid state refrigeration.
• Nano technology for EV battery
• Indigenous CRGO technology

Structure of the Mission

• The Mission will have a two-tier structure – a Technical Scoping Committee and an Apex Committee.

Technical Scoping Committee

• The Technical Scoping Committee, chaired by the Chairperson of Central Electricity Authority, will identify ongoing and emerging research areas globally, recommend potential technologies for development under the Mission, justify the techno-economic advantages, provide research outlines, and conduct periodic monitoring of approved research projects.
• The Technical Scoping Committee (TSC) will survey and identify the on-going and emerging areas of research globally and will make recommendations to the Apex Committee.

Apex Committee

• The Apex Committee, chaired by the Union Minister for Power & New and Renewable Energy will deliberate on the technology and products to be developed and approve the research proposals. The Apex committee will look also into international collaborations.
• The Apex Committee will approve the research proposals and monitor the progress of research. The technology / product to be developed under the Mission will be deliberated by the Apex Committee.

Scope of the Mission

• Under the Mission, once research areas are identified and approved by the Apex Committee, the proposals for outcome-linked funding will be invited from companies / organizations across the globe.
• The selection of the proposal shall be done through Quality cum Cost-Based Selection (QCBS) basis. The organizations of the Ministries may also co-develop the technologies with the selected Research Agency. The IPR of the technology developed would be shared by the Government of India and the Research Agency.
• The Mission shall also fund pilot projects of technologies developed by Indian Start-ups and facilitate their commercialization through the Central Public Sector Enterprises under both the Ministries.
• The start-ups will have to share the IPR with the Government of India / Central Power Research Institute.
• The Mission will also facilitate international collaboration for smooth exchange of know-how and Technology Transfer. The Mission will also seek collaboration with the best laboratories of the world for joint development of technologies.

5. WILDFIRES IN CANADA

TAG: GS 3: ENVIRONMENT

THE CONTEXT: According to the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre, there are 426 active fires in the country till mid-2023.

EXPLANATION:

• New York City’s air quality is currently ranked among the worst in the world due to drifting smoke rising from wildfires in Canada.
• Areas from the mid-Atlantic through the Northeast and upper parts of the Great Lakes registered air quality in unhealthy or worse categories.

What is causing the wildfires in Canada?

• Quebec is Canada’s largest province by area, and also home to most currently active wildfires. Most of these have been caused by lightning.
• Human activities are also to be blamed for adding to the forest fires.
• According to a study published in Nature journal, lightning is the main precursor of natural wildfires. Laboratory experiments and field observations have indicated that continuing electrical currents in lightning flowing for more than some tens of milliseconds (so-called Long-Continuing-Currents, or LCC) are likely to produce fires.
• According to the study, simulations suggest an increase in total global lightning and global LCC by the 2090s.
• The simulated globally averaged surface temperature increases by about 4 Kelvin (since Kelvin and Celsius have a linear relationship, this equals to an increase by about 4 degrees Celsius), and thus we obtain an increase in total lightning activity of 11% per Kelvin.

How does lightning work?

• During a storm, water droplets from warmer air and ice crystals from cooler air come together to form thunderstorm clouds. Contact between these water droplets and ice crystals produces a static electrical charge in clouds.
• When opposing negative and positive charges in clouds build up, the insulating capacity of air between the charges as well as between the cloud and the ground breaks down, leading to a rapid discharge. This is what we call lightning.
• It can occur between opposite charges within the thunderstorm cloud, or between opposite charges in the cloud and on the ground.

Is lightning an indicator of climate change?

• The World Meteorological Organisation recognises lightning as an essential climate variable that critically contributes to the characterisation of the earth’s climate.
• As global warming increases the earth’s surface temperature, lightning activity is also predicted to increase.
• According to American Geophysical Union’s magazine Eos, lightning also produces nitrogen oxides. These react with other gases in the atmosphere and produce ozone, which is a strong greenhouse gas that traps earth’s outgoing heat and retains it in the atmosphere, altering climate and weather patterns.

What are the other reasons behind uncontrolled wildfires in Canada?

• According to Reuters, Atlantic Canada received low snowfall this winter, followed by an unusually dry spring. The weather of Nova Scotia province, where wildfires are not unusual but fewer than in other provinces, is influenced by the North Atlantic Ocean.
• Due to its proximity to the ocean, the region ordinarily has higher humidity and more moderate temperatures as compared to many other parts of the country.

1. RAM PRASAD BISMIL: REVOLUTIONARY AND A POET

TAG: GS 1: HISTORY

THE CONTEXT: Born on June 11, 1897, Bismil was a revolutionary freedom fighter with a poet’s heart. On his 126th birth anniversary, we remember Ram Prasad Bismil, whose words and actions have inspired generations of Indians.

EXPLANATION:

Who was Ramprasad Bismil?

• Ram Prasad Bismil was born on June 11, 1897 in a nondescript village in the United Provinces’ (now Uttar Pradesh) Shahjahanpur district.
• Fighting against the British Raj, he was involved in the Mainpuri Conspiracy of 1918 as well as the more famous Kakori Train Action of 1925. He was hanged in 1927 by British authorities for his involvement in the Kakori Train Action.
• He founded the Hindustan Republican Association (HRA, later Hindustan Socialist Republican Association).
• Today, he is a revered symbol of patriotism and Hindu-Muslim unit.
• He is one of India’s most revered freedom fighters, known as much for his revolutionary zeal as for his poetic profundity.

Early life and Arya Samaj connections

• He was born into a Rajput Tomar family, he learnt Hindi from his father and Urdu from a maulvi who lived nearby.
• He also went to an English medium school in Shahjahanpur.
• His exposure to multiple languages would develop his instincts as a writer and poet at a very early stage in his life.
• He joined the Arya Samaj and became a prolific writer and poet, penning patriotic verses in Hindi and Urdu under pen names like ‘Agyat’, ‘Ram’, and the one that is most known ‘Bismil’ (meaning ‘wounded’, ‘restless’).
• At the age of only 18, he penned the poem Mera Janm (My Birth), venting out his anger over the death sentence handed out to Arya Samaj missionary Bhai Parmanand.

The Mainpuri Conspiracy

• After graduating from school, Bismil got involved in politics. However, he would soon be disillusioned by the so-called moderate wing of the Congress Party.
• Bismil was not willing to “negotiate” or “beg” for his country’s freedom if the British did not accede, he was willing to take it by force.
• To achieve his ends, he started a revolutionary organisation called Matrivedi (The Altar of the Motherland) and joined forces with fellow revolutionary Genda Lal Dixit. Dixit was well-connected with dacoits of the state and wanted to utilise them in the armed struggle against the British.
• In 1918, Bismil wrote arguably his most famous poem, Mainpuri ki Pratigya, which was distributed across the United Provinces in pamphlets, bringing him adulation of nationalist locals and notoriety with the British.
• In order to collect funds for his fledgling organisation, he carried out at least three instances of looting at government offices in Mainpuri district. A massive manhunt was launched and Bismil was located which led to dramatic shootout at the end of which Bismil jumped into the Yamuna river and swam underwater to escape.

Founding the Hindustan Republican Association

• After his escape, Bismil would remain underground for the next few years, writing avidly but not undertaking any major revolutionary activity.
• During this time, he released a collection of poems called Man ki Lahar and also translated works such as Bolshevikon ki Kartoot (from Bengali).
• In February 1920, when all the prisoners in the Manipuri conspiracy case were freed, Bismil returned home to Shahjahanpur. There he initially worked gathering support for the Congress-led Non-Cooperation Movement but after Gandhi called it off post the incident at Chauri Chaura in 1922, Bismil decided to start his own party.
• Thus the Hindustan Republican Association was formed with Bismil, Ashfaqullah Khan, Sachindra Nath Bakshi and Jogesh Chandra Chatterjee as founding members. Figures such as Chandra Shekhar Azad and Bhagat Singh would also later join the HRA.
• Their manifesto, largely penned down by Bismil, was officially released on January 1, 1925 and titled Krantikari (Revolutionary).
• It proclaimed, ‘’The immediate object of the revolutionary party in the domain of politics is to establish a federal Republic of United States of India by an organized and armed revolution.”
• Their envisioned republic would be based on universal suffrage and socialist principles.

The Kakori Train Action

• Revolutionaries planned to rob the train between Shahjahanpur and Lucknow, which often carried treasury bags meant to be deposited in the British treasury in Lucknow.
• On August 9, 1925, as the train was passing the Kakori station, about 15 km from Lucknow, Rajendranath Lahiri, a member of the HRA who was already seated inside, pulled the chain and stopped the train. Subsequently, around ten revolutionaries, including Ram Prasad Bismil and Ashfaqullah Khan, entered the train and overpowered the guard. They looted the treasury bags (containing approx Rs 4,600) and escaped to Lucknow
• However, the robbery both enraged the British and upset the Indian public. Due to a misfiring Mauser gun, one passenger (a lawyer named Ahmad Ali) was killed during the robbery – dampening the response to it from the public at large.
• British led a violent crackdown with almost everyone (with the exception of Chandrashekhar Azad) involved in the Kakori Train Action arrested. Bismil was picked up in October.

Death and legacy

• After an eighteen month long trial, Bismil, Ashfaqullah and Rajendranath Lahiri were sentenced to death. The sentence was carried out on December 19, 1927. Ram Prasad Bismil was just 30 years old when he died.
• Today, Ram Prasad Bismil has also become a symbol of communal harmony due to his close friendship with fellow revolutionary poet Ashfaqullah Khan.

2. DEFAULT LOSS GUARANTEE (DLG) IN DIGITAL LENDING

TAG: GS 3: ECONOMY

THE CONTEXT: The RBI has allowed banks to accept Default Loss Guarantee (DLG) in digital lending only if the guarantee is in the form of a cash deposit, or fixed deposits in a bank with a lien in favour of the RE(Regulated Entities), or a bank guarantee in favour of the RE.

EXPLANATION:

• The RBI, after examining First Loss Default Guarantee (FLDG), permitted the arrangements between banks and fintechs or between two regulated entities (REs).
• The central bank said an RE can enter into DLG arrangements only with an LSP or other REs with which it has entered into an outsourcing (LSP) arrangement.
• The LSP-providing DLG must be incorporated as a company under the Companies Act, 2013.
• Banks and NBFCs should ensure that the total amount of DLG cover on any outstanding portfolio does not exceed 5% of the amount of that loan portfolio.
• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has allowed default loss guarantee (DLG), a safety-net arrangement among banks, non-banking finance companies, and lending service providers (LSPs, popularly known as fintech players) in the digital lending space.
• DLG is also known as First Loss Default Guarantee (FLDG). The RBI nod for compensating banks in case of default is expected to boost fintech activity in the financial sector.

What is an FLDG arrangement?

• FLDG is an arrangement whereby a third party such as a financial technology (fintech) player (LSP) compensates lenders if the borrower defaults.
• The LSP provides certain credit enhancement features such as first loss guarantee up to a pre-decided percentage of loans generated by it.
• For all practical purposes, credit risk is borne by the LSP without having to maintain any regulatory capital.

What does an LSP do?

• Lending service providers are new-age players who use technology platforms in the lending space.
• They are agents of a bank or NBFC who carry out one or more of a lender’s functions (in part or full) in customer acquisition, underwriting support, pricing support, disbursement, servicing, monitoring, recovery of specific loan or loan portfolio on behalf of REs as per the outsourcing guidelines of the RBI.

3. CAPTAGON PILLS CRISIS

TAG: PRELIMS PERSPECTIVE

THE CONTEXT: Reports suggest that the Islamic State (IS) and Syrian fighters widely consumed Captagon to increase alertness and suppress appetite during their gruelling battles. Such use of amphetamine-type drugs isn’t a recent phenomenon though during World War II, Nazi Germany and the Allied forces provided their troops with amphetamines.

EXPLANATION:

• As global isolation of Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad comes to an end with the Arab League reinstating Syria as its member, the discussions on the trade of Captagon pills have taken the centre-stage once again.
• Captagon is a highly addictive amphetamine-type drug, which is produced mainly in Syria and widely smuggled across West Asia.
• Sales of the drug have profited al-Assad, his associates and his family the pills have become a financial lifeline for them as Syria continues to struggle due to its economic crisis since the outbreak of the 2011 civil war.
• The reports of the rising prominence of Captagon first surfaced back in 2014, when it was found that the drug was being widely consumed by the Islamic State (IS) and Syrian fighters to increase alertness and suppress appetite during their gruelling battles.

What exactly is Captagon?

• Captagon is actually a counterfeit version of a medicine with the same brand name which was first produced in the 1960s by the German company Degussa Pharma Gruppe.
• They were manufactured to help treat attention deficit disorders, narcolepsy and other conditions.
• The original Captagon contained fenetylline, a synthetic drug of the phenethylamine family to which amphetamine also belongs.
• It was commercially sold in several countries until the 1980s and was banned due to fears of its highly addictive nature.
• In the following decades, new illicit tablets, mainly containing amphetamine, labelled Captagon surfaced in Bulgaria from where Balkan and Turkish criminal networks smuggled them to the Arabian Peninsula.
• The drug finally made a comeback post-2011 but this time in Syria, where a bloody civil war had plunged the country into an economic crisis.

What do amphetamine-based drugs do?

• Captagon pills, like other amphetamine-based drugs, stimulate the central nervous system, providing “a boost of energy, enhance someone’s focus, let someone stay awake for longer periods of time, and produce a feeling of euphoria.
• They don’t help someone gain “superhuman alertness, bravery, strength, or pain resistance” a person consuming any amphetamine-based drug might feel some sort of placebo effect though, which could lead to erratic behaviours.
• Captagon or other amphetamine-type drugs usually stay in the blood for around 36 hours.
• When taken orally, their peak effect occurs one to three hours after consumption, and effects last for as long as seven to 12 hours.

What are their side effects?

• Consumption of amphetamines can cause loss of appetite and weight, heart problems such as fast heart rate, irregular heartbeat, increased blood pressure, and heart attack, which can lead to death.
• They can also cause high body temperature, skin flushing, memory loss, problems thinking clearly, and stroke.
• The addiction, happens when the drug is consumed to get high or improve performance which can lead to tolerance.

How have militaries around the world used them?

• Although amphetamine was discovered in 1910 and chemically synthesised in 1927, its craze among militaries reached a crescendo during World War II.
• While Nazi Germany supplied Pervitin, a methamphetamine (now known as crystal meth) to its soldiers, the Allied forces gave their troops Benzedrine, which was amphetamine sulfate.
• The drug was also a significant part of their Blitzkrieg strategy, which involved carrying out a swift attack on the enemy and relentlessly pushing ahead with tank troops, day and night.
• The 2015 Vox report mentioned that the US Air Force still uses these performance-enhancing drugs.

4. DRIP IRRIGATION SCHEME

TAG: SCHEME

THE CONTEXT: Irregularities is noticed in Centre’s drip irrigation scheme in Jharkhand. The investigation found numerous violations Aadhaar cards were misused to create “ghost” beneficiaries with farmers completely unaware that money was being collected by private companies in their name; brand new equipment was gathering dust; and third-party verification by Nabcons was repeatedly falsified to beat the system.

EXPLANATION:

• An investigation has uncovered numerous violations and corrupt practices in the implementation of the “Per Drop More Crop — Micro Irrigation” (PDMC-MI) scheme in Jharkhand.
• Of the 94 beneficiaries who were tracked by this paper, only 17 were found to be actually utilising the scheme. Many apparent beneficiaries had no clue about their own enrollment in the scheme.

What is the “Per Drop More Crop” scheme?

• PDMC-MI is a central government scheme to promote micro irrigation drip or sprinkler systems which is implemented by the Department of Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare, with roughly 40% central funding. The rest is financed by states and farmers themselves; some states like Jharkhand and those in the Northeast have a different break-up.
• The scheme was launched in 2006 and was subsumed into the Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sichai Yojna (PMKSY) in 2015 as one of its four components.
• The main objectives of PDMC-MI are to enhance water-use efficiency and increase productivity, thus bolstering farmer incomes.
• The operational guidelines say the scheme is meant mostly for so-called water-guzzling crops like sugarcane, cotton, and banana, even though cereals and pulses may also be brought under its ambit.
• States are supposed to install irrigation infrastructure, conduct publicity campaigns, create market linkages, and provide training and other expert support.
• Drip irrigation systems are costlier than sprinkler systems. In drip irrigation, water is targeted directly at the roots of crops using emitters that are fitted on a lateral tube.

Why is this scheme important for Jharkhand?

• The state’s agricultural economy, especially its major crop, paddy, is predominantly rain-dependent.
• In 2022, Jharkhand suffered its worst drought in 122 years on record during the June 1-August 15 paddy sowing season.
• Drip irrigation can be of great help in this situation it enhances water-use efficiency by cutting water usage by roughly 70%, doubles productivity, assures energy savings, and helps directly deliver fertilisers to crop roots.
• Effective operation of PDMC-MI which was first introduced in the state in 2010-11 — can potentially reduce distress outmigration and deliver a climate-resilient solution for the agrarian economy.

How were the farmers and companies chosen?

• State governments are required to identify the places where drip/sprinkler irrigation can be used; then, companies that can provide the irrigation infrastructure, and the scheme’s beneficiaries are identified.
• In Jharkhand, the enrolment process is controlled by the companies, who in most cases reach out to farmers and apply to the agriculture department on their behalf, and then receive work orders from the district office of the department. This process often does not reflect the farmer’s opinion on drip irrigation or his willingness to buy into it.
• Companies are enlisted as PDMC-MI providers in the state for a period of five years through a tendering process, but each enlisted company has to re-register every year. Every district is allotted 4-5 companies.

How does the scheme work?

• The contracted companies install drip irrigation systems on the beneficiaries’ land, up to a ceiling of 5 ha (12.3 acres), contiguous or otherwise.
• Contract farmers, those who have taken land on lease, are also eligible if they can produce a lease agreement for a minimum period of seven years from the date of approval of the application. Beneficiaries to have already availed of the scheme are barred for the next seven years.
• The subsidy amount paid to the companies by the government depends on various factors, including water requirement, plant to plan spacing, water quality, and specific local factors.

Is there a verification process before and after installation?

• The process of applying for and receiving assistance under PDMC-MI incorporates various steps to ensure transparency and honesty within the system
• Pre-installation, the farmer fills out a form with all personal details, including Aadhaar, and attaches an affidavit detailing the land in possession. The mukhiya of the panchayat attests the documents, and a panchayat member or a government official certifies the authenticity of the details to the best of their knowledge.
• Post-installation of the drip irrigation infrastructure, the farmer writes a “satisfaction letter” stating that he has not received any subsidy, the installation is complete, and the requisite training has been provided to him. The farmer must also make a video statement, geotag it with the latitude and longitude of the farm with the drip irrigation equipment, and send it to Nabcons, the consultancy arm of the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD), for verification against the beneficiaries’ Aadhaar details.
• However, Nabcons relies on company agents/ representatives to reach the beneficiaries, which leaves scope for manipulation of data. The Investigation found that middlemen (company agents) and Nabcon verification personnel were in cahoots.
• Irrespective of the third party verification, the agriculture department is supposed to conduct verification exercises for 50% of beneficiaries this does not happen currently.

5. EU MIGRATION DEAL

TAG: GS 2: INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

THE CONTEXT: European Union ministers agreed  on how to handle irregular arrivals of asylum-seekers and migrants, a deal hailed as a breakthrough after almost a decade of bitter feuds on the sensitive matter.

EXPLANATION:

• EU states is blamed over providing for the new arrivals since more than a million people mostly fleeing the war in Syria caught the EU bloc by surprise by reaching it across the Mediterranean in 2015.
• The bloc has since tightened external borders and its asylum laws, and struck deals in the Middle East and North Africa to have more people stay there. U.N. data shows fewer than 160,000 sea migrants made to it Europe last year.
• The bloc hopes lower irregular immigration would allow EU countries to restart cooperation to spread more evenly the task of taking care of arriving refugees and migrants

WHAT IS NEW PACT?

• Each EU country would be assigned a share of the 30,000 people overall the bloc is expected to accommodate in its joint migration system at any given time.
• That will be calculated based on the size of the country’s GDP and population, the number of irregular border crossings including via sea rescue operations, and more.
• Countries unwilling to take in people would instead be able to help their hosting peers through cash at least 20,000 euros per person a year equipment or personnel.
• The agreement would introduce a new expedited border procedure for those deemed unlikely to win asylum to prevent them from lingering inside the bloc for years.
• Instead, they should be sent away within six months if their asylum applications fails, one of several shortened deadlines in the deal.
• That mechanism would apply to all those deemed dangerous, uncooperative or coming from countries with low asylum recognition rates in the EU like India or Serbia.
• EU countries could also apply the speedy procedure to people picked up in the sea, caught while trying to get in illegally or filing for asylum at the border rather than in advance

ISSUES:

• It can create more overcrowded migration camps on the edges of the EU.
• New plan could lead to protracted detention of minors and criticised it as focusing on keeping people away rather than helping those in need.
• There is opposition from Warsaw and Budapest, however, majority deal among the 27 EU countries. Spain will now lead more negotiations on behalf of the member states with the European Parliament.

1. THE ORGANIZATION OF THE PETROLEUM EXPORTING PLUS COUNTRIES

TAG: GS 2: INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

THE CONTEXT: The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies including Russia, a group known as OPEC+ which pumps around 40% of the world’s crude, agreed on a new oil output deal.

EXPLANATION:

• Saudi Arabia, the group’s biggest producer, will make a deep cut to its output in July on top of a broader OPEC+ deal to limit supply into 2024 as the group faces flagging oil prices.
• A surprise announcement by OPEC+ in April to deepen production cuts helped to raise prices by about $9 a barrel to above $87 per barrel in the days followed.
• The changes, however, included lowered targets for Russia, Nigeria and Angola simply to bring them into line with current production levels.

Reasons why OPEC+ cut output:

• Concerns about weak global demand as data from China has aroused fears that the economic recovery after coronavirus lockdowns by world’s second-largest oil consumer is losing steam.
• Fears of another banking crisis in recent months have led investors to sell out of riskier assets.
• A global recession could lead to lower oil prices.
• Punishing speculators as the planned cuts will also punish oil short sellers betting on oil price declines.

Reactions:

• The United States is considering passing legislation known as NOPEC, which would allow the seizure of OPEC’s assets on U.S. territory if market collusion is proven.
• OPEC+ has criticised the International Energy Agency, the West’s energy watchdog for which the United States is the biggest financial donor, for advocating oil stocks releases last year.

Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC)

• It refers to a group of 13 of the world’s major oil-exporting nations.
• OPEC was founded in 1960 to coordinate the petroleum policies of its members and to provide member states with technical and economic aid.
• Members Countries of OPEC include Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and Venezuela (the five founders), plus Algeria, Angola, Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Libya, Nigeria, and the United Arab Emirates.

Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) Plus:

• Opec+ is a group of 23 oil-exporting countries which meets regularly to decide how much crude oil to sell on the world market.
• These nations came to an accord towards the end of 2016 “to institutionalize a framework for cooperation between OPEC and non-OPEC producing countries on a regular and sustainable basis.” These nations aim to work together on adjusting crude oil production to bring stability to the oil market.
• The list of non-OPEC nations includes Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Brunei, Equatorial Guinea, Kazakhstan, Russia, Mexico, Malaysia, South Sudan, Sudan and Oman.

2. PLASTIC POLLUTION AND WORLD ENVIRONMENT DAY

TAG: GS 3: ENVIRONMENT

THE CONTEXT: Since the early 20th century, plastics have become a ubiquitous part of human life, despite their many adverse impacts on the environment. This year’s World Environment Day (June 5) has the theme of #BeatPlasticPollution, calling for global solutions to combat the pandemic of plastic pollution.

EXPLANATION:

50th anniversary of the World Environment Day:

• The World Environment Day, led by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), has been held annually on June 5, since 1973.
• The date was chosen by the UN General Assembly during the historic 1972 Stockholm Conference on the Human Environment considered to be the first world conference to make the environment a major issue.

#BeatPlasticPollution

• Hosted by Côte d’Ivoire and supported by the Netherlands, this year’s World Environment Day campaign is aimed towards discussing and implementing solutions to the problem of plastic pollution.
• According to UN data, more than 400 million tonnes of plastic is produced every year worldwide, half of which is designed to be used only once. Of that, less than 10 per cent is recycled. Consequently, an estimated 19-23 million tonnes end up in lakes, rivers and seas annually.

What is Plastic?

• The word plastic is derived from the Greek word plastikos, meaning “capable of being shaped or moulded.”
• It refers to a wide range of synthetic or semi-synthetic materials that use polymers as a main ingredient with their defining quality being their plasticity the ability of a solid material to undergo permanent deformation in response to applied forces. This makes them extremely adaptable, capable of being shaped as per requirement.
• Broadly speaking, single-use is a term which can refer to any plastic items which are either designed to be used for one time by the consumer before they are thrown away or recycled, or likely to be used in this way
• Most modern plastics are derived from fossil fuel-based chemicals like natural gas or petroleum. However, recently, variants made from renewable materials, such as corn or cotton derivatives have also emerged.
• Around 70 per cent of global plastic production is concentrated in six major polymer types – referred collectively as commodity plastics. These include: Polyethylene terephthalate or PET, High-density polyethylene or HDPE, Polyvinyl chloride or PVC, Low-density polyethylene or LDPE, Polypropylene or PP, and Polystyrene or PS. Each of these have different properties and can be identified by their Resin Identification Code (RIC) denoted by symbols found on plastic products.
• Resin identification coding system

Microplastics:

• Plastic doesnot decompose but do crumble into smaller particles called as microplastics.
• It is officially defined as plastics less than five millimetres in diameter.
• There are two categories of microplastics. Primary microplastics are tiny particles designed for commercial use, such as in cosmetics or textiles. On the other hand, secondary microplastics are particles that are a product of the breakdown of larger plastic items due to exposure to environmental factors such as sun’s radiation or ocean’s waves.
• The problem with microplastics, like all plastics, is that they do not break down easily into more harmless particles. Instead, they find their way across the planet, from the depths of the Pacific Ocean to the heights of the Himalayas.
• According to the most recent global estimates, an average human consumes at least 50,000 microplastic particles annually due to contamination of the food chain, potable water, and air.
• Notably, microplastics contain a number of toxic chemicals which pose severe risks to human health. The biggest health risk associated is with the chemical BPA or Bisphenol A , which is used to harden the plastic.
• BPA contaminates food and drinks, causing alterations in liver function, insulin resistance, foetal development in pregnant women, the reproductive system and brain function.

Great Pacific Garbage Patch:

• The largest collection of plastics and microplastics in the ocean is in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch – a collection of marine debris in the North Pacific Ocean. Also known as the trash vortex, it is located between California and Japan, and formed due to converging ocean currents.
• As per estimates, the GPGP covers a surface area of 1.6 million sq km– roughly half the size of India There are other, smaller such garbage patches in other oceans.
• The GPGP comprises majorly of single-use plastics.

3. GENOME SEQUENCING AND BLACK DEATH

TAG: GS 3: SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

THE CONTEXT: The ‘Black Death’ causing bacteria’s prehistoric trail has been traced by scientists by advanced gene-sequencing techniques.

EXPLANATION:

What is the black death?

• The ‘black death’, or the Great Plague was one of the deadliest epidemics in human history that happened in 14th century.
• The ‘black death’ is believed to have killed more than 25 million people in Europe and possibly up to 40-50% of the population in some of the continent’s major cities
• It was caused by a bacterium called Yersinia pestis, which infects mammals. This bacteria’s discovery has been attributed separately to Alexandre Yersin, a Swiss-French physician, and Kitasato Shibasaburō, a Japanese physician and microbiologist during the plague outbreak in Hong Kong in 1894.
• Humans typically get infected through fleas or through close handling/contact with an infected human or animal.
• One possible reason for the humongous proportions of the ‘black death’ outbreak is the human-to-human transmission of the bacteria.

Plague outbreak in India:

• India has experienced plague epidemics of varying intensities from as early as 1896 in Bombay to outbreaks in Karnataka (1966) and Surat (1994) and to a more recent isolated outbreak (2004) in a village in Uttarakhand.
• India also prominently figures in the history of the plague. The plague vaccine was developed by Waldemar Haffkine in 1897 during the outbreaks in Bombay.

History of plague:

• Historical archives suggest the Plague of Justinian in the sixth century A.D. was possibly the first to be documented.
• The evidence also suggests that plague outbreaks were possibly common in Asia and Europe as early as the Late Neolithic-Early Bronze Age (LBNA), as implied by genetic material isolated from a Swedish tomb dated to 3000 BC.
• The LBNA period is estimated to have lasted 5,000-2,500 years before present. This era was also characterised by human contact, exchange across Europe, and a consequent social, economic, and cultural transformation of human society.

Genome-sequencing technologies:

• The advent of genome-sequencing technologies has allowed scientists to trace the trail of infectious diseases that ailed people in prehistoric times.
• This is possible in particular due to deep-sequencing of genetic material isolated from well-preserved human remains, with the help of advanced computational analysis.
• Deep-sequencing involves sequencing the genomic material multiple times to retrieve even small amounts of DNA, since the material is likely to degrade over time.

What has deep-sequencing revealed?

• Scientists have also traced the prehistoric trail providing an unparalleled view of the evolution and adaptation of human pathogens.
• They found that the reconstructed genomes lacked the gene to create a molecule called yapC, short for ‘yersinia autotransporter C’, associated with the bacteria’s ability to bind to mammalian cells and form biofilms and thus important for causing infections.
• However, they also found the presence of a functional urease D gene, which could make them toxic to fleas.
• The genome sequences from the latter also lacked the yapC and ymt genes, reinforcing the previous findings that the plague in that period was possibly not transmitted through fleas.
• The ambit of such technologies is also expanding to include studies of animal and plant diseases, along with human diseases, contributing to the unified understanding of our well-being called ‘One Health.

4. GDP ESTIMATES

TAG: GS 3: ECONOMY

THE CONTEXT: Recently, government released the so-called Provisional Estimates (PE) of India’s national income for the financial year 2022-23 (or FY23). According to the PEs, the size of India’s economy calculated by the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) or the market value of all final goods and services produced within the country grew by 7.2 per cent in FY23. This means, India’s GDP was 7.2% more than what it was in the previous financial year (2021-22).

EXPLANATION:

About GDP growth estimates:

• For any financial year, the GDP estimates go through several rounds of revisions.
• Each year in January, the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) releases the First Advance Estimates (FAEs) for that financial year.
• In February end, after incorporating the data from Q3 (third quarter, which includes October, November and December), come the Second Advance Estimates (SAEs).
• By May-end come the Provisional Estimates (PEs) after incorporating the Q4 (Jan to March) data.
• Then with each passing year, the PEs are revised to give the First Revised Estimates, the Second Revised Estimates and the Third Revised Estimates before settling on the “Actuals”. Each revision benefits from more data, making the GDP estimates more accurate and robust.

Private Final Consumption Expenditure (PFCE):

• However, there is a fly in the (GDP data) ointment. It is called the Private Final Consumption Expenditure (PFCE).
• As is evident, the PFCE is the biggest engine of growth. Typically, if it is growing robustly then one would presume that the second biggest engine of GDP growth — expenditures towards investments — will follow suit. For a big economy such as India, together, these two components can create a virtuous cycle.

Typically, GDP is calculated by adding up all expenditures in the economy. These expenditures are broadly categorised in four groups:

1. All the money Indians spend in their personal capacity from buying an ice cream to watching a movie to buying a TV or car. This is called the PFCE. Such expenditures account for 55%-60% of India’s annual GDP.
2. All the money the governments spend on their daily uses paying salaries etc. This is called Government Final Consumption Expenditure (GFCE) and this accounts for 10% of India’s GDP.
3. All the money spent by private companies and governments towards building productive capacities in the economy. Say a firm buying desktops for its employees or the government spending money on building a road. This is called the Gross Fixed Capital Formation (GFCF) and this accounts for 30%-32% of the GDP.
4. Net exports or the net of all the money that Indians received by exporting goods and services and minus all the money they spent on importing goods and services. More often than not, India’s imports are more than its exports. As such the Net Exports component is negative and drags down overall GDP.

5. INTERLOCKING SYSTEM

TAG: PRELIMS PERSPECTIVE

THE CONTEXT: Minister for Railways said that a change in the “configuration” of the track had led to the Coromandel Express smashing into the stationary goods train from behind, triggering the three-way train accident in Odisha in which 275 people have died so far.

EXPLANATION:

• The electric “point machine” is a vital device for railway signalling for quick operation and “locking” of point switches. It plays the key role in the safe running of trains.
• Failure of these machines will severely affect train movement, and any deficiencies created or left unaddressed at the time of installation of the system can result in unsafe conditions.

How the system works:

• Interlocking in railway signalling systems is a crucial safety mechanism used in the operation of train movements on railway tracks.
• It ensures that train movements continue without any conflicts with each other, preventing accidents.
• There are three main components that comprise an interlocking system: the point, the track occupancy sensing devices, and the signal. The Interlocking system coordinates the functions of these three components to control train movements.

What is the function of each of these three main components?

• Points allow trains to change tracks: The points (also called ‘switch rails’) are movable rails that guide the wheels of a train towards either a straight or a diverging track. They are typically placed at the point of divergence of two tracks going to different directions. Once a direction of a train is determined, the point gets locked at a particular position. This means that once a direction is set, the point cannot budge until the train has passed.
• Track circuits are electrical circuits (also known as track-occupancy sensing devices) that detect the presence of trains.
• Signals (which are lights of green, red, and yellow colour) are installed along the tracks to indicate the status of the track ahead.

And how do the points work?

• The digital interface of this system is a computer screen (or multiple screens) that shows the full view of the station layout and the live (real-time) movement of trains on tracks, the signals, and the position of the points.
• This is the configuration that runs all trains everywhere. This computer interface is called a data logger.

How does the system sense whether a track is occupied?

• There are various kinds of track-occupancy sensing devices. Generally, sensors are installed on the tracks that detect the passage of wheels on the rails.
• These are also called axle counters. They count how many sets of wheels or axles have passed over them in order to determine whether the entire train has passed through.

Who operates and monitors the interlocking signalling system?

• The interlocking system is usually operated and monitored by trained personnel from the signalling and telecommunications department in Railways, often known as ‘signallers’ or signal operators. They are responsible for setting the signals, monitoring track circuits, and ensuring the safe movement of trains.

1. CONFLICT BETWEEN IRAN AND AFGHANISTAN OVER RIVER HELMAND

TAG: PLACES IN NEWS; GS 2: INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

CONTEXT: Iran and Afghanistan are locked in a long-standing dispute over the sharing of water from the Helmand River. Clashes broke out recently along the border.

EXPLANATION:

Current Issue:

• Iran and the Taliban exchanged heavy gunfire on the Islamic Republic’s border with Afghanistan, killing and wounding troops while sharply intensifying rising tensions between the countries.
• The clash came amid an escalating dispute between Kabul and Tehran over the Helmand River, which is a vital source of water for both sides, supporting agriculture, livelihoods and ecosystems in the region.

Helmand river:

• The Helmand is Afghanistan’s longest river. It originates near Kabul in the western Hindu Kush mountain range and flows in a southwesterly direction through desert areas for a total of about 1,150 kilometers (715 miles) before emptying into Lake Hamun, which straddles the Afghanistan-Iran border.
• Lake Hamun is the largest freshwater lake in Iran and It used to be one of the world’s largest wetlands, straddling 4,000 square kilometers (1,600 square miles) between Iran and Afghanistan, fed by the Helmand. But it has since dried up, a trend experts blame on drought and the impact of dams and water controls.

Background:

• Afghanistan and Iran signed an agreement the Helmand River Treaty in 1973 to regulate the allocation of river water. But the accord was neither ratified nor fully implemented, causing disagreements and tensions to persist.
• Iran has accused Afghanistan of violating its water rights for years, arguing that far less water than the amount agreed to in the 1973 treaty flows into Iran.
• Afghanistan has rejected Iran’s accusations, underlining that climatic factors like a shortage of rainfall, resulting in reduced river water volumes, are to blame for the situation.
• A major source of concern for Iran is Afghanistan’s construction of dams, reservoirs and irrigation systems along the Helmand River. Tehran fears that these projects reduce water flow into Iran
• But Kabul argues that it is within its rights to expand water storage and irrigation capacities within Afghanistan.

What’s the state of Tehran-Taliban ties?

• Iran and Afghanistan share a 950-kilometer land border. Both countries have no major territorial disputes
• Tehran had cultivated good ties with the Taliban before the Islamic fundamentalist group captured Kabul in August 2021 as US and NATO troops were in the final weeks of their pullout from Afghanistan.
• Both sides were united in their opposition to the US’s presence in the region

2. VIOLENCE IN KOSOVO

TAG: PLACES IN NEWS;  GS 2: INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

CONTEXT: After winning a match against Hungary’s Márton Fucsovics at the ongoing French Open tennis championship, Serbian great Novak Djokovic wrote on a camera lens in Serbian: “Kosovo is the heart of Serbia. Stop the violence.” Djokovic, was referring to this week’s violence in the Kosovan town of Zvecan where Serbian protesters clashed with NATO peacekeepers, leading to more than 60 injuries  the worst violence in the region in more than a decade.

EXPLANATION:

Current issue:

• The current round of violence took place after ethnic Serbs who are a minority in Kosovo but are in a majority in northern Kosovo  tried to prevent Albanian mayors taking charge in local councils.
• The Albanians took control of the councils after Serbs boycotted local elections in Kosovo’s north in April. Results of the elections, which saw a turnout of less that 3.5%, were rejected by the Serbs as a sham.
• Northern Kosovo has seen frequent tensions that have their roots in the larger ethnic and political divide between the ethnic Serbs and the Albanians.

Location of Serbia and Kosovo:

• Serbia, a landlocked country in eastern Europe that shares borders with, among other countries, Hungary, Romania, and Bulgaria.
• Kosovo is a region that lies to Serbia’s southwest, sharing borders with North Macedonia, Albania, and Montenegro. Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008, but Serbia does not recognise Kosovo’s statehood.

What was the Kosovo conflict about?

• Serbs and Albanians are ethnicities who have been living in this region for centuries.
• Serbs are Eastern Orthodox Christians, while the Albanians in Kosovo are majority Muslims. Other ethnic groups, such as the Bosnians and the Turks, are minority populations. Serbs are in the majority in Serbia while Albanians are in the majority in the Kosovo region.
• For many Serbians, the Kosovo region, is the “heart” of its national and religious identity and home to numerous cherished mediaeval Serb Orthodox Christian monasteries.
• Serbian nationalists view the 1389 Battle of Kosovo between the Serbian prince Lazar Hrebeljanovic and the Ottoman Sultan Murad Hudavendigar as a defining moment in their national struggle.
• On the other hand, Kosovo’s majority ethnic Albanians view Kosovo as belonging to them, and accuse Serbia of occupation and repression.

Background:

• From 1945, after the end of World War II, until 1992, the area in the Balkans comprising present-day Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, and Slovenia, was one country, officially known as the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRY), or simply Yugoslavia, with its capital at Belgrade, which is now the capital of Serbia.
• As part of Yugoslavia, the republic of Serbia included the regions of Kosovo and Vojvodina. Within Serbia, Kosovo and Vojvodina held the status of autonomous provinces.
• In the early 1990s, as the USSR collapsed, Yugoslavia followed and each of these republics broke away to become independent countries, beginning with Slovenia in 1991.
• The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), a United Nations court of law that dealt with war crimes committed during this time, noted that coinciding with the collapse of communism and resurgent nationalism in Eastern Europe during the late 1980s and early 1990s, Yugoslavia experienced a period of intense political and economic crisis.
• Central government weakened while militant nationalism grew apace. Political leaders used nationalist rhetoric to erode a common Yugoslav identity and fuel fear and mistrust among different ethnic groups.
• Ethnic Albanian rebels launched a rebellion under the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) in 1998 to rid the country of Serbian rule. Serbia’s brutal response under President Slobodan Milošević prompted an intervention by NATO in 1999, which forced Serbia to cede control to international peacekeepers.
• NATO then carried out a 78-day-long campaign of air strikes against targets in Kosovo and Serbia. In response, Serb forces further intensified the persecution of the Kosovo Albanian civilians, having accused them earlier of changing the demography of their nation.
• Ultimately, Milošević agreed to withdraw his troops and police from the province of Kosovo. Some 750,000 Albanian refugees came back home, and about 100,000 Serbs — roughly half the province’s Serb population fled in fear of reprisals.
• In June 1999, Serbia agreed to the international administration of Kosovo with the final status of the province still unresolved. Several Serb leaders, including Milošević, were indicted by the UN’s war crimes tribunal for their role in the war

What has been the status of Kosovo since then?

• While Kosovo declared independence in 2008, Serbia still considers it to be an integral part of Serbian territory. Countries such as India, China, and Russia do not recognise Kosovo as a separate country, while the US, the majority of EU countries, Japan and Australia do so.

3. CYBER SECURITY FOR PAYMENT SYSTEM OPERATORS

TAG: GS 3: ECONOMY

CONTEXT: The Reserve Bank of India has released the draft Master Directions on Cyber Resilience and Digital Payment Security Controls for Payment System Operators.

EXPLANATION:

• The draft covers governance mechanism for identification, assessment, monitoring and management of cyber security risks including information security risks and vulnerabilities, and specify baseline security measures for ensuring safe and secure digital payment transactions.
• The directions are being issued to ensure that the authorised non-bank Payment System Operators (PSOs) are resilient to traditional and emerging information systems and cyber security risks,
• The Directions will also cover baseline security measures for ensuring system resiliency as well as safe and secure digital payment transactions.
• However, they will endeavour to migrate to the latest security standards. The existing instructions on security and risk mitigation measures for payments done using cards, Prepaid Payment Instruments (PPIs) and mobile banking continue to be applicable hitherto.

PAYMENT SYSTEM OPERATORS:

• The payment System Operator is an authorized party that is registered under the Companies Act, 1956 or the Companies Act, 2013 that undertakes the operation of payment systems. They provide services and operate on a certain model and mainly deal in payment and settlement-related activities.
• PSOs in India include Clearing Corporation of India, National Payments Corporation of India, Cards Payment Networks, Cross border Money Transfer, ATM networks, Prepaid Payment Instruments, White Label ATM Operators, Instant Money Transfer, and Trade Receivables Discounting System, Bharat Bill Payment System.

4. 9TH ANNIVERSARY OF TELANGANA’S STATEHOOD

TAG: GS 2: POLITY

CONTEXT: With assembly elections just months away, political parties across the board are celebrating the 9th anniversary of Telangana’s statehood on June 2, 2023.

EXPLANATION:

• Telangana, the newest state of India, has a complex history. Pre-Independence, it was a part of the princely state of Hyderabad. While there were talks of statehood in the 1950s, the region was eventually merged with the adjoining Andhra State to form Andhra Pradesh.
• Finally, in 2014, after decades of struggle, Telangana was carved out of the erstwhile Andhra Pradesh.

PART I: Princely State of Hyderabad, post-independence Hyderabad State:

• Present-day Telangana comprised the south and south-east Telugu-speaking regions of the Princely State of Hyderabad. The city of Hyderabad itself lay at the heart of the region, but unlike the areas around it, was dominated by the Urdu-speaking Muslim elite. Ruled by Nizam Osman Ali Khan, Hyderabad was among the largest and most prosperous princely states in the country.
• In 1945, a communist-supported rebellion broke out in Telangana against the prevailing jagirdari (land-revenue) system. The Nizam’s response was brutal, unleashing a local militia, known as the Razakars, on the protesting peasants.
• After Independence and the Partition in 1947, the Nizam of Hyderabad was unwilling to accede to India. In the meantime, the Razakars under Kasim Razvi, terrorised the population, lest any attempts to overthrow the Nizam be made.
• In order to usher in a modicum of stability in the state, India signed the Standstill Agreement with Hyderabad in November 1947, which stated that all administrative agreements that were in place between the Nizam and the British Crown would continue between the Nizam and India.
• However, almost instantly, the terms of the agreement were violated by the Nizam. Not only did he let the Razakars run amok, he also restricted exports of precious metals to India, began negotiating with Pakistan, and stopped accepting the Indian rupee as legal tender. The Razakars even began carrying out “border raids” in neighbouring states.
• As the state started falling into anarchy, India intervened militarily, launching “Operation Polo” in September 1948. Within a week, India had taken control of Hyderabad’s administration.
• On January 26, 1951, when India became a republic, Hyderabad was accorded the status of a Part-B state, with the Nizam as the Rajpramukh and an elected chief minister.

PART II: Linguistic reorganisation and the creation of Andhra Pradesh

• The erstwhile Madras state was huge, covering areas which spoke all the major languages of South India. In 1952, Potti Sriramalu went on a fast-unto-death demanding a separate Telugu state. He died after 56 days, triggering unrest across the region and eventually leading to the formation of the Andhra State out of the north and north eastern regions of the Madras state in 1953
• Moreover, Sriramalu’s death made the government seriously reconsider its position on linguistic states. The States Reorganisation Committee came into existence in 1953 and submitted its report two years later. Notably, it recommended that Hyderabad be reorganised linguistically the Marathi-dominant Marathwada would be integrated into the bilingual Bombay state and south western Kannada-dominant districts would be integrated into the Mysore state.
• The status of the Telugu-dominant Telangana region was contentious. While Andhra wanted to merge with Telangana to create a united Vishalandhra, the SRC itself did not favour this, instead recommending Telangana be a separate state till at least 1961, when it would be given the opportunity to voluntarily merge with Andhra.
• But the States Reorganisation Act passed in 1956 ignored this recommendation, merging Andhra State and Telangana into a single state called Andhra Pradesh, with Hyderabad as the capital. For some, like KCR, this was the point where a struggle for a separate Telangana state began.

PART III: The struggle for Telangana and the creation Telangana State

• However, the sense of Telangana as a separate entity predated even Independence. Under the rule of the Nizam, the Telangana region had in force Mulki Rules domicile rules which ensured that only native residents were able to get government jobs in the region
• Since Independence, protests regularly broke out in Telangana demanding the strict adherence to these rules, the first one being in 1952. However, it was in January 1969, after the creation of Andhra Pradesh, that the region witnessed its most widespread protests yet.
• While the government sprung to action, promising to “transfer all non-Telangana employees holding posts reserved for Telangana domiciles”, the issue refused to die down. The protests gave birth to the Telangana Praja Samiti, which called for a separate Telangana state. Over the next few years, Mulki Rules were at the centre of protests as well as legal cases.
• Finally, in September of 1973, Indira Gandhi initiated the 32nd Amendment to the Constitution, which declared that Andhra Pradesh would be divided into 6 zones, with reservation for jobs being decided on the basis of zones. As a result, the original Mulki Rules Act was repealed, and the movement for Telangana lost some steam.
• It would finally be revived by KCR in 2001. A member of the Telugu Desam Party (TDP), he resigned and established his own political party – the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) with the singular aim of creating a new state of Telangana with Hyderabad as its capital.
• While his performances in polls were underwhelming, the sudden death of Andhra Pradesh’s Chief Minister Y S Rajsekhara Reddy of the Congress in 2009, presented an opportunity to KCR. Reddy was the tallest leader of Andhra Pradesh at the time and post his death, political turmoil ensued. On November 29, 2009, KCR began a fast-unto-death demanding statehood. The Congress, which at the time was also under pressure nationally, relented within 10 days promising the creation of the state of Telangana.
• After extensive discussion on the specifics of the state boundary and the choice of capital (for the new Andhra State), Telangana came into existence around four and a half years later, in 2014. KCR was the first chief minister and Hyderabad was chosen the joint capital of both Andhra and Telangana for a period of ten years, after which Andhra would have to shift its capital elsewhere.

5. STRATEGIC OIL RESERVES IN INDIA

TAG: PRELIMS PERSPECTIVE

CONTEXT: Government-owned engineering consultancy firm Engineers India (EIL) is studying the prospects and feasibility of developing salt cavern-based strategic oil reserves in Rajasthan, in line with the government’s objective of increasing the country’s strategic oil storage capacity. India could get its first salt cavern-based oil storage facility if this become successful.

EXPLANATION:

Strategic Oil Reserves in India:

• Countries build strategic crude oil reserves to mitigate major supply disruptions in the global supply chain.
• India is the world’s third-largest consumer of crude, depends on imports for more than 85% of its requirement and strategic petroleum reserves (SPR) could help ensure energy security and availability during global supply shocks and other emergencies.
• India has three existing strategic oil storage facilities at Mangaluru and Padur in Karnataka, and Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh  are made up of excavated rock caverns.

• India currently has an SPR capacity of 5.33 million tonnes, or around 39 million barrels of crude, that can meet around 9.5 days of demand.
• The country is in the process of expanding its SPR capacity by a cumulative 6.5 million tonnes at two locations Chandikhol in Odisha (4 million tonnes) and Padur (2.5 million tonnes).
• India’s strategic oil reserves come under the Petroleum Ministry’s special purpose vehicle Indian Strategic Petroleum Reserve (ISPRL).

Strategic petroleum reserves programme: Background

• India’s strategic oil reserves are part of the effort to build sufficient emergency stockpiles on the lines of the reserves that the US and its Western allies set up after the first oil crisis of the 1970s. The three existing rock cavern-based facilities were built during the first phase of the programme.
• Crude oil from the reserves are to be released by an empowered committee set up by the government, in the event of supply disruptions due to a natural calamity or an unforeseen global event leading to an abnormal increase in prices.
• The International Energy Agency (IEA), a Paris-based autonomous intergovernmental organisation in which India is an ‘Association’ country, recommends that all countries should hold an emergency oil stockpile sufficient to provide 90 days of import protection.
• In India, apart from the SPR that are sufficient to meet 9.5 days of oil requirement, the oil marketing companies (OMCs) have storage facilities for crude oil and petroleum products for 64.5 days which means there is sufficient storage to meet around 74 days of the country’s petroleum demand.

Salt cavern-based reserves v. rock cavern-based reserves:

• Salt cavern-based storage, which is considered cheaper and less labour- and cost-intensive than rock caverns.
• Unlike underground rock caverns, which are developed through excavation, salt caverns are developed by the process of solution mining, which involves pumping water into geological formations with large salt deposits to dissolve the salt.
• After the brine (water with dissolved salt) is pumped out of the formation, the space can be used to store crude oil. The process is simpler, faster, and less cost-intensive than developing excavated rock caverns.
• Salt cavern-based oil storage facilities are also naturally well-sealed, and engineered for rapid injection and extraction of oil. This makes them a more attractive option than storing oil in other geological formations, according to a report by the Environmental Solutions Initiative at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
• The salt that lines the inside of these caverns has extremely low oil absorbency, which creates a natural impermeable barrier against liquid and gaseous hydrocarbons, making the caverns apt for storage.
• Also, unlike rock caverns, salt cavern-based storages can be created and operated almost entirely from the surface.
• Salt caverns are also used to store liquid fuels and natural gas in various parts of the world. They are also considered suitable for storing compressed air and hydrogen.
• The entire SPR programme of the United States has so far been based on salt cavern-based storage facilities. The US Strategic Petroleum Reserve, the world’s largest emergency oil storage, consists of four sites with deep underground storage caverns created in salt domes along the Gulf of Mexico coast in Texas and Louisiana. The US strategic oil reserves have a cumulative capacity of around 727 million barrels.

1. AHMEDNAGAR RENAMED AS AHILYANAGAR

TAGS: GS 1: HISTORY; ART AND CULTURE

CONTEXT: Marking the 298th birth anniversary of Maratha queen Ahilyabai Holkar on May 31, 2023, Maharashtra Chief Minister announced that his government would rename Ahmednagar after her. The Western Maharashtrian city will now be known as Ahilyanagar.

EXPLANATION:

How did the city of Ahmednagar first get its name?

• Located in the Western region of Maharashtra, Ahmednagar has been a part of some prominent kingdoms, starting from 240 BC, when the vicinity is mentioned in the reference to the Mauryan Emperor Ashok.
• In the Medieval period, the region was ruled over by the Rashtrakuta Dynasty, the Western Chalukyas, and then the Delhi
• In the last case, the rule was not direct, and a revolt by Afghan soldier Alladin Hasan Gangu led to the establishment of the Bahmani kingdom in the Deccan. In the following years, Ahmednagar, then known as Nizamshahi, became one of the five independent kingdoms to emerge from that empire.
• In 1486, Malik Ahmad Nizam Shah assumed the position of the Bahmani Sultanate’s prime minister. He successfully defeated the king of the Bahmani kingdom, who tried to dislodge him from power, in 1490.
• Four years later, he laid the foundation of a city close to where he had defeated the army, on the left bank of Sina river.  This city was named after him: Ahmednagar.
• Nizam Shah also later captured the fort of Daulatabad and stationed his army there. By his kindness, peaceful demeanour & efficiency, he could win the loyalty of the local and foreign Muslims and also of the Maratha peasants and worriers. Since his origin was Hindu, he found no difficulty in winning over the confidence of Brahmins, who were highly regarded by the Hindus.
• Jawaharlal Nehru, in his book A Discovery of India (1946), wrote of him, “Ahmad Nizam Shah, the founder of Ahmadnagar in 1490, was the son of Nizam-ul-Mulk Bhairi, a minister of the Bahmani kings. This Nizam-ul-Mulk was the son of a Brahmin accountant named Bhairu. Thus the Ahmednagar dynasty was of indigenous origin.”

Ahilyabai holkar:

• Ahilyabai was born in Chondi village of Ahmednagar to the village head Mankoji Shinde, who ensured that his daughter received an education, which was quite rare at that time.
• It is believed that Malhar Rao Holkar, the army commander to Peshwa Bajirao, spotted eight-year-old Ahilyabai at a temple service in Chondi. Impressed by her devotion and character, he decided to get his son, Khande Rao, married to her.
• After her husband’s death in the Battle of Kumbher against the king of Bharatpur in 1754, Ahilyabai took control of Malwa.

Role in administration and temple-building

• She excelled at administrative and military strategies under the guidance of her father-in-law, who believed she should lead her people, and not die by Sati after Khande Rao passed away. After the death of her father-in-law and son a few years later, she petitioned the Peshwa to become the ruler, backed by the support of her army.
• In his book, Nehru said Holkar’s rule, which lasted for thirty years (1765-1795), was “almost legendary as a period during which perfect order and good government prevailed and the people prospered.
• She was a very able ruler and organizer, highly respected during her lifetime.
• Notably, her role in the restoration of Hindu temples is often talked about for instance ancient Somnath, the temple built by Holkar in 1783.

2. COMBINED MARITIME FORCES

TAGS: PRELIMS PERSPECTIVE

CONTEXT: The United Arab Emirates has withdrawn from a U.S.-led maritime coalition tasked with securing tense Gulf waterways that are vital to the global oil trade. The UAE “withdrew its participation” in the 38-nation Combined Maritime Forces two months ago, a Foreign Ministry statement said, without giving reasons for the move.

EXPLANATION:

• The Combined Maritime Forces (CMF) is a multinational maritime partnership, which exists to uphold the Rules-Based International Order (RBIO) by countering illicit non-state actors on the high seas and promoting security, stability, and prosperity across approximately 3.2 million square miles of international waters, which encompass some of the world’s most important shipping lanes.
• The Bahrain-headquartered CMF was established in 2001, initially as a partnership between 12 nations.
• It is active in crucial but troubled Gulf waters where tankers have been seized and attacked in recent months.
• CMF is commanded by a U.S. Navy Vice Admiral, who also serves as Commander US Naval Forces Central Command (NAVCENT) and US Navy Fifth Fleet. All four commands are co-located at US Naval Support Activity Bahrain.
• CMF’s Deputy Commander is a United Kingdom Royal Navy Commodore. Other senior staff roles at CMF’s headquarters are filled by personnel from member nations.

CMF’s main focus areas:

• CMF’s main focus areas are counter-narcotics, counter-smuggling, suppressing piracy, encouraging regional cooperation, and engaging with regional and other partners to strengthen relevant capabilities in order to improve overall security and stability, and promoting a safe maritime environment free from illicit non-state actors.
• When requested, CMF assets at sea will also respond to environmental and humanitarian incidents.

CMF has four Combined Task Forces: 

• CTF 150 (Maritime Security Operations outside the Arabian Gulf)
• CTF 151 (Counter-Piracy)
• CTF 152 (Maritime Security Operations inside the Arabian Gulf)
• CTF 153 (Red Sea Maritime Security)
• CTF 154 (Maritime Security Training)

CMF has 37 member nations (Earlier 38 members including UAE)

• Australia, Bahrain, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, Djibouti, Egypt, France, Germany, Greece, India, Iraq, Italy, Japan, Jordan, Kenya, Republic of Korea, Kuwait, Malaysia, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Oman, Pakistan, the Philippines, Portugal, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Seychelles, Singapore, Spain, Thailand, Türkiye, United Kingdom, United States, and Yemen.

How CMF works?

• CMF nations are united in their desire to uphold the IRBO by protecting the free flow of commerce, improving maritime security, and deterring illicit activity by non-state actors in the CMF Area of Operations.
• CMF is a coalition of the willing and does not proscribe a specific level of participation from any member nation. The contribution from each country, therefore, varies depending on its ability to contribute assets and the availability of those assets at any given time.
• The 37 nations that comprise CMF are not bound by either a fixed political or military mandate.
• CMF is a flexible organisation. Contributions can vary from the provision of a liaison officer at CMF HQ in Bahrain to the deployment of warships or maritime reconnaissance aircraft.
• Participation is purely voluntary. No nation is asked to carry out any duty that it is unwilling to conduct. The contribution from each country varies depending on its ability to contribute assets and the availability of those assets at any given time.
• The 34 nations that comprise CMF are not bound by either a political or military mandate.

3. NEURALINK

TAGS: GS 3: SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

CONTEXT: Since its founding in 2016, Elon Musk’s neurotechnology company Neuralink has had the ambitious mission to build a next-generation brain implant with at least 100-times more brain connections than devices currently approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

The company has now reached a significant milestone, having received FDA approval to begin human trials.

EXPLANATION:

• Neuralink is making a Class III medical device known as a brain-computer interface (BCI).
• The device connects the brain to an external computer via a Bluetooth signal, enabling continuous communication back and forth.
• The device itself is a coin-sized unit called a Link. It’s implanted within a small disk-shaped cutout in the skull using a precision surgical robot. The robot splices a thousand tiny threads from the Link to certain neurons in the brain.
• Each thread is about a quarter the diameter of a human hair.

Potential benefits

• The company says the device could enable precise control of prosthetic limbs, giving amputees natural motor skills.
• It could revolutionise treatment for conditions such as Parkinson’s disease, epilepsy, and spinal cord injuries.
• It also shows some promise for potential treatment of obesity, autism, depression, schizophrenia and tinnitus.
• It can be used to help older people train their motor and cognitive abilities to moderate the worst effects of ageing.

What were the FDA’s concerns?

• The FDA had quite a list of issues that needed to be resolved before human trials could commence, as was reported in a Reuters investigation, which claimed to have spoken to several Neuralink sources.
• A precision robot known as Implant/r1 performs the surgical procedure to implant the Neuralink BCI. This robot surgeon had to be put through its paces to gather evidence that it could reliably and safely implant and remove the Neuralink BCI without damaging surrounding brain tissue, or creating the risk of infection, bleeding, inflammation.
• In particular, overheating lithium-ion batteries can pose great risk to users. When defective, such batteries have historically been known to overheat. They can even explode if the insulation between the cathode and anode (the metal electrode components) breaks down, resulting in a short circuit.
• Then there is the risk of wire migration. The Link consists of a disk-shaped chip with very thin wire electrodes that connect to neurons in the brain.
• Another challenge Neuralink faced was that of safe implant removal. The FDA wanted to know how easy or difficult it would be to remove the device from the brain if this became necessary.

U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA):

• The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is responsible for protecting the public health by assuring the safety, efficacy, and security of human and veterinary drugs, biological products, medical devices, our nation’s food supply, cosmetics, and products that emit radiation.
• The FDA also provides accurate, science-based health information to the public.
• FDA is also responsible for advancing the public health by accelerating innovations to make medicines more effective and providing the public with accurate, science-based information on medicines and food to improve their health.
• FDA plays a significant role in addressing the Nation’s counterterrorism capability and ensuring the security of the food supply.

4. CITY INVESTMENTS TO INNOVATE, INTEGRATE AND SUSTAIN (CITIIS) PROJECT

TAGS: PRELIMS PERSPECTIVE

CONTEXT:  The government approved the second phase of the City Investments to Innovate, Integrate and Sustain (CITIIS) project, a programme under the ambit of the Smart Cities Mission, which aims to promote integrated waste management and climate-oriented reform actions.

EXPLANATION:

• The CITIIS 2.0 will be implemented in 18 cities which would be selected based on a competition.
• The programme, aims to support competitively selected projects promoting circular economy with a focus on integrated waste management at the city level, climate-oriented reform actions at the state level, and institutional strengthening and knowledge dissemination at the national level.
• It would span over a period of four years from 2023-2027 and has been conceived and would be implemented in partnership with the French Development Agency (AFD), Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau (KfW), the European Union (EU), and National Institute of Urban Affairs (NIUA).
• The funding for CITIIS 2.0 would include a loan of Rs 1760 crore from AFD and KfW, split equally, and a technical assistance grant of Rs 106 crore from the European Union.
• The CITIIS 2.0 has three major components which are financial and technical support for developing projects focused on building climate resilience, adaptation and mitigation in up to 18 smart cities, support to all states and Union Territories on a demand basis and interventions at all centre, state and city levels to further climate governance in urban India through institutional strengthening, knowledge dissemination and capacity building.
• The design framework for CITIIS 2.0 is being conceptualized by AFD in consultation with SCM and MoHUA.

CITIIS(City Investments to Innovate, Integrate and Sustain)

• It is a sub-component of the Government of India’s Smart Cities Mission.
• The CITIIS program was launched on July 9, 2018.
• It is a joint program of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, Agence Francaise de Development (AFD), the European Union (EU), and the National Institute of Urban Affairs (NIUA).
• It was launched with projects in 12 cities namely Agartala, Amaravati, Amritsar, Bhubaneshwar, Chennai, Dehradun, Hubbali-Dharwad, Kochi, Puducherry, Surat, Ujjain and Visakhapatnam.
• Each city receives financial assistance through a grant as well as technicalassistance from an international mentor and a domestic expert, besidesaccess to a pool of transversal experts.
• CITIIS (Cities Investments to Innovate Integrate and Sustain) Challenge was launched in partnership with Agence Française de Développement (AFD) and European Union, to extend a loan of EUR 100 million for implementation of upto 15 innovative projects selected through an All-India Challenge in four sectors- sustainable mobility, public open spaces, urban governance & ICT and social and organizational innovation in low-income settlements.
• The entire set of activities including organisation of preparatory Workshop, handholding of cities to enable submission of proposals by them, evaluation of proposals by the jury leading up to selection of 12 projects and signing of tripartite agreements with the concerned cities and States was completed in record time.
• The selected projects will improve sustainable mobility, increase the amountof public open spaces, implement ICT measures to improve e-governance andintroduce social and organisational innovation in low-income settlements.

5. WORLD HEALTH ASSEMBLY APPROVES DRAFT RESOLUTION ON HEALTH ACTION PLAN FOR INDIGENOUS PEOPLE

TAGS: GS 2: INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

CONTEXT: Member states of the World Health Organization accepted a draft resolution that proposed developing a Global Plan of Action for the Health of Indigenous People during the World Health Assembly hosted on May 29, 2023. The plan will be up for consideration at the 79th World Health Assembly in 2026.

EXPLANATION:

• The document stated that the global plan should be done in consultation with member states along “strategic lines of action for the improvement of the health of Indigenous Peoples in the development of the 14th World Health Organization General Programme of Work”.
• The draft resolution was proposed by Australia, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Cuba, Ecuador, the European Union and its Member States, Guatemala, Mexico, New Zealand, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, the United States of America and Vanuatu.
• This should be executed in consultation with indigenous peoples, with their free, prior and informed consent.
• The resolution that was proposed noted that the “indigenous peoples are disproportionately subject to poverty, poor housing, cultural barriers, violence, including gender-based violence, racism, experiencing disability, pollution and lack of access to education, economic opportunities, social protection, water, and sanitation, as well as appropriate resilience planning for climate change and natural and other emergencies”.
• The resolution put forward that the global plan be formulated “with a particular emphasis on the reproductive, maternal and adolescent health and with a specific focus on those in vulnerable situations, and bearing in mind local context”.
• WHO’s 194 member states were urged to develop a collection of ethical data to identify specific requirements of indigenous people and fill in the gaps. They were also urged to have an intersectional approach to their politics that overcomes geographical barriers, digital connectivity, information availability, remoteness and disability.
• Another approach proposed was to use evidence-based traditional medicine, along with medical services offered at the primary healthcare level, which also includes mental health and wellness serives.

Status of Indigenous people:

• According to the United Nations, The world presently has 476 million indigenous people across the world in about 90 countries.
• They speak 7,000 languages and come from 500 different cultures.
• They are marginalised individuals without access to basic infrastructure and oftentimes cannot claim titles over their land and surrounding natural resources.
• The life expectancy of indigenous people is 20 years lower than that of an average person.

United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues

• The United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues established in 2000.
• The Permanent Forum is an advisory body to the Economic and Social Council established by resolution 2000/22 on 28 July 2000.
• The Forum has the mandate to discuss indigenous issues related to economic and social development, culture, the environment, education, health and human rights.

World Health Assembly:

• The World Health Assembly is the decision-making body of WHO.
• It is attended by delegations from all WHO Member States and focuses on a specific health agenda prepared by the Executive Board.
• The main functions of the World Health Assembly are to determine the policies of the Organization, appoint the Director-General, supervise financial policies, and review and approve the proposed programme budget.
• The Health Assembly is held annually in Geneva, Switzerland.

1. ‘SENGOL’ TO BE INSTALLED IN THE NEW PARLIAMENT

TAGS: GS 1: ART AND CULTURE

THE CONTEXT: Prime Minister will install the ‘Sengol’, a historical sceptre from Tamil Nadu, in the new Parliament building which is scheduled to be inaugurated in May, 2023. The ‘Sengol’ was received by Independent India’s first Prime Minister from Lord Mountbatten to symbolically represent the transfer of power from the British and was later kept in a museum in Allahabad.

EXPLANATION:

Background:

• Rajagopalachari suggested that Ceremony that should be followed to symbolise the transfer of power from British to Indian hands should follow Chola model where the transfer of power from one king to another was sanctified and blessed by a high ruler.
• The symbol used was the handover of ‘sengol’ or sceptre from one king to his successor.
• It was the head of ancient Shaivite math Thiruvavaduthurai Aadeenam math that presented the Sengol to Indian Prime Minister in 1947.
• A golden sceptre was crafted by Vummidi Bangaru Chetty, a famous jeweller in the Madras Presidency.

Highlights of inauguration of new Parliament building:

• A group of musicians playing Tamil Nadu’s traditional instrument, the Nadaswaram, would lead the procession.
• Additionally, “Adheenams,” or priests from Shaivite mutts in Tamil Nadu, will be present in the Lok Sabha’s Well.
• The “Oduvars,” or Tamil temple singers, will lyrically recite the “Kolaru Padhigam” in the background as the Nadaswaram musicians enchant with their soulful music.
• The Sengol will be presented to the prime minister after this revered ceremony and placed in a glass case next to the Speaker’s seat in the House.

Sengol and its significance:

• It is derived from the Tamil word “Semmai”, meaning “Righteousness”.
• The sceptre measures five feet in length and has a ‘Nandi’ bull on top, symbolising justice.
• “Tamil kings had this sengol (a Tamil word for sceptre), which is a symbol of justice and good governance.
• The two great epics Silapathikaram and Manimekalai records the significance of a sengo

Oduvars or Tamil temple singers:

• The tradition of Oduvars is over 1,000 years old and the King Raja Raja Chola I set up grants for their services at temples.
• Rituals in Saivaite temples are considered incomplete without their singing Thirumuraigal: Thevaram and Thiruvachagam.

Nadaswaram

• Nadaswaram, sometimes known as nagaswaram, nadhaswaram, or nathaswaram is a prominent South Indian classical musical instrument resembling the western oboe.
• The Nadaswaram’s body is traditionally constructed of aacha tree, although bamboo, sandalwood, copper, bronze, ebony, and ivory are also used nowadays.
• It is played at practically all Hindu weddings and temples in the South Indian tradition and is regarded as particularly auspiciou

2. FORUM FOR INDIA-PACIFIC ISLANDS COOPERATION (FIPIC)

TAGS: GS 2: INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

THE CONTEXT: Indian PM landed in the capital city of Port Moresby for his first visit to the country, and also is the first by any Indian prime minister, for the Forum for India-Pacific Islands Cooperation (FIPIC) summit, 2023.

EXPLANATION:

Forum for India-Pacific Islands Cooperation (FIPIC):

• FIPIC was launched by Indian Minsitry in Fiji in November 2014.
• FIPIC includes 14 island countries – Cook Islands, Fiji, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru, Niue, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu, and Vanuatu – that are located in the Pacific Ocean, to the northeast of Australia.

Idea behind FIPIC:

• Despite their relatively small size and considerable distance from India, many of these islands have large exclusive economic zones (EEZs).
• India’s larger focus is on the Indian Ocean where it has sought to play a major role and protect its strategic and commercial interests.
• FIPIC initiative then marks a serious effort to expand India’s engagement in the Pacific region as well.

Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZs) is the distance up to which a coastal nation has jurisdiction over the ocean, including both living and non-living resources. It generally goes to 200 nautical miles or 230 miles (around 370 km) beyond a nation’s territorial sea.

1^st FIPIC Summit:

• FIPIC-I took place in 2014 at Suva, Fiji’s capital city.
• India announced various development assistance initiatives and other cooperation projects in areas of climate change, trade, economy, telemedicine and teleeducation, IT, grants for community development projects, etc.

2^nd FIPIC Summit:

• FIPIC-II took place in 2015 at Jaipur City, India.
• India approached the event from a large diplomatic perspective, calling for a “dedicated seat for Small Island Developing States in an expanded and reformed UN Security Council in both categories”.
• Seek for concrete and effective outcome on climate change conference at COP 21 in Paris t

India-Pacific Small Island Developing States (PSIDS) Leaders’ Meeting:

• It was held in 2019 comprising delegations of 12 out of the 14 Pacific Islands countries in New York on the sidelines of the 74th UN General Assembly.
• The Indian government then announced an allocation of $12 million grant ($1 million to each PSIDS) towards implementation of high-impact developmental projects in the area of their choice.

Initiatives by India at 3^rd FIPIC summit 2023:

• Establishment of a super-specialty cardiology hospital in Fiji.
• Sea ambulances will be provided to all the 14 Pacific island countries.
• Similar to Jaipur Foot Camp, 2022 which was conducted in Fiji where prosthetic limbs were provided free of cost to people , similar camp will be set up in Papua New guinea this year and starting from 2024, two such camps will be organised every year in the Pacific island countries.

Small Island Developing States:

• Small Island Developing States (SIDS) are a distinct group of 37 UN Member States and 20 Non-UN Members/Associate Members of United Nations regional commissions that face unique social, economic and environmental vulnerabilities.
• The three geographical regions in which SIDS are located are: the Caribbean, the Pacific, and the Atlantic, Indian Ocean and South China Sea (AIS).
• SIDS were recognized as a special case both for their environment and development at the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
• The aggregate population of all the SIDS is 65 million, slightly less than 1% of the world’s population, yet this group faces unique social, economic, and environmental challenges.

3. NEW TAX RULES FOR ONLINE GAMING

TAGS: GS 3: ECONOMY

THE CONTEXT: The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has come out with guidelines for Tax Deducted at Source (TDS) for online gaming platforms, defining a threshold of Rs 100 for deducting tax for winnings from online gaming. Bonus, referral bonus, and incentives will also be counted towards the taxable winnings on an online gaming platform.

EXPLANATION:

New guidelines for TDS for online gaming:

• Online gaming platforms will not be required to deduct tax at the source for a player if the net winning does not exceed Rs 100.
• CBDT circular also said that bonus, referral bonus, incentives etc are given by the online gaming company to the intermediate user and they are to be considered as taxable deposit under Rule 133 of the Income-tax Act.
• CBDTsaid that in order to remove the difficulty in deducting tax at source under section 194BA of the Act for “insignificant withdrawal”, it is clarified that tax may not be deducted on withdrawal on the satisfaction of all of the following conditions:

1. net winnings comprised in the amount withdrawn does not exceed Rs 100 in a month
2. tax not deducted on account of this concession is deducted at a time when the net winnings comprised in withdrawal exceeds Rs 100 in the same month or subsequent month or if there is no such withdrawal, at the end of the financial year
3. the deductor undertakes the responsibility of paying the difference if the balance in the user account at the time of tax deduction under section 194BA of the Act is not sufficient to discharge the tax deduction liability calculated in accordance with Rule 133

Online gaming regulations:

• The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MEITY) notified as nodal ministry for all matters pertaining to online gaming industry and e-sports
• MEITY notified amendment to the Existing IT Rules 2021 i.e. the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Amendment Rules, 2023 (“Amended Rules”) with aim to regulate online gaming.
• Key Highlights of the Amended Rules are as follows:

1. self-regulatory structure for the online gaming industry
2. introduction of new definitions like ‘online games’, ‘online real money games’, ‘permissible online games’, and ‘permissible online real money games’
3. Introduced the concept of “Intermediaries”e. entities that store or transmit data on behalf of other persons and include telecom and internet service providers, online marketplaces, search engines and social media sites
4. With an aim to track such transactions, the government had inserted a new section 194BA in the Income-tax Act, 1961 through Finance Act 2023, which mandated online gaming platforms to deduct income-tax on the net winnings in the person’s user account.
5. Tax is required to be deducted at the time of withdrawal as well as at the end of the financial year. As per section 194BA, TDS will be applicable at the rate of 30 per cent on the net winnings from any online gaming.

Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Amendment Rules, 2023:

• Social media intermediaries, with registered users in India above a notified threshold, have been classified as significant social media intermediaries (SSMIs).  SSMIs are required to observe certain additional due diligence such as appointing certain personnel for compliance, enabling identification of the first originator of the information on its platform under certain conditions, and deploying technology-based measures on a best-effort basis to identify certain types of content.
• The Rules prescribe a framework for the regulation of content by online publishers of news and current affairs content, and curated audio-visual content.
• All intermediaries are required to provide a grievance redressal mechanism for resolving complaints from users or victims.  A three-tier grievance redressal mechanism with varying levels of self-regulation has been prescribed for publishers.

Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT)

• The Central Board of Direct Taxes is a statutory authority functioning under the Central Board of Revenue Act, 1963.
• It comes under Department of Revenue under the Ministry of Finance.
• The officials of the Board in their ex-officio capacity also function as a Division of the Ministry dealing with matters relating to levy and collection of direct taxes.
• The Central Board of Direct Taxes consists of a Chairman and following six Members:

1.  Chairman
2.  Member (Income Tax & Revenue)
3.  Member (Legislation & Systems)
4.  Member (Administration & Faceless Scheme)
5.  Member (Investigation)
6.  Member (Tax Payer Services)
7.  Member (Audit & Judicial)

4. CARBON BORDER ADJUSTMENT MECHANISM (CBAM)

TAGS: GS 3: ENVIRONMENT

THE CONTEXT: Co-legislators at the European Commission signed the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM).

EXPLANATION:

Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM):

• EU’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) is landmark tool to put a fair price on the carbon emitted during the production of carbon intensive goods that are entering the EU, and to encourage cleaner industrial production in non-EU countries.
• The gradual introduction of the CBAM is aligned with the phase-out of the allocation of free allowances under the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS) to support the decarbonisation of EU industry.
• CBAM will ensure the carbon price of imports is equivalent to the carbon price of domestic production by confirming that a price has been paid for the embedded carbon emissions generated in the production of certain goods imported into the EU.
• The CBAM is designed to be compatible with WTO-rules.

Key Features:

• Its primary objective is to avert ‘carbon leakage’ by subjecting the import of certain groups of products from 3rd (non-EU and non-EFTA) countries to a carbon levy linked to the carbon price payable under the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS) when the same goods are produced within the EU alongside encouraging producers in non-EU countries to green their manufacturing processes.
• It refers to a phenomenon where a EU manufacturer moves carbon-intensive production to countries outside the region with less stringent climate policies.
• It replace EU-manufactured products with more carbon-intensive imports.
• The CBAM will initially apply to imports of certain goods and selected precursors whose production is carbon intensive and at most significant risk of carbon leakage: cement, iron and steel, aluminium, fertilisers, electricity and hydrogen.
• Further scope extensions to include additional products (such as chemicals and polymers) are to be determined by 2026, and the full inclusion of all EU ETS products is planned by 2030.
• CBAM will enter into force in its transitional phase as of 1 October 2023 during which EU importers must submit quarterly CBAM-reports, stating their imports of the CBAM products, as well as the emissions ‘embedded’ in their imported products. Such emissions are proposed to include direct and indirect emissions occurring during the production process of the imported goods.
• Once the permanent system enters into force on 1 January 2026, importers will need to declare each year the quantity of goods imported into the EU in the preceding year and their embedded GHG.
• They will then surrender the corresponding number of CBAM certificates. The price of the certificates will be calculated depending on the weekly average auction price of EU ETS allowances expressed in €/tonne of CO2 emitted. The phasing-out of free allocation under the EU ETS will take place in parallel with the phasing-in of CBAM in the period 2026-2034.
• Moreover, it will ensure a level playing field between imports and EU products.
• This would also form part of the continent’s broader European Green Deal which endeavours to achieve 55% reduction in carbon emissions compared to 1990 levels by 2030 and become a climate neutral continent by 205

EU Emissions Trading System (ETS):

• It also aimed at supporting the decarbonisation of the region’s industries.
• The ETS had set a cap on the amount of greenhouse gas emissions that can be released from industrial installations in certain sectors.
• Allowances were to be bought on the open decentralised ETS trading market, however, certain allowances were given out for free to prevent carbon leakage.
• Though effective in addressing the issue of leakage, EU concluded it dampened the incentive to invest in greener production at home and abroad because of the tendency to rely on free allowances to meet operational requirements and obligations.

5. SUPER COMPUTER

TAGS: GS-3: SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

THE CONTEXT: Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES) stated that India is set to dramatically scale up its super-computing prowess and install an 18-petaflop system over the course of the year 2023.

EXPLANATION:

What is Supercomputer?

• Supercomputer is any of a class of extremely powerful computers. The term is commonly applied to the fastest high-performance systems available at any given time.
• Such computers have been used primarily for scientific and engineering work requiring exceedingly high-speed computations.
• Common applications for supercomputers include testing mathematical models for complex physical phenomena or designs, such as climate and weather, evolution of the cosmos, nuclear weapons and reactors, new chemical compounds (especially for pharmaceutical purposes), and cryptology.

Supercomputers in India:

• Currently India’s hosts most powerful, civilian supercomputers Pratyush and Mihir with a combined capacity of 6.8 petaflops are housed at the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM), Pune, and the National Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasting (NCMRWF), Noida, respectively.
• They were made operational in 2018 at an investment of ₹438 crore. Both these organisations are affiliated to the Ministry of Earth Sciences(MoES).
• Pratyush is the fourth fastest supercomputer in the world dedicated for weather and climate research, and follows machines in Japan, USA and the United Kingdom.

Features of Upcoming Supercomputers:

• The new supercomputers, yet to be named, are imported from French corporation, ATOS an information technology service and consulting company.
• The new supercomputers too will be housed at the IITM and NCMRWF.
• It aims to accelerate processing power to such a degree that greatly eases complex mathematical calculations required, for among other things, and forecasting weather over the next few days.
• The goal is eventually to be able to represent an area by 1 km-square grids and that can be used to warn of cloudburst and such rapidly evolving weather systems.

Supercomputer around world:

• The fastest high-performance computing system in the world is currently the Frontier-Cray system at Oakridge National Laboratory, United States. This has a peak speed of 1 exa-flop (or about 1,000 petaflops). The top 10 other systems, based on speed, range from about 400 petaflops to 60 petaflops.

FLOPS  (Floating-Point Operations Per Second)

• Floating-point according to IBM is a method of encoding real numbers within the limits of finite precision available on computers.
• Using floating-point encoding, extremely long numbers can be handled relatively easily.
• Flops (floating point operations per second) are an indicator of computers processing speed and a petaflop refers to a 1,000 trillion flops.

1. SUDAN CRISIS

TAGS: GS 2: INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

CONTEXT:  The ongoing fighting is Sudan is forcing thousands to flee. The humanitarian emergency is spreading creating a dangerous security situation in the Sahel region. Despite talks between warring parties, which met in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, air strikes were reported in Khartoum amid ongoing fighting.

EXPLANATION:

Background of the conflict:

• When Sudan won independence on New Year’s Day in 1956, two features stood out in the new nation: it was the largest country in Africa, and it was already embroiled in civil war that had erupted several months earlier.
• Sudan has suffered three domestic wars spanning well over 40 years of the country’s 67 years of independence.

Recent issues:

• Violence erupted in mid-April in Sudan between its military, the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a paramilitary group. The fighting has dashed the country’s hopes for a peaceful transition to a civilian government.
• Rapid Support Force (RSF) forces invaded Merowe town, located 210 kilometres north of the capital resulted in violence. The RSF stated that it retaliated in response to a military attack at one of its bases in South Khartoum. Sudanese foreign ministry declared the RSF a rebel entity and ordered its dissolution. And the agreement between civilians, the military, and paramilitaries intended to reinitiate the democratic transition in Sudan appears to be frozen once more.

What makes this conflict in Sudan so intractable?

• This conflict needs to be considered in terms of three overlapping layers: Local, regional and global. These three layers, which feed through and affect one another, represent various stages of conflict escalation, engagement, and potential resolution.
• And this conflict in Sudan is a prime example of a local conflict that is becoming increasingly intertwined with regional and international power dynamics, making it impossible to find a standalone solution.

Reason of the conflict:

• Sudan has a wide range of ethnic, linguistic and tribal differences. Residents in remote parts of the country feel the elites in Khartoum monopolize the country’s limited resources.
• There is a link between Sudan’s vast landscape, the many different groups that make up the country, and the repeated internal conflicts that have plagued the nation for decades.
• If the Sudanese problem can be divided into three layers, the local level corresponds to the conflict’s primary driver. In essence, this layer is concerned with the issue of who will control Sudan and under what type of political structure. General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, commander of the Sudanese National Army, also known as the SAF (Sudanese Armed Force), and General Muhammad Hamdan’ Hemedti, Dagalo, commander of the paramilitary group RSF are allegedly involved in a power struggle that is at the heart of this conflict.
• The second layer at the regional level is about who can have the most significant influence in Sudan and the larger Red Sea region. As Sudan is situated where the Horn of Africa, the Sahel, and the Red Sea converge, it is considered valuable by many countries. The strategic location and agricultural resources of Sudan have attracted regional power struggles. Sudan shares its border with seven countries: Chad, Ethiopia, Eritrea, South Sudan, the Central African Republic, Libya, and Egypt. As all these countries have their own vested interests, the conflict risks getting more interwoven with regional rivalries and power struggles.
• The third layer involves the international power rivalry playing out in the Sudanese crisis. In this layer, Sudan serves as a microcosm for a struggle for regional and international power. Energy-rich United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Saudi Arabia have long sought to influence Sudan’s politics. Both have made significant investments in sectors including agriculture, where Sudan has tremendous potential, aviation, and ports near the Red Sea coast. Initially, both the Saudis and the UAE have seen Sudan’s transition from al-Bashir’s rule as an opportunity to push back against Islamist influence in the region. However, the interest of both countries diverged, with Saudi Arabia prioritising its national interest vis-a-vis Saudi Vision 2030 over its alliance with the UAE.

Hakki Pikki

More than 181 members of the Hakki Pikki tribal community from Karnataka are stuck in violence-hit Sudan, even as the government is making efforts to bring them back. Who are the Hakki Pikki, and why did so many travel to far-away Sudan?

The Hakki Pikki is a tribe that lives in several states in west and south India, especially near forest areas. Hakki Pikkis (Hakki in Kannada means ‘bird’ and Pikki means ‘catchers’) are a semi-nomadic tribe, traditionally of bird catchers and hunters.

Operation Kaveri

‘Operation Kaveri’, launched to rescue its nationals stranded in crisis-hit Sudan, with the transport aircraft of the Indian Air Force making its final flight to bring 47 passengers home.

India launched Operation Kaveri on April 24 to evacuate its nationals from Sudan, which has witnessed deadly fighting between the country’s army and a paramilitary group.

2. 27^TH MEETING OF FINANCIAL STABILITY AND DEVELOPMENT COUNCIL

TAGS: GS 2: POLITY AND GOVERNANCE

CONTEXT:  Union Finance and Corporate Affairs Minister chaired the 27^th Meeting of the Financial Stability and Development Council (FSDC) for the first time after the announcement of the Budget 2023-24.

EXPLANATION:

Meeting concluded with following discussions:

• Regulators should maintain a constant vigil as ensuring ‘financial sector stability is a shared responsibility’ of the regulators. Regulators must take appropriate and timely action to mitigate any vulnerability and strengthen financial stability.
• Regulators should adopt a focused approach to reduce the compliance burden further and ensure a streamlined and efficient regulatory environment.
• The regulators need to be proactive and ensure cyber-security preparedness of the information technology systems to reduce the risk of cyber-attacks, protect sensitive financial data, and maintain overall system integrity, thus safeguarding the stability and resilience of the Indian financial ecosystem.
• Regulators should conduct a special drive to facilitate the settlement of unclaimed deposits and claims in the financial sector across all segments, such as banking deposits, shares and dividends, mutual funds, insurance, etc.
• Action Taken Report on Budget announcements made since 2019 was discussed. A focused approach should be adopted by the regulators to implement the announcements made in the Budget 2023-24, for which timelines were also decided.

About Financial Stability and Development Council (FSDC) 

• With a view to strengthening and institutionalizing the mechanism for maintaining financial stability, enhancing inter-regulatory coordination and promoting financial sector development, the Financial Stability and Development Council (FSDC) was set up by the Government as the apex level forum in December 2010.
• The Council is chaired by the Union Finance Minister and its members are Governor, Reserve Bank of India; Finance Secretary and/or Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs; Secretary, Department of Financial Services; Chief Economic Adviser, Ministry of Finance; Chairman, Securities and Exchange Board of India; Chairman, Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority and Chairman, Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority.
• Council monitors macro prudential supervision of the economy, including functioning of large financial conglomerates, and addresses inter-regulatory coordination and financial sector development issues. It also focuses on financial literacy and financial inclusion.

FSDC Sub-Committee:

• The FSDC Sub-committee has also been set up under the chairmanship of Governor, RBI. It meets more often than the full Council.
• All the members of the FSDC are also the members of the Sub-committee. Additionally, all four Deputy Governors of the RBI and Additional Secretary, DEA, in charge of FSDC, are also members of the Sub Committee.

3. PRADHAN MANTRI JEEVAN JYOTI BIMA YOJANA (PMJJBY), PRADHAN MANTRI SURAKSHA BIMA YOJANA (PMSBY) AND ATAL PENSION YOJANA (APY) COMPLETES 8 YEARS OF PROVIDING SECURITY COVER

TAGS: PRELIMS PERSPETIVES: SCHEMES

CONTEXT: Three social security (Jan Suraksha) schemes Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana (PMJJBY), Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana (PMSBY) and Atal Pension Yojana (APY) completed 8^th anniversary. PMJJBY achieved more than 16 crore Cumulative Enrolments and PMSBY achieved more than 34 crore Cumulative Enrolments and APY achieved over 5 Crore subscribers.

EXPLANATION:

• The three schemes are dedicated to the welfare of the citizens, recognising the need for securing human life from unforeseen eventualisation and financial uncertainties. In order to ensure that the people from the unorganised section of the country are financially secure, the Government launched two insurance schemes PMJJBY and PMSBY; and also introduced APY to cover the exigencies in the old age.
• In the year 2014, the National Mission for Financial Inclusion was launched with the primary objective of ensuring that every citizen in India has access to banking facilities, financial literacy, and social security coverage.
• Building on this initiative, the Prime Minister introduced three Jan Suraksha schemes in 2015 with the aim of further promoting and advancing financial inclusion in the country.

Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana (PMJJBY):

• Scheme: PMJJBY is a one-year life insurance scheme renewable from year to year offering coverage for death due to any reason.
• Eligibility: Persons in the age group of 18-50 years having an individual bank or a post office account are entitled to enroll under the scheme. People who join the scheme before completing 50 years of age can continue to have the risk of life covered up to age of 55 years upon payment of regular premium.
• Benefits: Life cover of Rs. 2 Lakh in case of death due to any reason against a premium of Rs. 436/- per annum.
• Enrolment: Enrolments under the scheme can be done by visiting the branch/ BC point or website of the bank of the account holder or at the post office in case of post office savings bank account. The premium under the scheme is auto debited every year from the subscriber’s bank account based on a one-time mandate from the account holder.
• Achievements: As on 26.04.2023, the cumulative enrolments under the scheme have been more than 16.19 crore and an amount of Rs. 13,290.40 crore has been paid for 6,64,520 claims.

Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana (PMSBY):

• Scheme: PMSBY is a one-year accidental insurance scheme renewable from year to year offering coverage for death or disability due to accident.
• Eligibility: Persons in the age group of 18-70 years having an individual bank or a post office account are entitled to enroll under the scheme.
• Benefits: Accidental death cum disability cover of Rs.2 lakh (Rs.1 lakh in case of partial disability) for death or disability due to an accident against a premium of Rs.20/- per annum.
• Enrolment: Enrolment under the scheme can be done by visiting the branch/ BC point or website of the bank of the account holder or at the post office in case of post office savings bank account. The premium under the scheme is auto debited every year from the subscriber’s bank account based on a one-time mandate from the account holder.
• Achievements: As on 26.04.2023, the cumulative enrolments under the scheme have been more than 34.18 crore and an amount of Rs. 2,302.26 crore has been paid for 1,15,951 claims.

Atal Pension Yojana (APY):

• Background: The Atal Pension Yojana (APY) was launched to create a universal social security system for all Indians, especially the poor, the under-privileged and the workers in the unorganised sector. It is an initiative of the Government to provide financial security and cover future exigencies for the people in the unorganised sector. APY is administered by Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) under the overall administrative and institutional architecture of the National Pension System (NPS).
• Eligibility: APY is open to all bank account holders in the age group of 18 to 40 years who are not income tax payers and the contributions differ, based on pension amount chosen.
• Benefits: Subscribers would receive the guaranteed minimum monthly pension of Rs. 1000 or Rs. 2000 or Rs. 3000 or Rs. 4000 or Rs. 5000 after the age of 60 years, based on the contributions made by the subscriber after joining the scheme.
• Disbursement of the Scheme Benefits: The monthly pension is available to the subscriber, and after him to his spouse and after their death, the pension corpus, as accumulated at age 60 of the subscriber, would be returned to the nominee of the subscriber.
• In case of premature death of subscriber (death before 60 years of age), spouse of the subscriber can continue contribution to APY account of the subscriber, for the remaining vesting period, till the original subscriber would have attained the age of 60 years.
• Contribution by Central Government: The minimum pension would be guaranteed by the Government, i.e., if the accumulated corpus based on contributions earns a lower than estimated return on investment and is inadequate to provide the minimum guaranteed pension, the Central Government would fund such inadequacy. Alternatively, if the returns on investment are higher, the subscribers would get enhanced pensionary benefits.
• Payment frequency: Subscribers can make contributions to APY on monthly/ quarterly / half-yearly basis.
• Withdrawal from the Scheme: Subscribers can voluntarily exit from APY subject to certain conditions, on deduction of Government co-contribution and return/interest thereon.
• Achievements: As on 27.04.2023 more than 5 crore individuals have subscribed to the scheme.

4. INDIA’S FIRST UNDERSEA TWIN TUNNELS

TAGS: PRELIMS PERSPECTIVE

CONTEXT:  India’s first undersea twin tunnels in south Mumbai are close to completion and is set to open in November 2023.

EXPLANATION:

• Tunnels start near Girgaon (ahead of Marine Drive), extend north under the Arabian Sea, Girgaon Chowpatty and Malabar Hill, and end at Breach Candy’s Priyadarshini Park.
• The 2.07-km tunnels are a part of the Rs 12,721-crore Mumbai Coastal Road Project (MCRP) being built by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC).
• Tunnel will be built between the underground station at Bandra-Kurla Complex and Shilphata in Thane district of Maharashtra thus connecting the two cities.
• National High Speed Railway Corporation Limited (NHSRCL) invited this week bids for the construction of a 21-km-long tunnel, seven kilometres of which will be under the sea, for the Mumbai-Ahmedabad High Speed Rail Corridor.
• The tunnels, which have a diameter of 12.19 metres, run 17-20 m below sea level. A nearly 1-km stretch lies under the sea. The tunnels hit peak depth at Malabar Hill at 72 m.
• Resembling the shape of the Queen’s Necklace the famous C-shaped Marine Drive promenade the tunnel entry and exit points will have fiberglass facades.
• It is stated that the tunnel will be built using a tunnel boring machine and the New Austrian Tunneling Method (NATM).

5. GREEN PORT GUIDELINES “HARIT SAGAR”

TAGS: GS 3: ENVIRONMENT

CONTEXT:  The ministry of ports, shipping and waterways on Wednesday launched the “Harit Sagar” Green Port Guidelines, aimed at achieving zero carbon emissions by promoting eco-friendly practices in port development, operation, and maintenance.

EXPLANATION:

• The ‘Harit Sagar’ Guidelines -2023 provide a comprehensive framework for our Major Ports, empowering them to create a comprehensive action plan aimed at achieving quantifiable reductions in carbon emissions over defined timelines.”
• It emphasizes the use of clean and green energy, such as green hydrogen, green ammonia, green methanol/ethanol.
• The objective of the guidelines is to minimize waste through reduce, reuse, repurpose, and recycle to attain zero waste discharge from port operations while promoting monitoring based on Environmental Performance Indicators.
• The guidelines are aimed at minimising waste through Reduce, Reuse, Repurpose and Recycle to attain zero waste discharge from port operations.
• It also promotes monitoring based on environmental performance indicators.
• It lay emphasis on the use of clean and green energy in port operations, developing port capabilities for storage, handling, and bunkering greener fuels like green hydrogen and green ammonia, among others.
• The guidelines were launched to meet the larger vision of achieving Zero Carbon Emission Goal set by the Ministry.
• Harit Sagar Guidelines – 2023 envisages ecosystem dynamics in port development, operation, and maintenance while aligning with the ’Working with Nature’ concept and minimizing impact on biotic components of harbor ecosystem.

1. LITHIUM RESERVE IN RAJASTHAN

TAGS: GS-3: SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

CONTEXT:  Months after India found its first ever lithium reserve in Jammu and Kashmir, another reserve of the crucial mineral has been found in Rajasthan’s Degana (Nagaur) by India’s Geological Survey. The new lithium reserve is much bigger than the one found in Jammu and Kashmir.

EXPLANATION:

• Findings: GSI and mining officials have claimed that the amount of Lithium present in these reserves can satisfy 80 percent of India’s total demand. The discovery of these reserves may help in reducing the dependency of India on imports.
• A World Bank study suggests that the demand for critical metals such as lithium (Li) and cobalt is expected to rise by nearly 500% by 2050. While “the global electric vehicle market is projected to reach $823.75 billion by 2030, registering a Compounded Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 18.2% from 2021 to 2030,”
• India’s market is projected to register a CAGR of 23.76% by 2028. India is seeking to secure its critical mineral supplies and build self-sufficiency in this sector.
• Lithium is a non-ferrous metal, which is also the softest and lightest metal in the world. Soft enough to be cut with a vegetable knife and light enough to float when put in water. It stores chemical energy and converts it into electrical energy.
• Use of Lithium: Lithium is present in every chargeable electronic and battery-powered gadget in the house today. For this reason, there is a tremendous demand for Lithium around the world. Due to the global demand, it is also called White Gold. Lithium-ion batteries are used in wind turbines, solar panels, and electric vehicles, all of which are crucial in a green economy.
• Lithium Reserve in World: Lithium reserves are concentrated in the lithium triangle in South America i.e Argentina, Bolivia & Chile, with 50% of the deposits concentrated in these regions. Bolivia has highest lithium reserves. China, meanwhile, has the lead over other countries and China controls 75% of Lithium refining.
• India currently imports all of its Li from Australia and Argentina and 70% of its Li-ion cell requirement from China and Hong Kong, the lithium reserves in J&K could boost the domestic battery-manufacturing industry.
• Environmental impacts of Lithium mining: Open-pit-mining, refining, and waste disposal from these processes substantially degrades the environment, including depletes and contaminates waterways and groundwater, diminishes biodiversity, and releases considerable air pollution.

2. ARAB LEAGUE REINSTATED THE MEMBERSHIP OF SYRIA

TAGS: GS-2: INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS; PRELIMS PERSPECTIVE

CONTEXT: The Arab League voted to reinstate Syria’s membership after its suspension more than 10 years ago, underlining the thawing relations between Damascus and other Arab countries. The decision was taken at a closed-door meeting, attended by foreign ministers from 13 out of 22 member states of the organisation, held in Cairo, Egypt.

EXPLANATION:

• Background: Syria was ousted from the Arab League in 2011 following President Bashar al-Assad’s brutal crackdown on pro-democracy protests, which led to the ongoing civil war in the country. The conflict has since killed around half of a million people and displaced about 23 million.
• Reasons for reinstatement: Experts believe these countries have realised they need to end Damascus’ isolation for the stability of West Asia. Moreover, they want some sort of repatriation of refugees back into Syria and a curb on the trade of captagon, a highly addictive amphetamine produced in the country. Another catalyst in Syria’s rehabilitation is the China-brokered re-establishment of diplomatic relations between regional powerhouse Saudi Arabia and its archenemy, Iran.

About Arab League:

• The Arab League, formally known as the League of Arab States, was established in 1945 with initially just six nations: Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, and Syria. Currently, it has 22 member states in Northern Africa and on the Arabian Peninsula, which belongs geographically to Asia, who have pledged to cooperate on economic and military affairs, among other issues.
• 22 member states are: Algeria, Bahrain, Comoros, Djibouti, Egypt, Iraq, Jordon, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Oman, Palestinian Authority, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates and Yemen.
• All member countries together cover an area of 13.15 million km² (8.7% of the world’s inhabitable area). Significant parts are desert regions such as the Sahara and the Rub al-Chali sand desert. With about 456.52 million inhabitants, the area is home to about 5.8 percent of the world population.
• All member states are also members of the OIC, the Organisation for Islamic Cooperation.
• Foundation: The origins of the Arab League go back to the Second World War. Large parts of the founding members belonged to the Ottoman Empire. At the end of the war, the region was to be stabilized and its independence secured. On October 7, 1944, a “Protocol of Alexandria” was signed as a loose union. After elaborating on the ideas, the Arab League was founded the following year on 11 May 1945. The first member states were the kingdoms of Egypt, Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Yemen, as well as Lebanon, Syria and the then Emirate of Transjordan.
• Aim: The aims of the Arab League were very similar to those of NATO and the Warsaw Pact. The aims of the league in 1945 were to strengthen and coordinate the political, cultural, economic, and social programs of its members and to mediate disputes among them or between them and third parties.
• Administration: The chairmanship is elected every five years, but the seat of the Arab League has been in Cairo (Egypt) since the beginning. Other sub-organizations are:
• the Arab Monetary Fund (AMF)
• Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development (AFESD)
• Arab Economic Development Bank (BADEA)
• Arab Air Carriers Organization

3. FIVE MORE CHEETAH TO BE INTRODUCED IN KUNO NATIONAL PARK

TAGS: GS 3: ENVIRONMENT; PRELIMS PERSPECTIVE

CONTEXT: Five more cheetahs, three females and two males will be released from acclimatisation camps into free-ranging conditions at Madhya Pradesh’s Kuno National Park (KNP) before the onset of the monsoon in June 2023.

EXPLANATION:

• Background: Eight cheetahs from Namibia and 12 from South Africa were transported to India between September 2022 and February 2023 as part of an initiative to reintroduce the species to India, where it had gone extinct in the early 1950s. eight African cheetahs were brought to India today from Namibia as a part of Project Cheetah, the world’s first inter-continental large wild carnivore translocation project

About Cheetah:

• Being a top carnivore, the cheetahis a major evolutionary force that shapes ecosystem functions and enhances species diversity. Their prey base includes ungulates like chital, Sambar deer, nilgai, four-horned antelope, chinkara, blackbuck and wild boar.
• Cheetah is found only in arid region of eastern Iran in Asia and in Africa. It is found in isolated population in grassland and open forest areas.
• African Cheetah and Asiatic Cheetah:

African Cheetah

African Cheetahs are much larger in population and listed as Vulnerable in the (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species

The African cheetah is spread out across Africa from Northwest Africa, East Africa, and Southern Africa. With a bigger territory, the African cheetahs have the highest populations compared to their Asiatic counterparts

African cheetahs, on the other hand, have a slightly bigger build with sturdier legs and necks. Their heads are also bigger compared side by side with the Asiatic cheetahs. An adult African cheetah can reach 84 inches in length and can weigh up to 159 pounds

Asiatic Cheetah

Asiatic Cheetahs have a very small population base and are listed as critically endangered species in the (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species.

On the other hand, Asiatic Cheetahs are only found in a small region between Iran and Pakistan. Asiatic cheetahs once roamed the whole expanse of the central Asian continent from India to Afghanistan and Pakistan, but with their numbers reduced, it is hard for them to be sighted outside Iran

The Asiatic cheetah is slightly smaller and slender than the African cheetah. The neck is much smaller and longer. Their legs are also slender, which has led many to believe that they could be much faster than their African cousins. However, no data is available to confirm. An Asiatic cheetah adult grows to about 53 inches in length with a 33-inch tail and can weigh up to 119 pounds

Why Cheetahs Got Extinct in India?

• The species was declared extinct in India in 1952 primarily due to hunting and habitat loss. In 1947, the last three recorded cheetahs in India were killed by Maharaja Ramanuj Pratap Singh Deo of Korea in Madhya Pradesh.
• Cheetahs were frequently used by the hunters to course blackbuck. They were relatively easy to tame and trained for sport-hunting.
• Under British rule, to develop settlements and agricultural fields, forests were cleared and it resulted in losing the habitats for the species. Moreover, there is evidence to prove that Britishers considered the animals ‘vermins’ (harmful to crops, farm animals, or game, or which carry disease) and they started distributing monetary rewards for killing them from 1871 onwards.

Project Cheetah:

• India then committed to returning cheetahs in several locations including Madhya Pradesh’s Kuno National Park where the staff have been trained, several dogs have been made specialised, facilities have been upgraded and large predators have been moved away.
• In July 2020, India and Namibia signed an MoU (Memorandum of Understanding) stating Namibia’s agreement to donate eight individuals to India as an initial part to launch the programme.

Kuno-Palpur National Park:

• Kuno Palpur National Park is located in Madhya Pradesh, Sheopur and Morena Districts, first established in 1981 as a wildlife sanctuary, and later in 2018 as a national park, is a part of the Khathiar-Gir dry deciduous forests ecoregion.
• Kuno’s geography consists of vast grasslands, open forest patches and hills, perfect for the big cat.
• Some of the main fauna of the park are the Indian leopard, sloth bear, jungle cat, Indian wolf, striped hyena, Bengal fox and many more. Some of the birds found here are Honey badger, ruddy mongoose, Indian grey mongoose, Indian hare etc.
• In 2009, it became a possible site to reintroduce cheetah in Madhya Pradesh. Kuno National Park is selected for the new home for the eight cheetahs as geographically it is located very close to the Sal forests of Koriya, where the native cheetahs were last spotted about seven decades ago.

4. RIVER CITIES ALLIANCE

TAGS: GS 3: ENVIRONMENT

CONTEXT: National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) in association with the National Institute of Urban Affairs (NIUA) organized the ‘River-Cities Alliance (RCA) Global Seminar: Partnership for Building International River-Sensitive Cities’. The purpose of the RCA Global Seminar was to provide a platform for officials of member cities and international stakeholders to discuss and learn good practices for managing urban rivers.

EXPLANATION:

• Background: The Government of India is working extensively to rejuvenate the twenty river basins in the country. In 2014-15, the Namami Gange Mission was launched as a Flagship Initiative for the protection, conservation and rejuvenation of the Ganga River Basin. Guided by a holistic river basin centric approach, the focus is on the riverine ecosystem, including components such as pollution abatement, solid and liquid waste management, biodiversity, afforestation, wetland conservation, groundwater management, etc.
• Namami Gange Mission recognizes that integrated river basin management needs to be interwoven with economic growth and urban transformations. Efforts are being made to engage city governments in this collective responsibility of river rejuvenation and economical gains with the stretch of river flowing through or near their boundaries. This is in alignment with the Hon’ble Prime Minister of India’s clarion call for “need for new thinking for river cities. Cities should be responsible for rejuvenating their rivers. It has to be done not just with the regulatory mind set but also with developmental and faciliatory outlook.”

The River Cities Alliance (RCA):

• It is a joint initiative of the Department of Water Resources, River Development & Ganga Rejuvenation under the Ministry of Jal Shakti (MoJS) & the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA), with a vision to connect river cities and focus on sustainable river centric development.
• Beginning with 30 member cities in November 2021, the Alliance has expanded to 109 river cities across India and one international member city from Denmark.
• River Cities Alliance (RCA) was launched as a dedicated platform for river cities in India to ideate, discuss and exchange information for sustainable management of urban rivers.
• NMCG, National Institute of Urban Affairs (NIUA) and key partners provide dedicated technical and handholding support to the 107 member cities of the RCA, as they implement interventions for river-sensitive development.
• Mechanism of RCA: The Governance Mechanism of the RCA has been envisaged as a city-led movement for promulgating river-sensitive planning and development. Hence, the agenda and operations for RCA are determined by the member cities. The activities being undertaken are in three broad areas:
  Networking: Organizing annual river summit; facilitating exchange of official visits for member cities; and publishing a bi-monthly newsletter
  B. Capacity Building: Conducting certification training programmes for officials of member cities; annual calendar of events; and organizing webinars and expert talk.
  C. Technical Support: River-sensitive urban planning and interventions; Innovations in urban river management; river linked economy and rejuvenation of urban water bodies.

RCA- DHARA 2023(Driving Holistic Action for Urban Rivers)

• DHARA 2023 featured key sessions on international best practices and examples for urban river management.
• DHARA 2023 was aimed to inspire members of the RCA to engage in progressive actions for urban river management in their cities.
• It will help helped in developing a compendium of technological solutions that cities may adopt for enhancing the management of their local rivers.

5. ISSUE OF DRUG RECALL

TAGS: GS 2: HEALTH ISSUE

CONTEXT: In a rare occurrence, Abbot, a multinational pharmaceutical company, published a public notice in newspapers alerting people about a mislabelled batch of medicine that it had inadvertently shipped to the market. While such recalls take place regularly in the U.S., including by Indian companies, it has never been witnessed that domestic or foreign pharmaceutical companies recall substandard or mislabelled drugs in India.

EXPLANATION:

• A drug recall occurs when a prescription or over-the-counter medicine is removed from the market because it is found to be either defective or potentially harmful.

Background:

• In 2012, after a scathing report by the Department Related Parliamentary Standing Committee on Health & Family Welfare raised the issue of recalls, among other issues, the CDSCO proposed a set of draft recall guidelines except the national regulator lacks the power to convert guidelines into a binding law.
• Only the Ministry of Health or, more importantly, the Drug Regulation Section of the Ministry, can initiate the process to make binding rules or legislation. The then Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) had announced that the guidelines would become binding law in a few months, but that never happened. In any event, the guidelines were not very thorough.
• The issue of recalls resurfaced in 2016 at meetings of the DCC and at another committee, called the Drugs Technical Advisory Board (DTAB). Nothing changed on the ground. The same issue came up again in 2018 and 2019 at the meetings of the DCC, but India still lacks a recall law, 46 years on.

Reasons for lack of effective recall mechanism:

• Drug Regulation Section of the Union health ministry is simply not up to the task of tackling complex drug regulatory issues due to a combination of different factors including apathy, lack of expertise in the area, and a greater interest in enabling the growth of the pharmaceutical industry than protecting public health.
• The second possible factor is India’s highly fragmented regulatory structure, with each state having its own drug regulator. But despite the fragmentation, drugs manufactured in one state can seamlessly cross borders to be sold in all states around the country.
• The third possible factor is that India’s drug regulators are aware of the fact that a mandatory drug recall system, which necessarily has to be centred on a system of wide publicity, will bring to public attention to the rotten state of affairs in India’s pharmaceutical industry.

Drug Regulation in India:

• The Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO)under Directorate General of Health Services, Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Government of India is the National Regulatory Authority (NRA) of India.
• Its headquarter is located at New Delhi and also has six zonal offices,four sub zonal offices, thirteen Port offices and seven laboratories spread across the country.
• The Drugs & Cosmetics Act,1940 and rules 1945 have entrusted various responsibilities to central & state regulators for regulation of drugs & cosmetics. It envisages uniform implementation of the provisions of the Act & Rules made there under for ensuring the safety, rights and well being of the patients by regulating the drugs and cosmetics.
• CDSCO is constantly thriving upon to bring out transparency, accountability and uniformity in its services in order to ensure safety, efficacy and quality of the medical product manufactured, imported and distributed in the country.
• Under the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, CDSCO is responsible for approval of Drugs, Conduct of Clinical Trials, laying down the standards for Drugs, control over the quality of imported Drugs in the country and coordination of the activities of State Drug Control Organizations by providing expert advice with a view of bring about the uniformity in the enforcement of the Drugs and Cosmetics Act.
• The government has notified the DPCO 2013 under the Essential Commodities Act, 1955, which gives power to the NPPA (National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA )to regulate prices of 348 essential drugs along with their specified strengths and dosages under National List of Essential Medicines . As per the DPCO 2013, “Scheduled formulation” means any formulation, included in the First Schedule whether referred to by generic versions or brand name. “Nonscheduled formulation” has been defined as a formulation, the dosage and strengths of which are not specified in the First Schedule.