27 JULY 2023

Topic 1 : Kargil Vijay Diwas

Context: Leaders across India’s political spectrum paid their tributes to India’s armed forces and the fallen martyrs on the occasion of the 24th anniversary of the Kargil Vijay Diwas.
 

About The Kargil War

• The Kargil War officially ended on July 26, 1999, with the eviction of the last remaining Pakistani troops and infiltrators from positions on the Indian side of the Line of Control (LoC).
• The conflict was triggered when infiltrators from Pakistan crossed the LoC and occupied high positions in Ladakh’s Kargil district.
• The Indian forces slowly recaptured critical positions from the Pakistanis.
• Challenging conditions
  • Crippling cold:
    • The Kargil battlefield lies in a cold desert with winter temperatures going as low as – 30 degrees Celsius.
    • While the summers are more pleasant, chilly winds and the barren landscape still make the battlefield highly inhospitable.
    • The cold impacts both the men and the machines – guns jam while their operators expend great amounts of energy to keep the body warm.
  • High altitudes:
    • The high altitudes also pose the challenge of reduced Oxygen levels in the air, which causes a wide range of physiological effects and illnesses.
    • The most common altitude related illness is acute mountain sickness, which leads to headaches, nausea, appetite loss, muscular weakness and general fatigue.
  • Impact on weapons and aircraft:
    • Low air pressure alters the accuracy and performance of both weapons and aircraft.
    • While lower air pressure increases the range of the projectiles fired, accuracy and predictability suffer.
    • Aircraft engines typically produce less power and helicopters lose rotor efficiency.
  • Strategic problems:
    • The terrain itself dictates military strategy and imposes significant restrictions on soldiers.
    • The terrain reduces mobility, often provides cover to the enemy, and limits the scope of operations.
    • During the Kargil War, the Indian Army was at a particular disadvantage with the enemy occupying high positions overlooking the positions held by Indians.

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Topic 2 : Sri Lanka’s 13th Amendment

Context: Indian Prime Minister expressed the hope that Sri Lanka would be committed to implementing the 13th Amendment to Sri Lanka’s constitution — which flows from the Indo-Sri Lanka Accord of 1987 — and holding provincial council elections.

The Indo-Sri Lanka Accord of 1987

• Signed between:
  • The 13th Amendment to Sri Lanka’s constitution was made after the signing of the Indo-Sri Lanka Accord between Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and President J R Jayewardene, on July 29, 1987, in Colombo.
• Status before the amendment:
  • Under the 1978 constitution, Sri Lanka had a unitary government, with all powers in the hands of the Centre.
  • The Tamil minority in Sri Lanka was concentrated in the Northern and Eastern provinces, and the struggle for rights and greater autonomy here had flared up into the long and bloody civil war between the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).
• Status after the amendment
  • The 1987 Accord aimed at amending the constitution to transfer some powers to the governments of the country’s nine provinces, thereby finding a constitutional solution to the civil war.
  • After the Accord, the constitution underwent the 13th Amendment to allow devolution of power to provinces.
  • The Accord had other clauses, such as:
    • Tamil and English being adopted as official languages along with Sinhala,
    • lifting of emergency on the Eastern and Northern Provinces by August 15, 1987,
    • surrender of arms by militant groups, and
    • general amnesty to political and other prisoners now held in custody under The Prevention of Terrorism Act and other emergency laws.
  • The Accord also says that the Government of India will underwrite and guarantee the resolutions, and co-operate in the implementation of these proposals.
• Thus, Tamil groups in Sri Lanka have appealed to India multiple times to make sure the Accord is implemented fully

Implementation of the 13th Amendment

• While the armed struggle had been in the Northern and Eastern regions, provinces across Sri Lanka were given greater autonomy after the amendment.
• The Central government retains land and police powers, while the elected provincial councils (similar to state Assemblies in India) can legislate on subjects like agriculture, housing, road transport, education, and health, among others.
• The separation of powers was never done fully.
• The Sinhala nationalists oppose the 13th Amendment as they see it as imposed by India.
• While the Sinhala provinces saw regular elections and the political parties here benefited from the experience of grassroots politics, the North and Eastern regions stayed under the central government’s control for long.
• Since 2014,provincial elections are pending across Sri Lanka.
  • This is because Parliament is yet to amend a 2017 Act in Parliament, for reforming the election process by introducing a hybrid system of first past the post and proportional representation from the current system of proportional representation.

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Topic 3 : Bill proposes birth record digitisation

Context: India has taken the first step to generate digital birth certificates by introducing Registration of Births and Deaths Amendment Bill, 2023.

Key details:

• It will be an all-encompassing document that can be used for:
  • admission to educational institutions,
  • jobs,
  • passports or Aadhaar,
  • voter enrolment,
  • registration of marriage, etc.
• Significance:
  • This will avoid multiplicity of documents to prove date and place of birth.
  • A centralised register would help in updating other databases resulting in efficient and transparent delivery of services and social benefits.
• Other provisions:
  • The Bill proposes to make it obligatory for States to register births and deaths on the Centre’s Civil Registration System portal.
  • It also proposes to share the data with the Registrar General of India, which functions under the Union Home Ministry.
  • The Bill would insert provisions for digital registration and electronic delivery of certificate of births and deaths for the benefit of public.
  • The new rules will apply to all those born after the Bill becomes law.
  • It proposes to collect Aadhaar numbers of parents and informant, if available, for birth registration.
  • It will also facilitate registration process of adopted, orphan, abandoned, surrogate child and child of single parent or unwed mother.Topic 4 : Samudrayaan Project

Context: Union Minister of Earth Sciences informed the Lok Sabha about Samudrayaan project.

About the Mission:

• Deep Ocean Mission has been launched in 2021 as a Central Sector Scheme of Ministry of Earth Sciences.
• Samudrayaan is a project under the Deep Ocean Mission.
• The Samudrayaan mission is India’s first manned ocean mission, with the goal of sending men deep into the ocean in a submersible vehicle for deep-ocean exploration and rare mineral mining.
• Under the Samudrayaan project of Deep Ocean Mission, MATSYA 6000 manned submersible design has been completed so far. 
• The 200-crore Samudrayaan Mission will send three people to a depth of 6000 metres in the sea in a manned submersible vehicle called MATSYA 6000 for deep underwater studies. Submarines have a maximum depth of roughly 200 metres.
• Under the Mission, Deep water Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) namely Ocean Mineral Explorer (OMe 6000) has been deployed for exploration.

Main components of the Deep Sea Mission

• Development of a manned submersible
  • A manned submersible will be developed to carry three people to a depth of 6,000 metres in the ocean.
  • This submersible will have a suite of scientific sensors and tools to help in deep ocean exploration.
  • Developed indigenously, MATSYA 6000, the manned submersible will have an endurance of 12 hours of operational period and 96 hours in case of an emergency.
  • It will help scientific personnel to observe and understand unexplored deep-sea areas by direct intervention.
• To mine polymetallic nodules
  • An integrated mining system will be also developed for mining polymetallic nodules from 6,000 m depth in the central Indian Ocean.
  • Polymetallic nodules, also known as manganese nodules, are potato-shaped, largely porous nodules found in abundance carpeting the sea floor of world oceans in deep sea.
    • Besides manganese and iron, they contain nickel, copper, cobalt, lead etc., which are of economic and strategic importance.
  • Why are polymetallic nodules important for India?
    • India has been allotted a site of 75,000 square kilometres in the Central Indian Ocean Basin (CIOB) by the UN International Sea Bed Authority for exploitation of polymetallic nodules (PMN).
    • It is envisaged that 10 per cent of recovery of that large reserve can meet the energy requirement of India for the next 100 years.
    • It has been estimated that 380 million metric tonnes of polymetallic nodules are available at the bottom of the seas in the Central Indian Ocean.
    • India’s Exclusive Economic Zone spreads over 2.2 million square kilometres.
• To study key climate variables
  • The second component of the project has to do with developing a suite of observation and models to understand and provide future projections of important climate variables.
  • These Ocean Climate Change Advisory Services is meant to support the Blue Economy priority area of coastal tourism.
• Explore deep-sea biodiversity
  • Under the Samudrayaan project, technological innovations will be developed to explore and conserve deep-sea biodiversity.
  • Studies on sustainable utilisation of deep sea bio-resources will be the main focus.
• Multi-metal hydrothermal sulphides:
  • The fourth component has to do with exploring multi-metal hydrothermal sulphides mineralisation along the Indian Ocean mid-oceanic ridges.
• Desalination Plant:
  • The fifth will focus on developing an offshore Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) powered desalination plant which will work with tidal energy.
• Marine Station for Ocean Biology:
  • Lastly, under the project, the ministry will establish an advanced Marine Station for Ocean Biology.
     

Relevance of the Project for India:

• India has a 7,517 km long coastline, which is home to nine coastal states and 1,382 islands.
• Its three sides are surrounded by the oceans and around 30 cent of the nation’s  population live in coastal areas and coastal regions play a major factor in the country’s economy.
• The mission will also boost the Central government’s vision of ‘New India’ that highlights the Blue Economy as one of the ten key aspects of growth.
   

Entities involved in Samudrayaan

• Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO),
• IITM,
• Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO)Topic 5 : Indo-Australia Relations

Context: The 8^th India-Australia Defence Policy Talks (DPT) were held recently.
 

About Indo-Australia Relations:

• Historical Perspective
  • The historical ties between India and Australia started immediately following European settlement in Australia from 1788. 
  • All trade to and fro from the penal colony of New South Wales was controlled by the British East India Company through Kolkata. 
  • India and Australia established diplomatic relations in the pre-Independence period, with the establishment of India Trade Office in Sydney in 1941. 
  • The end of the Cold War and simultaneously India’s decision to launch major economic reforms in 1991 provided the first positive move towards development of closer ties between the two nations. 
• Strategic Relationship
  • Australia and India upgraded bilateral relationship from ‘Strategic Partnership’ in 2009 to Comprehensive Strategic Partnership (CSP) in 2020. 
• Quad Leaders’ Summit:
  • The first-ever Quad Leaders’ Virtual Summit held in 2021 saw the participation of Prime Ministers of India, Australia, Japan and President of USA.
  • The subsequent quad summits were held in Washington D.C in 2021 (in-person), in Tokyo in 2022 and again at in Hiroshima in 2023.
• Bilateral Economic and Trade Relationship
  • As part of its efforts to develop strong economic relationship with India, the Australian Government commissioned the India Economic Strategy to 2035 to define a pathway for Australia to unlock opportunities offered by Indian Economic growth. 
• TheIndia-Australia Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement (“IndAus ECTA”):
  • Under this the Indian IT companies will not be double taxed with effect from the financial year 2023-24.
• India-Australia Joint Ministerial Commission: India-Australia Joint Ministerial Commission (JMC):
  • It was established in 1989 to enable interaction at a government and business level on a range of trade and investment related issues. 
  • The 18th India-Australia Joint Ministerial Commission (JMC) was held on 11 March 2023 in New Delhi.
• Bilateral Trade:
  • India is 9th largest trading partner of Australia.
  • During 2021, Bilateral trade in goods and services with India was US$ 31.1 billion, with exports of goods and services worth US$ 12.5 billion and imports of goods and services worth US$ 18.6 billion.
  • India’s merchandise exports to Australia grew 135% between 2019 and 2021.
  • India’s main exports to Australia are:
    • refined petroleum,
    • medicaments (incl. veterinary),
    • pearls & gems,
    • jewellery,
    • made-up textile articles
  • India’s major imports are:
    • coal,
    • confidential items of trade,
    • copper ores & concentrates,
    • natural gas,
    • non-ferrous waste & scrap,
    • ferrous waste & scrap and
    • education related services.
• Civil Nuclear Cooperation
  • A Civil Nuclear Cooperation Agreement between the two countries was signed in September 2014.
  • The Australian Parliament passed the “Civil Nuclear Transfer to India Bill 2016” in 2016 which allows that Uranium mining companies in Australia to fulfil contracts to supply Australian uranium to India for civil use.
  •  Exports would not be hindered by domestic legal action challenging the consistency of the safeguards applied by the IAEA in India and Australia’s international non-proliferation obligations.  I
  •  also ensures that any future bilateral trade in other nuclear-related material or items for civil use will also be protected. 
• Defence Cooperation
  • The first-ever Bilateral Maritime Exercise, AUSINDEX 15, was conducted in Visakhapatnam and the Bay of Bengal in 2015.
  • An Australian Naval ship HMAS Larrakia participated in ‘MILAN’ Naval exercise in Andaman & Nicobar Islands in March 2018.
  • In 2018, Indian Air Force participated for the first time in the Exercise Pitch Black in Australia.
  • Navies of India, Australia, Japan and the USA also participated in Exercise Malabar.
  • INS Satpura participated at the multinational Exercise KAKADU in Darwin in 2022.
  • India-Australia Joint Military Exercise AUSTRAHIND 2022 was held in Rajasthan in 2022 between Indian Army and the Australian Army,.
• Indian Community in Australia
  • The Indian community in Australia continues to grow in importance, with the population of about 9.76,000 (Census 2021).
  • After England, India is the second largest migrant group in Australia (2021).
  • India is one of the top sources of skilled immigrants to Australia.
  • The number of Indian students continue to grow with more than 89,766 students presently studying in Australian universities.Topic 6 : West Bengal government announces a ‘mangrove cell’

Context: West Bengal, which is home to about 40% of the mangrove forests in India, announced the setting up of a ‘mangrove cell’ in the State.
 

Key details:

• This cell will bring continuity to the efforts of the State government in mangrove management.
• The cell has an action plan for the plantation of mangroves.
• It will also look at maintenance and coordinate with NGOs.
• The cell will generate funds from private and international sectors.
   

About Mangroves and their significance:  

• Mangroves are salt-tolerant plant communities found in tropical and subtropical intertidal regions.
• They are important refuges of coastal biodiversity and also act as bio-shields against extreme climatic events.
• With the threat of climate change and frequent tropical storms looming large, planting more mangroves is a welcome development for India which has a coastline of about 7,500 km.
   

Where do mangroves grow in India?

• The ‘State of World Mangroves 2022’ report by the Global Mangrove Alliance puts the total mangrove cover of the world at 1,47,000 sq km (14.7 million hectares).
• India has about 4,992 sq km (0.49 million hectares) of mangroves, according to the Indian State of Forest Report (IFSR) 2021.
• Mangroves in India are distributed across nine States and three Union Territories with West Bengal having the highest mangrove cover of 2,114 sq km.
• The IFSR report also points out that there has been an increase in the mangrove cover from 4,046 sq km in 1987 to 4,992 sq km in 2021.
• In India the mangrove ecosystem faces constant pressure due to:
  • increasing population in coastal areas
  • the rising demand for land, timber, fodder, fuel-wood and other non-wood forest products like fisheries.
• Types of Mangroves:
  • The tree species that form a mangrove forest or ecosystem are broadly classified as true mangroves and mangroves associates.
    • True mangroves are the ones which display morphological adaptations for a high saline mangrove ecosystem such as pneumatophores, vivipary or crypto vivipary germination and salt-secreting cells.
    • Mangrove associates are plant species that grow in close proximity to mangroves but are not necessarily adapted to life in saltwater environments.
       

Ecosystem of these forests

• Mangrove forests are formed when there is intertidal flow and where adequate sediments are available for the trees to set down roots.
• Aquaculture or fisheries along the coast obstructing tidal flow is one of the biggest threats to the mangrove ecosystem.
• In the Sundarbans, the largest mangrove forest in the country, several instances of clearing mangroves for fisheries have come to light.
• Restoration of the land and allowing intertidal flow is crucial for plantation and survival of mangrove forests.

Significance of Mangroves for climate change:  

• The ‘State of World Mangroves 2022’ points out that mangroves are estimated to hold up to four times the amount of carbon as some other ecosystems.
• The loss of even 1% of remaining mangroves could lead to the loss of 0.23 gigatons of CO2 equivalent, equating to over 520 million barrels of oil.
   

Mangrove cover in India

• About 40% of the world’s mangrove cover is found in South East Asia and South Asia.
• India has about 3% of the total Mangrove cover in South Asia
• The current assessment shows that mangrove cover in the country is 4,975 sq km, which is 0.15% of the country’s total geographical area.
• West Bengal has 42.45% of India’s mangrove cover, followed by Gujarat 23.66% and A&N Islands 12.39%.
• Gujarat shows maximum increase of 37 sq km in mangrove cover.

• South 24 Parganas district of West Bengal alone accounts for 41.85% mangrove cover of the country.
• South 24 Parganas holds the Sunderban National Park, home to one of the largest mangrove forests in the world.

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Topic 7 : The Biodiversity Act

Context: Recently, Lok Sabha gave its approval to a Bill to amend some provisions of the Biological Diversity Act of 2002.
 

The 2002 Act:

• What is Biological Diversity:
  • Biological diversity refers to all kinds of life forms — animals, plants and microorganisms — their gene pools, and the ecosystems that they inhabit.
• India’s Biological Diversity Act of 2002 was enacted by the government of Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
• The 2002 Act was a response to the global need to protect and conserve biological resources, which are under threat due to human activities.
• It set up a National Biodiversity Authority as a regulatory body, and prescribed the conditions in, and purposes for, which biological resources could be utilised.
• The purposes mainly related to scientific research and commercial use.

Earlier efforts to protect biodiversity:

• In 1994, countries including India had agreed to a Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), an international framework agreement.
• There was a general agreement on three things:
  • that indiscriminate use of biological resources needed to be halted,
  • that sustainable use of these resources, for their medicinal properties for example, needed to be regulated, and
  • that people and communities helping in protecting and maintaining these resources needed to be rewarded for their efforts.

Need for amendments:

• The 2019 report by the Intergovernmental Science Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), issued a stark warning:
  • about 1 million animal and plant species, out of a total of about 8 million, were facing the threat of extinction.
  • About 75 per cent of the Earth’s land surface and 66 per cent of the oceans had been “significantly altered”.
• Complaints over restrictions of use:
  • Over the years, several stakeholders, like those representing the Indian system of medicine, the seed sector, pharmaceutical and other industries, and the research community, have pointed out that some of the provisions of the 2002 law restricted their activities, and thus needed to be modified.
• Nagoya Protocol:
  • Countries agreed to the Nagoya Protocol in 2010, an important international agreement under the CBD, that contained an Access and Benefit Sharing mechanism.
  • Under this mechanism, biodiversity-rich countries needed to provide access to their biological resources to those wanting to use it for research or commercial reasons, and the user agencies, in turn, were mandated to share the benefits of their use with the local communities.
  • This access and benefit-sharing works at both the domestic and the international levels.

The proposed Amendments:

• Exemptions:
  • Certain categories of users of biological resources, like practitioners of Indian systems of medicine, have been exempted from making payments towards the access and benefit-sharing mechanism.
• Change in nature of company:
  • Companies registered in India and controlled by Indians are now treated as Indian companies, even if they have foreign equity or partnership, thereby reducing the restrictions on them.
• Speedy approvals:
  • Provisions have been included to speed up the approval process in cases of use of biological resources in scientific research, or for filing of patent applications.
• Rationalisation of penalties:
  • The penalty provisions for wrongdoing by user agencies have been rationalised.Topic 8 : Vibrant Village Programme

Context: Government has approved Vibrant Villages Programme (VVP) as a Centrally Sponsored Scheme recently for  comprehensive development of the select villages.
 

About the programme:

• The Vibrant Villages Programme will aid in raising the standard of living for residents of designated border communities and encouraging them to remain there, reversing the outmigration from these villages and enhancing border security.
• The programme envisages focused areas of interventions in the select villages for creation of opportunities for livelihood generation through:
  • promotion of tourism & cultural heritage,
  • skill development & entrepreneurship and
  • development of cooperative societies including agriculture/horticulture, cultivation of medicinal plants/herbs etc.
• Facilities that will be provided:
  • Road connectivity,
  • drinking water,
  • power (including solar and wind energy),
  • mobile and internet access,
  • tourist attractions,
  • multipurpose facilities,
  • healthcare infrastructure, and
  • wellness centres.