27 NOVEMBER 2023

Topic 1 : Two Sites In Karnataka Proposed For World Heritage List

Why in news: The monuments at Shravanabelagola in Hassan and Lakkundi in Gadag districts are set to be proposed for inclusion on the tentative list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites by the State Department of Archaeology Museums and Heritage (DAMH).
 

Key details:

• The Tentative List provides a forecast of the properties that a State Party may decide to submit for inscription in the next five to ten years.
• To be considered for final declaration as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, a monument must first be nominated for inclusion on the Tentative List.
• The monuments must be on the list for at least one year before being proposed for inscription as a UNESCO site by the State party.
• The UNESCO Tentative List currently includes 50 Indian monuments.
   

Shravanabelagola

• Shravanabelagola Temple complex on Chandragiri Hill is one of the most important places of pilgrimage for followers of Jainism.
• It is famous for the statue of Gomateshwaraa, considered to be one of the world’s tallest free-standing monolithic statues.
• It was carved from a single stone and consecrated in 981 CE.
• Shravanabelagola is also where the Mauryan emperor Chandragupta Maurya is said to have spent his final days.
   

Lakkundi

• Lakkundi is also known as ‘Lokkigundi’.
• It was a significant city a thousand years ago.
• It was one of the capitals of the Hoysala Empire.
• There are over 50 ruins of ancient temples scattered throughout the village, dating back to the periods of the Chalukyas, Kalachuris, and Suena.
• The area has over 100 stepwells, also known as ‘kalyani’, each displaying stunning architectural beauty.
   

What is UNESCO tentative list?

• The UNESCO tentative list is an inventory of those properties which each State Party intends to consider for nomination.
• If a state party considers a monument or site has cultural or natural heritage of outstanding universal value then the state prepares a list of such sites and sends it to UNESCO.
• The UNESCO after accepting or rejecting inclusion of such monuments, forms a tentative list.
• A position on a country’s tentative list does not automatically tender that site with world heritage status.
• It is mandatory to put any monument/site on the Tentative List (TL) before it is considered for the final nomination dossier.
• After a site is listed as a tentative site, the state party has to prepare a nomination document that will be considered by the UNESCO World Heritage Committee for a World Heritage Site.

What is a World Heritage Site?

• A World Heritage Site is a location having an “Outstanding Universal Value”.
• According to the World Heritage Convention’s Operational Guidelines, an Outstanding Universal Value signifies cultural and/or natural significance which is so exceptional as to transcend national boundaries and to be of common importance for present and future generations of all humanity.
• The Sites fall into three categories:
  • Cultural heritage:
    • Cultural heritage entails an Outstanding Universal Value from the point of view of history, art or science, and includes monuments, groups of buildings, and sites which are the combined work of nature and human agency.
    • Examples include the Taj Mahal, the Statue of Liberty, and the Sydney Opera House.
  • Natural heritage:
    • The Sites under natural heritage are those having an Outstanding Universal Value from the point of view of science, conservation or natural beauty, such as the Sundarbans Natural Park or the Victoria Falls.
  • Mixed heritage:
    • A mixed site comprises components of both natural and cultural importance.
       

Difference between a World Heritage site & Tentative List

• A World Heritage Site is a place that is listed by UNESCO for its special cultural or physical significance.
  • The list of World Heritage Sites is maintained by the international ‘World Heritage Programme’, administered by the UNESCO World Heritage Committee.
• For getting its heritage site considered for inscription on the World Heritage List, the country makes an inventory of important natural and cultural heritage sites located within its boundaries.
  • This ‘inventory’ is known as the Tentative List.
  • Making it to the tentative list thus is the first step for any site which seeks final nomination for becoming a World Heritage site. 

Indian Sites on the Tentative List – Total 52

• Temples at Bishnupur, West Bengal – 1998
• Mattanchery Palace, Ernakulam, Kerala – 1998
• Group of Monuments at Mandu, Madhya Pradesh – 1998
• Ancient Buddhist Site, Sarnath, Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh – 1998
• Sri Harimandir Sahib, Amritsar, Punjab – 2004
• River Island of Majuli in midstream of Brahmaputra River in Assam – 2004
• Namdapha National Park – 2006
• Wild Ass Sanctuary, Little Rann of Kutch – 2006
• Neora Valley National Park – 2009
• Desert National Park – 2009
• Silk Road Sites in India – 2010
• Santiniketan – 2010
• The Qutb Shahi Monuments of Hyderabad Golconda Fort, Qutb Shahi Tombs, Charminar – 2010
• Mughal Gardens in Kashmir – 2010
• Delhi – A Heritage City – 2012
• Monuments and Forts of the Deccan Sultanate – 2014
• Cellular Jail, Andaman Islands – 2014
• Iconic Saree Weaving Clusters of India – 2014
• Apatani Cultural Landscape – 2014
• Sri Ranganathaswamy Temple, Srirangam – 2014
• Monuments of Srirangapatna Island Town – 2014
• Chilika Lake – 2014
• Padmanabhapuram Palace – 2014
• Sacred Ensembles of the Hoysala – 2014
• Sites of Saytagrah, India’s non-violent freedom movement – 2014
• Thembang Fortified Village – 2014
• Narcondam Island – 2014
• Moidams – the Mound-Burial system of the Ahom Dynasty – 2014
• Ekamra Kshetra – The Temple City, Bhubaneswar – 2014
• The Neolithic Settlement of Burzahom – 2014
• Archaeological remains of a Harappa Port-Town, Lothal – 2014
• Mountain Railways of India (Extension) – 2014
• Chettinad, Village Clusters of the Tamil Merchants – 2014
• Bahá’í House of Worship at New Delhi – 2014
• Evolution of Temple Architecture – Aihole-Badami- Pattadakal – 2015
• Cold Desert Cultural Landscape of India – 2015
• Sites along the Uttarapath, Badshahi Sadak, Sadak-e-Azam, Grand Trunk Road – 2015
• Keibul Lamjao Conservation Area – 2016
• Garo Hills Conservation Area (GHCA) – 2018
• The historic ensemble of Orchha – 2019
• Iconic Riverfront of the Historic City of Varanasi – 2021
• Temples of Kanchipuram – 2021
• Hire Benkal, Megalithic Site – 2021
• Bhedaghat-Lametaghat in Narmada Valley – 2021
• Satpura Tiger Reserve – 2021
• Serial Nomination of Maratha Military Architecture in Maharashtra – 2021
• Geoglyphs of Konkan Region of India – 2022
• Jingkieng jri: Living Root Bridge Cultural Landscapes – 2022
• Sri Veerabhadra Temple and Monolithic Bull (Nandi), Lepakshi (The Vijayanagara Sculpture and Painting Art Tradition) – 2022
• Sun Temple, Modhera and its adjoining monuments – 2022
• Rock-cut Sculptures and Reliefs of the Unakoti, Unakoti Range, Unakoti District – 2022
• Vadnagar – A multi-layered Historic town, Gujarat – 2022Topic 2 : Saurauia Punduana plant

Why in news: Critically endangered plant species Saurauia Punduana plant recorded for first time in Manipur.
 

Key details:

• The Saurauia Punduana plant was recorded during a recent Rapid Biodiversity Assessment (RBA) field survey.
  • Rapid biodiversity assessment (RBA) refers to time efficient tools that allow to collect information on the present biodiversity in a given area.
• Saurauia punduana is a species of plant in the Actinidiaceae family.
• It is found in Tamenglong district of Manipur.
• Flowers of Saurauia Punduana turn white to pink on maturity.
• Its fruits are used in veterinary medicine.
• The native range of this species is from Bhutan to Southeastern Tibet.
• Locally this plant is known as Anoibang.
• IUCN status: Critically endangered.

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Topic 3 : How Mumbai terror attacks changed India’s security infrastructure

Why in news: The 26/11 attacks on Mumbai forced India to acknowledge and focus on India’s security concerns vis-à-vis its neighbourhood. It also exposed India’s under-preparedness in combating asymmetric warfare of such scale.
 

Key details:

• In 2008, 10 Lashkar-e-Tayyeba (LeT) gunmen sailed across the Arabian Sea, from Karachi to Mumbai, and went on the rampage in the city for four long days.
• It exposed the gaping holes in India’s maritime security, the chinks in its internal security grid, and the inadequacy of its counter-terrorism infrastructure and local police.
• Soon after the attacks, some key decisions on the security front were taken by the government.
• These included:
  • the tightening of maritime security,
  • fixing of loopholes in the intelligence grid,
  • strengthening of the legal framework to deal with terrorism, and
  • creation of special agencies to probe terror cases.

Places where the terrorists attacked:

Changes in India’s security infrastructure:

• Maritime security revamp:
  • Post 26/11, the Indian navy was given overall charge of maritime security.
  • The Indian Coast Guard was given the responsibility for territorial waters and to coordinate with hundreds of new marine police stations that came up along India’s coastline.
  • The government also made it mandatory for all vessels longer than 20 metres to have an Automatic Identification System (AIS) that transmits its identification and other information.
    • This was in addition to the international regulation under which AIS is compulsory for any vessel heavier than 300 gross tonnage.
• Intelligence coordination
  • A decision was taken to strengthen the Intelligence Bureau’s (IB’s) Multi Agency Centre (MAC).
    • It’s primary job is to coordinate exchange of intelligence between central agencies, the armed forces, and the state police.
    • Subsidiary MACs that had gone defunct were re-invigorated.
  • Regular meetings were made mandatory for real-time exchange of information and analysis.
• Change in laws: UAPA and NIA Act
  • The Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) was amended to expand the definition of terrorism.
  • The National Investigation Agency (NIA) Act was passed by Parliament to create the first truly federal investigation agency in the country.
• Modernisation of police forces
  • The Centre trained its focus on modernisation of state police forces.
  • More funds were allocated by the MHA to state governments to:
    • make their police stations state-of-the-art,
    • equip them with modern technology,
    • train their policemen to deal with challenges of modern day policing that included terrorism, and
    • to give them better weapons.
  • Apart from this, emphasis was given on the creation of crack commando teams among all police forces.
  • The National Security Guard (NSG) established four regional hubs across the country.
• Cooperation from the West
  • The biggest impact of the 26/11 attacks, however, was the willingness of the West to cooperate with India on matters of security.
  • The USA not only provided real time information during the attacks, but also a lot of prosecutable evidence through the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) that helped India nail Pakistan’s culpability and embarrass it internationally.
  • The real success was in organising the international community, in isolating Pakistan, and in making counterterrorism cooperation against the LeT effective.
  • India began to get unprecedented cooperation from Saudi Arabia and the Persian Gulf countries, and China, too, began to respond to requests for information on these groups.
  • It was this spirit of cooperation and global understanding on the need to deal with Pak-sponsored terrorism that helped put Pakistan in the Financial Action Task Force’s (FATF’s) grey list in 2018, forcing the country to take action against the terror infrastructure of the LeT and Jaish-e-Muhammad (JeM).

Challenges remain:

• Despite these successes, gaps in the security grid remain.
• State police forces continue to remain ill equipped and poorly trained with continued political interference.
• On maritime security, there are limited options to track ships that do not transmit AIS signals.
• Many of India’s smaller shipping vessels have no transponders.
• An official from the security establishment said that of the 2.9 lakh fishing vessels in India, around 60% are smaller than 20 m, and most of them are without transponders.Topic 4 : Conference of the Parties (COP)

Why in news: Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE) will host the world’s biggest climate negotiation – 28^th Conference of the Parties, better known as COP.

About CoP:

• An annual meeting:
  • COP is the annual United Nations (UN) climate meeting
  • In 1992, at the Rio Earth Summit, 154 countries signed a multilateral treaty called the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
  • It aimed to stabilise greenhouse gas concentrations at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic (human-induced) interference with the climate system.
  • The treaty came into force two years later, and since then, countries which are part of the UNFCCC, meet every year at different venues.
  • Today, there are 198 ‘parties’ or signatories of the Convention.
• International Agreements on common platform:
  • COP was a result of a strong belief in the power of international agreements to tackle environmental problems
  • Policymakers of that era believed in a unified commitment to deal with climate change.
  • Their belief was strengthened by the success of the 1987 Montreal Protocol, an international treaty designed to protect the ozone layer, and a 1991 bilateral agreement between the US and Canada that helped combat acid rain by limiting the emission of sulphur dioxide (SO2).
  • This led to the inception of UNFCCC.
• The First COP:
  • The first COP took place in Berlin, Germany, in 1995
  • The first edition of COP entailed a discussion on how to implement the UNFCCC.
  • At the meeting, an agreement was reached to meet annually to discuss action on climate change and emissions reductions.
  • In the following two years, Kyoto Protocol was made that placed international obligations on the set of rich and industrialised countries to cut their greenhouse gas emissions by assigned amounts.
    • The Kyoto Protocol was adopted in Kyoto, Japan, during the COP-3.
• Aim of the CoP:
  • COP meetings aim is to review progress towards the overall goal of limiting climate change
  • The annual conference takes place to discuss a global agreement to cut emissions of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.
  • It mostly revolves around negotiations and debates.
  • Sometimes, COP will result in new agreements and treaties, often with the goal of refining targets, agreeing rules or forming binding treaties, like the Kyoto Protocol.
• Role of individual countries:
  • Each member country details how they are tackling climate change
  • A crucial part of COP meetings is the review of the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs).
  • An NDC is essentially a climate action plan to cut emissions and adapt to climate impacts.
  • It is submitted by those member countries which are also part of the Paris Agreement (2015) and is updated every five years.Topic 5 : Quote: Constitution is not a mere lawyers’ document… its spirit is always the spirit of Age

Why in news: Marking Constitution Day on November 26, President of India unveiled a statue of Dr BR Ambedkar at the Supreme Court premises in New Delhi.
 

Key details:

• Ambedkar was the Chairman of the Drafting Committee of the Constitution of India, which was adopted on 26^th November, 1949 and came into effect on January 26, 1950.
• It was Ambedkar who remarked, “Constitution is not a mere lawyers’ document, it is a vehicle of Life, and its spirit is always the spirit of Age.”

What was the Constituent Assembly?

• The Constituent Assembly, the body meant to draft the Constitution of India, held its first session on December 9, 1946.
• Initially, it had 389 members:
  • 292 members were elected through the Provincial Legislative Assemblies;
  • 93 members represented the Indian Princely States; and
  • 4 members represented the Chief Commissioners’ Provinces (British Baluchistan, Delhi, Ajmer-Merwara, Coorg and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands).
• Members were chosen by indirect election by the members of the Provincial Legislative Assemblies elected through the 1946 elections, according to the scheme recommended by the Cabinet Mission of 1946.
• However, after independence and the partition of India, the strength was reduced to 299.
• The assembly took over three years to draft the constitution, spending over 114 days considering the content of the draft alone.

The Constitutional debates

• Fundamental issues such as the language of business for the Indian government, citizenship, and the name of the country itself were debated.
• PS Deshmukh, who would go on to become the first Union Minister of Agriculture, said that making it difficult to amend provisions of the Constitution was not advisable.
• The idea was that having amendments require a significant percentage of votes, say two-thirds, would make the Constitution a document not in sync with the times, and build a perception among the people that it is obsolete and not worth adhering to.
• But Ambedkar argued that making all amendments easily movable would make the document susceptible to changes on the whims of legislators and be against the interests of states.

Ambedkar’s arguments:

• Ambedkar gave examples of procedures for amendments in the Irish, Canadian, Australian and other constitutions to make a point about how there was no one way of making amendments.
• In India’s case, he suggested three options from the committee:
  • a set of Articles that can be amended by a simple parliamentary majority (what is called a simple majority),
  • another set requiring a two-thirds majority (what is a special majority), and
  • a few more that required a two-thirds majority and ratification by half of all states.
• This would depend on whether the Articles related to matters of the Centre or both the states and the Centre.
• The purpose of a Constitution is not merely to create the organs of the State but to limit their authority, because if no limitation was imposed upon the authority of the organs, there will be complete tyranny and complete oppression.
  • The legislature may be free to frame any law.
  • The executive may be free to take any decision.
  • The Supreme Court may be free to give any interpretation of the law.
  • It would result in utter chaos.Topic 6 : Thanksgiving

Why in news: In the United States, the Thanksgiving holiday holds a unique and deeply rooted place in the country’s psyche.

About Thanksgiving:

• Originally, the Thanksgiving holiday fell on the final Thursday of November, as proclaimed by US President Abraham Lincoln in 1863.
• In 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed a joint resolution of Congress changing the national holiday to the fourth Thursday of the month.
• The tradition itself goes back to the English settlers who came to be known as the Pilgrims or Pilgrim Fathers, who had set off for North America and established Plymouth Colony in 1620.
• The Pilgrims practiced a form of Christianity based solely on the Bible and even rejected bishops as an invention of Satan.
• Even though they are known as the Pilgrim Fathers, there were also women and children
• The Indigenous people of the Wampanoag tribe provided them with food and taught them local farming techniques.
• In the fall of 1621, settlers and the Wampanoag people celebrated a three-day festival: Thanksgiving.
• The peaceful coexistence of the settlers and the Wampanoag tribe was an exception at the time.
  • From the 1630s onward, the relationship was increasingly characterized by violence.
• Hence, for many Native Americans today, Thanksgiving is rather a day to commemorate the genocide by European settlers and the loss of their land and ancestors.
• The first feast celebrated by the Pilgrims and the Wampanoag tribe in 1621 established itself as the origin of Thanksgiving in the United States.Topic 7 : Is India lagging in measles vaccination?

Why in news: A new report from the World Health Organization and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said measles cases in 2022 have increased by 18%, and deaths by 43% globally, compared to 2021.

Key details:

• The report states this takes the estimated number of measles cases to nine million and deaths to 1,36,000, mostly among children.
• The Union Health Ministry has refuted a part of the report which said that globally 22 million children did not get their first measles shot in 2022 and that half of them live in 10 countries including India, where an estimated 1.1 million infants did not get the first dose of the vaccine.
• India’s Universal Immunisation Programme is one of the largest public health programmes in the world targeting close to 2.67 crore newborns and 2.9 crore pregnant women annually.

What is the Union Health Ministry saying?

• The Health Ministry maintains that just over 21,000 Indian children did not get the shot.
• It said that the WHO data is based on an estimated number, reported under the WHO UNICEF Estimates National Immunization Coverage (WUENIC) 2022 report.
• A total of 2,63,63,270 children out of the eligible 2,63,84,580 children received their first dose of measles vaccine in FY 2022-23, according to the Health Ministry.
• It added that 21,310 children missed their first dose in 2022-23 and that initiatives have been undertaken by the Centre in coordination with the States to ensure that all children receive all missed/due doses of the measles vaccine.

About Measles:

• Measles is a highly contagious disease caused by a virus.
• It spreads easily when an infected person breathes, coughs or sneezes.
• Measles can affect anyone but is most common in children.
• Measles infects the respiratory tract and then spreads throughout the body.
• Symptoms:
  • a high fever,
  • cough,
  • runny nose and
  • a rash all over the body.
• Transmission
  • Measles is one of the world’s most contagious diseases, spread by contact with infected nasal or throat secretions (coughing or sneezing) or breathing the air that was breathed by someone with measles.
• Treatment
  • There is no specific treatment for measles.
  • Caregiving should focus on relieving symptoms, making the person comfortable and preventing complications. 

Measles in India

• It is a leading cause of childhood mortality among the vaccine preventable diseases in India.
• Measles spreads through respiratory route via aerosol droplets from infected persons.
• India accounts for a significant proportion of measles related deaths in the world.

What has India done to achieve targets?

• The pandemic led to poor immunisation rates.
• During 2010–2013, India conducted a phased measles catch-up immunisation for children aged 9 months–10 years in 14 States, vaccinating approximately 119 million children.
• Mission Indradhanush was launched in 2014 to ramp up vaccinating the unvaccinated population.
• During 2017–2021, India adopted a national strategic plan for measles and rubella elimination, and introduced rubella-containing vaccine (RCV) into the routine immunisation programme, besides launching a nationwide measles-rubella supplementary immunisation activity (SIA) catch-up campaign.
• It also transitioned from outbreak-based surveillance to case-based acute fever and rash surveillance, and more than doubled the number of laboratories in the measles-rubella network.

Global Burden of measles:

• According to the WHO, measles vaccination averted 56 million deaths between 2000 and 2021.
• Even though a safe and cost-effective vaccine is available, in 2021, there were an estimated 1,28,000 measles deaths globally, mostly among unvaccinated or under vaccinated children under the age of five.
• In 2022, about 83% of the world’s children received one dose of measles vaccine by their first birthday through routine health services — the lowest since 2008.

Prevention of measles:

• Measles can be prevented with the MMR vaccine.
• The vaccine protects against three diseases:
  • measles,
  • mumps and
  • rubella.
• Two doses of MMR vaccine are about 97% effective at preventing measles.
  • One dose is about 93% effective.

Impact of COVID-19 on the vaccination programme:

• The pandemic has led to setbacks in surveillance and immunisation efforts across the globe leaving millions of children vulnerable to diseases like measles.
• No country is exempt from measles, and areas with low immunisation encourage the virus to circulate, increasing the likelihood of outbreaks and putting all unvaccinated children at risk.
• In India, Maharashtra and Kerala saw a spike in cases of measles.
  • The spread caused enough alarm to prompt the Indian Academy of Paediatricians to step in and appeal for vaccination.Topic 8 : Bihar’s demand for Special Category Status

Why in news: Recently, Bihar government passed a resolution seeking the grant of special category status (SCS) to Bihar.
 

Why the demand?

• The demand comes in the backdrop of the findings from the “Bihar Caste-based Survey, 2022”, which revealed that nearly one-third of Bihar’s population continues to live in poverty.

What is a special category status?

• It is a classification granted by the Centre to assist the development of States that face geographical or socio-economic disadvantages.
• The SCS was introduced in 1969 on the recommendation of the fifth Finance Commission (FC).
• Five factors are considered before granting SCS such as:
  • hilly and difficult terrain
  • low population density and/or sizeable share of tribal population
  • strategic location along international borders
  • economic and infrastructural backwardness and
  • non-viable nature of state finances.
• In 1969, three States were granted the SCS:
  • Jammu & Kashmir,
  • Assam and
  • Nagaland.
• Subsequently, eight more States were given the SCS:
  • Arunachal Pradesh,
  • Manipur,
  • Meghalaya,
  • Mizoram,
  • Sikkim,
  • Tripura,
  • Himachal Pradesh, and
  • Uttarakhand.

Benefits of special category:

• The SCS States used to receive grants based on the Gadgil-Mukherjee formula, which earmarked nearly 30% of the total central assistance for States to the SCS States.
• After the abolition of the Planning Commission and the recommendations of the 14th and 15th Finance Commissions, this assistance to SCS States has been subsumed in an increased devolution of the divisible pool funds for all States.
  • It increased to 41% in the 15th FC from 32%.
• In the SCS States, the Centre-State funding of centrally sponsored schemes is divided in the ratio of 90:10 for the general category States.
• Besides, there are several other incentives available to the SCS States in the form of concession in customs and excise duties, income tax rates and corporate tax rates to attract investments to set up new industries etc.

Why is Bihar demanding the SCS?

• The poverty and backwardness of the State are argued to be because of the:
  • lack of natural resources,
  • lack of continuous supply of water for irrigation,
  • regular floods in the northern region and
  • severe droughts in the southern part of the State.
• Impact of bifurcation into two states:
  • Simultaneously, the bifurcation of the State led to the shifting of industries to Jharkhand and created a dearth of employment and investment opportunities.
• Low per capita GDP:
  • With a per-capita GDP of around ₹54,000, Bihar has consistently been one of the poorest States.

Is Bihar’s demand justified?

• Although Bihar meets most of the criteria for the grant of SCS, it does not fulfil the requirement of hilly terrain and geographically difficult areas, which is considered to be the primary reason for difficulty in infrastructural development.
• In 2013, the Raghuram Rajan Committee set up by the Centre, placed Bihar in the “least developed category” and suggested a new methodology based on a ‘multi -dimensional index’ for devolving funds instead of a SCS, which can be revisited to address the State’s backwardness.

Other States demanding SCS:

• Since its bifurcation in 2014, Andhra Pradesh has asked for a grant of SCS on the grounds of revenue loss due to Hyderabad going to Telangana.
• Odisha has also been requesting for the SCS, highlighting its vulnerability to natural calamities such as cyclones and a large tribal population (nearly 22%).