28 NOVEMBER 2023

Topic 1 : Beladakuppe temple

Why in news: The increase in footfall to the Beladakuppe Sri Mahadeshwaraswamy Temple is raising concern among forest department staff and conservation activists as it has a long-term bearing on wildlife.

Key details:

• The temple is in the core or critical area of the Bandipur Tiger Reserve (Karnataka).
• It is ensconced in the Hediyala range which has a high tiger density while the areas surrounding it is beset with human-animal conflict.
• This temple is dedicated to Lord Mahadeshwara and is visited by a lot of pilgrims.
• Concerns over high footfall stems from the fact that the habitat surrounding the temple supports diverse flora and fauna and is ideal for tigers as it also has a sufficient prey base.Bandipur Tiger Reserve
• Bandipur National Park in Karnataka was established as a tiger reserve under Project Tiger in 1973.
• It is part of the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve since 1986.
• The Maharaja of the Kingdom of Mysore created a sanctuary in 1931 and named it the Venugopala Wildlife Park.
• The Bandipur Tiger Reserve was established under Project Tiger in 1973 by adding much more area to the Venugopala Wildlife park.
• Bandipur National Park is located where the Deccan Plateau meets the Western Ghats.
• As a result, the park has a variety of biomes including:
  • dry deciduous forests,
  • moist deciduous forests and
  • shrublands.
• The park is flanked by the Kabini river in the north and the Moyar in the south.
• The Nugu river runs through the park.
• The highest point in the park is on a hill called Himavad Gopalaswamy Betta.
• Bandipur has a tropical climate with distinct wet and dry seasons.
• Fauna:
  • The Asian elephant, gaur, Bengal tiger, sloth bear, four-horned antelope, golden jackal and dhole.Topic 2 : Rat-hole mining

Why in news: After efforts to release 41 workers trapped in the collapsed Silkyara-Barkot tunnel faced another major setback, the rescuers are now planning to drill through the remaining few meters using the practice of rat-hole mining.

What is rat-hole mining?

• Rat hole mining is a method of extracting coal from narrow, horizontal seams, prevalent in Meghalaya.
• The term “rat hole” refers to the narrow pits dug into the ground, typically just large enough for one person to descend and extract coal.
• Once the pits are dug, miners descend using ropes or bamboo ladders to reach the coal seams.
• The coal is then manually extracted using primitive tools such as pickaxes, shovels, and baskets.
• In the other type of rat-hole mining, called box-cutting, a rectangular opening is made, varying from 10 to 100 sqm, and through that a vertical pit is dug, 100 to 400 feet deep.
• Once the coal seam is found, rat-hole-sized tunnels are dug horizontally through which workers can extract the coal.

Environmental and safety concerns

• The mines are typically unregulated, lacking safety measures such as:
  • proper ventilation,
  • structural support, or
  • safety gear for the workers.
• The mining process can cause land degradation, deforestation, and water pollution.
• This method of mining has faced severe criticism due to its hazardous working conditions, environmental damage, and numerous accidents leading to injuries and fatalities.
• Despite attempts by authorities to regulate or ban such practices, they often persist due to economic factors and the absence of viable alternative livelihoods for the local population.

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Topic 3 : Indian agriculture and the factors of technology

Why in news: The factors of technology have boosted agricultural growth in India despite shrinking cultivable land.
 

Factors of Production:

• In agriculture, there are four factors of production:
  • Land,
  • water,
  • labour and
  • energy.
• Farmers use these factors or inputs to produce crops.
• For a given level of technology, the output produced by them is largely determined by the quantity of inputs used.

Production in pre-Green revolution era:

• In the pre-Green Revolution era, agricultural production was primarily limited by the extent and quality of land available for cultivation.
• India’s farm sector grew by an average 2.8% a year during 1950-51 to 1961-62.
• The driver was expansion in the land brought under the plough.
• The country’s net sown area rose from 118.75 lakh to 135.40 lakh hectares (lh) over this period.

Role of the factors of production in pre-Green revolution era:

• Agricultural land quality:
  • Agricultural land quality is a function of soil fertility and water availability.
  • Soil fertility:
    • The alluvial soils in the Indo-Gangetic plains and the Kaveri, Krishna, Godavari and Mahanadi deltas of the eastern coast are the most fertile, followed by the black cotton soils of the Deccan, Malwa and Saurashtra plateaus.
    • These yield more crop per acre than the lands with red, brown, laterite, mountain and desert soils, ranking in descending order of fertility.
• Water availability:
  • Water availability is dependent on both rainfall and access to irrigation from rivers, lakes, tanks and ponds.
  • The great ancient civilisations came up mostly in river valleys that could sustain vibrant agriculture.
• Labour and energy:
  • As regards labour and energy, in traditional agriculture, the more the farm hands and bullocks there were to work the land, the more the produce that was harvested.
  • Before the arrival of machineries such as tractors, threshers, harvester combines and electric/diesel engine-driven tubewells, the main energy source in farms were bullocks.
  • They ploughed the fields, and also treaded the crops to separate the grain from chaff and powered the Persian wheels to draw water from wells for irrigation.

Factors of technology

• Just as the four factors of production, there are four factors of technology in agriculture.
• The factors of technology enable more efficient use of the factors of production.
• They result in higher yields besides better utilisation of water resources and replacement of animal and human power with mechanical and electrical power.
  • High yields mean more produce from the same acre of land or number of labourers.
• The four factors of technology are:
  • genetics,
  • crop nutrition,
  • crop protection and
  • agronomic interventions.

The four factors of technology: 

• Genetics:
  • Genetics is about seeds and plant breeding.
  • There would have been no Green Revolution without the high-yielding wheat and rice varieties.
  • These varieties incorporated dwarfing genes that reduced the height of the plants.
  • Traditional varieties, having tall and slender plants, didn’t respond much to fertiliser or water application.
  • The new semi-dwarf varieties had strong stems that held the grain-bearing panicles upright even when heavily fertilised, enabling them to absorb more nutrients and convert these to grain.
  • Just as with reduced height/semi-dwarfing, there are genes in plants that code for proteins (enzymes) responsible for:
    • disease and pest resistance,
    • drought and heat stress tolerance,
    • nutrient use efficiency
    • stem sturdiness and erect/compact canopy to allow mechanical harvesting.
  • The genetic information for all these desirable traits is contained in the seeds of the plant varieties/hybrids developed through crossbreeding and agricultural biotechnology tools.
• Crop nutrition:
  • Farmers traditionally reared cattle for their excreta that provided the nutrients necessary for plant growth.
  • Farmyard manure (the decomposed mixture of dung and urine along with other farm residues) contains:
    • 0.5% nitrogen (N),
    • 0.2% phosphorous (P) and
    •  0.5% potassium (K).
  • The revolution in crop nutrition happened with chemical fertilisers having much higher NPK content:
    • Urea (46% N),
    • di-ammonium phosphate (18% N and 46% P) and
    • muriate of potash (60% K).
  • Synthetic fertilisers, in combination with the breeding of varieties responsive to high nutrient doses, led to a soaring of crop yields.
  • Farmers also saved on labour in maintaining animals and collecting, storing and composting their manure as the fertilisers came from factories in bagged ready-to-use form.
• Crop protection:
  • With higher yields also came technologies for crop protection:
  • These technologies defended plants against insect pests, pathogens (fungi, bacteria and viruses) and weeds, from the time of their sowing to harvesting and marketing.
  • Crop protection chemicals are aimed at ensuring that the yield gains from genetics/breeding and nutrition/fertilisers are realised, to the maximum possible extent.
  • Some are labour-saving as well.
    • Herbicides, for instance, can replace the manual removal of weeds.
• Agronomic interventions:
  • The last factor of technology is mechanisation and other agronomic interventions.
  • Tractors have made it possible to use implements such as rotavators and reversible mould board ploughs that can do deep tillage, mixing and pulverisation of the soils and break their hardpan layers.
  • Agronomic interventions also extend to water-saving technologies such as drip irrigation and laser land levelers, which help in uniform placement of seed and fertiliser too.
  • It also extends to intercropping or growing more than one crop simultaneously on the same piece of land.

Trends in agricultural output:

• The factors of technology have shifted up the aggregate production function in agriculture.
• Instead of more output from more inputs (moving along the production function), productivity increases have delivered more output from the same or even less level of inputs.
• In other words, more crop per acre, per farmhand and per drop of water.

• The effects can be seen from the net sown area in India rising by just 3.3% between 1961-62 and 2019-20, as against 14% during 1950-51 to 1961-62.
• The growth in agricultural production over the last 50 years or more has been mainly courtesy the factors of technology.
• The annual growth during the period from 2005-06 to 2021-22, at 3.7%, has been the highest among all phases (see the table).
• Simply put, the factors of technology have trumped the factors of productionTopic 4 : Where does India stand on Israel-Hamas war?

Why in news: Over the past weeks, India has expressed itself in statements, joint statements, and votes at the United Nations on the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict.

India’s position on the issue:

• India’s position has been multi-layered.
• Condemnation of terrorism:
  • The government has condemned terrorism in the strongest language and stood with Israel over the attack, although it hasn’t thus far designated Hamas as a terror group.
• Stand on Israel:
  • The government has called on Israel for restraint, dialogue and diplomacy and condemned the death of civilians.
• Humanitarian pauses:
  • India, along with the U.S. and Australia, called for humanitarian pauses in bombardment, but has not so far called for a ceasefire.
• Skipping of BRICS plus summit:
  • India skipped the BRICS plus summit indicating a discomfort with the tough line taken by South Africa that has asked for the International Criminal Court to investigate Israel for alleged war crimes in Gaza.
• Stand at the United Nations
  • At the United Nations, India abstained at a UNGA vote that called on Israel for a ceasefire, but voted in favour of other draft resolutions against Israel’s settler policies in the occupied territories including the West Bank and Syrian Golan.
• At the same time, India has:
  • reaffirmed its support for a “two-state solution” including a sovereign, viable state of Palestine existing in peace alongside Israel,
  • supported the socio-economic welfare of the Palestinian people, and
  • has sent 70 tonnes of humanitarian assistance via Egypt to Gaza.

Is India’s position closer to the West or the Global South?

• Principle of Non-alignment:
  • Traditionally, since its leadership of the Non-Aligned Movement, India’s position on the Israel-Palestine conflict has always aligned with the Global South, offering full support for the Palestinian cause.
• After effects of Kargil war:
  • In the Kargil war, Israel provided India crucial and timely shipments of weapons and ammunition.
  • A study of India’s statements at the UN showed that since then there is a softening of language against Israel, including toning down condemnation of Israeli airstrikes on Gaza.
  • Although it voted regularly with the developing world to stop the violence.
• The recent vote of India:
  • India’s vote recently, however, was a departure from the above, where it lined up alongside 45 abstentions, mostly from European countries, rather than the 120 countries, mostly from the Global South, that voted for the resolution.
  • India also joined the U.S.-led formulation of total condemnation of the terror attacks and for humanitarian pauses.
• Stand on Hamas:
  • India has stood apart from Western countries in that it has not thus far banned Hamas, or designated it a terror organisation as the U.S., U.K., Switzerland and Germany have moved to do.
  • In an effort perhaps to push India to do so, Israel recently announced it was banning the Lashkar-e-Taiba, the group responsible for the Mumbai 26/11 terror attacks that included Israeli victims, 15 years later.

How will this impact ties in West Asia?

• Each country has a rich history of ties with India.
• For several years, India has built special ties with the UAE and Saudi Arabia, calculating that the normalisation of ties between them and Israel is only a matter of time, as the Abraham Accords showed.
• As a result, the India-Israel-UAE-U.S. (I2U2) trade initiative and the recently launched India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor hinging on this normalisation could be one casualty of the Israel-Hamas conflict which has led to a strong reaction from the Arab League and Organisation of Islamic Cooperation.
• The conflict could pause infrastructure initiatives, but that in the long term, the logic of such plans would prevail.
• India’s ties with Iran, Israel’s chief enemy, that have been strengthened by initiatives like the Chabahar port and the International North-South Transport Corridor to Central Asia and Russia could also be affected.Topic 5 : Exercise NATPOLREX-IX

Why in news: The 9^th National Level Pollution Response Exercise (NATPOLREX-IX) was conducted by the Indian Coast Guard in Gujarat.
 

Key details:

• More than 31 foreign observers and 80 delegates participated in the exercise.
• Aim:
  • Testing the level of preparedness and coordination between various resource agencies to respond to a marine oil spill invoking provisions of the National Oil Spill Disaster Contingency Plan or NOSDCP.
• Various surface as well as air platforms were deployed including:
  • Pollution Response Vessels (PRVs),
  • Offshore Patrol Vessels (OPVs),
  • Indigenous Advanced Light Helicopter Mk-III, and
  • Dornier Aircraft configured for marine pollution response.
• Significance of the exercise:
  • 75 percent of India’s energy requirements are met by oil that is imported into our country by sea.
  • Oil transportation by ships is fraught with inherent risks and requires preventive measures to be taken, both, by the ship owners as well as the oil receiving facilities inside the port.
  • However, the threat of oil pollution through maritime accidents and unforeseen perils of the sea is omnipresent.
  • Hence, a robust national system for oil spill response is critical to India’s preparedness for oil spill disasters in Indian waters.Topic 6 : All-India judicial service

Why in news: President of India called for the setting up of an all-India judicial service as a way to ensure equal representation of India’s diversity in the judiciary.
 

What is the proposed All India Judicial Service (AIJS)?

• The AIJS is a reform push to centralise the recruitment of judges at the level of additional district judges and district judges for all states.
• In the same way that the Union Public Service Commission conducts a central recruitment process and assigns successful candidates to cadres, judges of the lower judiciary are proposed to be recruited centrally and assigned to states.

How are district judges currently recruited?

• Articles 233 and 234 of the Constitution of India deal with the appointment of district judges, and place it in the domain of the states.
• The selection process is conducted by the State Public Service Commissions and the concerned High Court, since High Courts exercise jurisdiction over the subordinate judiciary in the state.
• Panels of High Court judges interview candidates after the exam and select them for appointment.
• All judges of the lower judiciary up to the level of district judge are selected through the Provincial Civil Services (Judicial) exam.
  • PCS(J) is commonly referred to as the judicial services exam.

Need for AIJS:

• The idea of a centralised judicial service was first mooted in the Law Commission’s 1958 ‘Report on Reforms on Judicial Administration’.
• The idea was to ensure an efficient subordinate judiciary, to address structural issues such as:
  • varying pay and remuneration across states,
  • to fill vacancies faster, and
  • to ensure standard training across states.
• A statutory or constitutional body such as the UPSC to conduct a standard, centralised exam to recruit and train judges was discussed.
• The idea was proposed again in the Law Commission Report of 1978.
• In 2006, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Personnel, Public Grievances, Law and Justice in its 15th Report backed the idea of a pan-Indian judicial service, and also prepared a draft Bill.

What is the judiciary’s view on the AIJS?

• In 1992, the Supreme Court in All India Judges’ Assn. (1) v. Union of India directed the Centre to set up an AIJS.
• In a 1993 review of the judgment, however, the court left the Centre at liberty to take the initiative on the issue.
• In 2017, the Supreme Court took suo motu cognizance of the issue of appointment of district judges, and mooted a “Central Selection Mechanism”.

Criticism:

• Concerns of state autonomy:
  • A centralised recruitment process is seen as an affront to federalism and an encroachment on the powers of states granted by the Constitution.
  • The central recruitment would not be able to address the unique concerns that individual states may have.
  • Language and representation, for example, are key concerns highlighted by states.
• Court language:
  • Judicial business is conducted in regional languages, which could be affected by central recruitment.
• Concerns of reservation:
  • Reservations based on caste, and even for rural candidates or linguistic minorities in the state, could be diluted in a central test.
• Dilution of powers of courts:
  • The opposition is also based on the constitutional concept of the separation of powers.
  • A central test could give the executive a front in the door for the appointment of district judges, and dilute the say that High Courts have in the process.
• Will not address structural issues:
  • The creation of AIJS will not address the structural issues plaguing the lower judiciary.
  • The issue of different scales of pay and remuneration has been addressed by the Supreme Court in the 1993 All India Judges Association case by bringing in uniformity across states.
  • Experts argue that increasing pay across the board and ensuring that a fraction of High Court judges are picked from the lower judiciary, may help better than a central exam to attract quality talent.

Way forward:

• The government has targeted the reform of lower judiciary in its effort to improve India’s Ease of Doing Business ranking, as efficient dispute resolution is one of the key indices in determining the rank.
• The AIJS is a step in the direction of ensuring an efficient lower judiciary.
• The government has said that if a central mechanism can work for administrative services (IAS officers learn the language required for their cadre), it can work for judicial services too.Topic 7 : Decentralised Autonomous Organisations

Why in news: The legality and regulatory framework surrounding Decentralised Autonomous Organisations (DAOs) remain a topic of debate
 

Key details:

• Decentralised Autonomous Organisations (DAOs) represent a groundbreaking innovation at the intersection of blockchain technology and governance.
• These digital entities operate without centralised control and are governed by smart contracts and the consensus of their members, often utilising cryptocurrencies as a means of decision-making and resource allocation.
• DAOs have garnered attention for their potential to change various industries, including finance, art, and governance, by fostering transparent, democratic, and self-executing systems.
• These entities are not only reshaping traditional business structures but also challenging the way we perceive trust, governance, and collaboration in the digital world.

What are DAOs?

• DAO is an organisation represented by rules encoded as a computer program that is transparent, controlled by the respective organisation members, and not influenced by a government.
• The idea behind DAOs is to create self-sustaining, community-driven entities governed by smart contracts on blockchain networks.
• These smart contracts automatically execute predefined rules without the need for intermediaries, ensuring trust through code rather than traditional authorities.
• One of the most important aspects of DAOs is their potential to change the idea of collaboration.
• They enable global, borderless cooperation on an unprecedented scale.
• Participants, often referred to as token holders, can propose and vote on decisions related to the organisation’s goals and resources.
• This decentralised decision-making process ensures that no single entity holds undue influence.

The various use cases:

• Decentralized finance system:
  • In the realm of decentralised finance, platforms like Compound and MakerDAO have introduced lending and borrowing services, enabling users to participate in the global financial ecosystem without relying on traditional banks.
• Art:
  • In the art world, artists are tokenising their creations and utilising DAOs to manage royalties and maintain control over their intellectual property.
• Supply chain management:
  • Supply chain management is another arena where DAOs are gaining traction, as they offer transparency and traceability in global supply chains, ensuring the authenticity and quality of products.
• Governance:
  • Even in the governance of online communities, DAOs have emerged as tools for decision-making, with platforms like DAOstack facilitating decentralised governance structures for internet communities.

Implications for the digital world

• Decentralisataion of entities:
  • DAOs are decentralising entities, shifting power away from centralised authorities and placing it firmly in the hands of the collective.
  • Decision-making within DAOs becomes a democratic process, where token holders have a direct say, resulting in a more equitable distribution of influence.
    • For instance, in a DAO governed community-driven project, contributors worldwide can participate in shaping its direction, diminishing the dominance of a single central entity.
• Transparency and trust:
  • Transparency and trust are fundamental tenets of DAOs.
  • Smart contracts that underpin DAO operations are transparent and immutable, fostering trust among participants.
  • Rules are predefined and require consensus for alteration, minimising the need for intermediaries.
  • This transparency can potentially disrupt traditional industries by eliminating the opacity often associated with centralised organisations.
• Inclusivity:
  • DAOs champion inclusivity, democratising access to resources and opportunities.
  • They transcend geographical and socio-economic barriers, enabling global participation.
  • This inclusivity not only promotes diversity but also fuels innovation, as individuals from various backgrounds collaborate to create innovative solutions.
• New forms of collaboration:
  • DAOs inspire new forms of collaboration.
  • They facilitate global cooperation, allowing participants with shared goals to unite without the need for intermediaries.
  • This dynamic environment fosters innovation and cooperation as ideas flow freely, unencumbered by hierarchical structures.

Challenges:

• Vulnerabilities in the code:
  • The infamous DAO hack in 2016 exposed vulnerabilities in the code, leading to a contentious hard fork in the Ethereum blockchain.
    • A hard fork refers to a change in a network’s protocol that makes previously invalid blocks and transactions valid, or vice-versa.
  • This incident highlighted the need for rigorous security audits and raised questions about the immutability of blockchain systems.
• Legality and regulation:
  • Traditional legal systems are still catching up with the decentralised nature of these entities, leaving room for uncertainty in many jurisdictions.
  • Regulatory uncertainty looms large as jurisdictions grapple with classifying and regulating these decentralised entities.
  • DAO tokens, often representing ownership or participation, can potentially be considered securities, subjecting them to complex regulatory requirements and compliance challenges.
  • Legal liability within DAOs remain elusive, with decentralised decision-making and automated smart contracts making it difficult to assign responsibility for actions taken.
• Security concerns and complexity:
  • Issues like smart contract vulnerabilities and security breaches introduce questions of legal recourse and liability.
  • Taxation of transactions within DAOs, identity verification, and compliance with Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and Know Your Customer (KYC) regulations further add layers of complexity to the legal framework.
• Dispute resolution:
  • Dispute resolution, often relying on code-based solutions, present a unique challenge in the absence of traditional legal mechanisms.
     

Conclusion:

• As DAOs continue to evolve and proliferate, it is imperative that legal experts, blockchain developers, and policymakers engage in ongoing discussions to create a legal framework that allows DAOs to harness their transformative potential while adhering to the complexities of the law.
• Finding this delicate balance is essential for the future coexistence of decentralised innovation and legal compliance.
• DAOs represent a pivotal shift in how we organise and collaborate in the digital world.
• While challenges and uncertainties remain, the potential for DAOs to drive positive change in various sectors is undeniable.
• It is crucial for regulators, developers, and participants to work collaboratively to harness the full potential of DAOs while addressing their evolving challenges.
• These decentralised entities are shaping the digital future, and the possibilities they offer are limited only by our collective imagination.