UPSC Key-21 June, 2023: What you should read in the news today

China blocks US-India moves at UN to blacklist 26/11 plotter Sajid Mir

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Current events of national and international importance.

Mains Examination: General Studies II: Important International institutions, agencies and fora- their structure, mandate.

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story– China on Tuesday blocked a proposal by India and the US at the United Nations to designate Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorist Sajid Mir, wanted for his involvement in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, as a global terrorist. Beijing blocked the proposal that had been moved by the US and co-designated by India to blacklist Mir under the 1267 Al Qaeda Sanctions Committee of the UN Security Council as a global terrorist and subject him to assets freeze, travel ban and arms embargo.

• Who is Sajid Mir?

• Why Beijing blocked the proposal?

• It is often observed that China opposes India in the UNSC or blocks India’s resolutions frequently—why is it so?

• First of all, what was the proposal by India and the US at the United Nations?

• For Your Information-Mir is one of India’s most wanted terrorists and has a bounty of USD 5 million placed on his head by the US for his role in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks. In June, Mir was jailed for over 15 years in a terror-financing case by an anti-terrorism court in Pakistan. Pakistani authorities had in the past claimed Mir had died, but Western countries remained unconvinced and demanded proof of his death. This issue became a major sticking point in FATF’s assessment of Pakistan’s progress on the action plan late last year. Mir is a senior member of the Pakistan-based LeT and is wanted for his involvement in the November 2008 terrorist attacks in Mumbai.

• United Nations-what all you know about this organisation?

• According to the UN Charter, Article 23, “The Security Council shall consist of fifteen Members of the United Nations”-do you know who all are the fifteen members?

• Permanent members and Non-permanent members-Compare and Contrast

• Five permanent members ten non-permanent members-know in detail

• How Voting System works in United Nations Security Council

• For Your Information- According to the United Nations Security Council website, Article 27 of the UN Charter states that: 1. Each member of the Security Council shall have one vote. 2. Decisions of the Security Council on procedural matters shall be made by an affirmative vote of nine members. 3. Decisions of the Security Council on all other matters shall be made by an affirmative vote of nine members including the concurring votes of the permanent members; provided that, in decisions under Chapter VI, and under paragraph 3 of Article 52, a party to a dispute shall abstain from voting.

• What is Veto power in UNSC?

• Which members of the UNSC can exercise Veto Power?

• Do You Know-According to the United Nations Security Council website, The creators of the United Nations Charter conceived that five countries — China, France, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) [which was succeeded in 1990 by the Russian Federation], the United Kingdom and the United States —, because of their key roles in the establishment of the United Nations, would continue to play important roles in the maintenance of international peace and security. They were granted the special status of Permanent Member States at the Security Council, along with a special voting power known as the “right to veto”. It was agreed by the drafters that if any one of the five permanent members cast a negative vote in the 15-member Security Council, the resolution or decision would not be approved. All five permanent members have exercised the right of veto at one time or another. If a permanent member does not fully agree with a proposed resolution but does not wish to cast a veto, it may choose to abstain, thus allowing the resolution to be adopted if it obtains the required number of nine favourable votes.

• Do You think that the veto power given to five permanent members of the UNSC should be abolished?

• On what basis was Security Council permanent membership granted?

• How are the non-permanent members of the Security Council selected?

• Are UN resolutions binding?

• Is Security Council reform in any way moving forward?

• What is the process for Security Council reform?

• How does the Security Council determine the existence of any threat to the peace, breach of the peace, or act of aggression?

• “Veto power was granted in the UN Charter 77 years ago to encourage each other, but it has turned out that the power is being used to block”-Analyse

• “UN Security Council (UNSC) has become “paralysed” and “dysfunctional” in its “present form”, as it has not been able to take any decision since the Russia-Ukraine war started”-How far you agree with the given statement?

• India and United Nations-Know in detail

• What has been India’s stand on UN reformation?

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍China’s Two-Front Conundrum: A Perspective on the India-China Border Situation

📍The growing appeal of the Quad — and why China is worried about it

THE CITY

North India’s first skin bank opens in Safdarjung Hospital

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Current events of national and international importance.

Mains Examination: General Studies III: Science and Technology- developments and their applications and effects in everyday life.

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story– A skin bank — a first for North India — was inaugurated on Tuesday in Delhi’s Safdarjung Hospital. The country has 16 skin banks — a facility where the skin of deceased persons can be donated — with seven in Maharashtra, four in Chennai, three in Karnataka, and one each in Madhya Pradesh and Odisha.

• What is skin bank?

• How do skin banks work?

• What is donated skin called?

• Is skin part of organ donation?

• What are the benefits of skin donation?

• How long can donor skin be stored?

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍Now, skin bank to store tissues up to 3 yrs

EXPRESS NETWORK

With 329, Maharashtra has most pending adoption cases

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Indian Polity and Governance-Constitution, Political System, Panchayati Raj, Public Policy, Rights Issues, etc.

Mains Examination: General Studies II: Statutory, regulatory and various quasi-judicial bodies.

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story-The Ministry of Women and Child Development on Tuesday revealed that the highest pendency in adoption cases in the country is in Maharashtra with as many as 329 cases pending till date. There are 174 cases awaiting adoption orders as of September 2022, and another 35 fresh cases which are pending with District Magistrates in the state.

• What are the legal provisions governing the process of adoption in India?

• What is Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015 (JJ Act)?

• What are the concerns pertaining to child adoption in India?

• Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA)-Know in detail

• Is CARA a statutory body?

• Who is eligible to adopt in India?

• When is a child eligible to be adopted?

• What is the procedure for adoption?

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍Simply put: What it takes to adopt a child in India today

First mRNA booster shot against Omicron gets DCGI approval

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Current events of national and international importance.

Mains Examination: General Studies III: Science and Technology- developments and their applications and effects in everyday life.

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story– Pune-based Gennova Biopharmaceuticals on Tuesday announced that its mRNA COVID-19 booster vaccine, GEMCOVAC-OM, against the Omicron variant of SARS-CoV2 has received emergency use authorisation from the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI).

• mRNA COVID-19 booster vaccine-Know in detail

• What is mRNA?

• What was the first mRNA vaccine?

• For Your Information-More than 220 crore doses of Covid vaccine have been administered in the country so far and according to official data till April this year, around 24 per cent of the fully vaccinated population in the country had received booster shots. Active cases of Covid are now 0.01 percent of total infections, according to the Union Ministry of Health and Welfare.

• What is the function of mRNA vaccine?

• What are the disadvantages of the mRNA vaccine?

• For Your Information-As the Covid-19 pandemic spread, an mRNA vaccine candidate was the first to enter human trials globally. The first two vaccines that were made available for use in the US were based on mRNA technology. Unlike vaccines that put a weakened or inactivated virus in your body to activate an immune response, these two Covid-19 vaccines (Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna) used messenger RNA or mRNA to deliver a message to your immune system. Basically, the technology uses genetically engineered mRNA to instruct cells to make the S-protein found on the surface of the Covid-19 virus. According to reports from US-based Mayo Clinic, after vaccination, the muscle cells begin making S-protein pieces and displaying them on cell surfaces. This causes the body to create antibodies.

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍Explained: How India’s first mRNA vaccine for Covid-19 was created

📍India’s first mRNA-based Omicron-specific booster vaccine approved

THE IDEAS PAGE

A relationship turned sour

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: History of India and Indian National Movement

Main Examination: General Studies I: Modern Indian history from about the middle of the eighteenth century until the present significant events, personalities, issues.

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story-Akshaya Mukul writes: In early 1937, the founding editor of Kalyan had an early morning dream that Gandhi would not live for long. He shared his dream with Gandhi, who said, “Even if I live to be a hundred it will seem too short to my friends. Then what does today or tomorrow matter?” He took the dream as a “sign of love”. About a decade later, this editor and his publisher, the founder of the Gita Press, were among the thousands rounded up on suspicion of being involved in the conspiracy to assassinate Gandhi.

• Gita Press-Know in brief

• Gita Press was founded by whom?

• Do You Know-The founder of Gita Press was Marwari businessman Jayadayal Goyandka from Churu in Rajasthan who was based in Bankura, Bengal, and used to trade in cotton, kerosene oil, textiles, and utensils. An avid reader of the Bhagavad Gita, he formed groups of friends in the towns where he used to travel for business and these men joined him in religious congregations, called satsangs, to discuss the book. This network of Gita discussion groups expanded but all of the satsangis realised that they did not have an authentic, error-free translation of the Gita along with a faithful commentary. In 1922, Goyandka got the Gita published by Vanik Press in Kolkata but errors prevailed. When Goyandka raised the matter with the press owner, he got told off. The press owner told him to set up his own press if he wished to see an error-free translation of the book. Thus began the journey of Gita Press.

• Role of Press in India’s struggle for freedom-Analyse

• What is the story of Gandhi and the Gita Press?

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍A century old, how Gita Press came to be ‘leading purveyor of print Hinduism’

📍Gita Press to receive Gandhi Peace Prize: A brief history of the publishing house

EXPLAINED

Heatwave deaths: Why a heat stroke kills, and how to stay safe

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Economic and Social Development

Mains Examination: General Studies I: Important Geophysical phenomena such as earthquakes, Tsunami, Volcanic activity, cyclone etc., geographical features and their location-changes in critical geographical features (including water-bodies and ice-caps) and in flora and fauna and the effects of such changes.

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story– Amid heatwave deaths being reported in parts of the country, Union Health minister Mansukh Mandaviya on Tuesday held a meeting with senior officials of the India Meteorological Department, National Disaster Management Authority, and the Health ministry. Mandaviya said central teams would be rushed to the affected states to guide the governments. He also asked the Indian Council of Medical Research to develop short-term and long-term plans in coordination with other agencies to prevent such deaths.

• What is a heat wave?

• Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) criteria for Heat Waves?

• What is the present situation of Heat Waves in India?

• What is the reason behind heat wave in North India?

• La Nina phenomenon, North-South low-pressure pattern over India in winters and Heat Waves-Connect the dots

• What is the Impact of these Heat Waves?

• Health Impacts of Heat Waves?

• What is heatstroke?

• Why do heat waves cause deaths?

• How does heat affect the body?

• For Your Information-High temperatures alone aren’t fatal in nature. It’s when high temperatures are combined with high humidity, known as the wet bulb temperature, heatwaves become lethal. For instance, in April this year, 13 people died from an apparent heatstroke while attending a government award function in an open space in Navi Mumbai. Although the city wasn’t experiencing heatwave conditions — the maximum temperatures were in the range between 30 and 35 degree Celsius — experts said high humidity levels at the venue could have been one of the reasons behind the unusual death toll. The deaths in Ballia might have happened due to a similar reason. As per IMD, the relative humidity in the city on June 18 was 31 per cent (at 5:30 pm) and the maximum temperature reached 43.5 degrees Celsius. This means that the Heat Index (HI), or “real feel” temperature, touched 51 degree Celsius according to the calculations of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) HI calculator. Such conditions could severely impact human bodies, sometimes leading to death. Notably, relative humidity levels of Ballia before June 18 weren’t available.

• How can high temperatures and high humidity impact humans?

• ‘High temperature in itself is not fatal. The combination of high temperature and high humidity, referred to as the wet bulb temperature, is what makes heatwaves deadly’-comment

• What is dry and wet bulb temperature?

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍68 dead in Ballia amid heatwave: How high temperatures combined with high humidity can be fatal

📍Amid ongoing heatwave, death toll mounts in UP

India-US: Trust & necessity

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Current events of national and international importance.

Mains Examination: General Studies II: Bilateral, regional and global groupings and agreements involving India and/or affecting India’s interests.

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story-In September 2008, after the Nuclear Suppliers’ Group’s (NSG) waiver to the Indo-US nuclear deal, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said, “It marks the end of India’s decades long isolation from the nuclear mainstream and technology denial regime.” In June 2016, Prime Minister Narendra Modi told the US Congress that India and the US have overcome “the hesitations of history”, and called for ever-stronger economic and defence ties.
Six years later, the end of the “technology denial regime” and the overcoming of the “hesitations of history” had developed into the Initiative for Critical and Emerging Technologies (iCET), which President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Modi announced in May 2022.

• “As Modi lands in the US for his first State Visit — he has travelled to the country seven times as Prime Minister — the initiative on sharing critical and emerging technologies between “trusted geographies” is going to be a key element of the conversation”-Discuss

• The Prime Minister’s visit, in the course of which he will address a joint meeting of Congress for the second time, is a culmination of efforts made by a range of stakeholders over the years-How?

• India-US Relations-Know the background

• “India’s relationship with the US has been the most comprehensive association the country has had since independence…this is truly a relationship forged in crisis”-Comment

• What are the major foundational agreements that the U.S. signs with allies and close partners to facilitate interoperability between militaries and sale of high end technology?

• What is Communications Compatibility and Security Agreement (COMCASA)?

• How COMCASA is different from CISMOA?

• What is Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Agreement (LEMOA)?

• What is General Security Of Military Information Agreement (GSOMIA)?

• For Your Information-LEMOA allows the two militaries to access supplies, spare parts, and services at each other’s bases. COMCASA allows the US to provide India with its encrypted communications equipment and systems so that Indian and US military commanders, aircraft and ships can communicate with each other through secure networks in peace and war. And BECA allowed India to use US geospatial intelligence and enhance accuracy of automated systems and weapons like missiles and armed drones. Other defence pacts were also signed: Industrial Security Agreement (ISA, 2019), and Memorandum of Intent on Defence Innovation Cooperation (2018). The India-US Defence Industrial Cooperation Roadmap, concluded during the visit of Defense Secretary Lloyd J Austin last month, is expected to fast-track technology cooperation and co-production in areas of mutual interest. It is expected to be announced during Modi’s visit, officials have indicated.

• Both countries acknowledge Beijing as the biggest threat and rival-Why?

• “The significance of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s trip to the US will be obscured by short-term political framings”-Discuss

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍No holding back

📍Making of a high point

📍PM starts State visit to US: Stronger together in meeting shared challenges

At Bonn climate meet, old conflicts — and some forward movement

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: General issues on Environmental ecology, Bio-diversity and Climate Change – that do not require subject specialization.

Mains Examination: General Studies III: Conservation, environmental pollution and degradation, environmental impact assessment.

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story-The Bonn climate change conference that finished last week was built up as an opportunity for course correction. With current global efforts to keep rising temperatures in check abysmally inadequate, a massive and immediate scale-up in climate action is essential to keep alive any realistic chance of meeting the 1.5 degree or 2 degree Celsius targets. Bonn was expected to act as the springboard for accelerated action. But just like the more famous year-ending climate conferences, Bonn underperformed. Developed and developing countries bickered on issues old and new, and could not even agree on the agenda of one of the meetings till the penultimate day.

• What happened in the Bonn climate change conference?

• What are the key issues and outcomes from the talks in Bonn?

• “One thing that the countries did manage to wrap up, however, was the third and final round of technical discussions on global stocktake, or GST”-Elaborate

• One of the most important tasks to be accomplished at this year’s Bonn meeting is what is known as Global Stocktake, or GST-What is Global Stocktake?

• Global Stocktake came under which climate agreement?

• What Is the Purpose of the Global Stocktake?

• For Your Information-Established under Article 14 of the Paris Agreement, the Global Stocktake is designed “to assess the collective progress towards achieving the purpose of the Paris Agreement and its long-term goals.” Those goals include: cutting greenhouse gas emissions to limit global temperature rise to well below 2 degrees C and ideally 1.5 degrees C building resilience to climate impacts and aligning financial support with the scale and scope needed to tackle the climate crisis.

• What is the difference between Paris and Kyoto agreement?

• Why developing countries, mainly China and India, have been reminding the developed countries of their unfulfilled commitments, and continued underperformance?

• The United States said bridging the gap was not the sole responsibility of the developed countries, and it would not accept any attempt to include such suggestions in the GST decisions, either explicitly or through references to phrases such as “closing of pre-2020 gaps”-Comment

• Why India reacted strongly to the US suggestion on and said it would not accept any “prescriptive messages” from GST?

• Map Work-Bonn

• Apart from Global Stocktake, another mechanism was set up at COP26 in Glasgow in 2021 for climate action called as Mitigation Work Programme (MWP)-What is Mitigation Work Programme?

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍What is Global Stocktake?

📍Bonn Climate Change Conference 2023

THE WORLD

What we know about the missing submersible

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Current events of national and international importance.

Mains Examination: General Studies III: Science and Technology- developments and their applications and effects in everyday life.

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story– A submersible vessel on a tourism expedition to explore the wrecks of the Titanic went missing off the coast of Canada, and rescue efforts are currently ongoing, according to OceanGate, the private company that operates the expedition service. Here is everything you need to know about what submersibles are and what is the ‘Titan’ submersible that went missing.

• What is a submersible and how is it different from a submarine?

• What is ‘Titan’?

• Do You Know-The submersible, named Titan, is capable of diving 4,000 meters or 13,120 feet “with a comfortable safety margin,” OceanGate said in its court filing. It weighs 20,000 pounds (9,072 kilograms) in the air, but is ballasted to be neutrally buoyant once it reaches the seafloor, the company said. The Titan is made of “titanium and filament wound carbon fiber” and has proven to “withstand the enormous pressures of the deep ocean,” OceanGate stated. OceanGate told the court that Titan’s viewport is “the largest of any deep diving submersible” and that its technology provides an “unrivalled view” of the deep ocean.

• Who is on board?

• Titanic-What you know about this?

• For Your Information-Considered ‘practically unsinkable’, the Royal Mail Ship (RMS) Titanic was owned by the British shipping company White Star Line and built by the Belfast shipbuilding firm Harland and Wolff. The biggest ship of its time, it was 882.75 feet long with a maximum breadth of 92.5 feet and depth of 59.6 feet. With 10 decks, its grand staircase at the entrance hall was installed with a wrought-iron and glass dome that provided natural light apart from artificial lighting. Equipped with squash courts, a Turkish bath, gymnasium, barber shop and a swimming pool, the British passenger line was reportedly overbooked on its maiden voyage from Southampton, England, to New York City in the United States. On April 14, four days after its departure, the ship hit an iceberg when it was near Canada’s Newfoundland. The collision led to a rupture and subsequent filling of water in its compartments. Since the ship was equipped with a limited number of lifeboats, more than 1,500 passengers lost their lives. Every year, April 15 is observed as Titanic Remembrance Day to commemorate and honour those who lost their lives.

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍MISSING AT TITANIC WRECK SITE: WHY HOPE IS SINKING FOR SUBMERSIBLE

📍Titanic tourist submersible missing: Why are undersea rescues so difficult?

ECONOMY

Report by G20 group on MDBs to be submitted in 2 parts: NK Singh

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Current events of national and international importance.

Mains Examination: General Studies II: Important International institutions, agencies and fora- their structure, mandate.

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story-What’s the ongoing story-The G20 Expert Group on strengthening multilateral development banks (MDBs) will be submitting its report in two parts, with first report to be submitted in June-end and second report in October, the group’s co-convenor and 15th Finance Commission Chairman NK Singh said on Tuesday. The first report will focus on the broadening of vision, financial capacity and modalities of funding of the MDBs, while the second report will exhaustively cover mechanisms for coordination among MDBs.

• What is a multilateral development bank?

• What are the examples of multilateral development banks?

• What is the role of multilateral development banks in financing?

• How a Multilateral Development Bank (MDB) Works

• For Your Information-On March 28, G20 India Presidency set up the expert group co-convened by Singh and former US Treasury secretary Lawrence Summers. Singh and Summers had invited inputs from the public ahead of the submission of their report ahead of the G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors meeting in July in Gandhinagar. The expert group has a mandate to develop a roadmap for an updated MDB ecosystem, with milestones and timelines, that includes the vision, incentive structure, operational approaches and financial capacity. It will also evaluate estimates of the finance scale needed to and from the MDBs, including from capital adequacy reforms as well as from public and private sector sources. It will also propose mechanisms for coordination among MDBs.

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍Multilateral Development Bank (MDB): Types And Examples

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