UPSC Key—29 September, 2023: M S Swaminathan, Bhagat Singh and India’s Refugee Policy

Protect worship places, properties of displaced: SC panel to Manipur

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Current events of national and international importance.

Mains Examination: 

• General Studies II: Functions and responsibilities of the Union and the States, issues and challenges pertaining to the federal structure, devolution of powers and finances up to local levels and challenges therein.

• General Studies III: Linkages between development and spread of extremism and Role of external state and non-state actors in creating challenges to internal security

• General Studies III: Role of external state and non-state actors in creating challenges to internal security.

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story- With places of worship being vandalised in the ethnic clashes that have roiled Manipur since May, a three-member committee of former judges, constituted by the Supreme Court, has asked the state government to “immediately identify” all religious buildings in the state and protect them from damage, destruction and encroachment.

• What exactly a three-member committee of former judges said?

• For Your Information-The panel has also asked the state to ensure “the protection of the properties of the displaced persons as well as the properties which have been destroyed/ burnt in the violence and prevent their encroachment”.
“The Government of Manipur should immediately identify all religious buildings in the State (which would include Churches; Hindu Temples; Sanamahi Temples; Mosques and any building of any other religion) whether existing at present or vandalised/ damaged/ burnt in the violence which started on 03.05.2023,” the committee recommended in its meeting with state government officials on September 8. It is learnt that a recommendation was also made to protect such buildings “from encroachment” and “damage/destruction.”
The Supreme Court had appointed a three-member committee headed by former Jammu and Kashmir High Court Chief Justice Gita Mittal to look into the humanitarian aspects of the violence in Manipur. The committee also comprises former Bombay High Court judge Shalini P Joshi and former Delhi High Court judge Asha Menon.
It is learnt that the committee looked into contents of a writ petition filed before the Supreme Court alleging that “that 240-247 churches stand vandalised, looted and burnt down in the violence which started on 03.05.2023 and church property including furniture, valuable and parish church register and title documents either looted or deliberately burnt.” The writ petition was filed by Meitei Christian Churches Council, Manipur.

• What is the place of worship?

• Is there a similar level of protection afforded to religious structures under International Humanitarian Law and the Geneva Conventions, like the protection granted to hospitals that carry the Red Cross or Red Crescent symbols?

• What is happening in Manipur?

• Why is there conflict in Manipur and how the government responded?

• Manipur is still on fire after more than four months. Who is to blame for this?

• What is the background to the crisis?

• Why are the authorities unable to bring the situation under control?

• What can be done to put an end to the violence?

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍Why violence in Manipur a dangerous precedent, and Centre needs to act now

His evergreen revolution: Rise in productivity, but no ecological harm

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Economic and Social Development-Sustainable Development, Poverty, Inclusion, Demographics, Social Sector Initiatives, etc.

Mains Examination: 

• General Studies I: Post-independence consolidation and reorganization within the country.

• General Studies III: Indian Economy and issues relating to planning, mobilization, of resources, growth, development and employment.

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story- Norman Borlaug may have been the Father of the Green Revolution, but its architect in India was undoubtedly Monkomb Sambasivan Swaminathan.
The legendary agricultural scientist, who passed away on Thursday after turning 98 on August 7, was hardly 30 in 1955 when he heard from Hitoshi Kihara, the well-known wheat geneticist from Japan, about Norin-10, a semi-dwarf variety bred at an experimental station in that country’s Iwate Prefecture.

• Personality in News-Monkomb Sambasivan Swaminathan

• Who was the Monkomb Sambasivan Swaminathan?

• How Monkomb Sambasivan Swaminathan became the scientific face of India’s Green Revolution?

• M S Swaminathan’s stellar scientific contributions in agriculture-what you know about this?

• M S Swaminathan’s work transformed India from a ‘basket case’ to achieving foodgrain self-sufficiency-Comment

• Do You Know-In the early 1960s, India’s wheat and rice production were languishing at 10-12 million tonnes (mt) and 35-36 mt, respectively, forcing massive grain imports that crossed 10 mt in 1966-67. In 2013-14, domestic wheat output was estimated at 95.85 mt, while at 106.65 mt for rice.
It is true that the people who did the actual breeding or selection of the blockbuster varieties in wheat (Kalyan Sona, Sonalika, Arjun, Janak, HD-2285 and HD-2329) and rice (IR-8, Jaya and Padma) that farmers planted in a big way aren’t as well known in popular imagination — the likes of VS Mathur, SP Kohli, DS Athwal and, of course, the legendary G.S. Khush. But there isn’t any doubt that the basic strategic vision underpinning the Green Revolution in India — introducing a new genetic strain or ‘plant type’ responsive to increased fertiliser and water application — came from Swaminathan.
The traditional wheat and rice cultivars were tall and slender. These ‘lodged’ – fell flat on the ground — when they grew and their earheads were heavy with well-filled grains produced in response to high fertiliser doses.
In 1954, while at the Central Rice Research Institute at Cuttack after doing a PhD from Cambridge University and a post-doctoral research associateship at the University of Wisconsin, Swaminathan worked on a programme for transferring genes from the relatively non-lodging and fertiliser-responsive ‘Japonica’ rice varieties to indigenous ‘Indica’ races. This approach of breeding for enhanced fertiliser response he extended to wheat after joining the Indian Agriculture Research Institute (IARI) at New Delhi later that year. Swaminathan essentially sought a reduction in plant height making it less lodging-prone. His strategy of developing semi-dwarf wheat varieties using mutagenesis — exposing plants to chemicals or radiation to introduce desirable modifications in their DNA — did not, however, work: The lowering of plant heights led to a simultaneous reduction in the size of the grain-bearing panicles or earheads!
But around this time, Swaminathan — who kept abreast of the latest crop research — had learnt of ‘Norin-10’, a semi-dwarf wheat with large panicles originally bred in Japan and collected by Samuel Cecil Salmon, an agronomist with the post-World War II American occupation administration under General Douglas MacArthur. This variety was used by Orville Vogel at Washington State University to breed a winter wheat, ‘Gaines’, containing the Norin-10 dwarfing genes and giving very high yields. Swaminathan, in 1960, wrote to Vogel, requesting for the seeds of Gaines. Vogel readily obliged, while also warning that, being a winter wheat, it may not flower in India. He further advised Swaminathan to approach Norman Borlaug, who had incorporated the same dwarfing genes through Vogel’s lines into his spring wheat varieties in Mexico that were better suited for India. This was precisely what Swaminathan was looking at: A new plant type that was short and yet with normal spikes, which could use more fertiliser and water to give higher grain yields per acre.
In April 1962, Swaminathan sent a detailed proposal to the then IARI Director, B.P. Pal, seeking to invite Borlaug to India and initiate a wheat breeding programme with dwarf spring wheat material from Mexico. The rest is history. Borlaug visited IARI in March 1963 and later on sent the seeds from the best of his semi-dwarf Mexican wheat strains, Sonora 64 and Lerma Rojo 64. The selections and varieties developed from those launched the Green Revolution. By the end of the decade, India’s wheat production had crossed 20 mt. The catalyst here was clearly Swaminathan. As Borlaug put it, he deserved “a great deal of the credit … for first recognising the potential value of the Mexican wheat dwarfs. Had this not occurred, it is quite possible that there would not have been a Green Revolution in Asia”. The same strategy of changing plant architecture to confer lodging-resistance and enable higher fertiliser application was followed for rice — in this case, using Taichung Native 1, an Indica variety developed in Taiwan carrying the semi-dwarf ‘Dee-Gee-Woo-Gen’ genes.

• Green Revolution-Know in detail

• What were the objectives of Green Revolution?

• What led the Green Revolution to come to India?

• What effects did the Green Revolution have on the economy of India?

• Traditional wheat and rice varieties and the Green Revolution entailed breeding semi-dwarf varieties-Compare and Contrast

• M S Swaminathan’s contribution had a far-reaching impact-Analyse

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍Man of science & humanity

📍MS Swaminathan: The man who transformed India from a ‘basket case’ to foodgrain self-sufficiency

📍How MS Swaminathan triggered the Green Revolution and helped India achieve food security

Aizawl ignores Delhi: Won’t do biometrics of Myanmar refugees

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Current events of national and international importance.

Mains Examination: General Studies II: Effect of policies and politics of developed and developing countries on India’s interests

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story- In a significant decision, the Mizoram government has declared that it will not be collecting biometric data of Myanmar refugees in the state, ignoring a direction by the Centre.

• What was the centre’s direction regarding the same?

• For Your Information-In April this year, the Union Ministry of Home Affairs had directed the governments of both Mizoram and Manipur, which share borders with Myanmar, to capture the biometric and biographic details of “illegal immigrants” in their states. In June, it directed the states that the campaign be completed by the end of September and directed both to prepare a plan and initiate the process.
The government of Mizoram, which is headed for elections by the end of this year, has opened its doors to refugees fleeing the army crackdown in Myanmar and has earlier too ignored the Centre’s orders to close the border. The Chin people in Myanmar share a common ethnicity with the Mizos.

• Why the Mizoram government declared that it will not be collecting biometric data of Myanmar refugees in the state?

• Why Refugees have been entering Mizoram from Myanmar?

• Map Work-Mizoram-Myanmar border and Myanmar-Manipur border

• Who are Kuki-Chins?

• Who are the Chin refugees?

• Where did the Chin people come from?

• What is Mizoram’s refugee problem?

• “While Centre’s approach is security-centric, Mizoram government has a magnanimous, people-centred policy towards Chin refugees from Myanmar”-discuss

• What is India’s Refugee Policy?

• 1951 Refugee Convention and its 1967 Protocol and India-Know in detail

• What do you understand by expression ‘right of non-refoulement’?

• “One of the spin-offs of the political turmoil in Myanmar has been an unprecedented schism between the Indian government and the Mizoram state government”-How far you agree with this statement?

• What is Government of India stance on this situation?

• What is happening in Mizoram right now, and what is the way forward?

• For Your Information-According to Sanjib Baruah, since the February 2021 coup, the Chin state, which sits directly on the border with Mizoram, has been a significant battleground between the junta and the forces of opposition. There have been clashes between the regime and the Chin National Army — the armed wing of the Chin National Front (CNF). The Myanmar junta has launched military campaigns in the Chin state. During one of those campaigns, houses and churches were burned down in the town of Thantlang displacing the town’s entire population. When the military regime declared martial law in 37 townships in February of this year, seven Chin townships were included.
These events have had significant humanitarian consequences across the border in India. The independent news media outlet The Irrawaddy reported that the number of refugees fleeing the fighting and crossing over to India, had reached 50,698 by August 24, 2022. Over four-fifths of them were Chins, whom Mizos and Kukis regard as their ethnic kin.
Mizoram’s warm welcome to these refugees in defiance of New Delhi’s orders has received widespread attention in India and abroad. Not only did the state government machinery swing into action to aid them, civil society organisations such as the Young Mizo Association (YMA) and church groups were actively involved in providing food and shelter to the refugees. This response can only be described as an example of grassroots — and not state-centred — humanitarianism.
To say that the Chin refugees have received a dramatically different reception in the neighbouring state of Manipur would be an understatement. While this is not the time for apportioning blame for what happened in Manipur, one aspect of the controversy over the influx of Myanmar nationals deserves to be noted.
One key effect of the social, economic, and governmental disruption in Myanmar since the coup of February 2021 is the expansion of the cultivation of opium poppy. According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, its cultivation increased significantly in 2022 and opiates accounted for a larger share of the national economy than in the previous year. Its report cites satellite imagery data showing high poppy cultivation density in a mountain area in the Chin State close to the international border with India. It is only to be expected that some of this opium cultivation would accompany the refugee influx to India as many in Manipur have suggested. But the demagogic language of “narco-terrorism” in which the problem has been framed in Manipur may have been a product of a politically engineered moral panic that overstates the problem.
There is a lot to be said for the grass roots humanitarianism evident in Mizoram. But the media and governmental inattention to the underlying refugee issue — and the complications that arise from the presence of ethnic kin inside the country — allowed an alternative framing of the issue to develop in Manipur. If we were to imagine the Indian government permitting UN agencies to operate in northeast India, and the Myanmar refugees being able to register with the UNHCR for protection, it is extremely unlikely that the problem of the influx would have been framed in such an incendiary manner in Manipur with such horrific consequences.

• “Mizos and Chins and the unique social-political realities between the two people at the India-Myanmar international border”-Decode the statement

• Know about United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)

• What is Global Refugee Forum (GRF)?

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍As Myanmar crisis simmers on, sentiments stay in favour of refugees in Mizoram

THE CITY

From 6 to 543: What is behind surge in reported measles cases in Capital?

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Current events of national and international importance.

Mains Examination: General Studies II: Issues relating to development and management of Social Sector/Services relating to Health, Education, Human Resources.

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story-Under-reporting of cases along with Covid lockdown in the last couple of years is the reason why the Capital is now witnessing a significant spike in the number of measles cases along with the number of fatalities, an RTI query by The Indian Express has revealed. The response provided by the state health department has shown that 2022 witnessed a total of 543 cases, a massive surge in the numbers compared to the last four years when they remained in single and double digits.
Along with this, eight deaths were reported due to the viral infection.

• What is Measles?

• Why the Capital is now witnessing a significant spike in the number of measles cases?

• What is the India’s elimination strategy for measles?

• What is the global elimination strategy for measles?

• For Your Information-Measles is a highly contagious viral infection that causes fever, cough, rashes, and complications like encephalitis or swelling of the brain, which can lead to death. Measles is also linked with secondary infections like pneumonia and diarrhoea.
In 2019, a total of 25 cases were reported with zero fatality. In 2020, 15 cases were reported with two deaths. In 2021, six cases were reported with one death.
According to an official from the Directorate of Family Welfare, which comes under the state health department, the surveillance for measles was strengthened in 2022 before which, case detection took place only if a patient reported fever, rashes and cough, coryza, and conjunctivitis.
The official said that during Covid lockdown in 2020 and 2021, the infections were rising internally and the surveillance had weakened as the “entire machinery was busy in handling Covid pandemic.”
However, in 2022, any patient reporting fever and rashes was being tested for measles which resulted in a high positivity rate, said the official.

• What World Health Organisation’s South-East Asian Region (WHO SEAR) says about measles?

• What are the Government Initiatives for measles elimination?

• What is the Universal Immunisation Programme?

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍What the measles outbreak in India reveals

📍Measles: Why the World Health Organization has declared it an ‘imminent global threat’

EXPRESS NETWORK

Matter of great concern: Gujarat law panel flags custodial deaths

Syllabus:

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

Mains Examination: General Studies II: Indian Constitution—historical underpinnings, evolution, features, amendments, significant provisions and basic structure.

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story- Flagging increasing incidents of custodial death in Gujarat as “a matter of great public concern”, the Gujarat State Law Commission (SLC) has recently submitted a report to the state government making several suggestions. It has also pointed out that not a single case registered against police personnel has resulted in conviction in 2021.

• What exactly SLC chairman, Justice (retired) M B Shah, has suggested in the report submitted to the government in July?

• For Your Information-In the report submitted to the government in July, SLC chairman, Justice (retired) M B Shah, has suggested the need for reforms to sensitise the police to function within the constitutional framework, to promote transparency by installation of video-audio enabled CCTV cameras at police stations and prisons, to take strict legal action against police personnel who misuse their official position, to conduct regular health check-ups of prisoners and to have exclusive interrogation teams specialising in the process of gathering evidence from those detained.
The report titled ‘Suggestions to have proper control on the law enforcing agency for prevention of unwanted instances of custodial death’ was submitted to the state legislative and parliamentary affairs department. Justice Shah, a former Supreme Court judge, has headed a commission of inquiry to probe illegal mining in Goa and a special investigation team to probe black money.
In February, the Rajya Sabha was informed by the Ministry of Home Affairs that between 2017 and 2022, Gujarat reported highest cases — 80 — of custodial deaths across the country.
In its report, the SLC cited reports of various publications, indicating increasing trend of custodial death in Gujarat. As per a report published by The Indian Express, based on NCRB data — which has also been cited by the SLC in its report — Gujarat reported the highest number of custodial deaths, 23, for the second consecutive year in 2021. In 2020, it had recorded 15 such cases — a rise of 53 per cent.

• What is custodial death?

• Custodial Torture and Custodial death-Connect the dots

• What are the constitutional provisions to prevent custodial deaths?

• How many custodial deaths in India-Know the data’s and statistics

• What are the constitutional provisions to prevent custodial death?

• Article 22 grants protection to persons who are arrested or detained-know them in detail

• Detention is of two types, namely, punitive and preventive-Know them in detail

• Punitive Detention and Preventive Detention-Compare and Contrast

• Article 22 confers certain rights on a person who is arrested or detained under an ordinary law-What are they?

• What is the law on custodial death in India?

• What was the Supreme Court’s guidelines in DK Basu vs State of West Bengal?

• What was the Nilabati Behera vs the State of Orissa (1993) case?

• The Supreme Court of India has the power to protect the fundamental rights of the people-Attest this with the court’s order in the Nilabati Behera vs. State of Orissa (1993) case.

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍‘If custodial torture has to stop, the D K Basu judgment has to be implemented in spirit’

📍Citizen Hope: The Soul of the Law

THE EDITORIAL PAGE

HIS VASUDHAIVA KUTUMBAKAM

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: History of India and Indian National Movement

Mains 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- Early in his life, Bhagat Singh seemed to have been fascinated by the imagination of vasudhaiva kutumbakam, dreaming of the world as one family, bound by love and mutual respect. In an essay, ‘Vishwa Prem’, in the Hindi weekly Matwala in November 1924, he reflected upon the social and political challenges in the realisation of the dream. The theme of India’s G20 presidency — vasudhaiva kutumbakam — makes it relevant to look
into Bhagat Singh’s thoughts on the subject on his birth anniversary, which was on Thursday.

• “The theme of India’s G20 presidency — vasudhaiva kutumbakam — makes it relevant to look into Bhagat Singh’s thoughts”-comment

• What is ‘Vishwa Prem’ according to Bhagat Singh?

• “Merely to belong to a religion is now considered enough reason to be the enemy of another religion”-Decode the quote

• Bhagat Singh elucidated his rational and critical approach in the essay, ‘Why I am an Atheist’-Know in detail

• “Hypocrisy is said to be a tribute that vice pays to virtue”-What have you understood by this statement?

• Bhagat Singh-An inspiration for everyone, know his Legacy

• Background of Bhagat Singh-Know in detail

• Bhagat Singh-Know his revolutionary activities and contributions to India’s freedom struggle

• Bhagat Singh and Hindustan Socialist Republican Association

• Bhagat Singh and Naujawan Bharat Sabha-Connect the dots

• Bhagat Singh-His Ideology

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍Five things you did not know about Bhagat Singh: When Jinnah defended him, Nehru praised him

EXPLAINED

Maldives elections and India

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Current events of national and international importance.

Main Examination: General Studies II: India and its neighborhood- relations.

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story-Maldives goes to runoff polls this Saturday, after no candidate secured more than 50% of the votes in the first round on September 9. Maldives’ electoral system is similar to France, where the winner has to secure more than 50% of votes. If no one crosses the mark in the first round, in the second round, the top two candidates go head to head. In the first round of polling, Maldives President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih from the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) got 39% of the votes, while the Opposition alliance candidate Mohamed Muizzu got 46%. The first round was also a crowded battlefield, with eight candidates — the highest so far. For perspective, Maldives has a population of about 5.2 lakh people. According to the Election Commission of Maldives, 2.8 lakh are eligible voters, of which about 1.6 lakh are members of various political parties.

• What History says about elections in Maldives?

• Maldives’ Presidents and India-Connect the dots

• How this election stands?

• For Your Information-Maldives has followed a system of Executive Presidency since 1968. It followed a single-party system till 2008, and the President was elected for five years through a referendum.
The first executive President of the Maldives, Ibrahim Naseer, was in power from 1968 to 1978. With political protests erupting in 1978, Naseer did not contest for the third term and the Maldives’ parliament chose Maumoon Abdul Gayoom — the then Transport minister — as the next President.
Gayoom ruled the country for 30 years, till 2008, quelling protests and famously defeating a coup attempt with India’s help in 1988.
However, amid protests by different groups, Gayoom undertook political reforms in 2004. Political parties were registered in 2005 and a new Constitution adopted in 2008. That charted the path towards Presidential elections every five years with a multi-party system.
Since 2008, no incumbent President has been re-elected. In the last elections in 2018, Ibrahim Mohamed Solih defeated incumbent Abdulla Yameen, Gayoom’s half brother.
India’s experience with Maldives politics has been a mixed bag, with Solih’s government being the most favourable so far.
India worked with Abdul Gayoom closely for three decades. When Mohamed Nasheed came to power in 2008, then Vice President Hamid Ansari attended his oath-taking ceremony, signalling New Delhi’s support.
While initially there was bonhomie between India and Nasheed, he soon began courting China. The Maldives government cancelled the GMR contract for the Maldives airport in 2012, a major setback to the ties.
After Yameen came to power in 2013, he courted China much more aggressively. Under him, Maldives joined President Xi Jinping’s Belt and Road Initiative.
When India and Western lenders were not willing to offer loans to Yameen’s administration due to allegations of human rights violations, he turned to Beijing, which offered the money without any conditions.
So, when Solih won the 2018 elections, Delhi heaved a sigh of relief. Prime Minister Narendra Modi went to Maldives to attend the swearing-in ceremony.
Over the past five years, the relationship has strengthened, and India has reached out to Maldives on various occasions — from providing vaccines to building infrastructure to helping with debt relief assistance.

• Map Work-Maldives

• Is Maldives in Indian Ocean or Arabian Sea?

• Which water channel separates Maldives and Lakshadweep?

• India and Maldives Bilateral Relations-Know the Historical Background

• How are things between India and the Maldives now?

• Why Maldives is Geo-Strategically Important to India?

• India and Maldives-What are the Major issues in Bilateral Relations?

• Political developments in the Maldives in the last few years-Know in detail

• ‘The String of Pearls’, Maldives and India-Connect the dots

• What Steps India has taken in the recent years to ensure friendly relations with Maldives?

• Do You Know-According to Indian officials, India’s swift dispatch of 30,000 doses of measles vaccine in January 2020, and the rapid and comprehensive assistance during the Covid pandemic, has reinforced India’s credentials of being Maldives’ “first responder”.
In the past, India was the first to assist Maldives during the 2004 tsunami as well as the water crisis in Malé in Dec 2014.
India’s recent projects in Maldives include water and sanitation in 34 islands, roads and land reclamation under the Addu development project, a cancer hospital, a port project, a cricket stadium, two airport development projects, the Greater Male connectivity project with bridges, causeways and roads, social housing projects, renovation of a mosque, building the national college for police, among others.
Estimates suggest that between 2018 to 2022, Indian aid was over Rs 1,100 crore, more than double the previous five year-term (about Rs 500 crore).
Trade between the two countries was about Rs 50 crore last year, of which India exported commodities worth Rs 49.5 crore — from daily essentials including rice, spices, fruits, vegetables and poultry produce to medicines and cement. India imports primarily scrap metals, and is exploring seafood products.
Maldives’ proximity to the west coast of India and its position at the hub of commercial sea-lanes running through the Indian Ocean imbues it with strategic importance for India.
As a consequence, the defence ties between India and Maldives have grown, especially since the 26/11 attacks, for coastal surveillance and maritime cooperation. India has trained over 1,500 Maldivian defence and security personnel in the last 10 years, meeting around 70% of their defence training requirements.
India has also gifted two helicopters in 2010 and 2013 and one small aircraft in 2020. This has led to claims of Indian military personnel being stationed in Maldives to operate and maintain the aircraft, though Delhi has said the planes are for search and rescue missions and medical evacuations.
“While India’s role as a development partner has been appreciated by many, a large section of Maldivians, particularly the youth, are getting attracted to the ‘India Out’ movement propagated by the [Opposition] Progressive Alliance. As a result, India is an agenda in this year’s election campaign,” Gulbin Sultana, Associate Fellow at the Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses, wrote in a piece earlier this month on the IDSA website.

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍India, Maldives have duty for regional peace, security, says Jaishankar

MELTDOWN: SWISS GLACIERS LOST 10% OF VOLUME IN WORST 2 YEARS

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Current events of national and international importance.

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

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story-Switzerland’s glaciers suffered their second worst melt rate this year after record 2022 losses, shrinking their overall volume by 10% in the last two years, monitoring body GLAMOS said on Thursday.

The one-two punch for Swiss glaciers during the country’s third hottest summer on record means they lost as much ice in two years as in the three decades before 1990, it said, describing the losses as “catastrophic”.

• What exactly Glacier Monitoring in Switzerland (GLAMOS) said?

• For Your Information-According to Glacier Monitoring in Switzerland (GLAMOS), “this year was very problematic for glaciers because there was really little snow in winter, and the summer was very warm,” Matthias Huss, who leads Glacier Monitoring Switzerland (GLAMOS), told Reuters.
“The combination of these two factors is the worst that can happen to glaciers.”
More than half of the glaciers in the Alps are in Switzerland where temperatures are rising by around twice the global average due to climate change.
This year, low winter snowfall combined with an early start and a late end to the summer melt season dealt the heavy losses.
In the peak melt month of August, the Swiss weather service said the elevation at which precipitation freezes hit a new record overnight high, measured at 5,289 meters (17,350 ft), an altitude higher than Mont Blanc’s summit. This exceeded last year’s record of 5,184 meters.

• What is a glacier?

• What is a glacial?

• Is glacial and glacier the same?

• What is a glacial tongue?

• Map Work-Alps and Mont Blanc

• Glaciers in India-Know about them

• Glaciers are surveyed and their detailed inventory is maintained by whom?

• “Strategic” role of glaciers-what does it mean?

• By the way, how many glaciers are there in India?

• Which is largest glacier in India?

• Map Work-Siachen

• Have you heard of Siachen? What all you know about it?

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍Explained: Glacial lakes — risks, solutions

Previous year mains question covering similar theme:
📍How does the cryosphere affect global climate? (General Studies 1, 2017)

ECONOMY

Ready to bring 28% GST one-gaming from Oct1, says Centre; all states yet to pass laws

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Current events of national and international importance

Mains Examination: General Studies II: Government policies and interventions for development in various sectors and issues arising out of their design and implementation.

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story- With all states yet to pass legal amendments for the 28 per cent Goods and Services Tax (GST) on face value at entry level for online gaming, casinos and horse racing, a senior government official Thursday said the Union government is fully prepared to implement the amended legal provisions from October 1.

Asked if the move could get delayed given that not all states have passed the required amendments, Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) Chairman Sanjay Kumar Agarwal declined to comment.

• Online gaming so far has been a state subject-true or false?

• Do You Know-India’s share of the global online gaming industry is currently just 1 per cent. In contrast, China has a 25 per cent share and the US 23 per cent share in a market of about three billion users. According to industry estimates, in 2020, the worth of India’s online gaming industry was around $1.8 billion. With a 38 per cent compounded annual growth rate (CAGR), the industry is expected to grow to $5 billion by 2025. There are about 400 million online gamers in India and their numbers are expected to grow to 450 million by 2024. India’s advantage also lies in the fact that 86 per cent of online gaming is mobile gaming and this sector is growing the fastest. According to the industry body, IAMAI, there are about 950 start-ups in the sector with 15,000 developers; three of these start-ups have acquired unicorn status.

• How big is the online gaming market in India?
• What are the recommendations of the task force?
• Which ministry will be in charge of the regulation?

• What did the task force say about offshore betting apps?

• “The distinction between a game of chance and a game of skill has been maintained for over 150 years”-Analyse the statement

• ‘In May 2022, Group of Ministers (GoM) were formed to look into the tax rate on casinos, online gaming and race courses, has arrived at a broad consensus to levy a flat rate of 28 per cent on these services under the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime’-But, why 28 percent?

• It would be extremely unwise to levy GST at 28 per cent on the gross amount for the online gaming-do you agree?

• GST on online gaming-brainstorm the pros and cons

• For Your Information- The revenue of the Indian mobile gaming industry is expected to reach $5 billion in 2025. The industry grew at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 38 per cent in India between 2017-2020, as opposed to 8 per cent in China and 10 per cent in the US.
It is expected to grow at a CAGR of 15 per cent to reach Rs 153 billion in revenue by 2024, as per a report by VC firm Sequoia and management consulting company BCG.

• How have stakeholders reacted to the proposed rules?

• Quick Recall-An inter-ministerial task force, set up by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) to propose contours of a national-level legislation to regulate online gaming, has proposed the creation of a central regulatory body for the sector, clearly defining what games of skill and chance are, and bringing online gaming under the purview of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002, among other things.

• What is your opinion on this entire issue?

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍Explained: Why online gaming could now attract a higher GST of 28%

For any queries and feedback, contact priya.shukla@indianexpress.com
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