UPSC Key- April 10, 2023: Know about Project Tiger, MSTrIPES, Shrinkflation, Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups and Dr. B. MeenaKumari Report

Interim tiger report signals bigger gain, some warnings

Syllabus:

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

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

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story– Marking 50 years of Project Tiger, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday announced yet another quadrennial jump in the country’s tiger number with an estimated population of at least 3,167. Officials in the Environment Ministry said this is an interim figure and the “spatial estimation process is still underway” at the Wildlife Institute of India (WII). Once the final estimates are available, the gain in tiger numbers is likely to be significantly higher than the margin of 200 which the interim figure of 3,167 has compared with 2,967 reported in 2018.

• What is Project Tiger?

• Quick Recall-Project Tiger was launched by the Central government on April 1, 1973, in a bid to promote conservation of the tiger. The programme came at a time when India’s tiger population was rapidly dwindling. According to reports, while there were 40,000 tigers in the country at the time of the Independence, they were soon reduced to below 2,000 by 1970 due to their widespread hunting and poaching. Concerns around the issue further intensified when the same year, the International Union for Conservation of Nature declared the tiger as an endangered species. Two years later, the Indian government conducted its own tiger census and found that there were only 1,800 of them left in the country. To tackle the problem of hunting and poaching of not just tigers but also other animals and birds, then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi promulgated the Wildlife Protection Act in 1972. A year later, after a task force urged the government to create a chain of reserves dedicated to tiger preservation, Indira unveiled Project Tiger. Launched at the Jim Corbett National Park, the programme was initially started in nine tiger reserves of different States such as Assam, Bihar, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal, covering over 14,000 sq km.

• 50 years of ‘Project Tiger’-Why Significant?

• Map Work-Bandipur Tiger Reserve, Periyar Tiger Reserve

• What year does Project Tiger begin?

• Where was Project Tiger launched?

• Under which Prime Minister was Project Tiger launched?

• “Status of Tigers in India” report-Key Highlights

• What is India’s tiger population?

• How scientists count tigers in India

• How are camera traps used to count tigers?

• What is spatial capture-recapture used to count tigers?

• What is Monitoring System for Tigers: Intensive Protection and Ecological Status (MSTrIPES)?

• National Tiger Conservation Authority is a statutory body under which Ministry?

• Who is the Chairman of National Tiger Conservation Authority?

• What is Conservation Assured Tiger Standards (CATS)?

• 5th cycle of Management Effectiveness Evaluation (MEE)-Know key Highlights

• For Your Information-IUCN’s World Commission on Protected Areas provides a framework for assessing the management effectiveness of protected areas through six criteria, which include existing values and threats, progresses through planning and allocation of resources as a result of management actions and its impacts.

• What is Management Effectiveness Evaluation (MEE)?

• Do You Know-The government has been using the MEE to assess tiger reserves across the country since its inception in 2006. At present, the country has 998 Protected Areas including 106 National Parks, 567 Wildlife Sanctuaries, 105 Conservation Reserves and 220 Community Reserves covering 1,73,629 sq km or 5.28% of India’s geographical area. Of these 53 tiger reserves, however, only 51, covering a total area of 73,765 sq km, were evaluated as two newly declared tiger reserves, Ramgarh Visdhari and Ranipur, have not been included in the current cycle of MEE. The MEE results also suggested an overall improvement in the management effectiveness of the tiger reserves. “In the 5th cycle, there are 12 Tiger Reserves that have scored 90% and above and therefore a new category of ‘Excellent’ has been added,” the report added. Twelve 12 tiger reserves have ranked in the “Excellent” category, followed by 20 in the ‘Very Good’ category, 14 in the ‘Good’ category and 5 in the ‘Fair’ category. None of the country’s tiger reserves was graded as ‘Poor’.

• Know about Section 38V (1) of The Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972

• Map Work-Locate top five and bottom five states (Population) Tiger Reserves in India

• For Your Information- In the present cycle, 3,080 unique tigers have been identified from the camera-trapped photos but the SECR analyses are still underway. In the interim, the minimum estimated figure of 3,167 tigers is comparable with the lower limit of the range – 2,603-3,346 – estimated in 2018, implying a gain of over 500 tigers.

• What is Project Tiger?

• As tigers inhabit diverse habitats across a vast geographical expanse in India, they are categorized into five major landscapes based on biogeography and interconnectivity of the habitats-What are they?

• What are the persisting threats facing the tiger across its habitats?

• International Big Cat Alliance (IBCA)-What exactly is the proposal?

• For Your Information-The proposed International Big Cat Alliance (IBCA) will work towards the protection and conservation of the seven major big cats — tiger, lion, leopard, snow leopard, puma, jaguar and cheetah. Membership to the alliance will be open to 97 “range” countries, which contain the natural habitat of these big cats, as well as other interested nations, international organisations, etc.

• Who are potential IBCA member nations?

• Map Work-potential IBCA member nations

• Know the big five

• Do You Know-The IBCA’s governance structure will comprise a General Assembly consisting of all member countries, a council of at least seven but not more than 15 member countries elected by the General Assembly for a term of 5 years, and a Secretariat. Upon the recommendation of the Council, the General Assembly will appoint the IBCA Secretary General for a specific term. After the first five years, which will be supported by India’s “total grant assistance” of $100 million, the IBCA is expected to sustain itself through membership fees, and contributions from bilateral and multilateral institutions and the private sector.

• Wildlife Institute of India-Under which Ministry?

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍 Periyar Tiger Reserve gets top rank in management review, none ‘poor’

📍Fifty years of ‘Project Tiger’: How the programme saved Indian tigers

Previous Year Prelims Questions Covering Same theme:

📍The term ‘M-STrIPES’ is sometimes seen in the news in the context of (Please Refer GS1 2017 for Complete Question)
📍Among the following Tiger Reserves, which one has the largest area under “Critical Tiger Habitat”? (Please Refer GS1 2020 for Complete Question)

Armed Forces form panel to examine disability pension

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– The Indian Armed Forces have set up an inter-services panel chaired by the Army’s Adjutant General (AG) to examine different aspects of disability pension to their personnel, top officials familiar with the matter told The Indian Express.

• What is disability pension for Defence forces?

• Is disability pension of ex-servicemen taxable?

• For Your Information-Armed personnel receive higher payouts up to 30 per cent of their pension emoluments depending upon the percentage of disability. While the exact amount of total disability pensions which is also exempt from income tax is not available, sources in the government said it has grown substantially over the last two decades and was estimated to be around Rs 4,000 crore in 2022-23. The total defence pensions for 2023-24 is estimated at Rs 1.38 lakh crore.

• What Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report tabled in Parliament on March 27 said about the same?

• For Your Information-Defence pensions in the last five years have increased to Rs 1.38 lakh crore in 2023-24 from Rs 1.08 lakh crore in 2018-19. Higher disability pensions and the revision of the ‘One Rank, One Pension’ scheme and arrears to the tune of Rs 28,138 crore have contributed to the rise in defence pensions.

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍Army personnel entitled to disability pension only if disability attributable to military service: Supreme Court

📍At least 10% women officers to be inducted into Army’s artillery units

Why Amul can’t beat Nandini: Karnataka’s Rs 1,200-cr incentive to farmers

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– For all the political brouhaha over the “entry” of Amul into Karnataka’s milk market — amplified in the run-up to the state Assembly elections, the economic reality is simple: no dairy concern, including the Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF), is in a position to take on the Karnataka Cooperative Milk Producers’ Federation (KMF) today.

• Why the political row over Amul intensified in Karnataka?

• Amul, Nandini and shrinkflation-Connect the dots

• What is shrinkflation?

• Shrinkflation and inflation-How they are related?

• What is Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation known as?

• Who is the founder of the Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation?

• What is the milk production in India?

• Do You Know-According to the National Statistical Office’s (NSO) household consumer expenditure (HCE) survey for 2011-12, the monthly per capita consumption of milk was 4.33 litres in rural India and 5.42 litres in urban India. Taking an average of 5 litres (5.15 kg; 1 litre of milk = 1.03 kg), this translates into an annual consumption of nearly 75 million tonnes (mt) for a population of 1,210.85 million as per the 2011 Census. This figure includes only milk consumed by households — directly and as curd, butter, ghee, paneer, etc. at home. It excludes milk consumed by businesses — tea shops, hotels, and ice-cream, sweetmeat, chocolate and biscuit makers. If this milk is assumed to be 25% over and above that consumed by households, it adds up to about 94 mt — or a daily per capita availability of 212 gm.

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍As milk controversy heats up, poll blowback concerns BJP

 EXPRESS NETWORK

Murmu walks extra mile for the vulnerable tribal communities

Syllabus:

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

Mains Examination: 

• General Studies I: Social empowerment

• 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- President Droupadi Murmu has ensured that her journey from a remote village in Odisha’s Mayurbhanj district to Raisina Hill does not remain hers alone. Nearly eight months since she assumed office, the President — the first person from a tribal community to occupy the position — has made special efforts to reach out to the most backward of tribal communities. In fact, during her visits to states with a sizable presence of particularly vulnerable tribal groups (PVTG), Murmu makes sure that she gets an audience with them, officials said.

• What are Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs)?

• For Your Information-PVTGs, earlier known as primitive tribal groups, are a sub-classification of the Scheduled Tribes (STs) or a section of STs who are considered more vulnerable than regular STs. The PVTG list was created by the government with the aim to improve on priority the living standards of endangered tribal groups. According to the Ministry of Tribal Affairs, 75 PVTGs are spread across 15 states and Union Territories.

• How many particularly vulnerable tribal groups are there?

• Who declares PVTG in India?

• Dhebar Commission and Primitive Tribal Groups (PTGs)-Know in detail

• Highest number Primitive Tribal Groups (PTGs) are found in which state?

• Development of Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs)-Know in detail

• Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups and Schedule Tribes-Compare and Contrast

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍Among India’s most underprivileged tribes, but off Jharkhand poll map, they hope for attention

THE EDITORIAL PAGE

OLD APPROACH, NEW PACT

Syllabus:

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

Main Examination: General Studies II: Bilateral, regional and global groupings and agreements involving India and/or affecting India’s Interest

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story– Prabhash Ranjan Writes: India seems to be on a free trade agreement (FTA) signing and negotiating spree. In the last few years, India has signed FTAs with Mauritius and the UAE and an interim one with Australia. India is currently negotiating FTAs with the UK, European Union, Canada, and Israel. Since trade and investment are inextricably linked, especially when the objective is to build global value chains, countries sign FTAs that legalise the full gamut of international economic relations between themselves. FTAs create binding international rules on trade and investment. Through these rules, states accept the instrument of international law to be held accountable for their sovereign conduct on trade and investment. International law increases costs for states to act unilaterally, thus ushering in predictability and certainty in international economic relations.

• What is Free Trade Agreement (FTA)?

• Know about other types of trade agreements like Bilateral investment treaty (BIT), Preferential Trade Area, Single market, Customs Union etc.

• What is Definition of trade given by WTO?

• For Your Information-India followed this logic in signing several FTAs in the 2000s with countries like Singapore, Korea, Malaysia, and Japan. These FTAs include binding rules on both, international trade liberalisation, and the protection of foreign investment from arbitrary state conduct. Additionally, these FTAs give foreign investors the guarantee to use international treaty arbitration to settle disputes with states.

• What is FTA 2.0?

• What is Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement?

• Know about other types of trade agreements like Bilateral investment treaty (BIT), Preferential Trade Area, Single market, Customs Union etc.

• What is Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP)?

• Trade Relations and Balance of Power theory

• Why have these issues raised concerns among policymakers in New Delhi?

• “In much of the negotiations currently under discussion, climate action, carbon emissions and labour issues are taking precedence over pure trade issues”-Why so?

• “There are significant differences between the old (FTAs negotiated prior to 2015) and the new FTAs under discussion currently”-What are those differences?

• What is Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM)?

• “The European Union has also proposed a Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) to tax carbon-intensive products, such as iron and steel, cement, fertiliser, aluminium and electricity generation, from 2026”-How this move will impact India?

• Do You Know-Under the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) system, EU importers will buy carbon certificates corresponding to the carbon price that would have been paid, had the goods been produced under the EU’s carbon pricing rules. Many developing countries including India are expected to challenge this levy.

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍Concerns of Indian players should be taken care of while crafting FTAs

THE IDEAS PAGE

Building the blue economy

Syllabus:

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

Mains Examination: General Studies III: Issues related to direct and indirect farm subsidies and minimum support prices; Public Distribution System- objectives, functioning, limitations, revamping; issues of buffer stocks and food security; Technology missions; economics of animal-rearing.

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story-Arun Prakash Writes: The Indo-Sri Lankan dispute over fishing rights in the Palk Strait, the water body separating Tamil Nadu from the Jaffna region of Sri Lanka, has been an emotive issue of long-standing. It has evoked loud complaints from Chennai, which have often led to a diplomatic furore between Colombo and New Delhi.

• What does blue economy mean?

• What is a blue economy strategy?

• Significance of the Blue Economy-Why it matters?

• ‘China is today a “fishery superpower”, which owns the world’s largest deep-water fishing (DWF) fleet, with boats that stay at sea for months or even years’-Discuss

• What is India’s position in fisheries?

• What are the Issues and Challenges related to India’s Blue Economy?

• What are the Steps/Schemes by the Government of India to enhance Blue Economy?

• Twelfth ministerial conference of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and the Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies (AFS)-Know in detail

• Why Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies (AFS) is first-of-its-kind?

• Know the significance of the adoption of Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies (AFS)

• Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies (AFS) and Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 14.6-connect the dots

• Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies (AFS) prohibits three kinds of subsidies. What are they?

• What is India’s demand on overcapacity and over-fishing (OCOF)?

• What Comprehensive Marine Fishing Policy of 2004 headed by Dr. B. MeenaKumari and the existing Guidelines for deep-sea Fishing in the Exclusive economic zones says about fisheries subsidies?

• Do You Know-In September 2020, the government had announced the launch of Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana, a flagship scheme for sustainable development of India’s fisheries sector with an estimated investment of Rs 20,000 crores over the next five years. Reaching out across the Palk Strait to form an “Indo-Sri Lankan Fishing Corporation” under this Yojana, with a deepwater fishing fleet and dedicated fishing harbours, could not only provide a huge boost to the fishing industries of both nations, but also remove an unwanted irritant in bilateral relations and send out a positive message of SAGAR: “Security and Growth for All in the Region”.

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍Dr. B. Meenakumari Committee Report on Fishing is Submitted

📍Explained: The key takeaways from the 12th Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organization

EXPLAINED

What LIGO-India will do

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 and Achievements of Indians in science & technology; indigenization of technology and developing new technology

Key Points to Ponder:

• What’s the ongoing story-The government has given the final go-ahead to India’s Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory, or LIGO, project, clearing the way for the construction of the country’s biggest scientific facility that will join the ongoing global project to probe the universe by detecting and studying gravitational waves.

• India’s Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory, or LIGO, project-Know the Key features and highlights

• LIGO-India will be located in Hingoli district of Maharashtra-Mark on the Map

• For Your Information-LIGO is an international network of laboratories that detect the ripples in spacetime produced by the movement of large celestial objects like stars and planets. These ripples were first postulated in Albert Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity that encapsulates our current understanding of how gravitation works.

• What is General Theory of Relativity?

• What is Special theory of relativity?

• What is the difference between the two theories of relativity?

• E=mc2, equation is theory of special relativity or general theory of relativity?

• What is Newton’s law of gravitation?

• Deficiencies in Newton’s law-What were those?

• For Your Information-Its success notwithstanding, the theory suffered from a couple of major deficiencies, one of which was evident even during Newton’s time. Newton himself acknowledged it while describing the gravitational force in his landmark publication, The Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy in 1687, and his contemporaries were aware of it. The theory did not explain the reason for the existence of the attractive force between any two bodies. Why should every piece of matter feel attracted towards everything else?
The second problem became apparent much later, at the start of the 20th century, as a consequence of Albert Einstein’s Special Theory of Relativity. Special Relativity, published in 1905, established that nothing could travel faster than the speed of light. But the gravitational force seemed to be propagating instantaneously, over any large distance, without any delay at all. Time does not even figure in Newton’s gravitational equation.

• What is gravitational waves?

• What creates gravitational waves?

• How do gravitational waves affect Humans?

• How LIGO works

• Do You Know- It is to measure these tiny effects of gravitational waves that scientists have set up the Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory (LIGO), one of the most complex pieces of scientific equipment ever built. The observatory comprises two 4-km-long vacuum chambers, built perpendicular to each other. Highly reflective mirrors are placed at the end of the vacuum chambers. Light rays are released simultaneously in both the vacuum chambers. They hit the mirrors, get reflected, and are captured back. In normal circumstances, the light rays in both the chambers would return simultaneously. But when a gravitational wave arrives, one of the chambers gets a little elongated, while the other one gets squished a bit. In this case, light rays do not return simultaneously, and there is a phase difference. The presence of a phase difference marks the detection of a gravitational wave.

• Why LIGO India matters?

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍LIGO will be back in 2023, able to detect even ‘fainter’ gravitational waves

📍Budget is cleared, stage set for India’s biggest facility to probe the universe

Changes the NCF 2023 draft proposes in the school education system

Syllabus:

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

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-School system in India may undergo a major restructuring with an expert committee appointed by the Union government recommending board examinations twice a year, a semester system for class 12, freedom to students to pursue a mix of science, humanities and commerce subjects among others. On Thursday (April 6), the Ministry of Education released the pre-draft of the National Curriculum Framework (NCF) for school education for public feedback on the recommendations which will be finalised after further rounds of discussions involving the national steering committee led by former ISRO chairperson K Kasturirangan that developed it.

• What is NCF?

• What is the National Education Policy of Kasturirangam?

• Who prepares the National Curriculum Framework for school education?

• What are the proposed changes in design of subjects and exams at secondary stage?

• How will teaching-learning change for younger students if the recommendations are implemented?

• What are the proposed changes in specific subjects like Social Science, Maths and others?

• When will these changes come into effect?

• Do You Know-Education as a subject comes under both the state and central governments according to the Constitution, meaning both the states and central governments have a role to play here. Further, India has multiple education boards across the country that decide crucial matters such as conducting exams and deciding the syllabus in schools. State education boards, the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE), are a few examples. They are autonomous or independent bodies. They make decisions based on the guidelines laid down by The National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT). An autonomous organisation, set up in 1961 by the government “to assist and advise the Central and state governments” for improving the quality of education, NCERT’s objectives include the task of preparing and publishing model textbooks. Its chairman is appointed by the central government. For deciding the content of textbooks, the NCERT is currently preparing a document called the National Curriculum Framework (NCF). It was last prepared in 2005 under the UPA government, and before that, it was revised in 1975, 1988 and 2000. The NCF will have broad guidelines for the revised syllabus that will be followed by the boards for their textbooks.

• Growth of Education in India: Historical Background from Vedic Period to British Period

• Growth of Education in the Post-Independence Period-Reforms taken so far

• Education was initially a state subject but following an amendment (42nd) to the Constitution in 1976, it became a concurrent subject-True or False?

• The gains in terms of the literacy rates of the Indian population since independence-Know in detail

• Constitutional Provisions Regarding Education- What Article 28, Article 29, Article 30, Article 21A, Article 45 and Article 46 says about Education?

• Education System in India-Know the Present Structure from Pre-primary level to Primary or elementary Level (Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan) to Secondary level (Rastriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan) to Higher education (Rastriya Uchhattar
Shiksha Abhiyan)

• Goal 4 of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) related to Education and Govt of India’s initiatives/schemes/programmes to achieve the SDG Goal 4-Know in detail

• How National Policy on Education (NEP) 2020 and Sustainable development goals are linked?

• What are the salient features of New Education Policy 2020?

• How many policies India had so far and what was the fundamental objective of each which makes every policy unique?

• Know the Kothari Commission (1964–1966) recommendations to formulate a coherent education policy

• National Policy on Education (NPE) 1986 and New Education Policy (NEP) 2020-Compare and Contrast

• What do you understand by National Curriculum Framework?

• National Policy on Education (NPE) and National Curriculum Framework (NCF)-Connect the dot

• “If NEP is the guiding philosophy, then NCF is the pathway”-Elaborate

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍Draft curriculum document proposes 5.5-day school week, longer periods Class 9 onwards, no assemblies on Saturdays

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