Context: Recently, the Supreme Court of India upheld the right of the Travancore royal family to manage the property of deity at Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple in Thiruvananthapuram (Kerala).
Background

• The recent judgement is over a dispute of over a decade on whether the temple and its considerable assets should devolve to the Kerala Government following the death of the Travancore ruler Sree Chithira Thirunal Balarama Varma in July 1991.
• Arguments were raised on whether the 26th Constitutional Amendment, which put an end to privy purses enjoyed by erstwhile rulers, would nudge the temple and properties into the hands of the State.
• The Kerala High Court, in 2011, directed the State to take over the temple and exhibit its treasures for public viewing in a museum.
• About Privy Purse: The privy purse was a payment made to the ruling families of erstwhile princely states as a part of their agreement to integrate with India in 1947. The 26th Constitutional Amendment Act of 1971 brought an end to this privilege of princely states.

Supreme Court Judgement

• The recent judgement was given by a division bench comprising of Justices U.U. Lalit and Indu Malhotra.
• Justice Lalit, categorically held that the death of a ruler does not affect the royal family’s shebaitship of the temple.
• “Shebaitship was always in the royal family and the Ruler represented the unbroken line of shebaits,” the judgment said.
• According to the judgement, shebaitship does not lapse in favour of the State by the principle of escheat (reversion of property to the State).

Key Points

• The court defined ‘shebait’ as the “custodian of the idol, its earthly spokesman, its authorised representative entitled to deal with all its temporal affairs and to manage its property”.
• The court traced how the shebaitship descended from King Marthanda Varma.
• King Marthanda Varma rebuilt the temple and installed a new idol after a fire destroyed the temple in 1686.
• It referred to how the King surrendered his kingdom in January 1750 and assumed the role of ‘Padmanabhadasa’ after realising “the futility of battles as a means to an end and the conscious feeling that the Travancore he created was built on a foundation of sacrifice of the liver and limbs of countless numbers who fell due to him and for him.”
• Accepting the royals’ submission that the temple is a public temple, the court issued a slew of directions for its transparent administration in the future.
• It directed the setting up of an administrative committee, with the Thiruvananthapuram district judge as its chairperson. The panel would take care of the daily administration of the temple.

About Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple

• The Padmanabhaswamy temple is a Hindu temple located in Thiruvananthapuram, the state capital of Kerala, India.
• According to Historians, the temple dates back to the 8th century but the present structure was built in the 18th century by the then Travancore Maharaja Marthanda Varma.
• The temple is built in an intricate fusion of the Chera style and the Dravidian style of architecture, featuring high walls, and a 16th-century gopura.
• The temple is a replica of the Adikesava Perumal temple in Thiruvattar.
• The principal deity is Padmanabhaswamy (Vishnu).

Context: Recently, Iran has decided to proceed with the Chabahar rail line construction on its own, citing delays from the Indian side in beginning and funding the project.
Background

• In May 2016, India, Iran and Afghanistan signed the trilateral agreement which envisaged the establishment of Transit and Transport Corridor connecting the three countries and Chabahar port in Iran to be used as cardinal hub transportation.
• The agreement had the provision for the construction of a rail line from Chabahar port to Zahedan, along the border with Afghanistan which would serve as an alternate trade route to Afghanistan and Central Asia bypassing Pakistan. 
• The state-owned Indian Railways Construction Ltd. (IRCON) had signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Iranian Rail Ministry for the development of the proposed railway line.

Key Points

• With this move China would expand its presence in Iran’s banking and telecommunications sectors as well as railways, ports and other projects.
• In exchange of this investment, Iran would supply Beijing with a heavily discounted supply of oil over the next 25 years.
• China is a key market for Iranian crude oil exports, which have been dampened by US economic sanctions.
• The deal would allow China to gain a foothold in a region where the US has had strategic residence for the last few decades.
• China has been stepping up its military cooperation with Iran over the past decade.

Why was there a delay?

• Despite several site visits by IRCON engineers, and preparations by Iranian railways, India never began the work, ostensibly due to worries that these could attract U.S. sanctions.
• The U.S. had provided a sanctions waiver for the Chabahar port and the rail line to Zahedan, but it has been difficult to find equipment suppliers and partners due to worries they could be targeted by the U.S.

Concerns

• Iran’s decision to cancel India’s participation in the project, coming in the backdrop of a fast-moving strategic deal with China, is a matter of concern for India.
• The development comes as China finalises a massive 25-year, $400 billion strategic partnership deal with Iran.
• Also, Iran had proposed a tie-up between the Chinese-run Pakistani port at Gwadar and Chabahar in 2019.
• Iran has offered interests to China in the Bandar-e-Jask port 350km away from Chabahar, as well as in the Chabahar duty-free zone.
• Each of those possibilities should be watched closely by India as the Iran-China deal could impinge on India’s strategic ties with Iran and the use of Chabahar port.

About India- Iran Chabahar Partnership

• In 2016, India and Iran signed a deal worth $8 billion investment in Chabahar port and industries in Chabahar Special Economic Zone. 
• Chabahar port is located on the Gulf of Oman and is only 72 km away from the Gwadar port in Pakistan which has been developed by China.
• The port serves as the only oceanic port of Iran and consists of two separate ports named Shahid Beheshti and Shahid Kalantari.
• The port is being developed as a transit route to Afghanistan and Central Asia and India has already built a 240-km road connecting Afghanistan with Iran.
• Completion of this project would give India access to Afghanistan and beyond to Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Russia and Europe via 7,200-km-long multi-modal North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC).
• It also helps India counter Chinese presence in the Arabian Sea which China is trying to ensure by helping Pakistan develop the Gwadar port. Gwadar port is less than 400 km from Chabahar by road and 100 km by sea.
• From a diplomatic perspective, Chabahar port could be used as a point from where humanitarian operations could be coordinated.

Road Ahead

• The Iran-China deal impinges on India’s strategic ties with Iran and the use of Chabahar port. Bandar-e-Jask lies to the west of Chabahar and right before the Strait of Hormuz which would allow China to extend its control along the Pakistan-Iran coast.
• Each of these possibilities should be watched closely by India and it should strengthen its relations with the concerned countries.
• As an emerging power, India cannot remain confined to South Asia and a peaceful extended neighbourhood (Iran-Afghanistan) is not only good for trade and energy security but also plays a vital role in India's aspirations of becoming a superpower.

Context: Recently, NITI Aayog has represented the second voluntary national review of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) report titled as ‘Decade of Action: Taking SDGs from Global to Local’ to the United Nations High-level Political Forum.
Background

• The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were adopted in September 2015 as a part of the resolution, ‘Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development’. 
• India is committed to achieve the 17 SDGs and the 169 associated targets, which comprehensively cover social, economic and environmental dimensions of development and focus on ending poverty in all its forms and dimensions. 
• At the Central Government level, NITI Aayog has been assigned the role of overseeing the implementation of SDGs in the country.
• NITI Aayog prepared and presented India’s first VNR in 2017.

About the India VNR 2020 Report

• The report is titled “Decade of Action: Taking SDGs from Global to Local”.
• The report is a comprehensive account of the adoption and implementation of the 2030 Agenda in India.
• Apart from presenting a review of progress on the 17 SDGs, the report discusses at length the policy and enabling environment, India’s approach to localising SDGs, and strengthening means of implementation.
• India’s VNR this year has undertaken a paradigm shift in terms of embodying a whole-of-society approach in letter and spirit. 
• NITI Aayog engaged with sub-national and local governments, civil society organizations, local communities, people in vulnerable situations and the private sector. 
• Goal-wise account with best practices: In line with the theme of “Taking SDGs from Global to Local”, the goal-wise account of progress on the SDGs along with a range of diverse good practices and success stories of interventions from the States, especially Aspirational Districts.
• Enabling environment: The report discusses at length the policy and enabling environment, India’s approach to localising SDGs, and strengthening means of implementation.
• Two levers of strengthening means of implementation: Leveraging science, technology and innovation for SDGs, and costing and financing of SDGs.

About United Nations High-level Political Forum

• The establishment of the United Nations High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF) was mandated in 2012 by the outcome document of the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20), “The Future We Want”.
• HLPF, comprising the political representatives (heads of states or ministers) of the members, meets every July at the UN in New York to review progress on Agenda 2030.
• The Forum meets annually under the auspices of the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) for eight days and every four years at the level of Heads of State and Government under the auspices of the General Assembly for two days.
• Voluntary National Reviews, which are voluntary and country driven, form the basis of this review.
• The Forum adopts inter-governmentally negotiated political declarations.

What is Voluntary National Review (VNR)?

• VNR is a process through which countries assess and present progress made in achieving the global goals and the pledge to leave no one behind.
• The purpose is to present a snapshot of where the country stands in SDG implementation, with a view to help accelerate progress through experience sharing, peer-learning, identifying gaps and good practices, and mobilizing partnerships.
• The reviews are voluntary and state-led and are aimed at facilitating the sharing of experiences, including successes, challenges and lessons learned.
• The process of preparation of a country’s VNR provides a platform for partnerships, including through the participation of various relevant stakeholders.

Context: Covid-19 pandemic has sharpened need to make right choices for sustainable urban growth.
Urbanization in India

• In 2018, nearly 34% of India’s population lived in the cities.  This is expected to increase to 40% by 2030 contributing 75% of the GDP.
• Driven by growing urbanization, the real estate sector (the second-largest employer after agriculture) contributed 6-7% of the GDP in 2017. It is expected to increase to 13% by 2025.

Urbanization and the problem of Urban Heat Island

• Due to increased urbanization most of the open spaces in urban and semi-urban areas are being used up to create more of paved surface cover, heat-trapping roofs, buildings and roads.
• More than 60% of the roofs are made of concrete, metal and asbestos, all of which tend to trap heat. Over time, these hot surfaces lead to formation of urban heat island and thus soaring up temperatures. An urban heat island occurs when a city experiences much warmer temperatures than nearby rural areas.
• Urbanization and Electricity Consumption: Buildings account for more than 30% of India’s electricity consumption and a significant share of annual carbon dioxide emissions.

Making Buildings Smart- Lessons from Telangana

• Telangana has taken steps to ensure energy efficiency in its buildings by incorporating the Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE)’s Energy Conservation Building Code (ECBC).
• It has included mandatory ECBC and green building codes, under section 176(4) in the newly promulgated Telangana Municipality Act 2019.

Interventions taken for cool-roofing

• Telangana has tested cool roof technologies through pilots undertaken in 2017. Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) implemented a cool roofs pilot in low-income neighborhoods to showcase the benefits and impact of cool roofs in the city.
• Learning from the pilot projects, the government has designed Telangana Cool Roofs Programme. It is a target-based initiative to increase the percentage of cool roofs in the state. The programme will aim to install cool roofs in low-income housing and slum communities.

Cool Roofs

• A cool roof is one that has been designed to reflect more sunlight and absorb less heat than a standard roof.
• Depending on the setting, they can help lower indoor temperatures by 2 to 4 degrees Celsius as compared to traditional roofs. These roofs also potentially lead to less air pollution since they save energy, especially on cooling appliances.

Suggested Reforms

• Short-term: It’s crucial to ascertain how to respond to extreme heat and urbanization challenges during a major pandemic.
• Long term: proactive pre-disaster actions to reduce risk and investment in forward-looking plans, policies and programmes to ensure right choices to balance urban growth and sustainable development.

Context: Recently, the Expert Appraisal Committee of the Environment Ministry has recommended the grant of Environmental Clearance for the development of an economic corridor between Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.
Key Points

• The Satellite Town Ring Road (STRR) – greenfield highway is part of the Bharatmala Pariyojana and will be implemented by the National Highways Authority of India.
• The project will start in Dabaspet in Karnataka and end near Devarapalli village on the Tamil Nadu-Karnataka border.

Benefits

• The new road would provide better, fast, safe and smooth connectivity for commuters between the two States as well as in the region.
• Accident rates are also expected to be under control due to enhanced road safety measures.
• Development of the proposed project road will boost local agriculture and enable farmers to realise better value for their products as well as attract more investment to that region.

Bharatmala Pariyojana

• The Government of India launched “Bharatmala Pariyojana”, an umbrella program for the highways sector that focuses on optimizing the efficiency of road traffic movement across the country by bridging critical infrastructure gaps.
• The scheme was initiated with an aim to improve road traffic and improve trade through road transportation.

Some other key features of the Bharatmala Pariyojana include:

• The main aim was to improve the quality of roads in order to bring in a wave of development in every corner of the country.
• Construction of new roads is another important feature for the announcement for this scheme. 
• The Government plans to finish the construction of all the roads, under this scheme, within a time span of five years.
• Since the fund provided by the Government may not be sufficient for the construction of roads, hence the Ministry relies on various other sources for the completion of this project.
• The project aims to construct multiple roads and for proper executive of the project, the Ministry has decided to divide the project into various categories for proper construction of the roads. 

Context: Recently, Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu had released a book titled Tangams: An Ethnolinguistic Study of the Critically Endangered Group of Arunachal Pradesh.  
Who are the Tangams?

• The Tangams is a little-known community within the larger Adi tribe of Arunachal Pradesh and resides in the hamlet of Kugging in Upper Siang district’s Paindem circle.
• In 1975, the community’s population was pegged at 2,000 spread across 25 villages.
• From 2016 to 2020, a team from the Centre for Endangered Languages (CFEL) of Rajiv Gandhi University (RGU), carried out extensive field research and documented the community.
• Their survey revealed that Tangams were now concentrated in only one village (Kugging), with only 253 reported speakers.
• As per the UNESCO World Atlas of Endangered Languages (2009), Tangam — an oral language that belongs to the Tani group, under the greater Tibeto-Burman language family — is marked ‘critically endangered’.

Why are there only a few speakers?

• Kugging is surrounded by a number of villages inhabited by Adi subgroups such as Shimong, Minyongs, as well as the Buddhist tribal community of Khambas, among others.
• To communicate with their neighbours over the years, the Tangams have become multilingual, speaking not just Tangam, but other tongues such as Shimong, Khamba and Hindi.
• They rarely speak their own language now since their population is restricted to a single village. Moreover, the Tangams are relatively unknown — even within their state.
• The village lacks proper infrastructure in all basic sectors of education, health, drinking water facilities, road and electricity. Roads have reached Kugging only in 2018.
• Not a single person from the community has gone to university.

Languages of Arunachal Pradesh

• Till now there has been no systematic, scientific or official survey on the number of languages in Arunachal Pradesh.
• An official linguistic survey by the state government began only in 2018, which is currently underway.
• Before that, People’s Linguistic Survey of India was published in 2017.
• According to experts, there are around 32-34 languages with a disclaimer that it is not a conclusive figure.
• If various linguistic varieties or dialects embedded within these languages are enlisted then the numbers can go up to 90.
• The languages of Arunachal Pradesh have been classified under the Sino-Tibetan language family and more specifically under the Tibeto-Burman and Tai group of languages, such as Lolo-Burmish, Bodhic, Sal, Tani, Mishmi, Hruissh and Tai.
• The education system introduced Devanagari, Assamese and Roman scripts for most tribal languages but new scripts such as Tani Lipi and Wancho Script have been developed by native scholars as well.
• According to the UNESCO Atlas of the World’s Languages in Danger, more than 26 languages of Arunachal Pradesh have been identified as endangered with the degrees ranging from ‘unsafe’, ‘definitely endangered’ to ‘critically endangered’.

Risks to their languages

• The diversity of languages has led various communities to depend on English, Assamese and Arunachalee Hindi as the link languages.
• The younger generation of various tribes, especially in the urban areas, has mostly discarded the use of their mother tongue.

Road Ahead

• The diversity of languages has led various communities to depend on English, the Assamese, and the colloquial variety of Hindi called Arunachalee Hindi as the link languages. Many believe this shift has led to the loss of native languages of tribal communities. 
• The book attempts to cover “every aspect of Tangam life and culture that will help the future children retain their unique identity as an ethnolinguistic group.

Context: Recently, Pakistan announced reopening a key border crossing from July 15 to resume exports from Afghanistan to India.

• "At the special request of the government of Afghanistan and with a view to facilitating Afghanistan’s transit trade, Pakistan has decided to resume Afghan exports through Wagah border.

Key Points

• The decision, which is part of Islamabad’s commitment under Pakistan-Afghanistan Transit Trade Agreement, is expected to boost Afghanistan’s exports to India.
• India had cancelled the Most Favoured Nation status for Pakistan in the aftermath of the Pulwama attack.
• The announcement from Pakistan has come at a time when Afghanistan’s melon harvesting season is at its peak and the availability of the Indian market is expected to help its economy.

About Afghanistan–Pakistan Transit Trade Agreement

• The Afghanistan–Pakistan Transit Trade Agreement (also known as APTTA) is a bilateral trade agreement signed in 2010 by Pakistan and Afghanistan that calls for greater facilitation in the movement of goods amongst the two countries.
• In 2017, the President of Afghanistan announced that The Afghanistan and Pakistan Trade Agreement (APTA) has expired, and issued a decree banning Pakistani trucks from entering the country via the Torkham and Spin Boldak border crossings.
• The 2010 APTTA allows for both countries to use each other’s airports, railways, roads, and ports for transit trade along designated transit corridors.
• The agreement does not cover road transport vehicles from any third country, be it from India or any Central Asia country.

India – Afghanistan relations

• Afghanistan is India’s natural ally and India is interested in maintaining the relationship with Afghanistan as a friendly state. This will help India to counter Pakistan and cultivate assets to influence activities in Pakistan.
• The relations are spread over a number of realms like culture, trade, sports, ancient dynasty linkages etc. 
• Afghanistan has a mineral wealth of about $1-3 trillion of Iron ore, Lithium, Chromium, Natural Gas, Petroleum etc. India is willing to invest in Afghanistan to harness these resources for the development of both nations. 
• A strong relation with Afghanistan may open up the door to Central Asia for India. India may play a major role in the security and stability of the region with Afghanistan’s cooperation. 

Wagah Border

• The Wagah border crossing draws its name from Wahga village, near which the Radcliffe Line, the boundary demarcation line dividing India and Pakistan upon the Partition of British India, was drawn.
• At the time of the independence in 1947, migrants from India entered Pakistan through this border crossing.
• Wagah is a village situated on the Grand Trunk Road between Amritsar of India and Lahore in Pakistan.
• The Wagah border is known as the Attari border on the Indian side.

Wagah-Attari border ceremony

• The Wagah-Attari border ceremony happens at the border gate, two hours before sunset each day.
• The flag ceremony is conducted by the Pakistan Rangers and Indian Border Security Force (BSF).
• A marching ceremony, known as the “Silly Walk ceremony”, is conducted each evening along with the flag ceremony.

Context: Recently, Indian Railways has stepped up its efforts to become a Green Railway within a span of 10 years. It has set the target to achieve net zero carbon emission by the year 2030. 
Key Points

• The Ministry of Railways has taken a number of major initiatives towards mitigation of global warming and combating climate change.
• Railway Electrification, improving the energy efficiency of locomotives & trains and fixed installations, green certification for installations/stations, fitting bio-toilets in coaches and switching to renewable sources of energy are parts of its strategy of achieving net zero carbon emission.
• The Railways has completed the electrification of more than 40000 route km (RKM). Further electrification of lines has also been commissioned.
• It has also taken a number of initiatives to promote solar energy.
• The Railways is harnessing solar energy through rooftop solar panels, on top of buildings including stations.
• The Railways is also trying to produce power from land-based solar installations for running trains.
• It has also commissioned wind-based power plants.
• The Railways has started other green initiatives like 100 percent LED illumination of buildings and stations.
• It has acquired Green Certifications for many of its production units, workshops, diesel sheds and stores depot, railway stations and campuses.
• In the field of green initiatives, a total of 69,000 coaches have been fitted with more than 2,44,000 bio-toilets.
• Railway Electrification: Indian Railways has completed electrification of more than 40,000 Route km (RKM) (63% of BG routes) in which 18,605 km electrification work has been done during 2014-20.
• Green certification for installations/stations: Indian Railways has also acquired Green Certification from CIII to 7 Production Units (PUs), 39 Workshops, 6 Diesel sheds and 1 Stores depot. 14 Railway Stations and 21 other buildings/ campuses have also been Green certified.
• Fitting bio toilets in coaches: A total of 69,000 coaches have been fitted with more than 2,44,000 bio-toilets in Indian Railways.
• Roof top Solar panels: Indian Railways is working to harness the potential of 500 Mega Watt (MW) energy through roof top Solar panels (Developer model). Till date, 100 Mega Watt (MW) of solar plants have been commissioned on roof-tops of various buildings including 900 stations.
• Total 505 pairs of trains have been converted to Head on Generation (HOG), unleashing approx 70 million litre diesel/ Rs 450 crore per annum potential of saving.

Context: Technology giant Google will invest $10 billion (Rs 75,000 crore) in India over the next five to seven years with a focus on digitising the economy and building India-first products and services.
Key Points

• The event focused on contributing to accelerate India’s digital economy with this investment over the next five to seven years.
• The investment will be done through a mix of equity investments, partnerships, and operational, infrastructure and ecosystem investments.
• This will support India’s unique needs to be met by products and services.
• The huge investment will also help local businesses to move towards digital transformation.
• According to its CEO, this is a reflection of Google’s confidence in the future of India and its digital economy.

Four areas important to India’s digitization are:

• Enabling affordable access and information to every Indian in their own language
• Building new services and products that are deeply relevant to India’s unique needs
• Empowering businesses as they continue on digital transformation.
• Leveraging technology in AI- Artificial Intelligence for social good in areas like education, health, and agriculture.

Context: The Indian Navy is expecting to receive new twin-engine carrier-based fighter aircraft by 2032.
About the jet

• It is being developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and it will be a replacement for the Russian MiG-29K carrier jets in service.
• The jet will have all-weather operability and will be used for multiple roles such as reconnaissance, ground attack, air to air combat, anti-submarine warfare etc. 

Other Carriers of Navy

• The Navy is expected to get the Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. (HAL)-built twin-engine carrier aircraft by 2032 and It will replace the MiG-29Ks in service.
• The Navy currently operates Russian-origin carrier INS Vikramaditya and expects to have the first Indigenous Aircraft Carrier (IAC-I) Vikrant which will be operational by 2022. 
• The naval Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) successfully completed arrested landing and take-off on board Vikramaditya.
• The Navy is currently evaluating the responses to the Request For Information (RFI) from Boeing with its F-18 Super Hornet and Dassault Aviation with its Rafale jets.