Context: Recently, China has regained its position as India’s top trade partner in 2020.
Reasons for China being a top trading partner of India

• The New Delhi’s reliance on imported machines outweighed its efforts to curb commerce with Beijing after a bloody border conflict.
• The India’s commerce ministry has provided that the two-way trade between the longstanding economic and strategic rivals stood at $77.7 billion in 2020.
• India continues to rely heavily on Chinese-made heavy machinery, telecom equipment and home appliances.
• The total imports from China at $58.7 billion were more than India’s combined purchases from the U.S. and the U.A.E, which are its second- and third-largest trade partners, respectively.
• The electrical machinery and equipment, at $17.82 billion, and nuclear reactors, boilers, machinery and mechanical appliances, at $12.35 billion, continued to top the goods imported from China in 2020.

Measures adopted by India to reduce dependence on China

• India banned hundreds of Chinese apps which slowed approvals for investments from the neighbor and called for self-reliance after a deadly clash along their disputed Himalayan border.
• India managed to lower imports from its Asian neighbor amid demand disruptions caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
• India also managed to increase its exports to China by about 11% from a year ago to $19 billion in 2019.
• New Delhi has been slow to issue visas to Chinese engineers needed to help Taiwanese companies set up factories under a so-called production-linked incentive program, or PLI, to promote local manufacturing.

Context: The Union Cabinet recently approved the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) Scheme for the pharmaceuticals and IT hardware sectors.

• Objective: To enhance India's manufacturing capabilities by increasing investment and production in the sector and contributing to product diversification to high value goods.

Significance of the PLI scheme
To pharma sectors

• The scheme will be part of the umbrella scheme for the development of pharmaceutical industry.

The PLI scheme for pharmaceuticals, whose duration will be for nine years (from 2020-21 to 2028-29) will:

• Benefit domestic manufacturers
• Help create employment
• Contribute to the availability of a wider range of affordable medicines for consumers
• Promote the production of high-value products in the country
• Increase the value addition in export
• Help penetrate global value chains

The scheme is expected to bring in investment of Rs 15,000 crore in the pharmaceutical sector.

• India’s global contribution is 3.5 per cent but high-end patented drugs still come through imports. 

To IT hardware sectors

• An incentive will be given on net incremental sales of goods manufactured in India for a period of 4 years, will benefit 5 major global players and 10 domestic champions in the field of IT hardware.
• IT hardware sectors will include laptops, tablets, all-in-one-personal computers, and servers, mobile phones and its allied components, core and peripheral telecom equipment, and consumer electronics products.

The scheme will

• Generate employment for more than 1,80,000 (direct and indirect jobs) over four years.
• Provide impetus to domestic value addition for IT hardware which is expected to rise to 20-25% by 2025.
• 80 per cent laptops and tablets, sold in India are imported.

Background

• The government has approved the first set of five pharma projects in January 2021 under the PLI scheme for promoting domestic manufacture of bulk drugs and active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs).

Additional Information
PLI Scheme

• It aims to give companies incentives on incremental sales from products manufactured in domestic units.
• It invites foreign companies to set units in India, however, it also aims to encourage local companies to set up or expand existing manufacturing units.

Context: Recently, the first Draft National Policy on Migrant Labour was prepared by NITI Aayog and a working sub-group as a response to the Covid fallout on migrants.

Key proposals in the draft policy

• Mechanisms to “enable voting” so that political inclusion will “enhance accountability of political leadership towards welfare of migrant workers of their respective states.”
• The policy identified the challenges, and underlined how “political exclusion” leaves migrants “unable to make political demands for entitlements or seek reforms.”

Ministry of Labour to set up a special unit on migration.

• Inter-state migration management bodies to cover the nation’s key migration corridors.
• Uttar Pradesh and Mumbai; Bihar and Delhi; Western Odisha and Andhra Pradesh; Rajasthan and Gujarat, and Odisha and Gujarat.

Each state should establish a migrant workers section in their Labour department. Source states should send nodal officers to destination states to work collectively with the labour officers.

• Government policies should not hinder but seek to facilitate internal migration.

Migrants should be the target of Disaster Risk Reduction (DDR) programmers in urban centres.

• Access to health and other social protection programmes should be portable across state borders.
• Skill mapping; using Aadhaar to avail of social security schemes, psycho-social assistance through a national helpline.
• The draft flags how a fragmented labour market obscures supply chains and relationships between business owners and workers.
• The draft policy calls for a “rights-based” approach that taps the migrants’ potential rather than hand-outs and cash-transfers.

Context: Recently, renewable energy producer ‘ReNew Power’ announced an agreement to merge with RMG Acquisition Corp II, a blank-cheque company or a Special Purpose Acquisition Company (SPAC).
What is a Blank Cheque Company?

• A blank cheque company is a development-stage company that either does not have an established business plan or its business plan is based around a merger or acquisition with another company.
• It is also known as Special Purpose Acquisition Company (SPAC).
• The aim of this SPAC is to raise money in an initial public offering (IPO), and at this point in time, it does not have any operations or revenues.
• Once the money is raised from the public, it is kept in an escrow account, which can be accessed while making the acquisition.
• Investors may not have full knowledge of how their money will be spent, so they issue blank checks to the SPAC.
• If the acquisition is not made within two years of the IPO, the SPAC is delisted and the money is returned to the investors.

Significance

• These are attractive to investors, despite them essentially being shell companies, as the blank-cheque companies are people sponsoring.
• It is a fresh way of thinking of how to structure and exit versus an expensive IPO. The money is already raised by somebody who specialises in that area, and is now picking those assets and building on them.

About Escrow Account

• It is a legal concept describing a financial instrument whereby an asset or escrow money is held by a third party on behalf of two other parties that are in the process of completing a transaction.
• The third-party holds the funds until both parties have fulfilled their contractual requirements.
• Escrow is associated with real estate transactions, but it can apply to any situation where funds will pass from one party to another.

Thus, in a transaction where escrow account is used, the following activities take place:

• The buyer and the seller agree on the terms and conditions,
• The buyer pays the amount into the escrow account,
• The seller performs the service/ships the goods,
• The buyer receives the same,
• The escrow releases the amount in favor of the seller.

What is a Shell Company/Corporation?

• A shell corporation is a corporation without active business operations or significant assets.
• These types of corporations are not all necessarily illegal, but they are sometimes used illegitimately, such as to disguise business ownership from law enforcement or the public.
• Most shell companies do not manufacture any product or deal in any product or render any service.
• According to data provided by the Finance Ministry, there are about 1.5 million registered companies in India, while only 600,000 companies file their annual return.

Context: The NITI Aayog has framed a model Act on conclusive land titles that it hopes will be adopted and implemented by states. 

Need

• The Centre wants to reform the country’s land markets through a fundamental legal and procedural shift in how land titles are awarded. 
• In 2020, even as laws for farm reform and labour code reform were being enacted, the government’s think tank, NITI Aayog, took steps to initiate land reforms. 
• A Model Bill on Conclusive Land Titling was sent to States and Union Territories last June seeking their comments. 
• In September, after many States failed to send in their feedback, the Centre warned that their agreement would be presumed.

Background

• Land tenure system is the most vital institution which governs the use of land for any agriculture related economically productive pursuit. It relates to two aspects. 
• Firstly, the traditional or legal rights an individual or a group of individuals have on land and 
• Secondly, the social relationships among the rural population that emerges from such land rights.
• Land titling is a form of land reform in which private individuals and families are given formal property rights for land which they have previously occupied informally or used on the basis of customary land tenure.

The current system of land titling

• In India, land ownership is determined through various records such as sale deeds that are registered, property tax documents, government survey records, etc.
• India currently follows a system of presumptive land titling. 
• In this system, the land records are maintained, with information on possession, which is determined through details of past transactions. 
• Ownership, then, is established on the basis of current possession. 
• Registration of land is actually a registration of transactions, such as sale deeds, records of inheritance, mortgage and lease. 
• Holding registration papers does not actually involve the government or the legal framework guaranteeing the ownership title of the land.

About Conclusive land titling system

• Land records designate actual ownership. 
• The title is granted by the government, which takes the responsibility for accuracy. Once a title is granted, any other claimant will have to settle disputes with the government, not the title holder. 
• Further, under conclusive land titling, the government may provide compensation to claimants in case of disputes, but the title holder is not in any danger of losing ownership.

Draft model Act on land titles

• The Bill calls for Land Authorities to be set up by each State government, which will appoint a Title Registration Officer (TRO) to prepare and publish a draft list of land titles based on existing records and documents. 
• If disputing claims are received, the TRO will verify all the relevant documents and refer the case to a Land Dispute Resolution Officer (LDRO) for resolution. 
• However, disputes which are already pending in courts cannot be resolved in this way.
• Having considered and resolved all the disputed claims, the Land Authority will publish a Record of Titles. 
• Over a three-year period, these titles and the decisions of the TRO and the LDRO can be challenged before Land Titling Appellate Tribunals, which will be set up under the law. 
• After a three-year period, entries in the Record of Titles will be considered conclusive proof of ownership. 
• Further appeals can only be taken up in High Courts.

Need for conclusive titles

• The programme is aimed at ensuring formal property rights to the true owners of property without running long years of litigation. 
• Access to land (or land rights) has a wide-ranging impact on livelihoods, industrial, economic, and social growth.
• People with extensive rights to land are better off than the landless, due to better access to markets and other economic opportunities that come with land rights.

Challenges

• No update: The biggest challenge is that land records have not been updated for decades, especially in rural and semi-urban areas. 
• No proof of inheritance: Land records are often in the name of the grandparents of the current owner, with no proof of inheritance. 
• Unless they are based on updated records, conclusive land titles could create even more problems.

Road Ahead

• Comprehensive village-level surveys with community involvement are a necessary precursor to the land titling process. 
• Under the Digital India Land Records Modernization Programme of the Department of Land Resources under the rural development ministry, the government has achieved more than 90% digitisation of land records. 
• Out of the identified 655,959 villages, land records have been computerised in 90.1% or 591,221 villages across the country. More needs to be done on this front.

Context: Recently, the Punjab Cabinet approved implementation of mission ‘Lal Lakir’ aimed at facilitating villagers to monetise property rights and availing benefits provided by government departments, institutions and banks in all villages across the state.

About Mission Lal Lakir

• In a move that will benefit thousands of residents implementation of Mission Lal Lakir in all villages across the state.
• ‘Lal Lakir’ refers to land that is part of the village ‘abaadi’ (habitation) and is used for non-agriculture purposes only.
• The mission is aimed at facilitating villagers to monetize property rights and availing benefits provided by government departments, institutions and banks in all villages across the state.
• As no record of rights is available for such properties within the ‘Lal Lakir’, the same cannot currently be monetized as per the real value of the property and no mortgages can be created on such properties.
• There are households within the ‘Lal Lakir’, which do not own property other than the areas within the ‘Lal Lakir’, and are thus at a disadvantage.

Key Benefit

• This would ensure a fair balance for the occupants who have been in possession since long, and for the government to get its due revenue in respect of the unauthorised occupation of government lands and also settle unnecessary long pending litigation.
• The common lands within ‘Lal Lakir’, such as ponds, common gathering areas and even passages and streets, which were facing encroachments due to non-availability/creation of record to maintain these assets, will now be protected under the mission.

About SVAMITVA Scheme 

• SVAMITVA is a Central Sector Scheme of the Ministry of Panchayati Raj, which was launched by the Prime Minister on National Panchayati Raj Day, 24th April 2020.The scheme aims to provide the ‘record of rights’ to village household owners in rural areas and issue Property Cards.
• SVAMITVA stands for Survey of Villages and Mapping with Improvised Technology in Village Areas.
• Under the scheme, the latest surveying technology such as drones will be used for measuring the inhabited land in villages and rural areas.
• The mapping and survey will be conducted in collaboration with the Survey of India, State Revenue Department and State Panchayati Raj Department under the Ministry of Panchayati Raj.
• The drones will draw the digital map of every property falling in the geographical limit of each Indian village.
• The Scheme is being implemented across the country in a phased manner over a period of four years (2020-2024) and would eventually cover around 6.62 lakh villages of the country.
• About 1 lakh villages in the States of Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Karnataka, and few border villages of Punjab & Rajasthan, along with establishment of Continuous Operating System (CORS) stations’ network across Punjab & Rajasthan, are being covered in the Pilot phase (2020-21).
• All these six States have signed MoU with Survey of India for drone survey of rural areas and implementation of the scheme. These States have finalised the digital property card format and the villages to be covered for drone-based survey.
• States of Punjab and Rajasthan have signed MoU with Survey of India for establishment of CORS network to assist in future drone flying activities.
• Different States have different nomenclature for the Property Cards viz. ‘Title deed’ in Haryana, ‘Rural Property Ownership Records (RPOR)’ in Karnataka, ‘Adhikar Abhilekh’ in Madhya Pradesh, ‘Sannad’ in Maharashtra, ‘Svamitva Abhilekh’ in Uttarakhand, ‘Gharauni’ in Uttar Pradesh.

Context: The Ministry of Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises (MSME) inaugurated 50 artisan-based SFURTI clusters, spread over 18 States, to provide a boost to the MSME sector.

• The Union Minister of MSME has said that 5,000 clusters for artisans can be started under the SFURTI scheme by fast-tracking the approval processes and reducing red-tape.

About SFURTI Scheme

• It stands for Scheme of Fund for Regeneration of Traditional Industries (SFURTI) with a view to organize traditional industries and artisans into clusters to make them competitive and increase their income.
• It is an initiative by Ministry of MSME to promote Cluster development.
• The Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) is the nodal Agency for promotion of Cluster development for Khadi.

The following schemes are being merged into SFURTI

• The Scheme for Enhancing Productivity and Competitiveness of Khadi Industry and Artisans
• The Scheme for Product Development, Design Intervention and Packaging (PRODIP)
• The Scheme for Rural Industries Service Centre (RISC) and
• Other small interventions like Ready Warp Units, Ready to Wear Mission, etc.

The SFURTI clusters are of two types

• Regular Cluster (500 artisans) with Government assistance of up to Rs.2.5 crore and
• Major Cluster (more than 500 artisans) with Government assistance up to Rs.5 crore

Objectives of the SFURTI Scheme

• To provide sustained employment for traditional Industry artisans and rural entrepreneurs
• To enhance marketability of products of clusters by providing support for new products, design intervention and improved packaging, and also the improvement of marketing Infrastructure
• To equip traditional artisans of the associated clusters with improved skills and capabilities through training and exposure visits
• To make provision for common facilities and improved tools and equipment for artisans
• To strengthen the cluster governance systems with the active participation of the stakeholders, so that they are able to gauge the emerging challenges and opportunities and respond to them in a coherent manner
• To build innovative and traditional skills, improved technologies, advanced processes, market intelligence and new models of public-private partnerships, so as to gradually replicate similar models of cluster- based regenerated traditional Industries

Significance of SFURTI Scheme

• Its primary objective is to organise traditional industries and artisans into clusters to make them competitive and increase their income.
• It provides support for creating infrastructure through Common Facility Centres, procurement of new machineries, creating raw material banks and improved packaging.

Need for revamping SFURTI Scheme

• It is required to step up the pace of formation of such clusters since only 82 of the 371 announced so far are actually functional.
• The target of 5,000 clusters is easily achievable if red-tape can be reduced.
• The government is looking to increase the share of MSME sector in the country's GDP to 40 per cent from the current 30 per cent and share of exports to about 60 per cent from 48 per cent.
• The government has set a target of creating 5 crore new jobs in the next five years in MSME.

Eligibility under SFURTI Scheme

• The institutions eligible under SFURTI Scheme are Non-Government organizations (NGOs), Institutions of the Central and State Governments, Semi-Government institutions, Field functionaries of State and Central Govt and Panchayati Raj institutions (PRIs).
• The Eligible agencies/organizations may submit the proposal to the State Office, KVIC and the same is scrutinized at the State Level and Zonal Level before submitting to the Scheme Steering Committee for approval.

Other Recent Initiatives to Promote MSME Sector

• Udyog Aadhaar Memorandum (UAM): It is a simple one-page registration form to promote ease of doing business for MSMEs in India.
• A Scheme for Promoting Innovation, Rural Industry and Entrepreneurship (ASPIRE): The scheme promotes innovation & rural entrepreneurship through rural Livelihood Business Incubator (LBI), Technology Business Incubator (TBI) and Fund of Funds for start up creation in the agro-based industry.
• Credit Guarantee Fund Scheme: To facilitate easy flow of credit, guarantee cover is provided for collateral free credit extended to MSMEs.
• Prime Minister’s Employment Generation Programme (PMEGP): It is a credit linked subsidy scheme, for setting up of new micro-enterprises and to generate employment opportunities in rural as well as urban areas of the country.
• Credit Linked Capital Subsidy Scheme (CLCSS) for Technology Upgradation: CLCSS aims at facilitating technology upgradation of Micro and Small Enterprises (MSEs) by providing 15% capital subsidy for purchase of plant & machinery.

Context: Recently, Chandigarh became the first state or Union Territory in India to launch Carbon Watch.
Key Points

• Chandigarh became the first state or Union Territory in India to launch Carbon Watch, a mobile application to assess the carbon footprint of an individual. Although the app can be accessed by everyone, it has specific options for the residents of Chandigarh to compile a detail study.
• The application can be downloaded through a QR code in Android supported smart cell phones. 

What is Carbon Footprint ?

• Carbon footprint is the amount of greenhouse gases-especially carbon dioxide-released into the atmosphere by a particular human activity. 

How does the app Carbon Watch work?

• As a person downloads the application, they will need to fill details in four parts — Water, Energy, Waste Generation and Transport (Vehicular movement). In the category of Water, the person will be required to inform about the consumption of water.
• In the Energy category, the details regarding the electricity units consumed every month at the house, monthly bill etc and usage of solar energy will have to be furnished.
• In the Waste category, the individual will need to inform about the waste generation on their part and their family. In the transport section, the individual will have to inform about the mode of transport used by them- four wheeler, two-wheeler or bicycle.
• With the mentioned information, the mobile application will automatically calculate the carbon footprint of the individual. The application will also provide information such as the national and world average of the emission, and the individual’s level of emission generation.

What is the motive behind designing this application?

• Making the people Climate-Smart Citizens while making them capable of accessing their carbon footprint, along with providing them with steps to reduce it, is the motive behind the application. 
• The mobile application is open for anybody. A man residing in Mumbai can also download it. The person will be inform about their carbon emission. But the focus of our department is on the feedback of Chandigarh residents. 
• The application will help us make a strategy for Chandigarh. It will help us in analysing the average ratio of Chandigarh in the national and world emission.
• There are two options: Chandigarh or out of Chandigarh. The individuals will need to fill the pin code of their address in the app. 

What solutions will be offered by the mobile application? Will it get updated every day?

• The mobile application will suggest methods to reduce the carbon footprints. The application will suggest ways as per the information furnished by the individuals.
• For instance, if a person feeds in the app that they travel only in four-wheelers, the app will advise them to reduce their travel in four-wheelers and use bicycles occasionally. Moreover, in the option of Energy, the app will inform the individuals about the use of solar energy.
• The app focuses on individuals’ actions and calculates carbon footprint on the basis of Transport, Energy, Waste and Water consumption. It also suggests remedial actions and sensitises people about their lifestyle emissions, their impact and possible countermeasures to mitigate the same.

Where does Chandigarh stand in the view of emission generation?

• Although Chandigarh is one of the green cities, which has achieved the surplus 45 per cent green cover instead of the set target of 33 per cent. It still stands among 112 Indian cities identified as Non-Attainment Cities, for not meeting the prescribed standards of air quality.
• Vehicular pollution and the emission generated by the neighbouring states, including Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh, is the main reason behind the poor air quality of Chandigarh. 
• Chandigarh has a per capita density of 878 vehicles per 1,000 population. Around 11 lakh is the population of Chandigarh, a joint capital of Punjab and Haryana.

Context: Recently, the spectacular and rare Mandarin duck was spotted floating in the Maguri-Motapung Beel (or wetland) in Assam’s Tinsukia district.

About Mandarin Duck

• It was first identified by Swedish botanist, physician and zoologist Carl Linnaeus in 1758.
• It is considered the most beautiful duck in the world having the scientific name of Aix galericulata.
• The eBird website describes it as a “small-exotic looking bird” native to East Asia.
• The eBird website describes the male as very ornate with big orangey ‘sail fins’ on the back, streaked orangey cheeks, and a small red bill with a whitish tip.
• The female is described having narrow white spectacles on a shaggy grey head, bold pale dappled spots along flanks, and pale bill tip.
• It is a migratory duck which breeds in Russia, Korea, Japan and northeastern parts of China.
• It is listed as ‘Least Concern’ under the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.

Mandarin Duck in India

• It was recorded in 1902 in Dibru River in the Rongagora area in Tinsukia.
• It was sighted in Manipur’s Loktak Lake in 2013.
• It was spotted in Saatvoini Beel in Manas National Park and Tiger Reserve in Assam’s Baksa district 2014.

Maguri-Motapung Beel

• It is a critical part of the Dibru-Saikhowa Biosphere Reserve, an ecological corridor to Namdapha National Park.
• It sustains the ecological integrity of the Indo-Burma Biodiversity Hotspot.
• It is located near the confluence of the three rivers (Dibru, Lohit & Dangori) that form the Brahmaputra in Assam.
• It is declared as an Important Bird and Biodiversity Area (IBA) in 1996.

Dibru-Saikhowa Biosphere Reserve

• It is located northward from Tinsukia town, Assam.
• It is bounded by Lohit and Brahmaputra River on the north and by the Dibru River on the southern side.
• The largest Salix swamp forest of North East India is also located inside the Protected Area (PA).
• The forest type of Dibru-Saikhowa comprises of semi-evergreen forests, deciduous forests, littoral and swamp forests and patches of wet evergreen forests.

Context: Recently, the National Board for Wildlife and Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change included the caracal in the list of critically endangered species as part of its Endangered Species Recovery Programme.  

About Caracal

• They are slender, medium-sized wild cats.
• The iconic ears give the animal its name caracal,  which comes from the Turkish word ‘karakulak’, meaning black ears.
• In India, it is called Siya gosh, a Persian name that translates as ‘black ears’.
• A Sanskrit fable exists about a small wild cat named deergha-karn or ‘long-eared’.
• It is characterised by a robust build, long legs, a short face, long tufted ears, and long canine teeth.
• The caracal is an elusive, primarily nocturnal animal.

Habitat

• The caracal is found in several dozen countries across Africa, the Middle East, Central and South Asia.
• In India, the presence of these cats has been reported from only three states which are Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Rajasthan.

Major Threats

• Infrastructure projects such as the building of roads lead to the fragmentation of the caracal’s ecology and disruption of its movement.
• The loss of habitat also affects the animal’s prey which includes small ungulates and rodents.
• In recent years, cases have been detected of the animal being captured to be sold as exotic pets.

Conservation Status

• The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) lists caracals as a species of ‘least concern’ in its Red List.
• However, in India, these are listed as critically endangered species.

Significance of Current Listing

• The listing of the caracal as critically endangered is expected to bring central funding to conservation efforts.

Historical Context

• The earliest evidence of the caracal in the subcontinent comes from a fossil dating back to the civilisation of the Indus Valley c. 3000-2000 BC, according to a reference in ‘Historical and current extent of occurrence of the Caracal in India’.
• The caracal has traditionally been valued for its litheness and extraordinary ability to catch birds in flight; it was a favourite coursing or hunting animal in medieval India.
• Firuz Shah Tughlaq (1351-88) had siyah-goshdar khana, stables that housed large numbers of coursing caracal.
• It is mentioned in Abul Fazl’s Akbarnama, as a hunting animal in the time of Akbar (1556-1605).
• Descriptions and illustrations of the caracal can be found in medieval texts such as the Anvar-i-Suhayli, Tutinama, Khamsa-e-Nizami, and Shahnameh.
• The East India Company’s Robert Clive is said to have been presented with a caracal after he defeated Siraj-ud-daullah in the Battle of Plassey (1757).

Context: Recently, the Central government unveiled the Animal Husbandry Infrastructure Development Fund (AHIDF) .

• This is the first major fund launched by the government that includes a diverse set of stakeholders such as FPOs, private dairy players, individual entrepreneurs, and non-profits within its ambit.
• The Animal Husbandry Infrastructure Development Fund (AHIDF) announced in 2020 under the AtmaNirbhar Bharat Abhiyan stimulus package.

Need for such type of Fund

• Animal husbandry refers to livestock raising and selective breeding. It is the management and care of animals in which the genetic qualities and behavior of animals are further developed for profit.
• A large number of farmers depend upon animal husbandry for their livelihood. It supports the livelihood of almost 55% of the rural population.
• As per the Economic Survey-2021, the contribution of Livestock in total agriculture and allied sector Gross Value Added (at Constant Prices) has increased from 24.32% (2014-15) to 28.63% (2018-19).
• India is the highest livestock owner of the world.
• As per the 20th Livestock Census, the total Livestock population is 535.78 million in the country showing an increase of 4.6% over Livestock Census-2012.

Animal rearing has multidimensional potential.

• For instance, Operation Flood, launched in 1970, helped dairy farmers direct their own development, increased milk production ("a flood of milk"), augmented rural incomes and ensured reasonable prices for consumers.

About Animal Husbandry Infrastructure Development Fund (AHIDF) 

• It aims to incentivize investments by individual entrepreneurs, private companies, MSME, Farmers Producers Organizations (FPOs) and Section 8 companies to establish dairy processing and value addition infrastructure, meat processing and value addition infrastructure and animal feed plants.
• As per the provisions of AHIDF, a project will be eligible for a loan amount that covers up to 90% of the estimated cost – with an interest subvention of 3% for all eligible entities.
• The AHIDF has been set up with an outlay of Rs. 15,000 crore.

Significance
Address infrastructural deficit in dairy value chain

• AHIDF will help strengthen the dairy value chain which is currently facing an infrastructural deficit.
• There is an infrastructure gap of about 120-130 MMT in terms of chilling infrastructure at collection centres. Similarly, there is an infrastructural deficit even in terms of milk processing.
• The setting up of chilling infrastructure at collection centres by setting up bulk milk coolers will help prevent wastage of milk.

Help increase productivity of cattle

• AHIDF’s focus on the animal feed sector will help increase the productivity of cattle, especially by enhancing the quality of animal feed.
• AHIDF has been designed to support the establishment of animal feed plants of varying capacities – including the setting up of mineral mixture plants, silage making units, and animal feed testing laboratory.
• This could spur innovative solutions from domestic start-ups for the development of new varieties of green fodder and enriched animal feed.

Nutritional security

• The scheme’s support to the poultry industry will not only result in economic but also nutritional benefits by boosting the poultry segment’s output, efficiency and quality.
• India is the fourth-largest chicken meat producer and the second-largest egg producer in the world.
• The poultry sector can help mitigate rampant malnutrition given that chicken meat provides the cheapest source of protein per unit. Eggs have been introduced as part of the mid-day meal in several anganwadis in the country.

Economic benefits

• As an allied industry of agriculture, the animal husbandry and dairy sector collectively employ more than 100 million people.
• The AHIDF has the potential to create over 30 lakh jobs, as it helps to overhaul domestic infrastructure towards giving greater prominence to India’s dairy and livestock products in the global value chain.
• Also given that the bulk of animal husbandry related establishments are concentrated in rural India, the impetus to this sector will have a substantial impact on the socio-economic development of the nation.

Climate action

• Macro benefits regarding climate change are linked to the animal husbandry sector. Enhanced infrastructure can make processing units more energy-efficient and help mitigate their carbon footprint.

Road Ahead

• The Infrastructure investments are necessary to boost productivity levels and fill critical gaps in production. The AHIDF also has the potential to create over 30 lakh jobs, even as it overhauls domestic infrastructure towards giving greater prominence to India’s dairy and livestock products in the global value chain.

Context: Recently, Union Minister for Road Transport & Highways has launched the “Go Electric" Campaign to spread awareness on the benefits of e-mobility and EV Charging Infrastructure as well as electric cooking in India.

Go Electric Campaign

• It is a campaign of the Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) to promote and spread awareness on electric mobility.

Objectives

• It will boost the confidence of electric vehicle manufacturers.
• Furthermore, it will spread awareness about the benefits of e-mobility and EV Charging Infrastructure in India.
• Lastly, the Go Electric Campaign will help in reducing the import dependence of our country in the coming years.
• Implementation: BEE will provide technical support to the State Designated Agencies(SDAs) for its implementation on a state and national level.

Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE)

• It is a statutory body. It was established in 2002 under the Energy Conservation Act, 2001.
• Nodal Ministry: Ministry of Power
• Objective: It assists in developing policies and strategies for reducing the energy intensity of the Indian economy.

Additional Information

E-mobility

• E-mobility moves away from existing carbon-emitting fossil fuels to using energy from electrical power sources (e.g. the National Grid) through external charging capability.
• Currently, India is using 94 million tonnes of oil and petroleum products for transportation only which is expected to double by 2030.

Green Hydrogen

• Green hydrogen in the commercial vehicle could be a game-changer move which would help in eliminating the crude requirement and imports in all possible ways.

Green hydrogen is produced using renewable energy and electrolysis to split water. It is distinct from

• Grey hydrogen, which is produced from methane and releases greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.
• Blue hydrogen, which captures those emissions and stores them underground to prevent them causing climate change.

Electric Cooking

• The shift to induction cooking will bring the government closer to delivering on its promise to improve energy access.
• Theoretically, if electric cooktops are adopted, universal electrification could translate into universal clean cooking as well.
• An advantage of the electricity-based solution is that it can make use of solar power in both urban and rural areas.

Electric Fuel as an Alternative Fuel

• Electric fuel is a major alternative for fossil fuels.
• When compared to conventional fuels, the electric fuel has low cost, reduced emissions and it is also indigenous.
• Electrification of public transport is not only economical but also eco friendly.

Context: Recently, the State of Environment Report, 2021 was released by the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE).

• CSE is a public interest research and advocacy organisation based in New Delhi. It researches into, lobbies for and communicates the urgency of development that is both sustainable and equitable.

About the State of Environment Report, 2021

• It is an annual publication by the Centre for Science and Environment(CSE) along with Down To Earth.
• It covers aspects such as forests, wildlife, agriculture, rural development, water and sanitation, and climate change. This publication is regarded as the most credible and complete annual survey of India’s environment.

Key Findings
Impact of Covid-19 Pandemic

• Pandemic Generation: The country is all set to host a ‘pandemic generation’. 375 million children (from newborn to 14-year-olds) have a long-lasting impact ranging from being underweight, stunting, and increased child mortality.
• Hidden Victims of Pandemic: The pandemic has its hidden victims. Out of the 500 million children forced out of school globally, India accounts for more than 50%.
• Increase in Poverty: Covid-19 has also turned the world’s poor into poorer. 115 million additional people might get pushed into extreme poverty and most of them live in South Asia.

Industrial Pollution

• India’s air, water, and land have become more polluted between 2009 and 2018.
• Tarapur in Maharashtra has emerged as the most polluted cluster.

On Sustainable Development Goals(SDGs)

• India ranks 117 among 192 nations in terms of sustainable development. It is behind all South Asian nations except Pakistan.
• Five best performing states in achieving SDGs: Kerala, Himachal Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, and Telangana
• Five worst-performing states in achieving SDGs: Bihar, Jharkhand, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, and Uttar Pradesh.

On air pollution

• In 2019, 67 million Indians died due to air pollution. Its economic cost was over US $36,000 million, which is equivalent to 1.36 percent of India’s GDP.

On Water

• Since 2014-15, an average of 34% of MGNREGA funds has been spent on water-related works. It led to the creation of almost 11 million assets in half a million villages.

On biodiversity and forests

• Environmental crime cases are increasing and disposal of the cases is slow. In 2019, 34,671 crimes were registered and 49,877 cases are pending trial. To clear the backlog in a year, courts need to dispose of 137 cases a day.
• Forestland diversion is continuing consistently. In 2019, over 11,000 hectares were diverted in 22 states. Eight coal projects were granted clearance in ‘No-Go’ areas. These projects diverted around 19,614 ha of forestland and evicted over 10,000 families.

Context: According to a study, Mawsynram(Meghalaya) become the wettest place in the World. It has replaced Cherrapunji(Meghalaya) from the top spot. Mawsynram receives over 10,000 MM of rain in a year.

About the study

• The study looked at the rainfall pattern of the past 119 years (period of 1901–2019).It found a decreasing rainfall trend at Cherrapunji and nearby areas.
• The 1973–2019 period shows a decrease of about 0.42 mm per decade in rainfall. This trend was statistically significant at seven stations (Agartala, Cherrapunji, Guwahati, Kailashahar, Pasighat, Shillong and Silchar).

What was the need for this study?

• Northeast India is highly sensitive to changes in regional and global climate. The first signs of the effect of climate change will be evident in extreme cases such as the rainfall at Cherrapunji.
• Northeast India also has the highest vegetation cover in India. It includes 18 biodiversity hotspots of the world,
• Thus, it is important in terms of its greenery and climate-change sensitivity.

Reasons for decreasing trend of rainfall

• Changes in Temperature: The changes in the Indian Ocean temperature have a huge effect on the rainfall in the NorthEast region.
• Reduction in Vegetation Area: Satellite data analysis shows a reduction in the vegetation area in northeast India. Lesser vegetation results in changing rainfall patterns.
• Increase in Cropland Area and Deforestation: Jhum cultivation or shifting cultivation in the region has contributed to deforestation and increase in crop land area.

Jhum Cultivation

• Jhum Cultivation also known as shifting cultivation. It is a slash-and-burn agricultural practice that is widely practiced among the indigenous communities of Northeast India.
• Under this cultivation, the farmers grow the crops by first clearing the land of trees and vegetation and burning them thereafter. The burnt soil contains potash which increases the nutrient content of the soil.

Reason for High Rainfall in Cherrapunji and Mawsynram

• Cherrapunji (elevation 1313 m) and Mawsynram (elevation 1401.5 m) are located on the southern slopes of the east Khasi Hills in Meghalaya.
• Meghalaya is a mountainous state with numerous valleys and highland plateaus.
• Elevation in the plateau region ranges between 150 m to 1,961 m , with the central part comprising the Khasi Hills with the highest elevations.
• The rainfall in Cherrapunji-Mawsynram is caused by the orography favouring a monsoon wind regime.
• The northward moving moist winds from the Bay of Bengal passing over the plains of Bangladesh are forced to converge in the narrow valleys of the Khasi Hills with orography providing forced ascent that causes condensation, formation of clouds resulting in rain on the windward side of the slope.

Context: According to a new report by BloombergNEF (an international energy research organisation), India added just 1.1 gigawatt of onshore wind power projects in 2020, lowest in a decade. 
Key Points

• The report titled India’s Top Wind Suppliers in 2020 attributed the slow growth to the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic. 
• The pandemic resulted in nation-wide lockdowns in 2020 and caused severe disruptions to the supply chain and movement of goods and people, delaying project execution.  
• The Union government has recently been vocal about achieving its renewable energy targets of 175 gigawatt by 2022 and 450 GW by 2030.

India's wind power capacity
Overview

• India’s wind energy sector is led by indigenous wind power industry and has shown consistent progress. 
• The country currently has the fourth highest wind installed capacity in the world with a total installed capacity of 35.6 GW (as on 31st March 2019).

Government’s initiatives
The Government is promoting wind power projects in the entire country through private sector investment by providing various fiscal and financial incentives such as 

• Accelerated Depreciation benefit, 
• Concessional custom duty exemption on certain components, 
• Generation Based Incentive (GBI) Scheme etc.
• Technical support including wind resource assessment and identification of potential sites through the National Institute of Wind Energy, Chennai.

Installed capacity: Tamil Nadu , Gujarat, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Rajasthan are top 5 states in the installed capacity.
Potential of Wind Energy in India

• Wind is an intermittent and site-specific resource of energy and therefore, an extensive Wind Resource Assessment is essential for the selection of potential sites. 
• The Government, through the National Institute of Wind Energy (NIWE), has installed over 800 wind-monitoring stations all over the country. 
• The recent assessment indicates a gross wind power potential of 302 GW in the country at 100 meter above ground level. 

Key Data

• The IPPs commissioned projects with cumulative capacity of 883 megawatt in Gujarat, or 79 per cent of the wind energy capacity built in the country. Higher wind speeds and land availability have made Gujarat a favoured state for most IPPs.
• The western state was followed by Tamil Nadu (128MW), Karnataka (82MW) and Rajasthan (26MW). Despite moderate to high wind speeds, no developers commissioned new projects in Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh or Andhra Pradesh.
• Foreign turbine makers supplied 76 per cent of all capacity commissioned last year, up 9 percentage points from 2019.

Context: The International Commission on Large Dams (ICOLD) Symposium on Sustainable Development of Dams & River Basins was inaugurated by Minister for Jal Shakti.
Key highlights

• International Commission on Large Dams (INCOLD) organised Symposium on Sustainable Development of Dams and River Basins under the aegis of ICOLD.
• It was organised in collaboration with Central Water Commission (CWC), Dam Rehabilitation Improvement Project (DRIP) and National Hydrology Project (NHP).

About ICOLD

• The International Commission on Large Dams (ICOLD) is a non-governmental International Organization which provides a forum for the exchange of knowledge and experience in dam engineering.

Aim

• To encourage advances in the planning, design, construction, operation, and maintenance of large dams and their associated civil works, by collecting and disseminating relevant information and by studying related technical questions.
• The Organization leads the profession in ensuring that dams are built safely, efficiently, economically, and without detrimental effects on the environment.
• Earlier, the focus was put on subjects of current concern such as dam safety, monitoring of performance, reanalysis of older dams and spillways, effects of ageing and environmental impact.
• More recently, new subjects include cost studies at the planning and construction stages, harnessing international rivers, information for the public at large, and financing.

The Commission pursues its goal through

• Technical Committees which issue some 2-10 technical books, bulletins and register in a year
• Three-yearly Congresses with discussions on four technical subjects
• Technical Symposia in non-Congress years
• Technical lectures following with Symposia
• Workshops organized by the Technical Committees

Significance

• The science of dam engineering and water management has been and is being advanced through ICOLD activities.
• The INCOLD is the Indian Committee interacting with ICOLD Central Office in Paris and helps in dissemination, in India, of information about new developments in dam engineering, besides projecting India's expertise at international level through participation in various events of ICOLD.
• Indian experts are many a time invited to officiate as members of ICOLD Committees on specialized topics.
• Presently Indian representatives are members in 12 technical committees out of 19 committees of ICOLD.

Context: Recently, the Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs has launched a platform called ‘City Innovation Exchange (CiX)’. The platform will be a significant addition to the growing innovation ecosystem of India and focuses on fostering innovative practices in cities. CiX, through an ‘open innovation’ process, engages with innovators to design-test-deliver on solutions to pressing urban challenges.

About City Innovation Exchange

• It is a platform which engages with innovators to design-test-deliver on solutions to pressing urban challenges through an ‘open innovation’ process.
• It is designed on the philosophy of ‘everyone is an innovator’.
• The Smart Cities Mission will partner and effectively collaborate with Startup India, Atal Innovation Mission, AGNIi and other initiatives in the Indian Innovation ecosystem.
• The Platform has more than 400 start-ups, 100 smart cities, more than 150 challenges statements and over 215 solutions at the time of launch.

Significance of City Innovation Exchange

• It will be a significant addition to the growing innovation ecosystem of India and focuses on fostering innovative practices in cities.
• It is among the ongoing efforts of the Government to realise Prime Minister’s vision of New and AtmaNirbhar Bharat.
• It aims to make cities more self-reliant and enabled to meet the needs of and provide services to their citizens.
• The platform will bring together Citizen Organisations-Academia- Businesses- Government to co-create for the future of Urban India in a transparent and sustainable manner.
• It will connect cities to innovators across the national ecosystem to design innovative solutions for their pressing challenges.
• The platform will ease the discovery, design & validation of solutions through a robust, transparent and user centric process that will reduce barriers for innovators and cities to discover fitting solutions.
• The platform in due time will help our cities in adopting solutions that will enhance the quality of life for its residents and significantly improve the Ease of Doing Business.

Context: The National Urban Digital Mission (NUDM) has been launched by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs along with the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology.

• Other initiatives: India Urban Data Exchange (IUDX), SmartCode, Smart Cities 2.0 website, and Geospatial Management Information System (GMIS) -- were also launched at the event.
• These initiatives are among the ongoing efforts to realise the central government’s vision of Digital India and AtmaNirbhar Bharat, by making cities more self-reliant and enabled to meet the needs of and provide services to their citizens.

About National Urban Digital Mission (NUDM) 

• The National Urban Digital Mission (NUDM) will create a shared digital infrastructure for urban India, working across the three pillars of people, process, and platform to provide holistic support to cities and towns.
• It will institutionalise a citizen-centric and ecosystem-driven approach to urban governance and service delivery in 2022 cities by 2022, and across all cities and towns in India by 2024.
• NUDM has articulated a set of governing principles, and inherits the technology design principles of the National Urban Innovation Stack (NUIS), whose strategy and approach was released by MoHUA in February, 2019.
• The principles in turn give rise to standards, specifications, and certifications, across the three pillars of people, process, and platforms.
• It will create a shared digital infrastructure that can consolidate and cross-leverage the various digital initiatives of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, enabling cities and towns across India to benefit from holistic and diverse forms of support, in keeping with their needs and local challenges.

Additional Information
''India Urban Data Exchange (IUDX)'' 

• It has been developed in partnership between the Smart Cities Mission and the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru.
• It  serves as a seamless interface for data providers and data users, including ULBs, to share, request, and access datasets related to cities, urban governance, and urban service delivery.
• It is an open-source software platform which facilitates secure, authenticated, and managed exchange of data amongst various data platforms, third party authenticated and authorised applications, and other sources.

''SmartCode''

• It is a platform that enables all ecosystem stakeholders to contribute to a repository of open-source code for various solutions and applications for urban governance.
• "It is designed to address the challenges that ULBs face in the development and deployment of digital applications to address urban challenges, by enabling cities to take advantage of existing codes and customising them to suit local needs, rather than having to develop new solutions from scratch," .

Context: Recently, Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu laid the foundation stone for the first phase of the Cauvery-South Vellar-Vaigai-Gundar intra-State river-link project.

Background

• The first significant step towards the linking of the Cauvery and Gundar rivers was made with the commissioning of the barrage across Cauvery at Mayanur in Karur district in 2014.

Key Points

• Tamil Nadu is all set to launch its ambitious intra-State river linking project by building a canal from the Cauvery to the Vaigai and the Gundar. 
• The massive project seeks to divert surplus flows from the Cauvery to the water scarce southern parts of the State.
• In the first phase, the canal will run through Karur (47.23 km), Tiruchi (18.89 km) and Pudukottai district (52.32 km). 
• The second phase will involve linking the South Vellar and Vaigai rivers, a distance of about 110 km, and the third final phase will link the Vaigai with the Gundar (34.04 km).
• The project forms part of the peninsular rivers’ development component of the National Perspective Plan envisaging diversion of surplus flows of the Mahanadi basin and the Godavari basin to the water-short Krishna, Pennar, Cauvery, Vaigai and Gundar basins in the South.
• The barrage will form the head of the new link canal which will run a distance of 262.19 km to carry the surplus waters from the Cauvery to the South Vellar, the Vaigai river and finally the Gundar. The canal will have a capacity to carry about 6,000 cusecs of water.

Kaveri–Vaigai Link Canal

• Kaveri–Vaigai Link Canal Project is a project envisioned by the Government of Tamil Nadu, linking Kaveri and Vaigai rivers.
• Tamil Nadu is one of the states in southern India which depends heavily on the rivers flowing from the neighboring states of Kerala and Karnataka.
• Hence, the state government started this project linking Kaveri and Vaigai rivers which would benefit during the drier seasons.
• The project involves construction of a 60-kilometre (158.82 mi) long canal from Mayanur in Karur district to link river Kaveri with Vaigai.
• According to the National Water Development agency, the gravity canal will provide water for irrigating an additional area of 3.38 lakh hectares and for domestic and industrial water supply.

Additional Information

• Source: The river rises on Brahmagiri Hill of the Western Ghats in southwestern Karnataka.
• Drainage Basin: It flows in a southeasterly direction through the states of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, and descends the Eastern Ghats in a series of great falls. Before emptying into the Bay of Bengal south of Cuddalore, Tamil Nadu, the river breaks into a large number of distributaries forming a wide delta called the “garden of southern India.”
• Tributaries: Arkavathi, Hemavathi, Lakshmana Theertha, Shimsa, Kabini and Harangi.

• Source of origin of the Vaigai river: It rises from the hills of Varushanad in Madurai district in the state of Tamil Nadu.
• Confluence or mouth of the Vaigai river: The Vaigai drains into the Palk Bay near Mandapam.
• Major Tributaries of the Vaigai river: The Siruliar River; The Theniar River; The Varaha Nadi; The Mangalar River; The Vaigai river basin
• The basin is bounded by the Varushanadu hills, the Andipatti hills, the Cardaman hills and the Palani hills on the West and by the Palk Strait and Palk Bay on the East.

• Gundar is a river flowing in the Virudhunagar and Ramanathapuram districts of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu.
• Origin of gundar is Sathuragiri hills and flows through Tirumangalam, Kamuthi ends at bay of Bengal.

• The Vellar River is river in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. 
• It originates in the Kalrayan Hills, and runs through Salem, Perambalur, and Cuddalore districts, before flowing into the Bay of Bengal near Parangipettai. 
• Source: Confluence of Anaimaduvu River and Thumbal River.

• Left:- Thumbal River, Manimuktha River
• Right:- Anaimaduvu River, Singapuram River, Manjini River, Ellar River, Swetha River, Chinnar River, Anaivari Rive

Context: Recently, the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution has provided that ‘E-Daakhil portal’ is now operational in 15 States/Union Territories.
Background

• The Consumer Protection Act, 2019 has provision for e-filing of consumer complaints in the Consumer Commissions and online payment of the fees for filing a complaint.
• The E-filing was launched by National Consumer Dispute Redressal Commission (NCDRC) in September 2020.

About E-Daakhil Portal
It is a consumer grievance redressal platform developed by National Informatics Centre (NIC).
It is a digital software for filing consumer complaints with many features such as:

• E-Notice,
• Case document download link & VC hearing link,
• Filing written response by opposite party,
• Fling rejoinder by complainant and alerts via SMS/Email.

The Common Service Centres (CSC) has been integrated with the e-Daakhil portal in order to facilitate the rural consumers for e-filing.

• Delhi was the first UT to implement it followed by Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Gujarat, Chandigarh, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Karnataka and Haryana.

Significance of E-Daakhil Portal

• It empowers the consumer and their advocates to file the consumer complaints along with payment of requisite fees online from anywhere for the redressal of their complaints.
• It facilitates the consumer commissions to scrutinize the complaints online to accept, reject or forward the complaint to the concerned commission for further processing.

Additional Information
National Consumer Dispute Redressal Commission (NCDRC)

• It is a quasi-judicial commission in India which was set up in 1988 under the Consumer Protection Act of 1986.
• It is headed by a sitting or retired judge of the Supreme Court of India.
• It shall have jurisdiction to entertain a complaint valued more than one crore.
• It shall also have Appellate and Revisional jurisdiction from the orders of State Commissions or the District fora as the case may be.

Context: A recent research from Center for Disease Dynamics, Economics and Policy (CDDEP), USA, has estimated the cost of ensuring WASH and taking related steps for infection prevention and control for one year in healthcare facilities across India.
Key Findings of the study

• The study estimates that improving WASH across the public healthcare facilities in India and maintaining this for a year would cost $354 million in capital costs. Further, it will need $289 millions as a recurrent expense (all payments other than for capital expenses like maintenance, electricity, rent, etc).
• The most costly interventions were providing clean water, linen reprocessing, and sanitation. Similarly, the least expensive were hand hygiene, medical device reprocessing, and environmental surface cleaning.

Impact  of  Poor WASH Facilities

• A 2019 joint global baseline report by WHO and UNICEF had pointed out that globally, one in four healthcare facilities lacked basic water servicing. Further, one in five health care facilities had no sanitation service and 42% had no hygiene facilities.

Significance of providing WASH facilities

• WASH will reduce deaths: Approximately, the death of 3 lakh children under five years can be prevented each year.
• Achieving SDGs: The status of WASH in healthcare facilities is an important issue in development. Ensuring availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation is one of the 2030 sustainable development goals.
• Infection prevention and control: The WASH interventions can help reduce healthcare-associated infections. Especially among the mother and neonates across the Indian healthcare system.
• Cost-effective intervention: In 2012, the WHO report calculated ‘For every dollar invested in sanitation, there will be a $5.50 gain’. This will be in the form of lower health costs, more productivity, and fewer premature deaths, etc. 

About WASH

• WASH is an acronym that stands for the interrelated areas of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene.
• The World Health Organisation (WHO) WASH Strategy has been developed in response to Member State Resolution (WHA 64.4) and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (SDG 3: Good Health and Well Being, SDG 6: Clean Water And Sanitation).
• It is a component of WHO’s 13th General Programme of Work 2019–2023 which aims to contribute to the health of three billion through multisectoral actions like better emergency preparedness and response; and one billion with Universal Health Coverage (UHC).
• It also takes on board the need for progressive realization of the human rights to safe drinking-water and sanitation, adopted by the UN General Assembly in July 2010.

Context: Recently, Union Health Minister launched Intensified Mission Indradhanush (IMI) 3.0 with a focus on children and pregnant women who missed their vaccine doses during the COVID-19 pandemic.

• According to the guidelines released for IMI 3.0, there are 313 low-risk, 152 medium-risk and 250 high-risk districts.

Key Points

• IMI 3.0 will have two rounds starting from February 22 and March 22 and will be conducted in 250 pre-identified districts and urban areas across 29 states and Union territories.
• "Focus of IMI 3.0 will be the children and pregnant women who have missed their vaccine doses during the COVID-19 pandemic. 
• They will be identified and vaccinated during the two rounds of IMI 3.0. Each round will be for 15 days. 
• Beneficiaries from migration areas and hard-to-reach areas will be targeted as they may have missed their vaccine doses during COVID-19.
• The first phase will be launched at Kalaburagi, Karnataka. This will be a four-day campaign.
• Expecting mothers would also be immunised for tetanus.

About Mission Indradhanush

• Mission Indradhanush was launched by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India in 2014.
• It aims to achieve more than 90 % full immunisation coverage among children by 2020 who are either unvaccinated, or are partially vaccinated against vaccine preventable diseases.
• IMI is supported by 12 other ministries and departments.
• It is monitored under a special initiative called ‘Proactive Governance and Timely Implementation (PRAGATI)’.
• The mission aims for the 12 Vaccine-Preventable Diseases: Diphtheria; Whooping cough; Tetanus; Poliomyelitis; Tuberculosis; Measles; Hepatitis B; Japanese Encephalitis; Haemophilus influenzae type B; Rubella; Injectable Polio Vaccine Bivalent and Rotavirus.

Areas Under Focus

• High risk areas identified by the polio eradication programme
• Areas with missed/low routine immunization (RI) coverage
• Areas with vacant sub-centers
• Small villages, hamlets, dhanis or purbas clubbed with another village for RI sessions and not having independent RI sessions.

Context: The poor performance of India in human capital indicators can be improved. If the 3 tier decentralized structure of governance gets strengthened. 

Background

• India has secured a poor 116 rank in the World Bank’s human capital index. Further, the data of the National Family Health Survey – 5 for 2019-20 highlights the poor performance in the domain of malnutrition.
• Similarly, issues in learning outcomes are highlighted by the National Achievement Survey 2017 and the Annual Status of Education Report 2018.
• Moreover, these statistics are expected to further worsen due to Covid-19 pandemic.
• Therefore, the focus should be on enhancing the investment in human capital. This would require better decentralisation among 3 tiers – Centre, states and local bodies.  

Why should there be a focus on a decentralised approach?

• First, the government has launched various programs like Poshan Abhiyan and Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan. But they have failed to deliver optimum results.
• Second, international studies show there is a positive correlation between decentralisation and human capital formation.
• Third, India spends only 4% of its GDP on human capital which is very less in comparison to its peers. This means these minimum funds should be spent in the most optimum way. It is possible with decentralisation.

What are the existing mechanisms for decentralization in India?

• The constitution allows the centre to support states in their fiscal domain. This can be done through tax devolution and grants in aid. In addition, the Centre can make ‘grants for any public purpose’ under Article 282 of the Constitution.
• Education was moved from the state list to the concurrent list by the 42nd amendment in 1976. It ensured better coordination between centre and states.
• The enactment of the 73rd and 74th amendment gave constitutional status to municipalities and panchayats as the 3rd tier of government. Further various domains like education, health and sanitation are given to them under the 11th and 12th schedule.
• The 14th Finance commission (FC) called for distributing 42% of centre’s taxes among states, an increase from earlier 32%. This was effectively retained by 15th FC as well.

Challenges to decentralisation

• First, significant fiscal support by centre to states is in the form of grants-in-aid and centrally sponsored schemes (CSS). As per SC ruling in Bhim Singh vs Union of India, these routes are for special, temporary or ad hoc schemes under article 282. 
• Second, states have been reluctant to transfer their power to local bodies under the 11th and 12th schedule.
• Third, the municipalities and local bodies are not fiscally empowered. This can be seen by low property tax collection which is under 0.2% of GDP, compared to 3% of GDP in some other nations. 
• Fourth, even state finance commissions (SFCs) are not constituted on time by respective states for recommending tax devolution and grants-in-aid to the third tier.

Road Ahead

• The centre must use the route under Article 282 in a cautious way as it is listed as a ‘Miscellaneous Financial Provision. It should give maximum fiscal support using Articles 270 and 275, which fall under ‘Distribution of Revenues between the Union and the State.
• The centre should also encourage knowledge sharing between the states which would help them in improving their fiscal potential.
• The 15th FC’s recommendation should be duly implemented. It recommended giving no grants to any state after March 2024 if it doesn’t constitute SFCs. 
• The 3rd tier of government should be vested with all the functions mentioned under the 11th and 12th schedule.
• Thus, the need is to leverage the true potential of our multi-level federal system that would help in developing human capital.

Context: The government recently drafted a new policy titled Information Technology (Guidelines for Intermediaries and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021.

• The guidelines define social media companies, suggest a three-tier mechanism for regulation of all online media, define the process for tracing the first originator, and confer blocking powers to an inter-ministerial committee.

Draft Information Technology (Guidelines for Intermediaries and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021

• Both, the social media companies and streaming service providers (over the top (OTT) platforms) will be brought under a three-tier regulatory framework.
• Shows streaming on these platforms will have to carry ratings such as U (universal) or A (adult).
• Under current rules, they are not responsible for content, unlike traditional media firms.
• The government cites powers provided to it under section 87 of the Information Technology Act, 2000.
• It allows the government to make rules to carry out the provisions of the law by notification in the Official Gazette and in the Electronic Gazette.
• The guidelines define social media companies, suggest a three-tier mechanism for regulation of all online media, and define the process for tracing the first originator.
• It confers the blocking powers to an inter-ministerial committee headed by a joint secretary level officer from the ministry of information and broadcasting, that forms the third tier.
• In effect, this committee can also recommend blocks or take downs.
• The inter-ministerial committee will have representatives from the ministries of IT, information and broadcasting, home, law, external affairs, defence, and women and child development.

Mechanism of regulation

• Grievance redressal by the company itself
• A Press Council of India that will be headed by a retired judge of a high court or the Supreme Court.

Inter-ministerial committee- at the apex of the regulatory framework

• A significant social media intermediary may be defined on the basis of the number of users for which the government is yet to set a threshold.
• They also involve intermediaries appointing a chief compliance officer who will be responsible for ensuring compliance with the law and be held liable if the intermediary fails to observe due diligence while discharging its duties.
• The rules are asking social media intermediaries, which operate primarily in the area of messaging, to enable the identification of the first originator- an important requirement in the effort to tackle fake news.

Competent authorities may demand pertinent information for the purposes of prevention, detection, investigation, prosecution or punishment of crimes.

• It excludes the intermediary from having to disclose the content of the personal messages.
• The rules mandate the creation of a grievance redressal portal as the central repository for receiving and processing all grievances.

The rules ask intermediaries to act on certain kinds of violations within 24 hours, and on all concerns of a complainant within 15 days.

Context: Recently, India and the Maldives have signed a defence Line of Credit agreement worth USD 50 million.
About the agreement

• The $50 million credit line agreement for defense projects was signed between the Finance Ministry of Maldives and the Export Import Bank of India.
• The agreement will “facilitate capability building in the maritime domain”.
• It will strengthen Maldivian Coast Guard capability and facilitate regional HADR (Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief) efforts.

India – Maldives relations

• Maldives is located south of India's Lakshadweep Islands in the Indian Ocean.
• India and Maldives are neighbors sharing a maritime border.
• Both nations established diplomatic relations after the independence of Maldives from British rule in 1966.
• India was one of the first nations to recognize Maldives' independence.
• Relations have been friendly and close in strategic, economic and military cooperation.
• India continues to contribute to maintaining security on the island nation.
• India has supported Maldives' policy of keeping regional issues and struggles away from itself.
• Maldives sees friendship with India as a source of aid as well as a counterbalance to Sri Lanka, which is in proximity to Maldives and also its largest trading partner.
• In 1981, India and Maldives signed a comprehensive trade agreement.

Relations during the Covid-19 pandemic

• During the Covid-19 crisis of 2020, India extended help to Maldives in the form of financial, material and logistical support.
• In April 2020, India provided $150 million currency swap support to help Maldives mitigate the financial impact of the pandemic.
• The Indian Air Force airlifted 6.2 tons of essential medicines and hospital consumables to Maldives, as part of 'Operation Sanjeevani'.
• Under India’s ‘Vaccine Maitri’ program, India has so far provided 2,00,000 doses of Covid-19 vaccines as a grant to Maldives.

Context: Frequent transfers of public servants ultimately affect their morale, performance, and also the public administration.

Key Points

• An analysis of the executive record (ER) sheets of thousands of IAS officers reveals that the frequent transfers in service are normal.
• But, frequent transfers have an adverse impact on their morale. This will lead to a decline in productivity and efficacy.

Few examples of frequent transfer of public servants

• IAS Ashok Khemka has been transferred more than 50 times.
• Pradeep Kasni has been transferred 65 times.

Why frequent transfers happening?
Frequent transfers happen due to two major reasons. Such as,

• Interference of local politicians in public policy.
• Transfer guidelines have been undermined by the State governments. The 2nd ARC also highlighted this issue.

What are the impacts of frequent transfer of public servants?

The officer is not getting the proper time to focus on the developmental needs of the area.

• For Example- the Shopian district in Jammu and Kashmir for the last 14 years witnessed the transfer of 13 Deputy Commissioners. Among them, two officials were transferred within 25 days of their posting. So the public servants not able to frame proper long-term developmental policies.
• Frequent transfers affect the functioning of public administration and demoralize the bureaucracy.

The Hota Committee report on 2004 also highlighted a few impacts. Such as

• Frequent transfers will create a lag in the implementation of government policies. As the new public official has to know the status of the project, challenges in a particular area, etc.
• Further, frequent transfers will result in the wastage of public resources. This is due to inadequate supervision of the program and large-scale corruption.
• Above all, transfers can create administrative favoritism among the public servants and create divisions among civil servants.

Road Ahead

• The government has to frame an efficient transfer policy. This will preserve the fundamental principles of civil services such as neutrality, impartiality, and anonymity.

Context: The ‘Greater Tipraland’ demand seeks to include all tribals living in indigenous areas or villages outside the Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC) under the proposed model. 
Issue

• Tripura royal scion Pradyot Kishore Manikya recently put forward a new political demand of ‘Greater Tipraland’. The demand comes 17 months after he resigned as the state president of the Congress party. 
• The royal claims that his demand for 'Greater Tipraland' would serve the interest of tribals, non-tribals as well as Tripuri tribals staying outside the state including those outside India in Khagrachari, Bandarban, Chittagong and other adjacent border areas in Bangladesh.
• The main demand of the proposed model is to include every tribal person living in an indigenous region or village outside the 'Tripura Tribal Area Autonomous District Council' (TTAADC). The Tripuri community consists of 19 'clans' , most of whom live in the TTAADC region. It is known as 'Greater Tiparaland'.

Note: Tripuri (also known as Tipra, Tiparasa, Twipra) is the Primitive ethnic group of Tripura.
Background

• The demand for Greater Tipraland has reportedly risen due to unfulfilled demands of revising NRC in Tripura and opposition to CAA in the past.

What is Greater Tipraland?

• ‘Greater Tipraland’ is an extension of the ruling Indigenous Peoples Front of Tripura's (IPFT) demand of Tipraland, which seeks to form a separate state for tribals of Tripura. 
• While the Tipraland demand sought a separate state for tribals living in the state, the new ‘Greater Tipraland’ demand seeks to include all tribals living in indigenous areas/ villages outside the Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC).
• However, the idea doesn’t restrict to simply the Tripura tribal council areas but seeks to include ‘Tiprasa’ of Tripuris spread across different states of India like Assam, Mizoram etc. as well.
• It seeks to include even those living in Bandarban, Chittagong, Khagrachari and other bordering areas of neighbouring Bangladesh.

Is Greater Tipraland demand the same as Greater Nagalim demand?

• The Greater Nagalim demand was put forward previously by rebel Naga outfit-National Socialist Council of Nagaland-Isak-Muivah (NSCN-IM).
• The main objective behind the demand was the establishment of Greater Nagalim (Greater Nagaland), comprising all the Naga-inhabited areas of Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur and portions of Myanmar.
• The demand for Greater Nagalim created agitations in Assam, Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh. The proposal aimed to benefit Nagas staying in Manipur, Assam or Arunachal.
• The Naga rebel front is currently having peace talks with the central government. 
• Speaking on the comparison of Greater Tipraland demand to Greater Nagalim demand, Pradyot Kishore has clarified Greater Tipraland is not in any way a rebel subject. He said that their demand is a democratic issue and they will be proceeding accordingly. 

Critical Analysis of the issue

• Vote Bank Politics: In the wake of impending elections to TTAADC, this is seen an effort by Pradyot to consolidate the tribal vote bank for his party, Tipraha Indigenous Peoples Regional Alliance (TIPRA).
• Changed Political Scenario: With Pradyot’s new political maneuvering, TIPRA has emerged as the single-largest tribal political party of Tripura. The royal scion has announced a mega merger and alliance with all major tribal political parties.This may alter the power balance in State (dominated by CPIM and ruling BJP-IPFT govt.)
• New-age ethnic politics: Tripura saw turbulent violent struggles by different outlawed insurgent outfits for past three decades-  all demanding self-determination and sovereignty on different community lines. This new demand is to unite people from both tribal and non-tribal behind ethnic identity.
• Challenge to Federal Spirit: Even though the demand for Greater Tipraland is on democratic lines, such ethnicity based redrawing of boundaries will hamper the delicate balance in North East. It may also further embolden the demand of Nagas thus putting the entire region under contestations.
• Impacts Relations with Bangladesh: With the passage of 100th Constitutional Amendment Act of 2015, the land boundary between India and Bangladesh has been settled. However, such demands that includes areas falling in Bangladesh will negatively impact the cooperative bilateral relationship between both countries.
• Can create Insurgency: This being a political sensitive issue where ethnicity, development and federalism are involved, Union government has to watch closely the developments & engage with stakeholders to address their grievances. If left unattended the pent up grievances can turn into insurgency in long run.

Context: Recently, Two northeastern states, Arunachal Pradesh and Mizoram are observed their 35th Statehood Day.

• Both of the states received their statehood on February 20, 1987.
• Mizoram became the 23rd state of India on the same day, with the 53rd Amendment of the Indian Constitution, 1986.
• Similarly, through the 55th amendment to the Indian Constitution in 1986, Arunachal Pradesh became the 24th state of the Indian Union.

Arunachal Pradesh

• It is a state in Northeast India.
• The state shares the border with Assam and Nagaland to its south.
• It also has its international borders with Bhutan to the west and Myanmar to the east.
• The state also has disputed border with China to the north at McMahon Line.
• The length of the border across China’s autonomous region called Tibet is 1,129 KMs.
• The state is the largest state by area among the Seven Sister States of Northeast India.
• The state has recorded population of 1,328,611 as per census 2011.
• It has an area of 83,743 square kilometres.
• The state is an ethnically diverse state. It is home to Monpa people, Tani people, Tai people, and Naga people.

Mizoram

• The name of the state is derived from the Mizo word which means land in the Mizo language. “Mizo-ram” means “land of the Mizos”. 
• This state is located in northeast old-Assam region of India. 
• It is a landlocked southernmost state of India.  It shares borders with three states among the Seven Sister States of old Assam that is Assam, Tripura and Manipur. 
• The state also shares an international border with Bangladesh and Myanmar with its total length of 722-kilometre. 
• The state was a part of Assam until year 1972. In the year 1972 it was made a Union Territory.
• Finally, in the year 1986, the UT was given the statehood in accordance with the 53rd amendment of the Indian Constitution. It became the 23rd state of the India.
• Mizos consist of 5 major and 11 minor tribes known as Awzia. The 5 major tribes include: Lushei, Ralte, Hmar, Paihte and Pawi.
• Mizos are agriculturists, practise “Jhum Cultivation” or slash- and- burn system of cultivation.

The Mizos have two main festivals- Mim Kut and Chapchar Kut.

• Chapchar Kut: It is a Spring Festival, most popular and celebrated after completion of the task of jungle clearing for “jhum” operations.
• Mim Kut: It is a Maize festival that is celebrated during the months of August and September, after the harvest of maize.

Context: President’s Rule was imposed in the Union Territory of Puducherry and the Legislative Assembly was placed under suspended animation. 

• A day ago, the Union Cabinet approved a proposal by the Ministry to dissolve the Assembly and impose President’s Rule in the Union Territory. 
• The President was satisfied that a situation had arisen in which the administration of the Union Territory of Puducherry could not carry on in accordance with the provisions of the Government of Union Territories Act, 1963.
• The Government of Union Territories Act, 1963 enacted by the Parliament in accordance with the provisions of article 239A.

Key Points
Administration of Union Territories

• Article 239 to 242 under Part VIII of the Indian Constitution deals with the administration of Union Territories.
• Every union territory is administered by the President acting through an administrator appointed by him.
• An administrator of a union territory is an agent of the President and not head of state like a governor.
• The President can specify the designation of an administrator; it may be Lieutenant Governor or Chief Commissioner or Administrator.
• The Union Territories of Puducherry (in 1963), Delhi (in 1992) and Jammu and Kashmir (in 2019) are provided with a legislative assembly and a council of ministers headed by a chief minister.
• But, the establishment of such institutions in the union territories does not diminish the supreme control of the President and Parliament over them.
• The Parliament can make laws on any subject of the three lists (including the State List) for the union territories.

Provision in Case of Failure of Constitutional Machinery (as per the 1963 Act)
If the President, on receipt of a report from the Administrator of (the Union territory) or otherwise, is satisfied,?

• that a situation has arisen in which the administration of the Union territory cannot be carried on in accordance with the provisions of this Act, or
• that for the proper administration of the Union territory it is necessary or expedient so to do,
• The President may, by order, suspend the operation of all or any of the provisions of this Act for such period as he thinks fit, and
• Make such incidental and consequential provisions as may appear to him to be necessary or expedient for administering the Union territory in accordance with the provisions of Article 239.

What is President’s Rule?

• President’s rule is the suspension of state government and imposition of direct central government rule in a state.
• This is achieved through the invocation of Article 356 of the Constitution by the President on the advice of the Union Council of Ministers.
• Under Article 356, this move can be taken “(1) If the President, on receipt of the report from the Governor of the State or otherwise, is satisfied that a situation has arisen in which the government of the State cannot be carried on in accordance with the provisions of this Constitution…”

How long President’s Rule can last?

• A proclamation of President’s Rule can be revoked through a subsequent proclamation in case the leader of a party produces letters of support from a majority of members of the Assembly and stakes his claim to form a government.
• The revocation does not need the approval of Parliament.
• Any proclamation under Article 356 —which stands for six months — has to be approved by both Houses in the Parliament session following it.
• This six-month time-frame can be extended in phases, up to three years.

Conditions for President Rule

• Where after general elections to the assembly, no party secures a majority, that is, Hung Assembly.
• Where the party having a majority in the assembly declines to form a ministry and the governor cannot find a coalition ministry commanding a majority in the assembly.
• Where a ministry resigns after its defeat in the assembly and no other party is willing or able to form a ministry commanding a majority in the assembly.
• Where a constitutional direction of the Central government is disregarded by the state government.
• Internal subversion where, for example, a government is deliberately acting against the Constitution and the law or is fomenting a violent revolt.
• Physical breakdown where the government willfully refuses to discharge its constitutional obligations endangering the security of the state.

Notable judgements: The S.R. Bommai Case

• Bommai v. Union of India (1994) was a landmark judgment of the Supreme Court of India, where the Court discussed at length provisions of Article 356 of the Constitution of India and related issues.
• The judgement attempted to curb blatant misuse of Article 356 of the Constitution of India, which allowed the President’s rule to be imposed over state governments.
• Article 356 (1) has been deliberately drafted in a narrow language by the Founding Fathers so that political parties in the Centre does not misuse it to subvert federalism, it had noted.
• The President has to be convinced of or should have sufficient proof of information with regard to or has to be free from doubt or uncertainty about the state of things indicating that the situation in question has arisen.
• The court had stated that although the sufficiency or otherwise of the material cannot be questioned, the legitimacy of inference drawn from such material is “certainly open to judicial review”.

What was its verdict?

• The judgment had explained that in a multi-party political system, chances are high that the political parties in the Centre and the State concerned may not be the same.
• Article 356 cannot be used for the purpose of political one-upmanship by the Centre.
• Hence there is a need to confine the exercise of power under Article 356[1] strictly to the situation mentioned therein which is a condition precedent to the said exercise,” the court had said.

Fouling factors

The imposition of President’s Rule in a state would be improper under the following situations:

• Where a ministry resigns or is dismissed on losing majority support in the assembly and the governor recommends imposition of President’s Rule without probing the possibility of forming an alternative ministry.
• Where the governor recommends imposition of President’s Rule without allowing the ministry to prove its majority on the floor of the Assembly.
• Maladministration in the state or allegations of corruption against the ministry or stringent financial exigencies of the state.
• Where the state government is not given prior warning to rectify itself except in case of extreme urgency leading to disastrous consequences.
• Where the power is used to sort out intra-party problems of the ruling party.

Key Fact about Puducherry

• It is a union territory formed out of four territories of former French India, namely Pondichéry (Pondicherry; now Puducherry), Karikal (Karaikal), Mahé and Yanaon (Yanam), excluding Chandannagar.
• It is named after the largest district, Puducherry.
• The areas of Puducherry district and Karaikal district are bound by the state of Tamil Nadu, while Yanam district and Mahé district are enclosed by the states of Andhra Pradesh and Kerala, respectively.
• It is entitled by a special constitutional amendment act of 1962 to have an elected legislative assembly and a cabinet of ministers, thereby conveying partial statehood similar to the UT of Delhi.
• It is administered by a Lieutenant Governor.

Context: A total of 12 companies have been selected for the National Technology Awards 2020 for the successful commercialization of innovative indigenous technologies.

• The awards are conferred by the Technology Development Board (TDB) which is an  statutory body of the Government of India functioning under the Department of Science of Technology.

Key Points

• They have been selected under three categories: indigenous technologies, MSME, and start-ups.
• Every year, for furtherance of its mandate, the Technology Development Board (TDB) seeks applications for the prestigious National Awards for commercialization of technologies under these three categories.
• The winners were selected from a total of 128 applications after thorough examination by eminent technologists and a stringent two-tier evaluation process.

About the National Technology Awards by TDB
Indigenous technologies category

• The Award is given to an industrial concern which has successfully developed & commercialized an indigenous technology.
• In case, the technology developer/provider and technology commercializer are two different organizations; each one would be eligible for an award of Rs. 25 lakh and a trophy.

MSMEs category

• The Award is given to MSMEs which have successfully commercialized a product based on Indigenous technology.
• SSI Unit Awards given earlier by TDB, has been renamed as ‘MSME Awards’.
• This carries a cash award of Rs. 15 lakh and a trophy.

Start-up category

• This is a new category of Award introduced by TDB for technology start-ups.
• It is given to the technology start-ups for development of promising new technology with potential for commercialization and carries a cash prize of Rs. 15 lakh and a trophy.

Context: International Mother Language Day is observed on February 21, every year to promote linguistic and cultural diversity and multilingualism. International Mother Language Day recognizes that languages and multilingualism can advance inclusion, and the Sustainable Development Goals focus on leaving no one behind.
International Mother Language Day 2021: Theme

• The theme of the 2021 International Mother Language Day is “Fostering multilingualism for inclusion in education and society,”.
• This year’s observance is a call on policymakers, educators and teachers, parents, and families to scale up their commitment to multilingual education, and inclusion in education to advance education recovery in the context of COVID-19.

International Mother Language Day: History

• The idea to celebrate International Mother Language Day was the initiative of Bangladesh. It was approved at the 1999 UNESCO General Conference and has been observed throughout the world since 2000.
• On 16 May 2007 the United Nations General Assembly in its resolution A/RES/61/266 called upon the Member States "to promote the preservation and protection of all languages used by peoples of the world".
• The protests that erupted on February 21, 1952, in then East Pakistan against the imposition of Urdu launched the Bengali language movement in Bangladesh. It is the nucleus of the International Mother Language Day.
• The UNESCO recognized the day in 1999 to celebrate indigenous languages across the globe. To sustain and develop the mother tongue or the first language is the motive behind this day.

Current Issues

• Indigenous languages, like most ethnic cultures, increasingly have a localised and restricted existence — overwhelmed by global markets, global economics and global corporates.
• A UNESCO report states that nearly 1,500 ethnic languages are globally becoming extinct every day.

Importance of Mother Tongue

• Mother tongue is what kids get first acquainted with. It plays a major role in shaping feelings and thought processes.
• Mother tongue helps preserve cultural heritage and identity.
• The prevalence of different mother tongues help appreciate linguistic diversity and inspire solidarity and opens room for dialogue and negotiation in times of conflicts.
• An in-depth knowledge of one’s mother tongue makes assimilating foreign languages and cultures smoother.

Examples of incorporating Mother Tongue 

• Nordic countries have advocated learning two languages from the primary school level: The language of the land and the mother tongue.
• In remote regions of countries like Sweden and Norway, primary schools, as a rule, teach indigenous languages. Bengali is taught in a number of suburban schools of Sweden, Norway and Finland to children of political migrants.
• The German states too have instituted this system, primarily responding to appeals from the Turkish people.
• The British Parliament has a significant number of MPs of Bangladeshi origin, who are now British citizens. At least a dozen Bangla weeklies are published in proper London.
• The North America, of course, is way ahead in this regard. More than a dozen Bangla weeklies are published from New York alone; radio and TV are equally popular as are Bangla book fairs and related programmes. The picture is no different in Canada.

UNESCO Strategy for the Safeguarding of Endangered Languages

• The UNESCO Universal Declaration on Cultural Diversity and the UN Resolution 56/262 both stress the need for urgent action to promote the linguistic diversity, as part of the world’s cultural diversity.
• The UNESCO has categorized languages on basis of endangerment as “Vulnerable, Definitely Endangered, Severely Endangered and Critically Endangered”. UNESCO has recognized 42 Indian languages as Critically Endangered.
• UNESCO Promoting cultural diversity and intercultural dialogue through the development of: content in as many languages as possible on the Internet, collecting and disseminating case studies and information highlighting the cultural heritage and linguistic richness of various peoples;

BUT, WHY IS THE SITUATION GRIM?

• Fewer students and proficient teachers are not that easily available.
• Number of refugees is dwindling; tough laws restrict their influx.
• The Foreign languages facilitate and guarantee successful trade and commerce and boost the economy. For example: Learning Bengali does not guarantee jobs abroad; nor are youngsters keen on appreciating Bengali literature. So in Bangladesh and West Bengal, parents send their wards to English-medium schools.

Road Ahead

• Technology can be used to preserve the mother tongue. Google’s Project Navlekha in India is an example. The project aims to increase the presence of online content in local languages. There are also community groups on Facebook that can promote the usage of one’s mother tongue.
• Awareness regarding the professional viability of pursuing degrees in native languages. These include Language Experts, Translators, and Tourist-Guides etc.
• Use of native languages at homes, schools, and offices should be encouraged. For example: Rajya Sabha has an arrangement for interpretation of 22 languages i.e. members are encouraged to communicate in their native languages.
• Other countries can learn from France/Germany/Italy or China that have developed their mother languages as a powerful medium at international forums to preserve their cultural and linguistic identity.

Context: Recently, the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM) has celebrated February 23 as ‘Pagri Sambhal Diwas’ as part of the ongoing farmers’ protest against the three farm laws.

Pagri Sambhaal Movement

• Pagrhi Sambhaal Jatta was a successful farm agitation that forced the British government to repeal three laws related to agriculture back in 1907.
• Bhagat Singh’s uncle Ajit Singh was the force behind this agitation, and he wanted to channel people’s anger over the farm laws to topple the colonial government.
• Slogan: The slogan, Pagdi Sambhal Jatta, the name of the movement, was inspired by the song by Banke Lal, the editor of the Jang Sayal newspaper.
• Protest: The protests were violent and the protestors ransacked government buildings, post offices, banks, overturning telephone poles and pulling down telephone wires.

What were the ‘three laws’?

• The three farm-related acts at the centre of the storm in 1907 were the Punjab Land Alienation Act 1900, the Punjab Land Colonization Act 1906 and the Doab Bari Act.
• These acts would reduce farmers from owners to contractors of land, and gave the British government the right to take back the allotted land if the farmer even touched a tree in his field without permission.
• Amid resentment against the laws, Bhagat Singh’s father Kishan Singh and uncle Ajit Singh, with their revolutionary friend Ghasita Ram, formed the Bharat Mata Society.
• It worked to mobilise this unrest into a revolt against the British government.

Repeal of the laws

• Ajit Singh persuaded Congress leader Lala Lajpat Rai to come on the stage during a rally in Lyallpur in 1907 to protest against the laws.
• ‘Pagrhi sambhaal oh Jatta’ became the anthem of the movement.
• Lyallpur district was chosen as centre for agitation because it was a developed area and it had people from almost all parts of Punjab as also retired military people.
• The agitation couldn’t remain non-violent as Ajit Singh was booked for sedition after his speech at a public meeting in Rawalpindi in 1921 and violence erupted afterwards.

Context: The centenary of the Sri Nankana Sahib massacre, which is popularly known as Saka Nankana Sahib, is being marked in an event there on February 21 this year. 
About Nankana Sahib

• Nankana Sahib is a city in Pakistan’s Punjab province, where Gurdwara Janam Asthan (also called Nankana Sahib Gurdwara) is located. 
• The shrine is built over the site where Guru Nanak, the founder of Sikhism, was believed to be born in 1469.
• The city was previously known as Talwandi.
• The Janam Asthan shrine was constructed by Maharaja Ranjit Singh, after he visited Nankana Sahib in 1818-19 while returning from the Battle of Multan.

Significance

• Gurudwara reform movement: Nankana Sahib, the birth place of first Sikh guru, Guru Nanak Dev, was also the site of the first big agitation by the SGPC to take back control of gurdwaras from mahants backed by the British.

Gurudwara reform movement

• The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) came to existence in November 1920, a month after Sikhs removed partial restrictions on Dalit rights inside Golden Temple in Amritsar.
• It started a gurdwara reform movement which was aimed at taking possession of historical Sikh Gurdwaras, which had turned into personal property of the priests, who were called mahants. 
• These mahants were also accused of running practices from gurdwaras which were not approved in Sikhism.

The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee 

• It is an organization in India responsible for the management of gurdwaras, Sikh places of worship in three states of Punjab, Haryana, and Himachal Pradesh and union territory of Chandigarh. 
• SGPC also administers Darbar Sahib in Amritsar.

The February massacre

• During British rule, the Gurdwara Janam Asthan was the site of a violent episode when in 1921, over 130 Akali Sikhs were killed after they were attacked by the Mahant of the shrine. 
• The  SGPC formed its own probe team and asked Mahatma Gandhi to be part of it. 
• Gandhi asked Sikh leaders to give support to the non-cooperation movement of the Congress party.
• The SGPC called a meeting on March 6, 1921 decided to support the non-cooperation movement being run by Mahatma Gandhi.
• The incident is regarded as one of the key milestones in the Gurdwara Reform Movement, which led to the passing of the Sikh Gurdwara Act in 1925 that ended the Mahant control of Gurdwaras.

Context: Defense Research & Development Organisation (DRDO) conducted two successful launches of VL-SRSAM. 
About VL-SRSAM

• The Vertical Launch - Short Range Surface to Air Missile, or VL-SRSAMis a surface-to-air missile.
• It is indigenously designed and developed by DRDO for the Indian Navy.
• VL-SRSAM is meant for neutralizing various aerial threats at close ranges.
• It is intended to replace the older Barak-1 surface-to-air missile system onboard Indian Navy warships.

Features

• It features mid-course inertial guidance with terminal active radar homing.
• It has cruciform short-span long-chord wings.
• Each Vertical Launch Unit (VLU) can hold upto eight missiles and multiple launch units can be installed on a ship.
• The missile has a canister-based state of art weapon system that can identify, track, engage and destroy the target with a high kill probability.

Areal Range: VL-SRSAM has different ranges with 360° interception

• Engine: It has a Smokeless Solid-fuel rocket motor.
• Propellant: Solid fuel
• Operational range: 40-50Km
• Warhead: High-explosive pre fragmented warhead

Context: El Salvador has become the first country in central America to get malaria-free certificate from World Health Organization (WHO).
Key highlights

• Malaria elimination certificate is awarded to a country when the chain of indigenous transmission of the disease has been disrupted nationwide for at least three consecutive years.
• El Salvador didn’t report a single case of malaria that was acquired locally (indigenous) since 2017.
• The only other countries in the WHO Regions of Americas to have eliminated malaria in recent years are Paraguay (2018) and Argentina (2019).

Malaria

• Malaria is a life-threatening disease caused by parasites (Plasmodium) transmitted to people through the bites of infected female Anopheles mosquitoes.
• Most deaths are caused by P. falciparum, whereas P. vivax, P. ovale, and P. malariae generally cause a milder form of malaria.
• It is preventable and curable.
• Symptoms: Fever, tiredness, vomiting, and headaches.
• In severe cases, it can cause yellow skin, seizures, coma, or death.

Data related to Malaria

• The disease is widespread in the tropical and subtropical regions around the equator.
• This includes much of sub-Saharan Africa, Asia, and Latin America.
• Annually, over 200 million cases of malaria are reported across the world and more than 400,000 people die of the disease.

Half the global malaria-related deaths in 2019 were in six African countries:

1. Nigeria (23 per cent)
2. Democratic Republic of the Congo
3. Tanzania
4. Burkina Faso
5. Mozambique
6. Niger.

According to World Malaria Report 2020, In India, the malaria infections fell by 14.4 million between 2000 and 2019 — the largest reduction in South-East Asia.

• In 2019, India accounted for about 86 per cent of all malaria deaths in the South-East Asia.

Key Fact

• India under the National Framework for Malaria Elimination (2016-2030) has set a target to eliminate malaria by 2030.
• World Health Organisation has set 20230 as the global deadline to eradicate Malaria.

Location of El Salvador

• El Salvador is a country in Central America.
• It is bordered by Honduras, Guatemala, and on the south by the Pacific Ocean.
• Capital and largest city: San Salvador.
• It is the smallest and second-least populated country in Central America.

Context: Under the COVAX program, over 2 billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines are expected to be delivered by the end of 2021. 

• Priority: The lower income countries most likely to receive the first vaccines include Afghanistan, Haiti, DR Congo, Ethiopia and Somalia.
• Although most of the first doses available will be delivered to low- and middle-income countries, some will be sent to high-income countries such as Canada, which has defended its decision to draw on Covax's early supply.

Current Scenario

• Ghana has become the first country in the world to receive a shipment of coronavirus vaccines under the COVAX program. 
• About 600,000 doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, manufactured by the Serum Institute of India (SII) in Pune (the largest vaccine manufacturer in the world), were sent to Accra in Ghana on February 23.
• In 2021, the programme expects to vaccinate nearly 550 million, the equivalent of roughly 8.52 per cent of India’s population.

About COVAX program

• The COVAX program is led by the World Health Organization (WHO) and also involves the Global Vaccine Alliance (Gavi) and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) in partnership with UNICEF, vaccine manufacturers and the World Bank, among others. 
• The aim is to ensure equitable distribution of COVID-19 vaccines globally in what is being called the largest vaccine procurement and supply operation in history.
• The program wants to vaccinate roughly 20 per cent of the population in the 92 Advance Market Commitment (AMC) countries, which include middle and lower-income nations that cannot afford to pay for COVID-19 vaccines. 
• This means countries with a Gross National Income (GNI) per capita of less than US $4000 and some other countries which are eligible under the World Bank International Development Association (IDA).

Funding of the Program

• The funding target for this program for 2021 is about US $6.8 billion, of which it has raised about US $4 billion. 
• The funding is partly coming from high and middle-income countries that will also receive a share of the vaccines produced for COVAX. 
• The US has pledged to give US $2 billion to COVAX and make available further funding of US $2 billion over the course of the next two years.
• The UK government has provided $734m (£548m) and the US pledged $4bn (£2.93bn) in December.

Vaccines included in COVAX programme are

• Oxford-AstraZeneca became the first vaccine manufacturer to sign up under the programme in June 2020, and has guaranteed to supply 300 million doses. 
• In January, COVAX announced that it had signed an agreement with Pfizer-BioNTech to purchase up to 40 million doses of their vaccine. 
• In addition, the program has a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Johnson and Johnson for 500 million doses of their single-dose vaccine, which the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) declared to be safe and effective recently. 
• COVAX also has existing agreements with SII for 200 million doses.

Challenges

• Even if Covax's target is met, it would still fall short of the level of immunity that experts say is needed to end the pandemic.
• The WHO has suggested that stopping Covid-19 will require at least 70% of the global population to have immunity.
• At a rate of two billion doses per year, it could take years to vaccinate 70% of the world's estimated 7.8 billion people.
• However, two billion doses would give some protection to those who are first in line, such as health workers, the elderly and the vulnerable.

Context: Recently, Union Health Minister said that India has become the first country in the world to identify the need for action for Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease.

• He also launched the Operational Guidelines for integration of Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (NAFLD).

Background

• The Government of India is of the view that existing NPCDCS programme strategies can easily be aligned to prevent NAFLD through lifestyle changes, early diagnosis etc.
• The government has identified doable actions with main focus on health promotion and prevention of common NCDs which would also specifically cater to the identified needs of NAFLD.

About Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease

• It is the abnormal accumulation of fat in the liver in the absence of secondary causes of fatty liver, such as harmful alcohol use, viral hepatitis, or medications.
• It is a serious health concern as it encompasses a spectrum of liver abnormalities, from a simple non-alcoholic fatty liver to more advanced ones like non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), cirrhosis etc.
• It is an independent predictor of future risk of cardiovascular diseases, type 2 diabetes and other metabolic syndromes.

Key Highlights on NAFLD

• Globally, NASH has caused 40 lakh prevalent cases of compensated cirrhosis in 1990, which increased to 94 lakh cases in 2017.
• The importance of tackling NAFLD is a key driver tackling the country’s burden of non-communicable diseases.
• The epidemiological studies suggest the prevalence of NAFLD is around 9% to 32% of the general population in India with a higher prevalence in those with overweight or obesity and those with diabetes or pre-diabetes.
• The Researchers have found NAFLD in 40% to 80 % of people who have type-2 diabetes and in 30% to 90% of people who are obese.
• The studies have also suggested that people with NAFLD have a greater chance of developing cardiovascular disease.
• The cardiovascular disease is the most common cause of death in NAFLD.

Proposal of Government to tackle NAFLD
The Government of India has realized that the existing NCD programme’s strategies can now be aligned to achieve the objectives to prevent and control NAFLD with:

• Behavior and lifestyle changes;
• Early diagnosis and management of NAFLD; and
• Building of capacity at various levels of healthcare for prevention, diagnosis and treatment of NAFLD
• The government has stated that along with the focus of ''Eat Right India'' and ''Fit India Movement'', the entire vision of the government is to move from Diagnostic Cure to Preventive Health.

Context: The IIT Council, which is the apex decision-making body of IITs. has set up four panels for autonomy on February 22, 2021. The panel will look after several issues ranging from funding to graded autonomy in the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs).

• The four committees were set up in December last year at the behest of Dr. K Radhakrishnan, chairman of the IIT Council’s Standing Committees.

Background
An earlier attempt

• In 2018, the ministry had set up a seven-member panel, headed by former IIT-Kanpur chairman M Anandkrishnan to explore the feasibility of diluting government control over the 23 IITs.
• The Anandkrishnan committee had sought powers similar to the 20 IIMs to appoint their own institute heads and chairmen.

Key Points

• The panel has also decided to do the rationalisation of staff from current standard to a lower number.
• IIT Council was headed by education minister Ramesh Pokhriyal.
• It was recommended to constitute a taskforce to review use of technology at all IITs and also to accelerate deployment of digital tools. 
• It was also recommended to undertake rationalization of staff from current standards to a lower number
• The council will also look after the issues including mobility of faculties in between the classroom & industries, wider use of technology in education operations & dissemination, rationalisation of staff, grooming faculties to become directors.

Four committees of IIT council

• The four committees have been constituted based on the recommendation of Chairman of the Standing Committee for IIT Council. 

They were constituted on understated issues in accordance with the National Education Policy-2020

• Group-1: Graded Autonomy, Empowered & accountable BoG and Director;
• Group-2: Grooming distinguished academics for directorship of IITs;
• Group-3: Reform and restructuring of Academic Senate;
• Group-4: Innovative funding mechanisms.

IIT Council

• The Council of Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT Council) is the governing body. This body is  responsible and accountable for all the Indian Institutes of Technology in India. 
• In this council, Chairman happens to be the minister-in-charge of the technical education in the Union Government. 
• The council also comprises of three Members of Parliament, Joint Council Secretary of Ministry of Human Resource and Development, Chairman of all IITs, Directors of all IITs, Chairman of University Grants Commission, three appointees from the Union Government, AICTE, Chairman of IISc and Director of IISc.

Context: The Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS) is planning to conduct airline mapping of Andaman and Nicobar Islands and Lakshadweep to get a better picture of the ocean floor.
About the recent Initiative

• The INCOIS is planning to take the help of the National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC) to conduct ‘bathymetric’ study of Andaman and Nicobar Islands and Lakshadweep.
• NRSC: It is one of the primary centres of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), Department of Space (DOS).

Bathymetry

• It is the study of the "beds" or "floors" of water bodies, including the ocean, rivers, streams, and lakes.
• The term "bathymetry" originally referred to the ocean's depth relative to sea level, although it has come to mean “submarine topography,” or the depths and shapes of underwater terrain.
• NRSC has already done a similar high resolution topographic Airborne Laser Terrain Mapping (ALTM) for entire coastal areas of the country.
• ALTM is an active remote sensing technology that employs Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR) to measure topography at high spatial resolution over large areas.
• ALTM pulses a laser to measure the range between an airborne platform and the Earth’s surface at many thousands of times per second.
• Using a rotating mirror or other scanning mechanism inside the laser transmitter, the laser pulses can be made to sweep through an angle, tracing out a line or other patterns on the reflecting surface.
• The scientists are in the process of integrating the data for a 3D multi-hazard mapping of both the east and west coastline for a more precise picture of the ocean floor.

Other Initiatives

• It had also identified ‘gaps’ across the coast of Andhra Pradesh and Odisha for installing more tide gauges for better monitoring of the sea and more accurate prediction of impending disasters like cyclones.
• The INCOIS scientists in association with their counterparts in the Chennai-based National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT) and an United States independent scientific agency, Massachusetts-based Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute (WHOI), have been mining the data recorded by a unique ‘Flux Buoy’ retrieved from the Bay of Bengal off the Kolkota coast.
• The buoy was dropped off into the sea to monitor the temperatures, pressures, salinity, radiation and geo-chemical changes at various depths in a high resolution scale, compared to other buoys in the seas.

Similar Global Initiative

Seabed 2030 Project 

• Seabed 2030 is a collaborative project between the Nippon Foundation of Japan and the General Bathymetric Chart of the Oceans (GEBCO).
• It was launched at the United Nations Ocean Conference in June 2017 and is aligned with the UN's Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 14 to conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources.
• The United Nations Ocean Conference intended to be a game-changer in reversing the decline in the health of the ocean for people, planet and prosperity.
• The project aims to bring together all available bathymetric data to produce the definitive map of the world ocean floor by 2030 and make it available to all.
• In the past, satellites and planes carrying altimeter instruments have been able to provide large swathes of data about the ocean floor
• However, the Seabed 2030 Project aims to obtain higher quality information that has a minimum resolution of 100 metres at all spots, using equipment such as deepwater hull-mounted sonar systems, and Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs). 

Prominence  of the Study of the Ocean Floor.

• Helps in understanding several natural phenomena, including ocean circulation, tides and biological hotspots. 
• Provides key inputs for navigation, forecasting disasters, exploration for oil and gas projects, building offshore wind turbines, fishing resources, and for laying cables and pipelines. 
• Ensure a better understanding of climate change. 
• Climate change has impacted the flow of ocean currents and has led to sea-level rise. 

About Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS)

• INCOIS is an autonomous body.
• It was set up under the Department of Ocean Development in February 1999.
• It had been registered as a Society under the Andhra Pradesh (Telangana Area) Public Societies Registration Act 1350.
• Its mission is to provide ocean information and advisory services to society, industry, government agencies and scientific community through sustained ocean observations and constant improvements through systematic and focussed research.
• INCOIS is the Secretariat for the Indian Ocean Global Ocean Observing System (IOGOOS), Basin level Coordinator and Regional Data Centre for International Argo project in Indian Ocean.
• INCOIS was designated as the national Oceanographic Data Centre under the international oceanographic data exchange programme of the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) of UNESCO.
• Its campus in Hyderabad is known as “Ocean Valley”.

Context: Recently, India and Pakistan have agreed to a “strict observance of all agreements, understandings and cease firing along the Line of Control (LoC) and all other sector”.
Background

• India and Pakistan had agreed to a ceasefire on the LoC in November 2003.
• The ceasefire along the borders was first enforced on November 23, 2003, when the then Pakistan Prime Minister Zafarullah Jamali announced the decision on the eve of Eid-ul-Fitr and his then Indian counterpart late Atal Behari Vajpayee immediately reciprocated.
• Though the ceasefire was largely held over the years, it came under strain following the Pulwama attack in 2019 and India’s decision to scrap Jammu and Kashmir’s special status.
• Troops from the two sides have regularly exchanged fire.

Key Points

• The countries have agreed to a strict observance of all agreements, understandings and cease firing along the Line of Control (LoC) and all other sectors with effect from the midnight of February 24-25, 2021.
• In the interest of achieving mutually beneficial and sustainable peace along the borders, the two Directors General of Military Operations agreed to address each other’s core issues and concerns which have the propensity to disturb peace and lead to violence.
• In addition, they would use existing mechanisms of hotlines and flag meetings to resolve any misunderstandings.
• As per the existing mechanism, there is a discussion by officials from the Military Operations directorate every Tuesday but the DGMOs speak only when one side requests for a conversation.
• Political parties in J&K welcomed the decision calling it a step in the right direction.
• They opine that, for the interest of mutually beneficial and sustainable peace in the entire region, India and Pakistan need to address the core concern of J&K in keeping with the aspirations of its people.

Role of Backchannel diplomacy

• Experts opine that backchannel diplomacy led to the talks and helped produce a joint statement between the two sides.
• Signs had come against the backdrop of India’s region-wide diplomacy regarding COVID-19, in which Pakistan had participated under the umbrella of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC).
• While Pakistan had shown reluctance in engaging in bilateral exchanges with India on the global pandemic, it supported Prime Minister Modi’s five proposals for collaboration at the South Asian level on containing the pandemic.
• Pakistan PM’s latest trip to Sri Lanka was one more instance of softening of attitudes.
• In comparison to the airspace denial that both countries had imposed on each other during and in the aftermath of the Pulwama terror strike, India this week allowed the aircraft carrying Pakistan PM’s passage.
• However, it is important to note that during these signs of backchannel talks, both sides have maintained their positions on Kashmir.

Road Ahead

• If the 2003 ceasefire is formalised with clear rules and regulations, demilitarized zones, neutral observers and joint commissions, it should reduce the chances of future ceasefire violations.
• However, the success of ceasefires in most conflict situations depends heavily on political will.

Additional Information
Line of Control

• There was no LoC before 1972 Shimla Agreement was signed between India and Pakistan. 
• It was the 1971 war between India and Pakistan over the question of Bangladesh that turned the ceasefire line into the Line of Control (LoC), as it is known today. 
• The Line of Control, thus drawn, gave Pakistan control over Pakistan-occupied Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan, which Pakistan has since declared the Northern Areas and rules directly. 
• Rest of Jammu and Kashmir minus Aksai Chin is situated on the Indian side of Line of Control.
• The existing Line of Control runs from Manawar in Jammu to Indira Col on the tri-junction in Karakoram mountain range. 
• The Indian and Pakistani troops have to maintain a no-man's land of 500 yards on each side of the Line of Control.

Context: The Ministry of Railways has asked the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC) to educate its officials on Internet ethics, cyber hygiene and best practices in the use of IT equipment, including mobile phones. 
Background

• The Railway Board said a number of incidents had come to notice regarding breaches in various IT applications.
• A majority of them were applications related. 
• Incidents occurred due to “improper handling of the IT assets by the personnel”.
• Lack of awareness: There are a number of officials who are unaware of the Internet ethics and cyber hygiene.

Key Points

• To provide Cyber security training to staffs Ministry of Railways has joined hands with the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC).  The training will educate its officials on Internet ethics, cyber hygiene and best practices in the use of IT equipment, including mobile phones.
• This is a part of C-DAC’s National Cyber Security Strategy. The training was decided based on the recent cyberattacks across the railway network during the ongoing pandemic.

Use of IT infrastructure in Railways

• The Indian Railways uses IT infrastructure for the Passenger Reservation System (PRS). PRS is the nationwide online passenger reservation and ticketing system for railways.
• E-payment is also provided as part of the Freight Operations Information System(FOIS).

Why cyber security training is needed?

• The PRS includes passengers identities, proof of address, passenger mobile number and net banking/card payment details. So any cyber breach will endanger the sensitive data of the passengers.
• Indian Railways has seen a number of cyber breaches in various IT applications of railways. For example, illegal applications were used to book tickets, bypassing the railway firewall.
• These incidents occurred due to improper handling of the IT assets by the personnel.
• Further, these breaches increased after the lockdown due to an increase in electronic modes of communication in official working. So cyber security training is much needed.
• Hence, it was necessary that all railway officials took responsibility and follow adequate procedures when using IT infrastructure. This is important for ensuring confidentiality, privacy in dealing with official information.

Additional Information
Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC)

• It is an Indian autonomous scientific society, operating under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology.
• It was created in 1987, originally as the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing Technology (C-DACT). 
• This was in response to issues purchasing supercomputers from foreign sources. 
• After being denied a supercomputer by the United States in 1987, due to military use concerns, India started a programme to develop an indigenous supercomputer and C-DAC was created as part of this programme. 
• Supercomputers were considered a double-edged weapon capable of assisting in the development of nuclear weapons.

Context: Recently, 1,040 militants of five militant groups of Karbi Anglong district ceremonially laid down arms at an event in Guwahati in the presence of the Chief Minister of Assam.

• It is a huge development to bolster the ‘terrorism-free Assam’ image.

Key highlights
The surrendered militants comprised cadres from five outfits:

1. Karbi People’s Liberation Tiger (KPLT)
2. People’s Democratic Council of Karbi Longri (PDCK)
3. Karbi Longri NC Hills Liberation Front (KLNLF)
4. Kuki Liberation Front (KLF)
5. United People’s Liberation Army (UPLA).

Over 300 weapons and 11,203 bullets were surrendered by the militants.

• Among the surrendered militants is Ingti Kathar Songbijit, accused in multiple cases of militancy and ethnic violence in the state.

Significance of the surrender from militants

• The surrender implies that all insurgent outfits of Karbi Anglong district have now been brought into the mainstream.
• The Karbi Anglong militant outfit joining the mainstream means a decline in influence of Naga militant outfits in Assam.
• The government’s role is not limited to only bringing back the militants but also it is committed to ensure a life of dignity and respect for those who have surrendered arms.

History of Karbi insurgency

• Insurgency by Karbi groups (a major ethnic community of Assam) dates back to late 1980s.
• It is marked by killings, ethnic violence, abductions and taxation in the state.
• These outfits originated from a core demand of forming a separate state.
• Presently, the Karbi Anglong Autonomous Council (KAAC) is an autonomous district council, protected under the Sixth Schedule of the Indian Constitution.

The entire political discourse of Autonomous District Lok Sabha constituency— comprising three districts of Karbi Anglong, West Karbi Anglong (split from the former in 2016) and Dima Hasao — revolves around:

• Demand for granting ‘Autonomous State status’ to the region
• More autonomy to KAAC and North Cachar Hills Autonomous Council (which administers over Dima Hasao district).

Karbi Tribe

• The Karbi tribe or the Mikir tribe is the aboriginal tribe in the northern India.
• It mainly lives in the Karbi Anglong district of Assam or Karbi Anglong Autonomous Council.
• Racially, the Karbis belong to the Mongoloid group and linguistically they belong to the Tibeto-Burman group.
• They are cultivators and follow the Jhum method as their main cultivation method.
• They traditionally believe in multiple supernatural deities. Each year to satisfy them they sacrifice various animals and birds.

Context: Recently, India’s External Affairs Minister has addressed the High-Level Segment of the 46th Session of Human Rights Council (HRC) and highlighted India’s commitment to human rights and its fight against terrorism.

• India’s approach to the UN Human Rights Council is guided by the spirit of engagement, dialogue and consultation.
• It believes that equal emphasis should be placed on both the promotion and protection of human rights as both are best pursued through dialogue, consultation and cooperation among States as well as technical assistance and capacity building.

Terrorism

An offence to intimidate a population or to compel a government or an international organisation to do or abstain from doing any act, which causes:

• Death or serious bodily injury to any person.
• Serious damage to public or private property, including a place of public use, a State or government facility, a public transportation system, an infrastructure facility or the environment.
• Damage to property, places, facilities, or systems resulting in or likely to result in a major economic loss.
• It encompasses a range of complex threats like organized terrorism in conflict zones, foreign terrorist fighters, radicalised ‘lone wolves’, etc.

Factors Responsible for Growth of Terrorism

• State-sponsorship and safe havens.
• State-of-the-art communication systems.
• Access to advanced technology.
• Networking of terrorist groups with the criminal underworld.

Impacts

• It poses a major threat to international peace and security and undermines the core values of humanity, peace and growth.
• In addition to the devastating human cost of terrorism, in terms of lives lost or permanently altered, terrorist acts destabilise governments and undermine economic and social development.

Terrorist acts often defy national borders.

• Terrorist attacks using CBRNE materials (Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear and Explosives) have catastrophic consequences on communities and infrastructure.

Global Efforts

• Across the globe, the United Nations Office of Counter-Terrorism (UNOCT) leads and coordinates an all-of-UN approach to prevent and counter-terrorism and violent extremism.
• UN Counter-Terrorism Centre (UNCCT) under UNOCT, promotes international cooperation in the fight against terrorism and supports the Member States in implementing the Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy.
• The Terrorism Prevention Branch (TPB) of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) plays a significant role in international efforts.
• It works to assist the Member States, upon request, with the ratification, legislative incorporation and implementation of the universal legal framework against terrorism.
• The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) which is a global money laundering and terrorist financing watchdog, sets international standards that aim to prevent these illegal activities and the harm they cause to society.

Steps taken by India

• India has been at the forefront of global action against terrorism and has always played an active role in the global promotion and protection of human rights.
• India, which has been a victim of cross-border terrorism, took cognizance of the threat long before the major world powers.
• It is a crime against humanity and violates the most Fundamental Human Right, namely the Right to Life (Article 21).
• India has taken steps for setting up Joint Working Groups (JWGs) on counter-terrorism/security matters with countries. Bilateral treaties on Mutual Legal Assistance (MLATs) in Criminal matters to facilitate the investigation, collection of evidence, transfer of witnesses, location and action against proceeds of crime, etc. have been signed with other countries.
• In 2018, India highlighted its demand for a Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism (CCIT) at the 73rd session of the UN General Assembly (UNGA).
• In 1996, with the objective of providing a comprehensible legal framework to counter-terrorism, India proposed to the UNGA the adoption of CCIT.

It included the following major objectives:

• To have a universal definition of terrorism that all members would adopt into their own criminal laws.
• To ban all terror groups and shut down terror camps.
• To prosecute all terrorists under special laws.
• To make cross-border terrorism an extraditable offence worldwide.

Addressing the UN High-Level Conference on Heads of Counter-Terrorism (2018), India extended a five-point formula.

• In January 2021, at the 20th anniversary of the UN Security Council (UNSC) Resolution 1373, India presented an eight-point action plan to deal with the scourge of terrorism.

1. Summoning the political will to unhesitatingly combat terrorism.
2. Decrying double standards in the fight against terrorism.
3. Reform of the working methods of the Committees dealing with Sanctions and Counter-Terrorism.
4. Firmly discouraging exclusivist thinking that divides the world and harms social fabric.
5. Enlisting and delisting individuals and entities under the UN sanctions regimes objectively not for political or religious considerations.
6. Fully recognising and addressing the link between terrorism and transnational organized crime.
7. Combating terrorist financing.
8. Immediate attention to adequate funding to UN Counter-Terrorism bodies from the UN regular budget.

• Comprehensive Integrated Border Management System: It vastly improves the capability of Border Security Force (BSF) in detecting and controlling the cross border crimes like illegal infiltration, smuggling of contraband goods, human trafficking and cross border terrorism, etc.
• Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967: It enables more effective prevention of certain unlawful activities of individuals and associations and for dealing with terrorist activities, and other related matters.
• National Investigation Agency: It is India's counter-terrorist task force and is empowered to deal with terror related crimes across states without special permission from the states.
• Policy of Zero-Tolerance Against Terrorism: India calls for zero-tolerance agianst terrorism and focuses on developing a common strategy to curb it.

Various Counter-Terrorism Operations

• Operation Rakshak: Counter-insurgency and counter-terrorism operation in Jammu and Kashmir in 1990.
• Operation Sarp Vinash: Undertaken by Indian army to flush out terrorists in the areas of the Pir Panjal range in Jammu and Kashmir in 2003.
• Operation All Out: Joint offensive launched by Indian security forces to flush out militants and terrorists in Kashmir in 2017.

Suggestions and Road Ahead

• Strong and Reformed Institutions: Multilateral institutions and mechanisms need to be strengthened and reformed to be able to deal with these emerging challenges effectively.
• Concerted Efforts: There should be a concerted effort from the countries affected by the scourge of terrorism to pressurise countries that engage in state-sponsored terrorism.

Timely and Appropriate Action: Intelligence gathering and sharing are not enough, timely and appropriate action is required on the intelligence received.

• Intelligence agencies have to be empowered both monetarily and through modern infrastructure to be able to respond in time.
• Filling and Addressing Gaps: Violation of and gaps in the implementation of human rights should be addressed in a fair and just manner, with objectivity, non-selectivity, transparency and with due respect to the principles of non-interference in internal affairs and national sovereignty.
• United Approach and Efforts: The Covid-19 pandemic has complicated the situation in many geographies so there is a need for all to come together to overcome these challenges.

Context: Recently, the Ministry of Jal Shakti has announced selection of 12 sites for transforming them into ‘Swachh Tourist Destinations’ under Phase-IV of Swachh Iconic Places (SIP).
About Swachh Iconic Places (SIP) initiative

• It was launched in 2016 under the Swachh Bharat Mission.
• It is a special clean-up initiative focused on select iconic heritage, spiritual and cultural places in the country.

Phase I coverage of iconic places

• Vaishno Devi, Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, Taj Mahal, Tirupati Temple, Golden Temple, Manikarnika Ghat, Ajmer Sharif Dargah, Meenakshi Temple, Kamakhya Temple, and Jagannath Puri.

Phase II coverage of iconic places

• Gangotri, Yamunotri, Mahakaleshwar Temple, Char Minar, Church and Convent of St. Francis of Assissi, Adi Shankaracharya’s abode Kaladi, Gomateshwar, Baijnath Dham, Gaya Tirth, and Somnath temple.

Phase III coverage iconic places

• Raghavendra Swamy Temple, Hazardwari Palace, Brahma Sarovar Temple, VidurKuti, Mana village, Pangong Lake, Nagvasuki Temple, ImaKeithal market, Sabarimala Temple, and Kanvashram.

Key Highlights

• The ‘Swachh Tourist Destinations’ under Swachh Iconic Places (SIP) is an initiative of Swachh Bharat Mission Grameen (SBM-G).

The 12 sites announced under Swachh Tourist Destinations are:

• Ajanta Caves, Maharashtra; Sanchi Stupa, Madhya Pradesh; Kumbhalgarh Fort, Rajasthan; Jaisalmer Fort, Rajasthan; Ramdevra, Rajasthan; Golconda Fort, Hyderabad, Telangana; Sun Temple, Konark, Odisha; Rock Garden, Chandigarh; Dal Lake, Srinagar, Jammu & Kashmir; Banke Bihari Temple, Mathura, Uttar Pradesh; Agra Fort, Agra, Uttar Pradesh; Kalighat Temple, West Bengal

What is Swachh Iconic Places (SIP) initiative?

• It is a multi-stakeholder initiative focusing on cleaning up 100 places across India that are “iconic” due to their heritage, religious and/or cultural significance.
• It is being coordinated by the Ministry of Jal Shakti, Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA), Ministry of Tourism, Ministry of Culture and the concerned State/UT governments.
• The initiative aims at enhancing the experience of both domestic and foreign visitors by improving the sanitation and cleanliness standards at and around the sites.
• The objective of SIP is to achieve a distinctly higher level of Sanitation/Cleanliness at these places.
• All Iconic Sites have designated PSUs for financial and technical support.

Context: Recently, Indian government, Government of Nagaland and the World Bank signed a $68 million project to enhance the governance of schools across Nagaland as well as to improve teaching practices and learning environments in select schools.

Key highlights of Nagaland Education Project

• It is World Bank funded project to enhance the governance of schools across Nagaland as well as to improve teaching practices and learning environments in select schools.

The objectives of the Nagaland Education Project are

• Improve classroom instruction;
• Create opportunities for the professional development of teachers; and
• Build technology systems to provide students and teachers with more access to blended and online learning as well as allow better monitoring of policies and programs.
• It is an integrated approach which will complement conventional delivery models and help mitigate the challenges posed by COVID-19.
• It aims to benefit 150,000 students and 20,000 teachers in the government education system in Nagaland.

Nagaland faces challenges of:

• Weak school infrastructure;
• Lack of opportunities for the professional development of teachers; and
• Limited capacity on the part of communities to partner effectively with the school system
• The COVID-19 pandemic has further accentuated these challenges and created additional stress and disruptions to the state’s school education system.
• There is a growing need to significantly improve learning outcomes to meet the demands of the labor market and fuel future growth.

Significance of Nagaland Education Project

• The human resources development plays a key role in any development strategy and the Government of India has taken several concrete steps to transform the education landscape in India.
• The education project in Nagaland will address the critical gaps faced by students and teachers and play an important role in the development of the state.
• The project is designed to support the Government of Nagaland’s ongoing efforts to improve and develop a more resilient education system in the state.
• The strengthening of Nagaland’s Education Management and Information System (EMIS) will enable:
• Wider access to education resources;
• Support professional development and performance evaluation systems for teachers and education managers;
• Facilitate school leadership and better management; and
• Support examination reforms

The project will support the state’s efforts to:

• Reform and improve the learning environment in schools so that they are child-centered;
• Supportive of modern, technology-enabled teaching and learning approaches; and
• Resilient to future shocks

Context: Recently, NITI Aayog along with a working subgroup of officials and members of civil society has prepared a 'draft national migrant labour policy'.

• The policy is inspired by a rights-based approach spurred by the exodus of 10 million migrants (government estimates) from big cities during the Covid-19 lockdown.
• Earlier in December 2020, the Indian government decided to create a database of migrant workers, including workers in the informal economy.

Need for a migrant labour policy

• Issues with existing law: The Inter State Migrant Workers Act, 1979, designed to protect labourers from exploitation by contractors by safeguarding rights of migrant workers, covered only labourers migrating through a contractor and left out independent migrants.
• A comprehensive law not in place: Which would form the legal basis for an architecture of social protection.
• Paucity of data: There is limited merit in Census data that comes only once a decade.

Key highlight
The draft describes two approaches to policy design:

• One focussed on cash transfers, special quotas, and reservations;
• Two focussed on enhancing the agency and capability of the community and thereby remove aspects that come in the way of an individual’s own natural ability to thrive.

A rights-based approach

• The policy rejects a handout approach, opting instead for a rights-based framework.
• It seeks to remove restrictions on the true agency and potential of the migrant workers.
• The goal a/c to the document should not be to provide temporary or permanent economic or social aids”, which is “a rather limited approach”.
• Migration, the draft says, should be acknowledged as an integral part of the development and government policies should not hinder but…seek to facilitate internal migration.

Restructuring the institutions
The NITI draft lays down institutional mechanisms to coordinate between Ministries, states, and local departments to implement programmes for migrants.

• Nodal agency: It identifies the Ministry of Labour and Employment as the nodal Ministry for implementation of policies, and asks it to create a special unit to help to converge the activities of other Ministries.
• Resources centre: This unit would manage migration resource centres in high migration zones, a national labour Helpline, links of worker households to government schemes, and inter-state migration management bodies.
• Migration corridors: On the inter-state migration management bodies, it says that labour departments of source and destination states along major migration corridors, should work together through the migrant worker cells.
• Labour officers from source states can be deputed to destinations – e.g., Bihar’s experiment to have a joint labour commissioner at Bihar Bhavan in New Delhi.
• Role for Panchayats: Alongside the long-term goal, policies should promote the role of panchayats to aid migrant workers and integrate urban and rural policies to improve the conditions of migration.
• Migration management: Panchayats should maintain a database of migrant workers, issue identity cards and passbooks, and provide “migration management and governance” through training, placement, and social-security benefit assurance, the draft says.

Significance

• Remove restrictions: On true agency and potential of the migrant workers, removing aspects that come in the way of an individual’s own natural ability to thrive.
• Empowering migrant workers through a right-based approach: The goal of the policy should not be to provide temporary or permanent economic or social aids (limited approach).
• Migration an integral part of development: And government policies should not hinder but seek to facilitate internal migration. 
• Preventing exploitation: The draft points to the legal support and registrations tracking has the potential to prevent exploitation of migrant workers.

Recommendations of National Policy on Migrant Workers

• The Ministries of Panchayati Raj, Rural Development, and Housing & Urban Affairs need to use Tribal Affairs migration data to help create migration resource centres in high migration zones.
• The Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship needs to focus on skill-building at these centres.
• The Ministry of Education should take measures under the Right to Education Act to mainstream migrant children’s education, to map migrant children, and to provide local-language teachers in migrant destinations.
• The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs should address issues of night shelters, short-stay homes, and seasonal accommodation for migrants in cities.
• The National Legal Services authority (NALSA) and Ministry of Labour should set up grievance handling cells and fast track legal responses for trafficking, minimum wage violations, and workplace abuses and accidents for migrant workers.

Road Ahead (as per the draft)

• Stem migration: Though the movement from agriculture to manufacturing and services was inherently linked to the success of migration in the country, the draft asks source states to raise minimum wages to bring major shifts in local livelihood of tribals, that may result in stemming migration to some extent.
• Creating community building organisations (CBO) in the source states: Their long term plan should be to alleviate distress migration policy initiatives by aiming for a more pro-poor development strategy in the sending areas.
• Promote the role of panchayats: To aid migrant workers and integrate urban and rural policies to improve the conditions of migration by maintaining a database of migrant workers.