The Hindu Newspaper Analysis 22 November 2022

The Hindu Newspaper Analysis for UPSC

The Hindu Newspaper Analysis 21 November 2022

• Pairs of Olive Ridley sea turtles have begun emerging on the sea waters off Gahirmatha along the Odisha coast, marking the commencement of the annual mass nesting of these endangered marine species.
• Gahirmatha in Kendrapara district, 150 km from the State capital Bhubaneswar, is the world’s largest rookery for Olive Ridley sea turtles.

The Hindu Editorial Today

About 

• Scientific name: Lepidochelys olivacea; also known as the Pacific ridley sea turtle.
• Location: Found in warm waters of the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian oceans.
• Features:
  • One of the smallest sea-turtles on the earth.
  • Olive green colour of their shell.
  • They can grow up to two-and-a-half feet in length and weigh 30-45 kilograms.
  • Food: Mainly shrimp, crab, molluscs, fish and crabs.
  • Known for their unique mass nesting called Arribada (which means ‘arrival by the sea’ in Spanish), where thousands of females come together on the same beach to lay eggs.
• Sea Turtles in India: There are five species of sea turtles in Indian waters viz.,
  • Leatherback,
  • Loggerhead,
  • Hawksbill,
  • Green and
  • Olive Ridley.
• Conservation Status:
  • IUCN Red List: Vulnerable
  • Schedule I of Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972
  • CITES Appendix I
• Nesting sites:
  • Rushikulya rookery coast (Odisha),
  • Gahirmatha beach (Bhitarkanika National park) and
  • Mouth of the Devi River.
• Threats:
  • More frequent and intense flooding and cyclones
  • Sex ratio is getting skewed because of global warming.

Who was Lachit Borphukan?

• Born on 24th November, 1622.
• He was a commander in the Ahom kingdom.
• Known for his leadership in the 1671 Battle of Saraighat that thwarted a drawn-out attempt by Mughal forces under the command of Ramsingh I to take over Ahom kingdom.
• The battle of Saraighat was fought on the banks of the Brahmaputra in Guwahati.
• The National Defence Academy (NDA), ever since 1999 has been conferring the best passing out cadet with the Lachit Borphukan gold medal.

• The 103rd Amendment inserting Articles 15 (6) and 16(6) to the Constitution, permits 10% reservation in educational institutions and public employment for those from the EWS. This reservation explicitly excludes persons from the Scheduled Castes (SC), Scheduled Tribes (ST) and the Other Backward Classes (OBC) categories.
• The majority judgment of Justices Dinesh Maheshwari, Bela M. Trivedi and J.B. Pardiwala upheld the constitutionality of the amendment and held that such exclusion was justified because the SC, ST and OBC categories had reservations under Articles 15(4), 15(5) and 16(4).
• A person who is poor, would also most likely be from an oppressed caste background, minority religion, female or may have a disability, and in fact many of these conditions may be the reason for her poverty. The UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights recognises that “discrimination may cause poverty, just as poverty may cause discrimination”.
• Justice Bhat and CJI Lalit point out painfully that if poverty is the criteria for reservation, then can it be justified that an Adivasi girl would not be entitled to such opportunity because she already has existing reservations, although she falls under the EWS description?
• First, it recognises the importance of Article 15(1) or the obligation of non-discrimination on the grounds of caste, race, sex, religion and place of birth as an integral part of the Equality Code.
• Second, the dissent reiterates the importance of Article 17 on the abolition of untouchability in any form.
• Poverty or socio-economic disadvantage would be a useful marker for reservations, but can poverty have exclusions on the basis of caste?
• The dissent holds that the Equality Code under Articles 14, 15, 16 and 17 of the Constitution promotes the inclusiveness of all sections of society, and the EWS amendment which excludes people based on their caste would destroy our constitutional ethos of non-discrimination.

• Firefighting and fireproofing as national responses to crises are concepts that merit serious study in the emerging global geopolitical, geo-economic and security landscapes. Firefighting attaches itself to reactive responses to crises that arise from a lack of preparedness, lack of capacity, lack of national will and cohesion between different instruments of statecraft.
• It is now time to reflect on whether a transforming India with visions of a five trillion dollar and a 10 trillion-dollar economy in the decades ahead, needs to reflect hard on developing fireproofing strategies to insulate itself sufficiently from the plethora of crises raging across the world, all of which have the potential to slow down or even derail India’s rise in the decade ahead.
• While globalisation essentially led to widespread economic prosperity, it also forced countries to peel off some of the inbuilt insulation that existed within the international economic order and created several vulnerabilities.
• How does India go about navigating the next few years? Does it have the capacity to run two races simultaneously: the first one being the long distance one of achieving the status of a developed country by 2047, and the second one being the more daunting middle-distance run that has already begun in the backdrop of the Russia-Ukraine crisis and growing Chinese power that seeks undiluted regional hegemony and power-parity with the United States at the global level?
• Fireproofing is one such strategy that India needs to consider across the Diplomacy, Information, Military and Economics (DIME) paradigm, with an added S that encompasses Society and creates a DIMES challenge for India to navigate.
• This is where the fireproofing of the economy in the medium term must concentrate on poverty alleviation on a war footing; universal education and health care; creation of jobs and raising the other parameters of the human development index. This is where India’s economic insulation lies.

• On November 10, the Supreme Court gave the Centre four weeks’ time to file a response clarifying its stand on a plea by former Rajya Sabha MP Subramanian Swamy seeking national heritage status for the ‘Ram Setu’.
• While the story of the controversial Sethusamudram Ship Channel Project (SSCP) can be traced back to the British, who proposed creating a channel to link the Palk Strait with the Gulf of Mannar, it was only in 2005 that the project was inaugurated.
• Separating the shallow sea consisting of the Gulf of Mannar in the south and Palk Bay in the north is a somewhat linear coral ridge called Adam’s Bridge or Ram Setu.
• The area is also vulnerable to cyclonic storms. A cyclone in 1964 was so powerful that it wiped out the town of Dhanushkodi.
• The coral reef platforms between Thoothukudi and Rameswaram in the Gulf of Mannar were notified as a marine biosphere reserve in 1989. More than 36,000 species of flora and fauna reportedly live there, flanked by mangroves and sandy shores which are considered conducive for turtles to nest.

• The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Monday announced a National Suicide Prevention Strategy, the first of its kind in the country, with time-bound action plans and multi-sectoral collaborations to achieve reduction in suicide mortality by 10% by 2030.
• It envisages developing guidelines for responsible media reporting of suicides, and restricting access to means of suicide. The stress is on developing community resilience and societal support for suicide prevention. While the strategy is in line with the WHO’s South East-Asia Region Strategy for suicide prevention, it says it will remain true to India’s cultural and social milieu.
• In India, more than one lakh lives are lost every year to suicide, and it is the top killer in the 15-29 years category. In the past three years, the suicide rate has increased from 10.2 to 11.3 per 1,00,000 population, the document records. The most common reasons for suicide include family problems and illnesses, which account for 34% and 18% of all suicide-related deaths.
• Section 309:History: The law, brought in by the British in the 19th century, reflected the thinking of the time, when killing or attempting to kill oneself was considered a crime against the state, as well as against religion.
• Anyone who survives an attempted suicide can be booked under Section 309 IPC, which deals with “Attempt to commit suicide”.
• the Mental Healthcare Act (MHCA), 2017, which came into force in July 2018, has significantly reduced the scope for the use of Section 309 IPC and made the attempt to commit suicide punishable only as an exception.

Q)‘GHAR – GO Home and Re-Unite’ is an initiative of:

1. NITI Aayog
2. National Commission for the Protection of Child Rights
3. CSIR
4. None of the above

‘घर – गो होम एंड री-यूनाइट’ किसकी एक पहल है:

1. नीति आयोग
2. राष्ट्रीय बाल अधिकार संरक्षण आयोग
3. सीएसआईआर
4. उपरोक्त में से कोई नहीं

Explanation :

The National Commission for the Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) has recently launched the ‘GHAR – GO Home and Re-Unite’.

• It addresses the changed roles of CWCs and District Child Protection (DCPO) for children in need of care and protection.
• The portal was developed by the NCPCR.

Features:

• The portal has digital tracking and monitoring of children who are in the Juvenile Justice system and need to be repatriated to another country/state/district.
• Digital transfer of cases of children to the concerned JJB/CWC of the State. It will help in speedy repatriation of children.

Q) With reference to the ‘Loss and Damages’ fund (L&D), consider the following statements:

1. It refers to costs the rich and developed countries, who are majorly responsible for industrial emissions that pollute the environment, should pay to poorer nations that have made negligible contribution to pollution but are more vulnerable to extreme climate events.
2. It was set up in COP 24.

Which of the above statements is/are correct?

1. 1 only
2. 2 only
3. Both 1 and 2
4. Neither 1 nor 2

‘लॉस एंड डैमेज’ फंड (एल एंड डी) के संदर्भ में निम्नलिखित कथनों पर विचार करें:

1. यह अमीर और विकसित देशों की लागत को संदर्भित करता है, जो पर्यावरण को प्रदूषित करने वाले औद्योगिक उत्सर्जन के लिए प्रमुख रूप से जिम्मेदार हैं, उन्हें उन गरीब देशों को भुगतान करना चाहिए जिन्होंने प्रदूषण में नगण्य योगदान दिया है लेकिन चरम जलवायु घटनाओं के प्रति अधिक संवेदनशील हैं।
2. इसे सीओपी 24 में स्थापित किया गया था।

उपरोक्त कथनों में से कौन-सा/से सही है/हैं?

1. केवल 1
2. केवल 2
3. 1 और 2 दोनों
4. न तो 1 और न ही 2

Explanation :

COP27 established ‘Loss and Damages’ fund (L&D) for climate reparations.

• It refers to costs the rich and developed countries, who are majorly responsible for industrial emissions that pollute the environment, should pay to poorer nations that have made negligible contribution to pollution but are more vulnerable to extreme climate events.
• The expected monetary compensation from the L&D fund is estimated to be nearly $500 billion and rising by $200 billion annually.
• Crucial questions such as who will manage this fund, whether contributions are expected from large developing countries and what the fair share of contributors will be — have been left to a “transitional committee” that will make recommendations for the adoption of the fund at the next Conference of the Parties (COP) of the UN’s Framework Convention for Climate Change, to be held in the UAE in 2023.

Q) Consider the following statements.

1. Democracy is one of the basic features of the Constitution of India.
2. In the Kesavananda Bharati case (1973) it was held that the basic features of the Constitution are unalterable.

Which of the above statements is/are correct?

1. 1 only
2. 2 only
3. Both 1 and 2
4. Neither 1 nor 2

निम्नलिखित कथनों पर विचार करें।

1. लोकतंत्र भारत के संविधान की मूलभूत विशेषताओं में से एक है।
2. केशवानंद भारती मामले (1973) में यह कहा गया था कि संविधान की मूल विशेषताएं अपरिवर्तनीय हैं।

उपरोक्त कथनों में से कौन-सा/से सही है/हैं?

1. केवल 1
2. केवल 2
3. 1 और 2 दोनों
4. न तो 1 और न ही 2

• Kesavananda Bharati (1973) held that the basic features of the Constitution are unalterable. Democracy is one of the basic features of the Constitution.

Q) Consider the following statements regarding the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana scheme (PMGKAY):

1. It covers Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) beneficiaries.
2. Its nodal Ministry is the Ministry of Finance.

Which of the above statements is/are correct?

1. 1 only
2. 2 only
3. Both 1 and 2
4. Neither 1 nor 2

प्रधानमंत्री गरीब कल्याण अन्न योजना योजना (PMGKAY) के संबंध में निम्नलिखित कथनों पर विचार करें:

1. इसमें डायरेक्ट बेनिफिट ट्रांसफर (DBT) लाभार्थी शामिल हैं।
2. इसका नोडल मंत्रालय वित्त मंत्रालय है।

उपरोक्त कथनों में से कौन-सा/से सही है/हैं?

1. केवल 1
2. केवल 2
3. 1 और 2 दोनों
4. न तो 1 और न ही 2

Explanation:

• Features of the scheme
• 80 crore NFSA beneficiaries will get 5 kg wheat or rice and 1 kg of preferred pulses for free every month per person ( this is apart from 35kg per month per family under Antyodaya Anna Yojana and 5 Kg per month per person for Priority Households, under National Food Security Act (NFSA))
• PMGKAY covers even Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) beneficiaries
• Its nodal Ministry is the Ministry of Finance

Q) Mission Innovation (MI) is a an initiative of

1. UNDP
2. WEF
3. WWF
4. None of the above

मिशन इनोवेशन (एमआई) की एक पहल है

1. यूएनडीपी
2. डब्ल्यूईएफ
3. डब्ल्यूडब्ल्यूएफ
4. उपर्युक्त में से कोई नहीं

Explanation:

• Mission Innovation (MI) is a global initiative of 23 countries and the European Commission (on behalf of the European Union) catalysing a decade of action and investment in research, development and demonstration to make clean energy affordable, attractive and accessible for all. This will accelerate progress towards the Paris Agreement goals and pathways to net zero.

Mains Practice Question:

Q) How has the emphasis on certain crops brought about changes in cropping patterns in the recent past? Elaborate the emphasis on millets production and consumption.(UPSC 2018) (150 words)

कुछ फसलों पर बल देने से फसल में किस प्रकार परिवर्तन आया है हाल के दिनों में पैटर्न? बाजरा उत्पादन पर बल को विस्तृत करें और खपत। (यूपीएससी 2018)

UPSC Mains Result 2022

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