Syllabus: General Studies Paper 2

The Union Cabinet has approved the Prime Minister’s Development Initiative for North East Region (PM-DevINE) – a new scheme for the Northeastern states.

• The scheme will be operational for the remaining four years of the 15th Finance Commission, from 2022-23 to 2025-26, and will have an outlay of Rs 6,600 crore.

What is PM-DevINE?

• The new scheme, PM-DevINE, is a Central Sector Scheme with 100% Central funding and will be implemented by Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER) through North Eastern Council or Central Ministries/ agencies.
• The PM-DevINE Scheme will have an outlay of Rs.6,600 crore for the four year period from 2022-23 to 2025-26 (remaining years of 15th Finance Commission period).
• PM-DevINE will lead to creation of infrastructure, support industries, social development projects and create livelihood activities for youth and women, thus leading to employment generation.
• Measures would be taken to ensure adequate operation and maintenance of the projects sanctioned under PM-DevINE so that they are sustainable.
• To limit construction risks of time and cost overrun, falling on the Government projects would be implemented on Engineering-procurement-Construction (EPC) basis, to the extent possible.
• Efforts will be made to complete the PM-DevINE projects by 2025-26 so that there are no committed liabilities beyond this year, said DoNER officials.

Objectives of PM-DevINE

• Fund infrastructure convergently, in the spirit of PM Gati Shakti;
• Support social development projects based on felt needs of the NER;
• Enable livelihood activities for youth and women;
• Fill the development gaps in various sectors.

MDoNER

• The Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (MD0NER) is responsible for the matters relating to the planning, execution and monitoring of development schemes and projects in the North Eastern Region. 
• Its vision is to accelerate the pace of socio-economic development of the Region so that it may enjoy growth parity with the rest of the country.

Initiatives/activities of MDoNER:

• NESIDS: North East Special Infrastructure Development Scheme” (NESIDS) was approved by the Government of India as a Central Sector Scheme. 
• NLCPR: The Non Lapsable Central Pool of Resources (NLCPR) Scheme came into existence in 1998 under then Planning Commission. Subsequently, it was transferred to DoNER in 2001. 

• The objective of NLCPR Scheme is to fill up the gap in infrastructure sector of the North Eastern Region through sanctioning the projects prioritised by the State Governments. 

• SIDF: Social and Infrastructure Development Fund (SIDF). It is a one-time package that covers projects, prioritized by the State Governments as per their requirement, which, inter alia, include construction of new roads and bridges, re-establishment of new sub-stations/transmission lines, construction/upgradation of hospitals, establishment of schools, water supply projects etc.
• NITI Forum for North East: In collaboration with the NITI Aayog, the ‘NITI Forum for North East’ constituted for accelerated, inclusive and sustainable development in the North East Region has identified 5 focus sectors, viz. Tea, Tourism, Bamboo, Dairy and Pisciculture.
• Mission Organic Value Chain Development (MOVCD-NER): The program has been implemented in the North-Eastern states since 2017. The aim of the mission is to promote organic farming in the region. It seeks to replace traditional subsistence farming with a cluster-based approach.
• Sub Mission on Seeds and Planting Material (SMSP): It aims to increase the availability of seeds of the High Yielding Varieties of crops. The overall objective is to double farmers’ income by 2022, as envisioned by the Government. The scheme is run alongside other support programs like Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVKs), integrated farming systems etc.
• Connectivity Projects: To create alternate routes to the region and decrease its dependence on the Chicken’s Neck, the Indian government has planned additional routes through South East Asia like Kaladan Multi-Modal Transit Project, Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar (BCIM) Corridor, etc.

• India’s Look-East connectivity projects connect Northeast India to East Asia and ASEAN.

• NEHHDC: Home Minister recently launched the North Eastern Handicrafts & Handlooms Development Corporation Limited (NEHHDC) Mobile Application during the session.
• The NEHHDC would help register artisans and weavers online and collect authentic data through the app. It is expected to provide training through specially designed online courses and help the beneficiaries and redress grievances.
• NESAC: North Eastern Space Applications Centre (NESAC) was established as a joint initiative of Department of Space (DOS) and the North Eastern Council (NEC) and came into being on 5th of September, 2000.

• The Centre helps in augmenting the developmental process in the region by providing the advanced space technology support.

External aided projects for NER:

• North Eastern States Roads Investment Programme (NESRIP) assisted by Asian Development Bank (ADB):
• The scheme envisaged construction/up-gradation of total 433.425 km long roads in 6 North Eastern States of Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Sikkim and Tripura.

Challenges to the Development of the NER:

Difficult Terrain

North Eastern Region is majorly a mountainous region, except the state of Assam, which has plains as a major part of its area.

This makes it difficult for the government schemes to be implemented in the area, because of the problem of access to the remote areas.

Backward Areas

Unlike the mainland, people of the North East Region are still content with a simple lifestyle and lack of technology in their day-to-day lives. The standard of living continues to be low, due to the absence of high-income generation opportunities.

For e.g., the farmers practice primitive methods of agriculture, with the tribals still practising Shifting agriculture in the country.

Connectivity

As stated above, the North Eastern Region is a landlocked region. Therefore, it has limited access to the sea. Similarly, it has a difficult terrain that renders expressways and wider roads infeasible.

This is complicated by the absence of railway infrastructure in the region.

Insurgencies

One of the major regions for the lack of development in the region is the lack of political and social stability in the country.

The artificial boundaries of the British legacy have not been fully accepted by the tribal communities of the region, which is compounded by political opportunism.

The region is still caught in the vicious circle of violence due to political reasons and the diversion of youth towards the insurgent groups, which leads to a lack of skill enhancement and consequent lack of opportunity.

Syllabus: General Studies Paper 3

Wildlife officials in Arunachal Pradesh are awaiting analysis of the data of a survey conducted in 2021 to ascertain the presence of the elusive snow leopard.

The data was collected from a high-altitude Himalayan belt across 11 wildlife divisions from Tawang in the west and Anini to the east and was sent to the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF).

• Namdapha is the known home of three other large cats — tiger, leopard and clouded leopard. 
• The belief that the national park is also the habitat of the snow leopard is based on the claim of a hunter from the Lisu ethnic community that he possessed the skin of the carnivore.

• The snow leopard has never been spotted nor recorded in the Namdapha National Park and Tiger Reserve in Arunachal Pradesh’s Changlang district. 
• The 1,985 sq. km reserve bordering Myanmar has an elevation varying from 200 metres to 4,571 metres above sea level

Snow Leopard

• Snow leopards have a vast but fragmented distribution across the mountainous landscape of Central Asia, which covers different parts of the Himalayas such as Ladakh, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, and Sikkim.
• It is the State animal of Himachal Pradesh.
• The Snow Leopard (also known as Ghost of the mountains) acts as an indicator of the health of the mountain ecosystem in which they live. It is because of their position as the top predator in the food web.
• Further, it is found in 12 range countries namely Afghanistan, Bhutan, China, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Nepal, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan.

Conservation efforts

• IUCN status: Vulnerable
• Listed in CITES Appendix I
• Listed as threatened with extinction in Schedule I of the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species (CMS) of Wild Animals since 1985.
• Listed in Schedule I of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972.
• Flagship conservation species of India – part of 21 critically endangered species for the recovery program under MoEF&CC
• India is a party to the Global Snow Leopard and Ecosystem Protection (GSLEP) Programme since 2013.
• SECURE Himalayas initiative of the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)
• Project Snow Leopard 2009.

World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF)

• Established as a Charitable Trust on 27 November, 1969, WWF India set out with the aim of reducing the degradation of Earth’s natural environment and building a future in which humans live in harmony with nature. In 1987, the organization changed it’s name from the World Wildlife Fund to World Wide Fund for Nature India. 
• With five decades of extensive work in the sector, WWF India today is one of the leading conservation organizations in the country.
• WWF India is a science-based organization which addresses issues such as the conservation of species and its habitats, climate change, water and environmental education, among many others.
• Their work is focused around six ambitious goals: Climate, Food, Forests, Freshwater, Oceans, Wildlife.

Its initiatives include

• Debt-for-Nature Swap
• Earth Hour
• Healthy Grown
• Marine Stewardship Council
• Living Planet Index

Syllabus: General Studies Paper 3

National Highways Infra Trust (NHAI InvIT), the infrastructure investment trust sponsored by National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) to support Government of India’s National Monetization Pipeline, has raised a sum of Rs 1,430 crore from domestic and international investors through placement of its units, for part funding its acquisition of three additional road projects from NHAI.

Infrastructure Investment Trusts (InvIT)

• InvITs are similar to mutual funds.
• While mutual funds provide an opportunity to invest in equity stocks, an InvIT allows one to invest in infrastructure projects such as road and power.
• InvITs are listed on exchanges just like stocks — through IPOs.
• The InvITs listed on the stock exchange are IRB InvIT Fund and India Grid Trust.
• InvITs are regulated by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) (Infrastructure Investment Trusts) Regulations, 2014.
• Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) are similar to InvITs but they are present only in Real estate sector.
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NHAI InvIT 

• The infrastructure investment trust is sponsored by National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) to support Government of India’s National Monetization Pipeline.
• In order to enhance participation by domestic investors, NHAI InvIT is issuing Non-Convertible Debentures or NCDs to raise Rs.1500 crore, which have a long dated maturity of 24 years. 
• The minimum investment amount has been kept low at Rs.10,000, so that common man can participate in it. 
• 25% of the NCD issue is being reserved for retail investor. 
• The coupon is 7.9% payable half yearly, which works out to 8.05% interest for the year. 
• While the NCDs are not guaranteed by the government or NHAI, it carries AAA rating from two rating agencies.
• In the current environment, this presents an attractive opportunity to make investments from long term perspective

Syllabus: General Studies Paper 3

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is developing a rocket named Next Generation Launch Vehicle (NGLV) to replace its ageing workhorse the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) that was developed in the 1980s.

• ISRO to develop a ‘Bharat Krishi satellite’ to study the growth pattern of crops, identify irrigation deficiencies and provide information that will help in pest-control and verification of farm insurance claims besides many other applications.
• The space agency is exploring the possibility of increasing civilian use of the country’s indigenous satellite navigation system NaVIC.
• It is penetrating slowly into the civilian sector. But the primary goal of NaVIC continues to remain as a service to the strategic sectors.

NGLV 

• It will use ‘semi-cryogenic’ technology which is both efficient and cost-effective. 
• The new rocket could also be ‘reusable’. “
• A reusable rocket will have a smaller payload than an expendable one. If it is reusable, the payload will be around five tonnes and if it’s expendable, it will go up 10 tonnes.
• Participation of the industry would ensure that capability is created outside ISRO to build, operate and launch it on a commercial basis.

Syllabus: General Studies Paper 3

There has been a 69 per cent decline in the wildlife populations of mammals, birds, amphibians, reptiles and fish, across the globe in the last 50 years, according to the latest Living Planet Report by World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF). 

• The highest decline (94 per cent) was in the Latin America and the Caribbean region.
• Africa recorded a 66 per cent fall in its wildlife populations from 1970-2018 and the Asia Pacific 55 per cent.
• Freshwater species populations globally reduced by 83 per cent.
• Habitat loss and barriers to migration routes were responsible for about half of the threats to monitored migratory fish species.
• The Living Planet Index (LPI), featuring about 32,000 populations of 5,230 species across the world, showed that vertebrate wildlife populations are plummeting at a particularly staggering rate in tropical regions of the world.
• Mangroves continue to be lost to aquaculture, agriculture and coastal development at a rate of 0.13 per cent per year.
• Many mangroves are also degraded by over exploitation and pollution, alongside natural stressors such as storms and coastal erosion.
• Around 137 square kilometres of the Sundarbans mangrove forest in India and Bangladesh has been eroded since 1985, reducing land and ecosystem services for many of the 10 million people who live there.

WWF identified six key threats to biodiversity — 

• Agriculture
• Hunting
• Logging 
• Pollution
• Invasive Species
• Climate change 

To highlight ‘threat hotspots’ for terrestrial vertebrates. 

About Living Planet Report

• The Living Planet Report 2022 is a comprehensive study of trends in global biodiversity and the health of the planet.
• It is an annual flagship World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) publication.
• It is the world’s leading, science-based analysis, on the health of our planet and the impact of human activity.
• It links climate change and biodiversity loss for 1st time. Biodiversity loss and climate crisis should be dealt with as a single issue.

Syllabus: General Studies Paper 1

Odisha Millet Mission was launched to promote seven millet crops, ragi dominates production and procurement.

• In 2017, the state launched the Odisha Millet Mission (OMM), which aims to bring millets back to its fields and food plates by encouraging farmers to grow the crops that traditionally formed a substantial part of the diet and crop system in tribal areas.
• To improve nutritional security and promote sustainable agricultural practices
• OMM also sells millet products, such as cookies, savoury snacks, vermicelli and processed millets, under a brand called “Millet Shakti” through food trucks, cafés, kiosks and other outlets.
• Women self-help groups (SHGs) have been kept at the centre of the programme.

Green Revolution 

Green Revolution of 1960s and 1970s made India self-sufficient in food grain production. Government provided several policy incentives to farmers, like:  

• Price support for crops 
• High-yielding seeds 
• Expanded irrigation:  
• Increased use of fertilizers, pesticides and weedicides in order to reduce agricultural loses 
• Introduction of combine harvesters 

Significance

• Increase in food grain production, especially in Punjab, Haryana, and Uttar Pradesh.
• Development of high-yielding varieties of wheat and rust resistant strains of wheat.
• The Green Revolution has transformed India to a food grain surplus country from a deficit one.

Syllabus: General Studies Paper 3

Researchers have created a chart of the corpses of massive stars that have since collapsed into black holes and neutron stars. 

• The study reveals that this “galactic graveyard” stretches three times the height of the Milky Way and that close to one-third of the objects have been flung out from the galaxy.
• These compact remnants of dead stars show a fundamentally different distribution and structure to the visible galaxy.
• The ‘height’ of the galactic underworld is over three times larger in the Milky Way itself. And an amazing 30 per cent of objects have been completely ejected from the galaxy.

Formation of Black Hole

• Black holes and neutron stars are formed when stars which are more than eight times larger than our Sun exhaust their fuel supply and suddenly collapse. 
• When this happens, it triggers a reaction that blows apart the outer portion of the star in a supernova explosion. 
• Meanwhile, the core keeps compressing itself until it becomes either a neutron star or a black hole, depending on its starting mass.

Neutron Stars 

• Neutron stars have cores so dense that electrons and protons combine at the subatomic level to form neutrons. 
• This squeezes its total mass into a sphere that is “smaller than a city.”
• If the starting mass of the star is more than 25 times that of our Sun, this collapse will continue until the core gets so dense that even light cannot escape, creating a black hole. 
• Both kinds of stellar remnants warp space, time and matter around them due to their density.

Syllabus: General Studies Paper 3

In a first in the country, Tamil Nadu government notified Kaduvur slender loris sanctuary covering 11,806 hectares in Karur and Dindigul districts.

• Slender lorises, which are small nocturnal mammals are arboreal in nature as they spend most of their life on trees. 
• The species acts as a biological predator of pests in agricultural crops and benefits farmers.
• Listed as an endangered species by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). 
• Slender Loris has a wide range of ecological roles to play in the terrestrial ecosystem.
• The survival of the species depends on its habitat improvement, conservation efforts and mitigation of threats.

In significant steps towards conservation of wildlife, Tamil Nadu government notified 

• India’s first Dugong Conservation Reserve in Palk Bay, 
• Kazhuveli bird sanctuary in Villupuram
• Nanjarayan Tank birds sanctuary in Tiruppur 
• The State’s fifth elephant reserve at Agasthyamalai in Tirunelveli.
• 13 wetlands across the State were declared as Ramsar sites.

Syllabus: General Studies Paper 3

The incumbent Chief Justice of India (CJI), Justice U.U. Lalit, had set in motion the procedure contemplated for the collegium of the Supreme Court which is enshrined in the Memorandum of Procedure of 1999.

• He also forwarded the name of Justice D Chandrachud as his successor. This has again put in focus the institution of the ‘collegium’ system that rules the appointments in higher judiciary.

The Collegium System 

• It was introduced in response to the executive interference in judicial appointments. However, this system has failed to protect judicial appointments from executive interference. It is due to the reasons like Post-retirement appointments of judges.
• At present, the collegium comprises of CJI (Chief Justice of India) and 4 senior-most judges of the Supreme Court. Despite various criticisms and attempts to reform the appointments and transfers process, the collegium system still persists and remains stronger.

Evolution of Collegium System

• Article 124(2) of the Indian Constitution provides that the Judges of the Supreme Court are appointed by the President. He/she should consult such a number of the Judges of the Supreme Court and of the High Courts in the States as he/she may deem necessary for the purpose.
• Article 217 of the Indian Constitution states that the Judge of a High Court shall be appointed by the President in consultation with the Chief Justice of India and the Governor of the State. Further, the Chief Justice of the High Court should also be consulted except in case of his/her own appointment.
• In First Judges Case (1981) – The court said consultation under Article 124 doesn’t mean concurrence (unanimity). Based on this judgement, the President is not bound by CJI’s advice.
• In Second Judges Case (1993) – The court overruled its previous decision and said CJI’s advice is binding. Further CJI is required to formulate its advice based on a collegium of judges consisting of CJI and two senior-most SC judges.
• In Third Judges Case (1998) – The court expanded the collegium to a five-member body to include the CJI and the four senior-most judges of the court after the CJI.
• In the Fourth Judges Case (2015)– The SC upheld the primacy of the collegium. Further, the court strikes down the NJAC (National Judicial Appointments Commission) Act as unconstitutional. The Court held that the Act gave the government significant powers to appoint Judges. The Court held the Act encroached upon the judiciary’s independence and undermined the basic structure.

• The NJAC comprised of 3 judges of SC, a central law minister, and 2 civil society experts.
• A person would not be recommended by NJAC if any 2 of its members did not accept such recommendation, making the appointment process more broad-based.  

Criticisms of the Collegium System

• It gives enormous power to judges that can be easily misused. The collegium system has made India, the only country where judges appoint judges.
• The selection of judges by collegium is undemocratic. Since judges are not accountable to the people or representative of peoples i.e. executive or legislative.
• There is no official procedure for selection or any written manual for functioning. This creates an ambiguity in the collegium’s functioning.
• Sons and nephews of previous judges or senior lawyers tend to be popular choices for judicial roles. Thus, it encourages mediocrity in the judiciary by excluding talented ones and breeds nepotism.
• The delays over the appointment are still persistent. The Supreme Court last appointed a judge in September 2019, and it currently has four vacancies, which is expected to be increased further this year. 
• The procedure lacks uniformity- Sometimes a judge of HC is elevated as chief justice of the same HC while in other cases he/she is made chief justice of some other high court.
• Proactive decisions on improving transparency were rolled back to secrecy. This includes the practice of disclosing the reasons while announcing the collegium’s decision. 

National Judicial Appointments Commission

• The National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC) is a constitutional body proposed to replace the present Collegium system of appointing judges.
• It will consist of six people — the Chief Justice of India, the two most senior judges of the Supreme Court, the Law Minister, and two ‘eminent persons’. These eminent persons are to be nominated for a three-year term by a committee consisting of the Chief Justice, the Prime Minister, and the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, and are not eligible for re-nomination.
• The NJAC was established by amending the Constitution [Constitution (Ninety-Ninth Amendment) Act, 2014] passed by the Lok Sabha on August 13, 2014 and by the Rajya Sabha on August 14 2014.
• The Supreme Court rejected the National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC) Act and the 99th Constitutional Amendment.

Way Forward

• In recent times, the Government seems to have given up on pursuing the commission for judicial appointments. It is time to revisit this question and secure a better, broad-based and transparent method of appointing senior judges to the High Courts and the Supreme Court.
• While doing so, we may also ask why there have been no appointments from the category of distinguished jurists which Article 124 of the Constitution contemplates. Appointments to the top court seem to be the preserve of judges from the High Courts with a handful of appointments from the Bar.
• Filling up of vacancies is a continuous and collaborative process involving the executive and the judiciary, so it is time to think of a permanent, independent body to institutionalize the process with adequate safeguards to preserve the judiciary’s independence guaranteeing judicial primacy but not judicial exclusivity.
• The mechanism for judicial appointments and transfer should ensure judicial independence, reflect diversity, demonstrate professional competence and integrity.
• Instead of selecting the number of judges required against a certain number of vacancies, the collegium must provide a panel of possible names to the President to appoint in order of preference and other valid criteria.
• Apart from the above suggestions, government may also examine the feasibility of reviving the idea of a National Judicial Oversight Committee (NJOC) that gives executive greater role in ensuring transparency and efficiency in higher judiciary of India.

Syllabus: General Studies Paper 3

The News Broadcasters and Digital Association (NBDA) approached the Competition Commission of India (CCI) against search-engine operator Google, alleging that the latter had deprived them of their justifiable revenue acquired from news dissemination on the tech-giant’s platforms. 

The complaint would be clubbed with similar cases filed by the Indian Newspaper Society (INS) in February this year and the Digital News Publishers Association (DNPA) last year.

Why is Google dominant?

• As per the NBDA, Google’s search engine commands a 94% market share in the country. 
• The number becomes all the more crucial for news publishers with the increased transition toward news consumption online (inclusive of app-based consumption). 
• The traditional newspaper industry in India has sustained itself on a business model wherein advertising accounts for two-third of its total revenue. 
• On similar lines, with online proliferation, there is an increased reliance of news publishers on digital ad revenues, and in turn, tech-based companies. 
• More than half of the total traffic on news websites is routed through Google. 
• The search engine, by way of its algorithms and internal quality vetting, determines which news websites would be prioritised in search queries. 
• Essential to understand here is that search engines are an important determinant in online news consumption. 
• Readers would more often opt for an online web search rather than reaching out to a specific news website by typing its URL in a browser. 
• This has made search-engines the first port of call for information online.

Allegations against Google

• Dominance of Google: Google’s search engine commands a 94% market share in the country. More than half of the total traffic on news websites is routed through Google. The search engine, by way of its algorithms and internal quality vetting, determines which news websites would be prioritised in search queries.
• Google not compensated news publishers for their contribution to (Google’s various) platforms and has engaged in practices to bolster its monopoly in the space. The DNPA had put forth that website publishers receive only 51% of the advertisement revenue.
• “Unilateral and non-transparent” determination and sharing of ad revenues, lack of transparency and information asymmetry in the ad-tech services provided by Google. This bothers the quality of services and innovation in the news realm.
• Publishers have been “forced” to integrate content on their platforms and use its buying tool, Google Ads/DV 360, to receive bids from advertisers.
• Encouraging members to disable header bidding – It refers to a programmatic bidding process that unifies multiple exchanges for a single bidding event.
• “Forcing” members into using their Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) or building mirror-like ‘light-weight’ webpages. However, it restricted paywall options unless publishers rebuild their websites as per AMP standards.
• Google represents the buyer and the seller in the same transaction, while also operating the auction house in the middle, and selling its own inventory.

What is happening outside India?

• In February this year, the European Publishers Council filed an anti-trust complaint against Google with the European Commission, challenging its existing “ad tech stranglehold” over press publishers. 
• Australia introduced the ‘Media Bargaining Code’ in February to address the imbalance.