General Studies Paper 2

Northern Zonal Council was held recently.

• Three states and as many Union Territories discussed issues of river water sharing, safety of women, setting up fast-track courts, cyber security and the issue of strengthening rural banking with union Home Minister during a meeting of the Northern Zonal Council in Jaipur.

Issues Discussed

• Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) asked the states to resolve the issues amicably and through discussion.
• Ministry stressed to take a cordial approach to the issue and find a time-bound solution.
• Discussion stressed that all stakeholders should come together to establish a strong cooperative mechanism for development, for which purpose the regional councils were created
• Meeting also stressed upon the States and Union Territories to conduct awareness campaigns on cyber-vigilance through various mediums
• It was also decided in the meeting that a committee chaired by the Union Home Secretary, along with all departments concerned and state governments, will prepare a strategy to deal with growing menace of cybercrime.

Zonal Council

• Zonal Councils are the statutory bodies.
• They are established by an Act of the Parliament – States Reorganisation Act of 1956.
• The act divided the country into five zones– Northern, Central, Eastern, Western and Southern and provided a zonal council for each zone.

While forming these zones, several factors have been taken into account which includes:

• The natural divisions of the country
• The river systems and means of communication
• The cultural and linguistic affinity
• The requirements of economic development, security and law and order
• In addition to the above mentioned Zonal Councils, a North-Eastern Council was created by a separate Act of Parliament, the North-Eastern Council Act of 1971.
• Its members include Assam, Manipur, Mizoram, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Meghalaya, Tripura and Sikkim.
• These are advisory bodies that make recommendations with regard to any matter of common interest in the field of economic and social planning between the Centre and States border disputes, linguistic minorities, inter-State transport or matters connected with the reorganisation of States.

Organizational Structure:

• Chairman: The Union Home Minister is the Chairman of each of these Councils.
• Vice Chairman: The Chief Ministers of the States included in each zone act as Vice-Chairman of the Zonal Council for that zone by rotation, each holding office for a period of one year at a time.
• Members: Chief Minister and two other Ministers as nominated by the Governor from each of the States and two members from Union Territories included in the zone.
• Advisers: One person nominated by the NITI Aayog for each of the Zonal Councils, Chief Secretaries and another officer/Development Commissioner nominated by each of the States included in the Zone.

Functions of the Councils:

• Any matter of common interest in the field of economic and social planning,
• Any matter concerning border disputes, linguistic minorities or inter-State transport,
• Any matter connected with or arising out of, the reorganization of the States under the States Reorganisation Act.

Syllabus: General Studies Paper 1

Hardly paid attention to for two decades, Archaeological Survey of India has now taken up conservation work at this important Buddhist site near Kalaburagi.

• The ancient Buddhist site on the bank of Bhima river near Kanaganahalli (forming part of Sannati site) in Kalaburagi district, has finally got some attention.
• The conservation project taken up now envisages the resetting of the remains of Maha Stupa retrieved in the excavation
• The stupa was built with locally available limestone.

About the place

• Sannati and Kanaganahalli were small and ordinary villages on the bank of Bhima till 1986 when the Kali temple at the Chandralamba temple complex in Sannati collapsed.
• In the process of clearing the debris, they discovered an Ashokan edict which put the villages on the world map and opened new avenues of historical research on Mauryan Emperor Ashoka and Buddhism in its early years.
• It prompted the ASI excavations at Sannati and nearby Kanaganahalli and attracted historians across India and beyond.

Kanaganahalli excavation

• An ‘abandoned well’ in the eyes of local villagers turned out to be the magnificent Maha Stupa, which was referred to as Adholoka Maha Chaitya in the inscriptions.
• More significantly, the stone-portrait of Emperor Ashoka, surrounded by his queens and female attendants was also found
• While the Stupa is believed to be one of the largest of its time, the stone-portrait is considered to be the only surviving image of the Mauryan Emperor which had the inscription ‘Raya Asoko’ in Brahmi on it.
• The Maha Stupa is believed to have been developed in three constructional phases – Maurya, Early Satavahana and Later Satavahana periods stretching from 3rd Century B.C. to 3rd Century A.D. The Stupa is believed to have been destroyed in an earthquake.

The recoveries included

• Around 60 dome slabs with the sculptural rendering of Jataka stories, Portrait of Ashoka, Satavahana monarchs and certain unique depictions of Buddhist missionaries sent by Ashoka to different parts;
• 72 drum-slabs decorated with a variety of Dharma-Chakra, Stupas, the first sermon, Bodhi-tree, Naga Muchulinda, Vihara complexes;
• Over 10 inscribed sculptures of the Buddha, over a dozen Buddha-Padas;
• Fragments of Ayaka pillars, umbrella stones and shafts, parts of sculptures of Yakshas and lion and 250 Brahmi inscriptions with varied palaeographical features.

yllabus: General Studies Paper 3

Singalila National Park launches programme that aims to release about 20 red pandas in a period of five years

• The number of red pandas has been declining in the wild, even in the Singalila and Neora Valley National Parks, the two protected areas where the endangered mammal is found in the wild in West Bengal.
• Recent studies estimate that there are 38 of them in Singalila and 32 in Neora.

Red Panda

• Scientific Name: Ailurus fulgens
• Geographic habitat: Sikkim, West Bengal, Meghalaya and Arunachal Pradesh
• IUCN Status: Endangered
• The red panda is a small arboreal mammal found in the forests of India, Nepal, Bhutan and the northern mountains of Myanmar and southern China.
• It is a state animal of Sikkim.
• Red pandas are shy and solitary and considered an indicator species for ecological change.
• It thrives best at 2,200-4,800m, in mixed deciduous and conifer forests with dense under stories of bamboo.
• The recent studies have concluded that India is home to both the (sub) species — Himalayan red panda (Ailurus fulgens) and the Chinese red panda (Ailurus styani) and the Siang river in Arunachal Pradesh splits the two phylogenetic species.

Singalila National Park

• Singalila National Park is a National park of India located on the Singalila Ridge at an altitude of more than 7000 feet above sea level, in the Darjeeling district of West Bengal.
• The park was declared a wildlife sanctuary in 1986, and was made an Indian national park in 1992.
• The park is part of the Eastern Himalayas.
• The Singalila Ridge, which runs roughly North to South and separates Himalayan West Bengal from the other Eastern Himalayan ranges to the west of it.
• The two highest peaks of West Bengal, Sandakphu (3630 m) and Phalut (3600 m), are located on the ridge and inside the park.
• Rammam river and Srikhola River flow through the park.

Syllabus: General Studies Paper 1

New species of Miliusa spotted in Agasthyamala

• Researchers have identified a new species of evergreen tree belonging to the genus Miliusa from the Agasthyamala biosphere reserve in the southern arm of the Western Ghats in the Thiruvananthapuram district.
• What makes the discovery special is that only two mature trees have been spotted so far in its natural habitat
• The tree, which grows to a height of about six to nine metres with drooping branches, has been named Miliusa agasthyamalana after the location where it was found.
• The identification of the new species has also taken the total number of species of Miliusa found in India to 25.
• Spotted during a floristic survey in the Athirumala range of the Agasthyamala biosphere, the new species is morphologically similar to Miliusa paithalmalayana and Miliusa wightiana.
• The researchers came across the new Miliusa species at elevations ranging between 1000-1250 metres.
• Miliusa agasthyamalana has brown bark, and solitary flowers which are yellowish-pink in colour.
• Flowering and fruiting occur during April-July.
• Given the small number of mature individuals that have been found, researchers have recommended that the species be categorised as critically endangered (CR).

Agasthyamala Biosphere Reserve (ABR)

Syllabus: General Studies Paper 3

New forest rules dilute tribal rights.

• Recently, the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) has issued the Forest (Conservation) Rules, 2022.

Key Provisions

Formation of Committees:

• It constituted an Advisory Committee, a regional empowered committee at each of the integrated regional offices and a screening committee at State/Union Territory (UT) government-level.

Advisory Committee:

• The role of the Advisory Committee is restricted to advise or recommend with regards to grant of approval under relevant sections in respect of proposals referred to it and any matter connected with the conservation of forests referred to it by the Central government.

Project Screening Committee:

• The MoEFCC has directed the constitution of a project screening committee in each state/UT for an initial review of proposals involving diversion of forest land.
• The five-member committee will meet at least twice every month and will advise the state governments on projects in a time bound manner.

Regional Empowered Committees:

• All linear projects (roads, highways, etc), projects involving forest land up to 40 hectares and those that have projected a use of forest land having a canopy density up to 0.7 — irrespective of their extent for the purpose of survey — shall be examined in the Integrated Regional Office.

Responsibility to states:

• States are given the responsibility of settling forest rights of forest dwellers (Forest Rights Act, 2006) and allowing diversion of forest land.

Allows compensatory afforestation (CA) in other states:

• If the state already has over two-thirds area under green cover or over one-third area under forest cover, then CA could be taken in other states/UTs where the cover is less than 20%

Concerns

• The new Forest Conservation Rules do not mention the earlier requirement of attaining a gram sabha NOC before diverting forest land for a project.
• They also allow forest rights to be settled after the final approval for forest clearances has been granted by the Centre
• Since forest rights now needs to be carried out by the state government, state governments will be under even greater pressure from the Centre to accelerate the process of diversion of forest land

Syllabus: General Studies Paper 1

Highly-localised rains in Amarnath, J&K, caused flooding and loss of lives.

What is a cloudburst?

• A cloudburst refers to an extreme amount of rain that happens in a short period, sometimes accompanied by hail and thunder.
• The India Meteorological Department (IMD) defines it as unexpected precipitation exceeding 100mm (or 10 cm) per hour over a geographical region of approximately 20 to 30 square km.
• Basically, all instances of cloudbursts involve heavy rain in a short period, but all instances of heavy rain in a short period are not cloudbursts if they do not fit this criterion.

Why do cloudbursts occur in hilly areas?

• Due to their definition dealing with a very small area, it is difficult to accurately predict and identify cloudbursts immediately.
• However, they are more likely to occur in mountainous zones mainly because of terrain and elevation.
• This is because, in hilly areas, sometimes saturated clouds ready to condense into rain cannot produce rain, due to the upward movement of the very warm current of air.
• Instead of falling downwards, raindrops are carried upwards by the air current. New drops are formed and existing raindrops increase in size.
• After a point, the raindrops become too heavy for the cloud to hold on to, and they drop down together in a quick flash.

Syllabus: General Studies Paper 3

The ICMR-Vector Control Research Centre (VCRC), Puducherry, has filed patent applications for two of its unique products — an artificial diet and feeding device for mosquitoes reared in laboratory — with the Indian Patent Office recently.

• The team has also planned to approach to patent it at global level.
• The two products allow efficient and cost-effective mass-rearing of mosquitoes in laboratory as it is important to keep these mosquitoes healthy to investigate basic facets of their biology and to study vector-borne disease and measures to control it.
• It is quite challenging to keep regular supply of blood from blood banks and to obtain animal ethical clearance to ensure regular supply of blood for rearing mosquitoes for research purposes
• Hence the Institute have zeroed in on four artificial diets for feeding.
• These four diets prepared for female mosquitoes are like a baby formula food and has all the essential nutrients, which are present in the blood.
• These diets would attract hungry female mosquitoes to accept the meal, taste it like blood, produce healthy and viable eggs which should hatch like normal eggs, form healthy useful for laboratory research and mass production whenever necessary.
• It was very difficult to maintain the feed temperature to the optimum level of 37 C, which is human body temperature, by usual water circulation or by using the melted wax.
• Hence a device with controlled temperature was invented, a prototype made and also evaluated for mosquito feeding capability. This could easily replace the conventional hot water circulator-based feeding device

Significance

• These products are commercially viable and technically sound and has great potential in rearing mosquitoes for research purposes and also for the mass production of mosquitoes for their control based on sterile insect technology, population replacement, or population reduction study and Wolbachia endosymbiont bacteria-based control operations.

Syllabus: General Studies Paper 1

Atapuerca Foundation in Spain dug up an ancient jawbone that could help understand Europe’s earliest human civilisation

• The surprise find, which could be about 1.4 million years old, could also give vital clues to the evolution of the human face over the millennia
• The fossilised fragment of an upper jaw and cheekbone was found near caves in the Atapuerca Mountains in northern Spain’s Burgos province, the site of other ancient remains.

General Studies Paper 2

The states are being on boarded for real-time project coordination and collective decision-making in Pm Gati Shakti scheme.

• With the states being on boarded aim is to reduce the time taken to plan and award a project by at least a third.
• Recently, at the meeting chaired by Prime Minister and state chief secretaries, all state governments are learnt to have agreed to support the project.
• The focus is on reducing the time taken to award a project — starting from preparation of a detailed project report (DPR) till the project is assigned.
• While the process usually takes about 16-18 months, it is estimated that it could take just five-six months under the Gati Shakti scheme if a coordinated, real-time approach is implemented. 

PM Gati Shakti

• PM Gati Shakti plan envisages a centralised portal to unite the infrastructural initiatives planned and initiated by as many as 16 central ministries and departments.
• GatiShakti targets to cut logistic costs, increase cargo handling capacity and reduce the turnaround time.
• It is a campaign to lend more speed (Gati) and power (Shakti) to projects by connecting all concerned departments on one platform.
• This way, the infrastructure schemes of various ministries and state governments will be designed and executed with a common vision.

Pillars of Gati Shakti:

Comprehensiveness:

• It will include all the existing and planned initiatives of various Ministries and Departments with one centralized portal.
• Each and every Department will now have visibility of each other’s activities providing critical data while planning & execution of projects in a comprehensive manner.

Prioritization:

• Through this, different Departments will be able to prioritize their projects through cross-—sectoral interactions.

Optimization:

• The National Master Plan will assist different ministries in planning for projects after identification of critical gaps.
• For the transportation of the goods from one place to another, the plan will help in selecting the most optimum route in terms of time and cost.

Synchronization:

• PM GatiShakti will help in synchronizing the activities of each department, as well as of different layers of governance, in a holistic manner by ensuring coordination of work between them.

Analytical:

• The plan will provide the entire data at one place with GIS based spatial planning and analytical tools having 200+ layers, enabling better visibility to the executing agency.

Dynamic:

• All Ministries and Departments will now be able to visualize, review and monitor the progress of cross-sectoral projects, through the GIS platform, as the satellite imagery will give on-ground progress periodically and progress of the projects will be updated on a regular basis on the portal.
• It will help in identifying the vital interventions for enhancing and updating the master plan.

General Studies Paper 3

Delayed payments for small firms stifle economic growth

Delayed Payments

• Delayed payments to suppliers who are often MSMEs is a norm set by buyers who are often big companies and public sector units.
• One estimates suggest that payments worth Rs 6.3-10.7 lakh crore were delayed to MSMEs during 2020-21 with the average days for the delays for micro, small and medium enterprises estimated to be 194, 68 and 46 days respectively.

Foregoing business opportunities due to lack of liquidity

• For every day that a payment is delayed, there is an erosion of value. It locks in capital that could have been deployed gainfully.
• The fact that this is a problem largely faced by cash-strapped and credit-starved MSMEs, makes the erosion of value even more acute.
• Micro and small enterprises borrow at comparatively higher costs and often operate in very competitive environments, surviving on razor-thin margins.
• Foregoing business opportunities due to lack of liquidity is not just detrimental to the specific firm or enterprise but is a deterrent to the overall growth of MSMEs.

Other types of costs incurred

• The other types of costs incurred by such supplier firms include the time spent and the personnel costs employed to recover payments as well as the business forgone due to disrupted cash flows.

The issue needs to be addressed at multiple levels.

Intervention from the government

• This kind of intervention should aim at changing the business culture and thereby strengthening all enterprises across the supply chain.
• On this front, the MSME 2006 Act and the SAMADHAN platform are both steps in the right direction, but there are gaps.
• There are close to one lakh complaints at present on the portal, amounting to Rs 25,000 crore.
• But the disposal rate is low, suggesting that the mechanism is not backed by the necessary wherewithal to address the issues.
• Also regulatory interventions are needed to shift the onus of timely payments onto the buyer firms.
• On the supply chain financing and in-time credit – Market-based solutions lead to efficiency gains and maintain amicable supplier-buyer relations while easing cash flows for MSMEs.
• Strengthening associations and credit practices of MSMEs – entrepreneurs learn to develop a unique value proposition for their services over time, to quicken this, MSMEs need to coalesce and work towards gaining sustainable credit terms.

The problem of delayed payments is a systematic one. It gives buyers an advantage that the economy cannot afford. On the other hand, small businesses and supplier firms have to work with a rising cost of capital due to delays and uncertainty in terms of planning business cycles.

If this issue is not addressed now, it will only add to the burden on the MSMEs, working against the smaller supplier firms and crippling economic activity for the vast majority of entrepreneurs in the country.