UPSC Daily Current Affairs- 10th October 2022 | Current Affairs & Hindu Analysis: Daily, Weekly & Monthly PDF Download

GS-I

Context

Every year in October, thousands of people assemble at Nagpur’s Deekshabhoomi to pay homage to B.R. Ambedkar who converted to Buddhism and remember the historic day of October 14, 1956, when he and half a million of his followers embraced Buddhism.

• Some 5,000 Tamils of Myanmar accepted Buddhism in Rangoon under the leadership of Chan Htoon, the Justice of the Supreme Court of the Union of Burma in 1956.

What is Neo-Buddhism:

• The Neo Buddhist movement (also known as the Buddhist movement For Dalits, Ambedkarite Buddhist movement or Modern Buddhist movement) is a religious as well as a socio-political movement among Dalits in India which was started by B. R. Ambedkar.
• Aim: It was proposed as a mass movement that would elevate former ‘Untouchables’ and help them achieve self-respect.  It was hoped that Buddhist principles would mobilise them into a robust community to battle the ruling Brahmanical elites.
• Theoretically, the neo-Buddhist movement is seen as an ideological and intellectual challenge to the dominant social and political ideas of the ruling elites.

Difference between Buddhism & Neo-Buddhism:

• It does not accept in totality the scriptures of the Theravada, the Mahayana, or the Vajrayana. Rather, propagates a fourth yana, a Navayana – a kind of modernistic Enlightenment version of the Dhamma.
• Ambedkar and his idea of Buddhism defy many of the core doctrines of Buddhism. He saw many integral aspects of Buddhist practice as fraudulent and pessimistic. He was particularly against Buddha’s parivaja.
• According to Ambedkar, the Four Noble Truths are a “gospel of pessimism”, and may have been added into the scriptures by Buddhist monks of a later era.
• He considered the idea of Anatta (doctrine stating that human beings are soulless) problematic and asked his followers to disregard it.
• Nirvana, according to Ambedkar is not some other-worldly state of perfect life, highest happiness and salvation or liberation from the cycle of birth and rebirth. In Ambedkar’s view, nirvana is the socio-political “kingdom of righteousness on Earth” in which people are freed from poverty and social discrimination and empowered to create themselves happy lives.

Role of Neo-Buddhism:

• Neo-Buddhism emerged as a maverick phenomenon that offered strong psychological solace to the struggling Dalit masses.
• It came about to be crucial in building a challenge to the dominant narrative of Hindutva.
• It is the creative application of the neo-Buddhist identity and ideology that has structured the Dalit movement as an autonomous political force in Maharashtra. Deeksha Bhoomi in Nagpur, the place where Ambedkar embraced Buddhism, has emerged as a monumental heritage site, attracting millions of visitors every year.
• Here, Buddhism was resurrected not only as a part of India’s cultural and civilisational heritage but also as a tool to escape the caste hierarchical cultural hegemony and social hostility.
• The urban Buddhists marked by educational achievements – have offered vital leadership to Dalit politics
• Conversion to Buddhism also helped Dalits to find a robust meaning about their cultural past. They reinvented the Buddhist cultural symbols, rituals and practices as the proud markers of their new social identity.

Struggles of Neo-Buddhism:

• Buddhist cultural assertions and claims over public spaces became the symbols of their rejection against Hindu cultural hegemony and its social tentacles. Such assertiveness often put them in opposition with right-wing ideologies.
• Today, the Buddhist population in India is one of the smallest minorities. Its ideological challenge against the Hindu social order has not been taken seriously, and even within the Dalit community, conversion to Buddhism is not perceived as a suitable path to achieve social emancipation.
• A large majority (close to 80%) of Indian Buddhists resides in Maharashtra. However, it is mainly the Mahar caste, Matang and the Maratha castes which have identified themselves as neo-Buddhists. Other socially marginalised groups are still defined by Hindu caste nomenclatures and traditional occupations. The Dalit socio-political movements in States including Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka have also not promoted conversion to Buddhism and there is hesitation in suggesting religious conversion as an alternative to fight the battle for social justice.
• Even in States where the Scheduled Caste population is relatively high, such as in Punjab, West Bengal and Odisha, Dalits have shown restraint in adopting Buddhism to challenge their social location.
• India’s neighbouring Buddhist countries also have not identified neo-Buddhists as significant partners in their theological engagements.
• Several Buddhist countries have built their own pagodas and temples in Bodh Gaya and are more concerned with adding new sites in India’s Buddhist Circuit.
• Certain individuals and Buddhist associations from Japan, Thailand and the U.K. have established some close links with the neo-Buddhists of Maharashtra, but this is small support.
• The current Opposition lacks effective cultural strategies to challenge right-wing assertion. Instead, it still uses the same old formal electoral strategies.

Current government’s actions:

• The Centre has presented itself as the promoter of Buddhist cultural heritage at the national and international levels.
• In overseas diplomatic gatherings, Prime Minister of India has frequently invoked India’s ancient Buddhist identity and shared Buddhist heritage with countries, especially China, Nepal, Myanmar and Japan.
• He also visited Deekshabhoomi in 2017, paid rich tributes to Ambedkar and announced multiple developmental projects.
• Prime Minister inaugurated Kushinagar International Airport in Uttar Pradesh, which will help connect important Buddhist pilgrimage sites. Kushinagar is an important Buddhist pilgrim destination.
• It is his government that proposed a Buddhist Circuit.

Way forward:

Revisiting the ideals of Ambedkar’s neo-Buddhist movement can be helpful in building fierce ideological challenges to Hindutva’s understanding of history and culture.

GS-II

Context

Recently, leaks were found in the pipelines comprising the Nord Stream pipelines (Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2) located near Denmark and Sweden.

• The leaks happened just before the ceremonial launch of the Baltic Pipe carrying gas from Norway to Poland, which is an effort by Poland to decrease its dependence on Russia for energy.

What are the Nord Stream Pipelines?

• Nord Stream consists of two pipelines, which have two lines each.
  • Nord Stream 1 is a 1,224 km underwater gas pipeline running from Vyborg in northwest Russia to Lubmin in northeastern Germany via the Baltic Sea. It was completed in 2011.
  • Nord Stream 2 which runs from Ust-Luga in Leningrad to Lubmin was completed in September 2021 and has the capacity to handle 55 billion cubic meters of gas per year once it becomes operational.
• The twin pipelines together can transport a combined total of 110 billion cubic metres (bcm) of gas a year to Europe for at least 50 years.
• The Nord Stream crosses the Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZs) of several countries including Russia, Finland, Sweden, Denmark and Germany, and the territorial waters of Russia, Denmark, and Germany.
• In Germany, the pipeline connects to the OPAL (Baltic Sea Pipeline) and NEL (North European Pipeline) which further connects to the European grid.

How War Impacted Nord Stream Supply?

• Russia had already decreased the supply of gas to Europe after the European Union imposed sanctions on Moscow for invading Ukraine.
• Flows via Nord Stream 1 were reduced to 20% of its capacity in July 2022.
• In August 2022, Russia further plugged the supply and stopped Nord Stream 1 completely, citing maintenance. Gazprom had reasoned that an oil leak in a turbine on the Nord Stream 1 pipeline was behind the closure.
• The Nord Stream 2, despite being completed, could not become operational after Germany pulled out of the project after Russia invaded Ukraine.
• The stream was supposed to double Russia's energy export to Europe to 110 billion cubic meters.
• The short supply of the gas pipeline resulted in a sudden hike in energy prices in Europe. With the shutting down of the Nord Stream pipeline, Europe faces a tough time ahead with winter approaching.

What is its Significance of Nord Stream for Europe and Russia?

• Europe:
  • Europe requires more than 100 billion cubic metres (bcm) of natural gas each year and around 40% of its gas comes from Russia.
  • Over the last few years, Europe has become more dependent on gas imports because of a decrease in domestic gas production. Reducing dependence on Russian gas is difficult as there are no easy replacements.
  • Many European businesses have large investments in Nord Stream 2 and there is pressure on governments from these businesses. Finally, a reduction in gas from Russia would increase already high gas prices and that would not be popular domestically.
• Russia:
  • As for Russia, which has the largest natural gas reserves in the world, around 40% of its budget comes from sales of gas and oil.
  • Nord Stream 2 is important because it eliminates the risks related with sending gas through transit countries, cuts operating costs by doing away with transit fees and gives direct access to its most important European customer, Germany.
  • It increases Europe’s dependence on Russia while giving it a reliable customer.

Context

• The United Nations Secretary General (UNSG), António Guterres, made a candid assessment of global governance. He addressed the United Nations General Assembly and said the “world is in big trouble, gridlocked in colossal global dysfunction, even the G20 is in the trap of geopolitical divides”.
• In a splintering world, we need to create mechanisms of dialogue to heal divides and only by acting as one, we can nurture fragile shoots of hope for a coalition of the world.

History of evolution of United Nations (UN)

• The League of Nations set up in 1920, was the first intergovernmental organisation with the aim to promote international cooperation and outlived its utility with World War II.
• The United Nations claims to be the one place where all the world’s nations can discuss common problems and find shared solutions that benefit all of humanity.
• Now, 75 years later, rising conflict situations suggest it is time to go back to first principles of the Charter.

Why UN is at inflection point?

• A Club outside UN: The G7 Summit, held in June, endorsed the goals of a cooperative international Climate Club to accelerate climate action outside the UN.
• Nonworking of WTO: The dispute settlement mechanism of the WTO without the quorum of its members has rendered the institution dysfunctional.
• Failed promises: Despite the G7 having accepted the need for transfer of funds at Rio in 1992, because of their role in creating the climate crisis, the promise made in 2009 to provide at least$100 billion per year in climate finance remains unfulfilled.
• The China challenge: China has opted for rival set of multilateral institutions. China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) seeks to achieve policy, infrastructure, trade, financial, and people to people connectivity by building a new platform for international cooperation to create new drivers of shared development, and covers half the world population with one third the GDP and investment of $930billion.
• Challenge of non traditional security: China’s Global Development Initiative 2021, and linked Global Security Initiative, 2022, is developing a conceptual frame responding to an urbanising world, i.e., digital governance and non- traditional security, which the international system has not covered.
• A divide within the UN: More significant than the clash of institutions reflecting the deepening divide between the Atlantic powers and the Russia-China combine is the diffusion of wealth, technology and power. The ‘rest’, despite threats, are now capable of not taking sides and are looking for leadership within the United Nations, for what the UNSG characterised as “coalition of the world”.

What measures could be taken to move ahead ?

• Reject the Binary Approach: Strategists in major powers see the world in binary terms around rules. In a multipolar world, the question is the kind of rules needed for human wellbeing and whether principles would serve the purpose better.
• Adjusting the competing Institutions: The time is ripe for a big idea that both keeps away from the current multilateral focus on global rules, amount of aid and inviolability of IPR’s as well as recognises a role for competing institutions as countries can now secure the best terms themselves without bargaining.
• Universal Wellbeing at the core: Just as the ‘Rio principles’ continue to guide climate change, vasudhaiva kutumbakam, or ‘world as one family’, focusing on comparable levels of wellbeing can be the core of a set of universal socioeconomic principles for a dialogue between the states.
• Climate as uniting force: To the current global consensus around equitable sustainable development, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has added a clearer societal purpose to flesh out a universal Civilizational principle. He emphasised Lifestyle for Environment’ seeing climate change as a societal process and combating it devoid of trade-offs characteristic of the Climate Treaty. He has also offered India’s payments and linked digital D technology without IPR restrictions.
• Adressing the common concerns: In terms of felt needs of the majority rather than interests and concerns of the powerful will shift the focus of a much slimmed down United Nations squarely to human wellbeing, and not as an add on.

What role India can play?

• India’s Presidency of the Group of 20, UN Security Council (UNSC)in 2022, and the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) in 2023 when major powers are not even talking to each other and India alone, now the fifth largest economy, is interacting with each of them, presents a historic opportunity.

Conclusion

United Nations, however dysfunctional, the only global platform for world governance. No country would gain by falling UN. Even if we dissolve UN, there is no alternative than reinventing the UN again. India’s and global interest lie in preserving the UN rather than dismantling of UN.

Context 

• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will soon commence limited pilot launches of e-rupee (e`), or Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) or digital rupee, for specific use cases.
• It has hinted at two broad categories for the use of e-rupee — retail and wholesale — for various transactions.

What is e-rupee?

• Definition: RBI defines the CBDC as the digital form of currency notes issued by a central bank. It is a sovereign or entirely independent currency issued by the central bank (in this case, RBI), in accordance with the country’s monetary policy.
• Legal Tender: Once officially issued, CBDC will be considered as a medium of payment and legal tender by all three parties - citizens, government bodies, and enterprises. Being government-recognised, it can be freely converted to any commercial bank’s money or notes.
  • RBI is not in favour of e-rupee with interest. Because people might withdraw money from banks and convert it to digital rupee - causing banks to fail.
• Difference with Cryptocurrencies: The underlying technology of cryptocurrency (distributed ledger) can underpin parts of the digital rupee system, but the RBI has not decided on this, yet. However, cryptocurrencies like bitcoin or ethereum are ‘private’ in nature. Digital rupee on the other hand, will be issued and controlled by the RBI.
• Global Scenario: As of July 2022, 105 countries were exploring CBDC. Ten countries have launched CBDC, the first of which was the Bahamian Sand Dollar in 2020 and the latest was Jamaica’s JAM-DEX.

What is RBI's Plan for CBDC?

• Types of CBDC: On the basis of usage and the functions performed by the digital rupee and considering the different levels of accessibility, CBDC can be demarcated into two broad categories — general purpose (retail) (CBDC-R) and wholesale (CBDC-W).
  • Retail CBDC is an electronic version of cash primarily meant for retail transactions. It will be used by all — private sector, non-financial consumers and businesses. However, the RBI has not explained how e-rupee can be used in merchant transactions in the retail trade.
  • Wholesale CBDC is designed for restricted access to select financial institutions. It has the potential to transform the settlement systems for financial transactions undertaken by banks into government securities (G-Sec) segment, inter-bank market and capital market more efficiently and securely in terms of operational costs, use of collateral and liquidity management.
• Structure:
  • A token based CBDC would be a bearer instrument like banknotes, the person receiving a token will verify that his ownership of the token is genuine. A token-based CBDC is viewed as a preferred mode for CBDC-R as it would be closer to physical cash.
  • An account-based system would require maintenance of records of balances and transactions of all holders of the CBDC and indicate the ownership of the monetary balances. In this case, an intermediary will verify the identity of an account holder. This system can be considered for CBDC-W.
• Available in online and offline mode: 
  • The offline functionality as an option will allow CBDC to be transacted without the internet and thus enable access in regions with poor or no internet connectivity.
  • However, the RBI feels in the offline mode, the risk of ‘double-spending’ will exist because it will be technically possible to use a CBDC unit more than once without updating the common ledger of CBDC.
• Model for Issuance:
  • In the direct model, the central bank will be responsible for managing all aspects of the digital rupee system such as issuance, account-keeping and transaction verification.
  • An indirect model would be one where the central bank and other intermediaries (banks and any other service providers), each play their respective role. The central bank will issue CBDC to consumers indirectly through intermediaries and any claim by consumers will be managed by the intermediary.

What are the advantages of e-rupee?

• Reduction in operational costs involved in physical cash management, fostering financial inclusion, bringing resilience, efficiency and innovation in the payments system.
• Provide the public with uses that any private virtual currencies can provide, without the associated risks.

What are the issues related to CBDC in India?

• Cyber Security: CBDC ecosystems may be at a similar risk of cyber-attacks that the current payment systems are exposed to.
• Privacy issue: The CBDC is expected to generate huge sets of data in real time. Privacy of the Data, concerns related to its anonymity and its effective use will be a challenge.
• Digital divide and financial illiteracy: The NFHS-5 also provides data segregation based on the rural-urban divide. Only 48.7% of rural males and 24.6% of the rural females have ever used the internet. So, CBDC may have wide gender-based hurdle in financial inclusion along with digital divide.

Way Forward

• Technical clarity must be ensured to decide on the underlying technologies that can be trusted to be safe and stable.
• To make CBDC a successful initiative and movement, RBI must address the demand side infrastructure and knowledge gap to increase its acceptance in rural areas for wide base.
• The RBI must proceed cautiously, remaining mindful of the various issues, the design considerations and the implications surrounding the introduction of the digital currency.

GS-III

Context

A study by University of York in the UK, tracked 26 African white-backed vultures fitted with GPS tags for four years over southern Tanzania.

African white-blacked vultures:

• It is the most common vulture species in the continent of Africa.
• The birds travelled long distances, with one bird visiting eight countries in southern Africa like Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Mozambique, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, South Africa and Namibia.
• Vultures mostly forage early in the day outside Protected Areas (PAs).
• They avoid areas with high livestock density while feeding and did not use cattle as a main food source.
• If threats such as poison-laced carcasses are removed from these places, the decline in vulture populations can be stemmed.
• IUCN status: Critically Endangered

Indian Vultures:

• These are native to India, Pakistan and Nepal.
• The Indian vulture is medium-sized and bulky, they are slow breeders that live long.
• Its wings are broad and its tail feathers are short. Its head and neck are almost bald, and its bill is rather long.
• Vultures in India also forage mostly out of protected areas. They travel long distances every day while foraging for food.
• However, Indian Vultures feed on livestock.
• Due to this, a drastic crash in vulture populations is seen in India due to the use of diclofenac in veterinary treatment, mainly on cattle.
• IUCN status: Critically Endangered

Threats:

• Population decline
• Captive-breeding programs
• Widespread use of drugs such as diclofenac
• Rotting of carcasses formerly eaten by vultures causing collapse of animal disposal system
• Diseases from rotting carcasses like rabies, anthrax.

Conservation Efforts in India:

• Identification and removal of threats near the nesting and roosting sites, making food and water available to them is what needs to be done.
• Understanding their habitat use and their behaviour.
• Vulture Recovery Plan – banning the veterinary use of diclofenac, finding its substitute and set up conservation breeding centres for vultures.
• Action Plan for Vulture Conservation 2020-2025
• PIL filed in Delhi High Court about not banning nimesulide, aceclofenac and ketoprofen which are toxic to the vultures.
• The Centre has formed a committee made up of members from the BNHS and Indian Veterinary Research Institute to formulate a release policy for vultures being bred at the centres.

Miscellaneous:

• Diclofenac is a common anti-inflammatory drug administered to livestock and is used to treat the symptoms of inflammation, fevers and/or pain associated with disease or wounds.
• A genus of vultures called Gyps was the most affected by diclofenac.

Context

• According to a recent study released by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI, India ranks fourth among 12 Indo-Pacific nations in self-reliant arms production capabilities.
• The 12 countries in the study were selected because they have the highest military spending in the region- Australia, China, India, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Pakistan, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam.
• China tops the list, Japan is second, South Korea is in third place, and Pakistan is at number 8.
• India is ranked as the second largest importer of arms for its armed forces in 2016-20.

Indian Companies & suppliers:

• Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd, Indian Ordnance Factories, Bharat Electronics, Mazagaon Docks and Cochin Shipyard are among the major Indian arms servicing companies.
• Ashok Leyland, one of the largest suppliers of trucks to the Indian Army, is the only company ranked in the top 50 in the Indo-Pacific.

Aatmanirbhar in defence production:

• Make-I Category:
  • Under the Defence Acquisition Procedure 2020, ‘Make’ Category aims to achieve self-reliance by involving greater participation of Indian industry.
  • Projects involving design and development of equipment, systems, major platforms or upgrades thereof by the industry can be taken up under this category.
• Financial Support:
  • The Ministry of Defence will provide financial support up to 70% of the total cost of prototype development.
• Make-II Category:
  • It is funded by industry with assured procurement. The following platform has been listed – Anti-jamming Systems for Multiple Platforms.

Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) Model:

• Under this, private industry will be encouraged to take up the design and development of military platforms and equipment in collaboration with the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and other organisations.
• Following two platforms have been identified under this category.
  • Long Range Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) [High Altitude Long Endurance (HALE)].
  • Indian Multi Role Helicopter (IMRH).

iDEX:

• Projects of Start-ups, MSMEs etc. involving high-end innovation would be pursued under the iDEX category and the following platform has been selected under this category –
• Low Orbit Pseudo Satellites.

Context

The Nobel Prize for Physiology this year has been awarded to Svante Pääbo, Swedish geneticist, who pioneered the field of Palaeogenomics, or the study of ancient hominins by extracting their DNA.

What is the significance of Pääbo’s work?

• The study of ancient humans has historically been limited to analysing their bone and objects around them such as weapons, utensils, tools and dwellings.
• Pääbo pioneered the use of DNA, the genetic blueprint present in all life, to examine questions about the relatedness of various ancient human species.
• He proved that Neanderthals, a cousin of the human species that evolved 1,00,000 years before humans, interbred with people and a fraction of their genes — about 1-4% — live on in those of European and Asian ancestry.
• Later on, Pääbo’s lab, after analysing a 40,000-year-old finger bone from a Siberian cave, proved that it belonged to a new species of hominin called Denisova.
• This was the first time that a new species had been discovered based on DNA analysis and this species too had lived and interbred with humans.

How can DNA be extracted from fossils?

• The challenge with extracting DNA from fossils is that it degrades fairly quickly and there is little usable material. Because such bones may have passed through several hands, the chances of it being contaminated by human as well as other bacterial DNA get higher. This has been one of the major stumbling blocks to analysing DNA from fossils.
• One of Pääbo’s early forays was extracting DNA from a 2,500-year-old Egyptian mummy and while it caused a stir and helped his career, much later in life he said that the mummy-DNA was likely contaminated.
• DNA is concentrated in two different compartments within the cell: the nucleus and mitochondria, the latter being the powerhouse of the cell.
• Nuclear DNA stores most of the genetic information, while the much smaller mitochondrial genome is present in thousands of copies and therefore more retrievable.
• With his techniques, Pääbo managed to sequence a region of mitochondrial DNA from a 40,000-year-old piece of bone. This was the first time a genome from an extinct human relative was pieced together.
• Subsequently, he managed to extract enough nuclear DNA from Neanderthal bones to publish the first Neanderthal genome sequence in 2010. This was significant considering that the first complete human genome was published only in 2003.

What has Pääbo’s work shown?

• Pääbo’s most important contribution is demonstrating that ancient DNA can be reliably extracted, analysed and compared with that of other humans and primates to examine what parts of our DNA make one distinctly human or Neanderthal.
• Comparative analyses with the human genome demonstrated that the most recent common ancestor of Neanderthals and Homo sapiens lived around 8,00,000 years ago.
• In 2008, a 40,000 year-old fragment from a finger-bone, sourced from a Siberian cave in a region called Denisova, yielded DNA that, analysis from Pääbo’s lab revealed, was from an entirely new species of hominin called Denisova.
• This was the first time that a new species had been discovered based on DNA analysis.
• Further analysis showed that they too had interbred with humans and that 6% of human genomes in parts of South East Asia are of Denisovan ancestry.

What are the implications of Palaeogenomics?

• The study of ancient DNA provides an independent way to test theories of evolution and the relatedness of population groups. In 2018, an analysis of DNA extracted from skeletons at Haryana’s Rakhigarhi — reported to be a prominent Indus Valley civilisation site — provoked an old debate about the indigenousness of ancient Indian population.
• These fossils, about 4,500 years old, have better preserved DNA than those analysed in Pääbo’s labs as they are about 10-times younger.
• The Rakhigarhi fossils showed that these Harappan denizens lacked ancestry from Central Asians or Iranian Farmers and stoked a debate on whether this proved or disproved ‘Aryan migration.’
• Palaeogenomics also gives clues into disease as researchers have analysed dental fossils to glean insights on dental infections.