UPSC Daily Current Affairs- 25th October 2022 | Current Affairs & Hindu Analysis: Daily, Weekly & Monthly PDF Download

GS-I

The Art of Bhoota Kola

Context

There has been a controversy over the folk art of Bhoota Kola recently depicted in a famous Kannada movie.

What is Bhoota Kola?

• Bhoota Kola is an animistic ritual dance performance where local spirits or deities are worshipped.
• It is believed that a person performing the ritual has temporarily become a god himself.
• This performer is both feared and respected in the community and is believed to give answers to people’s problems, on behalf of the god.
• There are several ‘Bhootas’ who are worshipped in the Tulu-speaking belt of Dakshina Kannada, Uttara Kannada and Udupi districts.
• It is usually performed in small local communities and rural areas.

How is it performed?

• The Kola (or dance performance for the Gods) is basically performed in an area near the temple of the village deity which is usually close to large open fields.
• The ritual involves music, dance, recital, and elaborate costumes.
• Recitals in Old Tulu recount the origins of the deity and tell the story of how it came to the present location.
• The divine medium start their traditional performances as the local folklore called ‘paddanas’ are recited.

Context

Cyclone Sitrang started landfall along the Bangladesh coast between Barishal and Chattogram, close to Bhola, according to Bangladesh Meteorological Department (BMD).   

About:

• Wind speeds around 62 kmph, gusting up to 88 kmph were prevailing in the region — within 54 km of the cyclone centre.
• Due to the high speed of the cyclone, it did not spend much time on the sea to gain wind speed or rainfall.
• Cyclone Sitrang’s landfall happened 9-10 hours before predicted time.
• The eye of the cyclone was somewhere between Khulna and Barisal, and fierce cyclonic winds (above 100 kmph) were prevalent in areas as far off as capital Dhaka.
• The low-lying areas of the coastal districts and their off shore islands and chars are likely to be inundated by the wind driven surge height of 5-8 feet above normal astronomical tide.
• The track of the cyclone as per ECMWF data on Windy is taking it north eastwards into Meghalaya and into Assam. Earlier the track was more towards Tripura, then Assam and Nagaland.
• The system will de intensify as it crosses Bangladesh. But it will bring copious rainfall to all these regions.

GS-II

Context

The union home minister recently addressed the concluding session of the 90th INTERPOL General Assembly. This session was hosted by India in New Delhi.

About the Interpol:

• Its full name is the International Criminal Police Organisation and is an intergovernmental organisation.
• It has 195 member countries and it helps police in all of them to work together to make the world a safer place.
• It is headquartered in Lyon, France.
• INTERPOL’s Centenary:
  • In 2023, INTERPOL will celebrate 100 years since the founding of the International Criminal Police Commission, which then became INTERPOL in 1956.
• INTERPOL NCB:
  • In each country, an INTERPOL National Central Bureau (NCB) provides the central point of contact for the General Secretariat and other NCBs.
  • An NCB is run by national police officials and usually sits in the government ministry responsible for policing.
  • The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is designated as the National Central Bureau of India.
• INTERPOL agencies in India:
  • The Interpol nodal agency in India is the CBI, but the counterterror agency is the National Investigation Agency.
  • While the latter functions under the Ministry of Home Affairs, the former is under the Prime Minister’s Office.
• The General Assembly:
  • The General Assembly is INTERPOL’s supreme governing body and comprises delegates appointed by the governments of our member countries.
  • It meets once a year and takes all the major decisions affecting general policy, the resources needed for international cooperation, working methods, finances and programmes of activities.
  • These decisions are in the form of resolutions.
• Executive Committee Elections:
  • The General Assembly elects new members to the Executive Committee as the incumbents end their mandate.
• INTERPOL’s Global Crime Trends Report:
  • This document provides member countries with an overview of the main crime threats in the world.

India’s recommendations for INTERPOL

• Setting up of permanent platforms:
  • India recommended to Interpol that setting up permanent counter-terrorism and anti-narcotics real-time information exchange platforms.
  • These platforms would further strengthen the coordination and sustained action by the member countries against the global menaces.
    • For a united response,
    • India is also committed to extending all possible technical and manpower assistance to the global police organisation in this regard.
  • A similar approach was required to ensure effective action against the international drug trafficking networks, for which
    • Deeper cooperation among the countries,
    • Intelligence-based operations,
    • Regional maritime security accords and
    • Efficient anti-money laundering system were also essential.
• Good and bad terrorism:
  • Describing terrorism as the worst form of human rights violation, the Home Minister said a general consensus would have to be developed on the definitions of “terrorism” and “terrorist”.
  • The narratives of “good” and “bad” terrorism and “small” and “big” terrorism would weaken the fight against the threat which was high on Interpol’s priority list.
• Plan of Action:
  • Union home minister also suggested that Interpol prepare a plan for the next 50 years on the basis of its experience and achievements of the past 100 years.
• India’s efforts in combating crimes:
  • Establishment of National Forensic Science University; an inter-operable criminal justice system; and linking of e-courts, e-prisons, e-forensics and e-prosecution with the Crime and Criminal Tracking Network and Systems.
  • The Indian government has also decided to create a national database on crimes such as terrorism, narcotics and economic offences.
  • India has established the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre, I4C, to combat cyber-crime in a comprehensive manner.
• Terrorism and Pakistan:
  • An offence to intimidate a population or to compel a government or an international organisation to do or abstain from doing any act, which causes:
    • Death or serious bodily injury to any person.
    • Serious damage to public or private property, including a place of public use, a State or government facility, a public transportation system, an infrastructure facility or the environment.
    • Damage to property, places, facilities, or systems resulting in or likely to result in a major economic loss.
  • It encompasses a range of complex threats like organized terrorism in conflict zones, foreign terrorist fighters, radicalised ‘lone wolves’, etc.
• Factors Responsible for Growth of Terrorism:
  • State-sponsorship and safe havens.
  • State-of-the-art communication systems.
  • Access to advanced technology.
  • Networking of terrorist groups with the criminal underworld.
• Pakistan’s ‘good’ and ‘bad’ terrorists: Pakistan’s stand:
  • Pakistan’s Army General in one of his speeches stated that as far as his country, army and ISI are concerned, there are clearly ‘good and bad’ terrorists.
  • He stated that Pakistan was a victim of ‘bad terrorists’, implying terrorism emanating from Afghanistan.
  • Without naming India, he added that Islamabad supports ‘good terrorism’ if it is against any country, it considers oppressive.
  • In his opinion, India is an oppressive force in Kashmir. Thus, he officially admitted that Pakistan does support terror groups operating against India.
• Realistically for Pakistan, the more it attempts to follow good versus bad terror, the more it would face destabilisation.

Interpol’s Future Challenges:

• The rising spectre of transnational, cyber and organised crime requires a globally coordinated law enforcement response.
• Interpol has a legacy of trust and reliability. It needs to acquire powers of sanction against a country which refuses to cooperate in implementing a red notice. It is however highly unlikely that member-nations will ever agree to dilute their sovereignty and invest the Interpol with such authority.

Way Forward:

• Beyond databases and tools: Interpol is required now to articulate an expansion beyond its databases and tools.
• Real-time dissemination of information: The success of its secure i-24 for 24/7 information sharing aside, the importance of real-time dissemination of information should gain primacy.
• Equitable significance: should be accorded to the legitimate interests of growing economies pursuing democratic charters.
• Demographic dividend: A large and young technology-oriented workforce in startups can be utilized for upgrading the security architecture.
• Interpol and law enforcement agencies of member nations: They must endeavour to build, maintain and operate a people-centric ecosystem to meet the evolving challenges.

GS-III

Context

The ISRO’s heaviest rocket, Launch Vehicle Mark 3 (LVM3 or GSLV Mark 3) has successfully put into orbit 36 satellites of the U.K.-based OneWeb.

What is LVM3?

• LVM3 (erstwhile GSLV) is an expendable space launch vehicle designed, developed, and operated by the ISRO to launch satellites and other space objects into Geosynchronous Transfer Orbits.
• It is 49.13 m tall and tallest among all other vehicles of ISRO.
• It is a three-stage vehicle with a lift-off mass of 420 tonnes.
• ISRO first launched LVM3 on April 18, 2001 and has made 13 launches since then.

Stages in LVM3

• The first stage comprises S139 solid booster with 138-tonne propellant and four liquid strap-on motors, with 40-tonne propellant.
• The second stage is a liquid engine carrying 40-tonne of liquid propellant.
• The third stage is the indigenously built Cryogenic Upper Stage (CUS) carrying 15-tonne of cryogenic propellants.

Difference between PSLV and LVM3

• LVM3 has the capability to put a heavier payload in the orbit than the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV).
• PSLV can carry satellites up to a total weight of 2000 kg into space and reach up to an altitude of 600-900 km.
• LVM3 can carry weight up to 5,000 kg and reach up to 36,000 km.
• PSLV is designed mainly to deliver earth observation or remote sensing satellites, whereas, LVM3 has been designed for launching communication satellites.
• LVM3 delivers satellites into a higher elliptical orbit, Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit (GTO) and Geosynchronous Earth Orbit (GEO).

Upgrades brought by LVM3

• The LVM3 is capable of lifting much heavier satellites than the GSLV Mk II with a bigger cryogenic upper stage and a larger first stage.
• Both GSLV Mk II and LVM3 are three-stage vehicles, while the PSLV, which launches to low earth polar orbits, is a four-stage vehicle.
• The GSLV Mk-II can place up to 2,500kg in geosynchronous orbits and up to 5,000kg to low earth orbit.
• By comparison, the LVM3 can lift 4,000kg to GTO and up to 8,000 kg to LEO.

Context

The Sukapaika River which stopped flowing 70 years ago, is set to be rejuvenated as the Odisha government has started working on its revival plan following a recent direction from the National Green Tribunal (NGT).

What are the Key Points of Sukapaika River?

• Sukapaika is one of the several distributaries of the mighty Mahanadi river in Odisha.
• It branches away from the Mahanadi at Ayatpur village in Cuttack district and flows for about 40 kilometres (km) before rejoining its parent river at Tarapur in the same district.
• Sukapaika river is an important system of the Mahanadi to control floodwater and maintain the flow in the river as well as the Bay of Bengal.

What are the Key Points of Mahanadi River?

• About:
  • The Mahanadi River system is the third largest of peninsular India after Godavari and Krishna, and the largest river of Odisha state.
  • The catchment area of the river extends to Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Jharkhand and Maharashtra.
  • Its basin is bounded by the Central India hills on the north, by the Eastern Ghats on the south and east and by the Maikala range in the west.
• Source:
  • It rises from a place near Sihawa, in the Dhamtari district of Chhattisgarh.
• Major Tributaries:
  • The Seonath, the Hasdeo, the Mand and the Ib joins Mahanadi from left whereas the Ong, the Tel and the Jonk joins it from right.
• Major Dams/Projects on Mahanadi:
  • Hirakud Dam: This is the longest dam of India.
  • Ravishankar Sagar, Dudhawa Reservoir, Sondur Reservoir, Hasdeo Bango and Tandula are other major projects.
• Industries:
  • Mahanadi basin, because of its rich mineral resource and adequate power resource, has a favourable industrial climate.
  • Iron and Steel plant at Bhilai
  • Aluminium factories at Hirakud and Korba
  • Paper mill near Cuttack
  • Cement factory at Sundargarh.
  • Other industries based primarily on agricultural produce are sugar and textile mills.
  • Mining of coal, iron and manganese are other industrial activities.

Context

 IIT Madras, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab conduct study regarding the interactions between microbes in the International Space Station (ISS) to help devise strategies for disinfection of space stations and to minimise any potential impact of microbes on the health of astronauts.

• The researchers analysed the microbial sample data taken across three space flights at seven locations on the ISS.

About:

• Klebsiella pneumoniae is a major microbe that resides on the ISS.
• This pathogen has been known to cause pneumonia and other nosocomial infections and may affect the growth of other microbes in the vicinity.
• It is beneficial to various other microbes present on the ISS, especially the bacteria from the Pantoea genus.
• However, it was found that its presence was hampering the growth of Aspergillus fungus.
• This bacterial family includes members like E coli, Salmonella, etc, which are also present in the human gut.
• This bacterial family was found to be the most beneficial among the other microbes present on the ISS.
• The microbial strains found in this study pose no threat to the space station astronauts.
• One of the ways the microbes are introduced in the sealed and closed space station is through crew members.

Significance:

• The microbiome of the built environment has a huge impact on human health. Controlled environments such as the ISS harbour a variety of organisms, and unravelling their interactions is key to a better appreciation of the factors that shape the microbiome even in extreme conditions.
• During spaceflight, crews may have altered immunity and limited access to terrestrial medical facilities. Therefore, studying the microbes inhabiting the space station becomes important to understand the risks associated with short-term and long-term space travel on the health of astronauts.
• This will also open the doors of space travel to the common people and to ensure the travel safer into the sky.

Context

Recently, Sandalwood Spike Disease started infecting natural habitats in Karnataka and Kerala. India’s sandalwood trees, particularly of Karnataka are facing a serious threat with the return of the destructive Sandalwood Spike Disease (SSD).

• Presently, there is no option but to cut down and remove the infected tree to prevent the spread of the disease.

About Sandalwood Spike Disease:

• It is an infectious disease which is caused by
• Phytoplasmas are bacterial parasites of plant tissues which are transmitted by insect vectors and involved in plant-to-plant transmission.
• The disease is characterized by a huge reduction in leaf size which is also accompanied by stiffening and reduction of internode length.
• At the advanced stage of the disease, the entire shoot gives the appearance of a spike of the inflorescence.
• There is no cure as of now for the infection.
• Emergence of the disease- The disease was first reported in Kodagu in 1899.
• More than a million sandalwood trees were removed in the Kodagu and Mysuru region between 1903 and 1916 which prompted the Maharaja of Mysuru to announce a reward in 1907 of ₹10,000 for anyone finding a remedy.
• The growing stock had been reduced to 25% of its initial level between 1980 and 2000 in Karnataka.
• Following this, the International Union of Conservation of Nature declared Sandalwood as “Vulnerable” in 1998.
• SSD has been one of the major causes of the decline in sandalwood production in the country for over a century.
• About 1% to 5% of sandalwood trees are lost every year due to the disease, scientists warn that it could wipe out the entire natural population if measures are not taken to prevent its spread.

Reasons for Spread:

• The present rapid spread of the infection is largely due to restrictions on green felling in forests, which has allowed vectors to spread the disease to healthy trees.
• Green felling (silviculture felling) is the felling of green trees of one or more types.

About Sandalwood:

• India has been the traditional leader of sandalwood oil production for perfumery and pharmaceuticals. As early as 1792, Tippu Sultan had declared it a ‘Royal Tree’ of Mysuru.
• Red Saunder/ Red Sandalwood- Found in southern Eastern Ghats Mountain range of South India.
• This tree is valued for the rich red colour of its wood. The wood is not aromatic.
• The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has put it under the category of near threatened from earlier endangered species in the Red List.
• It is listed in Appendix II of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).
• The tree is not to be confused with the aromatic Santalum sandalwood trees that grow natively in South India.
• Red sandalwood has been used for making the bridge and also the neck of the Japanese musical instrument Shamisen and in furniture in China for its porch appearance.

Context

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has placed a private bank under tight monitoring and greater public scrutiny.

What is the news?

• The XYZ Bank’s capital to risk weighted assets ratio (CRAR) dropped to around 13% at the end of March this year from 14.5% a year ago.
• This has dropped below the Basel III in the past and it has even been placed under the prompt corrective action framework (PCA) by the RBI to deal with serious deteriorations in its financial position.
• Under Basel-III norms banks are supposed to maintain their CRAR at 9% or above.

What is Capital Adequacy Ratio (CAR)?

• Capital adequacy ratio is an indicator of the ability of a bank to survive as a going business entity in case it suffers significant losses on its loan book.
• The CRAR is a ratio that compares the value of a bank’s capital (or net worth) against the value of its various assets weighted according to how risky each asset is.
• It is used to gauge the risk of insolvency faced by a bank.

How do it affects bank functioning?

• A bank cannot continue to operate if the total value of its assets drops below the total value of its liabilities as it would wipe out its capital (or net worth) and render the bank insolvent.
• So, banking regulations such as the Basel-III norms try to closely monitor changes in the capital adequacy of banks in order to prevent major bank failures which could have a severe impact on the wider economy.
• The capital position of a bank should not be confused with cash held by a bank in its vaults to make good on its commitment to depositors.

Alternatives for bank

• The said Bank has been trying to issue additional shares in the open market through a rights issue in order to deal with its capital adequacy woes.
• Through a rights issue, the bank will be able to raise more equity capital from existing shareholders.
• This is in contrast to an initial public offering where shares are issued to new shareholders.

Back2Basics: Basel Norms

• Basel is a city in Switzerland. It is the headquarters of the Bureau of International Settlement (BIS), which fosters co-operation among central banks with a common goal of financial stability and common standards of banking regulations.
• Basel guidelines refer to broad supervisory standards formulated by this group of central banks – called the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS).
• The set of the agreement by the BCBS, which mainly focuses on risks to banks and the financial system is called Basel accord.
• The purpose of the accord is to ensure that financial institutions have enough capital on account to meet obligations and absorb unexpected losses.
• India has accepted Basel accords for the banking system.

Basel I

• In 1988, BCBS introduced a capital measurement system called Basel capital accord, also called as Basel 1.
• It focused almost entirely on credit risk. It defined capital and structure of risk weights for banks.
• The minimum capital requirement was fixed at 8% of risk-weighted assets (RWA).
• RWA means assets with different risk profiles.
• For example, an asset-backed by collateral would carry lesser risks as compared to personal loans, which have no collateral. India adopted Basel 1 guidelines in 1999.

Basel II

• In June ’04, Basel II guidelines were published by BCBS, which were considered to be the refined and reformed versions of Basel I accord.
• The guidelines were based on three parameters, which the committee calls it as pillars:
• Capital Adequacy Requirements: Banks should maintain a minimum capital adequacy requirement of 8% of risk assets.
• Supervisory Review: According to this, banks were needed to develop and use better risk management techniques in monitoring and managing all the three types of risks that a bank faces, viz. credit, market and operational risks.
• Market Discipline: This needs increased disclosure requirements. Banks need to mandatorily disclose their CAR, risk exposure, etc to the central bank. Basel II norms in India and overseas are yet to be fully implemented.

Basel III

• In 2010, Basel III guidelines were released. These guidelines were introduced in response to the financial crisis of 2008.
• A need was felt to further strengthen the system as banks in the developed economies were under-capitalized, over-leveraged and had a greater reliance on short-term funding.
• Also, the quantity and quality of capital under Basel II were deemed insufficient to contain any further risk.
• Basel III norms aim at making most banking activities such as their trading book activities more capital-intensive.
• The guidelines aim to promote a more resilient banking system by focusing on four vital banking parameters viz. capital, leverage, funding and liquidity.