UPSC Daily Current Affairs- 28th November 2022 | Current Affairs & Hindu Analysis: Daily, Weekly & Monthly PDF Download

GS-I

Shakya Gasan, chief monk of the World Buddhist Pope Association of South Korea, will lay the foundation stone for the International Buddhist University at Manu Bankul in Sabroom of South Tripura district on November 29.

About:

• The Dhamma Dipa International Buddhist University (DDIBU) is expected to become the first Buddhist-run university in India to offer Buddhist education along with courses in other disciplines of modern education as well.
• This university will set a precedent in the history of Indian-Buddhism in promoting and reviving Buddhist culture in India, the birthplace of Buddhism.
• It will be the first Buddhist University in India to be headed by Buddhist monastics and run and monitored by Buddhists.
• The word, Dhammadipa, describes both a core principle and a guiding force, which seeks the light of Dharma, its international scope and measure.
• The University contributes to the highest level of knowledge and education.
• DD IBU hopes to better engage the contemporary world through the insight and depth of Buddhist words.
• At the same time, it is keen to prepare students and youth with knowledge and skills, so that they can live healthy, peaceful and contented lives, able to lead the way of life.
• Students from 31 countries will get a chance to study as well as carry out research on Buddhist literature, culture and tradition in the proposed varsity.

Source: Indian Express

GS-II

Context

At the 14thLeaders’ Meeting of the BRICS, held virtually in June 2022, China dwelt on the issue of expanding the group beyond its five existing members to include more emerging economies. At a time when China-India relations are at a low point, the proposal has raised concerns in New Delhi. As India deliberates its stance on this contentious issue, it is important to understand China’s approach towards BRICS.

All you need to know about BRICS

• BRICS is an acronym for the grouping of the world’s leading emerging economies, namely Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.
• Jim O’Neill, a British economist, coined the term ‘BRIC’ to describe the four emerging economies of Brazil, Russia, India, and China. He made a case for BRIC on the basis of econometric analyses projecting that the four economies would individually and collectively occupy far greater economic space and become among the world’s largest economies.
• The importance of BRICS is self-evident: It represents 42% of the world’s population, 30% of the land area, 24% of global GDP and 16% of international trade.
• The five BRICS countries are also members of G-20.

BRICS for China

• Strategy of multiple engagements: For China, it is the grand strategy that is the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) that threads its many engagements: BRICS, the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) where it is not directly a member, the Eurasian Economic Union, and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP).
• Projecting the connection between BRICS and BRI: BRICS as an entity, has not signed any memorandum of cooperation with the BRI, In Chinese strategic thinking, the BRI and BRICS are deeply connected.
• Repeated assertion by Xi Jinping: President Xi Jinping himself has harped on this notion in his speeches on multiple occasions, such as the 9th BRICS Business Forum in September 2017 and the 11th BRICS Leaders’ Meeting in November 2019. In his speech he stated that China would cooperate with other multilateral development institutions such as the BRICS New Development Bank to support BRI and jointly formulate guidelines to finance development projects. 

China’s Approach towards BRICS: The Link with BRI

• Policy of Five connectivities: Chinese scholars are of the opinion that the “five connectivities” in policy, infrastructure, trade, finance, and people-to-people constitute the common way forward for both the BRI and BRICS.
• Economic development strategy: China has been working towards strengthening the interconnection of economic development strategies of different states along the BRI, particularly the BRICS nations, aligning and integrating BRI and BRICS infrastructure projects, ensuring unimpeded trade, pursuing multiple forms of cooperation.
• China’s Silk Road Economic Belt and EEU: The most significant progress made so far by China in this regard has been the official docking between China’s Silk Road Economic Belt (the land part of the BRI) and the EEU (where Russia is the dominant player) in May 2015.
• Infrastructure models that China is emphasising: A high-speed railway project from Moscow to Kazan is being constructed under this strategic cooperation, funded by the BRICS New Development Bank. This is the model that China wants to replicate with other BRICS nations as well. In December 2015, South Africa and China signed a memorandum of understanding on jointly promoting the construction of the “Silk Road Economic Belt” and the “21st Century Maritime Silk Road.”

Why China needs BRICS to promote the BRI?

• To avoid direct conflicts: Chinese policymakers believe that although China is the main proponent of the BRI, it needs to avoid both strategic overdraft and direct conflicts with the pillars of the present international order while implementing the strategy.
• To use resources effectively: To improve efficiency in the use of funds and other resources, China, it is argued, should shift from individually leading specific projects to constructing and leading various international institutions and exerting itself through institutional norms.
• Strategic alignment and ambition to lead: President Xi emphasised this as well at the ‘Belt and Road’ International Cooperation Summit Forum in May 2017, saying that the BRI “is not about starting from scratch and reinventing the wheel, but realising strategic alignment and (reaping) complementary advantages (of various existing or new mechanisms).”
• Dominating the financial mechanism through BRI partnership: Chinese scholars point out that all the BRICS countries have already been made part of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), one of China’s key financing mechanisms for the BRI. Further, given China’s clear dominance in the New Development Bank (NDB), Contingency Reserve Fund (CRA), the AIIB, as well as Silk Road Fund, it is only imperative for it to use these institutions to incentivise more BRICS countries to participate in the BRI, and to lay the foundation of a global financial system for the Chinese currency (RMB) trade settlement.
• Creating an acceptable front: China is aware that the BRI has provoked extensive discussion around the world. It has been interpreted differently by different countries and has even drawn suspicion and caution in certain quarters. China is aware that to implement the BRI smoothly, it needs an additional front that is less controversial and more acceptable to the international community at large, and in particular, to developing countries.

What are the concerns for India?

• Promoting priorities in contrast: China prioritises the ‘BRICS + Asia’ cooperation mechanism – ‘BRICS + ASEAN’ on the one hand, and ‘BRICS + Bay of Bengal’ on the other, thereby integrating BRICS more closely with the Southeast Asian countries as well as with the Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar Economic Corridor (BCIM-EC) and Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) nations.
• Aligning with BIMSTEC to counter India’s resistance to BRI: The aligning with BIMSTEC is particularly aimed at countering India’s reticence to endorse the BRI, while seeking its cooperation through either coercion (i.e., using other member states of the said groupings as bargaining chips to pressure India to cooperate) or deception (i.e., temporarily ignoring the BRI banner).
• Using BRICS at its advantage: China wants to use the BRICS platform to establish links and influence policies of these key regional organisations, including the African Union in Africa, the Arab League in West Asia, the SCO in Central Asia, the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) in South Asia, and ASEAN in Southeast Asia.
• Ambition to formulate the world order in its own way: It wants BRICS, especially the BRICS New Development Bank, to strengthen cooperation with the IMF, the World Bank, and the World Trade Organization. This will enable China, through BRICS, to strengthen its international leadership, play a bigger role in the formulation of international rules, and influence the overall global governance mechanism.

Conclusion

• As China-US rivalry intensifies and the BRI faces a plethora of challenges, BRICS is increasingly gaining significance for China. Within the grouping, China sees itself as the ‘core’ of BRICS, while India as its weakest link.
• India needs to accurately grasp the geopolitical shifts taking place within BRICS and deftly navigate the complex dynamics between the member states to safeguard its own interests within the grouping and avoid being drawn passively into China’s Great Game.

Source: The Hindu

Notable women in the making of Constitution of India

Context

PM highlighted the contribution of women in the Constituent Assembly which drafted the Constitution was hardly discussed and efforts should be made to educate future generations about their work.

These are the 15 invisible architects of the Indian republic cited by the PM-

Note: This newscard has some invincible set of facts that no one can remember in one go. However, we advise you to take some notes and have it on your desk. Be it sticky notes or something. Revise them for some days.

(1) Ammu Swaminathan

• She was born into an upper-caste Nair family in the Palghat district of Kerala.
• She was a social worker and politician who along with Annie Besant, Margaret Cousins, Malathi Patwardhan, Mrs. Dadabhoy, and Mrs. Ambujammal, formed the Women’s India Association in 1917 in Madras.
• One of the first associations to demand adult franchise and constitutional rights for women.
• She strongly opposed discriminatory caste practices although, she belonged to an upper-caste and strongly advocated equal status, adult franchise, and the removal of untouchability.
• Ammu became a part of the Constituent Assembly in 1946 from the Madras constituency.
• She felt that the Constitution was too long and that it had gone into unnecessary detail and wanted a constitution that could fit easily into a pocket or purse.

(2) Annie Mascarene

• Annie Mascarene was born into a Latin Catholic family belonging to Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala.
• She was one of the first women to join the Travancore State Congress and became the first woman to be part of the Travancore State Congress Working Committee.
• She was one of the leaders of the movements for independence and integration with the Indian nation in the Travancore State.
• She was elected to the First Lok Sabha in the Indian general election, 1951.
• She was the first woman MP from Kerala and one of only ten elected to Parliament in the elections.
• Before her election to Parliament, she had served briefly as Minister in Charge of Health and Power during 1949-1950.

(3) Begum Aizaz Rasul

• She was born into the princely family of Malerkotla, Punjab.
• She was the only Muslim woman in the Constituent Assembly.
• She, together with her husband joined the Muslim League after the enactment of the GOI Act 1935.
• In 1950, after the dissolution of the Muslim League in India, she joined Congress.
• She was elected to the Constituent Assembly as a member of the Muslim League representing the United Provinces.
• Although she was not a part of any committee in the Assembly, she advocated for National language, reservation and property rights, and minority rights.
• She was against making ‘Sanskritised Hindi’ the National language, as only very few understood it and instead advocated for Hindustani.

(4) Dakshayani Velayudhan

• She was born into an agrestic slave caste, Pulayas, on a small island of Bolgatty on the coast of Cochin.
• She was the only Dalit women member of the Constituent Assembly and also the youngest at 34 years.
• She was the first Dalit woman to graduate in India, and was the only female student pursuing a course in the sciences.
• She was inspired into politics through her family’s fight against discriminatory caste practices.
• She was the first generation Kerala woman to be able to cover their upper-body.
• She was nominated to the Assembly in 1945 from Madras.
• In the Assembly, she advocated on issues of untouchability, forced labour, reservations, and against separate electorates for Dalits.
• She believed that the best way to address untouchability was through sustained state propaganda and not through punishment.
• In 1977 she set up a women’s rights organization Mahila Jagriti Parishad in Delhi.

(5) Durgabai Deshmukh

• Durgabai, from the ripe age of twelve, was a part of the Indian freedom movement.
• She quit school to protest the imposition of English as a medium of education, part of the Non-Cooperation Movement.
• She volunteered at a conference held by the Indian National Congress in Kakinada at the age of 14.
• She participated in the Salt Satyagraha from Madras in May of 1930.
• While she was in prison, she studied English and completed her master’s degree from Andhra University.
• She then studied law at Madras University and practiced at the bar for a few years.
• She established Andhra Mahila Sabha to coach young Telugu girls in Madras for their Matriculation examination conducted by the Banaras Hindu University in 1936.
• She was elected to the Constituent Assembly from Madras and was part of the Committee on Rules and Procedure and the Steering Committee.
• She also advocated for judicial-independence and human trafficking.
• She also felt that Hindustani should be adopted as a national language instead of Sanskritised Hindi but, she later argued against adopting Hindi as the national language.

(6) Hansa Jivraj Mehta

• She was a writer, social reformer, social activist, and educator.
• In 1937, she contested in the Bombay Legislative Council elections from the general category; she not only won but remained on the council till 1949.
• She became President of the All India Women’s Conference in 1946.
• During the presidency, she drafted the Indian Women’s Charter of Rights and Duties, which called for gender equality and civil rights for women.
• She is 1946 also served as a member of the UN sub-committee on the status of women.
• She along with Eleanor Roosevelt, vice-chaired the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights Committee.
• She was part of the Advisory Committee, Sub-Committee on Fundamental Rights, Provincial Constitution Committee.
• She strongly advocated for a uniform civil code and believed that purdah was an evil practice. She also rejected quotas, reserved seats, and separate electorates for women.

(7) Kamla Chaudhary

• She was a feminist, fictional writer, and political activist.
• Her political career began in 1930 when she joined the Indian National Congress and was an active participant in the Civil Disobedience Movement.
• At the 54th session of the All India Congress Committee, she was the vice-president.
• She was elected to the Constituent Assembly.

(8) Leela Roy

• She was a great social reformer, a staunch feminist and a social and political activist, and a close associate of Subash Chandra Bose.
• In 1923 she received her M.A from Dhaka University and was the first woman to obtain it from the University.
• She was an advocate for women’s education and established Dipali Sangh, an association for women, in 1923.
• She founded a school named Dipali School and twelve other free primary schools with the help of the Dipali Sangha.
• Subsequently, in 1928, she established two other schools known as Nari Shiksa Mandir (Temple of Women’s Education) and Shiksa Bhaban (House of Education).
• Another important contribution was made b her to Muslim women’s education by setting up one of her schools as Qamrunnessa Girl’s School in Dhaka.
• She was the only woman to be elected from Bengal to the Constituent Assembly on 9th December 1946.
• However, she resigned from her post a few months later to protest against the partition of India.

(9) Malati Choudhury

• She hailed from East Bengal (now Bangladesh).
• At the age of 16, in 1929, she was sent to Santiniketan where she got admitted to Viswa-Bharati.
• Along with her husband, during the Salt Satyagrah joined the Indian National Congress.
• In 1933, she formed Utkal Congress Samajvadi Karmi Sangh along with, her husband and later came to be known as the Orissa Provincial Branch of the All India Congress Socialist Party.
• She joined Gandhiji in his famous padayatra in Orissa in 1934.
• For the upliftment of vulnerable communities in Odisha, she set-up several organizations such as the Bajiraut Chhatravas.

(10) Purnima Banerjee

• She was a part of the individual Satyagraha and Quit India movement.
• She was a member of the Congress Socialist Party and the Indian National Congress.
• She held the post as the Secretary of the Allahabad City Congress Committee, working towards creating rural engagement.
• She was appointed to the Constituent Assembly from United Provinces.
• She argued that the preventative detention clause in Draft Article 15A (Article 22 of the Constitution of India) must prescribe time limits beyond which a person cannot be detained.
• During the discussion of the Preamble, she expressly stated that ‘sovereignty’ is derived from the people of India.
• During the discussion around the qualifications of Rajya Sabha members, Banerjee believed that the age limit should be reduced from 35 to 30 years.

(11) Rajkumari Amrit Kaur

• Inspired by Gandhi’s fight for Independence, she gave up her Sherborne and Oxford education to be his Secretary for 16 years.
• In 1927 she along with Margaret cousins co-founded the All-India Women’s Conference.
• She held the position of Secretary in 1930 and President in 1933.
• She played a vital part in India’s establishment of constitutional equality of genders guaranteed under Articles 14, 15, and 16.
• She was also played a pivotal part in the inclusion of the Uniform Civil Code as part of the Directive Principles of State Policy.
• She was the first Health Minister of independent India and held office for ten years.
• She was the first female and first Asian President of the world health Assembly.

(12) Renuka Ray

• Renuka Rai is a celebrated women’s rights and inheritance rights in parent a property activist.
• She, like Kaur, was inspired by Gandhi’s call for the independence struggle, joined Gandhi’s Ashram accompanying him in protests.
• In 1934 while working as a secretary of the AIWC, she authored ‘legal disability is Women in India; A Plea for A Commission of Inquiry’.
• She worked for the prevention of women trafficking and the improvement of conditions of female labourers.
• Ray contributed to numerous women’s rights issues, minority rights, and bicameral legislature provisions. She fought for Uniform Personal Law Code.
• In 1949 represented India in the UN General assembly.

(13) Sarojini Naidu

• The first woman president of the Indian National Congress was popularly known as the Nightingale of India.
• When in England, she had gained some experience in suffragist campaigns and was drawn to India’s Congress movement and Mahatma Gandhi’s Non-cooperation Movement.
• Besides being a suffragette, she was also a women rights activist, and she advocated for reforms to improve the conditions of widows in the Indian National Social Conference in Madras, 1908.
• In 1917 she headed the All-India Women’s Deputation and championed women’s suffrage before E. S. Montagu (Secretary of State for India).
• In the same year, she together with Annie Besant, set up the Women’s India Association.
• In 1931 she accompanied Gandhi to London for the inconclusive second session of the Round Table Conference.
• She was appointed to the Constituent Assembly from Bihar as part of the ad-hoc committee on the national flag.

(14) Sucheta Kriplani

• The first elected female chief minister of an Indian state was born in Ambala.
• A graduate from Indraprastha College for Women, Delhi University, taught Constitutional History at Banaras Hindu University until 1939.
• She became a member of the Congress Party in 1938, served as the Secretary to the Foreign Department and Women’s Section for a year and a half.
• Under her leadership, the women’s wing of the Congress Party was established in 1940.
• She held an active role in India’s struggle for independence during the 1940s and was remembered especially for her role in the 1942 Quit India Movement for which she was arrested in 1944 and detained for a year.
• She was elected to the Constituent Assembly from the United Provinces in 1946 as a member of the Flag Presentation Committee.
• This committee presented the first Indian flag before the Constituent Assembly.
• Kriplani served as a Secretary to the Relief and Rehabilitation Committee established by the Congress Party, playing a pivotal role in rehabilitating the Bengali refugees during the partition.
• She had a colourful political career. She was also a part of various delegations to international organizations and countries.

(15) Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit

• Born, Swarup Kumari Nehru was a diplomat and politician. She changed her name after her marriage in 1921.
• As an enthusiastic participant of the independence struggle, she was imprisoned on three different occasions.
• After the Indian Independence, she became an eminent diplomat representing India in the United Nations between 1946- 48 and 1952-53.
• She was an Ambassador to Moscow, Mexico, and Washington and later to England and Ireland concurrently.
• She is the first woman to become President of the UN General Assembly.
• She was appointed as the governor of Maharashtra after her return to India.

Source: Indian Express

GS-III

Context

Indian scientists recently received international award on behalf of snow leopard conservation alliance.

About:

• Indian snow leopard experts received the Madrid-based BBVA Foundation’s Worldwide Biodiversity Conservation Award on behalf of a 12-nation intergovernmental alliance -The Global Snow Leopard Ecosystem Protection Program (GSLEP).

What is The Global Snow Leopard Ecosystem Protection Program (GSLEP)?

• The GSLEP is a first-of-its-kind intergovernmental alliance for the conservation of the snow leopard and its unique ecosystem.
• It is led by the environment ministers of 12 countries in Asia that form the home range of the snow leopard. These are Afghanistan, Bhutan, China, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Nepal, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. The total range spans two million square kilometres.
• The GSLEP Program’s secretariat is based in Bishkek, and is hosted by the Ministry of Natural Resources, Ecology and Technical Supervision of the Kyrgyz Republic.
• GSLEP was created in 2013 when officials, politicians and conservationists arrived at a common conservation strategy enshrined in the Bishkek Declaration (2013) to cooperate in the conservation of this species and its habitat.

Source: Down To Earth

Context

Meteorologists were mesmerized by Typhoon Hinnamnor as it provided a textbook example of a phenomenon known as the Fujiwhara Effect.

About:

What is Fujiwhara Effect?

• The Fujiwhara Effect is any interaction between tropical storms formed around the same time in the same ocean region with their centres or eyes at a distance of less than 1,400 km, with intensity that could vary between a depression (wind speed under 63 km per hour) and a super typhoon (wind speed over 209 km per hour).
• The interaction could lead to changes in the track and intensity of either or both storms systems. In rare cases, the two systems could merge, especially when they are of similar size and intensity, to form a bigger storm.
• There are five different ways in which Fujiwhara Effect can take place.
  • The first is elastic interaction in which only the direction of motion of the storms changes and is the most common case. These are also the cases that are difficult to assess and need closer examination.
  • The second is partial straining out in which a part of the smaller storm is lost to the atmosphere.
  • The third is complete straining out in which the smaller storm is completely lost to the atmosphere. The straining out does not happen for storms of equal strengths.
  • The fourth type is partial merger in which the smaller storm merges into the bigger one.
  • Fifth is complete merger which takes places between two storms of similar strength.
• Fujiwhara effect was identified by Sakuhei Fujiwhara, a Japanese meteorologist whose first paper recognising the Fujiwhara cases was published in 1921.

Source: DownToEarth

Context

Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency Ltd. (IREDA) recently celebrated Constitution Day.

About:

• IREDA is a Mini Ratna (Category – I) Government of India Enterprise under the administrative control of Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE).
• It is engaged in promoting, developing and extending financial assistance for setting up projects relating to new and renewable sources of energy.
• IREDA has been notified as a “Public Financial Institution” under the Companies Act, 1956 and registered as Non-Banking Financial Company (NBFC) with Reserve Bank of India (RBI).
• IREDA’s Motto is “Energy for Ever.”

The main objectives of IREDA are :

• To give financial support to specific projects and schemes for generating electricity and / or energy through new and renewable sources and conserving energy through energy efficiency.
• To maintain its position as a leading organisation to provide efficient and effective financing in renewable energy and energy efficiency / conservation projects.
• To increase IREDA`s share in the renewable energy sector by way of innovative financing.
• Improvement in the efficiency of services provided to customers through continual improvement of systems, processes and resources.
• To strive to be competitive institution through customer satisfaction.

Source: PIB

Union Minister of State of the Ministry of Science & Technology recently said, India is taking steps for development of Small Modular Reactors (SMR), with up to 300 MW capacity to fulfill its commitment to Clean Energy transition.

About:

What are Small Modular Reactors (SMRs)?

• SMRs are advanced nuclear reactors that have a power capacity of up to 300 MW(e) per unit, which is about one-third of the generating capacity of traditional nuclear power reactors. SMRs, which can produce a large amount of low-carbon electricity, are:
  • Small – physically a fraction of the size of a conventional nuclear power reactor.
  • Modular – making it possible for systems and components to be factory-assembled and transported as a unit to a location for installation.
  • Reactors – harnessing nuclear fission to generate heat to produce energy.

Advantages of SMRs

• SMR, with up to 300 MW capacity by nature are flexible in design and require smaller footprint. Given their smaller footprint, SMRs can be sited on locations not suitable for larger nuclear power plants.
• Being mobile and agile technology, SMR can be factory-built unlike the conventional nuclear reactors that are built on–site. Thus, SMRs offers significant savings in cost and construction time.
• SMR is a promising technology in industrial de-carbonization especially where there is a requirement of reliable and continuous supply of power. It is said that SMR is simpler and safer as compared to large nuclear plants.

Source: PIB