UPSC Daily Current Affairs - 4th December 2022 | Current Affairs & Hindu Analysis: Daily, Weekly & Monthly PDF Download

GS-I

Context

Hornbill Festival is an annual festival of Nagaland. The vibrant festival takes place mostly in the first week of December every year. The main venue of the Hornbill Festival, 2022 is Kohima, the capital of Nagaland.

• The festival organized by Nagaland Government is an annual tourism promotional event to showcase the state’s traditional and rich cultural heritage in all its ethnicity, diversity and grandeur.
• The objective is to encourage inter-tribal interaction and to promote cultural heritage of Nagaland.
• Highlights of the Hornbill Festival include witnessing the cultural performance of different tribes of Nagaland and Northeastern States, indigenous games, city tour, night carnival, art exhibition, photo-fest and many more.
• One of the major highlights of this festival is the Hornbill International Rock Festival where local and international rock bands perform.

Hornbills:

• India is home to nine species of hornbills: three of them, the wreathed hornbill (Aceros undulatus), the brown hornbill (Anorrhinus austeni) and the Rufous-necked hornbill (Aceros nipalensis) great hornbill is the state bird of Arunachal Pradesh and Kerala. India also has Narcondam Hornbill, found only on the island of Narcondam.
• Hornbill festival celebrated in Nagaland is named after the bird – Hornbill which is the most revered and admired bird for the Nagas.
• Hornbills used to be hunted for their casques — upper beak — and feathers for headgear despite being cultural symbols of some ethnic communities in the northeast, specifically the Nyishi of Arunachal Pradesh.
• But a 20-year-old conservation programme entailing the use of fibreglass beaks reduced the threat to the birds to a large extent.

Important Hornbill species:

Great Hornbill:

• IUCN Red List: Near threatened.
• Largest of all hornbills in India.
• Found in a few forest areas in Western Ghats and the forests along Himalayas.

Rufous-necked Hornbill:

• IUCN Red List: Vulnerable
• Has Northern-most extent, ranging from North-eastern India to Mahananda Wildlife Sanctuary in West Bengal.

Narcondam Hornbill:

• IUCN Red List: Endangered
• Endemic to Indian island of Narcondam in Andamans.
• Smallest home range out of all species of Asian hornbills.

Malabar Pied Hornbill:

• IUCN Red List: Near Threatened
• Common resident breeder in India and Sri Lanka.
• Habitat: Evergreen and moist deciduous forests often near human settlements.

Note:

• Tsiiphie: Traditional Naga headgear
• Amula kaxa: Naga shawl
• In Pakke Tiger Reserve, flocks of up to 60 Great Hornbills have been seen roosting at a single site with more than 100 Wreathed Hornbills in the winter (non-breeding season).
  • Lies in the foothills of the eastern Himalaya in the East Kameng district of Arunachal Pradesh. It is also known as Pakhui Tiger Reserve.
  • Falls within the Eastern Himalaya Biodiversity Hotspot.
  • Known for its amazing sightings of four resident hornbill species.
  • India is home to nine species of hornbills. three of them, the wreathed hornbill (Aceros undulatus), the brown hornbill (Anorrhinus austeni) and the Rufous-necked hornbill (Aceros nipalensis)great hornbill is the state bird of Arunachal Pradesh and Kerala.
  • It is ‘vulnerable’ under the IUCN Red list.
  • Hornbill festival celebrated in Nagaland is named after the bird – Hornbill which is the most revered and admired bird for the Nagas.
• India plans to showcase Nagaland’s Hornbill Festival during its G20 presidency.

About the size of a turkey, the southern ground hornbill is the largest species of hornbill on Earth. It can fly up to 18 miles an hour and has an impressive wingspan that reaches about four feet across. The bird is recognizable by its jet-black feathers, yellow eyes, and bright red throat.

Source: PIB

GS-II

Context

Recently for the third time in the history of the Supreme Court that a bench comprising only women judges was hearing cases. The first time the Supreme Court had an all-woman bench was in 2013 & the second occasion came in 2018.

Women Judges in Supreme Court:

• The apex court had its first woman judge in 1989, when Justice M Fatima Beevi was appointed after her retirement as a judge of Kerala High Court.
• Since its inception, India has seen only 11 women judges in the Supreme Court and no women CJI for that matter.
• The apex court currently has only three women judges: Justices Kohli, B V Nagarathna, and Trivedi.
• Justice Nagarathna is set to go on to be the country’s first woman Chief Justice in 2027.

Present Status of Women in Indian Judiciary:

• High Courts:
  • In High Courts, women judges constitute 11.5%.
  • Out of a total of 37 women candidates recommended by the Supreme Court Collegium for appointment as high court judges, only 17 have been appointed so far, while the rest of the names are pending with the central government.
  • For the high courts, Collegium has recommended 192 candidates so far.
  • Out of these, 37, that is 19 percent, were women.
• Subordinate Courts:
  • About 30 percent are women judicial officers in the subordinate courts.
• Advocates:
  • Of the 1.7 million advocates, only 15% are women.
• Bar Council:
  • Only 2% of the elected representatives in the State Bar Councils are women.
  • There is no woman member in the Bar Council of India.

Reasons for Low Women Representatives in Judiciary:

• Patriarchy in Society: The primary reason for underrepresentation of women in judiciary is deeply ingrained patriarchy in society.
  • Women often have to face hostile atmospheres within courtrooms. Harassment, lack of respect from members of the bar and bench, the silencing of their opinions, are some of the other traumatic experiences often recounted by many women lawyers.
• Opaque Collegium System Functioning: More women tend to enter the lower judiciary at the entry level because of the method of recruitment through an entrance examination.
  • However, the higher judiciary has a collegium system, which has tended to be opaquer and, therefore, more likely to reflect bias.
• No Women Reservation: Many states have a reservation policy for women in the lower judiciary, which is missing in the High Courts and Supreme Court.
  • States such as Assam, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Odisha and Rajasthan have benefited from such reservation as they now have 40-50% women judicial officers.
• Familial Responsibilities: Factors of age and family responsibilities also affect the elevation of women judges from the subordinate judicial services to the higher courts.
• Lack of Judicial Infrastructure: The lack of Judicial Infrastructure is another barrier to women in the profession.
  • Small courtrooms which are crowded and cramped, absence of restrooms, and childcare facilities are all barriers.
• Not Enough Women in Litigation: Since lawyers elevated from the bar to the bench form a significant proportion of judges in the high courts and Supreme Court, it is worth noting that the number of women advocates is still low, reducing the pool from which women judges can be selected.

Significance of Women’s participation in Judiciary:

• Need for diversification: Diversification brings positive institutional changes, and the judiciary needs to be more diverse.
• Balanced justice delivery system: The presence of women as judges and lawyers will substantially improve the justice delivery system.
• Balanced and empathetic approach: Improving the representation of women in the judiciary could go a long way towards a more balanced and empathetic approach in cases related to sexual violence.
  • The issue of gender sensitization has been raised many times, especially in cases where male judges failed to show empathy for the female victims.
• Legitimacy: The judiciary will not be trusted if it is viewed as a bastion of elitism, exclusivity and privilege.
  • Therefore, the presence of women is essential for the legitimacy of the judiciary.

Suggestive measures to be adopted to include more women judges in the Judiciary:

Suggestions by the previous Chief Justice of India N.V. Ramana:

• 50% representation: Previous CJI also voiced his support for 50% representation for women in judiciary.
• Legal Education: He has highlighted the need to increase gender diversity in legal education.
  • There should be a fixed number of seats, reserved for women candidates, in all colleges and universities providing law courses.
  • states such as Assam, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Odisha and Rajasthan have benefited from such reservation as they now have 40-50% women judicial officers.
• Availing basic facilities: He said the need for basic facilities, especially for women, need to be addressed immediately.
• Need of separate entity: He repeatedly pressed for the need to form a separate entity — National Judicial Infrastructure Corporation — to introduce inclusive designs for court complexes and create a more welcoming environment in them.

Apart from these, the following points to be noted to increase women representation in the Judiciary:

• There is a need to maintain and promote Gender Diversity in Higher Judiciary with a fixed percentage of its members as women judges that will lead to the evolution of a gender-neutral judicial system of India.
• There is a need to bring about institutional, social and behavioural change among India’s populace by systematising and giving emphasis on inclusivity.
• Changing the long-established demographics of a court can make the institution more amenable to consider itself in a new light, and potentially lead to further modernization and reform.
• More in corporate than in decision making: Women are outnumbering men in law school classrooms and are increasingly joining the corporate sector, but their underrepresentation in such decision-making institutions is deplorable.

Source:  Indian Express

GS-III

According to study conducted by Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA), Seven years after the December 2015 emission standard notification for coal-based power stations, not one single power station in West Bengal has installed Flue Gas Desulphurisation (FGD) technology to reduce SO2 emissions.

• The emission standards were notified for the first time in December 2015 in India for coal-based power stations to limit emissions of sulphur dioxide (SO2), nitrogen oxides (NOx), and mercury (Hg), along with tightening particulate matter emissions standards and setting water consumption limits.

Key findings of the report:

• None of the coal-based power stations in West Bengal installed SO2 control technology over the past seven years since the emission standard notification for coal-based power stations was published in December 2015.
• Private sector power generation units are the worst when it comes to retrofits to control SO2 emissions; not one of them has awarded the bids after seven years of emission norms being in force.
• The coal consumption for grid-connected power generation in West Bengal has increased from 44 MT in 2015 to 54 MT in 2021.

About Flue Gas Desulphurisation (FGD):

• Flue-gas desulfurization(FGD) is a set of technologies used to remove Sulphur dioxide (SO2) from exhaust flue gases of fossil-fuel power plants and from the emissions of other Sulphur dioxide-emitting processes such as waste incineration.
• FGD systems may involve wet scrubbing or dry scrubbing.
• In wet FGD systems, flue gases are brought in contact with an absorbent, which can be either a liquid or a slurry of solid material. The Sulphur dioxide dissolves in or reacts with the absorbent and becomes trapped in it.
• In dry FGD systems, the absorbent is dry pulverized lime or limestone; once absorption occurs, the solid particles are removed by means of baghouse filters.

About Sulphur dioxide:

• It is an inorganic compound, heavy, colourless, and poisonous gas. It is produced in large quantities in intermediate steps of sulphuric acid manufacture.
• It has a pungent, irritating odour, similar to the smell of a just-struck match.
• In nature, it occurs in volcanic gases and in a solution of some water warm springs.
• Usually, it is prepared industrially by the burning in air or oxygen of sulphur or such compounds of sulphur as iron pyrite or copper pyrite.
• In large quantities, sulphur dioxide is formed in the combustion of sulphur-containing fuels.
• It can combine in the atmosphere with water vapour to form sulphuric acid which is a major component of acid rain.
• Under moderate pressures at room temperatures, sulphur dioxide can be liquified and the liquid freezes at -73 degree Celsius and boils at -10 degree Celsius under atmospheric pressure.

Sulphur Dioxide uses are:

• It is used in the preparation of sulphuric acid, sulphur trioxide, and sulphites.
• It is also used as a disinfectant.
• It is used in a refrigerant, a reducing agent, a bleach, and food preservation mainly in dried fruits.

Sulphur Dioxide (SO2) and Air Pollution:

• SO2 emissions are a significant contributor to air pollution. High concentrations of SO2 in the air generally lead to the formation of other Sulfur Oxides (SOx).
• SOx can react with other compounds in the atmosphere to form small particles. These particles contribute to Particulate Matter (PM) pollution.
• Small particles may penetrate deeply into the lungs and in sufficient quantity can contribute to health problems.
• Air Pollution is a huge public health concern, with 91% of the world’s population living in areas where outdoor air pollution exceeds guideline limits by the World Health Organization (WHO) and as a result, 4.2 million people die prematurely every year.
• The greatest source of SO2 in the atmosphere is the burning of fossil fuels in power plants and other industrial facilities.
• Other sources include industrial processes such as extracting metal from ore, natural sources such as volcanoes, and locomotives, ships and other vehicles and heavy equipment that burn fuel with high sulphur content.

Source: The Hindu

Context

The Cluster Development Programme has a great potential to transform the entire horticulture ecosystem by creating last-mile connectivity with the use of multimodal transport for efficient and timely evacuation and transportation of horticulture produce.

Nodal Agency: The National Horticulture Board (NHB)

Aim: To improve exports of targeted crops by about 20% and create cluster-specific brands to enhance the competitiveness of cluster crops.

Objectives:

• To promote the Agriculture sector in the country and
• to increase the income of the farmers by giving them a reasonable price for their produce.

Key Features:

• CDP will support integrated interventions to enhance the competitiveness of targeted clusters.
• The interventions have been classified into the following three verticals:
• Pre-production and Production
• Post-harvest Management and Value Addition
• Logistics, Marketing and Branding
• MoA&FW has identified 55 horticulture clusters.
• The geographical specialization of horticulture clusters will be leveraged.
• It will promote integrated and market-led development of pre-production, production, post-harvest, logistics, branding, and marketing activities.

Implementation Framework:

• NHB shall provide financial assistance and supervise the overall implementation of the programme.
• A government/public sector entity, recommended by state/central government, shall be appointed as a Cluster Development Agency (CDA) for each identified cluster for the implementation of CDP.
• CDA will establish a Cluster Development Cell (CDC) with a dedicated team of officers within the CDA for smooth implementation of the programme.

Significance:

• The CDP will benefit around 10 lakh farmers and related stakeholders along the value chain.
• The interest of the farmers should be paramount in the centre of any programme/scheme.
• The overall development of horticulture in the country would be focused with the help of the implementation of this Programme.

Source: PIB

Context

 European researchers have raised concerns of yet another pandemic after resurrecting a 48,500-year-old ‘zombie virus’ from a frozen lake in Russia.

Climate change-induced thawing of the permanent frozen land (permafrost) in the Arctic could pose a new public health threat.

About Zombie Virus:

• Zombie virus is the term given to a virus that is frozen in ice and therefore dormant.
• The virus emerged due to the thawing of permafrost as the global temperature is rising.
• It is a group of viruses which have been dormant for thousands of years.
• It is dubbed Pandoravirus yedoma after the mythological character Pandora which was 48,500 years old and has the potential to infect other organisms.
• It was discovered below the bottom of a lake in Yukechi Alas in Yakutia, Russia.

Major cause of Zombie Virus:

• One-quarter of the Northern hemisphere is underlain by permanently frozen ground which is referred to as permafrost.
• Due to climate warming, irreversibly thawing permafrost is releasing organic matter frozen for up to a million years and most of which decomposes into carbon dioxide and methane which further enhances the greenhouse effect.
• Part of this organic matter also consists of revived cellular microbes (prokaryotes, unicellular eukaryotes) as well as viruses that remained dormant since prehistoric times.

Potential threats:

• All of the zombie viruses have the potential to be infectious and hence pose a health danger.
• It is believed that pandemics like Covid-19 will become more common in the future as melting permafrost releases long-dormant viruses.

Source: Down to Earth