UPSC Daily Current Affairs- 7th November 2022 | Current Affairs & Hindu Analysis: Daily, Weekly & Monthly PDF Download

GS-I

Context

Keeping alive a tradition dating back to the reign of the Kachhwaha rulers, a family in the Walled City of Jaipur makes an indelible black ink, or kali syahi, used 250 years ago for writing royal firmans (decrees) and ledgers.

About:

• The fourth generation of the family now produces the ink every Deepavali.
• While the erstwhile royal family used the ink for its official transactions, the businessmen of the princely State used it to write their accounts.
• Even universities established after Independence awarded degrees written with this ink. The ink was believed to ward off evil and bring prosperity to its users.

Features:

• The ink was made of natural ingredients using a traditional procedure handed down from generations.
• The black ink is prepared on a no-moon night with the chanting of mantras.
• It is made of kaajal (homemade mascara), gondh (edible gum) and other locally sourced herbal ingredients.
• The ink has medicinal properties, as some of its ingredients were used in the traditional Ayurvedic system for the treatment and healing of wounds.

Source: The Hindu

Context

This newscard is an excerpt from a picture in the print edition of TH.

Wangala Dance

• Wangala is also called the festival of “The Hundred Drums“.
• It is a harvest festival celebrated by the Garo tribe in Meghalaya, Nagaland and Assam and Greater Mymensingh in Bangladesh.
• In this post-harvest festival, they give thanks to Misi Saljong the sun god, for blessing the people with a rich harvest.
• Wangala is celebrated in the months from September to December, with different villages setting different dates for the occasion.

Course of celebration

• The ceremony performed on first day is known as “Ragula” is performed inside the house of the chief.
• On the second day is known as “Kakkat“.
• Folks dressed in their colorful costumes with feathered headgears dance to the tune of music played on long oval-shaped drums.
• While the men beat the drums, the line moves forward in rhythmic accord.
• The ‘orchestra’ of men includes drums, gong and flutes, punctuated by the sonorous music of an primitive flute made of buffalo horn.

Source: The Hindu

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Context

The port city of Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt is hosting the 27th edition of the UN-Conference of Parties (UN-COP).

Quick recap

• Last year, PM Modi, at the 26th edition of the COP in Glasgow, Scotland, committed to India becoming net-zero, or in effect carbon neutral, by 2070 along with Panchamrita
• Environment Minister will be leading the Indian delegation to COP-27 in Egypt.
• India is determined to press developed countries into making good their unfulfilled commitment to deliver $100 billion a year of climate finance by 2020 and every year thereafter till 2025.

Conference of Parties (CoP): A Backgrounder

• The CoP comes under the United Nations Climate Change Framework Convention (UNFCCC) which was formed in 1994.
• The UNFCCC was established to work towards “stabilisation of greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere.”
• It laid out a list of responsibilities for the member states which included:
  • Formulating measures to mitigate climate change
  • Cooperating in preparing for adaptation to the impact of climate change
  • Promoting education, training and public awareness related to climate change
• The UNFCCC has 198 parties including India, China and the USA. COP members have been meeting every year since 1995.

COP1 to COP25: Key takeaways

• COP1: The first conference was held in 1995 in Berlin.
• COP3: It was held in Kyoto, Japan, in 1997, the famous Kyoto Protocol (wef 2005) was adopted. It commits the member states to pursue limitation or reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.
• COP8: India hosted the eighth COP in 2002 in New Delhi. It laid out several measures including, ‘strengthening of technology transfer… in all relevant sectors, including energy, transport and R&D,  and the strengthening of institutions for sustainable development.
• COP21: it is one of the most important that took place in 2015, in Paris, France. Here countries agreed to work together to ‘limit global warming to well below 2, preferably at 1.5 degrees Celsius, compared to pre-industrial levels.’

Significance of COP

• The event will see leaders from more than 190 countries, thousands of negotiators, researchers and citizens coming together to strengthen a global response to the threat of climate change.
• It is a pivotal movement for the world to come together and accelerate the climate action plan after several discussion.

Key agenda of the COP27

Loss and Damage Funding

• The term ‘Loss and Damage’ refers to the economic and non-economic impacts of climate change, including extreme events in countries that are particularly vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate change.
• Rich countries, historically responsible for the climate crisis, have bullied poorer nations to protect polluters from paying up for climate damages.
• The term was brought up as a demand in 1991 by the island country of Vanuatu, which was representing the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS).

Source: The Hindu 

GS-II

Context

The steering committee of a UNFPA-UNICEF Global Programme to End Child Marriage is on a visit to India to witness state interventions that have helped reduce the prevalence of child marriage.

Why such visit?

• The UNFPA-UNICEF estimates that 10 million children could become child brides as a result of the pandemic globally.

What is Child Marriage?

• Child marriage refers to any formal marriage or informal union between a child under the age of 18 and an adult and another child.
• The Prohibition of Child Marriage (Amendment) Bill, 2021, fixes 21 years as the marriageable age for women.

• Reasons behind its prevalence

  • Role of poverty: A large proportion of child marriages take place primarily because of poverty and the burden of the huge costs of dowry associated with delayed marriages.
  • Norms: It is because of social norms in many regions and cultures that parents begin preparations for a girl’s marriage once she has reached puberty.
  • Crisis: Conflict increases the inequalities that make girls vulnerable to child marriage – and its consequences. Families may arrange marriages for girls, believing marriage will protect their daughters from violence.

Issues with Child Marriage

• Social implications

  • Impacts girl child more: Globally, the prevalence of child marriage among boys is just one sixth that among girls.
  • Leads to deprivation: Child marriage robs girls of their childhood and threatens their lives and health.
  • Exclusion: The practice can also isolate girls from family and friends and exclude them from participating in their communities, taking a heavy toll on their physical and psychological well-being.
  • Academic loss: Girls who marry before 18 are more likely to experience domestic violence and less likely to remain in school.
• Health issues
  • Life threats: Child brides often become pregnant during adolescence, when the risk of mortality during for themselves and their infants.
  • Forced pregnancy: Girls are forced into adulthood before they is physically and mentally ready. This is the main cause of global prevalence of malnutrition.

• Economic impacts

  • Child marriage negatively affects the Indian economy and can lead to an intergenerational cycle of poverty.
  • It suddenly pulls out the children involved out of workforce before they grow as adult.
  • Girls and boys married as children more likely lack the skills, knowledge and job prospects needed to lift their families out of poverty and contribute to their country’s social and economic growth.

What is the situation in the world?

• According to data from UNICEF, the total number of girls married in childhood stands at 12 million per year.
• It strives to end the practice by 2030 — the target set out in the Sustainable Development Goals.

Where does India stand?

• GOOD:  Declining trend

  • There is a growing trend for a decline in the overall prevalence of child marriage.
  • In India, child marriage reduced from 47.4% in 2005-06 to 26.8% in 2015-16, registering a decline of 21% points during the decade.
  • In the last five years, it declined by 3.5% points to reach 23.3% in 2020-21, according to the latest National Family Health Survey-5 data.

• BAD: State-wise disparity is very higher

  • However, 3% is still a disturbingly high percentage in a country with a population of 141.2 crore.
  • Some states have a higher prevalence than the national average — West Bengal, Bihar and Tripura top the list with more than 40% of women aged 20-24 years married below 18 (NFHS).
  • In Kerala, women who got married before the age of 18 stood at 6.3% in 2019-20, from 7.6% in 2015-16.

Laws and policy interventions in India

• There are crucial laws that aim at protecting children from violation of human and other rights including the-
  • Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006 and
  • Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012
• Raising the age of marriage: A parliamentary standing committee is weighing the pros and cons of raising the age of marriage for women to 21, which has been cleared by the Union Cabinet.
• Beti Bachao Beti Padhao Scheme: It aims to address the issue of the declining child sex ratio image (CSR).
• Kanyashree scheme: West Bengal’s scheme offers financial aid to girls wanting to pursue higher studies, though women’s activists have pointed. Bihar and other States have been implementing a cycle scheme to ensure girls reach safely to school, and UP has a scheme to encourage girls to go back to school.

Way forward

• Ensure education: Much of the benefits can be reaped by ensuring that women complete education at least up to 12 years.
• Upskilling: Bangladesh shows that improving women’s education and imparting modern skills to them that increase their employability reduces child marriage and improves health and nutrition.
• Educational attainment criteria in schemes: Schemes which ease the financial burden of marriage but the eligibility criteria of which should essentially link to educational attainment in addition to age demand attention.

Conclusion

• A legalistic approach to increasing the age at marriage will produce positive results only if it leads to an improvement in women’s education and skill acquisition for employability.
• In the absence of an enhancement in women’s schooling or skills, a legalistic approach to ending child marriage might become counterproductive.

Source: The Hindu

Context

Twenty-one months after a military coup, which derailed a decade old experiment with limited democracy, Myanmar is struggling to cope with the consequences. People are suffering, authorities and opposition forces are locked in a cycle of violent clashes, the economy is deteriorating, and ASEAN’s mission to produce a solution has failed.

Background of Present situation in Myanmar

• Violation of constitution by Military: When the Tatmadaw (military), unhappy with the victory of the Aung San Suu Kyi led National League for Democracy in the November 2020 elections, chose to violate the constitution, it acted in the belief that the people would accept its diktat, as they had done in previous decades.
• Civilian opposition continues: Clearly, military junta underestimated public anger and their commitment to freedom and democracy. Even after killing over 2,300 people and imprisoning thousands, including Ms. Suu Kyi, the military still faces a rebellion. Its plan to hold an election next year stands jeopardized.
• Imprisonment of Suu Kyi: Suu Kyi, 77, the most popular leader, has been sentenced to 26 years of imprisonment in multiple cases on apparently trumped-up charges. Besides, 1.1 million Rohingya, driven by military oppression to seek shelter in Bangladesh in 2017, continue to languish there. Dhaka’s efforts to arrange their safe return have failed.
• Migration crisis in India and Bangladesh: Armed clashes between the military and their ethnic opponents in the border region are having a spill-over effect in Bangladesh. Dhaka continues to show restraint and a preference for diplomacy to manage the situation.

How is the response of civilian opposition against military?

• National unity Government: The parallel National Unity Government (NUG) may not be recognized by any state, but it continues to receive political and financial support from abroad. It has effectively channelled popular indignation against military rule, while still being vulnerable due to the paucity of resources and the absence of a visible leader.
• Support of ethnic groups to NUG: About 20 ethnic armed organizations (EAOs), located in the east, north and west of Myanmar’s periphery, have divergent approaches towards the postcoup conflict. Many view it as an intra Bamar contestation, an issue of limited concern to them. Some like the Karens and Kachin’s support the NUG, while others, especially those controlled or supported by China, remain aloof.
• Strong military but disunity among groups: Those operating in the Chin and Rakhine states are engaged in a fierce armed conflict with the military and have enfeebled it. But overall, due to their divergences and relative weaknesses, the EAOs are unlikely to defeat the military.
• No nationwide opposition: While the opposition has performed well, it is unable to turn the tide in its favour, without a nationwide front against the Tatmadaw. National reconciliation between the military and civilian forces, and ethnic reconciliation between the majority Bamars and ethnic minorities, have been put on hold.

UN and International criticism

• Criticism of coup: The UN has been forthright in criticizing the coup. It has expressed concern over continuing violence, support for a ‘democratic transition’, a release of all political prisoners and dialogue among the parties concerned.
• Division among international community: However, the UN Secretary General’s special envoy has had little success in promoting peace. The UN’s failure lies in the sharp divisions within the international community on how to deal with this vexed issue.
• Sanction on military: The western powers have been severely critical of the military. They have put in place several restrictive measures and imposed more sanctions. They have extended support to the NUG.
• Russian support to military: On the other hand, Russia has given considerable backing to the military regime, seeing in its own isolation an opportunity to strengthen bilateral cooperation in defence and energy supplies.
• China’s exploiting the opportunity: China is keeping a door open to democratic forces even while doing business with the regime and exploiting every opportunity to ensure progress on the China-Myanmar Economic Corridor.
• ASEAN’s divided response: ASEAN is divided in three ways: Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore are prodemocracy; Thailand and Laos are promilitary; and Vietnam and the Philippines are ambivalent. This disunity and the Tatmadaw’s refusal to cooperate with ASEAN have led to the non-implementation of the Five Point Consensus. The upcoming ASEAN summit may provide clues on whether the grouping can forge a united stand and devise something that works better.

India’s reaction to Myanmar situation

• Refugee crisis in India: India is concerned as the postcoup conditions have adversely impacted its interests and hampered bilateral cooperation. Mega projects stand delayed. Some 50,000 refugees, as per unofficial estimates, have been camping in Mizoram.
• Advocating the democracy: Meanwhile, there is an erroneous perception that India has abandoned the Myanmar people. The reality is that India proactively advocates an early restoration of democracy, the release of prisoners, and internal dialogue.
• Myanmar under the shadow of India-China relations: Can India do more? It can explore the possibility of a combined mediatory role with ASEAN and likeminded neighbors. Will China have a role in such a group? India-China relations preclude that possibility.
• Brokering the political settlement: Through greater unity, external players can help Myanmar in creating a suitable environment for dialogue on a political settlement. Distant countries such as Norway and Japan can play a helpful role as catalysts. But the principal responsibility to construct a solution must rest with the Myanmar elite and leadership of both camps. Through resilience and pragmatism, they crafted a way out in 2011-21. They must recreate that spirit.

Conclusion

India has been walking on tight rope on balancing national interest and restoration of democracy in Myanmar. Sooner the civil war in Myanmar ends better for India and especially for Mizoram. ‘The Golden Land’, where Lord Buddha is revered, needs to be reinspired by his teachings. Else, a prolonged, contested military rule or a failed state seems a distinct possibility.

Source: Indian Express

GS-III

Context

• Recently, large fragments of China’s Long March 5B rocket plunged uncontrolled into the south-central Pacific Ocean. This was reported by the US Space Command.
• The fragments were stages of the rocket used to deliver the third and final module of the Tiangong space station.

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Chinese space station

• Tiangong is China's new space station.
  • In May 2021, China launched Tianhe, the first of the orbiting space station's three modules.
    • The country aims to finish building the station by the end of 2022.
  • In June 2021, China had launched three astronauts into orbit to begin occupation of the country's new space station.
• Tiangong will be much smaller than the International Space Station (ISS), with only three modules compared with 16 modules on the ISS.

Background:

• Few days back, China had launched its Long March 5B rocket to deliver the third and final module of the Tiangong space station.
  • China currently relies on the Long March 5B to carry its heaviest payloads to space.
  • For the latest mission, the rocket carried Mengtian, a science laboratory module, to Tiangong.
• The rocket broke up during re-entry and plunged uncontrolled into the south central Pacific Ocean.
• One of the pieces was left over from the core stage of the rocket that was about 30 metres long and weighed between 17-23 tonnes.

Associated Danger

• Such was the danger that the air navigation authority of Spain shut down parts of its airspace for about 40 minutes in view of the uncontrolled entry of remains from the Chinese space object.
• However, security analysts claim that the chances of humans being hit were minuscule.
• What was worrying though, is the fact that the rocket stage did not by design have a system to ensure it fell in a designated place on Earth.

Criticism

• The uncontrolled return of rocket's core stage has raised questions about responsibility for space junk.
• Chinese space agency has also been criticised for not following the international norms while designing the rocket.
  • The international norm is to design rockets so that it disintegrates into smaller pieces upon re-entry.
  • Designing objects to disintegrate upon atmospheric re-entry is challenging as it is done partly by using materials which have low-melting point temperatures, such as aluminium.
  • In the case of rockets, this can be expensive, as historically the materials used for housing fuel, such as titanium, require very high temperatures to burn up.
  • The sheer size of such objects is also an issue which makes disintegration difficult.
• The current incident also raised questions regarding the safety and security of human population on the earth.

Previous instances of uncontrolled returns

• The recent incident was the fourth time something like this had happened with a Chinese rocket.
  • In May 2020, during the rocket’s first deployment, fragments had landed in Ivory Coast, causing some damage to buildings;
  • Debris from the second and third flights had plunged into the Indian Ocean and near the Philippines respectively.
• China also faced criticism after using a missile to destroy one of its defunct weather satellites in 2007.
  • This had created a field of debris that other governments said might jeopardise other satellites.

Source: Indian Express

Context

A total lunar eclipse will occur on 8 November, 2022. The eclipse is visible from all places of India at the time of Moonrise.

About:

• An eclipse of the Moon (or lunar eclipse) can only occur at Full Moon – when Earth is located directly between the Sun and the Moon –, and only if the Moon passes through some portion of Earth's shadow.
• That shadow is composed of two cone-shaped components -
  • The outer or penumbral shadow is a zone where the Earth blocks part but not all of the Sun's rays from reaching the Moon. 
  • The inner or umbral shadow is a region where the Earth blocks all direct sunlight from reaching the Moon. 
• Types:Astronomers recognize three basic types of lunar eclipses – 
• Penumbral Lunar Eclipse:The Moon passes through Earth's penumbral shadow. These events are of only academic interest because they are subtle and hard to observe. 
• Partial Lunar Eclipse:A portion of the Moon passes through Earth's umbral shadow. These events are easy to see, even with the unaided eye. 
• Total Lunar Eclipse:The entire Moon passes through Earth's umbral shadow. These events are quite striking due to the Moon's vibrant red colour during the total phase (totality). 

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Source: PIB

Context

• ISRO’s radar-imagining satellite Risat-2 that re-entered the Earth’s atmosphere and splashed in the Indian Ocean on October 30 was India’s first dedicated ‘spy’ or reconnaissance satellite.

About RISAT series of Satellites:

• Radar Imaging Satellite or RISAT is a series of Indian radar imaging reconnaissance satellites built by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).
• The first satellite, named RISAT-2, was launched in 2009.
  • It was bought from Israel for USD 110 million largely for surveillance purposes.
• In 2012, ISRO then launched what was India’s first indigenous all-weather radar imaging satellite, known as RISAT-1.
  • RISAT-1 provided all-weather surveillance using synthetic aperture radars (SAR).
  • Before the launch of RISAT-1, India depended on images from a Canadian satellite as the existing domestic remote sensing spacecraft was not able to take pictures of the earth during cloud cover.

About RISAT-2:

• RISAT-2 was India's first satellite with a synthetic aperture radar (SAR), which possesses 24-hour, all-weather monitoring capability.
• With a bid to boost its intelligence acquisition after the 26/11 terror attacks on Mumbai (2008), India had acquired a high-precision spy satellite from Israel.
• It was a 300kg all-weather spy satellite put into the orbit, to help security agencies keep a vigil on the country's borders round-the-clock, especially hostile neighbours and help in anti-infiltration and anti-terrorist operations.
• Risat-2 provided beneficial payload data for over 13 years.

Significant Contribution:

• Images from the satellite helped security and intelligence agencies plan the surgical strike in 2016 on terror launchpads in Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir (PoK) and the Balakot aerial strike in February, 2019.
• The satellite was also used in rescue missions as it was to search and locate the wreckage of the helicopter crash that claimed the life of the then Andhra Pradesh CM Y S Rajasekhara Reddy and fellow passengers in September, 2009.

Source: The Hindu

Context

The first-ever recording of the snow leopard from the Baltal-Zojila region has renewed the hope for the elusive predator in the higher altitudes of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.