UPSC Daily Current Affairs- December 4, 2021 PDF Download

GS-I

Context

• The Prime Minister has greeted the people of Goa on the day of the Feast of St. Francis Xavier.

About St. Francis Xavier (1506-1552)

• Francis Xavier venerated as Saint Francis Xavier, was a Catholic missionary and saint who was a co-founder of the Society of Jesus.
• He was born in Javier, Kingdom of Navarre (in present-day Spain), he was a companion of Ignatius of Loyola and one of the first seven Jesuits.
• He led an extensive mission into Asia, mainly in the Portuguese Empire of the time and was influential in evangelization work, most notably in India.

His works

• Xavier was about to extend his missionary preaching to China when he died on Shangchuan Island.
• Known as the “Apostle of the Indies” and “Apostle of Japan”, he is considered to be one of the greatest missionaries since Paul the Apostle.
• He has asked for a special minister to the king of Portugal whose sole office would be to further Christianity in Goa.
• He also was the first Christian missionary to venture into Japan, Borneo, the Maluku Islands, and other areas.
• In those areas, struggling to learn the local languages and in the face of opposition, he had less success than he had enjoyed in India.

Context

• Faced with the fourth consecutive year of flooding and landslips since 2018, two months of the northeast monsoon alone has caused massive losses in terms of damage to life, property, and crops.
• The overall estimated damage caused by the rain in October and November alone has been pegged at ₹11,916.3 crore and as per the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) norms, ₹1,281.92 crore.

About Northeast Monsoon

• Occurs during October to December, and is a small-scale monsoon compared to South- West Monsoon.
• It is confined to the Southern peninsula.
• The rainfall associated with the Northeast monsoon is important for Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, Karaikal, Yanam, coastal Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, north interior Karnataka, Mahe and Lakshadweep.
• Some South Asian countries such as Maldives, Sri Lanka and Myanmar, too, record rainfall during October to December.

How is La Niña linked with the Northeast monsoon?

• While La Niña conditions enhance the rainfall associated with the Southwest monsoon, it has a negative impact on rainfall associated with the Northeast monsoon. 
• During La Niña years, the synoptic systems — low pressure or cyclones — formed in the Bay of Bengal remain significantly to the north of their normal position.
• Besides, instead of moving westwards, these systems recurve. As they lie to the north of their normal position, not much rainfall occurs over southern regions like Tamil Nadu.

Context

• Hornbill Festival 2021 of Nagaland kicked off recently, after a gap of one year following the outbreak of COVID-19.

About Hornbill Festival

• About
  • This festival usually takes place between the 1st and the 10th of December every year in Kohima.
  • The festival gets its name from the Indian Hornbill.
  • The Hornbill is a common bird among the folklores and tribes of Nagaland and can be commonly seen prancing around in the forests of Nagaland.
• Location
  • Hornbill Festival is held at Naga Heritage Village, Kisama which is about 12 km from Kohima.
• Festival of all festivals
  • This is a very popular festival of Nagaland. Often cited as “festival of all festivals”.
• Aim
  • The aim of the festival is to revive and protect the rich culture of Nagaland and display its extravaganza and traditions.
  • Other presentations for the session were
    • Ao – Naga Wadir Yar (Naga Wadir's Dance)
    • Phom – Kyong-Nya-Yong (Graceful dance)
    • Lotha – Rice bounding folk song
    • Khiamniungan – Po-Hoi Jihang (Dormitory song)
    • Garo – Quarrel dance and
    • Chang – Khüngkhün Wansatyung (traditional way of fire making).
  • Gusto and fervor
    • The tribes of Nagaland celebrate their festivals with gusto and fervor.

Significance

• Promoting tourism: Hornbill Festival provides a platform to various tribes from the state to showcase their culture and it is also an avenue for promoting tourism and allied economic activities.
• Unity: It unites all the people of Nagaland as well as the rest of the country and celebrates the different tribes of Nagaland.
• Culture: The festival offers a clearer glimpse into understanding the Naga culture better.
• Agriculture: More than 60% of the population of Nagaland depends on agriculture and therefore most of their festivals revolve around agriculture.
  • They consider their festivals sacred and so participation in these festivals is compulsory.

GS-II

Context

• Several tribal outfits in Tripura have joined hands to push their demand for a separate state called Greater Tipraland for indigenous communities in the region.

Demand for Greater Tipraland

• Greater Tipraland envisages a situation in which the entire Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTADC) area will be a separate state.
• It also proposes dedicated bodies to secure the rights of the Tripuris and other aboriginal communities living outside Tripura.
• The Protestants are demanding a separate state of ‘Greater Tipraland’ for the indigenous communities of the north-eastern state.
• They want the Centre to carve out a separate state under Articles 2 and 3 of the Constitution.

About Constitution

• Article 2 of the Indian Constitution deals with the admission or establishment of new states.
• Parliament may by law admit into the Union, or establish, new States on such terms and conditions, as it thinks fit,” it states.
• Article 3 comes into play in the case of “formation of new States and alteration of areas, boundaries or names of existing States” by the Parliament.

How did the demand originate?

• Existential threats: From 63.77 per cent in 1881, the population of the tribals in Tripura was down to 31.80 per cent by 2011.
• Ethnic conflicts: In the intervening decades, ethnic conflict and insurgency gripped the state, which shares a nearly 860-km long boundary with Bangladesh.
• Accessed state: Tripura was a kingdom ruled by the Manikya dynasty from the late 13th century until the signing of the Instrument of Accession with the Indian government on October 15, 1949.
• Demographic changes: There is an anxiety among the indigenous communities in connection with the change in the demographics of the state due to the displacements from the erstwhile East Pakistan.

What has been done to address the grievances of indigenous communities?

• The TTADC was formed under the sixth schedule to ensure development and secure the rights and cultural heritage of the tribal communities.
• The TTADC, which has legislative and executive powers, covers nearly two-third of the state’s geographical area.

Context

• Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman Harivansh Narayan Singh has reserved his decision to allow the introduction of a private member’s Bill to amend the Preamble to the Constitution.

About the Constitution (Amendment) Bill, 2021

• Introduced by BJP Member from Kerala K J Alphons:
  • The Bill seeks to change the words in the Preamble “EQUALITY of status and of opportunity” to “EQUALITY of status and of opportunity to be born, to be fed, to be educated, to get a job and to be treated with dignity”.
  • It also seeks to replace the word “socialist” with “equitable”.
  • The Bill also proposes adding “access to information technology” and “happiness” as objectives.
• Four important aspects can be ascertained from the above text of the preamble: 
  • Source of authority of the constitution: It derives its authority from the people of India.
  • Nature of Indian state: It declares India to be a sovereign, socialistic, secular democratic and republican polity.
  • Objectives of the constitution: It specifies justice, liberty, equality and fraternity as the objectives.
  • Date of adoption: Nov 26th, 1949.

Preamble as part of the constitution

• In the Berubari Union Case (1960), the Supreme Court opined that the Preamble was not part of the constitution.
• The above opinion was reversed in Keshavananda Bharati case in 1973; the SC held that Preamble is part of the constitution. This opinion was further clarified by the SC in LIC of India case (1995).
• Though preamble is part of the constitution;
  • It is a neither a source of power to legislature nor a prohibition upon the powers of legislature.
  • It is a non-justiciable, that is, its provisions are not enforceable in any courts of law.

Preamble and its amendability

• In Keshavananda Bharati case, the court held that the basic elements or the fundamental features of the constitution as contained in the preamble cannot be altered by an amendment under article 368.
• The preamble has been amended only once. That is- 42nd constitutional amendment act, 1976 when three new terms were added- Socialist, secular and integrity.

GS-III

Context

• Recently, Lesser florican has been tracked for the first time from Rajasthan to Maharashtra’s Ahmednagar district.

About Lesser florican

• Lesser florican, taxonomically classified as Sypheotides indicus.
• It is one of three bustard species endemic to India, the others being the Bengal florican and the Great Indian Bustard.
• It is a small and slender bird species found in tall grasslands.
• Habitat: It is observed in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and some other regions during the monsoon season.
• Conservation Status: It is declared endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and also features in Appendix 2 of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES).
  • It is also protected under Schedule 1 of the Indian Wildlife Act.

Context

• A butterfly species new to science have been found at Dzongu in Sikkim.

About Zographetus Dzonguensis

• The new species of butterfly is named the Chocolate-bordered Flitter.
• It carries the scientific name Zographetus dzonguensis, after Dzongu in North Sikkim, the place where it was discovered.
  • It has a chocolate coloured border around both the wings
• Its closest relatives are Zographetus Pangi in Guangdong, and Zographetus hainanensis in Hainan, both in southeastern China, close to Hong Kong.
• The physical appearance of the species differ slightly and the internal structures of the males also differ slightly.

Context

• The amount of bonds circulating with negative debt yields appears to be dissipating in Europe.
• Global yields have been low for quite some time, and that accelerated when the pandemic struck in 2020 as investors piled into the safety of bonds.

What are they?

• These are debt instruments that offer to pay the investor a maturity amount lower than the purchase price of the bond.
  • Can be issued by central banks or governments.
  • Here, investors pay interest to the borrower to keep their money with them.

Why do Investors buy such bonds?

• Such instruments are usually in demand during times of stress and uncertainty. This is to protect their capital from significant erosion.
• From currency fluctuations to deflation, there are scenarios in which purchasers of negative-yield bonds can come out ahead.

Relationship between Bond Price and Yield

• A bond’s price moves inversely with its yield or interest rate; the higher the price of a bond, the lower the yield.
• The reason for the inverse relationship between price and yield is due, in part, to bonds being fixed-rate investments.
  • Investors might sell their bonds if it’s expected that interest rates will rise in the coming months and opt for the higher-rate bonds later on.
  • Conversely, bond investors might buy bonds, driving the prices higher, if they believe interest rates will fall in the future because existing fixed-rate bonds will have a higher rate or yield.

What is the key factor driving this demand today?

• It is the massive amount of liquidity injected by the global central banks after the pandemic began that has driven up prices of various assets including equities, debt and commodities.
• Many investors could also be temporarily parking money in negative-yielding government debt for the purpose of hedging their risk portfolio inequities.
• In case the fresh wave of the Covid-19 pandemic leads to further lockdowns of economies, then there could be further negative pressure on interest rates, pushing yields down further, and leading to profits even for investors who put in money at the current juncture.