UPSC Daily Current Affairs- 11th February 2023 | Current Affairs & Hindu Analysis: Daily, Weekly & Monthly PDF Download

GS-I

Context

According to the Indian Sugar Mills’ Association (ISMA), sugar production in the current season (October 2022 to September 2023) is slightly lower than the last year’s production.

About Sugarcane crop:

• India is the second largest producer of sugarcane after Brazil.
• It is the main source of sugar, Gur (jaggery), khandsari and molasses.
• It is a tropical and perennial grass which attains a length of 10 to 20 feet.
• A single plant of sugarcane has ‘many stems’ in a tuft.
• Modern Sugar making was introduced in India probably by Dutch.
• The first Sugar Mill was started in Bihar in 1903; followed by another unit in 1904 in Uttar Pradesh.

Suitable Conditions:

• Temperature: Between 21-27°C with hot and humid climate.
• Rainfall: Around 75-100 cm.
• Soil Type: Deep rich loamy soil.
• Top Sugarcane Producing States: Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Bihar.
• It can be grown on all varieties of soils ranging from sandy loam to clay loam given these soils should be well drained.
• It needs manual labour from sowing to harvesting.

About Indian Sugar Mills Association (ISMA):

• Indian Sugar Mills Association (ISMA) is a premier sugar organization in India.
• It is the interface between Government and sugar industry (both private and public sugar mills) in the country.
• The prime objective is to ensure that the functioning and interest of both the private and public sugar mills in the country are safeguarded through conducive and growth-oriented policies of the Government.
• ISMA is the oldest industrial Association in the country which was established in 1932.
• ISMA is recognized by both the Central Government and State Governments as the apex sugar body in the country, to voice the concerns of the private sugar mills and the sugar industry as a whole.

Source:  The Hindu

GS-II

Context

Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha has argued that that MPs have freedom of speech amid protests against the expunction of parts of his speech on the motion of thanks on the President’s Address

About Article 105:

• Article 105 deals with “powers, privileges, etc of the Houses of Parliament and of the members and committees thereof”, and has four clauses. These are
• Freedom of speech is guaranteed in Parliament, subject to the provisions of this constitution and the rules and standing orders governing its conduct.
• No member of Parliament shall be subject to proceedings in any court with respect to anything said or any vote cast by him in the House of Commons or any of its committees, and no person shall be subject to such liability with respect to the publication of any report, paper, votes, or proceedings by or under the authority of either House of Parliament.
• In all other respects, each House of Parliament’s members, committees, and powers, privileges, and immunities shall have such powers, privileges, and immunities as may from time to time be determined.
• The provisions of sections (1), (2), and (3) shall apply to individuals who, pursuant to this constitution, have the right to speak in and otherwise participate in proceedings of a House of Parliament or any committee thereof, in the same manner as they do for members of Parliament.
• Article 105 envisages Parliamentary Privileges of a House in two different aspects—
• Collective Privileges: Various privileges such as internal autonomy, power to punish for contempt in case of breach of privileges and also external interferences by strangers, freedom of speech in the debates, and the passing of resolutions expressing the collective opinion of the members for the public interest, rule-making powers, etc. can be enjoyed collectively by the House itself.
• Individual Privileges: Privileges such as conferring protection from arrests of the members of both Houses in civil proceedings, freedom of speech and expressions in a much broader manner than that is guaranteed as a fundamental right to every citizen by the Constitution, etc. can be enjoyed by the individual members of the both Houses.

Source: The Hindu

Yanomami people

Context

The Brazilian government has recently taken action to remove illegal miners from the largest Indigenous reserve in the Amazon where the Yanomami people live.

About Yanomami people:

• The Yanomami tribe is a group of indigenous people who live in an area spanning the border region between Venezuela (Orinoco River basin) and Brazil.
• They are also called South American Indians.
• They speak the Xirianá language.
• Economy and Occupation: They are foraging horticulturists who depend on shifting cultivation, the gathering of fruits, banana cultivation, hunting, etc., for their livelihood.

Who is Davi Kopenawa Yanomami?

• He is known as the ‘Dalai Lama of the Rainforest’.
• He was the recipient of the Right to Livelihood Award in Stockholm in Sweden (also called the Alternative Nobel Prize).
• He is well known for leading the 20-year campaign of the Yanomami people to protect their traditional lands which is the largest rainforest area under indigenous control in the world.

Source: PIB

GS-III

The Cape Buffalo/ Southern Savanna Buffalo

Context

 According to recent studies the Cape Buffalo populations were less genetically variable or diverse in the extreme southern part of their range. This means that there had been more interbreeding among them.

About the Cape Buffalo/ Southern Savanna Buffalo:

• African buffalo occur in Sub-Saharan Africa.
• They prefer a habitat with dense cover, such as reeds and thickets, but can also be found in open woodland, montane grasslands and forest, savannas, and moist lowland rainforests.
• During the dry season, males leave the herd and form, bachelor groups. Two types of bachelor herds occur: ones made of males aged 4 to 7 years and those of males 12 years or older.
• During the wet season, the younger bulls rejoin a herd to mate with the females. They stay with them throughout the season to protect the calves.
• African buffalo have a strictly herbivorous (graminivorous, florivorous) diet.
• They feed on a wide variety of grasses, sedges, leaves, and other plants.
• African buffalo are polygynandries (promiscuous) meaning that both males and females’ mate with multiple partners.
• They mate and give birth only during the rainy seasons.
• Cows usually reproduce every two years.
  • They give birth to a single calf after a gestation period of 11.5 months.
• Males become reproductively mature when they are 4 to 6 years old.
• IUCN Red list: Near Threatened (NT)

Source: DownToEarth

Wildlife Institute of India (WII)

Context

The Wildlife Institute of India (WII) is working to develop immuno-contraceptive measures for population management of species that have become problematic for humans in many parts of the country.

About WII:

• It is an autonomous institution under the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change.
• It was established in 1982.
• It is based in Dehradun, Uttarakhand.
• It offers training programs, academic courses, and advisory in wildlife research and management.

About Nilgai antelope:

• It is the largest Asian antelope (family Bovidae).
• The nilgai is indigenous to the Indian subcontinent, and Hindus accord it the same sacred status as cattle (both belong to the subfamily Bovine).
• Description: Nilgai is the Hindustani word for “blue cow,” which describes the blue-grey of adult bulls.
• It has a long neck with a short upright mane, a bony narrow head, a barrel-like chest, strong legs, and high withers sloping back to the croup.
• Habitat: It lives in a lightly wooded forest, wooded grassland, scrub areas and agricultural areas and human settlements. Blue Bull usually avoids dense Forests.
• Threats: It is seldom killed or injured in retaliation in response to crop-raiding.
• The major threat to this species is habitat loss and degradation due to human encroachment, clearing of forest for agriculture and over-grazing of livestock in their habitats.
• Conservation Status:
• The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species listed it as Least Concern.
• It enjoys legal protection by virtue of the species having been included in Schedule-III of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972.

Source: DownToEarth

Sundarban Biosphere Reserve

Context

Recently, birders, wildlife enthusiasts and forest officials have sighted 145 different bird species during the first Sundarban Bird Festival.

Key facts of the Sundarban Biosphere Reserve

• The Sundarbans is located on the delta of the Ganga, Brahmaputra and Meghna rivers in the Bay of Bengal.
• This Biosphere Reserve includes Sundarban Tiger Reserve, Sundarban National Park (core area), Halliday Island and Lothian Island Wildlife Sanctuaries with Sajnakhali Wildlife Sanctuary forming its buffer area.
• It is designated as a UNESCO World Heritage site.
• Flora: The vegetation of the area is moist tropical forests and tidal forests.
• Fauna: It is home to Royal Bengal Tiger, Estuarine Crocodile, Gangetic Dolphin, Water Monitor Lizard etc.

Source: PIB

Context

 Google showcased its latest work artificial intelligence (AI) as part of an event  that was livestreamed on YouTube.

About Google’s Bard:

• Bard is Google’s own conversational AI chatbot and is based on LaMDA.
• It draws on information from the web to provide fresh, high-quality responses.
• In short, it will give in-depth, conversational and essay-style answers just like ChatGPT does right now.
• A user will be able to ask Bard to explain new discoveries from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope to a 9-year-old, or learn more about the best strikers in football right now, and then get drills to build your skills.
• Bard is built on Transformer technology – which is also the backbone of ChatGPT and other AI bots.
• Transformer technology, pioneered by Google and made open-source in 2017, is a neural network architecture, which is capable of making predictions based on inputs.
• Currently, Bard looks like a limited rollout and it is hard to say whether it can answer more questions than ChatGPT.
• Google has also not made clear the amount of knowledge that Bard possesses.
  • For instance, with ChatGPT, we know its knowledge is limited to events till 2021.

Source: Indian Express