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Over 140 days after mobile Internet was suspended in ethnic violence-hit Manipur, the service was restored.An order by the State government said the number of violent incidents had gone down from the initial days, and “law and order has improved in the State”.
The restoration of the services was announced by Chief Minister N. Biren Singh in Imphal. Broadband Internet services were restored with several conditions on July 25. Mobile data services were allowed on numbers approved by the government all this while.
The BJP-ruled State witnessed the longest-ever Internet shutdown this year after Jammu and Kashmir, which saw communication blockade for 552 days, after the removal of its special status under Article 370 of the Constitution.
In the past, after public interest litigation petitions were filed, the High Court of Manipur had directed the State government to restore the services partially.
A government official said Saturday’s order was in line with the gradual easing of curbs on the Internet as it was also affecting the economy.
After the ban was lifted, several videos of violence pertaining to the first few days of strife flooded social media platforms.
The official said they were keeping a watch on the activities on the Internet and such videos were not “unexpected”.
U.S. says it ‘wants to see accountability’ in Nijjar death case (Page no. 1)
(GS Paper 2, International Relation)
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the U.S. was “deeply concerned” about allegations that India had a role in the death of Khalistani separatist leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar in British Columbia and that it wanted to see accountability for the incident.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had told the country’s parliament on Monday that there were reasons to believe agents of the Government of India were involved in killing Nijjar in June. India has denied the allegations.
It would be important that India work with the Canadians on this investigation,” Mr. Blinken told reporters in New York. We want to see accountability and it’s important that the investigation run its course and lead to that result.
World leaders and diplomats have gathered in the city for the 78th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA).
The U.S. was not just consulting with the Canadians, but cooperating with them in the investigation, according to the Secretary.
States
Maharashtra’s ephemerals: plants that wait for monsoon to bloom (Page no. 4)
(GS Paper 3, Environment)
Blooming is often associated with the spring season. Yet, only a few know that in parts of Maharashtra, certain plant species wait throughout the year to bloom only during the monsoon because they love rain.
Such plants are termed ephemerals. They are of two types — annual and perennial, explain researchers from the International Union for Conservation of Nature - Species Survival Commission (IUCN SSC).
Aditya Gadkari, member and researcher at IUCN SSC, Western Ghats Plant Specialist Group (WGPSG), says, “Annual ephemerals form new individuals every year and are seen for a very short period.
They form seeds at the end of their life cycle, remaining dormant till the next year. Perennials have a source like a tuber or a bulb in the soil, so it is the same individual, but the other parts (stem, flowers) are newly formed.”
The IUCN SSC WGPSG does not work only on monsoon flora; its primary work involves making threat assessments of all species distributed in the Western Ghats.
News
NIA confiscates properties of ‘Khalistani terrorist’ Pannun (Page no. 6)
(GS Paper 3, Internal Security)
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) confiscated the properties of a “designated individual terrorist”, Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, in Amritsar and Chandigarh. Pannun is the self-styled general counsel of the U.S.-based proscribed outfit Sikhs for Justice (SFJ). He currently operates from Canada.
The action has been taken against Pannun following the confiscation orders passed by an NIA special court in Mohali. This is the first time that properties of an absconding accused of the NIA have been confiscated.
He has been on the NIA’s radar since 2019, when the agency registered its first case alleging his major role in promoting and commissioning terror acts and activities, and spreading fear and terror in Punjab and elsewhere in the country through threats and intimidation tactics.
On February 3, 2021, non-bailable warrants of arrest were issued against Pannun by the NIA court and he was declared a “proclaimed offender” on November 29 last year.
IBSA meet seeks to amplify the Global South’s voice (Page no. 6)
(GS Paper 2, International Organisation)
External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar, who is visiting the United States, met with his Brazilian and South African counterparts as part of the IBSA group, to further strengthen South-South cooperation.
A very productive IBSA meeting with Foreign Ministers Mauro Vieira and Naledi Pandor on #UNGA78 sidelines,” Mr. Jaishankar said, remarking that the meeting’s outcome demonstrated solidarity between nations of the Global South.
The Minister is in New York to address the 78th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) and for plurilateral and bilateral meetings.
IBSA’s joint communique, released on Saturday, announced that a standalone meeting of Foreign Ministers would be held in the first quarter of 2024.
The statement reaffirmed the “strategic significance” in advancing and protecting the interests of the Global South, noting the countries were focused on, among other things, “upholding independent foreign policies”, while calling for the peaceful resolution of conflicts.
Under NEP, sports now integral part of school curriculum: Modi (Page no. 8)
(GS Paper 2, Education)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that sports could no longer be ignored in the school curriculum as the new education policy placed it in the same category as other subjects.
Laying the foundation stone for an international cricket stadium in Varanasi, his Lok Sabha constituency, Mr. Modi said, “Under the National Education Policy, 2020, importance of sports cannot be neglected, it is in the same category as other subjects.”
Starting his speech in Bhojpuri, Mr. Modi said gone were the days when only big cities used to have large stadiums. Remote locations now have sports facilities similar to those in bigger cities of Delhi and Mumbai.
Terming the stadium a potential boon for eastern Uttar Pradesh, he said the facility would not only benefit sportspersons but also help boost the economy of the Purvanchal region.
The stadium to be built in the city of Mahadev will be dedicated to Mahadev himself. The sportspersons from across Purvanchal [eastern Uttar Pradesh] will benefit from the international stadium; it will act as a boon for the region.
‘India’s quality of active TB case finding suboptimal’ (Page no. 8)
(GS Paper 2, Health)
Since 2017, India’s TB programme has been undertaking active case finding (ACF) outside the healthcare settings among high-risk populations.
Recently, a team led by the Chennai-based National Institute of Epidemiology (ICMR-NIE) undertook the first-ever national-level analysis to measure the quality of ACF.
This study was commissioned by the Central TB Division. The results of the study were published on September 21 in the journal Global Health Action.
ACF data were available only for 657 districts. Of the three ACF cycles recommended among the high-risk populations each year, 642 districts (98%) undertook just one cycle. Most districts were not clear what constituted one ACF cycle.
An ACF cycle is mapping of the high-risk population and screening and testing them in a given period. “Based on a study in South Africa, two ACF cycles in a year appear to have additional benefits over one cycle. There is no evidence to suggest three cycles are needed.
T.N., Kerala may join hands to count endangered Nilgiri tahr (Page no. 8)
(GS Paper 3, Environment)
After launching Project Nilgiri Tahr last year for the conservation of the State animal, Tamil Nadu is now working on a standardised protocol to count the endangered population of southern India’s only mountain ungulate.
The Tamil Nadu Forest Department will also propose to its Kerala counterpart to conduct a synchronised census, as the animal is only found in select habitats in the two States.
For the first time, drones may be used in the census, as the Nilgiri tahr prefers montane grasslands, with steep and rocky terrains at an altitude between 300 metres and 2,600 metres above sea level.
There are believed to be a little over 3,100 of the animals living in highly fragmented habitats in the Western Ghats in Tamil Nadu and Kerala, ranging between the Nilgiris in the north and the Kanniyakumari hills in the south, according to a 2015 study by WWF-India.
World
Prominent Uighur intellectuals disappear in Xi Jinping’s China (Page no. 9)
(GS Paper 2, International Relation)
There are so few of us left,” Ilham Tohti reflected during a walk through the lush grounds of Beijing’s Minzu University, which specialises in the study of China’s ethnic minorities, during a conversation in 2013.
Mr. Tohti, an Uighur economist and intellectual from China’s vast western Xinjiang region, had become among the few minority Uighur scholars with a wide following in Xinjiang, where independent voices had been gradually stifled, particularly after Han-Uighur riots in 2009.
Mr. Tohti’s university lectures and writings focused on ethnic relations, Xinjiang’s economy and why, despite the region’s energy riches, unemployment was rife among young Uighurs amid an influx of Han residents.
Only a few months after that conversation, Mr. Tohti’s apartment that sits right outside the campus gate was raided, and he was taken away. He was put on trial and sentenced to life in prison in September 2014, charged with “separatism”.
According to rights groups, more than 300 leading Uighur intellectuals have been jailed since Xi Jinping coming to power in 2013.
Many were swept up in the extraordinary mass internment of Uighurs between 2016 and 2018, when hundreds of thousands were sent to detention centres. The Chinese government initially denied the camps, but later claimed they were for “vocational training”.
Science
Draft patent amendment rules undermine pre-grant opposition (Page no. 10)
(GS Paper 3, Science and Technology)
The draft patent amendment rules made public on August 23 this year could hugely benefit big pharma but turn out to be disastrous for patients in India and in countries in the global South, which rely on generic drugs manufactured in India, in accessing affordable drugs and vaccines.
The draft rules released by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade for stakeholder comments have made a few significant changes that will create needless hurdles in pre-grant opposition of patents.
The most important change is about granting the controller the power to determine the maintainability of representation by individuals or civil society organisations to file pre-grant oppositions.
Neural circuitry of mouse mothers to pups’ calls deciphered (Page no. 10)
(GS Paper 3, Science and Technology)
The neural circuitry underlying the responses of mouse mothers to calls from their pups has now been studied by researchers.
The results were published inNature. This mechanism may be important for sustaining mouse maternal care, the authors suggest.
The hormone oxytocin is known to be important for maternal physiology and behaviour; for example, it has roles in childbirth and in milk ejection during nursing. In humans, baby cries are a powerful signal of infant distress, and most nursing mothers respond to cries with oxytocin release, increased hypothalamic activity, comforting behaviours towards the infant and occasional milk ejection.
The neural circuitry that routes auditory information about infant distress calls to oxytocin neurons is unclear. Robert Froemke from the New York University School of Medicine, New York, and colleagues recorded the neural activity of oxytocin neurons in maternal mice whilst their pups were calling.
They found that these neurons responded via input from a region of the brain called the posterior intralaminar thalamus.
This circuit was found to control oxytocin release and pup retrieval, providing a mechanism for the integration of sensory cues from the offspring into maternal hormone networks to promote efficient parenting.
FAQ
What will hold up women’s reservation Bill? (Page no. 11)
(GS Paper 2, Social Justice)
In a historic move, Parliament passed the Constitution (One Hundred and Twenty Eighth Amendment) Bill, commonly referred to as the women’s reservation Bill, which provides 33% reservation for women in the Lok Sabha and State Legislative Assemblies.
On September 21, the Bill secured all the votes in the Rajya Sabha, a day after securing near-unanimous support in the Lok Sabha. It will now require the President’s assent to become law.
The Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam, as the Bill is called, seeks to reserve one-third of all seats for women in the Lok Sabha, the State Legislative Assemblies, and the National Capital Territory of Delhi.
This will also apply to seats reserved for Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs) in the Lok Sabha and the State Legislative Assemblies. The seats reserved for women will be rotated after each delimitation exercise.
What are the reasons for rise in global debt? (Page no. 11)
(GS Paper 3, Economy)
Global debt rose to an all-time high of $307 trillion in the second quarter, by the end of June 2023, the Institute of International Finance (IIF) said in a report released last week.
Quite notably, global debt has risen by about $100 trillion over the last decade. Further, global debt as a share of gross domestic product (GDP) has started to increase once again to hit 336% after dropping quite steeply for seven consecutive quarters.
Global debt refers to the borrowings of governments as well as private businesses and individuals. Governments borrow to meet various expenditures that they are unable to meet through tax and other revenues.
Governments may also borrow to pay interest on the money that they have already borrowed to fund past expenditures. The private sector borrows predominantly to make investments.
Business
‘Two chip proposals under process’ (Page no. 13)
(GS Paper 3, Economy)
Two big semiconductor proposals are under process and expected to take shape in the coming few months, Union Minister for Railways, Communications, Electronics and Information Technology Ashwini Vaishnaw said.
Without divulging specifics of the proposals, the minister said the projects would focus on a special area where India could emerge as a leader at the global level.
Speaking with PTI on the sidelines of the groundbreaking ceremony of Micron’s semiconductor plant, Mr. Vaishnaw said that the global semiconductor community was noticing the progress made by India in the segment and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s capability to execute large and complex policy decisions.
This has developed India as a major trusted geography in which global industry players want to come. We can see in the coming few months at least two more large semiconductor proposals taking shape.
India said to defer import licensing of laptops on push back (Page no. 13)
(GS Paper 3, Economy)
India will defer an import licence requirement for laptops and tablets, two government officials said, a policy U-turn after industry and the U.S. government complained about the move, which could hit Apple, Samsung and others.
The plan will be delayed by a year, after which the government will consider whether to implement a licensing regime or not, one of the officials told Reuters, requesting anonymity.
The licensing regime, announced abruptly on August 3, aimed to “ensure trusted hardware and systems” enter India, reduce dependence on imports, boost local manufacturing and in part address the country’s trade imbalance with China.
But following industry objections, the initial plan was quickly delayed by about three months.
Last month U.S. trade chief Katherine Tai raised concerns with India over the move, which would also affect companies such as Dell and HP.