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The Centre’s ambitious attempt to improve air quality in some of India’s most polluted cities suggests that a majority of Indian cities are far from making significant progress.
In 49 cities whose particulate matter numbers were consistently available for five years, 27 showed a decline in PM 2.5 — considered the most dangerous grade of pollutant — while only four had met or exceeded the targeted decline, according to an analysis by Respirer Living Sciences and Climate Trends.
The stated goal of the ₹9,631-crore National Clean Air Programme (NCAP) is to reduce average particulate matter concentrations 40% by 2026 (compared to 2017) in 131 cities.
When the programme was initiated, the aim was to cut pollution 20-40% by 2024 in this cities but this goalpost was later shifted to 2026.
Editorial
Justice for Bilkis Bano, questions on remission (Page no. 8)
(GS Paper 2, Polity and Constitution)
In an article in The Hindu (August 20, 2022), I had characterised the grant of remission to the 11 gang-rape and murder convicts in the Bilkis Bano case as an ‘injustice of exceptionalism’.
The exceptional nature of this injustice is only exemplified by the Supreme Court of India’s judgment in the case delivered by Justices B.V. Nagarathna and Ujjal Bhuyan.
As the decision notes, not only did one of the petitioners commit “fraud” by misleading an earlier Bench of the Court in getting a favourable order, leading ultimately to the release orders, but the Government of Gujarat was equally complicit.
Despite the law being amply clear in a Constitution Bench decision in Union of India vs V. Sriharan (2015) that the appropriate government to decide a remission application is the State where the convicts are sentenced, the Court notes that the Gujarat government “usurped” power from the Government of Maharashtra.
Opinion
Why international law matters (Page no. 9)
(GS Paper 2, International Relation)
Israel’s bloody war in Gaza has caused unprecedented death and destruction. Images of terrified and screaming children have stained humanity’s collective conscience.
This war started when the world was still reeling from the shock of Russia’s brazenly illegal invasion of Ukraine, which, too, has caused devastation.
These two wars have led many to pronounce the death of international law, especially the rule prohibiting the use of force in international relations — the crown jewel of the United Nations Charter codified in Article 2(4).
But this is not the first time international law has been declared dead. More than 50 years ago too, Thomas Franck argued that Article 2(4) was dead because it worked on the flawed assumption that the permanent members of the UN Security Council would continue to cooperate after World War-2.
While it is true that the international community has abjectly failed in preventing or stopping these wars, penning an obituary for international law is a grave mistake.
True, international law suffers from several structural deficiencies. In fact, critical scholars would trace the origin of the ongoing and past military conflicts in the genealogy of international law laced with imperial and colonial character.
It is also a fact that, unlike municipal law, international law lacks a global police force to enforce it successfully, notwithstanding the growth of several international courts and tribunals. Yet, international law matters.
Indian tourists are important to the Maldives (Page no. 9)
(GS Paper 2, International Relation)
During a recent visit to Lakshadweep, Prime Minister Narendra Modi shared photos of his trip on social media. Several users responded comparing the islands with the Maldives, located further down south in the Indian Ocean.
This became a diplomatic row when three deputy ministers at the Youth Ministry of Maldives — Malsha Shareef, Maryam Shiuna and Mahzoom Majid — also commented on the posts on X making disparaging remarks against India and Mr. Modi.
The Maldivian foreign ministry distanced itself from their remarks, saying their personal views did not represent the country’s position. The Maldivian government suspended them.
Meanwhile, the comments led to an uproar on Indian social media, with many claiming that they were cancelling their scheduled trips to the Maldives.
Whether this actually has an impact on tourist arrivals in the Maldives is yet to be seen. Indian celebrities also urged people to explore domestic tourist destinations, including Lakshadweep.
A former sports minister of the Maldives, Ahmed Mahloof, expressed concern over the row saying “Indians boycotting the Maldives” will hit the country hard.
Text & Context
A look at Project Tiger, 50 years on (Page no. 10)
(GS Paper 3, Environment)
In 1973, Project Tiger introduced India’s tiger reserves, whose status has since rapidly ascended. From an administrative category constituted and administered by the forest bureaucracy, tiger reserves became a statutory category in 2006. They are hailed worldwide as India’s conservation success story, especially in this age of climate change.
In 1972, India enacted the Wildlife (Protection) Act (WLPA), which introduced new spaces within notified forests called ‘National Parks’, where the rights of forest-dwellers were removed and vested with the State government.
It also created ‘Wildlife Sanctuaries’, where only some permitted rights could be exercised. Project Tiger was the result of this development.
There were nine tiger reserves in 1973 over 9,115 sq. km; today there are 54 in 18 States, occupying 78,135.956 sq. km. Critical Tiger Habitats (CTH) cover 42,913.37 sq. km, or 26% of the area under National Parks and Wildlife Sanctuaries. As of 2022, the camera-trap method indicated there were 3,167-3,925 tigers in India.
The government created the CTHs to vouchsafe a part of India’s forests for tiger-centric agendas. Beyond each CTH would be a Buffer Area — a mix of forest and non-forest land.
But even though the latter had an inclusive, people-oriented agenda, the overall ‘fortress conservation’ approach to protecting tigers displaced people who had coexisted with tigers for generations.
News
India, U.K. ink 2 deals during Rajnath’s visit (Page no. 12)
(GS Paper 2, International Relation)
India and the United Kingdom signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for a bilateral international cadet exchange programme and a Letter of Arrangement (LoA) on defence collaboration in research and development. These were signed after bilateral talks between Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and his British counterpart, Grant Shapps, in London.
“Had an excellent meeting with UK Defence Minister, Grant Shapps. We reviewed the full range of India-UK defence relations.
We had fruitful discussions on a wide range of issues pertaining to defence cooperation, security and also on enhancing defence industrial cooperation,” Mr. Singh said on ‘X’ about his two-day visit.
Mr. Shapps stressed that the relationship between the U.K. and India was not transactional, and both countries were natural partners with many commonalities and shared goals, the Ministry said.
Privileges panel to seek responses form 11 suspended MP’s (Page no. 12)
(GS Paper 2, Polity and Constitution)
The Privileges Committee of the Rajya Sabha, in a meeting held in New Delhi, decided to seek responses from 11 members suspended on charges of breach of privilege during the recently concluded Winter Session of Parliament.
Their suspension is pending till the report of the panel, headed by Deputy Chairman Harivansh, is tabled in the Rajya Sabha.
During the Winter Session, the Rajya Sabha suspended 46 MPs over protests on the Parliament security breach episode. Of them, 35 MPs were suspended till the end of the Winter Session. The remaining 11 continue to be under suspension, pending the report.
Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar referred the suspension of the 11 MPs — Binoy Viswam, Jebi Mather, John Brittas, A.A. Rahim, P. Santhosh Kumar, M.M. Abdulla, L. Hanumanthaiah, Neeraj Dangi, Rajmani Patel, Kumar Ketkar and G.C. Chandrasekhar — to the Privileges Committee to see if their actions within the chamber amounted to breach of privilege of other MPs. Mr. Ketkar is a member of the Privileges Committee.
Committee discusses norms to rein in coaching institutes that make misleading claims (Page no. 14)
(GS Paper 2, Governance)
The Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) held the first meeting of a committee constituted to prepare guidelines on misleading advertisements in the coaching sector. The committee, the Centre said in a release, also discussed a draft of the guidelines.
The Chairman of the committee and Secretary of the Department of Consumer Affairs, Rohit Kumar Singh, said protection of consumers’ interest was a paramount concern to the CCPA.
He said there should be clarity, specifically in addressing certain aspects related to advertisements in the coaching sector.
The CCPA firmly believes in safeguarding the rights of consumers and ensuring that no false or misleading advertisement is made of any goods or services which contravenes the provisions of the Consumer Protection Act, 2019.
The guidelines shall be applicable to all the coaching institutes whether online or physical and cover all forms of advertisement, regardless of form, format or medium.
World
Israel faces Gaza ‘genocide’ case by S. Africa at UN court (Page no. 15)
(GS Paper 2, International Relation)
Israel and South Africa face off at the UN’s top court, after Pretoria accused Israel of “genocidal acts” in Gaza, charges the Israelis have dismissed as “blood libel”.
In an 84-page submission to the International Court of Justice (ICJ), South Africa urged judges to order Israel to “immediately suspend its military operations” in Gaza.
South Africa alleges that Israel “has engaged in, is engaging in, and risks further engaging in genocidal acts against the Palestinian people in Gaza”.
The ICJ could in theory order Israel to stop its invasion but it is highly doubtful it would be obeyed.
South Africa has filed the case against Israel because both countries have signed the UN Genocide Convention, created in 1948 as a response to the Holocaust.
‘World came close to the critical 1.5 degree Celsius limit in 2023’ (Page no. 15)
(GS Paper 3, Environment)
The year 2023 was the hottest on record, with the increase in Earth’s surface temperature nearly crossing the critical threshold of 1.5 degrees Celsius.
Climate change intensified heatwaves, droughts and wildfires across the planet, and pushed the global thermometer 1.48 degree Celsius above the pre-industrial benchmark, the Copernicus Climate Change Service reported.
“It is also the first year with all days over one degree warmer than the pre-industrial period,” said Samantha Burgess, deputy head of the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S). “Temperatures during 2023 likely exceed those of any period in at least the last 1,00,000 years.”
Nearly half the year exceeded the 1.5 degrees Celsius limit, beyond which climate impacts are more likely to become self-reinforcing and catastrophic.
Business
Indian firms took on larger forex risk in 2023 banking on RBI support (Page no. 16)
(GS Paper 3, Economy)
Indian importers and exporters left a bigger portion of their foreign currency exposures unhedged in 2023, relying on the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) holding the rupee in a narrow range.
Forward contracts purchased by importers to hedge future foreign currency payments dropped 14.5% on-year in 2023, while hedging by exporters declined 12.5%, calculations based on data from Clearing Corporation of India.
Forward contracts are the most commonly used derivative instruments for hedging. “For us, the drop (in forward hedging) has been bigger, more in the vicinity of 20% to 25%.
“It’s hardly a surprise that companies, especially larger ones, see value in making less use of forwards in the current environment.”
A small part of the hedging via forwards has been replaced by options, said the salesperson, who declined to be named as their company policy does not allow media interactions.
Science
Could sisal leaves make sanitary napkins more sustainable in India? (Page no. 22)
(GS Paper 1, Culture)
The ancient Aztec and Mayan civilisations were perhaps the first to begin making paper out of sisal leaves. Since then, the stiff, green sword-like leaves have been used to make twine, cloth, and carpets. The plant itself is also used to make mezcal, a distilled alcoholic beverage.
Now, in a move to make menstrual hygiene products more environmentally sustainable, scientists at Stanford University have reported a method to produce from sisal leaves a “highly absorbent and retentive material”.
As a result, the researchers posit in their Nature Communications Engineering paper, the material can potentially replace cotton, wood pulp, and chemical absorbents in sanitary napkins.
The absorption capacity of the material is higher than those found in commercial menstrual pads, they add.
The study’s authors also claim that their method uses no polluting or toxic chemicals, can be carried out locally at a small scale, and is environmentally sustainable.
Led by associate professor of bioengineering Manu Prakash, the team is currently working with a Nepal-based non-governmental organisation to test whether their method can be scaled up to mass produce sanitary napkins and meet the growing demand for low-cost and ‘green’ menstrual hygiene products.