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A small river which stopped flowing 70 years ago in Odisha’s Cuttack district is set to be rejuvenated as the State government has started working on its revival plan following a recent direction from the National Green Tribunal (NGT). This is probably the first serious attempt being made to restore a river to its original shape in Odisha. The Sukapaika river originated from another river, the Mahanadi, near Ayatpur village. It flowed 27.5 km before meeting the Mahanadi again at Bankala.
In the 1950s, the State’s water resource engineers had in their wisdom closed the Sukapaika river mouth enabling development of the Taladanda Canal System, a major canal of the State.
This led to the river mostly drying up. The process was aggravated by agricultural encroachments that had sprung up on the riverbanks.
Villagers realised the importance of the river when they faced a groundwater crisis a few years ago. The water table wasn’t getting recharged by the Sukapaika river anymore.
Agriculture was hit and the river channel turned into a garbage ground,” said Swarup Rath, the main petitioner who moved the NGT in 2021 demanding rejuvenation of the river.
On September 28, the NGT’s Eastern Bench directed the State government to make budgetary provision for the river’s complete rejuvenation by March 2023.
Though the target of reviving a dead river in span of six months sounded ambitious, the green tribunal had made its intent clear.
The government has, however, set a target to complete the renovation within 18 months. Engineers involved in planning and execution said it was possible.
The government has approved Rs. 49.67 crore for rejuvenation of Sukapaika River. This is not a huge amount and so the government need not show reluctance. But it requires government’s determination to make it happen.
What made people realise the need for revival of the river was that most tube-wells were becoming defunct due to depletion of groundwater. Irrigation was the biggest casualty.
The situation came to such a pass that people were not able to use any waterbody to perform last rites as they were dry. Traditional fisherfolk became jobless.
In 2019, a people’s march for the river’s restoration attracted the attention of authorities. As the movement gained momentum, public hearings were held, comments were sought and there was overwhelming support for breathing life into Sukapaika again. Emotional about river’s rejuvenation, villagers say it will touch lives of 10 lakh people in 425 villages.
Saudi Crown Prince expected to visit Delhi next month (Page No. 1)
(GS Paper 2, International Relation)
Saudi Crown Prince and Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Mohammad bin Salman (MbS) is likely to visit India on November 14 to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The visit is likely to last a few hours and both leaders are expected to depart for Bali in Indonesia to attend the G-20 summit on November 15 and 16.
Sources say the visit could cast doubts over Mr. Modi’s attendance at meetings with the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), and the 18-member East Asian Summit (EAS) leaders meeting in Cambodia around the same time.
During their meeting, Mr. Salman and Mr. Modi are expected to exchange views on the present energy security scenario due to the Russian war in Ukraine. They may also discuss the western coalition sanctions that neither India nor the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia have joined.
The visit has geopolitical significance given U.S.-Saudi tensions over oil production cuts by the OPEC+ grouping that includes Russia, after which U.S. President Joseph Biden, who will also be in Bali, had warned of “consequences” for Saudi Arabia.
In Delhi, the two leaders will review bilateral projects, including the progress on Mr. Salman’s 2019 promise of “$100 billion investment” in India, particularly in oil reserves, and green energy projects, which hasn’t yet fructified.
Mr. Modi has visited Riyadh twice, in 2016 and 2019, and announced a number of MoUs and projects as well, which will be reviewed, said officials.
Saudi Arabia hosted the G-20 in 2020, and talks will focus on the agenda for the G-20 in India next year, with a summit in Delhi in September 2023.
Diplomatic sources said the high-profile visit might mean Mr. Modi may not be able to attend the ASEAN-India summit as well as the East Asia Summit in Phnom Penh from November 10-13.
This is an important year for the ASEAN-India partnership as it marks the 30th year of ties between India and the Southeast Asian nations grouping, and a special “commemorative summit” is being planned.
India and the 10-nation ASEAN grouping have been in talks about upgrading their relationship to a “Comprehensive Strategic Partnership” (CSP), and External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar had hosted the ASEAN-India Foreign Ministers (FMM) meeting in Delhi this year and travelled to Cambodia for the East Asia FMM in August where this was discussed.
While Australia and China were named CSPs in 2021, the ties of the U.S. and India with ASEAN are likely to be upgraded this year.
The East Asia Summit will include leaders from ASEAN countries and Australia, China, India, Japan, New Zealand, the Republic of Korea, Russia and the United States.
States
New species of the genus Allmania, spotted (Page No. 6)
(GS Paper 3, Environment)
A rather frail-looking plant spotted on the granite hillocks of Palakkad has been identified as a new species of the genus Allmania. Named Allmania multiflora, the species is quite special from both the botanical and conservation points of view, according to researchers.
An annual herb that grows to a height of about 60 cm, Allmania multiflora is only the second species of this genus identified so far anywhere. That is not all: the discovery has come 188 years after the genus and the first species were described by botanists.
Field surveys, genetic analysis, and molecular and morphometric investigations demonstrated it as distinct from Allmania nodiflora, which so far had been accepted as the lone Allmania species, a paper published in the journal Phytotaxa said.
The first species, Allmania nodiflora, was originally published under the genus Celosia as Celosia nodiflora in 1753. Specimens found in Ceylon (Sri Lanka) were first described as Allmania nodiflora in 1834.
Its new-found cousin, Allmania multiflora, is currently known only from a few locations. Given its small population, the researchers have assessed it as Critically Endangered, applying IUCN Red List criteria.
The plant was discovered during ongoing studies on Amaranthaceae, the plant family to which the genus Allmania belongs.
Found at heights ranging between 1,000 to 1,250 metres, Allmania multiflora is an annual herb, erect, with branches arising from the base. The stem is red to violet at the base and green above.
Shorter tepals and wider gynoecium (parts of the flower), shorter bracts and in the diameter of the seeds are among the characteristics that distinguishes it from Allmania nodiflora. Flowering and fruiting occurs from May to September.
Allmania multiflora has been so named for having a higher number of florets within an inflorescence. The species faced a number of threats, explained Dr. Anil Kumar. ''Its population is quite small, for one.
It could be accidentally exploited by local people as a vegetable along with amaranths. Its habitat, granite hillocks, too face various forms of threats today.
News
ISRO’s heaviest rocket with 36 satellites on board lifts off (Page No. 9)
(GS Paper 3, Science and Tech)
The heaviest rocket of the Indian Space Research Organisation, the LVM3-M2/OneWeb India-1, with 36 satellites on board took off from the second launch pad (SLP) of the Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SHAR) at Sriharikota.
LVM3-M2 is the dedicated commercial satellite mission of NewSpace India Ltd. (NSIL), a Central public sector enterprise under the Department of Space.
With this launch, LVM3 is making its entry into the “global commercial launch service market”. This mission is being undertaken as part of the commercial arrangement entered into between NSIL and Network Access Associates Limited (m/s OneWeb Ltd), a U.K.-based company.
As part of this mission 36 OneWeb Gen-1 satellites, meant for global connectivity needs, will be launched into circular low earth orbit of 601 km altitude.
This mission is the fifth flight of LVM3. And this is the first Indian rocket with a six tonne payload.
Decisions taken in past eight years helped India tide over pandemic: PM (Page No. 10)
(GS Paper 3, Science and Tech)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that it was no one’s expectation that the side effects of a once-in-100-years pandemic would go away in 100 days, but India could tide over the crisis with the economic and policy decisions taken in the past eight years.
Mr. Modi said India had leapt forward from the 10th to the fifth largest economy, though many big economies in the world were struggling and faced record inflation and unemployment.
This has been made possible because in the past eight years, we got rid of those shortcomings of the country’s economy which created hindrances.
Mr. Modi launched a Rozgar Mela (recruitment drive) for 10 lakh Union government jobs through video conferencing. During the ceremony, appointment letters were handed over to 75,000 appointees who were inducted in the first batch.
The 75,000 recruits will join 38 Ministries and departments at Group A, B (both gazetted and non-gazetted) and C levels.
The posts on which appointments are being made include central armed force personnel, sub-inspector, constable, lower division clerk, stenographer, personal assistant, income tax inspector and multi-tasking staff.
The Prime Minister announced in June that the existing 10 lakh vacancies in Union government departments would be filled in a mission mode till 2023 ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha election.
Addressing the appointees, Mr. Modi said, “We decided that a tradition of giving appointment letters in one go should be started so that a collective temperament of completing projects in a time-bound way develops in departments.
He said that completion of the process of selection for the lakhs of vacancies in a few months and issuing appointment letters was an indication of the change that the government system had undergone in the past seven or eight years.
He recalled the days when applying for government jobs was a cumbersome process and corruption was rampant. He said that the steps taken during the initial years of his government, such as self-attestation and abolition of interviews for Group C and D posts, had helped the youth.
Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation data in the past years show how much the government’s policies regarding employment have improved the situation.
He noted that according to the data that came two days ago, in August, nearly 17 lakh people joined the EPFO and had now become part of the formal economy. He said nearly eight lakh of them were in the 18-25 age group.
NGT stops Corbett tiger safari work till panel submits tree felling report (Page No. 11)
(GS Paper 3, Environment)
The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has asked the Uttarakhand government not to proceed with the Pakhro tiger safari project inside the Corbett Tiger Reserve until a committee submits its final report on the alleged illegal cutting of trees inside the reserve for the project.
The tribunal had earlier taken cognisance of The Hindu report on felling of trees at the Reserve. The report had quoted a Forest Survey of India (FSI) report saying that over 6,000 trees were illegally felled to facilitate the project against the permission given for cutting 163.
The NGT Bench consisting of Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel, Justice Sudhir Agarwal and Professor A. Senthil Vel (expert member) maintained that the FSI report acknowledges the illegality in cutting of trees.
Thus, accountability needs to be fixed for such violations and the damage to the environment restored, following due process of law.
Accordingly, we constitute a three-member committee comprising the Directors-General of the Forest Department, Wildlife Department and Project Tiger to identify the violators and the steps required for restoration of environment.
It further ordered the State government not to proceed with the project until the committee submits its report with specific recommendations that may be furnished to the Secretary of the Ministry of Forest, Environment and Climate Change within one month. The report should also include steps for further course of action, the Bench ordered.
Earlier, Anoop Singh, Director-General of the Forest Survey of India, in his report to the NGT, had maintained that the area of sites where the trees were cut — as mentioned in the letter from the Uttarakhand government — has been calculated using a GPS survey done by the Geographic Information System (GIS) team of the FSI and Google Earth imagery.
The number of trees observed per hectare from all the inventory plots when multiplied with the area figures of a particular site gives the number of estimated trees felled at that particular site. By adding the estimated trees at different sites, the total estimated number of trees felled are arrived in the study area.
Science
New Omicron sublineages, recombinants cause cases to spike (Page No. 13)
(GS Paper 3, Science and Tech)
Genetic mutations are the drivers of evolution of organisms. Not all mutations are functional. However, the ones with a functional advantage tend to emerge over time than those without.
However, viruses rarely could evolve by exchanging large fragments of the genome called recombination. Recombination events are rare and occur when two viruses or lineages co-infect a cell.
Recombinations result in viruses that have a mixed genome, each part of the mix derived from the parent genomes which recombined.
While most recombinations result in a dysfunctional genome, in rare occurrences, they can bring together the best of two viruses with significant functional advantages resulting in their emergence. Such recombinations are well studied for a number of viruses, including influenza.
SARS-CoV-2 also has the potential to recombine, and a number of recombinant lineages have been observed during the pandemic.
The PANGO network, an open and global consortium of researchers, provides a system for naming different lineages of SARS-CoV-2 and as of date, 49 recombinant lineages of SARS-CoV-2 have been detected and assigned a lineage name.
Recombinant lineage names start with the letter ‘X’, followed by letters that indicate the order of their detection. XA, a recombinant lineage between B.1.1.7 (Alpha) and B.1.177 lineages of the virus, was the first recombinant lineage of SARS-CoV-2 and was detected in the United Kingdom in early 2021.
Subsequently, recombinant lineages were also detected and designated, including lineage XB, which was detected in the United States, and lineage XC which was detected in Japan and is a recombinant of B.1.1.7 (Alpha) and the AY.29 sublineage of Delta.
It is important to track SARS-CoV-2 recombinant lineages as they could lead to the emergence of a lineage that is better than either of the parent lineages at infecting hosts or the ability to evade immunity elicited by vaccines.
Genomic surveillance for monitoring the emergence and prevalence of lineages is thus central to monitoring variants.
While Europe and North America are currently seeing an emergence of Omicron variants, especially BQ.1 and its sublineages, a recombinant lineage XBB has been emerging in Asia.
This lineage comes out of recombination of two Omicron sublineages BJ.1 and BA.2.75. Early data (yet to be peer-reviewed) suggest that this variant can evade a wide range of monoclonal antibodies as well as protection acquired through vaccination with or without previous infections, including with Omicron.
While more research will be needed to conclusively assess the growth advantage of XBB lineage, initial data suggest that the lineage may potentially outcompete previously circulating Omicron sublineages.
Lockdown increased exposure to indoor air pollution (Page No. 13)
(GS Paper 3, Science and Tech)
During the COVID-19 lockdown, many countries observed historic improvements in ambient air quality. Our study shows that despite the historic improvements in ambient air quality, PM2.5 exposures increased for 65% of Indians and a third of the global population during the lockdown, largely attributed to biomass cooking activity.
One element of our study was to present India’s most comprehensive PM2.5 exposure disparity and environmental justice analysis — this allowed us to assess which demographic groups have the highest PM2.5 exposures.
Rural women have the highest levels of air pollution exposure. However, during the lockdown, working-age men and school-going children observed the largest exposure increases.
Given the prevalence of biomass-fueled cookstoves — cow dung, firewood, coal — and people being confined to stay indoors, air pollution exposure must have increased for any biomass-using household.
We introduced and utilised a novel exposure framework that incorporated nationwide time-use data (i.e., how much time people spend doing various activities) with representative microenvironment (e.g., kitchen area, living area, work/school, ambient) PM2.5 concentrations to quantify exposure increases and estimated that 65% of Indians had increased exposures during the lockdown, with average nationwide exposures increasing by 13%, from 116 ug m-3 to 131 ug m-3.
On average Indian women spend 87-89% of their time indoors, whereas men spend 71-73%. The indoor PM2.5 concentration for biomass-user households is 2-20 times higher than their respective outdoor concentration in different Indian states.
Before the lockdown, the time-weighted average exposure was comparatively lower as people were spending some of their time in outdoor environments. The shifting of outdoor time to indoor during the lockdown resulted in increased exposures to biomass-fuel emissions.
During baseline conditions, working-age rural women have the highest PM2.5 exposures of any demographic, with average exposures of 175 ug m-3, due mainly to exposure to biomass cooking-related emissions.
During the lockdown, despite everyone being mandated to stay at home, we still found that working-age women continued to maintain the highest exposures (185 ug m-3).
The other demographic groups that had the highest exposure were working-age men and school-age children, whose average modeled exposures increased by 24% (from 88 ug m-3 to 108 ug m-3) and 18% (from 98 ug m-3 to 115 ug m-3), respectively.
Grazing animals important in mitigating climate change (Page No. 13)
(GS Paper 3, Science and Tech)
Grazing animals can have a significant impact on the stability of soil carbon in grazing ecosystems, finds a study. Researchers from Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru (IISc), observed that experimentally removing grazing animals from the ecosystem resulted in higher fluctuations in soil carbon from one year to the next. The research has been published in PNAS.
The researchers, with the support of the Himachal Pradesh State government, local authorities and the people of the Kibber village in Spiti, established some fenced plots where grazing animals were excluded and adjacent plots where animals like yak and ibex grazed.
Sumanta Bagchi from the Centre for Ecological Sciences and Divecha Centre for Climate Change, IISc, and his students examined soil samples, year after year, over the decade following 2005 when the study began.
They found that soil carbon in the fenced plots fluctuated 30%-40% more than that in the plots where animals were allowed to graze.
Grazing ecosystems, such as grasslands, shrublands, and steppes savannahs cover about 10% of India and about 40% of the world. Historically, these ecosystem support nearly all megafauna around the world and are home to reptiles, birds, amphibians.
Such “drylands” have been threatened by alternate land use. “Drylands seem to lack a legitimate standing in our policy due to the unfortunate ‘wasteland’ tag which originated during our colonial past that was enamoured by forests. Many Indian ecologists, including my colleagues, are trying to change this mindset,” he says.
Grazing ecosystems store carbon in the soil and therefore decarbonise the atmosphere. Large mammals are crucial for all this. Unfortunately, wild mammals are confined to a few parks and reserves. Elsewhere wildlife has long been replaced by domestic livestock.
The questions that come up are: While this replacement is inevitable for livelihoods and food security, are livestock ecological substitutes of the wild mammals they have displaced? Can livestock provide equivalent carbon services, and how can they be managed? These aspects are missing in current policy on livestock, and we do not have all the answers yet. We need to protect land which has wildlife and restore degraded lands. We need to better manage livestock.
FAQ
Why is Pakistan off FATF “Grey List” (Page No. 14)
(GS Paper 2, International Organisation)
The Financial Action Task Force, the global watchdog on anti-money laundering and combating financing terrorism (AML/CFT) efforts, announced it would take Pakistan off its “grey list” of countries under “enhanced monitoring”, and welcomed what it called Pakistan’s “significant progress” in improving legal and government mechanisms.
Pakistan, which has been trying to be taken off the list ever since it was listed in February 2018, hailed the decision, and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif thanked Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and Army Chief General Qamar Bajwa, both of whom visited the U.S. in recent months, for their diplomatic efforts.
The 39-member body that was set up in 1989 out of a G-7 meeting of developed nations, is today made up of 37 countries and two regional organisations: the European Commission, the European Union’s executive body, and the Gulf Cooperation Council.
India joined with ‘observer’ status in 2006 and became a full member of FATF in 2010. According to its mission statement, FATF members meet regularly to monitor various countries, “review money laundering and terrorist financing techniques and counter-measures; and promote the adoption and implementation of the FATF Recommendations globally”.
The decision-making body of the FATF or Plenary meets thrice a year, in February, June and October, to take stock of “Mutual Evaluation Reports” (MERs) of the countries they review.
If a country appears to have major deficiencies in its AML/CFT regime, it is put on a list of “jurisdictions under increased monitoring” or what is called the “grey list”, and if it fails to address FATF concerns it is put on a “high-risk jurisdictions” list, called the “black list”.
Countries on both lists are subject to increasing levels of financial strictures, as the listing is like a global rating, and makes it difficult to procure loans from financial organisations like the IMF/World Bank, ADB etc., as well as to invite investment from private companies and other countries.
FATF Asia-Pacific Group rates Pakistan low on 10 out of 11 international goals on anti-money laundering, combating terror-finance.
During the recent plenary session on October 20-21, FATF countries, including India, reviewed the record of about 26 countries, and agreed unanimously to take Pakistan and Nicaragua off the “grey list”, add The Democratic Republic of Congo, Mozambique and Tanzania to the “grey list”, while moving Myanmar from the “grey list” to the black list for actions taken by the military junta since they overthrew the government in a coup last February.
When does RBI step in to monitor a bank? (Page No. 14)
(GS Paper 3, Economy)
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has placed Dhanlaxmi Bank under tight monitoring with the Thrissur-based private bank’s financial position coming under greater public scrutiny.
The RBI’s move comes in the wake of the intense court battle waged by a group of minority shareholders against the bank’s management team over inadequate financial disclosures, rising expenses, and general mismanagement of the business.
The bank noted that minority shareholders have called for an extraordinary general meeting next month to decide on restricting the spending powers of the current chief executive officer owing to the deteriorating capital adequacy situation of the bank.
Dhanlaxmi Bank’s capital to risk weighted assets ratio (CRAR) dropped to around 13% at the end of March this year from 14.5% a year ago, prompting the RBI to take stock of the financial health of the bank.
Under Basel-III norms, which were adopted by financial regulators across the globe in the aftermath of the financial crisis of 2007-08 that involved major failures in the banking system, banks are supposed to maintain their CRAR at 9% or above.
The RBI’s move to increase its oversight on Dhanlaxmi Bank is seen as a response to the deterioration in the bank’s capital adequacy. It should be noted that Dhanlaxmi Bank’s capital adequacy has dropped below the stipulated standards in the past and it has even been placed under the prompt corrective action framework (PCA) by the RBI to deal with serious deteriorations in its financial position.
Under the PCA, the RBI places restrictions on lending by troubled banks and keeps a close eye on them until their financial position improves sufficiently.
Dhanlaxmi Bank has been accused by its minority shareholders of mismanagement in the wake of the decision of the management to expand the bank to new geographies amid an unexpected rise in expenses. The management has also been accused of inadequate disclosure of information to explain the rise in costs.
Capital adequacy ratio is an indicator of the ability of a bank to survive as a going business entity in case it suffers significant losses on its loan book.
A bank cannot continue to operate if the total value of its assets drops below the total value of its liabilities as it would wipe out its capital (or net worth) and render the bank insolvent.
So, banking regulations such as the Basel-III norms try to closely monitor changes in the capital adequacy of banks in order to prevent major bank failures which could have a severe impact on the wider economy.
The capital position of a bank should not be confused with cash held by a bank in its vaults to make good on its commitment to depositors.
Business
‘External sector pressures emerging as fresh challenges’ (Page No. 16)
(GS Paper 3, Economy)
The rupee has performed relatively well in the first half of this year, though signals of further interest rate increases from the U.S. Federal Reserve could raise pressure on the currency to depreciate further, making imports costlier even as exports may crawl.
External sector pressures from the soaring dollar, higher interest rates and external financing are emerging as new challenges to India’s macroeconomic stability, the Ministry said, noting this is ‘no time for celebrations and complacency’ despite India’s robust growth and better management of inflation so far in 2022-23.
Forex reserves are sufficient despite a rapid fall. Retail inflation has ‘remained stable’ and averaged 7.2% between April and September, lower than the 8% median inflation of major economies, the Ministry said, adding that the spike in September’s inflation to 7.41% was driven by what ‘appears to be mainly seasonal’ increase in food prices.
In the absence of any further weather extremities, retail inflation is expected to trend lower in the rest of the fiscal year,” it said in the monthly economic review for September.
The Ministry said the rupee declined 5.4% versus the dollar between April and September, compared with 8.9% depreciation of six major currencies.
However, a chart shared in the review pegged the U.S. dollar’s appreciation against the rupee at 6.5%.
GST has begun to deliver, State finances are healthier: FinMin (Page No. 16)
(GS Paper 3, Economy)
India’s five-year old Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime has started delivering ‘dividends’ and States’ finances are in better shape this year, but a higher subsidy burden on fertilizers and free food grains under the extended PM Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY) could ‘stress’ government finances.
Buoyant tax revenue receipts are, however, expected to absorb the higher subsidy burden,” the Ministry said, noting that the surge in fertiliser subsidy spending and extension of the PMGKAY could raise non-plan revenue expenditure but was aimed at reducing the burden of soaring inflation on consumers.
Emphasising that GST revenues had been robust, averaging Rs. 1.49 lakh crore monthly during the first half of 2022-23, almost Rs. 25,000 crore more than last year, the Ministry in its economic review of September said that ‘GST collections have started paying dividends now’.
Significant pick-up in consumption has resulted in a more-than-proportionate jump in GST revenues; a more robust economic recovery could allow the collections to settle at an elevated level, proving the high revenue productivity of the broad-based consumption.
Overall revenue generation has helped keep pace with the Budget’s fiscal deficit target of 6.4% of GDP, it said. A focus on capital expenditure and rationalising spending through digitisation is ‘expected to create necessary fiscal space to support the vulnerable sections.
There is evidence of an improvement in States’ finances, with the gross fiscal deficit of states declining by 69.6% in Q1 of 2022-23 over the corresponding period of the previous year, driven by higher revenue receipts and a reduction in revenue expenditure,” the Ministry pointed out in the review.
New revenue generation measures had been taken by Uttar Pradesh and Kerala, and power tariff increases effected by at least six States — Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh and Assam. Average monthly GST revenue in the first half of FY23 was about Rs. 25,000 crore more than last year