August 13th, 2021, CNA:- Download PDF Here
TABLE OF CONTENTS
A. GS 1 Related B. GS 2 Related C. GS 3 Related DISASTER MANAGEMENT 1. Landslips in Himachal Pradesh cause concern 2. Odisha to map stretches vulnerable to tidal surges SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY 1. GSLV-F10 fails to put satellite into orbit D. GS 4 Related E. Editorials EDUCATION 1. Squaring up to India’s education emergency SOCIAL ISSUES 1. The many shades of intolerance DISASTER MANAGEMENT 1. Another Warning F. Prelims Facts 1. India, Saudi Arabia begin naval exercise 2. Renewable energy in India G. Tidbits 1. Common survey to count elephants and tigers H. UPSC Prelims Practice Questions I. UPSC Mains Practice Questions
A. GS 1 Related
Nothing here for today!!!
B. GS 2 Related
Nothing here for today!!!
C. GS 3 Related
1. Landslips in Himachal Pradesh cause concern
Background:
- In the past month, several landslips have been reported across the State of Himachal Pradesh.
Vulnerability of Himachal Pradesh:
- Given the mountainous terrain of Himachal Pradesh, erosion and geological forces make the region prone to natural disasters like landslips, Glacier Lake Outbursts Floods (GLOF) and flooding.
- As per a report by the Centre for Science and Environment, between July and the first week of August, the State has experienced four major natural disasters leading to loss of life and property.
- Deforestation, land degradation and desertification are some of the critical environmental issues in the Himalayan region state of Himachal Pradesh. These issues have been further worsened through man-made interferences like road-building and dam building in the region. This poses serious questions on the sustainability of this ecologically fragile region.
Role of climate change in increasing the vulnerability of Himachal Pradesh:
- The increasing number of landslips and other natural disasters being observed in Himachal Pradesh has raised concerns that they are part of a larger climate shift.
- The recent sixth assessment report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) warns that a global rise of 1.5 degrees Celsius (from pre-industrial times) is inevitable in the next two decades. This degree of global warming will lead to increased glacier melt as well as snowlines rising higher and will only increase the frequency as well as the intensity of extreme weather events like more intense bouts of droughts as well as short, intense spells of rain.
For more information on the recent report of the IPCC, refer to the following article:
UPSC Comprehensive News Analysis of 10th Aug 2021
Climate change manifestation in Himachal Pradesh:
- The temperature in the north-west Himalayan Region has risen by 1.6 degrees Celsius in the last century. The capital city of Shimla is observing increasing temperature and decreasing rainfall and seasonal snowfall.
- The discharge pattern in the major river systems in the state is witnessing changes.
- The quality of apples, a major crop of the region has been affected. Incidences of pests and diseases have also increased.
2. Odisha to map stretches vulnerable to tidal surges
Context:
- The Odisha government has directed engineers of its Water Resources Department to prepare an action plan against storm surges in the coastal areas.
- The State plans to raise saline and flood embankments along the coast to prevent tidal surges from inundating human habitations.
Background:
Vulnerability of Odisha:
- Odisha is the sixth most cyclone-prone area in the world. In the last ten years, Odisha has faced seven very severe to extremely severe cyclones.
- With around 480 km of coastline, Odisha remains vulnerable to cyclonic storms along with tidal surges and large-scale saline inundation.
- The coastal districts of Odisha have witnessed tidal surges of 3.5 metres to 4.5 metres during cyclones.
- A storm surge or tidal surge is a coastal flood phenomenon of rising water commonly associated with low-pressure weather systems, such as cyclones. It is measured as the rise in water level above the normal tidal level, and does not include waves.
- The coastal districts of Odisha have witnessed tidal surges of 3.5 metres to 4.5 metres during cyclones.
Significance:
- Given the trend of increasing frequency and intensity of the cyclones, raising and strengthening embankments has become a vital and necessary intervention.
- The embankments would save people from tidal surges and inundation in future.
Recommendations:
- While the strengthening of flood embankments should be taken up wherever viable, there is also the urgent need to permanently evacuate people from at-risk areas.
Category: SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
1. GSLV-F10 fails to put satellite into orbit
Context:
- The GSLV-F10 rocket launched with the Earth Observation Satellite EOS-3 has failed in its mission due to a performance anomaly.
Background:
EOS-03 satellite:
- EOS-3 was the first state-of-the-art agile Earth Observation Satellite intended to be placed in a geo-synchronous orbit around the Earth.
- EOS was intended to be positioned in the geostationary transfer orbit initially and then supposed to reach the final geostationary orbit based on the satellite’s own propulsion system.
- The geostationary transfer orbits have a distance from Earth of 170 km at the closest approach and about 35,975 km at the furthest approach which is close to the height of the geosynchronous orbit.
Image source: https://www.esa.int/
- The geostationary transfer orbits have a distance from Earth of 170 km at the closest approach and about 35,975 km at the furthest approach which is close to the height of the geosynchronous orbit.
- EOS was intended to be positioned in the geostationary transfer orbit initially and then supposed to reach the final geostationary orbit based on the satellite’s own propulsion system.
- EOS-03 is capable of imaging the entire country four to five times every day.
- Being an earth observation satellite, EOS-03 was meant to provide almost real-time images of large parts of the country and would have been used for monitoring water bodies, crops, vegetation, forest cover, and natural disasters such as floods and cyclones. The EOS-03 allowing for quick monitoring of natural disasters could have helped provide warnings for natural disasters such as cyclones, cloudbursts, thunderclouds, etc.
GSLV:
- GSLV expands to ‘geosynchronous satellite launch vehicle’.
- The GSLV Mark II is the largest launch vehicle built by India and is capable of longer ranges and higher load-carrying capacity. Hence GSLVs are used for launching larger satellites to higher orbits.
- The GSLV is basically a three-stage vehicle with solid, liquid and cryogenic stages respectively.
- The second liquid fuel-powered stage is powered by the Vikas engine.
- The third stage based on a cryogenic rocket engine uses liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen.
Details:
- The performance of the first and second stages was normal. However, a technical anomaly prevented the ignition of the GSLV-F10 rocket’s cryogenic upper stage.
- GSLV-F10 was ISRO’s eighth flight with an indigenous cryogenic engine and the 14th GSLV flight.
India’s indigenous cryogenic engines:
- GSLV-F10 was a GSLV Mk-II, where though the cryogenic engine is indigenously produced it is largely based on the Russian cryogenic engine and has been reverse-engineered.
- GSLV Mk-III uses an indigenously developed and produced cryogenic engine in the upper stage. The cryogenic engine used in GSLV Mk-III, called CE20, has been the result of over three decades of research and development, starting from scratch, and uses a different process to burn fuel. It is closer to the designs used in the European Arianne rockets.
Concerns:
- The failure of this mission is worrying because several important missions in the pipeline: Aditya-L1, the Gaganyaan mission and the NISAR mission slated in the coming years would have to be launched using the GSLV rocket.
- Aditya – L1 would be the first Indian mission to study the Sun. It would be inserted in a halo orbit around the L1 (Lagrangian point 1), which is 1.5 million km from the Earth. A Satellite placed in the halo orbit around the Lagrangian point 1 (L1) of the Sun-Earth system has the major advantage of continuously viewing the Sun without any occultation/eclipses.
- The Gaganyaan Programme envisages undertaking the demonstration of human spaceflight to Low Earth Orbit (LEO) in the short term and will lay the foundation for a sustained Indian human space exploration programme in the long run.
- NISAR mission is a collaboration between NASA and ISRO for a joint earth-observation satellite. The NISAR mission aims to measure the Earth’s changing ecosystems and dynamic surfaces to provide information about biomass, natural hazards, sea-level rise and groundwater.
D. GS 4 Related
Nothing here for today!!!
E. Editorials
1. Squaring up to India’s education emergency
With the pandemic having resulted in the school closures in India, impacting formal education, the article talks about the urgent need for concrete action on the education, health and livelihood fronts.
Issue:
- Federal countries such as the United States and Brazil implemented a variety of school closures and remote/in-person education policies in different jurisdictions.
- In contrast, most generalised and continuous school and university closures were imposed in India. All States, irrespective of the pattern of evolution of the novel coronavirus disease, followed a uniform policy, with fewer variations.
- This has given rise to the largest education emergency in the world.
- There is growing evidence of the harm caused to children and young adolescents in terms of learning losses as well as socio-emotional stress caused by prolonged school closures and of the ineffectiveness and inequalities of remote learning, even in technologically sophisticated environments.
The Oxford Covid-19 Government Response Tracker (OxCGRT):
- It collects systematic information on policy measures that governments have taken to tackle COVID-19.
- The different policy responses are tracked since 1 January 2020, cover more than 180 countries and are coded into 23 indicators, such as school closures, travel restrictions, vaccination policy.
- These policies are recorded on a scale to reflect the extent of government action, and scores are aggregated into a suite of policy indices.
- Policy and indicators:
- The Global Stringency Index has tracked the closure of educational institutions across all countries since the beginning of the pandemic.
- It is a composite measure based on nine response indicators including school closures, workplace closures, and travel bans, rescaled to a value from 0 to 100.
- Indicators are coded according to the level of strictness of the policy.
- It was created by the Oxford COVID-19 Government Response Tracker and is one of its metrics.
- A significant majority of the days between March 5, 2020, and July 20, 2021, were characterised as being at the most severe policy response requiring the closure of all types of educational institutions, according to the school closure indicator.
- As a result, about 265 million schoolchildren have been taught exclusively through remote learning.
- This is the largest number in any country for the longest period of time.
- This approach contrasted with the response in many other countries.
- Within a few months of the first lockdown of schools, Europe began resuming in-person schooling for certain groups of children or certain localities.
- Schooling strategies:
- By March 2021, 51 countries had resumed in-person education.
- In 90 other countries, including many in Africa, multiple modalities, rotation of children for in-person classes and part remote/part in-person options were being offered.
- In the hybrid schooling models (combination of in-person and remote teaching), countries prioritised children of younger ages, of essential workers and those with special needs, for in-person learning.
- But in India, even as relaxations were made for public gatherings at festivals and elections, prior to the second wave, strategies for schooling were not systematically applied.
- When the school closure policy was relaxed in a few Indian States in 2021, only high schools were allowed to function to conduct public exams.
- The fear that the second wave generated has created apprehensions about schools becoming the epicentre of the next wave.
- Therefore, India is less prepared for school re-openings than many other countries.
The Indian experience:
Education and learning:
- During these hundreds of days of almost continuous lockout, the youngest and the poorest among Indian children, the Dalits, tribals and others, and lacking devices and electricity have struggled with online classes.
- Attendance data are neither available nor defined.
- Existing education inequalities are likely to increase.
- The national Digital Infrastructure for Knowledge Sharing (DIKSHA) portal of teacher resources claims that usage increased. However, the educational significance of these metrics is not clear.
- Studies and reports from the field by NGOs and individuals engaged with the National Coalition on the Education Emergency indicate that teachers, unprepared for remote teaching, forward social media links to their hapless students.
- Kerala provided basic access to remote learning by June 2020 to its four million students through a TV channel, which broadcast classes for all subjects in each grade.
- The State leveraged investments made over the last two decades in information technology for schools, including capacity building of teachers and teacher developed digital content.
- However, the universal switch to ‘online’ mode has proved challenging.
Other pandemic-related woes:
- Besides issues on the education and learning front, families have been ravaged by disease and job losses, teenagers are caring for the sick and younger siblings, or working for pay.
- Interruptions in child health services, early nutrition and mid-day meals have affected the growth and development of young children.
- While closed schools are seen as a commitment to children’s safety, the higher risk of disease transmission by working children or the increase in malnutrition is ignored.
Way Forward:
- As schools reopen, offering a few standardised bridge courses and remedial classes may not make up for months of lost formal learning.
- India’s education emergency demands action on the education, health and livelihood fronts.
- Each school should prepare a safe school opening and child support plan, and should receive technical help for this.
- Teachers must be prioritised for vaccinations.
- Local adaptations and flexibility are essential.
- An ‘Education Emergency Room’ should be set up in every district to coordinate, implement and monitor local plans. Coordination is necessary to:
- Develop health and sanitation measures in schools
- Ensure protocols are followed in public transportation
- Encourage children who were not engaged with schools over the last year
- Develop tools to help teachers make quick diagnoses of students’ learning gaps
- Implement school health and nutrition
- Develop tools to accompany the educational trajectory of each student.
- Technology should be deployed safely for such purposes that identify and respond to children’s needs.
1. The many shades of intolerance
Context:
The Pew Research Center launched its report ‘Religion in India: Tolerance and Segregation’.
Details:
- The report has provoked several critical articles, which mostly present its findings as being about Hindu-Muslim relations.
- According to these articles, while the survey presents comparative data pertaining to four other major religions: Christianity, Sikhism, Jainism and Buddhism, its conclusion broadly confirms the growing influence of Hindutva politics on India’s social fabric.
‘Religion in India: Tolerance and Segregation’ Report:
- According to the report, India’s concept of religious tolerance does not necessarily involve the mixing of religious communities.
- It says that many Indians seem to prefer a country with clear lines between groups.
- However, examining the conceptual foundations on which the report is premised could lead to a vastly different understanding of tolerance in India.
- The issue of tolerance is not seen in connection with caste and is argued exclusively in the context of inter-religious communities.
- In discussions on prejudices or violence between Hindus and Muslims, the word ‘tolerance’ seems to have increasingly replaced the word ‘communal’.
Has India been historically tolerant?
- The survey endorses that India has historically been a tolerant country and is now increasingly turning into an intolerant one. It states that, since Indians were tolerant in the past, they must remain so now and in future.
- However, untouchability has been practised for ages in India and remains widespread in both urban and rural areas. And untouchability is an act of extreme intolerance.
- But the ideas of caste and intolerance are empirically, conceptually and historically deeply entwined.
- Society has been following intolerance against Dalits in an organised way as a custom.
Conclusion:
- Caste is the enduring source of intolerance and segregation, and the rest emanates from it.
- In the limited space that the survey offers to caste, it neither recognises this connection nor introduces it to its theoretical framework that helps formulate its profound findings. Additionally, it finds that a majority of Indians do not experience widespread caste discrimination.
- So long as this connection is not recognised, any effort to make sense of India’s growing intolerance would be shallow and misleading.
Context:
A landslip in the Kinnaur district of Himachal Pradesh has killed at least 14 people burying several others.
| The Landslide Hazard Zonation Map of India marks over 70% of Himachal Pradesh as ‘high risk’ and 14% as ‘severe’ to ‘very high risk’. The mountains in the state are young in geological terms and therefore active and hence, the threat of earthquakes remains potent. About 32% of the State is categorised as a high damage risk zone for seismicity. |
Issue:
- Himachal Pradesh, a state that has made progress on social developmental indices, faces rising instability from environmental factors such as climate change and heavy monsoon rainfall.
- Traditionally, natural events like rainfall and earthquake are known to cause this large movement of rock, soil and debris, but construction of roads and buildings, mining and hydropower projects are now increasingly destabilising slopes, making them more susceptible to slippage.
- Changing rainfall patterns and rise in extreme weather events like cloudbursts are adding another layer of complexity to the scenario.
- Landslips have become a familiar feature, and seismic events threaten to increase their frequency and aggravate the impact.
- There is considerable scientific literature arguing that Himachal’s mountain slopes are experiencing not just seismicity and rain-induced stresses but also man-made pressures to exploit hydropower and build more roads.
- Roads developed along the slopes face the brunt of the impact. In some cases, the roads themselves have been destroyed.
Signs of an impending landslide (by NDMA):
- Springs, seeps or saturated ground in areas that have not typically been wet before.
- New cracks or unusual bulges in the ground, street pavements or sidewalks.
- Soil moving away from foundations and ancillary structures such as decks and patios tilting and/or moving away.
- Broken water lines and other underground utilities.
- Leaning telephone poles, trees, retaining walls or fences.
- Sunken or dropped-down road-beds.
- Rapid increase in a stream or creek water levels, possibly accompanied by soil.
- Sudden decrease in creek water levels even though it is still raining or rainfall has recently stopped.
Way Forward:
- The focus must be on early detection and warning systems.
- Landslide forecasting in the weather bulletins by taking into account antecedent rainfall and local trends like recent developmental activities and previous landslide incidents in the region may prove beneficial in saving lives.
- In addition, it must be noted that a developmental model that prioritises heavily engineered structures such as dams and hydropower that involve rock blasting, tree felling and inundating large spaces clearly jeopardises the integrity of mountain slopes.
- Much of Himachal Pradesh is in the high-risk zone for landslips. This calls for great caution in pursuing disruptive projects, hydropower projects in particular.
- A decade ago, the action plan on climate change published by the State identified some key hazards and wanted to take long-term remedial measures. It is time to update the action plan, going beyond disaster management.
- There is wide support among local communities for sustainable tourism and an expansion of the farm-based economy, particularly apple-growing which can progress only when environmental losses are halted.
- With greater rainfall and cloudburst activity, Himachal Pradesh is bound to face greater uncertainty; urgent measures are needed to avoid any more ghastly episodes of falling boulders and lost lives.
F. Prelims Facts
1. India, Saudi Arabia begin naval exercise
AL–Mohed AL–Hindi:
- AL–Mohed AL–Hindi is the maiden bilateral naval exercise between India and Saudi Arabia.
- India has the world’s 4th largest installed renewable energy capacity.
- India has the 5th largest solar installed capacity while India ranks 4th in the wind installed capacity in the world.
G. Tidbits
1. Common survey to count elephants and tigers
- From December, India will move to a system that will count tigers and elephants as part of a common survey. Currently, the tiger survey is usually held once in four years and elephants are counted once in five years.
- Given that 90% of the area occupied by elephants and tigers is common, a common survey is viable and this will help significantly save costs.
- Asian elephants are listed as “endangered” on the IUCN Red List of threatened species. More than 60% of the world’s elephant population is in India.
H. UPSC Prelims Practice Questions
Q1. Which of the given statements with respect to Central Vigilance Commission is/are correct?
- The CVC was established as a statutory body on the recommendations of the Santhanam Committee.
- The Central Vigilance Commission is controlled by the Home Ministry.
- The Central Vigilance Commissioner is appointed by the President on the recommendation of a committee consisting of the Prime Minister, the Home Minister and the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha.
Options:
- 1 only
- 3 only
- 2 and 3 only
- 1, 2 and 3
CHECK ANSWERS:-
Answer: b
Explanation:
- The Central Vigilance Commission was set up by the Government in February 1964 on the recommendations of the Committee on Prevention of Corruption, headed by Shri K. Santhanam, to advise and guide Central Government agencies in the field of vigilance. Pursuant to the Central Vigilance Commission Act 2003, CVC became a Statutory Body.
- The CVC is not controlled by any Ministry/Department. It is an independent body that is only responsible to the Parliament.
- The Central Vigilance Commissioner is appointed by the President on the recommendation of a committee consisting of the Prime Minister, the Home Minister and the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha.
Q2. “Global Stringency Index”, in news, is:
- A qualitative measure of the regulations in place for businesses and protections of property rights in a country.
- An annual assessment of the countries’ press freedom records.
- A measure introduced during the COVID-19 pandemic to evaluate how strict a country’s policies & curbs were, and at what stage of the pandemic spread it enforced these.
- A measure evaluating the level of liberalization of a country’s economy.
CHECK ANSWERS:-
Answer: c
Explanation:
- The Stringency Index is a composite measure of nine of the response metrics: school closures; workplace closures; cancellation of public events; restrictions on public gatherings; closures of public transport; stay-at-home requirements; public information campaigns; restrictions on internal movements; and international travel controls.
- It evaluates how strict a country’s policies & curbs were, and at what stage of the pandemic spread it enforced these.
- It’s important to note that this index simply records the strictness of government policies. It does not measure or imply the appropriateness or effectiveness of a country’s response.
Q3. Which of the given statements is/are correct?
- The Constitution of India gives the government the right to levy taxes on individuals and organisations.
- Seventh Schedule of the Constitution puts separate heads of taxation under the Union, State and the Concurrent list.
- Union and the states do not have concurrent power of taxation.
- A State Legislature may by law authorise a Municipality to levy and collect taxes.
Which of the given statement/s is/are correct?
- 1, 3 and 4 only
- 1 and 3 only
- 3 and 4 only
- 1, 2 and 3
CHECK ANSWERS:-
Answer: a
Explanation:
- The Constitution of India gives the government the right to levy taxes on individuals and organizations. An important restriction on this power is Article 265 of the Constitution which states that “No tax shall be levied or collected except by the authority of law.” This means that no tax can be levied if it is not backed by a legislation passed by either Parliament or the State Legislature.
- Seventh Schedule of the Constitution puts separate heads of taxation under the Union and State list. Union and the states do not have concurrent power of taxation.
- A State Legislature may by law authorise a Municipality to levy, collect and appropriate taxes, duties, tolls, etc. The law may lay down the limits and prescribe the procedure to be followed. It can also assign to a Municipality various taxes, duties, etc. collected by the State Government.
Q4. Which of the given statements best describes the “Monroe Doctrine”?
- A revenue rule introduced by Sir Thomas Monroe as the Governor of Madras in 1820.
- A U.S Foreign Policy regarding domination of the American continent in 1823.
- US military doctrine towards China and East Asia, crafted in 2018.
- Annexation policy applied by the British East India Company in India until 1859.
CHECK ANSWERS:-
Answer: b
Explanation:
- The Monroe Doctrine was a key part of U.S. foreign policy issued in 1823 by President James Monroe. It stated that North and South America were no longer open to colonization.
- It also declared that the United States would not allow European countries to interfere with independent governments in the Americas and it treated any such intervention by external powers in the politics of the Americas as a potentially hostile act against the US.
Q5. Which one of the following objectives is not embodied in the Preamble to the Constitution of India?
- Liberty of thought
- Economic liberty
- Liberty of expression
- Liberty of belief
CHECK ANSWERS:-
Answer: b
Explanation:
- A preamble is an introductory statement in a document that explains the document’s philosophy and objectives. In a Constitution, it presents the intention of its framers, the history behind its creation, and the core values and principles of the nation.
Preamble of the Indian Constitution:
We, the people of India having solemnly resolved to constitute India into a Sovereign socialist secular democratic republic and to secure to all its citizens:
Justice, social, economic and political;
Liberty of thought, expression, belief, faith and worship;
Equality of status and of opportunity, and to promote among them all,
Fraternity assuring the dignity of the individual and the unity and integrity of the Nation;
In our Constituent assembly this 26th day of November 1949, do hereby adopt, enact and give to ourselves this Constitution.
I. UPSC Mains Practice Questions
- Illustrate with examples how ISRO’s failure to launch EOS-3 satellite will have its impact on the upcoming missions. (10 Marks, 150 Words) [GS-3, Science and Technology]
- Landslips in Himachal Pradesh point to the need for a new development paradigm. Analyze. (10 Marks, 150 Words) [GS-3, Environment and Ecology]
Read the previous CNA here.
August 13th, 2021, CNA:- Download PDF Here
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