Daily Prelims Notes 10 July 2023

Daily Prelims Notes

10 July 2023

Table Of Contents

1. SEBI: framework for MF Unit Holder Protection Committee
2. Govt to make India a global hub for ‘circular textiles’
3. Borrowings by banks hit a 8 ­month high of ₹ 5.05­ lakh crore
4. NHB launches ₹ 10000­ cr Urban Infrastructure Development Fund
5. Objections overruled, Forest Bill goes to House unchanged
6. Global tropical primary forest cover continued decline in 2022
7. China’s Gallium and germanium controls: What they mean and what could happen next
8. Over 10 EoIs received, in talks with more interested bidders for Great Nicobar port
9. A network that enforces nuclear detente
10. Report highlights impact of pandemic on education
11. In Varanasi, turtles help clean the Ganga
12. WTO Dispute settlement
13. Types of intelligence
14. New variety of wheat
15. 16 killed as heavy rain triggers landslips, floods in North India

1. SEBI: framework for MF Unit Holder Protection Committee

Subject: Economy

Section: Capital Market

In News: In order to protect the interests of unit holders of mutual fund schemes, SEBI has asked asset management companies to constitute a Unit Holder Protection Committee (UHPC) by January 1, 2024

Key Points:

• UHPC is tasked with safeguarding the rights of mutual fund unit holders in relation to all offerings and services provided by the AMC.
• Its responsibilities include promoting ethical practices in investments, sales, marketing, advertising, conflict management, resolution of unit holder complaints, investor education, adherence to laws and regulations, and other relevant processes pertaining to the functioning of the mutual fund industry.
• To review the various compliance issues relating to the protection of the interests of the unit holders.
• To keep the unit holders well informed of and educated about mutual fund products, the investor charter.
•  The Unit Holder Protection Committee (UHPC) should be constituted by the board of AMC. The Chairperson of the Committee needs to be an independent director, while the committee will have a minimum of three directors as members.

SEBI also announced changes in the role of mutual fund trustees:

• Allowed them to outsource a few of their responsibilities to focus on their fiduciary responsibilities. (An investment fiduciary is anyone with legal responsibility for managing somebody else’s money, such as a member of the investment committee of a charity.)
• Shall review the performance of AMC (Asset Management Company) in its schemes vis-à-vis the performance of peers or the appropriate benchmarks.
• Shall ensure that the AMCs have put in place adequate systems to prevent mis-selling to increase assets under their management and the valuation of the AMCs

2. Govt to make India a global hub for ‘circular textiles’

Subject: Environment

Section: Sustainable development

In News: Government has initiated work on drafting policies to make India a global hub for sourcing sustainable and circular textiles and garments.

Key Points:

• The Textiles Ministry is set to start the mapping of the textile waste value chain in India with the aim to position the country as a global hub for circular textiles. It seeks to do so by establishing textile recycling clusters
• Regulatory framework to be developed on circularity in major export destinations and competitor countries that could have an impact on India’s exports of textiles
• What is ‘circularity’ in textiles value chain ?
  • Circularity aims to shift from the “take-make-dispose” linear value chain into a circular system, where materials are not lost after use but remain in the economy, circulating as long as possible at the highest possible value, according to the United Nations Environment Programme.
  • It is estimated that the extent of textile-to-textile waste recycling is less than 1 per cent.
• Why important ?
  • With the EU and other major textile markets initiating strategies to transition towards sustainable and recyclable textiles, it is imperative to avoid being unprepared and left behind.
  • European Union’s Circular Economy Action Plan includes the `EU strategy for sustainable and circular textiles’ under which by 2030 all textile products placed on the EU market have to be durable, repairable, and recyclable. They will, to a great extent, have to be made of recycled fibres, free of hazardous substances, produced in respect of social rights and the environment, as per the strategy.
  • The government hopes to more than double India’s textiles exports to $100 billion over the next 5-6 years. In view of this India cannot afford to lose major markets like the EU, due sustainability measures.

3. Borrowings by banks hit a 8 ­month high of ₹ 5.05­ lakh crore

Subject : Economy

Section: Monetary Policy

In News: Outstanding market borrowings of banks touched an eight month high of ₹5.05 lakh crore as of June 16, the highest since October 21, as per data in the Reserve Bank of India’s weekly bulletin.

Key Points:

• Banks borrow using various short term and medium term tools (see box) to meet their immediate liquidity needs arising through various reasons and for effective asset-liability management.
• The present surge is expected to have been driven by short-term fund requirement of banks owing to quarterly advance tax payments
• It is based on RBI’s fortnightly data, which tracks the short-term money market borrowings by banks in the form of interbank repo operations and tri-party repos.
• Recently RBI updated the master directions Reserve Bank of India (Call, Notice and Term Money Markets) Directions, 2021 allowing banks (only Commercial Banks and not SFBs) to set their own limits for call and notice money borrowings, in addition to the existing facility available for term money borrowings. The move was taken with a view to allow more flexibility and help banks better manage their liquidity requirements, and is expected to support banks’ market borrowing going ahead.
• In June, the tightening liquidity conditions resulted in higher money market rates, causing banks’ borrowing costs to rise. Still Banks are experiencing high growth of short term borrowing owing to various factors:
  • significant demand for credit, particularly for short-term loans
  • slow deposit growth.
  • quarterly advance tax payments
• Outstanding market borrowings of scheduled commercial banks had risen to ₹4.6 lakh crore as of March 2023 from ₹2.7 lakh crore a year ago.
• Borrowings also include securities such as additional tier-1 bonds (Bonds, which are counted towards equity, have not fixed maturity period, and can be written off in case of extreme capital shortfall) and infrastructure bonds.

4. NHB launches ₹ 10000­ cr Urban Infrastructure Development Fund

Subject : Economy

Section: Monetary Policy

In News:National Housing Bank (NHB) on Sunday said it has operationalised the ₹10,000-crore Urban Infrastructure Development Fund (UIDF) announced in this year’s Budget for creation of urban infrastructure in tier-2 and tier-3 cities.

Key Points:

• The initial corpus for this fund — managed by National Housing Bank (NHB) is ₹10,000 crore. The Urban Infrastructure Development Fund (UIDF) has been launched to supplement efforts of the State governments by providing a stable and predictable source of finance for creation of urban infrastructure in tier-2 and tier-3 cities.
• Union Budget 2023-24 announced the setting up of the UIDF through use of priority sector lending shortfall for creation of urban infrastructure in tier 2 and tier 3 cities.
• Interest rate on UIDF loans has been kept at bank rate minus 1.5 percent i.e.5.25% at present.
• The loan (principal) will be repayable in 5 equal annual installments within 7 years from the date of withdrawal, including a moratorium period of two years while interest will be payable on quarterly basis.
• Eligible projects:
  • Focus will be on basic services like sewerage and solid waste management, water supply and sanitation, construction and improvement of drains/storm water drains, etc. and impact-oriented projects would be prioritised.
  • The minimum size and maximum size of the project proposal shall be ₹5 crores (₹ 1 crore for northeast & hilly States) and ₹ 100 crore respectively.
  • The fund shall not be utilised for any type of maintenance works or for administrative/establishment expenses.
  • Further, housing, power and telecom, rolling stock like buses and trams, urban transport, health and education institutions would remain out of the purview of UIDF.
• Fund allocation:
  • Allocation has been done based on the urban population percentage in respective States/ UTs in the eligible towns/cities out of total population in eligible town/cities in the country.
  • For wider coverage and maximisation of benefit of these low cost funds, States have been advised to leverage resources from the grants of the 15th Finance Commission, as well as existing schemes, and to adopt appropriate user charges while accessing the UIDF.
  • The normative allocation of the first tranche of ₹ 10,000 crore under UIDF for 2023-24 has been advised by NHB to States and UTs inviting project proposals under the Fund.

5. Objections overruled, Forest Bill goes to House unchanged

Subject : Environment

Section: Environment law

Context:

• A Parliamentary committee, set up to examine controversial proposed amendments to the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980, has endorsed the amendment Bill in its entirety.

Key features:

Forest cover in India:

• ‘Forest cover’, in India, refers to land greater than one hectare in size where the tree canopy density is greater than 10%. 
• Tree cover refers to the total area of land that is covered by trees, regardless of whether or not the trees are part of a forest ecosystem.
• India’s total forest cover rose to 38,251 sq. km from 2001 to 2021.
• Increase of 2,261 sq km in the total forest and tree cover of the country in the last two years.
  • The increase is mainly in ‘Open cover forest’, and the area under ‘dense forest’ has actually decreased in the same period.
• Area-wise Madhya Pradesh has the largest forest cover in the country
• The maximum increase in forest cover was witnessed in Andhra Pradesh (647 sq km) followed by Telangana (632 sq km) and Odisha (537 sq km).
• 17 states/UT’s have above 33 percent of the geographical area under forest cover.
• Total carbon stock in country’s forest is estimated to be 7,204 million tonnes, an increase of 79.4 million.
• Total mangrove cover in the country is 4,992 sq km, an increase of 17 sq Km observed.

6. Global tropical primary forest cover continued decline in 2022

Subject: Environment

Section: Ecosystem

Context:

• According to research by World Resources Institute’s (WRI) Global Forest,  Tropical areas lost 4.1 million hectares of forest cover – equivalent to losing an area of 11 football fields per minute – in 2022.

Details:

• This forest loss produced 2.7 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions, which is around the same as India’s annual emissions due to the combustion of fossil fuels.
• Primary forest cover loss in tropical areas in 2022 was 10% more than in 2021.

Primary forests:

• Primary forests are some of the densest, wildest and most ecologically significant forests on Earth.
• They are mature, natural forests that have remained undisturbed in recent history.
• They span the globe, from the snow-locked boreal region to the steamy tropics, though 75% of them can be found in just seven countries.
• Primary forests comprise an estimated 26% of the world’s natural forests.
• They often store more carbon than other forests and are rich sources of biodiversity.
• Primary forest loss is almost irreversible in nature: even if the green cover regrows, a secondary forest is unlikely to match the extent of biodiversity and carbon sequestering capabilities of a primary forest.

Findings of the Global Forest Watch:

• The world is not on track to meet most of its forest-related commitments.
• In 2022, although the global deforestation rate was 3.1% lower than the baseline from 2018-2020, it was still over one million hectares above the level needed.
• To meet the target of restoring 350 Mha of forests globally by 2030, the world needs to increase tree cover by 22 Mha per year, between 2021 and 2030.
• Despite registering some gains, the overall change in tree cover in the last 20 years was a net loss of 100 Mha.
• This means that we are still losing forests and not restoring them at the required rate.

Country-wise assessment:

• Brazil and the Democratic Republic of Congo are the two countries with the most tropical forest cover and both registered losses of this resource in 2022.
• Ghana and Bolivia also rapidly lost their primary forest cover.
• Indonesia and Malaysia managed to keep their primary forest cover loss to record-low levels in 2022

• Causes of destruction:
  • Increased population led to increased demand for food
  • Expansion area under agriculture
  • Encroachment of land under primary forests
  • Shifting cultivation
  • Forest fires
• Consequences:
  • Forest loss in the Amazon basin not only affects carbon but also regional rainfall.
  • It may eventually lead to a tipping point that, if crossed, could convert most of the ecosystem into a savanna.

India’s situation:

• According to Global Forest Watch, India lost 43.9 thousand hectares of humid primary forest between 2021 and 2022, which accounts for 17% of the country’s total tree cover loss in the period.
• The total tree cover loss in India between 2021 and 2022 was 255 thousand hectares.
• The total global tree cover loss in 2022declined by 10%.
• This includes primary, secondary, and planted forests.
• This decrease is a direct result of a decrease in fire-related forest losses which decreased 28% from 2021. Non-fire losses in 2022 increased by slightly less than 1%.

Global Forest Watch (GFW):

• Global Forest Watch (launched 2014) is an open-source web application to monitor global forests in near real-time.
• GFW is an initiative of the World Resources Institute, with partners including Google, USAID, the University of Maryland, Esri, Vizzuality and many other academic, non-profit, public, and private organizations.

World Resources Institute:

• WRI is a global research organization that spans more than 50 countries and focuses on six critical issues at the intersection of environment and development: climate, energy, food, forests, water, and cities and transport.
• It was established in 1982. Headquartered in Washington, US.

7. China’s Gallium and germanium controls: What they mean and what could happen next

Subject: Geography

Section: Economic geography

Context:

• From August, China is to restrict exports of gallium and germanium, two critical elements for making semiconductor chips.

Germanium:

• Germanium is particularly useful in space technologies such as solar cells because it is more resistant to cosmic radiation than silicon.
• It is already used in small quantities in some semiconductors to improve things like electron flow and thermal conductivity.

Production and export of Germanium:

• China controls about 60% of all germanium supplies.
• The element is derived in two main ways:
  1. As a by-product of zinc production and
  2. From coal
• Germanium from zinc production:
  • China dominates germanium that comes from zinc production.
  • The US is one of the alternative suppliers, with deposits in Alaska and Tennessee and additional refining capacity in
  • But the US is still over 50% reliant on imported Germanium.
• Germanium from coal:
  • Two of the main producers are Russia and Ukraine (Russia-Ukraine has impacted the supply chain to the West).
  • Environmental concerns and pledges to phase out of coal power have threatened the production of germanium via this method.

Gallium:

• As for gallium, 95% of it is used in a material called gallium arsenide, which is used in semiconductors with higher performance and lower power-consumption applications than silicon.
• These are used in blue and violet LEDs and microwave devices.
• Gallium nitride is used in semiconductors in components for things like electric vehicles, sensors, high-end radio communications, LEDs and Blu-Ray players.

Production and export of Gallium:

• China accounts for around 80% of the world’s supply of Gallium.
  • It is mainly derived from aluminium production.
  • Gallium is also obtained by recycling semiconductor wafers, which are thin slices of semiconductor used in electronic circuits.
  • A Nature Communications paper in 2022 noted that gallium is “almost never functionally recycled” once it reaches final products.

8. Over 10 EoIs received, in talks with more interested bidders for Great Nicobar port

Subject: Geography

Section: Places in news

Context:

• “At least” 10 EoIs (Expression of Interest) have been received for the proposed ₹48,000 crore trans-shipment port project at Galathea Bay in Great Nicobar Island off the Bay of Bengal.

Details:

• Reportedly the government would look at a PPP mode via the landlord model, or a hybrid annuity model could also be considered because of the high nature of investments.

About the Project:

• The Great Nicobar port is to be developed in four phases with a total capacity of 16 million tonnes of container cargo handling, per year.
• The proposed container shipment hub is supposed to be located strategically between Singapore and Colombo – two major trans-shipment ports on the international sea trade/shipping route.
• The Great Nicobar Port will act as a feeder port to these two; apart from itself being a trans-shipment port to shipments from Bangladesh and Myanmar.
• The majority of India’s transshipped cargo is handled in ports outside of the country with Colombo port handling the majority of international transshipped cargo.

Trans-shipment port:

• When goods have to be offloaded at an intermediate port and loaded onto a different ship to make its onward journey to its final destination, it is called trans-shipment. The port or port where it is offloaded to take the connecting vessel is called the trans-shipment port.
• The Vizhinjam Port located in Vizhinjam, Kerala, is developing this deep-sea water port as India’s first Mega Transshipment Container Terminal.

Feeder port:

• A feeder vessel is a vessel that “feeds” large ocean vessels with containers.
• A feeder port is a port where large ocean vessels normally don’t go. Partly because there are not enough containers to load onto a large ocean vessel or because the port is not large enough to handle the large ocean vessels.
• The central government is planning to develop Puducherry port as a feeder port for Chennai Port.

What is the Landlord Model of Port?

• In this model, the publicly governed port authority acts as a regulatory body and as a landlord, while private companies carry out port operations—mainly cargo-handling activities.
• Here, the port authority maintains ownership of the port while the infrastructure is leased to private firms that provide and maintain their own superstructure and install their own equipment to handle cargo.
• In return, the landlord port gets a share of the revenue from the private entity.

The Hybrid Annuity Model (HAM):

• In India, the new HAM is a mix of Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) Annuity and Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) models.
• As per the design, the government will contribute 40% of the project cost in the first five years through annual payments (annuity).
• The remaining payment will be made on the basis of the assets created and the performance of the developer.
• Here, hybrid annuity means the first 40% payment is made as fixed amount in five equal instalments whereas the remaining 60% is paid as variable annuity amount after the completion of the project depending upon the value of assets created.
• As the government pays only 40%, during the construction stage, the developer should find money for the remaining amount. Here, he has to raise the remaining 60% in the form of equity or loans.
• The private developer will recover his investment from the government by receiving annuity payments over a period of 15 years.
• The government also offers 80 per cent of prior land acquisition and forest clearance in such projects to the developers.
• There is no toll right for the developer.
• Under HAM, Revenue collection would be the responsibility of the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI).

9. A network that enforces nuclear detente

Subject :International Relations

Section: International Conventions

Context:

• Between 1945 and 1996, the world witnessed as many as 2,000 nuclear explosion tests; since then there have been six tests in all — two by India, one by Pakistan, and three by North Korea.

What happened in 1996?

• CTBT was negotiated at the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva and adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 1996.
• It seeks to fully halt critical nuclear tests.
  • The treaty can come into forceonly after all 44 nuclear weapon states have signed and ratified it, which hasn’t happened yet.
• India, Pakistan and North Korea refused to sign the treaty.
  • India sees the CTBT as no different from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), which it vehemently opposes as discriminatory.
  • Secondly, India wants to use the CTBT as a bargaining chip to gain concessions elsewhere.
• The US, China, Israel, Egypt and Iran have signed but not ratified the treaty.
• But the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty Organisation ( CTBTO), which was set up to bring the treaty into force, remains hopeful.

Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO):

• The organisation promotes the Treaty so that it can enter into force.
• It establishes a verification regime to monitor adherence to the Treaty. The verification system is built around a network of over 325 seismic, radionuclide, infrasound and hydroacoustic (underwater) monitoring stations.
• The organization was founded in 1996. It is headquartered in Vienna. It employs a staff of roughly 260 from the CTBT’s Member States.
• The CTBT has achieved a key objective — preventing countries from conducting any further nuclear tests.
• The CTBTO credits this to its ability to detect any nuclear test anywhere — on the ground, underground, atmosphere, or underwater.
  • The organisation’s network of sensors and sensing technologies have useful spinoffs for industry and society. For example, they find applications in monsoon forecasts, tsunami warnings, tracking whale movements, and research in radionuclides.
• The CTBTO’s International Monitoring System (IMS ) runs over 300 ‘monitoring stations’ around the world, including many in some of the “most remote and inhospitable Environments”.

The IMS rests on four pillars — seismic, infrasound, hydroacoustic and radionuclides.

1. SEISMIC
   • With two seismic networks — primary (50 stations) and auxiliary (120 stations) — the IMS can detect any vibration on the ground.
   • The primary network consists of seismic array stations that can determine the type of seismic wave and its origin or cause.
   • The auxiliary seismic stations supplement the work of the primary stations.
   • IMS seismic network can detect both (Body wave and Surface wave) types of waves.

2. INFRASOUND:
   • The audible sound frequency is 2020,000 Hz; infrasound is below 4 Hz.
   • Infrasonic waves cause minute changes in atmospheric pressure, which are measured by microbarometers.
   • Infrasound travels long distances, which is useful in detecting atmospheric nuclear explosions.
   • The IMS infrasound monitoring system has 60 array stations in 35 countries.
   • Each array has four or more elements arranged in geometric patterns, a meteorological station, a central processing facility, and a communication system for data transmission.

3. HYDROACOUSTIC
   • Hydroacoustic technology is used to measure changes in water pressure caused by sound waves.
   • Hydroacoustic data can pinpoint the location of a nuclear explosion underwater, near the ocean surface, or near a coastline.
   • Sound propagates efficiently through water but, at one level in the water, sound travel is slower but particularly efficient: the ‘sound fixing and ranging channel’ or SOFAR, at about 1,000 m The 11 IMS hydroacoustic stations keep an ear on all the oceans and provide tsunami warnings.

4. RADIONUCLIDE
   • The presence of radionuclides — isotopes of elements that undergo radioactive decay — is the clinching evidence of a nuclear explosion.
   • Isotopes of noble gases — xenon, in particular — are produced only by nuclear fission; hence, radionuclides are a ‘smoking gun’.
   • The IMS has 80 radionuclide stations and 16 radionuclide laboratories.
   • All the stations of IMS generate a lot of data daily, which is sent to its international data centre (IDC) in Vienna.
   • The IDC today is a massive repository of data, which serves as fantastic raw material for scientific research.

Seismic waves:

• Typically a seismic event generates two types of waves — body waves (P and S waves) and surface waves (Rayleigh and Love waves), which differ in speed, direction and medium of propagation.
• Body waves travel through the earth’s depths, and surface waves move along the surface.

P Waves:

• P waves, or Primary waves, are the first waves to arrive at a seismograph.
• P waves are the fastest seismic waves and can move through solid, liquid, or gas.
• They leave behind a trail of compressions and rarefactions on the medium they move through.
• P waves are also called pressure waves for this reason. Certain animals, such as dogs, can feel the P waves much before an earthquake hits the crust (surface waves arrive). Humans can only feel the ramifications it has on the crust.

S Waves:

• S waves, or secondary waves, are the second waves to arrive during an earthquake.
• They are much slower than P waves and can travel only through solids.
• It is after studying the trajectory of S waves through the layers of the earth, scientists were able to conclude that the earth’s outer core is liquid.

Rayleigh Waves:

• British physicist Lord Rayleigh demonstrated the Rayleigh Waves mathematically.
• A Rayleigh wave is a seismic surface wave producing a sudden shake in an elliptical motion, with no crosswise or perpendicular motion.
• It moves along the ground just like a wave moves across a lake or an ocean.
• The greater part of the shaking felt from an earthquake is because of the Rayleigh wave, which can be considerably bigger than other waves.
• Because it rolls, it moves the ground up and down and side-to-side in the same direction that the wave is moving.

Love Waves:

• Much slower than Body Waves but are the fastest surface wave and move the ground from side to side.
• Love wave is also a seismic surface wave led to the horizontal shifting of the earth during an earthquake.
• Confined to the surface of the crust Love waves always produce entirely horizontal motion.
• They exist only in the presence of a semi-infinite medium overlain by an upper finite thickness.

10. Report highlights impact of pandemic on education

Subject : Schemes

Concept :

• Recently, the Department of School Education and Literacy (DoSE&L), Ministry of Education released the Performance Grading Index for Districts (PGI-D) combined report for 2020-21 & 2021-22.

About Performance Grading Index for Districts (PGI-D):

• It assesses the performance of school education system at the district level by creating an index for comprehensive analysis.
• Based on the success of State PGI, 83-indicator based PGI for District (PGI-D) has been designed to grade the performance of all districts in school education.
• The data is filled by districts through online portal.
• It is expected to help the state education departments to identify gaps at the district level and improve their performance in a decentralized manner.
• The indicator-wise PGI score shows the areas where a district needs to improve.
• PGI-D report for 2018-19 and 2019-20 has been released so far, the current one is combined report for 2020-21 & 2021-22.
• The PGI-D structure comprises of total weightage of 600 points across 83 indicators, which are grouped under 6 categories, Outcomes, Effective Classroom Transaction, Infrastructure Facilities & Student’s Entitlements, School Safety & Child Protection, Digital Learning and Governance Process.
• These categories are further divided into 12 domains.
• PGI-D grades the districts into ten grades viz., Highest achievable Grade is Daksh, which is for Districts scoring more than 90% of the total points in that category or overall.
• The lowest grade in PGI-D is called Akanshi-3 which is for scores upto10% of the total points. Ultimate objective of PGI-D is to help the districts to priorities areas for intervention in school education and thus improve to reach the highest grade.

11. In Varanasi, turtles help clean the Ganga

Subject : Environment

Section: Species

Concept :

• Since 2014, the Namami Gange Programme has been working to clean and rejuvenate the Ganga river network, and marine life, particularly turtles, has played a crucial role. The Wildlife Institute of India (WII) and the Ministry of Forest, in collaboration with the National Mission for Clean Ganga, have been running a turtle breeding and rehabilitation centre in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, since 2017.
• The Namami Gange Programme aims to clean the Ganga River network and rejuvenate it.

Turtles:

• Turtles can be predators or prey. They can be herbivores, omnivores and carnivores. They can be specialists, feeding on a few food sources, like the leatherback sea turtle (Dermochelys coriacea) that eats almost exclusively jellyfish. Or they can be generalists, feasting on a wide variety of food, like slider turtles that eat just about anything. Turtles and their eggs are important prey to a wide variety of predators. These reptiles graze, they dig burrows, they disperse seeds, they create and modify habitats, and they affect food webs and mineral cycling. Losing these animals can be disastrous.
• The Wildlife Institute of India (WII) and the Ministry of Forest, in collaboration with the National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG), established a turtle breeding and rehabilitation centre in Varanasi in 2017.

Turtle Rehabilitation Centre:

• The centre releases turtles into the river to support the Namami Gange Programme.
• Approximately 5,000 turtles have been released since 2017, and another 1,000 will be released this year to strengthen the program.
• The centre has released over 40,000 turtles into the river since its establishment in the late 1980s under the Ganga Action Plan.
• The Namami Gange Programme brought renewed attention to the centre in 2014.

Turtle Breeding Process:

• The Forest and Wildlife Department collects turtle eggs from coastal areas in the Chambal region.
• The eggs are monitored for 70 days and placed in a specially adapted room for hatching.
• The eggs are buried in sand-filled wooden boxes, with each box containing 30 eggs.
• Hatching occurs between June and July at temperatures ranging from 27 to 30 degrees Celsius.
• The turtles are then monitored in an artificial pond for two years before being released into the river.

Turtles’ Role in Water Quality Improvement:

• Turtles contribute to cleaning the river by consuming meat and waste products.
• Freshwater turtles are known for their ecosystem services like keeping rivers, ponds and freshwater sources clean by eating algal blooms and scavenging on dead matter.
• Freshwater turtles play an important role in being predators as well as the prey.
• They control invasive fishes by eating them, and at the same time, they are an important source of protein for a lot of animals that feed on turtle eggs and juvenile turtles,”
• They are scavengers, also sometimes known as “vultures of the aquatic ecosystem keeping the ecosystem clean and an important part of the aquatic food chain. A healthy pond ecosystem usually has a flapshell or some kind of freshwater turtle.
• River water quality checks have shown improvements in biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), fecal coliform (FC), and dissolved oxygen (DO) levels.
• pH assessments have indicated suitable water quality for bathing.
• Improved DO, BOD, and FC levels have been observed at various locations along the river.

What is Turtle Survival Alliance:

• The Turtle Survival Alliance (TSA) was formed in 2001 as an International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) partnership for sustainable captive management of freshwater turtles and tortoises.
• The TSA arose in response to the rampant and unsustainable harvest of Asian turtle populations to supply Chinese markets, a situation known as the Asian Turtle Crisis.
• Mission: ‘Zero Turtle Extinctions in the 21st Century’.

Status of Turtle in India:

• India has 29 species of freshwater turtles (24) and tortoises (5).
• More than half of the turtle species are threatened and 11 are protected under Schedule I of The Wildlife Protection Act, enjoying the same protection as tigers.
• The three critically endangered turtles are being conserved as a part of TSA India’s research, conservation breeding and education programme in different parts of the country.
  • The Northern River Terrapin (Batagurbaska) is being conserved at the Sunderbans;
  • The Red-crowned Roofed Turtle (Batagurkachuga) at Chambal;
  • The Black Softshell Turtle (Nilssonia nigricans) at different temples in

What is the difference between Turtle and Tortoise:

• The main difference between the two is that turtles are primarily aquatic whereas tortoises are terrestrial and spend more time on land.

What is Wildlife Crime Control Bureau

• The Wildlife Crime Control Bureau  is a statutory multi-disciplinary body under the MoEFCCcreated in 2007 under the provisions of the Wildlife Protection Act 1972.
• Wildlife Crime Control Bureau is designated nodal agency for CITES related enforcement.
• The Bureau has its five regional offices at Delhi (headquarters), Kolkata, Mumbai, Chennai and Jabalpur; and five border units at Ramanathapuram, Gorakhpur, Motihari, Nathula and Moreh.
• It has received the Asia Environmental Enforcement Award-2020 awarded by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).
• Under the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972, WCCB is mandated to:
  • Collect and collate intelligence related to organized wildlife crime;
  • Disseminate the same to State and other enforcement agencies so as to apprehend the criminals;
  • To establish a centralized wildlife crime data bank;
  • Coordinate actions by various agencies in connection with the enforcement of the provisions of the Act;
  • Assist international organizations& foreign authorities to facilitate wildlife crime control;
  • Capacity building of the wildlife crime enforcement agencies;
  • Assist State Governments to ensure success in prosecutions related to wildlife crimes; and
  • Advise the Government of India on issues relating to wildlife crimes.
  • It also assists and advises the Customs authorities in inspection of the consignments of flora & fauna as per the provisions of Wild Life Protection Act, CITES and EXIM Policy governing such an item.

Various Wildlife Crime Control Bureau (WCCB) led operations:

• Operation “Save Kurma” to focus on the poaching, transportation and illegal trade of live turtles and tortoises.
• “Operation Turtshield- I” and “Operation Turtshield-II” were taken up to tackle the illegal trade of live turtles.
• Operation “Lesknow”, “Lesknow-II” and Operation “Lesknow-III” to gain attention of enforcement agencies towards the illegal wildlife trade in lesser-known species of wildlife.
• Operation Clean Art to drag attention of enforcement agencies towards illegal wildlife trade in Mongoose hair brushes.
• Operation Softgoldto tackle Shahtoosh Shawl made from Chiru wool illegal trade and to spread awareness among the weavers and traders engaged in this trade.
• Operation Birbil to curb illegal trade in wild cat and wild bird species.
• Operation Wildnet, Operation Wildnet-II, Operation Wildnet-III and Operation Wildnet-IV to draw the attention of the enforcement agencies within the country to focus their attention on the ever increasing illegal wildlife trade over internet using social media platforms.
• Operation Freefly on illegal trade of live birds
• Operation Wetmark to ensure prohibition of sale of meat of wild animals in wet markets across the country

12. WTO Dispute settlement

Subject : International Relations

Section: International organisations

Concept :

• In 2022, the member-countries of the World Trade Organization (WTO) resurrected the dispute settlement system (DSS), also called WTO’s ‘crown jewel’, by 2024.

Dispute Settlement System (DSS)

• The Dispute Settlement System (DSS) was established to settle trade disputes between WTO members.
• Since its inception in 1995, this multilateral trading system has faced unprecedented hurdles.
• Dispute settlement is the core pillar of the multilateral trade system, and the WTO makes a distinctive contribution to global economic stability.
• The WTO mechanism promotes the rule of law while also making the trading system more secure and predictable.
• The Dispute Settlement System (DSS) is the second tier of the World Trade Organization’s DSS, hearing appeals from WTO panels.

Stages in a WTO Dispute Settlement

• Once a complaint has been filed with the WTO, there are two main ways to resolve a dispute:
• Mutually Acceptable Solution: The parties reach a mutually acceptable solution, particularly during the phase of bilateral consultations;
• Adjudication: It includes the subsequent implementation of the panel and Appellate Body reports, which are binding on the parties once adopted by the DSB.
• The WTO dispute settlement process is divided into three stages:
  • Parties’ discussions;
  • Adjudication by panels and, if relevant, by the Appellate Body.
• Ruling implementation includes the potential of countermeasures if the losing party fails to implement the ruling.

De-judicialisation of trade multilateralism

• The World Trade Organisation was established in a world dominated by the neoliberal consensus that evolved during the Cold War and the collapse of communism.
• The United States’ wider game plan appears to be the de-judicialization of trade multilateralism.
• Nations’ sovereignty is eroded as they lose authority over vital decision-making. De-judicialisation is the opposite process in which governments undermine international courts in order to regain decision-making power.

13. Types of intelligence

Subject : Science and tech

Section: Awareness in IT

Concept :

• Super Intelligence
• A superintelligence is a hypothetical agent that possesses intelligence far surpassing that of the brightest and most gifted human minds.
• “Superintelligence” may also refer to a property of problem-solving systems (e.g., super intelligent language translators or engineering assistants) whether or not these high-level intellectual competencies are embodied in agents that act in the world.
• A superintelligence may or may not be created by an intelligence explosion and associated with a technological singularity.

Generative Artificial Intelligence

• GAI is a rapidly growing branch of AI that focuses on generating new content (such as images, audio, text, etc.) based on patterns and rules learned from data.
• The rise of GAI can be attributed to the development of advanced generative models, such as Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs) and Variational Autoencoders (VAEs).
• These models are trained on large amounts of data and are able to generate new outputs that are similar to the training data. For example, a GAN trained on images of faces can generate new, synthetic images of faces that look realistic.
• While GAI is often associated with ChatGPT and deep fakes, the technology was initially used to automate the repetitive processes used in digital image correction and digital audio correction.
• Arguably, because machine learning and deep learning are inherently focused on generative processes, they can be considered types of GAI, too.

Applications:

• Art and Creativity:
• It can be used to generate new works of art that are unique and innovative, helping artists and creatives explore new ideas and push the boundaries of traditional art forms.
• DeepDream Generator – An open-source platform that uses deep learning algorithms to create surrealistic, dream-like images.
• DALL·E2 – This AI model from OpenAI generates new images from text descriptions.
• Music:
• It can help musicians and music producers explore new sounds and styles, leading to more diverse and interesting music.
• Amper Music – creates musical tracks from pre-recorded samples.
• AIVA – uses AI algorithms to compose original music in various genres and styles.
• Computer Graphics:
• It can generate new 3D models, animations, and special effects, helping movie studios and game developers create more realistic and engaging experiences.
• Healthcare:
• By generating new medical images and simulations, improving the accuracy and efficiency of medical diagnoses and treatments.
• Manufacturing and Robotics:
• It can help optimize manufacturing processes, improving the efficiency and quality of these processes.

14. New variety of wheat

Subject: Science and technology

Section: Biotechnology

Concept :

• The Ludhiana-based institution, which played a pivotal role during the Green Revolution to make India surplus in foodgrains by developing high-yielding strains, has bred a new wheat variety with high amylose starch content, known to reduce risks of type-2 diabetes and cardiovascular diseases.
• It is called PBW RS1, with RS being short for resistant starch — it won’t cause an immediate and rapid rise in glucose levels.
• The high amylose and resistant starch, instead, ensure that glucose is released more slowly into the bloodstream .
• The variety has been developed over a period of 10 years by a team of wheat breeders led by Dr V S Sohu, head, department of plant breeding and genetics. PAU is the first to combine five novel alleles (genes) affecting resistant starch levels for developing this variety.
• Earlier, PAU had released two varieties – PBW Zn1 with high zinc content, and PBW1 Chapati whose flour had premium chapati quality that remained fresh for long – on nutritional lines but none had features as PBW RS1.

Resistant Starch

• Resistant starch (RS) is starch, including its degradation products, that escapes from digestion in the small intestine of healthy individuals.
• Resistant starch occurs naturally in foods, but it can also be added as part of dried raw foods, or used as an additive in manufactured foods.
• Some types of resistant starch (RS1, RS2 and RS3) are fermented by the large intestinal microbiota, conferring benefits to human health through the production of short-chain fatty acids, increased bacterial mass, and promotion of butyrate-producing bacteria

15. 16 killed as heavy rain triggers landslips, floods in North India

Subject : Geography

Section: Physical geography

Concept :

• At least 16 people were killed in landslides and flash floods triggered by heavy rain that lashed several parts of north India over the past 24 hours

About  Flash Floods

• Flash Floods are highly localized events of short duration with a very high peak and usually have less than six hours between the occurrence of the rainfall and peak flood.
• The flood situation worsens in the presence of choked drainage lines or encroachments obstructing the natural flow of water.
• Flash floods have a different character than river floods, notably short time scales and occurring in small spatial scales, which make forecasting of flash floods quite a different challenge than traditional flood forecasting approaches.
• Urban areas are more likely to experience this type of “surface water” flooding because they have a lot of hard surfaces.
• When rain hits them it can’t soak into the ground as it would do in the countryside.

Effects

• It impact the natural environment (including vegetation, agriculture, geomorphology, and pollution)
• It impacts the human population (entrapments, injuries, fatalities).

Issues

• Flash floods are among the world’s deadliest natural disasters with more than 5,000 lives lost annually and result in significant social, economic and environmental impacts.
• They also have the highest mortality rate (defined as the number of deaths per several people affected) among different classes of flooding (e.g., riverine, coastal).

Flash Flood Guidance Services

• It is a robust system designed by the India Meteorological Department (IMD) to provide the necessary products in real-time to support the development of warnings for flash floods about 6-12 hours in advance at the watershed level for the flash flood-prone South Asian countries viz. India, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka.

South Asian Flash Flood Guidance System (FFGS)

• The India Meteorological Department (IMD) launched the South Asian FFGS.
• It is aimed at helping disaster management teams.
• Helps governments make timely evacuation plans ahead of the actual event of flooding.