Daily Prelims Notes 21 January 2024

Daily Prelims Notes

21 January 2024

Table Of Contents

1. India-Myanmar border will be fenced like that of Bangladesh, Centre reconsidering Free Movement Regime: Amit Shah
2. Israeli strike on Damascus kills 4 Iranian Revolutionary Guards
3. Iran launches ‘Sorayya’ satellite into 750 km orbit, its highest yet
4. What are labour rules for workers abroad?
5. From Kausalya’s land, Ram Setu sari unfolds rare weave
6. Why are conflicts spreading in West Asia?
7. Wetland ‘nature tourism’ gets a fillip
8. Urbanisation in Bhubaneshwar impacts winter temperatures
9. Either a massive neutron star or low-mass black hole found

1. India-Myanmar border will be fenced like that of Bangladesh, Centre reconsidering Free Movement Regime: Amit Shah

Subject: Geography

Section: Places in news

Context:

• Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Saturday announced that the Centre has decided to fence the entire length of the currently porous India-Myanmar border to stop free movement of people.

More on news:

• The Narendra Modi government has taken a decision that the India-Myanmar border will be secure and the whole border will be fenced like the Bangladesh border.
• The government will reconsider the Free Movement Regime (FMR) agreement with Myanmar and is going to end this ease of coming and going sooner.

India Myanmar border:

India and Myanmar share a 1,643-km border along the Northeastern states of Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh.

It is a porous border of which only 10 km is fenced in Manipur.

About Free Movement Regime (FMR):

• The FMR with Myanmar was formalized in 2018 following the agreement between India and Myanmar on land border crossing.
• It allowed tribes living along the border on either side to travel up to 16 km inside the other country without a visa and stay up to two weeks.
•  It was implemented in 2018 as part of the Narendra Modi government’s Act East policy.

Benefits of FMR:

• Centre had referred to this FMR  as an “enabling arrangement for movement of people” which would “facilitate regulation and harmonization” of the already existing free movement rights of people living along this border.
• While the Chin people living in Chin state of Myanmar is  contiguous with Mizoram and  are of the same ethnicity as the Mizos and the Kuki-Zomis of Manipur.
•  There is also a sizable Naga population in Myanmar residing  largely in the Naga Self-Administered Zone in Myanmar’s Sagaing region.
• The Mizo-Chins and Nagas on both sides of the border share close social, economic and day-to-day ties.

Why to end this regime of FMR?

•  Recent developments have prompted security wrt  FMR.
•  The rationale for this move is to check the influx of illegal immigrants, drugs and gold smuggling.
• Another reason is to  “stop the misuse of FMR” by insurgent groups to carry out attacks on the Indian side and escape into Myanmar.
•  There are “fears of a demographic change” which  had been triggered by the settling of “Kuki brothers” in the forests of Manipur.
• This is followed by  the military crackdown against the Chin resistance movement in Myanmar.

Implications:

• Mizos consider the India-Myanmar border “an imposed boundary” and that fencing it is “unacceptable”.
• This fencing the border would be “unacceptable for Nagas” given the significant Naga population in Myanmar.

Tribes in news:

Kuki tribe:

• The Kuki people are an ethnic group in the Northeastern Indian states of Manipur, Nagaland, Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram, as well as the neighboring countries of Bangladesh and Myanmar.
• The Kuki constitute one of several hill tribes within India, Bangladesh, and Myanmar. In Northeast India, they are present in all states except Arunachal Pradesh.

Naga tribe:

• Nagas are various ethnic groups native to northeastern India and northwestern Myanmar.
•  The groups have similar cultures and traditions, and form the majority of population in the Indian state of Nagaland and Naga Self-Administered Zone of Myanmar (Burma).
• Their populations are found in Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh and Assam in India and in Sagaing Region and Kachin State in Myanmar.

Chin tribe:

• The Chin people are an ethnic group native to the Chin State and Rakhine State of Myanmar.
• The term “Chin” only refers to the 53 sub-tribes of the Chin ethnic group, divided and recognized by the Burmese government.
• They speak the Kuki-Chin-Mizo languages, which are often mutually unintelligible but are closely related.
• The Chin people of Myanmar and the Mizo people of Mizoram are kindred tribes of the Kukis. They are collectively termed as the Zo people.

The Zou people or Zomi:

• They are an indigenous community living along the frontier of India and Burma. They are a subgroup of the Zo people (Mizo-Kuki-Chin).
• In India, they live with and are similar in language and habits to the Paite and the Simte peoples.
• In India, the Zou are officially recognized as one of the thirty-three indigenous peoples within the state of Manipur, and are one of the Scheduled tribes.
• According to the 2001 Census, the Zou/Jou population in Manipur is around 20,000, less than 3% of the population.
• The community is concentrated in Churachandpur and Chandel districts of Manipur.

2. Israeli strike on Damascus kills 4 Iranian Revolutionary Guards

Subject: IR

Section: Places in news

Context:

• An Israeli missile strike on Syria’s capital Damascus on Saturday killed four members of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards

About the attack:

• Israel has long pursued a bombing campaign against Iran-linked targets in Syria.
• Tensions have also been escalating in the Red Sea amid attacks on commercial ships by the Iran-aligned Houthi group in Yemen.
• US Central Command forces on Saturday struck a Houthi anti-ship missile that was aimed into the Gulf of Aden and prepared to launch.
• The Houthis who control most of Yemen, say their attacks are in solidarity with Palestinians under attack from Israel in Gaza

About Red Sea:

• The Red Sea is a seawater inlet of the Indian Ocean, lying between Africa and Asia.
• Its connection to the ocean in the south is through the Bab-el-Mandeb strait and the Gulf of Aden.
• To its north lie the Sinai Peninsula, the Gulf of Aqaba, and the Gulf of Suez (leading to the Suez Canal). 
• It is underlain by the Red Sea Rift which is part of the Great Rift Valley.
• The six countries bordering the Red Sea are: Saudi Arabia, Yemen , Egypt , Sudan , Eritrea ,  Djibouti .

About Gulf of Aden:

• The Gulf of Aden is a deep water gulf of the Indian Ocean between Yemen to the north, the Arabian Sea to the east, Djibouti to the west, and the Guardafui Channel, Socotra and Somalia to the south.
•  In the northwest, it connects with the Red Sea through the Bab-el-Mandeb strait.
•  It connects with the Arabian Sea to the east.
• To the west, it narrows into the Gulf of Tadjoura in Djibouti.
• The Aden Ridge lies along the middle of the Gulf and is causing it to widen about 15mm per year.

About Houthis Tribes:

• The Houthi tribe is a Hamdanid Arab tribe that lives in northern Yemen.
• The tribe is a branch from Banu Hamdan tribe.
• They are primarily located in Amran and Sa’dah.
• The Houthi movement is named after the tribe.
• The Houthi movement officially known as Ansar Allah, is a Shia Islamist political and military organization that emerged from Yemen in the 1990s. 
• It is predominantly made up of Zaidi Shias, with their namesake leadership being drawn largely from the Houthi tribe.
• Yemen (officially the Republic of Yemen) is a country in West Asia.
• It is located in the southern end of the Arabian Peninsula, bordering Saudi Arabia to the north and Oman to the northeast.
• It shares maritime borders with Eritrea, Djibouti and Somalia.

3. Iran launches ‘Sorayya’ satellite into 750 km orbit, its highest yet

Subject: S&T

Section: Space tech

Context:

Iran had conducted a successful satellite launch into its highest orbit.

More on news:

• The launch was part of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards’ space programme alongside Iran’s civilian space programme.
• The U.S. intelligence community’s 2023 worldwide threat assessment said the development of satellite launch vehicles “shortens the timeline” for Iran to develop an intercontinental ballistic missile because it uses similar technology.
•  Iran is now producing uranium close to weapons-grade levels after the collapse of its nuclear deal with world powers.
• Iran has enough enriched uranium for “several” nuclear weapons, if it chooses to produce them.
• Iran has sent several short-lived satellites into orbit and in 2013 launched a monkey into space.

About Soraya satellite:

• The Soraya satellite was placed in an orbit at some 750 kilometers (460 miles) above the Earth’s surface with its three-stage Qaem 100 rocket.
• The satellite is  built by the elite military revolutionary guards.
• The Soraya satellite was shot into orbit atop the Ghaem-100 rocket of Iran’s paramilitary Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

About Intercontinental ballistic missile:

• An Intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) is a ballistic missile with a range greater than 5,500 kilometers (3,400 mi), and is  primarily designed for nuclear weapons delivery .
• Intercontinental ballistic missiles can be used to deliver nuclear weapons.
• The United States, Russia, China, France, India, the United Kingdom, Israel, and North Korea are the only countries known to have operational ICBMs.

About India’s ICBM:

• Agni-V (Fire) is a land based nuclear capable intercontinental ballistic missile ICBM.
• It is developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) of India.
• The missile has a range of more than 7,000 kilometers.
•  It is a three-stage, road-mobile, canisterised, solid-fueled intercontinental ballistic missile.

4. What are labour rules for workers abroad?

Subject: IR

Section: Msc

Context:

• National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) is assisting the governments of Uttar Pradesh and Haryana in hiring around 10,000 workers to go to Israel, mainly for construction work.

Employment in Israel

• There are about 18,000 Indian citizens in Israel, primarily caregivers employed by Israeli elders to take care of them, diamond traders, IT professionals and students.
• According to a 2017 report prepared by the ILO, international migration has grown significantly in the last two decades.
• The number of migrants from Asia to the Arab states has more than tripled, from 5.7 million in 1990 to 19 million in 2015.

Prescribed rules

• Registration on e-migrate portal
  • Workers going to conflict zones or places without sufficient labour protections are required to register with the Ministry of External Affairs’ ‘e-migrate’ portal.
  • The e-Migrate Project was launched in 2014.
  • The portal is a digital platform that aims to streamline the emigration process for Indian workers.
  • It allows workers to create profiles, register employment contracts, and obtain emigration clearance.
• Emigration Check Required (ECR) scheme
  • ECR scheme is a passport category for Indian nationals who want to work abroad.
  • ECR passports are issued to people who have not passed the 10th grade or higher education pass certificate.
  • To work in ECR countries, ECR passport holders must obtain an Emigration Clearance (EC) from the Protector of Emigrants (POE).
  • POEs are responsible for granting emigration clearance to intending emigrants.
  • The POEs perform functions assigned to them under the Emigration Act, 1983.
  • Currently, passports issued under the ECR scheme cover workers travelling to 18 countries.
  • Israel is not on this list and hence the e-migrate system will not be used for those going to Israel despite continuing violence due to Israel’s bombing of Gaza.
• Collection of service charges from workers
  • The Rules say that no recruiting agent shall collect from the worker service charges more than a maximum of ₹30,000.
  • These service charges shall include costs of domestic travel or lodging and boarding for conducting of interviews by the recruiting agent.

International practices

• The international practices for protection of migrant workers are governed by two conventions of the International Labour Organisation:
  • the Migration for Employment Convention (Revised), 1949
  • and Migrant Workers (Supplementary Provisions) Convention, 1975.
• While India has not ratified both conventions, Israel had ratified the 1949 convention in 1953.

5. From Kausalya’s land, Ram Setu sari unfolds rare weave

Subject: History

Section: Art and Culture

Context:

• Odisha’s Sambalpuri weavers hope Ram Temple inauguration will change the fortunes of their saris made on mythological themes.

More About Ram Setu Sari

• A 2015 National Award­ winning master craftsperson,Ishwar Meher worked with handwoven cotton yarn for five months, using natural dyes from flowers, jaggery, gram  flour, iron rust, and  indigo.
• He designed the piece in Sambalpuri baandhakala ikat, a technique in which the warp and the weft are tied and dyed before weaving.
• The sari will now be showcased at the Jagannath Temple in Delhi on January 22, since Hindus  believe Ram is one of the 10 avatars of Jagannath.

6. Why are conflicts spreading in West Asia?

Subject: IR

Section: Places in news

Context:

• West Asia is in flux which started as a direct military confrontation between Israel and Hamas has snowballed into a regional security crisis.
• Hezbollah, Kataib Hezbollah, Hashad al­ Shabi, Houthis, Iran, Pakistan and the United States are all now part of an expanding conflict theatre.

What initiated the Israel-Palestine conflict?

• The Palestinian group Hamas launched a significant barrage of rockets towards southern Israel. A total of 5,000 rockets were fired by the group, prompting a response from Israel’s military, which launched 2,500 rockets in return. Over 300 Israelis and 232 Palestinians were killed in the deadliest escalation of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in decades.

What is Hamas?

• Hamas is a Palestinian group founded in 1987. It aims to establish an Islamic state within Palestine. Presently, the organisation holds governance over the Gaza Strip, a Palestinian territory situated along the eastern Mediterranean coastline.
• In 2006, following their victory in the Palestinian legislative elections, Hamas took control of Gaza in 2007 through a violent confrontation with their rival faction, Fatah. Subsequently, Hamas has functioned as the de facto governing authority in Gaza, while Fatah administers the West Bank

What is the status of Hamas?

• Hamas is a Palestinian political and militant organization that emerged in the late 1980s. It has gained popularity in Gaza and contested the Palestinian Authority for control. Hamas is considered a terrorist organization by Israel, the United States, and the European Union due to its use of violence and its refusal to recognize Israel’s right to exist.

What is the Israel-Palestine Conflict?

• The Israel-Palestine conflict is a long-standing and complex conflict between the State of Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip. 
• The conflict has deep historical roots dating back to the late 19th and early 20th centuries when Jewish and Arab communities lived in the region known as Palestine. After World War II and the Holocaust, international support grew for the establishment of a Jewish state, leading to the creation of Israel in 1948.

What is the territorial issue between Israel and Palestine?

• The main issue revolves around the territory, with both sides claiming historical rights to the same land, particularly in areas like Gaza, the West Bank, and Jerusalem. 
• The conflict has created a large population of Palestinian refugees who were displaced from their homes during various wars and conflicts. Periodic conflicts and escalations have occurred over the years, involving rocket attacks from Gaza into Israel, Israeli military operations in Gaza, and clashes in the West Bank.
• These conflicts have resulted in loss of life, suffering, and significant damage to infrastructure on both sides.

7. Wetland ‘nature tourism’ gets a fillip

Subject: Environment

Section: Ecosystem

In the news:

• The Central government has embarked on a mission to promote tourism at ecologically sensitive wetlands better known as Ramsar sites.

Details:

• The focus would be to shift these fragile wetlands from high-value tourism to nature tourism by directly supporting conservation action and letting local communities and economies take the lead.
  • The tourism industry identifies high-value travellers as those who are likely to spend more, stay longer, and disperse beyond tourist hotspots.
  • Nature tourism on the other hand is tourism based on the natural attractions of an area like birdwatching, photography, stargazing, camping, hiking, hunting, fishing, and visiting parks. These are experiential tourists who are interested in a diversity of natural and cultural resources.
• The initiative to develop these sites has been taken by the Union Tourism Ministry and the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change under the ‘Amrit Dharohar Capacity Building Scheme’ 2023.
• As of now, 16 Ramsar sites have been identified out of which 5 have been taken up as a pilot project for skill development of the facilitators, tourism service providers, and stakeholders in and around these sites.
• These five wetlands are Sultanpur National Park (Haryana), Bhitarkanika Mangroves (Odisha), Chilika Lake (Odisha), Sirpur (Madhya Pradesh) and Yashwant Sagar (Madhya Pradesh).
• Participants are trained under the Alternative Livelihood Programme (ALP) and Paryatan Navik Certificate (boatman certification for tourism).

‘Amrit Dharohar Capacity Building Scheme’ 2023:

• Part of the 2023-24 budget announcement.
• Launched in June 2023 to promote the unique conservation values of the Ramsar Sites in the country while generating employment opportunities and supporting local livelihoods.
• The aim is to enhance livelihood opportunities for local communities through harnessing the nature-tourism potential of the Ramsar Sites across the country.
• The scheme is being implemented in convergence with various Central Government ministries and agencies, State wetland authorities, and a network of formal and informal institutions and individuals, working together for a common cause.

Ecological Significance of Wetlands

Natural wetlands have often been referred to as “earth’s kidneys” because of their high and long-term capacity to filter pollutants from the water that flows through them.

Ramsar sites:

• A Ramsar site is a wetland designated to be of international importance under an environmental treaty signed in February 1971 at Ramsar, Iran under the auspices of UNESCO.
• Ramsar identifies wetlands of international importance, especially those providing waterfowl habitat.
• It provides for national action and international cooperation regarding the conservation of wetlands, and wise sustainable use of their resources.
• India has 75 Ramsar sites.

8. Urbanisation in Bhubaneshwar impacts winter temperatures

Subject: Geography

Section: Climatology

Context:

• Bhubaneswar, a tier-II city in Odisha, exemplifies rapid urbanization and warming trends, with a 166% increase in built-up area from 2004-2015 and a 0.68C temperature rise in the last two decades, especially pronounced in newly urbanized peripheries.

Details:

• The ministerial meeting at COP-28 emphasized the crucial role of cities in achieving climate change mitigation and adaptation goals.
• Despite cities contributing over 80% to the global GDP and 75% of greenhouse gas emissions, their representation in climate action plans is insufficient.
• Recent developments, such as the inclusion of the 11th Sustainable Development Goal exclusively focusing on cities and the formation of groups like U-20, highlight the recognition of the importance of city-level action plans.

Local activities:

• In the implementation of a digital twin for Bhubaneswar at IIT Bhubaneswar, computer simulations were conducted to analyze urban growth and micro-climate changes.
• Results indicate that nearly 60% of the city’s observed warming is attributed to local activities.
• Additional warming arises from heat-trapping materials (concrete and asphalt) in urban construction and decreased evapotranspiration due to artificial surfaces.
• The simulations revealed a 0.4°C enhanced warming in the eastern lowland regions during winter, influenced by topography and reduced wind speeds.
• Urban development’s impact on winter surface temperatures underscores the intricate relationship between urbanization and climate.
• These changes are expected to affect rainfall patterns, intensify urban floods, and alter air pollution dispersion.
• The digital twin facilitates experimenting with mitigation strategies like cool roofs and green infrastructure, emphasizing the importance of local-scale efforts in addressing observed warming and its consequences.

Amplifying factors:

• The increasing population and reliance on city resources pose ongoing challenges, emphasizing the need for science-driven strategies to address vulnerabilities in cities.
• Building climate-resilient smart cities is crucial for ensuring the well-being of the growing urban population.

Source: TH

9. Either a massive neutron star or low-mass black hole found

Subject: S&T

Section: Space tech

In the news:

• Researchers who used a telescope in South Africa reported the discovery of an object in the Milky Way that could either be the most massive — mass between 2.09 and 2.71 solar masses — neutron star ever observed, or the least massive black hole. 
• There is a substantial gap between the masses of the heaviest measured neutron star and the lightest measured black hole — the most massive neutron stars generally range between 2.2 to 2.5 solar masses, while black holes of less than 5 solar masses are rare.

Neutron star:

• A neutron star is the collapsed core of a massive supergiant star, which had a total mass of between 10 and 25 solar masses (M☉), possibly more if the star was especially metal-rich.
• Except for black holes,neutron stars are the smallest and densest known class of stellar objects.
• Neutron stars have a radius on the order of 10 kilometres (6 mi) and a mass of about 1.4 M☉.
• They result from the supernova explosion of a massive star, combined with gravitational collapse, that compresses the core past white dwarf star density to that of atomic nuclei.
• Once formed, neutron stars no longer actively generate heat and cool over time; however, they may still evolve further through collision or accretion.

Black hole:

• A black hole is a region of spacetime where gravity is so strong that nothing, including light and other electromagnetic waves, has enough energy to escape it.
• The theory of general relativity predicts that a sufficiently compact mass can deform spacetime to form a black hole.
• The boundary of no escape is called the event horizon.
• A black hole has a great effect on the fate and circumstances of an object crossing it, but it has no locally detectable features according to general relativity.
• In many ways, a black hole acts like an ideal black body, as it reflects no light.
• Most black holes form from the remnants of a large star that dies in a supernova explosion. (Smaller stars become dense neutron stars, which are not massive enough to trap light.)

Source: TH