Daily Prelims Notes 25 October 2020

October 25, 2020
Posted by: OptimizeIAS Team
Category: DPN

Table Of Contents

Subject : History

Context : This year marks 100 years of discovery of Indus Valley Civilisation, and a new study has shown that dairy products were being produced by the Harappans as far back as 2500 BCE.

Concept :

Indus Valley Civilization was the first major civilization in South Asia, which spread across a vast area of land in present-day India and Pakistan (around 12 lakh sq.km).

The time period of mature Indus Valley Civilization is estimated between BC. 2700- BC.1900 ie. for 800 years. But early Indus Valley Civilization had existed even before BC.2700.

Features of Indus Valley Civilization:

On the valleys of river Indus.
Also known as Harappan Civilization.
Beginning of city life.
Harappan Sites discovered by – Dayaram Sahni (1921) – Montgomery district, Punjab, Pakistan.
Mohanjodaro discovered by – R. D. Banerji – Larkana district, Sind, Pakistan.
The city was divided into Citadel(west) and Lower Town(east).
Red pottery painted with designs in black.
Stone weights, seals, special beads, copper tools, long stone blades etc.
Copper, bronze, silver, gold present.
Artificially produced – Faience.
Specialists for handicrafts.
Import of raw materials.
Plough was used.
Bodies were buried in wooden coffins, but during the later stages ‘Hsymmetry culture’ evolved where bodies were buried in painted burial urns.
Sugar cane not cultivated, horse, iron not used.

Indus Valley Sites and Specialties

HARAPPA

Seals out of stones
Citadel outside on banks of river Ravi

MOHENJODARO

Great Bath, Great Granary, Dancing Girl, Man with Beard, Cotton, Assembly hall
The term means ” Mount of the dead”
On the bank of river Indus
Believed to have been destructed by flood or invasion(Destruction was not gradual).

CHANHUDARO

Bank of Indus river. – discovered by Gopal Majumdar and Mackey (1931)
Pre-Harappan culture – Jhangar Culture and Jhukar Culture
Only cite without citadel.

KALIBANGAN

At Rajasthan on the banks of river Ghaggar, discovered by A.Ghosh (1953)
Fire Altars
Bones of camel
Evidence of furrows
Horse remains ( even though Indus valley people didn’t use horses).
Known as third capital of the Indus Empire.

LOTHAL

At Gujarat near Bhogava river, discovered by S.R. Rao (1957)
Fire Altars
Beside the tributary of Sabarmati
Storehouse
Dockyard and earliest port
double burial
Rice husk
House had front entrance (exception).

ROPAR

Punjab, on the banks of river Sutlej. Discovered by Y.D Sharma (1955)
Dog buried with humans.

BANAWALI

Haryana
On banks of lost river Saraswathi
Barley Cultivation.

DHOLAVIRA

Biggest site in India, until the discovery of Rakhigarhi.
Located in Khadir Beyt, Rann of Kutch, Gujarat. Discovered by J.P Joshi/Rabindra Singh (1990)
3 parts + large open area for ceremonies
Large letters of the Harappan script (signboards).

RELIGION OF INDUS VALLEY

Pashupathi Mahadev (Proto Siva)
Mother goddess
Nature/ Animal worship
Unicorn, Dove, Peepal Tree, Fire
Amulets
Idol worship was practised ( not a feature of Aryans)
Did not construct temples.
The similarity to Hindu religious practises. (Hinduism in its present form originated later)
No Caste system.

SOCIETY AND CULTURE

The systematic method of weights and measures ( 16 and its multiples).
Pictographic Script, Boustrophedon script – Deciphering efforts by I. Mahadevan
Equal status to men and women
Economic Inequality, not an egalitarian society
Textiles – Spinning and weaving
3 types – burial, cremation and post-cremation were there, though burial was common.
Majority of people Proto-Australoids and Mediterranean (Dravidians), though Mongoloids, Nordics etc were present in the city culture. Read more on races of India.

2. HIMALAYAN BROWN BEAR

Subject : Environment

Context : Study predicts massive habitat decline for the Himalayan brown bear by 2050 due to climate change.

Concept :

The Himalayan brown bear is one of the largest carnivores in the highlands of Himalayas.
It occupies the higher reaches of the Himalayas in remote, mountainous areas of Pakistan and India, in small and isolated populations, and is extremely rare in many of its ranges.
IUCN Status: Critically endangered
Distribution: In India, they are found in 23 protected areas of the northern states of Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, and Uttaranchal.

IUCN ( International Union for Conservation of Nature )

IUCN is a membership union uniquely composed of both government and civil society organisations.
Created in 1948, it is the global authority on the status of the natural world and the measures needed to safeguard it.
It is headquartered in Switzerland.
The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, is the world’s most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of plant and animal species.

3. GLOBAL HUNGER INDEX

Subject : International Report

Context : India has been ranked 94 on the 2020 Global Hunger Index (GHI), lower than neighbours like Bangladesh and Pakistan.

Concept :

Global Hunger Index

Annual Report: Jointly published by Concern Worldwide and Welthungerhilfe.
It was first produced in 2006. It is published every October. The 2020 edition marks the 15th edition of the GHI.
Aim: To comprehensively measure and track hunger at the global, regional, and country levels.

Calculation: The GHI scores are calculated each year to assess progress and setbacks in combating hunger. It is calculated on the basis of four indicators:

Undernourishment: Share of the population with insufficient caloric intake.
Child Wasting: Share of children under age five who have low weight for their height, reflecting acute undernutrition.
Child Stunting: Share of children under age five who have low height for their age, reflecting chronic undernutrition.
Child Mortality: The mortality rate of children under the age of five.

Scoring:

Based on the values of the four indicators, the GHI determines hunger on a 100-point scale where 0 is the best possible score (no hunger) and 100 is the worst.
Each country’s GHI score is classified by severity, from low to extremely alarming.

4. SUPER CONDUCTIVITY

Subject : Science & tech

Context : A group of researchers at University of Rochester, Intel corporation and University of Nevada in the U.S. have created a material that is superconducting at 15 degrees Celsius.

Concept :

A new material composed of carbon, hydrogen and sulphur superconducts at 15 degrees Celsius.

Superconductor

Superconductors are materials that conduct electricity with no resistance. Unlike the more familiar conductors such as copper or steel, a superconductor can carry a current indefinitely without losing any energy. They also have several other very important properties, such as the fact that no magnetic field can exist within a superconductor.
Another property of a superconductor is that it will exclude magnetic fields, a phenomenon called the Meissner effect.

Advantage of superconductors:

Currently, superconductivity can only be achieved at temperatures far below zero, in processes that are too expensive for wider application.
The devices have low power dissipation, high operating speed, and extreme sensitivity.
Devices built with room temperature superconductors tend to be extremely efficient and entail large savings in both energy and costs.

Application:

Superconductors already have drastically changed the world of medicine with the advent of MRI machines, which have meant a reduction in exploratory surgery.
Power utilities, electronics companies, the military, transportation, and theoretical physics have all benefited strongly from the discovery of these materials.

Meissner effect

When a material makes the transition from the normal to the superconducting state, it actively excludes magnetic fields from its interior; this is called the Meissner effect.

Critical temperature

The critical temperature for superconductors is the temperature at which the electrical resistivity of metal drops to zero.

5. NUCLEAR WEAPON BAN TREATY

Subject : International Relation

Context : The United Nations announced that 50 countries have ratified a UN treaty to ban nuclear weapons triggering its entry into force in 90 days(latest-Honduras).

A move hailed by anti-nuclear activists but strongly opposed by the United States and the other major nuclear powers.

Concept :

Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons

The Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW), or the Nuclear Weapon Ban Treaty, is the first legally binding international agreement to comprehensively prohibit nuclear weapons, with the goal of leading towards their total elimination.
It was passed on 7 July 2017.
In order to come into effect, signature and ratification by at least 50 countries is required.
The treaty prohibits the development, testing, production, stockpiling, stationing, transfer, use and threat of use of nuclear weapons, as well as assistance and encouragement to the prohibited activities.
India abstained from voting: India maintained that it recognises the Geneva-based Conference on Disarmament-(CD) as the single multilateral disarmament negotiation forum & it is not convinced of the potential of the current treaty to address the disarmament issue.
It was “not convinced” that the proposed conference could address the longstanding expectation of the international community for a comprehensive instrument on nuclear disarmament.

6. ISRAEL – SUDAN PEACE DEAL

Subject : International Relations

Context : Sudan became the latest nation to make peace with Israel, after reaching a deal with the US administration ending the African nation’s designation as a state sponsor of terrorism.

Concept :

The deal said the two countries agreed to start economic and trade relations, which could help Sudan revive an economy on the brink of collapse.
EGYPT, TURKEY, JORDAN, UAE, BAHRAIN recognised Israel and signed a pact to break the impasse.