Daily Prelims Notes 26 June 2021
- June 26, 2021
- Posted by: OptimizeIAS Team
- Category: DPN
Daily Prelims Notes
26 June 2021
Table Of Contents
- Centre releases draft bill to bring hydrogen under oilfields act
- India faces uphill task on MSP , Stockholding
- Javedakar releases LiDAR Survey of forest areas for 10 states
- Odisha resumes evicting illegal prawn gherries in Chilika
- Linking land records with database will exclude labourers, farmers, warn experts
- The worst of Nagaland’s African swine fever outbreak may be over , say officials
- Uttarakhand has decided to keep Corbett and Rajaji Tiger Reserves open all year
- Pakistan to remain on FATF greylist
- Six Maoists including top leaders of the CPI(Maoist) were killed
- DRDO tests enhanced range Pinaka rocket
- Tibet gets first bullet train, links Lhasa to India border
1. Centre releases draft bill to bring hydrogen under oilfields act
Subject : Legislations
Context : The Centre plans to bring hydrogen generated from crude oil under the ambit of the Oilfields (Regulation & Development) Act, 1948.
Concept :
Oilfields (Regulation & Development) Act, 1948
- It deals with ‘mineral oils’ as understood in the conventional sense.
- In order to facilitate the development and production of alternative/derivative clean energy sources that may be developed in future, the amendment bill seeks to redefine ‘mineral oil’.
Oilfields (Regulation and Development) Amendment Bill 2021
- It proposes to amend the present act to “create opportunities for exploration, development and production of next-generation cleaner fuels and mitigate regulatory challenges and risks.”
- It also proposes a new definition of ‘mineral oils’ by including within its ambit modern and cleaner sources of energy like hydrogen.
- It also seeks to foster investment in the exploration and production of oil and gas by offering a lease on stable terms and enabling the government to prescribe a compensation mechanism to protect the investment.
- Conventionally, mineral oil is understood to mean hydrocarbons in various forms including natural gas and petroleum oil.
- Hydrogen gas is a clean source of energy, which can be produced, distributed and regulated in conjunction with natural gas.
- The compensation shall be payable in case of suspension, revocation or cancellation of the lease or in case of restriction of access to the leased area.
- It also seeks to explicitly enumerate the power of the government to prescribe rules for the extension of the period of the lease, the maximum or minimum area of the lease, a mechanism for determination of the economic life of the oilfield, terms for merger or combination of leases and resolution of disputes.
- It provides for the imposition of fines of up to ₹1 crore for the first contravention of provisions of any rules. Subsequent contraventions will attract a fine of up to ₹10 lakh per da
- It seeks to empower the government to recover royalty, cess, lease or licence fee, penalty payment under the law, the draft said.
2. India faces uphill task on MSP Stockholding
Subject : International Relations
Context: Developed members say India can’t have permanent solution to MSP issue at WTO Ministerial meet.
Concept :
- Facilitator for the talks on Special safeguard mechanism said that because of political and technical complexities , no outcome could be expected at MC12 .
Special Safeguard Mechanism (SSM)
- WTO’s Special Safeguard Mechanism (SSM) is a protection measure allowed for developing countries to take contingency restrictions against agricultural imports that are causing injuries to domestic farmers.
- The contingency measure is imposition of tariff if the import surge causes welfare loss to the domestic poor farmers. The design and use of the SSM is an area of conflict under the WTO.
What are safeguards?
- In WTO’s terms, safeguards are contingency or emergency restrictions on imports taken temporarily to deal with special circumstances such as a surge in imports. Contingency restriction means imposition of an import tax if the imports are causing injuries to domestic agricultural sector.
- The original GATT itself allows such restrictions to protect domestic economy.
Doha Development Agenda and the origin of the SSM:
- At the Doha Ministerial Conference, the developing countries were given a concession to adopt a Special Safeguard Mechanism (SSM) besides the existing safeguards (like the Special Agricultural Safeguard or the SSG).
- This SSM constituted an important part of the promises offered to the developing world at Doha (known as Doha Development Agenda) and the Doha MC became known as a development round.
- As mentioned, the Special Safeguard Mechanism (SSM) allowed developing countries to raise import duties on agricultural products in response to import surges.
Difference between SSM and other safeguards under Agreement on Agriculture:
- The SSG was available to all countries- both developing and developed whereas the SSM is allowable only to the developing countries.
- It is to be mentioned that the SSG was available as it was inducted under the GATT agreement; whereas the SSM was the invention of the Doha MC.
Conflict among WTO members about the structure of the SSM:
- But the design of exact rules of the SSM created conflict among the WTO members. Setting the conditions for putting restrictions on imports and the amount of tariff imposition became contentious issues and it caused the delay in the implementation of the entire Doha Development Agenda. Powerful negotiating countries at the WTO, the US and India had conflicting versions about the structure of the SSM.
- Other countries joined the two sides later. The G33 supports India’s stand whereas the advanced countries and some agricultural exporting countries like Brazil supports the US stand.
3. Javedakar releases LiDAR Survey of forest areas for 10 states
Subject : Science & tech
Context : Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Shri Prakash Javadekar in a virtual event today released the Detailed Project Reports (DPRs) of LiDAR based survey of forest areas in ten states namely Assam, Bihar, Chhatisgarh, Goa, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Manipur, Nagaland, and Tripura.
Concept :
LiDAR
- LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) is a remote sensing method that uses light in the form of a pulsed laser to measure ranges & variable distances.
- These light pulses—combined with other data recorded by the airborne system— generate precise, three-dimensional information about the shape of the Earth and its surface characteristics.
- A LiDAR instrument principally consists of a laser, a scanner, and a specialized GPS receiver.
- Airplanes and helicopters are the most commonly used platforms for acquiring LiDAR data over broad areas.
Applications:
- LiDAR is used for agriculture, hydrology and water management systems and geology-related applications.
- It is also used in archaeology.
4. Odisha resumes evicting illegal prawn gherries in Chilika
Subject : Environment / Geography
Context : Removal of illegal prawn gherries (enclosure) in the Chilika Lake, Asia’s biggest brackish water lagoon, resumed June 24, 2021 after pandemic. The drive to remove net gherries inside the lake and demolish prawn culture ponds in the fringe areas of the lake will continue for a few more days, official sources said.
Concept :
Chilika Lake
- Chilika is Asia’s largest and world’s second largest lagoon.
- It lies on the east coast of India in the state of Odisha, separated from the mighty Bay of Bengal by a small strip of sand.
- It spreads over Puri, Khurda and Ganjam districts of Odisha on the east coast of India, at the mouth of the Daya River, flowing into the Bay of Bengal, covering an area of over 1,100 square kilometers.
- It is the largest wintering ground for migratory birds on the Indian sub-continent and is home to a number of threatened species of plants and animals.
- In 1981, Chilika Lake was designated the first Indian wetland of international importance under the Ramsar Convention.
- Major attraction at Chilika is Irrawady dolphins which are often spotted off Satpada Island.
- The large Nalabana Island (Forest of Reeds) covering about 16 sq km in the lagoon area was declared a bird sanctuary in 1987.
- Kalijai Temple – Located on an island in the Chilika Lake.
5. Linking land records with database will exclude labourers, farmers, warn experts
Subject : Governance
Context : The Union government’s new exercise to give agriculture a shot of technology — by creating a centralised farmer database under ‘AgriStack’— may not run a smooth course.
Concept :
AgriStack
- The AgriStack is a collection of technologies and digital databases proposed by the Central Government focusing on India’s farmers and the agricultural sector.
- The central government has claimed that these new databases are being built to primarily tackle issues such as poor access to credit and wastage in the agricultural supply chain.
- Under AgriStack’, the government aims to provide ‘required data sets’ of farmers’ personal information to Microsoft to develop a farmer interface for ‘smart and well-organized agriculture’.
- The digital repository will aid precise targeting of subsidies, services and policies, the officials added.
- Under the programme, each farmer of the country will get what is being called an FID, or a farmers’ ID, linked to land records to uniquely identify them. India has 140 million operational farm-land holdings.
- Alongside, the government is also developing a unified farmer service platform that will help digitise agricultural services delivery by the public and private sectors.
Issues with the move
- Agriculture has become the latest sector getting a boost of ‘techno solutionism’ by the government.
- But it has, since then, also become the latest sector to enter the whole debate about data privacy and surveillance.
- Since the signing of the MoUs, several concerns related to sharing farmers’ data with private companies the major one being Microsoft whose owner Bill Gates is said to be the largest private farmland owner in the US.
- In all the MoUs, there are provisions under which the agriculture ministry will enter into a data sharing agreement with the private companies of the likes of Amazon, Microsoft and Patanjali.
- The development has raised serious concerns about information asymmetry, data privacy and consent, profiling of farmers, mismanaged land records and corporatization of agriculture.
- The formation of ‘Agristack’ also implies commercialization of agriculture extension activities as they will shift into a digital and private sphere.
6. The worst of Nagaland’s African swine fever outbreak may be over- say officials
Subject : Environment / S&T
Context : Nagaland’s animal husbandry and veterinary services department informed April 5, 2021 they have observed “unusual mortality” among pigs in Mon, Kiphire and Phek districts. Almost a fortnight later, the department officially declared the outbreak and issued advisories.
Concept :
- No fresh case has been recorded in the last two weeks, Nagaland’s director of animal husbandry and veterinary service department DrBudhi Lama said.
- The cases were the highest in April, with areas surrounding Phek reporting the highest fatalities, said chief veterinary officer of Phek, DrKewelelo Mero. The outbreak is mostly under control now in the district, he added.
- The department is not letting its guard down and constantly monitoring and sending weekly status reports to the Centre and State chief secretaries.
African Swine Fever
- It is a highly contagious viral and fatal animal disease that infects and leads to an acute form of hemorrhagic fever in domestic and wild pigs.
- It was first detected in Africa in the 1920s.
- The mortality is close to 100% and since the fever has no cure, the only way to stop its spread is by culling the animals.
- ASF is not a threat to human beings since it only spreads from animals to other animals.
- ASF is a disease listed in the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) Terrestrial Animal Health Code and thus, reported to the OIE.
World Organisation for Animal Health
- OIE is an intergovernmental organisation responsible for improving animal health worldwide.
- In 2018, it had a total of 182 Member Countries. India is one of the member countries.
- OIE standards are recognised by the World Trade Organization as reference international sanitary rules.
- It is headquartered in Paris, France.
7. Uttarakhand has decided to keep Corbett and Rajaji Tiger Reserves open all year
Subject : Environment
Context : Uttarakhand Forest Minister Harak Singh Rawat announced on Wednesday that the state’s two Tiger Reserves — Corbett and Rajaji — would now remain open for tourism round the year.
Concept :
- Until now, the reserves would remain closed to tourists during the monsoon for 4-5 months every year. The statement has sparked a debate with many warning that tourism activities in the rainy season will disturb tigers in their mating season.
Jim Corbett National Park
- It was established in 1936 as Hailey National Park- the first national park in India.It is located in the Nainital district of Uttarakhand. The Corbett national park has highest tiger count from single reserve in the recent Tiger census(carried once in 4 years)
- The park was declared a Tiger Reserve in 1973- the first to come under the Project Tiger initiative.
- The tiger reserve is situated in the Shivalik hills of Himalayas while administratively it spreads over PauriGarhwal, Nainital and Almora districts of Uttarakhand State in India.
Rajaji National Park:
- It is a national park and tiger reserve that encompasses the Shivaliks, near the foothills of the Himalayas.
- It was declared as a tiger reserve in 2015 and is the second tiger reserve in the Uttarakhand and 48th Tiger Reserve of India.
- The park extends over the Shivalik Range in the north-west to the Rawasan River in the southeast with the Ganges dividing it into two parts.
- Some of the basic features of the Shivalik formations are to be seen in the park and is rightly known as a veritable storehouse of Shivalik biodiversity and ecosystems.
- The western part of the Park consists of the Ramgarh, Kansrao, Motichur, Hardwar, Dholkhand and Chillawali Ranges.
8. Pakistan to remain on FATF greylist
Subject : International Relations
Context : Pakistan was retained on the greylist, or the list of countries under “increased monitoring”, by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), as the Paris-based UN watchdog judged it deficient in prosecuting the top leadership of UN Security Council-designated terror groups, including Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jaish-e Mohammad, Al Qaeda and Taliban.
Concept :
Financial Action Task Force
- It is an inter-governmental body established in 1989 during the G7 Summit in Paris.
- The FATF assesses the strength of a country’s anti-money laundering and anti-terror financing frameworks, however it does not go by individual cases.
- The FATF Plenary is the decision making body of the FATF. It meets three times per year.
- Its Secretariat is located at the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) headquarters in Paris.
- The FATF currently has 39 members including two regional organisations — the European Commission and Gulf Cooperation Council. India is a member of the FATF.
Objectives:
- To set standards and promote effective implementation of legal, regulatory and operational measures for combating money laundering, terrorist financing and other related threats to the integrity of the international financial system.
Lists under FATF:
- Grey List:
- Countries that are considered safe haven for supporting terror funding and money laundering are put in the FATF grey list.
- This inclusion serves as a warning to the country that it may enter the blacklist.
- Black List:
- Countries known as Non-Cooperative Countries or Territories (NCCTs) are put in the blacklist.
- These countries support terror funding and money laundering activities.
- The FATF revises the blacklist regularly, adding or deleting entries.
9. Six Maoists including top leaders of the CPI(Maoist) were killed
Subject : Security
Context : Six Maoists including top leaders of the CPI(Maoist) were killed by the Greyhounds in Koyyurumandal in Visakhapatnam Agency.
Concept :
Greyhounds
- Greyhounds is a police special forces unit operating in the Indian states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana and belongs to the Andhra Pradesh and Telangana Police departments.
- Greyhounds specialises in anti-insurgency operations against Naxalite and Maoist terrorists.
- Several Indian paramilitary and police officers have described the Greyhounds as the best anti-insurgency force that specialises in anti-Maoist operations and as experts in jungle warfare.
- Greyhound has played paramount role in crushing Maoist militancy in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. Currently both states are largely free of Maoists.
10. DRDO tests enhanced range Pinaka rocket
Subject : Defence
Context : The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) on Friday successfully test fired the enhanced range versions of the indigenously developed 122 mm calibre rocket as well as the extended range version of indigenously developed Pinaka rocket from a Multi-Barrel Rocket Launcher (MBRL) at integrated test range, Chandipur in Odisha.
Concept :
Pinaka Missile System
- Pinaka is an indigenously developed rocket system named after Lord Shiva’s mythological bow.
- It is used for attacking the adversary targets prior to the close-quarter battles which involve smaller range artillery, armoured elements and the infantry.
- The development of the Pinaka was started by the DRDO in the late 1980s, as an alternative to the multi-barrel rocket launching systems of Russian make, called like the ‘Grad’, which are still in use.
- After successful tests of Pinaka Mark-1 in late 1990, it was first used in the battlefield during the Kargil War of 1999, quite successfully.
- Subsequently, multiple regiments of the system came up over the 2000s.
Its versions and capabilities
- The Pinaka, which is primarily a multi-barrel rocket system (MBRL) system, can fire a salvo of 12 rockets over a period of 44 seconds.
- One battery of the Pinaka system consists of six launch vehicles, accompanied by the loader systems, radar and links with network-based systems and a command post.
- It can neutralize an area one kilometre by one kilometre.
- The Mark-I version of Pinaka has a range of around 40 kilometres and the Mark-II version can fire up to 75 kilometres.
- The Mark-II version of the rocket has been modified as a guided missile system by integrating it with the navigation, control and guidance system to improve the end accuracy and increase the range.
- The navigation system of the missile is linked with the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System.
11. Tibet gets first bullet train links Lhasa to India border
Subject : International Relations
Context : China started operating the first bullet train line in Tibet, linking Lhasa to Nyingchi near the border with Arunachal Pradesh.
Concept :
- Lhasa-Nyingchi rail line is the second route linking Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) with mainland China – the Qinghai-Tibet railway line that connected Lhasa to the hinterland is the first such line.
- he China State Railway Group said that the new Railway line operating the first bullet train, on which construction began in 2014, would connect the capital city of the Tibet Autonomous Region to the border city of Nyingchi with a travel time of three and a half hours.
- Over 90% of the track is 3000 metres above sea-level, state media quoted the railway group as saying, and the line is the first electrified high speed rail (HSR) line, as China refers to bullet trains, in Tibet.
- The Lhasa-Nyingchi rail is one among several major infrastructure projects recently completed in Tibet’s southern and southeastern counties near the Arunachal border.
- The Lhasa-Nyingchi rail is one section of the Sichuan-Tibet railway line connecting the two provincial capitals.
India’s Border Area Development Programme (BADP)
- The Border Area Development Programme (BADP) was launched by the Ministry of Home Affairs in 1986-87 as part of a comprehensive approach to Border Management.
- BADP was initiated in the border areas of the western region during the Seventh Five Year Plan (1985-90), for ensuring balanced development of border areas through development of infrastructure and promotion of a sense of security among the border population.
- It is a centrally sponsored scheme. Funds are provided to the states as a non-lapsable special central assistance for the execution of projects relating to infrastructure, livelihood, education, health, agriculture and allied sectors.
- The States covered are Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Punjab, Rajasthan, Sikkim, Tripura, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and West Bengal.