Daily Prelims Notes 30 January 2024
- January 30, 2024
- Posted by: OptimizeIAS Team
- Category: DPN
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Daily Prelims Notes
30 January 2024
Table Of Contents
- Silent fields: a cocktail of pesticides is stunting bumblebee colonies across Europe, study shows
- In Jambavan’s land: Sloth bears mostly coexist peacefully with humans in Karnataka; but conflict is not non-existent
- Dual role as air pollutant and warming agent makes black carbon a neglected player in policy
- What is the ‘The Indian Economy: A Review’ presented by the government all about?
- Delhi HC upholds anti profiteering clause of GST laws
- What is Humboldt’s enigma?
- Launch of Framework for Voluntary Carbon Market in Agriculture Sector and Accreditation Protocol of Agroforestry Nurseries
- “Maratha Military Landscapes of India” will be India’s nomination for recognition as UNESCO World Heritage List for the year 2024-25
- Dignitaries trace the evolution of quantum mechanics on 100 years of S N Bose’s colossal work
1. Silent fields: a cocktail of pesticides is stunting bumblebee colonies across Europe, study shows
Subject: Environment
Section: Species in news
In the news:
- In November 2023, the European Parliament voted against a proposal to limit the use of agricultural pesticides. These chemicals, which are crucial for protecting crops from pests, also pose a risk of contaminating air and water, potentially harming people and wildlife.
- This decision contrasts with Europe’s reputation for leading in sustainability and its commitments to international environmental pledges.
- Research indicates that efficient pesticide use is critical for the health of bumblebees, key pollinators for both crops and wildflowers.
Lab results v the real world:
- Decades of laboratory experiments have shown that individual pesticides can be fatal to bees, and these tests are used to inform pesticide regulations.
- However, these laboratory tests often examine single compounds, which doesn’t reflect the real-world scenario where bees are exposed to multiple pesticides in agricultural landscapes.
- Field-based tests, which are rare, also usually focus on single compounds, despite evidence that bees encounter various pesticides in their environment, including in their food and nesting materials.
- While it’s logical to think that chemicals toxic in the lab would be similarly harmful in the field, the actual impact on bees varies due to environmental persistence and various ecological factors.
- Recent research has revealed that real-world exposure to multiple pesticides across landscapes significantly harms the health of bumblebees, affecting their growth, survival, and reproduction.
Colonies at risk:
- Researchers placed over 300 commercially-reared bumblebee colonies at 106 sites across eight European countries and analyzed the pollen they collected for 267 pesticides.
- Colonies with higher pesticide risk showed lower growth and produced fewer offspring, especially in landscapes with extensive cropland.
- This underscores the importance of semi-natural habitats for pollinator populations.
- The European Food Safety Authority has proposed that bumblebee colonies should not lose more than 10% of their strength due to pesticides.
Monitor pesticides like drugs:
- Learning from pharmaceutical regulations, there’s a call for post-approval monitoring of pesticides under real-world conditions, in addition to pre-approval testing.
- This is crucial because harmful effects of pesticides, like neonicotinoids, are often only revealed through post-approval field testing, especially on non-honeybee species.
- A major initiative, with partners like The Nature Conservancy, Google, and the Brazilian state of Para, aims to promote regenerative farming practices, such as reduced tillage and lower pesticide use.
Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD):
- Colony collapse disorder (CCD) is an abnormal phenomenon that occurs when the majority of worker bees in a honey bee colony disappear, leaving behind a queen, plenty of food, and a few nurse bees to care for the remaining immature bees.
- Several possible causes for CCD have been proposed, but no single proposal has gained widespread acceptance among the scientific community.
- Suggested causes include:
- Pesticides;
- Infections with various pathogens especially those transmitted by Varroa and Acarapis mites;
- Malnutrition;
- Genetic factors;
- Immunodeficiencies;
- Loss of habitat;
- Changing beekeeping practices; or a combination of factors.
- A large amount of speculation has surrounded the contributions of the neonicotinoid family of pesticides to CCD, but many collapsing apiaries show no trace of neonicotinoids.
Source: DTE
Subject: Environment
Section: Species in news
Context:
- Karnataka, known in Hindu mythology as the home of Jambavan, the bear king, is also home to a significant population of sloth bears (Melursus ursinus).
Details:
- A survey by the state forest department in Karnataka’s Western Ghats revealed a surprisingly harmonious coexistence between sloth bears and humans.
- Cultural acceptance in densely populated areas has been favourable for the bears, challenging the typical narrative of human-wildlife conflict.
- Despite this, Karnataka has experienced some human-sloth bear confrontations, causing concern among communities and wildlife enthusiasts. Sloth bears occupy about 67% of their potential habitat in India, extending beyond protected areas into multi-use forests.
- In the Western Ghats, approximately 61% of the forested landscape is inhabited by sloth bears. They show a preference for drier forests and rough terrains.
- Karnataka’s Bannerughatta National Park has become a prominent site for bear protection.
Sloth Bears:
- It is a Myrmecophagous bear species.
- Distribution:
- They are endemic to the Indian sub-continent and 90% of the species population is found in India with small populations in Nepal and Srilanka.
- It occurs in a wide range of habitats including moist and dry tropical forests, savannahs, scrublands and grasslands below 1,500 m (4,900 ft) on the Indian subcontinent, and below 300 m (980 ft) in Sri Lanka’s dry forests. It is regionally extinct in Bangladesh.
- Sloth bears are found in all parts of the country except Jammu and Kashmir and northeastern States.
- Characteristics:
- They are nocturnal animals.
- It feeds on fruits, ants and termites.
- Sloth bears do not hibernate.
- Protection Status
- IUCN red list: listed as ‘vulnerable’
- Wildlife Protection Act of India, 1972 : listed under Schedule I
- Threats:
- Animal-Human conflict: Over the past few years there has been a rise of incidents of human sloth bear conflict in States like Gujarat, Rajasthan and Maharashtra among other states.
- Exploitation: Sometimes captured and kept as pets, which can lead to their exploitation and mistreatment.
Source: DTE
3. Dual role as air pollutant and warming agent makes black carbon a neglected player in policy
Subject: Environment
Section: Pollution
Context:
- A policy brief from the Center for Study of Science, Technology and Policy (CSTEP) and Clean Air Fund suggests that increasing black carbon in the atmosphere is causing extreme rainfall in Asian countries like India and China, and shifting rain clouds northwards.
Details:
- Black carbon, a significant component of fine particulate matter PM2.5, is emitted from incomplete combustion of biomass, fossil fuels, and waste.
- Despite its short atmospheric lifespan of a few weeks, it has a warming impact up to 1,500 times stronger than CO2 per unit of mass.
- The report emphasizes black carbon‘s role in accelerating snow and ice melt in the Arctic, Himalayas, and Andes, disrupting monsoon patterns in West Africa and India, and exacerbating dangerous heat waves.
- Although crucial, black carbon is often overlooked in climate change discussions due to disputes over its sources and uncertainties about its warming contribution.
- Its dual nature as both a climate and air pollutant leads to a lack of full ownership in climate and health agendas.
- The policy brief, released during COP28 in Dubai in December 2023, aims to highlight black carbon’s impact on both air pollution and climate change, such as the faster melting of glaciers and sea ice, and the need to include it in climate action.
- Currently, air quality regulations do not explicitly target black carbon, leaving its emissions uncontrolled in climate frameworks and air quality regulations.
Affecting the monsoon:
- The report emphasizes that black carbon significantly alters regional precipitation patterns and slows down the hydrological cycle, leading to drier conditions.
- Its impact on global hydrological sensitivity is nearly double that of CO2.
- Black carbon emissions are linked to extreme rainfall events and flooding in China and India and are also thought to contribute to the early onset of the monsoon.
- Black carbon affects atmospheric thermodynamics, impacting convective potential and seasonal rainfall trends in India.
- Its ability to absorb sunlight leads to reduced solar radiation at the surface and simultaneous atmospheric warming, thereby affecting both surface and atmospheric temperatures and, consequently, monsoon circulation.
Forest fire a big contributor:
- There is a concern over the increasing role of forest fires in black carbon emissions.
- Globally, wildfires contribute more to black carbon emissions than transportation. While transportation is often considered a major urban source of black carbon, with on-road diesel emissions contributing about a quarter and residential biomass fuel about 35% of anthropogenic black carbon, wildfires generally account for about one-third of global black carbon emissions, surpassing transportation.
- Studies in Uttarakhand’s Bhagirath-Kharak Glacier and Gangotri Glacier Valley indicate a significant role of wildfires and biomass burning in the high rate of black carbon influx in the Central Himalayas.
What India needs to do?
- India should include black carbon in its National Clean Air Programme (NCAP 2.0) and Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) to address its polluting and warming aspects.
Source: Mongabay
4. What is the ‘The Indian Economy: A Review’ presented by the government all about?
Subject: Economy
Section: India Economy
The Indian Economy: A Review:
- “The Indian Economy: A Review,” the 74-page document written by V Anantha Nageswaran, Chief Economic Adviser to the government, and his team of economists, is “not the Economic Survey of India prepared by DEA” but rather a document that takes stock of the state of the Indian economy and its journey in the last ten years.
Details:
- The review offers a brief sketch of the economic outlook for the coming years. Divided into two chapters, the review’s first chapter provides an overview of the past, present, and future of the Indian economy. The second chapter takes a detailed look at the government’s policies and progress on various parameters in different sectors.
- The growth rate of the Indian economy is expected to be at or above 7% for FY24.
Important highlights of the document:
- The Chief Economic Adviser (CEA) predicts that the Indian economy will grow at or above 7% in FY24 and potentially maintain this growth rate in FY25, marking four years of robust growth post-COVID-19.
- This growth is notable given the struggling global economy, which is growing at about 2%.
- Challenges facing the Indian economy include reliance on global supply chains, which have been disrupted, and the difficulty of exporting due to slower global trade growth. Additionally, the rise of Artificial Intelligence poses challenges for services trade and employment, and the energy transition challenge is significant, with a focus on reducing carbon emissions.
- The CEA notes that the era of hyper-globalization in manufacturing is ending, but de-globalization is not imminent due to the deep integration of global supply chains.
- India is focusing on onshoring and friend-shoring of production, which will affect transportation, logistics costs, and product prices.
- As infrastructure improves and financial exclusion decreases, public expectations are rising.
- The CEA proposes lowering logistics costs and investing in product quality to maintain and expand market share where India has advantages.
- Regarding green initiatives, India faces international pressure to reduce fossil fuel dependence while balancing economic growth and energy transition.
- India’s non-fossil fuel-based power generation capacity exceeds targets, reflecting a commitment to economic growth and climate change adaptation.
- The government has significantly increased public sector capital investment, enhancing physical and digital infrastructure. The financial sector is healthy and lending actively.
- Indian households are financially robust, with substantial growth in bank accounts and deposits. Household financial assets and liabilities have increased since 2019, improving net financial assets.
- The unemployment rate has declined post-COVID, with rising labour force participation, especially among women and younger people.
- Since 2014, India has managed high fiscal and current account deficits, and double-digit inflation, and now maintains controlled inflation, a lower fiscal deficit, and a manageable current account deficit.
- Foreign exchange reserves cover nearly eleven months of imports, indicating a strong economic position.
Source: CNBC
5. Delhi HC upholds anti profiteering clause of GST laws
Subject: Polity
Section: National Body
Context:
- In a setback for some 50 companies such as Hindustan Unilever and Nestle the Delhi High Court on Monday upheld the antiprofiteering provisions of the GST laws.
More About News:
- Section 171 of the CGST Act deals with antiprofiteering measures and prescribes that any reduction in the rate of taxon supply of goods or services or the benefit of input tax credit should be passed on to the recipient by way of a commensurate reduction in prices.
- Complaints, which were earlier filed with the National Antiprofiteering Authority, are now handled by the Competition Commission of India.
National Anti-profiteering Authority
- The National Anti-Profiteering Authority (NAA) was constituted under Section 171 of the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017.
- The formation of NAA comes in the background of rate-reduction of a large number of items by GST Council which has made tremendous price reduction effect but the consumers will be benefited only if the traders are making the quick reduction of prices of respective items.
Functions of National Anti-profiteering Authority
- The anti-profiteering clause under the Goods And Services Tax (GST) Act mentions that any reduction in the rate of tax on any goods or services or the benefit of input tax credit must be passed on to the consumer by way of commensurate reduction in the prices of the respective goods or services.
- The Authority’s main function is to ensure that traders are not realizing an unfair profit by charging high price from consumers in the name of GST and to examine and check such profiteering activities and recommend punitive actions including the cancellation of Registration.
Competition Commission of India (CCI):
- CCI, a statutory body of the Government of India, was established in March 2009 under the Competition Act, 2002.
- The goal of CCI is to create and sustain fair competition in the economy that will provide a ‘level playing field’ to the producers and make the markets work for the welfare of consumers.
- The priority of the Commission is to eliminate practices having adverse effects on competition, promote and sustain competition, protect the interests of consumers, and ensure freedom of trade in the markets of India.
- Mandate: To implement provisions of The Competition Act, 2002, which –prohibits anti-competitive agreements and abuse of dominant position by enterprises; regulates mergers and acquisitions (M&A), which can have an adverse effect on competition within India. Thus, deals beyond a certain threshold are required to get clearance from CCI.
- It oversees the operations of big enterprises to ensure they are not abusing their ‘dominant position’ or power by controlling supply, setting up high purchase prices, or adopting practices that are unethical and may harm budding enterprises.
Composition:
- It has the composition of a quasi-judicial body, with one chairperson and six additional members.
- All members of the CCI are appointed by the Central Government.
- Headquarters: New Delhi.
Subject: Environment
Section: Biodiversity
About Alexander von Humboldt
- Explorers like Alexander von Humboldt have long studied biodiversity concentration, especially in mountainous regions.
- Humboldt suggested a link between temperature, altitude, humidity, and biodiversity, illustrated by mountains like Chimborazo in Ecuador.
About Humboldt’s enigma:
- Humboldt’s enigma revolves around the observation that, contrary to expectations, biodiversity doesn’t solely decrease away from the tropics; mountains stand as a significant exception.
- Geological processes, such as uplifts creating new habitats, and climatic stability fostering species persistence, contribute to the richness of mountain biodiversity.
- The geological heterogeneity of mountains promotes unique habitat patches, enhancing diversification.
- This phenomenon challenges conventional wisdom that lowland tropical forests hold unparalleled biodiversity, as mountains, despite their smaller area, host a remarkable proportion of Earth’s terrestrial vertebrate species.
Subject: Environment
Section: Climate change
Context:
- Union Minister of Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare and Tribal Affairs, Shri Arjun Munda launched the Framework for Voluntary Carbon Market in Agriculture Sector and Accreditation Protocol of Agroforestry Nurseries in Delhi today.
More on news:
- Agriculture sector in the country is making an important contribution to the economy and livelihood of crores of people.
- 54.6% of the country’s workforce is engaged in agriculture and allied sectors’ activities.
- The share of agriculture sector in GDP is 18.6%, while the sown area is 139.3 million hectares, out of the total geographical area of the country.
- Union Minister of Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare and Tribal Affairs, Shri Arjun Munda said our Prime Minister is very sensitive towards the development of the agricultural sector and climate change and under his leadership we are fully committed to solve the problems.
About Voluntary Carbon Market (VCM):
- The Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare prepared a framework to promote Voluntary Carbon Market (VCM) in the agricultural sector of the country with a view to encourage small and medium farmers to avail benefits of carbon credit.
- Introducing farmers to the carbon market will not only benefit them but also accelerate the adoption of environment-friendly agricultural practices.
- There will be full cooperation from the concerned ministries of the Centre and the States and other concerned organizations to promote the carbon market in the interest of farmers.
- This is the first step in which we want to ensure everyone’s participation.
- Global challenges like global warming are in front of all of us,hence we have to move ahead with caution.
- ICAR will play an active role in this direction and do good work in the right manner.
About Accreditation Protocol of Agroforestry Nurseries:
- It will strengthen the institutional arrangements for production and certification of planting material on a large scale to promote agroforestry in the country.
- The Agriculture Minister asked all the stakeholders to adopt it so that quality planting material can provide assured returns and the objectives and goals of the National Agroforestry Policy can be achieved.
- He also urged for proper use of natural resources.
Subject: History
Section: Medieval India
Context:
- The “Maratha Military Landscapes of India” will be India’s nomination for recognition as UNESCO World Heritage List for the year 2024-25.
More on news:
- Maratha Military Landscapes of India, which was developed between the 17th and 19th centuries, represents an extraordinary fortification and military system envisioned by the Maratha rulers.
- There are more than 390 forts in Maharashtra out of which only 12 forts are selected under the Maratha Military Landscapes of India, of these eight forts are protected by the Archaeological Survey of India.
- These are Shivneri fort, Lohagad, Raigad, Suvarnadurg, Panhala fort, Vijaydurg, Sindhudurg and Gingee fort whereas Salher fort, Rajgad, Khanderi fort and Pratapgarh are protected by the Directorate of Archaeology and Museums, Government of Maharashtra.
- The Maratha Military Landscapes of India included in the Tentative List of World Heritage sites in 2021 is the sixth cultural property nominated for inclusion in the World Heritage List from Maharashtra.
About Maratha Military Landscapes:
- It is an extraordinary network of forts, varying in hierarchies, scales and typological features.
- The inception of the Maratha Military ideology dates back to the 17th Century during the reign of the Maratha King Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj by the 1670 CE and continued through subsequent rules until Peshwa rule till 1818 CE.
- It is a result of integrating the landscape, terrain and physiographic characteristics distinctive to the Sahyadri mountain ranges, the Konkan Coast, Deccan Plateau and the Eastern Ghats in the Indian Peninsula.
- The twelve component parts of this nomination are, Salher fort, Shivneri fort, Lohagad, Khanderi fort, Raigad, Rajgad, Pratapgad, Suvarnadurg, Panhala Fort, Vijay durg, Sindhudurg in Maharashtra and Gingee Fort in Tamil Nadu.
- These components, which are distributed across diverse geographical and physiographic regions, showcase the strategic military powers of the Maratha rule.
- In the Maratha Military Landscapes of India Salher fort, Shivneri fort, Lohagad, Raigad, Rajgad and Gingee fort are hill forts, Pratapgad is hill-forest fort, Panhala is hill-plateau fort, Vijaydurg is coastal fort whereas Khanderi fort, Suvarnadurg and Sindhudurg are island forts.
About World Heritage List:
- There are two categories of nomination- cultural and natural criteria.
- The Maratha Military landscapes are nominated in the category of cultural criteria.
- There are six criteria (i to vi) for cultural sites and four criteria (vii to x) for natural sites for inclusion in the World Heritage List.
- At present in India there are 42 World Heritage sites, out of which 34 are cultural sites, seven are natural sites whereas one is mixed site.
- In Maharashtra there are six World Heritage Sites, five cultural and one natural these are,
- Ajanta Caves (1983),
- Ellora Caves (1983),
- Elephanta Caves (1987),
- Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (formerly Victoria Terminus) (2004),
- Victorian Gothic and Art Deco Ensembles of Mumbai (2018) and
- western Ghats of Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala is a serial property in natural category (2012).
- The Sacred Ensembles of the Hoysala — (the famed Hoysala temples of Belur, Halebid and Somananthpura in Karnataka) is the 42nd United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) World Heritage list.
- Rabindranath Tagore’s Shantiniketan is the 41st UNESCO World Heritage Site in India.
9. Dignitaries trace the evolution of quantum mechanics on 100 years of S N Bose’s colossal work
Subject: Science and tech
Section: Awareness in IT
Context:
- Distinguished scientists and scientific administrators had come together on the occasion of the celebration of 100 years of the historic occasion when Satyendra Nath Bose authored the last of the four revolutionary publications that led to new quantum mechanics and traced the evolution of quantum mechanics through the years.
More on news:
- International Conference on Photonics, Quantum Information and Quantum Communication which was organized by the S N Bose National Centre for Basic Sciences (SNBNCBS) in Kolkata.
- Professor Ajay Sood, Principal Scientific Adviser (GOI) said that we are passing through the second revolution in Quantum Mechanics and that the gap between fundamental science and technological intervention is closing.
- He stressed that 23 countries have set up National Quantum Missions and India has a substantial contribution to make at an international level, specially in the field of quantum algorithms.
- He also highlighted the role of the Anusandhan National Research Foundation for creating a congenial atmosphere for research in the country.
- Quantum sensing, satellite-based quantum communications and post quantum cryptography are some of the areas that need to be focused on.
About Satyendra Nath Bose:
- Satyendra Nath Bose’s pioneering work on quantum statistics has paved the way for development of modern quantum technologies including Bose-Einstein condensation, quantum superconductivity, and quantum information theory.
- In 1924 he authored the last of the four revolutionary publications that led to the new quantum mechanics (the others being those of Planck in 1900, Einstein in 1905, and Niels Bohr in 1913). Half the fundamental particles in the Universe are named after him – BOSON.
- He derived Planck’s law in a revolutionary way which impressed Einstein, and subsequently they continued to collaborate.
- Bose Einstein partnership resulted in new physical theories, including Bose-Einstein statistics and the Bose-Einstein condensate.
- Several Nobel Prizes were later awarded for work related to the boson ie the force-carrying particles named after Bose himself.
- Bose’s work also constitutes the foundation of novel technologies which also finds applications in the Second Quantum Revolution.
About S. N. Bose National Centre for Basic Sciences:
- It is an Autonomous Research Institute established under Department of Science and Technology (DST), Government of India in 1986
- It was established to honor the life and work of Professor S. N. Bose.
- The institute is celebrating the centenary of Bose’s colossal work in theoretical physics in 2024 by organizing International Conferences and Outreach Programmes throughout the year.
- While the Conferences will provide opportunities for experts, including Nobel laureates, across the globe to come together and exchange their ideas, the Outreach Programmes will create momentum towards popularizing science.
About The National Quantum Mission:
- The mission aims to make India a leading nation in the quantum technology sector and promote economic growth.
- The total cost of the mission is over six thousand crore rupees.
- The mission will run from 2023-24 to 2030-31.
- The National Quantum Mission will develop four broad themes — Quantum Computing, Quantum Communication, Quantum Sensing and Metrology and Quantum Material and Devices.