Daily Prelims Notes 6 September 2022

September 6, 2022
Posted by: OptimizeIAS Team
Category: DPN

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Daily Prelims Notes

6 September 2022

Table Of Contents

1. How Pakistan floods have imperiled Mohenjo-daro’s world heritage tag

Subject: History

Section: Art and Culture

Context:

The recent spell of heavy rains and floods that ravaged large parts of Pakistan’s Sindh province has also taken a heavy toll on the archaeological site of Mohenjo-Daro.

In fact, the calamity has pushed the archeological site – situated on the bank of the Indus River– to the “brink of extinction”.

Mohenjo-daro

Mohenjo-daro, a group of mounds and ruins, is a 5000-year-old archaeological site located about 80-km off the city of Sukkur.
It comprises the remnants of one of two main centres of the ancient Indus Valley Civilization, the other one being Harappa, located 640 km to the northwest, in Punjab Mohenjo-daro, which means ‘mound of the dead’, was one of the oldest cities of the world.
Important Findings
- Great bath
- Granary
- Bronze dancing girl
- Seal of Pasupathi Mahadeva
- Steatite statue of beard man
- A piece of woven cotton

Other Important IVC sites

Five large metropolis of IVC – Mohen-jo-Daro, Ganweriwala and Harappa in Pakistan and Rakhigarhi andDholaviraof India.

Harappa

Situated on the bank of river Ravi in Montgomery district of Punjab (Pakistan).
Important Findings
- Sandstone statues of Human anatomy
- Granaries
- Bullock carts

Dholavira

Gujarat in Rann of Kachchh
Water harnessing system
Water reservoir
UNESCO World Heritage site

Banawali

Hisar district of Haryana
Important Findings
- Beads
- Barley
- Evidence of both pre-Harappan and Harappan culture

Lothal

Gujarat, Gulf of Cambay
Developed as National Maritime Heritage Complex by The Ministry of Culture (MoC) and Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways (MoPSW)
Important Findings
- First manmade port
- Dockyard
- Rice husk
- Fire altars
- Chess playing

Kalibangan

Rajasthan,Fire Altar, Wooden plough found her Chanhudaro
Sindh, Indus river, known for Beadmaking factory

Losing world heritage tag

There are around 1,100 UNESCO listed sites across its 167 member countries. Last year, the World Heritage Committee, holding its 44th session in China, decided to delete the property ‘Liverpool – Maritime Mercantile City’ (UK) from the World HeritageList, due to “the irreversible loss of attributes conveying the outstanding universal value of the property”.

2. Light Pollution

Subject: Environment

Section: Pollution

Context: Ladakh to have India’s first ‘Dark Sky Reserve’ to promote astronomy tourism

Concept:

What is a Dark Sky Reserve?

A Dark Sky Reserve is public or private land with a distinguished nocturnal environment and starry nights that has been developed responsibly to prevent light pollution.

According to the International Dark Sky Association (IDSA) website, these reserves “consist of a core area meeting minimum criteria for sky quality and natural darkness, and a peripheral area that supports dark sky preservation in the core.”

How does a site become a ‘Dark Sky Reserve’?

Individuals or groups can nominate a site for certification to the International Dark Sky Association (IDSA). There are five designated categories, namely International Dark Sky parks, communities, reserves, sanctuaries and Urban Night Sky Places.

The certification process is similar to that of a site being awarded the UNESCO World Heritage Site tag or getting recognised as a Biosphere Reserve. Between 2001 and January 2022, there have been 195 sites recognised as International Dark Sky Places globally.

Why was Ladakh chosen for the project?

Ladakh is a unique cold desert located about 3,000 metres above sea level with high mountainous terrains. Long and harsh winters with minimum temperatures dropping to minus 40 degrees Celcius make large parts of the UT highly inhabitable.
This aridity, limited vegetation, high elevation and large areas with sparse populations – all make it the perfect setting for long-term astronomical observatories and dark sky places.
But the primary objective of the proposed Dark Sky Reserve is to promote astronomy tourism in a sustainable and environment-friendly manner. Scientific methods will be used here to preserve the night sky from ever-increasing light pollution.
With metros, cities and peripheral areas experiencing light pollution and remaining constantly lit up, there are diminishing areas that offer a view of clear skies on cloudless nights, experts have noted.

Light pollution

Light pollution is an unwanted consequence of outdoor lighting and usually occurs due to excessive and inappropriate artificial light.
There are five overlapping components of light pollution: Urban sky glow, light trespass, glare, uplight and clutter.
- Urban sky glow refers to the brightening of the night sky over urban inhabited areas.
- The falling of light in an area where it is not intended or needed is called light trespass.
- Glare is the excessive brightness of light, causing visual discomfort and disability.
- An uplight is directed toward the open sky, causing a very strong, localised form of light pollution.
- Clutter refers to an excessive grouping of lights, commonly found in over-lit areas.
Poor placement of signage and streetlights, excessive and inappropriate use of light, high population density and a higher road density and traffic density contribute significantly to light pollution.
At times, certain environmental conditions such as smog, fog and high levels of suspended particles also increase the intensity of light pollution.

Impact of light pollution on plants, animals and human beings

Plants are affected by three characteristics of light: Quantity, quality and duration.
- Quantity of light refers to the total concentration or intensity of the light.
- Light quality indicates the wavelength of the light and duration refers to the total period for which light is present.
Light pollution affects plants by interfering with photoperiodism.
Many plant species (such as night-blooming cacti, for example, Queen of the Night Epiphyllum Oxypetalum) bloom only at night and depend on nocturnal pollinators for pollination. Increasing lighting can prevent flowering and pollination in such plants and hamper reproduction.
Similarly, animals are also affected by light pollution. Crepuscular (active only at dusk and dawn) and nocturnal (active only during the night) animals depend on the duration of day (light) length to start / stop their daily activities.
Light pollution, through the superchiasmatic nucleus, disrupts circadian rhythm by reducing the secretion of melatonin, a sleep-inducing hormone.
Artificial light at night is one of the prominent causes of global decline of insects.

3. Preventive detentions in 2021 up by 23.7% compared to year before

Subject: Polity

Section: Constitution

Context: Preventive detentions in 2021 saw a rise of over 23.7% compared to the year before, with over 1.1 lakh people being placed under preventive detention, according to the latest crime statistics released by the National Crime Records Bureau last month.

Among other laws apart from National Security Act,1980under which the NCRB has recorded data on preventive detentions are the Goonda Act (State and Central) (29,306), Prevention of Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1988 (1,331), and a category classified as “Other Detention Acts”, under which most of the detentions were registered (79,514).
According to Section 151 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, the police are empowered to make preventive arrests if they believe they must do so to prevent the commission of “any cognisable offence”. This detention can be extended beyond 24 hours if required “under any other provisions of this Code or of any other law”.

Concept:

Constitutional Provisions:

Article 22 grants protection to persons who are arrested or detained. Detention is of two types, namely, punitive and preventive.
- Punitive detention is to punish a person for an offence committed by him after trial and conviction in a court.
- Preventive detention, on the other hand, means detention of a person without trial and conviction by a court.
Article 22 has two parts—the first part deals with the cases of ordinary law and the second part deals with the cases of preventive detention law.

Rights Given Under Preventive Detention
- The detention of a person cannot exceed three months unless an advisory board reports sufficient cause for extended detention. The board is to consist of judges of a high court.
- The grounds of detention should be communicated to the detenu. However, the facts considered to be against the public interest need not be disclosed.
- The detenu should be afforded an opportunity to make a representation against the detention order.
- This protection is available to both citizens as well as aliens.
Article 22 also authorises the Parliament to prescribe

(a) the circumstances and the classes of cases in which a person can be detained for more than three months under a preventive detention law without obtaining the opinion of an advisory board;

(b) the maximum period for which a person can be detained in any classes of cases under a preventive detention law; and

The Constitution has divided the legislative power with regard to preventive detention between the Parliament and the state legislatures.
The Parliament has exclusive authority to make a law of preventive detention for reasons connected with defence, foreign affairs and the security of India.
Both the Parliament as well as the state legislatures can concurrently make a law of preventive detention for reasons connected with the security of a state, the maintenance of public order and the maintenance of supplies and services essential to the community.

4. The ban on conversion therapy for the LGBTQIA+ community

Subject: Polity

Section: Constitution

Context:

The National Medical Commission (NMC), the apex regulatory body of medical professionals in India, has written to all State Medical Councils, banning conversion therapy and calling it a “professional misconduct”.
In a letter dated August 25, it also empowered the State bodies to take disciplinary action against medical professionals who breach the guideline. The letter said the NMC was following a Madras High Court directive to issue an official notification listing conversion therapy as a wrong, under the Indian Medical Council (Professional Conduct, Etiquettes and Ethics) Regulations, 2002.

What is conversion therapy? What are the risks?

Conversion or reparative therapy is an intervention aimed at changing the sexual orientation or gender identity of an individual with the use of either psychiatric treatment, drugs, exorcism and even violence, with the aim being to make the individual a heterosexual. The conversion therapy umbrella also includes efforts to change the core identity of youth whose gender identity is incongruent with their sex anatomy.

What is the role of the Madras High Court in the ban?

On June 7, 2021, Justice N. Anand Venkatesh of the Madras High Court gave a landmark ruling on a case he was hearing about the ordeal of a same-sex couple who sought police protection from their parents. Pending adequate legislation more protective of the community, Justice Venkatesh issued a slew of interim guidelines for the police, activists, Union and State Social Welfare Ministries, and the National Medical Commission to “ensure their safety and security to lead a life chosen by them.”
The ruling prohibited any attempt to medically “cure” or change the sexual orientation of LGBTQIA+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, asexual or of any other orientation) people.
It urged the authorities to take action against “professional involving themselves in any form or method of conversion therapy,” which could include the withdrawal of licence to practice medicine.
On July 8, 2022, the court gave an order to the National Medical Commission directing it to “issue necessary official notification by enlisting ‘Conversion Therapy’ as a professional misconduct.” The NMC issued the directive to State Medical Councils on August 25.

What were some of the other guidelines issued by the court?

In its 2021 verdict, the Madras High Court directed the police, for example, to close complaints of missing persons’ cases, “without subjecting them to harassment”, if it found on investigation that the parties were consenting adults belonging to the LGBTQIA+ community.
The court asked the Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment to draw up a list of NGOs and other groups which could handle the issues faced by the community, and gave it a time of eight weeks from the date of the order. This March, the court pulled up the Ministry for failing to compile a comprehensive list.
The court said the community should be provided with legal assistance by the District Legal Services Authority in coordination with law enforcement agencies. Asking agencies to follow the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Rules, 2020, and the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act, 2019, in letter and spirit, the court said it was imperative to hold sensitisation programmes for an all-out effort to understand the community and its needs.

Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Rules, 2020

It provides for a right to self-perceived gender identity and casts an obligation on the district magistrate to issue a ‘certificate of identity’ as a transgender person, without the requirement of any medical or physical examination.

It envisages that every establishment shall implement all measuresto ensure non-discrimination against any transgender person in any matter relating to employment including, but not limited to, infrastructure adjustments, recruitment, promotion and other related issues. The government has sought comments from stakeholders within the next 30 days.
The policy will contain details of infrastructural facilities (such as unisex toilets), measures put in for safety and security (transportation and guards) and amenities (such as hygiene products) to be provided to the transgender persons to enable them to effectively discharge their duties.
It also talks about adequate steps to be taken by the government to prohibit discrimination against transgender in any government or private organisation or establishment, including in the areas of education, employment, healthcare, public transportation, participation in public life, sports, leisure and recreation and opportunity to hold public or private office.
National Portal for Transgender Persons:It has been launched in consonance with the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Rules, 2020.
National Council for Transgender Persons:
- Constitution of the NCT to advise the government for the formulation and monitoring of policies and redress the grievances of transgender persons.
Every establishment has been mandated to designate a person as a complaint officer to handle complaints from transgender persons.
Every state government will also have to set up a Transgender Protection Cell under District Magistrate and Director General of Police to monitor offence against transgender persons.

5. Seat belts, head restraints and safety regulations

Subject: Governance

Section:

Context: The death of Cyrus P. Mistry, former Chairman of Tata Sons, in a car crash in Maharashtra’s Palghar district on September 4 has turned the focus on whether compulsory use of seat belts in cars — including by passengers in the rear seat — can save lives during such accidents.

Concept:

How is a seat belt a life saver?

The focus in the aftermath is on the seat belt. The three-point seat belt engineered by Nils Evar Bohlin, a passive safety device first incorporated into a car by Volvo in 1959, and now standard in cars sold in India, is a low cost restraint system that prevents occupants of a vehicle from being thrown forward in a crash.
Even if the vehicle is fitted with an airbag, the force at which an unrestrained occupant strikes the airbag can cause serious injuries.
The seat belt performs many functions, notably slowing the occupant at the same rate as the vehicle, distributing the physical force in a crash across the stronger parts of the body such as the pelvis and chest, preventing collisions with objects within the vehicle and sudden ejection. Newer technologies to “pretension” the belt, sense sudden pull forces and apply only as much force as is necessary to safely hit the airbags.

What role do head restraints play?

Head restraints, which are found either as adjustable models or moulded into the seats, prevent a whiplash injury. This type of injury occurs mostly when the vehicle is struck from behind, leading to sudden extreme movement of the neck backwards and then forwards. It could also happen vice versa in other circumstances.

How does India regulate and enforce safety?

On February 11, 2022, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways issued a draft notification providing for three-point seat belts to be provided in all vehicles coming under the M1 category, that is, for carriage of passengers comprising not more than eight seats in addition to the driver’s seat, for vehicles manufactured from October 1. Also, it stipulated relevant Indian Standards to be followed by the manufacturers for both seat belts and reminder systems alerting occupants to wear them.
What stands out is that the amended Motor Vehicles Act of 2019 already requires the occupants of a passenger vehicle to wear a seat belt. As per Section 194(B) of the Act, whoever drives a motor vehicle without wearing a safety belt or carries passengers not wearing seat belts shall be punishable with a fine of one thousand rupees.
Evidently, although cars are equipped with seat belts, the enforcement for rear seat occupants is virtually absent in India.
The toll from non-compliance in India is high, as taxicabs often have missing seat belts. In one of the few questions on the subject asked in Parliament, the Road Transport Ministry said, during 2017, a shocking “26,896 people lost their lives due to non-use of seat belts and 16,876 of them were passengers. No specific data with regard to loss of lives due to non-usage of seat belts by rear seat passengers is available with the Ministry,” it added.
In the aftermath of the accident in which Cyrus Mistry died, there have been suggestions that automotive technology should bring about compliance by making it impossible to operate the vehicle if seat belts are not fastened. As of July, the European Union’s General Safety Regulation requires new vehicles to incorporate advanced emergency braking technology that launches automatically when a collision is imminent, and intelligent speed assistance to reduce speed suitably besides accident event recorders, all of which are relevant to the Palghar crash. Making high quality dash cameras standard in cars could be a start to help record accidents and establish the cause.

Brasilia Declaration on Road Safety

The declaration was signed at the Second Global High-Level conference on Road Safety held in Brazil.
Through the Brasilia Declaration Countries plan to achieve the Sustainable Development Goal 3.6: By 2020, halve the number of global deaths and injuries from road traffic accidents.
United Nations has also declared 2010-2020 as the decade of action for Road Safety.
Countries should form transport policies in order to favor more sustainable modes of transport such as walking, cycling and using public transport.

Salient Features of the Motor Vehicles (Amendment) act, 2019

Road Safety: The Actinclude increase penalties for traffic violations. It will act as a deterrent.
Vehicle Fitness: The Act includes a provision that mandates automated fitness testing for vehicles. This will improve road safety by removing unfit vehicles.
- The motor vehicles act also proposes penalty for deliberate violation of safety and environmental regulations.
- The actprovides regulation of the process of testing and certification of automobiles.
- It also proposes to bring agenciesissuing automobile approvals to be brought under the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 and vehicle testing standards to be set.
Environmental and road health: The Act mandates the recall of defective motor vehicles if the defect may cause a threat to the environment, or the driver or other people on the road.
Road Safety Board:Act provides for the setting up of a National Road Safety Board by the central government. The National Road Safety Board will advise the central and state governments on all aspects of road safety and traffic management.
Protection of Good Samaritan: The Act incorporates Good Samaritan guidelines in order to help road accident victims. The act defines good samaritan as a person who provides emergency medical or non-medical assistance to a road accident victim and provides rules to prevent harassment of such a person. Such a person will not be liable for any civil or criminal action for any injury to or death of an accident victim, caused due to their negligence in providing assistance to the victim.
Compensation for road accident victims: The central government will develop a scheme for cashless treatment of road accident victims during golden hour (time period of up to one hour following a traumatic injury), during which the likelihood of preventing death through prompt medical care is the highest.
Compulsory insurance: The act requires the central government to constitute a Motor Vehicle Accident Fund, to provide compulsory insurance cover to all road users in India.
National Transportation Policy: The central government may develop a National Transportation Policy, in consultation with state governments. The Policy will establish a planning framework for road transport and will specify priorities for the transport system.
Taxi aggregators: The Act defines aggregatorsas digital intermediaries or market places which can be used by passengers to connect with a driver for transportation purposes (taxi services). These aggregators will be issued licenses by state governments. Further, they must comply with the Information Technology Act, 2000.

6. External debt

Subject: Economy

Section: External Sector

Context:

Private long-term external debt outstanding of countries identified by the World Bank as belonging to the low and middle income category more than doubled from $1.04 trillion in 2012 to $2.18 trillion in 2020.

Details:

Overall, the share of governments in foreign currency bond issues across emerging market and developing economies (EMDEs) has fallen from 65 to 48 per cent between 2002 and 2021—
- The share of government issuance has fallen in developing Europe (from 85 to 66 per cent) and Latin America and the Caribbean (from 76 to 51 per cent).
- The share of government issuance has risen in Africa and the Middle East (from 39 per cent in 1996 to 64 per cent in 2021) and in developing Asian and the Pacific (from 14 to 24 per cent over the same years).

Cause:

Low interest rates in advanced economies and
Low global risk aversion leading to portfolio reallocation in search of risk-adjusted yields and diversification opportunities.

Why risky?

Decline of forex reserves-Foreign borrowing requires debt service commitments to be covered in foreign currency.
Prone to external shocks-Any external shock that affects foreign currency earnings or receipts, can precipitate debt distress.
Affected by depreciation-In the event of any unexpected depreciation of the domestic currency, the debt servicing cost in local currency would spike and add to the servicing burden.
Capital flight-When debt takes the form of bonds, it becomes easily tradable leading speculative investors to exit at the slightest sign of uncertainty.
- Example- the ongoing effort of developed country central banks to hike interest rates and limit or draw out excess liquidity from money markets is triggering an exit of bondholders from less developed countries.
  - This pushes down bond prices and raises interest rates, worsening debt stress.
  - It also raises the cost of contracting new debt, often needed to service past debt.
  - The presence of multiple bondholders in the community of creditors delays or prevents resolution.

Foreign Currency Bonds:

In addition to issuing bonds in domestic markets and local currencies, governments and companies can also issue bonds in other markets and different currencies.
It is an alternative to issuing debt in its own currency, a government may issue debt in a foreign currency to calm investor fears of currency devaluation eroding their earnings.
Issuing debt in a foreign currency exposes a nation to exchange rate risk because if their local currency drops in value, paying down international debt becomes costlier.
Foreign Currency Convertible Bonds (FCCBs) mean a bond issued by an Indian company expressed in foreign currency, and the principal and interest in respect of which is payable in foreign currency.
- A convertible bond is a mix between an equity and debt instrument. Companies issue convertible bonds to lower the coupon rate on debt and to delay dilution.

7. Regulatory sandbox scheme

Subject: Environment

Section: Pollution

Context:

HDFC Bank and Precision Biometric India have been selected by the Reserve Bank for testing their ‘on tap’ retail payments applications under the regulatory sandbox scheme

Details:

The RBI announced the opening of the ‘On Tap’ application facility for the theme ‘Retail Payments’ under the regulatory sandbox in October last year.
The product ‘Offline Retail Payments’ by HDFC Bank (in partnership with Crunchfish AB) provides the capability for customers and merchants to pay and receive payments in offline mode
Precision Biometric India has come out with ‘InnaIT Key Solution for Banking’.
- It offers a solution to enable biometric tokens, which can be used for secure password-less authentication and Additional Factor Authentication (AFA), instead of an OTP, for logging into internet/ mobile banking

Concept:

Regulatory sandbox (RS) refers to live testing of new products or services in a controlled/test regulatory environment for which regulators may permit certain relaxations for the limited purpose of the testing.
The regulatory sandbox allows the regulator, innovators, financial service providers and customers to conduct field tests to collect evidence on the benefits and risks of new products and systems.
RBI had come up with a Regulatory Sandbox with the objective to foster responsible innovation in financial services, promote efficiency and bring benefit to consumers.
First Cohort: First Cohort under the Regulatory Sandbox was launched by RBI in December 2020, with the theme as ‘Retail Payments’. Six entities have completed the testing phase of the cohort.
Second Cohort: Second Cohort under the Regulatory Sandbox was announced by RBI in December 2020 with the theme as ‘Cross Border Payments’. Eight entities have been selected for the ‘Test Phase’.
Third Cohort: Third Cohort under the Regulatory Sandbox was announced by RBI under the Regulatory Sandbox (RS) as ‘MSME Lending’ theme.
Fourth Cohort:The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) announced – ‘prevention and mitigation of financial frauds’ as the fourth cohort under the regulatory sandbox structure-The focus would be on using technology to reduce the lag between the occurrence and detection of frauds, strengthening the fraud governance structure, and minimizing response time to frauds
RBI further announced that the fifth cohort under the regulatory sandbox will be theme neutral.

8. PM SHRI Schools (PM ScHools for Rising India)

Subject: Environment

Section: Pollution

Context:

Context: On the occasion of Teacher’s Day today, the Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi has announced development and upgradation of 14,500 schools cross India under the Pradhan Mantri Schools For Rising India (PM-SHRI) Yojana.

Concept:

This will be a new centrally sponsored scheme for upgradation and development of more than 14500 Schools across the country by strengthening the selected existing schools from amongst schools managed by Central Government/ State/ UT Government/ local bodies.
PM SHRI Schools will showcase all components of the National Education Policy 2020 and act as exemplar schools and also offer mentorship to other schools in their vicinity.
The aim of these schools will not only be qualitative teaching, learning and cognitive development, but also creating holistic and well-rounded individuals equipped with key 21st century skills.
Pedagogy adopted in these schools will be more experiential, holistic, integrated, play/toy-based (particularly, in the foundational years) inquiry-driven, discovery-oriented, learner-centred, discussion-based, flexible and enjoyable.
Focus will be on achieving proficiency in learning outcomes of every child in every grade. Assessment at all levels will be based on conceptual understanding and application of knowledge to real life situations and will be competency-based.
These schools will be equipped with modern infrastructure including labs, smart classrooms, libraries, sports equipment, art room etc. which is inclusive and accessible. These schools shall also be developed as green schools with water conservation, waste recycling, energy-efficient infrastructure and integration of organic lifestyle in curriculum.
They will provide leadership in their respective regions in providing high-quality education in an equitable, inclusive and joyful school environment that takes care of the diverse background, multilingual needs, and different academic abilities of children.

9. Status Report on India’s External Debt 2021-22

Subject: Economy

Section: External sector

Concept:

The External Debt Management Unit (EDMU) in the Department of economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance, has released 28th edition of the Status Report on India’s External Debt 2021-22.

India’s external debt

In a cross-country perspective, India’s external debt is modest, occupying 23th position globally.

India’s external debt, at US$ 620.7 billion as at end-March 2022, grew by 8.2 per cent over US$ 573.7 billon as at end-March 2021.
While 53.2 per cent of it was denominated in US dollar, Indian rupee denominated debt, estimated at 31.2 per cent, was the second largest.
External debt as a ratio to GDP fell marginally to 19.9 per cent as at end-March 2022 from 21.2 per cent a year ago.
Foreign currency reserves as a ratio to external debt stood slightly lower at 97.8 per cent as at end-March 2022 than 100.6 per cent a year ago.
Commercial borrowings (CBs), NRIs deposits, short-term trade credit and multilateral loans together accounted for 90 per cent of the total external debt.
Sovereign external debt (SED) amounted to US$ 130.7 billion, increasing by 17.1 per cent over the level a year ago, reflecting the additional allocation of SDRs by the IMF during 2021-22. SDRs rose to US$ 22.9 billion from US$ 5.5 billion as at end-March 2021
Non-sovereign external debt, estimated at US$ 490.0 billion as at end-March 2022, posted a growth of 6.1 per cent over the level a year ago. CBs, NRI deposits, and short-term trade credit accounted for about 95 per cent of non-sovereign debt.
The debt service ratio fell to 5.2 per cent during 2021-22 from 8.2 per cent during 2020-21 due to buoyancy in current receipts and a decline in debt service payments and projected to fall.
The long-term debt estimated at US$ 499.1 billion, constituted the largest chunk of 80.4 per cent, while the short-term debt, at US$ 121.7 billion, accounted for 19.6 per cent of the total. The short-term trade credit was predominantly in the form of trade credit (96 per cent) financing imports

10. V. O. Chidambaram Pillai

Subject: History

Section: Personality

Context: The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi paid tributes to freedom fighter V. O. Chidambaram Pillai on his birth Anniversary

Concept:

About V. O. Chidambaram Pillai:

ValliyappanOlaganathan Chidambaram Pillai was born into a Royal Family of Tuticorin.
He is also known as KappalottiyaTamizhan or “the Tamil Helmsman“.
He was a Tamil Indian freedom fighter and former leader of the Indian National Congress.
Founder of Swadeshi Steam Navigation Company in 1906 to compete against the monopoly of the British India Steam Navigation Company (BISNC).
He launched the first indigenous Indian shipping service between Tuticorin (India) and Colombo (Sri Lanka) with the Swadeshi Steam Navigation Company (SSNC), competing against British ships.
Tuticorin Port Trust, one of India’s thirteen major ports, is named after him.
Chidambaram Pillai established many institutions like YuvaneshPrachar Sabha, DharmasangaNesavuSalai, National Godown, Madras Agro-Industrial Society ltd and DesabimanaSangam.

Coral Mill Strike:

On 23 February 1908 Chidambaram Pillai gave a speech at Thoothukudi, encouraging the workers at Coral Mill (now part of Madura Coats) to protest against their low wages and harsh working conditions.
Four days later, the workers of the Coral Mill went on strike.
Chidambaram and Subramanya Siva led the strike.
- Their demands included incremental earnings, weekly holidays and other leave facilities.
Chidambaram and Siva were arrested on 12 March 1908.
The arrest was followed by widespread protest. In Thirunelveli shops, schools and colleges were closed in protest, and rioting broke out. The Thirunelveli municipal office, post offices, police stations and municipal courts were attacked.
A general strike was declared in Thoothukudi, which was the first political strike in India.