Daily Prelims Notes 1 June 2024

  • June 1, 2024
  • Posted by: OptimizeIAS Team
  • Category: DPN
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Daily Prelims Notes

1 June 2024

1. Railways to build canopy bridges across track in Assam gibbon habitat

Sub: Environment

Sec: Species in news

Tags: Assam gibbon habitat

Context:

  • The Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) has allocated funds to build canopy bridges to aid India’s only ape species in crossing a railway track that splits its main habitat in eastern Assam, Hollongapar Gibbon Sanctuary.

Details:

  • The railway track divides the 2,098.62-hectare Hollongapar Gibbon Sanctuary in Jorhat district, home to the highest concentration of hoolock gibbons.
  • The railway track has disrupted their arboreal lifestyle, making crossing the track risky.
  • NFR, in consultation with the Assam State Forest Department, Wildlife Institute of India (WII), and other stakeholders, decided to install canopy bridges inside the sanctuary to facilitate gibbon movement across the track, separated by the Mariani-Dibrugarh railway track.
  • The gibbons preferred the natural canopy over the artificial bridge.

About Hoolock Gibbon (Hoolock hoolock):

  • Gibbons, the smallest and fastest of all apes, live in tropical and subtropical forests.
    • They are one of the 20 ape species on Earth.
  • The tailless Hoolock Gibbon is the only ape found in India.
  • The primate is native to eastern Bangladesh, Northeast India and Southwest China.
  • They are primarily arboreal, which means they live in trees.
  • They are known for their vocalizations and spend most of their time in the upper canopy of tall trees, particularly the hollong (Dipterocarpus macrocarpus).
  • The estimated population of hoolock gibbons is 12,000.
  • Like all apes, they are extremely intelligent, with distinct personalities and strong family bonds.
  • Key threats: Habitat loss and fragmentation, and hunting.
  • The Hoolock Gibbon is categorized into two types:
  • Western hoolock gibbon:
    • It inhabits all the states of the northeast, restricted between the south of the Brahmaputra River and east of the Dibang River. Outside India, it is found in eastern Bangladesh and north-west Myanmar.
    • It is listed as Endangered under the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List.
  • Eastern hoolock gibbon:
    • It inhabits specific pockets of Arunachal Pradesh and Assam in India and in southern China and northeast Myanmar outside India.
    • It is listed as Vulnerable under the IUCN Redlist.
    • In India, both species are listed on Schedule 1 of the Indian (Wildlife) Protection Act 1972.

Hollangapar Gibbon Sanctuary:

  • Formerly known as the Gibbon Wildlife Sanctuary or Hollongapar Reserved Forest.
  • It is an isolated protected area of evergreen forest located in Jorhat district, Assam, India.
  • Initially in 1881, its forests used to extend to the foothills of the Patkai mountain range.
  • Since then, the forest has been fragmented and surrounded by tea gardens and small villages. In the early 1900s, artificial regeneration was used to develop a well-stocked forest, resulting in the site’s rich biodiversity.
  • It contains India’s only gibbons – the hoolock gibbons, and Northeastern India’s only nocturnal primate – the Bengal slow loris.
  • In addition to the gibbon, the HGS is home to six other primate species, making it an area with the highest biodiversity of primate species of any Protected Area in the country.
  • Western hoolock gibbon is the flagship species of the HGS.
  • The upper canopy of the forest is dominated by the hollong tree (Dipterocarpus macrocarpus), while the nahar (Mesua ferrea) dominates the middle canopy. The lower canopy consists of evergreen shrubs and herbs.
  • The habitat is threatened by illegal logging, encroachment of human settlements, and habitat fragmentation.

2. Form panel to visit forest diverted on Assam-Nagaland border: NGT to Environment Ministry

Sub: Environment

Sec: Env Law

Tags: forest diverted on Assam-Nagaland border

Context:

  • The National Green Tribunal (NGT) instructed the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) to form a three-member committee to survey a section of a reserve forest on the Assam-Nagaland border, allegedly diverted for an Assam police commando battalion.

Assam- Nagaland Border dispute:

Details:

  • The petition claimed that M.K. Yadava, Assam’s former Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, illegally diverted a significant part of the forest area without completing compensatory afforestation and net present value requirements, making him liable for restoring the damage.
  • Using forest land for non-forestry activities without prior central government permission violated the Van (Sanrakshan Evam Samvardhan) Adhiniyam, 1980.
  • The battalion was intended to prevent encroachment by people from Nagaland along the interstate border, amid a long-standing boundary dispute between Assam and Nagaland.
  • In 2023, the Environment Ministry criticized Yadava for approving the construction of a commando battalion on approximately 44 hectares of forest land on the Assam-Mizoram border to address encroachment issues, noting that Assam also has a boundary dispute with Mizoram.

Net Present Value (NPV):

  • NPV is a monetary approximation of the value that is lost when a piece of forest land has been razed.
    • It is a mandatory one-time payment that a user has to make for diverting forestland for non-forest use, under the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980.
  • This is on the basis of the services and ecological value and there are prescribed formulae for calculating this amount which depends on the location and nature of the forest and the type of industrial enterprise that will replace a particular parcel of forest.
  • It was developed by a committee led by Professor Kanchan Gupta, of the Institute of Economic Growth.
  • These payments go to the Compensatory Afforestation Fund (CAF) and are used for afforestation and reforestation.
  • When was it introduced?
    • To regulate forest diversions, the Supreme Court introduced a high ‘net present value’ (NPV) charge on the lands diverted.

Compensatory afforestation:

  • Compensatory afforestation means that every time forest land is diverted for non-forest purposes such as mining or industry, the user agency pays for planting forests over an equal area of non-forest land, or when such land is not available, twice the area of degraded forest land.

Compensatory afforestation Fund:

  • The CAF Act was passed by the centre in 2016 and the related rules were notified in 2018.
  • The CAF Act was enacted to manage the funds collected for compensatory afforestation which till then was managed by ad hoc Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority (CAMPA).
  • As per the rules, 90% of the CAF money is to be given to the states while 10% is to be retained by the Centre.
  • The funds can be used for the treatment of catchment areas, assisted natural generation, forest management, wildlife protection and management, relocation of villages from protected areas, managing human-wildlife conflicts, training and awareness generation, supply of wood-saving devices, and allied activities.

Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority (CAMPA) Act:

  • It seeks to mitigate the impact of the diversion of forest land for non-forest purposes by making sure through a well-defined institutional mechanism, that the funds are released and utilized quickly, efficiently and transparently.
  • The CAMPA law is applicable to States, Union Territories, and the Centre as well.
  • The objectives of the CAMPA Law are stated below:
    • To promote afforestation and development activities in order to compensate for forest land that is intended to be diverted to non-forest uses.
    • To law down effective guidelines for the State
    • To facilitate necessary assistance in terms of scientific, technological and other requisites that may be required by the authority responsible for the State CAMPA.
    • To recommend measures based on strategic planning to the authorities of the State CAMPA
    • To resolve issues that arise between inter-state or Centre-State.

3. ED arrests dark web drug ‘vendor’ who operated international syndicate

Sub: Science and tech

Sec: Awareness in IT & Computer

Tags: dark web

Context:

  • The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has arrested a resident of Uttarakhand for allegedly operating an international drug trafficking group, following a request from the U.S. authorities.

Key Highlights:

  • Accused has been booked under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act. 
  • It is alleged that he, along with his brother and others, had been operating the drug trafficking syndicate.
  • Accused had  operated a global dark web enterprise to send fentanyl and other deadly and dangerous drugs to communities across America – in all 50 States — as well as Canada, Europe, and the Caribbean.
  • He created vendor marketing sites on dark web marketplaces to sell controlled substances, including fentanyl, LSD, ecstasy, xanax, ketamine, and tramadol.
  • The accused persons used the moniker “Liston” on a variety of dark web markets, including Silk Road 1, Alpha Bay, and Hansa.
  • The brothers used vendor marketing sites on dark web, numerous free advertisements on clear web websites, and a network of narcotics and controlled-substance distributors and distribution cells, to sell drugs in the U.S., the U.K. and other European countries.

What is the Dark Web?

  • The dark net or dark web is an overlay network within the Internet which is not accessible through search engines, and where anonymous activities are carried out. 

Internet consists of three layers:

  • Surface Web:
    • The first layer is public (Surface Web), consisting of sites that one uses frequently such as Facebook, Twitter, Amazon and LinkedIn.
    • This layer makes up only 4% of the entire internet.
  • Deep Web:
    • The second layer, the deep web, is a network where data is stored in inaccessible databases (i.e., cannot be accessed through traditional search engines like Google).
    • It is used to provide access to a specific group of people.
    • The data is generally sensitive and private (government private data, bank data, cloud data etc), so kept out of reach.
  • Dark Net:
    • The third layer is the darknet which is also known as a part of the ‘Deep Web’. It is a network built over the internet which is encrypted.
    • It is basically a layer of the Internet accessible only by using special software like Tor (The Onion Router), or I2P, which stands for Invisible Internet Project.
    • Anything present on the dark web will not be pulled up in internet searches, thereby offering a high degree of anonymity.

About ED:

  • It is a Multi-Disciplinary Organization mandated with the task of enforcing the provisions of two special fiscal laws – Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999 (FEMA) and Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA). 
  • The origin of this Directorate goes back to 1st May, 1956, when an ‘Enforcement Unit Was formed, in Department of Economic Affairs, for handling Exchange Control Laws violations under Foreign Exchange Regulation Act, 1947 (FERA, 1947).
  • In the year 1957, this Unit was renamed as ‘Enforcement Directorate’.
  • The administrative control of the Directorate was transferred from the Department of Economic Affairs to the Department of Revenue in 1960.
  • The ED has its headquarters in New Delhi and has many regional offices all over the country.
  • The Directorate enforces two laws;
    • FEMA, a Civil Law having quasi-judicial powers, for investigating suspected contraventions of the Exchange Control Laws and Regulations with the powers to impose penalties on those adjudged guilty.
    • PMLA, a Criminal Law, whereby the Officers are empowered to conduct enquiries to locate, provisionally attach/confiscate assets derived from acts of Schedules Offenses besides arresting and prosecuting the Money Launderers.

4. Ahilyabai Holkar, an ideal of what a ruler should be, says Mohan Bhagwat

Sub: History

Sec: Medieval India

Tags: Ahilyabai Holkar

Context:

  • RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat on May 30 described the late Holkar queen of Indore, Ahilyabai Holkari, as the ideal of what a ruler should be like, in a message marking the 299th birth anniversary of the queen.

About Ahilyabai Holkar:

  • Ahilyabai was born into a Marathi Hindu family to Mankoji Shinde and Sushila Shinde in the Chaundi village (present-time Ahmednagar district) of Maharashtra, where her father, Mankoji Shinde, a scion of a respectable Dhangar (Gadariya) family, served as the Patil.
  • Although women did not go to school back then, Ahilyabai’s father taught her to read and write.
  • Ahilyabai Holkar (31 May 1725 – 13 August 1795) was the Rani of Indore, within the Maratha Confederacy. 
  • She established Maheshwar (in Madhya Pradesh) as the seat of the Holkar Dynasty.
  • After the demise of her husband Khande Rao Holkar and father-in-law Malhar Rao Holkar, Ahilyabai herself undertook the affairs of the Holkar dynasty.
  • She defended the Malwa state against intruders and personally led armies into battle, with Tukoji Rao Holkar as her military commander.
  • She was also known for the construction of various Hindu temples and Dharmashalas across the Indian Subcontinent.
  • She was also known for breaking traditional gender rules 18th Century in India.
  • Ahilya Bai resurrected the jyotirlingas across the country as a tribute to Lord Shiva. 
  • Renovations in Somnath, Varanasi, Trambak, Gaya, Pushkar, Vrindavan, Nathdwara, Haridwar, Badrinath, Kedarnath and many other sacred sites were undertaken during her reign.
  • The beautiful Maheshwari saris that we wear today are also part of the queen’s legacy.
  • Ahilya Bai’s rule serves as an example of inclusive policymaking.
  • She worked to develop her state and uplift her subjects on various levels.

About Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh:

  • Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (National Volunteer Organisation)  is an Indian right-wing, Hindu nationalist volunteer paramilitary organization.
  • RSS was founded in 1925 by Keshav Baliram Hedgewar, a doctor in the city of Nagpur, British India.
  • The initial impetus of the organization was to provide character training and instill “Hindu discipline” in order to unite the Hindu community and establish a Hindu Rashtra (Hindu nation).
Daily Current Affairs Prelims Notes