Daily Prelims Notes 19 February 2025

February 19, 2025
Posted by: OptimizeIAS Team
Category: DPN

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Daily Prelims Notes

19 February 2025

Table Of Contents

1. As US position on Ukraine-NATO shifts, a recall — and why it matters

Sub: IR

Sec: Int grouping

Context:

The U.S. has significantly shifted its stance on Ukraine’s potential NATO membership.
In 2008, NATO’s Bucharest Summit declared that Ukraine and Georgia would eventually become NATO members.
However, recently U.S. Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth stated that NATO membership for Ukraine is unlikely. Additionally, U.S. President Donald Trump also rejected the idea of Ukraine joining NATO, calling it “impractical.”

Historical Context of NATO Expansion:

In 1990, U.S. Secretary of State James Baker assured Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev that NATO would not expand eastward. Despite this assurance, NATO’s expansion proceeded throughout the 1990s and 2000s.
Since the 1990s, NATO has steadily expanded eastward, incorporating former Warsaw Pact countries and former Soviet republics.
This includes countries such as Czechia, Hungary, Poland (1999), Bulgaria, Slovakia, Romania, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovenia (2004), Albania, Croatia (2009), Montenegro, and North Macedonia (2017, 2020).
U.S. Justification for Expansion: U.S. President Bill Clinton in 1999 presented NATO expansion as a project for promoting democracy and stability across Europe, emphasizing cooperation and collective defence.

Russia’s Reaction and Security Concerns:

NATO’s founding principle of collective defence means that an attack on one NATO member is treated as an attack on all, compelling the alliance to defend the attacked member. This presents a strategic challenge for Russia, which views NATO’s expansion as encroachment into its sphere of influence.
As NATO moved closer to Russia’s borders, the perception of the alliance as a tool of Western hegemony
Russia considers Ukraine’s potential membership in NATO as a “red line” and has warned that this would lead to direct conflict.
In response to NATO’s continued enlargement and the potential inclusion of Ukraine, Russia annexed Crimea in 2014, further escalating tensions. The annexation was seen as a reaction to NATO’s growing proximity.

Shifting U.S. Policy on NATO and Ukraine:

George W. Bush was the first U.S. president to publicly advocate for Ukraine’s inclusion in NATO, but France and Germany opposed this idea.
A compromise at the 2008 Bucharest Summit resulted in a vague promise without a clear timeline for Ukraine’s membership, leaving the situation unresolved.
Donald Trump has been a vocal critic of NATO’s role in Europe, advocating for a restructured or reduced U.S. involvement.
This has led to a shift in U.S. policy toward Ukraine’s NATO aspirations, signalling a potential break in the traditional American approach to NATO enlargement.
The evolving stance of the U.S could disrupt NATO’s unity and shape the future trajectory of Ukraine’s aspirations.

About NATO:

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) is a military and political alliance of countries in Europe and North America.
NATO was established on April 4, 1949, with the signing of the North Atlantic Treaty (Washington Treaty).
Members: NATO originally included 12 founding members: the United States, Canada, and 10 Western European countries.
Today, NATO has 32 member countries. Sweden became the latest member of NATO in March 2024.
Headquarters: Brussels, Belgium.
NATO’s central principle is collective defence, outlined in Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty.

2. India’s Upcoming Greenhouse Gas Inventory Submission to the UN

Sub: Env

Sec: Int Conventions

Why in News

India is in the final stages of preparing its first-ever Biennial Transparency Report (BTR) as part of its commitment under the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change.

What is the Biennial Transparency Report (BTR)?

The BTR is a formal report detailing a country’s GHG emissions inventory, sector-wise emissions sources, and mitigation actions.
It enhances transparency and accountability in climate action.
The report follows a standard format prescribed by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
India has previously submitted climate-related data through National Communications and Biennial Update Reports (BURs).
The BTR differs from BURs as it is subject to an external review process by independent, non-Indian UNFCCC experts.
Developed nations were historically required to submit BTRs, but the 2015 Paris Agreement extended this requirement to all countries.
According to the UNFCCC’s 21st Conference of Parties (COP 21) in 2015, countries were required to submit their first BTR by December 2024. However, many countries, including India, missed this deadline.
The process gained momentum at the 2024 COP held in Baku, Azerbaijan, where nations began adhering to the prescribed format.
The BTR will provide emissions data up to 2022.
India’s last BUR (2020) reported a 7.93% decline in GHG emissions from 2019, largely due to the COVID-19-induced economic slowdown.
The upcoming BTR is expected to show an increase in emissions due to economic recovery, consistent with global trends.
Despite an expected rise in emissions, India’s share in global emissions remains between 4% and 5%.
In per capita terms, India’s emissions remain less than one-third of the global average.

Biennial Update Reports (BURs):

BURs are reports submitted by developing countries to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) as part of their commitment under the Paris Agreement and Cancún Agreements.
Purpose:
- Provide updates on greenhouse gas (GHG) inventories.
- Detail mitigation actions and their effects.
- Outline financial, technical, and capacity-building needs.
Developing countries must submit BURs every two years.
Subject to International Consultation and Analysis (ICA) for transparency.

3. Centre Revamps Digital Platforms and Launches Multilingual AI Hub

Sub :Sci

Sec: Awareness in IT

Why in News

The Union government has initiated a comprehensive revamp of its official websites and is developing a multilingual Artificial Intelligence (AI) hub to enhance the dissemination of information on government schemes. The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has released a Digital Brand Identity Manual to standardize website designs and improve digital outreach.

Digital Brand Identity Manual (DBIM):

The Digital Brand Identity Manual, released by MeitY, aims to establish a uniform design language for government websites.
The initiative seeks to harmonize the government’s digital presence for better engagement with both national and global audiences.
Key Components:
- DBIM Guidelines: Defines logos, colour palettes, typography, imagery, and brand messaging.
- DBIM Toolkit: Provides tools for easy adoption and implementation.
- IN CMS Platform: A content management system tailored for DBIM-compliant websites.
- Central Content Publishing System: Enables streamlined and centralized content updates.
- Social Media Integration: Ensures a unified digital outreach strategy for government communication.
Digital platforms serve as the first point of contact for citizens accessing government services.
The manual emphasizes the need for a cohesive and compelling brand presence to improve public engagement.

Multilingual AI Hub for Government Outreach:

The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting is working on an AI-powered platform to disseminate government initiatives effectively.
The platform will feature multilingual translation to ensure wider accessibility across diverse linguistic groups. A formal launch of the hub is yet to take place.

Key AI-Based Initiatives:

Digital India Bhashini – A government-backed language translation platform.
BharatGen – The world’s first government-funded multimodal Large Language Model (LLM), launched in 2024.
Sarvam-1 AI LLM – A project aimed at developing AI models for multiple languages.
Chitralekha – An open-source video transcreation platform facilitating content adaptation.
Everest 1.0 – A multilingual AI system catering to various Indian languages.

4. Saturn’s Rings: A Debate on Their True Age

Sub :Sci

Sec: Space sector

Why in News?

A recent study by researchers from the Institute of Science Tokyo and the Paris Institute of Planetary Physics has reignited the debate on the age of Saturn’s rings. Published in Nature Geoscience (December 2024), the study challenges the long-standing hypothesis that the rings are only 100 million years old, suggesting instead that they could be as ancient as the Solar System itself.

Mystery of Saturn’s Rings:

Saturn’s rings consist mainly of bright-white water ice and rock.
Despite the Solar System being constantly bombarded by space dust, Saturn’s rings appear remarkably clean.
NASA’s Cassini spacecraft (2004-2017) found that the rings contained very little accumulated dust.
This led scientists to estimate that the rings are only about 100 million years old.
The assumption was that older rings would have accumulated significantly more space debris.
The Problem with the Hypothesis: The Solar System has been relatively stable in the last 100 million years.
If the rings formed recently, a significant event would have been required to create them.
However, no such major event has been identified.

New Study:

Dust Ejection Mechanism: The latest research suggests that Saturn’s rings may not appear clean due to their youth but because of a self-cleansing mechanism. When dust particles collide with ice in the rings, they break apart into smaller fragments.
These fragments are either pulled into Saturn’s atmosphere or expelled from the system, maintaining the rings’ bright appearance.

Connection with Saturn’s Moons:

The study suggests that understanding Saturn’s rings is crucial to studying its moons, particularly Enceladus.
Enceladus is geologically active, with water plumes and cryovolcanic activity contributing material to Saturn’s rings.
The chemical composition of the rings could provide insights into Enceladus’s subsurface ocean and its potential habitability.
The study may help explain why the four gas giants (Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune) have such different ring systems.
The findings suggest that either these rings were different at birth or evolved uniquely over time.
A future mission to Saturn’s rings could provide more clarity on their formation and evolution.
NASA’s Europa Clipper mission, aims to study Jupiter’s moon Europa, which also has a subsurface ocean similar to Enceladus.

Cassini Spacecraft:

A collaborative project among NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA), and the Italian Space Agency (ASI), Cassini was designed to study Saturn and its system, including its rings and moons.
Launched on October 15, 1997, Cassini entered Saturn’s orbit on July 1, 2004, and conducted a 13-year mission before concluding on September 15, 2017.
Key Discoveries:
- Detected water-ice plumes erupting from Enceladus, indicating subsurface oceans.
- Discovered new moons orbiting Saturn.
- Provided detailed data on Saturn’s rings and atmospheric composition.

Voyager Missions:

Voyager 1 and Voyager 2: Both spacecraft were launched in 1977.
Conduct flybys of the outer planets—Jupiter and Saturn—and continue into interstellar space.
Voyager 1 is the most distant human-made object, having entered interstellar space.
Voyager 2 provided the first close-up images of Uranus and Neptune.
As of November 2023, Voyager 1 experienced a communication anomaly, but efforts are ongoing to restore full functionality.

Pioneer 11:

Launched on April 5, 1973, Pioneer 11 was designed to study the asteroid belt and the environments around Jupiter and Saturn.
First spacecraft to encounter Saturn, providing the earliest close-up images and data. Second spacecraft to fly past Jupiter, following its twin, Pioneer 10.

Enceladus (Saturn’s Moon):

Identified in 1789 by astronomer William Herschel.
Sixth-largest moon of Saturn, approximately 500 kilometers in diameter. Surface reflects nearly 100% of sunlight, indicating fresh, clean ice.
Voyager missions in the 1980s revealed a youthful, varied terrain. Cassini detected water vapor plumes, suggesting subsurface oceans and potential hydrothermal activity.
The presence of water, organic molecules, and energy sources makes Enceladus a prime candidate in the search for extraterrestrial life.

Europa (Jupiter’s Moon):

Similar in size to Earth’s Moon. Surface composed of a thick ice crust, with an estimated subsurface ocean beneath.
Galileo Spacecraft: Provided detailed images and data in the 1990s, indicating a young, active surface.
Europa Clipper Mission: Launched by NASA to investigate Europa’s habitability, focusing on its ice shell and subsurface ocean.
The combination of liquid water, essential chemical elements, and energy sources positions Europa as a key target in the search for life beyond Earth.

5. What is the ‘rarest of rare’ doctrine?

Sub :Polity

Sec: Judiciary

Context:-

On January 22, two separate murder convictions resulted in sharply contrasting verdicts, highlighting how the Indian courts apply the death penalty.
While one case led to capital punishment, the other saw the accused sentenced to life imprisonment, reigniting questions about the judiciary’s approach to the ‘rarest of rare’ doctrine, which till now does not have a statutory definition.

Recent Cases Highlighting the Doctrine

R.G. Kar Medical College Case.
- Verdict: Convicted based on forensic evidence; sentenced to life imprisonment and fined.
- Court’s Reasoning: Not classified as ‘rarest of rare.’
Sharon Murder Case
- Incident: Sharon Raj, a 23-year-old student, was poisoned by his partner, Greeshma, using an Ayurvedic concoction.
- Verdict: Death penalty awarded by Neyyattinkara Additional Sessions Court.
- Court’s Reasoning: Classified as ‘rarest of rare.’

Origins of the Doctrine

Jagmohan Singh vs. State of U.P. (1972)
- First major challenge to the death penalty’s constitutionality.
Petitioner’s Arguments:
- Violates Article 19 (Fundamental Rights).
- Unfair judicial discretion in sentencing.
- Violates Article 14 (Right to Equality).
Supreme Court’s Ruling:
- Death penalty is constitutional under Article 21 (Right to Life).
- Judicial discretion in sentencing is valid.
Bachan Singh vs. State of Punjab (1980)
- Supreme Court established the ‘rarest of rare’ doctrine.
- Death penalty to be awarded only in exceptional cases.
- Lacked a clear definition of ‘rarest of rare.’
Machhi Singh vs. State of Punjab (1983)
- Supreme Court provided a framework for ‘rarest of rare’ crimes.
- Five criteria for awarding the death penalty:
  - Manner of committing the murder – Extremely brutal, shocking community conscience.
  - Motive of the murder – Shows total depravity.
  - Socially abhorrent nature – Includes murders based on communal, caste, or gender-based violence.
  - Magnitude of the crime – Multiple murders or exceptionally heinous crimes.
  - Personality of the victim – Includes children, the elderly, and vulnerable individuals.

Judicial Revisions and Evolving Framework

Mithu vs. State of Punjab (1983)
- Struck down Section 303 of IPC, which mandated the death penalty for life-term convicts committing murder.
- Ruled as unconstitutional under Articles 14 and 21.
Supreme Court’s 2022 Referral to Constitution Bench
- Providing a “meaningful, real, and effective” hearing on mitigating circumstances in death penalty cases.
- Expected Outcome: A uniform approach to considering mitigating factors before classifying a case as ‘rarest of rare.’