Daily Prelims Notes 6 June 2024

Daily Prelims Notes

6 June 2024

1. Israel prepared for Lebanon border operation: Netanyahu

Sub: IR

Sec: Places in news

Context:

• Prime Minister Netanyahu stated that Israel is ready for a very intense operation along the Lebanon border.

Details:

• Israeli troops and Hezbollah fighters have exchanged near-daily fire.
• Hezbollah reported multiple attacks on Israeli positions, including a guided missile strike on an Iron Dome platform.

Who are Hezbollah and how was the group founded:

• Hezbollah means ‘Party of God’, is a Shiite Islamic militant organization in Lebanon, and is known as one of the world’s most heavily armed non-state actors.
• Emerging during the Lebanese Civil War, it formed partly in response to the Palestinian presence and Israeli invasions in southern Lebanon.
• Inspired by Iran’s theocratic government, Hezbollah received financial support and training from Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
• This underscores the regional rivalry between Sunni-dominated Saudi Arabia and Shia-dominated Iran. 
• The group is estimated to receive significant funding from Iran and possesses a diverse arsenal of weaponry, including rockets and missiles.

What are Hezbollah’s aims:

• Hezbollah opposes Israel and Western influence in West Asia.
• It supports the Syrian government and holds political influence in Lebanon.

First Lebanon War:

• Took place from 6 June 1982 – 5 June 1985.
• It was an invasion by the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) of Southern Lebanon to root out the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) operating from there.
• From its base in southern Lebanon, the PLO carried out attacks on Israel, thus the invasion was to put a stop to these attacks
• The war ended in a tactical victory for Israel but was a strategic failure overall. The PLO was expelled from Lebanon but Israel’s enemy, Syria increased its influence and occupied Lebanon until 2005.

Second Lebanon War

• This conflict started in July 2006 between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon, Golan Heights and Northern Israel.
• It ended after a couple of months through a UN-brokered ceasefire.

Some facts about Lebanon:

• It is a Western Asian nation, sharing borders with Syria to the north and east and Israel to the south, with Cyprus situated to its west across the Mediterranean Sea.
• Its location is at the crossroads of the Mediterranean Basin and the Arabian hinterland.
• Beirut is the capital of Lebanon.
• The border with the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights is disputed by Lebanon in a small area called Shebaa Farms.

Source: TH

2. UNESCO’s State of Ocean Report highlights key knowledge gaps in research & data on spiking oceanic warming

Sub: Geography

Sec: Oceanography

Context:

• The UNESCO State of Ocean Report 2024 highlights critical issues concerning the ocean’s role in climate regulation and the insufficient understanding and data needed to address multiple ocean crises and validate new carbon dioxide removal technologies.

Key points from the report include:

1. Inadequate Data and Research:
   • The report emphasizes a lack of adequate and aggregated data necessary for comprehensive ocean observations and research.
   • There is a pressing need for regular data to monitor ocean warming and its impacts, supporting the challenge for healthy and resilient oceans.
2. Ocean Warming:
   • From 1960 to 2023, the upper 2,000 meters of oceans warmed at a rate of 32 ± 0.03 W/m², which has accelerated to 0.66 ± 0.10 W/m² in the past two decades.
   • This warming trend is expected to continue, causing irreversible changes over centennial to millennial timescales.
3. Energy Imbalance and Heat Content:
   • Oceans absorb about 90% of the Earth’s energy imbalance (EEI), leading to increased ocean heat content (OHC) in the upper 2,000 meters.
   • Increased OHC inhibits ocean layer mixing, causing deoxygenation, which negatively impacts marine ecosystems and coastal communities reliant on oceans.
4. Ocean Acidification:
   • The report identifies a mean global increase in ocean acidification across all ocean basins.
   • There has been a continuous decline in open ocean pH levels, with a drop of 017-0.027 pH units per decade since the late 1980s.
   • Current monitoring is limited, with only 638 stations recording ocean pH, and more extensive, long-term data sets are needed.
5. Sea Level Rise:
   • From 1993 to 2023, the global mean sea level rose at a rate of 4 ± 0.3 mm/year.
   • Enhanced monitoring systems are needed to track sea level rise at various scales.
6. Marine Carbon Dioxide Removal (mCDR):
   • The report notes a growing interest in mCDR technologies since 2020, driven by scientific research, start-up initiatives, and significant funding from the U.S. and EU.
   • mCDR techniques include altering seawater chemistry and adding nutrients to promote plankton growth, but they pose various challenges and uncertainties regarding their efficacy and potential unintended consequences.
7. Coastal Blue Carbon Habitats:
   • There is increased interest in restoring coastal blue carbon habitats like mangroves, seagrasses, and tidal marshes to enhance carbon sequestration.
   • The effectiveness of these habitats in sequestering carbon remains uncertain.

Important terms:

• Carbon sequestration- the process of capturing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, measured as a rate of carbon uptake per year.
• Carbon storage- the long-term confinement of carbon in plant materials or sediment, measured as the total weight of carbon stored.

Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR):

• It is using technologies, practices, and approaches to remove carbon dioxide from our atmosphere through deliberate and intentional human actions.
• This includes traditional methods like afforestation, as well as more sophisticated technologies like direct air carbon capture and storage (DACCS).

Different CDR methods:

• Biochar:
  • It is the substance produced by burning organic waste from agricultural lands and forests in a controlled process called pyrolysis.
  • Although it resembles common charcoal in appearance, the production of biochar reduces contamination and is a method to safely store carbon.
  • Pyrolysis involves the burning of wood chips, leaves, dead plants, etc. with very little oxygen, and the process releases a significantly small quantity of fumes.
  • Biochar is a stable form of carbon that cannot easily escape into the atmosphere.
• Bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS)
  • It involves bioenergy production often through combustion to generate electricity or heat.
  • The resulting CO2 emissions from this combustion are captured and stored underground, preventing them from contributing to the greenhouse effect.
  • It sequesters photosynthetically fixed carbon as post-combustion CO2.
• Direct air carbon capture and storage (DACCS)
  • It extracts CO2 directly from the atmosphere at any location.
  • This captured CO2 is then permanently stored in deep geological formations or used for other applications.
  • It uses electricity to remove CO2 from the air.
• Enhanced rock weathering
  • It involves pulverising silicate rocks to bypass the conventionally slow weathering action.
  • The resultant product, usually a powder, has a higher reactive surface area, which is then spread on agricultural lands for further chemical reactions.
• Ocean alkalinity enhancement
  • It involves adding alkaline substances to seawater to accelerate this natural sink.

Source: DTE

3. 30 years of UNCCD

Sub: Environment

Sec: Int conventions

United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD):

• UNCCD is a Convention to combat desertification and mitigate the effects of drought through national action programs that incorporate long-term strategies supported by international cooperation and partnership arrangements.
• The Convention, the only convention stemming from a direct recommendation of the Rio Conference’s Agenda 21, was adopted in Paris, France, on 17 June 1994 and entered into force in December 1996.
• It is the only internationally legally binding framework set up to address the problem of desertification.
• The Convention is based on the principles of participation, partnership and decentralization—the backbone of good governance and sustainable development.
• It has 197 parties, making it near universal in reach.
• The Holy See (Vatican City) is the only state that is not a party to the convention that is eligible to accede to it.
• To help publicise the Convention, 2006 was declared “International Year of Deserts and Desertification” but debates have ensued regarding how effective the International Year was in practice.

Secretariat:

• It has been located in Bonn, Germany, since January 1999, and moved from its first Bonn address in Haus Carstanjen to the new UN Campus (NewYork, USA) in July 2006.

Agenda 21:

• Agenda 21 is a non-binding action plan of the United Nations with regard to sustainable development.
• It is a product of the Earth Summit (UN Conference on Environment and Development) held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in 1992. 
• It is an action agenda for the UN, other multilateral organizations, and individual governments around the world that can be executed at local, national, and global levels.
• One major objective of the Agenda 21 initiative is that every local government should draw its own local Agenda 21.
• Its aim initially was to achieve global sustainable development by 2000, with the “21” in Agenda 21 referring to the original target of the 21st century.

Flagship initiatives of UNCCD:

Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN):

• UNCCD defines LDN as “a state whereby the amount and quality of land resources necessary to support ecosystem functions and services to enhance food security remain stable, or increase, within specified temporal and spatial scales and ecosystems.”​
• The impacts of land degradation will be felt by most of the world’s population. ​Land degradation also changes and disrupts rainfall patterns, exacerbates extreme weather like droughts or floods, and drives further climate change.​ It results in social and political instability, which drives poverty, conflict, and migration. ​
• Achieving LDN requires three concurrent actions: ​
  • firstly, avoiding new degradation of land by maintaining existing healthy land; ​
  • secondly, reducing existing degradation by adopting sustainable land management practices that can slow degradation while increasing biodiversity, soil health, and food production; and ​
  • thirdly, ramping up efforts to restore and return degraded lands to a natural or more productive state.​

The UNCCD’s objectives for LDN include:​

• maintaining or improving the sustainable delivery of ecosystem services​
• maintaining or improving land productivity to enhance global food security​
• Increasing the resilience of land and the populations dependent on it​
• seeking synergies with other social, economic, and environmental objectives​
• reinforcing and promoting responsible and inclusive land governance​

India’s Efforts to Check Land Degradation:

• India is focusing on sustainable land and resource management for livelihood generation at the community level to make the local lands healthier and more productive for providing a better homeland and a better future for its inhabitants.
• The National Action Programme for combating desertification was prepared in 2001 to take appropriate action in addressing the problems of desertification.
• Following the global call for the submission of nominations for World Restoration Flagships, India endorsed six restoration flagships that target the restoration of 12.5 million hectares of degraded land.
• Some of the major programmes which address issues related to land degradation and desertification, being implemented currently are as follows:
  • Integrated Watershed Management Programme (IWMP) (Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana)
  • National Afforestation Programme (NAP)
  • National Mission for Green India (GIM)
  • The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS),
  • Soil Conservation in the Catchment of River Valley Project
  • National Watershed Development Project for Rainfed Areas (NWDPRA)
  • Fodder and Feed Development Scheme-component of Grassland Development including Grass Reserves.
  • Command Area Development and Water Management (CADWM) programme,
  • Soil Health Card Scheme, etc.

Source: UNCCD

4. Special Category Question

Sub: Polity

Sec: Federalism

Special Category Status (SCS)

• SCS was introduced in 1969 by the Fifth Finance Commission to assist states with historical economic or geographical disadvantages.
• Criteria for SCS: It was granted based on the Gadgil formula. The parameters were:
  • Hilly Terrain;
  • Low Population Density And/Or Sizeable Share of Tribal Population;
  • Strategic Location along Borders With Neighbouring Countries;
  • Economic and Infrastructure Backwardness; and
  • Non-viable Nature of State Finances.
• The 14th Finance Commission recommended scrapping SCS, suggesting an increase in state tax devolution from 32% to 42%.
• States with SCS: It was initially granted to only three states: Jammu and Kashmir, Nagaland, and Assam.
  • At present accorded to 11 states, including the seven states of Northeast, Sikkim, J&K, Himachal Pradesh, and Uttarakhand. 
  • AP, Bihar, and Odisha have also demanded SCS.

Significance of Special Category Status:

• The Centre pays 90% of the funds required in a centrally-sponsored scheme to special category status states as against 60% or 75% in case of other states, while the remaining funds are provided by the state governments.
• Unspent money does not lapse and is carried forward.
• Significant concessions are provided to these states in excise and customs duties, income tax and corporate tax.
• Preferential treatment in getting central funds.
• Concession on excise duty to attract industries to the state.
• 30 per cent of the Centre’s gross budget also goes to special category states.
• These states can avail the benefit of debt-swapping and debt-relief schemes.
• Industrial Incentives: Includes tax exemptions, duty waivers, and lower state and central taxes, crucial for industrialization and employment opportunities.

Concerns:

• The SCS puts an additional economic burden when the increased devolution is already flowing to the State as recommended by the 15th FC.
• It affects the centre state financial relations and hinders competitive federalism among the states.

AP’s Demand for SCS:

• Bifurcation Impact: The AP Reorganisation Act, 2014, promised SCS to AP to compensate for the loss of Hyderabad and revenue.
• Financial Strain: Post-devolution revenue deficit estimated at Rs 22,113 crore for 2015-20 was actually Rs 66,362 crore. AP’s debt soared from Rs 2,58,928 crore in 2018-19 to over Rs 3.5 lakh crore.
• Economic Disparities: AP inherited 59% of the population, debt, and liabilities but only 47% of revenues from the undivided state. Hyderabad, now in Telangana, accounted for Rs 56,500 crore of the Rs 57,000 crore software exports in 2013-14.
• Agrarian Economy: AP’s economic buoyancy is low, with per capita revenue significantly lower than Telangana’s.

Feasibility of SCS for AP:

• Accommodating AP’s demand could set a precedent for other states like Bihar and Odisha. The 14th Finance Commission’s stance on SCS as a central resource burden complicates the issue.
• NDA might offer a limited period SCS or other developmental projects and financial aid, potentially halting the privatisation of the Vizag steel plant and setting up SEZs in AP.

Source: IE

5. Gene therapy trial gives deaf children hearing in both ears

Sub: Science and tech

Sec: Biotechnology

Context:

• Five children who were born deaf now have hearing in both ears after taking part in an “astounding” gene therapy trial that raises hopes for further treatments.

More about the therapy:

• The children were unable to hear because of inherited genetic mutations that disrupt the body’s ability to make a protein needed to ensure auditory signals pass seamlessly from the ear to the brain.
• Within weeks of receiving the therapy, the children had gained hearing, could locate the sources of sounds, and recognised speech in noisy environments.
•  The US-Chinese team reported improvements after treating the deaf children in one ear, but the intention was always to give hearing in both ears.
• If they can hear in both ears, the children can work out where sounds are coming from, a capability important for everyday situations such as talking in groups and being aware of traffic when crossing the road.

Procedure of the gene therapy:

• The gene therapy is injected during a minimally invasive surgical procedure, so treating both ears doubles the time that patients spend in surgery.
• Treating both ears also raises the risk of a stronger immune reaction, triggered when the body’s defenses react to the virus that delivers the therapy.

What is Gene Therapy?

• Gene therapy aims to fix a faulty gene or replace it with a healthy gene to try to cure disease or make the body better able to fight disease.
• It holds promise as a treatment for a wide range of diseases, such as cancer, cystic fibrosis, heart disease, diabetes, hemophilia and AIDS.
• Gene therapies are of two types, germ-line gene therapy (GGT) and somatic cell gene therapy (SCGT). In GGT, germ cells are modified by introduction of correct/functional genes into their genome. It is heritable and is passed onto the next generation.

6. With bad news from Cassini, is dark matter’s main rival theory dead?

Sub: Science and tech

Sec: Space sector

What is the Cassini mission?

• Cassini–Huygens, commonly called Cassini, was a space-research mission by NASA, the European Space Agency, and the Italian Space Agency to send a space probe to study the planet Saturn and its system, including its rings and natural satellites.
• The Flagship-class robotic spacecraft comprised both NASA’s Cassini space probe and ESA’s Huygens lander, which landed on Saturn’s largest moon, Titan.

What is Milgromian dynamics or MOND?

• In 1983, the physicist Mordehai Milgrom initiated a new research program in cosmology, called MOND (for MOdified Newtonian Dynamics), or Milgromian dynamics. 
• In three papers, Milgrom proposed a set of postulates describing how Newton’s laws of gravity and motion should be changed in regimes of very low acceleration.
• Modified Newtonian dynamics (MOND) is a theory that proposes a modification of Newton’s second law to account for observed properties of galaxies. 
• The main postulate of MOND is that gravity starts behaving differently to what Newton expected when it becomes very weak, as at the edges of galaxies.
• MOND is quite successful at predicting galaxy rotation without any dark matter, and it has a few other successes.
• Its primary motivation is to explain galaxy rotation curves without invoking dark matter, and is one of the most well-known theories of this class.
• It has not gained widespread acceptance, with the majority of astrophysicists supporting the Lambda-CDM model as providing a better fit to observations.
• MOND only changes the behavior of gravity at low accelerations, not at a specific distance from an object.
• This means that, although MOND effects would typically kick in several thousand light years away from a galaxy, if we look at an individual star, the effects would become highly significant at a tenth of a light year.

Bad news for CASSINI:

• Cassini mission, which orbited Saturn between 2004 and its final fiery crash into the planet in 2017. Saturn orbits the Sun at 10 AU.
• Due to a quirk of MOND, the gravity from the rest of our galaxy should cause Saturn’s orbit to deviate from the Newtonian expectation in a subtle way.
• This can be tested by timing radio pulses between Earth and Cassini.
• Since Cassini was orbiting Saturn, this helped to measure the Earth-Saturn distance and allowed us to precisely track Saturn’s orbit.
• But Cassini did not find any anomaly of the kind expected in MOND. Newton still works well for Saturn.

Bad news for MOND:

• MOND predicted that such stars should orbit around each other 20% faster than expected with Newton’s laws.
• MOND also fails to explain small bodies in the distant outer Solar System.
• Comets coming in from out there have a much narrower distribution in energy than Mond predicts.
• Newtonian gravity is strongly preferred over MOND on length scales below about a light year.