Daily Prelims Notes 6 March 2024

March 6, 2024
Posted by: OptimizeIAS Team
Category: DPN

Daily Prelims Notes

6 March 2024

Table Of Contents

1. Inclusion of Indian bonds in the Bloomberg Emerging Market (EM) Local Currency Government Index

Subject: Economy

Section: Financial Markets

The inclusion of Indian bonds in the Bloomberg Emerging Market (EM) Local Currency Government Index and related indices represents a significant development in India’s presence in global financial markets.

Background:

Bloomberg has announced the inclusion of Indian Fully Accessible Route (FAR) bonds in its Bloomberg EM indices.
This move follows a similar announcement by JP Morgan Chase & Co last year, which included Indian government bonds in the JP Morgan GBI-EM Global index.

Phased Inclusion:

The inclusion of Indian FAR bonds in the Bloomberg EM indices will occur in a phased manner over a ten-month period.
It will begin on January 31, 2025, with an initial weight of 10% of their full market value.
The weight of FAR bonds will then increase by increments of 10% every month until October 2025, when they will be weighted at their full market value in the indices.

Impact and Significance:

The inclusion of Indian bonds in these indices reflects India’s growing importance in the global economy.
India is expected to become the third-largest country, after China and South Korea, in the market cap weighted version of the Bloomberg EM 10% Country Capped Index.
Using data as of January 31, 2024, the index would include 34 Indian securities, representing 7.26% of a $6.18 trillion index on a market value-weighted basis.

Benefits:

Inclusion in global indices is expected to attract significant investments into India.
It will bring dollar inflows into the country, helping to stabilize the financing of India’s current account gap.
Analysts estimate that the inclusion could attract investments exceeding $5 billion, in addition to the expected investment of around $20 billion from the JP Morgan EM Bond Fund.

Future Plans:

Bloomberg indices will create an ex-India version of the EM Local Currency Government Index.
They can also create other standard and custom versions of the index, providing more investment options for investors interested in emerging market bonds.

Overall Impact:

The inclusion of Indian bonds in global indices not only boosts India’s visibility in international financial markets but also opens up new avenues for investment in the country’s debt market.
It signifies confidence in India’s economic growth trajectory and policy reforms, making it an attractive destination for global investors.

In conclusion, the phased inclusion of Indian bonds in the Bloomberg EM indices is a significant step that is expected to have positive implications for India’s financial markets, economy, and attractiveness to foreign investors.

About Emerging Markets Bond Index (GBI-EM):

It is a benchmark index for measuring the total return performance of international government and corporate bonds issued by emerging market countries. Emerging market bonds are debt instruments issued by developing countries, offering higher yields compared to bonds of developed nations.

Inclusion of India’s Local Bonds:

India’s local bonds will be included in the Government Bond Index-Emerging Markets (GBI-EM) of JP Morgan. Expected to reach the maximum weight of 10% in the GBI-EM Global Diversified Index (GBI-EM GD).

23 Indian Government Bonds (IGBs) with a combined notional value of $330 billion are eligible for inclusion.

All bonds are classified as “fully accessible” for non-residents.

Advantages of Inclusion:

Increased demand for the Indian rupee, potentially buffering against depreciation.
Lower borrowing costs can fuel essential infrastructure projects.
Enhanced liquidity may foster more efficient trading conditions.
Market Development and Innovation
Par with Other Countries – India reaches 10% weightage in GBI-EM Global Diversified, aligning with countries like China, Brazil, Indonesia, and Malaysia.

Fully Accessible Route (FAR):

Brief:

RBI has introduced the Fully Accessible Route (FAR) to enable non-residents to invest in specified government bonds.

Key Features:

Eligible investors can invest in specified government securities under FAR without any investment ceilings.
Operates alongside the existing routes, namely the Medium Term Framework (MTF) and the Voluntary Retention Route (VRR).

Benefits:

Substantially eases access for non-residents to Indian government securities markets.
Facilitates inclusion in global bond indices, enhancing the visibility of Indian bonds in international markets.
Encourages stable foreign investment inflows into government bonds, promoting financial stability.

Voluntary Retention Route (VRR):

Brief:

RBI introduced the Voluntary Retention Route (VRR) to encourage Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPIs) for long-term investments in Indian debt markets.

Key Features:

Aggregate investment limit: ₹ 40,000 crores for VRR-Govt and ₹ 35,000 crores for VRR-Corp.
Minimum retention period of three years, during which FPIs must maintain a minimum of 75% of the allocated amount in India.
Greater operational flexibility in terms of instrument choices and exemptions from certain regulatory requirements for FPIs.

2. Mask names of those acquitted in criminal cases from digital records, HC tells media

Subject: Polity

Section: Constitution

Context:

The Karnataka High Court, through Justice M. Nagaprasanna, advised the media to proactively remove or anonymize the names of individuals acquitted in criminal cases from their digital archives to avoid forcing these individuals to seek legal remedies for name removal.

Details:

This suggestion was made alongside a directive to the High Court’s registry to anonymize the personal details of a 27-year-old who was exonerated in a criminal case, emphasizing the individual’s right to dignity.
The court highlighted that once a person is acquitted, discharged, or has their criminal proceedings quashed, allowing their association with the crime to persist online contradicts the essence of life protected under Article 21 of the Indian Constitution.
The court’s stance aims to facilitate a form of digital forgetting, aligning with human tendencies to forget, invoking the right to privacy principles established in the K.S. Puttaswamy case by the apex court.

‘Right of Erasure’:

The Karnataka High Court referenced the recently notified Personal Data Protection Act, effective from August 11, 2023, highlighting its recognition of the “right of erasure” of personal data.
This move aligns with global legal trends towards the rights to be forgotten, correction, and erasure of personal data.
The court cited a 2018 UK judgment (NT1 Vs Google LLC) that underscored the right of individuals, even those acquitted or discharged by competent courts, to live with dignity, challenging Google’s resistance to delisting such individuals.
Additionally, the High Court referred to a Supreme Court directive to anonymize the names in a case regarding sexual offenses and a 2023 Delhi High Court order directing media platforms to remove the name of an accused whose criminal case was quashed following a settlement.
These references demonstrate a growing legal consensus on the importance of protecting individuals’ dignity and privacy post-acquittal.

K S Puttaswamy case and Right to Privacy:

In August 2017, a nine-judge bench of the Supreme Court in Justice K. S. Puttaswamy (Retd) Vs Union of India unanimously held that Indians have a constitutionally protected fundamental right to privacy that is an intrinsic part of life and liberty under Article 21.
It held that privacy is a natural right that inheres in all natural persons and that the right may be restricted only by state action that passes each of the three tests:
- First, such state action must have a legislative mandate;
- Second, it must be pursuing a legitimate state purpose; and
- Third, it must be proportionate i.e., such state action — both in its nature and extent, must be necessary in a democratic society and the action ought to be the least intrusive of the available alternatives to accomplish the ends.

Source: TH

3. AI has a big and growing carbon footprint, but algorithms can help

Subject: Science and tech

Section: Awareness in IT and Computers

Context:

Artificial intelligence (AI) offers immense potential for solving complex problems, including the climate crisis. Yet, its significant energy consumption for operating large-scale data centres places it both as a contributor to and a potential solver of climate issues.

Details:

The carbon footprint of AI mainly stems from the extensive data processing during its training and inference phases, with training phases, in particular, being extremely energy and resource-intensive.
- Training GPT-3 (the precursor AI system to the current ChatGPT) generated 502 metric tonnes of carbon, which is equivalent to driving 112 petrol powered cars for a year. GPT-3 further emits 8.4 tonnes of CO₂ annually due to inference.
Technological advancements, such as spiking neural networks and lifelong learning, offer avenues for reducing the carbon footprint of AI systems by optimizing their efficiency.
The growth of AI’s energy demands, having increased by a factor of 300,000 since the early 2010s, underscores the urgency for developing more sustainable AI technologies.
Without standard, accurate methods to measure AI-related emissions, current estimates of AI’s environmental impact might even be underrepresented, suggesting the need for more rigorous evaluations and innovations to align AI development with climate sustainability goals.

Spiking neural networks (SNN):

SNNs and Lifelong Learning (L2) are emerging technologies with the potential to significantly reduce the carbon footprint of Artificial Intelligence (AI).
SNNs, in particular, offer an energy-efficient alternative to traditional Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs).
ANNs require substantial computing power, memory, and time due to their reliance on decimal numbers and precise calculations, becoming more energy-intensive as they grow in complexity.
In contrast, SNNs, like the human brain, operate on intermittent electrical signals or spikes, which convey information through the timing of these spikes rather than continuous activity.
This binary, all-or-none mechanism allows SNNs to be up to 280 times more energy-efficient than ANNs, consuming energy only during a spike and requiring minimal energy otherwise.
Researchers are developing learning algorithms for SNNs to further enhance their energy efficiency, potentially enabling them to operate closer to the brain’s efficiency levels.
The reduced computational needs of SNNs may also allow for quicker decision-making processes.
Given their energy efficiency, SNNs are considered particularly suitable for applications where energy resources are limited, such as space exploration, defense, and self-driving cars.

Lifelong Learning:

Lifelong Learning (L2) is a technique aimed at reducing the energy consumption of Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) throughout their operational life.
Traditionally, ANNs tend to forget previously learned information upon training for new tasks, necessitating retraining from scratch with each change in their operational environment. This process significantly contributes to AI-related carbon emissions.
L2 addresses this issue by employing a set of algorithms that allow AI models to sequentially learn and retain knowledge across multiple tasks, minimizing or eliminating the need for retraining from scratch.
This approach not only reduces energy requirements but also enhances the models’ ability to accumulate knowledge over time.
Beyond L2, the AI field is exploring additional strategies to decrease energy demands, such as developing smaller AI models that maintain predictive accuracy comparable to larger counterparts.
Furthermore, advancements in quantum computing are anticipated to revolutionize the training and inference processes for both ANNs and SNNs.
By leveraging quantum physics phenomena, quantum computing could offer unprecedented computational speed and efficiency, potentially enabling the creation of more energy-efficient AI solutions on a larger scale.
Addressing the energy demands of AI is critical in the context of climate change, underscoring the urgency of finding sustainable advancements in this rapidly evolving technology area.

Source: TH

4. Why INS Jatayu, India’s new naval base in Lakshadweep, matters

Subject: Geography

Section: Mapping

Context:

On March 6th, the Indian Navy will commission the Naval Detachment Minicoy as INS Jatayu, transforming it into an upgraded naval base at the strategic Lakshadweep Islands

Details:

This development represents a significant step in enhancing India’s security infrastructure in the region.
The Minicoy detachment, located on the southernmost atoll of the Lakshadweep archipelago, has been operational since the 1980s, but its upgrade to INS Jatayu marks it as the country’s second naval base in Lakshadweep, following INS Dweeprakshak in Kavaratti, commissioned in 2012.
This event comes shortly after the joint inauguration of an airstrip and a jetty on the Mauritian island of Agaléga, showcasing India’s strategic interests in the Indian Ocean. The prefix INS is used for ships, bases, and detachments of the Indian Navy.

INS Jatayu naval base:

The Naval Detachment Minicoy, currently under the command of the Naval Officer-in-Charge (Lakshadweep), is set to be commissioned as INS Jatayu, transforming it into a full-fledged naval base.
This transition involves enhancing the base’s facilities beyond its existing administrative, logistics, and medical capabilities to include additional infrastructure like an airfield, housing, and personnel, subject to environmental and other necessary clearances.
The construction efforts, particularly for a jetty, may face challenges due to the island’s fragile ecology, but plans are underway to develop an airfield capable of supporting both military and civil aircraft operations.
The establishment of INS Jatayu as an independent naval unit with comprehensive infrastructure aims to bolster the Indian Navy’s operational capability in the Lakshadweep Islands, aligning with the government’s strategy for the islands’ holistic development.
The base is expected to extend the Navy’s operational reach, support anti-piracy and anti-narcotics efforts in the western Arabian Sea, and enhance its role as a first responder in the region.
The commissioning of INS Jatayu and the proposed airfield will significantly strengthen the Navy’s presence on the western seaboard, enabling the operation of various aircraft, including P8I maritime reconnaissance aircraft and fighter jets.
This development is particularly pertinent as India seeks to counter Chinese influence in the Indian Ocean Region amidst strained relations with the Maldives following the election of a pro-China president.

About Lakshadweep Islands:

Lakshadweep, meaning a hundred thousand islands’ in Sanskrit and Malayalam, is an archipelago comprising 36 islands, stretching between 220 km and 440 km off the coast of Kochi, India.
With only 11 of these islands being inhabited, the total land area of Lakshadweep is merely 32 square kilometers. The archipelago forms part of a significant chain of coralline islands in the Indian Ocean, which also includes the Maldives to the south and the Chagos archipelago further south, across the equator.
Due to its strategic location in the Indian Ocean, Lakshadweep holds immense strategic value for India.
Minicoy Island, in particular, is crucial as it lies adjacent to vital Sea Lines of Communications (SLOCs), including the Eight Degree Channel (between Minicoy and the Maldives) and the Nine Degree Channel (between Minicoy and the main cluster of Lakshadweep islands), making these islands significantly important but also exposed to risks of marine pollution.
It consists of three major islands. They are ,
Amindivi Islands (consisting of six main islands of Amini, Keltan, Chetlat, Kadmat, Bitra and Perumul Par). [don’t have to remember all these names]
Laccadive Islands (consisting of five major islands of Androth, Kalpeni, Kavaratti, Pitti and Suheli Par) and
Minicoy Island.
At present these islands are collectively known as Lakshadweep.
The Lakshadweep Islands are a group of 25 small islands.
They are widely scattered about 200-500 km south-west of the Kerala coast.
Amendivi Islands are the northern most while the Minicoy island is the southernmost.
All are tiny islands of coral origin {Atoll} and are
They are surrounded by fringing reefs.
The largest and the most advanced is Lakshadweep Islands the Minicoy island with an area of 4.53 sq km.
Most of the islands have low elevation and do not rise more than five metre above sea level (Extremely Vulnerable to sea level change).
Their topography is flat and relief features such as hills, streams, valleys, etc. are absent.

Source: IE

5. Meet MethaneSAT, a satellite which will ‘name and shame’ methane emitters

Subject: Science and tech

Section: Space technology

Context:

MethaneSAT, a satellite designed to monitor and quantify methane emissions globally, was launched on a SpaceX Falcon9 rocket from California on March 4. Although not the first of its kind, this washing-machine-sized satellite surpasses its predecessors in providing more detailed information and possessing a significantly broader field of view.

Why do we need to track and measure methane emissions?

Methane, a potent greenhouse gas and the second largest contributor to global warming after carbon dioxide is responsible for 30% of global heating since the Industrial Revolution.
It is 80 times more effective at trapping heat compared to carbon dioxide over a 20-year period, as per the United Nations Environment Programme.
Additionally, methane contributes to the formation of ground-level ozone, a harmful gas that can lead to one million premature deaths annually according to a 2022 report.
The primary source of human-caused methane emissions, making up about 40% of the total, comes from fossil fuel operations.
MethaneSAT aims to address this critical issue by targeting and helping to reduce methane emissions globally.

What is MethanSAT?

MethaneSAT is a satellite project initiated by the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), a US-based nonprofit environmental advocacy group, in collaboration with Harvard University, the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, and the New Zealand Space Agency.
Its mission is to orbit the Earth 15 times daily to specifically monitor methane emissions from the oil and gas sector.
The satellite will generate extensive data detailing the volume of methane emissions, their sources, the responsible parties, and the temporal trends of these emissions.
This initiative aims to provide critical insights into methane emission patterns, facilitating targeted efforts to reduce the environmental impact of these potent greenhouse gases.

Features of MethaneSAT:

MethaneSAT is designed to enhance the detection and tracking of methane emissions, addressing the limitations faced by existing satellites in measuring and identifying methane sources accurately.
It is equipped with a high-resolution infrared sensor and a spectrometer, enabling it to detect subtle differences in methane concentrations as low as three parts per billion.
This capability allows MethaneSAT to identify smaller methane emission sources that have been challenging to track with previous technologies. Furthermore, its wide-camera view spans approximately 200 km by 200 km, which aids in the identification of both smaller sources and larger, “super emitter” sources of methane emissions.

Significance:

The significance of MethaneSAT lies in its potential to bridge critical data gaps highlighted by discrepancies between actual methane emissions and those reported by national governments; an International Energy Agency (IEA) report suggests that global methane emissions are about 70% higher than national reports indicate.
The data collected by MethaneSAT will be processed using advanced cloud-computing and AI technology developed by Google, a mission partner.
This processed data will be publicly available through Google’s Earth Engine platform, ensuring broad access to the information needed to tackle methane emissions more effectively.

Source: IE

6. Fourth mass coral bleaching

Subject: Geography

Section: Oceanography

Context : According to the U.S. NOAA, the world is on the verge of a fourth mass coral bleaching event which could see wide swathes of tropical reefs die, including parts of Australia’s Great Barrier Reef.

Coral reef

But corals are quite sensitive to warming water. They host a microscopic symbiotic alga called zooxanthella that photosynthesizes just like plants, providing food to the coral. When the surrounding waters get too warm for too long, the zooxanthellae leave the coral, and the coral can turn pale or white – a process known as bleaching.
If corals stay bleached, they can become energetically compromised and ultimately die.
When corals die or their growth slows, these beautiful, complex reef habitats start disappearing and can eventually erode to sand.

Importance of coral reefs:

Coral reefs are hot spots of biodiversity. They are often referred to as the rainforests of the sea because they are home to the highest concentrations of species in the ocean.
Healthy reefs are vibrant ecosystems that support fish and fisheries, which in turn support economies and food for millions of people.
Additionally, they provide billions of dollars in economic activity every year through tourism, particularly in places like the Florida Keys, where people go to scuba dive, snorkel, fish and experience the natural beauty of coral reefs.
If that isn’t enough, reefs also protect shorelines, beaches and billions of dollars in coastal infrastructure by buffering wave energy, particularly during storms and hurricanes.

What is Coral Bleaching?

When corals face stress by changes in conditions such as temperature, light, or nutrients, they expel the symbiotic algae zooxanthellae living in their tissues, causing them to turn completely white. This phenomenon is called coral bleaching.
The pale white colour is of the translucent tissues of calcium carbonate which are visible due to the loss of pigment producing zooxanthellae.
Bleached corals can survive depending on the levels of bleaching and the recovery of sea temperatures to normal levels.
If heat-pollutions subside in time, over a few weeks, the zooxanthellae can come back to the corals and restart the partnership but severe bleaching and prolonged stress in the external environment can lead to coral death.
Over the last couple of decades, climate change and increased global warming owing to rising carbon emissions and other greenhouse gases have made seas warmer than usual.
Coral bleaching has occurred in the Caribbean, Indian, and Pacific oceans on a regular basis.

Mass Coral Bleaching:

To officially declare a global mass bleaching event, widespread bleaching must be observed in three major ocean basins: the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian Oceans. According to Manzello, “technically we’re already there” in 2024, pending final confirmation from Indian Ocean scientists.

Previous Mass Coral Bleaching

First Mass Bleaching: It occurred in 1998 when the El Niño weather pattern caused sea surfaces in the Pacific Ocean to heat up; this event caused 8% of the world’s coral to die.
Second Mass Bleaching: This event took place in 2002. In the past decade, however, mass bleaching occurrences have become more closely spaced in time, with the longest and most damaging bleaching event taking place from 2014 to 2017.
Third Mass Bleaching: The event that took place between 2014-17 affected reefs in Guam in the Western Pacific region, the North, South-Pacific, and the Indian Ocean.

What are the Findings of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)?

The world is on the verge of a fourth mass coral bleaching event (after 1998, 2010 and 2014).
Preliminary results suggest that about 15% of the world’s reefs saw large coral die-offs in this event.
This year is turning out to be even worse. For example, following the Northern Hemisphere summer last year, the Caribbean registered its worst coral bleaching on record.
Coral bleaching is often tied to the naturally occurring El Nino climate phenomenon which leads to warmer ocean waters.
The world also just registered (as a result of climate change) its first 12-month period with an average temperature over 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) above pre industrial levels.
A rise of 1.5C is believed to be the tipping point for mass coral die-offs, with scientists estimating that 90% of the world’s corals could be lost.

Initiatives to Protect Corals

International Coral Reef Initiative
Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network (GCRMN)
Global Coral Reef Alliance (GCRA)
The Global Coral Reef R&D Accelerator Platform
Similarly, the Ministry of Environment and Forests and Climate Change (MoEF&CC), India has included the studies on coral reefs under the Coastal Zone Studies (CZS).
In India, the Zoological Survey of India (ZSI), with help from Gujarat’s Forest department, is attempting a process to restore coral reefs using “biorock” or mineral accretion technology.
National Coastal Mission Programme, to protect and sustain coral reefs in the country.