Daily Prelims Notes 9 June 2023

Daily Prelims Notes

9 June 2023

Table Of Contents

1. Canadian wildfires pose huge health risks
2. El Nino is here, could cause more damage depending on its strength this winter: NOAA
3. CACP recommends bringing urea under NBS
4. RBI gives green signal to first loss default guarantee (FLDG) framework
5. Monetary policy committee continues status quo on repo rate at 6.5%
6. Delhi BJP unit to get new office built in ‘Hampi tradition’
7. Vadnagar City
8. Aurangazeb
9. NCBC probing West Bengal’s State OBC list

1. Canadian wildfires pose huge health risks

Subject :Environment

Section: Climate Change

Context:

• Climate change is worsening the scale of wildfires worldwide, as rising temperatures lead to longer and more destructive fire seasons.
• Some of the biggest cities in North America, like Montreal, Toronto and New York, are shrouded in heavy smog with around 400 fires burning in Canada.

Details:

• This year has already seen unusually severe wildfires in Russia, Spain, Kazakhstan, Mongolia and Central America, according to Copernicus, the EU’s earth observation monitoring programme.
• New York City’s air quality remains in the “very unhealthy” category as more thick smoke poured south from Canada’s devastating wildfires.
• Children, pregnant people, older adults and people with heart or lung disease are especially vulnerable to the small particulates generated by these fires and these particles can be carried vast distances.
• Significant impact on Indigenous Peoples.

Forest fire or Wildfire:

• Forest fires can be defined as any uncontrolled and non-prescribed combustion or burning of plants in a natural setting such as a forest, grassland, brushland, or tundra, which consumes the natural fuels and spreads based on environmental conditions.
• Fuel, Oxygen, and heat sources help the spreading of wildfires:
  • Fuel is any flammable material surrounding a fire, including trees, grasses, brush, and even homes. The greater an area’s fuel load, the more intense the fire.
  • Air supplies the oxygen a fire needs to burn.
  • Heat sources help spark the wildfire and bring fuel to temperatures hot enough to ignite.
• Causes of increased wildfire:
  • Climate change-induced warming.
  • Land use change and land management practices.
  • High atmospheric temperatures and dryness (low humidity)
  • Extraction of non-wood forest products
  • Industrial development and resettlement.
• Impact of wildfire:
  • Delay in achieving the SDGs.
  • Loss of flora and fauna

Consequences of Wildfires:

• Wildfires emit billions of tonnes of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere which causes harm to climate and living organisms.
• This can also impact the carbon cycle due to excess CO2 and loss of vegetation.
• High-intensity forest fires destroy flora and fauna.
• Wildfires can impact the economy as many families and communities depend on the forest for food, fodder, and fuel.
• It burns down the small shrubs and grasses, leading to landslides and soil erosion.
• It can change the microclimate of the area with unhealthy living conditions
• Excessive forest fires can also add to the ozone layer depletion process.

UNEP call to prevent wildfire:

• The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) called on global governments to adopt a new ‘Fire Ready Formula,’ as it warned that incidences of wildfires would rise in the future.
• The UNEP report also projected that the number of wildfires is likely to increase by up to 14 per cent by 2030. It is projected to spike by 33 per cent by 2050. It would rise by 52 per cent by 2100.
• Integrated wildfire management was key to adapting to current and future changes in global wildfire risk.

FireAId: AI to predict and fight wildfires

• It was launched in 2022 by the World Economic Forum (WEF).
• It aims at using artificial intelligence to effectively manage wildfire.
• The multistakeholder initiative that collaborates resources from governments, civil society and the private sector was formulated by Koç Holding, Turkey’s largest industrial conglomerate, and was joined by Deloitte, an international professional services network, that brought on board its own AI technology to develop a ‘digital twin’ for fire management.
• The project was made operational in the South Aegean and West Mediterranean region of Turkey, since a quarter of the country’s wildfires occurred there in 2010-2021 and accounted for 75 per cent of the total burned area during the period.

2. El Nino is here, could cause more damage depending on its strength this winter: NOAA

Subject :Geography

Section: Physical geography

• El Nino refers to the large-scale ocean-atmosphere climate interaction linked to periodic warming in sea surface temperatures across the central and east-central Equatorial Pacific. It is associated with high pressure in the western Pacific.
• El Nino, the warm phase of a recurring climate pattern associated with the warming of the ocean surface temperatures in the central and eastern tropical Pacific Ocean, has arrived, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
• El Nino occurs every two-seven years. Its impacts can be felt far and wide. The climate pattern is known to cause severe droughts over Australia, Indonesia, and parts of southern Asia and bring rainfall in parts of southern South America, the southern United States, the Horn of Africa and central Asia.
• El Nino adversely impacts the Indian monsoons and hence, agriculture in India.
• El Nino was expected to strike this year. In May 2023, the World Meteorological Organization predicted that there was a 60 per cent chance of an El Nino during May-July 2023. The likelihood, it added, could further rise to about 70 per cent in June-August and 80 per cent between July and September.
• Also, May 2023 was statistically tied as the second warmest May on record globally.
• La Nina, a climate pattern associated with the cooling of surface-ocean water along the tropical west coast of South America, ended its three-year-run in 2023.
• El Nino could cause more warming. The hottest year on record was 2016, during a particularly strong El Nino.
• El Nino adds some extra heat to the atmosphere, it’s possible that Earth’s rising temperature will temporarily exceed the 1.5°C threshold of the Paris agreement sometime after the peak of El Nino in 2024.
• La Nina, a climate pattern associated with the cooling of surface-ocean water along the tropical west coast of South America, ended its three-year-run in 2023.

3. CACP recommends bringing urea under NBS

Subject : Economy

Section: Monetary Policy

Key Points:

• CACP has recommended the Centre to bring urea under the nutrient-based subsidy (NBS) regime to address the problem of imbalanced use of nutrients.
• Main cause of the nutrient imbalance is price distortions resulting from fertilizer subsidies, which have grown dramatically and continue to increase rapidly
• Impact of imbalance in prices:
  • Fertilizer response and efficiency has continuously declined over decades mainly due to imbalanced use of nutrients, deficiency of micro and secondary nutrients
  • Overuse of Urea resulting in depletion of soil organic carbon
  • Increasing fertilizer subsidy
• It also recommended a cap on the number of subsidized bags of fertilizers per farmer, as has been done for subsidized LPG cylinders.
• For Kharif season 2023-2024, the government approved Rs 1.08 lakh crore as fertilizer subsidy on May 17, 2023. Out of this, Rs 70,000 crore will be spent for urea subsidy and Rs 38,000 crore for subsidy for DAP and other fertilizers.

Other Recommendations of CACP:

• encouraged to increase production of oilseeds and protected against uncontrolled imports through dynamic tariff structure linked to world prices, demand-supply situation and domestic prices of edible oils linked to MSP of oilseeds
• duty differential between crude and refined oil may be raised to about 10-15 per cent to discourage import of refined oils
• to reduce the import dependence, the CACP has recommended that the National Mission on Edible Oils (NMEO) should be launched with a special focus on major oilseeds such as rapeseed & mustard, groundnut, soybean, sunflower seeds
• To promote the production and consumption of millets, it has recommended a two-pronged strategy to address both supply and demand side challenges.
  • It has recommended an increase in production of millets through genetic improvement, strengthening seed chain, improved agronomic practices and enhanced shelf-life through value-addition,
  • Demand creation by including millets in the public distribution system and other welfare schemes, industrial usage of millets and exploiting export market opportunities.

4. RBI gives green signal to first loss default guarantee (FLDG) framework

Subject : Economy

Section: Monetary Policy

FLDG:

• FLDG allows Indian fintechs to partner with banks and NBFCs
• Banks and NBFC act as the third party in arrangement between customer (who takes loan) and the Fintec company
• The first hit on a default is taken by the fintech firm that originated the loan.

Key Points:

• Arrangements between Regulated Entities (REs) and Lending Service Providers (LSPs) or between two REs involving default loss guarantee (DLG), commonly known as FLDG, has since been examined by the Bank and it has been decided to permit such arrangements subject to the guidelines laid down
• FLDG arrangements conforming to these guidelines shall not be treated as ‘synthetic securitization’ and/or shall also not attract the provisions of ‘loan participation.”
• Regulated and non-regulated LSPs:
  • For regulated LSPs (Fintec) the proposal to announce a regulatory framework will bring in more clarity as digital lending is going to stay and increase substantially in scale.
  • No clarity for non-regulated LSPs, if non-regulated entities are allowed to offer FLDGs with necessary safeguards, it could provide further impetus to digital lending.
• The regulatory framework:
  • It is based on the principle that lending business can be carried out only by entities that are either regulated by the Reserve Bank or entities permitted to do so under any other law.
  • RBI directed that RE shall ensure that the total amount of DLG cover on any outstanding portfolio which is specified upfront shall not exceed 5% of the amount of that loan portfolio.

Impact on fintech, banks, NBFCs:

• Big positive for data-tech NBFCs and fintechs as the move will strengthen the digital lending ecosystem.
• Allows synergies between Fintec and Banks to strengthen credit penetration and boost the digital lending ecosystem.
• Regulations will promote more transparency and discipline in digital lending environment

5. Monetary policy committee continues status quo on repo rate at 6.5%

Subject : Economy

Section: Monetary Policy

In News: Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Thursday left the main policy instrument, repo rate, unchanged at 6.50 per cent for the second consecutive monetary policy

Key points:

• Has kept rate unchanged after hiking it consecutively for 6 times from May 2022 – April 2023
• RBI has retained the real GDP growth projection at 6.5 % for FY2024 but cut the inflation (CPI) projection marginally from 5.2 per cent to 1 % for the current fiscal.
• Inflation at 6.7 % in 2022-23 was above the tolerance limit of 6%.
• Headline inflation (Consumer CPI) is still above the target of 4%
• rate action in the policy is “a pause and not a pivot” meaning RBI still focused on “withdrawal of accommodation” (reducing liquidity) and not entering a cycle of reducing interest rates.
• Growth supported by:
  • Higher rabi crop production, expected normal monsoon, continued buoyancy in services and softening inflation should support household consumption.
  • Healthy twin balance sheets of banks and corporates, supply chain normalisation and declining uncertainty, conditions are favourable for the capex cycle to gain momentum
• Risks to growth:
  • weak external demand, volatility in global financial markets, protracted geopolitical tensions and intensity of El Nino impact

Impact on home loan

• When the RBI lowers the repo rate, the cost of borrowing for banks goes down. Banks are expected to pass on this benefit to the consumers eventually. Conversely, home loan interest rates go up with the RBI making an upwards tweak in its lending rate.
• Incidentally, banks are quicker in passing on the increase in rates to the customers, while they are generally quite slow in reducing their lending rates. So, even though changes in the repo rate should reflect in financial institutions’ interest rates immediately, only increases see fast transmission and often the RBI has to nudge banks, to pass on the benefits of reduced rates to borrowers.

Impact on Fixed Deposits

• Many financial institutes often increase the interest rates on FDs when they increase the repo rates, making FDs more attractive to investors. It means that investors who are looking for stable returns can now invest their money in FDs and get higher returns.

6. Delhi BJP unit to get new office built in ‘Hampi tradition’

Subject: History

Section: Art and culture

The foundation of the temples in South India was provided by the Pallava rulers but the original Dravida style of temple architecture came to light under the Chola rulers. Later under the Vijayanagar rulers and nayakas, this style of temple architecture was further enriched.

Basic features of the Dravida Style of temple architecture are:

1. The tower in Dravida Style is known as ‘Vimana’ which is a pyramidal structure with sliding sides.
2. ‘Vimana’ is not only created on the ‘Garbhagriha’ but also on the ‘Gopurams’.
3. ‘Gopurams’ is an entrance gateway.
4. Boundary wall is a necessary feature.
5. Presence of water tank within the premise which is meant for religious ablutions.
6. They like the ‘Nagara’ style, also follow the ‘Panchayatan’ style and crucified ground plan.
7. At the entrance of ‘Garbhagriha’ images of ‘Dwarapala’ are placed to guard the temple, and in some temples images of embracing couples (mithun) are placed.
8. The ‘Garbhagriha’ is connected through a very small passage known as ‘Antaral’ to the ‘Mandapa’.

E.g. Brihadeshwara temple at Thanjavur.

Ranganath Swami temple at Srirangam.

There are mainly 2 types of substyles of Dravidian temple architecture, these are:

1) Vijayanagar style:

1. Developed under Vijayanagar rulers, especially under the patronage of Krishna Deva Raya.
2. They created huge ‘Gopurams’ and very high enclosure walls.
3. They introduced the concept of ‘Amma’ shrine which is dedicated to the chief wife of the main deity.
4. They also came up with the concept of ‘Kalyana Mandapa’ which was meant for marriages.
5. One of the interesting structures is a flat stone platform known as ‘dibba’, meant for the rituals and sacrifices. E.g. Mahanavami Dibba at Hampi.

E.g. Thousand pillar temple and Vithalswami temple at Hampi.

Lepakshi temple at Lepakshi in Andhra Pradesh.

Nayaka style:

• Nayakas rose after the fall of the Vijayanagara empire and they constructed temples in and around Madurai.

1. They not only created huge ‘Gopurams’ but also increased their numbers.
2. Very prominent feature of the Nayaka style is the presence of a huge corridor called ‘Prakaram’ and used to connect all the parts of the temple.

E.g. Meenakshi temple at Madurai.

7. Vadnagar City

Subject: History

Section: Art and Culture

Context: New plans for PM Modi’s school in his hometown Vadnagar.

Content:

• Last year, the city has made it to the tentative list of UNESCO world heritage site.
• It has been known by names like Anartapura, Anandapur, Chamatkarpur and has often been compared to Varanasi in terms of both claiming to be “living cities”.
• The city was first excavated by archeologists B. Subbarao and RN Mehta in 1953. This revealed a flourishing conch shell trade industry.
• Excavation taken over by ASI from 2014 onwards found over 20,000 artefacts.
• It was identified that 5 periods of continuous settlement at the site from its formative period.
• There were 7 successive cultures going back to 750 BCE which include: pre-rampart phase (in 2^nd C BCE), Rampart phase (2^nd C BCE – 1^st C CE), Kshatrapa phase (1^st – 4^th C CE), post- Kshatrapa phase (5^th– 9^th/10^th C CE), Solanki phase (10^th – 13^th C CE), Sultanate Mughal phase (14^th – 17^th C CE), and Gaekwad phase (17^th/18^th – 19^th CE)
• Most of the excavations like the fortification, Buddhist monastery, votive stupas, house-complexes, lanes/streets, industrial hearth are from pre 2^nd C BCE to Gaekwad period.

Vadnagar as a living city:

• Extensive water management system
• continuously evolving historic urban landscape/area that played a role in hinterland trade network
• Important centre of Sammitya Buddhists or Little Vehicle in 10 monasteries, a sect which Chinese traveler Hiuen Tsang also supported
• Located at the intersection of 2 major trade routes – central India to Sindh and NW, Gujarat to Rajasthan and N.India.
• One of the important land ports (Sthal Pattan) of Gujarat
• A mound that rises gently and the highest point in the middle of the settlement is 25 meters high, called
• Evidence of Buddhism: Hieun Tsang or Xuanzang visited Vadnagar around 641 CE and called it o-nan-to-pu-lo (Anandpur); a red sandstone image of a Bodhisattva or a deity-like revered figure in Buddhism; an inscription on the pedestal of the imagebrought for the Chaitya of Sammatiya; elliptical structure or a circular stupa, along with a square memorial stupa of 2×2 metre and 130 cm in height with a wall enclosure.
• Abul Fazl’s Ain-e-Akbari from the 16^th century makes a note of Vadnagar or Barnagar, as a “large and ancient city containing 3,000 pagodas, near each of which is a tank” and “chiefly inhabited by Brahmans.”
• The ASI claims a “Roman connection” in the finding of an intaglio in clay – a coin mould of Greco-Indian king Apollodotus II (80-65 BC) – and a sealing with impression of a Roman coin belonging to Valentinian-I (364-367 CE).

Present Structure:

• L-shaped town, with the Sharmishtha Lake located on its north eastern edge.
• surrounded by the remains of a fortification wall, punctured by a series of gates that mark the entry and exit points of the town
• most gates are medieval, the Ghanskol and Pithori gates are of the 11th- 12th century CE. Other prominent gates are Nadiol Gate, Amtol Gate, Amarthol Gate and Arjun Bari Gate (protected by the ASI).
• Historic buildings:

1. Ambaji Mata Temple dates back to 10th-11th century CE
2. Hatkeshwar temple is located outside Nadiol gate
3. Two identical glory gates outside the fortification wall to the north of the town are the Kirti Torans (built in yellow sandstone without mortar or any other cementing material).

8. Aurangazeb

Subject: History

Section: Medieval India

Context: Tension in Maharashtra’s Ashti Over 14-Year-Old Boy’s Social Media Status Message ‘Praising’ Aurangzeb.

Content:

About Aurangazeb:

• Aurangazeb, the third son of Shah Jahan and the 6^th ruler of Mughal empire, was born in 1618, at Dohad, on the frontier of Gujarat and Rajputana.
• An able administrator, a fearless soldier and a skilful general who learnt all the tactics of diplomacy because of the hostile influence at court of his brother Dara.
• As an emperor (1658-1707), he ruled more of India than any previous monarch, but in a court and he lived a life of austere piety.
• He was known for his devotion to the Muslim religion and thereby appointed censors of public morals in all important cities to enforce Islamic law, and he tried to put down such practices as drinking, gambling, narcotics and prostitution.
• In 1664, he issued his first edict forbidding sati or the self-immolation of women on funeral pyres.
• In the economic sphere, he abolished the inland transport duty, which amounted to ten percent of the value of goods, and the octroi on all articles of food and drink brought into the cities for sale.
• In 1668, he forbade music at his court with the exception of the royal band and the ceremony of darshan, or the public appearance of the emperor to the people, was abandoned in 1679 along with reimposition of Jizya.
• In sharp contrast to Aurangzeb’s image of a temple destroyer in history books and tried to convert all Hindus to Islam, an Allahabad-based historian has claimed that he had offered lavish grants and land to the ancient Someshwar Mahadev temple on the banks of Sangam in Arail.
• His Conquests: Earliest were in the Eastern parts of the empire including Hindu rulers of Cooch Behar and Assam, followed by NW frontier, then with the Sikhs (The ninth guru, Tegh Bahadur was put to death by Aurangazeb in 1675), the Marathas and the Muslim South Kingdoms like Bijapur and Golconda.
• Aurangzeb ordered the seizure of the Surat factory established by the East India Company because of the English control of the pilgrim trade in the Arabian Sea. Later, he levied a fine of one and a half lakhs of rupees and allowed them to return to their factories; and for the next fifty years, the English merchants refrained from any further attempts to establish themselves as a territorial power.
• Some of his failures include: Lack of hardy soldiers and resourceful improvisers, treachery was rampant in the Mughal army, stringent religious policy, remission of some eighty taxes led to the financial burden and mostly he was inspired by high motives, but the policy created many problems.

9. NCBC probing West Bengal’s State OBC list

Subject: Polity

Section: Constitution

Context: Acting upon allegations that illegal immigrants from Bangladesh and Rohingyas from Myanmar were being allowed to take up reservation in West Bengal, the National Commission for Backward Classes (NCBC) has now launched an investigation into the State’s OBC (Other Backward Classes) list, Commission Chair Hansraj Gangaram Ahir said on June 8.

Content:

• The NCBC Chair at a press conference in New Delhi, said there were more Muslim OBC castes than Hindu OBC castes in the State, when the absolute population of Hindus in the State is clearly higher.
• According to the State government’s OBC list, 103 out of the total 180 communities are categorised as Muslim communities — most of them placed in the Category A list.
• There was “clearly something wrong” with the State OBC list in West Bengal and that the NCBC is committed to removing communities that were added without due procedure.
• Nearly 90% of the communities in the Category A (Most backward) list were Muslim and similarly more than half of the communities in Category B were also Muslim.
• The NCBC chairperson also alleged that the State government in West Bengal was using institutions such as the Cultural Research Institute (CRI) to get positive recommendations for whatever communities that it wished to add.

Concept:

OBC Reservation:

• Based on the recommendation of the Second Backward Classes Commission (Mandal Commission), the government in August, 1990 had notified 27% reservation for Socially and Educationally Backward Classes (SEBCs) in vacancies in civil posts and services that are to be filled on direct recruitment.
• After this was challenged, the Supreme Court in November, 1992 (Indira Sawhney case) upheld 27% reservation for OBCs, subject to exclusion of the creamy layer.
• Creamy Layer is a concept that sets a threshold within which OBC reservation benefits are applicable.
• While there is a 27% quota for OBCs in government jobs and higher educational institutions, those falling within the “creamy layer” (various categories based on income and parents’ rank) cannot get the benefits of this quota.
• Other than the income limit, the current definition of the creamy layer remains the same.

NCBC

• 102^nd Constitution Amendment Act, 2018 provides constitutional status to the National Commission for Backward Classes (NCBC).
• It has the authority to examine complaints and welfare measures regarding socially and educationally backward classes.
• Previously NCBC was a statutory body under the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment.

Structure of NCBC

• The Commission consists of five members including a Chairperson, Vice-Chairperson and three other Members appointed by the President by warrant under his hand and seal.
• The conditions of service and tenure of office of the Chairperson, Vice-Chairperson and other Members is determined by President.

Constitutional Provisions

• Article 340 deals with the need to, inter alia, identify those “socially and educationally backward classes”, understand the conditions of their backwardness, and make recommendations to remove the difficulties they face.
• 102^nd Constitution Amendment Act inserted new Articles 338 B and 342 A. The amendment also brings about changes in Article 366.
• Article 338B provides authority to NCBC to examine complaints and welfare measures regarding socially and educationally backward classes.
• Article 342 A empowers President to specify socially and educationally backward classes in various states and union territories. He can do this in consultation with Governor of concerned State. However, law enacted by Parliament will be required if list of backward classes is to be amended.

Powers and Function

• The commission investigates and monitors all matters relating to the safeguards provided for the socially and educationally backward classes under the Constitution or under any other law to evaluate the working of such safeguards.
• It participates and advises on the socio-economic development of the socially and educationally backward classes and to evaluate the progress of their development under the Union and any State.
• It presents to the President, annually and at such other times as the Commission may deem fit, reports upon the working of those safeguards. The President laid such reports before each House of Parliament.
• Where any such report or any part thereof, relates to any matter with which any State Government is concerned, a copy of such report shall be forwarded to the State Government.
• NCBC has to discharge such other functions in relation to the protection, welfare and development and advancement of the socially and educationally backward classes as the President may, subject to the provisions of any law made by Parliament, by rule specify.
• It has all the powers of a civil court while trying a suit.

Note:

• 2021 Constitutional Amendment (105th) reinforced States’ power to build their own OBC lists.