Current Affairs Compilations for UPSC IAS Prelims 2022

Mains Oriented Articles

GS Paper 2

GS Paper 3

Prelims Oriented Articles (Factly)

Mains Oriented Articles

GS Paper 2

So, Are People The Best Judge?

News: It has been 50 years of the “Basic Structure Doctrine”.

How did the Basic Structure Doctrine emerge?

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What changed after the judgment of Basic Structure Doctrine?

The basic structure doctrine gave the keys of the Constitution from the Parliament to the Supreme Court.

Initially, the Parliament had power to amend the Constitution, which ensured that the will of the people prevail.

However, with the judgment, the power to determine the basic structure lies with the Supreme Court and not with the Parliament.

What are the concerns with the Basic Structure Doctrine?

Read Here: 50 years of Basic Structure Doctrine – Explained

This doctrine conceptualizes a very different idea of India from the one the Constitution sets out. It prevents future Indians from designing their future India while the doctrine has no basis in the Constitution.

The doctrine has created tough competition between the constitution and democracy.

For instance, the SC with its power of basic structure tries to protect the democracy. However, when courts overreach in interpreting the Constitution, governments find new and ingenious ways to come out of it.

Hence, the basic structure doctrine has not been able to serve its purpose and the tussle between the court and the Parliament still remains.

SCO meet highlights China’s growing role in Inner Asia, India’s challenge

News– SCO meeting of defence ministers is taking place in New Delhi this week.

What are the internal contradictions in SCO?

Its ability to cope with the intra-state and inter-state conflicts among the member states is now under scrutiny. Russia’s war in Ukraine is raising questions about Moscow’s capacity to sustain primacy in its backyard.

China’s rise is increasing the prospects for Beijing’s emergence as the dominant force in inner Asia.

There are internal conflicts in the SCO. There are serious conflicts between India and China, Delhi and Islamabad, as well as Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.

Preventing conflict between the member states and associates is a high priority for the SCO. But the forum’s record here is not impressive. Afghanistan’s internal instabilities have been a major driver for the SCO. But SCO was not able to play the role of the regional security arbiter.

In January 2022, there was a major internal upheaval in Kazakhstan. It was not the SCO, but the Russian army that intervened to stabilize the situation.

There are issues between Central Asian regimes and Russia. Russian leaders have often dismissed Central Asian states as artificial nations.

Vladimir Putin’s vision of the Russian world underlines Moscow’s special responsibility to protect Russian minorities beyond its formal borders. No Central Asian neighbour has endorsed the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Russia is deeply entrenched within the Central Asian state system with strong ties to local elites and security establishments. Many Central Asians work in Russia and send valuable remittances home.

After Ukraine, the Central Asian states are looking to intensify their diversification strategies to reduce their reliance on Russia.

Kazakhs talk about “multi-vector diplomacy”. Some regional actors are seeking to expand their influence in Russia’s backyard. Turkey and Iran are two prime examples. There is also rising role of China in these countries

What are different viewpoints about China’s growing influence in Central Asia?

Some observers argue that China’s growing regional influence will come at Russia’s expense. Others point to the fact that Russia and China have drawn closer than ever before. They have little reason to quarrel over Central Asia.

Moscow’s muscle and Beijing’s money provide a sensible basis for their strategic division of labor in Central Asia. It will keep the Western powers out of the region.

A third argument agrees that China has no reason to replace Moscow as the main power in Central Asia in the near term. But it warns against underestimating Beijing’s long-term ambitions in the region.

Beijing provides explicit support to the sovereignty of the Central Asian states. As per Chinese President Xi Jinping, China will continue to resolutely support Kazakhstan in protecting its independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity.

What are options for India at SCO?

Delhi’s engagement with the SCO was premised on Russian primacy in the region and Moscow’s support of India’s regional interests. For India, a strong and independent Russia is critical for maintaining the inner Asian balance.

However, India is in no position to ensure Moscow’s strategic autonomy from Beijing. That depends on Russian strategic choices.

India must now protect its own interests in SCO amidst a rapidly changing regional power distribution in China’s favour.

India’s universities are coming apart, political class ignores damage caused by the exit of the ablest from the country

News– The article explains the issue with academic leadership and governance challenges faced by Indian universities

What are issues with academic leadership in India?

Appointment of academic leadership is guided by the expectation of political allegiance. There are few academics of proven excellence among the leadership appointments in India’s public educational institutions.

Even the best leaders can achieve nothing if they are governed by rigid externally set rules. In India’s higher education ecosystem, these rules appear mainly in the form of the UGC guidelines.

What are governance challenges faced by Indian universities?

In India, performance in teaching and research is not subjected to a professional review. In the case of teaching, courses should be evaluated by students for content and delivery. They are a crucial means of assessing teaching. There is absence of student evaluation.

Research evaluation is a more difficult task and existing methods remain contested. The current practice in India’s universities based on the UGC’s Academic Performance Indicators (API) is flawed.

Scoring of publications based on where a paper has been published is misleading for judging the impact of research on the production of knowledge.

Moreover, some of the activities counted under the API system are unnecessary. Scoring of publications puts a burden on India’s universities in terms of time and resources.

A second area  is admission to courses of study and hiring of faculty. Both student admission and faculty hiring requires a minimum grade and the subject studied for the previous degree. India’s universities have strict rules on these matters. It causes emigration of talent to the universities of the West.

Many of India’s public institutions are controlled by a rule-bound bureaucracy without the incentive to bring about a change.

What is the way forward for improving the governance of Indian universities?

The practice of numerical scoring of research output must be avoided for a more holistic approach.

Global best practices in the evaluation of academic performance are known. India should learn from the best aspects. It is the rules governing research rather than funding that is key to research output in Indian universities.

The UGC should leave this matter of admission and faculty hiring to academic bodies. There should be external oversight in the selection of faculty.

Universities are meant to engage in the pursuit and dissemination of knowledge. This requires an unconditional commitment to free speech. The university should not be made hostage to the whims and ideologies of the state.

Universities of the West have largely remained free of the state even when they receive public funds. It is the single most important reason for their success.

For the university, neither infrastructure nor less stringent rules can be a substitute for the total freedom of expression.

Rescue service – The Sudan evacuation highlights challenges India faces in conflict

News: India has begun ‘Operation Kaveri’ to evacuate around 4,000 nationals currently stranded in Khartoum and other parts of Sudan.

About the present issue in Sudan

About Operation Kaveri and Sudan evacuation

How India is coordinating with various countries in the Sudan evacuation?

India has been coordinating efforts with other countries that have the most civilians and resources in Sudan. This includes the U.S., the U.K., the UAE and Saudi Arabia.  These countries are coordinating on logistics, timing the evacuation operations, and even using Saudi and French planes.

The past experience of similar operations over the decades, beginning with the largest single civilian evacuation during the Gulf War in 1991 is helping in a quick evacuation.

What India should learn from the Sudan evacuation?

The Sudan evacuation once more highlights the particular challenges India faces in any conflict.

-India has about 14 million non-resident Indians and more than seven million Indian tourists and travellers each year. So, there is practically no conflict today that does not affect an Indian citizen.

-Many NRIs are working in the most vulnerable jobs. For instance, nurses in Iraq or Yemen, students in Ukraine, labourers in Libya, Syria and Lebanon, etc.

What should be done?

Parliamentary Standing Committee for External Affairs, in 2022 recommended the government to form a standard operating procedure, and a special force to deal with such crises. This must be considered by the government. Further, the procedure must be devoid of political grand-standing or finger-pointing.

India is admired for its reputation and ability to harness its resources in rescuing every single citizen in crisis times. That reputation must be maintained.

GS Paper 3

On the Code on Social Security for platform-based gig workers

News- The Ashok Gehlot led Rajasthan government has recently announced the Rajasthan Platform-based Gig Workers (Registration and Welfare) Bill, 2023.

What are legal issues related to gig-economy workers?

Definition of employee– The three new labour codes passed by Parliament recently acknowledge platform and gig workers as new occupational categories. But the current laws do not see them as future industrial workers.

Working in factories, the duration of time needed on a factory floor, and associated issues are recognized as the parameters for defining an ideal worker under most labour laws. This has not shifted much.

The Code on Wages, 2019, tries to expand this idea by using ‘wages’ as the primary definition of ‘employee’. Wage relationships are an important part of the informal economy.

Legal guarantees-Platform delivery people can claim benefits, but not labour rights. This distinction makes them beneficiaries of State programs. This does not allow them to go to court to demand better and stable pay, or better regulations

This also means that the government or courts cannot pull up platform companies for their choice of pay, or duration of work.

In the Code on Social Security, 2020, platform workers are now eligible for benefits like maternity benefits, life and disability cover, old age protection, provident fund, employment injury benefits.

However, eligibility does not mean that the benefits are guaranteed. None of these are secure benefits. These benefits will depend on the political will at the Central and State government levels and how unions elicit political support.

Welcome to the brain economy: Technology will change the way we look at labour, capital and skills

News– The article explains the emergence of brain economy and its impact.

How has the nature of labour changed?

The nature of labour has changed drastically since the mid-19th century — from body to skill to brain.

Physical labour required no education, skill-based labour required higher education, training and expertise. Brain-based labour is about rapid innovation and creation, driven by technology.

No industry will be immune from technology in the global brain economy. Retail, agriculture, automobile, finance, energy, manufacturing, healthcare, education, sports and entertainment will be driven and reshaped by technology and brain power.

Technology will not be limited to software, artificial intelligence and data analytics. It will spread rapidly across brain sciences, quantum computing, genetic engineering, 3D printing, nanotechnology and combinations.

The search for perfection in technology and its related issues is an illusion. Technology will keep evolving and the new generation of technology will solve the problems of earlier generations. First generation vaccines saved billions of lives from Covid.

What is the way forward for the success of the brain economy?

There is a need to abandon outdated stereotypes of evil corporations, sinful profits and inhuman technology.

The myth of man vs machine needs to be ended. Technology doesn’t destroy jobs. It creates jobs, liberates people and drives social progress.

Advances in technology in the brain economy will always be a couple of steps ahead of politicians, bureaucrats, policies and laws. We will have to learn to deal with it.

There will be issues of concern like market dominance by corporations and exploitation of legal loopholes. There will be ethical dilemmas regarding technological choices. Regulation and oversight are essential. But these need to be pragmatic, not dogmatic.

There is a need to widen the definitions of progressive, intellectual and civil society. These definitions can’t remain confined to a closed group of liberal arts professors, activists and NGOs.

Technology illiteracy impedes understanding, perpetrates falsehoods and obstructs progress. A clear understanding of technology is an important issue.

Scientists, technologists, businessmen, entrepreneurs and corporations must also be present at the discussion table. Collaboration is the key.

The education architecture of the country needs to be revamped. Students and teachers in primary and secondary education need to be equipped with technology. Failures in experimentation and creation in schools should be celebrated.

Multidisciplinary research universities should be created on a war footing. Courses in different aspects of technology must be made mandatory for all liberal arts programmes, just like liberal arts courses should be made mandatory in all science and technology departments.

What will be the nature of the brain economy?

The concerns of the employees in the body economy revolved around low wages, job tenure and exploitation. The concerns of the employees in the skill economy are skill relevance, flexibility and work-life balance.

In the brain economy, they will question the company’s impact on the environment, gender parity, wealth sharing and other social issues.

There could be many failures. Every successful innovation is built on a graveyard of failures. We will have to get used to it.

Many corporations will be a combination of brain, skill and body. Amazon, for example, has brains that create new offerings, skills that maintain their vast data centres and bodies that deliver packages to homes.

The focus will be on the complete elimination of the body and the gradual replacement of skills through technology. The accompanying job losses will have to be offset by the creation of new types of jobs.

Many brains will operate outside the ambit of corporations. The scale and scope of open-source innovation will continue to expand. It will give rise to a “societal brain”. India’s digital public goods revolution is an example of this.

The relationship between capital and labour will change. Capital exploited physical labour and invested in skills. It will now partner with the brains.

The balance of power between capital and labour will become more symmetric. But markets will create inequality by assigning exponentially differential values to body, skill and brain.

Get real with targets – on foreign trade policy

News: The government announced a new foreign trade policy last month.

What are the concerns with the new foreign trade policy?

The new policy has set a target of achieving exports of goods and services worth $2 trillion by 2030.

Therefore, in order to meet the target of $2 trillion by 2030, a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) should be 14.61 percent during this seven-year period.

This means the share of goods and services exports in India’s gross domestic product (GDP) should increase from 23 percent in 2022-23 to over 28 percent in 2029-30.

However, the CAGR for exports of goods and services in the last 10 years was a little less than 6 percent. Therefore, in such a scenario, these aspirational targets look challenging.

Must Read: India’s New Foreign Trade Policy (FTP) and its significance – Explained

What are the drawbacks of establishing such an export target?

Unachievable Targets: The foreign trade policy in 2015 had set a target of 11.6 percent CAGR from $466 billion (merchandise goods and services) in 2013-14 to $900 billion 2019- 20.

However, the actual performance during the period of the 2015 policy was a disaster, with exports between 2014-15 and 2019-20 showing a CAGR of just 2 percent.

Therefore, the government has not learned from experience and has again set the export target in the new foreign policy.

Overtaking Roles: It has been argued that the government should not get involved in setting export targets because exports are done by companies not by the government.

Instead, the government’s job should be to create a conducive environment for higher exports through a supportive policy.

Lack of Accountability: The government set fiscal deficit target and it is held accountable for that because a fiscal deficit target is all about how the government goes about raising its revenues and spending on various schemes.

Whereas exports have to be achieved by exporters and hence the job of meeting a target should be seen as a success or failure on the part of the exporting community.

Hence, these kinds of targets free the government from being held accountable. 

For instance, nobody was held accountable for the failure of the foreign trade policy of 2015 in meeting the exports target of $900 billion to be achieved by 2019-20.

What can be the way ahead?

First, the government should not worry about setting targets for exports and instead, it should focus on ways domestic policies are framed to make exports more competitive. 

Additionally, attention should be paid to how exchange rate regulations may benefit exporters by bringing them closer to the real effective exchange rate and how import tariffs can be reduced effectively to lower exporters’ costs.

Second, if the government wants to set a target, it should not be for a period of five or seven years. The target should be annual, which could be monitored at the end of the year, and based on the performance, the goals could be revisited.

Turning the clock back – on Liberalised Remittance Scheme

Context: In the recent times, government has tightened the restrictions on how Indians can remit money overseas.

Post-1991 reforms, Liberalised Remittance Scheme, or LRS was introduced. It permitted individuals to send $250,000 out of the country, in a calendar year.

The limit was reduced to $75,000 in 2013 as a macro-prudential measure. However, this limit was gradually restored to earlier $250,000.

This policy depicted confidence in the Indian economy’s strength, rupee’s float and the sustainability of the country’s external account.

However, in recent years, this policy has been reversed. The government has systematically tightened the restrictions on how individuals can remit money out of the country.

What are the changes introduced linked to the outward remittances?

First, the finance bill of the last session of the parliament has increased the TDS on remittances to 20% from the earlier 5%.

Second, Purchases done through the credit card abroad are also being sought to be brought into the regulatory net by the government.

Third, Furthermore, Reserve Bank of India has set a 180-day limit on any funds sent outside the country. Within this period, the funds either should be invested in any instrument or repatriated.

The funds in the foreign deposit accounts will not be considered an investment.

What are the implications of tightening of outward remittances?

Due to repatriation of the money, it will cycle back in the economy. It will lead to an increased transaction cost.

Globally, restrictions on remittances are seen as a sign of insecurity among policymakers about the direction of the economy.

It reduces the freedoms to Indian investors, where and how they like to invest.

High levels of restrictions for such transfers will increase the incentive for evasion or the return of illegal and opaque systems.

Laws should keep pace with fast evolving technologies

Context: Recent developments in the field of AI are conflicting with Europe’s GDPR.

Recently, discussions on regulating artificial intelligence (AI) have raised concerns about privacy. Many experts believe that AI technologies, like Large Language Models (LLMs), may not meet the strict privacy requirements of Europe’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Since GDPR is considered a global standard, this could impact AI technology deployment worldwide.

What are the conflicts between GDPR and Large Language Models?

GDPR emphasizes obtaining individual consent before collecting and processing personal data. LLMs, however, training data is gathered from the web, which potentially includes personal information without consent. GDPR allows data collection without consent if there is a “legitimate interest,” but it is difficult to argue that LLMs are a “necessity” in this context.

Moreover, GDPR principles of data minimization and retention restriction allows collection of that much personal data which is required to achieve a specific purpose. The collected data should be removed after that. This principal conflicts with LLMs’ reliance on vast and indefinite data availability for continuous model refinement. only so.

Lastly, users could also share their personal info with Conversational AI solutions. It becomes a part of the learning cycle and becomes part of the AI model. It also risks gathering personally identifiable information, potentially violating GDPR.

What should be the course of action?

Recently, many European country regulators are investigating the matter of privacy involved in the OpenAI’s use.

However, considering these issues, some suggest re-examining our present legal frameworks to better align with new technologies like LLMs and generative AI.

As past technological advancements have also prompted legal changes, it is crucial to strike a balance between innovation and privacy without forcing new technologies to comply with outdated frameworks.

The right to litigate – Use of legal remedies to limit nature’s exploitation is at the core of democracy

News: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has recently registered a case against an environmental lawyer and his organisation for violating Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act (FCRA) provisions. The CBI has said that they are using foreign funds to encourage litigation that will stall existing and prospective coal-fired plants in India.

About India’s climate ambitions

As a signatory to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and various key agreements, India has undertaken initiatives to gradually reduce reliance on fossil fuel sources and become ‘net zero’ by 2070.

India has consistently endorsed reports by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) that mentions the urgency of ensuring global temperatures do not exceed 1.5°C of pre-industrial times. Thereby necessitating that global net anthropogenic CO2 emissions decline by about 45% from 2010 levels by 2030.

Can India continue to operate coal-fired plants?

Under the principles of ‘Common and Differentiated Responsibility’, India has maintained its right to rely on coal plants in the interim as it is still a developing economy.

The actual cost of renewable sources (solar, wind and nuclear) remains much more than that of fossil-fuel power.

About India’s upcoming coal-fired plants and challenges in execution

India has 28.5 GW of coal power capacity planned and 32 GW of plants are under construction. But a majority of their commissioning has been delayed due to

-Insufficient environment clearances, land acquisition, and redevelopment and rehabilitation-related problems.

–Rulings by the National Green Tribunal and lack of adherence to norms prescribed mainly under provisions of the Environment Protection and related legislation.

-Funding for new coal plants is increasingly difficult with multilateral funding agencies refusing to fund such plants.

Is using legal remedies to limit the operation of coal-fired plants wrong?

No. In India, many coal plants run inefficiently and rely on lenient environmental curbs as they are critical to India’s power needs.  In this situation, using legal remedies to limit the industrial exploitation of nature and ensuring just compensation is at the core of a civilised democracy.

Plastic ban failure – Managing plastic waste needs a multi-pronged strategy

News: Even nearly 10 months after the ban on single-use plastic products, their use is still rampant in most parts of the country. This shows the plastic ban failure.

What is the present status of the plastic ban?

Some of the bulk consumers of single-use plastic materials have switched to their biodegradable alternatives. However, most other producers, sellers, and consumers use and throw plastic, particularly thin carry bags, stuff as usual. For instance, a) A recent anti-plastic drive carried out in Kerala led to the confiscation of 25 tonnes of proscribed plastic material, b) Delhi’s 100-day “beat plastic campaign”, which culminated on Earth Day on April 22, has resulted in the seizure of over 14,000 kg of outlawed plastic items, c) Delhi is now the largest producer of plastic waste among all the metropolitan cities in the country.

There has been hardly any noticeable improvement in the system of collection and safe disposal of discarded plastic materials. Thereby, aggravating the menace of plastic pollution.

What is the reason behind the Plastic ban failure?

a) The implementation of the rules was left to the states and their pollution control boards. But they have not discharged their functions responsibly, b) The Centre which displayed remarkable determination at the time of promulgating the ban, failed to take up follow-up action, c) The Centre has not taken the states along for putting in place an
effective legal framework for plastic waste management, d) Many state’s plastic waste management norms remain only on paper. For instance, Delhi framed the Plastic Waste
Management Rules way back in 2019, still, these rules are not yet notified, e) Inadequate availability of their cost-effective alternatives, and f) Less investment on research and development for suitable substitutes for use-and-throw plastic goods. Similarly, the government also has not offered any fiscal or other incentives for this purpose.

What should be done to ensure a proper ban on single-use plastic?

The government needed a well-advised multi-pronged strategy to address plastic pollution in its entirety. This should focus right from production to retrieval and appropriate recycling or disposal of the plastics.

Prelims Oriented Articles (Factly)

Eco Biotraps: BMC to launch eco-friendly device to curb vector-borne diseases

Source: The post is based on the article “BMC to launch eco-friendly device to curb vector-borne diseases” published in The Hindustan Times on 25th April 2023.

What is the News?

Recently, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) announced the launch of a pilot project called ‘Eco Biotraps’. The project aims to prevent the spread of vector-borne infections in the city.

What is Eco Biotraps?

It is an eco-friendly trap with ‘attractants’ that attract female mosquitoes and lay eggs in the biotrap water. These traps are made from recycled cardboard.

Eco Biotraps consists of a small bag containing a mixture of attractant and insecticide. These traps are filled with water and placed in mosquito-infested areas.

The attractant and insecticide (Insect Growth Regulator granules) in the trap bag are immediately mixed with water. After which, the attractant in the water attracts the female mosquito to lay her eggs there. The insecticide present in the water destroys the mosquito eggs.

The attractants and insecticides used in this trap are safe for humans.

What is the significance of Eco Biotraps?

The Eco Biotraps is the world’s first ‘passive’ and eco-friendly device and has been patented in 50 countries including India.

Genome sequencing and the Genome India Project

Source: The post is based on the article “Genome sequencing and the Genome India Project” published in The Hindu on 26th April 2023

What is the News?

The Department of Biotechnology has said that the exercise to sequence 10,000 Indian human genomes and create a database under the Genome India Project is about two-thirds complete.

What is Genome Sequencing?

The human genome is the entire set of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) residing in the nucleus of every cell of the human body. It carries the complete genetic information responsible for the development and functioning of an organism. 

The DNA consists of a double-stranded molecule built up by four bases. While the sequence of base pairs is identical in all humans, there are differences in the genome of every human being that make them unique. 

The process of deciphering the order of base pairs, to decode the genetic fingerprint of a human is called genome sequencing.

What are the applications of Genome Sequencing?

Genome sequencing has been used to evaluate rare disorders, preconditions for disorders and even cancer from the viewpoint of genetics, rather than as diseases of certain organs. 

Nearly 10,000 diseases — including cystic fibrosis and thalassemia — are known to be the result of a single gene malfunctioning. 

In public health, sequencing has also been used to read the codes of viruses. One of its first practical usages was in 2014 when a group of scientists sequenced samples of Ebola from infected African patients to show how genomic data of viruses could reveal hidden pathways of transmission.

How did Genome sequencing help during the Covid-19 pandemic?

At the start of the pandemic, Chinese scientists sequenced the genome of a novel pathogen causing infections in the city of Wuhan. It was after this that virologists began evaluating the sequence to try and understand how to combat the virus.

India also put in place a sequencing framework — the Indian SARS-COV-2 Genomics Consortia (INSACOG). This consortium of labs across the country was tasked with scanning coronavirus samples from patients and flagging the presence of variants known to have spiked transmission internationally.

What is the Genome India Project?

The Department of Biotechnology (DBT) has initiated the ambitious “Genome India Project” (GIP) in 2020.

The GIP aims to collect 10,000 genetic samples from citizens across India, to build a reference genome.

This project is led by the Centre for Brain Research at the Bengaluru-based Indian Institute of Science, which acts as the central coordinator between a collaboration of 20 leading institutions.

108 years of Armenian ‘genocide’: What happened, and the debate around what to call it

Source: The post is based on the article “108 years of Armenian ‘genocide’: What happened, and the debate around what to call it” published in Indian Express on 25th April 2023

What is the News?

April 24, 1915 marks the beginning of what came to be known as the Armenian genocide. 

What is Genocide?

The word ‘genocide’ was first coined by Polish lawyer Raphäel Lemkin in 1944 in his book Axis Rule in Occupied Europe.

As per the UN, Genocide is a crime committed with the intent to destroy a national, ethnic, racial or religious group, in whole or in part.

The crime of genocide includes two main elements:

– Mental Element: The intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group.

– Physical Element: It includes the following five acts enumerated exhaustively: 1) Killing members of the group, 2) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group, 3) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part, 4) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group and 5) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.

What is the Armenian Genocide?

The Armenian Genocide is often called the first genocide of the twentieth century.

It refers to the systematic annihilation of Armenians living in the Ottoman Empire between 1915 and 1917 i.e. during the First World War.

According to estimates, approximately 1.5 million Armenians died. This is due to genocide, either massacre and killings or from ill-treatment, abuse and starvation.

The Armenian diaspora marks April 24 as Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day.

About the recognition of Armenian Genocide

The Armenian genocide has been recognized so by 32 countries as of now, including the US, France, and Germany.

India and UK do not recognize the Armenian Genocide. India’s stand can be attributed to its wider foreign policy decisions and geo-political interests in the region.

Turkey does not recognize the Armenian massacre as genocide and has always claimed that there is no proof the deaths were planned and targeted.

How are the current relations between Armenia and Turkey?

Armenia has in the past sought better ties with Turkey, although the two are now locked in a tussle over the Nagorno-Karabakh region, an Armenian-dominated part of Azerbaijan where Turkey supports Azerbaijan

A newly fabricated bio-electronic uric acid detecting device can be used for wearable sensors and point-of-care diagnostics

Source: The post is based on the article “A newly fabricated bio-electronic uric acid detecting device can be used for wearable sensors and point-of-care diagnostics” published in PIB on 25th April 2023

What is the News?

Researchers from the Institute of Advanced Study in Science and Technology (IASST), Guwahati have developed a new flexible bio-electronic uric acid detecting device.

What is Uric Acid?

Uric acid is one of the most important antioxidants that maintain blood pressure stability and reduce oxidative stress in living beings. 

It is formed when the body breaks down substances called purines. Purines are normally produced in the body and are also found in some foods and drinks.

The usual range of uric acid in blood ranges from 0.14 to 0.4 mmol dm-3 and for urine, 1.5 to 4.5 mmol dm-3. 

However, the fluctuation of uric acid levels due to the lack of balancing between the production and excretion causes several diseases like hyperuricemia, which in turn may lead to gout disease, type 2 diabetes, increase risk of cardiovascular diseases, Lesch–Nyhan syndrome, hypertension, and renal disorders.

What have the researchers developed?

Researchers have developed a new flexible bio-electronic uric acid detecting device. The device so developed is simple, portable, cost-effective and easy to fabricate for detecting uric acid.

This device outperforms all currently available ones in terms of effectiveness and cost because it doesn’t need any enzymes.

PM inauguratesc What is this public boat service?

Source: The post is based on the article “PM inaugurates Kochi Water Metro: What is this public boat service?” published in Indian Express on 25th April 2023

What is the News?

The Prime Minister has inaugurated the first phase of the Kochi Water Metro.

What is the Kochi Water Metro?

Kochi Water Metro is a first of its kind public boat service in India integrated with a metro rail network.

It is being implemented by Kochi Metro Rail Corporation Limited (KMRL) with the assistance of a German funding agency.

Features: The water metro boat service will operate in the backwaters of Kochi, connecting 10 nearby islands with the mainland of Kochi, the commercial hub of Kerala. 

– It includes boats that are hybrid, battery-powered, air-conditioned and disabled-friendly among other features. 

– The project is envisaged with 38 jetties, and 78 boats, covering a distance of 76 km. The non-polluting, battery-powered boats are noise-free and produce low waves, unlike traditional ferries. 

How is the water metro linked to the metro rail?

Kochi Water metro has been envisaged as a feeder service of the Kochi metro rail, which has been operational since 2017. 

While boats have been designed as coaches of Kochi Metro, boat terminals, passenger entry and exit gates, ticket counters and safety measures mirror the features of the metro rail service.

Conservation work at Delhi’s Zafar Mahal set to begin

Source: The post is based on the article “Conservation work at Delhi’s Zafar Mahal set to begin” published in Hindustan Times on 25th April 2023

What is the News?

The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) is set to initiate conservation works at Zafar Mahal in South Delhi’s Mehrauli.

What is Zafar Mahal?

Zafar Mahal is considered as the last monumental structure built as a summer palace during the fading years of the Mughal era. 

The Zafar Mahal then called Lal Mahal and Rang Mahal was originally built by Akbar Shah II in 1820.

Later, the last Mughal emperor, Bahadur Shah II (aka Bahadur Shah Zafar) built the Hathi Gate and eventually gave it its present name, the Zafar Mahal. 

– Hathi Gate got its name because of the fact that an elephant can pass through it with the ‘houdah’ (seat, where people sit on an elephant) mounted over it.

The emperor started the festival Sair-e-Gul Faroshan (Phoolwaalon ki sair) in Hazrat Bakhtiyar Kaki honor to celebrate his urs from this palace. 

The complex contains the beautiful white marble Moti Masjid and several royal graves, including several emperors such as Shah Alam I and Shah Alam II. 

It is said that Emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar wanted to be buried here but since he was exiled to Burma, his last wish was never fulfilled.

Understanding temperature anomalies

Source: The post is based on the article “Understanding temperature anomalies” published in The Hindu on 26th April 2023

What is the News?

March 2023 has been declared as the Earth’s second-warmest March since global record-keeping began in 1850.

Why was March 2023 the second warmest?

March 2023 was indeed the second warmest in the instrumental record.

The warmest March occurred just a few years ago in 2016, when the biggest El Niño of the 21st century triggered a ‘mini’ global warming.

Why was March 2023 the second warmest and not the warmest?

Each year’s March can be warmer or cooler than the March of the year before. Natural climate variability, including events like El Niño, can temporarily spike temperatures.

This global distribution of temperature anomalies is due to land-ocean-atmosphere processes that dynamically determine the weather and climate. 

Global warming does not mean each month or each year will be warmer than the previous month or the previous year. 

Instead, a better place to begin would be by averaging the weather over a decade. Decade to decade warming clearly shows that humans are now ensuring each decade is warmer than the one before.

What is Temperature Anomaly?

A temperature anomaly is a departure, positive or negative, of a temperature from a base temperature that is normally chosen as an average of temperatures over a certain reference period often called a base period. 

Commonly, the average temperature is calculated over a period of at least 30 years over a homogeneous geographic region, or globally over the entire planet.

For example, an anomaly of +2.0 degrees means the average temperature was 2 degrees higher than the long-term average.

A new mission for quantum computers, and what it means for India

Source: The post is based on the article “A new mission for quantum computers, and what it means for India” published in Indian Express on 25th April 2023

What is the News?

Recently, the Union Cabinet has approved the ₹6,003 crore National Quantum Mission (NQM).

What are Quantum Computers?

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Properties of Quantum Computers:

Superposition‘ meaning they can exist in multiple states (both 0,1 at the same time) at the same time. It is unlike classical computers where information is processed in ‘bits’ or 1s and 0s, following classical physics.

‘Entanglement‘ where two or more particles are inextricably linked and mirror each other exactly, even when separated by great physical distance.

What are the challenges related to Quantum Computing?

Firstly, Quantum computers are highly prone to interference that leads to errors in quantum algorithms running on it. Thus it can give erroneous results. Scientists are working to improve accuracy e.g., Google has announced plans to have fault-tolerant quantum-computing hardware by 2030

Secondly, most quantum computers cannot function without being super-cooled to a little above absolute zero since heat generates error or noise in qubits. Expanding quantum computing will increase ecological footprint. 

What is the National Quantum Mission (NQM)?

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Significance: Work on quantum technologies has been going on in India for the past 10 years, more vigorously in the last four-five years whereas groups in some other countries have been working for close to three decades.We have some catching up to do, but this mission will help us do that.

What are the other initiatives going on in India related to Quantum Computers?

Several scientific groups in the country are already working on quantum computers and related technologies. 

For instance, a collaborative effort of Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) is developing a 7-qubit quantum computer. 

Operationalise Safe City Project by August: LG to Delhi Police

Source: The post is based on the article “Operationalise Safe City Project by August: LG to Delhi Police” published in The Hindu on 25th April 2023

What is the News?

Delhi will soon have a seamless network of sensors implemented as part of the first phase of the Safe City Project. 

What is the Safe City Project?

The Safe City Project is an initiative of the Ministry of Home Affairs in collaboration with the Ministry of Women and Child Development under the Nirbhaya Fund.

Aim: To create a safe, secure, and empowering environment for women and girls in public spaces.

Cities covered: The project is being implemented in eight metro cities, including Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Lucknow, and Bengaluru.

Under the project, CCTV cameras will be installed, along with a command-and-control center with facilities for video analytics, AI, machine learning, and facial recognition.

Funded by: The cost of the projects is shared in a 60:40 ratio between the Central government and State concerned. However, in Delhi, the project is fully funded by the Centre.

What is Nirbhaya Fund?

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SUPREME initiative: Centre unveils initiative to upgrade analytical instrumentation facilities

Source: The post is based on the article “Centre unveils initiative to upgrade analytical instrumentation facilities” published in The Print on 26th April 2023

What is the News?

The Union Minister of Science and Technology has launched the SUPREME initiative to provide financial support for the upgradation and maintenance of analytical instrumentation facilities (AIFs).

What is the SUPREME Initiative?

Nodal Ministry: Ministry of Science and Technology

Full Form: Support for Up-gradation Preventive Repair and Maintenance of Equipment (SUPREME)

Aim: To extend financial support for repair, upgradation, maintenance, retrofitting, or acquiring additional attachments to increase the functional capabilities of existing analytical instrumentation facilities.

Eligibility: Different facilities created under the projects/ Analytical instrumentation facilities (AIFs) with the support of DST only will be considered for funding support under this Scheme.

– UGC recognized Central Universities/ State Funded Universities/Deemed Universities /Private Universities among others are also eligible to apply under this scheme.

Duration: The duration of support will be for a period not exceeding 3 years.

Funding Pattern: The funding pattern in the scheme would be 75:25 for all private and government-owned institutions (except for state-funded institutions for which 100% funding would be considered).